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now. good monday morning. i'm erica hill alongside victor blackwell. let's get you started with five things to know. a high stakes meeting between secretary of state antony blinken and xi jinping aimed at cooling tensions between the u.s. and china. xi says the two sides have made progress in just a few moments. we'll hear blinken's take. more than 50 million people in the southeast are under severe storm threats. a large tornado left damage in mississippi and a heatwave is pushing texas' power grid to the brink. across the state of kansas, at least 100 public officials and legislators have received letters containing suspicious white powder prompting an investigation. and another weekend marred by gun violence from washington state, illinois, sggeorgia, liv lost and communities on edge.

and ww and wiyndham clark c victory at the u.s. open. good to be with you this monday morning. yes, it is a weekday and i am here at 6:00. >> and you're back in new york. >> and i'm back in new york. it is beautiful to visit. glad to be back in the studio. today is juneteenth, third time it will be observed as a federal holiday. juneteenth is an only commemoration of the end of slavery in the united states after the civil war. it was june 19th, 1865 enslaved people in galveston, texas learned of their emancipation, two years after president lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation. and president biden signed a law making it a federal holiday in 2021. in honor of juneteenth, be sure to watch cnn tonight, some of

the biggest names in music will perform a global celebration of freedom. pre-show coverage starts at 7:00 p.m. highlighting black advocates, trailblazers, creators. it will be a good show. it is a good show every year. >> and i'm looking forward to it, and i don't have to get up early tomorrow so i can watch the whole thing. >> i'll have to watch some of it and then go to bed because i'm back tomorrow morning. and we begin this morning with two super powers trying to manage tensions and also bring the tension down. secretary of state antony blinken is in china right now. he just met with xi jinping who said that the two sides have made progress. blinken said a good relationship between the u.s. and china is in the world's best interests. earlier blinken met with china's top diplomat for about three hours behind closed doors. the state department calling it candid and productive. we do expect to hear from blinken himself soon. he is set to hold a news conference this hour. kylie atwood as more on why this

trip is at a critical moment. >> reporter: secretary of state antony blinken shaking hands with president xi during his two day high stakes diplomatic visit to china as the united states sets out to normalize communications between two super powers. >> the trip has three objectives. first, to establish open and empowered communications so that our two countries responsibly manage our relationship including by discussing challenges, by addressing m misperceptions, and avoiding miscalculations. >> on sunday blinken invited the foreign minister to washington, an offer that was accepted. u.s. officials say that there won't be major deliverables from the two day visit but deemed the engagement critical. particularly as they hope to regularize military to military contact. in the last few weeks aggressive chinese maneuvers resulted in two military incidents between the u.s. and china in

international waters and air space of the south china sea. last month china also refused a meeting between secretary of defense lloyd austin and his counterpart on the sidelines of the defense conference. >> i think it is important that countries with a significant military capacity and capabilities have the means to talk to each other. >> reporter: china's foreign ministry called the first day of meetings candid and krunkts diffe constructive, but said the self ruled eisland presents the biggest risk. blinken planned to address concerns about china's aggressions toward taiwan among a whole host of other issues including three americans wrongfully defended in china and fentanyl precursor chemicals originating in china. >> number one killer of americans. think about that. last year we seized enough

fentanyl to kill every single american and that is just what we seized. >> reporter: president biden hopes that this visit eases tensions as he looks ahead to a possible meeting with president xi later this year. >> i'm hoping that over the next several months, i'll be meeting with xi again and talking about legitimate differences we have, but also all the areas that we get along. >> reporter: chinese officials including the chinese leader himself claiming recently and repeatedly that the united states is leading an effort to encircle and contain china. but china is also economically intertwined with the u.s. a key factor is china's post covid economic growth has recently slowed down. and the chinese leader sat down with bill gates noting that he was the first american friend he had met with this year. president xi and secretary

blinken's meeting lasted about a half hour. and according to chinese state media, president xi said that they made progress and there were specific agreements reached on a number of issues. of course now we're waiting this hour for the secretary to have a press conference here in beijing to give us an update as to what those specific agreements actually entail. >> kylie atwood, appreciate it. and now to steven jiang. china's foreign minister said that relations between the u.s. and china were at their lowest point since diplomatic ties were re-established in 1979. what is the response in beijing to the meeting between xi and blinken? >> reporter: yeah, victor, that much-anticipated meeting wrapped up an hour ago. but even before, i think the one thing everyone seemed to agree if xi jinping did not meet him, that would be a major snub and not bode well for this

