it -- for us, we would think well you would do a lot more than separate them, and very quickly. they do talk about filing reports. they do talk about that but there doesn't seem to be this immediate accountability. and it's something that they admit has happened so given the fact that a manager who is training employees know that has happened, it seems like we are getting a very muted response from the administration and from secretary becerra. >> this is -- if -- if any of this is -- again, these are allegations. and there's some documentation but if any of this is remotely close to reflective, this is utterly, utterly, completely unacceptable, in every, possible way. julia ainsley, great reporting. thank you, very much. that is "all in" for tonight. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now with ali velshi in for rachel. >> good evening, chris. have yourself a great weekend and thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. rachel is enjoying a well-earned vacation. it was the biggest story in the world and what's not an exaggeration. in the middle of july 2018,

president trump met with the russian president, vladimir putin. this was in helsinki, finland. and as i'm sure you remember, it did not go well. he said putin did not really attack our election, in 2016. he said the u.s. showed stupidity for investigating it, in the first place. trump made international headlines for how poorly he represented american democracy when he shared a stage with a notorious dictator. the one in german is my favorite. it says -- [ speaking foreign language ] -- that means summit of the autocrats. it was bad. so bad, that the "new york times" was throwing around the word treason on the front page. there were stories about how this was the final straw for republicans, who had reluctantly backed trump. that was the other-lead story on the front page of "the times" that day. about how trump's largely-unshakeable base had been rattled by his behavior with putin. it was a real, open question, whether a mistake this bad could have electoral implications for the president when he was up for re-election in 2020.

and trump was, apparently, worried about losing the presidency in the weeks after that meeting but not because of the putin debacle. this was the headline at "axios" right after the putin summit. quote, trump fears biden 2020, losing pennsylvania. now, again, this was july of 2018. joe biden would not enter the race for another nine months. donald trump was spooked just by the idea, the idea, of a head-to-head match with joe biden in 2020. the month before joe biden announced he was running, donald trump convened a meeting at the white house to discuss, with his advisers, whether or not he should be concerned about facing biden in the general election. people inside the white house said trump was fixated on biden, before he even entered the race and on what he could do to stop him from becoming the democratic nominee. and, of course, we know how that fixation, ultimately, manifested itself. on july 25th, 2019, one year, to the day, after that first-press

report about trump's obsession with joe biden. trump picked up the phone, and called the president of ukraine. in that call, he threatened to punish the president of ukraine, unless he announced the opening of a politically damaging investigation into joe biden, which would hurt biden's chances in the primary. there it was, in black and white, in the transcript of that phone call. i would like you to do us a favor, though. the man who listened in on that phone call to take notes for the white house was a u.s. army lieu lieutenant colonel. this man. alexander vindman. i should tell you colonel vindman will be a guest on this show monday night. looking forward to that. you don't want to miss it. vindman just told cbs news after donald trump's infamous phone call with ukraine, he immediately went to speak with his brother who also worked in the white house. he said he told his brother, quote, if what i am about to tell you becomes public, the president will be impeached. and that, of course, is exactly

what happened. donald trump was impeached for pressuring ukraine into digging up dirt on his political opponent. and i know the story is not so distant. but it's important context for this moment that we're in, right now. it reminds us that donald trump's obsession with staying in power, and winning re-election, and the dramatic lengths to which he was willing to go to stay president. it, all, started way, way before anyone cast a ballot last november. but, of course, that was just the start. after joe biden, actually, won the 2020 election, donald trump's obsession with joe biden morphed into a crusade to delegitimize the results of that election. and part of that crusade led to an insurrection attempt on the united states capitol. an attempt, which is now being investigated by congress. today, the house select committee investigating the january-6th attack held a meeting behind closed doors. their first gathering, after this week's emotional hearing with law enforcement officers who were attacked at the capitol, on january 6th.

