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Amhaud Arbery TRANSCRIPT: 6/4/20, The Last Word w/ Lawrence O'Donnell

Guests: Mazie Hirono, Orlando Patterson

LAWRENCE O`DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: Good evening, Rachel.

And James Mattis certainly took his time to come out and tell us what he thought about Donald Trump. But when he did, he left no doubt about it.

RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: Uh-huh. And it seems to have left a mark on at least one U.S. Republican senator which is worth saying. Rarely that happens. Absolutely.

O`DONNELL: Yes, we never know what is going to be the pebble starting down the hill that creates the avalanche. Maybe the avalanche will never come, but it -- who knows what might happen in the Republican Party as this goes on.

MADDOW: Yeah. Thanks, Lawrence.

O`DONNELL: Thank you, Rachel.

Well, it appears to be a quieter night in the night after a memorial service for George Floyd in Minneapolis today where his family members offered their fond and loving memories of George Floyd and Reverend Sharpton eulogized him and found hope for in the way this country has risen in protests against the murder of George Floyd.

We will be checking with our correspondents around the country tonight who have been covering the protests and we will be covering other news related to the protests including Donald Trump`s falling poll numbers and it has become a daily news event -- one general attacking Donald Trump for the way he has responded to the protests.

You`re looking -- those were live shots of Seattle at that moment. But when we come back to our correspondents, we will be finding them at different places around the country where they will be letting us know what is happening. We won`t be rushing off to every little, you know, cat that gets chased down the street, but we will be trying to bring context to what`s happening in the country tonight.

And one thing happening in the country tonight is the military is coming tonight and they are not coming for the protesters. The military as represented by some of the leading generals of the 21st century are coming for Donald Trump. And they are saying times up on Donald Trump pretending to be a friend of the military. Yesterday was Donald Trump`s first secretary of defense, former Marine Corps General James Mattis condemning Donald Trump`s, quote, abuse of executive authority and his mockery of our Constitution.

Today, Marine Corps General John Allen, the former commander of American forces in Afghanistan, joined in the chorus of military condemnation that was begun this week by Admiral Mike Mullen who was the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under President Bush and Obama. Admiral Mullen published a piece in "The Atlantic" under the title, "I cannot remain silent."

After Donald Trump used tear gas on peaceful protesters so he could stage a photo-op in front of St. John`s Episcopal Church , a church where every president since James Madison has prayed, every president except Donald Trump who does not know how to pray, General Allen wrote, Donald Trump isn`t religious, has no need of religion, and doesn`t care about the devout, except insofar as they serve his political needs.

Mitt Romney is the only Republican senator who voted guilty in the Trump impeachment. When Mitt Romney was asked today if he agrees with General Mattis` description that Donald Trump is a threat to the Constitution, Mitt Romney could not quite bring himself to say "yes" or "no," but he did praise General Mattis` judgment and character.

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski who was stunned by James Mattis` attack on Donald Trump that she is now actually considering being honest, not promising it, just considering it.

In exchange with reporters, Senator Murkowski said, I was really thankful. I thought General Mattis` words were true and honest and overdue. And I have been struggling for the right words and I was encouraged a couple of nights ago when I was able to read what President Bush had written. And I found that to be empowering for me as one leader.

But then when I saw General Mattis` comments yesterday, I felt like perhaps we are getting to a point where we can be more honest with the concerns that we might hold internally and have the courage of our own convictions to speak up. And so I`m working as one individual to form the right words, knowing that these words really mater so I appreciate General Mattis` comments.

Later on the Senate floor, Lisa Murkowski witnessed an historic moment, two African-American senators who have sponsored a bipartisan anti-lynching bill, which was the first anti-lynching bill ever pass the Senate. They were in a heated argument with the one Republican senator who opposes to that anti-lynching bill, Rand Paul of Kentucky, a state that has had 205 lynchings.

After Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker spoke passionately on the Senate floor and crushed Rand Paul`s parliamentary attempts to derail their anti-lynching bill, Senator Murkowski said this --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): I have been challenged by some. I have been chastised by some, some very close friends who have said, you`re silent, Lisa. Why are you silent? Why you haven`t you -- you fixed what -- what we are seeing?

