don't shoot. right now on "andrea mitchell reports" fury over the chokehold case. after a staten island grand jury decides not to charge a new york city police officer in the death of eric garner killed on tape. his death already ruled a homicide. his wife reacts. >> it's not fair. what do they not see? how could they possibly not indict? you know, i felt hopeless. >> frustration, rage and helplessness throughout the five boroughs of the city and the rest of the country. no laughing matter for anyone, including jon stewart taping his late-night show after the surprising afternoon announcement. >> none of the ambiguities exist in the staten island case. and yet the outcome is exactly the same. no crime, no trial, all harm, no foul. and two middle east mysteries and unrest in abu dhabi leads to more questions about why an american teacher

was stabbed to death in an obabu dhabi shopping mall. good day, everyone. on a difficult day throughout the country, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. you're monitoring, of course, the latest developments in a national reaction outrage over the grand jury decision not to indict the nypd officer involved in eric garner's death. today civil rights leaders ahead of a protest march planned for washington next weekend. president obama is speaking at an event on college opportunity. if the president mentions anything about the grand jury decision during those remarks, of course, we will bring you there live. joining me from staten island

germane lee. after everything we went through over ferguson where there were disputed facts, many say, but here on videotape the entire incident captured. what are people saying there today? >> there's so much spillover from yesterday's announcement. hours after the announcements began to spread, word of the announcement began to spread, i stood here just several feet from where eric garner was killed with about a dozen young men and two of them said, you know what, there seems like two different worlds here and two different criminal justice systems that operate differently for black americans and everyone else. earlier this morning eric garner's mother came out here and thanked all the supporters here in new york and else where and felt there is a movement and eric garner's name will be remembered and from all that early frustration and anger over nonindictment in the killing of eric garner there is a sense that people are willing and looking to move forward in protests and in raising the names of all those who are killed by police and what they

believe are unjust ways. later today, there will be a big protest in foley square under the banner, this stops today. words echoed by eric garner moments before he died. so, again, a lot of anger and frustration. people are mobilizing across the city and many people are seeing this as an opportunity to speak of all the ills and despairties in the american culture and trying to find ways to move them forward. >> and trymaine, the mayor of new york city set the tone last night, bill deblasio who really was explaining his personal reaction as the father of a black son and married to an african-american woman and his reaction as a parent who has to explain to his son how careful this young man has to be around law enforcement, even in new york city. >> that's right. >> i was at the white house the other day and the president of the united states turned to me and he met dante a few months ago and he said that dante

reminded him of what he looked like as a teenager. he said, i know you see this crisis through a very personal lens. good, young man, law-abiding young man who would never think to do anything wrong and yet because of a history that still hangs over us, the dangers he may face, we had to literally train him as families have all over this city for decades. and how to take special care in any encounter he has with the police officers who are there to protect them. >> trymaine, that is the essential question. are there two americas when it comes to law enforcement? >> i spoke with eric garner's mother, again. i asked her specifically about mayor deblasio's statements and it made her feel better that the administration was paying attention. that's the key here. when he was here to illustrate in his own family are experiences that many americans and many, many new yorkers

experience every day. and that feeling that there are two separate worlds. so, beyond just the eric garner case, the mike brown case and a number of other cases. there is kind of a high time people say for a conversation about these daily experiences that often end up with kind of fatal encounters with the police, as we've seen in recent incidents. so, again, still spillover from yesterday and as eric garner's mother said, this is just the beginning of a very long movement. >> thank you so much, trymaine lee. in staten island after so many weeks and months in ferguson. now up to the department of justice, the federal government as eric holder explained. >> the justice department will proceed with a federal civil rights investigation into mr. garner's death. now, prosecutors will conduct an independent, thorough, fair and expeditious investigation. >> joining me now, christina swarns, the litigation director at the naacp legal defense and educational fund and zachary carter, chief legal officer and

