reminding how he started, as a janitor. i wasn't a supervisor i was the least of the least. maybe that's one of the reasons they don't have any documentation on me. why would they? asked about the film, he says he thinks it will inspire people to do the right thing. don't make the mistake montanez made. document everything. i'm alicia menendez. right now it's time for "the mehdi hasan show." >> hi, alicia. i have no idea who came up with the flamin' hot cheeto but i'm glad we no longer have president cheato. the anniversary of george floyd's death is tuesday but copying is not ready to pass legislation in his name. what will it take? will republicans use the filibuster to block the

commission on the insurrection? an accomplished woodworker but today he will give us the master class on why americans should get vaccinated. good evening. i'm mehdi hasan. on tuesday, it will be a year since a 46-year-old man drove to a minneapolis convenience store we bought a pack of cigarettes with a $20 bill. store employees, who believed that store was counterfeit, called the cops. that man was arrested, handcuffed and pinned to the ground. pinned to the ground and had one officer place a knee on his neck. please, he said, i can't breathe, he said. mama, he said. i'm about to die, he said. nine minutes and 29 seconds later, when the officer's knee was finally removed from his neck, that man would no longer have a pulse. he was murdered.

a lot of things have changed since the killing of george floyd in 2020. for one thing, the officer who killed him is behind bars. derek chauvin is the first white police officer in minnesota to be convicted of killing a black person. police brutality and racism in what's believed to be the biggest protest movement in american history. the president at the time george floyd was killed, who sent in federal officers, agents to break up protesters, who advocated for a stronger police presence. >> americans want law and order. they demand law and order. they may not say it. they may not be talking about it, but that's what they want. some of them don't even know what's what they want, but that's what they want. >> you want me on that wall. you need me on that wall. yeah, that guy. donald trump, not colonel nathan jessop, is no longer president. he has been replaced by this guy. >> the country is crying out for leadership. leadership that can unite us,

leadership that brings us together. can't leave this moment thinking we can once again turn away and do nothing. we can't do that this time. we just can't. the moment has come for our nation to deal with systemic racism. >> so what form will doing something actually take? because one thing that hasn't changed over the past year is the law. there has been no new legislation passed in this country to try and prevent more deaths like george floyd's. a police reform bill named after george floyd that would ban choke holds and no longer protect law enforcement did pass in the house back in march, and the president has said he want ed to see it passed in the senate by may 25th, by the anniversary of that murder. but sadly, frustratingly, that clearly isn't now going to happen. republicans have drawn a red line on the so-called issue of qualified immunity.

to protect officers from lawsuits. and instead of capitulating, house progressives are insisting that instead of getting rid of qualified immunity -- getting rid of that and making sure that's in the final package, that has to be in the final package, they say. senator cory booker leading negotiations for democrats in the senate, he says he has faith that a deal can be reached. >> i wouldn't have a negotiating partner in tim scott if mitch mcconnell didn't believe this isn't something at the table we need to work through. we are on the senate side, working in good faith to bring this to a conclusion. >> why do so many democrats always seem willing to believe that this time, mitch mcconnell will be an honest broker, act in good faith? for more, let's turn now to valerie jarrett, who served as a senior adviser to president barack obama in the white house and currently service as president of the obama foundation. she's the author of the memoir

"finding my voice" out this week in paperback. thanks so much for joining me on the show tonight. are you as confident that the george floyd justice in policing -- >> sadly, i can't hear a word you're saying. >> as trusting in mitch mcconnell, who you also dealt with during your time in the white house as senatorb booker and other democrats seem to be. >> i'm delighted to be here with you. unfortunately, i can't hear you at all. i hear nothing. >> she's answering. i don't -- what we're going to do -- there you go. this is the technical snags of live tv. we're going to take a break, come back and hopefully, fingers crossed, speak to valerie jarrett, former top white house adviser, about this important issue. don't go away. sue. don't go away. certified from headlamp to tailpipe. that's certified head turns. and it's all backed by our unlimited mileage warranty.

that means unlimited peace of mind. mercedes-benz certified pre-owned. translation: the mercedes of your dreams is closer than you think. ugh, these balls are moist. or is that the damp weight of self-awareness you now hold in your hands? yeah (laugh) keep your downstairs dry with gold bond body powder.

