so i think mitch mcconnell is just going to keep on keeping on. frankly, donald trump is one of the reasons arguably that he is not majority leader because of donald trump's role in the georgia senate races. >> and mcconnell wants to win pennsylvania this year, right, a republican held state now. that republican seat is retiring. he needs to win north carolina. he wants to hold ohio. he's hoping to flip arizona. he wants to get that georgia seat back. what mcconnell's calculation is we cannot keep talking about the big lie. we cannot keep talking about trump. he's picking this fight to try to end this fight, but this fight won't end. >> no, look, it's clear he feels as though those states are within reach and it's clear to me he is embarrassed by some of the theatrics going on within the republican party, but there is a limit to this rebuke. he is only going to go so far. i will say this, though, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell has been able to achieve something the former president hasn't and that's be re-elected. he has kept the republica

to that point, that is how mcconnell sees it. he looks across the chamber at the house and sees the rise of the trump allies. doesn't like it from a policy perspective, from how they conduct themselves, and he's worried that's going to come to him. >> yes, he's worried that's going to come to him but let's be clear. his number one goal is getting the majority back and being majority leader. and a big part of why he doesn't like trump and trumpism is because he sees that as an obstacle to attaining that goal. there is a philosophical part of it, but it seems to be much more of the power part of it. and the reason is because he has lived this before. a different set of obstacles back when the tea party was big, but different -- similar dynamics in that to win a senate seat in a purple state, you need a candidate on the republican side who appeals more to the middle. it's not the house. the districts are not drawn that way. it's just not the way it is. so he has lived two cycles of not getting the majority back because he's had cons

mitch mcconnell. play it again, and listen, please. >> let me give you my view of what happened january the 6th. we all were here. we saw what happened. it was a violent insurrection. for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election. from one administration to the next. that's what it was. >> that's all republicans had to say from the very beginning, and they would have moved on from this debacle. because that's exactly what it was. it was a violent insurrection. a violent inr sure section, and no amount of whining about legitimate political discourse will ever change that. meanwhile, there was a moment today that just shows you the level of disrespect in washington. so pay attention, please, the chair of the congressional black caucus, her name is joyce beatty, tweeting today, while heading to the house floor for votes, i respectfully asked my colleague rep hal rogers to put on a mask while boarding the train. he then poked my back, demanding

senator mitch mcconnell said i had "excessive expectations," but i don't think so. after seven years of hearing repeal and replace, why not done? >> there's a lashing out when things don't go his way. john mccain was the deciding vote, and so, you know, it was hard to understand how mitch mcconnell would be the blame of it, but, you know, that's the president's nature, as we all know. >> can you believe that mitch mcconnell, who has screamed repeal and replace for seven years, couldn't get it done. >> trump was using the most powerful weapon he has, which is twitter, to humiliate him repeatedly, to rake him over the coals, to let his followers know, "this is mitch mcconnell's fault. he's failed you, not me." >> mitch, get back to work and put repeal and replace, tax reform and cuts, and a great infrastructure bill on my desk for signing. >> narrator: mitch mcconnell learned a lesson-- hhad to keep donald trump on his side. >> mitch mcconnell is a very smart politician. think he understood the trump base, perhaps better than most. and he understood that the trump him

this does expose -- mitch mcconnell stepping up to the mike phone. kevin mccarthy running away. >> there is no greater, you know, illustration of the difference between the politics in the house and the politics in the senate. kevin somic kaerbgt is beholden to a republican conference in the house as far right as it's ever been. you have marjorie taylor greene, madison cawthorn and others who he is beholden to who don't want him to give any quarter to any of this talk of insurrection. on the other hand, mitch mcconnell is thinking about his senate majority, about the fact that his members have to run statewide in, you know, in some cases in purple states. they have very different political prerogatives. and that's why you are seeing what you saw on the hill yesterday. >> yeah. madison cawthorn, his defense in court is it wasn't an insurrection. real quick, jeffrey? >> reporter: just remember, mitch mcconnell, for all his criticism, he is the one who is stopping voting rights legislation that is the response to what has happened in the states after ja

