the scriptures and as clear as the american constitution. until the day he died, kennedy lobbied the congress for passage of the civil rights bill, opening the door of every restaurant, hotel, and gas station rest room to all americans. the cruel irony is that the bill passed largely because of the national grief over kennedy's death. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. >> thanks, chris. and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's need, deselecting the jury. it's called jury selection. picking the six people who will decide the case against george zimmerman. but on day two, the focus is really on jury deselection. lawyers from both sides grilled potential jurors and sent dozens of them from the jury box. mr. zimmerman himself was back in court, as were the parents of the teenager he has admitted to

killing, trayvon martin. mr. zimmerman has pleaded not guilty and claims he shot trayvon martin in self-defense. today lawyers questioned ten jurors for more than eight hours. it was clear that several jurors were aware of many details of the case, including what trayvon martin was wearing the night he died. >> do you recall at this time other than what you've written here anything specific about the case? any more facts or individuals involved or anything like that? >> that the african-american was wearing a hoodie or something like that. >> i remember reading that he wore a hoodie. >> what were your impressions in terms of him wearing a hoodie? >> no big deal. i wear hoodies too. >> also discuss what potential jurors know about the television mr. zimmerman had with the 911 police dispatcher the night of the shooting.

>> listen to the police officer telling him to wait. >> and in that sense, do you think that he did something wrong? >> perhaps he did. >> so far a total of 41 jurors have been excluded from serving. 40 were rejected after filling out a questionnaire. one was rejected after being questioned by lawyers in court. more than 400 citizens remain available to be selected as jurors. hour by hour, juror by juror, we're learning more and more about how each side views the case. in this kind of jury selection, the trial could be won or lost before we even get to opening arguments. joining me now is legal analyst and former criminal prosecutor fay jenkins, veteran prosecutor paul henderson, and nbc news analyst lisa bloom. thank you all of you for being

with me. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> a pleasure. >> faith, let's get right to it. what w have we learned so far about the strategies for both the prosecution and the defense. ? >> this trial is shaping up to be a test of our criminal justice system. we're seeing a methodical process process like this. jury selection usually isn't like this where you have one juror isolated from the very beginning and they're asking them questions without them being in the presence of other jurors. they want to make sure that even the answers aren't tainting the potential jury pool in this case. and you're seeing just at the very beginning, they're asking them what have you heard about this case. what opinions have you formed. have you already made an opinion such that you cannot be persuaded by the evidence that we present to you? >> but paul, everyone has heard about this case. if you were dealing with this, how would you know whether or not a jury is telling you everything they have heard? i mean, what can you say that would prod that little hidden part that is in her mind out so that you would know this is a

potential juror that is good or bad in terms of their objectivity? >> well, i love the litigation artistry of this part of a trial. and really, you get that answer by asking context. so you're asking people how do they know what they know. where do they get their news information from? are they listening to the local news? are they listening to national news? what stations do they watch? what newspapers and magazines do they read. here is an important question that you're hearing asked a lot. how did you hear about this case, and who did you hear it from? so if you're listening to your neighbors, friends, or church members, that has an influence on your ability to listen to the facts that are coming up soon in the case. >> now lisa, it's not only what you know about the case in terms of having heard of it, but is also whether or not you have heard specific parts of the evidence that may be presented, whether you heard it and may already have an opinion before

you have seen it presented in court, and therefore may be biased, like the 911 call or the tape of screaming and all. would that have more of a bearing on whether you would want that person to serve on a jury whether than they just heard of the case? >> right there. is a big leap from hearing information and reaching a conclusion from that information. as this judge has said, we don't expect you to have lived under a rock and not even heard about the case. but the attorneys are trying to get answers from the juries about whether they have reached conclusion. a lot of them are very skeptical about the news media. one woman said the only use she has for newspapers is to line her bird cage. and that got some laughs in the courtroom. so just because they've heard about the case doesn't mean that they have reached conclusions about it. >> now, faith, you have some that are also raising questions that could be considered biased against the victim, trayvon martin. let me give you the one juror who expressed an opinion about

