a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome to "alex witt reports." we're going to begin with the breaking news out of arizona. the arizona democratic party formally censuring senator kyrsten sinema, sinema one of two democratic senators who voted this week to support the filibuster. nbc's vaughn hillyard is following this story for us. vaughn, gif us the back stories to why this happened and what it now means for senator sinema. >> you know, the actual arizona democratic party, alex, they set up this potential vote that happened here just in the last hour, all the way back in october when the full arizona democratic party state committee, this is a group of several hundred local arizona democratic party activists, voted on this particular measure, what that said is if senator sinema were to essentially hold up potential voting rights legislation, that they would then call on the exec exective committee of the arizona democratic committee this january, which is today to vote to censure her. of course what we saw last week was that senator sinema did just that, voting alongside west virginia senator joe manchin to not kill the filibuster in order to pass these key pieces of federal voting rights legislation. of course, her counterpart fellow arizona democratic senator mark kelly, he did vote to carve out and make this exception for voting rights legislation. i want to let you read part of the statement from the the arizona democratic party chairwoman writing in part, as a party our job is to support our democratic candidates and we appreciate senator sinema's leadership in passing the american rescue plan and the bipartisan infrastructure law. however, we are also here to advocate for our constituents and the ramifications of failing to pass federal legislation that protects their right to vote are too large and far reaching. while we take no pleasure in this announcement, the arizona democratic party executive board has decided to formally censure senator sinema as a result of her failure to do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our democracy. now, alex, senator sinema's relationship with her own democratic party has waned over these last years. every since her ascension to the u.s. congress, when she was in the arizona legislature, she was really the key voice, the progressive voice for arizona democrats. she was the one who you heard in the media most often. she was the loudest voice on on the floor of the arizona legislative chambers there, but what has happened here in the years since, and you saw it in her 2018 campaign for the u.s. senate where she campaigned as this arizona independent, kind of in the mold of john mccain, and ever since then she's really separated herself from arizona democratic party events, not appearing as many party activities, even in 2018 she rankled democrats when she declined to endorse their gubernatorial candidate who was running against doug ducey in 2018. you know a lot of democrats said she was more concerned about her own political status. she narrowly won that election and the reason there's a democrat representing arizona is because it is, in fact, kyrsten sinema. at the same time you saw all of this come to a head here today and their decision to censure their own senator. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you for that. joining me to discuss this a bit further, robert gibbs, former white house press secretary and an msnbc political analyst. robert, quick on this topic before we have you back in a little bit. how do you interpret this move? do you think it was appropriate given the way voting rights measures went down? >> well, look, i think if you look, alex, at arizona, arizona is in many ways ground zero for a lot of the things that we've seen around voting and voting rights really since the 2020 elections. i think the consternation among democratic activists shouldn't be a surprise to senator sinema at all. i do think while the censure may not do much in the short-term, i do think as she looks towards re-election in 2024 that her votes are going to create a series of political problems for her, particularly in the democratic party. she ran as vaughn said in 2018 and wins that seat, there are now two democratic senators from arizona, grant it that mark kelly has got a tough re-election, but my hunch is that she'll go through a very robust primary in 2024 should she seek to run for re-election of the arizona -- to the u.s. senate from arizona. >> okay, but does that, you know, diluting the waters if you will of the democrats in very much a purple state, does it then risk sacrificing a democrat's seat in the senate given this nature of arizona the way it stands today? >> it does. i would say the political position she's in is much more difficult for her personally than say a joe manchin. joe manchin a long-time democrat, a former governor. it's really hard to understand or see how somebody could represent west virginia as a democrat and their name not be joe manchin. my guess is that a lot of democratic activists think that senator sinema's not the only person that can win a u.s. senate seat from the democratic party in the state of arizona, particularly in 2024. >> okay. stay with me, we're going to update things on capitol hill and the white house and come right back to you my friend. thank you so much. as