have been a good bipartisan discussion. don't believe citizens united added to oh speech. it shut it down with bullying and political intimidation. >> senator sheldon whitehouse, great to have you with us on "the ed show." it will be the issue in the next few years, no doubt. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts now. i'm in virginia, minnesota, monday with the workers. back with you monday night. good evening, rev! >> good evening, ed. thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, governor scott walker under fire. he's a top presidential hopeful but today he's denying allegations by prosecutes that he was part of a, quote, criminal screheme to violate election laws. >> this is one of those where the media jumps on this. you get detractors trying to claim there is more than there is. there is no doubt.

s in a prime example of what happens when you take on government special interests. they are looking for ways to come at us. they will continue to do it. they did it two years ago in the recall election. they will do it again. we have a tough election this fall. they will come at it with everything out there. >> walker says it's all spin coming from the left. prosecutors say there is a lot more to it. they say walker's top deputy, rj johnson, worked on the governor's 2010 recall campaign while also running an outside group, wisconsin club for growth. a hub that prosecutors allege was used to illegally coordinate activities and raise money with other outside groups nationwide. today, walker argued the case is already over and done with. >> two objective judges, third partieses removed from the exec tif legislative branch.

both say there is not a case and have told the prosecutors to stop. >> what walker didn't say is that two other judges are currently review aring those decisions. including the controversial ruling of conservative judge randolph randa. last month he halted the investigation and heaven t even to force them to destroy evidence. he said restricting campaign finance too tightly could lead to, quote, the guillotine and the gulag. it's the kind of right-wing rhetoric you might hear from gop billionaire donors which makes sense, by the way. because it turns out for years judge randa attended judicial seminars funded by the koch brother brothers. the same brothers who founded americans for prosperity, the

group that played a critical role supporting walker in his recall while attacking his democratic opponent. >> hi. this is jeremy. i'm a volunteer for americans for prosperity. just wanted to let you know tom barrett has raised taxeseses in milwaukee every year but one since he became mayor. >> thank you. i urge you to go to americans for prosperity. >> judge randa had to know about the connection to americans for prosperity. it's one of the groups named in the investigation judge ran areda ruled on. this is the judge that walker claims was objective? so far no charges have been fileded. despite what governor walker would like to think, this investigation is far from over. joining me now is wisconsin democratic state senator lena taylor and david korn, washington bureau chief for "mother jones." senator, let me go to you first.

the governor says this is all just spin from the left. what's your response ? >> it's not spin. it's just the facts. i mean, an e-mail that shows direct communication with karl rove talking about different strategies that could be used is not spin. it's just the facts. and the fact that judge randa wanted to have the evidence destroyed is really challenging for me. that's not something, as a lawyer, that i have ever seen that a judge is requiring before an investigation sven fully done, before it's gone through whatever appeal processes it needs to go through that a judge says destroy evidence. why? just like you stated, that judge has shown his leanings, which way he goes. it's not my way. it's scott walker's way. clearly destroying the evidence would have made it so the people of america couldn't see scott walker and the people of

wisconsin could not see scott walker for what he and his counterparts have been doing which is, you know, really tampering with are lelections ae transparency that's the wisconsin way. >> david, let me ask you. straight out. the judge's objectivity. i outlined the judge on these judicial seminar junkets, the judge dealing with the americans fors prosperity. had to know the involvement if he reviewed the evidence. >> one thing you didn't mention is he has someone who worked for him who is married to a lawyer for the walker campaign. >> that's right. >> the judge has someone -- >> yes. that's married -- >> that was married -- >> a lawyer for the walker campaign. >> okay. >> so when you get into the issue of judicial ethics, you can get experts on both sides to say good, bad or whatever .

it's clear here at least it's gray, if nothing else. what we have in these investigations, always they get pulled down into a partisan mud wrestle. so walker says it's just democratic prurs. people go, it's just a republican judge. it seems to me both sides in these events need to do everything possible to show there is another part of this connection. what the democratic prosecutors did which the state senator can tell you is they hired a republican to lead this investigation. a well known republican who george w. bush almost nominated to be u.s. attorney. that's how republican he is. they are trying to make it less partisan while this judge and his participation and ties to the koch brothers makes his decisions suspect. that's lousy when it comes to the integrity of the system. >> let me go to you, senator, on something you said. the prosecutor's filing claims governor walker sent an e-mail to karl rove.

