Summary:
Biden urges Americans on COVID vaccines, advising they are "safe" and "effective." COVID levels are dropping but Americans remain cautious as new variants in the disease emerge in the U.S.
Transcript:
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Americans are stepping up and doing these things and the worst thing we can do now would be let our guard down.
And here`s another critical point. We`re going to hit a phase in this effort, maybe late April or early May, when many predict there will be ramped-up vaccine supply and we`ll have administered shots to most of the people who are really eager to get them and those who have been able to get there.
But at the same time the warning is, there will be people who live in hard- to-reach areas who can`t get the shots and there are folks who are hesitant to take the shots. We all know there is a history in this country of subjugating certain communities to terrible medical and scientific abuse.
But if there is one message that needs to cut through all this, the vaccines are safe. I promise you, they are safe and effective. Listen to Dr. Fauci. Listen to the scientists who developed them through extensive and rigorous review.
I did. And I took my shot publicly to demonstrate to the American people it`s safe and effective. To address this challenge, we`re going launch a massive campaign to educate people about the vaccines, that they are safe and effective and that they can go and get those shots and be good.
I`m going close with this. This past year has been one of the most painful years in American history. As I said, we lost over 500,000 lives of the virus, 500,000 moms and dads, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, staring at an empty chair at the dining room table or the kitchen table, friends, neighbors, coworkers.
And all over the country where the loved ones who are gone, they`re gone, empty, empty feeling in your chest, like you`re being sucked into a black hole in your chest. But all over the country, where loved ones once sat, there is an empty chair.
And folks, look. There is so much we can do. As you see broken hearts in the families that have been left behind, there is nothing partisan about this virus. It`s too long we`ve allowed the virus to divide us.
I met today with Governor Abbott, Senator Cornyn, conservative Republicans. I`m a Democratic president. We disagree on plenty of things and there is nothing wrong with that. But there are plenty of things we can work on together.
And one of them is represented right here today, the effort to speed up vaccinations. We`re not giving shots to Democrats or Republicans. I say it again. We`re giving shots to Americans.
And all across the country, we`ve got members of the armed forces, FEMA, volunteers, retirees, fellow Americans, working around the clock to give these shots. And they`re building on the work of scientists, researchers, doctors and nurses.
And my team at the White House, which has coordinated all of this, is first rate. None of this has a partisan tinge or partisan element to it. This can be a great American achievement, being the only country in the world to reach 100 million shots in 100 days.
This could unite us as a country, to vaccinate America, to protect America, to heal America. And I know we can do this.
Why?
Because I know America can do great things when we do it together. I know my family spent a lot of time here in Houston, by the way.
At -- hey, John Eddie (ph), how are you, buddy?
I didn`t see you there.
And Houston at M.D. Anderson, when our son, Beau, was being treated for glioblastoma before he passed away. Just yesterday I saw M.D. Anderson announce this joint four -- they joined four other major cancer hospitals to help break down the silos that make real progress in this effort difficult.
Now they`re sharing data and information. That wasn`t going on four or five years ago. We`re going beat cancer. I know we will. I`ve said it before and I`ll say it again. There is just one thing, one thing I could be known for as president, it would be the -- and the president who had, during his era, ended cancer as we know it.
But then last week, guess what?
We also landed a rover on Mars, we led by a NASA team in Pasadena, California. A rover carrying some instruments developed by a team here in Houston that will be used in the mission of our time and our dreams. Imagine. Everybody has been so down the last number of years about what America, what can we do?
Look, we can do anything. America can do anything. And now we see the images that are truly stunning, battling COVID, beating cancer, going to Mars.
If there is one thing I know about America is this: Americans never give up. They never give in. They never cry uncle. They just struggle to innovate and they preserve and persevere. We`re going get through all of this. I promise you. We`re going to do it together, together.
God bless you all and may God protect our troops. You`re the best. We can do all this, guys. I promise you. We can do this. Nobody in the world can compete with us when we`re together. Thank you all so very much.
ARI MELBER, MSNBC HOST: We`ve been listening there to President Biden, delivering remarks at a Houston vaccine center. The president speaking out forcefully and optimistically about what he says is possible. We have an expert panel with us that is going to weigh in on all of this momentarily.
