meet queen elizabeth ii. of course there were some interactions with them over the last few days. we all saw the queen and the duchess of cornwall as well as the duchess of cambridge heading over to the g7 meeting. it had not been previously announced, something we were very delighted to see, in fact, a charm offensive, as i called it, although there was really nothing to offend people, people were very happy to see her, as joe biden as well. i wish you all a very good day from msnbc world headquarters in new york. it's noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "alex witt reports." this breaking news, watching windsor castle, president joe biden, the first lady, about to meet with the queen. this meeting will include a moment of pageantry, of course, what would a meeting with the queen be without that? there will be a private meeting with the monarch and there will be tea, it is britain, after

all, and it comes after the president held a second news conference saying, quote, america is back, after a second day at the g7 meetings. joining me, nbc chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell, nbc news correspondent sarah harman, and msnbc royal contributor andrew roberts. so as we await actual movement, to all five of you, i'm not sure what you can see but we're still waiting for joe biden and jill biden to walk towards the queen, andrew, what do we expect from today's meeting? what typically comes out of a sit-down with a u.s. president and the queen? >> reporter: as you know, the queen's reign is the longest in history, 69 years, her 95th

birthday is in april but they celebrate it in june. that was, because of pandemic rules, done at windsor without the throngs that would normally have been gathered. but the typical meeting would be very formal, of course. i have had the honor of meeting her on several of her washington visits over the decades. in my experience, this is someone who has met with so many world leaders, and she is very, very experienced. she knows so much more than anybody else in history about all of the -- sort of the range of history, back to world war ii, when of course she was in the british military service, working in the motor pool, and then of course her coronation and all the decades since. so she's very experienced. 13 american presidents, all except lbj, have met with her. joe biden did have a very brief meeting with her when he was on the signal delegation in november of 1982 in england.

but never had met her during her u.s. trips. this will be a first, obviously they've met on friday at the reception that she hosted that the royals attended at the g7. i think this is a very exciting moment for the bidens. dr. jill biden and of course joe biden, experienced on foreign policy, on politics, but this is something very special for any american, to meet queen elizabeth. she's an extraordinary figure, a unique figure in history. i think they are honored by it. there will always be a comparison on the g7 trip as well as certainly the trip to windsor with what happened with donald trump, those moments when he briefly stood in front of her and she had to walk behind him, that was a signature moment. there was also the british reluctance to have a state visit for him, finally inviting him, and she did have the wonderful

dinner for the trumps. but this is a very special thing for joe, as he would say, joe from scranton, and for jill from philly, to be in windsor castle, which for americans i think is even more special than buckingham palace. the grand tradition of being at windsor in the queen's home. >> indeed, i think it's something that everyone knows, the queen has made clear, that windsor is the home that she loves absolutely the most. she of course spent time there during world war ii as they were evading the bombs and for security reasons and a number of secret papers and important documents, they were all brought and stored there. there is a very, very rich history there. i will admit, i have been in windsor castle once for an event that was hosted by prince charles, and you walk through this armory, and it really, truly feels like you're walking through a museum. and i remember it very vividly, although it was, goodness, 20 years ago.

i think i remember every step into the waterloo room and beyond. so i'm sure this will be a momentous occasion for the president and the first lady. as we look at the queen, diminutive in stature, it would seem, yet she really is at the epicenter of everything. she is the focus, she looks lovely today in her traditional hat. she has her black purse, of course, with her. beautiful pink floral attire. and so, very quickly, sarah, before i get to more details with andrew and daisy, do you know if this conversation is expected to have a foreign policy relation to it, or might it be more of a get-to-know-you cultural conversation? in that this is not a state visit, as andrea said. >> reporter: alex, that's exactly right. it's not a state visit. and we probably will never find out what president biden and the queen talk about. one of the privileges of having an audience with the queen is

generally the conversation stays in a very small circle. we can venture some guesses, though. the queen of course, as andrea mentioned, lost her husband, prince philip, in april. joe biden is a man well-acquainted with grief. we know he's reached out to others in compassion before. he has a way of connecting with people who are dealing with loss. so that's one possible topic that they could talk about. we also know that the queen just welcomed a great-grandchild, lilibet diana. that's something else they could talk about. of course trans-atlantic relations are another likely topic. the fact is we'll probably never know. but it's fun to imagine, especially knowing how many presidents this queen has met. she could certainly give biden some good advice and probably tell biden a few good war stories. >> i can imagine.

