♪♪ a very good day from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome, everyone, to alex witt reports. here's what's happening as we're just about 2:00 p.m. eastern, 11:00 a.m. pacific time. we are beginning with new details on the deadliest workplace mass shooting the nation has seen since the start of the pandemic. today, for the first time, we're learning about the eight people who were killed at that fedex facility in indianapolis as president biden speaks out, calling on congress to take action. >> this has to end. it's a national embarrassment. the folks who own guns, they support universal background checks. the majority of them think we should not be selling assault weapons. who in god's name needs a weapon that can hold a hundred rounds? or 40 rounds or 20 rounds? it's just wrong.

and i'm not going to give up until it's done. >> and again, this new graphic i find just stunning. it comes as the new urgency on gun safety is showing the u.s. has now seen 53 mass shootings just this past month. democratic congresswoman cindy axny will be joining me in just a moment to discuss what she thinks can be done about it. plus as president biden nears his hundredth day in office, new polls are signaling good news for the white house. this week, four national polls show president biden's approval rating is above water, ranging from 48% to 59% and coming up, i will talk with two historians on how these first hundred days could shape president biden's legacy. but first on capitol hill, some growing backlash from democrats and republicans as far-right conservatives discuss launching a new america first caucus focused on protecting, quote, anglo-saxon political traditions so we're going to go right to capitol hill. ali vitali standing by for us. talk about the reaction and what

it's been like from lawmakers, in fact, on both sides of the aisle. there is some agreement. >> reporter: yeah, alex, that's exactly right. the backlash has been swift and it will only continue to mound as we talk about the potential formation of this america first caucus here on capitol hill, a lot of backlash for the exact reason that you just mentioned in your lead. a seven-page organizing memo obtained by punch bowl news and later confirmed by nbc that makes references to the group supporting anglo-saxon or white political traditions. the backlash has come from both sides, democrats immediately calling this group racist, especially because of that pretty opaque language right there, but the condemnations are also coming from republicans in house leadership, including house minority leader kevin mccarthy, who said in a tweet, the republican party is the party of lincoln and of more opportunity, not nativist dog whistles. you'll notice there in that tweet on your screen, though, this is an indirect reference to the formation of this group and for some here in congress,

including one congressman that you just spoke to, that is definitely not strong enough language. listen. >> i don't think that minority leader mccarthy's pushback was strong enough. he needs to come right out and say that this caucus is racist and that it's divisive and that it's not about america. it's, you know, just kind of dancing around it and not calling her out for this is absolutely unacceptable. they have -- they have got to do better. >> reporter: and alex, i would point out that as far as mccarthy goes, we have seen him have to walk this very tight tightrope with trump regarding what it means to support the former president but also to condemn him for things like fomenting an insurrection here on january 6th. mccarthy has really tried to have it both ways on that issue, certainly this caucus is yet another example of how he has to continue to walk that tightrope. i will also add, though, that we're hearing now in the last

few minutes from congresswoman marjorie taylor greene, one of the people involved in forming this caucus, and she's effectively blaming staff, saying, in a statement here, that this was a staff level draft proposal from an outside group that she says she hadn't even read, so that's her trying to distance herself from this, but even just in the conversation around the formation of this kind of a caucus, it does continue to show that donald trump is a wedge issue, even just within the republican party as lawmakers are clearly very split on the role that he should play going forward, but make no bones about it, this organizing document that we have just seen, including a lot of language in here that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are clearly uncomfortable with. >> you know, i got to say, speaking about kevin mccarthy, it's kind of reminding me of former house speaker john boehner when he was talking about the rise of the tea party and how within his caucus, the republican caucus, he said, trying to get everybody on the same page was like herding cats. we'll see if it rises to that level with kevin mccarthy. thank you very much, ali vitali.

