good evening, and welcome to "politics nation." tonight's lead got off on a technicality. we have now formally lived under the biden administration for

almost a month, but like a zombie, the trump era continued its undead shuffle into yesterday afternoon, and at this hour, the nation is still digesting how the most significant rebuke of any president in history, five weeks after that president incited an insurrectionist mob could end with without even a tap on donald trump's wrist. instead, we got a slap in america's face. after yesterday's contentious vote to call witnesses widens the chasm between the handful of senate republicans who voted to hold donald trump accountable and literally the dozens that would not, and that's despite the threat that our former president unleashed on them. but because trump's acquittal was a foregone conclusion, this

impeachment trial was rightfully viewed as an assessment of the gop's future, and just how split the party is as most of its lawmakers remain in lock step with trump, or at least his voters. and others, the so-called sane republicans like the seven that voted for his conviction, well, it's unclear at best just how they will keep functioning as constitutionalists in a party with such a blatant cynical disregard for rule of law. and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell tries to have it both ways presenting himself as a statesman who valued decorum and somehow tradition at all costs while he sets the table for midterm fund-raising for himself and his party waving a bloody shirt while the gop figures out what to do next. it will be up to president biden

to move us on from all of this. 34 senators that will no doubt undermine if not obstruct him on some level at some point. and while daring to claim the high road on anything. but move on we must because in addition to the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic itself, the vaccine distribution has already left the most vulnerable behind. more on that later, but first, joining me now democratic new york congressman jones. let me go right to the point. i remind our viewers that you are an attorney, and you sit on the judiciary committee. on twitter today you wrote, our democracy today is as weak as it has been since jim crow. we must make structural reforms, end quote.

the floor is yours, congressman, please go off. >> well, it's great to be with you again, reverend. i want people to remember that the events of january 6th, that white supremacist insurrection that we all saw and that i was under siege along with my colleagues because of was -- started as a big lie. the big myth about voter fraud that didn't actually exist, right? i sat down on the house floor and i watched as my republican colleagues made allegations about mass voter fraud without being able to substantiate it. it was never about proving their point. it was always to lay the foundation for another decade of voter suppression. the modern republican party knows it cannot keep on the merits of its policy ideas, so instead it pivots to disenfranchiing large swaths of the american electorate like black and hispanic people in southern states. that is the project of the

modern republican party, and we cannot lose sight of that. it's no coincidence, for example, that after the georgia runoff victories for democrats, which allowed us to take back the united states senate, we saw the proliferation of proposals all throughout this country by republican officials at the state level to make it more difficult for people to vote. and so we have to pass the for the people act, hr-1. it contains a critical set of democracy reforms to save democracy itself. >> now, one of the real priorities of hr-1 deals with the question of voting, and we notice as you mentioned in many of the states, particularly georgia, these reforms gear mostly or at least in large part to voting areas of heavy black and heavy people of color participants in the voting process, and i know trump's lawyers relied heavily on racist appeals during the impeachment trial by depicting democrats of

color as angry agitators and drawing a false equivalency between largely peaceful black lives matter demonstrations and a violent armed insurrection at the capitol. i mean, what will be the long-term impact of the former president's race-baiting defense in these proceedings. >> well, look, this is a twice impeached disgraced, defeated president of the united states, and it is no coincidence that his tenure in public life has ended the same way that it began, which is through the stoking of white supremacist ideology in this country that really drove his behavior as an executive for the past four years. it remains to be seen what influence he will continue to have, but if yesterday the acquittal of this president -- excuse me, the acquittal of this prior president of the united

states was any indication, he will continue. trumpism will continue to have a chokehold on the modern republican party. and it's why we have to do what we need to do legislatively to save democracy, to purge our government of people who adhere to qanon conspiracy theories or who openly embrace white supremacist ideology. that is the modern republican party. >> and try to in many ways distract people from what we were watching, what the trial was about was about did he incite the violence and the insurrection. they can play all of the clips they want distorting everybody, what they say on the other side. some for years have done that to many of us, including me. the problem they have is they don't have the violence that follows the statement. the violence mr. trump's -- you say his point a is follow ed by

point b. they can't do that no matter how many clips they try to distort. there was a direct reaction right then in realtime to his words. now, with the impeachment trial behind them and the midterm elections, now their next chance to even the score, we know republicans at the state level are gearing up to suppress democracy as you said. that means black and brown voters. what's the democratic plan, better yet, the plan from the congressional black caucus of which you remember to defend the ballot? what's the plan? >> well, there are a few things that we have to do. most importantly, we have to deliver real relief for the american people so we can actually have a basis to say reelect us in 2022. it's why we have to repeal the filibuster, for example, to pass hr-1. we also have to pass the john lewis voting rights advancement act, which would revise the voting rights act that was gutted in the shelby decision in

