wolfinger, than we previously knew. what we did learn today is, indeed, the police chief, the then police chief bill lee was on the scene along with his chief investigator, bob o'donnell, whose job it is to be on these scenes frankly because he's the chief of investigations. if you had chief lee, his chief investigator, and the state attorney conferring in person on this case, and then making the determination on the night of the shooting that there was not enough information, not enough evidence to arrest george zimmerman, then that raises a question as to why wolfinger would not immediately recuse himself once the police department cycled this up to the state attorney's office. he is the state attorney for this county and the adjacent county. we also confirmed today, nbc news confirmed that there was what's called a capious request sent to wolfinger's office, which the police department made a formal request to issue an arrest warrant in the case. wolfinger didn't get that far. because his investigation was cut short

thank you. >>> ahead, who is state attorney norm wolfinger? and what was he thinking the night of trayvon's shooting? >>> and smearing the victim. i've seen this playbook before, and i won't stand for it. do you have anything for a headache...like excedrin... bayer aspirin... ohh, no no no. i'm not having a heart attack, it's my head. this is made for pain. [ male announcer ] bayer advanced aspirin enters the bloodstream fast, and rushes extra strength relief to the sight of your pain. feel better? yeah...thanks for the tip! trouble with a car insurance claim. [ dennis ] switch to allstate. their claim service is so good, now it's guaranteed. [ foreman ] so i can trust 'em. unlike randy. dollar for dollar, nobody protects you like allstate. ♪ spread a little love my way ♪ ♪ spread a little something to remember ♪ ♪ ♪ spread a little joy... [ female announcer ] fresh milk and real cream. that's what makes philadelphia. ♪ so spread a little... [ female announcer ] and that's what makes the moment we enjoy it, a little richer. ♪ real belgian choc

, there clearly was conflict between the investigators and wolfinger.t seems almost amazing to me, now you are the lawyer, you know bet are than me, how wolfinger or a representative of his office, if this report is true, could have determined that night there wasn't enough evidence, hours after it happened, and didn't let the accused walk out of the police station with his clothes and evidence. >> it just goes to the very essence of this investigation. it was tragic what george zimmerman did, profiling trayvon benjamin martin. but reverend al, as you have said before, the true tragedy is when institutions of justice and institutions of law enforcement profilees a young minority. and i think clearly, if this case stands for anything else, it is that racial profiling is still alive and well and i in our institutions and we gather, we just gather work to eradicate that. if not, reverend, we will be back here again with you leading the charge when it happens to the next young minority. >> now, if this report proves to be true, what does this mean to the ca

on march 12, police gave the case to state attorney norm wolfinger, he told them they needed more evidence to arrest zimmerman. lawyer ben crump represents the teenager's parents. >> had the roles been reversed, trayvon would have been treated differently, because he was black. >> absolutely. >> reporter: no question about that? >> no question. no question to me or anybody else in america, had trayvon been the person who pulled the trigger, he would have been arrested that day on the spot, and would still be sitting in jail. >> reporter: can you afford to wait until the end of this investigation to reassure people in this community that justice will be served regardless of color? >> it is not in the police department's hands right now. okay. i can't pass judgment on either one right now. so we are going to allow the outcome of this investigation. >> reporter: chief scott was also asked how he planned to rebuild trust between police and san fors minority community. scott, he said it won't be easy. >> pelley: mark, thanks. surprising change in cuba. 50 years after the revolution. big changes

norman wolfinger decided there was insufficient evidence for conviction. interim police chief refusing to comment on the allegation that those leaks are coming from his department. >> we are looking into the leaks, the so-called leaks if you will, and that is an internal process that's going to handle that situation. if there's something that i can bring to you all at a later time, i will. but as of right now there's nothing to report on it. >> congressional democrats taking their own look into trayvon martin's killing today. florida representative fredrique wilson laying out her version of the case. >> trayvon is the victim of a botched police investigation full of incompetence or intelligent mismanagement. this investigation is laced with racial profiling lies, and murder. trayvon was hunted, chased, tackled and shot. >> trayvon martin's parents sabrina fulton and tracy martin and attorney saying: >> of course my heart is broken, but it breaks even more to know that we have not gotten justice yet and that this man has not been arrested for shooting and k

