and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. extreme measures. donald trump's new cabinet picks alarming democrats who like clean water and fair pay. we'll talk to a man who faced off against trump world in court, new york attorney general eric snyderman. also, ben carson once called poverty a choice. but now he may oversee america's housing. we'll talk to urban league president mark morial. and, what's next in the walter scott shooting? will a trump justice department pursue the federal case? and, part three of our series on a man set free by president obama after two decades in prison. >> i believe that anybody that gets a second chance at life, they need to come out and move

forward. and i'm looking forward it a great season. >> from rockefeller center in new york, this is "politicsnation" with al sharpton. good morning. i'm al sharpton. donald trump's cabinet is filling up with the big job still open. trump says he expects to name his secretary of state next week, so far he's leaned on military generals, millionaires and billionaires. >> one newspaper criticized me. why can't they have people of modest means? because i want people that made a fortune, because now they're negotiating with you. okay. it is no different than a great baseball play er or a great golfer. we want the people that are -- they're so proud to do it. >> the picks are now a political

flashpoint. especially two recent ones. here pick for labor secretary, a fast food ceo who is against raise the minimum wage and is nominee to run the epa is a climate change denier who is suing the agency. the move showed little sign of compromise and the vice president elect says trump has a mandate. >> we truly do believe that our president-elect has secured a mandate for leadership. 30 of 50 states, more counties won since ronald reagan was the republican candidate for re-election as president in 1981. it was a historic victory. >> he calls it a mandate, a i i historic win, despite losing the

popular vote by a historic margin. democrats are fighting back in the senate, they're looking to block some nominations. but the first line of defense could be state democratic attorneys general who say they're ready to take on the trump administration. >> joining me now, a democratic attorney general who has been out front, promising to hold trump's feet to the fire, eric snyderman of new york. he reached a $25 million settlement with trump's lawyer over trump university. thank you for being here, attorney general. >> glad to be here, rev. >> you've been a vocal critic about the number of -- about a number of trump's cabinet picks. first of all, why were you moved to speak out? >> well, in particular,'ve been involved very heavily in protecting the environment,

protecting the air and water for new yorkers and when the federal government does the right thing, as it did when it issued the clean power plant on the coalition of states, they're defending it. the trump's pick to head the epa scott pruett is the attorney general of oklahoma. part of a coalition suing to eliminate the clean power plant. >> you are part of a coalition of state attorneys general supporting it. pruett was a state attorney general in oklahoma suing against this? this is who trump is now putting over the epa who is suing them? >> he's suing to stop the epa from implementing the clean power plant, he is clearly indicated that he does not respect climate science, he doesn't believe in global warming is necessarily caused by burning of fossil fuel, which is overwhelming scientific consensus on. it is like saying i would like to be the pope, but i'm an atheist. you can't have someone who doesn't believe in science at the epa.

>> why would you put someone over that unless you want to roll back some of the things that you and other state attorneys general are clearly supporting and for that matter, many people in the american political culture and community. >> speaking earlier about a mandate, not only did trump lose the election by historic margin in the popular vote, but every poll shows that the american people want action on climate change. they're concerned about the future of the planet, seeing the effects in coastal communities and other parts of the country. there is a mandate to move forward and do something about climate change and to protect our air and water. there is not a mandate to dismantle the epa and put in charge someone who said in testimony to congress, general pruett said earlier this year, the environmental protection agency is not supposed to be our first line of defense of the environment and federally. that couldn't be more incorrect. he doesn't understand the agency, he doesn't respect the

science. it is hard to imagine a worse pick to watch out for over our precious resources our clean air and clean water and to deal with the very compelling problem of climate change. we have to take action immediately if we're going to save the planet. >> you also have come out about puzder, the labor secretary nominee of mr. trump. >> yes, the labor secretary nominee strikes me as even, if anything, more bizarre. my office is labor bureau has investigated wage and hour theft, particularly in fast food restaurant chains, and recovered $27 million for thousands and thousands of workers. the u.s. labor department also investigates violations of the wage and hour rules. and mr. puzder's fast food restaurants, owns the parent company that owns carl's jr. and hardee's, when the u.s. department of labor examined his restaurants, they found that more than half of them were

