a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome, everyone, as we approach high noon in the east 9:00 a.m. out west. you're watching "alex witt reports." we begin with this breaking news as we give you a live look at san francisco. we're looking at california as well as west port, washington, because a tsunami advisory is currently in effect after an underwater volcano erupted in the pacific overnight, it happened near tonga, and it has sent massive waves crashing onto that nation's island. take a look at this satellite video, it is capturing the moment of eruption. the u.s. advisory expands now from hawaii to the pacific coast, from the california/mexico border all the way through oregon up to washington, and all the way continuing to alaska. the national tsunami warning center says that residents that live near beaches, harbors, other coastal areas should move

away from shore, and make their way inland or uphill. wow. joining us with more on this tsunami advisory, guad vin nay gas. what's the latest on this? >> the national tsunami warning center issued this alert after that volcano erupted in the south pacific as you mentioned near the island of tonga. some residents saying they could hear the violent eruption into the air. you showed the images. you can see it from the satellites. there's also been reports that the ash was sent into the air. the capital there was also hit by a tsunami with these waves that flooded the city. some of the residents report had to head to higher grounds, there are no immediate reports of injuries or damage. there's all the videos that were posted to social media that show the water going around the homes and buildings in tonga. to the current advisory we have now in hawaii, the west coast of the united states and canada's british columbia. the beach cities are expecting

one to two-foot waves arriving as we speak. not huge, but experts say they do pose danger. residents should expect more large waves coming along with an unusual current for hours, and there could be some low areas that are inundated such as marinas and harbors. the alert reminding residents that this is the first wave, and it may not be the worst, so the advice for the west coast is to stay out of the water and away from the shore. >> absolutely extraordinary, you think maybe it's only a foot or two feet. that actually can accumulate and cause damaging flooding, certainly to property and live livelihood. you've got to be really careful. there are going to be looky-loos who see increasing waves, you get the surfers who want to get out in the water. i imagine that there will be advisories and advice to say

don't do that, right? because you never know the prediction of how this wave will go, right? >> right, so the, go of one to two foot wave in the ocean you can imagine at a beach city that sits at sea level when you have one or two feet of ocean coming in. the force is something unimaginable that can go into the roads, into the homes, and it can easily take someone and bring them back into the ocean. this is why the currents are so dangerous in some of these areas. the currents are very dangerous, especially for some of the tourists that could be as a resulting -- visiting these beach cities. that's why the alert is to stay away from the water throughout this warning. >> absolutely. okay, thank you for the update on all of that. let's go from there right now to msnbc meteorologist michelle grossman. do you have an expectation of what folks along the pacific coast should expect in terms of waves and height and just general weather there? >> yeah, hi there, alex, i think with tsunamis, what's so

difficult about them is it's really hard to predict. there is no warning system, you know, you take the winter storm that we're tracking right now. we tracked it since early this week watching it go across the country, with hurricanes you can watch it go across the atlantic. with tsunamis there is no warning system in place, so we had that underwater volcanic eruption. it was huge. we saw those satellite images, really just amazing and mind boggling and the sound that they heard there too. what happens is you have shock waves that go across the pacific. when you have that explosion, you have that displacement of water. when it comes to water, that's where the most deaths come in when it comes to weather fatalities. you can't fight water, especially when it's a wall of water. it's speed, and there's volume, too. so you just can't fight it, and when this water is moving across the pacific, it can move as fast as it a jet plane in the deepest part of the water. it's going to slow down once it gets a little more shallow. i know, when you hear things like that, you get chills, and it's really, really hard to predict where that's going to

