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in response to the committee asking telecom companies to preserve the phone records of at least 11pro- trump lawmakers like marjorie taylor greene, kevin mccarthy released a statement warning the companies if they comply, quote, they are in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the united states if companies choose to violate federal law a republican majority will not forget and will stand with americans to hold them fully accountable under the law. da-da-da. a fact check here, companies are not breaking the law by complying with a congressional request for records. the january 6 committee responded to mccarthy's attempt to bully private companies by saying this. quote, the select committee is investigating the violent attack on the capitol and attempts to overturn the results of last year's election. we have asked companies not to destroy records that may help

answer questions for the american people. the committee's efforts won't be deterred by those who want to white wash or cover up the events of january 6th or object struck our investigation. the house gop's turn to these tactics begs the question, what are they so afraid of now. questions swirling around a number of house republicans and interactions with trump on january 6th. jim jordan named as a potential material witness by committee member liz cheney cannot recall when he spoke to trump on the day the mob stormed the capitol. listen to what he said in july. >> on january 6th did you speak with him before, during, or after the capitol was attacked? >> i'd have to go -- i spoke with him that day after, i think after. i don't know if i spoke with him in the morning or not. i just don't know.

>> politico is reporting that he had two calls that day. politico writes this, quote, after a group of lawmakers were evacuated from the house chamber to a safe room jordan was joined by representative matt gaetz for a call they implored trump to tell supporters to stand down according to a source with knowledge of the call. the source denied to recall how trump responded. his role is obviously an important question for the committee to answer as is kevin mccarthy's call where according to jamie herera butler trump told mccarthy this, quote, well, kevin, i guess these people are more upset about the election than you are. mccarthy has been dodging questions about that call since january 6th. >> would you personally reach out to the president for more support? >> i've already talked to the president. >> what did the president say to you when you called him? >> he put out a tweet as well. >> you said you spoke with the

president. what did the president say he would do? >> he put a tweet out there. i was the first person to contact him when the riots were going on. he didn't see it. he ended the call saying he'll put something out to make sure to stop this, and that's what he did. he put a video out later. >> quite a lot later and it was a pretty weak video. i'm asking you specifically did he say to you i guess some people are more concerned about the election than you are? >> no, listen, my conversations with the president are my conversations with the president. >> not really. he put out a video where he told the insurrectionists he loved them. republican attempts now to obstruct the january 6th investigation is where we start this hour. eugene daniel is here, co-author of "playbook" at politico as well as an msnbc contributor. tim miller is here from "the bulwark" and msnbc contributor. and democratic congressman eric swalwell, a member of the house intelligence, judiciary and homeland security committees.

is it a crime to obstruct a congressional investigation? >> yes, he certainly does not look less guilty with this statement, nicolle. this is the equivalent of saying snitches get stitches, right? he is telling a company that is being asked to responsible and comply to not do so. that's witness tampering or intimidation. it's also obstruction of congress. step back from the legalese and just ask yourself, well, why would he want to do this? probably because he does not want to have to comply or have the public know the communications he had or the communications that many in his radical right caucus had. i have prosecuted people with less evidence and much smaller cases for witness intimidation and obstruction of congress, and i hope that is considered by the department of justice. >> i want to get into what

they're hiding but i want to understand what happened yesterday from the most senior republican in the house of representatives. he put out a statement threatening telecom companies with a lie. i mean, the opposite is true, isn't it? it would be a crime to destroy potential evidence. if you're a lobbyist for a telecom company, the only legal exposure you have is if you fail to comply, isn't that right? >> he's asking them to break the law, that's right, by not only not complying but making the evidence go away. there's a process here and if the companies do not believe the subpoenas are lawful, they can object. most of the companies have entire departments staffed with a lot of people who respond to these types of subpoenas from law enforcement every day. again, this just looks like a guy who knows that his team did a lot to work with the president

and to assemble, insight and assist with the insurrection and now has the shovels out to bury the evidence. >> i want to talk about jim jordan as a potential witness for the select committee. he seems be to be the most publicly struggling. i don't know a better word for it. he has statements all over the map. liz cheney implicated him i think before she was even named as a member to the select committee investigating the insurrection. i want to show you something my colleague has put together. he's now rewriting his own legacy as one of the biggest purveyors of lies and i want to ask you on the other side about witnesses and people that are concerned about their exposure doing things like this, rewriting things that took place for better, for worse on conservative media that we found. let's watch. >> as recently as october of 2020 hillary clinton said the

election was stolen from her in 2016 but we're not allowed to say we have some concerns we would like to investigate. >> i did accept it, actually, mr. jordan. and i've never been on national tv suggesting that i shouldn't accept the results of any election. >> i haven't either. i think there are problems with this election y. is it democratic run cities in swing states that have problems allowing votes to be counted after the election? we found votes. they wanted to keep looking for and finding and counting ballots. we've had missing memory cards. we should continue to investigate this election. >> we have all these irregularities -- with all these irregularities in key swing states -- >> out of respect for my viewers' mental health, i cut that short. it goes on more than twice what i just played. one of the biggest purveyors of distrust and unease with the election in places from coast to

coast with integrity. it was an election that sent him back to congress. why is he carving out this as saying he never questioned the election of 2020? >> it's quite clear that voters recognize that the twin lies are literally killing us and it's going to bury the republican party next year, the lies about the election that continue to lead to violence as recently as two weeks ago when someone tried to pull a truck up near the capitol with a propane tank and threatened to blow up the place and about the vaccine which jordan is also responsible for that are killing americans because we have so many unvaccinated. he is relevant because he knows the state of mind of the inkreiter inciter in chief. with the help of mo brooks and others he aimed the mob at the

capitol, and jordan is one of the few people who talked to him after this happened. knowing donald trump's state of mind is critical. >> jim jordan wasn't wearing his mask properly, so don't take any mask wearing guidance from him. i want to turn to one more potential witness and that's kevin mccarthy, something congressman adam schiff said about him. >> if people were not involved in trying to overturn the government, they should be concerned. kevin mccarthy clearly is for a variety of reasons, not the least of which his boss, his master in mar-a-lago, want it had to happen. it's a threat. it's a threat of a falsehood, asking companies to turn over records is flat wrong. he's scared and i think his boss is scared. they didn't want it commission

and select committee to go forward on a bipartisan basis. they don't want the country to know what they were involved in. and you can see why. >> what is the theory of the case of exactly, specifically, what they were involved in? is it that they asked trump to call it off, trump refused, and they know about exactly what his role was not just in sending them there but keeping them there? >> for kevin mccarthy he wants to be in power. he needs donald trump to be in power. so he can't speak against anything that would hurt donald trump. he only has authority to sort donald trump's star burst. he can't really do more than that and he spoke out against january 6th and then he was punished by donald trump and had to go hat in hand to mar-a-lago, and then he has reversed course. he is just swimming in donald trump's ocean, a very stormy ocean every single day.

