i'm traveling back tomorrow, so we flew in here today for a performance. so, yeah. now we're at the venue, thankfully. >> got it. >> unbelievable. unbelievable. >> all right, damian, i hope you have a good performance tonight. try and shake it off. i know it was a tough hour or so. we appreciate you jumping on the phone with us, as always. thank you. great to meet you over the phone. and good luck today in our travels back home tomorrow. and happy thanksgiving to you and yours. thank you, damian. >> same to you, yasmin. thanks a bunch. >> i want to reset for everybody. it's the top of the hour. welcome. you're watching msnbc. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we've been following this breaking news throughout the hour that kind of broke for us around 1:30 this afternoon with shots ringing out in atlanta area airport, atlanta hartsfield international airport at a tsa checkpoint. an individual going through that checkpoint, something was discovered in their bag. they subsequently were taken aside for their bag to be searched. at that point, there was the discovery of the firearm. the individual then, through a discussion, reached for their firearm, and the airport telling us it was an accidental discharge. we're still learning more details about that. that individual, it seems, then fled the scene in the other direction, obviously, into the public area of the airport, not to the secure area of the airport, and they're still on a search for that individual. we don't have an identity on who this person is. why they brought a loaded gun in their bag, in their carry-on bag at that. so we're learning more details about that. and obviously, it was a harrowing hour or so for folks inside that airport, just speaking to damian escobar there, someone who experienced that from the baggage claim area as he was arriving in atlanta. let's bring jim cavanaugh back into the conversation, a security expert who's been following with us, alongside us, and you heard damian recounting what took place and i got to say, i was a little bit surprised considering i've flown through atlanta, it seems like things move pretty smoothly there, the lack of communication he got from higher-ups when things seemed pretty chaotic. >> no, that's right, yasmin, exactly right. the description of what happened by that witness doesn't seem to be a normal gun found in a bag scenario with the tsa agent yelling, "he has a gun." usually when an officer, even a tsa officer is yelling, "he has a gun," the purpose of that communication is to warn others. so, normally, when a gun is found in a bag, they're not yelling out. they're handling it. they're taking care of it quietly. they're not yelling it out. so, everybody starts running around. they're not trying to create a disturbance. so, i don't know -- we don't know exactly what happened there. now, tsa has a federal security director at every airport. there's one in atlanta. and the airport police in atlanta is handled by the atlanta city police. they have a major or assistant chief who is in charge of the airport detail, and it is really time for those two leaders, the federal security director at tsa and the airport atlanta pd commander or the atlanta chief to speak to the public and say, what happened? because you've got, you know, just really millions of travelers on the biggest holiday weekend in the country and this is not good to cause this stress around the country and people have to travel. so, in other words, clarity of what happened. everybody can deal with it. the public will deal with it. whatever it is, we've been through awful terrorist attack, we can go through an accidental shot or even an on-purpose shot with someone who's being sought, but they need to spell it out. don't have all these questions. what happened? is there someone you're seeking? is there someone you're seeking to arrest? leverage the public to help you here. just quiet this thing down, because it's not really good to leave it hanging in the air like that. the witness's description gives you more reason to concern -- of concern that it was just a typical discovery of a firearm in luggage. now, it may be that. it may be just firearm in luggage and the citizen picked it up and wanted to get away with the gun because he was scared of being arrested with the gun or who knows. but it shouldn't be hanging like that in the air. we need leadership. leadership now in law enforcement has to communicate with the public, just the basic facts. you don't have to give away the farm and you don't have to tell everything you know. but you do have to communicate. >> let's bring john cox back into the conversation. jim, stand by for me. aviation expert and former pilot. and john, can you just elaborate on that a little bit? the point that jim was making there. are you surprised we haven't heard from the airport leadership aside from the statements that we've gotten so far and of course the all-clear subsequently given? because there are still a lot of questions out there, especially about how they deduced so quickly that this was an accidental discharge. >> well, i think, first, for them to have been able to recover the airport to an operating state as quickly as they have speaks very well for the security, both the atlanta