from georgia-based companies should make every georgia voter furious. they don't want platitudes. they want legitimate and muscular support to turn back these bills that are otherwise going to pass and dramatically roll back voting rights in georgia and other states. this is a live issue right now. the georgia big business community is clearly feeling the pressure over whether or not they're going to take a stance on voter suppression bills, voting rights advocates absolutely keeping the pressure on, republicans in the georgia state legislature, nevertheless, steam rolling ahead with this stuff. and we're seeing versions of that happen in every state where people are starting to fight back about what republicans are doing to voting rights, in every republican-controlled state in the country. but there is something that could be done nationally to bolster voting rights in georgia, to stop voting rights rollbacks in georgia and in arizona and in iowa, and in texas and everywhere republicans are trying to rip up voting rights. it's the bill that passed the

in georgia by pressuring georgia state officials with responsibility for elections to do his bidding. former presidents -- former presidents -- >>> in addition to the events of january 6th at the u.s. capitol, the article of impeachment against donald trump also highlights something that happened four days earlier, trump's phone call with georgia's secretary of state in which trump spent an hour trying to alternately coax and threaten that georgia state official into overturning joe biden's election win in that state. trump told him, quote, i just want to find 11,780 votes. he told the secretary of state that he should tell the public he has recalculated the vote tallies in georgia and discovered that trump actually won. and we know that this is what president trump said because the whole thing is on tape. well, now, a georgia state prosecutor, the district attorney in fulton county, has opened a criminal investigation centered on that phone call. it's a crime in georgia, potentially a felony, to solicit someone to commit voter fraud. but here's another understanding about this, whic

look no further than lincoln county, georgia. a rural county north of augusta, georgia. that county's elections board was disbanded under the new state law. once they got rid of the existing local elections board, the first order of business for the new board, appointed by republicans, was that they decided they would eliminate six of the seven voting sites in lincoln county, georgia. the proposal from the new republican-appointed board is that this rural county, with zero public transportation, needs only one polling place for the entire county. the new board says having just the one site will somehow make voting easier and more accessible. and it will eliminate the need to transport voting equipment and staff to the remaining sites. yeah you know, it's such a hassle to transport voting equipment and staff to the places where people vote. when you can just put the entire burden on the voters to transport themselves. that's so much easier. one local activist in lincoln county says that single proposed polling place is like 23 miles away from some voters in that county. a

fulton county, georgia, is also the place where most democrats are in georgia. if operating an election in fulton county is now a hotbed of threats against the people running those elections, how do you, i don't know, get out the vote under those conditions. how do you get people to volunteer to work at the polls. that is the daunting task facing democrats. big d democrats, and small democrats in georgia. if there is one person whose life experience might make -- picking on that cask, it is probably stacey abrams. georgia voting rights pioneer, the woman who very nearly won georgia's governor race three years ago. stacey abrams has just announced she is running for georgia governor again, she is here live for her first national tv interview since her announcement next. stay with us. stay with us that's why, in difficult times, we provided one hundred and fifty million meals to feeding america. and now through the subaru share the love event, we're helping even more. by the end of this year, subaru will have donated over two hundred and twenty five million dollar

at what happened to me. >> i won georgia by a lot. something bad happened. you have the most important job in the country right now. if we win, you're going to have two more wins because otherwise right now they're not going to win because people in georgia are so angry at what happened to me. in the call weirdly, president trump also references the previous democratic party leader in georgia, stacey abrams. i mean, it's -- why he brings stacey abrams up in this context, we don't know. trump clearly seems to be asking this investigator, frances watson whose number he was provided by his chief of staff mark meadows to investigate fraud in cobb county and also in fulton county. trump references stacey abrams here without saying why he's talking about her, just sort of floating her name as a boogeyman to let this state investigator know what exactly he thinks is wrong with the georgia vote and what he wants her to find. >> you know, they dropped ballots. they dropped all these ballots, stacey abrams, really, really, terrible i mean, just

so we have the chance, georgia. we have the chance tomorrow to prove that what we did in november wasn't a fluke. it was the future. >> you know, it was president-elect joe biden who was the headliner at today's rally in atlanta for democratic senate candidates jon ossoff and the reverend raphael warnock. but it was stacey abrams who, as usual, brought the house down at that rally. stacey abrams is a one-woman georgia force of nature who helped deliver the victory for joe biden in georgia with her years-long work on voter registration and fight for voting rights in georgia. tomorrow her hard work may very well help to flip the senate to democratic control. tonight just moments ago, since we have been on the air. president trump said stacey abrams' name from the stage at his georgia rally, and he said her name like it was an epithet. watch this. >> what's with this stacey abrams? you know, your governor -- your governor and your secretary of state, they're petrified of stacey abrams. what's that all about? >> they're

