Summary
A member of the Oath Keeper has plead guilty for his participation on the January 6th attack on the Capitol. He will cooperate fully with the government. Police unions are too often part of the problem. The union should lean to what`s right not what`s loyal. That is what Lieutenant Cheryl Orange of the St. Louis Police Department says.
Transcript
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ALI VESLHI, MSNBC HOST: That does it for us tonight. Rachel will be back on Monday. I`ll see you tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern for my show "Velshi." We`ll dive into the new information that`s coming out this week about Russian meddling in our elections.
I`ll be joined by an expert on Russian misdeeds, an opposition leader, who`s now been poisoned twice. You don`t want to miss it. Time now for the "Last Word" with my friend Jonathan Capehart in for Lawrence tonight. Good evening, friend.
JONATHAN CAPEHART, MSNBC HOST: Good evening. Ali. For a minute there I was confused. What day of the week is this? I thought it might be Sunday.
VELSHI: That`s right. We`ll do this again exactly the same way on Sunday. That`s right.
CAPEHART: Right, on Sunday. See you then, Ali.
VELSHI: See you Sunday morning, friend.
CAPEHART: So, today marks 100 days since the January 6th Capitol insurrection. It`s impossible to forget the images we saw that day, the violent pro-Trump mob laying siege to our nation`s capital in an attempt to overthrow the election by force.
More than 400 suspects have been arrested and charged for their roles in the Capitol riot. According to the acting deputy attorney general, "the FBI has made an average of more than four arrests a day, seven days a week since January 6th."
Today on the 100th day anniversary, the Department of Justice secured its first guilty plea in connection to the riot. John Schaffer, a founding member of the far-right group The Oath Keepers stormed the Capitol while wearing a tactical vest armed with bear spray.
Schaffer pled guilty to obstructing an official proceeding and entering the Capitol with a deadly or dangerous weapon. Both felonies that can carry up to a total of 30 years in prison. As part of his plea agreement. Schaffer agreed to fully cooperate with the government.
He`s now the first defendant to potentially flip in one of the largest and most complex criminal investigations in U.S. history. The plea agreement calls for a recommended sentencing range between 41 and 51 months, but the judge could ultimately hand down a sentence outside those numbers.
Schaffer`s cooperation with the government could prove instrumental in helping prosecutors pursue much broader conspiracy charges against 12 other members of the Oath Keepers involved in the Capitol insurrection.
Leading off our discussion tonight is Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor and an MSNBC legal analyst. Glen, thank you very much for being here tonight.
GLENN KIRSCHNER, MSNBC LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you, Jonathan. Good to be with you.
CAPEHART: All right, Glenn, you`re one of my favorite people to talk about this. How important is this guilty plea from Schaffer?
KIRSCHNER: You know, it`s actually pretty consequential, Jonathan, because this is not as some people have said, you know, just a glorified trespassing guilty plea. This is actually a guilty plea with cooperation, which we`ll talk about in a minute, but it`s a guilty plea for a crime that involves breaching the Capitol with the intent to impede a congressional inquiry specifically the Electoral College vote count.
And when we realize that defendant Schaffer bills himself as a founding member of the Oath Keepers, this is where the cooperation part of the guilty plea comes into play because I can tell you, today was not sort of the first step in a cooperation agreement with defendant Schaffer. This has been going on for some time.
Anytime a defendant approaches the prosecution, and it wants to consider pleading guilty and cooperating, what we do is we sit down across the table with that aspiring cooperating defendant and we basically make them tell us everything they know about criminal activity.
Not only criminal activity they`ve perpetrated, but all of their fellow Oath Keepers, all of their fellow insurrectionists. And then we go about trying to corroborate all that information before we ever strike a plea and cooperation agreement with them.
CAPEHART: So that -- I`m glad you pointed that out because my next question was going to be is this guilty plea, is it the first of many or is it a guilty plea that is meant to send a signal to the other folks out there who are either have been arrested, charged, or trying to get deals, a signal to them to, okay, you better get your deal now or you`re going to be out of luck?