of course we know that norm wolfinger, the state attorney in seminole county, has said now that he is going to use the resources of the grand jury that will be impaneled on april 10, to help out, to continue with this investigation, going to use them. of course, the governor as well also said that he has asked the florida department of law enforcement to help out. and here is a snippet of that 911 call zimmerman made that night. >> something's wrong with him. he's coming to check me out. he's got something in his hand. i don't know what his deal is. >> are you following him? >> yes. >> we don't need you to do that. okay. >> so, you have two different stories coming out here. the family and the attorney saying that it was trayvon who was the one who you can hear on some of these calls, asking for help pleading for help. but zimmerman claims it was him asking for help. still a long way to go in all of this. >> you know, the more questions could be brought up than answers with all of this new evidence. thank you very much. here is a rundown of some of the stories we're covering over the

norman wolfinger stepping down to avoid con picture of appearance.pecial prosecutor stepping in and stating law cited by police for not having charged zimmerman may not have covered his case. >> florida's justifiable use of deadly force law including the recent addition to the law that people commonly refer to as stand your ground may or may not be applicable law on this. >> reporters asking city manager what temporary means. >> once i have a report that demonstrates to me--that shows me the actions of the police department, and how they formed this instance, that's temporary. >> george zimmerman's father, robert, defending his son and blasting the media. the media portrayal of george as a racist could not be further than the truth. at no time did george confront mr. martin. even the candidates of the g.o.p. nomination lined up. newt gringrich with his condolence. >> while this is a tragedy,age it is a tragedy. they will seek justice. >> mitt romney what happened to trayvon martin is a tragedy. there needs to be a thundershower rowneeds to bea thorou

comes on then to justify those decisions, and now that we know that, it's a terrific thing that wolfinger has stepped aside and there's now a special prosecutor following this case. the fact that the lead prosecutor wanted to arrest him that night is a very important development. that hasn't stopped the conservative attacks against poor trayvon martin. remember, he's the one that died. here's emotional pleas from his parents saying to stop these attacks. >> even in death, they are still disrespecting my son, and i feel that that's a shame. >> the only comment that i have right now is that they've killed my son and now they're trying to kill his reputation. >> so, how are they doing that? >> well, they got some damaging tweets. they went and found his twitter account, didn't like the name involved in the twitter account and they have found two original tweets, some retweets with two original tweets out of 150 that apparently were wrong and this is what they're to us now on conservative blogs: saying i can't believe he came out with that, and he didn't. it's a song. >> oh, my god he quoted

prosecutor in the case of trayvon martin's killing after the state attorney for the 18th circuit norm wolfinger volunteered to recuse himself. angela corey is taking over. a new task force will be held to hold hearings about the shooting and make recommendations for changing any of the state laws that might have affected this shooting, including the stand your ground law. last night on this program in his first national television appearance, norm bonaparte, the city manager who has the power to fire sanford police chief bill lee was pressed repeatedly by al sharpton and me on firing the chief. >> can you see any reason that he should be continuing in this job satisfy there any reason you see tonight why you should not fire him tonight? >> i stated that i think it should be reviewed by law enforcement experts. that's the point that i think. i need to have facts. >> and today in sanford at 3:39 p.m., mr. bonaparte introduced the chief at a police conference where the chief made this announcement. >> as a former investigator and a father i am keenly aware of the emotions of this tragic death of a

cory replacing the state attorney wolfinger last week. and serino, who investigated the case, said he looked forward for the truth coming out. joe oliver giving the truth according to george zimmerman knowing that he had been in a life or death struggle. >> we know if we weren't sit sitting here george shooting trayvon, we would be talking about trayvon shooting george. >> trayvon's father speaking about it very differently. >> zimmerman was able to unholster his weapon and fire one shot, and trayvon fell back and said you got in. >> martin adding that put his b.s. detecter in high gear. >> i was saying to myself, no way. at that point i knew there was something terribly wrong. >> there was and is. and in washington another dynamic playing out. bobby rush making that point on racial profiling in the house. >> just because someone wears a hoodie does not make them a hoodlum. the bible teaches us mr. speaker--he has shown-- >> the member at the chair--will not require you but you do justly. >> bobby rush violated rule pa 17 prohibiting the

