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Erin Burnett Outfront
Mayor Suspends Officers Involved in Case Where a Black Man Died After His Head Was Covered & He Was Pinned to the Ground; Virus Disproportionately Affects People of Color; DHS: Russia Amplifying False Claims About Mail-In Voter Fraud, President Trump Continues to Echo the Same False Claims; CDC Projects Up to 211,000 Deaths by Sept. 26; Accounts for About 1,000 More Deaths a Day Until Then; Dr. Fauci: "People Can Feel Confident" That Vaccine Data Will be Examined Appropriately; White House Coronavirus Task Force Reports Show Some States Ignored Recommendations to Mask Mandates; Biden Talks to Jacob Blake, Meets Family During Kenosha Trip. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired September 03, 2020 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: And pedicures. May they rest in peace.
I'm Jim Acosta. Thanks very much for watching. Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, the CDC projects a thousand Americans may die from coronavirus every day until late September. This as Dr. Fauci warns the U.S. could be on the verge of another deadly spike in cases.
Plus, seven officers suspended after a black man died. His body had been pinned to the ground, his head covered. The victim's daughter is OUTFRONT.
And an OUTFRONT investigation, President Trump claiming mail-in voting is rife with fraud, but that's a lie. What our Drew Griffin uncovered? Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Erica Hill in tonight for Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, an alarming new prediction. The CDC now estimates the U.S. death toll could hit 211,000 by September 26th. Now, that would mean about a thousand people dying in this country every day until the end of September and, frankly, this is where we've been now for more than a month.
Eighteen states now seeing a rise in new infection, many of those in the northeast and the Midwest, including Iowa, which is now seeing the highest rate of new cases in the United States. According to the coronavirus task force report, Iowa is also one of six states that we now know ignored urgent recommendations by the task force to enact mask mandates.
Now that's according to task force reports released by a House subcommittee. The six states, at the time, were seeing an alarming uptick in the number of cases, yet their governors, all Republican governors, refused to follow the experts' advice, much like the president, who's also rejected any calls for a mask mandate.
Also tonight, a new warning from the nation's top infectious disease expert.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: We don't want to see a repeat of the surges that we have seen following of the holiday weekend. Particularly as we go on the other side of Labor Day and enter into the fall, we want to go into that with a running start in the right direction. We don't want to go into that with another surge that we have to turn around again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Another surge, that's because, of course, in the weeks after Memorial Day cases surged in states that opened too quickly. Spikes that have continued throughout the summer. And we know deaths lag by at least two to four weeks behind new cases. And as we just told you, deaths in this country seem to be stuck at a sobering plateau of more than a thousand reported each day.
At least 30 states have either paused or rolled back the reopening plans and yet tonight, the message from the President is not one of concern about the virus, it is not a plea or a suggestion to buckle down, so the country can move forward. The President's message, it's time to move on.
He's holding a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and as you can see, much like previous rallies don't really see a lot of masks there, doesn't appear to be much social distancing.
Kaitlan Collins is OUTFRONT live outside the White House. So Kaitlan, the President, as we know, is desperate to move past this pandemic as soon as possible. Of course, the pandemic doesn't play politics.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, it doesn't. And you are right to point out by his actions tonight, his actions over the last several days, he is acting like the pandemic isn't necessarily still going on by holding these rallies where you don't see a lot of people wearing masks or his acceptance speech at the White House last Thursday, 1,500 people very few masks there.
And, of course, what the President sees as his ticket out of this pandemic is a vaccine. And so we've seen how he has ramped up pressure publicly wanting one. But today, what's notable is you saw two top officials working very closely on the vaccine effort really cast doubt on this idea that you've seen some White House officials bring up in recent weeks, which is that there could be a vaccine not just by the end of the year, which some people have said is still an optimistic projection, but that there could be one by Election Day.
That's something that the President even floated last week. And now today we have Dr. Anthony Fauci saying that he sees it as very unlikely there will be a vaccine ready to go by October. And even the vaccine chief who's working on this on Operation Warp Speed that they brought in primarily to do this in that flashy Rose Garden announcement.
Today, 1900 [00:04:17] said on NPR, he also thinks it's inconceivable that there is going to be one by October. Now, of course, the questions have come out of that is whether or not there's going to be political pressure on these officials to produce a vaccine by Election Day because you've seen the President say he believed people, the FDA were deliberately delaying progress to hurt him politically.
They have said politics is not going to factor into their decision that an independent board is going to look at the data after the trials are completed. But of course, we've seen what the President is saying publicly and White House officials too when it comes to these emergency authorizations that you've seen play out. So, of course, that is the concern that people still have Erica.
