put his name next to john lewis, but at the end of the day, he knows it will be filibuster. >> thank you both. appreciate it. good conversation. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm yasmin. bile back tomorrow 3:00 p.m. eastern. "politicsnation" with the rev starts right now. good evening and welcome to "politicsnation." tonight's lede, help is on the way. while most attention is overseas tonight closely watching how president biden redeems our global reputation, right now the white house is girding up to save our state houses. biden attorney general merrick garland vowed yesterday in a historic announcement to bring the full force of his justice department to protect voting

rights. currently under historic peril from republican state lawmakers and, to that end, garland will be doubling the size of the doj's voting rights division in the next month. more eyes to monitor the growing number of false election audits spawned by the big lie, and more hands on deck to push back against the mountain of state-level voter suppression that has originated since donald trump's defeat. this as hope for democrats ' signature voter protection bills shrink by the day, and not entirely because of expected sabotage by republicans, but also the inflexibility and cowardace of senate democrats. also the conference of nations

is facing a growing call them to to ditch negotiations over his infrastructure plans as the gop makes it clear the only thing they want fixed are elections they lose in. we start the show today with congresswoman pramila jayapal, democrat of washington state. congresswoman jayapal, i have to get your response to attorney general garland's dramatic announcement that the department of justice will be expanding its voter protection team in response to false electoral audits from trump partisans and his blanket of suppression legislation. 389 restrictive bills in 48 states since january, according to the brennen center. as a member of the judiciary committee, is this response from the administration sufficient to

the threat, congresswoman? >> reverend, first of all, it's great to see you. great to be on your show. that is very important announcement from attorney general garland. for once again wave civil rights division that's actually in protecting civil rights, specifically taking on the threat of voter suppression across the country with these republican bills that have passed in state houses and state senate across the country. but also the audits, the fake audits that are happening in a number of states, including arizona and texas. and so i think this is a very big step. it's a very important step. but as the attorney general said, this isn't going to be sufficient. we in congress have to pass h.r. 1, s-1, the for the people act and the john lewis voting rights act. those two things fit together like a glove. they were both written by john

lewis, only one has his name on it. in for the people act, the vast majority of that was written by john lewis and it's important that people understand that while the attorney general can do everything they can to challenge discrimination of some of these laws that have been passed and some of the practices that are ongoing, he will not have all of the tools that he needs in his toolbox -- and he said this in his speech -- unless congress takes action and we sign these two bills into law. >> he said that in his speech. in fact, he encouraged the passing of these bills. and clearly it appears he's doing as much as you can from the justice department, but that will not deal in an expeditious way and it will not deal with a lot of what we're facing. and the difference between senate bill 1 and hr 4, big differences, which is why you need both. let me bring to you another subject. remembers have been hitting vice president kamala harris for not

yet visiting the southern border after she's been informally taxed with dealing with the political problems driving the surge of migration to our border, but not with the surge itself. now, critics have called it an attempt to handicapper early before 2024, and her being a woman of color makes her an easy target. how do you respond? >> well, i'm on the judiciary committee, and for four years we tried to have hearings until we took -- i guess i should say two years because in two years we took control of the house and we were able to do this. but for the first two years i was in congress, the first two years of the trump administration, all those same republicans had no interest whatsoever in talking about what was going on at the southern border other than to talk about building a wall. they weren't interested in the

fact that they were separating thousands of children from their parents. they weren't interested in all of the human rights abuses that were happening. they weren't interested in asylum or getting to the root causes of why people were coming here. so it's disingenuous to suddenly blame kamala harris for things that they were not willing to do either. so all of that said, though, reverend, i do have to say that, you know, i want to see us establish, again, a respect for our international human rights laws, including seeking asylum. seeking asylum, as you know, is legal, and there are ways people can seek asylum from their one rather than making the trek all the way here. that's something we've been working on. it's something the trump administration stopped. but i don't want to see any of us say to people don't come to the united states. i do think that's a problem because it is legal, it is a

