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Defiant Trump In Court Tuesday In Miami; Fire Causes Collapse Of I-95 In Philadelphia; Ukraine Says It Liberated Frontline Village. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 11, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:47]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with the countdown to Donald Trump's court appearance exactly 48 hours from now. Trump is set to appear in a federal court in Miami. The former president is facing 37 counts over the mishandling of classified documents and obstructing an investigation after he left office.

That did not stop Trump from hitting the campaign trail this weekend where he lashed out against the indictment, calling it a political hit job and calling Special Counsel Jack Smith, deranged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The baseless indictment of me by the Biden administration's weaponized department of injustice will go down as among the most horrific abuses of power in the history of our country.

This vicious persecution is a travesty of justice. You're watching Joe Biden try to jail his leading political opponent. Think of it. This is like third world country stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Katelyn Polantz is in Miami for us.

Katelyn, now, while Trump is downplaying the charges, his former attorney general believes he could be in real trouble.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE SENIOR REPORTER: Right, so it was very strong words from Attorney General Bill Barr, the man who served under Donald Trump. He was speaking to Fox News today about this indictment.

Now this is an attorney general that had spent a lot of time casting doubt on whether Trump should have been investigated previously, essentially saying he didn't believe that the Muller investigation should ever have resulted in charges against Donald Trump, which it did not.

But now, a totally different tune from Bill Barr as he is speaking today. Here's one of the things he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM BARR, FORMER US ATTORNEY GENERAL: And this idea of presenting Trump as a victim here, a victim of a witch hunt is ridiculous.

Yes, he's been a victim in the past. Yes, his adversaries have obsessively pursued him with phony claims, and I've been at his side defending against them when he is a victim.

But this is much different. He's not a victim here. He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets that the country has. They have to be in the custody of the archivist. He had no right to maintain them and retain them.

And he kept them in a way at Mar-a-Lago that anyone who really cares about national security, their stomach would churn at it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: So Bill Barr saying Trump is not a victim here. He is totally in the wrong because of the national security risk of having documents outside of the hands of the federal government, even though he was the former president or he was the president of the United States, and then is now the former president.

But that is ultimately going to be something that a jury will decide. Is Donald Trump -- are these charges worthy for Donald Trump? Should he be convicted of them?

And so that is why we're here in Miami, because the process to go to court, to go to trial, to stand before that jury and to hear the evidence, all of that is going to be something that is going to be looked at in this court and weighed in this court about what evidence could be coming in and it starts with Donald Trump's arraignment in about 48 hours from now, two days, at the Miami federal courthouse.

There is going to be a whole process getting him down here. So Donald Trump is going to be traveling to Miami tomorrow and then staying at his resort, very nearby. He is going to be huddling with lawyers preparing for that appearance.

And then on Tuesday, in the afternoon, will come into the federal courthouse, face the judge and the prosecutors here, plead not guilty as he has said many times he plans to do, and then on Tuesday night, he is going to return out of the state of Florida back up to his other resort in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Now remember, that is not the site where Donald Trump first spoke after he was arraigned on other criminal charges in New York State. That took place at Mar-a-Lago, but Mar-a-Lago being the center of this indictment, it is not going to be at the center of the action in the next few days. Donald Trump is not visiting there -- Fred.

[15:05:13] WHITFIELD: Interesting. And of course, he is facing 37 counts, the majority of which allege willful retention of National Defense Information.

Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much there in Miami.

All right, with me now to talk more about this is John Dean. He is a CNN contributor and a former Nixon White House counsel.

So good to see you, John.

So what do you think of Bill Barr's damning assessment of these Trump charges and saying, point blank that Trump, he was totally wrong to have those documents?

JOHN DEAN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think since Bill Barr is a well-known defender of Trump during his presidency, and as attorney general, the fact that he is speaking out now, and explaining this is not a witch hunt, these are not illegitimate charges, they are very appropriate. In fact, he knows the history of this and many high level officials have been charged when they have so misused or abused their power and kept documents and withheld information or obstructed the effort to get them back.

So I think it's important that Barr speak out because Republicans have just gone haywire in ignoring what really the law is here.