now to the day's other big headlines, this one of the front pages of the indiana newspapers today, the mass shooting at a fedex facility that left eight people dead and five wounded. investigators are still searching for a motive as the city of indianapolis is grieving. let's go to my colleague who's joining me from outside that fedex facility where such horrors took place. what about the families there? how are they even beginning to cope with this? >> reporter: well, alex, i just spoke with some family members and close family friends of two of the victims, and i can tell you they are numb. they are still in shock, trying to process what happened here behind me thursday night. in fact, i was just at their home a few minutes ago and they were supposed to be celebrating the birthday of a 2-year-old and now they are moving forward, making funeral arrangements. i was told that their loved ones were beginning their 11:00 p.m. to 11:00 a.m. shift when this

night -- the workday was interrupted by gunfire. take a listen. >> we thought they're still working inside when at 11:05, we didn't get any call from them, then things started getting into the -- yeah, suspicious and then, you know, then we had -- we started getting that feeling in our heart. that something is not right. our aunt, she left her kids the night before, and then she's not going to come back ever. her 13-year-old and 19-year-old, they're going to look for answers every day. >> reporter: alex, it's certainly heartbreaking, eight victims total, they range in age from 19 to 74. in fact, the family member was telling me that one of the sons now making travel arrangements from india to bury his mother, and also, alex, i think it's important to know these family members, not only are they grieving but they want answers

because they just don't understand how the suspect was able to get another gun and go on this rampage because he was apparently on the radar of law enforcement last year. in fact, according to the fbi, his other mother flagged authorities march of last year, saying that he was possibly committing suicide or attempting to commit suicide by cop, so still so many questions. right now, they are -- investigators are combing through evidence that they were able to retrieve yesterday at the suspect's home, potentially to get a little bit more answers as to why exactly this all took place. >> i tell you, it absolutely is so heartbreaking, cathy and it's also just so damn wrong. but thank you very much for the live report from indianapolis. speaking of heartbreaking, we're going to go to news now, breaking news from chicago. that city is bracing for new protests today following the police shooting death of 13-year-old adam toledo. let's go to chicago with the

very latest on this one. how about this weekend? what all's expected, and the extent to which officials will be responding, are they looking for protests? tonight, potentially? >> reporter: well, what i should say is that police are on alert. they are bracing themselves for the potential of more protests. there have been several, all of them peaceful, two arrests overnight and the largest protest so far in connection with people upset about the police shooting of 13-year-old adam toledo. what we found is that the anger over this has intensified this past week, and that's because of police releasing the video that shows the moment that this young teenager was killed and that's got so many people upset. listen to what some demonstrators said about the death. >> adam, we love you. >> adam, we love you. >> i appreciate the toledo family, like i said, forgiving us that strength to not give up and to keep fighting for the

justice of all of these souls that we lost. >> there's no reason why a mother should be burying her kid. >> reporter: to give you some background on all of this, it happened in the early morning hours of march 29th, about three weeks ago. police responding to a call of shots fired. what you see is the officers' body camera video is running down an alley, chasing, alex, adam, he's chasing, and he's telling him to stop and drop it. at that point, you see an angle from another camera that seems to appear to have alex -- sorry, adam with something in his hand, tosses it, turns back around towards the officer with his hands up and empty. shots are fired, and the 13-year-old is killed. it happened in a millisecond. the officer has not been charged. he's been placed on administrative duty, and those in the police union are supporting this officer, eric

stillman. they say he had no other choice, but the family of adam toledo say that they think that the moment that adam showed his empty hands, officers -- that officers should have shown some compassion and not used deadly force. alex? >> yeah. absolutely. okay. thank you very much. all of you be sure to catch reverend al sharpton's interview with chicago mayor lori lightfoot today at 5:00 eastern on "politics nation" on msnbc. joining me now in the wake of these topics, iowa congresswoman cindy axny, a democratic member of the house financial services and agriculture committees. congresswoman, welcome to the broadcast. it's good to have you here. this indianapolis shooting, it is one of 53 mass shootings across the united states just this past month. it is refueling the debate. iowa's governor just signed a bill loosening gun restrictions, now making handgun carry permits

and background checks on unlicensed sales optional. in iowa. i'm -- i'm specifically speaking slowly here so this can sink in to our viewers. are you shocked by that move? how -- how does congress even go about striking a balance for both sides of the gun debate and achieve gun safety measures to prevent more mass shootings when you have moves like this? >> i was as shocked as anybody to see that that was made into law in iowa. it's extremely disappointing and of course as a mother, i am so concerned about the children in our state and anyone else. the fact that she signed in a permitless purchase and carry to put anybody at risk in our state is absolutely unacceptable and does nothing to help with the damage that we've seen across this country, just what we saw in indianapolis. so, it was a bad move that doesn't help iowans and certainly doesn't help our