HILL: Yes. Kaitlan Collins live at the White House. All right. Kaitlan, thank you.
[19:05:00]
Also tonight, some states that have been doing pretty well now seeing an uptick in new cases just ahead of another holiday weekend. Alexandra Field is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT(voice over): It would be unlikely but not impossible to have a coronavirus vaccine as soon as the end of next month according to Dr. Anthony Fauci. Still, he insists science will lead any vaccine approval process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: The FDA has been very explicit that they are going to make a decision based on the data as it comes in. The vaccine would not be approved for the American public unless it was indeed both safe and effective and I keep emphasizing both safe and effective.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD(voice over): Those assurances come after the CDC sent out guidance for how states should prepare to distribute millions of doses of a potential vaccine by late October. It's faster than public health officials have previously estimated. For two weeks, the U.S. has been averaging some 40,000 new cases a day on each of the last few days more than a thousand deaths.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. PHIL MURPHY (D) NEW JERSEY: Let's be clear where we are, the virus is not done with us yet, not by a longshot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD(voice over): In the Northeast where states had made significant and sustained progress against the virus, a number of states are now seeing increases in COVID-19 cases. There's a new crop of hotspots in Midwest.
Missouri is now in the so-called red zone according to the White House task force, which is recommending the state shut down its bars and mandate masks to stop the spread. The same recommendations were made for Iowa, which has the second highest rate of COVID cases in the nation.
Three weeks after a massive motorcycle rally, South Dakota has the country's highest case rate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: We're seeing now in certain states, particularly states, for example, like Montana, the Dakotas, Michigan, Minnesota, that there is an uptick in test positivity, particularly among young people 19 to 25. That's predictive, Jim, that if they don't do the kinds of things we're talking about, we're going to see a surge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD(voice over): And there are even more concerns about another surge with the holiday weekend coming up. The Nation saw big spikes after both Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DWAYNE JOHNSON, ACTOR: We have all tested positive for COVID-19.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FIELD(voice over): Celebrity Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson urging caution after he, his wife and two children caught the virus after spending time with friends.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: If you guys are having family and friends over to your house, you know them you trust them, they've been quarantining, just like you guys, you still never know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FIELD: Erica, while there may be high hopes about fast tracking a vaccine, we're also hearing from pharmaceutical companies that would be bringing a possible vaccine to market. The CEO of Pfizer is saying that political pressure is irrelevant to the approval process, safety and efficacy are what matters. The CEO of Merck is also saying that public confidence is what will be critical in the end, Erica.
HILL: Alexandra Field OUTFRONT for us tonight. Thank you.
Also OUTFRONT tonight Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Dr. Jonathan Reiner, Director of the Cardiac Cath Lab at George Washington University Hospital. He also advised the White House medical team under President George W. Bush.
Sanjay, just picking up on what we heard from Alex Field there about what we're hearing from some of these companies that are working on vaccines also what we heard from Dr. Fauci today. Dr. Fauci saying it's unlikely that we're going to have this vaccine by October and we did also hear from the head of Pfizer who said they could have enough data by October. How do we sift through all of that? Where do we really stand tonight?
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you got to keep in mind that this is a very accelerated schedule that we're talking about. I think people forget that this is a disease that we didn't even know anything about a year ago. So the idea that we're talking about a vaccine by October is incredibly fast and I think many would argue who aren't directly related with the vaccine world, maybe the too fast, I mean, it's unprecedented really.
Also, keep in mind the idea of trying to speed this up, authorize it under emergency use is usually done because you don't have an alternative. Somebody is in the hospital dying, you need a medicine to treat that person, that's a different situation. Vaccines given to healthy people and the alternative to the vaccine is we wear masks longer and we physically distance longer, not necessary shut things down but do those things, so that's going to be the question I think.
If we have enough data, then sure, but it's hard to understand how we'd have enough data by that point, when the alternative is that wear mask and physically distance and let the data come in and be sure you really have it all figured out.
HILL: All about the data. When it comes to the data, we heard from Dr. Fauci today too who said he's confident that the system will work as it's supposed to, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAUCI: Data has always been the thing that has driven me and my colleagues here at the NIH as well as the FDA. The FDA and the CDC, they're data-driven organizations. So I think that people can feel confident that when these data come in, they'll be examined appropriately and the decision made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:10:03]
HILL: Dr. Reiner, Secretary Azar basically said the same thing today as well saying look, we're going to follow the science here. But it's hard to forget what we saw in terms of emergency use authorization with hydroxychloroquine or what we just experienced when it comes to convalescent plasma. So, Dr. Reiner, how confident are you given what we've seen thus far that we will continue or the scientist, I should say, the agencies will be able to continue following the science and the data without any added pressure?
JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, I'm confident that the agencies are capable of doing that. The professional scientists and physicians and staff at the FDA are the best in the world. The problem, as you said, is that over the last few months, the political leadership, the appointed leadership of the FDA has raised questions about whether they will let the professional legacy staff do their work in an unhindered fashion.
And again, the EUA two weeks ago for convalescent plasma was a prime example of that as was even more egregious approval of the EUA for hydroxychloroquine in March with zero data. If these agencies are left to do their work, I am confident the American people will get a safe and effective vaccine. We have a saying in the procedure world here in the hospital that in an emergency, we move quickly, but we don't rush and that's what I want to see from the FDA and that's what Tony Fauci is talking about.
Moving quickly but not rushing, doing all the due diligence and I think if left to their own natural instincts, that's what the FDA will do.
HILL: Sanjay, I was fascinated to see too as we're learning more about the recommendations that have come out from the White House task force to specific states. These six states who were urged to put mask mandates in place as cases were starting to surge, including your home State of Georgia where you are now.
It's fascinating that we keep seeing the science and that sometimes the officials, I mean, we're, what, seven months into this, the fact that some of that science is still being ignored. You talk to officials, and scientists and experts every day I know Sanjay. Do you get a sense that some of it is starting to sink in a little bit more even in maybe some of these six states that may not have necessarily wanted to follow that urgent recommendation for a masked mandate? Is anything starting to change?
GUPTA: Yes. That's a good question, Erica. I mean, I'll tell you this, I think in the beginning maybe there was some understandable confusion about masks because in the beginning - and you heard you shouldn't need to wear a mask unless you're a healthcare worker. But pretty quickly that guidance changed.
I don't think it's a question of it not sinking in to be perfectly candid. I think people do understand that masks are helpful, that they should wear them that it could help decrease change the trajectory of this pandemic in a beneficial way. So, I mean, this is political. This is politics at this point.
I mean, the science is not, I think, the problem. I hope it's not the problem because I think it's been explained pretty well at this point. I was really struck, I was talking to Michael Dowling who's the CEO of Northwell medical system in New York. They took care of 70,000 COVID patients over a few months, one of the busiest hospital systems for COVID.
And he shared with me that they took care of all these patients, their health care workers actually getting COVID at a very low rate, lower than the general population. Think about that Erica, health care workers in hospitals inside taking care of COVID patients, COVID is circulating and they have a lower rate of infection than the general population. Why is that?
Masks. They were wearing masks. It makes a huge difference. So again, I think that the knowledge is there, but the will for whatever reason, I think politics is a big part of it is not there and everywhere.
HILL: Yes. Well, listen, we'll continue to talk about the important science and I think that is such a great example why the masks are so important because they work.
Dr. Reiner, as we mentioned you're the Head of the Cardiac Cath Lab at George Washington University Hospital. I was really struck by what we heard from Penn State today, a third of big 10 athletes who had contracted coronavirus, then also we're dealing with this inflammation of the heart muscle. This is something we heard about a few weeks ago.
When you heard that information, though, I'm just curious your take on that. What should we be taking away from this?
REINER: Yes. So it's very interesting. There was a paper published about a month ago in The Journal of the American Medical Association from Germany, which did MRI scans on about a hundred people who had recovered from COVID-19 weeks out. And an MRI is a very sensitive tool that can find very sensitive markers of inflammation scar.
And in 60 percent of those patients, they could find seven weeks out evidence of some identifiable inflammation.
[19:15:00]
Now, whether that's clinically significant is yet to be seen. But the docs at Penn State are worried that when they looked at their athletes who had recovered from COVID-19, they found myocardial inflammation in 30 percent. Will that impact an athlete's performance? You have an elite athlete who works at a very high level and take a few percent of their performance off, does that make them less than an elite athlete?
No one knows. This is a new disease. But the big point really is that this disease is not risk free for young people. You can survive and still have problems going forward. And for a young person, we're talking about 65 years from now. We're not just talking about over the next few years, we're looking at their health 60 years out into the future.
HILL: Still so much to learn with this disease as we know. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thank you both.
REINER: My pleasure.
HILL: OUTFRONT next, Joe Biden traveling to Kenosha, Wisconsin meeting with Jacob Blake's family, Striking a very different tone than what we heard from the President on his visit there.
Plus, seven officers now suspended after covering a black man's head spinning into the ground. That man died. Tonight we have new details about the moments leading up to the incident.
