tv MSNBC Reports MSNBC January 26, 2023 8:00am-9:00am PST
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ness internet customers. so boost your bottom line by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. hi, everybody. lindsey reiser here at msnbc headquarters. attorney general merrick garland holding a news conference right now talking about an international ransomware enforcement action. let's listen in.
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>> part of what happened here today, we started to do more often which is this dismantling of the cybercriminals infrastructure and sometimes that involves taking down dark net marketplaces. other times, it involves essentially removing malware from systems. but more and more, i think you can expect to see from the fbi and our partners situations where success and impact is achieved by more than just arrests. we're doing things like getting keys to victims, taking down infrastructure, seizing cryptocurrency, being much more creative and multiple disciplinary in how we attack the problem. i think that's what's called for and it's a direct outgrowth of the new -- no longer new, but cyber strategy that we rolled out a few years ago. on the second question, obviously i can't comment on any specific investigation. but we have had, for quite a number of years, any number of
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mishandling investigations, that is, unfortunately, a regular part of our counterintelligence division's work and people need to be conscious of the rules regarding classified information and appropriate handling of it. those rules are there for a reason. >> thank you, all. >> thank you. >> all right, everybody. that was chris wray talking about ransomware, talking about the investigation into classified documents. prior to that merrick garland had addressed the situation. i want to go ahead and bring in ali vitali is standing by on capitol hill. there's been a lot of movement surrounding this story. talk to us here about some of the movement that you're seeing from capitol hill. i mean, senators finding bipartisanship essentially outrage because they're not getting access to what the doj found. >> because now this is three
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instances, although, they are different in terms of the way they were handled by trump versus pence and biden, three instances of former presidents and vice presidents having classified documents found in places that they shouldn't be found. senators yesterday had a briefing with the director of national intelligence avril haines and senators left that meeting frustrated. that was the word that we continued to hear from lawmakers in the aftermath of that meeting yesterday. and they're frustrated because with the instruction of special counsels in the case of biden and trump, they are now not able to get some of the damage assessment and deeper information that they want and need in the afternoon of these revelations. people like senator tom cotton on the republican side threatening to derail the nominating process for several future appointees here until they can get that information, but also on the democratic side, you've got mark warner, the head of the intel committee saying he needs the information of what was in these documents and wants a deeper briefing. it's bipartisan in that they
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have been asking for these damage assessments on the senate side since the revelations of trump's documents at mar-a-lago became public and, obviously, it has been several months since that revelation, they have not gotten that information, and, of course, in the meantime, we've seen biden's documents become public and now pence's documents become public. a lot of consternation among senators yesterday and, of course, going into today about wanting more information about just what's add hand here. >> consternation, yes, but, ali, what else could this lead to? what is the group of senators alluding to? >> reporter: cotton is saying that he's going to slow things down and muck everything up until he can get the answers that he wants. senator chris murphy told another member of our team, well, he was always probably going to be someone who stood in the way of nominations but he feels, murphy, that there's strong bipartisan pushing from both rubio and warner, the top members on the intel committee on the senate side, to get this
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information in nonpolitical fashion. again, all they're asking for here is an assessment of what was in the documents that were found. they're not trying to dig in, at least not yet on the process pieces of this, how things came together, how the documents got back to the national archives. that's not the point here. the point is, from a national security and intelligence perspective, how are they going to get the information of what was exactly in these documents? now, again, i think the special counsel of it all becomes more complicated and it's why there are so many eyes on merrick garland right now, but it does mean this is going to be a slower process. so senators are frustrated. if i think about the house side on this, you know there are multiple republican chairman on oversight, judiciary who have put in inquires for more information on this front. and so it's clear that if the senators are not going to be getting these answers with the dni citing the special counsel, then it's also unlikely that the house side is going to get answers.