♪ ♪i've got the brains you've got the looks♪ ♪let's make lots of money♪ ♪you've got the brawn♪ ♪i've got the brains♪ ♪let's make lots of♪ ♪uh uh uh♪ ♪oohhh there's a lot of opportunities♪ with allstate, drivers who switched saved over $700. saving is easy when you're in good hands. allstate click or call to switch today. wanna help kids get their homework done? allstate well, an internet connection's a good start. but kids also need computers. and sometimes the hardest thing about homework is finding a place to do it. so why not hook community centers up with wifi? for kids like us, and all the amazing things we're gonna learn. over the next 10 years,

comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million low-income americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything. i hope you're ready. 'cause we are. why do nearly one million businesses choose stamps.com to mail and ship? no more trips to the post office no more paying full price for postage and great rates from usps and ups mail letters ship packages anytime anywhere

for less a lot less get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/try and never go to the post office again joining me now, former senior white house adviser

valerie jarrett. thank you for joining me on the show and i'm glad we got past our technical issues. are you as confident that george floyd policing and justice act is going to be passed as much as senator booker and others seem to be? >> you asked two different questions there. i think it will pass, but i don't have a lot of confidence in senator mitch mcconnell. i do have a lot of confidence in senator booker. i think there is bipartisan support for it. more importantly, i think the american people want to see it passed. i think this isn't a matter of law and order. i think it's about making all americans feel safe and the act will go one step closer to ensuring that happens. >> but the problem is that there's a sticking point on qualified immunity. would you go along with the republican proposal to drop that from the bill or at least replace it with people being allowed to sue police officers over individual officers?

>> i'm not so sure that the taxpayer should have to pay the burden. i think we need both carrots and sticks. we need a better job of recruiting and training those in law enforcement. i think we need to make sure we are not asking our law enforcement to do jobs that are not their jobs and for which they're not qualified. we need more social workers. we need more intervention types that don't involve the police department, but i think police are in a position of power. we are -- should be putting our trust in their hands, and if they misbehave, i think we ought to be able to sue them and not protect them with qualified immunity. and for all those absolutely extraordinary folks in law enforcement out there every single day, it blemishes the entire department. i think it protects them, too. >> i want to come back to training of police officers in a moment. just sticking with the politics of t joe biden andy top democrats are keen on

bipartisanship or trying for bipartisanship, even though it means mitch mcconnell, tim scott and the rest of the gop know they can block the george floyd policing act for as long as they want to, if they like, block progress. this is what your old boss said at the furm of the late john lewis last july. . have a listen. >> another jim crow relic. in order to secure the god-given rights of every american, then that's what we should do. >> so, why do you think his former vice president, now president joe biden doesn't agree with him on the filibuster, even though getting rid of the fill buster wouldn't just help fight racism, but help get through joe biden's own agenda? >> i think that president biden ran on an agenda that he was going to try to work with both sides. just as we saw earlier with the american rescue act, he moved forward without it. he decided those stakes were

more important to get relief in the hands of americans and so he decided to forego the normal way of going through the process and avoided the filibuster. and he may reach the point here where he wants to dos that as well. enough room to those who are negotiating to reach an agreement because that will be the best option but i won't prejudge what he will do if that option isn't available. >> you're no longer in politics. you're not working in government anymore. joe biden may have a strategy to get your own personal view, you would get rid of the filibuster if you had the chance, if you had the power? >> i would. i think it's being used in a horrendous way. i think it's preventing congress from doing what the american people want it to do, and that is look out for them. it's used as a short-term political strategy as opposed to focusing on what is actually beneficial for the american people. the bad will we saw over the course of president obama and

