and politico reports that alexander's attorneys say that members of congress may have been on an organizing call with alexander in the days before january 6th. now, this is a really important development, because january 6th was a horrendous event and the public needs to know all of the participants who were involved. but don't take my word for it. >> were you personally in contact with mark meadows that day and other white house officials to urge trump to do more? >> i was not, but i do think that we're all watching, as you are, what is unfolding on the house side, and it will be interesting to reveal all of the participants who were involved. >> i think the fact finding is interesting. we're all going to be watching it. it was a horrendous event. and i think that what they're seeking to find out is something that the public needs to know. >> like i said, january 6th was a horrendous event. and the public smoernls does need to know what happens. mitch mcconnell agree with me, but his counterpart in the house, kevin mccarthy does not agree to. and while the curmudgeon from kentucky, he opposed the creation of a bipartisan independent 9/11-style commission to investigate the capitol riot. now, as for the select committee, as it exists now, it has issued a subpoena for this guy, phil waldron. he's a retired army colonel and trump sycophant who helped write a 38-page powerpoint presentation about how to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which was given to some gop lawmakers before the insurrection. that presentation -- i mean, i can't believe i'm even saying this. they made a powerpoint presentation about this. that presentation included baseless and ridiculous assertions, such as china and venezuela taking control of the u.s. electoral system. it called for the former administration to declare electronic voting in all states unvalid, just like that. that presentation, by the way, was turned over to the committee by the insurrectionist former president's last chief of staff, this guy, mark meadows, who mao says voted to hold in contempt of congress for failing to fully supply with a subpoena. waldron claims to have spoken with meadows, quote, maybe eight or ten times. waldron also frequently spoke to rudy giuliani and fed the four seasons landscaping fans false conspiracy theories. waldron also just spoke last week for an hour and a half at a louisiana elections committee hearing, using yet another and different powerpoint, mind you, talking about, quote, black box voting machines, and baselessly claiming that louisiana's electoral system was, quote, vulnerable to fake voters, fake ballots, and quote, fake counts. whatever that means. joining me now is philip bump, national correspondent for "washington post." phil, there is a lot that has happened in the last week, but it's getting more interesting. ali alexander, whom to most americans is an absolute fringe character, he's been band from most social media, is quite essential to this january 6th operation. but it sounds like his testimony that he was in direct contact with paul gosar, representative andy biggs, mo brooks, all of whom are also kind of fringe characters, but members of congress might have been involved in the planning of the attack on congress. >> right. ali alexander has made a similar claim in the past about having been involved with these folks. now we're sort of getting the receipts for it. but we know that mo brooks was involved. he spoke on the ellipse on the morning of january 6th. one of the things that's really important for us to do is remember that all of these things were overlapping. that there were three events that were planned for thim that time period. and this event planned at the capitol. and at some point in the days prior to january 6th, all of those things were folded into one. ali alexander was kicked to speaking on the evening of january 6th. at one point, the official website for the ellipse rally mentioned they were going to have a rally at the capitol at 1:00 p.m. and on msnbc, dustin stockton was talking to chris hayes and said the point at which he had been an organizer of the ellipse rally soured on donald trump, suggesting that there had been eternal dissent and that trump had cast his dye in favor of the latter. i think that's a really, really important development, as we move forward. understanding how what was going on at the elips would not have been tied to what was happening at the capitol with obviously disastrous results. >> and there are all of these texts that have been released. there's a very tricky situation involving mark meadows. in -- after a string of chiefs of staff who really were not the boss. but mark meadows seems to have been getting texts from all sorts of people, telling him to tell the president that this has gone too far. that potus needs to calm this "s" down. some of them coming from anchors at fox news. so this plausible deniability seems to be dissolving. >> yeah, no, i think that that's exactly right. it was obviously the case on the day of january 6th itself that everything that was going on was an absolute disaster. in the months since, we've seen a lot of people including those fox news anchors to try to downplay that and suggest that it was something less than it actually was. these attacks are very much that people in the moment knew what was happening was as bad as they were saying it was. the real question here is, first of all, were similar texts sent to donald trump and ignored, necessitate going to mark meadows. my son is only 4 years old, but by the time he's an adult, he can say it to me and not a staffer that works for me. one of those texts was from donald trump jr. why were they reaching out to mark meadows and not donald trump? because he was explicitly ignoring them and saying he