violating the federal wage and hour rules. >> wow. >> so this is something where you're taking someone who is known to be a law breaker, and putting them in charge of the agency in charge of enforcing the law. this is, like, making an arsonist the head of the fire department. it is totally unacceptable. >> wow. attorney general eric schneiderman, thank you so much for your time this morning. >> thank you, rev. glad to be here. let's bring in our panel, tara dowdell, democratic strategist and former contestant on the apprentice and dana millbank, his new article is called "how schumer and the democrats are preparing to fight." thank you, both, for being here. >> good to be with you, reverend. >> thank you. >> tara, first, where will the major pushback from democrats come from? congress, the states, where do you see it coming from? >> i think you'll see a lot of pushback coming from the local level, mayors in particular because, remember, the democrats

had been ravaged. ravaged throughout this country at the state level, most of the governorships are controlled by republicans. most of the state representatives, the legislative houses are controlled by republicans. but where democrats still have a power base is at the local level. and so i think you're going to see a lot of pushback and starting to see it already around different mayors saying that they're not going to let the federal government dictate to them things that are antithetical to their communities. >> now, dana, you wrote that you see bernie sanders as one helping to lead the democrats in this age of trump. explain what you mean, elaborate on that. >> i sat down this week, reverend, with chuck schumer who is really, i think, the most important and highest ranking democrat in the land after president-elect trump is sworn in. and he was saying that his emphasis is going to be squarely on the economic issues and he's basically saying he's going

to -- he has ties to wall street, he says he's going to be taking his cues from elizabeth warren, bernie sanders, from the populous wing of the democratic party. i think that's smart because that's where the energy is. and the democrats need to reclaim this. now, the downside of this, the flip side of this is i don't think you can count on democrats in the senate to put a lot of their emphasis, a lot of their chips on environmental issues, on energy issues, on social civil rights, justice issues like that because they're going to be focused like a laser on issues of the economy. that's smart politics, you have to do a certain amount of triage, they can't fight all of these battles. >> now, tara, chris murphy, democratic senator, he said he expects some republicans to join democrats in opposing trump's labor secretary. the fact he used some salty language, listen to this. >> i'm not giving away the fact that there won't be republicans

that eventually will oppose him, because you're talking about the department that is in charge of enforcing labor laws in this country. and, you know, donald trump has given a big middle finger to that entire department by nominating somebody who was found to have 50% of his restaurants in noncompliance with labor laws. it would be really curious to have every republican on the committee support somebody like this. >> is this a possibility? i mean, could we see republicans joining and stopping some of trump's appointees or nominees, particularly if there is a groundswell of people coming out when you have a guy that, i mean, actually violates according to the attorney general of new york just said violating labor laws? >> exactly. so andrew puzder's appointment is a slap in the face to workers in this country. democrats need to be a lot more forceful like the attorney

general in pointing that out. it is literally a slap in the face. he is against anything that stands for helping workers to move up the economic ladder. he is someone who opposes a minimum wage, increases in any kind of meaningful way, openly and aggressively. he wants to replaced and talked about replacing workers with machines, and that's where democrats need to educate the public. there is so much talk about trade, but where we have seen communities hollowed out, particularly at the lower spectrum of the economic ladder is with automation. >> automation. >> and democrats need to let people know that. and they need to pushback hard. and i think if they do, and they educate and they stand up, that you'll see some republicans particularly in states like pennsylvania, that's where you'll see more republicans pushing back and states where there are more of a blue collar workforce. >> you know, dana, i've got to go, but stay with me, but, you know, whatever happened to

draining the swamp? i mean, he's -- it is amazing. another goldman sachs guy pointed this week, tara, dana, stay with me. more to come. coming up, dr. ben carson once called the fair housing act social engineering. now trump wants him for housing secretary. mark morial from the national urban league joins me after the break. also, mistrial in the walter scott case. could the next potential attorney general have a say in whether justice is or is not served? ♪ music playing

