In an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo Tuesday, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard addressed Congressman Doug Collins’ comments about him and the Rayshard Brooks case.
Over the weekend, US Rep. Collins called on the Georgia attorney general to appoint an independent prosecutor in the Brooks case, claiming that charges brought against two police officers in connection with the fatal shooting of Brooks outside an Atlanta Wendy’s are political.
Howard hit back at Collins, saying that Collins was a congressional representative – not the representative for Fulton County.
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The case of the fatal shooting of 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta has “very little to do with a Taser,” Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Tuesday night.
Brooks was shot dead by police outside a Wendy’s restaurant earlier this month after failing a sobriety test. Officers tried to handcuff Brooks, who struggled and then took a Taser from one officer and ran away.
When asked whether the Taser would be legally considered a deadly weapon once it was in Brooks’s hands, Howard said that argument was a “diversion from the real facts.”
Brooks’ death, coming two weeks after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, sparked more protests and demonstrations across Atlanta, and the city’s police chief stepped down less than a day later.
Devin Brosnan, one of the Atlanta police officers charged in the death of Brooks, said he would not have done anything differently that night.
Read more about Brooks’ case:
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West Virginia University assistant football coach Vic Koenning has been placed on administrative leave, effective immediately, following allegations that the coach was mistreating players.
In a lengthy statement released on Twitter, football player Kerry Martin Jr. tweeted that the coach was mistreating him and other players.
CNN is attempting to reach Koenning for comment.
University response: In a statement Tuesday, West Virginia athletics director Shane Lyons thanked Martin for having the courage to bring his concerns to light.
The FBI has released more details about the rope found in NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace’s team garage.
When asked why the agency characterized the rope as a noose, Birmingham FBI spokesperson Paul Damon told CNN: “It’s my understanding that the rope was fashioned into a noose knot and used as a door pull.”
Damon said 15 agents were assigned to an investigation to get to the bottom of the case quickly. They considered it an important case and an important issue.
What’s the background? The FBI said Tuesday that a noose found in Wallace’s garage at the Talladega Superspeedway had been there since last year and Wallace was therefore not the victim of a hate crime.
NASCAR, mentioning the FBI report, described the item as a “garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose.”
Read more:
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Sen. Kamala Harris said she thinks the country needs to “reimagine public safety” and direct public funds to underserved communities – not necessarily get rid of law enforcement.
This comes at a time of unrest in the United States as protesters against racial injustice and police violence call for major reform.
“Understand that healthy communities are safe communities,” the California Democrat told CNN on Tuesday. “I’m not saying get rid of police but we have to invest in the health and well-being of our communities.”
Harris said factors like access to education, resources for businesses and access to health care all contribute to a “healthy community,” and in turn, make for safer places that require a lower police presence.
Harris said when cities spend nearly one-third of their budget on policing, “that’s not a good return on investment for our taxpayers.”
“If we want safe communities, we have to invest in the health and well-being and they will be safe,” she said.
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Richard Petty Motorsports, which fields the Number 43 car driven by Bubba Wallace, responded to the conclusion of the FBI and NASCAR investigation into a noose found in Wallace’s garage.
“In accordance with established protocols, our team member notified the crew chief who notified NASCAR of the presence of the item in the garage stall. NASCAR leadership determined the course of action going forward with an immediate investigation into the item and its possible origins,” the statement said.
The company also said in the early stages of the investigation, Wallace was told about the noose and other information gathered by officials.
“Richard Petty Motorsports fully cooperated with NASCAR and authorities as they conducted an investigation into the situation,” the statement said.
The statement also said the company was “thankful for the swift and thorough investigation” and for the support of NASCAR, the industry and their fans.
Read the statement:
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors are demanding an independent investigation into the recent L.A. County Sheriff’s Department shooting that killed 18-year-old Andres Guardado.
The board voted unanimously for a motion, put forth by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, that mandates the inspector general be provided with all evidence throughout the investigation.
Some background: The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department put a security hold on the coroner’s case, preventing the release of any information beyond the name and age of the deceased. This measure ensures that the independent investigators are granted “immediate and full access to all evidence requested,” including information from the coroner.
The current Inspector General, Max Huntsman, testified that sometimes investigations do call for secrecy.
“But even when there is secrecy, it’s important that there be some kind of means of verifying the integrity of the process,” he said.
Huntsman said that there has been a history of a problem with establishing cooperation. In this case specifically, his office is currently awaiting a response from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department to their request to view video evidence relevant to the case.
Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva, alongside L.A. Police Chief Michel Moore and District Attorney Jackie Lacey, is expected to introduce a new proposal for a countywide task force aimed at investigating fatal law enforcement-involved shootings.
A police officer involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor last March has been fired, the Louisville Metro Police Department chief announced Tuesday.
Police Chief Robert J. Schroeder addressed a termination letter to Louisville Metro Police Det. Brett Hankison, saying he was taking this action based on the investigation conducted by the department’s public integrity unit, which found violations of the use of deadly force as well as obedience to rules and regulations.
The 26-year-old African American EMT was killed when police broke down the door to her apartment in an attempted drug sting and shot her eight times.
Schroeder also added that Hankison’s “actions displayed an extreme indifference to the value of human life” when he “wantonly and blindly fired ten rounds into the apartment of Breonna Taylor on March 13, 2020.”
There was no immediate comment from Hankison’s attorney concerning the termination letter.
Greg Sankey, commissioner of the Southeastern Conference, defended his organizations’s threat to remove championship events in Mississippi over the state’s flag Confederate symbol, saying he had come to see the ability to rotate campuses as “a lever we could use to encourage change.”
“I truly believe we’re past the time for change. …We are going into a cycle where we’re looking at some future championship sites,” Sankey told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer today.
Sankey went on to say that he has noted a change in how the SEC sees their athletes using their influence to fight for social change.
“I was on a call of our head football coaches … and one of the coaches observed that our student-athletes, our young people are asking us for support rather than permission,” he said.
“Perhaps years ago it was permission but [now] they’re looking for support,” he said.
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The attorney representing Natalie White, the woman arrested for starting a fire at the Wendy’s where Rayshard Brooks was killed, said his client did not start any fires and hopes she will be released on bond tomorrow.
When asked by CNN if his client knew Rayshard Brooks, attorney Drew Findling said, “Yes, but I will not comment on the extent of their relationship.”
Findling said he wanted to keep the focus on what he called the “tragic and unnecessary death of Rayshard Brooks.”
Findling said his client is expected to have a bond hearing tomorrow. But he said due to concerns over Covid-19, the age and criminal history of his client and the fact that officer Devin Brosnan was released on bond last week, his client should be afforded the same.
Previously, CNN reported that investigators were looking into whether Brooks and White knew each other.
In body camera footage released by police, Brooks can be heard telling the officers prior to the shooting that White is his girlfriend.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham told reporters on Capitol Hill he doesn’t “know where we go from here” when asked about the current state of police reform in the country.
“The amendment process will be fully open so the Democrats can amend (Sen.) Tim Scott’s legislation the way they want so if they deny closure that’s very disappointing,” he said. “I would like to do see if we can reconcile the competing ideas, so I don’t know where we go from here. I do know on the Senate floor you can offer your amendments as long as you wanted to until you have 60 votes to bring about closure.”
Here’s what other senators said about the bill:
In a teleconference on Tuesday, NASCAR president Steve Phelps said Bubba Wallace not being the target of the noose at the garage is the “best result we could have hoped for.”
Phelps also said it’s good to hear from the FBI that it definitively was not a hate crime. Phelps said the noose had been in the garage previously, in October 2019.
“The (No.) 43 team had nothing to do with this,” he said. Phelps did not take questions from reporters on the call.
A NASCAR spokesperson said on the call that while the federal investigation is finished, NASCAR’s investigation continues.
The FBI said it has concluded its investigation in regards to the noose found in the team garage of NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace and determined he was not the target of a hate crime.
“After a thorough review of the facts and evidence surrounding this event, we have concluded that no federal crime was committed,” the FBI said in a statement.
The FBI added: “The decision not to pursue federal charges is proper after reviewing all available facts and all applicable federal laws. We offer our thanks to NASCAR, Mr. Wallace, and everyone who cooperated with this investigation.”
NASCAR also issued a statement regarding the FBI’s decision saying, “We appreciate the FBI’s quick and thorough investigation and are thankful to learn that this was not an intentional, racist act against Bubba.”
“We remain steadfast in our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all who love racing,” NASCAR said.
The discovery of the noose Sunday afternoon in Wallace’s garage stall comes as the United States, and NASCAR in particular, more squarely address America’s systemic racism in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd.
Wallace, the only Black driver in NASCAR’s top circuit, has been an outspoken advocate of the Black Lives Matter movement and the corresponding protests against racism and police brutality.
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President Trump accused states of being “extremely weak in protecting their heritage and protecting their culture,” adding he would “enacted an act, a very specific statue and monument act, that puts people in jail for 10 years if they try to do anything to deface one of our monuments or statues.”
