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Transcript: The ReidOut, 3/1/2021

Guest: Stacey Abrams, Pramila Jayapal, Tim Miller, Sarah Longwell�

Summary:

COVID relief bill heads to Senate. Americans urge Congress to act quickly on COVID relief. CPAC caters to cult of Trump. Senate is expected to offer version with no minimum wage hike. Senator Thune`s $6 an hour would be $24 an hour today. Senate debate on COVID relief bill could begin on Wednesday. Democrats are not giving up hope of raising minimum wage. House passed $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill in partisan vote Saturday. GOP uses the big lie to push new voting restrictions. If there is one thing that CPAC demonstrated this year is that the Republican Party still worships at the altar of Trump.

Transcript:

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: Good evening, everyone. We begin THE REIDOUT tonight with a question of survival, namely the urgent survival checks and relief that millions of Americans are desperately waiting on as the pandemic continues to sink its teeth into our economy. And that President Biden and the House Democrats have a plan for in the form of a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill that finally passed the House this weekend.

The bill includes a new round of $1,400 stimulus checks to bring the total federal relief to the $2,000 they promised and hundreds of billions of dollars for schools, vaccine distribution and testing, relief for the people who have fallen behind on their rent and for struggling small businesses, as well as money for food relief and child care for Americans like these who are bearing the brunt of the crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`re a lot of people that do need help and need it bad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`re people in here that will come in, and they`re paying with food stamps, and there`s not even enough money on their food stamps to pay for their whole entire order. And it breaks my heart because you see them with little kids and you`re just wondering, like are they, you know, getting food at school because, you know, the COVID is shutting down schools.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see a mask, you know, and it reminds me of, you know, my father dying. COVID is the main thing, you know, I want a solution for right now is COVID. COVID is really ravishing and breaking the hearts of a lot of Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: The Senate is expected to pass its own version of the bill with one important and not so great change. It won`t include an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. More on that in a minute.

Now, the faces that you just saw, the struggling American families seem to be missing from one party, the Republicans` calculations, as we all face this once in a century global pandemic. Instead, they`re showing an indifference to policy or even to democracy, focusing instead on further radicalizing their base over the weekend at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, that`s devolved from kooky, fascist, comicon to something that looked a lot more like Jonestown.

This week, the CPAC crowd unfurled an actual gold Trump statue made in Mexico where they still haven`t paid for the wall, and which was wheeled around so that Republican supplicants could kneel before it like the golden calf worshiping a (INAUDIBLE) of the old testament or the vanquished subjects of ancient Babylonian idolater king never can answer.

The once grand old party`s only priority at this point in its stilted history is to inject MAGA cult ideology into every single facet of political life while maintaining its leader`s election lies to enhance their own political clout and to keep funneling money to the dear leader right up to 2024.

And though they showed a lack of interest in talking about Biden`s policies or even their own at CPAC, Republicans are plowing ahead on bills in nearly every state that will make it harder for Americans to vote them out, searing a path for Republicans to steal future elections. Oh, the irony.

And joining me now is Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. And, Congresswoman, let`s get right to the issue at hand. The Republicans didn`t talk about it this weekend, not surprisingly, but this is what most Americans are talking about, the question of the minimum wage and why that is probably not going to make it through the Senate in terms of their version of the bill. I want you to listen to South Dakota Senator John Thune. This was his take on the minimum wage over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): The minimum wage is something that is particularly troubling and harmful at a time when you`re trying to get people back to work.

I worked for less than the minimum wage. I worked for the minimum wage. I started busing tables at a dollar an hour. I went up to $2.25 when they moved me up in the place. And I finally made it to cook, which was big- time. That was $6 an hour.

What you`re essentially telling those businesses in South Dakota that I just mentioned, that you`re going to increase the amount of money that they have to pay their workers by over 50 percent, 50 percent increase.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: You got to love the Tim Scott standing there to provide the patina of diversity over that round of words, that basket full of words. What do you make of John Thune`s argument because his $6 an hour would be $20 an hour now if you account for inflation, but your thoughts?

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-DC): Well, he`s just so out of touch with where regular people are and struggling at the bottom end of the wage scale. And, you know, there`s 27 million people, Joy, that would be lifted up in terms of their wages, 1.3 million that would be lifted out of poverty. 30 percent of black workers would get a raise. 26 percent of Latin X workers would get a raise.

So this is an issue that the senator is fondly remembering some time when it was just young people in their first job working a minimum wage. That is not the case today. Adults with families stay in minimum wage jobs for years at a time.

And so it is just a myth that, number one, it`s not going to lift a lot of people up out of poverty, that it`s not deeply essential after 12 years of not raising the wage. And, number two, Joy, this is a policy that is popular with Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Just let`s not forget that Florida went for Donald Trump in the last election and voted a $15 minimum wage through with a super majority of voters.

REID: Yes, and you make a really good point, because every time minimum wage goes on the ballot, almost every time, it passes. And it`s actually a really popular bill across political parties. I wonder if you think that because this is such a popular policy across the voters, you know, whether they`re right, left or center, are Democrats, in your view, making a mistake by not either overruling the parliamentarian, at which the vice president of the United States could do, or coming up with some sort of workaround? I know Bernie Sanders has a workaround where they would use a tax penalty for people who don`t go to $15 an hour. Do you think the Democrats are making a mistake by already saying they won`t mess with the filibuster, which would be the easiest way to pass what is a very popular policy?

JAYAPAL: Well, I`ve already said that I think that the parliamentarian should be overruled. That is not unprecedented. As you know, Hubert Humphrey did it in 1967 and 1969. Roosevelt did it in 1975. These are certainly unprecedented times where we could thank the parliamentarian for her opinion. It is an advisory opinion. And then we could still include it in the minimum wage bill.

I`ve spoken to the speaker about this. I`ve spoken to the White House about it. It`s why the House left it in our bill even after the parliamentarian`s ruling because we believe that it has to be included.

And, look, Joy, Democrats are going to have to have a choice here. Are we going to give Mitch McConnell veto power over all the things that we have promised to voters across the country and, you know, that are really popular? It`s not just this. It`s the Voting Rights Act. It`s immigration reform. It is so many -- it`s getting money out of politics with HR-1. There are so many things that we have promised. Voters gave us the House, the Senate and the White House, and we`re either going to have to include things in reconciliation or we`re going to have to reform the filibuster.

Frankly, we`re probably going to have to do both because there are some things that can`t be included in reconciliation.

REID: Can you explain to just our viewers who are on the progressive side and young viewers -- I get asked by this even by my own kids. Why don`t Democrats do that? Why do Republicans -- Democrats always seem to -- it`s almost sort of like they`re sort of in an abusive relationship where they think if they just cook a better meal, they won`t get licks. Can you explain why Democrats refuse to do the things that Republicans would do if they were in your all`s position?

JAYAPAL: Well, I can just say that I think there is some, you know, sort of past notion of a Senate where you can have good policy discussions and good people on both sides would come together. But let`s not forget that the vast majority of these senators refused to vote to convict Donald Trump. The vast majority of them did not say anything in the months leading up to January 6th. The vast majority have not been willing to do things that are incredibly popular in their own districts.

And so I don`t think that there`s suddenly going to be some, you know, kumbaya moment where they`re going to drink different coffee and suddenly decide they want to get on the same page about delivering for working people. And that`s what I think is so essential because, Joy, we`ve got to deliver. We can`t go back to voters in two years and say, I`m sorry, you know, a parliamentarian, who is doing her job but she`s unelected, not like the rest of us who are elected to these positions, deliver promises to voters -- we can`t go back to voters and say, I`m sorry, we couldn`t do it because the parliamentarian ruled we couldn`t do it. That`s just not going to fly for 27 million people who are struggling to put food on the table and earn a decent wage.