we go to capitol hill where democratic lawmakers have not given up on pushing through voting rights legislation after those senate republicans and those two democrats blocked a sweeping pair of bills. let's go to nbc's julie tsirkin following that story on capitol hill for us. what is the game plan now? >> reporter: look, alex, democrats haven't given up yet because they've spent weeks on both sides of pennsylvania avenue, democratic leadership telling their voters and democrats around the country unless they pass these key pieces of legislation, the freedom to vote act and the john lewis voting rights act that democracy could be in peril, that their vote may not matter in the coming elections and they want to make sure that doesn't happen. of course now as they move forward, they knew heading into this week what would happen. they knew that kyrsten sinema and joe manchin would vote with republicans against that rules change to enable them to pass those voting rights bills with a simple majority. they knew the outcome, it was prebaked, but still they're not ready to give up yet because, again, publicly they've been saying that democracy could be in peril. they've been calling out those 19 plus gop states that have been working to chip away at voting access and voter protections as we head into the midterm elections. when joe manchin was leaving the capital this week, i asked him, what's next. what are you going to do? the freedom to vote act was something he co-authored and he told me he's now kind of taking everything e focusing on this bipartisan group that's working on those election reforms that you see on your screen there. now, this is very much preliminary. they've been working for a couple of weeks. there's a group of about 12 of them including senator susan collins and senator romney and they're looking at things like reforming the electoral continue act which essentially only matters in the presidential election. that would limit congressional power, it would limit the vice president's power to overturn the election results. they're looking at putting more money in for polling places, but they stand an uphill battle. as senator warnock said, this is a distraction. this isn't enough. it's not going to be enough coming up on the midterms, they don't think that they can get everything together to make sure they protect voting rights for millions across the country. >> okay, julie, thank you for the very latest from capitol hill. the president is vowing to do more to push forward some of his key agenda items, those that stalled during his first year in office. let's go to nbc's josh lederman at the white house for us. the question is how does the president plan to do that? >> reporter: we know president joe biden loves the u.s. senate. he was a member of the senate for longer than i've been alive, and he has really focused a lot of his attention on trying to get these deals through congress. but white house officials say that now that they've had these stumbles on build back better, as they're entering year two, they are putting aside the legislator in chief persona for president joe biden, and he intends to really be much more out in front with the public in the coming weeks and months. the president going to use this as an opportunity to speak more directly to the american people to get out of washington and to try to engage in a way that will help relate to americans what the administration has been trying to do on their behalf as we get closer to the midterm elections. because let's face it, the democrats wanted to run this cycle on build back better on major legislative achievements. they don't have that, and so now they're trying to retrench a bit ask say how can we cast what we have gotten done in the bipartisan infrastructure law, in the covid relief bills, as major wins and really drive home for people how that is going to help them. and president biden also intends, according to white house officials to start bringing more lawmakers on air force one with him when he travels, sort of uing the perks of the job he has to bring people to his side. whether someone like joe manchin is going to be persuaded to vote his way because of a joyride on air force one, i don't know. but that's part of what the white house says they intend to do. president biden speaking yesterday to the conference of mayors describing what he thinks he can get done in his second year. take a listen. look, we can tackle all these challenges, just like we did with the rescue plan, the infrastructure law and the fight against covid. this isn't partisan, it's practical. you understand the cost if we fail to act. we need the voice of mayors telling the stories of what your communities need, and the impact we're making on people's lives or not making. we can get this done. i believe this with every fiber of my being. if we can get this done, there's no limit what americans can achieve. >> even though the white house says president biden will not be spending hours and hours in meetings in the oval office, that he's going to be more outfront publicly, white house officials and his staff will still be closely engaged with congress because they have not given up hope on trying to get at least major parts of what they had intended to get through build back better through congress before the midterm elections. there's