hours later, the local state attorney, norman wolfinger, recused himself from the case. president obama has made a swing through western states to promote his ministrations so- called all of the above energy policy. thursday, he appeared in cushing, oklahoma to announce his support for transcanada to build the southern leg of its keystone oil pipeline from oklahoma to texas. the move comes two months after obama rejected the canada to texas keystone xl pipeline after large protests by environmental groups. there's a bottlenecked right here because we cannot get enough of the oil to our refineries fast enough. if we could, then we would be able to increase our oil supplies at a time when they are needed as much as possible. right now a company called transcanada has applied to build a new pipeline to speed more oil from cushing to state of the refineries in the gulf coast. today i'm directing my administration to cut through the red tape, a brick through the bureaucratic hurdles, and make this project a priority to go ahead and get it done. >> president obama boasted his

. >> do you know the state's attorney wolfinger, who recommended that they not press charges and told the lead investigator at the time not to go down that road? >> no. it's a terrible mistake and the law really does not give them the excuse to do that. they're referring to what's known as the hold your ground or stand your ground law, which i often refer to as the shoot to kill law. that's a law that led to a tripling -- a tripling -- in so-called justifiable homicides in florida from the year it was enacted all the way to the present. it's a bad law, but it does not apply to this situation. it does not apply to chasing after someone and shooting them in the chest. >> would that be hard to prove with the stand your ground law as maybe something that the zimmerman team would use as a defense? >> listen, juries figure out that sort of thing and things way more complicated that than kind of thing all the time. there's no way that zimmerman can argue that he was simply standing his ground. that law was meant to apply to people who were in their homes, maybe in their cars, not someone who

then i was told by a source with knowledge of the investigation that the state attorney norman wolfingerh the chief and the chief of investigations either at the scene or at the police station which ratchets up the unusual nature of this even more. why were the three top guys in law enforcement and law here in this county on the scene of this shooting if there were no police involved, no prominent citizen involved. well, the speculation is george zimmerman's dad is a retired judge, lives in nearby lake mary. that leaves question what is brought these senior level people to the scene. >> thank you, joy-ann. you sat down with trayvon martin's parents. let's play a little bit of what they told you and we'll come back and talk about it. >> zimmerman was able to unholster his weapon and fire one shot and trayvon fell back and said you got me. that's what the police initially told me. >> what was your reaction to that account? >> saying to myself no way. at that point i knew there was something terribly wrong. >> that was tracy martin, trayvon's father. tell me more about the interview. sittin

in a statement, norm wolfinger said, quote, i share in the desire of the family and the community whoccurately collect and evaluate all the facts surrounding the tragic death of trayvon martin. this come as police released new 911 call late yesterday made by george zimmerman, the man who shot martin. those calls were made over the past six months. keep in mind this is before the shooting itself involving trayvon martin. sanford pliss say zimmer magic called him 46 times since january 2011 reporting suspected break-ins, suspicious people and other incidents. police released six calls and in four of them zimmerman reported suspicious men in the neighborhood. >> what did they look like? are they white, black or hispanic? >> black males. one is wearing a white shirt. they're at the back gate of the neighborhood. >> now here's a portion of another call released by police where zimmerman is reporting two people he said he's never seen before. >> we've had a lot of break-ins in our neighborhood recently and i'm on the neighborhood watched and there is two suspicious characters at the gate of

wolfinger, came to the scene or to the police station the night of the shooting and in consultation witholice chief and the head of investigations overruled the lead investigator, the lead homicide investigator in the case and said that there was not enough information to charge zimmerman and therefore they cut him loose. we know there were other things, forensic examination and took zimmerman back to the scene to do a reenact meant of what happened and ultimately let him go. that is at the doorstep of the state attorney. >> they didn't take his clothes. they didn't examine them for signs of blood or any kind of injury, did they? >> now that's in question. the orlando sentinel reported that in fact they did take zimmerman's clothing, that they did take them for later examination. i think what's also significant here in addition to the fact they apparently did take his gun as well, so that is misinformation that's out there. what's significant is the state attorney initially took the case when police cycled up to his office. he didn't refuse to take it despite apparently having made the k