the chairman of the committee, congressman bennie thompson, told reporters today that the committee will, soon, be sending subpoenas as part of their inquiry. but that's not the only investigation going on in congress, right now, that could shed light on donald trump's efforts to overturn the election. we know another part of the former president's scheme to overturn the election was centered around the justice department. to wield the power of the doj to, somehow, swing the results in trump's favor. there were reports that trump considered ousting his acting-attorney general, and replacing him with one who would push his baseless claims about election fraud. trump and his chief of staff stovepiped their election-fraud claims right to the doj -- doj leadership. demanding that the department investigate the fraud to -- to delegitimize joe biden's win. just this week, we learned just how extensive this pressure campaign was. "washington post" reported that trump's called his acting-attorney general, jeffrey

rosen, almost every day about the so-called fraud in the aftermath of the election. the attorney general's top aide took notes about what the former president said on those phone calls. for anyone trying to get to the bottom of whether or not donald trump was trying to improperly weaponize the justice department to help him stay in power, it would be important to know, exactly, what was said on those calls. and today, we found out. "the new york times" was the first to report, today, on the contents of those notes about donald trump's calls to the attorney general after the election. according to "the times," donald trump called his attorney general, as well as his deputy, on december 27th of last year to ask him about claims of voter fraud that doj had disproved. that deputy-attorney general told the former president that the justice had no power to overturn an election. to which donald trump replied, quote, just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me. just say the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me. since "the new york times," first, broke the story, this

afternoon, these handwritten notes have now been made public and turned over to congress as part of a separate investigation into the former president's conduct after the election. so, here we go. joining us, now, katie benner who covers the justice department for "the new york times." she's been way ahead of everyone else's reporting on the attempts to pressure the justice department. she was the first to report on these documents from the house oversight committee today. katy, good evening, good to see you, my friend. it would seem that the nine pages of handwritten notes, released today, are not the only notes taken by doj officials that are relevant to a house-oversight committee investigation. it's a committee that is likely to receive more, as it investigates the trump -- trump administration's efforts to reverse the election. what's the picture, as you have it now? >> sure, i think what we need to remember is that those committees, including the house oversight committee and senate judiciary committee. they have been asking the justice department for both documents and the testimony of former officials, basically,

since the beginning of this year. the justice department began the process of handing over documents, a few months ago. this is sort of the latest batch. and just now, the justice department said that former officials are allowed to testify. and they are not going to evoke executive privilege which means congress has far more access to information than it ever had during the trump administration about the former president's behavior. we are going to see the justice department allow information to flow and we are going to see congress to press as hard as it can to get everything it can. documents and testimony. >> the language used by donald trump in his phone call to the justice department had similarities to the language that donald trump used in his phone call with president -- the president of -- of the ukraine. i am going to read you what he said to the call with za lens ki. i would like you to do us a favor, though. i'd like you to have the attorney general call your people and i would like you to get to the bottom of it. there is a lot of talk about biden's son, that biden stopped

the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about -- about that. so whatever you can do with the attorney general would be great. um, then he calls and leans on the attorney general of the united states. the acting-attorney general of the united states. so just come up and find some fraud, and i will take care of it from there. do we know, from your notes, what happens -- what trump means by, i'll take care of it after that? >> you know, he says i'll take care of it, you know, himself. and republicans in congress who are his allies. so presumably, they would use that statement from the justice department as a cudgel to, both, attack joe biden. but to, also, sow real seeds of doubt into the outcome of the election. one of the things, to your point, that we see as a parallel between ukraine and what we saw in the notes today is that trump understands that people like the president of ukraine. that the justice department do have real credibility. credibility with audiences he cannot reach. so it's essential that they carry his message, so then he can run with it.

you know, in both cases, it was more important for those respected entities to make public announcements than it was for them to investigate. one of the things that trump said in the notes to the justice-department officials was, i don't expect you to actually overturn the results of the election, yourself. nor, do i expect you to necessarily investigate all these things. just say it's corrupt, and leave it to me. and again, in the -- as we saw with ukraine impeachment trial, you saw gordon sondland testify. the former ambassador. he said, in all the conversations he had with rudy giuliani and others, it was always that the ukraine president was supposed to announce the investigation. but it was never really important that he actually started or follow through with it. again, it is the idea that the utterance is made that is important to trump because he knows that he can use that mantel of credibility. >> on page two of the notes, it says people are angry. blaming department of justice plus for inaction.

