information. in another, a charity that's been hacked pleads, please, if you can decyst and allow us to continue our work? >> the hammer agrees only after receiving proof of the charity's work. >> the average initial ransom demand $5 million, two-thirds of victims pay the ransom to get their account bag back. >> this they have a negotiation department and a customer service group. should the u.s. retaliate against the russian government? most experts warn that would lead to a dangerous game of escalation. the u.s. turns out the lights in st. petersburg, russia turns off the light in chicago. >> we don't think we should punish the russian people for what criminal russian actors have done to us or what the russian state has done to us. >> that was nbc's tom costello reports there. tom adds that cyber experts say the u.s. can target and disrupt

criminal systems in russia, china and elsewhere. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ and another good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters in new york. welcome, everyone, to alex witt reports and we'll begin this hour with breaking news. the white house announcing just now a record $31 million americans covered by the affordable care act. president biden revealing a brand new video of a conversation he had with former president obama as they marked the achievement. >> joe biden, we did this together. we always talked about how if we could get the principle of universal coverage established, we could then build on it, and i just want to say how proud i am of what you've done now with the american rescue plan. >> when we opened up the enrollment period again, and reduced the cost, 1.2 million people signed up on top of the 30 million and look how many times they decided to feat your

legislation? >> how great to see those two together again. we'll have more on that in just a moment. another talk on president biden's infrastructure package as negotiations with shelley moore capito, and they are working to find a compromise, but patience is wearing thin as some democrats warn they might have to go it alone if an agreement is not reached soon. meanwhile, donald trump is set to re-enter the political stage today. trump will be speaking at the north carolina republican party state convention. today is just the start of what is shaping up to be a summer full of campaign-style rallies. trump already planning to make stops in ohio, alabama, florida and georgia as he teeses a potential 2024 white house bid and the justice department said today it will no longer secretly obtain reporters' records during leak investigations. the policy shift follows the latest revelations that the doj

under donald trump secretly seized four new york times journalist phone records in 2017 as part of a probe into leaks. one of those reporter, madam puzzo, giving new reaction to msnbc saying what happened to him is bad news no matter what political party you're in. >> if reporters can't speak confidentially, then you're leaving it to the government to decide what you can know and when you can know it. think about all the things we wouldn't know if we had to leave it to the government to decide, sorry, that's classified and you'll get to know about abu ghraib or drones or secret prisons or russian election interference. we'll let you know when we're comfortable enough to tell people about that. >> let's go to the nation's capitol with monica alba at the white house, and amanda golden

at the capitol. what can you tell us about bringing these two together in a historic moment for this presidency. >> well, we know they speak quite frequently, alex, but it's usually behind the scenes and yes, it is notable that the white house is releasing this video conversation that the two men had. usually they release these on saturdays as a conversation they want to feature with educators and healthcare for something that the white house wants to highlight for the week. today they're focusing on the affordable care act and the president wanting to call his predecessor and the person for whom he was, of course, the vice president to, barack obama in terms of the leadership that they had together, and called him to tell him and announce this figure of more than 31 million people who have now been able to sign up for health care coverage through the affordable care act and they specifically touted the fact that they did open up a special enrollment period during the pandemic where

more than 1.2 million people were able to enroll and they want to encourage others who are still considering, who may need healthcare coverage to sign up before that ends on august 15th, but here is a portion of that exchange that you can listen to right now. >> the effort was worth it. the families that have been able to care for their loved ones, be cured, and have access to care, that all makes it worthwhile. so i just want to thank your administration and all of the folks who have been working on this for now building on it and continuing to expand it. >> if i had a dime for anyone who said to me over the last two years campaigning and as president, tell the president, meaning you, i said thank you. you saved my life -- >> i mean it. >> that's because i had a good partner. >> president biden also said that they had both discussed why they feel the american rescue

plan, those covid relief checks and all of that did help people with health care costs and it helped them expand access in certain areas and you can expect to see them continue to talk about and tout, alex, and also just to know how this ended and how warm their personal connection is, former president barack obama said to the current president, i love you, man, and he also made a joke about how these days health care.gov actually works quite well compared to the disastrous rollout of all those years ago when he was in office. >> i remember it was a big endeavor. it had a couple of hiccups. let's put it that way, thank you so much, monica alba. >> negotiations continue behind the scenes ahead with senator capito. amanda, what are you hearing that's going on ahead of this meeting? >> alex, there are certainly complicating factors for both democrats and republicans on the hill in light of this latest

rejection from the white house to the latest counter proposal from republican senator shelley moore capito where she offered an additional $50 million, and to which the white house said thanks, but no thanks and they're coming back to the drawing board as they continue with additional negotiations that will stem into next week. just to recap where we stand at least from where president biden offered to republican, a few key features we should go through and that includes having a minimum 15% corporate tax rate and coupled with $1 trillion in committed spending. the other thing is to enforce tougher enforcement on the highest earners across the country. he's wanting to include a number of tax increases and notably not touch the 2017 tax cuts that were implemented within the trump administration and viewed as a red line for the republicans. raising taxes at all is a non-starter for republicans especially in this group being led by republican senator

shelley moore capito in these ney gosch wragzs and it is causing theed bien administration to have additional conversations with other republicans including senator mitt romney and john tester to name a couple. there's been frustration from the democrats saying the biden white house is taking too much time in trying to ney gosch yit with republicans when they can go this alone with budget reconciliation where they would be able to break through a filibuster and not need republican support onboard, but when asked earlier this week, moderate democratic senator, joe manchin, one who is not quite onboard yet spoke with our colleague garrett haake about what the next steps could be and why he is not willing to help democrats push forward this infrastructure package at this point. >> if this negotiation fall apart tomorrow and the president calls you and says it's time for democrats to go it alone on this, are you ready to do this? >> i don't think it will fall

apart. i really don't. >> are you ready to go it alone? >> i don't think you should. >> at all? at any point? >> right now, basically, we need to be bipartisan. if we can't become -- i've never seen a pothole that had a democrat or republican name on it. it will bust your tire, i don't care who you are. >> the clock is ticking with the negotiations to continue over the coming days. the white house had a deadline of this coming monday, june 7th to show real progress with these negotiations and that's now been pushed into potentially july from white house press secretary jen psaki, as she said during the white house briefing and nances pelosi wants to see progress by july 4th and chuck schumer wants to see progress by july, the one other element of this is that house democrats are moving forward with their own version of a transportation infrastructure bill that will head to mark-up on wednesday and that would include the core elements of what democrats are

looking for in an infrastructure package. while they're pushing forward the multibillion-dollars into the partisan avenue of the bill. these conversations are still ongoing as to whether or not they will show results and that mark-up on wednesday could be an unofficial deadline. >> they're covering their bases. thank you so much. joining me now california congressman, john garamendi on the infrastructure committees. awfully glad to have you here. thank you for joining me. joe manchin doesn't think democrats should go it alone on infrastructure. what about you? what do you think of the negotiations? >> be patient, and i've also been long enough to be impatient. there will come a moment to have fish or cut bait, and so far off and we'll move this week, this coming week to move out of the house of representatives three very, very important infrastructure bills. first, the surface

transportation, and when looking at this not from an overarching number, what do we really need to do to repair our bridges, roads and trains and transit systems? that gives us a certain number and it's a significantly larger number than the republicans are willing to move forward on. we know that we have sanitation systems that are woefully inadequate. we know that bridges are continuing to collapse. we know that the roads are as manchin said, there are potholes out there. yes, senators, there are potholes out there and the republicans are not willing to come up with a number to repair the streets, roads and bridges and trains and then we'll have to go it alone and senator, i know you'll be with us because i know that you want this nation to move forward, that you want a solid infrastructure. >> what about the human infrastructure aspect of all this? >> earlier, i referred to this as groundhog day. >> yeah. >> where is the drop-dead

timeline for you? is it a week? ten days? is it a week? a month? when will it be the fish or cut bait time? >> this is where the president has been a real leader. he has said it's not just streets issue roads and trains, it is also the electric grid. it is also moving to a clean energy source and it is also moving our research facilities for it and our schools, if we learned nothing else in this pandemic, it's that our schools are really inadequate to the modern age. >> can i ask you -- let me ask you about the clean energy approach. why is it that republicans seem to be completely blind to what is coming in the future. i want to focus roads? sure, got it. freeways, all of the like and railroads, even, but they don't seem to see what is coming down the pike and where everything is moving. >> take a deep breath and say okay, guys if you're not with us

then we'll move forward without you and you're going to cape cod, and take a look out to the atlantic ocean. there will be a huge infrastructure out there, and it's called wind energy and if you like to go to the maryland off the shores of the east coast, there is an extraordinary explosion of wind energy over the horizon and those are thousands and thousands ever jobs and we need an electric grid to distribute that energy. we know that our infrastructure in every form, whether it's a research institution or whether it is a school in the boondocks of -- i don't know, north dakota, those are insufficient to the needs of a modern america. we've got to build this and green energy must be part of our future. i'm only on services committee. i know that the most endangered places in this nation are the shores, the largest military base in this nation is norfolk,

virginia. you're going to need waders to get to the boats. >> extraordinary. we should also add the wind farm, off the coast of california, your state, my state, too. >> let me ask you about matt gaetz, your republican colleagues which is one of the lawmakers in the committee hearing with john mcgahn that happened yesterday. this week a law enforcement source confirmed to nbc news federal prosecutors are investigating whether the florida congressman obstructed justice with a potential witness in a potential sex crimes investigation. gaetz was asked about those reports outside of the waiting room on friday. let's take a listen to what he said. >> have your lawyers heard from investigators? >> well, i think that there's a lot going on in florida. my focus is on what's going on in washington. >> are you concerned you'll be indicted? >> no. >> great. thanks, everybody. >> when you see the latest news and you see matt gaetz taking part in the judiciary committee's hearing with mcgahn

how does that square with you and your democratic colleagues? is it a conflict to have someone still sitting on the committee that oversees the department investigating them? >> the answer is yes, of course, it is. however, please keep in mind that the republican caucus has really been very slow in in most cases refusing to discipline its own members. on the democratic side, we tried to get at this quickly and for the most part we do. if somebody is out of line, we provide one or another sort of discipline that does not happen in the republican caucus. these investigations of matt gaetz and others are moving along. there's another investigation that's extremely important. there's pretty clear evidence that members of congress were engaged in that rally that led to the attack, the insurrection, and the mob that attacked the capitol. one of those who was at that rally, one of them said get up

there and kick ass, well, they should be held accountable also. >> let me ask you very quickly about something i was discussing on this last hour. the dramatic gun control decision in california. a judge is ruling that an assault ban is unconstitutional. it comes from judge roger benitez. he declared in this case, like the swiss army knife, the popular ar-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment. just got to get your reaction to that ruling. >> it's a sick ruling. it just ignores the reality of what is actually happened in america. i don't know of any incident that's been reported where anybody has used an assault rifle to protect their home. we certainly have seen issues where the assault rifle has killed dozens of people, i think, las vegas, think el paso, and i think colorado, and think

every single day in this nation's life an assault weapon is being used to murder people, not just one or two, but dozens at a time, and there was an incident just earlier this week, so, listen, i wrote the initial bill that established the assault weapon ban in california. fortunately, it was overtaken by the leadership of the california state senate in 1989 on and '90 and became law. that was the cleveland school shooting, and i represented that area. i saw what happened. i knew then this was not an ar-15 which is an advanced version of the ak-47. the russian assault rifle that was used in stockton, california. we have got to get this under control. the national ban was put in place following that in the 1990s by senator feinstein, and she is once again calling for a national ban on assault weapons.

this judge's decision is outrageous and frankly, it is sick. to say that this is a swiss army knife, that this is for defense. no, no, this is for assault. assault in an enemy position. it is designed to kill people, quickly, fast, and if you are a police officer your great fear is that someone, when you knock at that door welcomes you with an assault rifle because there is no defense that you have on you against that particular weapon. this is -- this will not stand, it should not stand and we should have a national assault weapons ban. >> all right. congressman john garamendi, i appreciate you very much and i appreciate the passion. donald trump going off script and there are a few things that a few of them begged him not to say. that's next.

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donald trump is gearing up to re-enter the political spotlight today. in just a few hours he'll be giving a speech at the north carolina republican party state convention which is under way right now and nbc's allie vitale is in north carolina where that convention is being held. what are we hearing so far from that convention? >> alex, things just wrapped up here after the lunch portion of the program. we heard from south dakota governor christy nome and please forgive me for doing this, on june 2021, i'm about to speak about the next election. it sounds like one you're test driving if you want to run for president some day. that's one that we're hearing from noem. you can hear it in noem's remarks crafting a message with the current administration very much in her sights. listen. >> i watch who is in the white house today and he is destroying

this country. absolutely destroying this country by what he's doing at the border, what he is doing with energy policy. i'm surprised you guys found enough gas to get here today. unbelievable. 65% of your gas stations didn't have gas. i can't imagine that that happened in america this quickly. i knew it would be bad. i didn't know it would be this bad this quickly. >> and alex, this is a name, kristi noem that rose to national prominence during the pandemic because of her pandemic response. she described it here. she did not do a lot of regulating, she did not close down businesses and she invited tourists to come for a large motorcycle rally that was criticized because she did it in the pandemic. it was the highest states for deaths per capita from coronavirus. that was the response that brought her to prominence and as

i saw her here, this is a name that you'll be hearing over the next several months and years. you heard it in her remarks and she's making ties with local republican party officials and the kinds of things you start to do if you're thinking about a run for president and the thing is for all of the people who are testing the waters, there are things that will freeze their inquiries in place and that is donald trump. he's speaking here later. we heard him allude to another run for the white house and he teased these things and nothing official and nothing cemented and he is still with the one with the grip on this party, whether he wants to be a kingmaker or candidate himself, that's freezing the field in place here. >> yeah. for sure. your head's up on kristi noem, duly noted. thank you very much, my friend. florida's only elected democrat making her case for governor. vowing to fight corruption in florida and making desantis a one-term governor. >> listen, this won't be easy.

those in power will do whatever harm it takes to stay there, but i've spent my whole life taking on the system. i'm unafraid. i'm tested. i'm ready. >> nicky freed is joining me now and currently serves as commissioner for agriculture and consumer services. it's awfully great to have you back on the broadcast and congratulations on the day after the announcement. he had choice words about your campaign. listen to what he said. >> she does nothing. all she does is emote on social media, virtue signal to small-dollar donors in california and new york. she's a lockdown lobbyist. she would have had our kids locked out of school the whole year. she would have had this business shuttered for the whole year. they would be out of business if fried were governor.

>> have at it. what is your response to this? >> you know, i'm not surprised. governor desantis likes to throw temper tantrums any time i get under his skin and that's exactly what we're doing. we started a movement on tuesday, alex, where the people of our state are ready for something new. they know that this government for the last 24 years is corrupt and is rigged against them so they want to brick it down with me, so governor desantis as well as the republican party are scared for that, and he will use tactics like that to throw nicknames and labels and have temper tantrums and i know the people of our state are smarter than that, they'll rise above this and they'll join us as we take down this establishment and give it back to the people. >> you're well aware that he recently signed that very restrictive, creative bill that's creating new, restrictive voting laws and what was your reaction to this and do you think it will affect voting in 2022? >> you know, it's interesting. when they first proposed this piece of legislation, they talked about this is for voter security and to make sure that

there's no fraud, and the reality was this was the most perfectly run election in florida's history in 2020, and so the only fraud that we saw was from the republican party. this voting suppression bill was geared solely for the perpes of keeping people down and that's because this last election cycle we saw over 600,000 more democrats vote by mail. so of course, what is their reaction? we have to stop that, but i know the people of our state will rise above that and we will work harder and make sure that this suppressive activity by the republican party is not going to stop the will of the people and that's exactly what this bill does is try to go against the will of the people and i know this is not going to stop us. >> another thing i want to get your reaction to is the bill that desantis signed that now prevents transgender girls from participating in high school sports on the first day of pride month, by the way, throughout the month of june here. what effect might this have on young athletes in the state? >> first of all, this was the

most heartless activity that a governor can do, that not only did he sign this piece of legislation, but he did it at the first day of pride awareness month and he did it with his kids sitting right there. what is that telling the next generation when you are spewing hatred? and most importantly, besides that, i was taught from an early age what the republican party was and my dad was a die hard republican and my mom was a die hard democrat and i was told that the republican was about free market and less government intrusion and local government control instead of big government and less taxes. this governor and this republican party throw that completely up in the air. this was complete government intrusion and overreach. this was not something that we should have ever gotten involved in and he goes with the hatred and doing this on day one of the pride awareness month and this is who his governor is, and his pandemic with no heart and no empathy, we lost 37,000 floridians and he was more concerned about going on the national stage declaring victory

and he won the war on the pandemic and had no empathy to those who have lost loved ones and lost their jobs and this is who ron desantis is. he's not one who cares about the whole state of people and only those who will line his pockets and get him re-elected. >> florida is considered a battleground state, however, for the last several years there has been a republican strong hold. there has not been a democratic governor since 1999. how do you plan on swinging voters in your direction? >> we did this in 2018. i am the only statewide elected for agriculture. we took our message to the people in 2018 across the entire state. campaigning on issues that impacted everybody, not just democrats, but independents and republicans, those who never registered to vote before and that's what we'll do in 2022 because for the last 24 years,

the people of our state have voted for constitutional amendments, and everything from class size to protecting our environment to restoration of civil rights, medical marijuana, and when it gets to tallahassee and the special interest will hold a bit and they dismantled the constitutional amendments. the people of our state are sick of this. these are not issues that are democrat in nature and these are things that are voted on by democrats, republicans and independents. we'll do the same thing we did in 2018, take our message to the entire state of florida. i ask for all of our floridians and for those across the country watching here today, join our movement to break the system. go to our website, nikki fried.com and be a part of this because when we win in november of 2022, we will give government back to the people out of the hands of special interests and to republican leadership, that for 24 years have suppressed their vote and put more people of black and brown descendants and color into prison and jails. that's got to stop and we have to do better when it comes to

the environment, our healthcare system and education. >> nikki fried, florida gubernatorial candidate, thank you very much. it's good to see you again, and i'm sure we'll see you on the road, for sure. >> up next, why vice president harris' assignment is so much more for the country. when you really need to sleep you reach for the really good stuff. new zzzquil ultra helps you sleep better and longer when you need it most. it's non habit forming and powered by the makers of nyquil. new zzzquil ultra. when you really really need to sleep.

this week president biden assigned vice president harris a critical and high-stakes new role leading the fight against voting restrictions. the president admitted, quote, it's going to take a hell of a lot of work. joining me now is the co-founder of the black votes matter fund. if you were advising the vice president where does she begin? >> i think the first thing is to literally make sure that she's using everything that is available to her to one, not

only engage organizations and civil rights groups doing this work on the ground, but we have to put pressure on the democrats to stand together. they have a majority in congress right now. they have a majority in the senate, and so while i know manchin and sinema are both, you know, being very flaky on this, we have to use all of the power and all of the pressure on the people behind them and this has to be the most censured issue for the administration at this time. >> we have chuck schumer, as you know, who plans to take up the for the people act and it is a landmark expansion of voting rights that will happen later this month and it certainly faces an uphill battle. how can the vice president help push this through the senate? >> i think there are a couple of things. there's an inside and outside strategy, i believe. i think the outside strategy is i think that what we're seeing even with black voters matter.

people understand that the democracy has been unraveled at this point and so there's a lot of effort going to organize and put pressure to make sure that the voting rights -- the john lewis advancement act and for the people act. we are actually launching a tour. we are doing a freedom ride for voting rights on june 19th through the 26th and which is the week that places all over this country will be engaging and mobilizing around this. i think vice president harris and one of the pieces is to make sure that we are rallying the people in the senate, that we have to find every way possible to put pressure and to say it is unacceptable, that this has to be the single, most critical issue moving forward. the truth of the matter is, president biden nor vp harris would be in position had many of these things being proposed right now had they been in place. so what we have to recognize is that we're fighting for democracy. >> good points you make there.

there are some democratic aides who have been somewhat unsure as to whether vice president harris is the right person to persuade those moderate lawmakers to change the filibuster rule. what case is the vice president going to have to make to change these senators' minds? >> while i agree that she's new to the senate, certainly not been there as long as the president, the president still has a responsibility, while he has tapped her to help lead on this, he has a responsibility because in fact, his road to the white house was paid by communities using their democratic right to vote, as well. so i think that they as a team, while she is leading this effort and i believe in her abilities to lead this effort and i also believe that because she is not as attached to the filibuster move, i think that she can literally push forward to say that we have to move forward if we're going to get anything done in this administration, if we'll move this country forward, but i also think that president biden

has a responsibility, that he also has -- this doesn't let him off the hook. he has a responsibility to use all of his political power and leverage, as well, so that they as a team can make sure that they are rallying the votes within the senate needed to push it forward and they're organizing with communities it actually say this is what the american people want. >> she may be spearheading the effort and he cannot be hands off, and i doubt that is the plan. that said, vice president harris and first woman and woman of color to hold that particular role and bring some valuable perspective. what is at stake if congress cannot pass a voting rights bill specifically for black voters? >> i think this is the most critical juncture of democracy, but i also believe that while it will disproportionately impact black voters, it impacts all voters on this nation. where we are at this moment, we will go down the path of peril or the path of promise and we'll have devastating impact if we're

continuously asked to come up and show up and get out to vote and then they're punished because we participate and it is without question, this has to be a critical issue that we have to move forward. if we are to save and protect democracy in this country, this is an option. so we have to recognize that it's not just for the benefit of black voters and it is fundamentally for the benefit of democracy. >> thank you so much, come see me again soon. appreciate you. >> the push to outsmart the fastest growing problems and why it's being compared to the fight against terrorism. they grow from our imagination, but they can't be held back. they want to be set free. to make the world more responsible, and even more incredible. ideas start the future,

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new today, russian president vladimir putin brushing off comments from fbi director christopher wray comparing recent ransomware attacks to 9/11 and tracing hackers to russia. putin described it as laughable saying people are trying to provoke new conflicts before he meets with president biden just over a week from today. the white house meanwhile, is striking a more serious tone. >> we will take action when warranted. sometimes seen, sometimes unseen. we typically don't predict that ahead of time and we will look for areas of opportunity to have a discussion, but we are not having this summit as a reward. we are not having this summit because we expect to only talk about areas where we agree or disagree. >> and joining me now, ben rhodes, msnbc political

contributor and deputy national security adviser to president obama to 2017. and his latest book is hot off the presses. "after the fall. being american in the world we made." that's a great title, ben. cannot wait to read that, but let's get into some of the things that you were involved with, meetings when obama met with putin. what are your expectations for the biden-putin summit? >> well, alex, i was in a bunch of meetings with vladimir putin and they never go quite as planned and they're unpredictable. and he's usually in a grumpy mood. at the same time he's businesslike in demeanor and i'm sure the biden team is preparing a cool agenda trying to find places where they can agree and

like nuclear weapons and arms control in constraining the iranian nuclear program and they have to be clear on this huge list of issues where we disagree from the cyber attacks to the dissidents inside of russia like alexei navalny. >> i'm curious, are there adjectives that you would use to describe him? you said he comes kind of grumpily. i'm thinking will one of them be straightforward? would one of them be cagey? how does his demeanor and the way he approaches substantive issues. >> well, you know, he can be frustrating in a way in the sense that these meetings sometimes turn into debates. i remember during the crisis in ukraine where russia clearly invaded eastern ukraine and we had military personnel and hardware flowing into ukraine and putin would deny it and he would make long speeches and say the united states was behind the conflict because we had

supported in his view, a coup in the ukraine which was obviously not true and you could go down the rabbit hole debating him about things that are not true and communicate very clearly, look, if you continue down this path there will be consequences and you will face sanctions and as jen psaki said the potential for u.s. cyber operations against russia and the u.s. and allies are the more highlight russian disinformation campaigns and corruption. so i think the trick for biden is to not slip into a debate about putin's alternative reality, but rather to hammer away at the points that matter to u.s. interests. >> so -- so -- so you don't, by your description when you say that he falls down a rabbit hole. you don't have to necessarily come at him with facts or showing threats of what you will do if not effective? >> yeah. he's a businesslike guy and an

intelligent guy and so he listens. he's digesting what he's saying even as he's throwing back at you some of his world view which i don't think is usually tethered to reality, but rather the reality that putin wants to project. what you want to see in the readouts and the biden team said the same. the phone calls would go from 90 minutes to two hours and sometimes you do want to rebutt him and you don't want things that he says go unchallenged when denying that these cyber attacks are coming from russia. we know that they are and here are reasons why. but we want to get to the idea that look, if we don't stop this, if we don't take responsibility for what you're doing and what's happening within your borders there will be consequences. >> fbi director chris wray compares ransomware attacks to 9/11, do you think this is now the biggest threat that faces the u.s. or are there bigger things that you should be worried about, ben? >> i think it's one of several threats but here's how i'd put

it, alex. the cyber attacks matter a lot because they can disrupt the american economy as well as proposing a national security vulnerability and again, part of what i do in this book is try to talk about why democracies and recession around the world and a big part of that is vladimir putin and i spent a lot of time on this and he is waging a multi-front effort and in many ways an asymmetric world, and cyber attacks are a part of that. disinformation campaigns are a part of that, intimidation is a part of that. the airline we saw diverted to belarus and the opposition will be detained and coerced there in some type of stalinist confession is a part of that. this is a multi-faceted picture of a man seeking to underline the american democracy and the united states has to be similarly comprehensive in our response and yes, hardening our cyber defense is working more with the private sector, threatening russia with potential cyber attacks if they don't cut it out, but

spotlighting these disinformation campaigns upon being more resilient in how we guard against russian disinformation campaigns and going on offense, which is doing that we'll be doing what alexei navalny was use itself on refiepsance your rule if you keep this up. >> so if your book, ben, you sort of theorize as to why america turned to trump after the obama presidency. i respect your intellect. i respect your experience, and i would love for you to give me a logical explanation as to how that happened. >> well, you know, it's interesting. i had a conversation, part of what i do in this book is i look abroad to understand what's happening here. when you see this tied to a global trend it makes sense. i interviewed a hungarian analyst where they went from a democracy to autocracy.

their prime minister got elected on a right-wing populist backlash to the financial crisis. he re-drew parliamentary interests, he changed election laws to make it easier to vote, and he created a right-wing propaganda machine to him, packed the court with right-wing vujs and wrapped it up with an us versus them bow. and i'm thinking this sounds incredibly familiar to what we've experienced in the united states over the last decade. i think what you've seen is this drip toward a particularly exclusive form of nationalallism, us versus them politics in which a guy like trump just has to tap into the grievens of a particular minority of americans using tools like social media and misinformation, kind of walk them into an alternative reality

and entrench prinort rule by manipulating the levers of power really. this is why we're talking about the russian cyber attacks is not disconnected from your previous segment about voting rights. there's a global effort to unravel the institutions of democracy. america is part of that. we need to get back to the work of showing multiracial, multiethnic democracy can work, people can figure out a way to live in a reality where they can get things done and respect peoples basic rights. and the stakes could not be higher. >> ben rhodes, thank you so much for bringing it to us. i'm picking it up in my next cross country flight in a couple of weeks. division in the stands at the belmont stakes.

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in just a few hours the final leg of the triple crown will kick off in new york. more than 10,000 fans gathering for the belmont stakes but it's going to be different this time around due to covid. so welcome to you. oh, my gosh, very cute hat. love tat. so what's being done to separate the vaccinated and unvaccinated? there's got to be like an honor system partly at work here. >> reporter: you know, it's interesting you say that, alex, because they actually do require to show proof of vaccination to have those separate sections, and you can either do that with those paper bag seeing cards we've been getting or the paper card system. you have to be 14 days out.

you can't get it today specifically. as people go in, they get their temperatures checked. they do not have to provide a covid test anymore but proof of the vaccine. and once they do they'll be in one of these sections over here for those folks fully vaccinated. they don't have to wear their masks and can be as socially distanced as they want. if you are in the unvaccinated sectionia do have to keep your mask on. there is that pop up vaccine site out here and spoke with folks who got the vaccine today. even though they got it today and have to remain in unvaccinated section it's not for nothing. they get a ticket to the 2022 belmont stakes. it took some convincing for him to get this shot but his family and father helped put it into perspective. >> he said if you're willing to

get on a flight and trust a pilot you've never met before, get in a car and drive with people on the road why not take a risk and save your life? >> reporter: 11,000 is the limit. obviously a stark difference from the 2004 record of 120,000. if you're a betting woman, alex, essential quality is the favorite today. >> okay. i love that wise father's words that he shared. absolutely great. and essential quality, duly noted, my friend. >> if you thought you heard the last of post master luis dejoy, think again. he's still on the job but now under fbi investigation. frank figliuzzi joins me the next hour to talk about how much trouble dejoy may be facing. tah trouble dejoy may be facing. ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel ♪ [man: coughing] ♪ it's a new dawn, it's a new day... ♪ no matter how you got copd it's time to make a stand.

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a very good day to all of you from msnbc news world headquarters here in new york. here's what's happening at 2:00 p.m. eastern, 1:00 a.m. pacific time. we begin with new details on a record number of americans enrolled in the affordable care act. 31 million are now covered under obamacare. today the white house releasing new video of president biden and former president obama reuniting on zoom to mark the milestone. >> the effort was worth it. the families that have been able to care for their loved ones,