>> wertheim: who's angus king?'t the more prominent of the two senators from his state; that's susan collins. he isn't the more prominent of the two independents in the senate; that's bernie sanders. he isn't even the most prominent man named king from his state; that would be stephen, the writer, but angus king is something akin to atticus finch on a harley, a motorcycle- riding, duck-hunting, public- radio-listening straight shooter, unencumbered by party politics. we spoke with him in his office the morning after the assault on the capitol. he was angry with president donald trump. >> king: the first thing that came to my mind was the old quote from hosea the old testament prophet who said, "they who sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind." and the president's been sowing the wind for three or four months, and yesterday we reaped the whirlwind. >> wertheim: you blame the president. >> king: i do. words have consequences, and the-- the higher up you are on the hierarchy, the words have more and more consequences.

he said we based our efforts on extraordinarily -- commission headed by angus king on our side congressman mike gallagher and i want to make sure i say mike gallagher because io think identified them with another irish name last week but congressman mike gallagher and i wanted give credit to jim landry who is one of the key cybersecurity experts in the house. every day we are learning more about the extent of the soviet -- excuse me russian penetration of our whole national security apparatus and civilian companies. just today it's announced they've been deeply penetrated by the russian intrusion and i suspect it's very serious. this legislation responds and in fact it was done remarkably before we knew of it but they respond specifically to this type of attack on the united states. hoit gives agencies the authoriy to audit other agencies in terms of their cybersecurity and it's a first step that if we don't take this step we will be further behind. the other thing i want to point outou to his echoing what the chairman said. they said it's a defense initiative. we have identified $2 billio

one of the 16 lawmakers invited on the call was senator angus king of maine, an independent who caucusesth the democrats. senator king joins me now. he's also a member of the senate armed services committee and the senate intelligence committee. senator, thank you for coming on. >> sure. glad to be with you particularly on premier weekend, pamela. congratulations. >> yes, thank you so much. i appreciate that. glad to have you on the premier weekend. i want to start with this phone call, of course. you had tweeted after the call, you said today's call between the white house and members of congress was a bipartisan discussion focused on policy solutions, which is notable in itself. let's keep working together to speed vaccine distribution and support americans during this pandemic. so tell us what you thought went well today, and did anything concrete come out of this call today? >> well, i think the first thing i want to emphasize is what i mentioned in the tweet and that is it was remarkable that this meeting happen. there hasn't been a meeting like this that i know of in the past four

. ♪♪ >> next, senator angus king joins healthcare providers from lane for discussion on the use of telehealthng the coronavirus pandemic and how it can be used in the future from the bipartisan policy center, this is one hour 15 minutes. >>

all right, so let me put this in a way angus king will understand: no it's not "monopoly" money, but holding up this relief "operation" really does "boggle" the brain. it doesn't take a "mastermind" to see that the american people are in "trouble." because "life" ain't no "candy land" when just going to the grocery store is a "risk." "jenga!" oh, my god i have alfeeling i just tid something very expensive. snrrchghts one holdover from the previous administration is dr. anthony fauci, and after just one day of working for biden, you could really feel the difference. that's him working for the former president on the left, and that's him on day one of working for biden. that's the face of a man who no longer has to present his findings via puppet show and scratch and sniff. in an interview with "the new york times," dr. fauci said the former president was always trying to minimize the global pandemic, explaining, "i would try to express the gravity of the situation, and the response of the president was always leaning toward, 'well, it's not that bad, right?' and i would say, 'yes, it

they'll be moderated by the honorable senator angus king. let me introduce senator king and in the panel. senator king is first elected to the senate and 2012 reason his second term, he is maine's first independent united states senator. and he has played a very significant role in keeping attention on telehealth. he introduced improving telehealth for underserved communities act in june to provide patients with telehealth services through rural federal health clinic in qualified health centers at reduced in medicare. senator king, former governor, has served as a member of our bpc's honorary congressional task force on rural health. most importantly to us of the bipartisan profit center senator king is a strong believer works hard to make republicans and democrats together to find common sense solutions to the challenges facing the country today. we forward turn this over let me into cpanel is that it shared their experience but for all of those who are viewing out there this discussion. if you wish to submit questions, please submit them is

excellent people here to address these questions and they will be moderated by the honorable senator angus king me introduce the panel. senator king's first elected to the senate in 2012, he's in his second term. defendant united will keeping attention on telehealth. the telehealth for underserved communities act in june to provide patients receiving telehealth services for local health clinics qualified health centers from having to reduced medicare payments. former governor served as a member of our honorary congressional cap trucks from the health, most importantly to us here at the bipartisan policy center, a strong believer in bipartisanship and works hard to bring republicans and democrats together to find common sense solutions to the challenges facing the country today. before we turn it over to the senator, let me produce the panelists sharing their experience but also of you viewing this discussion, questions, submitted live youtube, facebook or twitter using # bpc live. # bpc live. for our panelists, scott oxley. scott is more than have senior vice president and president of northern

angus king tweeted, i believe, something to the effect of we're on the same -- there's a lot of consensust of consensus in here regarding controlling the virus and distributing the vaccine. and i think that's kind of the number one thing. i heard dr. nguyen, as she went out talking about how difficult it was trying to do what needed to be done with an administration that didn't value competence and didn't value science. now we have a different administration that very much values and elevates science and competence. and my sense is that in the call today, that was something that was warmly embraced by all sides. that doesn't mean everybody is going to agree on every detail. that's politics. and joe biden has a long history of working on those types of negotiations. we should be thankful that we have a president who has, you know, so many decades in the senate. he's been to this rodeo. so i think these negotiations are going to be, i think, very much boosted by this kind of urgency that was there on the call today. >> you mentioned angus king. we're going to have him on the show in the nex

with us to discuss the challenges ahead senator angus king of maine, an independent who votes with thei'm grateful for your time this sunday. let's start with your take on the math. you are an independent who votes with the democrats on most issues, i assume you are a yes to convict on impeachment, but is there any way that you think you can get 17 or 18 republican votes, what you would need to convict the president? >> john, in talking to some of thigh republican colleagues i think there are two missing pieces of evidence. of course, a lot of the evidence is out in front of us and we all saw it in realtime, this is probably the first impeachment trial in history where the senate was also witnesses of what went on, but there are two missing pieces that i think could have a dramatic influence. one is what did the president know before he went out that morning to talk to that crowd. in other words, what was the intelligence and did he know that there was a likelihood of violence and a violent siege of the capitol. that's number one. number two, what did the president do that afternoon. a

people here to address these questions and they'll be moderated by senator -- the honorable senator angus king. let me introduce senator king and then the panel. senator king is first elected to the senate in 2012. he's in his second term. he is maine's first independent united states senator. he has played a very significant role in keeping attention on telehealth. he introduced the improving telehealth for underserved communities act in june to provide patients receiving telehealth services through certain rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers from having to have reduced medicare payments. senator king, former governor, has served as a member of our b.p.c.'s honorary congressional task force on rural health. most importantly to us here at the bipartisan polity sy senator, senator king is a strong believe for the bipartisanship and worked hard to bring republicans an democrats together to find commonsense solutions to the challenges facing the country today. before we turn this over to the senator, let me introduce the panelists who will be sharing their experience but a

democrats will really 48 democrats right and 2 independent senators and bernie sanders from vermont and angus king from maine are going to all be in alignment with each other you have a full spectrum right from bernie to people like joe manchin of west virginia john hickenlooper coming in in colorado christian cinema in arizona who may not be you know as progressive so to speak as a bernie sanders so there still is a lot of work to do chuck schumer does not have been easy job of keeping that chamber aligned because it would just take one or 2 democrats to break away from that caucus for something to not be able to go the other thing that i was a really quickly is that it's you know require 60 votes and so chuck schumer is the incoming majority leader has a very big decision in me is he going to do away with the filibuster which would allow for a simple majority or is he going to keep it intact which would still require 60 senate senators to pass a piece of legislation and if that's the case then i don't see very many things that are groundbreaking passing unfunny terrific as always thanks for sayi

what is the likelihood that the senator from alaska will become an angus king like independent?ikely. first senator lisa murkowski and for her to say publicly that she wants him out of office is really what we are hearing from many republicans right now who are increasingly trying to figure out how does the country heal, how does the republican party and conservative ideology move forward. i was struck by the interview we did bloomberg radio on friday with someone like governor chris christie of new jersey. i covered when chris christie was one of the first comment republicans in 2016 in texas to endorse then candidate donald trump. for him to openly say it's time to move on and turn the page, this is over, it used to be the question prior to last wednesday what role does trumpism have in conservatism. openlyis republicans are talking about how do you keep trump out of the party as our result of the horror that occurred in washington, d.c.? so much for the eventful report. look for sound on bloomberg radio. kevin burning it up last week with some really important interviews and

i want you to explain to the bloomberg matters -- to the bloomberg audience, whether it is angus king of maine, maybe susan collins, maybe others -- you know better than me -- but you mentioned murkowski of alaska. if she does not move across the aisle, if she moves to be "independent," what does that really mean? on an individual basis, it could be very interesting to see if there are republicans who side with democrats on this. obviously mitt romney cited -- cited on impeachment. willie debt will two thirds that thirds -- will two thirds vote to impeach? it doesn't look like there is enough support now to impeach the president. there is probably going to be an attempt to pick off those moderates -- maybe susan collins, murkowski, romney, maybe others. i'm not sure who the other examples would be, but it is very difficult to get up to six to seven votes, -- 67 votes, or if there is one vacancy, 66. if you can get moderates to side with democrats, maybe that is a good sign for legislation to move forward with the biden administration. maybe it speaks to frustration with trump, but aga

when he is out of office, we're now hearing from congressman adam schiff and senator angus king that ump should not get classified intel briefings once gone. what king said on "state of the union." >> there's a grave danger of him inadvertently or willfully revealing classified information that would compromise sources and methods and there's no upside, no reason that he needs to have this information. it's a courtesy that's been passed on from president to president. but there's no legal requirement, and i think given his past history of being fast and loose with intelligence data, it ought to be, that ought to be an easy decision for the incoming president. >> so ultimately, garrett, it is going to be up to joe biden, but has a new president ever withheld these briefings from a former president before? >> well, you have to understand what the tradition of sharing classified intelligence usually relates to. it's so that the current president can turn to former presidents to, t t t to predece for advice. it's because presidents often turn to their predecessors to help represent the u.

and as senator angus king said on the senate floor, we are a 240-year anomaly in world history, democracy as we have practiced it is fragile and it rests upon trust. sadly, untold thousands across our country have taken that for granted. and as elected leaders we have a responsibility to show the public what it means to peacefully transition. and i just want to note that as we elect a new president and swear in two new members, i want to express my pride and admiration serving with all of you and our collective reaffirmation that our elections are among the freest, fairest and the highest turnout in the country. and that we will work together with respect for our differences, while always remembering that what unites us here in san francisco is so much more than what divides us. i'm very proud to support you, supervisor walton, and i look forward to working with all of you in the coming two years. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor stefani. i feel your heart. supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, madam clerk. i have been thinking this morning about doris ward,

, lisa murkowski and mitt romney, and then on the democratic side, you have independent senator angus king as well as senator joe manchin participating. this comes as there has been some republican skepticism out there over passing another covid relief package so soon after they passed that $900 billion package at the end of last year. but the president has made clear he wants to be sure there is bipartisan support for the bill he is passing. that is his preference, and that is what white house officials are trying to work through through calls like this and others that are happening behind the scenes. but in addition to this covid relief package up on capitol hill, the biden administration is also tackling the vaccination process. and one thing that white house officials say will be different under this administration is more participation and involvement from the federal government. and take a listen to biden's nominee for hhs secretary, javier bacerra, who spoke to our dana bash yesterday. >> reporter: when will anyone who wants a vaccine abe able to get one? >> that one we're coordinat

