judy: good evening. i am judy woodruff. guilty, a minneapolis jury convicts derek chauvin on all counts for the murder of george floyd. we get reaction from across the nation. then greener skies, efforts to create electric planes and cleaner jet fuel become more urgent as the climate emergency intensifies. 0 today we ultimately need liquid fuels. it does not have to be fossil fuels. sustainable aviation fuel exists. airlines have been flying on it for some time. judy: and making history. former vice president al gore is here to remember walter mondale and how he helped transform the highest level of american government.

>> the model we established of executivizing the vice president, working with the president all day long, has been the model since. judy: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour." ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> major funding forward the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to let people do more of what they like. our customer service team can help find the plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. ♪

>> the john s. and james l. knight foundation. more at kf.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. judy: the verdict is in in the case that has riveted the nation, the trial of derek chauvin, the former minneapolis

police officer was found guilty today of killing george floyd last may. the jury, six white and six black or multiracial, deliberated 10 hours, and the judge announced the result. >> count one, we the jury in the above titled manner, unintentional second-degree murder, find the defendant guilty. this verdict agreed to this 20th day of april, 2020, signed juror number 19. same caption, verdict count t wo. we, the jury, in the above entitled matter as to count two, third degree murder perpetrating an eminently dangerous act, find the defendant guilty. this verdict agreed to this 20th day of april, 2021, at 1:45 pm. signed by jury foreperson, juror number 19. same caption, verdict count three. we, the jury, in the above entitled matter as to count three, second degree manslaughter, culpable

negligence creating an unreasonable risk, find the defendant guilty. judy: an expectant crowd erected in cheers and celebration outside the mini palace courthouse -- minneapolis courthouse. minnesota's attorney general keith ellison spoke minutes later. >> i would not call today's verdict justice, however, because justice implies true restoration, but it is accountability, which is the first step towards justice, and now because of justice is in your hands. when i say your hands, i mean the hands of the people of the united states. george floyd mattered. he was loved by his family and friends. his death shocked the conscious -- conscience of our community and the whole world.

he was loved by his family and friends, but that isn't why he mattered. he mattered because he was a human being, and there is no way we can turn away from that reality. judy: our special correspondent fred de sam lazaro has been covering the trial for us. he is outside that minneapolis courtroom. you've been there throughout the trial. we just saw pictures of people cheering. what are you seeing, a what are people saying to you? fred: judy, i am at a distance where i can hear you because otherwise i wouldn't be able to. the party continues a short hop from where i am standing. there's a great deal of jubilation. i expect that is going to continue later into thevening and into the wee hours of the morning, here and into george floyd square, and i suspect in

the broader twin cities area, there are a lot of people heaving a sigh of relief given that this is a city that has been boarded up in anticipation of the alternative. a lot of people dreaded what that might have brought to the streets. judy: give us a sense of what the anticipation was like and what you expect to happen now given these verdicts. fred: i think a lot of people were optimistic, and there was quite a bit of pent up anticipation this afternoon. there was some optimism, but guarded because of the history in these cases, which have seen rarely a conviction of police officers. that said, there's a great deal of business to be done. the sentencing phase of the trial will happen in the weeks ahead. then we have the trials, the three officers with him.

that will be held in august, and concurrent with all of this was the shooting of daunte wright and that is ricocheting around the comnity. there's a lot of what folks would call around here unfinished business even amid the celebration. judy: fred de sam lazaro, i know you are going to continue to cover as we go forward. thank you. none of vaux gets reaction from a community leader in minnesota. >> in the neighboring city of st. paul, we are going to take a closer look at how the jury's decision is coming down. melvin carr is the mayor of st. paul, which along with minneapolis forms the twin cities. mayor carter, welcome back to the newshour. thank you for making the time. derek chauvin has been found guilty on all three counts.

