if it's sunday, it's "meet the press" on your local nbc news station. msnbc coverage continues with geoff bennett, my friend, right now. it is great to be with you. i'm geoff bennett. this friday there is high drama from capitol hill all the way to rome. several breaking headlines coming out of president biden's first day in a critical summit with world leaders. first, the president emerged from a private meeting with the pope, telling reporters that francis told him he's a, quote, good catholic and should keep receiving communion. it's a development that obliterates the argument from some conservative american bishops who say anybody who supports abortion rights should be denied communion. straight from his meeting with pope francis, president biden's first face-to-face sit-down with french president emmanuel macron since the united states blindsided the french by going around their backs to cut a massive nuclear subdeal with the uk and australia. when they found out, the french,

for lack of a better word, went nuclear. and in a stunningly candid moment, president biden said the way the deal went down was clumsy and notably he said he was under the impression that the french had been told it was happening before it was announced. i can't imagine the conversations happening today at the state department or the pentagon or in the halls of congress for that matter, where president biden put it all on the line yesterday in an effort to get every democrat in line on supporting his infrastructure and social spending plans as they currently stand. no dice on getting an infrastructure vote before he was wheels up for italy. but buried in the mistrust of senators manchin and sinema was enthusiasm to vote for the deal once they've seen the full text. how long will that take? and is time the enemy? this tweet from congresswoman

pramila jayapal, leader of the progressives in the house, reads this way. we will pass the build back better act and the infrastructure bill. we will invest in our communities and we will make a real difference for families across america. joining us as we start the hour, nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vitali. nbc news white house correspondent mike memoli who is with the president in rome. and "new york times" chief white house correspondent, also an msnbc political analyst, peter baker. mike, we'll start with you in rome. the president is certainly making news of his own over there. but behind the scenes he's got to be keeping an eye on what's happening back here in washington. from your reporting, how does the white house feel about where things stand right now? >> geoff, publicly we heard from kate bedingfield at the white house that they feel like they've made tremendous progress. behind the scenes, though, you know there's a lot of

nervousness, a lot of white house staff are sleep-deprived because of yesterday's activities and concern today about where things stand. yesterday the white house tried to sort of will this into reality, saying that a framework could be approved. at the end the president played bartender, flashing the lights, last call, if you have any changes you want to this legislation, speak now. so that's what's happening with the staff who is back in washington. the white house chief of staff, the white house senior counselor, among those who are still in very close touch with members of congress and capitol hill leadership to try to get this back on track. today the president has had his hands full with a warm reunion with the pope, a repairing relationship, he's focused on emanuel macron, but certainly the italians after the afghanistan decision. all of this manifests itself tomorrow most clearly when we

see the president embark on the formal start of the g20 meetings. those are going to involve a lot of discussion about things like a global corporate minimum tax. the president had hoped to be able to come here saying the u.s. was on track or even had moved towards realizing that back in the u.s. but clearly coming here empty-handed. and that's going to make things somewhat more difficult on a very different second foreign trip, geoff. >> ali on capitol hill, when it comes to the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the social spending plan, is this a matter of when these bills pass and not necessarily if? i ask the question because there still seems to be a lot of mistrust from progressives after those statements from senators manchin and sinema didn't explicitly endorse the reconciliation, the social spending package. >> i think you're right to touch on both those things, geoff. i do get the sense in talking to lawmakers that it is a sense of not if but when on this.

every democrat here wants to vote on this package of legislation. the reason they haven't been able to yet, progressives would argue, is they want to make sure they vote on the most of these priorities as they can possibly get in in this moment where they have the white house and both houses of congress. you're also right, though, to touch on the mistrust here that exists in the halls of congress. it's not just ideological between moderates and progressives. it extends between both houses of congress. the house doesn't want to move forward on the bipartisan infrastructure bill only to be hung out to dry later on the larger social spending package. that is why we've seen progressives hold the line. that was the story of yesterday. house speaker nancy pelosi said she wanted to see a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill before the president landed in rome. progressives said they weren't comfortable with that, in large part because they didn't get the assurances they needed from senators manchin and sinema that they would vote for this spending package according to the framework that was released by the white house yesterday. the language that we were hearing from manchin specifically, the video you see