something she had heard about trayvon martin. listen to this. >> the opinion was basically regarding what i heard about trayvon being up here because he was on -- expelled from school. >> tell me what opinions you formulated as a result of hearing that? >> that being a single parent with two boys of my own, i'm very strict with them. they -- i don't want to judge, but i just want to say that this could have been prevented had he not been up here. that's all. >> this could have been prevented if he hadn't been up here. first of all, faith, he wasn't suspended from school. so first of all, that's wrong. but to have someone on a jury that says that he might have been alive if he hadn't been up here because he was suspended from school, not expelled, but suspended, she said expelled, i mean, what are we talking about

here? maybe i missed something. do you now deserve to be shot and killed if you were suspended or expelled for that matter? what is this kind of logic. >> no. unless we start killing teenagers for being less than perfect teenagers, none of those things are relevant to this case. this was part of a defense strategy early on. there was a lot of information released about trayvon and the alleged pictures that were on his phone, or alleged activity that he was engaged in. information that the jurors would never come to learn in a trial, because it's not relevant to a self-defense case between strangers. but it was released to the public. and as you can see, this woman heard about it. so much so that she is bringing it forth now into the jury pool about this case. that was a defense strategy early on. big, thaw is the point, paul, that i think some were making. that is by releasing things that they know could never be brought up into trial, have they poisoned a significant portion of people that could be in this jury pool because this woman

remembers this even though she is factually incorrect, she remembers this, and apparently believes it. >> right. so there is your answer. as you're hearing these jurors and potential jurors talk about what they know about the case, you see the damage that has been done about releasing information that is stereotypical and not accurate. this is the reason that you keep seeing the prosecution asking again and again and again for a gag order, because they are concerned about what is being released into the public that is going to not even come into the trial and influence the triers of fact, who are limited to only the evidence that is presented to them in this trial. that's exactly the problem, just as you summarized it. >> now, let me ask you, lisa, there has been a lot of talk about the tape with the screaming. now, as you probably know, i had mr. zimmerman's lawyer, mr. merrill on the show who acted as though at trial when the screaming tape is heard that i

would hear and the listeners and viewers would hear more than one voice. and we'll see what he is talking about at trial. now they're fighting aggressively to keep it out of the trial. it would it seems to me if they thought that mr. zimmerman was the one yelling help, why would they be fighting to keep it out of the trial? >> well, that's a very good question. and we know that the prosecution has at least one expert witness who is prepared to say that it was not george zimmerman screaming on the tape, that in fact on the tape it's either somebody who is not george zimmerman, which would leave trayvon martin the only other person in the altercation, or clearly that it was trayvon martin screaming, begging, saying stop in the final moments of his life. that's going to be for the jurors to decide if they in fact even hear it. >> but isn't that crucial to the a self-defense claim, faith? because first of all you would have to explain how you were pulling a gun, shooting it and yelling help at the same time. it doesn't seem too likely to me, though we'll wait and see if

this occurs. >>. no and it doesn't seem very believable, which is why the defense wants to keep that evidence out. and it's all a part of their strategy of the way they want to present this case, because the prosecution at the end of the day, they have the burden of proof. they're deciding whether or not supposedly they're going to put george zimmerman on the witness stand. but if they can make that burden as hard as possible, they can for the state and see what evidence they're going to present first, before they make that decision, that's what they're going to do, try to keep as much of that evidence out. >> paul, you've been in front of a lot of juries. how do you deal with that? if they put this sound in, if they put this tape in, if the judge allows it, how do you explain how this voice is not the voice of zimmerman if you were his lawyer, and how zimmerman was pulling the gun to trigger and screaming for help all at the same time? >> well, if i were zimmerman's lawyer, i'm sure i'd be arguing that i was going to try and investigate. i had no intentions of creating some sort of violence. and then when violence occurred,

i was screaming and yelling for help. i just think it's a hard pitch. it's a high hurdle to climb. and in this case, i think it's why we're seeing all this stereotypical stuff that is coming in and not stuff that is actually focusing on the state of mind of zimmerman which is going to be the actual evidence. we have to keep in mind and remember when he affirms self-defense, that's an affirmative defense that shifts the burden slightly on to the defense to have to prove self-defense and just fight. this tape is going to be hard for him to deal with if it comes into the trial. >> faith jenkins, paul henderson, and lisa bloom. i'm going have to leave it there. thank you all for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> and full disclosure. in civil court, george zimmerman has sued nbcuniversal for defamation and the company has strongly denied his allegations. how is the president handling the challenge of balancing security and privacy? former white house press secretary robert gibbs is here

