lawyer who is close to trump world about what the mindset is around the 45th president right now. plus, you won't believe who is among the people counting the ball lots in the sham recount in arizona. how the republicans are trying to turn day care, preschool and paid leave into a culture war. i'll ask a top bite den economic adviser on raising the minimum wage and whether another round of relief checks are coming. "velshi" starts now. good morning. it is sunday, may 2nd. i'm ali velshi. a big plate of news to dish out. here is what's happening, the united states continues to report sprong vaccination numbers, nearly one-third of the american population. while vaccinations are headed in the right direction, more than 50,000 americans continue to contract the virus every day.

more than 800 continue to die every day from the disease. dr. anthony fauci emphasized the fact with my msnbc colleague, yasmin vossoughian. >> -- i wouldn't declare victory yet. i have no trouble at all with people anticipating that we're going in the right direction, and if we do certain things, get vaccinated, continue to follow public health measures, we may be where they want to be by july 1st. but i hope that doesn't get people to pull back on the kinds of things that they should be doing. >> the united states may be nearing a major turning point in the fight against covid-19, but before that time comes, president biden wants congress to address the epidemic that is racial inequality and police violence. biden urged congress to pass the george floyd justice in policing act and getting to him by the

one-year anniversary of floyd's death. that negotiation stalled in the senate. as far as accountability for the actual murder, court documents show minnesota attorney general keith ellison is seeking a harsh sentence for derek chauvin due to the cruelty he demonstrated when he killed floyd. he faces up to 40 years in prison on second degree unintentional myrrh dwer. one of the lead prosecutors, jerry blackwell spoke about the importance of the case with my msnbc colleague, reverend al sharpton. >> personally, george floyd is me. he's like so many other african-americans. i've had my own experiences of being harassed by the police for no reason, being stopped for no reason. nobody should have to live that way. it was implementic of the contract that all of us as african-americans have even with our democratic experience in

criminal justice. >> this comes as the gop continues its war on the way we vote in america. as the former party of lincoln continues the desperate and deranged attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election in arizona. republicans in the state senate have confiscated ballots and voting equipment in maricopa county and turned them over for a review and recount to a florida-based firm called cyber ninjas, a firm led by someone who has publicly promoted the law that the election was a fraud. we'll have much more on that later in this hour. it should come as no surprise that the original perpetrator of the big lie, the insurrectionist, president trump, was captured speaking about it ad nauseam at the

summer farewell banquet last week. during rambling remarks delivered with a literal choir singing in the background to an audience which seemed less than interested, the twice impeached former president again falsely insisted that the election was, quote, rigged, claiming that the arizona sham recount will find, quote, thousands and thousands and thousands of votes. he claimed that, quote, they found a lot of votes in new hampshire just now, you saw that? end quote. nobody saw that because nobody found any votes in new hampshire or in any other state for that matter. a search of a different sort, last woke's raid on rudy giuliani's apartment and office is expected to yield far different results. agents confiscated several electronic devices surrounding his shady dealings with ukrainian officials, dealings he says were on the orders of the

former president and how that work lines up with russia's disinformation efforts. giuliani's successful efforts to have america's former ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch removed. however, one key former member of trump's inner circle told me on the show yesterday he expects another shoe to drop in this investigation. >> now they have a treasure trove of information on rudy's cell phones or computer, and they're going to be able to dig through all of that information. rest assured, this is not about marie yovanovitch. this is not just about ukraine. this could be about a multitude of other issues that shady rudy has been involved with. as i say, this is just the icing on the cake when it comes to the southern district of new york review. who knows what's in there. who knows the southern district

of new york. >> joining me now is a former federal prosecutor for the southern district of new york. he specialized in corruption and fraud. good to see you again. what do you think this is about? what do you think led to this raid and seizure, and what do you think comes of it? >> first of all, i would say, michael cohen is correct because he's been through that system, he's been through the microscope of what the southern district of new york can do. he's had a search warrant executed on his stuff. what can it be about? i think michael cohen is actually right. it can be about anything. it can be any trail that the southern district of new york is going down. now, of course, we think based on what's already been charged, that case against lev per november, using straw donors. that could be the kernel that

