apprentices are women or people of color. [ applause ] and this law empowers unions to keep building the middle, leaving no one behind. most of all, i'm proud to stand here as an american in this moment. in our line of work, you have to trust one another to get the job done. and throughout this process, i knew we could trust someone to get this law done. someone who understands what workers like me are going through, and who always believes in us and what we can do, if given a chance. i never imagined in a million years that i would be standing here today. yeah. but that's what's great about america. thank you. [ applause ] oh, thank you. thank you.

yeah. but that's what's so great about america. and having a president who believes someone like me should be standing here. on behalf of local 86 in seattle, and union workers ever where, for the faith he is placing in us, i am honored to introduce the 46th president of the united states, joe biden. [ applause ] >> thank you, thank you, thank you. [ cheers and applause ] thank you heather [ chanting ] thank you, thank you, thank you. well, thank you. heather, you are surprised you are standing here. jill is very surprised i'm

standing here. [ laughter ] ette hadar, thank you for introduction. i can't look over here because the sun is shining in my eyes. but all this crowd over here, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, for all you have done. look, thanks for sharing this way with us. why this day matters to you and your fellow iron workers and your feels, you explained it well. for all the folks at home, i know this day matters to you as well. i know you are tired of the bickering in washington, frustrated by the negativity, and you just want us to use and focus on your needs, your concerns, and the conversations are taking place at your kitchen table, conversations as profound as they are ordinary. how do i find work? how do i get there? how can our small business thrive? and our child succeed in school in or how do we emerge from this pandemic? not just a little bit of

breathing room, but with a real fighting chance to get ahead? when we ran for president, i thought maybe i could help answer some of those questions for you and the needs you have. because every time i would ride home on acu-trac i would go through just south of baltimore, i would look out and go through a suburban neighborhood. i would look, and all of those lights were on in the windows. i would look and independent wonder, what are they talking about? i am serious. swear god, what are they talking about, sitting at that table? what are they talking about? the things i talked about at our kitchen table, jill at hers, and all of you as well. asking about how can we come together to be president for all americans, to make sure our democracy delivers for you, for all of you. and i promise that we couldn't just build back to what it was before. we literally had to build back better. you couldn't build back -- we

are the only country that has always come out of great crises stronger than we went in. the world has changed. and we have to be ready. my fellow americans, today i want you to know, we hear you, and we see you. the bill i'm about to sign into law is proof that despite the cynics, democrats and republicans can come together and deliver results. we can do. we can deliver real results for real people. we see in ways that really matter each and every day to each person out there. and we are taking a monumental step forward to build back better as a nation. i want to thank everyone who helped make this happen. vice president harris, my cabinet members, my white house team, jill, doug, our first lady and our -- excuse me, first lady and our second husband -- no.

i'm joking. [ laughter ] these guys travel all over the country together. i'm getting worried, you know. doug's one hell of a lawyer, besides. and everybody from the united states senate, majority leader schumer, and a group of senate democrats and republicans who established this bipartisan framework, including representatives and all the folks you heard from, senator rob portman, who is a really hell of a good guy. i am not hurting you, rob, because i know you are not running again. that's the only reason i say it. but you are a hell of a good guy. and the most determined woman i know, senator kyrsten sinema. i also want to thank the minority lead leader mitch mcconnell for voting for this bill and talking about how useful and important it is. and from the house of

representatives, nancy pelosi, hoyer, and clyburn, and defazio. democrats and republicans, progressives and moderates. i would like to pause and ask all the committee chairs and ranking members of the united states senate and house who are here today, please stand. will all of you stand? come on. all right. thank you, thank you, thank you. to state the obvious, none of this would have happened without all of you. i really mean it. and also to the governors. where are the governors? governors, stands up. come on, i want you to stand up. red states, blue states, you all have contacted me. you all said you were for this. you all stepped up. and more than 375 mayors, democrats and republicans. and every state and district of columbia wrote me asking to get

this done. you got it, kid. only 50 of whom are here today including the republican mayor from fontana, california, mayor warren, who spoke earlier. and county, state and tribal leaders as well, civil rights leaders, faith leaders. you know, this law was supported by business groups, the u.s. chamber of commerce, the national association of manufacturers, the business round table representing 200 of the largest corporations in america and other top businesses. i want to especially thank -- i am sure you will all -- as we used to stay in the senate, point of personal privilege, i want to thank organized labor, who understands this is about jobs. y'all stood up. jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs! special thanks today to the aflcio, united auto workers, electrical workers, ibew, it goes on, plumbers,ite pipe

fitters and the building streets. -- [ inaudible ] [ laughter ] >> pardon me? >> my wife is a member of a union, the nea. i am going to get in trouble. machinists -- so many more. look, folks, for too long we have talked about having the best economy in the world. we have talked about asserting american leadership around the world, with the best and the safest roads, railroads, ports, airports. here in washington, we have heard countless speeches and promises and white papers from experts. but today we are finally getting this done. so my message to the american people is this -- america's moving again. and your life is going to change for the better. if you live in one of the top -- if you live in one of the ten million homes or you are a child who attends one of the 400,000

schools or child care centers that still has lead pipes in them, you face a clear and present danger to your child's health and your health now. this law is going to start to replace 100% of the nation's lead pipes and service lines so every american, every child, can turn on the faucet and drink clean water. and tens of thousands of plumbers and pipe fitters are going to get work done in good-paying jobs. folks, as we saw with remote learning, remote working during the pandemic, access to high-speed internet is essential. and access to water -- as essential as access to water and electricity. this law is going to make high-speed available and affordable in every year, suburban, urban, and rural. and plenty of jobs laying down those high-speed lines. no parent should have to sit in the parking lot in a fast-food restaurant again just so their child can use the internet to do their homework. that's over.

and folks, if i visited your town, i'm sure you would be able to tell me where you hold your breath as you cross the particular bridge, and where the most dangerous intersection in your town is. this law makes itsos significant investment in roads and bridges in the past 70 years. it makes the most significant investment in passenger rail in the past 50 years. and in public transit ever. so what -- what that means is you are going to be safer, and you are going to get there faster. and we are going to have a whole hell of a lot less pollution in the air. the bipartisan law will modernize our ports, our airports, our freight rail to make it easier for companies to get goods to market, reduce supply chain bottle necks as we are experiencing now, and lower costs for you and your family. the law also builds on our resilience so that the next storm, super storm, drought,

wildfire, hurricane, can be dealt with. last year alone, the united states, as a consequence of these kinds of extreme weather events, lost $99 billion n the united states alone, in damage. after hurricane ida -- i see the distinguished governor from louisiana is over there. i saw him stand up. i went down to see him. we went through and saw all the damage there. they had 179-mile-an-hour winds at top speed in louisiana. but then i headed on up to new york, chuck, up in your area, to queens and new jersey. more people died there than in the hurricane. more people died with the flooding. record wildfires raged. i went to idaho and california and saw it. more land has burned to the ground than the entire state of new jersey out west. folks, walk the neighborhoods and look the people in the eye in these circumstances, as many

of you have, and you will see the despair and the heartache. so many of you understand. you are living through it. this law builds back our bridges, our water systems, our power lines, our levees, better and stronger. so fewer americans will be flooded out of their homes or lose power in those days and weeks with the storms that have hit. folks, this bipartisan law, for the first time ever, creates a true national network of charging stations for electric vehicles, 500,000 of them so you can charge your car here and drive all the way to california not worrying about having to find places to charge, creating thousands of jobs, thousands. it's also going to make it possible for americans to get off the sidelines and into the game of manufacturing, solar panels, winds turbines, batteries to store energy and power for electric vehicles, including electric school buses, which will mean millions of children will no longer inhale the dangerous diesel fumes that

