You see multiple failures. Sunday night at 8 00. Good morning, everyone. This has been the most difficult week in minnesota in recent history and maybe in our entire history. Our community, especially our black community, is hurting beyond words. Minneapolis and st. Paul are on fire. The fires are still smoldering. The ashes are symbolic of decades and generations of pain, much like we failed to hear. , his community, our state. Philando castile, silenced, so many other friends, brothers, sisters, senselessly died in our street. Generations of pain is manifesting itself in front of the world and the world is watching. One of the first people i called after seeing the video was dosrie castile, philan mother. We have become friends. For those watching today who are not familiar, he died in front of his left one and his child and left them behind and the grieving mother who has become an advocate for justice, for reform, but more importantly for kindness and decency. Valerie said first and foremost seek justice, fairness and reach out and show kindness. What the world saw last night was not that very what the world has witnessed since the killing of george floyd on monday has been a visceral pain, a community trying to understand who we are and where we go from here. Im joined today by attorney ellison, colonel langer and john harrington. I spoke this morning with much likeackson who valerie said a prayer for our state and for those grieving, for peace. Then also said something very important. This is the moment where we start but every time we get to this place, we never start the process to make sure it doesnt happen again. That commitment amongst leaders in our community, watching this happen across the United States, another name be added and for those of us old enough, rodney king, mike brown and no george floyd. Situation on the ground doesnt allow us at this time to tackle those issues. The very efforts in our community, our libraries, nonprofits andse government, light rail system, are all shut down from this. We have to restore order to our society before we can start addressing the issues. Before we turn back to where we should be spending our energy, making sure justice is served, justice is served swiftly and we learn something from what george floyd gave on monday. I want to just be very clear. I am going to have the team talk about what transitioned last night when the state assumed responsibility over the 630 of the third precinct, the state secured critical assets and where the land Going Forward to ensure tonight our buildings do not burn, our citizens are sick secure and that space that we are going to create allows us to get back to the conversation of serving justice and making sure that we are not adding to that list of names. I want to be very clear and speak to the community. I understand clearly there is no trust in many of our communities. And the differentiation between the Minneapolis Police department that we witnessed losing trust of those they are there to serve is very difficult for people to make those standing up here with me. I understand that. I will not patronize you as a white man without living those experiences of how difficult that is. Im asking you to help us. Help us use a humane way to get the streets to a place where we can restore the justice so those that are expressing rage and anger and demanding justice are heard. Not those who throw firebombs into businesses that our community of colors have worked so hard to build back up areas that were blighted at one time and they are thriving because of entrepreneurship and hard work. A library in an area where our children, as we know, are institutionally put behind and the achievement gap for our community of color is a shame on the state. We dont repair it. The tools to help with that burned last night. I want to just call out very, very clearly as we put our presence on the street to restore order, it is to open that space, seek justice, and heal what happened. I will not in any way not acknowledge that there is going to be that pain. But my first and foremost responsibility to the state of minnesota is the safety and security of all citizens. We cannot have the looting and the recklessness that went on. We cannot have it because we cannot function as a society. And i refuse to have it take away the attention of the stain we need to be working on is what happened with those fundamental institutional racism that allows a man to be held down in broad daylight, and thank god a young person had a camera to video it. Theres not a person here or listening today that wonders how many times that camera is not there. These are tough questions. These are things that have been brewing in this country for 400 years. We have people out there putting themselves on the line to try to put out fires. Under attack. Those are the things. Help me restore that order. We will do that under state leadership and state guide. You will hear directly of them of once that decision is made, that First Mission is executed around 3 45 at the third precinct, we will see a difference. Im asking you and you will hear from them to talk about this. I also want to think about this dont haves when we that. People who are concerned about police presence, of an overly armed camp in their neighborhoods that is not seen in communities where children of people who look like me run to the police, others have to run from. So i understand that that is out there. Last night i got a call from a friend and a dedicated public servant. Called, froms ray her district and it was on fire. There werent any police there. There were not any firefighters. There was no social control. Her constituents were locked in their house wondering what they were going to do. That is an abject failure that cannot happen. We must restore order to that. Eyes foughtres ra her whole life on these issues of inequity and making sure peoples voices are lifted up. None of us can lift those voices. None of us can tackle those problems if anarchy reigns on the street. I also want to address an issue and this one is on me and i will own it. Earlier this morning when this mission was carried out, under my direction to resecure the third precinct, i am proud of how it was executed by the team, no injuries and no lossoflife. A reestablishment to put the fires out for that business, a cnn reporter and crew was arrested by the state patrol. A few minutes after hearing that, i was on a call with cnn president jeff zucker who demanded to know what happened. I take full responsibility. There is absolutely no reason Something Like that should happen. Calls were made immediately. This is a