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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Another Night of Violence in Charlotte; Tulsa Protests Remain Peaceful; Clinton, Trump React to Police Shootings; Scorch Marks in Rahami's Backyard. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired September 22, 2016 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[04:30:43] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Violence that took place last night overnight in Charlotte. This is the second night of danger on the streets there. You can see looters shattering windows. Reporters were attacked.
There were protests as well. There were some peaceful protests which all stemmed over the fact that a black man was killed by police officers. The family of the dead man is now disputing the police account.
We are live on the ground in Charlotte this morning. Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour.
Breaking news this morning: A new night of violence, a new eruption of violence in Charlotte, North Carolina. The second night of protests that took a dangerous turn following deadly police shooting. Governor Pat McCrory has issued a state of emergency and the mayor considering a curfew if the protests continue.
Overnight, protesters smashed windows with rocks and bats, vandalizing buildings, damaging the Bank of America building and the Charlotte Hornets Store, among many businesses right downtown. At the Hyatt, the manager says protesters broke out the windows with brick. The manager says protesters were punching hotel employees.
CNN's own Ed Lavandera was slammed to the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They were trying to get agitators off the grounds and speak --
(INAUDIBLE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Ed, are you OK? LAVANDERA: Yes, we're fine, Anderson. Someone taking out their
frustration on me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: I guess you could say the guy came back later and apologized to Ed.
BERMAN: Ed was OK. And, actually, Ed doesn't want to be part of the story. Ed wants to report the story.
ROMANS: Right, and so many there do.
Police say four Charlotte officers suffered non-life threatening injuries. They say one person, a civilian shot another civilian and that civilian is on life support, in critical condition. Officials had to correct their early reports that the person had died.
BERMAN: This all started because of a police shooting and there are emerging of how Keith Lamont Scott died. Scott's family said he was unarmed reading a book in his car. The police chief said Scott got out of the car with a gun and investigators recovered that gun. They say investigators found no book at all.
So, why all the different account here?
This morning, demands are growing for the release of police video of the shooting. The governor who has not seen the video says he has concerns about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. PAT MCCRORY (R), NORTH CAROLINA: One view point of the video doesn't often tell the whole story. The angles can make a difference and not hearing often in the video says the complexity. The video is one piece of evidence and we have to be careful with all the new media that is available. In one respect, it can be used to a very great and positive thing for our public. In another way, the video can also be abused.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: I want to get the latest from the ground now in Charlotte, our Nick Valencia is there.
Nick, what are you seeing right now? First of all, anymore protests at this hour?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, we don't see anymore demonstrators or protesters. That has been a couple of hours since things disbursed on the streets of Charlotte. There are still some local residents to see the aftermath and see what happened to the streets of downtown Charlotte which was torn from within by riots last night. These peaceful demonstrations started at 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. local time, but quickly escalated into something much, much worse. And it depends on who you asked, when that violence started. Police say agitators led to tear gas being dispersed, talked to some demonstrators earlier this morning. They said it wasn't until that tear gas was dispersed that things got violent.
But you see behind me, one of the souvenir stores, the aftermath of rioters. We saw investigators here starting to take pictures and a short time ago before we started our broadcast here. But a lot of businesses are more of the same. This string of businesses that are lining the thoroughfare in downtown Charlotte.
[04:35:07] A lot of vandalization, a lot of graffiti, just on the other side of me here, off camera, you can see "BLM" spray painted on an ATM. There appears to be a lot of similar messages -- excuse me -- spray painted throughout Charlotte.
Earlier, we heard from a national congressman in the state of North Carolina who asked where the national leadership was within the Black Lives Matter movement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ROBERT PITTENGER (R), NORTH CAROLINA: What we see now is totally unacceptable. Where is Martin Luther King today? Where is the spirit of Martin Luther King? We cherish him and his memory every February and we honor him. Where is the spirit of that? Where is the leadership?
