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Erin Burnett Outfront

FBI Raids Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan Home And Office; Search Warrant Also Executed At Home Of Trump Ally Victoria Toensing; Soon: Biden's First Address To Joint Session Of Congress; Interview With Rep. Joe Neguse (D-CO); Biden To Tell Lawmakers: "America Is On The Move Again" After COVID Battle And Capitol Attack; Protesters Take To Streets In Wake Of Andrew Brown Shooting. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired April 28, 2021 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I'll be back in one hour for CNN's special coverage of President Biden's address to a joint session of Congress. Thanks very much for watching.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Thanks so much to Wolf.

OUTFRONT next, the Feds raided the home and office of Rudy Giuliani reportedly seizing electronic devices as another search warrant is executed at the home of a second Trump ally.

Plus, America on the move again. That's what President Biden will say tonight as he prepares to speak to Congress and the nation.

And a judge in North Carolina bars the public from seeing the body cam video of Andrew Brown Jr.'s death. How come? Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight, raided. The FBI today taking extraordinary action against Trump ally, personal attorney, confidant, Rudy Giuliani. FBI agents today raiding Giuliani's office and apartment, seizing his electronic devices. This all according to The New York Times and it is a significant move by the Feds, because it signals a major turning point into the investigation into Rudy Giuliani.

Keep in mind that Rudy Giuliani has been under investigation for more than two years, including about whether he illegally lobbied for Ukrainian officials while he pursued an investigation linked to Trump's biggest political rival Joe Biden. We're also learning tonight that investigators executed a search warrant at the home of Victoria Toensing, also a lawyer and a legal adviser to President Trump, a close ally of Rudy Giuliani's.

Agents using her cell phone and by all accounts she had no expectation that any of this would go down. A spokeswoman for Toensing says she was told she was not a target of the investigation herself.

Giuliani for his part tweeted he was going to address the raid this afternoon, but so far, nothing. Only this from his son, Andrew. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW GIULIANI, RUDY GIULIANI'S SON: This is disgusting. This is absolutely absurd and it's the continued polarization of the Justice Department that we have seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And so far no comment from Trump who for the second time has witnessed the FBI raid one of his personal attorneys. I mean, let's just be very clear here, it's highly, highly unusual for prosecutors to execute a search warrant on a lawyer. It is just a really, really unusual thing.

But the Justice Department did that to two lawyers related to Trump today and they also did exactly that with Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen. You know Michael Cohen. He eventually pleaded guilty to a number of crimes, including bank fraud and lying to Congress and is now cooperating on investigations into the former president. Tonight, Cohen tweeting, "Here we go folks." Evan Perez is OUTFRONT.

So Evan, again, we say this is so highly unusual and you've got the search warrant. They go into Rudy Giuliani's apartment. Take his electronic devices. All of this goes down. Tell me what they were trying to do and why they did it in this way.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to the search warrant that they served on Rudy Giuliani, they said what they were after, Erin, were communications with a number of people. And on that list were some of the people that you already know, people like Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas. These are two of the Giuliani associates who were indicted back in 2019. That's when we first learned that this investigation had been ongoing.

And a lot of it has to do with this effort by Giuliani working with the Ukrainians that he was associated with to drum up and find dirt on Joe Biden and Joe Biden's family, trying to get the Ukrainians to do an investigation of Joe Biden and his family.

And notable among the names that were on the search warrant, according to his lawyer, is John Solomon who is a right-wing columnist, opinion writer who was at the center of all this, helping to foment some of those stories, trying to get these stories out there, including ones that were used to help get rid of Marie Yovanovitch, who was the ambassador at the time in Ukraine.

So a lot of this has to do with things that we already heard so much about in President Trump's first impeachment trial.

BURNETT: So you're learning more about behind the scenes wrangling to get these warrants and, again, these sort of unprecedented, highly unusual moments, tell me about that.

PEREZ: Right. So we -- Kerris Kanel (ph) and I had learned some time ago that these prosecutors in New York had asked permission to do this raid back some months ago, in the closing months of the Trump administration. There was a resistance from those the people who are in charge of the department at the time, principally Jeff Rosen, who was the Deputy Attorney General at the time.

It was so sensitive, Erin, that he imposed a new rule to essentially erect new hurdles for prosecutors to do raids like this.

[19:05:00]

Back in December he said a memo saying that you had to get permission. Essentially you had to get you had to get input from the Deputy Attorney General.

