A former slave trader, rolled it down the street and threw it in the harbor. And the stig by protests here in the u. S. , they dont fully capture the scope of what is happening. Because in small, rural towns across the country, that are primarily white, they are also hold progress tests. Places like garden city, kansas in the middle of the country. Or granite falls, washington, north of seattle. Or rugby, north zk d. Dakota, whs not even two whole square miles. Just to give you a sense of how widespread this is, how this is literally happening everywhere, i want to tell you about a town in eastern texas, which has long been known as a strong hold of White Supremacy in america. Back in 1992, a town ordered that towns housing projects to be integrated and this was the reaction. 11,000 people live here. According to the 1990 census, none of them are black. This is a white town, a white race. Thats the way we want to keep it. Reporter he was attending a Klu Klux Klan rally, protesting a federal court order to integrate the Public Housing project immediately. There is a lot of hostility in town toward blacks. Ill shoot every single one of them. Reporter his name is darrell, just another man on the street who says he will fight integration. Im that way, my parents raised me without going schools with blacks and thats the way i want my kids. If blacks come down here, its going to turn violent as hell. Blacks were driven out by kkk demonstrations. That was varieiter, texas. And this is viter, texas. The president s dependance on backlash politics, from birtherism on forward. Its obviously a powerful force. Its the reason he became president. And there was a fear in the beginning that backlash these protests would be another example of before, some power of that. But so far President Trump is on the wrong side of the issues and the polling shows that in a bunch of ways. It shows this is the closest he can get to a freefall, a sevenpoint drop in one month as the gap between him and joe biden widens. Most people disapprove of his handling of the protest. The polling shows how quickly american opinions are shifting onni issues like racial equalit. 57 of americans believe police are more likely to use Excessive Force if the suspect is bla september of 2014, only 43 of americans felt that way. The numbers have almost completely flipped. The protests are shifting the terms of our national debate. Its crazy that after vilifying players who knelt during the national anthem, chief among them colin capper knack, the commissioner of the nfl is now saying black lives matter. And heres mitt romney saying the phrase black lives matter marching on the street in a mask. Even if its just lip service, seeing all these kinds of different parts of the establishment embracing the message of the protesters is striking. The conversation is now shifting so quickly, not only are there calls from protesters to defund the police, which seems thats big budget cuts or abolishing police forces, but a veto proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council pledged the process to begin ending the Minneapolis Police department. It is a dig chanbig change frome were two weeks ago. A favorite example is wisconsins former republican governor who tweeted, reform the police or defund the police. If you told me two weeks ago scott walker would be holding down the conservative side of the argument with, its time to reform the police, i would have thought you were crazy. But democrats are looking to capitalize on this. Today, democratic leadership knelt in memory of george floyd. Got a lot of meme reaction on twitter as you might imagine. They also unveiled a farreaching Police Reform bill that would ban chokeholds and noknock warrants in drug cases. Joining me now is one of the sponsors of the bill, senator Kamala Harris, democrat of california. Lets talk about the legislation first, senator. I want to start with this sort of framework. I talked to a lot of folks working on this issue before ferguson, ferguson on. And there is some real frustration, i think, among people that different attempts at reforms, body cameras, which were a very big point of reform, police training, all kinds of discipline actions for police, that they failed to sort of do the thing that we want to happen. What is your case for why this package wouldnt fail, would actually have real teeth . Changing things . It builds upon everything thats happened in the past, chris. But what it does most specifically, is it is completely and totally directed at one issue, which is accountability and consequence, when there is a violation of law, when the rules are broken. So in addition to what you mentioned, our bill, sponsored by the congressional black caucus, of which i am a member, and so many colleagues are endorsing, what it will do is change the National Standard for use of force. So currently, in so many jurisdictions, chris, when there is an excessive use of force, the question in a courtroom when reviewing that, is to ask was that use of force reasonable . Well, you can find reason for just about anything. Its not a fair standard. And its