hi there, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york, one year to the date from the declaration of covid-19 as a global pandemic. president biden will address the nation in his first primetime address as president, in an effort to make americans feel good again, fueled by up at the stimulus, as well as economic relief. today president biden signed into law his $1.9 relief bill. and a $300 boost in jobless benefits if they need them. the swift passage of his lark mark package will give him a head of steam heading into tonight's address.

the country remains divided in terms of its willingness to stay the course on mask wearing and social distancing for the final month before the vaccine has been distributed. president biden is expected to preview what a return to normal will look like here. he'll also address the grief of a nation consumed for one whole year. the anniversary marks the day for many americans, the grim reality, from "the washington post," quote -- for most people march 11th was when the crisis first became real. it was the day of a high-profile diagnosis, and official decidingation of pandemic. schools closed, streets emptied and commuters stayed home. we didn't know it then, but the virus had already infected thousands. over the next 12 months, leaders bungled opportunities to quell its spread. case levels rose, fell, rose again. hope endured and more than

525,000 people lost their lives. dr. anthony fauci, who has become a household name, first for his beleaguered attempts, acknowledged today that covid has been much worse than he predicted a year ago. >> i made the statement things will get much worse before they get better. that was at a congressional hearing, a year ago today. it was march 11th, 2020, that i said that, but i did not in my mind think that much worse was going to be 525,000 deaths. >> and driving home the fact that behind one of those 500,000-plus deaths is a grieving family that in most cases didn't get to sit with their loved ones as they lost their fight against covid, is this simple story of senator elizabeth warren, she spoke

about the loss of her brother, donald reed herring last night. >> i called one morning and he wasn't there. and it turned out in the night he had been taken to the hospital, and i never got to talk to him again, and neither did his wife or his two boys, or my brothers. we got what we could through the nurses, and god bless them, but they were stretched to the edges. and so we would get like a tell gram that will just come in, and they would say he's better, the next day he's worse, he's not going to make it through the night, the next day he's better. and then he took a turn for the worst and they called us and told us he was gone. nobody was with him. not -- not any of us.

i don't know how he died. i don't know -- i don't know if he was cold or if he was thirsty. all i know is i cooperate be there to tell him how much i loved him, and neither could the rest of our family. that's hard. >> the universality of that is -- the good news about the vaccine does nothing to alleviate that, but it does suggest an end is in sight. so far more than 32 million have been fully vaccinated. nearly 10% of the entire populations. the numbers of new cases have fallen. schools are reopening. life is slowly beginning to creep to a new normal.

we start today with some of our favorite reporters. -- olivia is now the director of the republican accountability project. i want to start with you, ya -- yamiche. for all of president biden's skills, strengths, weaknesses, whatever you want to call it, this moment is the culmination of the campaign he launched at the very beginning of the democratic primaries. >> president biden speaking to this moment, where so many americans, one in three knows someone who has died, for half a million americans who have died,

we're a nation in mourning. it's the culmination of his life that has been enveloped in grief, in tragedy. he is someone who embraces the idea of really confronting and talking about grieving. when he stands at the podium and says i know what it means to miss someone at the dinner table, i know what it means to want to think about all of the things your loved one could have accomplished, but in fact can't because their lives are taken too early, he really means it. i think what we see here are not only a president who has made the coronavirus a top priority, but in some ways he's just talking to people who are hurting. what we saw in his predecessor is not only someone who downplayed the virus, but also didn't speak to americans in an emotional way. we just didn't see those types

of speeches. so what we now see is a president who not only will come to the podium with a really emotional intelligence, but he also will say i kept a campaign promise and signed this into law today, $1.9 trillion of covid relief, and the white house is now saying this weekend those stimulus checks could be hitting the bank accounts. this is also a moment where the nation is grappling with this continuing exposing of discrimination and inequality in this country. we are coming to this moment knowing that black and brown people, native americans, latinos continue to suffer disproportionately. this is also an administration that's going to have to fix the problem of discrimination. tonight the president will talk about the way forward and reopening in normalcy, but we have to underscore that nothing can be normal if the most vulnerable can't go back to

normalcy at the same time we do. >> so, doctor, let's say where yamiche so skillfully brought this discussion. the fact that the response was so uneven and so divisive, had a medical impact, endangered more people. let me show you dr. fauci speaking about that point about the divisions in this country on our response. let's watch. >> one of the things sit keep harkening back to that you can't run away from is we had such divisiveness in our country, it wasn't a pure public health approach. it was really, you know, very much influenced by the divisiveness that we had in this country. where we were saying mixed messages were coming from washington, that's for sure. >> that's putting it kindly. the mixed message put people's lives on the lines and disproportionately people from communities of color. you see in the aggressive nature

of thes taking down of the mask mandates in states like texas, that the culture war part of this isn't over. >> that's right, nicolle. i'm so glad dr. fauci said that, you know, specifically because all of us feel in the area of pandemics temperature to be technocrats, but the things we didn't account for is that political division. it is that political interference. you know, today when president biden talks about one year, it may feel like it's a speech at the end of a war, we have come to the other side, as oppose to do a war there's a treaty, it's over, we're still in the middle of this battle. i don't think we can declare victory. there's so many of us that are still not vaccinated, and yamiche's points about the toll

of this pandemic weren't among the most vulnerable, or why wasn't our healthcare system prepared? and mostly look at how political divided we are? that problem still exists. >> you know, olivia, i don't want to put it this way into the void rush the former presidents, because i think the point of the divisions is that the former presidents are not necessarily credibility message es to address the people who still remain skeptical, but they did try. i want to show you what that effort looks like. >> this vaccine means hope. it will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease. ♪ >> i want to go back to work and i want to be able to move around. >> to visit with michelle's mom, to hug her and seer on opening

day. >> i'm looking forward to opening day at texas rangers stadium. >> we urge you to get vaccinated. >> so roll up your sleeve. do your part. >> this is our shot. >> now it's up to you. this message seems to be aimed at two things, both encouraging people to get the vaccine, but also to understand what is turning up in studies, the way to cut transmission, the way to protect or communities is to get the vaccine. where do you put the credibility of a message from former presidents of both political parties in terms of its ability to impact the pockets of resist usages. olivia? >> i these -- i'm grateful to them. this is exhibiting real leadership at a time that it's really needed, and a leadership that's bipartisan in that ad, coming together, trying to

communicate a message period of time looking forward and working together to get past this. that's something that's been missing, unfortunately, under four years of the previous administration, and honestly with a lot of the republican leadership that was the majority at the time that should have at least been pushing back on this messaging, and culling together, uniting together the rest of the country, regardless of what was going on in the oval office. i don't forget about the fact that there was definitely some -- that happened there along the way. so watches this ad means a lot to me, but i worry. i know that it will reach some people, but i think that the divisiveness continues on. we're watching it happening aacross the board. we're watching governors lift mandates too soon for my comfort after all that we've been

