i need you. i need you to get vaccinated when it's your turn and when you can find an opportunity. and to help your family, your friends, your neighbors gets vaccinated as well. here's the point. if we do all this, if we do our part, if we do this together, by july the 4th, there's a good chance you, your family and friends will be able to get together in your backyard or neighborhood and have a cookout and barbecue and celebrate independence day. that doesn't mean large events with lots of people together, but it does mean small groups will be able to get together. after this long, hard year, that will make this independence day something truly special, where we mark our independence as a nation, but we begin to mark or independence from this virus. >> president biden announcing last night his goal of 100 million shots in 100 days will be met and beaten. >> when i came into office, you may recall i set a goal that many of you set was kind of way over the top. i said i intended to get 100 million shots in people's arms in my first 100 days in office. tonight, i can say we're nom going to meet that goal, we're going to beat that goal, because we are actually on track to reach this goal of 100 million shots in arms on my 60th day in office. no other country in the world has done this. none. >> it's not just the achievements on the public health front that the biden administration is celebrating today. just this afternoon in the rose garden, president biden flanked by vice president harris, senate majority leader chuck schumer and house speaker nancy pelosi touted their victory on economic relief and the relief coming to millions, somewhere in just a matter of days. >> this legislation will provide $1400 in direct payments which we promised. that means for a typically family of four, middle-class family, husband and wife working making $110,000 a year, that means $5,600 check they're going to get. 85% of the households in america will be getting this money. a lot of you know, because of the way you came up like i did and others, what that can mean. think of the millions of people going to sleep at night staring at the ceiling going, my god, what am i going to do tomorrow? i lost my health care, i don't have a job, unemployment runs out, i'm behind in my mortgage. what are we going to do? well, guess what? they're going to be getting that check soon, either by direct deposit or a check from the treasury. some will get it as early as this weekend. together the speedy vaccination roll-out and the covid relief package, makes this a week that david brooks in "new york times" describes as the most quietly consequential in recent history. he writing this, quote -- this moment is like 1981, the dawn of the reagan revolution, except in reverse. it's not just that government is heading in a new direction. it's that the whole paradigm of the role of government in american life is shifting. biden is not causing these tectonic plates to shift, but he is riding them. the biden presidency roaring to life with aid for american families is where we start did. ashley parker is here, "the washington post" white house bureau chief. also joining us doctor could vita patel, a former obama white house health policy director and charlie sykes is back. i'll start with you. the piece from david brooks i think puts this sort of first 50 days of the biden presidency in its proper historical place, the incredible shift in the role of federal government in american life at a time of great crisis. >> that's right. there's another line in that david brooks column that i apologize in advance i will bunkle slightly. he also made the point that biden, because he is so tempered mentally moderate, and seemingly talking about unity, bipartisanship, that has enabled him to do something that actually with this covid relief bill, roll out a big, bold, ambitious progressive, in biden's case, agenda and pass a relief bill that's the same amount of money that he began when he proposed the bill. very rarely does that happen with massive legislation, and it contains not just checks for people, unemployment insurance, money for vaccines, money to try to help reopen schools, but a real laundry list of democratic priorities that he could sort of transform the nation and overhaul what we think of as the role of government, and in talking to biden advisers, they are incredibly thrilled. they think this plan was successful, arguably it was. they got it through congress and they're going to start to deploy it. they see it as a blueprint for other initiatives going forward, whether it's immigration reform, or infrastructure, or climate. so going back to what david brooks wrote, biden very much does believe this is the moment, this is the crisis where he can become a transformational president, and change how we think of the role of government. >> and what they promised is not just vaccine supply for the whole country, but he announced a website last night. they're talking about how they go and get it. once people are able to go online, make a vaccine appointment, get their shots, reuneed with their families, it will be very hard for republicans to argue against the value of this package. >> republicans are already having a hard time messaging it. i was talking to anita dunn, a senior white house adviser, who made a similar point. she said we don't really believe we need to go out and sell this package and this proposal, because it's already so popular. her point was sort of what you mentioned, about the granularity. she said our job is to explain to people exactly how do they access those checks. how do this use an coming online website directed to a pharmacy closest to them to get a shot in your arm. if you're a black farmer that qualifies for debt relief, how do you access that? if you qualify for unemployment benefits, how do you do that? there's a lot in that bill. they view their job as explaining it to make sure the people get the help, but they do believe it is -- and polls show this right now -- very popular. >> charlie sykes, this whole question around spending is also once that thanks to donald trump, the legs were pulled out from under republicans. they're certainly giddy about spending this much money on tax cuts, but it seems they don't have an argument to make around this package? >> obviously it's a lot of money, no question about it. they'll go through the motions, but it was a tell through the last week rather than making a case against this dramatic expansion of the social safety net, that was being proposed, that they did spend so much time talking about dr. seuss and mr. potato head. i think what that suggested was they were far more comfortable in talking about the culture war issues than talking about the things that conservative republicans would have talked about the last 20 years, the debt, deficit, independent sit, and that's what maybe this moment so extraordinary. while earp tucker carlson off attacking women in the military, or going after newspaper reporters, you have the democrats accomplishing something that kind of ranking up there with the great society, and the collapse, the almost surrender of the small government fiscal conservative wing of the republican party is rather extraordinary. by the way, you can tell that they know how great the defeat was by listening to the primal scream, how angry the fox hosts were last night. you know, the anger that they had about the reference to the fourth of july. you can sense that they are very much off-balance at the moment. >> i wasn't going to do this, but i monitored the same network you did. so let me show you -- what's funny to me, and i think that they know how to rally and froth up and incite the right. we should give them credit for doing that, but they're off their game, shall we put it? the tragedy last night was -- down there in the corner, a face of one of their hosts reacting. that was basically the response to the president last night, but let me get back to the granularity of what the biden administration has committed to and so far delivered, dr. patel. this is dr. fauci on precisely how this roll-out will -- >> we're going to partner with the states in a lab ra tiff, at the and hopefullies synergistic way where we open up vaccine centers, up to 500 of them, including in areas that have minority populations that generally don't have easy access to the types of things, including vaccines. we're going to put vaccines in pharmacies, including those located in areas, again, that were underserved. we're going to use mobile units that are going to get out into poorly served areas. we're going to increase dramatically the number of people who will give the vaccination, regular military people, volunteers from retired physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers, in order to get this machine running really smoothly. that's what the president was talking about tonight. that's what he speaks to us in private about, and that's when you see a much more uniformed approach of efficiency of getting vaccines into people's arms. that's exactly what he was referring to tonight. >> and dr. patel, they're talking about sticking vaccines in the arms of anyone who wants one, to make everyone who wants one eligible by may 1st. that's a massive undertaking, but to hear dr. fauci saying this what everybody talks about publicly and privately, it's clear that it's all hands on deck for them. >> even legally here in d.c., you see the states want to match up. the feds have been delivering on getting more and more supply directly, as dr. fauci mentioned, you can tell the states are feeling the pressure and they're -- to get more people vaccinated, all while also trying to keep an eye -- we're grove with our numbers of cases, but 37 a,000 cases this week, a dramatic drop from about 1.5 million a week three months ago, but we still are seeing -- it's a balance. that funding from the stimulus couldn't come in time, because we do need more people to have this ability to test, to trace, and to vaccinate all the at the same time. >> and because frontline health workers have had to deal with the consequences of the catastrophic message of the last year, i want to