>> got you. all right, well, we'll look for that. this matters a lot to a lot of people. dr. anthony fauci, as always thanks so much for joining us. >> good to be with you. that is all in for tonight. the rachel maddow show starts right now. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, chris. thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. we got the book. we got it early. the book is called "peril" by "the washington post" journalists bob woodward and robert robert costa. it's not being published until next week. we've obtained a copy tonight, evidence of speed-reading here, a rachel maddow specialty. this book has important news in it. what this book is about broadly speaking the peril it's describing in its title is just how fraught and dangerous the period was for the country surrounding the 2020 election

and immediately thereafter. and we know it was fraught and dangerous. we had our national capitol come under violent attack. but the thing that is so bracing and nerve-wracking and important about this new book is what it reveals about how much worse it was than we knew, how much closer we came to real disaster than we have known before now. so, again, this comes out next week. we have obtained a copy of it. this is how the book starts. quote, two days after the january 6th, 2021 violent assault on the capitol by supporters of donald trump, general mark milly, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff placed an urgent call on a top secret back channel line at 7:03 a.m. to his chinese counterpart, general lee, chief of the joint staff of the peoples liberation

army. general milley knew from extensive reports that li and the chinese leadership were stunned by the unprecedented attack. was it collapsing? what was going on? was the u.s. military going to do something? milly said in response, quote, things may look unsteady. quote, but that's the nature of democracy, general li. we are 100% steady, everything is fine but democracy can be sloppy sometimes. quote, it took an hour and a half, 45 minutes of substance -- excuse me. it took an hour and a half, 45 minutes of substance due to the necessary use of interpreters to try to assure him. when milly hung up he was convinced the situation was grave. li remained unusually rattled putting the two nations on the knife edge of disaster.

milly had witnessed up close how trump was routinely impussive and unpredictable. making matters even more dire milly was certain trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election. milly had misled general li when he claimed the united states was 100% steady and the january 6th riot was just an example of sloppy democracy. to the contrary milly believed january 6th was a planned, coordinated synchronized attack on the very heart of american democracy designed to overthrow the government, to prevent the constitutional certification of a legitimate election won by joe biden. milly could not rule out the january 6th assault so unimagined and savage could be a dress rehearsal for something larger as trump publicly and privately clung to his belief that the election had been rigged for joe biden and stolen from him.

that is how -- that's the start of the new book. so first of all the january 6th attack on the capitol freaked out the chinese military who believed that trump might start a war or something that would lead to a war with china in order to cling to power. bob woodward and robert costa reporting in this new book it freaked out china and lots of foreign powers. and the united states' top military officer felt the chinese were so freaked out he had to conduct his own secret back channel cool down chat with the head of the chinese military even though chairman of the joint chiefs mark milly did not even fully believe himself everything was okay, he lied and said it was. he felt like he'd better tell the chinese military things were fine to make sure that nothing bad happened. the chinese believed they were at imminent risk of an unprovoked american attack by an unstable american president who needed to do that to save his own skin. what might they do to fend off

that attack or to gain an advantage? what's more in the new book reports he put in the cool to the same chinese general before the election as well to talk them down, talk the chinese down from fears that president trump was about to launch an attack on china to help himself win the election. that is a call, again, several days before the election that he did not tell president trump about. and, you know, it's sort of for us as americans it's one thing to learn that the chinese cited based on their own intelligence that the american president was unstable enough to launch a military strike simply to help win an election. to tell you about the way chinese intelligence approaches us and the world. but it's quite another thing when the u.s. chairman of the

joint chiefs decides he needs to call them secretly and tell him he the chairman will let them know if that threat becomes real. he promises it won't be a surprise. but the fears about what president trump might do with his military powers around the election and around the attack on the capitol, those were not limited just to other countries. we know, for example, that house speaker nancy pelosi called general milly, chairman of the joint chiefs two days after the january 6th attack to discuss her fears that president trump was so erratic at that moment he might launch a military action including potentially a nuclear strike of some kind. bob woodward and robert costa in their new book claim to have obtained a transcript of that phone call which is fascinating in itself. i'm very curious, but this is a portion of that transcript as printed in this new book