through. as long as those leaders continue at the state and local level, speaking in a way that creates division, we have a long road ahead still for all of us. doctor, i want to come back to you on that. s so much of the messages that i thought was powerful, when dr. fauci -- dr. osterholm, you have done this, this is a choice, but if you wear a mask, we can head it off. it's amazing what is so possible -- the real world is israel. pfizer and biontech said wednesday real-world data from israel suggests the covid-19 vaccine is 94% means the vaccine could significantly reduce transmission, and 97% in preventing symptomatic disease. i think people are starting to understand that we're going to

live with covid for a while, but the idea that a vaccinated population has 94% to 97% protection from covid is remarkable. how do you shift the messaging to get vaccinated, protect yourself, protect the vulnerable people in your house, backup protect your community, your state, your country? >> those are numbers, anytime you see efficacy numbers in real life that match what we're seeing in trials with moderna and pfizer, about 95% efficacy, it's always great to see that play out. i would love to see a bit more data on the asymptomatic size, but this is heartening that shows you the power of these vaccines. if we come together, you're doing it not just to protect yourself, but partly also to protect your community and why speed matters. we have to balance that with why we continue to do everything we can.

anybody that dies between now and when we achieve the m virus. there's going to be twists and turns that none of us can predict. so hanging in there a bit longer until we have a better sense of what will happen with these variants is the other message we want to get out there. get your vaccine, that's how we return to normalcy. >> one of the white house focus is these bridges to normal sit. on the economy it's a shorter runway, if you will. checks will start hitting the bank accounts almost immediately, and the market's reaction has been almost immediately "the washington post" -- trump predicted a stock market crash, but wall street was expecting a stimulus, and boom.

the economy seems to be responding to all of the investments in stimulus and growth. >> that's right. president biden did say he felt like the thing that would be worrisome is doing too little, not too much. he was underscoring the idea that flushing the economy and help americans where they need it most, if that would help us get through the economic issue. that being said, though, there are of course some troubling things that happened in this economy, including the number of women who dropped out of the economy. that's something we'll have to look at and study and see how to get those women back into the workforce that is in a way that is fair and not too much burden on them. ref to look at the wage gap and what people are getting paid. the idea that the $15 minimum wage could be part of the bill that the president just signed into office, and the argument that there are democrats that don't back that idea. it will be a tough thing for the

democratic base to think about. i think there are some real issues, some real bright signs when it comes to the economy, but of course we're still not anywhere out of the water. there's a number of people who are saying we're not out of this issue that we're dealing with, because there's so many people who have still been upended by this, when it comes to businesses that have been shuttered. >> olivia, i always think of you when i see this new administration that moves this direction that is clear since you left the trump administration, you would have liked to have seen them push for. what is it like to watch a different administration put into place the kinds of policies that people who were advocating for the science would have liked to have seen a year ago, and what difference would it have made? >> it's relief, nicolle. it's incredibly amazing to know that the tools were there, but they were just -- it was a

failure to use them and empower the people who were trying to actually move forward to stop this pandemic. but it's incredibly -- i love the fact that dr. fauci seems -- i would say one of the main motivators for speaking out was watching the doctors every day on the task force and what they went through, and the fact they couldn't speak. so i felt that not only did i have to speak out for americans and their lives and really try to make a difference in what was happy, really to speak for them, knowing what they had been facing for so long. it's great. i think it's wonderful to have someone who is listening to science, and who is taking proactive measures to do everything that we can together as a country to get past this, and get back to a new normal. i just want to thank you for the lives well lived feature last night that my family watched. it just means a lot. i think it's hard to watch it

when i see the clips, but i think it's needed. there certainly needs to be someone who honors they lives. it's been a really rough year, so i think things like that, memorials really matter right now. it also, you know, i'm glad that we have hope. >> we do. we do. thank you so much for saying that. it was a privilege to get to sit with people in their moments, their dark moments. it was a privilege that people, including senator warren, that's why we played it again. olivia troy, doctor, thank you. yamiche is sticking around. seattle, washington was the first coronavirus hot spot. we'll talk about the mayor of that city reflecting on the past year and what could have been for the rest of the country if they had followed seattle's lead. and a rare rebuke from the pentagon, to a tv host who had

the audacity to mock the promotion of women. plus there's probably on one reason why michael cohen has met with prosecutors seven times. we said seven. we're watching the legal walls closing in on his old boss. all those stories and more when "deadline: white house" continues. don't go anywhere. eadline: whit continues. don't go anywhere. ♪♪ ♪♪

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about one year ago, seattle and its suburbs were realtime evidence of what this virus could do. remember the nursing home in

kirkland, where 80 staff members became infected in the first week, and in one month 101 residents tested positive, and more that are threne dozen lost their lives. firefighters helped out. 31 ended up in quarantine. today, of the top 20 metro areas in the country, seattle region has the lowers covid death rate, according to today's "new york times" piece by mike baker who writing -- seattle's success illustrates the value of unified and timely strategies. those the reason's experts and politicians graspled behind the scene, they came together to brent a united front to the public, and the public largely complied. we could not afford to have mixed messages. joining mayor durkin. i remember being on set for some of the final primary contests, and we were covering what was happening in seattle.

can you -- i know it's hours and hours over days and days, and now many months, but what did you know that the rest of your counterparts didn't know? or what were you able to do that maybe they couldn't? >> you know, i think we were fortunate in so many ways. the first is we decided without any national leadership, we had to come together with the public health people and base our decisions on what the science was telling us, what this disease was going to do to us. we could strgle behind door, but we needed a clear message. we also were unfortunate, because we were first hit. as you know at that time -- it's hard to remember, but there literally was no testing, and this outbreak came almost out of nowhere. we had a false sense it wasn't in our region yet. but we were also fortunate we have really good scientific research respect, public health institutes, and they came

together. the work they did was modeled quickly, and at the very early, even though we had only a few cases in our area, we knew that that meant there was community spread and there was probably over 1,000 cases and it was going to double every week. so that literally by mid april we would have over 70,000 case and 1500 people die. it was so sobering that we knew the consequences of acting were going to be hard, and they have been so hard. so many people lost their jobs and their businesses. so many people have gotten sick, lost loved ones, but i do think our early unified action saved lives. >> what is your strategy for this phase, which seems a policy level and public persuasion level perhaps the most complex? people are bursting at the seams to get back out there, the variants represent real threats, if they were to take hold and spread.

