Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20200601

Will we use this as a moment to say we will not do what other cities have done and, in fact, well get better than weve been . What i can tell you, if you sit in your homes tonight instead of burning your home to the ground, you will have time to properly plot, plan, strategize, and organize and mobilize an effective way. Two of the most effective ways is first taking your butt to the computer and making sure you fill out your census so people know who you are, where you are. Next thing, exercise your political bully power. Go to local elections and beating up the politicians that you dont like. You have a prosecutor sent your partner to jail and you know it was bull [ bleep ] . Put a new prosecutor in there. You want a senator that put s marijuana through . Do that. It is not time to burn down your own home. That was part of killer mikes impassioned remarks as protests turned violent in atlanta. This morning, the u. S. Is a nation in crisis, amid a Global Pandemic and record unemployment, now comes unrest unlike anything weve likely seen in a generation. The death of george floyd exactly one week ago, and a Minneapolis Police officer now charged with his murder has lit an already combustible nation on fire. Mass protests have hit all 50 states over the last few days. All 50 states. As tense, yet mostly peaceful, demonstrations during the day give way to violence at night. Those who wish to destroy use the cover of darkness to carry out their crimes. At least 40 cities have tried to quell the violence by issuing curfews, which protesters largely ignored. Some loot and steal during the day. The National Guard has been activated in at least 26 states with troops being deployed from the twin cities, chicago, to washington, d. C. , and los angeles. There were also deployments to raleigh, North Carolina, and sioux falls, south dakota, overnight. Good morning and welcome to morning joe. It is monday, june 1st. We have White House Reporter for the associated press, jonathan lemire. Host of msnbcs politics nation and president of the National Action network, reverend al sharpton is with us. Professor at princeton university, eddie glaude jr. Historian, author of the soul of america and rogers professor of the presidency at vanderbilt university, jon meacham. He is an nbc news and msnbc contributor. Reverend al sharpton, lets begin with you. Obviously, you are very close to the family whose is at the cen of this national and now Global Crisis. Hes doing the funeral. Youre doing a funeral. Tell us, where are we one week after, one week after the events of minneapolis started this . Well, we are at a place where, clearly, the country is torn between those that would use the killing of george to deal with their own agendas, whether that be on the right or the left, and those that would take advantage of it by going into mindless violence, provoked in some cases by people with an agenda, and those that really want to see some justice come to this family and to really deal with the overall problems of the criminal justice system. Let me be clear, the family made it very clear that they are angry, that they are determined to get justice. They will fight to the end. But they are not going to condone or be part of any violence or any manipulation of emotion. They want to be focused, that this, their brother, their cousin, did not die in vain, but that maybe out of his death, as painful as it is, we can finally come to terms with policing in this country. That is going to be the theme of the funeral thursday in minneapolis and on to North Carolina, then laying him to rest to houston. Let me say this, the politics of this, joe, is that if we continue to move away from the central issue of policing and how we deal with Law Enforcement, how we deal with oversight in this country, and what this administration has done in terms of cancelling movements that were started under the obama administration, if we move away from that and move to lawlessness and just mindless looting, we are setting up a political result that will help the people that many of us claim were opposed to. When i was 13 years old, id just bekcome youth director of kings organization. He was killed that year. There was looting and rye lottilot i rioting all over the country. That november, Richard Nixon was elected president , as the law and order candidate. Do not make that mistake. By playing to the far, far, uncontrolled people that claim to be left, that you reward the far right. Well, there is a quote from that year youre talking about, 1968. Month, month and a half before dr. King was assassinated, he said, every time a riot develops, it helps george wallace. That is exactly what many of the marchers, obviously, they want justice. Not just justice for george, they want justice for so many others. They want to make change. At the same time, there is a real fear and you hear it out there, there is a real concern that people that are taking advantage of this to loot stores, to engage in lawlessness, to steal. Steal, to beat others, to assault others, to try to push anarchy are doing nothing but helping the most reactionary forces in american politics. And we must distinguish between those that are angry and protesting peacefully and that are out there saying things, trying to gear toward the neglect of dealing with these issues, and those that are taking advantage of it. And those inciting others. Let me remind people, when we had the uprisings in ferguson, and many of us went in there i preached a funeral there of Michael Brown in ferguson. Many of us were talking to the young people being incited. Some of those young people went to jail, and the people that incited them left town. We had to help some of those young people get lawyers. One of them, i know, got seven years for arson. Arguing with me about violence, and now were some of the only people communicating with them. People come from out of town, inciting people who are marginal. The people who are there will be the ones who have to help their families deal with rebuilding the city and, in some cases, help their case. Dont use george floyd for anything other than justice for george floyd and the eric garners and others. Thats why we brought eric garners mother. We wanted to show there is a systemic string of social injustice. Joe, it is counterproductive, what theyre doing, what they think they might be doing. Burning businesses and looting stores, these are stores that are already limping along because of this pandemic. In many cities, its black Business Owners who are already suffering economically because theyve been autoout of busines. Now to have their businesses ruined. Yeah. You know, that is the thing. Especially minneapolis, the victims of these property crimes, the victims of these riots, the victims of arson, the victims of the looting, thats occurring completely separate from the peaceful protests in so many of these places. Its blackowned businesses. Another king quote, the limitation of riots is that they cannot win, and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary, but reactionary, because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility. Eddie, i think one thing about the coverage that ive seen over the past couple days, and im sure youve seen it, as well, is there seems there has seemed to be a blurring of the peaceful marching and the rioting, the looting, the violence, the assaults. When, in fact, yesterday, you could look at yesterday, they were inspiring peaceful marches across the country yesterday. They were doing it to honor the memory, not just of george floyd, but Ahmaud Arbery, eric garner, Trayvon Martin, and so many other black americans who died just because of the color of their skin. Theres no doubt that the overwhelming marches yesterday were peaceful, respectful, and, yes, americans young and old, black and white, of all demographic backgrounds. Yes. And we also saw, even in the context of the violence, you saw protesters trying to, in some ways, prevent instigators, provocateurs, from breaking windows. You saw Peaceful Protesters trying to protect property, trying to make the case that this is what this is not what they were trying to achieve. Oftentimes and let me say this very clearly, we often read these protests as simply being black. We know that theyre interracial. We know theyre very diverse. We see images across media showing that its not just black people looting. So what we see, i think, in a very clear way, joe, is that all of the continue diction contra past three and a half years have come to a head in the senseless furd murd murder of jorge floygeorge floy. Rev is right about the politics. People need an excuse not to support the justice aims that inform the outrage, by saying the riots will lead them to support donald trump, or to argue against what is a more just america. Okay, thats right. What we do know is this, weve been living, over the last three and a half years, and i would argue over the last few decades, in a situation that has produced a kind of kitinderbox that coul explode at any moment. Any moment. It has exploded. It has. You know, in a man who knows so much about times like these better than most of us, john lewis said this yesterday. I say to all americans not to give up. Not to get lost in the seas of despair, but to keep the faith. Its going to work out. We must help it in working out by doing good and being true to the calls of love, peace, and nonviolence. Thats congressman john lewis, obviously. Great, great man. Great civil rights leader, also. A very good friend of all of us here. Jon meacham, i saw, i think, Kaitlin Flanagan tweet yester y yesterday, may you live in Interesting Times is not a blessing but a curse. I think i responded, may our children live in boring times with uninspiring, competent leaders. Because if you look at what so many people who are out on the streets, the younger people who are out on the streets now have been through, things that we never went through growing up. Economic collapse in 2008. You can just keep going down the list. You can look at ferguson. Another economic collapse caused by a pandemic. So many it seems so many of these killings of innocent black men have accelerated over the past five, six years. Maybe because of and this is a sad thing our knowledge of them has accelerated. Maybe because of the prevalence of phones now. Smartphones that can record the video of things that have been going on for, unfortunately, hundreds of years. But Susan Glasser said this about the year we are going through. She said, 2020 started like 1974, then switched to some horrible combination of 1918 and 1929. Now, 1968. Yeah. Ugh. Jon, its not like people like you and everybody else havent been saying for three years that we have a president who is s sowing chaos and hasnt even been challenged by an outside crisis. Now, he is challenged by a multitude of outside crises, and you have america looking just as leaderless in this crisis as we did during the pandemic. Which, by the way, is still going on. Obviously, its going to get worse because of the scenes weve been watching over the last week. Susans point is brilliant. Thats exactly right. One of the things that separates this, seems to me, from the late 60s is the we have big unemployment, the kind of economic unease that was prevalent in the early 30s, so it is this combustible, to use an overused metaphor, crisis. What i would say about the lack of leadership, which is, i think, inarguable, and if there is leadership, its in the wrong direction, is this is a stress test for all of us. Its a stress test for civil society. For the genuine democratic, lower case d ideal, that, in fact, we can people, by and large, if we work hard enough to go to what congressman lewis said, we can get through to the other side, as reverend sharpton was saying. People have said, oh, this is some sort of inchoate try. It is not inchoate. There is a set of demands. There is a set of reasonable imminently reasonable things to be done. I would be really careful, before we let the center to the center right, you can argue, begin to see this in the rhetoric, start to talk about, that this is a chaotic act of rage. It is an act of rage. It does take chaotic form. But like the 1960s, there are a series of things that could be done, that could ameliorate what led to this disaster. Our colleague, professor glaude, has a marvelous book coming out on what James Baldwin had to say about exactly this sort of thing. It was, in fact, that, you know, baldwin said about the civil rights workers in the early 1960s, people asked what got into these kids, america got into these kids. So America Needs to get into all of us. As protests broke out across the country over the weekend, President Trump stayed largely silent, except for a slew of tweeting that appeared to actually stoke tensions. Senior Administration Official tells the Washington Post that the president , and some of heez ad his advisers, calculated he shouldnt speak to the nation because he has no tangible policy or action to announce yet. In a series of tweets saturday morning, trump addressed the protests that took place outside the white house. He first thanked the secret service, saying the agents let protesters scream and rant as much as they wanted. He added, big crowd. Professionally organized. Nobody came close to breaching the fence. If they had, they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs and ominous weapons ive ever seen. The president also appeared to invite his own supporters to gather outside the white house, tweeting, in part, tonight, i understand, is maga night at the white house. Hearsay h heres how he responded when asked about his tweets. With your tweets today, are you concerned you might be stoking more racial violence no, not at all. Maga says make America Great again. These are people who love our country. I have no idea if they were going to be here. I was asking. I have no idea if theyre going to be here. Maga is make America Great again. By the way, they love africanamerican people. They love black people. Maga loves black people. According to nbc news, President Trump has dismissed advice from his allies, urging him to dotone down his rhetoric. Multiple people familiar with the discussion say there is broad agreement among trumps alla al allies, that his current, incendiary messages could backfire politically and further fuel the turmoil. Senator tim scott of south carolina, the only africanamerican republican in the senate said yesterday, that he told the president some of his tweets about the violence that has swept the nation were, quote, not constructive, and that trump was responsive to his suggestions for ways to improve his message. I spoke with the president yesterday morning, and he and i had a good conversation about what are the next steps. I told him what im going to tell you, which is, mr. President , it helps us when you focus on the death, the unjustified, in my opinion, the criminal death of george floyd. Those tweets are very helpful. Mr. President , it is helpful when you lead with compassion. But, senator scott we have a minute left. Was far better. Sir, did you speak truth to power, and did you say to him, when you talk about thugs, when you talk about looting and shooting, and you talk about Vicious Police dogs, whatd you say about that . I used similar words that you just used, which was, we talked about the fact there was a constructive way to have a dialogue with a nation, and similar fashion