it is going to be mitch mcconnell. in fact, all of his votes have been by acclamation over all these years for both minority and majority leader. of course, this is a private conference only vote. it's not a floor vote where you need 51 senators out in the open. the reason mitch mcconnell has been secure in his leadership is, one, he does listen to his members and does make tweaks here and there when they start to signal to him they want him to either go in a particular direction or back off. the other reason is they just think he is very good at his job. they don't want to do it. he's good at it, from their point of view. and they are happy to let him play this inside game, even though the former president donald trump continues to bang the drum to try and get rid of him. >> willie, it's so interesting. we are seeing more and more republicans starting to speak out against donald trump in a way that we haven't seen since the summer of 2016. people can say, oh, well, you know, they're horrible human beings. they can say

and mcconnell is saying we should not be tied to these attackers as republicans. that being said, in some ways it's a losing battle. you had the republicans who, while continuing to lie about the election, they could at least say it is wrong to beat a police officer, it is wrong to break the law. it is wrong for people to trespass and try to bring american democracy to its knees. and now, you have a republican party that is backing even that sort of behavior. and i don't think it's a coincidence because it is all happening after vice president mike pence said very clearly that trump is wrong and you cannot overturn an election. so i think this is a growing rift in the republican party but i can also tell you that i talked to conservatives. and this is still a party that is led by former president donald trump. even with mcconnell saying this, he is in some ways still going against the majority of the republican party and certainly the republican base. >> yeah, the majority have not come out and announce this kind of language. barbara, the january 6th committee doe

trump is slamming mcconnell tonight saying, in part, quote, mitch mcconnell does not speak for the republican party and represent the views of the vast voters. he did nothing to fight for his constituents and stop the most fraudulent election in history. the democrats would have the

, wolf, we've got to give mcconnell credit tonight. he said this was a violent insurrection. they were trying to stop the legitimate transfer of power. he's the, you know, next to trump, you've got to say mcconnell is the most important voice in the republican party. and we're beginning to see the cracks form. we've been talking about this for weeks. we're gobeginning to see it hapn and those people in the senate who came out and condemned this silly, ridiculous thing the rnc, maybe the rnc did that whole thing, wolf. the rnc, these local political parties, they don't matter as much we would give them credit for, but as the end of the day, mccarthy, it's not worth the power. mcconnell, give him an a plus today for what he has done. >> i don't know what the leader of the rnc was thinking, calling this legitimate political discourse. you see the video. it's all over the place. michael, one of the core issues here is the republican national committee's use of these words, gent legitimate political discourse to describe the insurrection. w

mitch mcconnell just did. in doing so, ix issued an explicit rebuke of the rnc party leadership, a rebuke of house republican leadership, and an explicit rebuke of these certain cable performers. you know who noticed? at least one person named trump. donald trump jr. exclaiming with republicans like this, who needs democrats? well, it turns out there might be a growing number of republicans like this. if not always for the same reasons. republican senators who think the rnc censure and claims of legitimate discourse are just bad politics. >> people are willing to have a difference of opinions. but i think that we as a party need to recognize that people are worried about the economy, they're worried about the continuing struggles with covid, they're looking ahead. and that's what they want us to do. >> so that's one view, that fixating on january 6th is simply bad for the republican party with what members believe is a winning case in other issues. which is true for even the smaller number of republicans takin

mcconnell and former president trump. i would agree with mollie republicans are better and politic is better talking about future, talking about policy, not just fighting media but perhaps that is part of it. you have to lay out a set of ideas. the real group you have to win over is independent voters. polling data coming days, coming weeks, eight months out, more than that looks like republicans have an ad dang. republicans democrats who can address covid, ukraine, crime, rising cost of everything from sausage to semiconductors that is the party that is going to win. if it comes down to whether or not january 6th happened or not i think it probably favors democrats. howard: mollie, donald trump who calls mitch old crow among other things, said senate republican does not speak for the republican party, does not represent the views of the vast majority of voters. whether you like senator mcconnell or not though, does it seem the press is right that this internal low level warfare over january 6th, the committee and all tha