human right for people to seek asylum when they're leaving a war-torn country, trying to survive and live. so i hope we continue to work on those things and making sure that we at the same time respect that people don't leave a country just because they're wanting to have a good time. they leave because they're trying to survive. >> and they seek refuge. that's what refugee means. and i think vice president harris said it right, no one wants to leave home, so what's making them want to leave home? i'm trying to cover a lot because we're glad to have you. congressional democrats are split over president biden's focus on his imperiled infrastructure plan while other legislative battles rage, not least of which, being over the democrats' signature voting rights bills, which you named, both the for the people act and

the john lewis voting rights advancement act. you are a member of the congressional budget committee. do you think the time has passed for negotiation? and is it now to pursue the president's infrastructure goal through reconciliation? can the focus be shifted to other priorities? >> well, first of all, yes. the time has passed for negotiation. i don't know, reverend, why we're trying to negotiate with a party that clearly has no interest in negotiating. not a single one cast a vote for the american rescue plan. we couldn't get enough votes even to establish a january 6th commission. 5 1/2 weeks ago, mitch mcconnell said 100% of his focus is on stopping biden's agenda. so let's go now. let's go with the big vision that the president has put out there. let's do it quickly because the help is urgently needed across the country and democrats, republicans, and independents agree with us. they don't need us to get ten

republicans on board. they already support this bill. so i think we go big, we go bold, and we go immediately, fast, by ourselves through reconciliation. the other piece of this is we can walk and chew gum tape. there's nothing that stops us -- we've already moved the for the people act. the john lewis voting rights act we haven't passed in the house because we're trying to make absolutely sure that it addresses all the things it needs o address and can really stand up to the challenges we know will come forward to that act. but the judiciary committee is ready to take that bill, to have a hearing on that bill, and to move it forward. the house admin committee is going to do a hearing, but ultimately, obviously, it has to come through judiciary committee. i can promise you, if it comes to us, we will pass it quickly and get it to the floor, we will get it off the floor, and then it's a question, obviously, of the senate doing its job and passing that bill along with

this one. >> i might add a concern. i raised this in the civil rights leaders meeting that i was one of the participants with senator manchin about the george floyd justice in policing act is also a priority we'd like to see dealt with. it's all three being pushed at the same time. thank you, congresswoman jayapal, for being with us tonight. now to the state level. democratic response to voter suppression, voter persuasion. virginia's primary shored up its leftward dealt over the last few years as democrats all along the spectrum for that matter resonated with voters and a familiar face retook the top ticket. joining me now fresh from his current democratic primary win in the state of virginia and in the governor's race there is terry mcauliffe, former governor of virginia and former chair of

the dnc. mr. mcauliffe, congratulations again on your gubernatorial win in virginia. a slew of progressive candidates won their primary elections in our southern state this past week, and the wins come after virginia has seen massive change recently facilitated largely by democrats, majority of the state assembly. how do you explain the pronounced blue tilt that virginia appears to be going through? >> thank you, rev. it's great to be with you. we just came off a big win. i won all 133 cities and counties. it's the first time in over 80 years anyone has been able to do that. i got a huge vote turnout from all parts of the commonwealth of virginia. it was really a great win. i got the most votes that have ever been cast in the history of virginia in a primary. why? as you know, i went big and bold as governor. 2,000 new jobs.

i had more felony restoration rights, got sued by the republicans twice, i had pardons than any before me. i banned the box on state applications, reducing juvenile justice population by two-thirds, built a strong new virginia common. now we're in covid and people said we got to have someone with some experience. he's got big, bold ideas. i want to do an investment in education, get all 3 and 4-year-olds to get pre-k education and everyone have access to broadband and create jobs like i did last time as governor. people know we've to move forward, but let me be clear. the republicans have nominated a hand-picked person from donald trump, his first endorsement was donald trump. his first speech that he gave was to ban abortions and put more guns on the street. he's best friends with ted cruz, who is the author of a government shutdown, and he

spends every july 4th with ted cruz. this is going to be a big election. but he's a private equity billionaire who plans to send $75 million of his own money. so we'll see if trump comes in. i think trump is scared to come to virginia. i've beaten him twice. i ran the biden operation here last year and we beat him. so i don't think trump wants to come to virginia. but you know what? good progressive pro jobs, that's our message. >> let me go back to that distinction, progressive versus establishment. "the washington post" examination of this week's democratic primary found that overall nationwide, establishment democrats and incumbents were not supplanted by progressives. instead, it was the, quote, moderates, who held on balancing the general leftward shift of the party with more centrist positions on issues like policing, even after this year of protests.