you know have the vaccine on the horizon. how do you calibrate your messaging for this phase? >> i think you're absolutely right. it's balance, because people are so tired. they want to get back to coming together, they want to get back to life as normal. there are many people who don't trust the vaccine or the science. we always message to people, well, we have hope on the horizon and we're doing tremendous things on vaccination. we still have to be careful. we can't go backwards. second, as we roll out this vaccination, we have to make sure we are centered on equity and those vaccinations get to the people who are most vulnerable and the people who have been hit the harder. our communities of color has been disproportionately hit by the health and the economic gaps. and through our work we've been able to have 70% of the

vaccinations we're distributing we've gotten to the bipoc communities. then we have to reopen and how do we come back together and do it in phases so we don't go backwards again. all of that relies on people trusting we'll do the right thing. we have seen if we ask people to do the right thing most will, not just because they care for themselves and their families, but their community as well. >> we did a poll at pdx that showed 30% of americans didn't want the vaccine. 25% were african-americans, but 45% was republican men. you're surrounded by area where republican men in particular might be hesitant. what should you be doing to deal with that when it comes to the political divides? >> so far we haven't seen that

same political divide here. people have been very anxious across all demographics to get it, except for you're community in color, where they have reasons for distrust, or they're furthest away from health care. i went to a vaccinate clinic this morning that we can with the cooperation of a couple of our black churches and black senior centers. it was primary african-american older people. it was so joyous to see people coming together, they're getting the hope, and they'll be the best messengers to their community. right now we have a supply problem, but pretty soon we'll have a demand problem. in order to reach the right number, we have to get people to trust in the system. i think you're right. we have to do it across demographics, and we're fortunate some people have not viewed this through a political lens, but we're going to have to

look for that and stay unified so we can reopen. >> madam mayor, the stimulus is passing along very political lines, signing onto a package that i think has 76% of support from the public. what will you do with your stimulus dollars? >> first, it still just boggles my mind that that became a political issue. we've been in the fight for our lives in america. we have to unify around this fight. we won't recover unless we're together. i don't understand how people can draw a political issue about getting small businesses and residents back on the streets, opening schools and reducing child poverty, so we're going to use our money to build some of those gaps and build where we can come back. it's going to be hard for cities to come back and recover. big employers have changed how they do business, which makes it harder for our small businesses

to keep and be thriving. we'll be using it for the most vulnerable, we'll use it for vaccinations, for people experiencing homelessness. we'll tap into the rent relief that the federal government has and look for the things that will get us coming back, but coming back stronger better and more equitably. >> mayor jenny durkan, thank you, and yamiche, thank you. we're always grateful to have that much of your time. when we come back, what prompted the pentagon spokesman to answer a question about tucker carlson? that story is next. carlson that story is next little rock and even worcester. and tonight... i'll be eating the chicken quesadilla from...tony's tex mex...in... katy. (doorbell) (giggle) do ya think they bought it? oh yeah. use a single hr software? nope. we use 11. eleven.

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and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. so we have new hairstyles and maternity flight suits. pregnant women will fight our wars. it's a mockery of the u.s. military. while china's military becomes more masculine as it's assembled the world's largest navy, our military needs to become more feminine, whatever feminine means anymore, since men and women no longer exist. the bottom line is it's out of control. this is a mockery of the u.s. military and its core mission, which is winning wars. >> they don't think so. we don't usually play anything he says on this broadcast, but those words from the fox news host tucker carlson about moves made be the defense department to create a more inclusive

military have proffered a sharp response from pentagon tore officials. women lead our most lethal units with character. they will dominate any future battlefield we're called to fight on. ducker carlson's words are divisive and don't reflect our values. there is this some jaunts kirby, quote, the defense secretary certainly shares the revulsion of many others to what tucker carlson set. we won't take personnel advice from a talk shot host or the china ears military. amy mcgrath, the first woman to fly a combat mission for the marine corps. ben rhodes is here, former deputy national security adviser for president obama. they were moves that originated in the pentagon, no? well, we already look i've

had three kids while on active duty. those who have served, actively serving right now, we are not a mockery. we have served we sacrifice so that tucker karl could spout off these falsehoods. when a network allows this, it den grates. and i think fox news should apologize. >> i'm trying to figure out what he's up to. the new leadership has pledged to deal with -- there is a lot of fox viewing all across this country. >> what do you make of a cable

news host turning the fighting forces into a cultural battleground? you. >> i think this is what they do. it's sensationalism, making things up, trying to create a new story where there is none. the fact of the matter is women serve honorably and have served throughout our entire american history. it's good to see senior members of the military speaking out against this. i'd like to see more political leaders step up and speak out against this, because it does hurt or forces. you know, we go to great lengths to try to keep people that we have invested in. you know, pilots, we spend millions training them, and those of us who are pilots, you know, we want to have families, too. women and men. so we've got to look at what are the kinds of things that we can do here in 2021 to make sure that the people that we have

invested in, who have protected us and protected our country are cared for and are able to have families of their own. this is really important. i mean, it's important to point out to our viewers, i'm guessing are not regular viewers of mr. carlson, what triggered it was the promotion of two women to four-start generals. this was an announcement made on international women's day. can you talk about the influence that the last administration may have had on holding women back who had earned promotions? >> well, when i read the story that women were held back for promotion because they were women and didn't want the senior -- the senior leadership didn't want to inflame the president, it really made me sick, because again these are women who have served this country just like anybody else, and they are competent, they are smart, they are deserving, and

they should be in leadership roles, should not be held up for anything, certainly not for a commander in chief that they might hurt his feelings if they promoted a woman. to me we now have an administration that believes in the strong military, and to make sure that we have a personnel in our military that are respected, and you know, i'm very confident our current administration will look at everything and make sure we have the best people going forward. that's what america deserves. >> ben, there is a serious side to what is a cartoonish debacle, even for fox news, from mr. carlson, and that is the flagrant sort of throwing fire inside the military, and inside our fighting forces. as amy is saying, making a mockery of those who would fight and die for our country.

what is the -- what is driving them so nuts? >> nicolle, i think there's two issues here. first of all, this is not new. we've had hundreds of thousands of women serve since 9/11 heroically. fox news and tucker carlson likes to wrap themselves in an american flag when it suits their purposes, and then run them down. in the obama years, i would be uncomfortable going out to enlisted soldiers, there were a lot of women in the room and then there were not enough women with four stars on their shoulders, but i think the danger is, don't bring the culture war into our military. we need cohesion in our military. our military fights together as one team, serves together as one team and to be provoking this at a time, by the way. that the military as acknowledged it wants to take steps to make sure the extremism

we have seen in our society, particularly on the far right doesn't creep into the ranks. to have tucker carlson stirring this kind of pot, that's both an insult to the tens of thousands of women serving, some in harm's way and also an effort to sow division inside the military itself. i cannot think of anything more unpatriotic than the type of garbage that tucker carlson is spewing on his program. >> it's hard to get a statement from a brand-new secretary of defense that includes the word "revulsion" but that is the right word for it. as a community indicator, i was struck by how quickly and aggressively they smacked down comments. by the fact that we are talking about it, it has the effect of dry drawing more attention. that did not bother the pentagon. why do you think it was so important for them? >> i think it was a good