community and i was not happy to see it. >> i'm just curious, your constituents, has anybody spoken with you about it, sent you an email, called your office and said, what's up with that? what is the general sentiment of iowans on this? >> listen, iowa has a long history of gun ownership for sport and protection. i spent a decade in state government. i actually ran hunting and fishing licensing at the department of natural resources. and what i can tell you is that those hunters, they understand the value of background checks and of training people. what we've seen right here doesn't make sense to any iowans. what this does is just allow guns on the street in ways that don't keep people safe. i would tell you that i would think most iowans don't agree with this and certainly most people i know that are gun owners, and i have them in my family myself for hunting and other purposes like that, you know, those folks really believe in safety, so i would say that most iowans would not agree with this. >> let's talk about republicans who have been opposed to the president's $2 trillion american

jobs plan, certainly that on infrastructure. though we have republicans who are really struggling to try to craft a counteroffer but what does seem clear is that it will only focus, once they do, on what they say is the traditional definition of infrastructure. of course, that includes roads and bridges. there seems to be no talk of bringing infrastructure into a foundation for the future. i'm curious what infrastructure means to you and what it means to your constituents. >> back in the day, infrastructure was your home, your farm, and the roads to market. then it became industrialization and plants. now it truly is things like broadband and child care. just in the state of iowa, one in four families is in a child care desert. 25%, approximately, of iowans cannot find child care to get them to work. let me tell you, if we had a bridge downgoing to a business district and people couldn't make it to their job, we'd be

fixing that right away. but we have the same exact problem when it comes to child care. a parent can't find a place to take their child to be taken care of while they work. they have no option, then, to stay home, and this is limited our economy and this has limited americans' opportunity. it is time that we get this done. we need to bring things like broadband across this country. this is the electrification of today. rural america has been left behind when it comes to things like broadband connectivity. we have schools where children can't conduct their homework in their homes because they don't have broadband. they have to sit outside a mcdonald's to get the connectivity to get their homework done. we have so many businesses that weren't able to connect and be able to sell online during the pandemic and compete that they went out of business. america needs this. this is infrastructure. this is today's way to get the economy moving, put people to work, and allow us to create greater opportunity. it's time we all get on board and understand this. china and other countries are

moving way ahead of us when it comes to what the reality of infrastructure is today, and for us to be competitive, and to protect our national security, and build economic growth, this is what we need. >> yeah. let me ask you about something, thoughts on the legislation that's been proposed by some of your democratic colleagues to expand the supreme court to 13 justices. now, house speaker nancy pelosi says she has no plans to bring it to the floor but i'm curious your perspective as someone in a district that donald trump won in 2016 and you, a democratic candidate, obviously, won in 2018. how -- what are your thoughts on this? if you had to be put to a vote on this, what do you think you would do? what would your constituents want you to do? >> well, the president obviously has said he's going to make a commission to study this, and the speaker has said we'll defer to that commission and i'm where the speaker is on this. i think what you'll find about me, sexy or unsexy, i'm a person

who looks at the facts and looks at the information before i make a decision and that's what i intend to do on this. >> okay. we will leave it at that and once things progress we'll have you back and talk about it again. iowa congresswoman cindy axne, thank you so much for your time. a bit later on this hour, honoring the life of prince philip, pictures from today's funeral and the one image that has got lots of reaction around the world. plus, what today meant for the relationship between princes william and harry. the relationship between princes william and harry. (vo) ideas exist inside you, electrify you. they grow from our imagination, but they can't be held back. they want to be set free. to make the world more responsible, and even more incredible. ideas start the future, just like that. oh, it was terrible.

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right now in minneapolis, faith leaders are making their way to the hennepin county courthouse for a george floyd prayer event. let's go right to nbc's meagan fitzgerald, who's outside the courthouse for us. meagan, welcome on this saturday. and this all comes as the derek chauvin murder trial moves to the jury deliberation phase. that will begin next week. so, talk about the mood there today. what are you sensing?

