pressing challenges we have to do it together. we have to end covid-19 not just at home which we are doing but everywhere. there's no wall high enough to keep us safe from this pandemic or the next biological threat we face. it requires coordinated multilateral action. we must all commit to an ambitious climate action if we're going to prevent the worst impacts of climate change and limit global warming no more than 1.5 degrees celsius and lead the global transition to clean energy technology. when i went over in the tank in the pentagon first elected vice president, with president obama, military sat us down to let us know what the greatest threats facing america were, the greatest physical threats why this is not a joke. you know what the joint chiefs told us the greatest threat facing america was? global warming.

because there will be significant population movements, fights over land. millions of people leaving places because they're sinking below the sea in indonesia, because of the fights of arable land anymore. with the g7, we plan to launch an ambitious effort to support resilience and development around the world by investing in high quality, high standard physical, digital and health infrastructures. we have to make sure that the new technologies and nornls of conduct are established including addressing the growing threat of ransomware attacks. they're governed by the democratic values, not by the autocrats who are letting it happen. these are all critical national security issues in 2021 and will be driving this agenda together with our g7 partners. in brussels i'll make it clear

to the united states commitment to the nato alliance and article 5 is rock solid. it's a sacred obligation we have under article 5. the u.s. and the uk are both founding members of nato, the strongest military and plit kawhi leonard alliance in the history of the world. that's not hyperbole. the troops stood shoulder to shoulder around the world including afghanistan for 20 years. our nato allies had our backs when it mattered just like we had theirs and now we need to modernize the alliance, investing in the infrastructure, the cyber capabilities and to keep us secure against every threat we faced over the last decade. and the new challenges that we're about to face. with the european union leaders, i'll discuss how the united states can work with europe to address the full range of issues that require the full strength

of the transatlantic partnership and working to shape the new rules for the 21st century economies. and only after these meetings with our closest democratic partners to develop a common agenda and renewed turn i'll travel to geneva to sit down with a man i spent time with before, president vladimir putin. we are not seeking conflict with russia. we want a stable, predictable relationship. the two nations share incredible responsibilities and among them ensuring strategic stability. and upholding arms control agreements. i take that responsibility seriously. but i've been clear. the united states will respond in a robust and meaningful way when the russian government engages in harmful activities. we have demonstrated that. i'm going to communicate that there are consequences for violating the sovereignty of

democracies in the united states and europe and elsewhere. i'm going to be clear that the transatlantic alliance will remain vital, a vital source of strength for the uk, europe and the united states. and make sure there's no doubt as whether the united states will rise in defense of our most deeply held values and the fundamental interest. here's why this all matters so much right now. i believe we're in an inflection point in world history. the moment where it falls to us to prove that democracies will not just endure but they will excel. as we rise to seize the enormous opportunities of a new age. we have to discredit those who believe that the age of democracy is over as some of our fellow nations believe. we have to expose as false the narrative that the decrees of

dictators can match the speed and scale of the 21st challenges. we know they're wrong. but it doesn't mean we don't have to work harder than ever to prove that democracy can still deliver for our people, for the many who think things are changing so quickly, we can't get together to respond like autocrats but you know better than anyone that democracy doesn't happen by accident. we have to defend it. we have to strengthen it. renew it. and i know that the american people are up to this job. i know because i look around this hangar and what i see is i see america. i see america. people of different backgrounds coming together in a shared mission. our democracy's never been perfect. never been perfect. but americans of all races, religions, sexual orientation,

immigrants, native americans, all have spilled their blood to defend the values that we talk about. generation after generation of american heroes have signed up to be part of the fight because they understand the truth. that lives in every american heart. that liberation, opportunity, justice is far more likely to come to pass in a democracy than the emerging autocracies in the world. i promise you that's what this is going to be all about for your generation and those of your children. and here's what else i know beyond a doubt. there's not a single thing, nothing, nothing beyond america's competence to accomplish when we do it together, when we do it as one people. you're proof of that. you're proof of that every

single day. your bravery, decency, honor, commitment to duty. you can send more fuel through a boom of a kc-135-r in 8 minutes than a civilian gas pump can pump in 24 hours. and you do it in midair. and that's all a normal day for this team. don't tell me we can't win the race to the future across the board. we are the country that cracked the physical and the physics of human flight. and then crashed through the sound barrier and put a man on the moon and flew a helicopter on mars. i could go on and on and on. there's nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity. so i want to thank you again for welcoming jill and me today. it is great to be here in the uk but it is greater being here seeing you first.

seeing you all is a best possible way to start this trip. let me end where i began. by saying thank you. i mean it from the bottom of my heart. i give you my word. thank you all for what you do. thank you all for your understanding that we're a nation based on values. thank you all for protecting us all. may god bless you all, and may god protect our troops. thank you and god bless. ♪♪ >> hi there, everyone. it's just after 4:00 in the east. president biden there marking the start of his first foreign trip with a heartfelt and at times soaring speech to air force personnel in the urk, the

first event in a week of meetings with allies all of that before a summit with russian president vladimir putin. this trip was always going to be one of the big milestones that the new biden presidency, first trip abod by the president after the president who saw zero value in our friends and allies and delighted in pandering to the dictator. this is a moment of strength. president biden rolling out the world's most effective and well funded vaccination program and turning the urs from the world's pandemic hot spot to a vaccine success story. president biden can also tout rapid economic growth ahead at home. but it also comes at a perilous moment for our democracy. something he spoke of at length here. the challenges abroad in confronting russia and aggressive china are exacerbated by the anti-democratic moves of the republican party at home.

still in the grips of the big lie which deprived the democracy. the peaceful transfer of power. president biden's america is back message marking the return of american leadership and friendship to the world's democracies where we begin today with some favorite reporters and friends. eugene daniels is here for politico. rick stengle is also here who serbed on the biden transfer team. a.b. stoddard is here. we'll start with our friend mike memoli in the uk prepositioned i believe in a seaside town in cornwall where the president heads to for the g7 summit. i want to read some of the thread that president biden picked up from the inaugural address and i know people who know him say this is on his mind all the time. but he said this about

democracies. we are in an inflection point in world history. to prove democracies will not just endure, they will rise. president making very clear he is there to spend time with allies before he'll then confront vladimir putin. also, it's just impossible to miss the sincerity and the connection between this president and first lady and our troops. your thoughts? >> reporter: yeah. that's right. i'll start there because certainly we talked a lot from the campaign trail as i spent time on the road in a campaign context with now president biden and traveled overseas with him with he was vice president why a poignant time that i can recall was in 2016 when he traveled to iraq and he actually brought his son hunter with him, the first time together to spend sometime in the country where, of course,

his son beau served and you saw the president get emotional there wishing his major, son beau would have been with him. we have a tendency to measure these trips against the predecessors. the differences between the two and there are so many, of course, that we'll get into over the course of the next eight days but in terms of consistency of this president's message, the very last trip he made overseas as vice president, 48 hours before donald trump was sworn in as president he came to europe with a message to the western allies which was, at a time of globalization and at a time of the ridesing threat of autocracies incumbent on democracies to show that they can deliver for the middle class. he said the middle class is the anchor of a strong democracy and our partners need to be focused on that very much.