city police and the federal authorities to get atlanta up and running again. it happened much more quickly than i thought it would. that said, communication is always an essential part of the travel experience, so yes, they need to be communicating it, but first and foremost, they needed to assure that the airport was safe to start conducting operations again. and they've done that. now, it's frustrating to someone going through it like the previous guest that somebody's not telling them anything, but everybody today has cell phones and has the ability to log in to, for example, msnbc to see what is going on and what the conduit of information that's being released is. and so, i think it's a little bit incumbent on all of us as individuals to take the initiative to try to find out what's happening. and then, for that to be backed up, certainly, by official sources. >> sure, john, but as you just said, that last point was one of the most important points you made, which is the fact that there can be a lot of false alarms. you're looking an twitter and i looked on twitter plenty of times, we're in the middle of a show, and things will pop up and we think, my god, there's a shooting, and then we find out it was just a false alarm. and so -- >> right. >> so i'm curious and concerned about our guest, damian escobar, saying he had no communication from inside the airport in that hour that he was pretty confused as to what was going on. he was rushed into a hallway, a child was trampled who was subsequently fine, but nonetheless, that's a scary 30, 45, 60 minutes with no communication from inside the airport and to then be given the all-clear. >> i think it's, first and foremost, they had to react to a potential security event. and they did that. so, that was their primary duty was to ensure the security of the people within the airport and the aircraft that were taking off and landing. so -- >> got it. >> that takes time. and so the priority has to be on that being the first thing. that said, once -- now the question is, okay, we've determined it was an accidental discharge and i would assume that that was done by interviewing the tsa agents that interacted with the passenger, and once they were concluded that that accidental discharge had occurred, now it's, how do you put the airport back into operation? at that point, it would have been wonderful if they had been able to communicate out and they did fairly quickly that it was an accidental discharge. it was not a terrorist event. and so, at that point, the recovery process starts. so, i think that's going to be one of the lessons learned is to enhance the communication. >> yeah. >> there's an awful lot going on by a lot of people during all of this time. >> last question to you, john, but before we wrap this up, which is, are you surprised by this statistic that our reporter, jay blackman, got from a tsa agent, 80% of the guns they discover are loaded? >> i looked on the tsa website, and it's a slightly above 80%, and they have had a record year of number of guns that they have found and the leading airport in which guns are found is atlanta hartsfield. so, when you put all of that together, am i -- am i amazed or surprised that the gun was loaded? no. most guns are. secondly, this -- and this is typical if someone doesn't intend to carry on to the airplane, it's a mistake, they've forgotten about it, as jim cavanaugh said, these oftentimes are law-abiding citizens that just make a mistake, but typically, if you're going to carry a gun, and it's not loaded, it's not a lot of good to you so the fact that it was loaded, that doesn't really surprise me at all. the number of guns that we're finding in luggage that people are trying to get on to aircraft, either by mistake or not, is unacceptably high, and so we need to continue the education and to take it extremely seriously as they do. tsa did the -- did a good job here. >> law-abiding citizens, john, they don't flee. hence the reason why we have a lot more questions than answers at this point, but hopefully we're going to be learning more as this thing develops. john cox, thank you. jim cavanaugh, thank you as well. we're going to continue to follow this story over the next hour or so, but we do want to pivot to what's been taking place, of course, across this country. that was the verdict of kyle rittenhouse. coming up, i'm going to speak to david jolly and donna edwards. we'll be right back. l lly and ds we'll be right back. but his diabetes never seemed to take one. everything felt like a 'no'. everything. but then ray went from no to know. with freestyle libre 2, now he knows his glucose levels when he needs to. and... when he wants to. so ray... can be ray. take the mystery out of your glucose levels, and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free. visit freestylelibre.us nurse mariyam sabo knows a moment this pure... ...demands a lotion this pure. new gold bond pure moisture lotion. 24-hour hydration. no parabens, dyes, or fragrances. gold bond. champion your skin. bipolar depression. it made me feel like i was trapped in a fog. this is art inspired by real stories of people living with bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place... ...and be hard to manage. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. latuda is not for everyone. call your doctor about unusual mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. elderly dementia patients on latuda have an increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, as these may be life threatening... ...or uncontrollable muscle movements, as these may be permanent. these are not all the serious side effects. now i'm back where i belong. ask your doctor about latuda and pay as little as $0 for your first prescription. here comes the interception. oh... -shawn? yes. thank you. you're welcome. have a great day. if it's “that will leave a mark season,” it's walgreens season. all right, want to get to the stunning reaction from republicans after kyle rittenhouse was acquitted in the shooting deaths of two men during protests following the police shooting of jacob blake in kenosha, wisconsin, last year. the 18-year-old from illinois was flooded with praise and job offers from far-right republicans, some with their own controversial histories, after he was found not guilty by a nearly all-white jury yesterday. florida congressman matt gaetz said on newsmax that rittenhouse would probably make a good intern. >> you know what? kyle rittenhouse would probably make a pretty good congressional intern. we may reach out to him and see if he's be interested in helping the country in additional ways. >> and then on twitter, arizona congressman paul gosar asked his followers if rittenhouse should get a congressional medal of honor for, quote, selflessly protecting lives and property. by the way, the guy that was censured. this was after tweeting that he would arm-wrestle matt gaetz so have kyle as his intern. rounding out those internship offers was madison caw thorn, who also this very unsettling message. >> kyle rittenhouse is not guilty, my friends. you have a right to defend yourselves. be armed. be dangerous. and be moral. >> okay. donna edwards, former democratic congresswoman from maryland, contributing columnist to "the washington post" and nbc analyst and david jolly, former member of congress, national chair of the serve america movement and an msnbc political contributor. guys, can we just rerack madison cawthorne's statement there. let's play it again. >> kyle rittenhouse is not guilty, my friends. you have a right to defend yourselves. be armed. be dangerous. be moral. >> what's going on, donna? >> well, this is -- this is not the first time that matthew has called for violence, and going along with the trend of this very dangerous thread through the republican party is, i mean, it should be surprising but it is not because it is very consistent with the direction of the republican party that we have seen over these last several years. and i am -- what surprises me is that you have almost no response from republican leadership to tamp this down. they have fully embraced this kind of brazen, violent rhetoric, and it is -- it has already become dangerous. i mean, we had two people killed and one seriously injured in kenosha, wisconsin, by a man who was carrying an ar-15 across state lines, being a cop wannabe. >> david jolly, there's a real fear here that not only is the republican party embracing this extremism, this isn't just on the fringes. but they are enabling folks. i mean, kyle rittenhouse, at the end of the day, whether he was found guilty or not guilty, brought an ar-style rifle to a protest. >> yeah, that's right, yasmin. he's going to become a bit of a cult hero within the republican party. governor ron desantis of florida has also lauded him. i think it's a reflection of how reckless and unserious and at times dangerous today's republican leaders and republican party has become. and what i mean by that, yasmin, is, look, a lot of attorneys, maybe a majority, myself included, fully expected kyle rittenhouse to be acquitted given the facts and the law. but that doesn't necessarily mean, then, that the law is right, and i think what a lot of sober leaders should be considering, and i think most americans are considering, is, okay, if the self-defense defense actually was sufficient to get him acquitted, does that mean that the law is right, that a young man can go to a community that's not his own, completely disinterested from the events in there, but for the fact that he wanted to go in and perhaps instigate or take a firearm into an already-unstable environment. is the law sufficient to address that situation? and i think that's what a lot of lawmakers should be asking right now. they shouldn't be celebrating this young man who did ultimately take the lives of three people, even if under the letter of the law it is not something that he will be held accountable for. >> i mean, david, and it's interesting because that's exactly what happened in georgia. isn't it? with the killing of ahmaud arbery, whether or not that's going to be reflected in that trial, because they subsequently changed that law in georgia that those three individuals are now using as part of their defense because they're being grandfathered in, so the question, as we watch that trial play out, is whether or not that's actually going to be affecting them, but nonetheless, it doesn't seem like that's happening in wisconsin, this law of