The mayor of Baltimore and the governor of Maryland both walked off an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon after he questioned whether officials were quick enough to react to violence in Baltimore in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray.
Lemon began the interview by asking the two officials why Maryland did not activate a state of emergency until Monday when the order was ready on Saturday, according to a clip highlighted by Mediaite.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) explained that the state prepared the order ahead of time, and that he signed the order when Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake asked for the state’s help.
Lemon then turned to the mayor, asking why she took to long to ask for back-up.
“We have to respond to what was going on on the ground. We’ve seen what happened when other jurisdictions have overreacted and brought in resources that escalated the violence on the street, and I didn’t want that to happen in Baltimore,” Rawlings-Blake responded. “When we saw the breakout violence in the small groups, we realized that it was time to bring in additional resources.”
Lemon asked twice more why Maryland did not declare a state of emergency sooner.
Rawlings-Blake said that she did not want Baltimore to become a “military state” and wanted to facilitate free speech for peaceful protesters.
After a 10-minute long interview with Lemon, the two officials left the interview as Lemon asked about curfews.
“How are you going to enforce a curfew tomorrow…” Lemon began to ask.
“I think we’re going to have to go,” Hogan said as he and Rawlings-Blake began to walk away.
“How are you going to enforce a curfew tomorrow when kids are out of school and they’ve said that many of the young people are the people who are doing this?” Lemon asked as the officials removed their microphones.
After Hogan and Rawlings-Blake left, Lemon told viewers that the two officials were “touchy when it comes to the situation, feeling that they have answered all of the questions.”
Watch the interview below via YouTube. Hogan and Rawlings-Blake leave around the 10:30 mark.
