miles per hour. it has to catch up to that. it's an amazing feet for mankind and a bigger achievement for the united states of america. we'll be covering it at 3 p.m. eastern time. we'll be there, hope you are, too, stay with us. >> law enforcement officials are on high alert around the country after working through the night to try and contain the riots that sprouted out in about 35 cities across the country. this is america's news headquarters, i'm eric shawn and arthel neville with us. first we're going to check in with minneapolis where the protest as you know began. steve harrigan with the latest at this hour. >> throughout the morning we've been watching the crews work. they have got a crane trying to put out the end of a far. at an auto parts chain, there

was smoke coming up most of the day here. and with the position of this o'riley auto parts store is, public housing on one side, on the other side, you have a local auto parts store, repair store and they've been hitting, too, putting plywood over their windows and doors. so it's not just the chains, it's the local businesses that been hit hard in the re rioting overnight. you can see a lot of local civilians coming out today with mops and buckets to try and begin to clean up this horrendous mess. the governor is vowing tonight it's not going to happen again. there's going to be a full deployment of the national guard, plus national guard from other states and vowing there will be massive force tonight to prevent violence and keep people safe. here is the governor. >> national guard was mobilized at a level unseen in minnesota history by wednesday morning. the forces on the ground last night were dwarfing anything

we've seen from riots from the hormel strike going back to minnesota history. >> to use the governor's own words and the mayor's own words, last night was chaos. they are blaming the violence on outsiders. they're saying the looting did not come from locals. police were shot at on a number of occasions, officials say and also, explosive devices were thrown at police. improvised explosive devices against police in minnesota. it was clear from anyone on the ground, in many sections of the city no one is in charge, no one was in charge last night. we'll see if that changes tonight. there's a planned protest of about 70,000. we'll see if the national guard and police can keep things quiet. eric, back to you. >> all right, that's a double hit when local businesses that the local community relies on were destroyed as last night. >> is that next?

well, we are going to go now to alicia acunas, she's outside of minneapolis and she has that angle of the story. >> hi, yes, arthel, i'll take it. for example in georgia, the governor enacted nearly 500 members of the national guard to protect property and people in the city of atlanta. this after hundreds of protesters burned cars, clashed with police, shattered business windows and looted. atlanta's mayor making an urgent play for a stop for the pilots and telling those who are participating in the destruction in the name of george floyd, that they have lost all credibility. >> so what i see happening on the streets of atlanta is not atlanta. this is not a protest. this is not in the spirit of

martin luther king, jr. this is chaos. a protest has purpose. when dr. king was assassinated we didn't do this to our city. >> in oakland, california police arrested 18 people and detained another 60 for looting. six officers were injured while attempting to keep the peace. someone opened fire on two protective federal service officers at the federal building, killing one of them. oakland police say they do not think it was related to the protests. in detroit, a 19-year-old was shot and killed when someone from a dodge durango shot into the crowd. and a majority taken into custody were from outside the city. they're asking them to leave. and many of the protesters and

protests across the nation began during the day in relative peace. as the sun went down, the numbers increased and enraged. and there are announced protests in nearly 40 cities today. >> alicia acuna, thank you very much for that report outside of minneapolis. right now what i want to do is-- or i believe you're outside of denver, but listen, the point is the story started in minneapolis and i want to bring in ted williams. he's a criminal defense attorney, a former homicide detective and a fox news contributor. alicia in her report, she mentioned some agitators, ted. i want to get to that in a moment. i want to first start why we are here. mr. george floyd was murdered by minneapolis police, one of those officers, derek chauvin has been charged with third degree murder and manslaughter. first, what do you think about the initial charges? what does this tell you?

is there a possibility down the line to charge up, to increase those charges? >> yes, hi, arthel. last night was a night that broke my heart, but getting back to what you have asked here, i think that the d.a. out the there, mike freeman did his city is disservice by waiting this long to charge chauvin with any kind of a crime. and the rationale behind that, arthel, they had a videotape. that videotape was very clear showing that this police officer had his knee on the back of this man's neck. this man is glued to that pavement, but he's calling out, saying that he couldn't breathe. calling out for help. and the police officer was just continued to keep his knee on the back of this man's neck. also, there were other police officers holding this man down.

there should have been charges right away and it may very well have averted a lot of what we've seen in the last several days. >> and what about those other three officers? what should they be charged with and how soon should those charges be handed down? we understand that the prosecution wants to get it right. he doesn't want to overcharge or undercharge so when it comes time for a conviction, there is one. what should they be charged with given now what you know about the circumstances. >> the law enforcement officers that have not been charged probably looking at accessory before and after the fact. they had a duty, a legal duty to do something when they saw one of their colleagues holding this man down, using his knee to hold this man to the pavement there. and what we should remember here is that chauvin i am --

himself has been charged with third degree murder and manslaughter, both are unintentional killing of a human being. it's my understanding, that the family love to have action for first degree murder charges, but i can inequivocally telling you, when you look at premeditation, deliberation, malice aforethought, is really is not here. and if think prosecutor would do that, that would be overcharging. >> that's what i asked, is there a possibility to charge up as they review the evidence? you've had chauvin, the officer, for three minutes with, mr. floyd's lifeless body beneath him. he had his knee in this man's back for additional three minutes while this man was lifeless and while he had his hand in his pocket, mr. chauvin did. at what point does this not switch over, i'm doing nigh

job, maybe i'm doing it recklessly. to i'm going to kill this man, i don't care that he's below me crying out for his life. >> let me say to the viewers, the charges can always be elevated. they're not stuck with the third degree murder murder or manslaughter charges, but the problem they may have is trying to prove that chauvin intended to actually kill this man. i know we can say, hey, wait a minute he had his foot, his knee on this man's deck. what do you mean as whether he intended to kill. well, looking at his problems, from a layman's standpoint is one thing, what you can prove in court is another one. i can tell you one of the things they're going to look at clearly here is the autopsy report. some of the autopsy reports have come out so far, rather foggy whether chauvin himself.

