there would never have been any arrests, bakari. >> yes. >> bakari?we go back and look at both this case, that's one of the -- the very clear similarities with george floyd's murder. and that's why i said earlier in the segment before that the stars have to align. and many of these cases, john, when you are dealing with these type of civil rights cases, when you are dealing with these, um, race-based cases, the best witness for, in this case, the prosecution but for some of us who represent families when they are killed by law enforcement. um, the -- the individual or the plaintiff in those cases, the best witness is oftentimes dead. in this case, the best witness for the prosecution was ahmaud arbery, who of course was dead. but the only way he was able to speak up. the only way his voice was able to be heard was actually through this video. and it was, oh, so ironic and it was said earlier by my colleague. it's so ironic that this video was shot by individuals who murdered him. this wasn't a bystander video. this wasn't a surveillance video. they li

to climb. >> you mentioned, bakari t judge. i want to play some sound of the judge admonishing the prosecution -- this is one moment. there were many. let's look at this most heated moment. >> i was astonished when you began your examination by commenting on the defendant's post-arrest silence. that's basic law. it's been basic law in this country for 40 years, 50 years. i have no idea why you would do something like that. >> -- >> don't get brazen with me. you know very well an attorney can't go into these types of areas when the judge has already ruled without asking outside the presence of the jury to do so, so don't give me that. i don't believe you. there better not be another incident. i'll take the motion under advisement. >> bakari, i will say, the jury wasn't there. i was surprised to hear from a judge on our program as well as a lawyer saying this kind of thing does happen at times. it's not totally out of the blue. i wonder what you felt about this moment in this high-profile trial? >> i got my behind handed to me in

cnn political commentator bakari sellers and cnn legal analyst elliot williams both here.ood evening to both of you. happy friday. bakari, i want you to look at all the people at the center of these incidents, the january 6th insurrectionists, kyle rittenhouse, the three men charged with ill ckiling ahmaud arberiry. >> what you're seeing is individuals are taking what they believe to be misdeeds in their own hands. you had people storm the capitol because they get like government wasn't doing their job. you had people in kenosha or rittenhouse in kenosha allowing his mom to take him across state lines with an ar-15 which still blows my mind because my mom asks me if i have mcdonald's money. so i can't even imagine if she would take me across state lines with an ar-15, but that's a whole other story about where's his father. and because government was not doing their job. in georgia, you had individuals who thought ahmaud arbery was breaking into homes and trespassing. so it's this through line where white men feel as if they have to take this vigilantism into their own han

we just heard from kyle rittenhouse's mother, bakari, you've seen this.nhouse has been held up in many areas as a real hero in this case. that is not how everyone sees it. how are you seeing things this morning? >> well, i mean, i see a growing just love or admiration for rittenhouse, particularly on the far right. you see jd vance, a candidate for the ohio united states senate seat just envelop him and hold him out to be some type of hero. for many of us, though, and maybe i need to talk to my therapist about it, there is a certain level of resentment, i believe. i think it is a very human nature type of resentment. we see him, we see trayvon martin who didn't get the benefit or grace of his youth. we see tamir rice, who didn't get benefit or grace of his youth. and even more probably on point is kalif broader in rikers island who committed suicide after being in solitary confinement for stealing a book bag. and these individuals, none of them, who look like me, did not get the benefit or grace of their youth and people are treating kyle rittenhouse as s

joining me bakari sellers and evan osnos.perceived struggles that joe biden has had the job that kamala harris has. >> yes, i think any of us knows that it's hard to have a job that your boss had before you, because after all, they have distinct ways of doing things. they think there's a way that you should spend your time and issues you should devote yourself to. joe biden focused on foreign affairs and dealing with capitol hill, two things that president obama at the time didn't want to focus on, needed to dedicate his energies elsewhere. in this administration that's not where joe biden needs kamala harris and as a result there's a question what does he want her to be doing? and the issue that she's been most closely associated with, which couldn't be more important, question of voting rights, shoring up democracy, something he considers hugely important has been the hardest issue for this administration, not through quality of her own but simply because it is the central nerve running through american politics. that's a h

i think like bakari said, this is a -- this is not a very difficult analysis.ere is extensive instructions. lesser, as to roddy bryan. but there is not the rittenhouse type of, you know, deliberation. and yet, you know, there is this concern about the -- um -- this -- this -- the belief system of these jurors. and are -- are they at all struggling? are they looking at this as like the boogieman who invaded this community and these guys were heroes? um, you know, keeping the community safe and black free? or are they actually going to take the time and -- and apply the law to the facts and reach the correct verdict? um, but i think, you know, thanksgiving. i think, you know, it's possible we get a verdict tomorrow. but -- but i can't read the tea leaves. i never can. >> sara azari. bakari sellers -- >> let me just say, john, real quick, don't ever try to predict what a jury is going to do. they are a jury of your peers and we know 12 people are as inconsistent and as unpredictable as we could possibly imagine so they may be here for a long time or may be here ti