elections officials in georgia were carrying out an audit of the november election. in which joe biden had narrowly carried the state. president trump and his allies had been shouting that there was all this fraud and that the election was a fake, it was stolen. and so georgia's republican secretary of state said, okay, we'll do another audit to check the results again. and suddenly the president's chief of staff shows up at the civic center in cobb county where they're carrying out this audit. the visit was totally unannounced, totally out of the blue. the only reason we know it happened was that a local reporter with the atlanta journal constitution saw trump's chief of staff mark meadows and his secret service agents swoop into the building and they snapped a picture of him being intercepted in the hallway by state election officials who did not allow him into the room where the audit was happening. but we now know that what mark meadows did get that day were some very useful phone numbers. while he was there sniffing around for voter fraud in cobb county he met a

georgia is on everyone's mind. but this is a national issue. >> you know, i wonder if you can just take us through what was in your mind, the whole thing. what were you trying to see and what was your reaction arrested -- when they reacted the way they did. >> well, i serve as the caucus secretary. so my first role was to reach out to as many legislators in the democratic caucus to let them know that the bill was being signed, just like i had been doing all day long when the bill was being debated, when the minority report was happening, when we were sending out information to constituents to let them know. so i wanted to be present in the room to witness what was happening. we look at this as equivalent to taking away the rights of five million black and brown georgians. there needed to be at least one in the room. >> and there wasn't. and you were arrested. were you surprised that they did not pursue those charges against you? can you just take us through your reactions? surprised, relieved, the least they could

under georgia state law. ultimately he was convicted and the sheriff got life without the possibility of parole for the felony murder charge. but then on top of that, life without possibility of parole, there is nothing on top of that really but they added additional years on top of that. the violation of oath charges and the racketeering charges of which he was also convicted put an extra 23 years on his sentence in addition to life without parole. racketeering. now, racketeering is something we associate with the mafia, right? with prosecutions of mob bosses and big ongoing highly structured organized crime outfits. that's what we think of as racketeering. but in state law, in georgia law particularly, it is applied to a much wider set of crimes than you might think. it is -- i'm oversimplifying here a little bit but it is basically applied to crimes where prosecutors think they can prove a pattern of linked criminal acts. not just one-off offenses that are not leading toward any particular aim. and i am ov

to fight for one georgia, our georgia. and now it is time to get the job done. [ chanting stacey ] >> part of the new campaign launch video from stacey abrams who just announced she will mount a second bid for georgia governor next year. stacey abrams narrowly, very narrowly lost the race for governor in 2018 to the guy who holds the job now, republican brian kemp. but two years later in 2020 georgia helped elect a democratic president by going blue for the first time in 28 years. georgia also flipped two u.s. senate seats to hand democrats control of the united states senate. i mean, in georgia it has certainly been a team effort and one of the biggest democratic party electoral success stories of this century. but even though she didn't do it alone, it is inarguably stacey abrams who has laid the foundation for those victories more than any other person you could say that about. joining us now is the newly announced democratic candidate for governor of georgia, stacey abrams. ms. abrams, it is a real pleasure to have you

asking them to stand up and support georgia voters. late last night republicans in the state signalled they will back down from some of those proposals. today activists in the state received a boost when the metro chamber of commerce laid out their concerns with voters. our interests in the issues began long ago reflecting our bellerive every eligible georgia voter should engage in the voting process. changes to the process could come by the way as early as monday when they are expected to meet and vote on the bills. as republicans appear to be retreating from their opposition to absentee voting many of the other proposed restrictions remain. joining us is latasha brown, the group that has been campaigning to come out against the legislation. this is remarkable. you were able to go out there and you were able to say. i saw it on social media. it spread quickly to say you have employees. you have customers that live in the state of georgia. i think that is what happens when a community comes together. organizations, nonprofit groups and