"peril." quotes, pelosi, what precautions are available to prevent an unstable president from initiating hostilities or from the launch codes for a nuclear strike. i can't say any of this publicly because i don't have the authorities and it would be misconstrued in 50 different directions but i can assure you the united states military is steady as a rock and we're not going to do anything illegal, unethical or immoral with a use of force. pelosi, who knows what me might do. he's crazy. don't say you don't what his state of mind is. he's crazy, and what he did yesterday -- meaning january 6th -- is further evidence of his craziness. general milly, madam speaker, i agree with you on everything. and here's what bob woodward and robert costa report about chairman of the joint chiefs in the aftermath of that phone

call. quote, pulling a slegsen jr was what he needed to do to maintain the tightest possible control and command authority. the move was a reference to an edict by former secretary james slegsger to not follow orders that came directly from president nixon who was facing impeachment or from the white house without checking in with james and his joint chief of staff chairman. general brown in 1974 feared president nixon might go around the chain of command and independently contact officers or a similar military unit to order a strike putting the country and the world in jeopardy. they had been unwilling to take that risk. milly saw alarming parallels between nixon and trump. in 1974 nixon had grown increasingly irrational and isolated drinking heavily and in despair pounding the carpet in prayer with then secretary of state henry kissinger.

milly decided to act, immediately summoned senior officers from the national military command center. this was the war room used in the -- excuse me, this is the war room the pentagon used for communicating action orders. the president or his successor on military action or use of military weapons. milly said he wanted to go over the procedures and process for launching nuclear weapons. only the president could give the order, he said. but then he made clear that he, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff must be directly involved. quote, any doubt, any irregularity first call me directly and immediately. do not act until you do. he pointed to himself, then he went around the room asking each officer for confirmation they understood looking each in the eye. got it, milly asked, yes, sir. got it he asked another, yes, sir. got it, yes, sir. got it, yes, sir. milly considered it an oath. to be clear the oath he's asking

them to take there, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff isn't in the chain of command for a nuclear strike. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staffs doesn't have the authority to either call a nuclear strike or block one. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff advises the president. he said it himself in that phone call with nancy pelosi that we now mysteriously have a transcript of. general milly told pelosi i really don't have the authorities. he doesn't. no one, not the chairman of the joint chiefs, not the defense secretary. no one can just make a new rule, don't listen to the president, only listen to me. that's not a thing in terms of military orders. but there's a very practical reason that secretary of defense james slegsen jr never really got in trouble for having done that in 1974, and there's the same practical reason general mark milly is unlikely to get it in trouble for it now because they were and are and i would

argue will be perceived as trying to stop a much greater evil by essentially inserting themselves into the chain of command in order to prevent literally catastrophe. and there were clearly a number of people in the top echelons of the united states government including the nation's top military officer who felt we were much closer to catastrophe than i think most of us realized at the time. and speaking of that there's this one other revelation in this new book, again, that i think is worth pulling out. and it concerns mike pence. former vice president mike pence is these days credited rightly with what he did on january 6th, with plowing ahead and doing his constitutional duty on january 6th despite the mob of trump supporters attacking the capitol and searching for him because

they said they wanted to hang him. it was his job as president of the senate to oversee the count of the electoral votes for president and thereby certify the election of joe biden as the next president of the united states. and mike pence in fact did that. despite all the pressure from president trump and his allies from pence he should do something else, that he should somehow use that job he had, use that role he had as president of the senate to throw that election to trump or at least to render the election unsettled. despite all that pressure, despite trump supporters roaming the halls looking for him to kill him, to stop him from doing his job, pence did his job. but in this new book one of the things that woodward and costa report is that mike pence in their telling was far more reluctant to do his job, far more reluctant to do his constitutional duty than the public narrative thus far has suggested. and bottom line vice president pence didn't ultimately accede

to trump's wishes to block the certification of the election, to overturn election results to leave trump in power or render the election results unknowable, but it was not apparently for lack of trying to do that. from woodward and costa, quote, in late december pence phoned former vice president dan quail. at 74 the once boyish looking quail was living the private golf playing life he loved in arizona. the two men shared a unique profile. pence phoned because he wanted advice. despite the electoral college casting votes for biden back on december 14th trump was convinced that pence could somehow throw the election to trump on january 6th when congress met to certify the final count. pence explained to his fellow indianaen dan quail that trump was pressuring him to intervene. and push the election to a vote in the house of representatives. if thrown to the house there was

