thursday evening broadcast. with our thanks for being here with us, on behalf of all our colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. after all, this billboard has just gone up in times square, in new york city. as you can see there, it says trump lost. no more quote, audits. this was put up by a republican group, a group called the republican accountability project, we've talked about them a few times here on the show. they're basically a group of anti trump republicans, including people who served in the trump administration, who are now anti trump republicans. basically trying to save their party from the direction it has taken under trump. the

republican accountability project has a subgroup called republican for voting rights, they put this up in times square. and i have to tell you, when i first saw that, i thought that this might be one of those things where an advocacy group does kind of a stunt ad, they just -- you see this sometimes in the d. c. tv market. that a political group will run a political ad like once, in washington, d. c.. in the hopes that just the right person or the right media will see it. you also sometimes see that in times square, when you have an advocacy group sometimes put up one ad, just for one day, just in times square, hope that media organizations based in new york will cover that, as if it is a national thing, even though that one ad is only running once in new york city. i have seen that my share of those kinds of pr stunts, and news stunts over the years. but it turns out, that is not with this is. because wooded while it is in times square, in new york city. look, here it is today, this is in the wild, in harrisburg, pennsylvania. again, you see is the same sort of

graphic there, trump lost, no more audits. and, here it is today, also in the wild, in virginia. richmond, virginia. you can see there, if you look closely, this billboard is directly above ye oldie car wash. trump lost, no more audits. you can also see it in the foreground of that photo, the political campaign signs there, that's because virginia has its election for governor less than three weeks from now. and yes, the republican running for governor of virginia, glenn youngkin, is trump endorsed. he has called for one of these audits of virginia's presidential election results. last night, at a glenn youngkin event, in virginia, trump himself phoned in and steve bannon spoke. they have and they literally asked the audience, to pledge allegiance to the flag that they said had been flown by trump supporters,

in d. c., on january 6th. while the mob of trump supporters attacked the capital. that was like their special treat for the fans. hey glenn youngkin supporters, you can pledge allegiance to not just any flag, but to the january 6th flag. wow. in any case, this billboard, this trump lost billboard, it is up in the wild, in pennsylvania, virginia, it's up in the wild in austin, texas. today, also in orlando, florida. apparently, the plan is to run this trump lost no more audits billboard, in georgia, florida, texas, pennsylvania, -- and times square, new york city. other than new york, of course, all those other states are places where republicans really are either really doing or planning to do these partisan

pseudo-audits, these bizarre reviews of the election results. that treat the election as if it was some kind of crime, that requires forensic investigation. tonight, we're gonna be speaking with the attorney general, in the great state of wisconsin, who has come out forcefully this week, saying that the election investigation, republicans are doing in that state, isn't just ridiculous, it's harmful. he says it needs to be shut down. this is actually good to see today, in the washington post, the national press starting to cover the fact that republicans are messing with the election results in wisconsin as well. this is not something that ended in arizona, they are really running with these things. and the situation in wisconsin deserves more national attention than it's getting. that's why it was really good to see this washington post piece today. and if you look at the lead here, it's a gem. quote, the glaring errors who became clear soon after a former wisconsin judge issued subpoenas earlier this month in a republican review of the states 2020 presidential election. some of

his requests referred to the wrong city. at least one was sent to an official who doesn't actually oversee elections. a latin phrase included in the demands for records and testimony was misspelled. michael gableman, the former judge leading the review, admitted days later that he does not have quote, a comprehensive understanding or even on the understanding of how elections work. he then backed off some of his subpoena demands, before reversing course again, telling a local right-wing radio host, that officials wouldn't facts still be required to testify. quote, the latest round of reversals and blunders in wisconnsin testifying calls to end the probe, not one of several recent efforts around the country to revisit biden's win in states where former president trump -- a voter fraud. voting rights advocates, election policy experts, and

