Summary
Governor Kathy Hochul of New York is interviewed. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is interviewed. New Hampshire state representative William Marsh switched his party affiliation yesterday from Republican to Democrat because of Republican opposition to masks and vaccines. Tonight, temporary fencing is going up once again around the Capitol grounds in anticipation of what the Department of Homeland Security expects to be 700 people attending a rally on Saturday to support the criminals who attacked the Capitol on January 6th.
Transcript
LAWRENCE O`DONNELL, MSNBC HOST: Good evening, Rachel.
New York`s Governor Hochul is going to join us tonight.
And I know Kathy Hochul but I don`t as I might if we didn`t spend more time on Senator Moynihan`s staff. She was on Senator Moynihan Senate staff in 1988 when I was on the senator`s reelection campaign staff. The Senate staff had nothing to do with me and campaign and operating at a level far above my head.
But Kathy Hochul left the Moynihan staff that year and you`re going to hear in a moment the magic words that the senator said to her that helped ease her out of the Senate staff and it`s quite a story and maybe if you hadn`t said that, I would know Kathy Hochul much better than I do. We would have ended up working together but, you know, such is life.
RACHEL MADDOW, MSNBC HOST: This is a TV show that I`m really excited to watch. This is a plot I`m excited to get to the end of.
O`DONNELL: Yeah, and Pat Moynihan has the best part in this tonight.
MADDOW: Excellent. I can`t wait.
O`DONNELL: Thank you, Rachel.
MADDOW: Thanks, Lawrence.
O`DONNELL: Well, in 1988, a young lawyer told New York senior Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan that she was feeling conflicted about the long hours she was putting in as a member of his staff after giving birth to her first child. Senator Moynihan told her, in three years, you won`t remember the hours you spent here, but you will remember the days you spent with your children.
She quit, moved back to Buffalo and tonight, 33 years later, she is the governor of New York and my first guest.
Senator Moynihan had good luck with staffers from Buffalo, beginning with now the legendary Tim Russert, then Kathy Hochul, then Jim Kain who run the Buffalo office when I joined Senator Moynihan staff, just as Kathy Hochul was leaving.
Early in his service on Senator Moynihan`s staff, Tim Russert felt intimidated by the Harvard wiz kids that Senator Moynihan brought with him serving as a Harvard professor. Pat Moynihan who grew up in Hell`s Kitchen and shine shoes in Times Square, while attending New York City Public School, took Tim Russert aside and said this about the Harvard delegation on his staff, Tim, what they know, you can learn. What you know, they can never learn.
Pat Moynihan also knew that was true of Kathy Hochul. In her first address as governor, she mentioned her grand parents as teenagers fleeing poverty in Ireland in search for a better life. But she didn`t mention when she was born, her family was living in a trailer near the Bethlehem steel plant outside of Buffalo. Her father Jack Courtney was working at the plant at night and was attending college during the day. Her mother stayed at home raising six children.
Kathleen Courtney was the second oldest child. She got her first whiff of politics as a student to Syracuse University. She successfully pushed the university to divest investments in South Africa to protest apartheid, a movement joined on college campuses around the country.
After law school, she married Bill Hochul, a former federal prosecutor who`s now a corporate lawyer. Kathy Hochul served in the House of Representatives during the Obama administration, and she was in her third term as lieutenant governor when Andrew Cuomo resigned last month. Andrew Cuomo and his political operatives tried to drop Kathy Hochul from the ticket in the last election but she mounted a campaign independent from the governor`s campaign and she won.
Governor Hochul is New York`s first woman governor and she is the first New York governor in over 100 years from New York`s second largest city, Buffalo. Kathy Hochul is as of tonight the only declared candidate for governor of New York in next year`s election. In her first speech as governor, Kathy Hochul revealed that she had been consulting with Dr. Anthony Fauci before Andrew Cuomo left office and the protecting New Yorkers from COVID-19 would be her top priority.
Today, President Biden issued a statement congratulating Gavin Newsom on crushing the Republican recall attempt last night saying quote, this vote is a resounding win for the approach that he and I share to beating the pandemic, strong vaccine requirements, strong steps to reopen schools safely and strong plans to distribute real medicines, not fake treatments to help those who get sick.
