>> thus a primary. thank you so much, msnbc's cori coffin. ♪♪ and a very good day to all of you from right here at msnbc world headquarters in new york. welcome, everyone, to "alex witt reports." in just about 30 minutes or so, we will see president biden and the other g7 leaders and some guests as they are expected to take another group photo before wrapping up a very busy second day of the summit. the group of leaders coming off several leaders today, talking global infrastructure, combatting china's growing influence, and pandemic recovery and prevention. all while president biden drove home his central message, america is back. >> the european union is an incredibly strong and vibrant entity that has a lot to do with

the ability of western europe to not only handle its economic issues but provide the backbone and support for nato. and so, i -- we're very supportive. very supportive. >> and it comes as the president is set to have his first meeting with russian leader vladimir putin on wednesday. nbc's keir simmons exclusively sat down with president putin as he compared his relationship with biden to his relationship with donald trump. >> you once described president trump as a bright person, talented. how would you describe president biden? >> translator: even now, i believe that former u.s. president, mr. trump, is an extraordinary individual, talented individual. otherwise, he would not have become u.s. president. president biden, of course, is radically different from trump because president biden is a career man. he's spent virtually his entire adulthood in politics. a different kind of person. it is my great hope that, yes, there are some advantages, some disadvantages, but there will not be any impulse based

movements on behalf of the sitting u.s. president. >> new reaction from congressman gerry connolly telling me why he thinks putin may have such a favorable view of the former president. >> this was a man who didn't know anything about u.s. government and didn't really care, who violated democratic norms, who incited an insurrection, who has we're now learning violated the rights of journalists and members of congress in siccing his department of justice on the worst of the nixonian tradition, seeking emails and telephone logs to try to basically intimidate and get dirt on people he could then try to suppress. no wonder vladimir putin likes him. >> meantime, back in washington, new developments on that bombshell report colleen just mentioned there on the trump doj secretly seizing data from house democrats and their families. a justice department watchdog now says it is launching a probe into those subpoenas as top

democrats are demanding attorneys general barr and session testify before the judiciary committee. among the items on the g7 agenda today, security challenges posed by china and global recovery from the pandemic. nbc white house correspondent mike memoli is joining me from st. ives in cornwall. what are you learning today? >> reporter: yeah, alex, it really has been a marathon day here in cornwall as we head into the evening hours. multiple sessions that the president participated in with g7 leaders, there was one that was sort of a grab bag of foreign policy hot spots dealing with afghanistan as the u.s. prepares to withdraw its forces there, the fragile sort of peace in the middle east right now as well as looking ahead to the president's meeting with russia. there was also a session happening right now. we know there was one yesterday on the pandemic, another tonight with the g7 and some other additional invited guests,south

africa, south korea, and india to discuss not only how to deal with the current crisis but also to prepare better for future pandemics, but i want to talk about what you mentioned, which is the discussion that started the day about how to really confront the rise of china, the g7 leaders announcing what they're calling build back better world, b3w as they're calling it to try to match what china has been doing, using its influence and its real financial power to build infrastructure in foreign countries to try to expand their influence, but as one senior official put it in a briefing with reporters this afternoon, there was some differentiation of opinion, even among the allies, about just how aggressive to be pushing back on china on some of the more adversarial aspects of the relationship, including human rights. so, an interesting discussion for sure that we should be getting more details on tomorrow when we see a final joint statement from these leaders. of course, the president also has a one-on-one meeting with the russian president where another theme of this summit,

u.s. trying to reassert itself, president biden following up on four years of president trump. take a listen to how the president and the french president discussed that relationship earlier today. >> we have some things we got to talk about a little bit later, but things are going, i think, well? and we're -- as we say back in the states, we're on the same page. >> we have to deal with this pandemic and the covid-19. we have to face a lot of changes, a lot of crisis, climate change, and for all these issues, what we need is cooperation, and i think it's great to have the u.s. president part of the club and very willing to cooperate, and i think that what you demonstrate is that leadership is partnership. >> reporter: and alex, after a bit of an intense day, the leaders have something to look forward to tonight, a little bit more of a relaxed atmosphere as

they're poised to have something of a beach barbecue. you can see the weather today here in the southwest of england has been brilliant, as they say, and that barbecue tonight will include a flyover from the red arrows of the royal air force. they've had a busy day. they started earlier today, participating in the ceremonies honoring the queen on her official birthday here in the uk, alex. >> that's exciting. i hope they all enjoy themselves. we've got a bit more to talk about until they get to that. thank you so much, mike memoli. and to do part of that talking, joining me now is connecticut congressman jim himes, a democratic member of the house intelligence and financial services committees. congressman, it's awfully good to see you again. as you watch the president meeting with these world leaders at the g7 this weekend, how important, in your mind, is preparing america's image and relationships, and do you think president biden is doing it effectively? >> yeah, great to see you, alex. and i'm still chuckling over how brilliant the weather is in britain even though there's

