Every day and bring questions. But immediately day one, President Biden brought back the briefings and jen psaki is the spokesperson. They started reversing things that were broken by the previous president as they set to restore some of the basic things that had gone by the wayside over the years like daily briefings. As they set taught pass ambitious policies and programs that biden campaigned on, that democrats in congress campaigned on, it is sort of awkward but i think unavoidable to realize that one crucial thing that going to make the lifeordeath difference as to whether or not the new administration and new congress are actually able to get stuff done is a thing that we only have because of Richard Nixon being such a terrible president. And specifically because of something that Richard Nixon did right before he resigned. And it seemed like nothing much at the time. It got not that much attention at the time, but it very well may now determine if the biden presidency and the Democratic Congress under the biden presidency is able to get anything done or not. It was july 1974, july 12, 1974, president Richard Nixons Top White House aide was convicted on multiple felonies. John ehrlichman was domestic policy adviser to nixon, top adviser to nixon in the white house, convicted of multiple felonies, convicted of conspiracy and lying to the fbi and lying to the grand jury. Actually, that day in july 1974, multiple nixon guys were convicted but ehrlichman was a big deal, way up there in the hierarchy. The highest ranking person at that point convicted in the nixon scandals. And president nixon had to be rattled by it. Nixons White House Press secretary at the time told reporters there would be no comment on ehrlichmans conviction but that convention was of course the lead story in the news all over the country. Good evening, John Ehrlichman has been found guilty of three counts of perjury and one count of conspiracy in the ellsberg breakin case. The verdict against ehrlichman, president nixons chief domestic adviser was found guilty. Ehrlichman could receive up to 25 years in prison. Thats tom brokaw on Nbc Nightly News on the night of that verdict. It was the opening story that night. Looking back, it was less than a month later that nixon himself would resign from the presidency in disgrace as the net of all the Nixon Administration scandals, the accountability for watergate just closed around him as well. But that friday in mid july remember, nixon resigned in august. This was mid july, the day that nixons top aide was convicted, while the president was that much on the ropes. If you stayed past the lead story that night, if you watched the whole news that night beyond the lead of ehrlichman facing decades in prison add the president have no comment on that, if you got through the rest of the night live news, you would eventually 17 minutes into that nightly newscast you would get to the thing that is now everything to us, that is the make or break determinant as to whether or not joe biden will be able to do anything substantive in his first term in office. At the white house today president nixon signed a new budget bill into law, the most significant reform of Budget Procedures since congress began. The bill gives Congress Much more authority over the National Budget than it ever has had before. The president , for example, no longer will be able to impound appropriated money without the approval of congress. It was that same day, all right, thats the same day that the president s top adviser gets convicted of multiple felonies. So this story about the other thing that mattered about the president that day, that had to wait until 17 minutes into the newscast that night. In the newspaper the following morning, it only made it on to page 6 of the new york times. But what that was, what nixon signed into law, that asuspicious day or inauspicious day back in july 1974 is something he probably never would have signed had he not been in extremis, fighting to say his political life and resigned in disgrace. Its something he would not have been asked to sign if nixon had not been such a terrible president. We remember nixon because of watergate and the dramatic way his presidency had to be brought to an end. We remember all of that about nixon. Before donald trump theres a reason that nixon is the standard bearer for a scandal ridden, disgraced president. But because of that, because of the way it ended, we sometimes forget that beyond watergate, beyond all of those Marquee Nixon scandals, he was a pretty terrible president in other ways. One of the ways in which nixon showed his sort of radical, powermad side is not just organizing breakins and having that cia try to cover them up for him and all that Cloak And Dagger stuff, its stuff that he did as president in the light of day, including him claiming new power for himself as president that basically turned congress off like a switch. We all know how it works. Congress passes the law, Congress Passes a budget, appropriates money to do stuff. Nixon said forget that. He instead would take control of that process himself. And so he started you heard tom brokaw say in that report from july 1974 about Impounding Money. Thats what nixon was doing. He started doing something called Impounding Money that had been appropriated by congress. This is something he did not just with small stuff but with billions of dollars. Congress would appropriate money, fund a program or an agency. If nixon didnt like that