that idea of a foreign policy for the middle class is exactly the message that he is focusing here at the g7 summit. and then there's the last time he traveled overseas in any capacity in 2019 just before launching the campaign and where we get to the contrast with donald trump. he talked about america first as being america alone and that the u.s. needs to be leading our allies together to show that we can do big things and be -- deliver success, results for the people and we're seeing the white house unveil that vaccination program, a biggest strength of president biden's desic agenda so far. this is a largest domestic presidency so far. that vaccination program and so he is prepared tomorrow to show that the u.s. will be the arsenal of vaccines for the world. >> mike memoli, stay with us. rick, i want to bring you in and on this sort of soaring rhetoric

about democracies versus autocracies and the very specific and immediate and urgent deliverable of vaccine doses to the world, just talk about the tone he has set for this first foreign trip, rick. >> yes. i think that's so important. what he's launching is a vaccine marshal plan. he is going back to the greatest efforts in american history. transatlantic alliance. the triumph in world war ii. and then the generous plan, the marshal plan that helped europe and japan get back on their feet. this is ushering in a new era of a marshal plan. it is 500 million vaccines announced. i assume that's the floor. not the ceiling. it's an example of american democracy and to the example 0 of what he is trying to show in the trip. he is putting the band back together, the greatest band there was. the transatlantic alliance and

saying we are back. this is evidence of it. he is a man of alliances. talks about them. i love any american president quoting the declaration of independence and will show people that america, the america they understood, the america that they revere, the america that they need is back on the world stage again. >> you know, a.b. stoddard, what i like as a former president involved in presidential speeches he hung a lantern around the current crisis, a two political party is moving in an anti-democratic direction backing voter suppression laws, purging members that don't back the big lie. he used it as a vehicle to argue for a global renewal of democracies and he wasn't afraid to lay out the struggle. autocracies and democracies. autocracies will lose out because democracies are better, keep us safer, but he really --

i think there's consternation that he would be weakened on the global stage and seemed to try to say we are all struggled with the same mighty fight and let america once again be the one rallying folks to our cause, the cause of democracy. >> and i think because biden's been on the global stage for decades and knows all these people and has watched other countries sort of be consumed recently with the influences of pop list, native movements, there is a -- he has a fluency with this before donald trump. but it is really hard when he talks about america being back to not appreciate the challenges he faces the next eight days with our allies, really nervously watching what is happened to this country since the 6th of january?

and president trump losing the election. a party willing to use putin-style disinformation tactics to hold power, to erode democracy and really flirt with the authoritarianism. so it is a -- i think that joe biden is as ready as any president can be. he is eloquent about the need to nurture and bolster and sustain democracies but he faces a challenge like no other because the world is never looked at the u.s. this way. very worried about what will happen in a midterm elections and 2024 presidential elections. they have the same conversations that we have here about what the republican party has done since the 6th of january let alone the last five years and that behind the scenes will be a steep challenge for joe biden. >> rick, i want to come back to you on exactly that point because so many people have said that we live in this short

horizon here. our news cycles are so quick but for most of the allies to make a good bette on america knowing that it might change again in four years is still a destabilizing dynamic. do you want to speak to that now? >> i will speak to that and i'll try to kind of deflate the hysteria about it. the european countries have been around a long time and dealing with america a long time. in fact he is in england now and churchill famously said america always does the right thing after trying everything else first. we have made mistakes. democracy is messy and the europeans know that, too. and i think biden's point is that we have to show we are effective because they're saying we are bringing you prosperity without any individual rights or opportunity for you to vote. what would you rather have?

prosperity or individual freedom? we say that you can have individual freedom and prosperity. that is what democracy does but it is -- we are as an inflection point and certainly i don't think any of us wants to have what happened four years ago and the europeans i agree with all of you looking at it but they're also looking at we're doing a good job now. america is back on the world stage. bringing 500 million vaccines. that's the most important thing right now. >> eugene, he sounded a very humble tone which was striking. he said this about our democracy. he said it's never been perfect. but he talked about looking around that room. he spoke to the diversity. he talked to the diversity of the men and women who protect our country and he really made again these larger points in a

very specific intimate way with the men and women in that room. your thoughts? >> yeah. there's almost no better metaphor for the diversity of location, thought, gender, sexual orientation than our armed forces. that is happening all over in that room and what the president wants the point out and the thing that i keep coming back to and a.b. talked about this a little bit is that he has to head on talk about why we are the country to be trusted. why we should be trusted to lead after four years of donald trump with a different style of engaging in the foreign policy. why should they trust us when they know -- four years of one way and then another way. what kind of promises can joe biden make that this will be consistent and beyond the next two years and will likely lose

the majorities in congress and beyond that? we have seen other countries try to tell us your house isn't in order so how dare you tell us? like china and human right just brought up in some meetings this year. and they said, look at how you treat black people. how can you tell us what to do with anybody? when it comes to human rights. so the president has a steep hill to climb with convincing them that we hold the moral ground on these issues but this is kind of where joe biden really likes to be and frankly shines. glad handing. can't build the relationships over zoom. that is something he is definitely excited to get back to and shore up the relationships. get the pictures especially of this group of people that we say are our closest allies before he heads over to talk to vladimir putin because he says he wants to have a predictable

relationship with putin but that's not how putin or russia operates. so he is going to have to have the backing of european countries to say don't do this and that and this is what we want from you. this is the big eight days for president biden and i feel like we oversell the importance of some things but with america's place in the world there's no better, no more important point. in his presidency than right now frankly. >> you know, a.b. eugene made the right points of what's at stake and sometimes foreign trips aren't the lead story. right? when a president is overseas. there is so much at stake here and you have all made this point in different ways but i wonder if i can push you on this sort of joe biden in the room point. i want to bring you both in on this, as well, as you both have

been in the room. it is not just that four years as president obama's vice president. he had decades in the senate. i worked for john mccain who had this intimate relationship with so many world leaders, people he knew through his whole career. talk about what an advantage that is, a.b. at a time of things that have to be acknowledged and sort of talked through in terms of weaknesses. our own treatment and things going on in this country, the things that dominated the debates around the president rm campaign. just talk about joe biden as just uniquely experienced in being in these rooms with world leaders he's known in some instances many, many decades. >> first i just want to add to what rick said. about the announcement to send vaccines is one of the best days in so long. i can't describe how good it