And so we know that he did not sign off. He opposed the raid back when this was proposed for a number of reasons. He thought that there was not enough evidence. He also was concerned about the fact that, obviously, there was the election.

So we know that now the approval came under the new administration and that's why you saw the raid happened today.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Evan. And, of course, I will just say so everyone knows, the White House says that they knew nothing about this.

I want to go now to William Rashbaum. He was one of the reporters who broke this story for The New York Times and Elie Honig, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. OK. Thanks to both.

William, let me start with you in your reporting.

WILLIAM RASHBAUM, SENIOR WRITER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Sure.

BURNETT: Justice Department, let's just be clear, has to reach a very high bar to even execute a search warrant on a lawyer. That's why it is so extremely rare and a very high bar to seize communications like cell phones. They were able to jump over both of those hurdles today in the case of Rudy Giuliani. What does that tell you about how serious the investigation has become?

RASHBAUM: Well, I think it's clear that that in order to get a search warrant, they had to present a significant amount of evidence that not just that there was probable cause that a crime occurred, but that the search warrant would likely take them to further evidence of those crimes, crime or crimes.

So what you have here, basically, is an investigation that has reached a significant point, that's not to say that we obviously don't know whether it's going to result in charges.

BURNETT: Right.

RASHBAUM: But this is a sign that it is a lot farther along than, perhaps, had been previously thought.

BURNETT: So Elie, Giuliani said he was going to address the developments. He said he was going to do it live at 3 pm, big announcement. Then he deleted that tweet. That address has not happened. How much legal jeopardy is he in?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Erin. This is getting real for Rudy Giuliani real quick. As you said, it is really unusual for DOJ to search the office of any attorney, never mind an attorney for the former president. There are a couple of really important things that we know for sure.

First of all, prosecutors have what we call probable cause. Meaning, probable cause that there was a crime committed and that they would find evidence of that crime in Rudy Giuliani's home and office. We also know this had to be approved under DOJ policy at the highest levels of DOJ.

And third, we know that a federal judge reviewed this application and approved it and agreed there is probable cause that a crime was committed and that evidence is in Rudy Giuliani's home.

Those are very serious things. It's not quite charged yet, but those are very serious findings.

BURNETT: And important that you say, it's not just officials of the Justice Department, it's a federal judge and I think that's significant for people to understand.

So William, what are you able to tell me about the search warrant that was executed at the Washington home of another Trump ally who, obviously, vociferously stood up for him throughout all this close to Rudy Giuliani, Victoria Toensing?

RASHBAUM: Well, we know that the warrant sought her telephone and that they'll be looking for evidence on that phone of communications with a number of different people. It should be noted that Mr. Giuliani's personal assistance computer was also seized during the search of his office and that there - we know that when the Southern District was seeking approval from the Justice Department to apply for these search warrants to a judge, that they were also seeking search warrants for his cloud accounts and his email accounts.

So there's a vast swath of evidence that they will be reviewing. It will go through a tank team, which Elie can tell you a little more about than I can. But it will, basically, be reviewed for matters that are covered by attorney-client privilege. But all of his communications on his phone, text, emails and so forth on the phone and other materials if indeed they did obtain a warrant for those other accounts, it's an awful lot of information.

BURNETT: It is. And Elie, Giuliani and Toensing have close ties to Trump. So I mean, I talked about Michael Cohen, a Trump attorney, so everything was seized. He's pled guilty to multiple crimes. He's now cooperating in other investigations into the president. Now two more lawyers close to Trump, what could this mean for the former president?

[19:10:04] HONIG: Well, it could mean a couple things. First of all, if there's

evidence of communications between any of these lawyers and Donald Trump, potentially those communications could be used against Donald Trump. They would have to go through an attorney review, which Willy referenced, to make sure they're not privileged. But if the communications have to do with a crime, then they're inherently not privileged.

Second of all, there's no indication that Rudy Giuliani is interested in pleading guilty and cooperating, but that's always an option. Michael Cohen tried to go that route. I've seen plenty of people say I'll never plead guilty, I'll never cooperate, who ended up pleading guilty and cooperating.

If Rudy Giuliani chooses to go that route, then he will be expected to provide information about everything he knows to the Department of Justice.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you both very much.

And next, President Biden about to address Congress and the nation and we are getting the first excerpts of what he will say tonight.

Plus, the DA in the Andrew Brown Jr. case says Brown drove his car toward police before they opened fire. That's not what Brown's family is saying tonight.

