on. >> andy slavitt thank you very much and thank you for joining me on my podcast, why is this happening, our newest episode is available anywhere you get your podcasts. that is all in on this wednesday night, the racial maddow show starts right now. good evening, rachel. thank you for joining me on this hour.is today is my mom's 80th birthday. which is impossible that she's 80, but happy birthday, mom. in your own family, your mom's birthday probably feels like the biggest holiday there is. but we do have federal holidays in the united states that we celebrate regardless of my mom's birthday. there are not very many of them. thanksgiving, christmas, new year's day, veteran's day, memorial day, labor day, martin luther king day, columbus day, president's day, that's nine, i

think. and of course there's the tenth one, the fourth of july. that is the easiest one to remember, because we call it the fourth of july, and every year, it's in july on the fourth ye reliably. if you're bad with dates like i am, even about family birthdays, it's a particular blessing about july 4th.bo and i feel the same way about cinco de mayo. anybody who tells me in the name of the holiday when the holiday is, i thank you. but tonight, the house of representatives voted to createe the newest federal holiday. we do not do this often as a country. it's been nearly 40 years since the last new federal holiday was formally recognized, with the approval of the holiday honoring dr. martin luther king jr. that was back in 1983. tonight we have done it for the first time since then. almost 40 years later, there was a unanimous vote in the senate

that happened late yesterday. tonight, there's been a big but not unanimous vote in the house. but it passed easily. in the end, it was sheila jackson lee who was able to call it with just palpable joy as she did so. >> on this vote, the yeas are 415 and the nays are 14. the bill is passed! [ cheers and applause ] >> texas congresswoman sheila jackson lee announcing the passage tonight in the house of legislation to make juneteenth a federal holiday. congresswoman lee sponsored the legislation to make juneteenth a federal holiday, and also to create what they call a national emancipation trail to trace the news of the emancipation proclamation, the news of the

freedom of the slaves to texas. it took two years after it was signed by president lincoln for the news to reach galveston on june 19th, 1865. once president biden signs this bill that has passed the senate and the house, june 19th every year will be celebrated as the juneteenth federal holiday, honoring the end of slavery in the united states. it was a unanimous vote in the senate, it was an overwhelming e vote in the house, but not a unanimous one. there were 14 republicans who voted against it. 14 conservative republican white guys all voted that we should not commemorate the end of slavery in the united states. which is the kind of vote that will stick to their shoe forever, and smell up any room they walk into for the rest of their lives. forgive me for saying so. but it's worth noting that they

were a rump minority. 14 republican men who voted no. but 195 republican men and women voted yes for the holiday. along with every single democrat in the united states house and every single united states so take congresswoman lee's palpable joy as the punctuation mark today. president biden is on his way back from europe as we speak. there's no rule that says he has to sign this newly passed bill h as soon as he gets back. but there is some good timing coming up that would seem to indicate that he has reason to hurry. june 19th, juneteenth, is saturday. today is wednesday, the 16th. the 19th is this weekend. so if he signs this new law, this new bill into law on saturday or before, this year, 2021, will be the first year that we as a nation commemorate that day as a federal holiday.y.

we will commemorate it together as a country. even including the 14 republican men who voted against it. it will be a holiday in their country, too. even if they don't like it. so we will see about the timing on when it gets signed into law. it's a big deal, a big vote, a big thing for our country and our history. it will also indelibly shine a nice, bright spotlight on the 14 republican men who stood against it. hi, guys, hope you enjoy this weekend in particular a lot. today at the summit in switzerland, president biden and president vladimir putin agreed that the u.s. ambassador and the russian ambassador can go back to their respective embassies. the russian ambassador can go back to the u.s. embassy in washington, and the u.s.

