legal justification. the dash cam footage has been known to reporters and local activists for some time. they've been seeking its release for months now. and a county judge ruled last week that the video must be released to the public. prosecutors describe the video as, quote, violent, and chilling. there is no audio on this recording. what you will see is graphic. it does not have sound, though. it is graphic, however, and may be disturbing. >> what you just saw there is a portion of what authorities have released tonight. we have stopped the video after those first shots were fired. the chicago mayor rahm emanuel and the police south dakota addressed the volatile situation in a press conference that wrapped up just in the last hour. mayor emanuel urging his city to remain calm. >> i understand that the people will be upset and will want to protest when they see this video. but i would like to echo the comments of the mcdonald family. the they have asked for calm and for those who choose to speak out to do it peacefully. they say they do not want violence to be resorted in laquan's name but let his legacy be better than that. it is fine to be passionate, but it is essential that it remain peaceful. >> and nbc's morgan radford joins me now from chicago. morgan, this video had to come out. there was a court order saying so. i know the mayor earlier this year had not necessarily been in favor of that. now, people, as our viewers -- as we all are, just digesting this for the first time. set the scene for us what's going on in chicago right now. >> reporter: well, right now we're bracing, because this is a city on the edge. we're bracing for protests tonight, and again protests that are scheduled on friday. but steve, i want to walk you and the viewers through this video that we saw just released now. in it, you see laquan mcdonald standing almost eerily in the center of the street, and then you see him clearly walking away from the police dash cam video. then suddenly you see him spin. you can't tell if he's spun by his own volition or spun by the power of the bullet. immediately, you see him drop down in the middle of the street and see smoke rising from his body and his body suddenly jerking. this is a video that the chicago police department did not want released for months. but, in fact, the family of laquan mcdonald also didn't want this video released. they have called for peace on the streets of chicago tonight, and you even heard mayor rahm emanuel, just an hour ago saying, we understand it's fine to be passionate, but it's essential to remain peaceful. meanwhile, right behind me, 37-year-old officer jason van dyke is behind bars, and this is the courthouse where he was charged today with first-degree murder. again, this is one of the few times in chicago's history that an on-duty police officer has been charged with such a crime, steve. >> nbc's morgan radford in chicago. thank you for that. joining me now our msnbc national correspondent, joy reid, msnbc law enforcement analyst, jim calvanaugcavanaugh. jim, this is the statement, we saw portions of the video. here is a statement from the attorney for the officer who's charged here, officer van dyke. this is what he is saying about the video. "the video by nature is two dimensional, so the problem is it distorts distances and distances and depth perception are important. the most critical problem is that the video does not depict what my client was seeing. it is not a video from the eyes of my client." so, jill, the lawyer for the officer here is saying, look, if you had a video camera from the perspective of this officer, you would be seeing something very different right now. how does that sound to you? >> well, that's the argument that the officer's attorney is going to make, certainly that, you know, he saw maybe, he thought he was coming toward him. but one thing that's telling in this video is you can see the white lines of the street. so you can see where laquan mcdonald is and you can see where the officer who fired 16 rounds at him is standing as well. and you can pretty well, you know, figure out that distance. and i'm sure the detectives in the cook county d.a. did that. also, this is not a shoot situation. i disagree with that assessment. this man has a knife and you have distance. he's on a deserted street, and you have multiple officers. you also can get the protection of your vehicle from a man with a knife. and you do, you back off. there's a fence on the side, and you try to keep them penned in towards the fence. if he advances on an officer, aggressively advances, certainly, you could have the right to shoot him. and continue to shoot him until he stopped advancing, even multiple shots. but in this case, the man's walking parallel to the officer, the officer could take a step back, there was already distance between them, and of course shooting him on the ground, i mean, just outrageous. first-degree murder is what the d.a. said. i think the video will be very difficult for the officer to overcome. >> joy, on that point there, first-degree murder. a lot of people, again, we showed a portion of the video there. a lot of people surprised not so much that the officer