come out of the puss. for real. it's a big deal. and i will reward companies for paying good wages and for buying -- american sourcing their products here in america, right now. it is going to help the united states export clean energy technologies to the world creating tens of thousands of more jobs. there is so much more in the law. most of all, it does something truly historic. i ran for president believing it was time to rebuild the backbone in this nation, which i characterize the working people and the middle class. they are the ones who built the country. to rebuild the economy from the bottom up and the middle out, this law delivers on that long overdue promise in my view, it creates better jobs for millions of americans. and no one -- no one earning less than $400,000 a year will pay a single penny in federal taxes because of it. and it does not include, as we did the bipartisan infrastructure bill, it does not include a single penny in gas

tax, which i rejected because people under $400,000 would be paying it. this law is a blue collar blueprint to rebuild america. it leaves no one behind. and it marks an inflection point that we face as a nation. for most of the 20th century we led the world by a significant margin because we invested in ourselves. somewhere along the way we stopped investing in ourselves. we risk losing our edge as a nation and china and the rest of the world are catching up. our infrastructure used to be rated the best in the world. now according to the world economic forum we rank 13th in the world. well, that's about to change. things are going to turn around in a big way. [ applause ] for example, because of this law, next year will be the first year in 20 years american infrastructure investment will grow faster than china's. we'll once again have the best roads, bridges, ports, and airports over the next decade. and we'll lead the world into

the 21st century with modern cars and trucks and transit systems. we are going to do this by building again and moving again. folks, too often in washington the reason we didn't get things done is because we insisted on getting everything we want. everything. with this law, we focus on getting things done. i ran for president because the only way to move this country forward in my view was to compromise and consensus. that's how the system works. that's american democracy. and i am going to be signing a law that is truly consequential because we made our democracy deliver for the american people. we credit myselfed. we reached a consensus. that's necessary. and now our focus moves to implementing an infrastructure law with speed and with discipline -- i have a lot of experience in doing that. when i was vice president i was given responsibility for overseeing and implementing the recovery act for nearly $900

billion emergency package. i am proud to say when we finished implementing that recovery act it was determined there had been less than .2 of 1% waste through fraud or abuse. it was how i learned and earned the nickname sheriff joe from president obama. because i made it a point, every single day for well over a year to stay on top of how the moneys with was being used. i spoke with 160 mayors, two three times, sometimes. and i folk with county executives and everyone governor, save one -- i won't mention that. save one. she's ka seal afcer from reports. but monitoring how it was being done. it was one of the most efficient blemtations of an american program in american history. now we are going to do it again. and to make sure every penny is going where it is supposed to do

i asked mitchell landrieu to oversee this activity. we have the high obligation and responsibility to make sure this money is used wisely and used well. folks, i have been looking forward to this day for a long time, like all of my colleagues here have. tomorrow i will be traveling to new hampshire to visit a bridge that is structurally not safe, like thousands of bridges across america. that's what this law is all about, keeping communities safer and more efficient. on wednesday i will be in detroit to meet with uaw workers building the next generation of electric vehicles. that's just the beginning. you will also be seeing me and the vice president harris, jill and doug, cabinet officials hitting the road to help you understand how this is going to transform your lives for the better. and folks, when you see these projects starting in your hometowns, i want you to feel what i feel, pride, pride in what we can do together as the

united states of america. folks, you know, same goes for my plan to build back better for the people, getting folks back to work and reducing cost of things like child care, elder care, housing, health care, prescription drugs, and meeting the moment on climate change. i'm confident that the house will pass this bill. and then we are going to have to pass it in the senate. and it's fully paid for. it will reduce the deficit over the long term according to the leading economists in the world. and, again, no one earning less than $400,000 will pay a single penny more in federal taxes. and together, together, with the infrastructure bill, millions of lives will be changed for the better. folks, let me close with this. tloultd our history we have emerged from crises by investing in ourselves. during and after the civil war, as has been referenced we built the transcontinental railroad uniting east and west, uniting america. during the cold war we built the international highway system

transforming how americans lived their lives now we are emerging from the covid-19 pandemic and we'll build an economy for the 21th entree. when i met with the president of china, who i am going to be speaking with tonight several years ago he asked me -- we were in china. he said, could i define america? i said absolutely. this is the god's truth. i said absolutely. i can define it in one word. possibilities. possibilities. inside no limit to what our people think we can do. and there is no limit to what our nation can do. and there is no one thing that i know more than this. it's never, ever been a good bet to bet against the american people. never, never, never. given half a chance, the american people have never, ever, ever let this nation down. and it's our job to give our people that chance. it's our job to come together and make sure we remain a nation of possibilities. as i look out in this crowd

today, i see democrats and republicans, national leaders, local leaders, all elected officials, labor leaders, business leaders and most of all, i see americans. i see america. let's remember this day. let's remember, we can come together. most of all, let's remember what we have gotten done for the american people when we do come together. i truly believe 50 years from now, historians will look back at this moment and say that's the moment america began to win the competition of the 21st century w. confidence, optimism, with vision and faith in each other let's believe in possibilities. let's believe in one another. and let's believe in america. god bless you all, and may god protect our troops. and now let me sign this bipartisan bill. [ applause ]

>> oh, my mask. >> we were wondering when you were going to stop, man, we're frozen. >> i know what you mean. that's the only reason i did stop. folks, i am going to get each of you a pen. there is 30 of you up here. but i only have one pen. >> all right. okay. here we go. [ applause ]

thank you, thank you, thank you. good job. >> i will give that to you. >> everybody gets one. all right. ♪♪ >> hi there, everyone. a moment this white house has been working toward, a moment the country has been hearing about for five years. the last administration tried and failed to achieve what justice happened on the white house lawn. hi, everyone, america is moving again. that's the message from president joe biden. as you just saw, he signed into law the bipartisan infrastructure bill. together with the social spending bill that's still making its way through kong, the $1.2 trillion, one of the essential planks of president biden's agenda. the signing comes at a moment when the administration is looking for some fresh momentum

amid flagging approval ratings and disappointing results for democrats in earlier elections this month. flanked by democrats and the handful of republicans who dared to show up today despite threats from the rest of their caucus in the house and senate. president biden said, quote, we made our democracy deliver for the american people. the president signing a bipartisan infrastructure deal that eluded his predecessor is where we start this hour. kristen welker is here, also joining us, charlie sykes, and former senator claire mccaskill. you can see it, kristen welker, in all the body language. this is the momentum they have been looking for. this was a moment they have been pointing toward. this is the deliverable that this president is ready to go out there and sell, talking about being in new hampshire tomorrow, detroit, the next day,

and barn storming, really, the country. the vice president, both of their spouses, and the cabinet. >> you are absolutely right, nicole. this is significant for so many reasons. this is the president's largest legislative achieve noent date. and it fulfills two key campaign promises. one, to pass an infrastructure bill. and, two, to do so with bipartisan support. and as you pointed out so well at the top, nicole, the fact that you have a number of republicans there -- we heard from rob portman, lisa murkowski there, mitt romney, they are there despite the fact they have come under criticism by their own party for their being there today to support the achieve men. the president is going object on the road as he talked about tomorrow in new hampshire at a bridge trying to explain what he has passed now to the american people, trying to explain to

them how it is going to ultimately, he will argue, help their lives not only for the infrastructure piece of it, because it will create jobs. that's what you will hear from the president tomorrow when he's on the road. he teed that up today. the hard work comes when it focuses on the second piece of his agenda, the spending and climate plan. it is due to potentially be voted on in the house this week. not certain that's going to happen. it comes against the backdrop of rising inflation so you have moderates like senator senator manchin saying wait a minute, should we be spending more at a time when inflation is going up, when prices are increasing on everything from groceries to gas? that is a potential hurdle moving forward. of course it comes aagainst the backdrop of the president' approval rating which has been dipping, a new low this week, 41%. but images like this, on the