2013 by this hyper partisan conservative majority on the supreme court that now just got a sixth vote with the confirmation of amy coney barrett a few months ago. it is a multipronged approach. we've got to make sure we're delivering real relief to explain to people there's a real difference when democrats are in control versus when republicans are in control, and then we've got to strengthen the right of people to vote in this country to prevent the assault that is underway right now from republican members of congress and at the state legislative and gubernatorial levels from actually being successful. we have to make sure that we are expanding the franchise to people who should be allowed to vote in this country. >> all right, thank you for being with us again, new york congressman mondaire jones. let's expand our conversation to the conduct of former president trump. joining me now in my panel, angela rath, attorney and political strategist and the host of "on one with angela

rath" and brett stevens columnist for the "new york times." let me go to you first, angela. angela was one of our frequent guests earlier when i started this show going back a few years. glad to have you with us tonight, but let me ask you as an attorney, but also as a woman of color, many americans were deeply disturbed by the racial undertones in the trump team's defense of their client during this impeachment trial. democrats of color were featured prominently in their videos and were depicted as hostile and threatening. vice president kamala harris's name was invoked and mispronounced repeatedly, even though she had nothing to do with the events of january 6th. how can republicans now call for unity after condoning this kind of overt bigotry in a historic proceeding watched by millions in this country and for that matter around the world? >> rev, first, let me say it is

always good to be home, and i of course feel that way with you. thank you for having me. it is a pleasure to be with me. i wish we were talking about something different, though. in this circumstance what we have here is, you know, an age old play book where black people in their black skin are deemed inherently violent and criminal, and the mere image of us, whether we are behaving peacefully or not, protesting just for the right to breathe or not, we are deemed violent. and what is so unfortunate is that five people gone with five people dead after the capitol hill insurrection, which, again, i continue to call a terrorist attack, that wasn't enough. and i think what's most troubling is the fact that the that in and of itself was not condemned by the republican party, that that in and of itself also needs to be condemned by the democratic party, by the white folks in the democratic party. too often we make racism, white supremacy, white toxicity, white

identity extremist a partisan issue, but it's not. it's a foundational issue in this country. really what we need to be doing is examining why could they get away with something like that? how much longer will the vice president of the united states be disrespected in that way? her name invoked and ere rantdly so, how much longer will that continue and who are the folks who will stand with us to say this is not acceptable, this is indeed part of the problem. the fact that donald trump was able to traffic in birtherism before he was ever even considering running for president is part of the problem. it was cute to them for too long, and we have been screaming for months, for years it's dangerous, and now they see just how dangerous it was. >> birtherism was his political entree in many ways. >> yeah. >> you know, brett in the state of georgia where at least two in investigation are underway in the wake of november's election including the infamous phone call in which trump demanded the

georgia secretary of state find enough votes to overturn the election in that state. this is the state where black voters most clearly swung the needle in joe biden's direction. what is the significance of trump's campaign zeroing in on overturning georgia's results so specifically and so obsessively, it would not have altered the electoral college that much? >> well, i was publicly calling for trump's impeachment before january 6th precisely because his call to the secretary of state struck me as a clearly impeachable offense, and you're absolutely right. there was an element, a large left turn, i think angela was absolutely right on this of race-baiting there because the black vote was so decisive in swinging georgia, we all know he

would have needed wisconsin and arizona too to even get to parity with joe biden. it was without question part of a race baiting and a mob bait strategy that swiftly led to what happened on january 6th. and i hope, reverend, that those investigations along with the investigations now in new york move forward. >> angela, in addition to the obvious investigation into the potential criminal conduct of donald trump, we could be looking at additional inquiries into an alleged call made by senator lindsey graham. the removal of the northern georgia district attorney and rudy giuliani's false claims before the georgia legislative committees, could we expect to see the accountability we didn't get in the u.s. senate come from the state of georgia? >> that would be poetic justice,

