fight the virus? that sounds like an impossible question. the labor secretary joins me later to take a crack at answering it. "velshi" starts now. good morning to you. it's saturday, january 16. we begin this morning with breaking news. overnight we saw the end to a dramatic day-long hostage standoff at a synagogue in a small texas town 30 miles northwest of dallas. at this hour, the suspected hostage taker is dead and all the hostages have been released safely. last night, reporters heard the sound of explosions, possibly flash bangs, and the sound of gunfire as a rescue team rescued the three remaining hostages, including the rabbi. the fbi identified the suspect but has not shared his name. despite him being dead, the investigation is ongoing. >> long day of hard work by nearly 200 law enforcement officers from across this region. i do not have any information right now that indicates that this is part of any kind of ongoing threat. we obviously are investigating. we will continue to investigate the hostage taker. we will continue to investigate his contacts. our investigation will have global reach. >> it began yesterday when the perpetrator initially took four hostages captive during a saturday morning service at congregation beth israel, a reform synagogue in texas. after five hours one of the host hosts was released unhurt. the taker demanded a federal inmate be released. he referred to her as his sister. authorities proved that to be untrue. the 49-year-old is well-known. known as lady al qaeda. she's serving a sentence after being convicted for attempting to kill u.s. officers in afghanistan. she's being held in texas. joining me now is morgan chesky. morgan? >> reporter: good morning. the headline coming out of this community today is the four hostages safe and sound. we know they have been reunited with each of their family members after this incredibly tense ordeal that played out for the better part of yesterday not too far from where i'm standing. this is still an active scene. authorities are gathering evidence. after the rescue of the hostages, they spoke with each of them for hours trying to learn more about what took place inside that place of worship, starting around 10:41 a.m. that's when the phone call first went out to the local police department saying that there was some sort of situation ongoing. when they arrived, they confirmed the fact that a man had ended that building and started to make demands. some of which were heard on a live stream of the synagogue services saturday, before it was cut off. it was at that point that we saw a massive convergence of law enforcement arrive, both at the federal and state level. we know fbi hostage negotiators flew to texas and established communication with this gunman inside the synagogue that they say was consistent for the better part of the entire day. saying there was no lull. they were able to keep talking with him. however, they share his really only demand that they are publically saying was the release of that federal prisoner at that prison that's just about 20 miles from where i'm standing. you mentioned that that one hostage was released around 6:00 p.m. yesterday. it was confirmed that they did not have any medical issues. they were able to be reunited with family shortly thereafter. we know that what followed was four more very tense hours of ongoing dialogue with the gunman before that really moment that everyone was watching when we heard that bang and then shortly thereafter authorities did confirm that the four hostages were safely -- the three remaining inside the synagogue were safely rescued and the gunman has been deceased. the final moments when they breached the synagogue, authorities aren't sharing details as to the cause of death for that gunman. we do hope to learn more in the coming hours as they continue to gather evidence and authorities share a little more insight into what exactly happened. >> morgan, thanks very much. flag us when you have new information. we will get it on air as soon as possible. morgan chesky reporting from texas near dallas. i'm joined by jonathan greenblatt, he is the author of the book "it could happen here, why america is tipping from hate to the unthinkable and how we can stop it." good morning to you. sadly, last night when i was looking for you and saying, i want to talk to jonathan, we didn't know what the outcome was going to be. in many cases, when an armed person goes into a synagogue, as we have talked about, it doesn't end well. this one ended more peacefully than most have. what was going through your mind? what are you thinking now? >> first of all, i was thinking about the four hostages. i think all of us need to give praise this morning to the fbi and texas law enforcement for the safe rescue of those individuals. they were in the ground with the families at the command center. they were terrified. it was a frightening situation. it was another example, as you say, as we talked about before, about a jewish place being targeted. we are almost seven years to the day that a kosher supermarket in paris was targeted by an isis supporter. we have talked before about synagogues and kosher markets in the united states and jewish offices and again and again there's a reason why the jewish community is vigilant. anti-semitism remains at a historic eye. in the minds of extremists, right wing extremists, conspiracies about jews factor high. the community is on edge. >> you and i talked about the normalization of this behavior. credit to the people who brought this to an end. there was a strange comment made. the hostage taker was specifically focused on an issue, the release of this prisoner, that was not directly connected to the jewish community. there was no immediate indication that the man was part of any broader plan. whether or not this had anything to do with jews, he decided to go into a place that was a jewish space, where there would be jews. we discussed the