hi, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. if you are still with us, thanks for sticking around.

if you're just joining us, welcome, great to see you. we are following that breaking news still out of texas, expecting a news conference any moment now on the concert stampede that left at least eight people dead and dozens injured. i'm going to take you there live to houston in just a moment. and then president biden claiming victory on the infrastructure bill. he has been waiting for and the hundreds of millions of dollars it's going to provide to americans. >> we're looking more forward to having shovels in the ground, to begin rebuilding america, and for all of you at home who feel left behind and forgotten in an economy that's changing so rapidly, this bill is for you. but work remains to be done on the build back better bill. still, the subject of intense negotiations between progressives and moderates inside the democratic party. plus, new developments in the investigation into january 6th as a key figure in the case refuses to play nice with a house committee. coming up later on this hour, i'm going to talk to one of the few republicans to go toe-to-toe

with donald trump over his election lies. georgia's secretary of state, brad raffensperger, is going to join me live. you don't want to miss that conversation. but we want to start with breaking news from houston. we are awaiting a press conference this hour on the deadly stampede that killed at least eight people at a music festival there. i want to go right to nbc's morgan chesky, who's standing by for us, to cover it. morgan, great to see you once again. what can we expect to hear today? >> reporter: well, certainly, what may have happened in the moments, yasmin, before that fatal crush of people took place around 9:15 yesterday evening at this highly-anticipated two-day astroworld concert fronted by popular musician travis scott. we've seen the videos at this point, absolutely heartbreaking, and over the last 24 or almost 24 hours now, investigators have tried to piece together, through video and eye-witnesses, what may have caused that surge

towards the front of the stage where scott, a houston native, was performing, that left eight people dead, including a 10-year-old child and 17 people hospitalized and, quote, scores of other people injured. we know that we have heard the houston police chief say that there were rumors circulating that there may have been tainted drugs involved in the case. he wouldn't go on any further to elaborate. that's going to be one of the key points we hope authorities clarify to some degree right now. we also heard that of the 17 people hospitalized, 11 of them were being treated either at the scene or in the ambulance on the way to a nearby hospital for cardiac arrest. those are not typically what you would expect to hear from a stampede-type situation where it would be more blunt force trauma or people being crushed. either way you look at this, absolutely heartbreaking. i want you to hear what some witnesses had to say about that chaotic scene yesterday. take a listen.

>> emts could not physically get over to any people in the crowd. there was just too many people. and at some point, the barricades become a hindrance, like anybody couldn't get over there, the people were trapped in the area. >> like that feeling was a suffocating feeling. there was a few points where everything stopped for a second and everybody was calm and relaxed and then out of nowhere, i guess a group of people or somebody just pushed and then everything just -- it was compressed. like you were just compressed the whole point. my arms are on my body the whole time. i couldn't even put them up at times. >> reporter: authorities say there were about 50,000 concertgoers at that venue yesterday evening and that is just what was expected to be a two-day event. both of those days now canceled as authorities try to gather more evidence in this investigation. they did have medical tents on site, yasmin. however, in the seconds following that incident,

whatever paramedics or emergency responders that were there were quickly overcome with the sheer number of people that needed to be treated, and as it stands right now, authorities have not released names of the victims right now, but eight people killed, 17 hospitalized, and we do expect to learn much more here in the next few minutes. yasmin? >> yeah, we'll be continuing to monitor, obviously, that podium and see as folks approach it and as soon as it begins, we'll bring it to you live. for now, morgan, thank you. i want to get to the breaking news out of washington as well where the president and his administration and much of congress is taking a victory lap after passing that $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. but the work is only half done. up next, that nearly $2 trillion build back better package and congress has given itself a new deadline to get it passed. nbc's gary grumbach is on capitol hill for us. gary, good to see you. first, the hard infrastructure deal passing, we heard from the president as well. but what are we hearing from congress?