I want to welcome you to THE BEAT WITH ARI MELBER and tell you that Biden has been addressing the nation while something else big and important is going on tonight. Congress barreling toward passing his $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. That could happen tonight.
We`re watching these live pictures of the president after his remarks. You can see him there with folks. The plan, I want you to know, has a lot of different pieces to it. In brief, it has small business aid, stimulus checks for Americans, new money for schools and this crucial funding to speed what we just heard the president discussing, vaccination distribution.
We also know that a majority of Americans support the piece of legislation here. Meanwhile, a $15 minimum wage, something we`ve been reporting on, will not be in this final version.
Biden also hit storm battered Texas today, visiting a emergency operation center and a food bank and pushing for federal aid to support Americans who are hurting through no fault of their own.
And that is kind of the maybe grim theme here because whether it`s a deadly weather event or a deadly pandemic, the spirit and the governing policy here is to use federal powers to try to prop people up while they deal with all of this.
Now Biden is aiming to end the week with this largest legislative accomplishment of what is a young presidency. By delivering on COVID money for Americans, which is something the last president talked up before the election but which Republicans did not deliver on, there is something here that Biden advisers say is important, not only for the bottom line help but we just heard him discussing but also for the idea that you can still govern in the United States, that you can still find what we just heard, bipartisan support, which, again, this plan has out in the country.
It`s a contrast that, as we end the week, is on display in one extreme manner in the Beltway. As this new president governs, you just heard him, Republicans at the very top, conservative gathering, CPAC, are erecting and marching through the halls, what you see there, an actual golden idol of the ex-president.
This golden Trump statue drawing notice and some mockery for a party that`s increasingly focused on a cult of personality rather than governing ideas. And if you know any of your religious history, the golden calf is actually an infamous parable for the temptation of false idols. Take that for what it`s worth.
Two different versions of presidential leadership, one anchored firmly in the real world. We`re joined now by Juanita Tolliver and "The New York Times" columnist Michelle Goldberg.
Michelle, I invite you to speak on any of the above.
MICHELLE GOLDBERG, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": I mean, I just -- it`s such a contrast to see Joe Biden speaking, not always fluently, sometimes haltingly but about the central issue in American life, which is the pandemic, which is the vaccine rollout, right?
And I think that it`s hard to say how much of the ramp-up that we`ve seen over the last few weeks is attributable to actually having competent governance, how much of it is the fact that production was going to scale up inevitably any way.
But there is still such a noticeable and appreciable difference in what the vaccine distribution looks like around the country, compared to what it looked like when Joe Biden took office, right?
I think you probably know in your own life, you`re just seeing dramatically more people being able to get appointments, dramatically more sites. A lot of the signup is still glitchy. There are still roadblocks but it really is night and day in terms of being able to get these shots.
MELBER: Juanita, we`re listening live to the president. We want to play just one, a piece of sound that we turned, as he makes this impassioned argument, as we await, of course, the big legislation. Take a listen.
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BIDEN: Hospitalizations could go back up as new variants emerge. And it`s not the time to relax. Staying socially distanced ,and for God`s sake, wear your mask. Wear your mask. It`s not a political statement. It`s a patriotic thing to do.
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MELBER: Juanita?
JUANITA TOLLIVER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes. Keeping in the theme of contrasts, that`s something that we never saw Trump or any of his administration leaders do, call for all of the COVID precautions that Americans should be taking, not only to keep themselves safe but others safe.
I think the other thing that Biden did in his remarks was highlight the fact that this is not about Dems or Republicans. This is about American lives. We`ve already lost half a million people to this pandemic.
I think Biden continuously highlighting that, along with his response to the pandemic, is going to be something that we`re going see a steady drumbeat of, because it`s important to continue to draw those highlight or to draw those contrasts.
I think the other highlight that we saw this week was about him hitting 50 million vaccine doses distributed in 37 days and knowing that he set the goal of 100 million in his first 100 days.
And this goes back to him delivering on campaign promises, which is something that he and the White House need to continuously do, especially as we look to this COVID bill that the House will likely vote on tonight.
MELBER: Yes, and we`re going get into a lot more of what this rollout looks like. We have the leader of Moderna on THE BEAT exclusively later tonight. I want viewers to know that but also it`s relevant to what both of you were discussing, as we get our arms around this whole process.