what was your reaction? >> thanks for having me on. i was one of those people outside the courthouse as the verdict was read. i was speechless. the crowd out there was weighted -- wiating on pins and needles. someone shouted guilty, and a sigh of relief. it was as though oxygen was provided to everybody in that space for the first time in quite a long time. we have another trial. we will see a trial ultimately for daunte wright, and we have a lot of work to do in our legislative session, but this is an important milestone. amna: you and i spoke the day after george floyd was killed, may 26, 2020. since then, the world has come to know his name. there have been protests in his name around the world. in this trial, everybody has

been watching and waiting for the verdict. to you, what was at stake in that courtroom? mayor carter: everything was at stake. i believe the young lady who shot that video deserves a pulitzer prize. that is one of the most consequential videos shot in a generation. the accused officer chauvin, his future was at stake, but moreover, as the world looks at this atrocious act where any civilization could look at and say, that's wrong, that is murder, and we had to wait on pins and needles to wait to learn if our legal system had the capacity could to -- capacity to convict someone. it is not to be taken for granted. we saw eric gardner who said "i can't breathe" 11 times, and no one was held accountable for his killing. we've asked ourselves, how bad

does it have to be? how well-documented does it have to be for someone to be held accountable? we've established a baseline today. we have a lot of work to do to build on top of that baseline, but it gives us an opportunity to start looking up and moving towards a brighter day. amna: as you mentioned, there are other trials ahead. you and i spoke a year ago, and you mentioned there were other officers, and those officers on the scene will also faced trials. we believe they are scheduled for august. what do you believe this verdict holds for accountability in those cases? i don't know. they have their due process, as well. what i shared with you then is what i believe now. the fact that every time something like this happens, somebody might want to say, this is a bad apple, one individual person, but the fact you had officer derek chauvin who the

jury confirmed murdered george floyd and has been convicted of that murder, and while he did it, there were three officers guarding the scene, holding him back. that speaks to a culture we must address and eradicate. this is about seeing justice in our courtroom. as one of the young men said, justice is living in a world where george floyd wasever murdered in the first place. it is also about seeing justice in our police practices. it is about seeing justice in our legislation. we have an and norma's amount of work to do. in my mind and of the minds of the people i saw outside that rally, our minds are on that that a norma's body of work ahead. amna: mayor carter, as an elected official, when you look back at the trauma of the last

year, people watching this video over and over, the stress and anxiety of waiting for a verdict, and now this one moment today of accountability, how do you lead your community forward out of this? . it has been an and norma's amount of trauma. when that voice shouted guilty and around me some people were happy and started smiling. some people burst out in tears. some people dropped to their knees and started praying. we have a lot to knit back together. we've committed ourselves through this framework we called the community first public safety framework that says we need a public safety framework that is more proactive than we have seen over the past generation. we are going to continue to push that body of work forward. amna: mayor melvin carter joining us tonight, thank you for your time. . thank you.

-- mayor carter: thank you. judy: we take a broader look at this issue with chuck wexler, executive director of a washington, d.c. based think tank, and janai nelson, associate director counsel for the naacp legal defense and education fund. thank you for being here. i want to start with you, chuck wexler, someone who has studied the police, has seen time and again police found not guilty in cases like this, cases where someone died. how are you reacting right now? chuck: this case was a defining moment for policing. this was so agreed just. the use of force was so clear and so clear cut that for the

last 11 months, first of all, the condolences go to the floyd family, number one, but for every working cop that saw that video over and over again, they thought to themselves, what was that cop thinking? that has taken a toll on the country. it's taken a toll on communities across the country. there's not a police chief, a cop i know of who did not want this police officer found guilty. it was so egregious and so bad in many ways, but i think this is a turning point. what you saw in minneapolis is you saw the police chief, the most senior homicide person, all the cops on the same side of justice, and i think that was a turning point. today, i think the community and cops were on the same side. judy: janai nelson, someone who

works for the naacp that works towards equality for all americans, how are you seeing this verdict? janai: i am seeing this verdict as an inflection point. it is a floor. it is sadly something we could not count on. this conviction was well deserved. it is something that should have been beyond any doubt, and yet many of us were bracing ourselves for an alternative that could have been incredibly devastating not only for the family of george floyd, to whom i extend the legal defense fund 's most sincere condolences, but also for the greater community that is working so hard to peacefully bring change and transition a transformation to the way that we conduct a public

safety apparatus in our country. right now, it is woefully broken. it is clear that even with the conviction like the one we saw today, that is not a panacea. it is not a solve for the murders and killings and other forms of violence that continue to be visited on black and brown communities, as we saw in the daunte wright case, adam toledo's case, and the others that precedeit, including breonna taylor's. judy: chuck wexler, will policing change after this? chuck: i think it is going to take a lot of work. i know people are motivated to change. this is a defining moment, this entire year, but we need to really be tough and be tough on

