welcome at the scene of an emergency, and yet as veterans of the tough times in american urban areas will tell you back in the '60s and '70s, they were not welcomed with open arms, and they were often under attack themselves when rolling into an environment like this. so it is hardly their fault. midnight is upon us here on the east coast, 9:00 p.m. out on the west coast. and this is the story we are covering. if you've been watching our conversation, then you know. this all started with the death of george floyd, not just in police hands but in forcible custody, broad daylight, on his stomach, in the street, on video with his neck under the knee of an officer. this is a new angle that has surfaced late today, and what's notable about it is the audio it contains. it's the number of police officers you see detaining him

there in the street and the number of times you can hear mr. floyd say he couldn't breathe. he died in police hands. that started what we are seeing tonight. officials held a news conference today, including the trump-appointed u.s. attorney for the district of minnesota, including the local attorney for hennepin county, minnesota. but they didn't have enough to say to stop what we're seeing unfold. right before the top of the hour, i asked ali velshi to count up the number of actively burning fired around him. his answer was four. we have the now famous third precinct minneapolis police station on fire. we have a -- what appears to be a family-owned smoke shop on

fire. we had several large engulfed structure fires earlier tonight. and let's not hesitate to mention we call minneapolis part of the twin cities. st. paul, minnesota, had their hands full tonight and we're waiting for an update from there. the mayor of st. paul. this is videotape from earlier tonight. the mayor of st. paul sent out a rather urgent call for the national guard. we know that 500 members of the minnesota national guard have been authorized and ordered to report. and just because this is human life in the middle of a pandemic, let's pause just to remind everybody these are 500 men and women who were, as of yesterday, at home with their families, doing the right thing during a pandemic. and now quite the opposite of social distancing, they will pile into vehicles and work together. it's the nature of the job.

and they'll go where they're assigns and do the job that the governor and the mayor have decided to assign to them. correspondent morgan chesky is among our folks who have been in the crowd and around these various fires have been burning. morgan, have you moved your location since we last checked in with you? >> reporter: brian, we absolutely did because about five minutes ago, we heard a succession of gunfire from what sounded to be inside the third precinct, which is just beyond this parking lot here. i looked to my security team. i said, is that what i thought it was? that sounds like an assault rifle. and at that point we left the rear of the building where we were and came back to this intersection where we're standing now. we haven't heard a repeat of that, but right now i'm listening to glass being broken because about 20 yards behind me, if we can just flip the camera around, an arby's that had been boarded up in hopes of

protecting that business is now being broken into as dozens of people swoarm that entrance there. that is the scene block by block in this part of the city now, brian, because going on about an hour, i have yet to see any police presence of any kind. i had seen some cruisers in the distance about a half hour ago, expecting them to roll into this area and set up a perimeter. but they have yet to do that. and just a quick look down this street we're standing on right now, you'll see that flames stretch across the entire width of it. that is how typically would come into the rear parking lot of their own station. but right now that fence is up. that fire is burning, and that is making it almost impossible really for any sort of response to come to this area. so the tension is certainly rising here, brian. we have not heard that gunfire come yet again. we do know that about three blocks behind me is where that liquor store continues to burn

and at this point in time, we have to fear it's going to be basically a carbon copy repeat of what we saw last night, where about a ten-block square area was laid waste by hundreds and hundreds of people trying to do as they would say, send a message, but overshadowing what so many people we spoke to today said they came out for, and that was to pay tribute to the man who died monday. brian? >> thank you very much for that. it's haunting that the reason you had to move, morgan, is the sounds of rounds going off. ali velshi is back at his location. both of our correspondents are kind of around the same corner. ali, go ahead. >> reporter: yeah, morgan and i are sort of crisscrossing each:the liquor store fire he was talking about was over that way. this is the other liquor stores

and the folks behind me. there's the police station fire over there. a lot of activity now. it's become -- it's the center of activity in front of the police station. the crowd has now moved over there. at this point that seems to be the sflcenter of what's going o. let me just give you a sense of it. what morgan said was interesting. for most of the day today, it looked a lot calmer than yesterday looked. and that's what happened yesterday. it picked up later in the evening. the crowds gathered here, and the standoff with the police looked very different last night. police had lined up. there were no barricad-- overni put up fences and barricades so that people couldn't get there. that's what broke through. so it caused a new center of focus for the protesters. the idea that they would then try and take that police station from the police. again, we were very surprised to find out that there were police