began this investigation. until we see the search warrant and the types of crimes that the southern district of new york is investigating, we don't know. it could be many things. >> we've heard from rudy giuliani, as people are seeing on the screen right now. we've heard from donald trump talking about rudy giuliani, the yietd this is some kind of witch hunt, they're going after him. you worked at the southern district of new york. how does that office proceed with figuring out the information they want on rudy without falling victim to the accusations that it is a witch hunt or that they're fishing around for information related to donald trump? >> the way they proceed with every case, whether it's a small case or a big case, which is they follow their own rules. for something like this, a search warrant regarding an attorney and the former president's attorney, there are a lot of hurdles you have to go through. it's not just the southern district of new york that

approves this search warrant. you have to go through the doj and washington and i'm certain they had to get the a.g.'s approval for this. how they protect themselves, they follow the rules. >> word is that the former attorney general, bill barr, did not approve this sort of action. what do you make of that? >> if that's true, i think that's stunning. that's not how the system is supposed to work. if you have probable cause and good reason to search a place for evidence of a crime, you approve it. plus on top of that, back to your question, ali, which was great, how the southern district of new york prosecutors protect themselves, let's not forget this search warrant had to be approved by a judge, but an independent judge in the southern district of new york who looked at the search warrant application and said, yes, there's probable cause to believe there's crime in rudy giuliani's apartment and on his

electronic devices. >> kan, good to see you as always. kan nawaday, a former federal prosecutors with the southern district of new york. part three of president biden's getting america back on track tour is meant to promote his $1.9 trillion american rescue plan which has been enacted and helping americans right now, and pushing the public to back his massive infrastructure package yet. infrastructure may be unique in that it has support from some democrats and republicans and a compromise might be possible. new reporting in "the washington post" shows privately top democrats are signaling they are willing to make concessions over biden's $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan or break it into chunks if that will attract even a handful of republican votes. the post also reports that the president spoke recently with republican senator shelley moore

capito and suggested he was contemplating her counteroffer of roughly $568 billion more seriously than he viewed the republican response to his coronavirus relief legislation. at the same time, it might be difficult to negotiate as republicans go on a full-fledged culture war as sult against another of biden's priorities, his $1.8 trillion american families plan which would expand federal investment in child care, higher education, employee leave among many other things that are meant to benefit the american people. joining me is senator bob casey, a member of the senate intelligence and finance committee. good to see you. >> good to be with you. thank you. >> senator, let's talk about infrastructure. in theory, this is the kind of thing that should be bipartisan. it's good for business. it's good for standard of living. it's good for workers. it does seem there are a at least a few of your republican colleagues who are prepared to offer some sort of a negotiation. tell me what you think of this.

>> well, that remains to be seen. we'll see. if they're serious about -- really serious about engaging in a negotiation that realeds a robust proposal, but so far i haven't seen that. it seems like the republican party lost its way at least in the last number of years when it came to proposing big solutions to the challenges the american people face or at least considering those. so when we talk about, for example, in the families plan, talk about the universal access to pre kindergarten education for all 3 and 4 years old or two years of community college or helping lower, middle-income students at historically black universities or making permanent the child and dependent care tax credit and the earned income tax credit and extending for five years the child tax credit, they

don't even want to have a conversation about that. they don't consider any of that part of the infrastructure of our families. so there's a real hostility, frankly, even to the earlier proposal, the jobs proposal on home and community-based services that's part of the initial infrastructure proposal. so far they've been hostile to most of it, even short changing the parts of it they claim they're for, like roads and bridges. >> let's talk about how the democratic party should approach this. you have cautioned that democrats shouldn't negotiate against themselves in order to earn kudos for making a bill bipartisan. tell me a little more about that. >> well, because, look, sometimes when -- in the interest of trying to, i guess, satisfy some overall desire to

show you're bipartisan. sometimes democrats can do that, especially against ourselves. they're offering proposals that are less than what we started with. so the key here ask to meet the moment, not to have some bipartisan moment. we've got to meet the moment which means meet the moment that families are in, communities are in. we've got communities across the country that haven't had infrastructure investment in 50 years. so we've got to meet the moment. if that means it's bipartisan, that's great. but i think the important thing here is to make sure we make the investments we have to make in our communities so we can grow and create the kind of economic dynamism that we know can help, especially those investments that relate to our family. >> they are investments because they involve money. as a result your caucus has had some success in this new administration getting things passed with budget

reconciliation as opposed to the normal way of doing things. would you do that again to get the jobs plan and the families act passed? >> no question. i think it's helpful, i think, for both developing ideas as well as to have a bipartisan approach that we've had some time. we will have had the month of april, the month of may, but at some point you've got to move forward, and that might -- i think that's likely to mean -- highly likely to mean, for most of us, done by reconciliation with 50 votes plus vice president harris. >> bob casey t democratic senator from pennsylvania. the u.s. economy starting to come back to life. millions are still feeling the struggle. my conversation with the health they are bouch she.

