>> i'm ron hanks and i approve this message. >> reporter: u.s. senate hopeful ron hanks is shooting at fake dominion machines and calling for audit in colorado, a state joe biden won in 2020 by more than 13 points. in liberal washington state a local republican party is knocking on doors trying to uncover voter fraud. >> we're canvasing now in about a dozen counties. >> reporter: in minnesota a bright red county in a state that's gone blue since 11976 residents are pushing the board of commissioners for an audit based on misleading pretenses. >> that law will tell us if that thing went on to the internet and switched votes. >> reporter: and in alabama which former president trump carried by 25 points republican secretary of state jon merrill is still batting back unfounded claims of fraud >> i think a lot of that is people listening to people who have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. it is almost as if they will claim that a murder was committed and, yet, they cannot prove that the person ever lived let alone -- >> reporter: in the years since rioters stormed the u.s. capitol convinced the 2020 election was stolen many republicans are still lapping up trump's election lies and pressuring local officials to revisit 2020, some even running for higher office, others passing legislation making it easier to meddle in election administration. >> 32 of those bills have become law in 17 states, which is a really unprecedented amount of legislative interest in the mechanics of election administration. >> reporter: efforts to undermine confidence in election results began in hotly contested battleground states. but have since ballooned into a nationwide crusade. in colorado election officials are aware of hank's ad. >> with his copy machine he blew up with the rifle? yes, i have seen that. >> reporter: but state representative hanks rebuffed offers to learn about the voting systems first hand. >> i've extended multiple offers for him to come to my office and talk to me about the election. he has not responded and not come in. >> reporter: hanks told cnn he appreciate the offers but did his own research. >> i didn't really need it. i was at other locations. and so that made it rather redundant. >> reporter: asked why he is still spreading debunked conspiracies hank says nothing has been debunked. >> i think that is a false argument. we have found evidence and it is compounding daily. >> reporter: back in alabama when merrell met with mike lindell he easily debunked their claims. >> the information they had been sharing with us could have been cleared up by doing a simple google search of addresses. >> reporter: other officials aim to appease their constituents. when cnn asked -- >> i got an e-mail last night. i'll read it. >> reporter: he declined, instead reading our interview request to audit supporters in a county meeting. this week he and other board members voted to ask minnesota's secretary of state to launch an audit. >> motion passes. >> reporter: now democracy advocates worry that this swirl of disinformation could lead to more violence around future elections, even dominion voting warned that violent ads like the one ron hanks is running in colorado can endanger employees as well as customers, jake. >> thank you so much. joining us now to discuss, georgia republican lieutenant governor jeff duncan and michigan's democratic secretary of state jocelyn benson. secretary benson, let me start with you. "the washington post" spoke with michigan's attorney general and here is what she told them about her challenger who is a trump backed conservative who filed a lawsuit challenging the vote in michigan. quote, there is no question if i am replaced by matthew democracy falls in michigan. not maybe. not possibly. certainly. he has made it clear not only he supports the big lie he is one of the originators of the big lie, unquote. obviously she faces an election challenge there but do you think that is hyperbole? if not, what does it mean for the people of michigan if their democracy falls? >> no it is not hyperbole. democracy is on the ballot this fall. it is an opportunity for voters to hold accountable those who have lied time and time again spreading misinformation about the truth of the 2020 election. it is also a potential opportunity for those bad actors who have clearly shown they don't believe in democracy to gain the lefrs of power over our democracy that i as chief election official, that the attorney general as chief law enforcement officer, maintain to protect and preserve integrity of our elections. if that authority is handed over to individuals who clearly do not believe in democracy and have used their careers to try to dismantle it then indeed democracy could fall and wither on the vine here in our state and around the country. >> lieutenant governor duncan we hear the phrase, democracy in peril, quite a bit. it maybe for some people can start to lose meaning after a while but you have predicted a, quote, political civil war in georgia. what do you mean by that? >> we continue to be the center point of the political universe here in georgia and it seems that we're going to be a continued proving ground for democracy but also for a stale of leadership going forward. this notion that populism makes sense in a long term fashion of leadership is a false narrative. we need real leadership right now. we have a busy 12 months ahead trying to