despite the risk i had to ask them, my voice speaking for all of us, please help us and go to work tomorrow. please show up for work because it's your role, it's your duty, it's your obligation to us and they did. and they did. i was not comfortable asking. i will tell you the god's honest truth. i knew they were putting themselves at risk. i knew it. and i don't envy any chief executive of this nation who has to order women and men to go to war. i can't imagine how that would feel. i know how i felt having to ask our frontline workers, i need you, i need you to show up. and they did.

and they put their lives at risk to serve others and in that moment they were not black frontline workers, they were not white frontline workers, they were not latino frontline workers, they were not bronx frontline workers, they were not brooklyn frontline workers, they were not buffalo frontline workers, they were just americans, they were new yorkers, they were linked by the commonality of humanity and their better angels said get past your fear, get past your weakness, don't stay home, rise up, be stronger, be better than you think you can be yourself. get in touch with your strength and hear that strength and they did it and we acted as one. this diverse community of new york, people from all over the

globe different languages, we acted as one. and many of those people gave their lives for us during that time. they gave their lives because we asked them to show up for us and they did. let's learn from their example. let's understand what they did. we see all the success in those numbers and how far we've come, it didn't just happen. people literally gave their lives so others could live. they are the frontline heroes. they are the ones who charged up the hill. when they knew the enemy was firing, they showed that same bra bravery -- they showed that same courage and they did it only because we asked. not because they were getting

paid more money or they were going to get a medal because they didn't. they did it because it was the right thing to do. they did it out of love. that's what they did. they didn't die in vain. they have changed me and i believe they have made me a better person by their example and by their lesson. and i will never ever forget what they did and i will strive to be half as courageous and half as brave as they have been, and to hear those better angels and to get in touch with that strength and to respond from that strength, that's their spirit. yes, be outraged. yes, be frustrated. demand better. demand justice, but not violent.

not violent. productive and smart. act from strength, not fear. love, not hate and there is nothing that we can't overcome. we showed that here. we beat this damn virus and if we're smart we'll continue to beat it, but the way we beat this virus, we can beat the virus of racism, we can beat the virus of discrimination. we can beat the virus of inequality. if we can beat this virus, we can beat anything. look at that strength that people showed. you can do anything with that strength. our leaders may not be as good as the american people and as strong as the american people and as kind as the american people, but it's still we the people. it is still we the people.

and we the people shall still overcome. they showed us the way forward and the way forward is to be new york tough. smart, united, disciplined, loving. loving, loving. they gave their lives out of love and we respect that. i'm going to sign a bill today that gives death benefits to the families of all the frontline workers who gave their lives for us. it is the least we can do to say thank you and we honor you and we remember you. you gave your lives for us. we will be there to support your families going forward. that's what this bill does and it is my honor to sign it now. we say to their families, we

thank you. we grieve for your loss and we will always be there for you the way you were there for us. thank you. >> governor, this morning, in the news conference and -- [ inaudible ] an apology from the mayor and the wall of police officers in front of the precinct. do you agree with that? >> i think you're going to have a lot of opinions about last night, what happened. and there are going to be a lot of opinions that have merit. there will be people who criticize the police, there will be people who criticize the

protesters. this is new york and this is a very contentious situation. that's why i think the smart way forward is let's get an independent review, let's find out exactly what happened, w procedures were used, what was right, what was wrong, that's whatorney general will do. i'm going to ask the attorney general to get the review done quickly. i'd like to see it in 30 days. so we don't have to have a prolonged argument about it. but review all the facts, review the police procedures, review the crowd's actions and give us an independent review. nonpolitical, right, this is political silly season and this is an issue that will raise a lot of politics on a lot of levels, but the attorney general's independently elected.

she is not in a political season. there is no election for the attorney general this year. so just give us a factual review and let's get that review and then i'll respond to the facts in that review, because people do deserve answers and people do deserve accountability. if someone did something wrong, they should be held accountable. >> they said that this wall of police officers that encouraged the violence, that it never -- they suggested it wouldn't have happened if the police weren't giving a show of force. >> so let the attorney general look at the police procedure of using a wall, if that's proper, improper. >> so we're still in the midst of a pandemic, of course, and people are out there protesting and not wearing mask, not social distancing. does that concern you at all? >> yes, yes.

look, on the protest demonstrations, you have a right to demonstrate. you have a right to protest, god bless america. you don't have a right to infect other people. you don't have a right to act in a way that's going to jeopardize public health, and, you know, the effectiveness of the mask as s simple as it seems, the more we learn, the more effective it is. demonstrate with a mask on. what's the difference? i mean, i just -- i still do not get it. and, look, i've been having a lot of conversations and we're doing ads and all sorts of ways to communicate and we had chris rock and rosie perez and different people bringing their credibility to the situation. it's primarily difficult with young people.

i think the way they first heard about this virus was that they were immune. i remember there's a video clip during the florida spring break where you had all those young people on the beach in florida, and there's a clip of a young gentleman saying, i'm not going to let this coronavirus bother me, i can deal with it. only old people have to worry about it. it's not going to stop me from partying. there's a really -- party on, forget covid. yeah, even if you think you're a superhero because you're young and you're strong, you can get it and then infect someone else. so it's wholly irresponsible. and i don't see any justification not to wear it and i'm going to try as hard as i can through every vehicle i can to say, look, you're just wrong. can you have an opinion, but

there are also facts. and you're wrong. not to wear a mask, i think you're diggs respectful. i think you're putting other people's lives at risk. needlessly. and those are facts, right? so demonstrate. wear a mask. >> governor, this is a second review that's been announced today since last night, people are still on edge. more protests planned for today. it doesn't sound like police are going to wait 30 days and protesters aren't going to wait 30 days. what do you think needs to change so this doesn't happen again tonight? >> well, i have no doubt that the mayor and the police are going to have serious conversations today about last night. and they should. we all saw the video and accountability works and i'm

sure -- i know the mayor has taken note of last night and i'm sure they're going to be conversations today about how to handle tonight and going forward. >> governor, as much as the protest last night violated systemic shall ares with the police's response to protests, from the video. the officer throwing a woman on the ground, you know, it has led to some details that this was the latest in the history of bad behavior. a lot of state lawmakers are saying state laws should be repealed. do you support that and your influence of governor will you use that disciplinary records are -- >> 50a -- for people who don't know what it is, 99.9% of the normal people, 50a is a state regulation of disclosure of prior disciplinary actions,

veegs ave-- vis-a-vis police officers -- i do not believe 50a as an existing law prohibits the disclosure. i have done counsel's opinions that say that i think local elected officials across the state could release disciplinary records even with the existing 50a law if they wanted to. i think they don't want to so they say i can't, right? the best way to say no as in elected officials, politicians is say, i can't. i don't believe that's true. i believe they can with the law as written. but just to make it simple, i would sign a bill today that reforms 50a. i would sign it today, so the

legislature can now convene by zoom or however they do it, pass the bill, i will sign it today. i can't be clearer or more direct than that. we'll take one more. yes. >> in the bronx there was a sizable community. with respect to the medical data on minorities aside from african-americans, do you have or do you expect to have any data on hospitalization, infecti infections? >> that is a very good question. i do not know the percentages for the albanian community. i don't know that they collect that in hospitals, but i will find out and if we have it, we will get it out to you forthwith. thank you very much. have a good weekend.

i'll see you tomorrow. i have to go to work. >> and there you heard him, everyone, new york governor andrew cuomo wrapping up his daily briefing on coronavirus. today he was very inspirational and very much a cheerleader for the state of new york and he also took questions about that which we have been seeing happening all around the country in the wake of the death of george floyd and new york was no exception as we had our incidents particularly in brook ling and elsewhere in the state. welcome, everyone. i'm alex witt at miss mbs. we'll have a bit more on the governor's briefing in a bit. but first this breaking news after what i've mentioned this night of civil unrest from coast to coast, a new change in the tone from the governor of minnesota. he now says instigators of the chaos seen across the country was not caused by george floyd protesters, he says violent extremists are the ones fanning the flames. >> the situation in minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of george floyd. it is about attacking civil

society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities. so as you saw this expand across the united states and you start to see whether it be domestic terrorism, whether it be ideological extremists to fan the group or whether it be international destabilization of how our country works, those elements are present in all of this. >> governor walz said he got a briefing from the secretary of defense and joint chiefs and others activated national guard units. the fires still burning in minneapolis after a turbulent night. in atlanta, volunteers took to the streets to try to clean up graffiti and debris left behind after the vandals struck. hundreds of people were arrested nationwide during last night's protests including one person for attempted murder in bakersfield, california.

