that biden is declining trump's request to withhold records from the january 6th committee. nbc obtained a letter saying, quote, an assertion of executive privilege is not in the best interests of the united states. trump is now formally exerting executive privilege over the documents. biden is expected to reject it setting up what could be a legal showdown. trump could sue biden or congress or both and try to keep those records hidden. remember, trump and his allies tried to bury this probe and the question is why? why are they hiding from fact finding if they didn't do anything wrong? after he told them to defy the speems, it appears one lawyer is listening. steve bannon saying he won't comply with the request. his lawyer writing, we must semitrump's direction and honor his invocation of executive privilege. committee responding, they will swiftly consider advancing a criminal contempt of congress referral. bannon calling the committee a, quote, charade today. >> the democrats are absolutely freaked out about donald trump's rise and donald trump's running in 2024. and this is the complete charade that the 6th january committee, this is what they're trying to do. they're trying to write charges against president trump to stop his sweeping victory that will come. >> he lost the popular vote twice. i don't know about sweeping victories. former trump aides are cooperating. it is unclear how or if dan scavino has applied. there are new subpoenas for the organizers of the stop the steal rally. joining me now, ny you were law professor melissa murray and juanita tolliver. thank you for joining us on "the beat." melissa, i'll start with this. i'm fascinated. i'm not a lawyer. i don't even play one on tv. i'm fascinated by this idea that donald trump can sue joe biden and congress to prevent them from getting access to documents about things did he as president. am i missing something here? you would think that anybody would have access to that information. >> you would think that anyone would have access tom information but again, because it occurred while he was president, it remains part of the office of the presidency and those documents have been sent to the national archives. therefore, it fell to the white house counsel and the biden administration to determine whether or not the biden administration would invoke executive privilege as to those documents coming from the presidency itself. so this is, i think, not about trump or biden per se but the whole question of the office of the presidency. generally, in thinking about that office, it is likely that someone in the president's position would secure executive privilege [ inaudible ] for his own administration. as she noted in her letter, the situation on january 6th was so unusual, so unorthodox and unprecedented that the biden administration did not feel it was necessary to invoke executive privilege as to those documents. although they reserve the right to do so on a case by case basis in the future. >> so juanita, this strikes me here, from a political standpoint, where does the rest of the political party stand on this kind of lawsuit? are they going outside? good for them strategically to say yes, we want donald trump to sue congress and we want donald trump to sue the administration? or is this something where they want to back off. let the former president do what he needs to do because they're more concerned about being obstruction. is in congress. i'm wondering if this is a ticking time bomb that doesn't make sense for the political party to touch. >> it actually doesn't make sense. we've seen to it this behavior leading up to this point with the select committee. remember the gop committee helped negotiate the terms of a commission which they then undercut. so the gop is working overtime to not even get to this point. as they failed that effort, now absolutely you can expect radio silence from the gop on this and let, as they step back and let trump do his worst. of course they don't want any of his energy directed at them in congress so they'll wait to see what trump does and wait to see what the courts decide. fully expect the gop to be silent until there is a court ruling. they want no part of it. again, they worked to obstruct not only every other legislative activity in congress but also this investigation. that could point to them being implicated in these call logs or visitor logs or social media dm's in the request for information. so hands off for the gop at this point. >> as she alluded to, treason goes down. i want to play this from dirk durbin who is talking about not only how important this investigation is, but how dangerous it is to ignore subpoenas from congress. >> i would suggest modestly, follow law instead of the ratings of this former president. he doesn't have the power to pardon you anymore and probably i hope never will again. >> so that is the thing. he's saying very clearly. i know you thought that he was your patron before. but he's no longer in power. if you don't show up for a subpoena, what are some of the consequences that these individuals could face if they decide, hey, i'm not going to listen to congress. >> basically addiction durbin is asking, is this your king? and they are saying no. there are some serious consequences. they've already indicated they could be held in criminal contempt of congress. that would mean a referral to the department of justice for chags going forward. it all reflects how far we've come from the norm over the four years of the trump administration. typically