self-defense, despite the fact that it seems like he was very much the provocateur, bringing a gun to a protest. >> yeah, yasmin, there's a saying that tough cases make for bad law. meaning, bad precedent, bad law, so in this situation, the self-defense defense actually worked, right? he had tripped, he had fallen, somebody took a move towards him. the jury found self-defense sufficient to acquit him. but what the prosecutors were trying to say is that kyle rittenhouse demonstrated a reckless disregard for human life by getting his gun and driving a half hour to the unstable environment. he should have fully expected that something could occur, and did the law get this right or wrong? that's actually what lawmakers should be asking themselves this week, not making a documentary about kyle rittenhouse, not celebrating him, not lionizing him, not trying to make him a hero within the republican party, but that is how unserious and often dangerous today's gop can be. >> how worried are you, donna, that this kind of fringe movement of the republican party or what we saw as a fringe movement of the republican party, right, the matt gaetzs of the world, the marjorie taylor greenes who tweeted, kyle rittenhouse acquitted, may kyle and his family live in peace. those who help, protect, and defend are the good guys. kyle is one of the good ones. the gosars of the world are becoming more, it seems, part of the mainstream of the republican party, more so now than ever, especially as we inch towards the midterms. >> well, this embrace of this, you know, what was a fringe part of the republican party is actually now embraced within the mainstream of the party, and what i mean by that is that not only are these lawmakers, who are on the edge, celebrating kyle rittenhouse and his violence, but there's nobody else in the republican party who's willing to speak the truth to what happened in wisconsin. and what i know, and i think the sense that i have from so many people who are saying that the system -- justice system is just not fair, there is not a part of my imagination that can imagine a young black kid walking down the streets in kenosha, wisconsin, and allowed to shoot two people and injure one. there is not a single part of our imagination that could conceive that would happen and that is a sign that this system is completely flawed and completely unjust. >> and that's why folks argue, in fact, this trial was very much about race, despite the fact that people said it was not. david jolly, donna edwards, thank you. i appreciate it. great to see you. we are monitoring, everybody, the situation at the airport in atlanta right now and all-clear has in fact been given following an accidental discharge of a gun at the security checkpoint. the passenger that fired the weapon has yet to be apprehended. also still ahead, a mccarthyism-style attack, president biden's currency nominee, who was born under soviet rule, faced red-hot heat during her confirmation hearing. next, reaction from someone who took similar attacks, retired u.s. army lieutenant colonel slander vindman. we'll be right back. nant colonel slander vindman. we'll be rightac bk. 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(tiger) this is the dimension of imagination. ♪ ♪ [music: "i swear"] jaycee tried gain flings for the first time the other day... and forgot where she was. you can always spot a first time gain flings user. ♪ welcome back. saule omarova is an accomplished academic, an attorney, and a public policy advisor, but you wouldn't know it if you were listening to republicans this week. omarova was nominated by president biden to serve as comptroller of the currency, a role responsible for the regulation of assets held by more than a thousand banks, and while democrats lined up in support of her nomination, republicans were mostly focused upon denigrating her character. omarova, who is kazakh american left to study in the u.s. it brought some republicans to the dubious conclusion that she is an undercover communist. things only got worse when john kennedy of louisiana chimed in with this. >> senator, i was born and grew up in the soviet union. >> yes, ma'am, but were you a member of that -- >> everybody in that country was a member of the communist youth organization. >> so, you were -- >> that was -- >> you were a member? have you resigned? >> from the youth? >> from the young communists? >> you grow out of it with age. automatically. >> did you -- did you send them a letter, though, resigning? >> senator, this was many, many years ago as far as i remember how the soviet union worked was at certain age, you automatically stop being a member. >> well, could you look at your records and see if you can find a copy -- i don't know whether to call you professor or comrade. >> okay. let's talk about this. with me to do that, retired lieutenant colonel alexander vindman. thanks for joining us. as always, we appreciate it. it's great to see you. i got to say, i was shocked when i saw that exchange. shocked, horrified, i can't think of the words that would just describe how i was feeling. and i just want to recount for folks out there, as well, the other things that were sat. senator toomey saying, i don't think i've seen a more radical choice. ted cruz labeling