WHITFIELD: And he did so on Fox News, which is a place in which you know, a great audience of Trump supporters watch and hang on every word.

So Jim Jordan, one of Trump's biggest allies on Capitol Hill, he was on CNN this morning. The chair of the House Judiciary Committee claimed Trump can control access to classified documents, however, and in whichever way that he wants. That's his sentiment. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): He did it.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: There are classified documents in a bathroom, in a ballroom stage, and classified information that -- we're talking about information that the United States shares with its allies, critical information strewn on the floor. Does that look secure to you?

JORDAN: Again, Dana, the standard is the standard. The president of the United States, he can classify and he can control access to national security information, however he wants. That's the standard. That's the constitution. That's what the court said in Navy vs. Egan, a 1988 case.

I don't know how many times I can say it, okay, so if he wants to store it -- if he wants to store material in a box in a bathroom, if he wants to store it in a box on a stage, he can do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So you worked as a White House counsel. I mean, is Jim Jordan right? If the president -- former president wants to do that store in that manner, he can do whatever he wants.

DEAN: The qualifying words here, Fred, are when he was the president of the United States. That's what Jordan said. But he was not president of the United States when he was storing those in his bathroom and he was moving them around Mar-a-Lago and putting them on a stage in a ballroom, or carrying them down to his residence.

He is no longer president as of January 20 at noon, it was over and he lost control of that, he lost that option and that's what the criminal abuse is about here. Those should have been turned over to the National Archives immediately.

WHITFIELD: And in your view, part of the investigation has to be, how did former President Trump whether he was sitting president or whether as former president, how was he able to get that many boxes, that much material, those documents, even to Mar-a-Lago? Who helped? Who assisted?

DEN: we can glean from the indictment that his personal valet at the White House who went with him to his post presidency, Walt Nauta, was very instrumental in helping to get the boxes, both out of the White House and then moving them around once they were in Mar-a-Lago.

So he is a co-conspirator in this, and now faces eighty, ninety years in prison for his behavior in doing what Trump wanted with these boxes.

WHITFIELD: He too is facing the charges, but -- and he apparently provided a lot of the photographs that we're looking at that special counsel, Jack Smith was able to make his case, but it is an extraordinary volume for any one person or two people to be responsible for.

This indictment is uniquely specific, but it wouldn't share all of the evidence, right? So what are your concerns about what else might be part of Jack Smith's case?

DEAN: Well, it's clear he decided not to charge dissemination under the Espionage Act, although he does refer to dissemination, the fact that Trump had a press conference or met with authors of the biography of his chief-of-staff, Mark Meadows and talked to them about secret documents, said he had a map he was showing staffers from his PAC.

[15:10:18]

So those would be chargeable, but the special counsel decided not to charge dissemination, and just really unlawful detention to make the point.

And I also -- you have a lot of coordination with the intelligence agencies, because this is still highly classified information. So they have to be willing to let this become apparent in court to show that he was withholding national defense information, regardless of his classification and that was the crime.

WHITFIELD: And Trump and his supporters, you know, they are already going after the special counsel. How concerned are you that those words could jeopardize the safety of the special counsel and his team?

DEAN: It's very -- it is very concerning the attack, both by Mr. Trump and his supporters to try to discredit the system and the process. This is basic rule of law, democracies, very, very basic understanding of how we operate, and they're attacking that process.

And it's unfair because the process can't respond. There really are no spokespeople other than in the media. And it's hurtful to our country to do this.

So I think they've got to re-examine their defense, and try to get on more technical grounds if there are any, and it appears this is an overwhelming case that can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump was in violation of the law.

WHITFIELD: All right, John Dean, so great to see you. Thank you so much.

DEAN: Good. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, "The roadway is gone." Those words from officials in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after a section of northbound Interstate 95 collapsed when a tanker truck burst into flames underneath the highway this morning.

Interstate 95 is one of the biggest arteries in the US connecting drivers from Maine to Florida. And right now, the highway is closed in both directions around that area.

Authorities say the incident will significantly impact the community for quite some time.