[22:05:16]
The fact that voters in both traditionally Democratic and traditionally Republican parts of the state rejected the recall shows Americans are unifying behind taking these steps to get the pandemic behind us.
New York is the second largest state with a Democratic governor and Governor Hochul is taking the kind of strong steps that Joe Biden praised today. One of her first acts as governor, Kathy Hochul mandated masks be worn in schools, a policy that allowed the children of New York to return to school in person. And today, Governor Hochul announced she`s implementing a mask mandate for state-regulated child and daycare centers, as well as mental health and substance abuse facilities.
Governor Hochul has also made it a priority to protect workers from speeding up $400 million in rental assistance payments in the past three weeks.
After Texas banned all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, Governor Hochul said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D), NEW YORK: I guarantee I did not know I was pregnant with my first child at six weeks. I actually went on a white water rafting trip it turns out at three months because I didn`t know I was pregnant. That`s the reality of real people. We don`t always know.
So you`re denied the choice that should be yours as a woman and something we took for granted by Texas who thinks six weeks is the magic date, that you should be aware and you should know this is. And that is grotesquely unfair what they are expecting people to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: Because the Texas abortion ban incentivizes anti abortion vigilantes to spy on and sue anyone that helps a woman obtain abortion services, Governor Hochul said New York will be a safe harbor for Texas women.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOCHUL: I want them to know there is a symbol that they need to look at when they`re trying to figure out what to do in their lives and that symbol has been with us since 1886 in the New York harbor. That`s a strong powerful woman with her hand up saying if you`ve been oppressed anywhere in this world, you come to our harbor. This is a safe harbor for people suffering from oppression.
My friends, that oppression in my judgment is going on in the state of Texas and our harbor is open for people to come here and understand that we, we will be there to take care of them and protect them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: Joining us now is the governor of New York, Kathy Hochul.
Thank you very much for joining us tonight, Governor. Appreciate it.
HOCHUL: Thanks for having me on. Looking forward to this.
O`DONNELL: Governor, I want to begin where you just left off, and your comments about the Texas abortion law. What can New York do for the women in Texas?
In the previous hour, Rachel was reciting specifics of what women are going through that are part of the pleadings the Justice Department brought to this case, traveling hundreds of miles, driving non-stop out of state for hundreds and hundreds of miles trying to obtain services.
With New York`s distance from Texas, what can New York do?
HOCHUL: And I find it so heartbreaking to see women who happen to be living in the state of Texas who are denied these basic human rights and these are issues that we fought for my entire life as a young woman. My grandmother fought for them and my mother fought for it, and I thought by the time my 30-something-year-old daughter would be childbearing age this would be settled.
And for women in Texas, they need to know we`ll help you find a way to New York, and right now we`re looking intensely to find what resources we can bring to the table to help you have safe transport here and let you know there are providers who will assist you in this time of your need.
You are not alone. Your sisters and brothers, enlightened brothers in the state of New York will help you in any way we can.
O`DONNELL: That story you told about your first pregnancy and how six weeks is just an absurd line to place in any kind of law involving pregnancy, is really striking and it seems it`s the kind of thing that Governor Abbott and the men who are working on this legislation in Texas don`t seem to know anything about.
HOCHUL: They don`t seem to care about it. I mean, all they want to do is control women`s bodies in their state and supposedly and again, this is theoretical, they claim to be states rights advocates and they`re going to be more diffused in terms of regulatory endeavors, and making more hands off decisions, except when it comes to women. What are they thinking?
And I get so frustrated to think that there is women in our own country that have to endure this. As you mentioned, Lawrence, setting up this whole system of vigilantes. This is just -- I can`t believe this is even going on in our country and with so disgusting to me is our own Supreme Court and we saw this possibly coming but actually, the reality hit us hard the Supreme Court will not stand up and protect the women of this country. We`re left on our own state by state making their own decisions.
And I think this is just the beginning of a trend and I`ll continue to stand with women across this nation using my platform, my voice to let them know that they can come to New York but other than I`m going to help women get elected all over this country who are pro-choice. I`m going to use my energy and my resources to make sure that happens, as well.