was not going to do them? what was that? >> donald trump jr. is one of those people who seemed to claim that he couldn't reach donald trump, and yet we saw earlier in the day, we have video of the fact that they were all together as part of this rally. phil, i just want to go offtopic for a second, because it's very on-topic with omicron. you've just written a piece about the fact that the president will be talking about this on tuesday. he's going to be addressing the nation. something has happened in the last week, with respect to covid. maybe it's omicron, but a lot more people are getting tested. a lot more people are testing positive. what is it that you think the president might be telling the nation on tuesday? >> my expect is that he's probably going to come out with at least some incremental improvement to the way in which we're able to track this thing? so since the beginning of the pandemic, we heard lots of discussion last year when donald trump was president about the ways in which the government could be doing more, making rapid at-home tests available more easily, making high-quality masks available to people. i would be very surprised if he department have some information on that front, some way in which the government can make available all of these things that right now are not. there are two things happening. we have this contagious version of the virus that is out now, and colder weather which is pushing people indoors, particularly in the northeast. those are very important factors. and it's clear that something needs done. and it's also fair to say that the full weight of the government hasn't been brought to bear on this thing yet. so we can expect biden to make some sort of announcement that biden is making these resources better available to people as this things starts to surge. >> phil, good to see you. one day in the future, when his son complains he can't reach you, he can get hold of you directly, he doesn't need to text a third party to reach you. philip bump is a correspondent for "the washington post" and we appreciate your time. joining me now is david cicilline of rhode island. thank you for being with us this morning. >> good morning. >> we're not amazed, but for those of you who were at the house of representatives of january 6th, where there were attempts on your life, basically. this is one of the most dangerous days that the u.s. congress has ever seen, there must be something deeply, deeply, deeply troubling to you about the fact that we now know at least three or four of your colleagues may have had very specific involvement in the fact that the capitol was attacked. >> yes, ali. this is all incredibly disturbing. this was a horrific day, it was a bloody day that resulted in the death of five people. the worst attack on our democracy in my lifetime. and to see the work of the select committee and see what's already been released, that communication was going back and forth between people in the administration and members of congress is deeply disturbing. the argument that was made early on is, this was just a peaceful protest that got out of hand. we now know that this was ark orchestrated and planned and that members of congress were in communication with the white house and with some of the organizers. that's the important work of the select committee. the american people have a right to know who financed this, who planned it, who organized it. and every single person who was involved in any way must be held fully accountable. the work of the bipartisan select committee is incredibly important. they've spoken to almost 300 witnesses. collected over 30,000 documents. so, you know, there's a significant amount that they've already done, that is going to really contribute to that. but, look, they are going to get to the truth, they're going to make sure everyone understands who's responsible for this attack on our democracy and make sure that they're held accountable. >> and what happens if that happens, congressman? i guess the question that i've got is, we're so polaized and dug in, i don't think there are a whole lot of americans who are puzzled about what happened on january 6th and likely who was behind it and what the intentions were. does getting to the bottom of this change anything for american voters? does it change things for people who are comfortable voting for republicans who have not disavowed donald trump. who have not disavowed the stop the steal movement? the big lie is the basis of david perdue's new election for the senate in georgia. he lost his election, as a normal republican. now he's running as a stop the steal republican. >> that's why the midterm elections are so important. we have to show that the truth matters. and that people who were part of promoting this big lie, which is completely not true. that this was the fairest election in our lifetime and trump officials acknowledged that the last election. so we have to keep speaking the truth and hopefully, as the work of the select committee is completed and they issue their report, more and more people will come to realize that this was a lie that resulted in a bloody attack on our democracy. and anyone who attacked in any way and didn't speak out and didn't acknowledge the truth ought to be held responsible. you hope over time that people will realize that donald trump propagated this lie to stay in power, to overturn the will of the american people in an american presidential election, which is so disturbing in and of itself. the idea that there was a power point, a plan on how to do this. you almost feel like it's a "saturday night live" skit. is that actually true? and that it was circulated and got into the hands of the president's chief of staff? i mean, this is dangerous. and we have to all, whether you're a