being. >> zerlina maxwell, we'll have to leave it there, thank you. kristen clarke, thank you. we did not have time to talk about the absolute disaster that was voting in georgia and south carolina yesterday. "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington where new democratic proposals to reform policing after george floyd's death are now being examined by the house judiciary committee today on capitol hill. this morning, one of george floyd's brothers, fill philonis floyd, gave powerful testimony. >> maybe by speak with you today, i can make sure his death will not be in vain. to make sure that he is more than another face on a t-shirt,

more than another name on the list that won't stop growing. the man who took his life, who suffocated him for eight minutes and 46 seconds, he still called him sir as he bagghe begged for life. i can't tell you the kind of pain you feel when you watch something like that. when you watch your big brother that you looked up to your entire life die begging for his mom? i'm tired. i'm tired of pain. george wasn't hurting anyone that day. he didn't deserve to dive ove o $20. i'm asking you, is that what a black man is worth, $20? this is 2020. enough is enough. it is on you to make sure his death is not in vain. i didn't get the chance to say goodbye to perry while he was

here. i was robbed of that. but i know he's looking down on us now. perry, look up at what you did, big brother. you changed the world. thank you for everything. for taking us when on earth but taking care of us now. i hope you find mama and you can rest in peace with power. >> nbc capitol hill correspondent and "kasie d.c." host kasie hunt joining me now. kasie, direct from the funeral, the burial of his brother, coming and speaking to the apparently of the judiciary committee, so emotional, so powerful. how did congress members react? >> reporter: it was very striking, andrea. and, you know, i think you could really sense the power of what

george floyd's brother brought to the table there today, really remarkable that he was so strong, forthright in that performance there, considering just how emotional the time has been for him and his family. and obviously so many across the country who have been watching this and who have come to know george floyd in his death. we are actually going to hear members of congress question mr. floyd after there is a break in the hearing, so we may get to hear a little bit more from him throughout the course of this hearing as well. the hearing itself of course comes as members of congress appear on the hill, trying to grapple with what changes they can make to a system that clearly is in need of reform. and we're hearing that message from both democrats and republicans although so far democrats are willing to go much further than republicans in trying to reform the system.

democrats introduced legislation earlier this week that would ban the kind of chokehold that has been used in some of these situations that would create a database of police misconduct that would make it easier to prosecute a police officer who was involved in one of these incidents. right now they have something called qualified immunity which democrats want to eliminate. republicans clearly feeling the pressure, wanting to show they're doing something, but so far the proposals they're working on don't go that far, andrea. >> and there are political pitfalls. there's concern that jim clyburn from the democratic side voiced about the whole notion of defunding because of the way it's being interpreted, being interpreted in different ways, as not just taking away and redirecting money. but what about tim scott and what he's doing as he tries to do as the south carolina african-american, the only african-american in the senate on the republican side, tries to

frame something the president might agree to? >> reporter: right, he's been leading this effort. his voice has been very unique especially among republicans. there are not very many black democrats in the senate either. there are many of them in the house of representatives, in the congressional black caucus. but tim scott has actually spoken out on these issues over time on the floor in ways that were particularly emotional and resonant, in a way that other members of his conference simply can't because they don't have that experience. tim scott has been stopped by police officers trying to come into these office buildings because they didn't think that he was a senator. senator dons don't have to walk through the magnetometers the way most of us do. the question is can he convince the conference to go far enough and do something that democrats could sign on to to make some changes, andrea. >> kasie hunt, thanks so much for bringing that to us from

capitol hill, an impactful day up there. more breaking news now in minnesota. minneapolis police chief medaria arradondo speaking out for the first time after the city council there backed a move to disband his police department. >> as chief, i'm obligated to ensuring the public safety of our 400,000 plus residents. i will not abandon that. our elected officials certainly can engage in those conversations. but until there is a robust plan that reassures the safety of our residents, i will not leave them. i will not leave them behind. >> nbc news reporter shaq brewster joining us now from minneapolis. you watched the chief. he announced that he's breaking off talks with the police union. police unions around the country have been okbstacles to reform measures even before this took

