Month: July 2020

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said that Congress should proceed with legislation that calls for a study into military bases named after figures of the Confederacy, despite the fact that President Donald Trump threatened to veto the bill if such language was present.

On ABC News’ ‘Powerhouse Politics’ podcast, Scott told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl and Political Director Rick Klein that renaming bases or monuments should come after a study into their names.

“The willingness for the DOD to study the names of the bases, I think, makes sense to me. How we come to the conclusion on the bases that should be renamed, if at all, is a part of that process that we should study,” Scott said.

“I think that we should move forward with the language basically as it is, from my understanding, which is that we should have a study of those bases and why they were named, and then come to a decision on what we should do about that. I think it’s premature to make a decision before you see the results of that study, something that I’m interested in seeing.”

An amendment to the Department of Defense’s annual spending bill was introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and passed by the Republican-led Senate Arms Services Committee, which would remove names, symbols and displays that commemorate the Confederacy within three years.

Scott is at the helm of police reform bills in the Senate Republican caucus, after speaking openly about his experience as a Black man being stopped by law enforcement. The Senate and House are currently at a standstill on reform legislation negotiations, with no clear path forward on how the they will proceed.

“I think you told me on ‘This Week’ that there is basically 70% of agreement between your bill and the Democratic bill in the House,” Karl said. “What next? Is there anything more you can do? Are there bits and pieces that can be taken out of your bill, that you can reach out to, to your Democratic colleagues and get passed or are we just gonna have to wait till after the election on this?”

Scott said the worst outcome for his legislation is to wait until after the November general election to pick it back up.

“I think the worst outcome is to wait till after the election on the legislation that I sponsored,” he said. “There are working groups on both sides of the aisle. So there is a reason for us to keep our shoulder to the grindstone for the next few weeks and see if we can emerge from this time back in our states with a compromised bill that leads to the President’s signature.”

“If we miss this opportunity, it won’t be for the lack of effort on my part, and it won’t be because every member of the United States Senate Republicans are willing to move forward and give democrats enough amendments to vote on every single difference they saw in the bill,” he added.

Klein asked Scott about the recent slogan campaigns, such as Black Lives Matter, and if he agreed with the president that those are hateful slogans.

Scott said he doesn’t find the words ‘black lives matter’ hateful themselves, but calls to defund the police, he said, do contribute to stereotyping — something which he has experienced as a Black man.

“I’m not here to defend and or comment on what he does or doesn’t say. I think that’s a path forward that is fraught with problems because I don’t work for the president, I work for the American people,” Scott said.

“I do not find black lives matter, the words themselves as a problem or hateful themselves. I think the concept of defunding the police is a position of stereotyping all law enforcement officers in the same way that I as an African American would hate to be stereotyped because I have been stereotyped,” he added.

Scott’s newly-minted role as the leader of major bipartisan legislation has thrust him into the limelight — and stirred conversation about the possibility of a presidential bid come 2024.

“So, I can’t predict the future. What I can tell you is I think that it’s easier to have a healthy reputation and a higher approval rating as a member of the clergy, then it is as a member of politics so my future is unknown to me, but I don’t have any designs today on running for president of the United States,” he said.

“And frankly, hate that I have received and the death threats and all of the things that have come up — because I’ve worked on a bipartisan piece of legislation to make it safer in neighborhoods — doesn’t make me want to roll back my commitment on term limits in public office and especially in the United States Senate. So, I am thankful to be where I am,” he added.

Also on the podcast, veteran pollster and political consultant Frank Luntz warned that the language Trump is using — referencing “law and order,” and calling himself a “warrior” — is “over-caffeinated” and “not helping him.”

“It’s not that they’re turning against him for what he’s doing. They’re turning against him because of what he’s saying,” Luntz told Karl and Klein.

The President has been tweeting about jailing protesters for up to 10 years.

As President Donald Trump ramps up his hard-line rhetoric against protesters, The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday it is launching rapid deployment teams to federal monuments over the Fourth of July weekend.

The effort comes amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody in May — many of which have targeted Confederate and other statues and monuments.

“As we approach the July 4th holiday, I have directed the deployment and pre-positioning of Rapid Deployment Teams (RDT) across the country to respond to potential threats to facilities and property,” said DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf. “While the Department respects every American’s right to protest peacefully, violence and civil unrest will not be tolerated.”

The Department says the task force will work with the Department of the Interior and Department of Justice to establish information sharing but would not provide specifics as to what the teams would do and how many personnel would be deployed. It is also unclear whether DHS is responding to any specific threat or planned protest.

