year and his family and his friends will be there and a lot of other boldfaced names, plus, you know, lester holt. i'll be there too. so join us there and highlights from his janet yellen interview will be on youtube. thank you all for watching. "chris jansing reports" starts right now. ♪♪ good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. ahmaud arbery's aunt called it the worst day of her life hearing that her nephew's killers would appeal their hate crime convictions. the arbery family traveling to atlanta to be in court today, forced to relive the pain of ahmed's death years after they thought the legal part of it was over. what happened in court today and what it could all mean going forward. plus, the ntsb begins the arduous task of figuring out how and why a cargo ship brought down a baltimore bridge, as the

city braces for the economic ripple effect that could last for months or much longer. all that as crews continue to search for the bodies of six construction workers, migrants working the night shift to build a better life for their families. we are waiting for an update from transportation secretary pete buttigieg at the white house press briefing, and we will bring that to you when it happens scheduled for any minute now. and kari lake taking a page from rudy giuliani essentially admitting liability in a defamation lawsuit, instead hoping to keep the damages as low as possible. that playbook didn't work too well for giuliani. his verdict forced him into bankruptcy. can kari lake do any better? but we begin with what was a particularly heinous crime that caused a national outcry. today three white men who chased ahmaud arbery before he was shot and killed were back in court trying to get their hate crime convictions thrown out. the video of the attack that we are about to show you is hard to

watch, but it is an important reminder. arbery was just running through their neighborhood when father and son, greg and travis mcmichael, armed themselves, got into a pickup truck, and gave chase. their neighbor, william roddy bryant soon joined them in his own truck and recorded travis shooting arbery dead on the street. for ahmaud arbery's family this moment is opening up blistering and painful wounds. >> i am so hurt still because when we saw what happened at first, we thought this would be over with now, and for people to keep giving money for these people to appeal in the way they took my nephew's life, this is destroying my family. this is sickening to see somebody gunned down, a baby. that was out for a jog. no other family deserves to go through what we are going through right now.

it's sickening. if you're not sick when you see this, it will make you sick. i've been sick ever since 2020. >> nbc's blayne alexander is outside the courthouse in atlanta. also with us "axios" senior politics reporter eugene scott, and former prosecutor and civil rights attorney kristin gibbens feden. good to have both of you here. blayne, after that conviction in georgia state court that happened back in 2021, ahmaud arbery's mother said her son could finally rest in peace. then today, i mean, you heard the visceral hurt, the anger in this aunt's voice having to deal with this, to relive this over again. how did legal arguments land today? >> reporter: well, i think you said it, chris. i think the fact that the arbery family is back here now more than four years after ahmaud arbery was killed, really fighting to make sure that this conviction is upheld is something that is a strong pain point for them. you heard it from his aunt. we'll hear it from his father in

just a second. i think that's certainly painful for the arbery family. then when you kind of widen this out and look at what exactly this conviction was. remember, this is a federal hate crimes conviction. as you said, they've already been convicted of murder in a state court. that sentence is separate from this one, but when you look at this, this was really of symbolic significance because of the three deaths that we saw back in 2020, of course ahmaud arbery, breonna taylor and george floyd, it was ahmaud arbery's that was the only one that brought any sort of conviction based on race. and so that's why we saw organizations like the naacp like black voters matter, like other community activists who were also coming out here to express their concern this could possibly be appealed and overturned. here's what we heard from marcus arbery, he's ahmaud arbery's father. he spoke very passionately about what today represented to them. take a look. >> what happened to maud is everybody's problem. >> right. >> because if we don't stop this now, this country going to go backwards. we got to bring changes.

we got to make our young people feel free to run and have fun and not chased down like animals because all black people are human beings. and i don't want none of them to fear for their life. i tell you one thing, it's all our problem. that's why we've got to make these people be accountable for what they've done to my baby. >> reporter: and so you heard those passionate words there from marcus arbery, the father of ahmaud arbery. now of course, the question is how will -- what will the decision be in all of this? we still are going to wait likely a few weeks before we hear how the judges decide on this, chris. >> thank you so much for that, blayne alexander. so kristen, let's talk about the arguments that came up. one of them in the legal briefs was that the past racist comments by these guys who have been convicted on social media inflamed the jury while failing to prove that they did this because of arbery's race. here's what the a.p. notes. quote, the social media evidence

included a 2018 facebook comment that travis mcmichael made on a video of a black man playing a prank on a white person. he used an expletive and a racial slur writing, i'd kill that blank. what do you make of the argument that was in court? >> i suspect that the prosecution is actually going to be successful in their argument. really, whenever you have a hate crime, the prosecution must prove at the trial level that the defendant's intentionally targeted the victim because of race, so when we look at the evidence that was presented, right, those dozen racist text messages and the social media post, yes, evidence unfortunately can have a damaging -- it can be very prejudicial to the jury when it comes in, but if the probative nature of that evidence outweighs the prejudicial value, then it's fair game, and that is what the prosecution is arguing. that was the key evidence that