we saw the range rover carrying the bidens to the center of windsor castle, getting ready to meet with the queen, they'll be exiting from that shortly. it is the 13th meeting with an american president, every president since world war ii apart from lyndon johnson. give me a sense of the importance of this meeting, both in terms of optics and substance, to both the united states and the uk. >> i think you can see already, from the charm offensive in cash in cornwall over the last few days, you can see the importance of that. but then this is very much a one-on-one or a one-on-two, dr. biden, jill biden as well. once they get behind closed

doors, we know the queen will pour the tea herself. chocolate cake is her favorite. beyond that, nothing will be known of the conversation because all u.s. presidents have stuck to that tradition that you keep mum about what was discussed. >> as we listen to the star spangled banner, let's listen to this, everybody, we'll talk on the other side. [ "star spangled banner" plays ] ♪♪

♪♪

♪♪ >> this is a bit interesting, it looks like the queen is leading

joe biden to do what i'm going to assume is an inspection of the troops there. this is notable because that was done the last time with president trump. it was where some of that misstepping that we spoke about where he walked in front of the queen happened back in 2018. but the queen is not accompanying him, it could be they decided to do it this way this time. it seems that so far, president biden is doing absolutely the perfect thing, and we note that there was no courtesying to the queen. he placed his hand over his heart during the playing of the national anthem. when you talk about this queen is the relationship she's shared with past presidents, how significant do you think the relationship is between the queen and any president at this point in her long, long reign?

>> it's very important indeed. she has spoken many times about the special relationship. some people doubt it even exists today but she believes it does. she and president obama have spoken very warmly about it in these terms. and nothing personiies the special relationship better than the personal meeting of the two heads of state. they're going to be having tea together. they're going to be discussing whatever it is they discuss. this is the personification of the relationship. >> this is truly a very private meeting between what will be the queen, our president, and the first lady. >> that's very much the reason, when king george vi and winston churchill met in audience, there

were no servants present. because if you have anybody else present, they might talk about what's been said so it can't be done, that's the key thing. >> interesting. andrew, is it your presumption, i know since we'll never have this confirmed, do you think this queen, having studied history for so long, would she delve into politics do you think very much, or is that something she might wait for president biden to bring up, or is this really a get-to-know-you and continuation of a cordial relationship? >> it's pretty much a get-to-know-you at the beginning. president biden might be a two-term president. they'll probably meet again. this is very much a way of getting to know one another and establishing common rapport. having said that, if president biden brings up politics, she is fascinated by politics, needless to say, and will, in a nonpartisan way, discuss it with relish. >> hmm. and that is a very key thing, the way she's able to discuss it

in a nonpartisan way, something that is increasingly difficult on this side of the pond, within american culture. that said, of course she doesn't need to have a stake on a political bent, because politically speaking, andrew, when it comes to the relationship, i guess events are not undertaken within the queen's realm, correct, in terms of the relationship? that would come only under the prime minister's duties. >> no, but she considers herself to have quite an important role in getting on with whoever is president of america, which is something she's done with 13 presidents now, as you mentioned. it is an essential part of the role of the monarch, to make the special relationship work in a personal way. >> absolutely. she might perhaps wield some influence via the prime minister as opposed to making a call or sending a communique to the

white house itself, i would suspect. daisy, can you tell me what's going on here, the significance of the queen's guard and the history there? >> the president has this -- this is a guard of honor, and "honor" is the keyword. it's a gift to whoever is visit ing, to show the military at their best. this is england, this is in your honor, it's to say. it's all about the queen giving a sort of love letter to whoever it is she's hosting. this isn't a two-way thing, it's a one-way thing from the monarch to her guest, and her guest is the guest of honor. it's very much about rolling out the red carpet, and again, literally, and showing all of

that and really showing that there is, as andrew was saying, a personality. i've been keeping an eye on twitter, alex, one of the things you might not know about is the power brooch. the queen is obviously famous for wearing brooches and every brooch is intended to send a message. >> yes. we'll see if we can get a close-up view of what that brooch will be that she will be wearing and i'm sure the cameras might afford that for us. meantime, everyone, let's take a listen and watch this pomp and pageantry. ♪♪