almost insurmountable when talking about prosecution of Excessive Force. So were suggesting it be changed to ask a question instead not was that reasonable but was it necessary . Were talking about doing pattern and practice investigations. So we want to strengthen that teeth, so for example, the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division will continue to do the work that was started under a Previous Administration but stopped under donald trump for all intents and purposes. And those folks will have subpoena power to go after those Police Departments that have a pattern and practise of discrimination. In addition, we are proposing that there needs to be independent investigations. I will tell you as a former prosecutor, no matter how well intentioned a d. A. Or a states attorney, the reality is that there is at the very least a lack of appearance of absence of conflict when that prosecutor is investigating a Police Officer from an agency they work with every day. We need to have independent investigations. Another piece is transparency in terms of data. Again, when i was attorney general, we opened up the California Department of justice, and data which otherwise journalists had to claw out of us, we opened it up and i said look, we want to make sure that the public has information about deaths in custody, arrest rates based on demographic information. These are the things in this package, including our antilynching bill. And to your point about how far have we come, the fact that we cant last week get through an antilynching bill, in the year of our lord 2020 is ridiculous. So the obstacles are there to passing the legislation. But its good work. It does not address what we need to address in terms of really dealing with what will truly create safety and Healthy Communities in america. The very specific focus, which is accountability and consequence in policing. When you hear im sure you saw the mayor in washington, d. C. Obviously painted black lives matter on 16th street, other protesters came and painted the phrase defund the police. That phrase has gotten a lot of practice. The president has been tweeting about it. Joe biden saying i do not support it. What does that phrase mean to you, what is your reaction to it as a policy prescription . So, chris, we have to reimagine safety and Public Safety in america. The status quo has been to determine and create policy around the idea that more police equals more safety. And thats just wrong. You know what creates greater safety . Funding our Public Schools so that currently 2 3 of our public schoolteachers dont have to come out of their own back pocket to pay for school supplies. What creates safety . Investing in the Economic Opportunities of communities, creating jobs. What creates safe and Healthy Communities . Making sure that all people have access to health care. Mental health care. And then it is within their reach, meaning it is affordable. These are the things that create safe communities. And when in america today, many cities, as the total city half of their budget, 1 3 goes to policing, we all have to step back and ask is that the smartest and best way to actually achieve safety through Healthy Communities, we have safe communities. I also have to point Something Else out, chris. When you go to middle and upper middle class suburban communities, you dont see the patrol car sitting out on the corner patrolling the streets like in other neighborhoods. But you know what you do see . You see wellfunded schools. What you do see is families who have the ability to get through the end of the month and not worry about how theyre going to put food on the table. What you do see are access to capital and access to Public Health and to health care. So we do need to reimagine how we, as a society, are going to, in a smart way, achieve Public Safety. We dont want Police Officers to be dealing with the homeless issue. We dont want Police Officers to be dealing with Substance Abuse and Mental Health. No, we should be putting those resources into our Public Health systems. We should be looking at our budgets, and asking are we getting the best return on investment as taxpayers . Much less what is morally right and what is right in terms of actually having safe communities that thrive. And also, part of what we have to do here is also look at the militarization of Police Departments. And the kind of money that is going to that. And we need to demilitarize Police Departments. So theres a lot in this conversation. But at its core, one of the issues that i think we should all agree on is that it is old thinking, it is outdated, and is actually wrong and backward to think that more Police Officers will create more safety. Theres an irony here, too that i would like you to respond to. As the president is saying, i would never defund police. As youre talking about investments in things Like Mental Health or Substance Abuse, right now every state and locality red, blue, republican, democrat, is going to have their local budgets annihilated because of the economic downturn. Police, Fire Department, theyre cutting from south