>> reporter: yeah, one vote down but so much more for congress to do and not a whole lot of time for congress to do it. we're talking now, the focus is on the human infrastructure bill. this is things like child care. this is things like paid family leave, money for climate and the environment. it's $1.7 trillion. what we saw last night was a rule voted on, essentially what that means is it was a permission slip for the house to be able to have a final vote. but that final vote didn't happen yesterday. that final vote is not going to happen until congress gets back from their recess the week of november 15th, so we have things really backing up towards the end of the year. there was a lot of back and forth yesterday about whether or not there would even be a vote on that rule. here's what nancy pelosi had to say about all this back and forth. >> it is a party whose vitality and diversity is something that we all respect and admire. we are not a lock step party. it's an additional challenge but

i see every challenge as an opportunity. >> reporter: now, remember, this is not the way progressives wanted to see this all play out. they wanted to see the bipartisan infrastructure framework and the bbb, the build back better plan, voted on at the exact same time and to that point, six democrats actually voted "no" on last night's infrastructure bill because of that. yasmin? >> all right, thank you, gary. i want to bring in our panel, david jolly, former member of congress, national chair of the serve america movement. also donna edwards, former democratic congresswoman from maryland, contributing columnist at the "washington post" and an msnbc analyst. welcome to you both. donna, let me start with you on this one. let's kind of take a step back and talk about how kind of this whole process has played out. you've been inside some of those rooms, right, and there seem to be a lot of back and forth, a lot of deadlines that were

passed. i mean, just a couple of days ago, i believe it was just yesterday morning or two days ago, nancy pelosi said, no, in fact, they were going to pass these two things together and then there was obviously an about-face and they decided to go forward with infrastructure and then a confers that was had between progressives and moderates to get confidence that build back better would eventually get through. what do you make of it? is this normal? >> well, look, it is the sausage making and i think in the old days, you know, a couple of decades ago, we wouldn't have seen that happening in front of us, but we did this time. i think the most important conversation was a conversation between progressives and moderates that rebuilt their trust and confidence in the process and allowed them to go forward. that was a really important part of these negotiations. and so, i actually feel confident that the build back better plan is going to pass out

of the house of representatives and get sent to the senate with moderate support. look, it's hard to watch these things, and especially something so important and where people feel really passionately about it, and i listened to speaker pelosi and i think that's exactly right. it's reflective of the democratic caucus and it is a really big tent party and all of these viewpoints take into consideration and then they finally get to yes. >> let's talk about what's actually in this hard infrastructure bill because i think it's incredibly important for folks to understand, david jolly. we're talking $110 billion for repairing roads and bridges, 73 for power grid upgrades, electric vehicles as well. $65 billion for broadband access. just a few of the major investments for the country's future, and let's remind folks, this was a bipartisan passage, obviously, in the senate as well for this hard infrastructure. how significant of a deal is this, david jolly?

>> yeah. look, this is a really big deal in this environment. you know, hard infrastructure bills used to be passed about every four or five years and in decades past, there was regular order where these were bipartisan, went through committee, went through the floor and so forth. but that's not the era we live in, and so if you look at the former president, donald trump, he was unable to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill. this is planes, trains, automobiles. this is a jobs bill, an economic stimulus bill. this is what the american people want to keep the country moving, so the good news is you had 69 votes in the senate, 19 republicans. last night, you had enough republicans to make up that deficit of just the handful of democrats who voted now on the bill, but it does set up a big question going to the bigger infrastructure bill that the biden administration has prioritized, because that bill will have zero republicans, and so now, nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, house democrats, they've got to pass this all on their own at the next step.

>> yeah. so, let's talk about the strategy that is being taken to get build back better over the finish line, donna edwards, and with that, i want to play for you what pramila jayapal had to say in talking about this strategy and how she looked each and every centrist -- i'd rather just tell you actually. each and every centrist, she looked each and every moderate in the eye to get the confidence, to get the commitment that they will get build back better over the finish line. you think that's enough? will it work? should they trust them? >> i absolutely think that they should. i mean, i think pramila jayapal has been one of the tremendous leaders in this process. her willingness to directly engage the moderates. i mean, this wasn't about the leadership, it was about, you know, these members sitting with each other, talking with each

other, developing their trust and confidence and then moving forward, and i noticed the statements that were put out, both by the moderates and also by progressives about their desire to move forward as soon as that fiscal note we see it, you know, sometime maybe next week while they're out on break, and then they'll come back and they will pass the bill. and so i have a lot of confidence in this process right now. i know it's really tough to take in, but if you look at what is in the human infrastructure package, that's the meat on the bones of the highways and the roads and the broadband and all of that hard infrastructure. it is a thing that is going to get people back to work, give relief to families, and really sort of develop what's needed over these next couple of decades to move the united states forward, put us on a path to success, and so i do trust that when the members say to each other, looking each other

in the eye, i got your back on that, you had my back on this, they mean it. members will not go back on their word. >> david jolly, i got to play this sound from speaker pelosi hitting back at some republicans on the floor. we've talked a lot about -- and there's been a lot of talk, a lot about how democrats have been somewhat messy in this process, but republicans, on the other end, have kind of been nonexistent. let's play this exchange from speaker pelosi telling it how she believes it is. >> all the while contributing to reducing the national debt. making everyone pay their fair share. did i hear a laugh over there? did i hear a laugh from those who added $2 trillion in tax cuts for the richest people in america, 1%, 83% of it going to the top 1%? this is paid for. and more than paid for.

