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Any Moment: Officials Give Update Investigation Of Scheffler's Arrest; Today: House GOP Pushes Vote On "Election Integrity"; Oklahoma Governor To Biden: Help Free Americans Detained In Turks And Caicos. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired May 23, 2024 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: In just moments, Louisville officials will give us an update on their investigation into the arrest of the world's number one golfer Scottie Scheffler. It's been nearly a week since he was arrested just outside the PGA Championship. Police say he was on his way to the golf course when he tried to drive around traffic at the scene of a deadly crash. Schaeffler now faces multiple criminal charges, including one felony for second-degree assault of a police officer. He is continuing to play on the PGA Tour and is expected to tee off later this afternoon in Texas.

CNN Law Enforcement Contributor Steve Moore is joining us right now. Steve, thanks very much for joining us. What do you expect we'll hear at this upcoming press conference?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: I expect we're going to see a lot of backtracking, moonwalking here because they have -- they have just telegraphed this all week that things are not going to support what the officer had said apparently, and that indications are that he may have been overcharged. They've already telegraphed that. And I think what we're going to see here is what they were preparing us for, a video that actually supports Mr. Sheffler's view of the incident.

[11:35:04]

BLITZER: And how important could the video that they're about to release, the video of this incident be the outcome of the charge against Scheffler?

MOORE: It could -- it's the whole thing really because it's a he said, he said thing. And what's going on here is he was charged with second- degree assault, which -- it means that he would have had to have either seriously injured the officer by wanton behavior, or that he intentionally injured the officer using a deadly weapon. Well, a car is considered a deadly weapon. Either way, they're going to have a lot of trouble proving that Scheffler who has a sterling reputation intentionally injured a police officer because he didn't want to be kept from going into the golf club. BLITZER: Interesting. All right, Steve Moore, thank you very much for your analysis. And we're of course going to continue to monitor the upcoming press conference and bring it to you live once it begins. We'll also share that just released that -- the about to be just released video as soon as it's made available. Once again, that's all coming up.

Other important news we're following this morning on Capitol Hill, House Republicans are pushing forward with a vote on so-called election integrity legislation. The dual bills look to curb non- citizen voting here in the United States. But Democrats call it a solution in search of a problem because it's already illegal for non- citizens to vote in federal elections. Earlier this month, House Speaker Mike Johnson seemed to admit the legislation is largely based on theories, not hard evidence. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We all know intuitively that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections. But it's not been something that is easily provable. We don't have that number.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Joining us now is the Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Secretary of State, thanks very much for coming in. What's the story in your state of Michigan right now, first of all, with non- citizens voting in federal elections?

JOCELYN BENSON, SECRETARY OF STATE, MICHIGAN: Well, I've got good news for Speaker Johnson and everyone else, only U.S. citizens are voting in our elections. And we've actually got plenty of data and evidence that shows that.

BLITZER: No cheating going on?

BENSON: No. We have paper ballots. And it's a public record when someone is registered and voting in an election, so it's actually quite easy to get that information and also evidence that non-citizens are participating is just non-existence. And so, this is really, truly a solution in search of a problem but it's more narrative to cause fear and distrust in our elections process, which really is more of a strategy than anything based in fact.

BLITZER: As all of our viewers know, Michigan, your state, is a key battleground state right now going -- looking ahead to the November presidential election. There are some other things I know you and I have spoken, that you're worried about that you're looking at, specifically foreign interference, potentially in Michigan.

BENSON: Yes. What we really need to be focusing on and what I wish Congress would focus more on is the actual protection of the security of our elections and the security of our election workers. There are more threats and more sophisticated bad actors acting to influence our election officials and try to interfere with our citizen's understanding of what's real and what's not. And this time more than ever, and more than -- more than we saw in 2020, we see foreign bad actors, Russia and China in particular, attempting to spread misinformation, turbocharged for the use of artificial intelligence to confuse citizens about their rights, their vote and to try to delegitimize democracy.

BLITZER: So, specifically, what kind of disinformation are they supposedly spreading?

BENSON: We're particularly worried about the use of artificial intelligence to create deep fakes of election officials that will say things like the election has been canceled or other types of things like that, that could be -- that are truly false but could mislead people into not voting or otherwise delegitimize the process entirely.

BLITZER: Secretary Benson, I got to cut this short because I want to go to Louisville right now. This news conference is beginning, the internal investigation into the golfer Scottie Scheffler's arrest. Let's watch this.

