that i loved her. but i think she knew that. because i told her every day when she was here. good evening and welcome to politics nation. tonight's lead, enemies within and without. right now, it seems like we're watching a number of warnings for signs of invasion, as white house warns of potential invasion of ukraine by russia, continued to huddle with

leaders, speaking this morning with ukrainian president about the hope for diplomacy and deescalation after yesterday's call with russian president vladimir putin ended mostly in a stalemate. of course, some of the same conservative patriots calling the president weak over the situation in ukraine are the same ones calling for the economic mayhem on our northern border to spread into our cities as canadian police and anti-vaccine protesters clashed this weekend over the ongoing blockades of major border crossings. and federal law enforcement is worried that the unrest could threaten america's biggest sporting event tonight in los angeles. all of that on politics nation tonight, and later, as the president's infrastructure

overall starts to break ground, i'll talk to the former new england's mayor, now president biden's infrastructure coordinator, about what it means for black america from detroit, michigan, to the mississippi delta. it's a big show tonight, big week ahead. let's get started. joining me now, is maryland congressman anthony brown, member of the armed services committee and retired u.s. army colonel. thank you for being here, congressman. >> happy superbowl sunday to you, rev. >> now, congressman, let me start with this. president biden has been working the phones to try to diffuse the situation in ukraine. this morning, president biden

and ukrainian president zelensky spoke by phone and reportedly noted that the u.s. will respond, quote, swiftly and decisively to any further russian aggression towards ukraine and biden spoke with russian president vladimir putin by phone for an over an hour yesterday when biden reportedly warned putin that the u.s. and his allies will respond decisively and impose swift and severe cost on russia. that, in quotes. of course, ukraine was, today, spoke with putin yesterday, warning him if anything were to occur in ukraine. and on friday, the u.s. sent an additional 3,000 troops to poland. this came as the u.s. warned that russia has positioned itself to invade ukraine within days. is the white house making the right moves here? >> rev, i think the white house

is making the right moves and the diplomacy, this robust diplomacy, not only by president biden yesterday on the phone with putin, but also secretaries blinken, and our defense secretary, lloyd austin, i mean they've been actively engaged, but the dynamics on the ground haven't changed but to the extent they have changed, we've only seen a larger build-up of russian forces in russia and belarus and seem to be well-positioned to invade ukraine. what has the u.s. response been? sure, there's been a lot of dialogue and rhetoric and communication, but we've also, as you mentioned, sent forces to europe. why? because we need to demonstrate to russia that our commitment to our european allies is iron-clad and that if russia moves into ukraine, we will not only use the most sanctions that we can impose on russia, the russian economy and russian leadership, but it's only going to cause the

united states and european allies to put even more troops into those countries where vladimir putin does not want to see more nato troops. >> now, congressman, russia observers who are familiar with putin's tactics have floated the idea that putin's aggression towards ukraine and his demands for nato are a huge bluff. what are your thoughts on that and what do you believe putin's intentions are here? >> well, look. putin has always stated his concern and his desire, actually, to reestablish the boundaries of the former soviet union. the baltic states, lithuania, latvia, estonia, as well as ukraine, i visit all those nations and i can tell you the leadership in those countries understand putin's intent and desire to re-establish those boundaries. so i think it's very important for the united states to take

the position and maintain the position we have that we will not commit to keeping ukraine out of nato simply because vladimir putin is demanding that we do that. i don't think we make that commitment. instead, we demonstrate our resolve to nato by sending the troops that we have, 5,000 from the united states, moving some troops from germany into eastern europe, because putin only knows one thing, and that's force, economic and military force. i'm not suggesting the u.s. military should engage or would engage in direct combat with russia but increased presence in europe, increased presence of our european partners in eastern europe is what we need to demonstrate to putin and to deter him from any invasion into ukraine or beyond ukraine. >> well, while i have you, i want to ask you about legislation in your home state. top maryland lawmakers vowed on tuesday to ban what is called

ghost guns in the state of maryland this year. in hopes of disrupting the supply of unregistered and untraceable guns. now this comes after homicides have soared in the maryland suburbs to levels not seen in over a decade and have been driven by gun violence. congressman, do you think a ban on unregistered ghost guns is a sustainable solution to combat gun violence? >> i most certainly do believe a ban on ghost guns is a sustainable solution. in my conversations with local law enforcement, seeing more and more of these unregistered, because they don't have serial numbers and untraceable guns. anyone, of any age can buy, online, in the mail, different parts to assemble a gun and these guns are just as lethal as the gun that you would buy from a registered dealer so it only makes sense that we ban those weapons. if you have a weapon, we require