her a radical who literally trained in the soviet union. and then demanded to see a copy of her russian language undergraduate thesis. what is your reaction to seeing that exchange and the things that were said about her? >> this is populism at its best. this is the perpetuation of a cultural war to rile up the base, to energize the base and continue to hold on with entertainment, hold on with, you know, this rabble rousing because there's an -- a total absence of policies so i took this quite personally, frankly. i experienced some of these similar types of slurs, i guess. i had the fortune of coming here as a 4-year-old so i passed the test of not having an accent, looking right. unfortunately for this doctor, highly qualified in her field, she didn't pass the test. she didn't look right. she didn't have the right accent. she came from what the former president would call a, you know, a -- hole country. sorry. but that's exactly how -- that's exactly what i think, you know, this attack is about. it's, she just didn't look the part. and it's one thing if he attacked her on the merits. if he said, you know, i don't appreciate your policies. i don't like your recommendations. but that's not what he went after. he made a personal attack. and i experienced this firsthand also, and even though i was in uniform and i did so respectfully, i pushed back on that and i think that's really what's necessary, to call out these officials to have an obligation to serve the entirety of the population. that's why i feel so strongly about this -- the campaign that i'm a part of, front lines of freedom campaign from the renew democracy initiative where we're trying to highlight the hazards of populism and what happens when you lose control, when democracy starts to founder. >> colonel, you said to a certain extent you feel as if these statement were made to rile up the base, right, the trump base. i'm assuming that's what you meant. >> correct. >> do you think folks like senator kennedy don't actually believe what they're saying, or do you think they also believe what they're saying in calling her a comrade? >> i think i would find it hard to believe that somebody with the kind of background of senator kennedy does not know any better. he was putting on a show. there are plenty of folks that don't know any better. i mean, you know, the gaetzs and gosars don't know any better but there are plenty this do and you expect them to perform at a higher standard. this is one of the things i'm particularly passionate about. these people are failing to represent the office of senator, represent the office of congressman, and we need to make sure we hold them accountable for this kind of nonsense. it is not okay to attack somebody, to make personal character assassinations, nonsubstantive personal character assassinations because somebody speaks differently, because somebody's origin puts them in the soviet union as a youth. she left the soviet union before it collapsed. it collapsed in december of 1991. she left some time before then. she had really little choice in participating in a system that compelled its citizens to participate in a -- in the communist party. otherwise, they would be punished. unfortunately, we see populism taking us in the same direction. if you recall, president trump had those membership cards for his -- for him that was really, really shockingly inappropriate cards that had nazi artifact-type symbolology and that's where we're heading to if we continue down the road of populism. this is why i feel so passionate about this issue. the front line of freedom campaign i'm part of is trying to highlight wherever this country ends up if we continue moving in this direction and yasmin, you have to -- i'm a foreign policy guy so i understand what our adversaries are looking at when they see this kind of rhetoric in the united states. part of the reason that we see this build-up on the ukrainian border at the moment is, yes, there's a need. the russians want to apply pressure on ukraine. but at the same time, they see an opportunity. they see an opportunity with the u.s. distracted, the u.s. divided internally, the u.s. unprepared to maybe take actions to defend u.s. national security interests, and this is critically important for the voices that have the ability to comment on this to do so and at least try to hold the line, put us back on the right direction, defend our interests. >> colonel, before i let you go, almost two years to the day since your testimony. we remember hearing your heartfelt testimony regarding your father's immigration story. you talk about how you have heard similar things thrown at you. do you still get threats yourself? are you still threatened by others? two years later? >> sure, people call me commie on twitter, stuff like that, but that's the minority voices. i frankly feel a huge amount of support. but there are plenty of people that will look to -- because they can't make a substantive attack, will look to make some sort of, you know, character assassination and, you know, talk about me coming here as a 4-year-old and somehow having dual allegiances. i would like to see how many of those folks have put two decades into government service and have done as much as my friends and my