And the Justice Department releasing U.S. video of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick being assaulted by rioters. We're seeing it for the first time tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:14:49]

BURNETT: Right now, President Biden getting ready to deliver his first address to a joint session of Congress. An address that will be unlike anything we've ever seen for this crucial reason. Most of the seats in the chamber will be empty.

[19:15:00]

Many lawmakers are forced to watch from their homes or offices because of pandemic capacity limits. And for the first time in history, two women will be seated behind the President, Vice President Kamala Harris, of course, and the Speaker of the House. That is Nancy Pelosi.

So we're now getting our first look at excerpts from the President's speech tonight. We usually get them around this time ahead of these big annual speeches for presidents. President Biden will say, "We have to prove democracy still works. That our government still works and can deliver for the people. In our first 100 days together, we have acted to restore the people's faith and our democracy to deliver."

The President will also unveil tonight, the next part of his massive spending plan. This next part expected to cost nearly another $2 trillion. Phil Mattingly is OUTFRONT live at the White House.

Phil, what more are you learning about the President's speech tonight?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Erin, I'm told it's coming into roughly 5,000 words had been placed in a binder with the President still marking up specific pages as of late, as a couple of hours ago. I think you get away from the kind of micro details into the macro, though.

You pulled out a key piece of those excerpts that I think is going to be something that underpins the entire speech you hear tonight from the President. Yes. He will go through a laundry list of proposals that he wants Congress to act on, whether it's police reform, on gun control legislation, on immigration.

Most notably that $1.8 trillion plan that administration officials term, the human infrastructure piece of things, which is a dramatic shift in social spending for the United States that he is planning to propose. But I think the bigger issue, the bigger theme throughout the course of the night based on conversations I've been having with people over here is the idea that government can work.

The look back on the last 100 days, whether it's more than 200 million doses of the vaccine delivered, 160 plus million stimulus checks deployed is the President's evidence that he's going to cite that these big proposals, these sweeping proposals that push the federal government into a place that it really hasn't been for decades in terms of its influence and role in American life.

The past shows that they can work if lawmakers and more importantly, if the American public is willing to continue to stay behind the President on these plans. I would note one other thing. Obviously, the President and his team very cognizant of the history of the two women who are going to sit behind him, but also very cognizant of the chamber that he will be standing in.

The President will talk about the January 6th insurrection in the United States Capitol. He will compare it to the worst attack on us democracy since the Civil War. Keep an eye on the threads tied to the history of this moment, the urgency of this moment.

Obviously, the President feels like he's done a lot in his first 100 days. But one thing you hear repeatedly, Erin, from White House officials is how much more he and the entire White House thinks they need to do in the weeks and months ahead.

BURNETT: All right. Phil, thank you very much. And as we get ready for this, the country, of course, will be watching. I want to go now to Democratic Congressman Joe Neguse. He'll be attending President Biden's speech tonight, obviously. The room is not going to be full, not everyone gets to go.

Of course, Congressman, you served as a House impeachment manager during the trial of the former president and you also serve as a member of House Democratic leadership. So I appreciate you're taking the time to be with me. Phil Mattingly just mentioned that Joe Biden tonight in his speech

tonight will talk about 'the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War'. And the speech where you'll be tonight will be in the same room where the insurrectionists tried to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's Electoral College win. How does it feel to be heading back into that room to listen to this speech from President Biden tonight to you?

REP. JOE NEGUSE (D-CO): Well, it's good to be with you, Erin. The symbolism is certainly not lost on me. I was in the House chamber on January 6th then was evacuated with my colleagues off of the House floor when the insurrection took place. I think it's appropriate for the President to discuss the insurrection and our response to it.

Clearly our country as a constitutional republic has been tested on multiple occasions in the last several years and that includes the events of January 6th. Ultimately, we've risen to the occasion every time and I think it's important for us to take stock in terms of just how far we've come, the progress we've made in the last 100 days and the ways in which our democracy has endured, notwithstanding the efforts of some to try to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power just 110 days ago.

BURNETT: So the plan the President is going to announce tonight, the additional $1.8 trillion. I mean, it's a heck of a lot of money. I'll get to that in a moment. But I want to make that point in this question, because despite that price tag does not include an expansion of Medicare, which I know is something you care passionately about.

You lead a group of 80 lawmakers. You sent a letter to President Biden this week calling on him to include Medicare expansion in the plan. It did not make the cut despite a $1.28 trillion, I'm sorry, spending tag. How disappointed are you?

