>> if we're not spreading the infection, isn't it just theater? >> no, it's not. >> and you are wearing two masks. isn't that theater? >> no, it's not. here we go again with the theater. let's get down to the facts. >> plus, congresswoman katie porter on covid relief. and adam mckay on his new document deep dive into the origins of qanon. >> trump put this photo on twitter. so, you can see, if you trace the thumbs, they make a q. when "all in" starts right now. good evening, from new york. i am chris hayes. tonight, we are learning more about some of the eight victims of that horrific-shooting spree in the atlanta area, on tuesday. 33 years old, a wife and mother to two children. she and her husband mario were at young's asian massage tuesday for a relaxing-spa day. just to get a little time to themselves. when the shooting began, they were in two different rooms. mario was able to lock himself inside one of those rooms, and escape, uninjured. family members described alana as their rock, who always welcomed people into her home and threw the best birthday and holiday parties. paul andre michaels, age 52, was a veteran from the u.s. army infantry. described by his brother as a hard-working local business owner. even working as a handyman at the spa, building shelves there on tuesday afternoon when the shooting took place. michaels leaves behind his wife of more than 20 years. 49-year-old tan was the owner of young's asian massage and at least one other spa in the area. she was a licensed-massage therapist, herself. she emigrated from china, many years ago, her friend told "usa today." tan, who went by emily, had a daughter who recently graduated from the university of georgia. the friend described her as, quote, the sweetest person you'd ever meet. the first 24 hours after the shootings, the humanity of those victims with was largely obscured while the shooter's was on full display. police portrayed him as a struggling-sex addict having a, quote, bad day. >> he, apparently, has an issue. what he considers a -- a -- a sex addiction. and sees these locations as something that allows him to -- to -- to go to these places and -- and it's a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate. he was, pretty much, fed up, and kind of at the end of his rope. and yesterday was a really bad day for him, and this is what he did. >> that officer, captain jay baker with the cherokee county sheriff's office, has faced, as you ever probably seen, a lot of criticism for those remarks. perhaps, even more since it was revealed that he posted a facebook -- photo on facebook last year showing a racist t-shirt referring to covid-19 as an imported virus from china. seems like a reference to the former president. that is what an officer investigating the murder of asian-american women thinks that's what he chose to post publicly because he had thought it was funny. it puts, into stark relief, this question that we ever been facing a lot, recently, frankly. which kinds of perpetrators and suspects are seen as full-human subjects? people, who you can model the internal states of. someone who got out of control, or did something unruly or had a bad day. and which perpetrators and suspects are just savages and animals and thugs and violent criminals? republican senator, ron johnson, said it loud and clear after the attack on the capitol. >> i am, also, criticized because i've made the comment that, on january 6th, i never felt threatened, because i didn't. and mainly, because i knew that, even though those thousands of people that -- that were marching the capitol. >> yeah. >> were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote. i knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to -- to break a law. and so, i wasn't concerned. now, had the tables been turned and, joe, this could get me in trouble. had the tables been turned and president trump won the election, and those were tens of thousands of black lives matter and antifa protestors, i might've been a little concerned. >> it's all right there, right? in what ron johnson said. all of it. it's who is law abiding, respectful, who you have to be scared of. the inability of so many on the right and, maybe, some of the police officers involved, to conceive the rioters who attacked the capitol, as people who could be violent because of who they were and what they looked like. the failure to prepare for that violence. and the effort of people, like ron johnson, to extend to them the maximum amount of empathy. just like officer baker did to the gunman, in atlanta. keep in mind, january 6th was one of the worst days of injuries for u.s. law enforcement since 9/11. at least 138 officers wounded, and nearly-every single day, brings more evidence about just how brutal the attack was. today, the fbi released new footage of ten suspects. these are people who have not, yet, been apprehended, who say they committed some of the most violent attacks on officers protecting the capitol, that day. and i want to warn you, the video is disturbing. >> [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. [ bleep ]. p ]. >> that is just a small portion of what the fbi posted, today. that gentleman, there, who, yeah, is a full-human subject, and all kinds of complicating factors but who appears in that video to be beating the crap out of police officers with what looks like a bat. the fbi is looking for information about these suspects. you can go to fbi.gov/capitolviolence. to see more footage like this clip, showing a rioter. nbc news washington also obtained this video today. similar to the previous video from the fbi. where you see rioters attacking officers with what looks like baseball bats. and all this is on top of what we already know happened