place. what did you draw from his press conference today? >> reporter: andrea, it's important to step back and appreciate where and why the police chief was having this press conference today. this weekend we heard a majority of minneapolis city councilmembers saying they supported disbanding the police department here in minneapolis. and then you have the mayor on the other side saying it's time to push for real reform of the police department, not saying he wants to go that far. i think what we saw from the chief today was an effort to bridge the gap between those two positions. that's what you heard from the chief in terms of the specifics that he's been pushing for. number one, and you mentioned it, withdrawing from the police union negotiations over a new contract. he wants to see if he can get a measure, new steps to enforce better accountability for police officers, set up a better disciplinary process for officers. and you need the union to buy into that, frankly. that is a contractual negotiation. he's stepping out of those contract negotiations to see what his position should be as they reenter those negotiations.

but number two, he also said that he wants to establish and use data to improve how the department tracks officer performance. we know that officer chauvin, the officer involved in the death of george floyd w, who ha his knee on the neck of george floyd for nearly nine minutes, he had at least 18 complaints against him in his 19-year police record. the police chief saying they need to use data to better track the record of those officers and the complaints launched against those officers. that's the systemic change that many people have been calling for. and the councilwoman who represents the area where george floyd died, she said it's a big step forward, what the police chief announced today. >> and shaq, one of the things that was at issue was a report that came out from the police, if there hadn't been video, he said people should not only use their phones but call 911 and ask for a supervisor if they see something that looks untoward to them.

>> reporter: that's right, andrea, he acknowledged the community role in george floyd's death becoming such a national issue. he said that -- if we go back to what that initial police report said from the day that george floyd died, it said that officers thought he was experiencing medical distress. it made no mention of the fact that an officer was on his neck for nine minutes. he said it's the fact that the community got involved, the fact that they recorded the situation, the fact that they made calls to the police department, that's what got the officers fired so quickly and that is what's leading to these charges and the prosecution against those officers. he praised the community for getting involved in that and said, continue to do that, as he makes these changes. he wants big changes to come and he's thanking the community and asking the community for patience as he does that, andrea. >> shaquille brewster, thanks so much from minnesota, minneapolis.

a meltdown in georgia, people waiting in line to vote for six hours. the delays were made worse by a shortage of poll workers because of the pandemic. the problems were especially critical, though, in majority minority areas. charges of voter suppression were a big issue in the 2018 midterms that elected the new governor. >> i'm not leaving until i'm done. >> several of the machines were broken. it seemed like half the machines were down. >> what is going on in georgia? in the united states of america, this time, people can't vote. what is going on? >> joining me now is nbc news correspondent blayne alexander who filed all those reports for us yesterday, a georgia resident, i should point out. blayne, how long did you have to wait to vote yesterday? >> reporter: yeah, andrea, i have to say my experience, i

waited a little shy of 2 1/2 hours to cast my vote. my husband and i went in dekalb county, one of two areas that georgia's secretary of state who oversees the elections is citing as the places he's going to investigate for issues yesterday. andrea, i have to say my delay, my issues, certainly pale in comparison to the problems we were hearing popping up yesterday. where i voted there were four machines in operation. one poll worker was checking in a long line of people, constantly cycling through. that mirrors problems we saw popping up. the issues ran the spectrum yesterday from complaints about technological problems when it came to the machines, people not being sure how to work them, confusion about the technology, everything from some polls opening late or understaffed, even some machines being delivered to wrong places. according to the secretary of state, what you're seeing now, however, is kind of the aftermath. and specifically looking at the

areas where a lot of that happened, andrea. you mentioned it, it happenedka that are majority black population, something pointed out in atlanta mayor keisha lance bottom's tweet yesterday. she tweeted at the secretary of state and said, is this happening all across the country or just on the south side, of course an area with a large black population. the secretary of state says he's going to open an investigation but he says they didn't receive, at least as of midday yesterday, they didn't receive problems with the machines themselves, but more so he's looking back at the county employees, the counties themselves, saying they did not properly train the employees, didn't properly train the workers to use the machines. now, as you can imagine, some county leaders, at least one, is firing back, saying that this amounts to disenfranchisement,