former u.s. attorney for new york's eastern district. mr. carter, first to you, what are the legal alternatives when we heard is eric holder ordering an investigation, but anything that andrew cuomo can do? anything that mayor de blasio can do legally? >> what the mayor and police commissioner have already done is to try to take the lessons of the garner incident and do whatever is possible to prevent an incident like that ever happening again. and, so, they've taken steps in three principle categories. one, they've drastically reduced the numbers of cases in which arrests, rather than the use of summons are employed in minor offense cases. chief lee in the area of minor marijuana cases and other categories of offenses in which arrests had formally been used. every arrest sets up a potential for a physical confrontation because at the very least the

arrestee will have to be handcuffed. so, when you reduce by thousands the number of potential physical confrontations you have reduced the likelihood that a tragedy like this is going to be repeated. but on top of that, there's been an ambitious retraining program that's been instituted by the new york city police department to retrain on the use of force and the avoidance of unnecessary force in encounters with citizens and strategies for engaging more constructively with citizens in our communities. that, too, is for the purpose of reducing the likelihood that there will be another eric garner incident. >> now, christina, how high is the bar to finding a civil rights case from the federal government? loretta lynch, at some point, if he she's confirmed will be in charge of this decision. >> the federal government has some options available to it.

one of the things we need to be seriously considering is why or whether the federal government should be continuing to provide federal funding to police departments across this country that have demonstrated records of problems with abuse of force, abuse of use of force and racial discrimination. the federal government does not have to continue to provide those kind of resources and in the legal defense funds' opinion, it should not provide those resources to police departments that have such a demonstrated record. the legal defense fund has called on the federal government to look into exercising that kind of fiscal power to encourage local police departments to really get their acts and houses in order. >> i wanted to ask you about staten island in particular because i knew you grew up there and your uncle was part of a celebrated case to desegregate the fire department there. >> yes, i did grow up in staten island. my family has long roots there. it's actually my cousin, paul,

who was part of, who lead, really, the fight to integrate and desegregate the fire department. you know, staten island is, when i was growing up, it was a very segregated community. the vast majority of the island, generally, in my opinion, off limits to people of color. it was when i was growing up there, you know, a lot of racial tensions, race was very palpable at that time. so, i'm not surprised, you know. i'm disappointed at the outcome. i'm not surprised by the conduct, however. >> and is there anything, zachary carter, that the city can do? this is one of the five boroughs of new york city, but it is isolated. it is a different culture than some of the other cities. and as christina was just pointing out, came later to integration to real integration if even now. is there any way to look back at what that grand jury did or is

that basically case closed? >> well, i think that what we have to do is find a way to more constructively engage with communities and i think that some of that is happening in staten island now. there is an extraordinary commander of precinct of where this occurred who is doing tremendous work and engaging with the community and these things take time. but i think that progress is being made. but i think that and what i talked about before in terms of trying to create an atmosphere in which we reduce the number of contacts between police and community that give rise to potential incidents that escalate beyond control, to improve the training of police officers so that they engage with all citizens regardless of

color or economic circumstances as if they are worthy of respect with a presumption that they are law-abiding citizens and not criminals. and to engage the community as if they are allies in maintaining and enhancing public safety. that that will go a long way in preventing these kinds of incidents going forward. >> thank you so much. we'll have a lot more on all of this coming up, including what's happening in cleveland later today on that other case involving the 12-year-old boy. thank you, all, so very much. still to come, coming up, a suspect is arrested in the murder of an american teacher abroad. but the mystery is far from over. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. can you help me up?