up right now, i was by his car with him as he was leaving yesterday. he was saying that he wanted to continue working in good faith, that he had negotiated that top line number of $1.75 trillion. none of that language says i'm going to vote for the framework that was rolled out yesterday morning. those are the kinds of assurances that progressives need, not just the text, which was released yesterday and has sort of started making its way through the rules committee, but they need assurances that if they do move on this, the senate is going to come along. now, there was a meeting yesterday with senator kyrsten sinema and congresswoman pramila jayapal who leads the progressive caucus. some of the lawmakers who helped broker that feel that is a new salvo in this multichapter story. at the same time, until they get those assurances in a public fashion, it seems like progressives feel comfortable drawing this process out a little more, not because they don't want what's in these bills but because they want to be able to get as much of what's in

these bills as they possibly can. >> that's useful context there. peter baker, you've seen it all, covering several presidential administrations. we haven't seen congress legislate in this way, at least not in the last four or five years. that said, though, what do you make of president biden's apparent gamble yesterday? he didn't get what the house speaker wanted, an immediate vote on the infrastructure bill. >> it reflects he still doesn't have full command over his party. it's a coalition of interests. the interests do not all agree on things. they don't agree, in some cases, on big policies, and they don't agree in some cases on tactics and strategy. basically i think the white house came to the conclusion that he had to put forward a bill, he had to put forward a framework in order to push the process along, and if he didn't actually put it on the table himself, it would never get done by letting the cats and dogs circle the room. so he finally at least forced at least consideration of where this is going to land if it's going to land. and i think that that means

progress. it did leave him, you know, with some embarrassment in the sense that he did not get it done by the time he left. speaker pelosi did say she wanted the vote and didn't have it. that's not the way you want to run a government. but if in fact this leads to a final vote on these two different big bills in the next week or so, some of this to and fro will get there will pass from our memory and the bigger question will be, do these bills let america do something it wants. that will be a debate we end up having in the midterms if that gets through. if it doesn't get through, and that's still a possibility here, it will be a huge, debilitating blow for the president. he said that yesterday, my president is on the line here and you have to help make sure we as a party go forward successful. >> mike memoli, in the less than a minute we have left, give us a

preview what have is left for the president as he's there overseas. he met with the pope today, he met with macron. president biden telling the pope "god love ya" on his way out is peak joe biden. what else does he have on his agenda? >> that struck me too, geoff. as we talk about, obviously, moving from the g7, which is our closest national security allies, to the g20, you bring in some of our competitors, as the president would put it, specifically china and russia. of course their leaders are not here. what we will see tomorrow, though, is the president focusing on his closest alliances, especially as we appear to be moving towards something of a breakthrough as it relates to iran potentially coming back to the table to resume some discussions related around their nuclear program. the president will be consulting with the german chancellor, the british prime minister, about their strategy as they move in that direction. we'll also see on the margins of the g20 the president convening a meeting on supply chain

issues, we know how important that is internationally but certainly in domestic politics as well. >> my thanks to the three of you. with us now is democratic congresswoman barbara lee of california. she's a member of the progressive caucus. it's great to have you with us. the first question is, why didn't this vote happen yesterday? the house speaker made the text of the social spending framework available online. that's something that progressives have said they wanted to see. president biden, according to a source in the room at the democratic caucus meeting in the morning, the president said to you all, i need your help, i need your votes. but then a vote didn't happen. was there something you wanted to hear from the president that you didn't? >> nice being with you, geoff. first of all, the votes just weren't there. we always agreed that both bills would move together. and in fact the president in his presentation in the democratic caucus laid out this framework. he laid out what's in the agenda, the biden economic

agenda that he campaigned on, and actually had detailed, what the investments would entail. yesterday was the first day the public saw exactly what this framework includes and in fact the progressive caucus then supported the framework. we were continuing to make sure that the legislation moves as well as the infrastructure bill so we can vote for both of these together as we have been working on from day one. and so we're making a lot of progress. we couldn't get it done yesterday, but we have to have all of the votes there. we have to win this, and i think we will for the american people. >> what's your expectation for how long this progresses? >> well, i hope we do this as quickly as possible. first of all, these investments are so important for american families. they need to know and feel the