on january 6th. when rioters trapped this officer in a door, leaving him crying out in pain. they threw a fire extinguisher at a group of police. they tried to steal officers' weapons, yelling, quote, kill him with his own gun. stole an officer's badge and then bury it in the backyard after he was beaten. including one officer who sustained scars under her eyes and officer brian sicknick, who later died. by the way, the rioters did those things, while flying the thin-blue line flags. rioters or even police officers themselves. we know at least nine members of law enforcement were there and have been charged. and after all this, the house held a vote on a resolution, yesterday. to award congressional gold medals to the police who protected them on january 6th. that measure passed but 12 republicans voted against it. they voted against honoring the officers who saved their lives that day, because they objected to certain language in the rez resolution, like the term insurrectionists. it's obviously not about the words. they just don't want to talk about the violent reality of what happened. who did it? there is a lot going on right now. senator tammy duckworth joins me now. senator, it does seem like a fairly uncontroversial and pro forma resolution. what do you make of it? >> well, i'm flabbergasted that there would be those no votes. but unfortunately, in this day and age, i'm not surprised. it's sickening. you know, our -- our capitol police officers, and district of columbia police and the national guardsmen who came to the rescue, deserve all of our upon respect. and i think this is really -- it's incredible they would vote against it and i hope no republicans in the senate vote against but i suspect, unfortunately, there will be some. >> you do? you think there will be no votes in the senate? >> i think there will be some no votes in the senate, yes. and i don't know how you can -- how you can vote against honoring these courageous men and women who protected -- protected us that day. >> i think i struggle, myself, a little bit. with -- with how -- where that -- that day fits in the -- in the national imagination. and i am going to talk to you in -- in a moment about what happened at atlanta. but i do think there is a little bit of a through line of, like, the stories that we tell. the stories about who the perpetrators of violence are and who are its victims and who should be feared and who should not? and there is this kind of desire, i think, by a lot of republicans and conservatives to just kind of never talk about that, again. and kind of, push it out of everyone's minds. >> well, they would like that to happen. remember, the number of veterans who were part of the insurrectionist crowd as well. and in fact, i have had many conversations with secretary austin and other members of the biden administration at dod about how we absolutely need to look at any type of white supremacists that are still members of the military. and how they are being targeted for recruitment by -- by white-supremacist groups and we need to weed this out. >> there is a domestic-extremism report from the director of national intelligence, chds that racially or ethnically motivated and violent extremists, militia-violent extremists present the most lethal threats. with the most persistent and concerning transnational connections. it does seem like there is a kind of belated acknowledgment of the centrality of this in terms of whatever threats there may be for the american people. >> oh, absolutely. and, you know, i think this whole idea of police officer on police officer violence, with those officers who ever been turned by white extremists, is really scary to me. and i know it's got to be scary for the other police officers, as well. to look out -- now, capitol police for example, to look out and realize, hey, these were their brothers in blew, some of whom -- actively serving brothers in blue who attacked them that day. >> you had a tweet in response to the news about the sheriff in cherokee county selling those t-shirts or at least tweeting about them. not only should this racist be fired, we need an independent investigation to find out if his racism influenced his performance on the job to protect all of cherokee county. why were you so upset about that? >> well, i am so upset about it because crimes against asian-americans. hate crimes against asian-americans is an underrepresented-crime group in this country. asian-americans are often the victims of violence based on race, but it doesn't get reported as that. it gets reported as, you know, it's a mugging or something else. when it was really a hate crime, based on race. time and time again and this especially happens to asian women. you saw what happened in atlanta. there is an oversexualization of asian women. and then, viewing them as being more submissive and weaker. so they become the victims of crimes much more often, along with elderly asians. and so, when you have law-enforcement officers, the people you are supposed to turn to for help. who are belittling, you know, the severity of these crimes. then, you have a situation where these crimes just don't get reported. in fact, i issued -- i sent two letters today. one to the fbi director, mr. wray. and one to attorney general garland, asking to, please, conduct formal investigations into the underreporting of crimes against asian-americans that are hate crimes in this country. >> you represent a state that has a large asian-american/pacific-islander population. and i -- i -- i -- i have lived in that state, myself. and i wonder what you are hearing from your constituents. i know i have just been hearing from a lot of people. there's really a lot of fear and anxiety and