Just as it appeared smooth sailing for Republican conventioneers, protests have erupted outside the convention hall. NJTV News Correspondent David Cruz is at the scene. He spoke with Anchor Mary Alice Williams.
Williams: David, what’s going on out there?
Cruz: Mary Alice, good evening. We are in the area of Prospect and Fourth. To give you an idea of where we are, the Q, which is the main arena where all the events are taking place, is right behind me. The edge of the so-called Green Zone is just to my left over here. We are on Prospect, as I said, and police have arrested a handful of demonstrators. They’re just taking them, most of them right now into the police van. We’re relying on reports from the Cleveland Police Department Twitter feed and scanner radios that we’ve been monitoring. According to that, there was a dispersal order issued within the past hour and people in this area were asked to disperse. As you can see, there are a lot of us here. The street is mostly clear because the police are arresting folks, maybe a dozen or so demonstrators being taken into a van right now. To give you some perspective, there are probably 10 times as many people watching this and another 10 times media photographing all of this and all along here there are a bunch of restaurants and so on. And we saw people having lunch as if nothing was going on. So while this is a loud demonstration and it’s attracted a lot of attention, it seems to be pretty much under control right now, but the Cleveland Police Department did report that two police officers were assaulted and that their injuries were minor and that 10 people were arrested so far. I would imagine that that number is probably going to go up. But as far as this area right now, it’s crowded but it seems to be under control, Mary Alice. As you know there is a massive police presence here and while we were monitoring the scanner, we heard a lot of deployment activity, but right here, everything pretty much under control.
Williams: David, it was a busy day not on the convention stage. This morning, what happened?
Cruz: Indeed. Chris Christie of course, you’ll hear from Michael Aron later on, talking about Chris Christie’s speech at the convention last night, this morning Christie was making the rounds as if this were New Hampshire again — appearance after appearance. We caught up with him this morning at an appearance where there was a discussion about security. Let’s take a look:
“In New Jersey when we say ‘with all due respect’ that’s basically like ‘screw you!'”
On the morning after his prime time convention speech, Chris Christie was loose and in high spirits, a throwback to the guy who — not that long ago — was though of as a potential front-runner. Taking part in a panel discussion on security issues, Christie was at ease talking about China, Russia, ISIS, Israel and more, but audience members wanted to know about some of the more pressing issues, like how the Trump campaign handled the controversy over Melania Trump’s speech.
“I spoke to Donald a little bit last night but we didn’t get into this topic but I’m going to see him later today and I’m sure we will and we’ll talk, based on our relationship, as friends and as husbands. And I will tell you, it would make me enormously uncomfortable if a member of my staff had done that to my wife,” Christie said.
The governor says within a few days the controversy over Melania’s speech will have disappeared into the ether. On the other hand, coming off his prime time prosecution of Hillary Clinton, the governor was asked again about FBI Director James Comey’s decision to bring no charges against Clinton for her use of a private server while she was secretary of state.
“When I ultimately sit with my friend Jim Comey after all this stuff is over and the political season is done and we have lunch somewhere, quietly, privately, I’ll say to him, ‘You just blew it; you made a mistake; you tried to be too much at one time.’ So I think people that say that somehow he was in the tank for the Clintons, I don’t believe that. I know Jim Comey too well to know that. But it doesn’t mean because you’re ethical, you have great integrity and you’re smart, it doesn’t mean you’re foolproof,” Christie said.
Christie has said all along that he’s not a surrogate for Donald Trump. He’s just a guy who gave a speech at the convention — and, by the way, will have a major role to play in picking a Trump cabinet if there is one. As for the convention? So far so good he says, but, “I’m not ready to give a final verdict on that yet. Let’s see how folks react tonight to Gov. Pence. Let’s see how folks react tomorrow night to Donald and what’s the feeling when we walk out. I think we’ve made good progress the last two days of allowing people to vent some of their frustrations and feelings, which is part of the process to do and then, on the flip side, to use it as a unifying moment as well.”
Cruz: So back on Prospect you can see it’s pretty well quieted down here, Mary Alice. We’re going to be expected to go back into the Q to see what’s happening tonight.
Williams: What is coming up tonight?
Cruz: Well, Mary Alice, of course this is the night when Gov. Pence will make his speech to the floor. Newt Gingrich also expected to speak, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz and we probably will hear again from Donald Trump. What Chris Christie’s going to be doing? That’s a good question. He will probably be there and on the floor and maybe at the end of the day everybody will go up on stage in a big show of unity. So we’ll check it out and let you know tomorrow.
Williams: OK, thank you David.