is being charged, but that the charge is first-degree murder. so unusual to see that charge brought against a police officer. what do you think of that? >> and i think that the cynics would suggest that first-degree murder is such a high bar, that it might be difficult to actually convict on it, unless chicago -- unless illinois law provides for lesser included offenses that the prosecutor then argues for, at the closing of that trial. so, i think there are legitimate questions that are raised in these cases. what level of charges are brought. but i think the other big question here is the time that it took. because while we are just seeing this video for the first time as a result of a lawsuit, a freedom of information lawsuit that was filed by an independent journalist, the chicago police department has had this video for a year. this shooting took place in october 2014. so the city of chicago, presumably the d.a., they've known the facts of this shooting. and as chris hayes, our colleague, has been discussing on the air in the hour before this one, the fact that that was known did not prompt these charges to be filed six months ago or eight months ago or ten months ago or a year ago. so i think that what the public is looking at is a situation where cities remain incredibly reluctant to bring charges against police officers, even when such blatant facts are known to them. and i think that's what people are out there protesting about, not so much about whether they can see a videotape. >> we're talking now about protests presumably starting tonight in chicago. the city bracing. mayor emanuel calling for calm here, calling for nonviolent protests. obviously, i think back a year, year and a half ago to ferguson. i know you covered that. there were a couple days there we would get to about this time of day and we would start asking the question, well, what does tonight hold? this video, just out, every everybody's digesting it for the first time. what do you think chicago will look like tonight? >> i think chicago has a lot in common with the other cities where we've seen things get a little bit dicey or sometimes violent. but i think chicago has all these leaders and all these people in the family of this young man urging for peace. and i think in that regard, we'll see, i think, peaceful protests in chicago, because chicago is a place that people know -- it's hard to charge officers. they know that violence prevails that city. they know there's segregation between blacks and whites in that city. it has a large history of racial issues. so to say this one video might push people over the edge could be naive. this idea that this city knows issues, you know, they had that little boy, the little 9-year-old get shot for what police were calling a gang shooting. all those things have been happening in chicago. and we've been talking about chicago for years now. i can't say the video of this young man, while tragic and myself watching it was kind of overwhelmed with grief and really sad for that young man's family, no matter what happens for that officer, whether or not he's ultimately convicted or not, just the fact you can watch somebody's life end, someone who's only 17. but i think what you have these people asking for peace, asking for calm, kind of like trayvon martin's family did. kind of like michael brown's family did. it's going to be up to chicago how they take this. but i'm kind of off the thought that chicago will be able to protest peacefully. they'll be able to get their words out. and when i say peaceful, they'll still be passionate, they might still be something that's hard to watch, but when i think of peaceful, i don't know if we'll see looting or cars burning. that's what i mean by peaceful, but the passion will still be there. >> rahm emanuel, the mayor of chicago was adamant in tonight's press conference that officer van dyk does not represent the culture of the chicago pd. >> anybody who is there to uphold the law cannot act like they're above the law. and that is both a principle that is used to make sure it reflects the culture in the police department. and i want to say one thing. there are men and women, both in leadership positions and rank and file who follow and live by that principle every day. >> all right, so, joy, you have the mayor there appealing to the community, saying, look, you know, don't judge the police department, what do we know about the relationship between the black community in chicago and rahm emanuel? is he and his police department? is he in position right now to make a statement like that and be viewed credibly? >> yeah, i mean, i don't think that just based on, you know, my understanding of chicago politics, that his overwhelmingly popular with african-americans, mayor emanuel, but i think that what will be most dispositive in the way that people view the chicago police will not be this video. it will be the comportment of police officers during the protests. because i think we need to have a bit more nuanced understanding of what takes place when masses of people take to the streets in these black lives matter protests. i covered the 40,000 person-strong march in new york, which was entirely