program or agency, he decided he had the power to take all that money and refuse to allow it to be spent. He would impound the funding that had been appropriated by congress, thus delegating to himself what they call the power of the purse. Like our country or dont, thats fundamental to who we are as a republic. Its congress that gets to decide how money is spent in the government, and nixon in his presidency took that power for himself. And congress was very unhappy about it. And so when president nixon was on the ropes, when he was embroiled in scandal and on the precipice of having to resign the presidency in disgrace, Richard Nixon signed a new law that cut himself short, signed a new law that was designed to stop him from being able to do this thing that he had been doing. He signed a new law that would prevent any future president from bogarting the budget, from Beaugarding Money away from congress the way he had been. It Gave Congress a whole bunch of new power when it came to the government, to constrain a government who was sticking his nose where it didnt belong. And that law, which nixon in extremis at the very end signed, that law included one tweak, one little power that Congress Gave itself with this new law. Its a quirky little thing that they could do only once per budget since congress was supposed to do a budget once per year, it meant congress could do this only once per year. It was originally designed in the that bill that brushed back the president , to give congress a small window, a last chance to make afterthefact changes once they had set their budget for the year and they could make those changes with just a Majority Vote in the house and senate. It was intended to be big deal, to be a Fund Al Change in the way the country does its business and the way the various branches of government work together. But it ended up becoming very important over the years. This overall reform that nixon signed in 1974 was to give congress the tools that they needed to set the budget, oversee the allocation of money as they saw fit without being locked out of the process. Nixon signs it in 1974, less than a month before he resigns, signs it on the day his top aide was convicted on multiple felonies. It looks like a footnote to that much bigger news of that scandal at that time. But what nixon signed went into effect in the first time in 1980 over the ensuing 41 years what that little tweak has turned into is something thats a very big deal. What it has turned into is a means by which the senate can pass stuff without needing 60 votes, without needing a supermajority to do it. Its a means by which the senate can pass some stuff as long as it pertains to the budget with just 51 votes and they can do that once per budget because of the reform nixon signed in 1974. And with the craziness and the outgoing president having been impeached twice and with him due to go on trial again in the United States senate next week, even though hes already gone from office with an ongoing and indeed accelerating Global Pandemic having killed more americans in the past year than were killed in the whole length of world war ii, with an economy just squashed by the pandemic, putting more americans on the unemployment rolls every week than we have seen at any time since the great depression, with the country having just voted out the latest republican president who made nixons scandals look quaint and having voted republicans out of control of the house and the senate, too, but narrowly in each case. Now today that, you know, page 6 of the new york times, 17 minutes into the newscast footnote, that tweak in the way the budget gets done in washington is going to make all the difference in the world as to whether or not now the Democratic Party having control of presidency and the house and the senate is going to be enough for this new president to get big, lasting things passed to try to help the country in all of the crises that we are in now. These are the policies, roughly, as shorthanded by me and i take full responsibility for any of these things that dont end up being proposed in exactly this way, but roughly these are the priorities that the Biden Administration and Democraticled Congress have said they want to get done. Its what theyre calling the American Rescue plan, the covid relief. Its funding for the National Vaccination program and a Stimulus Check for americans family and another round of help to suffering Small Businesses and help for cities and states so the economic crunch from the pandemic doesnt force them to start laying off cops and firefighters and paramedics and teachers and all the rest. It extends the ban for evicting people from apartments or closing on their homes during the pandemic. It extends the pause on people repaying federal student loan, puts extra money in unemployment checks and an overdue hike in the federal minimum wage. Thats rescue one. Thats the covid19 relief bill. And theres a jobs and economic bill, it includes a big focus on domestic manufacturing, theres a lot in there about transportation, lots of investments and things that will help the economy and help with climate issues, this is a lot of what biden campaigned on, build back better. They also want Immigration Reform, including an eightyear long path to citizenship for immigrants and reforms and rationalization on Border Security and on applying for asylum and on the treatment of refugees, very, very long overdue Immigration Reform, they want to do that. And theres