impacts of what we're doing. there's a housing crisis in america. we started of course over $300 billion and negotiated down to $150 billion. congresswoman maxine waters, our chairwoman of the financial services committee, fought so hard to get it to $150 billion, which is significant. and so these negotiations are taking place. but i think we're getting close. i think what we have to do is make sure that senator manchin and senator sinema agree with the build back better bill so we can pass them both. finally, we wanted to see 12 weeks of paid family leave. then we reduced it to four weeks. now it's out. so that's just an example of the types of negotiations that are taking place. we're fighting to get this done as quickly as possible, we want these investments to be felt and for american families to benefit right away. >> that was actually going to be my question for you. is this bill, it's not even a bill yet, can this framework,

this plan, of transformative if it doesn't have things like paid leave, if it doesn't have climate change provisions, the kinds of which you would like to see? >> it's a transformational bill, quite frankly. looking at the gas half full, we do have significant investments, for example, in the care economy, in the affordable care act, making sure more people are eligible, for health care. we have some significant climate provisions but senator manchin didn't want to go for the $150 billion to reduce carbon emissions by 2030. but there are other ways, workarounds, we're all working on as we talk about and negotiate this. but also, the significant investments in education, in elder care, in child tax credit. i mean, we wanted it to be made pearl. now it's for a year. senator manchin did not want it to be made permanent. but we do have it as a

refundable child tax credit. so we have to keep working. this is not the end. the president continues to remind us that we have more work to do once this package gets passed. and so yes, progressives have negotiated everything we can negotiate and are still negotiating for the american people on these very important investments. but believe you me, this is a transformational bill, a transformational law that will find investments, that will help lift children out of poverty and enhance the quality of life for so many people and help us begin to address the climate crisis like we've never done before. >> a leading progressive voice. congresswoman barbara lee of california, it's great to have you with us. >> thank you. breaking news to share with you now about albany county's sheriff who is expected to hold a news conference this hour after former governor andrew cuomo was charged with a sex crime. one of cuomo's accusers will join us, next. also ahead, another vocal

critic of donald trump is retiring. why illinois representative adam kinzinger won't seek reelection. and later, under fire, facebook seeks a face-lift and gets meta about it. ♪ there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪ this is... to unveil th♪ ♪o the world. this is iowa. we just haven't been properly introduced. say hello to the place where rolling hills meets low bills. where our fields, inside and out, are always growing. and where the fun is just getting started.

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[ chanting ] evil dies tonight! he's coming for me... -run. and i'm coming for him. and we are following breaking news from capitol hill this afternoon. republican congressman adam kinzinger of illinois is retiring from congress after his current term ends. he drew the ire of many in his party for his vocal criticism of donald trump and for being one of the ten republicans who voted to impeach him. >> i stand in awe at the courage of the other nine members in the house who voted to impeach a president of their own party. knowing it could be detrimental to their political career. most importantly, though, i admire those everywhere that put their country above their party in service to their fellow man. >> now, trump issued a statement of his own today saying, quote, two down, eight to go.

ohio republican congressman anthony gonzalez who also voted to impeach trump announced last month that he would not be running for reelection. joining us now is cnbc's sahil kapur on capitol hill. it strikes me the writing was on the wall for kinzinger not only for his criticism of trump which put him outside where the republican party is right now but also because of redistricting back in illinois. >> reporter: that's absolutely right, geoff. this announcement by kinzinger came just hours after illinois democrats, who control the redistricting process, advanced new maps that would carve up kinzinger's district just outside chicago and pit him against another fellow incumbent republican, darin lahood, now, in a republican primary, lahood would be the clear favorite. he is more in alignment with trump and has not drawn the ire of the former president who is ruthlessly trying to purge the party of critics of his. the other eight republicans who

are also on president trump's target list, it's notable, all eight have primary challengers. many of them have cited these incumbent republicans' decisions to impeach the former president. some of them have peddled lies and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. it is a big test to see how many of them are going to be able to survive that 2022 primary on the republican side, as the former president continues to try to make his mark on the party, tries to eliminate his critics from the party and instill loyalty among those who try to stay in good standing, geoff. >> sahil kapur, thanks so much for the update from capitol hill. now to the political battle gripping georgia right now. less than a year after the state swung blue, putting joe biden and two democratic senators in office, the state is now in many ways a test case for weather republicans, encouraged by former president donald trump's lies about election fraud, will use their new restrictive election laws to consolidate power.