doj failing to respond to legitimate complaints and reports of crimes on page three. also, on page three. you guys may not be following the internet, the way i do. supposedly, that's what trump said to the folks on the phone call. this is electioneering fraud. and from your own reporting on this story, you write, in a moment of foreshadowing, mr. trump said people tell me jeff clark is great. i should put him in. referring to the acting chief of the justice department's civil division, who had also encouraged department officials to intervene in the election. people want me to replace doj leadership. what was that comment about? >> so, we know that, you know, jeff clark, who had been an official at the justice department. he was introduced to the president, at some point, by representative scott perry of pennsylvania. we do not know when this happened. we just know that clark really clicked with the president. in part, because he, too, felt that it was probable that the results of the election were not -- were not true. even though his own colleagues at the justice department had investigated, you know, lots of different fraud claims and

conspiracy theories. and, themselves, had investigated and found them to be untrue. clark, still, believed him. so, he and the president had a comity. and so, when trump is saying this to justice-department officials, the acting-attorney general jeff rosen, his deputy, richard donoghue. what he is not telling them, he's already been speaking with jeff clark. that he's already been talking to jeff clark about what the justice department can do for -- for him. and what the two officials don't know is that, just a week later, they are going to be back in the oval office fighting for their jobs with jeff clark in the room as the president decides whether or not to fire them all. one of the things that donoghue does say to the president, on this call, according to the notes, is he says you should have the leadership you want. but just know, it's not going to change the outcome of the election. >> huh. that is a very, very interesting point. you can meddle with us. you can move the chessmen around. you are not going to get done, what you want done. katie benner is "the new york times" justice department reporter. joining me now, is democratic

member of the house oversight committee which just received those notes from donald trump's call with the attorney general. he is also member of the house permanent select committee on intelligence where he is, also, done work investigative work into what donald trump has been up to. congressman, good to see you, this evening. there is a trove of information here. >> same here. >> starting with the point that the president -- the attorney general's not the president's lawyer. there -- it's not someone who is there to do the bidding of the president. so there is all sorts of inappropriateness about everything that's going on. but it goes so much further than that. this threat that katie is talking about of replacing someone if you don't do my bidding. the fact that you don't actually have to find wrongdoing. you just have to say you did. call the election a fraud, and i'll handle the rest. this is mind blowing, after a four years that you didn't think you could have your mind blown, anymore. >> it's extraordinary evidence of -- of the extent to which

that donald trump would meddle in the elections and have the doj do his bidding. but then, also, how close we were to having the doj do his bidding, because, as you rightly pointed out with katie in the previous segment, you know, jeff clark was probably tasked with doing exactly what mr. rosen and mr. donoghue refused to do, which is to call the election corrupt. the other part of it, which i find fascinating, is the part where he says, leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. i don't know what that means, ali. i don't know what they had in store. whether they had planned for this doj maneuver to take place. and then, they had certain steps to follow. but that's equally disturbing, as well. >> who gets to the bottom of that? is that the january 6th select committee? or is that you, on the oversight committee? because i would very much like

to know the answers to those questions that you just asked. >> i think we're going to probe, hard, on this. i know that i have a lot of questions, for instance, about -- you know, he brought up jim jordan in that conversation. he brought up ron johnson. the senator from wisconsin. who he says, quote/unquote, gets to the bottom of things. and um, we just don't know what they were planning to do right after this. however, now that the justice department has, basically, allowed the oversight committee and us to do our investigation, unimpeded by the prospect of executive privilege, we can get at the e-mails. we can get at other documents. now, we can bring witnesses in and actually have hearings and so forth. >> why do you think -- you know, when we were all playing this out, the way things go over the last four years. there was an assumption, certainly, with me and some other people. who thought there'll be some injunction to getting these notes released. that trump's people would act on it. and they didn't. is it they don't think anything

is wrong with it? what happened here? how do you think these notes went from being reported and leaked and to your committee as fast as they did? >> um, i don't know all the behind-the-scenes action. but what i do know is richard donoghue and the authors of these notes knew exactly what they were doing in taking them because they knew that what was going on was -- didn't meet the smell test, to say the least. and likely, could raise legal questions and illegality on the part of the president. one of the things that you didn't mention, before, in drawing analogies was the brad raffensperger call. >> uh-huh. >> where's president trump asked brad raffensperger to find 11,780 votes to overturn the georgia election. >> yep. >> and in georgia -- and basically, election experts, at that time, did not think that folks would prosecute that

particular behavior, in that call, under the state and federal-election laws. because the evidence wasn't what they wanted. but now, the -- the evidence is starting to pile up. and um, we have to ask ourselves the question, what other types of calls exist? we know about the raffensperger call. we know about this doj call. who else did he talk to? and what did he ask them to do, as well? >> yeah, you're right, in that there are similarities to that call, as well. play this out for me. let's say he had called rosen at the department of justice. and rosen had done his bidding. um, or someone had done his bidding or -- or trump put his guy in place and did their -- what -- what would the effect of that be? end of december, 2020. department of justice comes out and says what trump wants 'em to say. the elections were corrupt. what do you think happens in -- in an instance like that? >> that would have been disastrous, ali. you know, basically, what it would have done is thrown the