defend what we're doing here in georgia and really put on display for the rest of the country what conservative leadership is all about. >> secretary benson, nrp conducted an analysis for races of secretaries of state across the country and found at least 15 republican candidates who pushed the big lie about the 2020 election including one running against you. what is your message to the secretaries of state throughout the country who are on the front lines of this fight, democrat, republican, who have held the line and protected democracy including secretary raffensberger? >> it is important to realize in 2020 democracy prevailed because good people on both sides of the aisle did the right thing and protected integrity of the accurate results of the election. it is incumbent upon all of us on the ballot to tell the truth, continue to emphasize the importance of the state's chief election officer as one who puts country first over party. and to build a national, coordinated, nonpartisan coalition in support of pro democracy election officials. as there is on the other side a clear, national coordinated strategy to replace us with those who do not believe in democracy. >> part of that, lieutenant governor duncan, we should note just for people who have heard your last answer and aren't georgians or aren't political junkies, what's gone on is you're the lieutenant governor of georgia. the governor brene kemp is running for re-election and faces a primary challenge from a conservative republican david purdue, who has, is recasting himself as a maga trump republican and says he wouldn't have certified the election the way governor kemp did. this is really the biggest difference between them right that governor kemp abided by the state constitution and did his constitutional duty and david purdue is recasting himself as somebody who will just bend to trump's will. >> david purdue's primary challenge against brian kemp is a synthetic primary challenge. the only distance between the two of them is one appears to be willing to lie that the president won the election here in georgia which he didn't and one is not willing and is going to speak the truth. that is brian kemp. he is literally the most conservative governor in georgia's history and deserves the opportunity to continue to lead us. jake, to that point i think if any republican going forward is going to be taken seriously they have to have either gotten it right out of the gates which is a slim number of republicans or they'll have to be reckoned with the fact of saying in front of a camera i got it wrong and it is time to move on. >> secretary benson, let me ask you about election reform efforts in congress. there are republicans open to overhauling the electoral count act of 1887, which is kind of written sloppily and is the law that trump and his allies were trying to use to convince pence he could overturn the election. i know that is not what democrats want. they want sweeping election reforms. but shouldn't democrats at least try to get this part fixed and work with republicans on that? >> i think there are really three things that we need from the federal government. one is sustained funding for our elections and democracy. the cost of running elections is increasing and that is something we need from the federal government, basic floor of protections against what we've seen in nearly every state in the country to make it more difficult for every day citizens to vote and hold elected officials accountable. finally oo we do need federal protection and reforming the act has to be a piece of that. all three things are needed. none is dispositive or full election support from the federal government requires action on all three and certainly if one comes before the other that's great but as long as that does not negate the need to have the other two. so i fully support the efforts to reforepem the electoral coun act. >> the lesson house leader kevin mccarthy has learned and what it could mean if he gets what he always wanted, the speaker's gavel. larry hogan will join us next on the future of his party. stay with us. to see their team crowned super bowl 56 champions. but what they won't see, are the billions of secure connections that could decide the biggest game of the year. 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the former president of any responsibility and white washing what happened. what might speaker mccarthy do? >> for house minority leader kevin mccarthy one over riding question seems to have been at the top of his mind for years. >> can i be speaker? >> reporter: mccarthy's quest for the speaker's gavel started shortly after being elected to congress in 2006 joining leadership in three years, becoming the house's third most powerful republican in five years. before taking the leader role in 2014. >> he want to thank my constituents and my colleagues. for the trust they instilled in me. >> reporter: one year after that despite being the heir apparent mccarthy was passed over to replace speaker john boehner when ultra conservative freedom caucus members vowed to not support him. >> we are going to move forward. >> reporter: the lesson mccarthy seems to have learned, make sure the most extreme members of your caucus are happy. even if that means embracing lies and extremism. mccarthy was all in on trump's election lies for example. >> president trump won this election so everyone who is