a twist. and trump was fixated on this twist pence said. it was the provision that could theoretically at least keep trump in power. while the democrats held the current house majority the 12th amendment of the constitution stated voting on a contested election wouldn't be done by a simple majority vote in the house. instead the amendment said the election vote would be counted in blocks with one vote per state. republicans controlled more delegations in the house of representatives meaning trump would likely win if the house chamber ended up deciding the victor based on the prescripts of that amendment. former vice president quail said thought that was preposterous and dangerous. quail told mike pence, quote, mike you have no flexibility on this, none, zero, forget it, put it away. pence said in reply, i know.

that's what i've been trying to tell trump but he really thinks he can. and there are other guys in there saying i've got this power. i've -- interrupted him. you don't, just stop he said. it was easy for quail to make blanket statement from political winter. he wanted to know whether there was a glimmer of light legally or constitutionally and quail repeated forget it. pence finally agreed acting to overturn the election would be antthetical to his traditional view of conservatism. one man could not effectively throw the election to the house of representatives. quail told pence to let it go. mike, don't even talk about it he said. pence paused, you don't know the position i'm in, he said. even if you're someone like mike pence who's very invested in

publicly assuaging and placating your boss, if you're rely commit today rule of law but you're just trying to make trump less mad at you it's gagoing to hurt to call dan quail. you don't call dan quail just to appease trump. what's being described in this new book is the action of a man who is genuinely searching for a way he could do what trump wants. in that conversation later recounted with dan quail woodward and costa reported pence even raises the rospect there were real problems and the vote count in arizona if maybe that was enough of a pretext to justify not certifying the entire election and thereby setting the stage to the house of representatives or republicans in the house would ensure trump would lose power. and this new book makes clear

pence was far closer than we had previously realized to doing some version of what trump wanted him to do. and with more than half the entire republican caucus in the house ultimately voting to reject the election results. i mean, mike pence was the guy who stopped that from happening. but it was close. we were there. and the right has honestly made no progress in widening the distance from how close we were in the months since. right, the problem here is that this history, this newly disturbing slice of our history which we're learning from woodward and costa in this new book, this history isn't very old as history. this all happened only a few months ago. and since then in the intervening eight months on the right in republican politics it's not like the stuff has

gotten better. it's not like this has been put away our madness that everybody will deny they were caught up in at the time. the 2020 election results are still not a settled matter for the republican matter. tonight on this show we're going to be talking with a key election official from wisconsin where republicans in the legislature there have just started their own bizarre partisan review of the 2020 election, a sort of copycat audit of what republicans are doing with the presidential election results with all the voting equipment in arizona. republican wisconsinens just yesterday started sending out their demands to local officials who frankly have no idea to what they're supposed to do with their secure equipment and election records now that republican legislatures are telling them to hand those things over to republican activists and their crazy conspiracy theories. republicans are doing this in

multiple states now. now, not months ago now. they started doing it yesterday in wisconsin. this upcoming weekend in washington, d.c. they're preparing for the trump rally in support of the january 6th rioters who attacked the u.s. capitol to try to stop the certification of the presidential election results. "the washington post" tonight ran a feature on these fliers that are going up all over d.c. starting today to prepare local residents what to do if the pro-january 6th attack rally on saturday does turn out to be as violently intentioned as some of the chatter online around it appears to suggest. these fliers tonight are going up all around downtown d.c. they say, quote, if you see someone with a firearm immediately call 911. if you see a gun immediately call 911. capitol police and d.c. metropolitan police are fully

activated for saturday. every officer in the force will be on duty. other local police forces are already asked to be on standby in case more help is needed to defend the capital. it's not even just republicans are still looking backward to last november's elections, still promoting their efforts from january to stop the certification of that election by force. it's not just they're still backward looking to 2020, it's also the recall election that's happening right now as we speak tonight in california. in california the leading republican candidate in the recall race was as of yesterday predeclaring he has lost the race today and preblaming his loss on some sort of fraud even before the election actually happened. with that being the lead republican messaging heading into that election it's not a surprise the local headlines in california heading into the election look like this from the l.a. times, election fraud conspiracy theories ahead of recall raise fears of violence.