from fulton county, georgia. i just wanted to get your reaction to that, if you didn't mind. >> welling i'm super jealous because if this case ever goes to trial, she's going to have a real jury, and when she presents her case, if she is convincing, as damning in her presentation as the house managers were in the impeachment, she could very well get a guilty verdict. but we've got a very different jury and they've predetermined there's going to be no guilty verdict, at least of many them, so it's kind of nice to see the process of justice work the way it's supposed to or at least see the opening days of that begin. in a way that ends up in front of a real jury and not a compromised senate. >> we are expecting to see the start of the president's defense tomorrow. there's reporting that suggests that they're going to go very short. that they're not going to use anywhere near even half the 16 hours that are allotted to them. i wonder at this point in the process do you feel like there should be witnesses? part of th

urging georgia voters to contact ceos and let them know we expect them to support georgia voters like we support them. to use their power and muscle to turn back the republican bills and make voting harder. first a generic statement supporting free and fair elections and then they said they -- although the chamber would not say specifically what they opposed. big companies like coca-cola and home depot then told the "washington post" they were aligned with the chamber of commerce on the issue. home depot called back to clarify saying what they said does not mean they are opposed to the new roll backs the republicans are moving through the state. voting rights advocates are not having this is aing now that the platitudes should make every voter furious. they want legitimate and muscular support to turn back the bills that will otherwise pass. the big business community is feeling the pressure. just steamrolling ahead with this stuff. we are seeing versions of that in every state. in every republican controlled state. going everywhere republicans are trying to rip up voting rights. the

and georgia republicans do not appear eager. according to npr, the text of one voter suppression bill was introduced just one hour before it was passed out of committee giving the democrats on that committee barely any time to find out what was in it. so what happens next in the state of georgia? georgia democrats are still in the minority in the state house and the senate. so, is there anything they can do to stop these changes? joining us now is democratic georgia state representative, rhonda. representative, thank you for joining us. tell me the status of this. this is a remarkable and interesting matter, in that republicans, until this election, were all about early voting and absentee voting. they wrote that law into being. they -- they are the ones who passed these laws into being. >> thank you for having me tonight. yes. we did receive this bill, yesterday. and today, during our committee meeting, it was a hearing in which fellow georgians were able to talk to us about their concerns about hb-531. as we know, georgia has

in georgia. the one who stood up to trump's orders that he needed to find the right number of votes, and overturn the election. by mandate of this bill, signed into law tonight, he will, hereby, be removed as chair and voting member of the state election board, which is the entity that oversees the certification of elections in georgia. that power will, instead, be handed to the republican-controlled legislature, which will appoint a new chair of their choosing, as well as the majority of the board's members. republicans in the georgia legislature wanted to go along with what trump was insisting should happen in georgia. this bill will give them the power to do that. what this bill does is it carves out the people inside the state government, who refused to overturn the election for trump. it hands that power to a new, hand-picked group of people. friendly, to the republicans in the georgia-state legislature, who wanted to go along with what trump was demanding. the election board will, also, be

in georgia. that power will instead be handed to the republican-controlled legislature, who will appoint a new chair of their choosing as well as the majority of the board's members. republicans in the georgia legislature wanted to go along with what trump was insisting should happen in georgia. this bill will give them the power to do that. what this bill does is it carves out the people inside the state government who refused to overturn the election for trump. it hands that power to a new, hand-picked group of people friendly to the republicans in the georgia state legislature who wanted to go along with what trump was demanding. the election board will, also, be afforded new powers under this law. they will be allowed to take over any individual county election board in the state that they see fit. so again, republican-appointed officials from the state legislature, allowed to take over any counties' elections operations. any county they choose. they don't like a result in the specific county

so, it would be georgia, first. but then, presumably, it'd be pennsylvania and michigan and arizona and wisconsin and nevada. everywhere they believe that republicans in control of the state legislature would go for it. if georgia went first and did it, would republican state legislators in those other state do it too? if they had backup from the u.s. justice department sf if they had this explicit pretext? this explicit request from the u.s. justice department that they should do it? you think they wouldn't? i mean, this wasn't a fantasy. this was an actual plan, an actual thing that they tried. and for one, it solves an actual mystery. a thing that has been bugging me since january. just before the attack on the capitol obliterated all other news, on january 6th, we learned that the top federal prosecutor in georgia, so effectively the top doj official in the state of georgia, had suddenly resigned his position. the u.s. attorney in georgia, his name was bj pak. we covered it at the time. why is he resigning? part

