On Saturday, CNN viewers received to see a pre-recorded interview with the outgoing Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms through which the failed Democratic chief was allowed to boast about her criticisms of President Donald Trump with little or no scrutiny from weekend morning and afternoon CNN Newsroom host Fredricka Whitfield about her failed report that led to her not even bothering to run for a second time period.
By no means was it talked about that the homicide fee of town doubled over her four-year tenure (in comparison with 29 p.c nationwide) as she was allowed to gloss over her dealing with of the aftermath of the police-involving dying of Rayshard Brooks.
As a part of the interview was proven through the 11:00 a.m. hour m, Whitfield was seen recalling that Bottoms’s “management was examined” with a number of challenges, asking her what her expertise “taught you about your self.”
After the Atlanta Democrat boasted that she is “resilient,” and quoted Maya Angelou and Audre Lorde in tooting her personal horn, Whitfield was then seen inviting her to boast about her criticism of President Trump:
And what do you suppose the nation and town discovered about you? As a result of, as you simply talked about, it did not take lengthy earlier than you had been acknowledged not simply as a pacesetter of a municipality, however you turned a nation’s chief, too. And let’s discuss, you realize, significantly, through the Trump administration, he singled you out on a number of events. He singled out cities on a number of events — whether or not it was about immigration — you took a stand, saying you refuse to deal with U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement detainees.
After displaying a clip of Mayor Bottoms from 2018 complaining concerning the Trump administration separating unlawful immigrant households on the border, Whitfield posed: “And also you additionally stood as much as the President when he referred to as Atlanta ‘crime infested,’ as if termites or rodents had infested town. How did you try this?”
Bottoms responded by bragging that she had confronted a “bully” by talking out in opposition to the Republican President:
Properly, I hope that what America noticed is that I am quite a bit more durable than look. Quite a lot of occasions, we decide individuals primarily based on what we see — what we expect we learn about them. However for leaders throughout this nation, we needed to lead within the absence of management with Donald Trump, and for somebody to come back for Atlanta and to disparage Atlanta and the management and the individuals of Atlanta in the way in which that he did a variety of cities and a variety of international locations — a variety of leaders throughout the nation — it wasn’t tough for me to confront that. And that is what you do when you find yourself confronted with a bully. You confront the bully, and sometimes occasions, the bully will stand down.
In one other a part of the interview that was performed a few hours later, Whitfield introduced up the police capturing of Brooks, and, with out divulging a lot element, asking her Democratic visitor if she needs she had completed something otherwise.
As Bottoms declared that she did one of the best she might beneath the circumstances, a clip of her was proven recalling that the police chief had resigned over the incident through which she additionally referred to as for the police officer, Garrett Rolfe, who fired the lethal shot be fired.
It was not talked about that, after his firing, Rolfe’s employment was reinstated, and he sued the mayor for wrongful termination. Mayor Bottoms had even prejudged the officer’s actions by claiming in the aftermath that it was a “homicide.” (She equally rushed to judgment in opposition to a few cops who confronted and tased two school college students a few weeks earlier throughout violent protests.)
Viewers had been additionally not knowledgeable that the variety of homicides per yr within the metropolis rose from 80 in 2017 (the yr earlier than Bottoms took workplace) to 157 in 2020, and more than 150 so far in 2021.
CNN permitting a failed Democratic politician to revise her report was sponsored partially by Walmart. Their contact info is linked.
Transcript is as follows. Click on “increase” to learn extra.
CNN Newsroom with Fredericka Whitfield
December 18, 2021
11:18 a.m. JapaneseFREDRICKA WHITFIELD: It additionally implies that your management was examined. What do you suppose your management function teaches you about — or has taught you about your self?
MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS: (D-ATLANTA): That I am resilient. Similar to our metropolis is resilient, identical to our nation is resilient. And there are moments when you do not script, however inside you and inside all of us, I feel it is actually the power and the braveness to face these moments. And I heard Maya Angelou say, “I did then what I knew to do, and when you realize higher, you do higher.” And that is what the final 4 years have been about. Cannot say it is all the time been good management, however no matter has come our approach — come my approach, I’ve completed one of the best that I might within the second, and — and I’ve discovered that I’m deliberate and afraid of nothing, as Audrey Lord stated.
WHITFIELD: And what do you suppose the nation and town discovered about you? As a result of, as you simply talked about, it did not take lengthy earlier than you had been acknowledged not simply as a pacesetter of a municipality, however you turned a nation’s chief, too. And let’s discuss, you realize, significantly, through the Trump administration, I imply, he singled you out on a number of events. He singled out cities on a number of events — whether or not it was about immigration — you took a stand, saying you refuse to deal with U.S. Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement detainees.
BOTTOMS (dated June 21, 2018): As a rustic, we’re higher than this. We’re higher than separating households.
WHITFIELD: And also you additionally stood as much as the President when he referred to as Atlanta “crime infested,” as if termites or rodents had infested town. How did you try this?
BOTTOMS: Properly, I — I hope that what America noticed is that I am quite a bit more durable than I look. Quite a lot of occasions, we decide individuals primarily based on what we see — what we expect we learn about them. However for leaders throughout this nation, we needed to lead within the absence of management with Donald Trump, and for somebody to come back for Atlanta and to disparage Atlanta and the management and the individuals of Atlanta in the way in which that he did a variety of cities and a variety of international locations — a variety of leaders throughout the nation — it wasn’t tough for me to confront that. And that is what you do when you find yourself confronted with a bully. You confront the bully, and sometimes occasions, the bully will stand down.
WHITFIELD: What guided you thru that?
BOTTOMS: I feel it’s a deep-seated braveness that is most likely been part of who I’m for my complete life. Rising up — having the advantage of rising up in Atlanta as a baby, an African American little one. You see leaders who appear to be you. And also you see people who find themselves doing extraordinary issues. So, it by no means occurred to me that I could not be brave or that I could not do one thing extraordinary. As a result of there are all the time examples round me, from my lecturers to my grandparents, and my mother and father, to the mayor and the individuals you noticed on tv. They had been part of our neighborhood. And that is the great thing about rising up in a metropolis like Atlanta. And I am so glad that in the identical approach as a baby that I used to be capable of emulate that illustration that Atlanta nonetheless represents that magic to individuals throughout the nation.
WHITFIELD: You’re the daughter of R&B icon Main Lance and your mother, who’s a hair stylist and hair salon proprietor, Sylvia Robinson. It was actually in your DNA, proper, to be outspoken, to be ready. How a lot do you are feeling such as you had been drawing upon the spirit of your mother and father? As you had been enduring a lot. I like to, you realize, pay homage to our mother and father as a result of we’re all of the byproduct of their greatness, proper.
BOTTOMS: Sure.
WHITFIELD: So, within the case of your mother and father, how do you are feeling such as you drew some inspiration from them to deal with these items?
BOTTOMS: What I noticed with my mom and what I noticed with the ladies who had been coming to her hair salon had been simply ladies who confronted on a regular basis challenges however they nonetheless made positive that on the surface they appeared good. And that they went out and so they did the perfect that they might do for his or her households and their communities. And with my dad, in moments that had been extraordinarily robust, I might take into consideration what he would say to me. In your worst day, you look within the mirror and also you pull it collectively and also you by no means allow them to see you sweat. And that always has been what I’ve needed to take with me in management. In moments of disaster, when town and persons are searching for management, having the ability to stand in entrance of them with confidence and say we do not know what we do not know, however that is our plan and that is how we’ll get by it collectively. So my mother and father — my mom remains to be with me fortunately. And my dad’s spirit is all the time with me. And their illustration and simply their perception within the potentialities of our metropolis is — I really consider it’s the cause I can function mayor.