this isn't history. this is now. what's the way around it? what is the way out of this morass? over the august break nine u.s. senators got together to try to do something, something substantive and forward looking to try to kind of take the heat off this issue or at least to zap of it some of its ongoing destructive power. after republican senators in june blocked the big voting rights bill called the for the people act, these nine senators went back to the drawing room to try to find something else, some other approach that could potentially get around the republican opposition while also bolstering voting rights for real. right now these republican fantasies and fabalisms about elections are being treated as pretext enough to nuke voting rights and to nuke the professional nonpartisan administration of elections all

around the country. well, the freedom to vote act released today for the first time is 592 pages of compromised legislation that would establish national minimum standards for early voting and vote by mail and national minimum standards for nonpartisan map making for drawing congressional districts and federal standards for handling elections equipment and records including cyber security around those things. it's a lot. it's 600 pages of a lot. the democrats say every single democratic senator will support it. crucially they have put democratic senator joe manchin of west virginia in charge of scaring up ten republican senators to vote for this major so it can survive another inevitable republican filibuster. that said the lead republican of the senate, mitch mcconnell, already promised today within hours of the bill being announced that won't happen,

that republican, quote, will not be supporting the bill. so what happens next here? this seems quite warranted, all the more so every day. but what is the path to getting it done? joining us now is senator rafael war nocfrom the great state of georgia. senator warnock is a cosponsor of the freedom to vote act in the senate. >> it's great to be back with you. >> so i put this i recognize in an alarming context in terms of some of the very dire threats and? of the very high cliffs that we got very close to as a country over these last few months as these sort of myths about stolen elections have really taken hold. it seems to me, and tell me if i'm wrong here that the freedom to vote act that you have played such a key role in introducing here today is an effort to try to provide light in that heat, to try to cool down this issue,

try to be constructive and move forward in a way that can attract very, very mainstream and widespread support. >> that's absolutely right, rachel. our democracy is a 911 emergency. and while there are a number of important items for us to address in this congress, and we did so through the american rescue plan, through the infrastructure work that's happening right now. the most important thing we can do right now is to pass voting rights, to secure the future of our democracy. if we fail to do that i think we would have failed to rise in a defining moment in our american democracy, which is why in june when the republicans blocked our ability to have a debate -- and i think it's important for your viewers to know that's what got blocked in june. our ability to have a voting

rights just months after an attempt on the capitol after seeing this regime of voter suppression bills sprout all over this country, and it seemed folks were then pivoting from that to infrastructure. i insisted that we can both work on infrastructure and the infrastructure of our democracy at the same time. and so i approached leadership and said we can't allow this to slip away from us. and i'm so happy that nine of us have been in the room, senator man chan and myself and senator klobuchar and others, crafting this bill. and it was introduced today to make sure that we protect the voices of the people who sent us here in the first place. >> i feel like i have -- it more i spend time with the bill and look at its provisions and the more i hear from you and your colleagues who have taken a role in crafting it, the more i understand about the clarity of your intent and why you think this is the right path forward.

i have to ask you about the nitty-gritty, how it gets done. we do have leader mcconnell making this declaration that just as he said no republican senators would support the for the people act, to even support moving the debate on it. he also says that republican senators will not support this. and i tend to think that leader mcconnell whether you agree with him or disagree with him he tends to say what he means, tends to mean what he says and tends to count votes on his side pretty will. do you think he's wrong? do you think his mind can be changed on that or does it turn to procedural efforts because the ten republican votes just aren't going to be there? >> well, the good thing about democracy is that each of us who serves in the senate serves in the house, we were sent by the folks who voted for us. so whether or not this gets republican support is up to each individual senator. and it seems to me voting rights ought to be a bipartisan issue.