On the politics, Michelle, it`s not just the golden calf situation at CPAC. This is a whole conservative gathering. The ex-president will be there this weekend, that we know caused fissures among Republican leaders in the House earlier this week. Here is what else is being said at CPAC. Take a look.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Radical liberals, they want to erase our history. They want to replace it with their crazy Marxist theories.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Socialists control the levers of government.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You should still be wearing a mask. It`s not the most fun.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Freedom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have the right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me tell you this right now. Donald J. Trump ain`t going anywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: I`d be remiss if I didn`t say he ain`t going to Cancun, either.
But Michelle, your thought again on this contrast, because CPAC is not a random thing. It is really the central organizing stage for conservative content. And under Donald Trump, content has become more important that policy. That`s why there was no policy platform.
GOLDBERG: That they`re having a live in-person conference right now speaks volumes. Also, imagine -- imagine being as -- imagine having as little self respect as Ted Cruz. It was one thing to abase yourself before Donald Trump when he was president. Presumably Ted Cruz would like to replace Donald Trump.
But like so many of these Republicans, you know, they just like, subservience and submissiveness has now been just inculcated in them so deeply that they can`t even act in their own interest against a man who no longer -- who has a lot of reputational power but no longer has any government power.
I also think, you said before that Biden`s plan is bipartisan. And it`s certainly true when you look at support for it. But in terms of this country being governable, it is really only governable at this point through the reconciliation process, which really limits the number of things you can govern on.
Unless Democrats are willing to recognize the total nihilism of the Republican Party, unless they`re willing to understand that the Republican Party`s only objective is to see Joe Biden fail, even if the country has to fail with him, they`re not going to get anything done except through these very obscure kind of budgetary moves.
It`s why rather than trying to bring a $15 million minimum wage bill to the floor, now that the Senate parliamentarian said they can`t put it in the COVID relief bill, they`re trying to find tax workarounds so that they can induce companies to raise wages without actually mandating it.
And it`s because, again, it`s because Republicans in the Senate have made this country ungovernable, even when the policies have bipartisan support.
MELBER: Juanita, they say some communication is nonverbal. And I felt like I was picking up some of your thoughts about this from your face. But go ahead and tell us what you were thinking during all of this.
TOLLIVER: Ari, you know I`m pretty expressive, right?
So you`re going see some reactions. I think, Michelle digging into Ted Cruz is exactly what I was reacting to as he continues to debase himself. I think also as he continues to get on stage in front of this audience of Trump loyalists and continue to sing his praises of Trump, all while Biden is back in his state, responding to his state`s need, responding to what families in Texas need at this moment when they have still orders to boil their water because they don`t have access to clean water right now.
He has no self-respect. He has no shame. Even when we saw other elected officials across the country coming to Texas to rally support while he was in Cancun, he has shown us time and time again who he is.
He has shown us that he is not much to -- who is really going to put forward service in times of need, that people in his constituents are in times of need. He is not that guy. I just am confounded as to why he still maintains his position. I`m also confounded as to what future he thinks he possibly has if Trump is sticking around forever.
MELBER: You make a great point, which is he has sort of become the handmaiden to his own irrelevance if it`s all about supporting Trump rather building whatever he wants to do in the party. And after getting crushed for skipping town in Texas for personal travel, he skipped town again for political reasons, when, as you say, the president and others are out on the ground there, trying to help.
It`s quite the set of contrasts. Juanita Tolliver and Michelle Goldberg, thanks for kicking us off tonight. We appreciate it.
Coming up, we have the Biden response to a new report about an international murder and new body cam of rioters during the vicious attack on January 6th. Coming up as mentioned, my special live interview with the founder of Moderna, the company offering one of only two COVID vaccines available right here in the U.S.
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MELBER: How does this COVID pandemic end?
Gradually. That`s the main answer we see and that`s the indication. And some of the good news, showing cases dropping 23 percent this past week, a product of safety measures, natural immunity from people who beat COVID and the growing share of people who have been vaccinated.
About one out of eight Americans now through 68 million doses. If these trends continues, America could hit herd immunity this year. Or it could take longer if any key measures falter -- a breakdown in safety rules or problems with vaccines or if a new variant strain outruns this progress.