he really is completely tied to trump, and he's worried that any communication that would come out would show that he was probably, rightfully, speaking out at trump trying to get him to do the right thing on the 6th and he would have to implicate trump if he had to testify. >> eugene daniels, i want to bring you into this conversation and tim miller. he is staking out positions that could be bad for kevin mccarthy, bad for his role as a minority leader. he's threatening in that statement to that telecom companies. and i'm the majority leader, i'm going to get you. he's also weakening the congressional investigation and its power to do things like subpoena records. let me read you a tweet from dan goldman. he said congress under both democratic and republican control has routinely subpoenaed records from telephone companies as it is a standard investigative tool. does the gop leader truly want to undermine his own authority to issue subpoenas in the future? still, he has no recourse here.

what is he doing, eugene? >> i mean, one of the things that the president, former president trump, did over and over and over is to test the limits of how far other people will go to protect him because his loyalty is often one lane. it goes toward him and not always the other way. and so as you said kevin mccarthy is saying don't comply with these subpoenas. at some point whether it's in 2022 or later, the republicans are going to hold the house. and so what does that mean for the investigation that he wants to do? i think you're right saying you're messing with your own power and kevin mccarthy and swalwell said he's trying to make sure his relationship with president trump continues. he thinks they're going to win in 2022 in the midterms. he wants to be majority leader. he has to do whatever he can even if it means going back --

going on the opposite of what he said months ago to do whatever can he to make sure that president trump, his allies on the trump base sees him as someone who supports donald trump and that's something we're continuing to see and that's why you see jim jordan hemming and hawing on when he spoke and what he said to president trump. he spoke with president trump regularly and doesn't tell me what he said because they want to make sure they're protecting those conversations and so the idea that the select committee is now going to find out what -- who called who and asked them questions about it, that is a concern that they have on capitol hill on the republican side of things. >> congressman, the select committee is going to find out who talked to who. i want to show our viewers, though, what's going on in bat bleep crazy land. the craziest member of congress and one of the craziest right-wing hosts last night on fox.

>> these cell phone companies, these communications companies better not play with these democrats because republicans are coming back into the majority in 2022 and we will take this very serious. >> you should shut them down, take those companies down. would it be okay if nancy pelosi forced a private security company to raid your house at gunpoint at 3:00 in the morning because she doesn't like your politics? where is this going? this is the single craziest thing i've heard in memory out of washington. >> these telecommunications companies if they go along with this, they will be shut down and that's a promise. >> i would laugh but neither is funny. congressman swalwell, these telecommunications companies under the trump-era doj took your phone records, took adam schiff's phone records, mcgann's phone records at the time he was the witness in the mueller special counsel investigation, took records from "the new york

times" and "the washington post." and that's just what we know of. it is as dan goldman said, former federal prosecutor, as you know as a former prosecutor, it is an investigative tool. what are they talking about? what are they pumping into their massive cow deworming injecting base? >> these are people who are very, very worried, clearly, about what the phone records will show, otherwise they wouldn't go to such extremes to keep them from being subpoenaed. i had my records subpoenaed by the department of justice. i'm not seeking to shut down apple. i've asked the department of justice to internally look at whether they should do that. that's what responsible people do. as they say, was this right? go back and look at it. and that's what the department is doing. i will accept whatever the department puts out there. but here they are seeking to put out threats against these telecommunication companies to affect their bottom line that we will shut you down if you cooperate. that's just a crime. and we're a country of law and

order. if they can threaten and intimidate every day businesses, we've lost everything, nicolle. >> congressman swalwell, thank you for being so generous with your time. tim miller, i want to bring you in on this. i think there is a gas lighting showing on programs like this is ampifying and strategic misinformation and i want your take on what is the strategy now of threatening telecom companies for the republican takeover in 2022? >> i think there are two things at play here, nicolle. the strategic sign is what you showed from the rival network. this is soft fascism. tucker came back from hungary. we had an article in "bulwark" from a conservative journalist actually in hungary whose newspaper got shut down and they

have to print it across the border. this is essentially the kind of authoritarian thing you see in china. that's what tucker admires and the marjorie taylor greenes of the world want. they want donald trump to come back in and start instituting a punish your enemies type government here in america. i think along the more, if you will, mainstream or corporate republicans, the ken mccarthys of the world, i think that is less of a strategy and more of what all president's men. they're not very bright when things got out of hand. i think kevin mccarthy thought he was doing wrestling and he was play acting and it wasn't a big deal. trump would leave on january 20th and i would pretend to go pretending to go along with it and the capitol gets stormed. he's scrambling.

how do i protect myself? i have real exposure here. i thought i was playing pretend and resulted in people's deaths, in a legitimate insurrection attempt in the storming of the capitol. what you're seeing from mccarthy is throwing anything at the wall to protect himself effort and what you're seeing from the other -- from the old sort of pre-trump era republicans. i think that it is worth noting there's definitely a section of these newer maga members and tucker and others that are not playing pretend and really do want to institute that style of government here in america. >> i was off last week and did some reflecting on the story and how we cover it. i have a tendency to stare at the tree and not always pull back to the forest.