south lawn, the president saying we have now checked the box on some of our biggest campaign promises. >> claire, i do not hold up what the part of the job they are paid for as heroic. but it needs to be underscored, something kristen is pointing out. rob portman wasn't just there. he spoke. i know he's retiring. again, i am not handing out courage medals to any republicans on these air waves ever, i promise. but that he was there is exactly what biden needs right now. what impact do you think that has? do you think they had to do any -- the portman i used to know would want to be there because he used to care about governing. just talk about the importance for this president of this image. >> well, i -- listen, kudos to rob for being there. i'm not going to give him a whole bunch of medals at this point because he is retiring. but, importantly, there are republicans there who aren't

retiring. shelly cap at that was behind the president when he signed that bill. she's not retiring and she's from virginia. a republican from west virginia. she took the step of saying this is the right thing to do. and did you notice, the president name dropped mitch mcconnell. that was very smart. because he's reminding the country the top leader, the top elected leader of the republican party on capitol hill supported this bill. so trump can do all he wants to do, and the people that are encouraging this horrible threat of violence that many of these republicans are facing -- you know, that's a big deal, that mitch mcconnell was actually mentioned by the president and that mitch mcconnell -- nobody is punishing anybody in the republican caucus on the senate side, because their leader was for the bill. >> charlie, i want to come back to the president's remarks.

he -- he has this herculean task now of making sure people understand in a the good things they start to see happening in their communities, they tie back to this piece of legislation, that this president has fought for and held this pretty fragile bipartisan coalition together to get to today. what did you hear today that, in your view, sort of bears repeating? >> well, there was a lot that bears repeating. and this is really the beginning of what's going to have to be, as you point out, a herculean sales job explaining what's in this. also thematically, that you are talking about jobs, talking about making america competitive, you are talking about the need to say, look, this country used to be number one. we want to make it number one again. our position, vis-a-vis china. these are all powerful messages that haven't broken through because the last several months democrats have spend most of the time dblting among themselves.

i would think that you would hope over the last couple of weeks seeing some of these poll numbers, including the fact that republicans may have opened up a double digit lead in the generic ballot -- think about that for a moment considering how nilistic they have been, reckless they have been and how obstructionist they have been. yet they are leading in theless po. i think democrats need to engage in introspection, that they have been focused on their own differences rather than making the case to the american people of what they are delivering, and also holding republicans accountable for the fact that they are not, with the exception of the handful that were there today, actually addressing any of these problems. i thought when president biden said we see you and we hear you, we are trying to deal with the problems that exist in your life in the real world, that's a potential real contrast between people trying to get things done and the kind of gamesmanship that you are seeing in congress, including the number of republicans that have spent the

last week fighting with big bird as opposed to doing anything for anyone out on the actual real world. >> kristen welker, donald trump tried to do this for four years. he -- it is popular. really really popular. 62% of all americans support this. before this sales job commences. tell me your understanding of what's in the bill. >> well, this is going to pour billions of dollars into roads, into bridges, into expanding broadband, which is so important, because you have communities all across the country, including communities of color, that don't have access to broadband. and so they are falling behind. whether we are talking about work or education. and so that's going to be a critical piece of it. there is also going to be some money that goes potentially toward climate. so this is a sweeping bill.

and i think the question is about timing. how quickly can they actually get some of these projects going? how quickly can the jobs start to be created? now we have pressed the white house on this over and over again. and they say, look, some of the project also get going in the next few months. for others, it is going to be a year. i think you are going to see a variation there. but when we are talking about inflation and the need to deal with that issue and the real pain that people are feeling in their pocket books, obviously, the white house knows they have got to move on this. they are putting mitch landrieu in charge of the rollout. that's going to be a critical piece of this. obviously he's got a lot on his shoulders moving forward. >> claire, same question to you, tell me what, if your view, if you were still having to shore up your political standing what would you talk about being in this bill? >> i think i would talk -- we have got to remember the mother-in-laws in rural america are brutal for democrats right

now. un -- the margins in rural america are brutal for democrats right now. one of the resources needs to be getting the internet out. this bill is going to do a lot for broadband in rural communities. we all know that's economic development. that's a lifeline to rural communities in this country. in a state like mine i would be talking a lot about the broadband part of this bill and what it is going to mean to people who want to start a small business in a community where a lot of other opportunities have dried up. >> charlie, all but 19 republicans oppose what claire just articulated. tell me what pieces of this bill that was signed into law today cross-pressure the republicans the most. >> well, i think that the kinds of things you have been talking about. look, americans like the idea of building things. they like the idea of building roads and bridges and making the

country more competitive, putting people back to work. i think the republicans, particularly in the house r betting everything on on opposing whatever is being done. and i think this is an opening for president biden to say, look, we are accomplishing things, we are doing things, we want america to be back. and these other guys are proposing nothing. they are for nothing. i think he ought to turn it around and say, ask your republican congressman or senator who voted against this, what are you in favor of? don't tell me what you oppose. what are you in favor of in your community? are you against fixing the lead pipes? are you against building and fixing these roads? are you against transit? i think that needs to be done here. i think the president did strike that note when he said, you know, people doubt that we can get things done in wisconsin -- wisconsin? in washington, that there is too much bickering. so this may be the last opportunity of his presidency to stand in front of a bipartisan

audience and say this is how washington should work. because you get the sense that maybe the door is closing on that and it is going to be scorched earth politics from now on. and frankly, i think the people are disgusted by that. you know, as ironic as it might be -- and it's a tough job -- here's a president that can actually run against washington dysfunction. because it is going to be very dysfunctional i think for the next year or so. >> kristen, this president has, in his cabinet, someone who i think during the democratic primary -- i once described as one of the more effective political mess i thinkers in the arena. i think i was watching him on fox news in a town hall. it is now his secretary of transportation, pete buttegeig. let me play you something he said on our new york earlier today. >> it is not just about tell and sell. it is about show and tell. it is about pointing very directly to the areas where people will literally see concrete improvements in their lives and their communities,

thanks to this bill. look, it has always been true that it takes a little bit of time for public satisfaction to follow achievements here in washington because people are waiting to see whether the thing that are talked about and even the things that are passed and signed here actually affect them. we recognize that. we accept that. we also know that people are going to see, in short order, both in their pockets, in terms of things like the child tax credit once the build back better act passes, and in their communities, with this infrastructure deal, people are going to see a ton of improvement, a big impact. and yes, it is our job to make sure there is no doubt in anybody's mind why those improvements are happening. >> i remember after president obama and vice president biden passed some of their first sort of post 2008 economic collapse packages, all the shovel-ready projects. i remember driing by some of them. these are your stimulus dollars. tell me what the plan is to do what secretary buttegeig described there, kristen?