relationship. the meeting did take place and it seems to have cleared a low bar achieving what both sides set out to do, which was to resume this kind of senior level dialogue. but the underlying challenge very much remains the same. xi jinping not only said that the u.s. is out to get china to contain, to suppress china, but more recently, he has been using language like china is facing this external threat environment with dangerous storms ahead, warning officials here to really prepare for extreme scenarios which has been interpreted would i by manies as hinting on a potential conflict with the u.s. but of course xi jinping can play the long game because he doesn't face elections and such. so he can say he is willing to work with the u.s. to stabilize and improve the relationship which of course is now the next step for the officials here to

climb back off the rhetoric and prepare the nation to prepare for what their leader has told them to do. and that reason of course as you heard could ily oig saying the economy and also wanting the state visit in november. >> steven jiang for us in beijing, thank you. let's bring in senior political analyst ron brownstein and "washington post" columnist josh r rogen. as we're waiting to hear from secretary blinken, get his take about what is being said in china, domestically what are you listening for, what will make this meeting a quote/unquote success even though we're talking about a very low bar for the u.s.? >> it is one of those cases where success is preventing things from getting worse. there has been a spiral in u.s./china relations. i'm thinking about the long arc of this. i remember covering around 2000

the bill clinton administration, there was a broad bipartisan view that integrating china more closely into the global economic system would moderate their behavior both internationally and domestically. four-fifths of the senate republicans voted to give china most favored nation trading status tuesday. and now 20 years later and there is a broad bipartisan consensus on a tougher posture.tuesday. and now 20 years later and there is a broad bipartisan consensus on a tougher posture. that points toward a confrontational adversarial future i think. and finding some way to prevent that downward spiral, i think that that is the definition of success. >> josh, similar question. what will you be looking for to see if the u.s. has created as members of the administration have said that floor? and will you see it today? >> well, i'll be curious to see what specific agreements that secretary blinken mentions in

his press conference. we can expect them to be on the most low hanging fruit, countering narcotics, if gets a couple americans home, that would be great too. so no doubt that there is an interest in preventing the relationship from getting worse than it is. but i think the problem really is that still the united states and china does not agree on why it is as ron said that relations have gotten so bad in the 20 years since we had great relationship with china. and i think that some would say that that is because of some sort of u.s. bipartisan hawkish consensus, but i think it is more that china went a different way. si since xi jinping took power, they decided engagement was not what they wanted and they amped up their aggression and started a genocide and menacing taiwan. and i don't think that we'll hear any overlap between blinken and his chinese counterparts on any of those issues. and that is why i think this is

really only a speed bump as the relationship will continue to get worse. not because of congress' hawkishness, but because the chinese government is now presenting a new face to the world and the united states, which is don't tell us anything about taiwan, don't tell us anything about wetheweaker uigh oig. and that is the fundamental problem that blinken's trip will fail to solve. >> so how does biden get over that? >> i think josh is right that s xi's china, there is a limit to how positive the relationship for any u.s. president is going to be. but there is a lot of space between that and an endless downward spiral. the question is whether you can prevent it from becoming in effect a new cold war recognizing the limits of how much we'll agree with the direction that they are on. and i think that that is where biden is. i think that there is still a meaningful space between how biden views this relationship

more of a competition than, say, trump and some of the other republicans who view it more flat out adversarial. in many ways it is the he can cove the 1950s when you had republicans arguing from disengaging with europe and focusing more on confronting with china. i think we're moving back into that. so there is a meaningful space between what biden envisions and what trump and desantis and others might have in mind. >> and i'd say that while i don't necessarily disagree with a lot of that, i think the very washington centric view of the problem, and as i travel around asia, i find something different, which is that japan, the philippines, south korea, australia, india, these are not countries worried about china's threat to them because of some washington consensus. they are worried about it because china is a threat to them. and if we always look at it as, oh, what can biden and washington do to improve u.s./china relations, we're playing in to their trap, into their frame which is that the u.s. is the problem and not china. but the demand signal is coming