The Federal Protective Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard will be the primary agencies assisting in the deployment, according to a senior DHS official.

Trump has been focusing on protecting statues and monuments, last week signing an executive order to do so.

“I just had the privilege of signing a very strong Executive Order protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues – and combatting recent Criminal Violence,” Trump tweeted. “Long prison terms for these lawless acts against our Great Country!”

The Department says Trump’s executive order “directs DHS, within its statutory authority, to provide personnel to assist with the protection of federal monuments, memorials, statues, or property.”

Trump has tweeted numerous times about protecting statues, even tweeting the FBI wanted poster for some of the alleged suspects who tried to take down the Andrew Jackson statue outside the White House.

“We are tracking down the two Anarchists who threw paint on the magnificent George Washington Statue in Manhattan. We have them on tape. They will be prosecuted and face 10 years in Prison based on the Monuments and Statues Act. Turn yourselves in now,” the president tweeted.

Over the weekend, DOJ charged four people with allegedly trying to take down the statue.

On Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” Wednesday morning, Wolf said that because of the “lawlessness” of the past few weeks “the president, the administration, we are taking some really strong action.”

But the American Civil Liberties Union said the government, specifically DHS, should be focused on other critical issues.

“DHS should not be prioritizing the protection of property over the wellbeing of Black and Brown communities. DHS has proven time and time again that it cannot be trusted to protect human life. The fact that they are now being deputized to protect property shows exactly where this administration’s priorities are,” Andrea Flores, deputy director of immigration policy for the ACLU said in a statement to ABC News. “Our government should be focusing resources on keeping communities of color safe and investing resources in investigating threats to the wellbeing of these communities not turning additional law enforcement resources against them and further militarizing our streets.”

A white former Atlanta police officer charged with felony murder in the death of Rayshard Brooks, a Black man who was shot twice in the back, was released from a county jail early Wednesday after posting bond.

Following a nearly two-hour hearing Tuesday, Judge Jane C. Barwick of the Superior Court of Fulton County set Garrett Rolfe’s bail at $500,000, despite Brooks’ widow making a tearful plea to keep him locked up.

Rolfe, who has been in the Gwinnett County Jail since he surrendered on June 18 to face charges in the fatal shooting of the 27-year-old Brooks in a crowded Wendy’s restaurant parking lot, was released at 12:27 a.m. on Wednesday, according to online jail records. He was only required to put up 10%, or $50,000, to secure the bond. His attorney said at the hearing that while Rolfe is unemployed, supporters have held fundraisers for him.

Rolfe’s defense attorneys expressed appreciation in a message to the Georgia Law Enforcement Organization, a statewide nonprofit law enforcement support group, for “collecting thousands of donations” to help Rolfe mount of defense against “these wrongful allegations and to cover his personal expenses,” according to the group’s website. So many donations were collected that Rolfe’s attorneys asked the group to pause the fundraiser “in order to support other officers in need.”

In making her decision, Barwick rejected arguments from prosecutors that Rolfe is a danger to the community and a flight risk. She noted that Rolfe did not attempt to flee after the Fulton County District Attorney announced murder charges against him on June 17 and gave him more than a day to voluntarily surrender.

“I do not believe he is a danger to the community,” Barwick said.

The judge imposed a series of strict conditions for Rolfe’s release, requiring him to be fitted with an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet, adhere to a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, surrender his passport, possess no firearms, and avoid contact with Brooks’ family, witnesses in the case, and any Atlanta police officer.

While the hearing was held in Barwick’s courtroom, Rolfe’s attorneys, prosecutors and other participants attended via Zoom video conferencing.

Prior to announcing her decision, Barwick allowed Brooks’ widow, Tomika Miller, to address the court. Miller asked Barwick to deny Rolfe bond.

“My husband did not deserve to die, and I should not have to live in fear while waiting for the man who killed my husband to be tried in court,” Miller said, breaking into tears. “This defendant should not be treated like anyone else who is accused of taking someone’s life without remorse.”

Miller also told the judge that Brooks was a “loving, caring, feeling, wonderful father, and the best husband I could ask for.”

“He had the brightest smile and the biggest heart,” she said.

While Barwick thanked Miller for speaking, she said that like all defendants Rolfe has to be considered innocent until proven guilty. She said her discretion in setting bail was “limited” to the statutes of state law.

Rolfe, who was fired from the police department, did not speak during the hearing.

He is charged with 11 counts, including felony murder, multiple counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and seven violations of his office. Three of the aggravated assault charges stem from a stray bullet Rolfe fired that hit a vehicle occupied by three people.