decision. i work closely with john coreyly and lloyd austin in the obama administration. they know it brings more attention. it tells me they want to send a message down to the ranks. there's people in the military, like anywhere in the country, that watch tucker carlson. they're sending a message, and they need to circle ranks. so to move out that swiftly and forcibly and to making make a point of calling it out, i think tells you how seriously think take the danger of tucker carlson. they are fighting real wars. they can't have to deal with the consult terr warriors that people try to smack in american society. i think it was entirely appropriate for lloyd austin and john kirby to do that. >> amy, for people who don't possibly feel like they don't have a voice, what does a crisis

like this feel like inside? >> those of us that served, we know better. for women who have -- particularly women who have been military aviators on active duty, those of us who have had children, our kids have probably had nor flight time in military aircraft than tucker carlson. so, i mean, i think those of us who are women, we have served, we know what the deal is, and i think it's really important that ben brought this out, too, that our senior military leadership stand up, as they have done, and point out that this is wrong, this is a falsehood, it denigrates or women and hurts or military readiness when a news network allow this is to happen. i think those of us who are military women, we know better, but for the american people,

they ought to know this is absolutely wrong. >> it strikes me the right was all in on a war against the rule of law when it served their political leader and did a lot of harm, and a lot of officials were concerned that even in the beginning with trump's transition he likened the intelligence agencies to nazis, and then four years eroded faith, damaged the reputation of the mueller probe, somehow led to trump always playing houdini and never being held accountable. i won't wonder what you make about the pentagon and the military seeming to be the new sort of cultural target for the right? >> it's very concerning. i think the military prides itself on being apolitical. the fact we had the last president wrap himself around the military, call it his own, saying that the generals and the

troops love him, and all of these things, really does put the military in a tough position, because you never -- when you're wearing the uniform, you don't want to go against the commander in chief, but you know these things are wrong. i think that it's really difficult. i'm glad to see that we have a new administration in the biden administration that understands the professionalism of the military and understands that it needs to remain out of the politics. this job is to serve and defend our country. the best way to do that is to not get into politics that way. >> in some ways, ben, the train has left the station. the right plays egregious politics with the military and with the pentagon, and i'm sure this is an issue that they will not drop, because the pentagon leadership rebuked them today. where do you think this goes from here? >> well, i think it's something we have to watch going forward.

here's the bottom line. the military, part of what is so great about it as a institution, is that it represents the full diversity of this country. you walk into any group of military serving, you can't help but be struck by the fact it's people from all over the country, men and women, and i'm sure there's republicans and democrats in there. the military comes together and they get a job done. anything that seeks to turn people against one another, you know, is a threat to the mission of what our military is trying to carry out. it's hard enough to have foreign adversaries. to have the american right wing trying to do that is something the military will have to stand up forcefully. >> amy, you changed the course of my morning when you tweeted this, i've been two children while serving, and graduated from the naval war college. i can assure you my presence

does not make me a mockery of the military. if you are looking for a mockery, look in the mirror. thank you for your service and thank you for again for speaking out. ben is sticking around. up next, a new recording to find those votes that didn't exist in georgia. and michael cohen's regular visit to prosecutors in new york. what does that mean? that's next. what does that mean? that's next.

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"the wall street journal" has an audio recording of another phone call where donald trump is urging georgia state officials to find fraud in the november elections, this time between trump and the chief investigator for georgia's secretary of state. listen. >> i won georgia. i know that, by a lot, and the people know it, and you know, something happened there and something there happened. if you can get to fulton you're going to find things that are unbelievable, the dishonesty. when the right answer comes out, you can -- we have the date the 6th which is a very important date. >> ominous. it comes as the fulton county district attorney is conducting a criminal investigation into the former president's efforts to overturn the election. at the same time yesterday we learned that his former attorney and fixer michael cohen has met with the manhattan d.a.'s office for the seventh time as part of another investigation.

ben is still here. nick, the evidence coming out is sort of a similar pattern as these investigations heat up. what does it tell you about the call and the visits from michael cohen into investigators and prosecutors? >> you know, first of all, seven have saids is a lot. that's like a seventh date and usually by the seventh date things are heating up a little bit. so that just tells me just on the merits there that there's a real conversation going there, that he is providing some useful information, but looking for patterns, nicole, i would look at also what's happening in georgia, and i saw that story and heard that clip of the president talking and i thought to myself, this is like "back to the future 3." it's the worst of these movies and i've seen it twice before. the plot is getting extremely obvious and what we have again for a third time is the president using the powers of his office to try to cajole

someone into abusing their office to throw in an election. first is 2016 and the second was the ukraine affair and so i think we're just seeing sort of patterns all over the place here. >> you know, what's haunting for me is to hear him invoke january 6th, he knew what was going down on january 6th, nick. >> look, i think we have a lot of evidence at this point that there was a real awareness of january 6th as a fulcrum. look, again, he was out there in the open speaking to supporters on that day. there were people beinga fill yated with his campaign or helped organize the original protests and rallies that led to what happened there so, yeah, he was fixed on it and obviously he was trying to get this official in georgia to throw him a bone and make things change before it became too late to change. >> and throwing a bone is not what they did. these tapes have come out.

ben rhodes, this is a statement from raffensperger's office. this phone call is just one more example of how secretary raffensperger's office was said one-on-one. we would follow the law and count every legal vote and investigate any allegations of fraud and that's exactly what we did and how we arrived at the vote tally. that sounds like someone making clear that their boss did not run afoul of the laws. >> that's right, nicole. you can't help but think that if a member of congress is trying to overturn an election or a mayor or city council member. it would be an open and shut case. you've got tapes and you've got everything on the record in the same way that in newark and i don't know what the 7th visit and michael cohen is about. we know that michael cohen himself was prosecuted for something he did with donald trump and ultimately the question here is, is donald trump going to be somehow above the law because he once served

as president because it looks like if it turns in this country, it's hard to argue that donald trump isn't guilty of multiple crimes here. >> the ultimate test for the justice system is how do you approach the former president and everyone should be equal under the law and it's to present january 6th that there should be accountability to what took place and it seems like we'll talk a lot about donald trump's legal problems for a long time here. >> it's important to point out that ben is talking about a federal level of scrutiny to make sure no one's under the law. these two investigations are both at state and local levels. so they will proceed. nick, ben rhodes, thank you both so much for spending time with us today. the next hour of deadline white house is up next. don't go away. we're just getting started. don't go away. we're just getting started