they needed in order to counter the defendant's argument that it was about him being a criminal and not about him being black, but they were able to show, you know, those nasty text messages, some of which included the n word, others derogatory language directed at black people, to show that their actions were actually motivated by races, and that's why it constituted a hate crime. >> the other thing, kristen, that's worth noting is that the defendants' lawyers relied on a lot of legal technicalities in making their arguments, amy lee copeland, for example, who is the lawyer for travis mcmichael, focused today on prosecutors they say failing to prove that arbery was killed on public roads. take a listen. >> the legal effect of the refused offer of dedication coupled with what the county actually did in the intervening years shows that the county simply did not administer the streets. the district court found that it was enough that the streets were simply usable. >> do you have any case law that says we need to draw the

distinction between streets and roadway? >> your honor, no, except that they're essentially different. >> is that grounds for an appeal? >> it is grounds for an appeal because it could challenge whether or not it was rightfully brought in federal court, but again, you know, going back to the evidence that was actually presented at the trial level where the prosecution presented evidence of service request records and testimony from county officials, which were intended to show that those streets were treated as public. they were public streets, and therefore, it constituted a public place. in other words, what the prosecution had to prove as part of it was that mr. arbery was murdered in the public streets. i think that would be sufficient to show it. while it is grounds for appeal, again, i suspect it's not going to be successful. >> the sub text of this, ye eugene is that the criminal justice system is on trial today. when the state verdict first came down, activists felt a kind of sense of home that a broken

system was maybe showing some signs of changing. today also brings back a lot of those feelings for people who have fought for racial justice. does this system today feel any less broken? >> i'm not quite sure that it does, and i think that's what we saw his aunt articulate. they had a sense of peace and comfort when this federal conviction went forward because this still meant that these individuals were going to serve significant prison time, but if this does get overturned, there is a chance, they fear, that perhaps these individuals will not have to serve out that you are -- their full life sentences in the event that those cases are appealed as well. that's why you see civil rights organizations say it's really important that federal hate crime convictions stand in situations like this. i wanted to note one of the things that's very important to realize about this case that

distinguishes it from the ones involving breonna taylor and george floyd is that these individuals were not law enforcement and the fear that many black americans felt was that, quite frankly, random individuals could just run out in the street and kill people because they felt unsafe and get off with it, and what you see the families begging for and fighting for with this situation right now is for that not to be the case and for justice to be served, not in just this incident but in all similar cases. >> we have seen in the past with so many of these and far too many of these high profile cases, the political ramifications of this, right, eugene? the president of the collective pac, which is the largest political action committee that supports black candidates specifically pointed to the prosecution of ahmaud arbery in their endorsement of joe biden in 2024. here's what they said, quote, we've got the receipts, joe biden and kamala harris have delivered for the black community, appointing more black judges than every other

president combined and prosecuting the killers of george floyd and ahmaud arbery. this administration made promises and kept them. so now this is back in the news at a time when we know that black voters have moved away, including young male black voters, away from joe biden. is the president talking about this enough? >> enough perhaps not to the demographics that want to hear more about this. as you all both know, these cases are not in the news like they were in 2020. i mean, this was such a big case that not only were biden and harris speaking about it, trump was speaking about it. republicans hoping to win the senate seat in georgia and state office were speaking about it. we haven't seen that. and whether we see that moving forward before election day could determine who is successful in november, and we expect based off what we have seen biden and harris to lean

into this, whether trump brings it up again, i'm not quite sure because quite frankly this is not an issue that is of significant concern to many of the demographic groups that the former president is hoping to win. >> eugene scott, kristen gibbens feden, thank you so much. we appreciate you. in 60 seconds, brand new audio about the moments leading up to that catastrophic bridge collapse. we're live on the scene, and we will also speak with a former investigator about the data that the ntsb is looking at right now. stay with us. skin-carving next level hydration? new neutrogena hydro boost water cream. a vital boost of nine times more hydration* to boost your skin's barrier for quenched, dewy skin that's full of life. neutrogena. hydro boost. ♪ students... students of any age, from anywhere. students in a new kind of classroom. ♪ using our technology to power different ways of learning.

♪ harnessing ai to plant new beginnings. ♪ so when minds grow, opportunities follow. a force to be reckon with. no, not you saquon. hm? you! your business bank account with quickbooks money, now earns 5% apy. 5% apy? that's new! yup, that's how you business differently. today a team of investigators from the ntsb boarded the crashed dolly cargo ship in baltimore gathering new evidence and interviewing crew members to help better understand exactly what cause that had container ship to crash into the francis scott key bridge. the ntsb chair says the ship's voyage data recorder similar to

an airplane's black box has been recovered and sent to the lab to extract the data. we are hearing new audio from the police dispatch from the moments before and after the collapse. >> hold all traffic on the key bridge. there's a ship approaching that just lost their steering. >> the whole bridge just fell down. start, start whoever everybody, the whole bridge just collapsed. >> reporter: that first warning undoubtedly saved lives. nbc's antonia hylton is on the ground for us in baltimore. what more do we know about this and the recovery efforts that are underway, antonia? >> reporter: well, chris, when it comes to the recovery, what we're hearing from officials right now is that they want the families and everyone connect to the victims to know that they really want them to be able to have closure, and so that means that they are still actively searching, even if no longer they believe that these six missing individuals could not possibly still be alive at this point, they still want to give the families as much updated and upfront information as possible. but it is incredibly difficult to do that.

i really can't stress that enough. not only is it raining now today, but this water here does not have good visibility and it is very difficult for the divers to get in there and to see anything. there of course is the chaotic and tons of debris there, and then the tide that they are going to be dealing with, and so all of these factors are making it challenging for the groups, the first responders that have been trying to respond. take a listen to our colleague tom llamas's conversation with one member of the fbi's dive team. take a look. >> how dark is it down there? >> so for a human, like you're going to see it's going to be straight up bottom. it's black water, you're not going to see any light. lights actually aren't going to help because of the particulates in the water, they're going to be just kind of reflected back at you. sonar is going to come up as a clear image, though. >> so the divers essentially can't see anything? >> no, divers won't see anything. they're going to work by feel with their hands.

