Skip to main content

tv   State of the Union  CNN  May 3, 2015 9:00am-10:01am PDT

9:00 am
of this story. and we hope they are watching in iran. well that's it for this televised edition of "reliable sources." i'm frank sesno sitting in for brian stelter. thanks for watching. "state of the union" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com this is cnn breaking news. >> good afternoon. i'm michael smerconish in baltimore this hour. breaking news. the mayor of baltimore has just lifted a citywide curfew which had been in place since tuesday night. i want to go straight to cnn's renee marsh. >> you know michael, we did get this news from the mayor just a short time ago that that curfew 10:00 p.m. has been lifted. she said in part in a statement, "my goal has always been not to have the curfew in place a single day longer than was necessary." but of course we should point out she's been under tremendous pressure to lift this curfew. people within the community saying it has made it very difficult for them to just live
9:01 am
their everyday lives. and then of course there's the bottom line for businesses many of them saying they've really been hit as far as the economic impact because of this curfew. she faced some criticism even after she announced a short time ago that she is lifting this curfew for the city of baltimore. many people even on social media say the damage is already done, but the mayor saying she wanted to assess because this was a public safety issue and what she wanted to make sure was there was not this replay we saw last week with violence and the rioting. and speaking of rioting, i am standing right in front of the mondawmin mall. this was essentially ground zero for all that violence and rioting. some of that happening right here. we had shattered glass. we had damage to buildings. within -- damage to businesses within the building here.
9:02 am
and we do know that in a matter of minutes the mayor will be showing up here to announce that the mall will be reopening. it has been closed for about a week. really a turning point here. not only have we seen consecutive days of peaceful protests but just now getting this announcement the curfew has been lifted and now we're starting to see businesses affected by the looting, they're now starting to reopen. >> renee, thank you for that. please stand by. with me now evan perez, cnn's justice correspondent. tom fuentes, former fbi assistant director and cnn correspondent nick valencia. nick to you and to evan in particular i know you've been embedded with the protest movement. what will be the reaction do you think to the lifting of the mall? will that defuse the protest activities? >> i think you will see -- definitely defuse the situation. i think in the last couple of days certainly i think the curfew has been the cause of the
9:03 am
protests over here on the town, on the city green. a lot of people were here on friday night just protesting, chanting against the curfew when they were arrested. and last night was the same thing. i think the curfew had gotten to the point where it was now causing some of the unrest. >> and that was a big complaint among the demonstrators that we were with yesterday on north avenue and pennsylvania avenue. at one point about 9:00 p.m. joseph kent a young man who was arrested on national television by the national guard, led a group of about 100 demonstrators up north avenue. at one point, michael, he stops in the intersection and he says "if you are not serious about what happens next please leave." a couple people did peel off. but to evan's point it wasn't so much that they were demonstrating against the injustice of what was done to freddie gray as much as they were demonstrating saying we are grown adults you cannot tell us to be out in the streets. of course we all saw what happens next. perhaps the larger question is the national guard presence. will that imagery perpetuate or have the potential to perpetuate something more? of course the same could be said about the media.
9:04 am
do our cameras being here do they give potential to move this forward in a bad way? you know -- >> tom, i've thought myself that the presence of the guard acts as a magnet of sorts. okay. so now there's no curfew but they'll still be here presumably until governor hogan says they no longer need to be. how do you read that? >> it's a difficult choice, michael. you have -- if you don't have the guard here and they're looting businesses endangering lives, pelting police officers and firefighters with rocks, cutting fire hoses, that's a tremendous threat to national -- well national security local security here in the community. you can't have that. and so if the police, as the police admitted on monday we don't have the resources to handle this then you call for backup. and in this case they had 1,000 or so officers from the state police and zroungd counties and the national guard. and i think they were just making sure especially when they were hearing that more and more people from out of town are going to be coming in friday and
9:05 am
yesterday, and that created a fear on the authorities' part here that we need to be extra safe not less safe. >> i think when they do the calculation the damage that's been done to the local economy is going to be staggering. i can tell you just going out to dinner last night i was told you need to order right now because we need to close i think it was 7:30, and the rationale was yes, but everybody who works here needs to get safely home before 10:00 p.m. >> there's a restaurant just up the block, miss shirley's, which is well known, famous people come from all over just to go there. usually a line on a weekend, brunch. we walked in nobody else was in there. it was very lightly -- light crowd. and you know they were saying that the amount of money they're getting in is way down. some hotels had 90% occupancy to tuesday and they were down to 15% just in the last couple days. >> the economic effect of this will be a case study i'm sure in years ahead. yesterday we had one of the biggest fights in box history,
9:06 am
manny pacquiao against floyd mayweather. >> people couldn't go. . people could not go out. >> right. the city shut down. and who knows? one local affiliate spoke to a business here says they lost $10,000 last night. i'm sure other businesses could say that they over time have lost more. >> it will be very interesting to see if public sentiment shifts should the protests continue. now the curfew's been lifted. if people come out on a sunday night and things get out of hand i think there will be a changing tide in terms houf the public looks at this. >> i think so. one of the things i saw last night in nick's reporting that that when you had these wild kids running around these buildings, anarchists the local people wanted police to come here and deal with these kids and get them out of here. when you have the community trying to police itself with the help of the police that's a pretty significant step. that was another aspect of the curfew. it was bringing in people who had no other intention to come here no respect for freddie
9:07 am
gray or anybody else they only wanted to come here and tangle with the police and get themselves on television for doing it. we see that all over. >> we'll see what happens tonight. >> right. >> what's the latest if you're able to tell us relative to the investigation of the burning of the cvs? >> we know the atf is on the scene right now they're collecting evidence. they believe they're going to be able to solve these arsons. a lot of these arsons were actually -- they were first looted stores. and especially the pharmacies. it was people who wanted to go in and steal the oxycontin, things they can resell on the streets. so that's part of the investigation as well. people who wanted to come in there just to try to get stuff that they can sell on the secondary market. and then they torched the stores to try to destroy evidence. i think the atf and the local fire marshal think they're going to be able to solve these fires. >> the human part to this is that was the only pharmacy this community had to go to. i was talking to a woman yesterday michael and she said i don't know where i'm going to go for my prescription medication i need this medication for my diabetes, i don't know where i'm going to go.