>> well, secretary buttegeig argues that there is no time to waste and that they do have a detailed plan. again, mitch landrieu is set to be in charge of that rollout, making sure that the projects that can be started in the short-term are started immediately. and frankly, that they are putting team to work. i think that's going to be the first piece of this. to your point, people want to drive by the bridges in their communities and see that the work has begun on starting to improve them. if they are not seeing that type of movement, that's when this administration is really going to start to feel the heat. i think time is of the essence. again, because of the backdrop of the inflationary numbers that we are seeing. and i think that that's really going to keep the pressure on this administration, on secretary buttegeig, on mitch landrieu, and everyone charged with the implementation of this, to make sure that it is done in short order. >> i want to add to our coverage amy -- white house reporter for

pbs news hour live from the white house. you are i believe right in front of the rose garden, or you were in there for the signing. tell me, di enmoo, we have all been here, all of us covering -- i am not going to play it because i don't want to hear him today but donald trump over and over, we are going to fix our inner cities, airports, tunnels, high schools we are going to rebuild our infrastructure. momts later, infrastructure, notice of, we are going to start spending on infrastructure. we have the plan largely completed. we will be filing it. he thought you filed your structure bill. it is not how a bill becomes a law at all. but this administration achieved something that the last administration talked about for four long years. >> that's right. i should tell you i was out there on the cold south lawn today shivering with the other

lawmakers who were cold but very excited about this infrastructure. this is historic no matter what metric you look at it from. when you heard about this from not only president biden but from the officials and the lawmakers, both democrats and republicans, was the sense of infrastructure has finally arrived for america. the president was zooming out talking about the fact that the united states, at least in some studies ranked 13th in infrastructure. here he is they aring this idea that america needs to be competing more with countries, especially china, especially ahead of his meeting with the president of china laid later tonight. you heard from lawmakers in the crowd things you couldn't catch on camera. what senator portman talked about president trump and said he moved the ball forward by talking about infrastructure there were literally noticeable growns from democrats saying essentially what are you talking about here? this is an achievement by president biden. then when you heard president

biden and vice president harris say this is part one of two, there were raucous cheers arc lot of real energy behind this idea that the build back better agenda could be passed as well. one person i was looking at specifically was senator joe manchin, he did not clap when other democratics were clap being the build back better agenda. he has even indicated, his office, he is thinking about pushing that bill back to 2022. i think even in this crowd you can see the next phase of this is going to be tougher. it is going to be a little bit more negotiation. that in some ways is the feel of it. really exub rags and also an understanding there are tough times ahead. >> i want to deal with something you have all sort of referenced. that the trump hanging over and the threats that the republicans are facing. i want to play nebraska congressman don bacon talking to station ke tv about the o'reilly that gop disinformation has played in this process. >> they are being intentionally

deceived by some folks in our party in washington and some of the so-called conservative media outlets. to say a bill is right for your district, your state, something you helped write and then you have to vote against it because you don't want to give the other side victory that is a sign of what's broken. >> this is a play being made right now. mark meadows endorsed sanctioning and punishing, political funnishment for the 19 republicans nine in the set a and three in the howls. >> traitor, that's what you are, you are a [ bleep ] [ bleep ] [ bleep ] [ bleep ] traitor. i hope you die. i hope everybody in your [ bleep ] [ bleep ] family dies. he [ bleep ] [ bleep ] [ bleep ] [ bleep ] [ bleep ] [ bleep ] [ bleep ] piece of twrash. voted forren [ bleep ] [ bleep ]. you can even complete a

sentence. you -- i hope you die, i hope your family dies, hope everybody on your [ bleep ] staff guys. >> his crime? he voted for the infrastructure bill. claire? >> shame on kevin mccarthy. shame on him. you know, he has a member who is tweeting a cartoon showing him killing a fellow member of congress. he has this kind of thing going on. he's got members tweeting out phone numbers, calling fellow republicans traitors. and he does nothing. i mean, this guy is worse in some ways than donald trump. because he dresses all up and acts like he's normal and that he cares about america and all he cares about is keeping donald trump happy so that he can be speaker of the house. and by the way, what he's doing right now is totally poisoning the well. it's totally poisoning the well

of democracy, for anything to get done on a bipartisan basis going forward. regardless of which party is in charge. shame on him. and i blame the leadership of the republican party in the house as much as i blame anybody else for where we find ourselves right now, with all of these ugly threats being put up with and not being condemned by people who know better. >> we cover the threat of violence as normalization all the time here. yamiche, it strikes me it might be stupid politics. i think i rented apartments because a whole foods was going to exist in the neighborhood some day. i think i usually moved before anyone broke grounds on it. people like knowing good stuff is coming to their neighborhoods and towns. it might be terrible politics to be punishing people that were for better roads, bridges and broadband. >> this is in some ways the post january 6th america that we are living in, republicans who are seen as even a little bit of not

doing exactly what former president trump wants them to do face death threats that voice mail is just one of so many that i am sure elected officials are facing. i should say there are a number of people -- of course republicans are facing this. let's remember there are a lot of democrats, women of color around this country, people i have reported on who are also facing daily death threats because of the culture of violence frankly that the gop has in some ways leaned into. look no further than paul gosar. i am processing the idea that a sitting lawmaker tweeted out an animated photo shopped video of him killing another representative. if there is any -- if there is no pushback, an ordinary citizen feels empowered to threaten their lawmaker, and their family and staff. this is underlining all the graemts in our culture on

capitol hill or in a school board meeting. people are scared, people are using fear and danger to get their views across. at least on one side of the aisle it is objective and i think we can say republicans and the gop have been using it intentionally because they think it is a winning message or they are prodding people because they don't want to lose their voters, upset people who think danger and scaring people is the way to go. >> in that climate, with all those threats, today president biden signed his bipartisan infrastructure bill. thank you for your reporting on this day. charlie and claire aren't going anywhere. steve bannon did not get dressed up for his court appearance todays. he faces criminal charges for covering up what he once shouted from the rooftops, his enthusiasm for overturning the 2020 election. bannon today telling his supporters to, quote, stand by.

how the expresident contributed to death and disease and suffering in america by interfering with cdc efforts to warn americans about covid, all out of fear of hurting his political standing. later in the program, a victory against the most cynical and heinous kind of disinformation. alex jones was found guilty of defamation in lawsuits brought by the sandy hook families. all those stories and more when "deadline: white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. break. don't go anywhere. ♪ my songs know what you did in the dark ♪

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today long-time trump ally, the pardoned steve bannon, made his first court appearance. notably, he did not get dressed up. after being indicted by a federal grand jury friday. he faces two charges of contempt of congress for refusing to answer questions from the bipartisan house committee. if convicted he could face a year behind bars and a fine of up to $100,000. bannon, defiant and delusional said things today like quote we are taking down the biden regime, ends quote. harry, your thoughts? >> look, he wanted to be defiant. he relishes this role of being a swashbuckling villain. my main thought? doesn't matter. he's out of the game now. the main game, which is the january 6 select committee. he's on a different track.

we don't care about him anymore. we don't care about his testimony. what we care about is the changed motivation of the other people, like the mark meadows of the world and the peter clarks are the world who now are looking at a looking a at a real possibility of of stakes if they try to flout their nose at congress the way bannon has done. >> it's my understanding from the reporting at the time that he gravelled for a pardon. this is not a guy who is really, you know, fired up to go to jail perhaps. what do you think is really going on? >> well, he's loving this right now. steve bannon has described himself as a lennonist. he postures himself as a revolutionary. he's very clearly relishing all of this. i think people need to understand that. harry is right. the real significance of these charges is raising the stakes for other has that have to pay

these legal bills. as people look at steve bannon and as he's bragging about creating a constitutional crisis, understand this right now, this man is the tip of the spear of the former president of the united states. the man who would be president of of the united states again. steve bannon really does em abomination of desolation body the chaos and the anti-democratic fer investigator. you want fur investigator. you want to get a glimpse of what america's future looks like in 2024, look at steve bannon. he's putting out -- they have made up and clearly, look, steve bannon is not afraid of this process. he's enjoying it he loves being the martyr and intends to use this to raise money and to build