whole election aftermath into even more chaos. and it would have been the prelude for, basically, going to each of the state capitols which they, already, were doing, the trump folks. and basically, asking them to basically undo the decertification or decertify their elections. and, of course, it would have provided more grist for what they were doing on january 6th. to me, this call -- you know, it's almost like donald trump -- you know, if this were a bank heist, you know, donald trump was basically telling people, okay. justice department, you drive this car. crash it through the windows of the bank window and the vault. and i'll take it from here. so much damage would have happened, had the justice department carried this out. i shudder to think of what more would have happened on january 6th. a day that i lived through, as well as my colleagues and the whole nation lived through. and a lot of people remain traumatized, as a consequence. >> congressman, good to see you tonight.

there will be some interesting reading for you and your fellow committee members. congressman raja krishnamoorthi. much more to get to on this friday night. including a live conversation with beto o'rourke and reverend william barber. up next, we are going to be talking with an emergency room doctor from one of the states hardest hit by covid right now. stay with us. hardest hit by covid right now stay with us battling sensitive skin, we switched to tide hygienic clean free. it's gentle on her skin, and out cleans our old free detergent. tide hygienic clean free. hypoallergenic and safe for sensitive skin.

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the biggest hospital in louisiana is breaking records. our lady of the lake regional medical center in baton rouge has more covid-19 patients, yesterday, than it had at any, other point in the entire pandemic. 140 patients, hospitalized with covid-19. 50 of them in the intensive-care unit. it may be the biggest hospital in louisiana but it's not alone, in being hit by a new surge in coronavirus patients. louisiana has the highest new-daily case rate per capita of any state in the country. governor john belle edwards held a press conference today, in which he was not shy about how bad the situation has gotten or

what he thinks is causing it. >> we are very unfortunately in a position that we had hoped, that we had prayed, that we had worked very hard, to avoid. but quite simply, the delta variant is an absolute-game changer. superimposed, as it is in louisiana, on a state that is not sufficiently vaccinated. as of today, 45 hospitals in louisiana have requested additional assistance with staffing capacity. just as a point of reference to, sort of, show where we are and how quickly the covid situation has mushroomed. in baton rouge, right now, there are more people in the hospital with covid than there was in the entire state, just a month ago. >> 83.7% of the cases across louisiana right now are from the delta variant. the governor stressed the importance of getting vaccinated and masking up not only because of how much faster the delta variant is spreading but because of who was spreading it. the number-one age group spreading the virus right now in

louisiana is the 18-to-29-year-olds, followed by people under the age of 18. the average age of a hospitalized-covid patient in louisiana, last month, was 64. today, it's been dragged down to 54 years old. and not because of a flood of middle-aged people. going back to louisiana's biggest hospital, for a second. our lady of the lakes children's hospital had 11 children hospitalized with covid, yesterday. six of them, in the icu. that is made all the more concerning for louisiana and the nation by the new revelations from an internal-cdc document "the washington post" was first to report on last night. which shows that the delta variant appears to cause more severe illness than earlier variant -- variants. and spreads as easily as chickenpox. maybe, most importantly, the cdc presentation said that although vaccines make vaccinated people eight-times less likely to get the delta variant, if a vaccinated person does get a breakthrough case of the delta variant, they can spread it, as easily as an unvaccinated person.

to echo louisiana's governor, the delta variant has been an absolute-game changer. no one is seeing the impact of that more, firsthand, than the doctors and nurses in louisiana right now. joining us, now, is dr. mark, he is the emergency room medical director for our -- our lady of the lake hospital in baton rouge, louisiana. doctor, thanks for joining us tonight after what i can only assume has been a very long day for you and your colleagues. um, of the people you are seeing, of the people you are treating, are they mostly unvaccinated? are any of them vaccinated? are you seeing breakthrough cases? >> yeah, well, thanks for having me. we are -- we're seeing breakthrough cases but 80% of the patients that are being hospitalized right now are unvaccinated. and as y'all said before, it's -- it's a younger group. it's -- 50% of these are under 50. a third of our patients are in the icu these last two weeks have been a nightmare. they've been way worse than any two weeks, combined, of the

