even going to make it into the senate version of this bill. >> very important information, brian. thank you very much. and to our viewers thanks very much for watching. hope you have a nice weekend. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. erin burnett out front starts right now. out front next, 13 republicans asking not to vote in person on biden's covid bill tonight citing a public health emergency. that emergency, well, it has something to do with trump not so much public health. plus president biden not punishing the saudi crown prince of an intelligence report says the crown prince was responsible for the dismemberment and vile murder of a saudi journalist. didn't he promise to be tougher on the saudis? and inside the manhattan da's investigation into trump. now has trump's taxes and michael cohen is set to speak to investigators for the sixth time

in the investigation. let's go out front. and good evening. i'm erin burnett. out front tonight caught playing hooky. as the house votes tonight on the $1.9 trillion covid relief bill, a bill that will affect hundreds of millions of americans, 13 republicans who have asked not to vote in person because of what they say is a, quote, ongoing public health emergency. well, that emergency it turns out is not covid. that public health emergency they're talking about. that emergency they're talking about is cpac, the conservative political action committee. they're heading down to bow down at the alter of trump in florida. yes, you see that there. that really is a statue of trump at the event. they've put it up there. it's on display in his honor in his favorite color, gold. and like many a dear leader type statue of course it is not made of real gold, and the artist who made it says it was actually made in response to art mocking trump, like this. so that's what they're going

down to see. we've learned most of the 13 republicans who are not planning to be in washington to vote on the covid bill are instead going to be with their statue. they're already in orlando or expected to head there for the largest gathering of conservatives. one of them is major trump ally m matt gaetz. he had this to say of being in florida instead of washington for the major vote tonight. >> every day i'm a florida man and it is good to be home. florida's like an amazing woman, adventurous, beautiful, mostly sunny, sometimes a little crazy and always here to encourage and support success. >> putting aside the substance of that -- just let you ruminate upon that yourself -- gaetz says it's good to be home.

only it was last summer that gaetz railed against the rule that allowed lawmakers not to vote in person, which of course is exactly what he's now doing himself. >> pelosi and the democrat leadership have put into our rules an allowance for voting without members of congress being present. they can do so by giving their proxy to another member of congress. anything that gets the representatives of the people further away from the decision making process is something that i do not support. >> well, i guess except when it came to himself and this particular vote, right? okay, but he's not the only one with such great hypocrisy. congressman madison hawthern voting by proxy so he too can speak in orlando also tweet last summer, leaders show up no matter how uncertain the times are. the democrats are cowards for hiding and not showing up to work. i guess we can label them as

nonessential personnel. that one's sort of priceless. i guess, i would hope you would say the same thing about yourself then to their fellow republicans. perhaps you should show up for work, cast the vote however you will instead of spending your time down with the golden fake trump statue. manu raju is out front live on capitol hill. manu, how are republicans justifying claiming a health emergency to go to cpac? obviously this has nothing to do with a health emergency. >> pretty simply, they're not. in fact we reached out to all 13 republicans. 12 of them did not respond to our requests for comment. one of them did, a spokesman for darrell issa who contended he is complying by house rules and criticizing the democrats covid relief plan. but it's very clear here that republicans that spent a lot of last year criticizing nancy pelosi for putting in place that

would allow members to essentially designate another member to vote on their behalf and at their direction, they said this was untoward and unconstitutional process they sued over. now they're using it and also misusing this process. what the rule says or what they're supposed to sign and did sign is a letter filed with the house clerk that actually says this, erin. it says, i am unable to physically attend proceedings in the house chamber due to the ongoing public health emergency. and as we see there is no public health emergency that is preventing them from coming. some of them have already spoken today. some of them expected to speak tomorrow and today of course a significant day. lots of votes happening on capitol hill. a big one happening tonight, but these members have made their choice here. they're going down to speak to their activist base to boost their own profiles as well. >> certainly right. they're not even pretending to be actually compliant with the rule, whether by letter or by spirit. so manu, obviously this vote,

the covid relief bill is going to be pretty tight. i mean is it going to pass? >> it's going to be very close, a razor thin margin. the house majority whip jim clyburn who counts the votes told me he can expect he can only lose three democratic votes in order for this to pass, because we do expect all republicans who are attending to vote against this plan. but he told me that he expects some democrats, maybe one, maybe two to vote against it as well. that means it could pass potentially by the narrowest of margins tonight. and if does, then it goes to the senate. that's when the senate they're expected to strip out that $15 minimum wage because it does not comply with the senate rules and the process they're employing. we'll see if they can get it through the senate on just a party line vote. and the goal is to get it on the president's desk by march 14th when show many jobless benefits expire. out front now kate