And I have struggled. I have struggled with the right words. As a white woman, born and raised in Alaska with a family that was privileged, I can`t feel that openness and rawness that I just heard expressed by my friends Cory and Kamala. I haven`t lived their life.

But I can listen and I can educate myself and I can try to be a healer at a time when we need to be healed. And that`s my commitment and my pledge going forward to those I serve in Alaska and to those I serve here in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Here is some of what Senator Kamala Harris and Senator Cory Booker had to say today when they were forced to rush to the Senate floor during the memorial service for George Floyd to stop the one senator who was opposed to their anti-lynching bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): On this very day on this very hour, there is a memorial service to honor the life of George Floyd who was murdered on a sidewalk by a police officer with a knee on his neck. For eight minutes and 42 seconds, George Floyd pled for his life, called for his late mother and said he could not breathe.

So it is remarkable and it is painful to be standing here right now especially when people of all races are marching in the streets of America outraged by the hate and violence and murder that has been fueled by racism during the span of this country`s life. Our country has waited too long for a reckoning on this issue of lynching, and I believe no senator should stop the full weight of the law in its capacity to protect these human beings and lives.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), NEW JERSEY: I`m so raw today, of all days that we`re doing this, of all days that we`re doing this right now, having this discussion, I can hear the screams as this body of membership can of the unanswered cries for justice of our ancestors.

I object to this amendment. I object, I object, I object on substance, I object on the law, and from my heart and spirit and every fiber of my being, I object for my ancestors.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Leading off our discussion tonight is Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii. She`s a member of Senate Armed Services Committee and Judiciary Committee.

Senator Hirono, I want to get your reaction to the march of the --

SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D-HI): Good evening.

O`DONNELL: Thank you, Senator. The march of the generals this week coming out finally in opposition, and in James Mattis` case, telling the truth about what he knows about Donald Trump.

HIRONO: I hope that General Mattis coming forward is going to make a difference. It takes a lot for generals to speak out against a sitting president. There is the whole chain of command, all of that going on, but for General Mattis to say, we have watched Donald Trump divide our country for the last three years, this is really the last straw when the president sought to use the military for his own political ends, it was the last straw, not just for General Mattis, but for the others.

And thank goodness. I hope that there`s going to be a landslide of criticism of the president and his desire to militarize the response to protesters.

O`DONNELL: And what General Mattis makes clear in the piece that he wrote is that he`s talking -- he`s not just talking about this week. He`s talking about 3-1/2 years. He uses the phrase 3-1/2 years --

HIRONO: Yes.

O`DONNELL: -- more than once. So -- and he compares Donald Trump`s strategy to the Nazi strategy of divide and conquer, and he says Donald Trump has been using that Nazi strategy for every day of the 3-1/2 years.

HIRONO: Well, as a person who has been speaking out against President Trump for about that long, too, I am very grateful for General Mattis speaking out, and I`m glad that Lisa Murkowski is giving thought to not supporting the President Trump. I wish she were already there, as well as the other Republicans, because I don`t see how anyone can look what the president is doing, and basically, he is barricading himself now in the White House, so afraid of the American people seeking justice and truth that he is literally building walls around the White House.

And I think he`s planning to -- he certainly wants to use the Insurrection Act to deploy the military forces against civilians. And that was too much for all of these four-star generals to contemplate and sit there quietly and let it happen.

O`DONNELL: To give Senator Murkowski credit, she did not endorse Donald Trump in 2016 for president. That caused her problems within the Republican Party to say the least. And then on the Senate floor today, when she said she comes from privilege, her father held that same United States Senate seat. And so, she knows the route for her has been easier than it has been for other people, and it did feel like she was actually listening on the Senate floor today. It felt like she really was listening to Senator Booker and Senator Harris.

HIRONO: You can`t listen to Kamala and Cory and not feel the total commitment and strength of purpose that they bring to the Senate floor and to what they are talking about and raising their voices against virulent racism that has been in our country forever. And if ever there was a time for us to make changes, this is it. I think our country is at a crossroads.

And, obviously, there are thousands and thousands of people all across our country and indeed around the world who want justice, who want our police to actually protect us, not be the source of killing black people.

And so, you cannot hear Kamala and Cory`s voices and not be affected. I wish more Republican senators had been on the floor to hear them.