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we'll see what that escalation looks like if it means that they're going to try to escalate from requests to subpoenas, all of that is sort of on the table as we're in the very early phases of finding out that these documents exist and figuring out how congressional oversight of this is going to work. >> so we do have a little bit of sound from senator tom cotton. let's listen. >> i'm prepared to refuse consent or fast track any nominee for any department or agency and to take every step i can on every committee on which i serve to impose consequences on the administration until they provide these documents for the congress to make our own informed judgment about the risk to national security, if any, of these documents being present outside of secure facilities. >> so, ali, take us a little bit more inside, if you can, to this meeting we can with avril haines and the reason behind not by
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vujing the details. >> the frustration is clear that it spilled out and that's the reason she was given. as they were in there for two hours, they were asking for more information on the classified document breaches, plural, because we're talking about three instances there now, and avril haines was just consistently saying that as long as the special counsel and the department of justice are digging in on this, they're not going to be able to be as forthcoming with senators as they would like. that's why you're seeing tom cotton apply these pressure points. again, it's bipartisan in the way that they're moving forward. that might not change the speed with which they get this information. i think it's really important. they've been asking for these damage assessments for months since the mar-a-lago documents became public. i do also think, though, that as we sort of branch out and see that this is not just a trump problem or a biden problem, it's kind of an everyone in the last few years problem, we've seen people like mark warner come
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forward and say, hey, if you're someone who is a former president or vice president, check your closets to make sure that you didn't bring home anything that you shouldn't have brought home. the general sense here on capitol hill, at least on the senate side, is that this is not even a partisan issue at this point. it might be a question of, are people overclassifying documents. that's something that senator lindsey graham has brought up. all of this is really bubbling in the early phases in terms of if we'll see any legislation on this. on the house side, there's been one bill introduced on this front. but it's all percolating very early because, again, at the crux of this, is that we know that these documents exist, but senators and lawmakers don't know what's in them and that's why they're feeling like they don't have the information to make all of the informed decisions that they need. >> per your point, "the washington post" is reporting that a national archives is weighing whether to ask previous
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presidents and vice presidents to check their closets, to use your words. i want to bring in ken dilanian into this conversation. ken, it is unusual to hear attorney general merrick garland addressing open investigations. in recent days, he has addressed some of these questions specifically about the special counsel investigations. >> i wouldn't say so, lindsey, not really. he's been frustratingly vague about an answer. i just came from a news conference about a ransomware announcement and garland refused to address the question of classified documents. he did say that he picks special counsel based on factors having nothing to do with politics. but chris wray, though, did take my question about -- i asked him whether he thinks the -- the system of accounting for classified documents in the executive branch is broken. he didn't really answer that. but he did say, look, we've had classified documents mishandling cases going back many years. it's a regular part, sadly, of
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the fbi's enforcement mechanisms in the counterintelligence division. he said, look, people need to be careful and play close attention to the rules around classified documents. sort of a public service message from the fbi director without commenting on any of that pending investigations. but the question of whether, does this speak to more than just personal responsibility, is there a systemic problem here? he did not answer, lindsey. >> ali vitali, thank you. ken dilanian, you'll be back later this hour. the battle over committee assignments is escalating. last hour hakeem jeffries held his weekly news conference addressing speaker mccarthy's move to block three democrats from key posts and he took aim at republicans over blocking congresswoman ilhan omar from the foreign affairs committee. >> that should be accepted by house republicans as opposed to a revenge tour as part of some deal that apparently was cut
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with the extreme maga republican wing including the congresswoman from georgia. >> we're following it all from capitol hill. how are democrats essentially fighting back against speaker mccarthy's move right now? >> reporter: for two of these members, there's not a lot they can do. that is adam schiff and eric swalwell. the simple reason for that is that the speaker has power to block anyone from that particular committee and these two democrats are criticizing him for using false pretenses to stop them as part of what -- what they describe as a corrupt bargain he struck with the far right. beyond that, there's not much they can do. on the third one, ilhan omar, that one is more interesting. it requires a majority vote in the house of representatives and given the slim republican majority, he can lose no more than four votes in his party before this risks going down. we can count two republicans who have said they will not vote to block ilhan omar from the foreign affairs committee.
