that keeps killing bacteria for 24 hours. touch after touch. don't just sanitize. keep killing bacteria for 24 hours with microban 24 hello and welcome to msnbc's continuing coverage. tonight, president biden delivered his historic first address to congress with his historic and now iconic image of the first woman of color vice president standing next to the first woman speaker of the house behind him on the eve of his 100th day in office, but before the speech, the justice department took extraordinary action against the trump allies at the center of the ukraine scheme to prevent the biden presidency. federal investigators executed search warrants at the manhattan home and office of donald trump's former lawyer rudy giuliani for his efforts involving ukraine to hurt joe

biden's nascent presidential campaign, which led to donald trump being impeached for the first time. fbi agents seized cell phones and computers from giuliani. the "new york times" reports investigators are in part looking for communications between giuliani and ukrainian officials who helped him collect information about joe biden. quote, federal authorities have largely focused on whether mr. giuliani illegally lobbied the trump administration in 2019 on behalf of ukrainian officials and oligarchs. at the time mr. biden was a leading contender for the democratic presidential nomination. in a statement, rudy giuliani denied any wrongdoing but the "new york times" notes, quote, the execution of search warrants is an extraordinary action for prosecutors to take against a lawyer, let alone a lawyer for a former president. joining us now harry lippman,

former deputy assistant attorney general. thank you very much for being here this morning. you're a great person to talk to about this. why was this search warrant so extraordinary? >> well, as you just said, there was already special requirements to have a search warrant against an attorney, but let alone the former u.s. attorney, the mayor of new york. it surely, surely went all the way up through the department including the newly confirmed deputy attorney general lisa monaco and quite likely the attorney general himself. and that means they were being very, very sure. of course it's a warrant meaning after those approvals they went to a judge, a neutral magistrate and said we think there's probable cause that there's evidence of a crime here. the judge agreed. so the magnitude of the action matches the magnitude of his

personality and history, but it also gives an extra measure of assurance that they were playing it by the book. >> and speaking of magnitude in the opposite direction, the "new york times" was reporting that the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan and the fbi had sought for months doj approval to request the giuliani warrants. talk about the impact or the import of a justice department blocking those search warrants. and this was under then president trump's justice department under bill barr. >> that's right. the most important fact about it is it belies any claim as you're hearing tonight from giuliani, from andrew giuliani, that this is all politicized because the very same department under trump wanted to do it. there's an argument for why they did it. they said maybe it would interfere with an election. that strikes me as specious, but you understand the point they were trying to apply.

the bigger thing is you know they had the goods on him, at least the same goods they have now for many months and wanted to move forward, and it wasn't they who were stopped by the high officials in doj who stopped them. that means this is not some new kind of political reprisal. >> and one more question, harry. so now that the search warrants have been executed, what are the next steps? what should we expect? >> all right. it depends how much and how quickly it's going to expand. i think we can take from the warrants that they have proposal to believe a violation, he said he lied when he said he was only working for the president, but he was really taking money. that's a situation where the law is clear. we've got to know what you're doing. rudy giuliani is no charitable case. he's the one who wanted to -- $20,000 to represent trump. if he did that at all with any of the romanian places and

people he was trying to shake dirt from, he would be guilty of fair ra. his -- campaign finance violations and possible obstruction of justice and finally, they went after victoria tensing who was involved in the january 6th sort of big lie. i think the short answer is fara for sure, how quickly it expands is uncertain from there, and that's what will also drive the pace of any indictment. >> we'll have to leave it there, harry litman, thank you. >> joining us now ben rhodes. an msnbc political contributor. also joining us, jonathan alter, a columnist for the "daily beast" and also an msnbc political analyst. since you were the deputy national security adviser, your reaction to these search warrants against giuliani?