original part of the pandemic. this -- this delta variant is spinning us out of control. >> obviously, you know this and your colleagues know this and state officials know this. is the public registering this? are they -- are they saying, wow, something's very different. when you are saying that you've got more people hospitalized than at any point in covid. or that these are the worst-two weeks in the last 18 months. i'm wondering, whether that will trigger people to, either, take things seriously, maybe mask or -- or get vaccinated if they haven't done so? >> i sure hope so. um, i'm not seeing it out in public. i still see people filling up restaurants and -- and in grocery stores. i'm not seeing the -- the -- the diligence with the masks and hand hygiene that we were seeing early on, when everybody was forced to stay home and they were kind of sneaking out of their house to go to the grocery store. people are being pretty casual out there. the vaccination is, absolutely, important. but until everybody's vaccinated, we have to be really serious about the mask wearing. about social distancing. about small-group settings. about getting back to virtual meetings. um, this thing is -- is attacking the hospitals, right

now. and we are the biggest hospital in the state and if we can't -- if we're at capacity, we can't support all the little hospitals around the -- the state and the region that we, typically, do. so they are holding patients in their emergency departments which is, you know, very uncomfortable for them. >> yeah, this is a really interesting point, right? in -- in rural america, one of the things is if a hospital is sort of beyond its capacity in being able to treat someone or there is better treatment at sort of a fully-functional center like your own. typically, they will transport the patient to a place like your hospital. but when you're full, that affects other people's lives. >> absolutely, it's called capacity. um, i said it on the news last night. when a hotel has no vacancies, they have no vacancies. we have no vacancies at the hospital right now. we are at capacity, which means we are not allowed to accept anybody from another hospital. um, and so we have to say no. that's a sad thing to say when we know some of the resources that they don't have at these -- these facilities. they're critical access and that's something that we've always prided ourself on is to be able to take care of the rest of the state.

and right now, we're struggling to do so because we can't even take care of our own community. >> what do you need? you've requested state and federal help. in what form does that come? you know, through the course of last year, we knew when it was ppe or when it was ventilators people wanted. what is it that you need now? >> right now, we need people to behave. we need people in the public to behave. we need people to understand that just because you have been exposed to covid and you might have a mild cough, you don't need to come to the hospital. you don't need to infect a lot of other people, along your way. if you can't breathe, obviously, we need to see you here. if you are having bad-chest pain, we obviously need to see you in the emergency department. if you have severe abdominal pain, absolutely, come to the emergency department. stroke-like symptoms? yes. but if you have something minor, call your doctor. try a virtual visit. do everything you can to stay away from other people because this thing is extremely contagious. anybody that you see and come close to is going to get it and then they are going to give it to someone else and it's exponential. so we can't control this. it's spinning out of control, as i said. we are seeing so many more

cases. we're doubling our hospitalizations, each week. so we started off, last week, with 75. this week, we're over 160, now, as of today. we're admitting a patient, an hour, or more with covid-19 and these are really sick patients. these aren't the ones that are walking around, coughing, you know, around our waiting rooms. >> governor stopped short of enacting a mask mandate today. says he is going to think about it over the weekend. what do you think he should do? >> i am wearing my mask everywhere i go. so i am leading by that example. i think that the governor's got a tough decision but i think that everybody should realize that wearing a mask is a simple thing to do. it's a courteous thing to do. this is now -- definitely, people should feel this as the pandemic. before, we were scared. we didn't really know what was going on last march and april. now, we see what is happening in front of our eyes. these numbers aren't lying. the masks are something very simple that you can do. and take your mask, put it on. and go to the nearest-vaccination center. >> doctor, thanks for joining us. dr. mark laperouse is the

emergency room medical doctor for our lady of the lake medical hospital in baton rouge. i did not think, at this point in the pandemic, we'd still be having conversations with people like you and your staffs, who are working around the clock in full hospitals because you are getting more covid patients than you can handle. godspeed in your continued work. thanks for being with us. up next, here tonight, reverend dr. william barber and beto o'rourke will join us live from texas as they try to pressure congress to do something, anything really, to stop republicans from rolling back voting rights. stay with us. from rolling back voting rights stay with us

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earlier this week, texas governor greg abbott issued an executive order that would have allowed texas state troopers to pull over and, in some cases, seize vehicles suspected of carrying immigrants from the southern border to their final destinations in the united states. now, the order would have prevented nonprofits and other private contractors, relied on by the federal government, from transporting migrants inside the u.s. as their legal cases wind their way through the courts.