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this is a really serious problem that we have to take seriously. i mean, people always say, well, the flu. the flu does this, the flu does that. the flu has a mortality of 0.1%. >> sure. >> this has a mortality of ten times that. >> we have therefore made the assessment that covid-19 can be characterized as a pandemic. >> the vast majority of americans, the risk is very, very low. >> hi, again, everyone. it's 5:00 in new york. exactly one year ago today health officials were sounding the alarm on the coronavirus while the former was downplaying

the threat. covid-19 was officially declared a pandemic, the lives of every american has been turned upside downs. millions have lost their jobs and millions have had to adapt to working and learning from home and millions have been affected by the virus and 530,000 lives have been cut short. as we reflect on everything that's been lost and everything that's changed, the somber realization, it didn't have to be this bad. "the new york times" out today with a look at the seattle area at the start of the crisis had the most covid deaths in the country was able to fend off a brutal death toll. >> one year later the seattle area has the lowest death rate of the 20 largest metropolitan regions in the country. if the rest of the u.s. kept pace with seattle the nation could have avoided more than 300,000 coronavirus deaths. during a year in which the white house downplayed the virus and other leaders clashed over how to contain it, seattle's success illustrates the value of unified and timely strategies.

although the region's public health experts and politicians grappled behind the scenes about how to best manage the virus, they came together to a united front with the public. we cannot afford to have mixed messages, but mixed messages were what the country was getting from washington, said dr. fauci earlier today when asked about what went wrong. as health officials like fauci tried to express the harsh reality of the threat we were facing, this is what we were hearing from the last president in late february, quote, one day it's like a miracle, it will disappear. by mid-march, it's totally unnecessary for everybody to get tested because the coronavirus will pass through. in april, was there the suggestion heard around the world that maybe we should just inject ourselves with disinfectant, and in october the former president claimed the virus was a political hoax, that it would magically go away on november 4th the day after the election. here we are now a year into the

crisis at this critical inflexion point when there's light at the end of the tunnel and yet many of the lessons we've learned are going unheeded mostly by republican officials. health experts stress now is not the time to let our guard down. in recent states, all, but one of them republican have announced plans to lift statewide mask mandates and re-open businesses and some local leaders in one of those states are not quite ready. democratic leaders in austin, texas, are refusing to lift restrictions which prompted a nasty reaction from texas' attorney general ken paxton who tweeted, quote. leaders may not be thinking clearly and maybe it's oxygen from quintuple masking. >> he filed a lawsuit in order to get them to comply with the state order. >> a year into the coronavirus, with some lessons learned and some still yet to be learn side where we start this hour with some of our favorite reporters

and friends. also joining us, my friend matthew dowd, political strategist and founder of country over party and dr. peter hotes, co-director of the center for vaccine development and author of the book "preventing the next pandemic" is here. so much to dive into. you're the three perfect people to do it. i have to start with crazy texas and you, matthew dowd. i really am able to grasp fully the impairence and the desire to help small businesses. my dad was a small business owner. i get that. i do not get the venom from the texas a.g. toward the mask mandate. >> no. you meant crazy texas and not crazy matthew. >> tbd, matthew, tbd. >> that could easily happen. >> what i'm amazed in watching all of this and your lead-in to this is perfect, nicole, is because as we know we're in the

federal system and the whole design of the federal system would be that states are the laboratories of democracy, right? and so what we've seen is two kinds of laboratories and the jonas salk laboratory and other states that have dealt with this well and the dr. frankenstein laboratories with igors and have created monsters across country and have made it worse. so i'm a firm believer that we need to experiment and we need to do certain thing, but not in the manner that the goal is not the health of the country's population and the attorney general here who is under investigation anyway, with all of his own wrong doings and he's one of the attorneys general that led with trying to overturn the elections. so many people don't take him seriously, and the problem is this is a serious problem, and for me, yes, we're all frustrated. yes, we're all tired and yes, any of us with children who have gone through zoom classes.

yes, if you know, teachers, but if we give up now and let go what we have to do now we'll lose all of the gains and i'll give you one example. our church here. the church i attend here which i have not had in-person services at our church since march. i got a note today we'll have our first in-person church and the first in-person church service in a week and a half and the reason is 70% of the people in the church have gotten the vaccine. 70%. this is a small church in a small town in texas and the reason why it has been that effective is not because of the governor and not because of elected officials, but because they've taken it on their own to send weekly notes to parishioners to people who are part of the church reminding them of what to do, telling them if we can get through this. telling them the benefits of the vaccine and encouraging people along the way. that is the power of clear, convincing arguments to people regardless of your political

stripes. our church is both republicans, democrats and independents and they've gotten clear information from people they trust, the church and now we see they'll open the church up to service because three-quarters of the people in the church have been vaccine aided. >> you know, dr. hotez, this seems to be the specificity and granularity that we should be having conversations with because you hear blanket mask wearing photographic and the far right shuts down and you hear open it back up and i think everybody else is terrified. let me show you what dr. fauci had to say about states that are rushing to open up without this specificity and granularity. >> i don't want to be critical of it in the sense of saying they're doing something bad, but i think they better be careful that it is risky. >> you remember when we tried to open up the country, open up the economy way back then. we gave the different guidelines. we had the gateway in the phase

one and the phase two. some states just turned the switch on and opened everything up and we had a big surge. we've got to be careful. at minimum, people need to continue to wear masks, at a minimum. >> we are still, dr. hotez, paying the price for the demonization of the little cloth thing that we have to put on especially when we go indoors. what is the prospect of not listening to dr. fauci there? >> well, you know, i think you really hit it, nicole. the reason why so many americans lost their lives this year was in the last year in 2020 was not only because of the virus, but because of an anti-science disinformation campaign and we saw this rollout starting in march and then into april where they attributed covid deaths to other causes. they discredited masks and i remember kailey mcmainy were to

catch up electric surgeries and it was a disinformation campaign where people tied their political, ladies and gentlemenance to be in defiance of masks and social distancing and it was a combination of death by virus and anti-science and fortunately, they don't have the disinformation campaign right now, but we do have issues such as in the state of texas where now we just saw information coming out of helix which is one of the genomics groups that the cdc has contracted out with that 50% of the virus isolates are now the b-117 variant which is much more transmissible and now we know it's more lethal, and you know, in texas we lost a week because of the power grid collapse. we have that issue, as well, and so we haven't caught up with vaccinations so we still only have some modest percentage of the people of texas vaccinated.