live. and forget scandal mania. real action today, and it was a major win for the president's signature legislation. and 50 years ago today, the march towards civil rights took a major step forward with an epic speech from president john f. kennedy. >> this is one country. it has become one country because all of us and all the people who came here had an equal chance to develop their talents. we cannot say that 10% of the population that you can't have that right. >> send me your e-mails on that, or anything else you want to send me. stay with us. [ female announcer ] caltrate's done even more to move us. because vitamin d3 helps bones absorb calcium,

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a huge step forward for a key piece of the president's agenda. forget the fake scandals. he's building a legacy. that's next. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] for dad's first job as dad. nissan tests hundreds of child seats to give you a better fit and a safer trip. snug kids, only from nissan. ♪ a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. ♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't have something important to say?

♪ all we're hearing from the right is scandal, scandal, and more scandal. but today we're seeing real action, real progress, real substance, and a major win for president obama's agenda. 82 senators voted to begin follow debate on the immigration bill, a critical step toward passing the first immigration

overhaul in nearly 30 years. the president made it clear today this is about transforming the country, about allowing 11 million immigrants to get u.s. citizenship, and about leveling the playing field for everyone. >> if you're actually serious and sincere about fixing a broken system, this is the vehicle to do it, and now is the time to get it done. there is no good reason to play procedural games or engage in obstruction just to block the best chance we've had in years to address this problem in a way that is fair to middle class families, to business owners, to legal immigrants. >> it's about fixing a broken system and changing this country for the better. >> we came to work, and we came to make a better future our families. and we don't come to do anything bad within. >> a lot of people like me are dreamers who have been here for a long time. and i think we need an

opportunity to show our skills. >> we come here for a better life, and we work hard for it. i think we all deserve it. and i think it's time that we are heard and a better future and a better opportunity is given to all of us. >> this is what this country is built on. the foundation of this country is the immigrant experience. and today's vote is the first step in giving them a chance at the american dream. joining me now, senator robert menendez, democrat from new jersey and a member of the gang of eight who sponsored the senate immigration bill. senator menendez, thank you for being with us tonight. >> good to be with you, reverend al. >> let me say this, frankly. two weeks ago, you know, it looked like an uphill struggle for this bill. are you confident it will pass the senate and make it through the house? >> i believe momentum is on our side. today's vote was a big bellwether. i think of where we're going. i'm not saying that is everybody

who voted to proceed and move the debate is going to vote for the bill at the end. i hope they will. but it's certainly is a good indicator of the work that we've been building to get to at least 60 votes, which nowadays is rarely ever accomplished here on any significant piece of legislation. so i'm confident we'll get there. we'll have a good vote, a strong bill, and create movement in the house of representatives to respond to what the american people want to see, which is comprehensive immigration reform. >> well, let me show you what your colleague from texas, senator cruz had to say, who by the way voted against the legislation. here is what he said after the vote. >> if this bill did become law, it would not solve the problem. indeed, it would make the problem of illegal immigration that we have today worse. rather than better. to date, the conduct of the white house and the senate democrats who have been driving

this process suggests that they are more interested in finding a partisan issue to campaign on in 2014 and 2016 than they are in actually passing a bill to fix our broken immigration system. >> now, senator, respond to that accusation and tell me what you think republicans will hold out against this kind of rhetoric. >> well, first of all, you know, senator cruz has a right to his opinion, but he doesn't have a right to his facts. the reality is it's not democrats insisting on a pathway to citizenship that has to be earned. the gang of eight, four republicans and four democrats came together and said we need a pathway to citizenship as one of the critical elements of comprehensive reform. and it makes an opportunity for individuals to come out of the shadows into the light go

