it's the top of the hour. i'm brianna keilar. we begin with what could be a pivotal moment in the george floyd death investigation. we're awaiting right now an imminent announcement from the minnesota attorney general keith ellison who says he has made a decision about whether or not to charge the other officers in the death of george floyd. so these officers who have since been fired on the video.

it's graphic but it's important to understand what happened to george floyd. you see that officer and two other officers aside from derek chauvin, the one there with his knee on george floyd's neck. he's already been charged, right, he's already been charged with third-degree murder. so they don't intervene as floyd repeatedly tells them, he can't breathe. over the course of several minutes, 8 minutes. in minneapolis last hour, the family of george floyd and attorney ben crump visited the site of george floyd's final moments. floyd's son calling for justice. >> every night with my family, my father. no man or woman should be without their father. we expect all of the police officers to be arrested before

we have the memorial in minneapolis, minnesota, tomorrow. because we cannot have two justice systems in america. one for black america, and one for white america. we must have equal justice for the united states of america. and change is going to come in the tragic killing of george floyd and i proclaim with his son as my witness, that change starts today. >> let's go to our correspondents who are in the field.

omar jimenez and josh campbell. keith ellison, a six term lawmaker. represented the minneapolis in congress. do you think the community is more willing to accept the decision, whatever he makes, or do you think, no, they expect these officers to be held accountable? >> reporter: brianna, i think a lot of that comes down to what that decision is. law enforcement sources tell me that the attorney general's office after reviewing the evidence in this investigation has found a conclusion regarding the four officers that were involved in that incident, after the encounter on george floyd, derek chauvin was charged with third-degree murder. the question, what would happen if anything to the other three officers that were seen on video footage at the time of that encounter in and around that incident? and i can tell you after talking to many protesters, we've been

out here covering this story around the clock, many folks tell us they respect attorney general keith ellison, they were confident in his ability to review the evidence. one thing that's been so interesting is a question, well, what is taking so long? i talked to sources here in law enforcement who say they were doing a methodical investigation. they wanted to take it slowly, review every single piece of evidence, one person telling me they only get one shot at this, to do it right. they want to make sure they did a thorough job. the question will be, we know the decision has been made, they reviewed the evidence. the question is, what is that decision as it relates to the three officers and then obviously, derek chauvin as well, that is yet to be seen. and obviously, we'll await that reaction from the community. they're confident the protesters we've talked to in this thorough review. again, yet to be seen what that decision is and what that reaction will be but we'll hear this afternoon after the attorney general speaks, bree ya yana. >> omar, you've spoken with so

many people in minneapolis. we heard over and over again, if these were three people not police officers and they witnessed someone, they just stood by, feet away doing nothing for minutes and minutes and they witnessed third degree murder, they would be held accountable. so why aren't these police officers being held accountable? >> reporter: you don't have to look too far in history, it has been incredibly difficult to prosecute a police officer successfully and that's part of why there's still skepticism and all of them will be convicted. that's just what we hear at ground zero for the george floyd center. final moments playing out in an intersection behind me and a little bit earlier this afternoon, some of the family and family attorney stood by at that exact location, speaking about the moment rksz about what

they want to see happen, making bold predictions as well, the family attorney crump fully expects these officers to be charged as accomplices with george floyd but my colleague reported, we are still waiting to hear the decision on whether we'll see charges against the other officers likely later this afternoon. >> omar, i know you had a chance to talk with the governor of minnesota. he addressed your arrest early this week, people all over the country and even the world saw. tell us a little bit about what he said to you. >> reporter: well, brianna the governor was visiting this site for the first time since this happened. he said he needed to be here to feel the emotion that has been so painful for so many people in this minneapolis community and i was doing a report just like this, and he literally walked just behind me here and he came up to me, he sincerely apologized for what had happened and as i understand, we have a