anger, not before what happened in atlanta. but particularly, in the aftermath of that atrocity. >> there is a lot of fear. i've heard from so many asian-americans across the country. not just in my home state and not just in the city of chicago. we know that crimes against asian-americans that are hate crimes rose by over 150% in america's major cities just this past year. 3,800 crimes were reported this past year. and we know those are underrepresented numbers. i'm so grateful that our mayor lightfoot, in chicago, has stepped up and said that she's going to beef up protection. and -- and -- and patrols in and among asian-american areas. chicago. we are a city of neighborhoods, right? so, you know where china town is. you know where little saigon is. just as in la, you know where korea town is. and so, asian-americans are easily targeted and easily attacked in these communities and there is just a lot of fear right now. >> senator tammy duckworth. testified today at a house hearing we are going to cover in a moment. senator from illinois. thank you so much for taking some time with us tonight. >> thanks for having me on, chris. really was an incredible day on capitol hill today. one republican congressman used it as his own tone-deaf soapbox. >> and that's the reality of what i tend to refer to as the chi-coms. and i'm not going to be ashamed to say i oppose the chi-.coms. >> okay. you are going to want to hear the response from that, including from congressman ted lieu, next. don't go anywhere. acetaminophen blocks it. advil dual action. fast pain relief that lasts 8 hours. managing type 2 diabetes? you're on it. staying fit and snacking light? yup, on it there too. you may think you're doing all you can to manage type 2 diabetes and heart disease... ...but could your medication do more to lower your heart risk? 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>> thank you, chris, for your question. there's actually been a long history of discrimination against asian-americans. in the past, when america felt threatened, sometimes, you would have discrimination against ethnic groups. so we had the whole yellow peril hysteria. you had the internment of japanese americans with the rise of japan in the 1980s and fears of that. you had vincent chin, who was murdered. and now, you have this pandemic causing a surge in asian-american hate crimes. and many in the community have experienced this, and they were expressing it nationally at this hearing and that was a good thing for people to understand. >> you know, katy, i want to -- i want to talk a little about the hate-crime question. because i think it's -- it's category people have a hard time actually getting their arms around. there is an intuitive sense, right, that someone who commits a criminal act out of hatred of a certain-ethnic group is committing it. i want to play you what the atlanta pd said today. and then, get your thoughts about what, actually, we are dealing with legally, statutorily. so, this is what the atlanta police had to say today. >> the investigation into a possible-hate crime. is that still on the table? >> our investigation is looking at everything, so nothing is off the table for our investigation. >> you -- you wrote, today, for us, about the sort of difficulty of these prosecutions. what is your sense of -- of where this investigation sits? and what that bar is to clear? >> well, the spokesperson for the atlanta pd, chris, did the right thing. versus, what we heard yesterday during that press conference with the cherokee county sheriff's department. where they basically dehumanized the victims, humanized the shooter, and basically parroted what could potentially be a false narrative from the shooter, in this case. but, chris, it's really important for everybody to understand that hate crimes are notoriously difficult to prosecute. you know, you think if it walks like a duck, it talks like a duck, it must be a duck. and we get it. we have eight victims of murder. six of whom, are asian and women. and the good news about the georgia hate crime statute, which, by the way, was only enacted last year. last year. georgia was one of only four states in the united states that did not have a hate-crime statute on its books. and effective july 1st of 2020, spurred in part because of the ahmaud arbery murder that happened in february of last year. georgia finally got its hate-crime statute back on the books. it had one before. it was declared unconstitutional and struck down in 2004. but that hate-crime statute, actually, doesn't just cover race and religion and national origin. it covers gender. so, for the cherokee county sheriff's department to say, you know what? race wasn't a factor according to the shooter. well, boy, that is a convenient thing for the shooter to say. and maybe, the evidence will play out to be the case, chris, at the end of the day, that it it was not. and that's why it's important for the investigation to unfold. for a deep dive to happen. the guy's social media. we know that he has a history. well, what is that history? let's not race to figure out that this wasn't racially motivated until we actually look at all the evidence. >> and, congressman, there is obviously a sort of larger issue here that strikes me about, a, the sort of rhetorical environment that has been created in the country. particularly, over the last year of the pandemic. particularly, as -- as people like congressman roy want to rail against the ruling party of china. but also, just the data and -- and -- and -- and getting a sense of what, exactly, we are seeing. what do you see as the challenges at least in terms of federal policy? >> at the hearing today, the expert witnesses testified that their research shows