when congress issued subpoenas, there would be a kind of negotiation between the different branches, the members of the branchs about how much would be forth coming, what the scope of the subpoena and the subpoena testimony would be. because the trump administration so frequently stonewalled congress, we actually got to the point where there was no negotiation. everything became a legal battle and we're at the kind of stalemate we are now where we're thinking people being in contempt. congress because we can't reach some kind of negotiated compromise. >> and this is the part about this we always have to put in layman's terms. you're not supposed to ignore congress. you can come back in. but your average person in america is screaming. they're throwing chewing gum and popcorn at the screen. why can't they be dragged in? why haven't we held more people accountable? what will it look like the your average voter if three, four, five months from now they're still stonewalling subpoenas? doesn't it make them look feckless and i tent? >> not only the biden administration but the very people whose lives were put at risk during that attack, right? this is the third time that democrats would have led efforts to hold trump and his cronies accountable for their efforts to undermine our government, the democracy, and overturn an election. if democrats are 0-3 going into the mid-terms, you're pitch to voters can't be, well, we tried, right? you have to deliver results. like every other thing that happens in congress. voters don't care until you deliver results that they can feel impact of. and nothing would be better than elections in the future. so delivering on this mandate is definitely something, it sounds like chairman thompson is not taking for granted as melissa pointed out. it is interesting criminal contempt or civil contempt as punishment for people who try circumvent these subpoenas. it sounds like he's using every tool available to compel these witnesses to cooperate and that is something that voters will pay attention to and appreciate. >> we would home so. thank you so much for joining us to start off on "the beat." juanita, please stay with me. trump's 2024 flirtation is rattling the gop. he's heading back to iowa tomorrow. a rally at the state fair grounds. any stop in iowa is noticed. he's not just going for the freeze dried butter corn at the state fair. his super pac has an odd new slogan. make america great again, again. not a typo. with republican hopefuls afraid to cross the twice impeached retiree. and trump is already throwing shade. >> a republican like ron desantis in the primaries, what would it take for you to beat him? >> number one, i don't think i will face him. i don't see that, if i did it. i don't see that. i think most people would drop out. i think he would drop out. if i faced him, i would beat him like i would beat everyone else. >> joining me now, the adviser and former spokesperson for the house oversight committee and official back bone of the democratic party. and juanita tolliver is still with us. kurt, i'll start with you. we were obviously dressed by the same people today. what does the democratic party, i want to start with the democrats here. what does the democratic party have to think about if we're running into the possibility of a donald trump running again? quite frankly, i think most republicans will be cool with it. the democrats have to recognize that this guy brings out a loyalty on the part of republicans that will make anything possible from electoral violence to cheating at the polls. >> yeah. that's why i think that the single most important piece of legislation that democrats in congress need to move forward is voting rights. we already know that republicans with trump at the helm will do anything and everything they can to make sure people who look like us can't vote in elections. they know when the playing field is equal and we can all show up and vote, they lose. they lost in the 2018 mid-terms. they lost in the 2020 presidential election. they lost in the special senatorial elections if georgia in january. they lose time and again. so the idea that the republicans betting on failure, doubling, tripling down on failure is the way to go to show us how morally bankrupt and how lost in the abyss they are to the point of no return. so it is incumbent possible democrats, while they have the reins of power, the house, the senate and the white house to put as many safeguards in place as possible to protect against what we know will happen with republicans. they will try to steal an election. they will try to stop people from voting. they will try to foment violence and disturbances and a repeat of what we saw on january 6th. january 6th was a dress rehearsal for 2022 and 2024. the only thing will stand in their way is congressional and democrats in the biden administration. that has to be priority one, two and three. >> we have recent reports that say that republicans are actually trying to, some of trump's aides were trying to talk out of announcing for 2024 already. this is what i think is curious from this standpoint. does it really matter? if everybody else in the republican party is basically holding their how older until donald trump decides. it doesn't matter if he announces tomorrow or over christmas or in november of 2022 or 15 minutes before iowa caucuses. no one else. in party will move until him, correct? >> i think that sounds about right. no one has the gaul to step out of line when someone like trump is