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high level negotiations on infrastructure between president joe biden and a group of senate republicans collapsing today. the white house now reaching out it a bipartisan group led by democratic senator joe manchin. a new senate report on the january 6th capitol insurrection says that the capitol police department's intelligence unit was aware of the potential for violence but did not share critical information with officers. the report also avoids any mention of trump's role in inciting the mob and does not use the word "insurrection". crime surging all across america. a spike in mass shootings amid calls for policing reforms and defunding police departments. i'm going to talk about these

important issues with former new york city police commissioner bill bratton. i want to bring in now jim messina, the former campaign manager for barack obama. denver riggleman is here as well. gentlemen, appreciate you joining. jim, president biden's talks with lead gop negotiator on infrastructure just collapsed. the white house pinning its hopes on a different bipartisan group. chuck schumer already indicating he's prepared to go it alone. what's the reality check here? >> well, the reality check is they're going to have to move forward, get a nonpartisan bill, get a bill with just democrats moving, and then continue to negotiate with the republicans. you know, i went through this in 2009 when i was white house deputy chief of staff trying to negotiate obamacare. and in the end, you can only negotiate so long. you can spend month after month with these talks and eventually you have to do exactly like joe biden and the white house is doing, which is saying, look, we'll negotiate.

we'll try these processes. but eventually we're going to go it alone because what the american public really wants is just us to get some stuff done, to move this country forward. they don't care whether it's partisan, nonpartisan. they just want to see washington work, and that's why they sent these people here to washington to actually get some stuff done. >> denver, were republicans toying with biden? listen, he cut more than a trillion dollars off of his initial infrastructure blueprint while republicans only increased their proposal by $150 billion. was this all smoke and mirrors? was mitch mcconnell ever going to allow a deal on this, or was he just trying to run out the clock? >> well, you know, that's a difficult question to ask about mitch mcconnell's heart. but i'll tell you this. i think with a 50-50 split, if i'm on the gop side and i'm looking at polling and fund-raising for 2022, don, i'm thinking i can push this. that's a political calculation that they're doing right now. i think for me, i would say i

think we need an infrastructure bill. i think, what is it, about $800 billion. i'm trying to remember all the numbers for the infrastructure back and forth that's going on. i don't know if mcconnell knows that it is 50-50 right now. but, again, with 60 votes needed to allow this, if they want a filibuster, this is a tough row to hoe for the democrats. listening to jim, it's a little different than 2009 because of the even split in the senate and the majority in the house. >> biden initially offered $2.25 trillion for infrastructure. republicans offered a $1 trillion bill but only $257 billion would be new spending. the rest would be made of mostly re-proposed covid -- repurposed, excuse me, covid relief funds. biden thaen offered a $1.7 trillion counteroffer. then republicans increased their

proposed new investment by only $150 billion. that's according to jen psaki. so republicans only want about $400 billion in new spending. that is a giant -- jim, you wanted to respond. go ahead, denver. then i'll let jim. >> there is a gap there. i still think you're going to see a $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. i think that's where it's going to be. i said that last month. i still think that's where they're going to get to. i believe there's going to be a lot of cater walling and gnashing of tweeeth. >> those numbers are ridiculous. there's so far apart. i kind of agree with don. i thought they would move forward with something about $1 trillion. but republicans are just playing politics. they're just saying, look, our fund-raising base doesn't want us to do this. we want to oppose biden, and we don't want to make a deal. at some point, if you're joe biden, you say, i've bent

overbackwards. these guys aren't even close. i'm just going to move forward. >> i remember when the second impeachment trial was happening, democrats won the vote to call witnesses. remember that? they didn't move forward with it because they felt it would put their agenda at risk. well, the agenda's at risk anyway, and they never got the witnesses that could have, you know, forced more onto the record about january 6th and the big lie. did they make the wrong call? >> no, i think they were, like, look, let's go forward and spend our time trying to legislate and get big things done for this country. if we're going to have these moments, let's move forward and use it for things like, you know, a voting rights bill, like an infrastructure bill, like a health care bill. so they're going to cast these tough votes, but they're just doing it in a way that is going to make sense for their politics and what they think is right for the country. >> jim, denver, thank you very much. i appreciate you guys. i'll see you soon. i want to turn to the senate report on the capitol insurrection.