9:08 am
the factor also at play is will investors come back to this community? will they feel safe investing in this community having seen what happened there? >> law enforcement have some tough calls to make as to whether they'll move forward with prosecution of the individuals that they have locked up in association with these protests. >> from a police standpoint cops hate this. you don't want to make an arrest on minor almost worthless charges like curfew because the reason is you have to put your hands on somebody. they might fall down and break their neck and now you're up to your -- you know, situation. or if you pepper spray them they might have a heart condition or asthma and choke to death or have a heart attack and die. you don't want to mess with that. if they're bank robbers, great. but if they're just curfew and wild kids that have come to town to cause trouble, you don't want to have to touch them. >> law enforcement's been put in a very awkward position with all the scrutiny that's been placed as a result of what happened to freddie gray then having to provide some semblance of order for the protests that ensued.
9:09 am
>> they were criticized because they held back on monday when the first anarchy broke out. you can see they feel like they're damned if they do and they're damned if they don't. and i get it. i get what the criticism is. at the same time i think you do become a magnet for this situation as people were saying you have people coming into town simply because she see the guard presence they see state police on the streets and they think this is something they might be able to challenge the order. >> you would think the guard would remain for at least another day to see what's the impact of the lifting of the curfew and then a decision would be made whether it's time for them to go as well. >> if there's any indication to the shift in attitude the shift in perception here for the first time in recent days on that corner, north avenue and pennsylvania avenue, where the cvs burned down, we did not see local police in riot gear. now, that changed throughout the night as these demonstrators challenged the curfew but we should be fair. there was a jubilant attitude. somewhat of a block party, if you will, at one point that changed as those agitators went
9:10 am
forward with their purpose and cause. >> but that feeling remains. thank you, rene marsh, evan perez, tom fuentes, and nick valencia. we'll continue to monitor this breaking news. don't go anywhere. (vo) around age 7, the glucose metabolism in a dog's brain begins to change. (ray) i'd like to see her go back to her more you know social side. she literally started changing. it was shocking. she's much more aware. (jan) she loves the food.
9:11 am
(ray) the difference has been incredible. she wants to learn things. (vo) purina pro plan bright mind promotes alertness and mental sharpness in dogs 7 and older. purina pro plan. nutrition that performs. meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number one natural gas producer... and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. supporting millions of new jobs.
9:12 am
billions in tax revenue... and a new century of american energy security. the new energy superpower? it's red, white and blue. log on to learn more. my tempur-pedic made me fall in love with mornings again. i love how it conforms to my body. with tempur-pedic the whole bed is comfortable. it's the best thing we ever did for ourselves. it's helping to keep us young. (vo) visit your local retailer and feel the tempur-pedic difference for yourself. i'm caridee. i've had moderate to severe plaque psoriasis most of my life. but that hasn't stopped me from modeling. my doctor told me about stelara® it helps keep my skin clearer. with only 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses... ...stelara® helps me be in season. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections require hospitalization. before starting stelara® your doctor should test for tuberculosis. stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. always tell your doctor if you have any sign of infection have had cancer, or if you develop any new skin growths. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients.
9:13 am
alert your doctor of new or worsening problems including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare potentially fatal brain condition. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you or anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. in a medical study most stelara® patients saw at least 75% clearer skin and the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. stelara® helps keep my skin clearer. ask your doctor about stelara®.
