Thorniest of foreign Policy Challenges . Ill speak with the u. S. Foreign envoy. And Ben Jerrys Ice Cream gaining in terrorism . Thats what Israels President says. Good evening, im Mehdi Hasan. Its been six months since many republicans helped incite an attack on the united states capitol. Its been five months since they tried to convict President Trump. Finally on Tuesday A House Select Committee will begin investigating how that armed insurrection came about. It will be led by democrats and feature republicarepublicans, t not just Liz Cheney. Will you be appointing more besides Adam Kinzinger . That will be my plan. Frankly like so many in d. C. , i care lessing the bipartisan of the committee and more about what they plan to find out because there are in my mind five main questions that this committee has to get to the bottom of starting tuesday. Number one, were republican members of congress involved in organizing stop the steal rallies including big one on January Fth in washington, d. C. . Im not just talking about those who spoke at such rallies like congressman Jim Jordan who gave a speech at a stop the steal rally in pennsylvania two days after the election when Nancy Pelosi blocked him it from the committee. No. I want to know if they helped organize The Big One because Ali Alexander who was behind that rally said this. I was the person who came up with the January 6th idea with congressman gosar, Congressman Mo brooks, and Congressman Andy biggs. Why should we take their word for it . The committee needs to look into it. Number two, what members of congress were in contact with the insurrectionists before the attack on the capitol . Democratic Steve Cohen said he and another witness recognized others giving such tours in the day before the 6th, Something Boe Bert ignores. You have gosar and the Ghost Keepers or lauren boe bert. Later she appears to accompany others to the border. No Wonder Nancy blocked banks from being on the committee too. What the committee needs to investigate is there with there was contact between specific congress members and rioters on jan 6th. We need to know. Number three, what happened to the d. C. National guard on January 6th . We had to wait three hours while they breached the police line, break the glass. The Defense Department didnt give authority. Why not . We know one of the top military guys was lieutenant charles flynn, brother of the promartial law, Qanon Adviser to michael flynn. Was he capable of blocking and by who . Number four, why were Capitol Police so unprepared for attack despite numerous warnings in the runup to January 6th . The Capitol Police had clear warnings about the January 6th attack, but officers were instwructed by their leaders not to use their most aggressive tactics to hold off the mob. Sorry. What . Congress needs to investigate this. And number five, perhaps most important of all, what did the president know and when did he know it . When trump tweeted big protest on January 6th, be there, well be wild, what did he think would happen . What did he want to happen . Since nowadays hes saying stuff openly like this about the rioters. Certainly what i wanted is what they wanted. As propublica had reported, the Trump Team had been warned with Tens Of Thousands of people potentially overwhelming ill manufacture prepared Law Enforcement officials. Rather than trying to hold the march, trump and allies accompanied itsleaders Ochltown Day of the attack, why did trump not block others. When House Leader Kevin Mccarthy rang trump on January 6th, the then president replied, well, kevin, i guess these people are more upset about the election than you are. Know, those are just the five main questions on my mind. There are many more unanswered January 6th questions out there. Im not prejudging. Im not suggesting i know the answer to all of these questions. Theres plenty of prima Facie Evidence suggesting theres a lot including president who have a lot to answer for. Thats the whole point of having a congressional investigation. To get to the facts, to get to the truth, and hopefully to get justice for the people who died. Im joined now by Barbara Comstock who served two terms in the u. S. House as a republican representing Northern Virginia including during the Trump Administration until she was defeated in the 2018 midterms, an shes since become a critic to the former president and her own party. Good to see you. Are you happy to see Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney on the committee . Others through a Hissy Fit and took their toys and went home last week. Im certainly thrilled to see them on, and i think it will be not only will it be nonbipartisan, but not partisan. Ive been saying since January 7th for example, Donald Trump, his phone records, his texts, all of the documents from that day should be subpoenaed, and now we know from these many books coming out, there are details from people January 6th. But that whole time frame, before i was a member of congress, i was a Chief Counsel on the Government Reform Committee which is the largest investigative committee, and what we would do is get a timeline and subpoena all the documents. In this case, you would want to go around Election Day through January 20th and find all of the