ambassador can go to the embassy in moscow. they had been staying away since the sanctions. for trying to interfere with our elections and trying to kill russian opposition leader alexey navalny. at their summit today, president biden and president putin also agreed to further dialogue so between our two governments on a few important matters, including cyber attacks. also on what they call strategic stability. which sounds like nothing, right? or at least it sounds like something you may do on a wobbly little platform at the gym. what does that mean? in end of the world terms, what that means is that they're goina to talk about neither side having new nuclear weapons of some kind that don't have an equivalent on the other side. because it's perceived to be unstable for one of the two countries to have the ability to

wipe the one off the map withouo the ability of the other to reciprocate. seriously, that's the nuclear weapons thinking. sure, the world will end. but it will end equally. because anything else is unstable. both sides having the ability to destroy each other and the whole world several times over, that's stable. that's very stable. we can live with that comfortably. assuming there's no accidents. that's what they mean when they say strategic stability. it's the most anodyne term, and it's the way we want to approach the end of the world, by our two countries mutually, rather than in some unbalanced way. that's strategic stability. our countries will open up a new dialogue about strategic n stability. the people who know things say

it's good, but they also have scary minds because they have to think about this stuff all the time. president biden at his press conference after the meeting seemed sort of, i mean, your mileage may vary, depending on how you see the president. today he seemed sort of grounded and satisfied with how it went. he said he believed it was important for them to meet in person. he said, i did what i came to do. he said the tone of the discussion with putin was good and positive. he described it as neither strident nor hyperbolic. he said that's the way it needs to be. if you had the sense that this s means we're friends now, we're not friends now.re president biden took pains to say no threats were issued by either side in today's b discussions. but he shared this not very subtle threat he left in putin's

proverbial lap. >> before i take your questions, i want to say one last thing. folks, look. this is about -- this is about how we move from here. this is -- i listened to, again, a significant portion of what president putin's press conference was. he pointed out, this was about practical, straightforward, no-nonsense decisions that we have to make or not make. for example, when i talked about the pipeline that cyber hit for $5 million, that ransomware hit in the united states, i said, how would you feel if ransomware took on the pipelines from your oil fields? he said it would matter. this is not just about our self-interest. it's out of mutual self-interest. i'll take your questions. >> and then he took questions.s. i looked at him and i said, well, how would you feel about a

cyber attack taking down the pipelines from your oil fields, president putin? according to president biden, he said it would matter. yeah, you've got your russian cyber attack shutting down our pipeline on the east coast, you're physically the largest country on earth with an economy smaller than italy's, because there is no russian economy other than oil. but because of your corruption, even your oil sector is backward and decrepit. you think cyber attacks on us is no big deal? cyber attacks on our fuel infrastructure is no big deal, really? you want to put yourself on the line here, too? >> i pointed out to him, we have significant cyber capability. and he knows it. he doesn't know exactly what it is, but it's significant. if in fact they violate these

basic norms, we will respond. cyber. he knows. >> he knows. president putin for his part denied all russian responsibility for any cyber attacks on the united states at all. also for the attacks his government mounted against our elections in 2016 and 2020. but he seemed to squirm the hardest under questioning from u.s. reporters. he was asked multiple times about alexei navalny, who putin has had in prison ever since he survived a poisoning attempt and came back to russia. putin said he is only in prison because he consciously chose not to check in, in person, with russian security services while he was out of the country beingl treated for that poisoning. he used the word consciously.

navalny was literally unconscious at the time. he was in a coma, because russian security agents dosed him with a military grade nerve agent. he wasn't making conscious ag decisions about anything, let alone checking in with russian security services while in a coma fighting for his life because russian security people tried to kill him with a military grade nerve agent from the russian military. yeah, he didn't think to check in. i'm not sure if vladimir putin knows he gave a laughingstock answer, because in russia nobody gets caught laughing at him, but really, consciously? that's the word you're choosing? abc's rachel scott pressed him on navalny and related matters.m the exchange, to my eye, was the

moment that was probably the t most important public exchange of the whole day. >> if i may, sir, the list of your political opponents who are dead, imprisoned, or jailed, is long. navalny's organization calls for free and fair elections, but russia has outlawed that organization. calling it extremist. and you have now prevented anyone n who supports him to ru for office. my question is, mr. president, what are you so afraid of? >> they're not prohibited from working.om they can continue to operate. foreign agents don't need to stop operating. if they're extremists, that's another issue. the organization has publicly called for mass disorder. y ca >> you didn't answer my question, sir. if all of your political opponents are dead, in prison, poisoned, doesn't that send a message that you do not want a fair political fight?