>> well, jonathan, what i'm struck by is the fact that clearly the justice department was ready to do this, wanted to do this for some time, and it was obstructed by the attorney general of the united states bill barr under donald trump. and as soon as merrick garland got confirmed, and lisa monaco who i worked closely with in the obama years was confirmed as deputy attorney general, this is just moving forward. clearly there's not just smoke, there's fire. this was signed off on by a magistrate, and it suggests to me that we're in the beginning of the justice department now being allowed to pull all of these threads. and if you look at rudy giuliani and you look at his conduct and you look at the corruption that was kind of hiding in plain sight, this is the beginning of a much longer story in an effort to uncover who the characters were involved with, the actions of something like giuliani who

until january 20th thought he could act with total impunity. well, you can't. >> let's talk about and continue ben's line of corruption thought here, and i was thinking corruption of the justice department, the idea that prosecutors, career folks in doj, in sdny were pushing to get these warrants when it was bill barr's justice department being blocked, talk more about why the american people should be concerned about that aspect of this story. >> well, jonathan, we had basically a criminal enterprise at the top of our government under president trump, and it is now being exposed. we're at the beginning of that process, and i think the ultimate question is whether this leads to trump himself. so you could see a situation where the giuliani trial, which will be fascinating to watch if it takes place, i think the

likelihood of that is increasing dramatically tonight. the giuliani trial then becomes a prelude to a trial of donald trump, and the great irony here is that in the same way that trump has so often been guilty of projection, you know, accusing others of doing what he himself and his circle are doing. remember, trump talked endlessly that the democrats were trying to rig the election, steal the election. well, if you actually look at what happened in this ukrainian situation, you go back to the testimony in the first impeachment trial, you add what we're going to learn now through this new investigation, it's pretty clear on its face that this was an effort by rudy giuliani, donald trump, and others to rig the 2020 election in favor of trump. remember, earlier tonight

president biden talked about -- russia on its intervention in the 2020 election. so the government already has a lot of evidence that that took place. we're going to see the connections between giuliani and trump and that russian effort to intrude in our election over the next weeks and months. >> ben, i want -- i want to show you both, but ben, this is for you. back on september 8th, 2020, i interviewed rudy giuliani in the middle of the presidential campaign, and a couple of days before the treasury department sanctioned one of the people he had been in contact with, a ukrainian member of parliament by the name of andre dir cash. have a listen to the question i asked him about who was paying him. >> have you ever facilitated

payments to dir cash for any information or vice versa? >> no, i don't pay people for information. i did not know he was a russian agent. >> how could you not know, mayor giuliani? >> how could i not know. >> you're a former prosecutor for the southern district of new york. how could you not know that this person you were talking to was a known russian agent who graduated from kgb schools? >> because i have seen. jonathan calm down. >> answer the question. and if you noticed, he never answered the question. the question was were you paying dir cash for information. ben, you were the deputy national security adviser, did any of what giuliani said ring true to you in hindsight now? >> no, i mean, look, the thing is if you follow this at all, if you follow the situation in ukraine at all, what you know is there's all kinds of money

washing through that country. the russians operate in ukraine through cutouts, through agents, through assets through ukrainian oligarchs through people who try to enlist the support of people like rudy giuliani to funnel disinformation in american politics, to take care of russian interests in american politics, to maintain the russian position in ukraine. this is well-known to anyone who's looked at ukraine in the last decade. not just since the war broke out there in 2016. there were so many reasons why this was alarming what giuliani was up to, by going around ukraine and trying to get dirt on hunter biden, trying to get the ukrainian government to affect its own domestic policies to suit the political interests of president trump. the corruption of our presidential election but also as you allude to in those questions, the kind of people

that he might have committed violations on behalf of, are the kind of people who worked for the russian intelligence services. this is an even bigger story than just the corruption of rudy giuliani. this is how russia was pulling the strings and making use of people like giuliani either because they were unwitting of it, but i think more likely they were just looking the other way and willing to go along with the interests of an adversary the united states here. this is, again, if you look at merrick garland, lisa monaco, these are not political people. these are career type people. the reason this has to move forward is not because of any political interests of joe biden. it's in the national security interests of the united states. it's in the interest of the integrity of the rule of law that we figure out what was going on here precisely because these are the kind of characters that are utilized by the russian government to affect what is happening here in america. we have to put an end to that. >> and jonathan, last question to you, also in the national

