get their news and i am grateful to be apart of it. ted turner, thank you, thank you, thank you. to all of our viewers, thank you very much for watching. i am wolf blitzer in "the situation room," erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, trump rewarding greg abbott for pushing a restricting voting bill in texas. as president biden warns an unprecedent assault on the economy. one of the most evangelical leaders warning the conspiracy theories are infiltrating churches across america. reverend moore is "outfront." the u.s. allies sending specific message to vladimir putin. you will actually see it tonight. good evening, i am erin burnett.

trump's reward, the big lie, the former president is giving greg abbott a resounding endorsement for pushing the voter law in the united states. trump writes and i quote him "greg abbott is a fighter and a great governor for the incredible people of texas and is all in on election integrity." grant new power to party and poll watchers and cut back sunday morning voting which happens to be when many black church goers head to the polls. the entire motivation around this law and why this is happening now is trump's lie. listen to the texas republican who's guiding this bill through the texas house. >> the constitution commands the legislature to pass legislation

and punish fraud and preserve the ballot box. >> see here is the thing. this only works if your premise is a lie and fraud. here is the republican secretary of state from texas and her top department talking about the election. >> despite the challenges presented by covid-19, this election was a resounding success. >> despite of all the circumstances, texas had an election that was smooth and secure. >> smooth and secure. a resounding success, that's what the republicans in charge of it said. the republican legislatures say they're going to pass the legislation that attacks the fraud that did not happen. texas is among 18 states with similar legislation moving through the pipeline. these laws are passing not because there is fraud to attack and republican legislatures care about integrity, they're passing because many people believe the

lies about the election no matter how outlandish they are. >> number one, it is always politically motivated, the virus was fake to allow more mail ballots to get joe biden in the white house. >> it has gotten president biden to speak out tiept. -- tonight. >> this second right is under assault with incredible intensity like i have ever seen, the intensity and the aggressiveness that we have not seen in a long, long time, it is simply un-american. >> the big lie itself is what is un-american? it is a lie designs to make

americans not believe in its own democracy. >> trump's ally, general michael flynn appears to speak on un-american things, calling for a military coup in the united states. >> i want to know why what happened in myanmar can't happen here. >> no reason. it should >> flynn came out and denied he called for a coup in the u.s. c >> it is not the first time he's using the idea to intervene and overrule a democracy. something by the way, he publicly talked about on right wing network news max.

>> if he wanted to, he can take cable news and place them in new states -- it is not unprecedented. >> okay. yet it is not just flynn who's sending out these kinds of crazy and dangerous messages of trump coming back to power. listen to trump's formal attorney, sidney powell, just over the memorial day weekend. >> there are cases where elections have been overturned but there has not one been at the presidential level. it simply means he called be reinstated, a new inauguration day is set and biden is told to

move out of the white house and president trump should be moved back in. >> wow. >> i should just note for an important contact that sidney powell is being sued by dominion voting systems. she had her attorneys argued in court this spring that quote "reasonable people would not accept any of her statements as facts." yet there she is putting out this stuff again, peddling this kind of bs. the problem is right now plenty of people actually do believe what people like powell and flynn are saying about rei reinstating trump and millitary coups. listen to some of trump supporter. >> what's going on in myanmar right now? >> what happened? the government took over during the election, right? >> because it was a false

election. >> that could happen here. >> reporter: do you think that'll happen? would you like to see it? >> yes, you know why because the election is stolen. >> this whole thing with biden, the military is in charge. it is going to be like what's happening many -- in miruiin my. >> that's what trump supporters want to see? thousands of people dead? >> they were trying to do whatever they were to overturn an election. they were doing it because people like trump and flynn and powell been fanning the flame.

phil mattingly is "outfront" the white house today. >> reporter: vice president kamala harris is now put in place to lead the administration response to those hundreds of laws to restrict voting rights and led by republican legislatures across the country. it underscores a ramping up in the administration. a ramping upcoming at a time where a lot of allies to do more and push for legislation in capitol hill to pass on the federal level to see some of the things you have seen on the state side. it is undemocratic and an assault in our democracy. he's calling on voting right groups work to register voters over the course of this month. the primary focus is going to be on that legislative agenda and it is clear democrats have two major pieces of legislation.