i went down to atlanta to learn more about it. >> reporter: new election showdown in georgia. with the state's republican-led election board inching closer to potentially taking over elections in atlanta's fulton county, a democratic stronghold, thanks to a provision in georgia's controversial new voting law. democrats say it's only happening because georgia delivered close victories for president biden and two democratic senators. >> we will deliver georgia and fulton county for senator warnock again. so that's why there's this focus, this emphasis on continuing to criticize fulton county and our elections. >> reporter: but republicans, including top election official secretary of state brad raffensperger, say it will boost voter confidence. >> we've never had that accountability measure before where you can actually replace a county election board if the situation wasn't so severe. >> reporter: raffensperger

resisted pressure from former president trump to find enough ballots to overturn biden's narrow win in georgia. and he now faces a difficult primary race against a rival endorsed by mr. trump. >> we need to have fulton county fix its problems. that's why there's review panel looking at what's going on. >> reporter: fulton county has had issues. in one of the first pandemic election in june 2020, voters waited for hours to cast a ballot. democrat rick baron heads the fulton county board of elections. >> we had long lines, poll workers dropping out. the remainder of the year, we had five elections after that and we had no -- we didn't have any long lines. >> reporter: there's no evidence of fraud in that race. but raffensperger points to earlier this month, when fulton county fired two poll workers for allegedly shredding 300 voter registration forms. >> what you're looking at is disenfranchisement of up to a potential 300 voters. we want to make sure it's an evenhanded approach.

we're doing our own investigation. >> reporter: as republicans tout election integrity, democrats point to a political power play. what do you think the motivation here is? >> the secretary of state is in a tight primary race next year. and fulton county is his foil. >> they're picking on the wrong county this time. we're the biggest and the baddest county in the state of georgia and we're going to fight until the end. >> so here's the thing. fulton county is holding a big election on tuesday to elect atlanta's new mayor. it's a wide open race with 14 candidates. so a runoff is likely. and any missteps could be pounced on by republicans as evidence that fulton county isn't competent to run its own elections. and rob pitts, the democratic fulton county chairman i talked to, says they know they have a big target on their backs. in moments we expect to hear from the albany county sheriff after former governor andrew cuomo was charged with a sex crime. one of cuomo's former accusers will join us next.

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♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ welcome back. we are expecting a news conference any minute now from the albany county sheriff after former new york governor andrew cuomo was charged with a sex crime. according to court documents filed in albany, cuomo was accused of forcible touching as a class "a" misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail or

three years of probation. the complaint alleges cuomo inappropriately touched the victim in the governor's mansion last december. cuomo released a statement saying in part, governor cuomo has never assaulted anyone and sheriff apple's motives here are patently improper, adding, quote, this is not professional law enforcement, this is politics. joining us, cuomo accuser karen hinton who says cuomo sexually harassed her when they worked together at the department of housing and urban development. also joining us is wendy davis. you made the point to our team that the governor is charged with breaking a law that he signed. so what's your reaction to this? >> well, it's hard to explain in many ways. the cuomo spokesman said the charge was laughable. i don't think anyone is laughing about this. this is a serious charge. and it speaks to the larger

issue of sexual harassment across the country. it is pervasive. it is a problem. it is serious in the workplace. and no man, whether governor or not, ceo or not, is supposed to touch a woman in the workplace inappropriately as a female employee. and that's what andrew cuomo did. that's clear from both the ag's report, letitia james' report, as well as what the albany county sheriff is saying. >> so wendy murphy, these are serious charges. what does it mean to be charged with forcible touching, and if convicted, what kind of sentencing could cuomo possibly be facing? >> geoff, on the sentencing issue, i think it's fair to say he won't go to jail, just because it's his first offense and a misdemeanor. it would be inappropriate, i think, to punish him much more

harshly than an ordinary person might be punished. but to prove the charges, it's really not that difficult. the word "forcible" is used in the description of the statute. but "forcible" simply means anything more than a light brush. you don't have to hurt someone, you just have to touch them in a way that involves the use of pressure. the allegations here are that he clearly reached under the victim's shirt and touched her breast in a way that used pressure that would fit the definition of "force" under the new york law. it also has to be done for the purpose of causing degradation to the victim or sexual pleasure, if you will, to the person who does the offense. and i think, again, this was clearly done not as an accident or something incidental to something else he was doing. this was done for sexual purposes and was degrading to the victim. it's clear and overwhelming that this was a crime and it should be charged as a crime.

