all but one of the women killed were asian. the suspect was apprehended and taken into custody late last night and charged today with eight counts of murder. law enforcement said he has admitted to the shootings and police told him he has a sex adiction and why he said he killed all of those women working in the spas, because he wanted to eliminate his temptation for his adiction. police say he gave them no indication the killings were racially motivated. police captain in the cherokee county sheriff's department. when he discussed the suspect's explanation, he told reporters it was because the suspect was having a bad day yesterday. that is what he said as if that was an explanation for why the young man murdered eight people. the police captain said yesterday was a really bad day for him and that is what he did. the remarks imply that having a bad day is the explanation we need for what the murderer did. those remarks were met with an immediate backlash given the nature of the crime and shortly thereafter discovered the same police captain, himself, promoted racist, anti-asian coronavirus slogans online. this is a since deleted post from the police captain's facebook account saying how much he loves the new t-shirt he got. the shirt says covid-19, imported virus from china. that is the guy who just said the guy was having a bad day. as to whether it is charged as a hate crime, the fbi said today they are prepared to investigate the murders as a federal matter if information comes to light as a potential civil rights violation. we shall see. regardless of what the suspect says his motivation was or how police characterize it. regardless of what the investigation may find, it is impossible to divorce these murders from the backdrop of raddicically increasing attacks against asian americans. one nonprofit that tracks these things says there has been nearly 3800 incidents just in the last year in the united states. michele is a state senator in georgia, the first asian woman to serve as a senator in the state and told the "washington post" that last night's shooting took place in a landscape where asian americans are increasingly terrified and fearful for lives and safety because of the escalating threats against our people. now we have a woman of black and south asian descent sitting in one of the highest positions of power in the country. kamala harris is the first female vice president, the first black and south asian vice president and spoke a little bit today about how speculation on the motive of the shooter right now is a little besides the point in terms of the impact of the killings on the asian-american community, regardless of what the killer does or doesn't say or explain about the murders. >> we don't know. we are not clear about the motive. i do want to say to the asian american community we stand with you and understand how it has frightened and shocked and outraged all people. but knowing the increasing level of hate crime against the asian american brothers and sisters, we want to speak out in solidarity with them and acknowledge that none of us should ever be silent in the form of any hate. >> the vice president kamala harris on the horrific mass shooting at three sites in the atlanta metro area last night. just a few minutes we will be joined live by senator warnock. when a newly elected senator makes his or her first speech on the senate floor, it is a landmark for the senator and a lot of senators turn out to see these things when they happen. senator warnock started his maiden speech with a prayer for the families of those killed in the atlanta attacks. active peace that prevents these tragic eds. he sort of ad-libbed ahead of his prepared remarks. you are reminded this is not just any new senator. maiden speeches are a big deal. the new senator is also the senior pastor at the baptist church in atlanta. the church where dr. martin luther king jr. preached. the congregation of john lewis who left us last year. the 2021 redrafting of the voting rights act is named this year. john lewis' pastor at ebenezer baptist. no. this wasn't like any other maiden speech you heard in the senate. it is something. it is really something to have a pastor with that kind of experience and talent take the floor of the senate as if it is a pulpit. my dear friend who i worked with now for more than a decade. somebody that watches the congress more closely and with intense focus on the details than any other living person i know who is not a member of the congress. after senator warnock gave the speech today he wrote to say that in his lifetime he never has seen a better maiden speech in the senate. i am going to play some of it for you now. you probably saw quotes and you heard that it happened. it is the kind of moment that can potentially move things or move the proverbial needle, and in this case on the vote and on the lie that the last election was stolen and we must respond to the lie with a material change with the right to vote. just watch this. i will just tell you. you will thank me. if approximate you are doing the dishes or have the show on in the background. do yourself a favor. pause me for a minute if you need time to settle down. just take a second. sit down for a second and watch this. i think you will be glad you did. >> i was honored on a few occasions to stand with my hero and parishioner. john lewis. i was his pastor but i am clear that he was my mentor. on more than one occasion we boarded buses together after sunday church services as part of our souls to the polls program encouraging the ebenezer church family and communities of faith to participate in the democratic process. now a few month after the congressman's death, there are those in the georgia legislature, some who even dared to praise his name who are now trying to get rid of sunday souls to the polls. making it a crime for people to get on a bus together in order to vote together. i think that is wrong. as a matter of fact i think that a vote is a kind of a prayer. they are part of a long and shameful history in georgia and throughout the nation. but refusing to be denied. georgia citizens, brave the heat and the cold and the rain. some standing in line for five, six, ten hours in order to execute their right to vote. young, old, sick people. working people. already under paid, forced to lose wages. to pay a kind of poll tax while standing in line to vote. they are trying to make it a crime to give people water and a snack lines made longer by their draconian actions. think about that. they are the ones making the lines lines longer. then they want to make