what do you think is going to happen? we needed to buy the extra time to catch up in our vaccinations that would have been game changing if we'd had the opportunity to delay the relaxation of the masks another month. so right now we've got the perfect storm in texas of the b-117 variant which is more lethal and more transmissible. we are still behind and we are ranked near the bottom of the vaccinations and we have people defiant of maskses and not wearing masks. i mean, what makes anyone think this is going to go well? >> the disinformation is the key that unlocks the refusal to abide by the few things we can do while we're waiting for eligibility and the vaccination lines, and what is so devastating, i think, about the disinformation is that even donald trump is on tape acknowledging it is just that. a lie. here he is on tape with bob woodward saying that he was

lying on purpose. >> you just breathe the air and that's how it's passed, and so that's a very tricky one. that's a very delicate one. it's also more deadly than your, you know, your even your strenuous flus. now it's turning out it's not just old people, bob. just today and yesterday some startling facts came out and it's not just old -- >> yeah. exactly. >> it's young people. >> sure, i want you to be. >> i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it down. >> yes, sir. >> because i don't want to create a panic. >> margay, i hesitated playing that for you and you've been so honest and brave in sharing your fight against covid with all of us and it's important for people to understand all across the political divide that donald trump knew on february 7th of 2020 that it's turning out it's

not just old people, bob, it's young people. to be honest with you, bob. i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it down. it was always a game and the truth about covid was never available to us from him because he, quote always wanted to play it down, still likes playing it down. >> yeah. you know, i think as a survivor, that's very difficult to hear especially someone who lives in new york city that got hit within the united states, it got hit hardest first. if i knew what donald trump knew i would probably not have gotten sick and not have lost so many of the 30,000 of my neighbors here in new york who have died from this virus. i think that is in some ways tragically the grain -- the initial seed of distrust that was sewn, but you know, you have tragedy upon tragedy here

because it's not as though we throw our hands up because we don't know what to do and what works. we can look to other countries around the world including across the african continent to understand and find out what has worked. we have a situation, as well where we did not pay people, the federal government decided not to pay people to stay home, not to pay businesses to continue to operate and so we are now in a situation, unfortunately, where some small businesses feel that they have no choice, but to open regardless of how they feel about safety and that's tragic and governors are having to make very difficult decisions and on top of that, public health officials are continuing to be ostracized and ignored. so the decisions being made are political decisions which is exactly what got us into this mess to begin with, and i think that's really a tragedy that

requires some accountability, and it's not just at the federal level. it's at every level of government. the other thing that is important to note, when you look back a year ago to the mixed messages that americans were getting including sometimes from public health officials, unfortunately, it's really important for everyone involved whether you are a governor, a mayor, a president or dr. fauci or someone like him to say not just what you know, but what you don't know because you have to trust the american public to do what's right for them based on the information that you can give them. it's not really acceptable at this point to say you don't want to create panic or you don't want to tell somebody something they can't handle and treat americans like adults and they will respond accordingly most of the time. give them a chance. >> matthew, i want to talk about hope and people responding. countries that are further along

and vaccinating the public like israel have positive data as a itself sign that's coming our way. the pfizer covid vaccine blocked 74% of asymptomatic infections of covid and obviously, we're vaccinating our country at a different time with more variants on our shores. regardless, what we know about the vaccines are promising and president biden will address the nation tonight. he signed his covid relief package into law today. there is a need to balance everything we know with the look at the future that has plenty of reason for optimism. >> and i'm a person that has always been very hopeful and very optimistic about it. >> i think that what i have been most frustrated with is from the one side of the aisle who constantly talks about the

service and sacrifices of our men and women overseas and soldiers and celebrates victories of years past, and what people have sacrificed and are unwilling to even ask the american public. the small sacrifice of six foot of distance and wearing a mask. i mean, it's just so unbelievably disconcerting that we think that that sacrifice, not like we're not in world war ii. we're not asking people that they can't have gasoline or can't have rubber for their tires or they can't have food in their refrigerator and the sacrifices we're making for world war ii or the other time that we're making sacrifices and joe biden, i think, has been hopeful and optimistic, but he also and this is one thing you and i have talked about, and the idea of a servant leader and servant leaders call for shared sacrifice when we need time for shared sacrifice, what this is

reflective of about the infrastructure in texas related to the storm, but the infrastructure in place in our democracy is fragile. it's completely fragile and when it breaks, it break during covid because we didn't have leaders in place that would use the mechanisms to get the job done. it broke here in texas and it will break over and over and over again until we decide that the community is as equally as important as the individual in the country. as you look at the rise and fall of freedoms around the world. right now the democracy of the united states is raided by the freedom house group that's a non-partisan group is 58th in the world in democracy, in the level of democracy. not only do we not have the infrastructure in place that is broken and frail and we're not asking people for a shared sense of sacrifice. we're not even as free as other countries that we constantly compare ourselves to. i think joe biden is doing what

he can. he will talk about it, i'm sure about this tonight, but it does tell me, why it doesn't matter fully about what system you're in. it matters so much about who the leaders are within the system. >> just to pick up on matthew's point here, dr. hotez, it seems to me that there will come a time when everybody that wants the vaccine and it's currently calling around to pharmacies at 6:00 at night to see if they have anything left over and trying to make sure that the parents are able to navigate websites and to get everyone around them vaccinated and that time will end and there's so much supply in the pipeline and the next level will have to be what matthew just described. vaccinating ourselves so that we may become symptomatic or asymptomatic spreaders of the disease that took a toll on communities of color. what does that message look like in your view, dr. hotez? >> nicole, we did an interesting

analysis and it came out the same as what the kaiser family foundation found and the groups that says they're least likely to take a vaccine are people from the conservative right, the far right including mostly trump voters which is one of the categories so the two independent studies showing that and this comes all out of this information campaign from the white house together with the health freedom or medical freedom movement that began to accelerate in 2015. this is when we saw childhood vaccination rates decline in many parts of texas and elsewhere and then in 2020 that same defiance around vaccinating their children spread to masks and social distancing and it's defiance against covid-19 vaccines. this health freedom and medical freedom movement has become tightly aligned with political

extremism on the far right and somehow we have to figure out a way to disengage it, to somehow say to elected leaders and political leaders on the far right that this is -- these are not the droids you're looking for. we cannot -- you cannot make anti-science central to your platform. it was never this way before. the republican party has always been pretty strong on science. nasa was created in the eisenhower administration and you know this better than anyone. pepfar was created in the george bush administration and it's gotten out of kilter and we have to bring it back. >> i wonder what impact that would have cede to get donald trump and melania trump on camera. we'll never know. >> matthew is sticking around. when we come back. one of merrick garland's will be

fighting back on assault on democracy across this country. a staggering rollback of voting rights that could make it more difficult for tens of millions of americans, many from communities of color to vote. that's next. one year after the start of the pandemic, joe biden makes his prime time address to the nation marking the anniversary of the commencement of the pandemic with equal parts empathy and hope and why the allegation against andrew cuomo may be the most serious yet after deadline: white house returns after a quick break. don't go anywhere. r a quick break. don't go anywhere. ♪ ♪ (quiet piano music) ♪ ♪ comfort in the extreme.