people who are involved in meetings on challenging the elections, these rallies, what were his real lawyers like bill barr, what was he saying, and he was ignoring their advice and bricking in the kooks and the cranks and get the voices who were working with Donald Trump at that time officially and then on the campaign, get their voices and they can put forth the bill lie. Why are so many fellow republicans in congress so keen, so desperate not to talk about what happened that day, not to find out what happened in the days and weeks that lead up to that attack . Well, it is sad. I think actually a lot of them will be happy to have Liz And Adam there, maybe some of who are quiet, to get that information out, because Donald Trump continues just as he did last night, to, you know, perpetuate a lot of lies, but i think he is becoming diminishing, and even though hes still dangerous, hes a diminished force, the more the facts and the truth come out, and thats what this committee will do, im thrilled were going to hear from these Front Line heroes that were there on January 6th saving the capitol, saving members of congress, saving the staff. These are people who put their life on the line, and now you have some members of congress who, for example, wont even shake the hand of michael fanone, an officer who was traumatically injured on that day. Were going to hear from those heroes and their firsthand account, but i hope its democrats who are in charge of the subpoenas, so they need to get on it and get those subpoenas out to mark meadows, to ivanka, to trump junior. Everyone involved in all the meetings. Remember, there was a March 21st List you didnt have on the list where Marjorie Taylor Greene was there. What was the extent of the white House Involvement and Trump Involvement . Weve all seen the video threatening everybody that youd better stick with us. So you have a lot of information thats already out there that needs to get out there. A lot of information im going to a lot of information well summed up. Im glad you mentioned December 21st as well, but theres also a poll this week that found that a majority of trump voters that described what happen ridiculously shamelessly as defending Freedom Or Patriotism and youve become a critic. When so many voters in your party have gone so far, ive got to ask, why would you want to remain in the party with those people . . I dont want to give them the satisfaction of having Donald Trump dominate this. As i say, its like chipping away sort of at the berlin wall. Eventually its going to come down because it is a fraud. You know, you see the 75 Million that hes raising. Its not even going to things thats been recently report. Its not going to the stop the steal things. Its who knows what hes doing with these things, so it really is i think im very happy to see conservatives. I mean, remember, Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney are very conservative republicans, but this is about being prodemocracy, not whether youre a Democrat Or R b. Republican. Its being for the rule of law, for the constitution and for getting the facts on the record and so i am thrilled that they will be doing it and hopefully my friend i appreciate Deb Wriggleman will be there. I appreciate what youre saying and other republicans speaking out against trumpet you are saying you dont want him to dominate your party. Your critics will say you should have spoken out while you were still in office and i know you criticized the muslim ban and a few other things that happened on trumps ban but you had a 98 record of voting with trumps priorities. In fact, your democratic opponent Ran Ads against you calling you trumpstock in 2018. I wonder in Hindsight Shouldnt you have come out against trump and your Partys Craziness much sooner than you did . Well, actually i voted against him in 16, and publicly when i was on his ticket with him, i said that i did, but i am a conservative republican also. I voted for tax cuts. I voted for increasing the military, and so the policies that i voted on are republican policies, bills that he happened to sipe, things like Opioid Legislation and others, so because im a conservative republican doesnt mean supported trump, and i did regularly speak out against him and i did not support him in 2020, but i think the important thing now is that everybody who cares about the constitution and the rule of law, about backing the blue, about our officers who were brutalized, many of those people, know, live in my community. I was on the committee that worked with them. Yeah. I was concerned with the deal of a lot of the threats during the kavanaugh, you know, confirmation hearing. There were a lot of protesters then and i worked with them then so i feel very strongly that their voices need to be heard and they need to get their story out. Yes. And thats what will happen on tuesday and going forward. Were almost out of time, but i know this is a subject you care very strongly about. Very briefly, how much should the select committee be looking into facebook and Social Media in producing the January 6th attack . They banned after the attack after the horses had already bolted but Theres Plenty of dangerous incitement still on those platforms today, isnt it . Actually, its the