kevin mccarthy, jim jordan and those records of interest to this committee investigating the january 6th insurrection are witnesses to a crime, a crime of trying to overthrow the democratic process. and we should never grow complacent to the role that kevin mccarthy played yesterday in covering up the crime. threatening the companies if they provide evidence to investigate the crime of the insurrection. mike pence was the chief target. what has -- how far down the disinformation found house mirror rabbit hole have congressional republicans fallen at this juncture? >> clearly very far. when kevin mccarthy said they would be breaking the law if they followed the law like it is hard to understand what he's saying and people have asked what law is pointing to the telecom companies would be violating if they work with

congress and did the work with these subpoenas. it's unclear. something that's important to remember is, like you said, not only are they witnesses, they talked over and over for months and pushed this big lie and, you know, we've been talking about this for months. it's really important the pushing of the big lie started in 2016 when president trump lost against ted cruz and said the only reason he lost was because of illegal votes, the same thing in the 2016 election when he lost against hillary clinton and so this is something president trump continued to do over and over and over and i think what people have continued to do in the republican party is allow him to do those things and let him flirt with all types of mistruths, lies, and knowing that it wasn't what was true. they seemingly caught up on january 6th and have continued. you have kevin mccarthy doing

the trump thing. you have to be tough and say no matter what you do i'm going to be tough on you. that is what we're seeing with other members of congress as well on the republican side. >> tim, that's a great note. the disinformation about the 2016 vote did start with trump losing the popular vote to hillary clinton and appointing some bs, i forget the guy who was appointed to go find it. there wasn't any fraud there. it was a playbook he ran over and over again. the republicans have a long sort of history of going along with dangerous lies. i guess the difference is they undergird an extremism threat. someone showed up at the capitol two weeks ago with would be explosives. this is an active threat to the homeland and they are heading down this path with no sign of looking back but they seem to be accelerating and turning to more

egregious. and my question for the congressman could they be committing the crime of obstructing a congressional investigation? >> i think eugene's point to looking back, that ted cruz was a cheat. that was a cheat. the difference is, yes, the threat from the domestic violence, but the other thing i would layer on to that is the fact that now there are new kind of trump-ified officials at local levels who are now trying to, a, either disrupt school boards or county councils or trying to get themselves put in place so the next time this comes around we don't have a type in georgia to stand up to the president. we have a marjorie taylor greene type. that is the other big change that's happened.

also the people that want to be in these offices, normal people don't want to deal with this, to deal with crazy people telling them that they stole the election because they worked with hugo chavez and whatever other nonsense. normal people don't want that job. the people who want to be republican county clerks are the crazy ones who go to the my pillow rallies. who are happy to either steal this knowingly or have gone so far down the disinformation rabbit hole themselves that they think it's true. that is an additional threat to 2024 and beyond. >> eugene daniels, tim miller, thank you for starting us off today. i'm grateful to you both. when we come back a near complete ban on abortion after the earliest weeks of pregnancy becomes the law of the land in texas and ushers in vigilante conduct like turning neighbors and co-workers against one another.

we'll explain the new normal for texas women and what it says about the u.s. supreme court. plus, there is no bottom for today's gop. apparently that goes for hypocrisy. president biden's herculean task of defending democracy at home from the autocratic republican party. and sydney powell's sitdown interview that wasn't. all those stories and more when "deadline white house" with nicolle wallace continues after a quick break. ntinues after a quick break. verizon has been named america's most reliable network by rootmetrics. and our customers rated us #1 for network quality in america according to j.d. power. number one in reliability, 16 times in a row. most awarded for network quality, 27 times in a row. proving once again that nobody builds networks like verizon. that's why we're building 5g right, that's why there's only one best network. ♪

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law of the land. the republican legislature there banning most abortions in texas with no exceptions for pregnancies the result of incest or rape. after just six weeks when most women don't even know that they're pregnant. in fact, it's estimated at least 85% of all abortions in texas and all across the country happen after six weeks. the enforcement aspect of the new law. any stranger cannot only sue anyone they suspect to perform, aid or abet an abortion, anyone from a doctor to an uber driver, a counselor, a spouse, a boyfriend, but practically encouraged to do so with a $10,000 reward if they win. and the supreme court so far has let it happen failing to respond to an emergency request and months of outcry from texans, the majority of whom according to polling in the state believe it should be legal.

our next guest has been on the front lines against a republican-led abortion bill for years. >> we can sit here self-righteously and decide that we always know best for every person, but we do not. we do not. >> there is no reason to come back here session after session and make it more and more difficult and drive women back into the shadows of illegal abortions because that's exactly what this will do. they will not stop having them. >> joining us now is donna howard. also joining us attorney katie barlow, media editor for the scotus blog. you were right. you were right then. we spent a lot of time covering the suppress the vote in texas. i'm guessing passing legislation like thises is fuels that fervent effort. talk about the women, talk about

what happens now. >> well, it's devastating. i'm one of those that came of age before roe v. wade, and so i know what it was like when women didn't have this choice, when we couldn't control our own bodies and our own destinies. here we are 50 years later fighting this same battle again. it's incredible we are going backwards. this will deprive women control of their own lives because carrying a pregnancy if you do not want to do that can have a huge impact not only on your choices in education and employment but on your health because, quite frankly, childbirth is 14 times more fatal than having an abortion, which is one of the safest methods of surgery and intervention and health care that we have out there. >> representative, what is the

ability to help women at this point? how do you shift the timetable? 85% happen well after the six week mark. most women don't know if they're pregnant yet. how do you help women in texas now? >> that's what we're struggling with. this is effectively a six-week ban and that's gestation based on your last menstrual period. you don't even know and even helping a woman know what her options are can subject you to these frivolous lawsuits, vij vigilante, as you put it. a bounty. this is incredible the fear we're putting into people, the fear -- women of means will find

another way, go to another state, whatever. it's the women of limited means, women of color, in rural parts of texas who do not have access. this is devastating. they have no options whatsoever. >> can you explain what the vigilante enforcement is? how is that legal? there's no other alleged criminal conduct that i can think of where you can be involved as a citizen. how does that work and how did that happen? >> i'm not a lawyer but there are lawyers who are looking at this now and intending to file some tros to prevent this from going into effect while they build a constitutional case against this. the fact is somebody cleverly recognized that any other bills like this have been able to be stopped in the courts because the states were the ones

enforcing the bills. in this case they have anybody, not the state, any citizen anywhere in the whole united states can sue anybody who provides, aids, abets abortions here in texas. and they have standing, the way this was written. it will be challenged but right now, unfortunately, it's in effect. >> katie, we need your brilliant legal analysis, but, first, where is the u.s. supreme court? >> i was still checking my phone 20 seconds before i was on with you. we were up last night and still waiting today. we haven't heard anything this is an emergency appeal on the shadow docket which means they're considering the case and could act at any moment. clearly the fact they have not acted at this point, thus allowing the law to go into effect sends a strong message. they can act quickly in the past

