the american public didn't have a window into the decisions that were being made behind closed doors. this time we saw what happened in realtime. president trump sent that angry mob to the capitol on live tv. >> and new polling today from abc news showing a slim majority of americans think donald trump should be convicted and barred from holding office. 56% that way. that is up 9% compared to a poll taken a few weeks ago. it comes as new reporting sheds light on just how costly trump's big election fraud lie was. $519 billion and counting and it's the american people who are footing that bill. republican congresswoman liz cheney after being censured by member of her own parties overnight saying she does not regret her vote to impeach trump. >> i obviously believe and did then that what we already know is enough for his impeachment.

what we already know does constitute the gravest violation of his oath of office by any president in the history of this country. this is not something we can look past or pretend didn't happen or try to move on. we have to make sure this never happens again. >> new reaction from adam schiff over the growing fallout surrounding marjorie taylor greene. this morning, schiff said he's not concerned about the precedent removing greene from her committee assignments sets. >> if members of either party are threatening violence against other members of the party -- of the body and suggesting they be executed, if they are casting doubt on 9/11 or school shootings, if they're heckling victims of crime like marjorie taylor greene did with the victim of the parkland shooting, if they're suggesting that a religious group is shooting laser beams to start forest fires, they should be expelled

from their committees. they shouldn't frankly be in the congress. >> as impeachment kicks into high gear on capitol hill, so does coronavirus relief negotiations. president biden moving full steam ahead with his $2 trillion covid relief proposal with or without republican support. joining me now is senior adviser to the president cedric richmond and a former louisiana congressman. it's good to see you on this sunday. thank you for joining me. >> thank you for having me. >> let's start here by what senator bill cassidy said about working with president biden's administration on coronavirus relief. something he said today, let's take a listen. >> the administration is showing very clearly they don't care if they have to work with us. they're willing to push things through even if someone like larry summers, a former democratic treasury secretary says it's bone-headed policy,

i'm paraphrasing, and even if we come in good faith with at least ten and more that would have joined us and they say they don't care. >> when you hear that, how can you get republicans on board? >> well, look, i think republicans are a little concerned that we moved forward with reconciliation in the house and senate, doing what leader pelosi and leader schumer wanted to do. but, look, we invited ten republicans, senator cassidy was one of them, to the white house to talk about our covid-19, our american rescue plan. what we can't do is wait. and so we can't keep going back and forth. the senate and the house have passed five recovery plans. they all have one thing in common, too little, too late to help the american people. and president biden just does not want to do that. but, look, let's be honest about something, when they came, they had a $600 billion offer. we had 1.9 trillion and we got there by meeting the demands and

challenges that american families face and then we added it up and it came up to 1.9. they picked $600 billion. they left out the 20 billion we had for veterans. our veterans fought on the front lines for this country and we're not going to leave them behind in covid. they had zero in there for veterans. also they had $160 billion in there to help frontline workers and state and local governments across this country when donald trump was president. now that joe biden is president, they came to the white house with zero in there for state and local governments. so the question becomes, you know, is it a good-faith bargaining position and we come with good faith saying we want to do a bipartisan process. but we cannot afford to do too little too late. and so there's a sense of urgency for us because we know that there's a sense of urgency and anxiety in the american people who are struggling to make ends meet.

so we do want a bipartisan deal. but, again, we won't do too little too late and we won't leave the american people stranded without government helping. >> i appreciate the fact that you're drilling down into the comparative statistics here between these two proposals, past and present. let's get to the specifics of the $15 minimum wage increase. here's what president biden said about that. >> look, no one should work 40 hours a week and live below the poverty wage. and if you're making less than $15 an hour, you're living below the poverty wage. >> but that may not be in your american rescue plan. >> no. i put it in, but i don't think it's going to survive. >> is it doomed or is the administration still fighting for it to remain part of the package? >> look, senator sanders has assembled a team to make a very compelling argument that it should stay in the bill under the senate rules. all of that gets into the minutia of whether it impacts the budget or not.