>> as for who is killing whom, throwing whom in jail, people came to the u.s. congress with political demands. 400 people. over 400 people had criminal charges placed on them. >> rachel scott of abc news, driving vladimir putin to sputtering today. flummoxing him to the point where he was like, what about january 6th? what about, what about? putin repeatedly brought up the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol, implying that he was on the side of the trump supporters who thought that day that they could reverse the presidential election result by force. a violent attack on the capitol to stop the certifying of the election result.

it's a remarkable thing to see from him. not long after biden and putin's press conferences wrapped up, "the washington post" broke this new story about the days leading up to the january 6th attack, and how president trump made some progress in those days in trying to get the u.s. justice department to act on his behalf, to flip the election result or stop them from being made official. the most's story is based on the bombshell emails released by the house oversight committee yesterday which we reported on last night on the show.it but they also supplemented that with interviews with people who were involved in or briefed on those events in the fraught three or so weeks after the election and the days leading up to the u.s. capitol attack. justice department officials were not passive in their response when trump and his

white house chief of staff and allies acting on the president's behalf tried to get the u.s. justice department to take actionju based on these moon ba wing nut claims that it must have been election fraud in the states that joe biden won. the "post" reports the department did examine some of the claims from trump. and top justice department officials forwarded some of the material from trump allies to of u.s. attorneys in michigan and pennsylvania. in other words as we reported last night, they did not passively receive it and make sure the pressure from the white house went no further than them. top officials in the justice department passed it down to prosecutors in relevant states. in georgia, there is interestins reporting here from the "washington post." one relatively high ranking justice department lawyer, jeffrey clark, seemed to entertain trump's requests. pushing internally to have the justice department assert that t fraud in the state of georgia at

was the cause for that state's -- was cause for that state's lawmakers to disregard georgia's election results and appoint new presidential nd electors. trump contemplating installing jeff clark as attorney general.r he was running the environment andnt natural resource decision and the civil division of the justice department. according to people familiar with the matter, clark became particularly focused on georgia trying to persuade justice gi department leaders that they should issue a letter that argued that georgia's elections were affected by fraud.ti and as a consequence, they should disregard the presidential election results, and appoint their own electors. meaning have the republicans in the state legislature pick trump electors.

according to two people familiar with the matter, jeffrey rosen i tried to convince clark that his theories were misguided. on new year's day, he shared the cell phone number of the u.s. attorney in atlanta. two people familiar with the matter said that rosen was hopeful that the u.s. attorney could convince clark that there was no widespread fraud in georgia. after giving clark the u.s. attorney's phone number, rosen circled back the next day, asking clark in an email, were you able to follow up? in a meeting at the white house two days later, january 3rd, president trump complained that he wanted to fire the georgia u.s. attorney, who he felt was not doing enough to uncover fraud in georgia. the people said participants in the meeting told the president that he intended to leave anyway, that he need not take the step of firing him. just after 10:00 p.m. that night, an email shows a senior

justice department official, richard donagueh, emailed him, writing please call asap. two people familiar with the he matter said it was conveyed what the meeting said about him. he stepped down, and was replaced by a new u.s. attorney, a man named bobby christine, who trump viewed as more amenable to his voter fraud claims. this is the fullest accounting we've yet had of that incident. the president pushing these bogus election fraud claims in georgia because he doesn't want to have lost georgia. he's threatening georgia officials, we now know, telling them they need to find enough votes to declare him the winner. he's got a guy he's trying to install as the new attorney general, who wants the justice department to write to georgia and tell them they need their