storm clouds everywhere. you ask a really important question, and that is, you know, after what the world went through in the last four years where the president regularly berated every world leader except, of course, for vladimir putin, who he fawned over, i think now they're probably getting reoriented and the reason that's important, alex, is not necessarily because of the u.s. image. we care about that. but it's really important because you almost can't name a problem, whether we're talking about terrorism or cybersecurity or climate change or confronting russia or confronting china that we don't do a lot more effectively, a lot more cheaply and a lot more intelligently if we do it together with the people that we're on the stage with the president. >> you mentioned vladimir putin, and in fact, i want to look ahead to the wednesday summit that president biden has with him. nbc news sat down with vladimir putin for an exclusive interview ahead of that meeting. nbc's keir simmons confronting putin for being described as a quote, killer. take a listen to this. it was great. >> reporter: when president biden was asked whether he believes you are a killer, he said, i do. mr. president, are you a killer?

>> translator: over my tenure, i've gotten used to attacks from all kinds of angles and from all kinds of areas under all kinds of pretexts and reasons and none of it surprises me. i think this is an expression of overall u.s. culture. >> what is your reaction to that? and what are your expectations for the summit between the two leaders on wednesday? >> reporter: well, i have two reactions. one, courageous reporter. the second reaction, of course, is that, you know, vladimir putin pointing at the united states and saying, we employ harsh rhetoric or we're harsh is just -- this is the guy who has imprisoned alexey navalny, his political rival. this is the guy who regularly dispatches assassination teams to foreign countries, including the united kingdom, to kill dissidents that -- i mean, it's just almost laughable, but look, we understand that putin is going through probably a little bit of whiplash himself, right, because i don't imagine he ever thought that he would have an

american president who would stand next to him in reykjavík and say, i trust this guy more than i trust my own intelligence community. i don't think he imagined he would have a u.s. president that would be quite the agent of chaos and remember, that's what putin wants. he's not marching troops into times square. what he wants is chaos in this country. he wants anger. he wants to be able to point to us and say, look, these guys who hold themselves up as is the sort of salvation of the world politically and economically can't do anything. it's chaotic. and donald trump delivered that. >> i remember that helsinki press conference, it was absolutely stunning, frankly. but let me ask you about the most critical issues that you believe need to be addressed, and do you expect the president to confront putin on, let's say, the russian involvement in recent cyberattacks? >> yeah. yeah, i mean, there's obviously a lot, right? i mean, it's real hard to pick one issue. but you know, sitting as i do on the intelligence committee and opening the newspaper every single day to find yet another ransomware attack, yet another attack and a lot of these attacks are coming out of

russia, not necessarily from the kremlin, but you know, very little happens in russia that the kremlin doesn't know about, particularly across its borders, and i do think that the president needs to say, number one, you don't get to mess around in our domestic politics anymore, because of course, they continue to do that. and number two, look, we got to stop with the cyberattacks, and even if it's not you, you need to stop folks like darkside, which engineered the colonial pipeline disaster. you need to stop that or we're going to start exacting a cost from you. i've been disappointed with the last three presidents, that they haven't been more aggressive in establishing a deterrent and really making it plain that there will be huge costs to be paid for the kinds of things that we see every day. >> congressman himes, do stay with me if you don't mind for a moment. we're going to go to capitol hill and then i'm going to come back and talk with you further about a couple other topics so i thank you for that. meantime, everyone, the new calls to subpoena former attorneys general william barr and jeff sessions in connection to the doj obtaining the data of two congressional democrats.

my colleague ali vitali is on capitol hill for us. i'm curious how lawmakers are reacting to this revelation. >> reporter: democratic lawmakers reeling from these revelations that trump's department of justice subpoenaed communication records not just from journalists but also there two top congressional democrats, eric swalwell and adam schiff who were leading investigations into the former president. these revelations underscoring for many democrats the warnings that they've issued about the former president over the course of his ten you a, both in office and also now that he's out of office. take a listen, for example, to congressman peter welch just this morning. >> he said he was an anti-democratic president. he believed he was above the law. he thought it was within his right to weaponize the deputy of justice and use the awesome power of prosecution against the legislators in an independent branch of government. it's an extraordinary breach of our democratic principles.

