Transcripts For MSNBCW Meet The Press 20141208 : comparemela

Le republicans to do is very, very simple. Do what you said you would do. And how rich is your member of congress . I will break down how washington politicians are doing very well this last decade. While ordinary americans continue to tread water. Im chuck todd. Joining me with rick santelli. Amy walter, john stanton and kaseem reed. Welcome to sunday, its meet the press. Good morning. It has been another week with headlines dont natured by an angry reaction to a grand jury decision not to prosecute a white Police Officer for killing a black man. Last week the story was in ferguson, missouri. This week, new york city. The grand jurys decision not to indict daniel pont lantaleo, wh eric garner in a chokehold which led to his death brought thousands to the streets. What was different was even as they demonstrated, politicians from across the political spectrum came together to condemn the new york decision. What do we want . Justice. When do we want it . Now. Mr. Garners death is one of several recent incidents across our great country that have tested the sense of trust that must exist between Law Enforcement and the communities they are charged to serve and to protect. I asked them, what do you want . What is the point . They said they want accountability from the nypd, from the prosecutor over in Staten Island. And they said that they are going to be out here every night marching until they get an indictment in the death of eric garner. He got a camera. I do think that the American People deserve more answers about what really happened here and was our system of justice handled properly. Dont shoot. The crowd is reflective of a lot of people in new york city that are tired of autocratic, unaccountable police. When you are dealing with something as deeply rooted as racism or bias in any society, you got to have vigilance, but you have to recognize that its going to take some time and you just have to be steady so that you dont give up. Black lives matter. Black lives matter. I had dinner with condoleezza the other night. She said you got to understand that there are a lot of black folks around that are just incredibly moran more distrusting of Law Enforcement, which is a shame, because Law Enforcements job is to protect everybody. We have had to talk to donte about the dangers he may face. We had to train him as families have all over this city for decades in how to take special care in any encounter he has with Police Officers who are there to protect him. Im joined by the widow of eric garner and reverend al sharpton. Mrs. Garner, first of all, my condolences. Thank you. Your husband is now the face of bias in our Law Enforcement. How do you feel about that . I feel that he was murdered unjustly. I feel like i dont even feel like its a black and white thing, honestly. You know, in my opinion. I really dont feel like its a black and white thing. I feel like its just something that he continues to do and the police knew, you know, they knew. It wasnt like it was a shock. They knew. You know . They knew him by name. They harassed us. They said things to us. We would go shopping. You know, they hi, cigarette man. Hey, cigarette man wife. I would say, keep walking, dont say anything, dont respond, dont give them a reason to do anything to you. And he just felt like, but they keep harassing me. And i say, just ignore them, eric. He said, how much can i ignore them . I would say, just stay away from the block. You know . Just find Something Else to do. And he is like, what else can i do . I keep getting sick. He tried working with the parks department. But he had asthma. He had issues. You know . Heavy guy. And he was very lazy. You know, he didnt like to do anything. He wasnt used to it. You say he was murdered. Yeah. I feel like that. I feel like he was murdered. You obviously arent going to get your day in criminal court. But you are still looking for a day in court. Im looking for it, yes, because i think you know, it would only be right. Not only for my husband but for all the other young men and women and my sons. Have i have two sons that i have to train now. I have a 15yearold. I have wont even let him go two blocks away from my house. On halloween, he wanted to go out trick or treating. And i kept him in the house. I went and bought him all kinds of candy and told him, please stay in the house. I just dont want him to go outside because now that Everybody Knows who he is, you know, that hes eric garners son, you know, i fear. And now my other son is in college. And he is in jersey and newark, and i make him call hes like, mom, im 20. Call me at least in the morning before you go to class, when you get out of school, dont go to no parties, dont do this. You know, im so afraid of what could happen to them in the street, by the police. Im afraid of the police. Are you afraid of the police . Yes, i am. Thats why i left Staten Island. You know, i couldnt i live two, three blocks tops away from the 120. So if theres a bottle thrown on my block, the 120 is coming to see about it. If theres an argument or a fight between neighbors or something, the 120 is coming to i couldnt stay there anymore. You know . Everything on Staten Island is centered on bay street. So you one way or the other, you have to go to bay street. And thats where they are all. And they all knew who i was as well. You know . Reverend sharpton, there have been protests coast to coast. The reaction it seems to this grand jury nondecision much different than the reaction to what happened in ferguson. We had a more polarized reaction. This one not so polarized. Do you see that as progress. As long as we take it to some real change. This saturday were having a National March that mrs. Garner and the family from ferguson is leading to call for congressional action. The Congress Needs to not only do hearings, we need to deal with the jurisdictional threshold of how you make a federal case. How will she get her day in court . Youve got to be able to move the jurisdictional threshold, which congress can do. Congress need to put money in the Justice Department to investigate these cases. We have to go bring protests to where it goes into legislation. Otherwise, we will be back here again. Which is why i know you are trying to set up a big protest for this coming saturday the 13th. Want to get you to react to something that Patrick Lynch in new york said on thursday. Here is what he said. You cannot resist arrest, because resisting arrest leads to confrontation, confrontation leads to tragedy. So we feel badly that there was a loss of life. But unfortunately, mr. Garner made a choice that day to resist arrest. Blaming mr. Garner. First of all to blame the victim, the insensitivity of that is striking. But its also when you look at the video, the difference between ferguson and Staten Island, even though we bring them together for this march, is as a video. If you see in the video a man taken down on the ground with police over him and then you continue to choke him in the chokehold is illegal, are you now saying at the worst case, if he had resisted arrest and clearly he didnt that the penalty then is that you choke him to death . I think its the most absurd premise that this person could have said. You wanted to react. I watched your eyes. I watched your head shake. Because you know im not going to say he was a career criminal. But im going to say he had a past of being arrested. And he never, not once, ever resisted arrest. He has dobne a little bit of time. He accepted his time when the judge handed