even on the shadow docket dealing with covid cases, election law. we've seen the shadow docket move quickly over the past year but the fact that they have not yet aked sends a strong message because the law has gone into effect. >> so, katie, i'm not a lawyer either but 85% of all abortions in texas are now illegal and a neighbor or an uber driver or a partner can be sued for any role in helping a woman, how do we not end up with 50 states in which 85% of abortions are illegal and roe v. wade overturned? is that where we're heading? >> a couple things are happening. what they're asking the supreme court to do, what challengers are asking is just put the law on pause, not let it go into effect, while they litigate the constitutionality. this is not effectively gutting roe, not overturning roe. they want to litigate the

constitutionality on merits. that case needs to go through first. they're asking the supreme court to put in a pause. to your point about aiding and abetting, i used to defend these cases where folks would be charged for aiding and abetting terrorism. if you provide the woman the cell phone because she doesn't want to use her own phone to make the appointment, is that aiding and abetting under this law such that you can be sued? that's the type of questions judges will have to get into. we'll see that and similar laws across the country. texas has singled itself out here by this private enforcement mechanism. the laws passed around the country that have been put on pause don't have this private enforcement theme. they are state actors and representative howard's point that is what the supreme court has said is unconstitutional. the state imposing an undue

burden. texas cleverly has passed this law with the private right of enforcement allowing private actors to sue and that's what is unique about the case and will get litigated. the constitutionality will be litigated. the question before the court is will this law be put on pause while we figure out the constitutional question? and they seem to be saying no, but we'll see. >> unbelievable moment for women everywhere. texas state representative donna howard, thank you for being part of our coverage. katie barlow, our thanks for you spending time with us today. up next for us, republicans peddling lies and viral allegations and misinformation about the u.s. exit from afghanistan. we've said it before. there is no bottom for today's gop.

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and promote a normal prostate size. don't settle. rush to walmart for force factor prostate, from the #1 fastest-growing men's health brand in america. the u.s. policy on afghanistan is working. we're closer to talks with the taliban and the peace process than we've seen before. >> this is an unbelievable scenario where literally the taliban has our americans held hostage. i'm concerned about the safety of our afghan allies. you cannot trust the taliban. i met with them myself in doha. they revalidated that commitment. we never trusted the taliban. >> if the taliban and afghan government live up to their

commitments, and they may or may not, but i think we have a lot of reason why they will -- there would have been no emergency embassy evacuation and no taking down of our flag. we would have established clear lines that the taliban would have never dared to cross. >> gop official have is been working overtime to rewrite history about the afghan withdrawal. in some cases pushing out and out lies. "the washington post" reports this. quote, the lore of misinformation has proved irresistible to critics. they've trafficked repeatedly in recent days in false, misleading or unproved allegations involving the taliban hanging someone from an american helicopter. president biden skipping a ceremony for 13 americans killed last week, military dogs left behind, and $80 billion in military equipment left for use by the taliban. with the assistance of some high-profile conservatives and

congressional republicans the reports have proliferated on social media. there's no better person to talk to than our good friend former republican strategist steve schmidt. hi there, my friend. how are you doing? >> good to see you, nicolle. >> what do you make of the audacity, i guess is the right word, of republicans to criticize this president for ending a war the ex-president tried to end and wasn't able to and then trotting out all this disinformation from their disinformation tool kit? >> well, donald trump, in effect, nicolle, did end the war in afghanistan by precluding really any options for the current president as he took office. i think it bears mentioning that during the transition the trump administration was wholly uncooperative with the incoming biden administration, the visa process, some of the ministerial functions involving getting our

allies out of afghanistan were sabotaged by the trump administration. but, nevertheless, donald trump negotiated an end to the american presence in afghanistan and left a force of 2,500 behind. that was not a sustainable presence. and joe biden maintaining the commitment he made to the american people after 20 years faced with the choice of more troops or to maintain the status quo decided to end the mission. and 11 days from now as we commemorate the anniversary of the september 11 attacks 20 years ago, a generation has passed. we've been at war for a generation. and now that war is over. the war in iraq is over. it has ended on the basis of the end are the 20-year war. >> afghanistan, obviously invite

the elephant in the room to the table. i listened to president biden's address, i think it was two weeks ago, about where he gave his articulation of why ending the war despite the complications with the withdrawal was the right thing to do and some of the things about the promise kept and his belief he would not be the fourth president to send more sons and daughters into afghanistan. yesterday he said there is no national security strategic interest there. i noted that public opinion is squarely with this president even after what everyone has seen over the last two weeks a sizable majority support president biden's decision to leave. it has always been the case the public was not committed to being there, to put an unbelievable burden on the military fighting this war for

20 years without the majority of public somewhere. i wonder your thoughts and reflections on that. >> you cannot send in a democracy the army to war without taking the country to war without the army meaning the country in a democracy has to support with popular opinion the sustainment of a military presence, particularly one that goes on for 20 years and so, indeed, this was the forgotten war. this war was not covered on the front pages largely of america's newspapers over the last two decades. it wasn't covered on the first segments of the evening news for much of the last 20 years. the sacrifices were born by an infinitesimally small population who volunteered to serve in harm's way in uniform or

diplomatic services. in the end the mission has failed. making it into a stable democracy has failed. we saw in may the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff in testimony before the congress assuring the afghan army which a trillion dollars has been invested crumbled very quickly. the point the president made we could stay 50 more years and the result will be the same, one i am enormously sympathetic to. when we look at the security of the united states and we look at emboldening adversaries abroad, i think they're much pour emboldened by seeing a leader threatening american companies if they give records to a lawful

congressional inquiry of the insurrection on january 6th. they see the aversion to democracy among officials in america, they see the insurrection, the white washing. that is what signals weakness, not the ending of the 20 year war which was fought in my view with noble intentions to create a better society for the afghan people and in the end i think we've seen the limitations of american power. we've seen the limitations of the idealism that went into saying that, hey, we can spread democracy to cultures where it's never taken root. we have a lot of soul-searching to do not just in this country but across the depth and breadth about collective security, about america's role in the world, about america's military's role in the world. the conditions by which we should deploy the american

military. i do think one lesson that would be ill learned by our adversaries is to question the lethality of the united states military over the last 20 years. i don't think that's in question by our withdrawal. i think our ability to shape the destinies of societies that are very, very different than ours. that is what failed here. >> you mentioned the sluggish behavior toward u.s. telecom companies, something i am eager to ask you about, but we have to sneak in a quick break. k in a qk