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al qaeda militants are threatening to execute an american hostage in yemen. according to a new video obtained by a terrorist monitoring group. in the video photo journalist st. luke summers who was kidnapped last year said he is certain his life is in danger. al qaeda threatened to kill somers if demands to the u.s. government aren't met. this comes on the heels of a new isis threat to military personnel and their families on social media. joining me now is senator tim kaine, member of the foreign relations and, first, let me just ask you about this hostage. >> andrea, this is very, very troubling what we're seeing in these hostage takings and they're barbaric and demonstrate the need for us to continue to have a strong, just cut off. >> i think we have a problem

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americans drink 48 billion that's enough plastic bottles to stretch around the earth 230 times. each brita filter can replace 300 of those. clean. clear. brita water. nothing is better. and as we were saying, we were talking to senator tim kaine before we were so rudely interrupted by an ear piece. thank you for bearing with us and let's talk about. you were talking about this terrible crisis with hostages. this is the latest case involving not isis but al qaeda in yemen. >> indeed. the al qaeda case shows the need to battle against terrorist elements, al qaeda and others continues. and i just came out of a foreign relations committee hearing where we made at least a positive break through in this. andrea, as you know, i've been calling since june for the president. if he wants to engage in a military action against isis to

seek fresh congressional approval for that. we've been at war against iso now since august 8th without any congressional debate or vote and that vote is necessary to educate the american public about what is at stake in a foreign relations committee and we agreed to have a hearing with administration officials next week and then mark up an authorization bill that we will send to the senate floor. this will be the first public debate in congress now four plus months in to a war. it's an important military mission that our troops in harm's way deserve to know that day have support of congress behind them. >> although congress is expected, the senate is expected to leave next week. you will have a floor debate and you won't have a vote and get anything to the president's desk. do you have republican, bipartisan support for that action? is this something that will be picked up again in january? >> it is our hope if we can get the bill out of the foreign relations committee the only meaningful and public debate about this. if we can get a bill out that

creates a working document in terms of the authorization, given that ranking member will be the chair of the foreign relations committee in all likelihood next year. we think it can form the basis for a prompt authorization. no congress should give a president the ability to carry out unilateral war without congressional approval. we're now into month five of such a war. it's time for congress to weigh in. >> and they, of course, the administration was reverting back to the old iraq authorization as their predicate for going into syria now. your argument is that this kind of use of force really needs to involve the united states. that it should not just be a white house action. >> the white house has reliance on the earlier authorizations. the '01 and '02 authorizations. counter the wording and interpretation and counter the intent and counter the understanding of members of congress who voted for them at the time. you won't be surprised, andrea, you're a pro in this.

you know executives like to overreach, but the role of congress is not to let them and insist that there is going to be a war. look, 1,100 air missions and 1,500 ground troop advisors and three americans have already been killed in "operation inherent resolve" and time for congress to weigh in and do what the constitution requires and also place limitations on this military actions that are appropriate. >> this is one of the unusual cases where a potential republican presidential candidate rand paul and you agree, i think, on the use of force authorization. this is what he said to chris matthews last night on hard ball. >> it's really probably the most important responsibility that any legislator should ever have and that is to end send a young man or woman into harm's way. the branch most prone. george washington was adamant

about this and this is not a function that the president can unilaterally weigh in on. >> and with our thanks to tim kaine. senator tim kaine, we'll go to the president right now who is speaking about the garner case. >> the specific issue that has to be addressed making sure that people have confidence, that police and law enforcement and prosecutors are serving everybody equally. there's a larger question of restoring a sense of common purpose. and at the heart of the american ideal is this sense that we're in it together. that nobody is guaranteed success, but everybody has got access to the possibilities of success. and that we are willing to work not just to make sure our own children had have pathways to success, but that everybody does. that at some level everybody is

our kid. everybody is our responsibility. we are going to give back to everybody. and we do that because it's the right thing to do. and we do it because selfishly that's how this country is going to advance and everybody is going to be better off. and big challenges like these can galvanize our country. big challenges like this should unite us around an opportunity and agenda that brings us together. rather than pulling us apart. we are at our best when we rise to what the moment demands. whether it's putting more people back to work. making sure those jobs pay a decent wageo that incomes and wages go up. whether it's educating more of our can kids for the 21st century. whether it's fixing our broken immigration system. to do what many of you have done and made the cause of your life and that is opening the doors of higher education to more of our