O`DONNELL: Senator Mazie Hirono, thank you very much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it.

HIRONO: Thank you. Everyone be safe, be kind.

O`DONNELL: Thank you.

Joining our discussion now, Joy Reid, MSNBC national correspondent and the host of "A.M. JOY", and Malcolm Nance is with us. He`s an MSNBC counterterrorism and intelligence analyst.

And, Joy, begin wherever you want to, the march of the generals or what we saw on the floor today with Kamala Harris and Cory Booker versus Rand Paul. I don`t pretend to be able to guide you on this about what you should be discussing.

JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: Well, I want to first of all -- it`s always great to be on with you, Lawrence. It`s always great to be on with Malcolm Nance who maybe four or five years ago, the two of us discussed the fact that Americans need to begin to use their lurid imaginations to imagine the depths Trump might take this country to if he were to be allowed to become president. So, it`s not pleasant to be right in this situation because what we are seeing on our capitol, unlabeled secret police force. I mean, it sounds like something out of a novel, but it`s real.

I want to address what Lisa Murkowski said, Senator Lisa Murkowski. You know, it`s wonderful that she`s listening to her fellow senators, her fellow black United States senators, but, you know, perhaps if she wanted to understand the challenges of policing of people of color, maybe she should listen to Native Alaskans. You know, her very own state has an indigenous population that is both under police. "ProPublica" has pieces that are out just in the last couple of months, I`d be happy to send her some links, about the fact that many of the native population there don`t have any police force when they need it and when they do have police interact with them, it is in the same negative way, same violent and unfair and inequitable way that we see happening to indigenous people and black people and brown people all over the country.

So, she might want to listen to some Alaskans. The ignorance is willful. Sorry, I want to have more empathy for her, but this is a woman who looked at everything Donald Trump did, in selling out his campaign to a foreign adversary and said, you know what, nah, I don`t see enough to remove.

So, I only have a little bit of empathy for her. She is making sad noises, but see what you see, ma`am. It would do you a lot better.

On what we are looking at today, the hyper-militarization of our police force is not new, but we`ve never had a president who is so openly wanting to luxuriate in changing himself from an American president into Kim Jong- un.

And here we are, he wants to use that power, not just against black people, not just against brown people and indigenous people, but good morning, white America, he`s willing to use military against your kids. He`s willing to use it against your sons and daughters, because all he cares about is clinging to power. It`s pathetic and it would be hilarious if it weren`t so terrifying.

O`DONNELL: Malcolm Nance, Admiral Mike Mullen, 17th chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the headline he writes under is "I cannot remain silent". That seems to be basically what is guiding the generals and admirals we are hearing from this week.

MALCOLM NANCE, MSNBC INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Admiral Mullen is absolutely right. He cannot remain silent because this is a time for u to speak up. It`s time for the generals, the admirals, the retirees to finally say enough is enough.

Look, I served my country my entire career. My family served back nonstop to 1864. We take the honor of the United States very seriously.

And let`s be honest, what`s happened here in the last 24 hours is not just Jim Mattis, it`s not Admiral Mullen, it`s not just General Dempsey, it`s also Secretary Esper who suddenly must have read the signs of the paintings on the walls over at the Pentagon about duty, honor, country. And they -- he, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Milley, has also found their backbone and sent out orders to the forces to understand that they serve the Constitution of the United States and not President Trump.

The memo to reaffirm their oath to the Constitution is a rebellion going on amongst the armed forces. It`s a necessary rebellion because we now have National Guard troops federalized in wards and they are being used against the American people. Worse, and Steve Schmidt talked about this in the previous hour, we suddenly have a secret police force in the United States comprised of Department of Justice forces, national guard units from states that, you know, are nowhere near Washington, Tennessee, for example, Bureau of Prisons officers, Border Patrol officers, FBI SWAT teams, DEA special tactics units, all of these are being assembled into a force under the control of the attorney general? He is now the ultimate political commissar.

And I -- as my intelligence career has guided me, I realize I have only seen this in a few places -- Saddam`s Iraq, the Soviet Union which you may as well call Russia today, it`s still the Soviet Union under Vladimir Putin. But now, the United States has a force that is answerable only to a tyrant, and that`s the only word you can apply here because a president of the United States has decided he will go up and use force against the American people.