NEGUSE: Well, look, first I would just say I think that the President is going to include, I suspect, in the American Families Plan and in the presentation that he delivers tied to the Congress historic expansions in terms of providing more health care access to 10s of millions of Americans, for example, through the ACA credits.

And I don't believe that those measures are mutually exclusive to the measures that you mentioned that me and many of my colleagues across the ideological spectrum have been pushing forward such as lowering the Medicare eligibility age broadly supported by the American public.

[19:20:08]

I want to give an opportunity to the President to make his presentation and I'll certainly be supportive of the measures he's proposing. And I imagine we'll continue to make our case to the White House and to our colleagues in the House and in the Senate that we ought to do more and keep on - continuing with that debate in the coming days and weeks and months ahead as the bill gets through the legislative process.

BURNETT: OK. So now back to the price tag, because I think we've gotten to a set of numbers, which whether you agree with them or disagree with them, they are incomprehensible to any of us as individuals, because the numbers are just so big.

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin today told CNN that he's 'very uncomfortable with the price tag'. So far between the COVID stimulus, the infrastructure to parts, the plans together that have been put forward by President Biden represent 30 percent of the entire U.S. economy, 30 percent of the entire US economy possibly being passed by Congress in the space of a couple of months. Does that make you nervous?

NEGUSE: No, Erin. And here's why, I mean, clearly, the plan is ambitious. It's bold. It is comprehensive. When the President calls the American Families Plan the, the American Jobs Act and the American Rescue Plan a once in a generation investment into infrastructure, human infrastructure into the foundations of middle-class prosperity, he means it.

And it's clear that many Americans across our country are still struggling to meet basic needs and cover basic expenses. So I believe these investments are necessary. And we see the impact every day in my community of the American Rescue Plan, the FEMA clinics that those funds have been used to scale up where folks are getting vaccinated, the ways in which food insecurity has been a challenge and we've been able to make great strides in cutting childhood poverty.

BURNETT: Yes.

NEGUSE: And, of course, the historic investments that I think the President will announce later tonight to address things like childcare and early childhood education. As the father of a two-and-a-half-year- old daughter, I can just attest for all of the young parents across our country, these investments, they'll make a real difference.

BURNETT: Well, I'm also the parent of a two-and-a-half-year-old and I understand what you're saying. All right. Thanks very much, Congressman, I appreciate it.

NEGUSE: Thank you.

BURNETT: All right. I want to go down to the former Governor of Ohio Republican John Kasich. He's a Republican. He did endorse Joe Biden for president. And Jamie Gangel, our Special Correspondent.

Jamie, let me start with you. Because the President is going to spend a lot of time unveiling the spending plan. The sheer cost is 1.8 trillion. That's on top of other spending totaling $4 trillion. That's how I get to the $6 trillion over a couple months.

We know that Biden tonight when he talks about this is going to appeal to voters, not to the people sitting in that room. He's going to say, "The American Jobs Plan is a blue-collar blueprint to build America. And, it recognizes something I've always said: Wall Street didn't build this country. The middle class built this country. And unions built the middle class."

This is a direct appeal to voters to get them on board with the spending, yes?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: No question about it and it's an appeal to Trump voters too and Republican voters and independents. I had an interesting conversation with a very senior Republican on Capitol Hill about this.

And what was most interesting was the Republican said to me, this is very popular with our base, especially when you say it's going to be paid for by taxing the rich or corporations. And just to quote the source, at the end of the day, my bottom line 'is this is popular'. They can make political hay out of attacking someone like Nancy Pelosi, but the Republicans I talked to say that it is much harder to attack Joe Biden. And look at the poll numbers.

BURNETT: Yes. No, absolutely. Now, of course, we all know, if you look at the numbers, the tax increases, whether you support them or not don't add anywhere up to the cost of the spending. That's a separate topic for a separate day.

Well, Governor, let me ask you, Sen. Tim Scott is going to give the Republican response. So first, we'll hear from the President and then, of course, as is tradition, the other party gets their response. Tim Scott will give it tonight and he will say here's a quote we got from him, "Just before COVID, we had the most inclusive economy in my lifetime. That happened because Republicans focused on expanding opportunity for all Americans."

So he's trying to make an economic case, but 51 percent of Americans currently approve of the way Biden is handling the economy. So can Tim Scott and Republicans turn the economy on Biden here successfully?

JOHN KASICH, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, let's give Biden some credit for rolling out the vaccine, although it was produced by the private sector and largely distributed through the private sector. He's touched base with our allies, which has been a good thing and his tone has been good.