>> reporter: and alex, next comes the investigations. we already know that the doj inspector general, the watchdog over that agency, says they're going to begin a broad investigation into what went on here. at the same time, though, former attorneys general jeff sessions and bill barr both distancing themselves from this. you mentioned, this is true, democrats here on the hill are going to want to hear from those two men about what went on with these subpoenas and how this came to be, but again, those two men distancing themselves from that and really, alex, more broadly, revelations like these are part of a larger trend that we've already seen and probably will continue to see as we get further out from the trump administration. more people interested not just in undoing the policy of this administration but really going in behind the scenes and unwinding what went on during contentious, controversial moments throughout those four years. >> yeah, of which there were very many. thank you very much, ali vitali. back with me again, connecticut congressman jim himes. congressman, look, you have

never been one to mince words. you're on the intel committee. have you been contacted about any sort of nefarious behavior with anyone, with you, your staff, family members such as we know happened with representative schiff and swalwell? i mean, they were told their records were seized. have you been contacted with anything like that? >> i don't think i have, alex. it turns out that apple was contacting people by email, and so everybody's frantically searching their spam folders and that sort of thing but at this point, it doesn't look like i was one of the lawmakers that was targeted. but that doesn't make me feel any better, you know? the guys who sit right next to me were, as was their families, as were minor children. i mean, i take some relief in knowing it wasn't me but it's a huge challenge to the country that it was anybody. >> yeah. all right, senate democrats have said they intend to subpoena former a.g.s barr and sessions and in an interview with politico, attorney general barr is quoted as saying he didn't recall getting briefed on the move and was not aware of any congressman's records being

sought in a leak case and a former senior justice department official tells nbc news that when jeff sessions was a.g., he never approved subpoenas for members of the house intelligence committee in any leak investigation. so, are these recollections or lack thereof, are they plausible for you? how important is it that you hear directly from them? >> well, it's critical, alex. first of all, the subpoenaing of records of members of congress, unless there is very clear criminal activity, and i mean very, like, you know, there's a suitcase full of unmarked hundred dollar bills in my trunk kind of very, this should never happen. and it should never happen with members of the opposition party, and it looks like, in this particular case, it may have happened with more vocally opposed members of the opposition party. so, i say all that to say that if it is going to happen, it darn well better receive the very highest levels of approval, including not just the approval of the attorney general but the attorney general losing sleep over whether this is a good

idea. so, i'll tell you what, if they are telling the truth, we need to establish that, we need to understand what the heck went wrong inside the doj and if you'll let me sort of expand on that for a second, alex. it's not just the doj. at this point, we know this president was impeached for trying to use u.s. aid for his political benefit. he was subpoenaing records for his political benefit. at this point, i need to know what else. i don't need to learn four years from now the irs was auditing the president's enemies. this is time for us to step up and say, this president in particular used every tool at his disposal for his own personal political benefit so i need to know what all of that -- the american people need to know what was done from soup to nuts. >> and to your point, it's hardly the first time we've learned how the former president tried to abuse his power from asking ukraine's president to look into dirt on joe biden and his son and asking georgia's secretary of state to find him 11,000 votes.

we have congressman swalwell who expressed his concerns to ngakoue msnbc about trump as he could be the 2024 presidential front runner if he decides to run. do you share those concerns? >> i do. i do. i mean, you'd be crazy not to, right? i mean, you know, forget about the polling. i can count on one hand, maybe two hands, the number of my republican colleagues in the house of representatives who if donald trump announced tomorrow wouldn't say, sign me right up for that election campaign. and it's just staggering, because of course, their lives were put in as much danger on january 6th as my life was and they understand that this guy is profoundly dirty. they understand that he has really no interest other than himself, and yet, it's -- you know, it's almost as though they're mesmerized, and so of course this is an ongoing danger and it's not just trump, right? what worries me about the moment we're in right now is this, you know, it has a lot to do with tens of millions of americans who continue to believe the blatant lie that the election was stolen and who are in some senses the priests in donald

trump's church, and you know, people like ted cruz and josh hawley are kind of waiting for the moment when they get to use the levers of that movement, and so just -- even if donald trump isn't around, we're not done with this threat to our democracy. >> we're not. congressman jim himes, thank you so much. it's good to see you. thanks for the time here on a saturday. protecting voter rights as republican-led states try to change the rules of the game. to the new steps promised by attorney general merrick garland go far enough? i'm going to ask reverend al sharpton that question next. rel sharpton that question next.

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a new promise on voting rights from the justice department to review new and existing state voting rights laws and identify discrimination against black voters, double the number of lawyers on the doj voting rights enforcement team, publish guidance on early voting and voting by mail. >> there are many things that are opened to debate in america.

but the right of all eligible citizens to vote is not one of them. democracy is not a state. it is an act. and each generation must do its part. thanks to all of your work, the department of justice will always stand up to ensure the survival of the central pillar of our democracy. >> and joining me now, my good friend, the reverend al sharpton, founder and president of the national action network and of course host of "politics nation," which you can catch a little bit later on here on msnbc. rev, welcome. we have big promises from attorney general merrick garland. how much of this -- basically these five points that he's saying, how much of this can he deliver on? what are the obstacles that you you see that could get in his way? >> there will be resistance by the states, but the good news is that if he uses the full weight