it to him. I will be home, they gave me 2 1 2. As far as my history in new york city, ive seen a lot of people resist arrest. Ive seen pulled out guns on cops and live. But thats the point. You bring up race. She has tried to say, i dont want to deal with race as the issue, but clearly they treat differently. If he was of a different race with the same background, know one tried to sugarcoat anyones background, would he have been treated the same way . Thats what were talking about. Youannot have a broken window policing if you have broken training, broken accountability and police that claim that i have the right to bring you down and then later say, it resisting even when a videotape says its not. So were not talking about making victims saints but were talking about not giving a past to police who do whats wrong. You cant have two wrongs to make one civil right. I want to ask you on the issue here, we are talking about mr. Garner having to sell single cigarettes to survive. To make a living. Do you need to be focusing your efforts also on this economic problem . Absolutely. And we do. That a lot of africanamerican communities feel as if a hopelessness on the economic front . We do. Which is why we aggressively the Civil Rights Community supported a jobs bill, infrastructure development. When we go and challenge men in our community to say, youve got to stand up and you have to be responsible, they need jobs. They need training. So at one hand, we cant expand the Public Sector for jobs. At another hand, they say, were being harassed and treated differently by Law Enforcement. So we have to strike a balance that is not in our power to do, which is why were going at the congress to make that possible. You cant tell men to take care of their families and kill jobs. My condolences. Thank you for coming on meet the press. Thank you for having me. We will discuss a lot of the reform issues here in just a moment. Thank you. Im joined now on a panel, rick santelli, amy, kaseem. We went in the field on Law Enforcement issues. Not surprisingly, a big divide between blacks and whites. We asked, are there different standards in the Law Enforcement community that they apply to blacks and white snz whis . Africanamericans 82 agree there are different standards applied. How about confidence that the police Law Enforcement community will treat races equally . 52 of white have a great deal of confidence. 43 of africanamericans have very little confidence. Of course, confidence in the legal system, after ferguson, after Staten Island, has it increased or decreased . In this case, whites and blacks say their confidence is decreased. Whites, 35 decreased, with blacks, 70 . Mayor reed, the atlanta, police department, do you feel they treat blacks and whites the same in your city in. You have to take it on a case by case basis. We do a better job than most. If you look at the why . If you look theat the racial composition of the police department, it looks like where we serve. We have cameras. Because of the history of the city of atlanta, we work harder at issues of race than other communities do. Its a part of the dna of our city being the home of dr. Martin luther king. What i made clear is ferguson can happen anywhere. Because its about the judgment of an individual officer. What we have to do is we have these conversations and move conversations to real reform is to make sure that we dont take a broad brush and paint Police Officers as bad people because they do a tough job. When we see wrong, we need to act decisively, chuck. In order to make the real value from the losses we have seen, we have to move forward on training, caring about the equity in terms of the racial composition of the police force and the conversation around video cameras is over. Were going to that clearly is. Rick, this is a trusting government issue. I say we talk about we sit here and talk about trust in government. We were focused on agencies and competenty and healthcare, this. Here is another part of the population, africanamericans, who have a trust in government. When you talk about trust if government, you are preaching to the choir. We sieree air yas where they do good job, others where they dont. I havent understood in this world of technology where every building has a camera, every atm has a camera, why dont we have cameras on Police Officers . Its sad that this horrible tragedy had to bring that about. But theres also a huge responsibility for us in the media, leaders like reverend al sharpton to make sure that this story doesnt end up Like University of virginia rolling stone. We have to make sure we do it right. A huge responsibility. These cases might represent a small percentage of all the issues. Police, for the most part, do a good job. But that doesnt mean that we can do better. And i think this is the time to begin this discussion. You are both here in d. C. You have been residents with me here a while. Both rick is a chicago guy. We have seen washington go through this transition. I would say 20 years ago, we had a trust problem between the populous and Law Enforcement. It has been slowly restored. Whats worked, do you think, in washington . I think the police in d. Considd. C. Have they have to try to avoid a cultural problem in our country which is that people look at young black men as threats, automatically. Its how they have been defined. Guilty until proven innocent . Yes. When you add that to the Justice System, that creates a volatile mix. I think the police in d. C. Have tried harder than in a lot of other places to not do that. But you see it here. Its not as pronounced. We havent had Something Like garner or anything like that happen here of late. But you do see it still happening here. Young black men are constantly being pulled over, being stopped, walking on the street. I see it in my neighborhood. Its something that has sort of fallen down a little bit, but its still there. Yeah. Thats the piece of this is that i think the mayor addressed this, which is theres a powder keg sitting there. It takes one spark to light it. When you have this deep seeded it goes back generations. This is not new. Its not new. If we asked this before i have seen polling, asked in 2009, same numbers. This is still sitting there. Its not going away. It was the same number we saw after the riots in rodney king. What are some reform measures . A discussion of the future of policing in america. What needs to be done to restore this trust gap between africanamericans and Law Enforcement. [ male announcer ] are you so stuffed up, you feel like youre underwater . Try zyrtecd® to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms. So you can breathe easier all day. Zyrtecd®. Find it at the pharmacy counter. Zyrtecd®. Let me get tyes . Straight. Lactaid® is 100 real milk . Right. Real milk. But it wont cause me discomfort. Exactly, no discomfort, because its milk without the lactose. And it tastes . Its real milk come on, would i lie about this . Lactaid®. 