he said, quote, in an e-mail sent to karl rove on may 4, 2011, governor scott walker extolled r.j. johnson's importance in leading the coordination effort. here's what the governor said when asked about the e-mail. listen to this. >> they state that you sent an e-mail to karl rove suggesting koord medication with r.j. johnson. did that happen? >> again, i have not seen that. i don't know what specifically you're talking about. i can't imagine that. >> now, he says, senator, he can't imagine he sent the e-mail. is he accusing prosecutors of outright fabricating evidence? >> you know, it sounds a little bit like that. he sure is trying to tap dance around the truth which is he knows that is e-mail was sent. he wants to not blatantly say he didn't send the e-mail. it's no different, to be honest with you, rev, when he was

talking to what he thought was a koch brother and talked to him about what he wanted to have done to tie to influence the recare k recall election and try to sabotage protests that were civil protests that were happening in madison against his efforts with act ten. i'm just suggesting to you our governor is not always the person who says, you know, the truth. i'm going to say it like that. even the journal sentinel has shown his pants has been on fire a few times and maybe more than they have done in politifact. though the governor says, "i don't remember ar," his memory only not clear when he doesn't want to talk about what he knows is true. >> david, why does this matter? what's the inference here? what does it mean to people around the country that scott

walker, because there are arguments with the complex campaign laws of what's legal, what's illegal. what does it really matter? >> that's a great question. we can take a step back from headlines yesterday and today and say what this is really about is we have a con vo lulted campaign finance system is in part because of citizens united and other supreme court decisions that allow what we call dark money. money from billionaires, corporations, unions to flow and try to influence campaigns without the voters, the citizens knowing that. that's the bottom line here. whether it's koch brothers or unknown billionaires, they funnel in money to keep scott walker there. there are supposed to be rules that prevent it from being too close to the campaign. it really doesn't matter. whether there was coordination or not might violate the law. the system remains crooked. >> he was in the fight of his life and he needed money.

>> we need to know -- the voters need to know who owns you or who you owe. that's why republicans say, we are for transparency but not when it comes to dark the money groups like americans for prosperity or the club for growth. >> senator, how does this get pressed forward? will your caucus do anything? >> we will continue to press the issue. when you get done, we want wisconsinites to know -- frankly the wisconsin way of transparency and integrity in our process is under question. at least the dark shadow thats has been over our governor and his interaction with what he thought was koch brothers or now the interaction via e-mail with karl rove influencing the elections and allowing outsiders to be engaged instead of the voices of the people of wisconsin is a problem. he's not working on issues. jobs. why do we have 85% of our

children in milwaukee cannot read? that's a priority. unemployment needs to be a pirate. he needs to talk about what to do so we don't lead in disparities for people of color and we don't lead in incarcerati incarcerations. he needs to do his job instead of doing the junkets around the nation and all this, you know, frankly right close to criminal activity if not kl are activity. >> all right. a lot of big money. we have a big spotlight here on "politicsnation." we'll keep looking at this. >> thank you. >> state senator lena taylor and david corn, have a good weekend. >> thank you. coming up, what's happening to the gop presidential field? there's one scandal after another. republicans are getting desperate. plus, mike huckabee's stunning comments about martin luther king, and the holocaust.

he's distorting the historical record and needs to apologize. also, closing the chapter of a shameful miscarriage of justice. a settlement for the central park 5, a quarter of a century after their wrongful convictions. stay with us. cut! [bell rings] this...is jane. her long day on set starts with shoulder pain... ...and a choice take 6 tylenol in a day which is 2 aleve for... ...all day relief. hmm. [bell ring] "roll sound!" "action!" it says here that increases at the age of 80. helps reduce the risk of heart disease. keep heart-healthy. live long. eat the 100% goodness of post shredded wheat. doctors recommend it.

right now the republican bid for 2016 is looking thin. three governors who were supposed to be top contenders have been hit with scandal and suspicion. what does that mean for democrats? we'll talk about it next. ♪

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we hear a lot about the gop's problems in washington. that's why when they talk about the party's future they were always focused on the governors. it was always about chris christie and scott walker and bob mcdonnell. these were the republican stars of the future. it was no secret they had national aspirations. >> governor, are you running? >> i'm running for governor. i will make that announcement officially in 2014. we'll see what happens after that. >> vice president mcdonnell? any thoughts about that? is that something you would like to have on a resumé down the line? >> hey, i got the best job in america -- governor of virginia. >> i'm the governor of new jersey. that's why job. that's what i asked for for four more years.