public apology to that team. I want to be clear, i think our minnesota reporters know this. Im a teacher by trade and i spent my time as governor highlighting the need to be as transparent as possible and have the press here. I failed you last night and in that. It does not escape me that we are here on the catalyst that lit this spark by what happened with the police detainment of george floyd and the idea that a reporter would have been taken while another Police Action was in play is inexcusable. So to cnn, to the cnn team, the journalists here, this is about having a plan. That is what these folks are going to talk about. This is about having an aggressive approach to understanding what the community needs. To not coming in heavyhanded. With them, but to create space where the story can be told. This, even when we are clearing an area, we have got to ensure there is a safe spot for journalism to tell the story. The issue here is trust. The community down there that is terrorized by this, if they see a reporter being arrested, the assumption is something is going to happen that they dont want to be seen. That is unacceptable. We will continue to strive to make sure that that accessibility is maintained. Not only that, the protection, security and safety of the journalists covering this is a top priority. Not because it is a nice thing to do. Because it is a key to how we fix this. Sunshine, disinfectant and seeing what is happening has to be done. So again i appreciate president zuckers call. I appreciate his understanding in a situation that he was rightfully, incredibly angry. And that falls squarely on me. That apology has been issued. And i think Going Forward to make sure it doesnt happen again. It is time for us to clean our streets. It is time for us to execute today in a way that shows respect and dignity to communities. Im going to ask for a lot of help today of those folks who want to see it. It is my expectation that justice for the officers involved in this will be swift. That it will come in a timely manner. That it will be fair. That is what we have asked for. I have been in contact with the county attorney. And i am confident that those very things i just said will happen. Towill continue at the bca do a fair, a full, and swift gathering of all of the evidence involved. But i would reiterate again for so many of us, not all that is done in every other case where all that evidence is gathered before. I would ask that the swift justice be carried out. So minnesotans, your pain is real. The chapter that has been written this week is one of our darkest chapters. And we can choose a few things. We can choose to try and get past this. We can choose to put a force out there to stop things from happening. We can hope in the midst of covid19 it passes by. We dont have to turn that mirror to look at the harsh reality of those underlying gaps, whether it be health care disparities, whether it be educational disparities in our community color. Whether it be policing disparities, they are all very real. We pride ourselves on a state of openness. We pride ourselves on a state of being friendly. I have talked a lot about one minnesota. That was not on display last night. I dont naively think everything heals, and you come to the forefront, and you say it will be better. This is a community that demands and should expect more than words. They should expect results. Lieutenant governor flanigan and i have tried to make equity the center of everything we have done. But obviously in minneapolis on monday night, there was not a lot of equity for george floyd. His family is probably wondering where the one minnesota is for them. And that is on us, us as minnesotans. Us as the governor and the team that works with me to put the things in order to establish order in our streets, to establish and rebuild trust in our communities, to lift those voices up and be heard, not pleading for their lives, but demanding the changes necessary so no one else is put into that position. Time told like at this turn it over to minnesotas ellison. General keith governor, thank you. Martin luther king said many years ago that riot is the way that the unheard get heard. He did not condone it, but he said to the nation as a person who always protested peacefully, that dont just dismiss that and ignore it and relegate it to just criminality and bad behavior. Actually ask yourself what is going on there . Is it something that we as a society absolutely must attention to . I think we must Pay Attention to it. I would like everyone to recognize the fact that the National Guard just a week ago was administering covid19 tests to help people. To help people. The presence you see on the streets, dont react to them the way you might react to the Minneapolis Police department. It is not the same group. They have different leadership, different authority. And their job is to try to bring peace and calm back again. Please remember that this is not the group you associate with unfair conduct. But it is a group that in fact just a week ago was trying to make sure minnesotans could survive and thrive and live because we are still in the middle of a pandemic. It is that sense of service, when they get involved, when it comes to natural disasters, storms, floods, rain, diseases, now they have to restore order on the streets. I hope the community who is protesting will protest ascefully but not see this occupation by another military force. Cans making sure everybody operate peacefully. Everybody keeps asking the question, when . When . When . When . When . This is a perfectly legitimate question. It is important to know that minnesotas statutes, the primary jurisdiction is with the county attorney in which the offense occurred. And i believe that the message has been sent and received that the wheels of justice must turn swiftly. , expeditiously, thoroughly, fairly. Swiftly. It is important that people have confidence that accountability no matter who you may be, it is how we live in minnesota. Let me also say that this prosecution, this investigation, this criminal process is important, and it is, and the whole country and world is looking at it. Cannot solve the problem, as the governor so eloquently said, events like this start and come to a conclusion, but we never start the process of real reform. I will submit to you that myself and commissioner harrington, under the leadership of the governor, have already started a process on the working group on preventing and reducing deadly encounters with police. We have a report that we want attention from the legislature and the entire community on, to focus on that so we could really get