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they do not believe that is an appropriate thing for the majority to do. if this does come to the floor, it could be a very close vote in terms of whether ilhan omar gets to keep her spot on the foreign affairs committee. >> congressman schiff won't be on the intel committee. he's gearing up for another political fight for higher office. >> this has been long anticipated and the timing seems to work out well for adam schiff. he's launched his run for the senate in california. this is a seat that's held by dianne feinstein who will be 91 on election day. she will be 97 at the end of her potential next term. everyone expects her to step down, she's not officially announced it yet. it's clear her colleagues are not waiting for her to officially step aside. adam schiff launched in a video earlier today highlighting what he's best known for which is his fight against former president trump as an impeachment manager through his work on the january 6th committee, he said he's running for senate in california
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in part to fight against maga extremism which he says continues to endure. he is facing at least one other member of the california delegation, congresswoman katie porter from orange county who is the first major county to jump in. she's known for bread-and-butter issues, taking on wall street. this could become a very crowded primary, lindsey. it could become one of the most contentious battles in a state that is ultimately expected to be easily won by democrats in the general election. just a question of who. >> thank you. another big story we are following this hour, overnight in russia, unleashing a barrage of missiles in ukraine. just hours after the u.s. and germany announced they would provide tanks to ukraine, the kremlin says the decision means the west is directly involved in the war and if these tanks will burn down just like the rest of them. joining me now, raf sanchez in kharkiv, ukraine, courtney kube.
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the commander of the ukraine armed forces says russia launched 55 missiles this morning but ukraine destroyed 47 of them. what are you seeing so far? >> reporter: the sirens have been wailing in kharkiv all day. this city has not been hit. for much of the rest of the country, this has been a bloody day. at least 11 people have been killed in this wave of russian strikes and the only bit of good news, if you can call it that, is what you just said, the ukrainian air force says they have been able to shoot down most of these incoming missiles and drones. this attack followed what is now a grimly familiar pattern here in ukraine. the russians launched a wave of these iranian-made drones first. that appears to be an attempt to overwhelm the defense systems and followed up with cruise
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missiles. a few of the missiles, unfortunately, did get through, did claim lives. most of the targets here appear to have been civilian electricity infrastructure. a minister says this is an attempt to force a systemic failure in ukraine's energy system. we are in the middle of winter here. it is below freezing. this is a move that people have described, human rights groups has described as a potential war crime on behalf of the kremlin and an attempt to force the ukrainian civilian population into submission. now we did hear from ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy earlier about that u.s. and german decision to send tanks. he said he is deeply grateful, but he will not feel a sense of relief until those tanks are here on the battlefield in eastern ukraine. we are learning a little bit more about the timelines here, the german defense minister saying today he hopes those
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leopard two tanks will be in ukraine ready to go by the end of march. we're looking at a much longer timeline for those american m-1 abrams. those are basically being ordered by the u.s. government on ukraine's behalf. we're waiting for them to come off the production line. it could easily be the summer before those american tanks get here. and ukrainian government is warning that vladimir putin's forces are regrouping. they are preparing for a potential offensive, possibly in the next couple of weeks. lindsey? >> thank you. the end of march for these tanks, what does that mean for the ukrainian fight and do you see this as retaliation from russia? >> i think this is quite clearly just in time scheduling by the west. but if those leopards arrive by the end of march, i think the ukrainians will be in good shape. they can use them to blunt any russian offensive which
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realistically would start sometime in the april time frame. number two, they can mask them, lindsey, and use them to crash through those russian lines, divide the russian forces in that land bridge between russia and crimea. and number three, simply symbolically, as the tanks show up on the front lines, think about the signal that's going to send to the kremlin. that's a shot in the arm to ukrainian moral. as to the american tanks, i think they will probably get there a little sooner than we think. how that situation unfolds will put real pressure on that supply line. look, the main ball is getting those leopard tanks in place. they are lethal on the battlefield and will make a big difference in this war. >> you have exclusive reporting about the administration's decision to provide these abram tanks to ukraine. biden wasn't initially sold on sending the tanks despite pressure to do so to give cover