9:14 am
i'm michael smerconish. we're live in baltimore, where the curfew has just been lifted. i'm with evan perez, cnn's justice correspondent. cnn correspondent nick va qulaens and tom fuentes, former fbi assistant director. gentlemen, the "baltimore sun" had a report today on the front page which was really stunning. they had a report justin fenton who was inside the police investigation of what had just gone on relative to freddie gray monitoring the process. the takeaway was they were absolutely floored. they handed over their file on thursday and then they were shocked as everyone else when friday the announcement was made pertaining to the investigation and the charges. >> this doesn't bode well for what comes after here in baltimore. >> how so? >> because you have a state prosecutor who floored everyone. she didn't tell the political leadership. and i guess that's appropriate. the police department which as you said pointed out -- finished
9:15 am
up their investigation on thursday handed it over to her, was absolutely floored. they had no idea she was about to do a press conference and she was going to announce charges against these six officers. she gave them about an hour notice before she went out there. and that is just simply a symptom perhaps of a bigger problem. >> maybe the bigger problem is the left hand and the right hand just don't trust one another in this town and didn't feel comfortable bringing anyone into the loop. >> right. and that's remarkable because there is something wrong in this country where it does appear we repeatedly have police investigating themselves and find they did nothing wrong. and that has sown a lot of distrust in minority communities and communities around the country. so perhaps something big needed to happen. a big change needed to happen. she certainly decided this was the route she was going to take. >> the actions that predicated the charges were largely things the police did not do. initially she said this is an arrest that should not have been made.
9:16 am
but then it's all about what law enforcement didn't do. they didn't respond to his pleas for assistance from a medical standpoint. and they didn't belt him in. it occurred to me that those two events not belting him in and not responding to his pleas for medical assistance and i'm not defending, it but that probably goes on with some regularity. for example, i'm not sure that the guy who for a time period shared that van with freddie gray i'm not so sure he was belted in at the time. i don't know if we know the answer to that question. and jailitis is the term that was published today in the baltimore sun for someone who's been taken into custody and now claims they need medical assistance. >> last month the rule to strap everybody in just went into effect april. >> right. >> so that means all previous arrests it was pretty discretionary for the driver as to whether to do it or not. if you have somebody that's bound at the hands, bound at the feet, not strapped in i don't care if he drives five miles an hour. the passenger is not going to stay on that seat. you just can't. and then when he goes off, he's
9:17 am
not going to be able to break the fall. it's going to be severe. and i think that what you're talking about is yes, negligence and violating department rules. but it's a long step to say they deliberately murdered him, they deliberately did this to him. and i think there's a rule in investigations when i was investigator and then running investigations is you never form your theory what happened up front because subliminally subconsciously you will be ignoring evidence that contradicts your theory and finding everything that backs your theory up to do it. and i think from the beginning i don't think there's much question that there was pretty common thought here that these police killed him. >> but not in a deliberate way. she didn't say they intentionally took him on a rough ride. and not with any concerted -- never said nap and not with any concerted activity because there's not a conspiracy charge here. i think the onus is on the prosecution to have to hold them individually accountable. from a causation standpoint i think that's going to be
9:18 am
difficult. and my hunch is it was prosecuted or was about to be prosecuted in this way so as to get them to turn on one another. >> there's another factor is part of the crime scene was freddie gray's neck. and the surgeons that worked on him for a week to save his life basically had to remove tissue move things around get in there. so essentially they're witnesses now instead of the medical examiner of what was the condition of that neck the cervical spine, the voice box when he was being treated at the hospital before he died and the body goes to the medical examiner office. and that's going to be a very difficult thing. and it's a rule in law enforcement, you'd like a pristine crime scene for the investigators. the crime scene investigators. the medical examiners. but if you can have the opportunity to save somebody's life it comes first. >> nick i've watched you for the last several nights as has the rest of the country walking along with the protesters. is it enough for them that prosecutions are taking place and the system is now going to
9:19 am
take over or must they have convictions? because i think what i'm saying and i think what tom is saying is we're a long way from a conviction phase. >> the short answer is i'm not sure and i don't think many of these demonstrators know the answer to that. when i asked that question do you think the worst has passed some said yes. others said that things will always be tense. even more said though that we need to get justice still. these officers remember still have not been indicted. they've been charged but they have not formally been indicted. now they wait for a trial. they wait to see if their pleas are met. if they find these officers guilty. i worry, michael, that more will happen if the community here doesn't necessarily get what they want and that's the conviction of all six officers. >> you're pulling triple duty here now. we're hearing the church bells. what can we say in it's live television. what will happen with the
9:20 am