little bit of that interaction here for you to listen. >> thank you for the professionalism, thank you for understanding and the people are sorry, you can know that we've made other mistakes on this as far as making sure you have access, but protocols and everything else we're learning have to change because we have to create the space for you to tell the story. >> of course. one thing i want to ask, did you get a chance to look at the memorial? how does it feel to be at this site that has drawn attention to your state for all the wrong reasons? >> it's very personal. we want to try to get down here early, i'll just say that, because i very much worry about white politicians appropriating black pain and that's certainly not -- but for me, i think i have to personally and viscerally feel this. it's unfortunate i've become friends with mothers only because their sons were killed, and that's what the catalyst for us becoming friends but that personal and feel the community down here and the pain and

trying to understand, i'm part of the community, that responsibility. it's very mixed emotions, very hard. watching the gentleman, just the sense of compassion and humanity he had for everyone involved in this, all the lives that are destroyed. so i think the biggest thing, i don't think we get another chance to fix this in the country. i really don't. i don't think that's hyperbole. seeing the community's pain so viscerally, this is going to have to be the change we look for. again, i'm deeply sorry that happened. i appreciate you being back out here again covering. >> reporter: i appreciate your help in all of this and i know it's been tough. >> thank you. >> reporter: you heard the apology but more importantly, he talked about the stakes of the moment that we are in right now here, not just in minneapolis, and not just in his state, but across the country as well in

his words, i don't think we have enough chance to get this right. and we'll see the manifestation of what happens there again play out a little bit later this afternoon. brian brianna? >> omaomar, thank you for bring that for us from minneapolis. stand by, if you can. i want to discuss this now. joined by cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin and mark claxton. let's talk about what we are expecting here. it seems like any minute, we could be getting this news about the three other officers and since derek chauvin, the one we see with the role of putting his knee in the neck of george floyd, ever since he was charged and arrested on friday, there's been this question. what happens to the three others who just stood by and either restrained him at some point or did nothing? jeffrey, can keith ellison elevate the charges against

officer chauvin and is that at all part of what you expect here? do you think we'll see something about these three other officers? >> i'm loathe to do predictions. based on what i have seen, the third-degree murder charge against chauvin does seem like the appropriate charge. people shouldn't get the impression that third-degree murder is some sort of slap on the wrist. this is a 25 year count. first-degree murder, which people have discussed, involves premeditation, involves murders by people like hit men who go out in the morning to kill somebody in the afternoon. that does not seem to fit the facts here. as for the other three officers, you know, there's been a lot of discussion about, can you charge someone who did nothing but watch? that might be an interesting theoretical question but based on the video i've seen, that's not what happened here. those three officers were part

of holding him down, while he was being choked to death. so it certainly seems like there are a range of charges that could be brought against the three officers. some sort of assault, perhaps even some sort of homicide count, but this is not simply a case, as far as i can tell, about standing by and doing nothing. it's about participating in a crime, according to prosecutors, that resulted in the death of a human being. >> you know, mark, as we await this news, to jeffre's point, some people wanted first-degree murder because it is worse than third-degree murder and they feel like this is horrible. it seems sometimes the legal definition of things can be unsatisfying, right? and i wonder, if depending on what we see here, when it comes to the three other officers, what you think people who are calling for the importance of

this justice, what you think they're going to want to see and whether you're expecting that this could potentially fall short, and i guess maybe how you personally see this. >> i think what people are expecting and the protesters for example and other organizations are demanding is complete justice, a holistic justice. that means arrests of all individuals involved, not just one, not just two, but all four individuals who were in some way contributed to the death of mr. floyd. i think that's the hope, the wish, the desire. however, i think people are realistic about it. you still have some that will be cautiously optimist ic but another segment unfamiliarly uneasy, just based on the history and the trajectory of these cases, historically and the trajectory of this

particular case. when you see there's some trepidation and some delay in the application of justice, and by that, i mean, arresting the individuals involved, then you become uneasy about how this will proceed moving forward. it's already unusual insofar as prosecutors are concerned, established probable cause -- >> mark, i want you to react. we have breaking news right in here. this is, i believe this was a tweet from senator amy klobuchar of minnesota, is that correct? she says that attorney general, minnesota attorney general keith ellison is increasing charges against derek chauvin to second degree in george floyd's murder and also charging the other three officers. she said this is another