100 real milk. No discomfort. And try lactaid® supplements with your first bite to dig in to all your dairy favorites. I tell them aveeno®. Because Beautiful Skin goes with everything. [ female announcer ] aveeno® daily moisturizing lotion has active naturals® oat with five vital nutrients naturally found in healthy skin. Where do i wear aveeno® . Everywhere. Aveeno® daily moisturizing lotion. And try the body wash too. Aveeno®. Naturally beautiful results™. Aveeno®. We givecold symptoms. Om your you give them the giggles. Tylenol® cold helps relieve your worst cold and flu symptoms. But for everything we do, we know you do so much more. So reforms. Welcome back, we put together an expert group to talk about what needs to be done to reform policing and the Justice System in this country. Im joined by cyrus vance juni, the manhattan district attorney, michael nutter, mayor of philadelphia, Chuck Canterbury and charles ramsey. Let me start with you. Your mandate from the president , what do you believe you have to accomplish to show that one of these task forces can be more than just talk . Well, first let me say that the president is very serious about this issue. Thats why he put together the task force as a part of our initiatives that he has going on right now. We have 90 days to come up with some concrete recommendations to the president on how we can have change, positive change in policing starting with establishing trust. I was listening to comments earlier in your program. Its very troubling that people do not believe theres fairness in a way in which we police, a way in which cases are reviewed by prosecutors on and on and on. We have to change that dynamic. We have to take a look at our training, and more importantly the education that we provide to officers so they better understand the role of police in a democratic society. Those are the kinds of things we will focus on as well as use of force and technology. Let me go to you represent rank and file Police Officers, the beat cop. Thats right. The reforms. What do you want to see the president s task force tackle if you were asked to be on the task force, what would you say . Lets not indict all Police Officers here. But this is what i think the police need. First of all, we believe that the existing judicial system works. The grand jury system and Police Review boards in certain cities have shown some promise. The bottom line is, rank and file Police Officers have always wanted more training. And welcome that training. I dont believe that under rrent Economic Times with the huge reduction in Law Enforcement around this country that training has kept up. I also dont believe that theres a systemic problem in Law Enforcement. The media and others have taken a couple of incidents there are 14 million arrests in this country every year. We have less than 300 Police Officer<\/a> for killing a black man. Last week the story was in ferguson, missouri. This week, new york city. The grand jurys decision not to indict daniel pont lantaleo, wh eric garner in a chokehold which led to his death brought thousands to the streets. What was different was even as they demonstrated, politicians from across the political spectrum came together to condemn the new york decision. What do we want . Justice. When do we want it . Now. Mr. Garners death is one of several recent incidents across our great country that have tested the sense of trust that must exist between Law Enforcement<\/a> and the communities they are charged to serve and to protect. I asked them, what do you want . What is the point . They said they want accountability from the nypd, from the prosecutor over in Staten Island<\/a>. And they said that they are going to be out here every night marching until they get an indictment in the death of eric garner. He got a camera. I do think that the American People<\/a> deserve more answers about what really happened here and was our system of justice handled properly. Dont shoot. The crowd is reflective of a lot of people in new york city that are tired of autocratic, unaccountable police. When you are dealing with something as deeply rooted as racism or bias in any society, you got to have vigilance, but you have to recognize that its going to take some time and you just have to be steady so that you dont give up. Black lives matter. Black lives matter. I had dinner with condoleezza the other night. She said you got to understand that there are a lot of black folks around that are just incredibly moran more distrusting of Law Enforcement<\/a>, which is a shame, because Law Enforcement<\/a>s job is to protect everybody. We have had to talk to donte about the dangers he may face. We had to train him as families have all over this city for decades in how to take special care in any encounter he has with Police Officer<\/a>s who are there to protect him. Im joined by the widow of eric garner and reverend al sharpton. Mrs. Garner, first of all, my condolences. Thank you. Your husband is now the face of bias in our Law Enforcement<\/a>. How do you feel about that . I feel that he was murdered unjustly. I feel like i dont even feel like its a black and white thing, honestly. You know, in my opinion. I really dont feel like its a black and white thing. I feel like its just something that he continues to do and the police knew, you know, they knew. It wasnt like it was a shock. They knew. You know . They knew him by name. They harassed us. They said things to us. We would go shopping. You know, they hi, cigarette man. Hey, cigarette man wife. I would say, keep walking, dont say anything, dont respond, dont give them a reason to do anything to you. And he just felt like, but they keep harassing me. And i say, just ignore them, eric. He said, how much can i ignore them . I would say, just stay away from the block. You know . Just find Something Else<\/a> to do. And he is like, what else can i do . I keep getting sick. He tried working with the parks department. But he had asthma. He had issues. You know . Heavy guy. And he was very lazy. You know, he didnt like to do anything. He wasnt used to it. You say he was murdered. Yeah. I feel like that. I feel like he was murdered. You obviously arent going to get your day in criminal court. But you are still looking for a day in court. Im looking for it, yes, because i think you know, it would only be right. Not only for my husband but for all the other young men and women and my sons. Have i have two sons that i have to train now. I have a 15yearold. I have wont even let him go two blocks away from my house. On halloween, he wanted to go out trick or treating. And i kept him in the house. I went and bought him all kinds of candy and told him, please stay in the house. I just dont want him to go outside because now that Everybody Knows<\/a> who he is, you know, that hes eric garners son, you know, i fear. And now my other son is in college. And he is in jersey and newark, and i make him call hes like, mom, im 20. Call me at least in the morning before you go to class, when you get out of school, dont go to no parties, dont do this. You know, im so afraid of what could happen to them in the street, by the police. Im afraid of the police. Are you afraid of the police . Yes, i am. Thats why i left Staten Island<\/a>. You know, i couldnt i live two, three blocks tops away from the 120. So if theres a bottle thrown on my block, the 120 is coming to see about it. If theres an argument or a fight between neighbors or something, the 120 is coming to i couldnt stay there anymore. You know . Everything on Staten Island<\/a> is centered on bay street. So you one way or the other, you have to go to bay street. And thats where they are all. And they all knew who i was as well. You know . Reverend sharpton, there have been protests coast to coast. The reaction it seems to this grand jury nondecision much different than the reaction to what happened in ferguson. We had a more polarized reaction. This one not so polarized. Do you see that as progress. As long as we take it to some real change. This saturday were having a National March<\/a> that mrs. Garner and the family from ferguson is leading to call for congressional action. The Congress