betingfield. house majority whip clyburn says he can only expect to lose three votes. are you confident you have the votes to pass this? >> well, we see that across the country the american people support this bill, and we are extremely hopeful it is going to pass the house tonight. we believe that it will. again, you've got in the latest public polling i think it's like 76% of americans believe the american rescue plan is necessary, important. in this bill you've got direct checks. you have $1,400 to finish the job on getting $2,000 checks directly to people who need them most. you have money to get vaccines, get our vaccination program up and running so that americans can get shots in arms and we can get this virus under control. so this is critically important aid that's going to crush the virus. it's going to get our economy back on track, and we are hopeful that the house is going

to pass it tonight. there is no time to waste as your colleague just said. we're going to hit the unemployment cliff on march 14th, and so we need to extend unemployment insurance to make sure we're not leaving people unable to pay their bills and put food on the table. there's critical aid in this bill and it's urgent the house pass it tonight and the senate move quickly as well so we can get this money out the door to the people who fneed it. >> are you aware of any republicans in the house or senate that plan to vote for the bill? >> that'll be up to them. i think they're the ones that have to go home to their constituents and say i voted against direct checks, money to get our schools reopened, money to ensure we can get shots in arms and this virus under control. i think for any republican who votes no on this package it's going to be a tough sell to go home to their districts and explain to their constituents

why they voted no on this aid. we'll see what they decide to do. we'll hopeful the congress will move quickly to pass this legislation. >> some democrats are pretty angry about part of this. the parliamentarian, the senate rules interpreter made the decision the $15 men. wage cannot go in the bill. congresswoman omar said she's disappointed specifically because you're not fighting the parliamentarian decision. >> the president was also disappointed in that outcome. he supports a $15 minimum wage. he supported it for many years. he believes it's critical and that nobody in this country should work full time and live in poverty. so he was also disappointed in the outcome, but he respects the senate's process. he respects the parliam parliamentarian's process and we're going to work now to see what the best path forward is. we're going to let the senate work on that, congress work on

that. in the meantime the thing we can do immediately right new to help working people all across this country is pass this package, get this aid out the door to people who need it. that's the thing we can do right now to help the most people across the country. >> so i want to ask you also about the jamal khashoggi report today, the u.s. intelligence report on the murder of jamal khashoggi, the brutal dismemberment. it was released. it reads, quote, we assess that saudi arabia's crown prince mohammed bin salman approved an operation in istanbul, turkey, to capture or kill saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. the treasury department today put sanctions on the saudi force that carried this out and the former deputy head of the saudi intelligence for their role in the murder. but there is no direct punishment of mbs from president biden. why is this? does this send a message to the world that the u.s. will tolerate this? >> no. let's be clear this was a horrific crime. it can never be tolerated.

president biden has been clear that he intends to have a very different relationship with saudi arabia than our predecessors did in the previous administration did. one based on transparency and accountability. we need to build a relationship to end the war in yemen, to stem the humanitarian crisis there. we need to be able to defend against iran and its proxies. so he's been very clear with saudi leadership that we're going to have a very different relationship than we did under the previous administration. and look, the fact of the release of this report today is one step forward in that way. it's one step toward his commitment to transparency and accountability by making this information -- by making this information available. >> and i understand that and that's true. it had not been put out. so you have a very fair point in saying that, but it is not exactly what he said himself when he was a candidate running for office. here's what he said about the crown prince and jamal khashoggi. >> khashoggi was, in fact,

murdered and dismembered. and i believe in the order of the crown prince. and i would make it very clear we were not going to in fact sell more weapons to them. we were going to in fact make them pay the price and make them in fact the pariah that they are. there's very little social redeeming value in the present government in saudi arabia. they have to be held accountable. >> okay, he's not making them a pariah. what's changed? >> he has made clear to them and our administration has made clear up and down the line that this -- that this won't be tolerated. this will not be tolerated. and we've taken steps today. treasury and state have taken steps today to sanction individuals, sanction networks who were involved with this horrific murder. clear and important steps have been taken to dictate this is not something we will toperate. and president biden was clear

today this is not something we'll tolerate -- >> to be clear will there be anything done specifically to the crown prince since the u.s. intelligence has concluded he's responsible? >> i think we have made clear to the saudis we are taking actions here. i assure you they were well aware we are taking action here, and i think you'll toip to see potential steps from our administration moving forward. the president's been very clear this was an unacceptable crime. he put forward as he promised, he made public the information surrounding it which in and of itself is an important step. and his government, his administration is taking steps to sanction participants in this crime. he's been very clear this is not something he'll tolerate. >> kate, thank you very much. i appreciate your time tonight. and next as republicans flock to cpac including those members of congress i told you about, i'm going to speak to the former chair of cpac, long time republican congressman. why he says his old party is now nothing more than a cult.