This is nonsense we need for truth to prevail, for truth to come out. We need people to walk in integrity. And for those who have come in now to agitate and try to bring disorder and more of violence and to raise the level of concern.
Where is the measured voices of the president of the United States? Where is the measured voice of the head of the Justice Department or attorney general? These are leaders for the African-American community. Where is the thoughtful response to bring calm and bring assurance?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: Things were anything but calm here last night. What's complicating here are these two competing storylines where threads of information being released by the family and police. Keith Scott's family saying that he was unarmed, he was holding a book while waiting for his son to get off the school bus. The police denying those allegations made by Scott's family saying that they did find a gun on him and that officers feared for their lives which is why they had to open fire.
The frustration being fueled by the lack of transparency. According to the demonstrators, they want to see body cam footage, they want to see dash cam footage. But according to police, because that's part of the investigation, it won't be released anytime soon -- John, Christine. ROMANS: Nick, you have to imagine though that authorities are really
carefully trying to figure out what to get out quickly. We have seen in cases before, if you allow the two competing story lines to flourish, people may not believe that video or not believe the outcome of the investigation if it takes too long.
VALENCIA: That's exactly right. It seems there is an intense amount of public distrust of police officers here in Charlotte among the community. A lot of this confrontation by demonstrators by police is fueled by the Facebook live stream video by Keith Scott's daughter after Scott was shot to death by police.
In it, she discovers that her father was shot and killed. It is raw and emotional. By now it has been viewed hundreds and thousands of times as that video was viewed more and more, people begun to emerge into the streets. On Tuesday night, we saw more of the same. On Wednesday, police bracing for possibly more protests tonight. They are prepared and the National Guard has been called in to help -- Christine.
BERMAN: All right. Nick Valencia for us on the ground in Charlotte -- Nick, thank you so much for your work.
Now, before this night of violence, the wife of Keith Scott actually issued a statement. It read in part, "My family is devastated by the shooting death of my husband Keith. As a family, we respect the rights of those who wish to protest, but we ask you protest peacefully. Please do not hurt people or members of law enforcement, damage property or take things that do not belong to you in the name of protesting."
ROMANS: We spoke earlier this morning with Marcus DiPaola. He is a freelance photographer who was in the middle of this unrest last night in downtown Charlotte. He described how things unfold and how the violence worsened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCUS DIPAOLA, FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER (via telephone): From about 8:00 p.m. to midnight, there was so much tear gas and so many pepper balls being shot, that I really didn't have a chance to take off my gas mask for more than a couple seconds at a time. Protesters were smashing glass everywhere. I remember what I now assume was the restaurant manager or owner screaming at protesters for wrecking their windows.
One of the most striking visuals that I'm remembering and I actually haven't slept yet because I just finished filing my footage was when protesters got on the highway. Police got in a single file line and shot pepper balls at them to get them off the highway. This was a really bad night for the city.
I was pushed to the ground twice and so were other members of my crew, but thankfully, everyone that I was with got out uninjured.
BERMAN: You know, Marcus, you were out there overnight. Do you have any reason to believe that tonight, Thursday night, won't be like this again?
DIPAOLA: Yes, you know, I did not see a huge amount of organization on the part of the police or protesters.
[04:40:05] It really looked like police lost control of the situation. I think now that both police and protesters will have a good six-to- eight hours during the daylight after everybody goes to sleep and wakes back up and organize.
I'm really nervous about what's going to happen tonight, meaning Thursday night, because people will have time to organize.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: Thanks to Marcus DiPaola for that.
The violence in Charlotte, North Carolina, contrast to the scene in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where police shot another black man, Terence Crutcher. Police released dash cam video. Leaders say protesters are channeling constructive protests.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PASTOR RAY OWENS, METROPOLITAN BAPTIST CHURCH: We are mad. We have every right to be mad just like our brothers and sisters in North Carolina. But what we are trying to do here tonight is give people a place to express that anger in a way that's constructive. We don't want to tear up our property, cars. We don't want to commit violence against police officers nor one another. But we needed a place to come and say I'm mad and I need to be able to express that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: A Tulsa officer shot Crutcher Friday as he waited for help when his SUV broke down in the middle of the road. Crutcher was unarmed, but Officer Betty Shelby's lawyer says that when Crutcher reached toward his car window, she feared he was going for a gun, that is why she fired.