important step for justice. en -- mark, i wonder what you think. before it was mark freeman and hennepin county prosecutor. he said charges could be increased but a lot of people listened to that and said, is that an empty promise that he's kind of using to cover himself as some people are going to be dissatisfied with this third-degree murder charge and this appears to be elevated. i wonder, mark, what you think about this news? >> well, i'm sure there will be people who will be increasingly pleased with the upgrade of charges themselves, even if they don't have a full understanding about the penalty for each of the offenses and i'm sure that the attorney general will include some lesser charges in that as well, but once again, let's be mindful. it is not only about the arrest of one individual. it's not only about the charges

for one individual. it is about the complete and holistic justice applied to each of those who are involved in the death of mr. floyd. >> jeffrey, explain this to us. what does it appear we're going to be seeing here? >> well, again, i'd be careful too much about reading into a single tweet but second-degree murd murder, all these counts, what's complicated is they vary state by state in terms of what they mean. the second-degree murder requires a greater degree of planning, of aggravation, of menace than third degree murder did. prosecutors have to prove a greater degree of bad intent on the part of the defendant, so, and frankly, i have to look up. i don't have this on the top of

my head, whether the penalties are greater than the maximum of 25 years that was required, that was the maximum under third-degree murder, but it's likely there is enhanced potential penalties. it's somewhat more difficult for the prosecutors to charge, i mean, to prove in court if this case goes to trial and as for the three other defendants, i think we just really need to see, the three other police officers, we need to see what the charges actually are before we evaluate whether they're adequate or whether the prosecution can prove them. i think senator klobuchar's tweet just doesn't have enough information to evaluate that. >> okay, so i don't mean to pop quiz you while you don't have the statute in front of you but if you could speak, as you mentioned this idea though of, you know, it's a higher threshold for a second degree murder charge in order to get a

conviction, so if you can, maybe shed some light on sort of what that would mean. i mean, we've learned some things about derek chauvin, right, we've learned about how he, for instance, in his job doing private security at a club, that he had a very different approach dealing with a, say, even, hispanic club goers than african-american club goers. >> right. well, let me just say that, you know, one of the great challenges of the legal system always is how do you prove intent? how do you prove what's in someone's head? and the way you do that is with evidence and, you know, we think we know everything about this crime, but we don't. for example, prosecutors will certainly want to know, what did derek chauvin say during this whole process? we know some of that from the cell phone videos that have come out. the fact that there were people

saying to him, let him go, he's dying, but for example, what did derek chauvin say to the two other people who were in the car with mr. george? i mean, all of this will go into the mix of how you prove, you know, whether this was simply, as the defense might argue, an accident, an excessive use of force, or was this something really sinister, and that all goes to the question of intent. the fact that his hand was in his pocket the whole time. the fact he was so casual about that, that relates to the question of intent, all of that will need to be presented to a jury, again, if this case goes to trial, on the question of what his intent was with regard to mr. george and that will go

into the juror's determination of what level of criminality is involved here. second-degree murder, third-degree murder, manslaughter or not guilty at all. >> and i want to bring into the conversation now laura coates to talk about this. laura, i think it was you who mentioned before this idea that derek chauvin did not appear like someone who felt like he was under threat, right? because he had a hand, i think it was you, we were talking a few days ago, he had his hand in his pocket, he did not appear to be threatened by george floyd, but what is your reaction to this news, second-degree murder up from third degree? >> well, first, it seemed his hands were in his pocket with the black gloves, not appearing to be warranting the use of

lethal force. how much force can you use? only the amount needed to repel the force or nothing more to subdue. for the medical records in the video, he was not responsive for over two minutes, if there ever was to restrain him in this fashion. but actually, the second-degree murder charge makes sense to the third-degree murder, recirculated by jeffrey toobin by intent but also, primarily because in minnesota, there is a nuance to the law. a the practice of law has been this. off second-degree murder charge that says you unintentionally killed somebody, although you acted in disregard that there was a foreseeable risk that somebody could be killed. that's not always easy to reconcile those two things. you didn't intend to do it but you knew a risk and disregarded it. it feels different to people. so what minnesota says is, look, that may be true, second-degree