anyway, yeah, there it is. >> bakari, listen to this. this is from court today. today from defense attorney jason sheffield who represents travis mcmichael in the killing of ahmaud arbery, here it is. >> it appears that the evidence in this case is overwhelming about one thing and one thing in particular, this case is not about a lynching. this case is not about racism or racist motives. this is just a neighborhood and some people trying to do the best they could to stop the crime in the new ighborhood. >> okay. screams privilege to me but what do you say? >> as a fellow lawyer, i mean, that is -- i mean, that's the best b.s. you can do. i mean, i hope he's getting paid top dollar for that one. look, this is -- what we're talking about and just so every viewer understands this is this is a privilege that elliott, don, bar cbakari cannot get awa with and the resentment, it bears repeating, some of the resentment we feel is the fact that we've seen individuals that look like us succumb to the inability for the country to get people who look like us grace and when w

i want to bring in bakari sellers and liam donovan. good evening to both of you.ope you got some sleep, bakari because i haven't caught up after being on the air until 4:00 a.m. liam, you're a lucky man. i'm sure you got sleep last night. >> i have a 2-month-old, so i did not get sleep. >> you probably got less sleep than us then. okay. governor murphy celebrating the narrowest of wins. take a listen to his message. >> tonight, i renew my promise to you whether you voted for me or not to work every single day of the next four years to keep moving us forward. so importantly forward with a deeper sense of fairness and a commitment to equity. forward by rejecting thedy i have sooifness and chaos that permeate too much of our politics. in short, forward living up to our jersey values. >> so, you know, even murphy admitted bakari that his people didn't show up yesterday but he was able to pull off a win unlike mcauliffe couldn't pull off a win. do you think the 2021 election will be a wakeup call for your party? >> i hope it is. i mean, it needs to be. there are a lot

so, bakari, i will give you two choice here.n talk about winsome sears, or we can talk about progressives. if you can do both. um, because democrats need progressives to win. >> uh-huh. >> right? they fire up the democrats' -- whatever -- the voters, they go out upon but they also fire up republicans to go out and vote against them so it's a double-edged sword there. >> i mean, it is but i mean i go back to the point i made two hours ago. and that is, that regardless of whether or not it's progressive or moderate, you have to do something. and right now, the fights that we're having show -- i mean, it reminds me -- democrats in d.c. now remind me of infrastructure week for republicans. remember every infrastructure week during the trump administration? and they also remind me of when we are talking about build back better and the transpour rtatio bill. they remind me of, every week, we were going to get a new healthcare plan from the republican party. every week and they -- and they never got there. and so, that type of chaos in

bakari, this measure didn't call for so-called defunding the police.y people thought it was a step in that direction, quite frankly, defunding the police slogan. that's a terrible slogan. >> i think the messaging behind it is something that -- trust me, in politics, any time you're explaining you're losing. this was more in line with abolition than it was with defunding the police. you were talking about creating an entirely new department. but the captain was right. i go back to base voters. i would tell folk in order to win the democratic party primary, you have to win my momma and her friends. what they're always saying is, we don't want less police or no police, we want better police. >> yes. >> and this is what elected officials, including those in congress have to understand. we're talking about banning chokeholds. we're talking about eliminating no-knock warrants between the hours of like 10:00 p.m. or midnight and 6:00 a.m. we're talking about having a database for officers who commit bad acts, limiting qualified immunity and lowering the stand

. >>> let's get more to the trial and joining us now chris stewart and also with us bakari sellers the author of the book "my vanishing country". >> chris, you represented ahmaud arbery mom as she fought for charges to be brought. i wonder what you made of the prosecution's methodical questioning of the defendant today? >> wolf, that was a definition of surgical. i mean, that was a lesson for every trial lawyer out there. she made us all proud as trial attorneys. she cut him to pieces. she made him keep repeating the same lie which no one could keep straight. it was surgical. >> bakari, did the prosecution do what they needed to do poke holes in the claims about what led him to shoot and kill ahmaud arbery? >> no doubt, wolf. and i think one of the things that we saw, i think chris said it best was surgical but it gave people a lot of hope and you have to remember that it was one and not two prosecutors who saw this video and still refused to press charges. that is why many of us have this h hesitancy in our heart about how this case going to end up. but this prosecutor and the way tha

senior reporter isaac duvare, and public commentator mila and bakari sellers.s is reporting from you and jasmine wright. tell us, what is behind all this finger pointing? >> where we stand is the vice president is, of course, a heartbeat away from the presidency. she could be running as joe biden's running mate in three years here, but the campaign would start, obviously, much sooner than that and would be a critic evaluator at she's writing for us in less than two years. if joe biden stids to ultimately allow to runl, there are a lot of people who care sincerely for the vice president and for her. she is not being set up for whatever the future holds, whether it's to run for president or stay as vice president. there are a lot of issues within her own operation that have led to some of the problems which in turn lead to some of the pylons. >> look at this candid moment between the president and his vp earlier, within the week? >> maybe when all of this is over, maybe we can talk. the reporting you just -- >> i think it's a genuinely warm exchange between two p

bakari, thank you so much., praoes you being with us as well. >>> we should see a swing in the races. harry entin is at the wall. >>> will smith talking about his abusive upbringing. what he contemplated doing to his abusive father. ugh! and then...the present. and finally, ebenezer...the future! introducing the all-electric eqs. happy holidays from mercedes-benz. ♪ ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ healthy habits come in all sizes. like little walks. and, getting screened for colon cancer. that's big because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. hey, cologuard! hi. i'm noninvasive and i detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers, even in early stages. early stages! yep, it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. count me in! me too!