♪♪

♪♪ >> so there we see them leaving the viewing station and presumably they'll be heading indoors for what we belief to be a fairly brief meeting. i think there's 30 or 40 minutes out of the queen's and the president's day scheduled inside windsor castle where again, very charmingly, the queen will be pouring tea for the president and first lady and one can only guess as to their conversation, wouldn't it be great to be a fly on the wall for that? they'll be going inside shortly and i believe the courtyard will be vacated as well. let me ask you, andrew, what you believe the queen will hope to have achieved after the bidens leave windsor castle. >> well, hopefully she will have seen the bidens in a personal capacity, spent time with them alone, established that special

relationship that i was mentioning earlier. it will have given the bidens some fantastic photo opportunities, they'll have their photos taken before tea, in fact. and also have a nice time. it's supposed to be fun and enjoyable, everybody is worried about anyone will put a step wrong, nobody did, the bidens behaved absolutely impeccably and it's been a great success so far. >> it's funny you say that, i was watching the queen on the viewing station, she was gesturing to the president, please go first, i think he's thinking, no, no, the queen is supposed to go first. he was very kind in making sure she was stepping down okay. given her age, she is just a remarkable, remarkable woman, the strength, the duration of this reign that she has. and again, the way she's able to entertain and be charming, particularly until the wake of the loss of her husband.

daisy, let me ask you to buton that up, the loss of prince philip. he might not have been with her at this event had he been still alive, as this was not a state event. he was not there for the visit by the trumps. talk about the strength of this remarkable woman. >> in fact, having watched her over the last two or three days, in cornwall and now here, i think she's actually really, really enjoying being back in the saddle. you mentioned the equip she made, the icebreaker, at the family photo, "look like we're enjoying this." there was another photo with camilla and catherine and she

was cutting the cake with a huge sword, and they offered her a more usual knife and she said, "no, this is more fun." she's in her element. and we all know that keeping busy is often the best thing to do if you have a broken heart or if you're sad or grieving. and i think that you can see that with the queen at the moment. she's back doing what she does best. and she's clearly very, very comfortable doing it. as andrew says, it will be very important to her to formulate a relationship with president joe biden, because that's part of her duty, to keep that relationship going. and when she's doing her duty, her service, the thing that she believes is what she was born to do, i think she's at her most comfortable and her happiest. to go back to the brooch conversation we were chatting about earlier, when she met donald trump, she wore a brooch

that president obama had given her, which to many observers seemed rather cheeky. they're pretty much always messages, so i think the brooch she's wearing is a jardine brooch, we think she wore it when she met president bush sr. for the first time. we know she was a big fan of president bush as she was of president reagan, so i think it's a compliment. >> absolutely. katty, given your across the pond ability to keep an eye on things in your bbc role and for america as well, tell us what you think in terms of what this means for the bidens and the brits. is this something that britons in general want to keep perpetuating, this special relationship between the queen

and u.s. presidents? >> i've been saying for the last few days how important it is for european leaders to be photographed next in the president. there's one person of whom that can be said of the american president, that is standing next to the queen, the british monarch. that does something for joe biden, right? it's interesting to see the american president in a slightly -- not subservient role exactly, but the slightly junior partner, the one who is excited to be there alongside this figure. and you can't say that about many people in tells me of the american president but you can say that for the queen. for both sides, this is an important moment. this meeting, which has gone off incredibly smoothly so far, and as you pointed out, alex, there was a nice moment where the queen gestured for him to go first and he hesitated, he didn't want to do a donald trump and step in front of her, that wasn't his place, but she was clearly saying you go first.

he slowed his step down to walk with her in time, because she is 95 years old, that was very respectful of him. it's a reminder that we've not in the trump era anymore. we've had that so much over the last two or three days, that joe biden represents a different type of american president. and i feel, watching this moment, when donald trump met the queen, and we were all commentating, i remember all of us thinking, when is he going to make a misstep, when is he going to do something that seems inappropriate? it was symbolic of the trump presidency and the way he acted, and sure enough, he did, he kept her waiting and then walked in front of her. i think the fact that none of us are really thinking that's going to happen with joe biden is in and of itself, you know, symbolic of where we have moved on to, just in the last two or three days at the g7 meetings. >> i think one thing we can all say about joe biden is, he's a man who understands diplomacy, given his many years working on the foreign relations committee, foreign affairs committee in the senate, and he's a man who

comports himself with that kind of dignity and respect to affording to others. it is a nice, refreshing change from what we've seen before. that having been said, we are going to keep a very close eye on things for our viewers. as you know, we're replaying some of the video as we were having this conversation. but we have made note that president biden and the first lady have gone inside the castle for their private tea with queen elizabeth ii, what an extraordinary time they must be having. we'll keep an eye on windsor castle. i thank everybody who has been joined me thus far, andrew, daisy, andrea, matt, sarah, thank you so much. coming up next, the bombshell about president trump's justice department secretly seizing data from house democrats. we'll be right back. ight back. this is worth. that takes wealth. but this is worth. and that - that's actually worth more than you think. don't open that. wealth is important,