already some talks about what they could get man chin to agree to on climate, on other provisions even if they don't necessarily call it build back better. there is a short time line for this. as close as we get to the midterm, the more and more difficult it is for congress to focus on these types of legislative priorities and politics eventually takes over, alex. the white house trying to work as quickly as possible. >> folks are gearing up for their own re-elections. thank you so much, appreciate that. joining me once again, robert gibbs, former white house press secretary and msnbc political analyst. president biden ended his first year with a lot of his agenda still unfinished. what do you think the president should do this year to try to reset? as we've heard being reported and as you heard in josh's reports i'm curious if you were in the white house, what advice would you give? >> yeah, it's a good question, alex. i think some of what you heard josh say is important. i do think joe biden has to be president of the united states, not president of the united states senate. i do think he has to get out and speak more directly to the american people, listen to their cares and concerns. i also think that the staff there can get a plan and get legislation through. this is a smaller version of build back better, and i think that can contain something like money for climate change and clean energy. you know, pre-k, early education and continue affordability subsidies for obama care. that wouldn't be 1.8 trillion. it wouldn't be 3.5 trillion, but alex, the idea that that alone isn't transformative, i think is not right. i think if democrats look to make the perfect the enemy of the good in build back better, then they're likely to get nothing, and there's no scenario in which getting nothing is better than getting something. >> yeah. >> and so i think that first and foremost, i think the president when he gets out of the white house has to talk directly to the american people about the anxieties they continue to feel. we're all happy to see that wages went up in 2021 for the first time in a long time, but inflation overwhelmed those increases, right? so the economy is at the forefront of people's minds, getting covid response right, feeling not like we're at the mercy of the viruses, and look, we understand it's a global pandemic, but let's keep our schools open. let's have clear guidance from the cdc. let's do the testing that we need to do to make sure people can make the right decisions. i think covid and the economy are still the biggest issues on american people's minds. >> agreed and that would be backed up by polls as well, robert. at that point once people feel a sense of normalcy, a return to that now, with covid on its way out, with the economy, you know, staying strong but then other things like inflation on its way down, do you think people will give joe biden the credit for that at that point, and will it be in time? i know you can't predict covid. >> right, right. it's a great question and i think we'll have to see. some of it depends on if people really honest to god feel it in a way that's different than they do right now. look, i think we all look back at afghanistan in august as a period of when the political forces of this president changes, there's also the moment if we look at the polling in which people began to think covid was -- the worst was in front of us than it was behind us, right? and i think the economy plays a big role in that. we've seen his approval ratings go down. i think if the economy improves in terms of prices, if covid feels like it's waning a little bit, i do think the ability of that approval rating to increase will be important, and i think too if we get something out of build back better, democrats can get energized again, and i think that will be important particularly as we head into 2022 because we know these are elections in off years. it's democrats versus republicans and democrats have to be excited in 2022. >> let me have you take a listen to something that president biden said of his news conference this week. here it is. >> you said you were surprised by republican obstruction of your agenda. but didn't the gop take exactly the same tactic when you were vice president to barack obama? so why did you think they would treat you any differently than they treated him? >> first of all, they weren't nearly as obstructionist as they are now. >> you were there in the white house during the obama administration. do you agree with this? should president biden have known better than to think republicans would have some sort of a change of heart, especially after the tenor of the trump years? and could that go into being part of the message of this white house? >> well, i absolutely think, alex, i don't think it's a surprise really that republicans have been where they are on a lot of things. i don't think their obstruction is a surprise. it is very similar to what we felt in 2009. grant it, we had a larger number of democrats. i think the challenge for this white house has been, you know, a 50-50 senate. got to keep all the democrats together, unlike in 2009, 2010 where we could lose some democrats but keep more than 50 ors to together to get something done. there's no doubt that that's going to continue to bedevil us. i think the challenge for joe biden is -- and i thought it was good as well in news conferences, calling out republicans for not being onboard, right? calling out republicans for not having a plan, for not proposing something. that's not just a rhetorical strategy, but i think that lends itself into their political strategy for 2022 because what they don't want to have happen is make the entire 2022 election a referendum on the presidency of joe biden. that's difficult to do. he and the white house have to force a choice between two competing visions and his criticism of republicans when they won't step out and help on child care expenses or on things that are important to the american people. he has to frame that and call that out and force that choice between two different visions. >> okay. i hope the white house is taking notes because this was a great answer to the question, robert gibbs. thank you so much, always good to see you. a pleasure, thanks. on a scale from one to ten, just how unhappy might the former president be considering all the new developments this week in the legal cases that he's connected to. it's going to be a pleasure to talk to michael cohen, he's coming your way next, everyone. ...he knows what he's doing... ...when i'm actually pretty lost with my payroll taxes. intuit quickbooks helps you manage your payroll taxes. cheers. 100% accurate payroll tax calculations guaranteed. nothing like a weekend in the woods. it's a good choice all around, like screening for colon cancer... when caught in 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. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. visit indeed.com/hire and get started today. ♪ life can be a lot to handle. ♪ this magic moment ♪ but heinz knows there's plenty of magic in all that chaos. ♪ so different and so new ♪ ♪ was like any other... ♪ ♪3, 4♪ ♪ ♪ so different and so new ♪ ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ new york attorney general letitia james revealing new details from her civil probe into donald trump's business. she said we have uncovered significant evidence that suggests trump and the trump organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for economic benefit. well, the trump organization firing back saying, quote, the only one misleading the public is letitia james, she has no case. but someone who was once in trump's inner circle says otherwise. in fact, back in 2019, former trump attorney michael cohen testified under oath about this very detail. take a listen. >> it was my experience that mr. trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes. >> joining me now the man himself, trump's former personal attorney, michael cohen, author of "the new york times" best seller "disloyal" and host of the podcast mea culpa. that testimony we just played, it kind of feels like an official start to all of this. i saw an article in "the guardian" just this morning, and it was quoting you, the house of trump is crumbling. and in fact, i've said to colleagues, michael, this week feels like the sand is quickly slipping through the trump hourglass. do you think he's running out of tactics and time to get out of situations like this? >> well, of course, what's his tactic? his tactic is to deny the existence of any wrongdoing over and over, and the more he thinks he's going to say that, the more people are going to believe it. i too read that article and i have to say i implore all of your watchers and all who will see this on twitter and other forms of social media to read that article because it lays out three examples that are so in your face obnoxious. for example, he bought this property called the many estate in 2006, and he bought it for $12.6 million, but by 2011, he then put on the financial statement, i want to remind you that that was the first year that the personal financial statement, we started to give out because that's when donald really started to want to increase his net worth for forbes and so on. he valued the property at $161 million. >> what? >> that's 13 times. >> yeah. but then it gets even better, right? obnoxious donald goes ahead, in 2014 he then changes the number, and again, we needed to crazy because he went from 4 billion to 6, he said i'm worth more than 10 to $436 million. that's an amazing return on your investment from 12.6 to $436 million in a period of eight years, but he did the same thing in seven springs. that was a property in westchester that he purchased for 7.5 million, at the same time in 2014 when we were looking to show how the number became 8, $9 billion, it was at $293 million. but then again, the one that tish james who i give so many up credit to, the one that she finds the most obnoxious is the one about his primary residence, which he referred to as versailles in the sky, he turned around and he claims that the value of his property was -- this is an apartment, mind you, $327 million. and he valued it at $10,900 per square foot, which of course would mean that the apartment is 30,000 square feet. in fact, as ed points out in the article, it is not 30,000 square feet. it's 11,000 square feet and not only is he the developer, not only does he reside in it, but his name is on the building. it goes to show you how corrupt his mind is when you have somebody who won't even tell you how big his apartment is and literally expands it in his head by three times. >> i'm