wolf? >> yeah, whatever it is they will learn to find out. thank you for that report. i'm wolf blitzer in"the situati ro room". i'll be reporting live from surf side, florida beginning tomorrow as we continue the special coverage of the building collapse disaster. until then, thanks very much for watching. erin burnett "outfront" starts now. "outfront" next, desperate for answers, growing questions about the fate of 159 people unaccounted for in the collapsed florida condo building and just what caused that high rise to literally crater in seconds. we'll speak to family members of two people still missing. plus, former office derek chauvin sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for the murder of george floyd. chauvin denied floyd the dignity owed to all human beings and a lawyer and prosecution team is "out front" and the trump organization could face criminal charges as soon as next week.

let's go "outfront". and good ervening. i'm erin burnett. f praying for a miracle are what so many are doing in the search for residents in the building collapsed where 159 people are missing. they are battling smoke from a section of the debris. officials aren't clear where the smoke started. they say it's coming from an area they haven't been able to reach yet. fires have been burning throughout the day. and rescue workers are desperately trying to sift through the mountain of rubble desperate to find human life putting their own lives at risk in the increasingly faint hope of finding anyone else inside alive. and then there were heavy rains, fires and heavy rains for parts of the day hurt search efforts. overnight three more bodies were recovered. and i do warn you that this next video is up setting. this is the moment that one of those bodies was pulled from the

rubble. just horrible to see. the death toll that we know now stands at four and family members tonight though are holding on to hope. >> i'm praying for a miracle but clearly, there is fires. clearly there is other stuff happening, and i don't know if they can get in there fast enough. >> it's been 41.5 hours since the building collapsed. it crumpled to the ground in less than 15 seconds and that happened at 1:30 in the morning. no one has been found alive since 37 people were pulled from the rubble soon after the collapse. tonight, we're leanrning the nae of one of the survivors, 15-year-old jonah handler. this the video of his rescue. he's currently being treated at the hospital. that's a miracle and it's of course an incredible celebration of a life saved but we are also sadly learning tonight that

jonah's mother stacy fang did not survive. she was 54 years old. and right now so many questions remain. the governor of florida making clear tonight there are answers and needed fast. answers to how a building, 40 years old could just collapse to the ground in 15 seconds in the united states. >> we need a definitive explanation for how this could have happened, and that's an explanation that needs to be an accurate explanation. it's an explanation that, you know, we don't want to get wrong, of usuy obviously, but a same time, it's timely because you have a lot of families here. >> and tonight, those families are searching for answers about what happened to their loved ones as president biden promises that the administration will also do all it can to help. >> i'm sure i speak for all the members of the congress here

today and all the survivors here that it's a tough, tough time there are so many people waiting. are they alive? our heart goes out to them. >> we have so much more on this massive tragedy tonight. i want to begin by going straight to the ground. natasha is "outfront" near the collapse and nick valencia is near the family reunification center. what the is the latest right now? >> reporter: erin, what may be disheartening for the families waiting for news is the numbers have not changed since this morning. four dead, 159 unaccounted for but the chief of the miami-dade fire and rescue tells those families to have hope. overnight, there were sounds coming from the rubble we're told but by this afternoon's press conference, no mention of whether there have been more sounds throughout the day. the medical examiner's office

said that no bodies were brought to them today. still, we are seeing different shifts of rescue crews come past this media simmemedia staging ak the couple blocks to the building continue to search. >> we will continue search and rescue because we have hope we'll find people alive. >> reporter: but that hope is fleeting as crucial hours pass. >> if they are alive down there, like, what's going on? how buried are they in there? is there a possibility they're alive? like truthfully, look at this mess. i mean, what are the chances? >> reporter: officials say about 55 of the 136 units at the 12-story residential building in surf side collapsed early thursday morning. still, no clue on a cause. search and rescue crews are working around the clock using heavily machinery, sonar and cameras and dog to locate the

missing in the rubble. >> you get lucky and find them in a pocket able to by hand remove the rubble. >> reporter: those efforts are being met with new challenges, fire at the collapse sight and rising water and shifting mater eloq -- materials. >> it challenges the integrity of what is still standing there and that delicate balance of saving lives while risking lives. >> reporter: crews are now looking at the license plates of cars in the parking garage to try to determine who was in the building. the residence represents an international and cultural mix. >> was here with wife and three small children. 2, 6 and 9. they had an apartment there. i lose hope. >> reporter: overnight president biden declared an emergency in florida making federal aid available. the feds are also sending a team of experts to study the structure which was undergoing a 40-year certification and determine whether an investigation that could impact building codes is necessary.

