thank you so much for letting us into your homes on this extraordinary times. the beat with ari melber starts now. welcome to "the beat." we have several things on the docket, including something we and our team has been working on for a long time, a special report on what scares vladimir putin most. the truth and dissent within russia and his history of stifling the opposition with poisonings, crackdowns and killings. it's a special report we prepared for you. that's going to be coming up in the show. i urge you to stick with us. we think that's important. that's the news abroad. we begin tonight, our top story is news here at home and the january 6th committee which is considering something you heard a lot about. you may say, wouldn't they have figured this out by now or not? but it is a very significant question no matter what your view of history is or your politics are.

it is a committee in a coequal branch of government discussing and debating the potentially unprecedented step if they recommend criminal charges, indictment of a former president. in this case donald trump. "the new york times" has been reporting that lawmakers on the panel now believe they really do have the goods. >> we have not made a decision about referrals on the committee. it's clear what president trump was doing, the people around him were doing. they knew it was unlawful and they did it anyway. there's not really a dispute in the committee. >> there's not really a dispute on the committee about the evidence and the facts. people believe whenever there's evidence of a crime in a society or a government that cares about the law that you would just go forward. the fact is there are some disagreements even among these members of the panel who agree

on so much about the tougher question which is when do you make this criminal referral of a former president to the justice department. it's not just discussing a crime in the abstract. it's whether congress wants to go down that road specifically. again, with "the new york times" scoop here, they report that some are worrying that a referral could saddle a criminal case with further partisan baggage at a time when mr. trump is openly flirting with running again and it could create the appearance that attorney general garland is investigating trump at the behest of a drk congress. all this coming after a federal judge ruled it was more likely than not that trump corruptly attempted to obstruct on that fateful day of january 6th and noting that the coup plot and other planning to overthrow the election was all out in the open. meaning the, quote, illegality of the plan was obvious. congresswoman cheney giving hint of what crime trump could be prosecuted under when she spoke

in december. >> did donald trump through action or inaction corruptly seek to obstruct or impede congress's official proceedings to count electoral votes? >> as you can see, the question she posed was ripped right out of the criminal statute. we're joined by someone who understands these issues quite well, neal katyal, former solicitor general for the obama administration. welcome back. >> thank you. great to be with you, ari. >> i'm going to begin with the more intricate question and then we can back into the broader one. the broader question, was there a crime or not. the more indicate one was raised in the times reporting, issues you and i have discussed before. the committee has a call to make. while congress does have a lawful ability to make criminal referrals, this would seem like a special case, and is there a legitimate concern, as mentioned

by those on the committee, that whether or not the case is ever dealt with by doj which is ultimately doj's call that congress jumping in and trying to make it a referral may not be constructive or helpful. what do you think of that intricate question? >> ari, i think the key thing, even before you get to the referral question is just to take a step back as you did at the start of the show and recognize how remarkable it is that a congressional committee now appears unanimous in concluding that donald trump committed federal crimes. and if nine bipartisan members of congress can agree on something like that, i'm pretty sure 12 of our peers can as well. so that to me is the most important thing. now, you asked the question, well, should there be a referral? a referral is a request from congress to prosecute. and there have been referrals recently, steve bannon, mark meadows are ones in which congress has made those referrals. indeed, the old independent counsel act basically

contemplated congressional referral. we've had them over time. the argument against a referral here i think is two-fold. one is it's not needed because we have this skigs, as you just flashed from a very respected federal judge, judge carter, two weeks ago concluding that donald trump likely committed federal crimes and second that it would politicize things, that it's a little like turning to your friend and asking how their favorite child is doing. no matter how they answer, it's going to put them in an awkward spot. that's i think the criticism of a referral within the attorney general garland. i can see that point, i fundamentally disagree. i think the two arguments against referral, the very fact you have a judge carter opinion means it's not politicized. it's a respected federal judge and the congressional committee -- the congressional committee itself is not politicized. liz chain nay is on it. liz cheney is as far from a democratic as you can get. as our living barr said, i've

