have been the best feeling ever, after having been so scared for so many days with that little boy lost. that wraps up the hour for me, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. i'll be back in the chair tomorrow morning for stephanie ruhle at 9:00 a.m., you can catch me back. i'll also be back next weekend, saturday, sunday, right here, 3:00 p.m. eastern. but now i'm going to turn it over to my friend reverend al sharpton and "politicsnation." good evening and welcome to "politicsnation." tonight's lead, what happens in texas does not stay in texas. because right now, republican politics in the lone star state have galvanized the resistance among nationwide democrats. the resumption of texas'

near-total abortion ban after a federal appeals court decision this weekend has underscored the reproductive jeopardy that women in the state face after last month's supreme court indecision. that has teed up another scotus case, from mississippi, where abortion rights are also under threat. and other red states are watching and hoping that they'll be able to follow suit. of course republican legislators in those states are also looking to gerrymander their congressional districts. and they can look again to texas as the template, where gop state lawmakers have unveiled a new congressional map designed to protect their pro-trump incumbents by diluting the number of black and brown voters and pitting democrats of color against each other. and against that backdrop, the

midterms and 2024 loom, as we learned more today about just how far down the conspiratorial rabbit hole trump and his republican party are willing to go in pursuit of power. but we start tonight deep in the divided heart of texas. joining me now, congressman al green and congresswoman sheila jackson lee, both democrats of texas. now, congresswoman, let me go to you first. many things to both of you for being here. but i want to ask you first, congresswoman, specifically, i want to get both of your responses to the latest assault on democracy in your state. this new congressional map unveiled by your republican-led state senate last week, at one expects, it adds to the number of republican districts,

protecting gop incumbents in counties that would have gone for donald trump. and even though texas gained seats in congress, it also subtracts from the number of districts where joe biden would have won, heavily black and brown, heavily democratic, and it effectively pits you both against each other by overlapping your districts. why we were happy when you both agreed to come on tonight, congresswoman jackson lee, i'll start with you, congresswoman green, we'll come you to, but i congresswoman jackson lee, am i misreading this? aren't they looking like they're trying to eliminate a district and try to pit two of our most high profile, highly effectively black congresspeople against each other? >> reverend al sharpton, what a pleasure to be with you, and my colleague congressman green. thank you for giving us this

national platform for a national story that's going to permeate redistricting across america. first let me say how grateful we are little christopher was found, god is good, after four days of being lost. but we are in essence the examples of what a brutal approach to redistricting can be. the redrawing of the ninth and the 18th to put two african-americans of the same party, in the same district, that has never been done in my lifetime, is amazingly wrong. this is a barbara jordan's district. my colleague's district is 30 years old. the barbara jordan district, which she sweated and teared for, is 50 years old. she became the first holder of a seat with andy young to go to the united states congress since reconstruction. the drawing of these districts, reverend, met no redistricting principles. it didn't protect incumbents. it didn't leave in place districts that had not disturbed

anyone. it didn't hold communities of interest. and it was racially gerrymandered. it looks like a tool of racialness was taken. and to add insult to injury, when our state senator, boris miles, tried to correct it with procedure, timeliness, and offered the amendment, and all his colleagues had to do is say, you're right, this is wrong, it is racially gerrymandered, and it is excluding people of color out of their ability to elect a person of their choosing. i'll just finish with this point. the idea of these districts, the bloodshed on the he had aman pettis bridge by martin king, john lewis and many others, was to ensure that everyone could have the right to vote for a person of their choosing, even though i represent people from all backgrounds, it was to allow that. it has now been dismantled and destroyed. i ask my colleagues in the

statehouse, they have seemed receptive, please fix this injustice. it is not fair and just. it is unjust and unfair. >> congressman green, do you agree this is nothing but racial gerrymandering? congressman green, i can't hear you. >> thank you, reverend. i'm honored to be on your program, and i'm especially honored to be on with my colleague jackson lee. i think our appearing here together is evidence of the fact that we do not intend to allow this plan to pit us against each other to succeed. it appears to me that this was done with some degree of malice aforethought. my hope is the people of our congressional districts as well as the people across the length