that you have it a serial number stamped on that weapon so you can register it and if you don't, that is a criminal offense and will be in maryland. we got to get ghost guns off the streets. we're seeing a rise in homicides, gun-related homicides, we've got to do more in maryland and across the country to take guns including ghost guns off the streets. >> now lastly, on tuesday, the united states passed a significant reform for the first time in 15 years of the u.s. postal service. that would bring financial relief to the agency, it would eliminate a significant portion of its debt and restructure its operations. congressman, this bill is largely bipartisan. do you see it surviving in the senate and can you talk to us more about the significance of this bill to the post office which not only serves many financially struggling communities, but employs a

significant number of minorities as well. >> look, the post office, we all rely on the post office. seniors rely on it for the delivery of medication and, you know, it's the last mile for so many of the commercial distributors of the goods we purchase. it's invaluable, yet over the years it's been struggling because it's been cash-strapped so what we've done is given them much greater financial flexibility to invest in the people, the men and women, our letter carriers, to invest in the equipment, the facilities, to make the delivery of mail more efficient and cost effective, so it is certainly my hope that the united states senate can find a bipartisan group of senators to pass u.s. postal reform. we rely on it. we should have six day service that should not be in question whatsoever. and i believe that not only do

residents and men and women who rely on the postal service, but those who are in the postal service, the men and women, deserve better, so it's long overdue, and will improve service to the u.s. postal service. >> all right, senator anthony brown, thank you, but before i let you go, rams or bengals? >> i'll stay with the odds, i'll go with the rams, but what i'm looking for is the halftime show with dr. dre, snoop dogg, and kendrick lamar that will really have my attention tonight. >> you know what i'm looking for after the game, getting down to business on some real fairness in the nfl but we'll look at that at a later time. joining me now, crystal knight, democratic strategist and joe walsh of illinois. joe, let's start with the conflict between ukraine and russia. this morning, defense department press secretary john kirby had this to say about an imminent attack.

>> and what we're seeing in plain sight, it could continue accumulation of russian military capabilities along the border of ukraine and belarus, continues to add forced capability well up over 100,000 right now and actually over the last few days even more and number two, i think a mosaic of the intelligence that we're seeing, not speaking to it specifically, but, you know, we have good sources of intelligence and they're telling us that, you know, that things are sort of building now to some sort of crescendo opportunity for mr. putin. >> now as the biden administration works to deescalate the tensions in the region, what role should the u.s. play if russia invades ukraine? >> hey, rev, good to be with you. the u.s. has to play a leadership role. and look, i agree with the congressman who you just spoke with. what putin is trying to do is resurrect the old soviet union borders.

i give joe biden a lot of credit, rev, because unlike his predecessor, biden understands the importance of nato. and if russia makes this mistake and invades a sovereign country, it's up to the u.s. to rally and lead nato to be unified against this egregious act and i think biden and nato are prepared for that. >> now, let's turn now to another international crisis. at the u.s.-canadian border, this morning, canadian police officers cleared out the remaining protesters that were blocking the route that ceased 25% of all trade between the two countries. some republicans have embraced this demonstration and have expressed their interest in seeing it happen more in the states. let's take a listen to senator rand paul. >> okay. >> i'm all for it.

civil disobedience is a time-honored tradition in our country from slavery to civil rights to you name it. peaceful protest, clog things up, make people think about the mandates. i hope the truckers do come to america, clog up cities. >> i thought that was interesting because i've engaged in civil disobedience, i've never heard republicans say we should not go to jail. i went for three months one time, but they're embracing this. why is the right wing latching on to this crisis that inevitably hurts, directly hurts the u.s. economy? >> well, i think that they're embracing it because they're embracing hypocrisy. these are the same folks who are against the, you know, mask mandates and vaccine mandates but also complaining about the supply chain shortage. well, you can't have both things exist at one time. so if you want supply chain to

move freely across our borders then you have to free the border and what they're doing, literally holding up the border at the thought of not being vaccinated to come, you know, to go into canada, to come into the united states, and that just doesn't make sense. and so what rand paul was stating this morning on the sunday morning talk shows is nothing short of hypocrisy. these are the same folks who claim that they want freedoms, they want everyone to be safe but also complain about the supply chain shortages and these things don't match. we have to get supply chain products and things moving across this country and we cannot do it if we have folks holding up our border over a me first attitude. we need to think about the economy, have to think about the health and safety of all our workers and holding up a border is not the way to do it. >> joe, switching gears now to the house january 6th, select committee, new reporting from the new york times that rudy giuliani, donald trump's former personal lawyer who helped lead

