that is going to do it for us for tonight. i will see you again here tomorrow. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. judges generally have the emotional range of accountants. there's just -- you know, there's just not that much. and there's not that much of an opportunity to present it. that's what's so striking about judge lynda carter's opinion and order tonight, 110 pages, where she just -- she works so carefully within the bounds of

the law, but you can feel the outrage in that opinion. >> hold on, i'm just going to get it. i'm not leaving, i'm just getting it off the side of my desk here where i have it. this is me reading this opinion today. this is not a good use of highlighters. i should have highlighted what i didn't think was worth reading. it is one of those rulings for the ages. and it is designed to speak to the general public. plaintiff's down advanced this lawsuit for an improper purpose and will be held to account for their actions. this was ben suring a preferred political candidate remained in the presidential seat despite the decision of the nation's voters to unseat him. i mean, it is like chest-pounding when it comes to defending the integrity of the judiciary and what lawyers are responsible for when they are allowed into the court in the name of the bar. but in terms of what they were trying to do in the overall project that trump was trying to pull off with these lawsuits? it is a -- this is a civic document that is for public

consumption. >> neil is going to join us. this will be appealed. we'll get his assessment. he's an appellate lawyer. we'll get his assessment of what chances are on appealing this thing. because there's a good 50 pages of it that is legal boiler plate in the middle, establishing her authority for all of this. and we're also going to be joined by michigan's attorney general, party to this case, who won in this court tonight. and so it's such an important opinion, and it's going to -- we'll see if -- what happens to it as it works its way up the federal appellate system, if it can even make it up the appellate system at all. >> yeah, i mean, to see a judge refer -- a federal judge refer a lawyer for potential disbarment is such a big deal. that gets headlines whenever it happens. but in this case, for it to have happened to all nine lawyers involved?

to all nine lawyers, including the ones who were like, i didn't actually sign that, i didn't really actually work on it, my name's on this, i didn't know my name was on it, she was like, lightning bolt, forget it, you're dead. this is a serious thing. >> and of course, rachel, you remember the hearing that we watched. the virtual hearing which was just back in july where she was so careful of allowing each one of them whatever they needed to say in their own defense, whenever they wanted to say it. she kept extending the time to allow them to say more in their defense, which they kind of never did. they kept making all these irrelevant points that she was incredibly patient with. you can see she was demonstrating all that patience so she could have this day, this night, with this opinion, where she just covers every singing angle word that was said in that hearing. >> that's right. she gave them every single opportunity. that was also the hearing where one of the lawyers was reduced to shouting," i am not a potted

plant!" that was the first sign that this ruling in the end was not going to go well for the trump lawyers. but even i didn't expect it was going to go this badly for them. >> it's one of the few absurdities that she did not quote in the opinion. >> that's exactly right. >> i am not a potted plant, that defense was not mentioned. thank you, rachel. >> thank you, lawrence. rudy giuliani is not alone. he is not the only trump lawyer who has now been sanctioned. rudy giuliani has lost his right to practice law in new york state and in the district of columbia. and we will be joined in a moment by dana nussle, the attorney general for the state of michigan, where a federal judge delivered the breaking news of the night in that 110-page opinion and order, not just sanctioning all nine lawyers who put their names on a fraudulent election lawsuit in michigan, but also, as rachel

just mentioned, quote, referring the matter for investigation and possible suspension or disbarment. for every one of the lawyers who put their names on this lawsuit. which judge linda parker called, quote, an historic and profound abuse of the judicial process. judge parker said the case, quote, was about undermining the people's faith in our democracy and debasing the judicial process to do so. judge parker said, quote, plaintiff's attorneys have scorned their oath, flouted the rules, and attempted to undermine the integrity of the judiciry along the way. the judge said that the lawyers knew or should have known that what they were asking for in their lawsuit was legally impossible. the lawsuit actually asked the judge to issue an order to,