including the state of georgia. the next paragraph of the letter, he's then linking to the rudy giuliani fake hearing in georgia in december, that was so bonkers, it ultimately contributed to giuliani having his lace suspended in multiple jurisdictions. but that's what jeff clark sites as the evidence for this terrible revelations in georgia. jeff clark's letter continues quote, in light of these developments, the department, meaning the u.s. department of justice, recommends that the georgia general is simply should convene in a special session to take additional testimony, receive new evidence and deliberate on this matter. the purpose of the special session the department recommends, would be for the general assembly to evaluate the ear grail at un a.i.d.s. in 2020 election. determine whether those violations show which candidate for president won the most legal votes, in the november 3rd election. and number three, to determine whether the election failed to make a proper and valid choice between the candidates,

bill came from in georgia. georgia republicans as of today are admitting that criticism is true. that these new voting restrictions they passed into law is all based on trump's lies from the last election. >> this is really the fallout from the ten weeks of misinformation that flew in from mr. donald trump. i went back over the weekend to look where this really started to gain momentum in the legislature. it is when rudy giuliani showed up in a couple committee rooms and spent howard spreading misinformation and sowing doubt across hours of testimony. >> that is the republican lieutenant governor of georgia admitting today that, yes, republicans in georgia just passed into law all of these new voting restrictions in that state because of the lies spread by president trump and rudy giuliani alleging that somehow trump didn't really lose georgia in the election. if georgia republicans are now admitting that's the impetus for what they have done to roll back voting rights in their state, then perhaps corporations

now, republicans in the state legislature in georgia have introduced a resolution to change the georgia state constitution. suddenly. very quickly. right now. they want to change the constitution so district attorney faunae willis cannot proceed with this investigation into potential crimes by donald trump, at least not the way she's planning to do it. georgia republicans in the legislature have decided that they would like to create a new mandate in the state constitution, they're going to amend the constitution, to say if a crime that's being investigated has anything to do with an election, then the prosecutor investigating that crime can't convene a grand jury in fulton county to look at that. a prosecutor can't convene a grand jury in any one county. republicans in the state legislature now are trying to change the state constitution so that majority minority fulton county cannot have its grand jury decide on subpoenas and evidence and potential indictments in a case like this. no, new rule that they want. their new proposed rule is for any crime related to an election, georgia is

had been pressing these corporations over weeks, black voters matters, the georgia naacp, the new georgia project, really pushing these local corporations to take a stand against what was clearly going to be a disastrous bill and, you know, these are corporations that are synonymous with the state of georgia. col coca-cola is synonymous with georgia. i have been asking them to stand against these provisions we felt it was important for the business community to stand up and it is true that they were behind the scenes, hoping they could make the bill better, i think, and i think actually at the end, they think that what they did, at least they thought what they did was sufficient, that there were some terrible provisions that were removed from the bill. but the bill that passed is still terrible and their failure to speak as themselves, as georgia corporations, they were beginning to feel the heat and when these ceos came out this morning, these are heavy hitters, rachel. these are not people who are silly, who are fly by night, these are men and women that when they call, you take the cal

attorney in georgia, the top federal prosecutor in georgia, byung pak who suddenly and this theory sleeves and without explanation, right in the middle of jeff clark apparently trying to enact this plot in georgia. as we know, byung pak testify to the two missed judiciary committee in the senate as part of their investigation into this scene series of events. the atlanta journal-constitution then reports that after his senate testimony this week, byung pak is also expected to testify to the january 6th select committee that is investigating the post election coup attempt. and the agency also reports that he's expected to speak with investigators from the u.s. justice department. i should tell, you pak and his testimony on this matter we're also invoked this week by georgia democrats who right now are trying to sound the alarm about republican efforts it georgia to use these false fraud claims trump has been making about the georgia election, even now, to justify a partisan republican takeover of the administration of elections in georgia's largest county, fulton county. which of course, is

georgia. the people said participants in the meeting said that he intended to leave anyway. and richard donague emailed him, writing please call asap. two people familiar with the matter said it was conveyed what the meeting said about him. he stepped down, and was replaced by a new u.s. attorney, a man named bobby christine, who trump viewed as more amenable to his voter fraud claims. the president pushing these bogus election fraud claims in georgia because he doesn't want to have lost georgia. he's threatening georgia officials, we now know, telling them they need to find enough votes to declare him the winner. he's got a guy he's trying to install as the new attorney general, who wants the justice department to write to georgia and tell them they need their election results were infected with fraud and new electors should be appointed. the u.s. attorney in georgia got calls from main justice by that official. who wanted to tell georgia officially from the justice department that georgia ne

