effect, the queen bay effect. this reminds me of covering the vice presidential debate in tiny farmville, virginia, in 2016, when the entire world descended on this town. and longwood university for 24, 36 hours and drove up prices everywhere. there aren't enough hotel rooms, aren't enough restaurants, you get great examples of microinflation in a country that has the population roughly of north carolina. it is fascinating. >> she epitomizes girl power, right? the power to drive up inflation? that's something. robin farzad, thank you so much. that's going to do it for us this week. have a wonderful weekend. i'll be back, same time, same place next week. until then, reporting from new york, i'm ana cabrera. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage and is going to interview miami mayor francis suarez, who just jumped into the 2024 race. right now. and good morning.

it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. merrick garland set to deliver an announcement on the doj's two-year probe into the minneapolis police department. we're going to bring you the very latest. right now, in texas, a search and rescue mission is under way after a string of tornadoes ripped through the area, killing three people and leaving dozens injured. we'll have a live report from the scene. and he's the 11th name to enter the 2024 republican primary race for the white house. we'll ask miami mayor francis suarez how he plans to break out in his increasingly crowded field with trump still on top. a major search for survivors is under way after a boat carrying hundreds of migrants capsized off the greek coast. we'll bring you the latest on this humanitarian disaster. and we begin with breaking news for minneapolis, where any moment now attorney general merrick garland and other top justice department officials are

set to make a civil rights announcement. they're expected to reveal the results of an investigation into the minneapolis police department, a two-year investigation, whether it routinely used excessive force and violated people's constitutional rights. the probe began as more than two years ago after former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin was convicted in the killing of george floyd in 2020. we're awaiting the beginning -- the start of this news conference. you're seeing right there the door, which will open just momentarily, and the attorney general and others will be talking about this very thorough investigation, which they have carried out for over two years now. now, joining us now to take a closer look at this, while we await the arrival of the attorney general, nbc news correspondent shaquille brewster who covered extensively george floyd's death, and the chauvin trial. mark claxton, director of black law enforcement alliance.

barbara mcquaid, professor at university of michigan law school and co-host of the sisters in-law podcast and msnbc legal analyst. shaq, as we await the arrival of the attorney general, which we will go to, i may have to interrupt you, what can we expect to hear this morning? >> well, feel free to interrupt me if we see the attorney general. he will have the main headlines from this report. but when this investigation was announced, the day after derek chauvin was convicted of manslaughter and murder of george floyd, they would look into whether or not the minneapolis police department engaged in unconstitutional policing. they said they were going to go through use of force guidelines, going to go through training, they would have interviews with officers and commanders there. and this seems to be the result. the announcement of the result of that investigation. but, we can look back to the state investigation that wrapped up last year to give us some hints as to what a government investigative body could find. that state investigation found that the minneapolis police

department engages in race-based policing. that's not me paraphrasing. that's a direct quote from that report. that investigation went through about 700 hours of body camera video. they talked to thousands of members of the community. they talked to officers. and they found this pattern of discrepancies between how the police department interacted with community members of color. you see on your screen there, officers consistently used, they said, quote, racist, misogynistic and disrespectful language with impunity. they said examples of how officers used covert social media to surveil black individuals or black organizations. >> shaq, i'm sorry to interrupt you. but here is the attorney general. >> good morning, everyone. here with me today are associate attorney general benita gupta, assistant attorney general for civil rights kristen clark, and

first assistant united states attorney ann billson. i want to acknowledge mayor jacob fry, counsel president andrea jenkins, community safety commission cedric alexander, and police chief ryan o'hara. thank you all for joining us today. on may 25th, 2020, george floyd was killed at the hands of a law enforcement officer who was sworn to protect. as mr. floyd died, other officers failed to intervene. the justice department has since convicted four former minneapolis police officers for their roles in the death of george floyd. as i told george floyd's family this morning, his death has had an irrevocable impact on the minneapolis community, on our country, and on the world. his loss is still felt deeply by

those who loved and knew him, and by many who did not. george floyd should be alive today. shortly after i was sworn in as attorney general, i announced that the justice department had opened a separate civil investigation into whether the minneapolis police department, the mpd, and the city of minneapolis engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing. i am here today to announce the findings of that investigation. i am also announcing that the justice department, the city of minneapolis, and the mpd have agreed in principle to negotiate towards a consent decree. since opening the investigation, the justice department has engaged in a comprehensive review of mpd's policies, training, supervision, and use of force investigations. our review focused on mpd as a whole, not on the actions of any