to the bottom of this when it comes to use of force, when it comes to officer wellness, community feeling, training issues all kinds of , things to bear on this issue. And it is not just those things. I believe the real working group is the implementation of this. And that really begins in earnest now. It is more important now i think than ever. So i just want to, as i conclude my remarks, i want to say that we have to have the situation where lake street, a precious jewel of our state, is a place where minnesotans can walk again. Where businesses can be safe again. I want to conclude that if the message was, this situation with with this situation with mr. Floyd is intolerable, absolutely unacceptable, it must change, that message has been sent and received as well. And the governor, myself, the lieutenant governor, all of us are committed to that longterm change. I could tell you i spoke with money legislators who feel the same way. People in the community feel the same way. I think we are going to do some real changing. We are not just going to fix the windows and sweep up the grass. We will fix the shattered society that leaves so many people behind based on their historical legacy of being in bondage and servitude, then secondclass citizenship, now fraught with disparities from conservation to housing to wages and everything else. With that i want to hand it over to general benson, Major General jensen who will further elaborate. Thank you very much. Good morning. I am Major General john jensen, Minnesota ArmyNational Guard. I have been acting general since november 17. What i will describe this morning very quickly is the actions of the minnesota National Guard since we were mobilized under the governor walzs executive order. Like many minnesotans i woke up yesterday morning to the news that the minneapolis mayor had requested National Guard support. The only difference was i opened up my phone and there was a text from commissioner harrington. It wasnt the newspaper or the morning news that notified me of that. So immediately yesterday morning made contact with the commissioner. And we began planning on the potential deployment of the minnesota National Guard in support of minneapolis. For those of you that may not understand how Emergency Management works in minnesota, i am going to take a quick moment and explain it. The coordinators may request National Guard support through the state e. O. C. So in accordance with that, the minneapolis mayor made that request of the minnesota National Guard, which traditionally comes with the request is the layout of the capability needed and exactly the problem that is trying to be solved. Typically the request for the guard and that type of information comes the same time. Sometimes it lags. So when it lags, what we do is we begin preparing for an unknown mission. But in this case we sort of knew what we might be doing as it related to civil disturbance in minneapolis. It is very important we know exactly what we are being asked to do so we know we have the right equipment. We mobilize the right number of soldiers, and the right number of soldiers and airmen who will support those soldiers that will conduct the mission. That element was lacking. But with the governors decision to allow me to continue to plan we began notifying soldiers , early yesterday morning of a pending mission. Once we notified our soldiers, again with the governors verbal approval, we began mustering our soldiers and moving them into the metro area, knowing the most likely probability of ointment deployment was going to be minneapolis. As we met as a senior team yesterday afternoon, the one topic that continued to be discussed was the lack of clarity and the lack of a mission and a description of what exactly the minnesota National Guard needed to do. My concern to the governor was twofold. One, i didnt know what special equipment i might need to accomplish the mission. And two, i was very concerned about being asked to move to unfamiliar area of minneapolis under the cover of darkness. I wanted to get out when it was still daylight, when my soldiers familiarn had become with the terrain and familiar with their mission. We never got such mission assignment. We never got such mission description. Yesterday, we performed four missions in support of the governors executive order. The First Mission came from the governor directly. That came when we were notified of an immediate and pending threat to the state capital. My immediate advice to the governor was to assign that mission to the minnesota National Guard. And he agreed. With one caveat, and that is the state control also wanted to support that mission. In cooperation with the state control, we began that mission. The second and Third Mission came together. It came from st. Paul, specifically it was to provide security to the Ramsey CountyLaw Enforcement center and the Minnesota Bureau of criminal apprehension. The key part of that security was to ensure that st. Paul Police Officers were not required to secure those facilities. They were therefore relieved of that duty and able respond in able to respond throughout the city of st. Paul throughout the day. And then the last mission we did receive yesterday evening was an Escort Mission for the Minneapolis Fire Department. The concept of the operation is we would move, link up with the Minneapolis Police department, and if they went into unsecure and dangerous areas that we would secure the area so they could perform their lifesaving and property saving missions. And we continued to do those missions through the evening. , athe governor indicated quarter after midnight this morning my the governor authorized a law and Order Mission to the third precinct, what we would call in the military a clear and security mission. So under the leadership of the state patrol, and the department of Public Safety, the minnesota National Guard was assigned a task and a mission in support of the state patrol. We would follow the state patrol and we would help secure the area that they cleared. Our soldiers remained in that area, as i speak now, still on that mission, still securing that location. So people and mdot can come in and begin the cleanup of that area. Now we also picked up one of one other mission with the city of minneapolis. I will not cover the exact details, but it is ongoing right now with the Minneapolis Police department. I am proud of the relationship that goes back to super bowl 52. The chief and i worked together during that super bowl. So we have had opportunities to serve together, and i have a lot of respect for him. We will continue to operate in minneapolis until