REID: Yes. I think that is absolutely true. You maybe have a -- I mean, Democrats need to have a confab about that. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, I think most people thing that you`re absolutely right, cheers. Thank you very much for being here. I appreciate you.

All right, and joining me now is Tim Miller, Writer-at-Large for The Bulwark. I ask you the same question. It`s probably not the best analogy, because people are -- you know in an abusive relationship, it`s the least much more complicated positions that they find themselves in and feeling trapped. Democrats are not trapped. Democrats have power right now. They were given power quite definitively by the American people, who said, you know, you all can have all three branches of government.

Can you explain just from having been on the other side the reluctance of Democrats to just fully use their power in the way Republicans do routinely without even a second thought?

TIM MILLER, WRITER-AT-LARGE, THE BULWARK: Yes. Hey, Joy. Thanks for having me. Look, I think that the Democrats definitely should use reconciliation and jam through as much of this COVID-19 bill as they want. It is what they ran on. It is what their mandate is. And, you know, there are ten Republicans out there to work with them on a realistic COVID bill. You know, the one that the ten Republicans came back to was $600 billion, a third of the bill. It was kind of a preposterous counter offer.

Here is the problem about these permanent changes though outside of reconciliation, is when you look at the Senate, you know, I think a lot of Democrats look at this and say, boy, we got the Senate by the skin of our teeth this time thanks a lot to a big screw up by Donald Trump between November and January, to say the least. The he Senate is biased in favor of Republicans is the way that the coalitions are now, like this is an institution that is going to benefit Republicans.

You know, if we wake up in 2024 and a more competent autocrat, a Josh Hawley or someone like that is president and the Republicans have 50 seats, you know, are we going to want to let them do this with 50 votes? Now, you might say, well, they`ll do it anyway, whatever. They`ll do it anyway. And, yes, maybe that`s right. And that`s kind of what the push and pull, you know there I think, between two bad choices.

And so I understand the Chris Coons of the world, the kind of institutionalists, who have a little bit of reluctance on this. I think that`s why. That makes more sense to me on permanent changes than it does on this COVID bill, which I`m of the view that they should just jam through.

REID: Let me ask you this on the Republican side because, you know -- and I realize that the Republican Party ain`t the one that you`re used to that you wrote, you know, that you were down there writing a sort of a plan for them to expand their demographic base back in the olden days of the mid- 2000s, which is now I guess 300 years ago.

How do Republicans go back to their districts and say, I see that you got that check, I voted against it? I see that you got that help for your small business, I voted against it, right? Like they`re going to now have to defend their votes, right?

MILLER: You know, look, I think this is a really good point, Joy, and I think that -- I`ll explain the why, and then I`ll talk about the politics. The why is that the voters that they care about are the Republican primary voters who have put them in. Their ideologues, what they care about is negative partisanship, they care about owning the libs, they care about being nice to Donald Trump. We all watched CPAC this weekend. They don`t -- you know, well, you all the night do watch the CPAC this weekend. And I`ll tell you, all they care about is being mean to Democrats.

All right so those voters, Republicans don`t have to worry about. That`s a different base than, you know, the kind of the Democrats base. You know, that`s just kind of the inequity of our system right now.

Now, the question is these swing voters, right, particularly the Obama/Trump voters, which Biden won back some of. You know, those voters actually believed Donald Trump`s B.S. when it came to the fact he was going to be a different kind of Republican, a populist. And I think that the Republicans are in really danger of losing back some of those voters, and I think this is the big opportunity for Biden. It`s my one advice to this administration is just pound the message on the financial assistance that`s going to these voters, what they`re doing to make their lives better and easier with very simple messages and force the Republicans to make a choice.

Do you stick with your negative partisanship base voters that just want you to say no to everything, or do you try to appeal to some of these voters that Trump had brought in, who aren`t as ideologically rigid that are struggling right now in the pandemic? And I think that`s a good opportunity for the Democrats to split the Republican base.

REID: I totally agree with you. But you know what, the idolaters are still going to want to cash those checks when they get them.

MILLER: Yes, they are.

REID: I bet you they`re not going to send them back. Tim, you know they are. Tim Miller, thank you very much, always great talking with you. Cheers.

All right, up next on THE REIDOUT, the big lie of election theft is fueling Republican efforts all across the country to basically stop black and brown people from voting. And now the Supreme Court is set to shred what`s left of the Voting Rights Act because, of course.

No one has been a bigger champion of voting rights in recent years than Stacey Abrams, and she joins me next.

Plus, Republicans wrap up their weekend cult meeting in Orlando. There was a lot of groveling at the feet -- well, the feet that are in flip-flops, of their tarnished golden idol, including from an obsequious and maniacal Ted Cancun Cruz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): In the immortal words of William Wallace, freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Is he okay? With so many possible candidates for the absolute worst from that disinformation confab, is this the night that Cancun Cruz finally, finally becomes the worst? The big reveal is coming up.

THE REIDOUT continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: Yesterday at CPAC, the disgraced, twice impeached former president once again promoted the big lie, an election he claims was stolen on the basis of specious claims of fraud in cities with lots of black and brown voters, the same lie that fueled the attack on the Capitol.

And now the big lie is being weaponized by Republican-controlled statehouses across the country to soothe not just orange Julius Caesar`s fragile ego but to do quite explicitly what the insurrectionists demanded by giving state-level Republicans the power to exclude any voters who don`t tend to vote their way, and even to undo election outcomes and hand the presidency, or presumably any office, to whoever they want.

Dozens of statehouses have already unleashed a tidal wave of voter suppression legislation, with Arizona and Georgia moving particularly aggressively after both turned blue in 2020 on massive turnout from black, brown, AAPI, and young voters.

Today, Georgia`s GOP-controlled House passed a draconian bill restricting drop boxes, requiring more I.D. for mail ballots, and limiting weekend early voting.

The Brennan Center reports state legislatures are considering more than 250 bills restricting access in 43 states. The Republicans also have equally insidious -- an equally insidious chance to hamper voting rights writ large through the courts.

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court hears arguments involving two Arizona laws centering on a critical remaining provision of the Voting Rights Act, Section 2, broadly prohibiting discrimination against racial minorities in voting.

The court gutted a key section of the law, Section 5, eight years ago, by declaring unconstitutional a portion deciding which states with a history of racial discrimination need federal approval to change their laws.

But the U.S. Congress has a very real chance to protect our democracy from the assault with the For the People Act, a sweeping overhaul of election and ethics laws, and its companion legislation, the John Lewis Voting Rights Restoration Act.

The For the People Act is so important to the Democrats` agenda, it`s dubbed H.R.1 and S.R.1 in the Senate. The House is expected to vote on legislation this week.

And I`m joined now by Stacey Abrams, the founder of Fair Fight and producer of "All In: The Fight for Democracy," a documentary examining the issue of voter suppression in the United States, which can be seen right now on Amazon Prime.

And it`s always great to see you, Stacey, to see you on the TV. Congratulations on the documentary.

Let`s dig right into this.

Shelby v. Holder, the decision that John Roberts and crew used to gut the Voting Rights Act, came as a result of -- I mean, after it was gutted, almost immediately thereafter, I think the very next day, states started passing all of these restrictions on voting and making it harder and harder to vote.

You then ran in an election that was in that post-voting rights -- full Voting Rights Act era. In your view, what are the current slate of laws, including in your home state of Georgia? How much worse can this get?

STACEY ABRAMS, FOUNDER, FAIR FIGHT: Joy, thank you for having me here.

We know that the current slate of laws that are being prescribed across this country actually take us to what looks like post-Reconstruction, Jim Crow era laws. And that`s not hyperbolic.

Essentially, what these laws would do is limit access to registration, access to casting a ballot, and access to vote -- having that ballot counted, essentially pushing people, millions of people across the country, mainly black and brown people, out of the voting process.

Saying that you have to -- that you can ban automatic voter registration means, for millions of Americans, they will no longer be allowed to vote -- to register unless someone comes to find them.