we had a conversation after charlottesville. I think his tweets yesterday were far more responsive, after the conversation. Im thankful we can have that conversation. We dont always agree. I didnt agree with him sweet h beforehand. We had a doialogue on how to moe the country forward, and we havent let the detractors get in the way of what has been a couple of great years economically. Senator scott brought up interesting he brought up shar l charlottesville and Donald Trumps moral equivocation. Actually, the president s top aides were telling reporters that this, they believed, was his low point since charlottesville. The thugs comment. The when the looting starts, the shooting starts. The dogs. Vicious dogs. That obviously is code. There is not a civil righteds leader who doesnt think back to bull conner releasing vicious dogs on protesters in the 1960s. There is an image from birmingham. When we talks about the vicious dogs, when he talks about, when the looting starts, the shooting starts, which is, of course, the catch phrase of a bigot from the 60s. Then maga supporters. It seemed the president was trying to start a riot outside the gates of his own white house. Thats, obviously again, the white house insi, insiders cons to be, according to reports, his low point since charlottesville. Its sort of two things going on. This sort of sowing fear and hate and stowing the violence on twitter, and, yet, a lot of people felt during the moment at the rose garden on friday, when he chose not to speak about george floyd and everything that was going on, and he turned around and walked away, turned his back on america, the questions started popping up. Is he afraid to do anything . What is holding him back . Through our worst times, jonathan lemire, through our worst times as a country these past three months, it seems he is in a state of withdraw at all times, whether it be stepping up on testing and nationalizing it, getting this going, moving us through the virus and the pandemic, or withdrawing from the w. H. O. , or withdrawing from the opportunity to calm americans fears and try to calm the situation, he turns and walks away. Mika, there was a moment last night in washington, d. C. , just after 11 00 p. M. , when the citys curfew went into effect. There were protests in Lafayette Park, just across pennsylvania avenue, from the white house. A few fires were burning. Loud chants. Both things could be seen and heard from the building. What happened to the white house, the exterior lights, that always illuminate the building, were turned off, and the building was plunged into darkness. For a lot of americans, thats been a lack of leadership from President Trump. A lot of allies have the same concern. The lights went out, of course, for security reasons. Thats why secret service made the decision, because the protests were so close to the building. It is ememblematic. The president , friday, had an opportunity. He had a rose garden event. He was going to talk about china, his anger there about the pandemic. There were chances to address George Floyds death. He didnt. He walked away. Friday night, as protests got out of land in Lafayette Park, agents rushed the president to the underground bunker at the white house, which was usually used for terrorist attacks. Thats where the president and Vice President cheney was sent. We have a series of tweets from the president , almost inciting m maga protesters. Suggesting the secret service would turn to violence means against the protest, upset some of the secret service. Attacking democratic governors and mayors, trying to take credit for quieter nights because the National Guard deployment, though they had been out minneapolis. There was a discussion to address the nation. There were top advisers, had thoughts about the president speaking to the country, perhaps saturday night or last night, from the oval office. They decided not to do it. They felt there were not any policy proposals to give out. The president wasnt sure of a message to give. They didnt feel like there was a sense of a real note of unity that he could sound. They also remembered his last oval office address, the early days of the pandemic, which was a disaster and sowed confusion and fear. They opted not to do it. Hes remained kwooi eed quiet a sight, except for the inflammatory tweets. Jon meacham, historically, i know there are no parallels, but we need to bring it up right now. Were in the middle of a recession turning into a depression. Were in the middle of the worst pandemic, the Worst Health Care crisis in over a century. The worst rioting since 1968. Over the course of this year, where the president has faced unprecedented Economic Hardship since 1929, unprecedented Health Care Crisis since 1918, now unprecedented rioting since 1968, we have a president whose in the middle of this incredible shrinking act. He is doing little more than tweeting. As you say, the analogies are imprecise, and i hate to throw his predecessors into the corner with him, but this is a lot like the spring winter and spring of 1968, when president johnson left the race. Functionally resigned, when you think about it, having won so big in 1964. As we talked about, you know, james reston wrote the morning after the 64 election, conservative was dead in america for a generation. Fewer than four years later, president johnson, because of vietnam, because of the riots, because of the backlash, which was a phrase that came into the vernacular, about white workers lashing back at black workers who might be taking their jobs, which was a not necessarily southern phenomenon but also a national one, that wild complexity of issues functionally drives president johnson out of office. It takes him out of the president ial race, given the way Lyndon Johnson was wired, for him not to be able to run for office was almost a death sentence. In fact, he did die within five years. But that was a moment where circumstances engulfed johnson, who had done immensely important things on the home front. So thats where the analogy breaks down. If youre looking for a chaotic moment, this would be, i think, the first week, last week of march and first week of april 1968, which began with dr. King giving a sermon at the Washington National cathedral. Johnson is out of the race on sunday night. Dr. King is assassinated in memphis. Robert kennedy gives the remarkable talk about dr. Kings death in indianapolis. Then america burned. So i think were closer to that than at any time since then. Wow. While images of police using force to suppress crowds protesting the death of george floyd filled social media over the weekend, in some cities, police joined demonstrators in a show of solidarity. In flint, michigan, county sheriff Chris Swanson joined protesters calls to walk with us, marching down miller road in flint township. Santa cruz, california, police chief mills took a knee with protesters, with the department tweeting that it was in memory of george floyd, and bringing attention to Police Violence against black people. Two kansas city, missouri, Police Officers were photographed holding up a sign that reads, end Police Brutality. In fargo, north dakota, an officer held hands with protest organizers while holding a sign that says, we are one human race. Officers in ferguson, missouri, participated in a 9 30 kneel in floyds memory, while cheers erupted from the crowd. That is one way to do it, to validate the anger and the fear that is out there, amidst the crime that is happening, as well. Ahead, well talk to congresswoman val demings, who served as orlandos first female chief of police. Morning joe is back in a moment. Ive said to all americans, not to give up, not to get lost in the seas of despair, but to keep the faith. Its going to work out. 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No uh uh, no way come on, no no nnnnono only discover has no annual fee on any card. Yeah. This moving thing never gets any easier. Well, xfinity makes moving super easy. I can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. Wow, that is easy. Almost as easy as having those guys help you move. We are those guys. Thats you . The truck adds 10 pounds. In the arms. Okay. Transfer your Service Online in a few easy steps. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. Visit xfinity. Com moving today. People dont want to so i share it. Song by song. The dark and the light. The struggle and the joy with my mental health. Whats your mission . Use godaddy to help make it happen. Former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin was arrested on friday and charged with third degree murder and Second Degree manslaughter in the death of george floyd. Hennepin county attorney mike freeman announced the charges four days after chauvin could be seen on video kneeling on the neck of floyd for nearly nine minutes. Chauvin is being held in the Ramsey County jail on 500,000 bond and faces a maximum sentence of 25 years if convicted, under the third degree murder charge. According to the star tribune, chauvin is the first white officer in Minnesota History to be criminally prosecuted in the death of a black civilian. Joining us now, legal analyst for nbc news and msnbc, maya wiley. I guess ill begin with the charge against Derek Chauvin. Could that change . How did they come upon that . Then i think a lot of people are very interested in knowing about the potential for additional charges against the other officers who were watching as this happened. Good morning, mika. You know, first, let me say, that i dont know why the other officers have not been charged. I certainly expect to see charges. In terms of officer chauvin, you know, i think one read of this could be that they didnt they absolutely can amend this complaint. There is nothing that prevents them, now that we see attorney general Keith Ellison in charge of this case, it may be we see an amended complaint even sooner. I think one thing that was striking to some of us about that complaint is it seemed to be conflicted. What i mean by that is, one, i was not clear why there wasnt a murder two charge. Murder one, first degree, is premeditated. Planned in advance. I understand why we havent seen public evidence that suggests premeditati premeditation, a plan. But murder two is, you started not intending to kill with Bodily Injury that results in death. So that seems to absolutely be the case here. Theres lots of fact that supports that. Particularly when you see that officer chauvin kept his knee on mr. Floyds neck, even as officers were asking to flip him over, and two minutes after an officer says, i dont feel a pulse. Why would you do that, unless at some point you have shifted your intent from a legal standpoint . Im not saying what he consciously thought in his head. In the law, its the action that establishes the case. I think there should be a murder two charge here. Reverend al, as maya said, they can amend this. It can be Second Degree murder. What i dont understand, rev, is why the other three officers have not been brought to justice yet. I want to go back. Because they were standing around for 9 30. I said this yesterday, the most damning for Minneapolis Police is the other officers were standing around for nine minutes, watching a fellow officer kill a black man. This is not a bad apple in the force. This is a bad culture that is rotted to its core. I want to take you back a few months, when we were talking about nathaniel woods. Woods was a black man from alabama, who in 2005, was with someone who committed a murder. As he started shooting, nathaniel woods ran. Once the crime began, he ran away because he wanted nothing to do with it. There was no evidence that he was any part of the plan and, yet, kay ivey, after ignoring complaints from civil rights leaders, and going through the execution, said, there is no evidence that nathaniel woods tried to stop the gunman from committing these heinous crimes. That was her standard for letting a man, who did not pull the trigger and, in fact, who ran away when the crime started, to get executed. Yet, we have three men who were standing there for nine and a half minutes, not stopping a murder from taking place. Now, how do you execute a black man in alabama for running away from the scene of a crime and let three white men in minneapolis not be charged for standing there, in the middle of the day, and watch for nine and a half minutes, as life is drained from a man in a slowmotion murder . You are right to bring up the wood analogy. As you wrote in your tweet, its because its rotten to the core. These are not just three civilian white men. These are three white men sworn to uphold the law, given a badge and a gun to protect the public. As we look at this video, they are protecting a person execute and complete a criminal act, who is now charged with a crime. This is the reason why the family wants to see these three officers charged and arrested. I agree that now that the attorney general of that state, Keith Ellison, is involved, which is something we also asked for when i talked to the governor when i was there we asked for that and we have more of a possibility of that with Keith Ellison involved. Also part of this culture, joe, was something that you and mika played earlier. Youre dealing with a president , first of all, who said maga loves black people. Maga loves africanamericans, which is a major freudian slip. Hes admitting blacks arent in maga. He had blacks in the east room one day, saying these are his supporters. How can maga like blacks if blacks are part of m araga . When he calls a member of the family, he wont even listen to what they have to say. The brother of george floyd was on my show the other night, saying, he wouldnt even hear me. The problem is, he has not been listening to other americans for a long time in his life and, unfortunately, as president , he does not hear us. Thats what incites people to do things we feel might not be right. They feel theyre not being heard. Maya, let me ask you a few things. First of all, lets finish up with the cops in minneapolis. What charges should be brought against the three officers who stood there for nine and a half years and did absolutely nothing . Again, to quote kay ivey before the execution, theres no evidence that they tried to stop the gunman from committing this heinous crime. Secondly, can you talk really briefly and i dont know that it even warrants discussion because it is such a ridiculous suggestion that barr and trump are both talking about labeling antifa a terrorist organization, when there is really no organization to identify there. Its basically a group run by anarchist instincts. Yeah. So, joe, youre absolutely right about these officers, starting there. Let me just add and bolster your point. Two of these officers physically participated in this murder. Lets be clear. We just showed the video clip that showed that two of the three officers had their knees on mr. Floyd, as well. So that tells you they absolutely could see a murder charge, although maybe a lower count than mr. Chauvin. Also, they have a duty of care. They absolutely are legally responsible for his life when they are in control of it. He is on his chest. He is handcuffed. He is not struggling. There simply is no defense. Theyre participants. I would expect the see similar charges, although perhaps lower counts. In terms of antifa, and, joe, you served in public office, you know, not only is there no Organization Called antifa, the federal governments own data shows that in terms of domestic terror, antifa