And a CNN special report, blacks, Latinos and Native Americans are far more likely to contract coronavirus and also are more likely to die, but why?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:21]
HILL: New tonight, Joe Biden visiting Kenosha, Wisconsin just two days after President Trump's trip and doing two things the President did not, meeting privately with the family of Jacob Blake and also speaking with Blake himself on the phone.
Biden also offering this message as Trump is accused of looking to increase tensions over the unrest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The words of a president matter. No matter if they're good, bad or indifferent, they matter. No matter how competent or incompetent the president is they can send a nation to war, they can bring peace, they can make markets rise or fall and they can do things that I've observed can make a difference just by what they say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: OUTFRONT now Astead Herndon, a Political Reporter for The New York Times and CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger.
So Gloria, we've got two candidates, one city, two very different messages.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Completely alternate universes and alternate messages. I mean, the message you just saw there from the vice president was delivered in sorrow, not in anger, was quite pastoral in its own way.
And when we saw Donald Trump go to that community, it seemed to me to be a little bit more militant. He met with the police, but Joe Biden met with all community leaders, including members of the police force.
And so I think that you see that what the President was doing was essentially trying to stir the pot, rally his base a little bit. And what Joe Biden was trying to do was quite different, it sort of calm things down in Kenosha.
HILL: I want to play just a few of those moments, because they really are these starkly different messages.
BORGER: Yes.
HILL: Let's take a listen to some of what we heard in the last couple days.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Kenosha has been ravaged by anti-police and anti-American riots.
BIDEN: I think ultimately what's been unleashed with a lot of people is they understand that fear doesn't solve problems, only hope does.
TRUMP: We have to condemn the dangerous anti-police rhetoric. It's getting more and more. It's very unfair.
BIDEN: I think we've reached an inflection point in American history. I honest to god believe we have an enormous opportunity.
TRUMP: Reckless far left politicians continue to push the destructive message that our nation and our law enforcement are oppressive or racist.
BIDEN: I promise you win or lose I'm going down fighting and I'm going down fighting for racial equality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Astead, we know those messages are being chosen for very specific reasons. The question though is which one is resonating tonight?
ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That is the central question. I think that what we do know is that Joe Biden is trying to give you a reminder of what presidents usually do in these situations. And whatever types of contention and moments of division, we have often seen presidents of both parties try to go into situations and be uniters, be comforters. And I think that that's what his mission was today, trying to show folks, hey, remember when you had a president that did this.
Donald Trump's message is a different one. He is trying to unleash the kind of energy and passion that he thinks drives his electoral chances in November. That is one that traffics in racial division. That's one that capitalizes off of that in those mostly white suburbs and in white rural regions that are his base.
And so that is what he is trying to do, but we do not really have evidence that it's working. Out of the RNC, we had a bunch of polling yesterday that said even in Wisconsin a Fox News poll saying that folks trust Joe Biden more on policing and crime than they do Donald Trump. He is trying that message. We do not know that it is working and that is largely because voters have just rejected his handling of the protest justice, they've rejected his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
HILL: In terms of that polling, actually I want to put up some more of those numbers, Astead, so thanks for bringing me exactly where we're hoping to go. When we look at this new Fox News polling, looking at these swing states, Arizona, North Carolina, Wisconsin, you look Joe Biden ahead of President Trump in some of those states and we're looking at this specifically who do you trust better on policing and criminal justice as you brought up.
When you look at those numbers there, I mean, even in North Carolina, he's within the margin of error, the fact, Gloria, that the President has really bet on law and order and to Astead's point if that does not seem to be giving him the bounce that likely he was hoping for, I mean, do we think we're going to see a change at all in message here?
BORGER: Who knows. I doubt it.
[19:25:01]
But there are two things, first of all, he's trying to motivate his base. And he wants to sort of say to them, look at what Joe Biden would do to your country and you need to get out there and vote, so go vote. And he feels that this is a message that motivates his base. And he's been losing a little bit, not a lot, but he could afford to kind of ramp that up.
The second thing is, he wants to convince some of those suburban women that he's been losing that, wait a minute, you should be very afraid, you should be very afraid in the suburbs. They're going to take away your suburbs or whatever.
And so I think what he's trying to do is peel off some of those suburban women and perhaps some of those suburban men. As the polls show, it isn't necessarily going to be successful because after all people cannot unsee what they have seen for the last four years.
And so people don't kind of talk turn on a dime like that and say, oh, wait a minute, I'm going to forget COVID and I'm going to forget the way the President has behaved. And oh, yes, this Jacob Blake is going to make me change my mind. I'm not so sure. It may motivate his base a little bit, but I don't know that it changes anyone's mind.