fact that this is the problem. you don't want people randomly deciding their grievances in life need to be taken out on jews. that's the basis of anti-semitism. >> yeah. i'm glad you are raising the issue. i think the fbi did amaing work. but make no mistake, when this woman -- when a jury is being impanel -- she's serving 86 counts, seven counts of terrorism. threatening harm against americans. in her jury selection, she said in public that, quote, the jurors should be genetically tested so that we know there are no israelis or zionists among them. after her trial, when she was found guilty, and the verdict was read in court, her exclamation that she said out loud in front of everyone was, quote, this isn't a verdict in america, it's a verdict in israel. this is bizarre. i can assure you the synagogue has nothing to do with some broad jewish conspiracy. but in the mind of these extremists, the anti-semites, they look to target jews. he didn't target a grocery store. he went to a synagogue to make a point that jews are vulnerable, part of the problem. this is why this vicious anti-semitism needs to be confronted by all sectors of society. >> it troubles me in recent years when i drive by the local synagogue here and i see police. there are police or security guards there all the time. what's the state right now this morning of the american jewish community? i don't know you don't speak for everybody. but what have you been hearing? >> i heard from many jewish leaders. people are afraid. what you said is true. you will see in the weeks ahead more -- an increased police presence. more security precautions introduced. cameras and locks and things like that will happen. i think the thing that's interesting -- if we want to turn this crisis into an opportunity, this rabbi was very involved in inter-religious outreach, particularly making -- between the jewish and muslim community. all muslims aren't guilty of this. there are plenty of condemnations online. let's hope this is an opportunity for jews and muslims to come together. we have more in common than things that divide us. people's politics shouldn't get in the way of coming together as human beings. >> jonathan, i want to ask one other question. as we have seen in many cases, whether anti-semitism or other extremist violence, we find out that sometimes the perpetrator has nothing to do with the larger cause. this guy may have nothing to do with the prisoner. that is the problem in america where people take their messages either from the internet or things they read and could act alone. that doesn't actually comfort us. the idea it's not part of a broader conspiracy is still as dangerous to people who are taken hostages or killed. >> yes. he was likely getting his information from social media to a degree. we don't want to get into all the details. there's so much of a proliferation of anti-jewish hate online, wild conspiracies. we also know in all honesty that she has been a celebrity for some on the far left. she's being described as a prisoner of conscience. even though she was firing on americans and committed other crimes. he may have been taking his information from some of those people. we really don't know yet. if we want to figure out how do we move forward, i really hope congress will approve the special global envoy on anti-semitism. that nomination is being held up. i hope the jewish and muslim communities can find ways to come together. that's in all of our interest to keep ourselves and our communities safe. >> jonathan, i don't appreciate the reason why we have to talk this more than, but i always appreciate you coming on to help us with these difficult topics. the ceo of the anti-defamation league. more on this story as it comes in. this hour, the united states labor secretary is joining to discuss the economy, inflation and the great resignation. yesterday, i talked to two attorneys general about what they are doing on the front lines in their states to fight for democracy. today, i am joined by two secretaries of state. they each face similar yet unique challenges in their shared goal to save american democracy. shared goal to save american shared goal to save american democracy.e back to younger peo. i think most adults will start realizing that they don't recall things as quickly as they used to or they don't remember things as vividly as they once did. i've been taking prevagen for about three years now. people say to me periodically, "man, you've got a memory like an elephant." it's really, really helped me tremendously. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. once upon a time, at the magical everly estate, landscaper larry and his trusty crew... were delayed when the new kid totaled his truck. timber... fortunately, they were covered by progressive, so it was a happy ending... for almost everyone. hey hun shey, get your own vapors.. relax with vicks vapobath or with vicks vaposhower. take a soothing vicks vapo moment wherever you chose. do you struggle with occasional nerve aches in your hands or feet? 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(music) ♪ i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ every day in business brings something new. so get the flexibility of the new mobile service designed for your small business. introducing comcast business mobile. you get the most reliable network with nationwide 5g included. and you can get unlimited data for just $30 per line per month when you get four lines or mix and match data options. available now for comcast business internet customers with no line-activation fees or term contract required. see if you can save by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. as the saying goes, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. persistence is usually a good thing. in the case of the ex-president's efforts to overthrow democracy and scheme his way back into office, not so much. we typically don't give air time to the twice