the efforts to overturn the 2020 election is in talks with the committee about testifying. how critical is giuliani's testimony? have you seen other trump loyalists stonewall the investigation? do you think giuliani, at the end, will really cooperate? >> well i'll tell you, rev, i'm not going to believe it until i see it. you know giuliani better than i do. look, he was trump's right hand man throughout this. he's on, he's one of the poster boys, one of the poster children for the cabal of people trying to overthrow an american election. he's hip-deep in this crap. so it would be wonderful if he came clean to the january 6 committee, but rev, we got a lot of evidence that the main players like my former colleagues jordan and meadows, these guys are not going to

cooperate, because they have no interest in us getting to the bottom of january 6 their only bot of january 6. their only interest is in protecting trump. >> florida governor ron desantez desantis is issuing support for a bill moving through the legislature that would ban discussions surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. the "don't say gay" bill receiving push back from parents, teachers, and some lawmakers, despite it quickly advancing through the state legislature, it is getting this pushback. president biden called the bill quote hateful and says his administration vows to protect the lbgtq community. how will this bill affect florida's lgbtq youth? >> i think what it will do is hurt youth in wanting to speak out and identify as lgbtq so

it's not only hateful, it's harmful, homophobic and downright disgraceful, florida has been ground zero for a lot of crazy legislation what is coming out of the chambers of governor ron desantis, and this is the same state that is attempting to ban crt, this is also the same state that has seen a high rise in covid outbreaks because of their anti-vaccination, anti-masking, you know, legislation, and now this anti-guy bill, if you will, you can't say the word gay, that's not helpful to not only youth but anyone who identifies as lbgtq. it is signaling to them that it is not safe to live your fullest self in the state of florida because you may be attacked prematurely by those who don't believe in your lifestyle or personal choice. >> joe, let's talk about a new cnn poll that shows neither donald trump or president biden

has their party's full support. only 45% of democratic leaning voters would renominate biden and 50% of republican-leaning voters would want trump back in office. what do you gather from this poll? >> rev, i don't know that there's much to it. i speak with republican voters everyday and i can tell you that donald trump still has a stranglehold on that party. if trumps wants the nomination in 2024, sadly, it's his. the party is a cult, they're under his spell. i think with biden, i think it's just covid and the economy and it's situational and if biden can, again, help turn things around this next year or two, i think his position among the american people will be a lot stronger in a couple years. >> crystal, let me go back very briefly to you. president biden is expected to

meet with some of his potential supreme court nominees this week to replace retiring justice stephen breyer. how do you see this process going, how quickly should democrats move to get the seat? >> democrats should move quickly, remember, 10 days before the election in 20 -- excuse me, 2016, president, or president-elect, trump, former president trump, was able to push through a nominee, led by senate majority leader mitch mcconnell at the time, and so this administration and chuck schumer should not waste any time, five weeks i think for getting someone through, and already have been several women, several nominees who have had bipartisan support and approval. so hopefully the president can get this woman seated so we can move through with the business of the supreme court and that's what's necessary to continue legislating.

>> all right, crystal knight and representative joe walsh thank you both for being with us. later on "politics nation," let the building begin. former new orleans mayor and white house infrastructure coordinator mitchell landrieu talks about the new projects that will transform and revive many minority communities. and the super bowl is set to kick off in just over an hour. i'll share with you my thoughts on the fight for a more equitable nfl. but first, my colleague richard louie with today's other top news stories. >> rev, good sunday to you. more on today's call with president biden and zelensky, biden reaffirming in the call the u.s. and allies would respond swiftly and decisively if russia invades ukraine, zelensky following the call saying the two talked about security, economy, existing risks, sanctions and russian aggression. pentagon press secretaries also saying today, time is running out to negotiate a diplomatic resolution.

canadian police began making arrests this morning near ambassador bridge on the border with detroit. trying to clear the vite the crossing there. demonstrators spent the last weeks protesting covid-19-related mandates, ambassador bridge is the busiest land border crossing in north america, that blockade causing production delays across the industries. industries.