murder, we're talking about driving down the wrong side of a highway, brianna, shooting a bullet into a crowd of people, god forbid, that may be a more realistic aspect of you didn't intend to kill a particular person but you knew your actions would lead to someone being harmed, if not killed. so minnesota says, you can't use third-degree murder in that sort of unintentional depraved heart when you're focusing your energy towards a single person. the supreme court, i believe, weighed in on this issue. many lawyers are questions about this in minnesota, how it could be a relevant charge because it's so clear in the case law. because it was unsubjeone subje a crowded highway, it was one person, mr. george floyd, it would not have been able to stand to have that third-degree murder charge, and one final point here, brianna, the hennepin county attorney was talking last week about this case and he was mentioning

mohammed nor, the somali american police officer who killed a white australia woman who called 9-1-1 to respond to an alleged sexual assault in her alley way. he said, look, i've charged the same conduct here. i was able to secure a conviction, 12.5 years of an officer involved shooting. that was distinct and people had a different thought because shooting into the night versus focusing on a particular person and the officer was acquitted of second-degree murder charge and instead, was convicted of third-degree murder charge. here all these things are at play with keith ellison to say, look, i'm taking a fresh look at these charges, brand-new look. keep in mind, there's a case law that says, third-degree murder, unintentional depraved heart. only one person at risk of being hurt. that can't stand. >> you said you're barred in minnesota? >> i am. in law school, yeah, it's

important. >> no, it's so important, especially when we look at the statutes and they're different in different states, it's helpful. i want to bring in josh campbell to the conversation here with laura coates. what's your reaction here? amy klobuchar put out on twitter, the charge for derek chauvin going from third-degree murder to second degree. >> reporter: we're waiting to hear from state officials that that is the case but members of congress often briefed on certain investigations, certain things that happen in their area, so it's not unusual that the senator might get some piece of information like that. we're here in st. paul near the capital where we expect to hear from the attorney general this afternoon. now, what we reported earlier in talking to law enforcement sources is that there was a major development, that after reviewing all of the evidence in

the investigation of those four officers that were involved in that incident, that resulted in the death of george floyd, that the attorney general's office was now ready to render a decision, and we were told by our sources that would be happening this afternoon. again, no official confirmation. we know based on senator klobuchar's tweet she's saying one of the officers, derek chauvin, who had already been arrested and charged with third-degree murder, the senator saying that the charge will be elevated to second-degree murder and said the other three officers will also be charged and see if there's additional justice, up to prosecutors. either weigh that and say, no, there are insufficient charges here or there are. we're now reaching the milestone where we wait for officials and again, we know that the decision has been made, we're waiting to

hear what that decision is. >> this is huge. we just learned from senator amy klobuchar in a tweet that derek chauvin, the minneapolis police officer who had already been arrested and charged for third-degree murder on friday which carries a sentence up to 25 years in prison, it's going to be increased from third degree to second degree charges. the state of mind that led to the increase and learned three others are going to be charged. so this is a fwbig development, something george floyd's family called for. they wanted to see the three other officers charged before

they hold a memorial service for george floyd and appears that's what's going to be happening. we await this press conference there in minnesota. what's your reaction? >> it's the first thing that would make sense, up until now, nothing made sense at anybody looking at this situation. how can you have officers standing around even helping, aiding and abetting in what everybody there was saying, you are killing this man. you have to get a ph.d. in science or biology, be a doctor. normal people were screaming, you're killing him. and he's telling you, you're killing me, i can't breathe and the officers do nothing.

the idea that these guys are able to go home, watch netflix and spend their lives, never facing a judge or jury or prosecutor so the idea that now, i'm able to at least get a lawyer, explain themselves, go through the same process. it's the first sign something would happen that makes sense. the first little drop of justice. you need a river of justice to get us where we need to go but first sign. i was sitting here prepared for keith ellison to walk out and say, i looked at the law and i'm sorry. i can only charge one or two or three. i was prepared to say i love this brother, knew he was going to be super ethical about it but he's wrong.

