Protests Underway, Curfew To Go Into Effect In Louisville; No Officers Directly Charged With Breonna Taylor's Death; Protesters Take To The Streets After One Officer Is Charged In Breonna Taylor Case But Not For Her Death; Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) Discusses About Her Reaction About Kentucky Attorney General, About Grand Jury Decision On Breonna Taylor Shooting
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM. "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.</s>ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next breaking news, protests growing after not a single officer was directly charged with the death of Breonna Taylor. The Kentucky National Guard and state police activated. A curfew about to take effect as armed militia groups are now taking to the streets. And the President refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power after Election Day. It is a stunning development tonight and Sen. Chuck Schumer will respond right here. Also, Dr. Deborah Birx, once a staple of the Coronavirus Task Force, now distressed questioning how much longer she can stay. She been replaced by that controversial, Dr. Scott Atlas. Let's go OUTFRONT. And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. And OUTFRONT tonight the breaking news, tensions rising on the streets across this nation tonight after a grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky charged just one officer in the Breonna Taylor case. That officer though not charged with the actual killing of the 26-year-old nor were the other officers present. You are looking at pictures of a tense standoff in Louisville. Police as you can see in riot gear facing off against the crowd. That is what you see now still in daylight. The crowd growing in size tonight, curfew going in effect in less than two hours from as we are watching this right now. And to add to the tension on the ground, this is video of a militia group. That is a militia group marching through the streets with long guns earlier today in Louisville. Now, Taylor was shot six times in her apartment in the middle of the night last March. Lawyers for Taylor's family calling the decision today outrageous and offensive, their words. But earlier today, Kentucky's Attorney General defended the grand jury's decision.</s>DANIEL CAMERON, KENTUCKY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Breonna Taylor's death has become a part of a national story and conversation. But we must also remember the facts and the collection of evidence in this case are different than cases elsewhere in the country. If we simply act on emotion or outrage, there is no justice. Mob justice is not justice.</s>BURNETT: As the Attorney General is referencing, Taylor became one of the faces of nationwide protests against police shootings. And just moments ago, President Trump was asked about today's decision, here's his response.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I thought it was really brilliant, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is doing a fantastic job. He's handling it very well.</s>BURNETT: All right. There's a lot to get to tonight and the nation, of course, now on edge. I want to start though with Shimon Prokupecz OUTFRONT live in Louisville. Shimon, so we just had showed some pictures of what was happening just moments ago with the altercation between riot-gear clad police and protesters. What are you seeing and hearing now?</s>SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes. So, Erin, we are here at Jefferson Square Park and you can see behind me several hundred protesters have gathered. They're trying to decide whether or not they're going to march. They gave some indications that they were going to march. But here's the thing as we have seen, as I've seen through the night here, police here moving in quickly when they feel things are escalating. This as tension remains high here.</s>PROKUPECZ (voice over): Outrage in the streets after a controversial grand jury decision in the police killing of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in March. Three Louisville officers were involved in a gun battle with Taylor's boyfriend where she was shot multiple times and only one was indicted.</s>CAMERON: The fatal shot was fired by Detective Cosgrove.</s>PROKUPECZ (voice over): Detective Myles Cosgrove not indicted.</s>CAMERON: Sergeant Mattingly was the first and only officer to enter the residence.</s>PROKUPECZ (voice over): Sergeant Jon Mattingly not indicted either.</s>CAMERON: According to Kentucky law, the use of force by Mattingly and Cosgrove was justified to protect themselves.</s>PROKUPECZ (voice over): Only former Detective Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment not to Taylor or her boyfriend but to the apartment next door. Back in June, Hankinson was fired and reprimanded by the Interim Police Chief in a letter. It accused him of wantonly and blindly firing into Taylor's apartment through a curtain. Several of those shots went through the neighbor's house. The officers were executing a no-knock search warrant for a narcotics investigation. But the Attorney General says a witness heard police knocking before they broke down the door.</s>CAMERON: Evidence shows that officers both knocked and announced their presence at the apartment.</s>PROKUPECZ (voice over): Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, says he never heard police announced themselves.</s>KENNETH WALKER, BREONNA TAYLOR'S BOYFRIEND: All of a sudden someone started beating on the door. They refused to answer when we yelled, "Who is it?"</s>PROKUPECZ (voice over): Walker fired the first shot hitting Mattingly in the leg. In a matter of seconds the three officers returned fire.</s>WALKER: Fifteen minutes later, Breonna was dead from a hell of police gunfire.