♪ ♪ before you go there, or fist bump there, or...oh! i can't wait to go there! or reunite there, ♪ ♪ start here. walgreens makes it easy to stay protected wherever you go. schedule your free covid-19 booster today.

there are some days that nothing can prepare you for. wherever you go. but being ready— it's about how you react. so when new challenges come up, you find a new way forward.

when you meet other people facing what you faced, you start a business dedicated to helping them. and after you've achieved all that, you take on what's next.

time now for our weekly "rise up" segment. today. as you rise up to lift the chips and dip to your mouth or grab a cold beer from the fridge for the super bowl, i want you to keep in mind that although this is a celebration of two fiercely competitive teams duking it out in the big game, behind the scenes, there is still a lot of work left to bring social justice to the nfl. this week in my capacity as the head of the national action

network, i help lead a group of civil rights leaders who met with nfl commissioner roger goodell to address the brian flores discrimination lawsuit, the former dolphins head coach, said he was fired from his job for refusing to deliberately lose games and was passed over for other positions because of his race. the dolphins denied in the any allegations of racial discrimination, and the nfl stated that diversity is at the core to everything they do, and will defend against these claims, which are without merit. several years ago, we saw collin colin kaepernick's career evaporate as he took a courageous stand, and we hope that we will not see flores left out in the cold as well. our message to the commissioner was clear.

first off, the rooney rule has not worked. that's the policy that requires lead teams to interview ethnic minority candidates for head coaching or senior football operation jobs. so far, the rule has failed to lead the real diversity in the upper ranks of the league. right now, there are only two black head coaches and no black owners of 32 teams. even though the league's players are predominantly black. what we need is not just different rules, but a more equitable outcome. if the nfl wants to move forward to address the concerns of its fans, then we must ask why teams should be entitled to public funds to help finance this stadium and other facilities if they are not committed to that and show tangible results. the goal here isn't to sack the nfl but to throw a flag on the

player. we want the league to create a more equitable environment, with civil rights leaders and the national action network are demanding are explicit plans and a time line for ow the organization can address these inequities. there is a role that we all can play. we can hold the nfl to its word and push for changes in leadership and ownership. we can all enjoy the rivalries in rooting for our favorite teams but can also rise up and ensure everyone has a fair shot. the game is all about who wins and loses, and we want to even out the playing field. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. out, michaer speaks like that all the time. and it turns out the general is a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage, go with the general.

welcome back to "politics nation" the biden administration can point to one very big win

for the country ahead of this year's midterm election grudge match, the bipartisan infrastructure framework is in its early stages of modernizing our nation. and historic, as historic inequities that were literally built into our nation are torn down to make way for an america that can weather the storms of the future. while creating jobs here, and now, in communities that need them most. joining me now, mitch landrieu, senior white house adviser and infrastructure coordinator, also the former mayor of new orleans and a forever friend of this show. welcome back, mr. landrieu. mr. landrieu, thanks for being with us tonight. >> no question, thank you for having me, appreciate it. hard to concentrate because the

sbrbl super bowl is coming on and mary j. blige is going to be in the half time show with dr. dre, and i'm happy to be here. >> that's our souls in new orleans with you at the super bowl -- >> at the essex festival. >> at the festival. >> yes, but before we get, before she tears the place down tonight let's deal with building up the country. so let's get right here to the initial investments with the bipartisan infrastructure framework that are underway. with the white house having cast the b.i.f. as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for america to rebuild materially and modernize for the future, what makes this plan so transformative? >> well, first of all, it is in fact a once-in-a-generation opportunity. i mean, you and i, and i'm a little bit older than you, but you can remember back to the day the last time we did something like this was when president

eisenhower was around, last time a major investment was fixing the stuff that was broken, now you don't need to be a rocket scientist to feel the bumps on the roads and what's broken, so trains, buses, everything that is broken down, this is an opportunity to fix it back up, and on top of that, the major investments in connecting kids, to things that they don't have, like making sure that high speed internet gets to every kid in america. so whether you're in the delta, the black belt, making sure that a kid, that seniors have access to tele-medicine, all of those things in this bill. the other thing is clean water and clean air so everybody's been talking about lead in the pipes really hurting children, there's a lot of money in there to clean that up and on top of that, a lot of money to make sure we put people back to work and this is people of color all across the country so there's a great opportunity here if we seize it, hit the ground running, $85 billion sent out, down to the states and to the cities which is where most of the stuff is going to get built

