for kids like us, and all the amazing things we're gonna learn. over the next 10 years, comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million low-income americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything. i hope you're ready. 'cause we are. very good day to all of you. i'm alex witt. we begin with heightened security at this hour around the courthouse in minneapolis where, in a matter of hours, opening statement also begin in the trial of former police officer derek chauvin. the hearing will be broadcast live. the trial is already making headlines here and around the world, but also new today, a debate in the city over the

future policing. and calls to defund the police. here is what the city council's vice president told ali velshi earlier. >> we transferred $1 million to violence prevention to develop a mental health response, crime prevention so we're not always sending officers with guns out to situations that don't necessarily require that. >> let's go to nbc's shaquille brewster outside that courthouse. shaq, what do you know? >> reporter: in terms of the pledge and promise to dismantle and defund the minneapolis police department, the status of that depends on who you ask.

>> it started with a promise and a park. >> to end policing as we know it. >> city council two weeks after the police killing of gorge floyd. >> majority of city council members on stage supporting that idea. >> headline grabbing commitment. >> defund the police sxwlr still unfulfilled today. >> what's happened since that day? >> we've allocated it toward other programming. >> reporter: there has been progress. the police chief announced reforms including a ban on neck restraints. after much political pressure, mayor jacob frye agreed to nearly $8 million in police budget cuts, shifting the money to violence prevention and mental health initiatives. this month, the council

resubmitted a proposal, replacing the police department with a more holistic department of safety. incremental steps short of the promised radical reform. >> minneapolis city council even said they're going to defund the police and then they backed out. >> they didn't. >> they backed out. >> the truth is that i'm not satisfied. we could make deeper investments. >> reporter: for some, even the conversation of defunding the police is dangerous. >> you think this movement causes harm? >> this movement -- not think. look at the facts. it has caused harm. >> reporter: across minneapolis, homicide last year soared to multi-year highs. a pattern mirrored in other large cities. this spike was met with a thinner police force. the department down nearly 200 officers since last year. the result of retirements, resignations and more than 100 officers taking extended leave. >> to defund the police right

now is absolutely, positively insane. and, to me, it was a gimmick when there were other things they could have implemented. >> reporter: a battle that continues. >> i want to ask them to reclaim their imagination and dream of a public safety system that can keep folks safe and also not murder people. >> reporter: a community divided over reforming the existing system or drastically re-creating it. and the city has been really drawing the line between what it's doing with this police department and the security around this trial. the mayor and police chief are warning residents they'll start to see a more visible presence as this trial continues and progresses and as it heads toward a verdict. >> shaq, thank you so much for that. great setup as i'm joined by benjamin crump, civil rights lawyer and lead attorney for the

floyd attorney. i know you're so busy. thanks for taking the time for us. give me your assessment, first off, for the calls to defund and the changes made thus far to policing in minneapolis that you heard about in that report. >> alex, it's good to be with you. as always, people have different reactions. we have a tragedy like this. we have always advocated that we need to have comprehensive police reform. a more equitable and responsible. without the police mute lating her body with six bullets where jacob blake jr. and mclane in

pasadena, california, were running away from the police. because of their skin color they're seen as a threat and both of them are shot in the back and certainly where george floyd can be given the consideration and humanity by a trained veteran policeman not to put his knee on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. i know we can reimagine a way where we can have a department of safety that, as the young lady said, keeps individual citizens safe and not have to murder black people just because they see our skin color as a crime. >> it is impossible to overstate

the critical and potentially historical outcome of this trial. are you worried one way or another? >> alex, you can never take for granted that a police officer will be convicted for killing a black person in america and justifiably, based on the history, but i am confident that attorney general keith ellison, first african-american attorney general in the state of new jersey has been a champion in civil rights will zealously prosecute this case to make sure george floyd family get with every citizen deserves, and that is the benefit of the 10th amendment constitutional protections that said if a crime is committed then those who committed it will be held criminally liable.

we are the civil lawyers. we made sure they got their civil justice with the historic $27 million settlement because i am very focused on single handedly going all across america to increase the value of black lives since for decades throughout the history of america, black lives have never mattered. and as thoroughgood marshall said, alex, they never meant the constitution to apply to us african-americans but we're going to make the constitution ours anyway. >> and i can say to all those efforts just one foot in front of the next and keep on going, my friend. what do you think people should be watching realistically? what should they expect? are we going to see that video

again? i know it's a lot thrown at you. >> george floyd family, only one member each day will be in the actual courtroom. the rest will be in the overflow court. we prepared them they're going to see that video over and over again. we're going to hear them assassinate the character of george floyd. they're going to call him everything but a child of god. and we're going to hear he had trace amount of drugs in his system and they're going to try to say, that killed him. it is clear, alex witt, that the reason that george floyd is killed is for an overdose of excessive force.

