concept of self-defense and so dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods. we must stand our ground to ensure that our laws reduce violence and take a hard look at laws that contribute to more violence than they prevent. >> former secretary of state hillary clinton also addressing the verdict while speaking to the country's largest african-american women's group. >> my prayers are with the martin family and with every family who loves someone who is lost to violence. no mother, no father should ever have to fear for their child walking down a street in the united states of america. >> nbc's kerry sanders is live in sanford, florida. kerry, good afternoon. let's start with these calls to overturn stand your ground. what's the governor's stance on

that? >> reporter: well, the governor had this question before. in fact, he empanelled a group of experts with with the lieutenant governor who's no longer the lieutenant governor. she's out. but with the lieutenant governor to try to determine where this state stood. as the governor said, governor scott called a bipartisan task force with 19 citizens to review florida's stand your ground law. this task force listened to people across the state and heard their viewpoints and expert opinions on this law. the task force recommended the law should not be overturned. governor scott agrees. so those protesters who have occupied his office waiting for him to return to the office to talk to him already know how he feels about the law. that is that he doesn't want it changed. >> we're hearing that zimmerman's legal team tells you they plan to build estate for a cost of his defense. >> reporter: indeed. they say the state created costs for them because of the way the

state dealt with evidence. that is, in florida it's a very open exchange of information in what legal terms is called discovery. they share. ba -- they share it back and forth. the defense believes there was a slight of hand. they believe that cracks a door for them to take a portion of costs associated and say you have to pay. >> interesting. now, zimmerman is of course the man at the center of all of this. do we know anything about where he is right now? >> reporter: we know that he is in hiding. we don't know whether he's in the state of florida. we know he is free. he no longer has an ankle monitor. there's no need for, for instance, the seminole sheriffs department to know where he is. like all citizens, he's provided security by police and sheriffs as well as his own private security that he's had in place for some time. >> all right, kerry sanders live in sanford, florida.

thanks so much for the latest. now, four of the jurors in the zimmerman case are distancing themselves from juror b-37. they issued a statement saying her statements were her own. this as we learn the jurors are so emotional that seminole county is making counselors available to them. joining me now, richelle nice, who served on the 2005 trial of scott peterson. she and six other jurors co-authored the book "we the jury: deciding the scott peterson case." thanks for being here this afternoon. >> thanks for having me. >> these jurors were described as crying when they decided the verdict. are you surprised they may need counseling right now? >> no, we weren't offered counseling, but i can see where they would need it. >> well, tell me why. what is that process like? what kind of emotions go into that? >> a number of emotions. i mean, you know you have the weight of the world on your shoulders, and you want to do

what's right, but you have to follow the law and you have to follow what's presented to you. so it's a very definite struggle. >> now, the juror who has spoken out seemed to totally and completely identify with george zimmerman and not really much with the victim, trayvon martin. how important is that personal connection to the person who's on trial when you're deciding their fate? >> well, i don't really know if you want to have a connection with the person that's on trial. i know none of us had a connection with scott peterson. that's something you kind of want to stand back from, and you want to kind of disengage from the whole thing so you can have an open mind when you go in the deliberating room. >> now, one of the most memorable witnesses in this case, rachel jeantel, talked with msnbc's al sharpton after the case. let's take a quick listen to

what she had to say and we'll talk on the other side. >> i'm a teenager. don had a jury think of african-american teenager, they supposed to be cussing. i did not even curse don. i didn't show him a lot of respect because he was like a child. he was asking ridiculous questions back and forth, back and forth. but i kept my ground. i stand strong. i never cursed. >> richelle, do you think that rachel jeantel was treated fairly as a witness? >> yeah, i think she was. i mean, i think it's definitely hard. america does look at young african-americans in a certain way. i am currently raising four african-american boys myself,

and i know how it can be very difficult for them to survive out there and how the public views them. i think she is right when she says, you know, there is a stereotype of what they expect young african-americans to act like. i think it's wrong. >> some of the jurors in this case say they fear for their safety right now. what is life like after a high-profile trial like this? >> well, they have a long road ahead of them. i mean, it's nine years for me and i still have people that recognize me, that come up to me, good and bad. you're either loved or you're hated. i think in this case with the zimmerman trial, they're going to have a really rough road ahead of them because not a lot of the public agrees with their decision. >> richelle nice, such a unique per spectiperspective you have.