your state aside, what do you take from that as the former dnc chair? how do you view that? >> i disagree with the analysis in the sense that i just went through a litany, you know, 114-year-old jim crow racist laws existed in our books. i took executive action to restore the rights of over 200,000 individuals who've been convicted of a felony. they sued me for contempt of court, and i won. i leaned in. i put a record $1 billion to re-do our education system. so when you want to talk about progressive values, was a fighter. i took on a 114-year-old law to make virginia open and welcoming. i was the first governor after the historic ruling of the supreme court to perform a gay marriage in the united states of america. i doubled down. i want our state to be welcoming. they shut down the women's health clinics.

i used executive authority to keep them all open. that's why planned parenthood gave me all their awards. but at the same time, we have to build a strong economy. covid has shown us the inequities that exist in our system. we have a racist criminal justice system that needs to be fixed. we have a racist education system ask we're not giving children the same quality education. if children are in 50-year-old buildings, that's not fair. we ranked 50th out of 50 of average teacher pay. i'm going to end that and pay our teachers. get every child pre-k, i will lean in on broadband. i'm a job creator. i thrtd largest deficit in virginia history, left a gigantic surplus four years later. high-paying jobs, income went up. you call it whatever you want.

>> i think that's the point. i think the point is that sometimes we confuse the label with everybody that is new is progressive and everybody that has been there a while is establishment and not progressive. i know some newbies that are not very progressive. but you led the democratic national committee which, like congressional democrats and the white house, has to contend with what to do about the expanding threats to voter access generated by state republicans. what should the party be doing about that? >> this is the greatest threat we have ever seen to our democracy, to roll back individuals' right to vote is abhorrent. as you know, rev, you were with me when i started the institute at the democratic national committee. we leaned in to expand voting rights. here in virginia we've expanded early vote 45 days. we got rid of excuse absentee

balloting, now no excuse. we need to expand people's opportunities to vote. listen, i'm very tough on this. we need to do whatever it takes to get this legislation through the federal government. i don't care what they say. the democrats got to understand that the republicans are rolling back, take votes away, they're going to try to do to us in the states. democrats got to stand up and fight, and we cannot allow them to roll back in 30 plus states to take away our ability to vote. for the next presidential election, you know what they're trying to do. they're trying to get the house of representatives. if we win the popular vote, they don't want to see our nominee who will win the popular vote. democrats, it's time to start fighting. we've done knit virginia and we need to do this around the country. >> all right. >> we're the greatest democracy in the world. we owe it to people who stand up and fight. i had a son in the marine corps.

people are fighting for our democracy. you in congress, do the same thing. time to get in the game. >> thank you so much for being with us. coming up on "politicsnation," some don't seem to see a difference between an assault rifle and a swiss army knife. so allow me to explain. president trump's abuse of the justice department. we're now learning it was much worse than any of us realized. i'll discuss that and more with my political panel. but first, my colleague richard lui with today's top news stories. richard? >> rev, good saturday to you. some of the stories we're following for you this hour. at least 14 are injured from a mass shooting that took place overnight in austin, texas. two are in critical condition. law enforcement and fbi are investigating. the suspects remain at large. national leaders at the g-7 discussed a range of issues, including the covid-19

vaccination effort. it's president biden's first overseas trip as president. he said the u.s. will help 100 nations with approximately 500 million pfizer vaccines. and tense moments on a delta flight when passengers were called on to restrain an unruly passenger. flight 1730 from l.a. to atlanta was forced to change plans and land in oklahoma city. passengers and crew worked together to subdue a man after he assaulted two flight attendants and threatened to bring the plane down. a delta spokesperson then said the passenger was actually an off-duty flight attendant. that passenger was escorted off the plane and is now in custody. more "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton right after this short break.

