CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript Interview with Tony Evers

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Governor Evers, thank you for joining us.

Let's get back to Jacob Blake. His attorneys tell me that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden shared a great deal of empathy with Blake when the two spoke over the phone during the former vice president's visit to Kenosha today.

What do you make of Biden's time in your state today?

GOV. TONY EVERS (D-WI): Well, certainly, as compared to what we saw it two days ago, it's night and day.

I have had a chance to talk to Jacob's mom and dad, and they're just extraordinary human beings. Lots of empathy. Lots of hope for the future. Obviously, they have lots of hard feelings about what happened to their son.

But, at the end of the day, they're calling for changes in policy. And they want to make sure that the state of Wisconsin hears that.

So, I think, from what I saw from Vice President Biden, he did a great job in reaching out. That's him. I mean, he is around empathy. He understands people.

You compare that to two days ago, when candidate Trump was in Wisconsin, first of all, this state is still struggling with the coronavirus. I think the president hopes that we don't talk about it anymore.

But, in Kenosha County, we have had 3,000 -- 3,000 people that have been tested positive; 600 -- or 60 have died, one yesterday. And he held this roundtable where he invited everybody to take off their mask, if they had one. Most of them didn't have one.

And that's just -- that just continues to be a problem. How can you help -- hope to help people heal in Kenosha, and then go there and say, don't care about the virus, you figure it out, folks.

[18:10:10]

That is hardly empathy, Jim.

ACOSTA: And, Governor Evers, I understand you would have preferred if neither presidential candidate visited Kenosha at this time.

In a letter to President Trump before his visit on Tuesday, you wrote that you were concerned that his presence would hinder community healing. Why were you reluctant about both of these visits? And do you feel that Vice President Joe Biden's visit was helpful?

EVERS: Yes, absolutely.

And what I -- my concern was around the issue of healing. I had a chance to be there last week, and a lot of pain, a lot of angst, you name it, a lot of feelings. But what impressed me most was their ability to be resilient, the people that I talked to, and great hope for the future.

They need healing. They need healing. And I don't think candidate Trump coming to Kenosha and talking about the shooting of Jacob Blake as three -- choking on a three-foot putt compares to what happened here with Joe Biden and his ability to show empathy, to understand the issues going forward.

To me, it was night and day. I did not want both of them to -- either them to come, because I'm very -- I was very concerned about the healing process and that people need to really think about what's going on in their hearts.

And I didn't want candidates to, frankly, muck that up. And I think Vice President Biden did a good job of being empathetic, understanding what the issues are, promising to fight for the important things that people care about.

ACOSTA: Yes.

And, Governor Evers, I want to ask you about what Attorney General William Barr told Wolf Blitzer yesterday on this program, that Jacob Blake was armed and in the middle of committing a felony when he was shot by police.

Blake's attorney say Barr is misinformed. And local authorities, as we both know, are still investigating. Does the attorney general's decision to weigh in publicly at this stage of the investigation make the job of those local law enforcement officials more difficult?

EVERS: Well, certainly.

Certainly...

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: And do you know whether or not the attorney general's wrong?

I guess I should make that clear as well. Do you know whether he's wrong?

EVERS: Well, I don't know if he's wrong, but the crux of this is, he absolutely just has to be certain that he's not right. The attorney general in Wisconsin is conducting this investigation and his staff. They will make that determination. They have not made that call.

I have said right from the beginning, what I know is what saw. I saw eight shots go into the back of a black man as he was trying to get into his car. The rest of it is, frankly, up for the Department of Justice and our state to make recommendations to the district attorneys.

And for anybody to kind of jump in with information that God knows where it came from, I think is -- is trying to put his finger on the lever of justice here.

ACOSTA: And Blake's family -- I talked to his father earlier this week.

They say that this shooting and the events that followed further demonstrate that your treatment under the law depends on the color of your skin. What are you doing, personally, Governor Evers, to make sure that equal justice is served in this case in your state? EVERS: Well, yes. And thanks. Thanks for asking that question. That

is hugely important.

We called our legislature into a special session this last week. We had lots of support for this. Just nine accountability and transparency bills as it relates to policing in the state of Wisconsin actually have some support from different organizations that care about these things, whether it's police or sheriffs or chiefs.

They -- obviously, not everybody agrees on anything. But I think we're going to have a good chance to move forward. Republicans gaveled in. They didn't gavel out, but they didn't do anything.

And that sends a message. I mean, it -- I talk about the president and slash candidate Trump sending a message. This sends a message too, that the state Republicans are saying, we're not going to take up these nine bills that are -- frankly, some of them were one time introduced by Republicans, but, instead, we're going to show the people of Wisconsin how much we care by gaveling in and not gaveling out.

That is wrongheaded. We're going to continue to fight this fight, and hopefully get some progress on it soon. That's what we have to do. We have to -- I heard Jacob's father talk about this just the other day.

We can be mad, we can be angry, we want to be healing, but, at the end of the day, we need change in policy. There is a reason why we talk about this. We have seen it now in Minnesota. We have seen it now in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

[18:15:04]

The time is now to take these bills up and actually talk about it among us.

ACOSTA: And, Governor Evers, I want to ask you, because we're also learning that out-of-state residents from at least eight states have been arrested during the unrest in Kenosha.

What can you tell us about these out-of-state instigators, and what can you do about it?

EVERS: Well, first of all, what we have learned is, frankly, we also saw in Minnesota and heard about in Minnesota, out-of-state agitators.

And, frankly, somebody walks around with a long gun, you got to -- you got to be careful. The -- what we have learned is, they're well- organized. They are well-organized. And if we believe that they're just some random group of people or ones or twos just showing up in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that would be incorrect.

So, we have learned that they're organized. We have to make sure that we are ready as a state, that we don't let people that are, frankly, anarchists, in the worst sense of the world, they want to -- they want to make sure that peaceful protesters don't have their First Amendment rights. That is sacred in my heart and in the state of Wisconsin. We have to

protect that. And we have to do a better job of understanding how well-organized they are, and to make sure that they don't interrupt our peaceful protests and making sure that freedom of speech is for everybody, not just for a few.

ACOSTA: All right, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a lot of work ahead for you and your state. All the best to you and the state of Wisconsin. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source