quote, transmit certified election results that state that president donald trump is the winner of the election. instead of doing that, the judge is ordering the lawyers, who asked her to do that, to pay the attorneys' fees for the state of michigan and the city of detroit, who defended the integrity of the michigan election against this frivolous lawsuit -- rachel and i watched all of that almost six-hour virtual hearing that judge parker conducted when she was considering whether to order sanctions in this case. and the lawyers facing sanctions in that hearing were as inept in their own defense as they were in filing the fraudulent lawsuit. here's just one example of the lies told by these lawyers in the lawsuit, which included references to witnesses that were full of falsehoods. plaintiffs intentionally lied by

filing the partially redacted declaration of spider, who plaintiffs identified as a former u.s. military intelligence expert and former electronic intelligence analyst with the 305th military intelligence which was signed by joshua merritt, who never completed the entry-level training course at the 305th military intelligence battalion and is not an intelligence analyst. judge parker dismantled each attorney's defense point by point. some of the attorneys said because they were not admitted to practice law in michigan, the judge had no authority over themto which the judge cited the michigan rules of professional conduct, quote, a lawyer not admitted in this jurisdiction is also subject to the disciplinary authority of this jurisdiction if the lawyer provides or offers to provide any legal services in this jurisdiction. the judge found that attorney lynn wood was not telling the truth when he said he did not realize that his name was going

to be included in this lawsuit as one of the lawyers in the case. the judge questioned lynn wood closely about this during the hearing, and lynn wood said then, i do not specifically recall being asked about the michigan complaint. would i have objected to be included by name? i don't believe so. and in that same hearing, sydney powell, when questioned by the judge, contradicted lynn wood saying, my view, your honor, is that i did specifically ask mr. wood for his permission. in her opinion and order today, the judge wrote, the court does not believe that wood was unaware of his inclusion as counsel in this case. wood is not credible. the judge put it out that lynn wood actually took credit for filing this lawsuit in a brief that he submitted in another case in delaware in which wood claimed he, quote, represented

plaintiffs challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election in michigan. emily newman tried to escape sanctions by claiming that she spent, quote, maybe five hours on the matter from home. michigan lawyer gregory reuel said he spent be sanctioned, quote, because he read the pleading only on the day of its filing. the judge wrote in response to that, reuel read an 830-page complaint in just well over an hour on the day he filed it, so reuel's argument in and of itself reveals sanctionable conduct. the judge pointed out, because reuel was the only lawyer involved who was admitted to practice in the eastern district of michigan, quote, the complaints could not have been filed without reuel's signature. judge parker ridiculed the defense that the lawyers believed all of the false claims

in the lawsuit. the judge said, of course, an empty head but pure heart does not justify lodging patently unsupported factual assertions, in such cases ignorance is not bliss, it is sanctionable. some of the lawyers compared their false assertions to the kinds of things so-called journalists on the fox channel say every night, to which the judge said, quote, attorneys are not journalists, it therefore comes as no surprise that plaintiffs' attorneys fail to cite a single case suggesting that the two professions share comparable duties and responsibilities. lot first amendment may allow plaintiffs' down to say what they desire on social media in press conferences, or on television, federal courts are reserved for hearing genuine legal disputes which are well grounded in fact and law. judge parker wrote, circumstances suggest that this lawsuit was not about vindicating rights in the wake of alleged election fraud,

instead it was about ensuring that a preferred political candidate remained in the presidential seat despite the decision of the nation's voters to unseat him. sanctions are required to deter the filing of future frivolous lawsuits designed primarily to spread the narrative that our election processes are rigged and our democratic institutions cannot be trusted. this lawsuit should never have been filed. and leading off our discussion tonight is michigan attorney general dana nussle. thank you very much for joining us tonight, we really appreciate it. your office was involved in this lawsuit defending the state. in effect, defending the voters of the state in the way they cast their votes. what is your reaction after reading those 110 pages? >> well, i'm -- you know, i'm relieved at judge parker's findings. her conclusions. the fact that she frankly -- she

issued each and every one of the requests that we have made and the city of detroit have made in terms what was we believe the sanctions should be. she actually went further than that in ordering all of the attorneys, actually, to attend continuing education classes, which i have never seen before in regard to an order by the court. they've been ordered to complete classes in both how to file proper pleadings, and also in election laws, since they demonstrated they know nothing about election law whatsoever, and really have no business in filing this lawsuit to begin with. so i'm relieved because i think it's important, this decision, this ruling by judge parker is incredibly important in terms of maintaining our democracy and so that people understand that even if you can brazenly lie on television or in a press conference or on social media,