individual officer. we observed many mpd officers who did their difficult work with professionalism, courage, and respect. but the patterns and practices we observed made what happened to george floyd possible. as one city leader told us, quote, these systemic issues didn't just occur on may 25th, 2020. there were instances like that that were being reported by the community long before that. the department of justice has concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that the minneapolis police department and the city of minneapolis engaged in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the first and fourth amendments of the united states constitution. there is also reasonable cause to believe that they engaged in conduct that violates title six of the six rights act of 1964,

the safe streets act and the americans with disabilities act. specifically we found that mpd and the city of minneapolis engages in a practice of using excessive force, unlawfully discriminating against black and native american people, violating the rights of people engaged in protected speech, and discriminating against people with behavioral disabilities and responding to them -- when responding to them in crisis. i will discuss each finding in somewhat greater detail. first, we found that the minneapolis police department routinely uses excessive force often when no force is necessary, including unjust deadly force and unreasonable use of tasers. mpd officers discharged firearms at people without assessing whether the person presents any threat, let alone a threat that

would justify deadly force. for example, in 2017, an mpd officer shot and killed an unarmed woman who he said had "spooked him" when she approached his squad car. the woman had called 911 to report a possible sexual assault in a nearby alley. we also found that mpd officers routinely disregard the safety of people in their custody our review found numerous incidents where mpd officers responded to a person's statement that they could not breathe with a version of, you can breathe, you're talking right now. we also found that mpd officers failed to intervene to prevent unreasonable use of force by other officers. indeed as outlined in our report, years before he killed george floyd, derek chauvin used excessive force on other occasions in which multiple mpd

officers stood by and did not stop him. second, we found that mpd unlawfully discriminates against black and native american people in its enforcement activities, including the use of force following stops. based on our review of the data, mpd officers stopped, searched and used force against people who are black and native american at disproportionate rates. the data showed, for example, that mpd stopped black and native american people nearly six times more often than white people in situations that did not result in arrest or citation, given this irsharn th the population. we found several incidents in which officers were not held accountable for racist conduct until there was a public outcry. for example, after mpd officers stopped the car carrying four

somali american teens, one officer told the teens, quote, do you remember what happened in blackhawk down, when we killed a bunch of your folk? i'm proud of that. we didn't finish the job over there. if we had, you guys wouldn't be over here right now. as everyone no doubt knows, this is a reference to the 1990s raid by american special forces in mogadishu. such conduct is deeply disturbing. and it erodes the community's trust in law enforcement. third, we found that mpd violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech, including by retaliating against protesters as well as members of the press. for example, on may 30th, 2020, mpd officers encountered journalists sheltering in a gas

station. the officer forcefully pushed the journalist's head to the pavement and when the officer and when the journalist held up his press credential again, an mpd sergeant pepper sprayed him in the face and walked away. fourth, we found that mpd along with the city, discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to calls for assistance. assistant attorney general clark will discuss these findings in further detail. to the credit of mpd and city-led leaders, some important changes have already been instituted. those include prohibiting all types of neck restraints and banning no knock search warrants. but as the report outlines, there is more work to be done.

the justice department is recommending 28 remedial measures that provide a starting framework to improve public safety, build community trust, and comply with the constitution and federal law. as i noted at the outset, in an important step toward reform, the city of minneapolis and mpd have signed an agreement in principle with the department of justice. this agreement commits the city and mpd to work with the justice department, the community, police officers, and other stakeholders to address the problems that we have identified. and this agreement commits all parties to the negotiation, to negotiate a legally binding consent decree with an independent monitor. we are grateful to city and mpd leaders for their shared commitment to addressing these deep seeded challenges. i also want to take this

opportunity to address the officers of the minneapolis police department. your profession is essential. the work you do on a daily basis is extremely difficult and often very dangerous. your responsibilities are enormous and could not be more important. you are asked to keep your community safe, to uphold the rule of law, and to ensure equal justice under law. for you to succeed, your police department must provide you with clear policies and consistent training that explain and reinforce constitutional boundaries and responsibilities. it must give you the support you need to do your jobs safely and effectively. and its supervisors and chain of command must enable you to achieve the highest professional standards. this agreement is an important step forward toward providing you with the support and