threatening you in the way that he does. let's keep in mind there is a lot between now and 2024 including the mid-terms which republicans could actually ill ploed on. he doesn't want that weight of delivering on his back. he only cares about number one. he doesn't care about anybody else in his party. so that's something that is front and center. he's still rallying that same base that he knows will keep funding his path. that he knows will keep uplifting all of his words and his statements and his policies even though he's not on social media. he will keep it percolating the next three years. he is going to eye waffle we can expect to see him over the next three years, sadly. >> i want to kick this back to washington, d.c. there is a report that donald trump lost $70 million on his trump hotels but was still getting tons of money from foreign governments and foreign business that's were dumping money into it. we've all known the former president is corrupt. we all know that he hasn't netly been held accountable the way that he should. do you think that's the kind of thing that democrats would need to head off the return of trumpism? hey, look, he screwed up covid and he's corrupt. or is there this battle in washington, d.c. that gets nothing done. which is the better way? corruption or incompetence? >> see, i think it is both. what we see is corrupt and confidence time and time again. the messaging needs to be a lot simpler and relatable for the american people. here's what's going on. the republican party led by donald trump, they are playing by one set of rules while the rest of the american people have to play by a different set of rules. there is a vast gulf between two. the system that they have set up. this rigged system where they get enriched on the backs of everybody else. that's what we need to hone in on. that's what we need to focus. on it is not just about whether it is a trump hotel or trump property. it is about how they use the range of government to make people's lives better. how they use it to enrich themselves while you suffer, you don't make a living wage, you can't get a decent job, you can't afford prescription drugs and health care costs. we have to make it relatable to the american people. a lot of this gets trapped with that inside baseball speak. and people roll their eye when's we talk about investigations. we talk about things in washington. this is about fairness. it is about playing by a similar set of rules. these are things the american people understand. >> even though we're doing a segment later on, we didn't principal these outfits. the fact that he's dressed like the bad guys in the show was not planned at all. he didn't text me that. thank you both for joining me today. coming up, a crucial report on what still needs to change in the weighing of george floyd's murder. also, how the squid game can help explain in washington and why i'm wearing, and why he was wearing what he was wearing. plus a former trump aide is trying to reassure qanon believers that he is not a satanist. really. stay with us. satanist really stay with us oof. you are busy working parenting, problem solving. at new chapter vitamin's we have been busy too. innovating, sourcing organic ingredients testing them... and fermenting. fermenting? 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[ laughs ] ♪♪ [ humming ] [ door creaks ] oh. [ soft music playing ] what are you all doing in my daydream? it's better than that presentation. a lot better. you know, whether it's a fraction or a decimal, it's still fun, you know? 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we get into it when we come back in 60 seconds. e back in 60 seconds. hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ as a dj, i know all about customization. that's why i love liberty mutual. they customize my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. how about a throwback? ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ joining me now, democrat from california, he is on the leadership team of the house progressive caucus. thank you. so, congressman. i'm going to start with this. when we saw the pandora papers come out earlier this week, the idea that you have multibillionaires who are paying a smaller percentage of their taxes than somebody working at carl's jr., it offended me and disgusted me. it also struck me as the kind of thing, we can't keep going like this. you will have bread riots and fights in the street. do you think that your party, which is the closest thing we have to a progressive party in america, recognizes the urgency of addressing economic inequality. >> we do. that's the president's agenda. when you have three people in this country having more wealth than the bottom 50%, something is wrong. and what the president is saying is tax my district. they made a tremendous. a wealth. . at a tax it so everyone can have the american dream. this is not entitlement. giving people health care so they can compete. it is not just fair. it is pro growth, pro opportunity, it is the smartest investment we can make in the 21 century economy. >> "the new york times" has done a piece on, as i mentioned, this new hit viral show, squid game. and most of the people in the show, they're in debt not through irresponsibility. they just don't make enough money to simply live. the idea that a show like the has connected so intimately with so many and the desperation they feel. we're well past the rich and famous. americans feel like they will do anything to get out of debt. the