dakota, to kentucky, to new york city, to san francisco. The democrats want to give state localities 375 billion. And as of today, my understa understanding is the republicans dont want to do that. You are correct, chris. Youre exactly right. So you want to talk about which leaders are committed to safe and Healthy Communities, when you have a president of the United States saying that you dont want to he doesnt want to give money to state and local governments, thats teachers, its first responders, its firefighters, its Mental Health professionals, Public Health professionals. So listen, as far as donald trump is concerned, and what he says, hes looking for a Campaign Slogan that might work for him. But the reality is, the american people, i think, are smarter to know that if we really want to address what is wrong with the way that we are using taxpayer dollars, what is wrong with these systems, what is wrong with the criminal justice system, we will see that most people would free, lets invest in our teachers, lets invest in our Public Health system and the potential of communities. Part of what we also are seeing, chris, and i was out there marching, many of us have been, that there is a community of people who seemingly have nothing in common, who are coming together around these issues. Knowing that these are issues that relate to all of us, and when we have good policing, we all benefit. When we have bad policing, we are all hurt. Let me ask you about that, your Senate Colleague mitt romney was at one of these marches. I think a lone republican senator or member of congress. He said black lives matter. Weve seen these protests in places that are historically have very intense legacies of racism and White Supremacy. What do you make of the politics of this moment . The sentiment of the nation at this moment . I think the nation is i think that the nation is hurting and that we are really raw. America is raw right now, and her wounds are exposed. The reality of it is that what what the tragedy of the murder of george floyd is just the latest in generations of this story, and finally, everyone is getting to witness it because of the prevalence of smartphones. Communities have been mothers have been crying over their dead childrens bodies for generations, and no one would listen or they would turn a blind eye. And now you cannot turn a blind eye, because its right there in vivid detail, such as was the murder of george floyd. And theres a reckoning thats happening. People have to come to terms with americas history as it relates to policing, as it relates to racism. And i think what i find to be inspirational about this moment, when you look at the folks who were out there, folks are understanding that this is about all of us. This is about all of us. Racism is bad for everyone. For everyone. And this gives me hope. And so and theres power in this movement. And this cant be denied. Senator Kamala Harris of the state of california, thank you so much for taking time out of your very busy day to spend time with us. Ahead, the reported shouting lash and the backlash of the administrations use of the military for a pr stunt. Se of t military for a pr stunt. Businesses are starting to bounce back. But what if you could do better than that . Like adapt. Discover. Deliver, in new ways, to new customers. What if you could come back stronger . Faster. Better. At comcast business, we want to help you not just bounce back, but bounce forward. And now, with one of our best offers ever, were committed to helping you do just that. Get a powerful and reliable internet and voice solution for only 29. 95 a month for three months. Call or go online today. In a span of seven days, a decision to assault protesters in d. C. For an awkward photoop for the president , it embodies everything wrong with this presidency and wrong with it in this particular moment. That is only been made worse by various authorities. Even though, again, we all saw it with our own eyes. The new hill, they have chosen to die on is that it was not tear gas. You see, the park police reversed its original proclamation saying it is tear gasish. But now william barr is trying to draw a distinction between pepper balls and actual tear gas. By the way, there was no tear gas used. The tear gas was used sunday when they had to clear 8th street to allow the Fire Department to come in and save st. Johns church thats when tear gas was used. There was chemical irritants used. No, pepper spray is not chemical. Pepper balls. Its not chemicals. I dont know, maybe you should just sit around a pepper ball and see if it makes you cry. Why did you fire it . Just because you wanted to give people more flavor on their food . No. What is clear is the entire thing is a debacle. The debacle was a public representation of a series of debacles happening internally. The new yorker magazine, a shouting match between the president and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff about sending military forces into American Cities. That writer is here now. Derek, i wonder if you can tell us more about what was going on behind the scenes. We saw a