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to germany to send ukraine some leopard two tanks. he warmed to the idea after antony blinken presented him to potential solutions to an issue that was exposing divisions within the u.s./european alliance. tell us more about these divisions and the plan from the secretary of state. >> so the division was really the germans suggesting that they weren't going to provide any of their leopard two tanks until the u.s. provided the abrams. the concern was, it was going to have a cascading effect on some other allies who have german-made tanks, that they wouldn't provide them. we've heard from weeks and frankly months that they were against sending the abram. they didn't recommend sending them for a number of years, logistics, they're difficult to maintain, they take a long time to train on, takes time just to not only procure them but to physically move them to ukraine. this is a months long decision
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that it would take to actually get them onto the battlefield. for that reason, that's one of the reasons, that the military leaders were not in favor of doing this. instead they thought the leopards and the challengers were a much better option. but there was a very real realization late last week with this german decision not to send them, that in order to maintain unity of the alliance, the 50-plus nation alliance, in favor of ukraine, supporting ukraine and against the russian invasion, in order to maintain that alliance, they needed to make this decision to send the abrams. in addition, the hope was, once they made this decision and announcement, it would unleash a flood gate of other nations who would provide the leopards and challengers. >> admiral, we got to be quick with you, the kremlin is saying this is perceived as direct involvement in the conflict. what do you say to that? >> that's nonsense. we've provided lethal weapons to
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the ukrainians. it's the right thing to do because russia has invaded in an illegal, immoral, unethical fashion, committing war crimes like you described in the readoff of the attacks last night and we're doing the right thing here. we should not take counsel of our fears. it's time to put the pedal to the medal on supply in ukraine. these tanks are a good decision. >> thank you. coming up, prosecutors and defense lawyers have started laying out their arguments in the double murder trial of alex murdaugh. we're live outside the courthouse. new details about an fbi investigation into drug dealers who sell fentanyl through snapchat. they're interviews with grieving parents. a community learns about how school officials in newport news, virginia, ignored warnings that a 6-year-old had brought a gun to school before he opened fire and wounded his teacher.
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saving you up to 60% a year. and it's only available to comcast business internet customers. so boost your bottom line by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. this morning a top virginia school official is out of a job as fallout intensifies after a 6-year-old shot his teacher earlier this month. the school board voted yesterday to oust the city's superintendent by a vote of 5-1.
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hours before that, the lawyer for the teacher who was shot said school administrators failed to act on multiple warnings ahead of the shooting. stephanie gosk has more now on the warnings and the teacher's impending lawsuit. stephanie? >> reporter: while investigators try to figure out how a little boy got his hands on the gun in the first place, the attorney for the teacher who was shot said four different employees warned the administration the day of the shooting. one teacher even saying the 6-year-old brought the gun out to recess. but nothing was done. the superintendent for virginia's newport news school district has lost his job. less than three weeks after one of his teachers was shot by her first grade student. >> effective february 1st, 2023, dr. parker will be relieved of his duties as superintendent of newport news, public schools. >> reporter: this follows the resignation of the elementary school assistant principal. an attorney for abigail zwerner
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says her client will file a lawsuit saying the school ignored multiple warnings the day of the shooting that the 6-year-old had a gun. >> what did administrators do? did administrators call the police? no. did administrators lock down the school? no. did the administrators evacuate the building? no. did they confront the student? no. >> reporter: the attorney laying out a timeline of the day. just after 11:00 a.m., zwerner herself told an administrator the first grader threatened to beat up another student. >> they didn't remove the student from the classroom. the school administration failed to act. >> reporter: at 12:30 according to the attorney, another teacher reported she searched the boy's book bag looking for a gun and believed he may have put it in his pocket and taken it outside to recess. >> the administrator downplayed the report from the teacher and the possibility of a gun saying -- and i quote -- well, he has little pockets.