and breadth of this country will understand, as you have indicated, that this is just the genesis is this, that there are many revelations that may come to us as we proceed with this redistricting across the country. and that we have to stand together. we have to unify ourselves to prevent this from becoming pervasive. a bit more empirical evidence, i believe, is important. texas is the only state, the only state to have two new congressional districts accorded it by virtue of the census. in fact the population growth was about 16% in the state of texas. the state of texas had growth that was 95% among minority persons. 95%. yet minority population generally speaking is not acquiring new congressional seats. they're going to the republican party. and they will be going to anglos for the most part. i believe that the international

district i represent deserves better. i say it deserves better because it's being severed, reverend. the international district, where we speak multiple languages, about 80 languages, were the ballots are printed in different languages, an international district that is was built over years of people using together. it is an exemplar of people working together. finally, congresswoman jackson lee have talked and we have said and we have announced it publicly that we will not be running from the same congressional district so they can pit us against each other. we are going to protect the 18th congressional district and the 9th congressional district until the courts, we'll protect them if we have to litigate before the supreme court of the united states of america. >> let me say this, i want to go

to other subjects but i wanted to have both of you on and i wanted the people in the texas senate of you two together. we have seen the national impact as well as the constituency services and many issues that both of you fought for. and we want to see exactly what we see on this screen, both of you to remain as those congress people until the voters in your district decide otherwise or you make other moves in your career. so i want people to take a look at this picture. we're not talking about consolidating it into one or having some fight that is orchestrated by those who want to reward people with some kind of trump-sized districts, when, as you just said, congressman green, when the growth has been more on the people of color in the state, yet how do you go from having more population, black and brown, but you're

going to lessen the amount of representation from that state of black and brown representatives who have done an effective job? let me go to you on this, congresswoman jackson lee. my question now is about the six-week abortion ban. it's now resumed after the federal appeals court's decision going into this weekend. i'm sure it is having an effect on your constituents. i wonder if you can tell us what you're hearing from those constituents, specifically women of color, because i read some numbers from "the houston chronicle" and the state's health department. hispanic texans received 30% of abortion procedures in 2020 while making up nearly 40 percent of the state's general population. black texans are 30% of the procedures while accounting for 13% of the population. congresswoman, is that same "chronicle" piece that i read,

that i read that more than 80% of women that requested abortions last year in your district, harris county, houston, identified as black, hispanic, asian, or native americans? the disproportion is clear. what are women in your district telling you? >> they're telling me that they're desperate. thank you so very much for bringing this up. may i as well say that part of the tragedy of putting two members of congress in the same district, reverend, is to silence voices who have been outspoken and have stood by the most vulnerable groups in our community in spite of our unbelievable growth in population. so what we are seeing is this dastardly act that contravenes a woman's right to choose with her faith leader, her family member, and her health provider, has now been extinguished in this state. who is impacted? poor women. and certainly poor women are in my congressional district.

and certainly districts around our community. and yes, they are woman of color. and let me tell you what else is sad. women who are of better means are able to travel to other states. oklahoma's increase in number of abortions has exceeded one's imagination. other states are seeing women from the state of texas with means are able to get to other states for an abortion. poor women, women with children, women with children that they love and nourish, that they're trying to make sure they can provide for, but they just cannot proceed, or there are other reasons, or, reverend, it is because of incest or rape, because the texas abortion law, the most strict in the nation, does not even allow for any exceptions for incest and rape. how cruel can you be? but having seen the coat hanger time of life, when women had to go to back alleys and use -- and have procedures performed on

them that may have caused the loss of their life or their inability to give birth in years to come, we're now at that stage. and with this new appeals court decision, when just a moment, maybe 24 hours, the clinics opened up, and barely were able to help desperate women, and then they were shut down again by the trump-appointed fifth circuit. and so we need the supreme court to do its job. and let me just say this. can you imagine, reverend, a mother, a sister, a daughter, having a stalker, a vigilante go after you so they can get a bounty of $10,000? it reminds me of the horror days of slavery. i've introduced legislation to stop these vigilantes and make it a criminal act if you interfere with a woman's right to choose and get health care and get a $10,000 bounty. we're suffering in texas and the supreme court must do its job now. >> congressman green, let me