i want to bring in cnn senior law enforcement analyst, mr. andrew mccabe, the former deputy director of the fbi. he is the author of "the threat: how the fbi protects america in the age of terror and trump." thank you, andrew. good to see you. so we now have this bipartisan report on the security failures leading up to the capitol insurrection. but it ignores trump's culpability. is that a mistake? >> of course it is. what we have is apparently a detailed and broad-scope report, but what we don't have is a complete report. the report, as you mentioned, ignores the impact that the former president had on the rally that ultimately led to the riot. the report refrains from even referring to it as an insurrection. apparently that was a bad word they weren't allowed to use. and it doesn't even go so far as to call out the big lie. so with those kind of fundamental inadequacies, it's hard to see how we get much out of this. and i'd also say, don, one of my

other concerns with this report is that it provides a bit of a fig leaf. it kind of creates an excuse for republicans and others on the hill to say that we really don't need to go any further, which further undercuts our ability to get a legitimate commission that's going to look deeply into these agencies and really get to the root cause of what happened on the 6th. >> andrew, capitol police officer michael fanone told me tonight that he thinks the report is a good start, but he added this. >> it doesn't get to the root causes of the january 6th insurrection. it doesn't address things like which groups were involved. you know, which organized groups were involved. who were those groups in communication with, if anyone, within our government? where is the funding? you know, as a narcotics investigator, you know, our rule of thumb was always to follow the money.

where were these groups receiving funds? >> so is that where a commission looking into all of that comes in? >> of course. of course. officer fanone's exactly right. those are the sort of really nitty-gritty details that investigators, like professional investigators who understand these agencies, who know the right questions to ask and the right rocks to look under, could ultimately get some answers from. i'll give you one other example. the fbi has an extensive informant network in this country that reports on the domestic extremist community. so the question i would have is, what were those informants telling the fbi prior to january 6th? did the fbi have information from that network about what people were saying was going to happen in the capitol? if they did, what did they do with that information? if they didn't have any reporting on it, why didn't they? why are their informants not

reporting on the most relevant and important threats? those are the kind of really detailed inquiries that you're not going to get out of a senate or a house investigation. you need a dedicated commission of professionals to really peel this thing back. >> in the report we learned that capitol police officers were warned. the capitol police were warned, i should say. also intelligence officials underestimated the online chatter in the run-up to january 6th. the red tape hindered the national guard response. how can this information be better collected and distributed to all the different agencies the next time, you know, so that it doesn't happen? >> you know, that's -- those are the exact kind of conclusions that the 9/11 commission was able to present to the u.s. intelligence community, law enforcement community after 9/11. you saw these same sorts of problems. the relationships between agencies weren't where they should be. the reporting, the

intelligence-sharing wasn't where it should be. and as a result of that kind of revelation, we completely changed the way we were doing business. and as a result, the country's been safer since 9/11 in terms of attacks from foreign terrorists. so that's the same sort of work we need to do here. it's not a political thing. it's not democratic or republican. it's just in the interest of making the country and the capitol safe. i don't know why people can't get behind that. >> andrew mccabe, thank you, sir. >> thanks, don. republican-controlled state legislatures around the country not only putting new restrictions on voting but increasingly imposing their will on cities and counties run by democrats. let's discuss now. cnn senior political analyst mr. ron brownstein is here. good evening to you, sir. let's dive into your new analysis. republican-controlled states escalating their offensive against democratic-controlled cities. tell us what's happening. >> yeah. i mean, you know, there's been a general lurch to the right this year in red states on a whole variety of issues. you mentioned voting, abortion,

