it's out now had cha>> straightk to former teacher manager stacey plaskett about the latest january six hearing means for the midterms and the future american democracy. another hour of velshi starts right now. good morning, you start act of the, 15th the caucus take you for the january six committee as this congressional term ends. it's not a show that the committee will continue its work next year especially if republicans take back control of the house, and that was one of the many reasons why the upcoming midterms are so critical. before the years, and the committee is expected to issue a report for the recommendation about how to protect the country from another insurrection. but before we do so, and they tried to get testimony from one more person. donald trump. at the end of thursday's hearing, all nine members of the committee voted to subpoena the twice compete extraction as president, and according to the,

committee more than 30 witnesses like roger stone on the left, john eastman on the right, and their fifth amendment right and when they were asked about their interactions for the former president. with the subpoena, the committee is giving the opportunity for trump to clear things up, but the chances of that happening are slim to none. considering all trump knows how to do is deflect, then i, and ally. he plays fast and loose with the facts until he's made to make responsible with the actions under oath. and trump himself invokes a fifth amendment right, more than 400 times and he was deposed but the new york state attorney general letitia james and our investigation and handed his business. that is just one of a half a dozen civil or criminal cases involving trump at the moment, and things are not looking great for him. this week, the supreme court rejects the trump team's emergency repeal regarding the special master at the mar-a-lago case. and yesterday, the department justice seize on its latest legal victory and filed a new appeal to look at the special

master in toss-up trump's lawsuit all the other. then trump has evaded responsibility for his actions for most of his life and career, but his inexcusable hoarding of government records in the segment of the january 6th insurrection has left him vulnerable. while trump privately acknowledges last in the 2020 presidential election, he continued to publicly found the flames by falsely claiming that he had one. repeating baseless election fraud claims, and as the january 6th committee has laid out with plenty of evidence in a series of hearings, those false claims led to the violence at the capitol on january six. trump is not the only 100% scrutiny as a result of the committees vessel geisha. during thursday's hearing, the members present evidence of the secret service is failing to take action against credible tips about threats of violence ahead of the january six insurrection. >> according to the source of the, tip the proud boys planned to march armed into d.c., and

they think that they will have a large enough group to march into d.c. arms, the source reported, and will outnumber the police so they can't be stopped. the source went on to say, their plan is to literally kill people, despite, this certain white house and secret service witnesses previously testified that they received no intelligence about violence that could have threatened any of the protectees on january six. evidence strongly suggest that this testimony is not credible. >> throughout the hearings, the general stakes committee has laid out the cause and effect of donald trump's many transgressions, as well as those who supported his debunked and baseless claims. many of, them by the, way our election in a few weeks and of this election than irons are poised to take control of the republican party. as representative liz cheney said on thursday, without accountability, consider if america can survive another 246 years.

joining me now is caroline, and she's a pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter for the washington post focusing on the white house and government kind ability, she's the author of the book zero, fail the rise and fall of the secret service, and island can fix, it don't j trump's catastrophic final year. she's also an msnbc contributor and a great friend to the show. carol, good morning to you. i wanted to talk to very specifically about what adam schiff just said there. what is the allegations surrounding the secret service in what they now, what they did or did not do. >> i think that i'm a pretty good expert on the secret service and even i was shocked when i saw some of those communications. making clear that the secret service was alerted, basically 10 to 14 days before january six, that there were efforts to make an armed attack on the capital, bring weapons to downtown national mall, which is a felony, and eventually over the next several days,

they received warnings that vice president pence's life was in danger. what is so stunning about this rally, you asked the question just right, how can you be responsible for protecting the vice president but allowing him to go to the capital where you know people with weapons are plotting to take over the building it feels as though the secret service, which had a very unique mission compared to other national security intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies, their unique mission. it is impossible to think that they weren't more worried about what was going to unfold on that day. both for the president, and for the vice president. >> they're also some vague comments from the committee member pete aguilar that go further than that, they talk about potential obstruction by the secret service i want you to listen to this with me and tell me what you make of it. >> after concluding its review of the voluminous additional secret service communications