counterparts that testified in front of congress to protect u.s. national security interests. i have a feeling very few could stand up to that test. >> i'm going to assume with that answer, then, that you do not regret your service and your testimony that day. >> absolutely not. i mean, i could -- right now, my wife and i can take this opportunity to step back and remain silent. we chose, quite some time ago, that that was not what we were going to do. we have a voice and we are going to use that voice to protect this country. to focus on the national security threats both internal and external, and do what we can to try to make this country -- put this country back on -- make this country the shining city on the hill. make this the beacon of democracy and freedom and that's what we're going to continue to do. >> colonel alexander vindman, thank you. appreciate it. after the break we're going back to the breaking news at atlanta hartsfield international airport. an all-clear has been given after chaos unfolded. stick with us. we'll be right back. s unldfoed stick with us. we'll be right back. out customi. that's why i love liberty mutual. they customize my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. how about a throwback? 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"at approximately 1:30 today, a passenger accidentally discharged a firearm in the hartsfield jackson atlanta international airport main checkpoint. this was not an active shooter event. however, local airport and tsa leadership made the initiative to issue a ground stop why atlanta police department investigated the accident further." normal operations have resumed after the officials gave the all-clear but 87 flights were delayed and 2 were canceled. all right, nbc news has learned some disturbing new details about a pennsylvania state police shooting of a teenager last december. assistant district attorney michael at a news conference in march said it was a case of suicide by cop. but his parents say video obtained by nbc news and spotlight p.a. tells a very different story and now they're suing. vaughn hillyard picks up the story from here. we want to warn you, some viewers may find the video disturbing. >> reporter: new video released showing pennsylvania state police fatally shooting a chinese american teenager who had his hands in the air holding a pellet gun when troopers opened fire. the video was recorded by the state police, shows christian hall, who had been diagnosed with depression, standing on a ledge of a highway overpass in northeastern pennsylvania when troopers arrived. >> can you step down and talk to us? you're not in any trouble. you're not in any trouble. >> reporter: in the video, the troopers back away after seeing what they believed tore a gun in his hands. it was later determined to be a realistic pellet gun. authorities are seen attempting to persuade hall to step off the ledge with him repeatedly ignoring their request to drop the gun for about 90 minutes. troopers firing warning shots at the concrete barrier next to him. >> put it down. put it down. >> reporter: the original video released by the monroe county district attorney blurs the final seconds of the encounter, obscuring hall raising his hands in the air with the gun in one hand. the state police's initial press release staid he pointed the gun at officers before they fired but the new video, be contained by spotlight p.a. and nbc news via the hall family lawyer's subpoena shows hall kept his hands above his head for 14 seconds in all, including when the two troopers fired at him. >> thank you to vaughn. the pennsylvania state police commissioner declined an interview request by nbc news. a spokesperson said the department could not comment on pending litigation. to talk more about this, we want to welcome christian's parents, gareth and pay the, and their attorney, ben crump. mr. and mrs. hall, i'm so incredibly sorry for your loss. i can't imagine what it's like to have to watch that video over and over again. how are you doing? >> not well. not well at all. and having to watch that just now was a bit much. >> i haven't watched that video, and i don't want -- i don't want to see my son's last moments. >> i'm so sorry for the pain that you're dealing with. gareth, how did you learn about the death of your son? >> we were called to the barracks, and they made us wait for close to 45 minutes before anyone came out to speak to us, and when they did, six troopers came out and told us that there was an altercation at the bridge, and my son at first, the troopers said he had a gun, and then he quickly backed up and said, well, he had what appeared to be a gun, and the officers opened fire on him and he did not make it. and all i could ask was, you're telling me you killed my son? that was extremely traumatic. >> fay, why was your son at that bridge that day? >> we don't know. what we know is me broke up with his girlfriend, and he was very distraught about that. he was depressed about being at home all the time. this was at the height of covid. we couldn't visit -- his family. he couldn't hang out with his friends. you know? he was just depressed. >> and christian dealt with some mental difficulties, didn't he, guys? he had some tough stuff he had