andrea, saying the buck stops with the secretary of state who is launching an investigation. andrea? >> and coming after all those questions with the 2018 governor's election, it's clearly a big issue going to november. thank you so much, blayne. joining us is ben jealous, president-elect of people for the american way and former ceo of the naacp. ben, great to see you. let me ask you about georgia. this is becoming more of a critical state, maybe a battleground state. what are the implications for november as well as issues across the country now? >> what we see in georgia really reminds us that we're paying a price for the gutting of the voting rights act, and it needs to be fully restored. we're also paying a price, quite frankly, because the governor of georgia is the former secretary of state. and while that would normally mean that perhaps things would be run better, he made a point when he was secretary of state and he made a point when he was

running for governor of intentionally suppressing the vote. yesterday, the democrat who ran against him, stacey abrams, had to go cast her ballot in person because she never received her ballot in the mail. what's driving it is that republicans fear that more people voting will not advantage them. we've heard president trump say that repeatedly. we've even seen him begin to really cast vote on vote by mail, which is ridiculous, because it actually works better than any other system we have, certainly better than those new machines in georgia. >> and let me ask you the bigger question, of course, which was addressed at the hearings today, and throughout our country for the last two weeks at least, is it the systemic racism and a difference of opinion between

democrats who say this has to be addressed, and most of the republicans and especially the president saying it's just a couple of bad actors and we don't need major police reform. >> the time for pretending this is just a couple of bad actors has passed. and the country sees that. what black people have never been able to forget for centuries, the entire country has been subjected to seeing on video for 30 years, going back to the rodney king case. and people in our country have come to their own conclusion that what we have is not working. we have to make the changes that we can right now. and that really begins most quickly with people insisting their cities make changes, that their counties make changes. president obama is absolutely correct, there is a lot that can be done at the local level and we must go do it now. in normal times, we would be having i think a serious

conversation about federal reforms that could happen on an urgent basis. with president trump in office, what we should expect is he will try to water down or obstruct any real reform that gets pushed forward. >> and ben, if you'll stand by just for a moment, joining our conversation now is congresswoman sheila jackson lee directly from that hearing of the judiciary committee. and of course, congresswoman, you were at the funeral, speaking at the funeral yesterday, you were in minneapolis for that. tell me your takeaways from the emotional testimony, from a viewer's perspective, my perspective, from one of george floyd's brothers. >> thank you for having me. as you have noted, the most important focus more me over these last couple of weeks and certainly decades dealing with

police reform is now today george floyd, who should not have died on the streets of america. the stain of racism, but also the crisis of police actions really warrant, which is what we heard in the hearing today, really warrant catastrophic change. and that is all we're talking about. we're saying to the marchers and the protesters, the black and brown and white and asian young people, that we hear their cry. they're collectively raising their voices, andrea, and saying black lives matter. so the emotion is palpable. it is still there. yesterday when i spoke, i spoke to the family. i indicated that the murder of george floyd cannot go in vain. it is a sacrifice that they will now have to bear their entire lives, as others. this document i hold here is a list of other black men who were killed, unarmed, by law enforcement.

so what we're doing today is not condemning all law enforcement. we're saying we need a seismic change to change that attitude into being a guardian, establishing ways to do that, as opposed to a warrior. and yes, we need to be able to deal with the stain of racism in this country. >> have you seen anything so far among your republican colleagues and in the senate, in the other house, as to whether or not anything can get through congress, anything that could even be put on the president's desk? >> andrea, i think this moment in history is so shrill, it is so loud, that i cannot imagine -- and i'm going to say i'm a person of hope, not hopelessness, and optimism. i'll keep that as long as i can. but the shrillness of this moment, the prize of this moment, the words of george floyd that was repeatedly said