of the justice department, they can go in, investigate, and really put on the record with the threat of perjury, people that will have to say how they came to the conclusions that they needed to stop dropbox voting and absentee voting with i.d. their data, then, becomes under the scrutiny of the justice department, subject to perjury if they give false data, because they're trying to prove fraud where there was no fraud. it's one thing to see it at a press conference. it's another thing to say it if you're being litigated by the justice department and you're on federal court record. >> so as you know, vice president kamala harris is taking on the issue of voting rights. add that to police reform and immigration, and she took some criticism this week for comments on border crossings so let's

listen to her interview with lester holt. >> what do you tell a guatemalan family who heard you say, don't come, but you know, they're facing the end. >> i don't think that americans want people to be exposed to harm if they can avoid it. this whole thing about the border, we've been to the border. we've been to the border. >> you haven't been to the border. >> and i haven't been to europe. i mean, i don't understand the point that you're making. >> so, tell me what went through your mind when you first heard her responses. >> i thought at best it was an inartful response, but the real question is, to me, if she goes to the border, and she says she will and probably should, then what? the question is the policy, not the visit. the fact is that under the trump administration, we saw families separated that are still separated, many that we can't reconnect because you can't find them. so, in many ways, you're dealing

with a dirty room that you're trying to sweep and you didn't put the dirt there, and people are questioning the broom rather than dealing with the dirt that was in the room that you are trying to find a way for your broom to sweep out. we have a mess that was caused by the trump administration in a willful policy at the border, talking about a wall, separating families, and i think that this administration is trying to find a way to deal with it. sometimes you may say things inartfully but the facts are the facts are the facts. >> you know, about four months ago, you interviewed the vice president for your show. why do you think she seems to be getting it from all sides right now? >> well, i think that she's getting it from the republican side because they never wanted her to be vice president, and she becomes an easy target. i think you get it from some of the other sides because they think she may be the '24 nominee

if president biden decides not to run again or that she would on the ticket. so a lot of it is political posturing. what i'm not hearing is people specifically saying, these are the policies that will correct this inhuman, in my opinion, disastrous policies that we're coming behind with the trump administration. don't forget, we're only dealing four or five months into the biden administration. they inherited something that in and of itself was a very basic inhuman policy and a policy based on people being south american or mexican. they're not doing that at the canadian border. they're not doing it with immigration across the board. one has to say, if the root is poison, the fruit must be poison. we're dealing with the fruit of a poisonous root of policies at that border from the previous administration. >> yeah, and picking up on the

word, the things that she's inherited, if you look at the things she's dealing with, police reform, immigration, voting rights, these are not light issues. they are heavy topics to try to tackle. they are problems that have been around for decades. administrations come and go, in fact, with no solutions to these issues. why do you think there's so much pressure on kamala harris to be the one to solve them, and what happens if she does not? >> i think that the pressure is on her because the president has appointed her, and as you say, three areas that some are generational problems. to expect her to solve it in four, five months is naive at best and cynical, in fact. but i think that at the same time, she's got to be able to handle it. that's why she's vice president. and i think that she has got to try to find solutions, not finding political mid ground. my personal thoughts are that if anyone can approach solving some of those three, if not all of

them, it would be someone like kamala harris, who has demonstrated a toughness and an ability at the same time to talk to people in a humane way. so, i do not know whether she'll be successful or not for the good of all concerned, both those in the united states and central america, i hope she is. but i'm a lot more comfortable that she's the vice president assigned to that rather than mike pence assigned to that, who has found a way to duck the fact that he was the target of an insurrection and can't even find the nerve to stand up for an insurrection in country, let alone deal with what is happening with the situation with a foreign border wall. >> okay, reverend al sharpton, thank you so much. you're not going to shy away from some tough topics. he will be talking with voting rights, the topic of that, with congresswoman pramila jayapal at 5:00 eastern on "politics nation." then ahead for tomorrow at

5:00, reverend sharpton will speak with jim clyburn only on msnbc. we are waiting for the family photo, as the g7 summit leaders are gathering for that photo op. it's scheduled about two minutes from now, so we'll take you there when we get back. , so we' there when we get back get a freshly made footlong from subway® instead. with crisp veggies on freshly baked bread. just order in the app! ditch the burgers! choose better, be better. subway®. eat fresh. choose better, be better. no gaming options isn't an option. now verizon gives you apple arcade on us with over 180 games to choose from. the iphone 12 is going to change mobile gaming. plus you can get iphone 12 pro on us when you buy one, and we'll help cover your costs to switch. only from verizon.

at the bottom of the hour, we are back with a look at what is happening right now in cornwall, england, that is where president biden and over g7 leaders are gathering for a group photo. of course this is the second day of the summit and leaders are hashing out some common responses to the pandemic as well as issues related to infrastructure and security threats posed by china. let's go to nbc foreign correspondent matt bradley, joining me from penzance in cornwall. as we watch the leaders going hard at negotiations, we should point out that first lady jill biden has kept up a hectic schedule. she's preparing for a meeting with the queen tomorrow.