read this from the new yorker. president biden's approach was so different, i suspect his speechwriters rewatched trump's address of a year ago to do and say the opposite. he blamed america's woes on the china virus, he condemned anti-asian hate crimes and spoke of national compute. trump a covid denier was to downplay the danger, never thought to prepare americans and didn't recognize those who perished. president biden took a car out of hi site jacket and read out the precise numbers of americans who had died to date. >> what was chilling, when i listened to his speech, i thought the same thing, comparing to what donald trump said a year ago, honestly i had a moment of sadness. i thought if this could have been rewound a year, po president biden it and his team dealing with this last year, we would still have deaths, cases, but it would be nowhere near what we're talking about today. that really is something that i hope we don't forget going forward. we all desperately want this past year to be behind us. there are some things we should not forget. what really matters is this was presidential leadership by definition. this is what we expected a president to do. it took us a year to get it. >> charlie, the competence of this team is beyond debate. the parties have been debating policy since the beginning of time, but the competence with which this team is going about tackling the virus is undeniable, and quite staggering, frankly. but they do still have the legacy of trump's disinformation. those two speeches are instructive for more than just a change in tone and a change in substance. a year of disinformation and calling the pandemic a hoax and downplaying it intentionally and refusing to model public safety's behavior like mask wears and taking events outdoors, it's being led by qanon, here from the "the washington post" -- it can be found less visibility but still virulent, these largely unmoderated have become cauldrons of ludicrous claims for an increasingly intense alliance between qanon and covid denialism. obviously donald trump went out of the his way to praise a qanon candidate, marjorie taylor greene and covid denialism was his brand. >> this contrast is so dramatic. this was the speech that america needed over the last year, but did not get and that donald trump was incapable of giving. it's almost disconcerting sees a president talking to the american people like this. there's no whining or crackpottery about bleach. it was sober, factual, modest, but hopeful in a very different way. donald trump was always saying it's going to go away, i solved it, and everything. joe biden is saying, look, um, you should be hopeful, we are going to beat this, we are americans, and invoking that sense of america in july 4th, and all of that, but also with the caveats that i can't do this alone. i need you. i need americans to rally around in order to get past this. it really did seem like they sat down and said how can we make the most dramatic non-trumpian speech. but yeah, you point out the headwinds that he faces because of this legacy of denial and disinformation from the trump folks. and that is still one big question mark, because i feel like we're so close. it is a return to normalcy, but i just sense that there's tremendous optimism out there. i think this country is prepared to come back. there's almost a euphoria, a giddiness when you talk to people who have had the vaccine, who can't wait to get back to their lives, but there is this -- this segment of society that is apparently just absolutely determined not to make the sacrifices, not to acknowledge the dangers that still exist. so president biden is balancing all of this, but i'm really impressed by the way he is underpromising and overperforming. that's obviously the approach they decided to take. >> you know, actually it's worth -- i was involved in presidential speeches, and every word is combed through by a large group of very senior staffers. it's clear that their deferential 100% to the science, but there was presidential leadership in putting that july 4th moment as sort of the centerpiece of the speech, to buy some patience, to buy some good behavior, to buy some compliance with the process of wearing masks until everyone is fully vaccinated. i wonder if you can take us behind the scenes in that ever at all? >> sure. well, one thing is there is sort of a psychological effect that president biden and his advisers understand, that the american people by and large are willing to make sacrifices for themselves, for their neighbors, for their children, for their grandparents, but psychologically, and journalists know this very acutely, a deadline really helps. [ laughter ] >> so being able to say july 4th, just get to july 4th is something that can motivate the public to do this for a finite period of time. not just that he said july 4th, which is so symbolic. he talked about america's freedom, but freedom from the virus. the way he cast it is what is core to joe biden. it would be a chance to spend time with your family. those barbecues with your family and your close friends who are like family. it is very core to how joe biden views the world, views communities, views societies, and the white house spends a lot of time thinking about not how do we message this issue in ha way that is compelling to the american public, but in a way that's also authentic to who joe biden is. that's what you saw in that speech, and in that particular part of the speech that we're talking about right now. >> ashley parker, dr. could vita patel, charlie sykes, thank you to all three of you for starting us off. the city of minneapolis settles for $27 million for the family of george floyd, one of the largest effort in a case involving police misconduct. plus after a year of racist rhetoric from the former guy and members of his party, when it comes toation-americans, the current president says enough. our panel on what can be done. and the political crisis surrounding new york governor andrew cuomo is growing this afternoon. more than a dozen congress gressal democrats in his state say it's time to go. we continue after a quick break. don't go anywhere. continue aft break. don't go anywhere. hey, dad! hey, son! no dad, it's a video call. you got to move the phone in front of you like..like it's a mirror, dad. you know? alright, okay. how's that? is that how you hold a mirror? 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>> well, we have been talking all week. i chose not to do because enough civil rights group want any part of the settlement. people were trying to say we were being given some of the money, even when we paid for funerals and all, we don't need reimbursement. this should go to the family. the removement of george floyd's life, who had children and a grandchild, and the value of his life, the city owes that. these officers were working on the payroll of the city. they had a badge and a gun from the city, so the city owed that. but it doesn't end there. one has nothing to do with the other in terms of the karim justice of the matter. the family has made it clear they gave us all the money in the world, we want these police to pay for the crime, not just the city pay us off. we cannot set a precedent that you pay for the right to kill us, but you are to pay for the damages that you do cause. >> so on that note, rev, can you speak to the significance of a judge allowing the additional charge of third-degree murder? >> i think that it is significant, in the sense it now gives the jury in the trial three options, criminal options on the defendant officer chauvin, what had in fact, some my judgment lynched george floyd with his knee. they can convict him for murder 2, they can convict hem for murder 3, or convict him for manslaughter or two the above or three of the above. i'm sure the attorney can correct be on that. i'm not a lawyer, but i do know the options are important. i've been in enough of these case foss decades where people have gotten away where people say they overcharged them. i didn't think it reached that bar, but it would reach this. i don't think the jury has no way out of coming out dealing with these charges when the whole world saw for almost nine minutes this officer put his knee on george floyd's neck. even if you want to argue, as the defense probably will, he was operating in a moment of anger, or he was trying to restrain him. at what point in 8:46 does it turn into willful intent? which is why when i did the eulogy at george floyd's funeral, i said people stand up for 8:46 to realize how long that was. at some point with this man begs for his life, should have released his knee, and he should be hell criminally accountable for it in my opinion. >> could you just speak to what the is alluding to, that the prosecutors now will be presenting jurors with three options at the end of presenting evidence? >> absolutely. the most important aspect of a third-degree murder charge being added back in, which i think was -- it lets you note it's the charge they actually believe in, which goes a long way. based on how they handled this, my concern is whether or not their hearts are in this case and whether or not they see the potential of this case. this case has the potential to help people heal. it has potential to helple community some minneapolis heal, to help our nation heal. it also helps the floyd family healed if the case is handled in the right way. the tone i have seen from them so far and what i noticed in some briefings, makes me concerned about whether or not that is the case. >> i want to hear more, and the associated presses reporting that a woman, a recent college graduate said she had seen bystander video of the arrest and closely read -- she had a somewhat negative view of the officer and that she thought he held his need on floyd's neck for too long. i could only watch part of it, and she said she did not want the bystander video in its entirety, because i just couldn't watch it anymore. >> so part of the concern going into a case and you have a jury, is that you have to realize that juries tend not to sympathize with the person at the center of the trial as much as you would like to. as