CNN's Danny Freeman is live for us on the scene there in Philadelphia. So what's happening or not happening?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no, Fred, at this point, there is certainly a lot happening and it really is a wild and active scene here in northeast Philadelphia.

We're actually standing on the southbound side of I-95, not where the worst of the damage is, but I do want to show you what we can see right now because like I said, there is activity.

You can see a number of law enforcement agencies right in the foreground, and on the background, you can see just char right along that highway, that under part. Team of crews working underneath to inspect the under part of I-95.

But again, we've been showing you these images all day from above of the northbound side of the highway. That was ultimately what collapsed, and that is what's causing so much of this problem so far.

So, Fred, I'm just going to tell you what we do know so far.

This morning just before 6:30 AM, first responders got the call. There was an accident on the ramp leading up to I-95. The city said it was a tanker truck that caught fire underneath and that fire was so hot, as I said I-95 northbound eventually collapsed and officials say that those southbound lanes, they have also been compromised.

Thankfully, at this point, still no report of anyone injured after the collapse, but a lot of fallout today. Still, there were manholes exploding because of potentially compromised gas lines in the area.

The Coast Guard saying they are investigating there may have been 8,500 gallons of gasoline spilled into nearby water and of course, as we've been saying, this is a huge traffic artery for Philadelphians and folks driving through this part of the city.

Take a listen to what one city officials said when describing how long this cleanup might take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOMINICK MIRELES, DIRECTOR, PHILADELPHIA OFFICE OF EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT: Today is going to be a long day. And obviously with 95 northbound gone, you know and south questionable, it's going to be even longer than that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: And at this point we're hearing from a lot of agencies who responded to this. We've already heard from Secretary Pete Buttigieg. We're seeing the ATF on the ground, the Coast Guard as I mentioned earlier, and we're also seeing some members of the staff of Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro on the scene right here.

We're expecting an update on the situation in a few hours. When we have that information, Fred, we will bring it to you.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: It is hard to imagine what traffic is going to be like over the course of days and weeks when people cannot use either side, not north or southbound in that area on I-95. Wow. Folks really rely on it.

All right, Danny Freeman, thank you.

All right. happening right now: Trump supporters gathering in South Florida, ahead of the former president's Tuesday court appearance. Details on the security plans from Miami officials.

Plus, CNN's Chris Wallace sat down with former Defense secretary, Robert Gates. What he is saying about whether Trump should be president again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:19:16]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back.

A former Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon has been released without being charged after she was arrested earlier today in connection with an investigation into her ruling party's finances.

She is the most high profile official yet to be questioned in the probe into financial misconduct in the Scottish National Party.

In a release, Sturgeon said, "Innocence is not just a presumption I am entitled to in law. I know beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing." This comes after sturgeons husband was also arrested in April in connection with the investigation. He was released and has not been charged.

In addition to the arrest, police say they have conducted searches of the couple's home and the party's headquarters.

[15:20:06]

Ukrainian forces say they have liberated a village from Russian occupation. Ukraine released a video showing soldiers raising the Ukrainian flag from a heavily damaged building along the frontlines in the Donetsk region. It comes as Ukraine's President Zelenskyy has given his strongest indication yet that a Ukrainian counteroffensive is underway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It is important for Russia to always feel that they don't have much time left, relevant counter defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine. I will not give any details about what stage they are at. I believe that we will certainly feel all of this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Fred Pleitgen is near the frontlines in southeast Ukraine.

So Fred, how intense is the fighting in that area?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's extremely intense, and I think one of the things that we can certainly see and get from what the Ukrainians are saying is that their offensive operations certainly do seem to be gaining steam.

You were talking about that one village that the Ukrainian say that they won back. Well, they've since then said, they've won a couple of other villages back in that same region. It's sort of on the southeastern part of the frontline.

So the Ukrainians there certainly seem to believe that they have a lot of momentum going for them as they've opened up several other fronts in the south of the country as well. So it does appear as though they are piling the pressure on the Russians, and this comes, Fredricka after the Ukrainian offensive action seemed to have gotten off to a rocky start.