his actions alone caused the death of george floyd. i can tell you one of the things that he was waiting for as far as the reports. those were on the road and may give chaffe vin, somewhat of a dense in this case. i'm not saying that there was some foreign body in the substance of george floyd. >> it seems weird if i go have a beer after i leave work today or a glass of wine or maybe two, and i'm pulled over boot the police, my pressure is it going to go up because i'm afraid for my life. i don't understand, but again, you know, this is me as a layman looking at it. y laid it out as a former criminal defensive attorney i

should say, and we're going to watch this, and you will help us get through this. we will be watching the rioters to make sure that those agitators don't, you mo, get so far ahead of the people actually there in town who lived in that community who don't want-- who don't want to, you know, disrupt and damage the police they live, but then you have these outside agitators coming in so i'm sure you'll be with us throughout the night to help understand how law enforcement on the ground can discern between the two. >> absolutely. >> right? >> i certainly will be. >> okay. ted williams, thank you very much. >> my pleasure. >> irk a. >> thanks, arthel, how did this spiral out of control for anarchy, we're joined by from the house services committee,

john garamendi. the killing of george floyd, the riots turned into lawlessness and wantenness. two were shot at, one killed near you. this looks like a wanton attack against the government of the united states. >> it the citizens of the united states against businesses and communities. the unfortunate and the tragic death of george floyd is now receded from our attention and all of the troubles of police and black are no longer in the field of our vision. and what is this anarchy. it's a terrible, terrible display and it's things that we really have to deal with. police and black, minorities, inequality in our country, all of those issues to say nothing

of the covid-19 pandemic which is racing through our communities. we're losing attention, whatever the anarchists inciting these violent riots is terrible and has to stop and whatever we need to do it, put it down, is going to make it in place. >> you have experience, the lt. governor of the state under governor arnold schwarzenegger. do you think they dropped the ball and didn't see it coming? or did they act in your viewer properly? what did he this do they they have not done properly in the last days? >> we're going to let people have full grade expertise. i'm seen the issue many, many

years, it's a hard balance. what we're clearly learning now, there are forces that are joining and using these protests to create anarchy in our community. there's no doubt that that is taking place. we're going to find out more as the day goes on, as the analysis are taking place of the folks that were arrested, to the various websites that are encouraging these activities. i mean, many he gk understood and investigated. yes, we have a horrible tragedy, we have a fellow killed by police. that has to be dealt with. there are klee problems within education, and access, we know that the coronavirus is affecting the african-american community far more than any other community in america. the question arises why. those must be dealt with and

unfortunately, our attention to those issues are now diverted. diverted to this rioting and to this anarchy-- >> sorry to disrupt. >> go ahead. >> i'm sorry to interinterrupt, but that's exactly what tim walz called them outside agitators and forces that want to attack american society and using it as an exclusive. he says it's not been george floyd, but it's been america. here is what the governor of minnesota said at the news conference earlier this morning. >> threats' be clear. the situation in minneapolis is no longer any way about the murder of george floyd. it's about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities. >> who are these forces? what do they want and how do we stop them? >> well, i've worked with

governor walz in the congress of the united states for several years and i think he's right on. i think he's correct about what he perceives is going on and his response to it is to mobilize the forces to push back and to secure the sfi. he's doing what is correct. at the same time, i am certain that the police intelligence organizations across the nation are busily collecting data and information on the individuals, not only those arrested, but those who are encouraging through the use of social media the violent activities of last night now we have this day, we have this day. there will be mroe tests and my message to the protesters is, be careful. you r-- you may be use today create a violent community.

protest, if you see things going out of control, get out of there. go back home. don't participate in these violent activities. you don't want to be caught up and swept up into this situation. it's dangerous and certainly bang rust for those-- who did not intend to be in a veelt situation, and it's certainly for the community. the police are going to be there and they're not going to put up with it. why should they. protest peacefully. if it begins to get out of control, then get out of there. >> that is the message of course, we can protest masfully and americans exercising the first means, but this violence, whoever the agitators are and you talk about they will be dealt with. john dare garamendi. >> thank you, eric.

>> and there will be a special on and chris wallace will be talking to keith ellison. you can check your local fox listing or here on the fox news channel. and howard kurtz will look at the death of george floyd. that's on media buzz meanwhile, president trump and the first lady are about to leave andrews. and there it is in the sun, ready to take the president and first lady, and space, the launch is set for. as we watch america's news headquarters. ♪ ♪

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good afternoon. in a few minutes we expect to see the president and first lady make their way to marine one on the way to florida for the spacex launch. we'll see if the president will talk about what happens in minneapolis, new york, and washington d.c. look at the video we were able to shot last night as demonstrators marched throughout washington. we saw them have the secret service and extra around the perimeter. and the president has done quite a lot of tweeting. the secret service let the protesters scream and rant as much as they wanted, but whenever someone got too frisky or out of line they would quickly come down on them hard, didn't know what hit them. the front line was replaced like magic, nobody came close to breaching the fence, if they had they would have been greeted by the most vicious dogs and ominous weapons i've ever seen. that tweet is getting attention from the d.c. mayor, firing

right back saying, quote, while the president hides behind his fence afraid and alone, i stand with people peacefully exercising their rights after the murder of george floyd. there's not ominous weapons, they're a man afraid alone. and the president attempted to clarify the remarks when the looting starts, the shooting starts. he had another tweet this morning saying quote, they professionally manage so-called protesters at the white house had little to do with the memory of george floyd. they were there to cause trouble and the secret service handled them earlier. tonight is maga night at the white house, question mark. we have reached out to see what the president meant with that question and we'll wait to see if he makes additional remarks on the way to florida. we did notice extra secret

service officers outside as we were coming to work this morning. lafayette park remains shut down right now to the general public there is no signs of chaos or anything like what we saw last night happening right now, eric. eric: all right, mark. by the way, we'll have live coverage of spacex about two and a half hours from now. neil cavuto will be handling that just like walter cronkite used to do during the apollo mission, stay tuned for that. arthel: we'll have to check that out for sure. eric, we'll check it out. minnesota's governor insisted he is going to fully deploy the national guard to help minneapolis police control the protesters and the rioters. let's go to lucas tomlinson at the pentagon with that story. >> arthel, over 13,000 national guard. at the press conference, the governor says he's spoken to the secretary and joint chiefs of staff two times in the past 24 hours to discuss the options

and intercepted communications from the military and the national security agency. >> they also were able to provide their intelligence support of what they're seeing, what their signal intercepting may have obviously from nsa and others, massive support to see who these operators are. just thinking about this, the wars that we fought to protect our nation, the war on terrorism, all that, over the last 72 hours, these people have brought more destruction and more terror to minnesota than anybody in our history. >> reinforcements from the active duty forces could be on the way soon. military police units have been put on alert. one unit out of new york is u.s. army 10th mount division and told to be ready to deploy in four hours if needed. request from active duty soldiers from the military police units came from the white house. deploying active duty force is not without precedent. after the rodney king incident and the insurrection act.

>> and in our nation to make sure that civilian control. military and especially inside the united states is carried out by civilians, by citizen soldiers, by national guard. >> so far i'm told governor walz has not requested active duty forces and heard from the clip it sounds like he wants the minnesota national guard to quell the violence, arthel. arthel: thank you very much. eric. eric: history may be made later on this afternoon. nasa and spacex. there it is, it's gleaming in the afternoon sun, in the sunshine today. and ready to launch the first human space flight from the u.s. in nearly a decade and they're walking out, the two astronauts getting ready trying to make it today when they couldn't the other day because of the weather. they say there's-- well, actually better than 50-50 chance. an exciting afternoon. we'll have it live with neil cavuto.

