Transcripts For MSNBCW Meet The Press 20200601 : vimarsana.c

Want to call our military. Well have reports from around the country. My guests this morning, keith ellison, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, washington d. C. Mayor muriel bowser, and val demings. Also, those protests happening in a country already on edge from a virus that killed more than 100,000 americans and put more than 40 million out of work. As much of the country is trying to return to some form of normalcy, often ignoring social distancing. You see no masks here. You see no fear. Were all just embracing it. Prompting fears of a second wave. Every community is one wild weekend from falling off the cliff. Joining me for insight and analysis are msnbc anchor joshua johnson, maria teresa kumar, president of voto latino. And former republican governor, pat mccrory of North Carolina. Welcome to sunday and a special edition of meet the press. Announcer from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is a special edition of meet the press with chuck todd. Good sunday morning. America is waking up today to two crises. One is so new its actually called the novel coronavirus. The second, another kind of virus, institutional racism. Well, thats been with us for some 400 years. Overnight, there were protests in dozens of cities across this country, anger erupting over Police Brutality toward africanamericans. Most demonstrations were peaceful. Others had confrontation and yes, some violence. A look around the country, from washington, d. C. To chicago to new york to where it all started, minneapolis. This, of course, comes after a black man, george floyd, was killed in police custody. When a Minneapolis Police officer kept his knee on floyds neck until he was dead. The officer, derek chavin, has been charged with third degree murder and Second Degree manslaughter. All this while the country was tallying the losses from the coronavirus. We have now lost more than 104,000 lives to the coronavirus and 40 million jobs as well. In both of those cases, africanamericans have been particularly victimized and both cases, President Trump has failed to respond in a manner we have come to expect from previous president s. It was not to glue people together, but to exploit the racial divide. He initially tweeted when the looting starts, the shooting starts, though he later tried to walk it back. He seems more interested in changing the subject, let alone addressing it. Tweeting instead about mailin balloting, barack obama, russia, china, my colleague joe scarborough, the media, the stock market, and twitter itself. So were following two hugely consequential and historic stories and were going to start with the nationwide protests. We have correspondents all across this country and well begin with Shaquille Brewster reporting on the ground from minneapolis where things were much quieter last night. Shaq, what do you got . Good morning, chuck. For the first time in four days, minneapolis residents are waking up to scenes absent of burning buildings and overnight widespread destruction. An historic activation of the National Guard insisting the local and state police have allowed officers to regain control of the city even as protests continue throughout the city. By the thousands yesterday, protesters came out to demonstrate and clean up the mess from the day before while also trying to remain peaceful in the name of george floyd. A man who we learned this week was considered a man of peace and kindness by his friends and family. But after protesters violated an 8 00 p. M. Curfew, officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd to clear the streets. Protesters say theyll continue to come out, continue to demonstrate, until justice is served. Justice for them is the rest of the three remaining fired Minneapolis Police Department Officers involved in the death of george floyd. Chuck. Shaquille brewster getting us started in minneapolis, shaq, thank you. Turning to blayne alexander. Shes in atlanta, where like minneapolis, things were also quieter last night. What can you report . Yeah, chuck. Good morning to you. Last night, what we saw play out on the streets of atlanta was a much different, much calmer scene than what we watched unfold on friday night. And thats due in large part to two things more rules and more resources. Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms ordered everyone off the streets of atlanta by 9 00 p. M. , and we also saw National Guard troops come in to try to help contain the crowds. Atlanta police tell us they made 70 arrests overnight, and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has authorized even more National Guard troops as many as 3,000 to fan out across the state of georgia as officials here prepare for another night of protests. Chuck. Blayne alexander in atlanta, thank you. Garrett haake is here in washington where hes been following the nightlong protest in Lafayette Park across the street from the white house. Garrett, it was a rough night friday night. How was it last night . Another rough night out here, chuck. Look, largescale public protests are nothing new in washington, d. C. Theres nothing more american than coming to the Nations Capital and yelling at your government, but we saw i think unprecedented levels of anger last night, and frankly, from the protesters i talked to, just exhaustion theyre back in the streets again protesting another Police Killing of another black man. A lot of the protesters say they were out here for freddie gray, for michael brown. They have been having these arguments, having this anger for so long, and they dont feel like its being addressed. And speaking of those president ial tweets of the government response, i asked a number of protesters what they thought about the way the president was handling this. The reaction i got the most was just brushing him off. This is a president who a lot of these folks believe no longer meaningfully speaks for them or to them. Theyre having this conversation without him. Chuck. Garrett haake at Lafayette Park. Thank you. And finally, let me bring in priscilla thompson. Shes in houston, George Floyds hometown. How were things last night . Well, a lot of grief here in houston, chuck. You know, last night or over the course of the past couple days since friday when demonstrations began, more than 200 people have been arrested, but these protests have been by and large peaceful and nonviolent. Instead, what we have been seeing is a number of vigils popping up to honor the life of george floyd. His classmates from Jack Yates High School gathered and released balloons and told stories of what it was like growing up with him, and while theres certainly a lot of anger here and a desire to see justice, theres also an interest in remembering who george floyd was as a person and celebrating that. This comes after the governor has announced George Floyds body will return to houston for funeral services, chuck. Priscilla thompson in houston there where, again, they are mourning the death of their hometown resident, george floyd. Thank you. And thank you to all. Joining me from minneapolis is Minnesota Attorney general keith ellison. Mr. Ellison, welcome back to meet the press. I want to start with the issue of this outside instigators, i guess. Were trying to understand who are the people responsible for this violence. Yourself, the governor, minnesota, has indicated that there is some domestic terrorists out there, perhaps some white supremacists. Bill barr, the attorney general, characterized the outside instigators this way. Let me play that bite and get you to respond. Many places, it appears the violence is planned, organized, and driven by anarchic and left extremist groups. Far left extremist groups using antifalike tactics. Many of whom travel from outside the state to promote the violence. Now, its our understanding, mr. Attorney general, that according to the justice department, they got that intelligence from state and local authorities. What do you know about whos behind this . Well, heres what i know. Theres been a lot of videotape taken by demonstrators of people who are very suspicious, who really did start breaking windows, particularly at the auto zone and there have been other, you know, photographs and cars with no license plates. Very suspicious behavior, but the real point is we need to investigate it because the truth is nobody really knows. I have talked to people demonstrating. Some of them say they think some of the folks are from minnesota and some may have come from out of town. What the exact political motivation is is unclear at this point. We need to investigate it, but what i would say though, particularly as it relates to bill barr and the president , is they have not brought a single pattern and practice lawsuit against a major municipality where theres systemic Police Abuses in america. They have actually tried to walk back their involvement in key states where they existed under the Obama Administration. They have not moved forward when it comes to 21st century policing, which the Obama Administration started. So i think the federal government does have a role, but it needs to be constructing a better relationship between cities and the Police Departments that serve them and making incendiary comments about whos to blame here as opposed to actually investigating it isnt helpful. We need their help to be more constructive and less assigning, you know, blame on matters that actually we dont know the truth of yet. Do you want to see federal charges brought against these four Police Officers, and do you think that will happen under this attorney general . Yes, i do. And i dont know. I hope so. I can tell you that our local u. S. Attorney is a very constructive partner. Erica mcdonald is a minnesotan. Shes a serious prosecutor and Law Enforcement person. And i do trust her. The folks she works for i hope just leave her alone and let her do her job. Let me ask you whats your understand of whether the three other Police Officers, we heard the county attorney saying he expected charges to be brought. Where are we on that, and what do you expect those charges to be if they are brought . Well, you know, i know that were early in the process, chuck. I mean, at this point, there is the two charges of third degree murder and Second Degree manslaughter. That complaint could well be amended to include other additional charges or even higher charges. And the other individuals are not out of the woods. The investigation is ongoing. In answer to your question of what charges, i dont know. I would be speculating. Its not my case. Its not my case. But you know, certainly aiding and abetting is a possibility. And there are others as well. So i think that that is something that the county attorney mike freeman is looking into now. And we expect to hear something in the fairly recent, near future. Big picture, mr. Attorney general. A lot of americans, minnesota has the minnesota nice image. Minnesota has an image of, you know, i know youre an africanamerican man who got elected statewide as attorney general, as the states chief Law Enforcement officer. For some people, they look add this and theyre surprised. Tell us the story of minneapolis and minnesota, why this shouldnt surprise people in your mind. Well, minnesota is kind of a tale of two cities. It really is a beautiful, wonderful place. I love it here. I have raised all four of my kids here. Theres so many great things about it, so many great people. And yet, we have very stark disparities when it comes to africanamericans. Health disparities in health care, Health Disparities in housing. Health disparities when it comes to employment. And disparities all around. I