fellow americans. these are big challenges, but they're solvable. as long as we feel a sense of urgency together and that is why i was so hardened by the january meeting and that's why i'm even more encouraged by this meeting. our higher education system is one of the things that makes america exceptional. there's no place else that has the assets we do when it comes to higher education. people from all over the world aspire to come here and study here. and that is a good thing. america thrived in the 20th century because we made high school free. we sent a generation to college. we cultivated the most educated workforce in the world. >> the president completing his remarks now about college opportunities after speaking out about the garner case. the chokehold case which g.

julie, you've watch this president up close for a long time. this case, unlike even ferguson, is so categorical and so unquestioned by almost everyone, the universely republicans and kathleen morris on the hill and john boehner now and other republicans with the exception of only a few outliars. everyone watches that tape seems to say, what was the grand jury thinking? what can the government do? what can the white house do? >> this is a tricky case for the president because, as you said, so much universal opinion about this. yet, the president has been very careful to not weigh in and take a position on grand jury opinions. to not take a stance on actions of police officers. so, if he holds with that pattern, you'll see him tread very careful in this case. yet, there has to be some way for him to just inject some emotion into this. some kind of personal feeling

into this because it has stirred so much emotion around the country. you do have the justice department that is going to take this up. and that, also, though, might keep him from weighing in too much further because he will say that there is an active investigation and he doesn't want to comment while that's still ongoing. >> and joining me now from "washington post," julie stand by for just a second. chris, eric holder is in cleveland and is going to be talking about their investigation of the cleveland police department. previous, of course, to this horrible case involving the 12-year-old boy. but this is a national issue now of grand jurys at state levels in communities that don't have greater sensitivities to put it mildly. >> well, the needs of all minority communities. >> you know, andrea, you heard the president say that both in the wake of the ferguson decision and in the wake of the garner decision. essentially saying, yes, this is about these communities.

but this is about a broader point. now, his broader point is that the people whom are being policed and governed have to believe that the police and those governing them have their best interest at heart and can be trusted. the thing that i'm wondering and i was listening to julie and agree with her. the thing that i wonder, how can barack obama handle this? so, commissions. convening groups at the white house. that is not what many people, including many african-americans want out of this president. they want a more forceful statement. the problem, of course, is that he has to deal with the realities of police around the country. and being the president of the entire country and being sort of measured in his remarks. it's a very difficult place for him to be because the moment you watch that video and the moment

seems to cry out for emotion. presidents very rarely in a situation, anything like this, show that sort of emotion and he is in the even more unique place because of his status as the first african-american president in this country. it is just a very, very difficult, i'm interested to see how he goes forward. it's not an easy thing. >> this is the speaker of the house, by the way. julie and chris, of course, john boehner speaking about it today. >> my colleague kevin morris rogers earlier today suggested that may need to be hearings. i'm not going to rule that in or out, but i do think that the american people deserve more answers about what really happened here and was our system of justice handled properly? >> before i let you go, julie, what is the latest coming from the hill on their plans to get out of town for the holidays and not have a government shut down, but give the activists in their

ranks the republican activists some sort of vote, a symbolic vote against the president on immigration? >> well, we're expecting a vote on immigration later today. the president just put out a veto threat. this has always been a symbolic measure that the house was going to do. it looks like this is the time when john boehner has finally gotten everybody behind his plan. i always caution, though, that we've heard a lot of times where john boehner has come out with a plan and then there's some last-minute disruption. the atmosphere feels a little different this time. but people want to go home for the holidays? >> indeed. thank you very much. and 38 students escaped a burning school bus in central florida wednesday morning. state troopers say that the bus started smoking on the way to school. it was soon fully engulfed in flames. the driver and all on board were able to get out safely. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc.