>> what do you make of that, david jolly? basically calling republicans out, you're the ones who passed those trump tax cuts. none of your stuff was paid for. we have the evidence right now from the committee on taxation as to how this thing is paid for. you think republicans will ever be in a way docked, i should say, for their really nonexistent participation over the last couple of months? >> we'll see. i mean, tuesday night suggested that their strategy of obstruction does not get in their way to electoral success. republicans are bad faith actors when it comes to the deficit, tax cuts and so forth. yasmin, i once cosponsored a tax cut bill that when it got to the house floor, i voted against it, even though i was a co-sponsor because i went to the chairman of the ways and means and i said, how are we paying for this? and he said, we don't pay for tax cuts. and i think that's the point

that nancy pelosi was making. but very importantly, listen -- >> at least you admit it, david jolly. at least you're truthful about it now. >> i voted against a bill i co-sponsored, you know? a lot of people said, jolly's lost his mind but i was one of those republicans that thought we should pay for tax cuts. but look, very importantly, the hard infrastructure bill does add to the deficit. it is not fully paid for. now, you could say the economic growth that comes from the jobs -- that come from it could ultimately pay for itself, but what she was specifically talking about is the human infrastructure bill does pay for itself. the community college provisions, the pre-k provisions, paid leave and so forth. i think the political question for democrats right now, very importantly, they should take a victory lap here and does the division between the house and the senate and whether or not they actually will get the votes and get the next bill done, i think, is an open question. don't let that division define you in this moment. take the victory lap. tell the american people you delivered for them and you delivered for them on something that the previous president was

unable to do so. >> i wonder, donna, and this is just the final question because i know we're running out of time here, if the democrats are at all worried about the fact that americans won't necessarily reap the benefits of these bills, the hard infrastructure bill and more the social spending bill before the midterm elections. it's going to take some time for a lot of this stuff to kick in, especially when it comes to social spending. and they're relying on the passage of these bills to win some seats come next november. >> well, i think this is why it's going to be really important for democrats to go throughout their congressional districts and their states and join the president in really celebrating what's being done for the american people. i do think some of these benefits will come up. i don't want to see a single republican with a hard hat and a shovel at any of these projects come spring construction season because they didn't do anything to contribute to that. i also think that when students

are going into universal pre-k, that's real money that's back into the pockets of americans who are otherwise paying high child care costs. they are going to be able to sell this thing to the american people. >> no hard hats, no shovels, no ribbon-cutting, as donna edwards says, from republicans. she says, no. thank you, donna edwards. david jolly, appreciate you both. a new book detailing the infamous phone call between then-president trump and georgia's secretary of state, brad raffensperger, about the 2020 election. >> it's more illegal for you than it is for them. because you know what they did and you're not reporting. that's the thing. you know, that's a criminal -- that's a criminal offense. >> the man on the receiving end of those threats, georgia's secretary of state, brad raffensperger, is here next to talk about his showdown with trump and how it's changed his life and perhaps his political future. we'll be right back. ps his polil future we'll be right back.

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welcome back, everybody. it has now been more than a year since the 2020 election but the push by former president trump and his allies to protect information related to their efforts to overturn the election and the january 6th riot continues. former trump doj official jeffrey clark, who played a key role in then president trump's attempts to substantiate the big lie, is claiming executive privilege prevented him from testifying yesterday before the january 6th committee. his refusal to answer questions about the attack led chairman bennie thompson to say the committee was, quote, willing to take strong measures to hold him accountable. the committee is already pursuing criminal contempt charges against former trump advisor steve bannon for his refusal to even show up for a deposition. this is coming as a new book from georgia's republican secretary of state, brad raffensperger, reveals new details about the now infamous phone call where he defied