impeached former president now that he has been voted out of office. since he continues to be the de facto leader of the gop and the possible frontrunner for the next election for the republicans, it would be unwise to ignore him completely. it seems like one of the main lessons of the ex-president are the ones they learned from the first failed coup attempt was to try again but with a better plan this time. the presidential election itself is still two years away. a scheme to potentially subvert the results that was election, should they not go in the ex-president's favor, is underway. check out this reporting. extreme republicans loyal to don't tmp and his big lie that the 2020 election was rigged have formed an alliance aiming to take control of the presidential election process in key battleground states that could determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential race. when americans head to the polls this midterm season, some of the most high stakes contents will be for the state offices, sometimes local offices also, that oversee the voting process. an npr analysis of 2022 secretary of state races across the country found that there are at least 15 republican candidates running who question the legitimacy of biden's win even though no evidence of fraud has been uncovered through recounts, audits and court cases. that isn't about the debunked myth of voter fraud. this is about a group of republicans using the ex-president's big lie to amass just enough power over the mechanisms of our elections and bend them in his favor should he decide to formally run in 2024, which is he increasingly expected to do. let's connect the dots of what republicans are trying to accomplish here. we have seen them push a wave of laws restricting access to the ballot box that would make is harder for specific segments of the population to vote. then, even if those people, members of those specific populations make it to the polls, did pit the obstacles put in their way, like long lines and bad polling hours and distant polls, the failed former president's acolytes are trying to place themselves in positions to toss out votes that aren't for their chosen candidates. that's not even close to how a democracy is supposed to function. elected officials are supposed to uphold the will of the people. not the will of one person. not the will of one person returning for office, who lost. although his plan seems to be in motion, there are a number of people in those positions of power who actually take their oath of office seriously and who are fighting on the front lines to demand the don's anti-democratic delusion from becoming reality. i will talk to two of them on the other side of this break. o o the other side of this break nothing like a weekend in the woods. it's a good choice all around, like screening for colon cancer... when caugh early stages it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive... and i detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers... even in early stages. early stages. yep. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. we're in. looking to get back in your type 2 diabetes zone? 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ask your health care provider today about once-weekly ozempic®. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ you may pay as little as $25 for a 3-month prescription. i've been telling everyone... the secret to great teeth is having healthy gums. crest advanced gum restore. detoxifies below the gumline... and restores by helping heal gums in as little as 7 days. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. welcome back. joining me are two women at the forefront of the battle to protect battle rights. the secretary of state for new mexico and the secretary of state for michigan. good morning to both of you. thank you for being with us. i appreciate you being here. the problem we are facing right now is twofold. stuff that happened in the 2020 election, for which many people responsible have not been held to account. in not doing so, we are paving the way for more of this nonsense as we saw at that arizona rally yesterday to take place in the 2022 election and the 2024 election. you call it a code red crisis for democracy. >> it absolutely is. if you consider the fact that secretary benson and i are democrats. we are registered democratic party members and we vote that way in our personal lives. but when we come into our jobs, we make sure elections are run fairly and accurately and securely. this type of behaior is very scary. it's a threat to our democracy. >> secretary benson, you and i have talked about this, including the fact that in michigan, there are automatic audits, audits you can do, real audits. the questions that came up in the election were swatted away in every case by the courts. and yet, there's a persistent percentage of people who believe this big lie. npr rolled last week. a majority of republicans believe joe biden was not the popularly elected president of the united states. what do you do about this persistent big lie that becomes a reality? >> i think a number of things. you need leaders on both sides of the aisle committed to telling the truth. we haven't had that, particularly from the republican party. we need to see people who are committed not just to -- some have stayed silent. use their platform to speak out as some have, particularly here in michigan. look at the research that abundantly shows the accuracy, security and fairness of the 20 election. the flip side of that says why the candidates for our offices that don't believe in democracy are nefarious. this office is a platform from which people can continue to spew misinformation and damage people's faith in our democracy if it's used the wrong way. the fact that we see an absence of people in the republican people speaking out about the truth and the lack of support for the individuals within the party who are trying to