if keith ellison comes out to say all four to be charged, no one should criticize that. one of the most ethical people. a billion people marching outside the door, telling him to do something. saying all four face justice, i guarantee you, it's ethical, legal, it's right. politically, it gives us the opportunity to now get around the same table with this thorn out of our eyeball of seeing this horrific murder and nothing serious being done and now let's come together, let's pass some legislation and keep this from happening again. but you cannot understate to have a qualified attorney general review this stuff and come forward and say, you are, you can believe your eyes. what you saw was a crime. you can believe your eyes,

america. what you saw was criminal. that is a massive development. it has not happened until now. >> van, i want to bring laura coates back into this discussion. laura, the upgrading of chauvin's charge is huge, and then you have these, what we sort of don't understand at this time, the three other officers who are going to be charged, what is that going to look like if you can reset that as we are awaiting this announcement from the attorney general there in minnesota. what could these charges be? >> of course. there's an umbrella of law called accomplice liability. which essentially says, if you have acted with the person, if you have participated in a crime, if you conspired or planned in some way, if you've counselled, advised, encouraged in any way this crime, guess what? you're going to be held liable to the same degree to the person who actually pulled the trigger. knelt on a neck.

added the compression, the idea of be careful who your friends are because you'll be held account the same as them. that's the theory of accomplice liability. the one way to avoid accomplice liability, even if you're engaged in this behavior, if you have advise order encouraged let alone participated either actively or passively, as in, not allowing people to help or aid in some way, if you have made some effort, brianna, to try to stop it, try to prevent it, to try to do the opposite of what you've done, there can be some relief in terms of accomplice liability. here what we're seeing and i go back to the press conference, calling additional witnesses to go forward and bring more information. they were likely trying to establish what happened to the officers who we did not see on. was there, according to benjamin crump speaking at the rally before your program began saying there were officers present who

were threatening to mace people who tried to render aid or interfere in some way. well, that looks less like somebody who, if that's true, somebody who is trying to stop somebody from doing the wrong thing. or tracked their encouragement and make them liable. when you have multiple defendants, the idea of one flipping on the other. although being charged and could be as an accomplice, is in a cooperation type of role with the prosecution to provide as much evidence as possible, and to their benefit. that might be part of the reason for their delay and the consideration for what to charge, it might be consideration for the arrest. we have to wait and see.

i thought it might be part of the issue here. these officers would certainly have some, they spent time with derek chauvin. they might have a lot more information than even folks in the car with george floyd would have. so when do you think we'll find out if that came into play and what do you think the likelihood is that could have contributed here? >> i think it's absolutely likely that they have further evidence about the state of mind of officer chauvin and about whether there were text communications, there there is any conversations that have been had that would form the basis to support what the intent of officer chauvin was. remember, second-degree murder in minnesota does require some level of intent, how do you create that? how do you have support for that? you often have it from learning about the state of mind for conversations, perhaps through earlier conversations, whether there was some racial an mouse,

might be, describe or talk about, whether this is a pattern of behavior of this particular officer, whether it was one off or the anticipation that he actually was going to kill this man. all that will come into play about what the other officers could provide for people. but let's not forget, in terms of wondering whether they have some sort of a potential plea in the future, we're talking right now, simply about normally an arrest or an arraignment or initial charges. there will be plenty of time from now until any trial date that may be set to negotiate, if any, plea and discussions and which role each officer may play as a witness, defendant, co-defendant or otherwise. >> laura, thank you. if you and everyone else can stand by for me. we have a number of experts on hand because we await some very business news here. a press conference out of minnesota with the state attorney general just to reset, as we've all been watching some of these live pictures in minneapolis as protesters are

there being heard, putting their message out. news has broken, on friday that the hennepin county prosecutor announced that derek chauvin, the police officer who had his knee on the neck of george floyd, that he had been arrested, and he had been charged with third-degree murder among other charges, third-degree murder carrying a possible sentence of 25 years, well, since then, this case has gone to the state attorney general keith ellison and we just learned from senator amy klobuchar that chauvin is now going to be charged with second-degree murder. going from third degree up from second-degree murder. what does that mean? we wait this news conference. we've also learned that three others according to klobuchar, three other officers are going to be charged as well. we wait this news conference as soon as it begins. any moment, we'll bring that to you. these pictures that you're seeing here on the right side of your screen, these live pictures

