sent a letter friday demanding a vee view of fulton county election's management, a critical step in georgia's new voting law that must take place before the state election board can overhaul a county's election board. still with us victor jaw di fran victoria and bill. the reverend said, look, democracy is in trouble. if we say it is the worst attack since the civil war, the answer has to be massive, what needs to happen here? >> we need to see a movement. it is really very much looking at the playbook of the 1960s. what was the playbook pushing over two dozen jim crow law has restricted voting across the american south? we are starting to see the same thing, chris. what we are seeing in this fight is folks going to washington. i'm going to assert my texas bias here, but i really think that the presence of the texas

that similar partisan reviews are now taking place or being proposed in wisconsin, in michigan, in georgia, and in pennsylvania. quote, the proposed election reviews failed to satisfy basic security, accuracy, and reliability measures and the auditors themselves fail to meet

then on the night of january 3rd, the day trump's call with georgia's secretary of state was published, the man in charge of the maricopa county election got this voice mail. >> hello, sir. this is the white house operator. i was calling to let you know that the president's available to take your call if you're free. if you could please give us a call back, sir, that would be great. you have a good evening. >> trump has never stopped that pressure campaign. it was a multi-pronged effort that included pressuring elected officials, storming the capitol, and now passing restrictive

yet another member of congress is arrested for getting in good trouble by georgia republicans take steps to undo the 2020 election. the fight for voting rights is next. s is next

it's in basically states like louisiana and south carolina and georgia and florida, the southern states. and if that were to happen, we would see children losing another year of school. i need not tell you what happens to an eighth and ninth grader if they are out of school for two years. we cannot have continued education for our young people, to deliver by them without broadband. broadband to me is to the south today what electricity was in the 20th century. >> thank you so much, congressman, especially those important topics on education and health. i want to turn it over to commissioner stark. millions of americans don't have access to broadband either because it is not available or can't afford it. this is the case for black residents in the rural south. the emergency broadband benefit was developed to help families struggling to afford internet service during the covid-19 endemic, but it is only temporary. can you share your perspectives what lawmakers must address to expand internet to low-income americans? >> thank you, first of all for allowing me to be here today and we're all

we know that in states like georgia that went for democrats not only in the presidential but any those senate races, state houses led by the gop are going to come back with a vengeance and try to silence the very voters who don't vote for their party, and that's why it's important for democrats to step up, pass something that mirrors the for the people act in the substance about combatting partisan gerrymandering. >> as well as dealing with -- in georgia where they're now replacing even some of those that are in those election commissions. >> yes. >> where they can nullify the vote. but i want to quickly address the new evidence against the former president in his attempt to overturn the election. new notes handed over to congress show trump instructing the justice department to lie to the american people, saying, quote, just say the the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me. susan, what do these revelations tell you about what trump was trying to do in the days leading up to january 6th? >> he's very consistent. he has been trying to undermine and use our government against ou

we also know the situation in georgia where he -- his folks told georgia election officials, find me 11,780 votes. so when you get this pattern over and over, that's evidence to prosecutors that this guy knew that he was doing something wrong and yet he kept doing it. >> could it also though be evidence, paul, of the fact that this former president didn't even know what he was doing, that, in fact, he was just so incredibly naive to believe these lies, right? you think about the phone call the president had with president zelensky that was a topic of the russia investigation in his impeachment trials obviously, and the way in which he talked about investigating hunter biden in that phone call, how these are related and whether or not that evidence can be used either for our against bringing a case against the former president when it comes to these phone calls with doj officials? >> yeah, you know, that's a great point, yasmin. again, i think that when we see this repeated conduct over and over, and it is not just that the president is making this request. it is that government offic

johnson from georgia for five minutes. rep. johnson: thank you to the chairman for holding this meeting and thank you for the witnesses. $5.9 trillion is a significant sum of money. the sum total of relief and job retention measures in the cares act. congress acted decisively during a once in a century pandemic, but our work is far from done. we are obligated to ensure relief aid arrives to the folks who need it most, especially black americans, communities of color, and low income groups. already in poorer health due to being without health care coverage, communities of color were essential workers who disproportionally bore the brunt of sickness, hospitalization and death due to covid 19 and who were exposed throughout the pandemic while enabling us to work from home. they are the people who have too often been underserved and un-served the federal government. your office has found fema's management of disaster relief grants and funds to be inadequate. you reported last year that improving fema's management of these grants wo