interest is prosecuting those people who stormed the u.s. capitol on january 6th. now that we have attorney general garland, deputy attorney general monaco, do you think that the actions that we're seeing against giuliani and pushing against the interference in the 2020 election, does that send a signal to those folks who are now caught up in the federal investigations into the insurrection that there will be consequences for what they did in terms of interfering with the 2020 election? >> well, jonathan, i'm not even sure they need that signal. the justice department has been very aggressive in recent weeks in bringing those insurrectionists to justice. you saw some new videotape that came out today that relates to the death of brian sicknick, and you're going to see a lot more coming out. the wheels of justice are just

beginning to turn, and all of this is part of restoring confidence in the rule of law, restoring confidence in our democratic system. we barely dodged a bullet on january 6th. we have a lot of repair work to do in this country in not just healing our country but cleansing it, and this is what an honest justice department has to do, even if the republicans shout as andrew giuliani did tonight, you know, that this is being politicized, that just has to be, frankly, ignored, and we have to move along to reassert the rule of law. >> jonathan alter, ben rhodes, thank you both very much for being here. on the eve of his 100th day in office, president biden

delivered his first address to congress. more on the vision he laid out for the american people and how he plans to get the country back on track. you're watching msnbc. ck you're watching msnbc.

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they need to be ready for anything. i hope you're ready. 'cause we are. madame speaker, madame vice president. [ applause ] >> no president has ever said those words from this podium, no president has ever said those words, and it's about time. >> not only is it about time, but long overdue.

president joe biden delivered his first address to a joint session of congress just one day shy of his 100th day in office, and he opened with a nod to the historic moment of two women occupying the seats behind him. one standout moment of many. while biden gave a very calm and somewhat normal speech compared to his predecessor, other than that, not much about the occasion was typical. for starters, the chamber built to hold 1,600 people held on a socially distant 200 on wednesday as capacity was limited due to covid. this is also the first presidential address in the chamber since the deadly insurrection on january 6th, no doubt somewhat triggering for at least a few lawmakers. but in the hour and five minute long speech, biden touched on a wide range of topics. the through line, however, was clear. he and his administration plan to restore and rebuild this country in its time of need. >> we've stared into the abyss

of insurrection and autocracy, pandemic and pain, and we the people did not flinch. at the very moment our adversaries were certain we'd pull apart and fail, we came together. we united. it's never ever, ever, been a good bet to bet against america, and it still isn't. we're the united states of america. there's not a single thing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity. we can do whatever we set our minds to if we do to together. >> joining me now is tara palmieri, co-author of the "politico" playbook. thank you both for being here. i'm going to start with you tara and go to you fernand with the same question. your reaction, how did president biden do in his first joint session speech to congress?

tara, i can't hear you. i'll go to fernan and then i'll come back to you, tara. fernan your reaction to the president's speech? >> well, it struck me, one, how confident and comfortable joe biden was. normally one would think in their first presidential joint session to congress speech, there may be a sense of wonderment, awe, maybe some butterflies on the first time out. joe biden completely comfortable in his skin. really what stood out to me was the ambitious, almost transformational nature of what he talked about. obviously he had a lot of policy ground to cover given what he inherited, the american carnage really turned over by his predecessor, but when you think about what he was trying to get at, really a transformational approach to changing america, rebuilding and restoring america. there's been a lot of talk in

the post-speech analysis about who and what was the model. and i think joe biden himself gave the game away, jonathan in the remarks. he cited one president by name. it was franklin delano roosevelt, and i think that is very much the man and the moment and the model that bidden is going for, very quick and active legislation to set a tone, set a momentum for the country. i thought he laid that out very well tonight in those hour and change for his fist joint session. >> tara, your reaction to the president's speech sm. >> i felt like the president was really making the pitch to main street to americans to just let them know this is where that $6 trillion is going to go. it's going to go into your pockets. we are going to be taxing the rich, corporations, and really trying to assure americans like trust in government. we just got through this huge coronavirus crisis with the help