there is a clear link between rhetoric and hate crimes. and when you have the former president of the united states saying racist phrases, like kung flu, you can see that there was, also, a surge in hate crimes against the asian-american community. in fact, the data shows that, in the 16-largest cities in america, it was nearly-150 percent increase in hate crimes, in 2020. so, i just call on my republican legislators to, please, stop using ethnic identifiers in describing a virus. i am not a virus. so, stop using these ethnic identifiers because you are harming the asian-american community. >> katy, when you talked about the -- the hate crime statute and the sort of necessity of intent. part of it, too, right, is we do have first amendment. we don't want to have viewpoint discrimination in terms of how we deal with people and the crimes they commit. it also seems, in this case, this is an individual who is going to get a lot of time, no matter what, right? >> yeah. so, georgia has murder statutes. georgia still has the death penalty. >> right. >> i mean, if -- if the purpose of a hate crime statute is a deterrent, georgia's statute really is a weak-sauce one. it only adds an additional two years if you are convicted of a felony and only additional-12 months in jail if you are convicted of five enumerated misdemeanors. but the idea is, you know, hate crimes, you not only have to prove the murder. but you have to prove that the defendant intentionally targeted a protected class of person. and that's why that is going to be the challenge not only in this case but in many cases. but the other important component of this hate crime statute in georgia is that it also forces law enforcement to have to report these hate crimes. >> right. >> we've heard, time and time again, that the failure to report is what the problem is. and that's why hate crimes really need to be classified appropriately. maybe that wasn't just a battery. maybe, it was an aggravated battery because of the hate component of it. >> right. >> and that's why that's a crucial part of this statute. but as congressman lieu says, you know, the words matter. rhetoric matters. and that is what is emboldening a lot of the people that we're seeing, that are attacking asians now. >> congressman ted lieu and katy fang, thank you so much for being with me. really appreciate it. next, how did some bizarre, meaningless post on a somewhat-obscure online message board turn into one of the most influential conspiracy theories of of our time? adam mckay tackles that in his latest documentary series and he is here to talk about it next. e. 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 reduce bipolar depression symptoms, and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. now i'm feeling connected. empowered. latuda is not for everyone. call your doctor about unusual mood changes, behaviors or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens, and young adults. elderly dementia patients on latuda have an increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, and confusion, as these may be life-threatening, or uncontrollable muscle movements as these may be permanent. these are not all the serious side effects. this is where i want to be. talk to your doctor and ask if latuda could make the difference you've been looking for in your bipolar depression symptoms. do you know about the q movement? are you familiar with what that is? >> i am familiar with that. >> do you think q is a bad thing? or -- or is it just sort of -- i mean -- what's your opinion? >> no, i mean, honestly, everything i have heard of q, i hope -- i hope that this is real because it only means america is getting stronger and better. republican congressman lauren boebert seems open to the qanon-conspiracy theory that donald trump was recruited as president to take on a cabal of satan-worshipping democrats. a few days ago when asked about accountability, while name dropping a far-right newspaper that has helped spread qanon-conspiracy theories in the past. telling the crowd i heard someone who is in very close contact with president trump talk to the owner of the epoch times. well, boebert seems to sympathize, at least with the thrust of the qanon-conspiracy theory. she's stopped short of calling herself an actual follower of q. unlike many of the people who forced their way into the capitol, on january 6th. believing they would receive further instructions from trump. as we have covered on the show has become some kind of super-conspiracy theory. with millions of followers on facebook. and this sunday, the hbo documentary series, "q into the storm" takes an extended look at what it's all about. >> q proofs. evidence that q is close to trump, or close to somebody who is close to trump. photos, random codes, and sometimes-dated references, inspire the player to research online to connect what ever dots they may find and invent new theories. >> trump put this photo on twitter. so, you can see, if you trace the thumbs, they make a q. >> adam mckay, executive producer of that docu-series and he joins me, now. adam, it's great to have you on. i -- i got to watch a few of these episodes. and i -- i really loved it and i found it fascinating. how did this project come together? >> you know, it was, sort of, out of left field. we were contacted by cullen, a filmmaker who's done a lot of great documentaries. and he presented this footage to us, that he had been inside the rise of the -- with the owners and creators of that site starting thee years ago. when q was a pretty small, little, fringe-conspiracy theory. and he stayed inside of it and had a view on the growth of q that, i think, very few people have -- have achieved. and we were absolutely