happen. so we do have this tsunami advisory in place for the hawaiian islands up and down the coast of california into alaska as well. now, we're expecting a smaller wave height. we're expecting one to three feet, but still, when you think of wave heights, i think of hurricanes. that's one of the number one things that waer worried about when it comes to hurricanes. what happens is it's literally quite literally a wall of water that just gets pushed onshore. so it can get over you, and once it gets pushed onshore, it's not just about pushing onshore, it's about pulling back too. whatever is there, you know, you're talking about people who want to see what's happening. that's going to get dragged back into the water. so it's debris, unfortunately it can be people. and you can't fight that force. this is why we have this tsunami advisory in place. i'll show you exactly where that advisory is. we do have the hawaiian islands and that's going to be in place. there's no set time where this is going to expire. they're going to continue to watch that, and all up and down the coast we're going to see that in place. it looks like those highest

waves are about to come-on shore in the next couple of minutes. it means strong and unusual waves. it's waves you can't predict. don't try to predict it, don't try look at it. you can't, and that's what makes a tsunami so scary. some dangers are you're seeing that large displacement of water, series of large waves and that strong rip current. one to three feet, it's going to go and come back out and take whatever is in its path. we're going to be watching this all day long. >> that and the winter storm. look, i'm wearing a turtle neck for obvious reasons. it's freezing outside. thank you so much. right now, everyone, the battle for new federal voting rights legislation is playing out on the streets of phoenix, arizona, the family of dr. martin luther king marking his birthday with a rally, and in the next few minutes a march calling on president biden and the senate to pass new laws, and we're getting some new details about arizona senator kyrsten

sinema's virtual meeting wednesday with civil rights leaders. "politico" reports sinema promised to keep talking but then the very next morning she declared she would not support a filibuster carveout to protect the vote. civil rights leaders are saying their relationship has soured complicating efforts to get any legislation through. nbc's vaughn hillyard is joining me from phoenix. so let's talk, vaughn, as i say hello and welcome you to the show here. the tone of this rally so far, do you hear a lot of frustration? is there any optimism that this can still get done? >> i think senator sinema's speech on the floor of the senate i think was telling and i think was damning for a great number of these folks here who have pushed for the last year to have her commit to changing these filibuster rules to pass these major pieces of federal voting rights legislation. you could describe the feelings here of more frustration and anger, particularly directed at this arizona senator here.

the march is about to start here in downtown phoenix. there's a pre-program that is taking place right now. i was told that martin luther king iii is in town along with andrea waters king here, and i was told that they are getting out of their car, if you can bear with me a moment here, alex. they wanted to come to arizona specifically. we're talking about 19 states that passed voter restriction laws here over the course of the last year. of course the concern for particularly democrats and voters at large is the extent to what happens this year in 2022 ahead of these midterm elections. you also have secretary of state candidates in michigan, arizona, wisconsin, who have suggested that donald trump won the 2020 election. those individuals are on the ballot here in 2022, and when we're talking about arizona and being at the forefront of this, one of those individuals, is running for secretary of state.

and he is an individual who has suggested that donald trump actually won the state of arizona here, and that is why there is such heavy focus here. again, just 10,000 votes separated joe biden and donald trump in the 2020 election, and i'm meeting for the first time vaughn, martin luther king iii, andrea king and yolanda king, good to meet you guys. can i ask you guys, why arizona? why here today? >> well, arizona in one sense is near ground zero. i say near because unfortunately there are 19 states that have passed regressive laws including our own state of georgia, and we believe that as it relates to getting this -- these bills passed that senator sinema has been one of the challenges, and so it made sense to come to arizona. some regressive laws we feel have been put in place that make it harder for people to vote. >> senator sinema took to the senate floor there and she fiercely defended her position

on this saying that her fear would be that if republicans were to take the senate majority that there would be a reversal and that they would pass even more stringent voter i.d. measures. they could even roll back mail-in voting here. when you heard her floor speech, what was on your mind, and what is your response? >> would you like to -- >> no, you can go. >> first of all, i was just greatly disappointed that you stand in the way and have the gall to not realize that what is being done in all of these states, it's about the filibuster, and yet, every last one of these states that have passed these regress i have laws have done it with all republican legislatures. not bipartisan, so that seems to me to be not a sufficient argument. it is certainly always anyone's righted to what they want to, but the people i feel, in fact,