ourselves. we need to be prepared to look at these videos and say, what could we do differently? i worry about, who do we want to be the cops of the future? when you are in a crisis, there's nothing better than a good cop and nothing worse than a bad cop. i believe today was a defining moment. justice prevailed, but i think we've got our work cut out for us. judy: from your perspective, how do you s the work that lies ahead? what are the next steps that need to come after this verdict? janai: we need to work on two tracks. we need to work on police accountability because police are not going away tomorrow. they are with us for the near future. while they are continuing to work in our communities, we need to make sure they are treating everyone fairly, that they are not engaging in wanton violence, and that they are held

accountable, but we don't want accountability after the fact where there have been violent episodes. what we want is a new system of public safety that does not disproportionately denied dignity and humanity to black and brown communities. that is a radically different vision of the policing system that we have now, and a system of public safety that we have submitted two. that must change. if we want to ensure that there are no more george floyds, if we want to ensure young people are given the benefit of the doubt when engaged in an encounter with police. if we want to ensure a future in this country where there can be a modicum of safety that every person can rely upon, constitutional, civil, and human rights that will be protected fundamentally. we need to think of something very different from the current policing system and system of

public safety we have, and we need to work on two tracks to do that. we can pass the george floyd justice in policing act. that would be a step on the road to justice for george floyd, to have legislation in his name that improves policing and public safety. judy: legislation that has passed the house of representatives and is now before the senate. is the kind of policing that jenae nelson is describing, is that feasible? chuck: i think we have to work together. right now, we have divided communities. we have to take responsibility. why do police owned those demonstrations? they should be working with the community. we should be engaged with them. the future is not necessarily just legislation. the future is thinking

differently about the police. how do we prevent what happened in minneapolis? how do we change training? training in this country has not changed in 25 years, but i am optimistic. police want to do a good job. we do need to fundamentally change. it is going to take work, but i am optimistic. we can't move onto the next video and get preoccupied. i talk with police chiefs all the time. they are devastated by this case. that is not who they are. i think in terms of the future, we have to think differently, no question. judy: in this short time we have left, is it your sense that this kind of working together can happen? janai: i certainly think there are many opportunities that are immediate and which police

officers, law enforcement agencies can step up and stand up for better protection of communities and against those officers and systems of policing that render communities of color the victims of police violence all too often. that does not supplant the absolute need for a transformed system of public safety. the one we have now is deeply infected with systemic racism, has historical roots in the subjugation of black people, and continues to operate in a way that systematically terrorizes our communities, that is something that will be very difficult to reform. what we need is transformation, and i think this is a moment where we can all try to work collectively towards that transformation of public safety. judy: miss nelson with the naacp

legal defense fund, chuck wexler, executive director of the police executive research forum, we thank you both. yamich alcindor has been following this case closely. she is getting reaction on the streets outside the white house. yamiche: there is a sense of bittersweet relief. there is relief that the video of derek chauvin leaning on the neck of george floyd, the consequence of that is him being a convicted murderer, but people tell me justice would be george floyd still being alive. justice would be black americans not being some three times more likely to be killed by the police than white americans. that is the reality people face. while people are pleased with the verdict, my understanding is people say this has to be the beginning of the change. it can't just be one case it has

to be systemic. i've been hearing names of other people who got killed by the police, including breonna taylor and tamir rice. is so rare for an officer to be convicted. people feel so hurt by what this country endured over the last year. people started gathering here because of the death of george floyd, and now people are here celebrating, but still very much hurt and traumatize. judy: of course, your regular beat is the white house where we saw president biden earlier today essentially pronounce derek chauvin guilty before we even heard of the jury's verdict. he said the verdict in his mind was very clear, and we understand shortly after it was announced, he called the george floyd family. yamiche: we are told the president, as well as the vice president, watched the verdict in real-time, and soon after, he