such time the governor relieves us of that mission, and we will do so in support of the department of Public Safety and the Minnesota State patrol. That is just a little bit of background with the minnesota National Guard did since yesterday morning when we first were notified of a possible deployment, through the deployment and through our mission set last night and early this morning. My recommendation this morning to the governor was i continue to do the state capital mission, and that i continue to do a mission in support of the fire department. I believe both of those are very critical missions, both to the state and to minneapolis. And then we will conduct followup missions again to the Minnesota State patrol and the department of Public Safety. At this time i would like to introduce the commissioner of the department of Public Safety, commissioner john harrington. Good morning. My name is john harrington. I am the commissioner of the department of Public Safety. Governor walz tasked me to prepare options and capacity and capabilities to respond to the civil unrest protests, but more importantly and more directly, to the unlawful behavior of the arsonists, the thieves, the burglars, the vandals who were tearing apart the city of minneapolis. I want to make it clear that that is a clear line of demarcation that we were operating under, because it is fundamental to the department of Public Safety. It is fundamental to the state patrol that we take an oath to support the constitution, and that we believe our work is absolutely essential to allow everyones First Amendment right to have their voices heard. We have not be deployed to stifle free speech. Ut we will not and can not allow unlawful, dangerous behavior to continue. Im particularly proud of our relationship with the mission of the National Guard and the department of Natural Resources and the department of Public Safety and the Minnesota State patrol. We called and they came. And literally, it was that it doesnt make it more complicated than that. Im going to need you here in the city and need you for two or three days or may need you longer than that and i can tell you what i may need you to do yet, but i know i need you and they came. They began preparing readiness to move folks from all over the state of minnesota, from miles and miles away to come to the metro area to be prepared to help us keep the peace. Over the course of the day, i met with my counterparts in minneapolis and st. Paul to talk about what missions they needed he state to help them fulfill. The department of Public Safety at that point was calling to say we are here to support you. We are your partners. Tell us what you need and will fill in the gaps and tell us the resources and we will help you get it. And we did get some very specific missions and in other cases, we not nothing at all. In the absence of a real mission, we began to identify where the critical needs were. Patrol, well state tasked division of National Guard to do specific missions and tasked them to be flexible because if things continue to evolve, we might need to pivot and shift from a static post of guarding Critical Infrastructure to a fastmoving operational approach of restore and order. Comb midnight last night, i was taken to a call where that pivot had to be made where the mayor , minneapolis called and said they had no resources and were not able to meet the Public Safety needs and control the behaviors that were occurring on lake street. They had lost the 3rd precinct and concerns about a gas main and concerns about continued looting and fires burning while theyity of minneapolis and had comparable concerns of looting and fires being set in the city of st. Paul, so we had to divide our resources to meet the needs of both of the twin cities. The task the governor gave me was pretty simple. It was to hold together a team that could go in and keep the peace, protect people. Protect them, protect their safety, protect their lives, protect their liberty. And to protect property that was eing burned up literally every inute that we delayed. Hen opinion sheer was my first calls. The police chief offered support. And the chief of police of the metro transit offered support. And with that team together, we go in ther 250 team to and restore order on lake street. We created a mission. It was very specific. Im a missiondriven person. We talked about the fact that we were going to be respectful of peoples rights and we were going to keep the peace and make people safe and we were going to follow our training and protocols by making a public announcement that they need to clear the streets. And if they didnt clear the those we made announcements repeatedly so no one would be confused about our intent or what we were there to do and we began to move to clear the streets. I will tell you that the vast majority of the great people of minnesota and the great people of minneapolis who are having their guts ripped out about the floyd murder and well call it a murder, thats what it looked like to me. I dont want to prejudice this from a criminal perspective. m calling it as i see it. They dont want people out there on the streets at 3 00 in the morning when we arrived. People out there on lake street in 3 00 hurt the people. They werent the people that wanted to mourn the loss of a friend, a relative and a neighbor. And then they saw the National Guard, Minnesota State patrol and this team moving down the street. Vast majority of them did what we thought they would do. They left. There were a few that decided not to leave. That was a choice they get to make, but we had advised them what that choice would result in and we took action to respectfully and carefully take folks into custody as was necessary. And t was a very limited very structured and extremely disciplined approach in making those arrests. We are proud of the fact that despite what you have seen over the last few days, gas and cannisters and foggers, almost no chemical agent was necessary to be used last night. We did it the oldfashioned way. Command presence, a uniformed presence and a clear intent to keep the peace, restore order and keep people safe. My cast today is a little different, having accomplished that mission and i think we have secured those streets and i appreciate the fact that i have National Guard folks Still Holding that ground that we took last night. We need to keep that ground and prepare for what may come today. Our task today is we are bringing a unified command of metro Police Departments, sheriffs departments and other Law Enforcement jurisdictions and other Public Safety entities into a Multi Agency Command Center