guns, transgender rights, and part of that is an upsurge in republican-controlled legislatures and governors overriding decisions in democratic-controlled cities and counties, particularly across the sunbelt on a whole range of issues. you have states like florida and georgia and texas that are trying to make it impossible for cities to cut their police budgets. you see in states like texas and georgia, the state legislature and governor specifically outlaw mechanisms that some of their largest counties use to increase voter turnout. we've seen even in a state like montana, now with unified republican control, they're overriding the ability of the largest communities to even control development in their -- you know, in their borders. this is all part, don, of the widening geographic divide in politics where democrats are doing better in large metros, really in every state at this point, and republicans remain dominant in rural areas. and where that rural strength is

allowing them to control state legislatures and governorships, they are using that leverage to override the decisions of their biggest counties and cities. >> that's a bigger level. we have red states exerting their will over the blue states' majorities on a number of issues with broad public support. >> yeah, no, absolutely. you know, really the question is, the paradox here is this is really going after the goose that lays the golden eggs in all of these states, whether we're talking about atlanta in georgia, houston, dallas, san antonio, in texas or the big metros in florida, increasingly it is the metros, again, that are driving the economies of these states. the share of jobs and gdp and population growth is most rapid in these big metro centers at this point. but with redistricting coming up, republicans seem to be confident that they can, as one expert said to me, slice and dice these metros, submerge them into legislative and congressional districts that have big conservative rural

populations and kind of fraction ate their political power. but make no mistake, this is part of the broader conflict we are seeing post-election as kind of trump america is -- you know, is kind of lashing out in many ways since biden's victory on a whole range of issues from making it more difficult to get abortion to all of the voting rights laws we're seeing to this real upsurge in overriding local decisions. by the way, a big part of it is the pandemic where you see governors continuing not only as they did during the pandemic to prevent cities from setting their own hours of operations for businesses or mask requirements, but now trying to block them from requiring businesses to show vaccines or in any way make people show vaccines. >> other restrictions on the issue of voting, you point out how georgia specifically outlawed early voting. they also severely limited drop boxes. so are laws like this about targeting predominantly blue,

urban, and you know what i mean by that, urban areas? black folks. >> unquestionably. that's what we're seeing in state after state. this pattern of increased preemption of red states by blue cities began after the big republican gains in 2010. it's kind of percolated along through the decade. it took a huge leap forward during the pandemic when you saw governors like kemp in georgia and abbott in texas and desantis in florida, under pressure from trump, repeatedly overriding the decisions by democratic county executives and mayors whether to close down businesses or require masks or fine people who weren't wearing masks. that more aggressive posture has just rolled right into this legislative session. we are seeing the state -- key west, florida, passed a ballot referendum to limit the docking of large cruise ships, and the state is overriding even that. so there's almost no area that seems to be out of bounds at

this point. again, it is part of this larger pattern of all of these issues where the red states are moving very aggressively to the right in almost a coordinated fashion since biden's victory. >> mr. ron brownstein, thank you, sir. i'll see you soon. we have some breaking news to report. cnn projects that virginia's former governor terry mcauliffe will be the commonwealth's democratic candidate for governor again, beating out four other primary challengers. mcauliffe's win sets up a general election contest between the former governor and republican businessman glenn youngkin. stay tuned. two former presidents and their visions for america, and one of them says this. >> all of us as citizens have to recognize that the path towards an un-democratic america is not going to happen in just one bang. it happens in a series of steps.