an attorney for the association of condo residents tells cnn an engineer had conducted inspections to determine needed repairs but the only work that had started was on the roof. judy speeg l is missing and tonight her husband kevin who was out of time at the collapse and their three adult children are holding out hope. >> i have to be hopeful. you know, i want to be with her. you know, i love her. >> how from one second to the next second a dramatic change in life? it's unbelievable. >> reporter: the chief of the miami-dade fire rescue said that initially they had hundreds of people on the team searching and now today, they've been assisted by more agencies who have come to help them. he also said that it may not be clear to us on the ground or even if you look at the aerial footage what the work is exactly that they're doing underneath the rubble, as some of them are going underneath there where the

basement was to go up into the building all the while contending with dangerous conditions like falling debris, erin? >> gosh. thank you very much and i want to go to nick valencia now. he's also there on surf side at the family reunification center where at this point, you know, there has in't been, nick, muchf that. what have people been telling you there? >> reporter: erin, there is a heaviness that comes in waves midst the uncertainty. people aren't getting a lot of information and while there is a shortage of bad news, they're hoping there is good news. some resigned themselves to believe they're really waiting to hear the worst and then there are some whose frustration is bordering on down right outrage. her husband and brother-in-law gary were in the 11th floor asleep when that building collapsed. she believes those two men are still alive. she's called them tough men but says time is running out and she says she's embarrassed, erin,

with the recovery effort. this is the message she had for the first responders. >> you shouldn't be allocating your resources. you need to call in other teams to help you and you need to do this immediately because every minute that goes by could be another life. it is not just the life of the person. my children are going to be orphans. >> reporter: her 12-year-old daughter woke up this morning unable to have breakfast because she couldn't stand to think her dad was somewhere buried under the rubble perhaps alive waiting to be rescued. the reunification center behind me has been moved from a block away to this hotel to give them cover from the heavy bands of rain that have come through that have been an uncwelcomed stress. those who i've spoken to said there is about 100 people inside and we've seen people coming and going with belongings. some are proactive and gone to get mouth swabs to get dna samples in the event officials have to identify bodies pulled

from the rubble. erin? >> all right. nick, thank you very much. i want to go to debbie hill now because her father, richard augustine lives in the building. he's among the missing, the known missing now. debbie, i'm so sorry. hon honestly, truthfully this story is horrific. there are no words to describe what you're going through and truthfully, nobody can understand it except for someone in your shoes. i just wanted to show a picture of your dad so everyone knows w who he is first. seems a happy family moment of you-all together. how are you even holding upright now, debbie? >> so it's been a really big roller coaster. yesterday was a horrible day. not knowing anything is the big issue. i have a relative who is down there at the center, and he gets more information off the news than he does being down there.

he's been on location. he's been in the neighborhoods and stuff, and there is just no news anywhere except on the local news channels and stuff so it's hard not knowing anything. when they show the live views, you don't realize how massive this is until you see a person standing on top of the pile and you realize this is going to take a long time. as much as we want those rescuers in there, it's not safe for there and moving thinks. it's frustrating things don't move as fast as we want them to and we want everybody to be out safe and that's just not going to happen and that's a difficult thing to accept. >> it is. of course, you know, the generosity that you have here for the first responders who, as you know, of course, they're risking their lives, too. but i guess, debbie, what i'm trying to understand have you been able to get any information from officials or anyone?