Moments ago, an FDA panel tonight is recommending authorization of Johnson & Johnson`s single shot vaccine. Formal FDA authorization could come as early as tomorrow and that would make it the third virus vaccine on the market.
Two vaccine makers have done something pretty incredible amidst all the horror and that is pull off the fastest vaccine timeline ever. Now they`re racing to try to develop adjustments of vaccines that can tackle these new and sometimes scary variants.
Companies like Moderna, led by Noubar Afeyan, who oversaw the quest and now is at the epicenter of this ongoing race to try to save millions of lives.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN HOST: The largest vaccine roll-out in its history is now of course underway. Noubar Afeyan is the Moderna co-founder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Moderna saying its vaccine is nearly 95 percent.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST: Co-founder and chairman of Moderna, Noubar Afeyan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The FDA has just recommended that a second coronavirus vaccine be approved for emergency use. That`s the Moderna vaccine.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: Noubar Afeyan is the CEO of the flagship pioneering incubator we`ve heard underpinning Moderna, joins me now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. Noubar, thank you so much for joining us today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Distribution of Moderna`s version now underway, millions of doses to reach hospitals within days.
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: Noubar Afeyan, the cofounder and chairman, was born in Lebanon to Armenian parents. Since then he has developed over 100 patents and helped found over 40 science and technology start-up companies.
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MELBER: And here we are. I`m thrilled to tell you, joining us right now is Moderna chair and co-founder, Noubar Afeyan, an immigrant from Lebanon, the grandson of a genocide survivor. He received his PhD from MIT and helped build over 50 life science and technology startups, pretty boss as people say.
Thanks for being here.
NOUBAR AFEYAN, CHAIR AND CO-FOUNDER, MODERNA: Thanks for having me, Ari. Great pleasure.
MELBER: We want to get into all of it. Let`s start with the most fundamental question.
How did Moderna pull this off this quickly?
Is there anything here that you`ve learned from overseeing it, from doing it, that could guide us on the road ahead?
AFEYAN: Well, let me say the number of things helped us be able to move this quickly. First, the company, which was started 10 years ago, had spent a vast amount of time and capital preparing a platform based on messenger RNA for lots of other applications for vaccines, for therapeutics.
And we were busy developing these in clinical trials when we got wind of this threat. Initially we didn`t know it was going to become a pandemic.
Second, we have collaborated with colleagues at the NIH, Dr. Fauci`s group, for the last two years, already working on a vaccine for a related virus. That helped us get out of the gates very quickly.
And then third, the heroic effort of the whole team at Moderna. And, of course, the partnerships we`ve had with multiple other parties. All of that gave us the ability to rise to the challenge. And we were fortunate that the technology was able to deliver what we`ve seen, which is a safe and effective vaccine.
MELBER: So we`ve been through this cycle. Everyone watching has lived through it. The bad news of this terrible pandemic, the good news of progress. And then what sounds like more bad news of these variants; South Africa, one arriving in New York. Walk us through what you`re doing now to try to catch up with possible new variants.
AFEYAN: Well, indeed, from the beginning, we knew, because of the evolved nature of this virus and all viruses, that this will become a competition more so than a race, a competition between the virus being able to adapt and overcome our immune response and our ability to counteract it with more and more powerful immune responses and broadly across the world.
And so this response that we`ve seen with new strains emerging really tells us that we need to be prepared with more than just one vaccine potentially or vaccine type so that we can very quickly introduce boosts, boosters as needed, to be able to counteract and teach our immune system how to be ready and on guard for a virus that may look enough different that our immune system does not as effectively neutralize it.
So think about this as the virus has its own tricks. And we have technology, within which, if we can move quickly enough and get out the appropriate response, we can potentially start cornering the sequences that can be obtained, such that we can actually ultimately reduce and eventually defeat the virus.
MELBER: If current trends continue, when should life be back to normal in the United States?
AFEYAN: Well, Ari, that`s the question we ask ourselves, given just how many team members we have across a number of companies. And that`s really a very, very difficult thing to predict.
What I can tell you is that I think, with the vaccine approaches, with a much more organized effort, certainly in a number of countries, to use other protection methods, we`re beginning to see the effects.
Nobody can really rule out whether there will be continued ups and downs in this ultimate battle. So we have to be ready for that so we don`t get discouraged.