Public Performance of clearing Peaceful Protesters with, you know, Police Officers punching cameramen and pepper balls. What was happening behind the scenes . Well, its i think that would have been the next day. So the chairman of the joint chiefs mark millie, the defense secretary, met in mark esper met in President Trumps office in the oval office on monday, the day when they all when we saw those photographs of the president holding the bottlible. The president informs the chairman of the joint chiefs, i would like to send troops into the cities to stop the protest. And millie resisted, and said im not going to do that, thats for Law Enforcement. Were not going to send soldiers into the cities. And they got into a shouting match, as im told. And they sort of fought it out. They yelled at each other. Somebody described the room as basically two bullies. And the president backed down. You know, the meeting went on for a long time. They were in there for several hours, but at the end of the day, they didnt send the troops into the city. Whats trike istriking, wha n gleaned from the reporting, as overwrought as the response has been, the men on the Lincoln Memorial, the protesters being cleared, there was a version of this that this was the tempered version that was that came out of trumps impulses for something far worse and darker. Well, i think thats pretty clear. Those soldiers that we saw around the Lincoln Memorial and some of the other places, and i think the helicopter overhead as well as, those are National Guard helicopters. Because its the d. C. Of columbia, are under the president s command. But no, he wanted to put, as i understand it, he wanted to put United States military troops in American Cities across the United States. And that thats what the discussion was about. And thats what millie pushed back on. Whats kind of interesting here is that general millie, as the chairman of the joint chiefs, is actually not in command of soldiers. He presides over the chiefs of, you know, the army, navy, air force. But he doesnt command any troops himself. Im not sure the president knows that. But basically he just said forget it. Were not going there. Theres also this, you know, the scene obviously outside that the white house and barrs decision to clear the protesters has become this very contentious theme. The president , we sort of heard that part of his desire to flood American Cities with a show of force was reporting on him visiting the bunker. It was just somewhat comical accidental admission that happened apparently today. Trump said that he was down there to inspect it in the afternoon. Barr today gave a different story. Take a listen. It was a false report. I wasnt down i went down during the day and i was there for a tiny little short period of time. And it was much for an inspecti inspection. We cant have that in our country. So the decision was made, we had to move the perimeter one block. Sounds like they did say he had to go to the bunker. Yeah. I mean, its hard to know what was happening in there. At the end of the day, i ended up talking to mark meadows, President Trumps chief of staff. And, you know, he kind of said look, there are a lot of discussions and they were all very nice and went on for hours and hours. Its hard to know. Look, let me just make a i think towards the end of my story, and i tried to bring this up, i think the real i think the real question here is november and whats going to happen in november. You know, what if we have a close election thats contested, what happens then . What happen it is the president refuses to leave the white house . And i have tried to address some of that, but i think what happened on monday is interesting because its a bit of a dry run. And so it allows us to talk about some of this stuff in case it happens again. A dry run in terms of a stress test of various parts of the institutional integrity of the nation, should the president try to do something wildly in breaking with American Democratic traditions . Yes. I talked to a lot of generals last week, and they all said pretty much the same thing, which is look, if we have a contested election, probably the Supreme Court will get involved once they make the call, the whole machinery of the military will kind of turn towards the legally elected president and there will be no dispute. Thats pretty convincing, but its not the whole story. I think the one general i spoke to said he was really concerned about the following scenario, which is what if we have a close election, the outcome is in dispute, or its really close and the president refuses to leave and he calls up he calls one of the governor in a conservative state and he says, send the National Guard in. Pick your state. Send the National Guard to washington, surround the white house and protect me, im not leaving. What happens then . And thats a thats a really ugly thats a really ugly scene. Its a very ugly scene and sort of what happened here, because a lot of the troops that you saw were essentially contributed National Guardsmen from various states. Yes, yes. And so i think when i listen to that scenario, in a way, the president has Legal Authority to do that. He certainly doesnt have the Legal Authority to stay in office longer than he may. But that scenario struck me as entirely plausible and pretty disturbing. Yeah, disturbing to say the least. Dexter, a great reporter and im always happy to be able to read what you are up to. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you, sir. Coming up, were seeing more of the country begin to reopen, but are we ready . Have we zone enough . New data about covid hospitalizations that should raise serious concern, after this. Hat should raise serious concern, after this so whats going on . Im a talking dog. The other issue. Oh. Im scratching like crazy. Youve got some allergic itch with skin inflammation. Apoquel can work on that itch in as little as 4 hours, whether its a new or chronic problem. And apoquels treated over 7 million dogs. Nice. And. The talking dog thing . Is it bothering you . No. Itching like a dog is bothering me. Until dogs can speak for themselves, you have to. When allergic itch is a problem, ask for apoquel. Apoquel is for the control of itch associated with allergic dermatitis and the control of Atopic Dermatitis in dogs. Do not use apoquel in dogs less than 12 months old or those with serious infections. Apoquel may increase the chance of developing serious infections and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or preexisting cancers to worsen. Do not use in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs. Most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. Feeling better . Im speechless. Thanks for the apoquel. Awww. Thats what friends are for. Ask your veterinarian for apoquel. Next to you, apoquel is a dogs best friend. Since the beginning of the global coronavirus pandemic, every country has had to choose between a bunch of bad options. Some places like south korea, japan or taiwan that were so proactive, they were able to avoid any sort of enormous outbreak that would then force mass closures for extended periods of time. Other places were not able to avoid that, and they did have to go into a version of lockdown like here. But they put together the infrastructure to suppress the virus, that is to drive down new daily cases, right . Now you have a country like spain, which is incredibly hard hit, one of the highest death rates in the world. Recording a day with zero deaths last week. Denmark, a country that had to go into lockdown, now has schools open and Testing Available to all adults. It is recording just a few dozen, thats dozen, cases per day. The u. S. Has decided not to do that. We got about 2 3 of the way through battling this thing, and now with states across the country opening up, we are crossing our fingers, waiting to see what happens. Its not hard to find people in situations that are probably not safe, like this protest in philadelphia over the weekend. I think protesters are aware of the risk, they made the decision to balance them in favor of these demonstrations. But those are the most visible examples. This is the kcosmopolitan casin in las vegas. An enormous space with recycled air, almost no one in masks. And i think theres been kind of a misguided belief that theres this fixed twoweek timeline from when an event that might be dangerous happens and when we see the results. And if it doesnt happen in two weeks, its type. The way the slow fuse works with this virus is its not always that simple or direct. Theres a fair amount of randomness at play. Right now, 20 states plus puerto rico have cases increasing. That said, its important to note Testing Capacity has increased across the country. In some of these cases, we may be seeing more cases because of testing. Were likely also seeing some true outbreaks. One way to remove some of that confusion is if you just look at hospitalization. When you do that, there are definitely some signs. Today, texas reported a Record Number of coronavirus hospitalizations, nearly 2,000. Hospitalizations in california hit a threeweek high, more than 3,000. Friday, arizona hit a record high in hospitalizations, ventilator use and icu beds from coronavirus. We do not have to imagine alternative outcomes. Other ways we could deal wit. They already exist out there. From the beginning, Public Health experts and journalists have been pointing to you much better other countries have been handling the crisis. Risis. Audible is my roadtrip companion. Its kind of my quiet, alone time. Audible is a routine for me. Its like a fun night school for adults. I could easily be seduced into locking myself into a place where i do nothing but listen to books. I never was interested in historical fiction before, but im obsessed with it now. There are a lot of like, classic and big titles that i feel like i missed out since i dont have time to read, mean i might as well listen. If i want to catch up on the news or history or learn whats going on in the world, i can download a book and listen to it. Because i listened to her story over and over again, i made the decision to go ahead and follow my own dream, which was to help other veterans. I think