yamiche: truth and consequences. >> i have what we think is the strongest election integrity measures in the country. yamiche: republicans press forward with more bills to restrict voting as the g.o.p. gets ready for a purge over its embrace of election conspiracy theories. >> we should not be embracing the former president. >> i've lost confidence. yamiche: at the center, foer president trump's lie that the 2020 election was rigged. and the power he still holds. >> trickle down ain't working very well, man. yamiche: meanwhile, president biden sets new goals for fighting covid and hits the road to sell his massive plan to rebuild and invest in america. will virus and vaccine culture wars get in his way? next. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute,

which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> this is "washington week." corporate funding is provided by -- >> consumer cellular. kaiser permanente. additional funding is provided by the estate of arnold adams and koo and patricia ewen through the ewen foundation, committed to bridging differences in our communities. and the corporationor public broadcasting. and contributions to your pbs stations from viewers like you. thank you. here's our moderator, yamiche alcindor. yamiche: i'm so glad to join you as the new moderator.

today is may 7. the capitol insurrection took place 121 days ago. president biden has been in office for 107 days. even though the mob that stormed the capitol didn't succeed in stopping biden from taking the oath, we're reminded of the that false accusations about the election loom large. republicans in dozens and dozens of states have continued to introduce and pass laws restricting voting. supporters of the laws say they're aimed at making voting more secure. critics say the efforts are about making it harder for many, including black people and people of color, to vote. the debate over election integrity has led to a civil war inside the g.o.p. in january, the party's leadership was sharply critical of former president donald trump who wrongly claimed that the election was stolen. here's how g.o.p. leer kevin mccarthy put it then.

>> the president bear responsibility for wednesday's attack on congress by mob rioters. all of us must resist the temptation of further poe czar -- poe lafferization. yamiche: this week, mccarthy was caught on a hot mic saying liz cheney should be purged from party leadership. why? because she's speaking out against former president trump's lies. >> i've had it. i've lost confidence. someone just has to bring a motion. i assume that will probably take place. yamiche: in a "washington post" op-ed, cheney fired back, write, quote, we republicans need to stand for genuinely conservative principles an steer away from the dangerous and anti-democratic trump cult of personality. history is watching. joining us tonight for insight and analysis, errin haines, for the 19th. jake sherman for punchbowl news,

and in studio, dan balz for "the washington post" and weijia jiang of cbs news who covers the white house with me and is a dear friend. errin, what does your reporting tell you about how the voting laws could impact people's live bus also how did we even get here in the first place? errin: first, let me just say, congratulations, my friend. it is an honor to be with you as you make your debut as moderator of "washington week," i'm thrilled to be in conversation with you tonig. let me just say as a native of atlanta, a native georgians, this is not a new strategy for the republican party. georgia was a pioneer in voter i.d. laws dating back to 2005-2006. and there were other states that saw what georgia did then who followed suit. what we're seeing now is

something that has been kind of a long time coming. what really is the 21st century face of voter suppression that continues to be a solution in search of a probl. we know that this election was the safest, the most accurate, in u.s. history according to our n federal government. and according to state officials in georgia, in florida, you know, saying that their states had elections that were transparent, efficient, and were accurate. and yet here we are, you know work a recount, the audit in arizona work these laws being passed in georgia and florida. the reason they really are, you know, dangerous and continue to be a threat to our democracy, is because i think we're moving into phase 2 of the big lie. phase one being that president trump continuing to claim he wrongly won the election when we know that president biden won and president trump lost. but now, phase two is really just the idea that election integrity is a threat to our

democracy. we know that's not true there is no proven evidence of widespread voter fraud anywhere in this country. yamiche: errin is talking about voter suppression but there's also what is happening in arizona with this audit. what do you think the impact is of all of this and how is the white house and democrats readying themselves to push back given the fact that they're criticizing them? weijia: there's only so much the president can do himself. he he has said clearly and the white house press secretary today said again that they are very -- it's obvious that these raws -- these laws are meant to keep people from voting. i askedlso whether the president believed that the justice department should intervene in any way to try to stop these laws from being implemented and this white house has been so careful about separate -- separating the justice department and attorney general garland's power that they weren't going to weigh in on that. but they are aware that this is a massive fight ahead. the problem is that, you know,

sources say it's not only going to make it difficult for democrats to vote but for republicans too. so there is this risk of backfiring that they think is really something that these state officials are not thinking about clearly enough. but they are prepared for what is ahead. they the it's going to be something that they have to struggle with. yamiche: the struggl of course, is also connected, jake, so what's going on in the g.o.p., liz chaney, we're all reading what's going on here through punchbowl news. is liz chaney going to survive this? jake: yamiche, i want to also say congratulation, i feel like we've been on air together since we were young children and here you are with your own show. i have no reporting to suggest that liz chaythee will survive the challenge next week, next tuesday or wednesday. it could happen. we could be very surprised on wednesday if chaney survives.