makes me feel that we have a moment like this where we are again the hope of the earth. it just underscores how tragic it was that in december of '19 and january of 2020 we did not step up to lead globally on this pandemic. and what a setback that was for everybody in every country. so this is an incredible triumph. no question. back to what we were talking about. this steep challenge he has in convincing people that a very volatile u.s. that's very gridlocked and tribal and basically paralyzed in the congress is going to rally to the cause of democracy, it is a steep challenge but really it's so fascinating that you mention john mccain because i don't know that there's anyone but john mccain and joe biden who would have the relationships to come back and make the case with shared history, with all of the knowledge and the ties and the

know-how, the fluency to address each specific concern of both friend and foe. i loved the way he described today and people laughed in the room that he said i'm going to let putin know what i want him to know. what he says out front is going to be different from what he says behind doors on crimea, navalny, cyber attacks. he's known him a long time. he doesn't take his crap. it doesn't mean that there has to be an outcome and has to get an agreement from him. of course he won't but after donald trump, after donald trump, and the entire country every one of us in helsinki just that alone, him coming to face that foe, someone he knows well and be able to talk to him as he then talks to the allies in europe about how they confront the chinese and the russians, i

don't know that there's anyone else better prepared than john mccain, than joe biden. >> mike memoli, pick up this thread and a.b. used the word betrayed. the ex-president didn't just betray his intelligence community. he betrayed every american when he stood there in the room and sided with vladimir putin. speak to what a.b. is addressing. this sort of person in the room who will say as he said in his speech, will tell vladimir putin what he needs to say. but this concept, this idea of reasserting a true sort of american national security interest and writing what was one of the most perverted bilateral relationships of the last four years. the trump/putin relationship. >> reporter: i was on president trump's first foreign trip four

years ago. we remember him barrelling through other nato leaders at an event to stand at the front of the line and very clear demonstration of how he viewed the alliances and the contrast a few years later in helsinki standing side by side with vladimir putin and had a let's say very much more friendly demeanor why talking about this idea of joe biden coming to this office now with such a history, so many relationships that span decades and the leaders, think about any other democrat elected last fall we would be talking about it as an introduction. joe biden can hit the ground running, pick up where he left off with like german chancellor merkel and begin to reassure them that the u.s. is back and navigate the complicated issues that they have with each other but then it also applies to the

adversaries. you will former president bush talked about who had a similar approach to politics as joe biden that this idea of politics is personal, relate with somebody, said to vladimir putin when he met with him that he looked his eyes and saw his soul. with vice president biden with vladimir putin who at time prime minister he as biden told the story said i'm looking into your eyes. i don't see a soul. and as he has told that story putin responded we understand each other, mr. president. having the depth of those relationships allows him to cut through the bs with the ad -- adversaries to be direct with him about the many, many issues of disagreement. >> there are many and there is an emboldened russia with all of the hacks and ransomware issues. we'll stay on this and keep waking you up at odd hours,

mike. eugene and russell westbrook, thank you. a.b. is sticking around. the merrick garland justice department supposed to be a complete 180 from the barr era. but recent decisions have a lot of people asking what is going on there. two of the smartest friends join us to help us understand. work rg furiously to balance the federal court system. they have a long way to go. all those stories and more when we continue after a quick break. . going anywhere. get to know the locals and sample the cuisine. book a dream vacation delivered right to your door. sometimes the greatest destinations aren't far away. no, he's not in his room. ♪♪

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the job of cleaning up a corrupted u.s. justice department is a terrible one. and a really hard one. but it is a necessity for all the obvious reasons. we knew that job would be hard no matter who president biden picked to be the attorney general. but i'm not sure we knew to expect that some of the worst stuff from the trump era justice department, from the bill barr era justice department, not only wouldn't be corrected, it would be continued under the new leadership. >> that was our colleague rachel maddow last night on president biden's justice department. of course run now by attorney general garland. after a string of decision after decision that have been sending shock waves through official washington. this justice department totally free now of trump's grip of barr's grip so far fought to keep a memo drafted by the barr staff and the justice department secret. they have imposed a gag order in

march while continuing trump's pursuit of reported emails and phone logs. and the last of which lawsuit nearly two democrats urge him to reconsider saying it seems misguided and the latest move last night the doj said it can defend a religious exemption from federal law for religious schools to discriminate against lgbtq students. 40 students are suing the government over that xerpgs. joining us now neil cotiell and lucky for us both contributors. i want to be really fair but also really thorough so take them one by one. the latest news that's broken is that the garland justice department also put in place a gag order against cnn. similar to the one they had in

place against "the new york times" while fighting in court to pursue reporters' emails and phone logs. neil, first to you. rachel articulated so perfectly it isn't just that they haven't turned around the way barr did business. it is that they seemed to pluck the abuses of that department and continuing down the same path. is that the wrong way to understand this? >> i think somewhat it is the wrong way. i care apt the institution of the justice department and generally speaking garland did a fabulous job of restoring that institution. and the justice department has special credibility in courts precisely because it doesn't flip from one administration to the next. there's always continuity. the problem is that trump and barr and sessions spit on that continuity. they flipped prior justice department positions like

pancakes and it was unprecedented. so that leaves garland in a quantity ri because he doesn't want to flip but what do you do when the prior administration flipped so much? sometimes garland has gone too far because i don't think undoing a highly political unprecedented decision if that's not the same thing as making a highly political unprecedented decision. so like when a lot of these cases like taking over a case is like borrowing a car, you keep the settings close but if they rip the mirrors out and cut the brake line you are a danger to yourself and everyone else if you keep those settings so sometimes like the secret mem row i think garland has gone too far and otherwise he's done the right thing. >> i just again want to be really specific. do you think it is the right thing to do to defend donald

trump in the suit? >> absolutely not. looks like a mistake in the justice department. unlike the religious exemption issue. there's a westfall act saying that the federal government to defend cases of personnel, government personnel within the scope of employment. part of his official duties but that's not the traditional view of the justice department. this isn't just about like the justice department defending donald trump. that's the way i think a lot of the stories have written it and trump wants the justice department to defend him. most chiefly of all because he can't get private lawyers to defend him because he doesn't pay them but rudy giuliani. when the justice department invokes the westfall act it basically kicks the case out of court altogether and means carol