of government and we're going to take it even further. and sort of just getting people used to the idea of big government and what is possible and how it can be transformational. and so, you know, i felt like he was really talking to everyday main street americans saying, like, don't be afraid of government. we got through this, and there's bigger things ahead. >> tara, i want to stake with you for a moment and have you respond to something fernand said in his answer, which i also agree with. he said that the president was confident and comfortable in his own skin, which i agree with, but i would also add that we a democratic president who was not afraid to speak as a democratic president who recognized that there's systemic racism, who recognized that the country needed healing when it came to race. he was not running away from these issues. he walked head long into them. do you think -- do you agree this is a sign he's confident

and comfortable and the message he delivered on those issues will resonate with the country. >> yeah, absolutely, and it's also the messenger. he's an older white man who speaks like a generation of people and a group of voters who really took to donald trump, and he's really speaking in a very plain spoken way about, you know, who he is, how he is looking out for the little guy or just, you know, everyday people, and i think, you know, the messenger showing that he's mostly progressive, but he looks like an older white man. >> because he is. >> it doesn't necessarily jive together, but it definitely shows that, you know, this is what he's about, and it's not -- he's not the centrist biden necessarily that you thought he was that was going to take the safe and easy road as being a

stable hand as many people thought. he was actually going to use his presidency to be transformational. >> and fernand, last question to you, and that is the republicans. tell me if you -- what do you think of the -- i think the republicans made a mistake by not coming back to washington and filling the number of seats that they could have filled in the chamber to at least respond to some of the things the president was saying. they gave the president an open field to say all those things without any sort of public rebuke. >> you know, i couldn't agree with you more, and watching the speech tonight harkens back. i remember the days when bill clinton was president and newt beginning risch used to say after watching those we're never going to beat that guy. i can just imagine the reaction the republicans had tonight as joe biden was in full blown uncle joe mode. i mean, really nothing that you

could possibly take exception to in his remarks, and as tara said earlier, don't underestimate the countenance of an older american president, you know, who is there to reassure, really engaged in the bipartisan unity speech, which i think the republicans would have liked if he'd gone a little more partisan, a little more tribal, and he just took that away from him. you see them seeing joe biden wondering how are we going to beat this guy this shades of what gingrich once said about clinton. >> thank you both very much. appreciate your time. still ahead, joe biden and his department of justice are putting a major emphasis on police reform, how the biden administration plans to take the lead on one of the most pressing issues facing the country. that's next. ost pressing issues facing the country. that's next.

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we have to come together to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the people they serve, to root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system, and to enact police reform in george floyd's name that passed the house already. i know republicans have their own ideas and are engaged in a very productive discussions with democrats in the senate. we need to work together to find a consensus, but let's get it done next month. by the first anniversary of george floyd's death.

>> president biden announced an ambitious date for passing the george floyd justice in policing act, may 25th, the anniversary of floyd's death, but until then, the justice department is exerting its power in some high profile killings of black americans. today three white men charged with murdering ahmaud arbery were also indicted on hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges. also yesterday, the fbi opened a federal several rights investigation into police killing of andrew brown jr. in north carolina. even as a judge today denied the release of the body camera footage to the public. joining us now is cedric alexander, former police chief of dekalb county, georgia, and member of president obama's task force on policing. he's also an msnbc law enforcement analyst. thank you very much for being here tonight or early this morning, depending on where you