rights advancement act, and understanding that it is not just about texas but we see it in arizona, in georgia, in florida and in a number of other places. and also, people are encouraged perhaps by the daylight that there is with senator manchin and the possibility of a negotiation to create legislation that's workable and can get enough support to get passed. >> but you're right, it is an incredibly important story which is why we here at msnbc for the last four or five weeks have incessantly been covering it because it has a national domino effect as well. this rally in austin, it is coming as the texas democrats, as you know, left their state. they are trying to block restrictive voting measures, but republicans have certainly been hammering away at them for leaving, including during a congressional hearing this week. do you, julian, have any concerns of the optics of lawmakers fleeing texas? do you think it might dilute the concerns of voter suppression? >> i think the lines have been drawn very, very clearly. the legislators seem to have been doing a good job of informing their own const

colonial pipeline also headquartered in georgia. i want to thank your personal who assisted in response to that incident. my request for you, mr. secretary, is that you commit that the next time your vacation to visit george and i hope to welcome you soon, that you will sit down with me and georgia ports authority personnel to discuss had dhs can better support cybersecurity to protect the port of savannah and perhaps you could comment now as well on your overall assessment of efforts to protect ports from cyber attack. >> so this is a very important area for us, cybersecurity structure agency is focus on port security and the cyber domain, and yes, senator, i would be pleased to visit georgia and visit the ports authority with you and address their concerns with respect to cybersecurity. and, of course, i would bring colleagues from cisa your most expert in that work. >> thank you, mr. secretary. finally on the same note we face a significant shortage of qualified cybersecurity professionals. this is a field growing importance to n

milbank wrote the half dozen lawmakers, including matt gates of florida, marjorie taylor greene of georgia, made explicit what has been more obvious by the day, they stand with those who attempted a violent coup. and house republican leaders held a news conference blaming january 6th on capitol police and particularly house speaker nancy pelosi. i mean, zerlina, how and why are they defending these people and trying to turn this around on nancy pelosi? >> well, they turn everything around on nancy pelosi. it's always going to be nancy pelosi's fault. before that it was hillary clinton. maybe they throw in aoc. any woman who has a strong opinion and values. the bottom line here is that the threat is still here. i think we have to go back to that point every time possible, because with the republicans elected in congress that, bay, marjorie taylor greene wasn't even in congress and apparently her election results were fine. just donald trump's were wrong. but i think that as long as you have folks like this in the congress that are placating what those insurrectionists, their violence was fo

voting rights legislation passed in 2021, because you simply will not have free and fair elections in georgia or florida or texas, or more than a dozen other states that have already passed voter suppression legislation. so for the sake of our democracy, more than for any one party, we need to get this passed. and we need the president, to bishop barber's point, to make this his number one, undying, unyielding focus. it's the only way lbj got five voting rights act. it's exactly how president biden will get through the 2021 for the people act. let's see this through, put our eyes on the prize, until we win this fight and save our democracy. >> and jonathan. can i ask you a question before you start marching? >> yeah, go ahead. >> listen, listen, as beto said, this is bigger than just this moment. this is about democracy. and the same people that did the physical violent insurrection on january 6th have been leading a political policy insurrection in statehouses. the same people that have blocked living wages and blocked health care and blocked climate change are blocking and suppressing the v

look in georgia. republicans there are taking the first step toward taking over the elections process in fulton county which is home to atlanta, also the state's largest county, also mostly black. what they have done is request a so-called performance review of the top election official in fulton county, loug allowing the republicans to replace the election official with a temporary superintendent of their choosing who would then have full authority over vote counting apology places and staffing. that's the type of covert effort no amount of organizing by activists will be able to defeat. what's happening in texas is an overt attempt to make it difficult for black and brown voters to cast a ballot through restrictive election bills. organizers and religious leaders are tackling those republican led efforts head on. today marks the last leg of a march through texas where voting rights advocates such as beto o'rourke on the reverend dr. william barber led a group of protesters directly to the state capi

with me is hank johnson of georgia. he's a member of the house transportation and infrastructure and judiciary committees. thanks for being with us. how do you see this unfolding? we have bipartisan support for the part of the bill that you would have assumed we had bipartisan support for. the fixing of roads, bridges, public transport. we've got some problems on the much bigger bill that democrats are interested in. >> well, i tell you, thank you for having me this morning, ali. i think the fact that democrats control the house and the senate, though those -- that control is very slight. we do have the ability to deliver for the american people. we already delivered the american rescue plan which lifted our economy from the doldrums of another great recession. and we injected money into this economy which got people back to work, got our children back to school safely or at least gives them a chance of returning to school safely now. and put money into peoples pockets. and made an initial investment to rebuild america.