there was a time it was passed on a bipartisan basis. so we got together over the summer. we put together a bill that is intended to get broad support. it does things like ensures that there is access to the ballot. who could be against that? to make sure that eligible americans can vote whether it's through early voting, vote by mail, weekend voting. it ensures that states will have same day registration. the kinds of things that just make it -- makes voting accessible to the average person. in addition to that we're addressing these voter suppression laws that we're seeing all across our country that are intended to turn democracy on its head so rather than voters picking their politicians, the politicians select their own voters. it addresses the issue of partisan and racial gerrymandering. yet another way of squeezing the voices of ordinary people out of their democracy and it protects the integrity of our democracy

by dealing with issues around cyber security and ensures states like georgia that have voter i.d. laws, that those laws are intended to make sure eligible people can vote. but they're not used to cherry pick certain voters. and so the bill provides a baseline for voting so that you have access to that basic american right no matter where you live. it's the most american thing we can do. it's the most important thing we can do this congress. and i think that as important as other issues are if we fail to do it we will have failed the people who sent us here in the first place to debate about all these issues. and i think that history will rightly judge us harshly if we fail to address voting rights in this defining moment. >> among the nine of you who worked on this, did you talk about procedural matters? if senate republicans don't come along, you make a great case on the merits, you make a great case in terms of the nonpartisan appeal of this, the all-american

appeal of this. and i know senator manchin is working as hard as he possibly can to get republicans on board. but if they say full stop no, did you among the nine of you who work on this legislation talk about a procedural way to get there, by finding a way around the filibuster, by carving out some space in that senate rule so it can pass even against uniform republican opposition? >> well, i've been very clear from day one that we must pass voting rights no matter what. and nothing is more important certainly not a senate rule. but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. i think for us not to do the work that senator manchin is attempting to do, if i'm reaching out to others, i think it lets them off the hook too easily, but at the end of the day we have to protect the votes and voices of the people of georgia and the american people and that's what i intend to do. >> senator, sir, thank you for making time to be here tonight. it's always a pleasure for us to have you here whenever you can

make it. >> thank you. >> we've got much more to get through tonight. stay with us. e've got much more through tonight. stay with us ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

with directv stream, i can get live tv and on demand... together. watch: serena williams... wonder woman. serena... wonder woman... serena... wonder woman... ♪ ♪ ace. advantage! you cannot be serious! ♪ ♪ get your tv together with the best of live and on demand. introducing directv stream with no annual contract. >> tech: every customer has their own safelite story. this couple was on a camping trip... ...when their windshield got a chip. they drove to safelite for a same-day repair. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them. >> woman: really? >> tech: that's service you can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

tums vs. mozzarella stick when heartburn hits, fight back fast with tums chewy bites. fast heartburn relief in every bite. crunchy outside, chewy inside. ♪ tums, tums, tums, tums ♪ tums chewy bites and there you have it— -woah. wireless on the most reliable network nationwide. wow! -big deal! ...we get unlimited for just $30 bucks. sweet, but mine has 5g included. relax people, my wireless is crushing it. that's because you all have xfinity mobile with your internet. it's wireless so good, it keeps one upping itself. switch to xfinity mobile and save hundreds on your wireless bill. plus, save up to $400 when you purchase a new samsung phone or upgrade your existing phone.

learn more at your local xfinity store today.

for this one the starting price is $680,000. late last month the republican led assembly in the state of wisconsin voted on party lines to authorize $680,000 in taxpayer funds to be an spent on an audit of the results of the 2020 presidential election in wisconsin. why do they need to audit the election results from 2020 in wisconsin? because they can, right? because joe biden won the state of wisconsin and given the opportunity wisconsin republicans would like to make it seem there was something wrong with that result so it must be carefully checked. this new effort in wisconsin is of course a copycat of what republicans have been doing for months now with their hilarious cyber ninja audit in arizona. that has in fact been hilarious at times but a security

standpoint that audit in arizona has been a disaster from the very beginning. observers of that audit say they routinely for example found the security gates left wide open at the facility where they were counting all the ballots. they said confidential manuals were left unattended, quality control measures were completely ignored. they bungled their handling of election ballots so badly the state will now spend millions of dollars replacing all the voting machines they tampered with during this audit because they took no measures to keep them secure and they can't be recertified to use them in any election. with that backdrop, we broke the mgs doing this election audit backdrop, consider dane county, wisconsin. joe biden won dane county,