and let me tell you why. black people certainly helped to seal the deal for joe biden and helped to seal the deal for a historic senate runoff, right? so it would be poetic justice for this black woman who is the lead prosecutor leading this investigation now to say not only did black people turn out in this election and we're going to protect their right to vote as you just talked about in the last segment with mondaire jones, around what is the cdc doing, the black caucus doing, the poetic justice everything john lewis fought and really lived all his life for which is to ensure the protect of black votes, for that woman to be in the position to make this call is tremendous, and i think absolutely where there's a black woman in charge and she's going to be responsible for the investigation and fact finding and she's already well on her way, there's a better chance that we will have equal justice under the law with her at the

helm. >> now, the district attorney of fulton county, fanny willis is who you're referring to who's in charge of the investigation, joined my colleague rachel maddow on thursday. here's what she had to say about the scope of the investigation. i want your reaction to that. >> what i know about investigations is they're kind of like peeling back an onion, and as you go through each layer, you learn different things, to be a responsible prosecutor, you must look at all of those things in an investigation, to be fair to everyone involved. this is a very important matter as you've already highlighted, and so, yes, the investigation seems that it will go past just this one phone call that we've discussed. >> now, brett, what kinds of layers do you expect to be uncovered in the course of this investigation? >> well, what i've been looking at more closely are the investigations in the state of new york by the district attorney for the southern district, cy vance looking into

possibilities of fraud in terms of the financing of some of trump's signature buildings like 40 wall street or the trump tower on 5th avenue. and of course the attorney general of the state of new york, tish james looking at falsifying valuations. and i think those are investigations that really need to carry forward because, remember, the career of donald trump didn't begin in january of 2017. it didn't end in january of 2021. there is a long record there, and i think it's past time that we look at all of those things. the one area where i agree with mitch mcconnell is that what happened yesterday with his acquittal should not be the end of mr. trump's legal jeopardy. if anything, it should only be the beginning. >> go ahead, angela. >> rev i was just going to say really quickly, it is so interesting to hear mitch

mcconnell wanted somebody else to be responsible for what he should have done with his senate republican counter parts. there's no reason why he should now be punting to these folks. of course there are other investigations. donald trump is a criminal, a stone cold criminal at that, and the investigation in georgia is around the solicitation to commit election fraud. how interesting is it that the republican party has been screaming forever, rev, you know this firsthand about election fraud, about voters that are not living, you know, casting ballots. donald trump alleged 5,000 voters who were dead voted in georgia, and it was two people. two. so this is the thing. it's like the reason why the voting rights act, as you talked about earlier, has been, you know, decimated, the reason why they haven't passed voter protections under the voting rights act with john lewis's name is because they're alleging election fraud. but they would know because they do it. >> and it's interesting when we

mentioned mitch mcconnell, angela and brett, is he's talked about how that he had to vote to acquit because he was a former president. it was mitch mcconnell that when the impeachment happened while he was president, mitch mcconnell sent the senate on until after the inauguration. that's like somebody commits a crime, you or i help them get out of the jurisdiction, and then we come back and say you can't deal with that crime because the guy's out of the jurisdiction. you drove the car, mitch mcconnell. angela rye, brett stevens, thank you both, a point of information for the show, angela rye's father was honored by the state of washington for black history month. she didn't know i was watching. coming up, senate republicans have let us down yet again, and that is why we have no choice but to rise up. but first, my colleague richard lui with today's other

top news story. >> very good saturday to you, rev, some of the stories that we are working on on this day, the u.s. now has over 27 million covid cases. the death toll over 486,000. mardi gras celebrations and parades are off in new orleans this year. city officials asked thousands of tourists that typically descend on the big easy don't come. residents are warned to stay home, bars are closed because of covid. the aftershocks of a massive 7.3 earthquake in japan continues this weekend. approximately 100 were injured, close to a million households have no power. the epicenter was near the 2011 fukushima nuclear disaster. a subsequent tsunami caused three nuclear reactors to melt down at that time. the duke and duchess of sussex are expecting their second child. this is a sweet turn after meghan and harry spoke candidly about a miscarriage last summer.