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>> well, it's about that time. take a look at astronauts bob behnken and doug hurley. they're making their pre-flight preparations as you can seement spacex and nasa preparing to make history this afternoon. they will be aboard the first manned orbital launch since the flight was grounded in 2011. the president and first lady are headed to florida to watch the launch in person and it's always heart-pounding. standing by is kristin fisher who is a member of an astronaut family. both of her parents are astronauts. and kristin, you've got to think the emotions, evening though you're professionally prepared, you're emotional and heart is pumping and just ready to go? >> i've been so nervous all morning. i cannot wait to see if this launch is actually a go today.

you know, president trump, he's very excited, too, he's just moments away from leaving the white house. this is going to be his second trip to the kennedy space center in just about three days, but the nasa administrator insists that his presence and the vice-president's presence puts no additional pressure on the nasa and spacex team to launch. he says they're going to go for launch whenever they feel ready, whenever they feel comfortable and there are just so many factors at play. and as you watch nasa astronauts doug hurley and bob behnken prepare to enter the spacex dragon capsule, you have to think of the factors at play. and there's no moving the launch time, they have to launch at 3:22 p.m. in order for the dragon spacecraft to perfectly launch up with the orbital track of the national space station and you have think of the weather that

forced them to scrub on wednesday. not only is nasa looking at the launch site, but the weather at all the down range abort sites. there are more than 50 of them, some as far away as off the coast of ireland. a few minutes ago the nasa administrator was speaking with our neil cavuto and gave the best estimate if this launch is going off today. >> our objective is to go, but our highest priority is for doug and bob to be safe and right now we're looking at about a 50% chance of going. we are go for launch right now and we're going to have to wait and see how this weather turns out. >> now you've probably heard that this is the first crew launch from u.s. soil for a decade. and a lot of americans are rusty about launch protocol.

how common scrubs are with human space flight. one of the astronaut launching today, nasa astronaut doug hurley write on twitter, on my first flight, sts on shuttle endeavour, we scrubbed five times over a month, and all of the launch criteria is ahead of any attempt and this makes the scrubbed launch decision easier in the heat of the moment. so, this is shaping up to be a nail-biter of an afternoon and remember, eric, they can call 0 of this launch all the way up until about 30 seconds before lift-off. eric. eric: chris kristin, we're lookt doug and bob there, so reminiscent of those of us of a certain age washington gemini and apollo. and then we took it for

granted, commonplace with so many shuttle crews going up and yet we had the excitement now. what is it like personally for them. you're a member of an astronaut family and grew up with it with your parents. they're professional, but also must be-- the emotions and the sense of excitement going through their minds. >> you're so right, during the shuttle program, human space flight in america really did become commonplace and routine, the amount of times it was covered on national news networks declined greatly and then we had this long nine-year gap where there were no american-made rockets for american astronauts to ride on. after this huge gap and long wait. think what it's like for nasa astronaut doug hurley. he was on the last shuttle launch and had to wait nine years to get to this moment today and then got all the way up there 15, 17 minutes out and then they had to scrub on wednesday, but he is a pro. he is well-versed with scrubs,

you have to imagine that despite their test pilot cool shields, there have to be some nerves under there, but i think what most astronauts have told me is that when you get to this point on launch day, especially after a scrub and after all of this time, nine years of no crewed launches from american soil you have to imagine the astronauts are so excited to go. the entire spacex and nasa crews ready to go. the president of the united states and the vice-president headed down. fingers crossed we're go for launch 3:22 p.m. eastern standard time and if not, we can go on sunday and several backup dates slated for next week as well. eric: very reminiscent of the glory days which we encountered and we saw a wave from one and a thumbs up. you know when they start giving the thumbs up as they enter the capsule and settling in for the launch, kristin. we'll have it live. >> yeah, there they go.

eric: when they get ready to go. neil cavuto sitting in the-- our pilot's seat, so to speak. kristin, we'll get back to you, thank you. >> okay. arthel: all right, well-being back here in new york city, mayor bill deblasio is calling for calm after nights of riots. this as more protests in the city are going to begin today. aishah hasnie joins us live with that. >> hi, arthel. the cleanup is underway in brooklyn outside of the 88th precinct. the n.y.p.d. hauled away one of its police cruisers, banged up, looked like it had been in a car accident. it wasn't just the police cruisers that got hit by protesters. this looked to be an uber, some of the air bags deployed in this vehicle. video from last night, protesters burned a thin blue

line flag and lit a cruiser on fire. and here is mayor deblasio addressing the chaos. >> but some protesters came last night with an agenda of violence and incitement and they meant to harm police officers. they did harm police officers. they meant to attack police vehicles and they did. they meant to attack police precincts and that is all purely unacceptable. it does not reflect our values. we will not accept that. >> now, about 200 people were arrested overnight. one person was arrested for attempted murder of four police officers for allegedly throwing a molotov cocktail at a police vehicle that was occupied. in the meantime, the mayor says there is going to be an independent investigation into how things devolved last night and he acknowledged the videos on social media showing police officers getting rough with

protesters. he said that that was unacceptable. meantime we are awaiting another day of protests. there are a lot of protests scheduled, one actually starts in just about 20 minutes. we'll be watching those very closely, arthel. arthel: aishah hasnie live in new york city. and the protests happened in philadelphia as well. i want to take a look now at live pictures of philadelphia where a protest is underway. you can see there, a pretty large crowd gathered there in philadelphia. i can't tell you exactly where they are, but it's right now, it seems to be very calm, but people are showing up in mass numbers and usually, and hopefully this calm remains, but many times the calm is before the storm when it comes-- when day falls to night. however, police are involved and also, i must mention that you have people who were members of the community who are very angry and also want

justice for mr. george floyd, but they're encouraging all of the residents, the people who really live in these areas to remain calm, to not riot, don't loot your own neighbors, that's not the way we move this forward and fight for the justice that's so desperately needed in the name of mr. george floyd. so, again, an aerial shot right there in philadelphia. a large crowd seems to be very, very calm at this moment. we'll keep an eye on this as we will throughout the day on all of the protests that are taking place across the country and we'll be right back. did you know diarrhea is often caused by bad bacteria in food?