It`s disgraceful and if any of you have children in the armed forces, please call them and remind them that their oath is America and the Constitution, not to the president of the United States.

REID: Hear, hear.

O`DONNELL: Malcolm Nance and Joy Reid, thank you for leading off our discussion. Joy will be hosting the 7:00 p.m. hour tomorrow here on MSNBC and I`ll be joining Joy as her guest on her show, "A.M. JOY", Saturday morning, here on MSNBC.

Thank you, Joy. Thank you, Malcolm.

And when we come back, when history is moving this fast, we need someone to slow it down for us and help us understand what we`re seeing. Harvard`s distinguished historical and cultural sociologist, Orlando Patterson, will join us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL: We are covering the tense day and night of protests across the country of the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. We are joined now from Los Angeles by NBC`s Gadi Schwartz.

Gadi, what is the curfew in Los Angeles, what time is that curfew and what is the situation now?

GADI SCHWARTZ, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the good news here in Los Angeles is there is no curfew. The police department in the area, as soon as they think there is no strong possibility of looting tonight so they lifted that curfew. This is the seventh day of a large crowd here in Los Angeles as a result of what happened in Minnesota. And now, the focus here in Los Angeles, what happened in Minnesota, when they think there`s a little bit of accountability starting to happen in what people here are describing as police brutality, many of them happening during the protest.

So, the mayor and city here are starting to make concessions to the protests. The big one is this push to defund LAPD. LAPD has learned that their budget is going to be slashed by $150 million. Protesters out here say it is a step in a right direction, but it is still not enough.

Another thing they are doing is appointing a special prosecutor to look at some of these cases. But as you can tell, people are still very passionate here. A step in the right direction.

Lawrence, back to you.

O`DONNELL: Gadi Schwartz in Los Angeles, thank you for that report. Appreciate it.

This morning, Congressman John Lewis who marched with Martin Luther King and was severely beaten in a march with Dr. King in Selma, Alabama, said this on the "Today" show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN LEWIS (D-GA): Dr. King used to say we have a right to protest what is right and we did it in a peaceful, orderly, nonviolent fashion. That`s what people must be allowed to do today. Dr. King would be very pleased and very proud of seeing so many people, hundreds, thousands, millions engaged in nonviolent protests all over America, but around the world. He is looking down and saying to each and every one of us, keep it up and never give up, never give in, but to keep the faith and to keep your eyes on the prize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Joining our discussion is the Harvard professor of sociology, Orlando Patterson. He won the national book award for nonfiction in 1991 for his book "Freedom and the Making of Western Culture." Professor Patterson has written several other books including in 2015, "The Cultural Matrix: Understanding Black Youth".

Professor Patterson, thank you for joining us again tonight. And as you listen to John Lewis who is himself a historical figure trying to help us see where we are in history on these fast moving days, what is your sense of where we are and where the country is and what we might be moving to?

ORLANDO PATTERSON, HARVARD PROFESSOR: Thanks for having me. I love that man. He is such a hero.

America is at a crossroads obviously. What we have here are two traditions for America, its bright side and dark side on full display. And the American -- central to Americans identity development is race. It was what is good and a lot of what is bad in America.

The tradition of racism, of white supremacy, goes right back to the beginning of the nation. This is the only advanced country which had slavery in its midst for several hundred years and it`s transformative. Ironically evil, but not by accident that most of the Founding Fathers, the person who wrote the Declaration of Independence were from Virginia. Slavery engendered a strong passion for freedom among the whites, but it also engendered another tradition of exclusion of blacks and foundation of which, of course, is the fact of not seeing them as human. And that`s also the kind of idea of freedom as domination.

And this true tradition sort of persisted. The constitutional bright side of liberty and love of freedom and on the other hand the idea of domination of others, the idea that citizenship is based on being white and privilege and belonging to white group. That southern tradition, unfortunately, permeated through the whole nation.

And so, we see these two traditions persisting. What happened in the `60s was the triumph of civil rights constitutional tradition. And I don`t think we should belittle it.

I hear from a lot of my younger colleagues about the fact that nothing has happened really. That`s not true. The civil rights movement was successful in one important respect. Let`s put this way, Black Americans were excluded in two ways, from the public domain and from private domain.