in that funeral, at that funeral yesterday, "i can't breathe," and the love that he had for his mama and his mama's love for him, i don't think can be overcome by those who want to be obstructionists. and today, i was comforted by the words of some republicans. the ranking member, who recognized the dastardly act that generated george floyd's murder. a member from louisiana who i spoke to, and they were welcoming the idea of us working together. and senator scott, who i've worked with in the past, who is writing a framework. but we're hoping that he can see that where we are today is going to need the justice and policing act structure. it's going to need the george flynn law enforcement trust and integrity act which is incorporated in the bill and which i hope to offer an

amendment that will have the whole bill named in his honor. but the point is that we're not at a point where we can go light. we have to go big. we have to go comprehensive. i'm going to continue to be, how shall i say, objective in what the republicans will do, what this president will do. and i will simply say that we're a nation of laws, of a constitution, but we're also a nation run by the people of the nation. and by and large the people, regardless of their race, color, or creed, are recognizing the disparate treatment of african-american men and others of color and impoverished neighborhoods by law enforcement. we want to help that change. we know good law enforcement wants to do good work. and we're prepared to help them not have a document like this anymore in the history of this nation. >> and finally, ben jealous, who is with us as well, are you

hopeful that the nature of these protests, those that have been peaceful, because of the diversity seen in these protests, is this an inflection moment? >> oh, yes. i'm tremendously hopeful. i think the congresswoman, one of our great stalwarts in our federal government, is absolutely right. this is the moment we've been preparing for for a long time. when the entire country wakes up and overwhelmingly most of us agree we've got to move forward on this issue, we've got to stop this tradition where it's too easy for black men, for black women to be killed by the cops, and frankly, not just us. we're in the crosshairs, absolutely. when you look at the stats in this country, you would be shocked at how many people are killed by cops across this country, at how easy it is for the worst cops on the force to get away with it every time. >> ben jealous and congressman

sheila jackson lee, i just want to share with you that kristen welker, carol lee, are reporting from our white house team that the president will address police reform and will meet with law enforcement officials and with members of the faith community tomorrow when he's in dallas, texas. >> we hope good news, andrea, i hope he acknowledges that black lives matter and that we're working for all the people of the united states. >> we will of course be covering that, thank you very much for being with us. and thanks to ben jealous as well. coming up, remember the pandemic? why are the number of new cases of the coronavirus spiking in more than a dozen states across the country? stay with us for answers. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. msnbc. businesses are starting to bounce back.

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new cases of covid-19 are on the rise again against 29

states. as the push to reopen continues, there are growing concerns about a spike in covid infections as more people go back to work or have been taking part in large protests around the country as well as of course a couple of weeks ago in memorial day celebrations. nbc news reporter vaughn hillyard joins us from phoenix, arizona. vaughn, how is arizona coping with what is now a 40% spike in cases there? >> reporter: andrea, just this hour, the state released new numbers that more than 1,500 arizonans have reportedly tested positive for covid in just the last 24 hours. 25 more new deaths recorded today as well. over just the last six days, andrea, 7,000, more than 7,000 new cases. banner health, which is the major health system here, says they have quadrupled the number of ventilators in use over the last three weeks. i was talking with the chief medical officer of this valley wise health facility here. he says that's alleviated some of the pressure from the icu

occupancy rates at other hospitals around the valley. he was telling me his concern is that the hospital network here across the state could reach capacity within weeks and be overwhelmed. and why is that? look back to three weeks ago. it was may 15, i was talking with the head of the hospital and health association here. she was saying it was at that time, over these last three weeks, that you started to see a rise in cases. may 15 is when republican arizona governor doug ducey lived the stay-at-home order. it's an incubation period of ten to 14 days. so even from what we've seen from protests, the numbers that we're seeing today are largely not attributed to that. i was talking with folks around the state, health officials including here in maricopa county. they say when you go around the state, and i can tell you myself, walking into coffee shops, restaurants, retail locations, there is hardly any mask use. i walked in my favorite coffee shop on saturday and out of 67 people, just four individuals