</s>PROKUPECZ (voice over): Breonna Taylor's family and supporters were expecting stronger charges against the officers, manslaughter. The family's attorney, Ben Crump, calling it outrageous and offensive. The Attorney General urged the public not to politicize the decision.</s>CAMERON: There will be celebrities, influencers and activists who having never lived in Kentucky will try to tell us how to feel, suggesting they understand the facts but they don't.</s>PROKUPECZ (voice over): But on the streets of Louisville, the National Guard has been called in to prepare for protests. As the Mayor announcing a three-night-long curfew beginning at 9 pm.</s>MAYOR GREG FISCHER (D) LOUISVILLE METRO: We must plan for the potential for large gatherings. I urge everyone to commit once again to a peaceful, lawful response.</s>PROKUPECZ: And Erin, as you said the curfew two hours away now, less than two hours, and police here, as I said earlier, have given indications that they're going to move in and strictly enforce this curfew. This is something that is certainly on the mind of many of the people you see here who have given indications are going to march. The issue is that there's a curfew here starting at nine o'clock, so we'll be here and we'll see what happens. But again, tension here remains high and the big thing is going to be whether or not the police move in to try and enforce the curfew.</s>BURNETT: Shimon, thank you very much. And we're going to continue to watch here what happens over the next few moments. OUTFRONT now Sadiqa Reynolds, the President and CEO of the Louisville Urban League, Criminal Defense Attorney Joey Jackson and our Investigative Correspondent Drew Griffin who has covered the story extensively. Sadiqa, I want to start with you. Now, of course, that we're seeing what happened earlier in the streets of Louisville and now people gathering, determining whether to march into that curfew. You have been speaking out about Breonna Taylor for months and today no officers charged directly in her deadly shooting. Were you shocked? I mean, how disappointed are you?</s>SADIQA REYNOLDS, PRESIDENT, LOUISVILLE URBAN LEAGUE: I am profoundly disappointed. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I am shocked because I am a black woman in America and I know that our lives have not had much value in this country. I did expect more from my city and I am mad at myself for building my hopes up and keeping this community hopeful, but it is what it is. And these people marching in the streets, my god, they have a right to their rage, we all do. This is very, very disappointing day for all of us in Louisville, Kentucky and across this country.</s>BURNETT: So Joey, the charges, the ones that there were, were only for one of the three officers, former officer Brett Hankinson charged with three counts of first degree wanton endangerment. And as Shimon was laying out, that was for putting the lives of other neighbors at risk when he opened fire, not in relation to shooting at Breonna Taylor or her boyfriend. When you look at the evidence in the case, as the Attorney General is telling everybody to do. Do you think the charges and lack thereof makes sense?</s>JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So Erin, I'm troubled and I'm concerned. And with respect to the Attorney General who says that there'll be people outside of Kentucky who have opinions, yes, people outside of Kentucky do have opinions. We have a country that has opinions and that opinion focuses on accountability, so let's talk about that briefly. We're talking about a grand jury. What's the significance of that? A grand jury, Erin, doesn't determine proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. A grand jury assesses the evidence and establishes whether there's reasonable cause to believe that there was a crime and that the officers in question committed it. That gives you a lot of leeway with respect to the grand jury to what you ultimately conclude. And you don't have to, by the way, be unanimous. Why is all this relevant? We've often said that a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich. Well, it depends what information they're saying. And this contradictory evidence and information what I'm concerned about is how the case was presented. What did they hear? What information were they given such that they drew the conclusion? So yes, it's very concerning. I don't live in Kentucky, right, to the Attorney General, but as a person outside of it having evaluated followed and view the evidence, I am concerned with respect to the conclusions of grand jury reach and I want to know what information they were given such that they reach the conclusion rendered that we all heard today.</s>BURNETT: So it's really, I think, really crucial that you lay that out, because I think a lot of people may not realize, we may not all realize what information they had, right? It's like a function machine. What you get going in has a lot to do with what you're going to conclude coming out. Drew, among the things we do know, we knew Taylor's boyfriend fired first and he says he and Breonna were both afraid, that was why, and that the police never identified themselves, which is core to the reason for the limited charges. Here's the Kentucky Attorney General on this specific issue of the no- knock warrant again.</s>CAMERON: They did knock and announce. The important point here is that information was corroborated by another witness who was in close proximity to apartment four who corroborated that information and said that there was a knocking and announcing by the officers.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was the witness a civilian or law enforcement?</s>CAMERON: The witness was a civilian.</s>BURNETT: OK. Drew, this is crucial to the whole thing and you spoke to multiple witnesses, including a woman who was just two inches away, who backed up Taylor's boyfriend saying the police did not identify themselves. So when you heard this today from the Attorney General, were you surprised?