sounds like the answer is no? >> no. i registered with the phone numbers they provided us with. the emergency contacts and listing missing persons because he did also have a friend in the condo with him and she is also missing but i have not gotten anything back from them. nobody has reached out to say hey, you know, how are you holding up? is the information we have for you. the only information i get is from the local news station just like everybody else has been getting it from. >> debbie, when did you realize that your dad was missing? >> so i got a call at about 5:00 in the morning. my stepfather called and said that the building had collapsed, and that my dad was in it. and my dad is on one of the top floors. and his was the first area that collapsed. so right away i knew it wasn't going to be good. it was going to be really bad. just by the magnitude of it all.

just the way it all went down. so yeah, it was 5:00 in the morning and i got up and started finding live feeds right away, trying to get as much information as i could. still obviously, hoping and praying everything would be okay but it's just not happening. >> no, it doesn't seem that way. could you tell me a little bit about your dad? >> yeah. my dad was an air freight sales most of his life. he was a general sales agent for international and domestic. so he had a lot of friends throughout the country, throughout the world. he loved what he did. he enjoyed fishing. he liked to travel. he was just getting ready to retire. he was planning on retiring in october. he was coming out here. i was supposed to pick him up at the airport last night and come and spend the weekend with myself and family after visiting my brother last week and he was going to be training somebody replacing him in the fall and we got the phone call and everything in our world changed.

it's crazy. it's out of control. >> it is. just so -- i mean, you know, i'm sure you can't stop thinking about that but the fact that die he was going to get up and come see you. >> right. >> i had just reserved his car form and evening and i'll meet you at the airport at 8:10. that morning i got a call. it it's crazy. >> appreciate your talking to me. so sorry. you know, it's horrific. thank you. >> i mean, just keep everybody that's down there in your thoughts and your prayers because i'm not the only one going through it. there is a lot of people missing people, relatives, friends, it's just horrible down there. there is no comfort down there right now for anybody. it's too much up in the air still. >> no, and we're all hoping there will be some kind of miracle. >> absolutely. >> debbie, thank you very much.

just the loss people are facing of course is so monumental. pablo rodriguez is back with me. if you were watching last night, you saw him. his mother and grandmother are missing in the collapse. pablo, you told me you hadn't heard much about the efforts to find the missing and debbie said everything they are getting is from local news. have you been updated at all about your mom or grandmother from anyone official? >> hi, erin. no. what she said is completely correct. so i received a call from a reporter this morning letting me know they were taking dna swabs at the surf side community center and i heard it on the news as well and the scene was a big chaotic, there were people everywhere. it wasn't really organized. i don't think the rain helped so they moved us to another location where it continued to be chaotic until, you know, we kept asking everyone to where can we provide the dna swab?

finally, we were able to do that and on the way home we got the first call from anybody that's official and it was from the police department and i appreciate what they're doing and all the first responders out there. i know it's difficult and a chaotic situation. but as a family member it would be nice to let us know they're doing dna swabs instead of finding out from the news. if you don't watch the news, you don't know what's going on. >> no, we've seen the rescue workers there all day and night. at times it's 15-minute shifts because of the stress of the situation and the weight of what they're carrying and doing. you know, i know pablo, of course, you got to hold out hope as long as you possibly can. >> right. you hold out for hope and i mentioned yesterday it's not completely hopeless but after you see the video of the

collapse if you're in a tower, especially the one where my mom and grandmother were fell down and the other building fell on top of it is hard to hold out hope and the delays of being able to get any information makes every hour, hope disappears a little more. so at least for me it's been, you know, hard to hold on to that hope. you pray for the miracle but at this point, you know, you're really not expecting it. >> no, i know. i know. i also know we talked about how, you know, your family had just wi been away, too, and your mother had just gotten back. you know, again, how close it was to being a very different story for you and your grandmother's birthday was coming up and talked about how they would see your son yesterday. that was the plan. i know he's 6. >> he's 6. >> how do you -- have you talked about it with him at all? >> we've talked a little bit