from the region. and there are a lot of countries around the world that have the same problem with an aggressive china that is not following the rules of the road, that using its power in malign ways and to control other countries' economies. so i think that we need to remember here that it is really not all about us. it is not -- good u.s./china relations are great, but that is not the goal of u.s./china policy. the goal is to work with yoour friends and allies to protect ourselves as china rises. if china wants to play ball, that is great, but that is not just about tony blinken, it is about making sure that china understands that it can have a peaceful rise but not on any term, not while it continues to be aggressive and genocidal and threatening. >> and hr mcmaster, former president trump's national security adviser, said that bli blinken's trip could project a degree of workness saying that

we're working on china's terms. we'll get in to that in a moment. as we mentioned, secretary of state antony blinken will hold a news conference a short time from now. we'll bring you that live when that begins. new this morning, we're seeing first images after a massive tornado struck a town in mississippi. it left behind catastrophic damage. you see some of that there. homes, buildings torn apart. today more than 50 million people across the southeast are under severe storm threats. t dare ve derek van dam is in the weather center. what are the threats today? >> where the tornado occurred last night in jasper county, they are still under a tornado watch and threatened by very active storms moving through right now. that shading of red, that is a tornado watch, that is local. valid through 8:00 a.m. local time. and this is the area that got hit hard by what is likely a

tornado. we've seen the damage, you saw it a moment ago on your tv screens. notice the pop-up showers and thunderstorms, none tagged severe at the moment, but they could intensify at any moment. we know the storms have a history. we had eight tornado reports on sunday. look at the wind and large hail reports across the southeastern u.s. and here we go again. millions of americans under the threat of severe weather from new orleans all the way to savannah and a marginal risk for atlanta. and we continue to monitor the triple digit heat across texas and louisiana. this will once again just like the past weekend will test the power companies, they say that this will -- they will be able to meet the demand. but when you look at temperatures like this, 120 degrees in corpus christi, no escaping that kind of heat. >> not with the numbers that high. thank you. it is becoming kind of a litmus test for the 2024

republican field. >> you have been asked a few times whether you would pardon the former president if he is convicted and he were the president. would you? >> mike pence's answer, ahead. oh booking.com, ♪ i'm going to somewhere, anywhere. ♪ ♪ a beach house, a treehouse, ♪ ♪ honestly i don't care ♪ find the perfect vacation rentatal for you bookoking.com, bookining. yeah. up at 2:00am again? tonight, try pure zzzs allll night. unlike other sleep aids, our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. and longer. zzzquil pure zzzs all night. fall asleep. stay asleep. from prom dresses to workouts and new adventures

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if proven true under the indictment by the special counsel, no. i mean, it is just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation's security at risk. >> that of course was donald trump's former secretary of defense mark esper suggesting trump could be a national security risk if elected again. donald trump's indictment for allegedly miss handling classified documents continues to cast a shadow on the 2024 presidential race. and his rivals are fielding a barrage of questions about it over the weekend. one focus, whether they would pardon trump if he is convicted. >> you have been asked a few times whether you would pardon the former president if he was convicted and you were president. would you? >> i just think the question is premature. >> if you were president biden, would you pardon him right now? >> i just think this whole matter is incredibly divisive for the country. >> will you sign on to a pledge

that our next guest is asking all gop candidates to sign on to that you would pardon donald trump if you became convicted? >> i won't deal with hypotheticals. but i will say that every american is innocent until approach guilty. >> ron brownstein is back with us. do you think the electorate will accept that ambiguity? >> the promise to pardon trump seems to be a no-win position in that any voter who would demand that you would do that would prefer trump himself while he's still an option. and once you do promise to pardon him, you are basically signaling to the broader electorate that you are under his thumb and makes it easier for democrats to portray whoever wins as an extension of trumpism. you know, the polling i think is pretty clear on two fronts. these indictments are helping him within the republican primary. but outside of the republican coalition, it is having the effect you would expect. a lot of voters view this

outside of the coalition as a threat to national security and question whether if he is convict of a crime should serve as president again. you hear that from mark esper, from bill barr, you are not hearing that from the other republican president sial candidates. they are kind of ignoring the elephant in the room that this could be an enormous problem. >> and what is interesting is not only ignoring that, but ignorings agencies in the -- allegations in the indictment which are serious and very detailed. and not willing to have this conversation either. do these allegations trouble you if true. it is an immediate pivot to something else. >> look, this is not unusual. political scientists study authoritarian and quasi authoritarian movements. and they will say a challenge is often for the strong man to

