Transcripts For KGO Good Morning America 20240712 : vimarsan

One College Football player announcing he tested positive after attending a demonstration as covid cases continue to rise in at least 16 states, plus, what could be good news for parents, what dr. Anthony fauci is saying about reonindme deadly flash floods. It now threatens the gulf coast from florida and louisiana as a ready storm sweeps across the northeast. Winds gusting at over 90 mile an hour. Ginger tracking it all. Drew brees backlash. I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of america. The nfl star under fire saying he still doesnt support taking a knee during the National Anthem. In the wake of George Floyds killing the top players and teammas lashinonia a. The nba bouncing back. Powers in and finishes. Our favorite players planning a big return to the court. What the league is doing to keep teams safe and how disney world may be making the magic happen. Good morning, america. Thank you for joining us again in this tumultuous time. Thousands more gathered last night demanding justice for george floyd and reforms in our justice system. Many of those demonstrations were peaceful. Overnight take a look at this beautiful scene. This is in denver, you see the protesters there, all holding up their cell phone lights in honor of george floyd. They did that for nearly nine minutes, of course, that is how long floyd was on the ground for were seeing all this play out on a day where there was a Major Development in the case. Prosecutors now upgrading the most serious charge against former officer Derek Chauvin to Second Degree murder. Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison set to prosecute the case and he is set to talk to us. Hes standing by to join us live. He warned this could be difficult to win. The other three officers have now also been charged expected in court this afternoon. Eva pilgrim starts us off in minneapolis with the latest. Good morning, eva. Reporter good morning, george. News of those arrests as this community prepares to honor george floyd with a Memorial Service later today. This as protesters around the world continue to call for change. Overnight, predominantly peaceful protests across the nation. [ crowd chanting ] reporter with small pockets of chaos plaguing day nine. Of protests over the death of george floyd. Police engaging with Peaceful Protesters in brooklyn and tear gas used in new orleans to disperse a crowd. This morning, all four former officers involved in the fatal arrest of george floyd waking up behind bars facing charges related to his murder. Thomas lane, j. Alexander keung and tou thao charged with aiding and abetting Second Degree murder and manslaughter. Attorney general Keith Ellison also adding a Second Degree murder charge for Derek Chauvin. I believe the evidence available to us now supports the stronger charge of Second Degree murder. Reporter floyds son reacting to the arrests. I am happy that all officers are being arrested. My father should not have been killed like this. We deserve justice. Reporter prosecutors releasing Additional Details about the events leading up to floyds death. According to the new complaints, when officers tried to walk floyd to the squad car he stiffened up, fell to the ground but said he was not resisting. The documents go on to state the officers made several attempts to get floyd into the squad car from the drivers side and that chauvin eventually pulled him out of the passenger side and onto the ground. Overnight in an interview with the new york times, Maurice Lester hall sitting in the passenger seat and one of two witnesses in the car with floyd saying his friend tried to defuse tensions with police and in no way resisted arrest. He was from the beginning trying in his humblest form to show he was not resisting in no form or way. I could hear him pleading, please, officer, whats all this for . In minneapolis, where floyd died cheers as the charges were announced. We got all four. [ crowd chanting ] reporter across the country thousands marching peacefully saying there is still work to do. I still think its not enough and im so happy were moving towards change because a few years ago i dont think this would have happened. Reporter former president barack obama praising the efforts of demonstrators across the nation. I just have to say thank you to them for helping to bring about this moment and just make sure that we now follow through. Reporter and the mayor of l. A. Announcing some major reforms including cutting the lapds budget by up to 150 million. The department will also be instructed to invest more in and ersight ogms george. Ne minnesota Keith Ellison right now. General, thanks for joining us again this morning. We showed you in that piece saying you believe the evidence supports the charge now against Derek Chauvin for Second Degree murder. The defense is likely to argue chauvin did not intend to kill george floyd. Can you prove intent to kill . Under minnesota law do you have to . That is not one of the requirements of Second Degree murder, felony murder. The requirement is that he intended to commit an assault and that assault resulted in the death of george floyd. So that is not one of the elements of that particular charge. The floyd family attorney as you know Benjamin Crump is urging you to continue the investigation and bring charges of first degree murder. Are you open to that . We will charge anything that the facts in the law allow. There is we