peaceful, because police officers, whatever people, were chanting as they were walking through the streets, however passionate the protesters were, did not react to those protests, where in ferguson, you had a highly militaristic action. you had pepper spray being used and tear gas being used, you essentially had a military-style response to peaceful protests that heightened the tension. i think that much of what happens in chicago tonight is up to the chicago police department, quite frankly. the protesters that are out there are not protesting a non-indictment. they're not out there protesting what they see as a lack of justice. in this case, from the point of view of the family, justice that be done. so you expect people to exercise their first amendment rights and that the city of chicago's public safety department will simply keep public safety. and i think if there's no confrontational kind of stance between the two, i think things will be peaceful and fine. >> all right, thank you. and we should note, there are, at this moment, no protests that we know of going on in chicago. we'll wait to see what the night brings as people digest news of this video. we'll have much more throughout this hour on the reaction throughout the city of chicago. coming up, president obama and french president hollande plan their strategy against isis, but their plans to build a broad coalition to fight the terror network took a hit today when turkey shot down a russian fighter plane. that's ahead. plus, don't look now, but here comes ted cruz. with two months to go before the iowa caucuses, cruz is soaring in the polls while donald trump is getting blasted for, quote, racist lies. and the focus on terrorism is causing voters in new hampshire to give chris christie a second look. can the new jersey governor make an improbable comeback on the campaign trail. finally, the "hardball" roundtable will surprise us all by telling me something i don't know. it's actually not that hard to do. this is "hardball," the place for politics. whatever you're doing, plan well and enjoy life... ♪ or, as we say at unitedhealthcare insurance company, go long. consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company... go long. the market.redict but through good times and bad... ...at t. rowe price... ...we've helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. we are coming back with the fight against isis. president obama and french president hollande today vowing to destroy the terror group and much more on the release of that videotape showing a chicago police officer fatally shooting a black teenager in chicago. back after this. you have two choices; the easy way or the hard way. you could choose a card that limits where you earn bonus cash back. or, you could make things easier on yourself. that's right, the quicksilver card from capital one. with quicksilver you earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. so, let's try this again. what's in your wallet? during red lobster's ultimate seafood celebration. with jazzed up new dishes like the decadent grand seafood feast and the ultimate wood-grilled feast why wait to celebrate? so hurry in, it ends soon. the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain... but you can feel confident in our investment experience around the world. call us or your advisor... t. rowe price. invest with confidence. welcome back to "hardball." 11 days after isis terrorists murdered 130 people in paris and france's government vowed merciless war against the group, that country's president, francois hollande, met with president obama at the white house this morning to discuss the fight. both leaders said the countries were on the same page. >> we're here today to declare that the united states and france stand united, in total solidarity, to deliver justice to these terrorists and those who sent them and to defend our nations. this barbaric terrorist group, isil or daesh, and its murderous ideology, poses a serious threat to all of us. it cannot be tolerated, it must be destroyed, and we must do it together. >> but trying to build a broad coalition to defeat a isis just got a lot more complicated. earlier today, turkey's air force shot down a russian fighter jet, a dramatic event that was captured on videotape. according to turkey, the russian plane ignored repeated warnings not to enter its air space. russia has denied that. not surprisingly, there was a combative reaction from moscow, according to nbc, quote, visibly furious, russian president vladimir putin responded to the turkish version of event by calling the event a stab in the back by terrorist helpers. president obama said russia's actions in syria have made this kind of conflict more likely. >> i do think that this points to a ongoing problem with the russian operations in the sense that they are operating very close to a turkish border and they are going after moderate opposition that are supported by not only turkey, but a wide range of countries. >> jeff mason covers the white house for reuters, simon marks is chief correspondent for feature stories news, and gregg miller is a national security correspondent for "the washington post." simon, let me