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loopnet. the most popular place to find a space. we're back with steve schmidt. we've had a lot of conversations about the republican party being one of the largest anti-democratic movements the world over. now republican governors are banning mask mandates, the only way to protect a child under 12. a republican party rolling hundreds of voter suppression laws through state legislatures. you've got kevin mccarthy tlaenting telecom companies if they dane to cooperate with a congressional bipartisan investigation. where are we heading? >> nowhere good. we have an election coming up where we have an enormous question to answer as a country

about the direction of the country, the liberalism, the autocratic movement that has become defined by this republican party in this moment, become hostile to american democracy, from how we assign power in this country through an election process. madison kau thorn talking about blood and violence. we see a lot of intimations about violence from republicans. we see on the part of kevin mccarthy a threat by a powerful public officials saying i will use the power of the state to punish you if you comply with lawful orders by the congress regarding a murderous insurrection that occurred by the incite of the president of

the united states for the purposes of overturning the results of the election, the counting of the electors on january 6th. it's important to understand that democracies are moral because they're the only system of government that places the power of the individual, the rights of the individual, including companies, above the power of the state. this isn't something you see in a healthy democracy. we're seeing this in the united states and it's very unsettling. everybody should understand when people talk about taking punitive actions, using the power of the state, talk about murder, violence attached to politics, lessons of history are very clear. take it very seriously. take it deadly serious. >> what do you think the january 6th investigation will unearth

about what kevin mccarthy and jim jordan and others seem trying very hard to keep hidden? >> we'll find out everything. we'll find out who talked to who, what was said to who by whom. we're find out all of it. the facts will be laid there before the american people and the american people are the jury of last resort. the elections we have in this process, the period of a month or so, we get to vote and decide who to assign lawful responsibility to discharge public duties for the public good. we need to have a conversation about that. we have a party that's not just corrupt financially, not just corrupt morally. it's become neolistic. we see that with the mask mandates, the perversion of embracing junk science to tear

down the institutions, to tear down the public good, to satisfy a neolistic base that's teaming with violence, that's teaming with religious fundamentalism, that's teaming with racism and misogyny and is a threat to american democracy as we approach the 250th anniversary of the independence of the country in 1776. >> steve schmidt, great to have you back at the virtual table. thank you for spending time with us today. the next hour of "deadline white house" starts after a quick break. a quick break. if you're 55 and up, t- mobile has plans built just for you. whether you need a single line

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that they stole a presidential election. it's incumbent on both of us to know what smartmatic's association was. >> why are you here? >> you've made allegations containing many errors of fact. do you accept the fact that the company only operated in one company in l.a. in california, one state? >> no, i'm not prepared to accept that fact. >> you said that smartmatic owns dominion. how do you support that fact?

>> i'm going to stop this interview. >> these are the simple facts of who owns what. >> no. we're done. >> hi, again, everyone. it's 5:00 in washington, d.c. that was sidney powell whose outlandish lies helped fuel the deadly insurrection on january 6th and continue to fuel a homeland threat today. she has the distinction of being so over the top, the twice-impeached ex president distanced himself from her. now she won't answer basic facts about voting equipment because she is being sued for $4 billion for the lies they all told about voting machines. powell's interview with abc news australia provides another piece of proof there was never any

merit to the wild conspiracies of voter fraud in the 2020 election. it was a deadly calculation. the reason we continue to come back to the lies is because they fueled the january 6th insurrection, but they're also fueling something equally damaging to our democracy. a rollback of access to casting a ballot, and a rigging of the vote counting that is unprecedented in modern history. they're creating new security threats. "the new york times" says, quote, these reviews carried out under the banner of making elections more secure and misleading labeled audits have given rise to their own new set of threats to the integrity of the voting machines, software and other equipment that make up the election infrastructure.

security experts say the reviews have created problems ranging from the expensive inconvenience of replacing equipment or software whose security has been compromised to a graver risk that previous unknown technical vulnerabiliies could be exploited. how ironic. due to security concerns at least three secretaries of state in arizona, pennsylvania and colorado have had to decertify voting machines. the gop-led assault on our democracy through the path of voter suppression marches on. yesterday taken up a notch. everything is bigger in texas, including voting restriction laws. texas was already one of the hardest states to cast a ballot.

yesterday they passed a major bill that will make it even harder to vote there now. the bill only needs the governor's signature to become the law. this marks the end of a legislative saga that encompassed legislative overtime hearings and escalating tensions between the democrats fleeing and the republicans left behind unable to conduct business. voting rights attorney marcus elias said as soon as the governor signs it, texas will be sued. stand by. the serious consequences, the ongoing consequences is where we start this hour. eddie glod is here he's an msnbc

contributor, also nick from the "new york times." nick, you know the voters affected by these laws. the georgia law. now tell us about the consequence of this texas law should it be signed into law by governor abbott. >> one thing to look at in the texas law it will be hard to qualify exactly how many voters will be impacted. there's some provisions that are expansion. the specifics, there were two things that harris county did, which is houston, the data during the 2020 election was drive through voting and 24-hour voting. those two methods of voting combined were utilized by 140,000 voters. now 140,000 voters have to find a different way to vote. those methods of voting have been banned in the new bill. there's other parts that are a little more difficult to

quantify how many voters will be impacted. one that is concerning a lot of voting rights activists and election lawyers is a provision that's going to put new burdens on people looking to assist voters, like translationstransl languages, or disabilities to get access to voting machines. people who assist them have to sign under extreme penalties if they were to influence voters needing assistance. that could have an unknown impact, especially on a booming population in texas which is latino voters, hispanic voters and asian american voters. there's other ones about expanding the authority and autonomy of poll watchers that could have an unknown effect depending on how they behave. if recent history is any indication, they'll probably be

