Transcripts For MSNBCW MTP Daily 20210413

Working very hard to answer that question. Whats your medical advice for people who recently received the j j vaccine and may be concerned about blood clots . Somebody recently within days, i would tell them to, just, first of all dont get an anxiety reaction because, remember, its less than 1 in a million. However, having said that, pay attention, do you have symptoms . Headache, do you have shortness of breath, chest discomfort . Do you have anything that will resemble the neurological syndrome . Obviously, if you have something as serious as a seizure, thats pretty clear. But the manifestations of this is headache is a very common component of it. The sinus thrombosis that they have is the draining of the blood in the brain and it would cause enough symptomatology to make you notice it. Just watch out if youre not feeling well. And a different state told us this morning they were really caught off guard by this announcements. They were ready to put shots into peoples arms and had to scramble. Can you explain that chain of communication, when and how did you notify states that they might have to pause . Right. As i said, we didnt know about anything in terms of the announcement until last night. We didnt even know the content of the announcement until this morning when everyone else read it. As soon as we got that, our team farmed out and started contacting folks and made sure everyone knew that was announced by the fda and cdc. Tuesday is the day i have my regular governors call. So that was fortunate that was at 11 00 a. M. , so we had all of the governors already lined up with their teams and we had dr. Fauci and dr. Walensky join that call and they will continue to support the channels, Community Health centers, to make the adjustments. I think the message got out quickly. There was no heads up here, the announcement was made this morning. Thank you. The first question, do we have a timeline . Are we talking days it might get put back on, a week . And second, jeff, i understand what youre saying on the macro level on the spot but talking to officials, j j because of storage and one shot, its considered a crucial component in rural areas and underserved communities. How does that not affect the timeline youre on as far as actually getting shots in arms . During one of the questions which was asked i believe of the cdc, the question was just yours. I dont know what theyre going to be doing. What i heard from the Previous Press discussion was its going to be more like days to weeks rather than weeks to months. We have plenty of supply and plenty of vehicles for delivering that supply, whether its true the federal pharmacy channel, whether its mobile units, Community Health centers and all of those are equipped to deliver the moderna and pfizer vaccine. We will make sure those units continue to grow in number. Youre right, we need to reach people where they are in the mobile units and Community Health centers are particularly essential. And they have been receiving moderna and pfizer doses. So you just swap out the vaccine or if theres a mobile unit going to a rural area moderna and pfizer, as you know, are twodose vaccines so its important people come back for their second dose, three weeks for pfizer and and four weeks of moderna. But all of our units and deliver channels are equipped to deliver both pfizer and moderna. It how does this not contribute to the very areas whose hesitancy are the most predominant from what you guys have seen . Do you have to change your message and do Something Different to address hesitancy . I think we need to be transparent about what the science is telling us. Thats what brings us here today. As dr. Fauci said, there are tens of millions of doses of pfizer and moderna administered over the last several months and millions of people in the u. S. And around the world have been safely vaccinated. I think its important that we have here the fda and fda is the Gold Standard for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines and todays action i think is clear evidence that theyre taking every step necessary to ensure the American People have clear and transparent information about the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines. So the bottom line is the vaccines, moderna and pfizer that are now being administered, are clearly safe and are saving lives and every american should get vaccinated when its their turn. Thank you. Jeff, is j j production going to continue during this pause . And secondly, is the Biden Administration considering ordering more doses of pfizer and moderna, given just in case this problem with j j becomes prolonged . So the j j production issues in baltimore, obviously, are a completely separate set of issues and those are being worked out through the fda process with the company, the production of those vaccines can begin if and when the fda authorizes that. The second question was, we really have thought of this as a wartime effort from the beginning, which is why we purchased excess supply so we would be ready for any contingency and we will continue to look at any possibility in making sure we have enough supply for the American People. Just to clarify under the j j production, not related to the Baltimore Plant but just overall j j production, is that going to pause while this pause administering doses occurs or is the production going to continue . The production is really centered around that baltimore facility, the vast majority of the production is at the baltimore facility. I just have a question for dr. Fauci, i want to ask you very directly, are you ruling out the possibility that the vaccine could be removed from the market . Are you ruling out are you expecting it to be reallowed . You know, i think it would be premature to comment on