Needs<\/a> to not only do hearings, we need to deal with the jurisdictional threshold of how you make a federal case. How will she get her day in court . Youve got to be able to move the jurisdictional threshold, which congress can do. Congress need to put money in the Justice Department<\/a> to investigate these cases. We have to go bring protests to where it goes into legislation. Otherwise, we will be back here again. Which is why i know you are trying to set up a big protest for this coming saturday the 13th. Want to get you to react to something that Patrick Lynch<\/a> in new york said on thursday. Here is what he said. You cannot resist arrest, because resisting arrest leads to confrontation, confrontation leads to tragedy. So we feel badly that there was a loss of life. But unfortunately, mr. Garner made a choice that day to resist arrest. Blaming mr. Garner. First of all to blame the victim, the insensitivity of that is striking. But its also when you look at the video, the difference between ferguson and Staten Island<\/a>, even though we bring them together for this march, is as a video. If you see in the video a man taken down on the ground with police over him and then you continue to choke him in the chokehold is illegal, are you now saying at the worst case, if he had resisted arrest and clearly he didnt that the penalty then is that you choke him to death . I think its the most absurd premise that this person could have said. You wanted to react. I watched your eyes. I watched your head shake. Because you know im not going to say he was a career criminal. But im going to say he had a past of being arrested. And he never, not once, ever resisted arrest. He has dobne a little bit of time. He accepted his time when the judge handed it to him. I will be home, they gave me 2 1 2. As far as my history in new york city, ive seen a lot of people resist arrest. Ive seen pulled out guns on cops and live. But thats the point. You bring up race. She has tried to say, i dont want to deal with race as the issue, but clearly they treat differently. If he was of a different race with the same background, know one tried to sugarcoat anyones background, would he have been treated the same way . Thats what were talking about. Youannot have a broken window policing if you have broken training, broken accountability and police that claim that i have the right to bring you down and then later say, it resisting even when a videotape says its not. So were not talking about making victims saints but were talking about not giving a past to police who do whats wrong. You cant have two wrongs to make one civil right. I want to ask you on the issue here, we are talking about mr. Garner having to sell single cigarettes to survive. To make a living. Do you need to be focusing your efforts also on this economic problem . Absolutely. And we do. That a lot of africanamerican communities feel as if a hopelessness on the economic front . We do. Which is why we aggressively the Civil Rights Community<\/a> supported a jobs bill, infrastructure development. When we go and challenge men in our community to say, youve got to stand up and you have to be responsible, they need jobs. They need training. So at one hand, we cant expand the Public Sector<\/a> for jobs. At another hand, they say, were being harassed and treated differently by Law Enforcement<\/a>. So we have to strike a balance that is not in our power to do, which is why were going at the congress to make that possible. You cant tell men to take care of their families and kill jobs. My condolences. Thank you for coming on meet the press. Thank you for having me. We will discuss a lot of the reform issues here in just a moment. Thank you. Im joined now on a panel, rick santelli, amy, kaseem. We went in the field on Law Enforcement<\/a> issues. Not surprisingly, a big divide between blacks and whites. We asked, are there different standards in the Law Enforcement<\/a> community that they apply to blacks and white snz whis . Africanamericans 82 agree there are different standards applied. How about confidence that the police Law Enforcement<\/a> community will treat races equally . 52 of white have a great deal of confidence. 43 of africanamericans have very little confidence. Of course, confidence in the legal system, after ferguson, after Staten Island<\/a>, has it increased or decreased . In this case, whites and blacks say their confidence is decreased. Whites, 35 decreased, with blacks, 70 . Mayor reed, the atlanta, police department, do you feel they treat blacks and whites the same in your city in. You have to take it on a case by case basis. We do a better job than most. If you look at the why . If you look theat the racial composition of the police department, it looks like where we serve. We have cameras. Because of the history of the city of atlanta, we work harder at issues of race than other communities do. Its a part of the dna of our city being the home of dr. Martin luther king. What i made clear is ferguson can happen anywhere. Because its about the judgment of an individual officer. What we have to do is we have these conversations and move conversations to real reform is to make sure that we dont take a broad brush and paint Police Officer<\/a>s as bad people because they do a tough job. When we see wrong, we need to act decisively, chuck. In order to make the real value from the losses we have seen, we have to move forward on training, caring about the equity in terms of the racial composition of the police force and the conversation around video cameras is over. Were going to that clearly is. Rick, this is a trusting government issue. I say we talk about we sit here and talk about trust in government. We were focused on agencies and competenty and healthcare, this. Here is another part of the population, africanamericans, who have a trust in government. When you talk about trust if government, you are preaching to the choir. We sieree air yas where they do good job, others where they dont. I havent understood in this world of technology where every building has a camera, every atm has a camera, why dont we have cameras on Police Officer<\/a>s . Its sad that this horrible tragedy had to bring that about. But theres also a huge responsibility for us in the media, leaders like reverend al sharpton to make sure that this story doesnt end up Like University<\/a> of virginia rolling stone. We have to make sure we do it right. A huge responsibility. These cases might represent a small percentage of all the issues. Police, for the most part, do a good job. But that doesnt mean that we can do better. And i think this is the time to begin this discussion. You are both here in d. C. You have been residents with me here a while. Both rick is a chicago guy. We have seen washington go through this transition. I would say 20 years ago, we had a trust problem between the populous and Law Enforcement<\/a>. It has been slowly restored. Whats worked, do you think, in washington . I think the police in d. Considd. C. Have they have to try to avoid a cultural problem in our country which is that people look at young black men as threats, automatically. Its how they have been defined. Guilty until proven innocent . Yes. When you add that to the Justice System<\/a>, that creates a volatile mix. I think the police in d. C. Have tried harder than in a lot of other places to not do that. But you see it here. Its not as pronounced. We havent had Something Like<\/a> garner or anything like that happen here of late. But you do see it still happening here. Young black men are constantly being