are not showing fear or favor to any person. If the facts show premeditation and deliberation and we can present that in front of a jury in good faith we absolutely will charge that particular count. As of right now you have no evidence of premeditation . I wouldnt want to comment on what i have or dont have. Weve charged the highest ethical charge that we feel we can at this point. The official autopsy report says that floyd had some preexisting condition, Heart Disease, hypertension, also fentanyl and other intoxicants in his system. How much of a challenge does that pose to your case . Well, you take your victim as you find them. You cant say that, well, the person who i victimized was not in the very perfect picture of health so its their fault that they died at my hands. You take your victim as you find them, and i believe that that is a factor that should not weigh, but the fact is is that you never know. Those kind of things are things that some Defense Attorneys are going to try to turn into. We dont think that those that that matters in terms of proximate cause, that both of the medical examiner reports weve seen indicate homicide, death at the hands of another. So that is what we think is what matters most. The three other officers charged with aiding and abetting. What do you have to problem to win those cases . That they helped. That they helped and if you can look at the tape and see who is sitting where and see the assistance that was given, meaningful and important assistance to what chauvin was doing. So theres we believe and we can also see what was not done. That even despite the pleas and the cries there was no assistance rendered. So we believe that they were culpable, they assisted in the commission of this offense and that is why we charged them. From the beginning you have consistently laid out a note of caution saying these cases are notoriously difficult to win. Are you confident you can get convictions here . Thats true. Yes, absolutely. We are confident we can do this, but we understand the challenge in front of us, which is why were working extra hard. And finally this comes at a time where the whole country is rocked by the issues of systemic problems with policing across the country. The Minneapolis Police department is under investigation. Youve chaired a task force on Deadly Police force. Whats the most important thing the country can do right now to address the systemic problem . Well, to meet in local communities to talk about the kind of policing that they want. President obama had the 21st Century Policing task force where they generated a lot of ideas from both Law Enforcement and community into how we could reshape and redesign policing. We in minnesota did the same thing as you mentioned, the working group that myself and commissioner harrington led but we need that happening in all 50 states and seven territories and even more granular than that at the municipal level we need police, community, faith community, art community, everyone sitting down saying, how can we have a more just, more fair society . This is a social change moment and this prosecution is essential to achieving that justice, but it is not enough to achieve all the justice and address all the hurt and pain that people have experienced so were urging people to continue this work, and if i may say so, george, even beyond policing. I mean, some of these problems have to do with, you know, inadequate housing, poverty and racist attitudes that americans share who are not even in the Police Department so all that work needs to be dong. Done. This is a good time to do it. Attorney general Keith Ellison, thanks for your time this morning. Thank you. Well have live coverage of George Floyds Memorial Service beginning at 2 00 eastern right here on abc. Amy. George, now to that extraordinary rebuke of President Trump by his former defense secretary general james mattis, blasting the president in writing, portraying him as a divisive force and threat to the constitution. Chief Global Affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz has more and, martha, you spoke with mattis right after this was published. Reporter i did, amy. After years of avoiding public criticism of trump, the much revered marine corps general and former secretary of defense told me, enough is enough. Withational gud taking mum president s threats to dispatch active duty forces and his photoop outside a d. C. Church after Peaceful Protesters were violently removed, jim mattis, President Trumps former secretary of defense, told me enough is enough. In a blistering essay in the Atlantic Mattis writing of the oath he took as a marine, never did i dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional Rights of their fellow citizens, much less to provide a bizarre photoop for the elected commander in chief with military leadership standing alongside. The lifelong marine saying, donald trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the american people, does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us. Calling trump a threat to the constitution. Mattis who resigned over trumps syria policy had been one of trumps favorites. Mad dog mattis, hes our best. They say hes the closest thing to general George Patton that we have. Reporter but overnight the president firing back at mattis latest comments tweeting, his primary strength was not military, but rather personal public relations. I gave him a new life, things to do and battles to win but he seldom