election results were infected with fraud and new electors should be appointed. the u.s. attorney in georgia got calls from main justice by thata official. who wanted to tell georgia officially from the justice department that georgia needed to uncertify their election and say trump won. the u.s. attorney after receiving that call, and getting a follow-up call from the white house resigns under circumstances still not clear. there is an active criminal investigation under way in the state of georgia. into the president's actions when he tried to interject himself into the process. tried to influence elections officials to try to get them to alter the election outcome in the state. it's being investigated by others, as a criminal matter as

well by a state prosecutor in the state of georgia. what was said to that u.s. attorney who resigned? what was said to him by the justice department official who called him up, the one we know wanted georgia to undo its election result? what was said to him in the call from the white house? why did he resign? what did they try to get him tot do? this is starting to look like a pretty good map of the potential crime scene for the ongoing investigation.ty joining me, amy gardner. "washington post" national political reporter. of four post reporters by-lined on this story today. it's nice to have you here. thanks for making time tonight. >> thank you so much, rachel. >> so this piece today is a great sort of connecting of the dots and bringing together of lots of different sources of information, including interviews with people involved in or briefed on these events. in terms of the pressure put on justice department officials,

what are the black boxes that aren't answered in the emails or interviews that you conducted that either a criminal investigation or congressional investigation might be able to get at? >> i'm certainly curious about what prompted b.j. pak to >> resign. as you just alluded to.ou i think there are a couple of different possibilities, and we just don't know what happened. it seems as if rich donaghue called him to say that trump was displeased with him, and that conversation prompted mr. pak to resign. that doesn't mean that pak was asked to do something he didn't want to do. it could mean that, this was a man who had already announced d his plans to resign. he saw he was going to be a distraction in the efforts to fend off president trump's efforts to overturn the election.ef we don't know what happened there.

and you talked about jeff clark, the assistant attorney general at environment and civil, who was more eager than some of the other leadership at doj to helph president trump find evidence of fraud. what was the evidence that he was pursuing and who was he talking to, to seek out that evidence? there is one exchange in the emails that we got yesterday where he talks about, where the acting attorney general jeff rosen says, did you talk to b.j. pak? we know from our reporting that he wanted mr. pak to explain to mr. clark that there wasn't widespread fraud in georgia and that he should back off. that this was a fool's errand. instead, mr. clark responds to mr. rosen in his email, no i spoke with the source, i'm on with the guy who took the video right now.

working on it. more due diligence to do. we have no idea what he's talking about, what video, what guy? there were videos of election workers and voting equipment contractors doing their jobs that were wildly misinterpreted by conspiracy theorists, people had death threats, there was a noose hung in the front lawn of one worker for dominion voting in georgia, was he speaking to somebody who took videos like that,ik who in some cases had relationships with q-anon? was a senior leader in the d.o.j. going to people with q-anon relationships to find evidence of fraud in the 2020 election? that's my biggest question right now. >> and we know from the emails, as you point out in your reporting, that some of the complaints from president trump and his allied forces were actually sent down the line to u.s. attorneys in both the

eastern and western districts of michigan and to a u.s. attorney in the western district of pennsylvania. there's very little indication of what, if anything, came of those communications. i think those, from my read about the way these emails are being received, i'm not sure re that anybody is as head-up about this as i am. i'm concerned that senior officials at main justice are putting it down the line rather than absorbing the pressure themselves. by passing it on to actual u.s. attorneys in the field, it would seem that's an important act of furtherance from what the president was trying to accomplish. but do we know how these materials were received in michigan and pennsylvania? >> i have a slightly different take.>> i think there was some protection going on by senior leaders in main justice in regards to the u.s. attorneys in the field. i think they were trying to

signal to the white house that they were listening and doing what they were being asked to o do. but you can see in the emails, there will be a note that says, please take a look at this, for what it's worth.ea i'm paraphrasing, but there's something like for what it's worth. i also had a conversation with a former justice department official, that if a leadership of main justice wants a u.s. attorney to run something down to the grown, it's a phone call, it's not an email. and i also learned these tips or conspiracy theories were investigated. and the fact that we never learned of anything, of charges, grand juries being asked to, you know, indict, is actually evidence that they were investigated and alternate explanations nor what was being alleged were discovered. so i do think there was a little bit of a nuanced strategy on the