where we will create a plan that will keep the peace, maintain the peace and prevent further lawless behavior in the cities of minneapolis and st. Paul and surrounding suburbs. We are going to do this the right way. And do it with full knowledge that our oath is to serve the state of minnesota, serve the communities and to protect them. We are fully confident that we can do that mission and that we can do it while still ensuring that the Constitutional Rights of those who need to have their voices heard and need to fully assemble can be protected. I can tell you that no one could have heard mr. Lloyds voice in the chaos of the screaming, shouting and the fires at 1 00 in the morning on lake street. My job is to make sure that tonight the community is safe and that our team is ready and prepared to keep it safe. With that, i am very pleased to introduce the colonel of the innesota state patrol. It represents the challenges that the Minnesota State patrol has faced the last couple of nights as we have worked hard to combat the lawlessness and dangerous behavior that has occurred in the city of minneapolis and other places. I speak specifically to last night. As you heard shortly between midnight and 1 00 a. M. , the governor asked the state patrol to quell the unrest that was occurring in and around the 3rd precinct. One of the many challenges in that area there were tires set and the Minneapolis Fire Department was unable to get from and distinguish those fires because they were sheffield by those who were demonstrating. But the commissioner explained e assembled a team what et means to be a resident and demonstrate peacefully. Thats a mission we took on and thats what we did overnight and it was difficult and dangerous ork for everyone involved. We remain ready today with the National Guard and doing our best to hold that ground well and to make sure we restore order and clean that spot up and better than it was before and continue our efforts that Public Safety is of paramount concern as we move forward tonight and into the future and Work Together to restore order across the city of minneapolis. We had a couple of missions across other places, the State Capitol ap the city of st. Paul on things occurring on university avenue. One thing i note, we have troopers in the metro area all across the state of minnesota. It was an aopportunity we afforded them to make staffing boost within the purview of the executive branch to do on very short notice. And and to hose work very, very hard to make minnesota what it should be, a safe place for everybody. Thank you. Gov. Walz i would note to the reporters here in minnesota, three weeks ago i stood in front of you and passed 500 deaths by covid19 and said on the 29th of may that well pass 1,000 and that will happen today. We believe again numbers are down. I. C. U. Bed capacity is stable and we are doing everything we can and as you heard from the folks speaking, the vast majority of people who are expressing their First Amendment and what happened to george floyd, we are wearing masks. Before i go to questions. The desire to get back to normal is so overwhelming for everyone and so many have said what else can happen . We have witnessed this. But its an important time to pause about this. The problem is so many of us thinking that normal is where we want to go. Normal was not working for george floyd precovid19 and not working right now. As you heard the attorney general talk about that work that we are trying to look at to use this as a point and not just rhetorical, but a point to make changes. Mary, we will start. [indiscernible question] gov. Walz i will let my leadership come back up there. And that speaks to itself that shortly after 10 00, it became apparent. The mayors take charge and let the folks come up here. I think the decision to make and not engage. Fill could havically there is an argument to be made that an armed presence on the ground in the midst of where we just had a Police Killing is seen as a catalyst. We dont need a catalyst, its already burning and this is trying to strike this balance and im in agreement with that. You will not see that tonight and will be no lack of leadership and no lack of response on the table. Should there have been [indiscernible] gov. Walz ill answer this. Potentially. But the decision on that as its made on the city and i would agree with them, we saw the first night, decisions were made up until about 8 30 last evening and it appeared things were relatively peaceful. There were decisions, did you occupy the entire city and shut it down. In retrospect, im assuming yes. [indiscernible question] walings walz leadership is led by local leadership and their olice force. If this would have been executed correctly, the state would not have led on this. That did not happen. So now today, we are taking that and making the decision to go and moving forward. I would go back to toms question, had we known we wouldnt see that. Should the state come in . I want to be clear with the exception of the state troopers who have a very specific statutory requirement on the highways, order is to the local police and sheriffs. We dont have a builtin police force. D. P. S. Has experts in there but this is not a police force on their streets with their people. Thats a decision that was a decision made. It was in reserve and keeping in mind as this unfolded, the request came from st. Paul for he guard to be activate add at 5 00. You are supposed to wait until you start moving them in. By 5 00 yesterday, our guard troops were coming from all over and getting activated and we were prepared to carry out those missions and they were there. And those missions never came. [indiscernible question] gov. Walz aisle let our folks talk. Talk. Ll let our folks county, Emergency Management coordinateors did exactly what you just asked, they define what they need and what they want and negotiated along with the agency they are asking for. Its not always the National Guard in this case. It is the National Guard of the the why it is negotiated with the National Guard is to make sure we have the capability to do the mission thats being asked. Yes, we are always in support of the local leadership. The local civilian leadership. I have no authority to self deploy the minnesota National Guard anywhere in the state. I have no authority whatsoever. So i follow exactly what you laid out. Civilian leadership, civilian elected first make the request and we work with them. If im not accomplishing their task and their mission, i risk failure of mission. I also risk the chance that i might break the law. I cant march my soldiers down into minneapolis and