turned up like anywhere else. when i did my first story on poll watchers, most the complaints i heard were about them needing to be guarded by police officers or worrying about their safety. this came from texas. when you combine that, it's an untold number of voters who will be impacted by this law. >> nick, was there any voting fraud those measures put in place in harris county, the drop boxes, the overnight voting, early voting, drive through voting? any fraud? >> no, there was zero evidence of fraud anywhere. when you look at those methods, they're among the most secure. if you want to look at identification requirements, to vote from your car you need a driver's license to operate your car. that would meet the high voter i.d. laws that texas already

has. voting in person is considered even more secure because you have to present identification and it's hard to impersonate someone else in person. those two methods of the voting are among the most secure. while there was no real fraud in the entire election, those two wouldn't impose a risk of fraud whatsoever. >> eddie glod, the most secure ways to vote, intended to serve urban and communities at least in texas where there are more communities of color, more voters of color have been banned. they're illegal. texas is making abortion illegal after six weeks. it's a policy not supported by the majority of texans. when you look at their devotion to lying about why they're removing some of these ways to vote, it adds up in a really cynical and disturbing way. >> indeed. it feels as if the country is in

a fever-pitch madness and it's driven by in so many ways the demographic shifts we talked about. the u.s. census data revealed the white population has declined. texas represents the example of what those demographic shifts will look like, typically like houston in harris county. this fever-pitched madness which is how do we cling to this america we imagine and the america as it is, it has resulted by this all-out assault on american democracy. part of our trouble is we keep treating the arguments, the actions as if they're reasonable, when, in fact, they're the result of the magnets. it seems to me what steve said in the last hour applies here. american democracy is in

jeopardy if we don't recognize the madness for what it is and that is madness. >> i mean, i guess, eddie, what i don't understand is texas has just -- they're about to sign into law -- they passed a measure in both houses that doesn't do what they said it was going to do. it's like the scene in "the american president" where he says i'm shelving the crime bill because it has no chance of solving crime. the only people who cheated were trump voters and they didn't use drop boxes and they didn't use 24-hour voting or any of the measures that have been banned. how do you make that not just one party that give a hoot about it? >> it's really hard. it's orwellian in so many ways. the things they're correcting they're doing.

part of what you have to do is do exactly what the reporter from australia did to sidney powell. confront it head on. we have to be aggressive. we're so afraid of insulting these people. so afraid of -- of -- of them -- i don't know -- rebelling that we won't confront them directly. we won't confront tucker carlson for what he's doing. he's fueling fascism. we won't confront these people directly and say out loud they're really -- you do it every day. it seems to me the democrats have to do it more aggressively. it seems to me -- how do i put this? the presumption of our faith in the process is giving them space to undo it. they're taking advantage of our faith in the process to undo democracy itself. >> john hileman now joins us.

john, this is a conversation you and i have on and off television. the democrats are the only party interested in governing. what they miss about the republicans is the audacity to be ma lev lent. the advancement is it's out in the open. the advancement is that sidney powell has the audacity to say what she said and now think there's a defense. the audacity of tucker carlson to have marjorie taylor greene on and talk about shutting down telecom companies. the audacity doesn't seem to be matched by urgency by the run political party we have left to preserve our democracy. >> nicolle, that's the part i

find -- the very end is the part that matters the most here. i love eddie glod. i don't think there's -- i can't characterize any of this as madness. it's madness in the macro sense. it's all madness. it's not madness on the republican side. it's a calculated, calibrated strategy for the acquisition and retention and sustenance of power. they're running a play. they haven't lost their minds. they've seen where the weaknesses are. what they learned in four years of donald trump -- this gets to your first point, nicolle. there's no penalty, no meaningful penalty for the brazenness of these schemes. no one has to hide them anymore in the corners. no one has to hide them in the darkness. they learned in four years that not only is there no penalty for this behavior, but there's a lot

to be gained. they tested the limits of how far they can go. now they'll go further. that's how you do this thing. when you're breaking down norms and pushing the limits of acceptable law, you push it one step further. it seems highly calculated to me. it's going to be successful. that's the maddening part of it. it gets to your last point which is there are -- we make this point on this show. why are the democrats not more urgently confronting this? people yell at us on twitter. they say why are you blaming the democrats? it's the republicans' fault. i know it's the republicans' fault. there's only one counter force here. they are going to be successful unless they're met with a more determined, more creative counter force. is that right? should it have to be that way?

should it be -- should the democrats be morally incumbent to be the only functional part of our democracy? of course not, but they are. if they don't beat this stuff back at the national level and state by state, we're going to end up in a place that's not a democratic country. that's the clear intent for republicans now. that's the only answer now. there's no question about what has to happen. it's unfair that democrats will bear that burden. life is not fair and politics have never been fair. it's time to play this game in a more hard core way. >> nick, can you give me the national picture? i know the brennan center for justice reported there are more than 400 voter suppression laws. a lot are modeling after the georgia version where they change who does the counting and include opportunities for voter null if i indication.

can you give me the national picture and is there any resistance in state legislatures? >> in state legislatures there's resistance, but whether it's successful -- look at texas. the texas democrats fled in the night and took planes to d.c. to block it the second time. then the resistance crumbled. it just doesn't necessarily work. in the national scope we're at 18 different states that passed a law that will in some way restrict voting. whether it's access to voting, whether it's changing who gets to count the votes or simply administration of elections, there's been about 30, 32 laws that passed that will alter that. they range from changing the ways people vote to changing the ways that the elections are carried out. if you're talking about the georgia model of changing the

power around elections where the state legislature can take over a counter election board through the state board, there's a few states where that's grown to be an area of concern aside from georgia. arkansas and kansas have laws where the state legislature can dispute a result and start the process of possibly overturning it. there's a bill in texas that could lead to any loser to challenge an action of an election official and take that forward. that bill is being debated. the biggest question mark is in arizona. we're still waiting to see what the cyber ninja report says. that's that so-called forensic audit which is actually just a partisan election review. whenever that is released, that will give the republican-controlled state legislature the ability to move forward on what they want to do.

if you look at the bills in the hopper, there's a couple there that could alter how elections in arizona are carried out, how electors are appointed and other changes to the administration of election us that could change what 2022 and 2024 look like. >> nick, your reporting on this, i know there's good reporting at the state level. i try to see all i can. you're doing some of the most important reporting in the country. we're grateful you're on that beat. we're grateful when you join us. eddie glod, thank you for joining us. when we come back, what congress can do to protect reproductive freedoms after the supreme court allowed texas to ban just about all abortions. plus, ukraine's president was at the center of the first donald trump impeachment.

he's at the white house looking for help from president biden. stunning scenes in lake tahoe where fast-moving fires are threatening homes, it's the latest on climate change. it's a tragedy. we continue after a quick break. . or lines for family members, you'll get great value on america's most reliable 5g network. like 2 lines of unlimited for just $27.50 a line. only at t-mobile. do you take aspirin? plain aspirin could be hurting your stomach. new vazalore is the first liquid-filled aspirin capsule clinically shown to cause fewer ulcers than plain aspirin. vazalore is designed to help protect... releasing aspirin after it leaves your stomach... where it is absorbed to give you the benefits of life saving aspirin... to help prevent another heart attack or stroke. heart protection with your stomach in mind. try new liquid-filled vazalore. aspirin made amazing!