HILL: Astead, do you think this is causing concern at all within the campaign?
HERNDON: I think that it has added a challenge to Biden's campaign. You've seen what they've done coming out of the RNC, which is four straight nights of Republican saying, hey, Joe Biden supports defunding the police which we know he doesn't. Joe Biden has not condemned rioting and looting which we know he has.
They went on a kind of what an offensive-defensive message. They put up an ad showing him condemning rioting and looting but also having an ad that saying he's listening and supporting protesters in the Black Lives Matter movement. That is the kind of message and strategy for the Biden campaign that he can speak to both of those constituencies.
I remember earlier in the summer I was out in Waukesha County in Wisconsin and the Democratic Party there was saying that they have gotten a couple calls from folks saying, hey, I want to vote for Joe Biden, but I'm worried that he's against the police. And that is something that they said they were very happy to be able to point to his messaging and say, hey, this is not something that he is supported. That's not something that is one of his stances and he has come out for police.
People know Joe Biden. They know his 90s record and that's what's helping him insulate him here on this issue.
HILL: Astead Herndon, Gloria Borger, thank you both.
HERNDON: Thank you.
HILL: OUTFRONT next, a black man dies after police cover his head, pin him to the ground. Seven officers now suspended. The victim's daughter is with us next.
And a warning tonight from the Department of Homeland Security, Russia is trying to cast doubt on the upcoming election by echoing President Trump's baseless claims.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:31:43]
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Breaking news, the mayor of Rochester, New York, suspending all the officers involved in a disturbing incident where police put a spit sock, a type of hood, on a black man's head and pinned him to the ground. He later died. The entire incident caught on the officer's body cameras.
Polo Sandoval is OUTFRONT and I do want to warn you, some of the footage you are about to see is disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joe Prude says he called Rochester, New York Police to help his brother, and they killed him.
JOE PRUDE, BROTHER: He cried for help. It went unanswered.
SANDOVAL: March 23rd, he called 911 to say his brother Daniel Prude was experiencing a mental health episode, hours after being released from the hospital and maybe on drugs.
Police body camera video shows different angles and it shows Prude naked on the street when police arrive.
POLICE OFFICER: Behind your, back don't move.
SANDOVAL: He complies and is handcuffed.
POLICE OFFICER: Are you Daniel?
DANIEL PRUDE: Yes, sir.
SANDOVAL: But moments later, visibly agitated, Prude yells at officers and moves around on the pavement.
Then, three minutes after the initial encounter, a hood, often referred to on law enforcement as a spit sock, is placed over Prude's head. They say he was spitting and said he had the coronavirus.
The hood, which can prevent transmission of some diseases, appears to distress Prude further. The officers demand he lay still.
When he does not comply and tries to stand, three officers physically restrain him and hold him to the ground.
One officer has his knee on Prude's back, and the others hold his head to the pavement. During the struggle, the officers realize Prude is spinning and appears to have vomited. Soon after, the paramedics started treatment.
POLICE OFFICER: It's freezing out here. He's been naked for 30 minutes.
SANDOVAL: When officers roll him over, there is no pulse. Prude was announced brain dead at the hospital and died a week later.
The autopsy ruled the death a homicide caused by complications of asphyxia and the sitting of a physical restraint, and further sites excited delirium and acute intoxication of phencyclidine or PCP as cause of death.
Since the video became public, protests and demands for the protesters be fired and charged with murder.
MAYOR LOVELY WARREN, ROCHESTER, NY: Mr. Daniel Prude was failed by our police department, our mental health care system, our society, and he was failed by me.
SANDOVAL: Today, the mayor of Rochester suspended seven officers, inviting the police union to sue if they disagreed. The union previously said that while it is still in the process of gathering information, it has concerns about the incident.
CNN is reaching out to the suspended officers and the union for additional comment.
JOE PRUDE: It hurts, man, because they took something away from me, a part of my family tree is gone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: During her announcement of the police officers suspension earlier today, Mayor Warren also went into detail about what you knew and when, saying that she was initially back in March led to believe that Mr. Prude had died from a drug overdose while in police custody.
[19:35:02]
But it wasn't until August 6th that she was told about the police officers' questionable actions, and then obviously a month later today is when we saw the action, the suspension. When asked why it took nearly a month, Mayor Warren, Erica, explaining that it was an issue with the city's legal department that recommended they wait for action while the state attorney general investigated the incident. But then we heard today from the state attorney general, who said, not only would they like to see the investigation, but highly encourage an internal investigation up here in Rochester as this family continues asking for many more answers -- Erica.
HILL: Yeah, that's for sure.