are. can i -- did you -- you watched senator tim scott's response to president biden's speech, right? >> yes, i did. i had an opportunity to see it, yeah. >> so were you surprised that senator scott did not go into any detail whatsoever about what he was doing and the ideas he had for getting the george floyd justice in policing act from negotiation to a bill, to a bill that could be voted on. >> yeah, absolutely, jonathan. in fact, i found it very surprising that he did not bring the bill up very specifically, being that on his side of the house, on the senate side he is the primary author and supposed to be working with the democrats on this bill. when you listened to his speech tonight, it sounded very much a

canned speech but it really did not get to the substance of the issue of police reform in this country and what he's proposing. and even though some of the things he's proposing from what i've heard and read have been sound, but there's some things as well too in which i think they're trying to water down and we're in a very peculiar place in this country right now where we don't need a watered down bill on police reform. we need one that is going to be effective change in this country. >> on the issue of qualified immunity, which is probably the biggest sticking point when it comes to democrats and republicans and senator scott floated the idea of reforming it so that people could see police departments and not police officers individually. your former chief of police, is that a worthwhile compromise to your mind? >> well, i think that's a very

tough discussion that they're going to really have to sit down and talk more about. when you start talking qualified immunity, it is certainly a sticking point for the republicans in this particular case, but i think it's going to require further conversation. here's the thing, john. if you say you're not going to sue the police officers, but you're going to sue the police department, the police department is funded by the city who we know that across this country has been paying out millions of dollars. you take chicago, for example, have paid off almost a half a billion dollars or more within the last ten years. so we're going to have to find a way to address this issue, not so much for the good officers but for those officers we know who are very egregious, who have committed criminal acts and may end up being terminated or charged or whatever but they

leave that city, they leave that community taxed with this huge civil suit, and it's really not fair to the community, and it's not fair to the other agencies that he or she may work for. so it's a sticking point. it's one in which i think they're going to have to really spend some time around because something very different certainly needs to happen. it's no question about that. >> chief cedric alexander, thank you very much. >> thank you. coming up, i'll speak with a member of congress who was inside the chamber during president biden's speech, congresswoman barbara lee joins me live. also, make sure to listen to the newest episode of the into the america podcast, msnbc's trymaine lee looks back at the first 100 days of joe biden's presidency, episode 112 drops at 5:00 a.m. eastern. subscribe or follow now wherever you get your podcasts.

we've all seen uneven justice on the knee of black americans. now is our opportunity to make real progress. the country supports this reform and congress should act, should act. we have a joint opportunity to bend the arc of the moral universe towards justice, real justice, and with the plans outlined tonight, we have a real chance to root out systemic racism that plagues american lives in other ways. a chance to live a real equity. >> joining me now is democratic congresswoman barbara lee of california. she was in the chamber tonight for the president's speech, and right there you saw she had a conversation with the president after the speech on his way out. congresswoman lee, thank you very much for being here. >> hello, jonathan, glad to be with you this morning or this evening. >> right. >> all right, congresswoman lee. what'd you all talk about?

>> well, first of all, i just had to let them know how much i appreciated his speech, and we talked about several things, but one issue that i want to raise that i think is so important, and that is that the president tucked about poverty and lifting people out of poverty. you know, for so long here in washington, d.c., using the p word is something that did not exist. i chair the task force on poverty and opportunity. you know, making the child tax credit permanent. right now half of children living below the poverty line will be lifted out of poverty, and so poverty and eliminating poverty is a big issue for me, and i thanked him for that as part of our conversation for talking about it and really working on those issues. >> well, another issue that i know is important to you is civil rights, and i'm wondering your reaction to the president of the united states not running away from race, not running away from the problem of white

supremacy, but leaning into it. your reaction to president biden leaning in on those issues? >> yes, president biden absolutely is telling the truth, first of all, and he actually said white supremacy is terrorism. he's talked about structural racism and really moving forward to provide for racial equity, racial justice in the whole of government approach, and so to have a president really just come right head on into it to raise these discussions, to educate the public and more importantly to work on policies and his agenda, for me after so many years of fighting for civil and human rights to have a president talk about and use the words structural racism and white supremacy, i mean, this is transformative for not only the white house in terms of setting a new standard for presidents, but also for the country to hear the truth being told by the

