hey, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york city. i'm alicia menendez in for nicolle wallace, as we watch the heightened alert, that extremists have discussed plans to, quote, take control of the capitol and remove democratic lawmakers. today an increased presence from law enforcement surrounding the capitol building, please on guard for pro-trump conspiracy theorists who believe today, march 4th, should be donald trump's rightful inauguration day. national guard troops seen descending on the capitol, a dramatic express of how the country and the response from law enforcement has changed from

january 6th when, according to testimony from general william walker, it took more than three hours to get approval for troops to move to the scene. news today suggests that the elevated state of alert will remain for weeks to come. two defense officials saying that the defendant defense has received a question for continued support from the national guard. president biden's secretary of homeland security, alejandro may yorka speaking out today about the scope of the threat. in an exclusive interview with our own jacob soboroff. >> one of the greatest threats we face in the homeland is the rise of domestic violent extremism. we want to be sure we're disseminating intelligence information to our partners, and to the communities, so that we can equip the communities to

guard against this growing threat. we are watching the threat stream, the information, social media, other sources with respect to this particular day, march 4th, but quite frankly we are vigilant every day, as we must be when the threat is as acute as it is in the domestic violence extremism context. >> we should point out that the acute threat secretary my mayorkas describes, were emboldened by the january 6th attack and now poses a greater security threat. the same insurrection fueled by donald trump's big lie about the election result that killed five americans and put the lives of lawmakers and their staffs in danger continues to inspire and motte raid would-be domestic terrorists right now. which makes it all the more

significant that some of the republicans whose rhetoric helped to incite the rioters in the first place continue to amplify disinformation, like former vice president mike pence who yesterday, on the eve of a credible threat to the capitol building, linked the riot that left him and his family fleeing for their lives published an op-ed railing against so-called irregularities in the 2020 election. despite overwhelming evidence and under oath testimony from the nation's top law enforcement officials affirming joe biden's win. with members of the republican party stoking a threat to national security, that's where we start today. here to talk about all of it, eugene daniels, white house reporter, co-author of politico's playbook, andzolan young, and carlos -- a msnbc contributor.

yasmin, tell us about the heightened state of alert on the ground in washington. what are you seeing? >> reporter: it's really high, alicia. good to see you by the way. i was here on january 6th, on inauguration day as well. on january 7th, after the insurrection, we saw they gates behind me -- these walls behind me. these things were being erected, right? they were being built up on january 7th. that barbed wire on top being put in place as well. this was all in place, obviously no inauguration day. we saw a lot of this footage, the national guard just inside the gate as well. but there's a sense of hight under security here. i mean, all along this, it really is somewhat of a fortified green zone because of this heightened threat for this day on march 4th. it's incredibly credible thread. think about the idea of the chief of the capitol police say

just in the last two months there's been an increase of 90% in threats against mobs of congress. think about that number. 90% increase, and fbi director wray saying this didn't begin on january 6th, and it did not end. they didn't want to be caught flat-footed if something did happen. the over-arching view is this -- i've reported a lot overseas, and the fortified zones, this is where we are now, here in this country, in the united states of america, i am in front of the capitol on the east side looking at a fortified green zone. when you talk about the defense department sitting on the request from the capitol for national guard to be in place for months to come possibly, the question really is how long is this going to be in place? how long do americans in general and do members of congress have to deal with the security threat that persists throughout this

country because of the increase in domestic terrorism and the threats from domestic terrorist groups we have been seeing through the country. this is the world we live it, and it's concerning across the board. >> yasmin reporting for us from outside the capitol. thank you. zolan, what we are watching, it's happening in the shadow of january 6th. compare today's law enforcement response to what we saw on january 6th, when officials were worried about a national guard presence at the capitol even though the chatter was less intense than what they saw on january 6th? >> i hit the nail on the head there. even the fact that now we're seeing kind of an intelligence warnings given what we saw all

of that went into issuing the dhs bulletin with the fbi yesterday. there were building things in there -- although intelligence warning, another issued in late january saying the same thing, that extremists continue to be emboldened not just by the conspiracy theory of qanon, but also filled by false statements around the election that extremists continue to be -- at the capitol. what will be interesting is how

intelligence officials and the federal government really balance homing in and issuing warnings based off of chatter that is protected by the first amendment online and discerning through that chatter what is actually a threat. that's something law enforcement has always struggled with. so it will be interesting. >> eugene, let's pick up on something zolan just said. why today, march 4th matters, supporters of the q annan conspiracy theories have set march 4th as the date they believe former president donald trump will return to office. obviously that's not going to happen. i would ask how these theories stay alive, but we know it's at least in part because trump allies and the gop continue to give these types of conspiracies life, by continuing to lie about the election result. what responsibility, then do they have for what we're watching today at the capitol?

>> they have a huge responsibility to tell these people to stop, right? the thing about qanon is it's always based on a date, right? there was the -- you have the actual election, and then you have the time between the electoral college. they have the electoral college, january 6th. they had january toe, all they dates where trump wall street supposed to become victorious, and today march 4th, before 1933, that is when presidents were sworn in. so that's where that date came from. at this point, it feels like everything seems fine, you know, with what happened and everyone's kind of calm, but how does the gop convince people that this lie is a lie, even now, when the former president of the united states stands in front of cpac, repeats that same thing, repeats the fact that he says the election was stolen from him, which we know is not

true, and the crowd starts chaptering "you won" over and over. it 2350e8s like it will be hard to pull that out. i'm not sure how the republican party deals with that when you have people like ron johnson, the senator, pushing these conspiracy theories in these hearings. the party has to have a completely different conversation around it. it's hard to do when former president trump is the leader of their party still. >> carlos, you convince the base that it was a lie by coming out and saying it was a lie. where is the accountability from republicans? yes, you have a republican from texas saying trump has the possibility to tell potential attackers to stand down, but beyond that, what are republicans afraid of? >> alicia, the images were seeing, what our country is experiencing is the long tail of the big lie told by donald trump, the many lies told by donald trump, and the refusal by too many republicans to

confront and condemn those lies. you pointed out earlier, former vice president pence, someone whose safety, whose security was at risk on the 6th of january, someone who some of the invaders stated they wanted to attack and perhaps even murder, he writes an op-ed that at best excuses president trump's lie, and at worst, advances and promotes it. some republicans have stepped up, have spoken for the truth. liz cheney, mitch mcconnell, adam kinzinger and others, but too many continue to refuse to confront these lies, and to tell their voters that this is completely made up, that there's no basis in fact for it, and this is a short-term strategy, because they don't want to get crossways with former president trump, but long term it's losing. lies are corrosive, and they

eventually consume everything, including the people who excuse and promote them. >> this is not a won and done deal. yesterday officials, they all unanimously agreed that the january 6th attack emboldened extremists. take a listen. >> we do assess that the breach on the capitol could inspire others to act. >> i agree. anytime an adversary is successful, others pay attention. we're worried this would be an inspiration. >> i agree with that. >> i agree as well, sir. >> given that reality, given those stakes, how does law enforcement take into account the disinformation isn't coming from some far reaching of the internet. it's coming from republican members of the house and. >> it's an incredible challenge.