listening do not be quiet. >> reporter: mccarthy signed on to the lawsuit from texas that tried to throw out votes from states biden won. >> kevin mccarthy told me directly he wasn't going to sign it. i said, good. this is not a brief we ought to be associated with. and then a few hours later he signed it. >> reporter: then even after blood had been shed in the capitol mccarthy voted to disenfranchise all of the voters from pennsylvania and arizona based on those same lies. although he did have this moment of clarity in the hours after the insurrection. >> we will not falter. we will not bend. we will not shrink from our duty. >> reporter: initially pointing a finger at his close ally, outgoing president trump. >> the president bears responsibility for wednesday's attack on congress by mob rioters. >> reporter: but a little more than one week after that, mccarthy sang a different tune. >> i don't believe he provoked it if you listen to what he said at the rally. >> reporter: days later mccarthy went down to mar-a-lago to kiss trump's ring. he then turned his attention to trump's biggest acolytes in congress including marjorie taylor greene whom he defended just last week after twitter kicked her off the platform for posting misinformation about the covid vaccine and after greene had made this comment about him. >> he doesn't have the full support to be speaker. >> mccarthy called her to smooth things over leading her to say they had a good call and that, quote, i like what he has planned ahead. part of those plans? punishing private companies that comply with the subpoenas from the bipartisan january 6 committee, writing, quote, a republican majority will not forget and will stand with americans to hold them fully accountable. mccarthy he would reinstate gosar and greene on committees after they were kicked off by democrats. gosar for sharing a violent video depicting the apparent killing of congresswoman alexia ocasio cortez. >> they may have better committee assignments. >> reporter: mccarthy has hinted he could retaliate against democrats by kicking them off committees if republicans take over next year. >> this body has suffered greatly. a new standard will continue to be applied in the future. >> looming over the november midterms. how would mccarthy have provided as speaker last year if he had been in charge during trump's attempt to undermine the election? >> any person who would be third in line to the presidency must demonstrate a commitment to the constitution and to the rule of law, and minority leader mccarthy has not done that. >> i'm looking forward to being speaker in the next congress. >> reporter: one note. in the last hour ryan o'toole a congressional republican staffer who was working for kevin mccarthy on the day of the insurrection on the floor of the house told me mccarthy did not engage with any of his staff on that horrible day. mccarthy's office has reached out and disputed that saying he refused pleas from his security detail to leave his office until all of his staff were guaranteed safe passage out of the building. they all escorted us through the tunnels to the garage. throughout the day mccarthy was in frequent contact with members of our staff. unquote. let's discuss the larger issues with the republican governor of maryland larry hogan. i twoont ask you, what do you think kevin mccarthy would have done had he been speaker last year? do you share congresswoman liz cheney's skepticism that he would have upheld the constitution and done his duty? >> i can't speculate as to what kevin mccarthy did do or might have done. i can tell you one of the clips you just showed, what he said on january 6th, i agree with. i haven't seen any evidence to the contrary over the past year that would make me change my position about what happened on january 6. but i can't speak to what kevin mccarthy might have done. it's kind of, you know, i have no idea what he would do. >> former vice president dick cheney was at the capitol earlier today and said this about the state of the republican party, quote, i am deeply disappointed at the failure of many members of my party to recognize the grave nature of the january 6 attacks and the ongoing threat to our nation. do you agree? how do you change the direction of the republican party? how do you get republican officials to stop lying about the election? >> well, i do agree with vice president cheney's remarks today. you know, i've been speaking out about this myself repeatedly over the past year. it bothers me deeply. i think that people in my party who refuse to accept the realities of what happened one year ago today are making a big mistake and putting a loyalty to donald trump ahead of their constitutional oath to defend the constitution and represent their constituents. i think it's not helpful for the republican party or good for the country. i remember vividly exactly what happened on january 6th as i was getting frantic calls from the leaders of congress and when i had to send in the maryland state police and national guard, you know, anybody who doesn't believe that happened on january 6th is just not telling the truth. >> we've heard today even from republican officials, governor desantis in florida belittling what happened that day. it seems like the fever is getting worse in your party not better. >> well, you know, i would actually agree with you. i thought that by now perhaps the fever would break