We also have to pay attention to what happens throughout the rest of the world because ultimately, we are connected. This is a virus ultimately that took advantage of our social nature. And so we need to definitely think about that as well.
But I think certainly towards the latter part of this year, I think a number of things will have changed. And I`m hopeful that, whatever normal looks like next will begin to reveal itself, come this summer and into this fall.
MELBER: So translation, if there is no variant that takes over by ,September normal life in America?
AFEYAN: I would say the beginning of normalcy but I would fully expect that how we define normal will be quite different than the past. We have learned a number of things. You asked me earlier; I didn`t answer.
What can we do from the learns we`ve gotten?
We have to as a society be much more poised and ready with safeguards, attentive at surveilling for these threats. If the notion that we`re just going to say, oh, that was just a bad dream, now let`s get on with the life we knew before, I think that would be very irresponsible.
So I think the beginning of normalcy and the new normalcy will set in, certainly as we start getting to the latter part of this year.
MELBER: Got it. You`re good at this. Your company is good at this. People are very appreciative of that. You`re also making a ton of money, on track to make $18 billion this year as a company.
Is that a good thing in your view because it incentivizes this progress in capitalism?
Is there any amount that`s too much money?
I`d be remiss if I didn`t ask you about that amidst the progress, because these are the discussions around health and capitalism. And you`re here as a person in the center of it.
AFEYAN: Well, certainly with the progress that we`ve made come responsibilities that we take quite seriously, above all making sure that we get the vaccine that we`re producing to be available broadly, equitably, fairly, transparently.
And we`re working with a number of partners to be able to do that. We have ramped up production with help from the U.S. government to be able to produce the number of vaccines we`re producing, which is now nearing almost 1 billion doses potentially for this year. We`re already at about 700 million.
And the consequence to that is that the 10 years of research that went into this is producing an impact on society. And I think with that, the company is growing where we`re happy that the results are being put back into developing cancer vaccines and we`re developing cardiovascular drugs.
So I think you have to realize, Ari, that ours was not a large pharmaceutical company around for a long, long time. And this is yet another product. This is what the company has been working for 10 years and we very much want to apply this technology to improving people`s health throughout the world.
And we now have more and more means to do that. And you`ll see us do that.
MELBER: But your core point there would be you`re proud of this. You look at this as a good return on investment and a good example of capitalism getting to a solution.
Is that how you look at it?
AFEYAN: Look, I think that -- I think that the role of the company has been, from day one, to respond with its patents, with its ingenuity, with its hard work to provide solutions to the world. We`re having an impact.
And governments who ultimately buy this vaccine are determining what is a reasonable fair price for it. That is what we`ve ultimately adopted. This has all been quite transparent. The U.S. government stepped in to help out in this process. Therefore our agreement with the U.S. government for up to 500 million doses has been priced accordingly.
And so the result is the fact this is an unprecedented pandemic that`s having -- there is nothing in the past that had this type of reach in the world.
And therefore, you`re going see a few companies, not just ours but Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and BioNTech and others all ultimately reach those kinds of revenues proportionate to the impact that they have. That`s the way I view it.
MELBER: I know that you`re also passionate about immigration policy. And so before I lose you, I wanted to ask you about that. As you know, these have been such intense debates in the United States. And some of the cliches that are repeated are true.
We have so much that we`re indebted to immigrants for. And I just thought, given everything going on, whether you wanted to weigh in on any of that.
AFEYAN: Well, look, I have been very fortunate alongside many others to be in this country and get the opportunities and contribute to but also benefit from the opportunities it provides.
I view immigrants into this country as Americans by choice. You have Americans by birth, Americans by choice. We`re all Americans. You just heard the president refer to the vaccine project and these kinds of things as uniting us.
And I think, just as much uniting can happen when all Americans try to make for a much brighter future. And I`m happy the company at Moderna has many, many immigrants, many folks are born here.
And the difference is artificial and the contributions are what matters. So indeed, any policy that in some way separates and detracts the attraction of talent and the impact we can all have, to me, America is an ideal first and foremost.
And that ideal attracts the best talent and that talent is what then makes the country and the new ideals. And I`m very happy that we`re all part of that.
MELBER: It`s really fascinating to get the direct view from someone like you, who is so personally and professionally involved. I`m really glad to have you with your debut on THE BEAT. I know how busy you are. I hope you can come back when the schedule allows. Noubar Afeyan, thank you.
AFEYAN: Ari, thanks for having me.
MELBER: Absolutely.
Up ahead, we have some other stories we`re getting for the first time tonight. This new body cam from January 6. And new intelligence confirming the Saudi crown prince approved of the murder of a journalist and allegations about just how far the White House went under Donald Trump to hide it. That`s next.
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MELBER: The Biden administration releasing a new intelligence report that reveals the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, approved of that controversial and horrific 2018 assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The report states the prince viewed Khashoggi as a threat to the kingdom and broadly supported violent measures if necessary to silence him. "The Washington Post" columnist lived in Virginia and went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
We saw the footage of him going in and never coming out. Brutally murdered and, according to the reports we all learned about, brutally dismembered. At the time president Trump wouldn`t make this report public, also denied basically the crown prince`s involvement.
Saudi Arabia calls the report, for its part, false and unacceptable. The State Department is announcing a Khashoggi ban causing visa restrictions on the 76 Saudis engaged in threatening dissidents overseas.
And it includes, quote, "the Khashoggi killing." It`s a complex story and we have just the expert for it, Ayman Mohyeldin, an MSNBC host and who has covered the region and been around the region for years.
Good to have you, sir. Walk us through what`s important about this development in a story many remember because so much of it came out at the time.
AYMAN MOHYELDIN, MSNBC HOST: Right off the bat, Ari, the most important thing about this is the transparency. You have now an administration who is putting its own intelligence assessment out there for the world to see.
They`re saying that, based on their own internal intelligence gathering and assessment, they concluded that the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, approved of this operation either to capture or kill Jamal Khashoggi.
And that is a stark difference from the previous administration, which had tried to shy away from putting any blame to the crown prince. Of course, we remember that famous interview with Bob Woodward, where president Trump said he basically covered the prince`s behind just to protect him from Congress.
We are seeing that this is not going to necessarily appease a lot of members on Congress. On my program today, I had the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez. I also had Jackie Speier, the congress woman.
She told me that there should be sanctions imposed on the crown prince. The chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez, told me he wouldn`t meet with the crown prince if he were ever allowed back into the United States for any official meetings.
So it highlights the complexity of this situation. But to your point directly, the most important question about what`s different, what`s important about this, two things. One, the transparency of it and the fact that the United States now has identified several individuals by name. More importantly, putting sanctions against them and limiting their abilities to carry out their state-conducted business.
MELBER: Yes, as you`re reporting, it`s a direct carryover contrast of a new president, in their view, cleaning up what the previous administration did. Here is Donald Trump on all of that.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will say this. I don`t know. I don`t know. But whether he did or whether he didn`t, he denies it vehemently. His father denies it, the king, vehemently.
The CIA doesn`t say they did it. They do point out certain things and, in pointing out those things, you can conclude that maybe he did or maybe he didn`t. But that was another part of the false reporting.
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MELBER: You use the term transparency, Ayman. I`m thinking of the term truth, that the United States has to figure out what it tells its own citizens and the rest of the world about facts and then of course figure out policy.
Donald Trump did it in the reverse, having decided he was going to do -- basically go soft on them in policy. He did what he does a lot of times, which is lied about the facts.
What does it mean for a reset in foreign policy that the Biden administration, according to your and other reporting, is being factual about what happened?
And then you have a second policy debate about whether to do more or less about this horrific murder?
MOHYELDIN: Right. And that is the first step of all of this, which is to identify, at least from the U.S. intelligence assessment`s point of view, who is culpable, who is responsible and then to recalibrate the policy.
Now this is a departure from what candidate Biden said at the time, which is he wanted to make Saudi Arabia the pariah state for the way it behaved. And so what we`re going see now is the challenge presented to the United States when a president speaks about values but there is a contrast or a contradiction with the stated interests of that country.
Now the United States has a tremendous amount of interest in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a close ally on so many issues. We`re now about to see to what extent this administration is going to back that talk with strict (ph) walk. They started today. The secretary of state imposed these sanctions as well as the Khashoggi ban on members of the Saudi government, who may be going after other dissidents.
But it`s going to be much more complicated and it shows you how hard it is to thread the needle, so to speak, when it comes to dealing with Saudi Arabia and the issue of human rights.