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for this week's gotcha, i want to talk about the fight over firearms in this country with a special focus on judge

roger benitez, who recently overturned california's assault weapons ban. in his written opinion, he compared ar15 guns to swiss army knives, describing both as, quote, the perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland security defense equipment. benitez has been widely criticized for the comparison, which is absurd on its face. semiautomatic guns like the ar15 are weapons of war, and a swiss army knife is a multiuse tool that typically includes a nail file, tweezers, and a corkscrew. but the larger story is what benitez' ruling will mean for gun laws in this country, and whether we are about as to shift in second amendment

interpretation by the courts. contrary to the reports pushed by the nra and other gun lobbying groups, for most of american history, the idea that the second amendment guaranteed unfettered personal gun ownership was a nonstarter. indeed, well into the 20th century, the supreme court repeatedly ruled that the second amendment applied only to gun ownership within the context of a state militia. supreme court justiceberger, appointed by richard nixon was asked about the nra idea of unlimited gun ownership under the second amendment in 1991. >> this has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud -- i repeat the word fraud -- that i have seen in my life. >> in between his condemnation of unrestricted firearm access

and judge benitez's decision last week, the united states has seen several cases that chipped away at common sense gun control measures. perhaps most importantly, in 2008 with d.c. versus heller, in which the supreme court, after more than 200 years of acknowledging limits on gun ownership, decided to scrap all that precedent and say that the second amendment guaranteed almost any individual's right to own a gun. there's no evidence that the founding fathers intended this at all, but even if there were, those men could not have conceived of the weapons we wield today. indeed, some of the deadliest mass shootings in history have been committed using the same gun judge benitez compared to a swiss army knife. and while swiss army knives are

designed as multiuse tools, ar15s and other assault-style weapons and guns have a singular purpose, to kill and maim as many people as possible in as short a time as possible. with mass shootings on the rise, judge benitez' decision isn't just poorly argued and off target, it's potentially deadly. i gotcha. . is what business is all about. it's what the united states postal service has always been about. so as your business changes, we're changing with it. with e-commerce that runs at the speed of now. next day and two-day shipping nationwide. same day shipping across town. returns right from the doorstep, and deliveries seven days a week. it's a whole new world out there. let's not keep it waiting. struggling to manage my type 2 diabetes

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"politicsnation." i have a lot to get through with my panel, so let's bring them in. joining me now is millionaire editor for the bulwark, mona sharon, and former democratic congresswoman, donna edwards. let me go to you first, donna. president biden is currently on his first overseas trip since taking office. at the g-7 summit, the president

came face to face with other world leaders and the meetings were polite and constructive, a stark contrast from the nonstop petty drama we saw when our previous president stepped out on the world stage. how do you believe that president biden is changing the world's view of the united states right now? >> well, first of all, i think we have to take a long view. but the initial assessment, the president with the g-7, it was a return to what we know is a normal kind of g-7 where they deal with issues where they share commonalities, where they present themselves as allies. and you could tell just the body language itself was that president biden was really well received into a group that he actually knows quite well. and it was a return to a united states that's prepared to lead

in the world and to maintain close relationships with our allies. and so on that score, i think it's been a great success. the announcement around the world vaccines, i think that was really an important one. it shows that the united states is truly prepared to lead. and so, you know, the president has one more trip coming up, confronting and talking to vladimir putin. and so we're going to see thousand rest of this wraps up. but thus far, a-plus. >> let me ask you, mona, the gop's been trying to gin up outrage for vice president harris for not visiting the u.s./mexico border, even though she has traveled to meet with leaders about the root causes of mass migration. do you believe the vice president and the rest of the administration are making the right moves on immigration? or is there something you would

do differently? >> vice president harris is in a tough spot because she made a number of statements during the campaign about open borders and about we want to welcome everyone. and now, of course, as vice president, she's not sticking to that message and she's delivering a very different message in guatemala saying do not come, do not come up here. so she was bound to get blowback about that, and further, she got a lot of, perhaps, unnecessary heat over that comment when she reacted rather testily to the question about whether she had been to the border. she was defensive. it would have been better if she had just said i will be planning to go to the border, but now let me finish my point, rather than getting sort of defensive about it. but look, this is an impossible position for the administration. they want to be more humane than