vice president biden's term in office demonstrates they're not working responsibly with it and so i would not let it get in the way of doing the people's work. >> let's talk gun viechlts a teenage girl is dead, five more were wounded at an overnight shooting in a park in columbus, ohio. new data shows that gun violence is up. the frequency of shootings has been unusually high more than a year, despite the pandemic. again, the senate filibuster is also potentially blocking gun reform, blocking two different bills on universal background checks passed in the house. you were in government when sandy hook happened, when kids were massacred, and yet still no new laws were able to be passed at that time. given that, it's hard not to feel endlessly pessimistic for prospects for gun reform even as killings continue to escalate. >> i think what the american people have to do is call on their elected representatives to act.

we have a crisis. it is an epidemic here in the united states. two-thirds of the people who die from gun violence too take their own lives. that's a mental health challenge as well. you're right, after sandy hook, we really thought given the popularity with the american people to close the loophole and make sure people who have lethal weapons have background checks done on them universally. we thought it would pass and it didn't. the nra still has a stranglehold on members of congress. they pour money into their coffers and tell we the people, push us back hard and continuously. we can't give up. this has to be a relentless, determined effort. we are seeing mobilization around the country that has been going on for a while now and eventually we're going to reach the point, i believe, where congress is going to have to act. they are not there yet. the republicans are not there yet. >> no, they are not, sadly and tragically. >> that's right. >> one last question, valerie, returning to the topic of police

reform and police training. when you were in office, when you were in the white house, those two terms saw some very high-profile, which balm uconn you can, tranlg you can kulings. trauvon martin, muk al brown, awe number of young black machine in tuck kuled. the obama straugs, p in the second term, especially post-ferguson did put out a package of reforms that weren't successful. i want to acknowledge all of that. there were good things done in 2015 and 2016 which trump tried to undo. having said that, a lot of activists, valerie, say you guys didn't dog far enough. you dealt with police training reform but not the substantive issue of police reform. what do you say to critics who say you should have gone much further over the eight years? >> i feel proud of president obama's record. we pushed, as you said,

executive orders and pulled together a group of experts on whether it was those who were the demonstrators and people in law enforcement, faith leaders, all came together and created a 21st century task force on policing and a blueprint of what could be done at the state and local level. keep in mind most of the issues involving police happen at the local level. 17,000 jurisdictions around our country. we created a blueprint for what they could do. there has been a lot of progress. president obama called on our nation's mayors to look at the use of force working with their communities. and over 300 mayors working with their communities have put in place substantial reforms. so this isn't something that one president or one leader can do alone. this is something that everyone has to do. what you talked about in terms of systemic racism, that's left up to every single american. government is there to put in place rules that prohibit

discrimination, that ensure that this system is fair and just. you're right, we put in place analysis, like in ferguson, pattern and practice of discriminatory behavior. >> yes. >> then we were able to insist that it change. systemic racism, that's in the hearts of every person who then has to change their hearts and minds and that happens overtime. it doesn't happen overnight. >> valerie jarrett, thanks for your time tonight. a reminder that "finding my voice" is out in paper back on tuesday. thanks so much. >> thank you. next, the united states government seems to be paying for the israeli/palestinian conflict on both ends. i'll explain am my 60-second rant. first, richard lui is here with the headlines. >> mehdi, good evening to you. 14 people, including one child, were killed after a cable car fell to the ground in northern italy. it was on its way up to the peak in the alps when it dropped 60

feet and began rolling downhill before slamming into a group of trees. s italy's prime minister called this a tragic accident. a pair of anti-semitic incidents are being investigated in brooklyn last night. three men jumped out of a car outside a synagogue and harassed four orthodox jewish men observing the sabbath. later that night the same group attacked two jewish teenagers, punching the victims and chasing them with a baseball bat. the men will be prosecuted once found, mayor diblasio says. water-filled pit. in order to rescue the horse out of the pit, they had to dive under the water, right under the horse. the horse is said to be in good condition. said to be in good condition. surance so you only pay for what you need? i mean it... uh-oh, sorry... oh... what? i'm an emu! no, buddy! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪

every day unilever does good for communities across america. ♪♪ every squeeze every smile every drop every style every spray every bubble every day dove, suave & hellmann's donate everyday products to local communities. every day u does good. unilever needles. essential for sewing, but maybe not for people with certain inflammatory conditions. because there are options. like an “unjection.” xeljanz. the first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests.

tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. needles. fine for some. but for you, there's a pill that may provide symptom relief. ask your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. xeljanz. an “unjection.” [sfx: psst psst] allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! all good

did you know you can go to libertymutual.com to customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? really? i didn't-- aah! ok. i'm on vibrate. aaah! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

welcome back. it's time now for what i'm

calling the 60-second rant. start the clock. i don't know about you. there's something about our foreign policy i cannot get my head around. thursday after israel and hamas announced the ceasefire, president joe biden announced he would be sending u.s. aid to help rebuild gaza where 2,000 residential units were destroyed, 80,000 people displaced from their homes. from 11 straight days of israeli bombardment made in america, funded by america. so, we are basically paying for the israelis to bomb gaza, then pay for palestinians to rebuild it. makes no sense. same with the saudis. we sell weapons to saudi arabian, then we send humanitarian aid money to yemen. here's a thought. maybe we should stop arming and funding foreign militaries, and in the case of gauzea one of the most densely populated strips.

maybe we wouldn't have to spend so much on aiding people if we didn't spend so much on arming people. [ buzzer ] former president trump is calling the investigation into his organization a witch hunt. it's not the first time he has used that phrase. this investigation may end quite differently. we'll get into it, next. erently. we'll get into it, next. . thousands of engineers taking peak performance to a new level. that's why in parts of many major cities where people can use massive capacity we added verizon 5g ultra wideband, the fastest 5g in the world. nice. it isn't just a step forward, it's a leap forward. because the more you do with 5g, the more your network matters. it's us pushing us. it's verizon vs. verizon. and who wins? you. stay restless with the icon that does the same. the rx, crafted by lexus. get 0.9% apr financing on the 2021 rx 350.

experience amazing, at your lexus dealer. (burke) phone it in to 1-800-farmers to get policy perks, like a home and auto-bundle discount. the 2021 rx 350. (man) i'm phoning it in and just saved twenty percent. (burke) get your policy perks by calling 1-800-farmers. go ahead, phone it in. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ tonight... i'll be eating roasted cauliflower tacos with spicy chipotle sauce. [doorbell chimes] thank you. [puck scores] oooow yeah!! i wasn't ready! you want cheese to go with that whine?? trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel. ♪

♪ it's a new dawn... ♪ if you've been taking copd sitting down, it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. do you struggle with occasional nerve aches, ask your doctor about weakness or discomfort in your hands or feet? introducing nervive nerve relief from the world's number 1 selling nerve care company. as we age, natural changes to our nerves occur

which can lead to occasional discomfort. nervive contains b complex vitamins that nourish nerves, build nerve insulation and enhance nerve communication. and, alpha-lipoic acid, which relieves occasional nerve aches, weakness and discomfort. live your life with less nerve discomfort with nervive nerve relief.

former president trump's legal troubles got more series this week. you've heard that. bear with me. latisha jones says her investigation has morphed into a criminal one, working with cy vance to investigate long-time cfo allen weisselberg. his daughter-in-law has met with them several times. listen to what she told cnn. >> will allen weisselberg flip on trump? >> yes. >> attorneys for both weisselberg and the trump organization have declined to comment. trump, you'll be shocked to learn, calls the investigation politically motivated, calling it an investigation in search of a crime. i'm joined by andrew weissman, former chief of the fraud section at the department of justice. andrew, good evening to you. let's talk first about the new