would fall into a category of 2 of the violence. Do you know who the other 98 represents . White supremacists and neonazis. Did we hear anything from the president or the attorney general about investigating White Supremacists and neonazis with our precious public dollars . We have not. Secondly, and most importantly, perhaps, they dont have the Legal Authority to designate anything that is domestic a terror group. But in these protests, we are hearing allegations from protesters that there are White Supremacists who are covering themselves in black, engaging in violence, as if they are protesters. That absolutely should be, certainly, something concerned about, based on the data we see. Maya wiley, thank you very, very much for being on this morning. Thank you. We were having a little connection there, but glad we were able to finish that. Maya is so right. Not only did the president and the attorney general not bring up the 98 , the neonazis, the White Supremacists, you can go back to charlotte in 2017. Thats where the president , after a cursory dismissal, then talked about how there were good people on both sides of that protest. Yeah. Of course, the an anti antitrump squad came out immediately and tried to defend the president. Their defense sort of fell on deaf ears when it came to david duke, the former class m eer ce after charlottesville, thanked President Trump for being on their side. The comment, what do you have to lose, that he made after the campaign. Up next, it is tough to see 6 feet apart in the middle of a protest. Did you see that . Well talk about the Health Risks Associated with these mass demonstrations amid the covid19 pandemic. The first and only full prescription strength nonsteroidal antiinflammatory gel available overthecounter. New voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. Voltaren. The joy of movement. However, there is one thing you can be certain of. The men and women of the United States postal service. Were here to deliver cards and packages from loved ones and also deliver the peace of mind of knowing that essentials like prescriptions are on their way. Every day, all across america, we deliver for you. And we always will. No uh uh, no way come on, no no nnnnono only discover has no annual fee on any card. That Liberty Mutual customizes your insurance, i just love hitting the open road and telling people nnnnono so you only pay for what you need [squawks] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Lets be honest. Quitting smoking is hard. Like, quitting every monday hard. Quitting feels so big. So try making it smaller, and youll be surprised at how easily starting small can lead to something big. Start stopping with nicorette. Theres going to be a lot of issues coming out of whats happened the last week. One will be the change of transmission will have become lit from these gatherings. Minnesota, one of the hardhit states by the protests, where youve seen large mass gatherings, that state has been seeing an uptick in cases to begin with, even before these protests started. We saw rising hospitalizations in the state. This country isnt through this epidemic. This is continuing to expand at a much slower rate, but we have pockets of spreading communities that arent under good control. If you were out protesting last night, you probably need to go get a covid test this week. Because theres still a pandemic in america thats killing black and brown people at higher numbers. The mayor of atlanta. Before that, former fda commissioner scott gottlieb, on the potentially deadly consequences of large protests during the coronavirus pandemic. Joining us now, morning joe chief medical correspondent dr. Dave campbell. Dr. Dave, im sure we werent the only ones thinking this. Watching this unfold, and these people, you know, very close to each other, some of them, obviously, scuffling, having physical interactions. How possible is it that there will be a few, if not more, coronavirus cases out of these protests that turned into riots . Youre right. Everybody across the country was watching this unfold with the same question in their mind. All the experts so far that ive interacted with do believe that we will see a spike, and it will be in areas across the country, not just minneapolis, but well see areas that are already showing hot spots, like in the south and the west, that will show some increase in the numbers of cases over the next few weeks. Maybe by july 4th and thereafter, well start seeing increasing deaths. It is important to remember that there is a difference between being inside and outside, and there is a great difference between having a Face Covering on or not having a Face Covering on. So the little bit of good news, mika, would be that the protests are outside. But i wouldnt take that example too far. Because many, many closely quartered individuals are going to spread aerosols and droplets. And we already know that talking spreads this droplet by about 6 feet. Coughing by about 12 feet. Sneezing by about 18 feet. I dont know anybody thats looked at screaming and chanting, how far that will send the viral particles, whether theyre aerosolized or by droplet. Yeah. You know, eddie glaude, how concerned were you during these protests, watching these protests over the past several days, by the fact that it is, unfortunately, black and brown americans who have felt the disproportionate impact of covid19, and probably a majority of the protesters that we have seen have been black americans. Yeah. My own son participated in a protest yesterday in trenton, new jersey. We had to have a hard, difficult conversation about social distancing and the threat of covid19. You know, just like the economy trying to folks forcing the economy to open, forcing people to make a choice between providing for their livelihood and the risk of death, you have folks making the choice they have to protest Police Brutality and risking their own lives again. End of the day, joe, i look at it like this. In 1968, after the uprisings, america made a choice to double down on the ugliness and turned its back on the possibilities the freedom act opened up. 2020, we have to run a knifes edge. Will we double down on the ugliness, or will we become a truly multiracially just america . Thats the choice right now. Dr. Dave, given these protests are in all 50 states, often multiple cities in each state, what are we looking at in what is the data telling you about a second wave, and will these events, perhaps, step that up . We should look to july 4th. We know on memorial day, a lot of states opened up. In fact, all 50 states now have some degree of opening up. All 50 states also have had coronavirus cases, covid19. So if we look at the calendar and realize that a few weeks, once youre inoculated, to be infected and get sick, then a few more weeks for those that are going to go in the hospital, then a few more weeks for those that will unfortunately die, were looking at july when we could start seeing some dramatic spikes. Although, even in a couple weeks, in some of the very hot spots, where the protests have been densely congregated, we could see it even sooner, according to the experts. All right. Dr. Dave campbell, thank you so much. Thank you. Jon meacham, before you go, of course, you wrote the soul of america. Talk about that soul right now, where we are as a country right now. Give every american watching a reason to hope. Well, my argument is that the soul is an arena of contention, in which our worst instincts do battle with our better ones. As we celebrate, the monuments we build, are monuments to eras in which the better angels have won. It is always a closerun thing. It is as close a runned thing as youve ever seen in your life. American progress and virtue is spotty, but were still here, fighting for a more perfect union. It is fascinating that morris did not write about achieving perfection on earth. He wrote in the great preamble we had to seem a more perfect union. It is easy for people who look like me to say. I want to stipulate that. But what i would urge everybody to do is think about how you want to be remembered. Do you want to be part of a moment and a generation that led to an expansion of the american mainstream, that led to what president bush called, and was often mocked, but a kinder and gentler nation . Do we want that . Or do you want to be in the black and white pictures you were showing of bull connor . Do you want to be the guy kneeling on someone elses neck . You know where you want to be in your heart, so let your heart and your mind triumph over your appetite. For so many in washington, d. C. , that just requires standing up and telling the truth when you see something that you believe is wrong. And when you see a leader in your own party doing something that may just be fanning the flames of violence. Coming up, for a law and order candidate, President Trump sure has a lot of jailed associated and chaos in the white house. Well talk to president ial historian michael about that. Plus, President Trump said he spoke with the family of george floyd this weekend, but did he listen to what they had to say . Reverend al had an interview with George Floyds brother. Well talk to him about that straight ahead. Also ahead, florida congresswoman val demings, a former police chief and a contender to be joe bidens running mate, joins the conversation. Along with former new York City Police commissioner, bill bratton, and wes moore. Morning joe is coming right back. I spoke to georges family. Didnt give me an opportunity to speak. Expressed the sorrow of our entire nation for their loss. I was trying to talk to him, but he just kept, like, pushing me off. I stand before you as a friend and ally. Like, i dont want to hear what youre talking about. To every american seeking justice and peace. I just told him, i want justice. George floyds brother with a different take from President Trump on how their conversation went. Welcome back to morning joe. It is monday, june 1st. Still with us, we have White House Reporter for the associated press, jonathan lemire. Host of msnbcs politics nation, president of the National Action network, reverend al sharpton. And joining the conversation, msnbc contributor Mike Barnicle joins us. Ceo of the robin hood foundation, bestselling author, and u. S. Army combat veteran, wes moore. And new York City Police commissioner bill bratton joins us. Before we get to the news, reverend al, you spoke with georges brother. Tell us what he told you. He said that he got an unexpected call from the president , and that when the president came on, he wanted to express to the president that he was concerned about the charges that of the one officer that had been arrested, and he wanted to go through the whole case of Police Misconduct that he felt his brother was part of, a litany of cases. The president wouldnt let him talk at all, he said. He said the president just was overbearing. He seemed like he just wanted to say what he had to say and get off the phone. It was a very brief conversation. He was so upset, that he came on my show and talked about it. Because he felt that if you were really trying to give condolences and really trying to give sympathy, you should at least hear from the bereaved about how, in their grief, they want to see their brother remembered, the legacy of their brother, what it ought to represent. This morning, the United States is a nation in crisis. A Global Pandemic, record unemployment, and now a once in a generation unrest. The death of george floyd exactly one week ago. A Minneapolis Police officer now charged with his murder. Its sparked protests that are now sweeping across the nation and around the world. Mass protests have hit all 50 states over the last few days. Mostly peaceful, yet marred by some who have seized this moment as an opportunity to loot and destroy. At least 40 cities have tried to quell the violence by issuing curfews, which protesters have largely ignored. The National Guard has been activated in at least 26 states with troops being deployed from the twin cities to chicago, to washington, d. C. , and los angeles. There were also deployments to raleigh, North Carolina, and sioux falls, south dakota, overnight. As protests broke out across the country, joe, it was also there was a mixture of very Peaceful Protesters and in some very, very unique cases, there were officers and cops and Civic Leaders who joined the protests in solidarity. Well, you know, i think its the same thing for Police Officers as it is for a lot of the protesters. A lot of the times, a peaceful protest this weekend, while we may have had a brief overhead shot, they didnt draw the attention of a handful of looters. Its the same thing with Police Officers, risking their lives every day out there. You arent hearing a lot about the Police Officers, overwhelming majority of Police Officers who did the right thing. You are seeing the video that goes viral of a handful of Police Officers, a group of Police Officers, who did not do the right thing. So, actually, the protesters and the Police Officers right now are carrying a similar burden. If it bleeds, it leads. If there are if theres looting, then helicopter cameras will stay on it for 45 minutes to an hour. But if there are peaceful marches for 12 hours, those dont get the same sort of coverage. Its the same thing with Police Officers doing the right thing. Not going to see that on your screen for 12 hour. Not going to go viral, other than perhaps some of the photos weve shown. So, yes, unfortunately, sometimes we may be seeing a disproportionate view of bad acts, whether its from the rioters, or whether its from the Police Officers who, obviously, had very terrible training. So lets go, speaking of training, lets go to commissioner bill bratton. A legend in this field. A legend in this area, for what he did not only in new york and los angeles, but what he continues to do every day. Teaching Police Officers and teaching departments how to do it the right way. Mr. Commissioner, we have been saying throughout most of our adult life, whenever there were protests or a riot, well, its bad, but its not 1968. Are we getting to a point now where what youre starting to see in the streets across america, and even across the world, is starting to remind you of some of the darker days of the spring and summer of 1968 . Joe, ive been at this business almost 50 years. When we talk about 1968, i remember being in vietnam, when president johnson made his speech that he was not going to run for reelection. I spent a year in vietnam, watching from a distance, all that was going on in america. In previous events, the 60s, a 90s, los angeles, other cities, theres been a phenomenal loss of life. Always trying to, as an optimist, out of crises, get opportunity. One of the things we need to focus on is that, fortunately, while there has been phenomenal damage, looting, that loss of life has been at a minimum compared to previous incidents in this country. I think some of that is, in fact, something you summarized. You gave one of the best summaries i have heard over the last five days, of trying to present from a Police Perspective what they are up against. Policing has come a phenomenal way in the 50 years ive been associated with it. Were not a perfect institution. Long way from it, but we have come far. The incidents that were recently seeing of some officers, unfortunately, behaving inappropriately, those will be investigated. They will be dealt with. The vast, vast majority of officers, like the