some state and local officials, accuse gableman in wisconsin of incompetence. they say his review will decrease public trust in wisconsin elections. wisconsin state attorney, josh kaul, this week, called gableman subpoenas unlawful. he called them quote, dramatically over broad. and he earned rub urged republicans and the state legislator to shut this fake investigation down. again, that was from wisconsin state attorney general josh kaul, with wisconsin state attorney general josh kaul, is going to be our guest here in just a moment. we also have our eyes here tonight on some other developing news, -- on that particular dark corner in politics. now that former trump has advised to not comply with subpoenas from the january 6th investigation, in congress. the committee that's conducting that's investigation is planning to move forward with a criminal contempt referral, for at least one of those trump

white house officials, few van. i should mention, at that event for republican candidate glenn youngkin, enrich virginia last nights, the one where they pledged allegiance to the flag that was used in the crowd of january 6th. after that, steve bannon whipped up the crowd with all these claims that all the election had been stolen from trump. and they were gonna take it back. he reportedly said at this event, that not only is trump coming back into office, but then he said, they're going to rule for 100 years. okay, will you be here for all of them? it doesn't seem like mr. bannon is too bothered by the threat that there is a criminal contempt referral coming his way, as he defies the subpoena for the january 6th investigation. but, that criminal contempt referral is apparently coming this way. as trump justice department officials continue to try to thread their way out of the attempted subversion of the election, and trump's efforts to use the justice department to try and stay in power after

he lost the election, today there's also some interesting news, that one trump justice department senior official, very senior official, jeffrey rosen. he served as attorney general in the final days of trump after bill barr quit. jeffrey rosen apparently spent eight straight hours testifying yesterday, behind closed doors, to that same january six investigation that's going to send a criminal investigation for steve bannon. jeffrey rosen, eight hours of testimony yesterday. must-have had a lot to talk about. it was behind closed doors, we don't know what will happen. we expect that testimony will eventually be shown to the public. and no, i'm not going to read all eight hours of it on the air, when we finally get the transcript. but you better believe i will read the good stuff, when we finally get it. like i said, we've got all eyes on all those developing stories tonight. but there's been a whole different sort of drama, and momentum today, when it comes to covid.

a whole bunch of things are happening now, all at once on covid. first of all, most importantly, we still have a huge proportion of our population that is still unvaccinated. that is driving crushing numbers of very sick covid patients, that are still overwhelming hospitals, in multiple states. i mean your hearing about how nationally the numbers are starting to come down, from our most recent peak and that is a good piece of news nationwide, but look at the headlines just today. out of all these different states, wyoming, utah, minnesota, michigan, montana, alaska. all headlines today. about hospitals hitting or maintaining, or even exceeding, their peak patient numbers. even as recently as today. the biggest hospital in montana, their icu unit is now operating at 175% capacity, whatever relief we might be getting in the numbers nationwide, montana

is still really in the thick of it. as are all those other states, as are even more states than that. so the crush of patients, unvaccinated covid patients, and how that is crowding out all the other kind of care that the hospitals need to be providing. honestly, to me at least, it seems like that's job one, in terms of what's wrong in the country right now, on covid. we have to protect the health care system, people who get in car accidents, who have strokes, heart attacks, operable cancer, need to be able to get in and they sometimes need icu beds. and if we've got hospitals and icus over tapped consistently, in state after state after state, week after week after week. we're losing our ability to keep americans alive. and keep americans from getting illnesses, that ought to be preventable. people ought to be stable, won't be. as long as our health care system has this

kink in it. because of the crush of covid patients, who are not vaccinated. and we've got all the attending problems that go along with that crush, the need to support, they need to spell, to need to give relief and support to our doctors and nurses and other health care workers. we have some side that there is the evolution, really interesting but also active duty troops. that helps. but those are, those are sort of local solutions to a widespread problem. it's an ongoing problem, an ongoing challenge, that will only get better, when there are fewer patients. and that will only happen when more people are vaccinated. and then alongside, that there is the evolution, the really interesting evolution right now in terms of what we have in the quiver to fight off this virus. today it was a 19 to nothing

