Terrified. As new reports lay out evidence of a potential coverup inside the Governors Office tied to nursing home deaths. Welcome to friday. It is Meet The Press Daily and im chuck todd. Concerns over a fourth covid surge in covid cases remain very well. This morning, white houses Covid Response team reiterated their warnings that Infection Rates are still unacceptably high, as some states move to lift restrictions, including mask mandates. The current numbers remain concerning. Cases and deaths are still too high and have now plateaued for more than a week at levels we saw during the late summer surge following six weeks of steady declines. This is why im asking you to double down on our prevention measures. I know the idea of relaxes mask wearing and getting back to everyday activities is appealing, but were not there yet. That plateau is about 60 to 70,000 cases a day. When you have that much of viral activity in a plateau, it almost invariably means that you are at risk for another spike. Every day this week, we had 1,000 to 2,000 deaths, every single day this week, folks. And dr. Fauci warns this morning that the more this virus replicates, the more risk there is for the spread of more dangerous variants, which then hits at our Vaccination Distribution issues. So the concern over another surge comes as the economy add nearly 400,000 jobs last month. It far exceeded expectations, but the number of workers who are now permanently unemployed has grown. And the economy is still 9. 5 million jobs in the hole because of the pandemic. Senate democrats today are moving towards a vote on president bidens massive 1. 9 trillion relief bill. As they navigate a wild weststyle votearama process so they can end up passing without having to need a single republican vote. But there are divisions inside the democratic side of the caucus. This morning, senator Bernie Sanders lashed out at his partys decision not to fight the Senate Parliamentarians ruling on the minimum wage, forcing a particularly awkward vote on the issue for moderates in his party. I think the parliamentarian was dead wrong, but more importantly, it is an absurd process that we allow an unelected staffer, somebody who works for the senate, not elected by anybody, to make a decision as to whether 30 million americans get a pay raise or not. I dont care how the parliamentarian rules, no parliamentarian should have that power. If people here want to vote against raising the minimum wage, you have this right. You want to vote for it and i hope you do, you have that right. But we should not shuffle off that responsibility to an unelected staffer. Thats wrong. So heres the current State Of Play in our war against the pandemic. The pace of vaccinations, thats quickening. But its not enough, according to some Public Health experts. The economy, its recovering, but its not enough according to some economists. And covid relief is winding its way through the senate. But its not enough, according to some top democrats, like Bernie Sanders. Nbcs lien caldwell is on capitol hill with the latest on the covid bill. Our Senior Business correspondent, nbc, Stephanie Ruhle is standing by to break down this jobs report. And also with us is former acting cdc director, dr. Richard besser. Were trying to get all three angles of covid covered today. Lets start with whats going on in the senate. There have been some important tweaks, league ann. The biggest is having to do with the special unemployment benefit, which got a onemonth extension, but got brought back its Monthly Payment got brought down by 100 each month. Anything else likely to change . Were still waiting, chuck. The fact that there was this lastminute change just moments before they started this votearama meanings that Senate Democratic leaders are still working really hard to make sure that they have the support of all 50 democrats. Because, remember, they cant lose a single democrat if theyre guaranteed to pass this covid relief bill. But it seems like there might be some problems with this change in unemployment insurance, because thats supposed to be the next amendment that theyre supposed to be voting on. But its things are stalled in the senate right now. Theres some negotiations and discussions that are happening, that were not quite clear on yet, but we do know that it pertains to this amendment. And that they havent moved to it yet. So, there are still problems for democratic leaders. And it was evidence, also, in this last vote on the minimum wage that Bernie Sanders brought to the floor. Everyone knew that the Senator Sanders Amendment was going to fail, because it needed the support of 60 senators to overrule the parliamentarian. But the fact that eight democrats voted against a 15 minimum wage over the next four years is very telling that not even, regardless of what the parliamentarian said, the party isnt there yet. Now, im told by my sources that most democrats, other than manchin and sinema, do support 15. But they say that it is very complicated, the details, how you get there, the indexing, what to do after it reaches 15. What to do about tip and waged workers. So theres a lot of things that the Democratic Party still has to work out on some of these core economic issues, still. Do we have any sense of, does this end up passing tomorrow . Is the votearama going to go longer than that . What kind of i guess, what kind of stamina does the senate gop have . Yeah, well see. Its very unclear. Senator johnson is still threatening to perhaps force the clerk to read every single amendment. You know, amendments obviously arent as long as a 630page bill. There are 900 amendments that have been filed excuse me, theres about 500 amendments that have been filed