pulled over, being stopped, walking on the street. I see it in my neighborhood. Its something that has sort of fallen down a little bit, but its still there. Yeah. Thats the piece of this is that i think the mayor addressed this, which is theres a powder keg sitting there. It takes one spark to light it. When you have this deep seeded it goes back generations. This is not new. Its not new. If we asked this before i have seen polling, asked in 2009, same numbers. This is still sitting there. Its not going away. It was the same number we saw after the riots in rodney king. What are some reform measures . A discussion of the future of policing in america. What needs to be done to restore this trust gap between africanamericans and Law Enforcement<\/a>. [ male announcer ] are you so stuffed up, you feel like youre underwater . Try zyrtecd\u00ae to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms. So you can breathe easier all day. Zyrtecd\u00ae. Find it at the pharmacy counter. Zyrtecd\u00ae. Let me get tyes . Straight. Lactaid\u00ae is 100 real milk . Right. Real milk. But it wont cause me discomfort. Exactly, no discomfort, because its milk without the lactose. And it tastes . Its real milk come on, would i lie about this . Lactaid\u00ae. 100 real milk. No discomfort. And try lactaid\u00ae supplements with your first bite to dig in to all your dairy favorites. I tell them aveeno\u00ae. Because Beautiful Skin<\/a> goes with everything. [ female announcer ] aveeno\u00ae daily moisturizing lotion has active naturals\u00ae oat with five vital nutrients naturally found in healthy skin. Where do i wear aveeno\u00ae . Everywhere. Aveeno\u00ae daily moisturizing lotion. And try the body wash too. Aveeno\u00ae. Naturally beautiful results\u2122. Aveeno\u00ae. We givecold symptoms. Om your you give them the giggles. Tylenol\u00ae cold helps relieve your worst cold and flu symptoms. But for everything we do, we know you do so much more. So reforms. Welcome back, we put together an expert group to talk about what needs to be done to reform policing and the Justice System<\/a> in this country. Im joined by cyrus vance juni, the manhattan district attorney, michael nutter, mayor of philadelphia, Chuck Canterbury<\/a> and charles ramsey. Let me start with you. Your mandate from the president , what do you believe you have to accomplish to show that one of these task forces can be more than just talk . Well, first let me say that the president is very serious about this issue. Thats why he put together the task force as a part of our initiatives that he has going on right now. We have 90 days to come up with some concrete recommendations to the president on how we can have change, positive change in policing starting with establishing trust. I was listening to comments earlier in your program. Its very troubling that people do not believe theres fairness in a way in which we police, a way in which cases are reviewed by prosecutors on and on and on. We have to change that dynamic. We have to take a look at our training, and more importantly the education that we provide to officers so they better understand the role of police in a democratic society. Those are the kinds of things we will focus on as well as use of force and technology. Let me go to you represent rank and file Police Officer<\/a>s, the beat cop. Thats right. The reforms. What do you want to see the president s task force tackle if you were asked to be on the task force, what would you say . Lets not indict all Police Officer<\/a>s here. But this is what i think the police need. First of all, we believe that the existing judicial system works. The grand jury system and Police Review<\/a> boards in certain cities have shown some promise. The bottom line is, rank and file Police Officer<\/a>s have always wanted more training. And welcome that training. I dont believe that under rrent Economic Times<\/a> with the huge reduction in Law Enforcement<\/a> around this country that training has kept up. I also dont believe that theres a systemic problem in Law Enforcement<\/a>. The media and others have taken a couple of incidents there are 14 million arrests in this country every year. We have less than 300 Police Officer<\/a>s that have been indicted for Excessive Force<\/a> since 2009. But theres a trust gap. Absolutely. But it takes a holistic approach. Ta he its not just Law Enforcement<\/a>s problem. The common denominator is poverty. In every country in the world where theres an economic problem you have a higher you have a people send us in to deal with the problems. Mr. Vance, another issue here has to do with the relationship between district attorneys and Police Officer<\/a>s. Can district attorneys fairly assess a Police Officer<\/a> who is under suspicion, in this case with the Police Officer<\/a> in Staten Island<\/a>, of potentially having committed a crime . Can a d. A. Fairly prosecute that case in front of a grand jury . Thank you for having me. And i would like to extend my condolences to mrs. Garner and her family for their loss. In answer to your question, chuck, Police Officer<\/a>s and prosecutors need to be collaborative but not cozy. We have a responsibility as district attorneys to investigate and where appropriate prosecute Police Officer<\/a>s. During my five years in the d. A. s office we prosecuted 15 to 17 Police Officer<\/a>s for cases from lying to perjury to rape. We have to work together. But i think the moment that we have is something that we should not lose the opportunity. There is much more we can do that is better in terms of both policing and in terms of prosecutes or being more transparent. In our office i think we need to be selfreflective and understand, do we have problems . Should your office not handle a Police Officer<\/a> indictment . Should it be a Justice Department<\/a>, state office that handles this . Im completely open to discussing what kind of special Prosecutor Program<\/a> might be instituted. Be aware for what you ask for. Special prosecutors who have been appointed in the past are accountable to no one. When you are not accountable to anyone as a d. A. Is to the electora electorate, you are likely to get ken starr can go off for years expending millions in public dollars without result. Mayor nutter, theres i think another debate here. A conservative columnist openly wondered, is it time to move on from the broken windows style of policing . Broken window style of policing was back during the 90s. This is what he wrote. The meaning is that maybe the way to police petty crimes should change. Do you believe that . I think one of the reasons mr. Ramsey was picked, its 21st century policing. I dont think we want to completely get away from allowing people to do some set of random things on a regular basis and just say, were willing to accept that level of crime. But then all of a sudden where do you draw the line . Whats the threshold . At some point wrong is wrong. You as a mayor, you cant accept any level of crime . Is that your mindset . You can never accept criminal activity. But there are gradations. We go back to training and experience and whats in the officers mind and perceptions and any amount of bias that any of us bring to our jobs. We have seen now two incidents two of the worst weeks in American History<\/a> in recent times. For Law Enforcement<\/a>. What are the joining factocf . Two large black men are dead as a result of engagement with the police. What are Community Fears<\/a> . You have the citizens who want to be protected who are now increasingly afraid of the place. You have Police Officer<\/a>s