Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 201609

CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer September 22, 2016

Unbearable. How will the candidates address Race Relations in their first debate just four days from now . And the suspects wife. New york and new jersey bombing suspect ahmed rahamis wife returns to the United States as the fbi seeks more information from her and her husbands family. Investigators have pieced together a detailed timeline on his movements of the day of the bombings. Why havent the two witnesses sought by the fbi come forward . We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. The breaking news tonight, hundreds of National Guard troops and state police are on alert in charlotte, North Carolina. A state of emergency is in effect, and officials are weighing whether to impose a curfew after two nights of violence. Its been sparked by the Police Shooting death of keith scott, an africanamerican father of seven. Police say he threatened officers with a gun, but his family says scott didnt own a gun and was simply holding a book. The police chief is refusing to make video of the shooting public. Last hour, right here in the situation room, he revealed there is body camera footage of the shooting, as well as dash cam video. The shooting followed a similar incident in tulsa, oklahoma just days before and just a little while ago, the District Attorney announced that the Police Officer who fatally shot Terence Crutcher has been charged with manslaughter. Were covering much more, including with the president of the National Urban league and our expert analysts are standing by. Lets get straight to charlotte with cnns brian todd on the scene for us. Theres a real fear of yet a third night of violence. Whats the latest . Reporter there is a real fear of that, wolf. Right behind me is an example of how jittery this city is. Take a look over here. These workers from a Glass Company are taking windows out of the Hyatt House Hotel. Windows that were not broken, and replacing them with plywood. We can show you some of the areas where plywood has been put in. A lot of damage was sustained here, and two employees were assaulted. Mean while tonight, as nightfall descends, reinforcements have arrived in this city. Hundreds of Law Enforcement and military personnel arrived in the city getting ready to deploy on these streets. Officials determined to try to avoid a repeat of what we saw last night. [ sirens ] a state of emergency in effect, after two nights of police struggling to keep order. Even with hundreds of reinforcements and a state of emergency in place, city officials unable to promise that they will be able to check the protests and looting in charlotte. Many workers told to stay home today, while store owners try to pick up the piecing. As evening approaches, the city is once again bracing for what may happen after dark. Theyll see us much more proactive to start locking criminal behavior up, so we dont experience the damages that we had last night. Reporter last night, 44 arrests were reported, as rioters smashed windows, looted store fronts and threw objects, even tv reporters were targeted. [ bleep ] Reporter Police responded with tear gas and riot lines. One person was shot. It is unclear by whom and remains on life support. The Police Shooting, which triggered the unrest when Keith Lamont Scott was shot dead tuesday. The police chief says the video shows scott was holding a gun but the video does not give me absolute, definitive visual evidence that would confirm that a person is pointing a gun. Reporter but lawyers for the family dispute that narrative. There are witnesses who are saying that no gun was there. There are witnesses who say gun was put there. There are witnesses who say a gun may have been pulled out of the car. Reporter scotts wife saw the shooting herself and the family is expecting to see the video as soon as this evening, their lawyer said. But Community Activists say let the public judge the videos for themselves. We dont want to hear another person stand up and give an account as if its factual until we all see those tapes. Reporter National Guard troops mobilized to bolster security in charlotte. We cannot tolerate violence directed towards citizens or destruction of property. Reporter Community Leaders say the unrst in charlotte goes beyond just one case. My frustration is because i dont see this incident that occurred this past tuesday as an isolated incident. I see this as a collection of hash tags that it seems to be open season on black and men and women in america. Reporter again, our breaking news tonight. The Charlotte Police chief telling wolf blitzer a short time ago that there is video from Police Officers of the shooting of keith scott the other day, as well as dash cam video. But the chief saying the evidence that hes seen, hes not seen definitive evidence that scott was holding a gun but the chief does reiterate he could not see scotts hands in the video. Wolf . The workers are trying to fix all the damage from the rioting last night. Brian, thank you very much. Also breaking, an attorney tells cnn that members of the scott family have now viewed the actual video, showing the shooting. Lets get some more on all of this with the president of the National Urban league. Mark, thanks for joining us. Great to be with you. Do you think the Charlotte Police should make the video of this incident public . It should be made public. I thought the police chief damaged his own case. If youre going to interpret the video and not release the video, then all youre doing is