never agreed with cheney once, but when all is said and done, cheney has beliefs, trump has none. >> wow. neal katyal, always prepared on more than one front. we love it. tip of the hat. it is interesting hearing you say those arguments are valid, might be interesting debatable questions. of course, people will remember to the extent congress stays out of this stuff completely, those days, if they ever existed are certainly over. james comey spent a lot of time writing letters back to the committees. they have a lawful oversight function. folks can disagree about when and how that all went down, but we're in that push and pull, and there was an attempted coup. we've had people come on this program and outline the aspects of it. they admit to this part, not that part. then we saw the violence. we know what happened. i also want to look at the contempt proceedings that have

been in the news. you mentioned they've already made those criminal referrals. that's the link. if we agree that no one is above the law, the fact that donald trump was the president does not mean he should ultimately be treated any differently than any other person, human being, in our system. these other criminal referrals relate to the contempt proceedings. you heard bannon held in contempt referred, indicted. meadows, we've discussed, mixed case, nothing yet. and then the most two recent obviously we'd never expect on the timeline for doj to have acted, they have to investigate. your response to the most recent referrals which are scavino and navarro's proceedings. does merrick garland feel like he's taking them one at a time or is there a pressure to say, gosh, if you held them all in contempt you're going to, quote, unquote, look political. >> i get if congress was never in the referral business that maybe you don't want to start with donald trump. but for exactly the reason you said, they have been referring

person after person. it's actually troubling to me that merrick garland has taken so long to act on meadows. maybe it's because meadows is in negotiations with him, that would be absolutely appropriate and great but otherwise it's of concern to me. i guess my fundamental message to congress is, look, i know referral is not necessary, but it's part of your job. do your job. trump is going to say it's political no matter what, whether congress refers or not, he says that about every federal judge who disagrees with him even though they're non-partisan. i don't think democrats should be suckers or the congressional committee as a whole which is bipartisan should be suckers. trump always plays on people's weakness. look, if the congress committee doesn't make the referral, we know he's going to say he's been acquitted by the congressional committee. he's been cleared. he's innocent, totally beautiful, congressional report and the like. >> i've never heard your trump impression before, neal. while understated, totally

perfect and beautiful are words we remember from years of coverage. you make another point i hadn't fully thought about which you often do, for all the talk about whether mueller went up to the line or fell short, this committee was established to deal with this. if they think the crime was committed inside the white house in this great insurrection, then obviously there is something incumbent upon them to do everything in their lawful power, not beyond it, to take that final move if that's what they found. i'm not on the committee. it's interesting when you put it that way, food for thought. neal katyal, thank you. >> thank you. we're moving on to the next topic. we have a special report on putin's crackdowns in russia. why he's arresting thousands who protest right now. new news of new crackdowns, but also the reasons it's a special report. we'll go into a deeper his stli which is played out in full view of the entire world.

it's not an overstatement to tell you that what you're about to see is something he doesn't want you to see. our special report right after this break. what goes on it... usually. ♪♪ in it... mostly. even what gets near your body. please please please take that outside. here to meet those high standards is the walgreens health and wellness brand. over 2000 products. rigorously tested. walgreens pharmacist recommended... and particularly kind to your wallet. ♪♪ as a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get. at liberty butchemel— cut. liberty biberty— cut. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for whatchya... line? need. action. cut. you can't say that. [phone rings] sorry. is this where they're gonna put the statue of liberty? liberty... are we married to mutual?