they would like to get to the president's desk, one sweeping federal voting law. the house is passed and the senate is expected to consider at the end of this month. they don't have the votes for the legislation. they don't have all 50 democrats in the senate for the larger pieces of legislation. joe manchin is opposed to it and other senators have raised concerns as well. the question legislatively is what is the path forward for? the baseline here that the white house is working through is they don't have the vote yet for either of these bills and urgency and pressure is ramping up on the white house and democrats on capitol hill. >> i want to go up front now to texas, the former voting rights attorney. i want to ask you about this legislation, congressman, this entire push by republicans to change voting laws that we are

seeing is led by former president trump because he wants the election to be declared and valid. sidney powell says he can be reinstated. you heard her. a new inauguration date is set and michael flynn suggested a c coup like we saw in myanmar. what do you say to this? >> after every election we had crazies who wanted to challenge the results. what's difference in this one is we did have an attack on january 6th and we have state legislatures like my own here in texas trying to pass the most comprehensive attack on the right to vote that we have seen in this country since the day of jim crow and to quote john lewis who i am friends with and a mentor of mine where they are trying to take us back to a certain time and another place

where certain voices were not heard. if you don't win, you have to change your ideas and put forward different candidates and go again. you don't just throw out the entire system. >> i want to talk to you about these voting bills. they are as you point out, the actual practical outcome of the big lie at this point, right? the federal government could stop some of this. is there any viable path left for washington to accomplish anything that would overrule in texas. >> i think there has to be and can be. there are two major components, there is a voting right expansion component and a campaign finance component.

senator manchin probably has some issues with the campaign's finance side. what we are seeing around the country has to be focusing every senator, particularly our democratic senators on the health of our democracy. might have seen there may have been ex pperts come forward, th is an inflection point for american democracy. we have to do something. hr1 does not have to pass. we can't say senate rules are important than our democracy. >> governor abbott in texas is going to call a special session to get the bill passed. michael mccall defended the bill this way to cnn. here he is. >> i think most americans do agree with is asking for an id when someone votes. i don't believe that's voter

suppression, 70% of americans agree with that idea. the idea of verifying signatures, i think is very important as well. i think what the republicans here would tell you is they're trying to make sure that the person voting is the person on paper so it is a legitimate vote to avoid a fraud. >> mccaul is talking about specific points in the bill, his statistics on public opinion and things like voter id is accurate, does he have a point on some of the substance in the bill? >> texas is already the state with the harshest laws in the country. why are we passing these laws in the first place, right? let's move onto the substance o f the bill. what possible reasons could it

be to not allow people to vote on sunday morning early morning. they can't to go to vote until 1:00 p.m. on sunday morning? that's targeted at black voters after they go to vote after church. what possible reasons could there be to make it easier to overturn an election which is also in this bill other than to say you are going to down the road want to overturn an election. that's just a couple of the many provisions in this bill that are extremely dangerous. >> congressman alred, appreciae your time. >> professor tribe, first, when it comes to these voting laws that i was discussing with congressman alred president biden calling it an assault in the country like i have never seen, is it hyperbole or is it

true? >> it is exactly true. the president gave an extraordinary speech today on the 100th anniversary of the massacre of tulsa. he used it as an opportunity not to engage in hyperbole but to graphic and specific about the threats of democracy. a lot of people say they're more interested in their paycheck than their franchise. when you ask whether we really want to have a military coup take over or take our government away from us, the way flynn likes to see, he wants to see a m military coup in myanmar.

>> what we are witnessing is not an attack on our government. it is a frontal assault on what makes us a democratic republic. what gives us the right to control our own lives. it is simply dangerous. >> sidney trpowell -- general flynn clearly endorsing the coup in myanmar. what's the biggest danger that the u.s. faces from these comments and these words from flynn and powell? >> the biggest danger we face is a violent take over against our government. against not just the votes of the minorities that they want to disenfranchise but the majority of the votes. they want the power to those who rule the gop and their funders.