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for today's rise up, i want to address the shameful display put on by the vast majority of republican senators this week. if you find yourself rightfully indignant at their cowardly acquittal of the former president on impeachment charges, don't get mad. get involved. the republican party that spawned the trump presidency was never going to bar him from holding office again, but you can, and i'm going to tell you how. just like voting, running for office is a team sport, and there are all kinds of support organizations out there that have the resources and infrastructure already in place to help you from kickoff to the

end zone. some of these organizations catered to specific types of candidates. there are resources for black candidates, latinos, asian americans, women of all races, lgbtq folks, immigrants, and the young, and those of us who have reached a more dignified age. some of them like run for something candidates even have a place on their websites to input your district and find out what public offices are open in your area because that's the best kept secret about american government. all politics starts local. you can make a huge difference in your community by serving on the school board, the town council or the zoning board, but you might be thinking reverend al, i'm not qualified to run for public office. it's a common concern. but almost completely unwarranted. for instance, newly elected

colorado congresswoman lauren bobert earned her ged less than a year before taking office in january, but maybe that won't convince you because we all know formal education isn't the only kind of knowledge that matters. so let's take a look at the newest senator from alabama. tommy tuberville who despite being a college graduate can't even remember the three branches of government. if those two can win seats in the highest legislative body in america, i don't want to hear anything about that they're unqualified. but maybe a sticking point is less about qualifications and more that you do better behind the scenes. if you don't want to run for office local or national, commit to volunteering for candidates who share your values. there are local and national organizations that can help you find candidates who need your

skills. maybe you can help design a campaign poster, make phone calls or register voters. the best thing about local government is that the smallest contributions have huge impacts, and over time those impacts add up to real political power, maybe even enough to keep disgraced former officials from running and winning again. all but seven republicans in the senate failed in their duty to support and defend the constitution of the united states yesterday when they failed to hold the corrupt and lawless former president to account. our institutions can only be strong when they have a solid foundation, and when it comes to government, that bedrock isn't 100 senators in washington, but the untold thousands of local officials toiling to make their communities better every day. so instead of getting discouraged that the senate

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welcome back. president joe biden is expected to visit pfizer's vaccine facility in michigan thursday. this comes as the president continues to urge congress to wrap up a $1.9 trillion covid relief plan. that will increase vaccinations and roll out another round of stimulus checks, but as the president tries to stay on track for his 100-day goal of 100 million vaccinations, the fight to end the pandemic rages on. joining me now is dr. celine gounder, an infectious diseases specialist and at nyu school of

medicine at bellevue hospital in new york. now, president biden has a lot of high hopes, doctor, that by the day 100 of his presidency at least 100 million americans will be vaccinated and a majority of schools will be reopened, already teachers' unions have pushed back on the white house saying that unless schools are equipped with certain safety measures, it may not be safe to return, at least to the full in-person classes. do you think this 100-day goal is a realistic plan? >> so the president has promised his pledge to get 100 million shots into arms in his first 100 days. he has already hit almost 53 million shots in arms, and we're not even halfway through that 100 -- that first 100 days. so i do think he's well on track to hit that 100 million doses

administered by 100 days and then some. with respect to school reopening, you know, the focus is really to try to reopen for kids to go back to school in person from k through 8 so the younger kids, and the data has shown, we have learned a lot over the past year as to what's safe and what's not safe. the data has shown that it is possible to reopen schools safely so long as you're supporting schools to do the masking, the social distancing, the ventilation, all of the things that we've been talking about for months now. you need to give the schools the resources to do these things, but even without vaccinations, even without testing, people can go back to the classroom safely as long as they follow the public health advice. >> now, vaccine equity has been a major concern during the rollout. communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by the virus, and they're still not getting vaccinated at the levels

they should be. in california, governor newsom has shifted from a labor sector based to an age-based system by prioritizing who gets the vaccine. this essentially blocked farm workers and warehouse employees, the majority of whom are black and brown and from lower income backgrounds from getting the vaccine sooner. how should this vaccine be rolled out to help communities of color who although may be below 65 need the vaccine desperately? >> well, wait to do that is to prioritize people who have chronic medical conditions. that's actually being done here in new york city where i am right now because that does get to a lot of those communities of color who are higher risk, and i think we have to also step back and think about access. it's not enough to say so and so is higher priority if it's not really accessible if it means