that, and thats the reason why the pause was done, so they could take a good look at it very carefully. Look at every different factor. I wouldnt want to speculate as to what would happen. Often when you see things like this, that you pause and come back. Whether or not that happens now, i cant guarantee it, but i can tell you thats exactly what the cdc and fda people are going to be deciding on and looking at very carefully. If i could just ask you the outreach question, this is the problem youve been struggling with for the Vaccine Hesitancy. This obviously is a setback. What do you have to ramp up into, an additional message to make sure this gets out there . Do you personally go to places like mississippi where the vaccine rate is really low . Hopefully to answer your first question, we, consistent with ittinging a wartime effort we plan for different scenarios and contingencies, so we have enough supply with moderna and pfizer to hit the targets that weve set, the 200 million shots in 100 days and to head towards the fourth of july we talked about as a country, a more normal fourth of july. Clearly part of that is making sure when its an americans turn to get vaccinated, they get vaccinated. And we do need to continue to build confidence. And thats done at the community level. People are trusting of their local doctors, faith leaders, neighbors, which is why its important when people do get vaccinated, they not only get themselves vaccinated but spread the word about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines. One of the goals then today is the hope that you will have enough supply on hand for the country by the end of may. Is that still operative now in the wake of the pause . The second question is, its a bit surprising to learn you only yourself learned about this this morning. Do you wish you had learned sooner . I learned last night there would be an announcements, not the specifics of the announcement. No, because thats to the science. We want the science agencies to lead with science and theres no reason for us to be involved in any of the scientific decisions. We bring nothing to the table. That is the fdas role. That is the cdcs role. Theyre led by terrific leaders and great teams to do the science and this administration will be led by science. As to your first question, we believe theres enough vaccine in the system, moderna and pfizer, for all americans who want to get vaccinated by may 31 to do so. Jeff, i feel like were dancing around the hesitancy question here so i will just ask you directly, do you think the announcement of this pause will increase or decrease Vaccine Hesitancy . Hesitancy amongst a group of people is a challenge and we need to be addressing it and we are, as i talked about going to meet people where they are, follow all that weve learned about who people trust, local doctor, nurse, their faith leader. And i think that theres tremendous track record, as dr. Fauci has talked about, with tens of millions of doses of pfizer and moderna. The fda acting the way they did today shows that they are indeed the Gold Standard and i think that should ensure the American Public they will be very diligent and conservative in how they approached the vaccines. The argument because the fda trip wire was triggered, that should give americans more confidence in the overall vaccination . Certainly how safety and efficacy are being monitored by the Gold Standard folks at the fda. We will do three more and let them go back. Go ahead. Jeff, you said the fda is the Gold Standard for ensuring the safety and efficacy of vaccines. To what except does todays news add urgency to the effort of getting a permanent nominee confirmed ahead of the fda . Clearly its always an important post but how much does this news i have no personnel announcement to make today. The fda has Extraordinary Group of scientists and experts that will lead these types of efforts. How helpful will a permanent director be in november . I think the fda does an extraordinary job and the teams that are addressing these issues are experienced teams. In fact, the acting directors is a very experienced leader so i think the experience of the fda and expertise of the fda is indeed the Gold Standard. Are there immediate plans to accommodate the states because of a pause . Can you guarantee every person with a reservation canceled will get rescheduled in a matter of days . As i said, i think theres already in certain locations people who were scheduled for today are already rescheduled. Well do everything we can to support the states on the logistics of rescheduling. At the same time the most important thing is the supply exists to continue to vaccine millions of americans a day and theres enough supply to accelerate that. There are tens of millions of doses in the system. As i said today, we announced 28 million more moderna and pfizer doses available to be ordered this week. Last question. Dr. Fauci, you said that there was no red flags for the other two vaccines. Can you verify that means there were no developments about blood clot symptoms in other vaccines . There have been no serious events to call attention to anything that would relate to a pause. Why would it be why would it be for one vaccine and not the other two . How does that speak to the safety of the other two vaccines . I think when you examine everything in general, the fact that you have 120 million doses individuals have received at least one dose, and as you subtract out of that 100 million, youre talking about 114 million or so individuals have received at least one dose. And no negative red flag signals, that tells you youre dealing with a really safe vaccine. And i think apropos of several of the questions that people asked about hesitancy, you know, when you want to talk about safety, this is an extraordinary Safety