You'll recall that at the end of last week, the Russians posted a couple of videos apparently showing some destroyed Western vehicles, armored vehicles, including Bradley infantry fighting vehicles that the Russian said that they had shot down that as they were trying to advance towards Russian positions.

So it certainly seems as though right now, the Ukrainians gaining just that little bit more of momentum. Big question, of course, on the ground is, is this the large counteroffensive? And, you know, we just heard from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy there saying that the counteroffensive actions had begun.

Well, today, the head of Ukraine's military intelligence, put out a video of himself just sitting in his chair saying nothing for several seconds, and then that video saying, plans love silence. In other words, the Ukrainian saying that if this is the big counteroffensive, they certainly don't intend to talk about it.

But you know, you know, as we've been looking at generally the situation here in the war in Ukraine, right now, we can say that there is pretty much no place on a very long frontline between the Russians and Ukrainians, where the Russians have the initiative, but there are a lot of places where the Ukrainians are piling on the pressure.

And we've talked about some of them in the south of the country, but in the east of the country in Bakhmut, for instance, which of course is a town that's seen heavy fighting for several months. The Ukrainians over the past couple of days have said that they have made significant gains as well there.

So right now, the fighting, extremely intense. We saw that on the frontline. We were in a town on the frontline on Friday in various regions along the frontline, and right now, it definitely seems as though the Ukrainians are the ones who have the momentum and the initiative going for them -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Fred Pleitgen in Ukraine, thanks so much.

All right, still ahead, the city of Miami bracing for a potentially chaotic day on Tuesday when former President Trump appears in federal court. How law enforcement is preparing next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:44]

WHITFIELD: Former President Donald Trump will appear in federal court on Tuesday and while security promises to be airtight, Miami is bracing for a potentially chaotic day.

CNN's Carlos Suarez joining me with the latest on this.

Carlos, how is the city preparing?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, several law enforcement agencies across South Florida really began their preparations days ago. The mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez says he's going to have a news conference on Monday to go over what he says are safety and security concerns ahead of the former president's appearance in federal court on Tuesday.

We know that inside of the courthouse, the US Secret Service, the US Marshal Service, and the Federal Protective Service, they're the ones that are going to be in charge of the security inside. It is important to note that this part of downtown Miami really is already a bit of a security bubble, because we've got the new federal courthouse here behind me. The old federal courthouse is just across the street, as well as the office for the US attorney's office for the Southern District of Florida, and then right next door is the Federal Detention Center.

And so, law enforcement really does have a great deal of experience in moving staff and folks between all of these buildings. The mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez, he was on "Fox News Sunday" this morning, where he talked about to some of the items that he hopes to address tomorrow. Here's a bit of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR FRANCIS SUAREZ (R), MIAMI, FLORIDA: I can tell you that in Miami, we're going to have a press conference on Monday to talk about safety and security. We want to make sure that all our citizens know that they're going to be able to express their First Amendment rights and at the same time, we're going to keep them safe and we're going to make sure that there is no disorder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: It is our understanding that Miami Police has told all of his officers that they need to report for duty on Tuesday. We're told that the city told employees that any time off that had been approved for Tuesday has been canceled.

The Miami Dade Police Department, they're the county police department that really covers much of the unincorporated parts of Miami-Dade County, we are told that they are working with the Department of Homeland Security to keep a close eye on social media when it comes to post about any possible events involving any supporters of the former president.

Of course, right now, the overall security posture out here is one that you would expect considering that we're talking about so many federal buildings out here, but we do expect to see a lot more law enforcement out here as we head into Tuesday -- Fred.

[15:30:13]

WHITFIELD: All right, very good. Carlos Suarez, thank you so much for all of that. All right, a federal indictment against a former president of the United States is unprecedented in this country's history.

In an interview before the indictment news broke last week, former secretary of Defense, Robert Gates tells CNN's Chris Wallace, he would worry about our national security if Trump were to be re-elected.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, CNN HOST, "WHO'S TALKING TO CHRIS WALLACE": Mr. Secretary, what do you think of Donald Trump?

ROBERT GATES, FORMER US SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Well, I have thought for a long time that he did not have the credentials or the qualifications to be commander-in-chief. I wrote that in an op-ed in 2016.