wisconsin, by more than 50 points in 2020. and right now i'd like you to use your imagination for a second. pretend you're the county clerk in dane county, wisconsin. that said republicans in your state are now ginning up one of these fake arizona-style ninja audits. and with that in mind imagine you the dane county clerk just got this e-mail with no warning. the e-mail says please see the attached preservation notice, regards michael j. gabealman, special councilman, wisconsin assembly. this is michael gableman, a former judge in wisconsin. republicans in the state assembly picked him to run their arizona-style audit after he spoke in november at a stop the steal rally alleging the election had been stolen from donald trump. what this e-mail appears to look like is an e-mail from the guy

running the wisconsin audit asking the dane county clerk to preserve records. this is the pdf that was attached to that e-mail. the letter says the header is from the office of special council and the wisconsin state assembly, and looks like they're screen capped off the web, maybe. they don't look like official letterhead. the letter starts off, quote, gentle persons recently i was appointed special council by the wisconsin assembly to investigate the november 2020 election. i here by request you and your office preserve any requests and all records related to the wisconsin election including but not limited to information retained on all voting machines. such information includes but not limited to metadata, rourter information and/or access laws. please take all necessary steps to comply with this request. and it is signed michael j. gableman, sort of signed. at least his name is on it.

this is the guy republicans put in charge to run this arizona style audit in wisconsin, but look at the e-mail again where this preservation notice came from. his name is on the bottom of it, right, his e-mail has his name on the bottom. but look at the e-mail address it was sent from. it was sent from john delta, all lowercase. from a gmail address? who is john delta, why is he sending a highly important, highly sensitive records request to county clerks from a gmail address. does the real michael gableman know about this? is there a mr. delta? is that a reference to a sci-fi movie i haven't seen yet because i'm an old person now? and that's not the only thing hinky about this. look at that seal on top of it, it really does look like a screen cap of the state seal copied off the web and plopped onto this document. this is not real letterhead. and while we're at it let's peep behind the hood of this document.

look at the metadata for this pdt, this letter and this sort of bogus letterhead on the top demanding the records showed this pdf was authorized not by john delta or gableman but someone named andrew clauser? who is andrew clauser? why did he write this? maybe it's this andrew kloster, a lawyer who used to work in the trump administration. is he the letter of this author to the county clerks in wisconsin? we don't know. the associated press asked him for comment. he didn't respond. meanwhile public reporting around the audit suggests the guy in charge of the audit, maybe the des embodied voice of john delta has been consulting with a former political candidate who's been spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. one of his theories is in every single state in 2020 donald trump's share of the vote was

reduced by exactly 5.2%. he arrived at this theory based on his close textualist reading of the science fiction novel. because in that science fiction satire the answer to the biggest question in the universe is 42, and look 4.2, sure, why not? that's the new consultant for the wisconsin election audit that taxpayers are paying for. i mean this would all be hilarious if this was not going to influence the election infrastructure of an actual swing state. they're demanding a records request of all the real records and real data, real information, real machines, real equipment used in real elections in wisconsin. and now people in wisconsin like the dane county clerk and all the other clerks who got that e-mail from good knows who, they all have to contend with this science fiction that have landed

on their doorstep. if you're the dane county clerk what do you do when you get an e-mail like that? here's how that's an interesting part of the story and that's next. interesting part of the story and that's next energy is everywhere... even in a little seedling. which, when turned into fuel, can help power a plane. at chevron's el segundo refinery, we're looking to turn plant-based oil into renewable gasoline, jet and diesel fuels. our planet offers countless sources of energy. but it's only human to find the ones that could power a better future.

♪ limu emu & doug ♪ got a couple of bogeys on your six, limu. human they need customized car insurance from liberty mutual so they only pay for what they need. what do you say we see what this bird can do? woooooooooooooo... we are not getting you a helicopter. looks like we're walking, kid. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ for people living with h-i-v, keep being you. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day

and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. if you're living with hiv, keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you.

what i've learned from so many years . . . . . . of living with hiv is to enjoy every moment. my name is hugo and i'm on biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment . . . . . . used for hiv in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights hiv to help you get to . . . . . . and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low, it cannot be measured by a lab test. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a build-up of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding . . . . . . or if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis. if you have hepatitis b, do not stop taking biktarvy without talking to your doctor. common side effects were diarrhea, nausea, and headache. if you're living with hiv . . .