democracy. Voting rights and Shoring Up Democracy. Theyre calling this with hr1 in the house and s1 in the senate, meaning numerically the first bill in both houses of congress, including it puts a stop to gerrymandering, makes it so every vote has a floor they cant go below in terms of opening up the Voting Process to make it easier for people to vote. It blocks people for messing with voter by mail and makes voting by mail the norm. Its got a whole lot in it but thats some of it. In very rough terms, again, i take responsibility for leaving out some stuff and overstating or understating some other things, but this is basically how i understand it. These are the four things theyre aiming at from the outset. These are not Executive Orders or resolutions or states of intent that can be reversed with the sweep of a Pen By The Next president. This is law. These would be big leaps forward in terms of law, congressionally passed, real, durable legislation that will change and reform things in big ways in the country. Big moves to try to handle these multiple crisis that we have been struggling through and how they can do it. This is all stuff that has to be done through congress. Now, in the House Democrats have a narrow majority but they have a majority and speaker of the house nancy pelosi knows how to get things passed with a democratic majority. The issue is the senate. In the senate, senate rules say that the Minority Party can filibuster almost anything, in effect require 60 votes to pass legislation. There are only 60 Democratic Senators in the senate. On some issue, maybe two or three republican senators or be positive and say four or five or six my cross over with the contracts on some piece of legislation. Maybe. Its just not going to happen on anything big. Even if they could get one, two, three, four, five, six republican senators to cross over on something, its certainly never going to be ten republican senators who cross over to vote with democrats on anything at all, let alone Something Big and substantive. Republicans just dont operate that way anymore. Under their leader, senator mcconnell, you could not get ten republican senators to vote for a resolution that says moms are good and ice cream is cold and tasty. Theres just no way they would do it. And so Richard Nixon and that tweak that he signed in high summer 1974, less than a month before he resigned to basically clip his own wings. That tweak that he signed, which is sort of a miracle that he signed it, he probably never would have had he not been in such trouble, he signed that that Gave Congress new ways to wrangle the budget where the senate can pass stuff once per budget in a way that gets around a filibuster and lets you just pass something with a majority. That is black and white, night and day, up and down. Thats going to be the difference. Put back up that list of stuff that biden and the Democratic Congress wants to do it as we roughly understand it. This is based on my conversations with people who know these things and what weve seen in the white house and the democrats have explained. Four main things. Well, that gift that we got from Richard Nixon, that gift, that tweak that says once per budget you can pass something just with a majority, just with 51 votes, once per budget you can use the Budget Reconciliation Process to pass something with just a majority, which democrats have just on their own, you can only do that once per Budget Resolution. Here is the unusual wrinkle in the democrats favor. Turns out there was no Budget Resolution passed last year. They still didnt do last years Budget Resolution. And of course they havent done this years yet either. So even though that 40yearold gift from Richard Nixon usually means you can use this Reconciliation Process to pass stuff with 50 votes once per year in the senate, this year they get two Budget Resolutions. They actually get to do it twice, which is a windfall. But put back up that list of things they want to do. That is still not enough to pass this stuff that they want to do, right . With just a Majority Vote, with just democratic votes if they need to do it that way. Think about it. Are they going to get ten republican votes for any of these things is this likely not. Right . They can only use that one neat trick to pass things with just a majority of votes twice. Its amazing that they can do it twice. That inheritance from Richard Nixon is enough, we think, to pass two of these two big, ambitious legislative lifts, the two that are highlighted here are the ones we think theyre going to go for. What does that do for Immigration Reform . What does that do for Voting Rights and Shoring Up Democracy . What does that do with Everything Else they want to pass through legislation in congress . The other hurdle here is that anything they want to pass by this process, they have to make the case to the Senate Parliamentarian that everything in that bill is material live related to the budget. If its not budget related, they can do it with just a Majority Vote. But using reconciliation, they can pass two packages of legislation, if the democrats hang together, even if they get zero republican votes. If they want to pass anything else beep sides that, theyre going to have to persuade ten republicans senators to cross over and ten would not likely cross over to proclaim kittens to be soft, let alone to vote on Something Like Immigration Reform or covid relief or infrastructure. Or Voting Rights. Are you kidding me . Ten republican