we've had numerous public warnings coming out that are saying over and over again that the dinned false statements about the election, a clear reference to former president trump continues to embolden these extremists, and we have an elevated threat, including a more lethal threat, how the fbi director described it, he specifically white supremacists. at this point if you're law enforcement, the biden administration says they're doing a government-wide review how to combat the threats. dhs as well as its intelligence branch, which faced a lot of backlash last year. -- investigation since he came into office in 2016, have doubled to about 2000. they're hoping by being public about that investigative work it

will have a chilling effect and discourage some of these extremists that may have been emboldened or were by january 6th. we'll have to see how that investigation will may out. >> eugene daniels, i don't know if had a chance to read the entire piece from mike pence, so let's fax check. he claims it bans voter i.d. it does not. he claims it registered undocumented immigrants to vote in federal elections, one of their favorite bobogeyman, it ds not. eugene, what is the tell here? what are they so afraid of? >> the thing that you are hearing -- and we heard that this week when the supreme court heard a case about elections, is that -- and the -- he said the quiet part out loud, that this would put them at a competitive

disadvantage, allowing everyone to have the right to vote. i talked with tom emert, head of nrcc earlier this week, and something he zeroed in on this hr-1 bill, he kept bringing up the fact it was socializing the way that we do elections in this country. that's such a small part of it, but you're hearing it from republicans over and over, because what former president trump did -- and i don't think he did it on purpose, is that the lie that he created fed into something that republicans have wanted to do for years, which is restrict voting rights in this country in different places for different people. something that we are seeing now is that after they have this quote/unquote evidence from president trump and his complaints from him based on a lie, they can now run around the country making different laws, saying they're doing this in the minds of election hink the election was stolen, and that needs to be taken care of. what they're not saying and when

you ask them, former president trump created this lie, right? whether that's no voting on the weekend, less mail-in voting. that is something that the republican party has been doing for years. now they have even more munition and fodder to do it with. >> is that then a concession on the part of a lot of these republicans that they cannot win over those voters with persuasive arguments or policies, and this is the best they've got? >> well, alicia, yes, in many ways, republicans are saying, well, we want to make it more difficult for people to vote, and i told republicans for many years, you know, this is --

you're the only business owners who want fewer people to show up. most of the time people want to invite as many people in. this is, again, a short-term strategy that's doomed to fail. the other thing you want to say, alicia, this op-ed by vice president pence, let me translate it for you. this is an apology to the trump base, the vice president knows that his numbers among trump supporters dropped considerably, because he refused to do what the president asked him to do, which is basically to steal the election. so now, rather than telling these base voters the truth and explaining to them why he did not reject the votes cast by the american people in november of 2020, rather than doing that, he's apologizing for not being absolutely loyal to the former president. again, this is a short-sighted strategy, because a party cannot survive on lie.

>> thank you all for starting us off. when we come back, it's been headline after headline that we can return to normal, but new infections are creeping back up near where we were during the most recent summer surge. it's the real story. breaking overnight, florida's republican governor under fire again for his handling of the pandemic, this tines, the criticizing how the state is allocating vaccines. the reporter who broke the story joins us. plus more from the biden administration's new secretary of homeland security, who sat down exclusively with jacob soboroff. all those stories and more when "deadline: white house" continues after this. more when "deadline: white house" continues after this listerine® cleans virtually 100%.

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over the last seven days or so we've reached a bit of a plateau with the deflection of the curve isn't going straight down the way it was. that's a bad sign. we have seen that before. we're going in the right direction. now the time is to keep the foot on the accelerator and not pull off. what we don't want is yet again another surge. after five wines ofdly, the united states is now where we were at the height of the summer surge last year, about 63,000 new covid cases per day.

fauci's warning came with a promising prediction of some side of normality by the fault thanks to increasing vaccinations, but at the same time several states threaten this a fourth wave, by ditching measures meant to protect us. the latest alabama's governor saying that the mask man dade will end on april 9th, no matter what. decisions made despite expert warnings against them and biden's press secretary said have let him frustrated and exasperated. ashley parker, "the washington post," who you bureau chiefs and steed analyst. and dr. roy. great to see you both. is our halted process a sign we could on the heels of a fourth surge. >> the good news is cases and

hospitalizations and deaths are going down, but the bad news is they have plateaued, and not at the level of zero. they're plateauing at about 65,000 new cases. we're still in the mid of a pandemic, contagious variants from around the globe that are now circulating all over the united states. now is most certainly not the time to be easing evidence-based life-saving mitigation measures. you can't put the cart before the horse. it's like frosting a cake before it's raw batter. it's not the right thing to do. it will lead to more cases, and it's going to be a burden on me and my colleagues in hospitals. it will lead to more depression, burnout and adverse consequences to the entire healthcare system. >> i think you can hear it and say that's what's happening in texas, mississippi, alabama,

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according to "the miami held" the ocean reach club got vaccinated in mid january. 17 people gave the state's republican governor ron desantis contributions of $5,000 each. one resident, a former republican governor himself wrote a $250,000 check just last month. a spokesperson no desantis told "the miami herald" that the governor had no role in getting vaccines to the community. joining us is mary ellen, and charlie sykes. what questions does this raise for you? >> well, from the very start we have not had a very clear or transparent process for how the vaccine has been rolling out in florida.