for january six in january six the committee should be recalling and businesses and doing further investigative depositions. they were viewing testimony for potential obstruction on this issue including testimony about advice given not tell the committee about the specific topic. we will address this matter and our report. we will >> not knowing what thi, about one would not know what to make of, that except you've written a book on the secret service. you'll probably know more than most americans. we take what pete aguilar said, there and my viewers are watching this and saying that is a little bit, vague it definitely did. you have any sense of what he is talking about? >> i do. we've written a little bit about, this but now with the kind of specificity that you are asking right now. let me tell you what i know from sources, which is that they said that both -- senior secret service executive that was then serving oddly

enough as the white house deputy chief of staff. a political role helping donald trump, and bobby engle, who is the head of president trump's security detail, are likely to be re-interviewed the question that has arisen for the committee is to fault. first, that both men have said that they didn't recall certain things, and he didn't see any intel of concern, they don't remember certain things happening, that other witnesses said happened and the record seemed to raise serious concerns about the possibility that they could not have known these things. the most important and obvious so far is tony aeronautics claim that he was not aware of any intelligence that pose a threat to the protectees that they protect, the president and vice president. that is just impossible. all of the emails and all of that chatter and everything that protective intelligence agencies and side of the secret

service was receiving, it -- for the protection january six. we're gonna have a rally with a president where people were going to have assault rifles they were going to go to the capital with a vice president. the second part ali, it is the issue of did somebody try to encourage these men to fail to remember. did somebody encourage these men to have a aligned story. and also, not discuss what happened in the motorcade in the limousine which was really a sports utility vehicle as they left the president and he demanded from the capital. you remember that there have been an account that the president lunged at -- and he would physically try to force them to take into the capital one bobby told him that they don't have the assets and

bobby engle, thus far, has disputed that but not under oath. and the question arises, did somebody tell you not to remember that. does somebody tell you not to relay that. the secret service is extremely protective insensitive about a close recounting of what the president does and says. they are very wary of sharing that information and in this case, congress was asking, -- >> kara, we shows we'll be having you get through this this morning, and there were experts that a lot of us don't understand. and carroll is an investigative reporter at the washington post and the offer of zero, fail the rise and fall of the secret service. also i alone can fix, it donald trump's catastrophic final year. joining me now is the representative stacey plastic, from the united states virgin islands, she was house impeachment manager from donald trump's second impeachment

trial from the following the january 6th insurrection. represented plastic, thank you for being with, us i often think of you and i told us many times, as the impeachment manager who let us through the actual things that happened, the breach of the capital on january six. i think in that moment, when you put something that the impeachment trial, you know more about it than anybody else. how much more do you know now as a result of all of this testimony and the thousand people who have testified and tens of thousands who -- i thought in everything done and there's so much more to note. i want you to evaluate that. look back at what you know the impeachment, and what you know now. >> good morning, ali and that is what the smartest people in the world now, they don't know anything. that is what the committee has really shown us. they have been able to put so much more details around a framework that we as impeachment managers are going

to be doing at the time. as you, know we had a very tight timeframe in which to impeach the president. we actually want to do it before we reach office, let mitch mcconnell as you recall who's them the majority leader would not allow us to present the case before the senate until after he lost the majority. and we have a voluminous amount of evidence and we are trying to figure out how to get to the american people the information that would best reveal the intent of the president. i think now, because this committee has been so smart about not only showing us evidence, but allowing it to be voiced there are those individuals who work for the president. republicans themselves then there cannot be a dispute about the evidence. people can rail against gusted to hutchinson, but her attorney bill jordan would never put her under oath to give evidence

that was not correct. we know that there is back up to everything that has been said. the fact that we saw, we know that the president had changed the permit to just have them stay at the ellipse to allow them to walk to the capital, but now we actually have emails that show that, listen we don't have people to know that we want people to go to the capitol. that is where the real thing is going to happen. we have evidence of oath keepers calling in red wedding, one of my favorite series the game for -- game of thrones, which is basically slaughter of individuals. and we saw with the president knew that these people were armed and that they were going to the capital. so much of the intent behind the thinking of the presidency antics in a circle and the wackos and the insurrectionists and the destroyers of our democracy we work with the president is now on display. >> what about the stuff i was just talking to carole about.

at least some members of the secret service had information. obviously the secret service as part of its job will sometimes have contact with groups that are protesting or understand their plans but this appears to be more serious than, that and they seem to have more fairly detailed information of how bad this could be. >> they knew that the capital was going to be threatened, and they knew that over a week that they had an impact to do harm, and they will try to obstruct one of the pillars of our democracy. and what do they do? they protected the president and we're not concerned it appears with the rest of the democracy. i think that the secret service has an obligation not just of the american people, because they don't feel they have it to the american people, to their own institution if they did have it and did communicate this to others to share that with us.

right now there's negative inference that they did not. >> one of the pieces of clarity, might not be news to most people was the specificity by which the committee has determined that donald trump knew that donald trump knew he lost he lost the election, and he went ahead with the plan to overturn the election, and i plan was underway before the actual election happens. as was no matter how donald trump listening to last january about how to fight, this but this was a conscious effort to overturn democracy even before he knew he lost the election. even before the election happened. >> we have individuals like mary trump who tell us the psychology of an individual like donald trump that there is no room for loss. that if you did really lose, you just make it up. and then we have those william barr and others who for their own reasons, of legacy have decided to come clean about what they did and did not have

discussions with the president to know that. another thing that we keep the $250 million that the show of a president has been able to attract from the american people for a legal defense fund that he knew it was not really a legal defense fund i think of great american people thought they were doing something right or, he was able he was to extract that able to extract that money from them and that money was money from him with them. >> what do you think, where there is a response with donald trump, it's a 14-page letter he called at the on select committee, he did not divulge in that letter whether he would comply with the committee's subpoena, but fox news reported that he loves the idea of testifying live, he wants to take the mic, he doesn't want video testimony, he wants to take control of the room. is this even worth thinking about or talking about? >> listen, donald trump needs to be held to the same standard

as every other president to testify before congress. he would not be the first president received a subpoena, no to a risk or a subpoena by the first branch of government to question a president and his actions. you should do so under the same rules and guidelines. we are not bending the rules, i don't think the committee should make any changes for him that was not done for other presidents. that means it's a closed-door subpoena, you saw that tapes, the witnesses, people who questioned him. his own defense attorneys get to be there, and to respond to that, and it moves forward from there. we are not going to allow donald trump to make a mockery of what happened on january 6th. the lives of the police officers, the lives of the stuff. never mind as as members of congress, i don't how many americans feel about us, but think about all the young people that are there as staffers, people who are working in the capital, who are

just going about doing their job that they are a danger and some are injured because of donald trump and his desire for power. >> u.s. representative -- of the virgin islands. thank you again, this morning for being with, us we appreciate as always. still ahead, day 234 in the war of ukraine, russia is ramping up attacks on civilians. and you 725 million gauge package from the united states that unit support? i will get an answer from a member of the ukrainian parliament. and tonight's book club features the award-winning, and heavily banned children books, melissa. it is been targeted again and again and again for one simple reason. it tells the story of a young transgender girl. plus unbelievable new footage from and january 6th shop behind the scenes for speaker pelosi's daughter. if the picture speaks 1000 words, this picture speaks volumes. words, this picture speaks volumes. volumes. apple business essentials with apple care+ is included

so you can easily manage your team's devices, here, and here. all on the network with more 5g coverage. it's the ultimate business trifecta, with the new iphone 14 pro on us. only from t-mobile for business. >> stunning new footage of the

january six committee so sure the country's top lawmaker scrambling to secure the capital, even as the nation's commander-in-chief, former president donald trump stood by and the next to nothing, choosing instead to watch the violence play out on tv. these behind the scenes images were shot by house speaker nancy pelosi's daughter, alexandra pelosi. it shows the set center georgia leader shuck schumer, trying to restore order from a secure location. the video shows, in realtime, how the nation's most powerful leaders reacted to the stories of the capital. sending out calls and urging governors in nearby states to dispatch the national guard, to help detract colleagues and staffers. the footage reveal that is more important for the lawmakers to reconvene for the counting of electoral votes to certify the election, that the transfer of power that day, and democracy itself prevail. here is the video. >> there has to be somewhere we can go, that there is some

security, some confidence. that the government can function and can elect the president of the united states. do we go back into session? did we go back in session? now apparently everybody on the floor is putting on tear grass masks and to prepare for a breach. i'm trying to get more information. they are putting on their tear gas masks. >> we are breaking windows and going in. obviously, ransacking our offices and the rest of that. that is nothing. the concern we have about -- >> safety. >> personal safety transcends through everything. the fact is, on every single day, they are breaking the law in many different ways. quite frankly, much of it at the instigation of the president of the united states. if you could at least --

>> why do you get the president to tell them to leave the capitol, mister attorney general and your von far in for -- the public statement issue leaf. he is saying, this tweet said we are for peace law and order. why don't you get him to make that statement? would you do that? answer my question. >> senator, i will do everything i could do. >> does that include asking the president to get people who are followers to leave the capital? >> they are one heck of a hurry, you understand? >> loud and clear, leader. >> this is not just waiting for so and so, we need them there, now whoever you got. >> i want to ask you this, you know the capital has been completely overrun? do you know there are certain senators and congressman still in their offices over there? >> that will be our hope as well, security that it is going to be awhile before the capital will be able to do that.

-- we have been told it will take days to clear the capital. >> we will mark at the capitol cleared out for two or three days, we should do it here. >> i appreciate that. i appreciate that. it seems like the overriding wishes to do it at the capital. we are being told very directly that it is going to take days for the capital to be okay again. [inaudible] >> i have been waiting for, this trespassing on the capital. point them out we will go to jail and be happy. >> wow. okay, right after the break we turn to ukraine a new a package from washington as the military ramped that attacks on civilians. we will speak with a member of the ukrainian parliament of the

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russians war in ukraine now and a 234. like yesterday, the biden administration authorized an additional $725 million in military aid for ukraine in total. the uss committed more than 18 billion dollars since russia invaded. the latest aide comes as the russian military attacks rams attacks on civilian targets using missiles and iranian main kamikaze drones. the latest round of a ten strikes starting monday, continue throughout the week. several dozen ukrainian civilians were killed in the attack, most of which were taking place very far from the front where the war was being fought. let's be clear, the majority of these strikes seem to have no strategic military purpose relating to the battlefield. other than to instill terror among the civilian citizens. at the same time, ukraine

continues to regain territory in the south near -- where the counter offensive in the east has slowed. joining me now is the member of the ukrainian parliament and the leader of the -- party. kara, good to see you again, thank you for being with us. it's important for people who don't have a geographical sense of ukraine, or who have not been there to understand, this seems to be targeting civilian infrastructure. the russians made argument that it is electrical infrastructure, power grids, things like that that could have a military purpose. that is not what we are seeing. >> hi, ali, thank you so much for having me, as always. yes, over the last two or three days, there has been 30% of ukrainian energy infrastructure destroyed or damaged. it is civilian infrastructure. basically, they announced that the winter in ukraine would be dark and it would be very cold. i am afraid now, more than

