all right, kadia tubman, sahil kapur, thank you both for your insights. look who is stalking now. some big names of the former guys in a circle. they're now talking to the 16 committee. we're gonna examine what the panel actually wants from them. and later, the state department's efforts to get wnba star brittney griner and paul whelan out of prison in russia. what might the united states give to get them home? but first, dara brown was tracking the other big stories we're watching at msnbc. dara, what you got? >> thank you, symone. president biden test positive for covid-19 again. the white house doctor saying it is a rebound case and not and you infection. the president says he has no symptoms, and is continuing to feel quite well. the indiana state senate just passed near total abortion ban. the new legislation includes exceptions for rape, incest, and to save a mother's life. the bill now heads to the indiana house. and in kentucky, the death toll continues to rise, after severe floods rocked the eastern part of the state. at least 25 people have died

sahil, it's important that pat cipollone is finally testifying. he tried to avoid it until a subpoena. what are the holes he could fill in the january 6 narrative? >> firstly, cipollone has been at it nearly four hours today in the deposition room speaking to the committee. they have taken a few breaks but he is back continuing to testify. that's according to our colleague who is monitoring it. what does this committee want from him? members described him as a significant witness. one of the members said he was present in key moments that they want answers to regarding the lead-up to january 6. that includes efforts to get the justice department to issue a letter validating then president trump's groundless claims of election fraud. there was a plan afoot to install jeffrey clark as the head of the justice department to move forward with that scheme as well. then there was the explosive testimony from former white house aide cassidy hutchinson who relayed concerns that pat cipollone had about crimes that white houseofficials could be charged with

nbc news senior national political reporter sahil kapur now. you know, with new reporting on what we can expect tomorrow, sahil, what tomorrow look like >> well, shep, the hearing tomorrow will be all about the 187 minutes of inaction by then-president trump on the day of january 6th from the time the capitol was breached to the time he publicly asked the rioters to go home. we know there are going to be two witnesses that are going to give testimony, that is sarah matthews who was a member of the press team at the time, and matthew pottinger, who was on a national security aide, and they're going to help construct the minute-by-minute, the pressure that the white house was getting. much of it through then chief of staff mark meadows to have then president trump give a statement to call the rioters off. committee members have described this as a dereliction in the duty of the former president in the sense of january 6th the hearing is meant for the american public. they want to construct, they want to give a clear vision of what exactly happene

nbc news senior national political reporter, sahil kapur is on capitol hill. also with me, harry litman, former u.s. attorney, legal affairs columnist for the "l.a. times" and host of "the talking feds" podcast. and asha rangappa, former special agent in the counterintelligence division of the fbi and senior lecturer and assistant dean at the yale jackson school of global affairs. welcome to you all, guys. thanks for joining us on this. ken, give us the big-picture outlook as you're out in front of that courthouse today. what are you watching for? >> today, yasmin, we're watching to see if they can seat a jury of impartial jurors who either haven't read news coverage of this case or who have convince adjudge they can fairly hear it. and so far they've gotten three of those panelists. but big picture overall, one of the interesting questions here is, is steve bannon going to go through with this? the judge has created a situation, a donald trump-appointed judge, where he's essentially cut off all of the legal defenses that bannon wanted to use in this case and

sahil, when we talk about today's session, do we have any sense of how long this is going to go today? >> impossible to know, andrea. these things can go on for a very long time. sometimes they can go on for a long period of time and yield very little actual testimony. we don't know the extent to which he's going to assert executive privilege. we don't know the extent to which he's going to talk about his experiences at the white house. so, i'll refrain from weighing in on that. but we have eyes on that hearing. we'll know -- when he leaves, we'll know how long they are in, and of course we'll be working our sources on the committee to get as much information as possible on what happened today ahead of those hearings next week. >> and we could be coming close to the windup of the public sessions. we don't know that for sure because they could always be adding something. but they laid out seven things that they plan to establish in their opening statements, and we're close to, you know, getting to that point in their conclusions. he could, of course, open up new areas of inquiry in wha

sahil kapur on the hill for us. a few minutes ago, this was the scene near capitol hill. at least 16 members of congress were arrested while protesting part of an abortion rights demonstration. police arrested members who they say refused to move. outside washington, there are new developments in the case of an indiana doctor who provided an abortion for a 10-year-old girl in indiana after she was raped in ohio. attorneys for the doctor filed a claim against indiana attorney general for false and misleading statements they say the ag made against the doctor. you remember this? the ag has accused the doctor of being, quote, abortion activist acting as a doctor who has a, quote, history of failing to report. her attorneys are refuing those claims and making the first legal step in what could become a defamation suit against the indiana ag. msnbc legal analyst danny sovalis is with us. this is the first step in this legal process. what's next? what should we be watching for? >> it's the first step. i file notices of cl

both as to 2020, as this call reflects, but it also continues around the country, and you talked with sahil about the revisions, but some of these voting laws that are being put to the side allow for the states to overturn elections based on allegations of fraud, mere allegations. that is designed to allow for a trump-installed elected officials to overturn the election in a state, overturn the will of the people. we have to keep a broader look on what is going on with donald trump. yes, the january 6th hearings are important, yes, any potential criminal charges that arise from the department of justice are very important, but this is an ongoing issue that must be addressed. >> ryan, going to where you are, boy, the prosecutor really went after steve banning yesterday? court, saying among other things that he thumbed his nose at the law. where are we in this trial right now? >> yeah, so we're hearing testimony from a senior official on the january 6th commit year, who was involved in the process of actually serving the subpoena on steve bannon's lawyer, who accepted service on his behave ba

joining me with more sahil kapur. how soon might we see a vote on it? >> reporter: it's still a bit uncertain in the senate, chris. democrats all 50 on board. they're about halfway to getting the ten they need. there's susan collins of maine, ron johnson, the senator from wisconsin is also willing to support this bill. he's up for reelection this fall. this is nobody's idea of a moderate and that position likely tells more about how he views his reelection in the competitive state of wisconsin than anything else. the fifth is lisa murkowski. she did tell reporters a few days ago she supports same-sex marriage and has for years. presuming those five are on board, the path to the next five gets much steeper from there. this is where i keep my eyes on senator mcconnell. mcconnell is very sensitive to the fact that democrats are out there eager to paint the republican party as a bunch of perimeter and akronistic people. he wants it to be a referendum on president biden and for mcconnell it would be to take the issue off the table if he can get the ten repub

sahil, walk us through the bills and what are the chance of pushing them over the finish line?n the final sprint to recess. firstly the computer chips bill cleared the senate moved forward on an overwhelming vote of 64-32. it would make a major investment in semiconductors and science and technology. it is on a glide path to passing the senate and could happen this evening. it's likely to head to president biden's desk after it passes congress. full. then the prescription drugs and aca funding bill and left of president biden's agenda and the two provisions that senator manchin is willing to do and democrats hope to get this done next week with clearance from the parliamentarian to make sure it complies and then 50 members are here and voting. several are sidelined with covid. no coincidence that senate democrats held a caucus meeting virtually. i have seen them wearing masks. that bill is likely to pass if democrats are here in the snathd and healthy next week. there's a same-sex marriage bill with a cloud of uncertainty. doesn't have the votes needed to break a filibuster. li

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