all four? >> who knows? is. >> the governor might be right. it's too early for talk like that. we told you how governor walker is at the center of what prosecutors call a criminal scheme of fund raising. today governor chris christie said he's moving on from bridgegate, speaking at the faith and freedom coalition. at least one report suggests the investigation in new jersey isn't over. nbc news has not independently confirmed this, but "esquire" magazine reports the prosecutor is closing in on gov christie. i know you're thinking, what about bob. governor mcdonnell made his first public remarks since being indicted in january on are corruption charges. to be fair, democrats aren't immune to investigations either.

it is striking how far we have come since these three were considered the next big thing for the gop. joining me now are richard wolf and joan walsh. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> joan, you're writing about this today saying the governor's troubles might make jeb bush and mitt romney the 2016 saviors. >> well, there is just a lot of anxiety. chr christie was supposed to be bankable and unite those factions, jeb bush has talked about, scott walker has. i don't think they have anyone. i can't see mitt romney doing it a third time. there is talk about it. he had his lovely summit and everybody was praising him saying we'd like you to think about it again. jeb bush, i hear, is seriously considering it. he's got a lot of reasons not to do it, too. the idea that was once the deep

bench of the republican party for 2016, they are now going to have to are reare krut people who may be reluctant or may have lost says something about the structure of the party now. >> we don't know where investigations go. >> right. >> this has had to be a big blow to the republican party. >> i don't know what the party is right now. there are factions that like people. these moderate people in the middle or statewide candidates to go down. there are parts of the republican party that are just happy to see these people in trouble. here is the problem. even while it's unresolveded it allowses your likely opponents to start scripting out attack ads, unanswered questions. the attack ads may start out being something obscure in a republican party. they rapidly become things that democrats pick up and say, well, even the republicans are saying this is a bad thing. >> right. >> you may want to move on and think it's nothing to do with me. while it's unresolved.

while there are dark questions the attack ads almost write themselves. >> joan, chris christie of new jersey was at the faith & freedom coalition. he definitely sounded like a candidate. listen to this. >> you establish credibility in leadership by making hard decisions, taking the burden onto yourself. and then to stand up for the things that you believed in, we do not want to be the first generation who breaks that most solemn of american commitments. that is to leave this place better for the next generation than it was left for us. >> but that story in "esquire" i referred to says that christie has a lot to worry about. it reports, christie's port authority appointees, not only sampson but former deputy executive director bill bar are oni and his oddball side kick

david wildstein all face near certain indictment. >> for somebody like chris christie who is perceived as a moderate, to make it through the republican primary process, his big selling point was electability. i can defeat, presumably hillary clinton. that's what he needed to say to get other people out of the way. he can't say that right now. his electability, maybe he'll run, maybe he'll win. i can't say. but his sure thing electability and his actual record of reaching across the aisle and working with democrats, all the stuff he was going to push as an electable candidate, he doesn't have it anymore. he has it but he has bagses of

scandal. >> richard, isn't that the point that at the end of the day are christie and walker are moderates comparatively? look at what we are left with. here are some of the 2016 contenders. >> it seems almost as if this president is going down the bill of rights, violating each one, one at a time. >> we have this tailspin of culture in our inner cities in particular of men not working and just general asians of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work. >> with regard to the idea of whether or not you have a right to health care, you have to realize what that implies. it's not an abstraction. i'm a physician. that means you have a right to come to my house and conscript me. it means you believe in slavery. >> these are the three top guys. is this what we are left with in the gop field? >> i don't know where this will shake out. i know this. the construction that jim car

vel had in '92 is still the case. it's change versus more of the same. say democrats end up with hillary clinton. for any of the republican candidates you will want to say, i'm the clean broom. it's all about change. if you come in with a bunch of questions about ethics or mother-in-law morals, some resolved, some not, nasty taste in your mouth. the other people have a stronger pitch to say, i'm the change guy. those people are all members of congress with the worst approval ratings anyone can remember. not a statewide official or governor who said i want people left, right or middle. that's a much tougher position. there is a reason there are so few senators who ever got elected president. i don't know how far we have to go back to find someone who got elected from the house leadership. >> joan, isn't it also these guys are way out there? there is a difference between a clean broom sweep the floor and a broom you think will pick the floor up, the boards and nails. we're not talking about cleaning

the floor. these guys are talking about changing the set-up of the building. >> they are talking about tearing the building down. >> these are states rights guys, anti-government. >> anti-federal government guys. this is where the emergency is in the republican party, reverend al. you know that. i don't consider any of those three people you showed electable in the national race unless, god forbid, something unfor seen happens, but they have the love of the base and they're going -- you know, they could walk away. i didn't used to think any of those people could be the nominee. i now think it's possible. >> joan walsh and richard wolffe, thanks for your time. >> thanks. >> coming up, mike huckabee bashes gay marriage by using dr. martin luther king? and five young men charged of a terrible case called the central park jogger case. they were sent to prison and

they were innocent. today, justice for the five wrongfully convicted men. stay with us.

