Obama Adresses Eric Garner Decision | NBC News
President Obama once again reaffirmed his commitment to taking specific steps to improve policing in communities of color. Subscribe to NBC News: http://nbcnews.to/SubscribeToNBC Watch...
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Obama Adresses Eric Garner Decision | NBC News - Video
Obama doing Check
he does his usual check at a press conference. this video is
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Obama doing Check - Video
By Eric Bradner, CNN
updated 8:21 PM EST, Thu December 4, 2014
President Barack Obama will meet with seven newly elected governors in the Oval Office on Friday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama is meeting with a bipartisan set of newly elected governors on Friday -- including one who's suing him.
Obama has a 4:55 p.m. meeting in the Oval Office with incoming GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, as well as the Republican victors in Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts, the Democratic winners in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania, and Alaska's newly elected independent governor.
Abbott is leading the 17-state legal challenge of Obama's recent executive action to halt deportations of the undocumented parents of U.S. citizens, arguing that immigration policy should be left in the hands of Congress.
The meeting comes as part of Obama's outreach effort after Democrats were trounced in November's midterm elections.
States could play a key role in cementing Obama's legacy. Three of the states that elected GOP governors -- Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts -- operate, at least in part, their own health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act.
Obama also met privately for an hour with the presumptive new Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, on Wednesday.
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Obama to meet immigration opponent in Oval Office Friday
By Alexandra Jaffe, CNN
updated 3:06 PM EST, Thu December 4, 2014
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama on Thursday said that the recent events surrounding the deaths of two black men at the hands of white police officers underscore that "too many Americans feel deep unfairness" with respect to the criminal justice system.
"When it comes, as we've seen unfortunately in recent days, to our criminal justice system, too many Americans feel deep unfairness when it comes to the gap between our professed ideals and how the laws are applied on a day to day basis," he said during an address during the White House's College Opportunity Day of Action.
The Grand Jury decision not to indict the police officer who killed Eric Garner, an African American father of six, sparked protests throughout New York City and across the nation Wednesday night, just over a week after another acquittal in the death of a black teen at the hands of a white police officer prompted similar unrest across the nation.
Obama said he called New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday night to commend him for the way he's handled protests that erupted in the city.
The events have inspired a nationwide discussion surrounding race and the criminal justice system, and prompted Obama to host community leaders and elected officials at his office Monday to discuss solutions to the problem.
On Thursday, he again pledged to continue working to find a way to tackle the issues with law enforcement in the coming months.
But he characterized the challenge ahead as greater than simply reforming the criminal justice system and restoring a sense of justice rather, Obama said, there's a need to restore "a sense of common purpose" in America.
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Obama: 'Americans feel deep unfairness'
By Sara Fischer, CNN
updated 8:16 AM EST, Thu December 4, 2014
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he and outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder are "not going to let up" in the effort to solve the problem of racial tensions that exists between law enforcement officers and minorities in communities nationwide. Obama's remarks came soon after a grand jury decided not to indict a white police officer in the July chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man.
"It is incumbent upon all of us as Americans regardless of race, region, faith -- that we recognize this is an American problem and not just a black problem or a brown problem or a native American problem --- this is an American problem when anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law that's a problem and it's my job as president to help solve it," Obama said at the sixth annual White House Tribal Nations Conference.
Obama said he had just spoken to Attorney General Eric Holder and "we are not going to let up until we see a strengthening of the trust and a strengthening of accountability that exists between our communities and law enforcement."
The Justice Department is investigating the circumstances surrounding Garner's death and whether civil rights were violated, law enforcement sources tell CNN. The investigation has been quietly proceeding for several months.
Holder formally announced the investigation during an event at the Justice Department Wednesday evening.
"This afternoon, I spoke with the widow of Eric Garner to inform her and her family of our decision to investigate potential federal civil rights violations," Holder said. "I've also been in touch with President Obama, as well as Mayor de Blasio regarding our decision. Prosecutors will conduct an independent, thorough, fair and expeditious investigation. In addition to performing our own investigative work, the department will conduct a complete review of the material gathered during the local investigation."
Obama also said law enforcement must improve training and become more accountable in order to strengthen relations within local communities.
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Obama: 'We are not going to let up'