so there has to be a push and a movement here in georgia to repeal the bill. the second thing is we need new leadership. the governor was the leader in chief to lead these efforts and to sign and bring this bill forward to punish the voters of georgia. and there's a governors election coming this year, and i think that the best message to send is we have to send them home. there have to be serious consequences to what he has done as well as republicans in this state. the third thing is every single republican, i don't think just in georgia, but all across this nation, should be challenged on the local, the state, and the federal level. we have to literally let people know how serious we are around voter suppression and that we're not going to allow that. and then the fourth thing is we've got to continue to push for federal legislation. we can not outorganize this. what we can do is outorganize ourselves and put pressure points. but it's like a death by a thousand cuts. they brought many tools to actually suppress the vote so we have to bring many tools. >> ms

he's been following this effort to roll back georgia voting rights. thank you for making time to be here. >> thank you for inviting me, rachel. >> is this a foregone conclusion in georgia at this point, or are enough republicans potentially getting cold feet here that, despite their control of state government, some of these things may not survive to final passage? >> yeah, that's the million-dollar question. so, today was crossover day, and it was the last chance for bills from one chamber to pass over to the other. what we saw today in the senate was the sweeping bill that would eliminate the no-excuse ballot law that's been in place since 2005. last year, 1.3 million georgians used that to vote. and that moves over to the house. whether that will gain any traction will kind of depend. the house speaker, who is also a republican, has spoken out against that, and we've also seen that the sweeping bill that's moved through the house, and now is over to the senate, it includes some restrictions, but it does not go as far as eliminating no-excuse absent

i want georgia -- i won georgia by a lot, and the people know it. and something happened. i mean, something bad happened, and i hope you're doing -- because -- and i hope you're going back two years as opposed to just checking one against the other because that would be sort of a signature check that didn't mean anything. but if you go back two years, and if you can get to fulton, you're going to find things that are going to be unbelievable, dishonesty, we've heard from -- >> right. >> just good sources, really good sources. >> right. >> but fulton is the mother lode, you know, as the expression goes. fulton county. >> right. well, mr. president -- i appreciate your comments, and i can assure you that our team and the gbi, that we're only interested in the truth and finding -- >> that's great. >> -- finding the information that's based on the facts. and you know, we've been working on 12-16-hour days, and -- >> great. >> you know, we're working through it. so, i can assure you that. and i do appreciate you calling. i know that you're very busy, a very important man, and i

because that letter to georgia may have been a crime. we've confirmed tonight with a source close to the committee that what's in the transcript of that deposition is accurate. one of the things the investigative counsel on the committee wanted to ask jeff clark is about metadata from that letter that suggests it was authored by the white house communications agency. a spokesperson for the committee telling us on the record today, quote, mr. clark will have to -- excuse me, will have another opportunity to answer these questions when his deposition resumes tomorrow morning, and we hope he chooses to cooperate since the spokesperson gave us that statement this afternoon, jeff clark hasta apparently contacted the committee and told them, actually, he won't appear for his deposition tomorrow morning, not even just to plead the fifth. he now says he has a medical issue, that means he can't come in and testify tomorrow at all, not even just c to take the fif. but this story further developed today when yet another lawyer involved in the same

results in georgia. for some reason, he even said this holiday weekend that the senate elections tomorrow in georgia are illegal, the elections themselves are illegal? okay. so, there he is tonight. theoretically, he's there to tell republicans to turn out and vote for republican senate candidates, but he's telling them to do so in a state where he says the votes don't count and the election shouldn't be happening. and honestly, nobody knows how that kind of crazy-pantsness -- technical term -- how that kind of crazy-pantsness is going to affect whether or not republican voters turn out and vote tomorrow in those senate elections, those senate elections which will determine which party controls the senate, which will determine whether or not the biden/harris administration are able to pass any legislation and get judges put on the courts and get their cabinet members confirmed, right? it's sort of everything, in terms of whether or not the biden/harris administration is going to actually be able to gover

