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Floyd's Family Meets With House Speaker Pelosi Ahead of White House Visit; Floyd's Brother: "I Don't Want to See People Dying the Same Way"; George Floyd's Family Visits Washington on Anniversary of his Murder; Republicans Break 5-Day Silence on GA Rep's Holocaust Remarks; Representative Greene Has Long History of Spouting Conspiracy Theories. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired May 25, 2021 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

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JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Hello everybody and welcome to Inside Politics. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing a very important day with us, blockbuster new data today on Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine.

The company says it is safe and extraordinarily effective in kids as young as age 12. Two big global developments also the Secretary of State is in the Middle East right now and says the United States will help rebuild Gaza.

And the White House has a summit between Presidents Biden and Putin will happen next month in Switzerland plus leaders by title but hardly in practice.

Five days later in only after outraged by Jewish groups, top Republicans in Congress today finally criticized Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene for comparing mask mandates to the horrors of the holocaust.

Up first though, a somber anniversary today and a question what has changed in the 365 days since the Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd. Mr. Floyds' family is here in Washington today.

They meet with the President next hour, Republicans later this hour. You see right here the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi meeting with the family right now this visit to Washington coming as negotiators on Capitol Hill working trying to work out the details of a national police reform bill.

And they say they're getting close to a breakthrough around the country today celebrations of Mr. Floyd's life. This is today's Minneapolis star tribune front page right here. It's all black. You see there in the white type reflections for Minnesotans on George Floyd's murder and a year filled with racial acts.

The quotes include a big question; the country is still trying to answer. How are we different? Now, when you're later? Let's get straight to CNN's Omar Jimenez. He is live for us in Minneapolis on this somber day of reflection. Omar, what is the scene there today?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, it is going to be a day of reflection and remembrance. But it's also going to be a celebration of the life and legacy of George Floyd highlighted by music art speakers who in some cases have been devastated by police violence themselves.

Now of course, the protests of May 2020 here in Minneapolis have long subsided. But now the attention turns to leadership here who are hoping to enact policy that actually makes a difference in the long term. But what we found is that there are differences in opinion on how to move forward there are no perfect solutions.

And many of the issues they are trying to deal with now, they've been dealing with for decades, John.

KING: Omar Jimenez live for us in Minneapolis. Let's go back up now live to Capitol Hill and look at some of these pictures of Pelosi. Let's listen to this event right now the family of George Floyd with the House Speaker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they've been working with us to get this loud. Thank y'all so much. Our families - yesterday thank you.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Now the family left the White House. In the meantime, they're going to the Senate side. So we want to stay on schedule. And again, we welcome you next time - together to celebrate the passage of the bill. And that's when we came in - Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. Press, we are going to - -the same way we came in please. Step first, we are going to - the same door we came in. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Hard to hear some of that because of the combination of masking and the mics being at a distance, but the speaker of the House and other congressional Democrats, they're welcoming the Floyd family. They said their meetings of the Senate size as well.

Also going down to the white house, the Floyd family also going down to the White House today with me in studio to share their insights in this important day, our CNN Senior Political Analyst, Nia-Malika Henderson, White House Reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Tarini Parti.

Let's start right there. You see that scene that is different. Many of these families are sadly quickly forgotten. After the local media coverage, after maybe a day or two perhaps a little bit longer, most of these families are forgotten. We did have the summer of protests.

We did have a big change in this country. And listen to Philonise Floyd, George Floyd's brother this morning saying what more work to be done but he thinks actually, yes, yes. George Floyd's death is going to make a difference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILONISE FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD'S BROTHER: It's been one year and she had to watch the same thing. Everybody across the world has to watch him being murdered on a video. I think things have changed. I think that it's moving slowly, but it's making progress.

I just want everything to be better in life because I don't want to see people dying the same way. My brother has passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:05:00]

KING: Bless Mr. Floyd, he has been so active and continuing and his very calm and very patient. But - and he was talking about his - his niece, his brother's daughter, who has to still see the video every time it is played by her father dying under the knee of a cop. Meetings are one thing, but is there progress? Is there actual progress on the issues at the core of this?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: There does seem to be some progress here. And listen, if you think about the history of the fight for equality in this country, often it is calm, because there's been a real of visual documentation of brutality. You think about in the two of those photos of his battered face in jet magazine, you think about the civil rights movement, the images of dogs, nipping the heels of black children.