about it. we haven't told him -- we don't want to tell him the entire story until we have official news. that's part of oholding on to that little bit of hope. he knows the building fell. he saw it on the news the morning it happened, he is started with the questions because tomorrow is saturday and saturday is when my mom and my grandmother would come to the house with breakfast and take him to, you know, go out and spend the whole day with him. that's every saturday since he was born. he knows tomorrow is saturday and he's already been asking are they coming over? >> i'm so sorry, pablo. >> thanks. yeah, there is not -- you know, there is nothing really to say. it's a very difficult situation. it's not just me. i know there is other -- lots of other family members going through the same thing. and really, just part of the reason i'm doing this and talking to make sure the story

stays out there and doesn't get brushed aside. there is a lot of big veevents going on. the george floyd trial and doj, this story personally for me needs to stay out there and i'm hoping there is an investigation into it because buildings don't just fall down. this was -- >> no. >> they were inspecting the building. there was repairs being done to the building. there were complaints about the board. there were complaints about mismanagement. and the building just fell down. how does a building that's being inspected just randomly fall down? it doesn't happen. that's not what a building does. >> no. >> so it's -- i want to make sure that this story stays out there in the forefront and, you know, it gets investigated. >> it better be investigated and there have to be answers for everyone. every single one of you. >> right, right. >> all right, pablo, you're in our thoughts, thank you. >> thank you, erin.

next, the first responders at extraordinary risk as they search for survivors at this hour facing the danger of further collapse as well as fires. you look at these images plus pablo mentioned complaints about all kinds of issues, water damage, cracking noises in the building. what caused a 40-year-old building just to completely fall down in 15 seconds? structural engineer who has been hired to investigate the collapse is "outfront". derek chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for george floyd's murder as floyd's family speaks out. >> i ask about him all the time. >> when you see your daddy again one day, what do you want to do when you see him? >> i want to play with him. s coverage customizer tool? so you only pay for what you need. sorry? limu, you're an animal! only pay for what you need.

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introducing aleve x. ♪ ♪ it's fast, powerful long-lasting relief with a revolutionary, rollerball design. because with the right pain reliever... life opens up. aleve it, and see what's possible. we're continuing to follow the breaking news in surf side, florida. these are live pictures of fire crews fighting heavy smoke at the building site. the rescue efforts are incredibly dangerous and continuing. first responders just going up against everything increeddibly horrible conditions. at least 159 people remain unaccounted for. it's been 42 hours since that building partially collapsed. it happened at 1:30 in the morning. killing at least four people.

" "out front" now is the county commissioner. thank you for being with me. these pictures are so horrible. i know these crews are ricking their own lives. firefighters now battling the heavy smoke from a fire that appears to be coming from somewhere in the debris. can you tell me anything more about this fire, what could be causing it and what it's doing to the search and rescue effort? >> sure. right now erin we have over 300 firefighters from multiple task forces on site on the buildings, on top of the building, under the debris and subterrain and battling it. massive task force. what is happening is fire, a fire in the building and the lower floor between two and three and also in the garage area is hindering their efforts to continue search, rescue and

hopefully recovery and so they have fought with inspectors on an unsafe structure status and got approval to go in and fight the fire inside the building, get it out, so they can prioritize all efforts on search and recovery. >> well, it doesn't, of course, surprise me or anyone listening to hear that the firefighters are doing everything they can to be approved to go in because they want to save lives but nonetheless, it's the bravery they're willing to take the risk on is hard to comprehend. i don't know how many would be willing to do it. i it's amazing. the number of unaccounted for. now it's at least 159 as we found out about more people. officials say these numbers could change. what's behind the dramatic increase, though? >> it's fluid numbers. i believe the 159 is they're deeming them missing that they

could be there but maybe weren't there. the 99 is still accurate as, you know, i guess you don't know if the bodies are there but they should have been in their building. so that's where we're asking people to call in. the 99 is a fluid number right now and if they don't come forward as survivors or announce themselves then in all likelihood they will be in the rubble so very disheartening. >> it is. it is. i know that the miami-dade county mayor has said, you know, his words quote extraordinary risk is what these rescue teams are taking on. it's bad weather. it's the active fires. it's falling debris. it's a building that has shown it can collapse in 15 seconds so if you're anywhere inside, seconds matter. you know, we can see how precarious those efforts are.