, of georgia lawyers? >> i know she is. in fact, another sign of that is that she just hired mike carlson to be one of her top assistants. mike carlson is the author, along with his father, of the definitive book on georgia evidence. he gets to make the best argument of any lawyer i know which is, judge, as i said in my book, of course, and you know, every judge in georgia has that book sitting on their bench because it is the definitive guide to georgia evidence. but mike is not only a scholar and noted for his appellate ability. he is also that rare academic, who is also a street fighter in the courtroom. so it is evident to me that d.a. willis is putting together the best team possible just seeing those two hires and the movement that i've heard that she's making in putting her office together. >> what do you think we the public should expect in terms of any public facing actions? we know from the letter to other public officials in georgia that she intended to take this matter before a fulton county gr

it is a crime that is under investigation already in the state of georgia. if those people who were threatening and intimidating, trying to extort some kind of false confession from ruby freeman under some violence that was going to come to her, if acting on their own behalf, that's potentially crime. if there on behalf of the trump administration or campaign, that's already under investigation by the fulton county da's office and i should tell you, as far as this threat that kanye west's crisis manager lady said she was there to protect freeman from, the threat that in 48 hours people would come to ruby freeman's home and disrupt her freedom, well, according to a lawsuit ms. freeman and her daughter filed against the website that publicly identified them and put them in danger, a crowd of trump supporters did come on ms. freeman's house, just 48 hours after she got the stark warning it was going to happen. that's what happened at her home on january 6th, at the same time pro-trump rioters were ran sacking the u.s. capital in washington dc. ms. freeman was n

that was georgia's citizens arrest law. it enabled any ordinary system doesn't to capture any ordinary citizen if they could claim that the person committed a crime. it was made the law of the state in 1863. it is no coincidence that that law was put into place that year. 1863 was codified. beloved was codified right after president lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation, enslaved people in georgia started fleeing their captors. when cornell law professor put it bluntly quote, it was a slave catching law for slaves that attempted to flee. and it remained the state saw during jim crow when it was used to justify the lynchings of four black people in january of 1912. it was used again to justify the killing of two black couples in july of 1946. black couples who were dragged from their cars and shot dozens of times by white men. the naacp, has documented more than 530 acts of lynching in georgia alone between 1882 and 1968. the violence was second only to that of mississippi, the citizens arrest law helped excuse some o

in march similar to radically restrict voters in georgia. still rights groups like the naacp's legal defense fund and the aclu sued the state over that law. their lawsuit they argued their restrictions and that georgia law have a pronounced desperate impact upon voters from historically disenfranchised community. as a result so clear that it can only be intentional. can only be intentional. now almost three months later those groups are being joined by heavy, the u.s. department of justice watch today announced that on behalf of the american people, it will sue georgia to block that. miss nelson, it's a pleasure to have you here tonight. thank you so much for making time. >> a pleasure to be here. >> i hear the echo in your lawsuit from march and the justice department's action today talking about intentionally targeting voters of color. that language in your lawsuit today. the justice department saying the law was motivated, meaning intent was discrimination, motivated by discriminatory purpose. for us not lawyers, can you help us understan

attorney in georgia. we do know, we're tightening the timeline in terms of things that we don't know, we see the white house chief of staff forwarding some of the new bad georgia stuff to the attorney general, within a couple of days he's sending more stuff and asking for a specific justice department official who seems inclined towards the presidents view the election to look into what's going on in georgia. we now know the attorney general passed on the phone number to him, and within a couple of days he had resigned and was being thanks for his resignation by one of the officials who had just been promoted. , do we know anything more about what b.j. pack was asked to do, or what led to his resignation? >> if you look at the document one of the other interesting things that we see is that there is a very tense meeting that the new york times originally reported on that takes place that day where you have the president essentially deciding whether or not he's going to keep acting attorney general in plac

in georgia to block georgia's flu restrictions. not to mention those passed in 16 other republican-controlled states just since the 2020 election. that sailed, there is still no clear path to getting that voting rights legislation through the united states senate. at least it doesn't appear that way tonight. but joining us now is somebody who knows better than we do. she's the chair of the rules committee in the senate. minnesota senior senator amy klobuchar. senator, it's great to see you. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks, rachel. >> so the rules committee does have responsibility for things related to federal elections. lots of rules committee chairs in the past have sort of ignored that part of the purview, ignored that part of the committee's remit and focused on other things that are like administrative things for the senate. you've decided to max out basically what the committee can do in terms of that part of its purview. tell us how that led to this decision today, this remarkable decision, for the first time in