But Erin, they've spent $6 trillion in the last year, $6 trillion. Look, I was the Chairman of the Budget Committee and now they're saying what they're going to do is they're just going to get all this money out of the rich. There aren't enough rich people pay for all this.

[19:25:03]

BURNETT: That is true.

KASICH: And when you start raising capital gains, you start doing that, you kill investment. You kill investment, you kill that and I'll tell you what it does, it affects the workers' wages. I was the Chairman of the Budget Committee when we work with Bill Clinton where we cut the capital gains taxes in Ohio.

We cut the income tax. We created an earned income tax credit for those at the bottom and we grew from a loss of 300,000 or 400,000 jobs to of gain of 500,000 jobs from 89 cents in a rainy day fund to a couple billion dollars. This plan, which is $6 billion ...

BURNETT: Trillion.

KASICH: ... financed over 15 years.

BURNETT: I hate to correct you, but it's a T.

KASICH: Yes, $6 trillion. It's hard for me to even say that number. And so what I'm suggesting to you is right now when people get stuff passed out to them, they like it. But when they begin to realize the cost of this, and by the way, Erin, there's so much waste in inefficiency in the federal government and now what we're going to do is pile even more government on top of the base that, frankly, is inefficient, duplicative, just check out the government accounting office.

I endorse Joe Biden, OK.

BURNETT: Yes.

KASICH: But frankly I'm disappointed with the tax proposals, which I think are going to damage this economy and cost us jobs and the level of spending is astronomical. So tell your two-year-old when she's old enough to understand, she's going to have to pay a lot of money out of her piggy bank to pay the interest that we're bringing up on the national debt ...

BURNETT: (Inaudible) pay the interest.

KASICH: ... let alone paying the debt.

BURNETT: So Jamie to this point and as you were both saying, it's popular with voters and it's always easy to make something popular with people, if you tell them they're getting something else and someone else is paying for it. However, the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed Biden today for 'false advertising'.

He's basically saying, you said you were for bipartisanship, but he's frustrated with the progressive agenda that Biden has, but obviously that Biden is also doing it on party lines, which they've made clear they will do what they need to do. So does this criticism bother the president at all?

GANGEL: Look, everybody wants bipartisanship. I want it. You want it. My old friend here, Gov. John Kasich, has spent a lot of the last couple of years talking about it. I think at the end of the day, there is a gap because of polarization as wide as the get the Grand Canyon between what you want and what you can have. And I think Joe Biden is going to do whatever he can at the end of the day to try to push this through.

BURNETT: Right. Right. I mean, you do bipartisanship until you don't have the votes. If you have the votes (inaudible) party, then you do it. And by the way, there's no one who knows that better than Mitch McConnell. Gov. Kasich, as someone who endorsed Biden, do you understand what

he's doing, though? I mean, he did win, so ultimately bipartisanship - yes.

KASICH: No. He was elected to settle the country down not to bring all these kinds of massive spendings. What they're doing and this is a difference between Republicans and Democrats, they believe in massive government spending and massive taxes.

Republicans, on the other hand, believe in controlling government and reducing taxes. That's the debate, but at least we're talking about debate, we're not talking about all this other insane stuff we did when Trump was around. This is a legitimate debate.

My fear, this will ultimately undermine and hurt economic growth and hurt jobs for Americans. And I have been there and have participated in it and that's why I'm outspoken on this. And by the way, I was there when we did a bipartisan bill to balance the budget and cut taxes with Bill Clinton. It can happen.

BURNETT: Good luck, yes.

KASICH: So, anyway, put me down as undecided, Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Governor, I appreciate you. I always appreciate, Jamie. Thank you both.

GANGEL: Sure. Sure.

KASICH: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, live pictures of protests tonight in Elizabeth City, North Carolina after a judge decided he will not allow the public to see the deputy body camera video of Andrew Brown Jr.'s death. So what's the reasoning?

And the Justice Department releasing you and disturbing video of the violent confrontation between Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and rioters?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:33:10]

BURNETT: Breaking news, protesters are back on the streets in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. One week after the deadly police shooting of Andrew Brown Jr.

There's a curfew going into effect there in less than 30 minutes. The people there have a chanting, quote, released tapes after judge ruled against sharing body candid with the public at this point in time.