all the autopsies confirm the manner and cause of death of george floyd on may 25th, 2020, was asphyxiation by homicide. this is not a hard case. anyone who says it is is disingenuous. i've been a civil lawyer. i've been black all my life. if that were a white citizen down there with a police officer kneeling on his neck for 8:46, tortured to death, nobody would be saying this is a hard case. as philonis floyd said, if the evidence that we saw on that video does not give justice to his brother, when can a black person in america ever get justice? >> can i ask you about your thoughts about the racial makeup of the panel, peng minute? >> certainly.

i believe attorney general did an amicable job trying to make sure that the jury was diverse. i think the judge tried to do everything in his power to make sure that the jury was diverse. so the fact that we have people of color is something that we certainly hope and pray will make everybody on that jury respect their life experiences, and the culture and background of george floyd. because often times people give the benefit of consideration to the white police officer and then will accept all the stereotypes with the black, dead person and hopefully in 2021 this will be a referendum on how far america has come and their endeavor to have equality and justice for all citizens. >> so the civil case, $27

million in that settlement, benjamin, the timing of that, how much of that should be seen as a message to the public that at least some semblance, not all by a long shot, but some semblance of justice has been delivered? >> yes, ma'am. alex, we have always looked back so we don't repeat in the future mistakes. before black people, not from the 7th amendment relief, nor from the 10th amendment. it's been in the last two to three decades that there have been any compensation for black people when they were unjustly killed by police. i like to think that we have a great generation of civil rights lawyers have been instrumental in that. however, black people should

deserve for justice just as any other citizen in america. why can't marginalized people of color expect the same thing in america? so my hope is with this historic $27 million settlement and the policy reforms, i talked to attorney figueroa a lot and how the reform is important to the community whereas the monetary relief may be important mostly to the family, it's about reforms to make sure we don't continue to see these hash tags that happen over and over again, quicker than you and i can keep up with, alex witt. >> yeah. so i'll tell you, you have the policy reforms, the money. ultimately, benjamin, can justice be served without a

guilty verdict? where do you come down on that? >> i do not think george floyd will get full justice unless there's a guilty verdict. make no mistake about that. we expect there to be what we see seen on that video. if it was a white citizen, everybody would be screaming bloody murder. everyone should be doing the same thing regardless if it's a person of color. america, the world is watching. we have to show we are the great beacon of hope in quality and justice that all the world marvels at. that or we will be feeling the precedence that america is just words but we're not action.

that we're not walking the walk. the highest ideals that all men were created equally. certain alienable rights, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. and i believe, america, this is our moment. this will be the historical moment for the world. >> okay, benjamin crump. i appreciate you for this interview. for about a million other reasons. thank you so much for joining me. i look forward to talking with you again, especially on the other side of this. thank you. be sure to watch a special edition of politics nation live from minneapolis at 5:00 today. right after that 6:00 p.m. eastern, ari melber breaks down the prosecution and defense. all day tomorrow, live coverage of the opening statements, also including the analysis from our team of legal experts. let's take a look now at today's other big headlines. new polling shows president

biden receiving high marks for his handling of the pandemic and economic recovery. now as the president is pivoting to a massive infrastructure package this week, new warning signs ahead for the administration's other agenda items, mainly around gun reform and immigration. 57% of americans disapprove of his approach on both issues. it comes as two key senators say congress could potentially pass gun reform in the wake of two recent mass shootings. >> republicans in the senate no longer want to fight this fight any longer. i think we have a chance. >> the place where we ought to be able to get that done is requiring background checks on commercial sales. that's where i know senator manchin is. and there are republican senators who are interested. >> meantime, new reaction this morning on the filibuster, saying the fate of the rule depends whether bipartisanship is even possible on capitol