resources you need to do your job effectively and lawfully. and finally, to the people of minneapolis, thank you for your partnership throughout our review process. during the investigation, the justice department met with many community members, including people who had had encounters with police, religion leaders, advocates and many others who want a police department that serves them better. we also met with the families of people who died or suffered grave injuries during encounters with mpd officers. thank you for sharing your experiences with us. we could not have completed this investigation without your contributions. please continue to engage in these issues in the months ahead. your involvement is critical to our success. and finally, to the career staff

of the civil rights division, of the united states department of justice, and the u.s. attorney's office for the district of columbia who conducted this investigation, thank you for your work, which will make minneapolis a better place for all of its residents. today we have completed our investigation, but this is only the first step. we look forward to working with the city and mpd to achieve meaningful and durable reform. i am now pleased to turn this over to associate attorney general vanita gupta. >> thank you, attorney general. >> that was the words of the attorney general. the news conference continues. we'll continue monitoring it. if the attorney general continues with anymore information, we will bring that to you here on msnbc. i want to bring back shaquille

brewster, mark claxton and barbara mcquaid. the two-year plus investigation of excessive force used when no force was necessary. and people died. what is your reaction to this? >> i think this investigation was vitally important and necessary. but it raises a couple of very significant questions. and one question is whether or not the current mode of civil rights investigations being conducted by doj and several different police entities is as efficient as it should be. and i mean, by that i mean should it take over two years to have determinations that are understood probably within a day of the event surrounding george floyd? and even before george floyd? so that's one question about the efficiency of doj's investigation system currently.

and the second question that it araises is, is this the time where we finally acknowledge that the current mode we call policing is obsolete and should be replaced by a more updated, interdisciplinary mode of enforcement, such as public safety when you incorporate different disciplines. so i think for as significant as the investigation is, and has been, and the findings are significant and thorough, we have to begin to answer these questions about whether or not we're as efficient as we can be, whether or not we're getting our bang for our buck, having significant impact and change and influence in the system, or whether or not the system needs to be revamped completely from the bottom. >> and, mark, i'm wondering how you, for example, see that possibility and what would that entail? a restructuring of the whole system, what would that in your

view, what would that entail? >> i'm a realist, jose. and toxic police culture, which is what has to be changed, what has to be destroyed, what has to be addressed here is the very stubborn obstinate type of culture. so, the conversation, the movement, the discussions, and the regulations have to push police agencies more towards the public safety model because the current policing model has been infected with that which was described by the attorney general, race-based enforcement, misogyny, et cetera. these type of things cannot elicit a high level of confidence in the community towards police and that's what's really detrimental to overall public safety. >> barbara, i'm wondering what your reaction is to this.

as marq was saying, took two years plus for this justice department investigation. what does justice department generally look at when it is doing an investigation on pattern or practice? >> so, certainly, marq makes a great point about rethinking of policing across the board and what could be and what should be. but, at the moment, we have what is, which is a statute that was passed in the aftermath of the rodney king beating, 1994, that allows the justice department to investigate for a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. and that means something different from an individual incident of a rogue officer who does something illegal. it is looking at an entire department and all of its practices, all of its policies and determining that it is violating the constitution. as you heard merrick garland say there, the first amendment and the fourth amendment as well as i think associate attorney general gupta is talking about discrimination which would be a violation of the 14th amendment.

this is an opportunity for the police department to resolve this investigation. it does take two years to investigate, to interview everybody, to talk to the community, to report all of these incidents, to look at all the policies, so it does take a long time to do these. but this does not strike me unusual in light of the cases that have been held. when i was in detroit, we had a pattern or practice case against the detroit place department and we went through an investigation, a consent judgment and monitor that came in and reinvented that department in a way that is much better and much healthier and has a much better relationship with the community today than it did before. >> so, barbara, if you would, just explain what the attorney general was talking about an agreement in principle from all sides that commits to all parties to a consent decree. what exactly is that consent decree and what are the -- what is the legal strength it has? >> yeah, it's a great question.