phoned the brother of george floyd. earlier today, the president said he was praying for the right verdict. he said it was overwhelming that this officer should be convicted. the white house was trying to be cautious after the president said that, but we can report that the president feels relieved. he says it's a family that understands him and someone who has endured to own children. here's the president reaching out to the floyd family. we're supposed to be hearing from the president at some point this afternoon, and i can imagine white house officials would say you would hear from a president who is empathetic, someone who will say that even though this verdict went right, there's a sense there is going to be someone missing at the dinner table, and george floyd of the brother, the uncle, he will be missed, and this country has to do better. there cannot be another george floyd. judy: how much effort, muscle do

you believe the president is going to be putting behind this police reform legislation? yamiche: from my understanding, police reform is a top priority of president biden. the issue is there is legislation moving through congress, but the senate is so closely tied that if republicans cannot get on board, they don't see a way to get legislation through. i'm told senator booker and senator tim scott, they are working on this legislation together, and i am told president biden will be involved in those talks, will be involved in getting the george floyd justice in policing act pushed through. at this moment where george floyd is top of mind, there's a sense that some bipartisan legislation can get through given that this officer is now convicted. there's a sense that there is a line that police crossed, and both sides of the isle should be able to get on board to say, we can do better as a nation. judy: yamiche alcindor, very

close to the white house at black lives matter plaza a block or so away, thank you very much. yamiche: thanks so much. ♪ stephanie: i am stephanie sy. we will return to the full program after the latest. updating our top story, president biden did react to today's verdict saying it was a step towards justice. he spoke alongside vice president, harris, the first black person to hold that office. president biden: it was a murder in the full light of day, and it ripped at the blinders off for the whole world to see. systemic racism is a stain on our nation's soul. vice president harris: it is not just a black american problem or

a people of color problem. it is a problem for every american. it is keeping us from fulfilling the promise of liberty and justice for all. stephanie: democrats in the u.s. house of representatives blocked a vote on censuring congresswoman maxine waters. the california democrat had said that if derek chauvin were acquitted in the death of george floyd, we've got to get more confrontational. republicans argued she was inciting violence. latino lawyers and community leaders in chicago called for a federal investigation of the police shooting death of adam toledo. a chicago officer killed of the 13-year-old last month after a chase in a dark alley. the latino leaders demanded an accelerated overhaul of policing. >> the killing of adam toledo at the hands of police brings to the forefront the pressing need

to address the chicago police department enforcement policies and practices in the latino community. we cannot leave it up to the police department to investigate itself and expect meaningful reforms. stephanie: police video appears to show the teenager dropping a gun and raising his hands a moment before the officer fired. covid-19 infection set more records today. india had a more than 200,000 new cases for a sixth straight day and 1700 60 deaths, the most yet. european regulators recommended that johnson & johnson's vaccine carry a warning label about extremely rare blood clots. they said the vaccine possible benefits far outweigh the risk. carbon dioxide emissions are surging as the world economy recovers from the pandemic. the international energy agency predicts a 5% increase this year, approaching the peak levels of 2014.

the group says demand for coal is driving the increase. and russia, alexei navalny's personal doctors were barred from seeing today at a prison hospital. the opposition leader has had worsening health and is protesting the decision to refuse his doctors by continuing a hunger strike. rallies protesting his treatment our plan tomorrow across russia. the president of chad has died after more than 30 years in power. the central african nation's military said he was wounded outside the capitol as he visited troops were battling rebels. he had just been declared the winner of a sixth term in office, a transitional council named his son interim president. still to come, efforts to make a greener jet fuel take off amid the climate crisis. al gore remembers the life and legacy of former vice president walter mondale.

>> this is the "pbs newshour" from w eta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: air travel is picking up steadily as more americans get vaccinated, and while that may be good news for the industry, it is bad news for the creation of more emissions and climate change. miles o'brien looks at efforts to reduce those emissions and to help airlines fly greener skies. it is part of our coverage on the consequences of climate change, and our reporting done in tandem with the international journalism project called covering climate now. it is a coproduction with pbs nova. >> in the world of aviation, a new era is taking shape. what began with kitty hawk and then moved into the jet age is

now going electric. >> in less than 12 months, we have went from zero to flying not one but two actual practical aircraft. roy is ceo of a company that makes high-powered electric motors ideally suited for flight. >> our goal as a company is to build a generational business that 40 years from now people will be flying in electric aircraft propelled by our motors. miles: in may of 2020, they flew this caravan retrofitted with one of their motors. it's a milestone and also a baby step, it caravan with a turbine engine can carry nine people 900 miles. the batteries on this plane limit the payload to four people and the range to 100 miles. is it too soon to be practical?