>> reporter: that's right, and she's been paling around with the duchess of cambridge and a lot of the plus ones. they had a dinner last night at the eden project not far from where i'm standing right here in cornwall. these sorts of confabs, they're great for getting everybody together, everybody involved, and that's what you're seeing. another person who's involved is the queen of england. now, that shouldn't be too surprising. she is, after all, not just a celebrity. she is the head of state of this country. she has a constitutional role and so she represents britain alongside boris johnson, the prime minister, in these sorts of affairs, and she has -- you know, this isn't her first rodeo. she's been around quite a long time. joe biden is the 13th u.s. president that she has met, and so she's earned her sense of humor, and you can see she's been cracking jokes all weekend. here's one clip of her. take a listen. >> seem as if you're enjoying

it. >> we have been enjoying ourselves, in spite of appearances. >> reporter: and so, jill biden, the first lady, also is meeting with some veterans today and was hearing how, well, here in cornwall, it's all about surfings and hearing about how surfing is such a great opportunity for veterans to recover. and then tomorrow, she and the president are going to be headed to windsor palace, where they're going to be having tea with the queen. it's not going to be quite the state visit but this is going to be a stop on their way to brussels where there's going to be a nato meeting and then off to geneva, switzerland, for that big, big, much-anticipated meeting with vladimir putin, the russian president. >> you know i got to say, with a return there to windsor castle, the last time we were all taken there was for the very somber funeral of her much beloved husband, prince philip but it's good to see she has her sense of

humor. my friend peter, we were laughing when she was talking about that. that was wonderful, matt bradley. i'd like for you to stick around as well. we're going to continue to follow what's happening, that photo -- the family photo will be coming up shortly and to do all of that coverage, i'm also going to be joined by former u.s. ambassador, christopher hill. peter spiegel, the u.s. managing editor at the financial times. guys, i'll start with you, mr. ambassador, president biden certainly appears to be getting a warm reception. what has been your assessment thus far of how he's done and how he's being perceived and welcomed by the other leaders? >> well, first of all, i mean, by showing up and being the successor of his predecessor, it was hard not to be well received but i think what people are also impressed by is not only his basic humanity but he's on top of his brief. he understands the issues. he's good with the small talk. he's good with the big talk, and i think people are just very

impressed with joe biden. so, i think it's going very well. he also brought some things with him. i mean, his -- the vaccination proposals, other things. i mean, this is a very substantive summit, and i think a lot of the credit goes to president biden. >> yeah. peter, you know, much of the focus has been on china, lots of details with that regarding the alternative to china's investing in development countries, concerned over security threats posed by china. how will china play out? you had told me earlier that it really is the underpinning of everything. >> this is something that the americans want to talk about. this is what biden wants to talk about. part of the reason they're pushing china so hard is they don't want to talk about the russians. this issue of greeting to do a summit with putin is in many circles quite controversial. this is someone who's basically jailed and attempted to kill his leading opposition figure,

alexey navalny. they are still hacking into our own networks and our ally networks. they clearly want to try to manage the russian relationship while combatting the chinese, and the managing of the russian relationship is actually, particularly amongst europeans, somewhat controversial because it is their neighbor. and the europeans have taken the lead on a lot of these issues, sanctions against belarus, so his next stop in brussels, i think, is actually going to be more difficult. the london is small as ambassador hill said. he just has to show up and show he's not donald trump. brussels is going to be administrator substantive because it is nato and it's a larger group of countries but you also have countries in nato like hungary and poland who seem to be breaking away a little bit from the solid west, being influenced by putin, being sort of dragged in that direction. so they don't want to talk about russia and i think a lot of us in the press have been pushing them on russia. they don't want to talk about it. they don't have a group message of why they're meeting with putin. they keep saying it's not a reward but certainly in moscow,

they see it as a reward. this is what the president -- russian president likes. he likes to be seen on the global stage with his american counterpart and i think we're going to see the trip get a little bit harder. >> mr. ambassador, that could also be something depending on the content of that conversation, right, with the russian president. i mean, it could get quite tense. are there things that you think must be addressed and those things that are going to be very, very dicey between the two men? >> well, i think the president needs to be very clear to putin that we can't stand for more of these cyberattacks. this is getting pretty serious. it's affecting a lot of our businesses. and frankly, i don't think there's a lot of difference between our views of russia and the european views. the question, of course, is how to deal with it. and the europeans, you know, being where they are tend to take a view that they want to kind of get through this without too much -- without too many fireworks, but i think it's very important for a u.s. president to kind of lay down the line and

explain what concerns us and what are the impediments to a normal relationship. so, you know, it's always a tension. you don't want to have meetings with people where they abuse the meeting back home for propaganda purposes. on the other hand, the u.s. president needs to be able to talk to these people and make very clear what our views are, and i think in joe biden, we're going to have such a president. >> yeah. matt, i know that you brought us some of that interview. i think it was a sky news reporter you had said that was speaking with boris johnson and asked him to compare the trump g7 to the biden g7. what was the message, do you think, boris johnson was trying to convey? >> reporter: well, i think he's really just trying to say that, look, he was close friends with the former president, and that he is now very much in with joe biden. he's trying to say that, you know, maybe he had some buyers remorse about his affection for the former president who was