thanks so much for joining us. you can watch al sharpton's full interview with rachel jeantel tonight on msnbc. we want to show you live pictures right now as a senate committee meets to discuss the next steps for the voting rights act after the supreme court struck down a key part of the civil rights legislation. >> before the ink was even dry, states began to put into force effort to suppress people's voting rights. >> we'll have more on whether congress will fight to restore protections in the wake of the supreme court's decision. and "rolling stone" is responding after igniting controversy with this new cover. it features accused boston bombing suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev. is the magazine going too far in giving the terror suspect rock-star status? it's our "news nation" gut check. you can join our conversation on twitter. you'll find us @newsnation. looked nice?

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for the first time since the stream court struck down a key part of the 1965 voting rights act, congress is examining the impact of that controversial ruling. right now the senate judiciary committee is holding a hearing entitled from selma to shelby county, working together to restore the protections of the voting rights act. among the witnesses, georgia congressman john lewis, who was among those beaten by state troops on what became known as bloody sunday during the 1965 march from selma to montgomery, alabama. >> the date of the supreme court decision broke my heart. it made me want to cry. i felt like saying come, come and walk in the shoes of people

who try to register, try to vote, but did not live to see it pass the voting rights act. >> testifying with congressman lewis, jim sensen brener, who chaired the act when last reauthorized. >> as the leading democracy in the world, the united states should work to keep voting free, fair, and accessible. that's why the voting rights act is so important. it makes sure that every citizen, regardless of our race, has an equal opportunity to have a say and to participate in our great democracy. >> joining me live now, washington post national political reporter nia malika henderson and the politics editor for the capitol hill newspaper roll call. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> nia malika, i want to start with you. we've seen how partisan politics has played out in the last few years leading up to the ruling.

since last month's ruling, five republican-led states have wasted no time in moving forward with restrictive voter i.d. laws. do you think that congress can come together for a bipartisan solution on this issue? >> well, i think the takeaway from today's hearing is that you do have a bipartisan testimony the there. john lewis on the one hand. that is what people are looking at. what's going to happen in the house. really, i think the focus should certainly be on those southern states. if you flash back to the 1970s during those initial discussions about reauthorizes the voting rights act, the discussion was all about the south. there was some argument that maybe it should apply nationally to every state. of course, it ended up being reauthorized in the way that it was repealed in many ways by the supreme court. so i think you got to look at those southern states. you mentioned those and those

representatives there. you look at a state, for instance, like south carolina. it isn't only expanding voting i.d. laws. they're making it difficult to vote. they're discussing in south carolina a bill that would make it harder for disabled people to vote, that would essentially say if you're disabled, you have to get a note from your doctor to get an absentee ballot. there are all sorts of measures going on. i think we're going to have a long, hot summer about the culture wars in many ways. that's what this voting rights act is about. >> you mentioned some of the signs of bipartisanship we are seeing, but we've also seen republicans lead the charge in the last few years on a lot of these new restrictive voter i.d. measures. so just where is the party going to go with this issue? >> right. there's a lot riding on the republican party, too, at this point as the party trying to bring more minority voters and candidates into the fold. they can't ignore this incredible debate we're having in our country over voting rights. that said, i don't think we should be so encouraged by

seeing a republican member and a democratic house member at the same hearing on the senate side. if you look at the reality of the house republican caucus right now or even the house in general, it's very unlikely that they're going to pass or that they could pass another rubric that would serve as a substitute for section 5 in the voting rights act. what that would involve essentially is members voting for additional mandates for their states, for their own states to go through tests. republicans especially are not inclined to impose those kind of mandates on their states. >> i want to play what attorney general eric holder said about the supreme court decision when he spoke yesterday at the naacp convention in orlando, florida. let's take a listen and we'll talk on the other side. >> this was a deeply disappointing and flawed decision. it dealt -- [ applause ] it dealt a serious setback to the cause of voting rights. these problems are real.