so i'm excited about it but listen, we haven't done it in a long time. it's going to be hard, take a lot of work, a lot of coordination and we got a great opportunity to make it happen and that's what i'm going to try to help the president do. >> now, mr. landrieu as white house infrastructure coordinator, i heard you evangelize on the road, how much this infrastructure plan utilizes new technologies to modernize our nation, innovations in construction, transportation, and how we go about cleaning up toxic sites that are often concentrated in poor communities. for someone watching the show, in urban detroit or in rural mississippi delta, how will these innovations improve their lives? >> well, let's talk about one particular place, louns county alabama where katherine flowers working on the wastewater treatment to affecting people in

the black belt, we got money going directly to states to clean up folks's neighborhoods, a couple weeks ago, president announced cleaning up coal communities where we have folks of color live, often oil well sites what that basically means is a company dirties up the area and left something behind for us to clean up and finally, lead pipes, everybody knows how dirty the water has been and how challenging that's been so if you're in detroit or live in talula, if you live in the delta, there's money in there to make sure the pipes get cleaned up so everybody has access to clean water, on top of that as we start rebuilding this stuff, the kinds of jobs available are going to be for working folks that have an opportunity for good paying jobs so we got to push this down to the ground, i want to level set here, 90% of the money is going to be spent by governors and mayors and our job is to get it down to the ground and make sure they spend the money the right way in the communities that need it most

and finally, the thing i'm really pumped up about is access to high speed internet. you and i know, you talk about level, you know, leveling the playing field, access to knowledge and information is the thing that people need to be able to compete in this economy and if you don't have access to high speed internet, you sitting on the bench and always going to be last. >> huge problem. >> and this, from the president, to make sure 100% is covered. that's exactly right. >> it's a huge problem and i emphasize you saying you will make sure the governors and them spend their moneys to where the communities need it most. now, democrats will have to campaign on the infrastructure plan in this midterm election year and of course, it's always helpful when you can point to where government actions lead to results and job creation. how does this administration, which has committed itself to equity, intend to make sure that black entrepreneurs are not left

behind both in contracting, in the contracting process for these big structural projects, while at the same time making sure that black workers benefit from the historic job creation the white house has predicted will come from this plan? >> well, that's a great question, reverend and thank you for asking. two things i want to talk about, first of all you hear the president saying we're going to build back better and the build back is important but better is important too and equity is going to be strewn throughout this entire thing so recommendations made and these grants given to the governors to make sure they don't have any plan that is equity is not strewn throughout. equitable rules from top to bottom. secondly, a substantial amount of money that actually creates a new office in the department of congress, right next to the small business administration where you know all the rules are made called the minority business development office and that office is designed to actually help create

entrepreneurs in the african american community, make sure the contracts are led the right way, make sure they're broken down so small businesses can take advantage of it and make sure there are assets available so that the african american community doesn't just get the benefit of let's say, the new bus program that takes people back and forth to work but helps the bus company manufacture buses and sell them to build generational wealth. >> this has been a priority of president biden, how has it been working with him? >> is this something high on his priority that he really monitors and wants to know what is going on around the country? how big a deal is it to president biden? who has touted as a huge historic deal for the country? >> let me say this, he rides me like a wet mule, everyday he asks and talks about it and every week he's got a plan and trip to highlight what it is we're doing, whether it's a bridge, a road, talking about the new electrical vehicle buses, charging stations we're

putting all around the country making sure they're in communities, really on this like a dog on a bone, trust me, and it's a signature investment in the company. he's got other stuff going on, but this is one of, if not his top priority. >> mitch landrieu, thank you, but wait, rams or bengals? >> thank you. oh, look, i'm hurting, because obj grew up with one of my kids and that fella that's a quarter back for the bengals took lsu to national championships so i'm in pain, i want both to go well, but i want to go with the underdog, i think the bengals may surprise everybody today. coming up, controversial ruling from the supreme court on alabama's election maps sets up a massive battle over the voting rights act. we'll get the details from our top civil rights attorney, next. top civil rights attorney, next.