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police in abu dhabi arrested a suspect in the stabbing death of a 47-year-old american schoolteacher. the investigation and arrest were all captured on security video and this edited video released by the ministry of interior the suspect is being seen led away after a house raid. a white car is also seen in the video with a bloody steering wheel. the same white car that surveillance video showed leaving the scene of the crime in a shopping mall. joining me now is kelly from london. kelly, this is terribly troubling and i know officials from the uae are upset because it is a very safe country, normally. but this does seem to be the targeting of an american. >> that's what they're saying at this point, andrea. this woman they've arrested is in her late 30s. we don't know a whole lot about her just yet. officials in yemen haven't named

her, but you do see her, as you mentioned, being led away from that house and then the apparent blood on the steering wheel. components for what police say was a homemade bomb inside that car. now, it's not clear how she was identified. the attacker was wearing a black robe and a veil. completely face covered. the interior minister said someone dressed the same way and was caught on security video or seen by witnesses. that same day of the stabbing putting a homemade bomb in front of an egyptian doctor's house. as for motive, officials are saying this woman was targeting people based on nationality alone. egyptian american doctor, the american teacher and it had nothing to do with personal issues, saying her aim was to create chaos and terrorize people. andrea, they also say that this woman has confessed. >> really troubling case from over there, which was at least f they had the right person, settled very quickly, within 24 or 48 hours.

kelly cobbiaa thank you for joining us from london. back here plenty of support for peggy young outside the supreme court. that's because -- >> discrimination has got to go! >> arguments yesterday because peggy young, the young mother and former u.p.s. employee who filed suit against u.p.s. for violating the pregnancy discrimination act. u.p.s. failed to provide reasonable accommodations for her while she was preg nntd. accommodations they say that u.p.s. extended to other employees and uthnerstanother i. u.p.s. claimed they were acting to the law. saying they weren't allowed to provide special accommodations. supreme court heard the case as we say yesterday. i'm joined here by peggy young and one of her attorneys, sharon gustafson. peggy, it's taken eight years to get to the supreme court. >> that's correct. >> takes a long time to have these cases pursued. but there is a pregnancy

antidiscrimination law, but i don't think you were necessarily arguing in court where your lawyer is arguing in your behalf. this is anything u.p.s. provided special accommodations and not for you that you were perfectly willing to work but your doctor said at the time that you could not lift heavy packages. >> yes. actually, i wanted to do my regular job, i couldn't have done my regular job. i actually drove a minivan and carried my packages and small letters in the seat next to me in my van. they sent me to the doctor asking me for a note with my restrictions, u.p.s. did. >> they fook ttook the initiati. it wasn't you asking for any special. >> put the note in and basically they said, we don't provide light duty for pregnancy.

go home until you're no longer pregnant. >> and the guts of this case is that she was not asking for anything special. other than not to lift heavy packages, which was not part of her regular duty. as your case laid out in court yesterday. male drivers who were found intoxicated. for violating the law, not a medical condition, were automatically given other jobs while they no longer had their driver's license. >> it was part of u.p.s.'s policy, while those people could get with working. so did a lot of other people who had off-duty medical conditions or accidents or injuries. but never pregnant women. >> when we listen to these oral arguments, according to the reporting from pete williams and others from the court yesterday, there was quite a diversity of opinion on the court. i know it's awkward to talk about this before you get a

ruling from the court, but it was very clear that the women, two of the women justices were far more understanding and sympathetic to peggy's case. >> well, it's true that a couple of them seemed quite sympathetic to the case, but a lot of the justices were fairly quiet. we don't know what they were thinking exactly. we're still very hopeful for a positive outcome here. not just for peggy, but because it will affect so many other women all across the country. >> peggy, what are you doing these days? you're raising your family. you left u.p.s. >> i left u.p.s. in 2009. i have a warehouse associate job. so, basically, doing the same thing that i did. just moving in the warehouse. >> u.p.s. has changed the policies before the supreme court argument, perhaps in anticipation of it. it's hard to say what their motive was. >> we're glad to see the change. very happy to see it for, you know, for the women of u.p.s. i can't plain their motives. >> why do you think in this day in age in 2014 we still have the