york attorney general's announcement that her investigation has shifted from a civil one to a criminal one. what does that take to happen, andrew? what's that say about what her office and the d.a.'s office now has in their position? >> the new york attorney general has limited criminal authority. in order, they primarily do civil cases. for them to transfer the case from centrally being partially civil to partially criminal means that they have run into probably one or two things. either a criminal tax fraud case as to which the new york attorney general has jurisdiction or the martin act, which is a very broad statute that the new york attorney general has authority to prosecute, which involves securities or real estate fraud. that's on the new york attorney

general's side. you also heard that the new york attorney general was sending her staff to assist in the manhattan attorney's case. that suggests to me at least there's some there there. you wouldn't be sending somebody over there unless they had something that they were bringing. in order, some evidence that would be useful for the manhattan district attorney's office. >> andrew, we know that allen weisselberg's former daughter-in-law is cooperating with lawyers. how incriminating would it be if he does that himself? he knows where the bodies are buried, so to speak. >> good news for trump, the announcement this week that what the new york attorney general is doing certainly increases the pressure on weisselberg but makes it pretty clear he has not yet flipped. there's been a lengthy investigation. and so far it seems to have come

up short. however, the bad news is that he now is facing not one, but two criminal investigations in the new york attorney general's office and in the manhattan district attorney office. he's now playing russian roulette with not one bullet in the chamber but two. if you're allen weisselberg, the pressure to cooperate has gone up dramatically. >> a number of people close to the former president are saying will he try to flip and blame this on someone else. have a listen to his personal attorney michael cohen. >> drmp donald trump never put his name on anything. he had, as you know, no email. he very rarely texted, if ever, unless he was tweeting. he's going to turn and say it wasn't me. it was my cfo. he's the one who did it. he worked with my accountant. it wasn't me. he will blame everyone. he will blame ivanka, don jr.,

eric, the accountant, weisselberg, calamari me. he will blame anyone else not to accept responsibility. >> donald trump may well throw his own kids under the bus. i wouldn't be surprised if he did that. the question is, if quur prosecuting this case, would you go after anyone but donald trump? he's the big fish here, right? the biggest fish of all. >> he is, but you obviously have to wait and see where the facts lead you. one thing that's important for people to know is senior people are entitled to rely on accountants and lawyers, if they are misled or led to believe that what they were doing was not criminal because their lawyers signed off on it. not as part of the conspiracy, but legitimately signed off on it or the accountant signed off on it. you know, that is not blaming other people. that is actually a legitimate defense. if you're a criminal prosecutor, what you need to be able to show

is either that the lawyers or accountants did not know the full set of facts, and so what they were signing off on was not actually the deal that the ceo understood, or that this was all part of one huge criminal conspiracy. but this is standard operating procedure for both ceos, who are trying to avoid responsibility, and for prosecutors. and so going back to the beginning, it is really important for weisselberg to cooperate. it is really necessary in order to pierce that defense. you need him to be telling you what happened. >> andrew, last question. we know that investigators are looking into whether the trump organization inflated the values of their properties for tax purposes. how do you see this playing out if it does go to trial? are you talking actual jail time for a former president of the united states? seems unlikely. >> you know, i think that the answer to that is if there is to be a prosecution and if it turns out that he, like anyone else,

committed a fraud or significant tax fraud, then he should suffer the same, you know, penalties that any other person would. i mean, this country is built on the notion -- >> yes. >> that a president is not above the law. so it may seem unlikely, because we haven't seen it before. but, you know, trump has certainly broken the mold in all sorts of ways. and we'll see if this is one of them. >> very good point. andrew weissman, thank you for joining us tonight. >> you're welcome. >> this morning, republican congressman adam kinzinger spoke out against republican lies about the 2020 election and the subsequent insurrection. have a listen. >> the 74 million voters who voted for donald trump, that believe -- a number of them believe that the election was stolen believe it because their leaders have not told them otherwise. the people they trust have been silent or not told them the truth. >> but as ousted gop conference chair liz cheney will tell you,