blown away by the footage he was showing us. >> yeah. one of the things i -- i found, sort of, compelling and humanizing about it is you sort of watch people go down the road of it. and it -- it -- from something that's casual, to something that feels both cultish and overwhelming and sort of takes over their life. >> yeah. i think, what -- what people don't fully understand about it is that the more it doesn't fit into the elites' framework of how the world should work. the more powerful it makes the movement. and these are people that have lived through, you know, the idea that the economists told us that, if we give up our factories, that it's going to be good for everyone. they saw colin powell, the most-trusted man in america, tell us that, you know, iraq had weapons of mass destruction. they saw the obama administration say that there were no bankers worth prosecuting. and i think, at a certain point, what you saw was a large group of people decide to go into another reality. a reality, that not necessarily was based on logic but, one that was their own. and that's precisely what's so powerful about it. >> but there is, also, something about it that seems, in some ways, almost divorced from any particularities, insofar as like there's this very deep-human desire to make connections. i am reminded the first time someone tried to pull me aside at a party when i was a teenager and tell me about illuminati. and spin out this whole thing. you know, this has this -- this has this political valence, as well, right? it's that -- it's all of the kind of allure of putting together some puzzle people don't see. but it's in service of this very intense, political movement. >> yeah. i think, what's interesting about it is it really relates -- you could look at gamer -- or gamestop as kind of the same idea. or you could look at bitcoin, where you have these groups of people that have had enough with, kind of, the consensus-elite reality. and are just creating their own reality. because the other one isn't working for them. they lost their factories. you know, bankers weren't prosecuted. the iraq war. now, i don't mean to justify what they're doing. what they're doing is very dangerous. and a lot of times, nosedives into white nationalism and some pretty frightening theories about dehumanizing large groups of people. but i think we have to acknowledge that there is a lack of a prevailing narrative from science and the elites. and in that vacuum, you're going to see things like q. and you're going to see things like gamestop fill this void. i mean, back in the day, it was the tea party. and we know the tea party was really orchestrated by the koch network. but it didn't matter. these people had a place to belong. they had a place to channel their anger, which is the reason you can't entirely, dismiss it, despite the fact that, on its surface, it really is unhinged that they're against pedophiles. yet, somehow, trump, who is a friend of epstein's, is their champion. >> right. >> even though trump has praised epstein, for years. none of it makes sense but that's also part of the power of it. >> there are some people i think who saw the trailer, and were a little nervous about the -- how you balance looking at this. and not, sort of, glorifying it. or sort of -- it, essentially, acting as a kind of vector for the, you know, for the spread of this really, pretty unhinged, and really violent fantasy. >> yeah. i think, when you see the series, you realize there is no risk of that. i mean, the people behind this are very fringy, sketchy people. i mean, they are based out of manila. the one guy, jim watkins, has previously hosted pornography sites. the whole idea was created from fred brennen while he was on a mushroom trip. it -- it's -- it -- it's kind of breathtakingly fringy and ad hoc. so, the idea of it ever coming off cool, i don't think we are in any danger of it feeling like you're watching "good fellas." >> premieres this sunday, march 21st, on hbo and hbo max. he also has a new podcast i just started binging called "death of the wing" about basketball and politics. and that debuts march 31st but i have been listening to some of the episodes which are, like, right in my wheelhouse of interest. people should check that out. thank you both -- for both, adam. >> my pleasure, chris. and thank you for everything you do. >> appreciate it. all right. don't go anywhere. next, dr. fauci gives it right back to ron paul -- rand paul in the senate today. they had a testy exchange. and congresswoman katie porter is here toe talk about all the different ways you can benefit from the american rescue plan, ahead. benefit from the american rescue plan, ahead. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! you're good. losing a tooth didn't stop you but your partial can act like a bacteria magnet, putting natural teeth at risk. new polident propartial helps purify your partial and strengthens and protects natural teeth. so, are you gonna lose another tooth? 