actually in that building, but there were. there were about five police who came out. they had their weapons with them that fired the gas canisters, and it dispersed the crowd, which then came this way and started this activity and a fire that occurred over there. so, again, there are fires as you mentioned at the top of the show. there are at least four fires that i can see, and that's just in this small radius that morgan and i are in. obviously some of them are very active. this one has very obviously spread to the buildings on either side of it, the liquor store and the shop to the left. but there's no ability -- and i just think we have to remember this. the national guard has been activated. they are not here. the police are not here. the police have been evacuated. the fire engines can't get in here. there's no ability to bring anybody in here to solve this problem. i want to be clear on how i characterize this. this is mostly a protest. it is not generally speaking unruly. but fires have been started, and there's a crowd that is

relishing that. there is a deep sense of grievance and complaint here, and that is the thing. when you discount people who are doing things to public property that they shouldn't be doing, it does have to be understood that this city has got, for the last several years, an issue with police, and it's got a real sense of the deep sense of grievance of inequality. you mentioned earlier before we had video, how did we know about these things? now we have video. we have three angles of this thing, and the people who are talking to me, not an investigator and i don't have access to the information that investigators have. but they're saying what more do you need? you've got three angles of video. why haven't there been arrests? and the fbi and the minneapolis bureau of apprehensions and the hennepin county attorney, all of whom are proceeding, are proceeding very carefully. this crowd is not looking for careful right now. they are looking for something that feels like justice, and they don't seem to be getting it. >> ali velshi, a question that there may be no answer to as far

as our reporting. if you're the governor, where are you watching this right now. >> if you're the mayor, if you're the member of congress whose district this is, two u.s. senators, what are they thinking? where are they watching because right now, for now, minneapolis does not control the area where you are. they have nothing to do with it. it's being run by another authority. >> reporter: and there have been various protests in various parts of the city, right? so there was one at city hall that was more organized. there was one at hennepin county courthouse where people knelt in protest. those seemed to be the ones where people are trying to get the attention of the politicians. this has a more visceral feel to it. this protest is not about the politicians. this protest is about the police. this protest is about people who feel that police brutality is not something that is dealt with fairly in this country. this is not about politicians. there are not politicians even

in baltimore where we saw riots or in ferguson where you saw that, you saw politicians, aldermen coming to the area. that's not happening right now. this seven-block area that morgan and i are in right now, is out of control. it's not in the control of authorities. it's not in control of the police. it's not in control of the government and the national guard. for all those people that are hearing the national guard has been activated in minneapolis and in minnesota, that is not happening right now. right now, no government authority, no authority whatsoever has control over this area. the people have control over this area, and this is what's happening right now. there's a lot of venting going on. there are definitely people who have come up to me. they're not happy about the way this is unfolding. they're not happy about the damage to public property. but, boy, the anger. i can't -- i mean your pictures show it, brian, but the anger is visceral here. >> i get it. ali velshi, thank you very much. and to our viewers, something we neglected to say at the start of our coverage.

obviously we're overhearing language that most adults can handle. we apologize for being the venue for it. and i note we've received several one-finger salutes since being on the air tonight. it's an overheated environment. that should go without saying. back with us again tonight is maya wiley, former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, a veteran of the new york city mayor's office who is now with the new school in new york. maya, i just need to hear your reaction to this horrendous, horrendous scene we are seeing in one of america's finest cities that is absent one of its residents. somebody needs to answer for george floyd. >> you're absolutely right, brian, and i think what we're seeing is the community demanding an answer and demanding an answer that

includes the word "justice" in it. you know, you have to wonder when you see these images that we're seeing tonight -- and i think that ali so carefully and responsibly reported to us, you know, this is really about anger. and underneath that anger is about pain. but not about violence although there is obviously some fire-setting and some things to be concerned about. but you have to wonder if the images we would be seeing tonight would be different if what we had heard from prosecutors were that they were taking the officers in, arresting them, and that charges were coming. we did not hear that despite the videotape, and part of what we are seeing and part of what we have to understand is that this is a community, like communities all over the country -- and that's why we're seeing protests around the country -- that have

felt for too long that no matter how much evidence there is of wrongdoing, the answer seems to be don't believe your lying eyes rather than we are going to take this evidence. you know, we heard that there is evidence that may suggest it wasn't a crime. i would really like to hear what that evidence is. it's very hard for me to understand, seeing that videotape, why even if there is some argument on another side, there's always a way to mount a defense, but why a prosecutor isn't saying, you know, we're going to make it very clear that we're coming, and we're coming hard. we can't predict the outcome, but we're going to do our job. >> can you tell me a matter of the law that people have asked me, and without having your legal training, i have not had the answer for.