justice department now that action has been taken on a local level? >> they've got a couple roles here. they're doing what they call collaborative reform. the mayor invited them in to help fix the police department. that is a process that's already like six, seven months in progress. and so we'll see whether or not there are any long-term reforms that they can carry out for this police department. the second thing is they're doing an investigation of the freddie gray death. and we'll see whether they're able to bring any civil rights charges against these officers. the issue is there's a little bit of less pressure, a release valve, that has now taken place because of these charges by the state prosecutor. as you know the bar is pretty high to bring civil rights charges, federal civil rights charges in these types of cases. >> i'll be anxious to see -- by the way, i had this happen this morning when we were here in the same spot. it will land in about two minutes, i think. tom fuentes, at the outset of all of this which has
9:21 am
transpired in baltimore, it seemed like the relationship between the governor and the mayor was not the best. there were questions raised as to whether he was waiting on her and whether he could find her. it will be interesting to see now that the curfew has been lifted whether they're working in concert with one another relative to the national guard. and specifically what i'm thinking of is should the mayor request that the national guard now be removed, will he necessarily follow her lead? >> i would think. if she makes the request, he can't afford to not follow the request. but i was a little bit surprised, or maybe i should say a lot surprised as a viewer monday you know when they started doing the after-action press conferences about the riot and you have who asked who and when it almost gave the impression that i let this mayor have it her way, which was too gentle and we had a riot and the police couldn't stop it, step aside get out of my way, i'm moving my office to baltimore, i'm bringing in my troops literally troops combat veteran guardsmen along with the state police in the thousands, - get
9:22 am
out of our way, we're going to secure baltimore. >> and that's what it looked like to me is that conflict had come to the top. >> gentlemen, stick with us. i want to squeeze in a quick break. i want to come back to baltimore. we're awaiting a press conference from baltimore's mayor. please stand by. if you struggle with type 2 diabetes you're certainly not alone. fortunately, many have found a different kind of medicine that lowers blood sugar. imagine what it would be like to love your numbers. discover once-daily invokana®. it's the #1 prescribed in the newest class of medicines that work with the kidneys to lower a1c. invokana® is used along with diet and exercise to significantly lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. it's a once-daily pill that works around the clock. here's how: the kidneys allow sugar to be absorbed back into the body. invokana® reduces the amount of sugar allowed back in and sends some sugar out through the process of urination. and while it's not for weight loss,
9:23 am
it may help you lose weight. invokana® can cause important side effects including dehydration, which may cause you to feel dizzy, faint, lightheaded, or weak especially when you stand up. other side effects may include kidney problems, genital yeast infections urinary tract infections changes in urination high potassium in the blood, or increases in cholesterol. do not take invokana® if you have severe kidney problems or are on dialysis. stop taking and call your doctor right away if you experience symptoms such as rash, swelling, or difficulty breathing or swallowing. tell your doctor about any medical conditions medications you are taking and if you have kidney or liver problems. using invokana® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase risk of low blood sugar. it's time.
9:24 am
lower your blood sugar with invokana®. imagine loving your numbers. there's only one invokana®. ask your doctor about it by name.
9:25 am
we're taking you right now to the baltimore mayor stephanie rawlings-blake. she's speaking to the media outside the mall that was looted on monday. >> i'm just so grateful because it shows the resiliency of our city. i want to thank general growth and all of the vendors who are here. they want to stay here. they want to their investment. it's certainly a smart investment because this is a growing community. again, i want to thank all the members of the community that have come together to support mondawmin mall. i've been coming here since i was a child, taking my christmas pictures with santa, i think the easter bunny. you can come up general growth if you want to come up. come on.
9:26 am
you sure? and this is just a great day for this community to have the mall reopened. just a wonderful day. i was proud to support the investment that -- i think it was the baltimore development corporation made into this mall to do the major renovations and to see it bounce back so quickly. it gives me a lot of optimism about what's possible in the rebuilding. i'll open it up. i don't know if bdc wanted to say anything -- >> no, ma'am. >> what was the difference between yesterday and today in your decision to lift the curfew? >> so yesterday we had some of the same outside protesters that we had on saturday. when the peaceful protests turned into destruction, and we were very cautious that we were able to get through that night without having it turn into what happened last saturday. >> the national guard, the
9:27 am
police presence will they stay now? what about the national guard and state troopers? >> so they unwind. it's not like you flip a switch. they have to unwind their operations. and they're going to do that over this next week. >> are they withdrawing basically? >> yeah. >> are you concerned this might be premature on your part? >> you'll tell me that afterwards. it will either be too long or too early. you'll let me know afterwards. >> can you talk about how confident you are right now in the state of affairs in baltimore, in how peaceful it is in the underlying unrest. what is your assessment right now of the state of affairs in baltimore? >> right now i'm very confident. what we saw over the past few days is not just the resiliency of our city but also our communities coming together. we want to heal our city. we know we have challenges in baltimore. we know that there's work to be done. but what you saw in these last few days with the peaceful demonstrations and people coming together to celebrate baltimore
9:28 am
is that will that we will get better that we will get through this and we'll do it as one baltimore. >> in terms of the unrest what is your appraisal of the status of the unrest in baltimore right now? >> i think a lot of the unrest has been settled down in the sense of the protests but that doesn't mean the work doesn't continue. we are actively engaging with the department of justice on collaborative review. we have been since last year in the process of improving our police department reforming our police department, and putting in place things that will eliminate this type of incident from ever happening again. >> with you elaborate on the role the faith leaders of the community have played 99 only renot only in rebuilding the city but in quelling much of the violence. >> there are -- words rinare insufficient to describe my gratitude to the faith community. they have come out in unbelievable ways to not just
