The death of former nfl player joe mcknight. The Sheriffs Office said that Ronald Gasser admitted to shooting mcknight but still too early in the investigation to charge him. If we are truly worried about fairness and equity to all of the parties involved, they will allow this investigatory process to proceed in the deliberate and credible manner it should and will be conducted. And now we are learning new details about what exactly happened in those moments leading up to mcknights death. Mr. Gasser did not stand over mr. Mcknight and fire shots into him. The three casings were located within the vehicle. Mr. Gasser was in his vehicle when he fired three shots. So gasser was questioned last night by police and then released, not held. The sheriff is talking about why. Out of an abundance of caution, look. The easiest thing for me would have been book him, dano. Right . But the fact of the matter is that in trying to flush out these details as it relates to all of this and not having that rush to judgment and doing this in a very deliberate and appropriate fashion, we chose not to do that. Msnbc Jacob Rascone is following the story in louisiana. You heard the sheriff talking about the moments leading up to this incident. His account saying contradicting, right . What an eyewitness had apparently told police that the suspect was standing over mcknight when this happened. What else do we know about the leadup here and what may have unfolded . Community activists and other concerned citizens have been out here all day demanding justice and answers fast. They want an indictment and horrified that this person, Ronald Gasser, who admitted to killing joe mcknight would he set free with no charges, at least not yet. The sheriff said not only with were the witnesses statements misleading but they didnt match up with the facts of the case. There was some sort of road rage incident where maybe cut somebody off. They are not entirely sure there but after whatever consent happen incident happened joe mcknight walked up to gassers car on the passenger side and gasser sitting in his drivers seat shot through the window three times, hitting him twice in the torso. The witness who said that gasser was standing over mcknights body cursing at him and shooting at him were false and that is what a lot of those Community Activists and others we talked to today have been concerned about, how could he possibly be let go . How could there possibly be any sort of selfdefense case here if he was standing over his body and shooting him . Well, the sheriff said none of that happened and none of that is accurate. So there is still a lot of unclear points here but the sheriff basically said, look, we let him go because its unclear whether this was a justified homicide or not and with we need time to collect the facts and we determined we would let him be out while we gathered those facts. They are still working with the d. A. s office to come up whether there will be charges or not here. So that is sort of the process moving forward. It seems at this point is figure you out whether there is enough evidence here to charge Ronald Gasser in this case . Reporter right. There really is. There are some things that we have looked at here. There is, for example, a stand your ground type law that pertains to car jackings when somebody comes up to you and its specific to louisiana. A number of things that they are going to look at. The sheriff eluded to some laws they are looking at that might make this justified and something in play here, we know that. Jacob ra shortstscone, thank. Ari, a lot of people are wondering why the sheriff let gasser go. You have to have a crime to charge someone with when you hold them for anything longer than just asking them questions or what is sometimes called custodial interrogations. The larger question we have moved past what happened yesterday is, is this person mr. Gasser charged for a crime for what we do know, which is shooting someone who reportedly was unarmed and shooting them to death or not. I think that is the big question. We are looking at the footage there of mr. Gasser there handcuffed outside of the car afterward. Whether or not there were misstatements from witnesses which, quite frankly, is pretty common isnt a big issue. A xu does that play into the circumstances surrounding this, the last 48 hours here . What the police chief was calling the wrong set of the facts. Also a journalist, i take issue with part of the chiefs presentation today. He said the only facts that are coming out are from himself, the coroner, and the d. A. That is not true. Journalists have a role in digging into these stories. The community has a role, obviously, if there is misinformation that may be misleading to the community. But what we basically heard was trust you, we are the government and everyone else go home. Thats not how this works. So some scrutiny, not pressure, but some scrutiny of the governments role here and the investigation i think is perfectly proper and warranted. When you have charges you have not just the d. A. s version of the events in fairness to mr. Gasser you may have his lawyers version of the erchts vents. What we also learned was that the man who actually raised joe mcknight, his sort of father figure is a sheriffs deputy in the Sheriffs Office and came out what i call an unusual part of this press conference. The chief bring up race. No one else did. Not us reporting this far because that hasnt come in in terms of a direct evidence issue and certainly none of the reporters there, including Gabe Gutierrez. But then or jacob i should say. He is work ago different story for us today that ive been talking about. I will say that then chief norman brought up in this press conference we know race a factor. We dont know. We dont know much of what transpired