his movement and maybe he's hoping for another pardon. by the way, remember he was -- >> from who? >> remember, he was pardoned for ripping off members of the trump base getting them to give money, millions of dollars for his bogus wall scam. the guy is a grifter and yet here he is right in the center of maga world. >> what does that mean at this point? >> first of all, i think there's something that is hysterically funny about the fact that donald trump, who was so focused on how people looked, that they are perfectly groomed and specially cast for the part. and this slob, this dishevelled slob is his face. nobody cutting a swath of

handsomeness and crisply tailored suits. this guy looks like he just rolled out of bed with a hangover. it is ridiculous that this is the face of donald trump. and the other thing i find hysterical about today. first of all, we're giving him a lot of attention. hopefully it goes away quickly. but guess what his defense is? a snivelly little coward, my lawyer told me to do it. he changed lawyers so he could blame his lawyer for his defense. now, it wasn't that i'm doing this for america and i have a right to stand up. my lawyer made me do it. what a little coward. it's a joke. >> here's where i lose the plot on the tip of the sphere analysis, and i rarely disagree with charlie spears. if that's it true, why not ask for a prime time hearing in front of the committee and testify? if you believe in the

righteousness of the coup plot, which i'm guessing that bannon believed in that until he got charged with a federal crime, but if you're still down with the insurrection and if you got -- he was pardoned very late. i believe he was pardoned after january 6th. so i mean, i don't know that this is the best look for the ongoing insurrection. the stronger look, and claire took this to optics, would be to say, damn right i'll take the stand. i'll take the stand and tell you everything you want to know. there was fraud and donald trump won. next question. this is weak. >> right. he could be the oliver north saying here's what i think. your point is well taken. but, the real trump world is wanting more than anything it to

thumb its nose at all norms and institutions. so i think it fits better with that to simply ignore them and just have it out that way. now, of course, going forward, were he to do that, it would be quite the high wire act and could get himself in more trouble. but the big point is i think the victory, and it was a victory on friday, isn't just against bannon or for the committee. it's for government norms and institutions. and it's norms and institutions that he wants to denigrate and say are worthless, and i think the best part of the most congruent way to do that with the trump scheme is to just ignore them and not give them the benefit of even showing up. >> charlie, this is from his podcast friday.

he said, we're taking action that action is we're taking over school boards. we're taking over the republican party through the precinct committee strategy. we're taking over all the elections. we're going to get to the bottom of november 3rd and decertify the electors. and you're going to have a constitutional crisis, but you know what, we're -- he says something about big boy pants after that. youngkin won by not saying any of that crazy bleep. what is he doing? >> well, he is being steve bannon. this is his new persona. and to harry's point, when i say he's the tip of the spear, he doesn't need to persuade anyone. he's not trying to win hearts and minds or win an election. he's trying to stir up maga. he wants to tear everything

down. he is an agent of chaos. donald trump understands the power of chaos. this is what he's prepared to unleash on american politics. fpz. >> we will all keep watching. thank you for spending the hour with us. the next hour starts after a quick break. don't go anywhere. we're just getting started. n't . we're just getting started now,, thoughtful theo. and he's got a gift for everyone. so thoughtful. it's another day. and anything could happen. it could be the day you welcome 1,200 guests and all their devices. or it could be the day there's a cyberthreat. only comcast business' secure network solutions give you the power of sd-wan 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.

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might view this as an early test of whether our democracy was recovering. if our loss could mean anything,

it has to be applied equally. i'm flad the justice department has moved forward. it's 5:00 in new york. you really have to hand it to steve bannon on this. two indictments in two years is a pretty rare accomplishment, even in trump world. his surrender this morning in washington an important development for those fans of us for the rule of law. whatever office mark meadows found himself in this morning, he could soon find himself refer to the criminal contempt. med does now shaping up to be more aggressive than was previously known publicly in pressuring mike pence that's based on new reporting by jonathan carl. bannon, however, predictably framed himself as some sort of sloppy, defiant hero in the face of political persecution. while all of us might clearly see how outrageous that is,

republicans leaned in and promised revenge on behalf of steve bannon. "the washington post" says, quote, many gop leaders are seizing on bannon's indictment to contend that democrats are weaponizing doj. warning democrats they will go after biden aids for unspecified reasons if they take back the house majority in the midterms. congressional republicans promising out loud to pervert justice to punish democrats for holding the pardoned steve bannon in contempt of the body image they served is actually the least surprising thing that happened today. but it has catapulted the democratic party's political operation to reinvent himself to take on the gop rule of law and american democracy as aggressively as liz cheney does every single day. politico is reporting on a ferocious line of attack. detailed in a new memo, quote,

the moment washington republicans felt their grip on power loosen, they unleashed a full assault culminating in a murderous assault on the capitol. and the introduction of anti-voter legislation across the country. every day, republican demonstrate how dangerous their return to power would be. since january 6th, republicans have attempted to block investigations of the assault, cover up their involvement and defended and celebrated the rioters. in conclusion, the memo says, quote, kevin mccarthy has turned over control of the entire caucus to donald trump. his cowardly abdication leave it is with a toxic agenda and a field of conspiracy candidates that face an uphill battle convincing battleground voters to support them. and that is where we begin this hour. betty is here, national

correspondent at politico and msnbc contributor. also a.b.stoddard, and david plouf is here, former obama campaign manager and now an msnbc political analyst. it's a new political strategy. david, what do you think of it? >> well, i think this is true both in the house and the senate. glenn youngkin, for the most part, ran as mitt romney 2.0. a lot of the people that the republicans are likely to nominate for the house and senate are not going to be that. they are going to be trump and southbound is southbound accolades. so much of 2022 is going to come down to that, which is who comes through republican nomination fights. the bannon thing is interesting. what you see is we need them to be accountable for their past actions and current refusal to cooperate, but we see in stark pictures what they want. they do not believe they it should have to play by the rules

or be held accountable. they won't have to. autocracies have rules, but not for those people in power. you see what's driving this is they are so angered, so frustrated, so annoyed that the rule of law or laws apply to them. and i think that's what their desire is from donald trump on down is to live in autocracy. that's what make 20s 22 so important. right now, democrats, smart money and most of the money look ing at this would say, republicans have a significant advantage. a year is a long time in politics. i went through back in last decade republicans lost senate seat after senate seat after senate seat that they should have won, but they nominated the wrong people that's got to be one of the core democratic hopes is what comes ut out of the primaries are people that are too far to the right to win amongst general election voters.

>> a a.b., the dccc is not the only place where that a advice was vigorously advanced to the democratic party. it also came from charlie sykes. he writes this, president biden and as allies need to dsabuse themselves of the notion that we will see a return to normalcy any time soon. democrats should also take a break from their own blood letting that it's become a reckless danger to the republican. if democracy faces a kroi sis, perhaps the administration and congress should act like it. your thoughts? >> well, this has been a debate internally within the democratic party for awhile now. while the number one priority of the administration and the

president in the first six months was containing the pandemic and trying to grow the economy while they spiralled into a family fight over the build back better and bipartisan infrastructure framework negotiations, they were also losing sight of how radicalized the republican party was becoming. and i do think depending on what the january 6th committee will be able to uncover and reveal, the democrats can focus their messaging on the extremism in the republican party, even if they it don't, as david suggests, end up nominating a bunch of lunatics, which they are expected to do. i think that the democratic party needs to make the case that kevin mccarthy is unfit, that his members are unstable and fostering violence, and that i they can't hold government again because they are it pro coup. that is absolutely an emergency

