a close this wednesday night. as always, thank you for being here with us. good night from our temporary field headquarters. msnbc live coverage continues, next. after more than a week of nationwide protests, three former minneapolis police officers have been charged and the officer who has placed his knee on floyd's neck has had his murder charge elevated. also in stark contrast with the words and actions of president trump, former president barack obama is supporting protesters. and james mattis has issued a stunning rebuke of the president.

>> good thursday morning, everybody. it is june 4th and i'mace might know vossoughian. a lot taking place. the big news coming from the state that sparked this massive movement as all four officers involved in george floyd's death have now been charged. derrick chauvin, the man who kneeled on floyd's neck had his murder charge upgraded to second degree murder while the three former officers involved were arrested and charged with aiding and abetting murder. >> we are following the path of all of the evidence. wherever it leads. we are investigating as quickly as we can because speed is important.

we're also investigating as thoroughly as we can because being complete and thorough is critically important, but it takes time. the reason thoroughness is important is because every single link in the prosecutal chain must be strong. it must be strong because trying this case will not be an easy thing. winning a conviction will be hard. in fact, county attorney freeman is the only prosecutor in the state of minnesota who has successfully convicted a police officer for murder. and he can tell you that it's hard. i say this not because we doubt our resources or our ability. in fact, we're confident in what we're doing. but history does show that there are clear challenges here. >> all right. let's get some reaction to this. joining me now from minneapolis,

nbc news correspondent jay gray. thank you so much for joining me. i know a lot of protesters have been gathering at the intersection in which george floyd was killed, building a memorial in a way, as well. what has been the reaction in minneapolis to the decision to charge the three other officers and jump grading chauvin's charge? >>ace might know, i think the overall reaction here has been one of pleasure. i think people are excited that these other three officers have been charged. they have been pushing for that to happen over the last ten days. they also had wanted a murder one charge. they got murder two right now. and, again, i think most people here say that they believe the protests are working, the peaceful mars are working. but they're quick to point out, and i think this is important to touch on, they're not done. they won't be done until these

offices are done and convicted, until we see major changes in the way policing is carried out across this country. while they like the steps the attorney general has taken, they want to make sure everyone knows their message stays the same and most say they will continue their marches until they see that justice. >> nbc's jay gray for us. thank you for joining us. for more on these charges, i want to go right to danny cevallos. let's talk through some of these charges here. firsts talk to me about the difference between second degree murder and third degree murder. >> they're very different, actually. on the one hand, second degree murder, essentially we have murder statutes that allow us to find a defendant guilty of murder as long as he committed an inherently dangerous felony, even if he didn't intend the

outcome, which is the death of the victim. the difference between that and third degree murder is third degree murder in minnesota is murder that happens as a result of something very, very reckless. and then you have, of course, man slaughter which is just -- the distinction is so subtle that the man slaughter charge is just the result of something generally reckless. but the depraved mind, third degree murder requires something so reckless that you almost might as well have intended murder. felony murder however, here, the second degree murder is predicated on an underlying felony. in this case, that's third degree assault. so the prosecution just has to prove that the officer committed third degree assault and that a death resulted. >> so now let's talk about the three other officers that were charged yesterday aiding and abetting. how difficult is that to prove? >> i think that the upgrade of the charges to second degree

felony murder was part of the prosecution's theory for holding the other officers liable for aiding and abetting. here is why. for the aiding and abetting of some reckless act, that means you're going to have to sell to a jury that these officers specifically attended to assist in an unintentional death. and they may have a little trouble working through that. on the other hand, for felony murder, all the prosecution has to prove is that these officers intended to help chauvin commit third degree assault. and as long as they can show that, they automatically get to felony murder. and it may be an easier path to hold these brother officers liable for the murder of george floyd. >> there was one thing that actually stood out to me in the charging documents, danny. he was one of the other officers charged with aiding and abetting. he allegedly had blocked the view of bystanders at one point

and restrained a bystander who tried to intervene to get chauvin off of floyd's neck. what do you make of that being included in the charging document and how can that play into the case? >> the prosecution will argue that this is evidence, this is consciousness of guilt. so the officer knows what's going on and he's helping chauvin allegedly continue to do what he's doing, put the knee on the back of the neck. but the defense will probably argue that this same evidence demonstrates that this officer didn't know what was going on, maybe he had his back to what was happening and he was more concerned with protecting his brother officers from passers by or someone else intervening. so that same evidence could cut both ways, from both the prosecution and the defense. >> i know that it's incredibly difficult to prosecute police officers as we have seen in the past. the system is built to protect them in instances like this. but when you're looking at, for