The President made a similar claim on Twitter earlier Tuesday, writing, he had “authorized the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent.”
Speaking at a law enforcement roundtable near the US-Mexico border in Yuma, Arizona, Trump talked about protests held in Lafayette Park Monday evening where protesters attempted to topple an Andrew Jackson statue.
“Last night in Washington, we heard they were going to take down the statue– Washington, DC, the statue of Andrew Jackson, a beautiful statue in Lafayette Park,” Trump said. “We sent people there and law enforcement did an incredible job they ran into that place and we were minutes away.”
“It was a sneak attack,” Trump said.
“Now we’ve enacted an act, a very specific statue and monument act, that puts people in jail for 10 years if they try do anything to even deface one of our monuments or statues. So we have numerous people in prison right now, others are going there, and we’re going to look at that from a standpoint of retroactivity. We can go back and look at some of the damage they’ve done.”
Trump then shifted the focus, and the blame, to states.
Walmart removed the Mississippi state flag from display in their stores Tuesday, saying they believed it’s “the right thing to do.”
He added: “We believe it’s the right thing to do, and is consistent with Walmart’s position to not sell merchandise with the confederate flag from stores and online sites, as part of our commitment to provide a welcoming and inclusive experience for all of our customers in the communities we serve.”
Last week, CNN reported that the preeminent collegiate athletics conference in the South, the Southern Conference, said it would consider banning championship events in Mississippi until the state removed the Confederate symbol from its flag.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will sign a bipartisan bill that would impose stricter sentencing and penalties for those convicted of hate crimes, his spokesperson said.
According to the Georgia State Senate press office, HB 426 passed by substitute by a vote of 47-6.
Georgia State Rep. Scott Holcomb said it then passed the House for final passage by a vote of 127-38.
Georgia Attorney General Carr tweeted support for the passage of the bipartisan hate crime bill late Tuesday afternoon, calling it a “proud and historic moment in our state.”
The passing and signing of House Bill 426 would mean that judges imposing sentences can increase punishment against those who target victims based on perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability or physical disability.
Georgia is one of four states — including Arkansas, South Carolina and Wyoming — that don’t have hate crime laws or require data collection on such crimes, according to the US Justice Department website. However, even if a state doesn’t have hate crime laws, the Justice Department says such crimes can still be reported to the FBI.
Attorneys representing the family of Rayshard Brooks, L. Chris Stewart and Justin Miller, spoke to reporters outside of Brooks’ funeral today.
Miller said he watched Brooks’ 8-year-old daughter, Blessing, during the funeral.
“This has to stop and it has to end and it can end, but like Chris said – the division is killing us. It is killing all of us, it’s killing our country and it has to end.”
Miller encouraged everyone to not stop fighting and continue to push.
“Stay in the streets until real change happens, because I don’t want to watch another 8-year-old girl have to go through that again,” he said.
Republican Sen. Tim Scott, the lead sponsor of his party’s police reform bill, said he’s uncertain if there’s a path forward on police reform this year if Democrats block his bill tomorrow, as they plan to do.
“I’ve been talking to Booker for a long time now,” Scott said of New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, the lead sponsor of the Democrats’ bill. “Frankly the bottom line is simple, that we have been willing to engage, we want to have an open amendment process, that means if they don’t like the legislation they can make it better. What else are we supposed to do?”
About the bill: The GOP plan has a major emphasis on incentivizing states to take action. The Republican proposal does not include an outright ban on chokeholds but Scott argued earlier this week “we get very, very close to that place” by blocking federal grant funds to departments that don’t ban chokeholds themselves.
Vice President Mike Pence briefly addressed the recent disruptions by demonstrators outside the White House, saying the US will prosecute those who attempted to remove a statue of Andrew Jackson and recently vandalized the historic church that was set on fire during demonstrations a few weeks ago.
“You know, just last night, just across the street from the White house, vandals defaced St. John’s Church again after trying to set it on fire a few weeks ago. They also tried to tear down the statue of President Andrew Jackson,” Pence said Tuesday during remarks at a “Faith in America” event in Wisconsin.
Earlier this week, President Trump said he plans to sign an executive order related to force cities to “guard” monuments.
The Fulton County Sheriff’s office tweeted today confirming that the person suspected of arson for a fire at an Atlanta Wendy’s that took place after the death of Rayshard Brooks is in custody.
More on this: The woman, Natalie White, was charged with first-degree arson for the fire that took place as protests escalated last week after Brooks’ death.
Read the sheriff’s tweet:
