a very good day to all of you from msnbc world head quarters here in new york. welcome to alex witt reports. it is noon here in new york, 7:00 p.m. in kyiv, 7:00 p.m. also in moscow. and we begin with this breaking news. on this the 59th day of this war, and relentless russian attacks on this holy saturday as the region prepares for observe orthodox easter tomorrow. new details on a missile strike in odesaodesa. five people were killed including a three month old people. and in luhansk, russians are accused of opening fire on civilians in a downtown area there. and also new from mariupol, ukrainian officials say that russian forces have restarted their attacks on the azovstal steel plant where hundreds of

fighters and possibly civilians are blocked in by russian military. also russian officials claim that they hit 66 targets overnight, ukrainian officials say that luhansk is under round the clock shelling. and in kharkiv, they recorded 56 attacks overnight, this one caught on video by associated press reporters. and new reaction from the government of hole dough have a pushing back on russian's plan to extend the war to take full control of ukraine.dough have a pushing back on russian's plan to extend the war to take full control of ukraine. government officials are demanding that russia respect moldova's neutral status. and secretary-general will visit vladimir putin on tuesday and president zelenskyy in kyiv on

thursday. and the u.s. is inviting 40 nations to meet in germany next week. lloyd austin will talk to defense officials and military leaders about a possible collective effort in response to the war. >> this is outside of the nato rubric. not all the nations that were invited are nato members as you know, nato is not providing security assistance to ukraine. so this is not being done under the nato umbrella. some of the nations invited and some of the nations that will be going are in fact nato allies, but they are doing this in a sovereign unilateral way. >> let's go right now to matt bradley joining us from dnipro, welcome to you. what more are we learning about the missile strike in odesa? >> reporter: those twin missile strikes on odesa, this is a rare attack on that southwestern city in the country. it is far from the eastern part of the country that vladimir

putin has said that he is trying to take, but it is interesting to this comes one day after we heard from a russian general who gave us a glimpse of some of the plans, kind of a strategy behind this. actually gave us a wider idea of putin's ambitions in ukraine. and odesa was one of the places that he included. it sounds as though vladimir putin or at least this particular general who was talking, we don't know whether this is the official strategy, says that he wants to extend the russian dominion across the southern coast of ukraine essentially rendering it into a completely landlocked country. so that he can then join sort of a land bridge, or creating sort of an independent republic as we've seen russia do repeatedly, from in the west of the country, a region there that is being occupied by pro-russian separatists. all across the southern coast, all the way to the donbas region which is now the focus of a renewed assault by the russians

ever since they withdrew from the areas around kyiv. as you mentioned, we're still seeing russia bombarding mariupol, the azovstal steelworks, where families have been holed up, now on the eve of the two month anniversary of the invasion. and even though vladimir putin said that he won't snuff out the azovstal steel plate, he is still bombarding it. and mariupol has been under siege ever since the war began and we've seen 20,000 civilian deaths in that city. seeing more discoveries of satellite images of what some are saying look to the has graves. russia covering up their crimes. again, as this reaches two months and we're now beginning to see this closer focus what vladimir putin's ambitions in

ukraine are. you can expect to see the civilian deaths, that nightmare, expanding across the country. >> it is horrifying. i'll get the u.s. perspective on this coming up shortly. matt bradley, thank you. now to capitol hill and a growing political firestorm. house gop leader kevin mccarthy speaking out for the first time since explosive tapes surfaced of mccarthy in the days after the january 6 insurrection saying that he thinks that then president trump should resign. let's go to allie raffa joining us from capitol hill. what is mccarthy saying now? >> reporter: kevin mccarthy and the former president have reportedly spoken over the phone at least three times since these audio recordings have surfaced. but this new open line of communication between the two of them is not enough for some house republicans as they await permission from the still

undisputed leader of their party before forgiing mccarthy. kevin mccarthy is on defense friday night, for the first time addressing and denying leaked audio recordings of his private conversations about former president trump. >> i've never asked the president to resign, i never thought that he should resign. >> reporter: in a new interview, mccarthy dismissing the audio of his call with gop leadership four days after the deadly attack on the capitol. in the call, saying that he would urge then president trump to resign before the end of his term. mccarthy insisting that the thought never even crossed his mind. but the audio released by "new york times" reporters tells a different story. mccarthy talking about the likelihood of impeachment proceedings.

>> it would be my recommendation that he would resign. that would be my take, but i don't think that he would take it. >> reporter: the leaked audio surfacing just hours after mccarthy first denied the "times" reporting that he planned to ask trump to resign. additional audio released friday reveals the former president did admit some responsibility to mccarthy for the riot, contra difficulting earlier denials. >> he told me that he does have some responsibility for what happened. and he needed to acknowledge that. >> reporter: the former president reacting late friday in a "wall street journal" interview denying taking any responsibility for the insurrection and saying that mccarthy never advised him to resign. >> i've had it with this guy, what he did is unacceptable. >> reporter: mccarthy did call mr. trump to apologize and the former president said that he still supports the minority

leader. at least for now. and meanwhile there was some breaking news late last night here on capitol hill, a new court filing by the january 6th select committee is alleging that former white house chief of staff mark meadows was warned that the events on january 6th could turn violent. as we now know, he pushed for the former president's rally to go forward. >> indeed. i'm looking at those notes right now. a lot that we'll be discussing on both of these fronts. thank you so much, allie. also new today for all of you, controversial georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor green's future hangs in the balance because of her alleged involvement in the january 6 riot. morgan chesky has the latest on the lawsuit that she is facing. morgan, welcome to you. could this plea vents mtg from running for re-election? >> reporter: good morning. potentially it could. and this all goon when the lawsuit was filed on behalf of georgia voters seek disqualify

marjorie taylor greene from the upcoming ballot. they are trying to use a civil war era statute that prevents someone from running who took part in an insurrection, a law that hasn't been used in more than 100 years. georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor greene's political future facing a possible road block. her re-election bid challenged due to her alleged involvement in the capitol riot. at issue, a lawsuit citing section 3 of the 14th amendment that states no person shall be a senator or representative in congress, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion. greene is the first republican member of congress to testify publicly about january 6. during the nearly four hour hearing, greene admitted that she knew people were gathering to object to the election results but stopped short of recalling specifics. >> my question is just about whether anybody at all ever mentioned to you the possibility of violence.

>> i don't remember. >> so you are not denying it, just saying you don't recall? >> i don't recall. >> you said on the video on your facebook page that the peaceful transfer of power ought not be allowed to occur. >> i don't recall. >> you can't allow to just transfer power peacefully like joe biden wants. >> greene's attorneys arguing that she too is affected by january 6th. >> i was a victim of the riot that day. >> this was not the marjorie taylor greene that we're used to seeing that was brash and bold and willing to make comments or slam opponents. >> reporter: with midterms looming, the stakes are high. >> this is about the constitution, it is only about the constitution. it is not about politics. it is not about policy. but of course it was important to see her being held accountable to answering questions under oath. >> reporter: so what happens now? attorneys from both sides have to submit briefs by next week.

the judge will then submit his recommendation to the georgia secretary of state who ultimately will make the final call on whether or not greene ends up on the ballot. >> lots to wait and see what happens on this one. thank you so much, morgan. ahead for all of you, the growing costs americans are paying for the war in ukraine. and calculating the costs of forgiving college student debt. is it a price president biden should be willing to pay? (cto) ♪ i want the world. ♪ ♪ i want the whole world. ♪ (ceo) ♪ i want today. ♪ ♪ i want tomorrow. ♪ (dispatch) ♪ i want it noooooow! ♪ (vo) get 5g that's ready right now. is one mission, life. i get to keep her. we get to have her and enjoy her. and she gets to grow up, which is the best gift anyone could ever give. when you join ihop's new rewards program, the international bank of pancakes,

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d.c. right now and more reaction from house minority leader kevin mccarthy on those bombshell recordings where he said that then president trump should resign in the aftermath of the capitol riot. and carol lee is joining us from the white house. first of all, mccarthy talked to trump yesterday, so is that surprising given what we're hearing, and why are we just learning about these recordings

now? >> look, some of this was known. mccarthy had spoken on the house floor saying that president trump bear some had responsibility for what happened. what is so striking is that then he was fully embracing trump and now we know what was really happening behind the scenes. the extent of the things that he was saying in these recordings from jonathan martin and alex burns in their forthcoming book. and it is just a whole 'nother level than what we saw publicly. and so it raises a number of questions. it is not necessarily surprising that president trump, the former president, and mccarthy spoke because these two have been very close since -- for a while thousand. obviously mccarthy sees his speakership as closely linked to president trump whether or not he is in or out of his favor. but he is having to answer some questions here. so one of the things as we heard from mccarthy himself saying

that he never actually asked president trump to resign. take a listen. >> the conversation was very good. the conversation here is what they -- what they said we did, we never did. i never asked president trump to resign. we both talked about that. we've talked about -- >> did you think about him resigning? >> no, let me be clear. i have never asked the president to resign. >> reporter: now, there is a couple of other things that mccarthy said that are notable here. he said that he had had it with this guy, referring to then president trump, and also he said that trump told him he bears some responsibility for what happened on january 6th. and all of this just taking place against the backdrop of republicans expected to pick up seats in the house with mccarthy potentially just months away from becoming speaker of the house, his long time ambition. and that now hangs in the balance because it largely

depends on president trump's support. right now he continues to express support for mccarthy. he gave an interview to the "wall street journal" where he said that things are fine. he didn't necessarily like what he heard in the tapes, but the question is what else is out there and that is what we don't know yet. >> and so that means that something might be coming. thank you for that from the white house. joining me, adam smith chair of the house armed services committee, always good to see you, sir. so let's get into it. what goes through your mind when you hear the mccarthy tapes? we're looking at basically two words at issue here. mccarthy saying that i never asked the president to resign. and yet on the tape, we heard him clearly say that he should resign. what does it mean in your mind, this word salad, if you will, but also for the january 6 committee and its investigation? >> i mean that it sort of brings

us back to sort of two uncomfortable realities. one is exactly what happened on january 6. and how, you noergs completely know completely unacceptable it was and the role that donald trump played, should he be resigned. impeached. no president in the history of this country has ever called for a riot against the country, has ever done what donald trump did. beyond the pale is an understatement. he was clearly disqualified from being president or being elected to any position in this country in any sort of being if you will. looking at that that day, kevin mccarthy had to know how terrible this was and the role trump played in it. but the second thing is what then happened, and this is the hold trump has on the republican party and how they have to twist themselves into pretzels the ones who haven't fully bought into the nonsense behind trump

movement, to say how do i survive this, how do i stay in the good graces of the guy who controls our party. that is why kevin mccarthy, i guess he had really good legal vice there. no one ever accused him of calling out donald trump to say that he should resign. what he said is that he should resign. and mccarthy steadfastly refuses to address that. it is on tape, he said that the president should resign. so he is hiding behind semantics. >> absolutely. let's get to ukraine, sir, because as you know, the u.s. is giving an additional $800 million in weapons to ukraine as it enters the phase of the world. and it includes how witness sers how witness zephyrs and the ghost. i think that it will be more difficult as it has been documented. the fighting, what ukraine needs to do, is similar in terms of

being able to take out the heavy armor systems and troops coming in from russia. the difficulty is that it is more open terrain in the east. so it is not as easy for the small ukrainian forces to find places to hide and launch more surprise attacks. it is more direct confrontation. which is why it is important that more weapons get in, because the russians right now are outgunning ukraine. they need more weapons to be able to fight back against the artillery, fight back against the tanks. and drones can be an incredibly important part of that because they are harder to see and they are more survivable. ukrainian tanks would be subject to the same targeting that ukrainians did against russian tanks. i think that they will be part of the fight. but the drones and the artillery and the more long range weapons that are more survivable, able to get in there and deliver the punch are crucial. it points ou

fight will be because of their willingness to be brutal in their tactics. >> and here is one perspective on that, because you know the u.s. has already given ukraine more than $3 billion in arms and military weaponry since russia invaded. here is what the president had to say in this exchange with a reporter on thursday. take a listen. >> how long can the u.s. maintain the level and pace of this military support for ukraine? >> we have the capacity to do this for a long time. the question is are we going to continue to maintain the support of the international community and keep the pressure on putin to prevent him from overrunning the country. >> so next week as you know the president plans to ask congress for yet another wave of funding. and you heard him say that we have the capacity to do this for a long time. do you agree? i mean, what if this war goes on

for years? can this level of support be sustained, are u.s. resources being at all depleted? >> well, the good news and i think the president is absolutely right, it can be sustained if there is a coalition sustaining it. if parts of that coalition start to flake off, aren't as supportive, i don't think that the u.s. can do it alone. but we have gotten support from european allies, a number of countries. i was in australia during the break on a congressional trip. australia has contributed to it. if the coalition holds, yes, i believe that they can sustain it. but that is why what the president said is so important. we have to keep the coalition together to help ukraine. >> can i ask you about u.s. efforts towards a peaceful diplomatic agreement? have those been exhausted? is the u.s. focused now exclusively on supporting ukraine as it battle this is new

offensive in the donbas? >> well, first and most important thing here is that the u.s., or the west for that -- well, the u.s. in particular, is not playing that rope because russia is not talking to us. it is really a matter of what ukraine wants to do. and they seem to have run into a brick wall as well. ukraine is going to decide, you know, what sort of peace agreement they want to have. we won't be able to force that one way or the other. and it is really difficult because, you know, the peace deal that lot of people talk about is, you know, some sort of territorial agreement. but if you are president zelenskyy and the ukrainian people, do you really want to say to putin, well, you know, you brutalized us, committed horrific war crimes, murdered thousands of our citizens, so we'll reward you for that? it is not the right incentive number one, and number two, what is to say if a peace deal is reached and some portion what have is now ukraine is either

made independent or creeded to ceded to russia that russia bonts just go for all of ukraine in a year or two or three or four. getting to sustainable peace will be really difficult. >> let me ask you on a different note, the biden administration having announced this week these new actions making it easier for federal student loan forgiveness under the existing programs out there. during his presidential campaign, biden set that he would support $10,000 for every borrower. what do you support and should the president take executive a, or should congress pass legislation to get it done? >> i support debt forgiveness. i don't support just sort of unilateral debt forgiveness for everybody. i mean, two things that are true here. number one, a lot of young people trying to pay for college over the course the last 30 years have gotten caught in a

debt trap. that the rising costs of college frankly the lowering return on that education, you know, the idea that college education, you go get it no matter what. i mean, when i was growing up, poor family, i couldn't afford it, so, you know, i had to borrow money and find ways to pay it. but college was so much more affordable in the '80s when i went than it is now. the costs are off the charts. and i don't think that we did a good job of explaining to young people how those economics were changing. those people need help. they deserve some form of relief. and we have some programs in place now. i don't agree that anybody who decides to go to college no matter their current economic circumstances or circumstances when they went should be automatically for given the debt. how about those people who looked at the numbers and said that i'm not going to pay that, i'll go to a community college or i'll go to work, i have a lot of friends who did that in the

neighborhood that i grew up in. should their tax dollars thousand go to subsidize the people who decided to run up that debt? i think that you have to balance those two things this getting to what the right answer is on debt forgiveness. there needs to be debt forgiveness, there needs to be help in dealing with that, but it can't be a simple writeoff in my view. >> i appreciate you articulating all the nuances laid out. thank you very much, congressman smith. the latest on florida taking on mickey mouse. what is the potential cost for the people of florida if they lose disney, that is ahead. t isd

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at random. funeral services were held yesterday in michigan for patrick lyoya. police have said that they will with hold the name of the officer unless he is charged with the crime. another march is planned for today. and the federal aviation administration is apologizing for not notifying the u.s. capitol police about parachuters at nationals park that prompted an evacuation of the complex on wednesday. and also on capitol hill, kevin mccarthy is on defense as he struggles to contain the growing fallout of the bombshell recordings revealing his conversations with other republican lawmakers in the days following the january 6th attack. conversations about then president donald trump. >> the only discussion i would have with him is that i think that this will pass, and it would be my recommendation you

should resign. i mean, that would be my take but i don't think that he would take it. but i don't know. >> joining me now, democratic strategist and former senior aide to the biden/harris campaign. and also adviser to the dnc and dccc. good to see you both. ladies first, because last night mccarthy again denying that he thought that trump should resign. however, it is on tape. we just played it. what is your reaction to that? >> i mean, alex, i honestly don't even know what to say anymore frankly when it comes to some of these things. especially when somebody is denying something that is clearly on tape and we can listen with our very own ears. but a couple takeaways, number one, do not lie. do not lie. especially when you are talking to a reporter or even in a room with a small group of people