dramatic, striking, full-page ad in the atlanta georgia constitution. late john lewis facing off with state troopers on edmund pettus bridge in selma, bloody sunday, led to voting rights act, but the georgia legislature recently passed one of the worst voter suppression bills in america that will erase historic gains in expanding voting access. these are part of a targeted attack against black voters but will impact all georgia voters. we believe the business community has both a responsibility and opportunity to protect democracy and help stop this from becoming law along with other racist antidemocratic bills that will restrict voters for georgia voters. and urges anybody reading this to contact the georgia-based corporations headquartered in our state and let them know we expect them to support georgia voters as we support them. at the bottom, there's contact information for all the presidents and ceos of big george-based companies, aflac, coca-cola, delta airlines, southern company, a utility company, home depot, ups. republicans in the georgia legi

attorney in georgia and then sending that u.s. attorney in georgia a than you for his resignation. what did he resign over? what was he asked to do that he resigned instead of doing it? what we have now isn't just a record of trump and the white house chief of staff using the justice department to overturn the election and keep trump in power, it is the record of the justice department whining about it, but going along with too. which is way worse. over sight committee wants testimony from all the in w officials. that's a start. joining me now, is katie benner. she has been covering the justice department for the "new york times." she's way ahead of everybody else of pressuring the justice department.he she was the first to report on these documents from the oversight committee today. nice to see you. thanks for making time. >> thanks for having me. >> i feel like a lot of the attention today has focused on the new information that the ne documents give us about how the trump white house and president himself were pressuring the justice department.el there's also been attention to

the fight isn't just happening at the georgia state house. businesses are increasingly starting to speak out about what's happening in georgia with this massive roll back of voter rights. a collection of black artists an athletes from around the country released this ad during the nba all-star weekend targeting georgia residents. the voice is lebron james. >> look what we did. look what we made happen. what our voices made possible. now look what they're trying to do to silence us. using every trick in the book in attacking democracy itself. they saw what we're capable of. they fear it. this isn't the time to put your feet up or to think hashtags and black squares is enough. for us, this was never about one election. it's always been more than a vote. it's a fight and it's just getting started. we've been ready. you with us? >> joining us now is stanley dunlap. reporter who covers state government for the georgia recorder. he's been following this effort to roll back georgia voting rights. thank you for making time to be here. >> thank you fo

a new law to radically restrict voting rights in georgia. just four days later civil rights groups like the naacp's civil defense fund sued the state over the law. they argued the restrictions in that law have a pronounced disparate impact upon voters from historically disenfranchised communities, a result so clear that it can only be intentional. it can only be intentional. now almost three months later those groups are being joined by a heavy. the u.s. department of justice, which today announced that on behalf of the american people it too will sue georgia to block that law. our guest is associate counsel with the naacp's defense fund. thank you so much for making time. >> it's a pleasure to be here. >> i hear the echo in your lawsuit from march and the justice department's action today, talking about intentionally targeting voters of color, that language in your lawsuit. today the justice department saying that the law was motivated, meaning the intent was discrimination, motivated by discriminatory purpose. for us non-lawyers, can you h

georgia. after giving clark the u.s. attorney's phone number, rosen circled back the next day, asking clark in an email, were you able to follow up? in a meeting at the white house two days later, january 3rd, president trump complained that he wanted to fire the georgia u.s. attorney, who he felt was not doing enough to uncover fraud in georgia. the people said participants in the meeting told the president that he intended to leave anyway, that he need not take the step of firing him. just after 10:00 p.m. that night, an email shows a senior justice department official, richard donagueh, emailed him, writing please call asap. two people familiar with the he matter said it was conveyed what the meeting said about him. he stepped down, and was replaced by a new u.s. attorney, a man named bobby christine, who trump viewed as more amenable to his voter fraud claims. this is the fullest accounting we've yet had of that incident. the president pushing these bogus election fraud claims in georgia b

michelle ou is a senator in georgia. she said last night's shootings, quote, took place in a landscape where asian-americans are increasingly terrified and fearful of their lives and safety because of these escalating threats against our people. of course, we have a woman of black and south asian descent sitting in one of the highest positions of power in this country. vice president kamala harris is the first female vice president, first black vice president, first south asian vice president. she spoke earlier on how speculation of the motive of the shooter right now say little bit beside the point in terms of the impact of these killings on the asian-american community, regardless of what that killer ever does or doesn't say or explain about these murders. the fact of them speaks for itself. >> the investigation is ongoing. we don't know yet know. we're not yet clear about the motive. but i do want to say to our asian-american community that we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outra