the trump administration was, but at the same time they don't want to send the message that it's an open door, which it isn't. >> now, donna, a congressional hearing was held just yesterday as democrats pushed for the john lewis voting rights act. attorney general merrick garland spoke in favor of it being passed as it continues to be debated in congress. take a listen. >> we need congress to pass s-1 and the john lewis voting rights act, which would provide the department with the tools it needs. we will also partner with other federal agencies to combat election disinformation that intentionally tries to suppress the vote. >> several republican-led states have passed severe voter restriction laws since the 2020 election. vice president harris will meet with texas lawmakers next week

to discuss the voter restriction bill there. is it time for federal action on this issue? and can democrats get it done, donna? >> well, it's way past time. and i think that's why you see the frustration of democrats in states because they are literally crying out to democrats in congress to pass the john lewis voting rights act so that it can protect against some of the most egregious laws that are being passed in the states. i applaud merrick garland, the attorney general's announcement about the hiring and ramping up of more attorneys, looking at what's going on in the states. but right now the department of justice is limited because it doesn't have fully the tools it needs to really enforce so much of what is happening in the states. it's time for congress, really, to act on this. >> mona, we learned this week that the trump justice department seized records of democratic lawmakers and their

families in an effort to hunt down leakers in the government, the latest in a string of revelations about how the former president used the doj for his own political purposes. what should be done to repair the damage done by the trump administration to the rule of law in our country? >> this is something that, first of all, i think we're going to be learning a lot more in the days and weeks to come about the abuses of power under the trump administration. and we need to get the full picture. at the same time, i do think that reforms to the way we do business, things like requiring the president to reveal their tax returns, requiring that a presidential appointee responds to congressional subpoenas. there are all kinds of good government reforms that are out there, and that this congress

has been a little bit. donna's point about the john lewis act it's great, but it does not address the big problem, dallas republicans could possibly fail to do their duty when it comes to counting the electoral college votes in 2024. we need to reform the electoral count act before anything else. >> all right. mona sharon and donna edwards, thank you both. up next, the pandemic hit communities of color hardest in every way you can think of. but now, black-owned businesses seem to be bouncing back. i'll explain after the break.

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the pandemic caused thousands of small businesses across the country to close their doors. and like so much of the suffering brought on by covid-19, the impact was far worse in black communities. while 17% of small businesses with white owners were forced to close, 41% of black-owned small businesses closed. but we're seeing a resurgence,

one that researchers think is linked to the stimulus payments and is strongest in the black communities. joining me now is scott stern, professor at m.i.t. sloan school of management and one of the researchers of this data, and jennifer jones austin, ceo and executive director of the federation of protestant welfare agencies in new york. let me start with you, professor stern. your team looked at data from eight states around the country and noticed the same pattern, small businesses, registrations spiking around the stimulus check. in this map of atlanta, for example, we can see that some of the areas with the biggest spikes are neighborhoods with a majority black population. was this apprehend replicated in other states? >> thank you so much for having

me and for your interest here. what we saw was a dramatic decline right at the time of the pandemic in march. but then following the relief checks that started to come out, the passage in late march and then subsequently in april, the further activities in december and february, we saw after each of those a significant rise in overall new business starts and particularly concentrated in black neighborhoods. >> jennifer, with so many of these gains happening in communities that have been traditionally cut off from resources, how can we use this data as a playbook for what is possible when we have equitable investments in black communities? >> let me just thank you for having me on. really appreciate being here talking about this critical topic. the first thing we have to

appreciate is what the research showed was that these businesses grew in black communities with higher median income. and so what that tells us is that the people who were using these stimulus checks, unemployment checks, weren't necessarily at the lowest income, the persons who needed it to pay their bills, deep lights on, cover their rent, cover food expenses. this may have been, for them, i don't want to say discretionary income, but income that was available to them to do something other than to pay for basic needs. so that's important to note because that means that, you know, small investments can really boost small business. the supplement payments weren't gigantic. what it tells us is government can invest in black communities and black businesses. what we'll have to see is whether or not the incomes that are generated from these small business ventures actually are greater than the conventional