a lawyer, that's one of the hardest things to learn when you start trying cases. juries make decisions based on whether or not they feel safe and secure. that's part of the reason why it's important to have a diverse jury, and i'll be more specific, when this case started i think ed knew two black people on that jury panel in order to have good chance of success. based on what i've seen so far, i'm going to increase that number to three, based on what we have seen in other cases. regarding where the prosecution as heart is, in a motion to try to stay the proceedings on page 4 they refer to the process as the anglo-american problems. i want to ask a question, how in touch are they with what's at stake? that goes to the ability to rehabilitate jurors like the one you just mentioned, in order to makes sure the jury panel reflects people who have the ability to make the right decision on this case. >> it's so important to raise those issues, and that's why we're so grateful you're here. some in reports in "new york times" about the los angeles police department and their mishandling of the protests that sprung up all across the country. the times reports that the los angeles police department severely mishandled protests last summer in the wake of george floyd's death, illegally detaining protesters, and striking people who had committed no crimes with rubber bullets, beanbags and batons. this is according to a scathing report released on thursday. the report was highly critical of the department's leadership saying that high-ranks officers sometimes make chaotic scenes even worse. in many cases officers used antiquated tactics that failed to calm the more violent demonstratorses. rev, it's something we've been talking about for almost a year now, but the unequal treatment of protesters is in such sharp relief following the insurrection of january 6th. >> when you look at what happened in los angeles, and now comes out with this report, and in many other cities where people were peacefully protesting. i was at some, the forefront of some, and police acted in a violent appeared provocative way. you contrast that to where, at the january 6th insurrection, where police were under attack and other police didn't responsible the way they did to nonvileants and peaceful protesters, it shows you in a clear view the problem we have with policing in this country. they're policing based on their feelings and based on their opinions, and not based on the fact they're there to enforce and uphold the law. they don't have to agree with us on george floyd, though i don't see how they couldn't, about you they don't have to agree with us on any issue, about you this he do not have the right to be violent or provocative or inciteful and then blame it on those that are peaceful and then give a pass to people who have gone violently and taken the capitol building of the united states, and they not only stand back and allow -- some of them were actually taking selfies with the insurrectionists while they are taunting and harassing peaceful demonstrators within the same time frame. >> does this report that they cite the leaders of the department could have legal problems? >> i hope so. we represent peaceful protesters here in dallas, texas. when i'm talking to them, two things stand out. number one, out of roughly nine named plaintiffs right now, only one is black. the people who were out there protesting were protesting in part because they were motivated by injustice they see happening. they knew how important it was to be out there. what everybody forgets is how the way the protests started and the way they became. initially my belief is police departments thought if we just go out there and are harsh enough, they'll go home. what made these protests different was ordinary people decided to go out and protest. in light of what our clients experienced, it was enough to scare your average person to staying at home. if that happens, police reform does not happen. yet, out there consequences involved for those who brutalized these peaceful protesters. thank you. and the rev is sticking around. there's a huge spike of hate-fueled attacks on asian-americans. president biden addressed it head-on last night in his address. we'll play it next. in his address. we'll play it next this is the epson ecotank color printer. no more buying cartridges. big ink tanks. lots of ink. print about this many pages. the new epson ecotank. just fill and chill. dry, distressed skin that struggles? 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>> yay, nicolle, it was both a heartening and almost a sad moment for people who look like me, finally a year into this pandemic, we had the most powerful person in the free world, the president of the united states, actually acknowledge the harmful devastating effects that racism has had on the asian-american community. this has been an important coming-of-age moment for the community overall. racism against asian-americans isn't new. you can go all the way back to 1854 when the california supreme court ruled that they could not testify against -- and now after a year of being fueled by the words "china virus" and "kung flu" even just a few weeks ago at the cpac conference, where those words garnered clapping and ovationses. it is more important than ever we have moral leadership from the highest possible place in the united states, to let everybody know it is not okay to permeate these racist views. it's not okay that -- and, you know, it is so important to have conversations like this, having platforms like your show to begin talking about this openly. that's the only way we can stop it. >> i regret we haven't gotten to this earlier. it is real. let me show you just in people's own words, some victims, of these hate crimes. listen. >> they started hurling racial insults, they started calling me [ bleep ] can be chinese virus. >> they call chinese virus, don't talk to him. i get sick. >> he yelled at me at the train and said you people brought this virus here. >> kurt, do you know people who have had that experience? >> i do. i was talking to a college-age too unit who lives in the bay area telling me a story how she was talking down the street, and someone just walked up and spit on her. the comment he made was, you know why you deserve that. every time i appear on an msnbc program, my social media feeds and my private messages, they get sent all kinds of nonsense likes the things that that bleeped out there in that sound. i see it every day all the time. it's just a symptom of what happens when really one political party in this country has validated and made it okay for people to express themselves in that harmful and dangerous and openly racist way. when the leader of one of the two political parties in this country time and again uses racist rhetoric, encouraging it, incites violence, when there's no penalty for that, this is what happens. where people are just walking down the street and are not free from harassment, where people are riding train stations or metros and public transit, and they're afraid. i now live in a time where anytime i'm out in public, wherever i am, i have this in the back of my mind, this could happen because i look a certain way and one of the political parties has said it's open season on asian-americans. >> rev, there's so much culpability, there's donald trump's flagrant racism, calling it the china virus, but there's a whole disinformation and smear system that still functions. he's gone. he's old news. he's de-platformed, but the legacy of hate and the racism he spewed is alive and thriving. >> it is alive and thriving. it has continued to be something that has infested this society. i think, unless all of us stand up, regardless of who the victims or the targets are, and the assailants are, we're not going to confront this. donald trump is gone, but we all are still here, which is why several weeks ago i had a rally with state senator john lieu in the middle of harlem at our saturday rally to denounce it, because there were some blacks that had assaulted asian-americans. black leaders and latino leaders need to stand up and others need to stand up when it's us. you can't fight hate against anyone unless you fight hate against everyone, and everyone ought to be standing up against this spike in hate crimes. if we don't, we lose the moral authority, so kurt and others shouldn't have to fight this battle alone, just like we shouldn't have to fight anti-black alone. hate is hate, and yes, trump incited it, but trump is gone. we have a responsibility to stop it and to straighten out this misinformation. >> from your lips. rev al sharpton, kurt bardella, thank you for the time and the conversation. a new crescendo for new york governor andrew cuomo, nine high-proceed file calls for his recentition nation. we have the governor's response, after the break. we have the governor's response, after the break. ♪ and a little bit of chicken fried ♪ ♪ cold beer on a friday night ♪ ♪ a pair of jeans that fit just right ♪ ♪ and the radio up ♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® works differently than any other diabetes pill to lower blood sugar in all 3 of these ways... increases insulin... decreases sugar... and slows food. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. people taking rybelsus® lost up to 8 pounds. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ please don't take my sunshine away ♪ you may pay as little as $10 per prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. man: condos, 150k. [ traffic passing by ] sorry, bud. thanks. switch to progressive and you can save hundreds. you know, like the sign says. alright, back to work. new projects means new project managers. you know, like the sign says. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. today perhaps the most widespread pressure campaign to date for new york governor andrew cuomo to step down amid mounting scandals. most of the state's congressional delegation in the u.s. house now calling for him to resign. 