If you increase the photo I.D. requirements, there are millions of Americans who simply cannot meet those requirements, because the underlying paperwork that they have to have either doesn`t exist, is too expensive, or is too complicated to access.

We know that, again and again, these laws are designed for one specific purpose, and that is to discourage or prevent people from voting. And we know it`s not just happening in the nine states and 55 jurisdictions that were once covered by Section 5. It`s happening across the country.

And, therefore, we are watching a nationwide sweep of voter suppression that is not only abysmal. It is counter to who we say we are as Americans. And in the wake of January 6 and that insurrection, our clinging to democracy should be forthright. And we should be demanding that we have equal access to democracy, instead of cowering and letting anti-democratic forces steal the right to vote away from millions of Americans.

REID: Yes, I mean, I think of places like Texas, where they just had this huge storm. And God knows how many people had flood damage, and maybe their papers have been washed away. And if you`re throwing in voter I.D., you`re making it harder.

Georgia, your state, they passed this bill where they tried to get rid of Souls to the Polls Sunday. They now left one Sunday in. You have got in -- addition to doing that, you have got Arizona. They have got a bill to literally let the legislature throw out election results and put in their own slate of voters -- own slate of electors.

You have got, of course, Ron DeSantis, who`s one of the kings of voter suppression. He wants to limit drop boxes, require registration for mail-in values ballots. This is one of the states that is the best at doing mail-in voting. He wants to kill that and gut it.

You just go on and on and on. What do you make of the -- it`s so obvious to me, Stacey, that they saw -- except for Georgia, they saw Arizona and Georgia flip. And their response to that was to say, well, we can`t let that happen again.

And I say to you particularly given the praise that your state`s Republican state elections officials got after they just refused to outright commit crimes to let Donald Trump have the victory.

ABRAMS: Well, let`s be clear. We didn`t -- we were successful in Georgia in extraordinary ways. We were successful in Arizona.

But we also mitigated voter suppression in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, across the country where, in the wake of not only the Voting Rights Act evisceration, but also in the wake of the Obama election in 2008, we saw a bevy of attempts to restrict access to the right to vote.

Georgia got more attention because it was the most egregious and it was actually committed in broad daylight by the secretary of state, now the governor of Georgia. And in Arizona and Florida, we have seen it again and again.

But what we know is happening is that they -- the Republican Party -- and it`s not the entire party, I don`t believe, yet, but they have to stand up and declare they are not part of this anti-democratic force.

We know that business leaders have to stand up and call a spade a spade and say that this is wrong. When you can win elections, not by having the best ideas, but by stealing the right to vote, then you do not deserve to win, and you don`t deserve to participate.

And so what we need is a call to action that not only stops these bills in local and state legislatures, but we have got to also fight hard to make certain that H.R.1 and S.R.1 and H.R.4 become the law of the land in the United States.

REID: Do you believe that Democrats should get rid of the filibuster in order to pass H.R.1 -- I mean, it passed S.R.1?

ABRAMS: I believe -- I believe, absolutely, S.R.1 should be subject to at least a carve out.

The fundamental right to democracy is the ability to vote. And if there is nothing else that we would be willing to require simple -- of a simple majority to protect, it should be the right to vote.

This is not an exception that is without precedent. We have already seen them eliminate the filibuster for judicial appointments. We have seen them do the same thing for budget reconciliation.

This is about our democracy. And we know how fragile it is, because we watched it happen less than two months ago. In addition to "Our Time" -- in addition to "All In: The Fight For Democracy," I wrote a book called "Our Time Is Now," where I lay out how egregious and how seductive voter suppression is.

And we cannot allow ourselves to be seduced by the big lie, or, worse, seduced by this notion that, because the insurrection in January didn`t work, that we`re out of the woods. We`re not out of the woods until we create a foundation for democracy. And that is H.R.1.

REID: You know, at a certain point, corporations decided to punish states that continued to fly the Confederate Flag or had policies that they found offensive to people who work for them and who were their customers.

Do you think that that`s one way business should get involved? Should states -- for instance, should consumers boycott states that fundamentally restrict the right to vote? Should corporations withdraw from -- from supporting politicians who support destroying the right to vote?

ABRAMS: I believe that, absolutely, business has a -- has a role to play.

We have seen them stand up when they saw wrong happening. We saw them do so in the wake of the insurrection. And now they need to look at state legislatures and look at the people who are presenting these bills, who are letting them fly through, those who are pretending that there was voter fraud, when every -- Democrats, Republicans and the conservative U.S. Supreme Court have all said it did not happen.

What is happening now is not just a regression to the mean. It is a regression to the meanest way possible to run elections. And the reality is, when you break democracy for anyone, you break it for everyone.

In Georgia, mail-in voting is primarily -- has been primarily used by Republican voters for years. 2020 was the first time Democrats won both early voting and mail-in voting. And to break that simply because too many Democrats voted, because too many black and brown people voted is to cut off your nose to spite your face.

And the people who are in charge should be listened to. And they should be -- we should hear loud and clear that they are willing to destroy democracy to win elections. And the business community should say, that is wrong and should push back hard.

REID: Last question. Do you trust the Supreme Court on this, given that John Roberts has pretty much spent his entire adult career fighting to destroy, if not get rid of the Voting Rights Act?

ABRAMS: I do not.

I think that this has to be done by the body that in the Constitution of the United States is given the power to address this. Congress has the power to set the manner, time and place of elections. And they should use that power by passing H.R.1 and H.R.4.

We know that, right now, what`s going to happen tomorrow, when the Supreme Court considers the Arizona cases, they`re going to try to eviscerate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which, as you rightly explained, prohibits these types of practices when it targets people of color.

If they can knock out pillar five and pillar four, we no longer have protections for our democracy. And that means Congress has to step up and act now.

REID: Indeed. John Lewis` spirit is watching.

Stacey Abrams, thank you. It`s always great to talk with you. Thanks so much for being here. Congratulations on the documentary.

And still ahead: The New York state attorney -- the New York state attorney general launches an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Meanwhile, Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn gets a pass from his party on allegations he sexually harassed women in college just a few short years ago.

We`re back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is apologizing for what he calls insensitive interactions with members of his staff.

This comes after a second former aide came forward this weekend accusing Cuomo of verbally harassing her, including questioning her about her sex life; 25-year-old Charlotte Bennett tells "The New York Times" Cuomo asked -- quote -- "If I believed if age made a difference in relationships" and - - quote -- "if I had ever been with an older man."

She also said the now 63-year-old governor told her that he felt that he`s fine with anyone above the age of 22.

Last week, another former staffer, Lindsey Boylan, claimed Cuomo kissed her on the lips without consent. Cuomo insists he never inappropriately touched or proposition anybody and has denied the claims of both women.

In a statement, Cuomo said, in part: "I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that."

After first appointing a former federal judge to review the allegations, which raised questions about impartiality, Cuomo turned the inquiry over to New York attorney General Letitia James, who will appoint an independent investigator.

At the end of the review, the findings will be released in a public report.

Joining me now is Michelle Goldberg, columnist for "The New York Times."

Now, Michelle, that last bit is something that is sort of different over what -- basically, to what we have seen over the last four years, where the U.S. chief executive basically called the women accusing him names and said they weren`t his type and such, and there was never any real investigation.

How much jeopardy, politically, is Cuomo in here? And what do you think the impact of that investigation will be?

MICHELLE GOLDBERG, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: So, I can`t imagine how the investigation could exonerate Cuomo of all of these charges, given that -- you know, he denies Lindsey Boylan`s charges.

But I think he just says that he was misinterpreted when it comes to Charlotte Bennett. He said -- and so I don`t think that there is any dispute that he said something extremely inappropriate to Charlotte Bennett, that he made Charlotte Bennett feel like he wanted to sleep with her.