how it be possible that four police officers fall short of the standard required to serve on the police department of minneapolis, yet would not immediately qualify for arrest and charging given the kaleidoscopic video and audio that we have of this action. >> i wish i had an answer for you, brian that, i thought was satisfactory, and i don't. what i will say is that it's certainly true that in general, prosecutors try to be careful, try to ensure they have all the evidence and information before they make a decision. i think the problem here is -- and i served, as you know, as chair of the civilian complaint review board, doing police

oversight of civilian cases. and i have to tell you this is the kind of video that made us cringe and that you would hope that the police department, as we saw, did the unusual step for police departments of saying, you're gone, you're fired immediately and actually calling in for a federal investigation. so the idea, though, that there's not enough here is quite challenging, and i think the other thing that we're hearing from communities that we have to understand is most of us don't get the benefit of that doubt. we're just arrested. and so the answer becomes, well, why aren't these police officers, whether we have ten minutes of video of a man who is handcuffed, not his hands loose, surrounded by police officers. there's no indication in this

video that he is fighting the officers, and he is begging, begging for his life. and that we hear bystanders standing around and quite reasonably and respectfully raising very serious concerns about whether or not he is able to breathe. what that tells any lawyer is, i have video evidence that average, rational people looked on this scene and saw a man in serious trouble, medical trouble. that tells you that the police should have seen it too, and i don't see any evidence on this videotape that there is a reason why they needed to do exactly what the training would have suggested they not do. once someone is subdued, the idea that you have a knee for a prolonged period on someone's windpipe, their ability to breathe, is exactly the kind of

thing officers are trained on in their training, and you can't defend yourself if you have violated your training, and you cannot defend yourself if the person you have arrested is under your control. if you don't have a danger to yourself or to the public. i can't show you in this video where there is any indication of that defense. >> there's also a difference between a violent and nonviolent crime, and the various ways to arrest and detain someone depending on what it is you suspect they have done in most civilized societies. maya, i found it interesting that somebody at that press conference today -- perhaps it was the hennepin county attorney -- invoked freddie gray as a kind of glancing example of perhaps prosecutorial overreach. it was invoked at least to say,

let's be cautious here and not move too fast because we know what can happen. >> i heard that as well. i think this is the point i was trying to make more clearly, that certainly prosecutors try to be careful and collect all the evidence. there's always a defense, and prosecutors want to know and understand what that defense might be before they make the decision whether to bring charges. i think the thing here is prosecutors also make decisions about whether or not it's really important to vindicate the public trust, the sense of accountability. the fact that even if you don't know you're going to win the trial, you feel absolutely committed that it's important that you bring the case. and prosecutors make those decisions all the time too, where you say, this one matters.

i might lose it. i don't know, but this matters. and unless there is accountability for police officers who violate their training, who show a disregard for the safety of residents when they are doing their jobs, when they are supposed to be following the law, when they are supposed to be following their training, when they're supposed to be protecting the constitutional rights of every resident, then, then we must have some accountability that says when you cross that line, you too must pay. you too must see a judge. you too must have to confront your accusers, and in this case it's the people. and that's really what protesters are asking for. you know, brian, unfortunately we've seen that in all of the

arrests of police officers, a very small percentage, sometimes as low as 30%, are ever charged. and then we see an even smaller percentage of that are convicted, and that is a frustration. but it is equally frustrating to not feel that a part of the criminal justice system is going to fly into action when it's very hard to see why it isn't. >> we had a number of questions, as you can tell, to put before a lawyer tonight. we are so fortunate to have a lawyer the quality of maya wiley as part of our coverage. maya, my friend, thank you very much for being a part of it. i understand back in minneapolis, correspondent morgan chesky is down the road a little bit from tonight's activity to what was the location of last night's story, the target store where i see a fresh fire burning, morgan.

>> reporter: yeah, brian, you're exactly right. and we have a crowd running towards thus right now. i'm going to step out of the way here. we don't know what they're running from now, but i can tell you we decided to put more distance between us and the police precinct. so we started walking two to three blocks down the road, and that's when i saw that glow, that telltale glow of flame that's popping up all over this part of the city tonight, brian. and when we walked to the rear of the building -- and you can hear that now. the fireworks are going off. someone has set fire to two tractor trailers that were directly behind this target store that has really been continually looted throughout the day. in fact, just a few minutes ago, as we were walking this way, i witnessed a group of people run out and one man ride out of the building on a motorcycle. so that's kind of the scene that's playing out right now. i will say that in the past 15 minutes, we have seen some of

the crowd start to disperse. more than anything at this point in time, people are just -- if they are showing up, they just want to see what's happening here. i mean it's a very unfortunate sight to behold, but this fire certainly a fresh one. as i look towards where the alley is located, i can still see the glow where that liquor store fire is continuing to burn. amidst all of this mess tonight, i have yet to see a police officer in uniform, a police cruiser of any kind, a member of the national guard. and it's been that way now for at least the past hour, hour and a half or so. i keep waiting to see some sort of perimeter being set up, and that may just not be the case tonight, brian. >> morgan, an observation more than anything else, and then i'll let you go reposition. that is that often in protests, we see people's faces covered.