13 of the new york state democrats adding bold statements. congressman jerrold nadler says, quote, there is a difference between formal investigations that may end in criminal charges and a question of confidence in our political leadership. the question before us is squarely a political judgment. cuomo today again denies the allegations and is saying these politicians are taking positions without knowing any, quote, facts or substance. watch. >> politicians who don't know a single fact but yet form a conclusion and an opinion are in my opinion reckless and dangerous. let the review proceed. i'm going to resign. i was not elected by the politicians. i was elected by the people. >> joining our conversation, jesse mckinley, albany bureau chief for "the new york times," someone whose journalism has been showcased here, who is helped us understand this story. this now feels like a real clash, a real political force against him and a real digging in from him. where does this stand? >> well, it's trench warfare, to put it politely. at this point governor cuomo shows no movement towards giving any consideration to resigning despite many of the democratic delegation saying it's time to go. last week the governor was fairly contrite about the allegations against him, today he was downright combative, saying these other politicians were reckless, making a none-too-veiled threat that the voters would hold them accountable, not hold him accountable. and until people have the facts, which was one of his catch phrases during the coronavirus briefings, that until then, nobody she had call for resignations. >> this is him this afternoon on people's motives. >> i won't speculate about people's possible motives. but i can tell you as a former attorney general who has gone through this situation many times, there are often many motivations for making an allegation. and that is why you need to know the facts before you make a decision. >> jesse, he seems to be speaking sort of beyond the politicians and to the people of new york, is that right? >> yes, that's one way to read it, or to the accusers themselves. the question, perhaps, why they're making these accusations. in all of this, the governor has been -- has denied really any wrongdoing, has said that his remarks were misconstrued in the cases of the allegations that we reported and other publications reported. and in the case of this groping incident which was reported earlier this week by "the times union," he flatly denies it. so as we pointed out before, it's a little bit of a standoff at this point. obviously i think people will be watching to see whether or not president biden or charles schumer, chuck schumer, or kirsten gillibrand, the two senators from new york, if they call for resignation, those would be significant, either to not support the governor or continuing to say let's let the investigations continue, that could be seen as voicing support for mr. cuomo. i think those are the inflection points to watch at this point. >> jesse, i want to read you something from sean patrick maloney who appears on this network often and is a pretty measured politician. he says this, the victims of sexual assault concern me more than politics or other narrow considerations and i believe governor cuomo must step aside. right now 20 million new yorkers need a governor who is laser focused on getting our state through this pandemic. first, to couch the crisis in terms of the state's crisis, i wonder if there's concern inside the cuomo administration that that might take hold. >> well, i think there is going to be an argument made by many lawmakers that this is interfering with the governance of the state, that's kind of brass tacks, the state has a budget due, there's still the pandemic, there's issues facing us economically and otherwise. some lawmakers have said, look, even with the necessity for due process, the allegations themselves are bollixing up the work of state and there are serious things to be done. so some are suggesting perhaps he could step aside rather than actually resign and allow kathy hochul, lieutenant governor, to serve as governor while these investigations continue which would allow the state to kind of carry on with its business while the allegations are settled. that is one thing being suggested as well. i'm not sure about the constitutional basis that have, i'm not a lawyer, but certainly there are other options that are being floated. but right now, the one that is getting the most traction is calls for resignation and/or calls for impeachment which could happen through the legislature if they get the votes. >> it's just amazing, we just went through an impeachment trial for a president and it sounds like you have your eyes on the possibility of an impeachment there in albany. remarkable times. the next hour of "deadline white house" starts after a quick break. don't go anywhere, we're just getting started. ted. bipolar depression. it's a dark, lonely place. this is art inspired by real stories of people living with bipolar depression. emptiness. a hopeless struggle. the lows of bipolar depression can disrupt your life and be hard to manage. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly 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away from any downed wire, call 911, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. i think this was the most heinous attack on the democratic processes that i've ever seen and one that i never expected to see in my lifetime. i intend to give the career prosecutors who are working on this matter 24/7 all of the resources they could possibly require to do this. and at the same time i intend to make sure that we look more broadly, to look at where this is coming from, what other groups there might be that could raise the same problem in the future, and that we protect the american people. >> hi again, everyone, it's 5:00 in new york. the investigation into the january 6 insurrection at the capitol will be attorney general merrick garland's top priority as he spent his first day on the job in briefings about it. those briefings likely include the latest on the investigation into the white supremacist groups aligned with donald trump who are under scrutiny for potentially conspiring to disrupt the counting of the electoral votes. "the washington post" reports the justice department and fbi are gathering evidence to try to build a large conspiracy indictment against members of the oath keepers for their roles in the january 6 riot at the u.s. capitol, according to people familiar with the matter. the oath keepers group is a major target of the sprawling fbi investigation into the riot at the u.s. capitol along with another militant group, the proud boys, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously. how aggressively the justice department pursues such extremists will be a major test not only of the biden administration's pledge to combat domestic terrorism but also of the law and the courts. to remind everybody, 12 oath keepers members or associates have already been arrested on charges related to the insurrection. one of the oath keepers charged in the capitol riot was allegedly also a driver for trump political svengali roger stone. "the new york times" writes, quote, at least six people who provided security for roger stone entered the capitol during the january 6 attack. videos show the group guarding mr. stone, a longtime friend of president donald trump, on the day of the attack or the day before. those connections to people close to trump make the case potentially explosive and the nature of the evidence, both in terms of the vast amount of video that exists and possible leads that that creates make it complex. those dynamics have led prosecutors to ask for a 60-day delay, calling the investigation and prosecution of the riot, quote, one of the largest in american history. from politico's reporting on this, quote, in a nine-page filing lodged in multiple cases friday morning, u.s. attorneys handling cases stemming from the january 6 insurrection cited the rapidly growing roster of defendants and the enormous cache of evidence they must sift through to get a complete picture of the crimes committed that day. the investigation into the insurrection under new management, the new management of a new attorney general, is where we start this hour with some of our favorite reporters and friends. carol leonnig, "washington post" reporter, and clint watts, former fbi special agent and research fellow at the foreign policy research institute. carol, let me start with you. we get pulled off on our focus on the investigation into the insurrection, but that is misleading, i think. this is an investigation that is going full steam ahead and yielding real results every day. talk about this request for a delay. >> i think you can tell, nicolle, that this case is exactly as advertised by the new under-new-management department of justice, the biggest in modern history. the way you can tell that are some of the key data points. there are essentially 900 different search warrants that have already been served. there are 21,000, i believe, hours of surveillance camera, body camera, individual bystander witness camera, that have to be surveilled. i've heard from sources, prosecutors around the country from west to east, who have been contacted and asked would you like to work on this case, because it's going to go on for a while. you get the feeling this is just going to keep building. in terms of new information that's already come out, i mean, some of my colleagues at "the washington post" have done amazing work on this, but some of the material that's come out in the last few days, nicolle, shows us that they're putting together the bricks of a conspiracy. those bricks include any time somebody agreed with another person to engage in something criminal. and that conspiracy already has been revealed to show the oath keepers' leader, who was in contact on a two-way radio with many of the central members of the oath keepers before, during, and after the siege. interestingly, it's hard to think that this is funny, but interestingly on that radio chatter, there is a funny moment where he's complaining about the president, saying he's not doing anything, it's up to the patriots now. >> it is kind of funny, the oath