almost at a loss for words, which you know is pretty rare as i'm -- 13 times, 20 times the value. it's extraordinary in these really small periods of time as well. >> didn't donald once say that he knows real estate? he's the best real estate purchaser in the planet, and the answer is true, if of course you make up your own valuations on your properties, of course. >> yeah. point well taken. when it comes to tish james, though, you know, she can only bring civil action, right? but she can potentially sue trump's company, can't file criminal charges, though. her probe, as you know, it's running parallel to that criminal investigation led by manhattan's new d.a. that's alvin brag cy vance having retired. how much do you think these cases overlap, and is there one you think trump likely fears more? >> okay. so he fears both of them, and i say that because, you know, tish james, you're correct. it's a civil matter meaning that he will ultimately be responsible for very, very, very significant amounts of penalty when this case comes to fruition. now, you have to remember that donald and his dollars are synonymous. his only self-worth to himself, of course, is how much he claims to be worth. now, i also want to remind you that the attorney general's office is working in tandem with the district attorney's office, they are picking up that aspect. but what makes this case unusual is they are working together. so while -- while cy vance's case is criminal, and you have tish james's case is civil, they are working together and so the result in one will ultimately be the result in another, so he fears both equally. >> okay. when it comes to the chances of getting testimony as we've heard, there is testimony in these cases they want to get from donald trump jr., ivanka, eric as well, let alone the 1/6 committee has also requested ivanka voluntarily to talk about what she knows about her father on the 1/6 day of the insurrection, what's the likelihood that they will comply knowing full well that donald trump has asked people not to comply? >> rights so i think the answer to that is slim, slim to none, and slim left the building. in this specific case, they're going to start to claim all sorts of privilege. with ivanka it's going to be a new theory of law, i believe, it's going to be called daddy theory, and she's going to do the same thing, exactly what eric did. 500 times they evoked the fifth amendment. it's problematic for ivanka. why? because ivanka is not just donald's daughter, but she was also a senior adviser, and so could you imagine if, in fact, that merrick garland finally takes off the gloves, and when she, you know, is in contempt of the subpoena, they go ahead and then they indict her. that's when you're going to see a very different ivanka because very much like her father, ivanka is interested in only ivanka. >> really? so -- >> really. >> so then if the committee gets to speak her, what kind of access would that give them to the information they're trying to get about donald trump. would donald trump himself ever offer to cooperate to shield his daughter from any potential legal troubles? >> not a chance, not a chance. you may recall that there was the district attorney's case here for trump soho where it was either don or ivanka were in very big trouble as a result of lying about the number of units that had been sold, and donald sent it to me. i wouldn't say it if it wasn't said directly to me, he goes if one of the other have to go to prison, make sure that it's don because don would be able to handle it. that should automatically give you an idea in terms of, you know, how he thinks. but donald cares only about donald, more than he would care about his children. so you can rest assured that if that ever came to fruition, that it would be a real sad day for ivanka, and the same holds true for eric or don or allen weisselberg, now alan garten that's being brought into everything. all of these people have to turn around and look to see what happened to me. look how fast he threw me under the bus. they're equally disposable. >> brutal that explanation there to the question, that answer. okay, last question, i do want to get an update on your lawsuit claiming first amendment rights were violated when you were remanded to prison. you and i spoke about this a few weeks ago. we together revisited that july 2020 letter. it was co-authored by two representatives in congress, jeffries and lieu. they demanded an investigation at that time. where's that stand now? anything new? >> so let's just separate that out. as far as my lawsuit against the united states government, trump, bill barr and so, we've now served quite a few people in that, including trump himself. we obviously served bill barr as well as, you know, michael -- who has resigned, as well as a whole slew of other people. so that case is proceeding forward. government has 60 days within which to answer, so we're waiting for that, and of course i'll keep everybody updated once that answer comes in. i'm sure it's going to be a doozy. but the ted lieu, hakeem jeffries letter, so far since you brought it to the forefront, it's been crickets. now, i want people to understand, and i said this before, and i think it's worth reiterating, that matter, the fact that it was okay for a president with his corrupt attorney general to weaponize the justice