leigh ann caldwell is following this from capitol hill.he third highest ranking republican in the house. the highest ranking republican woman in the house. what message is she trying to send, not just to the party but to everyone else with this new op-ed? >> reporter: the only woman in house republican leadership. in her position as the number three republican, her job is messaging for the republican conference. she was very clear in her opinion piece what the message should be for the republican party. that is on the side of truth instead of the side of misperceptions fed by the former president. she says the republican party is at an inflection point and they must choose. she's also saying that with this vote, which is expected next week to perhaps remove her from her position, she is saying republicans have a choice. which side are you going to stand on? it seems clear, craig, that they are choosing the side of the former president, the heir apparent is representative elise stefanik of new york, who has fully embraced the former preside

leigh ann caldwell is here now. richard burr is someone you have been following pretty closely until we saw this actual statement come up. what is your take on the number of republicans who voted with democrats in the house and whether there's any chance this goes forward in anything close to its current form in the senate? >> hey, kasie, with senator bur coming out against it, it seems very unlikely, highly unlikely, democrats are going to find those ten republicans, to stand with them as they move forward on this commission. it's interesting 35 members of the house rebuked the leadership and voted for the commission anyway. it's usually in the senate, where senators are more likely to stand on their own, ride their independence, vote on their personal state issues. but it looks like the opposite is going to happen this time, where there's going to be fewer senators than the seven who voted to impeach the former president, who are going to come and support this commission. now, it just shows how much politics is re

joining us now is nbc news capitol hill correspondent leigh ann caldwell. ith you. your trips are always more colorful adventures. tell us about this american first tour. what are we expecting tonight? >> reporter: hey, jeff. let's start with what the villages is. it's a retirement community that has 100,000 people living here. they're mostly conservative, so this has become a stomping ground for folks who try to gain votes and gain money. this is a first stop for representative marjorie taylor greene and matt gaetz who are launching the america first joint fundraising committee. they do expect to raise money out of this visit. from an optic standpoint, they're also going to show their deep loyalty to the president. you can expect them to take a victory lap now that representative liz cheney is likely to be removed from her leadership position. but you can also expect to hear them talk about the former -- the past election in 2020 and regurgitate the lies and the falsehoods leading into that election that was outlined in representative gaetz' op-ed that he r

leigh ann caldwell and eugene daniels.s off to you, friend. >>> meantime, the last of the national guard troops sent to protect the capitol after january's insurrection are heading home. after a nearly five-month mission, they're handing over security to the capitol hill police. the senate is scheduled to be off next week and lawmakers are concerned about security even at home. several democrats told the "washington post" that they have paid out of their own pockets to increase security at their district offices at home. capitol police report that threats to lawmakers have increased 107% in spring this year. >>> teens that got the covid-19 vaccine. how worried should parents be? >>> a road rage shooting ended in the death of a six-year-old boy. his family is offering a reward for information leading to an arrest. stay with us. stay with us nobody builds 5g like verizon builds 5g because we're the engineers who built the most reliable network in america. thousands of smarter towers, with the 5g coverage you need. broader sp

leigh ann caldwell has been following this back and forth for us.eck it seemed as if mccarthy had the votes to remove liz cheney. is that still the case? >> reporter: it seems to be the case, craig, because leader mccarthy sent a pretty extraordinary letter to his colleagues encouraging them to remove a member of his leadership team, liz cheney. so if mccarthy didn't have the votes before, he is likely to have them now because he is essentially telling his members that there does need to be a change at the top. and so liz cheney should no longer be in that position. so what's going to happen is the house is going to meet -- house republicans will meet behind closed doors tomorrow morning. leader mccarthy in the same letter said that they should anticipate a vote to recall cheney from the conference chair position. now what happens next is unclear. of course there needs to be a replacement and the likely replacement is representative stefanik of new york. we don't know if that vote is going to take place tomorrow. i'm told by sources it's likely to h

joining us now is nbc news capitol hill correspondent leigh ann caldwell and correspondent peter bakergood to see you both. you have kevin mccarthy who voted to impeach president trump in the second impeachment, but he's going to vote for the insurrection commission. if they can't get even seven, is this bill dead in the water? >> reporter: they were looking for at least seven to support this commission, and you're right, if you don't have seven of those, it's much harder to get to the number of 10. all 50 republicans on the commission, not one has come out rightly for it. there's two, senator collins and senator romney, who have both said they would consider it if there are some changes made, and there's about a dozen more who said they're undecided. there is a large number of senators, jeff, who are taking the lead of senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and want nothing to do with this commission. so you're right, it looks dead in the water. it's going to be very hard to get those 10 republicans. >> let's talk about infrastructure and police reform. the white house secretary at to

and nbc capitol hill correspondent leigh ann caldwell is on the hill.laid out a lot of obstacles the president is facing. let's hone in on one, police reform. where do things stand at white house? how do they plan to mark tomorrow's anniversary? >> reporter: the president put a big marker on tomorrow's anniversary when he delivered his joint address to congress asking lawmakers to get it done in terms of a police reform legislative package by tomorrow. all sides acknowledge that is not going to happen. while deadlines can be an important catalyst to action, it appears at this point, parties on all sides are not as concerned about the deadline as much as that would have been good and typically sometimes presidents are scored by deadlines they set and do not meet. instead, some of those, including members of the family and advocates say they want a substantive bill more than a quick one or one timed to the anniversary. the president, who leans heavily on his empathy and understanding about loss and personal tragedy, has certainly done that with the floyd

leigh ann caldwell is following it on the hill. a few questions.or schumer saying that this vote is going to happen in the next hour or so. at last check, it did not seem as if he had the votes. has that changed? >> reporter: that has not yet changed. we don't think, craig. all the focus on senate has been on this unrelated piece of legislation regarding china, which has been holding up the entire vote on the january 6 commission. we saw senator schumer go to the floor. there was an agreement reached between all senators as it seems to punt the vote on the china bill until they return in ten days after the memorial day recess. that would allow the senate to vote on this january 6 commission, something that we have been waiting for and we didn't know when it was going to happen. this vote on january 6 commission though, craig, it's just a procedural vote. this is the key procedural vote that needs the support of 60 senators in order to move on to the actual legislation. that's what we talk about when we talk about the filibuster here. only three rep

leigh ann caldwell at the villages in florida. thank you. >> we want to dive deeper. we have the perfect person for it the miles taylor, a former chief of staff of the department of homeland security. he also wrote a viral "new york times" op-ed talking about the resistance within and inside the trump administration. miles, good to see you. thank you for being here. you are the perfect person for this because like liz cheney you have been on the receiving end of trump's personal attacks. now the republican party appears to be united against her, to please trump. what are they betting on by doing this? >> well, look, i am glad you led with the reference to a resistance because what we need right now is a resistance of the rationals against the radicals. i think that's what you are going to see in response to this fight about liz cheney. the battle for the soul of the g.o.p. is not just ending. it is just beginning. i am happy to finally be able to not just tease something this morning, but announce something, and that is next thursday, the day after the vote to oust li

leigh ann caldwell, thank you for reporting.york. on friday, you released a statement about the rise of anti-semitism. you accused members of not being forceful enough on anti-semitism, what is your reaction to that and as we're seeing that play out? >> it's absurd. the entire party, the progressive wing of the party continues to be forceful against anti-semitism. not just here in my district but colleagues across the city, state and the entire country. we condemn anti-semitism unequivocally and will continue to dole so. we condemn hate in all of its forms. that's anti-asian hate. racism, sexism and wher manifests. now is a time to speak up against anti-semitism because of what's happening both locally, nationally, internationally. we need to be able to have critical conversations if we need to critique a particular government or issue without it digressing into whey -- hate towards a particular group of people. >> i know you signed onto a resolution introduced by alexandria ocasio-cortez to halt the sales of weapons to israel.

joining me now, nbc news leigh ann caldwell. why republicans aren't bundle on this plan? >> >> the sticker price is one of the key sticking points, obviously. republicans opened their offer with $568 billion. the president came down to $1.7 trillion, as you mentioned. mitch mcconnell, the minority leader, had mentioned a couple weeks ago up to $800 billion, so while these rank-and-file republicans are doing the negotiating, what we really have to listen to is what mcconnell says because he's really pulling the purse strings here. even if republicans do come up to $800 billion, that's still so far off from where president biden and democrats are. but more than the sticking price is the definition of infrastructure, and that is something that republicans and democrats cannot agree on at this point. republicans say infrastructure determines roads, bridges, ports, broadband. democrats say it talks about human infrastructure too. so there's a long way to go before these two sides can come together, alicia. >> goth the tax hikes play

i've also got lee -- leigh ann caldwell with us from capitol hill.ht for her leadership post. is it -- considering that everyone appears to be on board with her losing her leadership? >> i don't know if her stance has changed. she's not fighting in the sense that she's not making calls trying to cajole her members into supporting her, but she is fighting in the sense that she is not backing down from her position. her spokesman said earlier today that this is not just about a leadership race, and insinuating that this is about the future of the republican party. so, you know, the question is, you know, it seems increasingly clear that representative elise stefanik is going to be her replacement. i was just talking to a member who wanted to remain anonymous who is a moderate from a swing district and who backed cheney a couple months ago, said the problem now is us moderates, we have to -- there's the trump base in the primary that supports trump, then in the general election we have the electorate who doesn't support trump at all, so we have to deal

nbc's leigh ann caldwell is joining us from the villages where the event took place last night, so how that message received overall, leigh ann? >> reporter: well, alex, here, it was very well received. the villages is mostly conservative, about 69% in this retirement community of more than 100,000 people voted for former president trump in 2020, and they were thrilled. it was a standing room only with hundreds of people waiting outside to get into this event. now, we need to mention that representative gaetz is -- there's allegations of sexual misconduct against him. representative marjorie taylor greene has been kicked off her committees for controversial statements. but that didn't matter to this crowd, and what gaetz and greene's message was, is that the former president is, well, they think, still the president. he did not lose the election. but also that he is still the leader of the party. he said the party of the -- the republican party of the past is not the party anymore. let's listen to how representative gaetz put it. >> the way forward is not a repackaged, regurgitated ver

. >>> nbc's leigh ann caldwell is on capitol hill once again. welcome you. what is your sense of what's going to happen with next week's vote on the commission? >> reporter: well, alex, it's clear that all democrats are supporting this january 6th commission as it stands. let's also look a little bit at the details of it. it is very similar to the set-up of the 9/11 commission nearly 20 years ago, so when republicans say that this is a partisan ploy by speaker pelosi, there's too many similarities to how the 9/11 commission was set up to really -- for there to be any factual basis behind that. now, it's unlikely that many republicans or any republicans are going to support it, as you mentioned in your top. there are zero who currently do. there's a couple, like senator susan collins and mitt romney who say perhaps with some changes they could get on board. there's less than a dozen of others who say they are undecided and considering. but it is not looking good. and this is raising some questions about the role of the filibuster. of course, that 60-vote thre

my colleague nbc's leigh ann caldwell joins me from capitol hill. and jake sherman from punchbowl news joins me this morning. thank you very much for being here. we think this vote could happen as early as next week. is that your expectation, and how do you think this is going to go down? >> hey, kristen, it could happen as early as next week. senate majority leader chuck schumer put it on the senate calendar. it doesn't mean everything is locked in stone yet so it could slide. again, early next week is possible. of course, we know it needs the support of 60 senators. that means at least ten republicans need to sign on to this. and it seems like a very high bar to reach at this point. our colleague, julie sirkin, did an amazing job compiling what all 50 republican senators have said about the commission, and most of them are outright opposed, regardless of what it looks like. there are only about a dozen who are considering or willing to discuss it. some say like senator susan collins and mitt romney, if there are minor changes made, they could pote

but first msnbc's leigh ann caldwell is joining us. good to see you.mission. there has since, of course, been a lot of questions about what mccarthy himself may know or be liable for, who he may implicate in his own testimony around this if he were subpoenaed. liz cheney mentioned this. really a remarkable statement to hear the top republican in the house come out and say nope, don't want to investigation in a bipartisan way the attack on this particular building, especially when he called the president, told him to call those people off. but i will stop there and let you give us our latest reporting here. what's your take on this, and what actually happens moving forward? >> hey, kasie, so the question on the legislation creating the commission in the house is not necessarily in jeopardy, because, the majority of democrats in the house, so it is expected to pass when it's brought up on the house floor tomorrow and then it would head over into the senate. regarding leader mccarthy, as you mentioned, he put representative katko in charge of representing

. >> for more on what this means for the gop and all of congress, leigh ann caldwell joins me now.nd that last comment came from a fairly new member down in georgia, andrew clyde, and i believe you had an opportunity to try to catch up with him today to see if he really meant what he said about this idea it was just a bunch of tourists walking through the capitol that day. >> i did, chuck. so it was at an event this morning with republicans honoring police officers. it's national police week. he was standing there with about two dozen republicans honoring these police officers. afterwards i went up to ask him to clarify and to explain what he meant yesterday. let's watch this exchange. do you stand by your statement yesterday that yesterday -- when you said yesterday was like a capitol tour? do you stand by those statements? >> do you regret saying that? five people died, including police officers that you're here today, honoring police officers. the. >> if you're honest in your statement -- >> what's wrong about it? that's what you said. >> think about what you just said. you didn

. >> nbc capitol hill correspondent leigh ann caldwell joins me now with more on where things stand.ann, we knew qualified immunity was going to be a sticking point. now you've got both congressman jeffries and congressman clyburn both signaling it may be on the table. what do we know about where the bill stands right now? >> that's right, craig. it's important to note they are not directly involved in theser inations but they are both very influential among the democratic caucus and members of leadership and have strong ties to the civil rights community as well, so while they are saying this publicly about qualified immunity, perhaps saying that it could be pushed down the road, the actual negotiators, though, in the meetings, are not so willing to give up on the issue just yet. let's listen to some sound. >> congressman said that qualified immunity is something they want to see eliminated on the house side. >> i'm on the exact opposite side. >> does that still remain a sticking point? >> we're making progress. >> reporter: that was senator tim scott, republican of south carolina,

with that, i want to bring in nbc's leigh ann caldwell who's on capitol hill and following this for usread some of the statement, leigh ann. it's fairly astounding. the white house feeling like they made some real concessions here and getting flatout rejected by the republicans. what are they saying? and is there a sense the white house will, in fact -- is willing to, i should say, negotiate further? >> hey, yasmin, so, let's back up a little bit. the original offer by the white house, $2.2 trillion, way too high for republicans. there was some back and forth, and then yesterday, the white house came back with a $1.7 trillion bill, so that's much smaller. but that is still three times what republicans want to spend. their original offer, just $568 billion, and so after this meeting between five senate republicans and the white house yesterday, senate republicans immediately rejected the offer, saying that is way too high, $1.7 trillion, to get any bipartisan support on capitol hill. and the white house today is responding to the republican response by saying that they put forward a rea

joining me now is leigh ann caldwell, jake sherman. i know we have a lot of moving parts here. h ann, on one hand this was not unexpected. on the other hand, why not -- what is the next move by senate democrats? what it does sound like is they're not going to bring this up for a vote again. a part of me wondering, if you are senator schumer, why not bring this up for a vote once a week if they're not going to vote for it? >> reporter: chuck, just right before we came on air, senator schumer sent a letter to his democratic colleagues saying that he reserves the right to bring there commission up for a vote again. so we could see it. even though republicans and mitch mcconnell said that he does not want this commission to happen, he has publically cited the politics of it and privately i'm told by many sources that politics is driving his decision here, the politics of this is not going away. democrats do not plan to shelf this and never talk about it again. we could see schumer force republicans to vote on it again. also in that same letter, chuck, he said that an investigation w

i'm joined by shannon pettypiece and leigh ann caldwell and carlos corbelo. it's good to see you. h ann, let me start with you. so much is playing out on capitol hill. there was, for many republicans earlier in the year, something of a sigh of relief, even if they wouldn't say that in public that president trump was leaving the stage. there was anger about what happened on january 6th. there was an interest in getting back on track after a year of the pandemic. in the intervening five months, a lot has changed. i struggle to see how exactly they end up in a place of sweeping bipartisanship or incremental bipartisanship on some of the signature issues. what's your latest reporting on how relationships are between republicans on capitol hill but also at the white house? >> reporter: well, i have to start by wishing you happy birthday. >> thank you very much. that's very sweet. >> reporter: now we will talk news. my reporting is that the negotiations -- let's start with infrastructure, which is the biggest bipartisan negotiation that has been going on. you put it so well that talks se

with me now nbc's leigh ann caldwell and elise jordan. great to see you both. leigh ann, we heard nancy pelosi. you are reporting the house republican whip is encouraging a no vote. what can you tell us about what's going on behind the scenes and what you expect in the coming hours? >> reporter: that's exactly right, chris. that speaker pelosi news conference was quite newsy. one point in there is she doesn't seem to be giving up on the commission yesterday. she might be open to changes if the senate wants to make some. we will continue to watch that. as far as that vote that is expected any moment in the house on the $1.9 billion emergency supplemental for security at the capitol, that's exactly right. house republican leadership is encouraging their members to vote against it. the reason is, they are saying that it's not about january 6th, denial. it's not about any of that. instead, it's about making the cake before you have all the ingredients. their argument is that you have to know exactly what you need before you throw money at the problem. let's listen t

joining me now, capitol hill correspondent leigh ann caldwell and someone who knows a little bit aboutteele. leigh anne, i think what happened today, went out there this morning it looked like with a plan and went after liz cheney today. first time he had done that in a while. >> right, it was a back and forth with liz cheney and former president trump for a while but now it's a back and forth between liz cheney and leader mccarthy. but the reality of what is happening on capitol hill is this isn't happening in a vacuum, chuck. this is happening because leader mccarthy is refusing to defend liz cheney, giving the green light to rank and file members to go ahead and be more vocal and be more opposed to her, as her position as conference chair. can he tamp down on this at any moment that he wants to because he's not doing that. and that is a big sign. he chose to go on fox news this morning where he full skplikted to be asked about it, and so that is giving members the confidence that liz cheney is really, really threatened in her position, and what the cheney allies are saying is it's p

joining me is leigh ann caldwell and jeh johnson and brian buck with me. start with leigh ann to get the latest on capitol hill with this vote. i know we may be here all night voting on a china bill and maybe that pushes the january 6th vote tomorrow until later, but what are the chances this gets punted over the recess? >> it's unclear, chuck. and it's unclear because of this unrelated china bill that they're trying to figure out, a bipartisan bill that republicans are reluctant to vote for at this point. we can focus on another segment on that alone. but as far as the january 6th commission is concerned, we don't know when this vote is going to take place. as you mentioned, the mother of brian sicknick, who died the day after january 6th because of january 6th is up here on capitol hill. she said she can no longer sit on the sidelines because republicans, one after another, came out and said we do not want to see a commission to investigate what happened and the poll numbers that you just showed at the top of this segment is a good insight into why republ

with me, leigh ann caldwell and eugene daniels. >> wednesday is expected to be the day because housepublicans will meet on wednesday in their regular conference meeting, so this isn't something that's called specifically to address this. they're going to meet, anyway, as planned. but what's expected to happen, a member of congress is expected to call up a vote on no confidence of liz cheney. the conference will vote on that in a secret ballot behind closed doors and a simple majority is expected to be needed in order for cheney to lose her position. if she does lose that vote, which is expected, the next question is who will replace her? as we know, the top leadership have already endorsed elise stefianik of new york, so when that vote happens, that is a little bit more unclear. i'm told it's not likely to be wednesday because there needs to be some sort of candidate forum where she presents her case following a vote after that that could be any time later this week, it could slip into next week, but this process is going to start on wednesday, jeff. >> and, leigh ann, the congresswo

. >>> joining me is leigh ann caldwell and mark murray from the political unit. he's been following the gubernatorial race in virginia. we have republican strategist matt goran. leigh anne, i want to start with you. we are almost speaking in the past tense with liz cheney in leadership. what support will she get in support of her staying in leadership tomorrow? is it 10, 20, 50? what is the line and how nervous is kevin mccarthy? >> no one really seems to know. i have been asking this question for about a week and i was wondering if she was only going to get ten votes to keep her. but let's remember, this is a secret ballot. this is not a direct choice between liz cheney and the heir apparent, elise stefanik. first, the people could vote to keep liz cheney. she could still lose that vote. and then they could also vote later that day or week, whenever the vote happens, for elise stefanik, but there's been some people i've been talking to who actually think she's going to get a significant number of votes because it is a secret ballot. but it's really hard to tell w

leigh ann caldwell on the hill covering this for us. where are we seeing movement here?'s absolutely right. there is -- does seem to be movement. staff are continuing to talk after a meeting with the eight republicans and democrats who gathered last week where senator tim scott was on the sunday shows over the weekend saying that there is progress, that the dynamics seem to be different this time around. let's take a listen to what he said and we will talk about it on the other side. >> i think i bring an equilibrium to the conversation. one of the reasons i'm hopeful is because in a way this time, my friends on the left aren't looking for the issue, they are looking for a solution. the things that i offered last year are more popular this year. that gives me reasons to be hopeful. >> reporter: senator scott is comparing to last year when his bill was blocked by democrats in the senate. of course, that was just months before an election. democrats are also telling me that republicans seem much more open to compromise and discussing these difficult issues as well. senator

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let me bring in nbc's leigh ann caldwell. anna palmer is with us, the founder of punch bowl news. ank you both for being here. leigh ann, liz cheney is not going quietly. she's not actively whipping to keep her leadership post. where does this go from here? >> reporter: she's not. she realizes she's going to lose this battle. she's not going to be -- she's goes to lose her seat at republican conference chair. that's the number three position among house republicans. she's determined to fight the larger war. she has no plans to go away, to leave the republican party. she made that clear in an opinion piece in "the washington post" where she had a stinging rebuke of the direction where republicans are going right now. she writes in part that -- we must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process. i'm committed to doing that no matter what the short-term political consequences might be. while she doesn't -- isn't going to win the short-term battle, she's determined to be involved in the long-term. there is an heir app

. >> and joining me is leigh ann caldwell and also brendan buck. so we were watching very carefully to see what mcconnell would. what is your read on what it means, is it now a given that it can't pass the senate and is it possible that he may be open to something that just has a few small tweaks or do we think that this is essentially the end? >> it will be very difficult for this to pass the senate now that mcconnell has come out against it. we're already seeing those signs of the rank and file republican senators following suit. for instance we were told yesterday that there needed to be a commission, that it shouldn't be swept -- january 6 shouldn't be swept under the regular. today he is saying that he isn't so sure that commission is necessary. and i spoke with senator tillis who was open yesterday but today he said that he would vote against it if it came up to a vote. so the fact that mccarthy and mcconnell have united against this will make it very difficult for those republicans who do think that commission is in fact neither, if there is

broadwater who has reported extensively on the capitol riots and capitol hill correspondent leigh ann caldwell luke, let's begin with you. let's play that exchange with connelly, who basically dodged questions about what the president asked him to do about overturning the election. watch. >> did you have conversations prior to january 6th with the president of the united states, urging you to question or overturn, or challenge the election results in 2020. >> when you ask me about communications with the president, i, as a lawyer, don't get to make the decision on whether i can reveal private conversations. other people make that decision. >> did you meet with the president at the white house on january 3rd? >> i did. >> so, rosen either didn't answer or deflected a number of questions. what do you think we should take away from that exchange? >> well, i guess there's two ways to view that. former acting attorney general is citing what he said was attorney/client privilege and didn't want to get into the details of certain conversation s he had had with former president trump. lots of lawyers

leigh ann caldwell, thank you. >>> the vaccine rollout full swing here in the united states. it is a mighty struggle to get shots in arms at all. my next guests are trying to change that. two ceos who have pledged millions of dollars to help distribute covid vaccines around the world, and they just so happen to be married to each other. we'll talk about some of the positive peer pressure that they're putting on other tech leaders to join the fight. we'll get details next. what hapo your body language when your underarms are cared for? ♪ ♪ it shows! our new dove advanced care formula is effective... and kind to skin, leaving underarms cared for and you... more confident and carefree. ♪ the things, you say ♪ ♪ your purple prose just gives you away ♪ ♪ the things, you say ♪ ♪ you're unbelievable ♪ ♪ ♪ applebee's irresist-a-bowls are back. dig in for just $8.99. riders, the lone wolves of the great highway. all they need is a bike and a full tank of gas. their only friend? the open road. i have friends. [ chuckles ] well, he may have friends, but he rides alone. that's jeremy, ri

leigh ann caldwell is following this for us. chuck schumer made it clear he wants to bring this vote to the floor quickly. the path to ten senate republicans, it's narrow. what are you hearing about any republicans at all that push this vote in one direction or the other? >> reporter: that's right, schumer wants to bring it to the floor, regardless if it's going to pass. wants to make republicans vote on this. we found that there are zero republicans at this point who are willing to support it as the legislation currently stands. there's a couple that are considering it, including senator mitt romney and susan collins. there are a couple others who voted to impeach the former president who are considering. there is one who voted to impeach who is against, senator burr, saying he won't think it will be done by the end of the year. it's going to be a big uphill battle and very unlikely for this to reach 60 votes in the senate. >> while i have you, i want to talk about the military sexual assault bill. you sat down with democratic

nbc's leigh ann caldwell is on capitol hill with us. get us up to speed. where are things with liz cheney this morning? >> steph, liz cheney is unlikely to held on to her seat as conference chair. she's lost a tremendous amount of support among her colleagues and lost confidence among republican leadership as well. liz cheney knows she's lost this battle. she's not trying to keep her seat at all. she's not calling her members. she's not whipping them or cajole them to vote for her when there's an expected vote as early as next week on her position. but she is determined to fight for the soul of the republican party. she wrote in an opinion piece in "the washington post" a scathing statement saying the republicans have a choice to make. she wrote, "in part the republican party is at a turning point and republicans must decide whether they're going to choose truth and fidelity to the constitution while embracing or ignoring trump's statements might seem attractive to some and fund-raising or political purposes, that approach will do profound, long-term damag

let's start with leigh ann caldwell at the villages in florida.ot of you may know what the villages are. it's following a couple of die-hard trump loyalists, revealing -- reveling in the house republican caucuses to oust cheney. we have mark murray who is keeping tabs on the strange nomination for governor in virginia. we have matt gaetz and marjorie taylor greene. gaetz is in an investigation involving possible sex with an underage woman. what are you covering today at villages? >> reporter: chuck, i am covering the first stop on marjorie taylor greene and matt gaetz's american first tour. it's a fund-raising tour for their joint political committees for them to raise money. marjorie taylor greene has proven she's an excellent fund-raiser. she spent a lot of money to raise the funds. what they are going to do is they are going to highlight the trump wing of the party. they are expected to, of course, show their deep loyalty to the former president. they are expected to call out the members of the party who they think are not sufficiently loyal en

. >> and our leigh ann caldwell is on capitol hill and kristin stoddard from ap politics. they seem open to what the president is offering. $920 billion is a lot of money. republicans are saying there's a lot of covid money but the white house is saying, no, there isn't. which is it? >> that is a big sticking point, stephanie, you're right. some say let's dip into the white house counter funds that still have a purpose. the proposal from the kbds biden administration is increase taxes on wealthy americans and large corporations. a couple of significant things are happening, steph, when you think about the bipartisan talks. the fact president biden has been very clear he wants to get something done with republicans this time. remember, the initial covid relief package, which the white house says was an emergency package, was passed along party lines, over with democratic support. there's real political pressure here on president biden to try to get something done on republicans because he campaigned on a promise to work with republicans after all. the devil is in the detail

nbc's leigh ann caldwell is on capitol hill. president biden set a memorial day deadline for these infrastructure talks. doesn't feel like there's a whole lot of movement and last i checked, we will kick off memorial day weekend in just a few days. >> we sure are, stephanie. there's definitely not going to be any sort of agreement before then. talks are mostly stalled at this point but we're at this critical juncture, the six republicans who are in charge of negotiating with the white house are meeting again this morning to talk about how to respond to the white house's $1.7 trillion infrastructure plan. of course, the white house's counteroffer. and republicans at this point are not pleased, to say the least, with that offer. senator roy blunt last night, one of the six members, said something really interesting. he said his interpretation after his meeting with the president a couple of weeks ago is the president's team was going to present a smaller infrastructure package on the ideas that republicans can agree on. this tradi

reporters including our leigh ann caldwell, caught up with the congressman after an event honoring fallen police officers yesterday to try to give him a chance to explain. here is his original remark from wednesday's house oversight committee meeting followed by our attempt to get an explanation. >> as one of the members who stayed in the capitol and on the house floor, who, with other republican colleagues helped barricade the door until almost 3:00 p.m. that day from the mob who tried to enter, i can tell you, the house floor was never breached and it was not an insurrection. this is the truth, there was an undisciplined mob, there were some rioters and some who committed acts of vandalism, but let me be clear, there was no insurrection and to call it an insurrection in my opinion is a bold-face lie. watching the tv footage of those who entered the capitol and walked through statuary hall, showed people taking pictures. if you didn't know the footage was a video from january 6th you would think it was a normal tourist visit. >> do you stand by those statements or regret saying that? fiv