hill. >> is the filibuster racist? is it wrong? >> as the president said just last week, chris, it's been abused. he's not eager to move with destroying the filibuster. he's eager to get things done with the american people. but he's also not going to stand by and prevent forward-moving progress from happening. should the u.s. punish china for the coronavirus? that is the question posed to the secretary of state this morning. i'll be speaking with jerry connelly, trying to get his information on that. first, monica albaa is joining me from the white house. what do we know about this proposal that biden is expected to unveil in the coming weeks? >> reporter: the covid relief bill was $1.9 trillion. this is shaping up to to be more like $3 trillion. it will be quite hefty. that's why it will be a big sell, but one this white house is banking on getting some more

bipartisan support for. it the covid relief bill had bipartisanship from mayors and locals but not in the senate. phase two will be what the white house is calling human infrastructure, child care, health care and perhaps making some of the things in that american rescue plan permanent. we all know they expire at the end of this year. so, something else that the white house is considering is how to roll this out and phase this out. the president will be traveling to pittsburgh, pennsylvania. for that reason. >> when the president advocated for the american rescue plan, he talked about this being two stages, rescue, then recovery. the american people will hear from him this week is part of

his plan, the first step of this plan for recovery, which will include an investment in infrastructure. and he's going to have more to say later in april about the second part of his recovery plan, which will include a number of pieces you talked about. health care, child care, addressing that. it's a crisis right now. the number of women who have left the workforce, he wants to help to address that. >> reporter: you heard jen psaki there refer to more coming in april. that's when we expect the president to speak in a joint address to congress. normally a president would do that just weeks after taking office. that was not the way the white house wanted to prioritize their schedule and calendar, dealing with the coronavirus pandemic as the top priority and now focusing on some of these other things. that's where you'll get more details. bottom line, how are we going to pay for this? it's really, the white house says, going to be up to making adjustments to taxes, taxing corporations and the wealthiest, which we already know many republicans oppose, alex.

>> we do know that. thank you very much, monica al baa. trump put him in office after he donated to the former president and is still on the job. his new plan means slower mail and higher costs. what congress can do about the man running the postal service, next. ut the man running the postal service, next got it? got it. it's slippery. nooooo... noooo... nooooo... yeeeesss... quick, the quicker picker upper! bounty picks up messes quicker and each sheet is 2x more absorbent, so you can use less. hey look, i got it. bounty, the quicker picker upper. we look up to our heroes.

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first up, china and iran signed a wide-ranging economic and security cooperation agreement. the deal is expected to increase trade and military cooperation. it comes as secretary of state antony blinken addresses recent tensions with china, including whether the country should be punished for coronavirus. >> a big part that have is making sure we have a system in place, including with the world health organization, that features transparency, that features information sharing, access for international experts at the start of something like this. and that's where i think china,

like every other country, has real obligations that it needs to make good on. >> no repercussions, no punishment? >> we do need to have both accountability for the past, but i think our focus needs to be on building a stronger system for the future. >> joining me right now is virginia congressman jerry connelly, a democratic member of the house oversight, reform and foreign affairs committees. welcome back to the broadcast. good to see you. >> good to see you. >> thank you. your reaction to secretary blinken's comments there, do you think china should be punished for coronavirus? >> i don't think we know that yet. i do think that certainly there has to be transparency and truth telling. what happened? how did you manage it? why did you initially engage in suppressing information, including from, you know, chinese medical officials in wuhan? i think that will be a necessary

part of the retrospect on the pandemic. i do think holding china accountable across a broad front is absolutely an important part of american foreign policy. >> does it render the u.s. powerless in that regard? >> i don't know if it renders us powerless but it certainly hurts american diplomatic efforts to isolate iran and enforce certain sanctions, including the export of oil. this deal is very much about oil for china over a 25-year period. let me also add, if i can, alex, this is china exploiting a vacuum created by donald trump. donald trump's reckless walking away from an agreement, nuclear agreement with iran that was working and that we wrote, you

know, created this vacuum that allowed china to move right in. and that, plus walking away from the transpacific partnership trade deal also created a vacuum that china once again walked into, to its advantage and our disadvantage. so, we're witnessing some of the consequences from a really disjointed and dangerous foreign policy pursued by donald j. trump. >> i understand both those fronts you just talked about there and i think you're right. let's switch gears to the united states postal service, louis dejoy unveiled his ten-year strategic plan, higher postage rates, some slower services as well as reduced hours. it's going to cost more as the service gets worse. is that acceptable to you? if it's not, can congress do anything about it? >> i think that is a business model guaranteed to fail.