And here this video nine minutes, this man line on the concrete videotaped by a young woman in her neighborhood. And so I think that is the difference. You've seen white people who in large part had sort of ignored the pleas and cries about police brutality that black people have been talking about for decades of they have moved on this.

They are much more likely to cease to sit systemic racism in this country and more specifically, when it comes to police interactions with African Americans. So that is different. If you flashback a year ago, Tim Scott was not hopeful about anything coming out of congress with this police bill.

He's very confident at this point as well as other members of his party as well as Democrats as well. So there does seem to be progress here. And listen, it came again because of this video of it was so brutal that everyone across the globe was outraged by in finally, a lot of the complaints.

I mean, you think about Martin Luther King and his speech, the march on Washington, he talked about the unspeakable horrors of police brutality in there it was for all the world to see on that video.

KING: Right, the generational change difference with the videos, the cameras everyone having essentially everyone can be a filmmaker, if you will, important in this case, let's bring into our conversations as well LaTosha Brown, the Co Founder of Black Voters Matter. LaTosha, grateful, you can join us on this day. And let's pick up on the point Nia-

Malika Henderson is making again, this family is meeting with the most powerful people in the United States government up on Capitol Hill, they're about to meet with the most powerful man in the world, the President of the United States, the first woman of color, who is the Vice President of the United States.

So in that there is progress, the family is not being forgotten. But I want to read from this AXIOS/IPSOS poll just out today to get at some of the core issues in the views from the African American, the black community on these big issues, do police treat everybody equally.

Only 5 percent of black Americans think that. Our race relays have race relations improved. Only 11 percent of black Americans think that. Calling police does more harm more than half 55 percent of African Americans in this country think you pick up the phone to call for help. And you might do more harm than good.

And 80 percent say there's still a lot of racism in the United States. LaTosha, one year after the murder of George Floyd, where are we?

LATOSHA BROWN, CO-FOUNDER, BLACK VOTERS MATTER: You know, I think that when we're talking about progress, that's part of what I think has been the problem in America.

I think we've all hidden behind this context of American exceptionalism, that if we can see a little progress, then we can ignore the systemic issue that has really not been addressed, that as we do see some of the level and elements of progress.

I think that is wonderful that the family is meeting with powerful some of the powerful folks in this country. I think it's wonderful that we've seen policy; the truth of the matter is we have not dealt with a systemic issue or while structural racism has been part of the development, you know, has meant part of the creation of leads.

And so what we're seeing now is we're continuously every two days, there's another video that comes out where there's an abuse of power with state sanctioned violence.

And so I think if we want to take this opportunity, yes, there are small steps that have been made, but we are not uprooting. It's kind of like having weeds in the yard, you can cut the weeds down.

You know, when you're mowing the grass, but until you uproot, or kill the weeds, it will still --it will still take over your yard. And so what we're seeing right now, we have got to deal with the systemic, ongoing structural issue that is dealing with policing in this country, the context of it, even we're saying not just an issue of equity, but an issue of humanity.

That at the end of the day, what we saw with George Floyd, what we see with numerous other cases, has really been a fence on the humanity you know, of our country of people in general. And so I think that that's what we have to look at this.

We can have both, yes, in the midst of there being some progress that we have to really recognize that there's been we're still fighting the same battle that we've been fighting in this country for over 400 years.

KING: Which it's a very important contextual point? It's a critical technical point that no piece of legislation is going to solve. No piece, the Civil Rights Act, you know enormous progress, please don't get me wrong, but then you have to build trust on the streets.

People have to change their behavior. So a police reform bill if they can get this to the finish line, Tarini very important. If you can bench all calls, if you can make some changes whether you eliminate qualified immunity or make some changes so that you can easier to bring police officers and police departments into court to hold them accountable.

[12:10:00]

KING: The three key leaders of the negotiations two Democrats and Republican Senators Booker Scott, and Congressman Bass issued a joint statement they wanted it done by this day, they can't get there.

But they say they're still talking, we're still working through our differences on key issues. We continue to make progress toward a compromise and remain optimistic about the prospects of achieving that goal to LaTosha's point, critical for the issue to be addressed.

But as a building block, if you can make changes, no chokeholds, treat people more fairly, put some new training for police, that's a stepping stone hopefully, to building the trust in the community.