. . . keep loving who you are. and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. this week yesterday wisconsin republicans in the state legislature there effectively started their effort to try to copycat the bizarre partisan election audit that has been going under -- that has been ongoing in arizona for months. that arizona effort, these so-called cyber ninjas audit has received months of national attention and frankly ridicule for good reason. but in wisconsin undaunted republican there are pursuing the same sort of course. as of right now county clerks all over wisconsin yesterday received a letter -- honestly it was a sort of strange e-mail from a random g. mail account telling them they needed to preserve records from elections equipment used in the

2020 election. in dane county, wisconsin, the county clerk there immediately forwarded that random gmail request to his i.t. security department. this is how they replied. quote, scott if this e-mail from from a gmail request i would strungly recommend against replying to it. we also have no verification of any operational security practices from the special counsel and at this time i would not recommend any disclosure of sensitive information until official channels of communication have been established and verified. joining us now is scott mcdonald. he's the dane county clerk in wisconsin. thank you so much. >> thanks for vag me. appreciate it. >> do you know if all the county clerks in wisconsin received the same sort of gmail notice that you did?

>> you know, it's not clear. i think there's an attempt to send these to all the county clerks. i know some of them received it and some of them it went straight to their spam folders. so they read the news reporting and then started looking for it. >> besides this -- this missive which was strange in a lot of ways. it is from a random gmail address. it had a pdf attached to it that the metadata suggests was written by potentially a former trump administration official who's not known to be attached to this. it didn't seem to be on real letterhead. the name on the gmail address didn't match the address on the gmail address in fact had a different name john delta, that sort of thing. was this the first purported official communication you've received about this audit or have they been in touch with you before this in some official way? >> no, this is the first communication i got from mr.

gableman assuming that was spencer gableman. so, yeah, i mean there's some -- there are a lot of red flags on that e-mail as you pointed out. and, you know, it's sort of like fishing 101, you don't open a fake gmail account. you don't send something to that. you know, the name didn't match where the draes was from and so this is the person who's supposedly in charge of checking to make sure our election was honest and fair, and it's pretty scary. >> i know that it sort of deepened the letter, whoever wrote this letter to you if it is for the person running the audit for these legislative republicans. the letter asks you to pass this onto the municipal clerks, the town clerks throughout dane county and presumably all are asked to pass this onto the

clerks to preserve their records and this information as well. i have to imagine you're not comfortable do doing that given the kind of advice you got about it security wise about not even responding to it yourself. >> right. the thing is it didn't really ask for anything. and honestly the things he was sort of saying we should preserve the municipal clerks don't have. all these records reside with county. he first made this request to the wisconsin election commission thinking they had this data and they said, no, this is at the county level. then he sends an e-mail apparently to encounty clerks saying and if the municipal clerks have it, well they wouldn't. so he really needs to spend more time or hire more people with how elections are run in the state. >> it does sound like the records he's asking for betray a fundamental lack of understanding how elections are run in the state. is that fair? >> right, and he references improving the voting machines.

the voting machines really are dumb terminals, rachel. they really don't have any information on them. we code in election media basically a thumb drive that goes into those ds 200s and that's into that stick and brought back the our office. there's nothing on those machines. he could have asked someone and found that out. >> an inauspicious beginning for what i imagine is going to become an inauspicious process as it goes on. thank you for your work in elections administration, and i'm sorry for this additional hassle you are having to deal with. thanks for being with us tonight. >> thank you, rachel. >> we will be right back. stay with us. why include the most advanced active safety system in its class...standard? because when you want to create an entirely new feeling, the difference between excellence and mastery is all the difference in the world.

