who is, david henderson, paul butler, who is safe?tch my friend geoff get so emotional there, but you understand it hearing the words, the final words of elijah mcclain. talk to me about these indictments and the criticism that they did not go far enough, that murder should be involved. >> yeah, yasmin, in that clip we were three black men analyzing a case in which an innocent black man was killed by the police for no reason. i think we all had extraordinary sympathy for elijah mcclain, but we were also thinking it could have been any one of us. the whole world heard george floyd narrate his own death saying, "i can't breathe" over and over again on police videotape. and then to hear those same tragic words from elijah mcclain, it can feel overwhelming. so i entirely understand that emotional reaction. both george floyd and elijah mcclain were just going to the store. neither posed any threat, and they both ended up dead. so it raises the question of what a black person can do to be safe from the cops. you are right, the indictment an

who is, david henderson, paul butler? who is safe? i'm sorry. sorry. >> no, that's why we're here and i appreciate you drawing attention to what's important about this case and, that number one, do any of us want to live in a world where young people can't go to the convenience store and make it back home when they are not committing a crime and they are not doing anything wrong? number two, what does it mean when the people who are supposed to protect us are the most quick to resort to violence, even lethal violence? not only did they kill him but some of the officers that killed him went back and took photographs at the memorial site mock the way he died. people who say they are there to keep us safe, how they treated someone who wasn't a threat to anyone's safety. they killed a young man because he was different, and when he told them so they wouldn't stop to listen. they choked him and drugged him to death. >> paul butler, in the time that we have in this hour, i just want to get your final thoughts here. >> two of these officers who were ch

if it takes a minute or if it takes an hour, we're going to have it. >> paul butler, president bidensign into law comprehensive and meaningful police reform bill that honors the name and memory of george floyd because we need legislation to ensure lasting and meaningful change. the white house will continue to consult with the civil rights and law enforcement communities as well as victims' families so define a path forward. including through potential further executive actions i can take to advance our efforts to live up to the american ideal of equal justice under the law. what does that look like? >> well, it looks like president biden, through executive orders, having the courage that republicans on the hill did not. nicole, this was an epic failure of both politics and criminal justice. the protests following george floyd's murder were the largest social justice movement in the history of the united states, and people were demanding change on the state and federal level. the good news is that many states have followed through, but what happened with congress is what almost alway

joining us now are paul butler, law professor at georgetown university and a former federal prosecutorh lab. his latest substack piece is entitled "let's talk about september 18." paul, i saw you chuckling. when the proud boys are saying errbody going to jail, you should pay attention. paul, i want to start the conversation really about january 6. and here's what congresswoman zoe lofgren, a member of the january 6 select committee said about house minority leader kevin mccarthy who has threatened the committee for seeking his communications records. have a listen. >> what's he hiding? why is he trying to keep the truth from coming out? you know, i think the leaders of our country, and kevin is one of them, should be stepping forward and trying to get to the bottom of everything that led up to january 6. and people who aren't doing that are a mystery to me, unless they participated. >> so paul, how much legal peril is kevin mccarthy in? >> he's got a reason to be concerned. commission chair congressman bennie thompson seems to have instructed his investigators to go hard or go home. so

paul butler, we'll be calling on you a lot. thank you very much.ur family. thank you. you're in our thoughts. we appreciate you being here tonight. >>> all right. tonight's absolute worst is still ahead. rjts how the religious right is messing with women's rights, voting rights and our rights as vaccinated americans to finally be done with this freaking pandemic. we'll be right back. pandemic we'll be right back. my retirement plan with voya keeps me moving forward. they guide me with achievable steps that give me confidence. this is my granddaughter...she's cute like her grandpa. voya doesn't just help me get to retirement... ...they're with me all the way through it. voya. be confident to and through retirement. dayquil severe for you... and daily vicks super c for me. introducing new vicks super c and dayquil severe convenience pack. vicks super c is a daily supplement to help energize and replenish your body with vitamin c and b vitamins. dayquil severe is a max strength medicine for cold and flu relief. someone is feeling better. get your shoe

paul butler, professor of law at georgetown university and msnbc legal analyst.attention because of how instantly iconic the feature of mr. chansley was. where does this stack up in terms of the spectrum of seriousness of the offense and how the plea deal has worked? >> so he sort of has gotten that more serious charge, interference with congress, essentially, because he entered that senate well and some of the speech and actions that he took. but i think this is a really interesting case because there has been a number of defendants arrested sips this point who haven't spent time behind bars pretrial. you've got to wonder if he wasn't arrested at that time, perhaps if he had a different lawyer, whether he would have within inrace cars rated for this entire length of time. i don't know what the sentence will be. the guideline range was in the range of 41 to 51 months, begin his conduct, which is nonviolent, i think is a significant, significant sentence that, you know, is nothing to sneeze at. the first defendant who went -- who pled guilty to the same charge, in

paul butler is a former prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst.e cases have come in, these cases have gotten a lot of attention because of how instantly iconic the picture was. where does this stack up in terms of the spectrum of seriousness of the offense and how the plea deal has worked. >> yeah, he's sort of gotten the more serious charge, the interference with congress because he entered the senate well and because some of the speech and the actions that he took but i think this is really interesting case because there's been a number of defendant who is have been arrested since this point who haven't spent time behind bars pre-trial. he really got to wonder if he wasn't arrested at that time, perhaps if he had a different lawyer whether he would have been incarcerated for this entire length of time. i don't know ultimately what the sentence will be. the guideline was in range of 41 to 51 months is a significant sentence that is nothing to sneeze at. the first defendant went, who plead guilty to a similar charge, the same charge ultimately got

paul. and we remember that after this election, the country was engulfed in mass opposition protests. the butler, russian security authorities, thought that these were some kind of fighters that could have been sent to the country to spark on rest and street violence. and this was something that explains why they were detained, so, brutally like terrorists. now almost immediately after that came an extradition request from key of crane wanted these men to be on their territory board, their alleged involvement, the fighting in easter grain. but this extradition never happens because shortly after the incident report started to surface, that this could have been a plot orchestrated by kia and i remember how present of valerie alexander lucretia, and going vladimir putin. they were on the phone and initially the negotiations between these 2 lead to these fighters being sent back to russia. the russian security officials, what they want is a transparent investigation into all. busy this, the ukranian authorities are not interested and impartial investigation of this affair. all the facts which cnn h