Record that the others have and the fact that a pause was done i think just as a testimony to how seriously we take safety and why we have an fda and cdc that looks at this very carefully and hopefully we will resolve it pretty soon within days to weeks, apropos of your question. So i think its a very strong argument for safety actually. Thank you, dr. Fauci. Thank you, jeff. Thank you, everybody. Welcome to meet the press daily. Very, very busy tuesday. You were listening to perhaps the biggest news of the day, dr. Fauci and the white house science coordinator speaking in the Briefing Room on the j j decision by the fda. The two were added to the schedule after the big news this morning that the fda and cdc are recommending a pause in the administration of the Johnson Johnson vaccine. After six people, all women, developed a rare and severe blood clot after getting the vaccine. One of those people sadly has died and another is in critical condition. All six cases were women between the ages of 18 and 48. And symptoms occurred 6 to 13 days after vaccination. Almost 7 million americans have received the Johnson Johnson vaccine. Dr. Fauci just said they want to get this worked out as soon as possible and it may take days or weeks but likely not months to clear this up. Theres deep concern that this could increase Vaccine Hesitancy and delay vaccinations around the world. A lot of people wondering was this an overreaction by the regulators or necessary one . At least 23 states, washington, d. C. And puerto rico are pausing the vaccine so the department of defense, walgreens, cvs and krogers are among the National Pharmacies that will pause j j as well. So you might as well view it as a pause nationwide. Australia already canceled plans to buy doses of the only oneshot vaccine on the market. This is what makes this potentially so devastating globally. Johnson johnson announced today it is delaying its own vaccine rollout in europe. So lets try to understand what happened. Joining me now is dr. Ka vida patel, former Health Care Director of the Obama Administration and also with me rehema ellis, at the Javits Center, and they had to abruptly stop administering j js vaccine today and move to another one. Thank you both for being here. Rehema, i want to start with you before i get to dr. Patel and the science today. I think the concern is perception in some points as much as reality. The perception of the j j vaccine when you talk to people today, did it have people nervous . Did it have them upset . Did it have them patient . What did you come across . Chuck, what i came across was people who were ready to be vaccinated. So there was some concern that they werent going to get the vaccine that they had scheduled, which was that Johnson Johnson. I talked with a couple people here and one woman said she had already overcome any Vaccination Hesitancy she might have ever had, so she was ready. And a little disappointed she wasnt going to get the j j but very glad they were offering her the pfizer. Another woman i talked to had not listened to the news completely and she wasnt totally aware of what was going on but she said she decided she was going to come to the Javits Center anyway. Take a listen to how she responded when she got here. I was a little weary and confused this morning because i didnt know what was going on. I took it into my own hands and found myself a pfizer appointment. I just wish it would have been organized a little faster. And she had said she was a little bit concerned that this thing had not been planned a little better. But the truth of the matter is, many officials were finding out themselves that there would be a pause in the distribution of the Johnson Johnson vaccine. So ultimately this woman was saying she was very happy state officials pivoted, were able to do a twist, if you will, and make certain she got a vaccination, even though it was Johnson Johnson. She was ready for that one and done, if you will, but she said she will be back in three weeks to get her second shot of pfizer. Rehema, we saw this in our viewing area down here a j j site got turned into a moderna site immediately and everybodys appointment was kept. Was everybodys appointment kept at the Javits Center today so far . It appears so far, that appears to be the case. There has not been grumbling of people coming out saying they cant get it. In fact the state has said from the Governors Office that all of the state Health Facilities that were offering j j, theyre going to offer pfizer. For anybody whos coming in and wanting j j, they will get the pfizer shot. Rehema ellis on the scene for us at the Javits Center in new york. Thank you. Dr. Patel, the big question for a lot of us and the real concern is the loss of the j j vaccine as one of the tools here is such a global stomach punch potentially, which why i think theres probably a panic among Public Health officials, oh, god, the one shot, cheap one, one we can take anywhere, any corner in the world, you know, was there a different way to do this pause or was this the only way to deal with this issue . Yep, chuck, i had to sit on the side of government officials who have to do exactly what is unfolding today, a pause. It becomes a little bit of like beltway language. A pause is not a warning, its not a withdrawal. But to the public that doesnt make any difference. I think that has been a devastating blow around kind of Vaccine Hesitancy overall but faith in not just Johnson Johnson but, chuck, on the heels of astrazeneca, similartype of Vaccine Technology we see in Johnson Johnson raising questions about that Vaccine Technology overall. Ive got news for people, we can have all of the pfizer and moderna to vaccine all of the entire united states, we cannot vaccine the globe, were not getting rid of this pandemic. So, yes, and i just 