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here to break it down is founding and managing partner, seth, do you think that the president is out of bounds or does he have a legitimate legal gripe? >> i think the president has the understandable position and right to express his frustration with the world of social media. with really a big week with washington on that front. the president teed up a historic executive order and aiming it at silicon valley. specifically what he's trying to do is to order an aspect of his executive team here in washington to develop regulations to blast a hole through the legal armor that has been protecting big social media since the mid 90's. specifically, it's called section 230 of the communications decency act and the bottom line is that it basically says that these big companies cannot be deemed liable for content that it allows up on their public billboard and they have ridden

that legal protection and exception to riches which brings us to what has happened this week. there's been a lot of controversy online with the president and twitter and he's launched this out and he's trying to blast a new hole into that legal armor and that protection which really marks a major legal historic event for the business of social media in america. >> yeah, do you think he'll be successful? look, some people argue that the, you know, twitter and facebook and these media, social media sites, they're like the phone company or the public utility, you know, the phone company's not responsible for what people say on the telephone. others say they're like a publisher, held to the libellous, defamation standards that the news media or others are. >> that's right, i think you've nailed the precise debate that's really in public right now that the president teed up. i think we have to look at this through two lenses, the legal lens and the business lens.

legally, i think the president has a bit of an uphill battle on his hands. it's difficult for the executive branch to expand or different elements of a law that congress legislated under the decency act. that raises a separation of powers issue and when the feds are looking at impacting political speech that impacts the first amendment. let's look at it from a practical and business standpoint. now we have twitter basically deeming itself to be the online sheriff in town with the president and problematic tweets. while i recognize some tweets are controversial, you can point to numerous accounts emanating out of iran. the iranian revolutionary guard supreme court ruler of iran saying death to america and death to israel after we took out soleimani, does that

represent accuracy. i think twitter needs to decide what it wants to be when it grows up. eric: i've got to interrupt you. let's go to-- a few moments ago to the reporters at the white house. >> with regard to the hopefully seeing a great launch. it's about a 50-50 chance, but it's important i think as president to be there. what we've done with nasa is amazing, we've brought it back from the dead and it wasn't effectively functioning and now it's the greatest ever in the world. and i think i have an obligation fob there and it's very exciting. even though it's about a 50-50 shot. otherwise it will be postponed until wednesday, i understand, not sunday, but wednesday, but we'll see what happens. so we look forward to being there. some of you are going with us. any questions? >> mr. president, mr. president. >> with your tweet today, are you concerned that you might be

stoking more racial violence. >> no, no, not at all. maga, make america great again. these are people that love our country. i have no idea if they were going to be here, i was just asking, i have no idea if they were going to be there, maga is make america great again. by the way, they love african-american people, they love black people. maga loves black people. i heard that maga wanted to be there and a lot of maga was going to be there and i have no idea. they love our country. remember that, maga, it's just an expression, maga loves our country. >> the protest-- >> i don't care, i mean, i don't care. i want to thank the secret service, they were so professional last night, it was incredible. they were so professional, they were really great. really great. any other questions? anybody else going? >> mr. president-- >> by the way i want to say it again, secret service did a job last night that was incredible.

minneapolis, i love that city as you know i've had very great success there, almost won the state for the first time in many, many decades, but almost won that state and it's a great state, minnesota. they've got to get tougher. they've got to get tougher. they've got to be strong. honor the memory of george floyd, honor his memory. they have to get tougher, and by being tougher they will be honoring his memory, but they cannot let that happen. when i saw policemen run by a mayor who i think is probably a very good person, a radical left mayor, when i saw the policemen running out of a police station for that police station to be abandoned and taken over, i've never seen anything so horrible and stupid

in my life. never seen anything so bad and then see them trying to justify it. look, they've got to be tough, they've got to be smart. we have our military ready, willing and able if they ever want to call our military. we could have troops on the ground very quickly if they ever want our military. they're using their national guard right now, the he -- as you know, i guess, they have their national guard out there. we can have our military there quickly, they've got to be tough, strong, respected. because these people, a lot of radical left, bad people and they've got to be taught that you can't do this. so i'm going now to watch a great launch and we'll see how we do. >> mr. president-- >> thank you very much. eric: president trump briefly addressing the situation in the country we saw with the riots in minneapolis and elsewhere last night.

basically putting the onus on the local officials in minneapolis. he has blamed antifa and he called the radical left, agitators responsible for a lot of the violence in the wake of the tragic and outrageous death of george floyd and the secret service put out a statement about the white house, protesters threw bricks and rocks and bottles and fireworks at members of the secret service. some secret service members who were protecting the white house were injured, so thankfully they're doing better now and now, arthel, we have the arrival, like magic of the president joint base andrews and he gets on the chopper, marine one from the white house lawn and now is about to embark and depart on air force one down to florida for spacex. arthel, quite a collision in news themes today between the

horrible disturbances and the tragic death of george floyd and concerns about what could come later on tonight, and yet, the celebration and proud sense of america back in space later on this afternoon. some have said-- >> absolutely, there's no doubt th that-- no, i was just going to say, eric, there is no doubt that this is a very exciting moment here to watch the president head down to the kennedy space center. i do want to point out that as you said, this is happening while these riots are taking place across the country, due to the killing of mr. george floyd. it's also happening while the pandemic is still very much in play. the coronavirus has not gone away, it is still very deadly

to many americans, and as far as the rioters there, i think the president mentioned that there's anf -- antifa in the crowds and there is word that there is some supremacists in the crowd as well. and as americans who want the right thing, we don't want any rioters from the outside to come in and cause havoc inside of these neighborhoods. these are communities and they're just fighting for what is right and that's justice for mr. george floyd. eric: it was ironic as you point out, many of the businesses torched and destroyed. we saw this during the riots in '68. we saw that in newark, new jersey and elsewhere, they're

the community businesses, very often minority owned in these areas as the president in minnesota and others have said, blaming people who would want to seek violence not those who are legitimately-- let's see if the president talks. >> the rocket launch, a 50-50 chance, we don't know because of weather and other things, very delicate, but very amazing, so we're going over and we'll be back in a little while, but we want to watch the rocket launch. nasa has come a long way. it was dead as door nails and now it's the most vibrant place in the world for that so i look forward-- i guess you're travelling with me, so maybe we'll see you on the plane, we have a lot of great things happening. i think that want to thank the secret service invebl last night at the white house. they handled that antifa or whatever they were, radical left, they handled it very, very well and handled it incredibly. and we owe a lot to the secret service, incredible men and

women. i'll see you on the plane, thank you. >> mr. president, what did you mean by protesters-- mr. president! >> not taking any questions walking away from that you could here as the president prepares to board air force one. we'll have coverage of any remarks he makes in florida as well as the coverage of the launch of spacex in about 3:00-- just after 3:00 p.m. eastern time later on this afternoon. as we watch a variety of breaking developments from the horrible death of george floyd, the situation of race relations in our nation, peaceful protests, those that turn violent, the spacex launch, coronavirus, what a weekend, but we are americans and we will be together. arthel: absolutely, eric. and we want to move on now

because president trump has yet another big item on his plate and that's putting pressure on china over how they dealt with the coronavirus and a new controversial hong kong security law. gillian turner is live with that story. >> good afternoon, arthel. so president trump is tolding very firm to his conviction that the chinese government is culpable in the outbreak and eventually spread of coronavirus across the globe. we're still awaiting now the results of the ongoing intelligence investigation into the origins of the virus inside wuhan, but the president is moving full steam ahead with what he's calling a sit of reciprocal actions. take a listen. >> china's coverup of the wuhan virus allowed the disease to spread all over the world, instigating a global pandemic that has cost more than 100,000 american lives and over a million lives worldwide.

