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

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

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

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

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

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

. >> 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

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.

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

attorneys in georgia being pushed out or resigning. there's been a lot of news reporting about what was happening, but what does this really unlock for congress, which at most turns have been stymied from this kind of access? >> i mean in some ways this is all a bit ridiculous because the president said all of this stuff out loud. he said it all. he said it before the election, after he lost the election, in the period of time before it was certified, right before the certification, and then afterwards. even in his statements more recently about what barr did and didn't do, what the justice department did or didn't do. so all of this stuff is out there in the public. this is very similar to a lot of things that we have seen in the trump era where the president says something out loud and then we as reporters go and find out that he was saying and doing the same thing behind the scenes. in a normal presidency the president wouldn't have said any of these things and we would have to go find out what actually happened in private. but thes

those democrats had more meetings with the clintons and georgia's stacey abrams, and joining us now is adam serwer who is staff writer for "the atlantic" and the latest piece is "the democratic leaders are betraying the blackvoters." tell us why you wrote something that incendiary? >> well, you have to raise the expectation of that statement saying that you will do something with the federal power that you acquire to protect the rights of the constituents who are the target of legislation that is an attempt to either diminish their access to the ballot or diminish their political influence on the electoral process. if you are not willing to do that, then you are asking for the votes without giving them anything in return. >> i want to draw you out on something that you wrote in the "atlantic" piece, because you say this about the democratic vote sers. the targeted constituencies must treat every election cycle as if their fundamental rights are on the line, and to listen to the democrats target the rights to the franchise as the new jim crow and then watch the same leaders do knotting

georgia senator rafael warnock who said he asked leader schumer to call the meeting emerged from it saying he wants the american people to understand that voting rights is on the senate's radar and they're, quote, committed to getting some progress. the meeting included senators alex padilla of california, oregon's jeff merkley, minnesota's amy klobuchar and west virginia's senator joe manchin who last month released a three page framework that scald back some of the more expensive provisions of the bill that failed. to pressure the federal government to act, the poor people's campaign is holding a four-day march. >> i'm tired, but i am not nearly as tired as the people who are having to fight for their rights over and over and over again. so i used to watch all of the '60s documentaries and say if i was alive and of age i would be there and now this is my chance, unfortunately to have to be here. >> if they asked me to run a marathon, i would say no but i can put one foot in front of the other and walk. and the emergency here is very empowering. it truly is. >> the group started yesterday

i do think it's important to note you have raphael warnock, the senator from georgia, pushing the teen yiflt conversations not just with democrats but republicans. but all those photo use just put up, that's negotiation among democrats to try to get them on the same page, let alone trying to figure out if there's going to be any votes on the republican side. >> anna, very few have covered as closely the ins and outs of this drama as you. tell us where we are now. what do you expect? what sort of timetable are we looking at in particular on the republicans? a number of them ended up siding to advance this yesterday. but we're hearing obviously sharp criticism from former president trump on the bill. do we think these republicans will be able to resist caving in to the pressure applied by someone who still enjoys remarkable popularity among their voters? >> yeah. i mean i think it was a pretty stunning vote. 67 senators voted for this infrastructure package, alarmer number than a lot of folks thought, including fact you had senate minority leader mitch mcconnell sign on at the end and ot

. >> so it sounds a little like that call to georgia election officials that we all heard e ound christmas time. that there's a -- there's a president trying to convince someone to do something, and the person on the receiving end, understanding this is probably unorthodox. somewhere along the line of unorthodox to entirely wrong orr possibly illegal and trying to not commit to anything. >> right. and you see that in an implicit gentle way. in rosen's testimony before congress, back in may. he made a point of spelling out all the things he did not do, in that time period. and i think, in hindsight, now that we know about these phone calls, i think in hindsight that testimony stands out more anhosiy as rosen sort of tryingd to draw a line for people, even though he didn't feel he could say it publicly. of look, whatever was said to me, whatever, you know, was brought my way, i did not go down the road that some of these folks wanted us to go down.hagh >> great reporting, dev lin. important reporting that this -- that may be before us in a matter of days, as congress investigates january 6th

and you might also recognize that on the far left his republican congressman andrew clyde of georgia. and you can see the sheer panic on the man's face. he's pressing and self against a wall as a security officer gun drawn, protects his life. in the months that followed, congressman clyde rather infamously changed his tune about that day at a hearing about security lapses that may have allowed the attack to happen. clyde compared the scene on january six to a, quote, normal tourist visit. of course, that is a ludicrous characters i station, everyone who is not under dame trumps thumb knows. that the suggestion that they were is offensive to the people that were there that day and lift to the terror of it. that includes jamie raskin, last night raskin confronted clyde at a rules committee meeting, clearly feeling that business could not just go on as usual with those comments still hanging in the air. >> did you have an opportunity to see officers hodges and fun none, and done, or sergeant canal? >> mister raskin, let's stick to the amendment -- >> i'm getting to the amendment. if you