they are significant. they corrode the foundations of our democracy, and they are of today, not yesterday. quite simply, congress must take steps to ensure that every eligible american has equal access to the polls. >> so now it's in the hands of congress. nia malika, how soon might congress act to restore these protections? >> well, you know, i think from what we've seen of congress over these last many months, they don't act quickly most of the ti time. this goes back to the question the republican party has before it know. it's a party that's primarily a southern party. at this point it's becoming an older, whiter party. those folks in the house primarily will have to ask themselves, what does this mean? does this signal to minorities and signal to some members of the party who want to widen the base of the party, what do they do with this issue that is so important and resonates so

deeply with minorities, including latinos in the south. if you look at where the growth of latinos is, it's primarily in the south. i think the southern republicans in the house are going to have some soul searching to do. we'll see what they're inclined to do. >> what's your take on this? how soon do you think congress is going to move? >> i don't think they're going to move at all. i think they'll have hearings. i'd be surprised if we see anything substantive in terms of restoring part of section 5 or implementing a new rubric to test states to see if the section should apply to them. i'd be very surprised if we see any legislation like that hit the floor this congress or in the foreseeable future. it's a very difficult bill for members to vote for, even though it might be called the voting rights act, you think a member of congress would vote for something like that. no, it's very difficult. again, they'd have to essentially vote for imposing a mandate on their home states. >> all right. thank you both for your perspective this afternoon. >> thank you. >> thank you.

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liz cheney, daughter of former vice president dick cheney, has announced she's running for u.s. senate in wyoming. cheney made the announcement yesterday, just minutes after fellow republican mike enzi declared he will be seeking re-election next year, setting up a potentially bruising primary fight. >> i'm running because i believe it is necessary for a new generation of leaders to step up to the plate. i'm running because i know as a mother and a patriot we can no longer afford simply to go along to get along. >> in challenging enzi, who was first elected in 1996, cheney

will be taking on the 11th most senior republican in the senate, a move that may not sit well with some of the gop establishment. senator enzi sounded surprised by the move. >> well, she said that if i ran she wasn't going to run, but obviously that wasn't correct. >> what's your relationship with her? >> i thought we were friends. >> joining me now is msnbc political analyst jonathan alter. he's also the author of the new book "the center holds: obama and his enemies." thanks so much for being here this afternoon. >> my pleasure. >> a lot of people a lot of republicans especially are questioning cheney's decision. this is wyoming's sole representative in the house, cynthia lummis. let's listen. >> she will outraise him by factors of ten or more, and he will still win because wyoming is grassroots, retail campaigning.

it's talking to people face to face. it's not about who has the best consultants and the shiniest ads. >> some pretty sharp words. this is clearly rubbing a lot of republicans the wrong way. is this a risky move for cheney? >> it is. she's a carpet bagger. she's been living in the washington, d.c. suburbs for the last several years. she has young children. she's claiming her great grandmother and other ancestors were in wyoming, but even when she was a girl, her father and mother were living in the washington, d.c., area. so it's definitely risky. she jumped in line. she has a sense of entitlement that i think rubs a lot of wyoming residents the wrong way. enzi will have enough money to be competitive because the media markets in wyoming are inexpensive. so even if she does outspend him five or ten to one, it'll be

overkill. it won't do her all that much good. but it would be premature to count her out because it's going to be one of the most interesting primaries of 2014. there's going to be a tremendous amount of attention to it. if she turns out to be a natural campaigner, she could still go on to win this race. >> certainly coming from the political family that she comes from, she must have considered all of these things that you just mentioned. so why do you think despite that she's still decided to move forward with this? >> there's no time like the present for somebody like that. you know, she -- to go for enzi's seat, she would have had to wait another six years. i don't think she wanted to be in the house like her father. she's ambitious. she's strident. she talked repeatedly in her message to voters that i watched earlier today, her video message to voters about the obama administration waging war. she used that word several times.

>> we have a clip of that. let's take a listen and we can talk about how that struck you. >> president obama has launched a war on our second amendment rights. he's launched a war on our religious freedom. he's used the irs to launch a war on our freedom of speech. and he's used the epa to launch a war on wyoming's ranchers, farmers, and energy industry. >> she didn't talk about enzi a whole lot. she didn't even mention him by name. she pent a lot of time talking about obama. do you think this is going to resonate? >> yeah, they despise obama in wyoming. it's the level of the rhetoric that's striking to me. it's taking this rank partisanship that's hurting this country and ratcheting it up even further. i don't like when democrats talk about war on women. i don't like war. we don't want war in our domestic politics. to say obama's war on, you know, wyoming, this is really, really not a good thing for our political discourse. i was also struck in her statement, she talked about how