keepers are just like us, the president is doing nothing. i want to follow up, though, with you, carol leonnig, about the connections between the oath keepers and roger stone, who was pardoned by donald trump, one of his closest ideological soulmates in terms of the politics of destruction. is he under scrutiny? >> absolutely, he has to be. these are people he paid or where donated to him to secure him. he happens to be at the ellipse during the foment to the capitol. i think you hit the nail on the head really well, nicolle, at the beginning of this, which is the explosive nature what have this evidence could show. we don't know yet, we don't speculate in the news business, but think about what all of this video may end up showing. the president, remember, told proud boys in the fall "stand back and stand by." proud boys are now involved and identified in this event and charged. oath keepers, who also happen to be participating and connecting with presidential allies, were heading up to the capitol. roger stone is just a fascinating character because he's a carnival huckster in some respects, but he's been involved in virtually every dirty trick campaign since nixon. and it's hard to imagine he also wasn't aware of what some of these people were doing. again, we're going to wait for the evidence, we're going to have to see what happens. but you've got people who are right by him the day of the event, participating in it. and he is also at the ellipse. >> you know, let me follow up with you, neal katyal, on this radio chatter, that they were all aligned in mission. and the only variable here is the action. and actually, donald trump lied to his supporters on the ellipse and said, and we've played the tape too many times, i'm not going to play it again, "i'm coming with you, we'll march down to the capitol." but it seems if they've got their communications and they've got their cellphone data and they've got their emails, that they're not going to have too tough a time tying all this together. >> well, i think that that's partially right, nicolle. i think there are a lot of encrypted communications as well using signal and other means. and, you know, ultimately, you know, there are some that are encrypted and some that aren't and the justice department is going to need a dedicated staff just to go through the cringy memes of the stuff that they can read. but this is where conspiracy, and carol's point about conspiracy, is so important. as an academic i sent a couple of years researching the conspiracy doctrine and writing about it. i think it's the right tool for this particular set of crimes because of really two different features. one is it's really geared at kind of organized crime, mob-like behavior, in which the boss doesn't actually do the dirty work, he just subtly induces others to do it, which appears to be the case here. and second, because you don't need a completed crime for conspiracy. obviously some of the crimes were completed here. but just the planning of an insurrection is enough to be a major indictable offense. and then that allows you to pull in people, you know, and draw a picture, more complete picture, a web of criminal activity. so as carol says, you now have evidence that roger stone may be implicated. and of course it wouldn't be an investigation of the trump era if roger stone didn't find a way to somehow pop up in another criminal conspiracy here, and he has. and what the conspiracy doctrine does is it allows that complete, robust picture and allows prosecutors to say, look, you're liable for the crimes of every one of your co-conspirators, the book is thrown as you. that's how you flip one defendant against the other and get them to decrypt their communications and tell the truth to the government. >> neal, "the washington post" reporting on oath keepers founder stewart rhodes, writes this. quote, you must declare joe biden is not just not your president. he is not anybody's president. he will be a usurper. donald trump tweets, how can you give an election to someone who lost the election by hundreds of thousands of legal votes in each of the swing states. how can a country be run by an illegitimate president? my question is, can you match up the conduct and the statements of the insurrectionists with donald trump and include him in this investigation? >> it's certainly possible. first of all, nothing says commitment to the constitution like threatening an armed insurrection unless the president invokes martial law to stop the transfer of power. i mean, these are so outlandish and ridiculous statements. and there is a confluence, as you say, nicolle, between the statements. the question for trump will be, and his defense attorneys, if anybody is willing to defend him, will be, those are statements made in parallel and whatever rhodes said, trump might not have been aware of it or something, and they're not direct incitements to violence. but, you know, this rhodes figure is being investigated now, the head of the oath keepers, by law enforcement. and this guy's not exactly one of the disenfranchised and downtrodden. he clerked for the arizona supreme court, went to yale law school where he apparently skipped every class on how the conspiracy doctrine worked. this is the leader of the oath keepers. and, you know, i think they'll start the case there, then they'll try and build it more broadly. and merrick garland is exactly the right person for this, this is the guy who led the prosecution of the oklahoma city bombing and who those excerpts you were showing with his testimony in which he said he's going to let the career staff do it, but he's going to give them every resource. that's exactly what he did in the successful oklahoma city bombing cases. >> and i don't know that they'll speak to the acting defense secretary at the time of the insurrection, but here is what he thinks about donald trump's role. >> do you think the president was responsible for what happened on the 6th? >> i don't know, but it seems cause and effect, yeah. the question is would anybody have marched on the capitol and overrun the capitol without the president's speech. i think it's pretty much definitive that that wouldn't have happened. so yes. the question is, did he know that he was enraging the crowd to do that. i don't know. >> i'm not a lawyer, clint watts, but cause and effect sounds pretty open and shut to me. i think without the president's speech, nobody would have marched on the capitol. some of this is believable what happened before our very eyes and very ears and being able to read an email and watch a speech and put it all together. what is the process of building up the evidence to prove that look like? >> that's why the real challenge comes, nicolle, because the president has been very good at sending out consiglieres and talking in phrases that are interpreted by followers and supporters as an indirect order or maybe something he's okay with or would go along with. i think as neal and carol were really articulating here, when you start building a conspiracy case, we've got planning, we've got resourcing, we've got coordination, we've got communications on the day of, you have leadership and organization. so we're really lining up for what a conspiracy case would be in any sort of context for terrorism. i think the key point is, what was their intention towards violence or towards a federal crime and was that organized and did they ever discuss that. i can tell you just from the open source, just from watching that, that's what we thought they would do on january 6. they were not -- they were talking about a second civil war. they were talking about they were going to do something at the capitol. i think where this ultimately comes down to, and it's probably why some of the investigators and prosecutors are wanting to slow things at this point, is they need to work more on the witnesses. and i'm assuming that many of those witnesses, some of the reporting has gone through and shown a lot of them have prior criminal behavior. they may be easier essentially to flip or try to coerce because they could be facing more charges down the road and then focusing on those that did commit violence that resulted in an actual assault or in the case of some others, potentially a manslaughter or murder charge depending on how this shakes out with the investigation. those would be the ones to go after. the last part is, neal mentioned, and you're seeing the hard press from the fbi, talking about encrypted communications, director wray brought it up last week, it came up again this week, the disadvantage the fbi has. behind the scenes, i think this is really going to bring a boiling point up. again, we saw it after san bernardino with that terrorist. i think you're going to see this again coming forward, already these indictments are talking about use of signal and encrypted chat. you're seeing the title of the chat because they can see that but they can't see the messaging behind the scenes. neal is exactly right, i guarantee they're working on somebody to decrypt those chats to try to get that messaging. these will all be flash points in the coming year, how do we think about protecting the country. this will go all the way back to the old patriot act days, what will we be happy with in terms of security and privacy. >> i want to put up for our viewers where the investigation stands. 