instance, derek chauvin who has been charged with second degree murder and you look at some of his priors, which is i believe 18 complaints leveled against him in his career as a police officer, how is that going to play into the narrative, the case that prosecutors will build? >> you may want to hold off on judgment on the prior incidents for this particular officer because officers will tell you, sometimes they get complaints lodged against them and there is nothing they can do. but as this information comes out and -- >> 18, though, danny? >> that's right. well, that's a lot. that's a lot. but, again, like i said, police officers will tell you sometimes they can't control the complaints against them. but 18 is a lot and so this may tend to show a pattern of use of force before force is warranted. and to the extent the prosecution can get that in -- generally the defense is going to argue you can't bring in prior bad acts or prior bad

behavior in the main case. but the prosecution will try to get that in to show that it's part of a pattern or even a habit of using force when force isn't warranted. >> danny, great to see you this morning. thanks for joining us this morning. this was the scene in minneapolis after that announcement of additional charges. >> we got all four. we got all four. we got all four. we got all four. we got all four. >> there are huge crowds in seattle. you see protesters on the front lines holding umbrellas to guard against possible teargas or pepper spray. reminiscent of the hong kong protests from last year. meanwhile, in washington, military vehicles as a back drop for this protest of the white house as demonstrators face off with armed troops. and this scene on capitol hill, protesters lying face down for nine minutes. the duration of the time the

officer kneeled on george floyd's neck. and in new york, this. >> go. go home. just go home. >> the nypd getting physical with protesters in brooklyn as they enforced the city's 8:00 p.m. curfew. still ahead, how joe biden is using his speech on the country's unrest to win over voters in key swing states. also, defense secretary mark esper breaking with the president in the need to use the military for force. and we'll check in with bill karins when we come back. ink wl karins when we come back my gums are irritated.

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welcome back, everybody. amid the nationwide push for equal justice to end police brutality, the biden campaign has released a new digital ad

that will air in six battleground states that our president must unite the country. watch this. >> the country is crying out for leadership. leadership that can unite us, leadership that brings us together. i look at the presidency as a very big job. and nobody will get it right every time. and i won't, either. but i promise you this. i won't traffic in fear and division. i won't fan the flames of hate. i'll seek to heal the racial wounds that have long plagued our country, not use them for political gain. i'll do my job and i will take responsibility. i won't blame others. i promise you, this job is not about me, it's about you. it's about us. to build a better future, that's what american does. we build a future. it may, in fact, be the most american thing to do. this is the united states of

america. there's never been anything we've been able to do when we've set our mind to do it and we've done it together. >> president trump has expressed concerns that his campaigns may not be battle ready for the general election in november. according to the "new york times," republicans, however, seem to be more worried about whether the president can emerge as a strong figure out of the two national crises facing the nation right now. the times reporting that private polling by the trump campaign has shown the president well behind biden while several public polls show him at a double digit deficit. in an effort to change this, the trump campaign has reshifted its focus to ohio, arizona, georgia in hopes of improving his standings there. in the past couple of weeks, the campaign has spent $1.5 million on advertising in those states. the high level of spending in ohio did catch republicans off guard, though, given that trump

beat hillary clinton by an 8-point margin in the state in 2016. joining me now, political reporter for "the washington post," eugene scott. eugene, good morning to you. great to see you this morning. thanks for getting up early for us. >> thanks for having me. >> let's talk about the stark contrast in words and messaging that we are hearing from former vice president biden to current president trump. you see in biden's political ad that he is calling for unity. he is calling out the current president for being divisive. you also know the current president has threatened military action against the american people amid these protests. how do you think this is going to play out with voters ahead of november? >> well, it's going to play out very well with their bases. their respective bases. you have to remember why both of these individuals are their party's respective nominees. biden's ad was reminiscent of

his initial campaign launch ad. he has been running mainly based on the argument that he believes he can unite a very divided country and he doubled down on in this week because it's in these moments where people are most concerned about division. president trump very early made it very clear that he was running to be the leader of certain groups of america who believe that the future and direction of this nation have gotten away from them. and so they're really looking at their bases and doubling down and trying to win those people as if they, you know, already have it, which they have. but only one of them is actually looking beyond their base. and right now, that's joe biden. >> so let's expand on that. is there a potential for biden to expand beyond this base amid what this country is dealing with right now upwards of 110,000 deaths from the