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>> reporter: shortly after 1:00, a teacher reported that a student said the 6-year-old showed him the gun and threatened to use it. finally a fourth employee asked to search the boy was told to wait for the day to end. zwerner was shot roughly an hour later. seriously wounded in her hand and chest. but still managed to escort about 20 students out of her class to safety. earlier this month, the school superintendent did acknowledge at least one administrator was notified of a possible weapon. a source close to the investigation says before she was shot, zwerner texted a loved one that day and showed her frustration over the school's lack of response. the district representative for newport news schools say they cannot comment on the lawsuit at this time because the investigation is still ongoing. back to you. >> stephanie gosk, thank you. this morning parts of the northeast woke up to as much as a foot of snow after a winter
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storm swept across the region. it brought heavy snow to places like maine where wind gusts reached as much as 45 miles per hour. those gusts knocked down trees in part of the tri-state area leaving thousands without power. conditions are expected to improve today as the system moves off the east coast. coming up, a, quote, unabashed nonstop beating. that's how a lawyer for tyre nichols family described what they saw. first the murder trial of disbarred attorney alex murdaugh just got started in south carolina. the witnesses we could hear from today. >> they were shot at close range and they did not have defensive wounds. >> he didn't do it. he didn't kill, butcher his son and wife. and wife (vo) with verizon, you can now get a private 5g network. so you can do more than connect your business, you can make it even smarter. now ports can know where every piece of cargo is. and where it's going.
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right now, court is back in session for day two of the closely watched double murder trial for once predominant south carolina attorney alex murdaugh. he's charged with killing his wife and son which he denies. prosecutors have called their first witness after dramatic and at times explosive opening statements yesterday. katie back is live outside the courtroom in south carolina. also joining us, civil rights attorney and former period of time. take us through what we're hearing from both sides so far. >> reporter: well, we're hearing from that first responder daniel
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green, very calm, very credible on the stand, describing his first encounter with alex murdaugh when he arrived at that dog kennel to find the two bodies and to find mr. alex murdaugh standing there with his account of what happened. some of the key moments in the questioning when prosecutors were questioning him, did you see any actual tears? did you -- were you asked if they were actually dead? the answer to that, no tears and multiple times alex murdaugh asked this investigator if his wife and son were, in fact, dead. these questions are, of course, coming from prosecution, the defense is going to have their shot at this witness when they return from a break. but we are expected to hear a lot of forensic evidence here at the beginning of this trial. the prosecution laying out yesterday in their opening statements that they feel they have a mountain of forensic evidence that will ultimately convict alex murdaugh. the defense saying this is
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largely a circumstantial evidence case. here's a little bit of the questioning on the stand. >> did he ask you to confirm if they were dead? >> he did. he asked multiple times while i was on scene. >> did you ever see him -- any tears, any physical tears? >> i did not. >> did you observe any visible blood on him. >> there was no blood on him that i could see. >> the bodies as you saw them, was there a lot of blood around them, given the injuries they had suffered? >> yes, there was a pool of blood around each of the bodies that extended out from the body. >> reporter: we expect when the defense has their turn to question that blood spatter will be a critical part of what they address. yesterday during opening statements, murdaugh's defense attorney mentioning if he had committed this crime, he would have been covered from his words head to foot in blood. investigators when they arrive
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said they saw no blood on murdaugh. we expect this will come up in the next round of questioning about to happen. >> the prosecution is counting on cell phone evidence, a snapchat video taken by his son the night he was murder being critical to its case. and the "new york times" quotes the prosecutor as saying less than five minutes before prosecutors believe the killings took place, paul recorded a video of a dog and his father's voice could be heard in the background even though murdaugh has said in the past he was not at the dog kennels that night but napping inside. do you see that as damning evidence, kristen? >> i think it is very damning. when you put together all of the evidence together, this particular piece of evidence places alex murdaugh at the scene of the crime. five minutes before it happened. and it contradicts his story. keep in mind, the defendant does not need to take the stand. he does not need to tell a story.