he said he was going to put a priority on people over 65. that made a lot of sense e-mail and it indicated in january at a time when other parts of the state were struggling to get vaccine, this community had a pretty easy supply. >> charlie -- >> so there are questions that have emerged are simply how did

this happen, what was the plan? >> is there -- you saw the c pass straw poll, i wonder about the fact that it was based in florida, if that skewed those numbers at all. what does that tell but his appeal within the party? >> no, his stock is rising. out of the cpac convention, you have two rising stars. both of them arriving on the very trump-y approach to the coronavirus. one of the things desantis has going for him in the modern republican party is that he shares or appears to share one of the donald trump's super powers with complete shamelessness, and his aggressive stance, refusal to

back down, and just refusal to acknowledge his critics. stories like this i think will reflect the increased scrutiny that the governors really frankly ought to receive for their handling of all of this, and right now the best thing that ron desantis has going for himself, of course, are the problems of andrew cuomo. trust me, if you bring up this story to any republican or anyone in the maga-verse, they will say, well, what about going on in new york? you can be critical of bo states, and i think they deserve the scrutiny that does not happen by accident. i just got vaccinated on monday. i know exactly how difficult it is to navigate this system. so something like this i think is going to highlight one of the major problems, the inequities

and distribution, and i hope they continue to shine the light on desantis, but don't expect him to back down, and do expect him to continue to point his fingers at other governors like andrew cuomo. >> marie ellen, charlie headed right where i was going. in as much as there's one conversation to be had about the elements of this there's also the piece of this wealthy communities getting vaccinated while vaccination remains behind in communities of color. latinos make up 17% of vaccinations, even though they're 27% of total population. what does that underscore about the inequities you're seeing out of florida when it comes to covid response? >> well, i don't think those numbers are too much of a

surprise to many of the public health officials we have spoken to. they knew there needed to be an extra effort to try to reach out to these hispanic states, and the government has made strides in trying to get churches involved and bring the vaccine into those communities, but what his messaging didn't seem to look like that was his priority. he arrived at the villages several times, which is this very conservative retirement community in the center of florida. that's where he gave his first preference, and he -- you know, when he was asked about why we're put ago focus on these white communities, his answer was, well, everybody needs to get it. it doesn't really matter whether you're wealthy or not, everyone needs to get it eventually. >> mary ellen klas and charlie

sykes, thank you both so much. up next jacob soboroff visiting a growing refugee camp, and today he talked exclusively with the nation's homeland security secretary about the situation at the border. we'll bring you some of that interview, next. order. we'll bring you some of that interview, next.

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the southern border. new documents obtained by nbc news show the u.s. customs and border protection has a growing backlog of unaccompanied migrant children in its custody with hundreds being held longer than the legal limit of 72 hours. on top of that nearly 100 of those children held past the limit are under the age of 13. president biden's new dhs secretary alejandro mayorkas spoke with jacob soboroff. >> nbc news obtained as of tuesday that 1,763 kids, 625 of them longer than the legal 62-hour limit to be transferred out to hhs. that same day, my understanding is you briefed the president of the united states about the fact that dhs projects 117,000 unaccompanied children. 117,000 could cross the border thisser use.

that would be a record. is that number accurate, first of all, and how do you plan on processing and treating those children who come to the united states humanely? >> what we are doing is building the capacity to address the needs of those children, and we are guided by some core principles. number one, we act in the best interest of the children and in the best interest of the american people. thirdly we adhere to our values and principles as a country. in fact the numbers are significant, the challenge is significant, and our plans are well under way, as we built the capacity to address the needs of the children, and we are rebuilding from scratch. >> joining us now, nbc news correspondent jacob soboroff live at the southern border, and teresa maria komar. i'm very much looking forward to watching this interview in its

entirety. let's talk about the clip we just listened to, children being kept at facilities that are not equipped for this. they are supposed to be transferred into custody in 72 hours. what is the holdup? why is this taking so long? >> reporter: capacity, alicia. you heard the secretary say that very plainly. he said we need to build the capacity and the reason there were 625 children in the custody of the border patrol in station -- like places just like where i am in otay mesa, is because there is not room for them in health and human services shelters, where they are cared for by professionals. that's why hhs was opening an influx facilities and border patrol is holding up processing centers, and talking about opening up facilities in del rio and elsewhere. when you hear the secretary saying building capacity, that's what he means.

they need the space to get the children out of border patrol stations. they wanted to avoid that at all costs, and a by departures from the trump administration, there are many, but using the language "the best interests of the child." that's how child welfare professionals refer to caring for children, and they're signaling a departure. the policy and practice has not caught up yet to the realities on the ground. >> did you get a sense of a timeline from the secretary. he basically said they're going to do it as needed, roll out capacity as needed. i'll tell you what. right now they need capacity. the idea that there are 625, were as of tuesday, kids over the legal limit in border patrol station, it means they need that capacity right now. i wouldn't be surprised if we

heard from homeland security secured or hhs the addition of though facilities in the not-too-distant future. >> maria, it's one piece of the landscape. at the same time there's appetite to be in contending with the way the system is broken inside the country. there's a big comprehensive piece of legislation. we learned that dems don't believe they have the votes to bring it to the floor. does that create more momentum behind the standalone efforts on dream and promise workers? >> i think that's right. not only is there momentum, but a great desire along with the administration, along with a lot of the members of congress to start putting some points on the board, to start providing alleviation for these immigrant families who have felt such distress under the trump administration for four years, saying we are going to not only provide relief, but for the biden administration, needs to

be able to demonstrate that he's delivering on his campaign promises. while the piece of legislation that was sent over from the white house down to the house is incredibly comprehensive, there's also an understanding it will be broken up, more than likely, and we want to provide as much relief to the families that are living within or border as much as possible. even when we're talking about the reunification proposal from the task force, it is incredibly comprehensive. it's talking about wrap-around services, anything from reunifying the families, here or back at home, but also providing them with support services such as mental health, recognizing that the trauma that many of these families and they children have suffered under the trump administration is not going to be erased. again, i do think what jacob is saying is actually true, they're centering this around the most vulnerable. how do they do it well? and at the same time how do they

put young people, children back into the system in places that are secure and vetted. that's one of the top priorities as well from the administration, from what i understand. nobody is going anywhere, we're going to bring you a bit more, and ask if anyone could be health criminally accountable. e health criminally accountable. but now a friend. still an electric car. just more electrifying. still a night out. but everything fits in. still hard work. just a little easier. still a legend. just more legendary. chevrolet. making life's journey, just better.