who are increasingly afraid of the community. There is a large gap in that context. So it is about training. People need the police to protect them. I support my Police Officer<\/a>s back in philadelphia. This is a dangerous job. They interact theres no such thing as a routine traffic stop. Routine traffic stops can turn into really bad things. Absolutely. Theres no such thing as anything routine in Law Enforcement<\/a>. Quickly, mr. Ramsey, how do you keep bias out of the Philadelphia Police<\/a> force . Everybody has bias. Let me comment on that the notion that we need to get away from broken windows policing. I think we can do both. One of my deputies mentioned something at a staff meeting the other day. Theres been a lot of research in policing about effectiveness of strategies, hot spot policing, foot patrols. But very little, if any, on the after affects of such strategies in terms of alienation of communities. Thats what we we have to take a look at. Whats the Collateral Damage<\/a> thats caused when we engage in certain policing strategies . If we know that and understand it, we can avoid it. So i think you can do both effectively. But we have to be able to deal with a range of issues from simple disorder type things to serious crime. Mr. Vance as far as bias goes, fair and Impartial Policing<\/a> and education of Police Officer<\/a>s in that regard. This has to be the last comment. You have done a lot of research in bias. Recognizing prosecutors have to be aware of what may be in their own office, we brought a nonpartisan criminal justice think tank in to evaluate our practices in plea bargaining, charging and bail to determine whether there was racial bias present. Thats a sensible thing for a Prosecutors Office<\/a> to do, particularly in metropolitan areas. This is a conversation that could continue for hours. Do you think washington politicians dont understand how i dont know my credit score. Thats really important. I mean i dont know my credit score. Dont you want to buy a house. Like, ever . You should probably check out credit karma, its free. Credit . Karma . Free . Credit karma. Really free credit scores. If it doesnt work fast. Youre on to the next thing. Clinically proven neutrogena\u00ae rapid wrinkle repair. It targets fine lines and wrinkles with the fastest retinol formula available. Youll see younger looking skin in just one week. One week . This ones a keeper. Rapid wrinkle repair. And for dark spots rapid tone repair. From neutrogena\u00ae. What youre doing now, janice. Blogging. Your blog is just pictures of you in the mirror. Its called a fashion blog, todd. Well, ive been helping people save money with progressives discounts. Flo, can you get janice a job . [ laughs ] you shouldve stuck to softball i was so much better at softball than janice, dad. Wheres your wife, todd . Vacation. Discounts like homeowners, multipolicy i got a discount on this ham. Ive got the meat sweats. This is good ham, diane. Paperless discounts give it a rest, flo. All yeah, flo, give it a rest. I dont know my credit score. Thats really important. I mean i dont know my credit score. Dont you want to buy a house. Like, ever . You should probably check out credit karma, its free. Credit . Karma . Free . Credit karma. Add one more senator to the republican column. Bill cassidy defeated Mary Landrieu<\/a> in louisiana. As expected, yesterdays Runoff Election<\/a> wasnt even close with cassidy taking 56 of the vote. Republicans now have 54 seats in the senate. It also will be the first time in 138 years that a democrat hasnt represented louisiana in the u. S. Senate. Republicans also held a house seat in louisiana. If the party holds in a recount in arizona, this is going to mean that the gop has their largest House Majority<\/a> since the hoover administration. It means by the way that the 114th congress will contain 53 senators who had previously served in the house of representatives, thats more than any Congress Since<\/a> 1899, before the direct election of senators. Critics argue this means this is senators. Critics argue this means this is the houswhat im wearing,senatee i tell them aveeno\u00ae. Because Beautiful Skin<\/a> goes with everything. [ female announcer ] aveeno\u00ae daily moisturizing lotion has active naturals\u00ae oat with five vital nutrients naturally found in healthy skin. Where do i wear aveeno\u00ae . Everywhere. Aveeno\u00ae daily moisturizing lotion. And try the body wash too. Aveeno\u00ae. Naturally beautiful results\u2122. Nerd screen time. Its about congress and wealth. A majority of americans think members of congress are out of touch with average citizens. 81 according to the most recent survey. In fact, average americans dont think members of congress understand their needs or concerns and that members of congress are too beholden to special interests. Here is a big reason why our representatives here in washington appear to have a hard time relating to most of you. It starts with a massive wealth gap. Lets look at the numbers. Members of Congress Make<\/a> a lot more money than the average american. Typical average income 54,000. Annual salary for each member of congress, nearly 175,000. Theres times as much. By the way, thats not household income. This doesnt include spousal income. You include that, its higher. Not surprisingly, members of congress are also doing better than average americans when it comes to seeing their wealth growth. Net worth grew just under 4 from 2004 to 2012. In that same period of time, members of congress saw their income increase at a 15 clip annually. The result, by 2013, the average 55 to 64yearold, thats the average age of a member of congress, had a net worth of just over 165,000. That includes real estate holdings. The average net worth for a member of congress, just over a million dollars. That does not include real estate holdings. They dont have to report that on their forms. If they did, that number would even be higher. All of which makes this next figure not so surprising after you see all these numbers. That is, millionaire households. Overall, nearly 6 of households in america are millionaires. That number is up, by the way, members of congress, over half of them, there are 535 of them, over happen of them are millionaires. You wonder why the economy, income inequality, all of these issues, you dont feel Like Congress<\/a> understands the urgency of it. This is all you need to know. Of it[ male announcer ] are you so stuffed up, you feel like youre underwater . Try zyrtecd\u00ae to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms. So you can breathe easier all day. Zyrtecd\u00ae. Find it at the pharmacy counter. Zyrtecd\u00ae. Over 200,every year with flu hospcomplications. Lysol disinfectant spray is approved to kill 80 germs, including viruses that can live on surfaces for over 4 weeks. So help keep your family healthy with lysol. Rest. Welcome back. Last month whe] president oba announced his executive action to allow 5 million undocumented immigrants to legally stay in the country, republicans spoke with one voice and accused the president of abusing his power, overstepping his authority. When it comes to stopping president obama or rolling it back, there are very real divisions among key figures within the gop. As our luke russert has been finding out all week. Every republican campaigned saying if you elect us, we will stop president obamas amnesty. Do what you said would you do this. This week the specter of a set shutdown sequel. Some will say, vote to fund it for now and then we will have reinforcements from the senate next