That`s the only thing that will change. We have to wipe out men like Governor Abbott and what is going on in places like Georgia and places in Florida of all places, not to get to the vaccine issue, which is it`s so appalling what is going on in the Republican states and their people are suffering and I can`t stand that any longer. We have to take a strong position against this and call it out whatever we see it.
O`DONNELL: I don`t know how -- what your perspective on this was when you were a member of the House of Representatives or now as governor. But when I was working in the Senate and looking for allies on legislation, I always found that New York`s package of concerns, which is massive and on scale, unlike any other state, other than California, I always found California was the ally. California was the place that had the massive scale of urban life we have in the state of New York, that you have in the state of New York, it has everything New York has and so it was never for me the neighboring states. It was always California.
So I was looking at the election last night in California and thinking about it in New York terms knowing you would be joining us tonight and wondering what you saw in that election in California last night and how it applies to New York state.
HOCHUL: Well, there`s a direct parallel and to see Gavin Newsom`s election, the fact that people have kept him in office is an important statement of the priorities Democrats reflect and simple as we want to keep people alive by ensuring they have access to vaccines, they get vaccines and use masks and do smart commonsense things. That`s all he was talking about. That became a polar rising issue in an election that never should have happened.
So, we are in sync on these issues as we have been on so many, whether it`s climate change or making sure that people have quality health care. We stand with California on so many initiatives particularly when it comes to fighting this pandemic. So his election and rejection of Trump-ism and I think it sends a message across the country that there are people out there that want their leaders and government, whether it`s California or New York, they want us to stand up and take strong stands against the disinformation and the lies that are out there about this pandemic, tell the truth, tell people that are relying on scientists and doctors and real professionals not talk show hosts who have lost their minds, we`re talking about real smart people who study this for giving us the guidance that we need to make sure we`re protecting our residents.
That`s what Gavin Newsom stood for and that`s what I`m standing for in the state of New York, and yes, we`re getting sued and attacked and criticized. It doesn`t matter. We`re going to make sure we can keep our kids in school and keep in work and get back to normal. That`s what people want from us and I think the election yesterday proved that.
O`DONNELL: Eviction obviously is a gigantic issue in the state of New York, especially in the city of New York with so many renters in the city of New York. How do you balance landlords` interest in needing to be paid so they can meet their mortgage so they can continue to provide this housing that people then rent? How do you balance the landlords` needs versus the renters` needs in this crisis?
HOCHUL: We have found that balance and we think President Joe Biden and leaders, Senator Chuck Schumer, majority leader, and Kirsten Gillibrand, were delivering the dollars to New York state so we can help solve this crisis.
So many millions of people lost their jobs during this pandemic and a place like New York City, Broadway, for example. Thousands of people work on Broadway, they were the first one to shut down and they just opened again last night in a limited capacity. So we still have strong industries, hospitality. Many tourists haven`t come back yet but they should because we`re open for business.
Until they get that, people lost their jobs and can`t make that payment. They can`t make the rent payment and can`t make a mortgage payment and therefore, no fault of their own, they`re getting behind on payments.
[21:15:00]
The debt is accumulating. It a tremendous stress point for them and landlords aren`t getting paid and many of these are not the big landlords we think about in New York City.
A lot are small immigrants who have a business on the first floor renting out to a family upstairs. They`re not getting paid, either. When I was first sworn into office three weeks ago, I found that there was a huge backlog of these federal dollars not getting out to the people and I said no more.
My number one priority, I promise I`ll get this money out. I`m proud we got out to almost $400 million to date and I`m continuing to attack this with a vengeance because people need help. The money came to us. We appreciate that. We also added money for people who are excluded workers, our immigrant community.
They didn`t have a way to document their salaries, or their incomes, so they haven`t been paid assistance from the government. We stepped up in the state of New York to make sure there was money for them, as well. I`m working really hard to get the money out, as well.
So, with the pandemic, it`s about getting the vaccines, making sure we defend the lawsuits and make sure people wear masks and also getting the much needed dollars out there for small businesses, child care organizations and institutions as well as our landlords and renters.
So we`re working really hard on it and making great progress. We`re not done yet, though.