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but with this evidence, it kind of forces the defense to really consider whether or not mr. murdaugh should take the stand so he can counter why he believes this evidence was not -- or his voice, and where he was at the time that the snapchat video was actually taken. >> murdaugh's lawyer said there's no evidence tying murdaugh to the murder. there was no blood on him when police arrived. do you see this trial being based around circumstantial evidence? >> yes and no. i think yes in terms of circumstantial evidence with regard to the fact that, obviously, there's no witnesses that will testify that they saw alex murdaugh shoot and kill his son and his wife. however, keep in mind, the direct evidence with the snapchat, it goes to the weight. it goes to the weight of whether or not the crime actually occurred. if mr. murdaugh was in the house
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five minutes before, then we can find that he most likely did the murders and it wasn't what the defense is going to allege was perhaps two separate people, two separate guns. even though it is circumstantial evidence, make no mistake, that evidence is still strong and can be used to prove mr. murdaugh's guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. >> thank you. this afternoon the district attorney in memphis is set to give an update on the investigation surrounding the death of tyre nichols. video from the traffic stop that police acknowledge led to the 29-year-old's death is expected to be released as soon as this week. last night the chief of the memphis police department said this about the five officers fired for violating department policies during that stop. >> these officers were found to be directly responsible for the physical abuse of mr. nichols, concurrent within that
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investigation, other officers are still under investigation for department policy violations. >> on monday, attorneys for nichols family viewed the video and said it showed that tyre nichols was the victim of a nonstop beating. nichols was hospitalized after the traffic stop complaining of shortness of breath. this photo from nichols stepfather shows him in the hospital with blood on his face and a swollen eye. his mother said he was connected to a breathing machine. nichols died three days later. >> i want to bring in van turner. van, thank you for being with us on this. we know the shelby county district attorney says he expects the video will be released as soon as this week. have you spoken to the family about this video, anything more you can tell us about it, or if you've been told when it can be released? >> well, you know, you hear
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several things, we know that the officers will likely be indicted today. part of the rational behind holding the tape was to allow the grand jury to give an indictment and to move forward on the criminal case and it seems like that's going to occur today. once that occurs, then i think the da and the city would likely be at a point where they will released the video and that could occur tomorrow or at some point early next week. we know the video is horrific. part of what i think they've done is to try and get the community ready, ready the community for the fact of actually seeing this video which by some accounts, according to our attorney crump and others, is as worse as the rodney king incident. we're having to brace ourselves in memphis. we will be supportive of anyone's first amendment right to protest, but we're asking for
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a peaceful protest and we're asking that we stand with the tyre nichols family in seeking justice. >> police said it in initial statement that nichols was pulled over for reckless driver, he ran away, and there was a confrontation. but five officers involved were fired after it was found that they violated department policies. what does that tell you and are you confident the police department is being as transparent as can be in this case? >> yeah, i think so. you just showed the clip from the chief, the officers were terminated on friday and i point out, they were not suspended without pay. this is not be something that the unions have piped in and defended these officers. the officers were terminated. chief davis has gone on the record saying there were violations of department policies and these officers need to be held accountable. so i think the police department is being as transparent as they
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can and the general, our local district attorney is as well. he's not trying to skirt the issue. he's dead set on this issue. he's going to demand justice and we should perhaps see that later on today. >> yesterday the attorney for the western district of tennessee said the federal civil rights investigation into the traffic stop could take time. what do you hope comes out of it? >> well, we want justice to come out of it. we want these officers to be held to the fullest extent of the law. and we want this to send a message that it's not okay to beat someone down and kill them for a traffic violation. we obviously do have public safety and crime issues here in memphis, like all other major cities, but that's still no excuse for these officers to do what they have done. i think we can promote good officers and support good law enforcement but condemn those officers which do wrong and hold them accountable and these
