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president, targeting july 4th for when americans can gather in small groups. >> that will make this independence day something truly special, where we not only mark our independence as a nation, but we begin to mark our independence from this virus. >> and joining me now is the most trusted figure in the country on this subject. it's dr. anthony fauci, the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. dr. fauci, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you, chuck. good to be with you. >> so, a year ago, literally this date, you were out there warning us. we were all contemplating how bad this would be. but i don't think anybody, any civilian thought, oh, we're going to be -- this is going to be a year at the time. what would you tell yourself from a year ago of what to expect and how shocked have you been about what this year's been like? >> you know, chuck, i knew it was going to be bad. and you know, just a couple of days ago last year, i said at a congressional hearing that things were going to get much worse before they got any better, but even i did not fully anticipate that we would have over 500,000 deaths a year later. i mean, we knew it was going to be bad, but this really has turned out to be just a historic example of what a pandemic virus can do. it's just been a terribly trying year for everybody in so many respects, not only suffering healthywise and deaths and loss of loved ones, but what it has done to society, to the economy, and how it has kind of deepened some of the divisiveness that we've had in our country to begin with. just made it even more intense. it's just been a bad time all around. we're getting around the corner. we're going in the right direction. but boy, looking back at what we've been through, people are going to be writing about this and historically opining about it for a long time to come. >> when you think about, sadly, having to prepare for this again, right, and i know there's a lot of folks who think, you know, due to climate change and globalization in general, it's inevitable we're going to deal with more and more viruses like this, the biggest lesson you're going to take away to prepare for the next one? >> you know, there are a couple of lessons, chuck. there are lessons domestically. there are lessons public healthwise, scientifically. let's take global, to begin with. we have to have a better global health security network of interconnectivity, of communication, of transparency, so that we are talking to each other all the time and know what's going on. we also have to have a continued investment in the science. if you want to look, chuck, at the success story in this terrible year has been the extraordinary, unprecedented advance with the vaccine, where you know, in january of 2020, we started the process, and 11 months later, we had a highly efficacious vaccine going into the arms of individuals, which is going to be the answer to this, together with public health measures. so, keep the science up, continue to support the public health infrastructure, and remain global in our interactions. you know, as i've said so many times, a global pandemic requires a global response. >> let me go to what the president said on thursday night and the dual promises about the month of may. with promise one on may 1 being everybody is eligible to get on the list, and by the end of may, anybody that's wanting a shot gets there. why are -- i know he's not saying those goals without talking to you. why do you feel those are achievable goals? >> well, they're achievable, chuck, if you look just at what's happening, what the president has done. he's done a number of things, but two major things, is he's gotten us a much larger supply of vaccine. he negotiated with moderna and pfizer to get an additional 100 million doses each from the companies. we had a contract with j&j to have 100 million doses. we've negotiated yet again another contract for an additional 100 million doses. that's the supply. then there's the issue of getting it into people's arms, and that's where we've mobilized the community vaccine centers, the community health centers, pharmacies that are going to be getting it, mobile units that are going to be putting into that are poorly accessible, and mobilization of a lot more people who are going to be doing the vaccinations, from the military to volunteer retired physicians, nurses, and other health care providers. so, you know, that's really a full court press, and that's the reason why we're going to be, you know, at least a couple of months ahead of where we thought we would be. >> what worries you that could prevent us from meeting that end-of-may goal, that everybody that wants a shot will get their shot? >> well, i don't think there's much that's going to prevent us from having quantitatively the number of vaccines that the president promised. that, i think, will only be if there is a major production glitch. those things happen. you can't guarantee 100% that they won't. more of a concern that i have, chuck, is that we'll have what's called variant increases, where you may have another surge. and if you look at the numbers that have gone down, they've gone down so nicely in a very steep decline, but in the last couple of weeks, we've had a plateauing of infections. and the thing that concerns me, because history proves that i should be concerned, is that when you get a plateau at a level around 60,000 new infections per day, there's always the risk of another surge, and that's the thing we really want to avoid because we are going in the right directions. that's why i get so anxious when i hear pulling back completely on public health measures, like saying no more masks, no nothing like that. i mean, that is a risky business when you do that. >> i was going to ask you on your level of concern of a new surge, because you want to talk about a version of ptsd for many people. when we see europe on the uptick, we see italy locking down again, that's very familiar, sadly. and every time europe upticked, it was two or three weeks later, and so would we. how do we make sure that doesn't happen again? >> you know, chuck, it's exactly what i'm saying, that even though the decline was steep, we absolutely need to avoid the urge to say, oh, everything is going great, which it is going in the right direction, but once you declare victory -- you know that metaphor people say, that if you're going for a touchdown, don't spike the ball on the 5 yard line, wait until you get into the end zone, and we're not in the end zone yet, and that's one of the issues, that when you plateau, there's always the risk of a surge. that's exactly what the europeans have experienced. >> i want to talk about vaccine hesitancy here, because we're noticing something, at least in polling, that it is not the conventional wisdom about vaccine hesitancy that you see this divide by race. we're seeing a bigger divide by politics. we talked about it earlier. for instance, among trump voters, 47% have said in they will not be vaccinated. 