assert his dominance by forcing his rivals to publicly defend the in-defense bl. and that is what we're seeing from most of these republican candidates. maybe not overtly defending it, but refusing to condemn it. and in stark contrast -- we're talking about mark he iesper, b bar i go on,r who will say expl that this was incredibly reckless behavior and put our national security at risk. and the fact that no republican presidential candidate in the inner tier is willing to say that is kind of a statement of how little market they think there is in the party coalition for a full-scale attack on trump, but part of the reason that it exists is because no one they trust is making that argument. so a self-fulfilling prophecy. >> president biden won't touch it either. he didn't touch it at his rally

in philly, his campaign and white house says he won't comment. does he have to if you have esper out there and if you have the periphery candidates like christie and hutchinson talking about it, does he lose a really potent cudgel if he doesn't talk about it? >> i think if he gets to a general election against donald trump, you will hear about it. but in a broader indictment of trump's volatility and unpredictability and refusal to kind of follow rules. but i think most people will say it does not make sense for joe biden to be talking about this now since it is his justice department and special counsel that is pursuing the case. whether it also is the right decision for the broad democratic party, in particular former national security officials in the democratic party to be so silent, that is a very different question. when you have so many voices on the right basically trying to preemptively delegitimize in

investigation as inherently political, nothing to see here, the fact that you don't have former defense secretaries or cia directors or for that matter democratic senators out there making the case that mark esper and bill barr made, i think that there are democrats who find that a little mystifying. >> what is behind that do you think? is there a push to get more people out there and to be more vocal and there is resistance to it? >> yeah, i think -- well, what is behind it is that the biden administration is reluctant do anything that would feed into that narrative that it is inherently political. there is this kind of an excess of caution. it goes with their broader view that governing, you know, is the key contrast with the kind of chaos that always surrounds donald trump. but i think that there are a lot of democrats who are uneasy with how silent the broad party has been including former national security official in the midst of this very sustained attempt

offensive by trump defenders to kind of preemptively deal with de la de legilegitimize the indictment. all right. stick around. we'll talk about the gun violence across america this weekend. and plus -- he takes down all the stars in los angeles to win the united states open. >> golfer wind windham oig clark, how he managed to outswing the likes of roryry mcilroy, next. neuriva plplus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators of brain health. toto help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger. lactaid is 1 100% real milk, just without the lactose. delicious too. just ask my old friend, kevin. nothing like enjoyg a cold one while watching the game.

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several shootings across the u.s. as many americans celebrated the holiday weekend. and they included the death of a pennsylvania state trooper. one person was killed, nearly two dozen people injured after bullets flew at a juneteenth celebration in willowbrook, illinois. and in st. louis, one teenager is dead, nine others injured when bullets rang out at a party

in an office building. a 17-year-old suspect is in custody in that shooting. and in central pennsylvania, one state trooper is dead, another fighting for his life after police say a suspect took aim at police barracks with a hunting rifle. the suspect was eventually killed after an hours long shoot-out. and an investigation at a campground has begun. and also in atlanta after five people were injured in a shooting outside a night club there. and morefour are dead, one susp in custody after a shooting in kellogg, idaho. not clear what set this incident off. father's day wyndham clark dedicated his first major win of his career to his mother. a moving moment there. and what a win for him. >> yeah, a special win. winyndham clark says that his m and dad made him the golfer that

he is, but it was his mom that put the club in his hands the first time. he passed from cancer when he was this college, but he never forgot the message for him, play big. and mcelroy needing to sink a 41 putt for birdie to catch him, but it comes just wide. and that put all the pressure on the 29-year-old from denver. people rushing to the 18th hole to see if wyndham clark could maintain his one stroke lead. he would need a two putt to win his first major. he got his first pga tour win just last month and now clark sees a beaut, he would never finish better than 76th in the major, but he finishes at 10 under. and patrick snell caught up with him. >> it was like, wow, i really feel my mom owe pre's presence k more than any other week. as i played the rounds and stuff