republican, democrat, or independent, hopefully we can all come to the conclusion that no one can overturn the results of a free and fair election. we have to be sure we're protecting democracy in our own countries. >> some of the most authoritarian regimes in history kept remarkable details and notes and files which helped in the aftermath to be able to prosecute them. i appreciate that these guys made a powerpoint. it will make things easier down the road. democratic representative david cicilline of rhode island. believe it or not, there's actually more to get into about this january 6th investigation. your democracy does depend on it, by the way. if you're getting a little bored with this conversation, don't do so. stick around. this is important. i'm going to speak to new york congressman, former impeachment manager hakeem jeffries. he says if the senate cannot pass voting rights legislation, it will be, quote, the death of our democracy. i'm sort of with him on that. also, representative ilhan omar joins the show to discuss islamophobia, extremism, and racism in congress. and what we can do about it. but first, the omicron outbreak. the holidays are ahead, but it's beginning to look a lot like the early stages of the pandemic, again. he t early 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where's the national testing plan? who's leading us through the crisis, hashtag, demand better. i'm still fascinated by how tricky it is to get tested. how much difficulty i hear from people who want to get tested. how long it takes from the time you're tested to get the results in some cases. we should be doing better than we are right now. >> ali, good morning. thanks for having me back on. you're absolutely right. omicron is on our doorstep. you and i discussed this at thanksgiving. so we had early warning. we knew that this was coming to our doorstep. we knew how deadly omicron could be. instead of putting tests into the hands of americans, so we could see where the virus is, know who's infected and do things to prevent that virus spreading to others, instead we saw the white house put out a plan and a strategy that said they would update us some time in mid-january. we cannot wait until january. we did not enough to scale up and ramp up testing to get it in the hands of americans for this pandemic. it's time that we have action, it's time that we put tests and n-95 masks into the hands of americans. and it's time we tell them how important it is to use testing and masking to stop this virus. >> i remember for a while, walking around new york and seeing these pop-up testing centers. and no one was ever there. they were like hawking it. like, does anybody want a test? now there's lineups everywhere we go. how does this help us? if there's adequate testing, whether people can do it at home or they're quick turnarounds and get them quickly, how does that solve our problem? >> right now, a lot of people want to travel. this is our busiest travel week or two in the entire year in the united states. and we want to make sure if you are infected with the covid-19 virus, then you do not travel. you do not expose vulnerable relatives or older relatives or those who are immune compromised to this virus. the testing right now will help us determine who's infected. will help us get the message to isolate and quarantine and change their travel plans so they don't expose others. it's a really critical tool to know if you're infected, so you do not infect others who might die from this virus. >> you make an interesting point. "who might die from this virus." everything we're hearing about this is, boy, it's really transmissible. this thing spreads at a rate that is faster than delta and maybe you can explain why that is. but it does not seem to result in as serious illness or death, particularly amongst the vaccinated. but you can still spread this. you can still carry this virus if you're vaccinated, and you can still end up infecting someone who is vulnerable, immunocompromised, or for whatever reason, not vaccinated, and that could result in their death. >> ali, that's exactly right. we're going to see more cases of omicron, the omicron variant infection than we have with any other version of this virus. as a matter of fact, this is the most contagious virus that we have seen in our lifetime. so a lot of people are going to get infected. so, even if the cases are milder, more cases of even milder infection will lead to more hospitalizations, will lead to more deaths. so don't fool yourself or don't be fooled by any type of rhetoric that the cases are milder, therefore, you don't have to do much to protect yourself or your family. you have to do something every day. i get tested almost every day. anytime i go to a essential setting or visit family members, i get tested. i wear my n-95 mask every time i step outside my front door and i'm around strangers, even on the street or in crowded places. it's really important that we do this. because omicron, delta, or any other name you want to call this virus is a deadly virus. while you might be protected because you're vaccinated, those around you may not be protected. and it will kill them. it's a deadly virus. we must do everything we can to protect ourselves. >> you're a doctor, so these things might sound a little irritating for most people, but it's just the course of the way things are. just get tested, wear a mask, be careful. it's not too much to ask in exchange for your life or the health of others. rick, always good to see you. we always appreciate you getting up early and taking time to talk to us. dr. rick bright is an immunologist, a virologist, and senior vice president of pandemic response at the rockefeller foundation. it's easy to lose trust in our legislators, especially if you feel that they have a leg up on the rest of us. i've got some suggestions, when we come back. got some suggesti we come back is is a cold call! nfl teams are turning to cold with tide, will you? that will never work! if it works on nfl jerseys it'll work for you. seriously! just perfect! and it'll save up to $150 a year. and it's cold! so you will turn to cold? fine! i'll turn to cold! that guy needs to chill out! this was a cold call! people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible... ...with rybelsus®. 