if you really want to put a dent in reputation and postal service, this is the way to do it. delay delivery, make it harder to accelerate delivery and that's a plan to fail. what dejoy seems to be doing is further ewroting confidence in and the ability of the postal service to deliver to the american people. >> here is a question. louis dejoy is a trump holdover. he was also a trump donor before being appointed. why is he still there? can president biden replace him? >> you know, because of the semi-autonomous nature of the post office, louis dejoy is hired and fired by the postal

board of governors. there are nine postal board of governors, six of which are current, three are pending. three have been nominated by president biden. so, you need a majority of the board of governors to decide to replace mr. dejoy, and that's why i and 50 other members of the house have called for president biden to actually fire the six remaining, incumbent board of governor members so that we can get mr. dejoy removed. >> and he can do that? the president can fire those board members? >> yes, he can fire the board of governor members but can't directly fire postmaster general, who reports directly to them. >> i'm glad you explained that. now i understand much better. thank you, sir. what about the president getting set to unveil his infrastructure plan this week? we have white house press secretary jen psaki giving a preview of what to expect. we'll take a listen to that. >> the american people will hear from him this week.

part of his plan, the first step of his plan toward recovery, which will include an investment in infrastructure. and he will have more to say later in april about the second part of his recovery plan, which will include a number of pieces you talk about, health care, child care. the total package we're still working out. will he introduce ways to pay for that and is eager to hear from both parties as well. >> that last part, sbrugs ways to pay for the plan. do your constituents at all worry about rising taxes because of this? >> i'm sure some of my constituents will worry about that. we'll have to see what the plan includes. hopefully, it's focused on trying to redress the imbalance created by the republican tax cut of donald trump's first year in congress. over a decade or so that could help finance these kinds of investments. infrastructure investment is

simple as expenditure of federal dollars. an infrastructure has return on it that can last for decades. look at the interstate highway system that began in 1958. it is still returning on that investment. >> yeah. >> you know, the internet was originally financed as a federal investment, 100%. it is now integral to our lives. and i don't know how you would calculate the return on that investment but it was worth every penny. >> okay. so is this conversation. representative gerry connelly, thank you for your time. appreciate it. >> thanks, alex. details on that effort to unionize workers at the amazon warehouse. two people from the inside spoke about what they're going through and the pressure the company is putting on them, ahead. pressure putting on them, ahead a voice for the voiceless. bring your family history to life like never before.

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>> reporter: rescue crews managed to move the barge 30 yards. we're dealing with a vessel nearly the length of the empire state building. a dozen tug boats will be trying to push or pull it. they're hoping to take advantage of the higher tides over the next few days, hoping that will move the ship off the sand, get it back going into the water again. but egypt's president has already ordered a fallback plan to remove some of the 20,000 containers off the deck of the everd given, make it lighter, easier to move. it would involve bringing crane

s alongside the ever gbeen. >> clearly it's still a mess there. thank you for that. let's go to the latest in the coronavirus pandemic, unsettling new revelation by dr. deborah birx. she believes hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved if the trump administration had acted sooner. >> the first time we have an excuse, there were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge. all the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially. >> and this comes as health officials warn of another possible surge after seeing a plateau in cases for several weeks now. 34 states are seeing an uptick in cases, despite massive vaccination efforts.

45% of people age 65 and older and 18% of all adult have, indeed, received both shots. and that brings the total of fully vaccinated americans to about 15%. opening statements begin tomorrow in the trial of minneapolis police officer derek chauvin. it's been ten months dins george floyd's death. ali velshi sat down with residents in minneapolis who talk about what changed since that tragic day. >> over the last year, we've really seen that we've started to gain eyes from outside of our community. and i think that it's been really interesting because what black people and black women have been saying for generations is now in front of everybody to just digest. it is exciting and it's very exhausting at the same time. because we've been saying this for years. and it took something so

monumental and so tragic for people to start to listen to us. >> one of the biggest things i've noticed in my small day-to-day world is that white people are more likely to bring up race. it doesn't always have to be me. i feel like white people have more of a consciousness about issues now that, you know, if i was the only black person in the room, it always used to have to be me to bring up those issues. >> my students are asking critical and thoughtful questions, leaning in. >> my students have shown a lot of interest in what's happening. adults sometimes want to shield them. the reality is that kids are aware, and they want to talk about it. and i'm ready to discuss that with them. >> pastor, this has been an emotional heavy lift for people of faith communities the last year. >> shul. within our church context, we've grown in membership, and the majority of people who have joined our congregation have been white, which has been exciting to some degree, as they

