it's very dangerous. >> it's not just arizona. yesterday i spoke with michigan attorney general about the impact of the big lie on her state. let's take a listen to what she had to say about that. >> i don't know how we're ever going to get back on course after what we seen in our state. i don't know how we'll get to a point where the average voter in the state of michigan will ever believe what we know to be true, which is our elections are safe, secure and accurate. >> that's pretty stunning. how concerned are you for the same affect in arizona? >> it is vr stunning. i do have concerns but the fact of the majority of arizona voters across the board, not necessarily in one particular party but most voters do have faith in the election systems and the security and fairness of our elections and they also don't support what's going on here with this fake audit. they see it for the sham that it is and they honestly tired of this partisan games. that is a big part of the reason i'm running for governor to get to work on real issues fo

he does seem to be taking pages right out of the arizona playbook. in arizona, the republican state senate leader used her subpoena power to force the board of elections to turn over ballots. this pennsylvania state senator also runs a committee that theoretically has subpoena power. in arizona, the state senate fronted $150,000 to pay for their so-called audit. the rest of the funding for it is coming from sources that nobody involved will disclose. this pennsylvania state senator is also trying to secure funding for an audit and has sought advice from a law firm about how to go about using money from a private non-profit organization to pay for vendors, consultants and anyone else. in arizona, all the republicans involved in the so-called audit have been claiming that it's not about overturning the 2020 election. it's about restoring integrity to the state's elections. right on cue in pennsylvania, a law firm tapped by the republican state senator said in a letter that the purpose of such an audit would be to -- hope you are sitting down -- develop

i think a lot of people were very excited to see that arizona helped push joe biden over, but arizona is not a blue state. it is won by the thinnest of margins and some recent polling i have seen shows that many republicans there, and many voters in arizona, they would vote for joe biden again if he was running against trump, but if he was running against another republican, he would be in a tight race. talk about some of the voter suppression laws that have been passed by republicans in the state that they're hoping will play into being able to send that state back to the republican column in 2024. >> well, i think what we have seen since the election by folks who are not happy about the outcome is an orchestrated effort to continue to undermine the integrity of elections, continue to sow doubt in confidence and to make it harder for those voters to vote. and simply because they don't like the outcome of the election. and so, you know, this is really unfortunate. it's why i have continued to stand up for the process that we oversaw in 2020, which was free and fair, and the results we

i've been talking about arizona and pennsylvania. but you know this well. this kind of nonsense is actually going on in michigan as well. >> it most unfortunately is. our legislature has been considering legislation for the last few months. there's been efforts to have similar activities to what's

arizona has changed. we've gone from a deep red state to a now more blue state. some people call it purple. i'm optimistic. i see it blue. and we're not going to do anything different. we're going to continue to engage the voters and know -- and have them know their rights. because at the end of the day that's what it's going to be about. them knowing their rights and making sure they come out and vote. >> i mean, going door to door is not easy when it's 110 there in phoenix. but let's talk on the federal level here, i mean, a lot of people are saying the only thing that can happen now is getting the john lewis voting rights advancement act passed. that can really only happen if there's a filibuster. is that something you support? >> well, look, here in arizona we are sending a message that we need every single option on the table because this is the fight of our lifetime. the for the people act and the john lewis act are extremely important to protect democracy as we know it. so we're asking our senators to make sure to keep every single option on the table. and

voters in arizona are tired of this. they want real leadership. and they want folks that are going to tackle real problems. rehashing the 2020 election is not one of them. >> secretary hobbs, it's easy for people to watch what is happening in arizona or watch what is happening in texas or watch what is happening in georgia and say, that's just arizona, that's just texas, that's just georgia. i don't live in any of these three states. can you talk to me a little bit about how all of these threats weave together and the way in which they challenge not just democracy in the state of arizona, but democracy writ large. >> absolutely. we've been having conversations secretaries of state and other election officials across the country who are concerned about this fake audit in maricopa county. we've seen legislators from other states come and tour and try to bring this kind of thing to their state, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin, georgia. there's a lot of concern about this. the goal here is not to validate the 2020 election results, to continue to so