been through since his childhood. >> yes. he did. >> can you talk to me a little bit about that? >> he had what's known as reactive attachment disorder, which is fairly common amongst adopted children, especially those who did not receive adequate care in the early stages of their development. christian was abandoned on the steps of a hospital in china at the age of one day old. the orphanage where he was, we saw the room where they kept the babies, and honestly, it looked like a puppy kennel. there were stainless steel cribs all shoved right up against each other. with just enough room for the caretakers to go down the lines and offer to give the kids milk, and they had to actually feed themselves. that was christian's first year. we actually -- we -- he came to us within a week of his first birthday. >> wow. that must have been quite a moment. that must have been quite a moment for the two of you, knowing what he had been through and then finally meeting his mom and dad. go ahead, fe. >> when we first got him, we noticed that one side of his head is flat and it has less hair than the rest of his head, so we knew that he was just left laying down on his back for most parts of the 12 months that he was in the orphanage. i saw the -- within the orphanage, where the cribs are, i saw that the bottles for the babies, they were tied from one end of the crib to the other and the babies would just go and feed themselves and that's -- that was the first year of my son's life. he did not have -- he did not have someone to hold him and to care for him. like most children should. >> fe, gareth, i want to give you guys just a moment to breathe. i'm going to come back to you in a moment. i want to bring ben and devin into this conversation, your attorneys. the police department saying this was suicide by cop. ben crump? they ruled it a justifiable shooting. we've heard from christian's parents about who he was, the difficulties that he had dealt with. and then, of course, the revelation of this video. >> as you can see from the video, with your own eyes, he held his hands up for 14 seconds. he never pointed the gun at them. why they would fabricate this narrative to the world and especially to these grieving, brokenhearted parents continues to seem to be a pattern with the use of excessive force by those who are supposed to protect us against people of color and then they try to justify the unjustifiable. >> devin, have you been given an explanation as to why they would blur the end of that video? >> i think it's very clear, because in pennsylvania, the video from a police incident is actually not subject to right to know. when the state police commented and actually issued a false statement that he pointed the weapon, it was with the understanding that the public would never see the video and when the district attorney also cleared the state police of wrongdoing, same thing, it was with the understanding that the public would never see the video. there was no expectation that we would actually enter into litigation, serve a subpoena, and obtain that video, even when they were required to turn over the video, they were trying to force us into a confidentiality agreement so it wouldn't see the light of day. >> and where are the cops now that were involved in this shooting, devon? >> they're still on the street, protecting you and me. and that's the frightening thing. the pennsylvania state police issued a false statement about a fatal shooting that they were involved in. they're granted the privilege to use deadly force in appropriate circumstances, but they don't have to show how it happened? they don't have to say who did it. and apparently, in pennsylvania, they're also allowed to lie about what happened. >> fe, gareth, would your son have wanted to take his own life? >> i don't believe so. >> i don't believe so. >> no. no. he was planning on -- he was saving money for a car. he was planning on -- he just had far too many plans for his life. >> -- he himself made the schedule to take his driver's license test on january the 10th. and that ended up to be the date of his funeral. but he had so many plans. he was always calculating how much he's going to make so that he can get a car so we don't have to drive him to work. he was always interviewing for jobs. anytime that he will see a want ad, he would go and interview. that's why he had three part-time jobs. he was figuring things out for himself. he had a girlfriend and they broke up and that broke his heart. >> what do you want us to know about him? >> christian was full of life, and he was robbed of the opportunity to live it. i mean, here's the bottom line. i forced myself to watch that video. christian had his hands up the entire time. his hands were up. he never once pointed that gun at a single police officer. this is why we need that independent investigation that mancuso refused on march 30th. they were obviously keeping their secrets and wanted to keep them as secret as possible. as devin said, because they knew they would be able to -- well, they thought they would be able to keep it obscured from the public, and they would have it covered up. we can all see now that that was not the case. what they stated was not true. >> mr. and mrs. hall -- go ahead. go