1 in 1 million, 6 cases out of about 7 million, we see these kinds of clots in the brain, very severe, but we see them in higher rates with use of birth control, in pregnancy, and happening randomly. So we do not know that this is a causal link, this is a safety signal. We use this in drug monitoring. Chuck, weve done this with other drugs and weve seen it with other drugs but the attention on this vaccine at this moment could be a devastating setback for the globe, yes. I guess heres the question i have, look, and it goes to what what do you think the public absorbs. This was always authorized on an emergency use. Were in an emergency. It had not gone through the fullon inspection that all prescription drugs will that vaccines normally get. So we already know theres a level of risk. Could there have been an inbetween here . Look, lets pause the vaccine for women under 50 . And the Johnson Johnson, we want to pause this, weve got to look at this, could that have been a baby step here . It could have been but, chuck, i went back over et trial data that was presented to the fda where there were incidents of clots and they were seen in both men and women, 15 cases in people who received the vaccine, ten cases in placebo. Not enough to be a statistical difference to merit what youre describing. So, yes, i think this is one of those cases where it would be shocking to see the fda not pause not to put maybe even a warning on the label that exactly as you mentioned if youre of a certain age or with this clinical history, you should have a conversation with your provider. But youre right, the emergency use authorization meanings the benefits outweigh the risks. Does that mean the risks are zero . Not at all. Keep in mind weve seen anaphylaxis, severe reaction for breathing. Weve seen other severe adverse effect with all of the vaccines. This is something that needs to be looked at. I think what people are raising is the fda overreacting, or did they do the right thing . I will just be on the side of the agency, i think what they wanted to do was reassure the American Public were monitoring everything. Theyre doing that. They were right to raise this. We will watch it play out transparently in a conversation tomorrow afternoon. This will not be a pause for weeks, it will be days, and well have some conviction about this coming out. But will it set back people, chuck, in america . Ive already got patients on my phone line saying i dont want Johnson Johnson even if i can get it. I want the other one. Thats the setback i worry about. Safety wise, i see no reason not to support using this vaccine. I hear you, dr. Patel. Look, were i dont think its a Conspiracy Theory if some patient comes to you and says, hey, what i have read about astrazeneca in europe, what im reading about j j here and what you just pointed out, you took a question right off of my list that i wanted to talk to you about here, which is look, the more the older ways of making vaccines are basically putting the virus in people does seem to raise some blood clotting issues that the mrna technology does not seem to put you at risk for. Is this i understand if lay people see that and wonder that. What would you tell them . Yes, i would reiterate, i am telling you what im having to tell my own Family Members, by the way, who have gotten Johnson Johnson, this is incredibly rare and the benefits, im watching patients who are getting covid hospitalized and dyeing, not an accident chuck we are seeing this in younger people. Keep in mind the demographic seen in the vaccine over the past two weeks. To your point, will we find out mrna technology is a safer profile overall . Possibly. But today given what i know about the variants and whats landing young, Healthy People in hospitals around the country, i would still tell you the benefits outweigh the risks. I do believe you heard jeff zients emphasize we have enough moderna and pfizer for the entire country. That seems like hes putting to rest the possibility any people will need to again on j j in the house. But i dont believe whats good for haiti shouldnt be good for our country and i stand by that. Right. The data has to be the data has to support what i believe, 6 cases in 7 Million People is extremely rare and we still dont know enough about it. But, yes, i see why my patients are calling and asking for an alternative and why around the world weve seen countries pause astrazeneca or not accept j j. But we have to take into account were comfortable accepting more complications in cases than what i call a little bit of kneejerk decisions of not getting the fda and cdc a chance to review it. How long of all weeks to have a pause in j j, this actually wasnt a bad week. They had a this was a low inventory week for j j. We had the manufacturing problem. Theyre a couple weeks behind getting back ramped up. But theres going to be some of the vaccine that was scheduled to be injected into arms wont be. Is there an Expiration Date . How much vaccine are we losing here potentially . I dont think we should not be losing we shouldnt have vaccine remember, the nice thing about j j is it had a much longer shelf life, not just in refrigerators but even out of the refrigerators so i dont think were going to be throwing doses away, because i do think we will come to some will come to some message around these safety signals soon. But i do think the manufacturing issues have caused enough concern, Johnson Johnson is going into those manufacturing facilities and kind of personally taking theyre taking over that process. So will those doses cause a downstream effect . The shortage issues and things, im not worried about the doses, but the raw material going into making these vaccines are the ones in precious supply. Do some of those raw material shortage issues cause a problem worldwide, its