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if we are not spreading the infection, isn't it just theater? >> no, it's not. >> have a vaccine and you are wearing two masks. isn't that theater? >> no, it's not. here we go, again, with the theater. let's get down to the facts. when you talk about reinfection, and you don't keep in the concept of variants. that's an entirely different ball game. that's a good reason for a mask. in the south african study, conducted by j&j, they found that people who were infected with and were exposed to the variant in south africa, the 351, it was as if they had never been infected before. they had no protection. let me just state, for the record, that masks are not theater. masks are protective. >> if you already have immunity, you are wearing a mask to give comfort to others. you're not wearing a mask because of any science. >> i -- i totally disagree with you. >> now, i don't actually think rand paul's instinct here is completely nuts. i mean, i really want to get to the point, hopefully, where we have both enough data and enough people vaccinated to suppress the virus. that masks for folks who have, for instance, been vaccinated, aren't necessary. but fauci's point is that we're not there yet in terms of what we know. even if you have had covid, even if you've gotten the vaccine, e are not sure enough, right now, that you can't transmit the virus. particularly, variants of the virus that are emerging. you need to wear a mask in public, because we just don't know how dangerous some of these new strains of covid can be. earlier today, former-trump adviser, scott atlas, an infamous individual, who advocated for more people to get covid to speed up herd immunity and advised donald trump during the most destructive portion of his covid policy. should probably be tarnished forever, and it is amazing he shows his face in public. participated in a panel with long some other contrarians with republican florida governor ron desantis who falsely claimed masks do not work. and he also claimed that lockdowns do more harm than good. this is, more or less, lines up with messages republican governors in texas and mississippi who have completely opened businesses in the state. and removed all-mask mandates. dr. fauci addressed those decisions before his hearing. >> i think it's pretty clear that there are some states now, that are pulling back, i believe, a bit more prematurely than they should on the public-health measures. we have been talking about this, now, for a couple of weeks. very sharp decline that we had, which was really good news. has now, over the last-few weeks, plateaued at around 50, 55,000 new cases per day. that's much-too high to be declaring victory. >> we have spent a lot of time recently talking about how things could be normal, soon. but we're not there, yet. and one thing i can't stress enough. we have seen this over the past year. we have been through this a bunch of times. that the virus is, either, growing or shrinking. it doesn't just sit still. and after a long time of shrinking, right now, there are signs it is growing, again, in places like michigan and massachusetts, and others. that said, there is, still, so much good news out there. i mean, there were 2.7 million vaccine doses administered across the country, today. that's a record for a thursday. close to the overall-single-day record. the european medicines agency says astrazeneca's vaccine is safe to use. while the biden administration plans to start sharing millions of doses of the vaccine, which were just sitting around, since it hasn't, yet, been approved in the states. to help speed up vaccinations in mexico and canada. the administration's already sent out 90 million stimulus checks totaling more than $242 billion, to help americans recover from the economic effects of the pandemic. i am going to talk to congresswoman katie porter about that in just a few minutes. so, again, things are beginning to turn around. we have got a lot of folks vaccinated. they should be getting even better, very soon. but we just can't let folks, like rand paul and ron desantis, push us to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. >> this is a time for optimism. but it's not a time for relaxation. i need all americans. i need all of you to do your part. wash your hands. stay socially distanced. keep masking up, as recommended by the cdc. and get vaccinated, when it's your turn. now's not the time to let down our guard. in the last week, we've seen increases in the number of cases in several states. scientists made clear that things may get worse as new variants of this virus spread. >> i know, it's hard to say, well, it's getting better. but hold on a little bit more. but that's really where we are right now, right? 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on it with jardiance. ask your doctor about jardiance. if you smell gas, you're too close. leave the structure, call 911, keep people away, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. if you see wires down, treat them all as if they're hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. for nearly a week now, the government has been sending out $1400 stimulus checks across the country at a record pace. already the treasury says it's made 90 million payments. that puts an estimated $242 billion in american pockets. joining me to talk about this first wave of covid relief is democratic congresswoman katie porter of california. congresswoman, are you happy or disappointed with the scale and speed so far of the implementation of this piece of legislation? >> i'm delighted that we're moving quickly to get the checks out, but of course i'm disappointed that we waited through march, april, may, june, july, october, september, october, november, december, all the way until we got a new president to be able to deliver this. i think there is a parallel to what we're seeing with vaccine distribution. we waited way too long under president trump, and now under president biden, people are just counting the minutes until they get the help that they waited for months and months. >> there is some concern about debt collectors and about garnishment of wages. there has been some back and forth. there is a little talk of this in one senate committee hearing today. there weren't statutory protections put into this bill, but i wonder, as someone who has had a lot to say about how predatory financial institutions can be, if you have thoughts on