do you agree with angus king who said laws are more durable and better if passed on a bipartisan basis? >> i would like us to do this on a bipartisan basis. i would like the republican to face up that our country is in the middle of a pandemic and therefore we need to provide relief to people that helps people and therefore if the republicans do not come forward with some level of understanding of what people are going through, then i would agree with bernie sanders, others of my caucus, that we will use what we need to do to get the help to the people that is necessary. >> okay. clearly you support reconciliation if this comes to that. senator, i appreciate your time this morning. thank you. >> thank you. >>> well still ahead, some good news. moderna said its covid vaccine is expected to protect against the new variants. we'll give you an update. >>> plus the new cdc director said the biden administration,en to this, does not know exactly how many vaccines are available due to a lack of data collected by the trump administration. it is remarkable. >>> and the arizona republican party

joining me now angus king, member of the intelligence and armed services committee. senator, good to see you. >> pleasure to see you. >> good to see you. we've got avril haines, now confirmed at 7:00 last night. she's the first step. but josh hawley, now we have someone thankfully at dni in charge of the intelligence agencies, josh hawley, senator from missouri, is already blocking the department of health -- i'm sorry -- dhs -- >> homeland security. >> in charge of secret service, immigration, enforcement, other key agencies at homeland. what are we going to see going forward? this is the same josh hawley one of the instigators of the electoral college, and i'm obviously struggling to talk. yep. >> i don't know what josh hawley is up to. he's already sort of harmed his reputation in the senate and this seems to be another step in that direction. the good news is i believe we're going to be able to confirm lloyd austin as secretary of defense later today or this evening. and we'll be moving through most of these confirmations. there have been some sporadic points of

angus king an independent from maine said there's a fundamental decision to work on bipartisan proposalough reconciliation. there's a lot of worry that this feeling among republicans that you know what? the new process here is just to label these welfare package things as tax breaks or as stimulus and then you push them through with 51 votes. >> yeah, i think that it's significant that democrats are criticizing this process. it isn't just republicans saying wait a second. like give us some justification. democrats are saying give us justification as well. so if they want one party to help them, they have to have justification as opposed to shoving it through. >> trace: can you stop them from shoving it through? it's a tough battle and the question is, this 1.9 trillion package, can you get the fat out of there or is that a foregone conclusion? >> we don't know that. we don't know if the president meant unity or an agenda to get no matter what. i is a is a i the american peop will be the judge and the american people being the judge gives me great confidence. >> trace: i apologize for in

you're adding things like the 15 dollar minimum wage and you have people like angus king coming out and saying this will be really tough. at who point does joe biden get personally involved if this is the path he wants to take? >> it does seem, there's a very real tension between two of president biden's stated goals. the first being to try to operate in a bipartisan fashion when possible to try to unite the country but also to act with a sense of urgency on a number of his priorities including first and foremost this covid relief plan which they are calling a rescue plan. we did see an effort to that and the first end to try to bring members of both parties along on this legislation. the call over this weekend with brian deese. white house officials stress it's one of many conversationings going on, including conversations from the president himself reaching out to individual lawmakers. we see they want to do everything they can to try to attract support for this. i also think we're going to see more of the president using the bully pulpit here to try to build some political pressure f

senator angus king speaking about their unique perspective as jurors. >> a lot of the evidence is outn front of us, and we all saw it in realtime. this is probably the first impeachment trial in history where the senate was also witnesses of what went on. >> and as the president prepares to leave office in three days, we're getting a new look at how americans view him on his way out. 43% approve of the president but when it comes to republicans a full 87% still approve of him and as joe biden is set to be inaugurated on wednesday, we're getting new details on his first days of president. his actions will include rescinding the muslim travel plan, rejoining the paris climate avoid and extending the forgiveness on student loan and foreclosure forbearance. we'll start with nbc's vaughn hillyard. first of all, have any protesters showed up today? >> reporter: we haven't seen any protests, any demonstrations, any rioters here at this point, alex, but i want to set you up where we are. we are standing where the general public is able to access but a reality folks are confronting is most of

senate angus king who is independent but caucuses with the democrats. let's listen. >> the fiery trial, through which we pass, will light us down an honor or dishonor to the latest generation. the fiery trial, through which we pass, will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. >> mr. president. >> senator from maryland. >> thank you, mr. president. the mob violence and attack we saw on our capitol, today, should be a wake-up call to each and every one of us, of what happens when we fail to come together, not as democrats and republicans but, each of us, as americans. to stand up to a president, who, time and again, has shown contempt for our democracy. contempt for our constitution. today, here on the capitol, we witnessed people taking down an american flag, and putting up a trump flag. that is not democracy in the united states of america. as every senator who has spoken has mentioned, we have, for hundreds of years, had a peaceful transfer of power. nobody likes to lose, and supporters

. >> senator angus king of maine joint health care providers from his home state for a virtual discussion on the use of telehealth during the pandemic and how it can be used in the future. event is over an hour long.

senator angus king of maine when healthcare providers from his home state for a virtual discussion one use of telehealth during the coronavirus pandemic and how it can be used in the future. of the bipartisan policy center, this event is an hour and 15 minutes. >> good day everyone. and welcome to the bipartisan policy center. our focus today on telemedicine in rural america. i am bill oakland senior vice president here and i have the pleasure work with her health team led by marilyn, katherine hayes. for those of you who may be unfamiliar with the bipartisan policy center we were established a little bit over a decade ago by four former majority leaders of the united states senate

angus king. they're going to say, don't do it this way.t the agenda moving if they want to do more than one thing at a time. i don't think chuck schumer is the guy to give the deft touch to running things in the united states senate, and i think we'll see that very clearly right from the start. >> karen finney, what's the response to that? >> again, i have faith and confidence in democrats, and look. if republicans are sincere, we've heard a lot of attempts to try to minimize the violence at the capitol, to try to sweep it under the rug and call for moving forward. if republicans are sincere about that, they will support the president-elect, soon-to-be president biden, and they will in good faith, we may have policy differences. they will vote for his cabinet appointees. they will not try to use the impeachment as a way to slow down the progress of moving forward with this agenda, and i think it's incumbent on democrats also as we now know in this modern media environment to do a better job of communicating who we are, what we stand for, a

i do appreciate angus king's comment about the nba a. it was difficult. i looked back and i looked at the vote that took place with mattis and it was 81-17, to grant a waiver at that time and suggesting any precedent for what we are considering now. senator reid and i, unusual circumstances, don't know yet whether to have a nomination hearing whether the vote will take place in the notion it might have been the nineteenth or the 21st. i would be transferring the chairmanship on the twentieth, the chairman at that time make any difference. and how long after it's. and and the next steps. i want to thank the witnesses, this has been helpful to me, being a chairman, this entire hearing, this was very beneficial to me and i want to thank senator reid for chairing the committee. >> i think you should gavel out. you are the chairman. >> we are now adjourned. thank you all. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudibl

and as senator angus king said on the senate floor, we are a 240-year anomaly in world history, democracy as we have practiced it is fragile and it rests upon trust. sadly, untold thousands across our country have taken that for granted. and as elected leaders we have a responsibility to show the public what it means to peacefully transition. and i just want to note that as we elect a new president and swear in two new members, i want to express my pride and admiration serving with all of you and our collective reaffirmation that our elections are among the freest, fairest and the highest turnout in the country. and that we will work together with respect for our differences, while always remembering that what unites us here in san francisco is so much more than what divides us. i'm very proud to support you, supervisor walton, and i look forward to working with all of you in the coming two years. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor stefani. i feel your heart. supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, madam clerk. i have been thinking this morning about doris ward,

and as senator angus king said on the senate floor, we are a 240-year anomaly in world history, democracy as we have practiced it is fragile and it rests upon trust. sadly, untold thousands across our country have taken that for granted. and as elected leaders we have a responsibility to show the public what it means to peacefully transition. and i just want to note that as we elect a new president and swear in two new members, i want to express my pride and admiration serving with all of you and our collective reaffirmation that our elections are among the freest, fairest and the highest turnout in the country. and that we will work together with respect for our differences, while always remembering that what unites us here in san francisco is so much more than what divides us. i'm very proud to support you, supervisor walton, and i look forward to working with all of you in the coming two years. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor stefani. i feel your heart. supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, madam clerk. i have been thinking this morning about doris ward,

the last thing i will finish with, i was looking at governor angus king, and he was always looking at creative things and one of the places doing that is the energy and environmental resource center at the university of north dakota. we have a partnership on the carbon capture storage and are trying to drive that technology forward. they are also working on a partnership with the department of energy on renewable energy as well. i am asking for your commitment to continue these partnerships we have with doe, and help grow them because of the incredible innovation in energy development. governor granholm: you have my commitment. senator hoven: thank you. i look forward to working with you. chair: thank you. as we continue our second round, i have a few comments. we have senator barrasso, king and senator cortez mask up that senator cortez masto still on the zoom for a second round. -- senator barrasso, king and senator cortez masto will still be on zoom for a second round. senator mentioned: -- senator manchin: we need to get to the facts. everybody should come to the committee with al

passed but it sounds like there's big pullback not only from republicans but democrats i heard angus king asking questions, an independent from maine who usually caucuses with the democrats. the post had an interesting story over the weekend said the biden administration can either go big on this or go bipartisan. which way do you think the wind's blowing at this point >> well, it seems, becky, like they're interested in going bipartisan, but where exactly that means the dollar figure lands is still unclear administration officials called the call yesterday with 16 bipartisan lawmakers constructive and productive and said it was an opportunity to really lay out their argument, which we've learned the $900 billion program passed at the end of last year, they see it more as a retro active type package addressing issues that have dcropped up over the last six months this new package is one dealing with issues going forward and future economic pain it doesn't sound like that argument really landed with lawmakers on the call yesterday. there were so many reports from law make ammers who were s

you have not spent 1.8 trillion where are you coming up with 1.9 and angus king said this is not monopoly call. i was part of all of that. what came out of the call was that they are going to give us a justification. they say they have got the numbers. okay. and openness show us the numbers. show us what you are going to do to make sure it's truly targeted as opposed to just money going out the door and they pledged to too so. i think we all want to get through this pandemic. and we want to give them a he can bra. maybe they know something that we don't know. so, let's kind of meet once more and see how those matchup. steve: in the meantime, within the last week, joe biden has been sworn in as the it 46th president of the united states. he has made it very clear, he wants america to come together. stop all the civil wars. he wants to unify the country. at the same time, senator, listen to this. here is bernie on another channel yesterday talking about how joe biden they are going to drag him way to the left. here's bernie. are. >> you said that joe biden is off to a good start. some of yo

and as senator angus king said on the senate floor, we are a 240-year anomaly in world history, democracy as we have practiced it is fragile and it rests upon trust. sadly, untold thousands across our country have taken that for granted. and as elected leaders we have a responsibility to show the public what it means to peacefully transition. and i just want to note that as we elect a new president and swear in two new members i want to express my pride and admiration serving with all of you and our collective reaffirmation that our elections are among the freest fairest and the highest turnout in the country. and that we will work together with respect for our differences while always remembering that what unites us here in san francisco is so much more than what divides us. i'm very proud to support you supervisor walton, and i look forward to working with all of you in the coming two years. thank you. >> clerk: thank you supervisor stefani. i feel your heart. supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, madam clerk. i have been thinking this morning about doris ward and th

and as senator angus king said on the senate floor, we are a 240-year anomaly in world history, democracypracticed it is fragile and it rests upon trust. sadly, untold thousands across our country have taken that for granted. and as elected leaders we have a responsibility to show the public what it means to peacefully transition. and i just want to note that as we elect a new president and swear in two new members, i want to express my pride and admiration serving with all of you and our collective reaffirmation that our elections are among the freest, fairest and the highest turnout in the country. and that we will work together with respect for our differences, while always remembering that what unites us here in san francisco is so much more than what divides us. i'm very proud to support you, supervisor walton, and i look forward to working with all of you in the coming two years. thank you. >> clerk: thank you, supervisor stefani. i feel your heart. supervisor mandelman. >> supervisor mandelman: thank you, madam clerk. i have been thinking this morning about doris ward, and the hist