department to go after a u.s. citizen because they didn't want me to publish the book "disloyal" or to talk to social media or to have any social media presence, that's illegal, and the fact is that we should all -- it's not just about michael cohen, it's about our democracy, and donald trump and trumpism along with his cronies put democracy into peril, so it is imper tuf that whether it's ted lieu, hakeem jeffries it's imperative they continue. i've spoken to several other congress members, and i can tell you they're pushing for it also. somewhere along the line, the justice department just has not released any information, even to them, and i find that to be astounding, and i find it to be wrong. >> well, i'm very glad that you've brought it up again and keep us updated on what's happening, and we'll do our best on this end as well. thank you, my friend. good to see you. tracking omicron spikes and downturns in a most unexpected way. that's next. that's next. you know i don't like seafood. [collision beeping warning] [silence] how bout tacos? tacos. automatic emergency braking — one of six advanced safety features standard on every 2022 chevy equinox. find new technology. find new roads. chevrolet. ♪ when you have nausea, ♪ find new technology. ♪ heartburn, ingestion, upset stomach... ♪ ♪ diarrheaaaa.♪ try pepto bismol with a powerful coating action. for fast and soothing relief. pepto bismol for fast relief when you need it most. let's go now to the latest coronavirus developments. the u.s. passing 7 million covid cases since the start of the pandemic. nearly 900,000 of those cases were recorded in the last 24 hours. and starting today, travelers entering the u.s. by land or ferry are required to be fully vaccinated. this new policy applies to all non-u.s. citizens at the u.s., mexico, and canadian borders. and a federal judge in texas dealt another blow to the biden administration. that judge is blocking the white house from enforcing an executive order requiring federal employees to be vaccinated against covid. we are getting a closer look at the unique method of tracking covid cases through sewage and wastewater. a team in northern california is looking at how treatment plants could help communities across the country imagine the rise in cases. let's go to nbc's scott cohn outside a wastewater treatment plant in san jose. tell us about this data, scott, that the scientists are collecting and how they want to use it. >> reporter: yeah, alex, this is the san jose, santa clara regional wastewater treatment facility. it serves about 1.5 million residents in eight cities. in there is exactly what you think it is, and don't worry, it doesn't smell quite as bad as you might imagine. this is becoming a very important tool in tracking the coronavirus. they are doing this in 12 cities, and they are finding that it foretold the omicron surge, and it is continuing to give them realtime data. it's not the first time that they've used wastewater to track pathogens. they do this with polio around the world all the time, but it's believed to be the first time they've used it for a respiratory virus, and they say that this could now be part of the public health toolbox. >> we know that right now in particular, it's been difficult to get tests in many places, so both because this is something that shows up in the wastewater early in the course of infection and because it's something that doesn't require any behavior change, you don't have to take a test or go anywhere or do anything or even know you are sick to be part of the sample, it means we can have the data very quickly and so we have that information before we have information on clinical cases. >> reporter: so here's what it's looking like. if you look at just the last few days here in san jose, you can see that they do believe they've turned a corner with omicron, and this actually is coming ahead of the data from the state, which is showing that cases are only starting to level off. so that's potentially a good sign in terms of reaching a turning point with this surge, and we'll see how it goes. again, it's 12 cities in california. it's being done in other places around the country as well, and something that they think now could be a very valuable tool as we continue to track this pandemic. alex. >> very interesting, scott cohn, thank you so much for the update on that. well, from a draft executive order about the national guard and voting machines to an invitation for ivanka trump, so much ground to cover on january 6th this week. where to begin? we'll figure it out, and we'll have it for you next. out, and wl have it for you next it's beautiful out here. it sure is. and i earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through chase with chase freedom unlimited. that means that i earn 5% on our rental car, i earn 5% on our cabin. i mean, c'mon! hello cashback! hello, kevin hart! i'm scared. in a good way. i'm lying. let's get inside. earn big time with chase freedom unlimited with no annual fee. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. let's go now to bomb shell new reporting tr "politico" that in the weeks following the 2020 election, a draft executive order was prepared for then president donald trump to authorize the secretary of defense to send national guard troops across this country to seize voting machines. trump ultimately did not sign it. the draft executive order appears to be among the hundreds of documents the january 6th committee has just started receiving after the supreme court rejected trump's bid to block them. joining me now, hugo lowell, congressional reporter for "the guardian"ment there's always something to talk about. thanks for joining us, what more do we know about this draft executive order? >> yeah, so it's a really significant document, and i think it's one of these documents that we shouldn't down play even though it was never signed by the former president. the reason for that is because it shows where the mind-set of where the white house and where the mind-set of donald trump was immediately after the election, and it was around that time immediately after the lebs where election where trump started to lay what appear to be the seeds for what eventually would turn into the capitol attack and the political elements of his coup to retake the presidency. plus, all of that appears to have been written or drafted at least by sidney powell, there's a clause at the end of the executive order that says, you know, allow the special counsel to fulfill her obligations and have all the necessary reasonable -- in order to complete her work, and so my sources in trump world think that this was very much a product of mike flynn and sidney powell who were in the oval office in the weeks after the election. so i think this is an interesting point and you can see how things are all coming together. >> yeah, absolutely. it's important to make the point donald trump didn't sign it. is definitely a gauge of the mind-set of everybody around him who was doing his bidding. then you have this, which is just one of the documents from the national archives. have you learned anything about what's in the hundreds of other documents the committee is receiving now? is there any indication these documents might become public at some point? >> they'll definitely become public at some point. i think when is the key issue. so when the supreme court handed its decision down on the national archives case and rejected trump's effort to block their release to the committee, that night the national archives transmitted about four documents to the select committee, and those included a couple of notes and draft tweets. the committee got the rest of the documents that trump was trying to withhold. it sounds like the national archives has completed its transmission of all the document s. the documents are the documents trump wanted to hide. they're in the files of people like kayleigh mcenany, the fact that trump went to such great lengths to hide these would suggest the former president thinks these are particularly incriminating because trump voluntarily -- he thought he could waive executive privilege on a whole bunch of other documents, so i think the fact that he tried so hard to hide these suggests how potentially explosive they may be. >> yeah, yeah, very good point there. what about what else happened this week with the first family member of the trump family ivanka trump called to testify before the house committee. we know that she was in the room with her father as the sewage was unfolding. she was also likely one of trump's closest confidants throughout the tenure of his presidency. what does the committee want to know from her, and what are the odds that she actually cooperates? >> so the committee wants to know everything it can from ivanka because she was right in the room with the president in the days leading up to january 6th, and apparently on january 6th itself, and it seems like given the text messages and the testimony of people like keith kellogg, a top pence aide, everyone thought ivanka had the best chance to tell trump to call off the rioters, and the committee in the first instance wants to know whether she did that and to what lengths she went to ensure that the capitol attack might be stopped. the other thing they said in the letter to ivanka, and i thought was the most interesting, was whether she knew if trump knew that the pence plan to have, you know, pence reject electoral college votes for biden was potentially unlawful, and even in spite of knowing that, trump went forward and pressured pence for his audacious plan to effectively stage a coup. then that could potentially ensnare trump in some sort of conspiracy. it was interesting the committee raised that. >> hugo lowell, let us know what you know. come back and see us as soon as you can. thank you so much. meantime, tomorrow on "al alex witt reports" i'll be speaking with stephanie grish am about her testimony before the committee. two controversial bills in florida could dramatically alter what is allowed to be taught in the classroom. the impact they could have on students and the effort the to stop them next. e to symptoms at 16 weeks. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant® with tremfya®... ask you doctor about tremfya® today. when our daughter and her kids moved in with us... our bargain detergent couldn't keep up. turns out it's mostly water. so, we switched back to tide. one wash, stains are gone. 