vote, by the fda advisory panel, considering the question whether the event or in a vaccine will be approved for a booster dose. a third dose. just like pfizer. the vote was 19 to nothing, in favor of moderna offering a booster shot. that third shot would be half the dose of the other two shots, and you take it no sooner than six months after your second shot of moderna. it will be for people aged 65 and older, and also people younger than 65 who are at high risk for covid because of other medical issues, or they're at high risk of covid exposure because of where they live or where they work. it's the same criteria for that's being used for the pfizer shot, in terms of who qualifies for a booster. the fda looks like it's on the way for a similar set of approval for moderna, again unanimous vote, from the fda advisory panel recommending that. tomorrow, that same advisory panel, will consider the question of johnson & johnson, the single shot vaccine. and whether this can

be a booster for that. there's a lot of potential variables for that, we're gonna talk about that in just a moment. big picture, a, more americans need to get vaccinated period. regardless of who gets a booster shot or not. and b, the whole world population needs to get more vaccinated than it is. if we are ever going to get to the end of this thing. and while all these approvals decisions are working their way through our systems, for the u.s. population, one of the other dynamics at work now, is that president biden's most senior advisers on covid, are getting sort of increasingly outspoken. are leaning increasingly hard on the companies producing these vaccines, particularly moderna. that they need to get off their wallet, and start really kicking up their production capacity. they need to start making more. because, for all

the drama around vaccines in this country, writ large a vaccine, as far as we know is she humankind kind's way out of this pandemic. it's a way out for our country, it's a way out for the world. and no country can get out of it until the world gets out of it. and therefore, we need lots more vaccine to be able to get there. president biden's most senior advisers now advocating that the companies making these vaccines need to make more. joining us now, is doctor david kessler, he's a former fda commissioner, he's now chief science officer for a covid-19 response. doctor kessler it's >> thank you for having me. >> first, let me ask you about this advisory process and the consideration around these boosters. am i right to worry that the focus on the boosters, while important, that we need to worry about whether or not

that might be distracting attention might be distracting focus from the sort of overwhelming wheat to get more people vaccinated, full stop. regardless of whether certain populations eventually get a third dose. >> i agree with you 100 percent. job number one is to get the unvaccinated vaccinated. no doubt that is the first and foremost item on the agenda. i do think this step that the advisory committee took today, to recommend a booster shot of moderna, at least six months for people who are 65 years of age, as you said, or at high risk, i think that's an important step. because assuming that an fda -- that means moderna and pfizer, into sync. we've administered 7 million pfizer doses so far, one out of three eligible seniors have received their boost. and data presented from

israel, shown at the advisory committee today, showed an 11 fold reduction in infection after a boost. and a 19 fold reduction in severe disease. so boosters give people increased protection against infection. but no doubt, getting people who are not vaccinated, vaccinated, is job one. >> and doctor kessler, in terms of this consideration tomorrow in terms of johnson & johnson, there is been some intriguing reporting that, that's a different type of vaccine then the mrna vaccine, like pfizer and moderna. it's a single shot vaccine, thus far. is it possible that the booster recommendation around johnson & johnson might not be, that people should get a second shot of that vaccine, but rather are their second shot should be one of the others? >> so let me give you the data. you're right. for all people who took the j&j vaccine tomorrow, is their day at the advisory committee. the data will be

presented, we know that j&j's own two dose study studies, so j&j with j&j. shows that a second dose of j&j increases protection by about 20%, against moderate to severe disease. so that is very good news. but you're also talking, the committee will also look at, what's known as the mix and match studies. these results are very exciting. the company didn't do these, but the nih did these. and the mix and match studies give excellent boosts, certainly with her guards to at antibodies, so let's see what the fda recommends. >> fascinating. talking about what the companies have done, and what the companies have spent money to figure out versus what the government has spent money to figure out, and nih funded studies for example in that mix and match questions, i've been interested to see the discussion around, specifically

