[Lemon:] These protests are spreading tonight. I want to take you to Phoenix, Arizona, now. This is our affiliate, KNXV. Let's listen in.
[Unidentified Male:] non-aggressively the entire night, actually, blocking traffic as protesters march downtown. They really said enough is enough. They damaged property, and they are out in full riot gear right now. So you can see you can hear the shots firing in the air. Those are police rounds. Those are not from the protestors or any active firearms. Those are more disbursement [SIC] rounds. But as you can see, not everyone is dispersing. The crowd thinned some when those paintball rounds started to be fired, or rubber bullets, I should say. But they have not really administered a ton of tear gas or anything that would really lead to a large disbursement [SIC]. So right now, it's kind of this standoff. You can see people with their hands in the air, their fists in the air. And the vast majority of this crowd has been peaceful, but a few people surrounding that Phoenix police car, as I mentioned, smashing the back windshield out. And that's what what has led us to this situation, after a three- hour protest. Of course, if you've been following the news, you know what it's about. The death of George Floyd, an African-American man, at the hands of Minneapolis police.
[Lemon:] And you're listening to a reporter from our affiliate KNXV in in Phoenix, Arizona. And talking about the situation that we watched these pictures as we saw just moments ago. This crew and reporter, camera people, they had to be moved back several times because of the situation there in Phoenix, Arizona. Again, there are protests that are happening in a number of cities here in the United States tonight: Phoenix, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Columbus, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; and of course, St. Paul, Minnesota and Minneapolis, Minnesota, as well. I want to bring in CNN law enforcement analyst James Galiano. He is a retired FBI supervisory special agent who joins us now via phone. James, thank you for joining us here. As you're watching these pictures from all over the country and especially from Minneapolis, when you see a police precinct on fire, up in smoke because of frustration over this, the death of this man, what are your thoughts?
[James Galiano, Cnn Law Enforcement Analyst:] Well, Don, first of all, I mean, just absolutely shocking images. I mean, look, I'm old enough to have been in law enforcement back in 1992, you know, when the riots happened in the wake of police officers being found not guilty in the Rodney King case. That wasn't that long ago. And you look to the summers of 2014 and 2015 and and some riots and uprisings that happened in American cities, in Ferguson and Baltimore, this is this is this is shocking. It's appalling. It's maddening, and it's it's deeply saddening. Don, think about where we've come in 72 hours. I mean, it has been 72 hours since George Floyd died in police custody. We all watched the video, some eight or nine minutes of a police officer with his with his knee in the man's neck. And Don, I'm going to tell you something. It is I cycled through the last 72 hours. That was Monday night. And moving into Tuesday, the four police officers are immediately fired. I thought that the Minneapolis Police Department, you know, handled that with great alacrity and did the right thing there. The FBI announced that they were going to be looking at this from a civil rights violation perspective. We had peaceful protests, relatively, on Tuesday night. You move into Wednesday night, all of a sudden last night, it looked like riots began, looting. And then moving into today, Don, I thought that that press conference that was held this afternoon that we all watched, that was sponsored, set up by the United States attorney's office, with the FBI special agent in charge speaking, as well as, basically, the district attorney there, I guess, for Hennepin County. And Don, I don't to point fingers, but I think that that press conference probably didn't have the intended effect, because some of the things that were said in that, I think, deeply people rightly interpreted as not being focused on bringing justice. I mean, I listened to the press conference, and and the Hennepin County attorney, Michael Freeman, says he watched the video. It was graphic, horrible and terrible horrible. He said his his job was to prove a violation of a criminal statute. And then he drops this bombshell. And I'm going to quote him here: "But there's other evidence that does not support a criminal charge." Now, I understand, you've got to look at this from all ends. I've got I understand you've got to give these police officers due process. They deserve it. But Don, we're sitting on a tinderbox.
[Lemon:] And just so you know, James
[Galiano:] We're sitting on a powder keg.
[Lemon:] Just so you know, about 90 minutes later, they had to release a statement
[Galiano:] Yes.
[Lemon:] from his office that he misspoke on that. And so my question is, I am wondering if if it was better off. As I have both of you here, I want to bring Laura in, Laura Coates in, as well, our legal analyst here, our senior legal analyst. I'm wondering if it would have been better off, if they had been better off had they not even had this press conference. Laura?
[Coats:] You know, it's hard to gauge. It was almost very palpable, the frustration in the room. You already heard the comments that were coming from people who were asking about the urgency or what more was needed. And I think the reason you're seeing all across the country, as James alluding to, as well and what you're seeing from Kentucky to all parts of the United States, including Minneapolis and St. Paul, is because unfortunately, there is a George Floyd in each of these jurisdictions. This is not an anomaly. It is not a one-off. It is part of a systemic issue that we're having where there is a combination of the devaluation of black lives in this country, combined with qualified immunity. The Supreme Court has articulated and emboldened and emboldened in many ways and disincentivized the police departments to do something about it. And so you're seeing a combination. And part of that powder keg, it's beyond Mr. George Floyd, and it's beyond. But it now, as you're seeing this devolving into the rioting and the looting that we have seen. And, you know, we all remember Watts, Baltimore, some of those places have never recovered.
[Galiano:] All right, brother. Thank you. Thank
[Coates:] And I'm wondering if we will have the same home I grew up in.
[Lemon:] Yes. That was James, Laura, who they was hanging up the phone. That wasn't me interrupting you. So but Laura, James Galiano brought up how much time do I have, guys? None. OK. But he brought up Rodney King. And I remember, I just started out in news when the Rodney King thing happened, in New York City. And I remember all the rioting happening across the country. And I couldn't believe couldn't believe that I was sitting there watching it and wondering what had happened to this country. And here we are, all these years later. Here I am, an old head who's been in the news for a long time, and we have riots, again, playing out in this country because of misconduct and a death from the police department from a police department. Laura, thank you. James Galiano, thank you. All of our crews who are out there in the field, thank you. Please stay safe. And thank you for watching. Our live coverage is going to continue with Michael Holmes.