9:29 am
support me in the physical sense of the city but to support me spiritually and to help us rebuild our community. when they were out there, you saw the fire burning in east baltimore. but when they were out there, it was the fire of their spirit and it was really energizing our community. and i cannot -- words are insufficient. to describe my gratitude. >> ms. mayor, what's your reaction to the criticism of your leadership during this crisis but also praise of the governor? >> that's your job, to react and respond to that. you know i'm very focused -- >> what do you think? >> i think i'm going to continue to be focused on rebuilding my city. >> -- about your conversation you had -- [ inaudible ] >> they are optimistic. you know they're excited about continuing their investment in mondawmin. this is a very successful mall. so to see that destruction that i saw when i toured on tuesday,
9:30 am
it was really -- it was devastating to see that done to these vendors who have put so much money into this mall. but to see them back i was just excited. and you know they're optimistic moving forward that we'll never see anything like that again. thank you. >> [ inaudible ]. outside groups -- >> mayor stephanie rawlings-blake speak k to the media after lifting the curfew that's been in effect since last tuesday. i'm sort of disappointed. as far as i could tell nobody asked about the presence of the guard. i thought evan someone would have said is it time for them to leave. >> right. i think that's the thing when you walk around the city you see the guard. much respect to them. certainly down by the east harbor you have more guard than you have tourists than you have people walking on the streets. and it is not the image that you want right now. i think you want -- i know that there was perhaps a need for it on tuesday. but i think it's probably time for them to go back to their jobs their regular jobs. >> even to the point of local
9:31 am
police being ramped up and really sort of intimidating riot gear. we were listening to conversations that they were having with the community yesterday, and they were saying it was sort of a specific order that they not wear those helmets so as not to intimidate the public. >> right. has this been tom, a test case for the debate over the so-called militarization of police? i've seen a lot of equipment as i've been walking around baltimore in the last couple of days that i'm sure at some point was on a battlefield in afghanistan or iraq. >> no that's true. and i think in this case it's the militarization of the military. it's the national guard that's here not the police using equipment that's been given to them free by the military. i think that -- >> i saw a police tank yesterday. >> but i think some of the people talking about ferguson have made a mistake because they said look at the mistake made by the deployment of the st. louis county police with all their military gear and their sniper on top of the truck. that's true. that's absolutely true the
9:32 am
sniper in the truck was off the top, should have been using bin oculars or something. but when they backed police off earlier in the week, when the police stood as spectators like we saw on monday buildings burned and people got hurt. so the lesson is find the right mix of at least have them staged out of sight but ready. and if things get out of control, you don't have to make a statement like the police spokesman did on monday which i almost had a shock when i heard tr, well it well we don't have enough police to do protection of property and protection of people we had to do one or the other, we decided to protect people. that is incredible to me. you don't have that either or. >> what should he have said? >> we're here to protect both. and i'm sorry our police officers were given orders to be spectators as that cvs was burned as women are coming out of burning apartments with their babies in their arms enveloped in smoke, while people are cutting fire hoses, if not saving lives that that site later in the day might have been needed another site if you had
9:33 am
a major apartment building catch on fire. sought idea that you're not there to protect property yes, you are there. property and people. not one or the other. >> gentlemen, stand by. i want to go to rene marsh. rene rene thanks for sticking with us. were you surprised that the mayor didn't say anything about the national guard? >> well she did. she was asked specifically about that and she said there will be a drawdown it will not happen immediately, it will be in stages essentially we'll eventually see them pulling out one by one in stages. so that is the answer that we got from her as far as the national guard goes. but again, we will not see them all disappear, we will not see that presence diminished right away but it will happen in stages. that was the word from her. she did go inside and she did meet with many business owners who their businesses were damaged. again, this was ground zero for where all that rioting and the violence began. the bigger question now is the
9:34 am
issue of dealing with the greater economic impact. yeah sure they've reopened but what has been done to the city of baltimore as far as its image and tourism and people are they willing to come, and what will the lingering effects be? at this point it may be too early to assess that. but she did in her talks here discuss a feeling of trying to return to normal, michael. zble >> rene thank you so much. thank you for correcting me because i didn't hear that exchange. we appreciate your report. we're waiting for a news conference from governor larry hogan speaking shortly after attending church on what he declared as a day of prayer and peace. we'll be right back. ( spinning tires ) ♪ he doesn't need your help. until he does. three cylinders, dual overhead cams and 50 horsepower. go bold. go powerful. go gator.
9:35 am
get 3,500 dollars off select gators at a dealer near you. george johnson can not fly. he can not see through doors. his speed, anything but superhuman. but when it comes to health care options, george found helpful information and resources at aarphealth.com this makes him feel unstoppable. well, almost unstoppable. discover real possibilities at aarphealth.com today and tomorrow take on the world.