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commit to that at this point? >> jacob, detention facility is not where a family belongs. >> we're back with jacob soboroff and maria teresa kumar. what did you make of his answer there on detaining families? >> i thought it was an incredibly important statement by the secretary. it wasn't a commitment to closing the three family detention centers, what symptom advocates literally call baby jails but it would be a significant departure if there were no longer families detained together by the biden administration. that would be a departure not only from the trump administration, which refused to release many families but also from the obama administration, which candidly, opened these facilities in the first place. >> maria teresa, there is great enthusiasm, there's great urgency on the part of advocates to get that done. how do they continue to hold the administration accountable? >> i think you're going to see a two-part strategy. one is very much at the table. i think that what makes these promises so starkly different from even the obama

administration is that the people inside the white house advising the policy, they themselves were advocates. they were themselves the ones that were trying to get -- pull people to the fire and now they're on the inside and so it's very much how do you bring folks together behind closed doors, providing people time, you know, we have to recognize that the biden administration has now inherited a deeply broken system and has been at the helm for less than 40 days so that's one piece of it. the other piece is showing results they're keeping their promises but making sure there's visibility. no one knows how to mobilize, i think, in this space better than the dreamers, raices, folks that go down the line that are really paying attention by saying let's give the administration some time to breathe and put some stuff back together again because it's absolutely broken. >> jacob, did you get a sense from the secretary of this administration's appetite for holding the last administration accountable? >> you know, it was hard, quite frankly.

he didn't rule it out, particularly around the family separation policy. i asked him, because the attorney general is going to be a member, according to the executive order once he's confirmed, of the task force to reunite the separated families, whether or not a potential criminal investigation would be part of the attorney general's duties, and he said that essentially, paraphrasing here, that everything is still on the table. he could have said, no. he could have said, it's just about reuniting the families but that's not what secretary mayorkas told me today. >> i cannot wait to watch this entire interview. maria teresa kumar, thank you both for spending time with us. the next hour of "deadline white house" with dr. jason johnson starts right after this quick break. . jason johnson starts right after this quick break. with oscar mayer deli fresh it's not just a sandwich, far from it. it's a reason to come together. it's a taste of something good. a taste we all could use right now. so let's make the most of it. and make every sandwich count. with oscar mayer deli fresh i'll be observing your safe-driving abilities. play your cards right, and you could be in for a tasty discount. [ clicks pen] let's roll.

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♪♪ you know, it's concerning among colleagues, both democrats and republicans. i have a lot of respect for the capitol police, the national guard regarding the building, it's just very, very sad, and i think americans should reflect on that, that actual business of the people in the house of representatives today was grounded to a halt. members of congress aren't able to come to do their jobs for democracy. this is a big deal and a really sad day in american democracy. >> hi, everyone, i'm jason johnson in for nicole wallace. it's 5:00 in washington where the u.s. capitol and the rest of the city are on high alert. the house canceled its session today following the threat of another attack on the building almost exactly two months after the insurrection. a joint bulletin issued by the fbi and the dhs warned that some domestic groups had, quote,

discussed plans to take control of the u.s. capitol and remove democratic lawmakers on or about today, march 4th. nice of them to give us a heads up. and now a very visible, heightened security and military presence in washington. 5,000 national guard troops remain stationed to protect the capitol and there are barricades securing the building and the threat is not going away any time soon. today, the capitol police requested the national guard continue to provide security for another two months. let's remember what got us to this point, what got us to needing barbed wire surrounding the people's house. it was the complicity of republicans in the big lie, the lie that joe biden's victory was the result of widespread voter fraud and black and brown people voting at high rates, a lie that was debunked. refusing to condemn the big lie, republicans are perpetuateding it. what we've witnessed from the gop since donald trump's loss has not been a show of courage

or reassessment of their role in assaulting our democracy. instead it's been defiance against truth, justice, and american way, common sense, and responsible leadership. like this weekend at cpac where several elected republicans continued to spew falsehoods about a stolen election. senator ron johnson pushing the already debunked conspiracy theory that antifa or fake trump supporters were behind the capitol riot at a senate hearing devoted to understanding what actually occurred on that day. and like former vice president mike pence who finally came out of hiding, broke his silence after the insurrection, and chose to call out, quote, voting irregularities and numerous instances of officials setting aside state election law. claims discredited by trump's own appointed director of the fbi, christopher wray. he held his position at the time these so-called voting irregularities were taking place. here's wray when asked about security of our election in a senate hearing earlier this week. >> do you agree with attorney general barr's statement that

there is absolutely no evidence of voter fraud that could have changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election? >> i agree with attorney general barr. >> and to be crystal clear on this, as fbi director, who is -- these would be federal crimes, you're aware of no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, correct? >> we are not aware of any widespread evidence of voter fraud, much less that would have affected the outcome in the presidential election. >> it's a nothing burger, it's a nothing falafel, it's a nothing wrap. the big lie is nonsense. the continued fallout of the big lie is where we start this hour with some of our favorite reporters and friends, errin haines is here, also with us, sam stein, and elizabeth neumann, former assistant secretary for threat prevention and security policy at the department of homeland security and now the codirector of the republican accountability project. thank you all so much for being here. we're going to start, sam, i

want you to hear this sound from bennett earlier today talking about what's actually been going on and what republicans are doing to not help us get past this big lie. >> i wish ron johnson would use his time to explain to the trump voters that the election wasn't stolen and that millions of people, you know, didn't vote for donald trump instead of joe biden. that would be a good use of ten hours of ron johnson's time. but instead, we're in a locked down capitol and he's forcing the staff under those conditions to sit there and read a bill, something he never did, by the way, when he was voting for tax cuts for rich people. >> sam, when you hear that sound, and you hear senator michael bennett say, look, my colleagues are nuts, how is -- what is happening in the senate right now? how are democrats looking at their republican colleagues who are still two and three months after the fact perpetuating a lie that doesn't just impact what's happening on the ground but is now endangering

everyone's safety. >> yeah, i mean, first of all, i think it's important to understand that michael bennett is not your typical flamethrower. i mean, i would be very shocked to know how many times speeches of his are featured on cable news because he's just not normally this incendiary or pointed in his criticism of colleagues, and it gets to the frustration that a lot of democrats on the hill do feel right now that republicans are perpetuating this myth, this falsehood, this lie that the election was stolen. every nonpartisan indicator, every person who's looked into it has said that's not the case, and i do think underlying this all is a fear among democrats nationally and i should stress locally that one of the reasons that this notion that the election was stolen is continuously perpetuated by republicans is that they want to use it as a predicate of sorts to restrict voting laws and voting rights going forward. we're already seeing efforts on

the local level to do so, citing this nontruthful accusation that we don't have a valid vote. that's just not the case. but it is being used as a predicate and so i think democrats, in addition to knowing this sort of acute physical harm that this lie caused are looking forward and saying, my god, are they going to turn around and use this to further restrict voting access? >> along those same lines, elizabeth, i have to ask you this. now, you are part of the republican accountability project. you're not a psychiatrist, right? just want to make sure. >> i am not. >> okay. because i was initially going to ask you if mike pence is suffering from stockholm syndrome. you know, after finally coming out and speaking publicly the first thing he does is put this op-ed in the daily signal where he perpetuates the same big lie that put his life at risk. when you're working with republicans and having conversations, what did they think about this op-ed and how ridiculous is it that mike pence