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back. he hosted a news conference after the g7 committed to 1 billion new vaccines through covax, a build back better initiative, creating green jobs and cutting emissions, fighting ransomware attacks, and for the first time, action on human rights abuses in china and studying the origins of covid. that's a pretty tall list. let's go to nbc correspondent mike memoli, joining me from brussels. mike, as i said, a pretty tall list there. do you think this president sees this summit as a pretty big one? >> reporter: alex, as we've been watching those pictures from windsor castle, so much of this g7 summit was also about the optics. think about the smiles we saw on the faces of so many of those allies that president biden was meeting with from the perspective of one white house official i was speaking with. they said they were spectacular

expecting a warm welcome but these world leaders were grateful to have president biden attending rather than president trump. from a substantive perspective, there are pretty significant wins. there's one word alone that tells you the white house thought it got what they wanted. that word is xinjiang, the province in western china. there was some debate over just how tough the language in the statement of principles at the end of the summit should be with regard to china. the fact that china was in the communique was a big win from the white house's perspective. take a listen to the president at the news conference. >> we had a president last, who basically said it's not a problem. it is the existential problem facing humanity. i convey to my g7 counterparts that the united states is going to do our part. america is back at the table.

america is back at the table. i noticed there was a lot of coverage of my individual comments made by my colleagues about how we were all getting along together. but the truth of the matter is we did. i felt a genuine sense of enthusiasm that america was back at the table and fully, fully engaged. and now i'm going to be heading off to brussels, to nato, and the same -- many of the same people will be at that table at nato, to make the case, we are back as well. the bottom line is, i think we've made some progress in reestablishing american credibility among our closest friends and our values. >> reporter: so, alex, you heard it there from the president. after he finishes his tea with the queen, it's to the nato

summit, and a much bigger summit, with very much the same goals in mind. in particular what the president is hoping to achieve out of that nato summit is to fortify the nato alliance for the 21st century. he'll note the fact that it was only once in the history of nato that article v, that mutual defense treaty, was invoked, and that was after 9/11, 20 years ago this year. there are so many global threats he believes nato should be prepared for in the weeks and years ahead including china, including cyberware, including ransomware. that will be on his agenda here when he arrives here later this evening. >> thank you so much, mike memoli. we're now joined by peter baker, chief white house correspondent with "the new york times," good to see you, my friend. you have president biden saying america is back at the table. did his words match his actions, was his appearance at the summit as effective as he intended it

to be? >> in broad strokes, he sent the message that america is a partner with its allies around the world again. he made a point today of saying that the article v of the nato charter, in which an attack on one of our members is an attack on all, is sacred as far as he's concerned, and that nato is not a protection racket, a reference to the way president trump often seemed to view nato. in large, atmospheric strokes, he sent a message that was welcomed by the allies. there are still so many important fractures and differences that were not overcome, as mike talked about, just to be able to get the name "xinjiang" into the communique about china, shows how the european powers view competition with china right now. the larger language in that communique was relatively soft about china. it didn't mention china specifically when it talked

about forced labor, it didn't use the word "uighurs." united states and britain on the one side, germany and italy which are friendly with china on the other, those are big issues still to come. but the summit began a new era of more constructive partnership rather than fighting with each other. >> and thus the adage, america's back, something the president has reiterated a couple of months and i think will continue to do so. establishing something of a restart, if you will. how much do you think the other nations, g7, extended, g20 and those in nato, are thinking this is exactly what we needed after the last four years? >> yeah, there's no question they are much happier to be in a room with joe biden than they were with donald trump. other members of the g7 viewed trump as a, you know, erratic figure, unpredictable, likely to blow up at any moment. after the g7 in canada a couple of years ago, literally they negotiated all through the night