so far. Doesnt mean that theyre going to get on every single one of them. In the last votearama, theres about 900 amendments filed and they only voted on 40. But they end when they think that they are done. When each side has proven their point, mostly the opposition side, the republicans. And these theyre going to try to force democrats to take very political and difficult votes that could end up in campaign ads. As you know very well, in the next election cycle. So there are efforts not to change the bill, really, its to put democrats in a box. Yeah, no, in many of these amendments, whether theyre really written by the pollsters or the Political Consultants or not, they sometimes feel like they are, because theyre basically being written for direct mail pieces or tv advertisements. Let me move over to Stephanie Ruhle. This was a really good jobs report, but as we know, one month doth not make a recovery. We have i think were all waiting for, when do we have two or three in a row. Because this has been sort of an up or down thing, the sort of beginning of this recovery. So where are we . Is this a topheavy recovery . Or are we starting to see some healing across the board . We are definitely seeing healing, chuck. Things are getting better. As the covid numbers are coming down, businesses are opening. Where you saw the biggest spikes in job creation were in the industries that were hit hardest. Leisure, hospitality, retail. Those are all very big positives across the board. However, you said it at the top. Weve still got over 9 Million People out of work who had jobs before the pandemic. And the longer people are out of work, longterm unemployment. Thats people who are not working for six months or longer, thats doubled. 42 of the people who are out of work are out of work now over six months. And the longer youre out, the harder it is to get back in. I want to share a conversation with you i had with a woman down in florida. Shes 60 years old. She has now been out of work for almost a year and shes basically in a state of panic. Watch this. Florida are more open than most states. Are there jobs to be had . Are you applying for work . Ive sent out hundreds of applications. Im on indeed, im on other websites, word of mouth. Just going to, looking on the computer at companies in the area. But i am looking for work. When i sit on the computer, im always looking. Always looking. But, chuck, heres whats really important. People are getting back to work, but many of these jobs are not paying them enough to survive. And while youve got so many people who have absolutely no job opportunities, yes, theres a job to be head, but chances are its parttime. Or theyve cut the hours back or cut the pay. And workers dont have a lot of leverage. When you go from no job at all, many people feel like any job is something. And to leigh anns point in the beginning, the fact that Unemployment Benefits are going to go down in dollar amounts, thats going to change the game. Many people actually get paid more on unemployment than the jobs that are out there for them. Were not out of the woods. When you look at the jobs report and where we were lagging in job growth, can you point to things in this covid relief bill is the covid relief bill responding properly to our underemployed part of the company . Without a doubt. You are seeing targeted support for Child Care Centers which have been decimated. We know a lot are going to states and localities. In the last month alone, we saw thousands and thousands ready for this of teachers. Teachers who had to be laid off because School Systems cannot afford to make their budgets. With so much money going to local budgets, youre going to see that reinvested in communities. And when you target that Small Business money, not just to any business with less than 500 people, because we all know all sorts of Small Businesses that didnt need the money took it, now with the more targeted efforts, hopefully its going to get to businesses that need it most. Theres also 25 billion, less than the restaurant act wanted, but its something towards restaurants and we know they need help. Yes, the Stimulus Bill is huge, but its not going to be one and done. They need more. Good luck getting more. Thats why democrats are struggling, theyre afraid of going smaller, because i dont know if they think therell be the appetite for more. Stephanie ruhle, appreciate that. Let me turn over to the Health Aspect of covid. Were at an inflection point. Everyone has said it, fork in the road, whatever. Pick the metaphor here. Did these decisions to drop the mask mandates, which feels like more consequential than the decision to open up. If everybody were wearing a mask, i think we would be in a different situation. Did we already choose the wrong path . Is it already too late . Chuck, i think there are some states that are definitely choosing the wrong path here. Ive been saying over the past number of days that ive had cautious optimism. But thats tempered when you see states removing mask guidance. One of the things we learned over the course of last year was the value of masks, and we went from a nomask situation to one where we were able to show that Wearing Masks provides protection not only to the individual, but to all of the people around that person. When you say in a state that people dont have to wear masks anymore, its not about that persons individual choice. Its about putting risk people out and about in the community, people who have to go to work etch day to put food on the table. Its the wrong direction to go, especially in light of the warning that we just heard from dr. Fauci and dr. Walensky, that were plateauing at a level that was as high as we were at the