and that more people would start standing up and telling the truth. there are some leaders, a few more republicans that are coming up and telling it like it is but there is certainly a shortage of courage in my party and a lot of people just kind of white washing what happened. you know, you can have different opinions on different issues and i certainly don't question kevin mccarthy's desire to be speaker and republicans taking over the house. but i don't think we ought to get there by trying to deal with conspiracy theories and lying about what happened in the last election or trying to pretend like this wasn't a violent insurrection at the koept a year ago. >> what do people, republican office holders, tell you, ones that aren't as bold as you or liz cheney or adam kinzinger or jeff duncan. what do they tell you about why they either go along with this or spew the lies? >> well, you know, you hear a little bit of everything. some people i think are actually believing the stuff they are saying but an awful lot of people i think are just afraid. they are afraid of being primaried, attacked. look, this is, people are actually being threatened for standing up and saying what they totally believe. i think there are people all over the spectrum but certainly a lot of my friends and colleagues in my party who realize that the election, although there may have been improprieties here and there, there was not enough to overturn the election. and that what happened january 6th was an assault on our democracy. >> yeah. i mean it wasn't just staffers and members of congress and journalists and observers. it was an assault on democracy exactly as you put it. there are former trump staffers according to former trump communication chief stephanie grisham, at least 15 of them, who are going to meet next week to talk about a way to stop this fever, this disease in the republican party. what can they do? you've been out there speaking your mind, following your father's example for people who might not know your dad, rest in peace, was a republican congressman from maryland and he voted to impeach richard nixon after watergate and very bravely so and was alone. so you come from good stock but for people who don't have the dna what do you tell them? >> well, look. i am not the only one. you mentioned a few. there are other republican leaders. i saw there was an op-ed by karl rove today pretty hard hitting. my friend chris christie who was very close to president trump is speaking out. we had a number of people resign their cabinet positions and leave the white house. i think people just speaking their mind and their conscience and telling, you know, what really happened, i think the more voices the merrier. this is something really important to me. you know, i've been focused on this for the entire time i've been in elective office but especially over the past year. i think we need to have more voices in the republican party that are willing to have the courage to stand up and speak out. >> i think politico went back and looked at the 18 members of the trump administration that resigned in protest because of january 6 or around that time suggesting, and only one of them, alyssa farra and i think stephanie grisham also said too have been willing to say anything since. the secretary chao and others, dead silence. governor larry hogan, thank you so much. appreciate your time today as always. >> thank you. up next stopping extremists and another possible insurrection. security and intelligence experts will talk about how that is easier said than done. stay with us. slash... and this is the basement slash panic room. maybe what your family needs is a vacation home slash vacation home. find yours on the vrbo app. at fidelity, your dedicated advisor will work with you on a comprehensive wealth plan across your full financial picture. a plan with tax-smart investing strategies designed to help you keep more of what you earn. this is the planning effect. people with moderate to severe psoriasis, or psoriatic arthritis, are rethinking the choices they make like the splash they create the way they exaggerate the surprises they initiate. otezla. it's a choice you can make. otezla is not an injection or a cream it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for 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mark the one-year anniversary of the january 6 insurrection. once again security gates and bike fences are up around the capitol this time as lawmakers gather for this moment of silence to mark this one year since the dark, deadly day. those barriers also serve as a stark reminder that there are still extremists who want to resurface according to the intelligence community. let's talk about that threat as we wait for the prayer vigil to start. i'll bring in former u.s. capitol police chief terrence gainer and my other guests. you spent many years in leadership positions at the capitol, chief. for years you've called for a more secure perimeter. have those calls been taken more seriously in recent years? >> well, in some ways they have. in some ways we still refuse to think maybe long term around traffic and security. i don't think we've addressed that. the nature of the threat has changed. this violent extremist is a very different threat than we prepared for years ago. >> i'm sorry i have to interrupt. we have to go to the capitol to listen to the prayer vigil. right now we