part of senior leadership at justice not to slam the door in the face of the white house officials who were emailing them, including mark meadows, the former chief of staff, but while also sort of slow walking what they were doing internally to make sure that this didn't go too far. >> at least until one u.s. attorney through this process found himself enough in the crosshairs that the president was sounding off about wanting to fire him. he got that communicated to him, apparently, and within a few hours, he was out. at least one of them, it cost him his job. boy, do i want to know more about those circumstances. we'll get them in time. amy gardner, "washington post" political reporter, congratulations to you andin yo colleagues on this important advance in this story. thanks for helping us understand it. >> thank you, rachel. it much more ahead here tonight. a busy news night. stay with us. stay with us ♪♪

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when vladimir putin held his post-summit press conference earlier today, the room was packed with journalists and translators. president putin does speak english, but he makes a habit of not doing that in public. so non-russian speaking reporters had to have their questions to him translated into russian. but at least one reporter there,

from "the wall street journal" today, she did not need her question translated into russian. she needed it translated for her colleagues into english. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: mr. president, thank you very much for the opportunity to ask you a question. a few years ago, you met president biden, when he was vice president. what he said was that he looked you in the eye and he said that he didn't see a soul. and you said that means we understand one another. did you, tell me please, did you look him in the eye? what did you see there? did you see a person with whom you could work? >> that was ann simmons, fluent in russian. asking president putin to recall his meeting ten years ago with then-vice president biden.

when biden reportedly said to him, mr. prime minister, i'm looking into your eyes and i don't think you have a soul. here's part of what putin said in response to the question today. >> translator: as for the soul, seeing it or not seeing something, well, this isn't the first time i've heard this. frankly speaking, i don't recall this conversation, but i will allow that it happened and escaped my attention. but if you ask me what sort of a partner, what sort of a conversational partner biden is, he's very constructive and balanced, just the way i expected. he's very experienced, you can tell that at first glance. >> joining us now from geneva, the reporter who asked president putin that question. and the remarkable response, that wasn't the first time people looked at him and wondered if he had a soul. ann simmons, "the wall street

journal" moscow bureau chief, it's a real pleasure to have you with us tonight, i know it's been a very long day, thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me, rachel. >> mr. putin concluded by saying this was not a relationship where he and the president of the united states needed to like each other. it's a pragmatic relationship in which they both needed to represent their countries. i just wanted to get your take on whether you think that was a satisfying answer, and do you think he was telling you the whole truth there? >> i think the russians came into this, in particular mr. putin, not wanting to create any conflict. and that was from both sides. so there was a tempering of tensions in recent days. mr. putin was very much in the mode of i'm not going to rock the boat, i'm going to be a little bit complimentary, which he was. but that's not to say that

tensions do not still exist. there were many areas where washington and moscow still do not agree. and that certainly came out during the course of their talks. >> as somebody who is fluent in russian, asking that question of president putin in russian, i wanted to ask you about a troubling or unsettling word choice used by president putin when asked about alexei navalny, the opposition leader in russia who is now in jail, who narrowly survived an assassination attempt. he described navalny as having consciously chosen to break russian law when he was treated and after that assassination attempt in germany. and because he was in germany, part of that time in a coma, he missed meetings with russian

security services that he was supposed to check in. that consciously word from him, i think, threw everybody back in their chairs in translation. did it have a different meaning in russian? >> no, he really did want to make the point that mr. navalny knew he would be in trouble if he came back to russia. mr. navalny, according to mr. putin, knew that he had violated russian law, and that if he returned, he would be in hot water. so very much so, he was making the point that mr. navalny has gotten what he deserves. and he's making the point, basically, that mr. navalny would not be in prison now if he had not come back to russia. but he came back, consciously made the decision to return. >> do you think that president putin and his government may have been surprised by the repeated questioning about mr.

