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good day from msnbc world headquarters in new york. welcome, everyone, to "weekends with alex witt." developing this hour, president biden's $1.9 trillion plan is one step closer to becoming a reality. in a new excerpt from cbs news, the president giving a new insight into where key provisions like minimum wage hike stand as lawmakers work to get the bill to his desk. >> it's somewhere between an individual making up to $75 and phasing out and a couple making up to $150 and phasing out. but i'm wide open on what that is. >> you also want to raise the minimum wage to $15. is that something you would be willing to negotiate on to get republican support? >> apparently that's not going to occur because of the roles in the senate. >> you're saying it will not be in it? >> my guess is it will not be in it. >> today marks one month since

the attack on the u.s. capitol left five people dead. the impeachment trial will start just days from now. trump's defense team confirming he will not testify under oath. congressman val demings, an impeachment manager in last year's trial, joined me last hour with her reaction. >> if the president can separate him and his responsibility for the shameful, tragic, horrible events that occurred january 6th, i think he with want to come before the u.s. senate and give his side of the story. he does not want to do that and his defense attorneys definitely do not want him to do that. >> a pair of republican lawmakers are paying up for bypassing the newly installed metal detectors on capitol hill. congressman louie gohmert and andrew clyde fined $5,000 each after congress voted to mandate the punishment. congressman clyde pushing back against the move. >> this is a constitutional issue. those metal detectors are there

to detain us and that's a violation of article one, section six of the constitution. >> you're going to pay the $5,000? >> i'm going to fight it and appeal it and then take them to court. this is unconstitutional. i think i've already done it a couple of times. that fine was for a couple days ago. i had a couple since then i think. i'm probably up to $25,000 for now. >> the metal detectors are there to detain you? i think there's more to it than that, congressman. meantime to help us this hour, mike memoli is covering the president in wilmington, delaware and monica alba from west palm beach, florida, with the latest from the former president. mike memoli, you will start us off here. the president spending time with his family this weekend at the wilmington white house. i love that. i'm going with it. what are we hearing from the white house about the status of the covid relief bill? >> alex, the word we heard most often from president biden and senior administration officials about this effort to pass the

$1.9 trillion relief bill is urgency. they say even as president biden talked about unity, as much as he wants to try to bring republicans on board and act in a bipartisan manner, they're not going to let that come in the expense of getting the action that american people need both on the vaccination and covid relief as well as economic stimulus as well. so that's why we are hearing more from administration officials about two things as they entered their second full week in the white house and that's progress and polling. on the progress front, we saw it in the senate this week, the late-night note with vice president kamala harris casting the tie-breaking vote to advance the package in the senate, the house also acting this week within narrow margin democrats hold in the house to move it forward. really hoping to keep that momentum going forward. they're also talking about the polling. yes, while some republicans on capitol hill may not be supporting it necessarily at this point, the american people, including a lot of republicans, according to public polling, overwhelmingly support components of this deal.

the one exception there, even though it is getting support from as many as 60% according to one poll is minimum wage increased to $15 an hour and you heard the president say maybe that one component of this plan won't make it into the final package. another thing that threatens the momentum the white house is trying to build here, of course, is the impeachment trial and ever-looming specter of former president trump as they try to move forward. we saw that president biden himself addressed the former president in one of these politically thorny questions when he was asked yesterday by norah o'donnell at cbs news about whether the former president should still have access to classified intelligence. let's take a listen to that answer once again. >> i think not. i just think that there is no need for him to have that intelligence briefing. what value is giving him an intelligence briefing? what impact does he have at all other than the fact he might slip and say something? >> now, whenever the white house has been asked about the president's views on the impeachment process itself, they