Clinton Rucker, executive assistant district attorney for Fulton County, had initially requested that no bail be set for Rolfe, but later requested $1 million bail be set if bail were to be granted. Rolfe’s attorney, Bill Thomas, requested the judge set bail in the range of $50,000 to $100,000.

“While the family of Rayshard Brooks is disappointed that his killer was granted bond today, they understand that this is just one step in the long quest for justice for Rayshard,” the family’s attorneys, L. Chris Stewart and Justin Miller, said in a joint statement.

Brooks’ death came amid seething tensions as protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police broke out in Atlanta and in cities across the nation.

The shooting came just days after six Atlanta police officers were criminally charged after viral video caught them deploying stun guns on two Black college students and dragging them from their car as a protest was occurring nearby.

Brooks was killed on June 12 after a Wendy’s employee called police to complain that Brooks was passed out behind the wheel of a car in the drive-thru lane, according to police.

Officer Devin Brosnan was the first to arrive on the scene and knocked on Brooks’ window but could not wake him up. Body camera video showed Brosnan opening the door and shaking Brooks awake.

Rolfe responded to the scene when Brosnan radioed a dispatcher saying he needed a DUI-certified officer.

When officers tried to put Brooks in handcuffs, Brooks struggled, wrestled with both officers on the ground, and then grabbed Brosnan’s stun gun.

Surveillance video showed Brooks running through the parking lot as the officers chased after him. While fleeing, Brooks allegedly shot the stun gun at Rolfe, who drew his weapon and opened fire. Brooks died from two gunshots to his back, the medical examiner determined.

At a news conference last week, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard alleged that video of the incident recorded Rolfe kicking Brooks as Brooks lay dying on the ground and Brosnan standing on Brooks’ shoulder. But during Tuesday’s hearing, another one of Rolfe’s attorney, Noah Pines, denied that Rolfe kicked Brooks after shooting him.

Brosnan, who has been placed on administrative leave from the police department, was charged with two counts of violations of oath and one count of aggravated assault for allegedly standing on Brooks’ shoulder after he was shot by Rolfe. Brosnan also surrendered to authorities on June 18 and was released on $50,000 bail.

Four dozen wildfires are still burning in the West from Nebraska to California.

Hot weather continues to spread throughout the lower 48 states from Arizona to New York this morning.

Seven states from Kansas down to Louisiana are under a Heat Advisory where temperatures will be in the 90s for the most part, but with humidity it will feel like it’s close to 110 degrees in some areas.

The heat will spread as we head closer to the end of the week with 90 degree and higher temperatures expected from California to New York.

In the East, the big problem will be the high humidity so the 90s could feel more like 100 degrees.

For the Fourth of July on Saturday it looks like the Northeast part of the U.S. from Boston to New York City and Philadelphia could catch a break as a back door cold front could cool this area off.

Elsewhere, four dozen wildfires are still burning in the West from Nebraska to California.

The winds have slightly relaxed in some areas, however, allowing firefighters to make progress on some of the fires.

There are still four states from Nevada to Wyoming with Red Flag Warnings where winds could gust near 35 mph and relative humidity could drop as low as 5%.

In the East, it’s very much the opposite with wet conditions and localized areas of flash flooding.

Meanwhile, 4 to 6 inches of rain fell from the Dakotas down to Illinois and into Maine where flash flooding was reported.

Also, up to 2 inches of rain fell in parts of the Atlanta metro area in a short period of time and produced street flooding.

The result of this heavy rain is the slow moving storm pattern that keeps producing thunderstorms with heavy rain over the same areas.

Today, a Flash Flood Watch has been issued for Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky as this stationary frontal system stays put.

Over the next few days, the stationary front will continue to sit over the South and mid-Mississippi River Valley and will continue to produce localized heavy rain and some areas could see 2 to 4 inches of rain in a short period of time and that could cause flash flooding.

Sheneen McClain’s 23-year-old son, Elijah McClain, died nearly a year ago in Aurora, Colorado, just a few days after police confronted him as he was walking home from a convenience store.

“I honestly don’t think my anger or … me being upset is gonna change,” she told ABC News. “I think I’m always going to have that same level of being pissed off.”

Elijah McClain’s family says the conflict involved a deadly use of excessive force. The police called it justified. His case was closed and the police officers involved were allowed to return to work.

Now, in the wake of George Floyd’s death, protests have filled the streets and Elijah McClain’s case has been given new attention, including in his home state.