say this is what john jensen believes to do. Thats not how our Government Works or military responds to the civilian leadership. What you asked that is exactly how it is supposed to work. [indiscernible question] gov. Walz that was the turning point where we were prepared and we moved in and didnt believe that 3rd should be given up and starting at 12 15, executed about 3 40 a. M. I think im like all of you watching it, you cant have civil order deteriorate and have to make a calculated decision about the force going in there escalated, does it stop it and endanger civilians and those are decisions, it is local Police Departments is how this works. We are not a police force, the state. We have to back fill. We have the state patrol. But thats not their normal [indiscernible question] that allow to get toe point . Gov. Walz the force to be able to go. We are seeing it and no definitive answer and im seeing what you are seeing thrfment were officers in the 3rd precinct until 9 00 or so, maybe 10 00. Certainly all those tools are there and if thats the planning stage right there and dont take these folks. Thats what is being done over the last 24 hours. But once again, the order structure of this and many of these i have spent 24 years in the National Guard and im familiar how this works and when they get their mission order. They know what they are going to do. I as an enlisted order to be ready to go and drill through the things we needed to do. Those never came in many cases. [indiscernible question] gov. Walz if we had seen two days ago, maybe yesterday. If you are not second guessing and not looking at the decisions, you are going about this all wrong. The lessons learned, potentially some. We have to count on our partners. Nd im not sure that quickmoving and arcists that were moving so quickly. Like at the super bowl or the r. N. C. , 18 months of planning went into that, prepositioning. 18 months of joint powers agreements, 18 months of lining up the materials that were there to make sure the situations are there. Once you lose control like that, im deeply concerned about the bad actors. We own this. We own this in minnesota. But there is certainly as people saw this unfold and how many people would make their way here. Its a valid question. For me as i look at that. I have to operate in real space and realtime and last evening was the second day we saw it from 8 30 or during the day until 8 30 we saw this in st. Paul and continued to ask. The state patrol was tasked on any of this. You are going to allow demonstrations and protests tonight . Gov. Walz you are seeing holes in planning in states, cities and counties as things are starting to happen. What is the rule for the rest of the day and night . Gov. Walz this is the plan that will be presented to me. We want to be presented to give it to the people of minnesota. A lot of the operational things. They will be there and will be a presence out on the quarters. Im going to ask again. I need to ask the people of minnesota, those in pain and those who feel like justice has not been served yet, you need us to help create that space so justice will be served and my expectation it will be swift and able to maintain that order. That plan will start to happen today and we will think of all the tools that are there. I want to come back to that again. The more those things you use, the more is what led to that in the first place. The lawful First Amendment agrieved citizens who need to express that. Im telling you what, the fartherest thing from peoples minds is burning down a amilyowned store at 3 00 on lake street is george floyd. Question to you and to the general [no audio] gov. Walz i dont think this is a secret to anybody that the tension between the Minneapolis Police department and many of their communities is a pretty well known thing and i am certainly i dont know any way to express it that they have lost faith in them and felt they were part of the problems. And certainly seeing a uniformed Minneapolis Police officers knee on George Floyds neck on monday tells you where the public is thinking towards that. I dont think it was a mistake of who was leading that down there and changed the tone. So i am concerned. I think it would be disingenuous. This is painful and hard. Here is going to be rekrim nations. My top priority now is the mediate security to make sure that what happened the last 48 hours doesnt happen tonight. I dont think it is going to be easy. These folks are really good of what they were trying to do. The way we were able to stop it, employ these tools to isolate these folks and as the commissioner said, the idea that you can firebomb a building and not be arrested and spend serious time in jail. We dont want to make people who are out there still asking what about george floyd. What happened to those people and the people that did this. Hats what we are going to do. [indiscernible question] gov. Walz i dont know. Im going to use this as an opportunity. Im deeply apologetic this happened and i understand that if this were targeted, as i told jeff zucker the president of the cnn and i dont care why they got arrested, it is wrong and as far as others. [indiscernible question] they have made arrests. I believe on arson charges and burglary for sure. They have been arrested and there have been stops and folks incarcerated. I dont know if they have been charged because most of them were done in the last 24 hours. [indiscernible question] breaking into the grocery stores, breaking into the target and walgreens and the pharmacies ave been decimated seeking out opioids and chasing that around. There have been arrests made and will be more arrests made. I dont have the number. I asked minneapolisst. Paul and part of our unified command to get me information. I have not received it yet but im hopeful we will get it to you as soon as i get it. President trumps tweets last ight in relation to minnesota. Gov. Walz i did speak to the president last evening. At that point in time, it was in the process of where i said we were going to assume control of this and was unnecessary. I didnt know he was going to tweet. Its not helpful. The city of minneapolis is doing everything they can. If mistakes are made and there is accountability, we need to do that. In a moment that is so volatile. Anything we do to add fuel to that fire is really challenging. I spoke to the president. He pledged his support of anything we need in terms of supplies to get to us. There is a way to do this without inflaming and this one is so difficult as i said again, the tools of restoring order are viewed by so many as the things that have oppressed and started this