One Person Shot And Killed During Portland Protests; Trump To Visit Kenosha, Wisconsin Following Deadly Shootings And Protests; Activists Call For An End To Systemic Racism In America; Trump Supporters Preparing Motorcade Through Los Angeles
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Bianna Golodryga, in for Fredricka Whitfield. We begin this hour with another protest turning deadly as the nation comes to grips with the fallout over racial injustice. Those protests are increasingly becoming a flashpoint in the race for president with the election now just 65 days away. Last night, a man was shot and killed in Portland, Oregon during protests. A warning, some of the video you are about to see is disturbing. "The New York Times" reports that the victim was wearing clothing affiliated with the far right group Patriot Prayer. CNN has reached out to Portland police for details on the victim and any additional suspect information but they have not released any details yet. The victim was apparently part of a group of Trump supporters rallying against Black Lives Matter demonstrators. Overnight President Trump placed his supporters as patriots. All this as we learn that the president is planning to make a trip to Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday. It was just days ago that two people were shot during protests there. A 17-year-old is charged in those shootings. The president will speak with law enforcement and survey some damage from protests. Last hour I spoke with "New York Times" correspondent Mike Baker. He was at the scene of the deadly shooting in Portland and here's what he had to say.</s>GOLODRYGA: Walk us through this. Because not only were you documenting it, you were actually hit by paintballs from Trump supporters.</s>MIKE BAKER, "NEW YORK TIMES" CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So we really started out in the suburbs. There was a huge rally of Trump supporters gathering there. A lot of people with trucks and flags on their trucks gathering and their plan was to drive around the city, on the city's highways, sort of not really get into downtown but drive around the city's highways. But a lot of that crowd broke off and did go downtown and when they did, when they got there, there was a growing crowd of protesters who were opposed to the presence of this large Trump rally in the city and it really devolved from there.</s>GOLODRYGA: And we are looking at that video that you filmed last night. Did you see any violence between these two groups escalate as the night went on? Was there any indication that it could end in gunfire?</s>BAKER: Yes. I mean really, as soon as the -- both groups sort of got together it was increasingly volatile throughout the night. I mean we saw video there of paint balls being fired from the back of pickup trucks and people in the crowd throwing things back. There were at times cars that were -- vehicles that were blocked and people getting out and fist fights happening in the streets. I mean there was growing tensions there and also this is like kind of scattered throughout downtown with a lot of these vehicles driving down different streets up and down different streets ad you had protesters sort of pursuing them in different parts of downtown and so that -- while police showed up a few times to sort of redirect traffic or to keep the groups apart, really, you know, it's so dispersed throughout downtown that it really became something that they couldn't handle.</s>GOLODRYGA: And talk about the police presence. How present was it? Was it visible? And what role were they playing if any?</s>BAKER: Yes. I mean really when the first part of the caravan showed up downtown there were some protesters that went out on one of the bridges to block the caravan from coming through, the police showed up then sort of cleared the streets. And then they were sort of in and out throughout the night sort of trying to keep the caravan off in one direction and the protesters away from them. But it's -- and then after -- they were downtown throughout the night and were there on scene of the shooting pretty soon after it happening.</s>GOLODRYGA: But they were outnumbered obviously?</s>BAKER: I mean there's -- I mean we're talking about hundreds of counter protesters and hundreds of trucks with Trump flags on them and going in all different directions so it seemed like they didn't have the capacity to sort of spend the entire time period in downtown keeping all those different sort of factions apart from each other.</s>GOLODRYGA: And it is my understanding that you followed this motorcade that was showing support for President Trump. What did you hear from them? You can hear people exchanging verbal I guess assaults at each other but what was their goal in holding this event during such a volatile time in the city?</s>BAKER: So in talking to them, they really wanted to just show their presence. They felt like, you know. Portland's been a place that's been controlled by the protesters over the last few months, and you know, they're supporting the president and wanted to go into Portland to demonstrate that.</s>BAKER: And some -- I think for some, demonstrate that there wasn't a fear of going into downtown Portland and having their say. You know? Certainly could see some people who had already brought gun to the protests even out in the suburbs. They were open carrying. They were, you know, shouting down some of the activists who had coming up to demonstrate against the protests. And then, you know, driving through downtown they had -- you know, had the paint ball guns in the back of the truck. They were ready for some sort of conflict if one arose.