two biggest debts. education debt and health care debt. how does the president's plan address either of those two going forward? >> well, education, it makes community college free. if you're $40,000, $50,000, and you want to get a credit toengs better your life torsion get a new opportunity, now do you know so and you don't have to go into debt to do it. and it makes preschool free so if you have young kids, you don't have to pay an arm and a leg to give them a fair shot so they're not behind starting in kindergarten and first grade. and it allows to get a hearing aid. it is outrageous that we don't have seniors with dental coverage or hearing aids. >> i have to point out, i think that's really, really key. a lot of people, dental care, that's an extra. trust me, dental problems turn into huge medical issues throughout the rest of your body if they're not properly addressed. the other party, and i use that term generously. i don't think republicans are interested in governing right now. they have attacked these programs as socialism. i want to play you a clip and get your thoughts on the other side. >> trojan horse, or permanent socialism. >> this is government-run socialism. every one of us is opposed to it. some human infrastructure package. that's just socialism. >> americans with a socialist country -- >> i don't know what government-run socialism. is that like barbecue flavor barbecue chips? is it socialism to create an economy that is fair and accessible to more and regular people? am i missing something? did my frye not count for much? >> i would like to invite them to my district, the heart of silicon valley. we produce $11 billion of wealth. no one will accuse them of being socialist. do you know what they'll find when they look at bill gates? they had a great education. they had health care. they had those advantages starting out. and all we're saying is why can't every american have that shot? they can succeed in a free market only if they have an education and the health to compete in a market. so far from being socialism, this is about the best investment you can make in the american economy to have more people productive. especially if we want to come beat the billion people in china. >> and in addition to great education, herring, they also had infrastructure. you can't make internet billions if you can't trust the wi-fi. those of houston travel abroad know how common it is to have the internet shut down. lastly, there is a member of your party, i use that term generously, joe manchin in the senate has consistently that he's worried that the $3.5 trillion package may be creating an entitlement society. there is too much being given to people for free. do you think the idea of giving people affordable health care and access to childcare, is that going to make people entitled? will people start imaginally having more babies because they think the government will take care of them? >> absolutely not. and i think manchin can be reasoned with. the ohio state, i asked him. is there a disincentive to give people free college? and he said all of my kids had free college. i paid for and it they did just fine. so the middle class and affluent get a lot for free and they do just fine. i think it is to know say that it would somehow disincentivize the working class, far from it. it will raise their ambition and make them even more productive. >> thank you so much for putting this all into perspective for us tonight. ahead, maga gets even wackier from michael flynn talking about say the annism and qanon. to talking about an 800-year old voter named methuselah. how dumb can a country get and still survive? plus, as police reform stalls in congress, a new push that can actually work. that can actual wlyork. tax-smart investing, what's new? -well, audrey's expecting... -twins! grandparents! we want to put money aside for them, so...change in plans. alright, let's see what we can adjust. ♪♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. okay. mom, are you painting again? 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>> we have to begin with the appreciation that the commission, the racial justice commission, is a charter revision commission which means that it has the legal authority to change new york city's constitution. its charter. the laws, the foundational values and beliefs that are embedded in new york city's constitution. so by creating ballot measures, what we'll do is create a model for governing with equity at the core. a model where elected officials, beginning with the most senior new york city official to city councilmembers, district leaders, community boards and so on, have to be accountable to the people to ensure racial equity. >> dr. greer, so i'm looking at the polling numbers right now. 94% of the public seems to support police reform, 58% say major changes are needed. 36% say minor changes are needed. it seems like the public in general is in favor of police reform. but we don't know as political scientists, when you put something on the ballot, it can be about wording, the timing, what would the commission need to do in new york alone, let alone in other locations, to make sure that the suggestions being made actually turn into ballot initiatives so people can come out and support. >> absolutely. because the devil is in the details. so what jennifer jones austin and her commissioner put together is really substantive and incredibly important for new yorkers. it is the next step that's crucial. when we go to the polls in november to vote for our next mayor and city councilmember, public advocate, all these folks, we need to make sure the language is clear for voters. so they know exactly what they're voting on. obviously, the literature has shown us people will vote yes even if they're unsure. so now we need to be in the education phase for these two few weeks to, one, let people know they should expect five measures on the ballot. two, to give them framing and structure so they understand. if it takes me several minutes to read and reread these ballot measures and i'm a political sign, we know that some people who are nervous, their first time voting, they have to get childcare or work, they may skim these measures and possibly vote against something they truly believe. >> jennifer, when i first saw this report, i thought it was a brilliant idea. i thought the results made loot of sense. as a political scientist, i was very moved by it. what i'm curious, how transferrable is this idea? do you have other police oversight boards trying to take notes from you, making suggestions or saying, how can we bring this to new orleans? how can we bring this to chicago? or do you think you're going to have to take the results of this and start peddling it around the country to realize there is a different way to approach police reform? >> so we do have other cities and states looking at what we're doing and we're engaging with them to learn their experiences in trying to address this with different measures of success. i don't even need to begin to get into those details. what we're hopeful for, when we do this, we're not, people can see we're not just entering on police reform. we help people understand that racism, structural racism, pervades every pillar of our society. if we're going to do something with police reform we have to start with how our communities, our resource and support, i.e., disinvesting in police and putting resources where they are critically needed. we have to look at how wage inequity, wealth disparities have been propped up by structural racism and dismantle that. so we want people to see, yes, we'll have new models on public safety and expanding what that should look like. we're also centering on how do we go about strengthening individual families and communities that have been intentionally and willfully deprived by government of basic resources to help persons of color from getting ahead. it is not a one off. it is policing and much, much more. we need the nation to see that you've got to go to the structure. it is government that propped up these laws to begin with. so government has to own these laws and these inequities and do something about it. and we're pushing back to do just that. >> you and i have had this conversation. i'm a police abolitionist. i think we need to get rid of it. even if you dome believe as far as i do the biggest concern that a lot of people seem to have with policing, they're just never held accountable when they make mistakes. we have a new report out now, the feds won't see charges against toflsers that crippled jacob blake. what do you think would be the best kind of ballot initiative that would hold officers accountable? would it address their union? how they can be prosecuted? i think that's the biggest issue. when cops make mistakes, as they say, and black people die, nothing ever happens to them. >> right. we have to remember quite a few things in a lot of the cities. they have significant numbers of police of color. not just on the police force and union. the idea of prosecuting police, this is money in their pockets in their communities. and we know that black folks tend to be a touch more conservative and they do want more policing when we survey folks in particular neighborhoods in new york. so this is more complicated than just saying police reform. we have to get more details. i think we have to start making it painful for police officers and police unions. right now, we as taxpayers, are paying for their mistakes. so we know in the city of new york, we spend millions upon millions of dollars paying out for families and communities as we should when police officers do harm. the police officers don't pay out of their own pockets. they're not penalized. that's not coming out of their pensions or salaries. so i think all pocket book issues matter. until police officers and their unions start feeling the brunt of their bad behavior, we won't see substantive change. >> also -- >> i just want to say -- >> yeah. >> iable and to say we have to look at how the system, the structures, how the city's charter allows for that to begin with. so we have to go into the charter and make changes in the charter that don't allow for people -- the elected officials that are actually charged with the responsibility of overseeing these services and these lack of supports. we have to start with working the legal authority and make sure we hold people accountable with that. >> as i've always that, i would not want a trained soldier doing my plumbing and the idea of police officers working the people on the streets. has the conversation we'll have again. thank you both. so for joining me tonight. >> thanks, jason. >> ahead, our friend eugene robinson asked, how dumb can a nation get and still survive? 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>> all these people that talk about turning into whatever, people need to stop overthinking what everybody is saying and listen to what is happening around us. >> example number two. the my making the big lie even bigger, claiming that votes were cast in 2020 by people who were literally hundreds of years old. >> we have a team that goes through all of it now with this other system that pulls up all anomalies. 