to come up with a communique only to have the president, trump that is, pull out of it or say he was going to pull out of it while he was on air force one leaving the summit because he got mad at something that justin trudeau, canadian prime minister, had said. they don't think that's going to happen with biden, biden is a return to more normal, bipartisan, democratic and republican, views of these summits, where there is an opportunity to make some points and obviously still thrash out some significant differences but not in a way that's quite so incendiary as the last four years. >> taking it a step further, as the president and the g7 leaders large this build back better world partnership, should we view the g7 leaders as really adopting president biden's build back better mantra? is this also an endorsement of the biden presidency, perceived as turning their backs on president trump? >> i think it is, using not only his concept, but his language, a

build back better world, the chinese belt and road initiative, the idea to try to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in different parts of the world to compete with china for influence. china over the last number of years has become quite adept at, you know, drawing in other countries by investing in their infrastructure while the west basically sat on the sidelines. what president biden is talking about doing is getting out there in a competition for the loyalty and, you know, the admiration and friendship of a lot of countries around the world. whether there's anything behind it or not is another thing. there's no specific dollar amounts committed to this, no structure committed to this. it's more of an idea and a branding exercise at this point than it is an actual competitive model. but we'll see whether it leads to something more concrete in the years to come. >> yes, there will be time to get those things sorted out. as the president is taking part in the g7 this weekend, a new abc news/ipsos poll shows nearly three in five americans have confidence in the president to

do the right thing in world affairs. when it comes to negotiating with world leaders, views are split, you have 42% trusting biden to negotiate on america's behalf with world leaders, i hope i said that right, 52% i believe, 49% trust him to negotiate with putin. what do these numbers say to you? >> i think they're consistent with his overall approval ratings, the sense among a majority of americans, not all, that this is a reliable, responsible actor on the world stage, something that can be trusted to do what he thinks is the right thing even if we don't all always agree with it. there's a globe survey asking people in some of these other g7 countries whether they trust biden to do the right thing versus trusting trump to do the right thing and the numbers there were startlingly striking, something like 70-some percent trusted biden in other countries

versus 17 or 20% trusted trump. in the rest of the world biden is seen as a renewal of american leadership in that sense. >> all right, peter baker, our time was eclipsed a wee bit by the queen but i think you'll take that. see you next week, my friend. a troubling number of americans think the election was stolen from donald trump. now a new poll shows how many people think trump will be reinstated. coming up, mehdi hasan.

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try it for free. everyone thinks their way is the right way. i wash on delicate. i just stuff everything in. you have to wash on cold, because it saves energy. the secret is, tide pods work no matter how you wash. so, everyone is right. it's got to be tide. [sizzling] i may not be able to tell time, but i know what time it is. [whispering] it's grilled cheese o'clock. new today, top doj officials from the trump administration are on the defense amidst the bombshell reporting that the justice department secretly seized data from democratic lawmakers and their families as part of a leaks probe. new reporting shows former attorney generals jeff sessions and bill barr are denying knowledge of those secret subpoenas. this morning house speaker nancy

pelosi reacting to those reports saying if they don't know anything, who does? >> how could it be that there could be an investigation of members in the other branch of investigation and the press too, and the attorneys general did not know? so who are these people? and are they still in the justice department? >> joining me now, done callaway, democratic strategist and founder of the national voter protection action fund. susan del percio, republican strategist and msnbc political analyst. and david jolly, former congressman from florida and an msnbc political contributor. my sunday team. hi, kids, how are you? so susan, nancy pelosi there asking the big question. is it possible for two highest level members of trump's doj to not have knowledge about this, and if they don't, then who did? >> it seems extremely unlikely. i can't come up with a scenario where it would be the case.

obviously i think you're going to see a lot of pushing off, no, he knew, no, he knew, and that may happen. the other thing that could be even scarier is that trump had someone inside doj that he communicated with directly. and while, yes, you would expect it to make it up to the head of the doj, it could have happened, but it doesn't matter, the point is that it happened, and that these records, we need to find out if they were on republicans as well. i think "the new york times" is just breaking that mcgahn's records were looked at by apple. so there's a lot of moving parts to this story. the one thing i feel very secure in is knowing that this is the tip of the iceberg, alex. a lot of people are saying garland should have came out sooner and done this. i think that this is going to be part of a much bigger story. >> listen, i've got to tell, if that "new york times" report that you're saying is forthcoming, that they were looking don mcgahn's, then it's