with masks. and you're seeing those numbers being reflected here in the number of covid cases as they continue to rise in the state, andrea. >> thanks so much, vaughn hillyard, for that overview. meanwhile, the government's top infectious disease official dr. anthony fauci, sidelined by the white house has the president tries to downplay the covid threat, is issuing a tough warning about the ongoing pandemic threat. >> now we have something that indeed turns out to be my worst nightmare. if you think about it, in the period of four months, it has devastated the world, like oh, my goodness, when is it going to end? it really is very complicated. so we're just at almost the beginning of really understanding. >> i'm joined now by the senior scholar at johns hopkins center for health security. doctor, thank you very much for being with us.

dr. fauci is sounding alarms. what are you seeing around the country that concerns you? >> i'm seeing certain hospitals becoming hotspots, like arizona, we heard about montgomery, alabama, at their peak in utilization of icu beds prior to the protests. we're not nearly as bad as we were back in march but we want to make sure that our hospitals are equipped to deal with the cases they're going to get, that they have enough personal protective equipment, mechanical ventilators, and that contact tracers in health departments can deal with new cases. we'll get new cases as people interact with each other, it's inevitable. we have to manage it better than we did early on in this pandemic. >> let's talk about the w.h.o. and the confusion that was caused by one of their lead scientists inaccurately or in a very confused way describing the infection possibility of asymptomatic carriers. have they cleaned that up?

has that add to the further diminishing of their authority? >> it's definitely a confusing statement. for people in the field, it made sense. but for the general public and for people in the press, it was something that seemed a little bit convoluted. we're trying to draw the distinction, do people who never develop symptoms but get infected, what transmission probability do they have, are they driving this pandemic. and you have to draw that distinction between asymptomatic people who never get symptoms and those who are presymptomatic meaning they're infected and they're going to get symptoms but they haven't yet, do they transmit. there are some circumstances where people who are presymptomatic transmit. we have to be careful how we speak about this and we have limited data and haven't followed these people in enough detail. there's a lot of confusion about what symptoms belong to covid and which ones don't and a lot of people don't recall and think they don't have symptoms but they may have other symptoms that they don't attribute to

covid. so it's very confusing. right now this shouldn't change anything the general public is doing. we know we have to control this infection and really focus on people that are symptomatic but we can't really exclude asymptomatic transmission in certain connections. . >> doctor, thanks so much, you've cleared that up, let's hope we can get the word out to people who were very much confused by the world health organization. coming up next, the president's latest conspiracy theory, tweeting on the day of george floyd's funeral. why andrew cuomo, governor of new york, is outraged, coming up next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. hell reports" only on msnbc

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as the memorial service for george floyd was set to get under way on tuesday, president trump was tweeting a baseless conspiracy theory about an elderly buffalo man who was clearly knocked down by police and left bleeding from a head injury the other day. 75-year-old martin gugino is seen in this video being pushed to the ground, critically injured by police who walked off and didn't even help him. president trump, citing a false conspiracy theory from a far right media outlet, written by a reporter who worked for russia's sputnik news, wrote, buffalo

protester shoved by police could be an antifa member, sparking outrage from new york governor andrew cuomo. >> you saw his head hit the pavement. you saw blood at pavement. "maybe he fell harder than he was pushed." how reckless, how irresponsible, how mean, how crude. i mean, if there was ever a reprehensible, dumb comment. and from the president of the united states. >> gugino released a brief statement from his hospital bed on tuesday, writing, quote, no comment other than black lives matter. just out of the icu. should, eventually, thanks. joining me now our nbc white house correspondent kristen welker and jeff mason, white