the governor says it's politically motivated. there may be something to that, there are people behind the scenes that are delighted and want to do things to hurt him politically. but two things can be true. yes, there's some political stuff behind the scenes, and he committed a crime and should be prosecuted for it. that's the simple story here. he deserves to be prosecuted because he committed a crime, plus he was the governor, plus he was in a position of authority and power, plus he assaulted so many other women. i mean, why wouldn't you prosecute him? >> karen, the current new york state governor, kathy hochul, responded to these allegations today, the charges. >> in the last 24 hours, there are many reports swirling around. i'll tell you a couple of things. one is i have always stood with and continue to believe the women in this situation but all women who come forward to bring forth allegations of sexual harassment or abuse.

secondly, no one will ever question what we're doing at our administration. i've taken very strong steps. we're doing everything we can to create an environment where people feel safe and secure in every way we can think of. so we're working hard to erase this culture. >> she says we're working very hard to erase this culture. what's your reaction to that, karen? >> that is terrific. and all governors should follow her lead. all attorney generals across the country should follow tish james' lead and take these kinds of claims and allegations and charges seriously. now, at the same time, i'm not a judge, i'm not on the jury. i can't make this decision for them. they will make it based on the facts that are presented by both sides. he's innocent until proven guilty, i get that. i am not joyful about what is happening to him. he has been a good, great

governor of new york. he's done things that are very important. marriage equality. we just are now talking about paid family leave. all those issues that he supported are important, and i'm glad he did it. but he knew better. he passed the law, he signed the law, he knew better. he knew he should not be touching an employee, a female employee in the workplace inappropriately, forcibly. and that is why now he's in trouble. and it's his own doing. it's nobody else's. it's not the politicians. whether it's tish james or governor hochul or other people who may want to run for governor. they're not the reason he's in the trouble he's in right now. >> wendy murphy, there's been some confusion since the charges were announced, mainly because the albany district attorney says he was surprised by this development. here is his full statement. it reads this way. like the rest of the public, we were surprised to learn today

that a criminal complaint was filed in albany city court by the albany county sheriff's office against andrew cuomo. the office of court administration has since made that filing public. our office will not be commenting further. how were these charges filed without first notifying the d.a.? >> well, i know it's been characterized as unusual, but the sheriff has said, look, they do this all the time in misdemeanor cases. they don't consult with the prosecutor when moving forward on a case that's minor like a misdemeanor. they do it all the time. it is typical for the police or in this case the sheriff to consult with a prosecutor to make sure the prosecutor is willing to proceed with the charges once they're filed. you want to make sure the prosecutor agrees with you that it's a case that should be filed. the fact that that didn't happen here does seem a little awkward to me. but the sheriff has said it's been their practice in the past to do this as a matter of course, when it's a misdemeanor offense. now, the interesting thing, geoff, is after the case is

filed and after november 17, when cuomo appears in court and the case formally gets under way, an interesting question is, will the prosecutor then drop the charges? because they do disagree with what the sheriff did. it's an interesting question. i think politically it will be very difficult for the prosecutor to get away with that but there may be disagreement, politically or legally, there may be disagreement between law enforcement and the prosecutor as to whether this case should have been filed. >> karen hinton, as we live in this moment where powerful men are being called out for their behavior, i remember much earlier in my career, i was a much younger reporter covering new york politics and you were still a comms professional at the time, and you had this reputation for being at the top of your game. and word was if you're going to call or email karen hinton, you better know what you're talking about, because she's like the michael jordan of comms. how was it, navigating your way to the top of your profession,

while also working in environments that were hostile towards you, that were not created for your success, and where as you allege, you were forcibly touched, harassed by governor cuomo? >> well, i have written a book about sexual harassment, gender discrimination, abuse, and i use my own experiences. i've been in this business for over 40 years. and i use my experiences to really tell the public, whoever wants to buy the book and read it, how it has impacted me, but also other women that i knew and worked with, were friends with, and how it impacted their lives. and in my time, i'm 63, and in my time in politics, you just were intimidated, threatened, frightened, very scared to speak up, not shut up.

and it was very hard for me to do that with andrew cuomo. and i wish i had. i wish i had said something. so my book, i started it long before -- and finished it long before the 11 women began to speak up about what happened to them. and it just gave me a lot of motivation to get that book out, to talk about this issue as it relates to women. from the time i was 16 to the time i'm 63. and i call the book "penis politics" and i call it that because it is not about sex. it is about power and control. that's what happens. not only in the workplace but in the classroom, in schools, in colleges, and in other jobs in the private sector. ceos, directors, vice presidents. it always happens, and it's about power and control and authority.