coronavirus in the last three months handling of the coronavirus by the trump administration, and then with regards to the national protests across this country and when the president has basically not addressed the protests in the way that he had, this photo-op that he had yesterday, so on and so forth. does biden now have the opportunity to expand his base amid the chaos in this country? >> it certainly appears to be the case. and one of those reasons is when you look at how he performed in the primary, he did really well with some groups that have previously favored trump. so you think about suburban women, bietden was able to make inroads in those areas that hillary clinton was not able to. and in moments like this, you have individuals from those prospective groups who perhaps were not looking at biden expressing great disappointment

for the president. so they're looking for another option. and this right now is biden's moment to lose. >> eugene scott, always great to have you this morning. still ahead, everybody, president trump tries to change the narrative about being taken to a white house fwubunker last friday during protests. what he is saying and how it's been reported, back in a moment. s been reported, back in a moment. did you know prilosec otc can stop frequent heartburn

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there was never a problem. we never had a problem. nobody ever came close to giving us a problem. they said it would be a good time to go down, take a look, because maybe sometime you're going to need it. >> why not, right? but according to "the washington post," the president was rushed to the bunkers after a group of protesters jumped a privacy gate. officials saying the president was never really in danger but that he and his family were rattled by the sometimes violent protests near the white house. but, of course, the president said he was just down there for an inspection. let's switch gears and get a check on your forecast with nbc meteorologist bill karins. good morning to you, bill. >> good morning. a lot of big thunderstorms around the country yesterday. none of it was worse than areas around philadelphia and new jersey. at one point yesterday, we had over 500,000 people without

power in the middle of this pandemic, in the middle of all these protests. and especially people are still home schooling. we had three separate incidents where trees fell on cars and on a house. look at the size of that tree. oh, just imagine that. a lot of cleanup still to be done today in this area. this was a der ratio. it was a thunderstorm complex that produced widespread wind damage of 68 miles per hour. a pretty wide event he there. we're still watching tropical storm cristobal. it has weakened. as tropical systems over land will almost always weaken. this has gone down to 40-mile-per-hour winds. but the new forecast takes it north through the gulf of mexico as we head through the weekend. it looks like on sunday afternoon, approaching the coastline, most likely around louisiana, but we still have our eyes on you in mississippi and

areas of extreme eastern texas. it doesn't look like at this point it has a chance to become a big, powerful hurricane, but a tropical storm with a rain threat. our european computer model, this is our most accurate long-term model takes it northward on that northerly trajectory and takes it near the louisiana coast sunday afternoon. the biggest threat with a storm like this does look like it would be rainfall. 16 million people already under flood watches around louisiana, areas of mississippi and florida. we could see the potential of at least 10 inches of rain with a storm like this. we'll continue to watch this as we head through the next couple of days. this does not at this point appear to be a big, huge storm that will cause a lot of issues. we'll have isolated flooding. we'll watch it. you never know. you get surprised with these storms every now and then and we still have until sunday. >> thank you, bill. still ahead, everybody, president trump's message to young people across the country amid the nationwide protests over the death of george floyd.

also, after staying silent for more than a year and a half, former defense secretary jim mattis is now tearing into the president. we'll be right back. g in ttohe president. we'll be right back. we live in uncertain times. however, there is one thing you can be certain of. the men and women of the united states postal service. we're here to deliver cards and packages from loved ones and also deliver the peace of mind of knowing that essentials like prescriptions are on their way. every day, all across america, we deliver for you. and we always will. puberty means personal space. so sports clothes sit around doing a little growing of their own. ohhh. ahhgh. so imagine how we cheered when we found tide pods sport. finally something more powerful than the funk. bye.

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so you can take on the markets with confidence. we thought you could help ray bring hiwhat?s to school. kelly, do you know him? -he's a new friend. you ok? you know you can tell me. i'm ok. oh, i trained her in the car. she's not gonna break. [ laughs ] welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. in his first on camera remarks since national protests broke out over the death of george floyd, former president barack obama took part in a virtual town hall yesterday, voicing his support for peaceful protesters

across this country. in remarks that posed a clear contrast with those of president trump. president obama said he was, quote, optimistic about the future of america. >> in some ways, as tragic as these past few weeks have been, as difficult and scary and uncertain as they've been, they've also been an incredible tint for people to be awakened to some of these underlying trends. and they offer an opportunity for us to all work together to tackle them, to take them on, to change america and make it live up to its highest ideals. now, i want to speak directly to the young men and women of color in this country. i want you to know that you matter, that your lives matter,