it a crime to bring grandma water while she is waiting in a line that they are making longer. this is democracy in reverse. some politicians did not and rather than justing their agenda, rather than changing their message. they are busy trying to change the rules. we are witnessing now a massive and unabashed assault on voting rights unlike 250 voter suppression bills have been introduced all around the country. new hampshire to florida. using the big lie of voter fraud. the day after my election. elected georgia's first african-american and jewish senator. hours later, the capitol was assaulted. we see in just a few precious hours the tension. very much alive in the soul of america. and the question before us at every moment is what will we do to push us in the right direction. surely there ought to be at least 60. that believe the four most powerful words uttered in the democracy are the people have spoken. we must ensure that all of the people can speak. if not we must still pass voting rights. the right to vote is preservative of all other rights and not just another issue. it is foundational. it is a reason why any of us have the privilege of standing here in the first place. it is about out of many, one. in above all else, must be protected. so, as i close and nobody believes a preacher when he says as i close. let me say that as a man of faith, i believe that democracy is the political enactment of a spiritual idea. the notion that we all have in us a spark of the divine. like so many women not mentioned enough, gassed on the same bridge. a white woman killed. murdered in his own drive way. two yous and a african-american standing up for their sacred idea of democracy also paid the ultimate price. and we in this body would be stopped and stymied by partisan politics. short-term political gain. senate procedure. i say let's get this done no matter what. i urge my colleagues to pass the two bills, strengthen and lengthen the cords of democracy as the premier voice for freedom-loving people and democratic movements all over the world. and when the future for all of our children. mr. president, i yield the floor. >> the u.s. senator from the great state of georgia, the reverend raphael warnock. you rarely hear applause like that. the speech ending in a thunderous round of applause. if that is what debate and deliberation regularly sounded like in the senate, boy it would be a different country than we are and a lot more people would run for office than they do. that idea, that the fight for voting rights is the latest battle in a long war for democracy. one that is now fought in this crucible of the violent right wing attack on the capitol ten weeks ago today ats it core was an objection and a rejection of democracy, a refusal to accept the results of an election in which the voters chose to oust the last president and install a new one. the intelligence community assesses that domestic violence extremists pose an elevated threat in 2021. enduring extremist motivations with biases towards minority populations and perceived government overreach will drive mobilization to violence. newer developments like narratives of fraud in the recent general election may embolden the impact, conditions related to the covid-19 pandemic and conspiracy theories promoting violence will certainly spur some to try to engage in violence in the united states this week. the justification for the capitol attack. those things will almost certainly drive domestic violence extremists to commit more violent acts in our country this year. almost certainly from the intelligence community. fox brought on president trump to continue to say he won the 2020 election. he said our supreme court didn't have the courage to overturn elections. director of national intelligence says it will lead to more violence. republicans in the states are running with the idea. that there was unprovable and definitely bad fraud in the election. no matter every time their feelings and vague allegations on those. any time it is tested, it is just a didisaster for them. that if they would just recount the votes in a different way, they would find all of the fraud allowing joe biden to falsely win the election in arizona when donald trump must have won and no matter how many audits they did the zone republican party kept pushing on with the lawsuit. here is how it came to an end this week from the judge's ruling. the plaintiff's lawsuit was groundless. the plf, the arizona republican party is gas lighting. the first amendment does not give a litigant the right to file and maintain a groundless lawsuit. it has failed to do so in this case. filing a groundless lawsuit in bad faith the judge ordered to pay the attorneys' fees for the other side. judge says this is a final order. every lawsuit republicans has filed. vague feelings without evidence. not all of these court cases forced the defendants to pay the judges' legal fees. failing with dozens of efforts like that to throw out or to reverse the results of the last election, republicans are taking up all sorts of bills, trying to make it as hard as possible for people to vote in the next election. arizona, iowa, georgia, texas, every state where republicans are in charge. rn lawmakers are drafting hundreds of bills to restrict the voting rights. voter suppression bills. last week on the show we spoke with latasha brown. calling on the business community to take a stand against the new voter suppression legislation passed by republicans in the state legislature there. urging georgia voters to contact ceos and let them know we expect them to support georgia voters like we support them. to use their power and muscle to turn back the republican bills and make voting harder. first a generic statement supporting free and fair elections and then they said they -- although the chamber would not say specifically what they opposed. big companies like coca-cola and home depot then told the "washington post" they were aligned with the chamber of commerce on the issue. home depot called back to clarify saying what they said does not mean they are opposed to the new roll backs the republicans are moving through the state. voting rights advocates are not having this is aing now that the platitudes should make every voter furious. they want legitimate and muscular support to turn back the bills that will otherwise pass. the big business community is feeling the pressure. just steamrolling ahead with this stuff. we are seeing versions of that in every state. in every republican controlled state. going everywhere republicans are trying to rip up voting rights. the bill that passed the house, the for the people act. the same one introduced in the senate today. s1. senate bill one. the brennan center, they just put out a new report on what it would do. as of february 19th, more than 253 bills restricting voting access have been filed in 43 states and the number is rising. the brennan center has analyzed each of the restrictive voting bills pending in the states and concludes the for the people act would thwart every one of the bills in the states. it would put a floor on voting rights. advanced and guaranteed, full stop, nationwide. now it is in the senate. the colead sponsor of the bill, senator raphael warnock of georgia. 