9:36 am
9:37 am
we're waiting for a news conference from governor larry hogan speaking shortly after attending church on what he declared as a day of prayer and peace. evan perez, nick valencia, and
9:38 am
tom fuentes are still here with me. evan it occurs to all of us that six individuals have been murdered in baltimore since the guard arrived unrelated to the whole freddie gray situation. there's a problem here. >> there's a bigger problem here. and it's funny, this morning there was a city councilman who was tweeting he wants the national media to leave, he wants, you know things to go back to normal. i talked to someone out in the neighborhood in north and penn this week and what they said was they didn't want things to go back to normal because normal is baltimore -- in baltimore is not good. you know six murders is the average that they have here. and you have heavy guard presence -- >> and state police. >> and still there are six fatal shootings just this week many more that were not fatal. and that's just normal. >> what's the short-term solution? >> that's the great question. we've had community leader after leader talk about 30 years or 300 years of oppression here. all true. so that children like freddie gray are almost doomed from birth to having difficulty the
9:39 am
rest of their life. but we need to fix those. no question about it. what do we do tomorrow next week next month when we have six murders a week in this town and have had that average go back several years? >> this morning on "state of the union" i had two big city mayors and also a very prominent member of congress. the question i was trying to drive them cardtoward is is there a government solution to awful this and did government create this? it's a philosophical question not easily adopted for a short conversation like this. but i think it's a very real discussion that needs to be held. >> you're going back to the point i made earlier. the media presence here, are we perpetuating this? is this imagery of the national guard -- >> what do you think? >> what we saw here yesterday was we saw a lot of people acting outrageous for the cameras. and if they weren't here they would be asking why are we not here. so to evan's point earlier, it's sort of a damned if you, do damned if you don't. what we have seen over the course of the last week is an evolution in the narrative of the demonstrators, an evolution in the narrative of what they're
9:40 am
using. we spoke to a lot of young black men yesterday who were disgusted with what they saw on monday night, the violence the criminal activity, and that's something we had not heard a lot of people coming out and saying this is not baltimore, this is not the city that we live in. yes, every big city has major problems but there's a lot of people know that are really pointing out bad things that are happening. >> you speak of the evolution of the protesters and their mindset. how about the evolution of the mindset of the mayor? i heard her moments ago refer to some as outside protesters. you of course know she used the "thug" word earlier in the week. she walked it back. the president used that word as well. he did not walk it back as far as i know. >> and she got into a lot of trouble. you know part of the problem for her is she's had a rough week. she started off very poor response to this and i think that's what has gotten some of that response. i don't know what the right answer to that -- to the word whether the word should be off limits or not.
9:41 am
i can hear both points of view. chris cuomo made a very impassioned -- >> he's shaking his head no. >> no it shouldn't be off limits. that's a mainstream term. in my 30 years in the fbi and six as a cop we used thug to mean a criminal who's violent. not bernie madoff who's also a criminal but violent. >> but words change. >> who changed it? the black community decided this is our word we can't use it anymore? it's a mainstream word. >> it is a mainstream word. but after hearing what people say, that word sounds like to them you know i'm rethinking the way i look at it. it's changed my view on it. >> look i'm a bald white guy from the suburbs of philadelphia. what do i know? when i hear thug i have this image of a stocky white guy that -- >> exactly. >> -- at target range. you know who i'm thinking of when you go to an door range and there's a white guy with a gun in his hand he may or may not have a cigar butt sticking out of his mouth? to me that's what i think of when i think of a thug. >> i'm thinking of jon gotti. i'm thinking of asian organized crime groups russian organized crime groups that use violence
9:42 am
and narco terrorist activities. they're thugs. and suddenly this has taken on a racial -- it's not the n word. and it shouldn't be. and the best way to prevent it from being an n word is use it on everybody else that deserves it. >> i think somehow there needs to be a conversation that bridges personal responsibility and an understanding of some of the institutional drivers of the circumstances that exist in this city and in big city america. i don't want to absolve those who were -- can i say hooligans, who looted burned, who stole? >> criminals. >> criminals. they need to be condemned locked up and put in jail. at the same time i do want to be understanding about the plight of communities in which they were raised. >> i was in this neighborhood sand town where freddie gray lived. we were over there doing live shots in the early morning. and there was -- one image that really stuck with me was the image of a father getting his daughter getting ready for school putting her in the car. to the left to the right the
9:43 am
entire block, boarded up houses houses missing roofs, burned out shelves of buildings. that's the environment this little girl is growing up in. that's really -- it's hard to believe that's what we have here in baltimore. and it's not just baltimore. philly. lots of places in america. detroit have the same problem. and i don't know what the solution is. it's just -- but it's clearly -- i know people are tired of us being here perhaps but shining a spotlight on the problem is probably not a bad thing. >> according to marilyn mosby the solution is accountability. that's haw heard her saying in her press conference you're getting it now. the concern going forward of course is are these young men making her look bad by continuing to protest, continuing -- >> well they will tonight if they come out tonight and particularly if it gets out of control. i think that they will absolutely prove to be an embarrassment to her after she extended herself from those very steps when she walked down unexpectedly last friday and charged six police officers in the way that she did. by the way, we're about a minute
9:44 am