</s>GOLODRYGA: And Mike now knowing that the president will be there Tuesday, do you anticipate that these groups, both those who are supporting Trump and those who are not will only increase their presence with the president there on the ground? I mean this has basically been the third consecutive weekend where we have had some sort of right wing conflict with left wing groups that has involved guns. And it's two weeks ago one of the right wing demonstrators fired two gunshots out of his vehicle according to authorities and has been charged in that case. You know, last weekend we saw open fighting in the streets between some far right activists who were in town and the same left wing protesters. And in that case you had one of the right wing folks brandishing a gun. So, you know, this has been three consecutive weekends of this happening and certainly some violence like we saw last night that didn't seem like it's going to be something that will end it.</s>GOLODRYGA: And our thanks to "The New York Times'" Mike Baker for laying that out for us. Well, as those protests unfolded in Portland, President Trump was tweeting between midnight and 8:00 this morning, he tweeted or retweeted nearly 90 times and that has some officials worrying that he may be fanning the flames. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is at the White House. And Jeremy, what is the administration saying about all those protests? Because it's not as if he may be fanning the flames, it appears that that's exactly what he is doing.</s>JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And what the president is not doing here is, he is not urging for calm. He is not trying to de-escalate the situation that is happening in Portland or in Kenosha, Wisconsin for that matter. Instead what we saw is the president in 89 tweets most of them focused on trying to amplify these contents of conflict between the President's own supporters and these Black Lives Matter protesters specifically in the city of Portland. And the President is also here clearly trying to project strength. He is focusing on talking about law and order, calling the Black Lives Matters protesters thugs and suggesting that once again a federal intervention here with National Guard troops is what is needed, not something that would de-escalate the situation and that is where Adam Schiff the top democrat on the House Intelligence Committee comes in saying that the president here is fanning the flames of division. Listen.</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA: The president is willfully fanning the flames of this violence. As his adviser Kellyanne Conway said last week, they believe the violence is helpful to them. And the president is only motivated by one thing, what's in it for him. And he sees this violence and the -- his ability to agitate more of it as useful to his campaign.</s>DIAMOND: And there is no question, Bianna, that the president does see the violence that is happening in some of these cities as useful to his campaign as Adam Schiff just said there. The president has made no secret of this. You saw it all last week during the RNC, the president talking about law and order. And of course, the irony here is that the president is trying to use the violence that is happening in some of these cities to try and associate that with his presidential rival Joe Biden. And the White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was asked about that today, asked about the fact that this is all happening ultimately in Donald Trump's America. Mark Meadows' response was to say that most of Donald Trump's America is peaceful and he argued that it's the president who is the one offering the federal support here, not the one refusing it as the mayor of Portland is indeed doing. So again, there is certainly a dichotomy there and an irony to the fact that the president is trying to use this to paint his rival Joe Biden as weak on crime, weak on law and order even though he hasn't expressed support for the more violent aspects of these protests. In fact he has condemned them. instead the president though clearly trying to use this as an attack line in the next few weeks of this campaign.</s>GOLODRYGA: Well, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that by focusing on this he's not talking about the coronavirus where we have seen now approaching nearly 200,000 Americans who have died throughout this year because of this. The president clearly not wanting to focus on that right now. And Jeremy, the president as we know is planning to visit Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday. And this just days after two people were killed there. What are you learning about that trip? And what does it mean regarding tension on the ground as he approaches?</s>DIAMOND: Yes, the president's going to be answering an extremely combustible situation here and it is hard to see how Donald Trump who is not somebody who has chosen to really step into that consoler in chief role that we see previous presidents play during times of national tragedy and division. That is not a role the president has chosen to play. Instead as we have been talking about he chooses more often than not to try and amplify the divisions and to put a spotlight on the things that he thinks will help him politically and that is what we expect him to do on Tuesday. The White House has said that the president will visit Kenosha not to meet with Jacob Blake or his family but instead to survey some of the damage from the rioting that has happened there and to meet with law enforcement officials. And so that is what we are expecting on Tuesday. The lieutenant governor of that state already saying we don't need that. We don't need the president to be showing up in Kenosha, Bianna.</s>GOLODRYGA: All right. Jeremy Diamond, I know you'll stay on those story for us. Thank you so much. Well, some officials in Kenosha, Wisconsin say that President Trump's plan to visit might make things worse. We'll have a live report from Kenosha next on CNN NEWSROOM. And later hear from some New Yorkers who say they were tricked into appearing on tape at the Republican National Convention. We'll explain why. Stay with us.