peak of last summer, when we started putting in place more restrictions. Its a bad situation to be in. Let me ask you, if you had to choose the following flawed option when it comes to health mitigation, would you prefer restrictions on businesses and no masks and open 100 , but a mask mandate . Its a false choice and i avoid going to that i know. Because it needs to be a combination. You deft you seeing where im going here, right . Just this like take mississippi and texas. Look, i understand that it isnt easy dealing with the Small Business onerous goings, this is killing us, this is killing us. You have tax revenue issues. So i guess the thing is, if you had to make the false choice, is the mask mandate the thing to keep . , you definitely want to keep the mask mandate. Thats been something thats been shown to reduce transmission. If youre going to be bringing people into more indoor spaces, you definitely want to have them Wearing Masks to protect the other customers, but to protect your employees. Its not a fair thing to do to working americans to put them in close contact with people who are not Wearing Masks. And the thing i find really exciting right now, as more and more people get vaccinated, it will become safer and safer to start to reopen aspects of the economy. But you have to keep a close eye on the case counts and the direction there. You have to a keep a close eye on the variants that are around. And you have to listen to dr. Faucis warning that when youre having this number of cases each day, it allows those variants to get a foothold. If we can drive that leveling off level way down, to 20,000, its a major difference from where we are right now, where theres significant transmission going on that allows these variants to spread. You know, the other thing dr. Besser, and im curious what your thoughts are on this, weve had our case count has come down pretty dramatically. It does seem as if the death rate is not falling as dramatically. And yet you would think that would fall quicker, because weve had targeted vaccinations for the most vulnerable and yet were still seeing 1500 people a day die. Is that a lagging indicator from the last surge or proof that these variants are just creating tougher outcomes . I think the answer isnt fully in on that and well have to wait and see, but some of it is that the death rate is lagging indicator. One of the things that gives me hope is if you break this down and look at deaths in longterm care facilities, in Nursing Homes, where that was early targeting for vaccinationt death rate has just plummeted and it shows how important it is to vaccinate. There are still those in the highest risk group from dying from this, who are the oldest, where theres more targeted outreach to get people vaccinated, in particular among people of color. And that gives me some hope. The early focus was all around numbers. Now theres a lot more focus on getting this to the communities that have been hit the hardest. And i think well see that pay off in terms of decreasing Hospitalization Rates and hopefully decreasing death rates. Man, i cannot wait to reach that cliff. Thats one of those cliffs you cant wait to free fall on, as far as the graphics are concerned. Dr. Richard besser, thank you very much. Before that, Stephanie Ruhle and leigh ann caldwell, a great way to get started. Breaking news in the upcoming murder trial of george floyd. The Minnesota Court of appeals ruled today that a thirddegree Murder Charge against former Police Officer Derek Chauvin should be reinstated. This ruling does not by itself reinstate the charge. The state can now try again to get that thirddegree charge reinstated. But chauvins lawyers can appeal. Chauvin also faces charges of seconddegree murder and seconddegree manslaughter. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on monday, but that now may be delayed. All right, up next, some new pressure on embattled Governor Andrew Cuomo as new york state lawmakers are preparing to strip the democrat of his pandemicrelated emergency powers. Well have more on that plus the person who could be his possible successor. Who would make history. Were also keeping an eye on the White House Press briefing right now and well bring you any major developments ahead. Well be right back. You any major developments ahead well be right back. 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Youre clearly someone who takes care of yourself. So why wait to screen for colon cancer . Because when caught in early stages, its more treatable. Im cologuard. Im noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92 of Colon Cancers even in early stages. Tell me more. Its for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. False positive and negative results may occur. Ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. Ill do it. Good plan. Welcome back. Right now, new york state lawmakers are debating stripping andrew Governor Cuomo of his pandemicrelated emergency powers. The move would return decisions on lockdowns to local governments and it comes as cuomo is facing mounting scrutiny on two fronts. The first, reporting by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times that cuomo advisers altered a report last summer to conceal the number of nursing home residents who died of covid19 in hospitals. Oh, by the way, he was trying to finish a book at the time. An Administration Official says the Hospital Data was left out over concerns about its accuracy and that the omission did not change the conclusion of the report. But at the same time, one of the three women who is alleging cuomo behaved inappropriately is speaking out on camera. Charlotte bennett, a former cuomo aide and Sexual Assault