moderna. which is a company that u.s. taxpayers have dumped billions of dollars into, above all, and to great effect. moderna has contributed massively with their vaccines to humanities arsenal against this pandemic. but, because the u.s. taxpayers have contributed so much to what that company is and what they've been able to bring to market, you've spoken out recently saying that moderna needs to really step it up in terms of the number of doses they are producing. both, for the u.s. market, but particular the world. and a covaxin issued event and the other ways that we strategize the make sure that the world gets vaccinated. -- >> i've been very direct with. then we need moderna to provide substantial doses, that are not for profit, price to low income countries. we need them to do it now. we need the companies to create manufacturing capacities in africa. having real manufacturer pasadena on the africa

consonants will make a real difference and access for many people who do not have access to these vaccines. they need to step it up, and they need to do it. now >> is moderna resisting those calls or are they responsive to those concerns. >> they've heard our message loud and clear. i hope there's progress. we will hold their feet to the fire. >> doctor kessler, let me also ask you about going back to what you said, job one, the latest numbers that i've seen say that they're still between 60 and 70 million americans who haven't gotten a single shot. and there is all this talk about the boosters and there's about therapeutics, an anti viral, but that job one of giving people to get their first vaccine shot. to get people on the train of getting fully vaccinated, are there things we could be doing that we're not doing? either things within the government's power, or within our power as a country, that

could whittle that number? down are there things you wish we could be doing that we have not been able to? do >> so once in a very interesting numbers is that we went from 95 million people unvaccinated, before the presidents vaccine requirements in july. to 66 million today. so where we're at 95 million unvaccinated in july, those requirements were announced, and we're now down to 66 million. so vaccine requirements work. they are good for the economy, they are supported the by majority in the american people. and most importantly they save lives. so, i think we have these requirements, we have boosts, let's get our kids vaccinated. the fda advisory committee will reconvene at the end of this month. hopefully those doses, after the fda review, can start rolling out to our kids. so i think with those things,

those increased requirements, boosts getting kids vaccinated, we can make real, real progress. >> doctor david kessler, chief science officer for the white house's covid-19 response. sir, thank you as always for your time and for your clarity. thank you. >> thank, you. rachel >> we have much more to get here tonight. stay with us. more to geonight stay with us ♪ ♪ ♪

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has been hospitalized in california, his statement just released from his spokesman in the last few minutes, says quote, on tuesday evening, two nights ago, president clinton was admitted to you see eye medical center. that's university of medical center kelly -- to receive treatment for a non covid related infection. . statement continues quote, he's on the, manned in good spirits, and incredibly thankful to the doctors nurses and staff, providing him with excellent care. that's obviously a very barebone statement from former president clinton spokesman. nbc has confirmed the basics of this. i can tell you that cnn is reporting tonight, an nbc has not confirmed this, but cnn is reporting tonight that former president was in california, on tuesday, for an event related to the clinton foundation. he fell ill, he wasn't feeling well. he was taken to use the i. and they say he is being

treated for sepsis, effectively a blood infection. they took pains to say this is also not related to covid, but it's also not related to his heart. he of course had a heart surgery, and i believe 2004. had a stint put in some years after that. but this is apparently not related to his heart, and this is not related to covid. again the spokesman for former president clinton, says it's a non covid related infection, he's on the men in a good spirits. and bc is not reported from cnn, tonight that this relates to a blood infections for which he is being treated for sepsis. in either case former president is said to be on the mend in a good spirits, which is a good sign. we will keep you posted as we learn more about that. breaking news just within the last few minutes. okay, one of the stories that i said we were watching tonight,

has to do with the state of wisconsin, arizona got all of this attention over the last few months, for running what was a bizarre, investigation, they called it done audits. of the presidential election results in that state. wisconsin is now giving arizona run for its money. then national media is 30 caught on to the fact that they were doing. this there's a lot of weird things to know, about what's going on in wisconsin. it seems like it might be approaching in such a way that it never really gets off the ground in possibly. at least they're doing it in such a way that it's raising lots of objections. early on. early on. here's some of the background. december 22nd last year, less than a month before joe biden is due to be sworn into the next president, december 22nd last, year than president donald trump, announced his intent to appoint 42 new people, two new jobs in the trump administration, take this job