320 people have been charged. prosecutors expect that 100 more will be. more than 900 search warrants, carol mentioned that, have been executed, in almost all 50 states and d.c. investigators have received more than 15,000 hours of surveillance and police body camera video. about 1,600 electronic devices are in their hands. over 210,000 tips and more than 80,000 reports. what is the manpower -- i mean, what does this look like? carol mentioned they've looked for people to volunteer to come and work on these cases. but how do you sort of scale this up to go through all that? >> eight overwhelming, in this case only. the fbi is good at this. they got particularly good at it after 9/11, they learned how to organize in terms of search warrants. what's fascinating about this, we're talking about a lot of digital evidence on scale. that's things like facebook or google can't even do, they struggle to do, right? so there's only a few companies out there that can really make that happen. i'm going to be interested to see how much the fbi looks to vendors to outsource. if the judge is putting pressure on them to bring these cases forward as quickly as possible and not giving them extra time, the acting attorneys on each of these cases, that's going to force them to move quicker. the danger is if you don't get through all that footage, maybe you miss that one thing that can connect somebody else or prove they were in a position, or if it's a conspiracy case, you want that video footage. i mean, that's a gold mine for connecting people before, during, and after the riot. some of the oath keepers, pictures we're talking about in the newspaper right now, let's meet, let's take a picture, let's post it. with 15,000 hours, 900 search warrants, that is enormous. i would wonder if there's ever been a moment in fbi history where they've had so much evidence to go through in such a short period of time. >> it's just a remarkable insight. neal katyal, i have one more for you. today is your birthday. and i'm going to embarrass you by thanking you for being part of the biggest stories here. all three of you, but neal, you've brought so much to our coverage in some of the biggest stories until the last four years. so happy birthday and thank you very, very much. >> thanks, no better birthday present than to be with you. >> i don't know, you're going to make me wonder about sending cupcakes or something if that's actually true. i hope you have a great day and a happy birthday. neal katyal, carol leonnig, clint watt, thank you for talking to us about what's going on in washington. up next, lead impeachment manager jamie raskin unloading on republicans and their obsession with faux cancel culture after trump basically tried to cancel joe biden's legitimate and fraud-free victory, that's next. plus the clapback gets more ferocious against a fox host who mocked the idea of women in the u.s. military. we'll show that to you. and as we head into the weekend with a new sense of hope, as more and more people are getting vaccinated, we'll look at the safest way to make that emotional reunion between your kids and their grandparents. "deadline white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. break. don't go anywhere. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ ♪ ♪♪ ♪ ♪ (quiet piano music) ♪ ♪ comfort in the extreme. the lincoln family of luxury suvs. keeping your oysters business growing has you swamped. you need to hire. i need indeed indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo (deborah vo) i was hesitant to get the hearing aids because of my short hair, but nobody even sees them. (vo) discover the exclusive, new miracle-earmini- a nearly invisible hearing aid from the brand leader in hearing aids with over 70 years of experience. (deborah) when i finally had miracle-ear and i could hear for the first time, i started crying. i could hear everything. new miracle-earmini. so small and comfortable that no one will see them, but you'll notice the difference. call today to start your 30-day risk-free trial at your local miracle-ear. so i want to respond to today's waterfall of counterfeit outrage and indignation. mr. jordan talks about cancel culture. which is fascinating to me. of course donald trump tried to cancel out the entire election and cancel out our lives in the process. doesn't anybody have any sense of democratic self-respect about our own constitution? perhaps cancel culture doesn't apply to our lives and our government. you talk to me about cancel culture? you invented cancel culture. this right wing cancel culture has run amok as they try to turn a once-great political party into a religious cult where everyone has to follow the cult of personality around donald trump. you talk about cancel culture? you invented cancel culture and you continue to stand by while they try to cancel out the voices of anybody in the republican party who disagrees with donald trump. >> he has a point, they're literally trying to cancel women in the military, right now. that was democratic congressman jamie raskin at a house hearing calling out in a beautiful way gop hypocrisy in the wake of the january 6 insurrection. as republicans in their delusions push back against the idea, the notion, of any accountability at all for lawmakers who supported trump's efforts to lie and then overturn the election. politico reports that the hearing, quote, billed as an academic review of lawmakers' ability to punish or expel one another under house rules, quickly devolved into outrage and toxic environment that has enveloped capitol hill since a mob of pro-trump supporters sent the lawmakers fleeing for their lives. a.b. stoddard, republicans have a lot of muscle memory for rapid response and both-sides-ism. but there are not two sides of the insurrection. those were donald trump's supporters. the lie was told by donald trump. it is on them. and it seems that at a moment where they should take responsibility and clean out their own house, they've become even crazier than before. >> right. i think, nicolle, we talked after november 3 and before january 6 a lot about what a long time that was as the president continued to try to amplify the big lie. and we knew from just reading the news, without any intelligence reports, that there was the potential for violence and we knew that republican members of congress and republican senators knew that too. it just didn't take being an agent somewhere in the government to have access to secret information to know that that was real and that the president was stoking it with his fantasies. what we did not know was how much republicans, after that horrifying and traumatic event, would just in such a short time be able to walk away from it. and that happened after president trump made clear that a litmus test for his support next year and going forward for any elected republican is to curry favor with him in this fantasy of the big lie, to continue the lie, to go after voting rights, and to really downplay 1/6. they are embracing a new version of this, that it's no big deal, that it's not, quote, an armed insurrection like senator johnson, in an effort to put it behind everybody and move on as a party to changing voting laws and making donald trump happy. i was prepared for violence on january 6. i was not prepared for how quickly they could walk away from this. democrats in the congress are truly traumatized by this, they know there won't be a way forward to sanction any of the members like that hearing was supposed to discuss. but they're stunned by the whitewashing and the denial. >> but what do you do? there are people -- >> what can you do? >> but there are people in the party with a conscience and a spine. >> right. >> what do liz cheney and mitt romney and not to put it all on them, but there's nobody's, what can they join the democrats to do to say -- i think raskin's most poetic line there was, we don't have any self-respect for our own democratic institutions. this is an extension of self-loathing, and i'll leave that to the shrinks, but what responsibility do the republicans have to get rid of the people who have, as you said, sought to have no consequences for seeking to overturn the election, no consequences for fanning the flame and inciting the insurrectionists themselves and no consequences for what is clearly a racially motivated effort to disenfranchise voters? >> well, like i said, nicolle, sometime after january 6 and the week that followed with people visiting mar-a-lago and lots of, you know, releases from president trump, they've made their decision. and so there are actually members of the 121 house republicans who voted to decertify the election who used to work with democrats. they're not all louie gohmert and jim jordan. so it's shocking to democrats that they can't proceed with a working relationship with people who were working to bring down democracy and overthrow the government. but they look at people like liz cheney and adam kinzinger and know they've done what they can. they're not going to get on the house floor tomorrow and start screaming about how we have to preserve the constitution, a constitutionally separate branch of government that has every right to be a check on the executive, and that what happened that day was a severe attack on one of our branches of government, an attack on the actual election itself, an attempt to steal it and overturn the results. so, you know, the democrats recognize that even the last ones standing, they said what they said in january and now they don't expect them to do any more. >> aisha, i know from my coverage of it that what republicans are really afraid of is what stacey abrams proposed this week, making it noncommercial to be for rolling back access to ballots and voting for disenfranchising voters. and i wonder, again, i don't ever want to put it on democrats to solve the problems of the corrupt party on the other side of the aisle because it's not their problem, but i wonder what ways that stacey abrams' notion can be operationalized against some of these members who are taking anti-democratic positions and antivoting rights positions. >> nicolle, this is so tricky and troubling. what the good democrats will say is that there are things that maybe could be done but they would go against the grain of the way our legislature, our democracy have always functioned, right? and there's a real trepidation around knee-jerking to try to have accountability because maybe in five years or three years or ten years, if the republicans were in our position, then they might do something, you know, harmful to us. and i struggle with this because i really want to focus on this idea of lack of accountability. the senate right now has gone back and forth whether to get rid of the filibuster. this is really related, to me, because it gets to a point where the democrats have to decide on how they're going to save themselves. this isn't about how do we just, you know, deal with the republicans and how