breaking news on the plot to overturn the 2020 election. sources tell cnn trump advisors drafted two executive orders to seize voting machines one to the pentagon and another to homeland security. plus, the former president dangling pardons for the rioters

that stormed the capitol on january 6th. >> if i run and if i win, we will treat those people from january 6th fairly. we will treat them fairly. if it requires pardons, we'll give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly. >> why are so many republicans silent? and whoopi goldberg apologizing saying the holocaust wasn't about race and getting help from the anti defamation league and he's my guest coming up. let's turn to january 6th and all the things surrounding and i want to bring in commentator ana navarro and a former advisor to george w. bush and john mccain and the executive producer of "the circus." good evening to both of you. mark, sources are saying trump advisors drafted two orders, one to the defense department, one

to homeland security. this is how far they went to try to overturn the election. it is really chilling. >> amazing we keep learning new things worse than what we know, don. you know, i've been saying for republicans who wish for some future for the party we could put -- take donald trump off the windshield and put him in the rearview mirror and the last couple days, think what happened. he said the inside stuff out loud. he said he wanted pence to overturn the election. he said he wanted protests over racial prosecution because the prosecutors were black. he said he'd pardon insurrectionists, which is very mafia like to say i'll cover you if you cover me. we found out about shedderedded documents and plans to seize elections over two executive orders. when we can't be shocked anymore, we're shocked again and have important things to talk about than donald trump and yet, we can't get him in the rearview

mirror. >> ana, i want your take on mark sure testifying before the january 6th select committee and doing it at length. how big of a deal is it? because it seems like short wouldn't talk without a blessing from team pence, no? >> i don't know if he had the blessing from team pence or not. i hope he did because let us remember part of what they wanted to do is literally hang mike pence, and they had built the gallows to do so outside the capitol. i think it's very important because mike pence was crucial to this narrative they wanted to build and what they wanted to do, overturn the elections. it was mike pence who had to do it and still to this day, donald trump is furious at mike pence for not having gone along with this crazy plan, and i think listen, when trump says when he dangles pardons for the terrorists that took part on the january 6th insurrection, we

should believe him. look at his track record. this is a guy who pardoned michael flynn and roger stone and manafort and papadopoulos and jared kushner's father and pardoned a lot more than that in the last few months of his presidency. he has a record of doing this. of pardoning people who stick up for him and who don't tell on him. so republicans should believe him when he's saying this. >> mark, i mean, we know they want to speak with mike pence, as well. i mean, do you think he'll do it? >> well, don, i think what's been shocking to all of america but a especially americans like ana and i is the extent the entire party rolled over under

donald trump's autocrat thumb, he's compelled to tell the truth and people like liz cheney, only takes a few to tell the truth and the truth gets out and the truth will prevail. >> i think it takes more than that, mark. i had a little glimmer of hope. call me maybe naive or of timt optimists. when i heard lindsey graham who spent the trump years doing nothing but polishing shoes, when i heard graham talk about how it would be inappropriate to pardon the terrorists of january 6th, when i hear of susan collins distancing herself, people like hutchinson, the governor of arkansas coming out against the people like gthe governor of new hampshire. a get a glimmer of hope but there needs to be more voices. more people need to break with this man because we cannot continue denying the truth. you know, when you put it all together, this narrative is a

horror story. it is something that we couldn't have imagined in hollywood. >> i'm going to put a new name in front of your first name, ana and it will be polly with that statement. [ laughter ] >> there's been a lot of names put in front of my name, baby. put polly. i've gotten much worse. >> mark, let's listen to the moments from some republicans, at least lindsey graham that ana was talking about. watch this. >> i do not think the president should have made -- president trump should have made the pledge to do pardons. we should let the just dish process proceed. >> i think it's inappropriate. i don't want to reinforce the fo defiling the capitol was okay. i don't want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future. i want to detour what people did on january 6th and those who did