loses and that i think i'm not sure is compelled by any prior justice department position, policy. it was the litigating position of the trump justice department but as i was saying a moment ago i don't think continuity is always the right course when you have a prior administration just bent on blowing stuff up for personal gain. >> so neil, let me come back to where i started. you were on the record opposing the new moves. keeping secret what a federal judge wanted to be public. a memo. barr so distorting beyond recognition a two-yearlong investigation by mueller and opposing the decision to defend donald trump against carol. i asked a different way. if they continue two of the egregious practices it seems like the outcry which i heard

from democrats and republicans is justified. >> the end there is two. two of many, many hundreds and probably thousands of decisions that have been made. and so, i think time will tell. i do think these two decisions are wrong. i'm not happy about them. but like, for example, to take another one you mentioned before, the defense of the religious exemptions that's now in the papers today is a source of criticism of the justice department. that to me is not surprising. the most solemn duty of the justice department to defend federal legislation and so when i was there as matt knows better than anyone defended the federal legislation that i didn't like. and this case is about a federal law, section 1681-a-3 and the justice department under a duty to defend it unless no reasonable arguments can be advanced. they should be coupling that

with look we'll defend this thing and want it repealed in congress and have a legislative package but the last thing we want is the justice department to be given a unilateral veto over a federal law by just saying we won't bother to defend it and will argue it's unconstitutional. that is what donald trump did to affordable care act and pending right now before the supreme court. trump's doj saying we won't defend it and think it's unconstitutional and i will go out on a limb and say the supreme court will resoundingly reject donald trump's position. so i think this particular example i don't think is a problem unlike the other two. >> matt miller, i want to turn to the treatment of reporters' email records and phone logs. we both worked in

administrations. this is always a tension. perps most intense at the department of justice. these gag orders are something i have not seen before. they were in court after joe biden became president and said he would not pursue the sorts of invasions into journalist trade craft. the justice department was in court fighting to get phone records and email logs from reporters from "the new york times" and it just broke. i'll read this. cnn says doj imposed a gag order on lawyers and president jeff zucker while fighting to obtain email logs. and the fight for the data began in july 2020 under the trump administration and resolved with the prosecutors and the network turned over a limited set of email logs and the judge lifted the gag order over the matter. to be the justice department after the justice department

that was asked on an i think very regular basis by donald trump to pursue leak investigations, to jail reporters, called them enemies of the people, to have sump aggressive practices does not feel like what joe biden articulated the policy would be. is that an incorrect interpretation? >> i do think it's a little bit of an incorrect interpretation. i don't think that's what the justice department is doing. absolutely the trump doj was very aggressive. i think they ignored the rules put in place in 2013. under eric holder to try to reform the use of media subpoenas. i think we went too far with some of them and holder putt in place to try to curb them and use them only when absolutely necessary and i think barr blew through the rules. when i look at doj under garland

for "new york times," i think the cnn was one resolved in january. "the times" one continued. i interpret what they were doing as not trying to continue the fight to get the records but trying to kick the can down the road while they figured out what to do, trying to keep the investigation under wraps while they figure out whether or not to continue and this pursuit for journalist records or reverse course. they have done what the trump administration didn't do which is notify the reporters that the justice department had attempted to obtain the email and telephone records so while i think it's legitimate krit simple against the justice department like with neil said with a case of this filing they made last night in the religious discrimination case i don't think it's fair with the media subpoenas. >> so matt, what do you make of

rachel's takedown last night of the opening act of the garland doj? >> yeah. what i'll say, i think they're trying to get the balance right of push suing traditional justice department priorities, defending the executives of the executive branch and balancing personal beliefs about what is the right thing to do. we talked a lot over the four years that donald trump was president about the kind of culture at the justice department, the culture of doing what was right, without respect for politics following the law and there are a lot of really good pieces of department of justice culture and some parts that aren't so great. one is a reliance on secrecy. the other is to defend the interest of the president. the presidency. the executive branch almost at any cost and i think a weakness

of the cull which you shall and i think that in the two cases the refusal to release the olc memo and the filing in the carol lawsuit, i do think you have seen them side too much on the traditional doj kind of reliance on secrecy in the memo case and protecting the presidency at auld other costs or the president in this case, not really the presidency. the former president. in contradiction to what i think ought to be first principles and in that case to be no person above the law and the president of the united states. >> let me play attorney general garland in his own words on the topics today. >> our job is to represent the american people. and our job in doing so is to ensure adherence to the rule of law. it is not always easy to apply that rule. sometimes it means that we have

to make a decision about the law that we would never have made and that we strongly disagree with. as a matter of policy. but in every case the job of the justice department is to make the best judgment it can as to what the law requires. >> matt, i want to come to you as a communicator. do you think this justice department is telling its story in the way that attorney general garland did just there adequately? >> i i don't think it's a communications problem. i think some decisions frankly have been hard to defend. look. that's the right answer that he favor and absolutely right. the justice department is supposed to interpret the law and not always black and white. the hardest cases is where there's tension in the law and different pieces of law. 12 years ago in june of 2009

very early in the obama administration we went to court to defend the defensive marriage act and the law that said at a federal level marriage is between a man and a woman. and made a filing that had somewhat i think is offensive language and criticized by allies and people in the white house knew the position and really upset about the language and fixed the language thing right away but i think over the next year and a half we sort of stepped back and said yes we are required to defend laws but what about when they contradict what are our principles and what we believe the constitution requires? something we believe the constitution says is that the law can't be used to discriminate against anyone so over time we took a look and decided that the department's interests are usually -- the requirement is usually to defend the laws on the books. there are times as neil said at

the beginning where you can't make a reasonable argument so you have to take a second look at what you usually do and what the department usually does and you'll have the people inside the department telling you you have to defend this. come back to first principles. make a different decision. >> the two of you know more about the department than just about anybody on the planet and grateful to have both of you. i see this the way rachel sees this but informed by your insight. when we come back, the senate approved two of president biden's judicial nominees and democrats will concede there's a lot of catching up to do to rebalance the last four year just that story is next. st that.