this. >> yeah, the point of these checks in their very name, they are survival checks. they are disaster relief checks. they are here to help people make ends meet. and in our country right now, two in five households are saying they are struggling to put food on the table. and so i wish congress had acted to make it crystal clear that debt collectors are not to take this money. but to be clear, nobody forces debt collectors to take a garnishment. they can see that this is the government's money intended to help the american people, not to pad their profits. >> you have been -- you've been very outspoken about domestic violence, violence against women and the violence against women act. you had this tweet yesterday. "each year millions suffer domestic abuse in silence because they're financially dependent on their partners. i'm proud to interabuse as a form of defensive violence is imbedded in the violence against women act. >> that financial abuse is present most of the time, in more than three and four instances. this can take the variety of forms, everything from restricting the person's access to cash for basic necessity toscoersing them to signing for debts that ruin their credit. so we know this is a prevalent phenomenon, and it's important to make clear that any kind of abuse toward an intimate relationship is wrong. and economic abuse is a really key part of why people stay with their abusers and are not able to leave. >> how do you -- how do you have the law handle that? i know that, you know, the area of domestic abuse, particularly what's happened the last 20 years, right, is there is a lot more legislation, a lot more targeted efforts to give women protection, and also concerns from a lot of folks that it has exacerbated mass incarceration, or has put police in situations where they're not the best people to be. how do you balance those as you think about sort of policy solutions? >> what this permission would do is allow a judge after hearing evidence of economic abuse to enter appropriate orders to make sure that both parties, including the victim, have the ability to support themselves after leaving their abuser. so it can issue, for example, injunctions to repair ruined credit. it can take actions like that. >> you were on the financial services committee, and that made a lot of sense because you had studied those issues. you had been a scholar in those issues. you had written about them publicly. you're no longer on the financial services committee, and there has been some reporting and questions about what happened. i just want to ask you in person what happened. >> yes. i loved serving on the special services committee. i also love serving on the oversight committee. because of how the committees are structured, i was the most junior person on oversight. i was at risk of losing that seat, so i asked to make oversight my primary. i then asked for a waiver the stay on financial services. there were eight or nine spots. there were ten or 11 of us who applied. i didn't get it. >> do you know why? >> i don't know why. those decisions come from a recommendation the steering and policy committee, and i don't have any insight into it, but i'm obviously not going let anyone, party leaders in either party stop me from working on these issues, stop me from bringing about what i know about how hard it is for americans to make ends meet to our congress. i'm going keep making policies that help address the needs of american families, whichever committee i'm assigned to. . there are a lot of people who have pointed to the american rescue plan as a kind of turning point, right, that the politics surrounding austerity, surrounding, you know, what was derisively called for many years welfare, that if you give people money, they're not going to work, that you'll take away their incentive, that there is something definitive in a break with that that was embodied in the american rescue plan because of the way that it's so frontally attacked child poverty, the fact that you have these checks in there and all the long list of provisions. as someone who has sort of studied this and written about this, i wonder what you think. >> i think it's wonderful that at long last congress is actually doing something that makes perfect sense. we are drawing on the research, and the research is crystal clear. when you give low income or struggling families additional money, what they spend it on is food, more food and more nutritious food. that is the first thing they put it towards. this bill is literally going to keep kids from going to school hungry. it's going to keep parents from having to decide whether to feed a child they're caring for or a parent. it's not a break from reality. it's congress recognizing the reality, which is additional money to low-income families helps them meet their basic needs. and that benefits our entire workforce and our entire economy. >> congresswoman katie porter in california, thank you so much for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> that is "all in" on this thursday night. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening, rachel. good evening, chris. thank you my friend. much appreciated. and thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. happy to have you here. in november, right after the presidential election, a postal worker in erie, pennsylvania, a letter carrier at that postal service, that post office made an alarming public claim. this letter carrier from erie, pennsylvania said he had overheard his supervisor at that post office talking about doing something really illegal, planning to do something really illegal. he says he overheard his supervisor talking to another senior person at that post office about