a lot of republicans, mcconnell's moves, mitch mcconnell, a lot of them pushed back. >> so, rachel, to that end. you have an inside view on this. on the outside it sometimes feels like it's not balanced. feels like mcconnell and mitt romney are publicly disavowing this stuff but you might be hearing a different narrative behind the scenes and sometimes you hear behind the scenes republicans are more than happy to admit that it wasn't an ordinary tourist visit, it wasn't an ordinary day. do you feel like more are going to start speaking out now or is it not in their political interests to do that? >> i wouldn't expect more to speak out. i think republicans, again, do not see this as something they want to talk about and that's why even mcconnell did speak out this week. he rarely does on this sort of issue. it does back to the belief the more you're talking about this, the more you're not talking about issues like inflation. i wouldn't expect republicans to say something. if you ask mcconnell, he'll say, i spoke my peace and it's time to focus back. mccarthy has told his members private

it's interesting to see that mitch mcconnell probably went farther than most. that's the most obvious you could say as a republican, that was an insurrection? >> yeah. look, i think a lot of folks are saying thank you, thank you, for acknowledging what the rest of the country acknowledged a year ago. and i get it, i understand a lot of the politics and everything. but this is beyond the politics, ali, and i think a lot of us appreciate mitch and other republican senators now coming out and stating the obvious, you know, how much damage has been done? how much further have we allowed this rot to continue inside the party? if these comments, if this acknowledgement had been made over the past seven or eight months, do you have a moment like you had with the rest of the clip showing, you know, the craziness of josh hawley and others talking about, well, our base, this is what we want. well, our base wouldn't be in miss space if the leadership acknowledged the facts and truth at the very beginning. >> so let me -- >> after the election. >> so what's the trigger for

he also spoke with senate minority leader mitch mcconnell as well. he has pledged to nominate a black woman to replace stephen breyer. >>> joining us now, msnbc contributor and my friend eugene vance. great to see you this morning. let's talk scotus. we know how deeply divided washington is on nearly every issue, but is there a chance biden could get some gop support for his eventual nominee? >> yes, surprise to a lot of the viewers out there is that there might be some -- most of these women that's going to be the case, especially the front-runner. katangi brown who was just confirmed last year, she got support. it doesn't make a lot of sense they would say now they wouldn't vote for her, but now it is the supreme court and there are higher stakes. also, j. michelle childs is from south carolina. both of the republican senators there, tim scott and lindsey graham, have praised her over and over. it seems like, especially with those two women, there's some space there for some republican support. i will say though and we have seen it obviously during

is it mitch mcconnell or donald trump? >> well -- >> she talked about rational -- what percentage -- >> a large percentage of republicans unfortunately do believe the big lie, right? so i think it is fair to say that rational people don't believe that. but a lot of republican voters do believe that. so i would actually argue that donald trump probably speaks more for the voters. at least the base of the party. but mitch mcconnell also represents the republican party. he's the leader in the senate. and he clearly believes it is time to move past trump and he doesn't want to pick fights with him. what alice just said, the republican party should be focused on attacking joe biden. not attacking each other. >> a few weeks or months ago, marjorie taylor greene said to steve bannon that they represent the base of the republican party. that they're not fringe. they represent the base. republican party. here's congresswoman marjorie taylor greene talking, i think earlier today. >> not only do we have the d.c. jail, the d.c. ghoul

>> well, this is why i think him and mcconnell are on the same page. they want to draw a bright line around the people who physically trespassed the capitol, assaulted police officers and say, you know what, the department of justice can deal with them. meanwhile, the official republican elites, right, who did things like create phony slate of electors, who internally within trump administration pushed to overturn the election results, all kinds of different ways, they don't want anyone to look at that. that is the real problem that the january 6th committee poses, that is why liz cheney and adam kinzinger are being censured. and they still all hold hands and adopt this party line. nikki haley on the sunday shows, it is a problem because republicans need to support republicans, no matter what. you know, when it comes to an insurrection, you need to draw some lines. >> can i throw one little wrinkle into this for mcconnell who did not support the bipartisan commission that was proposed, almost single-handedly blocked it. since the select committee has d