vast, vast majority of demonstrators, are attempting to get through this within the law. Putting ourselves into the Police Officers shoes, standing on those lines, moving around, basically it is an extraordinarily stressful, difficult world for them. Feeling that they and the profession and the government theyve sworn to protect is under attack. As we go forward, we need to effectively, as you just did, try to look at all sides of this issue. The issue of the peaceful demonstrators. We applaud them. The issue of the looters. We need to do more about them. The issue of the agitators who are really organized unlike anything weve ever seen in the past. That is going to be the subject of great investigation going forward. This is not just spontaneous acts. This is quite clearly shaping up to be organized. The vandalism, the orchestration of it, the nypd has been aggressively looking at that aspect of it. We have difficult days ahead of us. I dont see this lessening. Unemployment, kids out of school, and the rightful anger, particularly in the africanamerican community, i dont see this dissipating any time soon. What is unique about this one is the idea, it is just not the africanamerican community. Watching around the country, and some cities, there are few africanamericans, the demonstrators are largely white. We have seen a seat change in the sense of sentiment around this issue. Thats a good thing. Going forward, as you just did, we need to try to put ourselves in the perspective of the police, what theyre trying to do, perspective of political leaders, both good and bad, what theyre trying to do, and the perspective of differentiating from the demonstrators who are lawfully and peacefully demonstrated, versus the agitators, and probably some of the worst, the looters and those who are intent on causing destruction and chaos. Yeah. I think if you do look at whats been happening over the past five, six days, we have seen the chaos. Because thats obviously, thats the breaking news. We have seen the Police Officers that have acted badly. That is the exception. That is not the rule. The looters. If you take the mass number of demonstrators, of protesters, of people like eddie glaudes son, who went out and protested even though he knew hefts r was risk his health and possibly his life in the pandemic. So many good people out there who want change, are demanding change. I looked at a protest yesterday in minnesota, i think the state capitol. Majority of the protesters there were white. You were seeing a multitude of people, multitude of races that are going out and demanding justice. Demanding justice for good reason. You know, mika, there was this wonderful moment in louisville, kentucky, that the New York Times reported about. Tensions were rising in that crowd between the protesters and the Police Officers. The New York Times says a tense confrontation in the middle of a crowded street was partially diffused when a black woman stepped forward and offered to give a policeman in riot gear a hug. They embraced for nearly a minute. Thats whats so important for all of us to remember. Human beings on both sides of that line. Yeah. Who, if you look at a lot of the Police Chiefs that marched yesterday, that a lot of the Police Officers in ferguson that took a knee, the overwhelming majority of americans, they want the same thing. They really do. There is that moment, again, in louisville, where that embrace lasted for a minute long, which you could tell it was almost like a release. Both of these people knew, they were going to be going home. One was going to be going home to their family, trying to make the world safer, make the streets safer, make just driving around in america safer for black men and black women. The other committed his life or her life to protecting the street streets. Theyve seen their name besm besmirched because of the acts of a few. And the bad training weve seen time and time again. We have to remember, there are working people on both sides of that line, and both sides have a responsibility to do their best. To try to do this in a peaceful way. Well, and just pointing out, also, during these incredibly difficult days, we have seen some incredible black women and Women Leaders really rising up and using their voices as mothers, women, and as leaders to this, from Keisha Bottoms to lori lightfoot, to the police chief in atlanta, listening, validating, and also telling these rioters to go home. Get home now. Wes moore, theres obviously no place for the crime, for the looting, for the rioting. None at all. Those are crimes. But theres another void that has been revealed here, another pain point that, i think, has been ripped open. Its the question as to how to validate what has been happening. Obviously, what happened with george floyd really just touched off what has been kind of a sea of problems with black men in america, and Police Treating them differently. Being black in america, being different than being white in america. How it was so controversial, when people were kneeling at the how do we hear this issue aired out in a way where we can get to some sort of change . We have to be able to understand why we are in this moment in the first place. And what it was that triggered this moment in the first place. I completely hear the argument of the fact that there are valiant and remarkable people who are wearing the uniform and being asked to provide policing, you know, policing activities right now. I remember when i was deployed in afghanistan as a paratrooper, being sent over to countries and lands that, frankly, i didnt have a sense of history or context of, and being asked to perform work that, in many ways, felt like an impossible task. Youre walking into communities and areas and asking people to trust you with your vests and your kevlar and weapons in your arms, without a concept of the history of contempt, the history of improper actions, there were also then manifesting themselves in my being there. At the same time, we have to appreciate and remember what is going on and what exactly the protesters are asking about. Asking about the fact that, for many people in our communities, people who are paid to protect us have become our predators. The fact that this is never going to be about a simple act of good actors versus bad actors. We have to attack a system. A system that historically and systemically overpolices in certain neighborhoods. Is left not to be is taccountab. While something happened in one neighborhood, a job would be taken away before he returned to the precinct. In other neighborhoods, they continue to come back to work. What is the ask here . It is to understand that the arguments around this, these arent exaggerations. These arent things that people are just making stuff up. And i think it comes back to this idea that, i think, america, and when were talking about black america, what this ask is, black america is just asking the larger country to love us the way black americans have loved this country. And the fact that since its inception, we have been part of building this country, building its economy, creating the cultural force that it is. When youre look at the actions that were now seeing in this long line now, and were just adding mr. Floyds name to this much longer line, it is important to understand why that frustration is sitting so hard on people, and why tranquility is not necessarily the goal for a lot. George floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, eric garner, Trayvon Martin, breonna, so many others, mika. It is not just Police Violence, police culture, where two americas reveal itself. I remember covering hurricane katrina. Remember saying from the start, when the government just didnt show up in a way that they always i always saw them showing up in florida hurricanes. I remember always commenting that if this were happening in the suburbs of dallas or the white suburbs of atlanta, then you would have had the local, the state, and the federal government in in 15 minutes. Thats just a reality. That is a reality that, i think, wes underlines, as well. If what happened to george floyd happened to somebody in our neighborhood, anybody thats here today, any of our neighborhoods, that Police Officer would be fired before they got back to the station and would be charged, along with the other three officers probably wouldnt happen. In 15 minutes. Of course it wouldnt happen. If it did, all four of those officers would be up on murder charges in about 15 minutes. Thats not even a close call. Thats the reality that we have to start confronting as a nation. Much more quickly than weve been doing. This keeps happening. Since the start of 2015, officers from the Minneapolis Police department have rendered people unconscious with neck restraints 44 times, according to an nbc News Analysis of police records. Several Police Experts say that number appears to be unusually high. Minneapolis police used neck restraints at least 230 237 times during that span. The departments use of force records showed that in 16 of the incidents, the suspects and other individuals lost consciousness. A lack of publicly available use of force data from other departments makes it difficult to compare minneapolis to other cities of the same or any size. The Minnesota Police data showed 3 5th of those subjected to n n unconscience as black. 30 for white. It is when an officer uses an arm or leg to compress a neck without pressuring the airway. It should be noted, more than a dozen Police Officials and law experts told nbc news the particularly tactic former officer chauvin used, kneeling on a suspects neck, is neither taught nor sanctioned by any police agency. For most major Police Departments, variations of neck restraints are highly restricted, if not banned outright. Mike barnicle . Yeah. Mika, this is incredibly depressing to witness, to listen to. Commissioner bratton, the incident in minneapolis the other evening, you had three patrol officers, three patrolmen standing by, watching this man have, literally, the life choked out of him. Id like you to talk about the line of leadership in the Police Department. About the sergeants out there, the patrol supervisors out there. But theres another irony that id like you to speak to, as well. Joe just mentioned it. That if anything had happened in the white dallas suburbs, the houston suburbs, or the boston suburbs, justice would arrive almost instantly, when it does not approve in certain areas of certain cities. That gets to the irony of so many Police Officers working for departments, big city departments around this country, who either cannot afford to live in the city that they patrol or do not want to live in the city they patrol because they are leery of inferior education, inferior economic opportunities, the same things the black community lives with every single day. So they live in the suburbs. They report to work, and its like an Army Patrolling occupied territory. All right. Reverend al is bill bratton still there . Yes. Michael, ill disagree with you on this issue. I dont think the residency issue is a major issue. The vast, vast majority of cos s are Police Officers because they want to do the right thing. They make a conscious choice for their families to have an income, a life that allows them to make a choice where they can live. They want to live in safe communities, also. They want to have their kids go to good schools, also. They want to ensure their family is not subject to retaliation, or themselves, for that matter. Many of them make the conscious choice to live elsewhere, other than the cities they patrol. So often, the cities and communities they police, the School Systems are terrible. Property values in many instances are so high, they cant afford to, even if they wanted to, if they have good School Systems. The residency issue is one that lets put it off to the side. I dont think that really makes a difference. Ive been at this 50 years. What does make a difference is what weve seen a Great Movement forward with over the last 50 years, and that is the participation of more and more minority officers and women engaged in american policing. Nypd is a minority Majority Police department. Almost 25 female representation. Every sexual persuasion. It is now, i think, about 30 , 40 latino, reflective of the new york city overall population. Over 1,000 muslim officers. So going back to joes earliest comment about the idea of, in the midst of this chaos, in the midst of this crises, lets look at some of the things that have improved and set the foundation for further improvement going forward. One of the things that has dramatically improved is the racial makeup in many of our major cities. Not universally through the country, but we are extraordinarily segregated in so many ways. Commissioner bratton, we thank you so much for being with us. Hope youll come back again very soon. Wes, lets talk about this. About where Police Officers live, how connected they are to the community. I also want to talk about Something Else that you know a lot about because youve been in successful organizations your entire life. Look at that video, that brutal video and the killing of george floyd, and you see more than a murder taking place. You see a culture that is rotted to its core. Because three men standing around, watching a murder take place slowly for nine and a half years, without one of them speaking out, goes directly to the culture of the Minneapolis Police department. So i guess my question is twofold. One, how do we stop these incidents from happening, first of all, by getting Police Officers more connected to the communities theyre supposed to protect and serve . Secondly, how do we make sure that the people that are running those departments put the right culture in place . So i have to respectfully push back on commissioner bratton, on the idea of residency. If you we cant have a system where people are essentially driving to work when it comes to policing certain neighborhoods. If you dont feel a sense of connection to a neighborhood, if you dont see the people who you are policing every day in the communities youre in, if you dont see them truly as your neighbors, and really spending the time to get to know them, and not just as youre walk around in your uniform, asking questions, but really actually getting to know them, and have them getting to know you, you know their families, they know your families, there is a different connection there. In baltimore, for example, less than 20 of the officers are Baltimore City residents. Many arent residents of the state of maryland. So, you know, i remember general petraeus talked about this with afghanistan. Ladies and gentlemen, were not a business where we can drive to work. You have to go out there and actually get to know the community. So it is not just about the residency. It is about proximity. What do you see when youre looking at the people, as youre Walking Around in your uniform . What is it that you see . Do you see neighbors . Do you see people that you know their stories . Do you see ms. Soandsos grandson or mr. Soandsos nephew . Or is it just something youre responding to a , an issue or 9 call . It is this idea of culture. Youre absolutely right. The thing that was so infuriating about that video, it was the action of the officer. It was also the silence and the complicity of the ones around him. It was this idea saying, what actually is more problematic for you, not just your career, but for your morality . Saying something or not . If youre in a