the lexus es. every curve, every innovation, every feeling... a product of mastery. get 1.9% apr financing on the 2021 es 350. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. it's the biggest sale of the year, on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it's the most comfortable, dually-adjustable, foot-warming, get 1.9% apr financing on the 2021 es 350. temperature-balancing, proven quality night sleep we've ever made. save 50% on the new sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed, plus 0% interest for 48 months. ends wednesday. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® works differently than any other diabetes pill to lower blood sugar in all 3 of these ways... increases insulin when you need it... decreases sugar... and slows food. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. people taking rybelsus®

lost up to 8 pounds. rybelsus® isn't for peopl with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrin neoplasia syndrome type 2 or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to what's possibl with rybelsus®. ♪ please don't take my sunshine away ♪ you may pay as little as $10 per prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today.

hi, i'm ron reagan, an unabashed atheist, and i'm alarmed, as you may be, by the intrusions of religion into our secular government. that's why i'm asking you to join the freedom from religion foundation, the nation's largest and most effective association of atheists and agnostics working to keep state and church separate, just like our founders intended. please join the freedom from religion foundation today. ron reagan, lifelong atheist, not afraid of burning in hell.

as you know it is election night in california tonight, voters deciding whether or not to recall democratic governor newsom. the polls in california close in just a little over an hour.

we do have the first batch of exit poll data from california voters today, and that -- again, it is just exit poll so a big grain of salt, but what we found there actually looks quite good for governor newsom surviving the recall. an exit polling on his handling of covid in california, 45% said they thought newsom's policies were about right. another 17% on top of that actually said his policies weren't strict enough. only 32% said that newsom's policies were too strict. support was even stronger for mask requirements in schools. 69% of california recall voters saying on the exit polls they support a state requirement for kids to wear masks in schools. only 26% opposed to that. again, these are just exit polls. giant grain of salt. but if this recall is supposedly a referendum on the way governor gavin newsom has dealt with the covid crisis, at least the early exit polling today seemed like a very positive sign for the governor. that did not look like an

electorate that was electrified to get out and vote newsom out because they were against masks or something. we actually before we got on the air tonight went to steve kornacki, our election guru, and asked what we should watch for as the night goes on. he told us this, which i think is instructive and helpful for the rest of the night. he said, quote, we're going to learn a lot very quickly as soon as the polls close in california. most of the voting is done by mail and has been coming in for weeks. the counties are allowed to count that vote in advance and just about all of them will release everything they've counted so far within minutes of the polls closing. it, therefore, won't be that long after 11:00 p.m. eastern time until we learn a lot about where this is going. again, the election -- excuse me, the votes have been coming in by mail for weeks in most parts of california. elections boards are allowed to count those votes when they come in, they're just not allowed to say what's in them, what the results are, until the polls close. the polls close in about an hour. steve kornacki will be on live

with lawrence o'donnell at the top of the next hour and we will be living covering that as the results come in all nigh. watch this space. l nigh watch this space ka seltzer plus, dissolves quickly... instantly ready to start working. so you can bounce back fast with alka-seltzer plus. i am robert strickler. i've been involved in communications in the media for 45 years. i've been taking prevagen on a regular basis for at least eight years. for me, the greatest benefit over the years has been that prevagen seems to help me recall things and also think more clearly. and i enthusiastically recommend prevagen. it has helped me an awful lot. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. ♪ ♪ ♪

hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ man, i slept. we gave new zzzquil pure zzzs restorative herbal sleep to people who were tired of being tired. i've never slept like this before. i've never woken up like this before. i feel like doing things... and then doing other things after those things. it's hard to explain, i'm just back. crafted with clinically studied plant-based ingredients that work naturally with your body. i feel really good. for restorative herbal sleep, like never before. i was drowning in student loan debt. i was in the process of deferring them, paying them... then i discovered sofi. completely changed my life. lower interest rate. my principal is going down.

sofi is a place where you can start to tackle those money goals today. compared to where i was three years ago, i'm kinda killing it. ♪♪

again, the polls close in california in about an hour. california voters deciding whether democratic governor gavin newsom should be recalled and if so who should replace him. msnbc's special coverage begins now as we wait for the first results at the top of the hour. live coverage continues throughout the night. that starts now as we go to "last word with lawrence o'donnell." good evening, lawrence o'donnell. >> good evening. we are ready to go with california coverage. of course, there's another important election tonight and that's the boston mayor's primary race. we don't have any numbers on that to report. we might have them much