Jason Carroll is on the ground, and he's OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LILLIE BROWN CLARK, AUNT OF ANDREW BROWN JR.: Andy Jr. has been silenced, so his voice now on those cameras. That's how he will speak to us, and that will be his side of the story.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Andrew Brown Jr.'s family say, they now will have a better account of what happened during the shooting last, Wednesday now that a judge has ruled members of the family can review additional body camera footage from the deputies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I guess justice will be served, I guess. I mean, I feel good about it, the situation.

CARROLL: Wednesday afternoon, Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Foster cited in part, overwhelming interest to the family for his ruling, which requires the Pasquotank County sheriff's department to allow Brown's adults son Khalil Ferebee and one attorney license in the state to view footage from five videos recorded by body cameras, within the next 10 days.

As for the public --

JUDGE JEFF FOSTER, NORTH CAROLINA SUPERIOR COURT: The video be held families for appeared no less than 30 days, and no more than 45 days.

CARROLL: The judge also ruled the names and faces of the officers will be blare to protect their identities.

We caught up with County Sheriff Tommy Wooten who told us, he wanted the judge to allow the public to see the recordings.

SHERIFF TOMMY WOOTEN, PASQUOTANK COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA: I have to respect the D.A. and the judge's wishes. So, we're going to -- we're going to do that and following North Carolina law.

CARROLL: This is the outcome that you are hoping for or looking for?

WOOTEN: Not totally, no, sir.

CARROLL: Well, what would have been the ideal outcome for you?

WOOTEN: Release.

CARROLL: Full release? Because?

[19:35:01]

WOOTEN: For the community, transparency.

CARROLL: Sheriff Wooten, in support of the public seeing the bodycam video, after the Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble told the court body camera footage shows Brown's car came into contact with law enforcement twice before he says, they opened fire.

ANDREW WOMBLE, PASQUOTANK COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The next movement of the car is forward, it is in the direction of law enforcement and makes contact with law enforcement. It is not only then you hear shots.

CARROLL: Womble also strongly criticized Brown family attorney, Chantel Cherry-Lassiter, of misleading the public with her comments about what she saw on a 22-second clip of body camera footage she viewed on Monday.

WOMBLE: They were designed to prejudice a proceeding.

CHANTEL CHERRY-LASSITER, BROWN FAMILY ATTORNEY: At no time have I given any misrepresentation, I still stand by what I saw.

CARROLL: Brown's family says they want to see for themselves if his car made contact with any of the deputies.

CLARK: Not buying it.

CARROLL: Do you think with the authorities within hard you're going for it is that the reason, a justified reason to shoot?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shoot on our man? No.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (on camera): And, Erin, just a few minutes ago we heard announcement from police that a curfew is about to go into effect. When we talk to the protesters out here, they say this is really not so much about a curfew, it's really about throwing more attention to Andrew Brown.

And when you speak to some of the older residents, who are marching out here, you get a sense of the reasons why. I spoke to a woman by the name of Cheryl Morrison (ph), 72 years old and she says, the people of color in this community have had a long-standing distrust of district attorneys, police, as well as local prosecutors. So that's why so many people who are out here marching today, are basically asking for a special prosecutor to come in and investigate what's happening here -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Jason, thank you very much, as I said, live in Elizabeth City.

I want to go now to Joey Jackson, criminal defense attorney and, of course, CNN legal analyst.

So, Joey, I mean you know, let's just talk about the situation here. I understand they've got procedures in North Carolina, on bodycam video. But we also understand the context of the time that we are in.

What is going on? In this time, this day and age, why would the judge bar the release of the body camera footage the public?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah, Erin, I know the judge said.

Good evening to you.

But with respect to the analysis behind it, I don't buy it. Look, we are in an era I think of new accountability, as it relates to police conduct and police misconduct. I think the public has a major distrust for law enforcement, and they have a major distrust for government.

You want to bridge that divide, you release the tape, what is the issue? Issue number one, it goes of the lack of investigation or we don't want to impair the investigation. I think I just heard that piece with respect to what happened, with respect where the car was and where it was going. And so, it did impair his investigation.

So, are we protecting him by not releasing it? Maybe not. And so, therefore, how does it come out?

The next piece of the analysis as well, we want a fair trial. Is the judge suggesting that this shouldn't go out until the time there is a trial, if there's a criminal charge? If it's not going until the trial which will never happen, then why are we preserving and protecting this case?