survivor, told cbs news she had a disturbing conversation with the governor in his office. Yes. He asked if i had trouble enjoying being with someone because of my drama. This seems highly inappropriate. Yeah. The governor asked me if i was sensitive to intimacy. In his office . Yes. During the workday. She has been quoted as saying asking if she had already been with an older man. She asked me if age difference mattered. She also explained that he was fine with anyone over 22. When asked for comment, cuomos spokesperson referred nbc to his News Conference on wednesday, in which he apologized for acting in a way made others feel uncomfortable. Threw in some ifs there. And also claimed he never touched anybody inappropriately, despite former adviser lindsay boy lan. Our own Anne Thompson has been reporting on Governor Cuomo next week. She joins me now, theres no doubt that Charlotte Bennetts interview only adds to the impact of that side of the story. But the newest developments have to do with the Nursing Home Numbers and sort of the other scandal that is engulfing the Cuomo Administration here. It looks like theyre sort of admitting that, yes, they did this. Theyre just trying to claim it wasnt nefarious . Thats what thats exactly what theyre doing, chuck. Because they are saying that they couldnt verify the numbers that the hospitals were giving them about the Nursing Home Patients who had been transferred there and died. And thats why they werent in the report. But what makes this suspicious is at the very same time, Governor Cuomo was contemplating writing a book, bragging about his leadership during the pandemic. He had earned a lot of praise across the country for those daily briefings that he gave, explaining what was going on. And then the background to all of this and what republicans have been harping on since the end of march was a directive that the governor sent out, telling Nursing Homes that they could not reject any patient who had left gone to the hospital to be treated for covid. They had to take that patient back. And he says the reason he did that at the end of march is that they were so worried that they wouldnt have enough capacity in hospitals that the patients who were not as serious could go back to the Nursing Homes. Republicans have said, and many Family Members have said, thats what sent covid racing through Nursing Homes and caused so many deaths. 15,000 in the state. But the governor has said all along, it wasnt that, it was staff members, people coming into the Nursing Homes. So theres that debate. But when you put that all together, it sure looks like they were trying to make the numbers look better than they actually were. Is the nursing home part of this, ann . What kind of legal trouble could he be in there . And also, do we have any update on how the Attorney General is going to handle the Sexual Harassment allegations . Well, the u. S. Attorney in brooklyn is leading the federal investigation into the accounting of nursing home deaths. And theres a question from what i understand and im not a lawyer, chuck, so, there is a question of whether that accounting impacted medicaid or any kind of government records. Were there any laws broken there . And thats what the u. S. Attorney is looking at. What the independent investigator will look at, who has yet to be appointed, the state Attorney General, tish james, she will do that. That investigator is going to look into the Sexual Harassment claims. And from my understanding, that investigator will be looking at civil claims there, to see if any of those laws were broken in the governors approach to these young women. But i think watching Charlotte Bennett last night was really just devastating to the governors, you know, argument that he was just, you know, palling around. Yeah. Yep. No, i think that is not going to help reinforce his side of the story. Anne thompson, thank you. And because of that, we think its time to take a look at the person who could replace the governor. And while he says he will not resign, it isnt stopping the pressure from republicans and some democrats for the threeterm democrat to do one of two things. Step down now or at least say youre not running for reelection, which puts the Lieutenant Governor, kathy hochul, in the spotlight. She would be first in line to secede cuomo. A former member of congress, erie county clerk, so she has sort of the nonnew york city credential that Many Democrats statewide need to win statewide elections in new york. Our senior Political Editor mark murray joins me now. So, mark, its basically, who is kathy hochul . Give us a rundown of her political career. How did she end up Lieutenant Governor. Yeah, chuck, she ended up becoming Andrew Cuomos Lieutenant Governor nominee, his second bid, seeking a second term. And of course, shes actually someone whos very familiar to those of us who cover Congressional Elections and congress. She ended up winning a special election in 2011, in a crowded seat to replace then congressman chris lee, a republican who got caught up in scandal. She won that primarily campaigning against paul ryans medicare plans to cut medicare, won that race, but ended up losing in 2012 after redistricting in a really close contest against republican chris collins. Collins, of course, got caught up in scandal himself. But then after all of that, she ended up becoming the Lieutenant Governor nominee and finds herself in the situation shes in. One thing about her, when she was in the state legislature, she was pretty frontfacing and forwardleaning on issues of Sexual Harassment against women. She hasnt spoken out much yet and shes not considered a total cuomo insider here. At what point do we you know, if she