imagine going in there, people's heart pause for a second to imagine being willing to go into that basement. anybody seeing that video -- >> it's incredible. yeah, absolutely incredible. we're up wind from the smoke and it's debilitating when you get to the building themselves so wearing masks and everything else and literally sifting through things hoping they'll find somebody alive before they shift the rubble. what's created a bigger smoke situation is moving rubble around to access paths for them to get from different parts of a building. their tunnelli-- they're tunnel through in hopes of finding more people alive. >> officials today started providing briefings every four hours at the reunification center. i did just speak to two family members who are, you know, incredibly grateful for the

bravery of the rescuers. they couldn't be more clear about that but incredibly frustrated because they're not getting any information. they're not getting any updates at all. what would you tell these families that are so desperately waiting for any update about their loved ones, children, parents who are trapped in there? >> yeah, there really isn't any update you can give them on the status of anybody, literally and so just have hope and faith. we've seen other rescues with fabulous international miami-dade fire department all over the country and world and they pull people out hours, days, even a couple days later in mexico and in earthquake situations. have faith. there is pockets all through this building and they're working to get it cleaned up enough so that they can find

people and hope that they're still alive. the community has been so compassionate. we had to shut down deliveries and donations because they've been so exceptional worried and simple sympathetic to these people. the community, we're with you to everybody who is waiting to find out the news, we wait with you, also. >> thank you for your time. >> and to our first responders, thank you-all, we are blessed to have you and all the company that you're bringing with you as your brothers and sisters fighting for cleaning up and finding people to rescue. thank you. >> all right. thank you. next, a lawsuit just filed against the condo association is seeking, obviously, millions, many millions i would assume in damages. what caused in high rise to collapse? an engineer hired to investigate is my guest. the ex police officer that killed george floyd speaking out today before going to prison.

>> i want to give my condolences to the floyd family. blatch e

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. breaking news, the class-action lawsuit in florida where at least four people are dead and 159 currently unaccounted for. claiming the collapse could have been prevented quote through the exercise of ordinary care, safety measures seeking damages in excess of 5 million. frankly, that sounds that number will go a lot higher when all of this is said and done. what do we know so far about the building that is only 40 years old? tom foreman is "outfront". >> reporter: you're watching what some engineers are calling a classic column failure, what they'd expect if the key support column gave way but did that happen where robust inspections are the norm? >> there had not been really any concerns. >> reporter: among the theories, the ground. this building was constructed 40

years ago on a spit of ocean front land. a barrier island. it the kind of area some engineers had long said is too sandy, too close to moving water to be stable and witnesses say -- >> this past weekend there was some water in the garage and it was coming up. >> reporter: could a sink hole be to blame? a former fire chief says they are just not common here. >> we don't have sink holes in south florida in a long, long time i can remember. >> reporter: a second theory, the whole building was sinking. a study from florida international university showed a gradual sinking of the building or maybe the site in the 1990s. experts say this is unusual and likely wouldn't have caused the collapse but could have contributed to another threat. >> differential supplement. if the area building settles more than others, it can cause

disstress there. >> reporter: pablo rodriguez' mother is missing. he spoke to her the day before the collapse. >> she said she woke up around 3:00, 4:00 in the morning and heard creaking noises. >> reporter: experts would expect other signs, too. >> people in the building would see cracks in their floors. the table would not be flat. things would roll off. >> reporter: and yet, another theory. the building itself. hu humid, salty air can corrode and weaken steel and concrete that was the cause of a partial collapse of a federal build income miami in 1974. >> i've seen up and down the coast hundreds of buildings where you have concrete problems. it could be a building. it could be a dam or seawall. these kind of things happen if not tended to. >> the concrete roof is being worked on. the building was undergoing improvements as part of this 40-year renewal of the coverage there. on top of that in 2015 there was

a lawsuit and that lawsuit was about according to a lawyer involved water coming through a crack in the wall into a unit there. it was settled for an undisclosed sum. we don't know how much money was involved. while the hunt for survivors goes on, the search for answers does, too and could go on for a long time, erin? >> thank you very much, tom. i want to go to john because he's been hired to investigate the collapse of the search side condo. john, i know you have been the go-to engineer for major structural problems like building collapses. you wrote the inspection guidelines for buildings in florida so nobody knows what happened or what the possibilities here better than you. so what are you looking at? >> well, at this particular point in time it's very important not to speculate what caused this building going down.