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>> they are on the way, ma'am. >> oh, god. >> these are poll workers. the harassment lasted through past summer. among those who spread the ugly lie about freeman and moss is congressman jodie heiss. he continues to be a 2020 election denier, and now heiss is running to be the state's top election official, to unseat the secretary of state, brad raffensperger. unsurprisingly, he has donald trump's support. on top of all of that, reuters reports that new laws and government restructuring have resulted in plaque democrats being purged from local election boards, replaced by white republicans. these are just some of the challenges that democracy is currently facing, and that's just in one state. with me now is the ceo of the now georgia project, a voter mobilization project started by stacey abrams. you know, georgia, to some, is ground zero if this thing. because you were contending with registering people to vote, who otherwise had difficulty registering to vote or coming out to vote. in elections gone by. and all of a sudden, when it results in the victory of joe biden over donald trump or of democratic senatorial candidates over republicans, republicans have started to cry foul and suggest there's something nefarious behind it. what kind of help do you need? >> thank you for having me this morning, ali. the kind of help that we need right now, not now, but right now, is one, a full restoration of the voting rights act. we've talked about georgia. you've laid out very clearly and disturbingly, quite frankly, all of the ways in which this current version of the republican party is not only motherly bankrupt, but that they are attacking our elections, from removing the secretary of state is as the chair of the state elections board to me pech waiting this big lie that's resulting in real fins being made at county election workers, these volunteers are making a hundred bucks day and should not be subject to the kind of violent, terrific threats that they are, because they're right to do a service. and so the federal voting rights act need a federal standard for how elections are conducted. and in the aftermath of the january 6th election, that 48 out of these 50 united states have introduced anti-voting bills. nearly 400-voting bills. in a lot of ways, georgia serves as a template, a canary in the coal mine for what is coming, but it is not just georgia, it is not just the deep south. >> you and i have been talking about this for so long. and you operate, and so many of you in georgia, because you have been doing this for so long, some of it takes place in registration, some of it is targeted against voting officials. but for people who say, who recite this mantra that is put forward by republicans that look, we've got to make sure that our voter integrity is as strong as it can be, as our voting systems are as safe as they can be, what do you say to them. because there are people who are legitimately concerned, based on false information, that there's something unsafe about the way we vote. what is the simple answer to that? >> is that your feelings are not facts, right? that there have been multiple -- multiple investigations, audits, reviews of how these elections were conducted. and the truth of the matter is that, given that we were in the middle of a pandemic, given that many states introduced no-fault absentee balloting, which provided receipts and a way to conduct audits, one can argue that these were by far some of the most -- the safest, most transparent elections in the history of american elections. and there's simply no evidence to support that. that this is a lie, this is a big lie. this is disinformation and it has proven to destabilize governments, that as we move away from hot wars. that this is what is happening right now. and so it's -- we are being radically honest about what we are seeing. we're talking about people's motivations, and we're talking about receipts, right? prove it. we are regularly and routinely forced to prove voter suppression, right? so what do you mean that there are people of color being purged off of the voter rolls? we can show you that we registered 600,000 people and only 400,000 of them are showing up on the voter roll. and we're coming for the 200,000 that are missing. they are not held to the same standard. they have not been able to sustain any kind of investigation that will prove voter fraud. >> yeah. and you're being constantly asked to prove a negative when that negative doesn't exist. thank you for joining us. the ceo of the new georgia project. another breeding ground for the big lie is pennsylvania. republicans are not letting up on the zpras measures to overturn an election a year later. measures to overturn an election a year later. firefighter maggie gronewald knows how to handle dry weather... ...and dry, cracked skin. new gold bond advanced healing ointment. restore healthy skin, with no sticky feeling. gold bond. champion your skin. with no sticky feeling. ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ i've got moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months, after just 2 doses. skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪nothing is everything♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? 