there is one place still in this country where you must rely on the truth, and that is in a court of law and in our system of justice. but judge parker is not one to suffer fools, and these trump attorneys made incredible fools of themselves, clearly. >> so the money sanction that is they are each and all liable to pay attorneys fees for the state of michigan for the city of detroit. do you have any idea how much money that's going to be that they're being ordered to pay? because the attorneys' fees hasn't yet been calculated. >> it's for the city of detroit attorneys and also for my attorneys at the department of attorney general in michigan. so there's been a request made for us to calculate exactly what those hours are based on the pay of my attorneys and based on the city of detroit attorneys. we'll be submitting that in a

timely fashion. i imagine it will certainly be tens of thousands of dollars. depending on what the city of detroit attorneys are billing, it could be much higher than that. >> you mentioned that order she gave them about submitting to continuing legal education study of some kind. she also requires them to report back to her, basically, on what they've learned in that course. and so they presumably, these lawyers, most or all of them will want to appeal this entire order and try to delay the implementation of anything in this order. what do you expect the prospects to be on appeal? >> i expect that they will not be successful if that's what they attempt to do. this is a 110-page opinion. and it is exhaustive in its detail. and in terms of the legal support that judge parker lent

to the decisions that she's made. so i don't expect that there will be any success on the part of the plaintiffs' attorneys in the event that they appeal. and, you know, i think that she, judge parker, she gave incredible substance to the reason and the rationale behind each and every one of her orders. and if ever there was a case of attorneys that require this type of sanctioning, and that i would argue it's appropriate for each and every one of them to be disbarred, it's in a case of this magnitude that had this kind of impact where you have such a substantial portion of the population in the united states now that no longer has belief in the accuracy and in the safety of our elections, and in fact, judge parker ties the events of the insurrection on january 6 the at the capitol directly to this lawsuit and to

the allegations that were made in this lawsuit. and i think she's correct in doing so. >> i want to get your reaction, before we go to the other big legal story out of michigan today, and that is that the sentencing of one of the people who participated in the plot to kidnap and murder governor gretchen whitmer, he was sentenced to 75 months in prison, ty garbin. he is cooperating in this investigation, 75 months in prison. what does that tell us about what we'll see in this prosecution, in this case, going forward? >> these are the federal cases that we're talking about right now. it's a federal defendant. there are six of them. there are an additional eight defendants that we are prosecuting in state court for my department. what i would say it suggests is that these defendants, in the event that they're convicted,

are facing very, very lengthy sentences. and i think it sends a powerful message about domestic terrorism in this country and the fact that there's a price to pay in the event that you're involved in this kind of conduct. >> michigan attorney general dana nussle, thank you very much for joining us on this important day for michigan, really appreciate it. joining us is neal katyal, former acting u.s. attorney general, msnbc legal contributor, and expert appellate attorney. neal, let's say the nine now-sanctioned lawyers come to you tomorrow and they ask you what their prospects are for appealing this judge's order. >> pretty close to nil. remember, lawrence, when donald trump's legal team misspelled "united states" on the first

page of their submission for him? that wasn't the lowest point. this is. this meticulous opinion that is hard to appeal. before explaining why, i can imagine viewers asking, why are we talking about this? why are we starting the show with this? the reason is because this line wasn't just big, it is still persistent, this lie. that's why the judge's decision is so important in restoring truth and telling the story about what actually happened. and look, i think it is incredibly rare for a federal judge -- i don't know that i've ever seen it -- to use language like this. i certainly believe that lawyers should be able to zealously advocate within the law and within the facts, but i think the judge here explains something most of us knew, which is, this wasn't facts. it wasn't law. it was a disservice to the bar, it was a disservice to the country. so you asked about prospects on appeal. and i think that they're really, really hard. because after all, i think this decision is monumental, but it's