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russia's invasion of ukraine began as a story of military aggression. a larger power invades a smaller one. it's quickly turned to the allegations of atrocities and war crimes as vladimir putin's soldiers have launched these gruesome accounts on children, attacks attacking the innocent, including soldiers raping women in ukraine. putin has lrjly operated as a controversial but largely accepted member of the

international community. he generally gets the top meetings he needs with world leaders, weighs in on global power through the powerful u.n. security council. he's even seen his popularity rise under donald trump. as putin is dubbed as a war criminal and seen as the ruthless dictator he is, it's important to note very little is new about his current actions which brings us to our special report for you right now on how putin built power, initially as a bureaucrat installed to win an election and then as a dictator who crushed any and all opposition to prevent free and fair elections during his on going reign. it was 20 years ago when kremlin insiders installed putin as a replacement to yeltsin and then he was deemed winner of an election after installed as the winner of that quasi -- >> preliminary results have been announced, vladimir putin has been elected president of

russia. >> elected president of russia. that history matters because it's truly more than history right now. it is a power structure he built which enables him to lead these atrocities in plain sight, to lean a war that is increasingly controversial inside russia which matters if there's going to be opposition that might change the course of this war or save lives. putin's crackdown on most opposition inside russia is to be clear bad for the russian people. they are effectively oppressed. it's very bad for the ukrainian people because it complicates any potential payoff for even an effective ukrainian resistance to these russian incursions right now because, if there aren't many levers that impact putin at home, then it's harder to make even an effective resistance stop the next attacks. since the war began, putin's forces have actually gone further than before, detaining over 15,000 anti-war protesters.

putin pushed new harsher laws that shuttered the few press outlets that remained in russia. by pledging to jail reporters, domestic or foreign, who report on the facts that the kremlin deems wrong, he's further suppressed international reporters that might be in russia. russian citizens can face jail by using word attack or war to describe what's happening in ukraine. that's a sign putin knows a long war will not be a popular idea at home for him. kremlin state media they refer to it as a special operation, something that sounds contained or perhaps powerful. when russians see even more rules banning opposition or protest or even specific words they might use, let's be clear, better than anyone else abroad, russians know how serious the consequences are because, when putin's regime kills opponents,

they do it blatantly and publicly and brutally to send a message that even a few words by a person, i mean words out of their mouth are in writing, uttered in or outside of russia can be punished by execution, be it shooting or poisoning. putin's hit list is long. >> journalists and activists and critics of vladimir putin who have mysteriously been shot to death or in surprisingly large numbers poisoned to death. >> a russian who was a critic of vladimir putin found dead in his home in london. >> the russian spy alexander vittian co-who drank tae laced with pa modicum. alexey navalny the latest to fall vak tim to possible poisoning. >> the murder of a man deeply critical of the russian government. >> putin's attack and alleged killings of dissidents can be traced back to as early as 2002 when an opposition member of

parliament was shot under very mysterious circumstances. eight months later another opposition lawmaker who had spoken out about the murder of that colleague as, quote, politically motivated was shot dead on the streets of moscow. same year, another former lawmaker who was an investigative journalist for reform-minded newspaper died mysteriously while investigating whether or not an apartment bombing was linked to putin's government. russian reporter anna documented government abuse and police state tactics in her book "putin's russia." she was shot in 2006 at point-blank range in an elevator, the second attempt in her life. she survived an earlier attempted poisoning. she wasn't known for any other lethal enemies who would go this far. under public pressure, putin wen out of his way to deny involvement. >> anna politkovskaya was gunned

down in an apparent contract killing. >> she was a correspondent for the newspaper and was an outspoken critic of the kremlin. >> she made many enemies, most of all those in the russian army and paramilitaries. >> was in the 2000s and it was not considered big news everywhere. we pulled some of those clips from places that were, to their credit, paying attention. it's some of the evidence that critics cite for how putin controls information about him. there's also a series of suspicious deaths and killings of people in the government arena, from candidates who might oppose his powe to those who call it out. he accused russia's security services of organizing the coup that effectively gave putin his

power. he died in london after drinking that cup of tea which was laced with radioactive poison. mr. lit vinnen in co-was poisoned. >> his murder was an operation of the russian security service. the inquiry goes on to say the killings was probably approved by president putin. >> suspicious killing also an example how many western countries often have to sidestep putin's crackdowns even when they occur inside these other nations. this poisoning was on british soil, found to be carried out by two russian agents on orders probably approved by putin according to a probe that used strong circumstantial evidence. the men charged with putin defied request for expedition and then celebrated those who were accused of doing this brutal killing. putin gave one a medal for, quote, services to the mother land.

