Lead prosecutor of mr. Floyd i asked for time to thoroughly review all the evidence of the case and we looked at cases and the evidence available in the investigation is ongoing at this time. I also said that i know its asking a lot of people to give us time, particular people who have suffered for decades and centuries of injustice to be patient and yet we to get the time in together a very strong experienced team of which included county attorney Mike Freedman, his team and my team, we reviewed the evidence with the b. C. A. And we have something to announce today. Before i announce it, i want to say thank you for the patience of the people they have shown me and our entire team in pursuit of justice and i am here to make these announcements right now. First, today i filed an amended complaint in the chargers former Minneapolis Police officer tran1 with murder in the Second Degree for the death of george floyd, i believe the evidence available to us supports a stronger charge of seconddegree murder, we have consulted with each other and we agree. Second, today arrest warrants were issued for former Minneapolis Police officers ja king, thomas lane, and finally id like to announce today, the county attorney michael freemand and i have filed a complaint, the charges of Police Officer the three with aiding and abetting murder in the Second Degree of felony offense. I strongly believe that these developments are in the interest of justice for mr. Floyd, his family, our community and our state. Im the lead prosecutor in this case and ill be speaking and addressing the public but this is absolutely a i team effort, e are working together on this case with only one goal, justice for george floyd. I want to think the county attorney Mike Freedman who has been a true partner in this matter at every step of the way. His experience and insight has been invaluable and will continue to be counted on by the team. I also want to thank county attorney for the professional staff who have cooperated and Work Together and my staff in the investigating officers from the very minute this case started. I also want to think superintendent drew evans of the criminal offer hinton and his professional staff for the care and speed in which theyre conducting thisat investigation and i want to thank especially u. S. Attorney Erica Mcdonald and special agent in charge who are conducting a parallel federal cover of law investigation and i heard from the leadership of the department of justice that there is full support for her leadership in pursuit of her investigation and as she put it so well, one team, one goal and one mission. I agree 100 . As i said earlier, i think mr. Floyds family and i think i can speak for mr. Freeman and i, i jointly think them along with u. S. Attorney mcdonald, we think the community for their patients and allowing us the time and space that we need over these days to leave these charges. As it is so hard to do i ask for continued patience. This case continues to be underr investigation, we will not be able to say very much publicly about the investigation except that we encourage anyone who believes that they have evidence in this case to come forward and to be cooperated with the investigation. As c we develop the case for prosecution which will also not be able to say much publicly about it because her job is to seek justice and to obtain a conviction, not to make statements in the press into two or talking in court. So i ask for your patience again while we limit our Public Comments and pursuit of justice. I also asked for yourve trust tv we are pursuing justice by every legal and ethical means available to us. I also want to add a word of caution. The investigation is ongoing, we are following the path of all of the evidence, wherever it leads, we are investigating as quickly as we can because speed is important. Were also investigating as thoroughlyly as we can because e incompletbeing complete and thos important but it takes time. The reason thoroughness is important because every single link in the prosecutorial chain must be stopped. , it must be strong because trying this case will not be an easy thing. Winning a conviction will be hard and in fact county attorney freeman is only prosecutor in the state of minnesota who has successfully convicted a Police Officer for murder, he can tell you that it is hard. I say this not because we doubt our resources or our ability, and factor confident in what are doing but history does show that there are clear challenges here and were gonna be working very hard and relying on each other and our investigative partners in the community to support the endeavor. To the floyd family, to our beloved community and everyone that is watching, i say george floyd mattered, he was loved, his family was important, his life had value and we will seek justice for him and for you and we will find it. The very fact that we have filed these charges means we believe in them. What a do not believe is that one successful prosecution can rectify the hurt and loss that so many peopleth feel. The solution to that pain will be slow and difficult work of constructing justice and fairness in our society. That work is the work of all of us, we dont need to wait for the resolution in investigation of this case and to start that work. We need citizens, kneaders, leaders in government and the faither communities in civil and tight human activist to rewriting the rules for just a society now. We need new policy and legislation in the ways of thinking it at the municipal state and federal levels in the world of arts and entertainment can use their cultural influence to inspire change thatlu we nee. There is a role for all who dream of a justice that we havent yet experienced. In the final analysis, protest can shake a tree and can make it fall down but after the fruit is in reach, collecting it and making the jam must follow. The demonstration in the protest are dramatic and necessary boatbuilding Just Institution is more of a slow grind but equally important. And we have to begin that work as well. We need your energy and everyones health right now. Thank you veryan much. We will take questions. [inaudible question] we believe we have a duty to charge the charges that fit the facts in this case, we have done so. So are concerned is to put all the energy that we can into putting forth the strongest casf that we can without fear or favor of anyone or anything, these charges are based on the fact that we have found and we will pursue them. [inaudible question] the county attorney did an excellent job by gathering facts and is work cooperatively with us everything was top of the w way, we consulted with each other on these charges, we believe these are the right charges, mike freeman and i signed a complaint for these additional charges, that is what were doing. [inaudible question] i cannot dive into her deliberative process but i will tel you generally we gathered all the facts that we could, we reviewed the criminal statute, we look at case law, we consulted with each other and we arrived with these charges, we believe there justified by the facts in thehe law. [inaudible question] the pursuit of justice is always good and right and i want to signal to them that they continueut to do in a peaceful manner its a right to express themselves. And with that i would