Polo Sandoval, live for us tonight, Polo, thank you.
OUTFRONT now, to Tashyra Prude, Daniel Prude's daughter, and her attorney, Tony Romanucci.
We appreciate you taking the time to join us.
First of all, Tashyra, just our condolences. It is hard enough to lose a parent and to have to go through it again publicly. That cannot be easy to put it lightly.
When you first saw this video, months after your father's death, what was your first reaction?
TASHYRA PRUDE, DAUGHTER OF MAN WHO DIED OF SUFFOCATION AFTER POLICE ARREST: I was immediately filled with rage, but I was also saddened, because I had never thought I would see my father in a situation like that, especially something that was out of my control and I had no way to be there to comfort him or help him through that kind of situation. It just -- it put a serious burden on me, and I felt like it was something that will stick with me for the rest of my life.
HILL: As we just heard from Polo there and also from the mayor in Polo's story, she said both she and the city, many, others failed your father. I know she has apologized to your family. We know the officers have been suspended. An investigation has now been a highly encouraged.
What else would you like to see happen at this point?
PRUDE: I would like to see them be fired and charged with murder. There is video footage of these people suffocating my father. My father was murdered by these police officers. There is no reason why they should be on a paid suspension.
They should be arrested, and they should be tried as the killers that they are. They are murderers. And there is no other way to put this.
I feel like this is a slap in the face to us and it's a slap on the wrist to these officers. They are getting away with murder, as we speak.
HILL: Do you feel you are getting the information you need at this point, Tashyra?
PRUDE: In a way, yes I am. But I feel like I would be getting even more information if the mayor actually reached out to me personally. I haven't actually spoken to that mayor. I haven't spoken to the police department. All the information that I am getting has been from tabloids and from my attorneys. That's it. HILL: So you haven't heard anything.
Tony, have you heard anything directly from the mayor, from the city at this point?
ANTONIO ROMANUCCI, ATTORNEY FOR DANIEL PRUDE'S DAUGHTER: No, no. We -- yeah, we have not heard anything yet. We certainly would expect to hear something. I think that would be appropriate for the mayor to reach out or for the chief to reach out and say something to us, or to Tashyra. That would be the appropriate thing to do.
HILL: One of the paramedics who is on the scene, Tony, said that nothing looked over the top. And it appeared the actions who are appropriate. What's your response to that, Tony?
ROMANUCCI: Well, clearly, we disagree. I think anyone who is reasonable, who takes a look at this video, can decide for themselves that what happened there was unreasonable. When you look at the circumstances, as you heard, the totality of the circumstances, you have got a subdued, nonviolent, and noncriminal, handcuffed person who is placed in a prone position with a hood over his head.
He posed no danger to these officers. As a matter of, fact during this video encounter, I saw these officers smirk and smile. That to me is clear evidence of no fear of great bodily harm or danger.
So what they did to him certainly crossed any line of reasonable police behavior. All that was, Erica, was a justification. It's easy to justify the actions of a police officer after the fact.
But the video doesn't lie. The video is transparent. And what these officers did was not reasonable.
HILL: Tashyra, based on what you were first, told what we've first learned about when it came to your father's death, now that the video is out, I know that offered you summer answers, but also brings up so many more questions for you, I would think, as well. As you mentioned, you would like to hear directly from the mayor, you would like to hear directly from the city. What can you tell, us though, about your dad?
I think in these moments, it is so important to remember that there is a life that was lost. And we need to know who that person was. And he is your dad.
PRUDE: First off, I want to start by saying that my dad is not the animal that they treated him like. That is a human being. That is my father. That is somebody's brother, son, cousin, nephew, like this was one of the most loving people I have ever known in my life.
My father was a protector. He would do anything for his family, anything for his kids. He had a bright personality. He is the type of person, that if you are going for something, you go to him and he is the one who will give you words of encouragement, or he will be the one to tell you a joke to make you laugh, if he knows you are having a bad day. He picks up on what you have on a bad day and does anything in his
powers to see you smile. And I'm hurt that the media doesn't -- didn't give him a chance to be seen in that state. They see him in a distressed mental state, and now everyone is viewing him as this mental patient that he is not.
HILL: Tashyra Prude, thank you for sharing memories of your dad. Thank you for being here with us tonight. It is not easy. Thank you again for your time.
Tony Romanucci as well, thank you.
ROMANUCCI: Thank you, Erica. Goodnight.
HILL: OUTFRONT next, a CNN special report. Statistics reveal a person's race is a risk factor when it comes to dying from coronavirus. But why?