and often where gas has been deployed, we see people wearing masks. how often do you remind yourself over the course of your coverage, oh, yeah, we're also in the midst of a pandemic? >> reporter: you know, i'm going to be honest with you. in the midst of all of this, i think that question has been the first time in the past hour or so that, you know, that reality has really sunk in. so much for social distancing on a night like this with people running from police earlier in the day, and now people just congregating, simply watching minneapolis burn, one building after another, brian. >> all right. morgan chesky. thank you. stay safe. watch your back. we are happy to have with us ben jealous, former chairman of the naacp, and a frequent on-air guest of ours. ben, thank you for finding the time and working late tonight. >> thanks, brian. >> can you join me in starting

with a very important point i tried to make at the start of our coverage. it would be unfair and inaccurate if people came away from the coverage thinking this is a black crowd. >> right. >> these are black protesters. as i tried to point out, minneapolis is a very diverse city. >> yes. >> in a state 7% african-american by the last census and, more than that and importantly, this crowd is incredibly diverse. what they have in common is anger over the death of george floyd. >> no, that's exactly right. i was just there a few weeks ago to bring an app called citizen to the city that we think frankly helps to discourage police brutality when it's used. it frankly helps keep all of us safer from the bad guys, even bad cops. and when you walk through the city, it's incredibly diverse. it's incredibly beautiful. but let's be clear. the fight against police brutality has been a multi-racial fight from the very

beginning of this country. you can go all the way back to the boston massacre and, you know, paul revere painted the first person killed an abolitionist. more than a century later or i guess about half a century later, rather, painted him back in. but, you know, the first person killed in the boston massacre was a young black man killed amidst a crowd of protesters that were mostly white. and so in our country, the opposition to police brutality runs deep amongst all of us. and when you're in that city, and i spent a lot of time there when i was president of the naacp. it really -- the racial inequity smacks you right in the face. you know, the depth of the recessi recession, there were two states in the country where black unemployment was three times white no matter what education you had, whether you had a ph.d. or no high school degree. that was mississippi and

minnesota. so while minnesota is nice, it's also like mississippi with snow. and what you have to understand is every time that you see a situation like this, buildings are burning, people are protesting, the spark is always an act of police brutality. but the tinder is always joblessness and housing and in this covid crisis, both of those tensions are way up. and frankly, the attitude of leaders counts. you know, the freddie gray situation here, with all due respect to their prosecutor here in baltimore, was a much more complex situation. freddie gray was killed in a van, and there was no video. this man was killed on the street, and there was plenty of video. and one of the ways that we brought the city to peace was our prosecutor, ms. mosby, stepped forward and said that the officers would be prosecuted. and if they want to bring peace to the streets and quickly,

that's the best thing that they can do. and let's be clear. the leadership will have to come from the county, will have to come from the state because donald trump, our president, who still believes that the central park five are guilty and says so proudly even though dna has exonerated them, well, no one has faith that his justice department would actually do the right thing. >> talk to me briefly about where's the governor? where's the mayor? where's the attorney general? where's the local member of congress? should they be more visible or, in plain english, is this energy that needs to be expended as we sit here and not only mourn the loss of george floyd. this is somebody's livelihood in flames, right next door to somebody else's livelihood in flames, and so on and so on. >> you know, if i was the governor, if i was the mayor, i would be listening to the attorney general, keith ellison,

and i would be listening to his successor in congress, ms. omar. and i would be listening to the leadership of the local naacp. that town is the home of roy wilkins, one of the early and great presidents of the naacp. and quite frankly those are the folks i would be listening too. those are the folks that understand in their gut that as maya said -- and i've got to thank her. she trained me when i was 18 years old. as maya said, there is only one solution here, and it is justice. justice is our first civil right. it's the first purpose of the u.s. constitution, and justice has been denied in minnesota in mind-boggling ways in recent years. i mean this is like the third of three big strikes. you have philando castile. you have the young white woman who was killed by a black officer. now you have this black man with his, you know, being choked to death by an officer's knee despite the fact that he's