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minus the traditional markups. ♪♪ president biden has secured his first two judicial confirmations just yesterday, setting off the push by democrats to fill numerous judicial vacancies in an attempt to rebalance the courts after four years of trump administration. they were confirmed to district court judges in new jersey and colorado, respectively. they make their way through more

than 100 vacancies. neal, there was a model created by the white house for anything, it was don mcgahn, and then the pipeline to speed-confirm federal judges. it's my understanding that that is one thing that this administration is seeking to emulate. >>i nots just the speed, but the composition. donald trump really did domination some of the most brilliant and conservative if i took the 20 leading conservative lawyers, i would say 15 are now on the court of appeals. he missed almost no one. you know, that's the model that i think the democrats should be emulating, not just fast, but quality, in terms of people who are able to persuade. i see it all the time. i'm in federal court a lot, and

we are fighting with one hand tied behind our back, because we have not sent up those types of nominees who have the intellectual firepower who know how to persuade, trump did set that up. that's why, like judge brown jackson that will be confirmed, it looks like, is 100% a step in the right direction. she is amazing. these are senate judicial nominations by president. donald trump in one term, 245, george w. bush in two perms, bill clinton 387. i take neal's point, but there was a pace that had an impact. you look at some of these issues, reproductive freedom, guns, so many of them end up in

front of courts packed by republicans. how -- >> it's critically important that they move with speed. the one nonrenewable resource any administration has is time. and specifically the nonrenewable resource is senate floor time. there's only so much to go around, especially when you think we have a 50-50 senate that could be gone by the mid terms. it could even by gone tomorrow, and you really have to give both senator schumer the credit for making this a priority and the white house no signaling very early on, before joe biden was even sworn in, that this would be a priority to move quickly. i think the other thing you have to give them credit for is insists on nominees, not who just don't meet these kind of qualifications, they're not just brilliant, but also are diverse. one of the worst things that trump did is his nominees not

just -- of course they were conservatives. he was a republican president. i can't criticize that. 84% white, and the white house has made clear, they want diverse nominees, not just racial and ethnic, but diversity in profession, too. also people from public interest law, public defenders, people from the criminal defense bar. it was a priority that dana remus, the white house counsel said, and you've seen senator schumer say the -- i think it's critical to add that ideological diversity to the bench as well. we'll stay on it. i think it's one of the most important powers of any white house. thank for you spending time with us. the next hour of "deadline: white house" starts after a very short break. don't go anywhere. we're just getting started. brek don't go anywhere. we're just getting started

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the degree to which we did not see that republican establishment say, hold on, time-out, that's not acceptable, that's not who we are, but rather by kowed into accepting it, and then culminating in january 6th, which was originally was a, don't worry, this isn't going anywhere, we're just letting trump and others vent, and then suddenly you now have large portions of an elected congress going along

with the falsehood that there were problems with the election. hi again, everyone. it's 5:00 in the east. the gop's descent into lies and madness led to the insurrection on january 6th. it was the president speaking there about the party's capitulation seems to have flourished. outside of washington, brand-new reporting in today's "new york times" reveals a very different response. republicans there looking at attacks on our democracy looking through a wholly different lens, focusing on holding those responsible from an account. from that report we learned of another riot that took place at oregon state's capitol in salem. it was a part of a wave of protests triggered by the ex-president's -- they had breached the exterior doors a balance capped by a gold-leafed

pioneer wielding an ax. clad in body armor, wielded pepper spray and smashed windows. sound familiar yet? but what's striking is how that state's gop lawmakers are now handling the event. "new york times" continues, quote -- on monday the state's house republican caucus signed a letter encouraging the resignation of a colleague, who in a newly discovered video appeared to be coaching protesters on how they might gain action to the building. is the leader said she believed there was enough support in her caucus to expel him, republicans in oregon, you see, not shying away from putting state and country over party. it is a stark contrast in the downplaying of january 6th, and the obstruction to a commission we still see among the gop on capitol hill. january 6th is the day that

republicans must reckon with, though, writes former congresswoman barbara comstock. reps, instead of opposing a commission to investigate the events of january 6th, need to be at the forefront of seeking answers on the insurrection, and diminishing the power of qanon. republicans need to have more faith in their policies, and stop being afraid of a dangerous and diminished man who has divided the country and knew divides our country. reconsider the commission. let the investigation go ahead and run in 2022 on the truth. the truth. obviously lacking in the former guy's baseless claim he will be reinstated as president in august. new polls shows the majority of americans seat right through his dangerous delusion. a survey find the ex-president's claim is dismissed by a majority of americans, including 61% of

republicans. the trumpian wing of the party was dealt a blow last night in new jersey when the moderate candidate, who back in 2015 called trump a -- the republican primary was seen as the test of the potency of the -- and the public discourse, the politics of mask wears, and the legitimacy of president biden's win. new signs of the republican party may, may want to turn the page from donald trump is where we start this hour with some of our favorite reporters and friend. we're joined by two republicans who represented -- the aforementioned barbara comstock and denver riggleman, and msnbc political analyst phil rucker. in oregon, republicans did exactly what you've been advising washington republicans to do. they took the violence

certificatesly. they took the attack on their state capitol seriously and purging from their caucus not liz cheney, but someone who aided the insurrectionists. how do you pierce through what now seems so locked in and ridge i had as fealty to the big lie? >> well, in oregon you had those videos andhood evidence. i think the democrats just need to start putting whatever committee they have that can issue subpoenas, the, can send out subpoenas, just about on anything. that committee or others that have -- should be sending subpoena requests to people like mark meadows, trump junior, ivanka, all those people in the tent on january 6th, all the people who are planning to say meetings at the white house on what they were going to do on

january 6th. why was roger stone in town? what was he doing? you can get texts, phone records, hotel records, and start putting that together. that will tell a story. that won't be partisan. it will be factual. it will be their own texts. we know, just from the day, january 6th, remember when chris christie went on abc news, because he couldn't reach the white house or get anyone to say, mr. president, you got to do something here, you have to call off the dogs. we know kevin mccarthy called, too, but you know there must have been dozens others. and what was the response from the white house when they got those? i think it will be fascinating to get it, as well as the planning of those meetings, so democrats need to do this yesterday. i do not understand. i would have been subpoenaing those records january 7th, and then you could move the way oregon did. >> you know, i mean, the

democrats' position has been the threat comes from the americans who don't believe -- and my understanding from the speaker is to have a bipartisan commission like negotiated by congressman katko, so it would be -- that won't happen. to barbara's point about the evidence that neither to begin being collected, let me start with what he says, begin with the money. these are answerable. barbara writes, who planned and funded the trump rally that day? who picked the speakers and got attendees there? how did qanon, the oath keepers and proud boys get there? i mean, there are there are e-mails, e-mails sent to supporters, there were venues booked. there were permits taken out.