>> reporter: the next step for the ntsb is going to be to take that voyage data to try to reconstruct a time line now, a play-by-play essentially of everything that could have led up to this crash, and they're going to be looking at everything from technical and mechanical questions about the vessel itself. they're also going to be looking into the history of the bridge, built in the 1970s. they right now don't think the bridge is necessarily at fault, but that doesn't mean there aren't safety lessons to be learned, and then they're also going to be looking at the human side of things, the actions of the crew, the owners, what they may or may not have known about the safety of this vessel, its history over the last few years, and all of that is going to be very elaborate. one expert that i spoke to said that this could be a years' long process, that this is, of course, going to take multiple agencies, it spans multiple corporations involved in this vessel and this crash, and multiple countries, and all of that is really a very careful

and difficult process. the ntsb leading the way, but certainly federal, state, and local partners now all on the ground, and they will be for quite a while, chris. >> antonia hylton, thank you for that. i want to turn to former ntsb investigator and msnbc aviation analyst, jeff ga settee. you know about the ntsb protocols. how similar is a marine accident investigation to an airplane one, and what is the ntsb looking for first and foremost here? >> it's very similar, chris. the ntsb protocols along all of their lines of transportation are very similar. they have in aviation it's called a flight data recorder. in maritime it's a voyage data recorder but the same ntsb laboratory downloads the data and presents plots. the ntsb breaks up into teams, groups just like they're doing now for this marine accident, and they bring parties onboard to assist in aviation.

that's airlines and jet engine manufacturer. here it will be the manufacturer of the vessel, the operator of the vessel, and perhaps manufacturers of some of the equipment that may have failed on board, and everyone is concerned about getting the perishable evidence first. people's memories fade and the wreckage, the on scene portion, that's going to be a priority for the ntsb as it is in any type of accident. >> let me ask you about two of those things, i'm going to start with that voyage data recorder. the ntsb says it is back at their lab. help us to understand what is on there, what can they learn from it? >> the voyage data recorder will have many parameters describing mathematically the -- what was happening with the ship. it will have its position, its latitude and longitude, you know, sampled four times a second perhaps. it will have its speed.

it will have the power on the engines, the propeller revolutions per minute, the electrical characteristics of what was happening there, temperature sensors. it will be a blow by blow, a second by second analysis of the vessel from the time it left the dock to the time it impacted the bridge. >> i also want to ask you about what you said about memories because we do know investigators will be speaking directly to the crew. this is tricky stuff, right? anybody who is an investigator, whether it's a crime scene, whether it's an accident like this, they will tell you that when someone's been through a traumatic experience, memories are tricky things anyway, but what kinds of questions will they be asking crew members? what can they hope to glean? >> well, the best way to question a witness is to ask open-ended questions. the first thing they'll to is try to put the witness at ease and say tell us about your background or qualifications.

how did you get here? and then they'll just have an open-ended question like tell us what happened from the time you left the harbor to the time of the accident, and they'll let the witness discuss it in their own words. and then there will be follow-up questions to kind of probe the various things there. it is traumatic. the ntsb is not going to interview someone that's -- that has a medical issue or just isn't in a state of mind to be interviewed, but most witnesses are willing to cooperate, and so they're going to try to get at those folks. they might ask for written statements before or after they're interviewed, and they'll put it all into context after they talk to everyone, and they may even do follow-up interviews. >> very early hours and days still, jeff guzzetti, fascinating stuff. thank you for sharing your expertise. transportation secretary pete buttigieg is expected to

address the bridge collapse, and we'll have that for you when he starts speaking. coming up next, donald trump is hit with a new gag order in the hush money case. what the judge is now prohibiting the former president from doing and will he listen to the judge? but first, one very lucky new jersey player is now $1.13 billion richer or there's a $537.5 million cash option. the winning mega millions ticket was sold at a monmouth county liquor store and just last hour, the state lottery executive director presented that retailer with a $30,000 bonus prize. the jackpot now reverts to 20 million, but there's always tonight's power ball drawing worth a cool $865 million. we'll be right back. right back. new science shows listerine is 5x more effective than floss at reducing plaque above the gumline. for a cleaner, healthier mouth. ahhhhh. listerine. feel the whoa! hey! asthma's got you going through it?

grab nucala for fewer asthma attacks. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask an asthma specialist if nucala is right for you. breathing claritin clear is like...