handcuffed. there's nobody in this city who should feel safe. there's nobody. and the only way to make them feel safe is to be clear that justice will be sought and justice will prevail. >> ben jealous, first of all, this is not an endorsement. i do have the citizen app on my phone, and i use it, so thank you for that. secondly, thank you for reminding our evidence that our mutual friend maya has the dna of the struggle in her veins and in her family history. so we'll go down as being mutual admiration society for that. a quick recap here. during some of our segments, i've been trying to listen with one ear to minneapolis fire frequency and have heard nothing that would indicate a push, the impossible push to listen to ali velshi's coverage, which has been spot-on, to get in here to save any of these structures or,

dare i say, a city block or two because the fear is that once the fire gets a run on those family-owned businesses behind where ali velshi's camera position was, we could endanger a great deal of real estate and, god forbid, residential property. so we're looking for that, but the situation in minneapolis, as you've seen play out live tonight, we hope that morgan chesky's last report about the crowd starting to disperse, starting to thin, is accurate. a whole lot of civic officials, state, city, local, probably have a whole lot of explaining to do, and we'll leave this to the taxpayers of minneapolis and the people who are displaying their grieving for george floyd as to why they have ceded this ground, because i think it's correct to point out what we did earlier. the city of minneapolis no longer controls this area of

real estate we've watched burn tonight. the people do, and you have to assume that was a civic decision on their part. i am happy to turn over our live coverage, which will continue into the night, to my friend chris jansing, who is standing by. chris? brian, thank you so much. good evening. i am chris jansing, and tonight the eyes of america are on minnesota. we've been looking at live pictures of the protest going on right now in minneapolis. parts of the city, as we have been seeing, are still on fire. there you see the smoke and the flames in the background. one of the places burning, one of the precincts of the minneapolis police department. this is the third night of protests in minneapolis. it is a city that has been reeling from the death on monday of an unarmed 46-year-old african-american man, george floyd, who died in police custody. george floyd was seen on tape

repeatedly pleading that he could not breathe as an officer pinned him to the ground with his knee jammed into george floyd's neck. of course no charges have been filed yet, and it was earlier today at a news conference this afternoon when we heard from federal and state prosecutors. a lot of people in that city hoping for word that there would be charges leveled against those officers, but prosecutors brought no new details about the case. last hour, the minnesota national guard said it had activated more than 500 soldiers to minneapolis, to its sister city st. paul, and surrounding communities to, quote, protect life, preserve property, and the right to peacefully demonstrate. here's a small sample of those demonstrations from just a short time ago. [ crowd chanting "what's his name, george floyd ]

>> well, tonight nbc news has obtained new video showing another angle of george floyd being restrained by police. we're going to show you that video. it lasts about 18 seconds, and on it we see more officers crouching down around george floyd as he continues to say "i can't breathe." but we do want to warn you this footage is disturbing. here's that video. >> i can't breathe, man. please. please, man. i can't breathe. >> ali velshi was live on the scene as the unrest escalated tonight. he joins us again live from near the third police precinct. ali, tell us a little about what you're seeing and hearing right now. >> reporter: let me give you a bit of a picture of what's going on. we've got a city block here that

is burning. it's on fire. there are two places completely engulfed and then a couple of others. but across the road, that's the police station. that's the third precinct police station where the four police officers who were involved in the death of george floyd were based. now, at just after 11:00 eastern, police confirmed they evacuated that building. we were on the air with brian at that point and we could see a surge of people into the parking lot. they set something on fire in the back. we weren't quite sure what precipitated that because they had broken the barriers to the building probably within the hour prior to that. so we weren't quite sure what precipitated it, but the bottom line is the protesters are now in control of that building. they've set it on fire. they are inside the building. the police are gone from there. now, we have not seen any activity or any police there. there was a lot of police activity last night on this block, but the police had largely left and put barricades around the third precinct. what ended up happening is there were some police after they broke the bare kiricades this

evening, there were some police who went onto the roof of that building and fired tear gas canisters and noise guns, flash bangs, lights that make a lot of noise and disperse the crowd. the crowd then continually tried to move around. a fire was set over there. there was a fire burning over there, and then they set fire to this building, the police station. the police are now gone. we have heard that the national guard is active in minneapolis, but there are no police here. there are no national guard. there are no firefighters. a little earlier a block over there, there was a fire, and the fire department did show up. but as morgan chesky reports, they were not able to get to the fire until the crowd dispersed, and at that point the building was largely destroyed. there's no authority here, no police, no fire, no national guard at all, and frankly i think that's a strategic position because this crowd is worked up. they are full of grievance about george floyd. you constantly hear the chants "say his name," "i can't