brought home the bacon. Glad he is gone. It comes as the current secretary of defense, mark esper, is defying trump as well saying he does not support calling up active duty troops which would require invoking the insurrection act. The option to use active duty forces in a Law Enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort and only in the most urgent and dire of situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the insurrection act. Reporter espers words were not welcomed at the white house. The press secretary making clear the president is still very much considering calling in active duty troops. He has the Sole Authority to invoke the insurrection act and if necessary he will do so to protect american citizens. Reporter the press secretary adding that if the president losing faith in esper, we will learn about that in the future, not exactly a ringing endorsement. Now, as for those National Guard images from the streets, there has been some confusion. A lot of Law Enforcement can look like the National Guard because of what theyre wearing, but if they are mostly special operations teams from various Law Enforcement agencies like the u. S. Marshals office seen in that image. T. J. Martha, good point to make. We want to turn to the latest on the other emergency, coronavirus. Experts warning that these large crowds we are seeing in the streets gathered to protest across the country might now cause a new covid hot spot. Several of them. Whit johnson joins us now with more on that. Good morning to you, whit. Reporter t. J. , good morning to you. Governor andrew cuomo says new york city is still on track to begin phase one of reopening by monday but Health Officials are worried about these mass demonstrations. Thousands of people packed shoulder to shoulder for hours at a time. They are warning protesters that the virus is marching with them. This morning, as hundreds of thousands protest across the country demanding change, mounting concern about whether a lack of masks and social distancing could lead to coronavirus outbreaks. I see some Wearing Masks. I see some others not Wearing Masks and so we are really trying to work with each of the mayors to expand testing availability. Reporter this comes as many states are not out of the woods yet. 16 states plus puerto rico are seeing the number of new cases increase including california where l. A. County reported more than 1,100 new cases on tuesday alone. Utah, arizona and texas, also seeing an increase. An Oklahoma State Football Player testing positive, writing on twister, after attending a protest in tulsa and being well protective of myself i have tested positive for covid19. Please, if you are going to protest, take care of yourself and stay safe. Although most of those people look pretty healthy, we know that covid could be out there in people with no symptoms. Reporter there are signs of hope in the former epicenter of the outbreak, new york, where new covid hospitalizations dropped to a new low. Still, a warning from governor andrew cuomo. If youre going to protest, protest intelligently. Remember the covid virus is still out there. Reporter overnight the nations top Infectious Disease expert, dr. Anthony fauci saying the idea of keeping schools closed in the fall may not be necessary. We now have results of the first largescale Clinical Trial of hydroxychloroquine. Thats the malaria drug that President Trump himself has promoted and even used recently. The study involved more than 800 people and found that it did absolutely nothing to prevent infections of covid19. George. Okay, thanks very much. Well get more on the economic fallout from the pandemic. New jobless numbers out amid signs that our economy is starting to recover from the crisis. Rebecca jarvis tracking it all. Good morning, rebecca. Reporter good morning, george. Well, the trend is moving in the right direction, 1. 9 million americans filed new claims for Unemployment Insurance last week, thats still about three times the worst week of the great recession, but the trend is moving in the right direction with fewer layoffs than there were at the beginning of this pandemic. Where we are starting to see the inclination towards retiring are in Industries Like health care, doctors, dentists, physician assistants coming back to work. Education, construction, manufacturing, these are industries that are expected to show a faster return, whereas some of the places like who is at this pallet, retail, travel, even restaurants, areas that have been hit both by social distancing as well as state closures are expected to see those returns to work much slower. George. Thank you, rebecca. We are following a lot of other headlines including quarterback drew brees facing a backlash now after saying he still doesnt support kneeling during the National Anthem. Then how Las Vegas Casinos are keeping people safe as they reopen today but first lets go to ginger with the latest on that Tropical Storm. And i will get to that but, remember, we had that derecho that blew through philadelphia. Parts of new jersey with up to 93 mile per hour winds. Unfortunately a half a million without power, it killed at least four people. Today we have another shot, not just philadelphia but whole lomo b cstalnia, on. Stt he wk makes its ang av coa. First the hot cities brought to you by consumer cellular. Good morning. Im abc7 news meteorologist mike nicco. The heat is easing for most of us today. Still going to be well above afrm with mostl