are outside of cub foods and the owner of that store whose clerk initially contacted police about george floyd now says he will never call the police about such matters again. he wrote on facebook, we realize now that escalating situations to the police almost always does more harm than good, by simply following procedure, we are putting our communities in danger. cub foods co-owner mahmoud miley joins me now with media relations spokesman jah mar nelson. mike, i'm sorry if i totally butchered your name there. i really appreciate you joining us and coming on. this is an important perspective to hear from you. i want to get sort of before i get your reaction to this news that all the officers will be charged, tell me about why you felt this was so important to put this message out there?

>> we came to the conclusion that led to the best entrance of the staff, the authorities should not be called and police into their own matters. >> what does that say that you feel that you can't trust the police unless you're talking about someone being physically threatened or injured? >> i do trust some of the police officers in our city because i deal with them firsthand and i have a good relationship with them. we're talking about the four officers that were involved in the tragedy that have yet to take accountability to what took place. >> okay. and so as you learn now that they've been charged, or going to be charged, so we're waiting right now for a news conference to come from the state attorney general, but we have just learned a new extraordinary development that derek chauvin

is going to see that third-degree murder charge be increased in severity to a second-degree murder charge. this is a big development. he's facing a bigger charge, potentially a bigger penalty. do you have a reaction to that? >> i'm not going to comment on that. i'll let jamar speak on that. >> justice has to be served. so we thought automatically from the beginning, how he didn't get charged from second-degree murder was unfathomable, and now the attorney general, it goes a long way. the expeditious firing spoke a lot but what has to be taken into account, the fact when black and brown men come into contact with officers, at the hands of the mpd, that's just

crazy to think about. rendered unconscious, what this officer did to floyd or others. we have to make sure that we keep the balance, plenty of george floyds, some probably last night. the fact we bring justice to the floyd family. >> mike, can you tell us, so the clerk in your store who contacted police, which, as you've talked about is standard procedure about suspicious or possibly counterfeit bills, clearly, this is not what that clerk expected would happen, can you speak to the thoughts of that clerk at this point in

time? now that we see what ended up developing from this call? >> very seldom times at our business when myself or the owners aren't there, when the tragedy took place, unfortunately, wasn't one of us there, and he thought there was a need to call the authorities and that in itself should not have equated to the death and tragedy of george floyd and that's where the issue at hand lies because the authorities are called on any incident for that matter, it should never equate into a death sentence. >> brianna, when officers go above and beyond what they do, which is what they do quite frequently to black men, that's when it's escalated and when you have these matters that happen. i don't mean to be insensitive but as a black man that know too many other black men that had bad encounters with officers,

it's almost become the new norm. become an enlightenment, and hopefully now, bringing the cycle to what is going on with police brutality in this country. >> i think to both of you, that when i ask the question about the clerk, it's because i think there's a conversation going on in the country now about the unintended consequences of actions. we didn't just in minneapolis but in central park, someone call on a place to the police saying that an african-american bird watcher was threatening her and she appeared to be completely oblivious to the fact that she could have been signing someone's death warrant. so i think there's a wave of understanding of what it means to have the police called on

you, if you are a black man versus a white woman. i was wondering with that realization now, is there anything, mahmoud, you can add to that? i can't imagine how they feel. >> i feel horrible. and social media, unfortunately, brought it to where it's at. never felt there was going to be a threat to his life. and look, i think that the thing about what's missing is, again, it's, where the call imnated fr from, mr. floyd and the police officer, number one, he should have survived that encounter, and the fact he didn't, again, only heightens the problems that black males go through in this country. as you just alluded to, brianna. when a white person thinks and knows they can call the police on a black man knowing that he

probably get jailed for whatever he or she says, that's a problem. that's a problem we are dealing with and there needs to be real anonymous dialogue about that in this country that black folks don't have to be doing anything to be harassed, just driving while black is almost a crime. we've got to deal with legislation that deals with officers that take the law, go above and beyond when they're dealing with black males. i don't suggest every officer lives in the community in which they police but if you don't the people you're policing, this is what often happens. black men usually end up suffering and not knowing the constituents they're serving. >> i would know and respect to be treated like you want to be treated, like human beings. your store offered to play for george floyd's funeral. have you met or spoken with the