hard to believe it doesnt but at the same time a couple of things, moderna just got approval to put 15 doses in a vial, making it more efficient. I think youre hearing about pfizer also finding ways to avoid having that ultra cold storage, which also makes it a little bit easier. So could we make up for it with these other things . Possibly. But not across the world, chuck. Thats what i worry about, not across the world. I know. This felt like a global stomach punch. Were going to be fine for now but, boy, losing j j would be would be a big loss. Dr. Patel, thank you for your patience on trying to explain all of this because i think were all were all realizing we just need more information and more sort of reasonable ways of understanding risk here anyway. As always, thank you. Meanwhile, i want to take you to a press conference with the families of george floyd and Daunte Wright. We will listen in now. Everything you guys have tried to cover up, keep under the rug because enough is enough and were standing up thank you. Were going to have Attorney Ben Crump and then Daunte Wrights mother katie. Thank you to family versus police violence, families supporting families against police violence. Thank you for always standing up for families, even when the media isnt present. I think we should give them a round of applause. Yes thank you. Im Attorney Ben Crump, along with attorney jeff storms, who hails here from minneapolis, minnesota, and attorney tony romanucci. We have the honor of representing the family of Daunte Wright. Also attorney stone and rom nuccia and i along with attorney Chris Stewart and attorney Justin Miller have the honor of representing the family of george floyd jr. As you can see here, this is a bittersweet moment. It is somewhere gratifying that you have George Floyds family who left out of the courthouse where the Derek Chauvin trial regarding the death of george floyd was currently under way because they thought it was important they give comfort to Daunte Wrights mother and father and family, and Daunte Wrights child daunte jr. And his mother, china whitaker, because this time last year, almost a year ago, they were facing the unimaginable, they were facing the unbelievable, they were facing the agony of losing a Family Member to Police Excessive force. And it is unbelievable, i mean, it is just something i could not fathom that in minneapolis, minnesota, a suburb ten miles from where the chauvin trial regarding george floyd was taking place, that a Police Officer would shoot and kill another unarmed black man its something that if you told me and i didnt see little dauntes face and his mother and grandmother crying, i wouldnt believe it, because if ever there was a time when nobody in america should be killed by police, it was during this pinnacle trial of Derek Chauvin, which i believe is one of the most impactful civil rights Police Excessive use of force cases in the history of america. And we believe with everything in our hearts, katie, that police would be on their best behavior. That they would exercise the greatest standard of care. That they would concentrate on deescalation in a way that they have never concentrated in america. But regrettably, two days ago we saw Daunte Wright for a traffic citation, and attorney storms is going to talk about this. Because you all do understand were still in the midst of a pandemic where many people in this state could not get their license tabs on their license plates renewed because the dmv, like Everything Else in america, was shut down. And so it was told police, you need to be sensitive because there are going to be a lot of expired license plates out there. But i guess when youre driving while black, people sometimes forget memos and initiatives about the realities of life. You will hear from his mother and everybody will try to be brief, you will hear from his mother and the phone call from the car who said why he was stopped. Because its evolving so they can justify the unjustifiable. Were not going to let them justify it, are we . No Daunte Wrights life matters Daunte Wrights life matters youve been listening here to attorney i believe that was Attorney Ben Crump and hes the representative of both the families, George Floyds family, Daunte Wrights family there. We actually want to take you to another press conference Getting Started in Brooklyn Center where were expecting remarks from the mayor to find out some next steps. Lets take a listen in here. The killing of Daunte Wright. Yesterday i was able to speak with Daunte Wrights father and express our condolences on behalf of the city. I want to bring you all up to speed on a number of events that transpired yesterday, including events that transpired today. That is our commitment, is to continue to be open and transparent and to continue to provide information on this evolving crisis. Yesterday the city council of Brooklyn Center met in session and took a series of actions to address the current crisis, and that included a vote in which the Council Voted streamline the chain of command with the department and voted to according to in accordance with our city charter, have the command of the Police Department under the office of the mayor. The first Action Council took. The council then took action to relieve the city manager of his duties. As you all know, the city manager had responsibility and command over the Police Department until yesterday. The City Council Also passed a resolution yesterday in support of relieving the police chief and the officer who was involved in the shooting. As of this morning, we have the resignation we have received a Resignation Letter from officer kim porter. And in addition to that, we have also received a letter of resignation from the police chief. All right. So with the Police Chiefs resignation, were going to appoint two of our senior commanders to play critical leadership roles in leading the department through this crisis. Commander pullinggroy will be the acting chief and commander garrett floodland is going to assist the chief with regards to handling this current crisis. And so that is the update those are the updates we have for you at the moment. If you have any questions, were happy to stand for questions. Question, can you have the acting chief say his name and spell it . Yes. Tony, gruenyg. And you are [ inaudible ] acting police chief. How long you have been with the department . 