joining us is arizona secretary of state katie hobbs, also a candidate for governor in arizona. madam secretary, first, is there no recourse to regain possession of these ballots so that they're not moved again and potentially tampered with? >> well, the recourse would be between the maricopa county and the senate, who has ordered this audit. but, really, you know, this is exactly why we have been fighting against this from the get-go. these are not experts. they're making this up as they go along. it is not a real audit. they don't know what they're doing and they're not taking their role right now as custodian of these ballots and equipment seriously. that's very clear from everything we've seen. >> and, in fact, your ability to do your job is being hampered by -- i want to read from the npr reporting on this. arizona republicans stripped some election power from democratic secretary of state, arizona republicans have stripped the secretary of state's office, currently held by a democrat, of the right to defend the state's election laws in court or choose not to. the change en

arizona's electoral votes. that's because we've seen a big surge in latino voters, mefrm voters and native american voters for the first time in a long time, not just registering but turning out to vote. they've made it harder for folks because they lost the last election. instead of playing by the rules which they lost by, they're trying to make it harder for communities of color. the decision by the u.s. supreme court was disappointing but not surprising because what we see with the conservative majority in the supreme court is an attempt to slowly make it harder for communities of color, rural americans, rural arizonaans to have access to the ballot box. it is disappointing but not surprising. we have heard next year that the republican colleagues in the legislature will be introducing some of the more onerous restrictions and ways to make it harder for people to access the ballot box. it will be a full-on war not just this year but next year when we go back to legislative session in january. >> you saw demo

in phoenix, arizona. this is thursday last week, it was 112 degrees in phoenix that day. ♪ can't take it no more ♪ ♪ we're fired up ♪ ♪ we're fired up ♪ ♪ can't take it no more ♪ >> fired up, can't take it no more. 112 degrees that day in phoenix. not counting the radiant heat off the tarmac there. that was outside the office of arizona's republican attorney general, mark burn avich. those folks were protesting outside his office because of his role in promoting and defending new voting rights restrictions in arizona, including all the way up to the united states supreme court. also, arizona's new rules about how the state's elections will be conducted in the future, new rules explicitly designed to make sure officials from the democratic party can't play a top role in election administration in arizona anymore, only republicans will be allowed to do that from here on out. of those folks protesting outside attorney general's office in arizona, nine were arrested. it wasn't -- they weren't

he found rental listings in arizona. brett schrauben was moving out of the state, would be gone before the wiretap ruling took effect. and in arizona, a california warrant was worthless. >> this completely took all that work, and we're talking probably six months of work, and just threw it out the window. >> reporter: the killers had slipped the trap. game over. >>> but the detective was not giving up. his team built a new and better mousetrap. and guess who took the bait? coming up -- >> hey, dude, it's me. you need to [ bleep ] call me asap. . >> when "dateline" continues. >>> continues >> what can i du with less asthma? with dupixent, i can du more....beginners' yoga. namaste... ...surprise parties. aww, you guys. dupixent helps prevent asthma attacks... ...for 3!... ...so i can du more of the things i love. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on-treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. and can reduce

this is not new in arizona, either. i mean, we have seen accusations, false accusations in a lot of different places for a while. the reality is that, as we continue to improve our systems and protect the voters of arizona, and expand the way that people vote, the access they have, some people will be afraid of what's happen. it's the fear in the far right, the fear in some extremists, that fear is manifesting into this willingness to believe just about anything for comfort. it's too bad, because americans, particularly arizonaarizonaens, not a fearful bunch. most of what has been spouted out is just not true, and it's unfortunate. >> you used your twitter feed to stay away from the rally yesterday, but as you are campaigning around the state, you're talking to people who still choose to follow trump. do you discover they have genuine concerns? or are they more part of this trumpian fan base? >> there's genuine concerns. donald trump was the president of the united states for a kermit. >> a lot of the interactions i've