in this nation 64% of the people support voting rights and expansion. >> and also your father was here in arizona in 1964. >> right over here if i'm not mistaken. >> if the filibuster was not to be eliminated, the health of our nation was at harm. >> you guys have been at this for decades now, you not as many decades, but you know the fights that have been endured here, and the question is what comes next. there's a very real reality that state legislatures in michigan, wisconsin, arizona, could pass more stringent measures even this year, but in 2023, 2024. where does this fight go from here? georgia already passed its sweeping measure, texas already the same. what do you tell the people around this country who are looking to get in on this fight that you guys are here on behalf of. >> to make the voices heard. we have to have federal voting rights protection laws passed

and we must have them passed now. you can go to deliver for voting rights.com, you need to call your senators, sign petitions and make your voices heard on this matter. >> andrea, martin luther king iii, yolanda, thank you, guys. starting this march that is just about to begin, saying that his father was here just, the site behind us years ago and now they're going to be leading this march here this morning in phoenix. >> that was a great get having the three of them. if you get a chance to say hey again, tell them i send big hugs and march on. so proud of the work they're doing. thanks, vaughn. joining me is colorado congressman jason crow, a democratic member of the intelligence, armed services and small business committees. thanks for joining me here on a saturday. let's begin this chat with voting rights legislation. you well know the senate's going to take it up on the floor. it still appears to have absolutely zero republican support. and then changing the senate

rules via the filibuster, that still does not have the support of democratic senators manchin and sinema. will it fall, and if so, what is plan b? >> good to be back with you, alex, and good morning to you. you know, your prior guests in your prior segment lined it up pretty well. if we can't get this done, nothing else matters. we have right now a republican party that wants to put people in place around the country that will suppress the vote, that will disenfranchise voters. politicians who are actually willing to overturn the will of the voters to seize power. that is the situation we are facing right now. without federal protections that we can put in place in those 15 plus states that are very overtly trying to suppress people's right to vote, we're going to be in a really tough position. you are right, and we continue to push senators manchin and sinema to get this done. had a chance to talk to senator manchin last week and make the case from a national security

perspective, from a civil rights perspective. i represent one of the most diverse districts in the nation and one of the most diverse districts in colorado. this is extremely important to my district, my community,const throat, there's no doubt about it. >> it seems like the clock is running out on this one. the colorado secretary of state jenna griz wald certainly sounding the alarm about extremely candidates running for secretary of state in swing states where there is an effort to suppress the vote: take a listen to what she said about that. >> we're also seeing extremist insiders like steve bannon recruit election deniers into local election administration, and there's a door wide open because there is so much vitriol that many election workers are throwing up their hands and saying i did not sign up for death threats in simply administering elections. this is code red for the country. >> how threatening is the big lie in this regard?

and do the voting bulls that democrats are trying to pass, do they do enough to prevent elections from being overturned by election deniers within local election offices? >> well, secretary griswold is absolutely right. she understands this issue deeply, is working hard in colorado to develop -- we need more folks like her around the country to do the same in different states, but this is more than just a big lie, too. the big lie is one component of it, the toxicity, the vitriol of the big lee continues to take root within very large segments of america, but it's also just overt autocracy. people like steve bannon, listen, steve bannon does not believe in democracy. he doesn't. he doesn't bereave in people's -- believe in people's right to vote. he wants power. he's willing to do anything necessary to do it.

he is extremely dangerous. the people around him are extremely dangerous. he wants to try to put donald trump in as an autocrat, whether the will of the voters want it or not, so we have to take this extremely seriously. >> yeah, pretty sobering as you put it there. let's talk about the tensions on the russia/ukraine border, another sobering situation right now. let's take a listen to what white house press secretary jen psaki said yesterday. >> we have indication that indicates russia's prepositioned a group of op tufs to conduct a false flag operation in eastern ukraine. russia is laying the groundwork. and we've seen this before, we saw this before leading up to 2014 just to note, including through sabotage activities and information operations, by accusing ukraine of preparing an imminent attack against russian forces in eastern ukraine. >> she said that after ukraine was hit by a massive cyberattack in which it warned citizens

expect the worse, russia has been moving more troops as moscow says now that talks at the u.s. nato have hit a dead end, i know sir that you led a delegation to ukraine before christmas and you helped coordinate a weapons transfer. given that experience that you had on the ground there, what is your sense of the situation, and how real is the chance of an invasion? >> well, it's dire, it's very dire. the situation is this, you have vladimir putin, who is also an autocrat, who wants to overturn the free people of ukraine and absorb them back into russia. but let's understand that this isn't a new problem for ukraine. there have been russian troops and russian interference requesting going back to 2014. we have conflict in the donbass which is the eastern part of ukraine. russia has occupied the crimean peninsula since 2014, and they continue to do cyber attacks, cyber operations daily.

so there's a lot of offensive stuff going on. what we have to do as a country in the united states, what we have to do is stand by ukraine, and why it's important is we have this attack on democracy everywhere in the world. we have it at home now and abroad, and we no longer have the luxury of choosing when and where we're going to defend democracy and freedom. we have to do it everywhere because it's tied together everywhere. so we have to stand with the people of ukraine. we're not going to send combat troops in there. we can send supplies. we can provide them support on the cybersecurity front. we can provide advising. there's a lot of things we can do to help bolster their will and prepare them to fight against russian aggression. >> what about helping insurgents? i mean, there's a support effort to weapons transfer, something you saw over there, that would be for their military. but arming insurgents is that something that you think is a

good approach? >> i do think it's a likely approach for ukraine. listen, with what happens -- if what we think might happen happens, and that is you have the enormous invasion force, you know, many, many battalion tactical groups what the russians call them, a sweep in from the north, the east, sot the south, the distance movement within ukraine and the ukrainian military is putting together civil resistance groups and other things. so certainly a resistance is going to have to be a big part of this. what vladimir putin needs to understand this is not going to be easy. this isn't the ukraine from the 1990s that he last knew of after the dissolution of the soviet union. this is a free, open democratic ukraine, and a ukrainian people who have been moving west for a very long time. they don't want to be a part of russia anymore.

they want to be free and they want to be democratic, and these people are going to fight for that freedom, and vladimir putin needs to understand that. this is not going to be easy for him. >> let me ask you one more question here about the doj having announced seditious conspiracy charges against the founder of the far right militia, the oath keepers and ten others as well for their role on january 6th. how significant are those words, seditious conspiracy, that are now being used in criminal cases that stem from the insurrection? >> well, it's what happened, right? i mean, when you see it in print, it's kind of -- it kind of takes your breath away. >> yeah. >> but it's actually what happened on january 6th, 2021, is you had a mob, you had insurrectionists who were trying to overturn a free and fair election. that's their intent. that's what they said they were trying to do. that's what donald trump sent them to the capitol to do, and that is called seditious conspiracy. so these people need to be prosecuted. they need to go to prison because in the united states of america, you do not get to try to overturn a free and fair

election to attack the capitol, to cull police officers, to brutally beat 140 others and walk away scot-free. you have to go to prison. there have to be costs. we have said for a long time we're going to seek truth and accountability. the january 6th select committee has been seeking and fooinding the truth and now it's time for more accountability. >> colorado congressman jason crow, always good to talk to you. thank you so much. snow, ice and dangerously cold temperatures, millions of americans are in the path of a major winter storm. we're going to show you where it is, where it's headed and just how bad it could get. d and just d and just how bad it could getskin at 4 ms after just two doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tellr doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, such as fevers, sweats, chills,

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for the manicure that makes everything right, for right now. show up, however you can, for the foster kids who need it most— at helpfosterchildren.com let's go now to a major winter storm set to wallop the mississippi valley and all the way to the northeast this holiday weekend. parts of the midwest are digging out after that storm buried parts of iowa, north dakota, as well as minnesota yesterday.

66 million people across the u.s. are now under some sort of winter weather alert. you've got 20 states that are warning residents to prepare for snow, ice, and windchills in the northeast, and it could make it feel as cold -- are you listening to this -- 40 degrees below zero. which means we need to bring in nbc meteorologist michelle grossman with some explaining to do. are you kidding me? 40 degrees below zero. i can't even. >> i can't even either. my daughter's about to go bowling, she's 13. i'm letting her go for the first time. layer up, wear all the layers. it is cold. we are looking at a major winter storm too. we have pretty much everything, and it's going to be a multiday event. let's take a look at what's happening right now. i'll show you what will happen in the future here. we do have snow falling in the middle of the country. that's where you see the blue, where you see the yellows and the oranges, we have some heavy rain too. we could see some thunderstorms later on today along the gulf coast and along the western parts of the state of florida.

otherwise we're looking at some pink kind of sandwiched in the middle there. that's your ice. we're going to see that ice blossom tomorrow in the carolinas. as you mentioned, 66 million impacted today. you can see the white, that's your advisory. the blue is your winter storm watches. pink your winter storm warnings and we have an ice storm warning in the purpose for the carolinas. that's what we're worried about in addition to that really cold weather. as we go throughout time here, we're going to see that area of low pressure dip to the south. it's not going to move west to east. it will dip down, grab some energy, moisture from the gulf. we're going to see snow as far south as arkansas. we're seeing that right now. then it's going to take a hike to the north and east. that's where we're worry about that ice blossoming in the carolinas. we could see up to a half an inch of ice that could bring down some trees and you could see some power outages because of that. as we head towards sunday sba monday, we're going to see this really intensify off the coast. it's going to bring in fierce winds. it could bring some power

outages to parts of new jersey, long island into new england. we could sea some coastal flooding with waves two to four feet, and then we could see some, you know, low lying flooding in those areas, maybe even some water into some houses. we will watch that over the weekend for you too. in terms of the snowfall forecast, we're looking at 20 inches in the mountains of north carolina, and then i'll end here with your ice forecast because that's what we're going to be watching tonight into tomorrow morning where we could see a half an inch of ice. that's where you see the blue here in the carolinas. that's where it leads to that tricky travel, impassable roads. >> big heads-up on all of this coming our way. thank you so much, michelle for that. >> one state's new voting rules could disenfranchise half a million voters. we'll see what she thinks about president biden and what he should do next to try to protect voting rights. to try to protect to try to protect voting rights. from unitedhealthcare. medicare supplement plans

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rights leaders are taking the battle for federal voting rights laws to the doorstep of arizona senator kyrsten sinema. the family of martin luther king jr. on the birthday of dr. king, they're leading a rally and march to press congress and the white house to pass legislation. let's bring in latosha brown, cofounder of black voters matter. latosha's been pushing democrats to pass the voting rights laws sooner rather than later. you're right there in the thick of things in that march in arizona. i hope you can hear me because you have been so vocal on this as i welcome you, yours, in fact is one of several groups that sat out president biden's speech in atlanta, georgia, this last week. what did you think of that speech? are you able to hear me, latosha? latosha, can you hear me? i guess not at the very moment, guys. yeah, this is unfortunate, but i know technologically speaking

we're trying to get her on the move. i saw her putting on that headphone, microphone. let me know, guys, can we go ahead with this, or take a quick break, try to get this sorted out and come on back. you tell me in the control booth. we're going to take a quick break, that's what we're going to do. stay with us. she's on the mover, she's at that march. we'll be right back with her. ch we'll be right back with her, st march. we'll be right back with her. , a ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ march. we'll be right back with her ♪ ♪ people with moderate to severe psoriasis, are rethinking the choices they make like the splash they create the entrance they make, the surprises they initiate. otezla. it's a choice you can make. otezla is not a cream.

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okay. we've got her. she's good. latosha brown is joining us, cofounder of black voters

matter. she of course has been pushing democrats to pass voting rights laws sooner rather than later. she's joining me from that march in phoenix. so hello, my friend. as we look at you and the conversations we've had, you've been so very vocal on all of this. i want to remind viewers again that your group actually sat out that speech by president biden in atlanta this week because you said you've got to come with some concrete things that the federal government steps will be taken, and you weren't happy with what happened in advance of that speech, so how do you wrap up your views on what happened this week? >> let me just say, i think that we've talked been very vocal about what it is that we desire, why we weren't attending the speech. i will say he made a good speech. i think the elements of the things he said in the speech, that's what we were asking for. we were just asking that the president would put the full weight because we knew this was a critical moment for us. in addition to that, we wanted to make sure we lift and amplify how serious this is as an issue.

so what we have decided at this point we're here now, what we have to do is collectively we have to do the work. we have to make sure that we get voting rights passed. hear we are the weekend, the mlk weekend as we marched across the bridge in selma, alabama, we're now marching across the bridge in phoenix, arizona because the fight is here, the fight is in west virginia, the fight is with those 16 republican senators that voted for voting rights authorization act before but for some reason are not voting for it now. this is a critical moment, and we've got to hold all of our electors accountable. that is part of the democratic process. that's why we're here, and we're going to continue. it's not over until we reach victory. >> you mentioned west virginia, and i know you've led quite the pressure campaign reiterating it right now, that pressure campaign on senator manchin. my colleague craig melvin asked vice president kamala harris, here's part of what she said. take a listen. >> what about senator manchin,

what about senator sinema? >> i don't think anyone should be absolved from the responsibility of preserving and protecting our democracy. >> why has the administration not been able to get senate democrats on board? >> we are not giving up. >> but the question was why has it taken this long. >> you're acting as though it's over. >> well, i mean you've -- >> it's not over. >> so it's going to happen by monday? >> i'm saying it's not over, and we don't give up. we don't give up and we will not give up. >> latosha, i know that you met with the vice president on this very issue in december, did your conversation go differently than what you just heard with craig melvin? >> now, let me say that the vice president has been very, very adamant about she supports voting rights. we've had several conversations, and i certainly believe that she's totally committed to it. what we have been saying is we've got to lift and amplify this, and i think she's right that we have to focus on getting this passed, whether it happens monday, tuesday, we have to make sure that it is some immediate action that is going in there.

that's why we're here in arizona. we will be in west virginia. we will be in d.c., we will go everywhere we need to go because we need to recognize that in this moment, that our democracy is really being threatened and under attack and is going to take a herculean effort to really be able to overcome this big lie, all of this that has been created out of this big lie, that we're seeing voter suppression amplified all around this country. if there's a time that we need to stand and fight for voting rights, it is now. this is the time that we have to stand together. we have to hold each other accountable. there is no more excuses, that we need action now. >> is there a time frame, is there a date by which in your mind, latosha this must happen to be effective let's say just for the 2022 midterms? >> i mean, i think it's going to be critical that we need it to happen this year, that literally before the midterms we're going to have to happen. i am hoping that we actually get this done this week.

we want to get it done this week. every day we let go by is every day we're seeing our community be attacked and we're seeing the vote marginalized. we have to recognize the critical nature. this isn't a partisan issue. this is a democracy issue. this is around how people when you vote for a candidate or you vote for a party, however you vote, you can't be attacked, right, based on who you voted or how you voted for. that completely undergirds democracy, that's the definition of political corruption. so we're saying that we've got to move with a sense of urgency, that democracy in this country is under attack. we want to see this happen immediately. >> okay, latosha brown my friend, cofounder of black voters matter. thank you so much for joining me. we'll let the camera get out of your way so you can just look at the road ahead. i appreciate you taking the time, walk and travel safely. thank you so much. a dramatic move from the republican national committee threatening to bar future gop presidential candidates from even participating in debates. committee chair, ronna mcdaniel sending a letter to the

nonpartisan commission on presidential debates demanding reform saying their voters have lost trust in the commission. joining me now to discuss, adrienne elrod, democratic strategist and former senior aide to the biden/harris campaign, and shermichael singleton. let's talk about the presidential candidate mitt romney, he called this plan, quote, nuts. what do you make of it? >> yeah, look, i agree with him, alex. i think that voters have the expectation that individuals running for the highest office in the land should go before the american people and answer very difficult, complicated and nuanced questions about their plans to lead the country forward. and i think completely removing themselves from the process does not do justice, nor does it instill trust and faith or confidence in republican

candidates running for president. and so i think the rnc making this decision is a terrible idea. i think we need to go before the committee along with democrats and debate the tough issues, put forth the best plans and earn votes of the american people however skeptical they may be, and the only way you can do that, alex, is being before a moderator or moderators answering difficult and challenging questions and showcasing that you can stand against a fire with ease and calm, which is what we expect out of leaders, particularly the president. >> so adrienne, given your position as the democrat here on the panel, your reaction to all this? if republican candidates do not participate in debates, does that in any way give democrats the upper hand? it gives them that massive amount of time on a national scale half the tomb, you know, a bully pulpit of sorts. does it help them? >> right. yeah, certainly it does, alex, and look, i completely agree with everything shermichael said. this is free television prime

time air time. sometimes these debates are on, you know, networks like msnbc and cnn, sometimes they're broadcast on networks with millions and millions of viewers. i can't understand, there's a lot of things, alex, i don't quite understand about the republican party and the decisions that some of the leaders make in this party, but one of the things i certainly cannot understand is why in the world you would turn down free exposure, free television air time, and to the point shermichael made, you want to have a debate with your opponent, on whether it's opponents running for the, you know -- on the republican nomination side or the general election where you're having debate with your democratic candidate. you want to have those discussions, and i cannot for the life of me quite understand what the rationale is here. >> i'm going to ask shermichael something that you have a feeling you're going to be equally befuddled about. senator lindsey graham said if republicans retake control of the senate in 2022 he would not

support mitch mcconnell to be the gop leader if he did not have a, quote, working relationship with donald trump. now, let's remember, graham was the one who this time last year was saying on the senate floor enough is enough to trump. what's he doing? >> look, alex, i understand the loyalty to donald trump because clear ly the party is still loyal to him. clearly donald trump still has an oversized i guess on the voters and the republican party. i don't think that's important for mitch mcconnell to be quite honest with you. and i have to disagree with senator graham. i think the expectation for a senate majority leader or minority leader is to be able to lead your caucus legislatively. to be able to prioritize the things that are of interest to the party but also to the states that these senators represent from a policy perspective but also electorally. you want people to be able to go back home and run on something

that could lead to re-elections and raising more money. the idea that mitch mcconnell would have to have a working relationship with the former president is just ridiculous to me. i think lindsey graham is playing politics and trying to appease donald trump, and i get why, alex, we all know why, but i think that if that is the expectation for a majority leader or minority leader, then the republican party is going down the wrong direction. you cannot have this type of blind loyalty to one individual. the idea that the party -- and i think lindsey graham maing that statement puts the party in a dangerous predicament where we don't necessarily care about the ideology of being a conservative more than we care about the personality of an individual. that's dangerous. >> what about this week when we checked out president biden's approval rating. it has hit a new low. it's just 33%. if you were advising joe biden, what advice would you give right now? >> alex, if i was advising joe

biden i would say keep doing what you're doing. we are dealing with -- he is dealing with facing as a president unprecedented challenges, and especially with the pandemic. look, people are miserable. people are tired of this. we're two years into this pandemic. people are tired of wearing masks. they're worried about whether or not their kids can go to school the next day, if they can't go to school, how they're going to handle child care so no matter who the president is, you're going to have approval ratings that are sort of tied to this pandemic. however, alex, i think once we get through this next wave of the omicron variant and we get past this, i think his approval ratings are going to go up. and look, memory is fleeting, right? just a year and a half ago or even less than a year and a half ago, we were dealing with a president, president biden's predecessor who had no interest in trying to get americans vaccinated, who had no interest in trying to hit this pandemic head on, and president biden came in with a lot of challenges and he frankly was dealing with a situation that could have been

handled differently when he came in, so you know, he's done a great job with the covid response, and but i think people are just frustrated. that is going to reflect in the approval ratings no matter who the sitting president is. >> so i need a quick answer, i cannot let you go without asking what you think about ""the wall street journal" op-ed suggesting hillary clinton should make a comeback and run in 2024. will it happen? what do you think? >> it's not happening, look, anytime somebody writes an op-ed and they get it published about something like this, people will start talking. secretary clinton is very supportive of president biden. >> she's not running. >> alex, really quickly, yeah, really quickly about president biden's polling numbers, i think you look at a few things, there has been no movement on student loans. there's been no movement on voting rights. you look at inflation, people

are spending more money as they go to the store for everyday goods. those are the reasons why president biden's approval numbers are where they are, and i think the president can't make any movement on any of those things is not only going to hurt democrats in the midterms, but we can also look ahead to 2024. >> i'm telling you, you both made excellent points today. thank you so much for joining me. good to see you. reading legal tea leaves in the lawsuit against prince andrew. how much impact will this picture you're seeing right here of the prince and his accuser have on the case? for what you need.caseouy isn't that right limu? limu? limu? sorry, one sec. doug blows several different whistles. ug blows several different whistles. [a vulture squawks.] there he is. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ with a bit more thought we can all do our part to keep plastic out of the ocean.

the british monarchy is distancing itself from prince andrew after a federal judge in manhattan ruled a sex abuse lawsuit against queen elizabeth's second son could go ahead. the 61-year-old prince is accused of sexually abusing virginia giuffre when she was a teenager dating back to when andrew was friendly with quite a

bitted sex predator jeffrey epstein. in a statement, buckingham palace said prince andrew would relinquish his military titles and the title his royal highness. prince andrew has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, and says he has no recollection of meeting giuffre and says he does not remember this photograph of him standing there with giuffre. let's bring in msnbc legal analyst katie phang to talk about this. we have the u.s. district judge louis kaplan who rejected prince andrew's bid to throw this lawsuit out. what was his reasoning for doing so? >> he basically said at this stage, which is a motion to dismiss stage, he has to accept the allegations in virginia giuffre's lawsuit as being true for now and that the legal standard has been met in terms of the specificity and basically the idea that if andrew wants to defend himself he can do so at a

trial. at this stage of the litigation, virginia giuffre has met the requisite cause of action elements that she has to allege to be able to move forward. >> prince andrew's lawyers, they tried to get the case dropped. they argue that he should be protected by a 2009 legal settlement. it was unsealed earlier this month, in which it was revealed that epstein paid giuffre $500,000 to file a lawsuit against epstein for sexually abusing her as a teenager. how did prince andrew argue that that settlement should exempt him? >> that 2009 settlement agreement between virginia giuffre and jeffrey epstein, epstein paid her $500,000 in exchange for that money she agreed to release any and all claims, causes of actions, et cetera, that she could seek against quote, unquote, any other potential defendant. but the judge said that's too broad, and there's nothing that means that it applied to prince andrew or, i guess, i don't even

know if we can refer to him anymore as prince andrew. because of that, the judge said that release language in that settlement agreement from 2009 did not bar her lawsuit from moving forward against prince andrew. >> okay. just checking because this is civil, this lawsuit, and it will be about money or something more that she might to want get, but there's not a chance he would go to jail from this if he were found guilty? >> the statute of limitations has since run for the criminal prosecution, you are correct. the civil case seeks monetary damages as a result of the emotional harm that was caused to her as a result of his conduct. >> okay. katie phang, thank you so much for irons things out for us. weighing the next move to make house minority leader kevin mccarthy talk to the january 6th committee. why it's a bit more complicated than just issuing a subpoena. e than just issuing a subpoena

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