is saying on the one hand, the election was fraudulent, but on the other hand, wouldn't supposedly go along with this fraud when he was actually in a position to do something about it. >> i'm not a psychiatrist, but i do study the bible a lot and there's this great passage that talks about being turned over to your sin and your conscious being seared and i think that describes mike pence at this point, where he has spent so much time covering up for donald trump and, you know, look, when he was on the inside, he would push back and he lost a lot, but every once in a while, he would win, so i'm not going to say there was no attempt at doing good. i'm sure he thought he was doing the right thing. but he became complicit in all the president's lies and all the president's malfeasance, and culminating in that big lie, and if your life getting threatened doesn't break you out of it, i don't know that anything will, and i think what's particularly

dangerous about his line of arguments and you're starting to see other republicans pick up on it, is they're kind of moving away from the election was stolen and they're whitewashing it. they're just talking about, we just need to make sure that there's no fraud in elections, and of course, it's a dog whistle, the base understands what they're talking about is fixing what they believe was a stolen election. but it really is about suppressing the vote, restricting voting access so that they can maintain power, and that -- that's really dangerous. that's a dangerous place for the republican party to be, to be against voting access. but sadly, that's where we are, and i don't think he's ever going to snap out of it. >> to paraphrase another passage from the good book, it would be easier for a camel to get through the eye of needle than it would be for mike pence to break away from donald trump. erin, when we hear about this, i have to ask you, with one political party committed to something that is just patently

not true, but the country still facing a huge terrible pandemic, is there much of a chance here that actual legislation can be done? i mean, is it just the democrats have to decide that republicans, hey, they just want to believe this lie, they want to believe in santa claus and we can move forward, or do you think that this big lie they're perpetuating is going to have serious consequences on legislation that the country needs? >> well, gee, jason, i knew you were a doctor but i didn't know you were a pastor too, look at you, quoting scripture. >> pass the plate. >> you know, i -- exactly. so, i think that -- i think that, you know, that is the question. you saw, you know, the house passing hr1. we're headed into bloody sunday, which was the catalyst for the voting rights act. democrats are certainly framing this as a 21st century version of the voting rights act and i think we need to be clear that efforts to -- that we're seeing in state legislatures like in my home state of georgia and really across the country, to, you

know, combat the false threat of voter fraud, is what 21st century voter suppression looks like, and so, you know, to your point, just in the opening that former vice president pence would resurface, you know, not to thank capitol police or to urge americans to get the vaccine, but to talk about the looming threat of voter fraud and the democrats seeking to nationalize elections, the thing about the big lie, again, i'm from georgia, you've spent some time in georgia, the big lie is nothing new in this country, but the big lie was nationalized under former president trump. and you know, he talks about democrats seeking to nationalize elections. republicans are seeking to nationalize voter suppression with these onerous laws that are not really addressing any election fraud, which, you know, our own government has said is virtually nonexistent. you had christopher wray doing that yet again just this week in his testimony. and so, you know, the big lie

apparently it is going to continue to be repeated. mike pence has now become the latest republican to repeat the big lie and just as the big lie is being repeated, i think it is on responsible americans and people who are concerned about the future of our democracy to continue to repeat the truth that there was no widespread voter fraud in the last election that, in fact, the last election was the safest in our country's history, according to our own federal government and that this is a solution that continues to be in search of a problem. >> you know, speaking of "big little lies", i want you to listen to the sound, errin. we'll stick with you for a minute. this is from the head of the capitol hill police. listen to this sound about what the impact of these lies have been and how it's changed how people are trying to get their jobs done in congress. >> in the first two months of 2021, there has been over a 93% increase in the threats to members compared to the same period last year. and from 2017 to 2020, there has

been over a 118% increase in the total threats and directions of interest with overwhelmingly majority of those suspects residing outside of washington, d.c. >> errin, i know you worked at the 19th. you talk about the intersection of race and gender. it sounds to me like what the chief was talking about is a hostile workplace. i mean, is that what you're hearing, based on her assessment, on the threats to lawmakers right now? >> absolutely. and you saw speaker pelosi certainly taking this threat seriously, getting those votes done last night and then frankly getting the hell out of dodge today because, you know, of this threat of potential violence. and you know, people like chief pittman, people like general walker who testified yesterday in that senate hearing, i mean, these are folks who saw the threat of white supremacy as

very real which, again, fbi director wray reiterated is the greatest threat to our country domestically and is also a threat that's very much with us. we're still, like you said, less than two months out from that violent insurrection, which again was about negating the votes of black and brown people as illegal in this country, right, and so you know, that was a threat that was present before january 6th and that is a threat that because of the persistence of the big lie continues to be with us today. >> speaking of christopher wray, sam, i want you to listen to this sound. i think we're hearing the same thing over and over again from these experts but i think the terminology that he uses here is something i really want your comments on on the other side. >> january 6th was not an isolated event. the problem of domestic terrorism has been metastasizing across the country for a long time now, and it's not going away any time soon. at the fbi, we've been sounding the alarm on it for a number of

years now. in fact, we viewed it as such a critical threat that back in june of 2019, under my leadership, we elevated racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism to our highest threat priority on the same level with isis and home grown violent extremists where it remains to this day. >> sam, it sounds to me like he's basically saying, we've got home grown terrorism, the levels of which we've probably never seen in this country. what were your thoughts? >> you know, my thought when i heard that actually immediately went back to the early obama years. back then, the department of homeland security sort of famously put out a report on right-wing extremism and there's a huge political pushback among republicans over that report. so much so that the person involved with it resigned and they retracted the document. ever since then, we have had

this uncomfortable political posture towards addressing this threat. we've had this through the obama years and also frankly through the trump years despite what fbi director wray said there. over the past four years and trump years, there was always this tug and pull over whether or not you could talk about this openly and if you did, would you be perceived as having a bias. should you have to address groups like antifa in the same context? and we've never really been able to grapple with the proportionality of the threat. the threat obviously exists. the proportionality that we need to grapple with and in addition to that, we're having trouble grappling with the roots of it. a lot of this is fed by online news information systems that are just filtered or overflowing with bad information. >> and in addition, sam, i mean, a lot of this, honestly, is just being filtered by one party. very quickly, elizabeth, i want to get to your thoughts on this. you know, everyone's determined a lot of this came from donald trump. i want you to listen to this sound, elizabeth, from mitch mcconnell and brian kemp talking about the future of the