very unpopular among all of these g7 leaders. he was the only one who really had, of all these g7 leaders, who really had a good relationship with president trump. so, in many ways, it seems like he's kind of trying to dial that back in a very obvious way. the british-u.s. relationship is so important and a lot of ink has been spilled here in britain about how that relationship is actually so much more important to britain than it is to the united states, and you know, one interesting thing that we have heard in the last couple of weeks, you guys keep mentioning, everybody keeps mentioning the special relationship. boris johnson was caught or, well, he was quoted a couple weeks ago as saying that essentially that made him cringe. he doesn't like hearing about the special relationship because even though when you and i hear it, it sounds like an equal partnership between america and britain, when britain hears it or when boris johnson hears it, he sees it as a cloying, desperate, almost pathetic effort by the brits to try to warm up to the americans.

he hates that kind of relationship. so, to him, the special relationship between britain and the u.s., that terminology smacks of a kind of subservience by britain, something that he wants to avoid, especially those optics. you know, the 10 downing street has really tried to stylize boris johnson as a kind of second coming of winston churchill. they really see him or trying to present him as blazing a trail for an independent, strong, and powerful britain, and you can see that with the brexit rhetoric and the brexit move. so, boris johnson really does want to try to show the world in the same way that joe biden is showing the world that he's not donald trump, boris johnson is trying to show the world that he's not friends with donald trump either. >> interesting. matt, peter, ambassador hill, i hope you all can stay with me just for a moment because we do have some breaking news. we will await, again, that family photo coming up and when we get to that, we'll bring you guys back. there's this new video. utter pandemonium in midair,

this crazy scene involving an unruly passenger forcing that delta flight from los angeles to atlanta to be diverted to oklahoma city. my colleague is joining us from los angeles to talk about this. what do you know about what happened on this flight? because it seemed like it was literally all hands on deck. you had the pilot asking for help from passengers. >> reporter: exactly. just like you mentioned, a crazy video. we're seeing these videos more and more with the number of incidents on planes growing. there's this unruly passenger, and you can see in these videos that people have to help to fight him off and at one point, just like you said, the pilot had to ask everyone for help. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking. we'd like all [ bleep ] strong males to handle a problem passenger. >> reporter: now, we know that the plane was diverted. it landed safely in oklahoma city where police entered the plane and arrested the

individual. we know that these incidents are growing all over the country. the faa says that they've registered 29 complaints or 29 -- i'm sorry -- 2,900 reports of unruly behavior on flights. most of those, of course, are for people not following the federal mask mandates but this is a very large number of individuals that have created these scenes that we've seen in all of these videos. of course, there's several videos recorded by people inside the plane. there's also -- here, we can see the actual numbers that the fa args has reported. there's also a message from the faa saying that there will be zero tolerance for passengers who display this type of behavior. in fact, now, they're trying to use fines. they're even charging up to $15,000 for passengers that have created these scenes or have been unruly on these flights. >> you know what? guad, i'm going to ask my

director. if you can queue up the darker footage we're seeing. i just noticed, it appears that is right by an exit. does that -- do we know if that's confirmed? i mean, you know, the indentations there on the plane, for those of us that fly often, it looks like that is by the exit. can you imagine the terror if you have somebody who may be mentally unstable and you're mid flight. do we know anything about where on this plane this happened? >> so, the official report from delta says that there was an incident, that an individual was apprehended and the flight was diverted. we did speak to one of the travelers on the plane who witnessed a lot of what happened, and the passenger did say that they thought the man might have been trying to open the door, but that, again, is just a statement given by one of the passengers who was on the flight. like you said, it appears that the man is near the edge where these doors are located. still waiting for more details on what caused the man to become

unruly. and then of course we have the images of him being fought off by several other men that were on the flight who eventually, in other videos we can see, had to go on top of him as they held him down before the plane landed in oklahoma city. >> can you imagine how incredibly terrifying for those passengers? guad venegas, thank you so much for bringing us that new footage. we appreciate that there from los angeles. okay, everyone, we are still waiting for the family photo as the g7 summit leaders are gathering for the photo op. we'll bring you the pictures when we come back. we'll take a very short break, pay a few bills. we'll be right back. y short bre, pay a few bills. we'll be right back. ♪ sometimes you wanna go ♪ ♪ where everybody knows your name ♪ ♪♪ ♪ and they're always glad you came ♪ welcome back, america. it sure is good to see you. ♪♪ how to make a rock star. start 'em young. let them fail. and be there when they do.