thousand cities and villages in ukraine do not have electricity, and we are trying to fix it, but russians continue attacking it with missiles. it will be hard to return people to their normal life. all of these attacks were nonmilitary. they did not intend to have anything with the war. these attacks were to make sure that we would not survive through the winter. this is the main difference between today and four days ago. >> but if you target civilian infrastructure, including electricity, with the aim of punishing civilians, because winter in ukraine is very cold, that is illegal. i mean, that is just not allowed. countries can't do that. that puts us into the category of state sponsored terrorism. >> yes. not state sponsored terrorism, but also pure terrorism. you are trying to destroy something because you want to put -- you want to make peoples life

harder, you want to kill people. plainly kill people. this is what putin is doing. >> let's talk at both a u.s. tweet earlier today about putin's nuclear threat in what you said various things, one of the thing is strategy of the support for ukraine should be on preventative measures, not on decisions made after all possible tragedies. you also said, what has been done so far to prevent a nuclear tragic tragedy? another one you said the world should make decisions before something happens. that's where we are. we are in the before something happens stage. vladimir -- putin >> know. >> before a nuclear tragedy happens. >> yes, okay. >> vladimir putin continues to bring it up, he raises the issue of threatening nuclear weaponry. >> ali, we are somewhere in the after situation. with the difference between four days ago and right now is four days ago, ukraine had its energy infrastructure intact. right now, we have 30% less than that. what is only right now, it has

been announced we will finally receive air force protection systems that we have been asking for since they won. why didn't it happened four days ago, before something bad happened? when we have the energy infrastructure? this is extremely frustrating. i do not think the world needs more proof that putin is evil, he is attacking civilian infrastructure, his aim is to kill us. why are these decisions being made right now and not for, five, six, ten days ago. we could have saved lives. we could have saved our future. this is absolutely frustrating for us. we do not want this to happen with the nuclear threat. you know, having in ukraine equipped with the sophisticated air force protection system would actually increase our chances of intercepting the missile that would be holding a nuclear bomb. have ukraine equipped it with

additional weapons we need will increase our chances of pushing back the russians and preventing what may or may not happen. i think the tipping point in this war, when we will say that we are definitely winning will not be when ukraine is giving more and more of our territories back, but when the western world, western allies will start playing the first rule, other than responding to what putin it will do next. you see the actions are actually reaction. putin is attacking our infrastructure, okay, friend, here is another aid package. here are the air force protection systems that you requested for so long. they threatened you with a nuclear threat? okay, we will figure out what we will do next. once it switches, we will say okay, now we are winning. if we have the strategy that is approved of all of the nato members, by all of the allies,

and we start playing the hero in this war. rather than always responding to what putin is doing. >> okay, where are we in that process? who would have thought, when you and i were talking all these months ago, that with each passing day that the war goes on, the advantage does not go to russia. that you are reclaiming territory. they have had to resort to remarkable civilian terror in order to try to break the spirit of ukraine. i saw poll this morning, must be hard to do pulling in ukraine, but i saw poll that indicates ukrainian resolves unbroken at this point. that might be the moment to make that decision for the world. what does that look like? their proposal on the table that says here is what winning in ukraine looks like, nato, let's do it? >> if the proposal on the table. it is a strategy that everybody would agree on. say, okay, this is the plan for ukraine to receive 300% more weapons that we are receiving right now. this is what you are going to

receive, this is how we are going to make sure that russia is not going to be successful in resolving into nuclear. the plan is to look like that, approved by all the nato members, and we should go with. that right now, it is still sour, it works, world leaders will discuss about how they are going to react to what putin is going to do if he resorts to nuclear. this will again be something that is happening after the tragedy is there. i cannot even begin to tell you what is going to happen in ukraine if he does that. all of the need to extra -- would be nothing. switch to the plan, switch to the plan, this is our poll right now. have your friend close this guy, this is what work, now we need a clear and definitive plan of ukraine winning, and the

support for this plan from every single nato ally. >> kira, this war started at the end of february, a place like the end of winter, but for ukraine, it's not really the end of winter, it was cold from another month or so. how worried are you about the taking out of electricity supplies as it gets cold? in ukraine? and the effect that will have on people's spirits? >> so, i am worried a lot because, again, like last week, we saw that we have a small chance of getting through the winter, we thought of ourselves as prepared. our energy infrastructure was intact. right now, we know it would be incredibly hard. it would be another wave of refugees into european countries. i am personally gathering fuel and warm clothing because, you know ali, when you are getting back to the electricity

outreaches, even in kyiv, it scares you. however, it does not change our plans. we know that we are going to fight. we know it is putin's intention to break our spirit. it is putin's intention to instill fear in us. i hope that you have seen this video, when people were hiding in the subway stations, bomb shelters and holding hands and singing ukrainian anthems. we may be heartbroken, but we are not broken, ali. >> you are not broken. one day, you and i will not talk about this. we will talk about other things. we will talk about the rebuilding of ukraine. about what the future looks like. about places that people like me can go visit in ukraine as tourists. for a while, we will talk about this. kira, thank you for being with us, kira rudik a ukrainian member of parliament. coming up, the book club is nearly in a session with alex geno -- alex gino and their children's

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good for people who stopped them. one of those people was judge michael luttig, this man, from now and former federal appears judge, at a long time conservative. two days before the insurrection, he took a call from then vice president mike pence is outside counsel asking for his help. what he did next might have helped save democracy. i will talk to judge michael luttig at two more atm eastern, he has another warning for the future of american democracy. before that, you have to tune into the cross connection with tiffany cross at 10 am today, she joins me now. tiffany, you and i were talking on the breakup of the debate last night, the senate debate between rafael more knock and herschel walker. it is wild stuff. we know what herschel walker's, about every time you see him again on tv pulling his police badge out, i don't know how to make sense of it when i watch herschel walker talk. >> i don't know how to make sense of it either, ali, the funny thing is, you wonder if these debates have sway on

voters. this is 6% of georgia voters are undecided, i wonder if that is true. i think the debates are more for people like us who consume the minutiae, to see what happens and discuss on the chat -- panels. it was cringeworthy to say the least. good morning, it is always a pleasure to share the screen with the hardest working man on msnbc, ali. can't wait to see your coverage. i know will i will be doing tomorrow, you talking to the judge to see how we help save democracy. >> what are you up to now? >> coming up on the cross connection, i want to talk about florida, and the report from the atf reports there is hate in the sunshine state. florida has become a safe haven, ali, for white supremacist. we will talk about why on the cross connection. plus all week, you guys have been talking about the l.a. city council, the drama that unfolded this week after the recording laced with racist comments was leaked. i have a panel of guest to talk about anti-blackness in the latino community. we don't want to folks what happens there, we want to see what casts a dark shadow across

a lot of communities. to top that off, i will be joined by congressman karen bass, who is running for the mayor of l.a.. we will talk about her race. and we will dive into, of course, more herschel walker conversation. i have erin haines, tmi joining me. this is a segment i am excited about, gen z voters, ali. a lot of younger voters if you were born in the late 90s or after, they are not as engaged in politics. i want to get a sense from them what it would take to get the more engaged, and what is happening in our democracy. and lest engaged in the nick advantage -- speaking of nikki manage, i'm a total hip hop had, ali. there is a guy coming up, j.d. ivey was a poet, i will have him on set with me, we will talk about the future of hip-hop. what we're it all, is what it means. now stay on top with the cross connection. >> you are bringing the atlanta

vibes to the cross connection. good to see you, see you at 10:00, the cross connection comes up next. and the velshi banned book club is almost in session including the top book every year since the publication in 2015. melissa by, alex gino. the coming of age story is like so many we have red together. why is it being banned all over the nation? the answer is not going to surprise you. it tells a story of a young transgender girl. that is next. transgender girl that is next that is next ) wahoooo! (vo) you can be well-groomed. or even well-spoken. (man) ooooooo. (vo) but there's just something about being well-adventured. (man) wahoooooo! (vo) adventure on a deeper level. discover more in the subaru forester wilderness. love. it's what makes subaru, subaru. subaru is the national park foundation's largest corporate donor. ♪ what will you do? ♪ what will you change?

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gino alex jean -- melissa is entitled the secrets, the reader becomes interested with some of the fourth grade protagonist secrets, like a hidden stash of glossy fashion magazines. and another bigger secret. one that is a little closer to the heart. melissa, known only to the world as george, it's a transgender girl. she reveals this with notably little fanfare.

it's as real as the pages in the very book they are written. quote, melissa is the name she called herself in the mirror when no one was watching, and she can brush her flat reddish brown hair to the front of her head, as if she had bangs. there is a duality to the book. it boasts an avant-garde story of acceptance and identity, and a story of a fifth grader child who wants to audition for charlotte, and not willmar in the clash -- class rendition of charlotte webb. melissa is thoughtful, pointing, hopeful. to the extent i am able to evaluate it. make no mistake, it demands a lot of its reader. we are asking to grapple with very emotional topics throughout the eyes of a child and her family and classmates. these elements, the emotional lift, and the honest description of a transgender child, most urgently contribute to the relentless banding and challenging of the book. melissa has made the american library association's top ten most challenged books list every single year. nearly every single year since the publication in 2015.

i can pick any number of examples to expand upon. reading contest in oregon. a public library in louisiana. all of the seven which to elementary schools. they reiterate the same reasons that the velshi fan book club was with the first ever -- with a and johnson. i asked george why their book, all boys aren't blue, faced ban after van and challenge after challenge. the answer is not simple, my book tells the truth. and quote. a truth that melissa tells. a truth that many parents, school board members, candidates on the ballot rather did not exist. a truth that is not going anywhere. we are in a new era, a new world where a person's initial introduction to sexuality and gender identity can happen in a safe environment if you let it. perhaps a child identify as transgender, this book will help them feel seen. or maybe it will make them learn compassion, open-mindedness. either way, you can expect a good story and deeply meaningful conversation when

you decide to open the cover of melissa. we have a meaniful conversation coming up as well. i will be joined by the author of melissa, alex gino, we will talk about the frequent ban of their book, the decision to republish melissa under a different name, and much more. a under different name, and much more. different name, and much more. keep your laundry smelling fresh waaaay longer than detergent alone. if you want laundry to smell fresh for weeks, make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. >> joining me now is the author

alex gino, author of a number of books anthologies, including

today's velshi ban book future. melissa, it was the -- children stonewall word, the land of literary award, and the children choice book award. alex, thank you for joining us. and for being a member of the velshi book club today. >> thank you, thank you for having me, thank you for your kind words, that was wonderful. >> let's talk about the name of the book. first of all, melissa, members of the velshi fan of the club may have this, book may have seen is on bookshelves are reddit, but had a different title. it was called george. they traded with officially changed last year. tell me about the name change. >> sure. it is hard, in some ways, to think now, of how quickly things are changing. but when i start to this book in 2003, i had no thought that it would be published, i called it guerrilla george to myself as a joke. then it was published, it became a george, and it was right about when i got the first copies that i thought

this is not the name that she wants to be cold. the idea of what we might call a dead name in, which is the kind of -- funny concept, no one is dead, but the idea that you should called a trans person only by their name that they told you to use is sort of a recent concept. and so, even i didn't realize, it other trans people i was around did not realize it, they had to correct it because the mistake was so wrong. >> that's an amazing story. this girl is for everybody, right? you wrote the book, you do not even realize that. that should give the rest of us cover. if you alex gino did not get a break in publishing an entire book on the topic, i'm okay if it takes me a minute, did i will get there. >> yes, and you have to get there. and you have to acknowledge that something is wrong.