I think that for an American political leader to admire authoritarians, totalitarians like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un speaks volumes about judgment and their views of the America's role in the world.

WALLACE: Well, as somebody who has spent his life defending this country, it raises a very serious issue. If Donald Trump were to win the 2024 election and become president again, would you worry about the national security of this country? Would you worry about our future?

GATES: Yes, I would.

WALLACE: Why?

GATES: Well, I think one of the concerns that I have with President Trump is that I've always been a strong believer in our institutions of government.

Do they need reform? Do they need serious reform? Yes. I've never encountered an institution and organization that didn't need reform and improvement, but destroying those institutions, dismantling those institutions, I think dramatically weakens this nation and weakens us as a country.

Those institutions have protected us for more than two centuries, and I think that the key, I don't disagree that the institutions need to change and need to be reformed at all, I totally believe that, but dismantling them and weakening them is going in exactly the wrong direction.

WALLACE: On the other hand, you have been critical of Joe Biden for a long time back in 2014. In one of your books you wrote this: "He's been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades." You say he was wrong about the Soviet Union, you say he was wrong about the first Gulf War. You say he was wrong about Afghanistan. That's a lot of very serious misjudgments.

GATES: Well, I would agree. I will say, though, that I think that, in general, he has handled the situation in Ukraine quite well. I think that the administration has been slow to provide certain kinds of weapons to the Ukrainians, but in terms of alerting the world to the likelihood of a Russian invasion, in terms of assembling a powerful coalition to support Ukraine, I think those are -- I think those are very positive steps.

WALLACE: How about the way that we got out of Afghanistan?

GATES: That was a catastrophe and completely unnecessary in my view.

WALLACE: Well, given that very optimistic assessment of the two frontrunners, how would you feel seriously about the possibility of a Trump Biden rematch in 2024 if that's what's we, the voters are confronted with?

GATES: Well, I've stayed out of domestic politics for the better part of 60 years, I see no reason to throw myself into that at this point. But I will say a couple of things. One, I'm intrigued by the fact that the majority of Americans, 60 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Republicans don't want those two to be the candidates in 2024.

And the second is, you know, I used to joke back in the 70s and 80s about the Soviet gerontocracy, all the old people running the Soviet Union, and what some of the consequences of that for the Soviet Union.

Now, we have leaders in both parties who are considerably older than those Soviet leaders were back in that day. So you know, I just -- it is hard for me to see how such a young vibrant country as ours ends up with two people of their ages being the frontrunners for being the next president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:35:07]

WHITFIELD: And you can catch "Who's Talking to Chris Wallace," Fridays at 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

All right tomorrow, join Anderson Cooper and Chris Christie for a CNN Republican presidential townhall. The former New Jersey governor will take questions from a live studio audience and share why he says he is best suited to be the next commander-in-chief.

This live event starts tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

All right, more than 60 million people are under the threat of severe storms today. We'll take a closer look at where storms might hit the hardest after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:39:46]

WHITFIELD: At least six people are injured after an overnight shooting at a Houston nightclub. One victim remains in critical condition. The city's police chief says a gunman opened fire into a crowded parking lot after the nightclub had closed. Police arrived at the scene and found multiple victims.

[15:40:04]

An investigation is underway while the gunman remains at large. Officials are asking the public to share any information they may know about the shooting.

And more than 60 million people are under a threat for severe storms this afternoon and evening. The National Weather Service says residents from Colorado to the Carolinas could see multiple rounds of strong to severe thunderstorms.

Several southern states have also been issued a level three out of five risk for severe storms. CNN meteorologist, Allison Chinchar has more.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right, Fred.

This is a very large complex of severe thunderstorms as you mentioned going from Colorado all the way over to the Carolinas, the focal point really going to be across much of the Tennessee Valley, Nashville, Little Rock, Memphis, Huntsville, even over towards Atlanta.

Now all of these areas still have the same threats. That's damaging winds and the potential for some large hail. Some areas could even get up to around tennis ball size. We also can't rule out the potential for an isolated tornado.