situation in our country ask one the democrats have really sied away from talking about and in the new year they have lean into that message. >> they have to lean into it because it's true. and every day it becomes truer yet. jonathan carl's reporting really advances mark meadow's role as the quarterback of the coup plot. what jonathan carl reports is it has me wondering if he will still be his attorney by the end of the day. jenna ellis outlined a multistep strategy on january 6th, the day congress was to certify the 2020 election result, pence was to send back the votes from six states that trump falsely claimed he had won. the memo said that pence would give the states a a deadline of k p.m. eastern standard to send back a new set of votes. then ellis wrote, if any state legislatures missed that deadline, no electoral votes can be opened and counted from that

state. such a scenario would leave neither with a majority, which means congress should vote by delegation which would lead to trump being declared the winner due republicans controlling the majority with 26. mark meadows was pushing pence to do the ellis plan. i mean, this makes the eastman plan look less heinous. >> the more we learn, we're going to learn a lot more it's to make it more real for people. that this isn't a debate about where these terrorists or peaceful protesters. they were there to support their general, donald trump, but as we know having served, the white house chief of staff is a powerful position. to have the white house chief of staff basically suggesting to the vice president that the

constitution should be ignored, every day we say i can't -- how can it get worse. it's going to get worse and worse. i agree. regardless of who they nominate, this has to be front and center. but you have to make sure voters believe it. and reports like this if it you do a good job of reaching the voters, 40 to 45% of the country there's no risk they are going to see any of this. that's the world we're living in. you have to reach the people 50% of the country that believes we should still remain a democracy and believes mike pence did the right thing and i do think you're going to see republican primary candidates for the house and senate criticizing mike pence or at least saying we can't have cowardly republicans anymore. we have to have people going all the way to make sure we retain power. that will help nominate some of of the true believers. so this toxicity is getting worse and worse. so have we heard any republican

today, by the way, stand up of note and react to this memo? we haven't because they won't. so 60% of the country is available. that's your market. the rest of the country is gone. but you have to maximize that. if you turn it into a question of should we remain a democracy or not, that's a pretty profound question. you can do that skillfully, you have a chance of getting the votes you need in a tough political environment to hold on to both chambers. >> i have a question. you know all these players. that made sense to me when the legal questions seemed to be around executive privilege and the possibility that the supreme court would hear a consequential case. it's now clear that mark madows of the quarterback of the effort to overturn the government. to keep trump in power to

keep -- despite he guaranteed the country and donald trump, does he remain as counsel to mark meadows? >> i do not know what motivates people to serve as counsel for mark meadows or steve bannon or any of these characters. you're right, there's some claim to executive privilege before, but now because of jonathan carl's reporting that he was fully engaged in a coup plot with the former president, the other characters, it really is hard to imagine the injury to his reputation if he stays on with him. but again, we have watched and you know them as well as i do, many people of former integrity and character in this town completely lose their minds to zeb the ends of trump world. so i just wouldn't want to put

any money on it. >> this is your beat. you know these folks and the lawyers they retain. any sense of who is in the insurrection defense business? >> that's a good question. it's been very much a mix of different folks who kind of materialized from a variety of spaces. bannon, of course, just brought on a new lawyer who helped represent trump in his second impeachment stint. that's somebody who certainly has two rounds of experience defending people who are connected to efforts to overturn the lawful election pss. one player is what the committee is going to do regarding jenna ellis. she was an attorney who was a key player in a all of these conspiracy-driven efforts and there's no question that she helped amplify the types of conspiracy thinking the fact that she hasn't been named yet this any subpoenas from the

january 6th select committee is notable. there's going to be more subpoenas coming. but it is a glaring omission in this context of lawyers who were deep itly connected to this effort to try to overturn the outcome of the election. >> let me show you something chris christie said on axios about his efforts to reach into the oval office on january 6th. >> i called kelli ann. i called the president's secretary. couldn't get through. i then called his body guy. didn't pick up. i then called the president's cell phone. he didn't pick up. i was desperate to try to get in touch with him. i felt like what was happening was awful and was going to be a stain on his presidency. i wanted him to be the guy to

stand up and stop it. but he didn't take the call. so i said what i would have said to him privately on the air on abc that day. >> that's chris christie, has he spoken to the january 6th select committee investigating the events of the day of the insurrection? >> i haven't seen any reporting to that effect and nobody i have spoken to has mentioned him, but that clip is interesting because it mentions two people that has been subpoenaed. he's referring to the president's secretary, a younger woman who sat outside the oval office. she would have a lot of of knowledge of which calls were going in and out. who was actually able to get hold of the president. that's the kind of question this it select committee would want to ask her. and christie also referred to the president's body man at the time. presumably, if christie was calling trying to reach trump, there would have been any host of notables that would have been blowing up that guy's phone. luna is somebody that has a low-level position, but a ton of

access to the president by virtue of the constant proximity. so he's very much highlighting and laying a road map for how the committee can figure out how was calling the president, who got through, who didn't get through and it gives a little bit of shadow into the information if they were a able to enforce those subpoenas. >> what hangs over all this is we don't know what the committee already has. we don't know what they have got. we don't know the people that have gone in without being subpoenaed and facing contempt of congress criminal charges and doing the whole steve bannon. i don't know how steve bannon is advancing his current role as a pardoned podcast host for the maga world with his calls to standby. what do you make of whether

this -- i don't know how much more juiced maga world can get. how do you think this investigation, chris christie saying i tried to stop it and the drip from jonathan carl and we don't know what the committee has. how do you think this is it playing in the kinds of places that republicans need to be able to walk in and deliver a message? the kinds of places glenn youngkin could walk into. >> i think it would have been very hard for glenn youngkin if he was in the final days of his campaign this week. it's going to be hard for candidates that david was mentioning in the primaies on the debate stage. they might be laughing at mike pence, but once they are in the general election, they are going to be asked questions about the revelation of the committee. there's no question. and there will be people like chris christie running for the

2024 primary next year. they are out giving interviews in '21, they are going to be on stage in 2022 and there's much more the committee knows that we don't even know. there are people who can't afford lawyers who have walked away from trump world after january 6th who don't care to be reemployed by maga ever of again that are telling what they know. it's going to imperil candidates that are trying to run. i don't think in the end a non-trump candidate can prevail in 2024 with the republican base. but they are going to make a lot of of heat and discomfort available to the people trying to between now and then. there's no question a about it and democrats will see to that as well. but steve bannon, i just want to refer back to something chaly sykes was saying.

he's very frighting because he has a huge following. when he says we're taking over the school boards and the elections, he means it. that's happening in georgia and texas and arizona and critical battleground states. and steve bannon is going to continue to fight that and it fires up their base and they are going to go be election volunteers and combat polling places and raise money in the meantime. it really is what the eyes on destroy itting democracy for good in 2024. >> i want to give david the last word. a.b. just made a really revelatory point. the republicans have already rigged the rules. they are already different than they were it a year ago. they are different in georgia. they are different in texas. they are it different of wherever republicans were able to ram through laws. this memo today suggested

there's a key awareness. but is there action that matches that awareness? >> no, not yet. so we have been engrossed in the build back better drama, but what's still remaining is the most important piece of business is to pass a piece of legislation with a fill buster carve out that not just makes it easier to vote, but makes sure that whoever wins elections actually wins elections. that's the most damaging thing we saw in georgia, which is now state legislators can decide even if a democratic nominee wins by 500,000 votes, they can say they didn't win. i will say this. why do lawyers still hang around the meadows of the world? it's quite simple. they understand they are going to get criticism from society today. but i think they think it's a better chance that republicans retake the house and senate and ultimately the white house. at that point, if it they stuck by these people, they will be in

good shape with america's first dictator. and i think that's the calculous that's it going in here. they don't want to get on the wrong side of the potential question of whether we turn into atok ra sit or not. sadly. >> some sick stuff. thank you all so much. when we come back, a troef of new e-mails and documents paints an even clearer picture of how far the ex-president went to kneecap the cdc during the coronavirus pandemic injecting politics at every turn and putting hundreds of thousands of lives at risk. plus one of the biggest pushers of disinformation has been held to account by a judge in connecticut. how much will alex jones have to pay for defaming the families of the sandy hook victims. and a tough weekend for ted cruz. the butt of jokes on "snl" isn't bad enough, the texas senator