it i hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it. >> so, we're talking about pardons for people convicted of brutally assaulting officers trying to kill lawmakers. you know, some of them were chanting hang mike pence. where are the other republicans, mark? >> well, they're under the thumb of donald trump and they fear his power and occasionally, we see glimpses from the ones we just saw, lindsey graham and susan collins. it doesn't happen often and often, too often, they reel it back in a day or two too late or after they get assaulted by the trump base but the truth, you know, we get a peek at it occasionally and i said, i think ultimately it will prevail. >> yeah. >> listen, whatever backbone powder lindsey graham is taking because he also talked about possibly supporting joe biden's supreme court nominee and wanting for the supreme court to

have a representative. whatever powdered backbone pill lindsey graham took this weekend, i hope he continues taking it because the lindsey graham mark and i knew was very different than the coward accomplice we've seen for four years. >> come back home, lindsey. fire is a burning. >> hopefully it not an opportunist pill. ana, see you later. ana will weigh in on a story regarding whoopi goldberg. i want to turn to a former advisor to george w. bush and senior fellow at the ethics and public policy center. thank you for joining. listening to trump, there is no question what his intentions are if he runs and wins again. the country will be dragged through a nightmare of revenge pardoning criminal insurrections and who knows what else?

>> yeah, i agree, you have to accept the fact he's associate owe path and it's gotten worse and term as president get power again. it's not a walk in the park. he's a disturbed person with a disordered personality. he's a dangerous person and it can't happen. >> trump's comments he didn't want pence to overturn the election. pick a side, trump or the constitution. there is no middle or defending and it seems like they already picked and is this why you called the gop a great treat to

the american democracy? >> that is right. between truth and falsity between the constitution, and problem is we've seen this for awhile now. and conspiracy theories. i just don't think there is much h hope. here and there people are speaking up like adam ke kinzin and liz cheney. they're not afraid of him but the base. that's what if trump were unpopular, they would of course stand up to him. the problem here, why this is really in someways such a deep and fundamental problem is that the base of the party has been morally deformed in many respects i would say corrupted. morally corrupted and that is the problem.

we saw these republicans, remember, after january 6th, people like kevin mccarthy and others begin to speak out against trump and within 48 hours, they had flipped and moved the other way and the reason is, they saw the backlash. they had been indulging the comments for five or six years and not surprising after that that this is what you would be left with. it is a real threat to the health of the country and to american democracy. >> and then there is a republican candidate for michigan state senate telling people that they should bring guns to polling places. again, guns to the polling places. according to the detroit news, there was response to a question what can be done to prevent voter fraud. check out this video posted by ryan kelly's campaign. republican running for michigan governor.

watch this. >> second amendment is there. the founders put it there to protect all the others. and it says to the governor do people have the right to stop what is going on? that's what it's there for. all right? the right to bear arms. tells the governor if they go back to look at our decoloration, of independence then our thing is to do this peacefully and that's ideal. but the american people at some point in time if we can't change the tide, i believe we can, we need to be prepared. so if you ask what can we do, show up armed. >> okay. just again, i want to read it here. the ideal thing is to do this peacefully, that's ideal but the

american people at some point in time, if we can't change the tide, which i think we can, we need to be prepared to lock and load. so i ask you, so you ask what do we do? show up armed. now, he was asked by the detroit news what he meant by lock and load and he responded ultimately people have the responsibility to stop tyranny. is this the intimidation we should expect november and going forward? this is lunacy. >> yeah, it's dangerous lunacy and may turn out to be lethal r l lu lunacy. people did die. that reckless rhetoric isn't common to all republicans by any means -- >> but when you think about peter, if you're saying it should be peaceful and what does he -- if it's done -- it appears what he's saying if it's not done the way you want it to be

done, what are they going to do? shoot people at polling places? >> yeah, that's the trouble, don. that's how they're talking. josh mandel who is the leader in the polls for the republican nomination in the senate and ohio has said similar stuff. marjorie taylor greene. you can go through a list of people. this kind of rhetoric is pretty wide spread and it's really dangerous. the membrane that separates civilization is thinner than most people think and because of the recent history of this country, i think a lot of folks had assumed that what we're seeing really wouldn't or couldn't happen in america and it can. my fear is that we're edging closer to political violence than we know. again, we saw it on january 6th but there is a lot of dry grass out there and people are tossing around matches and that's not a good thing to do and remember, you've got donald trump, right, former president, the most popular person the party