And there`s no dispute that she changed jobs because of it, right? She saved text messages. She saved messages with her superiors in government. This is like an extremely well-documented case.

I think that, if it was a couple of years ago, when MeToo was at its height, Andrew Cuomo would be in a lot more trouble than he is now. I still think he`s weakened because this comes on the heels of this very serious scandal about him misstating the number of COVID deaths in nursing homes.

But, at the same time, I think, among some Democrats, at least I get a sense that they are sort of tired of single-handedly upholding a set of standards that Republicans refuse to hold themselves to. So, I just see -- just online, you will see people saying, don`t Franken Cuomo, right?

REID: Right.

GOLDBERG: Or why should we -- why should Cuomo resign, when Cawthorn doesn`t resign?

REID: Yes.

What`s interesting is that -- right. I think that, if you think about Kirsten Gillibrand`s presidential career was probably in many ways ended by the anger that a lot of base Democrats had because she was so insistent on -- in terms of the Al Franken situation. He was very, very popular. These are much less serious allegations that we need to make clear that we`re talking with Cuomo.

But what do you make of that? Because you do have the former president having something like 24 allegations. We talked a little about Madison Cawthorn. Madison Cawthorn, this was when he was in college, but he was literally just in college like three or four years ago, supposedly pulling women into his car, not letting them out, being really creepy and weird.

And there was a whole big BuzzFeed piece on it. And there doesn`t seem to be any blowback at all. He`s back on FOX News talking about morality and stuff.

What do you make of that? Because Democrats do seem to uphold a quite different standard of ethics for their politicians.

GOLDBERG: Yes, I think that the Democrat -- Democrats are the party that doesn`t tolerate sexual harassment or that thinks sexual harassment is wrong and should be punished.

And Republicans aren`t that party, right? I mean, with Madison Cawthorn, as you said, he was in college just a few years ago, so you can`t say back in college.

REID: Right.

GOLDBERG: It`s also worth noting this was a very conservative Christian college that caters to homeschoolers, right?

These weren`t kind of feminist students with probably overdeveloped or highly developed senses about affirmative consent. And so, if these women are saying Madison Cawthorn is a predator, Madison Cawthorn doesn`t respect boundaries, I think that his behavior was probably truly egregious.

REID: You know, we reached out to Kevin McCarthy, the -- Leader McCarthy`s office, and got nothing back. There`s no comment.

And it seems like that is the pattern. It`s very similar to what you had with Trump, where people just go, I didn`t -- I didn`t see the tweets. I didn`t hear it. I didn`t hear when he called that woman ugly or said that I couldn`t have raped her because that wasn`t my type.

It is just very different.

What do you make of the cultural issue here? It feels like Cuomo`s attempts to run for president, which was what we all felt was coming, that`s kind of done, right, on his side.

But two out of the six Republican conservatives on the Supreme Court have these kinds of allegations. That didn`t stop them. It seems like Cawthorn could have a clear path to that or whatever else he wanted. It doesn`t seem like his political future is impinged at all.

GOLDBERG: Well, again -- and I understand that that`s really frustrating for Democrats, but I don`t think that they should -- that Democrats should see sort of policing their own as like a sacrifice that they`re making, where they get to have all of these sexual harassers, so why can`t we have a couple?

REID: Right.

GOLDBERG: I think that people should evaluate the Cuomo case on its own.

And these allegations are really, really serious.

REID: I totally agree, yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: Good evening, everyone. We begin THE REIDOUT tonight with a question of survival, namely the urgent survival checks and relief that millions of Americans are desperately waiting on as the pandemic continues to sink its teeth into our economy. And that President Biden and the House Democrats have a plan for in the form of a $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill that finally passed the House this weekend.

The bill includes a new round of $1,400 stimulus checks to bring the total federal relief to the $2,000 they promised and hundreds of billions of dollars for schools, vaccine distribution and testing, relief for the people who have fallen behind on their rent and for struggling small businesses, as well as money for food relief and child care for Americans like these who are bearing the brunt of the crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`re a lot of people that do need help and need it bad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There`re people in here that will come in, and they`re paying with food stamps, and there`s not even enough money on their food stamps to pay for their whole entire order. And it breaks my heart because you see them with little kids and you`re just wondering, like are they, you know, getting food at school because, you know, the COVID is shutting down schools.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see a mask, you know, and it reminds me of, you know, my father dying. COVID is the main thing, you know, I want a solution for right now is COVID. COVID is really ravishing and breaking the hearts of a lot of Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: The Senate is expected to pass its own version of the bill with one important and not so great change. It won`t include an increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. More on that in a minute.

Now, the faces that you just saw, the struggling American families seem to be missing from one party, the Republicans` calculations, as we all face this once in a century global pandemic. Instead, they`re showing an indifference to policy or even to democracy, focusing instead on further radicalizing their base over the weekend at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, that`s devolved from kooky, fascist, comicon to something that looked a lot more like Jonestown.

This week, the CPAC crowd unfurled an actual gold Trump statue made in Mexico where they still haven`t paid for the wall, and which was wheeled around so that Republican supplicants could kneel before it like the golden calf worshiping a (INAUDIBLE) of the old testament or the vanquished subjects of ancient Babylonian idolater king never can answer.

The once grand old party`s only priority at this point in its stilted history is to inject MAGA cult ideology into every single facet of political life while maintaining its leader`s election lies to enhance their own political clout and to keep funneling money to the dear leader right up to 2024.

And though they showed a lack of interest in talking about Biden`s policies or even their own at CPAC, Republicans are plowing ahead on bills in nearly every state that will make it harder for Americans to vote them out, searing a path for Republicans to steal future elections. Oh, the irony.

And joining me now is Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. And, Congresswoman, let`s get right to the issue at hand. The Republicans didn`t talk about it this weekend, not surprisingly, but this is what most Americans are talking about, the question of the minimum wage and why that is probably not going to make it through the Senate in terms of their version of the bill. I want you to listen to South Dakota Senator John Thune. This was his take on the minimum wage over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): The minimum wage is something that is particularly troubling and harmful at a time when you`re trying to get people back to work.

I worked for less than the minimum wage. I worked for the minimum wage. I started busing tables at a dollar an hour. I went up to $2.25 when they moved me up in the place. And I finally made it to cook, which was big- time. That was $6 an hour.

What you`re essentially telling those businesses in South Dakota that I just mentioned, that you`re going to increase the amount of money that they have to pay their workers by over 50 percent, 50 percent increase.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: You got to love the Tim Scott standing there to provide the patina of diversity over that round of words, that basket full of words. What do you make of John Thune`s argument because his $6 an hour would be $20 an hour now if you account for inflation, but your thoughts?

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-DC): Well, he`s just so out of touch with where regular people are and struggling at the bottom end of the wage scale. And, you know, there`s 27 million people, Joy, that would be lifted up in terms of their wages, 1.3 million that would be lifted out of poverty. 30 percent of black workers would get a raise. 26 percent of Latin X workers would get a raise.

So this is an issue that the senator is fondly remembering some time when it was just young people in their first job working a minimum wage. That is not the case today. Adults with families stay in minimum wage jobs for years at a time.

And so it is just a myth that, number one, it`s not going to lift a lot of people up out of poverty, that it`s not deeply essential after 12 years of not raising the wage. And, number two, Joy, this is a policy that is popular with Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Just let`s not forget that Florida went for Donald Trump in the last election and voted a $15 minimum wage through with a super majority of voters.

REID: Yes, and you make a really good point, because every time minimum wage goes on the ballot, almost every time, it passes. And it`s actually a really popular bill across political parties. I wonder if you think that because this is such a popular policy across the voters, you know, whether they`re right, left or center, are Democrats, in your view, making a mistake by not either overruling the parliamentarian, at which the vice president of the United States could do, or coming up with some sort of workaround? I know Bernie Sanders has a workaround where they would use a tax penalty for people who don`t go to $15 an hour. Do you think the Democrats are making a mistake by already saying they won`t mess with the filibuster, which would be the easiest way to pass what is a very popular policy?