despat vaccinations and planned reopenings, the pandemic is still claiming hundreds of american lives every day. why new variants and confusing messaging can hurt in the long run. first, voting and vote counting have always been and should also be a responsibility of government. arizona republicans don't agree. wait until you hear about some of the characters recounting votes in arizona right now. that's next on "velshi." t more s in my pill. i talked to my doctor... and switched to... fewer medicines with dovato. prescription dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment or replacing their current hiv-1 regimen. with... just 2 medicines... in 1 pill,... dovato is as effective as a 3-drug regimen... to help you reach and stay undetectable. research shows people who take hiv treatment as prescribed... and get to and stay undetectable... can no longer transmit hiv through sex. don't take dovato if you're allergic to any of its ingredients... or if you take dofetilide. hepatitis b can become harder to treat while taking dovato.

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we've been officially voting in elections in america since 1789. while it hasn't always been perfect, we've gotten pretty goodality it. a lot has changed by granting the right to vote to all people regardless of gender, race or color, outlawing poll taxes an making your vote private since 1890 when many states started using secret ballots. a lot has changed since we started voting, but one thing

hasn't and probably shouldn't. voting in america has always been the responsibility of the government, state, local and federal. each has a different role, where state and local jurisdictions handle most everything from voter registration to establishing the rules to tabulating the actual votes. federal involvement includes enforcing civil rights and certifying electoral votes. good people can and do often disagree about the role of government in our lives, but we generally agree that government can and should do some things better than we can do n o your o own, or ha the private sector could do. conducting elections and counting ballots is one of those things. voting is a constitutional right, the government's job to see it's done correctly which is why it's shocking that arizona recently chose to outsource its rights and responsibilities to recount ballots to a private company. why arizona is actually recounting ball lots in maricopa county 180 days after the election is a story all on its own. not only have they invited a random, privately owned company

to conduct the count and lay hands on ballots cast by citizens, but doing it with a company with dubious credentials. the company, cyber ninjas, is run by a guy who has been spreading the big lie that the election was stolen. at best, we has a dog in this hunt. at worse, his company isn't impartial about how the voting went in arizona's most populous county. if you think there was voter fraud -- by the way, courts in arizona have said there is none. if you think democracy in peril, the solution to those issues do not start with a google search for a private company who has taken a political position on the election in question. what we're watching in question is democracy coming apart in the little details. by handing over real people's ballots to cyber ninjas, we're giving up the actual levers and tools of our free and clear elections.

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i'd like to introduce you to anthony kern. according to the arizona republic, kern is a former state lawmaker nominated by the republican party to be a presidential elector in the 2020 election. his name appeared alongside president trump and 12 others in november. he's running for arizona's house of representatives and he lost. according to the as republic, he was still in office when he traveled to the capitol on january 6th when a rally became a bloody siege that left five people dead. unfortunately, being an actual elected official and getting caught up in that unsur rex messes with your career and integrity. you stop getting invited to things. apparently not all things. mr. kern is now helping to recount and inspect 2.1 million ballots from the 2020 election in arizona as the behest of

cyber ninja. this was taken by an arizona republic reporter who was kicked out and had his press credentials revoked after tweeting these photos. cyber ninjas said the counter would be screened to make sure they didn't take any strang stand one way or another. kern tweeted@president trump, as an arizona state representative, i know this election was filled with no irregularities, transparency and adjudications and even outright fraud. you won the election and we stand with you every step of the way. so much for impartial. this man openly pushed the big lie conspiracy, reportedly attended a deadly insurrection and his name was in the ballot in arizona. this is who is being trusted to participate in a so-called non-partisan election audit. if it's fraud they're looking for, it's certainly there.