. >> a reminder, mitch mcconnell never says anything by accident. every syllable is carefully chosen. his use of the words violent insurrection is significant and carries with it potential legal implications because obviously it's against the law, but it's significant for other reasons too. there are anchors on other cable networks who launch into soliloquies asserting you can't call january 6 an insurrection. welt, mitch mcconnell just did, and in doing so issued an explicit rebuke of the rnc party leadership, an explicit rebuke of house republican leadership, and an explicit rebuke of at least certain cable performers. you know who noticed? at least one person named trump. donald trump jr. exclaiming with republicans like this, who needs democrats? well, it turns out there might be a growing number of republicans like this. if not always for the same reasons. republican senators who think the rnc censure and claims of legitimate discourse are just bad politics. >> people are willing to have a difference of opinions. but i think that we as a party

here's mitch mcconnell. >> you saw what happened. it was a violent insurrection. for the purpose of trying prevent a peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election from one administration to the next. that's what it was. the issue is whether or not the rnc should be sort of singling out members

senator mcconnell is largely joining his fellow senate republicans here. it would have been extraordinary for him to say anything different. the question is, the -- there is a split between the senate and the house, they each have different jobs to do. kevin mccarthy is doing what he has done for the last year, and it is to try to be as close to the former president as he can be. we'll see how that works out for him. there is no doubt those three words will be in ads in congressional races in suburbs particularly later this year for the midterm. this is going to be something that is going to continue to echo and resonate. >> and tolu, on that point, is this tension in the republican party focused specifically on the midterms and the direction that some republicans want to take the narrative in, that is focusing more on the biden administration and the economy as opposed to what has happened in the past, in 2020, and the election that former president trump continues to want to focus on. >> yeah, that's such a good point. 2020 was more than a year ago, it w

caller: i think mcconnell ought to be fired. we need to fire career politicians who have been in there so long. i am working for a new governor of georgia. david perdue will be the best in georgia history and i am fired up. by the way, vernon jones who was running against purdue and k emp, he endorsed david perdue who is a close friend of trump. i think he will be elected and be the best governor in history. i am really fired up. i think david purdue will be the best governor in georgia history. host: that was joe in georgia and this is anne in manchester, kentucky. what do you think about what your senator had to say? caller: i do not agree with them. i think it was just a protest. maybe there were people who were planted and some bad actors but it was just a protest. do i think anybody in their right mind voted for the president in office now? no. host: bill, orange park, florida. protest or insurrection? caller: i think it was a protest but i think mcconnell ought to sell his house in kentucky because he will not be living th

mcconnell has clear concerns as you played just there. and also other members of the house and senate are dividing about this as well. i just had a chance to catch up with the former vice president mike pence's brother, greg pence. he's a republican from indiana and his brother last week spoke in florida condemning donald trump, essentially saying donald trump was wrong in suggesting the vice president on the day of january 6, 2021 could have overturned the electoral results. pence makes clear he sides with his brother on this issue. >> i'll stand by my brother now and forever, okay? >> it was mostly a peaceful protest. >> reporter: it was a peaceful protest? >> mostly a peaceful protest? >> you don't think it was violence in here? >> there were people admitted to the capitol that shouldn't have been, for sure, but sia thousan people were here just protesting on the mall and here to air their grievances. >> reporter: so a clear divide you're seeing about exactly even the reality of what happened on january 6. that second congressman, mich

all this is is mcconnell trying to move along the news cycle. >> i was going to say, mcconnell playing it safe from where he's sitting. basil, take us inside the brain trust. you must be look at this thinking this is great for your party. they see the divisions and they see a lack of willingness on the party. the republican party to condemn the rnc for using that language. legitimate political discourse. >> well, i got to tell you the first thing i thought when i was hearing this, particularly mitch mcconnell, is that no one should ever say the democrats are in fighting or that we can't get our act together because this is what infighting really does look like. particularly when you're trying to litigate within your party whether the uprising was just legitimate political speech. i'm going to take my own advice in that regard because when you hear republicans talking about big ten politics, something tells me i should really be afraid, but i'm not. i am actually more encouraged than ever that democrats are unified, can unify around a message going into these midterms because he's right