republican party with donald trump in 2024. >> if the president was the party's nominee, would you support him? >> oh, the nominee of the party? absolutely. >> donald trump is the '24 nominee for republicans, would you support him? >> absolutely. i'm going to support the nominee. >> i mean, elizabeth, look, donald trump has gone after brian kemp, he's gone after mitch mcconnell. can we do anything about this rising domestic terror level if every single sitting member of the republican party is still committed to the head of the terrorist organization? >> yeah, i mean, the one thing i would critique with your assertion is that the problem with violent white supremacy has been around sadly for decades. he just tapped into it. and he did embolden it. but you're right, like, as long as they keep empowering him, even though they are probably not doing it at least not wittingly for racist means but because of power, they are still

feeding into that system that will continue to promote violent extremism as a legitimate way to express your viewpoint on -- when you have lost an election. so, we really, really have got to hold these republicans accountable and we need to make sure that we get strong, whether -- i don't care if they're democrats or independents or moderate republicans but we've got to get some of these republicans without character out of office. >> exactly. sam stein, elizabeth neumann, thank you so much for starting us off this hour. errin is sticking around. when we return, as we've been discussing, republicans are weaponizing the big lie to restrict and suppress voting around the country. now democrats are pushing back but they're facing an uphill battle. that's next. plus 30 years after rodney king was beaten on camera by los angeles police, the house of representatives passed a police reform bill named after another victim of police brutality, george floyd. we'll discuss why the struggle for justice is still ongoing decades later.

and the challenge of getting americans, all americans of all colors vaccinated against the coronavirus. we'll get a live report from one of fema's massive vaccination centers. "deadline white house" continues after a quick break, so don't go anywhere. ter a quick break, so don't go anywhere opening) guy fieri! ya know, if you wanna make that sandwich the real deal, ya gotta focus on the bread layers. king's hawaiian sliced bread makes everything better! ♪ (angelic choir) ♪ umm, honey...why is guy fieri in our kitchen? i don't know. i'm booking you a one-way ticket to flavortown with a king's hawaiian meatball sub. ♪ ♪ i gotta go. your neighbor needs king's hawaiian bread. hey, i got you. guy fieri?

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this legislation is there to protect the right to vote, to remove obstacles of participation, hr1 for the people, for the people, the first 300 pages were written by

john lewis to remove voter suppression tactics from our political system. what's exciting about it is that it restores confidence that people have that their vote and their voice is as important as anyone's. >> speaker pelosi's mask game is always on point. that was speaker pelosi this morning reminding us of the role of the late john lewis in the landmark voting rights expansion bill passed in the house last night. the bill, passed mostly along party lines, would be the most significant improvement in voting protections since the '60s, enacting new requirements weakening voter i.d. laws, mandating automatic voter recommendation and expanding early voting among other protections but the legislation passed as republicans around the country try to restrict ballot access and peddle the big lie of election fraud so it seems doomed in the senate where a 60-vote filibuster seems impossible for democrats to overcome. joining our conversation,

democratic pollster, welcome to the family. and the 19's errin haines is back with us. i'm going to start with you because i think this is important. when you see this kind of legislation being passed, you're a pollster. how important is election reform to just regular voters? is it something on their top ten list? are they out there complaining about it or is this something driven primarily by the politicians? >> excellent question. i'm not so sure, jason, the voters give it the degree of priority that maybe they do, more the bread and butter daily issues that they're facing but from the perspective of the country, and more importantly the democratic party, look, there are two priorities that the biden administration and the congressional majority has to get done. the first priority is crystal clear. it's to save american lives and the american economy from the threat of the pandemic, and the good news is, everything seems to be very much on course there, particularly with the announcement recently that we're going to have full vaccination by the end of may, two months ahead of schedule.

the second most important priority, however, is saving american democracy from the clutches of the republican party because the biggest political story in my judgment of the last two centuries has been the fact that today's republican party has in essence, jason, abandoned american democracy, the central tenet of what the constitution is about. so, unless the democrats actually get this across the finish line, they are not only jeopardizing their ability to govern, they're jeopardizing the very essence of what this country is all about. >> errin, we're going to do a legislative unboxing video here, right? we're just going to open this whole thing up. what's actually in this for the people bill? the republicans are saying it's got all this sort of extra nonsense in it. the democrats are saying it addresses these issues of importance. what's actually in the bill? why is it important? >> well, i want to back up for just a second, if i can, jason, because i'm no fernand, i'm not a pollster but i talk to so many voters in the 2020 cycle for

whom one, racism was on the ballot, and two, you know, for whom voter suppression was absolutely a driving issue to the ballot box last year. look, i mean, they voted to overcome voter suppression even in the midst of a pandemic, and you know, what we're seeing, the backlash in these republican state legislatures, is in direct response to that expanded electorate participating in ways that in many states were reserved only for republican and white voters, historically speaking. but you know, you used to have federal redress and in fact the supreme court in shelby vs. holder kicked it to congress to address and update the voting rights act and so that is what hr1, according to democrats, purports to do. you know, expanding access to the ballot, making it easier for voters to register, you know, wanting to -- you know, talking about same-day registration in

some cases. i mean, there are many things that are talking about the types of things that would expand the electorate as opposed to the types of things that are on the march right now in state legislatures like restricting early voting, limiting precincts, certainly less funding,ow, for elections at the state level, you know, the hr1 is really aimed at combatting a lot of those things and really with time being of the essence because state legislatures are seeking to pass bills that would do that, even as we speak. >> so, fernand, it appears as though you have spoken into the mind of senator dick durbin. he basically said the same thing. he said, look, as far as legislation goes, this is the most important thing, one of the most important things that the democrats could be doing right now but as we all know, with a nominal degree of understanding of civics, this is going to require 60 votes in the senate. and as of right now, that's not possible with the filibuster.