>> that's not the right question. the right question is, does anybody need a caravan they can take today four people 100 miles. miles: pound for pound, liquid fuel contain 16 times more energy than the best batteries. while short hops on small planes may be possible, the batteries needed to fly big airliners on long flights would make the plane way too heavy. karen heads the mechanical engineering department at pennsylvania state university. >> i think it is not really within my lifetime we are going to get to a fully electric aircraft. that is a twin aisle aircraft that can fly across the ocean. miles: the aviation industry burns 90 balance of jet -- 90 billion gallons of jet fuel a year, contributing to 2% to 2.5% of human contributed greenhouse gas emissions. >> we need to come up with new

solutions, and those are going to take a long time to penetrate the entire fleet. miles: many airlines are offsetting emissions by funding carbon reductions elsewhere, so-called carbon credits. sarah bogden's head of sustainability at jetblue. >> today we ultimately need liquid fuels. it doesn't have to be fossil fuels. sustainable aviation fuel exists. airlines have been flying on it for some time. miles: today, airliners fueling up in california use 4 million gallons of sustainable fuel a year. it reduces carbon emissions by as much as 80% before it is blended with fossil fuel. >> our goal is to have over 100 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel in the market by

the end of 2025. that is a big jump. miles: jennifer holmgren is ceo of lansentech, a company focused on making fuel with recycled co2 captured from smokestacks at steel mills. >> this is probably the largest dedicated gas fermentation laboratory. sean simpson cofounded the company in his home country new zealand 16 years ago. they are harnessing the power of an ancient microbe, first isolated in rabbit droppings. they began exposing it to the gases that are belched from smokestacks at steel mills. at first, it was a finicky eater, but soon, it started devouring the waste during a fermentation process, creati ethanol. >> it is like a brewery. it's as simple as that.

in traditional fermentation, we feed it sugar. our organisms gases. we've built the brewery of tomorrow. miles: the technique can make all kinds of smokestacks and landfills a source of recycled carbon. >> the molecules being fermented, the gas being fermented, i knew it was not available in steel mills. it was available in refineries. it was going to be available if we gasify solids. this can have a really big impact. miles: the company has worked hard to scale up the process. one plant is operating in china, and two others are under construction. there are two more being built in india and belgium. the pacific northwest national laboratory found a way to convert the ethanol into jet fuel.

they hope to produce 10 million gallons a year at a plant in georgia by 2022. >> the idea that you turn the co2 waste out of a steel mill into fuel is positively magical, isn't it? >> i found it completely magical, and i still find it completely magical, and they've proven it to work. miles: virgin the holdings founder richard branson became an aliment -- and nam are to with the idea years ago -- enamoured with the idea years ago. tell us about why you did that and what that proved. >> it was pioneering, but it was still in the early days. it was just trying to get the world to know that there was this wonderful of a company pushing the boundaries forward and hopefully one day

governments would come in and support them enough to make it really hum. judy: sustainable aviation fuel comes with a hefty price. in california, the business model works because the state has passed laws incentivizing fuel suppliers to refine fuel with less carbon and sell it to jetblue and others. >> california has been an incredible proof point of how these fuels can grow and become lucrative and be available to the customers looking for them. we are supportive of additional states adding incentives, and also for a federal perspective so we can see it more broadly. judy: so long as people choose flights based on the lowest fare, carbon neutral fuels will have a hard time taking flight without some incentives, but it is a proven way to start picking some high hanging fruit in the climate change challenge.

i am miles o'brien in skokie, illinois. judy: novas documentary "the great electric airplane race" premieres may 26 at 8:00 p.m. central on pbs. former vice president walter mondale passed away last night at his home in minneapolis. he transformed the role of vice president and championed civil-rights under president jimmy carter before losing his own run for the presidency. william brangham has this look at mondale's life and legacy. >> thank you very much. william: he stood as the standardbearer for which -- liberal values against a conservative icon. >> we didn't win, but we made history. that fight has just begun.

