we have white house reporter for the associated press, jonathan lemire. eddie glaude jr., founder of the "the bulwark," and charlie sykes. and ed luce is with us as well. it's really good to have you all on this monday morning. we'll get you to former president donald trump continuing to perpetuate his big lie about the election fraud inform a moment, but first, over 100 million americans are now fully vaccinated. the u.s. reached the number on friday and the total u.s. population is now almost 30% fully vaccinated. vaccine hesitancy remains a threat, though the country is really trying. it is a threat to the country's chances at achieving herd immunity, which is really what the united states needs in order to put the coronavirus behind us. a front page story in "the new york times" says scientists believe the virus will, quote, likely become a manageable threat that will continue to circulate in the u.s. for years to come, still causing hospitalizations and deaths, but in much smaller numbers. all right. and we'll get to the issue with india, which is an

and jonathan lemire, i just want to clear one thing up. because i've had some family members and friends ask me, well, if donald trump was so bad and this wasn't rigged, why did the republicans win and do so well in the house? republicans overperformed expectations, based on the terrible polling that was out there. but it is important to remember that the house still remained democratic. and remained democratic by, you know, i think they're plus 9, plus 10. that's about the same. biden did about the same that bill clinton did in '92. did about the same, bill clinton did in '96. did much better than jfk, if you just look at the house side. biden did much better than either party when you came to the senate. he was a net plus five in picking up senate seats. he picked up five senate seats in 2020. donald trump lost two in 2016. and you can go all the way back 40, 50 years, and biden did much better than most. so this idea -- and it's become urban legend that democrats just got completely romped, because the polling was so bad. and the expect

jonathan lemire, white house reporter for the "associated press," and an msnbc political analyst, carlos, former republican congressman from florida, and msnbc political analyst, and jonathan allen, senior national politics and coauthor of "lucky: how joe biden barely won the presidency." welcome to you all, guys, appreciate you joining me on this saturday afternoon. jonathan lemire, let's talk first about the budget. i think there's two topics we want to cover here. first is the budget and second is the january 6th commission, which is essentially dead in the water, not happening. let's talk first budget here and when we piece through this whole thing, you got massive spending mere, $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal, $1.8 trillion education and families. when you look at discretionary spending -- let's bring this up for folks to see -- much of it is for health care and education, jonathan, and then you move on from that, right, how is this country going to pay for this massive change, this massive bill, and it's tax hikes for the wealthy, tax hikes for corporations. so to drill down

it's jonathan lemire.h we know you should not be doing to transport home in your vehicle. but we've seen fuel prices rise, we've seen real concerns about shortages. some states like yesterday in north carolina, you basically couldn't get gasoline. some stations here in washington, d.c. have run out. can you give us an update now with things hopefully returning to normal, when americans will see that in terms of both prices and supply? >> yeah, you bet. first of all, everybody knows, this is -- this was constrained to the southeast. this pipeline had gasoline in the pipeline when it shut down. and so there will be some areas that see relief starting today. but not every area will. this is not like flipping a switch. it's a 5,500-mile pipeline. the pipeline doesn't go to gas stations itself, the pipeline goes to terminals and they have to off-load the gasoline into trucks and those trucks go to areas. a majority of the more populated areas will likely see relief in the next couple of days. the rural areas, w

as jonathan lemire is talking about.it's even different from just past presidents who were normal american presidents but who were more, i guess, out front, and i wonder what that says about this president's style on the world stage. >> well, the first thing it says, nicole, is that it isn't joe biden's first rodeo. he's seen so many israeli-palestinian crises over the decades. he's dealt with bibi netanyahu a million times. he knows that anything can go sideways on you at any moment, and i think it's a glimpse, also, into the kind of biden-blinken foreign policy, which is deliberate, measured, don't overreact. you can get a lot more done behind the scenes than you can on camera. that's who joe biden is. that's who tony blinken is. and we saw that this week. and it's also not this kind of relentless america has to be first, america has to, you know, pump its muscles on the world stage. you know, we do well because of our alliances, and that's one of the things that you saw because not only was biden and the whole adminis

jonathan lemire, the national polls weren't 20 points off.iers. we have seen quite a few in the 60s. some in the 50s. there's a varying degree. every one of them is over 50%. this right track/wrong track number from this harvard harris poll has jumped nearly 20 points. i'm a skeptic. i beat the crowd early and tweeted. i probably -- back in early october of last year, i don't believe any polls and i didn't believe any of those that were saying biden was so far ahead. in this case, something is happening out there that seems to be quite different than what the house gop caucus is thinking or doing. >> yeah, joe, certainly, you and i have had our share of poll skepticism. you are right to focus on the right track/wrong track things. we haven't seen the nation feel this good in a long time. we are seeing good numbers for president biden. a range somewhere between low 50s and this one, 62, which is a remarkable number. higher than his predecessor obtained during his time. i think the big picture stuff as we know is there's a sense of optimism. th

it's jonathan lemire. congratulations again.the house floor, there's been some reporting this week while 100% of democratic lawmaker on capitol hill have been vaccinated and about 92% of republican senators only 44% of republican house members have received the vaccine. so certainly that's a significant percentage of folks who don't yet. but on the vaccine, i wanted to ask you this, we've heard for a while now the idea that you might need a booster for the covid-19 vaccine. maybe after as soon as six, eight, ten months or a year. well, the first who received the vaccine, first responders, doctors, nurses got so in december. we hit the six-month mark. in the months ahead it stands to reason they might need that booster. can you tell us the latest on the thinking of boosters when we will start receiving them and how necessary they may be. >> jonathan, the science is still evolving. it looks promising that the reason we say at least six months you're protected is because, as you said, that's how long the trials have continued, how

okay, now to jonathan lemire.ite house yesterday, where i don't think they were serving burgers and fries, i'm not sure. >> they should have. >> jonathan lemire -- oh, my god, those two. how did the president and senate republicans fair yesterday? >> well, first of all, mika, i will note that when the president had his first and so far only foreign leader meeting, the prime minister of japan came in a few weeks ago, he served him burger and fries. and all of this talk has made me very, very hungry. >> oh, my god. >> but there were no refreshments in the oval office meeting yesterday. but there may have been some progress towards a bipartisan deal. it is too early to say. but both sides, the president and the six republican senators, senator capito of west virginia, taking the lead there, said there was some movement. they felt encouraged by where they were. and that the republican senator were invited to come back here to the white house next week with a counter offer. now, there's still a lot to be worked out, in

. >> jonathan lemire, it looks like this is one of the first areas where we're having really healthy back and forth between republicans and democrats. and quite a few south carolina people involved, from, of course, jim clyburn to tim scott to lindsey graham. they're all working together, trying to find a middle ground for police reform. >> joe, there is some actual momentum here, and there's been so little of it on capitol hill in recent years, and certainly since the beginning of the biden administration, where it looked like something could come together between two parties. republicans have made clear on most issues, they want to be the party of "no." mitch mcconnell said out loud last week that his purpose as republican senate leader was to object and to block 100% of the biden administration's proposals. but this is one where there seems to be at least some common the ground. qualified immunity, of course, is sort of enshrined protection from individual officers so they can't be sued in the wake of potential misconduct. and it is something that civil rights activists for a long

jonathan lemire, this video has gone viral. it's something to show any 9-year-old kid to tell them what to do. two outs, you get the ball, step on the bag, and the inning is over. if you tag this guy the inning is over. doesn't matter if that guy scores or not. you just tag the runner and he's out, because that's the forced play. and yet jonathan, this is bad news bears break training and go to pittsburgh. i don't think i've ever seen -- i feel so bad for these kids on the pirates. i just -- i tell you, i've been coaching jack since he was 9 years old and my assistant coach, brian and i, we would have gone crazy -- we would just scream, touch the bag! touch the bag! it's like nothing i've ever seen. >> there were two outs! in clip was everywhere yesterday. it broke through among not just non-baseball fans, nonsports fans. and the same, joe, i'm an assistant coach on my son's 9-year-old team. the huskies, they'd have got on out on this play. and credit to javy baez, the base runner there for the cubs. it's creative, a burst of i

. >>> let's bring in jonathan lemire, white house reporter for the associated press and msnbc political analyst. good to see you, my friend. we heard the comments from the house minority whip clyburn about senate majority leader mcsxonl his vow to fight the biden agenda. does the white house think it can exploit to the public mcconnell really singing same old obstructionist tune? >> they do, alex. great to see you. they believe for some time that their true audience here are far more republican voters and the public at large than republican lawmakers. that's just detail. they didn't get a single gop vote for the covid relief bill. there is still some hope, yes, they might be able to pick off a couple here for this infrastructure jobs sweeping program, but even if that's not possible, what they're trying to do is demonstrate that they tried. polling is behind them. a lot of voters like to see efforts of bipartisanship. certainly the last decade or more that has been in short supply. deeply polarized nation. also the other audience here is, of course, those moderate democratic senators. t

joining me is leigh ann caldwell and jonathan lemire and carlos rabello. it's great to have you on board this afternoon. i actually want to start with something that really i think helped crystallize why this is all so awkward and difficult. leigh ann, i want to go to you. i was sitting in the chamber earlier this week. i watched liz cheney on the floor essentially not speak to kevin mccarthy, even as she got a handshake from mitch mcconnell and a fist bump from president biden. kevin brady, who is not known as any firebrand. he is someone who -- he was the former chair of the ways and means committee. he has been a tax bill writer. he was on with chuck on this program. he refused multiple times to answer questions about cheney. let's watch that exchange. then we will talk about it. take a look. >> do you have a vote of confidence for liz cheney as your conference chair? >> chuck, for the third time, i will remind you that where we are as a conference is that we are absolutely unified in stopping the socialist agenda. >> leigh ann, that was the third time

joining me now, nbc's dasha burns in dallas and associated press white house reporter, jonathan lemireoubling reports. >> reporter: well, chris, the white house and health and human services now say they are investigating exactly what it is that happened here in this parking lot, which as you can see, is now empty, but you can still see the fresh tire tracks from when buses were packed in here, filled with unaccompanied migrant children, who according to advocates we spoke with and the owner of one of the bus companies, was sometimes staying here overnight. sleeping, eating, using the bathroom all in the confines of the bus. the owner of the bus company saying when they would go to clean the buses every day, they would be filthy, filled with trash, debris, sometimes overflowing bathrooms because children were staying there for an extended amount of time. and at least one case, a 15-year-old boy was held on parked buss from saturday to wednesday according to his family. i spoke to his uncle and to his mother who say that the boy tells him that he was not alone. other children were in si

. >> but jonathan lemire, the word from the white house has been, very clear in terms of sort of loosening the mask mandate to understand the science, how are they employing it within the white house and what are you hearing? >> certainly, the white house itself was actually caught offguard by the cdc, the timing of the cdc's announcement last week on masks, that only a few senior officials were given a heads up wednesday night, ahead of thursday afternoon's public announcement. the president himself wasn't briefed until thursday morning. and certainly, that day, as word spread through the building, staffers took off their masks, as they worked, whether inside their small offices, reporters, who had been fully vaccinated, who were in the building that day and myself included, we took our masks off as well, if you had completed the two-shot cycle and those two weeks after the second shot. not everyone has yet. and they believe that it is important to send the public image. we heard from the president that afternoon in the rose garden. he was kpul accountant. it was probably the happiest he

jonathan lemire and michael steele are still with us, and joining us we have former u.s.tical analyst, claire mccaskill and pulitzer prize writer tom freedman, with the new york times and author of many best-selling books including "thank you for being late." tom, your latest column for the new york times is entitled "trump's big lie devoured the gop and now eyes our democracy" in it you write in part, quote, america's democracy is still in real danger. in fact, we're closer to a political civil war, more than at any other time in our modern history. today's seeming political calm is actually resting on a false bottom that we're at risk of crashing through at any moment. under trump's command and control from mar-a-lago and with the complicity of most of his party's leaders, that big lie that the greatest election in our history when more republicans and democrats voted than ever before in the midst of a pandemic must have been rigged because trump lost has metastasized to be a leader in today's gop you either have to play dumb or be dumb on the central issue facing our r

jonathan lemire is still with us.n, mike barnacle, co-founder of punch bowl news, john brez nah bresnahan and paula mcgee. mika has the morning off. >> since she does, let's talk baseball. mike barnicle, another no-hitter. i'm suggesting after watching the game last night they just call balls and strikes. it was an awfully generous -- and i love greg maddux, it was a grade maddux-type strike zone. >> the sixth no-hitter of the year. the fourth no-hitter thrown in the month of may. last night. corey kluber, who had never even witnessed a no-hitter as a player, sitting on a bench with multiple teams, threw his first no-hitter. it's always an extraordinary feat. you don't want to take that away from corey kluber, but that strike zone last night was wider than a cow's ass. it was unbelievable. >> wow. >> there we are. >> the other thing -- the other thing that's going on here, and again, corey kluber threw a no-hitter. it's an amazing feat. almost impossible to do in the major leagues. but the teams really have been thind

sachs, jonathan lemire. good to see you this morning. now there's a lot of debate about the administration's new proposal for infrastructure jobs, family planning, it will frankly remake how the government deals with its citizens in a very dramatic in the social safety net. republicans are saying no, it's too big. they don't how they'll pay for it with tax rates and so on. is this debate about what's coming happens with the slow down in the jobs report, with concerns perhaps voiced by some there's too much federal help already. what sort of balance needs to be struck here? what's your overall assessment just to the size of the package the administration is looking to put forth? >> first of all, i think all these numbers are very hard for people to process because when they announce a number like a $2 billion package, the first thing you have to do is look over how many years and divide by that to get the idea of what's the real annual spending. then you have to decide that by the size of our economy which is 20 trillion dollars a year. w

with us, we have jonathan lemire. former chairman of the republican national committee, now an msnbc political analyst, michael steele. and bbc news anchor and correspondent, katty kay, with a bit of news that we'll get into in a moment. we are following a number of developing stories this morning, including president biden ordering u.s. intel agencies to launch another investigation into the origin of the coronavirus. did it come out of a lab in wuhan? that's what they're looking at. questions also this morning surrounding the summer olympics in tokyo, as japan struggles to get its covid outbreak under control. what a new study is saying about immunity from coronavirus, for those who have beaten it and those who are vaccinated. and senate majority leader chuck schumer could force a vote as early as today on a commission to investigate the january 6th attack on the capitol. but we begin unfortunately with the latest from san jose, california, where nine people now are dead after an employee opened fire at a light rail

with us, we have jonathan lemire.t, michael steele. and bbc news anchor and correspondent, katty kay, with a bit of news that we'll get into in a moment. we are following a number of developing stories this morning, including president biden ordering u.s. intel agencies to launch another investigation into the origin of th

. >> helping kick us off this sunday, jonathan lemire associated press white house reporter, and daniel strauss, senior political reporter at the guardian. daniel, listen to the sound. it's from a new documentary and it's of a trump supporter who was charged in the attack. take a listen. >> the fact that the media is trying to spin this like this was some big insurrection is just completely false. people were not there for violence. they were there to show the world that we still believe in freedom, and we believe in trump. >> i mean, how much is the opposition to this commission among republicans really about what could happen in 2022? >> i think the core motivation among all republicans about a january 6th commission is that they want to move on from this. some are arguing, like the clips you played, that all the criticism about that day is exaggerated, which is just not true. and other republicans say that it's just time to move on. what happened on capitol hill was horrific. but it's in the past now. the uniting fact among those arguments is that gop lawmakers feel that they don't -

we have white house reporter for the associated press, jonathan lemire.

with us, we have white house reporter for the associated press, jonathan lemire.olumnist and associate editor for "the washington post," david ignatius. and joe, we've seen this confusion with masks. we went out. we actually went out to a place with people -- >> it doesn't happen much. so we traveled through -- i traveled back yesterday and traveled through airports. huge, massive, cavernous airports without a lot of people in there. you've got to put your mask on. well, okay. the cdc said -- but okay. >> that's all right. people are being careful. >> and in another state, i went to -- you go into one store. you have to have your mask on. the next store, you don't have top so there needs to be some clarification here. and the only thing i've asked all along, i'm a plain simple country lawyer. i just ask the trump administration to follow the science, i'm asking the biden administration to follow the science. >> well, they are. >> they are. now i'm asking the state governors, follow the science, and also people that run their businesses, follow the sciences. i'm no