“It hurts because I honestly didn’t understand why Colorado wasn’t there for Elijah like they were for George Floyd or even Breonna Taylor,” Sheneen McClain said. “Everybody’s screaming names now, but … last year it would have made a big difference.”

Now, it’s her son’s name chanted at marches across the country, from Denver to New York City. Thousands of people have taken to the streets, fueled by online campaigns and petitions, highlighting case after case of Black Americans killed by police and a lack of accountability.

“The George Floyd case was a game changer,” Marc Lamont Hill, a media studies professor, author and activist, told “Nightline.” “That opened up the door for questioning all sorts of stuff when it comes to law enforcement.”

This week, thousands of protesters filled the streets of Colorado. One group shut down a busy highway in Denver. At one point, Aurora police dressed in riot gear, dispersing crowds using pepper spray and tear gas to break up a peaceful vigil in McClain’s hometown.

“The fact that it always takes a public struggle in order to get an arrest and an indictment and a prosecution speaks to the failure of the system to provide swift justice, and for many people, justice delayed is, in fact, justice denied,” Hill added.

Sheneen McClain says her son was always introverted. She said he’d channel his shy nature by expressing himself through art.

“As an introvert you have to find different ways of communication,” she said. “He loved knowledge. … That’s how he taught himself how to play the instruments — the violin.”

“It was interesting when he started because I was like, ‘How are you gonna play all these instruments at one time?’ And he’s like, ‘I’m gonna do it,'” she added. “So, we watched and he did. … It was amazing to see him so enchanted with his own skill, and we were all enchanted, too. So, yeah, pretty amazing.”

By last year, Elijah McClain had been working as a massage therapist for several years and he had plans to go to college.

On the night of Aug. 24, 2019, around 10 p.m., Elijah McClain went to a convenience store near his home to buy some soft drinks. In surveillance video from the store, he can be seen wearing a ski mask. His family says he was wearing it because he had anemia, a blood condition that can make people feel cold more easily, and the mask kept him warm.

While McClain was making his trip to the store, someone had called 911 to report a suspicious person. Referring to McClain, the caller described him wearing a mask said he looked “sketchy” but added that “he might be a good person or a bad person.” When asked, the caller told the operator that there were no weapons and that no one was in danger. The operator advised him that officers were on their way to check it out.

When officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt and Randy Roedema stopped Elijah McClain on his way home, one telling him that he was “being suspicious,” according to police body camera video. McClain responded, “I have a right to go where I am going.”

The officers immediately grabbed McClain, who repeatedly told them to let him go.

“I am an introvert. Please respect the boundaries that I am speaking,” McClain pleaded. “I’m going home… Leave me alone. You guys started to arrest me, and I was stopping my music to listen.”

“This is a small kid … small in height, small in build. Somebody who probably could have been detained by one officer and certainly didn’t require three officers, a chokehold and a sedative,” Hill said. “And the fact that we can’t see all of it on camera because they say that the camera dropped is also a big red flag.”

Two of the three officers’ body cameras became dislodged within seconds and fell to the ground. The third camera captured a little more of the struggle before it fell, too.

“There was absolutely no reason legally why the officers should have stopped him in the first place,” Mari Newman, a lawyer for the McClain family, told ABC News.

“When he said ‘I’m just going home. I’m just going home. I’m an introvert. Please respect my boundaries,’ they grabbed him. They tackled him. And they threw him to the ground,” she said.

As police tried to apprehend McClain, he offered them his ID, gave them his name and told them he was just going home.

Two minutes into the video, Elijah McClain could be heard repeatedly saying, “I can’t breathe” — a phrase that has become a national rallying cry. He told officers he was in pain. One of the officers could be heard saying in the video that they were using a “carotid,” a type of chokehold that restricts the carotid artery, cutting off blood to the brain.

As McClain was pleading with the officers, one of them could be heard justifying the takedown by saying he was wearing a mask. He also said that he saw Elijah McClain reach for one of their guns.

As more officers arrived, the original three looked around for their body cameras. They picked them up and repositioned them — one was turned off.

Mari Newman and the McClain family believe the lack of clear body camera footage was on purpose.

“All three of those officers intentionally dislodged their body cameras,” she said, pointing to a part on one officer’s recording where one officer who is holding down McClain tells another officer to move his camera.

In the video, the officer can be heard seen and heard saying, “Move your camera, dude.”

Newman says, “So, he’s intentionally trying to stay off of the body camera as they inflict multiple different kinds of force on Elijah McClain.”