breathe," his name, george floyd, and this is a much more dynamic situation than it was three hours ago. >> do you have a sense -- and i understand that it's dark, and i understand it's spread out and i understand people are in different parts of that neighborhood, but how is the crowd? has the crowd diminished significantly? what are you seeing both in terms of numbers and in terms of the mood there over just the last 20 minutes or so? >> reporter: so i will say this. there's a bunch of protests going on in different parts of the city, and people have culminated in this area. so the crowd has become a little bit larger in the last few hours, and it's angry. there is a lot of grievance in this crowd. it's visceral. every couple moments somebody will come around to me and ask me as you just heard somebody say, do black lives matter to you? are you telling people about the police? there was one video. then there was a second video of

the arrested george floyd. now there's been a third video. the police were fired quickly, but no charges have been laid. the hennepin county attorney, the fbi is involved. people have called for charges to be laid, but this crowd is wondering what does it take? back before there was video, they could understand that. now they can't. people are calling it a lynching. so there's a lot of anger in this crowd, and i would say it's not dissipating. the crowd in certain parts is thinning out. the anger is not, chris. >> you know, there's a sense that something changed. obviously there was a lot of anticipation, a lot of people waiting to hear a press conference that was two hours late, and then when it finally happened, there was a lot of commentary about how they're going to be very specific. they want to be very careful, and yet nothing about a time line, when might a decision be made. i'm wondering what you're

hearing from people in the crowd and what that moment meant, what that press conference meant today without drawing, you know, too many conclusions about what led to exactly what we saw tonight, which is these various places ablaze. >> it's important to note there were various protests around the city. one of them was -- hang on a second. we're just going to get out of the way. there's traffic coming down the street now. there were a number of protests today. one was at the hennepin county building, and that was sort of a more organized peaceful protest. people took their knee. there was another one at city hall. it was very heavily occupied. so we're just on the move, chris, because there's stuff going on here. this one was about the police. this wasn't about -- this isn't about the attorney general and about politicians. this one is about the fact that four police were there when george floyd died, and these people want justice. they've taken the police

station. that's symbolic. there were no police in it. ultimately the police left. there were five or six police. we don't know how many. and they left. but symbolically, this crowd is angry at the police, and what they are looking for is justice as it relates to the police. chris, we're going to just reposition. i'm going to come back to you in a few minutes, all right? >> all right. thank you so much. you take care out there, you and your crew. we thank you for that, ali velshi. joining us on the phone is andrea jenkins who is vice president of the minneapolis city council. we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us, and i just have to ask you as you watch the night unfold, as you see these pictures, as you see parts of your beloved city on fire, what goes through your mind? >> i'm -- i'm really heartbroken, chris. you know, i think it's really interesting that right across the street from where ali is standing, there's a restaurant called nuevo rodeo.

george floyd worked at that restaurant. so did officer chauvin. they were both bouncers at that restaurant for 17 years. so officer chauvin, he knew george. they were co-workers for a very long time. the question that i think you asked ali about, the press conference earlier, the fbi and the bca and the county attorney's office, i will say i believe that that absolutely played a role in the unrest that we are seeing tonight.

it really -- it seemed as if none of these three agencies that are doing the investigation have really seen all the -- have seen the same things that we have been watching. in fact, they say they need more eviden evidence. they're asking for witnesses. i was flabbergasted by that press conference or non-press conference because they really didn't say anything. they didn't -- they didn't say when we're going to hear about a decision, what the process is going to be. how long does it take to get the medical autopsy report back? nothing. so i think it played a very significant role in this heartbreaking scene that is playing on your air right now.

>> the thing that everyone at that press conference reiterated is that they wanted to take this slowly. they wanted to make sure that they had a case. the hennepin county attorney said that the video is graphic, it's horrific, it's terrible. but he said his job in the end is to prove that a criminal statute was violated. what should have been done in your mind at that press conference today? >> i believe that they should have announced that we need to bring these individuals into custody while we investigate and build our case. you know, i think there's a certain amount of time before you need to have charges, and i don't know of any other case where you witness murder, and then you say, oh, i got to wait to find more evidence to arrest

somebody. that doesn't happen, chris. this is -- it doesn't -- that's what i thought should have happened at that press conference. maybe they couldn't charge. maybe they feel like they don't have enough evidence to charge, but certainly there's enough evidence to arrest and detain. and they are no longer police officers. we did our job. we fired those officers for wrongdoing, for committing a criminal act. and so now all these other agencies, they can't do their jobs? >> understanding the reaction, just the basic human reaction that anybody would have seeing these videos, the new video that came out tonight that we saw

multiple police officers kneeling either on or by what would be the body of george floyd completely understand that reaction. i'm also struck by his girlfriend of the past three years, who said that waking up to see his city on fire would devastate him. he loved it here. he came from texas. he stayed because he liked the people. he had opportunities. she called him, as many people have, a gentle giant. she said he was about love. he was about peace. how do you sort of square that with what you're seeing tonight, again understanding the frustration not just of what happened to him but what has happened so many times over and