not so much political as it means the president didn't even trust his own white house counsel to do his bidding, so that's extraordinary. we'll leave that until we have that confirmed. with these new developments, don, how much does it go to show what we don't even know about the trump administration? doesn't it indicate to you that the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing? >> absolutely. first of all, the question you asked susan, the department of justice is big. so it's entirely possible that trump could have had some minions within the department, that there could have been some rogue actors within the department. but what's not possible is that jeff sessions or bill barr can now detach themselves, because they were at the head of it and they knew what they were walking into. when you get in bed, as much as it shakes me to say that, when you get in bed with donald trump, you are responsible with all the foolishness that comes as an appendage to that. to your question, alex, the trump world was big and vast and despicable. it was corrupt and frankly,

incompetent at every single part of it, from the campaign through the end and passing the buck to joe biden, passing the administrative reins to joe biden. so it is very clear that there was thorough incompetence throughout it. and we will go for generations from now, 20, 30 years, without ever really know the depths of the incompetence, or more dangerously, the damage to the country. >> how plausible is it that donald trump knew nothing about this? wouldn't he have been the one to say, i want this done? >> it's very likely that the president knew about it. and it appears donald trump had an enemies list that he was trying to surveil. that was the only thing you can take from this. i do think a congressional hearing is required and probably a series of congressional hearings. and i would suggest maybe even move it into prime time to capture the attention of the american people. because there is a baseline question that first has to be answered.

was there reason for individuals to be investigated, right? was there a leak of sensitive classified national security information? if there was, then what was the process to gain permission to surveil those people? i think we can presume, though, that this was very likely a political witch hunt by donald trump. and to susan's point, did it include republicans in addition to democrats? what was the process they used to get permission to surveil? was there any permission? this goes to the very nature of the constitutional powers of the presidency, the constitutional rights and privileges of a separate branch, that congress was the judiciary involved. this was a major national security matter that we need to know and voters need to know about the trump administration, because he may be a candidate again in the future. >> yeah. so susan, this coming from our republican friend here, but you've got top democrats calling on sessions and barr to testify before the judiciary committee. michael mcfaul was asked about that this morning, let's take a listen to what he said.

>> would you encourage bill barr and jeff sessions to testify under oath? >> you know, i think we should have the benefit of the doubt of the decisionmaking that took place. whether it has to be under oath or, you know, what context that is. i think we need to know why this decision was made. and i think the ig, that's within the proper purview of the ig. >> okay. so a somewhat tacit endorsement there. but that being said, what do you make of the response, and the republican reaction to these reports overall? do you think the testimony will actually happen, could it happen willingly or only after a subpoena? >> i think it will happen. my guess is they'll probably make some kind of deal similar to what mcgahn did a couple of weeks ago and testify in closed session. but i would like to highlight just one other thing as a return to normalcy, is that there is talk of an ig investigation, inspector general. if this was still donald trump's land, that person would have been fired by now.

remember, he went on a tear in firing inspector generals. so it is a good sign that we are getting back to some type of normalcy and that the protocols are being followed. >> absolutely the way things are supposed to work in a situation like this. david, something that strikes me about these reports, the secret subpoenas of data from some of these lawmakers' family members, including at least one minor, can you see any logical reason for that? i know an offering was said, maybe one of them would want to be using one of their kids' phones to make these inquiries or communiques. i'm like, really? let me borrow your phone so i can do something secret? come on. >> it's hard to imagine a situation in which a minor's phone needed to be surveilled. if it was a parent to child exchange that included the release of classified information, clearly they could get that by subpoenaing the adult's phone in that situation.

all indications lead to an enemies list that got extremely personal on behalf of the president. it doesn't surprise me that a minor may have been involved, that's why hearings are required so the american people can understand what happened. >> to susan's point, i know you would like to see them on prime time television but the likelihood is they'll be done like it was a week ago with don mcgahn, behind closed doors. trump's critics are angry at biden's attorney general merrick garland as he's shown, quote, a willingness to side with the trump administration. it would continue to represent trump against an alleged rape victim, e. jean carroll, in a lawsuit she filed. the doj essentially cleared trump and the department appealed to keep significant portions of the memo under

wraps. what's your reaction to merrick garland, do you think he should be doing more? >> all i know of this is what i've seen right here on this show, alex. but i find it disappointing. i would remind my liberal and progressive friends, though, none on this particular case, i think that his personal political inclination is to say, let me not inflame a situation by politicizing it. let me not inflame a situation by immediately ripping trump support away for the doj to represent trump and not enlaj the american publicly saying

trump was wrong. we know trump was wrong. we know trump was extraordinarily incompetent and correct but this is who merrick garland has always been. >> you guys are just great. you've always been that way. so, thank you so much, guys, see you soon. in just moments, benjamin netanyahu could be out as israel's longest tenured prime minister. much like donald trump, he claimed he was the victim of the biggest election fraud in history. fraud in history.