senators. Seriously . They can either persuade ten republicans to leave their bodies and do something that they are con consistently unable to do, the only other thing they can do is vote themselves, all the democrats, to get rid of the filibuster, to make it so a Majority Vote carries the day from here on all and no more 60vote threshold. We think they can do two packages of legislation, all that relates to the budget without the help of ten republicans but thats all they can do unless they can kill the filibuster or unless republicans suddenly have a massive change of heart. Dont bet on it. And i know this seems like u. S. Government trivia, it seems like something we never noticed during the cratering of the disastrous nixon presidency, but it has become the one thing that determines if we can do anything substantive to get our country out of the mess that we are in. If we can apply the power of government to making lasting change to address the fundamental problems where we are, to give a Vaccination Program funding nationwide. To give the American People relief from the economic and Health Disaster that we are in right now. To shore up our democracy, to support and buttress Voting Rights. To finally reform and nationalize our absolutely broken immigration system. If we want to do any of those things, thats where we are now. And the white house has so far been avoiding talking about things in these terms, i think because its a little too stark, right . Its not the way that President Biden in particular likes to talk about the differences between the two parties and the prospects of the two parties working together. He likes to project optimism on that front. I think they dont talk about things in terms this stark because they think its too negative an outlook in terms of what republicans are like now and what theyre likely to do, even for a good cause and for the country. But this is where we are and it makes it very simple in terms of the road ahead and getting things done. And democrats are running very quickly into very hard decisions about how much they are willing to do to get things done for the country. And the new White House Press secretary joins us live in just a moment. Stay with us tonight. I think this is going to be good. In a year of changes. Dont take chances on your taxes. Be 100 certain with jackson hewitt. Well get your taxes done right, guaranteed. Were thrive cosmetics and our liquid lash well get your taxes Donextension Mascara creates showstopping lashes that wont clump, flake or smudge. 100 vegan, crueltyfree and powered by our highperformance formula. Theres a reason this mascara has over 275,000 fivestar reviews. Come discover why at thrivecosmetics. Com what happened, parents were their kids were ripped from their arms and were separated. Now they cannot find over 500 sets of those parents and those kids are alone, nowhere to go. Nowhere to go. Its criminal. Its criminal. That was candidate joe biden at the final president ial debate this past fall, just excoriating President Donald Trump for the Trump Administrations policies of taking little kids away from their moms and dads at the border and never reunited hundreds of those family. Just a few days before the election, the ad said if elected, joe biden would create a federal tasks force of finding and reuniting those hundreds of kids with their parents. Well, now joe biden is president and whatever is going to happen in terms of Immigration Reform and the president S Immigration legislation in congress, there is still this very pressing issue of hundreds of kids taken away from their parents by the Trump Administration who still havent been reunited with them. President biden did not create a task force on this issue on day one as his Campaign Said he would, but we have been told that they are working on announcing something soon. And we did get this Interesting Development this week when the first ladys office announced that her Chief Of Staff will be working directly on the issue of reunited separated families. Cnn then reported that First Lady Jill Biden herself will give input to the task force that they are setting up to reunite the kids with their parents. That suggests this is still a high priority for the Biden Administration and this is going to be a highprofile things. Anything the first lady is involved in tends to be a highprofile thing. Why has there been a delay from something they said theyd do on day one . President biden had been expected to issue the Executive Order creating this tasks force as of tomorrow, as of friday, but now it appears to have been delayed again. Sources telling nbc news that President Bidens Executive Orders, including this tasks force to reunite separated families, those orders are being delayed by at least a few days. In our reporting thus far, we dont know what is causing these delays. When should we expect the president to take action and what should we expect from this task force that hes promised that hasnt yet materialized. Joining us is jacob soberoff, author of separated, inside an american tragedy. Hes been at the forefront of covering this issue from the beginning and joins us from the border in california. Its great to see you. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me, rachel. So you have been covering this for a long time. Where do you think we are in getting action towards reuniting these families . What do you understand about the pace at which the Biden Administration is working and why its slower than what they told to us expect . I think if President Biden, rachel, was able to launch this task force and announce this on day one he could have done it. But what i think the Biden Administration is now learning is that this is extraordinarily complicated, not just because of the cruelty and the intentionality that went into this policy to separate over 5,000 kids from their parents, including miss l who was separated and detained, the namesake of the law and won reunification, but also because after the separations, there are so many different distinct groups of separated families and how ultimately President Biden and his administration will deal with them. What is the relief that they will offer . Will they bring people back from that side of the border who were separated and their children remain on that side . Will they bring people deported with their children back to the United States . Theres all kinds of questions they have to answer and im not so sure theyve answered them all yet. Is part of the issue and partially the delay here the issue of accountability . Should these folks be designed as victims of crimes, is it possible that government personnel, whether theyre people in washington or people who effectuated this policy on the border, may have committed crimes in doing so and that this should be treated as something for which individual people working for the Trump Administration and carrying out this policy on behalf of the Trump Administration might find themselves legally in trouble for what they did . I think its a critical question and what Vice President , now President Biden meant when he was a candidate saying its criminal, its criminal. He said hein intended for his Justice Department to conduct a thorough investigation and theyve provided a road map with the i Spector General report that by name pointed out many key officials in the Trump Administration for purposely introducing this policy, including jean hamilton, Jeff Sessions himself and they say in this Inspector General report that now the Biden Administration has that when they did this, the plan wasnt necessarily just to separate and prosecute people here at the border but administratively separate. We talk about 5,000 people being separated. We now know it could be tens of thousands, A Hundred Thousand had they separated everyone. It wont be up to the task force in consultation with hhs and as well as state but separately will it Department Of Justice investigate this and ultimately pursue criminal charges . Wow. Remarkable. Jacob soberoff, msnbc correspondent who has been on this story literally from day one, thank you for your time tonight. I appreciate you joining us particularly from where you are there on the border tonight. Thank you, rachel. All right. As i mentioned, President Bidens new white house secretary jen psaki joins us live next for the interview. Very much looking forward to speaking with her. Thats next. Thats next. Heres to the duers. To all the people who realize they can du more with less asthma thanks to dupixent, the addon treatment for specific types of moderatetosevere asthma. Dupixent isnt for sudden breathing problems. It can improve Lung Function for better breathing in as little as 2 weeks and help prevent severe asthma attacks. Its not a steroid but can help reduce or eliminate oral steroids. Dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. 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By the time she joined then senator Barack Obamas campaign as a Traveling Press Secretary in 2008, jen psaki already had a pretty impressive resume under her belt. Shed worked on a president ial campaign, served as a member of john kerrys staff in his run in 2004, she had done a stint at the Democratic Congressional campaign committee. Given that experience, its no wonder that when she joined the Obama Campaign in 2008, she quickly sort of became a fixture. When president obama ultimately was elected, jen psaki would go on to serve as White House Deputy Press Secretary and Deputy Communications director after working on the president s Reelection Campaign in 2012, she did daily briefings and attracted from whatever the opposite of a fan club is from the russian government in particular. Jen psaki would finish out the administration as white house Communication Director and she is now the White House Press secretary, the most visible position. This is a woman who knows what shes doing. Shes been through it already. Joining us for the interview is White House Press secretary jen psaki. It is really nice of you to come on the show tonight. I know you have every option in the world. Thanks for being here. Great to be here. Thanks for having me. It is hard for those of us in the press and in the public to get used to there being a White House Press briefing every day again. We were accustomed to it for so long and when it went away, we lost those muscles immediately. And it feels actually even sometimes hard to keep up. How is it going from your perspective . Well, on the first day i have to be honest, i got some texts from friends who said things like the world is counting on you. Were watching you, hopefully it all goes okay. Theres a little bit of pressure on your shoulders but i am honored i get to serve in this role and to serve for this president who every day is willing to answer my questions and wants to make sure that were on the same page about the tone were sending and what hes thinking about issues. The job is hard but that