TARINI PARTI, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Right, that's just one step. And you know, there, they haven't gotten to that finish line yet, there is still a lot of work to be done. And the trick here of course, is getting ten Republicans to support whatever proposal they come up with.

And also keeping those progressives in the House who are already concerned that whatever proposal they come up with might not include those changes to qualified immunity that they want. So there's still some details obviously left, we figured out but it is one step.

And then you know, in terms of the progress in the past year, we also do have an administration that's talking about racial equity more and more, they do talk about how that needs to be the center of any sort of public policy.

So you know, of course, there's a long way to go as the poll you cited just showed us. But there have been some steps taken by lawmakers and by the administration that shows that there might be some changes as a result of what happened tragically last year.

KING: Right. And so LaTosha back into the conversation, if you will, I just want to put up on the screen here. When we're having a Washington conversation, that's where the show is based and the family is here. Meeting with high powered officials in Washington say but this was an issue.

We saw the marches all around the country, we saw promises from Governors, from Mayors from State Legislators, here's what we know happened. There were 572 bills introduced across 46 states in the District of Columbia. So there were a lot of promises of action.

54 of those measures were enacted. These are different kinds of police reforms of proposals in 24 states. So it was - it is a big issue and was a big issue in the rearview mirror. I want you to listen New York City is about to have a mayoral primary police reform is a giant issue right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW YANG, (D-NY): Defund the police is the wrong approach for New York City.

MAYA WILEY (D-NY): I'm going to take a billion dollars from the New York City Police Department to shift that money to create trauma informed care in our schools. I'm going to have a civilian police commissioner, because we are going to make it a truly accountable police force to the public.

DIANNE MORALES (D-NY): Safety is not synonymous with policing. Our communities are over policed and under resourced.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: How would you say LaTosha, as someone who organizes voters, how has the conversation both for me animated to vote, people animated to vote because these issues are front and center in their mind.

So from the voter perspective and from the politician's perspective, you hear a number of Republicans now saying, well, you see crime statistics going up, this is going to become a refund the police debate.

BROWN: You know, it is you know, we're really in a space that I feel like we often go through the hamster wheel, you know, what I think is important is that defund the police for all its credits. The bottom line is we are talking about police reform.

For a number of years, we could not even have that conversation, not in a way that we're really talking about policy that will change the nature of policemen in this country.

And so the fact that we're talking about the fact that it is on the surface right now, and that it is a debate and that it is a key issue actually says something I think that that speaks to kind of the organizing the movement work that was happening.

But I also think that the underlying issue that creates us in the first and the first place is that we have a problem in this country around not really dealing with the problems and community and - communities.

But just these punitive measures, there's really based on how we punish how we can inflict more pain, how we can put more people in jail, how we can actually put more harsh sentences that instead of having a society that we're building, that really is about redemption.

And how can we actually build our community stronger, that we have this approach that the way that will solve any problem is just being punitive, that's not worked well for us, that to be a country that has this police force.

We're actually the most violent country in the world. And so I think we have to really take a look back at really what is the core issue of what we're debating here is we should not at some point, we are actually politicize and over politicizing people's lives.

Now, it's a question of who is in control, OK, the police control, they're going to get those bad people out of you. And so we walk around that we're fearful of our neighbors, instead of literally using those resources and really taking a step back to moving beyond this political context to really think about how can we build a society that people are respected and audit and that we're less valid.

Instead, our approach to balance is let's creating more balance. Let's give more of the ballot tools to the police. And so I think that this is a debate that is really far beyond politicizing as a policy issue, this is really centered and a values issue. What kind of nation are we attempting to be at?

[12:15:00]

KING: LaTosha Brown, grateful for your insights in this important day. Tarini and Nia are going to stay with us as we continue the conversation on another issue and it is this. Leaders who follow top Republicans finally criticized Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene's latest outrage. A comparison of mask mandates vaccine passports to the holocaust.

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KING: Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is - this hour and she is ranting on Twitter again, why? Because five days late, but finally today the top Republicans in Congress decided to condemn her for comparing mask mandates to the holocaust.

Outrageous and reprehensible were among the words used by the Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell this morning. The House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy issued this statement.

Marjorie is wrong, and her intentional decision to compare the horrors of the Holocaust with wearing masks is appalling. The Holocaust is the greatest atrocity committed in history. The fact that this needs to be stated today is deeply troubling.