before putin invaded ukraine, it was also the site of execution. a former russian parliament member was shot in the back in broad daylight in 2017. russians know the risk of speaking out against putin. it's all the more striking that many continue to do so, even powerful connected government veterans can meet the same fate. take a former deputy prime minister very well known in russia, think of it a role of, say, a former vice president in the u.s. it's a powerful person. everybody knows who they are. this one, boris nevsov initially backed putin. then staked out an opposition leadership role that might have challenged putin. again, he had a following, had credibility, someone russians knew, who had been open to putin and then was hitting him for what he had done to russia. here he was in 2011. >> translator: people are tired of putin. when he announced he would run

for president in september in order to rule for another 12 years, people realized he wants to remain in power for life. putin rigged the election. according to estimates, he manipulated 13 million ballots for his party of crooks and thieves. they are against the reign of cynicism and lies, against the lifetime of putin in charge. >> straightforward set of accusations backed by evidence. nevsov prove he had people behind him. he was tapping into an opposition relevant today. he also protested against putin's increasing incursions in the ukraine. he was out in public, blocks away from the kremlin when a seemingly skilled unknown as sill tant came up from behind him and shot him four times in the back. putin denying wrongdoing in that case. kremlin security had been trailing nevsov for ten months. he may have thought his prominence enabled him a platform to get heard and

perhaps stay alive in contrast to far less-connected russians. he also knew the risks. he outlined them to american journalist ability any bourdain. what you're about to hear is just one year before that execution in the streets of moscow. >> critics of the government, critics of putin, bad things seem to happen to them. >> yes. unfortunately existing power represent russia old 19th century, not of 21st. if you have good relationship with putin and his people, you have a chance to raise money, to be successful. but if something happened between you and putin and you and governor, you will be in jail. it's very easy. >> boris nevsov knew the risks. he's dead. others who took the risks lived. they may pose some of the greatest living civic threats to put tin.

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now our special re port on putin's crackdown continues. in any government, the power over policing is always susceptible to abuse. in russia putin uses the police to destroy his opponents quite regularly. one kgb veteran said putin's government is using the special service to liquidate its enemies. when putin can swiftly disappear people, he does. some have survived attacks bringing notoriety that could raise the cost of trying to kill them again. some russia experts say that is what may be keeping alexey navalny alive right now, probably the most prominent opposition leader to putin today. she's shown courage to taking him on. 6 million people follow his

messages on he's held big rallies. formerly ran for election. he has combined domestic credibility with growing international interest making his case against putin in russian and english. >> -- i strongly disagree with it. i'm not going to be a speechless person right now. i'm not going to keep silent. >> that's a message across russia and throughout the world. vladimir putin is clearly afraid of navalny's reach. he wouldn't even say the man's name, which seems like a weak and fearful tact to avoid promoting him. but navalny's would-be killers put his name in the news when they attacked and poisoned z him. he was hospitalized in serious condition for a month. a probe again finding evidence that putin's agents were likely

responsible, navalny was clear on what he knew and what he thought on who was about that failed assassination. >> navalny told the german newspaper that russian president vladimir putin is responsible for the attack that left him in an induced coma fighting for his life. >> it's maybe the most toxic agents invented by humans. >> now, navalny could have tried to stay abroad after recuperating from attack, but he didn't. knowing what he knew and a lot more than what we know here, but just think about what we've just seen, he still returned to russia to challenge putin where he was jailed. the kremlin claims he's corrupt and a, quote, terrorist. he's been held in prison since then. recently the government added nine more years to his prison sentence. the outcome shows how putin mixes murder with a kind offive provization, they'll kill you if he can, if nah valley had stayed