and that is very disturbing new video which shows a driver plowing through a crowd of protesters, in fact, a woman was struck. fortunately she is expected to be okay. there's also a new video to share from detroit which shows high tensions there as police moved in to make arrests. police say at least one person was killed there when someone in an suv opened fire on the ground. the victim, a 19-year-old man. let's bring in nbc's steve patterson on the ground in minneapolis for us. okay, so what's going on there behind you and what have you seen since we first spoke about 7:00 a.m. this morning? >> reporter: alex, the destruction here is immense. i did not think seeing what we saw this morning with the fires billowing smoke above that this would be the situation on the ground. this is incredible. this is the kind of devastation that makes it look like it's not even an american city, yet you see the level of destruction here. i would say that if not for the

immense cleanup effort you're seeing right now workers and citizens and people, everyday people just basically grabbing a broom, grabbing a mop, grabbing a piece of debris and trying to clear this street as much as they humanly possibly can. but this is after a night of -- another night of chaos. there was a curfew last night. started at 8:00 p.m., ended at 6:00 this morning. it was not followed and you can see the result of that. if the wake of that the governor and the mayor gave a press conference where they talked about the level of devastation and why they believe it's in the city of minneapolis and for the first time they are drawing a clear delineation between what happened on memorial day, that fateful day and what is now happening and they believe they say that the difference is that now these are agitators. now these are rabble rousers, arsonists coming into the city. their estimate, 20% of the people doing this are from the

city of minneapolis and creating chaos and they spoke about that this morning. i want to play that for you. >> last night is a mockery of pretending this is about george floyd's death or inequities or historical traumas to our community of color. >> it is not acceptable if you're concerned, i get it. if you have family members or friends that are even considering protesting, this is no longer about protesting. >> reporter: so now we're looking at the single largest full mobilization of the national guard in minnesota history. this is the biggest event that we've seen with law enforcement included. they are gearing up for what it sounds like will be another battle tonight. they are convinced that there will be another showdown on the streets of minneapolis and they're gearing up to do that using everything possible but

the fight really starts now with this and the cleanup that is happening in between these incredible skirmishes on the streets that we've seen here, alex. i can't even put it into words what we're witnessing on the ground here. >> you know what's so disturbing, part of what you're reporting, steve, fully 80% of those rabble rousers, demonstrators, protesters, rioters even last night were not from the area. i guarantee those people behind you right there, they are locals that care about their city and their state and they're doing everything they can to bring some peace and order back to it in these very turbulent times. steve patterson, thank you so much. it is not just minneapolis, massive protests also seen right here in new york city and you can see this video in which protesters are clashing with police outside of brooklyn's barclay center and this one is pretty darned decision turning you're about to see, a woman pushed to the ground and it appears that man right there was a police officer and she says she was told to get out of the

way before being so violently pushed. mayor de blasio now saying that the nypd saw that video. they are investigating the incident. governor cuomo also just said he's looking to ask the state attorney general to see what exactly happened here. joining me now my colleague cory coughlin. are these officials expecting protests to continue today? i know we heard from governor cuomo. he certainly is talking about a police review. >> reporter: yeah, and that police review could take some time, certainly they expect more today. not only are there several planned protests but also unplanned protests that they're hearing about. they're going to try to remain nimble and cover them all as much as possible. trying to avoid what happened yesterday. of course, one of the biggest rallies that we know about will be on staten island. that's going to be led by reverend al sharpton who, of course, msnbc host and founder of national action network will

be at the location where eric garner passed away six years ago at the hands of a police chokehold. when he had that rallying cry "i can't breathe" that has been echoed time and time again in all of these protests, it's coming out in full force now in this situation. as you mentioned, mayor bill de blasio addressing the situation earlier and made a clear distinction between people who are coming out to peacefully protest in new york city and those seeking violence. here's what he to say earlier. >> any protester that tries to take humanity away from a police officer and devalue them just because they are a public servant is no better than the racists who devalue people of color and particularly black men in america. so if you're a peaceful protester who will go to the ends of the earth to protect your right to protest whatever your viewpoint, we will always

make sure you have that right. but if you are there to incite violence, we cannot and will not allow that. >> reporter: all right, alex, we're learning about some of the numbers to come out yesterday. some 3,000 people in brooklyn yesterday protesting. more than 200 arrests. some of it getting quite violent. nypd mentioning that molotov cocktails were thrown into police vans that were occupied at the time. it is amazing that they did not lose their lives but, of course, there's still that video you mentioned looking into that and saying that that is not something to be condoned either. in addition to them investigating that video, of course, you mentioned governor cuomo's independent investigation that he is going to be seeking and bill de blasio says he'll be speaking with community leaders and members moving forward to try to bring this violence down into peaceful and productive protests moving forward. alex. >> okay, cori, thank you very

much. keeping an eye on the clock, the president is expected to depart to florida. this is for the spacex launch going to cape canaveral, of course, that launch was postponed earlier due to weather. but overnight the president directed the pentagon to put military police on standby for a possible operation in minneapolis. let's go to monica alba joining me with more from the white house. so, monica, bring us up to speed on that as well as the protest that happened last night in lafayette park right across from the white house? >> that's right, alex, a rare step from the pentagon which came at the request of the president to activate these military police units that would take service members from different bases around the country and put them at the ready in order to deploy to minneapolis if that is necessary. it's not clear whether that exact step of them going to the area has been taken, but they are now ready for that to proceed and this is notable given there are national guardsmen who have been on the ground for days. you heard the minnesota governor earlier today talk about a more full mobilization of those

troops but this would be an additional step and a significant one, take a listen to what general jensen had to say for his reasoning to do this and why it might be necessary more now than ever. listen to him. >> you may have seen or heard that the -- this evening the president directed the pentagon to put units of the united states army on alert to possible operation in minneapolis. while we were not consulted with as it relates to that, i do believe it's a prudent move to provide other options available for the governor if the governor elects to use those resources. >> reporter: so, alex, we haven't heard from the president yet on this. he is about to depart so if he talks to reporters, we will bring you those remarks in a little bit but he has been quite active on twitter all day today defending the secret service for the protests overnight that happened just outside the gates

here, steps from where i am saying that if protesters were to breach the barricades they would be met with ominous weapons and vicious dog, some very dark language there from the president. but saying that there weren't issues in terms of the grounds, of course, the white house was put on lockdown for about an hour and a half last night and they are ready in case that happens again today. but what was also notable is that the president then seemed to suggest that his own supporters might be coming to the white house, which could set up for conflicts and clashes with those who are already coming out to protest in the wake of george floyd's death. now, the president will be gone, it seems, for the next seven or eight hours so wouldn't be returning here until later tonight from that trip to florida after that spacex launch is in a second attempt since they scrubbed it on wednesday and we'll have to see but also taking on local officials, he called out d.c. mayor muriel becausers set to respond to him in a news conference in the next hour or so and also taking on

the minneapolis mayor jacob frye. the trump campaign and the city of minneapolis still have a dispute over some outstanding security costs from a rally last year that fits a pattern that we've seen since 2016, alex. >> monica, on a practical note, has the president even left the white house and boarded marine one for the flight to joint base andrews yet? >> reporter: it doesn't appear so. i'm looking at my phone to see if the pool notes have come in. i can hear the chopper which means it has landed to pick him up but has not walked out, i don't believe, or talked to reporters as far as the latest note i see here he hasn't left the white house yet. >> i'm the kind of person that keeps an eye on the clock and right now he is, well, 17 minutes late so everyone though knows there is only a 30-minute window he has on the other side landing at cape canaveral before the spacex flight is supposed to launch. so good to get going. all right, thank you very much, monica alba from the white house. anger and anguish. new reaction from george floyd's