senator sanders and his lawyers articulate that it does. and so i think you're going to see a fight in the senate about whether the minimum wage stays in at $15 an hour in incremental progression up to that. president biden has been clear that he wants to see the minimum wage at $15 an hour and so that's -- his statement was merely his prediction of what he thought the senate would do giving the people that are members of the senate. but, look, we support senator sanders' effort to keep the $15 minimum wage in the bill. >> we have democrats who are hoping for $2,000 checks. here's what congressman ro khanna told me yesterday. here's that. >> i think we should be giving an additional $2,000 check. i believe president biden may understood it as $600 and

$1,400. this should be monthly and we shouldn't be restricting the middle class and working class from getting it. some of the people are saying to cut it off at $50,000. that means if an individual is making 60,000, 70,000, they're not going to get it. that would be a big mistake especially because they're looking at the incomes from 2019 and they're not considering those who have had reduction in hours, reduction in income this year. >> you mention bernie sanders. here's what he tweeted on this. unbelievable. there are some dems who want to lower the income eligibility for direct payments from $75,000 to 50,000 for individuals and 150,000 to 100,000 for couples. in other words, working class people who got checks from trump would not get them from biden. brilliant. there is certainly some irony in that, right? what is the cutoff point for president biden? >> we're not going to negotiate on tv. we were willing to talk to

senators and democrats to figure out a way. here's the important point. president biden will not leave the middle class behind in this pandemic, in this economic crisis. if you have a teacher, a firefighter, a police officer that makes $60,000 a year who now have more expenses, who know going through economic pains, we're not going to leave them behind. and so president biden has been very clear that he is not going to leave the middle class behind because we know when this is all over and foreclosure moratorium, the eviction moratorium and unemployment insurance assistance ends, that people are going to have bills come due. and so our consistent theme throughout all of this is that we refuse to leave an american behind and that's middle class included. when you hear us talk about the potential for targeting -- strategically targeting the checks, we're not talking about people that make 50,000 and

$60,000. those are people who are teetering on the middle class, those are people who are going to need help and president biden does not want to leave them behind. and i think ro khanna is right in that sense. if you want to talk about the $1,400, we said back in december that we thought americans needed $2,000. the house and the senate made a down payment on that of $600. and we're going to do the other $1,400 that president biden said he wanted to see the american people have. >> okay. what about all of the discussion relative to whether or not donald trump should receive intelligence briefings that are typically afforded to former presidents. president biden had this to say on it. >> should former president trump still receive intelligence briefings? >> i think not. >> why not? >> because of his erratic behavior unrelated to the insurrection. i just think there's 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? >> the white house made clear that intelligence officials are going to be the ones to make the decision on that. do you agree with president biden? and if so, why? >> of course i agree with him. first of all, i work for him. but, two, as a former member of congress, i will tell you that his behavior in the past, his -- what he has done with intelligence briefings, the ones that he did pay attention to, we have real concern about it. but i think the difference here is that president biden believes in his national intelligence community. and he thinks experts should make those decisions. and he's not going to force their hand one way or the other. but he's going to listen to their expertise. and i think that that's what a president should do. he should listen to his own experts and then we should go from there.

but the president having concern about donald trump and what he would do with national intelligence is a real concern. in the past, donald trump has let things leak. >> given the divide in this country, the finger-pointing that exists, are you concerned between this and impeachment, while both may be warranted, they're going to see this as punitive and that could further split this country that president biden wants to unite? >> no, i don't think so. look, i think that the polls show that the american people see president biden as a uniter. they also see his attempt to be bipartisan and work with the other side. and so you saw ten republicans come in, you saw his genuine effort to engage in conversation, to help the american people. but you also see him not demonizing the other side. and so people see it. people respect it. the other part is, about 70% of

the country want republicans to work with president biden. and so, look, there are two contentious issues out there. there's impeachment. the house and the senate feel very strongly about his role in leading people to storm the capitol which led in deaths and destruction and the violation of the center of democracy in the entire world. and so that's for the house and the senate to do because there are consequences to actions. on the intelligence briefings, there's a valid point for concern. but, again, we will listen to the experts and that's what president biden always does. so, you know, we hope that it doesn't divide the country. we don't think it will divide the country. those are two separate and isolated incidents all focused on donald trump. we're focused on the american people. we're focused on the fact that there are a million more people who filed for unemployment last