2,650 people over the age of 100. you might say well, that could be. 2,000 of them were over 200. so obviously, one guy was 800 -- >> there were 200. >> example number three, people making singer meghan trainor one of today's top trending topics for saying that she and her husband have side by side toilets. and that's a list of things that i never honestly needed to know. it's the kind of stuff right for a late night joke except snl did it years ago. >> we found that one special someone and you never want to be apart. you dine together. you play together. so why not share the most intimate moment of them all with the love toilet? >> joining me now is mark thompson, host of the make it plain podcast and again, somebody in a magenta hoodie. clearly everybody is watching "squid games." i got to start with this, the idea of saying america is a dumb country that leads to problems, people have been saying this for 20, 30 years but the combination of misinformation now really is making us dumber as a country as we debate things that don't make any sense. you're on the radio. you're podcasting. do you find the questions people are asking today and the debates now are any dumber or less significant than they were 15, 20 years ago? >> certainly are dumber. thank you for having me, jason. this is the closest color i could get to match your "squid game" piece. "squid game" to some extent we can see reflected in the disinformation society in which we live so people have to pick and choose what's real, what to be excited about, what is really happening and frankly, it's almost as if when donald trump was president, i mean, he was a walking dumpster fire. everybody could focus on him and his behavior. now that he's deplatformed and no longer in the white house, it's as if people have to find some other sensationalism to put out there and there is an audience out here unfortunately that i think the best way to describe -- it was probably not nice to call people dumb but we have people in america that get most of the information from disinformation people on social media. it's confusing. there are probably people walking around now listening to these stories thinking this must be true. somebody 850 years old was voting but the paradox in it is within the disinformation begins to eat its own. michael flynn now having to explain himself is not being a satanest is funny. >> i want to play this clip of tucker charleston getting triggered by me earlier this week and we'll talk about it on the other side. >> is this really about people being upset about mask mandates or are there sort of underlying disruptive forces? white nationalists, anarchists, whatever in this country using mask mandates in a public health crisis to wage chaos? >> get that moron off television. that's hurting the country. there are no organized white supremacist in the country. we have a lot of problems. that's not one of them. >> that's a lot of venom from a guy that goes out on dinner dates with so-called sex traffickers. that being said, he allowed the lie on television with immunity on a regular basis and no one holds him accountable because the people pay attention to it want to be lied to by a white nationalist. is that something that we can ever actually address in this country or should we assume, look, 30% of the population is just done and stupid ex we have to function with the rest of the people that can actually be convinced about math, science and what it's like to not hang out with alleged crimcriminals? >> i think that example of tucker shows it, when it was talked about barack obama being a raisest all the time and disrespectful recalls you a moron. when glen beck did that, he was gone, but tucker is able to thrive because the irony of the movement is color of change, other organizations had advertisers leave fox in droves. now that there are fewer advertisers, almost known, tucker can say whatever he wants to say. the cable subscriber fees that we all pay subsidize his rhetoric the same way at&t subsidizes america news. so that's what we're stuck with. it's a little harder to demand accountability when advertisers are all gone. it's getting worse. they need something to talk about until the nutjob, i guess, in chief decides to announce his candidacy and run for president again in 2024. >> and we'll all be here watching when that horrible, horrible day possibly occurs. mark thompson, thank you for joining us on "the beat tonight". >> good to see you, brother. >> you, too. we'll be right back. , brother. >> you, too. we'll be right back. shingles? 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"the reidout" with joy reid is next. howdy, joy. >> i love the jacket look. i saw mark thompson was matching your style. i don't know if you're a'90s hip-hop game or doing the news. >> it's a "squad game" reference. >> i enjoyed it. i'll try to keep you. stay there, i want you to stick around for this segment. thank you very much. he's going to be right back. jason will be right back. we begin "the reidout" tonight with one hell of a question on this friday, how dumb can a nation get and still survive? that question courtesy of our friend columnist eugene robinson is poised in today's washington post and it's a really good question at a time when we're faced with not one but two viruses coursing through this country. one of them