navalny? mr. biden said he pushed him on it several times. but to get repeated questions, and at times aggressive questioning, about the treatment of navalny, would not have been something they expected, or do you think that would have been more than they were bargaining for? >> i think they absolutely expected to get questions about mr. navalny. the foreign press and media in russia has been quite aggressive, quite assertive in asking questions of the kremlin about this opposition leader. i don't think it was a surprise at all. i believe mr. putin was probably thinking, if i don't hear a question about mr. navalny, that would be the surprise. so certainly mr. putin never mentions mr. navalny by name, as you know. he always says, the berlin patient, when he was in germany. and he mentioned the person in prison, or the person detained.

he never mentions his name. but certainly the question came up, do you fear mr. navalny? mr. putin has kind of skirted answering that question. but in the past, he's definitely said, of course i do not. >> ann simmen, "the wall street journal" moscow bureau chief, it has been a full 24-hour day for you today already at minimum. thank you for staying up with us so late, and thank you for your time. >> thank you so much. >> we've got more ahead tonight. stay with us. stay with us down? itgn that your digestive system isn't working at it's best taking metamucil everyday can help. metamucil psyllium fiber, gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic metamucil. support your daily digestive health. and try metamucil fiber thins. a great tasting and easy way to start your day.

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in a book he wrote called "from cold war to hot peace" and since he was named to be the ambassador, state-run tv started denouncing him saying he had no business being an ambassador, that he was some kind of operative who was an expert in destabilizing governments and starting revolutions. and they denounced him as a really, really close friend of russian opposition leader alexei navalny. now, at this point he had met navalny precisely once. while ambassador mcfaul is a nice guy who makes fast friends, he's not that fast. as ambassador to russia, he not only continued to meet with russian opposition leaders, he continued to do so. as a sort of unbowed percentage for the u.s. government expression of free press and democracy in the united states

and in russia and all over the world. and russian state media treated that like it was the crime of the century. they would do stakeouts and release video montages of every russian political figure and independent journalist who ever visited the u.s. embassy. with titles like, obtaining instructions from the u.s. embassy like they were spies or traitors. president biden's meeting with putin today was behind closed doors. when talking to the press afterwards, he talked at length about how much discussion was opposition leaders like navalny and independent media outlets like media-free europe, about how this was at the core of his conversations today with president putin. he went out of his way to take a question from a radio free europe reporter. what will the consequences of

that be? what will it mean for russian opposition leaders and independent media outlets in russia, to have an american president standing up for them so bluntly, and confronting president putin so bluntly over his fear of opposition and his fear of a free press? we know from experience, it's the kind of thing that drives the kremlin nuts. what will happen inside russia as a consequence of how president biden pushed those issues today? i feel like nobody is in a better position to talk about that than michael mcfaul. he was involved in briefing president biden before this summit today. he joins us live now. mr. ambassador, great to see you. thank you for staying up until the middle of the night to be with us tonight. >> glad to be with you as always, rachel. >> what are likely to be the consequences, if any, of today's events for russian opposition figures, for independent media in russia? it feels like the kremlin has

felt totally unconstrained in the way it's been going after the opposition and the media lately. how will today affect that? >> you're right. 2021 will go down in russian history as one of the most autocratic years since the collapse of the soviet union. you have to go deep to remember a time that has been so oppressive. i was honestly delighted to hear the president of the united states again talk about democracy and human rights like traditionally we used to. but it was very important, i think, what president biden said today. and he named navalny. he didn't shy away from him. our previous president wouldn't use his name either, just like vladimir putin. and i can tell you, i spoke to some navalny supporters after that press conference. they heard that voice of support. it doesn't mean things will

