explore ways in which to rehabilitate and restore confidence of the american people in our elections and in our democracy. mr. secretary, how do you change hearts and minds when so many lives are still being yelled lies are being yelled so loudly by leading figurers? poppy, that s to the heart of what we are going to be doing the next year with this task force. the opportunity for me to co-chair this task force with judge lut ig, who, in my opinion, is one of the heroes of january 6thtig, who, in my opinion, is one of the heroes of january 6th will be the capstone of my career in public service. we have assembled a group of distinguished, extraordinary americans to be on this task force, including retired judges, state, local, federal, like judge luttig himself, commentators across the
late titan antonin scalia. they join us now for their first joint appearance as co-chairs. judge, let me begin with you. for everyone watching at home, what will the task force do for them? good morning, poppy. thank you very much for having secretary johnson and me on this morning. the most important issue facing the country between now and the election this 2024 is american democracy. the american bar association, under the new leadership of its new president, mary smith, has created a task force on american democracy, which will explore the causes and the reasons for the denigration in the perception of american democracy by the american people and will
i want people to remember, you re a democracy, judge luttig, you are republican, and you are working together on this. this is very bipartisan. judge luttig, we remember when you testified before the january 6th commission and you called donald trump, quote, a clear and present danger to american democracy. he is now three times indicted, potentially four. he is by far the republican frontrunner. do you think he is still a clear and present danger to american democracy? i do, poppy. more so today than he was last summer when he tifd before the congress of the united states for these obvious reasons. the former president has continued to insist and persist in his false claim that he had won the 2020 presidential election and that it was stolen from him. and his republican allies and the republican party have joined
democracy in our country. america democracy simply cannot function without two equally healthy and equally strong political parties. so, today, in my view, there is no republican party to counter the democratic party in the country, and for that reason american democracy is in grave peril. there is no republican party? in my view. and let me explain, poppy. a political party is a collection, an assemblage of individuals who share a set of beliefs and principles and policy views about the united states of america. today there is no such shared
because you ve got a supreme court ruling that came out this week and it s not going to make a difference in your sleep at this point, as i understand it. because, i believe, back in april, the republicans in your state supreme court. they ruled that partisan gerrymandering is not illegal and for now the republican super majority in the state legislature is coming up with a new congressional map that could give republicans an advantage by ten seats. what is your party doing to fight this? and other election related rulings from conservative states supreme court that have come out? we know the number one thing the democratic party in north carolina has to do this year is ensure that we are contesting every state house and senate race. as representative malcolm kenyatta can attest, we know that state legislators are the most important front line of defense for democracy right now. and we desperately have to make sure that we are fighting and contesting every s seat. as a state party