The public wants to know, the public has a right to know. There's a balancing of the equities. People are so annoyed and concerned is because of the lack of transparency. Release the videotape. Instead of having the attorneys and family, Erin, argue about what it shows --

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: Yes, you've got the district attorney as you mentioned saying brown drove toward a deputies, which would explain a lot of what happened. But the family's attorney who watched the 22-second clip from one body camera, stands by her account that she saw Brown driving away from them.

So, we have these two vastly very different counts, if the body camera footage shows where the D.A. says it happened, they -- it would seem they would show it. This is where I get confused.

JACKSON: Yeah, I'm as confused as, you I happen to be a person in practicing law that trusts, you know, people to render their own conclusions. We have a jury process, and I am not hoping to tell people what they should see. I think people should observe what they see themselves.

And in terms of the narrative, there is a world of narrative between A, car coming toward and car going away. So, what happened?

We as lawyers spin things all-time, we put our perceptions on things, at the end the day, the public has the right to know. Let them evaluate and draw their own conclusions based on what they see, not what you tell us.

BURNETT: All right. Joey, thank you.

And next, President Biden about to make his first joint address to Congress, where he will press for police reform. I'm going to talk to Boston's mayor, the first black mayor in Boston history, about what she wants to hear from the president tonight.

And we do have new video tonight, violent confrontations between police and rioters during a deadly Capitol insurrection.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:43:42]

BURNETT: Tonight, President Biden preparing to give his first address to Congress. He is going to make a plea for police reform, amid the numerous controversial officer involved shootings across the country. The issue also, expected to be a key topic in the Republican response by Senator Tim Scott. He is a party's lead negotiator on police reform legislation, currently moving through Congress.

OUTFRONT now, the Democratic mayor of Boston, Kim Janey. She is the first woman and the first black mayor in Boston history.

Mayor Janey, I appreciate your time.

You know, your personal experience here as a young girl, you were bused to a Boston public school as part of those desegregation efforts. Civil rights are now front and center again, over police reform and accountability across this country. Issues you have tackled very clearly, in Boston.

What do you want to hear tonight from President Biden and Senator Scott on these issues?

MAYOR KIM JANEY (D), BOSTON: Well, first I just want to thank you, Erin, for the opportunity to be here this evening.

I am certainly excited to hear from our president after four years of an administration that denied COVID existed, that would not put workers front and center. It is so refreshing to have President Biden in the White House, fighting for every day Americans.

He has -- he is going to announce investments in universal pre-K. Certainly, community college, making that free. Investments in maternal health, that is such an important issue, particularly, when we think of the disparities in health care and black maternal health.

So, I think he is doing the absolute right thing in terms of investing in workers, investing in our children and young people, and certainly, in families.

When it comes to reforms around policing, there is a lot more work that we need to do all across the country and this president understands that. So, that is certainly encouraging.

BURNETT: So, let me ask you about that because you're actually dealing with that, right, on the ground as a mayor every single day. And a big part of, you know, you got Democrats and Republicans, Tim Scott leading it from the Republican side, Cory Booker on the Democrat.

A big sticking point has been qualified immunity, right? Which is, you know, whether you -- it's a federal doctrine, can you sue officers civil litigation, right? And there's a very different point of view. Senator Scott has raised

the option of shifting responsibility from officers to the police departments, right? He is saying, well, if you can't sue the individual officers, we'll still get great people being police officers. But you have got to get some qualified immunity to the police department.

Democrats say, both should be held accountable. No immunity.

What do you think is the right approach as a mayor?

JANEY: Well, we have to have accountability. This issue was certainly debated last year at the statehouse here in Massachusetts. It did not make its way through, and we need accountability.

Locally here in Boston, we are moving forward with more accountability and transparency. I have invested as mayor $1 million in the creation of the Office of Police Accountability and Transparency.

And this is essential for our ability to build trust. We've got to, you know, make sure that we are doing everything in this regard.

BURNETT: So, the Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison who, of course, was in charge of the Derek Chauvin trial sat down with CBS 60 minutes. He addressed a crucial question, whether Derek Chauvin was motivated by racial bias when he killed George Floyd.

I wanted to play the exchange for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT PELLEY, CBS NEWS: Was this a hate crime?

KEITH ELLISON, MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I wouldn't call it that because hate crimes are crimes where there is an explicit motive of bias. We don't have any evidence that Derek Chauvin factored in George Floyd's race, as he did what he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Obviously, that is an extremely significant thing that Keith Ellison said there. It is obviously not a lot of Americans feel. And it -- that answer, of course, could color people expect in terms of police reform and trials going forward.