they came close in the insurrection of january 6th. sidney powell may lose her 1 opinion $3 billion suit because she just repeated the crazy stuff that she says nobody takes seriously about the election that's stolen and the real president that's trump and could be reinstated. that's not going to solve our problem. we need to address the facts that there are millions of people who are drinking this c kool-aid and they are harming th themselves. they are ready for a violent take over. they may get what they want and they may be a a dictatorship. that's not the lives we want to live. we want to be able to control our destiny. we have to wake up. that's why it is important of

john lewis act is enact and the president's new emphasis about saving democracy that we take it seriously. >> could the comments of powell and flynn put either of them in legal jeopardy risk? >> sure, i mean -- sidney powell could be in severe jeopardy, not because of these statements alone but because she propagated about the dominion voting system and causing serious dangerous and flynn could be court marshalled and what he did was not an exercise of ordinary free speech, he would advocate what would be treason. for the lieutenant general drawing a pension of 100,000 bucks a year to be urging the military to engage in treason is certainly a violation of the uniform code of military justice.

they're in legal jeopardy. we are in greater jeopardy unless we take this threat seriously and realize there are people up there who are going to act on their calls to violence. >> professor, thank you very much. >> thanks erin. next, churches becoming a magnet for qanon. one of the nation's prominent evangelical leaders is warning. evan russell moore speaks out. president biden on what really happened in tulsa, oklahoma, 100 years ago? >> this is not a riot. this is a massacre. violent and angry incidents growing across the country as americans emerge on lockdown. what's going on?

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russell moore telling "axios" he's talking everyday to pastors of every denomination who are exhausted by these

theories blowing through their churches or community. this comes as 15% of all americans believe qanon conspiracy theory. this is 15% of americans who believe this. they believe the government, the media and the financial world are controlled by a group of government who's run by pedophiles who run a child sex operation. qanon has the name number of followers as major establishment. >> "outfront" now is reverend russell moore.

rev reverend, i appreciate your time and you are speaking out so people can understand this better. what are they telling you reverend. >> these are not just my fellow it is a situation where conspiracy theories are going through not just churches but the entire community. they see things on social media and they don't know whether to believe it or not. some of it comes more intense about that. as a christian, i am concerned about this because we are people of truth and we are people supposed to be looking for truth revealed by the words of god, not conspiracy theories around social media. >> what do you tell when pastors call you and they talk about

this and there are people bel believing pedophiles are running the world. how are they supposed to talk to people to believe that and get them to understand that's not reality? >> terteorspastorsi talk to are heroic and they are working under the pandemic. what i try to tell them is figure out whether the person is confused or whether this is someone who bought in the full package of some sort of ideology and one would handle those things differently. there are some people who just hear something and saying what do i believe and then there are others who are looking for kind of belonging that they are finding oen social media or some

where else and especially pastors only have access to people maybe an hour or three hours a day, that's nothing compares to 24 hours a day from facebook. a lot of it is coming from pastors who are saying to me they have adult children who are worried about their parents which is an unusual situation. these are children saying they are worried about their parents and what they have been involved in. >> so this point, the poll that i reference at 15% of americans believing this, more likely than other traditional groups to have -- we have talked to qanon members and their family and

here is what they told him this theory across the country. >> it intersaects with her mind with her religion. she sees this as biblical end time. she put cue pose on equal footing. >> i go to church once a week. i am up here two hours and i am committed to these. i started thinking and i even put trump above god. >> so reverend, when you hear that and you think of the people you have heard about and see yourself who are drawn to this theory that you just describe to me is a cultic personality. why do you think christians are drawn to this theory? >> we are living in a country that's experiencing a nervous break down in all sorts of way. jesus warned us.

we have seen all sorts of people who try to appropriate religion for their own ideology and they use the same sorts of tactics. i isolate people and give people a conspiracy theory that help people belong and go forward from there. i have seen people to come involved and come to their senses and saying this is not right, what was i thinking and sadly i seen people cut-off all relationships with their churches and families and that's tragic and harmful to the country. >> reverend, i appreciate your time and this conversation which i look forward to continuing. thank you very much. the white house's press whether the president supports the reparations of the tulsa