in my administration that will only exist for less than a month. it's an unusual time to announce dozens of nominations. when you look closer though, at that list, the whole thing kind of just looks like a vanity project for some of trump's closest friends and allies. he put hope hicks on the board that gives out fulbright scholarships, really? he picked his friend pam bondi for a seat on the board of trustees in the kennedy center. why? just stuff like that. not all of those -- were handed out to the presidents high-profile supporters though. for instance, there was this guy, michael j gableman of wisconsin, the president appointed him, whoever he is, to something called the coordinating council on juvenile justice and delinquency prevention. again, this was a random thing donald trump did in the last couple weeks of his presidency. which nobody really thought twice about, nobody was like digging around to see if hope hicks was qualified to dole out the

fulbright scholarships. no one took a beat to try to look at who michael gableman of wisonsin was for this criminal justice advisory board. this random list of futile, vanity appointments, has suddenly become way more interesting though. now that that same michael j gableman, of wisconsin, is the same guy who republicans in the legislature there have appointed to run one of the shambolic, fake audits. of the 2020 presidential election results. he is a former judge in wisconsin. last year, he spoke at a stop the steal rally, about how the election was stolen from trump. mr. gableman has refused to say who is working with him on this so-called audit. with the exception of one person, also a trump appointee, a trump white house lawyer, who last year said online, the presidential election was stolen fair and square. these are the two guys wisconsin republicans have picked to run their inpartial investigation into whether or not joe biden really won wisconsin in 2020. it's a trump white house lawyer and a trump

political appointee. i'm sure they'll be completely fair though. as we have covered extensively on the show the audit thus far has been doing a bang up job, if you take the meaning of bang up literally, it's literally -- it has led to some exasperated coverage in the local press in wisconsin. reporters trying to cover figure out how to cover this thing with a straight face. for example, these are real sentences in a real news article about real things, that this about this trump appointee macon quote, gableman two weeks ago issued subpoenas and demanding interviews this friday with city clerks and the director of the bipartisan state elections commission. within days, he canceled those interviews with the clerks. today the students ernie generals office announced -- he told people to turn over all

records they had about the 2020 election, documents that would take up hundreds of thousands if not millions of pages gableman should already have access to many of those documents. he hasn't explained why he wants the officials to give him new copies of them. gableman contended last year, without providing evidence, that the election was stolen. more recently he said, he doesn't understand how elections work. i mean, this facts of this story, the poor reporters right, you can read between the lines. you can hear them being like we know this is crazy but this is literally what happened, this is just the facts. not everybody is being that sort of, polite about it though. this was this morning from the wisconsin state editorial board, and usa today. published by the journal sentinel. it's an editorial that says quote, michael gableman is flushing taxpayer dollars down the drain, to support a lie. wisconsin

citizens should demand he stop. this week the attorney general in wisconsin, took that advice. he says he believes the way this trump appointee is going up with this so-called audit is against the law, and described it as corrosive to our democracy. he said outright this whole thing should be shut down right now. what we are seeing here is not a serious investigation. this investigation suffers from glaring flaws that destroy any credibility, that its results could have., this investigation is not being professionally, or competently, conducted. by former justice gableman's own admission, the investigators here are learning the basics of election administration as they go. frankly, no serious investigator would conduct an investigation under these circumstances. and no one should treat the results of these investigations as credible. my request to

speaker vos is simple, shut this fake investigation down. >> shut this fake investigation down, that is just call the attorney general of the great state of washington wisconsin attorney general joins us live. thank you for making time to be your. tonight it's a pleasure to have. you hear >> thanks for having me. rachel >> you said there bluntly, that you are calling on the republican speaker in wisconsin to put an end to this. to call this thing off. i wonder if you've had any response? >> well, the speaker said he's going to continue with this investigation, which is unfortunate. as i talked about at the press conference, this is irrevocably tainted. it's clearly biased in a partisan way, and was announced at a political convention. it was expanded after donald trump had the speaker join him on his plane. it's not being conducted competently, it's been prejudged. i say it's corrosive to our