O`DONNELL: You know, Governor, you just threw me a bit when you said three weeks ago when you took office because it feels like three months ago to me because sitting here, we`ve gone through an awful lot of urgent news cycles about issues that did not involve the governor of New York.
And I have to ask you, what does that passage of time feel like for you, those three weeks but also, you`ve been near the seat of power for many years. Now that you are in it, what is your biggest surprise that you`ve discovered in this job?
HOCHUL: I found that I was really prepared for this, Lawrence, and I didn`t know until I sat in that seat and realize the weight of the state of New York and the future rests on my shoulders and I did work with people like Tim Russert, even as a teenager working on Senator Moynihan`s first race in `76, I`ve been preparing my entire life, elected office nearly 30 years, working in the private sector, working as lieutenant governor for nearly seven years.
So, I`ve really been in a position where I was absorbing so much information and realized that I truly do have the ability to govern the state, and it was something that I didn`t know until I was in that chair, and my first week on the job was in days, the subway, the entire New York City subway shut down. I had to race to the city. Find out what was wrong and get the trains running again.
Ten days after that, we had a hurricane decimate parts of our cities. Particularly New York City, Queens, we lost people`s lives because they were trapped in their own homes and basements they never should have been living in subhuman conditions. In addition to that, I had to get the money out I spoke about because there is people hurting in the state and people make sure we can`t to protect people and get more vaccines out.
All that is going on. Really most of that was my first two weeks in the job and I realized I have the experience and confidence to handle it and that people in New York are willing to give me a chance. This is turning the page on a long chapter and a lot of people particularly in state government are feeling liberated again.
I promise to create an environment that was safe for people, particularly women who did not feel respected and safe in their own workplace, and I`ve said we`ll focus on ethics reform. So I`m excited about the potential to transform not just state government but more importantly, people`s image and perception of their state government. I want them to trust their leaders once again, and I`m committed to making sure that that happens under my watch.
O`DONNELL: Governor, what can you say to parents of school children in the state who are worried about the stability of the school year? Might schools be shut down? Might a new variant come along? How stable is the school system as we go into this second year of a school year under COVID-19?
HOCHUL: I believe that most parents believe their children need to be back in schools and they`re very pleased to follow our requirements that we have teachers vaccinated, that people work in a school environment of vaccinated or else test out, which is critically important to identify whether or not they are either testing positive for the first time or some of the breakthrough cases, which are very rare. I want to point out they`re extremely rare.
And until we can get vaccines for children ages up until age 12 right now, we`re trying to get more 12 to 17-year-olds vaccinated. I think most people do feel comfortable because there is a high rate of vaccination in our state, we have nearly 80 percent of people who have had at least one dose. Those are good numbers.
But we`re not going to finish until we get everybody vaccinated.
[22:20:01]
I`m committed to doing this and there will be a few holdouts but I`m balanced. I believe most people feel confident what I`m going to do is continue to be very aggressive in fighting this pandemic that their children are safe under my watch because I`m a mom and I`ll do anything I can to protect children, my own and others.
So the school environment is a safe environment. Our administrators and teachers have worked really hard to make sure kids can transition from this surreal world of having their education at their kitchen table or in their bedrooms over this past year and the effect on children has been so devastating that we have to do everything we can to keep them in a classroom in that stable setting with their support system around.
Now, if a new variant comes and it`s vaccine resistant, we`ll be ready to handle that. We know what to do in the state of New York. I just added by changing the law allowing EMTs, basic EMTs to administer vaccines. I and other 50,000 people ready to offer booster shots or people`s first shots.
So, we`re getting ready but, Lawrence, right now, I`m feeling better about the situation. The hesitation, anxiety about the school year, we`re already underway and we hope to limit any shutdowns and not have whole sale shutdowns ever again. That`s my objective.
But again, I don`t know what the future is going to bring. But I know in New York state, we`ll be ready for it.
O`DONNELL: New York Governor Kathy Hochul, I only wish that Pat Moynihan were watching tonight and that Tim Russert were asking the questions. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. A real honor.
HOCHUL: Thank you.
O`DONNELL: Thank you, Governor.
HOCHUL: Thank you.