always deflected saying he's focused on -- that's work for the congress. he's focused on doing his job. this question of whether the president can be -- withhold the intelligence from his predecessor, that's up to the president himself and the white house is out with a statement this morning clarifying a bit about what is going on here. jen psaki, the white house press secretary, saying in those comments president biden was simply expressing his concern about president trump having access to sensitive information. but she goes on to say, he has deep trust in his own intelligence team to make a determination about whether the president should have that classified intelligence when he requests it going forward. so making it clear while, yes, the president has now made his views known, there's still an ongoing review happening within the intelligence committee that will make this determination going forward, alex. >> mike memoli, thank you very much. from wilmington to west palm beach, let's go to nbc's monica alba. what can you tell us, monica, about trump's defense strategy

going into trial this week? >> we've known for weeks now, alex, democrats tend to use a lot of the videos and realtime imagery from the events of january 6th and insurrection at the capitol against former president trump. that will be a centerpiece of their case. they're going to be using his own words also, for instance, in that rally that he spoke to that crowd of thousands just before those pro-trump supporters went and breached the grounds of the u.s. capitol, where he told them to fight like hell. now we're hearing from the president's legal team, actually they also intend to use some videos and some democrats in their own words from events last summer when we saw, of course, all of the social unrest that stemmed from the killing of george floyd. so that is now what we're getting an insight into from bruce castor, that was not previously known. he's one of the former president's new lawyers who's been brought on and he says that will also be a big part of their defense. they're going to try to use this in response to that and argue that somehow donald trump's words there were protected by

the first amendment. take a listen to a little bit more of the legal strategy from bruce castor on fox news last night. >> when you have the president of the united states give a speech and says that you you should peacefully make your thinking known to the people in congress, he's all of a sudden a villain. so you better be careful what you wish for. it's all prosecutors' trick, when you don't have a good enough case, you put up the flashy stuff and smooth over the fact it doesn't really connect up to the guy that's on trial. >> so that's a little bit of what we do know, alex. what we don't know is how long this trial will go for. we're also not sure of what other attorney may join the team. we heard over the last couple of days that they do intend to add someone to the president's defense team. that will be notable given there were so many attorneys who were brought on board in the last week sore so who then actually

parted ways with him because they couldn't agree on a legal strategy. it's unclear who that third person will be that will also be in the chamber making these defense arguments, along with bruce castor and david schoen. the other major question mark is how, if at all, we will hear from the former president in terms of press releases, or will he be making a statement on camera? he could ostensibly hold a news conference or do a news-making interview but he's done very little of that since leaving office a couple weeks ago, alex. instead spending his time here in south florida mostly on the golf course. >> okay, thank you very much, monica alba, for that report. let's go from there to the latest facts on the coronavirus pandemic as the u.s. has just under 27 million confirmed cases. more than 460,000 americans have died from the virus. the u.s. is now averaging more than a million vaccinations a day, 28 million americans have gotten at least one dose. 7.5 million are fully inknock

lated with both doses. president biden is invoking the defense production act to ramp up supply the vaccine and ppe, specifically surgical gloves. the country has almost depleted its current supply. officials say by the end of the year, the country will be able to produce a billion gloves a month. new cdc data shows statewide mask mandates correlated with a decline in covid hospitalizations across the state. the study from october 2020 did a 5.5% decrease in rates after mandates were in place for at least three weeks. the new max vaccination site at yankee stadium in the bronx is giving new hope to underserved communities. many locals say they've been struggling to get access to vaccine. let's go to nbc's aaron gilchrest, who's there for us. aaron, it's a big day at yankee stadium and it's not even baseball season. i know spring training is close. but what are you seeing there now? has it been smooth sailing for all of those folks in line? >> yes, alex, it has been fairly

smooth sailing thanks to the national guard who have been out here helping. we will show you the line of people with appointments to get their vaccinations today at yankee stadium. 150 or so in line now. much longer this morning when the doors opened at 8:00 a.m. this is an effort between new york city, the state of new york and organization called somos, to try to get more people in this case in the bronx vaccinated against the coronavirus. there's been a disparity, we know across the country really, for black communities, hispanic communities, low-income communities to get access to vaccines so only people who live here in the bronx are able to come here to get an appointment. one of 15,000 appointments being made available this week here in the bronx only for residents. we talked to a couple of people who were in line here today. take a listen to what they had to say. >> i couldn't get through and then i saw this advertisement on channel 12 news so i said let me

get up and come early this morning so i will be able to make an appointment at least and hopefully take the shot at the same time. >> it's about time, you know. it's really important to make access, make everything more equitable for everyone. >> yeah, i think it was a little late but i'm excited we're able to get the shot and the community has access to it. >> the young lady you heard from there is a teacher here in new york, so she is in the group that's eligible to get vaccinated right now. you heard from someone who also talked about coming here hoping to get registered for a vaccination. that's what this much shorter line is. people who didn't have an appointment who came here today hoping they could get an appointment to come back later in the week hopefully to get vaccinated. they're making that available to people here. this organization, a local group of doctors and health care providers running the vaccination clinic here, they are hoping to become a model, alex, for this effort around the country to try to get into

underserved communities to make sure there's more equity distributing the vaccine. >> amen to that. very lucky for all of the bronx residents there taking advantage of that. ern aaron gilchrist, thech. marjorie taylor greene plays the victim card and wants you to think she's the victim standing up for free speech. anybody buying that? when you drive this smooth, you save with allstate the future of auto insurance is here you've never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today did you know prilosec otc can stop frequent heartburn before it begins? heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes into the esophagus. prilosec otc uses a unique delayed-release formula

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when the democrats and 11 of my republican colleagues decided to strip me of my committee assignments, education and labor and the budget committee, you know what they did? they actually stripped my district of their voice, they stripped my voters of having representation to work for them. >> congressman marjorie taylor greene firing back at democrats and handful of republicans who voted to remove her from committee assignments because of her many statements encouraging

violence and embracing qanon conspiracies. it is one month to the day since the violent mob stormed capitol hill. many of whom were inspired by those same conspiracies. now one congresswoman is trying to bar anyone who participated in those riots or anyone associated with conspiracy groups from receiving security clearances necessary to hold any government positions. joining me now is the lawmaker behind that legislation, congresswoman stephanie murphy, democrat from florida. congresswoman, welcome to the broadcast. i'm glad to talk to you about this. can you react to what you just heard marjorie taylor greene say there? she is saying that the district voices her constituents, their voices, are being stripped. could that be a roadblock for your legislation, barring certain people no matter how extreme their believes may be from holding office even if they were fairly elected by their constituents? >> great to be with you, alex. that's a great question. you know, the u.s. congress is just like any other workplace,

we have standards of conduct, dress codes and level of expectation on how you treat your colleagues. unfortunately, rep greene has indicated and supported violence against her colleagues. she has used her platform to advocate conspiracy theories and demonstrated that she is more interested in building her twitter following than she is in legislating. and so this week the house took a vote to remove her from the education committee, which seems about right for somebody who doesn't believe in school shootings, thinks they're false-flag events, how can that person be in charge of ensuring school safety? the sad thing is not the house had to vote to remove her but rather the republican didn't take care of this themselves. i remember in recent history

when they removed a member from their committee of being pro-white supremacist. they understand there's a standard for conduct and decorum in the u.s. congress and they wanted to create distance between themselves and that type of perspective and behavior. yet today you see them choosing conspiracy theories over conservative values and that's really the sad thing about that. >> it is very interesting because i had not thought of it as congress being a workplace, but you're absolutely right. you get a large corporation and there's a responsibility to everybody who works in the workplace getting along, yet alone the fiscal responsibility to shareholders. you make a very good point and analogy of congress. let me ask you, do you think she should be expelled from congress? >> this is a cancer on the republican party and i really hope the republican party takes this action. that they take action with the appropriate outcome for her.

and there's still opportunity for her. she's removed from her committees but she could be a contributing member of the congress by abandoning her desire just to fund-raise off of her hateful rhetoric and decide to be a productive member of congress. she still has her vote on the house floor, she still has the ability to represent her district. but my hope is she does so in a more responsible way of what she's indicated to date. >> okay. your legislation applies to people -- would apply to people who hold office in the future. what about the members of congress who played a role in inciting these riots who already hold these positions of power? there hasn't been a lot of real accountability thus far. >> to be clear, my legislation is focused on people who have to fill out the sf-86 form, which is essentially the form that you fill out to receive a background check in order to be qualified for a security clearance. that usually applies to federal

employees or members of the military. but not necessarily to members of congress. and the reason i filed this bill is because i used to be a foreign policy specialist at the department of defense. i have gone through that process, and have been entrusted with state secrets. that process is intended to understand a person's character, their judgment and whether or not there's anything in their past that would allow foreign adversaries to manipulate them and create an intel leak of some sort. so it's a pretty long form, they ask everything from your bank records and travel history to affiliations. and i've asked they add two more questions, one regarding whether or not you believe in a conspiracy theory that would lead you to overthrow the u.s. government, or whether or not you participated in the activities that happened on

january 6th, which was an attempt to overthrow the u.s. government. i don't think it's crazy to require these folks to disclose that in the process of trying to receive a security clearance, but members of congress don't have to go through that process in order to be made privy of intel material. >> that's a very important distinction you're making an explanation for your proposal there. let me ask what it's like for you and anybody else who went through the trauma of the capitol hill riot on january 6th having to work with people that you feel egged on that violence? i mean, can you effectively work with those people when that sense of violence might still haunt you? >> you know, january 6th affected me deeply, not just because i'm a proud american and i saw our democracy under attack but because i'm also a refugee and immigrant from a place that had political violence that

didn't have freedom and democracy. and i never expected the country that gave my family refuge, the country that i was so proud to be a part of this great democracy be the first vietnamese elected to congress. i never expected to be hiding in the basement of a capitol while insurgents roamed free in the building, beating law enforcement officers and destroying what is a symbol of our great country and great democracy. that day affected me deeply. and i think that it's important that we move forward but there are people who need to be held accountable for their actions in inciting that violence and i think we are seeing through investigations in law enforcement a better understanding and accounting for who is involved and their except to be involved in that. it's also why a call for a

9/11-style commission. this domestic terror attack should be treated the same way the foreign terrorist attack was on this country. we should get a full counting and make recommendations how to make our country safer. that would be incredibly important moving forward. >> that is a sentiment being echoed from many of your colleagues. congresswoman stephanie murphy, thank you very much. looking forward to seeing you again. freedom of speech fallout, one of president trump's biggest backers on tv, has been fired. [ thunder rumbles ] [ engine rumbling ] ♪♪ [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] ♪♪ uh, you know there's a 30-minute limit, right?

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new today, an abrupt cancellation of longtime anchor and trump loyalist lou dobbs' top-rated fox business show after a $2.7 billion lawsuit was filed thursday. the election technology company smartmatics, who fox three of its anchors, rudy giuliani and sidney powell for defamation on the basis of pushing false theories about the 2020 presidential results. joining me now is msnbc analyst

eric degens with more on this fallout. eric, welcome to you. talk about what's in this lawsuit and who is it specifically against. >> so smartmatic has filed this lawsuit against several fox news anchors and fox news channel itself and, of course, lou dobbs was on fox business, alleging that not only that they spread information that was hurtful to their business that was false about their business, and pressing these lies saying that their business was involved in helping steal the election for joe biden, but also that they knew the information was false when they were disseminating it. and so they were deliberately doing something that hurt the company's reputation and damaged its prospects for profit. >> okay. so lou dobbs being fired, what do you think happens to maria bartiromo, potentially, who by the way had a show added to her repertoire right now on fox

news, also judge jeanine pirro, because they were both named. >> yes, and i think when you look at how fox news is arranging its anchors, it's not backing away from opinion and it's not backing away from opinion that backs donald trump. i think what we've seen with lou dobbs is this sense that the most effective way to combat misinformation and disinformation is to target the mechanisms by which they make money. there was a sense even though lou dobbs drew a lot of viewers to his show, major advertisers were avoiding it because they didn't want necessarily their products associated with the messages he was disseminating. so it doesn't matter if you draw a huge crowd, if you can't sell advertising and make money off of it. i think what we're finding, both through these lawsuits and also through advertiser boycotts and pressure on advertisers, maybe it's more effective to go to advertisers and say, do you really want your product associated with someone who is spreading lies about the last

election? >> let me ask you about this, because the statement that fox put out there in they said we're proud of our 2020 election coverage and will vigorously defend this meritless lawsuit in court. how does fox canceling lou dobbs now, canceling that show, how does it affect the lawsuit? is it an admission of guilt? >> i think fox would say absolutely not. and i think they could make the case -- i think that's one reason why they had been trying to make it plain to media reporting that they were considering canceling lou dobbs' show before the lawsuit was filed. from my own standpoint and my own hunch is that the lawsuit was the cherry on top, they were already concerned about the fact they were having trouble monetizing the show. he had been there ten years so i'm sure they were paying him a lot of money. and even though he was drawing a huge audience, they were having trouble monetizing that audience. and if you remember your history at fox news, this is also what

made glenn beck's run on fox news problematic, he got targeted by advertising boycotts and they had a hard time selling advertising on his show, which means you're paying this person a lot of money but they're not necessarily reaping the benefits in terms of advertising revenue. >> you make a lot of sense, eric degens, thank you very much for ironing that out for us. meantime joining me now, law professor at nyu, melissa marie and university of alabama law professor joyce vance. which means we're about to get schooled, everybody. get ready. melissa, as defamation lawsuits go, does this have a strong legal foundation? is it likely that the smartmatic, the company, could collect damages >> >> well, i think a lot of this will depend on whether smartmatic can convince a jury that it wasn't a public figure or a public person at the time all of this occurred. if smartmatic is considered a public person for purposes of the lawsuit, then there's a much higher standard that has to be met in order for them to be

defamation. so all of this really turns on what smartmatics profile watt at the time all of this election coverage took place. at the very least though it does suggest there are different means of bringing information, and this lawsuit could be a effective deterrent calling attention to disinformation and in this case prompting the news channel to actually take steps to limit disinformation. >> joyce, let's look at the total here, $2.7 billion in damages is what smartmatic is seeking. why that figure? by the way, does smartmatic, do they need to prove that these anchors and rudy giuliani and sidney powell knowingly gave false information about the election, or does it just have to prove the information was false? >> so you do have to prove in this sort of a civil action, it's not a criminal case, it's a civil one, and it alleges there's been defamation, a sort of business libel of smartmatic

as a company, and disparagement. so they have to prove up their damages. they can't just say they suffered theoretical losses. they'll have to document losses and, look, this is a lengthy complaint, alex, and really good read. they are very careful. it looks to me like they've brought the receipts and can do that. the second question you ask piggybacks on to something melissa just mentioned, and this is whether or not smartmatic was a public figure. for purposes of this lawsuit, i'm sure you heard this old saying, right, truth is a defense. well that's no longer how defamation cases work. the plaintiff, in this case smartmatic, actually has to prove the statements made about them were false in the court of bringing the lawsuit. and if it's a public figure, and it's not clear whether smartmatic was or not, they'll have to prove the defendants either engaged in reckless disregard for the truth or -- for what the truth was or actually knew that the statements they were making,

that the news that fox was broadcasting was false in order to recover damages. they lay that out in some detail in this very lengthy lawsuit, which runs over 200 pages. >> which i know you enjoy reading as you said. to be in joyce vance's house. but let's move to the impeachment ladies now, the second impeachment trial, of course, of this president. starts on tuesday. joyce, you first. you have donald trump's lawyers who told nbc news he's not going to testify at the trial, he's not going to submit a written statement. and that's in response to lead impeachment manager jamie raskins' request he indeed testify under oath. can, should democrats subpoena him? >> this is not a criminal case where the defendant would be able to assert a fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination to avoid testimony. so defendants actually could go ahead and subpoena. it will be interesting to see if they do. this is a win/win for the democrats.

either the president testifies with all of the problems that we know that would bring or he doesn't respond to the democrats' narrative, in which case think can point to that. so they win either way. >> what happened on tuesday, melissa, when you had donald trump's attorney filing the former president's answer to his second impeachment? the answer contained eight arguments. we're going to start with the argument trump thinks he won -- thinks he won, so he's innocent. trump's attorneys are putting forth this argument he thinks the election was stolen and nobody else can prove otherwise. why does that matter, and what are your thoughts on that? >> in the end it may not even matter, alex. again, this is not a regular criminal or legal proceeding. there's an element of political theater to impeachment. the only people they have to satisfy and convince to convict are the jurors who are the senators, who are also witnesses to what happened january 6th. i think it is more likely that

rather than doubling down on the election fraud claim, the president's lawyers will instead emphasize this jurisdictional defense, which is to say the entire impeachment trial is a legal nullity because of the constitution prohibits the trial of a former president for impeachment. there are a lot of constitutional law scholars who talked about this before who vigorously object to this particular assessment. it seems odd the framers of the constitution would allow a president to avoiding theability for misconduct simply because his term of office was coming to an end but i do believe that's going to be the real crux of the matter in this particular trial because it allows the senators a way out of convicting the president without actually engaging in the substance of the charges. >> melissa, the fact that the first -- impeachment in this country is a two-part process, right? had it has to go to the house, and it has to go to the senate. the fact it was completed in the house during his presidency, and

then gets bumped to the senate, isn't it just a continuation of the process? should the calendar matter? >> the calendar matters, certainly, in terms of former president trump's defenses. one of the things he notes in his answer is the process was rushed. one of the reasons the process was likely quick is all of this was unfolding quickly, action had to be taken and there was the looming threat the president's term of office would be ending and he would not be able to be impeached as the president. so all of this is a little circular, the fact it's a legal nullity to have a trial for impeachment while also complaining about the lack of authority with which the democrats brought the impeachment projects. >> i'm sure we will be talking again soon. there's a lot to go through these days. thank you very much, ladies and meantime, why fossil fuels may be a huge factor in a power struggle with russia. ia n. ...and delegating to an experienced live bookkeeper for peace of mind. your books are all set.

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new today, a report that president biden's team is exploring how the u.s. might rejoin the iran nuclear deal by announcing a bit of reset in his first major foreign policy address. >> america is back. america is back. diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy. >> however, it's still not clear what this means for his approach to iran, russia or china. joining me now, michael mcfaul, former u.s. ambassador to

russia, now political science professor at stanford university, senior fellow at the hoover institution and nbc news international affairs analyst, which means you're the guy to talk about this with. thank you for joining me, ambassador. diplomacy, it's a great word, but how does that work with those who have acted in bad fame for the past few years, and does iran deserve a new shot at a nuclear deal? >> well, in many ways i think diplomacy is hardest but also most important with our adversaries, the list you just described, china, russia and iran, it's easier to deal with friendly countries and allies in diplomatic terms. i don't think if it's deserve or not. i think you frame it in a different way, does this action advance the security interests of the united states of america? i think oftentimes we think of diplomacy as gifts and getting along and improved relationships, right, with this country or that country. i think that's the wrong frame. i think you think about the deal, does it make us better off

or worse off? in this case, i think the iran nuclear deal makes the united states better off, more secure. but it shouldn't be framed as a gift and it shouldn't be thought of as the only thing we need to do vis-a-vis iran. when it comes to what iran is doing in the region, we need to push back. we need to contain iran, and we also need to talk about human rights violations inside iran. in other words, do the deal but don't check your values at the door when you're talking to the iranian regime. >> let's ask about oil right now. because the u.s. is producing, exporting oil. you have russia, iran, venezuela, oil experts suffered as a result of u.s. production and sanctions, that combination. and you have president biden, signaling a shift away from fossil fuels, does this give the u.s. any leverage in dealing with countries like russia? >> absolutely. i think this is a giant game-changer. it won't happen in the coming years, right, it will take a

couple decades to play itself out but countries that rely on oil and russia, first and foremost, but also countries like saudi arabia, by the way, will have a different geopolitical position in the world as the rest of the world, especially the united states, moves away from fossil fuels and countries like russia, putin depends entirely on the export of oil and gas as a way to subsidize his military, as a way to subsidize his cybersecurity. when that decreases over time, that's going to weaken russia's position in the world, and i think that will make the world a better place. >> what about the china tariffs and the phase one trade agreement, did the previous administration get that right on china, or do you think joe biden and his administration needs to do a complete 180? >> i think the trump administration, particularly his national security team, president trump, we never knew what he thought about a lot of

policies, but his team got the diagnostics right on china, which is to say china is a rising power, china is an ideological power and i think for the rest of the century, the central challenge for american security and economic and values challenges are going to come can from china. so i think they got that right, to help us rethink that. i'm not so impressed with their prescriptions. i'm not so sure, for instance, the tariffs, did that make the american workers better off? did that make the american economy better off? i don't see the evidence for that. so i appreciate the change with the diagnostics. i hope now the biden team will have better prescriptions. >> what do you think the biggest challenges will be for joe biden dealing with vladimir putin going forward? >> meeting a policy that actually achieved results that lives up to the ambitions he set out. i applaud what president biden said. i thought he gave a fantastic speech, by the way, the one

you're showing now that he outlined a set of ambitions for foreign policy. now he needs a plan to implement to achieve those objectives and that's a lot harder. it's very ease why i to say it's wrong to arrest mr. navalny. it's a lot harder to do something to get mr. navalny out of jail. it's easy to say russia invaded ukraine and annexed crimea, it's a lot harder to get russia to leave ukraine. and that's the challenge. leaving, developing plans you can implement to meet the ambitions he laid out in that terrific speech. >> what do you think is the biggest foreign policy challenge for the u.s. today? >> oh, i think it's here at home. i think it's getting our own house in order, renewing our democracy and i hope that president biden will focus first and foremost on that because if we get that right, both of our democracy and our economy going again, that will have very positive effects for our place

in the world. but if we don't get that right, that will inhibit us with our objectives with national security, via china, russia, iran. we need to restore democracy to have credibility to be talking about democracy and foreign policy. >> okay, former ambassador michael mcfaul, duly noted. good to see you. thank you very much. making a big difference, the man who created a new approach to educating underprivileged children. will you meet him next. and next hour, california's ro khanna on how increasing the minimum wage can really pay off.

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or very concerned about schools reopening too quickly and we can't forget this. when covid-19 closed schools, black, hispanic, and underprivileged kids took the biggest hit in math and reading. my next guest has much insight in 1990, he founded the harlem children's zone with the mission of breaking the cycle of poverty, and his schools continue to be a model for our nation to follow so, joining me now, with great delight, change-maker jeffery canada, president of the harlem childrens zone welcome back so good to see you look, it's a -- i'm it'sgl a big conundrum, right? one step forward, two steps back kind of thing. what do you see as the solutionp >> so, you know, this is fairly complicated for a couple of reasons. number one, a month ago, i would have told you all the evidence says you can get kids if you

