joining us to discuss this is the former united states attorney general alberto gonzales. mr.onzalez, thanks for being here. >> it's good to be with you, allison. >> what did you think this week when you heard the department of justice set up this online tipline that sounds like it's trying to unearth some more dirt on george zimmerman? >> well, the first thing i thought of was that they're sort of at a dead-end. what they're doing now is doing what they can to see if there's any out there that is willing to come forward with some information that may form the basis of a civil rights prosecution. obviously, george zimmerman has been acquitted. he has been acquitted of the state charges. the question now is whether or not there are federal charges, civil rights violations that the department of justice can bring against george zimmerman against trayvon martin. >> is this standard procedure from the department of justice or are we seeing something different because of the outcry? >> i'm not sure there's anything standard. a very unusual high profile case that captured the intere

attorney general alberto gonzales who joins us now with thoughts. you for joining us today. your initial reaction to what the president had to say this week. >> well, he had a lot to say this week. quite frankly, i think some of the things that he talked about, for example, the issue of race, is one that is very, very important in this country. we've made obviously significant progress. we need to make more progress. one of the dangers, of course i that when the president speaks, he speaks to multiple audiences at the same time. and one of those audiences, of course, are the political appointees and the career bureaucrats, career prosecutors, in the civil rights division. whether or not they'll take some of the comments as a signal that they should be more aggressive in deciding whether to prosecute the case, that's something you're always concerned about. hopefully you've got the leadership at the department of justice that will ensure that the decision that's ultimately made about whether to do an investigation is one based solely on the merits, n

i just spoke with former attorney general alberto gonzales earlier and he said it doesn't necessarilyust mentioned? >> he doesn't know that. he agreed the department of justice should look into it. saying the verdict was wrong has nothing to do with the federal case. i'm in agreement with the former attorney general that this case has to be looked into under federal law in order to get ultimate clocher to it. >> yes. richard, and the attorney general said, yes, we should look into it, but thus far, it doesn't appear that the civil -- civil justice -- really was a violation here. >> well, fred, i studied this trial, watched every day of this trial, and let me just say, there was no depravity element that was required to get the second-degree murder. you need in order to get a successful prosecution for a hate crime or a civil rights, federal civil rights violation. you have to have racial animus, racial motivation for the killing. this jury imfademphatically sai did not exist. the only racial profiling, if we agree with racial genteel would words spoken by trayvon martin describing zim

. >> alberto gonzales wasn't the census attorney general pick but they had a vote and named him the attorney general of the united states. >> i want to go to trayvon martin. the president's response. very quickly, robert, when it came -- obviously, he had commented on this before the case was ever brought. it was interesting to see what the president said and didn't say. talked about maybe this will have a -- spark a conversation about gun debate. should we read between the lines of perhaps a federal civil rights charge is going to be very hard? >> i think knowing him, i think what he's probably doing is providing space for the justice department to take an honest look at and make an honest determination without putting the thumb on the scale either way. i think that's what the justice department should do. and make a determination based on what i know is very narrow federal statutes. >> michael, how politicized do you think it will become? >> i think hugely politicized. it's unfortunate. i don't think the justice department comes back to move forward with a finding of any civil rights charg

telling alberto gonzales that the interrogation techniques were awful.you said that there needed to be a detailed factual discussion. and, that's a could not be that the principles are willfully blind. why did you believe that there that theger and principles on the national security council were willfully blind to the details of the cia program? >> thank you. i heard no one asking that third question. there are three key questions with any terrorist and technique is it effective? is it legal? -- any terrorist technique. is it legal? is it effective? should we be doing it? onlyhite house said that the first two questions matter. that thatd, i thought was unacceptable. >> thank you. i like to speak about one other thing. i wrote a letter to the secretary of defense on the issue of forced feeding of detainees at guantÁnamo bay. took a look at the force- feeding issue. the kidneys are restrained in a by foot, byy, hands, and twice a day to. nose. is inserted up the in oliveered in or -- oil. the individual is force-fed. detainees who are cleared for transfe

you described telling alberto gonzales that the interrogation techniques were awful. you said that there needed to be a detailed factual discussion. and, that's a could not be that the principles are willfully blind. why did you believe that there why did you believe that there was a danger and that the principles on the national security council were willfully blind to the details of the cia program? >> thank you. i heard no one asking that third question. there are three key questions with any terrorist any terrorist technique. is it effective? is it legal? should we be doing it? the white house said that only the first two questions matter. as you said, i thought that that was unacceptable. >> thank you. i like to speak about one other thing. i wrote a letter to the secretary of defense on the issue of forced feeding of detainees at guantÁnamo bay. we took a look at the force- feeding issue. the kidneys are restrained in a chair by body, by foot, by hands, and twice a day to. a tube is inserted up the nose. it is covered in olive oil. the individual is force-fed. w