During this time, multiple officers are holding McClain on the ground. At one point, the 23-year-old gets sick and vomits. When EMTs arrived, they gave him at shot of 500 milligrams of ketamine, a sedative. Soon after, McClain was loaded into the ambulance, where he had a heart attack.

Once at the hospital, Sheneen McClain said “it took so long for [the police] to just be honest with me.”

She photographed her son’s physical injuries while he was on life support. Eventually, doctors declared him brain dead and, three days later, he was taken off life support.

“Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. That was a part of me. There’s no way to put a band-aid on that, he’s always gonna be gone,” she said. “He’s gone. All this should have been done before he was killed. Those laws that allowed them to even go that far should’ve never been in place.”

The investigation into Elijah McClain’s death was taken up by District Attorney Dave Young. He said that when he first saw the videos, his “initial impression” was that the ketamine caused Elijah McClain’s death.

“It wasn’t until I received the forensic autopsy report that I learned that, in fact, was not the cause of death,” Young told ABC News. “In fact, we don’t know the cause of McClain’s death.”

Young said he could not “prove one way or the other” if the police officers’ actions led to Elijah McClain’s death.

He said “I don’t know” whether the officer’s actions led to McClain’s death.

“The burden of proof is on me,” Young said. “If I can’t prove to a jury of 12 that there’s actions cost his death then I cannot file criminal charges.”

In November, the district attorney announced they would not bring charges against the officers, who had been placed on administrative duty during the investigation.

“I don’t condone the officers’ actions out there,” Young said. “In fact, I wish they would have done things differently. But I cannot … If someone’s saying they can’t breathe, get off of him. Do it, just get off of him!”

Hill points out there’s a history of white men with weapons getting taken into custody without violence — even in the same city Elijah McClain died.

“Look at James Holmes, a white man who was a mass murderer, was able to be arrested without incident,” Hill said of the murderer who shot and killed 12 people at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado in 2012. “Somehow, when it comes to white suspects, police managed to locate a level of discipline and care and patience that they don’t for black suspects, even ones who were unarmed.”

In addition to calls for justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the protests that have emerged around the country have been calling for accountability in older cases as well. There are currently several petitions demanding that Young resign, including one that’s accrued 50,000 signatures.

“Now, I’m not going to consider doing that,” Young said. “I stand by my decision. It’s unfortunate that people feel that by voicing their opinions that that’s going to change the facts and the law of the investigation.”

Still, the public pressure has sparked action. Colorado passed a police reform bill earlier this month with new accountability measures for officer-involved killings. Last Thursday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis appointed state Attorney General Phil Weiser as special prosecutor to investigate Elijah McClain’s death and potentially file charges.

“The fact that a special prosecutor is being appointed and they’re still looking into this, both formally and informally suggests that public outcry matters,” Hill said. “When people pay attention and hold institutions accountable, those institutions will respond differently than if nobody is watching.”

All three officers, Woodyard, Rosenblatt and Roedema have been taken off enforcement duties and reassigned. Sheneen McClain believes they should spend life in prison.

“Justice to me … is conviction. … Like, they need to suffer. Life in prison would be great for me. Honestly, they need to be convicted for what they did because it was unjust,” she said.

McClain now realizes that Elijah has become much more than just her son, he’s become a symbol.

“We’re gonna keep saying’ his name,” she said. “We’re gonna shout it even louder every day, All lives can’t matter if Black lives don’t matter. The revolution is now. Ain’t no more waiting’ for it.”

Michael Glassner will have his role shifted to focus on the campaign’s lawsuits.

Trump campaign chief operating officer Michael Glassner, who had been heavily involved in planning the president’s rallies, has been replaced by Trump’s 2016 Arizona chair Jeff DeWit, a major shakeup at the top of the president’s campaign following the Tulsa rally debacle and four months from Election Day, multiple sources tell ABC News.

According to the Trump campaign, Glassner, who has worked on the president’s campaign since 2015, will have his role shifted to focus on the campaign’s many lawsuits heading into the fall.

The shake up and Glassner’s reassignment are in part a result of how badly things went in Tulsa, sources tell ABC News.

“This is not a reaction to Tulsa. Michael Glassner is moving into the long-term role of navigating the many legal courses we face, including suits against major media outlets, some of which will likely extend beyond the end of the campaign. He is one of the founding members of Team Trump and his dedication to the success of the president is unmatched,” Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement to ABC News.

DeWit served for less than two years as NASA’s chief financial officer and during the 2016 campaign was the Trump campaign’s chief operations officer.

The news was first reported by Axios.