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♪ welcome back ♪ ♪ to that same old place that you laughed about ♪ ♪ well, the names have all changed ♪ ♪ since you hung around ♪ ♪ but those dreams have remained ♪ ♪ and they've turned around ♪ ♪ who'd have thought they'd lead you ♪ ♪ (who'd have thought they'd lead you) ♪ ♪ back here where we need you ♪ ♪ (back here where we need you) ♪ ♪ yeah, we tease him a lot... ♪ welcome back, america. it sure is good to see you. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's 12-year rule is about to end. israel's parliament will be casting an historic vote to usher in a new coalition which could have major implications for u.s. relations across the middle east. kelly cobiella is joining us from the middle. overall, what is the reaction to the incoming prime minister?

>> reporter: just a quick update. we're waiting for the vote to start, but we have heard from benjamin netanyahu and the possibly incoming prime minister neftali bennett. netanyahu telling lawmakers he's the only what could could protect israel from iran, the only one who can stand up to a u.s. president. earlier in the day his party put out a statement which follows a script they've been following all week long, trying to delegitimize this government, calling it a fraudulent government back supporting terrorists. neftali bennett spoke about the u.s. relationship. he said it's an important relationship, that he would work with both democrats and republicans.

and he thanked president biden for his support during the conflict with gaza. we spoke to a long-term diplomat about this incoming government and the likely response by the u.s. administration. he said the u.s. biden administration is likely to welcome the change. take a listen. >> i think you will see an attempt from the biden administration to open a new page, to turn the page, if you will, to give a new government all the time in the world. it needs not to pressure it on issues that could disrupt the very delicate coalition this government is based on. you will see a public exchange or debate between the two governments. >> reporter: and you can see the people here gather waiting for that historic vote, which could come, alex, in the next hour. >> okay. we'll keep our eyes trained on

that with your help. thank you so much. a concerning side effect from covid vaccines. what the cdc is doing about it next. at the cdc is doing about t next hi, verizon launched the first 5g network, and now we want to be the first to give everyone the joy of 5g by giving every customer a new 5g phone, on us, aha! old customers. new customers. families. businesses. in-laws. law firms. every customer. new 5g phones when you trade in your old ones. and if you're not a customer, we'll help cover the cost to switch. just ask wanda. she's been with us since... (gasps)... now.

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a new strategy to keep covid hospitalizations rising for teenagers. more states adding efforts to boost vaccination efforts for 12 to 17-year-olds but the move comes ahead of the cdc's emergency meeting to review some rare cases of heart inflammation in teens and young adults. how are officials responding and reaching out to young people, cori? >> reporter: yeah, alex, there's that double-fold issue happening with the vaccinations right now. when it comes to reaching out and getting young people vaccinated, they're trying to have more pop-up sites like the one right behind us. they're trying to have these incentive programs like scholarships and the media advertising as well. as the cases nationally are lowering, more hospitalizations

are coming to light with these younger cases of covid-19 and within these cases, a third of those cases of the youth getting covid are actually resulting in a -- a third of the hospitalizations are resulting in intensive care. the cdc trying to emphasize this group, this group severely needs the vaccine. as they continue to emphasize the efficacy and safety, you mentioned that emergency meeting. they'll be holding that emergency meeting on june 18th. this is in regard to very rare amount of heart inflammation cases in people who have received a second dose of the vaccine. i mean, i'm talking 0.00001% of cases. they still want to study. they notice it's people 30 and younger. that meeting will be june 18th. they're trying to gather more data at this point. predominantly, alex, it affects men. would he stay on it and give you any updates from that meeting. >> 226 cases so far, another

couple hundred or so are being investigated. predominantly men age 30 and under. thank you. we'll see you again. a good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters. the president and the first lady are expected to soon wrap up their sitdown for tea with queen elizabeth at windsor castle. it's supposed to wrap up in the next five or ten minutes. they met in the gorgeous courtyard for presentation, pomp and pageantry abounding before that tea. that started about 45 minutes ago. i have another panel of experts this hour. joining me, nbc news foreign correspondent david, and royal contributor and british historian andrew roberts and