JAYAPAL: Well, I`ve already said that I think that the parliamentarian should be overruled. That is not unprecedented. As you know, Hubert Humphrey did it in 1967 and 1969. Roosevelt did it in 1975. These are certainly unprecedented times where we could thank the parliamentarian for her opinion. It is an advisory opinion. And then we could still include it in the minimum wage bill.

I`ve spoken to the speaker about this. I`ve spoken to the White House about it. It`s why the House left it in our bill even after the parliamentarian`s ruling because we believe that it has to be included.

And, look, Joy, Democrats are going to have to have a choice here. Are we going to give Mitch McConnell veto power over all the things that we have promised to voters across the country and, you know, that are really popular? It`s not just this. It`s the Voting Rights Act. It`s immigration reform. It is so many -- it`s getting money out of politics with HR-1. There are so many things that we have promised. Voters gave us the House, the Senate and the White House, and we`re either going to have to include things in reconciliation or we`re going to have to reform the filibuster.

Frankly, we`re probably going to have to do both because there are some things that can`t be included in reconciliation.

REID: Can you explain to just our viewers who are on the progressive side and young viewers -- I get asked by this even by my own kids. Why don`t Democrats do that? Why do Republicans -- Democrats always seem to -- it`s almost sort of like they`re sort of in an abusive relationship where they think if they just cook a better meal, they won`t get licks. Can you explain why Democrats refuse to do the things that Republicans would do if they were in your all`s position?

JAYAPAL: Well, I can just say that I think there is some, you know, sort of past notion of a Senate where you can have good policy discussions and good people on both sides would come together. But let`s not forget that the vast majority of these senators refused to vote to convict Donald Trump. The vast majority of them did not say anything in the months leading up to January 6th. The vast majority have not been willing to do things that are incredibly popular in their own districts.

And so I don`t think that there`s suddenly going to be some, you know, kumbaya moment where they`re going to drink different coffee and suddenly decide they want to get on the same page about delivering for working people. And that`s what I think is so essential because, Joy, we`ve got to deliver. We can`t go back to voters in two years and say, I`m sorry, you know, a parliamentarian, who is doing her job but she`s unelected, not like the rest of us who are elected to these positions, deliver promises to voters -- we can`t go back to voters and say, I`m sorry, we couldn`t do it because the parliamentarian ruled we couldn`t do it. That`s just not going to fly for 27 million people who are struggling to put food on the table and earn a decent wage.

REID: Yes. I think that is absolutely true. You maybe have a -- I mean, Democrats need to have a confab about that. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, I think most people thing that you`re absolutely right, cheers. Thank you very much for being here. I appreciate you.

All right, and joining me now is Tim Miller, Writer-at-Large for The Bulwark. I ask you the same question. It`s probably not the best analogy, because people are -- you know in an abusive relationship, it`s the least much more complicated positions that they find themselves in and feeling trapped. Democrats are not trapped. Democrats have power right now. They were given power quite definitively by the American people, who said, you know, you all can have all three branches of government.

Can you explain just from having been on the other side the reluctance of Democrats to just fully use their power in the way Republicans do routinely without even a second thought?

TIM MILLER, WRITER-AT-LARGE, THE BULWARK: Yes. Hey, Joy. Thanks for having me. Look, I think that the Democrats definitely should use reconciliation and jam through as much of this COVID-19 bill as they want. It is what they ran on. It is what their mandate is. And, you know, there are ten Republicans out there to work with them on a realistic COVID bill. You know, the one that the ten Republicans came back to was $600 billion, a third of the bill. It was kind of a preposterous counter offer.

Here is the problem about these permanent changes though outside of reconciliation, is when you look at the Senate, you know, I think a lot of Democrats look at this and say, boy, we got the Senate by the skin of our teeth this time thanks a lot to a big screw up by Donald Trump between November and January, to say the least. The he Senate is biased in favor of Republicans is the way that the coalitions are now, like this is an institution that is going to benefit Republicans.

You know, if we wake up in 2024 and a more competent autocrat, a Josh Hawley or someone like that is president and the Republicans have 50 seats, you know, are we going to want to let them do this with 50 votes? Now, you might say, well, they`ll do it anyway, whatever. They`ll do it anyway. And, yes, maybe that`s right. And that`s kind of what the push and pull, you know there I think, between two bad choices.

And so I understand the Chris Coons of the world, the kind of institutionalists, who have a little bit of reluctance on this. I think that`s why. That makes more sense to me on permanent changes than it does on this COVID bill, which I`m of the view that they should just jam through.

REID: Let me ask you this on the Republican side because, you know -- and I realize that the Republican Party ain`t the one that you`re used to that you wrote, you know, that you were down there writing a sort of a plan for them to expand their demographic base back in the olden days of the mid- 2000s, which is now I guess 300 years ago.

How do Republicans go back to their districts and say, I see that you got that check, I voted against it? I see that you got that help for your small business, I voted against it, right? Like they`re going to now have to defend their votes, right?

MILLER: You know, look, I think this is a really good point, Joy, and I think that -- I`ll explain the why, and then I`ll talk about the politics. The why is that the voters that they care about are the Republican primary voters who have put them in. Their ideologues, what they care about is negative partisanship, they care about owning the libs, they care about being nice to Donald Trump. We all watched CPAC this weekend. They don`t -- you know, well, you all the night do watch the CPAC this weekend. And I`ll tell you, all they care about is being mean to Democrats.

All right so those voters, Republicans don`t have to worry about. That`s a different base than, you know, the kind of the Democrats base. You know, that`s just kind of the inequity of our system right now.

Now, the question is these swing voters, right, particularly the Obama/Trump voters, which Biden won back some of. You know, those voters actually believed Donald Trump`s B.S. when it came to the fact he was going to be a different kind of Republican, a populist. And I think that the Republicans are in really danger of losing back some of those voters, and I think this is the big opportunity for Biden. It`s my one advice to this administration is just pound the message on the financial assistance that`s going to these voters, what they`re doing to make their lives better and easier with very simple messages and force the Republicans to make a choice.

Do you stick with your negative partisanship base voters that just want you to say no to everything, or do you try to appeal to some of these voters that Trump had brought in, who aren`t as ideologically rigid that are struggling right now in the pandemic? And I think that`s a good opportunity for the Democrats to split the Republican base.

REID: I totally agree with you. But you know what, the idolaters are still going to want to cash those checks when they get them.

MILLER: Yes, they are.

REID: I bet you they`re not going to send them back. Tim, you know they are. Tim Miller, thank you very much, always great talking with you. Cheers.

All right, up next on THE REIDOUT, the big lie of election theft is fueling Republican efforts all across the country to basically stop black and brown people from voting. And now the Supreme Court is set to shred what`s left of the Voting Rights Act because, of course.

No one has been a bigger champion of voting rights in recent years than Stacey Abrams, and she joins me next.

Plus, Republicans wrap up their weekend cult meeting in Orlando. There was a lot of groveling at the feet -- well, the feet that are in flip-flops, of their tarnished golden idol, including from an obsequious and maniacal Ted Cancun Cruz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): In the immortal words of William Wallace, freedom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Is he okay? With so many possible candidates for the absolute worst from that disinformation confab, is this the night that Cancun Cruz finally, finally becomes the worst? The big reveal is coming up.

THE REIDOUT continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: Yesterday at CPAC, the disgraced, twice impeached former president once again promoted the big lie, an election he claims was stolen on the basis of specious claims of fraud in cities with lots of black and brown voters, the same lie that fueled the attack on the Capitol.