issue of employers discriminating against women who are about to become pregnant or who are pregnant or trying to raise a family and come back to work. back to work, i should say, outside the home. >> the time we had in this. i'm learning more and more about women that it's happening to. they just need to learn to speak up and not be afraid. it's a law and the companies have to abide by the law. >> the federal government itself has been slow to come to this issue. >> they have been slow. but i think they are doing the right thing now. and the eeuc itself has never really changed its position. from 1978 when the pregnancy discrimination act became law, they always said very clearly if employees give work to other employees who are similar in ability to work to pregnant women, they have to do the same thing for pregnant women. for some reason, some companies and u.p.s. was one of them, they have been very slow to comply

with that mandate. >> ever see yourself as a trail blazer? >> never thought i did. >> well, you are. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. great to meet you. peggy young, sharon gustafson. a new pentagon study says reports of rapes and sexual assaults in the armed services have increased by 8% this year. rising to more than 5,400 reported incidents. senator claire mccaskill said incidents being down are exactly the combination we're looking for. expect to hear more from her later this afternoon at a news conference. any moment now we're also x expected to hear from kristen g oirx illibrand. t two-thirds of those who report assaults were retaliated against. before any claims any victory on either side the navy just announced that some of the first female sailors to serve on navy submarines were secretly

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ideal is this sense that we're in it together and big challenges like these should galvanize our country. big challenges like this should unite us around an opportunity agenda that brings us together. rather than pulling us apart. we are at our best when we rise to what the moment demands. the president within the hour speaking, of course, about the chokehold decision by the grand jury in staten island. ferguson, cleveland, staten island, only three of the fatal incidents involving white police and african-american victims in the last few months. all involved different facts, but they've come together to spark renewed calls to revisit the relationship between law enforcement and minority communities. and the grand jury procedure, in fact, at state levels. msnbc law enforcement analyst and retired atf special agent jim kavanagh joins me now. none of us who believe in the

rule of law and police and the right to protest and the fact that victims have, that minority victims should have the same rights as white people who have interactions with law enforcement. all of this is very confusing and very troubling. >> no, it really is, andrea. it's really hurtful to the nation and you can see the pain in everybody's faces and the demonstrators and the marchers. and we can do so much better. we really can as a country. so, it's good that the president is saying this. but you know, washington, i served there twice and the headquarters, it was a lot of talk in washington. there's a lot of talk and no doing. so, let's see some action. some simple steps can improve policing if the congress and the president and the state legislatures will back them up. just as an example in all these arrests that we see, mr. garner is one it doesn't even need to happen that way. we need to leverage our te

technology. why would mr. garner be dragged to a precinct? when we have a device on our belts, a smartphone where we say, mr. garner, we saw you selling cigarettes and we're going to give you a summons and take your picture and put your thumb on the phone and here's your summons. he's identified and he's good to go and the officer is free to patrol. but we insist on this policing where we have to drag him down on a minor nonviolent offense to the precinct. we could free up police time and save a lot of these fights over nuthing and focus better on violent or more active criminal events. we could do so much better if we would just use those systems and better techniques for arrest and we could do much better. >> and also some training. now, in this? stance, the officials from new york city told us earlier in the show that they have already decided not to make arrests in these nonviolent minor offenses like selling cigarettes.