the justice department has the ability under this 1994 statute to file a lawsuit and go to trial and have findings made and police department held in violation of the law and then a judge would impose all of these conditions and say, do x, do y, do z, change your policy on this, improve your training on that. instead the justice department at the conclusion of its investigation went to city leaders and the justice department and said here what he is we found. we believe if we go to trial, we will prevail, you will lose and a judge will order you to do these things. wouldn't it be better than spending all the resources and money on defending a lawsuit if you simply came to the table and we worked with you to try to solve these problems. and that's what a consent judgment is. it is still overseen by a judge, so there is some teeth to it if the police department should fail to follow through, but they will negotiate exactly what that should look like. your use of force policy needs to change in the following ways, this will be the new policy, here is how you will train, here

is how you will report violations and compliance. and a monitor will come in for some period of time to make sure they make those changes in a meaningful way. these take a long time and marq's right they're resource intensive and the justice department can only do a handful of them a year, but they are a very effective way of improving those individual departments. until we agree in congress and across this country to improve police culture, this is the next best thing for improving departments one by one. >> shaq, what changes has the minneapolis police department already made in the wake of george floyd's death? >> you heard attorney general merrick garland make a nod to the changes that have already been implemented. you're talking about things like ban on chokeholds and neck restraints, talking about changing the use of force policies to emphasize de-escalation, you're talking about going through the actual training that police officers go through. one thing that we saw in the past is that even when changes were announced, many of those changes weren't trained on by

individual officers, it didn't make its way to the actual curriculum. the city has been trying to change that over the past year or so since we learned of -- the results of previous investigations. one other point i'll make is that with both the state investigation and the federal investigation that we learned today, we learned things that validated what we heard on the ground back in 2020 in the days after george floyd was murdered. that anger that you heard from members of the community, the stories that you heard from individuals about why they didn't trust the police department, or why they didn't believe that if there were not that camera there that day that there wouldn't be accountability. it is important to put this in context of what we saw and what we heard at that time because so much of the -- so many of those claims have now been validated by not just the state, but today by the united states department of justice. >> yeah, as the attorney general emphasized, these patterns and practices of the past made the death of george floyd possible. shaquille brewster, marq claxton

and barbara mcquade, thank you for being with us this morning. coming up, the latest on the devastating tornado that ripped through a small community in texas yesterday, killing three and leaving dozens injured. how the survivors are picking up the pieces today. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. (vo) this is sadie, she's on verizon. the network she can count on. and now she's got myplan, the game-changing new plan that lets her pick exactly what she wants and save on every perk. sadie is getting her plan ready for a big trip. travel pass, on. nice iphone. cute couple. trips don't last forever, neither does summer love. so, sadie is moving on. apple music, check! introducing myplan. the first and only unlimited plan to give you exactly what you want, so you only pay for what you need. act now and get iphone 14 pro max on us when you switch. it's your verizon.

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27 past the hour. turning now to texas, where at least three people have been killed, dozens more have been injured after a tornado ravaged the city of perryton on thursday, according to the fire chief. >> my heart hurts. my heart is aching for these people that put their lives and all these businesses. >> part of a wave of storms making their way across the southern states. pensacola, florida, one person died as thunderstorms struck overnight, causing severe

flooding and even a possible tornado. nbc's sam brock joins us now from perryton, texas. sam, just how severe is this and the recovery efforts, what do they look like today? >> reporter: sure, jose, perryton, what are the odds that two or three tornadoes would strike a small strip like this overnight? and inflict the level of damage that we're seeing. pretty small, population of 8,000. you see all these folks out here right now, sweeping up, washing windows, as we step into the street, you'll see just all of these community members, colleagues and in some places people who don't even necessarily know the person they're helping out, just pitching in and trying to clean up. power lines trying to be restored right now. literally as you look off in the distance, there is a bank, the largest community bank. i spoke with one of the property managers and he said they're not sure if they'll make it through this, if the building is structurally sound. to give you a window into what is happening right now, that's the business side, 30 businesses damaged, jose.

but as far as the emotional and certainly the loss of life, you mentioned there have been three confirmed fatalities so far. we're learning more about them, two women who were in their 60s, jose, one of them, her name was becky, she owned a print shot here. down the street, i'm talking to all these people that used to frequent her business. and a couple of the women i spoke with teared up thinking about what they were learning, that she was no longer here. such a smile. they would be able to connect and just seek her out to go in there. also an 11-year-old child in his trailer at the time, along with other family members and one sibling had to be airlifted to the hospital. you're at a situation now where there is still 75 to 100 people who were injured and in that group also, another 15 critically injured had to be moved to another hospital for care. we don't know their status this morning. three confirmed fatalities, that could climb. and i have seen task force members on the ground from texas a&m today with canines going through the rubble and marking it off when they realize there