it's been more than a year since trump and mcconnell have had any communication whatsoever. to the degree they're even operating in the same political planet, there are some republican senate candidates that their separate political shops have each endorsed but the two haven't been on speaking terms for more than a year. this won't help that. >> nicholas wu joining us as well, you cover congress, i can't imagine that you're all that surprised by what we heard from senator mcconnell although as it sometimes the case with senator mcconnell, the fact that we are hearing about it at all, right, and not a dodge or no comment or deflection, is i think worth pointing out. >> that's for sure. mcconnell and a lot of other republicans like to talk about literally anything but the former president and things related to january 6th. they would much rather talk about the economy or the coronavirus and whatnot. the former president is making himself very hard to ignore here. the amount of daylight that we're seeing here is telling in a lot of ways, how republicans would like to turn the p

it is not mitch mcconnell. it is right that president trump is taking him on this way, it is not about looking backwards, you can't have trust in future elections unless you know the state is not surveilling one side of the aisle based on cozy relationship inside of deep state of the media. we have to get to bottom of this. >> thank you, pete. thank you for your service. before you were on tv, and your service today. >> god bless. >> you thank you, mark. what an honor. mark: when we come back, john ratcliffe, former director of national intelligence, we'll be right back. here, we know you have a few reasons to slow down. ♪ ♪ but we've got one more. safe drivers save 40% with drivewise. ♪ ♪ the safer you drive, the more you save. call a local agent or 1-888-allstate for a quote today. >> woman: what's my safelite story? i'm a photographer. and when i'm driving, i see inspiration right through my glass. so when my windshield cracked, it had to be fixed right. i scheduled with safelite autoglass. their exp

so extraordinary for mcconnell. he is one of the few republican leaders who is committed to speaking the truth in public because as she said, as well, what mitch mcconnell said just now almost every congressional republican will tell you privately and don't want to say in it front of a microphone. >> a few will. congresswoman liz cheney said to the point of a vacuum silence by republican party leaders is deafening and enabling. mitt romney referenced i think butch cassidy and the sun das kid. morons, morons on the team. sitting down with white supremacists is missing iq points. they speak out about this. >> others aren't worried about the leadership places. mccarr think wants to be speaker if republicans take over the house in the november elections. steve scalise fears that speaking out against the members, reprimanding them costs votes but what i think mcconnell is trying to make clear is that the republican party cannot be viable long term if there's tolerance or space for this kind of speech and thinking. so mcc

but mitch mcconnell did it on two fronts. first, he made it clear that he did not agree with their language that anything that took place on january 6th was legitimate discourse. he said he was here. emeveryone he was talking to was here and this was a violent insurrection. it was not any form of legitimate political discourse. and he took it even a step further and said he strongly disagreed with the rnc's decision to censure two of its members, that being liz cheney and adam kinzinger, saying this is not the posture the rnc should have. they should be about bringing the party together and not trying on separate them and that's what that kregsure did. he said that was not the rnc's job. while mcconnell was pretty vocal in his condemnation of the rnc actions, there were nam of republicans defending them. among them, the conference chair, and the minority leader, kevin mccarthy who argued when they were talking about legitimate political discourse, they were not talking about the violence and chaos that took place here on capi

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he is not assumed control of his own future as mitch mcconnell is. we see the running away clip which is kind of funny, just for the fast pace that they were all walking at, but it is a much harder tightrope that he is walking. he is always walking. because, he can't risk alienating donald trump and having those statements being called whatever the old crow version would be for mccarthy. he cannot risk that. so, we are seeing people go out on the ledge as far as they are able to. given how safe they are with their position. i mean, the rnc has clearly put all of the lawmakers in a bad spot. even marjorie taylor greene said the way to remove liz cheney, and adam kinzinger, is to vote them out of office. this is, probably speaking, even the republicans that are doing some version of defense, like halle said, this is what our grassroots members believe, so it is an accurate representation of what they believe. even the ones who are more on the defensive side, all of them i think would be preferred to talk about joe biden, about inflation, this has dragg