away i think from the governor address the recent events the lifting of the curfew here in baltimore. what do you think, tom, we'll hear from him? >> probably the same thing as the mayor. i think it's kind of interesting they're not making this announcement jointly. it goes back to what i said earlier, he moved the capital from annapolis to baltimore. he brings in his state police his national guard, several thousand, and basically says i'm taking over the town. you would think at this point they might have gotten a way to talk together and gotten a way of presentation that brings peace and unity back to this community and removing the guard and state police and going back to business as usual. the fact they're making separate announcements means to me they're not on the same page yet. >> is it too soon to do a political calculus in terms of how this impacts the mayor, how this impacts the governor? >> i think this has been a very very bad week for her. i think if she had aspirations beyond city hall it's a very bad report card she's going to
9:45 am
receive. >> what was the greatest failing? >> she was absent while the city was burning -- >> initially. >> initially. and she's had a hard time coming back on that. and every time she goes before the cameras and gets asked questions she doesn't like she starts walking away. on the other hand -- >> you might think so. she said i think to a person at that briefing we just watched. but i'm not going to comment. >> on the other hand we have the state prosecutor -- >> archbishop lawrie -- >> we've got the governor right now. here's governor larry hogan speaking after attending church services. >> i can tell you we saw a lot of good things this week. when i came into the city on monday night it was all in flames. the city was burning. stores wrbing looted. a lot of terrible things. but since then i've seen incredible acts of kindness. i saw neighbors helping neighbors. i've seen a community that cares about each other. and it's a great way to end the week-w a day of prayer and piece
9:46 am
and reconciliation. that's what this is all about. >> how do you feel about the lifting of the curfew that the mayor just announced? are you concerned at all that looters might come back at all now that the khawr phew has been lifted? >> the mayor and i both talked and we agreed that it's time to get the community back to normal again. it's been a very hard week but we've kept everybody safe. since monday night we haven't had any serious problems. i just thank everybody in the community for their help in keeping the calm and keeping the peace. we couldn't have done it without them. but it's going to take a little while for us to totally get back normal. but i think lifting the curfew's a good idea. it's been a really rough week but let's get back to normal in the city and get people back to work and back to school and get people coming back into the city to visit the shops that were really devastated this week and the smallest mom and pop stores and restaurants. they need your help. so we want tone courage everybody to come back to the city. it's safe. and we've got calm and peace in the city which is something we
9:47 am
haven't seen in a little while. >> how long will the national guard be staying, governor? >> we've already started withdrawal of the guard. the trucks are pulling out this morning. it's going to take a little bit of a while. you know we brought in 4,000 people this week to keep the city safe. we brought in 1,000 extra police officers 3,000 members of the guard, and 3,000 volunteers to help clean things up. it's not going to happen instantaneously. it's going to take a couple of days to get everybody out. we had to build an entire city to save the city. so it's going to take i while, but we've already started and we're going to get back to normal as quickly as we can. >> -- the police officers is the baltimore police department in need of reform? >> well, look i don't want to get into the reform of the baltimore police or the case itself. what we need is a lot of healing. obviously, there's big issues we've got to address. what i've been totally focused on, 20 some hours a day every day for the past week is keeping everybody safe. there's longer-term questions and issues about how we fix this how we develop more trust between the community and the
9:48 am
police how we fix some of the overarching problems happening in our urban areas and here in baltimore. but today we're not going to solve that. today we're about having peace in the city and thank everybody for their help. >> -- freddie gray was not restrained in the police van he was in. is this neighborhood and some neighborhoods around the country that's known as a rough ride. do you want to review statewide right now how prevalent it might be in other law enforcement agencies? >> well actually, we're signing eight pieces of legislation including one that allows us to gather all that kind of information from various police departments. we'll be doing that this week. >> governor -- >> the rough rides -- >> let somebody else ask a question. >> [ inaudible ]. >> it's going to be devastating. monday night we lost 200 businesses. most of them were minority-owned businesses. many of them didn't have insurance. hundreds of millions of dollars have been lost. people had their homes burned down businesses burned down and looted. and then the folks that didn't
9:49 am
get a hit on monday night lost business for an entire week. and i talked to a lot of them over the past few days. a lot of people were impacted in communities throughout the city. we're going to do everything we can to help them. >> you think about going to church. the cardinal said this is the time for walls to come down. what kind of walls have to come down for this healing process? >> well you know we've all got to come together. it's a day of unity. it's a day of reconciliation. it's a day of prayers and peace for the city of baltimore. for the people that have been affected. for freddie gray's family. for all the folks that lost their homes and businesses. for the over 100 police officers who were injured on monday night. you know one of the first things i did when i got here i went to shock trauma and saw 15 police officers that were badly injured. the sacrifice of the national guard, the police and fire that were out there protecting and serving almost 24 hours a day. a lot of people need our prayers and our thanks. the community leaders who came
9:50 am
together the faith leaders who pitched in and continued to preach peace. i've got prayers for everybody. and i thank god for the wisdom and strength that i got because i can tell you this is the first moment of peace i've had in a week. we've had almost no sleep. >> governor. >> the officers aren't convicted about more rioting in the city. >> this is the very beginning of the process. we don't have a role in the process but i believe in the justice system. it's going to take a long time to play out and we'll be prepared for whatever. we want the truth to come out as everybody else does and we'll see what happens when it does. thank you. >> thanks, guys. >> curfew's already been lifted. >> state of emergency too? >> governor larry hogan -- hey-i think we've just learned a great deal men, in terms of the latest developments. i heard the governor say he had spoken to the mayor, that it's going to take a while to get back to a sense of normal and most significantly perhaps the drawdown of the national guard, a subject that we've been discussing for the better part of an hour, began this morning. it's already in effect.