wanted to sit under a black pastor. they wanted to sit under black leadership and be led. on one hand it's exciting. on the other hand, it can be exhausting as there is this sense from them that they want them to teach you everything. but we've challenged them. we've been very clear to say no, you have to could do some of that work on your own. you have to learn yourself. >> ali velshi will join us later. and reverend al is live from minneapolis. right after that at 6:00 p.m., ari melber examines the legal strategies likely to play out in the trial. results of a vote that could be part of a business americans use every single day. part of a use every single day and relief. a nose in need

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hey, there, i'm joshua johnson. tonight on "the week," hundreds of bills, what will they mean for democracy? we'll discuss with james clyburn and discuss what's next on president biden's agenda. join us here on msnbc. tuesday morning, results afternoon historic union vote in alabama will be revealed. if yes, they will join the first amazon union, something the giant tech company has been fighting for years.

annabell, welcome to you. this is interesting. you recently spoke to some of the workers for a new article. talk about some of their biggest complaint s complaints. what did you find out? >> reporter: their biggest complaint was job security. many workers at amazon warehouses feel that their jobs can be taken away for any reason at any time. they're very strict at enforcing social distancing but one worker i spoke to said that really only applies to workers and not managers. >> that means that are all of these workers paid by the hour workers, is that what they are? does anybody have long-term permalance or benefits? >> amazon workers are paid hourly, $15.30 is the base pay. one of the workers we spoke to works overnight. that's an extra $2 per hour for the night shift. workers at amazon do have benefits. that's one of the reasons amazon

says they don't need a union because they provide benefits, time off, things like that. >> interesting. senator bernie sanders went down to alabama to rally with the amazon workers. while there, he called out amazon ceo jeff bezos for prioritizing money over his workers. let's listen to that. >> to jeff bezos, who is worth $180 billion, not million, billion. why are you spending millions trying to defeat an effort on the part of the workers who want nothing more than decent wages, decent benefits, decent working conditions? >> i'm curious if you know whether jeff bezos or amazon has responded to those accusations and how might -- how much of an impact might senator sanders make in that? >> yes. senator sanders has been very

vocal about opposing jeff bezos in the past. on march 17th there was a congressional hearing he ran that he invited jeff bezos to speak at and bezos declined. amazon's pr has been responding to these claims saying workers don't need a union and saying senator sanders should focus on his home state of vermont. >> we know that amazon has been fighting the potential of unionized workers for a number of years. like what? what have they done in the past to try to stop workers from unionizing? >> yes. so, amazon has taken a page from playbooks of other major companies. my colleagues at business insider has tracked how walmart's anti-union efforts have paralleled amazons. a full-court media blitz, flyers in the bathrooms. workers spoke to us about getting vote no pins and door knockers to dissuade wsu union

workers from coming up to their cars. running ads on the streaming service, twitch, owned by amazon. when it found out it had posted anti-union ads, it took them down. it's just been quite a bit of messaging, vote no, vote no. and that's straight out of their playbook from past unionization efforts that have not gone well. >> annabelle, this is for alabama, but is there concern with this trillion dollar company that has warehouses all over the country that it could have a domino effect if alabama goes this way? >> yes. definitely there's surely a concern about that both by amazon and other companies. amazon has outside reach on tech. they're looking, from journalists, activists to rank and file workers and they're

going to use that potentially as an instruction for how they proceed. >> okay. so last question, tuesday, it is, that we're supposed to find out the results of this vote and then what happens immediately after that? >> yes. so, the rwesu is hoping to release the results by easter. it honestly will be probably very fast. 6,000 workers in the warehouse and all of them may not vote. that will be done in partnership with the national labor review board and i imagine it will be a media blitz from there, whatever happens. >> okay. annabelle williams, happy to speak with you again about this. thank you for your conversation. appreciate it. scars of hate from an ohio official, aftermath of what he indoored next. what he indoored next. allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst psst you're good