bakary sako with the corner.ere waved away, and moments later, to make matters worse, arsenal were in again. gabriel martinelli with a perfectly —weighted volley to seal the three points for the gunners. so not quite the perfect start for eddie howe as the wait for that first league win of the season goes on for newcastle. i think the players have been very responsive. in the two games that we've had, they have given everything to the team. i can't ask any more than their best. we know we are in a difficult position, and we know we've got some important games to come. h0 know we've got some important games to come. ., ,, .. ,, know we've got some important games tocome. ., ,, .. ,_ ., to come. no success yet, then, for eddie howe- _ but it's two wins out of two for steven gerrard as aston villa manager — his side won 2—1 at crystal palace. that moves them up to eleventh place in the table, just behind palace on goal difference. matt targett gave villa the lead at selhurst park after a quarter of an hour, and john

as we do, let's before i in attorney and cnn political commentator bakari sellers.ous how the citizens arest law plays into this. we should note it has been largely repealed since because of this case, but it was the law at the time. what was behind that, and, you know, what relevance does it have in your view as a lawyer to the prosecution and the defense? >> i think that the defense in this case are going to hang their hat on that antiquated outdated law which breeds vigilanteism. and most people have gotten rid of it, most states have gotten rid of the ability to do these type of citizens arests because of incidents just like this. what you have is a young black boy out running, who visited an unoccupied home, and, if that's a crime, like i say often, my wife and i, we go through houses and look and see what people are doing, people are walking through the house we're doing right now. people do this quite often. but for it to end with the death penalty, which is what these three men carried out, is a fundamental problem. even if you do have the ability to commenc

cupp and bakari sellers and david chalian. john, let's start with you, sitting right next to me. we've been waiting for leader mccarthy to say something about this. what we heard from him, i wrote it down here. rules for thee, but not for me, two dozen times. >> that was a campaign speech by, you know, leader mccarthy, who desperately wanted to make, as his colleagues did, this vote not about the core question, which is, is it okay to threaten a colleague's life? that's the question. that's why gosar is on the verge of being the 24th person censured in the history of the house. there were other arguments about process, about precedent but at core, that's it. and, of course, the context matters after january 6th. the precedent matters. because folks have been censured for everything from charlie rangel over tax and ethical implications to consulting a speaker to attacking a colleague on the floor. at core, all that noise boils down to this. is it all right to threaten the life of a colleague, especially after january 6th. that is what this is about. nothing else. >> s.e., we heard

. >> bakari sellers, thank you.o all of our guests, our analysts, our reporters this past hour. i'm going to hand it off to alisyn camerota who picks up the breaking news now. >>> hello, everyone. welcome to newsroom,

. >> bakari sellers, thank you. thank you to all of our guests, our analysts, our reporters this past hour. i'm going to hand it off to alisyn camerota who picks up the breaking news now. >>> hello, everyone. welcome to newsroom, i'm alisyn camerota. after 11 1/2 hours of deliberations, jurors find all three defendants in the ahmaud arbery murder trial guilty of murder. ahmaud arbery's mother, wanda, was visibly emotional as the verdict was read. you can see that crowds outside of the courthouse are chanting ahmaud arbery as the guilty verdicts came in and were celebrating. let's go straight to sara isidnr and ryan young. tell us the reaction you're seeing around you, guys. >> >> reporter: we're just outside the court where people have been, waiting in chairs sometimes, sometimes milling about. they have now all gathered out in front of the courthouse, the courthouse steps where we have seen the mother of ahmaud arbery and her attorneys, lee merritt, going in and out of court every single day of this trial. they hav

bakari is saying this isn't about the progressive or moderate ring of the democratic party -- or moderatethe democratic party. >> what this race comes down to, joe biden has low approval ratings right now. and that impacted terry mcauliffe. >> is he the alba tros? >> i don't know if he's the albatros. biden has time to rebound his numbers before 2022. but right now, his approval ratings are really low. voters in virginia and in other states are very focused on the economy, on the fact that prices are up, on covid, how covid has impacted their schools. look, does what is happening in washington and the squabbling between democrats, is that potentially also hurt? yes, but ultimately the race was not about those things. it was about the economy and covid. >> laura, look at that wall over there. i mean, you don't get any closer than that. i mean, that is pretty close. no one thought that jack ciatterelli would do this. everyone thought that phil murphy would sail into re-election. new jersey is blue, right? >> yeah. >> but it shows maybe not so much. what do you think that means for -- >> aga