Now for some of these areas, that first wave already started this morning. Now, we're starting to see those secondary waves this afternoon and even an additional wave that really starts to take shape tonight and will linger through the overnight hours. So do keep that in mind to make sure you have a way to get some of those emergency alerts before you go to bed tonight.

Also, because we've had multiple waves of rain for some of these areas, that potential for flooding also exists. Two separate areas, one across the Tennessee and the Ohio Valleys, that secondary one out to the west that does include cities like Salt Lake, as well as Denver.

Most of these areas picking up one, maybe to two inches, but there will be a couple of spots that could pick up three or even four inches total from what they had yesterday, and also including today.

One bit of good news, however, is the rain is not just here in the US, but also into Canada. That's really helping to mitigate a lot of the wildfires that have been ongoing there for several weeks. And we're also going to see a significant improvement in the smoke is well.

This is a smoke forecast graphic where you see the blue and green color, that's all those smoke particles as they make their way through the air. But look at this clearing out, that's when the rain showers finally begin to push into the mid-Atlantic and the northeast over the next 24 to 48 hours. The caveat to that is, Fred, however, once that system moves out, that north and northwest wind returns. So whatever fires are left after the rain moves through, likely going to see some of that smoke coming back in, but not anywhere near the extent of what we had last week.

WHITFIELD: All right, Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for that.

All right, coming up, frightening images from a boat on fire in the Red Sea. Details on the search to find three missing tourists.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:47:13]

WHITFIELD: A search mission is underway right now to find three British tourists who were reported missing after the boat they were on caught fire in Egypt's Red Sea. New video shows flames and smoke coming from an interior portion of the boat there. It's not clear yet how the fire started. Twenty-seven people were on board when the fire broke out.

"The 2010s" was one of the most consequential decades in recent history with political, social, and technological upheaval that defined American culture.

This week, the CNN Original Series, "The 2010s" is back with an all- new episode revisiting the major social movements of the decade from Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter to #MeToo. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had no alternative, but to elevate the level of our response.

(CROWD chanting "What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now.")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But months after Michael Brown is killed, those protesters are still out there and Ferguson becomes kind of the turning point in this movement.

(CROWD chanting "Hands up. Don't shoot.")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was something magical and special and interesting that happened in 2014 that did change the country in the world's conversation. It was like people in their homes came outside and said enough.

(CROWD chanting "Hands up. Don't shoot.")

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that wasn't about hashtags. That was about people taking to the streets and refusing to go home. The magic and the power of this movement and really this decade is that protest even starts to look different.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: All right, joining us right now is civil rights activist, DeRay Mckesson. He has been one of the leading voices of the Black Lives Matter movement since its inception in 2014.

So good to see you. I mean, in the in the early 2010s, you know, there were a number of tragic killings -- Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown -- that inspire the Black lives movement.

So what was it about Ferguson, you know, where Michael Brown was killed, where you were very involved that that movement really ignited?

DERAY MCKESSON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: Yes, you know, when you think back about August of 2014, remember that they not only killed Mike Brown, but they left his body in the street for four-and-a-half hours while his mother stayed with his body.

People came outside just to see what happened and the police sicced dogs on, on protesters and the police were really violent immediately.

We were in the street for 400 days. You know, I think back in 2014, it's like 400 days. It has been 10 years since the protests began, which is pretty wild. And if you remember it was illegal to stand still in 2014. If we stood still for more than five seconds, we were arrested.

So when people see us march, they think we did it just in solidarity with the 60s, but it was like no, it's actually illegal to stand still which is wild.

[15:50:04]

WHITFIELD: I mean, you and your fellow Black Lives Matter leaders were credited with launching the first civil rights movement of the 21st century. Was there something that you also drew from the predecessors of civil rights, foot soldiers in their movement or was this about a movement all anew?

MCKESSON: No, for sure, we understood that we were not the first people to discover injustice, and we didn't invent protest. What we did have that people didn't have before us was a set of tools like the internet and social media that allowed us to scale up the conversation to get as many people involved with not a lot of friction in ways that they just didn't have before.

I can tweet and talk to ten thousand, five hundred thousand, a million people in one click in a way that they just could not do and in any decade before 2014.

