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games. closing ceremonies begin sunday, and maybe not a moment too soon with a tropical storm brewing off the coast of japan, the second tropical storm system to impact the country during the game, which has seen extreme temperatures forcing schedule changes for major events. despite all of the challenges facing athletes and organizers, still an inspiring show from all, of course, including an 11th medal for team usa's allyson felix, making her the most decorated american track and field athlete of all time, and a boss, let's be honest. here is a look at the medal count as it stands right now. the u.s. has 108 including 36 gold, 39 silver, 33 bronze. china is in second place with 87, the roc is at 69. you are watching msnbc reports with me, yasmin vossoughian. ♪ ♪ here we go. hour two. welcome back.

i'm yasmin vossoughian. for those with us, thanks for sticking around. if you are just joining us, welcome, take a seat, grab a drink. the vp is now on capitol hill. we will talk about the proverbial tight rope she and the rest of the politicians have to balance to avoid stalling or killing the entire process. plus this. we all know what it starts with. i said again and again, this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. we have to get more people vaccinated. >> the president on the race against time as covid cases explode across this country despite a vaccine. we're going to take a look at whether this administration will use regulatory power to enforce vaccine mandates. also -- >> we can't worry about the color of the jerseys anymore or whether we have an "r" or a "d" next to our name. it is time to look in a fact-based way at what happened on january 6th. >> former congressman and

republican denver riggleman is hired to consult on the january 6th select committee. what he brings to the conversation and the reality that four men face in court after being charged with their actions on that fateful january 6th day. then new york governor andrew cuomo in the spotlight over allegations of alleged multiple sexual harassment. >> plus, investigating donald trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. we will talk with a former federal prosecutor that has laid out a roadmap for the justice department on why the former president's actions cannot be tolerated. getting a lot of attention from the lgbtq, but we begin with passage of a key properly vote on the bipartisan infrastructure deal. earlier this afternoon, the senate voted 66 to 27 to invoke

cloture, which essentially ends debate on this massive bill and really paves the way for final consideration on monday or possibly sooner. ali vitali is following this for us from capitol hill. an hour later, what type of movement have we had so far, ali, and when can we expect the next very little movement, and that's because there's a few different timelines this could operate on. you say it could happen sooner. that is a possibility. you would need all 100 senators to come together and say that they agree for expedited process on this. basically a truncated time to consider a certain number of amendments and effectively they could all agree to go forward with final passage of the bill on a faster timeline than we are at right now. as we have seen on capitol hill, all it takes the one, and in this case the one senator objecting to the faster timeline is senator bill haggerty of tennessee, who if you listen to him on the senate floor it

doesn't sound like he is changing his mind on this. he said toward the end of the week this past week that he wanted to go through regular order, which is a longer, more drawn-out process here, and it sounds like he is sticking there. listen. >> there's absolutely no reason for rushing this process and attempting to limit scrutiny of this bill other than the democrats completely artificial, self-imposed and politically-driven timeline. >> reporter: look, the timeline here isn't just dictated by democrats. republicans and democrats alike are a part of the negotiating process around the potential for a faster process. at the same time though we talked to the senator's office. it doesn't sound like he is going to get on board with this. as long as that's the case, that's where we go down the other path, which is the longer timeline path of how long it is going to take to get to the eventual final passage of this bipartisan infrastructure bill. if you game it out, effectively what has to happen here is a few more procedural votes and chunks of hours long time used for

amendment debate. those are like 30-hour-long chunks of amendment debate. that tacks on days to the process here. that means we could see a final vote on this bipartisan bill towards the early part of the week, maybe tuesday or wednesday. but, again, at any point these 100 senators could come together and say that they actually want to do it on a faster timeline. so simultaneous processes happening here. we saw the vote that puts them down the longer pathway this morning. those are going to continue, and that's a process that's under way. at the same time though negotiations still under way here on the hill to expedite this process. so this could be sped up and it also couldn't, yasmin. >> what is the likelihood? what is the over/under here, ali, at this point that all 100 senators are going to get on board and say, let's expedite this thing? >> reporter: look, i'm not a betting person, but at the same time you have to listen. senator haggerty just made those comments that we made on the floor just a few hours ago, and his office says that he is not