we hadn't heard that before buzz wolfinger you will recall at one point was going to be the state attorney investigating this case. when police sent that case up to him, he, if this is all true, presumably knew he had made the decision not to arrest zimmerman over ruling the homicide investigator who after talking to zimmerman decided he didn't believe the story and filed an affidavit to that account. >> joanne, also what is happening behind the scenes? obviously when you have a report like this that the lead investigator made this recommendation and now the exclusive information you have been able to uncover, what is the police department saying if anything today? >> well, the police department is not talking, tamron. that's one thing that is definitely not happening here in sanford. every piece of information, everyone is being routed up to angela cory's office and the state attorney from a neighboring county in charge of the investigation, and i think what is significant here is that we did see state attorney wochlinger wochl recuse himself. if he was actually on the scene, something th

florida state attorney general norm wolfinger has announced a grand jury will investigate the debt of trevun martin. that neighborhood watchman was heard on tape during a 911 call being told not to approach the teen. family, friends, activists, they have demanded that the alleged shooter be arrested and charged in the teen's death. we'll have much more on those calls and the case. nbc's maria ski campo joins me, and the reverend al sharpton joins me as well. >>> there is a massive manhunt going on right now in france. this after hundreds of police have been on the lookout for a gunman who opened fire outside of a jewish school yesterday killing four people. three of them children. authorities believe the suspect may have filmed this shooting and could also be responsible for shootings last week. schools observed a moment of silence this morning to honor the victims. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundred

. >> reporter: well, angela corey will take over from norm wolfinger whose district includes the cityhe will take a very specific approach at looking at this case, looking at the investigation and she could make a decision on it, take a listen how she plans to look at the case. >> it requires a thorough investigation, extensive interviews of every witness and extensive review of all physical evidence and then a determination how we apply florida law to the facts of any case. we don't worry about backlash from cases. what we worry about is seeking the truth. that is our mission, that is the united states supreme court defined mission for prosecutors is to seek the truth. >> carol, you mentioned the police chief stepping aside, his wording to temporarily remove himself from office, a lot of people at this rally, there were thousands here, many of whom i spoke to, say they are not satisfied with that, they would rather see him resign altogether or be fired from that post. >> george howell reporting live. >>> two years ago president obama signed his health care bill into law and the fight

that is overruled but the state attorney who was norman wolfinger.em, that george zimmerman has declared that this was self-defense and under the stand your ground law, once you make that statement, the rules of investigation begin to change. the burden changes for investigators because you're essentially saying my life was in jeopardy, i had to take a life to save my own. and that's why you had chief lee, who was head of the sanford department until just recently, he was saying we couldn't file charges because of that very clear state law. so that's why you seem to have this conflict. you have the lead investigator saying one thing but he gets overruled. he was overruled because the state of florida law says you can't charge someone until you get more proof and that's what they're trying to do. >> so is the confusion here between the law and what the state attorney says and what have you, the recommendation by the lead investigator, is that what's at issue here? because if there was not -- if not for the stand your ground law, would we be discussing

it was released by the florida state attorney general, norm wolfinger. and the community to accurately collect and evaluate all facts surrounding the tragic death of trayvon martin. that is why i directed the expeditious review of the investigation which was delivered by the sanford police department one week ago today. i respectfully request that the public remain patient as this process continues forward. translate that for you, that means the state attorney won't be talking to the media anytime soon until he gets all the information from the sanford police department. we also found out in the last hour that trayvon martin on that night when he was in that neighborhood in the dark, he was on the phone with a 16-year-old girl. sunny hostin is here. she's found out more information about that phone call. fill us in, sunny. >> thank you, carol. i did have the opportunity to speak with one of the martin family attorneys this morning for about 30 minutes. and she indicated to me that, yes, trayvon martin was on the phone with a 16-year-old girl who was a fr

angela cory will take over for norm wolfinger, whose district includes the city of sanford and cory explained to look into this case. take a listen. >> it requires a thorough investigation, extensive interviews of every witness and extensive review of all physical evidence and then a determination as to how we apply florida's law to the facts of any case. we don't worry about backlash from cases. what we worry about is seeking the truth. that's our mission. that's the united states supreme court finds mission for prosecutor, is to seek the truth. >> reporter: let's talk about george zimmerman. again he is not charged with anything, free to go wherever he'd like to go. police, we learned, through the city manager, know exactly where he is, and again on april 10th, that is the day that a grand jury will convene and that will be the day where we find out if george zimmerman could be put behind bars after what happened. >> george howell, interesting, especially when angela corey said those words "we don't worry about that backlash" well that backlash is there all across the country, where you're