And tonight, a warning that Russia is peddling the same baseless claims about mail-in voting that President Trump is pushing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The ballots are lost. There is fraud. There is theft. It's happening all over the place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:45:38]
HILL: All week long, we've been looking at what we know, and what we do not know about the coronavirus, and it's immense impact. But we do know is that Black, Latino, and Native Americans, are nearly three times as likely to be infected as white people. They are also more than likely to have tragic outcomes.
Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH GAMBRELL, SON OF COVID-19 VICTIM: This is the last picture my parents overtook together.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It has been five months since Keith Gambrell lost his father to coronavirus, and overtime, his sadness has been replaced with anger.
GAMBRELL: I find myself more temperamental, I would say, about my dad. I do not think it was fair how he was treated, so it makes me very, very upset.
CARROLL: Gambrell says, days before his death, his father had all of the telltale signs of coronavirus. High fever, cough, so much trouble breathing, he slept sitting up in a recliner. He says his father, Gary Fowler, went to the emergency room of three
Detroit metro area hospitals, but was turned away. All three of the hospital saying, they do not discriminate, two adding they were following CDC guidelines, only admitting the sickest patients.
GAMBRELL: He said, take me home, they are not going to help me. They keep turning me away, they keep telling me it's bronchitis. I keep telling them that it's not, and they won't listen to me.
CARROLL: Gary Fowler died at home, on April 7th. He was 56.
That would not be the only life that the virus took from the family. Gambrell's grandfather also died from COVID-19.
GAMBRELL: It was very frustrating. It was heartbreaking. It's a bitter. It's America.
CARROLL: In the United States, the numbers show communities of color have been hit particularly hard by COVID-19. African-Americans are dying at a rate nearly two and a half times higher than whites. Latinos, and Native Americans, are dying at a rate more than one and a half times higher.
DR. ESMAEIL PORSA, CEO, HARRIS HEALTH SYSTEM: There is an inequality, and a social injustice, if I may, describe at us, that is existed in this country for several decades. All COVID-19 has done is really just brought it to light.
CARROLL: Dr. Esmaeil Porsa is the CEO of Harris Health System, which services predominantly minority populations in Houston. Health experts say, a number of factors put communities of color at greater risk when it comes to COVID-19, including exposure at work, living conditions, and chronic health conditions.
PORSA: The solution is improving economic conditions of the populations. When you do that, by doing that, toward you are helping everything else that befalls that population.
CARROLL (on camera): How does it feel walking like this now?
CHRISTELL CADET, COVID-19 SURVIVOR: A hundred and fifty percent improvement compared to before.
CARROLL: Christell Cadet, a paramedic with the New York Fire Department, suffered from asthma. She contracted the virus in March, and, ended up on life support.
CADET: Everyone pushed to make sure I was given all of the care possible.
CARROLL: Cadet says, were it not for her mother, who is a nurse, and the fire department, her outcome could have been drastically different.
CADET: I think without that support, there would have been a level of ignorance, and blindness, over what I need it. CARROLL: Gambrell says he knew what he parents needed, the day his
father died, he says his mother, Cheryl Fowler (ph), was turned away at one hospital.
GAMBRELL: The nurse looked at my mother, and told her, ma'am, there is nothing we can do for you here. Go home drink tea. Take time off for your fever. Get to a hospital if you feel like you really need to go to a hospital, like we are here for a reason.
CARROLL: Gambrell drove to another hospital across town, where she was admitted, and soon needed a ventilator. She survived. He, and her, brothers also ended up testing positive for COVID-19.
GAMBRELL: One day I had my taste buds, one day I won't.
CARROLL: Gambrell says he's come away from the experience with the belief that, if his parents had been white, they would have received better treatment.
GAMBRELL: They wouldn't have been sent home to affect everyone in the household if they were of another race.
CARROLL: Now, Gambrell says he is speaking up for his community, and his family.
GAMBRELL: I took my sadness and kind of made of it into anger. But I'm pointing that anger in the right direction, trying to get their story out there is best I can for my mom, my dad, and my siblings, and just trying to make change.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And, Erica, looking ahead, there are concerns from a number of people in the health community that whether or not there will be enough people of color included in clinical trials for a vaccine, that's first. And second, once a vaccine is approved and distributed, whether or not people of color will be prioritized, because once again, this is the community that is suffering the most in this time -- Erica.
HILL: So important. Jason Carroll, just a heartbreaking and such an important story. Thank you.
OUTFRONT next, the Department Homeland Security is saying that Russia is touting the same baseless claims that President Trump is pushing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HILL: Breaking news, the Department of Homeland Security warning state and local officials that Russia is sowing doubt about the upcoming election by amplifying claims that mail-in voting will lead to widespread fraud.