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CRAIG GREENBERG, MAYOR OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY: Transparency is incredibly important to our administration, to LMPD, to our community. Given the importance of transparency, we're releasing some information and some video today, as we committed to, following the tragic events and series of events that happened thereafter. To restate what we've already said, we are not aware at this time of any video footage, which captures the initial interaction between LMPD and Mr. Scheffler. We are releasing today video footage at the time of Mr. Scheffler's arrest from two video cameras.

[11:40:04]

One of those video cameras is a fixed pole camera as -- from the other side of Shelbyville Road, and the other camera is from the dashcam of a police car. At the request of the county attorney's office, any additional video or evidence related to this case, will not be released until the conclusion of the legal process. Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel is now going to speak to the investigation of the arresting officer with respect to the lack of use of body-worn camera. Chief.

CHIEF JACQUELYN GWINN-VILLAROEL, LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY POLICE: Good morning. Thank you all for joining us. Thank you for your patience as we worked together all available facts regarding this incident. Obviously, it is of great public interest, so we appreciate you providing us the time to ensure that we release accurate information while the judicial process is occurring.

We are grateful to PGA officials and Mayor Greenberg for bringing this prestigious event to our beautiful city on last week. But tragically, last Friday, we lost a beloved community member who was working the event. As we stated in our preliminary public message, LMPD expresses sincere condolences to the family and friends of John Mills, who was fatally struck by a shuttle bus outside of Valhalla Golf Club. By all accounts, we have learned that Mr. Mills was known for his kindness and dedication to our community. His passing has left a notable void in the golfing community and throughout the city.

Regarding the results of our internal investigation, Detective Gillis did have an encounter, as we know with Mr. Scottie Scheffler. Detective Gillis should have turned on his body-worn camera but did not. His failure to do so is a violation of LMPD policy on uniforms and equipment, subject category body-worn camera, and he was sustained for a violation of policy 4.31.6 procedures and 4.31.7 operation.

Detective Gillis did not have his body-worn camera operationally ready as required by our policy. He was performing a law enforcement action as defined in our policy. Further in Section 4.31.7 states members will maintain their B.W.C. in a constant state of operational readiness.

Detective Gillis was counseled by his supervisor. We understand the seriousness of the failure to capture this interaction, which is why our officer has received corrective action for this policy violation. This corrective action where it has been noted on a performance observation form, which is in line with our disciplinary protocols and practices.

We respect the judicial process, and we will allow the courts to proceed accordingly. We will not be able to make any further statements as relates to this matter. At the conclusion of this press conference, as you've already heard, we will release the documents as follows.

You will find the investigative findings memorandum by the commander of the unit. You will also see the failure to activate form completed by Detective Gillis. You also find our policy located as well, as well as the two aforementioned video footage that the mayor has mentioned. Also, all this information will be uploaded to our YouTube page.

I would like to take a point of privilege to thank again, Mayor Greenberg, the local media, and the national media for making every effort to provide fair reporting. But I also want to take a moment to thank all law enforcement officials around the nation for the work that you do every day. And I'm truly grateful for LMPD's dedication to keeping this community safe here in Louisville. We thank you and we appreciate your support as we navigate through this process. Mayor.

GREENBERG: Thank you, Chief. In Louisville, around the country, but especially here in Louisville, after the recent past, activating body- worn cameras is critically important for our police department to have evidence, to maintain the community's trust, to be transparent. To Chief, I appreciate the speed at which with you have conducted the investigation into this situation. You've dealt with it transparently and straightforwardly. And we are all looking to move forward.

[11:45:19]

I know there are a lot of questions right now from every member of the media here and people across the entire city. But we have to respect the legal process. And that's what we are going to do. And we're going to let that play out. We want to move forward. Mr. Scheffler has made it clear that he wants to be moved forward. And I know that everyone else involved at LMPD wants to move forward.

LMPD needs to be focused on reducing the amount of violent crime in our city, reducing the amount of gun violence, protecting, and keeping people safe. That is what they do every day. That's what they've done since last Friday when they were working with a detail out of Valhalla, and on Shelbyville Road. And that's what they will continue to do.

So again, we understand there are a lot of questions. We are going to respect the legal process. And I'm very hopeful that on June 3, the next step in the legal process, that all parties are in a position to move forward. Thank you all very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: All right. So, there you have it. The latest from the mayor of Louisville, Craig Greenberg, and the police chief Jacquelyn Gwinn- Villaroel. We're watching all of this unfold. We're expecting more video to be released but not the body camera video of the police officer who arrested Scottie Scheffler.