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we continue our focus on the state of texas. the stripping of rights by the state's republicans making it harder to vote, now nearly impossible to make a choice about abortion. the bill in texas banning

abortions after six weeks, allowing vigilantes to sue became law last night. despite a desperate emergency petition from texas abortion critics and an out cry of concern. the high court could block it. the scene in texas today puts roe versus wade and abortion access in serious jeopardy. from the "new york times" editorial board, quote, it seems likely that more laws will pass and other anti-abortion state leaders will follow texas' lead. the state's employ was successful in threatening clinics across the state. the court gave a green light to law makers everywhere to overturn row versus wade.

there's something medieval about covering the news these days. is it legitimate to be scared that any state that wants to can do what texas has done? >> yes, unfortunately. nicolle, the abortion stuff is one part of a larger thing. republicans have made a habit of comparing everything to totalitarianism, a mask mandate or abortion. texas is trying to go pro from abortion to voting. if you're a silicon valley tech company thinking of moving to texas, you better think twice. the law in texas on abortion, went into effect today, is a severe restriction on abortion to where it has no rape or

incest stipulation. that's a real step away from the laws that have been throughout our lifetime. this texas law would have been declared unconstitutional every day of the week starting with roe v. wade by a 7-2 vote. there's a case where mississippi is asking them to overrule roe v. wade. the decision by the texas supreme court is a green light for other states to pass the same laws as texas and outlaw abortion. >> i want to put aside the supreme court and pick up on something you said. i'm from northern california. if you're a silicon valley

company thinking of moving to texas, can we focus in on that? if you have a child under 12, they won't be permitted to go to a school that mandates masks. that's life in texas. if you have a heart attack, you may not get a bed. you may die of something that people don't have to die of because icus are full. governor abbott who has had three booster shots won't require masks, won't do anything to stop the spread of covid in his state. i want to focus on abortion. what is the practical reality of a ban on abortions after six weeks? it's essentially a ban on abortions. almost no one knows they're pregnant before six weeks. what's the appropriate sanction from the citizenry from a state that turns in that direction? >> there's two. companies and individuals have to think twice about moving to

texas. it's not just these restrictions on abortions, it's the way texas is enforcing them. through basically vigilantism. the law is about due process, about justice, ensuring all the rights of all of us would be protected. these laws enable the lynch mob. they say if you're an uber driver and you drive someone to an abortion clinic you can be sued and sued by any private individual and you're responsible for legal fees. that's also a piece of voting restrictions and the like. this is supposed to be the party of small government. it's the party of small government until they want to bury you in legal fees because you were helping provide access to a constitutional right. there's something medieval about it. >> tell me about the united states supreme court. are they by doing nothing giving a green light to other

republican-led states to pass similar laws? >> 100%. these laws can go into effect. the supreme court never said anything, so it's technically possible for them to put a pause on the texas law. the fact they haven't done it, the law operates on a principle of precedent. even though this isn't formally a precedent because there was nothing written by the supreme court. they did it silently. backing away from roe v. wade. that's the ultimate effect. there's only one possible solution, nicolle, which is for congress to agent. there are two ways to protect constitutional rights in america. one is the courts. the other is congress. congress right now can pass a law by simple majority vote to guarantee roe versus wade's rights to everyone. the republicans might try to

filibuster, but darn it, the democrats have to try. i found it astounding i haven't heard the president or vice president calling on congress to guarantee women this right. >> it's an excellent point. if we're going to say we lost the right to vote in america, we lost the right to choose in america, we lost the right to protect our children in schools from gun violence because of the filibuster, you're right there will be a lot of questions to be answered by voters. i want to ask you about the legality of kevin mccarthy threatening if and when he's majority leader he's going to get telecom companies that respond to the congressional committee's request for documents. is that a thing? can you do that? can you punish a company for complying with a congressional request? >> it's not a thing. kevin mccarthy looks so darn

scared. it's preposterous. the law recognizes attorney/client privilege. it doesn't recognize legislator/conspirator privilege. this doesn't seem like a good way to encourage compliance with future subpoenas. there's only one way that makes sense, which is if you're so divested to truth that you want to say no to every investigation. it's a silly threat. he can't cite any law that's being violated, yet he's threatening retaliation. it's medieval. nick, great to see you my friend to talk. we're grateful to have you. two years after that so-called perfect call, the disgraced ex president,

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woman: because we know quality public schools make a better california... as we sit here today the russians are attacking the ukrainian soldiers in their own country. i saw this on the frontline last week. the day i was there a ukrainian soldier was killed and four were

wounded. the security assistance we provide is crucial to ukraine's defense and to the protection of the soldiers i met last week. it demonstrates to ukrainians and russians that we are ukraine's reliable partner. >> it's important that we don't overlook or forget what was actually at stake in donald trump's first impeachment aside from his corruption. vital aid to important u.s. allies, an ally in desperate need. at the time of that infamous trump/zelensky phone call russian posed a clear and present danger to ukraine. that's why so many officials, people like bill taylor, testified before the american people. in 21 months russian troops and tanks have taken an aggressive posture in belarus whose president has devoted himself to

the church of vladimir putin in a war that's endured. here's what changed, president biden. president biden today, the original target of trump's impeachment scheme, meeting with ukrainian president zelensky at the white house. watch. >> as we celebrate 30 years of ukrainian independence, the partnership between our nations grows stronger. the united states remains firmly committed to ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of russian aggression and our support for ukraine's euro atlantic aspirations. >> joining us is ashley parker. ashley, i misspoke. president zelensky was never at the white house with trump. this is his first trip to the white house, something that was