The civil rights movement succeeded magnificently in incorporating black Americans in the public domain. They are the central part of our politics. They`re the foundation of Democratic Party. They play an outside role in the nation`s cultural and intellectual life.

They are an integral part of the military. And there`s -- it`s also led to the rise of real middle class, however precarious its economic base.

But the civil rights act did fail in one other respect. It did fail to integrate black Americans into the private domain of American lives. And that`s reflected in the fact that black Americans are segregated today as they were in the `70s, believe it or not, and (inaudible) of the middle class.

It`s reflected in the fact that most black American kids are going to horribly segregated schools. It`s reflected in the persistent poverty of the black low classes. And then I think what - it`s also reflected in the fact that segregation encourages the few of black Americans as not belonging there out there.

And people who hold to the supremacist view feel that their role is to keep them very much the same way that the lynch mobs of the South, terrorize and kill blacks, not only to control them, but to symbolically express the fact that they did not belong. So it is that the ghettos become, if you like, a kind of prison, a kind of an area for which blacks should be - to which blacks should be confined.

And in a way the police sadly have come to see any black person outside of that context as people to be contained and locked up, sorry, I mean at least the supremacists among them. That`s where we are at and we see these two sort of tradition clashing in the way - in a dramatic way.

In the killing of George Floyd, we see the supremacist tradition, and the role of the police in the massive unprecedented incarceration of black Americans. It is what - George was a minor offense. And one of the interesting things that have come out in recent work is that one of the main reasons for incarceration is the propensity of the police took arrest people for minor offenses.

A large proportion of blacks in prison are in fact being held on minor charges and they are locked up in jail for - often because they cannot pay fine, and so - and the police see their role then as containing black Americans and a high rate of imprisonment is a function of the high arrest rates.

And that so you see these two traditions here in the supremacist act of the police on the one hand, the fact that they can kill with impunity. And on the other hand, you see it in the outrage being expressed in the diversity of the protesters which is so heartwarming. This is very different from the situation in the `60s or even in the response to Rodney King. And that is the liberal constitutional side in the sense saying enough is enough.

And the fact that our President in a way is partly responsible for encouraging this racist, supremacist, slavery tradition is what is so disgusting and frightening about the present situation. So these two great principles are - traditions of America are really now on full display, and we just have to wait to see which wins.

I am an optimist, but not so much of an optimist that I am not slightly terrified of the fact that the violation of the constitution of the basic institutions and norms of civilized constitutional America is taking place daily from the White House, that`s what we fair.

And that in a sense is what`s behind the outrage. The killing, if you like, is simply the spark that set off this sense of outrage about where is our nation going, is this great constitutional tradition in fact until assault and will it collapse.

O`DONNELL: Professor Orlando Patterson, thank you once again for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it. We really appreciate your guidance. Thank you, professor.

PATTERSON: My pleasure.

O`DONNELL: And when we come back, the four officers charged with the murder of George Floyd are in custody tonight unable to make bail. And in Georgia, prosecutors revealed sickening new details in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. That`s next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL: Today on the Senate floor Senator Kamala Harris said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): We cannot pretend that lynching is a thing of the past. Ahmaud Arbery was a victim of a modern-day lynching. He was murdered on February 23, 2020 just three months ago. Today, we learned that someone heard one of the men who killed Mr. Arbery use a racial slur after shooting him. He should be alive today, and his killers should be brought to justice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: Today, Judge in Glenn County, Georgia ruled that there is sufficient evidence to proceed to a murder trial in the fatal shooting of 25 year old Ahmaud Arbery, while he was jogging. An agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation told the court today that one of the three defendants or the shooters say the "F" word followed by the "N" word after the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPECIAL AGENT RICHARD DIAL, GEORGIA BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: Mr. Brian said that, after the shooting took place, before police arrival while Mr. Arbery was on the ground, that he heard Travis McMichael make the statement. I don`t believe it was self defense from Mr. McMichael, I believe it was self defense from Mr. Arbery.

I believe Mr. Arbery was being pursued and he ran until he couldn`t run anymore and he was turning back to a man with a shotgun or fight with his bare hands against a man with a shotgun and he chose to fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: In Minneapolis today, a judge said a bail of $750,000 for each of the three police officers who were arrested and charged yesterday in the murder of George Floyd; Thomas Lane, Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao.

Defense lawyers told the court that Thomas Lane and Alexander Kueng had been on the police force for only four days when the incident occurred, and that Derek Chauvin who pressed his knee into George Floyd`s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds was a training officer.

Defense lawyer for Thomas Lane said in court, what is my client supposed to do other than follow what the training officer said. Joining our discussion now is Melissa Murray, Professor at NYU School of Law and a former clerk for Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Professor Murray, what do you make of the test - what we heard from the defense attorney anyway in Minneapolis today saying that these two officers were only on the force for four days and that they were simply obeying what their training officer was telling them to do.

MELISSA MURRAY, PROFESSOR, NYU SCHOOL OF LAW: I guess we are getting a glimpse of what the defense will be for these three officers as they mount their defense to these charges of aiding and abetting. And the idea here is that these are junior officers following the chain of command. Chauvin was a much more experienced officer and he was setting the pace and tone of this encounter.

O`DONNELL: And also on this case in Georgia, what was your reaction when you heard that testimony today that about one of the defendants quoting the other defendant after the shooting?

MURRAY: Well, the introduction of the racial slur obviously heightens and escalates this. Many people already believe that this is a racially motivated incident and that slur would seem to confirm that.

As a matter of state law in Georgia, there is no hate crime statue in Georgia law, but of course the federal government has a federal hate crime statue and the federal government is already investigating this. And the addition of that slur evidence would certainly help make out a better case for prosecution under a federal hate crimes law.

O`DONNELL: And just to go back to Minneapolis again, the new charges and the elevated charge against Derek Chauvin, what is your reading of how you expect those charges to proceed in court compared to what the original complaint was?

MURRAY: Well, so Keith Ellison is very clear that the escalated charges were intended to weigh the gravity of this particular situation and third degree murder which was the original charge. It was simply not serious enough to sort of reflect to what had happened here.

So the second degree murder charge is a felony murder charge, which is simply the commission of a murder in the conduct of some other felony here, an assault. The escalation to a second degree felony murder charge would help bring in the other defendants and bring them in on aiding and abetting, because they could also be part of this as well and it`s much easier I think with a specific intent charge like felony murder to bring in the other accomplices, as accomplice vicariously, as accomplice liability on a charge like that as opposed to a murder charge that simply requires recklessness or negligence as the underlying mental state.

So I think it was both reflecting the political climate that demanded more from the state in prosecuting these officers, but also a tactical maneuver designed to also include these three other officers.

O`DONNELL: And in the Minneapolis prosecution, we did get that peek today and that new knowledge that two of these officers were in their fourth day on that police department. Do you suspect there is going to be a possibility of separating these cases into individual trials, or in some way separating them out of something other than four defendants sitting there for one trial?

MURRAY: Well, for matters of economy, they will likely be tried together, but of course each defendant is represented by his own counsel, and each counsel will present his own defense of its client.

And so, there may be opportunities here, certainly now given the nature of the charges for each defendant to perhaps cooperate with the authorities, cooperate with the prosecution, provide evidence against the other defendants and Mr. Chauvin himself. So these are going to be tried in concert, but they are four individually defenses.

O`DONNELL: Professor Melissa Murray, thank you very much for joining our discussion tonight, really appreciated it.

MURRAY: Thanks for having me.

O`DONNELL: Thank you. When we come back, we will get a live report from Minneapolis on the day of George Floyd`s memorial service there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL: This is a live shot of a bridge in Portland where protesters have occupied that bridge I believe almost every night recently. They hold the bridge for some period of time and then at a certain point, they move off, as I think we are seeing now.

Going to Minneapolis now where we are joined by Shaquille Brewster. He has been in Minneapolis covering the situation there this day after the memorial service for George Floyd. Shaquille, what has happened in the city since that memorial service and what is the feeling there tonight?

SHAQUILLE BREWSTER, POLITICAL REPORTER, NBC NEWS: The feeling continues to be what we have seen the past couple days. We have the hopefulness, the excitement, some anxiety about the charges and the trial that we`ll see with the presence of those officers.