go out on a limb and do that and we see the increase who are repeating these lies to gain political power, puts us in a perilous position. >> in new mexico, there's a voting rights expansion bill. it was proposed on january 6. i wanted to show our viewers what it includes. extending early voting. designation election day as a state holiday. allowing 16-year-olds to participate in local elections, creating a permanent absentee voter list, expanding online voter registration, extending the time line for mail-in ballots to 35 days before an election, creating an option to vote a straight party ballot. some of the stuff in there falls into the two bills that are before the senate that are having difficulty getting through. to what degree are solutions to this problem done or should they be done at the state level? the reason i ask that is because what we see are efforts in some states to do the opposite of what you are trying to do in new mexico, to curtail voting rights. >> this bill in new mexico is a response to some of the activities we see around the country in trying to roll back and make it more difficult for folk s to cast their ballot. to your question, every state should be trying to do everything that it can to make it easier for its citizens to vote. every state is different. the culture, how people like to vote, what sorts of activities make the most sense. however, at the end of the day, what we do need is we need a minimum standard across the nation as to access to the ballot box. in new mexico, you can vote early for 28 days before election day. in my neighbors in texas and arizona, that's not necessarily the case. that's a fundamentally unequal election system. by passing the john lewis voting rights act, the freedom to vote act, what we can try and do at the federal level is secure some of those basic level protections such that every voter in the country just has an equal shot at casting a ballot from every other voter in the country. that's an american concept. the notion that we should all have the basic access to our election system and to have our voice heard. >> secretary benson there are five states, including the states you come from, georgia, arizona, michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin, nevada and new mexico in which republican officials tried to provide to the national archives a slate of electors to were not the electors that were supposed to be -- did not represent the presidential candidate who won in those states, joe biden. it's brazen. it's remarkable. it's dishonest. it's illegal. but it happened. i can't get my head around that. how do you prevent that kind of brazen attempt to overturn democracy? i don't know if we should worry about how to prevent it. how do you get everybody enraged about the fact that republicans did that? >> by continuing to talk about it. these challenges to our democracy are escalating in so many ways. this is the most critical issue of this election cycle. voters will have an opportunity this fall to choose. do we want to live in a democracy or do we want to elevate people who continue to spew lies. this is why the work of the january 6 committee is so critical. these documents emerged as part of the investigation. there are dozens of ways in which the former president and many of his supporters attempted to interfere with the election. as you were saying earlier, to the extent that they failed, they sharpening their efforts, honing their strategies. we must ensure truth emerges. seek justice and accountability for those who broke the law. work to put protections in place at the state and federal level to ensure that we don't see a repeat of these nefarious practice in future elections. >> it's remarkable. thanks to both of you for being with us today. democrats control the house, senate and white house. major parts of president biden's big agenda continue to stall out because of two democrats. i will dive into what biden needs to do to get them on board with the former senate colleague of theirs next. former senate ce former senate ce of theirs nextn its weakened st. it's innovative. my go to toothpaste is going to be pronamel repair. y'all heard it here. if you wanna be fresh, you gotta refres like subway®. like the new baja steak & jack tender, thicker-cut steak and. wait sooo you're not coming out of retirement? 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(vo) verizon is going ultra, so you can too. why does walgreens offer prescription copays as low as zero dollars? ♪ ♪ so you won't have a medicare in the world. ♪ ♪ plus, 90-day refills and same day delivery. larry? that's even less to medicare about. fill your medicare prescriptions with walgreens and save. ♪ ♪ gridlock in the united states senate stalled the democratic agenda once again. build back better, president biden's social infrastructure package was put on hold last year so congress could shift to a pair of key voting rights bills. that goal now looks unlikely as well, despite the fact that democrats control the white house, senate and the house of representatives. in his speech on the importance of voting rights reform this past week, president biden said the senate, quote, has been rendered a shell of its former self. kyrsten sinema delivered her own speech in response where she reaffirmed her opposition to changing the filibuster, which she pins to the need for bipartisanship. it dooms her party's push for voting rights. there's a thin line between her idealism and the trap of minority rule. democrats are still pushing ahead with their plan to return to work on tuesday to consider the voting rights bills. joining me now is doug jones of alabama. in 2017, he won a senate seat in a deep red state during the trump years. he was the first democratic senator there in more than 25 years. he lost in 2020. he is a civil rights lawyer who prosecuted two former ku klux klan members for their roles in the bombing of the 16th street baptist church. thanks