culture where it is actually easier to not say something, to not act, to not intervene, to not tap someone on the shoulder and say, hey, enough, or we got this. Take a beat. I got this from here. If thats not the culture you exist in, when youre watching human life being taken out in front of you, there has to be a real evaluation of what culture are you instilling and, frankly, what standards are you permitting . Dr. King said it best, when he said hes all for changing and changing the heart, but sometimes laws are there to reinforce the bad actions of the heartless. This is what we saw. All right. Wes moore, thank you very, very much for being with us. Hope youll come back this week and continue the conversation. I want to follow up on the community issue, mika. I know it is a bit different, but the stakes are very high. You and i always have people asking us, why did things turn so badly in washington . When did bipartisanship break down . When did Congress Stop working . I go back to 1994, when we first got up there, when i first got up there, my class first got up there. We were told, and it made sense at the time, dont live in washington. Live back in your districts. Hold 100 town Hall Meetings a year, which is exactly what i did. Stay in your local districts. Yes, come up to vote, then run back home. I understood it did make great political sense, but it broke down the community. The washington that you, your father, your mother grew up in. A washington where there was a community, where republicans and democrats knee each othw each o. They went to the same High School Basketball games and Football Games together. They went to the same churches and synagogues on saturday and on sunday. That community, those bonds, stopped the excessiveness, the hatefulness, the divisiveness that has torn our government in half over the past several decades. I was asked by eric swalwell, should i live in the district, or should i live in washington, d. C. . I said, if your family will do it, take your family to washington, d. C. Get to know other people on the other side. Start building bonds. Well, thats the same thing here. Yeah. I defer to commissioner bratton on so many things. Im sure he has some great points here. But i think youve got to be of the community. I think youve got to know the community. I think you need to go to church with the community. I think you need to go to synagogues, mosques, with the community. I think you need to have dinner at their house at night, breakfast in the morning. They need to see you walking your kids to school, them walking their kids to school. It brings the bonds of those communities together. Youre not an occupying force. Youre a neighbor who happens to be a cop. Reverend al, you are working with the family, helping them with the funeral. If you could share with us the challenges, as youre working to have this carry out peacefully and effectively, amid a pandemic and social distancing requirements. The challenge of the funeral this thursday is social distancing. There has not been churches allowed to convene, so we are trying to put the funeral together where people can attend. Frankly, that the family is safe, and those of us that are participating in the program is safe. The time limit on it, because invariably, youre going to have a crowd of people, whether the crowd is large or small, were working it out with the city. Thankfully, with the business mogul and businessman robert smith, and tyler perry, who called us last night, they are helping with a lot of the expenses, and even transporting those of us that are participants and the family members, so they dont have the travel problem. But i think that what we are not realizing is we can draw the parallels between 68 and now, and the forces in the Civil Rights Movement and those of us now. But were operating under a pandemic. Weve never had to have a Civil Rights Movement and deal with uprisings and deal with those that want to be violent, and deal at the same time with a pandemic. So this theres no book we can go to. I cant call Mike Barnicle and find out how did they do this before. Meacham cant help us. Thats what were dealing with. I think joes point about residency is right. And i do think about the fact that some of those that are in Law Enforcement, when they live in those communities, they look at kids differently because those kids go to school with their own kids. My father lived in orlando, florida. Many years we were separated. We talk a lot now. He loves val demings. Not because she is a good congresswoman. He loves her when she was over the police force. I think he has a button for valval demings for Vice President right now. Its based on you know people that you know. Its part of what we have to deal with here. We also have to enforce the law. Well get a lot of messages to policemen, if they see policemen held accountable and go to jail if they break the law. Well, you know, rev, youre absolutely right. You know people that you know. There is a comfort level, and there is an understanding, when youre in the community. By the way, just side bar, you cannot only ask Mike Barnicle about 1968, he knows a lot about the frenchindian war. He was an instigator. He was there. Started that, was there. Also helped bring the peace. Speaking of val demings rev, if you can stay with us . I know you have to bring soon, but were going to bring in somebody you mentioned. Joining us, member of the House Homeland Security judicia judiciary committees, val demings. Formerly the chief of orlandos Police Department. The first woman to hold that position. Congresswoman, thanks so much for being with us. Weve been talking about this this morning. Ive heard you talking about it. A lot of great protesters. A lot of Peaceful Protesters going out, sending an Important Message to america and the world. There are rioters who seem to get more attention. The same seems to be the truth with the cops. So many great cops out there, Law Enforcement officers, men and women, doing their best to protect the streets, to protect minorityowned businesses. There are some bad cops out there, as well. How do you balance this . What do you tell americans, how to keep hope as we move forward . Well, good morning, everybody. Thank you so much for inviting me. Look, what we have to do, if we have any chance of healing the ghosts of the past, the ghosts that have been hovering over america since the beginning, and that ghost is racism, then we have got to stay focused on what brought us here in the first place. We can talk about the looting. We can talk about the rioting. We can talk about the destruction. Why are we at this point . Were at this point because we say the preservation of human life is our top priority. Should be the top priority for the community. Certainly should be the top priority for the Police Departments across this nation. What we saw was a man who had life snuffed out of him right before our very i didnts. It was brutal. It was senseless. We have got to deal with that. Thats why were here. We have to stay focus ed on tha. Ive heard the discussions about residency and, you know, relationship. I want to tell a quick story about orlandos Police Department in 1951. I wasnt there then. Let me make that quite clear. But that was when orlando brought their first black officers on the Police Department. Remember, the community didnt want them. The Police Department certainly didnt want them. But everybody understood that if we were going to if they were going to effectively police the community, the Police Department had to start looking like the community in which they served. Those officers, as you can imagine, those three black officers, caught hell, went through hell inside the department and outside of the department. The department made a decision to put black officers and white officers in the same cars together. Now, those first few nights, im told, were brutal. You know what happened as time went on . They started talking to each other. They started talking about their families. They realized that they had families that cherp cothey were concerned about. They had children that they were concerned about their future. They were concerned about the money they did not make. They realized they both liked football or basketball. What started happening was the building of relationships, the coming together. It is so very critical to do that. In orlando, we do have a residency requirement, but it says you have to live within 45 minutes of the Police Department. What we have to do more of, and ive talked about this a lot, too, recruiting. We need to start recruiting persons who come from all communities. Thats how you change Police Departments. When i was recruited, i didnt go to the orlando Police Department looking for a job. Orlando police came to orlando looking for me. We have to be able to do more of that. Reverend al sharpton has the next question. Rev . Yes. Congresswoman, what do you think the congress and the executive branch, the president s level, should be doing about policing in light of what were seeing going on around the nation . In terms of Law Enforcement. I understand the socializing, and that is very important. Legally, how do we move forward with some legal and policy, definitive moves that would answer the moment of concern and outrage that all of us are feeling . Reverend sharpton, thank you for that question. What we need, first, is leadership. We need the president to address this issue, to acknowledge that systemic racism is now, and has been, a problem in america since its inception. We need the top cop, attorney general barr. Yeah, he can focus on the crimes being committed, because we are a nation of laws. But lets also assure america that george floyd should not have lost his life in this way. And lets start trying to affect serious, real change, one Police Department at a time. I think the federal government, while we do not have direct jurisdiction, we do have a direct obligation to look at policies, practices, procedures, training, powering standards, use of force policies, and come up with some of the best practices to keep people alive. One thing we can do right now, reverend al, lets totally ban neck restraints. We know that many Police Departments have disbanned them. But lets totally ban neck restraints. We can do that today. Officers decide they dont want to follow the policies or the rules, fire them. I do commend and i know we all have a lot of work to do. We have a long way to go. But i do commend the chief in minneapolis for immediately firing the officers, because it allowed the charges to move more swiftly than they certainly could have, had they still been employed by the Police Department. So lets start with that. But we have to reassure america that we are going to take a look at every department. Now, ive already heard people say, well,goodness, there are 18,000 Police Departments. There was a time in America Black people could not vote. You know what . We stuck with it. We fought. Were still isnt it interesting, were still fighting against voter suppression. But we can do this. We need every person, every man, every woman, our young activists, our community leaders, our leaders of congress, and dang gone it, we need leadership coming out of the white house and out of the attorney generals office. Congresswoman val demings, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. We hope to have you back again soon. Jonathan lemire, talking about leadership from the white house, weve certainly heard whats happened over the past several days, the tweets. Weve heard that the people closest to the president were horrified by his tweet about shooting and looting, about releasing vicious dogs. Calling the protesters thugs. But protests and rioting and looting after another. Does the president has a plan for the coming week . Do the president s advisers have a plan for where they want the executive branch to go, where they want the white house to go, to where they want the attorney general to go . In the face of this unrest thats unprecedented, at least, over the past half century. Joe, last night, as these protests and riots broke out across the country, i took a few minutes to look at Robert Kennedys famous speech in indianapolis the day Martin Luther king was killed. That speech helped calm things in that city, as other cities across the country burned. So far, theres not been any moment resembling that. Not just from the president but other political leaders, as well. Some mayors in cities have step up ped up. Others, like mayor de blasio, was criticized for not leading in the moment where it calls for it. President trump has been silent. Events are only closed press, meaning were not expecting to hear from him directly. One is a Video Conference call with governors and Law Enforcement officers across the country to keep the nation safe. It is billed on the white house schedule. Think well hear more of the rhetoric as we heard from the attorney general the last couple days, really trying to combat the rioters, in their words, protesters, and playing into, in some case, the culture wars, knowing the politics of this. The white house and advisers, those close to the president recognize this moment, potentially, though he has been out of sight, even though it seems like, to most, he has abdicated leadership. But at the beginning of the program, we talked about how this could be beneficial for him, seeing the cities burn. Seeing if, perhaps, there would be a backlash to these riots. Most of these protesters are peaceful. Most of these protesters are doing the right thing. Their movement is being hijacked by some. Same on the other side. Most Police Officers, peaceful. We are seeing moments of bad policing during the riots. Those are going viral, and it becomes this negative feedback loop. It cant be overstated. The role of the pandemic in this. People have been cooped up in their homes for weeks. Young people dont have school to go to. Young people dont have jobs to go to. Theres a lot of frustration right now, and it is spilling out on to the streets. At least right now, the white house is offering no Proactive Solutions to stop things. All were hearing from the president are more and more incendiary, inflammatory tweets, that most think are only making matters worse. I think there was a feeling, jonathan, that if you look at the example of 1968, you could also look at 2014 2015, there was an initial feeling that this could help the president , unfortunately, as his highest ranking Staff Members said to the press, there is a great fear that some of his tweets only fan the flames and will further hurt him with suburban voters and other voters, independent swing voters who hes having so much trouble with right now. Mike barnicle, the white house, actually, we always talk about how donald trump drew an inside straight in 2016. They know they have to draw an inside straight again. Perhaps, i think you may have said, a royal rusflush, to win s time in 2020. Part of the inside straight had to do with increased support from minority. So while the president s instinct might be to tweet about thugs and tweet about shooting protesters, shooting looters, and all the things releasing vicious dogs on protesters, actually, the larger goal for the white house has been, and for the president s political team, has been to draw support among black voters from si6 , 7 8 , where it is traditionally for candidates, to 18 , 20 . That puts the president in a difficult position after his initial tweets, which will obviously be used