The memorial service really set a tone here in Minneapolis. We got to hear from the brother, from the nephew of George Floyd. They shared stories about what it was like to grow up in that household.

And then we got to hear from Benjamin Crump, who talked about the impact and pain that that video had. And then, we heard from the Reverend Al Sharpton, who gave a eulogy of George Floyd and called for us to use this movement, use the activism around George Floyd to - for a greater purpose.

And he called for a national march on Washington next door in August and called for people to come out and fight for people there. What you`re seeing here on the ground is that commemoration and that spirit continue outside of that memorial service, which was private, which was closed to friends and family. You saw outside people gathering, people continuing to go and talk and people brought their children. They talked about what the impact was, what exactly was going on.

Meanwhile, here you have people continuing to come to the site where George Floyd was killed, continuing to pay their respects, bringing flowers, honoring his life and legacy. Something before the service that we saw was the first time we saw three of the four former Minneapolis police department officers involved in his death, they made their first court appearance today. The judge set their bail at $750,000 with conditions or $1 million with conditions.

It was the first time we saw them have that court appearance. We`ll get to hear a little bit more from them and we`ll see them in court again later in June. So it`s been a very full day, you`ve seen movement on the emotional part, the family and that memorial, but you also saw some movement on the investigation and the criminal justice aspect of this case. Lawrence?

O`DONNELL: Shaquille, are there any organized plans for what happens next in Minneapolis?

BREWSTER: You continue to hear protests, you continue to hear people call for protests and call for demonstrations. One thing people remind me of over and over again is, yes, they got the arrest, but they want a conviction. Beyond a conviction, they want systemic change. And that`s what they continue to advocate for.

People describe this as a movement here. They say, we`re not just going to let it be limited to the court appearance and limiting to what you see in the legal action, but they want to see something tangible come from the death of George Floyd. Lawrence?

O`DONNELL: Shaquille Brewster, thank you for your reporting once again tonight. Really appreciate it.

BREWSTER: Thank you.

O`DONNELL: This date, June 4, is a tragic one in American history. On this night in 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy won the California primary, which meant, as I argue in my book about 1968 that Bobby Kennedy was on his way to winning the Democratic Presidential nomination and then the Presidency. But after midnight, as he stepped off the stage at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, he was stopped by an assassin`s bullet. Bobby Kennedy was 42 years old.

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O`DONNELL: As Shaquille Brewster just reported, today family and friends gathered in Minneapolis for a memorial service for George Floyd. His family shared their memories about who George Floyd was, the uncle, the brother, a cousin they knew, and the Reverend Al Sharpton delivered a eulogy, one of many he has now delivered for unarmed black men killed by police.

The service ended with Reverend Sharpton asking everyone to join him in standing in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the exact amount of time that George Floyd was trying and failing to breathe with a police knee on his neck.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILONESE FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD`S BROTHER: Everywhere you go and see people, how they cling to him, they wanted to be around him. When you spoke to George, they felt like they was the President, because that`s how he made you feel.

SHAREEDUH TATE, GEORGE FLOYD`S COUSIN: The thing that I will miss about him most is his hugs. Like he was this great big giant, and when he would - he would wrap his arms around you, you would just feel like, you were - everything could just go away, any problems you had, any concerns you had would go away.

RODNEY FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD`S BROTHER: I learned from him how to be a man. Everything he has told us and taught us, he would do it with him, but he was teaching us how to be a man because he was in this world already before us, and he gave us a lot of great lessons.

BRANDON WILLIAMS, GEORGE FLOYD`S NEPHEW: More than anything, I just want to say thank you to him just for being there, just being a real genuine person, just being loving and caring and somebody I can count on no matter what.

BENJAMIN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR FLOYD FAMILY: We cannot cooperate with evil, we cannot cooperate with injustice, we cannot cooperate with torture, because George Floyd deserved better than that.

REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: What happened to Floyd happens every day in this country in education, in health services and in every area of American life. It`s time for us to stand up in George`s name and say get your knee off our necks.

(MUSIC)

That`s how long he was laying there. There`s no excuse. They had enough time. They had enough time. Now, what do we do with the time we have?

O`DONNELL: What will we do with the time we have? Reverend Al Sharpton gets tonight`s last word. "The 11th Hour" with Brian Williams starts now.

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