over and over again to black men in america? >> to black men and women. let's be real clear. >> yes. >> we absolutely see many, many unarmed black men murdered in all sorts of situations by the state. and i am completely devastated by it. you know, i didn't know george floyd, but i've seen him around the city, and i've interacted with him. he was a very kind -- very seemingly kind man, and i'm sure he would be devastated by this because everybody should be devastated by watching this. this is not the kind of reaction

that is going to elicit the goals that we want to talk about, and that is equity. that is equality for everybody. that is fairness and justice and equal access to all of the things that makes life livable in this country. and this takes us five steps backwards. so we're going to pursue justice for george and bring this back to where it belongs, where is about george floyd and the utter lack of respect for human life that was displayed by those former minneapolis police officers. >> we have just learned, andrea, that the city of minneapolis is warning protesters there to

evacuate the area because of the explosive material in the area, and there are some reports gas lines may have reportedly been cut. we have ali develvelshi and mor chesky on the ground. they're moving to safer ground. what is your message to protesters right now? >> please go home right now. we are -- the only reason why we have not intervened in this, we're trying to preserve human life, and they are endangering human life. they're endangering their own lives, and we are in the middle of a pandemic. and so not only are they endangering the people that live in this area. they're also endangering their family members when they go back home because i can guarantee you based on the fact that coronavirus is on every inch of the entire planet, you don't think it's out there with those

people? >> how worried are you for your city right now? >> i'm extremely worried. i just texted both my senators. i asked them to please intervene with mike freeman and bring these officers to justice. i'm deeply concerned about my city right now. >> andrea jenkins, vice president of the minneapolis city council, thank you so much. we do appreciate the time tonight. i want to bring in now marx claxton, retired new york city police detective, as well as jim cavanaugh, former atf special agent in charge and an msnbc contributor. mark, let me start with you and just get your take on the fact that now they're asking people to get out of there. they believe that there is potentially explosive --

literally explosive situation as well as figuratively explosive situation. but our correspondents on the ground for a couple of hours have seen no sign of national guard, seen no sign of police. your assessment of what you're seeing right now. >> well, i think it's obvious just based on the video that's being transmitted from the location that the level of the threat of danger to human life has increased exponentially in the past several hours, and that is, you know, the whole tone and tenor of demonstrations in general are changed when darkness sets in. and then you add into it the visceral reaction of those individuals who perhaps want to come out and merely voice their protest. you mix that in with individuals who have alternate agendas perhaps, who are there. some people are professional

provocateurs. some people are amateur provocateurs. you have a mix of anarchists, et cetera. i was on the phone not too long ago with a couple of my associates who are on the ground at the location there. and what they told me is that they have been at several demonstrations related to police abuse, to police killings of unarmed individuals in the past. they told me -- and these are experienced advocates. they told me that the whole tone and tenor on the ground there is something like they've never experienced. so it is really a scary time, and the video really supports that. and it seems as if the government has decided to make some additional steps, which could be bringing in some additional police and law enforcement resources, which may agitate or aggravate the situation further. >> marq, did they elaborate on

that? in what way was the tone and tenor different than anything they had experienced before? >> one of my associates indicated that there was clearly a larger group of individuals who they believe -- who she believed were anarchists, who were pretty much spurring on a lot of the activity there. they were much more physical and much more involved in engaging or trying to engage with law enforcement there on the scene. she also indicated that there wasn't a large law enforcement presence on the scene, but there is a lot of activity. there is a lot of individuals there who appear to be really more provocateurs than anything else. like i said, once it gets dark and you have this mix of protesters, individuals who are perhaps anarchists, you have these professional or amateur provocateurs involved, really the danger level is increasingly

high, and individuals who are still there, who remain there -- that includes even this msnbc correspondent ali velshi -- really have to take precautions now because it really is escalating and getting to a point that, you know, it's really a threat to human life there. >> do you agree with what appears to be a deliberate decision in minneapolis to either have no police presence or at least minimal police presence, so little that we have not been able -- our folks on the ground have not been able to see it? >> well, i trust that the law enforcement professionals there on the ground are making some sound tactical decisions just based on the available manpower and their positioning. you don't want -- they're

already having the police facility has been compromised, and there are fires of course. wh you have to make professionals are down there to maintain order, and manpower is strategically moved according to the circumstances. things are happening and changing rapidly there. you can see it. since it got dark, it's a totally different vibe, a totally different tenor, and there is an increased level of danger. so the police have to move based on the manpower they have and the tactical situation that will be better for them. >> jim cavanaugh, as we have seen this escalation throughout the course of the evening after darkness fell, as marq claxton pointed out, which is often kind of a trigger for things, what should be happening now? what would you anticipate is