>> first of all, for georgia, a number of lessons. george peoples has to learn what's been learned over and over with donald trump, he is a one way street. and being someone who cases boots does not get you what you want no matter how much you do it. maybe george pete will learn that. the fastening thing about that, it may not even be any one of those who wins that primary race. there's a woman, supreme court justice republican, who may actually win that primary. what we have learned in this, in learned in the special election yesterday, is that went to basically trump republicans are running against each other who basically have similar issues and that's the special election, it never was a trump person running against another trump person. they had to exist seems dance on the border wall, gun, laws, abortion and very much the same. it basically shows you went to people adopt the same viewpoint and those various trump viewpoints, trump doesn't help any in the chime or -- crime in. or help doesn't come from trump. it's a republican --

. >> so it sounds a little like that call to georgia election officials that we all heard around christmas time, that there is a president trying to convince someone to do something and the person on the receiving and understanding that this is probably unorthodox, somewhere between the line of an orthodox and entirely wrong and possibly illegal and not commit to anything. >> and you see that in an implicit gentle way in rosen's testimony before congress back in may. he made a point of spelling out all the things he did not do in that time period. and i think in hindsight, now that we know about these phone calls, i think in hindsight that testimony stands out more clearly as rosen tries to draw a line for people even though he cannot say publicly, and say, look, whatever was said to, me was brought my way, i did not go down the road that some of these folks wanted us to go down. >> great reporting double, an important report reporting that is in front of us in the following days as congress investigates january 6th and the accusations of election fraud. thanks for being with us devlin. al

. >> and republican legislatures including georgia's for example, and texas, have been trying to formalize into their state laws what donald trump was trying to do over the phone with the attorney general by basically being able to change the outcome after the vote count, that's what they're trying to put into some of these laws. your hearing today was address something of that. >> yeah, so we have a bill that would preclude some of what the states are doing to replace the local election officials who are just counting the ballots. i mean, this has not been something that has been high profile. this has been a boring activity for centuries where you just count the ballots, now partisans are seeking apparently to take over this function and to skew the results. we can't let that happen and this bill would prevent it. we had a hearing today that was very helpful but chilling as well. because although the registrars and election officials didn't engage in hand-to-hand combat, like our brave officers testified about yesterday, they are facing off with armed militants who are seeking to subvert

on the far left is republican congressman andrew clyde of georgia. you can see the sheer panic on the man's face. he is bracing himself on the wall as a security officer, gun drawn, protects his life. in the months that followed he infamously changed his tune about that day at a hearing about security lapses that may have allowed the attack to happen he compared the scene on january 6th to, quote, normal tourist visit. of course, that's a ludicrous characterization. everyone not under donald trump's thumb knows that. that's offensive to people there that day and lived through the terror of it. that includes democratic congressman jamie raskin. last night raskin confronted clyde at a rules committee meeting clearly feel that business could not just go on as usual with those comments still hanging in the air. >> did you have an opportunity to see officers hodges and fanone and dunn testify today or sergeant gonnel? >> mr. raskin, let's stick to the amendment as -- >> well, i'm getting to the amendment. if you don't like the question, say you can take t

>> and representative andrew clyde of georgia who compared the january 6th attack as a normal visit was pressed at a rules committee meeting later in the day. let's watch. >> okay. >> watching the tv footage of those who entered the capitol and walked through statuary hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stantions and ropes and if you didn't know the tv footage was a normal tourist visit. those are your words. >> and i stand by that exact statement as i said it. >> and that went on for about five minutes with congressman raskin pressing him how can you believe that after what the officers said, what you saw with your own eyes and he kept not responding, basically. just standing by his statement saying that he was being misquoted, and that was clearly jamie raskin, quoting exactly what he said. >> this was an attack done in the open. every american turns on the television occasionally saw this attack as it happened. so his -- his character is in realtomb refuted by what every american can see, and that's why we need to call other actors to hear what happened. that