KIRSCHNER: I think it serves both of those purposes, Jonathan. Think about this. This man fancies himself as one of the founding members of the Oath Keepers. Now, I`m not suggesting that the Oath Keeper organization has been involved in other criminal activity, but if it has, you can bet the prosecutors are going to wring every drop of criminal information out of defendant Schaffer, not only about the run up to January 6th, not only about the attack on the Capitol on January 6th, but anything the Oath Keepers have been up to.
And let`s remember, there was some coordination between the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys. So, you know, I think defendant Schaffer can also provide information potentially about the Proud Boys organization. So, this is like the first cooperator shot fired across the bow, and I predict this is going to start the dominos falling. You`re going to see other guilty pleas. You`re going to see other cooperators. And the big ticket question is how far up the criminal food chain can these kind of cooperating defendants take the government?
CAPEHART: Glenn, one more question to you and that is this. Why haven`t we seen charges of sedition?
KIRSCHNER: Because I think we bring them so rarely, and I think the last time the government brought sedition charges, the prosecution was not successful. So, this is not the kind of charge you want to rush to. What the prosecutors are doing at the U.S. Attorney`s Office for the District of Columbia is they`re presenting all of this evidence to the grand jury.
The sedition charges, if they come and it looks like they might, will be the very last charges to drop. After you see the stand-alone charges and then the conspiracy charges, then the sedition charges. I would say stay tuned.
CAPEHART: All right, Glenn Kirschner, thank you very much for nothing to the "Last Word."
The insurrectionists who invaded the Capitol are being held accountable but the Republicans who supported the election lies that led to the riot are not. After raising his fist in support of the pro-Trump mob just before that mob invaded the Capitol, Senator Josh Hawley took in more than $3 million in donations.
The conspiracy pedaling Marjorie Taylor Green, she brought in $3.2 million. That`s a massive amount in just three months. And Marjorie Taylor Greene clearly feels emboldened by the support because she`s launching an American First Caucus with a group of her right-wing members of Congress. "Punchbowl News" obtained a flyer about the caucus that says it, "recognizes that America is strengthened by a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions."
There are some coded languages for you. Let`s not forget a University of Chicago study found that the Great Replacement Theory which holds that immigrants and minorities are replacing the white population was a primary driver for Capitol rioters, so surprise, surprise.
The GOP`s learning the wrong lessons from the riot. Rewarding the bad and punishing the good. Just look at Georgia`s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, a Republican. He refused to go along with Trump`s election lies and has since been condemned by the state Republican Party, removed him as chair of the Georgia Election Board.
Apparently, that`s what you get for defending democracy in the GOP. Joining us now are Errin Haines, editor-at-large at "The 19th" and an MSNBC contributor and Yamiche Alcindor, White House correspondent for the PBS News Hour and an MSNBC political analyst.
Thank you both very much for coming to the "Last Word." Errin Haines, what`s up with the Republican Party and how is it that these folks who cheered on the insurrectionists are now pulling in money hand over fist?
ERRIN HAINES, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Well, Jonathan, you know, what we are seeing is something that President Trump sold as the big lie, is financially lucrative. And so now you have folks like Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, folks like Josh Hawley and others who have been able to raise money off of this, pulling from President -- former President`s Trump`s play book because they know that they can raise money now whether or not that`s going to translate into votes when these people are up for election remains to be seen.
But at least for now, you know, it is something that is financially lucrative and really speaks to the bigger idea that it has been politically lucrative. I mean, I was tweeting earlier tonight that the big lie is something that not just is surviving former President Trump, it preceded him.
CAPEHART: You`re right.
HAINES: The idea that (inaudible) black voters, you know, is something that certainly was not new to 2020 and, you know, racism being kind of at the center of our country`s politics as a strategy is something that has long been politically potent and also apparently is now financially potent as well.
CAPEHART: Yamiche, let me get you in on this because, you know, we can scoff at the Marjorie Taylor Greene`s and the Josh Hawley`s and the ridiculousness on any given day of Senator Ted Cruz but these fund-raising numbers say that actually they`ve got some serious backing.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. These fundraising numbers are telling us that the big lie is not just surviving, it is thriving. It is thriving in states. It`s thriving in the idea that these Republicans are able to raise money by trying to delegitimize President Biden.
I mean, there -- it also shows that this leaning in to seemingly racist tropes, that this idea that America is somehow better will need to focus on the white history, the white part of our country without really acknowledging the contributions of African-Americans, of Native-Americans, of immigrants that somehow is something that is politically thriving in our country.
That`s what this in some ways is proving and I think when we look at what`s going on in our country, we just have to acknowledge there is this deep divide that`s going on where you had a Republican Party that in 2012, 2013 was saying let`s take the demographic shifts in America and expand them and try to add more African Americans and more Latinos into our party.
And then say saw President Trump do just the opposite and realized, oh okay, we can run on immigration, run on racially divisive language and that is how we win. And I also want to say, this is 100 days since white supremacy almost took down our democracy, right.
CAPEHART: Right.
ALCINDOR: These 100 days since we learned that not only are African- Americans, of course, at risk when there`s racism and conspiracy theory, but the very ideals, the very principles that we stand on are at risk. And that is what I think we`re seeing mutate and spread across the country. And that I think is a really big challenge that the Republican Party as well as I would say Democrats don`t really know how to solve.
CAPEHART: And you know what -- so to your point, the idea there`s this American First caucus sprouting up within the GOP I think lends a whole lot more credence to what you`re talking about, Yamiche. And that`s why this tweet from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy I find rather interesting, "America is built on the idea that we are all created equal," yaddda, yadda, yadda.
But the part and bolt (ph), Republican Party is a party of Lincoln and the party of more opportunity for all Americans, not nativists dog whistles. Errin, I mean, to read this, do you seriously think we believe the words that are coming off your twitter feed, Leader McCarthy? How can he say that with a straight face given everything that we`ve seen particularly after the January 6th insurrection?
HAINES: Listen, President Biden said that, you know, at least when he was campaigning, that we were in the battle for the soul of America, I think that we are still in the throes of that battle. And he was asking during the election last year, you know, is this who we are?
You know, originally, he was asserting that this is not who we are, but I think that we see that there`s a significant, you know, part of the population that absolutely is onboard with, you know, these kinds of ideas and, you know, the thing is, we know -- you know, we have seen the Republican Party is either in favor of these ideas or at least onboard with it, adjacent to it.
And so, you know, we know who folks like Marjorie Taylor Greene, folks like Josh Hawley, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar are at this point. The question is who Republican leadership and who are Republican voters? Are they going to continue to be onboard with this?
Because we know, you know, the president`s agenda was definitely front and center in this seven-page document, all of the things that the president, you know, was trying to -- former President Trump was trying to pass are, you know, outlined in that agenda and what they were saying was, you know, that anyone who is not onboard including Republicans, right, who are overwhelmingly, you know, white Americans.
CAPEHART: Right.
HAINES: If certain Americans are not onboard with this agenda, then they`ve got to go, too, because, you know, what they are pushing is, you know, not a Republican agenda but former President Trump`s agenda and saying that if people are not onboard that, then they have no use for (inaudible) if they continue to move forward in this direction.
CAPEHART: Well, you know, Yamiche, in terms of the ideas of the Republican Party, take a look at this morning consult "Politico" poll. Climate change. Who do you trust more to handle climate change? Democrats 53 percent. Coronavirus, Democrats, 51 percent. Voting rights, Democrats 48 percent.
And it goes on where the American people for the most part trust Democrats more than Republicans to handle these issues. I`m just wondering, is the Republican Party now just the party of -- is no longer the party of governing but now the party of grievance?
ALCINDOR: Well, let`s remember that the thing that really, I think drives people a lot is of course not just them trusting people on these policy issues that you just pointed out, but there`s also these hearts and mind and fear. Fear is something that will motivate people to the polls whether you`re fearing the changing of America or you`re fearing the white supremacy coming and killing you while you`re trying to go and live your life as we`ve seen with so many people this week getting killed by police.
So I think when you look at it that way that tells you why Republicans can still win, even with those members.
CAPEHART: Right.
ALCINDOR: Let`s remember that there are Republicans in state legislator all over this country that are changing the laws in their favor. And when I remember talking to Trump supporters, they weren`t saying I really trust him on immigration, or I really like his policies on health care. They were saying I like the way he talks about America. I like the way that he makes me feel.
CAPEHART: Right.
ALCINDOR: So, I think that that is the thing that is continuing to drive the Republican Party. And I can tell you, that`s the thing that I think when I talk to Democratic sources, they`re very worried about that because there is this emotional connection. If you get people scared enough and tell people that they`re losing power, losing control of the country that could drive people to oppose in 2022 and could still have Republicans winning and taking even more seats in the House.
CAPEHART: Yes. One of my favorite things during the 2016 campaign about Trump supporters it was like we love him because he says the things we can`t say. Errin Haines and Yamiche Alcindor, thank you both for joining us tonight.
Coming up, the coronavirus pandemic, a gun violence epidemic, so many American families and businesses trying to crawl out of the financial hole caused by the economic shutdowns. With all these many urgent problems, what are Republicans focused on in Florida? Transgender children. The bill just passed by Florida House Republicans is so cruel and invasive it made my next guest weep as she spoke against it. That`s next.
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CAPEHART: As the country grapples with an ongoing health pandemic, perpetual mass shootings and law enforcement`s continued use of deadly force, Republicans in the Florida state legislature are focusing on who should be allowed to play high school sports.
Florida is one of 33 states where Republicans have introduced anti-trans legislation so far this year. And this week Florida`s house passed a bill with unanimous Republican support that would ban transgender athletes from playing on girls or women`s sports teams.
The Tampa Bay Times reports, "If the party complaining suspects the athlete was not assigned the female gender at birth, the athlete in question will have to prove their birth gender via a genetic test, a test of their testosterone levels or an examination of their reproductive anatomy by a medical professional in order to compete."
Florida State Representative Michelle Rayner-Goolsby, who`s the first black out gay woman elected to the state legislature, said this about the most controversial part of the bill.
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MICHELLE RAYNER-GOOLSBY, FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I have struggled to contemplate with everything we have going on in our states. People have job loss. People are dying from COVID. But this is the bill -- this is the bill -- and I have struggled when we know the devastating impact this will have on children, why this bill even got to the floor. You call it policy and I call it still about humanity.
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CAPEHART: Joining us now is Florida State Representative Michelle Rayner- Goolsby. She`s a Democrat who represents St. Petersburg and the Manatee County area. Thank you so much for coming on the "Last Word" Tonight.
To hear those words come out of -- we just saw in that segment there, it just tears at your heart. And I just kept wondering why are they really doing this? Why are they targeting transgender children?
RAYNER-GOOLSBY: Well, Jonathan, thank you so much for having me. This really to me is a classic example of partisanship over, you know, people. This was a bill that was really birthed out of CPAC, birth out of (inaudible) and right now, you know, our legislature is running with this bill and it`s quite unfortunate.
We have serious problems and as I referenced on my House floor speech, we have epic job loss. We are sweeping our affordable housing plan. Even in my district over the past two weeks there has been an environmental disaster.
So instead of dealing with these very real problems that we have in our state, we are dealing with this bill that nobody asked for. And, you know, it was just -- I couldn`t understand why this was the bill -- why this was a priority bill to be heard on the floor of the House.
CAPEHART: How much debate was there on this bill overall? Was there any debate?
RAYNER-GOOLSBY: Oh, 100 percent. So, we split the debate up. And so on the first day, we had questions of the bill`s author and the Democratic Party, the Democratic caucus, we offered 18 amendments to this bill. We didn`t offer the amendments just to say okay, well, if you accept the amendment, we`ll vote for it. But it was really the only way we could highlight some of the most harmful parts about this bill.
And then the next day and that took about -- we were on the floor for about six hours that first day. The next day, the debate took about 90 minutes for myself and other Democratic colleagues on the bill as well as the folks in the majority party.
CAPEHART: And I ask that question because I`m wondering how on earth that provision that forces a girl athlete, woman athlete to prove her gender to a medical professional in order to compete. How much debate was there about something so invasive and downright humiliating?
RAYNER-GOOLSBY: So, there was debate for a member of the Democratic caucus about that. I addressed that in my comments. I address the fact that it was unconscionable that -- and also, I think about the harm that it could have on black and brown women.
We know that oftentimes we are hyper masculinized and so towards some things, we can just harken back to the treatment we saw to Serena Williams and her sister Venus.
CAPEHART: Right.
RAYNER-GOOLSBY: You know, they`re very strong. They`re very -- and so we, you know, I addressed all of those things in my debate. And once again, you know, I came back so we have all of these issues that are happening. And it was so interesting, the first day that this bill was debated in the legislature it was on March 31st, the National Transgender Day of Visibility that President Joe Biden signed that proclamation.
And so we see us moving federally, we see us doing the work federally, doing the work with the Equality Act, and yet our legislature is putting a partisanship over actually the will of the people. And, you know, this is why I always say representation matters. Me being who I am, the first out black queer woman to ever hold public office in the state of Florida, that`s, you know -- it`s not for any moment this is why I was here.
CAPEHART: How concerned are state officials or any of your Republican colleagues about the impact this bill could have on the NCAA, you know, having any of its tournaments there because they put out a statement on anti-trans bills that says, "Inclusion and fairness can coexist for all student athletes including transgender athletes at all levels of sport.
When determining where championships are held, NCAA policy directs that only locations where hosts can commit to providing an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination should be selected." So are your colleagues worried about losing out on tournaments?
RAYNER-GOOLSBY: Well, Jonathan, the short answer is no it doesn`t seem that they are. It seems that they are willing to move forward with this harmful legislation, and I know that if this legislation worked in the past and the governor were to sign this bill, that would mean a minimum of $75 million loss of revenue for the state of Florida.
Our state like every other state in the union has been hit with COVID. We are trying to bounce back. $75 million is a tremendous bump to our economy as we`re trying to get back on our feet. And once again, we are not putting the priorities of the people over politics and partisanship. And the fact of the matter it`s very sad that children have become a pawn in politics.
CAPEHART: And the one thing about children being a pawn before we go, there`s a poll. NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist Poll that shows that 67 percent of those polls do not support a bill that prohibits transgender student athletes from joining sports teams that match their gender identity. So Representative Rayner-Goolsby, you are on the right side of this issue poll or no poll. Thank you very much for coming to "The Last Word."
RAYNER-GOOLSBY: Thank you.
CAPEHART: You`re looking at live protests tonight in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Coming up, we will talk to a police lieutenant who is a member of the police union and is working to hold bad officers accountable and why union reform is such an important part of police reform. That`s next.
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CAPEHART: This is night number six of protesters gathered in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota to protest the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright by a police officer. That police officer, a former president of the local police union, claims it was an accident when she pulled out her gun instead of her taser. She`s been charged with second degree manslaughter but is out on bail.
It comes as lawyers are preparing closing arguments after Derek Chauvin, on trial for the murder of George Floyd, refused to testify in his own defense. Former officer Chauvin had at least 17 complaints of misconduct against him when he put his knee on George Floyd`s neck. Yet remained on the force because of an agreement his union negotiated with the Minneapolis Police Department.
Police unions are too often part of the problem. The union should lean to what`s right not what`s loyal.
That is what Lieutenant Cheryl Orange of the St. Louis Police Department says. She`s a member of the Ethical Society of Police founded by black police officers, which is a police union that holds bad cops accountable.
Here`s Lieutenant Orange in a video op-ed for "The New York Times".
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LT. CHERYL ORANGE, ST. LOUIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: George Floyd. He was murdered on my birthday. And for me to sit and watch that officer with his knee to Mr. Floyd`s neck was totally devastating for me.
And in that moment that`s when I felt us versus them. Because George Floyd looked like me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAPEHART: Joining us now is St. Louis Metropolitan Police Lieutenant Cheryl Orange. She`s a long time member of the Ethical Society of Police. Lt. Orange, thank you very much for coming to THE LAST WORD.
ORANGE: Thank you, sir, for having me. Glad to be here.
CAPEHART: NBC News had a story yesterday with this headline, "Police across U.S. respond to Derek Chauvin trial. Our American way of policing is on trial. Across the country police officers and commanders active and retired are watching Chauvin`s trial with a mix of interest and angst. While some officers see the trial as an encouraging example of the criminal justice system holding a rogue cop accountable, others see it as a sign that a growing portion of the country led by the media, politicians, prosecutors and top commanders has turned against them."
Lt. Orange, do you believe that a growing portion of the country has turned against you, turned against law enforcement?
ORANGE: Well, some people may have but I don`t believe that that`s the general population. Our communities just want us to be fair, want us to be right, want us to do what we said that we would do when we took that oath to serve and protect. That`s what they`re looking for.
They`re looking for us to do exactly what we say and be trustworthy. They want us to be lawful.
CAPEHART: You know, when I watched your video op-ed at "The New York Times" and this question kept coming to mind, and so I`m so glad we`re having this conversation.
How do you do it? How do you do it as a black police officer? How do you do your job in the climate that we`re in when there is so much distrust between the black community, between African Americans and law enforcement? And yet you are a member of law enforcement?
ORANGE: Yes, sir. Sometimes it`s difficult, but it`s never difficult when you do what is right. If you are -- just do what is right, stay to the truth, stand in it, walk in it, speak it, live it the people will understand, your community gets it. They understand that, hey, this is a police officer or these group of police officers is doing the expectations of what we expect them to do as our protectors out there.
so yes, sometimes it has its challenges. But overall once you do what`s right that is what goes a long, long way. But when you do what`s wrong, the people are just not looking, they say they don`t want officers to do -- how can we as officers tell them, hey, you need to do this and then we turn around and do just the opposite? That doesn`t work.
How does that say for our community that we are out here to help them, to be there for them, to support them and do what`s right? That doesn`t make any sense.
CAPEHART: Also in your video op-ed you show how when one of your members got into trouble off-duty you kicked him out of your union, out of your society for what he did. Lieutenant Orange, I want to -- you can respond to that, but I also want to get you to take a look at this poll from Gallup from June, July of last year 2020. Confidence in the police among African Americans, some very little to none, overwhelming at 80 percent.
But way what you were going to say about that member of your police union, and then talk about how can you boost the level of confidence among African Americans towards law enforcement?
ORANGE: Well, as far as our members, we do support our members to a certain extent especially when they`re doing the right thing. But when they were doing the wrong thing, we tell them that we cannot stand by that conduct, that behavior is unacceptable.
And that is not what our mission is. That is not what we stand for. And the community looks at us as a moral compass basically to say, hey, are they doing what`s right? So how can we tell them to do what`s right and then we don`t do what`s right?
And as far as the Gallup poll, one of the reasons that we can really help change that is just be more engaged in our community and also to look at police reform. And make sure that it`s the police reform that the community can buy into by our policies and our procedures.
CAPEHART: And as you were just seeing there, the protests there in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.
Lieutenant Cheryl Orange, thank you so much for joining us tonight.
ORANGE: Thank you, sir. Take care. Be safe and well.
CAPEHART: All right. Same to you.
Coming up, Dr. Fauci says there`s no logical reason not to get vaccinated but there are logistical reasons. And that`s why one nurse practitioner spends his nights racing around Philadelphia to deliver vaccine doses to underserved populations.
That`s next.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTES FOR ALLERGIES AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Each day we get 3 to 4 million people vaccinated additionally, each day.
There`s no real logical reason not to get vaccinated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAPEHART: That was Dr. Anthony Fauci with Joy Reid tonight. Vaccinations are up but so are cases with more than 300 people dying a day.
Right now we`re in a race against the highly transmissible variants of COVID-19. Half of the infections across the country are now caused by a COVID variant. But the actual number could be much higher because we`re only tracking variants in 3 percent of cases through a process called genome sequencing.
So today the Biden administration announced its allocating $1.7 billion to better detect the variants. The CDC director says COVID variants are behind the recent increase in cases and hospitalizations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: Some of these increases are as a result of relaxed prevention efforts in states across the country. Another reason for these increases is the continued spread of highly transmissible variants.
More than 50 percent to 70 percent more transmissible, which makes the race to stop the transmission even more challenging and threatens to overwhelm our health care system again in parts of this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAPEHART: Everyone person who gets vaccinated helps stop the surge of variants and end this pandemic.
Our next guest has taken that as a personal mission. Tarik Khan is nurse practitioner who has been rushing in his car across Philadelphia to vaccinate home-bound residents with doses that would otherwise expire when people don`t show up for their appointments.
Khan says a wasted vaccine is a sin. He has literally been racing against the clock because the vaccine doses expire six hours after the vial is open.
Joining us now is Tarik Khan, a family nurse practitioner and president of the Pennsylvania State Nurse`s Association.
Tarik Khan, thank you very much for coming to LAST WORD. I tripped over your name there only because I was about to say meet this angel who`s name is -- Tarik Khan. Why are you doing this?
TARIK KHAN, NURSE PRACTITIONER: Thanks, Jonathan. It`s great to be here.
I mean, you know, I`ve been with other nurses on the front lines of the pandemic since it began, doing testing and having as a primary care provider -- I`m a nurse practitioner -- I`ve had so many patients get sick with COVID-19 and it`s heart-breaking.
Some of my patients are still sick. Some of them are still having symptoms from COVID-19. I see the debilitation it can cause. I see the debilitation it can cause. One patient had 11 family members that died from COVID-19.
People of color -- people who were lower income unfortunately are at higher risk for this illness and also people that are home bound, I mean they have the highest risks. Unfortunately sort of in the scheme of things they`ve kind of been left out and people with disabilities, unfortunately, whether we`re talking about intellectual disabilities, whether we`re talking about physical or, you know, sensory issues, these individuals that are home- bound and there`s about two million of them, have no access to the vaccine.
And so as a nurse practitioner, you know, we`re advocates for our community as nurses. And I wanted to make sure I was doing everything that I could to make sure that these individuals could get vaccinated before the virus caught up with them.
CAPEHART: And how -- and how do you find them? How do you -- I think in the video that I saw, you had a list of ten names that had you racing across Philadelphia. How do you get those names?
KHAN: Well, first I have to give a shou out to Ana Pern (ph). She`s a community organizer in Philadelphia. And she`s been working with me. She`s rot of my angel in the ear that`s giving me, you know, where to go next, helping call the next person.
You know, we`ve done a grassroots approach to it. I`ve actually called patients -- cold-called (ph) people that I have on voting lists that are, you know, Republicans, Democrats, Independents over age 85 that I`m calling our state reps, some of our council people, church pastors.
You know, when someone in the community expresses a need and they reach out to their elected official, we`ve been able to tap into that and get those names.
CAPEHART: So now I have discovered where you get this from -- this angel nature of yours. I`m going to put this picture up. This is a photo of you and your mother who`s also a nurse. And you recruited her to help you vaccinate patients. And this photo is from a vaccine clinic where you both administered the vaccine. Was it hard to get your mom to be a part of this effort with you?
KHAN: No, not at all. I mean my mom was chomping at the bit. Once she saw me out there doing testing, she couldn`t wait to get out. You know, back in 2008 we were both volunteers for the Obama campaign. I signed up 155 patients -- people to register to vote. My mom signed up 156 people.
When we were doing the vaccines at the convention center, it was a competition of who could draw up the most doses out of the vial. And so my mom and I we have -- you know, she is the one that convinced me to become a nurse. It was just kind of, you know, a hard sell. You know, wouldn`t it be great to be able to take care of patients?
So she sold me on it. I wasn`t convinced at first but I, of course, fell in love with nursing. And any way that can get my mom involved is amazing.
CAPEHART: That mother-son competition as the way you guys go about it is the best kind of competition.
Tarik Khan, thanks so much for joining us tonight. And thank you for the efforts that you`re making.
KHAN: Thanks, Jonathan, it`s an honor to be here.
CAPEHART: Coming up, the United States Capitol Police will get tonight`s LAST WORD. That`s next.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOGANANDA PITTMAN, ACTING CHIEF, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: We expected violence. We expected large crowds of demonstrators. There was no intelligence from any law enforcement agency in this region that suggested that thousands of demonstrators were going to breach the U.S. Capitol.
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CAPEHART: That was the acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police Yogananda Pittman speaking with Lester Holt tonight 100 days after the Capitol insurrection. A 20-year veteran of the force Pittman was promoted to active chief on January 11th after the previous chief stepped down in the wake of the riot.
Eugene Goodman was also promoted after the riot. Goodman heroically led the angry mob up the staircase directing them away from nearby lawmakers who were being evacuated.
Officer Brian Sicknick who died one day after being assaulted by rioters had a different symbol of his heroism that day. Officer Sicknick laid in honor in the Capitol Rotunda where President Biden and Vice President Harris paid their respects.
January 6th shocked lawmakers, the nation and the world but it shocked no one more than the Capitol police who found themselves having to defend the building from insurrectionists.
NBC`s Frank Thorp spoke to some of the officers to hear in their own words about that harrowing day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think the moment whenever it was all over, the insurrection was all over, and I got to sit down and really reflect on what happened. I think that sticks with me most. I felt sad, anger -- just there were a lot of emotions going through my mind. I`m still trying to process it.
So I still have moments where I get really upset. And I hope they`ll remember how hard we fought and the bravery of the officers that were here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Probably what sticks with me the most -- there were many, but what sticks with me the most is inside the lower west terrace door, you know, the lock got breached. And there were maybe six or seven of us just trying to keep them from getting in through the door. And it literally and figuratively it was forever. I mean it was just pushing, pulling, fighting. I couldn`t get that close because at that point I was tackled. And they stole my helmet, took the helmet they tried to get my gas mask. It was all these surreal thinks like this cannot be happening. This cannot be happening. This cannot be happening.
But it was. I have moments. It comes back in like flashes, and it`s hard to not have it with you every day. For those of us that work at the Capitol still, we`re still working at our crime scene.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the beginning of the day it was shock just seeing that mass and that weight of people on the west front. I mean no matter who you were that day, you know, we were terrified. You know, like, how are we going to beat 40,000 people with the man power we have.
And as soon as they start breaching the building. And hear over the radio the tens (INAUDIBLE) are distress codes. You know, officer in trouble, officer down, officer needs assistance, officer hurt. You just get angry.
And I think if you were fighting that day, I don`t think this will ever feel normal. Every time I walk in here I think, yok, you know, that`s where this happened. And I can`t get -- you know, it`s hard to get that out of your mind because it was such a traumatic experience for a lot of people.
A lot of people are saying that, you know, we failed because, you know, they got in the building. And I think that my biggest thing is that people take away from it is the Capitol police and the entities that came in, we didn`t fail. We protected every member of Congress -- not one member of Congress was hurt or scratched that day. We protected every staffer that were in here. Everybody was accounted for. Nobody was hurt.
The only casualties we had were, you know, obviously officers. But at the end of the day we did our job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAPEHART: That is tonight`s LAST WORD. Thank you for watching.
I hope you`ll join me for "THE SUNDAY SHOW" at 10:00 a.m. right here on MSNBC.
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