year. Dispete the heated rhetoric, republicans say the government will stay open. After a largely symbolic vote this week chastising the president for his executive action, they will pass a funding bill with democratic help. They say the gop will bring up immigration legislation in the new year. Hathere is no one in republin leadership elected officials that said we should deport 13 million people. Even in our wildest dream would not be to remove any person that might be here unless they were dangerous to this country and did not and committed a crime. But republicans have been punished by the right. Marco rubio got beat up on talk radio when he campaigned for the senate bill last year. Leaving things the way they are, thats the real amnesty. His approval dropped among conservatives and he withdrew support for comprehensive reform. In january, House Republican<\/a> leaders tried to steesh their own conference toward a bill. The plan you will push will have a pathway to legalization but not citizenship. Is that how you understand it . Thats right. It also involved a probationary status to make sure that a person is not rewarded for having broken our laws. That quickly broke down. With conservatives crying amnesty. Also, rank and file republicans were apprehensive about voting on issue after it played a role in canters defeat in june. Boehner griped about how hard it is to corral his members. Here is the attitude. Dont make me do this. This is too hard. Gop leaders in congress are poised to win this fight with conservatives. As republican governors soon to challenge the action, the party faces the same longterm immigration problem it did 18 months ago. If we dont pass immigration reform, if we dont get it off the table in a reasonable, practical way, it doesnt matter who you run in 2016. We are in a demographic death spiral as a party. For meet the press, luke russert. Joining me now is the next governor of texas and the current attorney general, greg abbott. Thanks for coming on meet the press. My honor. Thanks. Lets start with the lawsuit. Standing requires you to show harm. You argue the president s actions are going to inspire a fresh wave of illegal immigration, that thats the harm you will show. We have seen other attempts at this before where courts have thrown out lawsuits like this because you cant quantify the harm. Are you going to kwan phi the harm . First, this is growing the same way that the lawsuit concerning obamacare grew from 13 to 26 or 27 states. As to the standing issue, understand this, texas has been at the epicenter of the 2012 daca. You saw more than 1,000 people crossing the border every day. Texas has come out more than 100 million in Law Enforcement<\/a>, education and healthcare because of what has happened. And understand this, the president s agencies memos have indicated there will be more problems like this resulting from the next president ial order or the most recent president ial order. Many of those the children that came across in the wave i understand theres people that say that wave was started and some people believe it was inspired by the order on children that were brought here by parents illegally. But a lot of those folks were deported. Most of those folks were deported. As we speak right now, some of those children are in texas schools. Some of the people who came here across the border are accessing healthcare. Most were deported . I dont know the raw number. All i do know is the absolute fact, and that is texas has incurred taxpayer dollars out of pocket as a result of the prior executive order. It has been stated by members of the Obama Administration<\/a> that this new executive order will lead to the same results. When we talk about harm, i want to get into this financial issue. You talk about the issue of social services, how much money you have to spend to deal with these undocumented folks. Illegal immigrants that are working in texas provide an do participate in the economy. There have been some estimates if you deported everybody who was in texas illegally, it would actually be an economic it would create an economic recession for the state of texas. How do you separate those facts . Because were not suing for that economic harm. Its the way that texas has been impacted that gives us standing. What were suing for is actually the greater harm, and that is harm to the constitution by empowering the president of the United States<\/a> to enact legislation on his own without going through congress. I want to play for you a clip that you have heard from a previous governor from texas and what he said about immigration. Here it is. I want to remind people that family values do not stand at the rio grande river. People are coming to our river to do jobs that americans wont do to feed their families. I think theres a humane way to recognize that at the same time protect our borders and at the same way to make sure that we dont disadvantage those who have stood in line for years to become a legal citizen. Do you agree with that statement . Well, in a way i understand this even more powerfully, because my wife is going to be the on first hispanic first ladn the history of texas. Texas has had a long tradition of uniting the hispanic culture with texas values. Remember this. Theres a reason why people come from across the world to the United States<\/a>. That is because of the power of what the constitution has enabled this country to be. Its the constitution itself that is under assault by the president of the United States<\/a> by this executive order. Chuck, what we are doing is this issue in this lawsuit is not about immigration. The issue in this lawsuit is about abuse of executive power. If this abuse is not stopped, it will erode the constitution. Let me ask a basic question. Illel immigration, good or bad for the state of texas . Bottom line. Legal immigration is great for the United States<\/a> of america. Any illegal activity is not good anywhere. Yet its been good for the texas economy, right . Legal immigration has been great for america. If bringing more immigrants here is the appropriate thing to do, then what Congress Needs<\/a> to do and what the president needs to do is to figure out a way to improve our immigration system. In fact, americans are tired of both congress and the president failing to act. Its time for washington, d. C. To stop talking about this and take action. And that begins with securing our border. Let me ask you on securing the border, define that. Can you give me a metric that says, Border Security<\/a> . Sure. I have been involved in these border surge operations where we see people crossing the border. Securing the border means ensuring that you dont have people who are crossing the border illegally. That is through modern technology, through the technology that we are deploying right now, you can have monitors and cameras and see whether or not people are crossing the border. You want to see that grow to zero would be the perfect metric. Congress has the power is that realistic . Congress has the power and the resources to decide whether or not that in the triwill be 0 20 . Rick perry, ted cruz, two texas officials running for president. Rand paul, born in texas. Jeb bush, his son is serving in texas. Do you have a favorite . I will be strongly supportive of the republican nominee to be the next president of the United States<\/a>. You are staying out of the primary totally . Im staying out of the primary. All right, greg abbott, we will watch you when you are governor of texas. Thanks for coming on meet the press. Thank you. Here