is no sign of life or thankfully no victims under there. one person who is still missing at this hour, but they have been going through this area, not just the business section, but the homes as well. this is the final point i'll leave you with, around the corner, there is a neighborhood, just filled with mostly mobile homes and modest homes and folks who lost their properties in this case, there is 100 damaged, 50 of them according to the mayor were those who are lower income class where everything they had was in those homes and now they're trying to reconcile not just having to go through the traumatic event, but trying to find a place to live. so it is an extremely tense anguish filled period right now in this city that is only six miles from the oklahoma border. basically the middle of the texas panhandle. at least folks are binding together, trying to help their fellow neighbors, sweeping up other shattered glass, trying to show there is a solidarity here amidst all the pain they're going through now. >> yeah, and, just thinking of that little 11-year-old child who lost his life, a sibling,

you know had to be airlifted, just 100 homes damaged. it is just -- and you know that those people don't probably have access to insurance and all the, you know, all those other things. i'm just wondering, have you seen, sam, in he kind of help arrive there? >> reporter: the help so far has come in the form of donations. food, clothing, fuel for generators. everyone's lost their power here. so the efforts now are to try to get people back online. but in terms of help, there is an emotional sort of metaphorical assistance, how do you explain to loved ones, an 11-year-old child, i spoke to the mom, she was, like, this feels look a nightmare. you never think it will happen to you. it sounds cliche, but all of them are trying to understand how it is possible their friend, their loved one, their kid is no longer here. >> sam brock, thank you so much. appreciate your time. we have information that the jury reached a verdict in the tree of life trial. we will be bringing you that

information as soon as it comes. but apparently the jury has reached a verdict in that trial. up next, biden allies sounding the alarm on the president's silent treatment of donald trump's federal indictment. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. you're watching os"je diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. type 2 diabetes? discover the power of 3 in the ozempic® tri-zone. ♪ (oh, oh, oh, ozempic®!) ♪ in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. ozempic® provides powerful a1c reduction.

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37 past the hour. new nbc news reporting that some democrats are breaking with the president's decision to stay quiet about the historic

indictment of former president donald trump. nbc news reports, quote, worry, that trump's claim of political persecution might take hold if it is left unanswered. some democrats insist the party needs to mount a full-throated defense of the law enforcement agencies that charged trump with mishandling sensitive national security records. joining us now, nbc news correspondent mike memoli, and vaughn hillyard and with us brandon buck, former chief communications adviser, also an msnbc political analyst. so, mike, according to these democrats, what is the political cost of staying quiet amid all of these legal battles that the former president is having? >> well, we'll start from the perspective of the white house which sees political and legal reasons for the president to maintain this policy of not commenting on trump's legal woes. you have both the fact that the president is the leader of this administration, oversees the

justice department but stressed from every day from his time in office that he maintained independence of the justice department, does not want to be seen as directing this kind of prosecution of a political opponent. then there is the political reasons and it is reminiscent of what we saw in the 2020 campaign during trump's impeachment trials. the then candidate joe biden didn't want to be drawn into a daily tit for tat with the president at the time to be talking of day to day about his legal woes rather than what the president felt the candidate at the time was his best legal -- best campaign message. but the concern we're hearing from some democrats and from biden allies is that the republicans are not wasting any efforts here to accuse the president of doing just that, of leading a political prosecution, of undermining the justice department in the process. and they think that does deserve an answer. but i think the president is going to really, we understand, stick to this policy. they have, though, given some guidance to their allies, which is very, very carefully worded, jose. it is that they should not be commenting on trump's legal woes or raising money off of it, in

their capacity as biden campaign surrogates. there is some wiggle room there if you read between the line. they're willing and able to do that on their own, they don't want it attached to the white house or the campaign strategy. >> what do you make of this, i guess what could be seen as a disconnect? >> i actually entirely agree with some of these democrats. i think it is a risky proposition to allow donald trump to define this situation. it is reminiscent of how democrats in 2016 thought that donald trump was the best option for them, and so, you know, it is okay if he emerges from the primary. look, i don't think joe biden has much impact on who wins the republican nomination. but you don't have to look far to find a poll that shows donald trump within striking distance of joe biden or even leading joe biden in a poll. i think they need to take this very seriously. i understand for reasons of norms that you don't want the president himself engaging in this kind of thing, but you