are hearing from i believe this is bishop -- >> you are the source of all that is good and just and true and compassionate. we come before you, the fountain of all wisdom and the light of all truth. we come before you not in pride or arrogance but we come before you in true humility. we come before you because we need your help. we need your help in these troubled times. we need your help for this beloved nation. we need your help for those who have been traumatized and troubled by the painful events of one year ago. and all that has continued since. we need your help, lord, now to be the democracy you would have us to be. to be the nation you would have us to be. one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all. so we ask you now to help us. help all of those who are traumatized. help all of those who have lost loved ones. help those who are struggling. help us to be instruments of your peace. ins instruments of your love. and ens sinstruments of your he for this land, for this congress, for this government. for we the people, for this country, and this world. precious lord, we come not in arrogance or pride but humbly. precious lord, please take our hand, lead us on. let us stand. some of us are tired. some of us are weak and some are worn. but through the storm, through the night, lead us on to the light. take our hands, precious lord. and lead us home. amen. >> ladies and gentlemen, master sergeant sarah sheffield of the president's own united states marine band. ♪ my country 'tis of thee sweet land of liberty of thee i sing ♪ ♪ land where my fathers died land of the pilgrims' pride from every mountain side let freedom ring ♪ ♪ our fathers god to thee author of liberty to thee we sing ♪ ♪ long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light protect us by thy might great god our king ♪ >> we thank ms. shepard for leading us in song, bishop curry for leading us in prayer. on behalf of the distinguished democratic leader of the senate, all of our colleagues from the house and senate, we prayerfully mark one year since the insurrection and patriotically honor the heroes who defended the capitol and our democracy that day. let us all here join in a moment of silence in memory of those who lost their lives and sacrificed so much for our democracy that day . ♪ god bless america land that i love ♪ ♪ stand beside her and guide her through the night with a light from above ♪ ♪ from the mountains to the prairie to the oceans white with foam ♪ ♪ god bless america my home sweet home ♪ ♪ god bless america my home sweet home ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining the prayer vigil. have a good rest of your evening. >> you just watched a salem pr -- solemn prayer vigil on the steps of the capitol as members mark one year since the deadly capitol insurrection. i am not sure who is in the audience. i hope it is a bipartisan crowd. i do not know and cannot tell with the masking. i want to bring back my panel of security experts to discuss ways to stop another potential event. these threats go well beyond the capitol in washington, d.c. of course. i spoke with the homeland security secretary yesterday and he said this about what fuels this extremism. >> domestic violent extremism does in fact remain one of the greatest threats we face on the homeland. words matter and the words of leaders matter a lot. that can actually fuel the spread of false information and can drive people to violence. >> phil, that is a point you've made on this show before. members of congress sometimes are not only the victims. some of them are the source of the problem. >> he think so. if you look at the language he is using i'd expand that. when you hear domestic violent extremism some people say you know the fbi shall the capitol police, state and local police across the country can handle this because extremism is groups like the proud boys. let me give you a bottom line, jake. when we did threats 20 years ago for the fbi director we had maybe a handful on the table every day of serious players and maybe 5,000 investigations of al qaeda nationwide. that is violent extremism of a foreign nature. that's not a revolution. today you had 700 people charged in one day. there are members of congress who believed this extremism is not only acceptable but that violence may be the only solution and polling data says there are tens of millions of people who sympathize with them. let me be clear. law enforcement can't handle this. that's not extremism. that's a revolution. and the leaders have a responsibility to cut it out. >> yeah. revolution is a nice term for it. treason might be another one. militia groups have long organized under ground in this country. how dangerous are they to local law enforcement officials need to do more to stop those groups? >> they're dangerous. what we saw a year after the insurrection was essentially for a while they went quiet because they knew they were being sort of under surveillance. then you've seen this ratcheting up. it has been quite localized and combined the political grievance of stop the steal with all this other crazy conspiracies about what the vaccine does to you, or what our kids are studying in school. you've had what i call the hate stew which is brewing on a local level. but just to phil's point, that feeds off of a sense of winning that trump tries to give these people. in other words you cannot separate what is happening