they're evil. at the end of the day you've got one side that is attempting to rig the game all the way around and is running buck wild and there's no check and balance. the democrats are going to have to decide. if they are going to do things that are nonnonconventional, frankly, if they're going to break tradition in order to figure out how to seize this moment for the future. and i don't know that there's an appetite and a stomach for that holistically in the democratic party. some of these people who in my opinion led the coup, maybe they used to work with republicans, but we are long past that point. this harkening for yesteryear and thinking we're going back to some sense of civility is done. the questions becomes to me strategically, what are the democrats willing to roll up their sleeves and do. i love congressman raskin and i love that so many people are using aggressive language in calling a spade a spade, but in terms of how congress works, they're in control right now. so are they willing to pull different levers than they've ever pulled before? we'll see. >> is there appetite to look within themselves and say, we should just do what mitch mcconnell would do because he's a killer and we're never going to take it to the degree he does, but now that we have control, we're going to use power the same way the republicans did? or do democrats not want to sort of stoop to that? what does that debate look like for democrats, aisha? >> we are better people. the debate always is we're not going to stoop to their level, what we have is goodness, we have the conviction of what's right and justice and that moral arc on our side and we're not going to sink ourselves to be them in order to try to get somewhere. but here's the challenge that we face. that's all great and true, and i think fundamentally values are first and foremost matter. but now we're talking about a game that's rigged. and structurally, if the democrats don't do something that might make them get a little dirty in the short term, they could be out of power for a generation. i'm thinking about filibuster, passing hr 1. this is super consequential now. it's not the time to play nice guy, in my humble opinion. but that's what the debate is. >> thank you so much for spending time with us, asheesh shah. a.b. is sticking around. more and more military people are fighting back after a fox news host mocked women in combat. don't go anywhere. combat don't go anywhere. i'll take that. yeeeeeah! 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar drink, play, and win big in the powered by protein challenge! managing type 2 diabetes? you're on it. staying fit and snacking light? yup, on it 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your doctor about jardiance. wealth is breaking ground on your biggest project yet. worth is giving the people who build it a solid foundation. wealth is shutting down the office for mike's retirement party. worth is giving the employee who spent half his life with you, the party of a lifetime. wealth is watching your business grow. worth is watching your employees grow with it. principal. for all it's worth. and in an emergency, they need a network that puts them first. that connects them to technology, to each other, and to other agencies. that's why at&t built firstnet with and for first responders the emergency response network authorized by congress. firstnet. because putting them first is our job. appreciate the shoutout during women's history month. but it's not the first time he's attacked women who serve. >> what a coward. tammy duckworth is a fraud. this is a mockery of the u.s. military. >> no, sir. this is the u.s. military. the men and women who defend your freedom. and a prep schoolboy like you will never understand. >> who at fox news is anti military on their bingo card for march? last night, tucker carlson defended his mockery of maternity flight suits and inclusive efforts by the pentagon which he attacked again after pentagon leaders said yesterday they would never, quote, take personnel advice from a talk show host. women make up 17% of the armed forces and congresswoman mikie sherrill, a former navy pilot, tweeted, quote, i signed up to serve my country at 18. tucker carlson did not. i served with women who risked their lives to protect the country. tucker carlson did not. while he denigrates those who serve, the military relies on servicewomen. joining me, james stavridis, author of the new book "2034: a novel of the next world war." we'll ask you about that, but admiral, first, set the record straight here about women in the military. >> first and foremost, every woman i have encountered in a long career, 37 years in the navy, was brave, determined, and a volunteer to serve her country. you know, i commanded a destroyer in the 1990s for about a year, and it had an all-male crew. then it became one of the first destroyers in the navy to embark women. so i then commanded the same ship for about a year and a half with a mixed gender crew, with women. i will tell you unequivocally, it was a better ship after the women came aboard, for a wide variety of reasons. we deployed, we went into combat, we did all the things you would expect. i would just conclude by saying, let's look at somebody like michelle howard, who is an african-american woman, first black four-star admiral woman. she is remarkable. she was our on-scene commander during the rescue of captain phillips. she was the one who gave the authorization to the snipers to open fire. women are in every part of the military virtually at this point. and in my experience have been nothing but additive to what goes on in our military capability. >> and there's absolutely no evidence to the contrary, so let me just push you a little bit here, admirable. what is the impact of tucker's comments? are women made more or less safe and comfortable inside the military when tucker's comments are amplified? >> let's start by just scanning tucker carlson's biography on wikipedia because i wanted to know if he served in the military and had bad experiences in the military. oh, my gosh, turns out he's never served a day in his life in the military. he's a prep school guy, he went to st. george's prep school on newport, rhode island, one of the most elite prep schools in the country. he's never touched service to this nation. i would say that women not only feel safe in the military, but they look and feel a sense of scorn for the kind of snarky comments he made. i think it's really that simple. >> a.b., it's a pretty high bar for us to cover anything that mr. carlson says. but i think it's important, when you walk around and you see people screaming at people wearing masks in grocery stores and you see, we covered hate crimes against asian-americans in the last hour, words have consequences. and hatred, hatred and disdain and intolerance directed toward women will have consequences. and i wonder, and i'm not going to ask you where republicans are because we know, right, they're gone, they're awol, but i wonder what responsibility the network has, that network has, to do something about misogynistic comments that may put women in danger. >> well, nicolle, tucker did not rise to be their greatest ratings star because he was being nice. i mean, he's one of the smartest anchors on television and knows that those comments were going to offend people. to say about the pentagon, the military, that they've made a mockery of themselves, is a very strong statement. he knew it was going to invite pushback. and then last night he compared it to, you know, the government trying to squelch dissent and treating his show like a hostile foreign power. the republicans and conservative media have been leaning into culture wars for a long time for two reasons. one, they no longer agree on policy, they don't agree on trade, they don't agree on debt, they ever agreed on health care, they didn't speak about china until trump left office, now it seems to be their favorite subject. and in conservative media, on shows like tucker's, if you've watched it for years, even when president trump was in office, he hit these themes because they often never even mentioned president trump. it was all about media bias and the pronoun police and white grievance and cancel culture because these are very popular with the base of the republican party who pollsters have learned, among many white christian men 60 and over, the number one threat to -- their number one issue and passionate concern is an existential threat to the american way of life from democrats and the media. it's not policy. and so a constant fight, whether it's goofy and it's dr. seuss or mr. potatohead, or these other things, basically attacks on the other side for culture reasons, these culture fights that are often offensive, he goes viral, he goes viral again, continue to work, because he has the highest rated show and the audience loves it. so that's not something that's going to go away. i will be interested to know if there are many vets in that audience, if that ends up boomeranging. but these themes and fights and wars will stay very heated in the years to come because that's what the voters have said that they like. >> can i just pick up on that? in the sense that i can tell you how the vets are going to react to this and i can tell you how the active duty are going to react to this. they don't like it when a guy like tucker carlson, who in this case literally has no idea what he's talking about, he's speaking from the pinnacle of almost perfect ignorance, takes on 20% of the armed forces. people in the military see themselves as part of a brotherhood and a sisterhood. as i used to say to the sailors on the "uss berry," by the way, every command i had after that in the navy for the latter half of my career included courageous, brave, stalwart women. so when he picks a fight with the women in the military, he's picking a fight with the entire military and the entire retired community. i assure you of that. >> that's reassuring. admiral james stavridis, thank you so much. a.b. stoddard, thank you both for spending time with us. breaking news to bring you before we head to break, new york's