family? we've seen a lot of family members come down to the spot where he died in some very powerful moments. have you spoken to any of them. >> on friday, he had a bunch of family come down from houston that we met, brought inside our establishment and met them and spoke with them and had a private briefing with them of what took place. we took pictures in front of the memorial. met his son today, in front of our establishment and we're expecting to meet a few other relatives this week. >> brianna, that's what's great. the daily memorials in front of our store. that's beautiful. that shows you the kindness that comes from things like this. we welcome that, that's beautiful. we continue to celebrate his life not just today and tomorrow, throughout the -- and other men like them, we continue to save their names, all these

individuals that lost their lives at police brutality or some type of -- being black, continue to celebrate their name and their lives. >> we will too, jamar, mahmoud, thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate that. i want to bring back in now, charles ramsey, our cnn law enforcement analyst. jeffrey toobin with us. laura coates. mark claxton. we have this news, charles, according to a tweet from minnesota senator amy klobuchar, derek chauvin is now facing a second-degree murder charge up from third degree and three other officers are going to be charged. what's your reaction here? >> well, i hope it's true. they should be charged. i was listening to laura coates and she brought up the fact that it's very possible, one or more of the other officers may have been providing additional

evidence on chauvin and that's entirely possible, stronger charge, i don't know. but they should all be charged whether or not of they cooperated or not, but a strong message needs to be sent. it's the right thing. their behavior was criminal, no question about that. and that ought to be the message. held accountable. if you commit an act like that or stand by and watch it happen. this isn't something that happened in a matter of seconds. which sometimes, and it wasn't like that in this case. it was a long drawn out process that took place and nobody stepped in. that's just totally wrong and criminal. >> one of these officers could have seen this go on for some time, even this went on for

several minutes and they could have, at a certain point, said, okay, no. i'm going to step in here but i think one of the issues that i think the reason we've heard so many people say this that the killing of george floyd has just, i think, encapsulated so much about how americans feel the injustice of black men dying, unarmed black men dying at the hands of police that even given no split second decision, minutes and minutes to act, he was still killed. the other officers being held to account, we don't know what the charges will be. but what do you think it does going forward for other officers, and not in the same situation but some similar situation, where they might, does this arm other officers to

intervene? >> most departments have a policy or in their policy a duty to intervene. but maybe use of force, maybe some other conduct. you have a right and an obligation to intervene. and if anything else, this should send a very strong message. should be on the minds of every single police officer. what happened there, i can't even describe it almost three minutes after one of the officers said, hey, this guy is not moving.

i mean, at what point in time do you run out of excuses and say, you know, this is not right. let's stop it. i don't get it. >> i just want to reset for our viewers, charles, what we're waiting. there's an imminent announcement, we're on borrowed time here. we were expecting to happen sooner, with officials from the state of minnesota, in particular, the attorney general there, keith ellison. he took over this case from the hennepin county. the prosecutor, to put in frank terms, did not have the confidence of the black community in minneapolis that he was doing the right thing and that he was going to bring justice, that they think is very much deserved. of derek chauvin who you'll recognize as the police officer

who had his knee in the neck oaf george floyd. he had been, we learned friday, the hennepin county prosecutor, he was facing third-degree murder. our legal analysts telling us because it's third degree, maybe it doesn't sound so bad to you but actually, it is significant and it carries sentence of up to 25 years in prison. well, now it's second-degree murder. we're waiting to hear from officials there in the state of minnesota about what this means and also, what the charges are that are going to be brought against these three other officers who stood by or hold down at certain points in time george floyd. i want to bring in omar jimenez. are people there in minneapolis, i mean, you spent day in, day out now, talking to people who are mobilizing there in the streets. are they getting word that this, are they expecting well, brian get word a few moments ago that