against him in the fall, in plaqblack communit. After the initial tweets, hes gone more silent than usual. I wonder if its because the political calculation is not as simple as it would seem from a distance. If a president is going to win 15 of the black vote, he cant demonize people that are out in the streets actually exercising their right to try to end Police Brutality against black men and black women. Joe, the president is in a difficult situation, as you explained. The problem for america is we, the citizens of america, are in a more difficult position. The big separator between 1968 and this weekend and the past few weeks and the past three years, i think, is this the moment, the moment is just too big for donald trump. Its too big for him to handle. He doesnt understand the country. He doesnt understand the loss. He doesnt understand empathy. He doesnt understand the differences between races in this country. He just doesnt understand the nature of the job. Let me give you an example of what he does not understand. First of all, he has become an accelerant to the problem, with almost every tweet, with almost every statement over the past three days. He is an igniter of flames, not a calmer. He is not calming things down. But what he doesnt understand is this somewhere in america today, for sure, there is going to be an infant born to a white couple. Theyre going to look at that child, and theyre going to say, i want this baby to grow up to be happy, to be healthy, to be secure, and, yes, to do better in this country than we did. And were doing pretty well. Somewhere in this country today, there will be a young black child born to a black couple. They will look at that child, and they will say, i want this child to grow up to be happy, to be healthy, to be secure, and, hopefully, to do better in this country than we have done. But we have not done as well as a lot of other people. But theres one difference. They will want their child to grow up to be safe. White couples tend not to think about a child, when hes 15 or 16 or 17, as being safe, when the child is just born. Black couples have to. Joe, we have had a series of people on this program today, and in the past, many of them, like myself, like you, like john lemire, like willie geist, they do not have to think about telling their 16yearold son or daughter, when theyre going to get their drivers license, remember, kids, if youre ever pulled over by a Police Officer, keep both hands on the top of the wheel, in full view of the officer. 10 00 and 2 00 on the wheel. If you are asked to get out of the car, display your hands, get out showing your hands. We dont have to do that. Donald trump would never understand that difference. He does not understand the country. How sad and how tragic, that in this country in 2020, thats where the black kids still have to give that talk to their sons. Weve been talking about historical parallels to what we are seeing today. We want to play for you now this moment from Richard Nixons president ial nomination acceptance speech in august of 1968. When the richest nation in the world cant manage its own economy, when the nation with the greatest tradition of the rule of law nation with the greatest nation has been known for a century for equality of opportunity is torn by unprecedented racial violence, and when the president of the United States cannot travel abroad or to any major city at home without fear of a hostile demonstration, then its time for new leadership for the United States of america. Okay. Joining us now, author and president ial news historian, and erin haynes for a nonprofit focused on the policy. She recently wrote an opinion piece for the Atlanta Journal constitution on protecting the history of success and compromise, and we will get to that in just a moment. Michael, parallels to 1968 . Yeah, one of them is law and order, mika. Nixon said i am for law and order, and dont think its a code word for racism, i also want progress and justice, and what people heard was law and order, and the reason nixon said that is there was george wall e wallace, a thirdparty candidate, and he was using law and order for code for racism, and wallace was running as high as 25 , a real threat to nixons election, so nixon got louder and louder on the theme of law and order, and nixon, some of the people, nixons entourage felt if nixon had not been so tough for the need to forestall riots in the Democratic Convention in 1968, if he had not been so tough they felt he would not have won the election. Every since, many candidates particularly on the republican side felt law and order was the magic incantation, we are now seeing that with President Trump. What a potent message that is my entire life. Oh, the south went republican because everybody in the south are racists, and i would say, i dont know about that, i know in my family, i came from my moms side is a family of fdr democrats, and my grand mom had fdrs picture on the wall until the day she died when she was 93 years old, and if he ever voted for a republican she did not admit it out loud, but as a young kid i remember in 68, i was five or six years old, and the may day violence, i remember my parents watching, horrified. My mom talked about voting for kennedy, while my dad was voting for nixon in 60. My mom voted for democrats faithfully until 1968, 1972. So that is a potent message, and for those that just say that those are code words for racism, and yes, it was for wallace, but for others its an effective message without race attached to it, at least it was in my household. Yep. Thats exactly right. You add the wallace vote in 1968 to the nixon vote and that was 25 , and donald trump in 1968, i guarantee he remembers how powerful a mess edge thage that. Erin, you are writing a piece about legacy. In 1864, atlanta burned to the ground during the civil war, but i think general sherman could hardly imagine a black woman running the capital of the south, a capital that is majority black, that has a track record of successful black Political Leadership and a successful black business, and the mayor is trying to hold her city together in the midst of the unrest that is ruling the country. To joes point, we are seeing on full display that racism is not just limited to our home region of the south. These protests are erupting from coasttocoast because racism is a National Problem and its being its being protested nationally in this moment. The mayor is navigating her duel idea of trying to continue to make racial progress with all of its citizens. By the way, i was born in atlanta in 63 and we lived there through 69, 1970, and it has been a story of extraordinary progress and, you know, other than hank aaron hitting his 715th home run on april 8th 1974, i have to say as atlantan, i dont couldnt have been any more proud watching the mayor talking about being the mother of four black men, that was extraordinary, and that was an extraordinary moment and you said it perfectly, the mayor was balancing so many different things. I have not seen that type of leadership and crisis in quite sometime. Yes, and frankly you are seeing a lot of black women that are balancing just those identities. We just heard from congresswoman value demings, the former police chief of orlando that wrote a powerful oped holding her former colleagues to account, asking them what the hell is wrong with you . And coming on the show and talking about the need for police reform, listen, racism onsecond on the ballot in 2020, and i am hearing from the pandemic and the latest inequality being exposed, and that being the inequality between policing and many black communities across the country has been long standing. Just as there has to be a new normal around the coronavirus, there has to be a new normal of how racism is handled in the country, and black voters are going to govern with their safety in mind. And even louder, the cry for a black woman to be on the ticket with joe biden, he has certainly tried to express that he understands the pain and the frustration that africanamericans are going through in this moment as we heard little in response from that from President Trump who says that he is also reaching out to black voters, but ran to michaels point in 2016 on a law and order theme while he was asking black voters what the hell do you have to lose. And now its a very message from what the rest of the country hears talking about law and order. When you talk about joe bidens Vice President picks, and biden promised to pick a woman and it did not have to be a black woman, but after friday night, after seeing the mayor speak and after seeing mayor lightfoot speak, and after seeing value demming speak, as we move closer to the election that requirement might be added to the list. Thank you both very much. We have much more ahead on this extraordinary moment in history. A Global Pandemic converges with an outcry over Police Brutality and as a result a nation in crisis. We will discuss the implications for race, implications and the Overall Health of the nation. Morning joe morning joe is coming right back. Orning joe is coming righ back depend. The only thing stronger than us, is you. Yeah. This moving thing never gets any easier. Well, xfinity makes moving super easy. I can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. Wow, that is easy. Almost as easy as having those guys help you move. We are those guys. Thats you . The truck adds 10 pounds. In the arms. Okay. Transfer your Service Online in a few easy steps. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. Visit xfinity. Com moving today. I am duty bound to say, its your duty not to burn your own house down for anger with an enemy, and its your duty to fortify your own house so you may be a house of refuge in times of organization, and now is the time to plot, plan, strategize, organize, so my request for us on the other side of this camera, is after it burns will we will left with charred, or will be rise like a phoenix out of the ashes like atlanta has always done, and will we use this moment to get better than we have been . I can tell you, as you sit in your homes tonight instead of burning your home to the ground you will have time to properly plot, plan, strategize and mobilize in an effective way, and take your butt to the computer and fill out the census, and going to local elections and beating up the politicians you dont like, and put a new prosecutor in there, and now is your election to do it. If you want a senator that is more progressive that pokes marijuana through, now is the time to do that but now is not the time to burn down your own home. And at a press conference on friday as protests turned violent in atlanta. This morning the u. S. Is a nation in crisis. Amid a Global Pandemic and record unemployment, now comes unrest unlike anything we have seen in a generation. The death of george floyd exactly one week ago and a Minneapolis Police officer now charged with his murder has lit an alreadycombustible nation on fire. Mass protests have hit all 50 states over the last few days, all 50 states, as tense yet mostly Peaceful Demonstrations during the day give way to violence at night, those that wish to destroy use the cover of darkness to cover their crimes, and cities have curfews, and the National Guard has been activated in at least 26 states with troops being deployed from the twin cities in chicago to washington, d. C. And los angeles there were also deployments overnight to raleigh, North Carolina, and sioux falls, south dakota. Good morning, and welcome to morning joe. Its june 1st. We have host of msnbcs politic nation, reverend al sharpton is with us, and university of princeton, eddie, and jon meacham, an nbc news and msnbc contributor. Reverend sharpton, lets begin with you. You are very close to the family who is at the center of this national and now Global Crisis and you are doing the funeral, and tell us where are we one week after the events of minneapolis started this . Well, we are at a place where clearly the country is torn between those that would use the killing of george to deal with their own agendas, whether that be on the right or the left and those that will take advantage of it by going into mindless violence provoked in some cases by people with an agenda, and those that really want to see some justice come to this family and to really deal with the overall problems of the criminal justice system. Let me be clear, the family made it very clear they are angry, that they are determined to get justice and they will fight to the end but they are not going to condone or be part of any violence or any manipulation of emotion. They want to be focused that this their brother, their cousin, did not die in vain but maybe out of his death, as painful as it is, we can finally come to terms with policing in this country, and that is going to be the theme of the funeral thursday in minneapolis and on to North Carolina and them laying him to rest in houston. Let me say this, the politics of this, joe, is that if we continue to move away from the central issue of policing and how we deal with Law Enforcement and how we deal with oversight in this country, and what this administration has done in terms of canceling consent and canceling movements we started in the obama administration, if we move away from that and move to lawlessness and mindless looting, we are setting up a political result that will help the people that many of us claim that we are opposed to. When i was 13 years old i just had become youth director in new york of dr. Kings northern organization, and he was killed that year. There was looting and rioting all over the country, and the result was in november Richard Nixon was elected as the law and order candidate. Dont make that mistake where you reward the far right. Theres a quote from that year that you are talking about, 1968, a month, month and a half before dr. King was assassinated, he said every time a riot develops it helps george wallace, and that is exactly what many of the marchers, obviously, they want justice and not just justice for george, but they want justice for so many others, and they want to make change, but at the same time theres a real fear, and you hear it out there, theres a real concern that people that are taking advantage of this to loot stores, to engage in lawlessness, to steal. To steal, to beat others, to assault others, to try to push anarchy are doing nothing but helping the most reactionary forces in american politics. We must distinguish between those that are angry and protesting peacefully and out there saying things that are trying to gear towards the negligent of dealing with the issues and those taking advantage of it and those inciting others. Let me remind people that when we had the up risings in ferguson and many of us when in and i preached a funeral there of Michael Brown in ferguson, and some of the young people went to jail and the people that incited them left town, and we had to help some of those young people get lawyers, and one of them got seven years for arson that was arguing with me about violence, and now we are some of the only ones that stay in touch with them, so these people coming in from out of town will leave these kids they are inciting who are marginal, and the people that are there will be the one to have to help their leaders rebuild the city, so dont use george floyd for anything other than justice for george floyd and thats why we brought eric gardeners mother down there, because we wanted to show theres systematic