started going my way, it really reminded me of her. and there was multiple times when i was out there on the golf course that i thought of my mom. and so it has been a really special week and a lot of this is in memory of my mom. i always thought of myself as a star and i alwways dreamt of being one. so to finally get to the point where i feel like i'm at their level is a dream come true. >> wyndham clark, he said that he said he almost walked away from golf completely when he lost his mom. really struggled with that. and then he went on a five year run and 133 pga tour starts without a win, but he never gave up and a testament to hard work and never giving up. might pay off some day. >> absolutely. a great story. and nice to hear him to say how he felt his mom was with him. coy, appreciate it. antony blinken is wrapping

y up his meeting with xi jinping. and you will hear from him at any moment. we'll go live to beijing for those remarks. stay with us. ♪ ♪ a bunch of dead guys made up work, way back when. ♪ ♪ it's our turn now wel make it up again. ♪ ♪ we'll build freelance teams with more agility. ♪ ♪ the old way oworking is deader than me. ♪ ♪ wll scale up, and we'll scale down ♪ ♪ before you're six feet underground. ♪ ♪ yes, this is how, this is how we work now. ♪

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we are keeping a close eye on beijing this morning. live pictures there as we await a news conference with secretary of state antony blinken. of course on the heels of his meeting with china's leader xi jinping oig. we'll bring you his reaction to that meeting between world super powers. so stay with us. in russia, alexei navalny is back in court, he faces extremism charges. he is already serving nine years behind bars for fraud and contempt of court. a new conviction could tack on another 30 years to that sentence. matthew chance is live in moscow with the latest. tell us what we're expecting today and what this defense we're expecting to hear from

that value annavalny will be. >> reporter: i don't think that they have much of a defense set out simply because it is only recently that the prosecution has given navalny's lawyers all of the documents, nearly 4,000 pages of documents detailing his alleged crimes with regard to extremism that he is being prosecuted for. we're talking about sort of founding an extremist organization, financing extremism. so very serious crimes. obviously under russian law. and they are all talking about his anti-corruption campaign which for many years has been holding those in power in russia to account. so the fact that he is already in prison and now he faces another potential 30 years if as is expected he is eventually convicted and found guilty of the crimes gives us a really clear picture of how dark and

dangerous it has become inside the russian political climate. they say from all the documents, it is clear that i'm a sophisticated and persistent criminal but impossible to find out exactly what i'm guilty of. so using dark humor to reflect on the absurdity of what he is standing accused of right now. >> and it doesn't sound like he has much of a chance of fending off these charges about. >> reporter: i don't think anybody thinks that navalny will be found not guilty of these charges. when united states officials speak about this, they all and i that the detention of alexei navalny is politically motivated. and so what a lot of people here

who support navalny feel, it won't be until vladimir putin is out of office or the regime changes in russia in some way that navalny will be free. so they can sentence him for 9 years or 30 years or 39 years, but i think the hope is that if the authorities change here in russia, which is no sign of here at the moment, that alexei navalny will be set free. >> all right. thank you. israel's military executed a raid. at least four palestinians were killed, including a teen. 45 wounded. they were carrying out an operation to arrest two wanted suspects when a huge firefight erupted. seven israeli troops were injured after they came under

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was also pulled under the floodwaters. and both men very fortunate to be alive. athena jones now with the details behind the dramatic video. >> there were several disabled vehicles. >> reporter: the sheriff's deputy arriving on scene friday to help a stranded drive her stuck in rising floodwaters. after exiting his patrol car, he says he saw a driver vanish under water and immediately went in after him only to be sucked under himself. the sheriff's office says for 30 terrifying sendsconds the deput was pulled under water, sucked through a drainage pipe for nearly 100 feet. his body camera capturing the rushing muffled sounds of being submerged.

until finally he is able to resurface. the deputy immediately rushing to the driver to see if he is okay. the two audibly emotional about their near death experience. >> just breathe, just breathe. oh, my god, thank jesus. oh, jesus. it sucked me in. oh, my god. never held my breath like that in my life. >> reporter: afterwards the driver thanking the deputy for his actions. >> i just want to thank you for being there. >> it is remarkable that they both survived.