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he wears his army hat, he gets awalks aroundliments. with his army shirt looking all nice. and then people just say, "thank you for serving our country" and i'm like, that's my dad. male vo: no one deserves a warmer welcome home. that's why we're hiring 10,000 members of the military community by the end of 2017. i'm very proud of him. male vo: comcast.

i want to do things that haven't been done including fixing and making our inner cities better for the african-american citizens that are so great and for the latinos, hispanics and i look forward to doing that, it is called america great again. >> we're back with a deeper dive into trump's cabinet picks, including a look at the man who will lead the effort to make inner cities, quote, better. trump tapped dr. ben carson to be secretary for the department of housing and urban development. carson has no government experience. none in housing, none in running an agency with a $47 billion budget. as i mentioned, other picks, also have democrats ready to fight. like the nominee for labor secretary, who opposes expanding overtime pay. and wouldn't mind robots replacing american workers. or the epa pick who says that

the debate over climate change is, quote, far from settled. when i get this mixed up in my head, i have to go to the one that has the answers, joining me now, the answer man, mark morial, president of the national urban league and former mayor of new orleans. mark, help me out, help me out. let's start with dr. carson. you and i know him, very respected figure, but for hud -- >> dr. carson is a great neurosurgeon. he's worked on friends, family members of mine, he has been well known and outstanding in that work. i thought he would be at hhs. i thought he might be at surgeon general. >> that would be my guess. >> i'm shocked with the appointment of dr. carson. clearly he is not henry cisneros, he's not andrew cuomo,

he's not jack kemp, great hud secretaries with whom i've worked over the years. he's not julio castro, the current secretary, mayor of san antonio. i think he's going to face a tough confirmation fight, primarily because of his own statements. he has got to find a way to walk back some of the things he said, like his sort of aer is tase ase wasn't qualified. what i do believe is we should have a conversation with him to find out what his vision, what his thought process -- >> he has been accessible. let's talk about some of the other nominees because dr. carson has not -- or any of that in terms of having this debate, we adamantly disagreed with some of his --

>> so, look, the nomination of jeffrey sessions is front and center for the human rights, for the civil rights community because of this record. this is one we have to oppose. this is one we have to be vigorous in opposing because he becomes as -- if he's confirmed, he becomes the chief civil rights enforcer, so there is a question, is he going to use the job of attorney general to undo, undercut, not enforce civil rights laws. those are questions that he should be asked in his confirmation. >> voting rights, police reform, you and i worked with others in the community with the president around the criminal justice reform. i mean, all of this now goes in his -- >> will he support the continuation of the 20 police reform consent decrees? the continuation of the current police pattern and practice investigations that are under way? so that's front and center.

the labor secretary, that position in the cabinet, reverend, historically has been the working man and the working woman's seat at the table. it has very important responsibilities over job training, and enforcement of wage and hour laws, a number of workplace safety issues, that's been what the labor department is about. >> let me push you there, though, marc. the nominee that is -- has been put forward, he actually talked about -- let me show you what he said about robots replacing workers. he said, quote, they're always polite, talking about robots here, they always upsell, they never take a vacation. they never show up late, they never -- never a slip and fall or an age, sex or race discrimination case. this is who has been nominated for labor secretary. >> that's an insulting statement for any working man and woman.