gillian: president trump also announcing that after temporarily suspending funding to the world health organization last year, he is now pulling the u.s. financial commitment to the organization and terminating that relationship entirely. this comes on the heels of the chinese government's approval of a new national security law directly threatening hong kong independence. the u.s. is now eliminating all policy exemptions that allows policy exemptions that allows from our extra digs treaty to our export controls, on dual use technologies and more with few exceptions. >> secretary of state mike pompeo says the administration is also focused on chinese university students who have suspected links to the chinese communist party and are studying here, inside the united states.

arthel: gillian, thank you. i'll take it back here. >> you bet, arthel. eric: protests grew around the country last night and they became increasingly violent. this as law enforcement officers and government officials are hoping tonight to prevent another night of widespread violence. this is america's news headquarters from new york. i'm eric shawn. arthel. arthel: and all right, eric. thank you. i'm arthel neville. we're going to bring you fox team coverage on all of these protests. first let's go to the doj where david spunt has details about the department's investigation into mr. george floyd's death. david. >> reporter: arthel and eric, there are two parallel investigations going on right now. one in minnesota, the criminal aspect which we know the officer

was charged with manslaughter and third degree murder. at the department of justice headquarters in washington, d.c. is a civil rights investigation to see if mr. floyd's civil rights were violated. that's being held by the civil rights division, attorney general bill barr put out a statement he is very upset about what he saw in the video. in about an hour or so there will be a protest, supposed to be peaceful out here at the doj headquarters. arthel, i want to talk about what happened a few blocks from me last night. things escalated very quickly, six people were arrested, bricks were thrown at people. some secret service officers were injured, we're told that lafayette park is going to be closed today as a result of that. but back to this investigation that's going on here at doj and really across the street at the fbi headquarters. i want to read part of an internal memo obtained by fox news from fbi director christopher wray to all of the

fbi employees around the country. part of it says, i quote, the events this past week in minneapolis clearly illustrate just how quickly that trust can be lost. as law enforcement, we're bound by an oath to serve all members of our community with equal compassion, professionalism, dignity and respect. the american people should expect nothing less from us. that is coming from fbi director christopher wray, he's working in tandem with attorney general bill barr here at the department of justice but right now as i said, arthel, there are two investigations, that criminal one in medicin minnesota with os who ultimately report to doj and the civil rights investigation here at the department of justice which officials here say is expedited. arthel. arthel: david spunt, thank you. eric. eric: arthel, minnesota is activating additional national guard troops in an effort to try to contain the riots there. this is the first time in the history of that state that the full national guard has been

activated says the governor. steve harrigan live in minneapolis with the very latest at this hour there. steve. >> reporter: eric, we saw a lot of movement out in front of the strip mall, we thought perhaps there would be looting going on. instead, it's anything but that. as you can see, people are brooms, dust pans, shovels, this is a volunteer clean-up. we have hundreds of people here, families, really doing what they can, many of them telling us they live in the neighborhood and they want to do the right thing, trying to clean up some of the stores. this is a dollar tree and an office depot that were looted and set on fire overnight. so people really hauling away trash, giving up their saturday to try to make things better here. more than 200 businesses in minneapolis were looted and burned overnight. but the governor is promising it's not going to happen again tonight. he says massive force will be used. he says that people carrying out the violence are not locals. here's the governor. >> our great cities of minneapolis and st. paul are under assault by people who do

not share our values, who do not value life and the work that went into this and certainly are not here to honor george floyd. and they need to -- they need to see today that that line will stop and order needs to be restored. >> reporter: for another night, officials here grossly underestimated the number of protesters really ceding entire regions of the city until the early morning hours. there were crowds in cars, speeding around, no sign of law enforcement, a lot of looting, shots eventually fired at police severe times, explosive devices used against police, a real sense that no one is in charge. we'll see a protest, hopefully a peaceful protest at 3:00 p.m. with expected large numbers and we'll see if the governor and the mayor can keep their word that they're going to keep things safe tonight by use of massive force. eric, back to you. eric: steve, keep with this picture just for a second. this is really the inspiring

scene of america, people who live in a neighborhood who come out together, they want to help and they volunteer to clean it up, as you said, seeing a big crowd, maybe thinking there's looting but it's quite the opposite. we're watching what's positive in our country about this as we can see these people who have come out to pick up the pieces and help get life back to normal, despite the tragedy and the continued case that will be the legal system of george floyd, people coming out to make a positive. >> reporter: you're right, eric. arthel: eric, i agree with what you're saying. the community is broken on so many fronts and to see the symbolism of those residents out there, trying to pick up the pieces is very rich and i'm glad we were able to point that out. meanwhile, president trump responding to last night's protests at the white house on

twitter before leaving for today's launch. mark meredith is live at the white house with the latest. mark. >> reporter: good afternoon, arthel. president trump is making his way to florida as you mentioned for the spacex launch. he did have a chance to speak twice this morning before leaving, at joint base andrews and at the white house. he spoke about the violence we're seeing across the country and specifically in minneapolis. here's what the president had to say just a few moments ago. >> it's a great state, minnesota. they've got to get tougher. they've got to get tougher. they've got to be strong. honor the memory of george floyd, honor his memory. they have to get tougher. and by being tougher, they will be honoring his memory. but they cannot let that happen. >> reporter: the president also addressed the scenes that we saw outside the white house last night where there were dozens of pro test -- protesters in lafayette park. the park is shut down to the public right now. we have a new statement from the

secret service detailing what happened last night. just want to read part of it. secret service says some of the demonstrations were violent, assaulting secret service officers and special agents with bricks, rocks, bough bought bot, fireworks and others, multiple people sustained injuries from the vie lenlsz. they said at no time was the president or first lady in any danger. they say they respect the right of people to assemble but don't want anything to happen with violence. we're watching to see what could happen later on this afternoon outside the white house after the president tweeted this. he said the professionally managed so-called protesters at the white house had little to do with the memory of george floyd. they were there to cause trouble. the secret service handled them. tonight is maga night at the white house. the president said he heard there was the mobility of these demonstrations -- the possibility of these demonstration. we have not seen anything

official. lafayette park is shut down to the public. as we were coming in, we noticed more secret service officers. the perimeter around pennsylvania avenue was more secure than on a typical saturday morning and will be interesting to see how the rest of the afternoon plays out. the president is due back at the white house later on this evening after that spacex launch. arthel. arthel: mark meredith, thank you very much. eric. eric: arthel, the case against former police officer derek chauvin now winds through the legal system. what comes next. joining us is former assistant attorney general, bob driscoll. we understand that the attorney general, bill barr, will likely have a statement later on this afternoon, meetings at the department of justice, your former employer in the area that you dealt with, civil rights. what will they be looking at? could there be a federal case against the officers? >> for sure. i mean, there are -- the state

will handle the murder charge like we've seen has been charged, the third degree murder. the federal government will look at basically two charges. conspiracy to violate civil rights or denial of civil rights under color of law by the officer. and they can chart other criminal statutes that the civil rights division with charge which carry pretty hefty penalties and the federal government will make a decision, they won't do that until after the state process is far down the line. the feds like to defer to the states where they can. the state charges might be easier to prove. for a federal civil rights charge, conduct of an officer can be bad, but have you to prove level of intent to deny someone of their federal civil rights and in this case it would be your right to due process, prior to punishment. because the poor guy was essentially killed on the street there. so the government can look into that. the doj can.