And now the big lie is being weaponized by Republican-controlled statehouses across the country to soothe not just orange Julius Caesar`s fragile ego but to do quite explicitly what the insurrectionists demanded by giving state-level Republicans the power to exclude any voters who don`t tend to vote their way, and even to undo election outcomes and hand the presidency, or presumably any office, to whoever they want.

Dozens of statehouses have already unleashed a tidal wave of voter suppression legislation, with Arizona and Georgia moving particularly aggressively after both turned blue in 2020 on massive turnout from black, brown, AAPI, and young voters.

Today, Georgia`s GOP-controlled House passed a draconian bill restricting drop boxes, requiring more I.D. for mail ballots, and limiting weekend early voting.

The Brennan Center reports state legislatures are considering more than 250 bills restricting access in 43 states. The Republicans also have equally insidious -- an equally insidious chance to hamper voting rights writ large through the courts.

Tomorrow, the Supreme Court hears arguments involving two Arizona laws centering on a critical remaining provision of the Voting Rights Act, Section 2, broadly prohibiting discrimination against racial minorities in voting.

The court gutted a key section of the law, Section 5, eight years ago, by declaring unconstitutional a portion deciding which states with a history of racial discrimination need federal approval to change their laws.

But the U.S. Congress has a very real chance to protect our democracy from the assault with the For the People Act, a sweeping overhaul of election and ethics laws, and its companion legislation, the John Lewis Voting Rights Restoration Act.

The For the People Act is so important to the Democrats` agenda, it`s dubbed H.R.1 and S.R.1 in the Senate. The House is expected to vote on legislation this week.

And I`m joined now by Stacey Abrams, the founder of Fair Fight and producer of "All In: The Fight for Democracy," a documentary examining the issue of voter suppression in the United States, which can be seen right now on Amazon Prime.

And it`s always great to see you, Stacey, to see you on the TV. Congratulations on the documentary.

Let`s dig right into this.

Shelby v. Holder, the decision that John Roberts and crew used to gut the Voting Rights Act, came as a result of -- I mean, after it was gutted, almost immediately thereafter, I think the very next day, states started passing all of these restrictions on voting and making it harder and harder to vote.

You then ran in an election that was in that post-voting rights -- full Voting Rights Act era. In your view, what are the current slate of laws, including in your home state of Georgia? How much worse can this get?

STACEY ABRAMS, FOUNDER, FAIR FIGHT: Joy, thank you for having me here.

We know that the current slate of laws that are being prescribed across this country actually take us to what looks like post-Reconstruction, Jim Crow era laws. And that`s not hyperbolic.

Essentially, what these laws would do is limit access to registration, access to casting a ballot, and access to vote -- having that ballot counted, essentially pushing people, millions of people across the country, mainly black and brown people, out of the voting process.

Saying that you have to -- that you can ban automatic voter registration means, for millions of Americans, they will no longer be allowed to vote -- to register unless someone comes to find them.

If you increase the photo I.D. requirements, there are millions of Americans who simply cannot meet those requirements, because the underlying paperwork that they have to have either doesn`t exist, is too expensive, or is too complicated to access.

We know that, again and again, these laws are designed for one specific purpose, and that is to discourage or prevent people from voting. And we know it`s not just happening in the nine states and 55 jurisdictions that were once covered by Section 5. It`s happening across the country.

And, therefore, we are watching a nationwide sweep of voter suppression that is not only abysmal. It is counter to who we say we are as Americans. And in the wake of January 6 and that insurrection, our clinging to democracy should be forthright. And we should be demanding that we have equal access to democracy, instead of cowering and letting anti-democratic forces steal the right to vote away from millions of Americans.

REID: Yes, I mean, I think of places like Texas, where they just had this huge storm. And God knows how many people had flood damage, and maybe their papers have been washed away. And if you`re throwing in voter I.D., you`re making it harder.

Georgia, your state, they passed this bill where they tried to get rid of Souls to the Polls Sunday. They now left one Sunday in. You have got in -- addition to doing that, you have got Arizona. They have got a bill to literally let the legislature throw out election results and put in their own slate of voters -- own slate of electors.

You have got, of course, Ron DeSantis, who`s one of the kings of voter suppression. He wants to limit drop boxes, require registration for mail-in values ballots. This is one of the states that is the best at doing mail-in voting. He wants to kill that and gut it.

You just go on and on and on. What do you make of the -- it`s so obvious to me, Stacey, that they saw -- except for Georgia, they saw Arizona and Georgia flip. And their response to that was to say, well, we can`t let that happen again.

And I say to you particularly given the praise that your state`s Republican state elections officials got after they just refused to outright commit crimes to let Donald Trump have the victory.

ABRAMS: Well, let`s be clear. We didn`t -- we were successful in Georgia in extraordinary ways. We were successful in Arizona.

But we also mitigated voter suppression in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, across the country where, in the wake of not only the Voting Rights Act evisceration, but also in the wake of the Obama election in 2008, we saw a bevy of attempts to restrict access to the right to vote.

Georgia got more attention because it was the most egregious and it was actually committed in broad daylight by the secretary of state, now the governor of Georgia. And in Arizona and Florida, we have seen it again and again.

But what we know is happening is that they -- the Republican Party -- and it`s not the entire party, I don`t believe, yet, but they have to stand up and declare they are not part of this anti-democratic force.

We know that business leaders have to stand up and call a spade a spade and say that this is wrong. When you can win elections, not by having the best ideas, but by stealing the right to vote, then you do not deserve to win, and you don`t deserve to participate.

And so what we need is a call to action that not only stops these bills in local and state legislatures, but we have got to also fight hard to make certain that H.R.1 and S.R.1 and H.R.4 become the law of the land in the United States.

REID: Do you believe that Democrats should get rid of the filibuster in order to pass H.R.1 -- I mean, it passed S.R.1?

ABRAMS: I believe -- I believe, absolutely, S.R.1 should be subject to at least a carve out.

The fundamental right to democracy is the ability to vote. And if there is nothing else that we would be willing to require simple -- of a simple majority to protect, it should be the right to vote.

This is not an exception that is without precedent. We have already seen them eliminate the filibuster for judicial appointments. We have seen them do the same thing for budget reconciliation.

This is about our democracy. And we know how fragile it is, because we watched it happen less than two months ago. In addition to "Our Time" -- in addition to "All In: The Fight For Democracy," I wrote a book called "Our Time Is Now," where I lay out how egregious and how seductive voter suppression is.

And we cannot allow ourselves to be seduced by the big lie, or, worse, seduced by this notion that, because the insurrection in January didn`t work, that we`re out of the woods. We`re not out of the woods until we create a foundation for democracy. And that is H.R.1.

REID: You know, at a certain point, corporations decided to punish states that continued to fly the Confederate Flag or had policies that they found offensive to people who work for them and who were their customers.

Do you think that that`s one way business should get involved? Should states -- for instance, should consumers boycott states that fundamentally restrict the right to vote? Should corporations withdraw from -- from supporting politicians who support destroying the right to vote?

ABRAMS: I believe that, absolutely, business has a -- has a role to play.

We have seen them stand up when they saw wrong happening. We saw them do so in the wake of the insurrection. And now they need to look at state legislatures and look at the people who are presenting these bills, who are letting them fly through, those who are pretending that there was voter fraud, when every -- Democrats, Republicans and the conservative U.S. Supreme Court have all said it did not happen.

What is happening now is not just a regression to the mean. It is a regression to the meanest way possible to run elections. And the reality is, when you break democracy for anyone, you break it for everyone.

In Georgia, mail-in voting is primarily -- has been primarily used by Republican voters for years. 2020 was the first time Democrats won both early voting and mail-in voting. And to break that simply because too many Democrats voted, because too many black and brown people voted is to cut off your nose to spite your face.

And the people who are in charge should be listened to. And they should be -- we should hear loud and clear that they are willing to destroy democracy to win elections. And the business community should say, that is wrong and should push back hard.