we were surprised last time. i don't believe that will be the case this time. kevin mccarthy is against her, steve scalise is against her, jim jordan, some of the most powerful in the republican party are for elise stea stefanic who is challenging liz chaney. there's two visions of the party. the liz chaney vision, she believes that donald trump is a danger and she uses every opportunity she can to talk about the lies he's telling about january 6 and the election. and she's unafraid to criticize her own party leadership, the leadership in which she sits. and there's elise stefanik who believes it's important to represent the broader republican conference which frankly is fully behind donald trump. two competing visions for the party. two strategies, i think a lot of members of congress, sitting republicans, are with stefanik because,all though -- some of them don't care for donald

trump, it's not all they want to bealking about. it's a shameful episode and a strange episode for this party. yamiche: strange is definitely one way to put it. dan, you wrote this week in "the washington post" that the move against chaney is a sign of political cowardice for the party. while shock, you write, it is not surprising for a party that's lost its way. that's lost its way. talk to me about this moment and the history, is there -- i always ask this question, especially to veteran reporters, is there anything to compare this to in dan: nothing that i've covered many, many years here in washington covering this erepublican party and these kinds of battles. the republican party of today is not the republican party that existed five years ago, certainly not 10, 15, 25 years ago. it is now donald trump's party. we have a -- we have all talked over this spring about the battle for the soul of the republican party and i think at this point, donald trump owns the soul of the republican pay. he owns it lock, stock, and barrel. liz chayi is standing up

agnst that but she's in a very distinct minority. there may be people who agree with her but they're unwilling to speak out in the way she is. what you have is a very small minority, liz cheney on the one hand, senator romney on the other, among a handful of people who are prepared to make the argument that the party is in danger of ruining its future. if it continues to buy in to trump's lies about the election. but it appears as though she's on very thin ice in the house and as a result of tha what we have right now is a party that is donald trump's. errin: dan is so right. this is a lot less about liz chaney than about donald trump. that's why you're seeing the huge endorse oment of elise stefanik. in the impeachment trial she was one of the few who was willing to go as far as she did to staunchly defend president trump. who at that time was really his

own defend for the chief. and so, i think this is another classic example of what happens when you support the former president and when you don't. it's a case of being rewarded and being punished. that's what's playing out here. yamiche: i'm going to go to what president biden said. this week, biden was questioned about the leadership crisis. here's what he said. >> it seems as though the republican party is trying to identify what it stands for. and they're in the midst of significant sort of mini revolution going on in the republican party. yamiche: dan, you were going to jump in. tell me a little bit about how president trump's hold on the g.o.p. may impact his ability to function in the party and also the party's function to really deal with president biden. the's all this talk of bipartisanship, what do you make of it? dan: i think there's two related but somewhat separate issues on that.

in terms of president -- former president trump. the party is focused on trying to win back control of the house and maybe the senate in 2022. that's why they are upset with liz chaney. they think she's taking them back to an old fight and they want to move past that, whether they buy into what donald trump has said or not. but trump has made it very clear he's going to continue to be active within the party. he's rare among presidents in that he gets involved in intra-party fights. that's clearly what he's going to do. most republicans don't want to be on the wrong side of that. so they are -- they are with trump and therefore against chaney. how that will affect the legislative agenda of president biden is not yet clear. there are signs that there are going to be decent negotiations over the american jobs plan. i don't think we know enough about how serious those are yet. but there's a possibility that those will end up being somewhat

compartmentalized. but right now, the chaney, you will, chaney-mccarthy battle, the cheney-trump battle, is overwhelming everything else in the republican party. >> dan is talking about overwhelming everything, i'm interested in the idea that johnierness, a republican woman in the senate, came to the defense of liz chaney. what does that tell you and what does it tell you about maybe going after liz chaney, how could that impact the g.o.p.'s relationship with its women voters? weijia: that is something -- errin: that is something we're interested in over at 19th news. one thing that's interesting that we reported is that even as liz chay mi was embattled she had a record fundraising quarter last quarter, after her colleague, matt gaetz, goes to wyoming an tells her constituents to vote her out of office. instead they resnd by donating millions to her campaign.