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i, merrick garland. >> i, merrick garland. >> do solemnly swear. >> to support and defend the constitution of the united states. >> the constitution of the united states. >> against all enemies, foreign and domestic. >> against all enemies, foreign and domestic and i will bear true faith. >> i will bear true faith. >> that i take this obligation freely. >> without any mental reservation. >> without mental reservation. >> or purpose of evasion. >> and they will well and faithfully. >> and that i will well and faithfully discharge the duties. >> discharge the duties upon which i am about to enter. >> about which i am about to enter. >> so help me god. >> so help me god. >> congratulations. >> congratulations. that was merrick garland just moments ago being sworn in as the country's attorney

general by vice president kamala harris among the many challenges facing garland and the doj, a republican-led attack on civil rights. legislators in 43 states across the country have introduced bills making it harder to vote. the new analysis by "the washington post" lays bare the staggering skwal of the suppression, and to enact hundreds of new election restrictions could strain every available method of voting for terns of millions of americans potentially amounting to the most sweeping contraction of ballot access since the end of reconstruction, when southern states curtailed the voting rights of formerly enslaved black men. jen palmieri former white house communications director under president obama and from the hillary clinton campaign matthew dowd is here. >> it strikes me that all of us who were part of covering the

trump era fell down on the job of fighting back aggressively enough against the lies and we did our best. it's not about me. but the fact that these laws are being pushed based on the lie suggest that the lie was on the table long enough to be grabbed by other republicans in the states and to do serious harm. this is my big fear. january 6th was want the end of anything and the beginning of a new era where republicans feel item powered and emboldened by that day. so you undermine democracy to the point that the minority will no longer have a majority rule and this is -- it wasn't that long ago, nicole, that -- i have a barking dog. >> that's okay. we have a barking dog, too. honey barks. >> it wasn't that long ago the three of us know where republicans and democrats would work together to make it easier for people to vote and about a decade plus ago a decision was made on the republican side by a

lot of people that if they allowed -- if they continued to make it easy to vote democrats would win and this effort has been going on in the courts. you see that reflected in the supreme court. you see that reflected in the rulings that brett kavanaugh's involved in and the notes that he writes that the states need toledo this and not the federal government and they'll dif deference to states and the laws and you saw it when you had a vast majority of republicans vote to overturn the presidential election. we just got lucky. we were very fortunate that those efforts did not succeed to overturn the presidential election and the fight back has to be at all three levels. it has to be with the courts. these state laws, they are going to pass. this is happening in real time and so democrats will have the ballot propositions and do better turnout in 2022 to work around these things and get to the point where you are passing federal legislation to restore

these rights, but it is -- this is what keeps me awake at night is this issue. i feel like we got lucky in 2020 and they could still win. they could still truly undermine and the fundamental tenets of the republic. >> if you step back, matthew, only they know they can win if they disenfranchise voters and it's a confession and admission and just looking at my own twitter feed, there's such a soft underbelly around this. they know it's wrong, it would appear, and maybe none will say that out loud again and they know it's racist and i don't know how you carry out a 50-state effort to push back. a couple of people have said they need to clone stacy abrams, but it shouldn't be a government issue. you talk about servant leaders and this should be anyone wo notes the trust of the constituent should want the opportunity to vote.

>> well, yeah. it's not even hidden. they're being completely transparent. i give them credit for transparency because they're basically saying out loud we don't want anybody to vote. they're basically saying we don't have a strategy that includes winning in a scenario where everybody is voting at this time. i hate to bring up our -- the dark parts of our history, but this is not a surprising development. over of the course of the history of the united states every time that we've become more diverse and more people have pushed to vote there has been a segment of our society that's pushed back and tried to prevent those people from voting. they didn't want the demography of the country to change. the reason why we have voter registration laws that exist today is because they were passed during the time immigrants came to our country in the 19th century. voter registration laws were

passed to put in place to try to restrict immigrants from voting in the 1870s and 1880s and 1890s. so this is not surprising. it's crazy that they at least back then and over the course of time they've come up with a literacy text or a poll tax and they've invested in the system and now we can't have ebb vote because that's a problem. if everybody voted we wouldn't hold power anymore. >> the only -- and jennifer's right. these are going pass. even in a place where stacy abrams is, it will pass in georgia and what she's done and she's done great work, it will pass in georgia and the only response to it is the people, we, in this country have to push more and more people to vote, to overcome the obstacles, unfortunately, in democracy in the 21st century and we have to talk people into overcoming obstacles and not making it

easier, but that's the only way. if turnout has increased no matter of the impediments put in place then they can't get away with this and that's the only response. we had record turnout in 2020. 158 million people voted. 80 million people did not vote who were eligible to vote. 80 million people did not vote who were eligible to vote. to fight to preserve the democracy the best we can, but in the end we'll have to call our fellow citizens to go to the polls to overcome the obstacles to make sure our democracy is preserved because leaders at so many levels don't care. >> it is so amazing. you both said they're going to pass. they're called election security laws and none other than bill barr has said there weren't any election security problems and there was no systematic voter fraud. so they're solving problems in places where i think you're both right, they'll pass the problems that didn't exist.

>> crazy. matthew dowd, thank you for spending some time with us. jen is sticking around. when we return, the start of the pandemic one year ago today. also marked a realization by democrats that the country needed an experienced leader in the time of crisis and that brings us as president biden makes his prime time speech to the nation addressing the pain in the past year as well as hope for the future. that's next. for the future that's next. we need to reduce plastic waste in the environment. that's why at america's beverage companies, our bottles are made to be re-made. not all plastic is the same. we're carefully designing our bottles to be one hundred percent recyclable, including the caps. they're collected and separated from other plastics, so they can be turned back into material that we use to make new bottles. that completes the circle, and reduces plastic waste. please help us get every bottle back.

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>> tonight, president biden will

make his first prime time address to the nation marking the country's many sacrifices over the last year of lockdowns and hardships. next week he and vice president harris will kick off a victory lap across the country to talk to americans about the real world impact of the $1.9 trillion relief bill he made official this afternoon when he signed it. president biden leading with hope and action and change. it was one year ago as the pandemic overtook the democratic primary and the democrats rallied behind him and the most experienced candidate in the field as they look for a time of crisis. "lucky, biden's cathartic run." despite his struggles he had demonstrated a few key characteristics that were well in the matchup against trump. he was calm and would persevere and he would not go down without a fight. as a trump slayer not on his first day in the race and not after more than a year of

campaigning. joining us now is jonathan allen, nbc news, digital political reporter co-author of the new book "lucky. how joe biden barely won the presidency" and jennifer palmieri. first of all, it is very hard to birth a book weil covering a presidential campaign. congratulations on that. take me through the arc of the biden story that you report. >> thank you, nicole. i'm glad you asked that question. joe biden starts with a third of the democratic party in his quarter and he has real struggles in the primary. he catches lucky breaks along the way and we all remember that his fourth-place finish in iowa it was obscured that the app and that saved him political o witch raers that day. you see elizabeth warren come out and take out mike bloomberg and he believed in himself and at one point he even tells joe biden, just hang in there, jill. just hang in until south