all that evidence has to exist. what do you think about where we are in terms of not turns over many stones? >> well, i think it's sort of ridiculous that we can't have a commission right now. i just want to give a shoutout to barbara. she's the o.g. when it comes to anti-trump, going against ridiculouses in. we have talked about this. she knows this process. we talked about her unleashing the subpoenas. with my background in pattern of life, actually utilizing that data, those cdrs, call detail records, and other forms of to decide who was working with who, and who the leaders were for each one, each one of the cells that were there. i think this is a fact-based or data-based thing we need to do. i do believe there's going to be committees with jurisdictions that will step up. i can't talk about it too much

right now, but i believe the committees do need to step up and identify these individuals. i want to say something about barbara. here in virginia we didn't see what we saw in new jersey. here the elections yesterday, but most of the individuals in the republican party that won where are pro-trumper stop the steal. we commiserated over that also. so i think those are some of the issues we have to address. this is baked in. some of this is baked in. what barbara is refers to in her op-ed is barbara going on the offensive. we have to tell people you don't have to be afraid of president trump. conservative values don't have to equal crazy. i appreciate her for the year she's been doing this. but up op-wade was an offensive move to try to get in front of this. >> would you offer your time,

volunteer to help them, where your expertise rise? >> helping democrats is helping the country. this isn't a partisan issue. that's what i get so angry about. we had individuals that sieged the capitol based clearly on fantasy. i apologize the connection isn't that great. we have all storms moving through. if you heard thunder, it's not me. this is not partisan at all. barbara is so right on this. this is about facts and data, about going after the individuals that are responsible for this. i don't see it as democrats reaches owl to me. i see it as americans reaching out, and i hope i can use my 20 years of experience and maybe rely on some of barbara's experience to get through this. >> barbara, would you volunteer your time to help a committee investigation? >> well, listen, it's pretty easy to send those subpoenas. the records are there. we models the subpoena requests we did on congressman debbie

dingell's late husband. it's pretty easy to do this. i think one of the things that certainly i was stressing in my op-ed, too, is our capitol police and the d.c. police who were fighting there that day and holding the line, were doing so while these members all got to safety. one of the things that, when we met with the senators and explained to them what was really going on on the front lines, we want, you know, they did their jobs so well that some of these members still don't appreciate how violent it was. when you watch that six-minute video of officer fanone getting brutally beaten so that he had a heart attack, he was tayed by a trump supporter, people don't want to hear those things. there's so many facts like that this just need to get out there. the press needs to get the facts out, out, but we need to hear from more people on the front lines. i think they just need to start doing this, start sending the

subpoenas, start getting the testimony and getting people up there in front of a committee. i certainly would prefer a bipartisan commission or some kind of even thing, where people worked together, and i think those 35 house members that voted for a commission are a good place to start on getting people who were there right now, who were work together, but i think there's certainly -- this isn't partisan. the american people need to understand the threat and the danger of qanon and these conspiracy theories that actually just aren't -- i pointed out it's not just republicans who believe these, it's independents, even some democrats who buy into this. it's creating this danger, where we could have violence again. >> and, phil rucker, to barbara's point, the family members of office sicknick who died after the insurrection have gone into republican senators' offices and told them the truth.

they still come out against this bipartisan commission to investigate. let me show you something that happened on hallie jackson's program from sandra garza, the partner of officer sicknick. >> i don't think any of them really knew the severity of the threat that day, but donald trump did, and the people in his administration i believe did, and that's why these republicans don't want it -- some of the republicans -- i don't want to say all, because clearly, you know, for me this is about the person. this isn't about the party. this is about the person. they knew, and that's why they don't want this full commission, because it's going to expose a lot of ugliness, and they want to sweep it under the rug. i'm not going to allow them to do that. i'm going to expose them for what they are. >> no doubt her commitment, and i don't doubt her ability to do what she said she's going to do, expose them. as barbara details, having

worked with evidence and records, it is all knowable. it is knowable who paid for the space. it is knowable where the money flowed between the trump campaign and the people who carried out the insurrection. these things, it is knowable how many times kevin mccarthy was on the phone with donald trump. it is knowable whether or not any house republicans gave reconnaissance tours, as a democratic congresswoman has posited. do you think we'll ever know all these knowable facts? >> nicolle, i think the country should hope we will find answers to the questions. the country, as scrap wear 6th showed, our democracy is incredibly fragile. tiffs teetering on the edge and still teetering there, because these conspiracies still continues to be spread for millions of americans. there's a very real threat of continued violence and future events of this nature, and not asking those questions, not

going into the records, not finding the truth makes it so much more dangerous here. the way to fortify this country's democracy is truth, and true facts, and figuring out exactly how this happened, and how we, as a society, can prevent it from happening in the future. it's such an important discussion we're having here, and frankly a little surprising that more members of congress don't see the pursuit of evidence and the pursuit of a cold, hard truth to be worthwhile. >> barbara, why are there only two? why it just liz cheney and adam kinzinger who see this the way you see it? >> like i said, 35 of the house members wanted an investigation. seven senators supported it, so i do want to give more credit to all those folks, but here's the thing. the information will come out, as i pointed out, when i worked

on the clinton investigations, we got a lot of stonewallings, hundreds of people who took the fifth or fled the country, and it rand into the election and george bush won. i don't think it helped al gore that all of these things were dripping out through an election year. i think as a republican, it would be better for republicans to engage in the truth-telling process, be out there in front, rip the band-aid off fast. it's going to come out through books, through media, through documents, you know, as time goes on. the longer you drag it out, the more it will run into the 2022 election cycle and the '24. for the american people, it keeps the danger alive. i would differ with phil on one thing. i don't think our democracy is fragile. i think it's very strong. i think we had in those 61 cases, judges, a lot of

conservative judges who just kicked trump out of court and to the curb, and said the arguments were ridiculous. you saw republicans in georgia stand up, and in arizona. you know, bill barr and the deputy attorney general, those records are coming out that they said no to all of this and said there's no fraud here. you had a lot of people in a lot of different places. i think the more subpoenas we have out there for more information, the more you will find that a lot of people said no to donald trump and stood up and protected this country. we need to know that, too, because there are probably are some unsung heroes, whether in the military or homeland, people who are maybe career officials who are not going out there in front of the cameras, but we need to know the stress they were put under, and we need to get that story out. if republicans don't do it now, it's going to hurt them in a political way, as well as making

this danger go on longer than it should. >> i mean, barbara, i guess the counter-argument to that is that it isn't over. raffensperger may have done heroic things, but he also facilitated a voter suppression law that would have disempowered him and his office. i think the observation that our democracy is in peril is beyond dispute. you talked about the truth coming out. the republicans aren't even for the truth. they purgd liz cheney. are you convinced -- >> i know it's going to take a while. margaret chase smith, she came out in 1950, she only had six supporters going after joe mccarthy, but four years later, 67 members of 9 senate voted to censure joe mccarthy. i would like to shorten that