i want to jump past these questions of, okay, how does the government work, et cetera, et cetera. what should this administration be doing right now to push joe manchin and sinema to a lesser degree so they will actually allow this kind of legislation to pass? because i don't think the technicalities matter as much as there's not enough pressure being put on these guys to actually get this legislation through. >> look, i could be crazy here and i don't mean to spoil the party for -- or let the secret out for sinema and manchin but if it comes down to a vote, they're going to be there. but you can't take the politics out of politics, certainly in the case of joe manchin who's trying to do whatever he can to state as the only statewide elected democrat in west virginia which we know is a hard state. sinema is doing similar political gamesmanship in arizona. but fundamentally, you hit it on the head, jason. what does this come down to? it comes down to the elimination of the filibuster which really is a racist tool to prevent

civil rights legislation from having gone forward over the centuries. so, i think the predicate here is to establish that republican obstructionism, to the idea of making democracy stronger increasing access to the democracy is the roadblock, and if they can make that case on this and maybe a host of other issues, i really believe, in my bones, and i think the biden white house does as well, that those two votes that are on the periphery in manchin and sinema will be there and that will allow vice president harris to do her thing, which the voters of georgia made happen, which is to cast that tie-breaking vote. >> fernand, you are way more optimistic about these two than i am. errin is staying with us, she's not going anywhere. when we return, the house of representatives passing the george floyd justice in policing act, 30 years to the day after the rodney king beating underscores just how far we still have to go on the issue of racial justice in this country. we'll be joined by the reverend

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hundreds of angry demonstrators were waiting for embattled lapd chief darryl gates as he appeared at the los angeles police commission's investigation of the rodney king beating. black leaders continue to demand gates' resignation. he continues to resist.

>> chief gates's entire tenure as the city's top law enforcement official has been marked by insensitivity at best and straight-out hostility at worst. >> the king case was even discussed in congress. >> what happened to rodney king is a blot on los angeles and on this nation. we must see that it never happens again. >> the brutal beating of rodney king, all caught on camera thanks to an amateur photographer, made the conversation around police brutality mainstream, led to a generation of leaders and activists who hoped that finally white americans would wake up to the crisis of police brutality. i know when i saw it at the time, many black people were thinking, oh, they can't ignore this one. but here we are 30 years later. it's worth thinking about rodney king right now because on the 30th anniversary of the night that the los angeles police department nearly beat king to death, the house passed the george floyd justice in policing act. a series of criminal justice

reforms named after a man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. the incident, filmed by another bystander, was so shocking it led to massive nationwide protests. that bill now meets the cold hard reality of the senate where thanks to the filibuster, it will need ten republican votes to pass. joining us now, i cannot think of a better person to talk to than the reverend al sharpton, host of msnbc's "politics nation" and president of the national action network and errin haines is also back with us. rev, you were in the thick of things, right? i was barely in training wheels. i was watching you on television 30 years ago fighting for these issues. here we are 30 years later. the george floyd policing act has passed the house. i just want to hand you the microphone. have we made that much progress, or do you think we're real -- we're basically just spinning our wheels? >> i think, jason, that when i

think about we had the marches and i was involved in, i was into my 30s for rodney king and ultimately was friends with rodney until he died. i spoke at his funeral, and then i led marches last year on george floyd and preached at both of his funerals. but then i think about the scottsboro case happened decades before we got the '64 civil rights act. movements don't happen overnight to make change and if they didn't give up in the '40s and the '50s and then get legislation until the '60s and then tried to reverse them, then i think that maybe we had to fight decades and finally cracked in policing. but let us not pop the champagne yet, because we got a house vote last night. now it goes to the senate. and what the senate is going to do with this bill, whether they

are going to try and water it down, dilute it, we've been -- the leaders of national civil rights groups have been talking to senator schumer and senator cory booker and others, and we are facing the same thing in a generation ahead of me, a couple generations ahead of errin, and errin was on training wheels when you were already driving your mercedes, but when we go forward, we're going to face what they did in '64, '65. they're going to try to dilute -- the bill they passed in '64 was not all they wanted but it was all they could get. we've got to make sure that they don't water this bill down. that's the challenge we face as we work with congresswoman and others in the congressional black caucus. but the good news is, we never had a bill on policing to this degree pass the house. and the fact that we've gotten this far is because we have 50

members of the congressional black caucus and because every democratic candidate did say during the primaries that they would do this and it appears that joe biden and vice president kamala harris are keeping their word. the question is now the senate and putting pressure on the senators. >> so, errin, it always seems to go back to this. we hit the senate and then it's literally a brick wall. what strategically -- look, obviously, you're going to have republicans who have issues with it but there are some republicans in congress who care a little bit about policing reform. where do you think democrats have to go to try and wiggle out a couple other votes or to get some decent compromises so that a variation of this bill could actually get passed? >> well, listen, i mean, tim scott was certainly somebody who spoke about policing disparities in black communities last summer. we still are in the midst of this national reckoning, which is now headed to what is the

policy solution for that. and now that this has landed on the senate's doorstep, i think that is the question. that's certainly what a lot of democrats voted for, this democratic majority, to try to do, but to your point, yes, republicans will have to be persuaded. jason, you and i were in ferguson, and i wonder if you remember, republicans then being kind of outraged about the civil liberties component of this, right? i mean, we're talking about banning choke holds and banning no knock warrants and qualified immunity that would mean that police officers would be subject to the same rules that, you know, apply to the rest of us when americans are harmed or killed, so you know, i think this is obviously been a very politically and racially polarized issue but i think that having a conversation with republicans who were among the americans who were outraged by

what they saw happen to george floyd, how that translates into policy in the senate is going to be what makes a difference and tells us how many republicans ultimately in the senate may vote for this. i think, you know, we saw on the house vote last night, there was a republican who voted for it by accident, so i don't know how republicans will vote for it on purpose in the senate by the time this thing is said and done. >> hey, look, even if we stumble backwards into justice, it's still justice. you know, rev, one of the things i've noticed, it's interesting, the change in language and the discussion of these issues. 30 years ago, it was the rodney king trial, even though he wasn't the one on trial. we had to fight in public discourse to have it called the zimmerman trial instead of the trayvon martin trial. now we're in the derek chauvin trial. this is the man who put his knee and killed george floyd. as we begin jury selection next week, what needs to be the strategy for activists who are

concerned about police violence? we're all going to be riveted to this case but what are some things that people on the ground are going to be doing to make sure the public attention stays on this and this trial doesn't somehow disappear into all the other tragedies and difficulties we're facing in the country right now? >> well, we have developed strategy, many of the civil rights groups, many of us that were involved with the family of making sure that we are visible but nonviolent. because we do not want to have the perception that george floyd was in any way acting in a way that they had to hold him down and put his knee on the neck. so, you cannot go out there and do violence and get in the way of bringing the facts to the jury that this was not about a policeman defending himself. this was about a policeman that for eight minutes and 46 seconds kept their knee on the neck. so you have to be strategic, but you have to keep this front and center, and you've got to deal with the moral outrage of what