a long time coming. literally the defense of these lawyers was, you can't sue crazy. i'm serious. the really strategy, what they said to the judge was to argue that their claims were so ridiculous to buy, even though they made them in official court proceedings, that nobody truly would have believed them. and i don't think it's a good sign, either on appeal or in trial court, when your best defense before one court is to say, well, you told blatant lies in another. >> the other part of the order recommending investigations for possible disbarment, that will be carried out by the individual states who have jurisdiction over these lawyers where they're admitted to practice. that goes forward -- that referral goes forward no matter what they try to do on appeal? >> 100% right. they've all got disbarment proceedings coming as a result of this order. i can't wait to see sydney powell argue that the briefs that she submitted were

fabricated by hugo chavez. some bizarre plot to prevent her from keeping the sweet campaign contributions that the rnc was giving. under this order, at the attorney general said, she's got to pay her opponent's legal fees and i bet she regrets having the republican national committee keep so much of that election defense money that donald trump was raising in basically seeking funds for this faux litigation. >> neal katyal, thank you for joining us tonight, really appreciate it, thank you. coming up, the evacuation in afghanistan continues tonight with the biden administration saying today that they take responsibility for the evacuation. ♪ ♪ and one we explore one that's been paved and one that's forever wild but freedom

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it's taken a lot to get to this moment. ♪♪ ♪ grew up at midnight - the maccabees ♪ dreams are on the line. you got this. refresh... it all, comes down, to this. ♪♪ just a week ago, plenty of people were saying we couldn't do 50,000. we've done 82,000.

so just to put into context, again, that's a flight yesterday every 39 minutes. that is thousands and thousands of people coming through the airport every single day. 19,000 people yesterday. i think these numbers do provide context, and we're going to continue to press every single day to get more people who are eligible out of the country. we're on track to have the largest u.s. airlift in history. and i think that speaks for itself. >> today, secretary of state antony blinken gave an update on what the state department knows about americans in afghanistan. >> based on our analysis, starting on august 14th when our evacuation operations began, there was then a population of as many as 6,000 american citizens in afghanistan who wanted to leave. over the last ten days, roughly 4,500 of these americans have been safely evacuated along with immediate family members. over the past 24 hours, we've

been in direct contact with approximately 500 additional americans and provided specific instructions on how to get to the airport safely. >> people who suggest that america will somehow lose credibility and honor by leaving anyone behind in afghanistan who helped the american forces in any way over the last 20 years forget that america already lost that credibility on april 30th, 1975, when the last american helicopter left vietnam, leaving behind thousands of people who helped the u.s. forces during the vietnam war, and leaving behind by mistake in a saigon hospital the bodies of the last two soldiers killed in action in vietnam who were killed by rocket fire while the evacuation was going on. the world knew then that america will give up on a multi-decade war when it gets tired of fighting and losing that war,

and that the united states will try to get as many people out of that country as possible, but it will always look like this. and we will always leave people behind, and we will always forget, always forget that, whenever we are deciding to start the next hopeless american war. the only thing we are learning in the evacuation from afghanistan is the state department and the defense department have gotten slightly better at this in the 46 years since the last time they did it. what we are seeing in the american exit from afghanistan is disgraceful because the american war in afghanistan became a disgrace when it turned into an endless war. the secretary of state said something today that no one in the white house or the state department or the defense department said in 1975 when we

evacuated from the lost war in vietnam. >> i take responsibility. i know the president has said he takes responsibility. and i know all of my colleagues across government feel the same way. >> here are the three words that president george w. bush, who started the war in afghanistan, has never said about that mistake that we are living with tonight. "i take responsibility." joining us are david rothcup, foreign affairs analyst and columnist with "the daily beast," larja abid, served two tours in afghanistan with the 82nd airborne. you were both with us the first night of the coverage of this evacuation. lara, you had written movingly about it at the time what you were feeling. i wanted to check in with both

of you, especially you, lara, who had been there, fought in this war, on what you're feeling, what you're seeing at this stage of the evacuation. >> honestly, david mentioned this earlier today on twitter, but it's really quite amazing what's happened. it's not perfect. we're leaving people behind, that's awful. that number keeps going up. this morning the number that i saw was 70,000, now it's 87,000, this is astounding. it should have gone better, it should have been more organized. but given what happened, i think this administration should be a little bit proud to take responsibility of this evacuation. >> david, your reaction on where we stand tonight? >> exactly where lara said she was. the reality is that this is a tough situation. as you said, there's no way to end a war and lose a war and make it look like you're winning the war.