but in georgia, as an example, just 5.5% of georgia's $522 million intended to go to renters and landlords, because of backlog, and because of the documentation requirements for these renters to prove of their hardships here, just 5.5% of that $522 million has actually made it to renters and landlords and more than half of the states, nbc news has found, less than 10% of that federal funding has made it to renters to help because of the pandemic. which is at the very heart of the argument of those democratic lawmakers to extend that moratorium. this was a situation here that is a crisis that we should be expecting here in these days ahead. eviction notices are already on those doors of individuals here in just this last week. >> absolutely. when you think about, for example, that renter you were talking to whose rent went from $900 to $1,300, seemingly overnight, you can't afford an extra $400 a month, that's crazy, can't afford to move, that's even more expensive. what are you supposed to do? it's a very important issue and we're so glad you're covering it for us, vaughn hillyard, thank y

will turn out in huge numbers into thousands would you do because what they saw in georgia . host: that was william. this is tim in california. republican line. caller: best major candidate. kal em tim kalem. host: basil in ohio, independent line. caller: i am a 90-year-old person. i served in the korean war as a medic. a lot of experiences i've had. for me, the american public has to wake up. if you're concerned about your country, you have to become involved. you can't listen to other people tell you about what politics is. you have to be involved. however, the democratic party is no longer the democratic party. it has become the socialist communist party. republican party has become a bunch of wimps. it's up to the american public to become strong and to. i'm all for two term limits. host: as an independent, how do you get involved? caller: sometimes calling talk shows like this. sometimes going to the council meetings. the lead grounds within the city and where you live and in the county. host: as far as, what is the biggest issue where you live? caller: well north homest

we've seen these happen across the country, places like florida, places like georgia. here this morning it's in austin, texas. this morning we're going to see thousands of people show up. we're going to hear from beto o'rourke and bishop william barber and country legend willie nelson lending his voice to the cause. it feels like momentum is shifting in their direction. they feel like they have a leg up, when democrats come back, things will be different. our hill team is reporting that it's going to be a little bit of a scaled down approach if they have legislation come out of all of this. it's going to be focused voting access, same-day voting and voting registration. as you mentioned, guys, it's been hot out here, hot for the past 19 days. there are immediate availabilities happening every day. here's what one protester had to say about how it's too important to stay home. >> they're growing up in a state where it's already difficult to vote for too many of us. they understand the importance of, you know, making sure that we work to protect the vote, making sure tha

i have studied the texas bill, i have studied the georgia voting bill that has been in the news a lot. i think the liberal, mainstream media has mischaracterized both bills significantly mischaracterized both bills. both bills look to me like it would make it easier to vote and harder to cheat, which is what every law abiding legal american voter should want. with that, madam chair, i would like to yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from texas, mr. fallon. >> the gentleman from texas is recognized. >> i just want to clarify something. i just want to make sure. ms. thompson, was there a meeting held before the special session that took about a half a day that involved republicans and democrats trying to work out this bill? ms. thompson: there was. >> did you attend that meeting? ms. thompson: i did. >> ok. there is a special committee that was appointed to hear this bill, and are you on that committee? chairman and them are -- chairman andy muir talked about the concern that representative collier had about the mail-in ballots you used 20 years ago, your social security numb

republicans in georgia are actively trying to take over elections in a crucial democratic stronghold. the atlanta journal-constitution says that still with us, victoria defrancesco soto, bill kristol. pictorial, you know this, activists are capping a four-day march for democracy with a rally where you are. the reverend william barber said, look, democracies in trouble, if this is the worst attack we have seen since the civil war, this needs to be massive. what needs to happen here? >> we need to see a movement. and it's really very much looking at the playbook of the 1960s. what was that playbook? it was pushing against over two dozen jim crow laws that restrict voting across the american south. we are starting to see the same thing, chris so what we are seeing in this fight is, folks going to washington, i'm going to assert my texas bias here, but i think the presence of the texas democrats from the legislature here, has really helped keep this in the spotlight. at the same time, you see the civil disobedience, grassroots marches, with sheila jackson lee that you saw yesterday. we sa

put coercive pressure on vice president mike pence to reject electoral college votes from arizona, georgia and pennsylvania, to proclaim a power no vice president ever exercised and doesn't exist in the constitution. and mike pence refused to do it. do you know what? they trashed the place and they entered and wounded 140 police officers. now we have representatives from a major political party in texas representing african americans, mexican americans, white people, native americans, who are coming forward to say the voting rights are subjected to a gauntlet, an obstacle course. they say this is a up form of voter suppression. i was delighted to your my friend that it pained him -- to hear my friend that it pained him, mr. fallon, to hear about voter suppression inflicted on african-americans. but at some point apparently, it all ended and what you have come to washington to talk about is apparently just a figment of your imagination. so we can't trust the african-american community or hispanic community or native american community or voting rights lawyers about this. we are supposed to,

. >> and choice, is this information relevant to what's happening down in georgia in the investigation that the fulton county criminal probe into that phone call in which trump tried to put russian georgia secretary raffensperger to, i think it was fine me 1000 thousand votes? >> so jonathan the interplay between those two events is pretty interesting, and let me talk about one way that it might be significant. prosecutors worry a lot about moving a detentions intent, what's he just saying stop for was that actually a cohesive plan to overturn the results of an election. something that makes it more likely that it was intentional rather than an accident or a stumbling was that if there's evidence of repeated conduct, it's actually admissible evidence that you could put in an insane giorgio word to indict, they could likely offer evidence of other similar related courses of conduct like this pressure that trump wanted to bear on the justice department to show that it wasn't a mistake, it wasn't unintentional but there was an intentional effort to subvert the election in georgia. >> cong

i am very grateful for senator raphael warnock of georgia who i think has been instrumental in bringing the party together, including senator manchin. it's really good news. it's a sign of progress. frankly, it's a sign that would bishop barber the poor people campaign and others who are willing to take direct nonviolent action across the country, what they're doing is actually working it's bringing the parties to the table, they're feeling the pressure and they know that they need to move forward. i would argue, and agree fully with bishop barber, that as important as the physical infrastructure of our country is, if we do not save the infrastructure of our democracy, protect the right to vote and guaranteed field for elections going forward we will lose it forever and nothing else is possible. raising the minimum wage. expanding access to health care, confronting climate change, legalizing illegal immigrants in this country. all these things only become when we bring people in the voting places, so that their voices are heard. i hope that senator warnock and others who believe in this

the doj is picking on georgia. they are not looking at what they do in new york or new jersey or delaware. we have more opportunities, more days of early voting than any of those states. >> there's a reality of this. before georgia passed anything, they bought the domain name jim crow 2.0. they were basing a lot of the stuff on what was originally introduced, which was unnecessary. the reality is that they would raise money off of this whatever was passed. they were going to say it's terrible and oppressive. they filed the motion to dismiss yesterday. the filing of the law, they filed the lawsuit three days after the act failed. this is about fundraising and politics. every side keeps escalating this and politicizing it. somebody has been saying, we have to stop weaponizing this. >> both sides are doing it. is it doing serious damage to americans confidence in their electoral system? >> it has damaged confidence. it goes back to bush v gore. it got ramped up in 2016 when president trump won. they said it was russia

they happened to lose the two georgia elections. they would like to have all of the energy of trump, all of the demagoguery which is successful. let's not kid ourselves, that trump engaged in, and get rid of the less attractive aspects of it. i don't think you can do that. they don't have the courage to repudiate him. they're scared of the primary challenges. one can step back and say it is unwise for them to do this. they don't think they're doing badly. does mccarthy think he's going the lose the house in 2022? no, they think republicans have a decent chance. they don't think republicans have a chance in 2024. i would say honestly they do despite the lack of repudiation. they have not paid a price. who has paid a price? liz cheney. a huge number of republicans who voted to overturn the election of january 6th, they haven't paid the price. >> let's talk a little bit, victoria, about something i hear all the time from democrats, they want to see donald trump's taxes. the doj says the irs has to release them. democrats say it is a vi

. >> and joyce, is the information relevant to what is happening in georgia, the fulton county criminal probe into a phone call in which trump tried to pressure the georgia secretary of state, find me 10,780 votes? >> so jonathan, the interplay between the two events is pretty interesting. let me talk about one way it might be significant. prosecutors have a hard time so prove intent. was there a plan to overturn the results of a legitimate election? and something that makes it more likely it was intentional rather than an accident, if there is evidence of a repeated course of conduct, and it's actually admissible evidence, say georgia were to indict, prosecutors would offer evidence of other similar related courses of conduct, like the pressure that jump bore on the justice department, but an intentional effort to subvert the election in georgia. >> congressman swalwell, considering you have been an impeachment manager, and devised questions to ask witnesses, what kinds of questions should investigators be asking now? >> at this point, tries to understand what trump and those around hi

that rolls back voter suppression, in texas, in georgia, in florida, and so many other places. and it opens up our elections to every-eligible voter. that -- that's not a democratic-party position, nor a republican-party position. that should be an american-democracy position. and that's why we're marching and that's why we want folks to join us in austin, tomorrow, 10:00 a.m. in front of the capitol. we'll be joined by impacted people and willie nelson, who will be giving one of his first concerts since the pandemic there. so, big day, tomorrow, in austin. >> reverend dr. barber, you -- i think, in the last few weeks, you've been arrested at least a couple of times. doesn't scare you. doesn't scare the texas representatives, who are under threat of arrest. they have done nothing criminal. but the -- the governor has implied that they could be arrested. that's what the summer actions turning out to be. people marching, people putting their bodies on the line. doing what they have to do to remind people that this is the kind of energy that is required. very reminiscent of the --

so he also gets wrapped up in, if you remember, the fights between president trump and the state of georgia over the count. and he has to navigate doj's you know essentially staying out as best they can from that fight. so he keeps touching these very complicated, very tricky issues. i think you are right, the notes are taken for a reason. they were taken because he feels there need to be some kind of record that this is going on. and importantly, he needs to preserve as much what trump said, which is what we are focusing on. i think from the justice department's view, they need to preserve what they said and they did. that very important, you can see, in rosen's public and praft statements. >> yes. devlin barrett, thank you very much. >> thank you. >>> donald trump's request for the justice department to sigh the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me sounds a lot like his request the ukrainian president said in his first impeachment who said, quote, i would like you to do us a favor, though. he was more desperate to misstate his q. because these were his people. daniel goldman serv

might the state of georgia be the first one to indict him because they've got the goods on a recorded phone call where he said i need somebody to find me 11,780 votes that fell off the back of a truck somewhere so i could be declared, wrongfully, the winner of the georgia election. the state investigations are important. and they must conducted. but we need him to be held accountable for violating the laws of the united states as president of the united states. >> eli, so many moving pieces, where are you keeping your eye? >> same as glenn. we need federal prosecutors, stepping up to the plate. but i completely agree. the funny thing about the conversations that we're talking about with the doj, he's already on record of doing it in georgia. and the georgia case for attempted election fraud is to me the most straightforward like do not pass go, go directly to jail offense that we have on the table right now. >> all right. thank you both so much. >>> up next, the house's adjourned without finding a way to extend the moratorium on evictions which expires tomorrow. cori bush and alexandr

in georgia it is about to come true. republicans are moving closer to taking control of elections in the state's most populous county. we will dig deeper into that story next. >>> plus, would we rather end the pandemic or stay loyal to our political tribes regardless of the number of lives that will be lost? for republicans the answer increasingly seems to be curtain number two. >>> infrastructure week was the butt of jokes for four long years under the ex-president. maybe that's why he has tried and fail to sabotage this president's successful bipartisan infrastructure deal. "deadline: white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. e. ike i'm just wasting time. that's why td ameritrade designed a first-of-its-kind, personalized education center. oh. their award-winning content is tailored to fit your investing goals and interests. and it learns with you, so as you become smarter, so do its recommendations. so it's like my streaming service. well except now you're binge learning. see how you can become a

here in georgia just 5.5% of the $522 million pot here allocated to georgia has actually made it to the renters, and that moratorium ends tomorrow. those eviction notices are already on the front doors of folks. i want everybody to hear the voice of sierra green. you will see her here with her three kids. the three kids each of them going to school monday. this last week, she got the notice, and she appeared at the hearing and we talked with her afterwards and she could be evicted at any moment. take a listen. >> reporter: you said that you turned in the documentation? >> yes, i turned in the documents. >> reporter: what have you heard? >> at this moment, i have not heard anything. >> reporter: so you could be evicted at any moment? >> yes. >> reporter: where would you go? >> i don't know, to be honest. i mean, the only option is a hotel. >> reporter: and that is why we cannot underscore, geoff, and i know that you understand that the nature of the crisis that we face on the streets in the weeks ahead, and it is not sierra green and her three kids, and we are talking about upwards to 3.

before the pandemic i was in rural randolph county, georgia, over 2 1/2 hours away from alabama. i saw staysee abrams. to install snet service for community members to participate in the online census and get jobs and i stopped in selma, alabama and visited the housing authority to discuss an initiative of bringing free broadband to children in low-income housing, george washington carver homes. and i heard from a mother of three who said her life was transformed by the program and completed her online assignments to get a job. and that is broadband for the people. >> there is a picture about how important broadband subsidy program is. i want to remine our audience members, drop it in the question and answer. i want to turn it over next to former f.c.c. commissioner clyburn. you spent nearly nine years at the federal communication commission working on these issues. how should they be working with i.s.p. and low-income communities get connected to broadband? >> i really want to set the stage as what you do and how you have been incredibly helpful. i see ourselves at this intersec

here in george a just 5.5% of the $522 million dedicated for renters here in georgia has actually made it to these tenants who this week are getting those eviction notices put on to their dear and suddenly this is a hail mary of a pass to congress to pass this moratorium off a few more weeks. i want to let you know of a mom who we talked to, breanna. she gave birth to twins. a week after that she got an eviction on her door. take a look at that conversation. >> i am trying to find assistance to be able to pay it, but as far from now i don't have a plan yet. >> do you have a court date yet for -- >> i have to go up there tomorrow. >> what does that look like to you? >> i don't know. i just hopefully will be able to get assistance. >> they could evict you. >> yeah, they can whenever they feel like it. >> so tomorrow -- are you scared? >> yeah because, you know, i don't know where else i will go with three kids. >> where will you go? >> i don't have a plan of where i will go. >> andrea, you see sitting on those stairs two moms that said they were brought together. sierra who was there wit

. >> you're right here in georgia more than 200,000 alone. the census just earlier this month, their latest data is at 3.6 million americans and renters that say they expect to be evicted here in the next few months. there is billions on the possible for these families and renters to take advantage. hardly any of it has been dolled out to renters. of the $ 522 renters available. i talked to sierra. she replied in april at that relief. she says she is waiting to to find out if she gets that money. millions of families here waiting. >> vaughn, why? why is this happening? what is causing this money to not get to them? >> i just got off the phone this hour with the department of housing here in georgia and i asked that very question. she said ultimately it comes down to individuals who lost their jobs who lost their pandemic, so proving she lost her warehouse job because of conditions around the pandemic, she says he is turned over the documentation. another woman had the job and that business is shuttered. a she doesn't even know how to get ahol

senator raphael warnock of georgia who is leading this push in the senate said that voting rights is just as important as everything else the senate is focused on right now, including infrastructure. let's take a listen. >> passing voting rights in my view is the most important thing we can do this congress. now, i know that there are a lot of pressing issues, but the american house is the house built by democracy, and if we don't preserve our democracy, strengthen people's access to it, we will not have done our job. >> reporter: so back to your original question, steph, will it get more support? well, it needs republican support, especially in the senate, ten republicans. it's very difficult to see how that happens. but you can't rule anything out until it's a done deal obviously. >> leigh ann, thank you. now let's head to austin, texas, where the march against voter suppression just resumed about an hour ago. texans have been braving the heat all week ahead of tomorrow's rally at the state capitol. i want to bring in two people who have been leading that march. former texas congre

we watched in georgia what voter registration and education did. it's a combination of what we do at the federal level and what people can do on the ground. we need both in order to do what we need to do this year. >> victoria, same question to you. what should joe biden do, the biden administration do? are they taking all the steps that need to be taken right now? >> i think that the voice of the president, the vice president, and all of the resources available to the white house could really help continue to build that momentum but also help get us across the goal line. i know that joe manchin cares about voting rights. he has talked about it. and so now is the time to act with urgency and to realize that we are about to go off a cliff that will be very hard to come back from. and as elissa mentioned we cannot watch our democracy be taken from us. and the voices of some of the most vulnerable, people of color, the disabled, just completely silenced as we try to face major challenges going forward. we need every voice at the table, that means prot

it comes as a small group of senators work on scaled down legislation spearheaded by georgia senator raphael warnock. >> i think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. we have to work on the physical infrastructure of our country and the infrastructure of our democracy. it is the responsibility of congress to provide baseline federal standards for voting. >> senate democrats hope to unveil a new bill in the coming days. >>> joining us now, author of the "washington post's" early morning news letter "power up," jacqueline alemany. good morning. thank you for being here. walk us through the new proposal by democrats around is it possible it could sideline the voting that is in the works that seems to have stalled? >> yeah, jon. a small group of senators met on the hill to talk about the back-and-forth of the bipartisan deal revised on thursday. this revised legislation is bill around a framework that senator joe manchin had provided and released earlier this year after he came out against for the people act, which has fallen into the legislative graveyard in the senate after it was

a week ago it was georgia congressman hank johnson. and today it was texas congresswoman sheila jackson lee, arrested in the same place for the same reason. you can see her here being handcuffed in white zip ties. she was later placed inside a police van. she later tweeted this photo of herself in handcuffs. her caption, quote, i will never stop fighting for voting rights. the time is now to move the voting rights bill in the u.s. senate forward. enough is enough. #goodtrouble. the protests and resulting arrests are part of a summer of action on voting rights. and the list of reasons to fight just keeps on growing. today this was the headline in the "atlanta journal-constitution." quote, georgia republicans take first step to fulton elections takeover. fulton county is the largest county in the state, 1/10 of all georgians live there. it's where atlanta is. it voted overwhelmingly for joe biden. it also contains a sizable proportion of the state's black voters. the paper obtained a letter showing that two dozen republican state senator

i live in this county. 159 counties in georgia. there is a reason why republicans are only investigating one. out of all the other counties that had problems on election day, no other county is being investigated and at risk of being taken over by a republican pair a gram. it's only fulton county. they are afraid to say what we all know is true out loud -- that, is too many people that look like me showed up to vote and fulton county. now they want to do something about that. what we also know, when you look across the board and how we've made changes in fulton county, in june, we had our primary elections. the fulton county board of -- commissioners came in to see what happened on election day. they came in got things together for the november election. give people more access to get the lines, down they made sure they had more poll workers. you know what the state did? they passed espy 2:02 to say you can't do mobile voting units. we will not do all these drop boxes to reduce the waiting in line. the republicans are still to blam

who controls the counting room, if republicans have had that kind of power, political power in georgia and in other places, arizona, pennsylvania, these key battleground states we ulha had all trumpy successful and stealing the election. a lot of these laws have provision that would make that kind of change. i think it's under the category of, they call it election subversion, that's the new category of negotiation that these voting rights from the senate is all about. i think it's ball game, i think republicans understand that if they control the counting rooms and the counting process that is the way in which they can systematically undermined democracy in the most profound way. we saw it on display on the threat of 2020. and any bill the democrats take up in the senate or in the house or in congress or in these coming months if it doesn't address this issue it misses the point. >> before it was written, it was run before the election, long before we saw these new republican legislative proposals and zerlina, we see that george is already acting on that new law and they're basically

georgia republicans take first step to fulton elections take over. fulton county is the largest county in the state, one tenth of all georgians live there. it's where atlanta's. it voted overwhelmingly for joe biden. it also contains a sizeable proportion of the states black voters. the paper obtained a letter showing that two dozen republican state senators support a performance review of fulton election chief. they have the power to request this thanks to the restrictive voting bill that georgia passed earlier this year. according to that bill, states senate bill 2:02, the state can replace any local election official with enough republican support. the chairman of the fulton county board of commissioners, a democrat, a sounding the alarm saying that is an attempt to take control of the senate and retain the governorship in 2022. it's been record rick until this point. this letter is the first official step in the process. we've got allies in the legislature, we have the court and the court of public opinion. the law as it currently stands is on th