engineers have a specific routine has to how to go about doing their forensic evaluation and so that's the way it should be approached. the 40-year inspection program that happened since 1974 was certainly intended to prevent something like this from happening, and so nothing really like this has happened until this occurred. the thing is we expect building owners to maintain buildings. you don't wait 40 years and then start looking for trouble or signs. the buildings themselves are supposed to be maintained. whether or not the 40-year inspection has specific protocols, what to look for and how and how you identify issues. so on a building like this, certainly, all the history, everything has to be brought up as to what happened, what the history on the building before

and then from that standard point, then at that point you would start basically dismantling the damaged building and putting it someplace in a yard or someplace in a field so you can evaluate each of the components until you got down to the bottom. >> so let me -- can i ask you about the surveillance video which is all that any of us have seen. john, you look at it with a different eye, an expert eye. the collapse of the condo we see it in 15 seconds. it begins at the center. we can see that and pulls down the north side of the building. so center goes down first, forth side comes down. you say that this struck you. why is that? >> it gives you a sequence of occurrence when an investigation is done on the building, it's more of a where to go to, where the focal point would be which

certainly would be the center since that appears to be where the damage started to occur. >> so, you know, obviously, it is clear something went horribly wrong here. you know, i've mentioned the lawsuit about the crack. that was settles for an undisclosed amount and water in the building in the garage the other day and it was rising. pablo rodriguez' mother was in the building. and the day before it happened she said she hadn't been able to sleep because she was woken up by a lot of creaking and a loud bang at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. these are anecdotal things but come from different parts of the building, different people. what do you make of it all? >> when you're evaluating a collapse like this, all that information that has to be brought in and considered you don't leave anything out in light of what actually the

characteristics are. until you get down to where it occurred, they may make sense or not. they may be symptoms or not. we can't tell at this particular point but i would say that the main thing that i would stress that we have very high standards for the design of these buildings especially here on the ocean and very high standards and i certainly want this kind of thing to make other people think there may be problems in their high rise. our builds are very, very safe. this is an unusual unique situation. >> it is but people will have those fears and it's understandable, right? that's why you got to get answers so people can understand exactly what happened and everybody can. thank you so much. appreciate your time. >> you're quite welcome. >> next, 22.5 years behind bars for ex police officer derek

chauvin so what does george floyd's family think about that? >> what was going through your head? when you had your knee on my brother's neck? >> plus, criminal charges against the trump organization could be days away and the man who prosecutors hope will flip on trump so far is not cooperating. spray, lift, skip, step. swipe, lift, spin, dry. slam, pan, still...fresh move, move, move, move aaaaand still fresh. degree. ultimate freshness activated when you move. one, two! one, two, three! only pay for what you need! with customized car insurance from liberty mutual! ultimate freshness nothing rhymes with liberty mutual. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ centrum multigummies aren't just great tasting... they're power-packed vitamins... that help unleash your energy. loaded with b vitamins... ...and other key essential nutrients...

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new tonight, 22.5 years, that's the prison sentence for fired police officer derek chauvin for george floyd's murder. for now he'll remain in a restricted housing unit separated from others for his safety. learning his fate after an emotional hearing after multiple members of floyd's family asked for the maximum sentence. >> statement of minnesota versus

derrick chauvin. >> reporter: three months to the day after murdering george floyd derek chauvin was sentenced. >> the court commits you to the department of corrections for 270 months. >> reporter: 22.5 years in prison after the former minneapolis police officer was convicted on charges of second degree unintentional murder, second degree manslaughter and third degree murder. the judge wrote in a sentencing memo mr. chauvin whether than pursuing the mission denied respect and dignity owed to all human beings in which he certainly would have extended to a friend or neighbor. the prosecution capping off an effort more than a year in the making. >> a police officer is not above the law and george floyd certainly is not beneath the law. >> reporter: during the sentencing hearing, the family expressed the impact george floyd's murder had on them including his 7-year-old daughter gianna floyd. >> well, i ask about him all the time. >> reporter: his brothers speaking directly to chauvin.