give you the last question. i have black voters asking me more and more about how or if officially historically black colleges will benefit from the president's infrastructure plan to the extent that he promised. i know that last month, some of your congressional black caucus members were already threatening to withhold their support for the president's overall infrastructure bill over hbcu funding concerns. and the $45 billion in addition to funding in the president's reconciliation budget has gone down to $2 billion. it's a casualty of products. and still $2 billion in new funding, but it's still a number i've had to explain on the street and on my daily radio show all week. explain to us, give us your response, congressman. >> well, thank you very much again, reverend. and allow me to say quickly,

there are some places, with all due respect, that the long arm of the law should not go. and the long arm of the law has no place in a woman's womb. the law ends where the woman's body begins when it comes to this question. this is a question for women to decide along with their most trusted advisers. i support this and i'm going to stand with the women of this country so that we can prevent the long arm of the law from intruding into places it should not go. with reference to the hbcus, reverend, i went to florida a&m, howard university, tuskegee institute of technology, and received my juris doctor degree from texas southern university school of law at the time, now thurgood marshall school of law. hbcus saw something in me that i did not see in myself. it gave me the opportunity, and it allowed me to be tutored and

nurtured to a certain extent by persons who truly cared about my destiny. i am grateful forever to the hbcus who have given me the opportunities i've had and the opportunity now to serve in congress. i want to single out, if i may, texas southern university. senator craig washington in the statehouse and a united states congressman was a graduate of thurgood marshall school of law. so these institutions serve us well. here is where i stand on this issue. i don't think too much is enough for hbcus because of the historic, invidious discrimination that has been perpetrated. hbcus were born out of racism and bigotry. as a result, they have not received the proper funding over the years that they richly

deserved. and as a result of this, i stand for more money for the hbcus. yes, $2 billion for the hbcus is a large amount of money. but when we look at the amount of suffering that has taken place, it is not enough. so i stand for more money for hbcus. and finally, i want you to know, reverend, i cannot tell you how much i appreciate your having the two of us on this evening together. it means a lot to send this positive message to the masses, that we stand together. we will not be separated. we will not run against each other. we will run out of the same congressional district. if we had preclearance, we wouldn't be suffering this. the suffering is being perpetrated upon minorities. but preclearance, in the john lewis voting rights act, the advancement act, if it had passed, reverend, we wouldn't have this. we've got to pass it and end the

filibuster. i yield back to you, reverend. >> i think that is the exact point to end on. we must pass that voting rights act. this would have been precleared had we had that john lewis voting act in. and i certainly agree with you on hbcus. i'm in washington, dc tonight because i preached at rankin chapel for dr. richardson this morning, and howard university produced us a vice president of the united states, kamala harris. thank you both for being with us. there was no resistance, in fact you all were anxious to come on together to show this united front of fighting the real opposition. thank you, congresswoman sheila jackson lee. thank you, congressman al green. coming up, discrimination and racism even within the most respected institutions in this country. i'll explain how you can rise up together to douse the flames of bigotry. plus more damning information about trump's disgraceful inaction during the january 6 insurrection.

i'll discuss with my panel. but first, my colleague richard lui with today's other top news stories. richard? >> rev, a very good sunday to you. some of the stories we're watching for you this hour, authorities say no charges will be filed against the passenger whose behavior prompted an emergency landing at la guardia airport saturday. american airlines flight 4817 stopped on the tarmac yesterday as emergency crews restrained the passenger who witnesses say had been acting erratically. investigators say there was no threat to the aircraft. one person is dead and 14 injured after a shooting overnight at a bar in st. paul, minnesota. three male suspects are in custody. around midnight, police received several 911 calls about gunshots at the seventh street truck park bar. one victim was pronounced dead at the scene. a crash involving a russian plane carrying skydivers has left at least 19 people dead and three injured according to reuters. it happened in a region where