What do you think about what Attorney General Ellison said?

JANEY: You know, well, I think while we are all relieved with a guilty verdict in that case, we know that George Floyd, one, is still dead, so many others are dead. The very next day, after that verdict, there was another killing.

I certainly don't know what motivated Chauvin, as he pressed his knee against the neck of George Floyd for nine and a half minutes. But it's very hard to believe that that would be the case should -- if George Floyd was a white man, that he would've done the same thing, and treated him the same way.

Obviously again, I don't know what was going through his mind or what motivated him. But that is not good policing, that's the bottom line. Too many people are dying and too many people, who look like me, are dying.

And so, we have to change the system and the conditions that led to so many senseless deaths. And that is the work that we are trying to take here in Boston and the work that needs to happen all across our country.

BURNETT: All right. Mayor Janey, thank you very much. I appreciate your time tonight.

JANEY: Thank you.

BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, the Justice Department just releasing shocking new video of the moment a Capitol Police Officer Ryan Sicknick was attacked by rioters with pepper spray.

Plus, officials in Washington now beefing up security as President Biden prepares to gives his first major speech to Congress since the insurrection.

(COMMERCILA BREAK)

[19:53:28]

BURNETT: Breaking news, graphic new video from the January 6th siege on the U.S. Capitol offering a new look at a violent confrontation between Capitol Police Officer Ryan Sicknick and two rioters indicted for assaulting him.

But we're going to show you is disturbing, but let me show you so you understand. You see Sicknick and several officers are behind a line of bike racks, in the video here. So, there is the bike rack and they are behind it. One rider marked with a red arrow holding his arm up as he allegedly deployed the chemical spray towards Sicknick. You then see Sicknick marked with a blue arrow walking away.

Sicknick died the next day. U.S. Attorney's Office released the videos after CNN and other media outlets petitioned the judge to make them public.

Jessica Schneider, our justice correspondent, joins me now.

Jessica, the Justice Department did not want to share these videos with the public. As you go through them, how damning are they?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, they are really graphically giving this very close glimpse of exactly what those three officers went through. You can see it in that video. And for weeks now, the prosecutors have been fighting the release of these videos.

CNN fought and finally got him released, today. But tonight, we are actually learning the Capitol Police may have played a role here in resisting the release because Capitol Police did issue a statement saying, they did not want these videos released. A lot of these are body cam videos, from the police officers. And they say that they were really trying to safeguard the officers and their families, from reliving the trauma of that day.

And you can see the trauma play out there, in the video. You can see one of the female officers recoiling after the chemical irritant hits her face.

[19:55:05]

And then, of course, there is Officer Brian Sicknick, at one point you can see him pacing along the Capitol terrace. At one point, he cradles his head in his hands and then kneels.

And, of course, Officer Ryan Sicknick, he died the next day after the Capitol attack. The medical examiner saying that it was from multiple strokes, natural causes. But, Erin, the medical examiner also said that all of the traumatic event that played out on January 6th likely played a role in his condition here.

BURNETT: Yeah.

SCHNEIDER: So, we are seeing this video play out and we get more and more of this video as time goes on. Now, the Justice Department charging more than 400 people in this capitol attack. We could see up to 100 more here charged, in the weeks ahead -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jessica.

And next, a night of firsts for President Biden as he prepares for that first major speech to Congress. And the House chamber will be like nothing frankly, that this country has ever seen before in history.

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BURNETT: President Biden moments away from getting his first major speech to the nation and a joint session of Congress. It will not be what we are used to seeing, of course. from the House of chamber. It is an extreme and different setting because of the pandemic and the current COVID protocols.

And, of course, security is very tight, given it is the first major event of the Capitol since the insurrection. So, there is stepped up police presence, law enforcement vehicles, first responders are all on-site in preparation.

Two hundred people are on the guest list, that is it. That means, most of the 1,600-seat space will be empty.

So, in a break from tradition, seats are going to be a signed with four empty seats between each member of Congress. Another break from the norm, some of them will be sitting in the gallery above the floor of the House. The president will be wearing a mask, until he reaches the podium and

then he will take it off. He is fully vaccinated.

There will be no designated survivor tonight, as most cabinet members are going to be watching from off-site locations. It's going to be pretty interesting to watch, I'm sure unsettling I'm sure in some ways. It is a night of many firsts. But, it is coming up in just an hour.

Thanks much for joining us.

Our coverage of President Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress continues now with a special edition of "AC360".