and so what is surprising about this nomination is that the people who form the backbone of the trump coalition, if you consider the analysis of working men and women, can't look at a nominee like that, can't look at a statement like that, and find comfort that the focus is going to be not only on jobs, but jobs that pay well, strong enforcement of wage laws, commitment to increase the pay of the working men and women, who are suffering out there. not just those, but the large numbers in our community. who have not seen their wages increase. who are still suffering under too high unemployment. >> you know, we got to keep it moving for the good of the country. marc morial, thank you for joining me this morning. marc morial will join the national action network for the we shall not be moved marches on january 14th in washington, d.c. during the martin luther king

jr. weekend. we'll be calling for the president-elect trump and the congress to protect voting and civil rights access to quality health care as well as police reform and economic development and equity. that's january 14th, saturday, in washington. straight ahead, donald trump says next week he'll clear all conflicts of interest. but he's got a lot of work to do to avoid landing in our gotcha. i love my shop, but my back pain was making it hard to sleep

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♪ everything your family touches sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. this week, donald trump says he's going to hold a big press conference about how he's going to clear up his conflict of interest. and he has a lot to clear up. this past week we learned trump paid $3 million from his campaign to his old business in the final weeks of the election. and later this month, the rnc will be spending some money to

rent out space in a trump hotel for their annual holiday party. the right wing heritage foundation just held an event at that hotel too, with vice president elect mike pence as the keynote speaker. >> pay a bit of gratitude to the heritage foundation and to express the appreciation on behalf of the president-elect. for your generosity to this effort that is even as we speak continuing to play an extraordinarily important role in the formation of this new government. >> now, you might think that this is getting a little messy and that trump may want to distance himself from it all. he is going to keep a stake in his company. we'll see what the president-elect says this week. but if he thought we're going to

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welcome back. now to a big legal case. a south carolina officer who shot and killed an unarmed black man is free for now. michael slager faced murder and manslaughter charges for killing 50-year-old walter scott. but this week the jury deadlocked, forcing a mistrial. the major piece of evidence, of course, was cell phone video, caught by a witness, showing the officer shooting scott from behind. here's what the jury foreman said on the "today" show. >> we had one individual who was just deadlocked that he wasn't changing, but yet we had five individuals who were undecided. so because of that, we went and when the judge asked me, i

believe we could have deliberated a little bit more to see if we could sway that particular juror and get those who were undecided to make a decision. >> the final breakdown was 10-2 in favor of voluntary manslaughter. slager claims he feared for his life. he now faces a possible retrial at the state level. but the other big question, how will the next potential attorney general, senator jeff sessions, pursue federal charges? time will tell. and it will also reveal just what the justice department may look like in the trump administration. joining me now, former prosecutor and georgetown law professor paul butler. paul, looking ahead, what happens now with the retrial and when might this be retried? >> i expect this summer, the same thing, the trial took 55

days, actually took -- this trial took two weeks, 55 witnesses, so the state will try once again. we have to ask will the -- this case come out differently this time? again, i never -- as years of being a federal prosecutor, never had evidence this compelling, reverend. we have a man on video shooting -- shooting the victim here eight times, caught on video, in the back. and the defense -- the self-defense, give me a break. >> let me play to you the opening that the prosecutor said in the opening statement about walter scott. listen to this. >> walter scott had stayed in that car, he would have been shot. if walter scott had not resisted arrest, he would have --

wouldn't have been shot. he paid the extreme consequence for his conduct. he lost his life for his foolishness. >> i mean, again, this is is the prosecutor. what kind of impact could something like that have made on this jury? >> the let's be very clear. getting out of the car when the police stop you does not give them the right to shoot you in the back eight times. even running from the police does not give them the right to use deadly force. the man was not facing them and they shot him in the back. >> what happened to calling for backup, cutting him off? i mean, but let me ask you something, senator sessions, you were a former prosecutor, he -- there is a federal indictment that he could either slow walk into oblivion or stop altogether. what do you see here? >> when i was -- >> that is really a troubling situation. >> that's huge. when i was a federal prosecutor, the attorney general was my boss. i had to do what she, janet