welcome back to "politics

nation," race was in the headlines this week again as the on going fight over black voter protections in this election year made its way to a supreme court already dealing with racial controversy. also this week, a new assessment by the "washington post" found that despite the historic public pressure for the police reform after the murder of george floyd in 2020, fatal police shootings set a new record in 2021. the highest total since the polls began tracking these incidents seven years ago. joining me now, civil rights attorney and candidate for attorney general of texas, lee merik, attorney merik, great to see you and the topics we cover, so tomorrow, federal hate crimes trial for the men who killed

ahmad arbery begins in georgia, after last year's state murder trial ended in convictions for all three, you represent arbery's family, his mother wanda, and earlier this month, a federal judge rejected a plea deal from one of the defendants, travis mcmichael, that would have precluded his hate crimes trial. can you tell our audience why it is so important to the family that the defendants stand trial? >> they already have taken a stand, the trigger man who murdered arbery and offered his version of events, the family was most interested in the trial going forward. the evidence that the prosecutors have been able to discover, the investigators have been able to discover, they want to see it played out, they want to see the trial take its course, and we also believe that because the state intervention took place first and it preceded

the sentence, life without the possibility of parole, that the state sentence should be served out first and federal trial is more about hearing the defense on the matter. >> to the supreme court, this week, overturning court decision that found alabama's congressional map diminishes black voting power in the state. you're currently running for attorney general in texas, which is facing a federal lawsuit over the gop drawn federal map which the justice department con tinds is discriminatory against black and hispanic residents. how would you strengthen voting rights in your state, understanding that your state government is likely to remain dominated by republicans bent on restricting them and is it possible without federal help? >> it's exactly what the case between the united states

supreme court turned on, the areas we must use to fight. voting rights act although it was somewhat gutted by the decision of the supreme court in shelby, article two still says you cannot intentionally discriminate against a population of black or brown or any racial class in order to minimize the effective voting power of that racial block. the supreme court in its decision didn't disagree with them, in fact, the lower courts said there was evidence of discrimination but the courts said they should go forward simply as a matter of convenience, which of course is absurd. the state of texas should be joining amicus briefs along with the attorney generals association across the country, there are powerful attorney generals like erickson in minnesota, leticia james in new york, all of these attorney generals should be coming together to put pressure on the supreme court to protect voting rights for all americans.

we must show up to d.c., offer a back-up to our legislatures fighting to create stronger federal protections for our voting rights because it's states like alabama or even texas, where run-away legislatures allowed to gerrymander the state in such a way to diminish the voting power by black and brown actors, we all lose. >> i mentioned in my intro and i know you saw in the washington post, 1,055 fatal police shootings in 2021, according to the news papers tracking, this despite the sustained protests after the murder of george floyd and other incidents the year before. your response? >> you know, i'm here campaigning for the office of attorney general in houston and i stopped by bishop dixon's church today and he said to me in private conversation, he says, you know, the law, the society, it doesn't change based on emotion and after 2020 and the murderer of my client, arbery and george floyd and

other folks, there was an emotional response and people were paying attention to the issue of policing but did not pass the george floyd justice in policing act and there was no significant change in the laws so as a result, i am not surprised to see the records of the deadliest policing in the modern world is still on target. nearly two dozen in the last few weeks. this week, it was spellman this week, it was spellman >> attorney merit, i know you're a proud morehouse man, and a black colleges and universities continue to receive bomb threats, two dozen in the last two weeks, and this time it was morehouse southern institution,

spellman in atlanta. the third bomb threat this year. you've called on the administration the federal task force investigating the threats. what needs to happen? briefly, please. >> in each state from d.c. to where these bomb threats are taking place, we must take these threats seriously. if this was happening at yale or harvard, we would see major action. we must take the real threat, from white sprem -- from white supremacists in this country. when the white house responded, they said this seems to be a burchl of kids. a bunch kids being kids but it must be addressed with policy. >> lee merit, candidate for attorney general in texas. thank you for being with us. up next, my final thoughts. up next, my final thoughts

stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. the brand i trust is qunol.

tomorrow is valentines day where people traditionally exchange flowers and candies and maybe go out and dine to show their loved ones some affection, but also remember those that have been robbed of that. this thursday, i will be in minneapolis, minnesota again to do the funeral services for a

22-year-old man, amir locke, who was killed by a no-knock warrant by police in minneapolis who had the wrong apartment, wrong place. he had loved ones, too. so did ahmad arbery. so did george floyd. so did breonna taylor. let us as we cherish the time with the ones we love, remember some people are just looking at memories that they should not have had. that does it for me. thanks for watching. i'll see you back here next weekend at 5:00 eastern. more news on msnbc at the top of the hour. the hour

♪ ♪ the hip-hop half time show, to the rams hollywood ending, the city of los angeles was the big winner of super bowl lvi, the question is this what it means to be california dreaming? plus, new developments in the supreme court nomination process. with sources telling nbc news that the short list has dwindled to three. the question is, who are the

finalists? an