i've been talking about arizona and pennsylvania. but you know this well. this kind of nonsense is actually going on in michigan as well. >> it most unfortunately is. our legislature has been considering legislation for the last few months. there's been efforts to have similar activities to what's going on in arizona. they have not been successful to date. those efforts have been unsuccessful. there has been no evidence of any kind of conspiracy or falsehood. there are definitively just by many of the other states trying to make it harder in this state. i fear that they may be successful before it ends. >> i get the motivations are sinister, the problem i'm seeing is i'm talking to republicans, mainstream normal republicans who i don't think are subject to conspiracy theories who say the goal here is to make voting safer and more accessible. it's the language the arizona republicans are using, it's the language that the law firm representing pennsylvania republicans are using, that this is men to improve and make voting more robust. in michigan, you have a

let me put up some of the arizona's great reporting from over the holiday. arizona republican chair kelly ward's pressure campaign with hickman, the gop official who refused to pick up trump's call, began in earnest on november 7th as votes were still being counted. ward complained election observers were unable to see. after hickman pressed for specifics ward responded, quote, we need you to stop the counting. days later on november 13th, she wrote, we want you guys to do the right thing, prove to millions of arizona voters that the maricopa vote is legit. don't try to simply tell us that the recorder and elections department say it's fine. prove it to arizona and to america. you have all the power you need to make it happen. the pressure campaign is clearly coming from the ex-president. i think he bragged about it. i think he flew some of the officials from michigan in, and it really does sort of undergird the point that save for a handful of local election officials, a lot of them republicans, we could have had a very different outcome in november. >> yea

today, arizona republicans who are doing their so-called audit in arizona, they gave a briefing on their progress. only two republican senators were there, but they tried to call it a hearing. this was -- this audit that they're doing in arizona, they launched it in april. they said it would take three weeks. it's, of course, now mid-july, and they're still going strong. they made clear today that they're definitely finding all of the fraud they have been fantasizing about, but it's definitely going to take lots more investigation, lots more materials, probably lots more donations from trump supporters nationwide. it looks like they will subpoena more stuff from the county, maricopa county, where they got all these ballots from. the way they were talking about it today, it sounds like they think they have weeks to go, maybe months still to go. it's such a big complex investigation. there's no sign actually that there was anything wrong with the presidential vote in arizona. nothing. there's no sign that there was anything wrong with it. at all. and i'm saying that not just like, because

"the arizona republic" reports tonight that one of the republican state senators in arizona who's been promoting the audit thing in arizona all along, he's now selling t-shirts promoting his cause. the cost of his t-shirts, it's a sliding scale by size. they're $35 to $45 for a t-shirt. wow, order yours today. it's $35 for a small or $45 for a double extra large, which frankly just seems rude. the "washington post" reports tonight former president trump seemed to have found a tidy path through the wreckage to pay his living expenses via this nonsense he continues to stoke. the headline in "the post" tonight, quote trump's pac collected $75 million this year, but so far the group has not put money into pushing for the 2020 tally he touts. it raised about $75 million the first half of this year as he trumpeted the false notion the 2020 election was stolen from him. but the pac has not devoted funds to help finance or push for similar endeavors in other states, according to people familiar with the finances. instead the save america leadership pac, which has few limits on how it can spend

this hour we have reporters in germany and arizona covering that crisis, in oregon and d.c. covering the infrastructure debate, and in mississippi and california covering the dangerous spread of coronavirus. in fact, that is where we will start. nbc's allison barber is outside a hospital in jackson, mississippi, where they are starting to see a rise in children hospitalized with covid. las vegas an indoor mask mandate is back in america's second largest city and i want to bring in dylan byers and dr. patel. let's start in mississippi, one of the least vaccinated states in our country and now children make up 7% of icu covid patients statewide there. what are you hearing from folks on the ground about the crisis? >> reporter: yeah, the numbers are rising here. they're rising quickly. that's what's giving a lot of doctors concern is the rate at which they're seeing these numbers really start to pick up. we are outside of a children's hospital. it's part of a larger medical system. one of the largest in this state. they say they have seen hospitalizations pick up across all age

so, this is damaging in many ways to arizona. and it is unfortunate that the folks running the show continue to try to drag it out for their political goals. >> well would you advise the house oversight committee in washington in their investigation of this, what you call me fraudit? what should they be looking for and asking about? >> i think all the things that they highlighted in their letter it all of the right points. and the points that we have been making for months about all the problems associated with this exercise. i welcome their voices and their intervention into this fight. quite frankly, our offices here concerns from voters every single day over this exercise. and they are tired of these partisan games. that is why i am running for governor to get to work on real issues and problems that we have here in arizona. not rehashing the 2020 election. and folks can join me in that katie hobbs.org. >> let me ask you about that. your secretary of state, now. you are directly involved in elections election security. wouldn'

joining me is arizona congressman ruben. congressman, donald trump praising the arizona state senate for its audit of the election in maricopa county. >> i think the result will be so outrageous. you have already seen some of them come that they will go many steps further. is every one here fully understands the 2020 election was a total disgrace. it was the most corrupt. >> i'm curious what surprises you more. that is he is still singing his same old tired song or that the crowd is cheering so much? what kind of message is it all sending? >> the message is number one, donald trump is a loser. he's a sore loser. you have to be a pretty bad politician in order for you to lose as an incumbent president and he's not accepting that. unfortunately, i think his cult following is still dealing with that. secondly, it tells you this republican party is not a party of ideas. it's now a person, a cult of personality. they are just going to follow his lies all the way until the end. it's not working. last night, if anything, he lost mo

did you see any of bearing on that outside of arizona? >> sure but there are two ways to attack these voting lieus. one is the statute, which is the voting rights act. the second is the constitutional treatment, equal treatment, equal process, not discriminating. if you look at, for example, the justice department's recent lawsuit in georgia it makes both statutory and constitutional claims. there are still parts of section two. of course, a lot of these will be fact-bound questions in these state laws. so, you know, it certainly is not good news for the people who are challenging these statute, but it's not the end of the road. >> natasha, your reaction this morning? >> it's very disturbing, disappointing. the bottom line is we're seeing the voting rights act that was passed because people had to actually force it to get passed in 1965. so the two provisions that give teeth to the voting rights act were section 5 and section 2. section 2 is the premise in which in what we're seeing right now that the doj is going to sue georgia. what is

the degree to which there are a few courageous republicans of her november 3rd in arizona, in georgia -- they're all being attacked, and getting very little support from other republicans around the country. so the problem with -- some of the republicans, i don't know how many i believe the big lie, but others are ready to sign up to. it >> robert how will -- republicans casually believe that there is some voter fraud in the country that needs to be dealt with but the don't share the view that joe biden didn't win the election. what's a way to make this a more partisan left hurt? because at the state level, and this is getting out of control. >> i think you're going to have to see this happen really at the dnc level, at the political level. i think you saw this happen earlier in the week with vice president harris. we announcing a renewed effort at a democratic national committee to take this on as an issue, to think about how to eventually register more voters, how to fight voter suppression, how to get back into the court system. i think the challenge that you heard from bill and ot

in arizona -- this mess in arizona has been one county. this inquisition in arizona and the cyber ninjas, it was supposed to be done in may. now it's june. now it's july. in arizona that was one county and it's been going on since april. in pennsylvania they are starting with these demands to three counties, including philadelphia. and then say after that initial response they'll make the same demands of more counties. maybe they'll be able to keep theirs going on for years. there is no split screen. there are two different worlds. there is a party that is trying to use electoral politics and the democratic process to make policy about problems that the country faces. there is another party that is trying to end the use of electoral politics as an objective way of deciding who has power and how questions get resolved in our country. the two parties are engaged right now in fundamentally different projects. one of them is engaged in the political cogitation around solving problems. the other one is engaged in cogitation about ending democra

maricopa county, arizona. the one being run by the cyber ninjas' guy, who is a qanon stop the steal conspiracy theorist. where they have been running through ballots. they have been taking the the ballots and running them under ultra violet light looking for bamboo fibers because maybe the ballots were secretly sent to america from east asia. today, the guy who's been overseeing the audit for the arizona republicans quit. after being locked out. i'm -- that's not a -- i mean, he was actually, physically, locked out of the building where the audit has been taking place. well, that was this morning. he quit. and then, later today, he unquit. so, that's going well. the whole arizona audit circus was supposed to last a few weeks. we are now four months in. the arizona senate republicans, just this week, sent a whole new batch of subpoenas to maricopa county for more stuff that they want to look at. they are just going to keep on looking. this thing is going to go on forever, so that donald trump and his allies can

that's apparently unique to arizona. and so they're asking now the people running it are saying, oh, we don't have enough time to finish, we need more time, and we need more information. they were handed all of the ballots. what more information could they possibly want? >> well, i think they're trying to make it look like maricopa county has not been cooperative with them, which is absolutely not the case. they're trying to make it look like there are potentially incomplete results because of this. but the bottom line is they're just continuing to try to drag this out so that they can continue to sow doubts all the way into the 2022 and 2024 elections. >> arizona secretary of state katie hobbs, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you. >>> we're joined now by colorado's secretary of state, jena griswold, the chair of the democratic association of secretaries of state. secretary griswold, this case in your state in colorado, federal judges handling saying not one iota of evidence of any kind of election f

it is in full swing in arizona. we are expecting them to announce their supposedly scandalous results sometime soon. republicans even now are movinga to also do it in wisconsin, also in pennsylvania, also in georgia. even also in oklahoma where trump won by more than 30 points, but still there must have been democratic fraud. in his remarks today, president biden then turned to what voting rights advocates are desperate u to hear from him.fr a full-throated unreserved call to act, to protect voting rights nationally in washington, which is the only way to stop the state-by-state devastating attacks on voting rights that republicans are now pursuing across the country. watch. >> last month republicans opposed even debating, even considering for the people's act. senate democrats stood united to protect our democracy and the sanctity of the vote. we must pass the for the people act. it's a national imperative. we must also fight for the john lewis voting rights advancement act to restore and expand -- [ cheers and app

when he lost arizona. but, you know, we're pretty hard-nosed scrupulous reporters and we're not won over that easily. we will see what he thinks of this book. he doesn't seem to like it so far. >> yeah, i don't doubt that. i want to play some sound of the president talking about the 2020 election. >> there's tremendous proof, there's tremendous proof. statistically it wasn't even possible that he won. i mean, things such as if you win florida and ohio and iowa, there's never been a loss. >> there was a loss. >> and did you need better lawyers because they took it to court but they didn't give enough evidence to convince the judges. >> no, i needed better judges. i needed better judges. the supreme court was aggrade to take it. >> and it is -- he brings up the supreme court, right, having so many of his own appointees on the supreme court. >> yes. >> he actually thinks these supreme court judges are his judges, right, his attorney general, they advocate for him, when, in fact, that is not their job. >> that