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at the bottom of the hour more now on minnesota governor tim walz's comment about extremists. more of what he had to say. >> we'll release who these people are and trace that history of where they're at and what they're doing on the dark web and how they're organizing but i'm not trying to say. our best estimate i heard about 20% is what we think are minnesotans and 80% are outside. >> joining me now is director of the black law enforcement alliance and ben jealous. good to see you both. i'll talk about what's going down in minnesota in just a moment but i want to ask you, mark, first, with regard to what we heard from governor cuomo and this is relative in particular

to what we saw, the melee outside of the barclay center in brook l brooklyn and disturbing video of what appears to be an nypd officer who pushes violently that woman to the ground right there. on the heels of witnessing this, the governor said, i'm going to call for the new york state attorney general to investigate this and do a police investigation here. what does that entail? how long can that kind of thing take? what kind of stones have to get overturned? >> well, basically investigation would -- give us all available witnesses, identifying those individual police officers and if possible civilians that witnessed other infractions that may have occurred. available video videotape, everything and reviewing it and

getting other versions of those incidents as well. i think, you know, showed the lady being shoved to the ground, i'd be interested to know a few vecks pyre to the actual contact what occurred. but the investigation would involve interviews, all kind of video evidence and a review of policies and procedures to make sure or to see if there were any violations of departmental rules, regulations or perhaps even state law. >> can i ask you quick, if indeed that is an nypd officer, is there anything that would prompt to you say, oh, yeah, that's part of policy? >> that could be a reaction -- that's why i say i think it's kind of important to find out to get an idea what happened prior to was there prior contact on the part of those individuals themselves. it's very disturbing, very troubling but something you have to examine. you don't want to jump out ahead of these things based on really

clear evidence and make firm decisions. it's disturbing. sometimes physical contact can be but not all of it is unauthorized. >> 100%. ben, your reaction to what the minnesota governor had to say. >> hold on. >> well, let me ask you then you can answer what you want. the fact he said 80% of those that were protesting, demonstrating there, the rioters in downtown minneapolis last night aren't even locals that these are people that are coming and taking advantage of this situation. what do you think about that and whatever else was on your mind? >> sure. i think the 80% number is probably very wrong. i think having extremists and provocateurs in the crowd is probably very right. we've had that problem in protests, you know, for decades and there are definitely people who show up just to incite, show up just to destroy, but him

thinking that 80% came from outside the state i think is very -- going very, very out of touch with what's happening? >> in other words, too high. you think that's too high. >> oh, my gosh, yeah, like -- yes, the -- and that comes from years of leading protests, you know, on the trayvon martin case down in florida we had provocateurs come into orlando but 80%, no. with that said some cut their teeth organizing street protests on these issues as a teenager in new york city, there's no way to justify what we just saw and i think it's dangerous to suggest that somehow could be a reasonable response. my granddad was in law enforcement and one of his closest friends was chief scott who was the first black chief of patrol in new york city and the first patrolman to be promoted

all the way up to chief of patrol and we took -- we spent a lot of time going through what -- i was the protester and he was the chief, the respective roles, i don't see how anybody could justify and it's very concerning that his superior officer appears to be the man in the white shirt behind him did not stop to help her and that needs to be focused on too. you had a bunch of officers ignore another officer assault a civilian. that is very disturbing. it gets back to why in minneapolis we can't just be talking about the one officer who was most directly involved in murdering mr. floyd. we have to also charge the other three officers at the very least, they are accomplices to murder at the very least. and this is the problem with the culture on the force. for too long we have given permission to the men and women who have sworn to respect and protect august of us to tolerate

amongst their ranks people who absolutely besmirch their badge and quite frankly are a terror to too many of our communities. one of the saddest days in my grandfather's life when he had to explain to me that as a law enforcement officer who operated in plain clothes he was often terrified that his fellow law enforcement officers might mistake him for a threat and kill him. >> wow. >> we just have to draw a line into what happened there in that video, no, it's not acceptable. now, could there be mitigating circumstances that might make it somehow, you know, something that was provoked, sure. but you're trained not to respond to words. you know, one of the saddest things in all my years dealing with police brutality is that the epithet for being gay that begins an "f" is the most commonly used word before somebody can shot by an officer. that basically assaulting an

officer's masculinity is the most dangerous thing you can do. we have to train our officers to respond differently. what you saw in that video is an officer who was poorly trained, poorly disciplined and apparently poorly supervised. >> well, i think -- i appreciate the trained eye there. that had been lost on me thus far seeing that officer in white, yes, a supervisor who appears to not react at all. hey, everyone, we're giving you a live look at -- well, there's some action going on in downtown philadelphia. there you see somebody intentionally running up to a police car and throwing something there. >> well, and that's -- the other thing is we as protesters typically you meet the night before when you're planning a protest and you train everybody and you actually go through training not to allow yourself to be provoked and appears that train something not going on either on the other side of the protesters and i hope my family and naacp and other groups are

making themself as valuable in these covid times to train as many -- in baltimore we did it on an emergency basis and it helped. >> look, guy, what we're seeing right now, this is trouble brewing right here. there you see it right there. there you see people attacking the police car. we saw that last night. we saw one torched. >> let's be clear. have you that one person who is brightly colored running around slamming on doors and pretty much everybody else is acting in a peaceful way. some folks getting close but we've evenly seen one person. that -- going back -- >> that person is going back again. >> that person is just hot. but can i just ask you -- >> that's what a provocateur looks like. >> how does law enforcement? how should law enforcement react to this? how do you balance the rights of people to protest and look at the emotional i guess

difficulties that someone is having in trying to maintain any sort of civility here. look at this person. this person -- we have watched this person go back -- this is the fifth time this person has come toward this car. how should police officers act, marq. >> in accordance with the law and consistent with the regulations of their particular agency. there is not a police agency anywhere in the nation that is promoting or incouraging on paper because the reality is quite different, on paper a response that does not respect the sanctity of life but let's be clear about something. we can't assume or place assumptions on everyone's motives at a particular protest or demonstration. i've marched in several demonstrations and remember so many times in national action network demonstration, the instruction we received as mr. jealous indicated prior to the demonstration marches about

pointing out those provocateurs in the group, et cetera, those people looking to incite things but on the other hand i don't want us to get to the point where we just advice really react to the video snippets of police. >> absolutely understood but, marq, look what's happening right now. it is a freestanding police car and it was there -- i'm going to guess -- to just maintain the actual area in which the protesters probably had a permit, right, to walk down that one street. now you've got a lot of people including that one provocateur, we'll just identify that person in the bright blue and yellow as being quite the provocateur there really coming around and not allowing those -- the police officers to leave peacefully. look, standing on top of the hood of the car. here we go. >> you're right. that's the way typically that a marshal or somebody who plays that role tries to play.

he tries to keep everything calm and get the officer out of there and that is the role that we need more of and, quite frankly, the way it happens is typically the naacp and national action network, urban league and churches and often quite frankly the officers of noble and the black police officers association will, you know, as volunteers will train people to be marshals and we have to make sure we are training the young people in nonviolence civil disobedience and quite frankly, bringing some water to these protests. it has to happen on both sides. that's what dr. king -- frankly, that was the tradition that he came up in and he also handed down to all of us and, again, one 69 best things can you do if you are a civil rights activist or religious ago visit is organize those trainings in the church basement. do it in the daytime knowing the kids will come out at night or

do it at night for the next morning and keep seating the crowd with people who are disciplined and with marshals who help defuse. that man in that tie just kept what could have been -- what was becoming a bad situation from getting a lot worse. >> you've got great eyes. i wasn't even sure that was a tie. let me correct one thing quickly. we're looking at will monckton, delaware, we were given bad information and said it was philadelphia. i'm sorry. go ahead. >> i think we're missing an important component of today's demonstrations at different locations. you know, we're not dealing just with provocateurs or inciteful people. probably what's happening right now we're dealing with anarchists, they are not willing to sit down and be lectured or instructed. they don't believe in the governmental structure. they don't believe in policing. they don't believe in law and