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for today's "rise up," i want to talk about discrimination and its unfortunate ability to lurk in plain sight, even within some of the most esteemed institutions in this country. for instance, inside the new york city fire department, which recently handed down its biggest way of suspensions following a scandal that uncovered vile racist messages among some of its firefighters. it's not just new york. fire departments across the country have struggled with racism, sexism and other discrimination for years,

usually behind the firehouse doors where female firefighters and firefighters of color are left to deal with the fallout. the culture of discrimination is so bad in some places that people are hesitant to call 911 in an emergency. people of color have long known that calling 911 might bring police brutality instead of assistance. and widespread reports of racism and sexism from fire departments doesn't restore confidence in emergency responders. nationwide, nearly 80% of firefighters are white, far higher than the share of white people in the general population. meaning that people of color are underrepresented across the board. and the gender split is even worse, with women, who make up half the population, accounting for just 4% of firefighters in

the united states. fire departments must do better. firefighters are some of the most courageous people in the world, with one of the most dangerous and important jobs in the world. firefighters of color and female firefighters should not have to worry about bigotry and discrimination while facing down the flames. this is a nationwide problem. but its solution must be local. demand your local fire department institute zero tolerance policies when it comes to discrimination. and find out what they're doing to make sure the firefighters in your community reflect the spirit and values of that community. firefighter are among the bravest and the best of us. so we must honor their work by rising up together to douse the flames of bigotry. ♪ birds fly, you know how i feel. ♪

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welcome back to "politicsnation." i have a lot to get to with my political panel. joining me now is sarah longwell, director of republicans for the rule of law and publisher for "the ball washing." and kurt bardella, former spokesperson for the house oversight committee. let's start with the disgraced former president. yet another book has come out to shed some light on his behavior, this one from reporter jonathan karl. perhaps most damning is a revelation that trump boasted about the size of the crowd at the insurrection on january 6, even as the rioters were committing violence in the capitol. and the strangest tidbit involves the former president believing an absurd conspiracy

theory about wireless thermostats manipulating georgia voting machines. sarah, what's your reaction to these allegations and how can the republican party keep this man as its standard bearer? >> well, they shouldn't, they should have gotten rid of him a long time ago. the real problem is there was a new poll showing that 44% of republicans still want donald trump to be the president and run again in 2024. and that's why it's so difficult to get rid of him. but it is gob-smacking. we knew all of this. we know that he thinks january 6 was no big deal. recently he came out and he said that the real insurrection was actually the election on november 3. and so, you know -- and he is the reason, right, he's such a conspiracy theorist, he's the reason there's so much of this conspiracy nonsense really kind of taking over the party and creating this toxic environment in the gop where so much of what they say is just built on a lie.

>> meanwhile, in the house, even as the former president is fuming over the biden administration's refusal to keep its records secret, the january 6 committee released a letter promising to, quote, swiftly consider advancing a criminal contempt of congress referral for those people to find subpoenas. kurt, does that mean we can expect those referrals this week? why didn't the committee immediately issue such referrals when the deadline to present evidence and come in for testimony had already passed? >> yeah, rev, i think it's been very clear from the trump/bannon posture that their entire intention this entire time is to not comply with the january 6 committee, to try to obstruct its proceedings, to try to hide behind republicans and hope they can run the clock out on the committee's work. democrats cannot let this happen. we're seeing, like you referenced the jonathan karl book, what we've heard from the

woodward/costa book, example after example of how donald trump is more than just a conspiracy theorist. he's the ringleader. he's the reason january 6 happened. we need to use every tool at our disposal, every legal tool, whether it's putting people in jail, holding people in contempt of congress. if we aren't willing to use and deploy the resources to get to the bottom of the domestic terror attack, i don't really know what we're doing here, rev. all it does is signal donald trump and his enablers and ack li accomplices that they're not willing to do enough to hold them accountable. the more we've seen from acolytes like doug abbott or ron desantis, they want to continue the work they tried on january 6 and do it all across the country. and we can't let them get away with it.