. >>> the action taken on capitol hill after the supreme court's blow to voting rights in arizona. will it be enough? ♪ when technology is easier to use... ♪ barriers don't stand a chance. ♪ that's why we'll stop at nothing to deliver our technology as-a-service. ♪ liberty mutual customizes car insurance to so you only pay forogy what you need. how much money can liberty mutual save you? one! two! three! four! five! 72,807! 72,808... dollars. yep... everything hurts. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ open talenti and raise the jar. to gelato made from scratch. raise the jar to all five layers. raise the jar to the best gelato... you've ever tasted. talenti. raise the jar. start your day with crest 3d white and from mochaccinos to merlot, you've ever tasted. your smile will always be brilliant. crest 3d white brilliance. 100% stain removal, 24 hour stain resistance to lock in your whitest smile. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. >>> new pushback today from democratic lawmakers after the supreme court upheld two arizona voting re

so, pete, let's go with the arizona case first. and i want to start with there were two parts challenged. one had to do with the collection of ballots, the other had to do with this idea if you voted in the wrong precinct what would happen to those ballots? was there any thought of splitting those two? did the challengers at all, you know, sometimes they'll make an argument, look, if you're going to uphold that this is more egregious, the throwing away of ballots was more egregious. any attempt to split that? >> no, not really. i mean, there was different analysis during the challenges about the effect they have on voters but what justice alito says in his majority opinion, any time you change the vogt rules it imposes some kind of burden on somebody somehow. and there's always been a burden to voting. he says you got to get up, go to the poll, apply for a ballot. you got to put it in the mailbox. those are all to some extent inconveniences so the test, he says, under the voting rights act is what kind of disparity does that create

you know, arizona is a great state. we have great elections. we've been running elections by mail, no excuse absentee voting for a long, long time. we've had had very successful elections with 27 days of early voting. we were the first state to have an independent redistricting commission, online voter registration. we've done it really well for a long, long time and the voice of arizona has always shown through until one sore loser shows up and all of a sudden everything is wrong. it's just silly and is has to stop. >> what was the purpose of your testimony today? and what is your hope in terms of how congress responds to what's happening in arizona? >> well, very specifically today's hearing was about the threats that have been suffered by local election officials across the united states of america. i've spoken with dozens and dozens of folks since leaving office in december all over the country and we've heard stories. the brennan center did a great report on threats against election officials. this specific piece of legislation i was testi

the whole arizona audit circus was meant to last a few weeks, we are now four months. in the senators say that the new batch of subpoenas that -- they're just gonna keep on looking. this thing is gonna go on forever so that donald trump and his allies can keep pointing to it and say proof of all the fraud is coming, it's just around the corner. and it's spreading. in wisconsin, the republican chair of the assembly elections committee is gathering up for her own arizona audit. she doesn't just won a forensic audit, she wants a cyber forensic audit. we don't know what that is but i'm sure that it is much fancier than the regular audit. this is how a wisconsin we republican made a pilgrimage -- this is on top of the investigation initiated by the republican speaker of the wisconsin assembly who wired some ex cops to dig into the 2020 election results for him under the watchful supervision of a republican former wisconsin supreme court justice who became a stop the steal activist after the election. and there's also the audit of ballots in, wisconsin being carried out by a

. >> he and his backers have been focused on arizona. we will explain why you probably will hear a little more about votes in the grand canyon state. >>> as the nation remembers john lewis on the one-year anniversary of his death, the voting rights bill he inspired is facing an uncertain future in congress. president biden continues to issue dire warning about the fight to protect voting rights, activists remain concern that his actions are falling short. nbc's josh letterman is at the white house with more. josh, how is the administration responding to some of these criticisms, people who are worried that these plans to try and help with voting rights just aren't a top priority right now? >> reporter: right, exactly. those activists, they want to see president biden make voting rights as big of a priority as he has infrastructure spending and the response, frankly, to the covid-19 pandemic. now, the white house obviously says they are doing everything that they possibly can to try to move this forward, including using executive action,

"an audit of nearly 2.1 million ballots cast in arizona in the 2020 election. we are concerned about your company's role in this highly unusual effort given cyberninjas' lack of experience. reports the company engaged in sloppy and insecure practices that compromised the integrity of ballots and voting equipment and were questioned by the u.s. justice department. and evidence that you and aol individuals funding the audit have sought to advance the big lie of debunked voter fraud allegations about the 2020 presidential election. americans' right to vote is protected by the constitution. it is the cornerstone of our democratic system of government. the committee seeks to determine whether the privately funded audit conducted by your company in arizona protects the right to vote or is instead an effort to promote baseless conspiracy theories, undermine confidence in america's elections and reverse the results of a free and fair election for partisan gain." what do you really mean? the so-called audit in arizona in which the republicans in the state legislature hi

that's what happened in arizona. >>> u.s. district judge j.p. bouley claimed he would not

no votes in arizona were counted twice. yet republicans in other states are pushing for similar ninja-style propaganda audits. it's not about fraud. it's about democratic votes. let's look at texas. republican state representative steve toath has been calling for an audit of larger counties that went for biden. asked if he was going for smaller counties? he said what's the point? all the small counties are red. all the small counties are red. not even hiding the agenda behind this anti-democratic push. it's an attempt at suppressing votes purely because those are not republican votes and because a lot of them are cast by people who are not white. just because you live in a democratic district or state doesn't mean this doesn't affect you, if this affects one of us in this nation, it affects all of us. if you have never had a problem like i never had a problem, that's great. that should be the way it is for all americans. that's what democracy is about. as long as there are barriers preventing people from voting with ease, w

. >> recount continues in arizona, remarkable thing. pennsylvania trying to do something similar. texas legislature looking at everything that worked in last election and deciding to make it illegal. there are state leaders, civil rights leaders went to the white house to plead with the president and vice president for leadership on the federal level. appears on tuesday in philadelphia joe biden is going to say something about voting rights in america. what can he say, what can he do? >> he can do is say things. essentially all the power he has. that's exactly what those civil rights leaders said to him yesterday. wanted to hear him use his bully pulpit more than he has. tasked vice president kamala harris -- she asked to lead on voting rights, but when it comes to legislation, it's over and dead. that's what happened with not allowing debate, republican blocking debate on the for the people act, democracy reform. john lewis advancement act hasn't even really been written in the house or senate. so there's not a lot of legislative push. civil rights leaders spoke with him for hour

the so-called, audit, and arizona in which republicans in the state legislature labeled the script cyber ninjas, which appears to be this guy dug, -- we it's lived for months now at this intersection of clown show ridiculousness, and actual consequential threat to american democracy. because the whole thing is aimed at, essentially, undoing the presidential u.s. result in the state. they are, thereby, undermining americans faith and the credibility in the finality of our election results. but now, based on this letter released by the oversight committee tonight sent to that ups store in florida, we know this fake audit is the subject of a new congressional investigation. the oversight committee wants to know about all the weird stuff that doug logan has been doing to the arizona ballots, like shining ultraviolet light on them, or searching for a bamboo content in the ballots, because there's a conspiracy theory that the ballots were mailed in from asia. and they were overseen by joe gun and his own social media posts about it being rigged against donald trump and trump must have gotten 2

in arizona and florida they'll be kicking people off the absentee voting list, in arizona, iowa, florida kentucky utah they'll be expanding voter purges, kicking people off the voter rolls entirely. in florida, arkansas, new hampshire in wyoming there is harsher, stricter narrow voter i.d. requirements. and yes, in florida and georgia they're banning water or any food or snacks for anyone in line no matter how long the line gets, no matter how hot it is that the, no matter how old the waiting voter is. 18 different states, 30 different voter restrictions law and counting, those are past, those are laws. and the effort to find a way to stop it, to try to put a floor under voting rights nationwide so no state can restrict voting rights below that nationwide floor to hold them up, that fight still hinges on the for the people act, which has passed the house and it's stuck in the senate, is still stuck in the senate because of uniform republican opposition to it and the hope the republicans are getting in that effort from democratic senator joe manchin. as we've been reporting for the past c