you should bep able able to ma mistakes and learn and not worry about what is going to happen when you're walking to the store or jogging down the street. you have the power to make things better and you have helped to make the entire country feel as if this is something that has to change. you've communicated a sense of urgency that is as powerful and as transformed as anything that i've seen in recent years. this country was founded on protests. it is called the american revolution. and every step of progress in this country, every expansion of freedom, every expression of our deepest ideals has been won through efforts that made the

status quo uncomfortable. and we should all be thankful for folks who are willing in a peaceful, disciplined way to be out there making a difference. >> so while obama did not directly mention his successor in those remarks, the "new york times" is reporting that people close to the former president say he was outraged by the use of chemical spray on protesters before president trump walked to a fire damaged church near the white house and brandished a bible on monday. and after more than a year and a half of silence, former secretary of defense general jim mattis is letting loose on the trump administration's handling of the nationwide protests. in a letter published in the atlantic, mattis writes in part this, i have watched this week's unfolding events, angry and appalled. the words equal justice under law are carved in the

pedestrianment of the united states supreme court. this is precisely what pro..ers a protesters are rightly demanding. it is a wholesome and unifying demand, one that all of us should be able to get behind. he adds this, donald trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the american people, does not even pretend to try. instead, he tries to divide us. we are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. we are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. we can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. this will not be easy, as the past few days of shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens, to past generations that bled to defend our promise and to our children. well, with that, president trump took to twitter to respond to the criticism by his former cabinet member writing in part

this, probably the only thing barack obama and i have in common is that we both had the honor of firing jim mattis, the world's most overrated general. i gave him a new battle to win but he seldom brought the bacon home. i didn't like his leadership style or much else about him. glad he is gone. so current defense secretary mark esper also breaking with the president yesterday on the use of the insurrection act calling out against calling on active duty troops to quell the protests. >> the option to use military should only be used in the most urgent and dire of situations. we are not in one of those situations now. i do not support invoking the insurrection act. >> so the comments are coming after secretary esper called american cities battle space on monday according to the phone

call with governors leak to ed "the washington post." yesterday secretary esper said it is not a phrase directed towards people and certainly not on our fellow americans. secretary esper had accompanied the president, but the pentagon chief clarified yesterday he was not aware, he said, that he was heading to the church for that photo-op. at the request of the president, secretary esper had ordered the deployment of about 1600 troops this week to the washington, d.c. area. let's get into this once again with political reporter for washington post eugene scott. we're seeing a lot of pushback against president trump's threat to send active duty troops to respond to the unrest. pushback specifically from his secretary of defense.

not wanting to invoke the insurrection act. do you think it will be enough? >> well, i don't think it will be enough because we know that in these situations, president trump is ultimately going to do what he wants to do. and one of the positions that the president embraces most deeply is being a culture warrior and arguably a chief culture warrior. and for him, regardless of whether or not this is actually battle space based on the original intent and definition, for trump, he's at a war and he is at war with americans who do not see the country the way he does and do not share his vision for what a great america is. the problem with that is that you end up having your narrative become the president who used increased and intense military force against people who were not behaving in a manner that deserved that. and you have experts and professionals with military background supporting that.

but we know that this isn't a president who historically has done well with pushback and disagreement with those from within his administration. so that is why we've seen in the last 24 hours many eyes on whether or not esper will be in this cabinet for much longer. >> so talking about that kind of increased force that you mentioned, that is not necessarily needed, let's talk again about this photo-op the president had the other day where he basically cleared a crowd with teargas through protesters so he could go get a photo-op in front of this church holding a bible that was not his. you have this report now saying secretary esper and general millie are being asked to testify before the house armed services committee, eugene, specifically on this photo-op. what could feasibly come from this? >> well, more information about how it came about. we know so far based on some reports that it was senior

adviser ivanka trump's idea. what this testimony could provide is some information about whether or not there were people at the table who pushed back on this, who said this was not helpful and would be, in fact, harmful to the american public. we could get some more information about whether or not it's true that police forced the priest out of the church for that actual photo. we'll get some more information about whether or not there was communication between the white house and the congregation about this and if there was permission and what the ultimate purpose was. but it's also possible that there could be pressure on whoever testifies to stick to the narrative coming from the white house. one of the challenges with that is it appears that the narrative coming from president trump on this situation very similar to this story related to the bunker is being made up as he goes. and so it can be very difficult, being consistent with the leader who is not putting forward the fact that we actually know

happened. >> key phrase, being made up as he goes. something we are quite familiar with over the last three years. eugene scott, always great to see you. thank you for joining us this morning. and by the way, you're sticking around for "morning joe," so don't go too far. still ahead, what a new study reveals about hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against the coronavirus. first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment. "morning joe" s back in a moment