it's not on the ballots. it's in the denialist republican recount, this blatantly corrupt process is being closely watched by republicans in other states as well. it seems like a bad sign for the future of free and fair elections in this country. joining me jenna griswald, the chair of the democratic association of secretaries of state. also with me, ellen weintraub, a commissioner for the federal election commission. good morning to both of you. ellen, i grew up in canada where we mark ballots by hand, get counted by hand and government people count them. some of them are appointed by whatever the electoral body, maybe they're volunteers or are paid, and there are people who monitor those elections. this business of a random company coming in, a company led by somebody who has a dog in this fight seems very strange and unseemly to me. >> yes, it is quite unusual. i have observed elections around the world, and i've never seen

anything quite like this. election officials from across the country, both democrats and republicans have expressed a great deal of concern about this. there's nothing wrong with auditing the election after an election. in fact, it should be done by experienced, accredited, non-partisan professionals. unfortunately, this company doesn't seem to meet any of those criteria. it's deeply troubling that they have their hands on the ballot and neutral observers like that reporter are being thrown out of the room. there is a deeply troubling problem with our democracy where it seems like we have become so polarized that there are increasing numbers of people who will not accept the results of an election as legitimate if the other team wins. a democracy can't function like that. >> yeah. the normal issues around which we polarize, secretary griswald are one thing, but i thought

until now we had an agreement on the fairness of elections in this country. like commissioner weintraub said, we send people to other countries to monitor elections. i was speaking to your colleague, secretary benson, in michigan the other day. she's worried there are a few other states who are looking at arizona and maybe taking lessons for how this is going down. how do you feel as you watch this, secretary griswald? >> good morning, ali. thank you for having me on. how i feel is, this is dangerous. this cannot be the new normal where conservative lawmakers are are doing sham audits for one big purpose. that big purpose is to undermine our elections to pass more voter suppression laws that's what this is. as they spread more lies, they're able to pass voter suppression laws to help themselves win more elections. it's undemocratic, un-american and it has to stop. we need to be calling this out. more importantly, we need action, action to stop

conservatives from tilting elections in their favor. >> commissioner weintraub, what does action look like? is there someone in charge of this? what's the electoral structure in this country look like? you're with the federal election commission. do you have teeth in this matter? >> we do not. i don't have a dog in this fight. we don't run federal elections. this is done at the state and local level. it's for the most part a matter of state law. however, congress can set guidelines and there are bills in congress to set guidelines that would help ensure greater election integrity across the country. i'm almost reluctant to use the term election integrity because that phrase, unfortunately, has been so abused by people who are not seeking integrity, but it appears they are seeking to skew the election results. >> this is an interesting comment you just made, commissioner. i want to put this to you, secretary.

commissioner weintraub does not want the undermine the integrity of elections because she believes after observing them that they actually are free and fair. they're becoming unfree and unfair because of activities people are taking after the election, like what's under way in arizona, like what the legal changes we've seen in georgia, what's been proposed in iowa, kansas, michigan and pennsylvania. the elections themselves were not unfair, but we're affecting the integrity of the process because of this post election activity. >> that's exactly right. we just had the most secure in our nation's history with just voter participation out the roof from both sides of the aisle. now what we're seeing is republicans not like the results. there are now over 360 bills in 47 states to suppress american voters. we cannot allow these racist voter suppression laws to stand. this is setting up the elections

to tilt power one way, and i believe that regardless of where american voters live, regardless of the color of their skin or zip code, we all deserve access to the polls. that's why it's so urgent for the senate to pass hr-1, the for the peoples act, ample voting, access to drop boxes and polls across the country. state elected officials are not supposed to be taking away our constitutional rights to have our voices heard, and we urgently need congress to act to protect our democracy. >> again, colorado is one of the states that's been doing some of this stuff for a while, absentee voting, vote by mail, early voting. what's your experience been? >> our experience has been that it works really well. we have the highest percentage of eligible people registered in the nation. we just had the second highest turnout and we're considered the safe estate in which to cast a ballot. the colorado election model is very straightforward, you

register to vote. you're sent a ballot in the mail and you can return it to one of hundreds of drop boxes by mail or in person during weeks of early voting. you can even register on election day and cast a ballot. if you increase access so american voters can actually have their choices heard, they'll show up. what that means, ali, is we have a more representative democracy because more people get to choose which leaders they actually want representing them at the local level, state level and in the halls of congress. >> commissioner weintraub, the problem i have with this is i don't live in arizona, but i'm very, very worried about how this unfolds. the idea we have 50 different federal election systems, i understand, and i understand why that's constitutionally important. is there some way in which we can be having a national conversation about this, so it's not just being had on msnbc or cable tv stations, but people understand what that word you used really means, election