abroad or quieted down. but when he returned putin adjusted the plan to jail him potentially forever. he was just seen within the last month looking quite gaunt in a courtroom you see here. human rights experts say the whole case is a sham. another political crackdown and abuse of the government. there are other cases that follow the pattern where poison is used. putin has long tried to control ukraine. when a candidate was deemed too critical of putin in that country's 2004 election he was poisoned and left here badly disfigured afterward. russia denied any involvement at the time then. journalist, opposition figures, opposition figures and even candidates in other countries have seen his fate. that's the type of target that putin has gone after and killed for years. and many have tried to treat him as a kind of a world leader who

could be reasoned with. some have suggested he's a smart and great leader as donald trump's republican party had spent years claiming, although that looks pretty tough to square with the history you just saw over the last few weeks in ukraine. the record also shows what putin really is. contrary to trump's claims, putin is the opposite of a great leader, he's a murderer, he uses brute force to bend even very powerful people to accept him, even abroad. he's clearly intimidated very powerful people. in rare cases when people who are far more powerful an activists or writers stepped up to putin, when someone with more resources said they were going to draw a line, what did putin did? this is also telling and important. we know billionaires are quite powerful everywhere, but especially in russia where

billionaires act like kind of a shadow cabinet. the one-time leader of that group was a oil tycoon and the richest man in russia. this was back earlier when putin was consolidating power in 2003 and that billionaire decided, if anyone was going to draw a line in public, he was the one to do it and he could do it. in a meeting with putin he criticized government corruption and other issues to putin's face. the image you see there is striking. cortico ski reasoned he was basically above reproach. he had oil wells, planes, lawyers, he had high-level links to this government. putin reasoned otherwise. the kremlin orchestrated the swiftist government takedown in a billionaire in the history of a world, collapsing his company, seizing and freezing his assets, arresting him on fraud charges. he was literally whisked from

his own plane i represented prison, tried in a glass cage in court in public for all russians to see. that's the cage there. think about this. putin did not proactively plan the bail nair's show of defiance. he didn't know that was coming. but when it happened, he used it as a strategic dictator to send a message he hadn't been able to send in that way, that no amount of money or connections can save you if you cross him. faced with lemons, putin made a kind of dictator's lemonade. then regular russians could see then, and this was in the earlier phase before the poisonings i just showed you, they could see if this is what happened to elon musk of russia, the jeff bezos of moscow, imagine what would happen to you? cortico ski served ten years in prison and was able to be compiled after a lot of international pressure. we've covered this story before. years ago he joined me for a

rare tv interview on "the beat" discussing the risks he faced in jail as well as putin's view of life. >> translator: could i have been murdered? certainly. i was knifed in the face while sleeping. this is a man with a very particular view of life, a few typical of special services operatives or gangsters. if you show willingness to negotiate, it means you're weak and must be squashed. >> khodorkovsky faced that gangster rule now lives life exile. one man survived two poisoning attempts. the u.s. congress invited him to testify about putin, using that power and prestige of a committee hearing and putting it on the public record where he was able to issue warnings that have only grown more dire over time. this was six years ago.

>> after taking over and shutting down independent television networks, the kremlin now controls all the national airwaves which he uses to rale against the outside world as well as mr. putin's political opponents at home who are denounced as traitors, foreign agents and enemies of russia. those who oppose putin's regime risk not only their well-being and freedom, they also risk their lives. >> this brutal authoritarian blueprint has been out there for years. abroad, some can look away. at home russians know the score. the news tonight, the man you just heard there, mr. cara myrrh sa was arrested today in moscow, the same day he decried putin's war in ukraine and the team behind him as a regime of murderers in a newly released video. there is a terrible symmetry to all of this because the worst that putin's forces perform in this war, the more urgent his

crackdowns become because his grip on power is based on certain lies. to keep power, he must always prevent the truth about his government from getting out. and yet these people continue to speak the truth at great cost. there's no quick or easy solutions here. but the truth is clearly vital. it may be still scares this powerful, leelgtal leader the moat. vladimir putin has nukes and guns and an army and he is scared of the truth, scared of these brave people you've seen. the truth is what he takes the greatest effort and risks to contain. the truth is putin is a murderous dictator who kills opponents and launches wars. now what's been documented and known for so long may finally be taken more seriously because of this terrible war, because of the more strict international