here. I think it would be good for us to heed the chiefs words even though he didnt live up to them all which is we dont know and that means we dont know what happened and we dont know whether it was a crime or potentially, based on the evidence, could be an argument that there was a justified shooting there. When one person is armed and the other isnt i wouldnt say the most natural theory is no crime. I would say the investigation would proceed on the possibility of a crime and im being as fair as possible. That brings me to the question, right . You know, there is a person who has been killed, shot and killed. We know that. There is somebody else who was at the scene with him. This person was questioned, Ronald Gasser, by police and brought in and then let go. Why not just, from a legal perspective, from a Law Enforcement perspective, could they have just held him . You know . Without speculating on whether or not he may ab flight risk. Why not just hold him until they can figure out if there are charges . The short answer on this is we are not in north korea and not in cuba. The government cannot hold people even if they suspect them of serious crimes unless they are charged and then youre brought before the judge and the judge before the government is what is your probable cause for this. There may be nothing wrong with the fact the authorities dont have enough evidence to figure out what kind of information they would charge with and they want to get their evidence straight. The third question that people ask, wait, is this person a flight risk . They have, obviously, done what they think they need to do, the authorities, to secure this or keep an eye on a suspect to make sure if and when they did want to bring them in, they could. What are you looking for as far as what is next . I think what is next is what is the theory of the case what transpired between the two individuals before the shooting. We are told not good Surveillance Video that has emerged and some witness accounts are not reliable. What did mr. Gasser say to precipitate the shooting and what other evidence was there . When you have this shooting in broad daylight, there isnt a enough to support a justified homicide until we learn the kind of information which we may. Another case youve been watching today is a case we are watching also. A jury not able to reach a decision in the trial of michael slagr. A former Police Officer recorded on cell phone video shooting walter scott after a traffic stop. Coming up, we are going live to charleston with the latest in this very high profile case. In politics, Donald Trumps latest cabinet pick getting high marks from the left and right with general james dog mattis for secretary of defense. Now details from 15 years ago is coming out so could this hurt mattis Going Forward . We are diving into it next. But when my back pain got bad, i couldnt sleep. I had trouble getting there on time. Then i found aleve pm. Aleve pm is the only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour strength of aleve. For pain relief that can last into the morning. Look up at a new day. Hey guys now im back. Aleve pm for a better am. My dad called them up and asked for the Jennifer Garner card which is such a dad thing to do. After he gave his name the woman from capital one said mr. Garner, are you related to jennifer . Kind of joking with him. 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We are going to appoint mad dog mattis as our secretary of defense. But we are not announcing it until monday, so dont tell anybody mad dog. Hes great. So that was the surprise. Cabinet announcement was last night in cincinnati from donald trump. The president elect really wasnt expected to make a ton of news at his rally in cincinnati, at least not on the cabinet front. But according to his top aides, trump went off script and decided to announce that key appointment general james mattis as his defense secretary. Nbc news uncovering accusations of an officer who fought alongside general mattis and said mattis refused to rescue or delayed the rescue of soldiers who were hit in a smart case in a friendly fire. In this exclusive report from nbc news, the officer says general mattis, quote, left my men to die. He has received bipartisan support from the senators who have to confirm him. Technically he is not eligible for the post as of now because he hasnt been out of military service for the seven years that is required. To talk about that part of the story i bring in kelly odonnell. When we talk about this waiver, we call this waiver for general mattis. The senate can waive the requirement. Do you think its going to end up happening or do you see that as being more of a barrier to his nomination . What is the political sense where you are . Well, it is different from confirmation where only the senate is involved. This would enacting a new law that would exempt him. You talked about serving as the head of the department of defense where that is supposed to be a civilian job. This will be a multistep process where both the house and senate have to pass a law that exempts him and waiver is a casual word we have been all been using and not the technical term. Only in this instance would they exempt him from this federal law. After that should that go forward and we expect some resistance because of the idea of the institution of having a civilian leader to the pentagon. Lets say that clear that hurdle and then to the more traditional confirmation route where Senate Armed Services would have that confirmation hearing and he would be asked questions including some im sure on the subject you were jug take about. Also his history and record and how would he serve and the issue of being someone who has been a general in this position trying to find out from him if he can really separate