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officers need to be held accountable. it's devastating that these are five african american officers and, obviously, tyre nichols was an african american man. but it doesn't matter who is behind that badge. wrong is wrong and when you victimize and you murder someone for a traffic stop, you have to be held accountable and that's what the nacp is fighting for in this particular case. >> van turner, thank you for your time. >> thank you very much. coming up, new pushback after florida's governor blocked an ap class in african american studies from being taught in the state's high schools. the protests and legal fights ahead. plus the details of a new fbi investigation into drug dealers who use social media, particularly snapchat, to sell deadly pills to teenagers. >> snapchat really appears to be the go-to app for drug dealers. s
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backlash is growing after florida's governor blocked an african american studies course for being taught in the states schools. ben crump announces he plans to sue the state if the ban isn't reversed. tell me about this lawsuit and how the governor's office is responding. >> lindsey, we actually visited this ap african american studies course run by the college board back in october, months later it is the center of controversy right here in florida where students, teachers and lawyers gathered to express their intent to sue and protest. >> black history is american history. >> reporter: protest and pushback in florida with a new potential legal battle over race education. >> i can't believe that this is 2023 and america is talking about sensors education. >> reporter: ben crump announcing his plan to sue
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republican governor ron desantis and the state as desantis blocked an african american studies course in florida. >> no to censorship. yes to community. >> reporter: desantis says the state already teaches african american history and is opposed to specific lessons in the curriculum. >> we believe in teaching kids and facts and how to think, but we don't believe they should have an agenda imposed on them. when you try to use black history to shoehorn in queer theory, you are clearly trying to use that for political purposes. >> what message do you feel this ban may have communicated to your student? >> i think it communicates very clearly that african american history is not as important as other history. >> reporter: developed by the college board, the course is currently in 60 schools nationwide. the organization says it does require students to adopt a particular ideology and after a feedback period, it will make appropriate revisions to the
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preliminary pilot course framework. these high schoolers say this is personal. >> what's your reaction to this ap african american studies ban? >> it's keeping african americans silenced. >> it was targeted. i couldn't learn about my own history. >> it symbols blatant racism. >> reporter: desantis has made education policy a key focus of his administration. last year signing into law restrictive education on race and gender. they said it was a publicity stunt and they expect the removal of content that violate our laws. and it's important to adhere that florida's department of education says they will review the college board's revised curriculum next month. attorney ben crump says he will only sue if desantis does not change his stance. lindsey? >> thank you. this morning we're learning
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more about a major new fbi investigation involving snapchat. the app is facing allegations that drug dealers use it to sell pills containing fentanyl to young people and that snapchat knows this is happening. nbc news has learned the fbi has interviewed parents of children who died after overdosing on fentanyl purchased through snapchat. that's according to a person directly familiar with the matter. the justice department said it could neither confirm nor deny the investigation and snapchat is not aware of any doj investigation. a plaintiff in a civil rights against the company testified yesterday on capitol hill. her 14-year-old son alexander died after taking pills he got using snapchat. >> families like mine wake up every morning finding their kids dead in their bedrooms and they're gone because apps like snapchat make these dangers accessible to your kids. >> ken dilanian spoke about this case with an attorney with the social media victims law center.
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ken, what did he tell you about it and how is snapchat responding? >> matthew burgman has set up a law practice to sue snapchat and other social media companies, but in particular on this fentanyl issue. he says it's only snapchat. under a product liability theory. what he's arguing is that snapchat is putting out a harmful and defective product, the disappearing message feature are designed to shield a child's activity from parents, law enforcement and empowering drug dealers. >> this relates to a product feature that is designed to evade law enforcement, designed to evade parental oversight and snapchat knows it. their executives know it. >> and he represents dozens of
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families whose children have died of drug overdoses after sales arranged on snapchat. snapchat is pushing back strongly. they're saying they do everything they can to keep drug dealers off their platform. they have artificial intelligence software, they try to make it difficult to search for drugs. but the evidence suggests it's not working completely because children continue to die, the hill was looking into, as you said, and now we're learning that the fbi is taking a hard look at this, lindsey. >> ken dilanian, thank you. new data out this morning about consumer spending, what it shows about the strength of the u.s. economy despite fears of a recession. there's a different way to treat hiv. it's every-other-month, injectable cabenuva. for adults who are undetectable, cabenuva is the only complete, long-acting hiv treatment you can get every other month. cabenuva helps keep me undetectable. it's two injections, given by my healthcare provider, every other month. it's one less thing to think about while traveling. hiv pills aren't on my mind.