reno, or alberto gonzales told me to do. he's one of the most powerful actors in the criminal justice system. if he says the department should dismiss the federal charges against officer slager, those charges are gone. and -- >> sessions can dismiss the present indictment that came down? >> absolutely. totally his decision. when we look at his record, this is a man who not only has been hostile to civil rights, he's actually brought cases against civil rights workers. >> i showed that. well, and that's why there has got to be a lot of pressure put on the democrats in the senate during these confirmation hearings. needs to have to answer this. let's turn to another major case in south carolina. the dylann roof trial got under way this past week. he's accused of killing nine black worshipers at the historic emanuel ame church. here is security video of roof going in and out of that church last year. and a sketch of roof in court

this week as jurors watch a video of his confession. it included a chilling admission, quote, i went to that church in charleston and i did it. roof also tells investigators, quote, what i did is still minuscule to what they're doing to white people. paul, roof's attorneys asked for a mistrial and delay and they were rejected. but is there any delaying the inevitable here? any reason why the jury wouldn't find him guilty? >> we would certainly expect not, but i didn't expect that in the michael slager trial either. so you never know what a jury is going to do, which is why he's pleading not guilty. what his attorneys have said, is if the government takes death off the table, that they agree to a sentence of life in prison, that he'll plead guilty. it is all about a strategy. the only reason the government might go for that, is that the end of the day, you can't predict what a jury is going to

do. >> i mentioned roof's comment about attacks on, quote, white people. does that help establish a hate crime motive? >> it could. but really there is so many aggravating circumstances in this case, the fact that he killed nine people, again, i don't think there is going to be any doubt that his motives were just pure racism. the question is, will the jury find any reason to be mitigating, a number of the victims' families have come out against the death penalty based on their moral principles. they think he should be under the jail, but he should not be put to death. >> roof is still planning to represent himself in the sentencing phase. if it comes to that, what do you make of that? >> you know, they say that the man who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer and that goes double or three times in the case of this defendant. his only hope is that the jury will exercise some mercy and not sentence him to death. if this man gets up in front of the jury with all they know about him, i don't think his chances of avoiding the death

people ty are very good. >> paul butler, thank you for being with us this morning. >> always a pleasure. ahead, will he or won't he? joe biden teases a democratic party looking for its leader. that and more with the politics nation panel. i love my shop, but my back pain was making it hard to sleep and open up on time. then i found aleve pm.

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it may cause shaking, sweating, fast heartbeat, and blurred vision. check your blood sugar levels daily. injection site reactions may occur. don't change your dose of insulin without talking to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. taking tzds with insulins, like toujeo®, may cause heart failure that can lead to death, even if you've never had heart failure before. don't dilute or mix toujeo® with other insulins or solutions as it may not work as intended and you may lose blood sugar control, which could be serious. find your rhythm and keep on grooving. ♪ let's groove tonight. ask your doctor about toujeo®. ♪share the spice of life. ♪♪

joe biden spent days teasing the press, hinting he might run for president in 2020. but then later said he has, quote, no intention of running. here is some of how it played out. >> are you going to run again? >> yeah, i am.

i'm going to run in 2020. >> for what? >> for president. you know, so just to be clear -- >> are you kidding about running for president in 2020? >> i'm just -- i'm not committing not to run. i'm not committing to anything. i learned a long time ago, fate has a strange way of -- >> the 2020 stuff, beyond the vision that you joked, as you walked in, we got to ask. >> i have no intention of running. >> back with me, tara dowdall and dana millbank. what is the bottom line here. is biden interested in 2020? >> i think biden would be interested in 2020, 2040 and 2060 and 2080. you have to consider what age he'll be and where things will be then. there is nothing wrong with leaving the option open. it makes him more relevant in the debate going forward. it is hard to picture -- though a lot of people out there think if joe biden had been the nominee this time, he would be

the president-elect at this moment. >> a lot of people do think that. but tara, i mean, two problems with this. one, we don't know. second, is he the most exciting democrat out there and is that the problem. there is no bench that the democrats really need joe biden or someone like that. there is no real bench. >> that is a big problem. because the democratic party has been hollowed out from not recovering from 2014 and 2012 or 20 -- excuse me, and so the party has been hollowed out. there needs to be an effort to bring in new blood. some democrats cringe when people say that. but we need some fresh faces, we need new energy, we need new ideas, we have some solid platform ideas. >> but going the right way. because the last time we saw some new blood, they were -- they were blood brothers or sisters of the wrong side of a