theres like 180 books in my, in my library now. It changes your perspective; it makes you a different person. Its true, its so true. To start your free 30day trial, just text listen17 to 500500. When i was a kid in school, i used to write papers really quickly and give them one read over and turn them in. Pretty much thought it was good enough. My parents would tell me to spend more time on them because it was riddled with spelling errors. The National Response to the coronavirus feels a lot like that. We finished the first draft, there was lots of room for improvement. We said good enough, here you go, teach. The wall street journal reports in other places that are reopening, daily cases have fallen to the low hundreds to thousands a day. Here in the u. S. , it appears to be in a plateau of new cases, as we increasingly reopen, are we just kind of giving up on fighting the pandemic . Joining me now to discuss this by phone, americas response to the pandemic lori garrett, who has followed the coronavirus outbreak closely and author of the coming plague, a book that predicted a pandemic event. Lori, theres been a number of people sort of written on this theme, the atlantic had this headline and i thought a very good piece saying america is giving up on the pandemic. It doesnt feel to me like theres a kind of close enough feel generally throughout the country. What do you think . Youre absolutely right, that is the sensation. And actually a warning was issued on this, because they think the stock market is part of the reason that people feel this way. We have this rousing stock market responding as if the whole world is break, everything is fabulous. And as Morgan Stanley said, the rate of reproduction of the pandemic is still slightly over one, meaning well continue to have for every one case, another one case going out over the summer. And if you do the math, you get out to september, were looking at close to 200,000 deaths in america. This is far from over. Far from over. That point to me points to something im obsessed with, which is what the policy goal is here. It seems theres two policy goals. One is suppression, which is how can we get to a point where we basically have the virus under control and we can open up and have Something Like what denmark has or hong kong, taiwan, south korea. The other is, what amount of open kg we do and not ever get a new york style outbreak that just decimates the metro area and kills tens of thousands of people . And those are very different things, but it seems like were opting for the latter. We want to avoid catastrophic outbreaks, but were sort of all tacitly coming to this conclusion were okay with a lot of pain and illness and death. Yeah, were following the british model essentially. And thats most unfortunate. Its really interesting, chris. If you look at the United Kingdom right now, scotland hand s scotland has zeroed out new cases, ireland has essentially zeroed out new cases. But an explosion in cases in england and wales. Scotland locked down before london did and said were not buy thing game Boris Johnson is saying we can get some vague herd immunity target. And its paid off for them. Here in new york, were in day one of phase one of easing out of our lockdown. And if you look at the data, the lockdown has really worked. And if you look at brand new data thats come out just in the last roughly 48 hours, a survey of the entire world shows that lockdowns around the world have so far spared half a billion lives. Half a billion. Half a billion, 500 Million People . Actually, more. 538 million. Infections or deaths . Deaths. Whoa thats sort of an impossible number to contemplate. In other words, by taking this on, with an allout lockdown approach, country after country, we have spared infections and deaths all over the planet. This would have been a far worse cataclysmic event if we hadnt taken the events we have so far. So now the next real issue is, how are we going to sustain any kind of real action against covid here in the United States when were simultaneously dealing with the george floyd repercussions, the demonstrations and the very righteous anger, and the economic issues. To me theres this question about the political space. So imagine a universe, we look at arizona as i think is the most troubling to me, in terms of its percentage positive rate, the new cases, the hospitalizations. Theres very clearly like an outbreak there. And theres no political space to pull the emergency brake in the way that we pulled the emergency brake in march. So a locality thats experiencing spiraling outbreak, theres going to be tremendous political pressure not to lock down. Well, look at this way. You know, every country that you have in your quick list of success stories, has had a centralized response so that the whole polilace reacted the same way. New zealand, it was a National Response. New zealand has tested 17 of its population. It has a national coherent policy. Ditto, south korea. Ditto, taiwan and so on. What do we have in the United States . You drive an hour and hit another policy. Drive two hours and hit a completely different