on the local level with a sense that there is a leadership. i've always over the last year focused on trump because what you need to focus on now is recruitment. there's going to be people who can't be changed. we have to recognize that. you want to stop this thing from getting bigger. that goes to a sense of people who join these violent groups that they are on a winning team. that was i have to say the brilliance of biden's speech today. without naming him he belittled trump, he minimized him. he said we're not negotiating. i don't need to understand you anymore. this is about good versus bad. it was an essential pivot to stop recruitment and radicalization. >> chief gainer, more january 6 defendants come from florida than any other state. last july capitol police announced plans to open a regional office in tampa just to investigate threats to members of congress. what do you make of that? >> well, that's a good step. but it also requires i think as both phil and juliet are indicating that this is nationwide. our local police departments are not well equipped to do that. you may recall we really cut back on intelligence units in local police departments and people have been reticent about getting mixed up in the whole issue about first amendment rights. we have to refocus our local law enforcement officers to give them the tools to monitor this and at the same time people are complaining about we don't want artificial intel general. we don't like cameras. we want to be free to do what we want. the expectation is there's a lot of people who have to work together to feed that information and intelligence to make everybody smarter about this. >> phil, the antidefamation league is among the groups tracking how extremism, how bigotry and hate metastasized in the year since the election. the ceo of the adl said today extremism has recently become more localized. take a listen. >> these extremists have grown more organized. they've been increasingly involved and shifted from large public rallies to small, local school board meetings, to attacking the integrity of medical professionals, to intimidating town council members and what not. >> what would you be looking for for evidence of a potential threat? obviously people can believe whatever they want to believe and exercise their rights and free speech. in terms of a potential threat what would you look for? >> well, the problem you have here is you're not looking at a single group where you can focus intelligence resources. i have to have some indication of violence. otherwise somebody is going to come up and say i just went to a school board meeting and spoke what i wanted to speak. that is a first amendment right. they are learning what leaning wauj to use to get under the radar, what language to use to get under the radar. you go into a hearing and somebody at the council or in the congress says i agree with those guys. what do you say? >> yeah. >> juliet, any final thought? >> no, i mean, i agree with everything said and i think what we need to focus on is this is a problem of the majority in terms of focusing on minority sentiment. we have a sense sometimes this is like an equal fight. it is not. this is a small group that would use violence for political gains. you could call them terrorists, insurrectionists, and so pivoting to a winning stance is what we need to do as americans. not be afraid of this but actually shame it, call it what it is, and prosecute it when the threat of violence is real. >> my thanks to all of you. thank you so much. president biden forcefully laying out the facts about january 6th but is the united states simply too divided for his words to change any hearts and minds? stay with us. so when she moved in with us, a new kitchen became part of our financial plan. ♪ ♪ find a northwestern mutual advisor at nm.com why hide your skin if dupixent has your moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis under control? hide our skin? not us. because dupixent targets a root cause of eczema, it helps heal your skin from within, keeping you one step ahead of it. and for kids ages 6 and up, that means clearer skin, and noticeably less itch. hide my skin? not me. by helping to control eczema with dupixent, you can change how their skin looks and feels. and that's the kind of change you notice. hide my skin? not me. don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic 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xfinitymobile.com/mysavings or visit an xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes it easy to switch and save hundreds. a look now at president biden's role in the fight to save american democracy. today president biden dismissed questions about whether his forceful remarks given at the u.s. capitol today could end up dividing the country more tan healing it. >> the way you have to recognize the except of the wound. you can't pretend. this is serious stuff. and a lot of people understandably want to go, look, that is -- i just assume not face it. you got to face it. that is what great nations do, they face the truth. deal with it and move on. >> here to discuss former obama administration van jones and new yorker writer evan aust. they mentioned the former president 16 times without using the word trump saying that he lost, he failed, he lies. you're somebody who thinks about ways to reach out to trump supporters. how do you do that when so many of them