they can look at federal practice and pattern investigation of the minneapolis pd if there's a history or a pattern of police misconduct and do a civil investigation to force reforms to that department. that's a separate question. right now, what they're looking at is whether there will be federal criminal civil rights charges that would be tried in federal court after the state charges were tried. eric: when you consider that disturbing tape, eight minutes and 46 seconds in which chauvin's knee is on mr. floyd's neck and mr. floyd is saying i can't breathe, it is so disturbing. what in god's name possibly could have been going through that officer's mind at that moment that a defense lawyer if anything at all would bring up and in terms of what happened here? your thoughts on that? >> i have to say, i've seen a lot of these tapes. and this one is unique to me in that usually even if there's a

misjudgment you can at least understand what a defense of an officer would be. i really cannot justify what i saw on the tape at all. and i was early on ferguson saying i didn't think there was a prosecuteable case there. some of the other ones i've been skeptical of. this one is really unbelievable. i just don't know what the defense will be. i think the only defense i can see would be a medical defense that cause of death if it ends up being a heart problem or some kind of underlying condition which was probably triggered by what happened but not a asphyxiation, you could maybe argue the misconduct didn't cause the death. that was a horrifying scene and watching mr. floyd deion camera like that was something i don't think anyone who has seen it can really get over too quickly. so i just don't see what the defense will be. eric: it is so just appalling

and just so outra outrageous. finally third degree murder, not first. other officers not yet charged. what do you expect will happen on that front? >> i think the other officers will probably be charged at some point under a state charge at least. i think third degree -- first degree would be pre-medicated, second -- premeditated, second would be an -- it could be chargeable. i think the state wants to get a charge, get him arrested. hopefully they try to prevent what happened last night. they can supersede or bring more charges later. i'm not surprised they did a third degree murder charge, basically saying his conduct was indifferent to the loss of life that he caused. eric: i imagine as you point out they can always have a superseding indictment and bring the charges further.

bob driscoll, a very disturbing case as we all know. thank you so much. >> thanks for having me. eric: arthel. >> on the streets of minneapolis and st. paul, over the last 48 to 72 hours, has nothing -- arthel: what you are looking at there, we're back in minnesota where we have the governor walz speaking and we are going to listen in. >> we have destroyed landmarks of the nation's largest indigenous communities that ripped a hole in the soul of a people that have been on press d from the minute we became a state. we stand on the land of the people who created that and the people who were on the streets last night burned it down. they are not us. they do not share our values. they destroyed our public libraries and our public

infrastructure. the chaos created stopped us from delivering school meals to hundreds of thousands of hungry children across this state at a time of covid-19. they want nothing to do with the decency, they want nothing to do with what we strive for. they can't say the name philando castile because they don't know the history. they're not here to make that difference. this group is. so as minnesotans, don't listen to me. listen to these voices. i listen to them. as a white man who walks through life with that privilege, walk in these shoes. walk in these communities. they took me in. they sat me down. they challenge me when i'm wrong. they teach me what it looks like and they advocate for change and try and hold me accountable. when i fail them, they tell me. when we succeed, we succeed together as truly one minnesota.

and so with that, as a group of mentors here, none more important to me, someone who stands for the first time in eight weeks in the same room, my friend, a leader in this community, lieutenant governor peggy flanigan. [ applause ] arthel: so that was the governor, that was the governor of minnesota, mr. tim walz who has been very passionate. he's very concerned about what's happening there in his state, personsly in the -- especially in the town of minneapolis, st. paul, the twin cities. he is saying the people who are showing up now, setting fires, they don't live here, don't know what we stand for so they must leave. understand she's are outsiders trying to create problems inside our community. that was the governor, he's been on top of it since the

beginning, telling it like it is. we will monitor the rest of the news conference, and if there's news we need to share with you, we will do that very thing. right now we'll get more on this on how law enforcement is dealing with the fallout from george floyd's death and the protests across the country. we want to bring in right now retired nypd lieutenant darren porcher. lieutenant, thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me. arthel: i want to talk more about what the governor was just saying, basically pointing out all these outsider who are there to sow confusion and chaos. what is the first order of business in your expertise to contain and calm them and detain these rioters who are showing up in that community to just create havoc? >> well, as a former nypd lieutenant, i refer back to me being a practitioner in new york city and many instances we had what we referred to as paid agitators. these were people who were paid

by specific groups to come in and quote, unquote, raise a level of anarchy, throwing things, just creating somewhat of a miscreant society, i don't want to use the term riot or protest, this is riotous behavior. we knew who a lot these people were. you would see them at one demonstration and a week later you would see the same agitator protesting all over again. they knew nothing nor cared anything about what the actual event was involved around. it's one of these things where the police department is going to have to utilize their intelligence and that intelligence is going to go in two folds. you're going to have community leaders that members of the department are going to have that relationship with. and secondly, just based on the people that you come in contact with as an officer, you're going to be able to assess what the temperment of that particular demonstration or riot is. you're going to create a zone of

safety and you're going to create a series of for fortifications around the area that's being impacted. you will also see a try angulation of different law enforcement agencies. when i refer to the trian a triangulation i'm referring to the local and state police and the national guard or military mp, so-to-speak. they'll strategize how to best fit the personnel for the purpose of omni presence and the arrests will be conducted by local police departments because that local police department is going to have a greater understanding of the inner workers of that particular area in minneapolis. when you bring in the national guard, they're primarily going to be fixated at posts of attention, so-to-speak, such as banks, commercial establishments, things to that effect. generally, they're not going to be a part of the risk related -- arrest related activity. they will assist if the need is

there. arthel: so quickly, i understand that what you're telling me, a lot of this is based on a collection of data and intelligence and then coming together and working off of that, if i could, in 20 seconds, is there any way to speed up all of that, implement all of those practices tonight as it's needed? >> the first -- the thing you want to do, you want to introduce a show of force. when i saw show of force, that doesn't mean hurting people or being aggressive. the show of force is going to consist of personnel. you want to have a robust function of personnel in play because in many instances that will deter the riotous behavior and cause things to recede and go back to the state of normalcy. arthel: i understand. listen, we will have you again, former nypd lieutenant darren porcher. thank you very much for your expertise, sir. thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. arthel: eric. eric: you know, amid all this