>> since the capitulation on the debt ceiling vote last week, mitch mcconnell has been feeling the heat from members of his own party led by donald trump himself. in an apparent attempt to save face, i sent a letter to joe biden complaining about majority leader chuck schumer for identifying republicans as the culprit in holding the economy hostage over the debt ceiling. mcconnell promised in his letter that republicans would have struck the process again in december. but sarah, didn't we all assume that was going to happen anyway? if anything, doesn't this early confrontation that democrats will have to do this alone strengthen their position within their own party? >> maybe. i'm not sure about that. i mean, look, i think that mitch's histrionics are

ridiculous and they were being obstructionist. but 11 republicans voted to raise the debt ceiling, as they should have. schumer, it wasn't a great look for him to turn around and attack those republicans. what i wish he had done is thank the republicans who worked with him, who voted to raise the debt ceiling, who did the responsible thing. because, you know, i'm so concerned about how toxic the relationship is between republicans and democrats in congress when we're facing down these incredibly serious issues like whether or not we're going to default on our debt. so they need republicans they can work with. so when republicans do work with them, i feel like attacking them afterwards is not the most beneficial strategy for a good working relationship going forward. >> it's not an election year for most states, but virginia does have the odd year statewide elections. and the commonwealth is less than a month away from electing

a new governor. a recent poll shows the gap narrowing between democrat terry mcauliffe and republican glenn youngkin. kurt, what are the stakes in this race and do you think it deserves more national attention than we are now seeing focused at this point? >> 100%, rev. listen, i cannot underscore how important and impactful this race is going to be to what happens going forward. the last thing we need right now in this country is for republicans like donald trump and glenn youngkin to actually believe their path is the way to get back to electoral success. if we lose virginia, if terry mcauliffe is not successful, we will have the combination of going backwards on our efforts to mitigate covid. the economy will then take a huge tumble. republicans will get the message that the incentive that their anti-science, anti-woman platform is a winning platform

for them. this is a high stakes game we're playing right now. we don't need virginia to try to turn into a mirror of texas or florida and have the extreme right wing republican agenda hijack this state and take us backward. terry mcauliffe demonstrated during his first term as governor how you can grow the economy, create innovation and new tech and address climate and preserve fundamental constitutional rights. if the rest of the state wants to see your rights get revoked, if you're a woman living in virginia and you want to see what happened in texas happen here, sit this one out. this is an all hands on deck situation. the national media needs to put attention on this. this is far more impactful than the circus we saw in california with the recall. we need all eyes and ears on the race right now. it is an incredibly important bellwether for what's going to happen going forward politically. >> absolutely. lastly, the question of abortion, the right to choose,

has become a judicial and political football with courts going back and forth on the issue several times in recent weeks. and the conservative control of the supreme court, they're preparing to hear a case that experts say could lead to the end of roe v. wade. sarah, the vast majority of americans think abortion should be legal in some or all circumstances. and they have sensed the polling on that, since that question began, they've been saying this all along. if the supreme court ends roe v. wade, how do we approach a court that is so out of step with so many americans? >> look, if they overturn roe v. wade, this is going to be one of those issues where republicans are going to feel like the dog that caught the car, because this will actually -- i mean, electorally speaking, this could backfire against them. i do focus groups with swing voters all the time and this is

one of those wedge issues within the republican party itself. yes, there's a socially conservative base that would love to see roe v. wade overturned. but there's a whole other part of the party, the moderates, the people who aren't socially conservative, economic conservatives, for whom especially the college educated suburban women which republicans are desperate to win back after donald trump drove them away. this is one of those issues that really alienates them, because while they favor some restrictions on abortions, they mostly would consider themselves pro-choice. >> all right. sarah and kurt, thank you both very much for being with us tonight as our political panel. coming up, school boards across the country are facing confrontations and threats of violence over a variety of issues. i'll have the president of the american teachers association with me to discuss mitigation strategies, that's next. tonight, i'll be eating a buffalo chicken panini.