</s>DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: No. But it goes to Joey's point, which is what was presented to the grand jury. We know that there was somebody in that apartment complex. It's a very tight corridor with four apartments up, four apartments down. The doors are very close to each other. We know that one person did poke his head out to see what was happening. Now, if that person was up at 12:40, heard something outside, poked his head out and then heard it was the police, that's a different set of facts than if you're inside an apartment like Kenneth Walker and Breonna Taylor lying in bed, dozing off to sleep and you don't hear anything. You're right. The witnesses that I talked to none of them heard police. Two of them were woken up by gunfire, one teenage girl says she woke up and thought it was a domestic fight. All she heard was shouting. None of them heard the word police open up.</s>BURNETT: So I mean as you say, this is crucial here to the whole issue of charges. And Joey, when I mentioned the shot, I'm sorry, from Taylor's boyfriend, it was one shot and he says he aimed low which by the way this appears to be true, because the officer he shot was hit - was shot in the leg. So he has his one shot at the leg. The three officers in return file a total of 32 shots, 22 from the officers who did not get charged. The Attorney General today says the use of force was justified by those two officers not charged and the former police commissioner for Philadelphia, Charles Ramsey, has just weighed in. He said, I thought this was interesting, "It's a tragedy, plain and simple, but they were justified in returning fire. In my opinion, nobody had any of this information that we're discussing now." What do you think?</s>JACKSON: I respect Mr. Ramsay greatly and has done a great service to this country and to his community. Here's what I think, what I think there comes a point in time where force is excessive. What I think is that in order to get to the issue of criminality, you don't have to reach a conclusion as a grand jury that someone acted intentionally. At what point, Erin, does my conduct become so unreasonable that it transcends the boundaries of my training and goes into the boundaries of what could be deemed to be criminality? Was there any negligence involved in what these officers were doing and firing these 30 shots or open 30 that you talked about? Was there any recklessness with respect to their conduct? These are all the things that have to be measured and evaluated. Final point, we can debate the issue of justification all day and all night. At the end of the day, though, that's a jury determination, not a grand jury determination, but a jury determination and I think people are so upset because of the short circuiting of the process. If you feel that something happened here, you can guide the grand jury accordingly. If you don't feel that something happened, you can guide them accordingly. At the end of the day, a prosecutor should present the evidence, grand juries indict and a trial jury makes the ultimate conclusion. And the fact that a jury will not make that decision is very troubling.</s>BURNETT: Drew, was there anything that stood out to you that surprised you by what the Attorney General said today in his defense of this decision?</s>GRIFFIN: Not in defense of his decision, based on the facts he presented, I can see how he reasonably believes the grand jury was correct in its decision making. But the big, big hole in all of this is why those officers were at that door in the first place. It was completely shoddy police work, terrible intelligence, copy and pasted search warrants. And let's go back all the way to the beginning. The actual target of this whole operation was a petty street drug dealer under surveillance that could have been arrested at any time for the months they had in being surveilled in advance. And none of the surveillance implicated directly Breonna Taylor, so why did they go to this single woman, they thought was in that apartment alone at 12:40 at night with a battering ram. That part of it makes no sense. The officers who were there were ordered to do that, OK? So you have to take them away from the decision making, which I think is really the criminal aspect of this.</s>BURNETT: And that is why I believe you see all these people out on the streets, because of exactly what you point out. And Sadiqa is nodding so strenuously too. Thank you all so very much.</s>REYNOLDS: Can I say something else, oh, this is frustrating.</s>BURNETT: Go ahead quickly.</s>REYNOLDS: Well, I just want to tell you, the grand jury process did not work for Kenneth Walker in the same way that it worked for the LMPD police officers and that's another reason people are in the street. They recognize the difference in justice, who you are, where you are and what you have access to. There are so many places along the way in this case where black people, where Breonna Taylor, where Kenneth Walker did not get justice and we still don't have it.</s>BURNETT: All right. Thank you. I appreciate your time, all of you. And next, our breaking news coverage of Breonna Taylor continues. These are live pictures. This is Brooklyn that you're looking at right now. The civil rights leader warning protesters that any violence though will only help Trump. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee is here. Plus, Dr. Anthony Fauci takes on Senator Rand Paul's wild claims about coronavirus.</s>DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: This happens with Sen. Rand all the time. You were not listening to what the Director of the CDC said.</s>BURNETT: Plus, the President not committing to providing a peaceful transition of power, directly not committing tonight if he loses the election.