changing his mind. at the same time though you have heard today from democratic senators and republican senators alike who see the writing on the wall on this. they know that the vote is going to happen. it is just a question at this point of when. the only clock that they're really up against -- i know that senator haggerty mentioned artificial clocks. the only clock people are actually up against here is the fact that the senate is supposed to go on recess for several weeks whenever this finishes. so senator chuck schumer said today they're going to stick around in session for as long as this takes. it is really just a question of how long senators want it to. >> they've got vacation to get to. ali vitali, thank you as always, my friend. good to see you. let's bring in the panel. jonathan lemire, white house reporter for associated press, and adrian emrod. i don't know about you guys, but i feel like vacation could be an incentive to wrap things up and move on.

i know they like their vacations there. let's talk about the obstacles, haggerty being one of them it seems. he kind of raised his hand when it came to the cbo report. do you expect any other obstacles ahead as they try to get to this vote on infrastructure? >> well, yeah, yasmin, i'm waiting to see how long it takes for senator haggerty's team to send out a fundraising e-mail with a clip of him from the floor. look, we may see a few other, you know, bumps along the road, but what really matters is this vote that took place today. 67 senators, a bipartisan group of senators, voted to move forward with debate. of course, senator cornyn, senator deb fischer, two senators who flipped and ended up supporting this bill. why? because people want infrastructure. members of congress love to go back home and talk about the revenue for bridges that they funded, talk about the water systems that they improved with this funding. it is one of the reasons why this bill is so overwhelmingly popular, not just with democrats but with republicans, too.

it transcends party lines. so, you know, again we may see a few little bumps along the way, but i think this vote today was very key to the fact that this is going to pass and it is going to become law and it will be a big victory for president biden. >> and americans need infrastructure, crumbling roads, crumbling bridges, crumbling highways. i have reported on some of them where bridges were -- 50,000 folks were commuting back and forth, having to completely shut down and folks rerouted by miles, raising prices in some of the areas. jonathan, talk to me about the possibility or what could feasibly be in an amendments package if, in fact, that happens. >> well, that's what we will find out over the next few days. a lot of this is about still the funding mechanisms for some of this bill. there are some republicans who noted the congressional budget office score that came out last week that said it would add, you know, tens of millions and billions of dollars to the federal deficit, which, of course, republicans now care about after, let's be clear,

four years under president trump when they didn't because this is how these things work in washington. we are still on track from people i talked to. this will get done in the next few days but it is a balancing act. let's reiterate a couple of things here. as much as the bipartisan infrastructure bill has been at the forefront of the biden administration, they also know they want to dovetail it with the reconciliation package which could be $3.5 trillor or so and keeping the democrats in line together. that is going to require some dancing because you have moderates like sinema and manchin and you have liberals like sanders and warren, not to mention the house, which is just as diverse, and you have the real progressive group which flexed its muscles last week on getting the extension for the eviction moratorium. they're going to want to be heard from as well. this process is going to play out for weeks, if not months, before the final bills are done. this is certainly the priority for the white house. speaking of vacations, president biden is home this weekend in wilmington, but he is now slated to come back to be in d.c. early

next week when originally it was going to be the start of his own vacation, a week or two most likely. things were still tentative. in delaware. but he wants to be close to washington in case there is -- he wants to be back in the white house in case there's last-minute haggling, in case he needs to make calls, twist arms to get this done. >> just want to inform folks, you saw senator mike lee speaking on the senate floor as listening to jonathan there. as you are talking about the deficit and how in a way it is something they care about, "the new york times" arguing in fact the deficit is taking a backseat here, saying many republicans are disregarding the deficit impact for the sprawling infrastructure bill but intend to change course for looming social spending. that will be a hard one to get across the finish line when you have republican hawks crying about the deficit. >> no doubt. that's why they don't anticipate probably much in the way of much, if any, republican support