so this could be something we know that, you know, there were women voters, especially conservative women we talked to in the 2020 campaign who maybe were turned off by former president trump's rhetoric but were not necessarily turned off by his agenda. so it is unclear where women voters will come down. i think it is clear that just because president trump south of uffs office, that doesn't mean he's out of power. and how that play into the 2022 cycle, i think will be a test of his power and continued hold over this party. because he i the standard bearer, those who are not going to carry that standard are being -- yamiche: as you talk about president trump, former president trump, i want to turn to what president biden spent much of his week focused on. he hit the road pitching the urgency of his economic plans. >> i'm not ready to have another period where america has another

infrastructure month and doesn't change a damn thing. yamiche: tuesday this epresident se a new goal for fighting the pandemic, aiming to have 70% of americans vaccinated with at least one shot by july 4. biden urged americans not to let politics get in the way of getting aaccine. >> i want to be clear. i've been saying this a long time. but i really believe it. this is not a democrat or a republican issue. we may not always agree on everything, this is one thing people across the political spectrum can agree on. yamiche: republicans, according to polling, are still among one of the most vaccine hesitant groups in the country. a number of conservative voices have been spreading disinformation about the vaccines. jake, i want to come to you. the new jobs report fell well below expectations. white house aides tell me this underscores -- underscores the importance of passing president biden's plan. how might this latest report

push the democrats to go it alone? jake: that's a good point. democrats have been toying with negotiating with republicans over this package. i think when congress comes back into session next week, they are going to be a lot less interested in waiting for republicans to figure out if they want to come along and negotiate this package. i've talked to democratic aides an lawmakers all day. they feel time is of the essence. maybe not the entire package. to imagine they wanto pass something quickly. the general gist is, democrats feel like republicans, you know, go halfway down the road and eventually decide they don't want to negotiate. they think they're not going to be able to do it this time. that's one way i would say this is going to impact legislating. the second way is, i think democrats want to go big. i do. i don't know if it's going to be $4 trillion but i don't think a $600 billion to $700 billion plan is going to suffice for

most democrats especially in the wake of this job report, by the way, i had white house sources telling me they expected a 700,000 to one million job number which would have given joe biden two million jobs in his first 100 days. that didn't happen. it was a big surprise in the west wing. big surprise in the white house. congress needs to respond with speed. joe biden will have people at the white house next week. i have to imagine that things are going to go a little quicker now. yamiche: dan, i want to come to you. how is all this traveling that president biden is doing, how might it help things along? jake says things need to happen fast. dan: it helps at the margins but the question is going -- is going to be, is there room for real comp mice between the president and the senate republicans. i'm told there'll be a meeting next thursday at the white house with senator shelly moore

capito. i think the white house at that point will begin to see whether -- how serious republicans are about really giving ground and then how serious he is about meeting them closer to where they might want to be. so i think until we -- i would say a week from today, we may have a much better idea of whether what i would call a hard infrastructure bill which is just to say the kind of roads, bridges, that sort of thing, is possible. at that point if it's not possible he has to make a decision about what to do yamiche: weijia, you're at the white house covering this. i want to ask about the jobs report but there's also big covid goals. the biden administration has to navigate access an vaccine hesitancy. weijia: i was so excited to start tonight that i forgot to say, again -- yamiche: this is why i love you. weijia: this is an amazing night. i'm so happy for you.