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well, in another case, pennsylvania attorney general josh shapiro took the republican-led senate committee to court after they subpoenaed shapiro for private voter information. what's happening in pennsylvania is a very big deal, it's proof that the big lie isn't dead. it's not just limited to georgia or arizona or texas. in fact, it's the driving force behind what is being called the second insurrection, which is a takeover that will manipulate further elections and damage our democracy. joining me now is the aforementioned pennsylvania attorney general josh shapiro, who's been fighting the big lie in court. he's also a candidate for governor in pennsylvania. attorney general, good to see you again. pennsylvania is not the one that gets all the big headlines in all of these states that are doing fake audits and very rampant voter suppression, but in fact, it's been going on in pennsylvania since long before the election. republicans in this state have been trying shenanigans all over. at every level, there's some kind of suppression going on. >> without question. you can draw a straight line between the lies that came out of the mouth of the former president and his enablers, way back in early 2020. the litigation, and by the way, they pseudo it here in pennsylvania over 40 times to make it harder for people to vote and then to stop their votes from being counted. we won every time and they lost and the will of the people was respected. but they didn't stop there. the lies continue that led directly to the violent insurrection at our nation's capitol. and then they left our nation's capitol and have gone on to state capitols across the country. and they passed voter suppression laws in places like georgia and texas. and the only reason why they haven't passed them here in pennsylvania is because of the veto pen of our governor. we must never lose that veto pen. we must always protect voter rights here in the commonwealth. and now they're engaged in these sham audits, sham reviews to try to undermine people's faith in our democracy. and we're fighting back and will protect the interests of the good people of pennsylvania. >> but, as i was just talking to you about in georgia, similar things are in happening in pennsylvania, as are happening in texas, and arizona. in that this goes well beyond just the state legislators. an article from the associated press talking about fulton county, pennsylvania, says in post-election internal e-mails, fulton county's two republican commissioners expressed solidarity with republican senators who later sought to block pennsylvania's electoral vote from being cast for biden. one said that we can't let this election get stolen. these are people who swear an oath. they are there. it shouldn't matter whether they are republican or democrat, their job is to execute elections to letter of the law. this is a big problem. you can't rust the people running the elections, this becomes something other than just political. >> what we know from 2020 is those local clerks, republicans and democrats, generally speaking, across the board, did their jobs, under just immense pressure and stress coming from the former president and his enablers. but we also see that there are too many people who took that oath of office, who out of a profound sense of personal weakness are willing to trade our democracy and our institution for some short-term little gain or short-term love prosecute former president. that is dangerous. that is what we need to call out. we need to call out those lies. we need to make very, very clear again and again that we had a free and fair, safe and secure election here in pennsylvania, which, by the way, ali, there was no widespread voter fraud. in fact, there were a handful cases of voter fraud. and in each one, the individual -- >> a trump voter. >> -- was trying to get an extra vote for donald trump. >> but they're asking you to prove a negative, right? pennsylvania, like georgia, like arizona, you've all had audits. arizona was a -- >> we had two audits. >> but generally speaking, all of these other states had real audit and they were proved to be safe elections. >> look, this is not about proving the negative, as you said. this is about calling out the lies and quite frankly, ali, it's about beating these folks at the ballot box, who continue to perpetuate the big lie. who continue to do real damage to our democracy. we see it, the modern-day republican party here in pennsylvania is beholden to the big lie. the leading candidates in their side for governor would literally participated in the violence insurrection. and continues to spew the big lie. and each and every one of them are lining up behind that. what we need to do is speak truth in the face of those lies and beat these folks at the ballot box, so they're not rewarded for going against our democracy. >> doesn't matter what party they're from. you can vote republican, you can vote democrat, but you can't vote for somebody who is actually against working against democracy. attorney general josh shapiro is a candidate for the governorship of pennsylvania. don't go anywhere. a lot more you need to know this sunday morning. straight ahead, we will have congressman hakeem jeffries joining the show. he says if the senate cannot pass voting rights legislation, it will be the death of democracy. plus, congresswoman ilhan omar on extremism in congress and a whole more. another hour of "velshi" begins right now. good morning. it is 9:00 a.m. in the east on sunday, december the 19th. i'm ali velshi. in the weeks after the 2020 election, around time last year, one phrase became a familiar refrain in the white house among those whining about the

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