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two former presidents, two very different views on democracy. former president barack obama and donald trump and a current president dealing with the legacies of both. whose view is the past, and

whose is the future? let's discuss now with cnn presidential historian douglas brinkley. douglas, good evening. good to see you, sir, as usual. you know that. >> well, thank you. >> let's talk about this. former president barack obama warning that our democracy is in danger and how lawmakers are standing up for it. watch this. >> and all those congressmen started looking around and they said, you know what? i'll lose my job. i'll get voted out of office. another way of saying this is, i didn't expect that there would be so few people who would say, well, i don't mind losing my office because this is too important. america's too important. >> some things are more important than -- >> our democracy is too important. we didn't see that. now, you know, i'm still the hope and change guy, and so my hope is that the tides will turn. but that does require each of us

to understand that this experiment in democracy is not self-executing. it doesn't happen just automatically. it happens because each successive generation says these values, these truths we hold self-evident. this is important. we're going to invest in it and sacrifice for it, and we'll stand up for it even when it's not politically convenient. >> now, i want you to compare that to what former president trump had to say this weekend. >> i am not the one trying to undermine american democracy. i'm the one that's trying to save it. >> what a contrast that is, douglas. anyway, trump incited an insurrection, continues to push the big lie. is this battle for the soul of the nation intensifying and playing out right in front of us now? >> it is intensifying.

you know, don, it was an incredible interview that anderson cooper did. i hope everybody watches it. barack obama was so careful with his words, but it's frightening. he's talking about democracy being chiseled away right in front of our very eyes right now. the interview really reminded me that history is going to look at our times, don, as the battle between barack obama's vision of america and donald trump's. it used to be for a while m jimmy carter became governor of georgia and then president, it was tabout the new south. we've had george w. bush and mccain and romney and republicans. none of it matters anymore. it's really become a decision between whether you believe in donald trump's bigoted, prejudiced, mccarthyite vision of stopping immigration and being a fortress america or you are going to be part of that arc

of justice that barack obama spoke about so eloquently as president. they really are the seminal political figures of our time. >> you mentioned the arc of moral justice. but, listen, what about all these -- he's a hope and change guy as he said. he's all about unity. trump made his presidency about division and chaos. do you worry the division and the chaos view of our country is winning out right now? >> i do because we saw what joe manchin just did in west virginia, not sticking with the democrats and biden and not making it easier for americans to vote, basically intimating that voter suppression's okay. watching particularly southern states, texas and georgia leading the way, find ways to try to suppress the vote. our whole lifetime, don, we celebrate john lewis and lyndon johnson and the civil rights acts and then barack obama breaking the paradigm of

all-white presidents. and we seem to be going backwards right now into a kind of neofascism, and it's coming largely out of the red states in the south. so it's nerve-racking the and the thought with social media being part of this, people are, as obama said, in their own media silos. people are getting false facts, false information, and are coming to, you know, conspiracy theories run amuck. we are a nation in crisis right now, but we've got all the good people that want to heal the country have to start pushing forward the politics of cohesion and not listen to the bombast of donald trump from the back of his golf court in florida, continually trying to divide our nation on race and class. >> yeah, or from a wedding, a stage crashing a wedding. i got to say i don't know -- i think i said something wrong. i think i should have said the arc of the moral universe.

i left that out, so don't get all fired up, folks. i was like, wait a minute. i don't think i got that right. >> i would say, don, the arc of justice. just the facts that things are going to be more just year after year as we progress in america. you know, barack obama did a lot to open the narrative american history, saved cesar chavez's home. he saved stonewall for lgbtq people in morning and buffalo soldiers and the like. so the history narrative can be open without being neocon fed rat like trump is doing. more than 240 mass shootings this year, one deadly weekend after another. what's behind the spike, and how do we fix it? . the former new york city police commissioner bill bratton joins me next. ♪

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a senate bill on policing reforms may be hitting a stumbling block. the top republican negotiator saying today that both sides are far apart on a number of key issues. this come against the backdrop of surging crime in america. a tracking group known as gun violence archive reports that more than 8,400 people have died from gun violence so far this year. and there have been more than 240 mass shootings. a lot to discuss now with bill bratton, the former new york city police commissioner. he's also the author "the profession." i'm so glad to have him on tonight. commissioner, thank you for joining us. >> great to be with you. >> commissioner, just this past weekend, at least 16 people died of gun violence in the u.s. what makes this surge in crime different from past ones? >> well, i think it's a reflection of the growing number of guns in our society.