integrity, and how we remain one of the best systems in the world and not have it undermined by our own politicians. >> there is a debate going on right now in congress and in the senate. it's been discussed in the senate, but haven't brought it up for a vote yet. it is -- like everything else, it's become a partisan issue. the concern that i have is this all seems to be motivated by the perpetuation of the myth there was some kind of fraud in the election, and i just want to reiterate -- i know your viewers know this. officials appointed by the former president, from the fbi, the justice department, the department of homeland security all attested that this was a safe and secure election. there was no evidence of any kind of voter fraud that would have affected the outcome. there have been over 60 lawsuits challenging the results, including, as you pointed out, in arizona. and pretty much every single one

of those lawsuits was thrown out. so we are in a spiral here where people keep repeating this lie that there was voter fraud when there was no evidence for it, and then they used that as an excuse because they repeated it so often. they said our voters are concerned about this, so we have to change the rules. those rules end up making the election less accessible. i 100% agree with secretary griswold. we want to expand access and have as many people voting as possible. >> colorado secretary of state jenna griswald and commissioner weintraub, appreciate your time. the smallest big threat appearing in the food we eat and the water we drink. splash down in the gulf of mexico after five months in space, the longest ever duration

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for years environmentalists have warned that everyday products made of plastic pose a

dangerous risk to the environment. the epa estimates on average americans produce more than four pounds of garbage a day, a lot of it is plastic. once broken down it can take the form of micro plastics that make their way into the food we eat and the water we drink. the side effects of this microscopic migration are are still unknown. nbc's kerry sanders takes a look at the problem. >> reporter: sunrise over the gulf of mexico. >> we're going to head around the point here and up into the bay. >> reporter: we're with researchers from florida's eckerd college. >> i want to make sure we're not tangled in any way. >> reporter: casting nets not for fish, but to study something we can't easily see, microplastics. >> yes, there's microplastics basically everywhere in tampa bay. >> reporter: micro plastics, the size of a pencil eraser or smaller. >> you can look out here and don't see plastic, yet it's all

around us. >> reporter: it's no sush prize plastics litter the oceans, but it's how microplastics enter the environment that may surprise you. that fleece washes away with every load. a tire's repair, tiny bits of plastics onto the road that eventually drain into waterways, even your toothpaste includes them. >> 43.779. >> reporter: researchers found that tampa bay is littered with 4 billion particles. >> probably one particle per liter. >> reporter: one piece per that bottle of soda i have at home. >> for that container. >> is that a lot? >> yes, it's a lot. >> reporter: it's not until the mixtures are brought to shore to where they glow like stars in the milky way. >> wow, i couldn't see it out

there. >> reporter: wastewater treatment plants are often the last line of defense. >> what is all this? >> this unfortunately is all the unflushable items that people put down their toilets and drains. >> if you didn't capture it here, it would become the micro plastics. >> definitely. they could be broken down into smaurler pieces and that will be the micro plastics. >> is it making its way into the fish? >> we know for sure microplastics are being mistaken for food by the smallest organisms, and then the next level up in the food chain, and so it will end up on our dinner plate. >> is that plastic going to cause me a health problem? >> we don't know. we're still trying to figure that out. >> reporter: microplastics, the smallest big problem that's hidden from view. >> that was nbc's kerry sanders reporting in pembroke pines, florida. if you want to know how bad it

is for our diets. americans eat the weight of one plastic credit card every week. that's pretty crazy. up next, covid-19 variants are on the rise, but various cities are promising full reopenings in as soon as two months. what you need to know to stay safe when "velshi" returns. on your hard surfaces and fabrics. try 9 elements. its vinegar powered deep clean dissolves hard water buildup and releases trapped residues and odors like detoxifying your clothes. made with never more than 9 ingredients. 9 elements - more than a clean, a cleanse.

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just over a year after the start of the pandemic, it seems like america is finally on the road to recovery, but there are still concerns on a few fronts that could become a barrier to a post pandemic america. first, despite the vaccines, we still have variants to worry about. wisconsin reported over 1,000 covid cases in the state are variant cases while washington state is pinning a fourth wave of covid on the spread of variants as well. nevertheless, many of the country's biggest cities are moving up their reopening plans including new york city with

mayor bill de blasio saying the city could fully reopen on july 1st. the cdc released mask wearing guidance that can be described as confusing as best, leaving americans wondering how close we are to a return to normal. what do you do when you have questions like this, we bring in dr. bhadelia, the medical director of the special pathogens unit at boston medical center and an msnbc contributor. there's a standard i have that determines whether we're calling you. several people asked me this week whether i fully understood the cdc mask guidance which needs that people need to understand it from you. what do you make of what the cdc told us? >> what i like about the guidelines, they're stressing where the risk is. the risk continues to be in indoor spaces just like with other respiratory diseases, tuberculosis, for example.