president of the united states on so many issues that have impacted the african-american community and communities of color for black people for the last 401 years in america. >> the president laid out his plans for -- the american jobs plan, the american families plan, he touted the success of the american rescue plan. your republican colleagues are now complaining -- not complaining, but expressing concern over the trillion dollars and up price tags. what's your argument to them for why spending that money, which is a whole lot of money, why spending that money is vital? >> well, they didn't raise concerns when they passed the trillion dollars -- couple of trillion dollars in tax cuts for the very wealthy. they didn't complain when they gave corporations a pass where

many of them don't have to pay taxes. they didn't complain when they moved forward on so many issues that really just impacted and made the millionaires and billionaires wealthier and did not raise the minimum wage for low wage workers. they don't complain when it comes to very wealthy corporations taking jobs offshore. they didn't complain about giving tax breaks for not foreign letting companies go offshore rather than hiring americans and coming back to america. so they don't complain for that. when they complain about is unfortunately paying child care workers a living wage, paying home care workers and caregivers a living wage, they don't seem to care about those people who take care of their families also. so i don't understand quite what their value system is but believe you me, i know our president and speaker, all of us are trying to work with them to

pass the bills in a bipartisan way. >> democratic congresswoman barbara lee of the great state of california, thank you so much for coming on. what's next for joe biden, a visit to georgia. that's next. next for joe bidena visit to georgia that's next.

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joe biden will spend the 100th day of his presidency in georgia. he'll visit with former president jimmy carter and hold a drive-in rally in the atlanta area. the trip will be biden's second trip to atlanta as president, proof of how key georgia is to his agenda, which only has a

shot of becoming law because of the election of georgia democratic senators raphael warnock and jon ossoff. joining me now eugene daniels, white house correspondent for "politico." msnbc political analyst, and the owner of the best afro ever in time. eugene, thank you for being here. serious question here. there's a strategy here behind the president's now frequent visits to georgia, isn't there? >> absolutely. this is a white house that we've seen this before, right, a big tent pole moment, and then they take it to the american people, right? this is the white house that is calculating and essentially nothing is done on accident. and after kind of four years of the then president trump, whatever he wanted to do it worked out, this is a department, a press team that is planning for the future, so they know, just like you said, going

to georgia is a clear acknowledgment that he and the administration know this is how much he owes to the state. he owes them not just his presidency basically but also making his job a lot easier, he's able to pass things through reconciliation because he got two senators from a typical ruby red state. and, you know, this is -- we're going to continue to see this, also something some obama white house alums, some of who are in constant contact with this white house, they tell me there also is a little bit of risk when you have a president going out to sell things. he's going to talk about his infrastructure bill because americans, they like bipartisanship. they don't like the sausage making. they don't like to know the back and forth between republicans and democrats, especially right now. i think they are making that calculated risk knowing they'll throw biden out for a little bit, have some of the other principle, but then bring him back to the white house. >> one other thing, raphael

warnock, he has to run again for election to a full term in 2022, so the president visiting is also helpful. eugene daniels of "politico," thank you very much. republicans continue to balk at the numerous policy plans the president has been putting forth, but his ideas are broadly popular and actually have some support among republican voters. e support among republican voters.

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american families plan will provide access to quality affordable child care. we guarantee -- [ applause ] -- when i proposed the legislation, we guarantee that low and middle income families will pay no more than 7% of their income for high quality care for children up to the age of 5. the most hard pressed working families won't have to spend a

dime. >> in addition to the $2.3 trillion jobs and infrastructure plan, which has bipartisan support among voters, the biden administration has proposed a $1.8 trillion american families plan aimed at expanding access to education, reducing the cost of child care, and supporting women in the work force, which is important, since women and particularly women of color propelled biden to victory and helped deliver the senate to democrats in georgia. joining me now jess morales -- executive director of care in action, and a'sha c. mills, democratic strategist. thank you both for being here. explain to republicans who might be watching right now why the american families plan with its $1.8 trillion price tag should be passed by the house and the senate and get to the president's desk for signature. >> i mean, the urgency couldn't