bad the deficit was and how terrible it was. that's what she started with, that barack obama had contributed to this deficit. her father, one of his most famous comments made him private in 2001 shortly after he became vice president was, quote, deficits don't matter, unquote. it's kind of rich for liz cheney, who has been, you know, come from this family that in the bush years contributed more to the deficit than any president, including obama. now she's campaigning as a fiscal hawk. >> one quick final question. one-word answer, does the last name cheney help or hurt here? >> it hurts. >> thanks so much. well, to remind you, jonathan is the author of the new book "the center holds." run out and grab it. coming up, president obama puts pressure on house republicans to break the impasse over

comprehensive immigration reform. >> for us to have two classes of people in this country, i think that's not who we are as americans. that's never been our tradition. >> is there still a chance for an immigration deal in the house? we'll tell you the high-profile republican the democrats are pinning their hopes on. peach country. it's a fresh-over. we want you to eat some peaches and tell us what you think. they're really juicy. it must have just come from the farm. this right here is ideal for me. walmart works directly with growers to get you the best quality produce they've ever had. what would you do if i told you all this produce is from walmart? wow! is it really? (laughter) find fresh peaches and all your quality produce. backed by our 100% money back guarantee. walmart.

because all these whole grains aren't healthy unless you actually eat them ♪ multigrain cheerios. also available in delicious peanut butter. healthy never tasted so sweet. for much of the summer, president obama has been relatively quiet on the debate over immigration reform, but that all change kd yesterday. this time there were no town hall meetings or rose garden press conferences. instead, he gave a series of interviews to univision and telemundo stations in dallas, denver, and new york. he made it's clear he's not compromising when it comes to a path to citizenship. >> it does not make sense to me if we're going to make this once in a generation effort to finally fix the system to leave the status of 11 million people or so unresolved.

certainly for us to have two classes of people in this country, full citizens and people who are permanently resigned to a lower status, i think that's not who we are as americans. >> the president also reiterated his desire to sign a comprehensive bill rather than a so-called peace meal, but with immigration at an impasse in the house, the interviews highlight the fine line the president has to walk in engaging in the debate without alienating republicans who have till on the fence. joining is me now is raul reyes. thank you so much for being here this afternoon. >> my will pleasure. >> so speaker boehner has said he might support something like a dream act but will not commit to a full path to citizenship. i want to listen to what obama had to say about why he thinks the house is having so much trouble. let's listen. >> the house has been struggling with a lot of legislation

lately. you have, i think, some in the house who believe that immigration will encourage further demographic changes and that may not be good for them politically. if we can see some leadership from members of the republican party, some of whom i disagree with on a lot of issues, but, you know, who do seem to recognize this is the right thing to do for the country, that eventually we'll get something passed out of the house. >> what kind of behind the scenes is maneuvers do you think are taking place to ensure that someone in the house will step up and be that leader that he's describing? >> i'm not sure what those maneuvers are, but i can tell you with some certainty those maneuvers are probably very tortured. part of the problem for these house republicans, even where there are measures they would support in terms of a peace meal approach, such as a measure for border security, there are things they would support. but the problem is that they are

very scared of even passing that because it might go to conference with the senate and what might emerge would be a bill that possibly has a path to citizenship attached. they don't want that. so they almost feel as though they're stuck. but the problem with that in terms of policy going forward is it leaves them in a spot where they're basically saying they don't want to vote on anything that might possibly lead to the compromise because then it could lead to an up-or-down vote on the path to citizenship. by the way, you know, looking at these clips of president obama and spanish media, this is a really interesting policy shift that he's doing because he went on spanish language media, he really was not announcing anything new, not saying anything new. he was basically re-enforcing, though, his position as we're the good guys. you know, this is what we want and we know you want it too. remember, spanish language media reaches something like 91% of latinos. it's a tremendous platform. this was covered, you know, not just by these affiliates. these clips were replayed across

the country. >> they certainly knew that was going to happen. going to directly latino voters. do you think that's an effective strategy? >> yes, certainly from a policy strategy. it re-enforces just what the positions are. it also points to something else. the republicans, meanwhile, in spanish language media are very absent. since june 27th when they announced this senate bill, marco rubio has not really been speaking out on the issue. he's really receded is perhaps because he's afraid of the backlash. meanwhile, there was a poll out monday that shows across all age groups, latino voters definitely trend democratic. that should be worrisome for the republican party. >> well, it should be. you mentioned there was also this concern that it could lead to an up or down vote on the path to citizenship. >> that's why they're having these tortured conversations. it's only going to get worse because, you know, we're seeing