encouraging unrest, if law enforcement proceeds against him. that's what he did in that speech the other day and he's holding up insurrectionists as martyrs. so there is, you know, i told a friend years ago at the beginning of the trump era, i said when there is no bottom, there is no bottom. i don't think there is right now. as long as this party is in the grips of trump himself and the maga world mentality, the maga world ethic, if you will, i don't think there are any or many lines they won't cross that there aren't many or anythings they won't say and we have to be prepared for it and fight back because this country is worth saving. >> peter, thank you. appreciate it. >> you bet. bipartisan governors telling president joe biden the country needs to move away from the pandemic. are they right?

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a bipartisan group of governors is calling to offer clear guidelines how the country can move past the pandemic. covid cases and hospital sanctions dropping as the omicron surge appears to have peaked. right now, 45 states seeing cases holding steady or going down. the former surgeon general of the united states dr. jerome adams is a distinguished professor at purdue university. thank you so much for joining us. let get to it. on both sides of the aisle, governors want to move past the pandemic. when you look where we are right now with this thing, with signs things are improving, are we in a place to safely transition from pandemic to endemic? >> we're not there yet and that's a matter of definitions

and the actual virus. we have over 2,000 people dying every single day. we know that the longer it takes to get up the hill, it takes that longer to get back down the hill. people should understand there is hope. we're seeing cases going down. we're seeing many ore and more people get vaccinated so that's critically important. i think we are headed toward a brighter spring, a brighter summer but we have to pick up the pace with vaccinations and boosters. >> i hope you're right. with cases on the decline, nearly every single u.s. county is still seeing high transmission according to the cdc and so many local officials are keeping mask mandates in place. do you think we need maybe a different set of guidelines to measure where we are right now with this pandemic? >> well, i think the guidelines are clear. we have to articulate them.

if you're vac naltedvaccinated boosted, we have to step it up as adults. we can completely unmask our kids in school and still come out ahead if we had the same vaccination rate as singapore. people like to compare themselves to the u.k. or france and look at their policies in terms of kids. well, there are more unvaccinated adults in the united states than there are total people under 18. there are more unboosted people than there are people under 18. the adults not stepping up and people have questions, not shaming them at all but the people who say it's about my freedom, they're not stepping up and they're causing our kids to have to pay the price. >> you tweeted this. you said in the u.s. we're forced to ask more of our kids because we get so little from our adults. do you think american already adults failed our children during this pandemic? >> when you look at comparable

countries, we absolutely could be doing a lot more. there are more unvaccinated adults in this country than kids under the age of 18. we could literally get rid of masking in schools all together and still come out ahead of this pandemic if people would just do their part and again, again, it's not to shame people. if you have questions, talk to a doctor. get your questions answered. if you're black, remember barack obama got vaccinated. if you're republican, donald trump said get vaccinated and boosted. we have to pull together not just for ourselves but our kids. it not fair to kids to expect them to pick up the slack because we won't do our jobs. >> would it help if places like a spotify or a facebook did their part or did more to help people realize what is true and what is not? i know that now they're putting

cav caveats, warning labels across content but would that help? >> don, everybody is free to speak but doesn't mean everybody deserve as microphone and should have the same amplification of the rhetoric. that's where social media and spotify and companies like that come in. i think they've got to do a better job of helping people understand okay, this is information from a reputable source. this sin formation from someone that doesn't quite have the credentials to be answering this question. this is play blatant misinforma. they have to do a better job because they're praying on our citizens and kids and praying on people that just want the facts who have good reasons for distrust of the government quite frankly but then they're getting fed misinformation causing them to make bad choices. >> look, this is why people are so hesitant to say oh, you know,