and mitch mcconnell is caught in the middle there. this is one of his members who is not exactly coming to his defense but he didn't really care either way. he is just happy to let trump be mad and have tim scott say what he needs to say. >> mitch mcconnell will let tim scott do what he needs to do. i think the power struggle between trump and mitch mcconnell will be one of the most important story lines heading into the midterms because it's not only going to determine who controls the senate but whether the senate gop conference is trumpy next year. i mean, as was pointed out, trying to let -- mcconnell is trying to win back the majority. sometimes those align but sometimes it creates a conflict of interest. >> in addition to what you heard there, i want to pull up this maggie haberman tweet. trump has been talking up tim scott and rubio in some conversations as vip candidates. here's tim scott when asked would he consider being on the ticket? >> well, i think everybody wants to be on president trump's bandwagon, without any questio

it is not mitch mcconnell. it is right that president trump is taking him on this way, it is not about looking backwards, you can't have trust in future elections unless you know the state is not surveilling one side of the aisle based on cozy relationship inside of deep state of the media. we have to get to bottom of this. >> thank you, pete. thank you for your service. before you were on tv, and your service today. >> god bless. >> you thank you, mark. what an honor. mark: when we come back, john ratcliffe, former john ratcliffe, former director of meet a future mom, john ratcliffe, former director of a first-time mom and a seasoned pro. this mom's one step closer to their new mini-van! yeah, you'll get used to it. this mom's depositing money with tools on-hand. cha ching. and this mom, well, she's setting an appointment here, so her son can get set up there and start his own financial journey. that's because these moms all have chase. smart bankers. convenient tools. one bank with the power of both. chase. m

that is not the job of the rnc. >> well, mitch mcconnell directly answered questions today about the republican party calling the attack on the capitol legitimate political discourse. over in the house of representatives, kevin mccarthy literally ran away from the question. >> can i ask you about the rnc? >> you know, make an appointment. it's not good to do it now. >> joining us now is steve schmidt, former republican presidential campaign strategist and cofounder of the lincoln project. steve, what explains the difference today on this question between mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy? >> well, this division between the two, lawrence, has been clear from the very beginning. though mitch mcconnell tried to distance this as much as he would or could after the january 6th incident, kevin mccarthy famously went down to mar-a-lago. in those early days what republicans were most worried about was the cash flow. the campaign cash. mitch mcconnell believed that the insurrection would obliterate republicans ability to raise money from corporate donors. kevin mccarthy took the opposite pat

>>> all right, we have some breaking political news, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell offering his first comments about the rnc resolution that censured lawmakers adam kinzinger and liz cheney and that resolution that called january 6th, legitimate political discourse. here it is. >> that the rnc should be in the business of picking and choosing republicans who ought to be supported. traditionally, the view of the national party committees is that we support all members of our party, regardless of their positions on some issues. >> do you have confidence in her, the chairwoman of the committee? >> i do, but the issue is whether or not the rnc should be sort of singling out members of our party who may have different views from the majority. that's not the job of the rnc. >> leader mcconnell -- >> okay, so, that resolution is now sparking growing frustration, as you can see, for gop lawmakers and some backlash. house minority leader kevin mccarthy, though, defended it. he claims the resolution was not referring to anybody who broke in and caused damage. hard to know, since they

mcconnell and his allies are quietly, desperately moving to thwart him, the loose alliance for months engaged in a high stakes candidate recruitment campaign, full of phone calls, memos and promises for millions of dollars aimed at capturing the senate majority but election also represents what could be republicans last chance to reverse the spread of trumpism before it fully consumes their party. will it work, brendan? >> yeah, we'll see. you know, there are two things going on here. first, candidates matter, mitch mcconnell knows that and does this every election cycle, who are the people most likely to win? why he's going after mary hogan in maryland, i'm from georgia, and it seems we're likely going to have walker, former football player as a candidate and sort of went along with that grudgingly so mitch mcconnell trying to make sure he has the best field of candidates but as the article notes, who's senate is in? how long will the tail of trumpism last? if we elect trump supporters, populists, trumpists to the senate, it may last a long time and mitch mcconnell is trying to root