so yes. as you know, from the very begin, the president said you cannot separate these two crises. you have t virus and you have the economy. and so that's why he's making this huge push by july 4 to vaccinate 70% of the adult population. an what we saw today was a clear example of why. because you know, the white house has said the reason why these job numbers were not where they had anticipated them to be is because people still have that fear factor about going intoork. into a crowded work space. especially into a restaurant or a bar which is an industry where we're seeing a shortage of labor. and employers trying to get more people. and so that's why he's trying to get the numbers up. it is very hard, as you mentioned, because the hesitancy still exists and even though access is a huge problem that they're tackling with more walk-in clinics, with more mobile units, i think it's going to be the holdouts that ma a

big difference. and the president said over time , the spokespeople will be more granular into these local communs to try to change people's minds. but the worry is that people have already made up their minds. and decided they're not going to get it. yamiche: errin, i was in st. louis this week, talked to a lot of people who were hesitant about the vaccine, surprised me a bit. you have been writing a bunch about vaccine hesitancy and access. talk about that and also about racial inequalities an how that factors into all this. errin: absolutely. racial equity is a corner stope of this administration, something they said they were going to prioritize in this administration. even though they have certainly ha an impressive record in these first 100 days in terms of getting people vaccinated work know that has not been equitable from a racial standpoint. as much -- for as much as people make about the vaccine hesitancy issue in the communities of

color, access was such a huge piece of the equation, setting up, fix, these huge fema sites, you know, without necessarily access to transportation, for example. helping people to get to them. we know that some of these frontline workers, essential workers, are people who don't necessarily have the means to take the day off to get a vaccine, much less the second dose of the vaccine. we know people have pretty bad side effects in the wake of taking that vaccine. if they have to call in sick, they're not going to get paid when ty do that. when somebody knows that, that certainly is something that is staaling certain parts of the population from coming back in to get the second vaccine, right? the j&j pause, we don't know what effect that had, especially in communities of color who could have gotten maybe one dose an wouldn't have to worry about coming back for the second dose. maybe take manager time away from work, more time away from the child care piece. and so, i think that the trusted

messengers that are being deployed in a lot of communities of color, those folks may be get manager people to get the vaccine but still issues of access are not just about having a facility in that community. it's about making it possible and viable for folks to get the vaccine in a way that they're not kind of balancing their economic survival, for example, with their public health. yamiche: yeah. yeah. all such important issues. before we go, we hadajor immigration news this week. the biden administration carried out some of its first reunifications of families separated at the southern border under former president trump. weijia, these are emotional scenes, scenes that tug at your heart strings. i wonder, as you watch them, what other challenges on immigration really are at the part where the biden administration is having to really face these challenges? what are the other immigration challenges?

weijia: for one, we saw four families reunited this week, which is so substantial still because you think about those images you talked about, how powerful they are, how long these families have been waiting for this moment. but there are hundreds of other families that still need to be reunited. so the task force is working on that. they're trying to do it as quickly as possible. but there's also the issue of young migrants still coming to the border evy day. there was huge news yesterday that they're being process faster. they're not being held in those, you know, border facilities that were not set up for children as long. they're going to other ones that are run by health and human services that are a lot more humane for kids. that's a succe. but the root of the problem is still there. they continue to come. so they have to communicate and try to get to the source of that. also, i think the issue of the refugee cap will continue to be one because even the president said he even though he's raised the cap to 62,500 from the

historic low of 15,000, he doesn't belie that they're going to get there this year. that number is still lower than what he wants it to be. that's a pledge that he wants to fulfill because he made it while he was still a candidate. yamiche: those immigration challenges are something he'll have to contend with. that's all the time we have for tonight. thunk so much, errin, jake, dan, weijia, our conversation will continue on washington-week extra, find it live, 8:30 p.m. eastern time on facebook and youtube. this show has an incredible legacy. i am thrilled to step into it and expand it. i was lucky enough to know and be mentored by gwen ifill, a longtime host of this show. i am thinking of her, her brilliance and tenacity, today and every day. my giggedeight will be centering this show on the decisions made in washington and

beyond and how they impact everyday americans and vulnerable populations. i hope you see the questions that you have about politics and power represented here at this table. please join me every week. i'm yamiche alcindor. good night from washington. ♪ >> corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by

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(vely music) - now, since the pandemic, my coffee shop's been closed. and for the last 10 years, it was my second home. it was my office. i'd meet neighbors. we'd gossip, oh yeah, and sometimes have coffee. as a matter of habit, i still take the six block walk. and on the way, i pass these littlfree libraries. these things are great. you can take out a book and read it and when you're done put one back in and these things are really nice. i started to notice that one of the neighbors down the block politically leans a bit to the left, and then further on down is another neighbor that leans hard to the right. as a matterf civic duty, on the way to the coffee shop, i'll take a book out of one of the libraries and bring it down to the other. and then on the way home, i'll bring a book back.