Steve Moore is still with us, a CNN law enforcement contributor right now. Your bottom-line assessment of what we just heard, Steve.

MOORE: It was a nothing. What they basically said is the officer was -- should have turned on his camera. He was counseled by his supervisor, and he would -- and it was noted in his file that he didn't.

That was -- I'm not so much criticizing how they proceeded on that. But you know, we have heard from anonymous sources and some sources that have been named that there is concern that there's an overcharge in this matter. The fact that they're alleging that the number one golfer in the world intentionally used his car to injure an officer, I would think they would have wanted to address that further if they had any doubt about the charges.

So, I thought that we would get more. And I was kind of surprised that we didn't have the district attorney there to discuss the charges themselves. They may have felt that opened up another can of worms. But it isn't the -- it isn't the complete openness and honesty that they said that they were showing us.

BLITZER: Yes. We were expecting maybe a word that they were dropping that felony assault charge against Scottie Scheffler. We did not hear that. We'll see if that comes up later, but we'll get more information. We're continuing to watch this story.

All right, thank you very, very much for that analysis. We'll take a quick break. Much more news right after this.

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[11:52:50]

BLITZER: Welcome back. I'm back with the Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. I want to wrap up what we were talking about before we were interrupted by that news conference. You were telling me about concerns in Michigan right now about foreign interference in the upcoming elections, specifically Russia and China.

BENSON: Yes.

BLITZER: What are you learning?

BENSON: Well, we know that their goal is not necessarily to tamper with our systems, but to tamper with voters' minds, to get citizens thinking that their votes not going to count or that the results of the election are anything other than an accurate reflection of the will of the people. And so, our job is to equip citizens to be critical consumers of information. Whether it's artificial intelligence or other types of misinformation coming their way, they've got to be able to reject it and not be fooled by either domestic or foreign bad actors trying to confuse them about their -- the legitimacy of our democracy.

BLITZER: So, this is an investigation that's ongoing in Michigan right now.

BENSON: We take it very seriously. And we're working with federal officials at DHS and other places to make sure -- and the FBI to make sure. We also seek accountability for any bad actors who try to confuse our citizens or spread lies about our elections. But we'll continue to monitor this throughout the months ahead because it's only going to get noisier as we get closer to November.

BLITZER: Let's stay in close touch.

BENSON: We will.

BLITZER: I'm interested in this. I want to watch what's going on. Secretary Benson, thanks very much for joining us.

BENSON: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: There's more news we're following including some growing urgency right now for the families of five Americans arrested and detained in Turks and Caicos for allegedly carrying ammunition onto the island. One of them pleading guilty earlier this week with a sentencing set for next Tuesday. All of them face a minimum of 12 years in prison.

Joining us now is Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma. One of the detainees is from Oklahoma. And, Governor, I know you have publicly called on President Biden to intervene. What specifically do you want him to do? And have you heard anything from the White House?

GOV. KEVIN STITT (R-OK): Yes. Well, I actually, had a conversation with his -- with his chief of staff yesterday. They've been great. They're -- I know they're checking into it. But just Americans know there were no guns involved.

These people were on vacations down there with their families. The Oklahoman great family, he was there with his wife on a 40th birthday trip with a couple of other couples and they were caught with a couple of you know, ammunition rounds from like a deer hunting trip that were accidentally left in the backpack. So, this punishment doesn't fit the crime at all.

[11:55:10]

And I think Americans need to know, hey, let's hit it -- hit them in their pocketbook. Let's stop traveling to the Turks. We need the State Department to make that recommendation, or we need cooler heads to prevail, and we need these Americans home.

I've led a letter with Governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Youngkin of Virginia to their -- to their government officials. And this makes no sense whatsoever. And I think I'm glad you guys are covering this.

BLITZER: Well, I want to stay in close touch with you, Governor, and we'll keep on top of this story. Important story these Americans being detained because apparently, they had some old bullets in their luggage when they arrived in Turks and Caicos. Governor Stitt, thank you very much for joining us.

STITT: Thank you so much.

BLITZER: And to our viewers, thank you very much for joining me here in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. I'll be back, of course later tonight at 6:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

Stay with us. "INSIDE POLITICS" with Dana Bash starts right after a very short break.

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