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the department of justice announced that for 30 days they will be meeting with law enforcement leaders on both the federal and the local levels to discuss the rise in harassment and threats of violence at school board meetings, from mask mandates to hysterics about critical race theory.

it appears the adults are acting more like children than the children are acting. now, taking measures into their own hands, the doj also will produce specialized training and guidance for local school staff so they now know how to respond and report all of these threats and counter them. will that be enough to keep our school safe? joining me is the parking lot of the american federation of teachers, randi weingarten. randi, the doj announced this week they will be looking into threats directed towards school boards and teachers all across the country. the task force will look into how they'll use federal tools to help prosecute. the statement went on to say they hope to provide training to state governments and teachers to guide school staff on how to preserve evidence and report

issues when they occur. as someone who helps advocate for teachers, is this a step in the right direction to give school staffs the protection they really need? >> yes, of course. and, you know, what's interesting, rev, is that every time there's an issue that has affected more than one district, one state, we ask the federal government to help with guidance and training because it has more resources. secretary cardona, hhs, the justice department, can help create some guidance in how to deal with issues. we had school shootings in the month of september in schools at a number that's way out of bounds. it happens in so many different

ways. we need basic health guidelines for schools across the country. it's shocking for the republicans to find a way to undermine the health and safety of all. criticism of school board policies is fine. but violence is not. and let me just say, as a social studies teacher, one more thing, which is we are about the freedom of everyone. and to have the freedom to think and the freedom to speak, you need to actually know how to critically think. and that's what we do in schools. so to threaten us about that is just plain wrong. >> senate minority leader mitch mcconnell responded to the doj's announcement with a letter to attorney general merrick garland stating that he was in favor of parents telling their school boards what to teach and that those interactions are the basis

of representative government. i think constructive conversations between schools and parents are one thing. threatening violence is another. >> right. >> is he missing the point here? >> he totally missed the point in the letter. of course constructive conversations is the right thing. look, and you i, how many times have we been on the street doing constructive protests, fighting for things we think weren't right? but there is a huge line between constructive conversation, between demonstrations and the incitement or the engagement in violence. and the issue right here is the incitement and the engagement in violence. and frankly, mcconnell should want to take the side of no hate, no violence. we need to engage kids in productive conversations.

but the first thing is you've got to keep them safe. that's part of the reason these school boards have had masking policies, vaccination policies, and then don't get me started on the whole issue of, we have to teach kids about our history. we have to teach kids about -- >> let me go right there with you, because -- >> sorry. >> no, but let me go right where you're going. many of the attacks against school boards are about so-called critical race theory. even though many of the supposedly concerned parents and citizens, they even struggle to explain what that term means. what do you think is really lurking behind this right wing effort to suppress discussion of race in our classroom? >> so look, i just read, this is in "the new york times" this weekend, this is a superintendent who just talked about this in such graphic ways, which is in the aftermath of george floyd's murder, we had

and have to have a real reckoning of what has happened in terms of race in america and what's happening now in terms of ensuring that everyone has a safe and place to be. in school and in the street. what we're seeing in this kind of made-up -- these are hard conversations, but you have to have them in order to have kids have a more perfect union, and that's what is really going on right now. >> when you are facing a critical situation, you need to deal with it in a way that makes it clear what we are talking about so that you can get past it. you cannot have healing without dealing with what is the ailment or the problem. randi, thank you for being with us. up next, my final thoughts. stay with us.

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that does it for me. thanks for watching. i'll see you back here next weekend at 5:00 p.m. eastern. time now for my colleague, alicia menendez. >> thank you so much, reverend sharpton. hello, everyone. we begin "american voices" this sunday with new claims of what donald trump was doing as the insurrection unfolded on january 6th. the revelation is coming to light in an upcoming book called "betrayal." the reporting and sources have not been independently verified by nbc news, but reveals a president obsessively watching the riot play out on tv, and as we know trump does boast about the size of the