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donald trump lost the last election. you can keep track of that because he's not president right now. even if you don't follow the news that closely, you might have heard about that. everybody knows this to be true. this is the society we live in. he is not president because he

lost, and yet his personal need to invest in a lie that it was stolen from him, that it was fraudulent, that somehow the reason he's not president isn't that he lost, which is true, but that something else is afoot, which is a lie, has become a framework and prerequisite for republican candidates. it's not only bad for democracy but weird politically. usually the losing candidate like a mitt romney or george bush senior is pushed to the side rather than devoting the entire party to pretending they didn't lose. consider a sitting republican governor who has her own republican governor, kay ivey releasing this false and misleading campaign ad that says basically there must be widespread voter fraud because trump wants this lie to be true. such claims have been debunked in alabama and a lot of other

places. >> the fake news stole the election from president trump. here in alabama we're making sure that never happens. we have not and will not send ab ben see ballots to everyone and their brother. i'm kay ivey. the left is probably offended. so be it. as long as i'm governor, we're going to protect your vote. >> where to begin. if you want your vote protected, of course, you would just want fair and free access to the polls, limiting voting measures isn't protecting your vote. there are entire states that vote by mail, and while there's more than one way to do it, it is a key way people vote. if somebody is saying to you donald trump will get mad if i don't lie about the last election and i'm going to change policy and make it harder for you to vote, i don't care how many other self parity references they make to the big left and big tech, that governor is not being straight with you. you can vote for her. not my job to tell you who to vote for.

when she lies about the absentee volting rules and the level of voter fraud, you may want to think about whether she's protecting your sacred right. it's all about pandering to maga. mo brooks is very conservative, has a big conservative following. that's not in doubt. when he mentioned that the republican party might want to move past years of rehashing its own loss for a candidate donald trump who got fewer votes both times he ran, well, then he was, of course, slapped back and smacked around by donald trump. ivey is joining more than 80 election dee nairs running for office this year. i'm joined by professor of politics and journalism at morgan state university jason johnson. quick with a thought, an insight and occasionally a bar. good to see you. >> good to see you. i've got to start with --

>> i've got to ask you -- you'll go. but governor ivey was not always this way. i just want to ask you what's happening to her and the other thoughts you wanted to share. >> what's happening to her is this is where the money is. you can always follow the money. republicans across the country see that the people who are aligned with maga, marjorie taylor greene and matt gaetz and donald trump, that is the place where you raise money -- they see where the cash is and say, if i take on these crazy positions, i will access to that campaign cash. it's dangerous for democracy, but beneficial for politicians like ivey and people around the country to promote this lie. >> how weird is it to be this obsessed with the past? we sometimes reach for lyrics. neal katyal reached into the hamilton bag.

i'll reach into classic seinfeld and when george is so upset with the clown at the birthday party, he's asking about bozo. the clown says i do my own clown work. i don't know about bozo. this offends george and it leads to a climax where the clown tells george off. what is your problem? you're hung up on some clown from the '60s, man. yes, we get the fund-raising, but how can you be a strong leader of a party when you are obsessing over this past loss when people do deep down -- i get the polling that people believe it's stolen. deep down they know what happened, they do know he lost and they do know biden is president. >> so, ari, this is really my concern going into 2022. there are republicans like kay ivey, like ted cruz who know the