i was in arizona. i was nowhere around here. >> and looking any further evidence, detective velazquez was stalled dead in the water. alas, maybe the man barber was married to at the time knew something. michael wolfe. a little check unrevealed wolfe had been married seven times. number six, a woman named nancy graham, lived in alabama. velazquez called her. >> i told her, i'm investing in investigating the d disappearance of david jackson. she said to me, how much evidence do you have against him? i said, i can't discuss the evidence with you, but i can tell you that it's enough for me to put him away right now. i was just totally bluffing. i have really, nothing. i am just throwing it out there. fishing that long line. if something bites, i reeling it in. she says, honey, let me call you back. >> the minutes take by. velazquez waited by the phone. and when nancy called back, what she said blew the case wide open. >> she started telling me about who was involved. how it happened. where it happened. wha

the test that's being proposed now to legitimize arizona's laws or legitimize a whole host of things which is why the conversation has to move nationally to how we get these voting rights act. back when i argued that voting rights case in 2010, it had been reauthorized in the congress and house by 421-3 and senate 98-0. this is the most morn thing we could imagine, the right to vote. how could it be derived? how could the supreme court be writing these? it's time for congress to act. >> of course, neil, racism no longer exists. racism is over because obama was present. therefore, 1 out of 320 million people, poof, racism is gone. by the way, so you think we're bringing up hyperbole again. florida enacted a poll tax. if you serve prison time, you have to pay a poll tax. that's legal according to justice alito. >>> is kevin going all authoritarian on us? he threatened to retaliate against republicans if they accepted an appointment to serve on the select committee. liz cheney did just that joining seven democrats announced by pelosi earlier today. one of those democrats will be here ne

. >> meanwhile, in arizona, another democrat fighting to protect voters, arizona secretary of state katie hobbs who has asked her state's republican vaccine averse attorney general to open up a criminal investigation into whether trump and his allies broke the law in their efforts to pressure maricopa county officials after the election. hobbs has made it clear that fighting her state's sham fraudit isn't just about affirming the last election but preventing republicans from stealing the next one, which is exactly what they're now opening trying to do. while exporting more partisan sham reviews to other states like pennsylvania where a state senator who participated in the pro-trump events in d.c. before the insurrection is now demanding, get this, that binders full of ballots be delivered to him. it shouldn't surprise you that pennsylvania fraudit guise considered for running for governor. we see you, republicans, rolling out the full insurexz tool kit to any state where you have legislative control in order to instill social chaos and crush our democracy using, quote, election integrity

the arizona republic reports hickman's phone rang about 8:30 p.m. on new year's eve while he was on a date with his wife and friends in north central phoenix. he didn't recognize the number carrying washington d.c.'s area code and let it go to voice mail. hickman quickly listened to the message. the white house switchboard wanted him to call back so he could talk to the president he called in an interview with the arizona republic. hickman did not return the call and later deleted the voice mail. trump encouraged him to find enough votes to reverse trump's narrow loss there. hickman recalled listening to the leaked audio of that hour-long phone call after "the washington post" and other media outlets published the recording. i was horrified, hickman said. that same night at 9:22 p.m. approaching midnight in washington, his phone buzzed again. it was the same area code. he let it go to voice mail again. here is that voicemail from the white house operator on january 3rd. >> hello, sir, this is the white house operator. i was calling to let you know t

a similar criminal investigation might be underway tonight in arizona. if only lifelong republican had decided to answer his phone. the arizona republican reports then president donald trump try to speak directly with the chair of the maricopa county board of supervisors in the weeks after the november 2020 election as his allies sought to change the election results in a state he narrowly lost to democrat joe biden. donald trump called lifelong republican clinic man twice, they're a white house operator. it's reported his phone rang 8:30 pm on new year's eve, while he was on a date with his wife and friends in north central phoenix. he didn't recognize the number of carrying washington d.c.'s area code and let me go to voice mail. hickman quickly listen to the message. white house switchboard wanted him to call back so he could talk to the president, he recalled in an interview with the arizona republic. hickman did not return the call and later deleted that voice mail, he said. three days later, news broke of trump's january 2nd phone call with georgia