for that. they could do it though in the budget process with the 50 democratic votes. they need all of them, but they can do it with them, and then the vice president breaking the tie. the margin of the house, we talk so much about the tie in the senate, rightly, but the margin in the house is really slim, too. it is just a couple of votes. so speaker pelosi can't really afford to lose any there. but there are questions though and i'm glad you raised this, about just the sheer size of this package. it is a significant bill, slightly smaller than the president first proposed but not by much. well smaller than, say, what bernie sanders wants but it seems unlikely. the question is, is it too big for moderates like manchin and sinema to go along with. it comes at a time when the economy, the jobs report yesterday was very strong. there are concerns, of course, about inflation. there are concerns about businesses not being able to find workers to fill empty slots, but also we know that the delta variant is surging across the country. we heard from the president yesterday say, look, this is a good jobs report but it doesn't

factor in what could be coming. it is a backward looking record as opposed to what we will see from the surge where we may see things slow down. that's part of the argument as to why the government still needs to have this influx of spending in the months ahead to create the sort of social net for people that struggled during the pandemic. >> let's talk about strategy when it comes to the reconciliation bill, because obviously jonathan bringing up the sinemas and manchins of the world and we don't know where they're going to stand when it comes to reconciliation and the democrats need them to get it across the finish line. "the new york times" basically writing that they're strategizing on possibly including policy changes in the reconciliation bill. i want to read from this piece. democrats in congress plan to use their $3.5 trillion budget to try to unilaterally speed through a suite of far-reaching changes on immigration, labor and possibly voting rights over republican opposition. with legislative options

dwindling, democrats have concluded in recent weeks they want to push the boundaries of what it can accomplish beyond mere dollars and cents. do you think it is a smart strategy considering the sirn mas and manchins of the world are not a sure thing? >> this is sort of what i think pelosi and the democrats are doing right now. they're throwing this out there. obviously they gave it to "the new york times." they threw it out there to see what the reaction would be. >> got it. >> i cannot imagine the ultimate, you know, passage of this bill is going to include, you know, a giant swath of other pieces of legislation that cannot get passed or had a difficult time rather to this point trying to get passed on their own. ultimately, i think there's a good chance, you know, especially when it comes to something like voting rights. i think there's a very good chance if that measure cannot stand on its own, which is ludicrous frankly in my opinion, they will try to fold it into this bill. you know, again, we are looking at things like the care economy, paid leave for all, child care, you know, issues that 90% of

americans, again, regardless if you are a democrat or republican, support. so the real question is they will throw it out and see what sticks, but the question is are they able to pass a larger omni bus bill with all of the programs. the odds are probably not. but if they can throw a few pieces of legislation in that can't pass on their own at this point they're going to try it. >> appreciate it. thank you for joining us. under fire by some in the lgbtq plus comment for their controversial comments. later on this hour i will be joined by jeffrey masters from the lgbtq and a podcast to talk about it. up next, dr. kavita patel is back with us to separate fact from fiction and how coronavirus misinformation is affecting efforts to beat this pandemic. we'll be right back. k. start your day with crest 3d white and from mochaccinos to merlot, your smile will always be brilliant. crest 3d white brilliance. 100% stain removal,

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frightening levels there is a new battle against incorrect or intentionally misleading information about the delta variant. we've seen users banned from twitter and facebook but things are different when it comes to america's second most popular social media act, tiktok. take a listen to some of the talk about the delta variant and vaccines that we found on it. >> if there's no test for the delta variant, how do you know the vast majority of the cases are the delta variant? >> listen y'all, man, for real, delta, it is just -- just a scapegoat. it is a scapegoat for the deaths that are happening from the vaccine. >> i have been doing my research and i have heard quite a few studies that are you trying to get pregnant you should not take the covid vaccine because not enough tests have been done on how this affects fertility. ♪ ♪

>> wow. all right. so let's see what is completely wrong, partially wrong or even true, but i'm not sure a lot is there. joining me once again, dr. kavita patel is here to bust some of the myths or straight-up lies, i should say. kavita, thanks for coming back and speaking to us on this. i think it is important that we kind of bust this misinformation because a lot of it is out there and a lot of folks rely on it and tout it as fact when, in fact, it is not. i want to start with one of the ones we just heard, which is kind of talking about infertility and these vaccines causing infertility in women. i have actually heard this from people as well in my own reporting. give us the facts on this. >> yeah. great question. i'm going to try to go through these quickly, i want to get to all of them. number one, look at the source, ask about the source and the credibility of the source. that helps.