mean, ill give you a quick example. About 70some percent of minnesotans own their own homes but only about 27 of africanamericans do. Africanamericans are in a fragile economic position in this state. And we need massive investment, and what i say to people is, look, if we can have some of the highest s. A. T. Scores in the country, if we can have some of the highest voting participation in the country, highest Home Ownership in the country, for whites, we can do it for everyone. We just have to have the will to do it for everybody. I thing this sad, tragic situation might give us the energy to really, really make those kind of commitments because they are absolutely needed. Keith ellison, the democratic elected attorney general of the state of minnesota, appreciate you coming on this morning. I know its been a long week, long few months for everybody, frankly, in this country. Thanks for coming on and sharing your perspective with us. Thank you. And joining me now is the mayor of washington, d. C. , muriel bowser, and the mayor of atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Welcome to both of you. I know its been a long few days for both of you, probably very little time to sleep. Mayor bowser, let me begin with you. Report about last night. How was it compared to friday night . And do you feel as if that were going to see some calm Going Forward or not . Well, were certainly going to work for that, chuck. Were sending a very clear message to people that they have a right to exercise their First Amendment rights but not to destroy our city. So we saw a level of just destruction and mayhem among some that was maddening. Our crews are out right now cleaning up our city. And we are working with all of our Law Enforcement partners to insure calm in our city. Mayor lance bottoms, you were very passionate on friday night. You said at one point, youre not protesting anything running out with brown liquor in your hands and breaking windows in this city. Go home. You invoked your own 18yearold son, your own concerns, fears you have about him and your kids. How were things last night compared to friday night . Things were a bit more calm. They werent perfect. People were still out protesting by and large peacefully. We had a curfew last night, a 9 00 curfew. We ended up arresting about 157 people last night. So we know the frustration is still there. And all of the issues and all of the concerns and anger that were there on friday havent gone away. But this is more of a systematic issue that were facing thats going to take time for us to address. But certainly acknowledging the deaths of so many innocent people in america, and there are no easy answers, but as mayor bowser said, the solution is not to destroy our cities. Mayor lance bottoms, do you believe there were outside forces at work . We heard from the attorney general. He seemed to think there was some antifalike he said very radical left groups. We heard in minnesota the governor thought there were some very radical far right groups also involved. Have you seen any evidence of any of these outside instigators . What i know in atlanta is that this protest, even just from a physical standpoint, didnt look like our normal protest. We obviously have a large africanamerican population in atlanta. This crowd was a very diverse crowd. And that was noticeable on friday, even before the problems began. We also notice that many of the protesters even got lost when there was a detour, and many of our organizers in the city who often dont agree with me, have shared that these were people from the outside. They did not know them. And had no idea where they came from. Mayor bowser, you have a unique issue. You have one resident in washington, d. C. Who i think was back seat driving you on friday night. Im referring to the president. I know you believe he hasnt played a helpful role. You made that very clear on twitter yesterday. Can he play a helpful role still . Or is it too late . Well, i think that the president has a responsibility to help calm the nation. And he can start by not sending divisive tweets that are meant to harken to the segregationist past of our country, and he can start by doing that right now. We certainly urge him to do that. We, as mayor bottoms has just said, we have systematic issues in our country to address. And its going to take us at every level. Federal and local. Its going to take community and government to heal the hurt that people are feeling. So what you see in cities across our nation, what we saw last night, people who are angry and people who are hurting, and some not doing it in ways that are helpful to our cause, but we still have to acknowledge that hurt and that anger. Mayor bowser, this is happening during a pandemic. You just started a phaseone reopening in d. C. On friday. Im curious, are you concerned that the police wont be respected when they try to enforce social distancing rules right now . Im concerned that we have Mass Gatherings in our streets when we just lifted a stayathome order and what that could mean for spikes in our coronavirus cases later. In fact, im so concerned about it that im urging everybody to consider their exposure. If they need to isolate from their family members when they go home and if they need to be tested because we have worked very hard to blunt the curve. And while i saw some people with masks last night, others didnt. While i saw some people social distancing, others were right on top of each other. So we dont want to compound this deadly virus and the impact that its had on our community. Mayor lance bottoms, i want to go back to the president. Theres some talk he might give an Oval Office Address maybe in the next few days or at least some consideration for it. What would you like to hear from him, and do you think any of his words could be helpful here . What id like to hear from the president i