sayaysh ty coulshould continue in their own communities and get together to build the community relationships, we need the Faith Community to be involved, we need art and entertainment to inspire torch justice. Theres a lot more to do in just this case, then we ask people to do that. [inaudible question] i want to thank you for asking that question, part of my f comments were to help set the expectation in a realistic light. In order to be thorough, this is going to take months and i dont know how many but it is better to make sure that we have a solid case fully investigated, researched before we go to trial than to rush it. It will take a while and i cannot set a deadline on that. [inaudible question] according to minnesota law, you have to have premeditation and deliberation to charge firstdegree murder. Second degree murder you have to intend for death to be the result, for seconddegree felony murder, you have to intend the felony and then death be the result without necessarily being the intent. That is the state of the law. The felony would be we would contend that george floyd was assaulted and that would be the underlying felony. [inaudible question] i really dont have any idea of negotiations or anything like that, its simply way too early to begin the conversation. At this point we are preparing to try this case if Something Else happens along the way we will see but at this point we dont have any plans within that direction. That is something that i dont have anything to report right now, at this time were focused on investigating the case and at this time i will consult with the b. C. A. And other partners on the crucible country conclusion. Again we believe in transparency but we also believe thorough investigation most important. I will allow mr. Drew evans address the issues. Good afternoon my name is drew evans, and the superintendent of criminal apprehension, when the process of taking officers into custody and i report one is inw. Custody meet and the other two are in the process of taking into custody and expect them to be this afternoon. As the attorney general said we cannot speak about the details of the case other than whats in the complaint this time, i will tell you with any investigation as a told you all from the beginning, we have teams of investigators from the b. C. A. , joining the investigation with the fbi to obtain alltr information in this case i will tell you that the itgular course of all of our investigation to attend interviews with all the officers and we have interviewed numerous individuals in this case and Additional Information will be provided as we move forward. [inaudible question] at this time i believe we have the team to complete thise work, i would like to introduce david as well hes a deputy of the attorney generals office, he has the Criminal Division and he has the lawyers to get this, done and also we have some experience at the county Attorneys Office and were working on this thing together. [inaudible question] i say that i did not allow public pressure to impact our decisionmaking process. I was prepared to withstand whatever calls came, we made these decisions based on the facts that we have gathered since this matter occurred and made the charges based on the wall that we think is applying. That is my answer. [inaudible question] is going fine, its going great. I spend a lot of time when i was a traveler myself and i know all the lawyers there and i respect them all and admire them all can i introduce you . Okay and he is representing the county Attorneys Office of first deputy forut mike freedma. Im going to let the people who prosecute cases every sickle data prosecute this case. It is true that ive tried a lot of cases and i tried homicide cases. But on the other side of thehe courtroom. The people who know how to prosecute, i will let them do that work. [inaudible question] i think it helps me anticipate what some of the attacks on her case might be. [inaudible question] i see no reason why we cant get a fair trial. [inaudible question] yes. Yes, sir. [inaudible question] i will continue to do all the duties that i have which involve legislative and the lot, weve been very active in the civil space, weve been active in representing state agencies and government and i will continue to supervise as ill always do bt i feel very confident because i have excellent professionals who are going to be focused on this like a laser beam every single day. [inaudible question] i feel this is a very serious moment, i can honestly tell you i take no joyou in this but i do feel a tremendous sense of duty and responsibility. [inaudible question] i dont know the answer to that question. I would just answer that in terms as the led up to the sheriff and security decisions of the best place for everybody in light of everything going on right now in the twin cities. Those are decisions based on the analysis of the sheriff and they work closely with the department of corrections to make sure they have everybody in their custody where they should be based on safetydy assessment. Thank you allnk very much. I will say to them that a pledge and i promise to hold everyone accountable for the behavior that we can prove in a court and if i dont charge it means we did not have the facts to do that. So i will simply say as the people who are legal professionals, professional prosecutors, we are taking her duty seriously and we are working with the people who have the facts and we have done the work that we believe is possible, ethical and right. Let me be honest, our country has had under prosecuted these matters in minnesota and from the country. I think the trust as a result of historically not Holding People who are public guardians accountable for their behavior in situations where we should i have, that i think is the origin of the trust problem but we cannot control the past, all we can do is take the case that we have in front of us now and do our good a faith best to bring justice to the situation and we will. [inaudible question] on thursday the Senate JudiciaryCommittee Meets for authorizing subpoenas for individuals involved in the fbi investigation into possible ties between the Trump Campaign and russian official. Watch live at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Online at cspan. Org or listen live on the free cspan radio app. Centers for Disease Control and prevention doctor Robert Redfield testifies before house appropriation subcommittee on the governments coronavirus response. Watch live thursday morning at 11 eastern on cspan3, online cspan. Org or listen live on the free cspan radio app. Former president barack obama participated in a town hall on Racial Justice and Police Reform hosted by my brothers keeper alliance. Opprobrium of the obama foundation. Good afternoon my name is Michael Smith that executive director of my brothers keeper. Thank you all for joining us for this critical and important conversation today. The killing of george floyd, breanna taylor, ahmad aubrey into many black lives in the list have left until after nation outreach. More than a thousand people are killed by Police Every Year in america and black people are three times more likely to be killed than white people. We can take steps and make reforms to combat Police Violence and systemic racism within law enforcement, we can work