>> why you didn't at least get up? why you stayed there? [crying] >> reporter: and making their plea to the judge. >> give officer chauvin the maximum sentence possible. >> reporter: chauvin's mother spoke in his defense never acknowledging the floyd family, instead. >> derek, i want you to know that i've always believed in your innocence and i will never waiver from that. >> reporter: the court found the opposite. and for the first time, the 45-year-old former police officer addressed the floyd family. >> i want to give my condolences to the floyd family. there is going to be some other information in the future that would be of interest and i hope things will give you some peace of mind.

thank you. >> reporter: outside the courtroom, mixed feelings of celebration and wanting more. >> this is the longest sentence that a police officer has ever been sentenced to in the history of the state of minnesota. but this should not be the exception. >> reporter: it's the close of a first chapter in a story that continues long after 9 minutes and 29 seconds impacted the world and changed it as floyd's daughter said. >> if you could say anything to your daddy right now, what would it be? >> it would be i miss you and i love you. >> reporter: now, we're not sure what chauvin meant when he said there would be upcoming information that would be of interest but for now, the sentence is 22.5 years. though, he could serve 15 since here in minnesota, you serve the first two-thirds of your sentence in prison and then

become eligible for supervised release. he's still also got two federal trials coming up that could add more years to that and then his request for a new trial was denied just before sentencing. so all he's got left at this point on this case is 90 days to appeal and we'll wait to see if that happens. erin? >> omar, thank you very much. i want to go to steve one of the prosecutors in the case and steve, i know you'd asked the judge to sentence derek chauvin to 30 years behind bars to account for the profound impact of the defendant's conduct in your words. floyd's family asked for the maximum which would be 40 years and chauvin gets 22.5, obviously p parole eligible in 15. are you satisfied with what happened today? >> we are, erin. i think that, you know, as a practical matter, there is no number that is going to in any way adequately reflect the enormity of what was lost, what happened

to the world, what we all experienced, and the lost felt by the floyd family. we asked for 30 years, because we believed that was a fair sentence and it was legally supported, but 22 1/2 years is a long time. it's a substantial prison sentence and it's the beginning of accountability here. >> so, steve, you know, talking to our legal analyst, elie honig, he noted, it's really rare for defendants who are convicted at trial to speak at sentencing, because of appeals. you're going to appeal your conviction and their whole defense would make it impossible to say words like "i'm sorry" or, you know, so usually you don't speak, but chauvin did speak. first time we'd heard him or seen him not have that mask on, at least us, the public. i want to replay some of what he said, steve. i do want to give my condolences to the floyd family. there's going to be some other information in the future that

would be of interest and i hope things will give you some peace of mind. >> steve, when he said there's other information in the future that will give you some peace of mind, i guess i have two questions for you. one, what did you think at the moment when he spoke, were you surprised yourself? and two, do you know what he was talking about? >> i'll answer the second question first. i don't know what he was talking about and he'll have to speak to his own, what he meant by that. the first question, was i surprised that he spoke? i was. with the pending ing federal chs and the pending appeal, i really didn't expect him to say anything. that said, offering condolences to the floyd family, i think, is an important statement. it's an important first step in him coming to grips really with the magnitude of the damage that he's caused, both to the floyd family and to policing in general. >> there were emotional moments from the floyd family today. of course, you know, watching

his daughter, of course, that's hard for anyone to see. we just saw a few of them. here's more of what we heard. >> when you see your daddy again one day, what do you want to do when you see him? >> i want to play with him. >> i want you to know, from the man himself, why. what were you thinking? what was going through your head. when you had your knee on my brother's neck? >> my family and i have been given a life sentence. we will never be able to get george back. >> what do you think this sentence means for the other three officers, who have yet to stand trial in floyd's death? >> well, of course, those other cases are pending, and i can't comment on them.

what i can say the sentence means generally, it sends a strong message that this is a matter that people better pay attention to. i think that in terms of policing and future policing, a sentence of over two decades, holding an officer criminally, individually accountable for their conduct is something that will make other officers pay attention. and it's my hope and belief that it will lead to a culture of intervention. that when other officers see something like this unfolding on the street, they'll be less likely to not act, to not stop the conduct. >> steve. i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you. and next, prosecutors closing in on the trump organization, charges possibly coming as early as next week. trump's lawyer responds.