30% say yes. among biden voters, 58%-10%. half of republican men say they're not going to take the vaccine. you had the psa with all the former presidents, except one, president trump, in there. do you think he needs to be enlisted here at all to get his voters to take this vaccine? >> chuck, i hope he does, because the numbers that you gave are so disturbing, how such a large proportion of a certain group of people would not want to get vaccinated merely because of political consideration. it makes absolutely no sense. and i've been saying that for so long. we've got to dissociate political persuasion from what's common-sense, no-brainer public health things. the history of vaccinology has rescued us from smallpox, from polio, from measles, from all of the other diseases. what is the problem here? this is a vaccine that is going to be life-saving for millions of people. how some groups would not want to do it for reasons that i just don't understand. i mean, i just can't comprehend what the reason for that is, when you have a vaccine that's 94%-95% effective, and it is very safe. i just don't get it. >> hopefully, your words here will help on that front. let me talk about the astrazeneca vaccine. it is not one we've approved in this country, but there are astrazeneca vaccines that are ready to go, that can go to other countries that have approved it. we know europe is dying for some more vaccines. president biden is not ready to release it yet. why? >> you know, chuck, i think there's a misunderstanding there. there isn't this whole backlog of vaccines that are ready to go somewhere, into somebody's arms, either here or overseas. i think people are getting the wrong impression about that. the president has made it clear that, obviously, the first preference, because of the extraordinary suffering that we've had with over half a million deaths thus far, that we want to make sure that people in the united states are covered, but it's very clear that he fully has the intention of getting vaccines shipped to other parts of the world that don't have the resources that we do, and we've already made the commitment for $4 billion that would go to covax. so, i think people might be getting the wrong impression that we're holding back doses, which we really are not. >> well, then, what are we going to do with these doses? >> well, there aren't a lot of them. i think people think that there are a lot of doses. i mean, i don't know exactly how many, but they're not anything that's going to be major impact. there will be, but not right now. >> okay. and quickly, we know president biden said backyard gatherings. i've got a staffer or two that wants this question asked of you, and i'm sure they're not alone, which is, why can people plan an indoor wedding? >> you know, that's a good question, and i think that's going to be within a reasonable period of time -- >> this calendar year? >> you notice what the cdc is doing? they gave -- excuse me? i didn't hear what you said, chuck. >> this calendar year? >> what time of the year? you know, i can't give you that exact date because it's going to absolutely depend. and this gets back to our conversation a minute or two ago. it's going to depend on the level of infection in community. if we plateau and stay at 60,000 a day and go up with a peak, i mean, you can make no prediction. if we keep going down and get to a very, very low level, when we're there and we have a good proportion of the people vaccinated, i think you're going to see weddings in the normal way that we've seen, and within a reasonable period of time. but there's always the caveat that it's not going to happen, if all of a sudden, you have a surge. >> so, be careful in the next month or two, for sure, anyway. dr. fauci, as always, sir, thank you for coming on, sharing your expertise with us and viewers. >> thank you for having me, chuck. when we come back, republican state legislators are proposing restrictive, new voting laws. democrats in washington are trying to expand voting access. the battle over our democracy is next. e battle over our democracs next dor? secret aluminum free helps eliminate odor instead of just masking it. and is made with 3x more odor fighters. with secret, keep it fresh every day. secret. don't settle for products that give you a sort of white smile. try new crest whitening emulsions for 100% whiter teeth. its highly active peroxide droplets swipe on in seconds. better. faster. 100% whiter teeth. crestwhitesmile.com introducing the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it's the most comfortable, body-sensing, automatically-responding, energy-building, dually-adjustable, dad-powering, wellness-boosting, foot-warming, snore-relieving, temperature-balancing, recovery-assisting, effortlessly life-changing, proven quality night's sleep we've ever made. and now, save up 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over our democracy. republicans have proposed more than 250 laws in 45 states designed to limit mail-in, early, in-person voting and even election-day voting, and republicans may have the power to achieve these goals. they hold legislative majorities and governorships, as you can see here, in 24 states, and they have proposed some restrictive election laws in 22 of them. the bills would likely have the effect of curtailing the early vote methods used primarily this past election by democratic voters and shift more voting to election day when recently republican voters have