now i think almost 400 million versus about 330 million americans. but the speed of the increase, the acceleration as we're coming out of the coronavirus year is of concern. and the breadth of it, the fact that just about every major american city, let alone the suburbs, are experiencing significant crime increases, particularly shootings and murders -- the murder rate would be even higher if we didn't have so much experience in our trauma centers where they save so many lives of shooting victims. so the shooting numbers are the ones i'd look at more so than the homicide numbers as a true reflection of what's going on. >> it's been just over a year, commissioner, since george floyd was murdered by a police officer in minneapolis. there have been calls to defund the police, calls for police reform. what do you think policing should look like in a post-george floyd america? >> well, i would hope it would be a form of policing that would

reengage the trust of the american population, particularly its minority population. something that clearly has been lost or diminished significantly since the death of mr. floyd. ironically, there was a poll out earlier this week showing that in the past number of months, confidence in the police, support for the police has gone up from, i think it was 61% to 68%. so it's kind of an anomaly considering all that we've been seeing over the course of the past year. so the first challenge is going to be to regain trust, and to do that, we're going to have to refund the police rather than defund. and that refunding is going to have to really focus on the issue of training. so much of what police get in trouble over is their handling of the use of force, their interaction with the public. and to really correct that, to diminish that, to improve that, if you will, diminish those

negative interactions and improve the actions between police and the public, it's going to require a lot more training for implicit bias, for de-escalation, for understanding the different reactions to narcotics overuse by people so that cops understand whether they're dealing with somebody under the influence of methamphetamines or under the influence of cocaine, all the different types of drugs that are out there. and in particular, use of force, how to de-escalate. then if you do have to use force, how to use the minimal amount of force. that's where the floyd bill comes in. i'm hoping that bill would ever pass, that it would include funding for so much of what's needed to improve the training of police. other than that, you get what you pay for. and america has been policing on the cheap for most of its history. >> well, let's talk about that and talk about what actually -- what police can do because, you know, that phrase "defund the

police," look, the facts show that it wasn't very helpful in winning over allies to that side. it quickly turned political, making it difficult to focus on actual police reform. are there tasks that police have been asked to do that should be handled or could be handled by other public servants, commissioner? >> sure. i talk about this extensively in the book that you referenced at the beginning of the show, "the profession." 50 years of experience dealing were this, i started dealing with a lot of these issues as a young cop in boston in the 1970s when we deinstitutionalized the mentally ill and effectively put them out in the street and began to create the homeless problem we're now wrestling with 50 years later. we also de-policed in the '70s. we reduced by the thousands. new york lost 5,000. my city of boston, i laid off 25% of the department as the superintendent of that department. we also decriminalized a lot of

the tools police use. many of those tools were taken away from us even as the streets were being more unsettled with the homeless, increasing use of drugs, increasing violence. it's ironic in 2021 we're back where we started 50 years ago because the defund the police movement, abolish the police, the decriminalization that the criminal justice reform acts in many states such as new york, moving forward, i would argue they're moving forward too quickly and trying to reform too much, too quickly. lastly, we are once again deinstitutionalizing, but this time we're rapidly emptying out our prisons, too rapidly in response largely to the coronavirus. so new york is a perfect example of all three of those. fewer police. new york has lost several thousand police officers in the last year or so. the homeless population on the streets largely made up of the mentally ill and recently released prisoners out of our

jails and prisons, creating a very disturbing sense of unease for the public in the subways and on the streets. >> yeah. >> and moving forward with criminal justice reform, some of which is necessary, but a lot of it is really too much, too soon, a bridge too far if you will. >> yeah. commissioner, we want to have you back. it's a very important conversation, and we appreciate you joining us this time. the book again is "the profession: a memoir of community, race, and the arc of policing in america." bill bratton, former new york city police commissioner, thanks again. >> thank you, don. great to be with you. it has been four months since the bachelor host chris harrison was sidelined after remarks he made over a race-related controversy. now he is leaving the franchise permanently. you said you'd never do a lot of things. but you never knew all the things a dog could do for you. and with resolve you never have to worry about the mess. love the love, resolve the mess.