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there. i'm curious, mr. ambassador, with regard to everything that we expect on wednesday with the president's meeting with vladimir putin, what is it that you think can come from it, of a constructive nature? we could certainly have controversy. that would be easily accomplished given the number of issues that are really up in the air and that don't necessarily have a positive undertone to them of late. but what positive could come from this particular meeting? >> well, first of all, i don't think putin is going to hit the side of his head with the palm of his hand and say, now i get it, i'll be good after this. but i think what could happen, which would be very positive, is the president will go through an agenda, he'll have a discussion about it. the president will make clear what our priorities are, and can i think that will be very important for putin to take with him. the second thing is, i think it will be normal. there will be people there. there will be note takers. there will be proper rendering of what actually happened. and i think it became a kind of

reality tv show in the past, and i think it's very important for president biden to do what he does. i mean, he's our most senior diplomat. he knows how to do this. and i think he will look very adult-like and will give the american people a good sense that he knows what he's doing and this country is in the right direction. so, for him, there's a big, big domestic political element to it, and i think just to make very clear to putin that he's on top of his brief and we're going to need some action or we will have to take some action. >> yeah. let me get into a detail with you, peter. with president biden having already backed down, if you will, from the russian gas pipeline through germany. it's a pipeline that would be bypassing revenue that would be offered to ukraine, right? is this something that was seen as a bit of a concession, if you will, in advance of this meeting? >> well, this is the concern i have. and i would never disagree with ambassador hill on russia policy

but i think this summit might be a mistake because of this. not only did the biden administration sort of lift the sanctions on nor stream 2, frankly we've seen putin in the run-up outlaw navalny's party. frankly his interview with nbc, the language he's used in the run-up to this summit, it's all the signs of putin using his tricks he's used repeatedly ahead of these summits and you know, i covered the u.s. policy towards russia since the clinton administration. every single president comes in and says, i'm going to reset. remember, bush goes and sees the soul of putin's eyes. you know, you have barack obama goes to moscow and does a reset summit. every single time, putin gets the better of them and i think what biden is doing here is trying to reset to a point that, okay, pre-trump, but the pre-trump policies didn't work either. so, i think reaching out and giving putin the stage at this point, when there has been so much bad actions, navalny, you know, the hacking, the belarus incident, i think the

administration's had a hard time explaining why they're doing this now and i just think the timing is wrong. >> ambassador, i've heard it said that you have to go into a meeting with vladimir putin very, very carefully. that it's very easy for him to kind of stonewall, right? and start taking up all the time and try to move his agenda that you have to be very calculating in the way you approach him. we have been told that joe biden is very, very prepared, not only for the g7 summit and that which he'll meet with nato in brussels but also this putin interview. how would you suggest he goes about? you're a diplomat. you know how to deal with and ask questions to somebody who may be a tough negotiator. how should joe biden approach this meeting, this summit with putin? >> some years ago, i used to daily with molosovic and it was really the same thing. you would bring up a point and he would take you on this alice in wonderland route as to why

you don't have a point. so you need to study that briefing book and to understand at the end of the day, what you're kind of looking for. i think, two, we need some follow-up on this, and i think biden understands the point that putin wanted this summit, it makes him look like he's in from the cold, but i think it's very important to get this kind of follow-on meetings because this russian behavior can't just go on and on. we need to kind of set down our concerns about it and make it very clear in sort of a sense of known consequences. so, i think biden needs to do that. this is not a getting to know you summit. he knows putin. putin knows him. so this is not going to be something where you tell jokes and try to make for a better atmosphere. this is going to be a meeting where you go through a pretty tough agenda and you kind of don't listen to or try to put aside the kind of nonsense you're going to get back from

him, and make very clear you're on top of your brief. >> okay. >> i think putin is a smart guy and in the past, i think he's gotten away with the idea that he knew more about the subject than his interlocutor. >> all right, gentlemen, we are running a bit late for this g7 family photo, so what we're going to do is tell all of you to stand by, but meantime, i will thank you in case the end of my show comes before this thing actually gets under way, so ambassador hill, peter spiegel, matt bradley, thank you so much. if it gets under way, we'll be right back. in the meantime, those losing unemployment benefits may be facing even greater financial peril. got a story about this next for you. l. got a story about this next for you. with the people i want to share it with. it's doing my best to follow through. it's the little signs that make me feel like things could be better. signs that make it feel like real progress. caplyta effectively treats adults with schizophrenia. and it's just one pill, once a day, with no titration.