O`DONNELL: Joe Biden had two one on one meetings with two Democratic senators who have a big decision to make about changing Senate rules to pass voting rights. Senator Amy Klobuchar joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:25:59]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D-GA): I want to remind all of us that the only reason we`re here in this chamber at all is because somebody voted for us. Voting rights is not just some other issue alongside other issues. It gets to the heart of who we are in the first place, a democracy.
And we`ll always disagree about a whole range of issues but after politicians have argued their case about infrastructure, about taxes, about health care, about national security, the most powerful words ever uttered in a democracy are the people have spoken. Shame on us if we allow the people`s voices to be silenced in this chamber.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O`DONNELL: With every Republican senator opposed to the compromised voting rights bill negotiated by a group of Democratic senators, that included Raphael Warnock, it is up to Joe Manchin who is a member of the group who wrote that bill. Joe Manchin could not find ten Republicans necessary for the bill to clear a 60-vote threshold so Joe Manchin must decide whether a Senate rule should be changed to allow voting rights to pass with a simple majority vote.
President Biden met with Senator Manchin at the White House this evening where changing the Senate rule was probably on the agenda along with part two of the Biden infrastructure bill. "Rolling Stone" reports President Biden told Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, quote, Chuck, you tell me when you need me to start making phone calls about changing the Senate rule to pass voting rights.
President Biden also had a White House meeting this morning with Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who like Manchin has expressed reluctance about changing the Senate rule and reluctance about the cost of part two of the Biden infrastructure bill.
Joining us now is Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. She`s chair of the Senate Rules Committee. And she was one of the senators who introduced the Freedom to Vote Act on Tuesday.
Senator Klobuchar, thank you very much for joining us tonight.
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): Thanks, Lawrence.
O`DONNELL: Now, I know you`ve been in the room negotiating this bill with Joe Manchin and Senator Warnock and others. I know you know what is going to happen, so you can now please tell us exactly what is going to happen.
KLOBUCHAR: All right. Well, first, congratulations on your great interview with Governor Hochul. Second, it made me smile when I heard Governor Warnock. He`s an incredible leader.
And when you look at what happens in Georgia, the law that they passed that would basically say you can`t vote on weekends during the runoff period, you know why we need basic federal voting rights in place. And we are actually quite excited about this bill. It`s called the Freedom to Vote Act. Every single member of the group that Senator Schumer brought together which of course included Senator Manchin as well as Senators King, Senator Tester from Montana, Senators Warnock and Padilla and Senator Kaine, Senator Merkley who led the For the People Act and myself.
And we`ve all come to an agreement, there is a lot of excitement in our caucus. Why? The bill puts -- finally has all of us together, our names on that bill. That matters. You can`t get anywhere if you don`t have a policy agreement to have mail in balloting without an excuse to make sure that people are able to have their voices heard by not having partisan gerrymandering, the DISCLOSE Act, so you can`t hide behind dark money, and you can`t hide behind it anymore. It`s really an incredible bill.
And I disagree. We`re still reaching out to Republicans. I heard what you said at the beginning and that`s one of Senator Manchin`s jobs, one of my jobs, and we`re continuing to do that. The bill was revealed yesterday and now, we have the next week or so to keep working on that and we will continue that outreach.
And from there, we`ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
[22:29:50]
But I want people to understand this is the very first time that we`ve had this kind of an agreement on the bill also working with our house counterparts. We don`t have time to waste and it was really important that we came together.
O`DONNELL,: Well, it did seem that Senator McConnell yesterday indicated that there would be no Republican votes but let`s hope you can get the magic ten in the next week.
But let`s talk about that bridge you just mentioned that you said we will cross that bridge when we come to it. That bridge, of course, is how do you get around the 60 vote threshold in the Senate if you don`t get ten Republicans? So have you discussed that bridge with Senator Manchin?
KLOBUCHAR: Many people have talked to him about this and he has publicly said he`s open to the idea of a standing filibuster. You and I have talked about that where the other side would be forced to make their case for voter suppression to the people of this country when we, by the way, know that over 80 percent of the Americans -- of Americans actually want dark money contributions disclosed. We know that over -- way over 70 percent of them want to be able to have early voting and this includes Democrats and Republicans. The people are on our side on this.
And there are other reforms. You know I personally favor abolishing the filibuster. But we will continue discussions.
Right now my focus is on getting the information out there to the public about this bill -- Freedom to Vote Act. We`ve been working with the House. We`re really excited about it and we can`t even get to that procedural moment until we make sure everyone is on board and it appears so far the bill has gotten rave reviews and that makes me feel good and puts us in a place where we can move forward.
O`DONNELL: What is the condition, the health condition of the infrastructure bill part two in the Senate -- what is described as the not exactly accurately but the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package?
KLOBUCHAR: You know what I describe the bill as? That bill is about bringing costs down for the people of America. And one of my major focuses is prescription drugs.
The president made a big deal out of this at the State of Union and we`ve been talking about this in ads and tweets forever and it`s time to get it done.
You know that that bill`s going to be about child care for the people of this country which they badly need. We have the physical infrastructure bill done in the Senate. It`s a great bill.
But we need the employees trained and the people through school and the like to be able to work on that infrastructure, to be able to put out that broad band. That`s what this second bill is about.
And so I think that we`re making progress. We always knew there was going to be intense negotiations about this bill. The president is now involved and I think we all understand these two bills go together.
To get the bill, the Senate bill that`s already passed the Senate through the House, we`re going to need votes in the House. And to do that, we`re going to need support for the second package, as well.
And I continue having sat through many, many leadership meetings on this, we will get to that point. It`s just going to be a lot of negotiation. And you worked in the Senate, Lawrence, you know it`s not easy to get things done. But we know the American people need this bill.
O`DONNELL: Senator Amy Klobuchar, thank you very much for joining us again tonight.
KLOBUCHAR: Thanks, Lawrence.
O`DONNELL: Thank you.
And coming up a Republican state lawmaker in New Hampshire changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat yesterday because of the anti-vaccine, anti-mask extremism in the Republican Party. He will join us next.
[22:33:26]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O`DONNELL: Our next guest is a New Hampshire state representative who yesterday switched his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat because of Republican opposition to masks and vaccines. Representative William Marsh is an ophthalmologist who has served as his town`s health for 20 years.
He said in a statement yesterday, "I cannot stand idly by while extremists reject the reasonable precautions of vaccinations and masks so I have reluctantly changed my party affiliation. I urge others to consider what is happening and come to their own conclusions. I have come to realize a majority of Republicans, both locally and in the New Hampshire House hold values which no longer reflect traditional Republican values.
And so I`m recognizing the reality that today`s Republican Party is no longer the party I first joined when campaigning for President Reagan many years ago."
New COVID cases in New Hampshire have increased by an average of 49 percent over the last week.
Joining us now is New Hampshire state representative William Marsh. Thank you very much for joining us tonight, Representative Marsh. Really appreciate it.
Good evening, Lawrence. It`s good to be with you although it`s kind of a late hour for an old guy like me.
O`DONNELL: I`m sure it is. One thing I`m struck by in your statement is that you`re actually -- you`re not talking just about the leadership of the Republican Party or the elected officials in your state, you`re talking about the voters. It sounds like you`re saying the people who are voting Republican now are not the people who were joining you in voting Republican are certainly not thinking the same thing that you were thinking when you were voting for Ronald Reagan.
MARSH: I`m not sure it`s the voters. I think it`s more the organization, the grass roots organization on the ground and all the cities and towns throughout the state. They`ve really been taken over by these extremists who believe that their rights trump anybody else`s rights and that they have the right to do whatever (AUDIO GAP) no matter how it affects the other people around them.
That violates the New Hampshire constitution and it violates the rules of civilized society. that`s not where I`m coming from.
O`DONNELL: I imagine a decision like this has been a long time in coming and building because what you`re identifying among Republicans is something, is something -- is a condition that`s been going on for more than just this year.
[22:39:56]
MARSH: I`m certain that`s true. And during my professional life, I was an ophthalmologist in New Hampshire for 30-odd years. I didn`t pay a whole lot of attention to politics and kind of went my way.
But when I retired, I ran for the New Hampshire House. I`ve had a good five year run of it and gotten quite a few bills passed. And I think I`ve done some good things.
But things have changed. Things started to come to a head in June when we had a non-germane amendment come to the floor of the New Hampshire which would have put DeSantis style restrictions on the things that we need to do to mitigate COVID in place.
I didn`t want to see that happen. House leadership told me that if I got up to speak, they would strip me of my leadership position as vice chairman of the Health and Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee. I did. I won. They took me off.
And this sort of simmered all summer. I had advanced knowledge that this rally was going to happen and I had advanced knowledge what the press release was going to basically say.
Republicans don`t stop businesses from doing the things they need to do to protect their patrons and customers. That`s just not Republicans act and yet these people and I use the words Republican rather loosely are trying to put in place restrictions that would prohibit businesses mandating vaccine for employees, prohibit schools mandating masks and prohibit businesses from deciding who they felt safe coming into their (INAUDIBLE).
We all know what`s happening that do things like that. People are getting sick. People are dying. This is happening to an increasingly high percentage of children. Businesses fail when they are subject to (INAUDIBLE), going along with such a policy or just being complicit with my silence was just too high of a price to pay. For my constituents, my former patients, the people that I`ve had a relationship with 30 years. Not what I wanted to do but it`s where I am.
O`DONNELL: What is your sense what this does to you politically in terms of reelection?
MARSH: We`ll see. We`re also doing redistricting in New Hampshire with what district I might end in remains to be seen. What office I might run for remains to be seen.
But you know, in the end of the day that doesn`t really matter. You have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror. You have to be able to look your children the eye and say I did a good thing. That`s really what is more important here.
On the other hand, the public reaction to this has been remarkably positive particularly from the more moderate Republicans who I feel are being marginalized from the Republican Party at this point in time.
The very voters you spoke of, they`re no longer being represented by the people that are in leadership in their party. And I think that they may soon speak. In fact, they did speak very recently in a very Republican district in a special election in Bedford, New Hampshire where a seat recently changed hands.
O`DONNELL: Representative William Marsh, thank you very much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it.
MARSH: Thank you for having me.
O`DONNELL: Thank u.
AND coming up, they`re putting a fence around the Capitol again tonight with Trump supporters scheduled to rally this weekend in support of the criminals who attacked the Capitol on January 6th.
That`s next.
[22:43:44]
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O`DONNELL: The Democrats did not just have a big win in the biggest state in the union last night, the Democrats crushed and I mean crushed the Republican attempt to remove Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom from office. 64 percent voted in support of Governor Newsom with 36 percent voting to remove him.
Republicans forced the state of California to spend close to $300 million in taxpayer money to conduct an election that was driven by Republican delusion. Delusion is the kindest word to describe the results of a new CNN poll showing only 21 percent of Republican voters believe that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election.
Nearly 80 percent of Republican voters are lost in the wilderness of their own delusions. They are incapable of separating fact from fiction about elections, about vaccinations, about masks. They are a danger to themselves and some of them, a relatively small number of them have allowed their delusions to lead them to breaking the law as they did on January 6 when a Trump mob attacked the Capitol.
It is important too remember that almost all of these 74 million people who voted for Donald Trump for president last year have been unwilling to leave their sofas to protest the outcome of the election. Not one word of protest from 74 million of them.
It is just a tiny sliver of the most deluded and dangerous among them who represent a threat and that group is much smaller now that over 500 of them have been arrested for their attack on the Capitol.
Tonight, temporary fencing is going up once again around the Capitol grounds in anticipation of what the Department of Homeland Security expects to be 700 people attending a rally on Saturday to support the criminals who attacked the Capitol on January 6th.
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O`DONNELL: Joining us now, Leonard Pitts, Jr., Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the "Miami Herald" and E.J. Dionne opinion columnist for the "Washington Post" and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
And Leonard Pitts, here we go again at the Capitol, I think the Capitol is probably going to be ready this time for the 700 or we will see how many protesters show up there this weekend.
LEONARD PITTS, JR., COLUMNIST "MIAMI HERALD": Yes, I`m reminded of a quote that I forget which general it was that said this around the time of the September 11th attacks. They were always fighting the last war.
So I am not surprised that we are now prepared on September 18th for what happened on January 6. My question is and I`m sure everything will be fine because again, we`re prepared.
My question is where do we go from here? In other words, we`re ok for the last war. What is the next war, and what form will that take? That`s the question I find myself asking.
O`DONNELL: E.J. Dionne, what did we learn last night in the massive win, the massive win by Democrats in California?
E.J. DIONNE, MSNBC COMMENTATOR: I think we learned that when voters are -- when it`s very clear to voters that the alternative to a Democrat in office is an extreme -- one can even say extremist -- Republican like Larry Elder, when the alternative is a party that denies the value of vaccination or at least holds out this idea that everybody should be free not to get vaccinated, oppose masks in schools, voters will respond.
And I do think there`s a real lesson here both for the coming governor`s elections in New Jersey and Virginia, but also for 2022, which is that when voters understand that the real alternative is a Republican Party as Representative Marsh whom you just had on the show dramatized with his party switching that this is a Republican party that`s extreme, that`s not willing to fight COVID, I think you can create a very, very broad coalition.
It`s striking that in the exit polls 94 percent of Democrats voted against the recall. That`s not shocking, but 65 percent of independents also coted -- I`m sorry, it`s 94 percent of liberals and 65 percent of moderates voted against the recall.
When you can put together moderates and liberals in that number, you can build a very big majority. And I think that`s what Democrats should be thinking about doing for 2022.
O`DONNELL: Leonard Pitts, what did you see in the California results last night?
PITTS: Well, my caveat would be can we do the same -- it`s all well and good that we can do this, that this can be done in a large and relatively moderate to liberal state.
My question -- I`ll be more convinced and feel more sanguine about voters rejecting Republican extremism when we see results like that in Texas or when we see results like that in Florida.
When we begin to see that, I will begin to breathe a lot more easily than I am right now.
O`DONNELL: What about -- talk about Florida`s governor because you`re seeing -- Gavin Newsom, you know, does not have a passionate following in California. The biggest asset he has is the word Democrat beside his name. Governor DeSantis in Florida we have seen provokes passions on both sides. What is his standing in your state of Florida tonight?
PITTS: Well, my caveat would be that I work for the "Miami Herald" but I don`t work in Florida so I don`t have any special firsthand knowledge of his standing. I know that there`s a lot of polarization, a lot of vulcanization in Florida over the governor, but for whatever reason, those on the left seem unable to cobble together the numbers to climb that hill to finally be able to bring forth an alternative to him or to, you know, other Republican governors that the state has had. I mean, you know -- he`s only the latest. He`s not the only trend in this direction.
O`DONNELL: E.J., I was looking at the polling in California on masks, on vaccines, and it`s virtually identical to the polling in the state of New York. I was also looking at today on masks, vaccines, and all of these public health measures.
And it seems like there are now two countries -- one that takes public health seriously and the other that doesn`t seem to comprehend it.
DIONNE: Unfortunately, I think that`s right. That`s basically right, although, I think one of the things we should bear in mind, Leonard`s right. Obviously California`s a very Democratic state, and you can`t assume that you`ll get a result exactly like that in other states.
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DIONNE: But it strikes me that when you look at polling, there is still a significant number of Republicans, first of all, who have gotten vaccinated. Second, who believe in masking.
And so I think that while liberal states and Democratic states have these attitudes, I think there are an awful lot of people in other states who really would rather have their government pursue a different policy.
DeSantis`s popularity has dropped because of his policies. There`s a real reaction even in Republican states. And I think that`s why people should keep making the case.
O`DONNELL: E.J. Dionne and Leonard Pitts Jr. thank you both very much for joining us tonight.
PITTS: My pleasure.
DIONNE: Thank you.
O`DONNELL: Thank you.
And another loss for defendant Trump today. That`s next.
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O`DONNELL: A federal judge in columnist`s E. Jean Carroll`s lawsuit against defendant Donald Trump has denied Donald Trump`s request to stop the case from moving forward. The lawsuit claims that Donald Trump raped E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s in New York City.
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O`DONNELL: Today E. Jean Carroll`s attorney said "We`re looking forward to oral argument in our case before the second circuit." Oral arguments are scheduled for November 29th.
That is tonight`s LAST WORD.
"THE 11TH HOUR WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS" starts now.