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brand new details on how the trump administration politicized and controlled some of the earliest, most critical points of the united states covid response. according to transcripts with former cdc officials released by congressional investigators, trump officials worked to undermine and silence the cdc, block media briefings and change its public guidance from within. and then it demanded that it the evidence be destroyed and it

apparently started as early as february 25th after a top doctor's accurate warning last february a about covid risks got trump allin a tizzy. dr. nancy told investigators, i believe my remarks were accurate based on the information we had at the time. i heard that the president was unhappy with the broefing. white house officials scheduled another believing that same day to soften the blow, even though former cdc official told the panel there was nothing new to report. she told the post about that meeting, quote, mixed messaging was a major problem. i think the government lost credibility. i'll say. joining us now is congressman raja is and yaz mean. congressman, you are on the committee that looked at all this, have these transcripts.

yasmine, you wrote this book. i've been desperate to talk to both of you. congressman, you first. >> we suspected what was going on, but the extent of the interference was very shocking in the sense that, as you said, after the doctor had accurately predicted the severity of the consequences of the virus back february of 2020, it quote, unquote, angered president trump and then at 245 point, he cut off all media briefings from the cdc to the public for months. in addition, one of the other things that raised eyebrows was he basically had people down play the risks of the significance of the virus in the meat packing industry as well as in religious gatherings, and of course, that affected countless people adversely because of that

softening of the guidance. >> i want to read from one of the committee's transcripts. this is a former cdc official who said this, the cdc would submit a request to do a briefing and it was declined. then at some point during that period, the white house task force began doing briefings that were not really -- i would say they didn't get carried out exactly the way we would have done them in terms of the content or q&a or availability. i know there was a point where they stopped asking because they kept saying no. have you been able to yet analyze the price of that it, of suppressing accurate science-based information from getting to the public? >> are you talking to me? >> yes, have you been able to sort of ask or press any of the officials in terms of the way they read through drills of how many people might have been

persuaded to put on a mask or how many people might have been part sueded not to travel or changed their behavior in the early months before we had a vaccine or any way to protect ourselves if the science had been able to communicate with the public? >> we don't know the full extent, but it affected hundreds of thousands of people. just as an example, we know that one of the things that the white house tried to do is reduce the amount of testing that happened throughout the country. dr. atlas, a special assistant to the president, was concerned about the level of testing going on and basically said to reduce the amount of testing and not test asymptomatic people. we know the virus spread among asymptomatic and symptomatic people, and that affected millions of people throughout the country. we're going to it get our arms

around the full extent of it, but it was pretty significant. >> this is from the book. i remember being haunted when read this and then i read donald trump's comments that matched up with it perfectly. you wrote, trump was most angry about the what the sick passengers meant for him. that doubles my numbers overnight, he complained. we import so many things, he told aids during one situation room meeting. we import goods. we're not going to import a virus. koent do we have an island to send it. the room was silent. where was trump going with this. he continued what about guantanamo. everyone froze. you certainly reported this out as though a lot of this was either known to you or known to your sources. tell me about your reaction to these transcripts. >> i think the e-mails and the transcripts included a lot of

important details that help us sort of piece together the narrative that we know happened last year, that there was extensive interference in the cdc and that certain guidances didn't come out the way they wanted. one of things that struck me in this trove of e-mails is the cdc wanted to do its own briefing on masks to make sure people would wear them. they were prevented from doing that it, and of course, we had really mixed messaging on masks all along and people confused about whether they were recommended or not. i don't know that a debriefing would have changed that given the president's messaging, but they were actively prevented from doing a number of briefings that they wanted to. and the other striking detail was the instruction to destroy a peas of evidence that shows political interference. these details are important, even if we knew interference happened, we're learning more and more about the degree it happened, which is key to understanding the response last year and why it unfolded the way it did.

>> the congressman mentioned testing and scott atlas. according to dr. birx, he helped spear head changes to cdc testing recommendations. this document was less aggressive testing of those without symptoms. that was the primary reason for the early community spread, birx told the panel. it sounds insane, because we all know, you're tested to identify asymptomatic cases. so it sounds absolutely insane to read that, but with all of your expertise and having covered the entire sort of failures of the government response, do you think there's any sort of prospect that folks will be held accountable or that

there would be hearings or we would try to unpack the most crucial mistakes at the most crucial junctures? >> it's a great question. i think it's one that a lot of people have, which is what are going to be the long-term lessons from this pandemic. how accountable are people going to be held. there are articles and books and obviously this committee's investigation, which has been releasing e-mails on a steady basis that helps us better understand what happened last year. but there still hasn't been that sort of 9/11 style commission formed to investigate the response, which is really strike ing to me and to a lot of sources who point out that 3,000 people died on 9/11. we're now at 750,000 deaths from this pandemic. and we need to understand how it happened. although this was always going to be a challenge, did it really have to be this bad. and what steps could have been taken that would have made it better. the jury is still out on what long-term lessons are bewe going

to take from this and how much of an appetite for a bipartisan look at who should be held accountable and how. >> congressman, can you answer any of that or tell us what happens next? >> so far, we have had lot of witnesses cooperate and we hope there's going to be that level of cooperation. we want to talk to dr. redfield, the head of the cdc, who unfortunately was part of this white house plitization effort. he conveyed instructions in one instance to delete an e-mail that was clear evidence of the politicization of the response. we want to talk to others as well who are involved. but i think the most important thing is we need to get to the truth of how far down or how far up the direction of this

politicization happened. and then going forward, how do we prevent this from happening again. how do we insulate the cdc from this type of politicization. then how do we prevent people who maybe speaking out from facing the consequences of doing so, even if it is against their superiors. >> thank you both so much for spending some time with us on this. it's great to see you both. when we come back, one of the biggest conspiracy theorists in the land has been held accountable for one of his most sickening lies in a defamation case brought by the families of sandy hook shooting victims. that story, after quick break. v. that story, after quick break. plain aspirin could be hurting your stomach. new vazalore is the first liquid-filled aspirin capsule clinically shown to cause fewer ulcers than plain aspirin. vazalore is designed to help protect... releasing aspirin after it leaves your stomach... where it is absorbed to give you the benefits of life saving aspirin... to help prevent another heart attack or stroke.