makes the job a bit easier. So far, day eight, i havent started a war yet and im starting to lay the groundwork for Rebuilding Trust with the public. That is one of my primary goals at this time for this job. The trust with the public and not having such an adversarial relationship with the press where the press feels like they are under assault and put at miss danger because of your words. Thats also a nice change from the previous experience from the Briefing Room. But i have to say, like, im already feeling like, um, the presentation that we are hearing from you in the Briefing Room already feels i trust it and i also feel like its too nice. I feel like the challenges that the administration has on capitol hill are more stark than you have been telling us in terms of the likelihood that the republicans are going to go along with anything that President Biden wants to do. Its not a trust issue because i believe you are telling the truth but i believe you are being too nice about what republicans are likely to do. Do you know something that we dont or is that a Fair Assessment . Well, look, first i think, you know, you take your guidance from the person you work for. For me thats President Biden. And he starts every day thinking i want to be able to work with democrats and republicans and theres a reason they should work with me because the pieces that are in, for example, this Covid Package that is the top priority for him right now, are things the democrats and republicans across the country support. 70 of the public supports them. Are republicans now against reopening schools . Are they against getting Unemployment Insurance checks to the American People . Are they against getting vaccines in the arms of americans . So we want to lay this out and speak directly to the people out in the public who are watching the briefing, too, sometimes or watching clips of it, too, sometimes to really explain to them what were doing. So i promise you ive been in this town long enough, so has President Biden, nobody is naive in the white house about how hard its going to be and none of us think that republicans are just going to lay down and work with us overnight, but we feel like we have to try. And we have to lay out for the public what were trying to do. And that we are trying to work in a bipartisan way. And then we have a range of tools at our disposal to get relief to the public if that doesnt work out. If they dont take us up on it at every opportunity. One of those tools, of course, is reconciliation. I tried to lay out at the top of the show tonight some of the history of how we got the Budget Reconciliation Process and how weird that is, but the fact that basically theres probably two shots this year at being able to pass something using that process, which would mean that you could pass something would just a Majority Vote in the senate, you wouldnt need ten republicans to cross over and beat a filibuster in order to do it. If there are two shots at that and that is going to be the way that some of this legislation moves, are we right to expect that that would be for the covid legislation and the Building Back better legislation . The president hasnt even proposed the package yet, which hes going to do soon in coming weekes. But i would say on the Covid Package, the challenge were facing right now is theres urgency here. If we dont have certainty, if the American People dont have certainty about being able to put food on the table when we hit this unemployment cliff in march, if we arent able to plan for how were going to reopen schools, this cant be a game thats played where we wait and wait and wait and negotiate. We want it to be bipartisan and this is one of the tools that you can use. As you explained on your show, its a parliamentary procedure or step. Even if it goes to reconciliation, republicans can still vote for it. Theres no blood oath saying they cant. Well keep trying till the end. But theres an urgency here and thats really our priority right now. And is it true that the president has been calling republican senators directly and trying to talk to them about their concerns and whether or not there might possibly be yes votes for Something Like this . Yes, its absolutely true. And having sat in the oval office with him, when he says he wants to make one of those calls, he doesnt require a call sheet, a sheet that tells him what to say to congress and how to outline the bill. He knows. Hes known a lot of these people for decades and his view is its working how it should work. He laid out his bill, what his vision should be, listened to policy Health Experts and economists as well and people are going to come back and say i dont like this, i want this to be bigger, which some are saying, i want this to be smaller, what some republicans are saying. And there are areas, the target of checks, making sure theyre going most to people in need that hes happy to have that conversation on. At the end of the day he also has his principles and is not going to break this bill up, he wants to ensure theyre getting checks to people to put food on the table and money to open schools. Hes not going to break it up but hes happy to have a discussion about the components of it and the size. Yes, he picks up the phone. Sometimes he says, great, ill call senator so and so later today or make sure i call that senator, i call them back and have a conversation. And i think that gives you a sense of how hes going to govern. White House Press Secretary jen psaki. Would you mind staying with me for just a second . I have to take a quick break. Sure, id love to. Right back with the Press Secretary after this. Stay with us. We are back with jenn psaki, thank you for doing this, i appreciate you being here tonight. One of the things you tacked about today at the briefing is that we should expect Executive Orders from President Biden next week in regards to immigration. And that potentially includes what, for a lot of people is a long awaited announcement about the reuniting of kids who were taken away from their moms and dads. We heard during the campaign that he planned to issue an Executive Order on day one, former a task force that would take on it and start working on it immediately. Of course, it did not happen on day one. Can you give us an update on what we should expect on that front . Well, this is something that the president is absolutely committed to and you can expect you hear more from him on it next week. As you have been reporting on and jacob was reporting on it earlier in the show. Its an issue people have been waiting on for some time. Creating a Reunification Task force that can help finally bring relief to families who have been cruelly and immorally separated from their, as a result of the policies of the last administration. Theres going to be more from the president next week. Theres been a flurry of executive actions and orders that he has put forward legislation including a comprehensive immigration bill, a bill that addresses and tries to provide a pathway to citizenship. I know its something that people have been waiting on. Tune in next week and also, next week, if i may add, rachel. One of the areas that he is really focused is rebuilding institutions across government. And Rebuilding Trust, not just of course on the podium. I promise to not be so nice tomorrow. But also in, you know, the career Public Servants and next week, he is going to go visit the State Department and thank them for all of the work they do. And really are showcase what, how Government Works and how incredible the men and women who serve and have been serving for decades are, and thats something that i know is close to his heart and something that we hope to highlight next week too. And in terms of the task force on reuniting kids, its been said that possibly the new Homeland Security secretary, soon to be Secretary Najorcas would be heading up the task foors, and jill biden, and her Chief Of Staff may be involved in sh way with the task force. Can you just confirm that for us and tell us, more about what we should expect there . Obviously its something that where the American People, i think, its fair to say, feel its a gaping moral wound that needs to be fixed theres questions of potentially criminal liability for thoseeff trump. Can you tell us more . Initially when the reports of families being separated was happening and covering the news, my son was a baby and i think watching as a mother, it just still makes my heart hurt. So, i join many, Many Americans who are watching and others around the world. You know, i think its an issue that dr. Biden has taken, paid close attention to, and as a motherherself that certainly will continue to be the case. She met her Chief Of Staff, currently, who her current Chief Of Staff, when they took a trip to the border together. Where they met prior to that, they did take a trip to the border together. It will be an issue had that follows closely. But we will see, she is not going to be leading the task force or anything. Im sure she will be following closely as dr. Biden will as well. I expect that he will be playing a prominent role, leading the effort overseeing it out of the department of Homeland Security and we will have more to share soon about the members of of the task force and how it will work as we look ahead to address this horrific challenge. White House Press Secretary jenn psaki, its fantastic to see you at the podium every day and i know its not an easy thing to do. Even when people disagree with you and you are describing things that may or may not be popular the fact that you are there doing it every day is important for our demauk a ra democracy, and its the lords work, thank you for what you do, and go with god. Thank you for what you do as well. We will be right back, stay with us. Ay with us. In a year of changes. Dont take chances on your taxes. Be 100 certain with jackson hewitt. Well get your taxes done right, guaranteed. [announcer] were thrive cosmetics, well get your taxes dwe create high performance, cruelty free, 100 vegan formulas and we love that you love our products. Like our Award Winning liquid lash extensions mascara. Plus, with every product you purchase we donate to help a woman thrive. Join our Movement Today at thrivecosmetics. Com. I was as shocked as you were today to realize waking up that its not friday. Today wasnt friday. But it has and that means more than you can possibly know. Well see you again tomorrow night. Now it is time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, lawrence. Good evening, rachel. The weekend is in sight. And the jen psaki interview was really a pleasure to watch. She is the breakout star so far of week one of the Biden Administration. And its not unusual, because the Press Secretary is the one whos out there in front of the camera more than anyone other than the president. So, she has instantly taken command of that room, and it has been, as you said, you know, a kind of shocking gear change for