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(all) to screening! now to a controversial new bill moving forward in florida. the so-called individual freedom act pushed by republican governor ron desantis prohibits schools and private businesses from teaching anything that would make an individual feel discomfort or guilt when employees or students are taught about discrimination in our nation's history. the not mentioned explicitly in the bill, aims to the teaching of critical race theory. although there's no evidence it is taught in k-12 classrooms. the bill advanced by the state's senate says the individual by his or her sex does not bear by other members of the same race or sex. an individual should not be made to feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race. i'm joined now by that democratic senator, mr. jones, thanks for joining us. you oppose this. why was this put forward by your republican colleagues? >> first, alex, thank you for having me. first of all, this is governor desantis' continuation of his stop the woke act he has been traveling the state and the country to say that the state of florida will lead in banning critical race theory. this is republicans' red meat, issue of this year and last to deal with an issue that is actually a non-issue. governor desantis, when he should deal with issues important to floridians right now chose to neglect that and deal with a crisis that's not even real. >> okay. the republican governor, desantis, announced this proposed legislation last month. let's take a listen to what he said. here it is. >> i think what you see now with the rise of this woke ideology is an attempt to really delegitimize our history and delegitimize our institutions and i view the wokeness as a farm of cultural marxism. no taxpayer dollars should are used to teach our kids to hate our country or to hate each other. [ applause ] >> so he's calling critical race theory state sanctioned racism. how do you see that? >> first of all, governor desantis already knows that critical race theory is not taught in our classrooms. let's just throw all the cards out on the table. this is them trying to stop the teaching of american history. black history at that. the republicans have made it their business to take this issue, because the former president has made this his issue through executive order. governor desantis saw it was popular then and making it his popular agenda right now. they don't even know what critical race theory is, alex. ask them, they fumble ober it and all they say we need to teach our children how it love their country and not hate their color no one gave any inkling to hate the color of your skin. >> the argument you hear from republicans, these policy moves are just to give parents more say in their child's education. how do you address that? >> as a former teacher, truth be told, parents already have a say in their child's education. i agree. parents should be involved in their child's education and engage in their education. so they won't hear argument out of me from that, but what the republicans can't do is speak for those parents and say that this is the concern of parents, because it hasn't become an issue until they made it an issue. >> senator, can you and fellow democrats do anything to stop this? >> one thing we can do is, a., continue to galvanize the people, but, b., it is total violation of our first amendment right. i can tell you this. whenever the governor puts the pen to paper to sign this legislation, i can guarantee you there will be a lawsuit against the state of florida on this. >> okay. florida democratic senator jones, awfully good to see you again. thank you for joining me. more to talk about know doubt -- no doubt from florida. a new poll, should teach against racial inequality. 47%. 64% agree white people have a responsibility to try to address existing racial inequality. both of those polls definitely the majority. backing up a country bracing for war. the new health given to ukraine by russian troops wait on the border for a signal to invade. . don't settle for products that give you a sort-of white smile. try crest whitening emulsions... ...for 100% whiter teeth. its highly active peroxide droplets... ...swipe on in seconds. better. faster. 100% whiter teeth. shop crestwhitesmile.com. feeling sluggish or weighed down? it could be a sign that your digestive system isn't working at it's best taking metamucil everyday can help. metamucil psyllium fiber, gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic metamucil. support your daily digestive health. and try metamucil fiber thins. a great tasting and easy way to start your day. ♪3, 4♪ ♪ ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome, everyone, to "alex witt reports." here's what's happening -- breaking news following out of arizona. that's where the state's democratic party announced it is formally censuring senator kyrsten sinema. following the story for us, my league. just heard something from senator sinema's team. told you have a response. what are they saying? >> reporter: yeah. we have response from senator sinema's office to our capitol hill team here. pull it up i want to read part of it here. spokeswoman for senator sinema says in part during three terms in the u.s. house, now in the senate, kirsten promised arizonan should would be an independent voice for the state not political parties. always honest where she stands. you recall that 2018 campaign when she ran for the u.s. senate, she ran as

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