political dynamic, a Different Health dynamic. Were operating in total chaos. Let me ask you finally about a headline from the world health organization, whose record throughout this pandemic has been mixed. I think its fair to say, particularly in the way they have had communication on things like masks. They came out and said the spread of coronavirus asymptomatically is rare. Theres a lot of confusion, because it stands in tension that theres a lot of presymptomatic transmission. This all got garbled in the news report. This comment was made by one individual in a press conference in response to a question. This wasnt an official report or announcement from w. H. O. And it really got garbled because she later clarified what she was saying. She said look, im talking about people with absolutely no symptoms. Not about people who may have mild symptoms that have never been diagnosed. So in other words, she back pedaled to basically say, you know, we dont think theres much transmission coming from people that have zero symptoms. But people who may have a headache, or their eyes hurt, or theyre losing their sense of taste and smell, or they have a mild fever, these people can be transmitters. And theres one new paper out just in the last couple of weeks that couple of days that estimates 40 to 45 of all infections are coming from that pool of mildly symptomatic individuals. That is a very, very useful clarification on that news story, laurie garrett. Thank you for joining us tonight. Thank you, chris. Ahead, theyre lining up in kentucky for a chance to take on and defeat Mitch Mcconnell. Charles booker joins me next. Nel Charles Booker joins me next there are times when our need to connect really matters. To keep customers and employees in the know. To keep business moving. Comcast business is prepared for times like these. Powered by the nations largest gigspeed network. To help give you the speed, reliability, and security you need. Tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere. And a team of experts here for you 24 7. Weve always believed in the power of working together. Thats why, when every connection counts. You can count on us. What a roller coaster ive been on this session. Ive laid all my stories out for you. I explained to you how these types of laws like 150 would kill people and the same folks want to have the audacity to vote yes now. My life matters too, speaker. Your three minutes up. Youre out of order. Your three minutes are up. My life matters too that was kentucky state representative Charles Booker on the floor of the statehouse last year, making remarks that prompted a republican lawmaker to tell him to sit down. Booker is now running in the democratic primary to take on Mitch Mcconnell this fall. Booker is running as a staunch progressi progressive, who supports medicare for all, legalizing marijuana and the Green New Deal. Yesterday with the bookerbeatsmitch was trending with many linking to the video that announced his candidacy. This man knows more than anybody how to work the system in washington. Hes an architect. But hes done nothing for kentucky. Because hes not your neighbor. Hes not your brother. He suspect frisnt from here. Im joined by Charles Booker from louisville. Representative, tell me a little about your thinking about this race at this particular moment, and if anything has changed, you think about the political terrain in the last few weeks. Well, first of all thank you for having me. And you know, what i see in this race is an opportunity to really put some structural change, not just beat a terrible person like Mitch Mcconnell, but get to the heart of the issues that plague my commonwealth, and a lot of maeshable indexes that would determine a good quality of life, were at the bottom. Were seeing a lot of protests noutd, now, and poverty is generational. People are struggling. So we have a choice in this election to stand up for medicare for all and fight for a Green New Deal and win basic income so we can disrupt the chains of poverty that plague so many people. And im fired up. The natural question is about the politics of your state and the viability of your political programming in a state like kentucky. Its state that does have a statewide governor, who definitely ran as a moderate, i think its fair to say in 2018. Your agenda is in a state that donald trump is very popular. Hes plus 16 there. He carried the state by a lot. A lot of people will look at your agenda and the state of kentucky and be like, this is a fools errand. Well, i love when i hear that assessment, because were used to being ignored. People dont listen to folks in kentucky. We are demanding justice. Were demanding accountability. But we want a Brighter Future just like anyone else. So my message is very populist. Im speaking to issues, im a type i diabetic. That cuts across party lines. A lot of people that supported trump are supporting me because they know im going to fight for kentucky for a change. Someone like Mitch Mcconnell has profited from our pain and sold us out in every way imaginable, couldnt care less if we died. And my biggest opponent, amy