himself from his long military career and serve as a civilian. If it clears that hurdle, then it goes to the full senate for confirmation. What is notable is both democrats and republicans speak very highly of him in terms of his background and his ideas and positions where he differs from donald trump, including on the use of torture. So hard to predict. But there are more steps for mattis that other big name cabinet nominees. Among those other big named cabinet nominees are a few we still havent heard about and among those, i think the high profile position of secretary of state is the one everyone is looking at. It was defense and now we have a sense of defense. What are you hearing about the jockeying of position for the secretary of state job and when we might hear something more from donald trump or his Transition Team . Well, this really is one of the biggest jobs because it is fourth in the order of succession in the event of some tragic happening to the government. So its very important. Its also one of the big symbols around the world when a secretary of state land in a country around the globe, they really are the united states. So it is big. We have seen the field expand. It was Rudy Giuliani and mitt romney a couple of names and David Petraeus floated in there and now extended to the ceo realm of rex tiller of exxon. We dont have a specific timing but it does suggest that trump is having some difficulty coming to a determination or perhaps he is holding back on the big job to make an announcement at a time when he can have as big as splash as possible. We have seen what appear to be outward times where romney star roads and faded and the same thing with pa tray utah answer Rudy Giuliani said he wanted that job and not talked about in a public sense many days now. Where is donald trump on this . Its a very big job. He is soliciting lots of opinions from those in his inner circle but much more broadly about the kind of person who should serve as secretary of state and there has been a real debate within his own inner circle about the type of person, the loyalty test, and the background they need to bring. Kelly odonnell, excellent points and not a bad thing for Rudy Giuliani the jockeying him is not because of comments made. I want to talk about mattis left men to die. Walk us through your reporting, ken, and what youve learned. Thanks. Good to see you. So this is an old story that is gaining new currency now that mattis is trumps pick to run the pentagon. Basically, 15 years ago on monday, actually, a group of Army Special Forces green berets were on a secret mission and they were accompanying hamid karzai who later would become the president of afghanistan. They were hit by a u. S. Smart bomb in a friendly fire incident. So we had two dead americans, many wounded americans, a bunch of dead afghan soldiers, and they needed a rescue mission so the army went to the closest American Unit and that was a marine units commanded by general mattis a 45minute flight away. The army asked him to please mount a Helicopter Rescue mission to bail out the wounded and mattis refused according to the green berets. All of this was chronicled in a 2011 book whose author eric blum interviewed many of the people involved. Mattis has never commented on it, though. So what happened is the mattis helicopters didnt launch. Another group of helicopters flew from pakistan, three hours away to rescue the green berets and even though they werent supposed to fly in daylight. Jason amarin is a retired green beret now and commander of the system and said mattis left his men to field. Mattis has not commented. We have reached out to mattis and the trump Transition Team, have not heard a response. Its important to point out that there is no evidence that anybody died as a result of the length of time they are left in the field but many of the green berets have said they felled betrayed by mattis. Ken, thanks very much. To be clear as you mentioned, general mattis has not responded or talked about that. Im going on breaking news. Judge talking to the jury in South Carolina killing case, the shooting death of an unarmed black man. Listen. Our heart does want to have to tell the scott family that the man that killed their son, brother, and father, is innocent. But with the choices, i cannot and will not change my mind. That came not from the foreperson but from a juror. The foreperson then wrote, its just one juror that has the issues. Then the foreperson wrote, need to leave. That juror needs to leave. He is having issues. Thank you. Sorry for all of the notes. What says the state . [ inaudible ] im sure that and that would be our only option. What says the defense . Your honor [ inaudible ]. As i stated earlier, most of the notes have been inartfully written. I read some of them clearer than they have been on paper. But the note says its just one juror that has the issues. Of course, it came along with the letter from the juror who says he cannot convict. The question is whether the wording of this note is just one juror that has the issues. Is that a declaration by the jury that the jury is hopelessly deadlocked . Or should the court get a clear declaration from the jury on that issue . A clearer declaration on that issue. I dont know any reason that a form for them to say we are deadlocked. Well, that would be the question i would pose to the foreperson to make that declaration, if it should be done. I would object to you doing that. [ inaudible ]. Well, generally, we would get a letter saying that, judge, we have deliberated some more and we still cant reach a verdict. As opposed to its just one juror who has the issues. So im going to have the clerk go and have the jury foreperson let me know with clarity whether or not the jury is hopelessly deadlocked and we will sit right here. You