year. there are 10 million people who are unemployed, 4 million people who have been unemployed for six months. we have people who are breaking their backs to keep a roof over their head, food on the table and clothes on their back. we believe that the american people agree with us on us being laser-focused on that. >> you were a member of the house homeland security committee. does the biden administration consider domestic terrorism the number one homeland security issue right now? and if so, what is the first priority for dhs in tackling this issue? >> i will tell you, when i was on homeland security, the fbi director said years ago that domestic terrorism was the number one threat to our country. and so we're going to have to tackle it. we're going to have to look at home-grown extremism. we're going to have to look at where we are. and part of it is making sure that we give the resources to homeland security, fbi, cia, our

entire law enforcement community to make sure that we're addressing it. and the one thing that we certainly will not do is fan the flames of division and hate in this country. >> let's move here to coronavirus. the head of the cdc, as you know this week, said that schools could reopen even if teachers weren't vaccinated. saying it's not a prerequisite for reopening schools. but jen psaki said, they're waiting on official guidance from the cdc. when will kids get back into classrooms? will be soon? >> we hope so. that's what we're working towards. the president has said all along, even on the campaign trail when he announced his covid plan, which the prior administration didn't have one and we came in without one, we wanted to see kids back in school in 100 days. what it was going to take was making sure that students and

teachers could go to school safely and there wouldn't be a risk to bringing coronavirus home to their families, their loved ones, the parents, and all of those. what we would like to see is the american rescue plan passed so that we can give money to the local schools so that they can put the infrastructure in, the social distancing, the physical barriers and all of those things needed to protect students and teachers. and so that is still our goal. we're working towards it. and we think it is critical to the economy recovering that students are back in school, teachers are back in the classroom. but we have to do it in a safe way. we have to get our arms around this pandemic and creating any instance or chance we could have spreader events is a concern for us. >> before i let you go, i just want to say how much i enjoy speaking with you. but there's an added layer to that because of the timing.

it's black history month. i look at where you are, sir, you're a senior adviser to the president of the united states. we have a black woman who is the vice president of the united states. it is historic. it is extraordinary and it's outstanding. but i would love to get your perspective on it. >> you know, i think the vice president would agree, at least for me, i think it's a testament to those traditional public school teachers in new orleans, one of which was my mother, it was those little league coaches who mentored me and then my public high school and morehouse college, all of those things prepared me to do what i do. but i really think the sense is, especially in the african-american community, is that it's about service. it's about public service. it's about helping others. you don't have to have a title. you don't have to get paid for it. you just have to wake up every day wanting to make sure that

other lives are better in that we have a more perfect union. we have, you know, joined with others to shed tears and blood to take this a more perfect union. in the spirit of john lewis, martin luther king, we recognize that we have come a long way. but if you look at the health disparities around covid, income inequality, if you look at all of those things, you see why we have a long way to go. and that's why i'm excited about president biden's initiative on racial equity because the way you honor black history is to secure black futures. and so that's what we're trying to do in a whole-of-government approach to racial equity. not just criminal justice reform. but income equality, making sure that black families can buy homes and pass down generational wealth and take the equity out to start a business or pay for college for their kids. that's what we're focused on and that's how we're going to honor black history month through

service and through investing in the futures of black americans. >> a perfect answer. and i love the fact that you paid homage to the titans in your life starting with your mother. that's a very good son. cedric richmond, thank you very much, i appreciate your time here on "weekends with alex witt." >> thank you. she's not on any committees, but she's still in the house. what happens when democrats cross paths with marjorie taylor greene on the house floor. congressman seth molten weighs in on that. in on that

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new reaction today to donald trump's defense strategy when his second impeachment trial gets under way in the senate on tuesday. here's a preview of how the debate might play out on both sides of the aisle. >> if you're going to criminalize his speech, you have to do it with the same standards. you can't just criminalize republican speech and ignore all of the democrats who have

incited violence. look at the mayor of seattle. she went on and on about this being a summer of love. kamala harris said we should bail out these violent protestors. >> it's going to be a false equivalence which is absurd between black lives matter in which in some instances resulted in violence. and on the other hand the trump incitement which was purposeful and intentional. >> joining me right now, seth moulton, democrat from massachusetts. he's a member of the armed services and transportation and infrastructure committees which means you're a busy guy. i appreciate your time. thanks for being here. i would love to ask you about your take on the trump defense strategy. what is it going to take for democrats to bring republicans on board? >> his defense is pathetic and everyone knows it's not true. what it takes really is for