is a map of the 20 states. Rick, the governor of texas told me that he has filed a preliminary to try to get a preliminary injunction if you believe harm is done. You want the law not enacted until you get your day in court. How should Congressional Republicans<\/a> be responding . Listen, its a complicated issue. I come from immigrant grandparents. Country would not be what it is if it wasnt for the immigrants in this country. The border, its important to conservatives. I understand that. Outsource it to google. Why do you do a Technology Thing<\/a> . Absolutely. Why do we need this comprehensive plan . Have we not learned anything from the failed rollout of the Affordable Care<\/a> act. You pass small pieces. Show people they can actually get things through. If the senate or the president decides that they dont like them or they veto them, at least we see. When they call the Vote Congress<\/a> took symbolic, before social media, everything was symbolic. Now they dont take a vote unless its absolutely assured its going to pass . I dont understand that. People need to know how the representatives are thinking and what they are doing, whether its symbolic or not. Would the House Republican<\/a>s be in a better place had they passed something as rick just said, passed even a piecemeal they didnt pass piecemeal. Or have a plan thats been leaked about what a piecemeal plan would look like. Not in two years. Not in two years. Look, i think here is the opportunity now, if you are john b boehner to do something in the next congress. They were able to vent their frustration about the president. Now lets see what they have done. Here is the problem with the house. At the end of the day, the house does not look like the country. House republicans who sent them there. Thats right. The average House Republican<\/a> district is 75 white. Who does districting . Theres rules for this. You cant tear up the rule books. Every state applies the rules. Talk about the Electoral College<\/a>. Im going to fauz he ing tin. Its pearl harbor day. This is the 73rd anniversary of the attack. Its a day that president roosevelt said would live in infamy. Four of the nine remaining survivors, they are gathering today in honolulu for what is due to be their last official reunion. Though they vowed this wont be the last time they will meet. If you have been i have been to the memorial. When you see the oil that comes up from the arizona, its like seeing the ghost of the brave men and let me get this straight. Yes . Lactaid\u00ae is 100 real milk . Right. Real milk. But it wont cause me discomfort. Exactly, no discomfort, because its milk without the lactose. And it tastes . Its real milk come on, would i lie about this . Lactaid\u00ae. 100 real milk. No discomfort. And try lactaid\u00ae supplements with your first bite to dig in to all your dairy favorites. I kind of know how a republican can win, whether me or Something Else<\/a>. It has to be much more uplifting, more positive, more willing to, you know to be practical now in washington world, lose the primary to win the general without violating your principals. You need people starting in your family but going to your friends, beyond a larger circle, who will really be there for you and continue to treat you like a human being. Because you can easily lose touch with, you know, whats real, whats authentic. Both jeb and hillary, a little unplugged. I thought it was interesting in both of them were trying to trying to show theres some authenticity, trying to show theyre not totally trying to play a political game here. I think jeb has less of a problem with that than hillary. She has had troubles with this issue of does she understand what its like to be a real person . 22 years, she hasnt walked alone. Thats not her fault. Shes is secret Service Protection<\/a> for 22 years. Thats tough. Shes had a couple bad gaffs. I think shes trying to acknowledge that shes got the problems and take it head on, which is smart on her part. I think jeb is looking at the reality that the notion is that he cant win the primary because hes too nice and too affable and isnt going to go bang on democrats the way conservatives will. Thats what theyre both trying to look at. You ready for hillary . Were going to know whats going to happen base upon what they do on ill gracious ammigra budget. If they get deals, then we will have a real race. Im ready for hillary. What do you think about jeb bush . Hes saying, im not going im going to stay who i am. You may not agree with me. You dont agree with me on immigration and common core, but im not going to placate you on those issues. Immigration, very important. Common core, i would like to think that the republicans would have loftier issues than they would concentrate on. Well, by the way, i have you here, the economy. Im going to get a ton of emails today. Great news on the economy and you havent done anything given president obama praise. What say you on the economy . Its great improvement. We have come a long way. Remember, lets not get too happy about sixyear cured for twoyear flus. We have been long out of the recession. People arent cheering. We had a good wage growth in the number. Thats what makes that legit. Right . Hospitality and leisure the most hiring but they represent the smallest percentage of wage growth. Thats the problem. You talk about the wealth in congress. Theres a lot of wealth in d. C. Theres not a lot of wealth throughout the country shared equally. We have inequality. 10 million jobs aint enough. By the way whats enough is when people who need it the most when we look at the issues but we got to talk about 321,0 32 321,000 jobs. Thats despite most government policy, not because of it. Thats what you say now. You werent saying that when george bush was president. Ive said it all along. I have a football break for you. I want to talk some about some absurdity about what i think will happen when we find out about the College Football<\/a> playoff. We have a playoff. But think about how that would play out if they applied the same logic that they will use to find out who the final four is if we did it for president ial race. Okay, you get to decide the partys nominee. We have primaries to tell you the scores of games that took place. But you can take those primaries into consideration and you get to decide who the nominees are. Is that a fair process . Isnt that how they did it in the old days . Smokefilled room. You comfortable with this . Thats how College Football<\/a> does everything. Its as if we held our president ial race and had 538 people in the Electoral College<\/a> decide wait a minute. Thats what we have. Anyway. I think this let me hope if they leave out an undefeated team, wins should matter more than data, right . A lot of teams that this applies to in the past. Change the rules. I hear you. College football, we, talk about changing the rulings, they change the rules every year. Chuck is on a mission. I am, too much data. Who cares who controls the game. I want to know who wins the game. Well be back next week, because if its sunday, its meet the press. Good monday morning, right now on first look, the release of the socalled senatorture report. The white house is aware that it could cause a response around the globe. I cant breathe, readying new profiling rules for federal agencies. Russias putin squeezed, the sanctions are working. And william and his pregnant white kate have a full schedule of meet and greets. And we have the details. Thank you for joining us today, im betty wynn. 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