democracy because the more the fan the flames in the big lie, the more promotes the false narrative that there's a reason to be questioning our elections, when in fact there's. not >> you also said this week that in addition to all those descriptors, that you just used, biased, tainted, incompetent, essentially this is a bad idea for a lot of reasons, you also said this week that you believe that the subpoenas, sent out by the guy leading this audit might be unlawful. what are the consequences of that, if that's true? >> well, we raised a number of objections with the subpoenas, and we do think that they're unlawful as their currently drafted. the legislator in our state, just like the u.s. congress in what they can do, is acts like they are an executive branch and offer immunity for example, as justice gableman did. and our statutes say that they have to conduct hearings like that

justice gableman wants to conduct in front of the legislative committee if they don't comply with those laws, with the subpoenas are unenforceable. so we've had ongoing discussions, and we're going to make sure that the process that takes place is one that is consistent with our states law. >> we've seen, in other states, some of these audits cause real damage beyond chipping away at the fate of people have in our elections. machines have had to be decertified, counties in some cases, the possibility of states having to buy new election equipment. sensitive data that shouldn't have been shared has been shared. security concerns that didn't exist before, when false claims were being raised about the election potentially being in secure, now actually have become potentially more legitimate claims because secure data has been given to people who should have never gotten their hands on it. is there a way to ring fence wisconsin's election security and its voting machines and its

ballots in the other things that are part of holding a secure whack, shun in a way to stop them from being potentially compromised by an audit? likeness >> that something we're watching for very carefully, we need to make sure that we're protecting voters private data. and that we're making sure that our machines don't have to be re-commission because of this ongoing process. so far, that kind of data hasn't been requested, it's been other information that's been requested, but i kind of view the ongoing investigation is somewhat a hybrid between some of what we saw in arizona what we saw from rudy giuliani and sidney powell after the elections. which is really incompetent, almost comedy comical lawyer-ing. the thing that's not comical, we saw this happen at the election, just because these things are conducted in a way that is not serious. doesn't mean there aren't serious consequences. we saw that with the insurrection, and we need to make sure that we're working to shut this process down before this leads to bad consequences as well. you have

the benefit of taking on this matter as arizona has just finish, it is there anything you've learned as responsible election officials and state officials in arizona did or were not able to do it sort of give you ideas and how to respond? this >> i think you hit the nail on the head in the opening, here one of the things that's really important, is that we raise awareness about what's going on. both within our state and on a national level, because this is implications not only for wisconsin elections but for a national presidential elections. and we need to make sure that the people who are conducting the sham investigations are being held accountable for it. and, we're going to keep talking about where it's crossing the line, in terms of what the law allows. and also, continue to make the point that this was a safe secure, and a free, and fair election. and at the results of the 2020 elections are the ones that can be trusted. >> wisconsin state attorney josh kaul, mister attorney general thanks for

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♪ oh what a wonderful world ♪ we're getting more information tonight on the breaking news that we're covering about the hospitalization of former president bill clinton. i mentioned earlier this hour, we had a statement from his spokesman, which said on tuesday evening, so two nights ago, president clinton was admitted to uci, that's university of california at irvine medical center, to receive treatment for a non covid related infection. so, it's an infection that's not related to covid. he is on the mend and in good spirits. he is incredibly thankful to the doctors, nurses, and staff, providing him with excellent care. i mentioned also that cnn had then reported that president clinton had been in california on tuesday for an event related to the clinton foundation and felt unwell. had been checked into the uci medical center and was being treated for a blood infection. again that cnn reporting, we