order. so there's no instruction for them. they want to wreak havoc and cause chaos. we have to identify those people. >> if that's the case, does the presence of police in any given city, does that only exacerbate the situation? and if that's the truth, how in the world do you marry keeping control and not letting anarchy to rein with allowing people their free expression and, you know, keeping everything running smoothly? >> look, we've been dealing with -- we've been dealing with the anarchists -- never more than 5% of a protest for a very long time. officers know how to deal with them. you know, folks from traditional civil rights community know how to deal with them. they can be extremely destructive. one of the things, look, if you have a young person or if you yourself is going out into one of these crowd, as soon as you see anarchists begin to break windows and turn -- you need to

leave and it's that. it's when the nonviolent protesters leave. nonviolently because the anarchists that do their thing that allow the officers to take control of the situation and when you have officers who are well trained in handling protesters as for instance, new york has small groups of officers who are very well trained who are dealing with the anarchists they can defuse that without letting the anarchists sort of get the upper hand if you will. >> yeah, hey, ben jealous, thank you so much for joining us. i know you've got a pretty busy plate today. thank you very much for your time. marq, i'll ask you to stick around as we continue to look at what's happening in wilmington, delaware. do you agree with what ben was saying, that question i posed to the two of you. it's better for police in a situation like this to leave the area is essentially what ben was saying and that can more easily restore order? in fact, with we look at that

one protester that we see, the one we've seen so much, this provocateur in the blue and yellow, you know, the police are gone so there's nothing for this person to go and attack or, you know, hit, right, so is that the best idea? >> that's part of the challenge that minneapolis is facing right now, how do you strategize and how do you deploy resources when you have this mix of protesters, the provocateurs and the anarchist, i have to disagree with mr. jealous. there are larger number of anarchists this this and you have to be flexible in your tactics, the logistics of moving people or trying to protect a certain structure is very challenging, very difficult and you have to mix both the ability to move and the mechanical resources with the human resources and so there's no one answer to that. flexible and it moves according to what's happening on the ground but the anarchists are playing a major role in a lot of

the most destructive behavior at these demonstrations and have to be dealt with in a particular way. >> how does the presence of anarchist, how does that change things for an already, you know, put upon and, you know, beleaguered community that is dealing with the emotional upheaval and just the sense of rage and frustration and sadness, anger, all these different things, you have anarchists to that, marq, how does that affect particularly the african-american community right now in this particular situation? >> it makes it a much more dwapgous scene and set of circumstances, both for the protesters who are there focused on a particular issue trying to achieve a particular goal who want to demonstrate, want to be heard. who want to be felt or have impact. it's threatening to them because you'll have people all along with you engaging in criminal conduct, possibly right next to you or around you that's kind of

taking away from the focus of the intent of the demonstration. anarchists are dangerous to law enforcement and government officials just because they don't believe -- they don't player by rules so the rules that we have as law enforcement to protect and defend are different when you fight with people who have no rules or regulation. >> tan by. we're listening to tape of the president as he was leaving the white house minutes ago. take a listen. >> important i think as president to be there what we've done with nasa is amazing and we brought it back from the dead. it was not essentially functioning and now it's one of the great centers in the world and greatest center of the word so i think i have an obligation to be there and it's very exciting even though it's about a 50/50 shot, otherwise, it will be postponed to wednesday, i understand. not sunday, but wednesday but we'll see what happens. so we look forward to being there. some of you are going with us. any questions? >> mr. president, are you -- with your week today, are you

concerned you might be stoking more racial violence or -- >> no, not at all. maga is make america great again. i have no idea if they were going to be here but i was just asking. i have no idea -- maga is make america great again. by the way, they love african-american people. they love black people. maga loves the black people. i heard that maga wanted to be there. a lot of maga was going there be there. i have no idea if that's true or not but they love our country, remember that, maga, it's just an expression, but maga loves our country. okay. i don't care. i want to just thank, though, the secret service, they were so professional last night. it was incredible. they were so professional. they were really great. really great. any other question? anybody else going? >> mr. president -- >> by the way, i want to say it again.

secret service did a job last night that was incredible. minneapolis, i love that city. as you know i've had very great success there. almost won the state for the first time until, many decades. but almost won that state and it's a great state, minnesota. they've got to get tougher. they've got to get tougher. they've got to be strong. honor the memory of george floyd, honor his memory. they have to get tougher and by being tougher they will be honoring his memory but they cannot let that happen. when i saw policemen run by a mayor who i think is probably a very good person, but he's a radical left mayor, when i saw the policeman running out of a police station for that police station to be abandoned and taken over, i've never seen anything so horrible and stupid

in my life. i've never seen anything so bad. and then i see them trying to justify it. look, they've got to be tough. they've got to be smart. we have our military ready, willing and able if they ever want to call our military. but we can have troops on the ground very quickly if they ever want our military. they're using their national guard right now,s as you know, they have their national guard out. we can have our military there very quickly. they've got to be tough. they've got to be strong. they've got to be respected. because these people, it's antifa. it's a lot of radical left bad people and they've got to be taught that you can't do this. so i'm going now to watch a great launch and we'll see how we do. >> mr. president -- >> thank you very much. >> the president heading to marine one making his way to joint base andrews to board air force one and go down to cape

canaveral, florida, for the launch of the spacex rocket. he hopes. we'll see what weather brings for that. joining me is orange county mayor jerry demings. before i welcome you to the broadcast i want to thank marq claxton who since left. i'd love to get your reaction, mayor, on what the president just said, particularly that note of his calling very stupid the actions of the minneapolis police department, i believe it was the third precinct building that vacated because of the protesters were there. does the president have a point? what are your thoughts on what happened? >> well, it's sad what's happening across america. my wife likes to say that america is on fire right now and the president is throwing gasoline on the fire. so what we need at this moment is really calm leadership in our nation that bridges the gaps. the situations that we are dealing with, unfortunately, have been brewing in america for

quite some time and while law enforcement is a tough job, really shouldn't point fingers right now at what is happening, what the minneapolis police department at least is doing or what they're doing there in the agency. there was a bad police officer who did some things that we all know as a professional law enforcement officer after nearly four decades, i didn't see anything that the officer did that was consistent with the best practices and training that i'm familiar with so it's not really surprising to me that he was charged with that crime, but i can tell you that all across america, there are great law enforcement officers who put on the badge every day and go to work and try to do their best that they can do to help the people that they are entrusted to serve and so we need more individuals of color to want to be able to become police officers and become police officers within agencies and try

to change them from within and so that's what i say to all of the young people across america, if you truly want to change the tra victory that we're on become a part of these agencies and try to change them from within. >> mayor, i just want to tell our viewers for those who don't know you were the orlando chief of police as well as the public safety officer so you know of what you speak in terms of all this but specifically, sir, when you see protesters across the country, you've told them to be part of this, to help make the change. what you just said there. what is it you think will most resonate with them that you can say that will give them a sense of purpose and action to make that change? >> i say be part of the change and not part of the problem. we're looking for individuals now that can come forward and be part of the solution. i believe that we can get through this together if calm heads prevail and if you set

aside if you can the tough emotions of the types we're going through, we are all living in this time of a pandemic and we have been chronically stressed, a lot of anxiety and then we have really a historical perspective from america where people of color have sometimes been treated unfairly and so we find ourselves at this crossroads in a society now where it's all kind of coming together, so i think that in order for to us move forward collectively and the best way we possibly can, it will take individuals who have the passion to change their communities but also they have to do so in a peaceful nonviolent manner and so i say an appeal to all those across america, don't let those who really have alternative motives to really set america on fire and create violence to win in this case. we need calm heads and we need peace and order to move forward

in a collective manner. >> mayor, your wife, you mentioned her, of course, she's congresswoman val demings who wrote a powerful op-ed in which she was asking her fellow officers in blue, what the hell are you doing? are you, sir, asking the same of your brothers and sisters in blue? >> you know, i stand with the in enand women who have worn the badge as law enforcement officers in our nation to stand against the violence to stand against police misconduct at any level and so she was absolutely right in terms of the op-ed that she wrote for "the washington post," she was saying to the law enforcement officers, stop, take a look at what you're doing. i can tell you that the majority of those of us who have been law enforcement officers in america do so with intent to try to