dominated. all told, the bills amount to greatest effort to reduce ballot access, particularly for african-americans, since the jim crow era. among the states considering the changes, five that joe biden turned blue last year -- wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, arizona, and georgia. all have republican legislatures, by the way. and the three large states he lost by less than five points, texas, north carolina and florida, also republican legislatures. republicans insist they're trying to eliminate voter fraud, inspired in part by former president trump's false claims that, somehow, this last election was stolen. democrats say it is all a cover for an effort to elect republicans by limiting democratic voters' access to the polls. >> it smells like jim crow laws in the past. this smells like poll taxing. this smells like voter suppression. >> this bill is about reviewing a process that we saw flawed. >> in georgia this week, the state senate approved a measure that would eliminate no-excuse absentee voting, among other changes, undoing a 2005 republican-backed law. the republican lieutenant governor geoff duncan boycotted the debate, watching it from his office. >> it certainly didn't feel good to put a space between myself and my senate colleagues, but i felt like it was the right thing to do. sometimes, you know, leadership is lonely. >> the georgia house passed a sweeping bill that includes provisions that would limit early voting hours on weekends and restrict the use of drop boxes for mail-in ballots. >> people died. people were blooded. people marched and fought for the right to vote. and this just takes us backwards. >> republican legislatures across the country are proposing the greatest reduction in voting access since the late 19th century, from arizona -- >> if you want to get nyquil, you've got to show an i.d. >> this bill hurts people of color! this bill hurts people in my district. >> to iowa, where governor kim reynolds signed legislation this week cutting the state's early voting period and closing the polls an hour earlier on election day. >> it was just a natural extension of what has happened where voters are asking for more, you know, election security. >> that big lie has been debunked. it has been debunked more than 100 times in courts of law. in iowa, republicans, heck, you won! you won big in 2020 here! >> in fact, the highest profile recent example of election fraud was in 2018. in north carolina, republican mark harris' ninth district campaign. >> if there's a single republican party county meeting going on where they're still talking about election fraud and conspiracy theories, they're losing ground. >> there's a false narrative that you either care about access to the ballot or you care about integrity of the election. that's a false choice. >> in florida, where the legislature is racing to add new voting restrictions, a new poll shows most floridians, including a majority of republicans, want them to make voting easier. two-thirds of voters support adding more early voting days to the calendar. >> there's nothing that's shortening the period by which people can vote early does to combat any perceived fraud. there's nothing that closing polls earlier on election day does to prevent fraud. it's really just cover for what they're really trying do, which is make it harder to vote. >> in response, democrats in the house have passed sweeping voting rights legislation. it stands little chance in the senate under its current rules, where it would need ten republican votes. republicans argue, it's unconstitutional, saying it shifts the responsibility for regulating elections from the states to congress. >> everything about this bill is rotten to the core. this is a bill as if written and held by the devil, himself. >> georgia is ground zero for this battle over our democracy, and joining me now are stacey abrams, founder of fair fight, a group that promotes voting rights, and the republican lieutenant governor of abrams' home state of georgia, geoff duncan. welcome to both of you. i want to begin with ms. abrams. and i want to start with the issue of hr-1. the house has passed this bill. the reality is, it's not going to overcome the senate filibuster. so i guess my question for you is, do you think it's that democrats should pair down hr-1, focus it on all things voting rights and voter access, or is it the focus should be on eliminating the filibuster? >> i think the focus should be on protecting our democracy. we know that january 6th was the opening salvo in an attempt to roll us back to jim crow era. we are watching seven times the number of bills permeating across state legislatures than occurred in 2020 during election year. and we know that this u.s. senate, much like the u.s. mouse, has the sole responsibility under the elections clause of the u.s. constitution to regulate the time, place, and manner of elections. that is something that we have to accomplish. it would be best if it was done in concert with republicans, as we have in times past, when we had to confront our demons and do better by our people, and my deep hope is that we can get it done. but i would say that an exemption to the filibuster for the purposes of protecting our democracy is not only logical, it is fundamental to who we are. >> have you personally talked with joe manchin or kyrsten sinema about this specific angle of suspending the filibuster? >> i have not, but i believe that these conversations are ongoing amongst the number of senators. look, i understand wanting to protect the institution. i served as minority leader for seven years. but i also understand that there were times where we had to look at the fundamentals of our processes and do what was right. and we know the senate has done so to suspend the filibuster for the purposes of judicial appointments, for cab meat appointments and budget reconciliation. i would say protection of the fundamentals of our democracy, which we have seen bloodily debated through the january 6th insurrection, certainly counts. and when you look at the 253 bills moving through state legislatures, sadly, 50 of them through georgia, itself, we know now is the time for congress to take up the role that it, alone, has, which is to regulate the time, place, and