>> i couldn't imagine. he said that he had never held his breath that long. to be sucked in that way and then come out. and you are holding your breath, you don't know if you are going to make it out. thank god they did. >> really remarkable. just ahead here, what is the cost of the culture wars? a number of big companies seeing some backlash on their body line, but is it cit directly related? that is next. >> tech: when you have auauto glass damage... choose safelite. we can come to you and replace your windshield. >> grandkid: here you go! >> tech: wow, thank you! >> customer and grandkids: bye! >> tech: bye! don't wait, schedu now.u! >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ (vo) this is sadie, she's on verizon. e network she can count on. d now she has myplan, the game-changing new plan that lets her get exactly what she wants and save on every perk. sadie is moving to the big city

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new evidence that america's culture wars are having a financial impact on companies. brands like target and ckols oi

are threatening backlash for reaching out to the lgbtqia community. and bud light sales have suffered since partnering up with a transgender influencer. that of course sparked a customer boycott. but what are the other factors at play here? and our chief business correspondent christine romans is with us. and ron brownstein is with us. is it really that simple, these things happen, there was a backlash, there was a big move on the right to try to get people to boycott the companies and all of a sudden they are floundering? >> there are other business trends at play here, but i think that it caught the c-suites by surprise, the right wing culture movement. i inclusion has always been good business. and for earnings calls you've heard the cfos and ceos talk about diversity, equity and

inclusion and now they are quieter because they are seeing the instances where their brand has been pilloried for being inclusive, so they are trying to figure out how to tread the water. but inclusion is good, and they know that, but they are trying to figure out how do you navigate like target or bud light when you have so many people online are demanding that you boycott a product simply for being inclusive. >> what is interesting is the new target of some of these groups, chipotle staved off a boycott because they acknowledged that they had a d&i executive and they were looking for someone. ten years ago holding up a chick-fil-a sand wishwich was a of showing where you stand. >> i think that they are building a nation within a nation on all sorts of issues. lg lgbtq, abortion, book bans. and this is extending that

attempt to impose those values on to the corporate sector. and as christine said, they are cross pressured. a majority of everybody under 18 in this country are kids of color. one-fifth of gen-z identifies in lgbtq. two-fifths don't belong to a religion. and so to impose it on one segment of the society puts them in a hard place. so they will have to decide whether to embrace it or back down. >> and i mean this question seriously, as -- from both political and business standpoint, as you are looking at this, inclusion is good for business. how and where is exclusion good for business or for politics? when you are narrowing your pool. >> it is very different between the red states and the blue. and verbal states.

in the red state, you have republican coalitions that are running state government with an electoral coalition that is fundamentally rooted in the parts of the state that are not changing, that are basically nonurban, older white voters. and they are using that to impose the values of that coalition on changing places before the new demography maybe changes the political balance in a place like texas. so you see half the country moving in this direction. and these boycotts are kind of the business flank of that same effort that in many ways is attempting to reverse what has been six decades of nationalizing more rights and creating common rights that are available in every state. i mean, we are moving back toward a pre-1960s world where your basic civil liberties depended much more on your zip code. and i think that in some places, like the period before the civil war, no institution was equally political. and these companies as much as they want to stay out of it

ultimately have to decide are they going to embrace the changing america or embrace the effort to in effect make america great again by going back to would onner rules and older values. >> how they respond is critical. sometimes they have responded badly. in the bud light case, it was a single instagram post that blew up into this huge thing. and in the target situation, it was threats against their customers, right, with this pride stuff was on display, they were having threats against -- sorry, against their employees. how you respond by not giving in to the right wing attack mob but acknowledging your position, i think that that is what they have to figure out. rapid response for communications teams have to be better. >> and the pressure is working on the c-suites. they are pulling back. >> all right. thank you both. let's now keep a close eye on beijing because that is where we're waiting for secretary of state antony blinken's comments after his meeting with xi jinping. "cnn this morning" continues

right now. secretary of state antony blinken met with xi jinping . >> and relations are at the lowest they have been in gek cades. >> greatest strategic threat we'll phase in this century. another holiday weekend marred by gun violence. >> and this was supposed to be a celebration and now the list of 310 mass shootings in the u.s. >> it was chaos. president biden officially back on the campaign trail. in philadelphia for his first rally since announcing his candidacy. >> i'm looking forward to this campaign because you have a story to tell. can candidates look past the federal indictment of donald trump. >> this matter is incredibly divisive. >> every american is innocent until proven guilty.