absolutely need to set loose your allies to be defining this. former president surely is entitled to his day in court, but you can raise some very serious questions and demand he answer this, demonstrate how reckless he seems to have been to this entire situation and defend the fact that this is not a political witch-hunt. there are plenty of people investigated for these kinds of things and also prosecuted and some haven't. we have seen time and time again donald trump can dominate the conversation if you let him, and i think it is high time that republicans and democrats wade into this a little further. >> and, vaughn, you have new reporting about how the political organization no labels vowed to end the group's effort to run a third party candidate if polling next spring shows biden way ahead of trump. why is this significant? >> right. folks around the country should expect to see no labels as a political party next year on the november 2024 ballot. right now they have qualified for the ballot in four states

and they intend to qualify for dozens more by this year's end. and they're going to choose what they're calling a unity ticket, one republican and one democrat, the president and vice presidential candidate, sort of a more centrist candidate option, particularly in the scenario that it is joe biden versus donald trump. i want to let you hear part of my conversation with dr. ben shay, the co-chair of no labels, they have come under scrutiny particularly from critics of donald trump that are suggesting that this ticket could spoil the race in favor of donald trump because voters would vote for this third party ticket. take a listen. >> after super tuesday, next year, before the convention in dallas in april, there will be a decision. and if we find that the polls have changed, and joe biden's way, way out ahead and the person who -- who the

republicans may choose and if they attempt to choose donald trump, even though he's been indicted, then no labels will stand down. because we're not -- >> they say they believe that americans deserve a third more centrist option, but when you look at 2016, compared to 2020, the amount of americans that in these key states you see on the screen there, these were states that donald trump won in 2016, but then joe biden won in 2020, you can see in 2016 there was the likes of gary johnson, and jill stein who took up significant shares of the third party vote. and the concern among democrats and critics of trump now is that data out of 2020 showed that for voters that do not like donald trump or joe biden, they would have voted for joe biden. and so the concern this go around is that they would seeing some similar in 2024, give a third party option existed,

hurting joe biden's candidacy, no label says they continue to go forward with this ballot access initiative and as you just heard dr. chavis lay out there, unles joe biden has a significant lead, they intend to go forward with their plan. >> there already is a third party option, cornell west entered the race as an option. how could a third party candidate change the shape of this race? >> well, i guess the question is who is that third party candidate. that's the obvious missing ingredient here. you need to tell us who you're putting up. people like the idea of an alternative. a lot of people like the idea of a moderate centrist candidate, but you don't get to vote for a generic moderate centrist candidate, you vote for a person. and the fact they haven't put forward a person is problematic and all of that sort of -- maybe we will, maybe we won't, we'll see how it goes, feels like someone trying to manipulate the election. tell us who you're putting up as the third party and let that person make the case they have a viable chance of winning this race. if not, all you're doing

ultimately playing spoiler for one side or the other and the case you're playing spoiler in favor of donald trump is pretty strong. >> vaughn hillyard, mike memoli, brandon buck, thank you for being we us this morning. miami mayor francis suarez is the latest person to join the republican presidential field. he may not be a household name across the country, but he is well known here in south florida. suarez is the first mayor of miami to be born in the city of miami, his father also served as mayor, also of miami, and also served as miami-dade county commissioner. with us now for his first msnbc interview since declaing his candidacy, miami mayor, republican presidential candidate francis suarez. mayor, thank you for being with us this morning. this is an extremely crowded race you're joining. you're the third floridian to announce a run. why are you running for president? >> well, because i think my candidacy is different. i think i look different. i think i sound different. i think i can appeal to a different set of americans, and

my goal is to unify this country and create an aspirational, positive vision for the future of this country, based on a track record of success. i don't think there is any other candidate that is speaking that sort of tone and that language. and unfortunately we have gotten into a toxic divisive conversation in our country. i want to change the conversation. i want to talk to different people. i want to motivate young voters who went 26% for joe biden in 2020. i want to speak to hispanics who are increasingly becoming republicans because they have been termed latinx. i want to connect with suburban women across the country. and make sure they feel welcome into this party. so, i think that there are definitely different subproblem subpopulations of this country that i can connect with to win the 2024 election and generations of elections going forward. >> you acknowledged you did not vote for trump in 2016 or 2020. you said you did not vote for