is he? claritin clear? yeah. fast relief of your worst allergy symptoms, like nasal congestion. live claritin clear® ♪♪ with fastsigns, signage that gets you noticed turns hot lots into homes. ♪♪ fastsigns. make your statement. only purple's gel flex grid passes the raw egg test. no other mattress cradles your body and simultaneously supports your spine. memory foam doesn't come close. get your best sleep guaranteed right now! save up to $400. visit purple.com or a store near you. look up, way up. above the clouds. amidst the stars. that's where we go to bring you internet you can rely on to work, play and dream. at viasat, we're creating a powerful network of internet satellites.

delivering faster, more reliable internet to you. wherever you may be. high—speed internet that's above and beyond. viasat. the internet is looking up. this thing? it's what's going on inside of me. it's my moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. it wasn't always this calm uc went everywhere i did. wondering when it would pop up next was stressful doing a number on my insides. but then i found out about velsipity a new once-daily pill, not a steroid or biologic, for adults with moderate to severe uc. velsipity can help calm the chaos of uc — it quickly treats flares providing a chance for lasting steroid-free remission. don't take velsipity if you've had a heart attack, chest pain, stroke or ministroke, heart failure in the last 6 months, irregular or abnormal heartbeat. velsipity may cause serious side effects including infections that can be fatal, slow heart rate, liver problems, increased blood pressure, macular edema, certain types of skin cancer, swelling and narrowing of the brain's blood vessels or shortness of breath.

tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to be. if conventional therapy like 5-asas or steroids aren't working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about velsipity. velsipity. help calm the chaos of uc.

arizona's senate candidate and election denier kari lake following in donald trump and rudy giuliani's foot steps today not fighting a defamation suit in a court of law but in the court of public opinion. lake essentially conceded liability and the facts of the case, filed by republican election official steve richer, but simultaneously she claims his lawsuit is meant to derail her candidacy and, quote, bleed her dry. >> it is a political witchhunt, and everyone knows it. by participating in this lawsuit, it would only serve to legitimize this perversion of our legal system and allow bad

actors to interfere in our upcoming election, so i won't be taking part. >> lake's false accusations that he sabotaged the 2020 election led to death threats against him and his family and calls her concession a complete and total surrender, but both sides are now bracing for the fight over damages. nbc's vaughn hillyard has been following this for us. also with me, former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst glenn kirschner. what does richard say and what's lake conceding? >> reporter: kari lake still contends that the 2022 election was a sham and that she should be the governor of arizona, and she went repeatedly on the attack against maricopa county recorder stephen richer. to give you an idea, richer is a republican himself and was the one who was in the public office position of actually executing maricopa county's election in 2022, and i want to let you listen to kari lake because as part of his defamation suit

against her, he listed numerous occasions in which she directly suggested and asserted that he had sabotaged the race to undermine her and effectively rigged the election. take a listen. >> richer and gaetz and their crew printed a 19 inch image, the wrong image on the ballot so that the tabulators would jam all day long. that's exactly what happened. these clowns trampled on our sacred right to vote. and now we know that richer and gaetz lied and down played what happened on this day. >> reporter: back on election day in 2022, there were some printing issues at some polling locations that led to some lines at those locations. bill gates the other individual mentioned was the chair of the maricopa county board of supervisors, another republican, and kari lake suggested and stated repeatedly that this was

an intentional effort to have the election go against her because it was meant to target republicans who were going to go to the polls on election day. of course what stephen richer by filing this defamation suit against her sought to do was have kari lake prove her contention and what we just saw yesterday in this filing from kari lake was the decision to not dispute her liability, all but acknowledging the statements made against her in the defamation suit were false, but now she will go through the damages part of this in which she wants a jury to be the one to determine how much she should have to pay in terms of either compensatory damages or punitive damages, chris. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you. we want to go to the white house now and you can see transportation secretary pete buttigieg and the coast guard's vice admiral peter gotye. they both have come from the oval where they talked to the president about the baltimore bridge collapse. let's listen. >> unquestionably made an enormous difference and they have our gratitude.

in fact, if not for several factors including those responders' efforts, the may day call, the maintenance closure that was already underway and the time of day of this impact, the loss of life might have been in the dozens, but tragically six people did lose their lives and a seventh was badly injured. these were workers who went out to work on a night shift repairing the road's surface while most of us slept. work is undergoing to recover their remains and our thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones whose lives are never going to be the same. even as those families come to terms with this grief and even as those recovery operations continue, work is underway to investigate what happened and to restore the key transportation resources that were impacted. when it comes to the investigative work led by the ntsb and supported by the coast guard, i will respect their independent and not comment on that work, but i do appreciate being able to engage with ntsb,

coast guard and other personnel yesterday at the site. i also spent time with governor moore, and i want to express my appreciation for his leadership. the governor has responded to this unthinkable event with focus and compassion, and we're going to be working closely with him and with his his state's d.o.t. to support maryland in their work to rebuild the bridge and reopen the port. i also want to thank mayor scott, county executive alshefski for ensuring all resources are brought to bear in that response. while the investigation and response continue, president biden has made clear this whole administration will be providing support in every respect for the recovery and the rebuilding process that really comes down to four major focus areas. reopen the port, deal with the supply chain implications until the port does reopen, rebuild the bridge and deal with the

surface transportation implications while the bridge is rebuilt. we're already taking steps towards each goal. with regard to the port, again, the coast guard in coordination with the army corps of engineers will lead on the channel cleanup and the reopening so that that port can get back to full operation. we are concerned about the local economic impact with some 8,000 jobs directly associated with port activities, and we are concerned about implications that will ripple out beyond the immediate region because of the roles -- excuse me, because of the port's role in our supply chains. this is an important port for both imports and exports, and it's america's largest vehicle handling port, which is important not only for car imports and exports, but also for farm equipment. no matter how quickly the channel can be reopened, we know that it can't happen overnight, so we're going to have to manage the impacts in the meantime. we're working to mitigate some of those impacts including using tools that didn't exist a few years ago, following the disruptions to supply chains

from the covid pandemic, president biden's infrastructure package included the establishment of a new freight office within our department to help coordinate goods movement in ways that were not possible before. to be clear, ocean shipping is not centrally controlled the way you might expect with, for example, air traffic control. so having these tools allows us to create coordination that just didn't exist before. it's helped us to smooth out supply chains after covid. it's helped us to manage the red sea crisis, and we're using it now to help the hundreds of different private supply chain actors get better coordinated to keep goods moving. tomorrow i will be convening shippers and other supply chain partners to understand their needs and promote a coordinated approach as they adapt to temporary disruptions while we plan mitigations. that said, the port of baltimore is an important port. for our supply chains and for all of the workers who depend on it for their income, we're going to help to get it open as soon as safely possible.

now, for the bridge, we are going to be working with ntsb as they lead their independent investigation. it's too early to speculate, of course, what ntsb will find, but if they discover or determine anything that should be considered in the regulation, inspection, design, or funding of bridges in the future, we will be ready to apply those findings. what we do know is a bridge like this one completed in the 1970s was simply not made to withstand a direct impact on a critical support pier from a vessel that weighs about 200 million pounds. orders of magnitude bigger than cargo ships that were in service in that region at the time that the bridge was built. we also know that this is yet another demonstration of the importance of our roads and bridges, which is one of many reasons why the biden/harris administration worked so hard to get the infrastructure package passed and why roads and bridges are the single biggest category in that package. we are committed to delivering

every federal resource needed to help maryland get back to normal, and we're going to work with them every step of the way to rebuild this bridge. it is not going to be simple. when we helped pennsylvania and california swiftly reopen i-95 and i-10 respectively, there was terrific work done there but that was addressing comparatively short spans of bridges over land, relative to this span over water, and of course in the baltimore case, we still don't fully know the condition of the portions of the bridge that are still standing or of infrastructure that is below the surface of the water. rebuilding will not be quick or easy or cheap, but we will get it done. as i mentioned we're working with city, county, and state. we've been closely engaged with the maryland congressional delegation, who are doing a tremendous job advocating for their state. they've made it clear they will work with us to push fer help we

need from congress. the federal government will provide all of the support that maryland and baltimore need for as long as it takes and we will work with congress to deliver on that. i'll end with this, for the families of those presumed lost, for the people of baltimore who are going to be feeling this closure in day-to-day life and for everyone affected by the port closure and its supply chain impacts, the president and the whole government will be here with you until everything is rebuilt stronger than ever. our country put its arms around florida when the sunshine skyway bridge collapsed in 1980s, america rallied around minnesota after the bridge there collapsed in 2007. this will be a long and difficult path, but we will come together around baltimore and we will rebuild together. >> thank you, mr. secretary, and ka karine. let me add to what the secretary

has briefed you on. yesterday evening after an intense and thorough multiagency search on the water and from the air, the coast guard commander suspended the search for the individuals missing from the bridge collapse. he did this after consulting governor moore and many of the other agencies that were involved. the coast guard and the response community is deeply saddened that the missing individuals have not survived. the coast guard appreciates the state of maryland's leadership and humanity in supporting the family members of the missing. i'd like to personally thank the state and local responders for their heroic search and rescue efforts. while we didn't achieve the outcome that we had hoped for, it was a tremendous team effort in the treacherous operational conditions. as this aspect of the response shift to recover operations and consistent with the president's direction to get the port up and running as soon as possible, the coast guard's highest priority now is restoring the waterway for shipping, stabilizing the motor vessel dali and removing

it from the site and coordinating a maritime casualty investigation under the leadership of the national transportation and safety board. so just a couple of words on each one of those. in terms of assessing, restoring the waterway, the coast guard is very tightly connected to the army corps of engineers as they lead in that role as the lead federal agency for that effort. as we were in the oval office, the president called general spellman the chief of the army corps of engineers who is on site. general spellman and i had a number of conversations yesterday in terms of the coordinated approach moving forward, and they are moving very aggressively in putting resources and mobilizing the necessary equipment, conducting analysis in the underwater surveys to do that. in terms of continuing to stabilize the vessel, mitigating any pollution threat and removing the vessel from the area, the vessel is stable, but it still has over 1.5 million

gallons of fuel oil and lube oil on board, and it does have 4,700 cargo containers on boards. 56 of those contain hazardous materials, and two are missing overboard. the ones that are in the water do not contain hazardous materials, and then around 13 or so on the bow of the ship were damaged as the bridge collapsed and impacted the front of that ship. so the coast forward has moved aggressively to board the vessel, and we have teams on board, the responsible party, the ship operator has mobilized, activated the marine salvage plan in addition to their marine pollution response plan, both things that are required by the united states coast guard. a resolve marine incorporated have begun mobilizing resources to take the next steps appropriate to refloat the vessel and remove it from that area. the real critical thing here is that, as you know, a portion of the bridge remains on the bow of

that ship, and we will be coordinating very closely with the army corps of engineers and their contractors to first effect the removal of that debris before the vessel can then be removed. the vessel bow is sitting on the bottom because of the weight of that bridge debris on there, and there are underwater surveys that are happening by remotely operated vehicle. divers will be in the water today to complete that underwater survey. there's no indication that there's any flooding or any damage underneath the water line to that vessel, and that effort will continue. we'll keep you informed of that. and then lastly, in terms of the casualty investigation as the secretary has said, this is led by the national transportation and safety board. i've had a couple of conversations with chair homendy on this account, and basically what we've done is we've activated a memorandum of understanding between the coast guard and ntsb, and because the multimodal and complex nature of this investigation, we will be

providing coast guard investigators for what we call a marine board of investigation, which is our highest level of investigation in the coast guard that will fold in and coordinate with the ntsb investigation as that moves forward. i think the secretary closed with some top line messages and for us, i can tell you that our unified command, which is essentially a term that we use in the united states for how we mobilize against crises with all the appropriate federal, state, local agencies and other stake holders, we have a tremendous amount of talent on there and a lot of resourcing, and given the magnitude and importance of this response, it's going to be very, very aggressive moving forward and we'll keep you informed of that. thank you. >> admiral, cnn has obtained a government memo that this was -- evaluating hazardous material that was contained in some of

the containers on the ship. can you update us on that investigation? and is there a threat to the public from any of the materials on board the ship? >> there is no threat to the public from the hazardous materials on board. we've obtained the vessel manifest that containerships carry. we have a very specialized hazmat team on board called the atlantic strike team. we have three of those around the country, and we have air monitoring there to detect if there are anything that are coming off of those containers. the majority of those containers are closer to the pilot house and are completely unaffected by the damage to the bow of the ship, and we have not determined that there's any kind of release at this time. >> so would you assess as the risk some of those materials could leak or spill? >> most of these things are things like mineral oils, and even though they're hazardous, we've determined that there really isn't any kind of threat to the public. >> secretary buttigieg for you,

president biden has said the federal government should front the whole cost of reconstructing the bridge. what do the early estimates say that cost should and how quickly can you get that money? >> we don't have dollar estimates yet. we have provisions that allow us to begin releasing funding even while that is being determined. my understanding is as we speak this afternoon an emergency relief funding request has come in from the maryland state d.o.t. we'll be processing that immediately to start getting them what they need. also, later today there will be a design and procurement oriented meeting that we'll participate in, our federal highway administration along with mdot. again, obviously it's early days, but now is the time to begin scoping that out so that they can get to work. >> thank you. >> related to that, mr. secretary, how much existing money is there now within d.o.t. coffers to handle requests? do you have funding through the federal highway administration, through the infrastructure law,

or when do you anticipate having to go to congress for potentially a supplemental requests on the bridge costs? >> so the infrastructure law did authorize funding into the emergency relief account, which is the mechanism that is most likely to come into play here. last i checked, there was about $950 million available, but also a long line of needs and projects behind that. so it is certainly possible. i would go so far as to say likely that we may be turning to congress in order to help top up those funds, but that shouldn't be a barrier to the immediate next few days beginning to get the ball rolling. >> what would be the time frame of -- >> i think it's too soon to know the mechanics of that. >> and for the -- sorry, for the vice admiral, can you discuss broadly just the safety of maritime shipping in general and kind of the strength of the regulations that govern it, particularly the inherent interactional nature of the

maritime business could potentially create issues especially if you have ships based in different countries with potentially weaker regulations, can you speak to those broader issues? >> absolutely. despite what happened 36 hours ago in baltimore, the maritime mode of transportation, merchant shipping is an incredibly, incredibly safe mode of transportation, not just here in the united states but worldwide. while we do have a regime of regulations that are just comprehensive in terms of the vessel conditions, the cargo that they carry and how they do that, the qualifications and certifications from the mariners who operate these ships, those are actually networked with a global set of regulations that we negotiate and uphold through the international maritime organization in london. so this ship was flagged by singapore. that was the flag state of administration, and i spoke with the administration in singapore just a few hours ago. they'll be participating in the investigation. we do something called flag

state examinations to ensure that even though these are new u.s. flag vessels coming in, we do an inspection to assure that they meet the high international and domestic standards that we demand. >> secretary buttigieg, i know that you said the rebuilding efforts are just beginning, but when it comes to the actual port, can you give us a sense of what the time line would be for reopening? is it days? is it weeks? is it months? same for the bridge. are we talking about weeks, months, or are we talking about years? >> too soon to be certain. what i'll say in the case of the bridge is that the original bridge took five years to construct. that does not necessarily mean it will take five years to replace. but that tells you what went into that original structure going up. again, we need to get a sense of the conditions of the parts that look okay to the naked eye, but we just don't know yet, especially in terms of their foundational infrastructure. it is going to be some time where commuters are going to need to depend on that 95 and 895 tunnel, and it's going to

put pressure on them. as far as the port, again, too soon to venture an estimate. the vast majority of the port is inside of that bridge, which means most of it cannot operate, although there is a facility at what's called sparrow's point that can handle some amount of cargo shipping, but nothing close to the totality of baltimore. >> and for the port workers, you mentioned there's going to be an economic cost but also incurred to them i'm sure any of the funding that you're talking about in terms of emergency funding, would that cover them as well? >> this is a major concern the president has directed the administration to find any and all resources that could come into play here. i don't know this to be an automatic eligibility for the emergency relief funding that i mentioned earlier. but we're going to turn over every stone. we have and of course beyond d.o.t. there may be other resources that come into play. >> one more quickly, have you been in any communication with the owners of this vessel in terms of them paying some kind of consequence here? >> i have not. i'd really defer to ntsb and law enforcement for that.

>> mr. secretary, do you envision that this would be constructing a very different bridge going forward. you referenced the 1970 state of i affairs. do you believe it would be an entirely new span, and would you envision different safety mechanisms as you were assessing this? >> i can't speculate on that. what i will note is that some of the other bridge collapses that are of these proportions, notably the minnesota bridge collapse happened because of a design flaw and the bridge spontaneously collapsed. this is of course not that. this was the result of an impact, but we don't yet know what ntsb will find or how that might inform plans going forward. >> and based on what you've seen so far, do you recommend that any other spans take any steps based on what we've learned about however remarkably unusual it was for that impact, do you think there need to be different steps to protect other spans going forward? >> some modern bridges around

the world, especially after the 1980 tampa incident have been designed with different features to mitigate impacts and protect their piers. right now i think there's a lot of debate taking place among the engineering committee about whether any of those features could have had any role in a situation like this. again, it's difficult to overstate the impact of this collision. we're talking about -- it's not just as big as a building. it's really as big as a block, 100,000 tons all going into this pier all at once. but one other thing i would add broadly speaking is that the president's infrastructure package has the first ever dedicated federal fund for resilience. largely that's been construed in terms of seismic resilience and resilience in the face of extreme weather events. certainly that's something we'll be looking at going forward. >> the status of the cargo ship, are they still on board and

fully cooperating? >> they remain on board and predominantly an indian crew with one sri lankan crew member on board. they're very much engaged in the dialogue and the investigation. >> vice admiral, are there any early indications of what caused the dali to lose propulsion during its voyage, and what are some of the areas of focus so far when it comes to the investigation into the accident? >> i think we all want to know as quickly as possible at least some initial findings, i really need to refer you to the national transportation safety board and their messaging in terms of moving forward very deliberately on a factual basis to uncover some of those of th >> and then secretary buttigieg, you talked about, you know, how the bridge simply was not built to withstand impact of this nature, but is it your view if the bridge was built strongly enough, why didn't it have the

defensive structure around the support columns as other bridges do? >> i don't want to get ahead of the investigation either. part of what's being debated is why any design feature would have made a difference in this case. we'll get more information on that as the investigation proceeds. >> thank you. secretary buttigieg, you have been talking about the president vowing to pay for the cost of the bridge in full to expedite that rebuilding process. are you going to go after the shipping company? >> any private party that is found responsible and liable will be held accountable. i think our emphasis and the president's goal is to make sure that that process is not something we have to wait for in order to support maryland with the funds that they need, and that's what the emergency relief tools can help us do. >> what would that accountability look like? >> i don't want to get ahead of law enforcement and the ntsb and other players, but needless to say there's going to be focus on anybody who's responsible will be held accountable. >> rebuilding, can you talk about giving that supplemental request to congress. how much money are we talking

about? >> just too soon to say. >> one question for the vice admiral. when it comes to, you know, getting the situation cleaned up, recovery efforts, what are the biggest challenges that you're facing and the kind of equipment that you have to bring in? >> i think the main challenge here, as you can see by the imagery on the scene is removing the large trusses and steel members off the bow of the ship. once that happens, we'll have the underwater survey complete in terms of how that vessel is connected to the bridge pier there, but i think once that's done, i think they will be ready to do the necessary actions to float the vessel and remove it. >> on the contents of the ship or the 4,700 containers, besides the fuel and oil and hazardous materials, can you give us some general categories of what other goods are on board? >> in any given container ship, you can have a very wide range of packaged materials, consumer

goods and many many other things, so it's going to be a very very broad cross section of cargo. >> on the other ships stuck in the port, you talk a little bit about what coordination is being done with those ships, and what kind of cargo they have and where they're bound for? >> absolutely. we can give you some more specifics on the ships in the port, but i think roughly we've got about a dozen ships that remain in the port that are unable to get out. the majority are foreign flag vessels, and i think just sort of typical of what we see in the port of baltimore in terms of car carriers and other things, there are a number of maritime administration ships that are there as well. >> and then, secretary buttigieg, on regulations and requirements, are you discussing waiving regulations and requirements to speed along the reconstruction of the bridge? >> too soon to say what exact administration things will come