>> we'll take you straight away to this press conference. karen and wendy, thanks so much. >> i apologize for making you drive out to clarksville, but things gets restrictive in albany with parking. the series of events that led up to yesterday, i can take some questions but i can't get into a deep dive into the facts and circumstances of the investigation. as you know, early august, we received a complaint, and a report was placed on file from a young woman who worked for the governor's office. as i said, that following saturday, our investigators were going to conduct a very comprehensive and methodical investigation. we were not going to be rushed. and we would not be delayed. so over the course of the nearly four months that followed that, we have done just that, a very

comprehensive and methodical investigation. our investigators have sifted through hundreds of documents if not thousands, executed several search warrants, and executed -- interviewed numerous witnesses, including our victim. as a result of all that information, a packet was sent down to albany city court for review. as a result of that review, a criminal summons was issued. i will back up and talk about the review. that's standard in police work. you drop the information off, they'll review it, if there's any questions, they'll call. normally it takes a little bit of time. this came back at a relatively accelerated rate, it kind of caught us by surprise as well. needless to say, the document was then released to the media and posted online. so sometimes in police work with

investigations, things don't go how you want them. you've got to be ready to pivot. and that's exactly what we did. so a criminal summons was issued. i would have liked to at that point had a deeper conversation with the district attorney. i would have liked to have reached out to ms. glavin, cuomo's attorney, and explain what was going on. but needless to say, the document was signed, the document was leaked. so again, things don't always work out as planned. so that's where we are today. mr. cuomo is scheduled to appear november 17 at albany city court at which time he will be processed and released. any questions? [ inaudible question ] >> reporter: -- earlier than he had planned? >> much. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] speak for the victim? >> we had numerous conversations with the victim but we would have liked to have presented

everything, sat down with the d.a., explained exactly what we had. i would have also out of courtesy reached out to ms. glavin and explain what we had and explain what the processes would be. but again, things change and it doesn't always work out as planned. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] conversations with the victim? >> we've had conversations every day with the victim. i have not spoken to the d.a. today, no. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] the former governor's spokesman saying there was some conspiracy against him. [ inaudible ] a few minutes ago fruit of the poisonous [ inaudible ]. >> pretty good fun. listen, this is -- this is how they play. i mean, you guys have been in the business, you've seen some of the tweets that come out of -- come from mr. ezaparti, come from the governor's office. listen, this is my job. i would rather they throw it at me than revictimize the victim

over and over. i've been called worse. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] as threatening and/or [ inaudible ] and also [ inaudible ] as you know, andrew cuomo [ inaudible ]? >> as far as the election comment, i have no idea what that is. i don't know if they were trying to muddy the waters, saying this was an election ploy or something to that effect. people always try to distract or detract away from the real -- you know, the real investigation. and so i'm not really concerned about that. we have a solid case. our investigative staff did a marvelous job, i'm very proud of the work they did. again, they took a very high profile investigation, they methodically broke it down. and i couldn't be more proud of them. they executed a lot of search warrants. they went through a lot of data. and i would also like to say thank you to davis polk law firm

in the city. they were very valuable and a substantial asset to us in this as well as the new york state attorney general. [ inaudible question ] you know what, i don't know. i don't know if it will go to trial. i think we have an overwhelming amount of evidence. we have a victim who has been cooperating fully every day, every step of the way. as far as conviction or something to that effect, that's really going to come down to is it a jury, is it a judge. and as well as the district attorney's office. >> reporter: can you talk a little more, sheriff, about what happened yesterday? is this basically a miscommunication that occurred? and also can you talk a little bit about the evidence in this case? >> no. >> reporter: and that one criminal complaint, there was a list of things, but is there anything additional that [ inaudible ]? >> you don't really want to get into a deep dive into the weeds

on the investigation and the facts and circumstances of the case. as far as miscommunication, i don't want to say it was miscommunication. i will say that, again, we did not anticipate a quick return like that, nor did we anticipate everything would be posted on the internet. and again, just how far common courtesy we would have liked to have made some notifications. >> reporter: two questions for you. one, you said a criminal summons was issued. who does the issuing in that case? >> city court judge. >> reporter: the city court judge. >> yes. >> reporter: and how soon? >> five, ten minutes. >> reporter: it was that quick? and that's unusual? >> it's relatively unusual. again, the internet knew about it before i even knew about it. i was in my office, i received a phone call, and looked on the internet and it was posted on the internet. so that was a little bit problematic. i think it was improper. but again, sometimes things don't go as planned, and you've got to just roll with it, get ready to pivot and move on.