your point dually noted on mitch mcconnell specifically. the republican party in general, is that a fair assessment written by the harvard professor? >> definitely. the fact that so many republicans are either embracing donald trump's lies and specifically the big lie, or staying silent, which is almost as bad, is totally unacceptable and dangerous. we only have two political parties in this country. we had ten, and one was embracing dishonest, then that would probably be easier to handle. but there are only two, and by the way, this is a party that's poised if history is a good indicator, and today's polls are an indicator, poised to return to power on capitol hill, so it's even more worrisome that there are so many people in the party that are willing to go along with this lie, but i still have some hope that people like mitch mcconnell, mike pence, and others can start turning the tide and at least helping people understand that, you know, one thing is policy differences, the other thing is to embrace a lie. >> let me ask you, adrian, ab

i'm very curious your reaction because it's not normal mcconnell. there is this clash unfolding late in the day between the rnc and the top elected republican, mitch mcconnell, probably breaking the party thavs political discourse and sensible republicans critical of the violence. >> before i bring david back in, the fight by the trump fans, the continued revelations about the party, richard navarro is not a trump fan. today he contradicted the entire inc. he asked them to stop with power. he said the last year, i felt rnls. >> you saw what happened. the purpose of it was a certified election from one president to the other. the issue is it would be singling out members of our party, and they have different views from the majority. that's not the job of the rnc. >> a violent insurrection. stating those facts, mitch konl knows some kind of break with some kind of litmusest. a political brawl with big states, i'm just curious your dprekz needs a profile on this. mr. mcconnell is looking at the world flight, into an entire windshield that could change

but mitch mcconnell is careful, calculated. he may be calculating donald trump is crazy, the refusal to back away from the most extreme demands of the big lie on the republican party, may be a net political negative. so you are seeing other senators step away. bill cassidy of louisiana. mitt romney is a given. but you have a half dozen senators speaking out, denouncing the rnc for this dumb decision and distancing themselves from donald trump. >> he is doing this because he has reason to believe this is true, what avalon is saying, elie. because he has evidence. he is not just surmising they're going the wrong direction with all of this. >> are yeah. kind of hard to see the evidence we have been seeing coming out almost daily from the january 6th committee. you have to draw a line somewhere, right? when you are saying this is legitimate political discourse, you lose all credibility. i suspect what mitch mcconnell is trying to do to do here, is give as much ground as he has to but no more than that. >> the specific language, an

today, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell publicly rejected the republican na

trust me the mcconnells of the world and others will start to feel that pull. that is why some members are retiring. because they do not want to be caught in this any longer. it is going to be a real tug of war between now and november, given also, ali, the fact that you have republicans like myself and others who are going to make sure, darn sure, that this poll happens. because we want this party to move off of the stupid and back into a position where can govern the country and not run it into the ground by a pending its democracy. >> michael, i am always much smarter for listening you, thank you for joining us, my friend. >> thank you. >> former rnc chairman michael steele there. much more tonight, stay with us. th us boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. ♪ 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... ♪ (upbeat music) - [narrator] this is kate. she always wanted her smile to shine.

while i think mitch mcconnell is taking a stance. mike pence saying he disagreed with donald trump's assessment of his ability to not certify the election. in the end, the base of the party, vast majority have argued is on the side of trump. they don't believe this was anything more than a demonstration wab peaceful, if not rowdy, political demonstration. they do believe there were inaccuracies and potential fraud in the 2020 elections and they are galvanized by these issues. that's why you see numbers like in the pugh poll. the republican party no longer thinks this is a major issue and they don't think trump bears major responsibility. >> let me ask you about mike pence. does his statement last friday, splitting with the rnc and former president, does that set him apart with where the tloefs party is sfwl look, i think he made statement, which is true. he did not have the authority, the ability, whatever you want to call it, to circumvent the results of a legally determined election. a presidential primary campaigns are about estab

earn a rebuke by mcconnell. the rebukes by mr. mcconnell and added to a small but forceful chorus of gop lawmakers who have decried the action that the republican national committee took on friday when it officially rebuked ms. cheney and mr. kinzinger and accusing them of, quote, persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate, political discourse. that's the front page of the "new york times." on the inside part of this article on the jump, representative kevin mccarthy of ocalifornia, the house minority leader defended on tuesday telling a cnn reporter that it was meant to condemn the house committee's targeting of conservatives who were no where near washington on january 6th and had nothing to do with either the attack or the broader effort to overturn the 2020 election. the censure pushed by allies of former president donald trump was just over one page long but it has sent republicans into turmoil exposing the party while underscoring how it is guilty to mr. trump continues to define everything it does. it has disrup

including mitch mcconnell. if you want to have a broader tent than just not trump supporters because he's not going to win the majority in the senate, or return to the majority, if that is the only people running and voting. >> anna, give us a sense of state of play on the hill right now. we have a government shootdown looming. give us an update on that. and we've heard there are pieces of the biden agenda that could be revived but it seems pretty stalled at the moment. yeah? >> yeah, everything is the moment of the day on capitol hill. certainly, it appears we're not going to move toward that stop gam for a month as they continue to hash out of top line numbers. there does seem to be movement, although slow coming together on some russian sanction package that members in the senate have been working on for the last couple of days. we're going to be reporting to you this morning about kind of an effort in the house that's really going fast here in terms of trying to actually ban members of congress from what we

mcconnell says singling out is not the national republican committee job. disputing the description of last january 6th capitol riot as political discourse. mcconnell says it was violent insurrection aimed at preventing the peaceful transfer of power. ♪ also breaking tonight, capitol police say the department does not conduct surveillance on members, staff, or their offices, the statement comes following an accusation by a republican congressman that officers secretly took photographs of documents in his office. congressional correspondent chad pergram hats latest on this tonight live from the hill. good evening, chad. >> good evening, bret. troy nelson accuses the capitol police of rummaging through his office. nehls took photos of material. manger denies the charge. officer says he found a door to nehls office open and went to investigate. nehls also says police tried to enter his office disguised as construction workers. the inspector general for the capitol police is now investigating. more than 30 g.o.p. members wrote to house speaker nancy pelosi th

i think that's what mitch mcconnell -- at least that's what mitch mcconnell was hoping. he's hoping we can turn the page by electing or nominating larry hogans and governor ducies, people who demonstrated they support republican ideas and have moral integrity, and that's been lacking. i think he's hoping if we can stack the senate with people with morals and integrity, we can move into a new era of the republican party. i don't know it's that easy but i think that's what's mcconnell is trying to do. >> if republicans are talking about how much they should focus on trump, how much power they should give him, right, democrats then need to be discussing how much they should be focusing on donald trump in their campaigns. and we know former president barack obama speaking with democrats last week essentially said stop your whining, focus on the positive. he said, and i quote, democrats have a tendency to complain about what we didn't get done rather than talk about what we did get done. talk about what we are getting done. how do they make that calculation? >> well, you know

senator mcconnell or donald trump? >> well, in a lot of ways, i think donald trump is speaking for the republican party. i think maybe mitch mcconnell should be given trump's quote there. look. the point is we want to win elections in the primary. we want to win elections in the general and i think you know this continued focus on looking in the rear view mirror and in the past is not where we are going. i think mitch mcconnell in his heart of hearts knows they're focusing on 2022 and 2024 is the path the republicans need to be focusing on. >> so it comes as we're learning, dan, that the former vice president pence did actually not initially intend to publicly say trump was wrong about to say pence could overturn the election. he literally said donald trump is wrong. but apparently, he wasn't planning to go quite that far. two people close to pence are saying the reason he actually did that was trump made a couple critical and nasty statements about pence. >>> those were the final straws. pence said, i'm going to come

nominate a black woman and we just heard from mitch mcconnell. what did he sna. >> a flavor of how republicans plan to go after this nomination. he said he's fine with a black supreme court justice nominee but not indicating he supports this current nominee. in this statement, he makes very clear the kcriticism coming her way, i understand judge jackson was a favorite choice of far left dark money groups that have spent years attacking the structure of the court itself. goes on to say they will conduct an exhaustive or thorough review and treat fairly unlike past nominations. that's how they plan to go after her. don't expect many republican votes. mitch mcconnell doesn't seem like he'll support this nomination but that's how they plan to go after the nominee, contend she was pushed. >> and john -- >> seeking to overhaul the court. >> john harwood, can you respond to that? on the one hand, maybe not surprising to hear from mitch mcconnell some criticism in describing her as an extremist, but that having been said, she was on the short list and to