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ahead, a powerful story of injustice, and fighting for what's right. five young men convicted of a brule tall assault in new york's central park. but they didn't do it . but they still went to jail. today, justice for them. stay tuned. and polluting the airwaves with lies. they're trying to overturn the epa's carbon pollution... standards by lying about electric bills. the same kind of lies they told about limiting smog, soot... and acid rain. they're fighting against energy efficiency measures that... would lower your bills. just to protect their profits. washington: tell polluters to stop the lies and clean up... their act.

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distorting the words of the civil rights movelement has become a habit on the right. it just happened again at the second annual march for marriage and anti-gay marriage rally in washington, d.c. rick santorum talked about reclaiming the institution of marriage. but it was former arkansas governor mike huckabee who quoted from dr. martin luther

king, jr.'s letter from a birmingham jail to justify discriminating against gays and lesbians. >> let me share this with you. from someone far wiser than me. these words one may well ask how can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others. the answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws -- just and unjust. it was illegal aid and come a jew in hitler's germ nichlt however i'm sure i would have aided and comforted my jewish brothers. those are are the words penned by dr. martin luther king, jr., in 1954 prosecute the birmingham jail. i wish he were here today. >> actually he wrote the letter in 1963. justifying discrimination against the lgbt community by

quoting dr. king's words about nazi germany is detestable. across hitler's germany gays were ordered to wear classifying pink triangle badges. thousands of gay men were marched to concentration camps and slaughtered during the holocaust. governor huckabee is way off the mark. as dr. king wrote in the same letter, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. but in just a few hours, mike huckabee will take the stage at the religious right evangelical faith & freedom coalition, a cohesive christian group that was established by ral are ph r. it's the same stage so many republicans have run to in the past couple of days. this group matters to the party. what does that say about the party? joining me now is frank schafer, a former evangelical turned

progressive. and author of "why i am an athiest who believes in god." frank, this group matterses to the party leaders. why are social conservatives still so powerful? >> precisely because they are not giving love or creating beauty. what they are doing is creating a polarized culture in which they always pick on someone to beat on in order to raise money and get aging white fox news viewers to vote for them. so they can throw in allusions to the nazis and dishonor the jewish survivors of the camp. about martin luther king who was assassinated by people very much like them -- white folks who have been so bigoted against our president. or they can just throw out oh whatever comes to mind. these folks create enemies.

they have created enemies within the evangelical community itself. the fact is people who are reading my new book -- saying we have to somehow rereclaim christianity as a religious movement and depoliticize it and take it away from the people who are abusive. >> on that exact point at this conference ner saying as the theme of the conference that religious liberty is under fire. listen to this . >> our religious liberties are vir callie under full scale attack every day of the week from every corridor. >> we seek to protect the unborn, to end the manipulation of school children by utopian planners and to permit an acknowledgment of a supreme being in our classrooms. >> you see, many people in our

party who don't want to fight for the most basic institution that holds the family together. that's the institution of marriage. >> at no time in our nation's history have we seen the threats to liberty. religious liberty and every one of the bill of rights more dire than they are right now. >> and really, when you read the founding fathers it was clear we were not building a theocracy, not trying to build a nation based on one religious beliefs, but they are rallying up the base, distorting even what the country was represented to be when it was founded. >> yeah. what's happening is these people are doing exactly to gay people, for instance, trying to deprive them of the right to marry, what the pilgrim fathers fled britain about when they came to the bay state colony. they are removing the liberty from other people and making

them, as it were, try to join their version of what would amount to a state church. one of the things i have written about and talk about is these folks talk in orwellsian liberty. when they say religious liberty they mean to strip it from people. i was at a fabulous gay wedding, a wonderful young couple getting marrieded. that's liberty -- the freedom tos choose, the freedom to live. it was a terrific ceremony. the people demonizing are the bedrock of a good society. >> if they want to disagree, fine. don't make it the law. it got uglier than that. this was first spotted by a huffington post editor. it was an obama figurine in a urinal at the conference. representatives from the faith and freedom coalition condemned this action. what does it say about the crowd there? >> look, it says the same thing

that happened to our president when he was just elected and they put a bumper sticker on cars, a prayer of a psalm that called for the killing of someone and to leave their children fatherless. to leave the wife a widow. everybody knew exactly what it meant. it's the same people as the rubes is with the open carry standing around with guns as if they are trying to protect their freedom. from who? we live in a time when our president has been denigrate, when the hatred has been ramped up by an aging white minority that control it is tea party that i write about in my book "why i am an athiest who believes in gotd." the young are leaving them in droves. the e-mail i'm getting off this book of mine tell messes there is a new generation including of white people raised in republican right wing crazy families saying "enough."