>> reporter: alex, good to be with you. i can tell you, where we are now, there is a sense of calm because there's a prayer event that's going on where people from all different denominations, faiths, and backgrounds and generations are coming together to pray for equality, for healing and for peace. but this is a city on edge. you look around the city and you can see that businesses have already boarded up their windows. there's national guards members, basically on every corner here in this city ahead of closing arguments that will be on monday, and this is a very critical part of this entire trial. this is when we will see the prosecution and the defense delivering their final statement to the jury, pleading their final case, sewing together all the evidence that's been presented over the last three weeks. then jurors will hear from the judge, who will give them instructions, very important as well. this is giving them the information, making sure that they are absolutely clear on what they need to consider on each of the charges that

mr. chauvin is facing. another piece of instruction that they're going to hear is about the fifth amendment right, and not to infer anything because mr. chauvin chose not to take the witness stand. for the first time, jurors were outside of the courtroom, but for the first time, we had an opportunity to actually hear from derek chauvin. i want you to listen to this exchange between him and his attorney. >> i have repeatedly advised you that this is your decision and your decision alone, right? >> correct. >> i have advised you and we have gone back and forth on the matter would be kind of an understatement, right? >> yes, it is. >> have you made a decision today whether you intend to testify or whether you intend to invoke your fifth amendment privilege? >> i will invoke my fifth amendment privilege today. >> the decision ultimately has to be yours and not his. is this your decision not to testify? >> it is, your honor.

>> reporter: now, jurors will be sequestered while they deliberate, but alex, they're going to be combing through three weeks of evidence, so it could be several days before they return a verdict. >> okay, meagan fitzgerald, thanks for keeping an eye on things for us in minneapolis. let's go now to brian dunn, managing partner of the cochran firm, california. defense attorney eric nelson there, did he miss an opportunity to change chauvin's image with the jury or do you think he believes that he successfully created reasonable doubt? what's your observation on that? >> well, it's always an honor to be with you, alex, and that's such a good question for so many reasons and i think one of the things that really moved me about the colloquy that we saw was that between the attorney and the defendant, he said, we've gone over this back and forth a few times, haven't we? and they kind of had a moment where they exchanged a knowing glance, like, yes, we have.

i think that in terms of strategy, it was the right decision. i think that you always have to look in terms of what is going to be the most intelligent move under the circumstances, and i think that the idea of chauvin testifying had much more of a risk, because there are so many things that you can't prepare for. for example, if he lost his temper up there, that could really, really change the future of the case for him. >> yeah. no, you make a very good point there. give me your assessment, brian, of what you think will be a critical point from each side in the upcoming closing arguments. what points need -- do you think need to be made? >> well, for the prosecution, they just have to have the monotra, keep it simple. keep it simple. rely on your common sense. look at the video. focus on the video. understand that if there is something that is being told to you that runs afoul with your sense of right and wrong, that runs afoul with your common sense, don't trust it. and from the defense, their best

witness was this doctor, this medical witness, and i think that the best chance that they have to try to create some reasonable doubt is to say, look, the science on this issue is far from being certain. this is a man's life that we're talking about. it's his future, his liberty. let's take a hard look at whether or not these charges have absolutely been proven. but i do think it's favoring the prosecution strongly at this point. >> you know it's interesting, listening to you, and to me, you're echoing exactly what the prosecution said in their opening arguments. i mean, you're basically saying, we're coming full circle again, we're going to tell you what we told you begin, you're going to do this again. good point there. with regard to an advantage from either side going into next week, i know you said this had been looking good for the prosecution. i think you're not alone in that sentiment because they put on a very, very powerful case there. >> absolutely. >> but it only takes one person to throw a monkey wrench, right? reasonable doubt. >> it does. it does, alex. and you know, there's been so many studies on this, and we

have to really get familiar with the -- the nature of the knowledge as it relates to the way that juries operate and the way that they work and in the information age, things have changed. most really expert jury analysts say that the jury kind of has a very strong leaning as to how they're going to vote before the closing arguments even begin, and a lot of folks are now saying that the attorneys don't really change the minds of the jurors so much as they arm the jurors with evidence -- with arguments that they can make when they get back there. they say that a juror can change the mind of another juror at this point, but the attorneys' ability to sway opinion has become progressively less as the jury has taken in the evidence. >> so, taking what you have just said, brian, when you think about the jury, when they're sequestered and they start deliberating, what kind of an edge to you give either side? i mean, i know it's difficult to read the tea leaves, read body language, but as you listened to