breeding more distrust that, in fact, youre covering up information. In this instance, transparency would be best. Let the public decide, and i dont think talking about the video and saying well, heres what i saw in the video from the Law Enforcement official who is leading the, if you will, investigation into the incident, is really helpful. Either you release the video, but if youre not going to release the video, and i dont agree with not releasing the video, you dont talk about the video. This doesnt help matters, i think. And i just watched a clip. I think that there is a better way to handle this, and the public does have a right to know. This is a new day, because these videos, through social media, are available. And the public wants to know so they can make a judgment as to what they think. You speak with credibility, with authority on the subject. You were the mayor of new orleans, which is a major city. How would you handle this crisis . Because everyone right now as you know, marc, is bracing for a third night of violence. I think you have to work to give confidence that the matter is going to be investigated, and that if there is wrongdoing, youre going to squarely be on the side of holding the Police Officers accountable. Since trayvon martin, if you will, wolf, theres been a long narrative of high profile cases, where unarmed africanamerican men have been shot, in many instances killed by the police. There have been over 200 such incidents this year, without judging whether they were justified or not. This is not a charlotte situation, a tulsa situation. Its a national narrative. And what i think were seeing is that things that have gone on for quite a long time now have the light of day shone on them, but its got to spur systematic change in these departments. The governor has activated National Guard troops, about 350. Theyre deployed right now and moving into the city. Is that a good idea . Well, look, i dont want to second guess what the governor is doing. Im not in charlotte. But i will say this, wolf. When youre dealing with a crowd and you deploy tear gas and, if you will, the sound devices, those sometimes, while the intent is to disburse the crowd, those sort of tactics in many cases backfire and create more chaos. I think in charlotte, when a militarized department shows up with these sound devices, if you will, and tear gas. Now, im not going to sit here and second guess because im not in charlotte. But i do know, i do know in these sort of instances, trying to keep a crowd or settal crowd down is highly, highly difficult. Let me say this. I abhor any violence in furtherance of protest. However, the rage, the anger, the just unbearable pain that these incidents are causing, those thats something that i share those thoughts, and i share those feelings, while at the same time, abhorring any use of violence in furtherance of protest, as well as violence being used against innocent people in this country by Law Enforcement officers. As you know, one man was shot during last nights protest by another civilian. Hes now in critical condition. Do you worry if the video, for example, isnt released, the protest will grow again . And the bottom line, because im anxious to hear, what is your message to the protesters right now . My message to the protesters has been a message that i think most of us in the Civil Rights Community have said, that the long arc of history teaches us that protest in furtherance of the First Amendment that is peaceful is best able to effect the change we need in america. Thats what history teaches us, and when violence is involved, it undercuts the focus. So now the focus is on the violence, its not on, if you will, the case, the innocent man who has lost his life. Weve got to make sure that systematic Police Reform that we need in this country, that the type of changes we need remains, if you will, the focus. But i believe that the protests to continue, as you heard a pastor in charlotte say, its a longer narrative than just this incident. The rage and the anger that people feel, people have to understand that rage and anger, while at the same time saying look, the protests should be peaceful. But lets keep our focus on the changes that need to be made, and that in charlotte, wolf, a Great American city no doubt, youve got wide economic disparities. Youve got a tale of two cities that exist in that community. Thats underlying a good deal of this in that city. Marc, i need you to stand by. Were getting more information coming in. Were all bracing for maybe another night of some violence in charlotte. Lets hope that does not happen. Well continue our confidence right after this. When are they leaving . Grilled cheese and campbells tomato soup go together like grandchildren and chaos. Made for real, real life. Perfect. No tickets, no accidents. That is until one of you clips a food truck, ruining your perfect record. Yeah. Now, you would think your Insurance Company would cut you some slack, right . No. Your insurance rates go through the roof. Your perfect record doesnt get you anything. Anything. Perfect for drivers with accident forgiveness, Liberty Mutual wont raise your rates due to your first accident. And if you do have an accident, our claims centers are available to assist you twentyfour seven. For a free quote, call Liberty Mutual at switch to Liberty Mutual and you could save up to 509. Call today at liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. If you have moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis or crohns, and your symptoms have left you with the same view, it may be time for