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the tulsa race massacre were hundreds of black americans were killed. biden becoming the first president to visit tulsa and acknowledging this painful history. >> this was not a riot. this is a massacre. among the worst in our history. not the only one. and for too long forgotten by our history. as soon as it happens, there is as clear effort to race to our memory. >> vanessa harper, she met with president biden today and represents the greenwood

district where the massacre happened. chairman, i appreciate your time, you join here as a person born and raised in tulsa as a black woman, you represent the community where the massacre actually happened and you had a president come for the first time to commemorate this day. what did you make of what biden actually said? >> i think he said all of the right things. i was encouraged and i am hopeful about his comments. it is always the work, what are we actually going to be able to accomplish to change the history, to move our community and country in a better direction for the black community in this country? i was encouraged by his words but i would be more satisfy when we see these plans being implemented and when we see

black communities that are no longer be devalued. >> the president announced proposals and as you are emphasizing and proposals, you want to see the actual reality is. among them, he wants to boost government contracts and address discrimination and housing, the president of the naacp responded to the president's plan of student loans debt. you can address the wealth gap without addressing the student loan debt crisis. >> this is a fraught issue and a complicated issue in so many ways in this country. biden had not gone there on student loan debt in the way or progressives have. do you this i think he's makin

mistake? >> i do. i recall him talking at it during the campaign. i hope that's apart of how we solve these problems when it comes to the disenfranchise of the black community. i would love to see a federal mandate of oims. we need to bring all of our resources to bare and anything that we can possibly legislate for this community. there is so much work to be done and it is not in one administration. we just have to keep pushing the line and making sure that we are transparent and diligent and we are not say things because they are blessed words and good

things to say but rather we are putting things in place that's going to improve quality of life. >> one buzz word i s reparation. >> we support a study to reparation. the task in front of us is not to root out systematic racism where it exists right now. >> do you think she has a point? systematic racism is the focus and that would come before any conversations on reparation which they have sticking to what they want to do a study into it. >> i definitely don't think we need to wait. we waited too long.

tulsa have waited for 100 years. you can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. we need to do both. we need to be clear on what reparation is. it is land and cash. everything else is good policy. the idea that he brought up supporting black businesses and small businesses, oklahoma was one of nine states that repeal affirmative action. we repealed it in 2012. you can't set aside or even ask if a company is black or etc. so we as a state have a long way the go in that regard. we have memorialize td that in r state's constitution which we know is difficult to change. we have to commit to doing that work. we have to do both. we can't wait on reparations. there has been so many studies

in ways to make that. the native americans received federal dollars, right? i think the president should address those issues. there are tribes who don't recognize and they have been kicked out of some of the tribes. there are a lot of work to be done to address this systematic and institutionallized racism that's taken place. i definitely don't think we have to say okay, we have to do just this one time. no, we need to do it all. we must prioritize. >> i appreciate your time and i thank you. >> thank you. next, kicking, punching and spitting is now becoming apart of life that we have all seen

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now doing things like going to stadiums and sporting events, s sixers in philadelphia operating at 100% capacity starting tomorrow. las vegas resorts running tonight of full capacity. with a good news comes a stunning number of disgusting things, deplorable and tragedy. dan simon is "outfront". >> oh my goodness. >> reporter: the return of packed arenas and other venues is an image worth celebrating. but it appears some fans have forgotten how to act. >> oh my gosh. >> reporter: the latest edition of people behaving badly occurred last night in washington during game four of the 76ers verses the sixers with the fans rushing to the floor. >> people have been in

captivity -- >> it follows a string of other ugly incidents during the nba playoffs. popcorn dumped on westbrook as he left the court. a new york fox fan spitting on trey young and a water bottle being thrown at kyrie irving. >> it is a certain point where it gets to be too much. >> reporter: the return, these images are from a southwest flight on may 23rd when a flight attendant had two teeth knocked out by a disgruntle passenger. the faa received around 20 reports of unruly behavior of passengers since the beginning of the year. customers of fast food restaurant in san jose spitting

on employees after being told wearing a mask. >> she did it to two other co-workers. >> reporter: in hawaii a man punched in the face at a panda express after being reminded to wear a mask. >> maybe some of them forgotten how to behavior after being loc lockdown. >> reporter: it is important to remember under the good there is a bad act. for instance, when a by stander is attacked -- >> the anxiety that americans are feeling. the american psychological association showing 61% of americans have had undesired of