but this administration has taken a bad hand and done a number of things that show a lot of character and a lot of capacity. they said they would leave afghanistan, the last three presidents didn't have the courage to do it. when they had to do the evacuation, they mobilized, but jen psaki has said it's going to be the largest airlift in u.s. history. sometime in the next 24 hours, we will pass 100,000 people having been evacuated from afghanistan in under two weeks. that's extraordinary. but you also had tony blinken, as you say, accepting responsibility, and answering tough questions, just as national security adviser jake sullivan did yesterday. he said, this is how many people were there, this is what we know, this is what we don't know, this is how we're solving it. and what more do you want from a

government than doing the right thing, acknowledging its errors, mobilizing all the resources at its disposal, and doing everything that it can to help american citizens and our allies? >> it does seem that a lot of the coverage has succumbed to this hollywood notion of, we never leave anyone behind. that, of course, is not true. there has never been an evacuating army that did not leave people behind. we left thousands and thousands of people behind in vietnam. and lara, one of the things that troubles me about that note in the coverage is, there's a presumption in it that the american military is so good that it knows how to do this perfectly. and the only people who possibly could have screwed this up are civilians in the government who didn't allow the american military to do it perfectly, and this notion that the american military can deliver perfectly in situations like this. what bothers me about it is it

feeds the notion that the american military can do anything, that it can go into afghanistan, say, at the orders of george w. bush and be successful militarily in a country where no one has been successful before. and that's kind of my fear in the underlying tone of this coverage is, well, you know, it didn't hive to be this way. my presumption at the outset was that it had to be this way if you go into afghanistan, if you ever do try to get out. >> absolutely. people want a hollywood ending, like you said, a fairytale. there is no happy ending to this story. the two choices are to get out, and it was always going to be ugly. and biden was not my preferred primary candidate, but i will give him this, he has taken responsibility. he's done the hard thing. he's putting up with the negative media attention. the other option, the only other option, is a forever war. anyone who thinks that's a good idea, i would encourage them to read "bring the war home."

exposure to violence overseas breeds violent extremism at home. we saw this with vietnam, we're seeing it now with the rise of the far right, these things are collected. colonialism comes home to roost. for the sake of the future and our soul, i think we have to end this and get back to living life without being at war all the time. >> david, one of the pressures in the coverage now and in commentators and partisans is the august 31st deadline, tremendous pressure on the president to move the august 31st deadline. as if that's completely up to the president of the united states in a country we are being driven out of. >> absolutely right. again, there is no happy ending when you lose. the president of the united states and his team are negotiating, as jake sullivan said yesterday, daily with the taliban about this. but the taliban have said, you've got till the end of the month. the president has said, again,

to his credit that we have to make contingency plans if we are not done, we may have to do other things to protect our citizens. and i think there's a very substantial incentive for the taliban to enable us to get everybody out because so much of their economic resources are controlled in u.s. and allied banks, so much of their gdp is dependant on international capital flows, that we can apply pressure to them in ways that will make them go along with this. so, you know, they're managing this in exactly the right way. it's ugly, it's painful, but it's the best of all the options that are available to us right now. >> david rothkoff, laura jadid, thank you. coming up, there was not one