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a big victory against a bad guy and the disinformation he pedalled today. a judge ruled in favor of the families of eight sandy hook school shooting victim its against the defamation lawsuit and conspiracy theorists alex jones. the family sued jones for claiming the shooting was a perpetrated by the government to confiscate americans. the judge ruled in favor of the families after jones refused to hand over documents ordered by the court. this is the fourth victory in four defamation suits against jones. they accused him of profiting off the deaths of their loved ones. joining us is a former fbi assistant director for

counterintelligence now an msnbc national security analyst. harry litman is back, former u.s. attorney. frank, does this help in the fight against disinformation, this ruling today? >> the short answer is yes. longer answer, expect more of this as a very effective tool against propaganda and specifically those who profit from propaganda. one of the reasons that this victory occurred by default, by the way, the judge saying i'm going to announce a win here for the parents because alex jones refuses to give over the data and the finances and everything being requested for the lawsuit. why do you think that is? amongst other reasons, he profited from this vile propaganda that the sandy hook shooting never happened. so we have seen this effective as a tool.

the parents have won multiple lawsuits. some in texas where alex jones is based and now in connecticut where the parents are based. and we have seen it in similar issues where some are suing fox news because of propaganda, lies, disinformation. we're going to see it. the other significant part of this is look at the lengths people will go to to protect their guns. at the heart of this was, hey, they are going to use the sandy hook shooting to take our guns away. let's lie about it. it was vile. he's lost. this is a good thing. it's a good sign. sandy hook happened. no people who lost their grand kids in sandy hook, i know cops thatten wept into that school. it happened. >> it is such a glaring symptom of how sick we are that this ever had to come to pass.

just for folks that didn't follow what the families went through and the defamation suit, i want to read a little bit of the reporting on it. for more than two decades, mr. jones has built a substantial following appealing to an angry, largely white majority male audience that can choose simply to be entertained or to internalize his rendering of their worst fears. that the government and other big institutions are out to get them, that some form of apocalypse is close and they must be better armed to sur sooif. i'm not a business guy, i'm a revolutionary. if it is a revolution, it's one that he has skillfully monetized. by 2014, mr. jones gave in a court case his operations were bringing in $20 million a year in revenue. it's hard to peel back the layers of what the sickest part of this story is, profiting off one of the most tragic days this

this country's history, profiting off the murder of children, babies, or profiting on the fears. it's interesting, this largely white male audience is getting attention from josh hawley for watching too much porn and video games. talk about why they are susceptible to conspiracy theories. >> so first, as you say, this couldn't happen to a nicer guy. i totally agree with frank. i think it's very important. it's a little bit of a piece with what's happened to steve bannon. he lost not on the merits. he lost becauses he completely refused to recognize the authority of the courts even to turn over discovery. as a result, after many, many, many warnings, the court said, that's it. you lose. why are they like that? it's a deep article of faith and by faith, they don't believe it. by the way, jones himself

admitted he had been lying in a deposition in this case. he said he had a momentary psycho sis. they don't believe it, but they either make a lot of money or think they will have political power by completely denigrating government institutions. and in that sense, it really is of a piece would say january 6th. now they are not at the end of the line. he's going to have some funny business to try to hide the money. if they it continue to really press, it's there. he makes all this money on a website from the into wars web page. they will find it and they will break him where it really hurts for him. that is his pocketbook. >> frank, we do a good job asking you and harry and others a lot of questions about disinformation, where it comes

from, why it's so is pervasive. i don't do a good enough job of understanding why it takes hold. i want to play a clip from a front line documentary on alex jones and the rise of what he pedals, conspiracy theories. >> what people like alex jones showed us is conspiracy theories are an effective political tool. they work. they help shape elections. they help shape public discussion. they help people decide what to believe. >> he's the example of conspiracy entrepreneur. he's a whole new industry that's grown up. >> for jones, it didn't matter how absurd each new layer got. he would put anything on the air as long as it kept driving the sandy hook story. >> it's become an accepted way of political power. it needs a kind of polarization in the population that's much deeper than partisan polarization. it's a polarization about what it means to know something and whether it returns to the fringes or not, it will depend

on whether people in office can resist using it. >> so frank, i went through the script and replaced sandy hook with election conspiracy and it reads like this. i'm going to replace jones with trump. it didn't matter how each new lay, he would put anything on the air as long as it would keep driving the election fraud story. he's taking the page not out of the grossest history on the right or the conservatives, but out alex jones playbook. >> so there's a couple things going on here. let's look all the why people are successful in promoting lies and then let's look at why we're so gullible. they say there's a sucker born every minute and there are people willing to profit. on the people who propagate this, number one, it's easy to do. you know from journalism, it's very hard to get all the facts, corroborate your sources, run it through legal. it's hard. it's hard work. you have to be smart.

you have to have that it integrity. you don't have to have any of that to put lies out and then profit from it. it's easy. secondly, why do we accept this so gulligullibly? it's human nature to want simple explanations and rationals for really awful and complicated things. we grasp for that when things are horrific. it's not -- there's nothing much more horrific than an elementary school where everybody has been slaughtered. we want an answer to explain that away. he offers that explanation. it didn't have it. a global pandemic, our family members are dying, our neighbors are dying. it's a hoax. it's not there. it doesn't happen. it's a government plot. the chinese did it. we're sucker frs that. we have to get smarter. we have to be more savvy consumers of information.

this is our new battlefield. >> thank you so much for spending time with us on this. when we come back, twitter bully ted cruz thought he scored points with his far right buddies by trying to diz liz cheney but it didn't work out that way. we'll show you. out that way we'll show you ♪♪ (calls dog) buttercup... (whines) ♪♪ ♪ ohh ohh ♪

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i was mocked for attacking

big bird on twitter simply because i'm a human senator, and he is an eight-foot-tall fictional bird. but let's see what happened to big bird after he got the vaccine? >> oh, man, i don't feel too good. [ laughter ] >> so this is what happened to you a week after you got the vaccine? >> it sure is. my feathers fell out. it's real bad, man. >> well, don't worry, i read online that you can take a bath in borax, and that would cleanse you of any nanotechnologies. >> rush, senator cruz? >> borax is cool. if you haven't seen all of it, go watch it. that was "snl" saturday night making fun of cruz. cruz took to twitter last week to accuse the children's character of pushing government

propaganda on 5-year-olds, after big bird tweeted for children to get their vaccine. this was a long weekend of not very good tweets. after saturday he tweeted that liz cheney should write -- liz cheney wrote -- my republican party saved the union. act like it. we're back with a.b. stoddard. liz cheney walks and talks like she's going to pursue the truth about january 6th wherever that takes her, to the gates of hell. she doesn't have any more bleeps to give here. >> no, and that's why it's so interesting that ted cruz would be tempted to try to take on liz cheney. i mean, there are other people

he could lob insults at, but she's the one person he should stay away from. i'm also surprised about all the bombshells in jon karl's new reporting in his book, that mitch mcconnell, the minority leader -- even though he's publicly sided with liz cheney, he's taken her aside and tried to convince her to stop criticizing 9 former president, because it's not good for the party. she doesn't warrant a republican that bowing to seditionist donald trump, and she's been saying that since january 6th. she's not interested in endorsing herschel walker, like mitch mcconnell is, or hoping to convince ron johnson to run for senate again like mitch mcconnell probably is. so i thought it was interesting that he was sort of, as blind as

ted cruz, in trying to take on liz cheney that shoo she'd maid clear she's on a mission. >> it strikes me that ted cruz isn't the only person, mitch mcconnell knows that everything she's said is correct. so does rob portman, richard burr, so does kevin mccarthy, frankly. >> yeah. >> what do you make from the outside we view the dynamic of i think there's simp think for what she endorsed frankly she makes them look so pathetic. >> she often tells us though people come to her and tell her i'm so glad you're served on the

january 6th committee everything, you stood up, for having, just in my district i can't. then she tells that to us and respectfully doesn't name names. she has brought in back to mccarthy again and again, how she felt about january 6th and telling his colleagues about the phone call with then president presumption, and then bending to his will within weeks. it's an amazing dynamic what's going on, because she is obviously -- believing she still might provide a primary in wyoming, but perfectly willing to lose her job over the truth. >> a.b. stoddard, thank you for spending time with us today. a quick break, and we'll be right back. day. a quick break, and we'll be right back

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thank you so much for letting us in your homes. we are so grateful. hi, ari. welcome to "the beat." we have new reporting on steve bannon, turning himself into the feds today. my legal breakdown, my take on that, i'm going to share with you tonight, but we begin with the biggest news of the nation. the president sealing one of the his biggest wins to date. the biggest infrastructure bill since eisenhower. that's how far you have to go to get to what this president is doing today,