MELBER: Important stuff and really appreciate your insights, Ayman Mohyeldin. Thank you, sir.
I`m going fit in a break but, up ahead, new accountability measures for the Capitol insurrection. News on arrests, stunning body cam video. We have that all for you straight ahead.
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MELBER: Turning to new developments tonight, on the ongoing accountability measures and evidence regarding that horrific Capitol Hill insurrection. The Justice Department now says 300 people have been charged in relation to the insurrection and the riot. A total of 800 estimated to have stormed the Capitol.
New evidence emerging against some of these individuals, including a former New York police officer, Thomas Webster, who is accused of beating a Capitol Hill officer with a metal flagpole. The body cam video is disturbing.
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MELBER (voice-over): This is just some of what we`re getting from the newly released video. We can also tell you Webster is seen continuing to brutally attack the officer with his bare hands when he loses control of the flagpole.
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MELBER: We`re also learning more about how the FBI has been able to track down some of these suspects. They were infamously allowed to leave during the overwhelmed scene. Some of that was reported at the time.
But now we`re learning about the ongoing reconnaissance. One man turned in by his own ex-girlfriend after berating her in a text message sent during the riot, that said, "If you can`t see the election was stolen, you`re a moron."
Another man arrested Monday, the Feds able to track him down because he wore his Knights of Columbus jacket into the riot.
We will stay on this story as we have been following the accountability measures at every level of government.
Coming up, one of the most newsworthy interviews of the week is the new vice president sitting down with our own Al Sharpton. He is here next on that and much more, right after this.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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MELBER: It`s Friday on THE BEAT so you know it`s time to fall back.
We have two legends tonight, one of the greatest bass players of all time, rock `n` roll Hall of Famer Bootsy Collins, beloved for his work from Parliament-Funkadelic to James Brown. He`s a funk pioneer. He`s been on over 20 albums, toured the world, won Grammys and inspired a whole other generation of artists.
This very week he has a new project with chart-toppers with Bruno Mars and Anderson Pack. His new album is "The Power of the One" and the quote, Bootsy, I`d rather be with you, as there`s no one we would rather be with for this discussion.
Then another James Brown protege, you know who it is, our colleague, Al Sharpton, the reverend, the author, the civil rights leader and of course TV host. He`ll be joined by Vice President Harris on this weekend`s "POLITICS NATION" right here on MSNBC.
Bootsy Collins, Rev Al, thanks to both of you for doing this.
How you guys doing?
AL SHARPTON, AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, MINISTER: Doing great. Doing great.
WILLIAM EARL "BOOTSY" COLLINS, MUSICIAN: Yes, you surprised me, man. Got my man, the reverend Al Sharpton on here. Wow, this is great, man, this is beautiful.
You know, we both go back a ways (ph) --
(CROSSTALK)
MELBER: Rev, is now we know him as this --
SHARPTON: Bootsy, Bootsy, you know James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, taught you music, how to be on the one. Ari Melber taught the nation how to be on THE BEAT.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
MELBER: All right, before Rev says too much about me, we did put something together for both of you because to so many people as I mentioned, intergenerationally, you both are really legends. I don`t use the word lightly. We have a little look back at both of you. Here it is.
SHARPTON: All right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Joining James Brown, Mohammad Ali and myself now from New York City is the reverend Al Sharpton.
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COLLINS: (INAUDIBLE) for the money you did and got 18 percent, I`d still be in (INAUDIBLE), Iowa.
(LAUGHTER)
SHARPTON: Call me a troublemaker, yes, I make trouble for bigots.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
MELBER: Bootsy, Bootsy, what have you learned in your many years?
And can you tell us anything about Rev that we don`t know?
COLLINS: What I`ve learned, Rev been there too, from the James Brown university. We all learn how to -- when we go on stage, you got to be ready. You got to be ready, you got to be dressed, you got to be clean and you got to play it on the one. Everybody got to hit when it`s time to hit. Everybody play their own note.
And it`s very important that you play your own note. And I think Rev -- well, Rev and I, he knows all about it because was around all those cats, man. And just being around the vibe just rubs off of you, you know. It was just a beautiful experience, even though it was hard.