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those who worship at the altar of voter suppression will fail. those who worship at the altar of jim crow-like oppression will fail. those who worship at the altar of turning back the clock to make america hate again will fail. we're not going backward. >> last night, house democrats passed the "john lewis voting rights advancement act" on a party line vote 219-212. not a single republican voted for the bill. the legislation would restore key provisions of the 1965 voting rights act weakened by the supreme court rulings by restoring federal oversight of state changes to election laws and by making it clearer how to challenge discriminatory voting

laws. "slate" described the bill as, quote, court reform. it is the clearest indication yet that house democrats are getting serious about reining in an out-of-control supreme court. at least 18 states have enacted 30 laws that restrict voting access just this year, according to the brennan center for justice. abc news identified at least eight states, including arizona, georgia, and florida, that have, quote, enacted ten laws so far this year that change election laws by bolstering partisan entities' power over the process or shifting election-related responsibilities from secretaries of state. joining us is val demmings of florida, member of the house judiciary committee, now the candidate for u.s. senate in florida. congresswoman demings, thank you very much for joining us tonight. the house passage last night with zero republican votes

suggests that that could very well be the same republican count in the senate. so how do you go forward from here? >> lawrence, it's great to be back with you. let me just say, it wasn't that long ago when we had a republican president who signed legislation supporting extending the voting rights act. it wasn't that long ago when we had republicans in the house of representatives stand with john lewis and join him in protecting the precious and, as he said, almost sacred right to vote. but as you indicated, we're in a different house now. you know, to just hear you say it again, it's still shocking to believe that zero republicans in the house of representatives stood up and supported protecting the right to vote. and also to fight against discriminatory practices at the ballot box.

but we're not going to stop, just like john lewis and so many other people of all races did not stop. some lost their lives in the fight, we know that. we're not going to stop. we're proud of the legislation that we passed last night in the name of that voting rights hero, john lewis. it is headed to the senate. we expect the senate to do the right thing. you know, i said awhile ago that if the filibuster, that antiquated procedural process, stands in the way of pertinent legislation, particularly voting rights or civil rights, then we should get rid of it. so we'll see what happens. but our expectation is changing, our commitment will not change, we're not going anywhere. as hakeem jeffries said last night, we're not going backwards. >> senator klobuchar is going to join us to discuss what happens when you send this bill that's passed by the house to the

senate. you're running statewide in florida now. what is your confidence level at this point that you will be running in a fairly run election for united states senate in the state of florida? >> lawrence, you know, last cycle our governor said that florida had an election process that should be a model for the nation, yet as you've already indicated, florida too has joined the efforts to institute discriminatory practices at the ballot box. look, i'm going to run my race, and i'm going to control the things i can control. i'm going to demonstrate that marco rubio -- he's certainly not going to stand up to protect voting rights, civil rights, he didn't stand up to help floridians in the middle of a public health pandemic. and so we're going to run, we're going to run hard. if there are people who are listening to this and they want

to support candidates who will stand up for the precious right of voting, then i would ask your viewers to visit my website, valdemings.com. >> florida is in a very difficult position with covid-19 tonight, the worst numbers the state has ever seen. florida's doing worse than any other state in the country right now. the dead numbers, the infection rate, all-time high. what is failing in florida's governmental approach to this? >> lawrence, you know, the numbers are absolutely painful. and we're watching every day the numbers go up. we've seen increases in the number of our children who are contracting the virus. if you look at hospitalizations and deaths in florida, those numbers are startling. we need to -- those who are in

elected office need to lead the decisions that are made regarding the response to covid-19, and now the new delta variant, up to our health officials or health professionals, we need to lead with science and not politics. we've seen one time after the other where our politicians have made this the health and safety of floridians, the health, safety, and well-being of our children, a political issue. i certainly haven't seen our senior senator from florida speak out on this issue. we know that the best weapon against the virus is to get vaccinated. we're pushing that with everything that we have. but we also need to listen to the health care professionals. and let them lead. >> congresswoman val demings, thank you very much for joining us tonight. >> thank you.

coming up, will the senate make an exception to the 60-vote threshold rule to pass the john lewis voting rights advancement account? senator klobuchar will join us next. ♪ two straws, one check, girl, i got you ♪ ♪ bougie like natty in the styrofoam ♪ ♪ squeak-squeakin' in the truck bed all the way home ♪ ♪ some alabama-jamma, she my dixieland delight ♪ ♪ ayy, that's how we do, ♪ ♪ how we do, fancy like, oh ♪