timeline. four years was longer than it should have been, but i think in the long run, the american people, the truth comes out and our democracy usually rewards that. so i think a few people with courage, we already have them in the house and senate, people who have stood up. margaret chase smith only had six. we at least have seven in the senate now, 35 in the house, and i think those fee people with courage can make a majority of people, particularly, as you see, republicans are now very concerned that trump is out there endorsing very weak candidates who could lose them seats. now, i'd prefer to have better candidates that aren't trump endorsed that win, but if they lose, that will be another way they learn that are lessons. i do think, you know, sooner rather than later, with the truth coming out, the scales will fall from the eyes, the way they did with joe mccarthy, and this will be either it's cutting out the cancer or maybe, you know, more optimistically it's

passing of the political kidney stone that's painful, but we can all survive it. i do think or democracy was built to last, it's lasted through tougher things than donald trump, who is two times impeached, failed guy, who at 47%, going down every day, is not going to be the future of anything that will ever get to the white house. if we nominate him, yeah, that's not good, because then we lose, but he's not going to be the future of anything. except failure. >> i appreciate the optimism. >> sore loser. sore losers everywhere can rally around donald trump, but sore losers are still losers. >> i appreciate your optimism. he is a loser, and his stock is plummeting, but somehow kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell continue to show for him.

thank you for being here. phil will stay with us. now they're not even willing to call it an insurrection at all. the latest example of rep revisionism is next. the wealthiest americans paid little in income talks is now raising hope that president biden can help fund his bold agenda here. and haasen buttigieg will join us. "deadline: white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. this i s the sound of change. it's the sound of low cash mode from pnc bank giving you the options and extra time needed to help you avoid an overdraft fee. low cash mode on virtual wallet from pnc bank. one way we're making a difference.

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they tried to disrupt our democracy. they failed. they failed. they failed to attempt to disrupt the congress. this only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our republic. hits you like a ton of bricks, right? if you consider what happened in the days and weeks after he said all that, after a violent mob stormed the capitol, mitch mcconnell's accurate use of this insurrection. he isn't the only one saying insurrection, en. kevin mccarthy called it just that, an insurrection, if an interview with fox news. but time went by, republicans kissed trump's you know what,

and everything changed the report only includes the wort "insurrection" only as quotes. this yesterday from senator mcconnell. >> reporter: would you define it as an insurrection? >> i've said that a lot already, i said it on january 6th, then again february 13th. i really don't think there's anything i can add. >> just a quick fact check, on february 13th, why mcconnell was critical of trump, he does not use the "i" word. but more importantly his comments marks the culmination of a long and really intricate process of revisionism. joining our conversation is betsy woodruff kahn.

i want to read you something he wrote back in february. the emerging hoax-ification, and over time, capitalizing on fading memory to recast the narrative, a convenient one that trump was somehow right when he blamed both sides for what happened that day. by the time i wrote that piece, it was beginning to happen with a january 6th capitol riot. in subtle, but highly pertinent ways. barbara comstock was on but is the republican party having truthful conversations about

this in any forum, public or private? >> it's hard to make the case that elected republican leaders on capitol hill, and within the party's campaign arms are seriously looking to try to make sure this is a clear, detailed, unbiased and fullsome record that guess made. part of the reason the republicans will privately make the case that they aren't interested in participating in the type of commission they voted against just a couple weeks ago is because they say it would be politicize, but look, this is an issue ingrained in american politics. it has everything to do with the way this country's dna politics work, and if the ramiveses could be bad, that's not an argument against trying to understand the truth. quite the contrary, the only argument you can defend by says

politicization is a problem, you can only argue that the truth should not come out. that's why we're not seeing senior republicans embracing efforts to tell the truth and cast as much night on possible to disinfect the true ugliness and horror of january 6th. >> someone asked me about political polarization. i said it felt bad, but i would take it seven days of the week over the post-fact era. in the post-fact era, you don't have an investigation that everyone agrees is urgently needed for or national security, and then spin it other ways, that you don't even have an investigation. the reason i keep coming back to them whipping up votes against a republican-negotiated bipartisan commission is because of the campaign against the truth, the pushing against the fact. while i do not share barbara

comstock's optimism that the truth will come out. >> listen, bar ra and i are close friends, and sometimes i have problems with that optimism. they're polls on these specific types of word choices and to to present this to the base i'm reading through the entire senate report, and i have to say it doesn't go into the issue of the socialization of radical -- me as former military and former intelligence, i want to follow the money ops, want to find out who is calling who. there are closeded language, memes, hashtag, looking at encrypted boards. we can get twitter all the way back to 2006. when you learn analysis, can you

do it i'm still sort of stunned we don't have individuals wanting to find out what happened. listen, if i had death threats, which i did, many of us did, from q and nonor conspiratorial individuals, why wouldn't we want to know the truth of this? why wouldn't we want to know a conspiracy theory used as a writ was turned into a weaponized -- and had we had an insurrection or riot, hoover you want to define it, people are attacking the capitol based on fantasy. has that happened in the history of the united states? where we had absolute radicalized mass heading in there for stop the steal and saying hang the vice president. i would think that's fairly important to me. just being somebody who took the oath to defend the constitution, i would rather do that than defend a party. we are the radical few, barbara and i are part of that, the

facts-based people who want to know the truth. i wish i had abundance of optimism. really what i have right now, looking at the eek in virginia, the trump message is working. stop the steal is baked in, and some of these conspiracy theories are baked in. it's going to be a long slog. >> betsy, why aren't republicans afraid of the domestic violent extremist threat? >> it's hard to understand, in part, because in the recent report, the fbi, dhs and the intelligence community recently released, for the first time they want the shooting a take on republican members at a baseball field was the result of domestic extremism. that was an effort to kill republicans, that, according to the intelligence community, domestic violence extremists

engaged in they are delighted to talk every day about why it means we need to increase the pentagon's budget. when they have to look in the face of people who support them, people who think republicans are the good guys, but also who are violent and dangerous, they don't want to do it. >> truer words. thank you both so much for spending time with us today. we we return. president biden's 'engina is running up against questions how it should be paid for. should a new report help reframe that debate? that story is next. t help refrae that debate? that story is next prescribed topical pain relief ingredient. it's clinically proven, reduces inflammation and comes in original prescription strength.