for being with us. a lot of americans are trying to get to the motivation of joe manchin and kyrsten sinema. many is like what you faced in alabama in that they come from states in which things are split between republicans and democrat they need to appeal to a broad base. sinema talks about the disease of division in the senate. she felt that upholding the filibuster somehow helps prevent that or keep that in abeyance. do you share that view? >> yes and no. she's right. let me tell you, i know senator sinema and manchin. they come from their desire for bipartisanship in a very honest manner. what i think is wrong though is that today's filibuster actually creates that divisiveness. i agree there's a disease of divisiveness in this country. i've been talking about it for a long time. i think the filibuster as it exists today has created that. remember, it's because of the filibuster, it allowed mitch mcconnell and other republicans to put very extreme bills on the floor of the united states senate knowing full well they are not going to pass, knowing that there was no chance that they would pass because of the 60 vote threshold, but forcing democrats to take votes on extreme bills that were then used in campaign ads. it's a campaign tool that has been used. it's created that divisiveness. what would happen in the 1970s when i was in the united states senate as a staffer, when you would see a talking filibuster, people having to hold the floor. what you saw after a period of time was that senators would gather in the majority leader's office, so the minority's office, in the cloak room, they would come to a compromise. the minority -- the filibuster is signed to have a minority have influence on legislation. that's exactly what happened in those days. even though senators may have voted against the bill, they had some influence. that's what it was designed to do. today, it's pure obstruction. it's pure political. it's creating the disease of divisiveness in this country. >> we have this chicken and egg situation. you could take senator manchin and sinema at their word, they think there's too much partisanship in the senate. most persons would agree with that. they think if they don't want to do anything that makes it worse than it is. in their opinion -- let's take them at their word. in their opinion, eliminating the filibuster would do what? they feel it would harden everybody and it would do what? sinema made the argument this will come back to bite democrats if they do it. >> i don't think there's any question that you will see votes if and when you have a republican president, a republican controlled house, a republican senate, you will see some things that will be tried to be undone. however, what we have to do right now is to create a situation where people are talking. there is no reason in today's rules of the senate for people to talk about. go back to the bipartisan infrastructure bill. that bill got passed not because of a filibuster rule. it got passed because both sides wanted it. they wanted to get to a place. when you have a situation where you get one party entrenched against something, like it seems the republicans are on voting rights, then the best that they can hope for is to try to get some influence on those. you do that with changing the rules, allowing the talking filibuster. i'm not crazy about eliminating it. but if you change the rules to require the senators to hold that floor, that's how you get people talking. that's how you get folks to bipartisanship. even with folks that are going to ultimately vote against the bill. you don't have that today with the senate rules where you can phone in an objection. >> i want to ask you about something you did -- said in an interview. you said, right wing billionaires put money into an apparatus that put out information that's not true. democrats need to counter that narrative. we not having dialogue. we respond to misinformation with anger and frustration. we can't just be pissed off. people are willing to listen. they believe there's a threat to democracy. they think it's coming from socialism. i have heard this when i have been out across the country, including in your great state of alabama. how do you counter that? what does a pro-democracy coalition look and sound like? >> i think your secretaries of state that you had on a moment ago nailed it. particularly the secretary of state of arizona when she was talking about what does these voting laws across the states would do to voters, not just our marginalized black and brown communities but all voters across the spectrum. you have to engage people in every day of the year, 24/7, 365 days a year. democrats don't do that. we register people to vote and then as it comes to an election, we try to get those groups out to vote. what we have seen over the last 30 or 40 years at the buildup of a mechanism where every day, consistent messages are going out that started out as conservative and now it's gotten out of control. it's pure fiction. >> senator, good to see you. thank you for being with us. missed an opportunity to see you when i was in alabama. i hope we do this more often. former senator of alabama, doug jones. a noted civil rights lawyer. you know, we are going through inflation. what you might not know is that some of the best parts of our current economic recovery are part of the reason for it. i will explain next and i will talk to the labor secretary about how to fix the increasingly serious labor shortage. the good, the bad and the ugly of biden's economy up next. bidt >> are you ready to start a great career? 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[ sighs heavily ] when owning a small business gets real, progressive helps protect what you've built with affordable coverage. up at 2:00am again? ptonight, try pure zzzsct whaall night.uilt unlike other sleep aids, our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. and longer. zzzquil pure zzzs all night. fall asleep. stay asleep. 