the biden administration, immediately, threatened federal action with attorney general merrick garland calling abbott's order dangerous and unlawful. now, this evening, the justice department has followed through. suing the state of texas to try to stop that executive order from going into effect. this federal intervention is a positive sign for texas democratic legislators, who are hoping that the federal government will aid them in their quest to fight back against attempts, by texas republicans, to push through a restrictive-voting law. three days ago, former-texas congressman beto o'rourke, and civil rights activist, reverend dr. william barber, set out with about 100 other activists on a march to protest republican attempts to roll back voting rights in that state. through that march, they've made clear what they think the only -- that they think that's the only way to protect voting rights in texas. and it's for lawmakers in washington to enact new federal voting rights legislation. >> we are -- we are at the end of day three.

so, just -- just did about ten miles. the last stretch, from georgetown to austin which, in total, is 27 miles. tomorrow is, literally, the last mile of the whole march. making sure that we end the filibuster and, certainly, at a minimum, change it so that you can pass voting-rights legislation. that's what we're marching for. that's what we're rallying for tomorrow. >> that's what we're marching for. this march through texas is the latest in a series of direct actions from activists across the country to try to pressure washington lawmakers to pass major voting-rights legislation, by any means necessary. and so far, they have at least succeeded in keeping it on the democrats' agenda. this afternoon, house speaker nancy pelosi and senate leader chuck schumer met with president biden to discuss a path forward for federal voting-rights legislation. what does that path forward look like? and what will activism, like we have seen in texas, do to force democrats to find a solution in washington?

joining us, now, former texas congressman beto o'rourke, and the reverend dr. william barber. gents, thanks very much for being with you. congressman o'rourke, i am going to start with you because you have been in congress and you have your texas state representatives who have been testifying, talking to, meeting, having zoom meetings with, begging, pleading, cajoling, the -- the -- the -- your federal colleagues, members of the house of representative, in particular senators, say save us. we can be the tip of the -- the sword here but we need backup. we -- it's like the alamo. you've got to come and help us. we can't hold out forever. >> you're right. these texas-democratic legislators have done more than we could have ever asked them to do. they have now left their offices in the capitol. they've left their -- their families. sometimes, with very young children. they have left their homes. and they've taken this fight to the one place it can be won, our nation's capitol, specifically, the u.s. senate. and -- and if they -- when they

come back, they potentially face arrest. so now that texas has done so much and thanks to the poor people as campaign and bishop barber and this march, and 40 allied organizations have led, what we are doing in this state right now. texas has done its part. and -- and it's now time for the president and those democrats in the senate, who have a political majority, to do theirs. amend the filibuster, at a minimum. and allow an exception for voting-rights legislation so that we can pass every single provision of the for the people act. that rolls back voter suppression, in texas, in georgia, in florida, and so many other places. and it opens up our elections to every-eligible voter. that -- that's not a democratic-party position, nor a republican-party position. that should be an american-democracy position. and that's why we're marching and that's why we want folks to join us in austin, tomorrow, 10:00 a.m. in front of the capitol. we'll be joined by impacted people and willie nelson, who will be giving one of his first concerts since the pandemic there. so, big day, tomorrow, in austin. >> reverend dr. barber, you -- i

think, in the last few weeks, you've been arrested at least a couple of times. doesn't scare you. doesn't scare the texas representatives, who are under threat of arrest. they have done nothing criminal. but the -- the governor has implied that they could be arrested. that's what the summer actions turning out to be. people marching, people putting their bodies on the line. doing what they have to do to remind people that this is the kind of energy that is required. very reminiscent of the -- the civil rights movement. if you are going to get something done, you are going to have to raise public awareness and -- and sort of force politicians to do what they have to do. >> over 200 people have now been arrested. 100 women a week ago. 39 people in front of sinema's office. but we -- we had 125 max on who could march because of covid. we could have had thousands of people. we had to turn them back. but listen. we -- we've got to protect this democracy. you have infrastructure for bridges. but then, you allow the infrastructure of democracy to be torn down. you are not going forward. you're going backwards. we need to not only just -- we

need to end the filibuster. we need to fully pass every provision of the john lewis for the peoples act. that's the one he wrote. the voting rights act hasn't been written. restoration. when it is, pass that. and then, we need 15 an hour and we need to protect our immigrant brothers and sisters. if you believe in those things fully, then you need to come to the rally. you know, 66 million people voted for mail-out ballots last time. that helped poor and low-wealth people. the u.s. chamber of commerce wants to control our elections. american legislative exchange group wants to control. we can't allow that to happen. 65%, ali, of texans either want to keep the access they have and they had during the last election. or expand it. and so, we need to understand, if you want access to the ballot, come to this rally. if you want living wages, come to this rally. if you are one of the 12.6 million poor and low-wealth people, come to this rally.