pressure from then president trump to find votes to overturn the 2020 election. >> look, all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is 1 more than we have. because we won the state. >> raffensperger writes that, i felt then and still believe today that this was a threat. others obviously thought so too because some of trump's more radical followers have responded as if it was their duty to carry out this threat. and georgia's secretary of state, brad raffensperger, is joining me now. he is the author of the new book, "integrity counts." secretary raffensperger, thanks for joining us on this. we appreciate it. what are the dangers of former president trump not being held accountable for his actions after the 2020 election? >> i think right now america is at a crossroads and this georgia

we've been front and center since 2018. stacey abrams lost georgia by 55,000 votes and did not concede and talked about voter suppression, and she really set the table for president trump to talk about voter fraud. neither one of those were supported by the facts. >> secretary raffensperger, stacey abrams talking about voter suppression, disenfranchisement in the black and brown community in georgia, that is a completely different situation than then president trump calling you up and saying, find me 11,000 votes. i just need 11,000 votes to win this thing. that is completely different. than stacey abrams calling into question what happened in the georgia governor's race who then she subsequently let up on. there was no insurrection. there was no, you know, attempt to overthrow the governor's mansion in georgia. it is a completely different situation, secretary raffensperger, than what we were dealing with, with the former president. do you not agree with that? >> that's what i just said.

that's what i just said. president trump just ramped it up 10 decibels louder with his 80 million twitter followers. but when i had that conversation with the president, i had the facts, i had the law, we had the constitution on our side. and we knew that we had the right facts and that's why i respectfully just responded to him and also wrote a ten-page letter to congress that there weren't thousands of dead people that voted. that there were only less than a handful. there weren't any underage voters. they said there were 66,000. there weren't thousands of felons. less than 74. what i try and help people understand with three data points in my book is that there were 28,000 georgians that skipped the presidential ballot. senator david purdue got more votes in metro atlanta and athens than president trump and president trump got 33,000 less votes than the republican congressmen got. those three data points really speak volumes. >> at the end of the day, it was not the election system that upheld the results of the

election. it was people. it was people like you, secretary raffensperger. are you worried if this happens again, a different result will come out of it? >> to your point, that's why integrity counts and that's why it counts at my position, and all your poll workers. when you think about it in georgia, we have over 2,500 precincts. we have thousands upon thousands of precinct workers, poll workers that volunteer their time, get paid very little for 14-hour days and those are your neighbors and people trust their neighbors and people need to start understand that those are the people doing the hard work, the groundwork that then bubbles up and report the results to the counties. in the county election directors aren't looking left to right, they're walking that line of integrity to make sure we have fair and honest elections and that's what i did also. and that -- i think that everyone is doing that across the state of america, really, really the entire country. we do have fair and honest elections and america does do a

good job with elections. in this election disinformation, misinformation and falsehoods is not helpful for american society. >> all right, so you talk about integrity counting. you talk about it's important to have the right people in the right positions when it comes to some of these elections but you've also written about the fact that you oppose the john lewis voting rights act, that common sense voter i.d. laws in your state are what you endorse but it's very much those types of laws that have removed you from your position as chair of the state election board. are you not worried about the process going forward? >> well, we have had photo i.d. for over ten years. i do support that we move away from signature match. it's subjective. we move to driver's license number and also birthday. they've been using that in minnesota for ten years. it's a very objective criteria and that's the program that texas is going to be also so it's nonpartisan, bipartisan, blue states, red states, everyone seems to be moving that way because it's an objective

criteria and that's good. in georgia, we have 17 days of early voting. that's more than new york, new jersey, and delaware. that's good also. and then we have absentee voting which we have had since 2005. the challenge that we have in america is elections -- they need to accept the will of the people and then decide do they want to run again in a few years or do something else. but the elections that we had in georgia were fair and honest, and i walked the line of integrity. i stood hard in the law and i supported our constitution to make sure we had fair and honest election. >> so, there's still, though, a lot of people right now in this country, secretary raffensperger, that do not trust the election system. our latest nbc polling finding 50% of republicans are not confident that their vote will be counted accurately and only 22% feel that biden was legitimately elected. does this concern you, especially when we have a major election around the corner, come