there still is the coronavirus. some of the hardest hit states, they're now working toward reopening. what moves they are making and how soon it will all happen, we're straight ahead on that, next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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putting its hand in the cookie jar. this administration's strategy is when you put your hand in the

cookie jar and try to take out a cookie, you get slapped. i think that's what they're doing in response to covid and also in response to the chinese -- to the national security law in hong kong. arthel: okay. so if the idea is to punish xi jinping for all of the bad behavior that you just mentioned, punish him economically and geopolitically, is there potential collateral damage? is that potential damage too great and ultimately perhaps not worth it? >> right. this is often the problem in diplomacy. there's no perfect answer that you only get good and there is no bad. for example, when we take away special privileges of hong kong could that impact the hong kong economy and the answer is absolutely. the first thing is, who is responsible for that, the chinese communist party. the second thing, let's be honest here. china, if we don't do anything, china has no roadblocks, it will flatten hong kong like a pancake. this i think at least is the

u.s. standing up, it might cause china to pause. i think it's similar with the w.h.o. will china have more influence in the world health organization. possibly. if the united states didn't raise a red flag and say no more, we're not going to stand for this, there would have been no obstacles. i think you have to make the chinese pay a cost for what they do. it's the only way to start to get their attention and curve their behavior. arthel: get it. i don't think anyone listening wants hong kong to be folded back into communist china. so what is it that the president can do right now to stop china from taking over hong kong and trying to dilute its autonomy? what can he do. >> remember, hong kong is part of the country of china. but what we can make them do is pay a price for all their malfeasance, whether it's how they dealt with covid or what they're doing with china or for example exploiting the u.s. education system. sending people over here to -- as students to spy on us and steal things.

by for example cutting off certain chinese students, we're sending a message to beijing, you will lose access to the greatest university system on the planet if you don't start to play by the rules. i think they're appropriate, they're responsible and they're sending a tough message to china, we're not going to put up with the abusive and ex motive behavior. arthel: i understand hong kong is part of china. it's autonomous. it's under its own law. that is what xi jinping is threatening to do, bring it back under the communist rule. that's what i'm asking you, what the president should do regarding that. >> there is a basic law, which is when sovereignty was returned to china from the british, they would abide by this. of course, the national security law completely violates that. one of the things the administration announced is these could constitute human rights violations. we could punish individual chinese leaders, them for their actions. i think that threat for example,

i think is very powerful and very appropriate. arthel: okay. listen, so much going on, i appreciate you breaking it all down, james carafano, and i'm sure we'll talk to you again, sir. thank you very much. >> thanks, good luck. long day. arthel: eric. eric: speaking of china, beijing and china gave us coronavirus and now some of the hardest hit cities in our country are starting to move to the early stages of reopening. anita vogel has the very latest. >> reporter: some encouraging news from around the country as the numbers of cases and deaths decline, more and more states start to slowly reopen their communities. let's start right here in california. a state that was early to lock down and has been a bit late in opening up. as of last night, residents in los angeles county got welcome news with word that barber shops and salons can reopen and even

limited indoor dining is allowed, even though la county had the most serious covid outbreak in the state with the highest number of deaths. the governor is saying the data is allowing the state to move into phase three. for some salon employees it was the news they have been waiting for. >> if i can help my family again -- sorry, it's emotional. but i can participate in my household duties, so that feels good. i have three children at home. >> the point though is that line over the course of many, many weeks is stable and within that frame of stability again gives us confidence that counties can decide on their own pace what's best for them in terms of their reopening plans. >> reporter: as we look at the map of the nation, you can see most states in orange, that means they're partially reopened, yellow indicates regional openings or pockets of openings around individual

states, and green means fully reopened. right now, the only state is alaska. according to new york governor andrew cuomo, hard-hit new york city is set to slowly reopen its businesses on june 8th. since late march, close to a million jobs have disappeared and more than 20,000 people have died there. one hot spot, california officials are keeping their eye on is the mexican border town of mexicali. it is experiencing a spike in cases and health officials are hoping they don't spread to hospitals here in the golden state. they'll be keeping their eye on that. eric, back to you. eric: the slow rollout of the reopenings certainly reassuring. all right, anita. thank you. arthel. arthel: well, eric, as we monitor all the goings on as a result of the killing of mr. george floyd in minnesota, specifically minneapolis, we want to jump in now and listen

to minnesota attorney general keith ellison who is speaking on this very subject. >> went to a 95%y advantage 95. moving to minnesota experiencing that same pain and the pain against our own people and how i get through it is the same way that my ancestors have gotten through it over the last 400 years. arthel: clearly, that is not mr. keith ellison, attorney general for minnesota. when the attorney general does take the podium, the le we willt back to him. nasa astronauts, they're in the rocket waiting to launch from the kennedy space center in florida. but the weather could be a factor again today. the latest on what we are hearing about the launch on this historic day. that is up next. and right now, is a time for action.

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eric: the era of american manned space scheduled to resume two hours from now. nasa and space x are attempting an historic launch this afternoon. the falcon 9 will carry two astronauts back into space, the first astronauts in nearly a decade to launch from american soil. phil keating is live at cape canaveral florida where they're preparing to launch pretty soon. >> reporter: we are one hour and 46 minutes and 27 seconds away from liftoff, if the weather cooperates. it's sunny right now. it just stopped raining. it had been raining for 15 or 20 minutes. that was the first round of that today. officially, this launch is a go, all the systems are good. it's all going to come down to the weather and the launch probability today at 3:22 eastern, right now just 50/50. out on launch pad-39a, it is

ready to launch, the hatch just closed. the astronauts are in there, they've been sitting in the capsule for an hour now. on wednesday, the astronauts were suited up and strapped in when just about 16 minutes away from blastoff the spacex team scrubbed the launch due to too much electricity in the air from day-long storms which could happen again today. the air force's weather squad drop provides the analysis for launch criteria, cloud issues, rain issues, and it can wait all the way to 30 seconds from launch time to rule a no go. >> if that happens again on saturday, we will cancel again. the bottom line is, we are not in a rush. we are putting bob and doug at the top of a rocket for the first time in history. this rocket has never flown

humans before. if we need to be safe, we're going to be safe. >> reporter: tens and tens of thousands of people flocked to the coast wednesday for the first launch of astronauts in an american rocket from florida in nearly a decade and they are back out at the beaches, at titusville, all over the place, wherever you can see the rocket launch. here's a look at the crowd at cocoa beach right now, aiming for a two-fer, enjoying the sand and surf and a rocket launch as icing on the cake. everybody is crossing their fingers that mother nature will play along. air force one is en route, all planning to attend the launch and the returning to space, what is being dubbed launch america again, launch time set for 3:22 eastern time, it's an

instantaneous launch. if the weather is not good at that moment, we'll have to wait again. eric: all right. it's exciting. we'll have live coverage with neil cavuto, just under two hours from now. thanks, phil. arthel. arthel: exciting indeed. joining us now with more insight on today's launch is astronaut randy bresnik. if you could, besides of course being laser focused on all the necessary checklists, take us inside the minds of the astronauts. what are they thinking, how might they be feeling? >> it's groundhog day, they're back in there again, going through all the checkouts, they're certainly excited but it's also calming they had the few days of rest. things are probably relatively calm for them. they both launched twice out of cape canaveral and they're familiar with how that goes and the odds of weather. on my first launch we had like