he shouldn't have been arrested in the first place. whether new technology is used, which is a good idea, but also training. there is a difference between a choke hold, which is illegal in new york city. and a take down which is what the officer told the grand jury he was doing. it seems to most observers from looking at that video, that was a chokehold. >> right, it was a chokehold, without a doubt. and the thing is, you can see so many videos of police arrest all over the media for years when we see officers who are tackling people, which, you know, really is not a great technique. i mean, you get as an officer get hurt the suspect may get hurt. when the guy may have succumb to your verbal commands. verbal commands is the best way to get somebody to comply. if they comply, no reason to tackle them or arrest them. some people fight and you have to be willing to take a punch. it's the way it works in the police service. if you can get someone to comply verbally, even if it takes a few

minutes. that's a much better action. take a step back. and, also, you're not required to have everybody, no matter what, to the absolute ends of the earth, like we used to do in police car chases years ago. we got smarter and said, no, cut the chase off. and that should be available. >> jim cavanaugh, thank you so much. the justice department report and nbc pete williams will be previewing that with me, next. stay with us.

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and what story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours. pete williams. pete, we have the attorney general in cleveland. this is the ongoing investigation into cleveland police that preidated the incident with the 12-year-old boy. >> it was actually launched in march, andrea. and all signs are that the justice department and the city will reach some kind of agreement, perhaps an independent monitor and the issues here are whether the city

used excessive deadly force used excessive force generally. chemical sprays, tasers, fists. whether it was unnecessarily forceful with mentally ill people and whether the tactics by the police were too aggressive putting them in dangerous situations that could do nothing but escalate into these kinds of situations. so, what often happens in these cases, andrea, when the justice department is, this is unlike an individual officer. this is against an entire police department where the city and the justice department agree on a number of steps or reforms as they call them. they're basically court sanctioned. some kind of monitor is then appointed to generally speaking in these cases to make sure that the department lives up to its commitments. >> and it would be the court or master for the court that would supervise the compliance by the department. but it certainly is a way of setting standards for a police department. >> right. and, you know, contrast this with ferguson, for example.

you know, you had the state look at what the officer did there, darren wilson. you have federal civil rights investigation going on there. but, you know, all signs are that it's probably not going to result in a federal civil rights case. but, the justice department is separately investigating the entire ferguson police department and it may well result in what we may see here in cleveland shortly which is some kind of an agreement to change their policies, try to reduce these situations and make them less likely to happen. >> this is certainly a lot on eric holder's plate as he prepares to have this transition and they have the nomination, of course, of loretta lynch which will be taken up in the senate come january. thank you very much, pete williams. a busy day for you. that does it for this edition of andrea mitchell reports. thanks for being with us. remember, follow us online and on twitter and my colleague joins me for what's coming up.

>> a big hour up ahead. we have two live press conferences. one from chuck hagual and the department of defense. we'll have jackie spear weighing in on that. a big announcement from them on sexual assault in the military. new data on that. very interesting stuff. also, of course, bill bratton giving a press conference on how new york is being roiled in the wake of that eric garner decision. we'll have everything on that, including a reaction from one of the civil rights action who is in high-profile meetings today. stay with, everybody. mple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

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zyrtec-d®. americans drink 48 billion that's enough plastic bottles to stretch around the earth 230 times. each brita filter can replace 300 of those. clean. clear. brita water. nothing is better. good to see you, everybody. we have a lot happening in this hour. first up, we're awaiting two news conferences. one will be from new york mayor bill deblasio and bill bratton and another from attorney general holder. we'll bring those to you live. both should touch on this theme that is captivating the country right now and upsetting americans everywhere. civil rights and the police

after a grand jury decided to indict a new york city police officer in the death of eric garner. >> shame! protests like this playing out around the country overnight. this one that you're looking at right here in new york city. more than 80 people were arrested here in massive demonstrations. they marched with signs throughout midtown, staged a die-in inside grand central station at the height of rush hour and shut down traffic on the west side highway. despite those arrests, these protests have been described as mostly peaceful. just this past hour, the president commended that peaceful protesting. take a listen. >> before i came here, i had a chance to speak with mayor deblasio in new york and i commanded him for his words yesterday and for the way new yorkers have been engaging in peaceful protests and being constructive. he was just in the white house with us on monday as