through a criminal background check, pay their taxes, learn english, and fully contribute to american society while we also do border security and make sure that the economy is provided for by the workers that we need to ensure that all boats are lifted here at the end of the day. so, you know, with all due respect to senator cruz, he is dead wrong. and every time he tries to invoke the president, i said earlier that i think he has obama phobia. this legislation is largely drafted by the bipartisan group of eight, including, you know, senator mccain. it was a previous presidential candidate for the republican party. so, you know, i respect his right to make his view, but i totally disagree with him. >> let me ask you this quickly, senator. this scandal-mania. and i'm not belittling the scandals, but i seriously question how they have connected them to the president and the white house. i mean, do you think this kind

of solid kind of substantive legislation will get us past all of this scandal mania that we've been distracted in my opinion, distracted because they're trying to make it a presidential level scandal rather than what it seems to be at least the evidence so far. do you think now we're going to get back to more solid things? >> well, look. the american people are watching. in poll after poll, they have made it very clear that they want to see this immigration system that is broken reformed. they want to see product of the senate and the congress moving forward. the last election was a clear message by a new demographic in america that said they will judge their congressman and senators by how they achieve comprehensive immigration reform. this is about the national security. this is about the national economy. this is about growth and employment in the country. this is about greater revenues for the country, as i said on the floor a little while ago.

and so we can either legislate or we can spend our time investigating. i don't minimize anything that may be an issue that should rise to that. but the reality is we are here to legislate, solve problems. this is an opportunity to do it. we have a comprehensive and bipartisan effort that should prevail. >> senator robert menendez, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you, reverend. joining me now is former white house press secretary robert gibbs. he is now an msnbc political analyst. first of all, robert, thank you for coming on the show tonight. >> reverend, thanks for having me. >> let me ask you this first. how important was today's vote for the obama white house and this president's second term? >> i think immigration reform is the linchpin of the second term. this was a very important vote to move to the debate in this process. i do think, though, the course of the next three weeks are going to get bumpy, and there are going to be certainly some

big and important and difficult votes. so while it is a good first step, it may well be the easiest of the steps along this path. >> now, the other big story the white house is dealing with is this raging debate over surveillance and security. it's a huge challenge for the president, balancing security and privacy. and where is the man responsible for one of the biggest national security leaks in american history? how is the president handling this extraordinary debate after the leak? >> well, you know, reverend, this is an issue that the president has -- has understood both as a president and a commander in chief, as a constitutional law professor. so he understands the breadth of this debate. you know, i think he has struck a balance in ensuring privacy, but also in upholding security

in this country. this has been -- it's been a rocky few days. we have seen intelligence leaks quite frankly like we haven't seen in quite some time. but, look, i think today's immigration vote shows that, you know, there are two tracks in washington, or there can be two tracks in washington. you're able to get stuff done as you're dealing with, even as important an issue as what we're dealing with on the national security side. >> now, he is getting attacks, a lot of people beating up on him. but this began under the bush administration, am i right? >> yeah. it absolutely did. and i mean, i do think in some ways we're in a different place in parts of the bush administration. there isn't warrantless wiretapping anymore. for anybody that has heard about the verizon phone logs, for anybody to get access to any of the information in something like that, they would be required to go to the foreign

intelligence surveillance court and get a separate subpoena for probable cause. so we have in some ways, we have moved in a way of protecting people's privacy more, even as we've made sure to protect security. >> now, you know, the president is used to getting beat up from the right. but now he is getting attacked from the left as well. how have you had to deal with this? because it has happened once or twice before, i know myself. >> there is no doubt about it. look, i think this is -- the thing that defines our country and has for more than two centuries is we accept these debates. i think this is an important debate, and i'm sure the white house believes this is an important and complex debate that we should have as a country. these are not small issues that we're dealing with. on either side of the spectrum. and i think it's important that we have these discussions, have these debates. because in some ways, we need to move forward with a set of operating procedures that people in this country feel comfortable

with. they may not agree with all of them, but at least we have a discussion about why they are in place, and hopefully, a discussion about the safeguards that are in place to ensure that. the types of snooping that we have seen in the past are not accepted by this government. and more importantly, not accepted by whomever the next president might be. >> let me ask you as an analyst, not as a former white house spokesperson. we don't know today where mr. snowden is, who leaked this. and we're told by "the huffington post" that a spokesperson for russian president putin says russia said it would consider asylum for edward snowden. does it bother you that he is missing today and he is in china? what happens, robert, if he is brought in by chinese intelligence and questioned? i mean, isn't that an interesting and maybe dangerous place for him to be? >> well, no doubt about it. clearly, he's got with them --