start with you, you're sort of an expert when it comes to putin and russia. so this military plane being shot down today by turkey. putin obviously very mad about it. the question is, what is he going to do about it? >> well, look, i think, steve, that it provides him with a major opportunity to continue down the path that he's on. look at wanthat happened today. for the first time in 50 years, a russian fighter jet was shot down by a member state of nato and then, turk men rebels, vladimir putin will argue, allied with the united states, killed the two pilots as they were parachuting to what they thought was safety, by shooting at them with small arms from the ground. if you're vladimir putin, you will certainly communicate your fury about this and you will also say that this demonstrates why the united states is absolutely on the wrong track in syria. and that's why you will reject overtures by francois hollande in the kremlin later this week to get on board with that coalition. >> and president obama sending the exact opposite message about russia. he called russia the outlier in the war against isis. >> we've got a coalition. of 65 countries who have been active in pushing back against isil for quite some time. russia right now is a coalition of two. iran and russia, supporting assad. i think it's important to remember that you've got a global coalition organized, russia's the outlier we hope that they refocus their attention on what is the most substantial threat. and that they serve as a constructive partner. >> well, greg, if russia is the outlier, it's a pretty big outlier and it's very active in syrian air space right now. if you're going to have a united front against isis, how would it be possible to get everyone on the same page right now. >> what happened today shows how combustible things are around syria. as chaotic as they are inside that civil war, where you have o so many different factions fighting one another, the players involved now on the outside reaching into syria, it's also extremely complicated. you would have thought after the russian airliners downed by the islamic state, that that would have given russia abundant motivation to begin targeting the islamic state and not the enemies of assad, as obviously, but this just frays whatever potential there was for some agreement between russia and the rest of the coalition that obama just mentioned. >> jeff, in terms of the united states in france, because that was the meeting at the white house, those two presidents getting together. they claimed, they pledged joint resolve to go after isis. i know hollande basically said he didn't want a commitment of french ground troops. president obama certainly hasn't been interested in american ground troops. did you see any strategy, a specific strategy emerge from this meeting today? >> well, i think the first bit of the strategy that they articulated is they want to coordinate more. that's something that president obama made a point of saying in his opening statement. they want to share intelligence better. and they want to work together to bring a coalition together that is strong and that can fight against islamic state or isis. in terms of ground troops and any sort of a strategy there, you're absolutely right. both presidents said they do not intend or desire to send troops from the united states or from france on to the ground and i don't expect to see that changing anytime soon. >> yef, i guess that's the question then of ground troops. you certainly have others, particularly on the republican side, who are talking about larger commitments of ground troops. obviously, you couldn't have a republican president for more than a year if at that. but what would it take at this point to shift the discussion to actually putting ground troops over there. is that something you could see on the horizon at all? >> i don't see that on the horizon under the obama white house, absolutely not. this is a president who came to power on the back of a promise to take american forces off of the battle field. he did that in iraq. he did that in afghanistan, and he is doing it, and he's certainly not eager to start sending more troops back on to the battle field in the last year that he's president. on the other hand, he's sensitive to the criticism that he's not doing enough. and that's why he's continuing to articulate the fact that this broader strategy, piece by piece, and getting a lot of countries in on it together and also showing the solidarity that he showed today with hollande is the weighing too. >> and greg, you recently reported on the isis propaganda machine inside syria. you talk to defectors in prison and said, what they described as resembles a medieval reality show. camera crews fan out across the caliphate every day, their ubiquitous presence distorting the events they purportedly document. battle scenes and public beheadings are so scripting that they do multiple takes and read their lines from cue cards. describing a very sophisticated propaganda machine. tell us about that. >> one of the defectors we talked to described it as an army of propagandists. this exists as a special class within the islamic state that have privileges that even fighters don't enjoy, including better cars and better homes to live in, better salaries. it's that big a priority for the islamic state. and what you just alluded to is this level of control and scripting and orchestration that happens inside syria. and then this group takes advantage of the chaos of the internet and social media to get its message out to followers in a very broad, global way. >> all right. jeff mason, simon marks, greg miller, thanks for your time. appreciate that. coming up, ted cruz is on the rise while donald trump is getting skewered by "the new york times" for spreading what they call racist lies. this is "hardball," the place for politics. you can't predict the market. but through good times and bad... ...at t. rowe price... ...we've helped our investors stay confident for over 75 years. call us or your advisor. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. again for the 15th year in a us in customrow.atisfaction but we have a plan. 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>> i wouldn't say they're giving up on carson. they're certainly starting to fade away from the doctor. you see people connect to cruz, a movement conservative, who has roots on the right. when i was there with cruz over the weekend, he was connecting with them in a visceral way, talking about his faith and the future of the country. and he's avoided attacks from trump for this entire campaign, but they could be coming as he continues to ascend. >> yeah, katie, that's something i'm starting to notice with ted cruz. he made a kind of opaque statement over the weekend, saying that some in the republican party, he refused to name nameses, but he said some of the rhetoric has not been helpful on smrgs. he talks about how tone matters. he has been saying he doesn't think trump will win iowa. donald trump saying he won't put up with it. at what point does he start turning on ted cruz, do you think? >> they've had this unofficial alliance so far, but he has said repeatedly he's only a counterpuncher. carson didn't really punch trump and trump started punching him quite hard, mercilessly criticizing him when he started to beat him in polls in. he started being merciless with him. it's so loud, it's hard to hear myself thing. so it's unclear what he's going to punch ted cruz on. he's not quite as vulnerable, certainly, as ben carson was. >> yeah, i think donald trump considers it a punch if you move ahead of him in the polls. that's the lesson i learned from the ben carson. trump was pressed about the inaccurate statistics he retweeted on sunday. these are statistics that falsely suggested that african-americans are responsible for a majority of homicides against whites. here's how trump explained himself to bill o'reilly. >> i never saw any racism from you. however, when you tweet out a thing -- and this bothered me, i got to tell you -- you tweeted out that whites killed by blacks, these are statistics you picked up from somewhere, at a rate of 81%. and that's totally wrong. whites killed by black at 15%. yet you tweeted it was 81%. >> bill, i didn't tweet -- i re-tweeted somebody that was supposedly an expert -- >> yeah, but you don't want to be -- >> who was supposedly an expert. >> -- but why do you want to be in that zone? >> am i going to check every statistic? >> you gotta. you're a presidential contender. don't do this. don't put your name on stuff like this, because it makes the other side, it gives them stuff to tell the ill-informed voter that you're a racist. >> trump also tripled down on his claim that he saw isa saw a of thousands of new jersey muslims celebrating in 9/11. in a scathing report, "the new york times" compared him to people like george wallace. writing, america has just lived through another presidential campaign week dominated by donald trump's racist lies. in the republican field, mr. trump has described himself as fastest to dive to the bottom. if it's a lie to vile to utter alive, count on mr. trump to say it, often. history teaches that holding the demagogue to account is no easy act. hallle, let me ask you about that. the principle "the new york times" is talking about is certainly a real established one. at the same time, there's a school of thought out there that if the media in general and an outlet like "the new york times" in particular has a reputation on the right for being a liberal organ, if they try to hold donald trump accountable, it only makes donald trump's base rally around him that much more, no matter what they're saying. >> that's exactly it, steven. when you're reading this op-ed from "the new york times," this editorial piece, all i can say is donald trump does not care what "the new york times" has to say about him. so everyone can jeer the times and jeer the rest of the media. this is something that donald trump has done well and ben carson does well. they've taken some questions about some of their rhetoric and incorrect claims and flip it around and make themselves into essentially the victim. they portray themselves as victims of a biased and liberal mainstream media. it works with their supporters. i spoke with one woman over the weekend in iowa. she's an undecided voter. this was just a couple of days ago. and i asked her about some of these claims that trump is making. she said, they may not be right, but i don't trust the media to tell me they're not right. >> robert costa, i'm trying to play this out a little bit. we have ted cruz moving up in iowa right now. this one poll showing almost a tie in iowa right now. for the republicans who are looking to trip donald trump up, i guess the scenario would be, you'd need cruz or somebody, but let's say it's cruz to knock them off in iowa. then we have to go to new hampshire. trump right now ahead in new hampshire. he's basically doubling up his nearest competitor. when you look at new hampshire, who's the biggest threat to him there. if it's cruz in iowa, who's the biggest threat to trump in new hampshire? >> in the polls, trump is way ahead in new hampshire. christie's trying to come back, rand paul has a libertarian base. you see senator graham taking trips, talking about his hawkish views. and i think jeb bush and marco rubio's campaigns are making a real play for new hampshire. at the same time, there's a reluctance, steve, and i've spoken to many of these establishment donors today to take on trump. they're not funding the anti-trump super pacs, not putting the big money against them. one of the reasons is, if they think they engage, everyone else who has done so stumbles. if if they take out trump, they think cruz will rise and cruz will become more formidable. >> halley jackson, robert costa, katy tur, thanks for joining us. excuse me. when we come back, back to the breaking story out of chicago. the release of that video of a black teenager shot and killed by a white police officer. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. at planters we know how to throw a remarkable holiday party. just serve classy snacks and be a gracious host, no matter who shows up. do you like nuts? bounty is two times more absorbent. more "sit" per roll. so one roll of bounty can last longer than those bargain brands. so you get more "life" per roll. bounty. the long-lasting quicker picker upper. . i'm page hopkins and here's what's happening. president obama has awarded the medal of freedom to 17 recipients, including steven spielberg and barbra streisand. as well as baseball great yogi berra, who was awarded the medal po posthumo posthumously, it is the nation's highest civilian honor. a bus blast has killed 12 guards. two attacks earlier this year were claimed by isis. now we'll take you back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." now back to our top story tonight. protesters are in the streets of chicago after the release of a disturbing video showing a chicago police officer shooting and killing a black teenager. y jason van dyke, the white chicago police officer who shot 17-year-old laquan mcdonald to death in october of last year is facing first-degree murder charges tonight. just a short time ago, chicago mayor rahm emanuel and chicago police superintendent garry mccarthy pleaded for calm. >> people have a right to protest, people have a right to free speech, but they do not have a right to make criminal acts. >> and joining us now is the "hardball" roundtable, april ryan is white house correspondent for american urban radio networks. sabrina siddiqui is a reporter for the guardian. here in new york, we have ari melber. you've been following this very closely. let me start with you. what do we know on the terms of the timing of all of this. i know there was a court order that the video had to be out by tomorrow. some people look at this and say, what i do this at night if you could have waited until tomorrow morning? >> basically, the short answer to that, in the start of the video, which people can view online at msnbc.com, we're not showing all of it because it's so graphic, but in the start of the video, the police basically put up the notation that says, this officer was indicted on first-degree murder. you get the impression that the timing of the release of the video was synced, a, to a court ordered deadline tomorrow, and b, trying to get it out only after there was some prosecutorial action on this case, although first-degree murder caught everyone by surprise. that's very high and unusual. hasn't happened in chicago for decades. all of this, of course, was for a long time just rumored and no action was taken because the prosecutors hadn't moved legally, and the video was basically being held back. mayor emanuel himself not saying he wanted it out yet. he said that was to help the investigation to run its course. as you and i have been talking about throughout the day, why the investigation like this when the underlying incident is all on video, why would it take over a year. >> and you were saying, first-degree murder so unusual, when you were talking about this a little bit earlier in the year, first-degree murder against a police officer is so unusual. how hard in a court of law is that going to be to prove? >> it would normally be very hard. it goes above and beyond misuse of the weapon and goes into the officer's mental mind state of saying that he was essentially trying to have a premeditated intentional killing for