next november. your re-election, obviously, also being a part of that. >> what you just witnessed last year was the greatest disinformation campaign ever foisted on the american people. that's why i wrote my book, to set the record straight. we did a 100% hand recount, all 5 million ballots that proved two things. one is the machines did not flip the votes. and number two, the count that we had with the machines was accurate and that president trump came up short in the state of georgia. >> secretary brad raffensperger, thank you so much, as always, we appreciate it. >> thank you. all right, a news conference is under way at the houston office of emergency services, everybody. let's listen in. >> very active investigation. one is 14. one is 16. two are 21 years of age. two are 23. one is 27, and one remains

unknown at this time. so, a total of eight that are reported dead. six of the eight family members have been notified, and we know that at least one is outside of houston harris county, resided outside of houston, harris county. based on last night, 25 were transported to the hospital, 13 still hospitalized, including 5 that are under the age of 18. based on the information that we currently have, no one is reported missing. so, zero persons are reporting missing. four of the 25 have been discharged from the hospital. let me just say as it relates to what happened last night, as far as we are aware, this is -- i'm

not aware of any incident of this kind that has taken place at any one of our special events, either on the county side or the city side, pretty much in the last, i would imagine, the last 40 years. where anybody has lost life. now, we have had events where there may have been a crowd rush or somebody had to be ejected or maybe somebody's been injured, but nothing of this magnitude that any of us can recall and certainly that i can recall that has taken place in this city. this incident is being thoroughly investigated and reviewed. thoroughly. it is important for us to ascertain from last night what took place, what happened, where missteps may have occurred, and in so doing, there will be -- there have been conversations with, for example, representatives of livenation. we'll continue to talk to travis

scott's people. we'll talk to as many witnesses as we can who were present last night. we're talking with those individuals who have been hospitalized to try to get a full -- a much better understanding of what took place, what went wrong, where were the missteps. certainly, hpd and other law enforcement organizations will be looking at as much of the video footage as possible to try to, again, to ascertain what took place. we'll look at the security plans themselves. we'll look at the collaboration that took place between the county and the city, even leading up to this particular event. as you know, nrg is a county facility. this is where this incident occurred. but it also occurred inside the city of houston. so, we will look in depth at the collaboration between the two entities. in terms of personnel, the chief

can go into this even more, but let me say preliminarily, we know there were about 528 hpd officers that provided security for the event and an additional 755 persons representing private security that livenation had that was providing security at this particular facility. so, there are a lot of -- let me just say to you, there are a lot of unanswered, a lot of unanswered questions. and over the next several days, several weeks, could be even longer, we'll take an in-depth look at everything that took place, why it took place, how we can -- what steps we can do moving forward to mitigate an incident of this kind from taking place at any other point in time. now there are a lot of rumors on social media. let me caution people not to buy into the rumors, okay?

because there are a lot of rumors. but nothing is off the table in terms of persons who were there, people may have fainted or people who may, for whatever reason, were transported to the hospital. there's a lot of conversation about people who crowd surge, all of those incidents, whether or not anything else was involved. all of those things are being looked at, but it is way too preliminary now to draw any conclusions, but we're not taking anything off the table. this remains and will be a very active, active investigation. so, with that being said, let me yield now temporarily to judge hidalgo. >> everybody, we were taking a listen to the mayor of houston, texas, sylvester turner, who was giving us an update on the stampede that took place overnight at a music festival

there, learning the number of people dead, just an incredibly tragic amount. eight people dead as we have been reporting all day. ranging in age from 14 years to 27. 13 people still hospitalized as we speak. they are working with the promoter of the concert along with travis scott as well to figure out the questions that we still have unanswered, which is what took place and what went wrong. it seems, from what we're hearing from the mayor of houston, sylvester turner, that they don't necessarily have the answers to those questions as of yet but this investigation is still very much ongoing, so we're going to continue to monitor the situation out of houston, bring you any updates as we get them and monitor, of course, the press conference as well as they continue to update the public. we'll be right back, everybody. the public we'll be rhtig back, everybody ♪