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chris harrison out as host of the bachelor franchise after 20 years. the production company behind the show confirming that to cnn. harrison announced in february that he was stepping aside following remarks he made while being interviewed by rachel lindsay, current extra host and the star of 2017's the bachelorette. during that interview, he defended rachel kirkconnell, a bachelor contestant who was reportedly paragraphed at an an antebellum party in 2018. >> i saw a picture five years ago, and that's it. this girl is in this book now, and she's now in this group. i'm like, really?

okay. there goes -- >> the picture was from 2018 at an old south antebellum party. so i think, you know, when you -- when you -- >> when you hold that under the lens -- >> it's not a good look. >> no, it's not a good -- rachel, is it a good look in 2018, or is it not a good look in 2021? >> it's not a good look ever because she's celebrating the old south. if i went to that party, what would i represent at that party? >> i don't -- i don't disagree with you. you're 100% right in 2021. that was not the case in 2018. >> well, rachel lindsay, who was interviewing chris there, spoke out on this show just days later. >> this was a teachable moment for people because everyone wants to say, you think racism just has to be explicit. this was an example of implicit racism. there were some unconscious bias that chris harrison had that were coming out in that interview. i think that he has realized

that, and that's where that apology is coming from, why he says he was perpetuating racism. that's exactly what was happening as he wasn't able to see what an antebellum party represents, what i would represent if i was attending that party. you're celebrating a time where i was in slavery, where i was recognized as three-fifths of a person. >> harrison apologized. now he's out of a job. but the showbiz centric site deadline is reporting that harrison has exited with ia payout in the eight-figure range. they were major rivals during the 2020 democratic primary. now senator bernie sanders is opening up to cnn about his newfound alliance with president biden. freshness that lasts. crafted to give you amazingly natural smelling fragrances, day after day... ...for up to 60 days. give us one plug for freshness that lasts.

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senator bernie sanders indicating today that he is losing patience with the lack of progress on getting bipartisan support for president biden's massive infrastructure bill and that it might be time for democrats to try to pass the legislation strictly along party lines. it turns out sanders has become one of biden's strongest advocates in the senate. the two men have formed a solid bond. more on that tonight from cnn's

chief political analyst gloria borger. >> reporter: let's just say that during the presidential campaign, progressives were skeptical about joe biden's big tent. >> progressives, moderates, conservatives -- >> reporter: but now guess who's firmly inside it? >> as somebody who wrote a book called "outsider in the house," yes, it is a strange experience to be having the kind of influence that we have now. >> reporter: strange especially for two men with decades of hard-held, long-standing disagreements. >> i believe in medicare for all. >> he is more conservative than i am obviously, but on the other hand, he is not only a smart guy. he is a good politician who has the sense of where people are at and what is possible. i think he understands that at this particular moment in american history, you got to go big, not small.

>> reporter: and five months into his presidency, biden has gone big, very big. >> it's historical, and they call it transformational. >> reporter: that was a $1.9 trillion covid relief package followed by a far-reaching plan to protect voting rights, not to mention a massive infrastructure plan. sanders, the newly minted 79-year-old budget chairman, is primed and ready to go. progressives are growing more and more impatient with moderates in their own party, not to mention with republicans who have been flirting with biden on infrastructure. and sanders is in a rush. do you have infinite patience time-wise? no, i do not. >> that's a no? >> not only do i not have infinite patience, i have very limited patience. we learned a lesson from the obama years, and that is republicans will talk and talk. we want to work with you, bipartisan month after month after month. nothing happens. >> reporter: it's a lesson that's stuck with biden too.