you can't fix it unless you acknowledge that there is a mistake. and that something needs to change. >> back in 2019, you wrote an essay for the office of intellectual freedom of the american library association of being the author of the number one most band book that here. you concluded part by saying maybe being mislabeled as objectionable content while being asked to cough cannot -- comment on it as an academic curiosity, it's a delicate dance, i'm fatigued, and quote. >> i want to address, that it's a delicate dance, it's something we perform on the velshi banned book club. with every author. tell me about the delicate dance. it must be fatiguing. on one hand, we are sticking it to the man by putting this book on the velshi than book club. on the other hand, you do not get the bill the author of a book. >> it is not an honor, it's not a great thing. even in cases where my book at additional -- light coming on here, thank you for having me. if some liberal a thought buys

my book and puts on the shelves are good they get to feel good about themselves because they got involved. there are still young people who don't have access. there are still people who need access to that book who don't have it. to be told that what is wrong, wrong with my book, is my existence is a real hit to the gut. that's not my gut, but it's a real hit everywhere. i could have used this book if i was a kid. if i had visibility of people like me as a kid, my life would be different now. yeah, i want to provide that to other people. >> alex, you give me more cover by pointing to the authorities and saying it's your gut. if alex get that wrong, i'm okay. i want to explore this. buying the book is different than creating access for the book. this happens all over the place, there are book where people say that is not banned, it's the

school board that decided they want to have it on the curriculum, or they won't have it in their library, or this library won't carry. this is a very important point. but being able to go to my local book point -- bookstore to get the book is different and children have access. >> exactly, most children do have spending money to go to a bookstore, or the freedom to go to a bookstore. or, if the book is not something that their parent wants them to read. yes, the school is a place where they can get that information. where they can get needy in school for figuring out who they are figure out who they are, or other people are. if you don't do that, you end up with adults who are either hurt and scarred. or they don't know how to interact with a trans person. that is where you get epidemic levels of violence against trans people, particularly trans women of color. this attempt to protect children is actually putting people at risk. of information seems lives.

>> we talk about a lot about representation at the velshi banned book club, you are among a small select few authors that identify as a gender queer. what does that mean to viewers? >> many people who grew up to be boys came up three men, and that works for them. many girls and the pain women, that works for them. people were assigned girl i, professor and boy at birth. i failed at boy, i feel that girl. i am neither one. i will say many trans people are binary. there are many trans girls and women who are women. many trans boys and men who are men. there are many of us who are neither. we have always been here. it is information that has been held from us. it's information that has been suppressed. but there has always been a range of humanity. >> alex, i want to talk to you more, i'm out of time on the show, but i get the chance to talk with you more. if you stay there, i will do more with you that is going to

go on peacock. stay where you are. alex gino. what a great eye-opening conversation we have been having. she is the award winning of melissa. there is more of this conversation. later this week, you will be able to catch the exclusive conversation with alex gino every only on peacock. don't miss that. that does it for me for today. catching back tomorrow morning on 8 am to 10 am on velshi. don't forget velshi is available as a podcast. you can listen to the entire show at the go anytime, subscribe, listen for free wherever you get your podcast. remember, tomorrow morning i will talk to judge michael luttig, one of the handful of people in america who stood between democracy and its collapse. we are before january 6th. stay right where you are. the cross connection with tiffany cross begins right now. be back tomorrow.

>> all right, good morning everybody, welcome to the cross connection, i am tiffany cross. let's get into, it on one side, there is democracy, on the other side, there is donald trump. let's start with a january 6th committee, unanimously voting to subpoena 45. this is not unprecedented, but this is still highly unusual. trump of course, responded exactly how you would expect a petulant adult to respond. a 14-page rambling, incoherent letter to chairman benny thompson. no we're in this letter that she will comply and testify. that's all, there's more, by friday it asked an appeals court to end the special review of the thousands of government documents the -- this comes after clarence thomas and the rest of the supreme court rejected trumps emergency request to have the special master to review this classified documents in mar-a-lago. and of course, there is also the new