republicans to find a bit of courage, like mitt romney and liz cheney have. to rise above partisan politics. there are a lot of people who are talking about impeachment in the context of the next 30 days or the next few months. this is something that americans will look back on for generations. this is something that our country will be judged on decades down the road. how we handle this unbelievable crisis where our own president tried to take down our government, incited violence, inspired his followers to attack the u.s. capitol and kill cops. this is deadly serious. and the republicans need to find some backbone to do the right thing. >> we know the senate has a lot to do. there are cabinet nominees, economic relief for those who are suffering as a result of the pandemic. what are the folks in massachusetts telling you about impeachment? are they looking for accountability or do they want to move on? >> they absolutely want accountability. and none of us believe that we

can have any sort of unity until we have accountability. look, alex, when was the last time you heard anyone say, congress is doing too much. they must be too busy? we actually have time to do both and it's our job to do both. we have to serve the american people and we have to defend and protect the constitution of the united states which means holding everybody accountable to the law. >> so i'm looking at the op-ed that you wrote here in "the boston globe" and the headline really caught my eye. here it is. until you stand against extremism, don't lecture me on patriotism or national security. i'm curious looking into this how do you think your colleagues are going to interact with marjorie taylor greene? is she going to get the cold shoulder when she's passing colleagues in the hallway. do you think lawmakers are going to try to avoid crossing paths with her all together because they know she's capable of tweeting out any interaction

that she doesn't like. >> i've always tried to be polite to everyone, but this is pathetic. it's embarrassing to be a colleague of hers. there's no reason why she should be a member of the united states congress. the republican party used to call themselves the party of national security. they used to call themselves the party of patriotism. well, there's no patriot who believes in overthrowing the government, there's no one who is serious about national security who does not take the threat of terrorism with the utmost concern. the republican party used to be the party of lincoln. well now they're the party of trump. and under trump, the confederate flag was paraded through the halls of congress. lincoln made sure that flag never crossed the potomac but

trump sent it down the street. it's no longer the gop, it's the goq. we have to do better than that as americans. >> the picture that we're showing is chilling. you noted in your article that many of the insurrectionists were military veterans. as a marine veteran, you did four tours in iraq. how did you feel learning about that? were you surprised that 1 in 5 of those charged have a military background? >> you know, it's a very small percentage of veterans that make up a surprisingly large percentage of these extremist militia groups. of course that's very sad. when we sign up to serve in the military, you sign up to protect and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic. and the idea that some fellow veterans were attacking our country, attacking our

democracy, attacking our flag and killing cops, by the way -- >> yeah. >> -- that's very sad. we had to send more troops, national guard. but many more troops than were members of these militias to defend our country against these extremists. it's time we start taking this seriously. i don't know how many domestic terrorists you have watching your show, if you are one of these domestic terrorists, you're not a patriot, you're a traitor. if you're a military veteran, you're a traitor to your brothers and sisters in arms. >> with our new defense secretary putting out this 60-day military stand-down, trying to address white supremacy in the ranks, what does that even look like? i'm not in the military. i don't know what that looks like. >> it means you take time off from training to have some serious conversations with your

fellow soldiers about what's going on here. members of the military are very busy. we were in the marines. we were training for the next fight, always doing some sort of activity. and so sometimes you don't take the time to step back and think, hey, what's the big picture here? are we taking care of our own? are we really living up to our values? living up to our values is something that we all have to practice on a daily basis. you walk into my congressional office, you'll see our mission and values posted right there on the wall for everyone to see. but just because they're on the wall isn't enough. we take time every few weeks as a team to talk about our mission and values and question whether we're living up to them. that's what the military is going to do over the next 60 days. >> i appreciate you explaining that. seth moulton, it's good to see you. a new report on the financial cost to americans for all the former president's lies e