in the meantime, as you know and talk about on this program, the republican party is controlled by the tea party element. and they keep looking for fresh meat. >> i have to go, frank. >> it was the feminists. now it's the gay people. >> thanks for your time. have a good weekend. >> you, too. >> his new book "why i am an athiest." big news today in the central park jogger case that divided new york city. tonight, justice, finally. first, a turning point in america's history. the freedom summer of 1964 and murders that shocked the nation. it's my honor to talk to the widow of michael schwerner next. eyes that pivot with the road... ...that can see what light misses... ...eyes designed to warn when yours wander...

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tomorrow marks a somber day in the civil rights movement. it was 50 years ago tomorrow that three young civil rights volunteers disappeared in the backwoods of mississippi where they were brutally murdered by the kkk. michael schwerner, james cheney and andrew goodman. they were investigating the burning of a local church where they planned to build a freedom school that summer, one of the many projects slated for the historic freedom summer of 1964. that courageous effort to bring students from around the country to the deep south to fight jim

crow. >> we hope to send in to mississippi this summer upwards of 1,000 students from all around the country who will engage in what we are calling freedom schools, community center programs, voter registration activity, and in general a program designed to open up mississippi. >> the students who answered the call for help literally put their lives on the line. that year, only 7% of blacks in mississippi were registered to vote. 7%. and the freedom summer volume teers and civil rights activists were constant targetses of hate and violence. the night of june 21, 1964, schwerner, cheney and goodman were pulled over by local sheriffs who claim to have released them that night. authorities found their burned out car hours later, but for

weeks, nobody could find any sign of the missing men. >> this is bogachita, a deadly swamp. people are picking through it looking for the men, but 1,000 men might not disclose the secretses that may lie under the green slime. this is backwoods, mississippi, silent and suspicious. >> the families begged for help. schwerner's widow rita vowed to find out what happened to her husband no matter what it took. >> we know something happened to them. they are being held somewhere or -- something happened. i am going to find the answer. if the federal authorities can do it, this is fine. but if all the federal authority s are at the beck and call of the government are unable to do so then i, as just one

individual, will go down and attempt to do so if this means driving every back road, every dirt road, every alley in the county. i will do it. >> nearly six weeks later, authorities made the gruesome discovery of their charred bodies at a nearby farm. killed by a mob of ku klux klan. it was a pivotal moment that historic summer. a moment that shocked the country's conscience and made millions aware of the brutalities of jim crow. joining me now is rita bender, michael schwerners's widow. i'm honored to have you on the show tonight. >> hello. thank you. >> give a sense to people of how far we have come. what was it like back in the summer of '64 in mississippi? >> things were pretty bad. there was a tremendous amount of violence in the south.

children were killed for the crime of being black in mississippi. >> wow. >> it wasn't just emmett till. i was 22. i had graduated from college. mickey was 24. we had gone to mississippi. as field staff for the congress of racial equality. we went just as other young people from various parts of the country, mostly black, some white, went to various places in the south and we are talking now -- you and i -- mostly about mississippi, to be part of an effort to bring about change in the country. and it was an enormous effort. but, again, it's a mistake to focus, reverend, just on the young people who came in from other places. this was a movement, as you know, that had been going on for

many, many years. and it was a movement of local people. >> right. >> the local people were the movement. the rest are of us were perhaps assistants in that movement. >> in fact, you stayed at a black church that was involved in the struggle. i understand that church was destroyeded which is why michael and his friends went back down there. these people lived under that all of the time. and michael and goodman and chaney went back because the church was destroyed. >> that's right. james chaney and mickey were working with members of the church in the months leading up to what became freedom summer. on voter registration issues in nashoba county where virtually no blacks could vote, and the