people who did it. Its the people who are inciting the violence should be held accountable and thats what the hearings are going to do. Thats what the prosecutions are going to do, and youve seen, you know, discussions of, you know, who on the media are are putting these things, you know, whether its lies like Donald Trump putting forward or others. You know, Trump Ironically is suing Social Media companies for banning him, and they have banned him, and he calls them State Actors that ironically he says facebook who banned him is the government when, in fact, when he was banned, he was still the president in charge of the government, yeah, so his attacks on Social Media also are a big Fundraising Thing just like his promotion of the Big Lie. Very good point. Its all about raising money, and thats, you know. Yes, it is. All people do, for one thing, his chase is unconstitutional that hes bringing against Social Media and even Alan Dershowitz reportedly wouldnt sign on to it, but he was immediately sending out fundraising emails after he put the case out so its a frivolous case. Its not serious as so many it is a frivolous case. Unfortunately, congresswoman, were out of time, but it is a frivolous case. Im glad you made that point. Former congresswoman Barbara Comstock of virginia. Thank you so much for your time and insights tonight. Appreciate it. Coming up, Delta Variant Surge has southern republican governors rethinking their vaccine messaging. The republican former governor of new Jersey Christie Whitman joins me to discuss. Plus the threat of war with iran looms over every modern u. S. Presidency. How is the biden administration approaching this foreign Policy Challenge . Ill speak with the u. S. On i have for iran when we come back. Like you, my hands are everything to me. But i was diagnosed with dupuytrens contracture. And it got to the point where things i took for granted got tougher to do. Thought surgery was my only option. Turns out i was wrong. So when a Hand Specialist told me about nonsurgical treatments, it was a total game changer. Like you, my hands have a lot more to do. Learn more at factsonhand. Com today. Obama, Donald Trump, all of them at some point during their presidencies almost went to war with iran. Its been one of the biggest foreign Policy Challenges facing every recent u. S. President , and as we know there was no love lost between trump in particular and the iranians. The former president applying what he called maximum pressure as he tore up barack obamas nuclear deal with tehran in 2018. So where is Joe Biden on iran six months into his presidency . The president had promised to rejoin the deal, but talks in Vienna Arent exactly going at lightning speed. In the last week irans supreme national Security Council rejected a Draft Agreement negotiated indirectly with the u. S. , and as a result the iranian economy remains under immense Pressure Due to u. S. Sanctions. Protests breaking out this week as ordinary iranians suffer from extreme Heat And Power outages and Water Shortages and, of course, the pandemic. So is there any hope for a new deal between iran and the united states . Joining me now is robert malley, the u. S. Special enjoy to iran. Rob, thanks so much for come on the show tonight. I want to start by asking you about the vienna talks. Iran has rejected the latest proposal, and some might say thats understandable. I spoke with democratic senator Chris Murphy from the senate foreign Relations Committee on this show a few weekses ago, and he said, look, were the ones who pulled out, and, therefore, we should be the first ones back in. Hes right, isnt he . The burden is on us first to get back into the deal because it was america that pulled out of it first. So, first, thanks, mehdi, its great to be on the show. Listen, we inherited a situation that President Biden decided were going to try to end, which is a maximum Pressure Campaign that the Trump Administration had imposed on iran which has failed miserably and has hurt u. S. Interests. Were seeing iran accelerating its nuclear program and intensifying its regional destabilizing activities, all of which happened after the maximum Pressure Campaign which was supposed to address those problems was implemented, so President Biden ordered us to go meet if we could with the iranians or indirectly as they requested, and we said very clearly, were prepared to come back into the deal if theyre prepared to do their part. In other words, well lift the sanctions if they are prepared to come back and to come into compliance with the nuclear constraints or the nuclear obligations that they signed up to in 2016, and that deal has been more or less on the table. There never was a deal, but there have been sort of ideas that weve put forward. You dont want to take my word for it. Ask the iranian president and the iranian Foreign Minister both of whom have said several times including last week that if iran wanted to see the sanctions lifted, it could have had them lifted in march, april, in may, in june and july, because at all of those sanctions there was there were ideas that u. S. Had presented about lifting all of the sanctions that President Trump had imposed in violation of the nuclear deal, in exchange for iran coming back into