would make a man -- when i did the eulogy, i used this example, jason. and i asked everybody to stand up wherever they were, people were watching everywhere globally, for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. i can't tell you how many emails i got of people telling me they couldn't stand three minutes without getting tired. it takes a whole lot of intent and hate to press down eight minutes. don't get in the way of the jury feeling what that is. this is not no momentary anger that i lost it. you have to have a lot of venom and intent to press on somebody who's pleading for their life for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. when they choked eric garner in new york, 11 times, he said, i can't breathe. we were able to turn that into a eric garner law, statewide, we got it passed. now we need to have the nation deal with 8 minutes and 46

seconds to change federal law on the things that errin just outlined. it would change policing and it would not be the hurt police. it would be to protect citizens and good police at the same time. >> errin haines. >> can i just say something here? i have to say something here because reverend sharpton's presence here alone just tells us the arc of this thing. i mean, how many funerals, reverend sharpton, how many eulogies he has done, how many protests he has presided over, how many times he has pushed for justice in these communities, in the dozens, in the hundreds, you know, i would venture. and so you know, the time for action on this issue, i mean, reverend sharpton just embodies this so much, just listening to him recount all of the times that he has had to make the case for this and certainly i think the court of public opinion is changing but whether the, you know, an actual courtroom is going to change, we have yet to know. >> yeah. the time for action is now.

thank you so much, errin haines, thank you for spending time with us today. reverend al is sticking around. thank you both so much. i could talk to you guys for an hour about this. when we return, the biden administration's latest weapon in the race to vaccinate as many americans as possible. that's next. americans as possible. that's next. among my patients i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. does it worry me? absolutely. sensodyne sensitivity and gum gives us a dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. there's no question it's something that i would recommend.

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who don't have good access, pharmacies, they're going to have a lot of vaccines that people can get to, and getting vaccinators, people who will be able to put the vaccine into people's arms. those are all challenges. i believe they're going to work very well, because the president is very serious about making this a very, very high priority. >> dr. fauci today on the biden administration's ramped up efforts to put vaccine doses into people's arms and making sure everyone has fair access with still major discrepancies in who is receiving the vaccine. comes as the u.s. is now averaging about 2 million vaccinations per day for the first time compared to about 1.3 million just a month ago. to help solve equity challenges, fema has set up 440 mass vaccination sites across the country to increase access for minorities and underserved communities. those most at risk of catching and then dying from covid. when it opened yesterday in downtown philadelphia demonstrates the size and scope

of the administration's efforts, expecting to vaccinate up to 6,000 people per day. joining us now is heidi przybyla at that fema vaccination site at the philadelphia convention center and the reverend al sharpton is back with us. heidi, i'll start with you. great outfit. you're fully masked up and ready. what's it like there? i mean, obviously, there are crowds of people, they're all coming in. you know, do you see a diverse group of people? do you see mostly white people? what's the crowd and what are the demographics look like there and what appears to be a very chilly philadelphia? >> well, first of all, i'm having a little trouble hearing you, jason, but i think i know what you're asking, which is, is this working? are we seeing diverse people come in here, and the answer is yes. now, these types of sites were chosen specifically for that purpose. there are only a few of them, actually, that are this humongous, talking about 6,000 people a day. the cdc as well as census data, they're using to try and

determine where to put these sites, to try and find socially vulnerable people, jason, and we actually had an exclusive interview with the acting fema director about this and about how they are choosing sites exactly like this. take a listen. >> we feel continuing increase and going ahead and reaching the most socially vushl populations, the ones most at risk and seeing our percentages go up. there's different ways that we've been able to do it in different areas and we're kind of learning as this is a pilot right now on how to build those relationships. what we first did is set them up for a day and moved them and now we found if we leave them there a little longer, we build trust, build confidence, more people are willing to come in and get vaccinated. >> reporter: so, jason, that is an example of how they're choosing these sites and it's also about location, location, not just about data, right? it's about putting these sites in places where people who may be underserved can get there,

people who are underserved oftentimes don't have wheels, right? so you put this in a place where you've got a lot of access to mass transit, buses, the subway lines, and that's how they're doing this. i've talked to a lot of the individuals here today. they're finding out about it through their churches. they're finding out about findi their community leaders. they have the city council in here getting a tour. but, you know, there is also a lot of younger people here. there is questions remain about how these appointments are actually getting made. but for right now, a lot of diversity in this crowd. >> speaking of diversity, reverend al, there is a new poll out by civics. there has been this narrative for the last eight to ten months who it's african americans who have the greatest vaccine hesitancy. but the polling seems to show it's white republican men who are most resistant to taking the vaccine. rev, when you're out in the community, when you're speaking to different parts of the

national action network, do you think the issue with particularly the african american community getting access to the vaccine, do you think it's more about ax says to the vaccine or is it actual hesitancy? i'm tending to think that people can't get to it more than they're afraid to take it. >> it is unquestionable accessibility. there are some that are hesitant, but there are much more overwhelmingly more that did not have the access. when we started national action network partner and would choose healthy life and others, we were faced with people saying no, we will take it, but how do we get it? and thankfully, the administration both nationally and in new york with the governor cuomo and mayor de blasio started where even now we have pop-up places starting in black churches. and all of them are running out of space, harlem hospital and others. when i went, there was lines to get my first shot.

so i think the question was accessibility. it is no accident white males hesitant because donald trump has told them than in many way, even though he got his shot and his wife did as well. >> yes. it's very interesting that trump was very much promoting ridiculous conspiracy theories, but he and his wife quickly got the vaccine as soon as they could. heidi przybyla live in philadelphia and reverend al sharpton, thank you for joining me today. >> thank you. >> when we return, we will remember lives well lived. alright, i brought in ensure max protein... ...to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't (grunting noise) i'll take that. yeeeeeah! 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar drink, play, and win big in the powered by protein challenge!

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thank you for spending this hour of "deadline white house" with us. "the beat" with ari melber starts right now. hi, ari. >> well, jason, i didn't know you were going to say that, but how high? >> so high i can reach the sky. >> there it is. let's all reach the sky together and be happy together. i mean that in the sense of flying, moving on forward to good things. jason, nice to see you in the chair. >> 100. >> thank you, sir. ♪ i want to welcome everyone to "the beat." i'm ari melber. it's always good to see our colleagues in different chairs around the building, we are also tracking a lot of stories for you tonight. senate progress and the big covid bill. that's happening now. a new republican scandal on vaccine line jumping. the one and only james carville joining us next on the program.