the prediction of the swing and summer because every time it's happened, there is a new variant around the corner. there is a new variant that u.k. data suggests is more contagious than omicron but doesn't appear to be more severe. how do you deal with the new variants as you try to move back to normal? >> deal with it with honesty. don, we've talked about this before. both administrations were guilty of wanting to declare victory over this virus and over this pandemic. american people hear me. we'll be living with this for awhile but we got the tools and vaccinations and boosters that are effective against infection, 90% against hospitalization, 95% against death if you're fully vaccinated and boosted and unfortunately, one of the things that comes out of omicron beyond 22,000 people dying a day is many more will have baseline immunity there. we'll transition into an era

where you're starting to see cases delinked from hospitalizations and from deaths moving forward but will get there quicker if people get vaccinated, boosted and take precautions in the meantime. >> doctor, you said both administrations were guilty saying we defeated. did the biden administration actually say that? >> we know jaul last year the president said we were turning the page on covid. we know they said we wouldn't have to mask anymore and i don't want people to mishear me. th administration i was part of was guilty of declaring victory over this virus and the fact is, this virus is going to dictate the terms when the pandemic is over. the control we have is through vaccinations and boosters and masking and taking protective measures. we have to get the politics out and rally around what works for us and our kids. >> i think everyone agrees. we got to get the politics out

of it. thank you dr. adams, appreciate you joining. >> thank you. whoopi goldberg now apologizing for comments on "the view" suggesting the holocaust wasn't about race. her co-host and an expert she named in her apology, they both join me to respond. that's next.

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during a segment on "the view" today discussing the banning of the book "mouse" the co-host whoopi goldberg made ill informed comments about jewish people and the holocaust. >> if you do this, let's be truthful about it. the holocaust isn't about race. >> no. >> no. >> well -- >> it is -- >> no. >> it's about a different race. >> but it's not about race. it's not about race. >> what is it about? >> it's about man's inhumanity to man. that's what it's about. >> but it's about white supremacy. >> it's not about -- >> and race. >> but these are two white groups of people. >> black people too. >> but you're missing the point. you're missing the point. the minute you turn it into race it goes down this ally. let's talk about it for what it is. it's how people treat each other. it's a problem. it doesn't matter if you're

black or white, black, white, jews, italian, everybody eats each other. >> so whoopi has since come out with an apology and she says on today's show i said the holocaust is not about race, but about man's humanity to man. i should have said it's about both. as jonathan from the anti defamation shared, the holocaust was about the nazis annihilation of the jewish people they deemed to be an inferior race. i stand corrected. the jewish people around the world have always had my support and that will never waiver. i'm sorry for the hurt i have caused. jonathan joins me now along with ana navarro who was co-hosting "the view" and they both join us. thank you so much. appreciate you guys coming on to speak about this. jonathan, good evening to you. whoopi mentioned you there as someone who helped educate her on this. so set the record straight. the role of race in the

holocaust. >> well, thank you, don, for the question. i wish we weren't having this conversation but let's be clear about one thing. the holocaust was all about race. the nazi ideology was predicated on the hateful antis-semitic idea they were a so-called superior race and the so-called jewish race was interior and that led them to commit this act of genocidal annihilation, to literally execute the systematic ex ex termination of jewish people across europe, attempted across north africa. it was the singular tragedy in human history predicated on race and those 6 million people we're talking about, there was more than a million and a half children who were slaulgghteredy the nazis incinerated in the oven, gassed in the chambers. this is not just about people treating each other poorly but

this was one of the most die boll kill offenses in human history. >> jonathan, when whoopi said these are two groups of white people meaning the nazis and their jewish victims, some people might see it that way. and, you know, the idea some people would say that jewish people -- it's about religion. that judaism is a religion, it's not a race. being a jew is not a race. but is it wrong when it comes to the holocaust to think about it in that way? please explain that to us. >> look, the reality is that anti-semitism is the oldest hatred. it crossed cultures and countries for ma years. sometimes it's kind of a religious anti-semitism, a case long made by the catholic church. today we see kind of political anti-semitism by those who cast against the jewish people or the jewish state and while it's true