the compelling cases made to varying degrees on both sides, what is that going to be like in the deliberation room? do you think that will be largely sided on one side and there may be a few on the other? will it be evenly distributed? what's your thought on that? >> alex, i don't know if you've been a lawyer in this life, but you are basically speaking to the heart of every lawyer right now in terms of what they're going through in preparing for this final day, and what i have found in my 26 years is that you got to keep it simple, and you get into trouble when you start trying to give them too much in too short amount of time. you have to keep the points simple. because there's going to be a few people that are going to see things that the rest of the people don't see back there. and for the attorney to put the pressure on themselves to say, i have to get every little point out in this closing argument, that tends to not work as much as the attorney may think that it would. >> well, i'll just say i think

i'm a litigator in my soul, which is why i like asking questions on television. >> i think so too, alex. >> let me ask you, brian, though, about this, because what this is doing, this particular trial, shining a light on police tactics, particularly in minority communities. just this last week, we are seeing once again the heartbreaking police body cam videos, daunte wright as well as adam toledo. what went through your mind when you watched how those incidents unfolded? >> well, i look at it in terms of how they approached the situation, and tactics are something that people don't really talk about. people talk about the human reality of the murder, the homicide, the act of a taking life, the hail of gunfire, but very few people really understand that it never should have gotten to that point in the first place. a shooting is like a set of dominos, and if you could just imagine all ten of those have to fall in exactly the right order for the shooting to happen. when we look at the shooting in chicago, the officer never should have been chasing him by

himself down a situation where he knew that he might be armed because that creates a trip wire where just the sudden movement can start or create anxiety that results in the loss of life. there's no harm in waiting and calling for back-up and slowing things down. a lot of these officer-involved shootings happen because you have an officer that has placed himself in a position of peril and what his state of mind is, it's anybody's guess, but when you do a foot pursuit by yourself and you're going down blind alleys at night and it's you and this other person, the advantage of the law enforcement officer has been taken away dramatically, and it's just one-on-one then and he can have a situation where he could see something that doesn't exist and if there's even the slightest bit of uncertainty, he's going to err on the side of using deadly force, and my position, alex, is that he never should have been in that situation in the first place. >> yeah.

well put, brian dunn. thank you so much. look forward to seeing you again. >> you're welcome. coming up tonight, msnbc's joshua johnson and his legal panel will examine the most crucial testimony in the derek chauvin trial as well as preview the closing arguments. that is "the week with joshua johnson" tonight at 9:00 eastern here on msnbc. americans are rating president biden's performance after almost a hundred days in office, but how does his ambitious agenda compare to past presidential change makers? we'll take a look. past presidential change makers we'll take a look. ♪ (ac/dc: back in black) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ back in black ♪ ♪ i hit the sack ♪ ♪ i've been too long... ♪ applebee's irresist-a-bowls are back. dig in for just $8.99. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood.

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♪♪ as president biden nears 100 days in office, we're getting a new look at how americans are responding to the job he's done so far. let's go to nbc's monica alba joining us from wilmington, delaware. monica, welcome again. what do these major national polls show concerning the president's approval? >> reporter: we got four of them in the last week or so, alex, and they really paint a picture

of a president whose legislative priorities are pretty popular at this point, but it's even his own personal leadership that in some of these polling is even more appealing to some of the people surveyed, so i want to break down some of the numbers for you. the four major polls we're talking about here are monmouth, quinnipiac, npr-pbs and pew, and in all of those, the president is above water, so that is to say, more people approve of his job in office than those who disapprove. but diving in a little deeper into his policies, we now know that, really, of those surveyed, about 44%, according to this pew poll, agree with the president on all or nearly all of his policies, so when we're talking about not just infrastructure but immigration and all the like, and then those who agree with him on only a few issues, that drops to 25%, and 29% agree with him on almost nothing, and then when we dump into really what he's been able to do so far, that covid relief bill, that's the thing that has the

highest approval so far with 63% saying in a monmouth poll that they approve of that and then when we look to the other thick, the infrastructure plan, something that of course the president is hoping to get some movement on in the coming weeks and months, 56% approve of that but this is a really interesting number as well, alex, because within that, we know the president would like to really increase tax hikes for the rich as a potential vehicle for paying for this $2.2 trillion infrastructure plan, and that has a 65% approval in that one specific poll. something else, zooming out not just to what he's been able to do as president but how he's leading in this one pew poll, people say that they are quite impressed with the way the president has been able to, in their words, and what was asked, make things better. 44%. and also just in terms of the tone and nature of political debate, again, more feel that he has been able to improve that situation as opposed to the 29% who believe he has made it worse. and as for this weekend, alex,