minnesota attorney general keith ellison is increasing the charges against derek chauvin in the george floyd case and charging three other officers from amy klobuchar. this is the first on the record confirmation we've seen from any official state or federal in this. again, this comes from a tweet from amy klobuchar. and we already have a reaction from the family here. the floyd family coming through the family attorney benjamin crump who is saying this is a bittersweet moment for the family and they are glad that minnesota attorney general keith ellison has decided to take this step. now we're still waiting the official press conference that we're expecting at some point this afternoon. we're expecting to hear from a combination of either the attorney general or the governor tim walz. and unofficially when this news was coming down, this broke in

the local newspaper citing anonymous sources about half an hour ago and at that time here in minneapolis there were already cheers here at the site, ground zero for where george floyd had his final moments unfold. again just a little over a week ago at this point. and now here we are half an hour later seeing this confirmation at least through a tweet from senator amy klobuchar and that is when the protesters have wanted all along. not just charged for against officer derek chauvin seen in the cell phone video with his knee on george floyd's neck but charges for all of the officers as well, brianna. >> and they've talked about why that is so important. i think, omar, it is hard to imagine if the folks were not police officers, that they would be treated with any sort of deference when it comes to standing by and watching someone do what derek chauvin did.

this is been i think part of the frustration, right, and the feeling of hopelessness that has brought about so many of the protests that we've seen. >> well, right, brianna. you don't have to look hard when you see other cases involving police and marley the black community to see that is difficult or it seems to prosecute a police officer and convict a police officer. again, as we've seen in multiple cases. so this morning when the day began we were out here at the scene and there was the possibility that we could see this scenario, more charges brought against these officers. there is still an air of skepticism among the people here that charges are one thing but it has to be followed through to a conviction. so while this is viewed as a victory in some sense it is viewed as a first step for those that are calling for justice here. it is a long way to go in that regard. but again, this is moved

relatively quickly. when you look at how it is compared to other cases, for example even just the firing of the officers, a lot of times it takes weeks and some cases up to months to fire officers when they're involved in similar situations. the police chief made the decision to do so within a matter of 24 hours last week. and then here we are just about a little over, i should say, a week later we've seen charges against the one officer seen in the video with his knee on floyd's neck and now as we're seeing charges against the other officers as well. and again we're expecting a press conference later this afternoon that either with minnesota attorney general keith ellison or the governor tim walz. >> i want to bring in laura coates. we have about a minute left in the show here. i want to talk about the air of skepticism omar was was talking

about. each step where there is progress you have folks keenly aware because of the past that they have much to lose at each step of the process. are these charges going forward to convictions. how founded is this skepticism? >> well, past is prologue. and that is why you see in all 50 states having protests because there could be a past, present or dare i say god forbid future george floyd unless people are active. but keith ellison is in a different territory where he's the first african-american elected in minnesota and he won by 100,000 or plus votes as attorney general and relying on a pipeline of institutional knowledge and his own expertise and the swift firing from the first african-american police chief in minneapolis, all of that combined said something is different in the air this time. and hopefully that arc of

justice that bends will hopefully be flattened and realized at this point in time. >> laura, thank you very much for this conversation that we've been having. as we're awaiting the news. we're waiting for this announcement from minnesota officials. where we're going to hear, we've learned, that the three officers who stood by or helped restrain george floyd, they are facing charges. what are they? we don't know. that is why we're watch forge the press conference that will happen any moment. and derek chauvin's charges are going up to second-degree. we'll have much, much more on our breaking news with special coverage that continues right after this. managing type 2 diabetes? audrey's on it. eating right... ... and staying active? on it! audrey thinks she's doing all she can to manage her type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but is her treatment doing enough to lower her heart risk?

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welcome back. you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. it is a big day. and there is a lot of breaking news. but first and foremost, i want to go straight to new york to the new york police commissioner and george floyd's brother terrance floyd speaking right now. >> he wanted to call for peace. he wanted to call for justice. he wanted to make sure that you can't get one without the other. we're hearing that justice is being made and we're moving in a direction of justice and that is a good thing. but we must continue to keep the conversation going right here in new york city. and that is what we are doing, is the beginning of conversations. and making sure