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hydroxychloroquine found it did not keep people from getting covid-19. now we know the president took it for two weeks. there has been no interval change. the top white house doctors saying in a physical exam, that assessment was contained in a summary of trump's health compiled by dr. shawn conley who reported a decline in trump's cholesterol levels, but a one pound weight gain by the president since last year. trump stands at 6'3" and is now 244 pounds, which is considered obese, according to the cdc's body mass index calculator. the memo noted that trump's cardiac health was closely monitored while he took a two week course of hydroxychloroquine given as a preventive measure after two white house staffers were diagnosed with covid-19. he completed that treatment safely and without side effects. the physical was performed in april and november of 2019 which

trump made an unannounced trip to walter reed national military medical center. it is unusual for a president to complete his physical in multiple stages. the memo does not describe in with two examinations were a month apart. let's switch gears and bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins once again. good morning to you once again, bill, tracking those covid numbers for us. take us through what we're seeing. >> yeah, good morning, once again. so yesterday, some interesting trends are developing. we've been averaging about 20,000 new cases a day and about 1,000 deaths. that's been the baseline for about the last month. yesterday was right on those numbers .yesterday, 1,083 fatalities. the number one state reporting fatalities yesterday was new jersey. new jersey, the case numbers have gone down, but there's so many team in the hospital fighting still from their lives. yesterday, 20,578 cases, the number one state was california. by the way, in about 5 to 7 days

from now, we will hit 2 million total positive cases in this country. and here were the states that reported yesterday. california was number one, texas was number two, florida was number three. no new york, no new jersey. so we've totally -- the areas that are the hot spots now are a lot of other states. florida, by the way, had its second most daily new cases yesterday. if you notice that blue line, that's the seven-day trend and that's slowly going up in florida whereas much of the country is now going down. as far as weather concerns today, watch out washington, d.c., philadelphia, isolated severe storms. our friends around des moines and oklahoma city, the forecast for today, another hot day in the mid-atlantic. very hot in the middle of the country. we'll be dodging storms around many areas of the southeast. then into friday, same thing there. stormy weather. weekend, all eyes will be on louisiana and possibly north florida, tropical downpours. on sunday, we should see

thunderstorm cristobal making landfall along the northern gulf coast. still ahead, we're going to go live to cnbc for a look at our layest jobless claims due out this morning. obless claims out this morning finally something more powerful than the funk. tide sport removes even week-old sweat odor. it's got to be tide. miles to the job site. the campsite. and anything else we set our sights on. miles that take us back to the places we want to go. and to the people who count on us.

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welcome back, everybody. snap, the parent company of snapchat has taken a drastic move after announcing it will no longer promote the president on its feature. this is quite a move, juliana. surprising, to say the least. what more can you tell us about this? >> well, let me start by telling you what the snap ceo said in a memo around this decision. he said, we simply cannot promote accounts in america that are linked to people who incite racial violence, whether they do so on or off our platform. and this decision doesn't come in a vacuum.

it comes a week after president trump took to twitter and facebook to address riots in the aftermath of the killing of george floyd. and in particular, the tweet that caught everybody's attention, his tweet where he said when the looting starts, the shooting starts. now, president trump starts." president trump denied he was intending to incite violence with this tweet, but clearly, others would disagree, including snap. it is not the entire snap chat that president trump has been removed from. his account is still active on the wider platform to the public. he has been excluded from their discovery feature. now, in terms of market action today, wall street is closely eyeing weekly jobless claims. we're due to get an update on the figure today. analysts are expecting new weekly jobless claims to come in below the 2 million mark. that'd be the first time it'd be below this level since mid-march, suggesting the worst is behind us when it comes to the labor market. we're looking at millions of americans filing for unemployment claims. a lot of this down to the fact

that the second wave of layoffs is coming through, as businesses begin to resize their businesses to face the weaker demand outlook they're now looking at. yasmin? >> julianna, while i have you, talk us through this story with regards to the united states planning on blocking chinese airlines flights. what do you have on this? >> so this is yet another angle when it comes to beijing/washington tensions. the trump administration has said it will ban chinese passenger airlines from flying to or from the u.s. this month, unless beijing relaxes restrictions on u.s. airlines. now, this is on the back of an order that was announced back in march. the chinese aviation regulator said it limited scheduled passenger flights, s. the u.s. saying you have to relax those, or we're taking action.

>> julianna tatelbaum, live from london for us. great to see you. coming up next, axios' one big thing. senate republicans remain hesitant to criticize president trump's rhetoric on nationwide protests. we're going to speak to the chamber's top democrat, chuck schumer, when he joins the conversation ahead. "morning joe" is moments away. .

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and then they're jack nicholson in the shining. i'm gonna tell my mom you tried to drown me. it's an above ground pool. you're like eight feet tall. welcome back, everybody. joining me now with a look at axios am, editor in chief for axios, nicholas johnston. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> talk about axios' one big thing today. >> today's one big thing is american society teetering on the edge. i don't want to be too much of a downer this early ntd moin the morning, but we've been talking to experts about the long-term societal trends that lead to implosion. including people at the cambridge study of existential

risks. there are three big trends that should be setting off yellow warning lights when we look at the long-term strength of american society. the first, of course, is the disease, the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. over 100,000 dead, as we saw earlier in the hour. it is continuing to increase. that tears at the fabric internally of society. historically, it was plague and disease that led to the downfall of some of the great nations and empires in society. another thing to notice is economic inequality. this has been an issue in the united states for a number of years, and it is only being extenuated by the coronavirus pandemic, how it is hitting those who are least fortunate, less wealthy, harder than anyone else. that tears at the fabric of societies, these experts told us. and the last one is social unrest, the new one that we're seeing in the united states. in all 50 states, district of columbia, there have been protests, including violence, looting, and clashes with police. those tensions can very much drive hard at the foundation and

institutional strength of a society that can lead to downfall. of course, before people send emails, saying the united states is about to end its time as a functioning nation, there is an important context to note, compared to societal unrest in 1968. it was more widespread than the influenza pandemic, 1918, far more deadly than what we're going through now. the united states went through a civil war and survived. let's not sort of turn the lights out on the nation just yet. when we're looking at long term trends, these are important things to pay attention to when you think of the health of american society and its institutions. >> let's talk about one of these elements, that being the coronavirus. i know that axios is now reporting that some states have seen a significant spike in co-skrco covid-19 cases in the last week. bill karins has taken us through some of the numbers. much of these states are in the south. talk us through this, nick. >> we've run the numbers again in our popular coronavirus map, looking at the long-term trends.

remember, this is a key metric the federal government uses in measuring whether states should reopen. three outliers this week are oregon, arizona, and texas. we're seeing new cases increase. this is despite nationwide most number of new cases are holding relatively flat. one thing to note is sometimes the number of cases are driven by increases in testing. in texas, that wasn't the case. the number of new cases outpaced the growth in testing. these are important metrics as we figure out whether the states are finally getting the coronavirus pandemic under control. those are worrisome trends this week. >> the other element are the protests over the death of george floyd. in response to the death of george floyd. mayors across the country are saying there are concrete steps that have already been taken to curb police brutality and racism in this country and in their areas. talk us through some of the measures that you are seeing being implemented so far.

>> the biggest key word here for mayors is de-escalation. when we're talking to mayors, we're looking at the local news coverage. mayors are on the streets, walking with the protesters, speaking to the protesters. very much interacting with them, trying to hear their kinds of concerns and making sure they feel heard, which is important. a lot of mayors are handing out cell phone numbers. remember, mayors are very much on the front line. they love to tell the same joke over and over, there's no partisan way to pick up the trash. probably no partisan way to meet with protesters and de-escalate situations. they're very much working toward that, and it is focused on the relationships with their chiefs of police. if they're on the same level in de-escalation, we can see a less likelihood of violent confrontation in a lot of the cities. >> but what real changes have been made? what policy changes have been made? also, when we're talking about racism, there is systemic racism that exists in this country that can't be change d overnight.

>> a lot is a i broapproaching y do policing, particularly how they interact with minority levels. a big debate at the local level, which we had after the ferguson riot, is how much military hardware is used by police, and how mayors are pushing for less of that and more community policing. >> thank you. i'll be reading axios am in a little while. you can sign up, as well, at sign up.axios.com. that does it for me on this thursday morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian. "morning joe" starts now. we saw churchill inspecting the damage. >> on the landing grounds. we shall fight in the fields. >> george w. bush throwing out the ceremonial first pitch after 9/11. george h. w bush signing the americans with disability acts. >> let the shameful wall of