ROMANS: Donald Trump called out the most powerful woman in the world and now she is fighting back.
First, here's what Trump said last week about Federal Reserve Chief Janet Yellen and the Fed's position of keeping interest rates low.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: She's obviously political and she doing what Obama wants her to do. She is keeping them artificially low to get Obama retired. I think she is very political and to a certain extent, I tink she should be ashamed of herself.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROMANS: I mean, remarkable statement from somebody running for president. You don't hear that kind of language on the independent criticism. The woman who runs the independent Federal Reserve board. A reporter at the Fed's news conference yesterday asked Janet Yellen about those comments. Here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JANET YELLEN, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: The Federal Reserve is not politically compromised. We do not discuss politics in our meetings. I can't recall any meeting I attended where politics is a matter of discussion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The Fed kept rates unchanged. The next meeting is six days before the next election. You know, the Fed, I think 1913, it was formed as an independent body. You know, the terms of the people for 14 years to withstand the whims of the political season in Washington.
BERMAN: But the Fed chair is a politically appointed position nevertheless.
ROMANS: This is true.
BERMAN: And she was appointed by this president. I'm not suggesting her decisions are political. You know, there are economic reasons.
ROMANS: His criticism is that because interest rates are low, that's artificially inflating the stock market and that makes the stock market and that makes the economy feel better than it really is. It's a false market.
There is debate for a long time if the rates are too low and the Fed should have raised rates. Started more aggressively last year, raising rates. Now they painted themselves into a corner. That is a real debate, but to say the Fed reserve should be ashamed, that takes it to another level.
BERMAN: All right. The city of Charlotte cleaning up this morning after protests turned dangerous. We will have an update on that in just a moment.
Also, a look at how Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are responding to the protests overnight to Charlotte and police shootings in Tulsa and North Carolina.
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[04:48:01] BERMAN: All right. The breaking news this morning: violence erupts in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is the second night we have seen this there. You see rioters smashing windows and buildings vandalized.
Protesters broke into a Hyatt Hotel and attacked employees. Four police officers were hurt. One person is on life support after being shot by another civilian. We're going to have updates on this ongoing situation throughout the morning. ROMANS: Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are walking a fine
political line here, courting African-American voters, as they respond to police shootings in Charlotte and Tulsa. They offered vastly different proposals Wednesday for changing police practices. Trump the issue at a town hall at a largely black church in Ohio.
Clinton talking about the need for change during a speech in Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: There is still much we don't know about what happened in both incidents. But we do know that we have two more names to add to a list of African-Americans killed by police officers in these encounters. It's unbearable and it needs to become intolerable.
I have spoken to many police chiefs and other law enforcement leaders who are as deeply concerned as I and deeply committed as I am to reform. Why? Because they know it is essential for the safety of our communities and our officers.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hands up. He was doing everything he was supposed to do. Everything. And a young policeman shot this man. I don't -- I don't get it. You can come -- I don't care where you are coming from. There was something really bad going on.
I don't know if she choked. He was walking -- his hands were high. He was walking to the car. He put the hands on the car. Now maybe she choked. Something really bad happened.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
ROMANS: Trump also praised stop and frisk as a police tactic, saying it would stem the violence in Chicago.
[04:50:03] But his tone at the church yesterday, you know, he has been very focused on blue lives matter for so long. That was the first I've seen this sort of a shift there. Then he turned around and embraced stop and frisk which has been criticized in the black community as something that hurts them.
BERMAN: You saw wildly different positions there all in the same day. But it was very different initially to hear that Donald Trump speak of the shooting victim in Oklahoma like that yesterday.
ROMANS: All right. Fifty minutes past the hour. Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged Wednesday. It did lower one important number. We will tell you what that means when we get an early start on your money, next.