no reason or justification whatsoever or that he had sort of a depraved heart, complete lack of regard for human life. now, look, i just watched the whole video in its context in the newsroom. it is hard to watch. it is graphic. it is a mowing down of a human being. we don't have all the words to really express what it is, but i can tell you that those 13 seconds that have been referred to, that the prosecutors reference as part of the reason she went for the first-degree murder charge are agonizing, because 13 seconds of this individual, mcdonald, on the ground, barely moving, and bullets flying in, in, in, 16 shots, in a row. it is legally, completely unjustified. that's all on video. >> april, let me ask you about the reaction that we're seeing here, the handling of this by rahm emanuel, by garry mccarthy, the police superintendent in chicago. we've seen incidents that are somewhat similar here. baltimore, ferguson, over the last year, other places. when you saw the mayor, saw the police superintendent, when you listened to them, what do you make of how they're handling this? >> as a journalist, i was surprised that rahm emanuel, the mayor of chicago, had not seen the video that was getting ready to be released. it did not seem like he was operating from a stance of power and understanding fully, by not seeing that video to see what was so compelling to the police department to request calm. that's one of the things that stood out, and ari is exactly right. but i also find something very interesting about this whole -- timing of everything. ari is right about -- they pushed it up to the deadline, to release this video. but i also think about the time when this happened. october 2014. this was just months after ferguson, new york, north charleston, and, you know, some other places. so there was a climate in this nation that would not have allowed for this video to come out without there being unrest. we saw what happened in ferguson, we saw what happened in new york and in other places and baltimore. so this is a very interesting situation and you just have to wait -- >> that's interesting. do you think it was a wise decision, then, to wait to release this video? >> are you asking april or me? >> april. it sounds like that's what she's saying. is that right? >> i'm not saying they made a wise decision. what i'm saying is that the timing -- this was together 2014. before that, just months before that, you had ferguson, which was a hotbed. you had new york, with eric garner. then you had north charleston. you had issues going on, and what i'm saying, i'm thinking the mind-set there was, okay, we're going to push it up to the very end, but also this nation is a hotbed with this right now. i'm not saying that they were justified in what they were doing, but i'm looking at the time and trying to understand as a journalist why they would wait and why this was, when it first went out in the news, it was a story about 200 to 300 words. >> just to jump in, i think april makes a very understandable point, because of those public safety implications, but, again, this is not only about those kind of decisions. there is a legal process, and there is freedom of information. that is the law that justified this release. the idea being, and i'm sure we're in an agreement generally, i understand you're talking about what the officials have to think about, but, again, in the courts, this is public information. that's why it's out. and the citizens of chicago have a right to view this type of material and make up their own mind. whether there were charges or not, once that process plays out. and so i think it's understandable we're seeing a so far, peaceful protests and everyone hopes they remain peaceful from people saying, this is information we are entitled to. this is how we self-govern >> you're exactly right. >> it's been 90 minutes so far by the city of chicago and the rest of america, a lot of the world, for that matter is digesting this video and we'll be reacting so it certainly tonight, tomorrow, and in the days ahead. the roundtable staying with us. up and next, voters in new hampshire seem to be giving chris christie a second look. this is "hardball," the place for politics. and can you explain why you recommend synthetic over cedar? "super food?" is that a real thing? it's a great school, but is it the right one for her? is this really any better than the one you got last year? if we consolidate suppliers, what's the savings there? so should we go with the 467 horsepower? ...or is a 423 enough? good question. you ask a lot of good questions... i think we should move you into our new fund. sure... ok. but are you asking enough about how your wealth is managed? wealth management at charles schwab. i brto get us moving.tein i'm new ensure active high protein. i help you recharge with nutritious energy and strength. i'll take that. yeeeeeah! new ensure active high protein. 