REID: Last question. Do you trust the Supreme Court on this, given that John Roberts has pretty much spent his entire adult career fighting to destroy, if not get rid of the Voting Rights Act?

ABRAMS: I do not.

I think that this has to be done by the body that in the Constitution of the United States is given the power to address this. Congress has the power to set the manner, time and place of elections. And they should use that power by passing H.R.1 and H.R.4.

We know that, right now, what`s going to happen tomorrow, when the Supreme Court considers the Arizona cases, they`re going to try to eviscerate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which, as you rightly explained, prohibits these types of practices when it targets people of color.

If they can knock out pillar five and pillar four, we no longer have protections for our democracy. And that means Congress has to step up and act now.

REID: Indeed. John Lewis` spirit is watching.

Stacey Abrams, thank you. It`s always great to talk with you. Thanks so much for being here. Congratulations on the documentary.

And still ahead: The New York state attorney -- the New York state attorney general launches an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Meanwhile, Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn gets a pass from his party on allegations he sexually harassed women in college just a few short years ago.

We`re back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is apologizing for what he calls insensitive interactions with members of his staff.

This comes after a second former aide came forward this weekend accusing Cuomo of verbally harassing her, including questioning her about her sex life; 25-year-old Charlotte Bennett tells "The New York Times" Cuomo asked -- quote -- "If I believed if age made a difference in relationships" and - - quote -- "if I had ever been with an older man."

She also said the now 63-year-old governor told her that he felt that he`s fine with anyone above the age of 22.

Last week, another former staffer, Lindsey Boylan, claimed Cuomo kissed her on the lips without consent. Cuomo insists he never inappropriately touched or proposition anybody and has denied the claims of both women.

In a statement, Cuomo said, in part: "I acknowledge some of the things I have said have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation. To the extent anyone felt that way, I am truly sorry about that."

After first appointing a former federal judge to review the allegations, which raised questions about impartiality, Cuomo turned the inquiry over to New York attorney General Letitia James, who will appoint an independent investigator.

At the end of the review, the findings will be released in a public report.

Joining me now is Michelle Goldberg, columnist for "The New York Times."

Now, Michelle, that last bit is something that is sort of different over what -- basically, to what we have seen over the last four years, where the U.S. chief executive basically called the women accusing him names and said they weren`t his type and such, and there was never any real investigation.

How much jeopardy, politically, is Cuomo in here? And what do you think the impact of that investigation will be?

MICHELLE GOLDBERG, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: So, I can`t imagine how the investigation could exonerate Cuomo of all of these charges, given that -- you know, he denies Lindsey Boylan`s charges.

But I think he just says that he was misinterpreted when it comes to Charlotte Bennett. He said -- and so I don`t think that there is any dispute that he said something extremely inappropriate to Charlotte Bennett, that he made Charlotte Bennett feel like he wanted to sleep with her.

And there`s no dispute that she changed jobs because of it, right? She saved text messages. She saved messages with her superiors in government. This is like an extremely well-documented case.

I think that, if it was a couple of years ago, when MeToo was at its height, Andrew Cuomo would be in a lot more trouble than he is now. I still think he`s weakened because this comes on the heels of this very serious scandal about him misstating the number of COVID deaths in nursing homes.

But, at the same time, I think, among some Democrats, at least I get a sense that they are sort of tired of single-handedly upholding a set of standards that Republicans refuse to hold themselves to. So, I just see -- just online, you will see people saying, don`t Franken Cuomo, right?

REID: Right.

GOLDBERG: Or why should we -- why should Cuomo resign, when Cawthorn doesn`t resign?

REID: Yes.

What`s interesting is that -- right. I think that, if you think about Kirsten Gillibrand`s presidential career was probably in many ways ended by the anger that a lot of base Democrats had because she was so insistent on -- in terms of the Al Franken situation. He was very, very popular. These are much less serious allegations that we need to make clear that we`re talking with Cuomo.

But what do you make of that? Because you do have the former president having something like 24 allegations. We talked a little about Madison Cawthorn. Madison Cawthorn, this was when he was in college, but he was literally just in college like three or four years ago, supposedly pulling women into his car, not letting them out, being really creepy and weird.

And there was a whole big BuzzFeed piece on it. And there doesn`t seem to be any blowback at all. He`s back on FOX News talking about morality and stuff.

What do you make of that? Because Democrats do seem to uphold a quite different standard of ethics for their politicians.

GOLDBERG: Yes, I think that the Democrat -- Democrats are the party that doesn`t tolerate sexual harassment or that thinks sexual harassment is wrong and should be punished.

And Republicans aren`t that party, right? I mean, with Madison Cawthorn, as you said, he was in college just a few years ago, so you can`t say back in college.

REID: Right.

GOLDBERG: It`s also worth noting this was a very conservative Christian college that caters to homeschoolers, right?

These weren`t kind of feminist students with probably overdeveloped or highly developed senses about affirmative consent. And so, if these women are saying Madison Cawthorn is a predator, Madison Cawthorn doesn`t respect boundaries, I think that his behavior was probably truly egregious.

REID: You know, we reached out to Kevin McCarthy, the -- Leader McCarthy`s office, and got nothing back. There`s no comment.

And it seems like that is the pattern. It`s very similar to what you had with Trump, where people just go, I didn`t -- I didn`t see the tweets. I didn`t hear it. I didn`t hear when he called that woman ugly or said that I couldn`t have raped her because that wasn`t my type.

It is just very different.

What do you make of the cultural issue here? It feels like Cuomo`s attempts to run for president, which was what we all felt was coming, that`s kind of done, right, on his side.

But two out of the six Republican conservatives on the Supreme Court have these kinds of allegations. That didn`t stop them. It seems like Cawthorn could have a clear path to that or whatever else he wanted. It doesn`t seem like his political future is impinged at all.

GOLDBERG: Well, again -- and I understand that that`s really frustrating for Democrats, but I don`t think that they should -- that Democrats should see sort of policing their own as like a sacrifice that they`re making, where they get to have all of these sexual harassers, so why can`t we have a couple?

REID: Right.

GOLDBERG: I think that people should evaluate the Cuomo case on its own.

And these allegations are really, really serious.

REID: I totally agree, yeah. It`s right. Listen, being the party that has standards ain`t such a bad thing. That actually, you know, Democrats should be quite -- you know, that`s a good thing.

Michelle Goldberg, I know you have a column coming out about this -- about the Cuomo situation, so everybody should read that. Thank you. Always great having you on.

And up next, all hail the golden Trump. No, no, no, no. We`re not talking about his spray tan. Behold, conservatives still enthralled by the twice- impeached former president could easily be a choice for today`s absolute worst, easily. But we`ve got someone even more deserving, meaning even more terrible.

Can you guess who I`m talking about? You have an entire commercial break to figure it out. Come right back. We`ll tell you.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KRISTI NOEM (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: I don`t know if you agree with me, but Dr. Fauci is wrong a lot.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Bizarre political tirades, vague attacks on science, and demagoguery of the highest order. That could only mean one thing. It`s CPAC time again.

This weekend`s confab of Florida man worship offered so many choices for the absolute worst. It`s hard to know where to begin. And sorry, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, you`re totally un-ironic attack on Dr. Anthony Fauci, even though your state has reported more infections per resident than any other state other than North Dakota, was indeed terrible. But this is CPAC, and you`ve got so much competition. Better luck next year.

Take, for example, the CEO of Goya Foods, who was reportedly censured by the company`s board of directors in January for spreading false claims of election fraud and ordered to stop talking to the media. Apparently that reprimand wasn`t enough because he`s still out there pushing the mass delusion that Trump won the election.

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ROBERT UNANUE, GOYA FOODS CEO: My biggest honor today is going to be that I think we`re going to be on the same stage as, in my opinion, the real, the legitimate, and the still actual president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Terrible.