georgia senator raphael warnock says voting protections remain a democratic priority. >> i think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. we have to work on the physical infrastructure of our country and we have to work on the infrastructure of our democracy. it is the responsibility of congress to provide baseline federal standards for voting. >> we welcome back juanita toliver, veteran political strategist for progressive candidates and causes, and michael steele, former lieutenant governor of maryland and host of "the michael steele podcast, and former head of the rnc. good to see you both. speaker pelosi and leader schumer are headed to the white house tomorrow to talk about voting rights. can we expect a more aggressive push from the white house on this issue and see that it and congress can indeed walk and chew gum at the same time? >> well, the fact that the senate is already taking up revised voting rights legislation is a sign that those conversations have been happening behind closed doors, chris. so i do expect a full-throated effort from the white house to support this new

and, zerlina, we see a report in the "atlanta journal constitution" that georgia is already acting on that new law, and they are basically trying to pull the vote-counting process away from fulton county in a major democratic county. so the republican strategy seems to be, we don't care how many of you show up. we're going to try to suppress that. but if you do conquer us there and you show up, we're going to be counting. and when we do the counting, you're not going to like what happens. >> yeah. it's rigging the game on the front end and the back end. it's making sure that no matter what happens and no matter what wave of people show up to say, we don't want these people in office, it won't matter because you have your folks in place. it's like playing the referees. i hate the sports analogies, about you it works here, i think, in helping folks understand what's happening here. and i think, you know, i think republicans actually have overplayed their hand, and i think that the momentum is on the democratic side if the biden white house is willing to take this courageous step and be

she's also the chair of the georgia democratic party. congresswoman, first maybe just a little bit of level setting here on what the situation is. there's a county board of elections and there is someone who has the job of managing those elections that the county board appoints, rick baron, is that right? >> the county board of electioning is comprised of democrats and republicans appointed by each county democratic party and republican party and then you have staff that actually run the election system, which are hired and come out of the fulton county board of commissioners' budget. so it's an independent body that is running the election. these are career bureaucrats. these are people who have signed up to protect elections, to administer elections across the board. >> and so one of those people has become a real target of ire of state republicans, rick baron. i want to just give the argument here, the sort of -- the argument that actually fulton county, independent of the big lie and these accusations of fraud which are ridiculous ha

a group of senate democrats led by raphael warnock of georgia are preparing a revised form of legislation which is expected to be unveiled in the coming days. the details are under wraps pu it's expected to include components of west virginia senator joe manchin's proposed changes to the voting rights bill. meanwhile, pressure to act continues after leading a protest against senate inaction on voting rights with black women activists texas congressman sheila jackson lee was arrested outside a senate office building by capitol police. i'm joined now by texas state representative senfronia thompson who as you just saw testified at today's hearing. representative thompson, you spoke very powerfully about paying a poll tax, not being allowed to vote in primaries. what do you want congress to understand about what it is at stake in texas and nationwide? >> i want them to understand that our voting power is about to be ripped away from us unless they act. here's why. when you get people keep chipping at your right to vote because you happen to be a minority within this country, and you are powe

doctor, staying with you, i want to play with the republican on georgia speaking out on these issues on fox. take a listen. >> it makes no sense, there is no science to it, let americans be americans and give us our freedom. we are tired of big government trying to be the nanny for every american. if i want to take the risk, i will take the risk. >> what's the public health mission here? we understand why that's appealing. how do you go up against it respectfully while trying to help people understand that this is scientifically bad safety. >> danny patrick monihan, the facts are wrong. we know a lot about the delta variant and it is dangerous. we have a new hurricane coming our way. the storm warnings, we are trying to sound the alarm and it is going on deaf's ears. it is something that we are all fearing. i published 30 minutes ago an op-ed in the washington post that talks about fighting a two-front war. it is bad enough to fight the virus and now we have to fight this information, that's beyond unfortunate, it is counter productive and it is going to kill people. >> yeah, i mean