compliance. Rob, what about the humanitarian situation in iran . Coronavirus cases are surging. The country is crippled by those economic sanctions from the u. S. , many of them from trump. President biden talked extensively, i remember even during the campaign, about humanitarian exemptions, a pause on sanctions. Where is all that have . If you were an iranian sitting in tehran this evening, rob, struggling to put food on the table for your family, would you think President Biden has done enough to help during this pandemic . Well, my first blame, my government first, but ill let the iranian people say that. President biden is right, said it during the campaign and said it since that we inherited a Sanctions Architecture that hes asked his team to review to make sure that the humanitarian sanctions can be effective. The administration issued a general license to allow iran to more easily import all what have it needs to combat covid, but lets be honest. All that have could help, none will make the real difference. What will make the real difference is if the sanctions are lifted because they are so multilayered and that what weve prepared do if iran is prepared to do if they will do what they said they would do which is a mutual return to compliance. Were prepared to go much further and lift the sanctions imposed in violation of the new deal, and iran has to do its part, and what is trouble that at this point its still not prepared to do it, and it needs to do what is required. Just to be clear, that iran goes first . It needs to do more than the deal requires. Just to be clear very briefly. Mutual return means America And Iran at the same time or are you still insisting iran goes first . No, were not insisting and we never insisted that iran go first. What were saying were happy to talk and have a creative secret. Were not going to do steps in a way that theres a sequence that will be pragmatic and creative. That will not be the obstacle to a deal. The obstacle is as of now iran is asking us to do more than we signed up to do and is offering to do less than it signed up to do. Rob, weve learned to recent days that trump reportedly told associates that he killed the iranian general souleymane because he was under pressure from senators before the impeachment trial, and general milley wanted him not to strike iran after the election saying youre going have an fing war. Done the iranian people have a right to be outraged to know that our country killed their Top General for domestic political purposes and our general had to stop them from starting a war with them for nakedly political reasons . So obviously i dont know exactly what happened, but i think the american people had the right to be outraged that a policy that was designed or claimed it was going to keep America Safe by Culling Soleimani and providing a maximum pressure case, three years on america is less safe. The very steps that the Trump Administration says was going to tackle through its campaign and killing cass soleimani. The question is whether souleymanes killing made America Safe or not. It just invited more trouble rather than deescalate tensions. The incoming Iran Nan President Ibrahim Raisi is a hardliner and has been accused of mass murder. Can America Work with this are iranian president as he takes office . I think what other Human Rights Organizations have laid out is very clear and not surprising to say the least that our goal in negotiating with iran never stemmed from a view that we had the same Value System or that we agreed with them. Its because we believed that an iran with a nuclear weapon is something we couldnt tolerate or accept and all of our problems would be much worse if iran were heading in that direction so if anything this makes it each more imperative to reach a diplomatic outcome that would curb irans nuclear ambition and make sure its not going to seek a bomb and then we can try to negotiate to solve the other problems. It wont be easy. It will take time. Diplomacy is the answer. Its certainly not war as you laid out at the outset. And just well, thats good to hear. And just finally and briefly, i want to ask about the Pegasus Spyware Report out this week including the emiratis and saudis were spying on their opponents. Well cover this later in the show but i want to know your personal reaction that you were on the list of potentially hacked Phone Numbers and will the u. S. State department be taking any action on this . So im not going to speculate about what might happen. Ill say this, that its an operational matter. The operational questions and im not going to comment and ill leave it to others to take this in the direction that the administration decides. All right. Well, i had to ask the question. Rob malley, thanks so much for being with us tonight. Appreciate it. Theres a new Ben Jerrys Ice Cream flavor and its bittersweet, but first Richard Lui is here with the headlines. Hey, mehdi. Some stories were watching for at this hour. Team usa winning six Swimming Medals at the tokyo olympics on sunday. Chase kalisz took home the gold in the individual medley, em Ya Wyant won silver. Ten were killed and over 40 injured when a bus swerved and crashed in croatia. That bus was coming from kosovo. The driver may have