incomes these persons were earning. >> professor, was there anything in your research that really stood out to you thank you our viewers and what's next for this project? >> something i wanted to pick up on something jennifer mentioned. where we see this is higher-income black neighborhoods. that really speaks to that we know there's been a legacy of discrimination against black entrepreneurs. and here, the relief checks were distributed very broadly, including to communities of color, and that has four new business formation. first, i think it's really important to recognize the opportunity this was -- the opportunity that black entrepreneurs are pursuing in this context. in terms of our next steps, we

ton track this through the start-up cartography project with jorge guzman. in addition to that, we really are focusing on will we see the persistence, can this be the beginning, and make sure the small business administration, state, and local are really focused on letting these businesses scale and realize their potential to bring inclusive prosperity to all communities. >> that's important. jennifer, as the ceo of fpwa and an anti-poverty activist, you must have even the impact of the stimulus money on the lives of people in need in real time. what lessons should we take away from the success of those payments, and what policies do we need moving forward?

>> so concerning low-income persons, these stimulus payments were critical in helping them to cover basic goods, cover the cost of food, cover their rent. sometimes transportation f they were essential workers who were still out there going about their business. in some instances, they may have been going about their business with people in their households lost their incomes. so the stimulus payments made a difference. what's important to note is that these people were suffering so much, because this nation isn't paying fair, livable wages, and isn't fred hoiberg critical income supports. so the big takeaway is that people, low-income people struggled the most not because they weren't willing to do their fair share, but rather, because this government has not allowed low-income people with this depression of wages to save for

a rainy day. >> all right. let me say this before thanking both of you. i want to make this special announcement. first, let me disclose that attorney general's father reverend dr. william adid you see at us jones was the one who mentored me when i was 12. he appointed me as the youth director. you see pictures when i was about 15. we were getting ready to go to somewhere, go to jail. later in life, i went from a pentecostal boy preaching and i was baptized a baptist. he was a lot more than that. he was one of the leading theologians and master preachers in this country. we're have a jennifer jones

austin and leading activists. you can tune it thursday and watch it on national action network.net. or go to youtube. you do not know black history im jones and his 1979 book, "god in the ghetto" which you will think he wrote yesterday. attorney jones austin and i will be hosting that, and a stellar array of black activists, theologians and academicians. thank you both. up next, my final thoughts. stay with us.

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i may not be able to tell time, but i know what time it is. [whispering] it's grilled cheese o'clock. earlier this week eight heads of national civil rights organizations had a virtual meeting with senator joe manchin around the senate bill hr1 for adding the george floyd policing act. it was done several weeks ago, and before the meeting it had come out that sunday, an op-ed piece where the senator had said that he would not support senate bill one. we went forward with the meeting anyway, explaining to him the need to protect the right to

vote, the need to deal with the john lewis bill. lewis, as you heard on this program, wrote part of senate bill one, and the need to deal with the george floyd justice in policing act. the senator remained steadfast, he did not support senate bill one as it stood. he was open to support the john lewis voting protection bill and open to the george floyd bill that he felt if it came out from what senators cory booker and tim scott were working on, in that bill was something that he could support. but, of course, opposition is the devil is in the detail. so the heads of the urban league, the naacp, me representing the national black network, pressed him. say what did he get out of the

meeting. like one meeting is going to change anything. we are going to meet, we are going to keep pressure, keep cajoling, we are going to keep asking because we are talking about our lives. we are talking about unarmed black men being killed. we are talking about people being robbed of a vote that could both protect them and put food on the table. this is not about a quick fix. this is about doing until you get it done, and we intend to do that. we will be right back. the best part of stepping into the spotlight isn't the awards or the acclaim. the best part of stepping into the spotlight is helping others step into theirs. ♪♪

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that does it for me. thanks for watching. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. eastern for another live hour of "politics nation." my colleague, alicia menendez, picks up our news coverage now for a special hour on the vice president's trip to central american including what is causing the crisis at the border and what the united states can do about it. alicia. >> thank you, reverend sharpton. i'm alicia menendez. as we come on the air the president is england furthering his policy agenda at the g7. it is his first appearance as president on the world stage, today unveiling an infrastructure plan to help the developing world compete with china. biden's build back better world initiative helps