with fertility, we have reports of measures in women's in their blood to see if there are changes and there are not. we have growing evidence that fehr tillity, including sperm motility and sperm count in men as well as some of the parts of the body, the ovaries and the uterus that need to be well supplied with blood can be adversely affected, negatively affected by a covid infection. in short, fertility is not affected by the vaccine but can be affected and can be dangerous with the covid infection itself. >> is there a place where folks can go to get good information on this if they want the answers, to read the answers for themselves? >> yes. go where i go. i go to my obstretric and gynecology colleagues, but i also have gone to acog.org, american college of obstetrics and gynecology, nonprofit association. also the association of the

society of preproductive medicine. a lot of women, especially in the united states, who are battling infertility, primary and secondary, i understand their concerns. i would have the same ones. get checked, get facts and get vaccinated to save yourself and have a better chance at a healthy pregnancy. >> let's tackle one of the first videos we saw, which is there being no test for the delta variant. >> yes. this is -- all right. every test that we have, the rapid antigen test as well as the pcr test we have been talking about, they all can detect the virus, coronavirus, including the delta variant. i think the reason this has propagated on tiktok and social media is because in order to know it is the delta versus lambda, alpha, beta, you have to do genetic sequencing. you have to take the sample from the pcr test and send it to a genomic lab, which every state and most academic institutions have and they have to sequence it. it is not done on 100% of the samples, we are doing about 10%

of them. but we know from a year and a half if we sequence the samples and we see delta in 10%, we can tell how many there are in an area of the country. what is really taking hold is that people are thinking the regular test we are doing don't even test for the virus, and that's simply not true. all of the tests can check for the virus. >> all right. so let's get to the last one that there is no delta variant and actually the deaths are being caused by the vaccine. >> yeah, this might be the hardest for me to even listen to because i've had friends and relatives die from this virus. so let me just give you for even the most cynical person before the vaccine even existed, you and i have talked about hundreds of thousands of deaths, and they've now done autopsies. we have biologic source of the proof of their des and the presence of covid in their bodies. that's for me enough. if you are skeptical, talk to any of us taking care of covid patients and we can tell you, both in their blood and

respiratory track, we're seeing the virus there and it is the direct cause for their hospitalization and death. >> thank you for being with us. coming up, a new op-ed in "the washington post" saying it is time the justice department begins a criminal investigation into former president donald trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. it even lays out a roadmap for the doj to follow. former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade co-authored the piece and joins me next on why it needs to happen to maintain this country's democracy. we'll be right back. democracy. we'll be right back. who experience occasional bloating, gas, or abdominal discomfort? taking align can help. align contains a quality probiotic to naturally help soothe digestive upsets 24/7. try align, the pros in digestive health.

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that unfolded on january 6th. since leaving office he has become increasingly critical against the former president. riggleman's appointment comes amid a week of major plea deals when it comes to some of the capitol insurrectionists. nbc's scott macfarlane who has been covering the cases extensively has more on the justice department latest moves and whether it could lead to even longer prison sentences. >> reporter: yasmin, this summer week began with a flurry of activity from the u.s. justice department. first of all they secured two high-profile plea agreements in the case of thompson from washington state and scott fairlam of new jersey. fairlam was accused of assaulting police january 6th. body-worn camera video the feds say show that assault was shown in court and used as evidence to hold him in jail pretrial. after pleading guilty he faces about four years in federal prison. we will find out for sure when he is sentenced september 27th. i want to refer you to the case

of robert reeter of maryland. he pled guilty to a misdemeanor, unlawful picketing and parading. as the week began the feds recommended he be sent to prison for two months. the others avoided sentences but the feds say he is different. they say reider seemed proud of what he did january 6th, even after the insurrection, even as he pled guilty. they said a two-month prison sentence sends a message of deterrence to future mobs to stop the possibility of future attacks. in course tuesday, members of the accused oath keepers group, the far right group confused of conspiracy, of plotting and planning january 6th. previously prosecutors said there's been progress in plea negotiations with the oath keepers. we may find out for shoo tuesday morning when they're in court at the d.c. federal courthouse near us here on capitol hill. that's the story at the capitol. i'm scott macfarlane. yasmin. >> thank you to scott for that.