waiting in a long line, if it means taking time off work and driving somewhere far away to get it. it really needs to be embedded in the community through institutions that people already know and trust, that they feel comfortable going to, and this is a key part of president biden's plan is really to start scaling up vaccinations through federally qualified health centers, which are these community health centers, many of which are embedded in communities of color. >> a new report out from propublica looked at information from a study over the summer that showed when companies -- when you compare black fatalities from the virus to white ones, it appears that on average those who were black died ten years younger than those who were white, so as states prioritize citizens who are over 75 to get the vaccine first by grouping the vaccines with emphasis on age instead of

by community or high risk profession, states have ended up giving priority less at risk whites over the more at risk people of color. is that okay? >> no, of course it's not, and i think, you know, we also need to look at what is driving inequitable distribution, inequitable access. it's much bigger longer term problems. we have not invested in public health in this country, and i think that's no accident. you know, we invest in the top biomedical research. we invest in our academic medical institutions, but public health has always been this ugly stepchild that's really not adequately funded, and i think part of that frankly is because public health is for everyone. the philosophy of public health is one of social justice, of tearing down health disparities and really making sure everybody has equal access not just to health care but to real health. and so i think that really is a

fundamental problem that needs to be addressed if you want to see better equitable distribution of vaccines or really equity in any form of health. >> all right, i'm going to leave it there. thank you for being with us, dr. celine gounder. coming up, black history month continues here on "politics nation." breaking barriers on "star trek" wasn't enough for nichelle nichols, we'll discuss the actress's out of this world contributions to the space race after the break. eak. when heartburn takes you by surprise. fight back fast, with new tums naturals. free from artificial flavors and dyes. >> man: what's my safelite story? my truck...is my livelihood. so when my windshield cracked... the experts at safelite autoglass came right to me... with service i could trust. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

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. when is america going to put a woman in space? when is america going to put a black person in space? >> i resented that and decided i was going to do something about it. >> and she's saying. >> where are my people? >> every month is black history month on "politics nation," every episode really, and actress nichelle nichols is living history, an on screen pioneer who changed the face of space in the late 1960s as lieutenant uhura. a new documentary looks at how nichols diversified our space race off camera a decade later. as woman in motion documents how

the actress responded to nasa's call to help find pilots for its shelter program with the question you just heard. where are my people? joining me now civil rights attorney ben crump, one of the film's producers, and todd thompson, director of "woman in motion." let me go to you. first of all, both of you we need talk for those too young to understand about just what made nichols depiction of lieutenant uhura on the original "star trek" so ground breaking. what did nichols bring to request "star trek" and what did that series bring to the world? let me start with you, todd. >> thanks, reverend. you know, really i mean, just the fact that we had a black woman on television at a time when that just was very uncommon, never really seen much in a leadership role.

most african-american actors and actresses at the time were in subservient roles, the maid, whatnot, and here we have lieutenant uhurau it really projected a future that obviously gene aspierd for and a whole lot of other people. >> i grew up in the '60s and '70s, and i remember when i was very young in the early 60s, you almost would -- everybody would yell in the house come to the tv because a black person was on. and yet, she was doing that then. >> yeah, reverend al, so often we talk about tragedies, and i am so excited to come and talk to you about this triumphant transcendent african-american woman who not only transformed prime time television in america, but she quite literally transformed the nasa program from being the all white good

old boy network to a vision of diversity that everybody could play a role in to project to the future. >> now, todd, you've got some real luminaries in this film, one in particular i know very well. take a look. >> i was a little boy at that time, and it was at a time where my mother was from the south. i was from the north, they could just barely get to the front of the bus then, and that's what dr. king was saying because he could see where it was going. >> now, i want to contextualize that clip a bit for the folks at home and please jump in if i miss anything, but reverend dr. martin luther king jr. was among many things, a big fan of "star trek," and he actually talked ms. nichols out of leaving the show over the racist backlash she was facing for her role. he saw what her depiction could do for young black people,

literally lifting their faces to the stars, which is precisely what she did with nasa a decade later. can you add to that, todd? >> no, it's a remarkable story, and extremely serendipitous. she was at an naacp event and someone tapped her on the shoulder and said a fan would really like to meet you. she very much didn't want to see anybody that day and turned around only to be staring in the face of dr. martin luther king. and he had such foresight to, you know, let her know something i don't think she really understood herself. she didn't realizes impact she was having, you know, being so close to it there on set all the time. so you know, the fact that he took the time to not just acknowledge her and let her know that "star trek" wasn't the only show that his family used to watch together. they didn't get a whole lot of time together because he was so busy with the campaign and the struggle and whatnot, so it was a very special moment for him and his family to watch "star trek." he urged her to stay on that show, which was so, so important. >> yeah, i remember, which is

why i could recount it in my part of the interview, i think martin iii told me that was one of the shows he remembered watching with his father. but attorney general crump, i want to make sure i get this in because for black america, you're our attorney general, and most folks associate you with very -- the very ground terrestrial concerns of police brutality, racial justice, things of that sort. so what brought you to ms. nichols story, and what made you want to executive produce this film about her push to take people of color to the literal stars and beyond? >> you know, in talking with todd and david and tim and the other filmmakers on this project, rev, when i learned more about the sacrifices ms. nichols made, she went to all the historically black colleges and universities telling them that nasa needs you.

history needs you, and that's how she was able to recruit ronald mcnair, may jamison, sally ride, these women and these minorityties, i'm so thankful to you reverend al as my mentor, to allow us to come on this show today and give a valentine's gift during black history month to america in this film, "woman in motion," but more importantly to be able to give a valentine's gift to ms. nichelle nichols while she's here with us as she advances in age. we should give people their roses while they're living. >> absolutely, ask that's why we wanted to do that tonight, and i think it's something that we encourage people to watch. "women in motion" will be available on digital and demand february 16th. benjamin crump and todd thompson, thank you both for being with us. up next, my final thoughts. stay with us.

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one of the things that i think has not been emphasized enough during this impeachment process, trial and acquittal, is five people lost their lives. and as we celebrate today, valentine's day, i kept thinking about i wonder how the loved ones of those five family members felt, how they felt watching a trial and ending with the u.s. senate saying the one that called the rally and that instructed them to head to the capitol, that led to the death of their valentine, their loved one, was acquitted and was let go. when i was growing up in the church and civil rights, we were always taught about how to grief and talk about agape love and

different parts of love. love for man kind was part of agape love and that is why we would fight in the movement. while we rightfully exchange with our loved ones and sweethearts, valentines day, think about how people because they defended the legislators of this country are having the saddest valentine of their life and to make it worse, the one that called it is sitting somewhere trying to work on a defense that he can spend to keep his political career relevance going. we should show love once a year and every day we can for our loved ones. but we should also have a broader love. and then we should have a love for the country. tomorrow is presidents' day. we honor presidents. the progress this country has made from the early presidents who were slave owners to the

44th president who was an african-american. but there are always bumps on the road. we hit a real huge bump when we allow people to be insurrectionists and the one that called them to convene goes to his resort while others go to funerals. something wrong about that. a little valentine's day tip if you're going out tonight. if you suffer from obesity or diabetes, if somebody gives you a box of chocolates or candy, that is not showing you love. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. ill get? muscle pain. give up, the couch is calling. i say, it's me, the couch, i'm calling. pain says you can't. advil says you can. ♪ ♪ the chevy silverado trail boss. when you have a two-inch lift. when you have goodyear duratrac tires.

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we donate to help a woman thrive. join our movement today at thrivecosmetics.com. that does it for me, thanks for watching, i'll see you back here next weekend at 5:00 p.m. eastern. my colleague alicia menendez picks up our news coverage now. >> thank you so much, rev. and welcome to "american voices", i'm alicia menendez. the trial is over, the senate has acquitted donald trump the second time. the question now before us, what impact will this have on the future of our democracy. what is the verdict history hands us one day. the vote the most bipartisan in the history of presidential impeachments. seven republican senators siding with democrats to convict. here is the lead house manager reflecting on the lasting impact of the case he made to the senate and to the word. >> i think it was a dramatic success in