we assume -- you have to assume he has more information with him than we have seen and we know about. certainly more than has been published. so, you know, it is ironic that he went to hong kong to do this. i believe mr. putin is simply stirring the pot, no doubt about it. i don't expect that we'll see mr. snowden pop up in moscow. but i don't think there is any doubt that there is great cause and concern for what is on this laptop. he is one of 1.4 million people, reverend, that have a top secret clearance. it's kind of an astounding number, because i can probably bet that you and i would agree that if we had a secret we didn't want anybody to know about, we wouldn't start by telling 1.4 million people that what that secret. certainly not knowing where that information is tonight is no

doubt disconcerting. >> i'm going to have to leave it there. former white house press secretary robert gibbs, thank you so much for coming on. we certainly want to have you back again. >> i look forward to it, reverend. 50 years ago today, george wallace stood in the way of progress. and john f. kennedy stood up for civil rights. we'll look at that historic milestone and the work yet to be done. and coming up, your e-mail questions. remember, friend or foe, i want to know. hungry for the best?

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50 years ago an unforgettable night. president kennedy's address from the white house on the struggle for civil rights. it was an important moment in that important summer of 1963. that speech and what it meant for the country. that's next. ng to hide. my bill's due today and i haven't paid yet. you can pay up 'til midnight online or by phone the day it's due. got a witness to verify that? just you. you called me. ok, that checks out. at discover, we treat you like you'd treat you. get the it card with payment flexibility.

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governor to end his efforts to prevent two negro students from registering at the university. the governor is adamant. he made a campaign promise to stand in the doorway himself to prevent the integration of the last all-white state university. >> i stand here today as governor of this sovereign state and refuse to willingly submit to the usurpation of power by the central government. >> the governor of alabama promising segregation forever. but that day he failed. hours after he spoke, two black students, james hood and vivian malone walked through the very doorway where governor wallace had tried to block their entry. that afternoon, president kennedy surprised even his own staff by personally requesting air time from the tv networks for a big announcement, new legislation on civil rights. >> if in america because his skin is dark can not eat lunch

in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who represent him, if in short he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? this is one country. it has become one country because all of us and all the people who came here had an equal chance to develop their talents. we cannot say to 10% of the population that you can't have that right. your children can't have the chance to develop whatever talents they have. that the only way they're going get their rights is to go in the streets and demonstrate. i think we owe them and we owe ourselves a better country than that. >> despite being written in a few hours, the speech had a lasting impact. the reverend martin luther king jr. was watching at home. he said the president not only

stepped up to the plate, he hit it over the fence. it was a milestone for civil rights. but the struggle and the sacrifice was far from over. just four hours after the president's speech, civil rights activist medgar evers was assassinated in his driveway by a white supremacist. these times were changing, but there was still a long road ahead to achieve the dream of civil rights. joining me now is president kennedy's leading biographer, the author of "an unfinished life." thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> my pleasure. >> the president kennedy's speech came after real reluctance on his part for getting into the issue of civil rights, didn't it? >> yes, it did. he struggled with this issue for a long time. you know, at the start of his administration, he put three

major reform bills before the congress, a big tax cut, a federal aid to education and medicare, and he was reluctant to put a civil rights bill on that agenda because he felt that the southerners would reject it. they dominated the committees and the house and the senate. and he knew he couldn't get it passed, even though the democrats controlled both the houses of congress. but he thought if he stood back, stood aside and used just executive authority to advance equal rights for african-americans, maybe he could get those three pieces of legislation passed. by 1963, he knew this was not going to happen. and he was fed up. he was sickened by the photograph he saw on the front page of the "new york times" of that dog nipping at -- biting at a teenaged kid who was marching for what, just his equal rights,

you see. and so kennedy finally decide that what he had to do was go before the country and make a plea for an end to segregation, an end for segregation all places of public accommodation. this was the thrust of that bill. and it was, of course, extraordinarily far-reaching. now, you know, reverend, what made it so significant a piece of legislation was not just that it was so far-reaching socially, politically, but that he and bobby felt they were risking the president's reelection. >> yeah. >> remember, he had only been elected by 118,000 votes in 1960. he had won by 46,000 votes in texas. and they were very apprehensive that they were going to lose the south this time. he had won a few southern states. that they would lose all those southern states. >> it was very risky politically.