desantis in 2018. why are you running as a republican? >> i've been a republican since i was 18 years old. i believe in limited government. i believe in a strong national defense. i believe in a lot of the values of the republican party. and the reason why i'm running as a republican is because i believe in those values. in the city of miami, we reduced taxes to the lowest level in history. and we saw double digit growth. we upfunded our police, not defunded our police and have the lowest per capita homicide rate since 1964. we leaned into american innovation and we have the lowest unemployment. i believe that can be scaled and i believe my parents were exiled from their country of birth, cuba, at 12 and 7, fleeing a leader who said give me all your property and all your business and we'll be equal. he made everybody equally poor and equally miserable. that's not fundamentally american. we need to recapture our american spirit. has to be positive.

has to be aspirational and ahas to be future looking. >> so, mayor, let's talk immigration. ron desantis recently signed a bill targeting undocumented immigrants in the sunshine state. the law goes into effect on the 1st of july. what is your plan and your reaction to that? >> my plan is to solve the problem. i think mayors don't have the luxury of blaming other people. they don't have the luxury of in some cases making the problem worse and harder for small businesses. we have to solve the problem. i think solving the problem begins first at the border. we had 7 million illegal border crossings. that has to be reversed. we have to secure our border. that is not only a human trafficking risk, but it is a fentanyl vulnerability where 80 to 90,000 americans which is the equivalence of a 747 crashing every single day are dying as a result of fentanyl coming in through our border. i think we have to depower china, which is a big issue. we're sending china a trillion dollars of our wealth annually

and they're using it to subvert us in our hemisphere. we do not have a hemispheric strategy to prevent poverty which creates immigration pressure. number three, i think we have to look at immigration as a positive. one of the things we have in china that is different from -- that is the same from our country is we have declining birth rates. the difference is nobody wants to go to china. everybody wants to come to the u.s. we're not having a coherent conversation about legal immigration and what it should be indexed to. it should be indexed to unemployment, it should be indexed to that declining birth rate, and it should be in the best interest of americans. and that could mean significantly increasing legal immigration, which also helps solve the problem. and the hardest problem is the undocumented that we have here. those who are here, we, i think all accept as a country that you can't just teleport them out of our country. and so i think as a hispanic republican president, it gives you a certain ability to have that conversation in a

constructive way, so that we determine what kind of status they receive, so that we know where they are, so that we know that they're paying taxes and are participating in our society, so that they don't have to necessarily be in the shadows and small businesses can count on them to work for them. so i think that is the basis of a coherent policy, and i think being a hispanic republican president would help give me a tremendous amount of credibility to solve this problem. >> and on another issue, the miami herald is reporting that you're under investigation by the miami-dade commission on ethics and public trust over allegations you took payments from a developer to help fast track a multimillion dollar real estate project. did you? >> of course not. you know me for a long time, my family for a long time. ourselv be being ethical and transparent. i have been a working -- a public sector official. every mayor with the exception of three in our county, 31 of them work in the private sector. we have to do it ethically and

honorably. i have never use mid public position to benefit any private party. that's not going to happen. this is a smear campaign by a local paper that knew that i was going to announce my candidacy for president and my values offend them. i'm a young conservative hispanic from a big city. that's a quadruple whammy in terms of the threat i pose to the democratic party. >> you did not? >> no, no, under no circumstances. >> someone who is -- you know this -- being indicted is donald trump. would you pardon donald trump? >> it's hard to understand how anyone can mishandle classified information. the president is innocent until proven guilty. he has to respond to a jury of his peers. that process has to play out

before any sort of a discussion on pardons can happen. if i became president of the united states, i think the pardon power -- one of the possible reasons is to heal the country. who knows what will happen? he is innocent until proven guilty. one thing i would look at as president is using the pardon power to heal the country. it goes for both parties. >> mayor, thank you very much for being with us on msnbc. appreciate your time. >> thank you. coming up, there's a verdict in the tree of life synagogue shooting. we will go live outside the courthouse with the latest on that. you are watching "jose diaz reports" on msnbc. g new plan tht lets her pick exactly what she wants and save on every perk. sadie is getting her plan ready for a big trip. travel pass, on. nice iphone. cute couple. trips don't last forever, neither does summer love.