carolina and there was a point come which his campaign said you might need to refinance your home to keep it going because the money had run so low. you've seen some breaks go his way and he put together this plan and it ended up being a strong contrast with trump. so we think biden was lucky in a lot of ways and he's someone who talks about luck in his life and the democratic party was lucky to find his way with the nominee who was able to beat trump by such a narrow margin in terms of how many votes he would have flipped the electoral college for trump and the country and this speaks to what jen was saying, the country was lucky that this republic had held so far with narrow margins and's president so bent on destroying it. >> i want to ask both of you about this, people outside politics don't understand that sometimes the person who wins is

the person with the highest threshold for pain and suffering and exhaustion and indignities and that is sort of the untold story of presidential politics, right? and i always thought during those first three primaries where joe biden didn't just lose. he lost these humiliating defeats and it was pete buttigieg and bernie sanders photo finish in iowa and was in the top tier in new hampshire. i've worked for presidents who won and i've worked for candidates who lost, but what would have steeled him is even if this ended in political calamity it wouldn't come close to the worst day of joe biden's life and i wonder, john, if you could talk about just his personal fortitude, his -- his strength and his perspective which is so easy to lose on a presidential campaign. >> and you make such a great point, nicole. i'm great to be on with both of you as high-level campaign operatives. you're absolutely right. here's a guy who has suffered

the loss of a child and his wife at the age of 29, who lost his son beau who he saw as his protege and the heir of the biden dynasty to brain cancer and nothing in politics will be nearly as bad as those things. biden who has won twice before and thought about running several other times understands more than i think, anybody else the vagaries of presidential politics and how you can be the right person at the right moment one year and be the wrong person at the wrong moment another year. >> think we lost his audio. we'll get it fixed. are you there, jonathan? >> i am. can you hear me, nicole? >> i'm sorry. go ahead. yeah. >> i was just saying that as you pointed out biden knows this much better than anybody else that the politics are so small compared to life with the loss of family members and he's somebody who has over the course of his career run for president three times, almost run several

other times and understands better than anybody else how the vagaries of politics really can put you in the place to be the right person at the right moment or have the same person be the wrong person at the wrong moment. >> we've been on both sides of that equation that jonathan laid out so perfectly for us. this idea that as he was running after south carolina which he won and swept states that he hadn't made a single campaign stop in and states where he had zero ads of because i know there wasn't any time to buy ads with the saturday night and south carolina win and super tuesday. the country's changed as well and you can't predict in the strategy session in the candidate's home on the weekend. the country is at an hour than having someone who is fluent in his own grief is particularly beneficial. >> they thought -- he believed and his team believed from the start that he was what the democrats were going to want and

he was what america's going to want and they never strayed from that and in the end they ended up being right, but i think that they were also at peace with knowing and particularly biden himself, it may not work out. i remember calling and i will own up to this, the communication strategist in new hampshire. i heard they were getting ready to borrow money and i love joe biden so much. i'd hate to see him go into debt after he came in fourth and fifth. you cannot come back from that, and kate was, like, we believe this. we are going to -- sure, you can win south carolina and then what? you don't have any money and sanders has a lot of money and bloomberg was picking up steam? like, what is your plan? as it turns out they were right. sure, two-thirds of the democrats in the beginning were for other candidates, but it was easy to coalesce this party

around joe biden. they were right that he was what people wanted from the start. >> let's just say that every white house, no matter how high they are and right now joe biden has really almost historic high poll numbers and i think he has 60% approval rating and upwards of 70% of americans approve of his response to the pandemic and that can change on a dime and when the white house has the momentum and that should be recognized as well as the white house as of today does. the book is called "lucky" jonathan allen wrote it and jen palmery, thank you for being with us and talking about the day's headlines. thank you both. when we return, the newest allegation against andrew cuomo has been referred to police. the reporter who broke that story joins us next. ins us next.

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"the new york times" reports they had been notified by the governor's office about the alleged incident involving a female aid that may have risen to, quote, the level of a crime. the alleged incident first reported last night by the albany times union detailed allegations from an unidentified female aid who says she was groped by the governor. that's according to a person with direct knowledge of the women's claims. the sometimes reports thattal ghani police department has not opened a criminal investigation into the matter and has reached out to the alleged victim's lawyer and the acting counsel to the governor tells nbc news that as a matter of state policy the state is required to notify the police when allegation of physical contact is made and the accuser does not want to make a police report. in a statement the governor denied the accusations saying, quote, i have never done anything like this. joining our conversation is jesse mckinley, albany bureau chief of "the new york times." his byline is on that report.

you have been on this story sense the beginning. this feels like a very serious new level of the investigation into him with potential ramifications of his political fate. >> yes. certainly the allegations that were outlined on tuesday and again on wednesday in more detail are very serious involving groping inside of the executive mansion which is right up the hill here in albany and obviously the level of concern from the state police as well as from the governor's office and contacts with the albany police. it's a serious situation here. >> i want to read some of the reporting from your story and the aid who was younger from mr. cuomo, and the second floor assistant with a technical issue and mr. cuomo reached under her blouse and began touching her. the times union said a female

supervisor in the office became aware of the aide's allegation on march 3rd and mr. cuomo following multiple allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior gave a televised apology in which he denied touching anyone inappropriately. the newspaper reported that the supervisor noticed noticed the become emotional during the governor's address, and that the aide subsequently told the supervisor about her encounter with the governor. the aide had not filed a formal complaint with the governor's office, the newspaper reported, but the allegation was forwarded this week to the state attorney general. so this is someone who came forward after watching his attempts at addressing these allegations? >> this seems to have happened on march 3rd, which is the governor's first public appearance after we wrote about the story. charlotte bennett, who was the 25-year-old aide who alleges the governor asked her a series of provocative question, whether she was involved in a relationship, whether she had

sex with an older man, whether she thought age mattered in relationships, didn't make a statement until march 3rd. on that occasion, according to the times union, made these remarks that he had never touched anyone inappropriately, and that led this young woman as yet unidentified to step forward and say she had had this experience with the governor. so it's kind of cascading from an original allegations into new allegations to where we sit at this hour. thank you for spending some time with us on this important story. we're grateful. when we return, as we do every day we will remember lives well lived. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (quiet piano music) ♪ ♪

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thank you so much for letting us into your homes during these extraordinary times. we're grateful. "the beat" with ari melber starts right now. hi, ari. >> hi, nicolle. i'm wondering what you think is

the challenge for the president tonight. you've been covering this a lot, obviously. but there is progress and then there is so much everyone has been living through. >> you know what? it's so interesting how they've chosen to use his voice. and so far it's really been around two things, icu. you know, he has had two memorial services now for those who have lost loved one tosco individual, and i think now they're going to start to use it in this way here's how i'm trying to help you. today he signed the covid relief bill into law. i think they have one other administration, and that is they have redefined partnership in some ways. they garnered 76% support for this package this the country, but zero, zilch support in washington. so i think his focus is going to be outside of washington to the country where he is more popular than among republicans in d.c. >> such important points. you know, i'm thinking about that in particular. h