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tonight, a major test for democrats in new mexico's special election where they are running to fill the congressional seat left by deb holland, biden's interior secretary. the breathe sacramento a proposal drafted by black lives matter activists that would divert money away from police. >> melanie stansbury's plan, advocating taking guns away from local police. >> we need to pass the breathe act in congress. >> melanie stansbury, stop the madness before it is too late. out front now, a veteran election watcher and analyst and the founder and the director of the university of virginia center for politics. larry, i always appreciate your

perspective here. so, the democratic nominee melanie stansbury says this is a convenient political narrative her opponent is using and basically tried to avoid talking about this. there is a reason for it. recent polling shows only about 20% of the united states support reducing support for law enforcement. the district went overwhelmingly for biden. what are you looking for overall and on this issue of defunding the police and democrats? >> well, it is always a rough equivalence, but we will look at the actual percentages. now, everything that we have seen so far suggests that the democratic candidate will in fact win and probably will win comfortably. if we are surprised, i don't think they will be a complete upset. but let's say the margin is single digits instead of

mid-double digits. democrats will say maybe we should be more careful or maybe we should talk about police reform rather than defunding the police. >> biden won the district by 23 points. an upset would be stunning. you know, what does it tell you that the republican in the race is putting all bets of winning on the issue of defunding the police? you know mitch mcconnell today saying this is the craziest message he has ever heard a political party try to say. what do you take away from the midterms? >> well, they don't come up with the stuff by themselves. it is all polling. and their background polling shows that it is potentially the most powerful issue they have got in the suburbs for 2022. remember, it was losing the suburbs that cost the republicans the house in 2018 and cost them the election

overall in 2020. they are go to try to get suburban voters back by driving a wedge between them and democrats on the issue of crime. >> deb holland won by 16 points before she was nominated for secretary of the interior. those are the numbers to keep an eye on as you watch the crucial election. out front next, exclusive video of how the u.s. and allies are sending russia a message from thousands of feet in the air, thousands of miles away. take a look at this. you will see it in a moment. it would be cool to ride a horse on the moon.

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tonight, a show of force. the u.s. and nato allies flying bombers over all 30 nato countries in a joint operation intended to send a message to vladimir putin amid rising tensions. nick robertson is out front and this is his exclusive report. >> reporter: 27,000 feet over scotland. flying at 275 knots with british fighter jets for company. a u.s. air force b-52 bomber, refueling on a flight from spain before returning to a nato mission, operation allied sky, taking aircraft within sight of

russia. >> part of a large scale nato mission involving more than 20 nato missions flying missions in a message to vladimir putin. >> two weeks ahead of president biden's summit with vladimir putin, a timely statement of the backing of biden's diplomacy and puts nato's wings in the skies close to where a belarus fighter jet forced a passenger plane to land forcing a russian dissident and his girlfriend off raising tensions. >> i will be meeting with president putin, making it clear we will not -- we will not stand by and let them abuse those rights. >> the u.s. air force kc tanker took off from southern england half an hour ahead of the refuel. both tanker and bomber, cold war era aircraft, older than the air crew.

but where the tensions climbing, just as relevant as when they were built. >> it is interesting, i mean. all of the generations of pilots that have been able to fly it. it is updating every once in a while. but she is reliable. and, you know, it is working. so no real need to change a whole lot. >> reporter: the mission, according to nato commanders, intended to demonstrate what they call credibility of common defense and enhance readiness for captain todd bergland. this day like others in the strata tanker, nothing left to chance. >> we have to be at a certain place on time with the right amount of gas all of the time. a little more pressure, but we do it so often it is kind of a habit pattern. it is our profession. it is just what we do. >> reporter: how much big nato missions like this phase putin

is hard to measure. in a few weeks in geneva when they meet biden will be able to judge. >> fantastic and incredible to watch. that is just what we do. well, thanks very much for joining us. a.c. 360 starts now. good evening and we begin with what president biden is calling a threat to american democracy. yesterday the president said democracy is in peril and today in tulsa, oklahoma marking the 100th anniversary of the greenwood race massacre, he spoke out against the state by state effort to enact restrictive voting laws. >> this sacred right is under assault with incredible intensity like i have never seen, even though i got started as a public defender and civil rights lawyer with an intensity and aggressiveness we have not seen in a long, long time. it is simply