the odd gop voice, shouting into the republican void won't get you very far. take the republican bill to investigate the january 6th capitol riot. hardly any republicans supported, proposed 9/11 style commission would put together a bipartisan panel and look into what happened and prevent it from happening again. laundry list of trump-loyal senate republicans say they'll oppose the creation of the commission because, after all, the insurrectionists were just tourists. right? this could be the first bill under biden to fail because of that ridiculous 60-vote threshold. joining me to discuss, congressman from south carolina and house majority whip james clyburn, who joins me on the phone. thank you for joining me this evening. let me ask you this. senator susan collins says she does think this bill could pass

with some compromise. listen to what she said today. >> the two issues i think are resolvable, one has to do with staffing and i think that both sides should either jointly appoint the staff, or there should be equal numbers of staff appointed by the chairman and the vice chairman. the second issues, i see no reason why the report cannot be completed by the end of this year. >> we have this game in d.c., congressman, where republicans constantly ask for and get multiple concessions from democrats and then don't vote for the bill many times anyways. how many times are members of your party going to fall for this trickery? >> thanks for having me. i think we are all quite aware that within hours of the insurrection, kevin mccarthy came to the floor and squarely put the blame at the feet of

donald trump. and the next day, mitch mcconnell on the floor of the senate. pretty much the same. now we don't know if all that is true or not. what we do know is that we did have an insurrection. and we ought to have an objective, fact-finding process by which we will find out what happened, why it happened and what we should do in response to it. and the best way i know is for this committee or commission that we had certified republicans to vote for, to be passed by the senate not have any elected officials involved in it. just have ten people, five appointed by democrats, five appointed by republicans, who will then sit down and go through all the information. >> okay.

>> and come back to the public. >> that's tricky in the sense that it doesn't have republican support in the senate. congressman, i hear so many liberals and democrats xlauning that republicans blocked a bipartisan commission while spending two years and 33 republican hearings investigating benghazi. isn't that the problem? republicans are willing to do what it takes to get things done. democrats sometimes aren't. why aren't you and the house democratic leadership saying loudly that if that commission doesn't pass in the senate you will follow the benghazi model, set up a select committee in the house and investigate the insurrection slopgs it takes? why not say that now? >> it's up to speaker pelosi to say what she thinks ought to be done, whether she were to ask me for advice, i would say just do it. set up a committee. i would love to see even numbers. if you're going to make it appoint bid the speaker, then

it's important to have the speaker's choices, not anybody else's. if she wants to have kevin mccarthy or somebody else make recommendations, then she can accept or reject their recommendations, but they're not going to participate in a bipartisan committee then i think speaker pelosi, my advice would be to set up a committee, invite their participation. if they participate, fine. if they don't do as we've done, go forward with the investigation. >> well, i hope she asks for advice and takes it. congressman, republicans claim to be the party of blue lives matter. every single republican in the house voted against it. isn't that hypocrisy of the highest order?

>> yes, it is, just the most recent manifestation of republican hypocrisy. they've had it over and over again and are showing it very clearly with this bipartisan commission, and they've shown it over the last several years. so, my part on that is let's just do it. we should not be be waiting on them to come along. just do it. >> one last question, just on the police reform bill we were discussing earlier in the show. it's not going to pass, the george floyd policing act, by tuesday, as president biden wanted. there's sticking points over qualified immunity, whether to drop that request from the bill, to get rid of qualified immunity. you said you're okay with compromising. you would rather with a good bill passed even if it's not perfect. you've said that. isn't it a false choice? it's not just a bill with

compromises yet no bill at all, isn't it get rid of the filibuster and pass the bill you want to? >> if you got rid of the filibuster you have to have all democrats on board and the question still remains will sinema be on board shall will manchin be on board? i don't know. if they go section by section and say this is what we're going to do on qualified immunity, qualified immunity as it is would be -- qualified immunity, getting rid of it, that's the full loaf. somewhere between those two extremes, we ought to find common ground. look, qualified immunity, the word qualified is defined in black's law dictionary as limited. we seem to treat it as absolute.