You think about 2014, remember, there was no Facebook Live, there was no Instagram Live, there was no Twitter video in 2014. There was not even live streaming really in 2014. You know, it was like -- it was a wild moment.

We were doing six second binds to tell everybody what's happening, but even those tools are more than what the people had before us. WHITFIELD: Yes. Well, that was something else, I thought that was notable, too, is especially after Ferguson, it also, you know, helped shine a light on a variety of injustices from people who were being jailed after being pulled over because of expired tags, and come to find out it wasn't an anomaly, but it was happening a lot.

In what way do you think this movement, this moment, opened the eyes of a lot of people.

MCKESSON: It is so important to remember that there were no one, two or three people that started the protests that like people in general came outside and stayed outside and that made this moment happen.

You know, I think you're right, that all of a sudden, my generation, people just started to question everything. They were like, hey, this didn't make sense.

You know, even I, I didn't know that, you know, the police, on average kill three people a day. I didn't know that until the protests began. So people started to question a whole lot of things. And importantly, in this moment, women, the queer community, the trans community, like so many people were visibly present, visibly leading in ways that just weren't celebrated in the 60s, ways that weren't celebrated in the 70s.

And in this moment, people are saying, hey, I see something that doesn't make sense. I'm going to do something about it.

WHITFIELD: Movements are about a lot of things. I mean, enlightening, awareness, provokers of change. If you think about change that was provoked from the movements that you've been involved in, what are you most proud of?

MCKESSON: Yes, so I always think about protest as the act of telling the truth in public and I think that from 14 to 20, we definitely helped people see that there was a problem. And obviously, the death of George Floyd was a watershed moment where more people are like, okay, it's not just Ferguson, it is not just Baltimore, not just one city, and it's the country that has a problem.

I think that after 2020, it is how do we think about structural change differently? What does that look like? So remember, 19 states after 2020 restrict the use of force laws. There are a set of states like Maryland and Maine that have done incredible work restricting no-knock raids, following the killing of Breonna Taylor.

Minneapolis has the best restriction on no-knock raids in the country at the city level. There are places working on those issues now. So there is change happening, and I'm heartened to think of all the activists in those early days when we didn't know anything was going to result in anything but telling the truth, staying outside night after night in Ferguson.

WHITFIELD: DeRay Mckesson, great to see you. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. Be sure to tune in to an all-new episode of the CNN Original Series, "The 2010s." It airs tonight 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only here on CNN.

All right, still ahead a strange green light in the sky and reports of 10-foot tall creatures have police in Vegas scratching their heads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER: What did you see?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was like a -- it was like a big creature.

OFFICER: A big creature?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, like around 10 feet tall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. I'm so nervous right now. I have butterflies, bro. I really thought it was a shooting star and these people said --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That straight ahead, but first, an entrepreneur in Detroit is using technology to fight for environmental justice. Here is today's "Innovate."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DARREN RILEY, FOUNDER AND CEO, JUSTAIR: Environmental justice I think is a really important aspect of society going forward and you're starting to see momentum.

My name is Darren Riley. I'm the founder and CEO of JustAir.

JustAir's mission is simple. I want to make sure that everyone has equal access to clean air and how we do that, we not only deploy monitors, but we maintain monitors, and we build insights around the air quality that is happening in communities.

A lot of things that we've noticed in communities, especially communities of color, it is communities that are really on the borderline of zoning that may have heavy industrial traffic and freight going through their community.

Today we're approaching five states and 10 cities.

City officials have access to our admin dashboard where they can pull reports, see trends, information. But most of all, it is all about turning insights to real change.

A lot of the influences that really pushed me and propelled me, it was just the injustices that I've seen around communities of color and communities that I've come from.

I live in southwest Detroit, which caused me to develop asthma five years ago. So JustAir was founded with a combination of my personal experience, and also my professional experience going to Carnegie Mellon.

What keeps me going in entrepreneurship, as an entrepreneur of color, is really that we should be the one solving the problems that we face.

I'm committed to the mission that no matter where you're born, you have equal access to clean air. That's all that JustAir is about.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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