two democratic senators, chuck schumer and kirsten gillibrand, are now calling on the state's governor, andrew cuomo, to resign. the senators write, quote, confronting and overcoming the covid crisis requires sure and steady leadership. we commend the brave actions of the individuals who have come forward with serious allegations of abuse and misconduct. due to the multiple credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it is clear that governor cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners and the people of new york. governor cuomo should resign. again, that's a statement from chuck schumer, kirsten gillibrand. and their call comes after the majority of the new york delegation in the house of representatives today called for the governor's resignation. when we return, it's one of the hardest parts of pandemic life, right? being isolated from the people we love the most. our families. now as more americans are getting vaccinated, what we need to know about planning those emotional reunions safely. that story is next. -go talk to him. -yeah, no. plus it's not even like he'd be into me or whatever. ♪♪ ♪ this could be ♪ hi. you just moved in, right? i would love to tell you about all the great savings you can get for bundling your renter's and car insurance with progressive. -oh, i was just -- -oh, tammy. i found your retainer in the dryer. we need to reduce plastic waste in the environment. that's why at america's beverage companies, our bottles are made to be re-made. not all plastic is the same. we're carefully designing our bottles to be one hundred percent recyclable, including the caps. they're collected and separated from other plastics, so they can be turned back into material that we use to make new bottles. that completes the circle, and reduces plastic waste. please help us get every bottle back. new projects means new project managers. that completes the circle, and you need to hire.aste. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. in a recent clinical study, patients using salonpas patch reported reductions in pain severity, using less or a lot less oral pain medicines. and improved quality of life. that's why we recommend salonpas. it's good medicine. we don't have to tell viewers of this program that in the past year, in addition to the lives lost, the pandemic has robbed all of us of so much. one of the losses felt most keenly across every single demographic group is the joy of being together with older loved ones in your family. grandparents unable to see their grandchildren, adults unable to hug mom and dad, long married couples sometimes unable to be in the same room. now with more and more americans getting vaccinated every day, every hour, things are start to go get better, our colleague cal perry reports. >> i love you, i love you, i love you. how long since it's been since you touched me. >> reporter: a reunion one year in the making. >> good thing we have to keep the mask on, otherwise i would be smooching all over your face. >> reporter: kay and orlen wentz have spent the last year apart, in different nursing homes in nebraska. on monday, orlen surprised kay with a visit. >> i love you. >> i love you too. >> reporter: a long overdue hug made possible because kay and orlen are now fully vaccinated. >> i don't tear a lot. i do tear inside. and that was just emotional. >> i still can't believe i'm seeing him. it's the first chance i've had to touch him in over a year. it's >> reporter: the couple hope they can soon get back together with their entire family, five children and more than 60 grand and great grandchildren. until then, kay will settle for the love of her life. >> i'm home sick for a small room where i can be with him. it's not the way think of when i married to somebody for 53 years, sitting around here shivering to death. i'd like to see him and like to have him hold me tight. i love you, i love you, i love you. >> nicolle, there are two more vaccines right around the corner. novavax said yesterday their vaccine is 96% effective against mild, moderate or severe cases. add to that the astrazeneca vaccine already in use across europe. it's at the end of its trial. they will apply for emergency use this month or next month. for somebody who excels in using serious news on your prog state, it is bad news. i think we can cross our fingers. throw a little salt over your shoulder. there is reason as we heard last night from the president to be optimistic. >> and what a love story. i barely had time to get myself back together, and i'm going bring into my conversation dr. michael anderson, critical care physician and disaster response consultant. cal is so wise to bring us that account, because my 9-year-old misses his grandparents so much. but there are couples who have been kept apart. and she said there so beautifully, i just want to be held. >> what a great report. and you're right. hope is here. i can't believe it's been a year. a year since we officially declared a pandemic. and so many lives lost and people injured by this virus. over half a million americans. but hope is here. there are three eua emergency authorize approved vaccines. and as you point out, nicolle, day by day, week by week, the number of americans getting vaccinated is steadily increasing, especially those individuals that are high risk like the terrific couple you just showed. and as cal points out, there are two others in the wings. so as we roll into springs, it's obviously been a very long year. it's so terrific that now we can actually -- because i've been on your show talking about bad news. and i would agree with cal. now it's good that we're starting to bring hope to the story. >> dr. anderson, what do you expect the numbers to do? they're still going down. some of our friends, medical experts warn of the variants, but is it possible that our vaccinations intersect with the rise of the variants and we don't have another surge? >> that's probably what we're hoping for. that's what we're hoping for. we're also planning for the variants. and as you point out, the variants do cause concern. so far the vaccines still seem to be effective against the variants, and the very important antibody therapies that we have to treat patients that have turned covid positive that aren't sick enough to be admitted, those so far seem to be effective against the variants. so i am hopeful. i am hopeful that as we get closer to that elusive concept called herd immunity, where the great majority of us have immunity, that we're going to have brighter days ahead. but i think that the infrastructure, the cdc health and human service, the pharmaceutical industry, we are all really keyed in on these variants to make sure that as they arise, we attack them and we figure out what are the most appropriate tools to use against them. >> you know, cal, i had this thought watching president biden last night. obviously he has made it the top priority of his new white house to heal the country, to speed vaccinations. america has failed at every other juncture when it comes to the pandemic. we have new management and we have this aggressive push around vaccines, but we don't talk that much about our responsibility globally. what is the hope on the world stage about what role america will play in vaccine distribution and supply? >> i was watching the speech last night. and i had this overwhelming feeling that i was wholly unprepared to cover government competency. when you look at the roll-out that the u.s. has done since president trump left, right, it's true. i was listening to the president. and he was saying obvious things that should be done that are being done. here in england, where my family lives, and try to mack my way back and forth, we've also seen a phenomenal roll-out of the vaccine. both the u.s. and england, which were hit so hard by the coronavirus and really set the tone pour the world, i mean the lockdowns and the mismanagement at the beginning has been turned around. you look at the oxford-astrazeneca vaccine. the way that the u.s. rolls this out is going to be key for the rest of the world. this is the vaccine that is going to go to the rest of the world. it can be stored at a lower temperature. it's easy to make. it's easy to distribute. it will be distributed into africa, across europe, across the middle east. the way that the u.s. rolls it out, sets the example will be key for the world. >> all right. we'll be watching. we'll continue to have that conversation with both of you. nbc's cal perry and dr. michael anderson, thank you both so much for spending some time with us. when we return, as we do every day we will remember lives well lived. i've been taking prevagen on a regular basis for at least eight years. for me, the greatest benefit over the years has been that prevagen seems to help me recall things and also think more clearly. and i enthusiastically recommend prevagen. it has helped me an awful lot. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. to support local restaurants, we've been to every city, including boise... ...and even bakersfield. yeah, we're exhausted. whew! so, tonight... i'll be eating the gyro quesadilla from...al quick stop...in... hyde park. 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"the beat" with ari melber starts right now. hi, ari. >> hi, nicolle. thank you and thank you for that. i want to welcome everyone to "the beat." i am ari melber. let me tell you tonight we do have a very big show. president biden touting the landmark progressive sweeping covid bill. we're also reporting later tonight on new details about new york prosecutors circling donald trump's finances, legal trouble. and as attorney general garland begins work officially, new clues on where the biden doj's case, including conspiracy charges regarding the insurrection is headed. so we have all that tonight. but we begin with the top story. sometimes there is debate over what the most important thing happening is. sometimes in newsrooms we don't know throughout the whole day or into the evening what the top stories will be. sometimes it doesn't even feel like there is one top national story. and then there are times like this where just about e