serve our communities in positive ways. i can tell you that as a nearly 40-year law enforcement officer, you're correct, i served as orlando police chief, i served and the orange county sheriff and now serving as a mayor in my community, and i do so because i'm trying to bring about change in a holistic way by being part of the solution, i have chosen to get into the arena so for those young people who really want to be part of the solution going forward, i encourage them to run for elected office, to be part of the system itself and to resist the oppression that sometimes occurs. it is time for us thousand to get back and to look at all of those things that have brought us to this point and so i believe what we're seeing is an aberration of just frustration across america at this point but if cooler heads prevail, if the right leadership speaks, be able to bridge gaps and not divide, we have to be careful of the

words we say, when you're in a leadership position, our job is to make sure that we bring people together and not divide people and unfortunately, some of the rhetoric that we hear is just divisive and it is not helping the situation that we have before us. >> you're 100% right there, sir. on a completely different note, may i ask you, ask you to listen to what joe biden told msnbc about his search for a running mate. >> i guarantee you there are -- there's more than one -- there's more than one african-american woman being considered for vice president. i promise you that. >> what do you think, sir, about your wife being among those considered for the vice presidential spot on the ticket? >> you know, she has my vote. she is a tough cookie. she has demonstrated i believe that she has the heart for america.

i've seen her work now at the federal level as a member of the united states house of representatives. she's worked for the state of florida as a social worker and she's worked at a local level as a police chief starting as a police officer. she leads with her heart but she's very bright. i believe that for a time such as these she would be able to complement the ticket, if you will, on the democratic side and so we are very excited for her. we're excited for america if she is the person that vice president biden selects as his running mate. i can say to you honestly and objectively that america will not be let down in she is the person who is selected to be on that ticket. she will bring together the opportunity to bridge gaps, she certainly understands the plight of the average individual and i've seen her just work across the spectrum. here in florida the people of florida love her. the people here in central florida love her and so i think

that the -- as she served as one of the impeachment managers just a few months ago, i believe that america saw this very bright individual that will certainly be able to bring that skill set, the heart of a mother, the heart of a law enforcement officer, the heart of a public servant to the table to be able to do the job that the american people would expect out of the vice president. >> i've got to tell you she was impressive in the impeachment trials, sir. and as well is the interviews that i've been able to conduct with her, a very impressive woman. you guys are quite an impressive team, i might add. thank you very much. orange county mayor jerry demings, best of luck to you. for all of you we'll take a quick break as we await the beginning of a news conference by the governor of minnesota. governor walz. we'll pay a couple of bills on the commercial break and be right back on "weekends with alex witt" on msnbc.

the ceos are thinking about now and beyond. >> are we going to get back to business as usual for use it as an opportunity to get back?

weekends with alex witt. i bid you a good day here in new york. it has been a very busy day as we give you an empty lectern awaiting the arrival of the governor of minnesota. when governor walz takes that podium we'll join him and get an update. chaos and unrest coast to coast. it is leading more governors to call up the national guard. we have kentucky which is the latest state to do so along with georgia, oregon, minnesota, all

asking for more of a military presence in response to the violent scenes erupting around the country last night. officials say violent extremists are going into cities to cause trouble. >> every single person we arrested last night i'm told was from out of state. what we are seeing right now is a group of people who are not from here. as i talk to my friends who have been in this movement for a very long time who wake up in this movement every day and i ask them what they're seeing, what they're feeling, what they're hearing to a person, i hear them say, we don't know these folks. >> so voluntarily -- >> we were hearing from the mayor of st. paul as you look at

the scene in brooklyn, new york, police were taking down a female protester. we've had disturbing video to show you on that. in total about 200 people were arrested and there were one person arrested. there was rather one person arrested for attempted murder of a police officer. also we have some new video to share in to us from seattle where protesters were smashing windows and clashing with police on the streets there. some new video to share from detroit showing high tension as police moved in to make arrests. police say at least one person in fact, a 19-year-old man was killed when someone in an suv opened fire on demonstrators. moving west to oakland, the fbi is investigating the killing of a security officer at a federal building housing the department of homeland security. it happened last night. it was very close to a protest site.

what you're seeing right there, the scene outside the white house in lafayette park. you heard the president just a short while ago praising the secret service for holding the line on protesters, riot police, in fact, eventually used pepper spray to get that crowd control as you're seeing right there from the video. we have a team of reporters fanned out throughout the country covering the latest on nationwide protests. let me bring in steve patterson on the ground in minneapolis for us. steve, another welcome to you. it's been a long day but talk about how things feel in the wake of the demonstrations last night. the good news was we had you showing us perhaps locals trying to clean up their city. is that still the case or are you seeing rabble rousers as well? >> no, we are right in the middle of the effort to continue to clean up. i have to say though first of all starting with a heartbreaking -- it is to stand on this block. where i'm standing right now, i could maybe see about 12 businesses that are burned down in every direction.

i spoke to a business owner who owned a shop for 30 years in this community. he says about 90% of businesses on this block are minority owned but take a look here. look at the effort. one of the things that strikes you is that talking to people in this crowd, these are some of the same people that you will find at some of the peaceful rallies that we've seen this week, people who are decrying injustice, people who want things to change. people who are incredibly upset at what happened to george floyd and in talking to them they were very mad about it. they got outraged. they got upset. they organized. they were part that have but then as the week has gone along, we start to see a different element alt night when these protests are taking place starting to see people that are solely focused on doing as much damage and wreaking as much devastation as humanly possible and now the mayor of minneapolis, the mayor of st. paul, the governor of minnesota, they're not afraid to say there's a clear delineation between what's happening during the day and what's happening at

night and listening to them now in the press conferences that we've seen this morning, it almost sounds like a wartime press conference talking about gearing up for battle. talking about the number of boots on the ground. the incredible surge of the national guard that they're going to have swarming this area. another thousand, the largest deployment in state history to help be out on the street tonight to combat what they think is going to happen, what they think is going to happen is another night of fire, another night of rioting, another night of people trying to destroy property. i want to take you back to the mayor of st. paul. he very was poignant in his speaking this morning talking about will the injustice ever stop? want to play that for you right now. listen to his words. >> the frustration that time and time again we've seen no one held accountable.

we have an enormous amount of legitimate frustration of people who ask, when, how long will it take? people who ask how egregious does it have to be? >> reporter: alex, i want to start by staying on this. it looks like they're about to lift this incredible structure -- i'm not sure how heavy this s one of the things you worry about, this is purely a community effort. it doesn't appear like a fire marshal is here or anybody on scene who is competent in dealing with these structures, yes, they have done so much to clean up the community. just in the few maybe hour, hour and a half we've been here on the ground and it is quite incredible the work they've done just in that amount of time. looks like they're about to lift this up. i hope everybody stays safe while they do this. another effort. these are just random regular citizens who are concerned about their community, came out in force, there are hundreds of them up and down this street working on these burned out

structures trying to get this all cleaned up before another night of possible chaos tonight. alex. >> i got to tell you it's very reassuring to see that and also we might note, steve, that all of them seem to be wearing face masks. they're respecting any number of issues that are percolating around them right now there in minneapolis. thank you so much, steve patterson. let's go across town to mbs's noriegaen chesky also in minneapolis for us. all right, morgan, welcome to you. what are you seeing from your vantage point? >> reporter: alex, i'm seeing a lot of what steve mentioned. it's encouraging to see that sign of so many people coming out because we arrived here in minneapolis several days ago to see just that damage and devastation happen block by block near the third precinct. that's the station where those four police officers worked who were fired earlier this week who were tied to the death of george floyd. but we are now in midtown, minneapolis, as opposed to southern minneapolis where we've seen so much devastation over the past several days and you can see that fire departments

are still active putting out hot spots just being able to pull up to this building and address the needs there to try to make sure that there are no more flare-ups in this area. i can tell you that just the mere site of a fire truck is an encouraging site here, alex, because at our other location fire truck, firefighters didn't even come to that area for fear of retaliation from the possible swelling size of the protest groups in that area. and while we did see small groups coming out during the day to try to clean up in those neighborhoods, we've certainly not seen anything like what we're seeing here right now and just, look, on every corner here at this intersection the people with shovels and rakes and trash bags just is an incredible site and these are people who live in this area who are -- know what was impacted last night and coming up one by one and as steve mentioned there's not

necessarily a boss in charge here. everyone is just taking it upon themselves to do what they can. you have firefighters putting out hot spots and seconds later you've got a crowd walk up and start getting that rubble off the sidewalk in hopes of getting life somewhat back to normal as quickly as possible. now, as if that will happen, it remains to be seen. we do know from a response standpoint the national guard is arriving en masse today. i want to let you listen to what a spokesperson for that group said just earlier today about what we can expect from that response. take a listen. >> the governor just announced the full mobilization of the minnesota national guard for the first time since world war ii. what does that mean? it means we're all in. >> reporter: all in. 700 national guardsmen here already, a thousand more headed this direct.