more and more science is saying the outdoor seems to be safe. what cdc is saying with their new guidelines, if you're vaccinated, it's safe for you to go to most places in an outdoor setting except for stadiums and concert some risk if you're outdoors and if you're in a group of mixed vaccinated and unvaccinated but you won't know, right? for simplicity sake, i wish they would say watch out for large crowds. people can make a decision, not only that but you can't create a legal mandate around those nuances so you'll see the state

pick a conservative state mask unless you can't socially distance or take a liberal stance that says mask unless you're in large venues and that's what most ended up doing. most countries like u.k. and canada have never had an outdoor mask as have many states not had an outdoor mask here in the u.s., as well. >> let me ask you about the situation in india, not with standing the fact like brazil, india is a massive country, so we should be concerned about it. we also live in a pourous world so if there is an out of control outbreak of coronavirus, some has to do with india's handling of it and the capacity of the medical system but it's worrisome the numbers out of india, the highest transmission numbers and death numbers of the entire pandemic are occurring in india right now. >> that's right. they account for 43% of the cases now and it's only going to get worse. the modelling shows india had

2.5 million cases in the last week so the deaths you're seeing now are thought to be already an under count. you'll see them go up in the next couple weeks and that's what happens with most epidemics, the more the health care system gets overwhelmed, the higher the mortality because they can't sustain the number of patients coming in so india has to take bold stance moving forward. the aid we're sending is helpful. i fear that is just going to be a drop in the bucket until we have some sort of stance from india in terms of doing more definitive, you know, restrictions on capacities, you know, lockdowns are a bit harder. i think they should consider lockdowns in some areas, the last time they did so what happened is many workers when they were completely locked down, you had secondary effects, which india needs to consider a lockdown to support those. for us, it's important for the reasons we talked about because new variants have emerged that

are more transmissionble and found here in the u.s. the good news is vaccine seems to be still effective against those, as well. >> you've been so helpful through the course of the pandemic. we're grateful for it. medical director of the special pathogens unit and an msnbc contributor. don't go anywhere, we're just getting started on "velshi." we're going to discuss president biden's vision for america and if it's possible to achieve and he'll talk to healthier boushey about america's economic reboot, plus, most of us know right from wrong, right gets you praise, wrong gets you interest trouble unless you're a member of today's republican party. i'll explain why in the next hour and velshi is available as a podcast. listen any time wherever you get your podcast. much more "velshi" when we return. much more "velshi" when we return communications in the media for 45 years. i've been taking prevagen on a regular basis

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good morning. it is sunday may the 2nd, i'm ali velshi. president biden is trying to fight the covid-19 pandemic and rebuilding america. this week biden is heading to louisiana to promote the $1.9 trillion rescue plan enacted helping americans right now. he's pushing the public and congress to back his massive infrastructure package next. it's compromise with republicans seen as possible and democrats are reportedly signaling their

willingness to make some concessions to win votes across the aisle but another priority, the american family's plan that invests in child care, paid leave and other things, republicans are mounting an all out culture war. the gop continues the nationwide assault on the way we vote in america and as republicans in arizona continue their desperate attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election there. the state senate based not on truth and fact but on conspiracy theory has confiscated ballots and voting equipment from maricopa county and turned them over for a review and recount to a florida based private firm called cyber ninjas, a firm with no experience and expertise and leader publicly promoted the lie the election was a fraudment the insurrectionists former president is said to be obsessed with this sham recount. no surprise there and in fact, he was captured on camera

ranting about it at nauseam at the banquet this past week. during rambling remarks, the disgraced former president again falsely insisted that the election was quote rigged. he claimed the arizona recount will find thousands and thousands and thousands of votes and claimed that quote they found a lot of votes up in new hampshire. to be clear, no votes have been found hocuspocus style. the white house, the senate, the house and scores of local legislative seats across the country, the gop is firmly entrenched in trump-ism. the utah convention with romney and that failed and during the remarks, romney was heavy he booed as he noted he was quote not a fan of our last president's character issues.

>> a person that says what he thinks and i don't hide the fact i wasn't a fan of the last president's character issues and i'm also not a fan. isn't that embarrassing? >> by the way, that came one day after minority steve scalise confirmed liz cheney's leadership role, the idea you disregard president trump is not where we are and frankly, he has a lot to offer. still has a lot to offer. while the republican party is in the twice impeached president's corner, they are on alert following his personal attorney's president and office and the president