lot of the issues. >> i 100% agree with you. i think we need new messengers out there too. it can't be the same people carrying the message. the bottom line is, when you lose, you have to be introspective. no matter what outside forces may have occurred, you have to have an introspection and are to figure out what went wrong on your side. you can't control what other people do, but you can control what you do on your side. >> that's why i said it has got to be the right direction, dana, because what you don't need is younger imitations of the same old sorry strategies that fail and policies that really didn't work. i think there say difference between new leadership and clones, young clones or the old leadership. but what is the feeling, i saw this week, hillary clinton return to capitol hill at an event honoring harry reid. watch this. >> this is not exactly the speech at the capitol i hoped to

be giving after the election but after a few weeks of taking selfies in the woods, i thought it would be a good idea to come out. >> what is the feeling among democrats of hillary clinton now? is it fatigue? is it fondness? is it failure? what is the -- what is the attitude about? >> you got to give her this, she gives great speeches in defeat and she did it again. she's very good at that sort of thing. there is a debait under way now. you had david brock this last week, an ally of hillary clinton saying that democrats really need to have this investigation of the party and overhaul of the whole thing i think far more people are pushing back and saying there isn't anything wrong with the party, not anything wrong with the message that hillary clinton was an imperfect messenger, talking about staying the course, building on success at a time

when people did not feel that success and people wanted change. it is not necessarily her fault that she was perhaps not the best person for the moment, but you are quite correct that the democrats need -- >> but she did get 2.6 million more votes and still counting. >> right. exactly. that's why i think people shouldn't overreact and say that there is something fundamentally wrong with the democratic party. they gained seats. there may be something wrong with the electoral college. we'll have to talk to mr. madison about that and see what can be done. >> well, yeah. all right. my skills of bringing back mr. madison's spirit is a little lost this sunday. we'll see. chris christie broke a record this week. 77% disapproval rating in his state. the highest disapproval rating of any governor in 20 years by

the quinnipiac poll. i mean, is his political career over or can he make a comeback? >> when your approval rating is that, that means that certain family members also disapprove of you. so, you know, poor chris christie. i feel funny saying it, but he was so loyal to donald trump, and donald trump appreciated that by ditching him and dumping him from the transition. >> rudy giuliani and chris christie, both loyal, both out. >> it is clear loyalty is a one way street with the president-elect. >> when you play with the snake, don't get surprised when it bites you. >> you must have knew my mother. let me ask you something, tara, the reports that donald trump will get credit as executive producer of celebrity apprentice, you were on it, he still is going to get the credit and i assume the check. >> we don't know if he'll get that check. >> what is your take on this?

>> i think it is disgraceful. i think the fact that he is going to have another job while serving as president of the united states of america -- >> he wants the money -- >> he doesn't want the money for president because he's going to use the presidency to enrich himself, which he's already demonstrating, handwriting is on the wall, he's already in the process of doing that with his family members, his failure to even divest himself yet and so i think donald trump, this is part of donald trump's long con, and the con game continues. >> all right. i'm going to have to leave it there. tara dowdall and dana millbank, thank you both. 2016 is coming to a close, which can only mean one thing. the sixth annual revvie awards are coming soon. i'll discuss the best and the worst 2016 had to offer. there is even a heated debate between me, myself and i.

you're not going to want to miss it. still ahead, the politics nation special series on alton mills whose life sentence was commuted by president obama. today, how he's putting his life back together. for lower back pain sufferers,

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this week in bending toward justice, we turn back to alton mills, the nonviolent drug offender who was given life in prison until his sentence was commuted last year by president obama. ail year we have been following his fight to rejoin society after more than two decades in prison. it has been hard. there have been ups and downs.