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but you best believe, you can't take the italy out of an alfa romeo. ♪ these are the people, who help you stay well. ♪ ♪ searching lower prices, ♪ we have breaking news out of the jury deliberations in the trial of the man accused of shooting and killing 11 worshipers at the tree of life synagogue in 2018. what do we know? >> reporter: the verdict is currently being read. as we look at it, on the first charges, one through 11, they found the accused shooter guilty. this is happening right now. we are looking at the results this real time. it looks like right now the jury has been unanimous in their verdict as far as finding him guilty on all 63 counts.

this is all coming in. we will bring you more updates as they become available. this wraps up 11 days of testimony from both the prosecution and the defense. the prosecution making no shortage of reiterations about the horrors that unfolded at the tree of life synagogue. they showed photos, they played audio recordings reminding the jury of the 11 lives lost that day. the defense trying to raise questions about the intent and motivation of the accused shooter saying he did not intend to stop them from worshipping but rather jewish people's belief on immigration and refugees, saying he went there because he had his own views about immigration, saying he felt these people were invaders. the prosecution during their closing arguments refuting that saying, look what he did. he did not go to a refugee camp, he did not go to the border. he went to the tree of life synagogue and killed those 11

members of the congregation. the defense now obviously will now prepare for the next portion of the trial, which will be the so-called penalty phase. right now, we are hearing the verdict is coming in here during the guilt phase. we are looking at the evidence coming in in real time. it does appear that the counts are coming in guilty across the board. this is 63 charges. you are looking at a number of charges referring to hate crimes, gun charges. there was a moment this morning where the jury did have a question for the judge, specifically referencing the intent to kill. that was what the defense was trying to do during the so-called guilt phase was raise questions about his intent, motivation, as it relates to his views about immigration with respect to the jewish faith. again, as we look at this -- give me one second. still continuing to come in -- so far we are seeing guilty

across the board here. this is still ongoing and we will continue to monitor this as it becomes available. >> i'm going to ask you to keep monitoring that. of course the verdict comes in, we will come back to you. getting a recap of exactly how many guilty verdicts are being found at this hour. i want to bring back barbara mcquade. this jury coming to a decision about five hours after deliberations, it's a pretty clear-cut case here. what's your reaction to it? >> yeah. that is quick. it's interesting because what you heard there is about the importance of the motivation in this case. this is not a murder trial that could be held in state court. this is a federal case. the offenses here were interfering with the exercise of one's religion. that was important to show not just that he shot and killed these people, but that he did so for the purpose of interfering with their religion. when someone appears at a religious service, kills them at

their synagogue and has published anti-semitic thoughts, that seems like a strong case. the defense was that he was part of the great replacement theory. he was one of those advocates who was concerned about the role of the jewish community in assisting in refugee resettlement. it was a fine line about whether that motive could be met. it is. now we go to the next phase, penalty phase, where the justice department is seeking the death penalty. >> barbara, let's talk about that phase. is there a federal and then onward on to other court proceedings on this same issue? >> yes. the state has charged him with murder. they agreed to stand down and let the federal case go first. it seems likely there would be a federal case as well, perhaps. there will be a guilty plea now that there's been a federal conviction. sometimes people think that's down the counting. where the stakes are so high, i think there's great value in

having the belt and suspenders. laws change. people are released for all kinds of reasons, not because of innocence but because of legal changes in the law. having -- in a case as important as this, not only were lives shattered at the tree of life synagogue, but the message it sent to the community about people in this country being unsafe because of their religion, extremely important for the justice department and state prosecutors to hold him accountable. >> as you said, never forgetting that 11 people lost their lives. a horrible, horrible day for everyone. barbara, the next phase you are talking about, the penalty phase, when can we expect that? what would that look like? >> i think it will start right away. i think it will be the same jury. this will be evidence of mitigation and aggravation. those are the things a jury has to consider in deciding whether to impose death. they know he is guilty.

they know it is death eligible. to impose the death penalty, they have to find aggravating factors. some can be acting with a hate crime bias. particularly cruel method of death. some of the mitigate factors can be things like a person's history of abuse or addiction or mental illness. those are all things that a jury will consider in making its decision as to whether death is an appropriate penalty here. >> george and barbara, thank you so much for being with us this morning. that wraps up the hour for me. you can reach me on twitter and instagram. you can watch highlights from today's show online. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchel picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," a pittsburgh jury has reached a verdict in the tree of life mass shooting. 11 members of the