have not confirmed. he is effectively being treated for sepsis, being treated with antibiotics. well now we've got a joint statement from two of the doctors, who are involved with president clinton's care. i'm gonna read it to you verbatim, quote, president clinton was taken to uc irvine medical center and diagnosed with an infection. he was admitted to the hospital for close monitoring and administered iv antibiotics and fluids. he remains at the hospital for continuous monitoring. after two days of treatment, his. . white blood cell count is trending down and he is responding to antibiotics well. the california-based medical team has been in constant communication with the president's new york-based medical team, including his cardiologist. we hope to have him go home soon. reference there to his cardiologist, of course, who is relevant here, because former president clinton has had both heart surgery in recent years, well in 2004, and then some years after that had a further procedure to put a stent, to

install a stent. so, that is why the cardiologist is being referenced here. don't take it from me, let's take it from a doctor who understand these things better. joining us now by phone is dr. vin gupta. affiliate assisting professor at the institute for health metrics and evaluation at the university of washington. dr. gupta, thanks for joining us, i thought we're only getting you by phone, i'm happy to your face. >> good evening rachel, good to see you. >> so help us read between the lines, a little bit here, we have -- we have reporting from cnn which we have not confirmed, that this is a blood infection and that he is being treated for sepsis. we don't know if that's true, that's not with the statement from his doctor said. they said it was admitted for close monitoring, administered iv antibiotics and fluids, he remains at the hospital now. this would be a third day, presumably, for continuous monitoring. what does that say to you? >> for your viewers, i'm gonna take a step back, so what is sepsis? it's the bodies response to an infection, pneumonia, or you have a urinary tract infection.

whatever it might be, rachel. that's the bodies response. so, either you might feel altered, you might not feel like yourself, you might feel confused. your blood pressure might be lower. you might be breathing really heavily. you might have a high fever, which it sounds like in the case of president clinton. or you may have for those who have oximeters at home, you may have a low oxygen level. so, that's the physiological state of sepsis. so your question here, did the president have a infection in his blood? so did they take labs, or lab cultures from his blood to figure out a bacteria? we don't know. so the question first and foremost is, how is he doing on arrival, 48 hours ago at uc irvine, was his blood pressure low, was he confused, it sounds like he was fatigued, unwell. they did with they were supposed to do, they started him on broad spectrum antibiotics, it sounds like very powerful -- the best way to make sure you survive sepsis is early intervention. so fluids, keep your blood pressure up, antibiotics, make sure you're covering any possible source. the second question rachel, is what's the

source? is that a non covid pneumonia, does he have a pneumonia from another source, brought about by cold and flu season. does he have a skin infection, that then travel to his blood, was there something else? maybe, all these things sound scary to viewers. was there urinary tract infection? i'm sure this work up has actually already done, and they already probably know the answer to it. the fact that he's already well probably transiting out of the icu in the next 48 to 72 hours, if not sooner, are all good prognostic signs here. early treatment, early intervention, and an early rebound, rachel, are all great predictors of getting out of the icu and getting back home. >> now, they're saying after two two days of treatment, his white blood cell count is trending down, how should we understand that? >> that's a great sign. that's the clinical symptoms that i went through, heart rate, respiratory rate, fever, and then there is what we get on our lab values, so we get that lab culture of our blood. is there something

growing? like a bacteria or a fungus? but then we also just get basic labs, like our white blood cell counts, which for all our viewers out there, that's the cells in your blood that are fighting off infection. so if they're really high, that means you might be fighting off an infection. so, if they're coming down back down again, that means the president is responding to therapy. so that's a really good clinical indicator, that's a quantitative lab indicator, saying that the president's getting better. so thats a really good sign. >> when the doctors, who put out the statements are saying that they are consulting with his cardiologist. obviously, this incident seems to have happened in california, he was hospitalized in california, he was hospitalized since tuesday, in the say he remains there in the hopes that he can go home soon. but for somebody who has had heart surgery, or a following what should we understand in terms of additional risk there? or how