here's part three of our series. >> want to take a minute? let's go get this done. you're done with this federal stuff. you're done. >> it has been 23 years coming, a day we didn't know would happen. alton's last day in court. >> i feel wonderful. knowing i don't have to come to this building ever again. i can go on with my life. >> my heart feels so full today because this is the culmination of an injustice being rectified. >> i'd probably still be in prison if it wasn't for them two. >> it took us three years to get him out of prison. >> i love them for what they did

for me. she's truly an angel. >> i trust it will be his last court appearance ever. it is going to be very difficult, but i'm confident he's going to do well. >> the question now is, what awaits him. >> the hard part is getting a career with a job. >> i used to tell him to be patient, something will come up. he became home one day and told me, mom, i got this job. >> long journey home, and long journey to work. if i was driving, 15 minute car ride. >> fighting to get my driver's license back from being suspended for over 20 some years for some parking tickets. >> this is alton mills.

i'm going down to my work pass. thank you. have a great day. >> it is really expensive to be incarcerated. not only are you trying to just find a job, but once you find a job, you're trying to save wages and pay for your own incarceration. >> off we go. >> i'm a bus server. we detail the bus. >> it takes about three hours to clean a bus. >> on the outside, we wash all the windows. on the inside, we scrub and screen and mop the floors. >> our second chance program allows ex-offenders to gain job skills training for up to one year cleaning our buses and trains. >> my name is on it. it is not who you are, where you come from, it is where you want to go. my future right now is the cta. my goal is to be a certified diesel mechanic for the cta. withdrawn, not trusting, that

was alton when he came in. now he's kind of coming in to his own, alton has this great opportunity to succeed. >> it is over with. time to go home and get ready for tomorrow. >> some of my concerns for alton, which are concerns for every person that i've represented, is that society will not be kind to them because they have been branded. >> i do believe that his biggest challenge is the more emotional side. >> some people don't make it. a struggle would be going back to the type of life that they lived before. >> we cannot afford to keep locking people up for decades, and then releasing them with nothing. it should not take america 30 years to rehabilitate a person who sold 60 grams of crack. we're better than that. and they're better than that.

>> alton mills is not unique. there are tens of thousands of people just like him behind bars today. and when they get out, they need our help. so they can move on with their lives. and the coming weeks, we'll bring you part four of our series, which includes some major changes for alton's family life. it will bring a smile to your face when you see it. but don't forget, as she said, it doesn't take 30 years to correct someone for selling some grams of crack nonviolently. yes, the times should be given when you're doing the crime, but the time should equal to the crime. and we must not throw away people's lives when they make mistakes that they can pay for and correct and then re-enter life. we owe it to our country to give them that chance. that does it for me. thanks for watching. and to keep the conversation

going, like us on facebook.com/politicsnation. or follow us on twitter at politicsnation. i'll see you back here next sunday. [burke] at farmers, we've seen almost everything, so we know how to cover almost anything. even a rodent ride-along. [dad] alright, buddy, don't forget anything! [kid] i won't, dad... [captain rod] happy tuesday morning! captain rod here. it's pretty hairy out on the interstate.traffic is literally crawling, but there is some movement on the eastside overpass. getting word of another collision. [burke] it happened. december 14th, 2015. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

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you don't just graduate from medical school, "or something." and we don't just pull smoked chicken, bake fresh foccacia and hand-slice avocado. there's nothing "or something" about it. hey there, good morning, everyone. i'm alex witt at msnbc headquarters. here's what's happening right now. president-elect donald trump drops in on the army/navy game as new reports today suggest some of his comments may leave him at odds with u.s. national security teams. today, new questions and reaction about russia's alleged role and whether it is specifically tried to help trump win the election. >> i don't know what the relationship is with vladimir putin, but i'll tell you it a matter of concern to me. >> the reported pick for secretary of state, will the incoming president get pushback from inside his own