we are in wilmington and there is a first to report here for the president. it's the first time we're seeing him hit the links as commander in chief. he's at a nearby golf course this afternoon, and he's golfing with ron oliveri, who is the father of beau biden's widow, hallie, and with steve, one of his close advisors, so that's something we may start to see more of a pattern emerging on these wilmington weekends once the weather continues to get nicer here and over the summer, alex. >> indeed. let me clarify that graphic. 44% of the folks surveyed believe the president has made things better. 29% were saying he had not made it better. they were a bit confused there but thank you so much, monica alba. joining me now, mark, presidential historian and president and ceo of the lbj foundation, and associate professor of political science at howard university and author of the great migration in the democratic party, black voters and the realignment of american politics in the 20th century. welcome to you both.

glad to have you both here. mark, i'll speak with you first. i'm curious, biden's first 100 days, put that into historical perspective for me in terms of what you make of his accomplishments and his initiatives so far. >> you know, we look at the first 100 days because when franklin roosevelt took the presidency in the depths of the great depression, 1933, he used those first 100 days to put forth a very ambitious legislative agenda called the new deal, which was meant to put america back on the right road and that's been the benchmark by which we measure presidents ever since. joe biden has used his first hundred days to make his priorities very clear, including, first and foremost, remedying the pandemic, getting vaccines out there to voters. i think in large part, the election last year was a referendum on trump's mishandling of the pandemic, so i think the reason that we're seeing those very high approval ratings for president biden to this point, alex, is because he

is so clearly handled the pandemic well with the vaccines going out to americans throughout our country. >> yeah, i think i very much agree with you on that. kenesha, to president biden, who's calling his administration's infrastructure proposal once in a generation. it's that kind of legislation. how could it impact the future of american society as well as this president's legacy in? >> it makes me think about another president who mark, i think, just alluded to, fdr, and makes me think about the work that they did to try to bring people back from an economic calamity and it seems like joe biden has that same kind of spirit with this, if he's able to get it through the congress, with thinking about getting people to work in ways that will help americans, so, rebuilding road and bridges and working on climate change and doing things that are particular to black and brown communities all seem to be there in his language about what he wants to accomplish, and i think has the potential to

really bring us up out of a place of darkness, out of a place of pain following the coronavirus pandemic and following the things that we have seen in our communities with these shootings of black and brown people. and so i think it would be a really good thing, historically, for us to look back and see that he got this done, if he's able to do it. >> yeah, so you both have invoked fdr but let me ask you, mark, as the lbj expert here, lots of comparisons of joe biden to lyndon baines johnson. what do you make of that? a lot of the issues that president johnson was dealing with during his presidency, civil rights, voting rights, poverty. these things are still prevalent today. >> yeah, the similarities are apt, alex, for so many reasons. number one, you know, lbj, like joe biden, was a creature of washington. there is no president who has more political experience upon taking office than joe biden. lbj was pretty close. lbj was in the house and the

senate for a collective 24 years, but they both understand the power of government to essentially effect sweeping social change. lbj seized the presidency when he had it to put forth the laws of the great society, which essentially builds a foundation for modern america, including, importantly, getting forth civil rights. there are certainly differences between the two men, but i think joe biden has a boldness of vision in the same manner that lbj did about what government can do to bring america into the future and resolve some of the social ills that hold us back. >> you know, mark, vision is one thing. accomplishment's another, and a lot of biden's impact, mark, is going to depend on how much he actually can get done in his tenure. that's going to require pushing through legislation. we have a divided congress. and in his first press conference, he talked about the timing and how important timing is in a presidency. so, can you assess his timing

thus far? what do you make of it? >> you know, i think he's doing the right things. every president gets a brief honeymoon and they have to seize that. as lbj said, alex, when a president is first elected, he's a giraffe. six months later, he's a worm. so, while joe biden is standing tall in the presidency, as he is right now, he's going to get as much through congress as possible. we talk about when we think about lbj, a very different washington. there was a greater spirit of bipartisanship and it bears mentioning that lbj's civil rights laws were bipartisan laws, both -- we would not have civil rights in this country if it weren't for the support of northern republicans. he had to defy his own -- members of his own party in the south in order to get them through. i think it's a very different spirit now, but what joe biden really has to do is make sure that the democratic party is united around his vision. >> but in terms of