>> reporter: it lays out a specific day and time frame for this happening. the attorney general's office struggled to nail that down. what was the breakthrough, what allowed you to determine that day and that time? >> i got great investigators. >> reporter: is there any evidence that helped? >> again, i think there was a great focus on that date in the attorney general's report. but if i recall, and you look at the footnotes, it goes on to say, the victim is unsure of the exact date. and i think that was -- everybody just seized the opportunity to say, it's impossible this happened because of that date. that's not really accurate. so again, we executed a number of search warrants, we had great participation with davis polk, and we were able to nail it down and come up with the time frame. >> reporter: sheriff, both today and back in august, you had

mentioned that it's important to not revictimize the victim. at the time executive assistant number 1 was anonymous. but between then and now, her identity has been made public. did it make the investigation more difficult, now that the layer of protection that you had for the victim had been lifted? >> i don't think it -- well, yeah, it did make it a little harder. but again, this person wanted to seek justice and has been with us every step of the way. a number of calls have gone back and forth. and listen, this has got to be very traumatic for her. it's easy for me to stand up here and talk about it, but i'm sure it's not for her. and again, you know, we didn't want to -- we just handled this like a normal investigation. and it's a misdemeanor. and misdemeanors aren't normally

sat down and conferred with on every case or there would be no justice. so we handled this like we handle every investigation. and again, i want to put an emphasis on, our victim cooperated every step of the way. >> reporter: you just said you had been working with or you had worked with davis polk, the law firm. that's a law firm that's also working on the fiduciary area committee. >> that's correct. >> reporter: have you been working with the state assembly as part of their investigation office? >> not the state assembly but the investigators from davis polk, we've conferred with them. we've had to share some information back and forth with them. they're a very valuable asset for this investigation as well. >> reporter: based on the information they generated out of that -- >> some of the information they generated as a result of their investigation, the information that resulted from our investigation, and then we were sharing. and of course we had the new york state attorney general's report as well. >> reporter: sheriff, since the summons was issued, have you

talked to the district attorney? do you have his commitment that he's going to prosecute? >> well, i feel very confident that the district attorney's going to prosecute this. and yes, i did talk to him yesterday afternoon. >> reporter: how did that -- what was said, what did he share? >> i can't share any of that. >> reporter: sheriff, you said you conducted your own investigation. >> we have been listening to albany county sheriff craig apple explaining the process by which former new york governor andrew cuomo was charged today in connection with a sexual misconduct complaint. i want to go to nbc news investigations correspondent paul winter and former prosecutor wendy murphy. i was struck by hearing the sheriff say he was surprised by the pace of this process, how quickly these charges were brought forward, and he said the fact that they were posted on the internet. >> right. so said, and i think this was interesting, he said it was, quote, improper, the documents

became public as quickly as they did. the chain of events on this, because it was a little confusing yesterday, as we were getting word these documents were posted and they were made available through the normal process, by the way, from our standpoint, it's the way we normally receive court documents in a case or instance like this, we get it from somebody normally receive documents, and we get it from a spokesperson from the new york state courts, and they let us know they were filed, and they redact the information, and then we were able to receive the public documents and speak about them. 23 hours ago almost on the minute, jeff, where we started to hear this had been filed. what the sheriff said, they went to court and said we have done our homework, we have this document, and he did not expect them to move forward that quickly. he found out, he says, thank you phone call from somebody saying, hey, this information has been posted online, and his criminal

complaint was posted online, and that went through the normal process. there's some issue here, the sheriff calling it improper that the information was public as soon as it was, but it did follow the normal process. what surprised him, he said, was this occurred so quickly once they showed the information to the city judge. he wishes he could have conferred with the district attorney, and even to talk to governor cuomo's attorney. he did say he was proud of his investors that got them to this point, jeff. >> wendy, what happens next? does the former governor have to show up in court or is this something his lawyer can do for him? >> yeah, generally, jeff, he will have to show up. there were reports yesterday that he was going to be arrested