. i'm fine with being kicked off of my committees because it would be a waste of my time. i'm a hard worker and i'm proud of it. now i have a lot of free time on my hands which means i can talk to a whole lot more people all over this country and i can talk to more people and make connections and build a huge amount of support that i've already got started with people that want to put america first. >> that's the same party that failed to punish marjorie taylor greene this week for her statements encouraging violence and embracing the qanon conspiracies. is the same party in wyoming just last night voting to censure congresswoman liz cheney for her vote to impeach donald trump. joining me now, don calloway founder of the national voter

protection action fund, susan del percio, and david jolly msnbc political contributor. hi, guys. good to see you. david, your reaction to that contradiction. why is it that congresswoman cheney is being punished by the party but marjorie taylor greene gets a pass? >> marjorie taylor greene is the face of today's republican party and the events of this week have emboldened her and she will have a national constituency as a result of it. that's to say the house should have acted more swiftly. but we know in today's politics that what marjorie taylor greene is peddling is exactly what national republicans want to see. and if you contrast that with what happened with liz cheney, that's just affirmation of where the party is. we look at liz cheney's stand, ben sasse's stand and politics in every story, we want a hero

in. we like to think of them as that. but look at the numbers. they were censured by their state parties because that's where the state party is. it's not where cheney is today. >> don, i'm curious your reaction. when you listen to marjorie taylor greene talk about how, hey, look, now i have more time, i've got more time now to get out there and i know she's talking about fund-raising and reaching more americans with her conspiracy theories and the like, what goes through your mind when you hear that? >> i'm a lawyer and lobbyist. that's what we see with marjorie taylor greene right here, it's really just kind of pathetic. he knows she better serves her constituents if she's sitting on a committee and is a full participant in the process. i think it actually is indicative of something else. a lot of these folks don't concern themselves, they don't care about being real

participants in the process. that's an angle that we'll explore another time. i think it's important -- last week i laughed at the civil war within the republican party. it's actually not a laughing matter. democrats need to be focused on using this time to build the infrastructure to sustain these victories. last week, we saw over 100 bills filed to restrict voting rights in state legislatures. while this is happening federally and important to the future of the party, we need to recognize what's happening locally and democrats have to fight back to expand voting rights and protect ballot box access which is under attack across the board in all 50 states. >> we're going to talk about voter restrictions in -- let me say, i've never heard you b.s. me. if you say so. susan, cheney, the latest republican as david was referring to, she's facing blowback from her party.

you have doug ducey getting censured, cindy mccain, senator ben sasse also facing potential censure from the nebraska gop. is it symbolic or is this something that's going to matter long term? >> it depends. and i don't mean to kind of be on both sides of that issue. what we saw donald trump do, the minute he was sworn in as president in 2017, he announced his re-election. one of the things he did, alex, was to go into every state republican party, whether it be new york or alabama or texas or california, meaning i didn't matter if it was a red state or a blue state, and he packed those state committees with his own people. and that was practically a very smart move. and that's who you see in the party right now at the state and local levels. and that's very important to remember. the question is, is going

forward, are they going to stay there? and that's the only kind of break in the fever you can see is if these parties end up starting going back to being more moderate. if the republicans who we know believe that, you know, "q" is wrong and everything about marjorie taylor greene is what's fundamentally wrong within our society and seeing basically -- it's her words and that kind of action and her believes that were behind the siege in the capitol. now they have to grow up and stand up to their local parties. if they can do that, then a tide can be changed. but i guarantee that the state parties that supported the republicans you mentioned, the ben sasses, the cheneys, the mccains, are not the same people you saw in 2012 or even in 2016. >> what you're saying is that unequivocally, the republican party right now, susan, is the

party of donald trump, full-stop. >> the infrastructure -- >> it's everywhere. it's in the state, the local gop leaders -- >> absolutely. because that's where they really want to build the infrastructure. that's where this rises up from which is why it's so hard to challenge because even if you have some elected officials, members of congress that would consider doing the right thing, they know they can't get the nod from their state party to run for office or maybe not their county. >> so, david, how and can you break that? >> i think the identity crisis within the republican party is deeper than they realize. it's because of this nuance, alex. i think republicans and even observers often conflate this identity crisis as one of ideology when it's really actually about protection of democracy or not. this is not a left/right, progressive/moderate/ conservative fight within the party. this is now about protecting the