church had committed to being a site for a freedom school for that summer. the klan which consisted of a number of law enforcement people, both from that county and meridian, mississippi, laud laud lauderdale county beat up some church members and burned the church to the ground. and a couple of days later, three or four days later, mickey and jay went to the lauderdale community where the church was to offer whatever support they could for the people. andrew goodman who was a summer volunteer and had been in the state for about 24 hours went with them. they were arrested, held in jail

while the klan assembled and then they were killed. >> what inspires me about you is that after the murders you could have left the movement. instead you fought to integrate the all white delegation for mississippi at the democratic convention and you are still continuing to fight. why was all of that so important and remains important to you? >> because it is important. just as it's important to you. just as it's important to many good people in this country. >> rita bender, i want to hank you for your life of service and your time and sharing your story with us. >> thank you. >> we can never forget the courage of all those who struggled, sacrificed and died in the fight for freedom. they didn't back down. they didn't let fear interfere with their convictions. neither can we of. the things they fought for, the right to vote, the right to have

a nation where there was not a double standard. but it was equal protection under the law. we can't let that go. otherwise we make a mockery of those that shed their blood so we would have a better day. yes, it is hard. but it's not nearly as hard as it was. and they didn't back down. we have no excuse. we'll be right back.

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justice. five young men sent to jail for a crime they didn't commit. today, 25 years later, justice. that's next. try alka seltzer reliefchews. they work just as fast and taste better than tums smoothies assorted fruit. mmm. amazing. yeah, i get that a lot. alka seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. if yand you're talking toevere rheuyour rheumatologistike me, about a biologic... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain. this is humira helping me lay the groundwork. this is humira helping to protect my joints from further damage. doctors have been prescribing humira for ten years. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira is proven to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage in many adults. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

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finally, justice delayed but not denied in the central park five jogger case. today, a landmark decision that will finally right a terrible wrong. it started in 1989. the rape and beating of a jogger in new york city's central park. it was a shocking crime. five teenagers were quickly arrested and accused of the crime. >> one of the cops tackled me. all my clothes were all dirty, muddy. he had a helmet and he swung it across my face. he handcuffed me and i said -- um -- what's going on?

he's like, you know. didn't i tell you not to run. like you're an animal or something. so i basically said, i didn't do nothing, you know. >> under what we now know was police coercion, the teenagers all confessed to the crime, but immediately recanted and said they didn't do it. no other evidence tied them to the crime. but they were convicted anyway. and spent from 7 to 13 years in state prison. are from the very beginning, some of us stood up for them and raised money to help get them out of jail and because these young men should have been presumed innocent, but it didn't matter. these children were sacrificed to satisfy the mob's demand for

blood. more than ten years went by. then in 2001, another man, a career criminal came forward and confessed. and dna evidence confirmed he did the crime the central park five did not. the district attorney who prosecuted the original case fought to over turn the convictions. that happened in 2002. they were freed from prison. they were innocent. and free. but they had already lost so much. as they told sarah and ken burns in the important film on the case. >> i lost my youth. i lost several en years s s sn years of my life. i lost that sense of being youthful and missing the average things of going to school and going to the prom, just living

like an average 14, 15-year-old kid. >> it hasn't become easier to live as an adult. it's become harder. it's always more difficult to do something if you have this huge gap of your life taken away from you. it's not like just because they said, okay, we are vacating the convictions that it vacated the whole prison term. that prison term happened. it was a reality. we went through that. >> i spoke to them in december of 2012 about the interrogations and why they confessed to a crime they didn't commit. >> they were telling everybody's families that all you've got to do is say this and we'll let your sons go home. you know? this is the amount of tricknology they were using was so dooeevious it caused our pars to say, you know, maybe if we go

along with it we can get out of here. >> being 14 stuff goes over your head. it seems like a blur, like a nightmare you can't wake up from, escape some. >> this was a death sentence, as raymond says, that exceeded far beyond the regular prison term. they wanted society to kill us off as well. you know? never in a million years did they want us to succeed and be here before you today telling the truth about this matter. >> today, the five wrongfully convicted men came to a close and they came to close an ugly chapter in new york city's history. they have agreed to a $40 million settlement. i are remember how their families and others were attacked. those of us that rallied and marched for them. nobody went through what they went through. one of the young men who did 13 years in jail came out, couldn't find a job, worked for my

organization, national action network. i watched him every day. tried to get his head together, his mind together. who could give them their youth back? who could ever give them that time back? money only underscores the debt we owe. a debt we can't pay. a debt we will never be able to fully recover. it's happened too often to too many. we need to keep fighting. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. the circle tightens around christie. let's play "hardball.." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start with the piranha circling chris christie. federal ec