house correspondent for reuters. kristen, first to you, what could possess the president to tweet that out? certainly it was to the surprise of his aides. this was on the day of the funeral itself. >> it was to the surprise of his aides, andrea, you're absolutely right. they are trying to figure out what prompted him to tweet that. and frankly trying to turn the page on this entire controversy. they had urged him to keep a low profile yesterday, given that it was the funeral of george floyd, given that the nation was pausing to pay its respects. so the fact that the president would tweet out this baseless conspiracy theory, a number of aides believe it was not helpful. so the question becomes what are we going to hear from the administration today? kayleigh mcenany is going to hold a briefing. the bottom line is, regardless of the political leanings of this individual, administration officials say nothing justifies what was captured on that camera. and so to what extent will

kayleigh mcenany try to explain away the president's tweet and to what extent will she essentially say that, that nothing justifies what was captured in the video. now, this all comes as there is mounting pressure on the president to announce something as it relates to police reforms. we know that jared kushner, mark meadows were on capitol hill yesterday. mark meadows got asked about that tweet, yesterday, put him on an uncomfortable position. he said, "i learned a long time ago not to talk about tweets." they're trying to come to some type of agreement on legislation that the president can get behind for police reforms. the democrats unveiled sweeping proposals. now the president is going to be in dallas tomorrow. we're told he's going to discuss reforms, the possibility of an executive action. but so far no agreement yet on a broader legislative package, andrea. >> and jeff mason, joe biden also responded to the president's tweet about the 75-year-old gentleman in buffalo.

he said, my dad used to say there was no greater sin than the abuse of power whether it's an officer bloodying a peaceful protester or a president defending him with a conspiracy theory he saw on tv. jeff, there doesn't seem to be any way to stop some of these tweets that have been coming from the president nonstop since the protests began. >> yeah, i think that statement could be applied to the last 3 1/2 years, andrea. the president uses twitter to get his thoughts out. he has often, both before his time in the white house and since becoming president of the united states, trafficked in conspiracy theories. this is certainly one of them. vice president biden, as you say, as you mentioned, is trying to show contrast at lots of different levels between the way that he would address the racial divides that are being exposed now, particularly after george floyd's death and that the country has obviously had for so long. the president has not done that

in the same way, obviously. and even with his trip tomorrow, and with his focus so far, he has sought to talk more about law and order and the importance of the rule of law. and that tone has just not, so far, been in touch with or resonated with the tone of many of the people involved in these protests nationwide. >> and i wanted to play some of the senators who were asked about the president's tweets, except for mitt romney and lisa murkowski, they ducked. let's watch. >> senator corn yn, can you sto at the mics for a second? does the president need to be more cautious about what he tweets? >> i didn't see it. umm, so i would have to -- i mean, you know, you know, i'm sure that my office, we may have gotten a copy of it but i didn't see it. >> i saw the tweet, it was a shocking thing to say and i won't dignify it with any

further comment. >> about the president's tweet this morning about the buffalo protester. >> [ inaudible ]. >> just another example, i was very struck by senator cornyn barely pausing, ready to talk, then when he heard what the question was, walking off. we'll have to leave it there for today, kristen, thanks so much, and jeff, for your reporting as well. concrete barriers around the white house are coming down and the national guard is heading home. some guard members are testing positive for the coronavirus. and we're waiting for the brother of george floyd to return to the hearing room after a break. he'll be answering questions from the house judiciary committee shortly. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ports" on msn. like way more vanities perfect for you. nice. way more unique fixtures and tiles.

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trusted for over 40 years. the temporary barriers on the south side of the white house, going for several blocks and encompassing 52 acres, could be removed today. some are already coming down, according to the national park service. at the same time the secret service is still in talks with u.s. park police about the ten-foot-tall fencing around lafayette park. nbc's ali vitali is in lafayette park. this is a very big complex, as you know, many city blocks. what is the likelihood, are we hearing anything as to whether lafayette park is going to remain enclosed with a