[12:20:00] KING: Now today's rebukes come after a number of prominent conservatives and Jewish groups not only condemned Greene's reprehensible comments for days, but also noted the silence of the Republican congressional leadership over the course of those four plus days.

Back with me CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson and Tarini Parti of The Wall Street Journal and so Marjorie Taylor Greene, I have a seven tweet thread here is upset. Remember, these were Republican Leaders who finally they call themselves leaders.

They followed in this case, four and a half days before they finally condemned her. She says in the final tweet of this seven tweet rant that has a whole bunch of conspiracy and things that aren't true. Then it says I'm sorry, some of my words make people uncomfortable.

But this is what the American left is all about. And they are America last in every single way. This is about her this is not about the American left. A vaccine passport if you - some people favor them, some people oppose them, a mask mandate on the floor of the House of Representatives, saves lives protects people is not the Holocaust.

PARTI: Right and she's not apologizing either in her tweet, she's basically saying I'm sorry, I'm not sorry for what I said. And she, you know, took out the references to the holocaust.

But she basically said the same thing that people who aren't getting vaccinated are being discriminated against and then attacking the left and the Democrats. But I think it's interesting what Republicans have done to in their response.

They're trying to sort of put it on Democrats in a way there's they're pointing out the anti Semitism in the Democratic Party and sort of trying to shift the focus away from the Congresswoman here and their response.

KING: Like clean your house, clean your house before you want to attack someone else's house. And again, you get to the point where OK, why to take five days, right? They will say, well, we weren't aware of this. They all have staffs that make them very much aware of these things.

If they weren't aware of them, they should fire their staff and get a better staff. Because Marjorie Taylor Greene and I apologize for even doing this, but they always say don't believe the mainstream media. Marjorie Taylor Greene has a history of saying crazy things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Many Americans are like blind sheep, just going through life, not paying attention. There is an Islamic invasion into our government offices right now.

The so called plane that crashed into the Pentagon its odd there's never any evidence shown for a plane in the pentagon Kennedy getting killed in the plane crash. That's another one of those Clinton murders, right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So the Republican "leadership" should be on guard to be prepared for her number one, these reactions came only after a great number of conservatives, American Jewish groups, and people to media talked about this.

One of them was Jeff Miller, who's a former adviser to McCarthy, a former adviser to Trump was part of a bundler fundraising pilot raised a lot of money for the Trump campaign. I'm going to read it a little bit of his tweet this morning.

WTF is wrong with you? I think you need to pay a visit to the U.S. Holocaust Museum. I'd be happy to arrange then maybe going forward; you wouldn't make any more disgusting, ignorant and offensive tweets.

HENDERSON: The thing about Marjorie Taylor Greene is she's clearly anti Muslim, anti Trans, anti Semitic, but she's also one of the most famous popular, powerful Republicans in the country. She's a powerhouse at fundraising. She's a powerhouse on social media, very much like Trump was in the beginning of his ascent in 2015.

And I think that explains the delay. These Republicans who ousted her from the committee's because of some of these statements she made, she made knows has a direct lie into Trump.

I think she's the closest political person to Trump in terms of her approach to politics, all of the sort of white identity politics, the grievance politics; everyone is a victim in her view. And those are the people who are backing her.

Those are the people who are showing up at these pretty sizable crowds as she goes around the country with another figure who's also a - Trump in - gates. So listen, I mean, all of this just helps her profile. It helps boost her among those grassroots folks in Trump country. And Trump, of course, likes her as well. And so I think that explains of the fear.

KING: And you make you make the salient point in the sense that there are days when I think I'm not doing this on television, I'm not giving any more time. I'm not helping her raise money and people say, why do you point it out if she's a nut job?

Well, because this is part of something bigger. Trump calls her a rising star. Trump says do not have a January 6 commission. I don't want it and they all say yes, sir. So this is part of the problem. It's the grand ostrich party whether it's Marjorie Taylor Greene sticking your head in the sand to ignore what she says or sticking your head in the sand about we don't want to know the truth.

PARTI: Right. And it's also important to see how Republican Leaders, how Democrats how they respond to something like this? It's newsworthy at this point. I mean, not everything she says of course, as we've said is newsworthy, but this has gotten to the point where there needs to be some sort of response from the leadership, which is what we got today.

[12:25:00]

KING: Right and when someone does this, I'm sorry, you just can't call yourself a leader and wait five days you just can't. Up next for us some brand new data on Moderna vaccine in kids aged 12 to 17.

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