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the company says the change, according to their website, will provide heightened penalties which, quote, will apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol. in the event mr. trump posts further violating content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depend on the severity of the violation. trump responded on his own social media platform, truth social, saying, such a thing should never again happen to a sitting president or anybody else who is not deserving of retribution. promising news for the u.s. economy this morning. fresh numbers out today show the economy grew at a rate of nearly 3% last quarter. despite fears of a recession, consumer spending grew just over 2%. stocks opened higher following that news. the dow, if i can see the board there, down a little bit. we will go right to cnbc's morgan brennan who is at the new
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york stock exchange and can explain what the numbers tell us. >> the markets are largely flat. consumer spending, it did weaken from the previous period, from the fall time frame. it did remain positive through the holidays. 2.9%, that was the headline number in terms of gdp growth in the first reading for the fourth quarter. we did see a slide in housing amid higher mortgage rates. that helped pull down gdp, boosting government spending, private investment, those aided growth. pace of inflation slowed to end the year as well. you take that and couple it with what continues to be a strong jobs market based on some of the labor data and the economy continues to power along, even as we are seeing signs of slowdown amid higher interest rates from the fed. economists are expecting further slowdown this year. you are seeing that very real risk of recession. so far, we are not seeing that. >> morgan, let's talk about the earnings reports from major airlines, especially after the
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southwest debacle over the holidays. what can you tell us? >> okay. let me start with the overarching picture for the airlines. you have american and jetblue reporting earnings and adding to what we heard from delta and units and that's that travel demand remains robust and many airlines are looking to add aircraft, they are looking to add routes this year to keep pace with that demand. the exception perhaps, it is southwest after that weather-induced travel meltdown we saw over the holidays that triggered the cascade of tech problems for the airline and 17,000 flight cancellations. southwest's ceo discussed the fallout on "squawk on the street" earlier this morning. take a listen. >> we are aligned and focused on taking care of our customers and ensuring we handle them properly. that's what you would expect southwest to do. we will collaborate and cooperate with those
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investigations. >> of course, that's in reference to the department of transportation which has announced it has launched this investigation into that december debacle and what specifically went wrong at southwest. southwest also saying that it has experienced an increase in flight cancellations and a deceleration in bookings to start the year really for january and into february as all of those issues back in december have meant that more potential customers are now diverting their travel plans to other airlines. >> morgan, thank you. that does it for me this busy hour. i will be back here at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. "andrea mitchell reports" starts next. g. "andrea mitchell reports" starts next not so smart. (cecily) nah, you're still a genius. but, there is a smarter way to save. (einstein) oh?! (cecily) switch to verizon! for a limited time, get welcome unlimited for just $25/line. (einstein) $25?! (cecily) and it's guaranteed for 3 years! (einstein) brilliant! (cecily) well, you would know. (einstein) i'm switching! (cecily) i think the bike's probably faster.
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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," vladimir putin retaliates for the u.s. and german tank announcements with 55 missile attacks across ukraine. former defense secretary and cia director leon pennetta joining me to talk about the tank deployment, the russian response and the expanding scandal of mishandled classified documents. this as bipartisan leaders of the senate intelligence agency explode over the administration's refusal to brief them on what national security secrets may have already been compromised by former president trump and president biden. this hour, dr. gupta joins us as fda leaders meet to debate whether to simplify the covid
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