speaks out, it could speak volumes. Absolutely. And of course, chuck, theres a little of a trickier situation. She was Andrew Cuomos running mate. So sometimes when we looked back in virginia, where Justin Fairfax as Lieutenant Governor was thinking about the thoughts about would he end up replacing ralph northam. You in virginia run a separate slate. You get elected alone. She got elected with andrew cuomo. And so sometimes kind of speaking out takes on a little bit of a different dynamic than if you ended up getting that spot just yourself. Its a tricky moment here. And if cuomos not going to willingly pass the baton, it puts her in a really unique and tough spot. But theres no doubt, shes going to be increasingly in the spotlight and someone folks need to get to know. Mark murray, thank you, sir. Up next, new questions about the Biden Administrations efforts to get iran back to the Negotiating Table over a nuclear deal, as tensions continue to rise with tehran. S continue to rise with tehran verizon believes everyone deserves the best. Thats why we start with 5g from americas most reliable network. Verizon 5g is next level. Then give families plans to mix and match. So you only pay for what you need, with 5g included at no extra cost. You get so much more than just a great network. And offer the best in entertainment on select unlimited plans like disney , hulu and espn . With a galaxy s21 5g when you buy one. Theres no reason to settle for less than the best. Only from verizon. 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Troops came under another attack, a Rocket Attack, on wednesday of this week. Now, neither president biden, the pentagon, nor the State Department say they can confirm irans involvement or responsibility for that attack. Take a listen. We cannot attribute responsibility for the Rocket Attacks at this time. Obviously, its a Rocket Attack and we have seen Rocket Attacks come from shiabacked Militia Groups in the past. So in that way, it certainly coincides with our past experience here. The other code word you hear him say there, shia backed. Thats also a way that they hint at irans involvement. All of this is happening as the Biden Administration is signaling openness to bring tehran back to the table to renegotiate whats left of this nuclear deal. So joining me now is former ambassador to syria during the obama administration, robert ford. So ambassador ford, to say were getting mixed messages is probably an understatement here. But i guess i want to lay out a few facts that have happened. And if you can just sort of try to explain, you know, how we should interpret this. So, the Biden Administration essentially sends a signal, were ready to talk with iran. After that signal is sent, we have the those Militia Attacks on our troops. Biden responds. Iran then responds to the response, it appears. And yet at the same time, a french diplomat indicated to reuters today that, hey, its looking pretty good for talks. So explain why somehow were closer to possibly sitting down with iran after all of this Proxy Fighting thats been going on the last two weeks. So, the simple answer is, you can negotiate the Nuclear Issue with iran, and i think the u. S. Has a huge interest in stopping the Iranian Nuclear program. At the same time that theres back and forth with these proiran militias on the ground in places like syria and iraq and American Forces, you can do both at the same time. It is diplomatically possible to walk and chew gum. Okay, but its not easy. Im just curious, what message is iran trying to send. Are they trying to test bidens resolve, see how serious he is . And is there a point where the american side looks or frankly, the entire sort of allied side here looks like theyre, you know, willing to take anything as long as it gets iran back to the table. Is that a sign of weakness . There are two separate issues here. The Iranian Nuclear program. Thats one issue. And its a distinct issue. And then at last second issue, which is irans regional expansion and the use of Proxy Militias, such as the ones in syria and iraq. Thats a separate distinct issue. I do not think that these pokes at the American Forces from these Proxy Militias is a message from iran about the nuclear file. The iranians, ja bad zarif, their foreign minister, just a couple of hours ago on twitter, said theyre going to come forward through proper diplomatic channels with a proposal. Im sure its going to have to be hugely negotiated, but i dont think theyre signaling that they wont talk. But in the meantime, we should expect that there thereby more pokes at us, from these Proxy Militias on the ground, in places like iraq. You have made took pains to say that these are separate and distinct issues. A lot of folks on this side are not going to see it that way and its certainly what makes it sometimes nearly politically impossible to get any sort of bipartisan agreement on how to deal with iran. And i guess, i would assume the iranians know this, though. So, again, even if you we want to see it separately, does everybody else see it separately . Well, i would not assume that the iranians have a sophisticated understanding of american political dynamics. Maybe they do, maybe they dont. Im not sure that they do. In my experience negotiating with foreign governments over the years, often, they didnt understand even simple things. But, i think on this side of the water, in the united states, there needs to be a discussion about what to do about the Iranian Nuclear program, maximum pressure under the Trump Administration did not stop the Iranian Nuclear program. If anything, the iranians now have more materials with which to make Nuclear Weapons. They have more sophisticated