manner of elections. >> i want you to respond to something jennifer rubin wrote in the "washington post," specifically about hr-1. she writes, "the legislation's only hope, and it is a slim one, rests with democrats' willingness to pair down the measure to match the nature of the current assault on voting rights. if democrats remove issues that will be used as a pretext for opposition, they can make this a clear up-or-down issue on voter suppression. are you for or against jim crow laws?" i will note, you didn't directly answer my first question about hr-1 and about the decision, should it be paerd down. there are other provisions that while may be noble and good ideas, are not as directly about the issue of access to the ballot box by individual voters. what do you think of that solution? do you think democrats should be thinking about a pared down version of this bill? >> i believe democrats should do their level best to pass laws that protect our democracy. and i'm not being evasive. but i'm telling you, we have to pay attention to the whole of our democracy and defend and protect that democracy. that means doing the work necessary to ensure that every american who is eligible to vote can do so. i am not in the u.s. senate. i have served in a body, a legislative body where everything is up for grabs and everything is on the table, but i'm not going to presuppose anything, other than the responsibility that congress has, because we have an a-priority issue. the senate has to believe it has a responsibility and the ability to act. and that is why my focus is on making certain that the exemption to the filibuster be the necessary front-and-center conversation so we can get something done to protect our democracy. >> if that doesn't happen, what is your next hope of trying to prevent some of these radical changes that are being proposed around the country? >> i'm not going to give up hope that something will happen, but i will tell you that fair fight was born of a time when we knew nothing was happen at the federal level and we were able to mitigate voter suppression across 20 states, in part by raising awareness amongst voters. as lieutenant governor duncan said, himself, right now these bills are trying to solve a problem that they have yet to identify. this is not about protecting the right to vote. in the state of georgia, the secretary of state and the governor spent great amounts of time and their political reputations defending the integrity of our elections, and therefore, these bills are nothing more than a pretext for returning to jim crow and stopping voters they don't want to hear from. and my belief is that voters across this country, when they see that their right to vote is being thwarted, will do what they can to push back. but they shouldn't have to fight on their own. that's why we elected a congress. that's why we have a constitution. and that is why congress should be held to account for defending our democracy. >> if the georgia legislature and these proposals get through the legislature and it's signed into law by the governor, if these restrictions were put in place before 2020, would democrats have carried georgia in either the presidential or the two senate races? >> i will tell you that we would have worked just as hard to eliminate those acts of voter suppression as we did to eliminate the ones that existed in 2018. we were able to mitigate that harm in 2020 and we will continue to fight. the reality is, voters when they see that people are attacking their right to vote, we respond, and we respond with a fury that is borne of urgency. we would not have the american rescue plan that is going to lift 171,000 children in georgia out of poverty, will serve millions of americans and lift them out of poverty. that's something that would not happen but for the right to vote. and so, i refuse to countenance other than the deepest commitment to defending our democracy through fairfight.com and the work that other organizes are doing. >> this has become a big national fight for you, but i am curious, are you still thinking about running for governor in georgia in 2022? >> my focus is on making sure we have elections in 2022. and that means that we have to defend our democracy against all enemies, foreign, and certainly, the domestic enemies we see permeating, and unfortunately, populating our state legislatures, trying hard to restrict access to vote, trying to make certain that people of color and young people cannot participate fully in our democracy, which is the least democratic thing i can imagine in this moment. >> and if we do have elections in 2022? >> then i'll be doing my best to make sure they're fair and available. >> will you be on the ballot? >> i'm focusing on our democracy and i'll make other decisions after we've gotten that work done. >> fair enough. stacey abrams, appreciate you coming on, sharing your perspective with us. thank you. >> thank you. >> let me turn now to a person you just saw name-checked, georgia lieutenant governor geoff duncan. mr. lieutenant governor, thank you for coming on. and you were invoked, and you, yourself, have said this is a solution in search of a problem. let me put up some of these proposals in the georgia legislature. end no-excuse absentee voting, require more i.d. for absentee voting, limit weekend early voting, ban offering food and drinks to folks in line for voting restrict ballot drop boxes there. i know you're against the top one there, no-excuse absentee voting. are you against all of these changes? >> well, we actually have over 80 bills in the general assembly this year that are election-related. 