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bombshell new reporting from propublica has caused outrage after reported leaked documents revealed that some of the wealthiest americans pay little, if no, income tax. propublica declined to disclose how it gained access to what it describes as a vast trove of internal retch service data on the tax returns of thousands of the nation's wealthiest people, covering more than 15 years.

propublica does not allege that any of the people in the report did anything illegal, and the i.r.s. is investigating how the documents were leaked. the report is igniing a debate. president biden has suggested that the country's richest should pay their fair share, so far republicans have been unwilling to compromise even on that. with the propublica report exposing is the inequities in our tax systems, president biden faces more pressure building from fellow democrats, who are calling for major reform, including senator warren, who proposed a wealth take during her campaign. she toted yesterday, our tax systems is built for millionaires. the evidence is abundantly clear. let's bring into our conversation nick confessore.

she actual his speaks for a lot, the polls is almost as bipartisan as approval for president biden's covid relief package. i mean, it is very political popular. do you think a story like this helps to push it back to the top of the agenda? >> it has to. this is a stunning record that shows, again, that there are really two tax systems in this country, a tax systems for those of us who earn salaries or wages by the hour, and a tax system for the ultra--wealthy whose income comes in the form of wealth, in stocks, assets that are put into trusts. so what we can see here is that in this second system, you can really escape the income tax. i was really shocked, but not surprised in some ways, that i paid more income taxes in 2018 than the richest guide in the world, who is elon musk. >> i mean, this is the part of it where i think president biden

has this extraordinary i won't called it a pattern yet, but he now has this record by getting bipartisan support, and using it to passless. it would be incredibly bold to do that on a wealth tax. do you think they will? >> i'm not sure. a wealth tax isn't really on the board right now for president biden. look, in some ways this report shows how narrow the biden taxes plan really is. it relies on raising corporate taxes and some taxes on wealth. what this is about is a whole way of avoiding those taxes entirely being have you this unrealized wealth, and some of the wealth tax proposals would tackle that, look, you have all this money sitting in stocks and access, we could find some ways

to deal with it. i can see some pressure on president biden from the left, saying what you proposed is not enough, in some ways it's too narrow and timid, it's time to think bigger. >> i can see pressure on the right as well. nick, thank you for spending time with us on that great reporting. >> thank you. when we return, chasten buttigieg, husband of transportation secretary pete buttigieg, that is next. tary pe buttigieg, that is next.

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when gop chairwoman rona mcdaniel tweeted last week the republican party will continue to grow its rising support from the community by supporting measures that have balanced and protections, and with those with deeply held religious beliefs, chasten buttigieg calls out the hypocrisy and challenged her position, tweeting -- those with deeply held religious beliefs beliefs are often the parents who chosed their children out on the home and onto the streets. 40% of homeless youth in this country are lgbtq. revisit your party's platform

before you open your mouth about pride. he's the odds thor of a beautifully written book "i have something to tell you." which is out right now in paperback. i want to start with your book and something we started talking about when the hard cover is out. it's so beautiful. i have to read this. you write this -- i just knew that if i came out, i would lose my family and my friends. i had already packed my bags and started moving out of the house by i did it. i stayed up wondering how there could be anything next for me, counting down the hours until i lost everything i knew. that's how i thought about it. i never considered the freedom i would feel once i could be myself in front of my parents and friends. you write so beautifully, and it's equal parts so raw and so painful. the book coming back out and you

coming back on, it's just incredibly powerful. i wonder what having it out and having a chance to talk about it again has been like. >> well, thanks so much, nicolle for having me back on, and it's fitting that it's pride month. i appreciate you reading that passage. i'm lucky to be sitting here today. during pride month it's a great time to recommit ourselves for sticking up for everything in this community. i wrote that passage truthfully. i was a pretty suicidal teenager when i ran away from home. in this country, an lgbtq kid considers suicide about every two seconds. i was one of those kids. i used this platform, this opportunity to share my story, but also to show up for those kids, like you mentioned, 40% of the kids who are sleeping out on the streets identify as lgbtq. so getting to the clap back,

that's why we have to stand up for the dangerous language cha the chairwoman put out there. there's vulnerable children in this country and that kind of language hurts them. >> i felt that in your response. it wasn't a political space you were occupying. it was a defense of people who are now walking in shoes you can very much relate to. i wonder, if you can just expand on that. what can we all do? >> absolutely. you know, i think some people like the chairwoman are focused on, you know slapping rainbow stickers on tweets say you support the lgbtq community, but what we need to is pass the equality act. if the chairwoman is right that the republican party is truly the party of inclusivity, which i believe it is not, we should have no problem passing the equality act. the equality acts guarantees

sweeping -- people can still be denied housing, employment, education opportunities, and that's why civil rights legislation is so important. this community is consistently under attack day in and day out, specifically the transgender community. we see that happening in florida with ron desantis using the first day of pride to pass anti-trans legislation. so everyone in this country can stand up and ask their officials to pass the equality act. >> you have moved to washington, making it your home now. how is that? >> it's warm. i am not used to the heat yet. >> it's very hot today. >> i'm very happy to be here. to be a part of a new wave of hope, can you really feel it here in the capitol, this sense of leadership has return to our nation's capital, that people

hoar are focused on getting things done. as we continue through pride month, i look forward to speaking out. other than that, we'll try heaty for the dogs. >> well, i don't want to bum you out, but the heat breaks like in october. you're like at the beginning. do you understand why they call it a swamp? i want to ask you something you write about secretary pete, your husband as well, about the isolation that he dealt with and i read this again today too. i couldn't bear to stay in the closet when i was a teenager. i spent years after i busted down the door battling depression and suicidal thoughts and coming to terms with the internalized homophobia. peter on the other hand felt he had to stay in the closet if he wanted to make it and he carried many of these. i can only imagine how isolating

it was. i read your book when you came on. i think of your description when i see him on the sunday shows. what is this journey like for him, for both of you? >> well, i've never seen him happier. i think he's definitely dedicated to the job. i'm sort of only allowing about three minutes of transportation talk at the dinner table at night but during pride month for both of us two people who have, you know, gone through a lot in our personal lives. i came out very early and pete felt he had to keep a lot of things locked up inside to succeed in this country. it's a really important time for us to do our best to show up for everyone in this community. i want to say one more thing about your question earlier. what can people do during pride month? i didn't come out because i felt like i was going to lose my family. i think pete felt the same way, not only about his family but

his career. if you love someone in your family, you've got to let them know that. if you are truly an ally, you have to let them know you will show up for them so it's okay to come out and feel like they truly belong in this country. >> that's such a dose of beauty in this really rough and tumble moment. thank you very much for spending some time with us. it is a beautiful book. it is called "i have something to tell you" and it's out in paper back. go buy it and read it if you haven't already. when we return, president biden in a role he has come very accustomed to. that story after a quick break. ♪ i've got the brains... ♪ with allstate, drivers who switched saved over $700 click or call to switch

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thank you so much for letting us into your homes during these extraordinary times. we're grateful. "the beat" with ari melber is here now. >> we have a big show tonight. the first thing i want to tell you is we have an important special report we've been working on. it's about the man at