democracy or undermining democracy. if that's the values test, the party of old will never come back. the party of old was this wrestling between moderate and conservative. it never entertained the idea of kneecapping democracy. but that's where the marjorie taylor greenes and the jim jordans and the matt gaetz sit today. and they're the leaders of the party, not cheney and mcconnell. >> let's look ahead to impeachment, don, with you here. donald trump's impeachment lawyers suggest they're going to use video of congresswoman maxine waters, it's all going to be part of their defense. here's hakeem jeffries' reaction to that this morning. >> the notion that you are going to equate some sporadic instances of civil unrest, in some cases resulting in injury and destruction of property, but as you pointed out, jonathan, 93% of the protests were

peaceful and consistent with the first amendment, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and the right to petition your government. how can you compare that to a violent attack on the capitol where the president at the time summoned the mob to washington, d.c. >> are there no comparisons to be made there, don? >> there's no comparison whatsoever. my good frat brother hakeem jeffries is exactly right. this is a terrible false equivocation that really doesn't stand the intellectual parity test. but i think it's a silly move for donald trump's lawyers to do. when you're taking something to trial, their concern should be the four corners of january 6th and the provocations leading to january 6th. pulling in other stuff may be a case for indicting or potentially looking at those other things if you consider their crimes which they weren't. we're talking about -- they should be worried about focusing

his defense on january 6th, and proving that he did not incite this insurrection which ended up in five people dying, one of them a capitol police officer. i think it's a silly move. it's a sideshow of a move and i don't think it will help make their case. however, unfortunately, the political reality that we're in is he wasn't going to get convicted anyway and that goes back to the gop civil war that david and susan have been addressing all morning. >> susan and david, i'm going to ask you guys one-word answers. "politico" says that the impeachment trial is going to be a disaster for republicans. yes or no? susan, you first. >> yes. >> david? >> not electorally, no. >> okay. we'll see if you guys are right. thank you so much. i'll see you again real soon. one cable news host appeared to lose his job because he supported trump's conspiracy theories. legal opinions next. theories legal opinions next.

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new reaction to the $2.7 billion lawsuit potentially leading to the cancellation of fox business network's highly rated show lou dobbs tonight. the election tech company is suing fox news, three of its anchors, rudy giuliani and sidney powell for peddling baseless fraud theories about the 2020 election. a law professor calls the suit a useful corrective and says it's

a tap on the breaks. here to discuss the legal merit of this lawsuit is cindy and harry. i'm curious what you make of this lawsuit case against disinformation. >> well, i think it's a very serious lawsuit. what the lawsuit alleges was that fox news and these anchors went on and on for months about the smart technology which somehow was trying to flip the election to trump. and they were saying things like there's a secret back door and they can switch with nobody knowing and hugo chavez set it up and they had all kinds of allegations that injured their business all over the world. and what we now know, despite all the allegations about i can prove it in michigan, like rudy giuliani said, smart technology wasn't anywhere except los angeles county and none of it was true. their allegation was there was a

reckless disregard for the truth. while these cases are difficult, this one looks to me like it could be a winner. >> what about $2.7 billion figure? how does an enormous sum like this effect a case like this? will smart-matic have a tough time proving this case because of this amount of money? >> short answer is no. damages and proof are different. but it does give fox the hee bee gee bees. perhaps the most enduring aspect of the trump administration has been this causalness of lies that media and other enablers have thought, it's okay. we can do this. and defamation, of course, is society's prescribed legal route for addressing it. and especially when the damage is large. and here it's been huge. 2.7 billion, who knows? many, many millions of dollars

and the cancellation of the show tells you that this is a serious threat to their pocketbook and the kind of thing that can succeed where political pushback has failed actually calling out lies is important itself and addressing the malice of people who not only lie but really know they're lying. that's what this suit and others to come are about. >> okay. until those suits come forth, let's talk about impeachment here. the defense attorney's plan to argue the case is unconstitutional. that's what they're going to say and the riots on january 6th are no different than the protests we saw over the summer, the black lives protests and the like. how strong is trump's defense, cynthia? >> it's not very strong. i think -- the defense goes two ways. is it factually strong and politically strong? let me talk about it factually.