21 of them are written by democrats. but there are some good ideas that have been put in place by democrats and republicans, but we passed bipartisan election reform bills two weeks ago in senate. but look, as you mentioned a second ago, there are a lot of solutions in search of a problem. republicans don't need election reform to win. we need leadership. i think there are millions of republicans waking up around the country that are realizing that donald trump's divisive tone and strategy is unwinnable in forward-looking elections. we need real leadership. we need new focus, a gop 2.0 that includes moderates in the middle to get us to the next election cycle. >> do you understand, when people hear that state legislatures want to restrict weekend voting, particularly sundays in the south, that it only seems to target african-american voters? do you understand why folks see that? >> yeah, absolutely. i'm very sensitive to that. and i'm one of those republicans that want more people to vote. i think our ideas help people. i think an overwhelming number of americans think that republicans are the best to be in charge of our economy, to be in charge of keeping our communities safe, in charge of keeping our nation safe. and so, with that, i hope more people vote, but we've got to have leadership in place that talks to real people and solves real problems. >> why do you think you're -- right now in your party, that that's a minority view, or at least the perception, certainly, when you look across the country in these state legislatures? republican legislature after legislature is talking about making it harder to vote. you're not, but why are you in the minority? >> yeah, i'm not certain. look, i'm going to stay focused on doing the right thing. this started shortly after the november elections when all of the misinformation started flying up. and quite honestly, it hurt republicans. in any sort of conversation around election reform, we lost credibility. those were ten weeks we can't take back. january 6th was a pivot point for this country and for this party. and look, we've got four years to win back the white house. we're not going to do it with a divisive tone. we're not going to do it missing, you know, solving big problems for real people. if you're a single mom with three kids working two jobs, you don't care about democrats or republicans. you care about real solutions to your problems. that's what we need to be focused on. we're the party of solutions, and we need to make sure we stay focused on that over the next four years. >> will you urge governor kemp to veto these bills? >> well, you know, look, governor kemp and myself have been lockstep on the no-excuse absentee ballot being eliminated. we're going to work hard in the senate. i do think there is some calmer tones coming. i think there was some real conversations. obviously, i took a bold step, not standing as a presiding officer. it was really the only way i knew to express my disapproval of it, because i don't get a yes-or-no vote. but look, we're going to work hard. and like i said, i hope more people vote in georgia next election than this previous one. >> look, there's been some talk. i know stacey abrams' group has been trying to enlist some key corporate leaders in the state of georgia. you have the film industry there that can be a source of attention sometimes when it comes to some of these bills. it came up a few years ago when it came to those religious liberty bills that some folks had objected to. are you concerned about a backlash sort of against the state of georgia for this perception? >> i look at trying to capture voters' attention just like a competition. i want to compete for their vote. i want to compete and put big ideas forward. so, certainly, i think we need to continue to work hard. and you know, look, i love the fact that the film industry's here in georgia. we're not always going to agree on everything, but i think we could continue to put a great foot forward. look, georgia continues to be the number one state in the country to do business with. governor kemp has done an amazing job walking us through this pandemic, balancing lives and livelihoods. we have one of the lowest unemployment rates. these are things republicans should be talking about, not any sort of knee-jerk reaction to an election that quite honestly didn't work out our way. >> do you think the investigation into the possible interference by president trump to the voting in georgia, one, is a legitimate investigation, and two, is it something that you think should be carried through to the very end? and if the law says he committed a crime, then so be it? >> look, i was disgusted with that call when i first heard it. i mean, look, we had played for almost ten weeks with president trump and his entire apparatus attacking us here for running a fair and legal election. look, i'm going to stay out of the way of the law and let them do their job. and look, i think the best thing we can do is to continue to focus ahead on our jobs at hand. and district attorneys and lawyers and what not can do their job. >> you sound like somebody that may be running for a different office in 2022. are you a senate candidate? >> you know what, my family and i have talked about it, and we're not going to run for the u.s. senate seat. we're going to stay focused on being the lieutenant governor here in georgia. >> okay. >> and we're going to focus hard on trying to rebuild this party and refocus gop 2.0. >> dr. duncan, lieutenant governor, republican from georgia, thanks for coming on and sharing your perspective with us. i appreciate it. >> thanks, chuck. when we come back, more on the battle over our democracy. plus, president biden stakes his political capital on defeating this pandemic. the panel is next. defeating this pandemic. the panel is next. day with sec. secret stops sweat 3x more than ordinary antiperspirants. the new provitamin b5 formula is gentle on skin. with secret, outlast anything! no sweat. secret. 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(man) i'm a verizon engineer, part of the team that built 5g right, the only one from america's most reliable network. we designed our 5g to make the things you do every day better. with 5g nationwide, millions of people can now work, listen, and stream in verizon 5g quality. and in parts of many cities where people can use massive capacity, we have ultra wideband, the fastest 5g in the world. this is the 5g that's built for you. this is 5g built right. only from verizon. so you're a small business, or a big one. you were thriving, but then... oh. ah. okay. plan, pivot. how do you bounce back? you don't, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. powered by the largest gig speed network in america. but is it secure? sure it's secure. and even if the power goes down, your connection doesn't. so how do i do this? you don't do this. we do this, together. bounce forward, with comcast business. welcome back it. the panel is with us, chief washington correspondent hallie jackson, national affairs analyst and host of "the circus," john heilemann. maria teresa kumar, president of voto latino, and lanhee chen, a fellow at the hoover institution. i want to stick with our focus on voting rights here. we did some research, just the republican-controlled states that are considering voting restrictions. 