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welcome back, everybody. i got some good ones today. my head scratcher and high five of the week. lauren boebert doesn't need any stinking maternity leave, so you shouldn't get any either. the colorado congresswoman was delivering a youtube rant against the parental leave taken by transportation secretary pete buttigieg to care for the twins that he welcomed with husband, chasen, when she provided this rationale for why nobody should get leave for a baby. >> listen. i'm a mother of four. i delivered one of my children in the front seat of my truck because as a mom of four, we got things to do. ain't nobody got time for two and a half months of maternity leave. >> that's right. lauren boebert gave birth in a truck and got right back out there so stop all your whining about needing time off for a newborn. in addition to that gem, by the way, the congresswoman also got in a homophobic dig about buttigieg, saying she spent his

paid leave trying to learn how to chest feed. good one, lauren. we should also note this update that chasten buttigieg sent out yesterday, their son, gus, is back home after a three-week health ordeal that included a week on a ventilator. so, my high five of the week goes to a judge who gave a woman who participated in the january 6th breach of the capital exactly what she thought she'd never get. jenna ryan famously tweeted, definitely not going to jail. sorry, i have blonde hair, white skin, a great job, a great future and i'm not going to jail. but u.s. district judge christopher cooper had a different point of view when he sentenced ryan to 60 days in jail after she pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a federal building. the judge said it should send a message that we should take it seriously, it was an assault on our democracy and it should never happen again. a big heck yes to that and my high five of the week. we'll be right back. that and my high five of the week.

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506789 welcome back, everybody. one student in columbia, missouri, is breaking barriers. watch this. >> the 2021 homecoming queen, zachary wilson. congratulations. >> that video has millions of views and for obvious good reasons, zachary wilmore was crowned his school's first male homecoming queen. joining me now is homecoming queen zachary wilmore, and by the way, zachary, what are you wearing? you look amazing. that video, the sparkle and the dazzle on the skirt, so beautiful. thank you for joining us, queen wilmore. how does it feel? >> oh, my gosh, it feels literally amazing. i really never thought that i would make it on court in the first place, let alone be the

winner. i really do feel accepted by my school, i feel nice and bubbly inside. and it was especially nice because my grandparents were in the audience and i had never formally come out to them that i was gay, but they get the picture now, so that's fun. >> did you campaign to be homecoming queen in your school? and what type of reaction did you get in school when you did? if you did. >> i did not campaign to be homecoming queen. it was kind of last-minute decision to go by that title, but i was like around, happened to do some charity work for the school and for the -- to apply for the position so that was really fun and we were supposed to put our name out there and tell everyone we were doing it so that's kind of what i did. >> and how does the school reacting? how are the kids in school reacting to your crowning? >> a lot of the kids are really nice. i'm getting a lot of congratulations. most people are happy for me.

there have been a couple people who have have come up to me and are like, it's not right that you won, but honestly, it doesn't matter because i still have the crown. >> i love that. i love your positivity in all of that, but i also know that you have received some hate online. your tiktok account was, in fact, suspended. we actually reached out to tiktok to find out why and we have yet to hear back. do you know why your tiktok account was suspended? and what are you saying to folks that are kind of dishing out hate? >> i don't know why my account got suspended because when i got back two days later, none of my videos were removed, and there wasn't any notifications telling me why except for something that told me that it had been removed and they were sorry for it. so, i assume a lot of people just reported it because i was wearing a dress to homecoming and that i got the queen title. and i think people were upset

with that. and -- sorry, what was the second part of the question? >> the second part of the question was, what are you telling people that are dishing hate at you, that are saying mean things to you about this? >> i have been telling people that it was a popular vote. i feel like the people who are dishing hate are using the excuse of empathy and feeling sorry for the other candidates as an excuse to be homophobic and hateful. that's just my personal opinion. and i have just been telling them that i want them to have a great day. killing with kindness kind of stuff. and i have been telling them just, like, it doesn't really affect you all that much so stay positive about your own life. >> so, last question here, zachary, is you're living you to your true self. i can see that and i love that. what do you say to other little kids out there that are having difficulties being their true self? that are scared?

>> there are going to be people who love you for who you are is and who are going to hate you for who you are. it's up to you to pick and choose your battles but if i were you, i would live yourself to the fullest extent that you feel comfortable with and try to kind of have your shuttle as much as you can. >> zachary willmore, queen of homecoming, great to talk to you. >> thank you so much. >> thanks for coming. still ahead, everybody, a former trump official who helped to try and overturn the election is refusing to testify before the house committee investigating january 6th. will he be held in contempt? we'll be right back. h. will he be held cinontempt? we'll be right back.