have social distancing, regular testing, everybody wearing masks, you can keep schools open.r and science seemed to be very clear on that. theon cdc and others said that. but if you looked at what was happening in the last month in europe, as they began to close their schools because this new variant is out, suddenly i'm not so sure, and i think there are a lot of people who aren't quite as sure as they were a month ago. so, teachers arehe nervous. they are worried. this is what i think. i think we should vaccinate teachers. we should put them at the top of the priority list right behind healthcare workers, and we should get these schools open so that s folks can go back to wor. women are being really devastated by this issue that they are the ones primarily staying home, trying to take care of their children. i think it's a disaster. we can fight about whether or

not they should have been number one or number eight later. let's just get this done and open up these schools so we can get our kids trying to catch our kids up because they're so far behind. >> i mean, it's not even a question as to whether or not they're essential workers of course they are,e given the jo they provide for millions of families across this f country d school kids alike. what about president biden's nominee for education secretary, miguel cardona? as you know, he had a senate confirmation hearing this week. let's take a listen to some of his statements, geoffrey. >> our nation's educational challenges didn't begin with the pandemic. but it has exacerbated inequities in our educational system. so much change has happened, we're going to need moreem counselors in our schools. we're going to i need to make se we have summer programming. we're going to need to make sure we have extended day. if we really want to recover, we really need to invest now or we're going to pay later. >> will his plan work to get the kids caught up? >> if you asked me what we need

to do, that would have been what i would have said. >> good. >> and here we are in the midst of fighting with teachers, teachers unions, we need to be sitting down and crafting the strategy to get our kids caught up. and by the way, it's not going to be aay two-month thing or les do just a summertime. this is going to take us literally years, and we've got to reimagine education so that we're thinking about how we use summertime, how we use afterschool time, how do we use vacation time. that we begin to try to repair the damage being done by covid. so, i salute the new secretary. i think that he is absolutely right, but we've got to bring the parties to the table, stop the fighting, start thinking about how we recover and how we get a our schools so that they n begin to make up for all of the learning loss that is happening. and you know, alex, which kids are getting hurt the most by this. same black and brown

communities, those kids are falling further and further behind. >> yeah. given the fact thatg it's all about education being tantamount to being able to move forward in life in so many regards, they need an equal education like everybody else. let me ask you, geoffrey, about your career as a change-maker. we're in black history month, your b vision, your schools, they've changed countless lives. where do you go from here, and i'm curious what your proudest accomplishment is. >> well, i will tell you, i think the proudest accomplishment that i have had is the elimination of the white-black achievement gap in c ela and math in the students at the school, i and it's not just because, you usknow, promise academy is, you know, i think it's a terrific school. it's because i want all educators to understand that there is something that can be done.t yes, it takes a longer hours and with working during the summertime and doing other

thingsmm to try and catch our ks up, but is there anything more important in life than trying to eliminate the disparities that poor children have faced in this country, literally for hundreds of years. so, that makes me so excited. i'll tellso you what i'm doing now. ioi created the william julius wilson institute because there are other organizations around this country that are thinking about c this comprehensive way dealingen with children. i don't believe schools can do it on their own. do i think schools have to get better? yes. doto we have to hold teachers a principals accountable? absolutely. but in communities where everything is crumbling around childrennd and families, we can expect the schools to do everything, and folks around this ancountry, they're using tn cradle to career model, thinking about how we collectively come together to work and save children and help them in education, and that's what i'm dedicate the next part

of my life to helping communities around this country tackle this problem and become successful.nd >> i tell you, applauding you. excellent. we are so lucky to have your vision and your passion, geoffrey canada. thank you so much for sharing part of itu with me on the sho and for our viewers as well. take care, my friend. >> thanks for having me on. >> thank you. getting financial help to the people who need it most, the big debate over how big those checksw should be and who will get them and how long it's going to take. to take. stay restless with the icon that does the same. the rx crafted by lexus. lease the 2021 rx 350 for $429 a month for thirty six months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. t-mobile is upgrading its network at a record pace. for thirty six months. we were the first to bring 5g nationwide. and now that sprint is a part of t-mobile we're turning up the speed. upgrading over a thousand towers a month with ultra capacity 5g.

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