that you think are your confidants. i never know who is recording something. and number two, look, kevin mccarthy has no moral convictions, no real policy positions that are going to help guide the decisions. all he wants to do is be speaker of the house. he has a very challenging time given how different his caucus is. you have a handful of moderates that you mostly have trump acolytes that guide your caucus that are essentially in charge of your republican caucus in congress. they will be the ones to decide whether or not he becomes speaker. it looks like he maybe will get away with this one, but again, just do not lie. >> good advice. okay. there is also this recording of mccarthy. take a listen. >> i know this is not fun, i know this is not great. it will be very tough. but what i want to do especially through here is i don't want to rush things, i want everybody to

have all the information needed. i've had it with this guy. what he did is unacceptable. nobody can defend that and nobody should defend it. >> so here is the question. how do you go from this, what we just heard, to down playing the insurrection and walking back criticisms of trump publicly, not mention booting liz cheney who was on that call in that audio, booting her from her leadership position and then just a few weeks later meeting with trump at mar-a-lago trying to get back in his good graces? how do you get your head around that? >> i think that it just shows the vice grip that donald trump has on the entire republican party. and i think that everyone needs to understand what is at stake this november. listen, kevin mccarthy will never be speaker of the house. if republicans take back the majority, donald trump will be the speaker of the house. mccarthy has walked back these comments that he made to his colleagues, the way he threw liz cheney under the bus to doing

exactly what kevin mccarthy has said privately, she said publicly, the fact that they are willing to go to these extreme lengths to walk back these things, tells you that when the time comes, if they take back power, donald trump will be running everything. >> let me ask you, do you think -- >> he runs the party. >> hang on. do you think that trump maintains his vice grip on this party because of leaders like this? they, you know, bow down before him and give him what he wants when the reality is anecdotal employee can tell you talking with people a lot of american citizens are tired of donald trump. many republicans say you know what, we're kind of relieved that we haven't had to listen to him, that we haven't had all this crazy malfeasance from the white house. you know, lies and then backtracking and all the things that we all went through. is it because of these leaders

thinking that, oh, this is what people want, or this is how we maintain our individual power, i mean, what if people pushed back now? could the republican party recover from trump? >> well, i'll tell you the first part of your question, the most revealing excerpt that has been released from this book so far is the anecdote about how mitch mcconnell basically said will take courage from us, we don't need to do anything, we can let them do the hard work for us. and that really was an interesting insight into the mindset of republicans. we've heard certainly off the record republicans whining about donald trump, but when it is time to do something, they have had plenty of opportunities now to actually do something, to rid themselves of donald trump, but they hope that someone else will do the hard part for them and the only reason why donald trump has been able to maintain this grip on power is because the people who also have power have

basically surrendered themselves to donald trump. and it has come at their own expense. >> and i guess myrhetorical, is that leadership? anyway, let me ask you, donald trump reacted to these recoveredings on friday. he was telling the "wall street journal" that he didn't like them but saying that this of mccarthy and other republicans who initially criticized him of course after january 6 and said that we'll still support you, i think that it is all a big kompg pli compliment, they realized that they were wrong and supported me. but what does it tell you about trump's influence over the republican party? picking up on what i was asking kurt. >> yeah, it is everything. i think that kurt hit it on the head when he talked about the firm grip that donald trump has over this party. and that does not matter whether or know he runs for president in

2024. whoever the nominee is, whether donald trump or somebody else, donald trump will be in control of that primary and will be in control where his party goes in 2024. and i think about this, looking back at past presidents, president clinton who i had the privilege to work for in the late 1990s, in 2002, when the speaker's race was up in 2002, president clinton was not involved in that race, he was not involved in deciding who the next speaker of the house was going to be. but here we are, the republicans have to fully rely on donald trump's endorsement to dictate that process. it says quite something about the state of the republican party today. >> yeah. and what kind of position, real quick, does it put kevin mccarthy in as he pursues speaker of the house should republicans take over the house? >> well, he is just completely reliant on donald trump's wins. that is not a position that i envy because as we have seen

over time, whether it was his former attorney general jeff sessions, his former righthand man michael cohen, loyalty is a one way street to donald trump. he may like you today, but tomorrow who knows. >> point well taken. good to see you both. thank you much. and russia appears to have a new goal in the war of ukraine, why that could be more alarming. and plus it appears that there is still no way out for hundreds of ukrainians surrounded as a steel plant s surrounded as a steel plan ♪ ♪ we believe there's an innovator in all of us. ♪ ♪ that's why we build technology that makes it possible for every business... and every person... to come to the table and do more incredible things.