and so an alliance was born. not so much a love story but more like a marriage of convenience. the onetime centrist and the longtime progressive. 20 years ago, is the joe biden you would have expected? >> no. i think the biden of today is not what i or others would have expected. >> reporter: until a new reality intruded. >> covid exacerbated all of the existing problems in terms of the struggles of working families. >> reporter: then came january 6th. >> what trump is about is his actual threat to american democracy. what biden sees out there is if we do not move aggressively and make it clear to people the government can work for them, then we stand a real chance of losing democracy in this country. >> reporter: there's a shared history too. both men have working-class roots, and both wanted to be president. ♪ and when vice president biden

decided not to run in 2016 as the party establishment lined up behind hillary clinton, he reached out to sanders for a private chat or two, a courtesy sanders has not forgotten. >> he was giving me his advice, political advice, and they were, i think, for me, very useful conversations and friendly conversations. >> i certainly believe that senator sanders left that meeting feeling that joe biden was giving him, hey, go make your case, bernie, because there's a lot of people who need to hear it. >> reporter: in 2020, they were campaign rivals. then as sanders was getting ready to withdraw from the race, he had an idea on the plane ride back to vermont. >> he says, hey, do you know some friends over there in the biden world? ask them if they want to invite progressive policies and personnel into their campaign. just see what they say. >> reporter: they said yes. >> bernie is an important voice within the democratic party, and we respect that voice, and we

need that advice sometimes. >> reporter: can you talk to me about how welcome they made you feel? >> very welcome. >> reporter: it was a little different from hillary clinton in 2016? >> yes, it is. >> you weren't welcomed? >> i was tolerated. my support was -- you know, they wanted my support obviously. >> reporter: but now the onetime outsider is mr. chairman. hosting dinner parties. >> not exactly a fancy dinner party. we did it outside with our progressive friends in the house. we had a very nice time, yeah. >> reporter: he worked to corral progressives for the american rescue plan even after the minimum wage hike was taken out. >> was it everything we wanted? no. was it a major step forward for the working class of this country? you bet it was. >> reporter: but can he or will he search for common ground with moderates in a 50-50 senate? you have to deal with moderates like joe manchin and kyrsten sinema and getting them onboard. >> yeah, i've heard about that.

in all honesty, chuck schumer does more of that talking than i do. >> reporter: back in vermont, bernie, the former mayor of burlington, is the local anti-establishment hero. but these days, he's really part of the ruling class in d.c., even when he disagrees with the man in charge. >> he does things sometimes that i think are really not a good idea. but i understand why he does it, because he's made promises to people, and he wants to keep his promise. >> reporter: and he's always kept his promises to you? >> i think, yes. >> joe biden understands, i think, his heart and gets what he's fighting for. and in that way has built a real respectful relationship. >> reporter: which these days is hard to come by. >> one of the things that struck me about joe biden is a very strong sense of loyalty, which i like and respect. we're going to have our differences, but i ultimately trust you, and you're going to trust me. we're not going to double-cross

each other. there will be bad times, but we're going to get through this together. >> reporter: don, now that sanders has said he's ready to move forward on biden's spending proposals as soon as july, the big question remains. can he and the president get 50 democrats to go along? >> gloria borger, thank you. and thanks for watching, everyone. our coverage continues. no, he's not in his room. ♪ dad, why didn't you answer your phone? your mother loved this park. ♪ she did. ♪ listerine® cleans virtually 100%. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath.

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♪ hi, welcome to all of our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. i'm robyn curnow at the cnn center in atlanta. just ahead on cnn, u.s. president joe biden is set for his first international tour, aiming to bolster alliances in europe and tackle challenges posed by china and russia. plus the u.s. passes a sweeping bipartisan bill aimed at countering china's global economic reach. what china is saying about that. plus -- >> i've spent a lot of time on the border and both going there