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breaking news. a major development in the manhattan district attorney's investigation into the trump organization. the d.a.'s office telling donald trump's attorneys that criminal charges could be filed against trump organization as soon as next week. the charges are believed to be tied to allegations of tax evasion over compensation paid to top executives. "outfront" now, kara scannel, who is following a number of developments on this front tonight and breaking news, ckar. so what are you learning about possible criminal charges? >> erin, these charges against the trump organization and the chief financial officer, allen weisselberg, could come as soon as next week. and sources tell us that this has to do with failure to pay taxes on benefits that the company paid out to certain executives, including weisselberg. those types of benefits would be rent-free apartments, company cars, and for weisselberg, even school tuition paid for his

grandchildren. sources tell me that weisselberg's lawyers recently informed prosecutors that he would not be cooperating with the investigation and a lawyer for donald trump, ron told me that they reached out to prosecutors, they met yesterday for some time, he tried to persuade him it was not worth bringing charges, because these types of cases were not brought. so he told me, it's outrageous, it's unprecedented, it's never happened before, it's done just to get donald trump. and he says that this prospect of charges against the trump organization angers the former president, but he also tells me that during this meeting, prosecutors gave him no indication that any charges right now would be against the former president or his family. of course, erin, this is an investigation still active and ongoing, but that is what he's saying he was told, at least as of now. >> kara, thank you very much. i want to go to ely ie honig, o

legal analyst. what do you make of this. if there are charges, all of this would be done to pressure weisselberg to give them more. so i guess it's how much prison time he's looking at. would he flip? what does this mean for former president trump? >> erin, first of all. with regard to potential charges against the trump organization, that could mean the death nell for the trump organization as a corporate entity. the penalties you can get are fines, restitution, even dissolution, meaning the end of the company. however, nobody goes to prison based on a corporate charge. that is legally impossible. the only way anybody goes to jail if they are individually charged, individually convicted. that's why good prosecutors never settle for only charges against a corporate entity. you want to hold the vigilance as well, too, because people need to be held accountable. >> and that's where allen weisselberg comes in. they're saying that no one would ever bring charges like this. that this just isn't done and it's all just to get to trump.

>> it is unusual to charge a corporate entity. usually when you see a corporation charged, it's because they've been ripping off their customers or perhaps engaged in large-scale money laundering for drug trafficking or other illegal organizations. so there is some merit to that point. it is fairly unusual to see a corporation charged on these basis. >> and what do you make of the fact that the timeline here, it seems to be accelerated, accelerated, accelerated. and i know you've pointed out, they want to move forward, because you have statutes of limitations. but it does seem to be quite accelerated. >> they have to move, though, erin. they are really under the gun. they have the statue of limitations ticking. they have cy vance's days numbers. and they have to move forward. they've been stuck spinning their wheels for several years now. it's pay dirt time. >> elie, thank you very much. appreciate your perspective. elie honig, familiar with the southern district of new york. thanks so much for joining us. please continue to watch our breaking coverage of the tragic

story of the first responders desperately trying to find life at that condo in surfside, florida. right now, let's hand it off to "a.c. 360." good evening. at the dimming of another rough day here in surfside, we are waiting for late word from officials on the state of search, recovery, and rescue operations. we expect a press conference any minute now. we'll bring that you live. already, the news has been difficult. today we saw the number unaccounted for or potentially lost or trapped in the rubble of champlain towerses, which is right over there, that number rose sharply. the news only adding urgency for rescue teams already who are working nonstop and have been throughout the night. it is, however, the most delicate job imaginable. under the toughest conceivable conditions, where even one wrong move could cost lives or maybe even saving lives, making it harder to save lives than it already is. >> these first