miles: mondale lost the election. he rose to the top of the democratic party at the high tide of liberalism only to watch that tide go out. a mondale reflected on his life in politics on "the newshour." >> we had our chance. politics is cyclical. people wanted to slow down a little bit and review and consolidate. that was the reagan era, and i think they were having their high tide then. william: walter mondale was born in minnesota in 1928. he started as a 20-year-old working on the campaign of fellow minnesota and hubert humphrey. mondale spent two years in the army before heading to law school, and by the age of 32, he was named attorney general. he stepped onto the national stage when senator humphrey

won the vice presidency in 1964, and mondale was tapped to his senate seat and elected to a full term two years later. in washington, he championed the fair housing and civil-rights acts. >> it was partisan. we had our debates. there was kind of an underlying sense of civility. william: in 1976, jimmy carter made the season senator his running mate. the outsider relied on carter as his guide to washington's political workings. mondale expanded the traditional role of the vice presidency from figurehead to partner. >> i wanted to be a troubleshooter, and i wanted to take on chores around the country and around the world. >> as a peanut farmer, i'll need

a lot of help. i felt the vice president would be the best one to give me the help i needed. william: mondale traveled the world, promoting the administration's foreign policy, including trips to help broker a peace deal between israel and egypt. >> never have the prospects for peace been so favorable. never have the dangers of failure been so great. william: he strongly disagreed with president carter at times. he argued against the president 's crisis of confidence speech and against the embargo on the soviet union. mondale talked about his trailblazing term with judy woodruff. >> the we established of executivizing the vice president, as i did, has been the model since. william: as oil prices skyrocketed, the carter administration foundered.

in 1980, ronald reagan took the white house from mr. carter after one term. mondale returned to private life, but he geared up for his own presidential run. mondale won the democratic nomination in 1984. then facing reagan who was now a popular incumbent, mondale made a bold move, naming congresswoman geraldine ferraro as his running mate, the first female vice presidential candidate on a major party ticket. >> i had many people tell me it was the best national convention we ever had. people were thrilled. crowds were building up outside the hall. >> my name is geraldine ferraro. america is the land where dreams can come true for all of us. william: at the democratic convention, mondale sot to persuade the country that the

reagan era prosperity was a bubble and a reckoning would come. >> mr. reagan will raise taxes, and so will i. he won't tell you. i just did. william: but the message failed to resonate during an economic boom, and the former vice president struggled to escape the policy failures of president carter. >> i'd rather be the underdog in a campaign about decency than to be ahead in a campaign only about self-interest. william: as the cold war dragged on, mondale called for a nuclear freeze, which president reagan used to paint him week on national defense. on the debate stage, his prospects brightened briefly when mr. reagan stumbled with questions about his age and mental fitness, but the president came back with his famous retort.

>> i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i will not exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. william: even mondale joined in the laughter but later said that was the moment he knew he lost the election. on election day, it was a crushing rout. mondale lost every state but his home state of minnesota and the district of columbia. >> although i would've rather won -- [applause] tonight, we rejoice in our democracy. we rejoice in the freedom of a wonderful people, and we accept their verdict. william: mondale returned again to private life before president clinton named him as ambassador to japan in 1993. he later served as an envoy to indonesia. in 2002, he returned for a final campaign when minnesota democratic senator paul

wellstone died in a plane crash. mondale ran in wellstone's stead, 22 years after he last held elected office, but he lost. >> i love minnesotans, and what is the end of my last campaign, i want to say to minnesotans, you've always treated me decently. you've always listen to me. william: mondale endured personal tragedy in those final years. his daughter eleanor died of brain cancer in 2011, and his wife joan mondale, his partner of 60 years, passed away in 2014. judy: walter mondale was 93 years old. the ways he revolutionized the role of vice president impacted many who came after him, including the vice president who came along 12 years after mondale left office, al gore, and he joins us now.