30% weather, chance of go, we suited up and we went. you can never tell. the weather guessers never quite have that figured out. they're thinking about the rocket. it was built by folks in california and texas and assembled in florida and it's been years in development and the first time they get to fly so they're certainly excited. as we get closer to launch and the last few minutes, that's the point where you thick about your family and -- think about your family, both have young boys in elementary school age, thinking about their sons, watching their launch, culmination of their careers. they both have spouse that's have launched on rockets before. they certainly understand that dynamic. it's a really special time to be able to have this new rocket launching out of u.s. soil, it's a great day and hopefully the weather will cooperate. arthel: we hope so as well. you know, i would like to know what memories does this event

evoke in you. you've been up a few years ago was the last time you were up in space. how do you feel when you watch this 234. >>?>> my first launch, my wife s nine months pregnant. if i launched, that meant i missed the birth of my daughter, which i did. she gave birth while i was out in space. i certainly was thinking about my family when i launched. i knew that everybody in the whole space shuttle business and -- had done their utmost to make the vehicle safe. i wasn't worried about that. the other thought i had was in july of 2011 i was -- you saw those suits and the folks in the crew a few minutes ago, getting them in the capsule, i was number two on that crew. i was the lead astronaut. they closed out sts135 and space

shuttle atlantis with doug hurley on it. i was the last one out of the shuttle, so this is a very special moment to me, the fact that i was the last one out before the last launch and now we're launching the next launch. it's been far too long. i'm glad it's coming. we have boeing on the way right behind it. it's a neat time to be part of the space agency. we're looking at o orion a coupe years and after that, lunar landers will put people on the moon in 2024. arthel: this is exciting. we're all so excited about this. randy, i know you're excited. i'm sorry you missed the birth of your daughter when you were up in space yourself a few years ago because you said your wife had to do all the hard work. because you weren't there. guess what, she did all the hard work anyway because she was the one that popped out the baby. thank you for -- what did you say?

>> i said my daughter's 10. so i only have 40 more years of payback for that one ave. arthel.[ laughter ] arthel: thank you very much. eric: that's the best excuse i ever heard for missing -- i'm up in space, you know, you're way up there. coming up on the fox news channel, the communities have been hard-hit by coronavirus and have been dealing with protests and riots that damaged some of their cities. hundreds of businesses now have to deal with that. what will they do? we'll tell you, straight ahead. ♪

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tenergy intoll whohelping others.eir to anyone helping and caring in their own way. thank you. like you, we're always on. we're proud to put our energy behind you. southern company eric: we saw the continued riots overnight in response to the death of george floyd. you know, there are peaceful protests and vigils across the country honoring his memory and call for justice. adrienne garcia join us now, serving as commissioner in harris county, texas, that's houston. spent 23 years on the houston

police force as a former city councilman there. you were at a vigil this morning. tell us about what you experienced. >> yes. well, first, let me just say that my heart and thoughts and prayers are with george floyd, his family, and his friends. the vigil that i was at today was in the third ward community where george grew up and attended high school over at jack yates high school. there was a lot of folks there wearing the jack yates t-shirt. they came together and the conversation at the time that i had and shared was recognizing that vigils and protests are the best possible ways to affect change in any system or situation that you don't agree with. however, having been a kid who saw the last riot in houston,

which was known as the moody park riot, i know that rioting, burning vehicles, destroying property, flinging bottles, is not the way to affect change. it's just not the way. eric: you've been on the force for more than two decades and you're a top government official. the governor of minnesota is blaming outside agitators, the president's saying antifa and he calls it the radical left. he says authorities in minnesota should get tougher. why does this spiral out of control in this way? do you agree with that and what is the message to tamp it down and stop it. >> i would just say first that agitators have been a part of these situations, just as i mentioned the riot that i was in or saw, rather, when i was a kid, did have agitators, outside agitators that had nothing to do with the community, that were

there to incite further unrest. so we know that that's a part. they are getting much more sophisticated. they are using technology. they are using intelligence to get their way. and that's why at this time of unrest, we need leadership that will bring people together and we need leadership that will listen. we need leadership that will understand what the community is saying by virtue of their protest and by virtue of them being caught up in the moment of what may lead into a riot. we need leadership that really understands what needs to happen in government. and i'm proud of the fact that in houston, harris county, we've had many protests but very few have turned into full-blown riots like moody park became. we had a protest yesterday. it tried to spiral out of hand. it didn't. thanks to the local law

enforcement officials. by the same token, it is leadership that knows how to engage the community, knows how to listen and knows how to get to work. eric: we're right up against the clock. thank you.

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eric: remember the old days, watching space launches with walter cronkite and huntley brinkley and all those. it kind of has a recommen reminf that time. the astronauts are inside the capsule, ready to launch off from cape canaveral. really exciting, just like america back in space, the first manned launch from our soil in quite a long time, arthel. arthel: yeah, we are very much excited about this. this is definitely symbolism of america, of americans, and this is something that we need today because we're all rooting for this to happen. so it's a nice unifier for -- during these times and we're looking forward to it. the big deal is, i mean, the most fascinating thing about this launch here is that they can pull it -- they can scrap it as late as 30 seconds before

launch time, which is phenomenal. so fantastic. and so thrilling. it's like a big suspense. that will be due to the weather, of course. eric: yeah. you know, also it's so interesting today because coverage -- you have two astronauts and during the space shuttles, there were so many, it became commonplace and accepted. this one feels really, really special, like the previous days when we first started to explore the outer frontier. arthel: well, that's exciting. that's it for us. right now. but stick around because jon scott continues our coverage right here on the fox news channel. i'm arthel neville, he's eric shawn. thanks for watching. ey will, buh accident forgiveness allstate won't raise your rates just because of an accident, even if it's your fault. cut! sonny. was that good? line! the desert never lies. isn't that what i said? no you were talking about allstate and insurance.

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because only tempur-pedic adapts and responds to your body... ...so you get deep, uninterrupted sleep. during the tempur-pedic summer of sleep, all tempur-pedic mattresses are on sale! >> protests across the country growing increasingly violent. welcome to america's news headquarters i'm jon scott, fox team coverage on all of this. first let's check in where it all began, steve harrigan on the ground now in minneapolis, steve. steve: jon, the crowd here giving a cheer to firefighters. it's not clear how much of that post office is actually left. you look into the back area, it's entirely collapsed and the flames were still peeking out all day today, 200 businesses have been burned down in the last couple of nights. a lot of small