in terms of reform it's something that also younger voters support. it's something that certainly asian-americans and many other minorities support, not just hispanics. in fact, the general public does. so the house is under tremendous pressure behind the scenes and from their leadership to get something done, but this was a very smart move with president obama taking his case to the public with an emphasis on the hispanic community. >> that's a very good point. a lot of times we look at things through one focus. these issues bleed across demographic lines. raul reyes, thanks so much for your time this afternoon. president obama celebrated a victory this morning at the white house, formally introducing richard cordray as head of the consumer financial protection board. cordray was confirmed yesterday after two years of republican obstruction. the confirmation was the result of a last-minute deal struck by democrats and republicans to avert the so-called nuclear option, which would have permanently changed filibuster rules on presidential nominees. today the president acknowledged the work done by senators to get a deal done. >> i want to thank senators from

both parties, including senator reid, senator mcconnell, senator mccain for coming together to help get rich confirmed. i also want to thank the senate for agreeing to give my other nominees who have waited far too long the votes they deserve. >> and here to break down the implications of the filibuster deal is nbc news senior political editor mark murray. thanks for being here. >> hi, mara. >> you call this a pure and simple victory for the white house. here's what senator ted cruz tweeted yesterday. quote, today regarding the so-called nuclear option, senate republicans reserved the right to vender in the future. they didn't just obstruct cordray. they had a problem with this whole board from the very beginning. yet, they really came away winning nothing. how did they get to this point? >> well, democrats, it was a victory for them. most importantly, it was a victory because the consumer financial protection bureau, which cordray now is going to

officially hold, was a big part of the dodd/frank financial reform legislation. had cordray or any other appointee not been installed, had other appointees not been installed, those agencies would have essentially withered away. it was an achievement to be able to lock those in for the rest of president obama's second term. as far as republicans not getting away with something, that's probably true. if you actually think that looking at all the dysfunction now on capitol hill that a big achievement is passing these folks and getting president obama's executive branches nominees confirmed, a lot of republicans would take that. that means other things they want to stop and block, those things are being blocked. that's probably good news for them. >> so do you think that some of the compromise we saw yesterday will carry over into some of the fights that are down the road? >> you know, i think that's a really good question. when you look at the really big story that remains on president obama's agenda, that's

immigration reform, as you were just discussing. you know, i think that if you look at the immigration -- the situation right now, it doesn't look too bright for that republican-held house to be able to budge on that. but i think it's important to look at what's the situation going to be like after labor day in september and october. that could give us a better sense of if there might still be a way to get the house and senate to have an agreement to get some immigration passed. >> senator john mccain emerged as kind of a star in this deal. he showed the art of the deal is still alive and well in the senate. how significant was his role in this? >> it was incredibly significant. chuck schumer, the democratic senator, was on "daily rundown" earlier this morning praising john mccain saying he was the one who spearheaded this. mccain's evolution has been very interesting. here is someone who wanted to block almost all of president obama's agenda items in his first term. now he's become an instrumental deal maker. and also somebody who's been

able to sit down with president obama to talk about the budget impasse. so his emergence as a deal maker for this early second term for president obama has been a very interesting story to watch. >> all right. mark murray, thanks so much for that. we appreciate your time. >> thanks. right now stocks barely holding on to modest gains after fed chairman ben bernanke's mid-year economic report to congress. the fed chairman appeared before the house financial services is committee today to report the employment and housing picture is improving. >> rising housing construction and home sales are adding to job growth and substantial increases in home prices are bolstering household finances and consumer spending while reducing the number of homeowners with under water mortgages. despite these gains, the job situation is far from satisfactory, as the unemployment rate remains well above its normal level and rates of unemployment are still much too high. >> joining me now here in our studio, reuters and the atlantic

columnist. thanks so much for being here. positive words from bernanke on housing. what are the biggest risk factors? >> first of all, bernanke's testimony is its usual scintillating monotone -- it's tough to get sound bites. >> not enough excitement for you? >> maybe on a hot summer day this is all we can handle. frankly, his forecast is almost as muddled as his delivery. and for good reason. our sense of what's happening economically is neither particularly good more to particularly bad, but nor is it this goldilocks scenario. we are truly, simply muddling along. compared to europe, which is stagnating on the verge of collapse, and other situations in the u.s., muddling along ain't so bad. nor is it easy to come up with a longer term forecast that changes that scenario at all. washington's budget impasse remains. it may be we're spending less money and the deficit is going down, but it's still a big deficit. there's nothing on the horizon as bernanke suggests that says,