Congressman Paul Gosar also appeared at CPAC where he delivered a speech less than 24 hours after addressing another even more extreme convention one night earlier. Gosar was the keynote speaker at the America First Political Action Conference, basically the convention for CPAC rejects if you need a reference point. It`s organized by right wing activist, former YouTuber and Charlottesville white nationalist riot veteran Nick Fuentes.

Here`s just a small excerpt from the white power speech Fuentes gave right after Gosar spoke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK FUENTES, FAR-RIGHT POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This country wouldn`t exist without white people.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

And white people are done being bullied.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Charming. So charming.

Gosar is certainly a strong candidate for the absolute worst. But wait, wait, there`s more. Take a look at the mind-numbing hypocrisy of Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, who attacked the so-called elites of Ivy League universities. According to Hegseth, here`s what average Americans talk about over breakfast at the diners that he visits across the country.

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PETE HEGSETH, FOX NEWS HOST: They`re not talking about esoteric things that the Ivy League talks about or MSNBC talks about. They`re talking about the Bible and faith and prayer and their family, hard work, supporting the police, standing for the anthem, the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, the Tenth Amendment.

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REID: Yes, yes, yes. So according to Hegseth, in between bites of bagel, average Americans talk more about the Tenth Amendment at that old diner breakfast table than esoteric things like, say, the minimum wage and having to get to work on time because they`re in a diner. Of course, Hegseth himself is the product of not one but two Ivy League institutions he speaks so mockingly. I mean, he was the publisher of that voice of the popular man, the Princeton Tory. Egads!

So, yes, the competition for absolute worst is fierce, but today that prize finally, finally, finally goes to none other than missing Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Yes, old Cancun Cruz has been carrying a torch for that title in his giant overnight bag for weeks now. It was bad enough that he flew south of the border for a vacation at the Ritz-Carlton while millions of his home state of Texas residents were freezing without power, and he was lucky that Texas didn`t build a wall to keep him from coming back.

Worse yet, when it came time to apologize, he blamed his daughters for his own bad decision. And now while hundreds of thousands of Texans are still dealing with a water crisis, Cruz is joking about how he abandoned them. LOL.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I got to say Orlando is awesome! It`s not as nice as Cancun.

(LAUGHTER)

But it`s nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: So, yes, yes, Ted freedom screamer Cancun Cruz is the absolute worst. But wasn`t he always really deep down?

But the biggest takeaway from CPAC this year is that the former disgraced president has bankrupted the Republican Party, just like he bankrupted his businesses and Ted Cruz`s dignity. And yet the GOP is still betting its entire future on his attitude (ph), and that is coming up next.

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REID: If there is one thing that CPAC demonstrated this year is that the Republican Party still worships at the altar of Trump. In a move down right biblical, CPAC attendees rolled out a giant gold statue of the former president, a scope that evoked analogies to the false idols of the Old Testament.

And yet, at least one attendee did actually fell to his knees at its flip- flop clad feet to kneel in mock prayer.

But like King Nebuchadnezzar who punished Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who refused to worship a statue of his likeness by throwing them into a pit of fire, Trump in his first speech since leaving office made clear that his first order of business is to purge disloyal Republicans from the ranks of the party.

He rattled off a hit list of Republican lawmakers who dared impeach him or vote them out. In other words, this is no longer about ideology. It`s vendetta politics.

Joining me now, Fernand Amandi, Democratic pollster and strategist, and Sara Longwell, executive director of the Republican Accountability Project.

Sarah, I`m going to you, first. Maybe a purge of the party, might that be good news for people who want to have a normal Republican Party? Is it time to let the Trumpers and form what they called TPAC?

SARAH LONGWELL, THE BULWARK PUBLISHER: I wish that were the case. Unfortunately, it`s just too big a part of the Republican Party.

Here is the thing. Donald Trump losing the election was supposed to make him weaker. Inciting an insurrection should have made him weaker. The party should be running from him. But if CPAC demonstrated anything, it`s that Donald Trump is actually stronger and it`s not because he destroyed (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you can see it in people like Nikki Haley, who tweeted last night about what a strong speech he gave after formerly criticizing him.

It`s about Mitch McConnell who said he was morally and practically responsible for the insurrection, saying he would endorse him if he was the party`s nominee.

I mean, what CPAC showed us is that the Republican Party, Trump is not the Republican`s party past, he is their future.

REID: You know, it is -- it is interesting, Fernand. I mean, I have a Nikki Haley timeline here which we can put up. February 12th, she criticized him in this "Politico" interview which is falsely super brave. Then by February 18th, she is trying to see him in Texas, in Florida and he is, like, stay away from me, you can`t come down here. And then she praises him last night.

So, it was real quick, she went from supposed principled whatever behavior to this. Is -- to me, can you explain this? Because if Nikki Haley tries to run for president in 2024, which is a lot of people think she wants to do, and Donald Trump runs for president, she will get 1 to 2 percent, if that. None of these people beat him in a primary, none of these people can win themselves.

What is the calculation, in your view?

FERNAND: Well, let me explain the retreat from Nikki Haley and Mitch McConnell and Ben Sasse and others. Leadership doesn`t poll well. Defying Trump does not poll well.

I am certain that they saw and they had their pollsters running them saying, oh my god, you guys are in meltdown, you have to fix this because what we asserted and Sarah pointed out to, after in the last 24 hours, is that in the world of the Republican Party, according to what we saw in CPAC, Donald Trump is still the president. The pandemic is over. And the insurrection that Donald Trump incited never happened.

So the only person that is going to stop Donald Trump from being the Republican nominee in 2024 is a state or federal prosecutor. It`s not going to be anybody in the Republican Party because no one can withstand the heart of the Trump base and whatever the discretions of what Trump says are. Anybody that tries to start to get pole position for this 2024 nomination, and rises their head up a little bit above water, they are going to get whack-a-moled by Donald Trump and his minions, and that is why we are not going to see anyone dare defy the gold calf idol of the Republican Party which is still Donald Trump, maybe stronger now than ever before.

REID: Yeah, even his son only polls at 6 percent. You put them all at a poll.

You know, Sarah, you have people defying -- mocking mask-wearing, including the absolute worst Ted Cruz and others at CPAC. In Florida, which is in the middle still of a pandemic, and lifting up people like Kristi Noem and Florida Government Ron DeSantis who have said I don`t care how many people die in my state, I am going to keep everything open. I guess that is part of the orthodoxy, though, right, let them all die?

LONGWELL: I don`t know about that. I mean, what it is, the pandemic has been politicized. Donald Trump set the tone a long time ago that he was going to make the pandemic a part of the culture.

And because the Republican Party is now a party of grievance, it is a party of culture war, things like masks and being responsible about the pandemic have become, like, soft liberal signaling somehow. And that`s what they are doing. Going in there, not wearing masks, that`s what being a Republican is about now despite the fact that over 500,000 people have now died.

REID: You know, it is striking to me that you had, Fernand, you know, Hyatt (ph) and the leadership of the Republican Party have to respond to inquiries as to whether the stage looked like a Nazi rune. They had to respond to that in the 21st century. The governor of Florida who`s just president, people call him Death-Santis because he`s let so many people died in his state, and yet he polled second to Trump. He was the second most popular guy there. That`s the future, I guess, DeSantis.

AMANDI: Well, I`m not sure. It`s not the future unless Trump says it`s the future. Again, DeSantis was put in office by Trump singlehandedly. He is the figure most responsible for Florida governor Ron DeSantis. It`s a function of whether or not says he can run for president or not. If he says no, Ron DeSantis will not run for president. It`s simple as that.

By the way, it wasn`t -- that was a Nazi rune on the stage. I mean, let`s call it for it is. It was a Nazi rune by a party that embraces white supremacy and crypto Nazism.

REID: It was a wild, wild weekend.

Fernand Amandi, Sarah Longwell, thank you both.

That is tonight`s REIDOUT.

"ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES" starts right now.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. END