tangled in front of him. it's still a country in crisis. tell me if any of what transpired under the last administration came up based on your reporting. >> the first thing is to look back to the last administrati through the biden administration. this is a meeting that never happened under president trump but that president zelensky was desperate to get and president trump was aware of that. he used that leverage, that desire for a meeting, that desire for aid, to basically, you know, try to ask ukraine to dig up dirt on his then political opponent which led to his impeachment, but he never gave zelensky this meeting. first the context is just the fact of this meeting that zelensky arrived in washington at the oval office, finally getting something he has been

pleading for for two years. he's the second european leader to come to the white house. that in itself is sort of the first achievement for zelensky. then to your question, did some of this stuff come up, one of the key questions -- one of the reasons he wanted this meeting was to ask the united states for aid, financial aid, in their fight against russia, and general support for their sovereignty and security. that is absolutely a topic that came up today in person. >> john, when we talk about the republican war on democracy, it's often focussed on what the ex president and trumpism which is endured and in some ways strengthened, but it also was viewing our allies and other democrats at risk from autocracies or people like vladimir putin. when we look at what president biden has on his plate in terms of restoring democracy, it's not

just at home, it's restoring alliances and strengthening leaders like zelensky. >> right. nicolle, part of the reason why ukraine -- in terms of the context, why did ukraine become such an issue during the course of the 2020 campaign, the reason trump was so focussed on zelensky and focussed on the crazy conspiracy theory that is he made up, giuliani spent months upon months in ukraine crawling for dirt on joe biden and hunter biden, none of which he found, the reason was joe biden had been the point person for the obama administration on matters of the ukraine. he spent hours, days, months of time, travel back and forth to ukraine constantly from 2009 through 2016. he had invested all that time. there's almost no -- there's a

poetic quality to this, to see zelensky in the oval office. not only because of the small time political, cheap political match nations of the trump administration because this is a country that joe biden knows extraordinarily well. of all the countries in europe, it's the country he knows about the most of the diplomatic history, about the conflict with russia. as he sits in the room, he can have knowledgeable conversations about matters of security, that zelensky if he had a meeting with trump would have had a much different conversation and a much more corrupt one than he had today with joe biden. >> it's so interesting. think of all the people that became household names. colonel vindman, bill taylor,

they were all for an american policy. ashley, you first. has the white house turned a more bipartisan posture around russian adversaries in the post trump era? >> that's a good question. certainly on the topic of ukraine that's fair to say the biden administration is much more in line with the approach that was being argued by a lot of those people who were cast out of the president's orbit and got in trouble for what they testified publicly on ukraine and what the alarms they raised in private. one thing worth noting that is related is that despite this meeting and despite the more traditional posture of the biden administration, it's clear that zelensky did not get everything here he requested. he came also in addition wanting to push biden on preventing the

nordstream pipeline from going forward. the administration views that as a fate aye come pli. that's one area. the other area is nato. zelensky wants to become a full-fledged member of nato. biden was asked about that and he said school is out on that verdict. ukraine has to take a number of steps before being considered. jen saki, she made clear they're still several steps away from that. >> john hileman, last word. >> it's certainly the case that the biden administration is on a lot of matters of foreign policy trying to -- is a more

mainstream foreign policy than with trump. trying to bring back conversations where there was disagreement with the parties, but much more consensus about mainstream views. this is one. one of the most greatest ironies is what a lot of republicans have done now that biden is here, just like they tried to memory hole january 6th, they're trying to memory hole the four years they abandoned traditional republican views about russia and ukraine. they're like what do you mean? we never changed our views about russia. we thought russia was bad. it's a stark and sad thing to see. it's a thing that a lot of our allies are happy to see even with all the chaos in afghanistan. the fact that joe biden is back pursuing what you called american foreign policy and a more traditional sense is a

great relief to america's friends around the world. >> it's a great relief to our viewers to see a canine in the background. we know you suffered a loss of your beloved partner there. it's lovely to see him make an appearance. john hileman, ashley parker -- he was back and forth. >> i can't have the camera to myself. he's a ham. what can i say? >> he started going back and forth in the middle of a serious point. i didn't give him a shout out. hileman, ashley, thank you. massive wildfires are quickly moving in on exquisite and majestic lake tahoe. we'll have a live report from the region after a quick break.

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thousands of californians living near lack tahoe have evacuated. the caldor fire just became the second fire ever monday to cross the top of the mountain range. it's barreling towards tahoe itself, a image population center. the fire now 204,000 acres large and just 20% contained according

to cal fire. it could get more aggressive due to high winds expected in the coming day. firefighters attempt to fight the blaze. let's bring in jacob ward live from southdays. our jacob soboroff. talk about how that complicates this effort there. >> reporter: it is extremely difficult to place to reach. it is a tully road that goes through this granite cut in the mount down lake tahoe, just a few miles from where i am. hopefully you can rely on this kind of remote. it is not a lot to burn here. it turns out that in the era of

climate change error, it does all kinds of things we were not prepared for. embers flying and touching off spot fires like the ones you can see over my shoulders here. they touch off in this assessable area. we have been watching them work on this fire for the past hour. this is only the second time that a fire has actually jumped over the top of the sierra nevada range where we are standing. the first one was dixie fire just about a month ago. we are in unprecedented territory when it comes to fire behavior. not only we are seeing these record dry conditions and embers traveling these incredible distances. i was speaking to fire chief earlier, he described a roll out. hundreds of pounds go crashing

down the hillside and through the containment line, you can't stop it. it is like a siege weapon, it sets off a blaze below where you hope to find the fire back. all of this is what firefighters are calling a crazy condition. >> we'll stay on it p nbc's jacob ward. beautiful lake tahoe, thank you so much for your reporting. quick break for us. we'll be right back. reporting quick break for us we'll be right back.

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thank you so much for letting us into your home during this extraordinary time. "the beat" with ari melber starts now. >> hi nicole, i am ari melber, we begin with breaking news. two trump's executives are set to testify this week. this is hot off the press from "the wall street journal." we don't always see what's going on in public. they report matthew calamari will testify this week along with jeffery mcconnell. this individual calamari knows a lot including where the bodies are buried. >> he's been with trump through thick and