negligent. Joe, its unbelievably counter productive, what they are doing and what they think they might be doing, burning businesses and looting stores, and these are already stores limping along because of the pandemic, and in many cities its black Business Owners who are already suffering economically because they have been out of business now to have their businesses ruined. Yeah, you know, and that is the thing, aspecially in minneapolis, the victims of these property crimes and the victims of arson, and the victims of the looting thats occurring are completely separate from the peaceful protests, and so many many of these places, its blackowned businesses. Another king quote, the limitation of riots is they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, riot something not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat and it must be followed by a sense of futility. Eddie, i think one thing about the coverage that i have seen over the past couple of days, and i am sure youve seen it as well, there seems to be a blurring of the peaceful marching and the rioting and the looting and violence and assaults, when, in fact, yesterday you could look at yesterday, they were inspiring peaceful marches across the country yesterday, and they were doing it to honor the memory and not just of george floyd but Ahmaud Arbery, and eric gardener, Trayvon Martin and some other black americans just because of the color of their skin. But there is no doubt the overwhelming marches yesterday were peaceful, respectful, and, yes, americans young and old, black and white of all demographic backgrounds. Yes, and you also saw, even in the context of the violence, you saw protesters trying to in some ways prevent instigators from breaking windows. You actually saw Peaceful Protesters trying to protect property, trying to make the case this is not what they were trying to achieve. Often times let me say this very clearly, we often read these protests as simply being black, and we know they are interracial and very diverse, and we see images across the media showing its not just black people looting, so what we see, i think, in a very clear way, joe, is all the contradictions we have been talking about over the last 3 1 2 years, you know, people need an excuse to not support the justice aims that inform the outrage by saying the riots will lead them to support donald trump or to argue against what is a more just america, okay, thats fine, but what we do know is this, we have been living over the 3 1 2 years, and i would argue over the last few decades in a situation that has produced a kind of tinder box that could explode at any moment, and it has exploded. Still ahead on morning joe, you have on one hand a 38 year veteran, and on the other fox news. Why the top lawyer was asked to resign just ahead on morning joe. This is not a protest. This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther king jr. This is chaos. A protest has purpose. When you burn down this city, youre burning down our community. If you want change in america, go and register to vote were better than this as a city. We are better than this as a country. Go home. Were no longer talking about the murder of an innocent man. Were talking about how you are Burning Police cars on the streets of atlanta, georgia. Go home ou can bring your vision to life and save in more ways than one. For small prices, you can build big dreams. Spend less, get way more. Shop everything home at wayfair today. [ siren ] doug give me your hand i can save you. Lots of money with Liberty Mutual we customize your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Less oral steroids. Taking my treatment at home. Nucala is a oncemonthly addon injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. Not for sudden breathing problems. Allergic reactions can occur. Get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. Infections that can cause shingles have occurred. Dont stop steroids unless told by your doctor. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. May cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. Ask your doctor about nucala at home. Find your nunormal with nucala. As protests broke out across the country over the weekend President Trump stayed largely silent excepted for a slew of tweeting that appeared to actually stoke tensions. A senior Administration Official tells the Washington Post that the president and some of his advisers calculated he should not speak to the nation because he had nothing new to say, he had no tangible policy or action to announce yet, but in a series of tweets on saturday morning trump addressed the protests that took place outside the white house, and he first thanked the secret service saying agents let protesters scream and rant as much as they wanted, and he said big crowd professionally organized but nobody came close to breaching the fence, if they had they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs and ominous weapons i have ever seen. Heres how he responded when asked about his tweets. With your tweets today, are you concerned you might be stoking more racial violence or no, maga means make America Great again. These are people that love our country. I have no idea if they are going to be here, i was just asking. Maga is make America Great again. By the way, they love africanamerican people, they love black people. Maga loves black people. President trump dismissed advice from his allies urging them to tone down his rhetoric, and many say theres broad agreement among trump allies that his messaging on protesting could back fire and further fuel of turmoil. And then the only africanamerican republican said he told the president some of his tweets were not productive. I spoke with the president yesterday morning and he and i had a good conversation about what are the next steps. I told him what i am going to tell you, which is mr. President it helps us when you focus on the death, the unjustified, in my opinion, the criminal death of george floyd. Those tweets are very helpful. Mr. President , its helpful when you lead with compassion but senator scott, i have a minute left. Did you, sir, did you speak truth to power and did you say to him, when you talk about thugs, when you talk about looting and shooting and you talk about Vicious Police dogs, what did you say about that . I used the similar words you just used, we talked about the fact theres a constructive dialogue to have with the nation. I think his tweets yesterday were far more responsive after the conversation. I am thankful we can have that conversation. We dont always agree, and i didnt agree with his tweets before hand but we had the ability to sit down and have a dialogue on how to move the nation forward and not let the detractors get in the way of what has been a couple of phenomenal years economically. You look at what senator scott said, mika, and he brought up charlottesville and President Trumps war with the moral equivocation. Charlottesville, the president s top aides were telling reporters that this was his low point since charlottesville, with the thugs comment, and the looting starts the shooting starts. When he talked about vicious dogs, and that obviously is code, and theres not a civil rights leader that doesnt think back to bull conor releasing vicious dogs on protesters back in the 1960s. There you have an image from birmingham. So when he talks about the vicious dogs, when he talks about when the looting starts, the shooting starts, which is, of course, the catchphrase of a bigoted segregationists from the 1960s. Then when he talks about maga night at the white house, which, of course, certainly to people inside the white house, it seemed like the president was trying to start a riot outside the gates of his own white house, and that obviously, again, the white house, insiders consider this to be, according to the reports, his low point since charlottesville. And its like two things going on this sort of sewing fear and hate and violence on twitter, and then many people felt the moment in the rose garden on friday when he chose not to speak about george floyd and everything that was going on, and he turned around and walked away, turned his back on america, the questions started popping up, is he afraid to do anything . What is holding him back . Through our worst times, jonathan, and through our worst times as a country in the past three months it seems like hes in a state of withdrawal at all times, when its stepping up on testing and nationalizing it and getting this going and moving us through the virus and the pandemic, or withdrawing from the w. H. O. , or withdrawing from the opportunity to calm americans fears, and calm the situation, he turns and walks away. Mika, there was a moment last night in washington, d. C. Just after 11 00 p. M. When the citys curfew went into effect, and there were protests in Lafayette Park across pennsylvania avenue from the white house, a few fires were burning, loud chants, both of those things could be seen and heard from the building, and the white house, the exterior whites that always illuminate the building were turned off, and thats representative of the lack of leadership from President Trump and a lot of his allies have the same idea as first, and the lights went off for security reasons, but its emblematic. The president on friday had an opportunity, and he had a rose garden event and he was going to talk about china and his anger there about the w. H. O. And the pandemic, but there were plans for him also to address george employed floyds death. He did not. He chose to walk away. And agents rushed the president to the underground bunker at the white house, which is usually used in the case of terrorists attacks, and most famously thats where Vice President cheney was taken during 9 11, and then President Trump seemed to want to tweet and the praise of the secret service, and even suggesting they would turn violent means to turn back the protesters, which according to our reporting upset a number of the agents, and of course that was not their intent. We had a weekend full of divisive tweets from the president , and trying to take credit because of the quieter nights because of the National Guard deployment even though they were out there days before in places like minneapolis. There were top advisers, they had thoughts about the president speaking to the country, perhaps saturday night or last night from the oval office and they decided not to do it, and they felt there were not policy proposals to give out and the president was not sure of a message to give and they did not feel like there was a sense of a real note of unity he could sound, and they also remembered his last oval office address, and it sewed confusion and fear, and so he remained quiet and out of sight outside the few and inflammatory tweets. Still ahead, we now have had times to comb through the declassified transcripts with flynns conversation with russias ambassador in 2016. We will talk about that coming up on morning joe. Need better sleep . Try natures bounty sleep3, a unique trilayer supplement that calms you, helps you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer great sleep comes naturally with sleep3. Only from natures bounty. 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Well, xfinity makes moving super easy. I can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. Wow, that is easy. Almost as easy as having those guys help you move. We are those guys. Thats you . The truck adds 10 pounds. In the arms. Okay. Transfer your Service Online in a few easy steps. Now thats simple, easy, awesome. Transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. Visit xfinity. Com moving today. Former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin was arrested on friday and charged with third degree murder and Second Degree manslaughter for the death of gorge floyd. He is being held in the Ramsey County jail on 500,000 bond and faces a maximum sentence of 25 years if convicted under the third degree murder charge. According to the star tribune, he is the only white officer to be charged in the death of a black citizen. I will begin with the charge of deri deri deri derick derick. I expect to see charges. In terms of officer deri, we co see an amended complaint sooner, and one thing striking to some of us about that complaint, it seemed to be conflicted. What i mean by that is one, i was not clear why there was pb wasnt a murder 2 charge. Murder 1, first degree is premedicated and planned in advance, and i understand why we have not seen evidence of a premedication plan, and murder 2 is you started not intending to kill with Bodily Injury that results in death, so that seems to absolutely be the case here. Theres lots of facts that support that particularly when you see that the officer kept his knee on mr. Floyds neck even as officers were asking him to over, and two minutes after one officer says i dont feel a pulse, and why would you do that unless you shifted your intent, and in the law its the action that establishes the case, and i think there should be a murder 2 charge here. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. 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Try boost glucose control. Was an extraordinary move on friday, John Radcliff released new records between calls between flynn and russian am s ambassador to the u. S. , kislyak. Offer the clearest public evidence to date that flynn, indeed, discussed sanctions, specifically during their calls, despite flynn telling both the fbi and Vice President mike pence that they did not. Let me separate that for a second. Yeah. I have got to say, this is, again, this is not like three dimensional chess, this is not even checkers, this is somebody that once said long ago, the Trump Administration eating the chess pieces and checkers whole. Everything they have done has helped the obama case. You know, we heard they are going to release the susan rice email, and susan rices email top to bottom, do it by the books, were going to do this right. President trump told us to do it by the books. Do it right. Make sure we do it by the book. She kept repeating it. Then they were going to release to great fanfare, and i am sure all of america had chills waiting for the fireworks when they released who unmasked Michael Flynn, and it was like a build up, as if they were break into al capones secret vault. After the explosion of the vault was open, theres nothing in there because general flynn had not been unmasked because he never had been masked. Now they release this transcript which shows mike pence was right, that general flynn lied to him about his conversation with a russian ambassador, that Michael Flynn lied to the fbi about his conversation with a russian ambassador, that Donald Trumps tweet saying he had to fire Michael Flynn because he lied to the Vice President , and he lied to the fbi was, in fact, right. He should have been fired for lying. Yet they keep they keep releasing documents that are exculpatory to people in the obama administration, and you just you just have to put it down to, again, not three dimensional chess, you have to put it down to them eating the chess pieces whole. On friday, the fbi tops lawyer was asked to resign. It came from high levels of the Justice Department rather than directly from the fbi director, christoph christopher wray. And joining us now, julia ainslie, and then kirk bar delia, jonathan and Mike Barnicle are back with us as well. Julia, first of all, why was he asked to resign . What was the reasoning behind it . Well, we understand you have to put it in the context right now that this is coming after two weeks of relentless criticism from conservative media like people on fox news who say danas role in the russia investigation was grounds for his dismissal, saying he should not have, when he was acting attorney general for a very short time he should not have signed off on one of the mini renewals of the carter page fisa warrants, and there was leaked information that information that the investigators against Michael Flynn had was not exculpatory, and it was fine for them to withhold it, and we were talking about it for a while whether or not prosecutors should have released the material, and its one of the reasons the Justice Department recently argued they should dismiss the charges against Michael Flynn, and dana said no, that was not exculpatory, and for that reason we know he became, at least in the eye of the Trump Administration, and possibly the president himself if he is watching fox, and then we were not able to connect the dots yet, but look at the context. Rather than being asked to step down by his own boss, christopher wray, which would have been the chain of command, and the Justice Department run by william barr asked him to step down, and this is after a 38year career in the fbi, and he served as a prosecutor in the Eastern District of virginia, and hes somebody that both parties have worked with for decades because hes so trusted and now hes the top lawyer at the fbi, and hes not somebody in the public eye, who is talked about very often, and it was only recently that he really had his name brought up and that was recently on fox news. Were trying to piece those things together right now, about the i think his firing, the fact it did not come from the fbi and the fact it came from William Barrs Justice Department, and given why his name recently has come up, i think we need to be asking questions about exactly why he was dismissed. So kurt, you are an msnbc contributor now, but not so long ago you were working with republicans on the oversight committee, and the hypocrisy is just its just so clear. It is outrageous. Its its but i wonder if these republicans that are watching right now and republicans who are following this, if they dont understand that by silently approving donald trump and bill barrs firing of inspector generals, which, by the way, were the republicans that once said those positions were sacrosanct. But firing the generals and 38year Public Servants for little to no cause or for doing their job, if they do not realize the precedent they are setting for democratic president s over the next generation, if a democratic president if a democratic president who is out of control decides theyre going to fire an inspector general, well, republicans really cant say anything because the precedence that are being set now are so awful, whether you are a republican or a democrat, you should be really concerned because both parties can now have do similar abuses of power. You know, joe, i think one of the most remarkable things about the President Trump president see is you look at the people that have gone into the administration, whether its pompeo, or Mick Mulvaney when he was the previous chief of staff, and these are the republicans that stood front and center, using the banner of oversight, using the label of transparency, and talking about the americas people right to know when barack obama was president , and using their power and authority to investigate people like hillary clinton, and issue hundreds of subpoenas, and its these very people now that as donald trump takes a wrecking ball to oversight, completely annihilates the illusion of check and balance, and its not that they are not saying anything, but they are helping him do this. Going forward now, theres no reason why, based on the republican example we are seeing during the Trump Administration, why any democrat should show up to any hearing or produce any documents ever again, because what we have seen during this president see is when Congress Asks for a document, when Congress Wants a mike pompeo and Mick Mulvaney, anybody associated with this administration to testify in front of congress and turn over a document, they tell them to pound sand, basically, so when biden is president , why should any of them show up and listen to republicans after what they have done during the trump years. And julia, obviously theres so much going on and people were not able to clue in on the incredible revelations on the Flynn Investigation. Where is this going next given what transpired over the weekend . Well, given the friday night release of those transcripts, i dont know that this will really change much. Right now were waiting to see what happens next, this judge is relentless in trying to get to the truth and wants to bring in other people that can make the governments case now that the government has thrown up their hands and walked away from the Flynn Investigation because of direction and the Justice Department, and what is also significant here is the fact that John Radcliff made that decision to unveil the transcripts on his first week on the job, and it is showing how the Flynn Investigation, flynn prosecution, whatever it is now, its not going away even as the administration is trying to walk away from it, and they are wading into it every single time, and this information that came out for many people it seems exculpatory, and many people think flynn said very little, and theres people that thought flynn did something wrong, it shows he lied to the fbi. It continues to be a wedge issue. I think whatever happens prosecution wise, for whatever reason, Michael Flynns name will continue to be used by this administration to try and point fingers at the previous administration, even now that we are almost four years out from it. Mike barnicle has a question for jonathan. When everything is crashing down on this administration, why would his appointee, radcliff, add one more burden to his president see . What are you hearing . I think more than anything, mike, its still about the politics of it. Remember obama gate . I still do. Thats something the Trump Administration is trying to push here, and its about muddying the waters and about throwing stuff at the wall and being able to distract, and yes, everything has taken a backseat to all the civil unrest and protests but even in the height of the pandemic this was still a story line they were trying to push, that they were trying to use to change the subject, so let me go to can you, kurt, conversation. We know this thrills the president s base. Its hard to imagine that there are too Many Americans who are perhaps undecided or maybe dont like both candidates and are picking between the two. This issue is really going to change many minds. Particularly in light of recent events. Why . Can you explain to us why . Why is the president still pushing on this . Why does he think this can score some points against joe biden going into november . You know, when you have a situation where more than 100,000 americans are dead, where theres civil unrest, protests over social injustice in this country, video of someone being killed by Law Enforcement, donald trump has nothing else to go back to but the playbook hes been using since 2016. Its really, i think, it telegraphs his desperation and how urgently he feels he needs to change the conversation and do everything that he can to try to maintain that republican that conservative audience thats really been his lifeline for this entire presidency. If he loses just 10 of that audience, its over for him. Ill tell you, when you look at the lengths to which this president is going to protect someone who pleaded guilty to the fbi of crimes, it illustrates why there is this unrest. Imagine if i person of color pleaded guilty to the fbi. Do you think that donald trump or anyone in his administration would do as much as theyre doing for Michael Flynn for that person . There are two different standards of justice being set right now for this country at the highest level. Were seeing every day the president advocate for a criminal, someone who admitted his crime, all the while people of color are trying to get justice for something that was filmed on videotape. Thats the problem donald trump has right now. And i dont think he knows how to overcome it. I dont think he knows what to do about it and all youll see is desperate attempts to relitigate the 2016 campaign. Kurt bardella, his next piece is on how bidens mask may be 2020s best rorschach test. Julia ainsley, thank you for your reporting. Up next, one of the nations largest civil rights organizations, the Human Rights Campaign, is uniting with more than 100 other organizations to condemn racial violence and Police Brutality. Well talk to the president of the Human Rights Campaign ahead on morning joe. Were back in one minute. Usaa was made for right now. And right now, is a time for action. So, for a second time were giving members a credit on their auto insurance. Because its the right thing to do. Were also giving Payment Relief options to eligible members so they can take care of things like groceries before they worry about their insurance or credit card bills. Right now is the time to take care of what matters most. Like weve done together, so many times before. Discover all the ways were helping members at usaa. Com coronavirus when you watch Ahmaud Arbery being shot and you hear that those men have been released and were it not for the video and the outrage those people would be living their lives, what part of the contract is that in society . When you see george floyd on the ground and you see a man losing his life in a way that no person should ever have to lose their life at the hands of someone who is supposed to enforce the law, what part of the contract is that . And a lot of people say, well, what good does this do. Yeah, but what good doesnt it do . Thats the question people dont ask the other way. What good does it do to loot target . How does it help to loot target . How does it help you to not loot target . Answer that question. The only reason you didnt loot it before is because you were upholding societys contract. There is no contract if law and people in power dont uphold their end of it. Joining us now, president of the Human Rights Campaign, Alfonso David. On friday, the hrc released a letter signed by over 100 leaders of the nations most prominent lgbtq and civil rights organizations condemning racism, racial violence and Police Brutality and called for action to combat these issues. Thank you very much. The president of the Human Rights Campaign Alfonso David joins us now. Looking over the past three or four days of the violence, there is a separation, would you agree, that needs to be made between the crimes that are being committed and the anger and the frustration that needs to be validated . Yes. There is a difference to acknowledge here. But the starting point for us, we have lost george floyd. We have lost breonna taylor. Weve lost Ahmaud Arbery. Weve lost nina popp and other names and faces because of indifference. Many we dont know because there was no camera, no video recorder. So i personally want to extend my condolences to all those families who have lost their sons and daughters and loved ones. And there is a difference between what how people are expressing their rage and what happened to george floyd and breon on tbre onna taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. At its core is racism. At its core is indifference. We need to come together as a country with meaningful solutions. We are celebrating pride month starting today. But we have to also remember that pride month has its roots in the struggle in protest. People were stricken at stonewall because of Police Brutality. We now have the lgbtq Civil Rights Movement. So there is value to protest. There is value to peaceful protesting. Especially when we are trying to avenge the lives that we have lost. And it is not lost on me that, you know, you cant bring back george floyd. You cant bring back nina popp. Thats what people in the street are talking about. Theyre trying to avenge their lives. Jonathan lemire is with us and has a question. Jonathan . How are you we were talking a lot today about President Trumps lack of leadership. That hes been off stage. Hes been in the white house, even briefly in the secured bunker, and were only hearing from him on twitter. We dont expect to hear from him today. We did see joe biden yesterday. He came out into wilmington, delaware, he spoke to protesters. He was wearing a mask. He listened to their concerns for a little while. He has another event, similar listening and walking tour expected today. How are you seeing it . Is that the appropriate response from joe biden . Or is there more he could be doing as well . I think joe biden is acting as a leader and donald trump is not. Donald trump has not been representing the interests of marginalized communities for the entire term that hes been in office. He is not representing the of interest lgbtq people. Hes not representing the interests of black people. Hes not representing the interests of marginalized groups. We just have to look at his record where hes looking at strategically rolling back civil rights for lgbtq people. Rolling back civil rights for people of color. Joe biden on the other hand has been a stalwart. Joe biden has a record of supporting lgbtq people. Has a record of supporting people of color. So, yes, theres a huge divide between how joe biden is responding to this crisis and how donald trump is responding or not responding, i have to say, to this crisis. All right. Alfonso david, president of the Human Rights Campaign. Thank you very much for being on this morning. You know, mika, earlier this morning, we played a clip of my friend and, boy, just a great civil rights hero, john lewis. John said yesterday, i say to all americans not to give up. Not to get lost in the seas of despair but to keep the faith. And its going to work out. We must help it in working out by doing good. And being called to be true to the calls of love, peace and nonviolence. And it is so important that as we move forward today, we look at all the inspiring marches out there. All of the people. All of the american citizens, black and white. Hispanic, Asian Americans of all races who are stepping forward and trying to make a difference in their country, and theyre doing it the right way. Theyre doing it peacefully. Theyre doing it with their neighbors. Theyre doing it with their friends. Theyre doing it with their children. Theyre doing it to protect the lives of others. And some of their own family members. That is so important to remember. Just like its so important to remember that so many Police Officers are out there trying to protect neighborhoods. Trying to protect streets. Trying to protect black businesses. Trying to protect black homes. From wanton destruction by a small percentage of those who are out in the streets. Lets keep that in perspective. And understand, like john lewis said, its going to work out. But its going to work out if we do this together. That does it for us this morning. Stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. Im Stephanie Ruhle live from nbc headquarters in new york. Its monday, june 1st. A new week and a new month. We begin with breaking news. Another violent, chaotic and heartbreaking night as the nation seemed to buckle under the weight