and that's not the case. this was a misdemeanor, and he will be brought into the court and he will enter a plea of, no doubt, not guilty. i thought it was interesting, if i could found one bit to what i found curious. the idea that this decision to issue the charge and make it public occurred within five to ten minutes after the sheriff sent the paperwork to the clerk's office. that strikes me as very unusual, period. because the reason the court reviews things is to make sure there's ample evidence to support the charges, right? before you send a summons you have to have probable cause to believe a crime occurred, and then the summons can go to the defendant and have him come into court and take charges. that doesn't take days, but five to ten minutes in a case where there was such an enormous

investigation, that is extraordinary. i was surprised to hear five to ten minutes was the lapse in time. >> thank you both for your insights. appreciate it. facebook is mid crisis, so what a better time for a rebrand? zuckerberg says he hopes it will shift the brand, and he announced that. >> it's time to adopt a new company brand to reflect who we are and what we hope to build. i am proud to announce that starting today our company is now meta. >> all right, so joining me now is host of mpr's full disposer podcast, and casey newton. there's no shake-up in terms of the corporate structure, so how

successful will this be in facebook pivoting away from the crisis the company is facing? >> well, look, time will tell. i think there's a good case for facebook doing this, because the future of facebook, the company, is not facebook the app, right? they believe that the future is going to be a series of connected devices involving virtual reality head sets, augmented reality, and facebook doesn't seem like the right brand to capture that and so they are trying to plant a new flag and march in that direction. >> typically, how successful are moves like this, and there was bp that changed their name and wanted them to be known as bea beyond petroleum. >> it's a pivot to juking and driving and skating. we have seen so many comparisons to the tobacco executives

brought before congress in the '90s. they took on a new name. who knows who the ceo of philip morris is right now. that's a similar tactic here. that clip you showed of mark zuckerberg, it seems like a "snl" parody, and you are worth billions but you couldn't hire a company for pr awareness. >> so casey, what does the future of meta look like based on your reporting? >> well, we know it's going to involve trying to solve a lot of technological problems, right? so these head sets need to get better displays, and they need

battery life that lasts longer, and the glasses are even harder to build. they have to build all new optical technology to help project images that we can see and interact with. that's what they are going to try and build. of course, there are a lot of reputational issues to deal with, and a lot of regulatory issues they have to deal with, but they want some kind of new rallying cry for the company to get excited about, and they think building this new technology and recasting the company as innovative will be the thing that does it. >> robin, in addition to the possible reputational protection, is there any legal benefit to a rebrand like this? >> i am not sure that works. i know, for example, if he doesn't want to be the ceo of facebook anymore, if that becomes a whole unit or instagram unit, and zuckerberg can hide behind the whole, you know, meta holding company, similar to google and alphabet. that's cynical, if you ask me.

what is still front and center is this company has not got to brass tacks about what is misinformation, and the link to teen depression and anxiety. it's an open question if it should be broken up. yes, he's changing the narrative and rallying around this thing. there's a certain tone deafness that all the papers are being released. you are, like, hey, look at my glasses. something is off. >> casey, are you catching wind of a corporate change, or no? >> zuckerberg was asked if he plans to be the ceo of the company in five years and he said yes. i think long term he probably will not be here forever, and that bill gates route of philanthropy will be something he's interested in, but for the

immediate term, zuckerberg intends to stick around. >> thank you. >> jeff bennett, farewell, my friend. thank you for everything. >> thank you, robin. that wraps up my time here on msnbc. thank you for being with us. we'll return right after a quick break. turn right after a quick break. and we need insights across our data silos, but how? ♪ if i go there will be trouble ♪ ♪ ♪ wait, we can stay and go. hpe greenlake is the platform that brings the cloud to us. ♪ should i stay or should i go now? ♪ ♪ ♪

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and advanced security integrated on our activecore platform so you can control your network from anywhere, anytime. it's network management redefined. every day in business is a big day. we'll keep you ready for what's next. comcast business powering possibilities. breaking this afternoon, details on the charge of former governor, andrew cuomo. the sheriff holding a news conference moments ago outlining the misdemeanor complaint that accused cuomo of forcible touching that occurred at the governor's mansion last december. a spokesperson criticized the sheriff and attorney general that over saw the accusations against cuomo as playing

politics rather t