a different perspective. If other treatments havent worked well enough, ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohns. Entyvio works by focusing right in the gitract to help control damaging inflammation and is clinically proven to begin helping many patients achieve both symptom relief as well as remission. Infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. Entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. While not reported with entyvio, pml, a rare, serious brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections, or have flulike symptoms, or sores. Liver problems can occur with entyvio. If your uc or crohns medication isnt working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. Entyvio. Relief and remission within reach. That can camp out in between our teeth, if well let it. Use gum® brand. Softpicks®. Proxabrush® cleaners. Flossers and dental floss. Gum® brand. Were back with marc morial. Growing tension as night falls in charlotte, North Carolina. The city is bracing for a possible third night of violence, following the Police Shooting of an africanamerican man. That happened just days after a fatal Police Shooting of an unarmed man in tulsa, oklahoma. The District Attorney there just announcing that the Police Officer in that case has been charged with manslaughter. Marc, lets talk about donald trump for a moment. He called whats called the stop and frisk program. He said its been incredible. He suggested it be reinstated in chicago. As you know, a federal court in new york ruled it unconstitutional. Statistics do suggest that it may have worked, maybe it didnt work, but by all accounts, if you listen to mayor bloomberg in new york, mayor giuliani, when he was mayor, they think it worked, even though the federal court says its unconstitutional. What do you think of trumps suggestion of bringing it in place in chicago. Let me give you this point of view on stop and frisk. And we deployed stop and frisk in new orleans in a limited way, in areas where there was significant evidence of drug and weapons use. But a comprehensive policy of stop and frisk across the board, even in new york, would show that an an small amount of people that were stop and frisked were prosecuted for, if you will, a weapons offense, which was the intent of stop and frisk. The other side of it is, it bred distrust and lack of confidence by communities in Police Officers, because they saw Police Officers making what appear to be random stops in black and brown communities, most of which yielded no offense, no violation of the law. So i would say its an ineffective policy. No one ever says that many beat Police Officers will tell you that the other thing that stop and frisk does is it turns policing into a numbers game, where beat officers are held accountable for a certain number of stops or where theyre measured by how many stops they make. I think its a bad policy to implement on a comprehensive basis, because its ineffective and its tantamount, if you talk about doing it on a national basis, to say lets impose a form of, if you will, martial law, which is way beyond the constitutional powering of the presidency. So if were going to debate stop and frisk, lets have the facts out on the table. Its appealing, like a lot of things that might sound good to people. But overall, on a comprehensive basis, it has not been effect iv. And in new york, where it was a broad policy, it was found to have been unconstitutional and it led to racial profiling. I think its not the way to confront or make our communities safer. I dont think its a way to bring police and communities together. There are better approaches and better ways. And i think in the 21st century, weve got to recognize, and look at new strategies and new ways to confront the challenges we have today. Trump also said this week, marc, that the africanamerican communities are in the worst shape theyve ever, ever, ever he said it three times ever been. So what is your message when you hear him say that . Black america is proudly a community of tremendous successes. Tomorrow and saturday, we are going to open the smithsonian africanamerican museum of history and culture. Anyone who is seriously interested, they should visit that museum and learn that black america is a community of great challenges, but a community of great successes. You know what i say . Did thin sanyone see the olympi . Did they see the gymnasts . Did they see the women who won gold medals in track . Theyre part of america and proudly part of black america. So this negative characterization by anyone, negative characterization is wholly inaccurate, its pejorative and its really insulting. Were a community with challenges and problems, but a community of tremendous success and pride, tremendous accomplishment, hardworking men and women who have families, working every day to contribute to what makes the United States of america a great nation. Mike pence, trumps Vice President ial running mate, marc, he said this today. Listen. Donald trump and i believe that theres been far too much of this talk of institutional bias of racism within Law Enforcement. That Police Officers are human beings, and in difficult and life threatening situations. Mistakes are made and people have to be held to strict account. But we both believe that its important that we have a president who, as the chief Law Enforcement officer of the United States, stands behind the men and women who serve in Law Enforcement. I want you to react, he says mistakes happen. Go ahead. Let me say this. Police officers are Public Servants and

© 2025 Vimarsana