50 democrats in the senate. 49 of the 50 are signed on as co-sponsors of the bill. the only one that isn't is joe manchin. even if he would vote for it, which would assure 50 votes republican will use the filibuster to stop it from passing. sometimes he is open to reforming the filibuster. other times not at all open. chuck schumer today said on this show monday night that this bill to protect voting rights must pass. whatever happens with the filibuster. he said that for this bill and for voting rights failure is not an option. senator warnock today in the maiden speech for the ages said essentially the same thing but in language in his way sounded a bit more like prayer. surely there ought to be believe like i do. the people have spoken and we must ensure that all of the people can speak. if not. we must still pass voting rights. the right to vote is preservative of all other rights. not just another issue. it is foundational and the reason why any of us have the privilege of standing here in the first place. it must be corrected. yes. but how. what is the path? senator raphael warnock joins us next. path senator raphael warnock joins us next [music: "i swear"] jaycee tried gain flings for the first time the other day... and forgot where she was. you can always spot a first time gain flings user. ♪ it was a life changing moment for me. i had no idea that my grandfather was a federal judge in guatemala. he was an advocate for the people... a voice for the voiceless. bring your family history to life like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com for nearly a decade, comcast has been helping students get ready. we've connected 4 million low-income students to low- cost, high-speed xfinity internet. we're working with hundreds of school districts across the country to sponsor free internet and laptops. and parents are seeing an impact. and now we're turning 1,000 community centers into lift zones - wifi enabled safe spaces to study. so more students can be ready for anything. i'm trying to do some homework here. >> at the time of my birth, georgia's two senators were richard b. russell and herman e. townrich. adversaries of the civil rights movement. the former governor declared that the south loves the negro in his place. his place is at the backdoor. once asked how he and his supporters will keep black people away from the polls. he picked up a scrap of paper and wrote a single word on it, pistols. americans of all races stood up. to lengthen and strengthen the cords of our democracy. i now hold the senate seat where herman townrich sat. >> georgia senator raphael warnock he made a forceful argument to beat back an avalanche of republican led suppression bills. senator, i believe you have an unfair advantage when it comes to maiden speeches. you are accustomed to holding the attention of your congregants at the ebenezer baptist church. i have to ask if you were surprised by the applause you got at the end of the speech. >> well, i am honored by the response of my colleagues. those worshiping and holding those services now. what i am looking forward to is the legislative response of those in the chamber today and republican colleagues as well. we have to pass voting rights. it is urgent. the very foundation upon which we can seek to do all of the other important things that need to be done. >> tell me how you see that happening in practical terms. obviously you reckoned with that a little bit today in your speech, talking about the senate filibuster rule and how the senate procedure can't be used. we can't restrict minority rules, minority rights in society with a rule that is designed to protect minority rights in the senate. how do you see it practically going? how do you imagine the victory here? >> well, listen rachel. i know there is a big debate going on about the filibuster. we will have to confront that issue head on. but my argument today was this. voting rights is bigger than the filibuster issue. whether we get rid of the filibuster or not. we have to pass voting rights. we have to give the people their own voice in their own democracy. and we will see what path that takes. people ask if you should get rid of the bill fufter or not. it is really on those in the chamber that haven't decided to support voting rights. they could vote it up or vote for it. that is the case that i was trying to make. because i think really what is at stake is the viability and the health and the credibility of our democracy. one person, one vote. that is what is under assault in georgia and other states. as we stood up in the 1960s to pass federal legislation to say that we are one country and that this is the foundation upon which the country is built. we are a democratic republic. we have to do that right now. and there is a path to do it. to do otherwise would be a terrible dereliction of our duty. if we don't protect our democracy in the united states senate for what is the body of the senate for? >> i don't know very much right now about what the working life of what a u.s. senator is like. i think it changes with every senate. i think it changed a lot with covid. and i think that things had to have changed a little bit after the trauma of what happened on january 6th. are you in a position where you can talk one-on-one with your colleagues who may not be in the same place as you on the issue or talk with senator manchin, the only democrat not signed on as a co-sponsor to the for the people act. are you in a position to talk to your fellow southern senators who are republicans that might be willing to have a conversation with you as a fellow southerner about this? >> sure. we are having conversations all of the time. let me be clear. this is a moral moment. this is a defining moment in america. this is a fight for the soul of our democracy. all of us have a dog in that fight. if we find ourselves in a situation where politicians don't have to have the majority t