qualified means limited. so i suspect that the committee will do -- find all the people trying to reach a compromise by trying to find qualified in a way that would be amenable for everybody. >> i guess we'll have to see what happens in the senate this week. congressman jim clyburn, unfortunately we're out of time. thank you for joining us on the show this evening. next, world leaders are condemning the arrest of a belarusian activist, his plane being forced down by fighter jets. don't go away. fighter jets don't go away. shingles doesn't care. i keep my social distance. shingles doesn't care. i stay within my family bubble. shingles doesn't care. because if you've had chicken pox, you're already carrying the virus that causes shingles. in fact, about 1 in 3 people will develop shingles, and the risk only increases as you age.

so what can protect you against shingles? shingrix protects. now you can protect yourself from shingles with a vaccine proven to be over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after vaccination with shingrix. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. talk to your pharmacist or doctor about protecting yourself with shingrix. shingles doesn't care. but we do. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ow! we've got 'em on the ropes. the billionaires buying elections. the corporate special interests

poisoning campaigns with dark money, frantic to preserve big-money politics as usual. because the for the people act is on the verge of becoming law. reining in corporate lobbyists, finally banning dark money, and protecting our freedom to vote. billionaires and special interests, your day is nearly done. because it's time for the people to win.

some breaking news this evening. the president of belarus has forced the landing of a passenger plane in order to arrest an opposition blogger on board. ryan air flight from athens to lithuania was intercepted by a fighter jet while flying through belarus air space. he demanded that the plane land in the capitol minsk. a telegram channel that say popular opposition channel outlet in belarus. he was immediately detained before the plane flew on without him to its destination. in a statement, blinken said the u.s. strongly condemns the forced diversion of the flight

and subsequent removal and arrest of a journalist in minsk. we demand his immediate release. the shocking act perpetrated by the lukashenka regime endangered the lives of more than 120 passengers, including u.s. citizens. there's a reason he's known as unaffect atly as europe's last dictator. coming up, top of the hour, "the week with joshua johnson." new york city's pride is telling uniformed officers they're not welcomed, not even in the prayed. joshua will speak to nrk city pride interim director at how they arrived at that decision. a name and face we all recognize, woodworker and actor, star of "making it" and "parks and rec" wants you to get vaccinated.

stick around. t vaccinated stick around rother) there's a road right there. (brother) that's a cat. wait, just hold madi's headpiece. (sister) no. seriously? (brother) his name is whiskers. (bride) what happened to you? whose cat is that? (brother) it's a long story. (sister) oh my gosh. (farmer) whiskers! there you are! (avo) the subaru crosstrek. the adventurous s-u-v for adventurous people. love. it's what makes subaru, subaru. age before beauty? why not both? visibly diminish wrinkled skin in... crepe corrector lotion... only from gold bond. limu emu... and doug. so then i said to him, you oughta customize your car insurance with liberty mutual, so you only pay for what you need. oh um, doug can we talk about something other than work, it's the weekend. yeah, yeah.

[ squawk ] hot dog or... chicken? [ squawk ] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ can you be free of hair breakage worries? we invited mahault to see for herself that new dove breakage remedy gives damaged hair the strength it needs. even with repeated combing hair treated with dove shows 97% less breakage. strong hair with new dove breakage remedy.

after 15 months, it finally feels like u.s. is winning fight against the coronavirus. hospitalization and new cases record lows and half over 19 received one shot. under 2 million doses a day, 50% decrease from peak in mid-april,

and vaccine hesitancy threatens to halt the progress we've made. but fear not, someone with a lot of experience in local government is stepping up to turn it around. nick offerman, known for role of ron swanson in "parks and recreation," actor, author, woodworker, and season 3 of "making it" june 3rd. pleasure to speak with you. vaccine hesitancy, one of the most difficult groups to reach, white, lesser educated men and men living in rural communities. why is that? and what message do you have to them and to congress? >> thank you for having me. great to see you again, mehdi. to answer your question, that particular group, which i feel representative of, we start with