happening now in terms of law enforcement? >> well, they're going to have to make some strategic moves here, chris, because, you know, fires like these -- and i've investigated many fires and arsons and bombings and large ones like this. you know, they can get into a firestorm where they throw embers, you know, blocks away, miles away, and you can get structures start to burn from external heat. i'm sure the fire chief and the battalion chiefs in minneapolis are watching all this from the air, and they're making those strategic decisions. they're seeing which buildings can burn out and they don't have to go to, but other parts they do have to go to. they have been fighting some of those fires. i saw it on the feed. i've been watching it all night. most of the demonstrators, you know, peaceful signs, yelling, worked up, but there's a few very strategic arsonists here.

and just to build on what marq said, and i agree with what he said. early on, i saw the strategic arson. they lit fires on each side of that police precinct. they were trying to get that police precinct to burn. eventually they did. that was very strategic. so with arsonists, it doesn't take very many to really wreak havoc in a city. so the police department is going to have to get a handle on that, and it's not going to be able to lay back. they laid back tonight, hoping for a peaceful assembly and maybe some minor incidents. but now they're starting to get multiple arson, and you can't let that happen every night in the city, or you won't have a city, and you will have, you know, death and injury. so they're going to have to, you know, change their tactics. they're going to have to use

restraint. they're going to have to do it correctly. they don't need to be too strong and too much militarization, but you have to have the police. they can't allow, you know, people to burn down the city. i think there's a small group of an,isarchists that are leading s activity. look at the destruction in causes. chris, i think you're 1,000% right on that conference today. i've handled many press conferences over my 36 years. i've been in many. there was no news in that press conference at all. there shouldn't have been a press conference. you know, that officer who was on the neck of mr. floyd, he should have been arrested. she have already been arrested. that's caused a lot of angst there. i think the county attorney is being very careful. but, look, maybe he's waiting on an autopsy report, a toxicology

report. maybe he wants the specific cause of death. we can all understand that as investigators. but even that, this is a first-degree assault or an aggravated assault, and those penalties carry up to 20 years. and that, you can see on the video, and you could arrest him for the first-degree assault that's intended to cause great bodily harm and injury that's intended or could cause death to his neck. co-have be he could have been charged with that, and the prosecutors could have told the judge, we're awaiting the toxicology because we think if it's the cause of death, we're going to up this to a homicide charge. just be plainspoken, take it right in. you can't not act on these things. it's justice delayed, and that's justice denied. >> i think we saw, marq, and you obviously agree with jim cavanaugh that you have this

probably small handful of people who are arsonists, who are anarchists, who may be instigators, whatever term you want to use, but who are inciting potentially a lot of this. but you did see that moment, and ali develvelshi reported it so earlier, when the third precinct actually caught fire. he said the mood there changed, and they started shouting "what's his name, george floyd." there is a symbolic importance to that one moment that is a lot of a pent-up feeling that even goes beyond what we've seen just since monday, marq. >> yeah, and i know it was quoted earlier, and there's this famous martin luther king jr. quote about the riot being the language of the unheard. and the chants are basically

individuals there demanding to be heard on some level. listen, let's be prank and honest, and jim touched on this. the press conference that really shouldn't have been a press conference because it was about nothing. it was like a seinfeld episode. it was a press conference about nothing. it really did nothing but aggravate or incite a little bit more than it should have. and people are aware of it, and they feel very strongly that they're not being heard, that their demands are not being respected. that what they expect and demand from professional law enforcement is being ignored. so if you don't hear me then, can you hear me now is what some of the protesters are involved and what they're trying to communicate. so we ought to be paying attention, and the idea behind the initial protest is to gain attention, to gain some focus, to force the world to listen to

the cries of a community that feels they're under siege, who feel that black men and women are threatened by law enforcement on a daily basis unnecessarily. too many deaths. they want everyone to hear too many deaths. they're demanding to be heard. and unfortunately, oftentimes this destruction of property, these injuries, these type of things draw the attention. it's negative attention but it's attention nonetheless. so until they feel that there is a move toward justice we're going to continue to have this circumstance and get exponentially worse. >> mark claxton, jim cavanaugh, thank you both, gentlemen, for your expertise and your thoughts as both of you understand very well what's going on, and particularly mark for your sources on the ground. we do appreciate it. it is 1:00 a.m. here on the west coast. it is midnight in minneapolis. hello, i'm chris