that will change things several. >> morgan, thank you very much for that. everyone, the governor of minnesota has taken to the podium. let's listen to what governor walz has to say. >> what we've seen on the streets of minneapolis and st. paul over the last 48 to 72 hours has nothing to do with what these people have done to build minnesota. we have had wanton destruction of black businesses and black infrastructure. we have destroyed landmarks of the nation's largest indigenous communities that ripped a hole in the soul of a people that have been oppressed from the minute we became a state. we stand on the land of the people who created that and the people who were on the streets last night burned it down. they are not us. they do not share our values. they destroyed our public

libraries and our public infrastructure. the chaos created stopped us from delivering school meals to hundreds of thousands of hungry children across this state at a time of covid-19. they want nothing to do with the decency. they want nothing to do with what we strive for. they can't say the name philando castile because they don't know the history. they're not here to make that difference. this group is. so as minnesotans, don't listen to me, listen to these voices, i listen to them. as a white man who walks through life with that privilege, walk in these shoes, walk in these communities, they took me in. they sat me down. they challenged me when i'm wrong. they teach me what it looks like and they advocate for change and try to hold me accountable. when i fail them, they tell me.

when we succeed we succeed together as truly one minnesota. and so with that as a group of mentors here, none more important to me someone who stands for the first time in eight weeks in the same room, my friend a leader in this community lieutenant governor peggy flanagan. [ applause ] >> good afternoon, everyone. bonjour, peggy flanagan. [ speaking foreign language ] my name is peggy flanagan. i'm lieutenant governor of the state of minnesota and i'm a member of the white earth nation of ojibe and the role of our clan to ensure we're not leaving

anyone behind and that could not be more important than this moment we find ourselves in right now. as we've come together, as we've come together as community, it has been tremendously difficult to not reach out and to embrace each other because as we were watching our communities fall apart, the moment to connect, the moment to physically touch and care for one another is one of the things that we are prevented from doing right now. but because of the importance of this moment as the governor mentioned, this is the first time that we have been in the room together, because it matters that much. now, before i became lieutenant

governor, i was an organizer. and i was an organizer for 20 years. and when there are protests in the street, i was there. i marched behind valerie castile as we mourned the unjust loss of her son and my heart and my guts are being ripped out in this moment as i also want to go to the streets. and what we've experienced in the loss and the murder on camera of our community member, george floyd, is horrific. and in that space on 38th and chicago is sacred ground. and people should be able to come together on that sacred ground and mourn and grieve and demand change and justice in

policing and every other racist system that we have that has been part of this state. but in this moment we cannot because there are detractors. there are white supremacists. there are anarchists, there are people who are burning down the institutions that are core to our identity and who we are. as a member of the urban american indian community, watching the destruction of m magizi that has been the foundation for organizing, for education, for opportunity, for building community together is no longer there. we did not do that.

we have been coming together to take care of our community. and so this is what i ask of all of you. we need to create the space for people to be able to grieve, to come together, to mourn the loss of george floyd, but in order to be able to do that, we need to create the space to remove the people who are doing us harm. we've watched communities step up and come together to clean the streets, to feed one another, and that is what we need to do here. one of the ways that we can care for community is to stay home tonight. is to stay home tonight so that

we can remove those folks who are harming us. so that we can remove those folks who are detracting from the memory of george floyd and for the work that we have to do to ensure justice is done and to ensure that the three additional officers are held accountable, but we cannot do that until community can gather safely. so i am grateful to be in this space with all of you to be at home as we are together in community and it is time for us to call on each other as organizers to stay home so that we can make sure that we have the opportunity to retain our community and to be able to rebuild and recover together and do all the work that we can in

the capitol building behind us to undo these systems of racism and to move policies forward that are truly just. the swell of mourning and grief has been just below the surface and it burst out into public and we must take this moment to change it all. to change it all. so with that, i'd like to introduce to you our senator amy klobuchar. >> thank you, lieutenant governor and thank you, intelligence and it's just those words were incredible and you think the heart of your community now mourning and with

us today are these faith leaders, i've been at their churches and their synagogues and their mosques and it is usually a moment of joy that brings together of worship and today you will hear from them about where they are and that is that everyone is in pain. it is martin luther king who once said that we are all tied inextricably tied in a single garment of destiny. and what connects one of us kicks all of us. and that's how we felt, all of us, and anyone with an ounce of humanity when we see the video of george floyd's murder. when we see that his life literally evaporating before our eyes, we remember when we see that that we are all in inextricably tied but we also as

we see the destruction of these sacred sites in the american indian community, in our african-american community, when we see the businesses that literally represent small businesses, people's lives and hopes and dreams torn apart, destroyed and torched, we remember that we are also inextricably tied at that moment and that there are so many good people in our community that had every right to show their voice and speak, but not violently and not destructively. that is not what we are about. i saw the statistics this morning as the governor laid things out for our state about how so many of the people that have been arrested are not from our state. they are not from our state. so people of good will that feel like i do so strongly about the wrong and injustice we saw on that video have to understand that some of these people that are coming over and doing this

are not doing it for the good reasons that bring you to the streets to protest. they're doing it for bad reasons. they're not part of our state and they're coming from the outside. so what we are asking today is that people of good will, people who believe in justice, people of faith, of all faiths in our community, that they stand together and they actually stay at home but stand together in that way. we've been through a period of isolation already through the pandemic and know we can't gather like we once did. but today and tonight, the gatherings and some of those people that are part of it, it is not for good will so we are simply asking peaceful people that want to honor the legacy of george floyd, that want to honor the legacy of justice that they stay home. that would be a start and from there we rebuild our community. we heal, we make sure that

justice is done. we enact the criminal justice reforms that we know are necessary. i was thinking about as i looked at our rabbi's and imams and reverends up here of this old walt whitman poem, i hear america singing the varied songs i hear. the varied voices i hear. there are voices up here that come from very different religions but they are all saying the same thing, there are local leaders that have been at the front lines for their people and they want to hear their congregations sing again but the only way we can have peace is if we all find it within us, parents calling their kids, that would be a great idea. kids calling their parents today. what should i do? what is the best way to seek justice? families talking to each other and then we can move forward as a community but we cannot move forward when people are burning

down our city, burning down our state. that is what we are united behind today. thank you. i think it may be our fantastic attorney general who has been a voice of justice. >> friends, i want to be real clear, we need your help to comply with the curfew straight up if anybody is unclear about what we're asking for that's what we're asking for, okay. why? because the people who are trying to tarnish the reputation of the noble protest for justice are out there trying to mix in with the crowd so that people will just say, oh, look at all

those protesters are bad. their cause can't be just. they're just out there causing trouble. we know that's not what's happening. we know that the noble just aims of the protesters are righteous and good but we also know that some evil elements are literally interfusing themselves with the protests to destroy and cause arson so that the whole community will have a low opinion of the protest, because they're not forjustice for mr. floyd. they're against it. and they know that if we protest righteously and peacefully and justly, people will -- their public sentiment will rise up to support our demands. they also -- so they want to stop that. and so we need people to help us get off the streets. can you go on social. you can protest there. you can do all these things, but to be on the street after 8:00 means that we can't get you