you want to hear poor and low-wealth impacted people of every race, creed, and color, come to this rally. come to this rally and make washington hear us and say, mr. president, you must act and act now. get in the room. make those democrats come together. and pass these things, now. we need action from the president and senator schumer and the democratic caucus. >> congressman o'rourke, you -- you've heard, of course, that the senate -- you talked about this. they are working on a narrower bill. another voting rights bill. joe manchin's involved in that and activists would like to see that brought up and -- and dealt with, quickly, not because they want a narrower bill on voting rights but they think it won't pass, either. and then, it will increase the pressure on the president and kyrsten sinema and joe manchin to -- to do something, now, along the lines of what you were talking about. carve out voting rights from the filibuster. so if y'all want to keep your filibuster because you think it's all bipartisan and -- and

great, knock yourselves out. but you can't let states abridge people's legitimate, constitutional right to vote. >> that's absolutely right. and i am very grateful for senator raphael warnock of georgia, who, i think, has been instrumental in bringing the party together, including senator manchin. and it's really good news and it's a sign of progress. and i think, frankly, it's a sign that what bishop barber, the poor people's campaign, and others who are willing to take direct, nonviolent action across this country. that what they are doing is actually working. it's bringing the parties to the table. they're feeling the pressure. and they know that they need to move forward. i would argue and -- and agree, fully, with bishop barber that, as important as the physical infrastructure of our country is. if we do not save the infrastructure of our democracy and protect the right to vote and -- and guarantee free-and-fair elections, going forward, we will very well lose it forever. and then, nothing else is possible. raising the minimum wage.

expanding access to healthcare. confronting climate change. legalizing 11 million hardworking, undocumented immigrants in this country. all those things that we want to do only become possible when we bring all voters into the polling place and ensure that their votes are counted and their voices are heard. so, i hope that senator warnock and others, who really believe in this, continue to drive a hard bargain. and -- and maybe, say, look, if -- if you want my vote on infrastructure. if you want my vote on this budget deal. if you want my vote on something else, i'm going to have your leadership and your vote on passing democracy bills, like the for the people act. i -- i think we need to be tough on this one. and -- and we cannot -- we cannot be charlie brown with -- with the football one more time. we have got to drive the hardest bargain possible. we cannot take no for -- for an answer. failure's not an option. pass the for the people act. >> reverend barber, how many miles have you got left to walk tomorrow? when do you guys start? and how many miles left? >> we got one mile to the capitol. then, we're going to d.c. on monday with over a thousand

pastors and clergy and low-wage workers but i want to say this, also. we don't need a narrow bill. we need a constitutional bill. we need what is right. we need -- don't settle for just anything. let this pressure happen because if it doesn't happen by august the 6th, the anniversary -- sixth anniversary of the signing of the voting rights act, we are going to state capitols all over this country, starting in west virginia. i am tired -- we are tired of poor people and low-wealth people and black people and brown people and disabled people and native people and asian people and women and -- and elderly people being treated like things and corporations being treated like people. they get -- when they ask for trillions, they get every trillion. when we want something that's constitutional, it's always cut narrower. we have to stop doing this. we can make -- we can break that filibuster. they break it, when they want to break it. we need to -- i love what my brother beto o'rourke just said. you can't have one vote on infrastructure, on anything, until you deal with the infrastructure of this. you can do both, at the same

time. but do not sell this democracy short because we'll be right back here, two years from now. and if democrats don't meet this moment, this lyndon banes johnson, fdr, abraham lincoln moment on voting rights, you will probably lose in '22 and '26 because you will have allowed states' rights to overturn constitutional rights. and suppress the vote. it should not be. let's do the right thing and let's do it now. >> gentlemen, we'll be following the last mile of your walk very closely tomorrow. stay safe, please, and thanks for the work you are doing on behalf of democracy. former texas congressman beto o'rourke, and the reverend dr. william barber. thank you for joining us. the first group of translators who fought alongside american troops in afghanistan have just arrived in the united states. we will talk with one of the people who's been pushing to bring them here and save their lives. bring them here and save their lives. a cleft condition. without surgery, some will die. those who do survive face extreme challenges. operation smile works to heal children