problem in the first place. It would be helpful. If we need support for them. It is appropriate we will ask. But im appropriate that we put the plan together to restore this order. Indiscernible question] gov. Walz i dont know. Commissioner harrington and attorney general ellis, quhen we first came into office, this is the thing we wanted. The nightmare scenario of having a policeinvolved shooting, so hey started working on this. Governor, thank you. I think this is the time to Start Talking about how we do meaningful deepdive reform. We took a year to grabbing a number of people from diverse interests in the community. We had people from the community, civil rights community, Law Enforcement there and Law Enforcement from across the state. We met for about a year. We had professional assistance from the group that guided the 21 did Century Policing process that president obama started and we came up with a number of key recommendations. We will get that report to you. We hope this supercharges the need for effort. There are a few observations. One observation is, a lot of encounters that occur in our state are not concentrated in our twin cities and when greater minnesota, many of them were in the twin cities. Half of them were in the Mental Health crisis. So we talked about a number of things and talked about officer wellness, officers dealing from crisis to crisis to crisis. Check in before they get back in and engage the public. Changing and reviewing the standard use of force standard and sanctity of life which mayor hodges did when she was the made. And duty to intervene, realming that be essential, if you are a Police Officer and see a Police Officer doing something wrong, you say its not me but you have to do something about it. We came up with a number of principles that are helpful and useful and a number of things and i think that now there is a need to further the effort i ll say that i think that looking at practice and problems of what is an appropriate onversation. And they are serving the public, the whole public, i will say that i hope that our state Legislature Takes up some of the initiatives we have in there, the academic will take up some of it. One of the recommendations was that a dual, a joint or dual response when there are chemical or Mental Health cries sees going on. So its just not officers who dont have the training to deal with somebody in that situation. As we move forward in seeking riminal prosecution. [indiscernible question] i cant speak to much more than that other than past work with the county attorney to make sure that they have checked all the is and all the ts and everything is in order before they make an arrest and we have been following that protocol. We have some history in terms of past cases. Some successful and some not successful. Indiscernible questions] we are aware there is a sentiment that different. From the point of view from the law, we have a man whose life has been ended. We have the pursuit of trying to find out what are the facts that surround that and be able to create enough probable cause or enough basis for a criminal charge or for an arrest. Thats pretty much cop 101 what you have to have and thats what we are working toward. [indiscernible question] gov. Walz these are great questions. These are ones we came up with that is going to happen. Hope is not a plan. Ou need to execute that. And getting back to the focus of george floyd and our Community Issues that tonight needs to be different. When i say that, it needs to be different in the questions you are asking. Im stepping in and the state is responding and will use the tools. O hopefully on that. This is certainly something we did not finish our work in the regular session and coming back on the 12th and working with the legislature. There is a great desire how to do this. But the tragedy of this as i aid again. The system is broken and communities of color will say the system is working just fine. And for us right now. We need to take a hard look of reinvesting and bringing lake street back. We are hoping there are insurance for these folks. But i think getting our vitality back is one. [indiscernible question] so the first question, are they armed . Yes, they are currently armed. A little back grouped on that. Yesterday afternoon, we received what i assessed was a credible threat specifically to the minnesota National Guard that credible threat was made available to us by the f. B. I. I shared that with governor walz along with my recommendation that i felt as though it was a credible threat and as a result, we should arm the minnesota National Guard. Governor walz concurred with me and authorized me to arm the minnesota National Guard. What are the limits of their use of force . We dont traditionally talk about the use of force, because its an operational issue. Our guards maintain the right to selfdefense and i think and leave it as it relates to the use of force for the minnesota National Guard. [indiscernible question] gov. Walz hopefully around 2 00 , tom. But i think thats one of the questions. And we had brought up the capitol building, these symbolic targets that people talked about, the folks who had some of it was online and you saw the thing that came in. Thats the one request that i made of the National Guard and the mission im asking for on the troops that came in. And the cities asked was the preservation of the capitol and the capitol grounds. That will still be enforced. [indiscernible question] gov. Walz thats exactly right. [indiscernible question] gov. Walz i certainly think and not going to speculate. The assumption is they are supposed to come in. We need to make sure all miss. The home grown minnesota thing. The event thaling sparked it [indiscernible question] gov. Walz no. Ion that. I think we cant build that right now but a lot of this happened all of the things that led to this, this is minnesota. I dont think it changes the calculus of how we respond to it. [indiscernible question] gov. Walz im taking ownership for it. We own it. [indiscernible question] gov. Walz i spoke to the mayor. My issues i assume responsibility if the issue is that the state should have moved faster, that is on me. So i dont think a lack of leadership. I think the lack of coordination and the lack of understanding what we needed to ask for. That is in retrospect. The same criticism to be said to us. That was their responsibility. And i think we have been in contact with the mayors and doing everything they possibleingly can in a situation that is unprecedented. I dont think thats a copout of saying its unprecedented. But i think they are responding accordingly and learning