but he was also prodded on by the civil rights leadership. martin luther king, jr., for example, a month prior to this speech had challenged the president to take action against wallace. listen to this, mr. dallek. >> yes. . that would be a good thing if governor wallace insists on standing in the door of the university for president kennedy to come to the university of alabama and tuscaloosa and escort the student to the university with all of the power of the federal government. i think this would be the greatest moral witness that he could make in this situation. we cannot continue to have birmingham, alabama, as the image of the united states, cannot stand in the shape of the world today. does not afford us the luxury of such an anemic democracy. >> how did he deal with the prodding by civil rights leaders at that time? and what was his relationship like dr. king? they met and talked a lot. >> well that. >> did, but they weren't close.

and kennedy was, for example, you know, in the summer of '63, there was the famous march on washington. >> right. >> and kennedy and his brother robert, who was of course the attorney general, were resistant to that, because they were afraid that it would end up in violence. and of course when it came off peacefully and so successfully and with martin luther king's brilliant speech, kennedy invited the civil rights leaders to the white house where he congratulated them on having achieved something. and he saw their effectiveness i think influenced him. but, you know, reverend, what also influenced him was the fact that we were in the midst of the cold war and the soviet union and the chinese communist government were beating up on the united states as a racist society. kennedy said we were in a struggle for the hearts and minds in africa and asia and latin america. and how could we win that if america was seen by these peoples as a racist society.

so he understood that the politics at home and abroad provided the kind of pressure for him to act. but he did see it as a moral cause. he said, you know, they keep saying in the south they're going to change this and change that. they'll never do it. he felt time had come for him to press the case. of course, the question remains if he had not been killed, would he have gotten that bill through the congress. i think he would have, because he would have run against barry goldwater and would have won as big an election as lyndon johnson did, brought with him into the house and senate huge majorities. and i think he would have got all four pieces of the bills passed. >> we still continue, though, robert dallek, to fight inequality. we have made progress. >> yes. >> but unemployment is 7.6%. for african-americans it's 13.5. we still have a long way to go. but there has been progress

because that young lady that president clinton ma president kennedy made wallace get out of the way for, her sister-in-law is married to the attorney general of the united states, eric holder. >> how interesting. >> we have come a long way. her sister is married to eric holder. he is her brother-in-law. robert dalle and historian and author of "an unfinished life", it's great to have you on the show. thank you. tomorrow on the show, we'll mark the 50th anniversary since the assassination of medgar evers in a special interview with his widow, civil rights leader in her own right, myrlie evers-williams tomorrow night on "politicsnation." ahead, republican governors are trying to defile obama care. what is happening in one state is truly offensive. it's time to take action. plus, i'm answering your e-mails tonight. friend or foe, i want to know. ♪

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[ male announcer ] universal studios summer of survival. ♪ right now republicans in 20 states are refusing to expand medicaid under obama care. but in mississippi, the entire medicaid program is in jeopardy. 700,000 americans could lose

their coverage, and another 300,000 won't get added to the program. they're playing politics with people's lives. and it's unacceptable. joining me now are mississippi state representative bobbi moak, and nicole lamoureux who is our partners for free clinic july 3rd in new orleans. thank you both for being here. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> representative moak, can you tell our viewers why one million people might be without care? >> in mississippi, our program lapses july 1st. we're having to go back to a special session should the governor call one before july 1 to make sure we provide care for the 700,000 who are currently under the program. but we've been working to provide 300,000 working families that do not have insurance can be covered under the affordable health care act. that's the reason why we're