11 have placed restrictions on mail-in voting. nine would create new barriers to casting mail-in ballots. nine would expand voter roll purges. eight would limit voter registration opportunities. and eight would implement stricter voter i.d. laws. maria teresa kumar, look, you run an organization about trying to get more people to the polls. is there any of this that you see is anything other than trying to prevent people from voting? i think you're on mute. i think you're on mute there, maria. >> of course i am. >> there we go. go ahead. >> it's like the lieutenant governor said, that the purpose of the republican party and of the democratic party should be battling this idea -- should be battling policy ideas. but instead, the republican party has picked up their marbles and gone home. these voter suppression laws are not new. when the supreme court gutted the voting rights act back in 2013, 22 jurisdictions within less than three weeks, chuck, provided more voter suppression laws. and not surprisingly, they were in the south, they were in places where we saw a growth of african-american, young latinos, and young people in general. so, georgia's in the battle of a lifetime not just for the soul of georgia, but for the soul of america. we recognize that in the last election, there were 12 million more young voters than baby boomers. two-thirds of them were young people of color. we're seeing people compete for the vote in the democratic party, but we're not seeing that in the republican party. 81% of folks that voted republican this past election were white. they're not going to be able to grow their party unless they battle ideas. but instead, they are creating restrictions in voting access. it's becoming incredibly an undemocratic process. and that's why we need to make sure that there's presence, make sure that there is a way to solve and apply the hr-1 act that stacey abrams was speaking of. >> lanhee chen, is there any way of looking at these attempts and defending them? is the entire republican message on sort of voter integrity been essentially eviscerated by these attempts to curtail mail-in voting? >> well, i think that's the problem, chuck, is that fundamentally, if your party appears to stand against more people participating, that's probably not going to be a popular message at the end of the day. i do think this, that if you believe fundamentally the constitution gives states the right to control their elections and their election processes, then you really ought to be focused on trying to figure out ways at the state level to make it easier for people to participate. that would offensivate the need for legislation like hr-1 at the federal level, which i agree is a federal takeover, is a federal approach, but then you can't at state level, too, be opposed to these things. so, i think republicans have to pick their fights. for example, ballot harvesting, this idea that one person can return many absentee practice, that's one specific practice republicans may want to go after. but fundamentally, the message of, yeah, we just want to make it harder to vote, i don't think that will play well with time. >> hallie jackson, it was interesting to me that stacey abrams essentially wouldn't get into the details of hr-1. there is internal washington debate -- is this bill too much of a press release bill and not enough focused on what can possibly get passed or not? i found that interesting that she didn't want to engage in that. and i know some national democrats are afraid in engaging in that for fear that some of the base won't like hearing that maybe hr-1's maybe not the best bill to try to get passed. >> i was struck by the same point, chuck, in your interview with stacey abrams, who's obviously been on the forefront of a lot of this, because it really is coming down to two options. as you cricketly note, hr-1 is headed towards, frankly, a buzz saw in the senate, right? and i think people understand that. there are democrats i've been talking to, sources who point out that, yes, we need to push an idea of some exception to the filibuster just for the issue of voting rights, these laws. congressman clyburn has been vocal about that. there is more and more discussion and speculation about that, which stacey abrams i think noted and said, we don't want to think about pairing down hr-1, until we get past the filibuster issue, until we see where that is. at the end of the day, though -- and republicans are clear in their arguments, and it's to lanhee's point here -- they believe it is overstepping what the federal branch -- the congress has the authority to do. >> right. >> but if there is not political support for it, it doesn't really go anywhere. so, democrats may have to be confronted with this kind of a hard choice. what do you take out of hr-1, what do you leave in, and how do you try to get it over the finish line to make it more palatable, chuck? >> john heilemann, does washington end up doing something before 2022 or not? >> chuck, just to go back to your very first question, let's just be clear about this in this case about these bills. 