be more fierce in this moment. this is really a make or break moment for our country. covid-19 and the pandemic has really highlighted how desperately we need bold action to support american families and build the modern economy. when we put money in people's pockets, we make it more affordable for them to do basic things like care for our kids and go to college. that will lead to long-term economic progress for all families. and that couldn't be more important. i don't think that's partisan. i think republicans agree. >> and aisha, republicans agree, the president himself is popular. his job approval rating is very high. 60% approve of joe biden's job -- what he's doing in his job, but that doesn't exactly mean that this legislation is going to make it out of the house in the form that it's in

and certainly not make it out of the senate. so what's the strategy? how can democrats and the president get it from legislation to law? >> jonathan, that is such an excellent question because, you know, we have seen year after year after year after year i'd say even decade after decade, we saw this all through the obama era where the public sentiment isn't always what the legislators are legislating around, and that's unfortunate. and i have to call it out because, you know, i'm the democrat of the bunch, and i've always been on the democratic side of the aisle in terms of my professional work. it is most often the republicans who buck public sentiment in order to thwart the person who's in power, if it's not of their party, and the fact that everything distills down on capitol hill to partisan politics is a disgrace and frustrating for american families. so i don't know honestly what the strategy is for the biden administration to get through the senate. i'm confident that they're going

to get all the things that they want through the house, but what happens when not only are you dealing with a very, very slim margin there in terms of the vice president being able to break a tie in the senate, but then you have your own democrats who you can't always rely on who are on the other kind of conservative slant, i don't know what he does, but i do know that all of this boils down to politics. for everyone who's watching at home, know that it's really important that you contact your senators to tell them when you want them to do repeatedly because otherwise they're just not going to pay attention. >> jess, i'm going to ask you the same question i just asked you a minute ago, but then tuck your message to those democrats within the democratic caucus, particularly in the senate, how do you convince them the price tag, particularly for the american families plan is one that is worth passing, worth voting for. >> you know, i think in particular when i talked to

those front line members, the people up in 2022 to see that care is not just incredibly popular but it is also a way for us to reach out to persuasive voters. it's actually an issue that is persuasive. in 2016 in a trump district we had a candidate run just on care alone, on child care, on elder care, and they were able to win in that district as a democrat even though trump took the district, incredibly polarized circumstances. we see that over and over again. care is popular and care is bipartisan. this is an issue that can actually appeal to the swing voter because it's so clear to people that they can't afford care as it is, and that the growing need for care means we have to deal with these problems right now. we can't wait to take on this political issue because it will become a bigger political issue in 2022, 2024. it will be harder to solve. so now is the time to really make sure we deal with it.

>> and aisha, last question to you real fast. let's say you have a meeting with senator manchin or senator sinema or one of the centrist democrats, how do you convince them to vote for the president's plan? >> because ultimately both of them, particularly manchin, but both of them have people in their states who would benefit from this plan. this plan is about working people of which they both represent. and so for me fundamentally, it is really difficult to understand why all of the members wouldn't support working families or just families in general, and i would talk to them about that and say you don't vote for this, you're actually leaving your constituents behind. >> and with that we will leave there. jess morales, aisha c. mills, thank you both for your time tonight or this morning depending on where you are. and that does it for this hour of msnbc's special coverage.

thank you for watching. tune in for my msnbc program "the sunday show" which airs sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m. eastern, goes until noon. join us, it's a very good show from washington, d.c., on this early thursday morning, good night. we all know life can knock us down but in america, we never, ever, ever stay down. americans always get up. today, that's what we are doing. america is rising anew. choosing hope over fear, truth overlies and light over darkness. after 100 days of rescue and renewal, america is ready for a takeoff in my view. we are working again, dreaming again, discovering again and leading the world again. >> president biden in h