ten-foot-high fence? >> reporter: andrea, we're still wait to go hear what happens to the fence that's right behind me. but on the other side of the white house, we saw this morning, you can see through the fence, the cement blocks that are here, sort of reinforcing this barrier. those started being pulled away this morning on the other side of the white house, on the south side of the white house that's closer to the washington monument. that's the first step of taking away that fencing. that started this morning, around 5:00 a.m. but that's the fencing that's coming down today. here in front of the white house and around lafayette square park, the park service says they're still talking with u.s. park police and the secret service about what they're going to do with this fence. but it should be stated that previously this had sort of been a gallery with protest signs and banners all over it. you can see some of the zip ties and things that were used to affix those posters to this fence, they're all that's left, because since i left here last night, those posters have since been taken down. maybe that's a sign we might be

seeing this fence come down soon. but a little bit too early to tell now, andrea. >> or they may be not happy with the signage as well. what about the fact that some of the d.c. national guard have tested positive for covid-19 after the protests? we know -- we don't know about other national guard units but there were other units there from south carolina and other states as well. >> reporter: that's right. there were other national guard units here. but we know that some members of the d.c. national guard who were out here responding to protests have tested positive for coronavirus. and quite frankly, andrea, that was the fear, is that as people were coming out to protest, as law enforcement were out here, that you were going to start seeing spikes again in the coronavirus. i have to say, though, as i've been out here covering these protests, i've seen so many protesters who have come out wearing masks. of course it's hard to social distance when you're in the middle of a march, in the middle of a protest. our colleague courtney kube mentioned as she was out here

seeing members of national guards from other states, they were not wearing masks so much. we'll keep monitoring cases come out of national guard members. of course that was the fear as we were in a pandemic and protests were raging on, andrea. >> indeed, and courtney reported it was not just north carolina, it was national guards from other states as well. thanks so much. coming up, president trump's threat to use military on domestic soil drew widespread criticism including from general honore. stay with us. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. "andrea mitchl reports" on msnbc. this moment. this moment right now...

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where questions are being raised about the proper constitutional role for the u.s. military in law enforcement. joining me is the former commander of joint task force katrina, general andre. what is your concerns about the threats from the threats and the deployments we saw around the country in this past week. >> i think most of us who have death with and went through scenarios of how that law has ever been used is the casual mentioning by the president that he would invoke the insurrection act and send them to states which is a bad understanding of what that law means. it is meant in situations where the local state government lost civil control. that was the case in the l.a.

riots. that is the actual scenario that we had been trained on president. the other is the security of the capitol. the white house, the capitol, or where ever it is needed. but in that case we have to expend all of the resources needed -- i think the context for which the president was speaking was a misunderstanding or an attempt to violate the use of the insurrection act. as you have seen, and the world has seen, secretary of defense and our great charmt walked that back, that could not be an appropriate way to use the insurrection act. >> and we saw an unusual out spoken criticism from people who had not been openly critical

before. what is the essential role here. >> we are raised, by the congress, to protect the people in the nation nal security of t united states. and i think it was giving an appearance that we were a political asset as opposed to a national security asset. and our citizens have served to protect america under the guidance of the constitution. and this was a use of the insir correction act and to use that on a governor when it was not

requested. >> and the threat as well and the clears for lafayette park for a photo opportunity. i want to ask you to respond with me, general charles brown, about race relations, as he became the first african-american member of or leader of one of the services, one of the first chiefs, let's watch. >> i am thinking about the frank and emotional conversations we have had this week. i can't fix centuries of racism. i want the wisdom of knowledge to lead, participate in, and listen to the necessary conversations of racism, diversity, and inclusion.

i want to hear what you're thinking about and how together we can make a difference. >> how important is it to have an african-american as the air force chief of staff? >> he is setting history. this is history and maybe we're looking at our future chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. but this is a great day for the airport. a great day for the army, a great day for the brown family. he is making history and man do we have a great chance to lead the air force. the best in the world. >> general, it is always wonderful to see you, thank you for your service and that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." ♪

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good afternoon, this is a very busy wednesday. today an emotional hearing on capitol hill as george floyd's brother testifies on police brutality before the house judiciary committee. more on that in a moment. first the minneapolis police chief says he is withdrawing from contracts with the police union today. he also unveiled new strategies for