up, we can cut down any barriers that affect the time line of the project. >> mr. secretary, you mentioned that are meeting with shippers and supply chain operators tomorrow, but curious about your early assessment so far. do you expect the closure of the port to lead to a full-blown supply chain crisis? or what is your early assessment so far? >> this is not of the proportions of, for example, l.a. and long beach when it comes to container traffic. that's one port complex or two ports that collectively represent 40% of the u.s. container traffic. it's nothing like that. but it is an important port and an important system of the east coast ports. now, a lot of the goods that come on or off there go as part of runs where ships also visit the ports of new york and new jersey and virginia. and so right now i think there are already diversions taking place to those and other east coast ports, helping to absorb some of the need, so those are the kinds of things we're getting more information on right now, and i'm looking

forward to getting a better sense tomorrow after talking to the shippers. >> and a quick question on sort of safety reviews, you know, obviously the ship was involved in an accident in belgium, i believe, in 2016. is this incident going to prompt a full-scale review of vessels like this? >> so we've seen what's in the news in terms of that particular incident. i don't know whether that's particularly informative to this. probably a different vessel crew, different pilots, different weather conditions and so on and so forth. nevertheless, the coast guard keeps the histories, safety histories of all the vessels in u.s. ports. we're reviewing that in terms of the investigation. >> thank you, vice admiral. can you discuss your degree of confidence in the victim numbers that we have heard so far? we have seen evidence that there's sonar that's picked up cars at the bottom of the river. do we know that all of those cars belonged to the construction workers or is there a chance that other cars may

have fallen into the river? >> we have heard similar reports in the news, and so basically the coast guard is going off of the numbers of individuals that have been provided to us by the state of maryland as they were the ones who were administering the bridge and had the best idea of how many individuals may have been involved. >> secretary buttigieg, you mentioned earlier that there is not an air traffic control-type body for shipping. is that an indication that you think there should be something like that for the future? >> no, it's a very different system, but i think it's important for the public to understand that. if a runway or airport goes out of service, then there's immediate instructions from the central authority on what to do and where to go. it doesn't work that way for shipping. what i will say, we have felt, especially since the summer of 2021 that there needs to be more coordination than there has been in the past. sometimes, not just as a matter of practice but as a matter of culture, different shippers and other entities that have been rivals just don't coordinate.

we built a program called "flow," which invites cargo owners, operators and others to begin sharing data. that's something that served us well going into the red sea issues. it serves us well now because that data it help us get a sense of how these effects are rippling through ports. we welcome that coordination. we're trying to promote it. it doesn't mean it's on a command and control basis. >> secretary buttigieg, when was this bridge last inspected? was it on a list of replacements more than 50 years old, and can you give us a ballpark figure of when you'll reopen the port. ball mark it, days, weeks, months, to reopen the port, and finally, what's the estimated impact of the closure and the downing of this bridge? >> on the first one, i'll refer you to the state, i'll have the most up-to-date information. >> they inspected it. they noted it was 50 years old

and noted it had questionable parts to it. was it on a list to be replaced with the infrastructure bill. >> it was not the subject of an immediate discretionary grant to replace it or anything like that. we have some work going on on i-895, but to my knowledge, nothing immediate in terms of any discretionary grants going to the bridge. economic numbers, about 8,000 jobs, we think, are directly implicated and over $100 million of cargo moves in and out of that port a day, and what was the middle question? >> ballpark when you think it will reopen. >> reopening the port is a different matter from rebuilding the bridge. the port, that's just a matter of clearing the channel. still, no simple thing, but i would expect that can happen on a much quicker time line than the full reconstruction of the bridge. >> can you ballpark it just a little bit. >> you can imagine we're ask the team the same questions. i don't want to put anything out.

>> we got to keep going. >> i understand, but give us something there. >> as soon as we have something, i'll tell you. >> secretary buttigieg, another supply chain issue for you has to do with the significant amount of automobiles, cars, trucks, coal, l and g that goes through the port of baltimore, what will be the impact on the supply chain on those specific industries? >> this is one of the key ports, again, for vehicles, and some vehicles are actually finished at facilities that are on port grounds. so it is significant. that being said, of course, it's not the only facility that can accommodate roll on, roll off vehicles. you see that in savannah, certainly new york, new jersey, and virginia. the tractor equipment will be more complicated than the ordinary light duty vehicles. these are exactly the kinds of information we'll be seeking over the coming days, including tomorrow. >> and you expect because of the supply chain issues that we could see impacts on the u.s.

economy as a result of the supply chain issues. >> we want to get a little more fidelity on how disruptive it can be. we're not talking about a single point of failure that it's the only possible place to get through or even something that is as impactful as some of the issues that affected the panama canal. this does not mean a trip to the east coast has to be substituted with a trip to the west coast, which could be much more of a cost impact. it could be accommodated up and down the east coast, but the effect will certainly not be trivial. >> thank you. mr. secretary, you said you received a request for emergency funding from the maryland authorities. can you tell us what that number was? >> those don't necessarily include a full estimate of the cost, but they do make it possible through what's called a quick release authority to start getting dollars out. i was just notified that this is coming in as i was stepping out here, so i don't have more details than that right