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. it's non habit forming and powered by the makers of nyquil. new zzzquil ultra. when you really really need to sleep. just before the break we were talking about inflation and how it's a frustration for our economy. withs coming up, there's a spotlight on pocketbooks. joining me is secretary of labor marty walsh. >> thanks for having me. >> part of the inflation issue is that we have a shortage of workers. we have 11 million job openings and about 8.38 million people available to work. i'm trying to get a handle on what you think about this. is this fantastic? the shortage of workers means wages are going up next are up 5% in 2020. is it terrible because it's causing inflation? >> i would say that we are living in a pandemic. president biden inherited problems from the previous administration that he had to deal with. no plans to deal with the pandemic, with supply shortages, to deal with manufacturing problems and living within a pandemic at the same time. certainly, what we are doing is working to -- with businesses to alleviate the supply chain, creating pre-apprentice programs, look at issues. the president passed the infrastructure law that we will put money into the economy, investment in roads and bridges. secretary buttigieg announced a bridge plan. we are working on job training. when i think about this economy, i heard the piece before i came on, yeah, there are a lot of concerns to the american worker. no surprise about that. i can't sugarcoat that. when you look at what president biden has done around economics, around job development and creation and laying out a plan for 2022 to deal with inflation as well as part of that, that's really important. we can't go back and -- i wish we could -- and stop the pandemic. a lot of these conversations around inflation we wouldn't have today. >> right. i don't know what percentage we wouldn't be having if we didn't have the pandemic-related supply chains and factory closings and things like that. some is labor cost. i'm stuck on this. i think that we have struggled for years to try to increase the federal minimum wage and state minimum wage. it's ridiculous in some places in the country people still earn $7.25 an hour. we have raised those wages. according to the last bureau of labor statistics report, average hourly earnings at the end of december were $26.61 versus $25.15. doesn't seem like much but it's an increase in the right direction. that's got to be a good thing, that wages are going up. how do policymakers like you think about that? they have affects that are not fantastic for some small businesses and some consumers. >> i think the american people have realized during the pandemic, we thought of grocery store workers, we didn't call them essential. but they were essential. they put their lives on the line in the early days of the pandemic when there wasn't a lot of masks and there wasn't a lot of -- still figure out what's going on. i think that people don't mind paying more if that money is trickling into the pockets of the workers. when i say that, i'm talking some more money for a gallon of work or a loaf of bread. i think companies need to be cognizant of the fact that as inflation goes up, we put the procedures in place to bring it down, it's important they affect the kitchen table to bring costs down. i think that as we go through 2022, we will see our inflation will start to go the other direction. as you said earlier about the dust on the shelf, i'm not sure it will go back to zero, but i think if workers are making more money and they put more money in the economy and they are able to support a family, that's a positive sign. that's what president biden, when he was running for president, when he talked about build back better, it turned into a bill but it was making sure people and families have the opportunity to get to the middle class. i want to see more families in a better financial situation as we move into 2022 than we saw they had in 2019. >> secretary, let me ask you about the supreme court decision to not uphold the osha mandate that caused companies with 100 or more employees to be vaccinated, wear a mask or get testing. how are you reacting to that? what are you going to do about it? >> it's very disappointing. we are disappointed about it. the intention behind that was to keep the american workplace safe. as we put this rule together, we talked to medical experts who supported us saying it was the right thing to do. we spoke to legal experts who said we had the right to do it. on top of it, what we were doing at the department of labor and osha was not a mandate. it was a vaccine or testing option. we will stay focused on making sure the american workplace is safe. i have reached out to companies that might want to institute what we were doing, we will help awe long the way. we will help you set up a testing program so that you can make sure you can get people back safely. >> secretary, good to see you. thank you for taking the time to be with us. straight ahead, jamie raskin breaks down the latest in the january 6 investigation and a lot more. another hour of "velshi" begins right now. good morning. it's 9:00 a.m. in the east. it's been nearly one full year since donald trump left office in disgrace. at this time last year, his second impeachment trial for inciting an insurrection was underway. it justifiably dominated the trump narrative since then. the heinousness of the attack has almost made us forget about his other horrible acts of corruption. new reporting from "the new york times" sheds light on the attempts to politicize the census bureau. a newly disclosed memorandum citing unprecedented meddling by the trump administration in the 2020 census and circulated among top census bureau officials indicates how strongly they sought to resist efforts by the

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