[19:55:02]
Now, these are the same false claims made, repeatedly, by the president.
Drew Griffin is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This statement from the president of the United States is a lie.
TRUMP: The ballots are lost, there is fraud, there is theft, it's happening all over the place.
GRIFFIN: It's not.
What is happening all over the place is the spreading of the lie. Even somewhat formally reasonable politicians like White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows are fueling the voter fraud myth with unreasonable logic.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": But there's no shred of evidence of widespread voter fraud.
MARK MEADOWS, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: There is no evidence that there's not, either. That's the definition of fraud, Jake.
GRIFFIN: No, there is no widespread voter fraud. It has been proven, over, and over again. And yes, that includes mail-in ballots.
And if you don't believe me because I'm from CNN, believe the right wing conservative Heritage Foundation, which keeps this running election fraud database. Prominently displayed, on this dashboard, 1296 cases, it says, of proven voter fraud. It sounds like a lot, until you realize, it covers every election for nearly four decades, billions of votes.
To say the number is infinitesimally small would be overstating it.
TRUMP: The only way we can lose this election is if the election is rigged.
GRIFFIN: President Trump is setting the stage to explain his possible election loss, with lies.
Case in point, California.
TRUMP: When they send out, like in California, millions and millions of ballots to anybody that's breathing, anybody in California that's breathing gets a ballot.
GRIFFIN: Wrong. California sending ballots to registered voters, the same people who would be eligible to vote at the ballot box. Facts don't seem to matter.
This is the president last Monday, saying, 80 million bail-in ballots will somehow litter the country.
TRUMP: They will be sending them. They'll be dumping them in neighborhoods, people will be picking them up, they'll be bribing, they will be paying off people to grab some.
GRIFFIN: No. This seems completely made up. As are the president's tweets that people will print thousands of forgeries, and forced people to sign. Or, this tweet in August, attacking the Nevada governor's plan to use universal mail-in ballots. President Trump, calling it a coup, adding that the post office could never handle the traffic of mail-in votes without preparation.
Weeks later, his own postmaster general, testifies, yes we can.
LOUIS DEJOY, POSTMASTER GENERAL: The Postal Service is fully capable, and committed, to delivering the nation's ballots securely, and on time.
GRIFFIN: Two recent cases of election crimes have made headlines lately. One in Patterson, New Jersey, a city council election, and one aimed at helping Republican congressional candidate in North Carolina. A Republican campaign operative has been charged with ballot harvesting, conspiracy, and possession of absentee ballots.
Experts tell CNN these were insider crimes, not voter fraud, and both caught, showing the system worked, and both leading to new elections. Mail-in voting takes place in almost every state, in some way, or another. Five states have all mail-in voting. It's the main way people cast their ballots, including Colorado, where election officials tell CNN, the president is just wrong about fraud.
GEORGE STERN, JEFFERSON COUNTY CLERK, COLORADO: We've been doing universal may vote by mail in Colorado for 7 years, and we can say with certainty that that is not the case.
GRIFFIN: That's not to say mail-in voting is without risk, it's why Colorado, and other states, pay attention to signatures, bar codes, and verifying ballots are not counterfeit. It is why the very rare examples of mail-in fraud are local, and small, and caught.
(on camera): This seems like deja vu, all over again.
MYRNA PEREZ, BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE: Indeed.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): The last time I interviewed Myrna Perez from the Brennan Center, it was about President Trump's lies about voter fraud back in the 2018 midterms. Now, Perez says, the lies put the entire system on U.S. government at risk, because of a pandemic, protests, and a shaky economy.
PEREZ: All of these things are just an attack to try and discredit the idea of a free, fair, accessible election. We should reject these ideas, every time we hear them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: Erica, the National Association of Secretaries of State, the people who actually run elections in the states, and the people who previously debunked the president's 2016 claims of widespread voter fraud, have recently put out another statement, this time, saying they want to ensure, to all voters, that their votes are going to be accounted for, and that they are prepared for any kind of interference in this election.
Still, the president insists on pushing a false narrative that voter fraud, widespread voter fraud, exists. It just doesn't -- Erica.
HILL: It certainly does not.
Drew Griffin, thank you, and thank you for reminding us all with the facts.
Thanks all of you for joining us tonight. I'm Erica Hill, in for Erin Burnett.
"AC360" starts right now.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: A lot of breaking news tonight. John Berman here, in for Anderson.
We have more new reporting on this Russian interference in the election that dovetails almost perfectly with President Trump's efforts to sow distrust in mail-in voting.