Production Facilities with which to make them. And so the maximum pressure didnt work. I think what the Biden Administration needs to do is to move forward on negotiating with the iranians, while at the same time pushing back on these Proxy Militias. And the good news is, on pushing back on the Proxy Militias, we have allies. The Israeli Air Force is hitting those same militias regularly and having success. The government of iraq in baghdad, its weak, but it, too, wants to clip the wings of those Proxy Militias. So working with friends like that, we should be pushing back on the Proxy Militias, even as we sit down to negotiate on the Nuclear Issue. By the way, pushing back on the proxy publishes ya will probably gain republican support. Right. Let me ask you on the Nuclear Issue, do you believe iran want s. Do you believe, ultimately, iran is willing not to stop pursuing a nuclear weapon, or do you think at some point they want to continue to buy time and at some point say, we have the weapon. Now what are you going to do . I have no doubt that there are people in the iranian government who have that position that you just mentioned. It sounds sort of like north korea, doesnt it . So the question is, can the entire iranian government come to an agreement on stopping the Nuclear Weapons program. Iran, like the united states, has different factions, different parties. So they will have disagreements amongst themselves just as we do. The question is, can you get a binding agreement. And we wont know until you go to the Negotiating Table. There you go. And we have to see what talks will look like. Ambassador ford, really appreciate getting your perspective and expertise on this. We have a Long Way To Go and this stuff is never as easy as it looks. Up next, after suffering major election losses, republicans trying to change the rules of the game there. Publicans trying to change the rules of the game there. Your happy place. Find your breaking point. Then break it. Every emergenc gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergenc. What is humana doing sending me a diy test kit . Old Health Insurance reminds you to schedule a screening, say, for colon cancer. Humana does you one better and sends you an athome test kit, when its overdue. Huh one of those tests could save your life, or at least a little hassle. Or both. Yeah you get it, you do it, you send it back. I get it, i do it, i send it back. You get it, you do it, you send it back. 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Stay away from any downed wire, call 911, and call pg e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. Welcome back. After losing the president ial contest and two senate seats in one year, Georgia Republicans are looking to make major changes. None to how they campaigned and persuade voters, but into the states voting laws. Republican lawmakers are backing multiple bills that would eliminate automatic voter registration, require excuses in most cases to vote absentee and curb early voting access by placing restrictions on drop boxes. Republicans say these bills would work to build Voter Confidence that was eroded on president trumps unfounded attacks, but critics say this will simply make voting harder, which may be a feature of the bill, especially for black voters and nothing more than sour grapes from a party looking to keep their grasp on power. Joining me now is my nbc news colleague, blayne alexander. Blayne, you had a republican Secretary Of State and a republican governor swear by the integrity of these elections. Are they going to support these changes . And thats exactly what i asked Gabriel Sterling when i spoke with him yesterday. Hes somebody that his name, his face certainly would be very familiar to our audience, because youll remember that when georgias elections came under repeated attack from former president trump, he was one of the strongest defenders of the process. He talked about the fact that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud. Thats something we also heard from the republican Secretary Of State, brad raffensperger, but he came out and said, we have to stop the rhetoric and the lies about the election. So when i spoke with him yesterday, i asked him if there are no issues, if there are no widespread issues that would result in a different outcome when it comes to georgias elections, why would it be necessary to make some changes . And he did acknowledge that some of these pieces of legislation go too far. But he said that there would be some components of them that would, in his words, shore up confidence when it comes to elections. And shore up security, and he says thats the point. Now, as you mentioned, chuck, there is a good deal of opposition to this. Not only from Voting Rights groups, fair fight, of course, the group that was founded by stacey abrams, but even some Business Leaders in the community are kind of dipping their toe into the pool of politics and kind of putting out statements reiterating the importance of Voting Rights. So one thing thats important to mention here, chuck, is that its very unlikely that the versions that we see right now are the ones that would ultimately pass and make their way to governor kemps desk. There would be a number of changes that have to go to the other sides of the house and senate, but certainly a lot of opposition right now, as it stands, and a lot of people speaking out against it. Chuck . Blayne alexander with this reporting. And every time i still just sort of am shocked at all of these republicanbacked changes to voting reforms that republicans pushed so hard in the 90s and more absentee and things like that. Blayne alexander, thank you. Well be right back with a new look at how jo biden made it to the white house. At how joe bidt the white house. Voiceover r. Wanderers on the road of life. The journey is why they ride. When the road is all you need, there is no destination. Uh, iim actually just going to get an iced coffee. Well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually no, ii usually have a destination. Yeah, but most of the time, her destination is freedom. Nope, just the coffee shop. 