that many jews present as white, many jews are considered people of color. african american, latino, if you were go to go israel, don, you would see the majority of their population hail from arab and muslim countries and they don't present as white. so i think we do ourselves a disservice when we try to import the way we think about race in a 21est century american context on to conflicts in the middle east, on to historical events in the 20th century and so on and so forth. i'm glad that whoopi apologized and recognized the hurt she caused and i really hope we can work together to educate people about the holocaust and why we need to learn its lessons today at a time when anti-semitism, don, as we talked about on your show, it is absolutely on the rise coming at theieing at the e from all sides. >> you said how we think about race today because there is something to that. ana, i want to pose that to you

but first, i want -- you pushed back on whoopi during that. i'll play part of the segment and i'll ask you the question. here it is. >> we're living in an era are people are comparing vaccine cards to the yellow stars, where people are comparing vaccinations to what ann frank went through so it is necessary for kids to learn about the holocaust. >> ana is this about this 21st century idea about what race is, that we are -- that people -- that many people will sort of use that comparison to explain how they feel about the holocaust? >> i think so. i think -- listen, when i -- when you for example look at government form, a u.s. census form and asks for race information. jewish does not appear on there so i think what jonathan is saying is exactly right. we're putting our 21st century eyes on it. but i also -- listen, i want to

put things in context because this conversation was where we were condemning the school board in tennessee for banning a book, a classic book about the holocaust that's taught to many high schoolers, "mouse" because we feel there needs to be education. i actually disagree with jonathan in that i'm glad we're having this conversation because for me, it emphasizes the need to have the uncomfortable conversations that in many states they want to ban. we must be educated about this so that we know how to condemn the marjorie taylor greenes and how to condemn the rfk and how to condemn and fight against anti-semitism any time it rises its ugly head. and i will say that the view and i'm very proud to be part of that show and i'm very proud to be a friend of and colleague of whoopi goldberg and the other women on there does that constantly. just last week, we had lily, a

98-year-old survivor of auschwitz for holocaust remembrance day and condemned anti-semitism time and time again. i think this is a learning moment and i'm so glad jonathan reached out. i'm so glad he took the time to educate us and we're having this conversation and that we are being uncomfortable and we're being taught. we're being -- >> listen. i agree. i think it's a teaching moment and i think that's the reason we're doing this and no one is slamming whoopi here. she apologized. whoopi stated her case and didn't say i apologized if i offended you. she said i was wrong, i learned and i'll do better. that's the way to apologize. jonathan, she said she learned from you. have you spoken to whoopi? will you speak to whoopi? will you appear on "the view" with whoopi? >> i'll be on "the view" tomorrow morning, don, which will be a great opportunity to talk with ana and whoopi and joy and all the hosts about these issues. i agree it's a teachable moment and i believe we got to call

people in before we call them out. the fact she apologized matters and let's use this as an opportunity at a time as ana eluded to, we have holocaust survivors passing on. memory is fading. to learn the history of the past end enables us to be prepared for the future in a way to educate us about the dangers of anti-semitism, racism and hate. >> jonathan -- >> look forward to seeing you on "the view" tomorrow. >> we'll be right back. sorry. fast relief and get the same fast relief in a delightful chew with pepto bismol chews.

new tonight a federal judge is rejecting a plea deal reached by prosecutors and two of the men convicted in the mudder of ahmaud arbery under the terms of the agreement the mcmichaels would have been transferred from a state prison to federal custody. arbery's mother was angered by the proposed deal and told the judge not to accept it. the attorney for ahmaud arbery's family joins me now. we're so happy you're here to discuss this. good evening. ahmaud's mother wonda cooper jones called the plea deal disrespectful. tell us why this deal wasn't enough. >> well, the main concern with the deal was that wonda fought hard to secure a state conviction for the three men who murdered her son two without the possibility of parole.