change overnight, but it does mean they're hearing that people who believe in democracy outside of their country are thinking about them. and there's a feeling of solidarity about ideas that are shared between russians and americans. >> in terms of how things went today, what you know about how the closed door meetings went and the press conferences that we saw, do you have any regrets or worries or things that you wish had gone a different way? >> you know, once they set the meeting, that put a lot of pressure on president biden and his team. we are all here, i'm here in geneva, because we want to cover the summit. even the word summit is a dangerous word in my view. but once the meeting was set, i think it was orchestrated incredibly well. the buildup was right, meet with your democratic allies first, in a series of meetings,

come here, the orchestration in terms of protocol was perfect. biden showed up second. there were note-takers in the room. that's important. and they didn't do a joint press conference. that was fantastic. by the way, because great journalists like ann simmons got to ask president putin some pretty tough questions. that would have never happened in a joint presser. with two or three questions on each side. so that was good. and on the substance, there was not much accomplished. baby steps towards strategic stability talks. sending our ambassadors back. but remember, putin restored his ambassador, he was restoring him on his own, we didn't have anything to do with that. but you need to engage with putin, i think that's right. now they have to go home and do their homework to have a strategy of containing putin as well. >> mr. mcfaul, do you believe that it is of significance, either domestically in russia or in the united states that putin

keeps bringing up january 6th as if the people who attacked the u.s. capitol to try to stop the certifying of the election, as if they should be seen as political prisoners, or that russia is on their side in a way? is it a diversion, a sort of deliberate verbal provocation, or do you see it as potentially consequential either there or here? >> for me, it was the worst moment of president putin's press conference today, to compare the peaceful fighting of navalny heads fighting corruption, with those who use violence to storm our capitol. one side is fighting for democracy, and the other is doing the opposite. and he's siding with mr. trump and the people that support mr. trump. i think people forget that, yes, there is a battle between democratic states and autocratic

states. the president rightly spoke about that today and throughout this trip. but there's also a battle within states, between democrats and autocrats, there's a fight going on in russia, and there is also a fight going on in the united states of america. and in other european countries as well. that's the kind of linkage. putin thinks he's fighting an ideological battle. he's doing that on purpose to rally supporters, and tragically, it's having some success in europe and in the united states as well. >> michael mcfaul, who helped prepare president biden for this meeting today with president putin, thank you for your time. particularly given the late hour and how long a day this has been. thanks very much. >> sure. i'll always get up or stay up for you, rachel. thanks for having me. >> you're very kind. all right. we'll be right back. stay with us. stay with us so what happened? well... we started buying charmin super mega roll.

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this was interesting today on voting rights. there's only one democrat in the senate who is not co-sponsoring the for the people act. joe manchin of west virginia. earlier this month, he said he wouldn't vote for it, if no republicans would vote for it, then neither would he. the senate republican leader says in fact not a single republican would vote for a voting rights bill so that would seem to be the end of that. but today, interesting news. senator manchin released a list, what he called a compromise proposal on voting rights. a list of things he likes and that could apparently get republican support. then he held a meeting with eight republican senators to discuss his proposal on voting rights. the problem is the math. say that democrats give manchin everything on the list, and he convinces all eight republican

senators, that he's meeting with that they should also support the bill, that would still not be enough votes to pass it over a republican filibuster, even under the unrealistic circumstances i just described. so he's proposing this compromise for absolutely nothing. senator manchin says he wants to pass a voting rights bill. the math doesn't work, though, and the coverage should reflect that. watch this space. taking metamucil everyday can help. metamucil psyllium fiber, gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic metamucil. support your daily digestive health. and try metamucil fiber thins.

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go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today. that is going to do it for us tonight. i'll see you again right here tomorrow night. "way too early" with kasie hunt is up next. night. "way too early with kasie hunt" is up next. it was important to meet in perch so there could be no mistake about our misrepresentations about what i wanted to communicate. i did what i came to do. number one, identify areas of practical work our two countries can do to advance our mutual interests and also benefit the world. two, communicate directly, directly, that the united states will respond to actions that impair our vital interests or those of our allies. three, to clearly lay out our country's prioran