lost control of the bus after briefly falling asleep. Now to a Car Rescue in new york. A warning some viewers may find the following video disturbing. A mother and her baby struck by a car. Yonkers Police Officers lifted the vehicle that weighed roughly 2,600 pounds. The Mother And Daughter have Bone Fractures and are expected to recover. Police say the driver has a suspended license, and that alcohol was in the car. More of the Mehdi Hasan Show Right after the break. Ght after. When you really need to sleep you reach for the really good stuff. New Zzzquil Ultra helps you sleep better and longer when you need it most. Its non habit forming and powered by the makers of nyquil. New Zzzquil Ultra. When you really really need to sleep. Overwhelmed by the Ups And Downs of frequent Mood Swings of bipolar i . Ask about vraylar. Some medicines only treat the lows or highs. Vraylar effectively treats depression, acute manic or mixed episodes of bipolar i in adults. Fullspectrum relief for all bipolar i symptoms with just one pill, once a day. Elderly patients with dementiarelated psychosis have an increased risk of death or stroke. Call your doctor about unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. Report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a lifethreatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. Side effects may not appear for several weeks. High Cholesterol And Weight gain, and high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, may occur. Movement dysfunction, sleepiness, and stomach issues are common side effects. And you can pay as little as 0 if eligible for your first 2 prescriptions. When bipolar i overwhelms, vraylar helps smooth the Ups And Downs. Welcome back. Its time now for what i call the 60second wrap. Start the clock. The reaction from top israelis to Ben Jerrys pulling out of the occupying territories has been rather revealing. Former prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed now israelis know what Ice Cream not to buy. They say its a form of economic terrorism and the Ice Creammakers were warned not to treat israel like that. First of all, Thank You, mr. Netanyahu, that you support the idea of boycotts. And calling the decision not to sell Ice Cream terrorism is a disgrace to terrorism and you and your president say Ben Jerrys is hurting israel and its economy, but Ben Jerrys said they would stop selling Ice Cream in illegal territories. If the Palestinians Cant Vote in the israeli elections then by your own admission our an apartheid Ice Cream. No to the Ice Cream or yes to the apartheid. You choose. Phones hacked of journalist, Human Rights Activists and politicians. Well discuss why you should be concerned after the break. After. What if i told there you was a piece of Technology Governments could buy that would give them access to spy on Cell Phones around the globe . Im talking everyone from american government officials, members of Middle Eastern royal families, Heads Of State like the president of france and the Prime Minister of pakistan. It sounds like the plot of a bad Scifi Movie but actually its terrifyingly real. This week an investigation by a global group of News Organizations including The Guardian and the Washington Post broke whats bound to become the biggest Spy Story of 2021. Its surrounding an Israeli Firm called nso, which sold to repressive gulf governments, spyware called pegasus. Once in the phone it can track just about everything you do, your data, keystrokes, location, even hijacking your Phones Microphone and camera. Globally more than 50,000 Phone Numbers of potential Pegasus Surveillance targets have been revealed. The Nso Group denies the allegations, but the numbers include those of journalists, activists and academics. Even rob malley, the biden administration special envoy for iran who we spoke to earlier on the show, his number was on there. How do we stop this . The secretarygeneral of Amnesty International joins me now. Thanks for coming on the show. I want to start asking you about the death of journalist jamal khashoggi. You concluded in a report in 2019 you conclude that Saudi Arabia was responsible for jamals premeditated execution. We now know Nsos Spyware was used by the saudi to monitor people close to khashoggi, Family Members before and after his death. How much of a surprise was that to you . Not quite. You know, it was an important crucial part of the execution. He was monitored before and clearly his death did not stop the monitoring because it also targeted his fiancee for the four days after his murder. There was an intent to control the information after the murder and to keep track on the trial itself. And what do we do about this Spying Software because its coming out of this Israeli Firm, but its not just them. Its technology thats proliferating across the globe. Edward snowden, the famous whistleblower, is calling for a Spyware Trade Ban or moratorium. In israel lawmakers are saying they may look into Spyware Export restrictions and nso, the company at the center of all of this, says this is used to fight crime, terrorists. What do you believe is the appropriate reaction to this huge story . The first is to realize that what were dealing with actually is a weapon. Its a weapon that is used