19 years. Whats on your heart after taking this new role . I dont have any prepared statement. Just try to step forward and fill a leadership role right now. I dont like asking how you feel, but how do you feel . True. Its very chaotic right now. I was just informed less than a half hour ago about the whole change of status. Theres a lot of chaos. And just trying to wrap our heads around this situation and maintain some calm, just pause for the community and pause and calming as we try to wrap our heads around the entire situation. Let me just say, the acting chief here has spent a lot of time working in the community, with the community. Hes someone who knows Brooklyn Center well. Has probably more than any other any other person in the department has a very strong commitment to working directly with the community to help resolve issues. Hes done that throughout his career. That is why he is the right person to step forward and take on this role at this time. Mayor, can we ask you, since officer potter was allowed to resign, is she allowed to keep her pension and can she join another Police Department . You know, i do not have the answer to that. I do not know that. Do you know if Police Protocol might know my answer . Are you prepared to speak to that . No, i cant. I dont know the situation. That information we can get back to you on. Mayor, how does this change the situation for the department now that the officer has formally resigned, how does that change things for the city . Well, from what i understand is the officer stepping down has the effect, i think, of speaking to the community that folks have been out here protesting have been calling for, and that is the officer should be relieved of her duties. So im hoping this will help bring some calm to the community, although, i think ultimately people want justice. They want full accountability under the law and so thats what were going to continue to work for. And we will have to make sure that is done, justice is done. Daunte wright deserves that. His family deserves that. I appreciate the officer stepping down and saying that she felt that was the right thing to do, right thing to do for the community and i couldnt agree more. Did the city ask her to resign . We did not ask her to resign. That was a decision she made. When did she make this decision, and did she get word you were planning to terminate . I do not know if she got wind of an impending termination or not. You know, she i believe informed the city this morning at approximately 9 56 this morning. At 9 56 a. M. This morning. Mayor, what kind of message are you holding these personnel changes to the community, especially the police chief . Certainly, we want to send a message to the community that were taking this situation very seriously. Although things did not unfold the way we thought ultimately they should unfold, were hoping that were turning over a new leaf now. Im confident in that. Were going to develop an approach that is community based, that is based on working with the very strong voices in our community, people who are influencers in our community and partnering directly with the Police Department, partnering directly with the leadership to try and at the same time provide people the opportunity to speak up and deliver their grievances to government, but to do so in a way that their anger is channeled to protesting, and we want the community to know that this leadership for the department here, these are two individuals who are an acting chief in particular, theyre both committed, committed to engaging the community, engaging people who are out here protesting. Thats the message we want to send. We think we can do both, we can keep the Community Safe and we can do that by working with the community and working with leaders. Who is ultimately in charge now, is it you, the acting city manager . There seemed to be some confusion about that yesterday. Okay, let me clear that up. So im in charge ultimately. Obviously, the acting city manager has daytoday responsibilities over the department, and so that is the chain of command. Ive got a question can i ask do you guys plan on removing the blue thin line flag in front of the police station, all three, any of you three can answer that question . I will answer that. I have gotten a number of inquiries about the flag. Ive got inquiries from the uclu of minnesota, request to have that flag taken down because they see it in the community sees it as inflammatory, so with people coming to the department expressing their anger, and in seeing the flag, we dont want the flag to be a flashpoint that angers people and does that in a way that that theyre going to come to the department. So weve asked the flag to be removed. Has the flag been removed . Im not sure. We will check. My understanding is do you know whether or not the blue flag im not aware. I do believe the flag is no longer there and whats there is the american flag. If i can ask the way the Police Responded to the Peaceful Protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets. Now that youre in charge, can you ensure were not going to see a repeat of that tonight . This is a very difficult question to answer, quite honestly. Our city Council Passed a resolution