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welcome back, everybody. we're still monitoring that news conference out of houston, texas. >> we have initial numbers here. it's in the hundreds. in 2019, what i have is there was 409 event security, 30 armed private security, and 47 houston police department officers. in 2021 -- excuse me? 47.

in 2021, 505 department security -- >> it seems about the number of security that were at the concert here, at the travis scott concert where the stampede happened overnight. talking about some of the numbers of folks, the victims, and, of course, the people injured. we're currently hearing eight people have, in fact, died. that's what we've been reporting all day, ranging in age from 14 to 27 years old. about 50,000 people who were attending this event yesterday evening when the stampede actually occurred towards the stage, the mayor of houston -- sylvester turner, 13 hospitalized and being treat for their injuries that were incurred during that stampede. they're currently working with travis scott, the artist himself, and the promoter of the

concert to figure out the answers to two major questions, which is what took place and what went wrong. it seems as if the press trying to drill down on this and asking officials there as to the number of security officials that were in place to monitor the situation at the concert. with that, we want to go to nbc's catie beck who's standing by and covering this press conference for us. katie, talk us through what more we heard from officials there as we're trying to learn some answers to those questions. the mayor himself put out there as to what took place and what went wrong when we're talking about eight people now dead, ranging in age from 14 to 27. >> well, i think the message was clear they want to do an independent investigation. they want there to be an independent review of the site and security plans put forth before this event and see if

they missed something, if it should've been more security, more thought out, that security wasn't properly in place where it should've been. they did give some commendations to emergency personnel for responding quickly. they did say that live nation is cooperating and providing them with videotape of last night's event. but they also said this will be a homicide and narcotics investigation. that was a key point we had not heard before this press conference. and the reason for that that they said was because of a security guard who evidently was injected with something in his neck and went down unconscious at the concert. was later given narcan and revived. that was an interesting detail we hadn't heard before now. >> catie beck, thanks for subject that up for us. i know you're going to stay on top of it as it develops. hopefully we'll bet more answers as this presser is continuing. thank you. i want to pivot back to washington. former trump doj official

jeffrey clark under fire. clark delivered a 12-page letter from his attorney defending his refusal to testify on the grounds of executive and attorney/client privilege relating to former president trump. shortly after, the panel's chairman rejected his claim staying committee needs the information he's withholding and will, quote, take strong measures to hold him accountable to meet his obligation. thompson added clark has a short time to cooperate fully. joining me now is betsy woodruff swan. i want to read some of your reporting on jeffrey clark. clark's letter is unusual and surprising to make the case that clark cannot testify to the january 6th committee cites a separate letter in which trump's lawyer specifically said the former president would not try

to block clark's congressional testimony. despite trump's effort to assert privilege to bar his white house records, a move that a federal judge seemed highly inclined to reject, he has not done so in clark's case. is clark just doing this, betsy, using this caveat of attorney/client privilege to not speak at all? is that what's happening here? >> it's clear that clark has no intention of cooperating with this committee, and he's doing everything he can to try to make a legal case for why he shouldn't have to play ball. but as you just detailed, it's a weird one because the last time we know of when trump directly communicated to clark about what he wanted him to do, trump said that he would not stop clark from testifying. we have no indication that trump has subsequently followed up with clark. in fact, multiple other former

top doj officials are in the same position clark is in now and have testified to the select committee. what they've indicated in that testimony is facts and details that are extremely unflattering both to clark himself, but also to the former president as well. they've laid out the efforts that donald trump engaged in, that he tried to dragoon other officials into also engaging in, gorgeous everything possible to reverse the efforts -- to reverse the results of the 2020 election. of course trump didn't take the steps that he could have in part because many of those other senior doj officials who have testified threatened to quit en masse if trump did go ahead and try to reverse those election results. jeff clark's testimony is a key missing piece of that puzzle as far as what happened at doj in trump's final weeks. that's why the committee wants it to deeply and why it's so frustrating that clark is trying to step on them. >> we're going to continue to

follow this obviously as the investigation continues there. for now, sorry to cut it short, betsy, but i do have to wrap you. great to see you, my friend, and appreciate you joining us this hour. that wraps it up for me this hour. i'm yasmin vossoughian. i'll be back here tomorrow at 3:00 a.m. eastern. reverend al sharpton and "politicsnation" begins right now. good evening, and welcome to "politicsnation." tonight's lead, halfway there. right now i'm cautiously optimistic again. my hope is that it was all worth it, the months of negotiations, the other priorities diverted, and, of course, this unity among democrats. that continued nearly into last night's historic vote to pass the president's $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure