welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we're going to continue to follow the breaking news of tampa bay buccaneers quarterback tom brady's retirement from the nfl after 22 seasons and a historic seven super bowl titles. brady is widely considered the greatest quarterback to ever play the game after an unlikely rise from being a seventh round draft pick by the new england

patriots back in 2000. i want to bring in tv host and producer jason kennedy, who's on the phone for us. jason, it's great to talk to you. oh, you're not on the phone. you're in-person. that's awesome. >> what's up. >> great to see you, my friend. >> great seeing you too. pardon the dust, by the way. >> yeah, exactly. you had the show on in the room, you interviewed brady years ago before this announcement but it's astounding to hear today he's retiring after 22 seasons, literally the greatest of all time, quarterback. >> it's surreal hearing you talk about this right now. ten minutes ago, i was at a diner with some friends, and my buddy just goes -- and i knew there was some breaking story, and he goes, tom's done. tom brady is retiring. and it's weird for me to even say that, because the guy went out at the top of his game. of course, he has to confirm this, but all the reports, specifically espn, who usually

gets it right, is saying that this is it, but tom had an insane season. we didn't think after he finished that rams game that he was going to be done. he led this season in passing, in touchdowns, but he's the best of the best. we will look back, when we're all older, and say, it was an honor to watch tom brady play, whether you saw him in-person or you watched him at home, and i'll never forget, you know, you talked about that interview when i spoke with him, it was the first time i met him. i was incredibly nervous. i had been doing this a little while, i usually don't get nervous interviewing people but he's a larger than life guy and he looks at you in the eyes, and he commands a presence, but he's so incredibly kind, and it was at his tb12 workout facility in boston, and he's opening them all around the country because he wants to help people get to a good level of fitness, and he wants them to think about their health more, and it was one of the most special couple hours i've ever had. and to think that we're not

going to be able to watch him play anymore, it's just -- yeah, it's surprising. i will say, and i want to read what we just heard from tom -- or don, excuse me, his agent. he said, i understand the advance speculation about tom's future. without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what's being reported, tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. he knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon. so, expect this big announcement, expect a press conference, but he doesn't want it to get in the way of the super bowl or anything like that. he's going to do it on his own time, the way that tom knows how to do it. but yeah, this is huge. >> you know, it's interesting because i was talking with dave zirin at the top of the 3:00 p.m. hour and he kind of mentioned that for tom, it was hard work more than anything else. he wasn't the number one draft pick. when he first came out. and you actually, you know, you spent some time with him, during that interview, you worked out with him as well, which i'm sure

was incredibly intimidating. >> yeah. >> to say the least. but to him, football, working out, taking care of himself, it was so much a part of playing. it was a religion to him. >> it really was. and i think about alex guerrero, his trainer, and alex got a lot of heat from a lot of people around the league because alex went everywhere with tom. he was on the plane with tom. he was really by his side 24/7, and then finally, people realized, tom brady is still playing at an optimal level at 44 years old. maybe they're doing something right here. maybe they do have the secret sauce. and i talked to alex about it, and it's eating, it's stretching, it's drills, it's 24/7. it's, of course, you know, he's looking at tape like any other quarterback, but the way he took his health, the way he thought about his health and made it a

priority was something that i have never seen before, and clearly, that's how he was playing at this level up to the very end here. so, it was life, and i mean, the guy got better-looking every single year. i want what he's doing. i think we all want that. >> we do all want that. we just can't have it, jason kennedy. >> we can't. >> man, do we want it. he certainly did get better looking. my husband, who you know well, jason and my husband grew up together, is like, you're just watching this football game because you want to see brady, and i'm like, i think that's true. >> i think a lot of wives were busted. they became football fans when the buccaneers were playing or the patriots. it's nice that you can admit that, though. it's all good. >> yeah. of course. because it's, you know, not feasible. it's not happening, so i can admit it wholeheartedly. jason kennedy, thank you. great to see you, my friend. thanks for jumping on. we appreciate it as always. much more coming up, by the way, everybody, on this, including reaction from tampa

and a conversation with former brady teammate daunt stall worth. we want to go to massachusetts now where they are falling the brunt of this powerful nor'easter. more than two feet of snow could fall in the state before the storm wraps up there and it's already knocked out power for more than 100,000 residents. chris pollone is in boston with more on this, chris, they're dealing with this two feet of snow, no power, and on top of that, brady retiring, that's just another whopper for a lot of folks in massachusetts. of course a lot of patriots fans. nonetheless, a lot they're dealing with right now. talk me through what you're seeing on the ground there, west-wise. >> reporter: yasmin, this might be a little too personal, but i have been working through some feelings over the past hour since this announcement was made, and i have been thinking about whether the storm or brady's retirement is fazing people more here in

massachusetts. they're used to this. their not used to an nfl where tom brady the not playing, especially a male reporter, 47 years of age, who grew up in this area and lived here for most of my life, so i'm having a moment here. but yeah, you're right. i mean, it's huge news. as one of my friends tweeted, who works in the business, he said, brady picked the absolute worst day to stretch thin massachusetts's news rooms because you know that they're all on their way to foxborough right now trying to get through this snow to do these fan reaction pieces. but anyway, to the matter at hand, i am a professional, i will push through despite my sorrow at the moment. >> please do. >> reporter: as you mentioned, it's still continuing here. we're expecting, according to forecasters, these blizzard-like conditions with the high winds and the heavy snow to continue at least through 5:00, maybe 6:00 before tapering off later tonight, but we have got a ton of snow here, and it's going to

be difficult to measure, because of the wind. it's just drifting in places where it looks like we might have three feet of snow and other places, the ground is nearly bare but it looks like people throughout the region, elected leaders, really got their wish, they really lucked out, because this storm hit on a saturday. and so, people weren't trying to get to work needlessly or trying to get to school needlessly, and so it appears that most people are heeding the warnings and staying off the roads. those who were out there are, you know, having a mixed bag. there are spinouts and accidents in the region, but so far, we haven't heard any reports of serious accidents or injuries, and the people that we see out here are walking. they're walking around. they're enjoying this unique weather, this potentially historic storm, but as you mentioned, there is a downside, especially south of here. the south shore of massachusetts and cape cod, where you have got more than 100,000 people without power.

now, crews are already prepositioned from florida and canada as well, just sitting here waiting to go out and fix these lines, but it could be a little while until the winds die down. they can't take their bucket trucks up if the wind is still going, and so, as the temperature plunges, we're dropping through the teens right now, heading to single digits overnight. that's going to be brutally cold for people who don't have power if they get their power through electrical means, and then also, whenever you deal with a storm like this, whether it's a hurricane or a blizzard, when people lose power, if they have generators, public officials really worry about people using those generators improperly, not venting them, and then having some sort of carbon monoxide poisoning so that's something we'll be watching out here. clean-up will take days, but they've got the equipment to do it, and they're already trying to get some of this snow up as it continues to fall here, yasmin. >> hey, chris, just quickly here, is there any plan to try and figure out if folks need any kind of evacuation or place to

stay overnight if they're without power and they don't have heat? you've got these really low temperatures ahead in the overnight hours. that's going to be an issue if they can't get the electricity back up and running in the next few hours or so. >> reporter: right. yeah. local leaders are dealing with that in the individual municipalities, like i know for a fact here in boston, there is a warming center for people who have heat-related problems. it seems like most of the electricity is here in boston, but in those individual towns, not necessarily evacuations, but they will be reaching out to people who don't have power, people will be reaching out to their local officials to see if there's a place they can go, perhaps get some assistance to go to a hotel that has power. but obviously, with the road conditions the way they are, it's going to be difficult in the early going. >> chris pollone for us, thank you. stay safe. keep your head up. it's going to be okay. new england, boston, massachusetts will recover, not only from the snow but from a brady retirement. all right, we're going to continue to follow the major winter storm, everybody,

creating blizzard-like conditions all along the east coast. here's a live look at providence, rhode island, and who will president biden nominate to the supreme court? that is a question as well. member of the congressional black caucus, congresswoman yvette clark joins me on the importance of the pick being the first black woman on the court. importance of thpie ck being the importance of thpie ck being the first black woman on the courtk, and baja chipotle sauce. it's three great things together. wait! who else is known for nailing threes? hmm. can't think of anyone! subway keeps refreshing and re... ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (vo) subaru and our retailers volunteer and support charities all year long. ♪ ♪ and...through the subaru share the love event, we are proud to have donated

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welcome back, everybody. the impending supreme court

nomination fight is already heating up. the president is looking to fulfill one of his biggest campaign promises, nominating a black woman to the supreme court, which would be the first in its 232-year history after justice stephen breyer announced this week he will, in fact, be retiring, and we don't know yet how republicans will handle this eventual nominee, but the right-wing media has wasted no time in already characterizing biden's promise as affirmative action that discriminates against other races, including, surprise surprise, white males. >> to exclude certain candidates based solely on race and gender is beyond extremely divisive. it may even be illegal. >> when, of course, they say we want a black woman, what they really mean is, we don't want a white male. >> this is a step backward, the reinstitution of ugly, unconstitutional racism and it should stop. >> well, you can call it what it

is. it's segregation as well, and i think it's discrimination as well. >> why doesn't biden strike a real blow for equity and just nominate bridget floyd, george floyd's sister. she's not a judge or lawyer or whatever, but at this stage, who cares? clearly that's not the point anymore, this law stuff. >> okay. joining me now, democratic congresswoman yvette clark of new york, also sitting on the house homeland security committee and is a member of the congressional black caucus and progressive caucus. thank you so much, congresswoman, for joining us. we appreciate it on this snowy saturday afternoon. wow. >> great to be with you again, yasmin. >> i know what i was thinking -- you as well. i know what i was thinking when i was taking a listen to some of those fox news hosts talk about the potential for a black woman to be nominated to the supreme court. what were your thoughts? >> well, you know, they're going to be ignorant statements made, unfortunately. we're in a climate where we are

met with cold hearts, clinched fists, and you know, closed minds. the culture wars continue in certain quarters, but i am delighted that president biden is poised to nominate a black woman to the highest court in our land, the supreme court. >> do you have a specific person in mind that you would like to see nominated to the supreme court, the white house confirming judge j. michelle childs is under consideration, the top pick, of course, of your colleague, congressman james clyburn? >> well, you know, that's the extraordinary thing about what the president is embarking upon. he has so many qualified, highly qualified, overqualified jurists, women of the bar that

he can select from, and the names that i have heard thus far surely meet the mark. i'm excited about it. >> talk to me about the timing here. we have heard the timing could be five or six weeks, the same timing that we saw with the nomination and confirmation of justice amy coney barrett during the trump administration. the issue this time around, as we well know, the democrats only have 50 seats in the senate. one vote, one sick call-in could be a very big delay and problem. >> well, i'm certain that the white house is mindful of the time frame. i think that the nominees will be put forth in earnest and you know, the most expedited process

will be put in place and that no steps will be missed in making sure that whomever's nominated gets before the members of the united states senate to make their case and that we will have a swift and thorough hearing and nominee to be selected by the senate and make sure that we have our new supreme court justice appointed forthwith. you know, i'm looking at the timing as well. we could be looking at, during black history month, we could be looking at women's history month. either way, there's history in the making, and this will be a giant step forward in really making sure that our supreme court is representative of all of the lived experiences of the people of the united states of america, more specifically the

lived experiences of black women, and the application of the highest laws of our land on the lived experiences of communities of diversity across this nation. it's truly a historic moment. >> congresswoman yvette clarke, thank you so much, we appreciate it. i want to bring in my panel, judith brown, executive director of the advancement project and david jolly, former member of congress, national chair of the serve america movement and an msnbc political analyst. welcome to you both. judith, i want to start with you on this one, and just talk to me first about the importance of a black woman being nominated to the highest court in the land, the supreme court. >> well, yasmin, i will tell you that i am so excited. the supreme court has existed for 233 years without the voice of a black woman. it is important to have a black woman on the court who

understands the connection and intersection of race, gender, and the law and who have experienced being a black woman in this country, understand constitutional principles, the history of the constitution as it pertains to black women, to black people, and to women generally, who may bring some experiences with regard to criminal law and the impacts of race in criminal law, and so this is a moment in which we should all be rejoicing, because we are getting to a time when the supreme court will reflect the people who live in this country and the people who are expecting justice at the hands of this court, because we know we have voting rights issues, abortion issues, ie affirmative action before the court and to have a black woman there will be important with these issues. >> judith, while i have you, i want you to react to some of

what i played leading up to yvette clarke. you've got conservative fox news hosts saying this is segregation, this is racism, to identify a black woman only to be nominated to the supreme court. but one could argue that it was essential to be a white male for a very long time to receive a nomination to the supreme court. >> that's right. again, i mean, 233 years. i mean, this court does not reflect america, and white men have had privilege and advantage for a very long time, and it's really important to understand the way that people even get to be nominated is a system and a pathway that has been reserved for white men, whether it's going to ivy league institutions, being on law journal, then going to big firms, clerking for a supreme court judge, it has been reserved for white men mostly, and it is time for us to change.

>> david, i want you to weigh in on this, because, you know, there is this discussion as to whether or not republicans are going to weigh in, if they're going to try to figure out a way to insert themselves into the nomination process, you know, where does mitch mcconnell stand on this whole thing? we're hearing from one senator, mississippi senator roger wicker, who talked about the nomination, the potential nomination of a black woman to the supreme court, saying this. the irony is that the supreme court is at the very time hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination while adding someone who is the benefit of this sort of quota. what is your reaction to hearing something like that said by a republican senator, member of congress? >> i think it's exactly because of the voices of senator roger wicker that it is so important we have a u.s. supreme court that looks like the face of america, that represents the diversity of america, the diversity of experience that understands the principles of intersectionality, as was being

discussed. and look, we could talk about roger wicker and a bunch of other southern white senators being from a bygone era and that's true. hopefully, republicans will not just overtly oppose this on matters of race or the fact that joe biden pledged to pick a woman of color and instead evaluate the nominee based on their qualifications. you know, in the past, ideology wasn't even really on the table. it was just whether or not they were a qualified jurist. we forget scalia was unanimously confirmed by the senate. ruth bader ginsburg only had two detractors but it hasn't been since sotomayor that we saw numbers in the 60s. hopefully the republicans will at least mask it in differences over ideology, but we know the behavior of roger wicker and some of his colleagues is what it is and should be called out for it. >> i mean, i think you forget -- we all forget sometimes this was

actually a very bipartisan process, the nomination of a supreme court justice to the highest court in the land. >> that's right. >> and it seems like it is no longer that, which is just a sad testament to our times. thank you to you both. appreciate it. great to see you on a saturday afternoon. we are continuing to follow the major winter storm creating blizzard-like conditions all along the east coast. here's a live look at new london, connecticut. we're staying on top of any developments and will update you throughout the hour. coming up next, tom brady retires. we are following this major story. seven-time super bowl champ ending his legendary career. i'm going to be joined by his former patriots teammate in just a couple of minutes to talk about what this means for football. we'll be right back. about what football football we'll be right back. don't take if allergic to nurtec. the most common side effects were nausea, stomach pain, and indigestion. ask your doctor about nurtec today!

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tom brady retiring. brady's agent releasing a statement addressing the speculation about his future, saying, quote, this, tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. he knows the realities in the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon. want to go now to tampa bay once again for more on this. joining me now from the gasparilla pirate festival is stephanie stanton. last time i saw you, you had 100 necklaces on. folks in tampa not happy about this retirement announcement, of course, brady winning them a super bowl after a very long time. >> absolutely, yasmin. you know, it is hard not to get involved in the festivities here, as you can see, but yeah, a lot of fans here were actually kind of shocked. some of them, when i first approached them and told them the news about tom brady's retirement, they didn't believe

me. they thought maybe i was hazing them, but here's what we can tell you, yasmin. we know that on the nfl official twitter account, they announced news of tom brady's retirement. of course, that news spread across social media. we saw it in several places. last hour, we actually saw a tweet from tb12 sports, which is tom brady's company, essentially, you know, congratulating him, wishing him well. that tweet has now been taken down, but as far as we know, multiple sources reporting that, in fact, tom brady is retiring. and a short time ago, during this festivity, this is the gasparilla festival, think of it as sort of mardi gras meets pirates, this was canceled last year due to covid, it is now back bigger and better than ever and we talked to some folks here, and we told them about the news earlier, and here's what they had to say. >> i mean, he's had an incredible career. we're going to miss him, but wish him all the best. >> i'm kind of ambivalent to the

whole thing because i'm a miami dolphins fan but that's not the point. might continue to make it. >> reporter: what do you think? >> it's his decision and i support that. >> my thought is that tom brady is going to be back next year, 100%. you know why? he loves tampa. >> reporter: send it back to you, yasmin. we'll go ahead and send it back to you. it's a little crazy here. >> thank you, stephanie. we appreciate it. want to bring in a former teammate of tom brady, former new england wide receiver, donte stallworth, thanks for jumping on for us. we appreciate it. it's good to see you. talk to me, donte, hearing about this news of brady retiring after 22 seasons. 20 of which was played with the patriots. you played alongside him. what was that like? >> it was great. he was the consummate professional, consummate teammate. he was a guy that elevated everyone around him. he expected to go out and

prepare as if he wanted to win every single game. he wanted to make the perfect throw in practice every single day. and you know, just so many different stories about him, some i personally experienced, but just hearing other stories with other guys, you know, that's just who he was. he was a guy who was coming into the league as a sixth round pick. everyone overlooked him for the most part, except for the patriots. they gave him an opportunity, and he worked his way up the food chain. he worked his way up the quarterback ranks, and he knew that he would get an opportunity at some point and it came to the unfortunate injury of drew bledsoe, but in the nfl, that's what happens. guys get injured and the next guy has to be ready, and tom brady was ready when he got his opportunity, and the rest is history. the guy played 22 seasons, and at the age of 44, he led the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns, and that's something that, if a 25-year-old did that, that would be amazing,

but for brady to do that, after all the mileage that he has on his body, it's really extremely impressive. >> it's interesting because it's a lesson, i think, that we can all take away from that, right, to be in the right place at the right time, to be given the opportunity but be ready for that opportunity, because if you're not ready for the opportunity, then possibly you couldn't really step into those shoes, but in fact not only did he step into those shoes, he ran with it and then some. one of the greatest of all time quarterbacks. i want to read for you, don at the, quickly, some part that he wrote from his agent. tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. he knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon. what do you make of that tweet? is there a possibility, you think, that tom could feasibly decide not to retire, to make an about-face or what do you think is going on there with that tweet and hearing from his agent? >> i think what the agent is

saying is that the draft is coming up. they're scouting the college kids right now. all the nfl teams are scouting them. they'll be looking at who they want to pick up in free agency, which is coming up in a couple months. they'll be looking at who they want to pick up in the draft so i think brady is actually doing the tampa bay buccaneers a solid. if he ends up retiring, which is all points indicate that he will be retiring this year, but i think he's doing them a solid by doing it early so the bucs can go on with their plans for the 2022 season, and it's really just, you know, something that, when i started to hear him talk about family, he talked about his wife, giselle, sacrificing a lot for him and for the family, and he talked about wanting to spend more time with his children, and then he said something about, i think, the word was satisfied about the way the season had went that year, because they had a pretty good season. they just didn't make it to the super bowl, but when he started talking like that, knowing him, i knew it was over.

i knew that i have never heard him talk about being satisfied, ever, and so for that word to come out of his mouth was really shocking to me, but it was also something that hinted towards that this day would be coming sooner rather than later. >> donte, thank you. great to talk to you. we'll be right back. , thank you. great to talk to you great to talk to you 'll be right back.ing for colon cancer. when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. hey, cologuard! hi, i'm noninvasive and i detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. early stages. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. (all) to screening! what happens when we welcome change? we can make emergency medicine possible at 40,000 feet. instead of burning our past for power,

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best-selling author of several books, including his latest, "the sailor's bookshelf." thanks for joining us on this. ambassador mcfaul, let me go to you first. you heard the defense secretary and the white house saying diplomacy is a viable option. the chairman of the joint chiefs, mark milley, though, issuing a very stark warning. what can we expect as this situation unfolds? >> i don't know. i want to be honest. i don't know how to interpret what's going to happen. the only person, the only decision maker that really matters at this point is vladimir putin. he doesn't get press conferences. he doesn't chat to reporters. he doesn't even talk to his own government about what he's thinking, and my guess is, having negotiated across the table from him for several years, is that he himself hasn't decided what he wants to do. i do think the biden administration made the right move to respond to his, i call

them ultimatums but the russians call them treaty proposals. they sent those proposals, one from the united states and one from nato last week, and if you read the tea leaves, you know, foreign minister lavrov, for instance, the russian foreign minister said there was a -- i'm paraphrasing -- i think he said there was a grain of rationality in one of those. that suggests that they're studying the proposals and there may be still an opportunity for diplomacy. >> so, i think it's interesting, because i was speaking to nina khrushcheva and she said the united states doesn't fully understand how putin operates, who he is, what his motives and intent are, what he feeds off of. you write in the "washington post" that putin believes that the west unfairly dictated the terms of peace at the cold war's end. in putin's view, the west imposed liberal restructuring inside russia, compelled moscow to sign lopsided arms control treaties, expanding nato with no

regard for russia's interests, and the greatest sin of all, divided the slavic peoples of the soviet union into separate countries. this speaks a bit too what nina khrushcheva is arguing as well. can you expand a little bit on that? >> well, the united states is a big category. there are lots of americans that think very differently about vladimir putin. in the academia and even in the u.s. government. my own view, and thanks for quoting part of it, is that, you know, he's had this view to try to change the world order that he thought was unfair to russia from 30 years ago and he's very focused on it. he's very ideologically focused on it. he's just not calculating his rational self-interest cost and benefits and that's what makes it harder for us to deal with him. >> admiral, weigh in on ukraine's military here, right? you've got the president of ukraine essentially saying, listen, we don't need you to build up what is happening on

our border. we are ready, and we are prepared, to a certain extent, asking the west to back off a bit. does the ukrainian army have the ability to fend off an invasion from russia? >> not indefinitely. certainly, if you think of it as a hand of cards, the russians have the military cards to play. i think the u.s. and the europeans have a better hand of cards in terms of diplomacy, economics, sanctions, the long game here. another way to put it, to ambassador mcfaul's point, you could say that vladimir putin is a very good tactician. he operates quickly in the moment. he takes advantage of the fact that he is the sole decision maker, but he's not a good strategist, and i think that if he invades, he will ultimately come to a bad set of strategic outcomes economically and

diplomatically. now, the ukrainian military, yasmin, is much better than it was in 2014 when the russians really just rolled over them. it was a lay-up in 2014. to take crimea back, to bulk up an insurgency. the ukrainian army of today has more tools, more training, more confidence, very importantly. i think they'll put up a spirited defense, and i'll close by saying, on a military battlefield in ground warfare, typically, the advantage accrues to the defense in many cases, because you're in a static position. the other force has to come at you. the countervailing force is russia, has developed the ability to jump and move using helicopters, attack forces, cyber, all of that. bottom line, they will defeat the ukrainians. ukrainians will make them pay a pretty significant cost if the

battle unfolds. >> so, i'm actually glad that you made that distinction when it comes to ground warfare because i quickly want you, admiral, to weigh in on the possibility of a cyberattack. we know russia is engaged in cyberattacks as we have well full seen in this country, especially when it came to our own elections. i know this would be obviously on a different front, but what is the preparedness that we have at hand and also ukraine when it comes to a cyber war? >> the ukrainians are quite vulnerable here. we've already seen the russians use cyber to drop a portion of their electric grid several years ago. look, the leading edge of this is going to be cyber. the first thing that crosses that border in anger is not going to be tanks. it's going to be electrons, bits, ones and zeros, and by the way, yasmin, don't forget about, you know, the admiral's going to say this, don't forget about the sea, the black sea. watch for the russian navy to flood that zone to the south.

and be conducting attacks as well. that will be the first two things that happen, cyber and attacks from the sea. >> ambassador michael mcfaul, admiral james stavridis, thank you both. i want to bring you an update on an espn report that legendary quarterback tom brady is retiring after 22 seasons. sources now telling nbc news that brady contacted the buccaneers general manager to inform him that he has yet to make a final decision about his future. this is coming after a statement from brady's agent that noted that the legendary quarterback would control the timing of any announcement. l the timing of an announcement

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private companies have the rife to choose what they profit from, just as i can choose not to have my music support a platform that disseminates misinformation. i nope you've been reporting on some of this stuff. then you have they protests happening. i want folks to understand some of the numbers of these artists in comparison to what joe rogan is bringing in, neil young approximately 6 million monthly spotify listeners. joni mitchell 3.7 monthly listeners. joe rogan experience 11 million spotify listeners per episode. so what's happening here when it comes to spotify, the decisions being made, especially when it's let's keep joe rogan. >> yeah, i think spotify is just

thinking about their bottom line. i don't think they're eager to lose either neil young or joni mitchell, but joe rogan is a superstar. they pay him about $100 billion and he has a huge fan base. they're standing by the money and joe rogan and taking a big risk. if a few more artists, if they follow and neil and joni, it's pretty bad for spotify. i want to read some of your response, which you included in your reporting, justifying their decisions. you said this -- rogan has yet to comment on the matter, but spotify did release a statement saying we have detailed and have removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to covid-19 since the start of this pandemic. he regret neil's decision to remove his music, but hope to welcome him bake soon, not

really taking any responsibility or quite frankly addressing what rogan is putting out there directly. what does it say about the larger picture of what's happening at spotify? >> it's a pretty funny thing. with spotify, it's saying there basically, if our a small podcast and you spread lies about the vaccine, then we pull you, but if you're joe rogan and you have a huge audience, appeared a huge influence on people, then we don't touch you. you know, so it's pretty crazy. i think spotify are holding their breath, hoping this goes away, because they are in a very tough position. they don't want to lose joe rogan, but they don't want to be spreading lies, either, but they're choosing rogan. you know. i do not see them changing, really. >> andy green, thank you. we appreciate. up next, everybody, pushing the big lie in texas.

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welcome back. so in just a few hours, former president trump is set to take the stage at a rally in conroe, texas. the former president offering hi complete and total endorsement to incumbent state leaders on

the ballot for primary elections in just over a month on march 1st. gary, great to see you. what can we expect to see and hear at this rally today? we also know this would be the first major election in the state with the controversial sb-1 on the books. >> reporter: yeah, you may remember senate bill 1. a number of voting rights rallies on the steps of the austin capitol. a number of lawmakers fled to d.c. to avoid voting on the legislation. this legislation did end up passing and signed by governor abbott. and it will have a serious impact, but not what the thousands of people are here to the here to talk about. they're interested in the kitchen table issues, economy,

immigration, guns rights. one issue we have heard from folks that is not as bad as conservatives is on abortion. a lot of people are upset with governor abbott and the heartbeat bill, signed into law last year. president trump is bringing on with him about a dozen incumbents across the state that have been endorsed by him for the march 1st primary. one topic we're hear more than anything else here is the anger and frustration. here's what some folks we talked to had to say. >> reporter: what direction do you think we're going? >> down the toilet. prices are skyrocketing. we have nothing. texas needs to secede and walk away. >> reporter: you believe that? >> whoa heartedly.

we should have done it wholeheartedly. we should have done it 20, 30 years ago. we have our own oil, our own secure bases. why not? >> reporter: i've got to tell you, that was not just within woman's opinion. we're hearing that rhetoric from iowa to alabama, here in texas, a lot of frustration. yasmin? >> gary grumblach. thank you. reverend al sharpton and "politics nation" starts right now. good evening. welcome to "pot tickets nation." tonight's lead -- because it's time. right now i'm