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of course, yesterday's was terrific because we had the queen there and she was asking if we're supposed to look like we're enjoying ourselves. but this is the g7 group and some invited guests. peter, when you look at a photo like this, what all does it represent in your mind? i mean, i know that you've covered these g7 meetings time and again. >> remember, biden's talked about this even as a campaigner. he very clearly wants to have what he calls a family of democracies and present a united front as a family of democracies and that's part of the reason you'll see president moon of south korea and other major democracies of the world who have been invited to cornwall to participate in this because he wants to reassemble a united front against what is we're on the luszing side right now. autocracies are rising around the world, even amongst our allies, turkey, for instance, a in the ally, we've seen president erdogan become much more autocratic so part of this are symbolism. can we show that democracies still function, we can still lead and we are together on the same page here.

again, summits are wrapping up. we saw very few disagreements, we'll get readouts but i think a lot of this was just showing that the democracies are back, we are unified and a lot of that has to do with these photos to show they're all in a line and all in agreement and all one happy family. >> yeah. in terms of being an invited guest, what's the criteria for coming into this really exclusive group of the g7? >> it used to be the g 8. vladimir putin was invited. i attended the last one when putin was there and he got kicked out and these invited guests, the presidency is britain right now so the presidency gets to decide but it's this idea that the g7 is basically the leading economies of the world but they've also expanded the rationale for it to show that it is -- they want to diversify geographically, again, south koreans, but it is the major economies, the major democracies, to show that democracies are not just a european or north american thing but it is global. so they're showing that by inviting some of these invited guests so it is all about symbol

im. but you want to take sort of the top tier nations to show there are still liberal democracies out there that want to play at the same table. >> as we look ahead to tomorrow, we know the president will be meeting with the queen and having a private meeting there. not an official state visit but we'll certainly be covering that at windsor castle. but after that, it's nato. and you said earlier that you think this may be one of the most critical parts of this entire trip, the most challenging. why is that? >> yeah, and look, the eu is going through its own sort of strains right now. very slow to roll out their vaccines compared to the u.s., and their economy is growing much more slowly and we've seen divisions between east and west beginning to grow. you've seen the polls, the hungarians slightly more populist in nature moving towards the russians. remember there are two big elections happening in europe as well. next year we have emmanuel macron is up for re-election. and he's most likely going to face marine la pen, a neofascist in the origins of her party. right-wing populist who latest

polls show 45-55, really close to macron. we have merkel exiting the scene. she's been the stalwart leader in sort of showing up against the russians. she spent her youth in east germany so has dealt with the soviets back then. she has been the backbone of the europeans when they face the russians and so merkel leaving, macron under threat, there is a -- europe right now is in a bit of a crisis mode, not like it was during the financial crisis but the ability to europe to show a unified front vs. moscow is an important thing right now and that's what we have to watch in brussels. >> ambassador hill, with regard to joe biden and his many years in politics on the global stage, to some degree, certainly as vice president, but also many, many years in the senate, obviously known to vladimir putin and the others, is there one g7 leader that you think he needs to perhaps shore up a relationship with, someone that he does not know as well because of lack of interaction between

the two? >> well, i mean, you know, as has been clearly explained, the europeans are going through a lot. certainly i think it would be very bad news if macron were to lose to la pen so i think it's important, given also how macron has kind of positioned himself vis-a-vis the u.s., i think it's important that he have a good relationship with macron. ironically, i think probably boris johnson is the least important of these leaders to the president. i think what he needs to do is get ready for some pretty tough times with some nato allies, especially on the question of what to do with some of these countries on the eastern flank, and for that, he needs to also have a good relationship with germany. i mean, this is obviously merkel's swan song, but there

are problems coming down the pike in terms of dealing with the germans. there's always been the question of how the germans kind of regard their being cemented into a western alliance as opposed to something as a bridge. so, he's got to worry about these sort of hardy perennials, that is france and germany, and you know, if there's ever a guy with a historical perspective on what to do about it, i think it's joe biden. >> yeah. absolutely. matt bradley, i want to bring you back to the conversation as well, as we look ahead to the agenda tomorrow. windsor castle, yes. but that is not until midday. so, what is on tap in terms of the g7? >> reporter: well, we're starting to see it kind of wrapping up. a lot of people are going to be leaving. a lot of people are going to be essentially taking off. all of these european leads, they come with -- or leaders of the g7, i should say, not all of them are european, they come with massive, massive retinues of people who are trailing along with them, so it's a big

logistical challenge to get everybody here and then to get them all to leave. and so this is what we're going to see is everybody sort of starting to wrap up and going home tomorrow. >> okay. >> reporter: so that's the main agenda. but as far as we're concerned, it's going to be joe biden meeting the queen and then heading on to brussels. >> i know. i'm looking forward to that. i think you'll be with me as we cover that tomorrow. i also wish we could have brought our viewers the flyover, which is scheduled any time now with the red arrows, sort of their version of the thunder birds or the blue angels, but we will stay tuned for that, everybody. as i thank you, mr. ambassador hill, peter spiegel, matt bradley, guys, thank you so much. that's a wrap. i'm all out of time for this edition of alex witt reports. see you tomorrow at noon eastern. my friend, yasmin vossoughian, will continue our coverage and maybe she'll get you a shot of the red arrows flying overhead. ♪♪