we have leigh ann caldwell. gladys sicknick went on to say this. said, not having a january 6 commission to look into exactly what occurred is a slap in the faces of all the officers who did their job that day. how are republicans responding to this, leigh ann? >> reporter: republicans i spoke to said it would be a slap in the face necessary don't meet with glad i can sick -- gladys sicknick. they said they would if it passed their desk. last week they were talking about the structure of the commission but yesterday mitch mcconnell made it very clear why he doesn't want to support this commission, saying it is inherently political and will be used as a political ploy by democrats, especially leading into the midterm elections next year. now, a senior republican aide told me that democrats want to continue to talk about the former president next year in the midterm elections, and republicans don't. they want to move on. they don't want it to be a focus, and so there is nothing good, they think, that can come out of the commission. they said the trut

nbc's leigh ann caldwell, thank you for getting up early with us and good to see you and have your reportingt us off. >>> let's go overseas. secretary of state antony blinken is meeting with leaders in israel following the deadly conflict with hamas. blinken arrived earlier this morning for the first stop for a trip around the region in addition to visiting israel, the state department says he'll have discussions with leaders in the west bank, jordan and egypt. as for what's on the agenda, the white house says blinken will affirm our, quote, ironclad commitment to israel's security. he'll also take part in efforts to get humanitarian aid to gaza in a way that, quote, benefits the people there and not hamas. blinken will not be meeting with hamas leaders since the u.s. labels the group a terrorist organization. this trip comes five days into a ceasefire between israel and hamas after an 11-day conflict where more than 250 people were killed. >>> meanwhile the journalist whose flight was essentially hijacked mid air at the demand of the president of belarus has been seen for the first time sin

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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

. >> thank you, leigh ann c caldwell >>> a judge is accusing bill barr of being disingenuous you may remember he released his own summary of the mueller findings before the public could see the report or hear from the special counsel himself at all the judge said barr barely had time to skim the report. she ordering the release of a memo that barr used himself, saying it was more of a strategy document than a legal justification. >>> a brand-new study is out about the planet's warming trend. cities thought to be sub-arctic are called something else. what the new standards tell us what to expect >>> plus anguish and anger in mexico city. families dealing with unimaginable loss, and deup and downing -- demanding ♪ the things, you say ♪ ♪ your purple prose just gives you away ♪ ♪ the things, you say ♪ ♪ you're unbelievable ♪ ♪ ♪ applebee's irresist-a-bowls are back. dig in for just $8.99. oh when june-- hit that guy! yes! wait i don't remember that! it's in season 4 - don't tell me you haven't seen it! i watched season 3. you won't stay caught up for long unless you keep watching the be

. >> thank you, leigh ann c caldwell >>> a judge is accusing bill barr of being disingenuous you mayd his own summary of the mueller findings before the public could see the report or hear from the special counsel himself at all the judge said barr barely had time to skim the report. she ordering the release of a memo that barr used himself, saying it was more of a strategy document than a legal justification. >>> a brand-new study is out about the planet's warming trend. cities thought to be sub-arctic are called something else. what the new standards tell us what to expect >>> plus anguish and anger in mexico city. families dealing with unimaginable loss, and deup and downing -- demanding answers are you managing your diabetes... ...using fingersticks? with the new freestyle libre 2 system, a continuous glucose monitor, you can check your glucose with a painless, one-second scan. and now with optional alarms, you can choose to be notified if you go too high or too low. and for those who qualify, the freestyle libre 2 system is now covered by medicare. ask your doctor for a prescrip

. >> thank you, leigh ann c caldwell >>> a judge is accusing bill barr of being disingenuous you maysed his own summary of the mueller findings before the public could see the report or hear from the special counsel himself at all the judge said barr barely had time to skim the report. she ordering the release of a memo that barr used himself, saying it was more of a strategy document than a legal justification. >>> a brand-new study is out about the planet's warming trend. cities thought to be sub-arctic are called something else. what the new standards tell us what to expect >>> plus anguish and anger in mexico city. families dealing with unimaginable loss, and deup and unimaginable loss, and deup and downing -- demanding hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this... your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee... yeah i shou