heart issues might interact with some of these other threats that you're talking about? >> absolutely. so anybody that has sepsis is at risk for a clinical conditions -- that's because sepsis creates weakness daughter. body you can have substance throughout her body rachel. you can inflammation of the kidneys, the heart, to that of former president clinton? we don't know. but because he said a cardiac history, he might have -- sepsis on top of that could reduce the function even further, that's why they're consulting with the new york-based cardiologist. to make sure there's nothing else they could be doing. the fact that he's already turnaround, the fact that he's having conversations, it sounds like all these things are good. signs that means's heart is bumping up blood dwellers vital organs. and then ultimately the question will be, what they are busy on right now, is he on medications to support his blood? pressure to support his heart? those quick questions that reporters will hopefully

getting clarity on in the coming hours and days. if he's on any medications to support his heart, or to support his blood pressure, that's also an excellent sign. here this is a great preemptive move by his doctors at or, vying to consult with his cardiologist because of the wrist acceptance on the heart. >> doctor vin gupta, pulmonologist, assistant for sister at the university of auction. doctor gupta, thanks for joining us and very short, notice to help us understand these statements from former president clinton's doctors. i really be able appreciating able to call and you. tonight thank. it breaking news tonight former president bill clinton hospitalized in california. he was hospitalized on tuesday evening, it's now thursday evening. that means he's been there for two nights already his doctors are not saying that he is being released, they say we hope to have him go home soon. they're describing him being treated with iv antibiotics and fluids for an understated infection. there are some or other news organizations that are reporting on what the source of the infection might have been, but we do have an overt

statement from his physician saying that he's responding well to treatment. that is white blood cell count is counting down. doctor gupta just explained that they are fighting the infection it's coming down is a good sign that infection is subsided. they're saying it's not covid related. they're saying they're in consultation with his cardiologist, he said serious heart issues in the past. again, former president bill clinton, hospitalized in california. up be but still concerning statements from his spokesman and doctors tonight. will keep you posted as we learn more, stay with us. ll keep you posted as we learn more, stay with us learn more, stay with us

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attacking the fbi. for having the temerity to investigate russia intervening in the 2016 election. to try to help get trump elected. in the trump campaign's awareness of. that and willingness to accept that. help and potential collusion with it. you will recall that when donald trump became president, the director of the fbi was james comey, the director deputy director was andrew mccabe. when trump fired james comey, mccabe ascendant became the director. andrew mccabe was one of the fbi officials who opened the counter intelligence investigation, into ties between the trump campaign and russia, while russia was interfering in the election to help trump. trump frequently railed against andrew mccabe. as if he was some kind of, democratic operative, or deep state operative or something. that was out to get him. in a move of almost unbelievable spitefulness, trump's justice department, under pressure from, trump fired mccabe in 2018, literally

hours, before he was scheduled to retire, and the importance of, that the material importance of, that was by firing sure enough is retirement, day hours short of his retirement, say that deprived him of the pension he had earned in his decades of service at the fbi. well, today, a settlements in the lawsuit, that andrew mccabe filed against the u.s. justice department. a settlement in a lawsuit, a lawsuit in which he alleged he was fired for political reasons, and as obvious as it was, that he was fired for political reasons, it's still remarkable to see the terms of this settlement unites. because boy did andrew mccabe win this thing. he will now, get his full pension, he will get all of the retirement benefits that were coming to, him he will get about $200,000 in missed pension payments, the department of justice will expunged any mention of his

firing from fbi personnel records. in effect he will be and fired. he will even receive the traditional fbi retirement cough links, which could not have been the most important thing about the way he was snarkily and snidely fired, by a president who is out to smear the fbi, to save his own skin, still. there will be some measure of satisfaction i imagine when those cuff links arrive, in a cute little box. settlements a night in the andrew mccabe case, better late than never right. stay with us. lat than never right stay with us as someone who resembles someone else...

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now, in sort of this unexpectedly busy news night, will see you again tomorrow. now it's time for the last word, with lawrence o'donnell. good evening >> good evening rachel. and you know when you have a guest, who says something absolutely brilliant, and you just want to hear more, and more about it. but the -- that you go to a commercial. that time's up. i >> have been. there >>