bipartisanship, keneshia, what do you think the chances are of hr1 or a reparations bill getting pushed through congress and what kind of a difference would it make if it does? >> i think it would make a difference in terms of black americans' attachment to the democratic party, not to suggest they will go somewhere else, but their feeling that the democratic party listens to them on all levels, not just appointing somebody in a symbolic position like vice president kamala harris but actually speaking to the issues that they care about. i don't know if i am going to be willing to hold my breath to see this come through our congress, all the way through the congress. in particular, i would be worried about the senate. i would hope that the house and the senate would be audacious in their having the majority right now and to push through what we're talking about is a study of reparations. we're not even talking about actual money yet. i would hope they at least can do a study of reparations but i think my examining of american history has taught me to be a

bit cautious and a bit more worried than optimistic. >> do you think, keneshia, that joe biden can have a generational impact the likes of lbj, i mean, with this congress, with the state of the country right now? what's the likelihood that can happen? >> i think it's possible, but i think it's going to be difficult. as mark mentioned, we have a difference of situation here with the way that our parties are organized. and so, when you mentioned the northern republicans of the 1960s or the 1930s, that's a whole different party than the party of today. and so, not only do we have different parties today, we have different people today so it's not entirely clear that the individuals who would need to support these kinds of things on the other side, be they politicians or be they the general public, would be willing to support something like reparations, would be willing to support joe biden in any of these bold, audacious ideas, which means that the democrats are going to have to take a chance. they're going to have to step out and do something big and see what happens and not be so worried about that center that we're always hearing about,

democrats being afraid they might lose. >> keneshia grant and mark, i so appreciate you guys and your perspectives on history and bringing it to today and how we can learn from those lessons. thank you so much. getting to the bottom of what defund the police really means. my next guest weighs in on how much the terminology matters. hw much the terminology matters ♪ (car audio) you have reached your destination.

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troubling police body cam video over the past week renew the debate over defunding police and it prompted this tweet from congresswoman rashida tlaib. as protesters took to the streets, tlaib took to the radio air waves to explain her choice of words. take a listen. >> school counselors are being replaced with police officers. nurses are being replaced with police officers. it's not a social worker from the city coming in. it's a police officer putting somebody out. it's a police officer addressing the homeless crisis and the poverty crisis in our country. and that system is very much set up to overcriminalize, overincarcerate and really punish folks that are the most vulnerable so it doesn't matter what terminology we use. i think everyone has to agree that it's just not working. >> and i'm joined right now by

the man to whom rashida tlaib gave those comments, a civil rights activist and host of the joe madison show and a good friend to us. joe, thanks for coming back to the broadcast. >> any time, alex. >> why did you feel strongly that the congresswoman needed to explain defund the police? >> because terminology does matter. and people get confused. words do matter. when people talk about defunding, on my show, i've heard officers who have said, who have agreed police officers, they agree that the militarization of the policing should stop. there's no need for weapons of war to be used against people in communities. then i've heard from people who have called in who have said, well, it's not defunding, but it's actually moving the funds. >> repurposing. >> into some -- to social

programs or mental issues, and i think, quite honestly, all of that, that applies. because what bothered me was she -- she left the impression that there shouldn't be police officers, and i wanted clarification because if someone breaks into your house -- and i asked her that question. if someone broke into your house, who would you call? you wouldn't call the "ghostbusters." you'd call the police. and the question is, who would the police send? so, i needed clarification. the audience needed clarification. i needed clarification. but i think a real concern is police reforming is just not working. and i think the problem is that there's just not a will on the part of police departments

around the country to change. >> yeah. well, you know, joe, i think when it comes to twitter and an issue that is as complicated as this, a tweet is not the place to have that conversation. it's not a conversation. so, i'm really glad that she came on your show, but as you listened to what she was saying, did you agree with what she was saying in her approach? >> you know, yes and no. and alex, the reason i answer it that way, and i usually am pretty straightforward, is i agreed with some of the things that she said. there is no question that we -- that militarization has to stop. all of these weapons of war being given to police departments, that needs to stop. diversity in the police department. and when she started talking