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journey from kabul, an airplane carries translaters and their families landed in d.c. they were bussed to ft. lee in virginia to get medical skreenge and complete visa applications. they are expected to stay at the base a week before they are permanently settled in the unitedtl states. it's the first wave of a relocation program that the biden administration is calling operationsin allies refuge. hes was proud to tell them, welcome home. it's ame mall subset of the ten of o thousands of people facing retaliation, possibly death from thesi taliban for their work helping inei afghanistan in the past decade. the groups will start arriving by plane every three days. it comes as president biden is facing pressure from veterans and lawmakers and evacuate the

allies before his deadline to withdraw troops by the end of august. major matt zeller, whom rachel hasho talked to on the show before. major zeller's life was saved in afghanistan by his translater. hoe was there at dulles airplane earlier this morning. joining us now, matt zeller, co-founder of no one left behind. major zeller, thank you for being with us today. i know it's a small subset. there are more to come. how did it feel to welcome the first group?fi >> thanks for having me. you know, i have been thinking about this all day. i have gotten very little -- i'm exhausted. i have been up -- i was late all night. got about two hours of sleep, and i have been thinking about this. i'm so glad the war is over. it needed to end.

and how we end it ask what matters most, and this flight is the first promise kept. i'm really proud of the team that we have been able to put together of all the advocates who fought so hard to make it work. but o let's beke honest now. it represents 0.3% of the total afghans waiting for evacuation. the other 88,000 people are left behind, hoping we're going to keep the promise as well. we're not going to keep 2350i9ing until we have done that forti every single one of them. >> so congress passed a bill that funds it. the president's on it. the goal ispr to get a shipmentf people, planes full of people every three days. before the u.s. is fully out of afghanistan. the u.s. is mostly out of afghanistan already. these people are already in peril. some of them -- they don't all love in the center of kabul.

they can't get to the city because they are surrounded by taliban. do you believe wede will get it done? >> i don't know. look, that's the big unanswered question. the one that i asked anyone who has a voice or a pathway to the president to ask. how are we going to save the people out of kabul? the afghan military cannot do it. they arear currently losing the country to the taliban. they are likely going to die, those who are attempted it have been murdered. that leaves it up to us, and it comes down to this. do we have the courage and conviction to do what is necessarynd here? and i fear what is necessary, we may have to send back in military forces and retake airfields and territory we held weeks ago, and that is hard to swallow for a lot of us who wanted to bring this war to a conclusion. but we have end it honorably. and that means we have to save these people's lives.

we never should have left in the first place without taking them with us. they're stim still alive but we can't save them when they are dead. >> one of the failures of the way we think about this, a lot of americans don't know their own brothers and sisters fighting in this war, let alone there are translaters that are helping americans. if you're alp translater who helped american troops f you are useful to the american presence there and you're not inside kabul, what do you have to do to get out? >> you can't get out. the second largest city in afghanistan is kandahar. ifn you go on facebook and youtube what is going on right now, it's live video, it's running gun fight almost daily. they are surrounded. if you a worked for the america a day, the taliban consider it to be a death sentence. it's a traitor to islam.

it's a religious duty to kill you and your family.yo they are going to murder these people. i'm not being hyper bollic. they don't have the ability to save themselves. it's up to us. >> we will continue to follow the storyll so the pressure is to get them out safely and save them. major matt zeller, thanks for the work you do, co-founder of the group no one left behind. he is working very, very hard to make sure there is a good outcome to the story. we'll be right back. coverage customizer tool? sorry? well, since you asked. it finds discounts and policy recommendations, so you only pay for what you need. limu, you're an animal! who's got the bird legs now? only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

that does it for us tonight. but i will see you tomorrow and sunday morning from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. for my show, velshi. and julian castro will join the rally on the texas state capitol, and washington, d.c., to start to jasmine crockett. and it's time for the last word, where jonathan capehart is in for lawrence. that is more my show. we do that on sunday mornings. >> i guess we are going to do it saturday morning as well. >> well, thanks very much, ali. it's about damn time. that is how bill passkrell