separated from the bad people. so we know you're brave. we know you're strong. we know you never compromise on justice. we know you're righteous and we believe in what you're doing but we need to be able to stop the burning and the looting and the destruction. i want to let you know we have some great leaders around the room. i know them all. love them all and i want to speak to the protesters, i love you. many of them wanted to be here today when we called them, they said, hey, we're with the governor. we believe in what you're doing but we're on the streets trying to restore order and to raise the issue of george floyd. so we can't come in because we're on the street. but we want you to know that we're with you. that is a fact. so as i take my seat, look, one officer has been arrested

charged with murder. it's a preliminary complaint. it's still going on. as a lawyer i can tell you complaints are amended, charges could be increased, there could be some added. there might be other people who will be charged as well. we're in the beginning of this. as a signal to you that we know that there is probable cause to support this complaint and the wheels of justice are moving and now they're moving swiftly. but we need to you help us. make sure that justice is done and we know that, yes, we will invest to rebuild our communities, what in the world is burning down arts in the north side have to do with justice for floyd? nothing. let me take my seat because better voices than mine can tell you about the urgency but i want to be clear we're asking for you

to let the national guard have the street after 8:00 so that we can make sure that we restore order and build justice and with that, i want to invite my dear friend and yours, reverend dr. javez russell. >> good afternoon, minnesota. my name is reverend dr. chavez russell of greater friendship baptist church in the minnesota state baptist convention. and as a native of mississippi and a resident of minnesota for the last 20 years and an african-american, successful african-american man, i can tell you that i feel the pain, felt

the pain growing up, felt the pain throughout college going to a 95% evangelical white college, moving to minnesota experiencing that same systemic pain and the pain against our own people and how i get through it is the same way that my ancestors have gotten through it over the last 400 years and that is coming together and leaning and depending on the power of god. every moment in our history where we face this type of destruction, face this type of attack, we came together leaning and depending on the power of god and when i see our community right now, when i see people

cleaning up, when i see people offering food, when i see people offering to deliver food and do whatever needs to be done to overcome this evil, because that's what it is, because our bible says that we battle not against flesh and blood, we're battling against evil so i'm calling on the believers and our lord and savior jesus christ and the people of god in general regardless of what background you come from to stand for love because god is love. continue to come together, continue to fight against this evil that we face today to try to tarnish the name of george floyd. so, yes, i am asking that we do protest and use our voices loudly to represent love and the

power of god and just cyst so we can make the systemic change so my kids don't feel the same pain i felt for the last 41 years. so, yes, we are asking that you go home at 8:00. and pray and i need somebody that believes in the power of prayer to get on your knees tonight so that we can give our room -- give room to our government that's been working so hard with us, partnering with us, give them the room to separate the good from the bad, separate those that are standing for justice versus those that are standing to tear down our government and all of our institutions and all of our neighborhoods and all of our things that we do to take care of our community.

we ask that you give them the room. and pray and just like our ancestors have done, lean and depend on the power of god and once we do that, we can begin this healing process because i don't know about you but i believe in minnesota and i believe we will rebuild. i know we will. rebuild our institutions, rebuild our relationships with our youth, rebuild our relationships with our law enforcement, rebuild our relationships with our government and rebuild our beloved community to honor the name of george floyd. amen. and with that being said, i want to introduce rabbi aaron

winninger to the podium. thank you. >> my name is rabbi aaron wininger, i am a rabbi at the congregation in minnetonka and with one of the co-chairs of the minnesota rabbinical association. we must fight the pandemic of racism with the same resolve, tenacity and compassion that we are fighting covid-19. there is no excuse to do anything different as we remember the memory of george floyd as a blessing. you might ask how we might do that work of fighting this pandemic of racism. in our sacred scripture as a jewish people the torah, we read in deuteronomy justice, justice, you shall pursue. the rabbis pose the question why is the word justice repeated

twice? [ speaking foreign language ] justice, justice. i want to suggest that we repeat the word justice twice because we have to name and call out the injustice in front of us, the current moment that we're in, the horrible murder of george floyd, name it for what it is, the brutality, the racism, calling out that first justice clearly. >> okay, we have been taking a listen to faith leaders as well as the political leaders there in the state of minnesota. we have the governor walz and lieutenant governor flanagan. we had senator klobuchar, we had attorney general ellison and these last two faith leaders and continue monitoring what they're saying in this profound news conference mourning the situation in the state of minnesota specifically minneapolis, joining me right now is martin luther king iii, the eldest son of martin luther

king jr. good to see you. thank you for being here. what went through your mind, your reaction when you saw the video and learned about the death of george floyd? >> i think, well, first of all, i must convey my sentiments, condolences to the family of george floyd. the first thing that i thought about was how in this nation we call home can an incident like this happen almost again because obviously i thought about what happened in new york with eric garner and of course as the reports continue to come in, one wonders where is the humanity of this nation? where is the humanity of a police officer? where is the humanity of human

beings? this is the absolute worst thing that could have happened to anyone. we used to apprehend suspects in america without using violence and now we seem to use violence first. there is a way to apprehend a suspect -- a suspect should be able to be apprehended without being killed. >> yeah. >> it's very, very, very, very difficult time for this nation that we all call home. >> we heard senator klobuchar quoting your father, something we often hear in these very sobering and painful, difficult types we as a nation go through. and we know that your father preached love. he preached peace. he preached turning the other cheek and understanding but we also know that he said he understood the difficulties and the rage within people at the inequities and the injustice that was being put upon particularly the black community back in the 1960s.

do you understand what is going on here and is there something that you could say this needs to be the first step to try to fix this without using violence, because you're indicating it is not the answer. >> yes, i do believe, number one, there has to be some structural change in our nation. i mean, dad and mom devoted their lives to the eradication of poverty, racism and violence in our society. and, you know, to black people and many people, anyone who saw this, you got to feel like this is -- has to do with some kind of institutionalized racism. we don't see this -- we don't want to see it happen to anyone. we don't see it happening in other communities if at all and

certainly happens in the black and brown communities. and in communities of color. and so if we want to have people respond differently, this is a very tragic response to a tragic incident that was caused by police overaction and in this case it's beyond overaction. overaction, a person may have been hurt but at least they could have survived. in this case it was fatal and it's final. and so there is no way to address this tragedy and that's what we are seeing the behavior of some and it's been said to many of those arrested in minnesota, they're not from minnesota. of course, we're having these same kind of scenarios in other places even in my own city of atlanta where violence took place last night and other

cities around the nation. but people have to see something, an immediate change for people to respond differently and i think it has to happen with the institutions. i know that, you know, as it related to this one incident, this is a chokehold scenario and for whatever reason why the chokehold is still used, which we see has, you know, unfortunately killed people. so why is that not addressed? those are maybe one or two simple things that can happen but i also think, you know, there's got to be consistent training. there's got to be consistent diversity sensitivity. human relations. and the community has to work with the police. the police has to be willing to work with the community. there are elements in society that have to be dealt with in a specific way.

but it's very clear that there seems to be a universal dime as it reels to people of color. we all feel like we're mistreated for no reason and so some steps have to be taken and they have to be taken very, very soon or unfortunately we will see this kind of behavior continue to grow and manifest. and we will see the kind of unrest that we should not have to see in a civil society. the police and i don't universally condemn police but certain police are creating problems in communities and particularly communities of color. and so there's got to be a way that we learn to de-escalate as opposed to escalating these scenarios. >> the first thing you said in this interview was you were offering your condolences and sympathies to mr. floyd's family. is there anything, i mean we

know his life cannot be brought back. is there anything that you can suggest that would make his family feel like there is justice for him and his family? >> well, yes, of course, maybe the d.a. is working on it and the legal system, but it's obviously to most of the nation that there should have been prosecution or some prosecution of all of those officers who were standing there. it was the officer who actually had his knee on the neck of mr. floyd and others who were there, i mean, any one of them could have said, hey, man, chill. we need to -- back up. i mean a man is asking for help an you are immune to what this person is saying? what kind of human being are you? and so there needs to be action taken swiftly against those other officers, i mean, that is at least the first step was the arrest yesterday.

that is a step in the right direction, but, you know, i think there has to be a court case and hopefully a conviction. i think that is what will at least feel like some semblance of justice. but those other officers have to be arrested. if that doesn't happen, i just -- i don't know what to predict or project. but i think that, you know, people have to feel like the system works for them. and this does not feel like today that it is fully working. >> martin luther king iii. very sobering words but we thank you for them, nonetheless. look forward to seeing you again and hopefully under better circumstances. thank you so much. and right now want to let you all know the picture we were just seeing there was downtown philadelphia. the city hall there, we were seeing the steps and you see some folks gathering there. different perspectives there. but right now we heard martin

luther king iii speaking about eric garner whose death six years ago was another one of these "i can't breathe" and who died as a result of a chokehold. in fact, my colleague, national action network president and msnbc host reverend al sharpton is speaking at a rally in staten island, new york and with the family of eric garner, that black man who died from that apparent chokehold from police in 2014 calling for justice now for george floyd. take a listen. >> probable cause is clearly there with the tape. clearly there with the actions. they should arrest them, charge them and then tell them what they tell young folk in our community, tell it to the judge. if you've got a story, tell it to the judge. tell it at trial. but don't try this case in the prosecutor's office. try it in the courtroom against all for.