to undermine Human Rights. Its a weapon that is used to undermine fair trial, to undermine democratic Price Supports and to violate freedom of the press. The best way to look at it is as a weapon and the weapon is to be regulated, and the moment its published, theres no control and no regulation, and basically everything that they want at the moment with a particular weapon. We need the moratorium while were developing the regulatory framework at international level but we also need that at the national level. And the french president Emmanuel Macron who has been identified as being one of these potential numbers on the list, hes getting a new phone as im sure many people are on the list of 50,000 numbers. How worried are you about your own phone and what measures should people like yourself journalists, activists, be taking now . Is anyone safe . No, nobody is safe. The instead of becoming more transparent they are becoming more and more secretive that means you can become infected without even clicking on anything. Nobody is safe. I am right now safe apparently. Ive checked knew phone has been checked many times, but everyone should understand that they can be a target even though right now the targets are Human Rights defenders and potentially it is a survey of society that is being constructed. That is why we need to intervene. We need to create a ban at the international level and at the national level there needs to be a proper legal framework, policy framework, oversights over the use and the sale of that weapon. One last quick question before were out of time. Amnesty international helped get ahold of these 50,000 leaked numbers. Is there more to come . Im pretty sure this is not the only leak of professional targets so there will be more to come. There will be you know, as long as we dont take action to curtail and regulate that particular spyware and similar spywares you can believe that there will be more leaks and more victims around the world. That is depressing to hear but great work from Amnesty International. Thank you so much for appearing on the show tonight. Please do stay safe. Coming up, one republican governor finally said out loud what the rest of us vaccinated folks have kind of all been thinking, when it comes to this new covid surge. Its time to start blaming the unvaccinated for example, not the regular folks. But is it too little too late from the gop . Thats next. Verizon launched the first 5g Network and now we want to be the first to give everyone the joy of 5g, by giving every customer a new 5g phone. Old customers. New customers new 5g Phones when you trade in your old ones. Upgrade your phone. Upgrade your network. When you really need to sleep you reach for the really good stuff. New Zzzquil Ultra helps you sleep better and longer when you need it most. Its non habit forming and powered by the makers of nyquil. New Zzzquil Ultra. When you really really need to sleep. Aloha isnt this a cozy little room . Sorry your Vacation Request took so long to get approved, so you missed out on the suite special. But lucky for you, they had this. When employees are forced to wait for Vacation Request approvals,it can really cramp their style. Im gonna leave you to it. Um, just with paycom, employees enter and manage their own Hr Data in a single, easytouse software. Visit paycom. Com and schedule a demo today. Im old enough to remember when in March Politico declared Ron Desantis had won the pandemic. He won what the now . Politico failed to reach the coronavirus for comment because the Sunshine State that hes governor of is now leading the country in infections accounting for one out of every five new covid cases. And so these vaccines are saving lives. They ever reducing mortality. Im glad republican governor Ron Desantis is advocating for vaccinations, perhaps a thought he should stop fundraising by selling antifauci Beer Koozies and tshirts, but lets check in and see how things are going in neighboring alabama. Wow, the very last out of all 50 states and the district of columbia at under 34 . Shameful really. No Wonder Governor Kay Ivey is trying to shirk responsibility for that. Heres a suggestion. She could double that rate in a single weekend by declaring there were no Auburn Football or Alabama Football this fall unless fans get vaccinated and next ill talk to an actual sane republican, former governor Christie Whitman who was in charge of New Jersey in the 90s before running the epa under george w. Bush. She joins me on the other side of this break. Do not go away. We have breaking News Tonight on the spread of the coronavirus. Louisiana republican congressman, clay higgins, confirmed this hour he contracted covid19 for the second time. The congressman has encouraged people to get the vaccine but has not publicly said whether he himself has been vaccinated. Now some republican governors across the south are changing their messaging on getting the shot. Joining me to discuss this further is christine todd whitman, former republican governor of new Jersey And Part of the bush administration. Thank you for coming on the show tonight. You have gop governors like Desantis And Abbott who have allowed covid to run rampant in their states, and you have sarah Huckabee Sanders running for governor