as evidence of donald trump's desperate efforts to overturn the 2020 election continue to come to light, pressure is mounting on a.g. garland and the justice department to launch a criminal probe into the former president's course of conduct, if it has not already. my next guest is one of many legal experts who say the publicly known facts suffice to open an investigation right now. they include trump's demand that the georgia secretary of state find more than 11,000 votes to declare he won the election last year as well as the newly uncovered notes showing the former president pressuring his acting attorney general to advance his big lie and declare the results as corrupt. joining me to put together the roadmap she has put together for the justice department, barbara mcquade. thank you for joining us on this. i want to read a little bit from your piece so folks can get a sense of what we are talking about here. attorney general merrick garland

worked to restore the badly frayed public trust in a non-partisan doj, but failing to investigate trump to demonstrate objectivity would itself be a political decision and a grave mistake. talk about, barbara, what is at stake here from your perspective. >> well, when a prosecutor makes a decision about charging, number one, they need evidence. but, number two, they have to make a decision about whether they think this is a prosecutable offense. the question federal prosecutors ask themselves is whether there's a substantial federal interest at stake. i can think of no interest more substantial that protecting our democracy and our free and fair elections. the evidence that we've seen already with president trump pressuring jeffrey rosen, the acting attorney general, to use the machinery of the justice department to defraud voters and steal the election is such a serious crime that deterrence is needed there to vindicate the

substantial federal interest. otherwise, if you can't prosecute it because it is deemed too political, we will see this happen again. >> let's talk about potential charges that you bring up, two of which including obstructing an official proceeding and coercing federal employees. out of all of these potential routes, which one has the best chance? >> i think the charge that i would see as the lead charge is what is known as a klein conspiracy. it is a conspiracy to defraud the united states. robert mueller used this conspiracy when he charged the internet research agency for its efforts to influence the 2016 election. it allows all kinds of activities to be brought in to the conspiracy, including the acts with the georgia election officials, jeffrey rosen and others. the goal at the end of the day was to disrupt the functioning of the u.s. government, congress from certifying the winner of the election, the fair and free and rightful winner by pushing these lies and trying to throw

it to the house of representatives where there's a republican ma jortd and who knows what can happen. i think that charge, there is already sufficient predication to open an investigation today. i want to give the justice department credit, maybe they already have and we just don't know it yet. >> let's talk about possible evidence that would be needed in an investigation like this, the evidence that they would be able to procure. we know about obviously the handwritten notes by the acting a.g. at the time. we also know about the numerous phone calls the president made specifically to georgia. how would opening up an investigation be -- give them the opportunity to gather more evidence? >> well, the use of a grand jury brings with it some authorization to gather documents and witness testimony. the key issue in a case like this is always going to be intent. what was their goal? did donald trump truly believe he had won the election and that others were trying to steal it from him or did he know he lost the election and he was trying to get people to just go along with him so that he could create

enough chaos to try to win in the house of representatives? that intent is what matters. so bringing people like mark meadows, his chief of staff, in to the grand jury, looking at text and e-mail documents, talking with him, even perhaps to his lawyers when there is crime or fraud at stake, it pierces the attorney/client privilege. i think those witnesses that might be able to shed light on the intent of donald trump and his associates is what is needed to see whether a crime was committed here. >> barbara mcquade, thank you, as always. good to see you. >> thanks. you too. after the break, everybody, the dual controversies of matt damon, the baby and their comments about the lgbtq plus community. are their apologies enough? stick with us. of vulnerable ams struggle to get reliable transportation to their medical appointments. that's why i started medhaul. citi launched the impact fund to invest in both women and entrepreneurs of color like me,

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apologies and clarifications this week after receiving backlash for remarks they made about gay slurs and hiv/aids. mat damon has said he doesn't use the slur in his life and doesn't use slurs of any kind. days after the article posted by the uk sunday times quoted him as saying he stopped using the slur months ago when his daughter wrote him a treatise on how the word is dangerous. meanwhile, rapper dababy has been dropped from festivals, and brand deals with making a comment about people living with hiv and aids. at the music festival in miami late last month he said to fans the disease could kill you in weeks. he since has made apologies to the lgbtq plus community saying what he needed was education on the topics. jeffrey masters, house of the lgbtq and a podcast.