But it really wasn`t hard for us because we wanted to learn. You know, we wanted to be disciplined, you know, and it`s a different -- it`s a different thing when you really want to learn.
You know, just being out there to be out there was like, no, we wanted to be the best. And we can only be the best with the best. And James Brown was the best and he taught us well. I mean, he wore us out.
SHARPTON: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
SHARPTON: Well, let me tell you, I think he`s right. James Brown taught us to be authentic. He said to me, Rev, promise me you won`t be one of the boys. And I remember he would always say, have your own style, do your own thing. But you have to work hard. Don`t take nothing for granted. I remember when Bootsy went on part of the 12 camp (ph) and George Clinton and everybody in the James Brown world said Bootsy left us. And James Brown said, I taught him to leave us. You got to be yourself. He`s bringing it to another level.
(CROSSTALK)
MELBER: I love that.
SHARPTON: I`m in Atlanta now signing books. I`m thinking he`s smiling at two of his sons you carry in the front corn (ph) with the Funky Godbrother, Ari Melber.
(LAUGHTER)
MELBER: Amen to that.
And Bootsy, so amen to that. When we got to sit down with Kamala Harris, as I mentioned, the Rev doing that so we`re going to watch it this weekend, but when I got to sit with her, music came up because she has Spotify lists. And boy, does she love you. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My great regret on my Spotify list is I failed to put on one of my most favorite performers ever, Bootsy.
MELBER: Bootsy Collins.
HARRIS: Of course.
MELBER: From P-Funk.
HARRIS: Yes.
MELBER: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
HARRIS: So --
MELBER: Because?
HARRIS: Because I love Bootsy and it`s Funkadelic.
Are you kidding me?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: Wow.
MELBER: She loves you.
Your response?
COLLINS: Oh, man. Well, I didn`t have no idea that that was happening. But when I seen it, I seen her on your show. It was like, wow. You`re just never know who you touch. That`s why it`s so important that whatever comes out of your mouth, whatever you do, wherever you`re at and people see you, you have to be on the one because you never know who is watching.
And I always want to be -- like I learned that from James. You always want to be -- come correct when people are watching. Not only when people are watching, when you doing your own thing. It`s always somebody watching you.
So to hear that from her just taught me like, wow, you just never know who is coming to the shows, who`s looking at you, who`s digging you. I heard that and I was like, wow, this is pretty deep.
(CROSSTALK)
MELBER: And now you got to --
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: -- yes and --
MELBER: You got a fan of the funk in the White House, which is something.
Rev, we often look at the end of the week, we look at what needs to fall back here with our special guest.
Anything on your fall back list, Rev?
SHARPTON: Ted Cruz. For Ted Cruz to go to the CPAC convention today and make a joke about he`s in Orlando, not Cancun, like he`s mocking what he did, which was to abandon his constituents in the middle of this horrific experience that they, with no power, no lights.
Many of them couldn`t even eat or do anything, to mock it like it`s a joke, he needs to fall back, or in the words of James Brown, he needs to get back.
COLLINS: Yes.
MELBER: Get back and try to get back on the good foot because I wouldn`t call that the good foot.
I got about 40 seconds, Bootsy.
Anything else on your mind?
I know you`re doing a lot of projects, art, music, unity.
Anything you want to tell us?
The floor is yours, sir.
COLLINS: Well, I just like to say that we`re all instruments and if you play bad music that`s what you`re going to get back. We like to play good vibes, stuff to make you feel good. Everybody don`t like good music. But we would like to get that out as much as we possibly can.
And through the young generation and all of that, we want to spread the love vibe. We call it if the funk. We want to spread that and try to get more happy faces, try to have more entertainment because people are really suffering now.
And we need more now than ever. It`s like this pandemic has threw a loop in here where it`s kind of good and bad at the same time because it`s like, it`s something that just -- it affects everybody.
MELBER: Yes. Yes.
COLLINS: And - but at the same time, it`s like something that we need because we were so blessed to be able to go on the road, to be able to go in these places and play. And now that we`re not, it`s like every - all the musicians that really (inaudible) obviously musicians are really -
MELBER: I love it. I love it. I`m only - I`m only jumping in because I got to hand it to Joy Reid. I want to thank Bootsy Collins and Al Sharpton for ending the week right. Be in touch with both of you and keep it locked right here. Joy Reid is up next.
END