293 of them, i think, at the state level right now, trying to restrict voting access. >> we just had an election, by the way. >> it is donald trump that created -- yes, exactly. in an election that scared republicans because, you know, donald trump came out, that great political sear and truth-teller, donald trump came out and said it on the air last year -- if we continue to have a lot of people voting and voting access gets broader, republicans will never win again. he laid it on the table. and i think that's the only motivation driving republicans who previously, as you know, chuck, benefited from absentee voting, benefited from mail-in voting, but in this last election, they didn't, and now they're trying to restrict voting. what's going to happen on hr-1 comes down to this question. i think there is a broader question of filibuster reform. as you know, joe manchin kind of opened the door to the possibility of filibuster reform. you've got the pressure coming from clyburn on this specific issue. and you can see that, really, the question -- the answer to your question about before 2022 is, where does joe biden and the white house come down on this? because as of right now, it seems to me that the white house right now is more reluctant to try to press on filibuster reform than even joe manchin is in the senate. and it was previously seen as joe manchin was the lock you had to pick. it seems like manchin has opened the door so the ball is back in joe biden's court and we're waiting to see what white house has to say about this. >> hallie jackson, you want to chime in here? >> i was subtly indicating, yeah, because i think john's making an important point here, chuck. i would say, as it relates to president biden, i just had this conversation actually this morning with somebody, with a white house official, on the idea of what is the president going to do, not just about the filibuster, but about specifically more muscular support for something like hr-1? obviously, he has come out in statements about it. i will say, there is a possibility, i would say likely an expectation that he speaks about it when he is in georgia later on this week. it is obviously a key issue in georgia, as you just talked about and did that segment about. and i think that president biden will be all but certain to address it in georgia, given the political pressures around it this week. >> very quickly, maria teresa. joe biden hasn't been very loud on hr-1. do you think that's because he's worried how it would pass? >> i think it's because he knows he doesn't have the votes, unless there's a way to grandfather and suspend the filibuster for this. that is the point. and so, he right now wants to make sure that he's putting as many points on the board that he's winning. but chuck, let's not forget that you had 139 republicans that voted against certifying the electoral college, the votes, even though we saw the courts, we saw republican secretaries of states saying this election was not fraudulent, that it was legitimate. coming up, i'm going to pause it here. coming up, the flood of democrats now calling for new york governor andrew cuomo to resign. stay with us on that one. cuomo resign stay with us on that one eliminate odor instead of just masking it. and is made with 3x more odor fighters. with secret, keep it fresh every day. secret. don't settle for products that give you a sort of white smile. try new crest whitening emulsions for 100% whiter teeth. its highly active peroxide droplets swipe on in seconds. better. faster. 100% whiter teeth. crestwhitesmile.com overspending on a retinol cream? just one jar of olay retinol24 hydrates better than the $100 retinol cream. for smooth, bright skin or your money back. olay. face anything. and try new retinol24 max. welcome back. we want to note the passing of a very familiar face to many of us in the news business. roger mudd spent two decades reporting for cbs news, covering everything from congress to the civil rights movement to watergate. >> good evening. the nixon presidency is virtually being overtaken by events tonight. >> in a long career, he is best known for asking a question that senator ted kennedy simply couldn't answer, wounding kennedy's presidential campaign before it had even started. >> why do you want to be president? >> well, i'm -- um -- >> and it only got worse from there. when mudd was passed over as the replacement for walter cronkite at cbs, he joined us here at nbc news and briefly co-anchored "nbc nightly news" with another familiar face, tom brokaw. and for a while, he moderated this program, "meet the press." mudd finished his career at pbs and then the history channel. roger mudd was 93. are you one of the millions of americans who experience occasional bloating, gas, or abdominal discomfort? 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[♪♪] think you need to buy expensive skincare products to see dramatic results? try olay skin care. just one jar of micro-sculpting cream has the hydrating power of 5 jars of a prestige cream, which helps plump skin cells and visibly smooth wrinkles. while new olay retinol24... provides visibly smoother, brighter skin. for dramatic skincare results, try olay. and now receive 25% off your purchase at olay.com brand power. helping you buy better. introducing the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it's the most comfortable, body-sensing, automatically-responding, energy-building, dually-adjustable, dad-powering, wellness-boosting, foot-warming, snore-relieving, temperature-balancing, recovery-assisting, effortlessly life-changing, proven quality night's sleep we've ever made. and now, save up to $500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. plus, 0% interest for 48 months & free premium delivery when you add a base. ends monday. welcome back. panel is back. and the number of democrats calling for andrew cuomo's resignation only grows in new york. john heilemann, schumer and gillibrand the latest. basically, the only prominent democrats not calling for the resignation outside of the state of new york, i guess, at this point, are the president and the vice president. i don't know how cuomo hangs on, other than -- that doesn't mean he still won't try to hang on. how does this end? >> oh, chuck, well, i think there are a lot of things in play here. one of them is, what else is out there? and every major news organization that i know of right now has a team of people trying to push this story further, and there are a lot of hot leads out there. let's put it that way. i think, you know, the other thing that's true is cuomo is totally dug in. i think the likelihood of cuomo resigning is close to zero. and i think, you know, he is following right now, uncomfortably for a lot of democrats, he's following what is seen now as the trump precedent. you know, if you are determined enough, you are shameless enough, you can hold on. and so, the questions then just become, does he actually get impeached? does he actually get thrown out? and i think