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might try to undertake. >> former cia director john brennan making a case for sending offensive weapons to help ukraine in the fight against russia. joining me now retired general ben hodges, former commander of nato land command in turkey. he holds the pershing chair in strategic studies at the center for european analysis. glad to have you back. so here is my first question. based on what you are hearing from your sources today, is this what ukraine needs right now, and will this latest list of items announced by the white house deliver that fire power that can help ukraine defeat russia? >> it certainly helps, but it is not enough. the first thing that the administration has got to do, they have to use the word win. this has to be about making sure that ukraine can win. and win means pushing the russians back to the pre-2024

line. and then the flood gates would really open. all the things on your list are all good and that will be very helpful, but that won't lead to win that will keep ukraine in the fight and keep them from losing, but that is not the same thing. >> so given your expertise in infantry, when you look at the way that ukrainian fighters remain blocked in, now reportedly under the new attack by russians at that steel plant in mariupol, do you see anyway to get them weapons, ammo, anything for that matter to help the plant fighters there and potentially civilians that also are reportedly trapped inside? >> you know, i think that there is two or three ways that we could help these incredibly tenacious defenders as well as the civilians that are trapped in mariupol. number one, find a way to take pressure off of them by causing problems for the russians

somewhere else. i mean, this is a classic way to react when one of your units has been encircled, you counterattack or attack somewhere else to force them to have to drain off resources. this is something that we could help with longer range weapons and more capabilities for the ukrainians. the second classic way of course is directly counterattack in to the encircled region. that will be a lot more difficult because i don't think that ukraine has the mobile capabilities right now, i'm just not sure about that. and then the third thing of course is you could attempt to drop deliver certain thing this is there, but i would expect that the russians have included a lot of air defense all around mariupol to prevent just that from happening. so the most likely course of action in my mind would be two or three different things to draw off russians away from mariupol. >> okay. so i gu yeah, diverging the

focus there. what about defense secretary austin planning that meeting in germany next week, the u.s. has invited military, defense well, from 40 countries to talk about ukraine. outside the rubric of nato. but what do you think could come of that? >> this is an important meeting. i'm glad that the secretary us a is doing this. of course that he will explain this is what the u.s. is doing, these are the capabilities that we need you to bring forward. but at the end of the day, this goes -- and i hate to sound like a broken record, but this goes back to what is the desired outcome for this entire conflict. what is -- what do we believe is in the interests of the united states, of our allies. and of ukraine. and if it is not winning, if it is not restoring the integrity of a sovereign nation ukraine, then nobody is going to fully commit all the stuff that is

needed. they need to see the united states say, okay, we're going to provide abrams tanks and bradley fighting vehicles. by the i ith a way, in europe is almost all the equipment for a full division sitting in storage. so some of our allies are saying why are you guys crushing us for not giving up mortars when no american tanks, no british or french tanks, what is going on here. so i think that the u.s. has to commit to making sure that ukraine wins and then we have to lead by example. >> general ben hodges, i very much appreciate your insight. come see me again soon. and it is not only disney under attack in florida, but also math textbooks. 54 titles rejected for so-called prohibited topics. is this a math problem or a political calculus? (ceo) ♪ i want today. ♪