about -- now, this is fascinating -- how much a police budget is in most cities and it outweighs other budgets that should be in mental health, in drug prevention, she has a very interesting appointment to make, so there were some parts that i agree and some parts that i disagree, and think about what we heard this week. when you hear pat robertson, alex, saying that police better get their act together. >> i noticed that. >> i never would have thought that pat robinson would have been on the side of black lives matter. >> well, there you go. wonders never cease. let's say that. all right, joe madison. >> but i got to tell you this, alex, what worries me is this verdict that's going to come out of minnesota. >> oh, yeah. >> i got to tell you, it will be the verdict of a generation.

and i -- and i'll just say, if that verdict comes out and chauvin is acquitted, we better -- all hell's going to break loose. and i'm just being straightforward and candid. i think we better be prepared, because that really worries me. >> yeah. >> and i'm hoping -- i just don't know how a jury -- you never know what they'll do. i just don't know how they cannot find him guilty. >> we're all going to be watching that with bated breath for sure, joe madison. good to see you, my friend. thank you so much. the moving tribute to prince philip, how members of the royal family paid their last respects, especially princes william and harry. ally princes william and harry. are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? what if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks? now they can! downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters

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♪ christ have mercy upon us ♪ ♪ lord have mercy upon us ♪ >> if you can believe it, a choir of four creating that beautiful moment, part of the funeral ceremony today for prince philip. st. george's choir singing a piece of the duke -- that the duke of edinburgh commissioned himself for this very day. the indoor portion of the ceremony was limited to just 30 people because of the covid restrictions, making the event feel much more intimate, in fact. let's go to my colleague, ann thompson, joining me live from windsor at the end of a long day of reporting on this momentous event. i'd love to know the moments, ann, that really stood out to you. >> reporter: alex, first of all, i have to say that even though this was a pared down funeral, as you said, only 30 people allowed rather than what should

have been 800, you never got that sense from watching it. it was beautiful in its simplicity and that's exactly what prince philip wanted. in fact, he dictated many of the touches that you saw today, but i think by far, the most striking image of all was that of his wife, queen elizabeth, walking by herself, being by herself, mourning her husband of 73 years, to see her sitting in what they call the choir in st. george's chapel. that's q-u-i r-e. it was really touching, and she couldn't have her family very close to her because of covid protocols here, so here in this great moment of grief, she was all by herself. other moments that struck me were all the little touches, the naval cap and his sword on prince philip's coffin, which was carried by the land rover that he designed. as you said, the music was beautiful, and it was all

selected by prince philip, who was remembered as a man who had humor, kindness, and humanity. and then, of course, all eyes were also on his two grandsons, princes william and harry, who have been involved in a very public rift, if you will, after prince harry, and his wife, meghan markle's interview with oprah winfrey in which they accused the royal family of being racist. the two brothers walked in apart but they came out together with kate, william's wife, and they were chatting and enjoying -- apparently enjoying each other's company. something that certainly would make their grandfather happy. >> yeah, indeed. and i think it was particularly touching, that card that she placed in that wreath of flowers sitting atop the duke's coffin, the casket there that was draped in the standard and we did get a little glimpse at it and it said, she signed it, lillabet,

and that was his affectionate name for her that he called her all her life since she was a young girl. anne thompson, thank you so much from windsor. thanks, everyone, for watching alex witt rots. yasmin vossoughian is up next. you're going to hear her conversation with a st. louis police officer who's in a police union that actually holds bad cops accountable. why not both? visibly diminish wrinkled skin in... crepe corrector lotion... only from gold bond. i'm ordering some burritos! oh, nice. burritos?! get a freshly made footlong from subway® instead. with crisp veggies on freshly baked bread. just order in the app! ditch the burgers! choose better, be better. subway®. eat fresh. ♪♪ it's velveeta shells & cheese choose better, be better. versus the other guys. ♪♪ clearly, velveeta melts creamier.

♪♪ good afternoon, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. we have a lot of ground to cover with a team of correspondents covering it all for us. controversial congresswoman marjorie taylor greene lashing out in a new statement over attacks of her new effort in congress that one of her colleagues is labeling the ku klux caucus. new flash points in the debate over police and race. and new information on the victims and the gunman in a shooting at a fedex