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where ore-ida golden crinkles are your crispy currency to pay for bites of this... ...with this. when kids won't eat dinner, potato pay them to. ore-ida. win at mealtime. wisconsin today advocating for the "for the people" act to block the republican assault on democratic voting rights. she joined wisconsin democratic senator tammy baldwin for a discussion with community leaders on the urgent need to protect voting rights in wisconsin and states across the country from republican efforts to suppress voting and/or meddle with the vote-counting process. this month wisconsin's democratic governor vetoed bills passed by the republican legislature that would have added restrictions to mail-in ballots, and the governor warned county officials not to

cooperate with republican-led efforts to conduct an arizona-style "fraud-it." senator klobuchar is among the group of senate democrats who have been working on a revised version of the people act that reportedly will incorporate changes proposed by senator manchin. senate republicans have twice blocked the for the people act from even more moving forward to be debated in the senate. joining us now, senator amy klobuchar, the chair of the senate rules committee. thank you for much for joining us tonight. congresswoman demings talked to us about the passage of the john lewis voting rights act with zero republicans votes. that suggests probably a very similar number of republican votes in the senate. what are you going to do about

the 60-vote threshold in the senate? >> we have positive, positive work being done over the last few weeks. i have been in minnesota, but i've talked to senator manchin a number of times, as have the rest of the group that you just showed up on the screen. some of this is public. from what we heard today in wisconsin, except for the governor, they would have really, really messed up a lot of their laws. two interesting facts, they would have only had one dropoff box for the entire city of milwaukee, if that bill had not been vetoed. and students with four-year degrees couldn't have been able to use those, but two-year ones

could. it shows you why we need federal standards. you don't have that in every zip code, in every state in the country. as for the john lewis bill, that is a very important piece of this. that will allow us going forward to have the justice department focus on some of those states that have been enacting discriminatory laws. we know senator murkowski has publicly voiced interest in supporting the john lewis bill. we've had at least one republican who is very interested in this bill, and there may be more. so we'll take what the house has given us, the work they've done, and we will go from there. >> senator murkowski has also said, as the only republican senator who has been inclined to say anything positive about this, she cannot imagine another nine republicans joining her on any voting rights legislation.

so that means never getting to 60. this kind of legislation normally requires the clearing of that 60-vote threshold. senator manchin seems to have suggested that he may be open to some kind of exception to the 60-vote threshold on voting rights. is there any progress that you can tell us about? >> first, we're getting the bill. we have to have general agreement on the bill, and he's come a long way on that. so just a work in progress. very closely reaching a conclusion. as for the filibuster, you know, i want to abolish it. i have fires raging in the northern parts of my state, and air quality worse than ever in minnesota's history. i want to act on climate change

and immigration reform, and i find the filibuster to be an archaic mess. and other senators, you know that manchin has indicated a willingness to look at the standing filibuster, the talking filibuster, which would require people to actually be there to block major legislation going forward, as it was during the 1960s. that's a move in the right direction. and right now, getting the bill done, and we go from there. but every single week, we see more bad bills being introduced in legislatures across the country. >> senator klobuchar, thank you for joining us tonight. >> thanks, lawrence. great to be on. >> thank you. we'll be right back. r what . sorry? limu, you're an animal! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ don't settle. start your day with secret.

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word. new york governor kathy hochul delivered some bad news to new york that is not actually new information. she changed the official count of covid deaths by using the cdc number instead of the state of new york's number as reported by former governor andrew cuomo. the cdc's number of total deaths from covid in new york state is 55,395. that is about 12,000 higher than the number reported by the cuomo administration. many of those deaths were nursing home patients who apparently suffered from covid and died but were not tested for covid. today, on npr, the governor explained the change. >> the public deserves a clear, honest picture of what is happening. whether it's good or bad, they

need to know the truth. that's how we restore confidence. i will always be truthful and transparent, in every aspect of government. that's been what i've done for 27 years. it's not a new concept for me. no drama, no surprises from my administration. >> governor kathy hochul gets tonight's last word. "the 11th hour with brian williams" starts now. well, good evening once again on this day 218 of the biden administration. and tonight, there's an alarming new warning from u.s. embassy officials in kabul, afghanistan, to americans who are still trying to leave that country. the alert reads, because of security threats outside the gates of the airport, we're advising u.s. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time. the