ahead, ben, quickly. >> he needed a helping hand from the police and what he got was bullets. >> mr. and mrs. hall, i'm so incredibly sorry for your loss, and i'm sorry, fe, that that video upset you. we certainly didn't mean that. we appreciate you sharing a bit of christian with us. >> thank you. >> we're giving you a virtual hug in the loss of your son. thank you as well to ben crump and devin jacob. we'll be right back, everybody. if you have this... consider adding this. an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan from unitedhealthcare. medicare supplement plans help by paying some of what medicare doesn't... and let you see any doctor. any specialist. anywhere in the u.s. who accepts medicare patients. so if you have this... consider adding this. call unitedhealthcare today for your free decision guide. ♪ tonight, i'll be eating a buffalo chicken panini with extra hot sauce. tonight, i'll be eating salmon sushi with a japanese jiggly cheesecake. 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(horse neighing) elton: nas? yeah? spare a pound? what? you know, bones, shillings, lolly? lolly? bangers and mash? i'm... i'm sorry? i don't have any money. you don't look broke. elton: my rocket is skint! imagine having someone else do your books for you. you don't look broke. as your quickbooks live bookkeeper, i'll categorize expenses, reconcile accounts, and close your books. cool. - yep. know where your business stands. intuit quickbooks live bookkeeping. with downy infusions, let the scent set the mood. feel the difference with downy. welcome back, everybody. so as wide-ranging punishments are continuing to be handed down to those involved, of course, in the january 6th insurrection, a federal judge issued the most notable commentator during one rioter's sentencing, suggesting he and many others were pawns in the former president's game, and in a way, that partially mitigates their conduct. the judge shortened one sentence on friday saying other d.c. judges haven't emphasized the fact that participants in the mob had been fed a relentless diet of lies about the election by trump and elected officials. the commentator is coming amid a flurry of subpoenas against former trump aides, many of which have been ignored or publicly stonewalled as investigation is heating up. with me, kyle cheney from politico. thank you. if you can expand a little bit more on that reporting, the judge making those comments also presiding over 20 members of the oath keepers, which is one of the most pivotal of the january 6th investigation. how important were these comments and also the fact that other federal judges aren't hammering down on the president's role in this. >> i guess in a sense he's saying, look, these people are all paying the price. they're being held accountable for something that really they were kind of duped into joining. this was the powerful people spreading misinformation about the results are the ones really responsible here and, you know, they're not the ones being pushed at this point. >> how could this affect legally some of the other insurrectionists' cases that are in process right now? >> i think because this judge is presiding over the oath keepers' case, their a target of conspiracy, but he used them similarly as pawns in the same kind of game. and so it gives you a sense where helping me go. he's very functional and other judges may take cues from him as well. >> let me read when you wrote. bannon described this as a civil case, but it's an oversimplification as a practical matter we're not asking to cut in line and we understand that's something that affects the court's docket. in thinking the doj here, and what they have to do on their end to make sure they're not given bannon any more loopholes or excuses to draw this out, what needs to be done? >> this is the key here, is the government -- justice department wants to move fast on bannon. they're ready to go to trial essentially and bannon's team is saying, no, we got to slow this thing down softly you're getting a sense of different strategies in play. the judge is the key element here, and he's not sold on slowing it down, so they'll reconvene in a couple weeks and set a schedule faster than he would like. from bannon, probably unlikely. it's going to be months away from his trial being resolved. it's a signal to other witnesses if i don't cooperate, you could be prosecuted too. >> kyle cheney, thank you. thanks for joining us. a lot of this stuff still developing. we hope you come back. appreciate it. that wraps up the hour for me, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. i'll be back here tomorrow 3:00 p.m. eastern. you don't want to miss it. reverend al sharpton and "politicsnation" starts right now. good evening and welcome to "politicsnation." tonight's lead, a few steps forward, a few steps back. and the reminder this evening the road to justice and equality is always long and never easy. many of us are still reeling after a wisconsin jury yesterday found kyle rittenhouse in the fatal shooting of two men during protests in kenosha last summer. legal experts will debate the quality of the prosecution's case. the self-defenseless claims, and the performance of the judge who wouldn't even allow the dead to be called