of arkansas and saying stuff like this. Take a listen. If i am elected governor in arkansas, we will not have Mask Mandates, we will not have mandates on the vaccine and shut down churches and schools and other large gatherings because we believe in freedom and selfresponsibility. Do these republican governors have blood on their hands . They do. In one way you could say this is darwinism. Of the people dying, 99 of those over 99 of those that died in the resent outbreak were unvaccinated, and they were in the republican states where the governors governors have been poopooing the vaccine, have been calling out fauci saying he should be taken out, nobody should listen to him, and these vaccines are somehow bad for you. The best analogy ive heard is its a bit like being on the titanic and having been offered a Life Vest as the boat goes down and having them refuse to take them. I mean, its mindboggling, and i dont think now what theyre saying is going to make that much of a difference unfortunately. People have heard this other message for so long. Yes. Mindboggling is the right phrase. You had to deal with Climate Change among other issues, and today you have a bunch of prominent republicans like senator Ron Johnson of wisconsin who are both antivaxxers and Climate Change deniers. Its basic denial of basic science . They could win back the house in this next election cycle, because thats kind of typical of the cycles, once the president ial election is over the party out of power tends to pick up seats, but overall longterm, this is not a winning strategy. Its just not. People understand that the vast majority of the american people, better than 50 , and even among republicans know Climate Change is occurring and we need to do something about it, and the floods, droughts, wildfires, the extraordinary storms we have had, people understand. This is what we are doing to mother nature, and we are so exacerbating a natural trend. The climate has been changing since the earth was formed but what we are doing now to nature means nature can no longer absorb the changes and were paying the price, and its only going to get worse, and, frankly, i think you can look at coronavirus and say this is one of the things that happens when you change the environment and you change ecology and then you have things happening and joining together that you never did before. So earlier, dr. Anthony fauci told cnn that bringing back masks for Vaccinated Americans is back on the table. If you were still the governor of New Jersey and you have seen the kind of case rises we have seen nationally right now, what other steps would you be taking that some of your fellow republicans arent right now . Obviously i would be strongly encouraging taking the vaccine, and i would be working with businesses to encourage them to say that they require their employees to do that, and you would say schools, you would require at least the teachers to do that and the older students to do it. I would call for mask wearing, even for those of us who have been vaccinated inside. I think its an issue with the younger children. The older children who are 15 and older, at least in the state of New Jersey, now you can get the vaccine at 15 and hopefully its going down to 12 or 11 soon, then those children might not have to wear masks all day, but its starting to get to the point where this new Delta Variant that were going to masks are going to be part of our lives in the future, and yes, they are uncomfortable and nobody likes to wear masks, but its not the end of the world. It could be if you dont wear it. Yes. It isnt the end of the world, although dying is. One last question, you were nearly one of 150 republicans and independents who threatened to leave the gop and form a new group, thanks to Donald Trump. Is that still on the table . Are we going to see a new party . What we want to do is support the candidates that stood up against the Big Lie and go after those that supported it, and see what happens in the next cycle or two. Its hard. In this country, third parties really havent been terribly successful, except the last one was the republican party, and that was back in the 1850s and 60s. So thats the last thing we want to do, but well do it if we have to. I suspect that moment is getting closer and closer, and its not getting any saner in the republican party. Christine todd whitman, Thank You so much for your time tonight. Appreciate you coming on. Thank you all at home for watching as ever. Were out of time. Well be back here next sunday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Catch me monday through thursday at 7 00 p. M. Streaming on the peacock, and now its time to its kind of like we have two kinds of america. We have the very vulnerable unvaccinated part, and we have the really relatively vaccinated protected part, so if you are vaccinated, you are really in a very different category than someone whos not vaccinated. The Delta Varnlts is causing Coronavirus Infections to rise across the country as the nations top doctor warns of a considerable surge in the fall. The question is, will we see Mask Mandates reimposed for Vaccinated Americans . Plus, the first House Committee Hearing on the January 6th Capitol Riot is set for tomorrow. Spea