just believe this lie? >> well, look, first of all, i think you have to punish the ones who did wrong. the fact that right now you got a bunch of people who did a bunch of bad stuff who -- for it and have not been prosecuted at all its a bad sign. to you have to be tough on the ones that are bad. but there are people in the republican party who did the right thing and stud up to this president. the reason you have a functioning democracy because black women who are progressive, and because a white conservative grassroots election officials did the right thing and put the constitution above their party and the twin result of black women and white men who voted against each other but still fought for the same country, we don't say enough -- we don't lift up the good enough but we have to do more to punish the wrongdoers. >> was there anything that a trump supporter or anyone in congress could agree with. >> one of the things that i heard that was distinct, was him saying this is not just about the former president, that is the web of lies, the idea of web of lies is really important. there is a whole apparatus out there profiting from the web of lies and spreading the web of lies and if you try to peel off people within this broader community that might eventually say, you know what, enough is enough, to quote lindsey graham on the night of -- after the riot of january 6, if you're going to try to get people to say enough is enough, you have to recognize that there are people out there that are pulling this country apart for no other reason than to make money from it. >> only 12% of american people think that the country has become more united since biden took office and 49% say it is more divided and 38% say the country hasn't changed. that is not biden's fault, necessarily, but that is what people think about the state of the nation. we're almost a year into the biden's first term. if you were advising him, what would you do to tell him so he could change that and unite us more. >> the most important threat we have right now with the election coming up, having a double legitimacy crisis, where if the republicans lose, they don't accept it and they say there was trickery, if the democrats lose, we say there was voter suppression and there is no evidence in our voting system. i think there could be a grand bargaining on voting. at the state level where only republicans get their way and then at the federal level only have democrats get our way, i think there is an opportunity and everybody would like to feel better about our election system and i think i could perhaps strike a grand bargain on voting and that could show a pathway forward as americans. >> and evan, you have written one of the most in depth biographies of president biden, do you think there is anything he could do to change the vicious political vision or do he view this through the perspective of democracy versus autocracy which is one of these themes in his presidency in his view. >> it took a generation for this country to get as divided as it is. it is going to take more than a year to begin to stitch it back together. you heard him today speaking frankly with a kind of bluntness that we haven't heard from him about the reality of the disunity in this country, about him saying let's brush this aside, as long as we're facing these kind of obstacles, it is impossible. but you heard him land on the note that he came to the presidency with, and that is the struggle for the soul of the nation and that sounds like empty campaign rhetoric, today on the one year anniversary of january 6, it sounds like a clear prognosis, a diagnosis of the problem we're saying. >> good to see both of you. and i'll be back with you tonight in just a couple of hours joined by anderson cooper. we're going to be live from the capitol for live coverage of january 6 one year later, starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. coming up in "the situation room," she was stuck in the gallery when the capitol was attacked, we'll talk to congresswoman prax illa jayapal ahead, stay with us. because sippin' on unsweetened lipton can help support a healthy heart. lipton. stop chuggin'. start sippin'. with clean, fresh ingredients, panera's new chicken sausage and pepperoni flatbread is a mouthwatering explosion of yes. craft? yes! heartiness? yes! living life to the flavor-fullest? heck yes. panera. live your yes. now $1 delivery. i've been telling everyone... the secret to great teeth is having healthy gums. crest advanced gum restore. detoxifies below the gumline... and restores by helping heal gums in as little as 7 days. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. happening now, here on capitol hill, and across the united states, americans mark one year since the deadly insurrection with the wounds still deep and democracy still in danger. president biden seizing the moment, directly blaming former president trump for spinning a web of lies, that fueled the insurrection accusing his predecessor, and i'm quoting now, of holding a dagger to the throat of american democracy. this as the divided nation grapples with the hard reality that january 6 could be repeated. tonight homeland security is warning of a spike in extremist threats over the last 48 hours with lawmakers among the targets again. we want to welcome our ruers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer and you're in "the situation room.