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ROMANS: Suspected bomber Ahmad Khan Rahami is unconscious and intubated following surgery at University Hospital in Newark. Authorities are still unable to question him about Saturday's bombing in the Chelsea section of Manhattan that left 29 people injured. FBI agents are guarding his room around the clock.
Rahami's wife is back in the United States. She met with investigators in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday. And it's expected to cooperate with federal authorities here.
We have video of Rahami's backyard. There appear to be scorch marks which supports allegations by officials that the suspect tested explosives there.
The FBI also wants to talk to these two men captured on camera. What they did is they picked the bomb out of the duffel bag that was left on 27th Street in Chelsea and really left the bomb behind. They are thought to be witnesses there and authorities very much want to talk them.
ROMANS: ISIS is suspected of using a mustard agent in the attack on U.S. and Iraqi troops at a base near Mosul. Military officials say the base is a staging area for U.S. forces supporting Iraqis as they push toward Mosul in an effort to retake the city from ISIS. No U.S. troops were injured. None have shown signs of exposure to the mustard agent.
BERMAN: And U.S. and Russia at odds over who was responsible for the deadly attack on the U.N. aid convoy in Syria this week. Russia now claims that a U.S. coalition drone was spotted near the convoy route. The U.S. says no way. No U.S. aircraft unmanned anywhere near Aleppo when that strike took place.
The United Nations humanitarian office says it is resuming aid to those cut off from supply since July.
ROMANS: All right. Let's get an early start on your money this Thursday morning. A big stock market valley after the Federal Reserve meeting. Markets are calm this morning. Dow futures are flat. Nice gains in Europe and Asian stock markets. Oil is pushing higher.
The Federal Reserve kept rates steady as a range of around half a percent. It cut U.S. growth forecast. U.S. growth forecast now just 1.8 percent. That is down from its 2 percent estimate in June.
The CEO of EpiPen maker Mylan on Capitol Hill yesterday. She was blasted for jacking up the price more than400 percent. Here's how she justified that price increase.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEATHER BRESCH, MYLAN CEO: I think many people incorrectly assume that we make $600 off each pen. It's simply not true. After subtracting EpiPen related costs, our profit is $100 or approximately $50 per pen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: And that went over like a lead balloon with lawmakers. They unleashed a barrage of comments, including this heated exchange with Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. GERRY CONNOLLY (D), VIRGINIA: Because you have a stranglehold on the market, you can do what you want in terms of pricing and you have.
BRESCH: Sir, we have had many competitors in and out of the marketplace. That just underscores the complexity --
CONNOLLY: Your competitors don't even equal 6 percent of the market Ms. Bresch. I mean, that doesn't even pass the giggle test what you are asserting. You virtually have a monopoly and you used it to your advantage. But, unfortunately, it is at the expense of people who need it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: There are a half dozen of story lines here that have consumers mad. And one of them is that, you know, the company said, oh, yes, you are right. We want to make sure it is not too expensive for people. So, here is a $300 rebate card and we're going to introduce a generic.
And everyone said, why just lower the price of the drug? Just lower the price of the drug, wouldn't that be easier? Is it because aggressive sales targets make you all richer when you get your payback at this?
BERMAN: The idea that this is coming is so shocking.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: EARLY START continues right now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BERMAN: Dangerous night in Charlotte, North Carolina. Widespread damage there as rioters in some cases, shattered windows and knocked down reporters. Now the family of a black man killed by police is disputing the official account. We are live on the ground in Charlotte this morning.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: And I'm Christine Romans. It is Thursday, September 22nd, it is 5:00 a.m. in the East.
The breaking news this morning, a new eruption of violence in Charlotte, North Carolina. The second night of protests that took a dangerous turn following a deadly police shooting. Governor Pat McCrory had issued a state of emergency. Charlotte's mayor tells CNN she is considering a curfew if the protests continue. Overnight, rioters smashed windows with rocks and bats.