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new fallout today to florida governor ron desantis signing a bill into law stripping disney of its special self-governing status. a status allowing disney to collect its own taxes, provide its own services, and receive exemption from certain taxes and local regulations. it comes after governor desantis clashed with disney for its public opposition to florida's controversial new education law limiting discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in public school grades k through three. the governor addressing that before signing the new bill. >> we signed the bill, and then and incredibly they say we are going to work to repeal parents' rights in florida. i'm thinking to myself, you're a corporation based in burbank, california, and you're going to marshal your economic might to attack the parents of my state? we view that as a provocation, and we're going to fight back

against that. >> joining me is florida agriculture commissioner nicki freed, she is also a democratic candidate for governor. welcome back to the broadcast. it's good to see you. so let me ask you about what the governor did yesterday adding that he would have signed this bill revoking disney's special status. he says he would have done it three years ago had it crossed his desk. do you buy that? has disney's special status been an issue before? >> am i -- >> can you hear me? >> i can hear you, sorry. >> good. >> i was frozen for a second. what this governor has done time and time again is taken revenge on opposition. and that's exactly what this is. this was when a company regardless of who they were went after a piece of legislation that was a culture war. and instead of, you know, just trying to work with people in getting above it, he used his power as a governor to force this piece of legislation during our special session. we're supposed to be a pro

business state, business-friendly state. what this is going to do is already hurt the thousands and thousands of individuals who are living in this area. we're going to see a 25% increase in their property taxes. the economic impact of this type of retaliation is going to hurt the people of our state. so people need to understand what just happened. this was a revenge, retaliation. the people of our state are going to be hurting because of this. >> it's across two counties in particular that's really going to be hit hard here. do you think those floridians living in those two counties, i believe it's orange and osceola, i believe, if i said that correctly, do they know what's happening here? do they know that their taxes are going to go up considerably? >> no, they don't. this piece of legislation was at 48 hours was put on to a special session docket where the governor once again overstepped and took away minority access to our congressional maps. and this was added to the special session, and within 48

hours this bill ended up on the floor and passed by the republican legislature, not giving any opportunity for the people of our state to come and testify, no hearings on behalf of this, no financial analysis of how this is going to impact the services being provided to these communities and counties, how it's going to impact the workers of disney, and how it's going to impact the individuals who are living in these counties. no, there is no notice. and unfortunately it is too late, the governor's proud of this, that he's maybe hurting the people of our state so he can get a win for his agenda to run for president of the united states. >> wow. extraordinary when you put it that way. let's talk about another fight that has been waged by governor desantis, florida's education department released multiple examples of portions of math books that it has rejected saying that the texts referred to critical race theory and other prohibited topics. here's one of the rejected math problems in which it shows two graphs, one titled "measuring

racial prejudice by age" and the other is "measuring racial prejudice by political ideation." another lists objective as students proficiency with social awareness as they practice with empathizing with classmates. are these the things that the state education department of florida should find objectionable? >> you know, alex, let's take a step back for a second. the state of florida is banning books, banning books. it's almost like they're testing this out -- okay, we can ban math books, then what comes next? and so this should be a -- a huge alarm bell to people of our state and the people across the country that this is what is happening, that we are seeing books being banned and taken off of shelves if you don't agree with the idealogy behind the republican party and certainly this governor. we are all waiting to actually hear a full list of why math

books were banned from the state of florida, but this is, again, over intrusion of government, and part of the dictatorial tendencies of this governor. and this is something that the people of our state need to be awakened to and to realize that we've got to stand up to this because what is next. >> so to that end, you've been touring the state talking with voters now, whether it is the critical race theory or "don't say gay" bill. is this really what the majority of floridians care about? >> no, alex. i have been touring our state not only as our commissioner for 3.5 years but as a candidate for governor for almost a year. i've been talking to the people of our state all the way down from the very tip of key west to the very top of our panhandle. and it's a very consistent message. people can't afford to live here in the state of florida. whether it's increasing of rent by some places 60% to seeing homeownership being -- dwindling away from possibilities because homes are increasing by over 50%

in value, property insurance, gas is increasing, cost of living. and instead, this is what this governor and this republican legislature take as a priority. they are not talking to the people. i am, and this is not what their priority is. they want to make sure they can put a roof over their heads, feed their families, keep their electric bills on, and have a good quality way of life. >> nikki freed, good to see you. come see me again, thank you: we haven't heard from donald trump about kevin mccarthy's recordings but we expect to hear from him today. how did we know? we'll discuss that. and marjorie taylor greene testified yesterday about january 6. was that hearing enough to disqualify greene from being re-elected? re-elected looking to get back in your type 2 diabetes zone? once-weekly ozempic® can help. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ ♪ oh, oh, oh ♪ ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it.

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