truth, mo brooks. they know the truth. they know joe biden won the election. they saw the numbers. they've made private phone calls. they know what these secretaries of states, republicans and democrats have said. they're just liars. they're doing whatever is convenient, blame big tech, big pun, whatever. that's just for performance sake. what frightens me is a lot of the people who you see running now for the midterms, ari, they believe this stuff. they're not just doing this for performance sake. they really do believe the election was stolen. that is infin natly more dangerous. i can tolerate the people who are infed rat liars like ted cruz, the weasels who say i'm going to do whatever it is i need, but people who are true believers, people at the stop the steal rally who now want to be secretaries of state, that a dangerous to our democracy. >> to pair phase big pun in the

taxonomy you're drawing, the people who are pretending and know it's falls, like a ted cruz, i'm not really maga, i just lie a lot, and that's sort of -- hey, it's a wink, i know what's really going on. you have these other people who, as you say, to use the scar face and the other references, getting high on their own supply. i will say shout-out to obama, sometimes it seems like he was almost just pushing everyone and saying i'm so worried about the truth, how are we going to self-govern. being the smart person he is, he really was trying to warn everyone before the internet had supercharged some of this stuff even worse, that you can't govern -- you can't mako individual policy in a world where people don't think covid is real or they have to wait six, nine or 12 months for someone in their family to die of covid which we don't wish on anyone. my heart goes out to them. i'm very sorry they were lied

to. when you believe those lies to that degree, how do you have -- my last question of you, how do you have self-governance if a significant quantum of the populous is completely confused about what reality is? >> i used to always say, ari, with any sort of political conflict -- i was saying this during ferguson. the country can't heal if we can't agree on the diagnosis of what got us sick. at the end of the day you have a certain segment of the population that has told the republican party we do not believe in a multicultural democracy. anything you have to do to make sure the country stays in the hands of straight whine men is okay. that's the danger. that's what vice president talked about when she talked about the rise of the right and white supremacy. we have one the drats and a dime

storefront for a terrorist group called maga. controlling dangerous people who do not believe in drats anymore. this election, it's a cliche to say every election is the most important. if these secretaries of state get into office, there's no way they'll let any democrat win the electoral vote in 204. >> big question, strong, important answer. professor johnson, always good to see you. >> thanks, ari. >> appreciate it. with eel fit in a break. when we come back, another story we haven't gotten into yet, the gun crisis. the nra, joe biden speaking out. we'll explain. that's next. even when her bladder makes a little drop-off. because candice has poise, poise under pressure and poise in her pants. it takes poise. with his citi custom cash℠ card, dan earns cash back that automatically adjusts to where his spending is trending. just ask stepping outside his comfort zone dan...

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in the wake of the pandemic and several different economic issues in the united states we've seen crime rise in several parts of the country. president biden today is taking on the nra and saying you have to crack down on the easy availability of guns if you want to deal with the violent crime surge and pushing stronger rules around the sale of so-called goes guns, firearms that can be assemble using kits that don't have serial numbers so they can't be traced. if you want to get the guns out of hands of criminals, you don't want to trace them. you might want to find out why they sold the gun to a criminal. these rules will get better serial number tracking and background checks. biden is taking the step because republicans have blocked various efforts of gun control as well as his own pick to run the key agency the atf. >> the nra called this rule i'm about to announce extreme.

extreme. but let me ask you, is it extreme to protect police officers, extreme to protect our children, people that can't pass a background check. the idea that someone on a terrorist list could purchase one of these guns is extreme, it isn't extreme, it's basic common sense. >> biden announcing a name for the agency, the gun grab is coming from biden. for the support, it's not even close. we have a lot of polarized issues in america but this isn't one of them. over 60% of people support this restrictions on the ghost guns because again, if you're a law-abiding gun owner, it won't affect you at all. if you're someone trying to hide what you're doing with your guns, it might affect you but

the vast majority of americans want it to directly affect you.

good evening, everyone. we begin "the reidout" with the terrifying new face of brau tall -- brutality. a veteran of russia's atrocities in chechnya known as the butcher of syria overseeing the air campaign there targeting syrian civilians. it flattened entire cities that earn him one of russia's highest military awards f