9:51 am
he said 200 businesses were lost on monday night alone. hundreds of millions of dollars have been lost in the process. i think my takeaway is we have just heard during the course of this hour the political establishment declare that this is over. what remains to be seen is what happens tonight and do the protesters go along with the establishment. >> that's right. and also you know this entire incident has been so unusual in that you have rioting before you even have a decision any verdict or anything. that's typically what happens in these types of cases, rodney king and others. baltimore has set a new standard of how people behave when these types of incidents happen. what i think the governor also was trying to address was we don't know what's going to happen with this process, whether or not there's going to be any convictions of these six officers. and my fear is that we'll be back here again when that process wraps up. >> i have the same fear. what did you find significant? >> a boiling point here. they started rioting on monday night before any charges were
9:52 am
leveled. i think when i talked to demonstrators out there i said why loot your own neighborhood? why do that? because you drntidn't pay attention until we did. i don't know if i understand that or agree with that completely but that's the mindset of some of those people out there causing these issues and these problems. >> is this a law enforcement tactic that we've just seen unfold that if we announce we're moving on because it's over and things are better that will be the case? can we will peace? >> when you have 5,000 people to remove and you say you're doing it incrementally, you know, it doesn't mean that 4,900 are going to be gone by tomorrow morning. so there will be the process of drawing down will still leave people here. and they're from maryland. most of the guardsmen i talked to out here, guardsmen and women during the week were telling me they're from baltimore. so to call them back up isn't like they have to come from california or something. they're here already. >> yesterday i was watching the coverage when you were positioned right here. you were listening to hours of speeches. and many of them you found as a person of law enforcement
9:53 am
background to be very uncomfortable. those speakers you heard here yesterday, some of whom were calling for anarchy, are they going to be satisfied with what they just heard from the mayor and the governor essentially saying time to move on? >> i don't know what would satisfy them. what the woman with a bullhorn were shouting with people cheering him on was all police are pigs all police are bad, we don't need any police, all of our brothers and sisters who were arrested claiming to burn businesses the rioters, essentially, should be let out, they're good people, and everybody should be let out of jail and all police should be either eliminated or put in jail. >> but i mean let's be honest -- >> i had to listen to that for two hours, evan. it was enough. >> he doesn't represent not even like -- >> you know what? that would be true if they stood silent and get him out of here. but there were a couple thousand people on this grass lawn over here cheering every time he said we don't need the police. >> again, they don't represent the majority of the people -- people in sand town went to work yesterday.
9:54 am
a lot of people were not out here. and i don't think -- you talk to people out here, they do not agree with that. they want to be able to call the police and get help when they need it. >> they will when they get home. but they were out here cheering him on. >> the people who came here some of the people were definitely trying to voice -- >> it was a different group what we saw. a lot of outside presence anarchists anonymous types. opportunists. professional protesters michael. >> who came here. >> that's not the way to do it. >> you saw people coming taking the bus and coming to ferguson to try to take advantage of the situation. >> i think what we're saying is we hope the people who are truly representative of the community here who have to live here want peace here will not be led astray by others who've arrived here in baltimore just for agitation purposes. >> those conversations of healing have already started. >> gentlemen, thank you so much for spending a full hour with us. we hadn't anticipated events to play out the way they did, but glad we were here live. i'm michael smerconish in baltimore. remember you can follow me on twitter, @smerconish if you can
9:55 am
spell it. frederickaricka whitfield picks up our coverage right after this break. why do we do it? why do we spend every waking moment, thinking about people? why are we so committed to keeping you connected? why combine performance with a conscience? why innovate for a future without accidents? why do any of it? why do all of it? because if it matters to you it's everything to us. the xc60 crossover. from volvo. big day? ah, the usual. moved some new cars. hauled a bunch of steel. kept the supermarket shelves stocked. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac.
9:56 am
see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern. the bed reacts to your body. it hugs you. it's really cool to the touch. this zips off so i can wash it-yes, please. (vo) visit your local retailer and feel the tempur-pedic difference for yourself.
9:57 am
two weeks later. look, credit karma-- are you talking to websites again? this website says "free credit scores." oh, credit karma! yeah it's actually free. look, you don't have to put in your credit card information. whew! credit karma. really. free.
9:58 am
meet the world's newest energy superpower. surprised? in fact, america is now the world's number one natural gas producer... and we could soon become number one in oil. because hydraulic fracturing technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. supporting millions of new jobs. billions in tax revenue... and a new century of american energy security. the new energy superpower? it's red, white and blue. log on to learn more.
9:59 am
10:00 am
this is "gps," the global public scare. welcome to all of you in the united states and around the world. i'm fareed zakaria. on today's show the axis of evil. remember that phrase? well we're going to tackle all three countries today. iraq, north korea, and iran. >> axis of evil. >> the persian nation is first up. we know all too well how the nuclear agreement is playing in the united states. >> and this iran deal i believe is an historic mistake.