welcome back. >> thanks. >> i first want to get your reaction to matt damon pushing back on his published comments about the slur. >> yes. i mean i think we can acknowledge kind of like how dumb the whole story was, right. the thing both stories have, they're unforced errors. when it comes to matt damon there are words we can't say and that's okay. i don't think that his life is going to be significantly impacted if he's not able to say this word. >> you talked about this on your podcast, about how there is more of a positive emphasis on labels in the lgbtq plus community now. how do these labels or these words different based on who is using them and the understanding they have about them? >> i mean the words change depending on, like, you know, in and out of the house. so there's a certain way we talk amongst each other, you know, a gay bar perhaps, but then when it comes to in public, you know, we ask that you don't use, you know, the slur that matt damon did. to be clear, i don't think that matt damon is a homophobe. i don't think he hates gay people. >> right.

>> i think he is a bit out of touch, in his own liberal bubble and maybe he thinks because he's not homophobic it means that the whole world isn't, too. as we know, that's not true. >> the comments made by dababy, right, we know, the lgbtq plus community have worked very hard to destigmatize hiv and aids. we saw jonathan van ness, actor bill porter both reveal they are hiv positive. what do comments like dababy's do to this effort? >> these comments directly affect the mights, the stigmas we are trying to actively for the last 40 years combat, right. he said that you get hiv, you die within two to three weeks. >> yeah. >> that's factually not true. you know, you can live, as billy porter who just came out as living with hiv for the last 15 years, you know, you can live a long, healthy life as long as you have access to appropriate health care. i mean the medical advances when it comes to hiv have been rather

extraordinary. you can be undetectable, which, correct me if i'm telling you things that you know. if you are undetectable it means you are untransmissible. scientifically it is medically impossible to transmit the virus if you are undetectable. that's the kind of thing we need to talk more about rather than repeat the myths we've been combatting for 40 years. >> what's the best way to apologize in a situation like this. >> opposite of what dababy said, right. i think he apologized three times. i think you need to take a step back, wait a beat. i don't want to say i thought matt damon's statement was written entirely by pr but it is better that what dababy did. in his first apology he insulted his gay fans. he said they're not nasty. i wouldn't personally insult anybody i'm apologizing to. >> what's the best place for folks to go to get information that they need when it comes to the lgbtq plus community?

>> i mean the community a whole, amazing resources from the magazine to trevor project, glad, the black aids institute, a lot of resources. it wasn't lost on me dababy made these comments in florida. the southern region of the country is hardest hit by hiv. one in two black men who are gay in their lifetime will be diagnosed with hiv. the numbers are crazy. for dababy to say this, again, it ignores what beige issue it is and it has been. >> jeffrey, thank you for joining us. really appreciate it. good to see you. >> thank you. you too. my head scratcher and high five of the week, they're next. plus coming you have, calls to resign or face impeachment for new york governor andrew cuomo after a report from the attorney general is released on claims of sexual misconduct and more. how a former cuomo staffer is reacting and rethinking her entire experience in the administration. we'll be right back. administration we'll be right back. ing on? - oh, darn! - let me help. lift and push and push! there... it's up there. hey joshie...

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breaking news from washington where texas house democrats are responding to governor greg abbott's decision to call yet another special session. in a joint statement the texas house democrat delegation which fled to d.c. nearly a month ago to stall abbott's controversial elections bill said 26 of their colleagues will be part of an active presence in washington maintained, quote, for as long as congress is working and making progress on federal voting rights legislation to see this fight through. the statement continues saying, quote, we need a national, federal response to protect the voting rights of texans and all americans, and that texas house democrats will continue to resist and hold the line by any legal means necessary. we will keep you updated on any changes as they unfold. all right. my head scratcher of the week. what may be the worst excuse given yet by a public figure for not getting vaccinated. golfer bryson dechambeau who was prevented from playing in tokyo tried to play the hero card when

asked why he didn't get the vaccine. he suggested that the vaccine was in short supply and would rather save it for people that really need it. just for the record, that's just about everyone, but dechambeau knows the u.s. has a surplus of vaccines and anyone who wants one can get it. the golfer made things worse by saying he might get vaccinated if it becomes more popular, adding in an interview with cbs, quote, if it is mainstreamed, really, really mainstreamed, then yeah. we continue the olympic theme from my high five of the week. it goes to british diver tom daly. he has gotten a lot of attention not only for winning gold but for being spotted repeatedly knitting in the stands watching events. he knitted a tiny sleeve with his gold medal in the men's 10m synchronized dive. >> my partner and i won yesterday. the one thing that kept my sane is my love for knitting. this morning i made a little