mcgrath, who is a pro trump democrat, doesnt have a clue about the challenges we face. So im excited to build this new coalition from the mountains to even the hood where im from, and thats why were going to win this race. In louisville, where you represent, there have been a lot of protests, i want to talk about the death of breonna taylor. But just your experience youve gone going to protests. We talked at the top about how there are protests happening across america in unlikely places, places you might not anticipate a black lives matter protest. I wonder what this is like from the perspective of somebody running in kentucky at this moment . Youre right. Before this segment, i was there with some folks demanding justice for black lives. This is a part of kentucky, in Eastern Kentucky where over 99 white. And what were seeing in this moment across the commonwealth is an understanding that were interconnected. That if we fight for the challenges that are facing communities like mine, were going to uplift all kentuckians. I stood on the frontlines and i was hit with tear gas. But i dont care. Because this is where my family is. Kentuckians are demanding real change, and we cannot have someone that would give excuses and hit on the couch like amy mcgrath has while were dying and were getting murdered in our beds. Im just doing my part and the commonwealth is standing by me to win this race as a result. Breonna taylor was a young woman in louisville, an emt, had been on the frontlines with the covid pandemic. She was killed with her boyfriend after a noknock warrant by three members of the Louisville Police department. There have been no charges in that. There have been vigils and protests for her day after day after day in louisville before George Floyds death and after. What is the status of that case, and what is your sense of what the official response has been thus far . You know, there is a lot of frustration in our community, because this is not the first time. This is yet another incident in a history of a reality where if you look like me, youre going to be seen like a Deadly Weapon before being seen as a human being. I have stood up in leadership as a state representative and working with our state and local leadership, and push for a review of noknock warrants, but why are we dealing with this trauma . We criminalize poverty, and we deal with institutional racism that dismisses and diminishes the humanity of so many people. So my run for u. S. Senate is to say not only do we need to beat Mitch Mcconnell but we have to transform our future so we dont have to keep dealing with the drama that her family and so many of us are carrying right now. Final question, we saw that clip of you impassioned before the state legislature. What are your relationships like with republicans in your state, given the fact that you dont get a lot of republican votes, you have a very developed republican apparatus there. What are those relationships like . Ive worked in every level of public service. I was director of fish and wildlife and built relationships all over kentucky with people all over the political spectrum. I dont ask for people to agree with me on everything, but i speak with moral clarity and you know where im coming from. Thats why ive been able to get Bipartisan Legislation passed even in my first term, something Mitch Mcconnell is not worrying about. The reality is, because of this work, im getting endorsed by folks all over kentucky. Rural legislators, matt jones, who is one of the biggest voices in our commonwealth, many thought was going to run and beat amy mcgrath and Mitch Mcconnell is endorsing me, because were building a coalition that says no matter where youre from, what your pronoun is, how much money you have, that you matter. And thats the momentum. Look, we just broke 1 million in fund raising. Were at 600,000 that we raised in the last couple of days. Charles booker, thanks for sharing time with us tonight. That is all in this evening. The 11th hour starts right now. Good evening. Day 1236 of the trump administration. 148 days to go until our president ial election. Exactly two weeks to the day after George Floyds death at the snknee of a Police Officer. And demonstrators are back on our streets as we come on the air tonight. Were looking specifically at marches and rallies under way from new york on the left to portland, oregon on the right, on both coasts and many places in between. The public what they have taken to calling defunding the police. The phrase even appears in large yellow letters on the newly named black lives matter plaza on 16th street near the white house. Depending on who you ask, Defunding Police can mean redirecting money to social programs to entirely disbanding Police Departments. The Minneapolis City Council has already voted to begin the process of ending its Police Department as currently constituted. The city is still working out exactly what that means. City Council President envisions a yearlong conversation. This afternoon at the white house, President Trump weighed in on the issue at a roundtable with Law Enforcement leaders