this person at the center of the storm really is mccrae dowless, who you just spoke about. and dowless, his stepdaughter testified against him, saying that they not only illegally collected absentee ballots but they sometimes tampered with them as well. now, the missing piece here that has not been corroborated is what the republican candidate mark harris knew. he did of course hire dowless to work on his campaign, or to contract out for his campaign for some of these get out the vote efforts, but there's no indication yet that mark harris knew exactly the work that dowless was doing, ali. >> all right. so technically speaking, there are three democrats and two republicans on this committee? >> yeah, that's right. and what they're going to do at the end of this hearing, which could be tomorrow-s they're going to have to decide on if they're going to hold a new election or if they're going to certify this race for the republican mark harris, who has a slim lead. and if they are going to certify the race, it only needs the support of three board members. if they're going to ca

on the first day, you had lisa brit completely implicate her step-father, mccrae dowless, and on dayhree, john harris testified against his own dallas, mark harris. it's really taken a turn that i don't think any of us expected and the board is going to have to decide still what to do with this election, beyond the family drama that's unfolding. >> so, lisa brit said her father, mccrae dowless, told her to fill in the rest of the bubbles, the votes down-ballots, if she saw an open ballot, she collected an open ballot and saw it was not finished, to fill it in down the republican line. jacob, the question is all going to surround this legal term of tainted, a tainted election. the it's the lowest bar for this particular election that you need to overcome. but what is the definition of a tainted election? and does this meet it? >> when you and i sat down together with the attorney for mark harris, he basically said there wasn't one. and it's sort of the same ambiguous term. and at the end of the day, this whole election could be overturned or thrown out -- >> hold on, hold on. mark har

allegations of election fraud about this one republican political operative, this guy mccrae dowlessrth carolina for years. state investigators are talking openly about the unlawful activity that this scheme represents. so why is this not being decided in a courtroom right now with prosecutors and a jury? why is this still just an election board matter? joining us now from raleigh, north carolina, is eli portillo, politics reporter for the charlotte observer. he was at the hearing today. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> so today was the long first day of hearings. as i understand it, there's going to be further proceedings as the state elections board tries to figure this out. what do you think was the most substantiative thing that we learned today? >> there were a few things that we've learned today that were rumored or reported in the media for a while, but now we know that state investigators have come to similar conclusions. for example, multiple voters have told us that people came and collected ballots from them. we've also heard from people in media reports

attorney, took the stand. >> you had suspicions from -- about mccrae dowless from the start. >> yes.ince the 2016 primary election based on those results. >> and you've expressed that the to your father? >> i did. i told him that collecting ballots was a felony. >> yesterday mark harris was visibly upset while his own son testified. today the elder harris, who once had reason to believe he would have the title congressman prior to his name, tried to explain why he continued to work with dowless despite his son's verbal and e-mailed warnings. >> obviously i read these e-mails today in a very different intellectual light than when i read them when my 27-year-old son, who is a sharp attorney -- >> extremely sharp. >> extremely sharp. but i'm his dad and i know he's a little judgemental and has a little taste of arrogance and some other things. >> but later harris, an evangelical minister, admitted he had misspoken about those e-mails in earlier testimony and called for a new election. the state's election board quickly unanimously voted to toss out the november results. they're going to

mccrae dowless, has he faced criminal charges as of yet? >> no, he has not. actually checked in with the wick county district attorney today who is overseeing the criminal investigation of this matter. it's a separate parallel investigation. she has been monitoring this hearing all week. she's expecting the state board to send over their findings to their office. and one thing she stressed, no one got any immunity for the testimony they provided. >> that's another shoe that seems like it will surely drop soon. joe bruno, thanks again for all your great reporting on this. >>> republicans have been fear-mongering about fictional voter fraud by democratic constituencies for years. the president even set up a panel to investigate what he claimed were millions, a preposterous claim, millions of fraudulent votes in 2016. naturally the panel found nothing because there was nothing to find. in texas the republican secretary of state even had to apologize for a false claim about supposed thousands of illegal votes, one of course which the president tweeted about. and

his defense was really obliterated, because his son said that he warned him of this character, mccrae dowlessthis absentee ballot scheme. but mark harris was saying, look, i thought this was just my son's opinion and dowless confirmed me that he worked within the con fifines of the l. so we're in a lunch break right now and they're just about to come back in just a few minutes, but just before they did break for lunch, as you played, it got very personal when he did say that his son was judgmental and had a taste of arrogance, steph. >> that part, well, my son's judgmental with a taste of arrogance. come on, now. leigh ann caldwell, thank you so much for continuing to report on this really important story. >>> when we come back, robert mueller's report on the russia investigation could drop any day. and with longtime ally roger stone in court again in the next few minutes, the question is, could he be the last-minute indictment in the mueller probe? that is the big question in the next hour. but right now, you're watching "velshi & ruhle." but right now, you're watching "velshi & ruhle. ♪ ♪ a

. >> reporter: at the center of the controversy, harris's political strategist, mccrae dowless. accused of tampering with more than 500 absentee ballots to help harris win. the election decided by fewer than 1,000 votes. democrat dan mccready conceded, but one month later, with questions growing, he took it back. >> i didn't serve overseas in the marine corps just to come back home and watch politicians and career criminals attack our democracy. >> reporter: our steve osunsami caught up with dowless, who refused to testify without immunity. >> what do you say to people who say that you rigged this election? >> no comment. >> reporter: at the board of election hearing, harris insisted he saw no red flags, but his own son testified that he warned his father that dowless was "shady." >> i love my dad and i love my mom. i certainly have no vendetta against them. no family scores to settle. okay? i think that they made mistakes in this process. >> reporter: his testimony bringing his father to tears. today, harris admitted his son was right, but said at the time, he didn't take him s

this entire thing is about fraudulent absentee ballots at the hands of mccrae dowless.ris, the congressional republican candidate, has been saying he was unaware of the illegal ack particulatactics do increase the output of these absentee ballots. but his son, john harris, surprisingly testified against him yesterday. here is what he had to say. >> i love my dad. i love my mom. okay? i certainly have no vendetta against them, no family scores to settle, okay? i think that they made mistakes in this process and they certainly did things differently than i would have done them. but in thinking about all of this and engaging in this process and watching it all unfold, i've thought more probably about my own little ones than my parents, and the world we're building for them. >> reporter: craig, it was a really riveting and emotional testimony yesterday by john harris. and now we're hearing from the father, mark harris, the candidate, who is saying that was his son's opinion, that he warned him of the challenges that dowless could bring to the campaign, but that he was assur

investigators found that longtime conservative operative leslie mccrae dowless hired workers to illegally collect absentee ballots and isome cases filled them in favor of republican candidates. dowless was reportedly paid by a group called red dome, a company that was hired by the harris campaign to organize a get-out-the-vote campaign ahead of last year's midterms. the hearing, which will resume today, could result in north carolina's election board deciding that a new election should be held in the 9th district. in iowa, republican governor kim reynolds has said will not appeal a court's ruling last month on the highly restrictive, so-called fetal heartbeat law. the iowa law would have banned abortions once a fet heartbeat can be detected --something that typically happens just six weeks into a pregnancy and before many women even realize they're pregnant. the law was widely seen as an attempt to challenge the landmark 1973 roe v. wade ruling at the supreme court. in oregon, portland mayor ted wheeler is calling for an independent investigation after newly revealed friendly messages bet

leslie mccrae dowless junior n is charged with obstructd illegal handling of absentee baots. last week, the state elections board cited evidence of fraud, in ordering a new election in thdisputed race. and, chicago is now assured of having a black woman as mayor, for the first time. on tuesday, former federal prosecutor lori lightfoot and cook county board president toni preckwinkle advanced to an april runoff. the winner will face a high crime rate, w-rated public schools and overwhelming pension debt. mocrats in the u.s. house today pushed through a major gun control ll, the first in arly 25 years. it mandates federal backgroundch ks for all firearm sales and transfers. a second bill, due for a vote tomorrow, extends the background check period to 10 days. the bills are given little chance in the republican-run senate. the u.s. supreme court heard arments today about a gian cross that's been on public land in maryland for nearly a century. supporters say the so-called c "peass" is a memorial to those killed in world war one. opponents say it violates separation of church a

leslie mccrae dowless also faces felony charges of obstruction of justice. he is accused of rigging the election in north carolina's 9th district to tilt the vote in favor of harris, who was initially declared the winner in that close congressional race in november. last week, the north carolina state board of elections vacated the results and ordered a new election. on tuesday, mark harris said he will not run in a new election for the seat, citing his ailing health, not voter fraud, for his decision. his former opponent democrat dan mccready says he will run again. prosecutors say mark harris could still face criminal charges over the vote-rigging scandal. in texas, a federal judge has barred state election officials from carrying out a purge of voting rolls that could have seen thousands of naturalized citizens wrongfully barred from voting in the next election. wednesday's order by the u.s. district court for the western district of texas comes a month after texas's secretary of state flagged the names of nearly 100,000 registered voters who declared the

>> reporter: revealing he warned his parents about the political operative they hired, leslie mccrae dowlesscused of running an operation that tampered with absentee ballots. workers were forced to forge signatures, collect blank or incomplete ballots and even fill in votes. >> i think they made mistakes in this process, and they certainly did things differently than i would have done them. >> reporter: dan mccready hailing the decision as a great step forward for democracy in north carolina, meanwhile harris' son, calling on all politicians to do better. >> we have got to come up with a way to transcend our partisan politics and the exploitation of processes like this for political gain, and frankly when i'm coming out of this process, i'm just left thinking that we can all do a lot better than this. >> reporter: so the big question is what happens now. well, there will be a new primary and general election for the seat. it's not clear if mark harris' name is going to be on the ballot at this point, but dan mccready says he's definitely going to run again. savannah, hoda. >> kristin welker,