a lot. These situations were planned for at the r. N. C. This came about the killing of george floyd on monday night and started to ramp up when the video came out on wednesday and ramped up on wednesday and thursday and here we are. [indiscernible question] [no audio] typically in a situation where you have actually witnessed a crime and you are immediately available to apprehend the suspect, it would not be unusual to have made an arrest and bring that person in and offer to the county attorney what you were able to give in terms of information to seek a criminal charge. If there was no criminal charge because you didnt have sufficient information, then the person is released pending further information. There was a lag time between hen the event occurred and the video came out, there was not and a me immediasy criminal investigation was issued very quickly. The protocols we are following the protocols that were blird. We continue to meet with the county attorney and continue to meet with the f. B. I. And u. S. Attorney as we continue to seek justice and to seek what can we do and what are we allowed to do in bringing this case to a conclusion. [indiscernible question] we dont have that authority. In our missions, we will have a Law Enforcement officer with us so we have that support immediately available. [indiscernible question. ] the responsibility to ensure it happens falls upon me and i will do everything in my power to do that. I spent 24 years in the National Guard and im surrounded by good people. Im going to need the help of the people of minnesota and i want to acknowledge again that pain that people are feeling and people need to get justice and i want to respond to peters question. Asking about the charges and things. For those of you, im not an attorney, i listen to them. And i know they are very concerned that the governor has to be very careful about what they say about prejudice. I want to make sure everybody gts justice and gets done. But the questions that the people of minnesota and the outrage they are feeling, im feeling them. It is taking all of my will power to maintain that point of being asked, but the way im able to get them justice is making sure that civil order is maintained and make it clear there is an expectation that justice is moved forward and as attorney general ellison says, this is a point in time that we cannot forget and not forget george. We cannot forget the aftermath of this as if we would. But we have to get back to that point of what caused this to happen and start working on that. The anger and the frustration and the wondering why this is, this is a community that years after years and decades after decades and generations after generations and folks are listening ill believe it when equity means something and when the policies change and my child gets the same education as your child. So i get it right now. We are asking an awful lot to be based on faith and that has not panned out. But i do want to say, this is a state that we again i think we are coming to grips with the good that we have and thats not there and always striving to be more. I have had to stand in front of you that its going to get worse. This is not going to be an easy journey but the one thing queff to ensure is that civil order is maintained. None of us can live in a society here roving bands go unchecked and ruin property. Where are the police . And this is the cun nun drum. Where are the police in the first police who got us in this situation monday night and where are the police last night. Im supernervous about the National Guard being brought in there. Its a flash point. I understand that. I heard from some of those people who had a different tone. Wheres the National Guard . Wheres the National Guard. Over the next 2448 hours, work with us to get the situation under control. And i want to talk to those mayors up 24 7. Its not about calling out someone. Its about an issue that is figuring out how we get there. This has been building for decades. This flashpoint came to us. And it happened in the middle of n unprecedented global pandemic. How are we going to be seen by the world in the coming days and seen after that. How are we going to respond to one another and then what are we going to do about it. And again, if i were everybody in these communities listening, i would say im going to believe it when i see it. The first task is get civil control back, get justice moving quickly and fairly and Start Talking about together how do we rebuild and rebuild trust in the police and rebuild the stores and rebuild a society, how do we send that to the world that sees us for so many positive things that we need to recognize this is what they are seeing. We need to take a hard look and figure how to change that. Im going to close because of the importance i said with the press, deepest apologies to the reporters that were out there. Expectations that again, that cannot happen. We will do our best today and ask all of you as the Ongoing Mission to make sure we have peace and security today is making sure that story is told and that the press credentials move you and protect you safely so this is covered. Please let us know. Please make sure that is happening. Please sure the world everything that is happening here, through that lens of professional journalists who ask the questions you are asking today. Thank you all. Captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org tonight starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan, class of 2020 commencement speeches by dr. Rx to a college in new york, governor mike dewine, miami university, speaker of the house to Smith College in North Hampton massachusetts, and joe biden delivering remarks to Columbia Law School and secretary esper to the Naval Academy in annapolis. Watch the commencement speeches tonight at 8 00 p. M. On cspan. Cspan has unfillered coverage of congress, white house from the president ial primaries during the impeachment process and now the federal response to the coronavirus. You can watch all of cspans Public Affairs programming on television, online or listen on our free radio app and be part of the conversation or through our social media. Cspan, created by americas Cable Television company as a Public Service and brought to you by your television provider. President trump held a News Conference to announce the United States is rescinding a number of special considerations for hong kong. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States. Accompanied by secretary steve mnuchin, secretary mike pompeo, ambassador robert obrien, ambassador robert light highser and larry cuddler. Kudlow