ignorance and stubbornness. i don't know how this is supposed to go but be damned if i'm going to read the instructions. and eventually rely on others, usually the more sage members of society, i.e. our wives, to get us to pay attention to the scientists and experts who then direct us to something like the gift of this vaccine. >> my wife is definitely someone who has guided me through this pandemic and kept me sane and safe. your correct ron swanson was not a big fan of western medicine. >> you've been sweating in here all day. are you drinking any fluids? >> yes, plenty. >> no, you need to drink water. >> usually i take it neat but will make exception in name of health. >> take off the layers,

rehydrate, go to the doctor. >> thank you for your concern, i will be fine, turn the thermostat up to 90 and leave me alone. >> this isn't safe. >> i'm a grown man, had a cold before, need no help. so if you don't mind -- >> nick, big question i have to ask you, would ron get the covid shot offered to him on "parks and rec"? >> great question and what a great episode this would have made. ron at first would of course scoff at vaccine, say i've never been to the doctor, rely on preternatural immune system to protect him, then his wife diane, played by the great lucy lawless would step up, you're no longer alone. you've got me, i teach at school, we've got kids to worry about, your responsibilities are

no longer limited to your own body. once convinced of that, he's a good guy and once a good guy sees he's taking care of others, for the common good, of course he would get the damned vaccine. >> mentioned taking care of others, hinting at libertarianism that undergirds this, ron swanson's correct and senator rand paul, announcing he's not going to get vaccinated because he already had covid, which most experts say is irrelevant. how dangerous and selfish is this rhetoric, quote/unquote libertarian rhetoric, individualistic rhetoric from a senior in america like rand paul? >> think it's a shame. would hate to vote for somebody who didn't think of his constituents. it's not how does this affect you personally. we've been at this 14 months, made it through all the

disinformation of the last administration, and suddenly we're back on track, the cdc protocols worked wonderfully, now we have the vaccine. and we can see the figures came out today in los angeles county, january 5th, 8100 people hospitalized with covid. five months later we have 319 people hospitalized. that's the vaccine. you just look at those numbers and say okay, regardless of any personal misgivings, we need to achieve herd immunity, everybody pitch in and do your tiny part. it's a very small thing to give to your fellow man and woman. >> yes, it is. yet we're having to incentivize some americans to get them to take vaccines as the vaccinations have slowed down. offering incentives like baseball tickets, possibility of

a $1 million lottery prize depending where you live and so far seems to be helping encouraging reluctant americans to get the shot. what do you make of these initiatives, if you were governor, what would nick offerman offer? >> i don't know, i mean it's complicated, you know. we human beings are pesky critters, require a lot of nuance. i don't think it's smart to give people a cookie to get them to do what's right. i wish i could go around and shake hands and talk to people, say listen, i'll do it with you, let's do it together. it's not a big deal. there was a day when we had like polio sweeping the nation and we came up with vaccination, and wasn't any hesitancy. everyone said hurray! humankind has triumphed,

scientists have solved problem of complex microbiology in record time, the day has been saved. wouldn't be any of this weird politicizing of, i don't know if i want to keep my germs from others, is that liberal, conservative? no, it's decent, it's just decency. >> i think that's a pretty good line, i hope that's what you say wednesday in congress, just decency. sums it up. >> go back and write that down. >> or just watch this back when we re run later tonight. it's just decency beats all the arguments, you're a decent man, and we appreciate you taking time to come on the show. thanks so much. >> thank you, great to see you. >> and thank you all for watching. we're off next sunday but see the week after that right back

at 8:00 p.m. eastern. monday through thursday 7:00 p.m. eastern on "the choice" on peacock. now joshua johnson. good evening. >> good evening, hope you enjoy weekend off. see you in two weeks. hello to you, good to see you tonight. they say the pen is mightier than the sword but what about a fighter jet? secretary of state condemning forced landing of plane in belarus with a disiddent journalist on board. rally just about a year after murder of george floyd. and new york city's pride festival telling uniformed police to stay away. from nbc news world headquarters in new yo