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speech condemning asian-american violence. chairman lee wong revealed scars he got serving in the u.s. army to make a point. >> i'm 69 years old and i'm going to show you what patriotism -- the here is my proof. this is sustained through my service in the u.s. military. now, is this patriot enough? >> wow, god bless him, right? his speech follows last week's deadly rampage in atlanta and a recent uptick in violence against asian americans. there's a new study that sheds light on hate crimes against communities of color in this country including asian americans. richard lui got a preview for nbc news. richard is also the author of a

new book that's coming out this week, "enough about me." i have my own copy, signed, autographed, called "the unexpected power of selflessness." let's talk about this study coming out on tuesday. it's going to be one of the most comprehensive from the covid period to date. what will it show us? >> it will show what lee wong was showing us in this very shocking video. he's saying look at the scars that i have built up over time, this as an asian american pacific islander. i don't want to show you this but now i'm showing it to you. in a study from aapi data and survey monkey, most asian americans don't want to talk about being the victim of a hate incident, alex, or a hate crime. when they do so, they're worried that they may be attacked again. on top of that here, they also are reporting that they are asked this question, which is

similar to what lee wong was basically expressing, that where are you from? where are you really from? that question of the eternal foreigner, perpetual foreigner. and in the study from aapi data as well as survey monkey, they show that they are nine times more likely to be asked that question, if you look like me, where are you from, than if you're white american. and so that symbolism of that video is so strong to most asian american pacific islanders, alex. >> i'm looking at the really inciteful piece that you wrote for nbc think and it's talking about your own self-growth and own self-journey and all that you've learned along the way. that paragraph where you talked about being a teen -- >> right. >> and a sixth generation american, but you didn't like it when people would say, hey, where are you from? you're like here. >> i kept on having to prove it, right? and i called myself in that think piece, alex, as well as in

the book an ugly american, because i was that person that was for those new generations of immigrants coming to america calling them derogatory terms, like fob, which is very derogatory if you're asian and coming to america. here i was doing what i thought was right because i had to prove that i was here. that is the dynamic, i think, and the struggle that many aapis have gone through. as they're sharing their personal stories of ignored history, that very dynamic i think, when we think of what might be next, this now that it's out in the open, all these videos that we've seen, have really come forward from these communities given to reporters that our asian american pacific islander because i feel like they feel safe. this despite what that study showing us that comes out on tuesday. >> do you get a sense it's a turning point right now? the fact that we're talking about this and there's so much out there right now, really much

more than ever before in a really concentrated way, is this going to bode well long-term turning point for aapi? >> when you and i were a foot tall is when we had anything on the meter of asian american pacific islander. '82, vincent chen. what we're living through right now is a moment potentially for a movement. now what we're watching is fund-raising like we have never seen before in the asian american pacific islander community and more understanding of what might be different. you're covering minneapolis a second ago and now people are approaching them to talk about race. that's also happening with asian american pacific islanders. >> yeah. i want to get to this book because it's about something that i know is incredibly special to you, it's about the

time being a caregiver for your father, the lessons you've learned. talk about that. >> well, you and i have lived through a journey and it inspires us to do different things. >> yeah. >> and for me it was to think about why was i caring for my father even though he lived in california. you and i would work here together on the weekends. >> i know. and we'd both be taking our flights taking care of our fathers. >> you're headed to los angeles, i'm headed to san francisco. at the end of the day what i took away from this experience, alex, is this idea of taking care of others. enough about me, it was that very simplistic but practical way. you and i are journalists. so what are the studies that show it's good to be selfless. what's not overly qualitative but quantitative. there's some tough things in our life but let's learn to laugh too. >> i'm so proud of this book. thank you for signing it for me. you're just awesome and so is

this book, so i'm going to promote it again. "enough about me" but the subtext "the unexpected power of selflessness." well done, good job. thank you. that is going to do it for me, everyone, on this sunday edition of "weekends with alex witt." join me next weekend. up next geoff bennett sits in for yasmin vossoughian. how a false narrative is fueling a fear and transphobia coming your way next. nsphobia coming your way next. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa jaycee tried gain flings for the first time the other day. the scent made quite an impression. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. [music: "i swear"]

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i'm geoff ben it in for yasmin vossoughian. we've got a lot to cover and a great team of correspondents in the field ready to go, including fireworks on the sunday shows over georgia's new voting restrictions amid new efforts to fight back using the power of the pocketbook. the tale of two presidents on covid, surging approval ratings for president joe biden on the pandemic while a former trump official gives a chilling estimate of how many lives could have been saved if they had acted differently. plus an exclusive look at a new report detailing a concerted republican effort to roll back abortion rights across the country. and we're live in minneapolis on the eve of the trial of a white police officer