wow, at any point in the next two years is the situation going to improve so markedly that our policy is going to change dramatically. >> now, wall street is reacting much better today than it did a month ago. today bernanke cautioned the fed wants to see progress on the job market before scaling back on the bond buying program. what are the benchmarks? >> there are two things going on with the fed. one is traditional. the federal reserve interest rate policies. he's saying those policies have been maintaining since 2008, 2009 and are going to stay extremely low, near zero interest rates for the next several years at least. they've also been buying a lot of bonds, which is a new thing that the federal reserve does. we've talked about this a lot on air. they've been buying $85 billion a month in bonds. they're saying because the economy isn't in free fall and that was a policy instituted when the economy was in free fall, so they may stop doing that.

he's trying to signal to the market that we may not go the excessive extra mile we did when we thought things might fall apart, but things are not getting better any time soon such that we're going to be anything other than lots of cheap interest rates. >> so what do you think the bolt so -- bottom line is here? >> we're in this 2% growth, if that. we're in an employment situation that isn't getting worse, but even with employment as a headline number getting better, it's a lot of low-paying jobs being added. this is not like, wow, we're doing great, how do we seize our future? that's what you hear very much in the federal reserve these days, which is we're out of the woods if the woods mean we're going to implode. we're not out of the woods if the woods mean where do we go from here? what is the nature of the scystm going to be in the next decade? we have zero clarity about that. until we do, the fed is saying we're going to be very, very easy. >> all right. thanks for breaking it down. >> thank you. still ahead, reaction after

senator lindsey graham floats the idea of boycotting the winter games if russia gives nsa leaker edward snowden asylum. i want to make things more secure. [ whirring ] [ dog barks ] i want to treat more dogs. ♪ our business needs more cases. [ male announcer ] where do you want to take your business? i need help selling art. [ male announcer ] from broadband to web hosting to mobile apps, small business solutions from at&t have the security you need to get you there. call us. we can show you how at&t solutions can help you do what you do... even better. ♪

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having some fiber! with new phillips' fiber good gummies. they're fruity delicious! just two gummies have 4 grams of fiber! to help support regularity! i want some... [ woman ] hop on over! [ marge ] fiber the fun way, from phillips'. a leading u.s. senator is suggesting a controversial response if russia grants accused nsa leaker edward snowden's request for temporary asylum. republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina says the u.s. should consider boycotting next february's winter olympics in sochi, russia. >> i love the olympics, but i hate what the russian government is doing throughout the world. i don't know if putting the olympics on the table is the right answer, but i do know this, what we're doing is not working. >> but senator graham is getting pushback from a powerful republican colleague. >> i love senator graham. we've been close friends for 20 years, but i think he's dead

wrong. listen, why would we want to punish u.s. athletes who have been training for three years to compete in the olympics over a traitor who can't find a place to call home? >> in 1980, the u.s. led a 65-nation boycott of the moscow olympics in protest of the soviet invasion of afghanistan. the soviet union then boycotted the los angeles summer games in 1984. as for snowden, his russian lawyer says he now could leave the moscow airport where he's been stranded for more than three weeks. well, coming up, our "news nation" gut check. we want your thoughts on "rolling stones" decision to put the boston terror suspect on its cover. it's ignited a fire storm online. we'll tell you how to weigh in. and be sure to "like" the "news nation" on facebook. we're at facebook.com/newsnation. est... while a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

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time now for our gut check. "rolling stone" magazine is responding to the outrage over its latest cover featuring 19-year-old accused boston marathon bomber dzhokhar tsarnaev. in a statement to msnbc, the magazine says, quote, our hearts go out to the victims of the boston marathon bombing and our thoughts are always with them and their families. the cover story we're publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism and "rolling stones" long standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important issues of our day. the fact that dzhokhar tsarnaev is young and in the same age group as many of our readers makes it all the more important to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy hike this happens. the statements comes after almost immediate backlash. thousands of tweets and comments posted to the magazine's facebook page. adding to the outrage of what some feel is the magazine glorifying tsarnaev.