yesterday i forgot to say this earlier, and that resolution, i dont have the language in front of me right now, but that resolution spoke to what our officers are allowed to do and are not allowed to do. Could you find that resolution for me, please . Thank you. I just want to know one thin i will reference what the Resolution Says in terms of how our can behave. One thing i want you all to know is that prior to the situation, there was a regional Central Command set up related to the george sorry, Derek Chauvin trial, and that operation has been mobilized to respond here in Brooklyn Center. Theres a Regional Command Center that has command and jurisdiction over the patrol the joint Law Enforcement agencies that are acting in Brooklyn Center, including the state patrol, the National Guard and the Hennepin County sheriffs department. So they were given orders to respond using teargas and rubber bullets and we have not given those orders here in Brooklyn Center. Thank you. One thing i will say is we are committed to not using those forms and those tactics. Let me just say what the language in the Brooklyn Centers city council Resolution Says, and it says you know, Brooklyn Center experienced a tragic experience, and it started a peaceful protests and can limit the violence given the police perpetuate im sorry. Yeah, against protesters it should even it should be even less of a priority to issue curfew inforement and curfew enforcements can lead to an excuse for more arrests and violence, so we want to be careful how we are instituting curfews against people who are protesting peacefully. Its one thing when people are protesting peaceful, and its another let me be clear, if people are not protesting peacefully and are engaged in, you know, any kind of use of force against Law Enforcement, i just want to say that there are theres a difference there that we recognize. So the city of Brooklyn Center prohibits the use of teargas and other chemicals, and the city of Brooklyn Center other violent crowd control and dispersian techniques such as the use of rubber bullets as a tool against protesters and the tactic also known as police lines to arrest large numbers of people. In regulating the crowd control techniques the city of Brooklyn Center bans violent tactics such as choke holds and implementing harsh punishments for the use of those maneuvers and the Brooklyn Center Police Department should not prevent people have videotaping them and they should not be able to cover up their badge numbers to avoid accountability for violence now, there are no instances that i know of where our officers have engaged in that, in covering up badge numbers or trying to avoid accountability and i want to be clear about that. This is the resolution that the city Council Passed and these reflect our values. You said you wanted her badge and you wanted her fire, and why was she allowed to resign and why didnt you fire her instead . I just want to be clear that in order for us to make that decision, we were going through our own processes to make sure that, that internally we had all of the documentation in order to be able to do that, but the officer resigned and so we had that resignation. Will she be able to use the union i do not have that answer for you. Reporter i am just really concerned that as the acting chief here, [ inaudible ]. We dont need to massacre her, we need to have empathy and sympathy and compassion. What would you do . You cant wrap your brain around it, and yet you want to help your kids and wife every day, and [ inaudible ] i need you to do more than just wrap your mind around it. Thats what i need all of you to do, because things are corrupt. You cant wrap your head around it . You go home and you wrap your arms around your kids every day. Im sorry. Every day i need your mind to wrap your mind around it you need to care about black, brown and indigenous no more profiling no more i am sick and i am tired and its people like you and you, you can look at whoever you want to, but i am talking about you, too thats right. You dont know what it feels like. I am sick of you all i am tired of it amen thank you. Reporter [ inaudible ] . As of this morning, i dont believe any of that is from the city . The last time we have 49 . Yes. Yes, so we have 49 sworn officers at the moment and i could be off by maybe one or two. As of this moment, i dont believe anyone of our officers live in Brooklyn Center. That is something that we are aware of. Up until this time, obviously, you know, we had different leadership over the Police Department. We do feel very strongly that we need officers could be from the community, and obviously not every officer can live in the city, where they work, i dont think that would be feasible or practical, but there is a huge importance to having a significant number of your officers living in the community where they serve, because i think it helps the department, it helps form the culture of the department and it helps infuse knowledge of the community through policing, and i think that can only help the work of the officers and it can only help make their jobs better or easier. Mayor, is it too late for you to fire her anyway as opposed to actually accepting her resignation . You said i believe you called for her to be fired, and you, yourself said you wanted her to be fired, and now she can go back to another police force and get hired when shes unfit to be a Police Officer anywhere around the nation. I do appreciate that. I have not accepted her resignation. So you know reporter [ inaudible ] . I dont know. Like i said, we are doing our internal process to make sure we are being accountable to the steps we need to take. Does she still want to resign . Okay. No, that is not something i can share. Can you talk about the demographics [ inaudible ]. What about