[ crowd chanting ] >> let me say this, we are glad that in minneapolis and here we are seeing people of all races because this is a crime against everybody. we are glad to see whites, asians, latinos march with the black community. because we've been abused too long. and we want it to stop. if they had prosecuted the police here that choked to death eric garner, maybe floyd would be alive today. so that's why we came here. we return to the scene of the original crime.

right here is where they gave police the feeling they can get away with choking us to death. >> reverend al sharpton on staten island. we'll keep listening to what he has to say. more protests in minneapolis expected today. it comes just one day after both third degree murder and manslaughter charges were announced against that former police officer seen kneeling on george floyd's neck as he repeatedly said, i can't breathe. joining me now paul henderson, veteran prosecutor and legal analyst and yadit, court tv anchor. good to see you both. paul, what do you make of the charges announced? >> i mean, i think the charges were important, but they beg the question of what's going to happen to those other officers that were there that were on the scene, that saw him kneeling on the neck, that heard the bystanders saying, stop. that heard and listened to george floyd begging for his

life and watched and witnessed that death and participated. what's going to happen to those charges and right now i think the death of george floyd has been a long-standing issue that as we see in this country not even the coronavirus could stop the killings and the race disparities and the evidence of these types of killings and deaths that we've been seeing and that's the real frustration right now. it's just as important that we stop law enforcement from doing the wrong thing as it is that they are out doing the right thing and that's why we're having the rallies. that's why we're having the protests. that's why we're having the riots. riots of the voice of people that have not been heard and watching and seeing the prosecution and this is what's part of the justice system. it's more than just the int interactions with law enforcement and black and browning communities. it's the justice system, it's the delays in prosecution. it's the bad investigations and then it's the sentencing, it's

the whole thing has to be examined and have to look at it. this case is just another example and another opportunity for us to make a change because that's why we're having these riots right now. >> yadid, i want to talk about the speed at which these charges cage about. it took a few days, four days actually to bring them about, in fact. why so long? i mean, is it because there was a police officer involved? is there something that complicates things because of that? what are your thoughts? >> alex, you're exactly right. it's just that. when it comes to an officer they're given the benefit of the doubt so, of course, a delay would be something that's expected. however, in this particular scenario their firing was so immediate and what everybody saw on that video at least established probable cause. you don't have to have a law degree to watch that video and say i don't know what crime that is but there is a crime happening and so for it to have been four days and mike freeman

saying this was the quickest they've ever worked on getting an indictment for somebody, especially an officer is laughable. honestly it happened in four days because we had to push mike freeman. to push mike freeman. i do want to make a comment about what the refer rend al sharpt shar sharpton said. he said if they had procesecute. and as i watched with amy klobuchar, who was the d.a. in hennepin county and failed to indict officers during her time there. in fact, the cop in question, the ex-cop in question that we are talking about today, derek chauvin, was not indicted on several incidences on her watch. to have her come up there and try to calm the people of minneapolis is laughable and it's a slap in the face. this is where people are rising

up and this is why people are frustrated and this is why we're talking about this yet again. >> you make a good point. is it harder to try a case like this when there's a police officer involved? how does that complicate things? >> yeah, i mean, juries are less inclined to convict -- first of all, it's extremely hard to charge an officer to begin with, because like i said, their actions are given the benefit of the doubt. they're out there putting their life on the line, they've got to make these split-second decisions with regard to using deadly force. so when you have what would a reasonable officer do, that's given a lot of discretion. so when people want charges in the first degree, they also have to understand that's incredibly difficult, but then two, even harder to get a conviction for. we have a long history of that. so in this particular situation, however, i think it could be warranted to increase the charge of murder because we are not looking at a split-second

decision. we are looking at a man, an ex-cop, dig his knee into mr. floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. that is the deadly force he is using for that long. and you have to ask the question of why. what was he trying to get mr. floyd to do that he wasn't already doing? he was being compliant, he was on the ground and he was handcuffed. all he was doing was resisting death. all he was doing was begging for air. and that officer didn't give that to him. so you can't be surprised why people are saying this was intentional. but again, i'm going to give mike freeman the benefit of the doubt. i'm going to give him some time. maybe they're still having to examine more evidence. but he shouldn't delay in charging the other officers. >> i want to tell both of you we now have been joined by benjamin crumb.

benjamin is also representing the family of george floyd. i'm sorry to say it's two weeks in a row i'm speaking with you. you're also representing the family of ahmaud arbery. it's tough times right now for you and i'm curious about the reaction you have to all of this chaos that broke out around the country, and the news as well, benjamin, that a lot of this is being carried out by violent extremists. >> well, i heard, and i agree with her. a lot of this is the pain and the frustration of people who have seen over and over again that there are two justice systems in america. one for black america and one for white america. it should be equal justice for the united states of america. and many of the protesters are saying that is not equal justice when they see this police officer with their own eyes have his knee on the neck of a man

who is face down and handcuffed, and he continues to keep his knee there even though he pleased for his life saying i can't breathe. then you have the lay people, the emt who was a witness there and she contacted our office saying she asked over 15 times, can i just take his pulse. so the floyd family is disgusted that this officer was not charged with first-degree murder and that the other officers were not arrested, because that is their flesh and blood who had the most horrific, tragic death you could ever imagine. and that's why people around the country are reacting, saying when do black people in america get equal justice. this cannot be another eric gardener situation. so we have to pray for peace, but we have to understand the

pain that people feel. >> benjamin, it's the pain that's being held very fervently by george employed's family. but what is their reaction to seeing the incredible domino effect across this country of protests of pain, of riots, of destruction because of what happened to their son? i've got to think it's a lot of mixed emotions for them as well. >> it is in the sense that they have asked that people protest peacefully, however they certainly understand that it's a lot of emotion. and we have to remember, alex, that peace is not the absence of tension, but it's the presence of justice. so the fundamental question is where is the justice for their family? where is the justice for george floyd? this should not take an exhaustive investigation when we

have videotape, when we have multiple videotapes showing every aspect of this matter. and then for the medical examiner to come and try to suggest slyly that, well, what he was doing on the video, that's not what really killed him. what his family is telling me and my legal team, george ywas just fine, he was walking and breathing, everything in his life was good until this police officer and those others restrained him and put their knee on his neck. and to this them, it is common sense that this is murder. >> benjamin crump, thank you very much for joining us. we're glad to get to speak with you. thank you for your legal expertise as well. for all of you, that's a wrap from me this hour as we gave you a live look of the steps leading up to the museum

of art in philadelphia. i'll see you tomorrow morning at 7:00. in the men-time, alicia menendez picks up the coverage at the top of the hour. she'll be talking about the impact the minnesota protests are having on demonstrations right now and particularly in louisville, kentucky, at the top of the hour. jooirk jooirk come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card.

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i'm alicia menendez. we are following breaking news. mass protests from coast to coast over the death of george floyd. demonstrators have taken to the streets in nearly two dozen u.s. cities calling for racial equality. some of the protests have turned violent with police clashing with demonstrators and demonstrators destroying storefront and police cars. there are new developments in minnesota today where the governor has activated the national guard to restore order to the streets. officials saying today many of the acts of violence are being carried out by extremists hoping to