bill: for more on the intrigue let s go to chad pergram on the hill who begins a new week for us. good morning. good morning, bill. this is an optics nightmare for texas democrats. they came to d.c. to block the texas legislature from passing a voting bill. five have tested positive for covid here in washington they tweeted a photo of themselves flying maskless with a case of beer to washington met with democratic lawmakers all week. the offices of senate majority leader chuck schumer and joe manchin said those members were not exposed. they met with vice president harris and she went to walter reed medical center sunday as a routine doctor s appointment. concerns about where the nation stands with covid. this pandemic isn t over. we have to be cautious and we have to do everything we can to get people vaccinated. that stands as the single most effective pathway we have to keeping people safe, protecting their families and ending this pandemic. many congressional demo
now on bbc news. it s hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. never mind losing the presidency and both houses of congress donald trump still seems to have a choke hold on the republican party. already he s dropping hints about running again in 202a. and, even if he doesn t, he ll have a huge say in who does. so what are anti trump republicans to make of it? my guest is evan mcmullin, one of their key organisers and strategists. fight from within or create a new conservative party what should unhappy republicans do? evan mcmullin in washington dc, welcome to hardtalk. good to be with you. let s talk about the last few weeks. how discouraged are you by what you ve seen in conservative politics since that assault on the capitol onjanuary 6th and then the departure of trump and the inauguration ofjoe biden? what are your feelings about what you ve seen over the last few weeks? well, certainly, on one hand, i m discouraged that the majority of t
with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. never mind losing the presidency and both houses of congress donald trump still seems to have a choke hold on the republican party. already he s dropping hints about running again in 202a. and, even if he doesn t, he ll have a huge say in who does. so what are anti trump republicans to make of it? my guest is evan mcmullin, one of their key organisers and strategists. fight from within or create a new conservative party what should unhappy republicans do? evan mcmullin in washington dc, welcome to hardtalk. good to be with you. let s talk about the last few weeks. how discouraged are you by what you ve seen in conservative politics since that assault on the capitol onjanuary 6th and then the departure of trump and the inauguration ofjoe biden? what are your feelings about what you ve seen over the last few weeks? well, certainly, on one hand, i m discouraged that the majority of the republican party still desir
evan mcmullin in washington dc, welcome to hardtalk. good to be with you. let s talk about the last few weeks. how discouraged are you by what you ve seen in conservative politics since that assault on the capitol onjanuary 6th and then the departure of trump and the inauguration ofjoe biden? what are your feelings about what you ve seen over the last few weeks? well, certainly, on one hand, i m discouraged that the majority of the republican party still desires the leadership of donald trump. certainly the violent insurrection onjanuary 6th was a low point and we could descend even further than that, ifear, as a republican party. but i actually am more focused on some shifting sentiments that i think provide some measured level of opportunity, of opportunity and optimism, and that is that a fourth of the party now desires a new direction. and i know that seems like quite a meagre minority, but of course, i m someone who s been fighting for a new direction for the republican
near the breaking point. and also, those opposed to the voting rights from the vice president who she says oppose the history books. and up to the capitol hill where there is outright kevin mccarthy who says he is not going to voluntary turn over any records of what happened on insurrection day, and refuses to talk about the details of what he talked about with the then president of the united states donald trump. that is defiance up there on capitol hill and more. yes, and it is not coming as surprise at all. kevin mccarthy has been casting dispersions on this committee since it was formed. he defiantly pulled all of the members he appointed to the committee when nancy pelosi did not agree to two of his picks. so it is a very adversarial way opposing the formation of the commission, and he got the entire republican caucus to vote against it and it died in the senate, and now with the house select committee, at every turn, he has found a way to get in the way of the inv