thank you so much for joining us. we invited you to speak about walter mondale, but i do want to ask your reaction to the verdict in the derek chauvin case, the killing of george floyd? what are you thinking about that this evening? >> thank you for that question. i found the verdict very emotional. it was very powerful. it was a sense of relief, not because a man went to prison, although justice decreed that, but relief that the moral ark of the universe bent ever so slightly more towards justice today, and it gave a sense of redemption for the rule of law, the legal system. in so many cases similar to this

with a white policeman and black victim, the outcome often was one that caused consternation. this was a superb prosecution. it brings some sense of closure to all of those who rose up in horror at the murder of george floyd. as many have said, justice requires continuation of the efforts to fix the systemic injustices that were so evident. it was a welcome relief to hear that verdict. judy: i'm going to ask you to adjust your microphone up a little bit. we are having a little bit of a hard time hearing you. while you do, tell me if you think things will change. what we are hearing is that people hope our justice system

may be in some way on a way to becoming one that is more respectful of all americans. how do you see that? >> there was a sense of closure and a sense that the rule of law was redeemed, and there was a great relief. i'm sorry for the mic. the moral arc of the universe bent a little bit more slightly towards justice. judy: i do want to turn to walter mondale who of course served as vice president from 1977 to 1981. in many ways, the role he played did transform the office. how do you see the example that he in that role in his time set for you and others in that position?

>> you can take all of the vice presidents in american history and divide them into two groups, before walter mondale and after walter mondale. before he assumed that position, he conducted a careful study of the vice presidency and came up with recommendations that former president jimmy carter excepted. he was the first to move into the west wing. he had a very substantive rtnership role with president carter. he thought it through from soup to nuts, and every vice president since has had an opportunity to review the memo that walter mondale provided. i certainly did. i've heard joe biden say that when he became vice president, he did the same thing.

fritz mondale deserves credit for elevating the vice presidency into a position where he could be far more useful to the president and the country as a whole. how judy: do you see his legacy overall? we aired some excerpts from his speeches. the speech at the convention in 1984 when he spoke about raising taxes, but how do you see the lasting, how he will be seen in history? >> he was a fighter for civil-rights and was known for that. he was an environmentalist. he passed the wild and scenic rivers act before the first earth day. he was a progressive on issue after issue. he was extremely intelligent. he served with my father in the senate, and then he was a great

ambassador during the clinton-gore years in japan. he was an excellent public servant in every way. judy: and choosing geraldine ferraro, the first woman to be nominated to be vice president. what is the significance of that? >> he said he made history with that choice, and he certainly did, and he was correct that it was the gunning of things to come. we might not have a woman as vice president today except for fritz mondale's political courage. it's hard to think back that it required such courage, but it did. he broke new ground and paved the way for women to rise to their rightful position, whatever position they seek. judy: in today's rough and

tumble and highly polarized political environment, how does what fritz mondale stood for, how he worked his way in the world of politics, how do you see that as a contrast? what does it look like to you? when ronald reagan made that famous quip, i always focus on fritz mondale laughing uproariously at the line. it gives you a sense of the fact that he could rise above partisanship and conflict, and he was that way in the united states senate. it was a different era of course, but he reveled in bipartisanship. he worked with his republican colleagues.

i wish we could get back to that spirit. judy: we certainly saw him graciously concede when he lost the race. thank you so much, very good to have you. we return now to our lead story, the guilty verdict in the trial of derek chauvin for the murder of george floyd. after the judge read the decision, floyd's family received a call from president biden. he sd he prayed for what he called the right verdict. the preside spoke to the family and recalled what george floyd's daughter once said. >> nothing is going to make it better, but at least now there is some justice. he is going to start to change the world now. judy: we closed tonight. that was of course president

biden on the phone with the floyd family. we close with the words of george floyd's family and their attorney benjamin crump. they said the larger fight for justice is not over. >> this is a victory for those o champion humanity, those who champion justice over injustice, those who champion morals over immorality. america, let's lean into this moment. it seems like this is a never ending cycle. reverend al always told me, we've got to keep fighting. i'm going to put up a fight every day because i am not just fighting for george anymore. i'm fighting for everybody around this world. i get calls, people from brazil,

ghana, journey -- germany, london, italy, they are all saying the same thing. we won't be able to breathe until you are able to breathe. judy: that is the "newshour" for tonight. please stay safe, and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security at carnegie.org.

and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. this is "pbs newshour" west. from weta studios in washington. is your family ready >> for an emergency? you can prepe by mapping out two ways to escape your home,

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