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Only Preservision Areds2 contains the exact nutrient formula recommended by the nei to help reduce the risk of moderate to advanced amd progression. I have amd. It is my vision so my plan includes preservision. Welcome back. As president , joe biden is trying to steer the nation out of a crisis. In a way its some of the challenges he faced to become president. In their new book lucky it details bidens path to victory. Bidens ability to traverse the challenges of the campaign was doubted by Many Democrats, including his own Campaign Staffers and perhaps, most importantly, former President Obama. Obama wanted to make sure that joes longterm reputation wasnt going to be endangered. He certainly wasnt confident joe was going to win. But they looked at the coming priary as the wild west of politics, a lawless and unpredictable melee that could leave biden not just beaten but permanently scarred. Jonathan allen and amy parmis join me now. Jonathan, let me start with you. Your books title is lucky. Are we to assume that is the conclusion that you guys draw here . That joe biden is simply lucky to be president . Joe biden got lucky, the Democratic Party got lucky. What we saw after the election with the republic tested in a way that it never has been before and Still Standing firm, the nation is lucky for that. It means all of those things, chuck. But we take you through in thorough detail in new reporting just how dark the dark days were for biden during the primary and all the breaks that went his way. I should say this, lucky is not a pejorative term in any way, shape or form. Joe biden set a message for his campaign and he stuck to it, the battle for the soul of america. It was something that the public wanted. And so luck was the residue of design here. He just was prepared to take advantage of those breaks. If you listen to joe biden, hes somebody who talks about luck all the time. Amy, i want to build on this Discipline Issue with him. On page 411 you write ridiculed for so long about his lack of discipline as a candidate, biden stuck to his theory of the case of rather than a path forward he proposed backtracking to the pretrump era. And despite a resume of any political contender, democrats voted and rejected two dozen candidates before sticking on him. In the face of pressure from his allies and members of his own staff to change his strategy in the general election. The point is he did something he was notorious for never doing. He stuck to a message, he stuck to a campaign plan, and were seeing it bleed into his habits early on in the first hundred days here. Do we think it sticks . I mean thats tbd, chuck. But yeah, he is very scripted right now. And i think thats something that he learned over the course of the campaign. I think that he did have some lucky breaks. We talk about this a lot in the book. There were few people to sign on with him very early on. As you mentioned, President Obama was reluctant to do so. He had a meeting early on with his aides, with bidens aides wanting to reassure how they were going to run this campaign, how disciplined he would be because he was afraid it would tarnish not only his friend and partner, former partners reputation but his own and the obama legacy. I think that was something that they took very seriously. So i think and then he caught lucky breaks along the way. One thing we point to is how Elizabeth Warren in a very key moment when Michael Bloomberg was getting so much traction took out Michael Bloomberg in a debate and we talk about how she did that and how she prepared for that comment. So we take you inside all of these lucky breaks throughout the book. You know, its interesting, john, the fact that you know, i talked to somebody very close who admitted, hey, he was right, i was wrong. There is im curious now, does that give him more of a mandate that this is his Democratic Party . One of the favorite critiques on the right is, oh, hes not really in charge, its really obama, or its really kamala, or its really ron klain. Yet what your book describes and a lot of our reporting says is that joe biden stuck to his guns. Everybody else tried to talk him out of it. He was right, they were wrong. Chuck, we go into it in the book. A perfect example, a quick anecdote, biden is in this place during the racial unrest, protests for Racial Justice and some of the violence accompanying that, what donald trump was doing in response. There were people high up in his own campaign who said you need to move to where the activists are. You need to apologize for the crime bill. Embrace the slogan defund the police. Biden just wouldnt do it, he wouldnt budge. He went out and did an oped and said i am not for defund the police. 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Youre looking live right now at the senate floor where the fate of president bidens massive covid bill hangs in the balance, and two major forces are at play right here. Theres the policy and the performance. First, the policy. New numbers show 379,000 jobs added last month, the most since october. But the white house says that does not tell the whole story. Most of the job gains last month were in the leisure and hospitality sector. Its good to see some of those come back