16 grams of protein and 23 vitamins and minerals. ensure. take life in. can chris christie be the next comeback kid in new hampshire? be right back with the "hardball" roundtable. the best of everything is even better during red lobster's ultimate seafood celebration. with jazzed up new dishes like the decadent grand seafood feast and the ultimate wood-grilled feast why wait to celebrate? so hurry in, it ends soon. can a a subconscious. mind? a knack for predicting the future. reflexes faster than the speed of thought. can a business have a spirit? can a business have a soul? can a business be...alive? plan well and enjoy life... ♪ or, as we say at unitedhealthcare insurance company, go long. consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company... always have a plan. go long. chris christie has emerged as a dominant on the big issue on the campaign trail, terrorism. front page of "the new york times" reports that the issue has breathed new life into his struggling presidential campaign. this weekend in new hampshire, christie spoke personally about confronting terrorism. >> for lots of other folks in this race, the results of radical islam are theoretical, but not for me. you know, i was named u.s. attorney for new jersey on september 10th it, 2001. when you asked me do i believe it's legitimate to call it radical islam, it is murderous radical islam. and we need to come to grips with that. i live in and see the world the way it is. and as president, i'll govern a world as it is. not as i wish it were. [ applause ] >> and christie also told the crowd he feared for his wife's survival on september 11th. 1450e worked two blocks from the world trade center. >> while we were on the phone, the second plane hit the second building. and she said to me, i have to go. they're telling us we have to evacuate to our basement. i'll call you as soon as i can. for the next 5 1/2 hours, i didn't hear from my wife. i was thinking about, not having my best friend, i was thinking about what i was going to tell my children. i was thinking about what kind of single parent i would be. and at 2:35 in the afternoon, the phone rang. and it was my wife. >> and we're back with the "hardball" roundtable. april, sabrina and aere. sabrina, we talked earlier in the show about the story in iowa, that ted cruz powered by evangelical voters really moving up out there. how about chris christie in new hampshire? he's doing this the traditional new hampshire way. we saw that town hall footage on addiction. now he's in the same setting talking about terrorism. he's particularly strong in the off the cuff settings, fielding questions from the crowd. is there space in new hampshire for christie to do what cruz is doing in iowa? >> he's putting all his eggs in the new hampshire basket. certainly like you said, he is strongest when he gets personal, when he's able to personalize an issue playing out on the ground. he did it with heroin, now with terrorism. what's interesting is that story he's telling about 9/11 is a story he's been telling throughout the xours of his campaign. i heard him tell that story two months ago. in the wake of these terrorist attacks in paris, it's hitting home for more a lot of people. there's a lot more potency to the story when he tells it now versus over the summer when there wasn't a lot of conversation around isis in the wam way we're having it at this moment. by and large, the republican candidates have more or less the same strategy when it comes to isis, that the administration is already putting into effect right now. they need to find ways to differentiate them elves. chris christie has lived through the greatest terrorist attack 2349 the country and plaguing into the emotions of the people in this particular campaign. >> new hampshire is different than iowa. iowa is dominated by evangelical christians in the primary. new hampshire a very secular state. only about a fifth of the votes are in new hampshire are evangelicals. if there's going to be somebody who moves up on trump, there's that lane, there's room for one of them to emerge. >> like you were saying, new hampshire is more secular. i think chris christie has a lot of secularism to him but at the same time, he is capitalizing as sabrina said on this be momentum. he touched etangible chord right now because of what's happening in paris and the fact that there is an isis threat. and he also, you know, to push it even further, he's been talking about the fact that he was the new jersey state's attorney at the time he prosecuted terrorists. you have to already remember, this is the peace. it was al qaeda at that time. al qaeda has been degraded severely. now we're dealing with isis who is this administration says has been degraded by 25% but you still have the 85% out there. but when you say that you have dealt with the terrorists, that does strike a chord that you're a fighter. but we'll see how much any of the states, the early voting states and the caucuses will really believe and put the power of the vote behind him. >> the roundtable is staying with us. up next, they tell me something i don't know. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. ♪ i built my business with passion. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy for my studio. ♪ and that unlimited 2% cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business... that's huge for my bottom line. what's in your wallet? 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