going back to special session, because we are trying to get a path to make sure we get these people on the program. we're just fighting for a debate and for a vote. >> so we're not dealing with republicans voting against it, they just won't vote at all. they will not come forward and vote. and let the debate go forward? >> yeah. we as democrats have been denied a vote. in the very last portion of the regular session that we had, the last vehicle which had avenues for expansion presented was killed by the republican leadership in their committees. and so therefore it denied us the vote. here we are trying to push for that special vote one more time in a special session should it be called. >> nicole, given the amount of people that will be affected, we're seeing all kind of strategies all over the country. but none is egregious as mississippi. this seems amazingly insensitive to me. and when you look at mississippi's governor, phil bryant, who opposed everything

about the health care law, listen to what he said earlier this year. listen to, this nicole. >> don't let anyone tell you that obama care is a law of the land. the supreme court said the states have the right, they have the right as to whether or not they will expand medicaid, which is the centerpiece of obama care. so it's not the law of the land. >> i mean, not the law of the land. what is he talking about? the president signed it three years ago. the supreme court upheld it last summer. what is he talking about, nicole? >> i absolutely have no idea. in fact, this just makes me furious, rev, i have to be honest with you. these are people who are putting politics over people, and that should not happen in this country. the affordable care act is the law of the land. mississippi can make a decision whatever way it needs, to but it needs to have a vote. and we need to make sure that people get access to health care. we should not have anyone in this country be denied the right

to have health care. it's absolutely ridiculous to me. >> now, you know, i wanted people to hear about this story, representative moak. >> sure. >> and also what is alarming to me is the rules for medicaid in mississippi are staggering. to qualify under the current medicaid program, a single person can't earn more than $5500 a year. under expansion, a single person can earn more than 15,000 a year. i mean, who does this leave out? this is crazy. >> well, this leaves out working families. you have got somebody out there driving a truck with a wife at home and two children, and he's making $31,000 or less. he needs the opportunity to have this insurance provide for his family. this is a way to get it. and look, as your other guest has just said, all we're asking for is a debate and a vote. what is wrong with openly debating this issue and then

taking a vote? there is not one thing wrong with that. and that's the only issue we've been pushing. >> nicole, that's why people need free clinics around the country. that's why we're partnering with you. >> it's the truth. i think that we're seeing this all around the country. and i'll be honest. on july 3rd, we're going to see so many people from mississippi. they'll cross over that state line. they'll come to louisiana, and they'll get the health care that we need. because people are frustrated. they're just fed up, rev. they just need access to health care. i'll tell you something. you know who is going to be left out in mississippi? my mother-in-law, who cannot afford long-term care, needs medicare, needs medicaid, and worked her whole life in a bank, and whose husband was a vet for this country. and this vote needs to happen. it's a personal issue for each and every single one of us. health care is at the crux of every issue that is important for this country, and it's about time that we start acting like it. >> state representative bobby moak and nicole lamoureux.

i'm going to have to leave it there. thank you both for your time. >> thank you. >> we're going to stay on this story, i promise you, though. >> thank you. >> and nicole, we look forward to seeing you july 3rd. folks, please join "politicsnation," nicole, and the national association of free clinics in new orleans on july 3rd. we need your help. please donate. we have all the information on our website, urgentcare.msnbc.com, or visit the national association of free clinics site, nafcclinics.org. with your help, we can make a real difference for people who face an immediate health care crisis. all business purchases.

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when he was not born in this country. great question, betty. our constitution says the president must be a natural born citizen. senator cruz was born in canada, but his mother was born a usa citizen in delaware. that may make cruz a natural born citizen too and eligible to run, but the law is not crystal clear. so we may have to wait and see if cruz decides to run. we'll also watch to see all of those who said president obama who was born to a usa citizen mother in hawaii but tried to say he was born in kenya, what are they going to say about cruz who was in fact not born in this country? i will be watching, waiting, and listening. asking about the nsa privacy debate. where was all the hoopla when george bush was in office about this? well, i'm with you.

i didn't hear a lot of the hoopla. i said then what i say now. i'm against government violating our privacy. i'm against these kinds of invasions upon american citizens. but i didn't hear my friends on the right. i didn't hear my friends in the senate. i'm sure maybe it was i wasn't listening that day, or the next day, or the next week. we want to answer your questions. e-mail me. ask rev@msnbc.com. friend or foe, i want to know. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. the fog thickens over foggy bottom. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me open tonight with this. something may have gone wrong at the state department.