the cover has a striking resemblance to the jim morrison cover. "rolling stone" is no secret to controversial covers. in 1970 they put charles manson on the cover. there was the 2006 cover featuring kanye west with a crown of thorns like jesus. is this what they do to sell magazines? >> well, every magazine is trying to make an impact and get attention with its cover. i think what this story shows is a disconnect between how things look from inside a newsroom versus out there in the world. inside the newsroom, they thought we've got a really strong investigative report on one of the most important stories of the last year. it's going on the cover. i think they knew that some people would be upset. they're surprised by the level of outrage. outside the newsroom, people really think of "rolling stone," the cover, as a pedestal, as a glorification. it's a place where rock stars go and movie stars go to flaunt their greatness.

by putting somebody like this on that cover, you're glorifying him just by doing it, even if you call him a monster on that cover, even if the story tells a very disturbing story. >> now, you just saw the side by side of tsarnaev's cover with jim morrison's cover. for a lot of people, it's not about he's on the cover. it's the image they chose. he's a young, good looking guy. it's kind of a sultry photo. people are saying you're making him look like a story. >> i think that certainly is the issue. that's part of the issue. that's what people are responding to. i think the rationale for doing that is showing how -- what a part of the culture tsarnaev is. that, in fact, this is a selfie he took trying to look like a rock star. we all know people like that. somebody could commit an atrocity like this is actually a very disturbing story. >> of course, a lot of people out there are asking, why not put one or more of the victims on the cover and tell the story that way?

>> yeah, that certainly would be another way to go. i think that, you know, in this case, what they're really trying to do with the article is figure out what happened to this guy. the author of the story, janet wrightman, talked to 50 or 60 people. what i'm hearing is not one of them had anything bad to say about him. in fact, they were all absolutely stunned and shocked at the turn of events. so the story is in some ways taking someone who seems like a very straightforward villain and complicating it. not saying he's not a villain. he very clearly is. but showing that's not necessarily where he started. >> and, you know, that is part of the story here, the story. it's the cover story. inside there's an article. they had a lot of revelations about who this young man is. what did you find most striking about that article? >> i think just that, that it's still unclear how his brother influenced him, but this is a young man who was very popular, who had a lot going for him, and he experienced a complete

breakdown of his family. his parents got divorced. his brother kind of got sucked into this islamic fundamentalism. you know, it's still hard to draw that line between a popular, well-adjusted young man and the images we saw from boston and the horror that everybody experienced in boston. but that's -- we're getting a little closer with this story. >> of course, with controversy comes conversation. we're talking about it today. is that kind of the point here, putting something that's potentially conversation provoking on the cover of your magazine? >> always. that's what you want with your covers. people are either talking about you or they're ignoring you. even when they're talking badly about you, at least, you know, you're part of the conversation. >> all right. mike hogan with the huffington post. thanks so much for that. what does your gut tell you? is the magazine glorifying the boston bombing suspect by putting them on their cover? go to facebook.com/newsnation to cast your vote. and take a look at what the news nation is saying about yesterday's gut check. we asked, should the boy scouts

reverse its decision to ban obese scouts from the jamboree? 68% said yes. 34% said no. that does it for this edition of "news nation." i'm mara schiavocampo in for tamron hall. you can catch "news nation" every weekday at 2:00 p.m. here on msnbc. "the cycle" is up next. and so is giving him real tasty food. but some leading dog foods add sugar, dyes, or even artificial preservatives. [ dog whimpers ] but now there's new so good! from iams. with 100% real wholesome ingredients and none of those other things. now that's real love. so is that. new so good! see what's really in your dog's bowl at iams.com.

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peaceful protests. they're planned for later this afternoon on both coasts. demonstrators plan to gather in bridgeport, connecticut, new york, and out west in l.a. the leader of the l.a. civil rights association promises the protests will continue throughout this entire summer. the city's mayor and police chief are calling for calm after more than two dozen arrests over the past couple days. vigils have been held in nearly 100 cities since the not guilty verdict in the george zimmerman trial was first read on saturday night. some americans are speaking their minds about the outcome of the trial, and so are some key people involved in it. rachel jeantel, friend of trayvon martin who testified for the prosecution, actually sits down with our own reverend sharpton on tonight's "politics nation." she addresses the contentious cross-examination by the defense. >> trying to get me angry to just show the jury, look at her, she a angry. if she