and this deal would allow them to avoid that really difficult state prison term and transfer to what is considered a relatively lighter federal penitentiary incarceration. >> both of ahmaud's parents spoke in court as witnesses against the deal today. this is a quote from ms. cooper jones. she said ahmaud didn't get an option of a plea. amidhmaud was killed and unit h down. i'm asking you on behalf of my family to please not accept this plea. an fbi special agent also speaking as witness today testifying that they found frequent use of racial slurs on travis mcmichael eas's phone an social media accounts. how will this play out if and when this case goes out before a jury? that was one of the selling points when the department of justice was trying to convince wanda cooper jones this was a plea deal that she should look forward to because she would

finally get to hear the truth about the racial motivations of these men but as she said from the courtroom today, she gets no benefit of hearing how racist these men were. she has the outcome she's looking for. these men are serving the rest of their lives behind bars and she doesn't want to do them any benefit. she didn't want to do them any favors allowing them to transfer to their preferred location. >> lee, thank you so much. best to the family. appreciate you appearing. two police officers in bridge port, connecticut suspended for mishandling the investigations into the deaths of two black women. activists are pointing to a bigger problem within the police department.

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but heinz knows there's plenty of magic in all that chaos. ♪ so different and so new ♪ ♪ was like any other... ♪ the mayor of bridgeport, connecticut, ordering two officers be placed on administrative leave after the families of two black women criticized the way police handled the investigations into their deaths. now, the community is looking for answers to how this could have happened. cnn's athena jones has the latest. >> reporter: outrage and frustration in bridgeport, connecticut. the police department, um, just dropped the ball, and not one but two suspicious deaths. >> reporter: two police officers now on administrative leave, and being investigated by internal affairs after the families of two black women, found dead in

separate incidents last month, slammed the police department's handling of the investigations into their deaths. >> i just want everybody to know i love my daughter, and we need justice. we need answers. >> reporter: 23-year-old college student lauren smith fields and 53-year-old brenda hee ralls both died december 12th. police in both cases failed to notify the families of their deaths. smith fields family toorp saying they instead learned she died from her landlord, who left a note on her apartment door. smith-fields died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl, alcohol, and prescription drugs according to the medical examiner. her death was reported to police by a man she had met on the dating app bumble. >> we do not believe that if she took those drugs, she knew what she was taking. the bottom line is no matter how she pagssed away, it was not investigated properly and it was not handled properly. >> reporter: smith-fields' family plans to sue the city for violating their civil rights. their haur writing that two

weeks after smith-fields's death, her family had to force police to collect evidence, including a used condom, a bloody bed sheet, and a pill used in a sedative. bridgeport police say her death is being investigated as a crime. cnn has not identifying her date, an older-white man because he has not been named a suspect. >> you have to be interested in the last person she was with before she died. >> if it had been the other way around, and had been a white woman and a black man, you cannot tell me that the black man wouldn't have been arrested or questioned or his phone taken. >> reporter: meanwhile, brenda lee rawls' cause and manner of death are still pending. >> her death is being treated like -- like -- hike nothing, like she was never here or existed. >> to again, make it clear -- >> bridge port mayor, joseph gannon, now apologizing. >> i want to be clear to members of the public and the department that insensitivity, disrespect

in action or deviation from policy will not be tolerated by me or anyone in this administration. >> reporter: local activists say poor treatment of minorities in bridgeport, which is 35% black, has long been a problem and argue the police department does not represent the community. >> the black and brown community really does not feel that the police department of the greater bridgeport -- of the bridgeport area does not -- does not have the best interest of people of color in mind when they come to investigate. >> reporter: both cases have been reassigned to other officers, and the supervisory officer overseeing these matters retired on friday. meanwhile, reverend d. stanley, the head of the local naacp chapter tells me he plans to hold a press conference on wednesday to demand a federal civil rights investigation into the bridgeport police department. don? >> athena jones, thank you very much for that. and thank you for watching, everyone. our coverage continues.

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good evening. we begin tonight with a stunningly simple fact. t former president of the united states has loudly and proudly confessed to the very thing the house select committee is hard at work trying to prove. he has also dangled pardons in front of the people who attacked the capitol. and leveled veiled threats, hinting at potential mob violence at those who would investigate or prosecute him. yet, that fact that he did all that in just a single weekend, shocking as it is, also comes with the depressingly familiar corollary. it is always been this way. he has always said the quiet part out loud, whether after the fact or before o