that's going to be -- a large question around that is going to be, what additional evidence comes out over the coming -- maybe enough now, but there's going to be a large question about what else unfolds over the next couple weeks. >> it does seem like he's forcing that. i'm glad you brought up trump there a minute, john. lanhee, i want you to respond to what tim miller wrote. "dunking on cuomo's demise requires that the other party has standards and lays bare, once again, the cravenness of the excuse-making for trump that kept the lights on for the past five years." there are a lot of conservative media acolytes and propagandists who look happy on cuomo's downfall, but seem to not be self-reflective. >> i think you have to call out bad behavior, regardless of whether it's perpetrated by a republican, or in this case with cuomo, perpetrated by a democrat. this shouldn't be a partisan issue, and i think republicans have to acknowledge that over the last couple years, and starting with that 2016 campaign, there were things that were done by trump, and now in this case, being done by cuomo, that look very, very similar. but i think, chuck, it speaks to a bigger problem we have in many states in this country, which is what happens when you have one party in charge for too long. it creates a toxic environment, an environment that lacks accountability. you see it in new york. by the way, it's the same sort of factors that are fueling the potential recall of gavin newsom here in california. it's what happens when you don't have people standing up and saying, this is going wrong and standing up earlier, being willing to talk about, for example, the culture of toxicity we see in cuomo and in other states. >> maria teresa, you know, i think plenty of democrats are now speaking out about cuomo, but what does it say if shame doesn't work now for cuomo? shame hasn't worked for trump. shame not gonna work for cuomo? >> well, i think what john was saying is absolutely on the nose, that trump has let -- basically, moved the goal post of what is proper and what isn't. and i think that unless there is a massive recall for impropriety by the new york voters, he won't step down. i think he's doubling down, unless something worse comes down, down the pipe. but i would encourage us to not equivocate what has been documented with andrew cuomo compared to what is happening and trying to grapple with, with gavin newsom during his recall. his recall is trying to figure out how do you work better under a pandemic and disaster? cuomo has allegations not just on the nursing home front, but personal allegations of sexual harassment, which should not be okay in any type of work environment. >> hallie jackson, the white house has obviously tried to stay out of this, understandably. no white house wants to step into something on this that they -- but at some point, you know, schumer and gillibrand aren't enough to get schumer to listen. there's going to be a point. biden can't avoid this question whenever and neither can kamala harris. >> well, although they might be able to avoid it until, for example, the first news conference that the president holds, right? i think it is highly unlikely that the white house, that president biden steps into this in and of his own accord, unless directly pressed or directly asked about this. i think there is increasing talk or at least some talk among national democrats that perhaps, perhaps governor cuomo could take some of the political heat off himself if he were to say he would not, for example, run again in 2022. not that that would solve the issue or make it go away. i had a conversation, i was trying to understand why friday was the day that seemed to be the tipping point and congresswoman grace meng, who called for his resignation on friday, said she had seen what was happening on the local level, where the state lawmakers were, the pressure being put on cuomo, the dissatisfaction, the way that impeachment inquiry seemed likely to be headed, and that for her is what made that decision. and that's when you saw this slew of lawmakers on friday came out on that point, chuck. >> i also wondered, john heilemann, when andrew cuomo used the phrase cancel culture, i thought, oh, really? now you're going to use -- you're going to use a fox talking point to defend yourself? and you think democrats are going to stick by you? seemed like to be a really poor choice of words. >> well, yeah, chuck. i mean, again, it's another page from the trump playbook. but it's also cog nannette, i think in andrew's mind, the governor's mind, that new york is a democratic state, but there are big chunks of new york that are not as liberal as people assume new york is. and i think the governor knows he's lost the congressional delegation. he's obviously lost the left. he's obviously lost -- he's not lost gillibrand and schumer. he's lost everybody. he's making a bid to try to go to essentially the republican voters of the state to keep his numbers at a place where he can -- and the broader, kind of more moderate democrats, to push this off and say, look, let's have a process here, and just try to ride this out and hope that he can survive, at least so he can finish this term and have stayed in office at least as long as his father did. that's important in the governor's mind. >> it was amazing to read today, he has no place to go, no apartment, no house, only the governor's mansion. >> amazing. >> you guys were terrific, a terrific panel. that's all we have for today. thank you for watching. we'll be back next week, because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." our next guest, senator john barrasso, argues that it will overheat the economy and fuel inflation. what's your response? >> i totally disagree. the fact is, it is strongly bipartisan across the country. it's only in the congress of the united states where the republicans have refused to meet the needs of the american people, where they didn't vote, as i said, vote no and take the dough. you can be sure that all of those states and communities will be benefiting from this and they won't be complaining about it back home. >> house speaker nancy pelosi and top democrats out promoting the covid relief package as

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