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welcome back. with new york governor andrew cuomo's name in the headlines every day this week, it caused msnbc political analyst susan del percio to see a lot of things that happened in her career a little differently. she worked in the cuomo administration. she writes, quote, i said over and over again that i had never personally experienced or witnessed sexual harassment during my tenure with the governor's office eight years ago. since then, however, i have reflected not just about my time in the governor's office, but also my general career in government and politics. governor cuomo denies all of the accusations against him and has not been charged with any crimes. we're joined now by susan del percio. susan, good to see you.

thanks for joining us on this. you know, i want to read a portion of your piece. this part speaks to me because literally it's the exact conversation i've been having with so many of my friends about this. and a lot of women that i know that i've worked in politics specifically, you wrote, did i see the governor bully government officials? absolutely. was he a demanding and at times an unreasonable boss? you bet he was. was this anything i have not seen before? nope. but instead, part of a pattern i had witnessed repeatedly throughout my 30 years in the business. i have literally had, susan, this exact conversation with other women in saying you saw it happening every single day and yet you thought to yourself, well, this is just how it is. in a way, it was normalized. >> it was normalized. that's why when we started seeing what happened with the me too movement, you had women from every industry saying, yes, i understand that. i understand working in fear of

retaliation. i understand bullying. and i was -- i say in the piece, i was somewhat lucky. i considered the harassment i had to deal with pretty minor. but that wasn't the case for a lot of other women. and what really made me step back and write this piece is, it has been eight years since i was in the governor's office. i always said it was a hard, demanding place to be. but reading the statement in the attorney general's report about the women talking about their fear and how the retaliation was there, it made me realize there wasn't a far leap from what i saw and perhaps i was even yielded from it, yasmin, being a rather senior person who was known within the state as a certain high profile. maybe he was on his best behavior around me. if that was the case, that would

be really bad considering how he treated the staff. but it's something that really made me reflect in saying it's time for everyone to just raise their voices because i realized that the democrats in albany and who worked with the governor for over the last 20, 30 years also knew all of what i knew and didn't say a word out of fear of retribution. >> isn't it incredible? i've been reflecting on the fact that it is taking the strength of these 11 women, all the women that came forward during the me too movement and all the women who continue to speak out against some of these atrocities, the assaults they've experienced on the job. it takes those women for all of us to identify the fact that something is wrong, something was wrong, and that it wasn't normal behavior and it was okay to go, oh, no, you made me feel uncomfortable and that is not okay. but it takes the strength and the heroism of these women to

come forward and speak in order for that to happen. >> that's absolutely right. and i think maybe it's generational that, for example, the way i was -- when i started in the business, i remember one case where i was so afraid to say anything because i would be known as difficult or fired for all i knew because no one wants to hear that stuff said out loud. that was many, many years ago. but it is these women and especially in this case rather young women who are coming forward. and we should all learn from that too. that's why you need to voice -- even if it happened eight years ago or ten years ago or 30 years ago, you need to let everyone know that, yes, it's happened over decades, and to speak out and call it out when you see it. >> don't be afraid to speak out because people will be there to support you. i found that astounding from the attorney general. she said over and over again i believe these women. she said it over and over again. for anybody that's been a victim of sexual assault or harassment

conditioned, they have felt belittled. to hear something from that from the attorney general after this extensive report, incredible to hear. susan del percio, thank you so much for sharing this with us and joining us this hour. that wraps up the hour for me, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. i'll be back here tomorrow, don't worry, 3:00 p.m. eastern. reverend al sharpton and "politicsnation" begins right now. good evening and welcome to a road edition of "politicsnation." i'm in martha's vineyard. more details on why later in the show. because tonight's lede, waiting to exhale. right now our senate has voted to advance the process on president biden's bipartisan infrastructure proposal. 67 voting yes on progressing the legislation forward. 27 voting no. now comes more