factually, the argument about its unconstitutional is really this year's equivalent of fake news, fake news. and that's all they're saying. what they're saying over and over is he's not president anymore. let's remember, let's remember that when he was impeached, he was president. this big discussion about you can be the impeach a president when he's no longer a president, that's an interesting law school question that might be on the bar exam, but it has nothing to do with what we're looking at here. he was impeached when he was president and the constitution says that the senate has the power to try all impeachments. it doesn't have any restriction about impeachment before or after -- or anything else. it just says all impeachments. so i don't think factually or legally there's anything to that argument. politically, i think your political observers would tell you that the republicans are just looking for something to hang their hat on and they don't care, frankly, about legally or factually. but that's what we're facing in

the country is a political trial. >> harry, do you think anywhere in the minds of the founding fathers they were thinking when they put into the conversation the prospect of impeachment, do you think they wanted to indicate, anything you want? go right ahead, the calendar will run out? right. >> john adams said i would expect to be impeached for the rest of my life. cynthia is right on both counts. i would add there is a connection between the two. there really is a right answer here. senators seem to assume it is just up to their whimsy, but in fact they swear an oath to the constitution, and the constitution says that you can try him. and that what they are doing is avoiding their constitutional and sort of deep political and moral duty to pass judgment on this greivous conduct by hiding behind a bogus constitutional argument for political reasons

so you don't go to bottom line. it's really not simply bad law, but really bad morals as a -- as senators. they really owe the american people a judgment for what trump did. >> we'll see what percolates in the minds of all the senators in the next 48 hours. guys, thank you so much. good to see you both. we have some breaking news on a big city school district reaching a deal that could send children back to class. that's next. lass that's next. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer ♪ ♪ yeah i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin, ♪ ♪ yeah, that's all me ♪ ♪ nothing and me ♪ ♪ go hand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin, that's my new plan ♪ ♪ nothing is everything ♪ woman: keep your skin clearer with skyrizi. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. of those, nearly 9 out of 10 sustained it through 1 year. and skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. ♪ i see nothing in a different way ♪ ♪ and it's my moment so i just gotta say ♪

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trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. we have breaking news share out of california. just this hour a deal has been reached that could set the stage to send san francisco students back into the classroom after almost a year of virtual learning. let's go right to nbc's scott cohen who is joining me from san francisco. this could be big news. what can you tell us about it? >> reporter: underscore the word could, alec. in many ways this could sharpen

the battlelines that are stark here in san francisco and similar in other parts of the country as well. what the teacher's union and the school district have done is agree to safety standards for reopening the public schools that includes having everybody vaccinated, all the staff members vaccinated before they return to the classroom, and none this takes place until the city moves into the so-called red tier in the state. currently it is in the more restrictive purple tier. it is all sort of moot at this point. nonetheless, the teacher's union is haling this as a step saying. now they say we need to city officials to make vaccines available to city staff now. there is no plan yet to vaccinate all school staff beyond the vaccination guidelines going on in the state and in the city. the city, meanwhile s pressing to get the schools open. they filed a lawsuit last week

demanding that the schools open now, once and for all. >> we want them to be able to return safely to the classroom. it is up to the district, the board of education, and their leadership to agree on a plan to do so. more than 64,000 san francisco school children are suffering. they are being turned into zoombies by online schooling. enough enough is enough. getting kids back in school needs to be the only priority of school district leadership. >> reporter: the district last week called the lawsuit frivolous. they say there is a plan. and now the teachers union and the district seem to be on the same page. no word yet officially from the district or from the city about this tentative agreement. this is a situation, though, now, that is playing out in big city school districts across the country. all school districts for that

matter. it could come to a head tomorrow in chicago, where the mayor, lorie light foot announced plans to reopen the schools as soon as tomorrow. there is no agreement yet with the teacher's union. if they cannot reach an agreement that could set the stage for a strike there. these battlelines are being drawn sharply alex across the country. >> absolutely. thank you for breaking down this breaking news and its potential for going forward this way. thank you so much. appreciate that, scott. a new report says prosecutors will not pursue charges against donald trump for those infamous hush money payments. one reason is, allegedly michael cohen's unreliability as a witness. i will speak with him exclusive about that and i will talk with him about his podcast with storm edaniels. what does she say that america needs to hear? at america needs to hear? e attention. trusted experts.

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good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york, welcome to weekend with alec wit. developing this hour, democrats in congress putting president joe biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package on the fast track. as we begin to utilize the reconciliation process i asked the biden administration last hour if there is still room to negotiate with republicans. >> now that joe biden is president, they came to the white house with zero in there for state and local governments. so the question becomes, you know, is it a good-faith