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. tonight, donald trump front and center at cpac, that big annual gathering interest conservatives around the country. the group still embracing the former president despite his impeachment twice and helping to incite of course the deadly capitol insurrection. speaker after speaker showering trump with glowing praise thus far. >> how's it going, cpac? or i heard someone earlier phrase it a little bit better. tpac. >> the republican party is being reborn thanks to president trump. the party of america first. the party of president trump. >> president trump did something that has never been done in our lifetime. he stood up to all of establishment washington and said no. >> they want him to go away. let me tell you this right now. donald j. trump ain't going anywhere.

>> out front now from cpac, michael warren. so, michael, there is no doubt after today from what we just heard and of course there's the statue and stuff lest anyone be confused, this convention is all about a person, not a conservative set of ideals like it's supposed to be. it's about a person, right? it's about donald trump. >> that's right. and you can hear it in those speeches and so many other speeches today here in orlando. sort of focusing on a few themes and speaking really to that audience of one, donald trump. really first focusing on how the party is united around trump, also criticizing defectors within the republican party and really criticizing the old guard of the aeparty, the pre-trump o guard. and of course doubling down from these speakers the idea this election was stolen or somehow fraudulent. and look, this was a viewpoint embraced by the people here. this is really red meat they're throwing out to the audience. one of the loudest standing

ovations i heard earlier today was from senator josh hawley when he simply mentioned he voted to object to counting the electoral votes january 6th. a huge round of applause. you could see that support among the attendees here even in the t-shirts that say things like trump won, and joe biden is not my president. the hearts of the cpac faithful here really are with trump. and if i could say one thing about that statue, i spoke with the artist who dined it. he told me he hopes that statue ends up in the trump presidential library. so we'll see if that comes to pass. >> you left me speechless for a second. joe biden's not my president, trump won. those are the t-shirts you're seeing at the leading conservative event of the year, right? this is where they would talk about really serious things. they talk about the fate of israel or other really important conservative things, and now they're talking about how trump won an election he lost.

out front now mike edwards, former chair of cpac and former congressman of oklahoma. he left the gop after the deadly insurrection saying it has become a cult iodizing ruler, falsehoods and hatred. i really appreciate your taking the time, congressman. and you know, you just heard some little pieces of snippets we took there from various people speaking, rick scott, ted cruz. cpac's about trump. ted cruz vows donald trump isn't going anywhere. you see that the person who made that statue which is on display wants it to be at the trump presidential library. i say that because this isn't the onion, this is real life. what does this mean for the republican party? >> well, i think it means the republican party really no longer stands for any kind of principles conservative or otherwise. the party seems now to be completely following the lead of one man wherever he goes, which is the definition of a cult.

the party's views that have matured over years and years are out the window. now all that matters is trump is for this, we're for this. and that includes denying truth, denying fact, denying reality. and it's such a disconnect from what has really happened in the world. the fact that in the election they're saying trump did not win. well, you know, judges, more than 60 courts said in fact he won. they had republican judges. they had judges appointed by president trump. the supreme court unanimously including the three people he had put on the supreme court, you know, found that they had no merit in their complaints. and they don't hear it. they don't see it. the people at cpac are living in an alternate reality in which facts don't matter, the constitution doesn't matter. they have no principle except whatever their leader says.

>> it really is incredible. and michael, with all that reporting he had i thought it was pretty stunning. he talked about the incredible applause, the biggest applause of the day was for josh hawley when he was celebrating his vote to, you know, not certify the results of the free and fair election that this country had. here is senator hawley with his loud cheers. >> i objected during the electoral college certification. maybe you heard about it. i did. i stood up -- i stood up and i said -- i said we ought to have a debate about election integrity. i said it is the right of the people to be heard, and my constituents in missouri want to

be heard on this issue. >> what do you say to that? still pushing and defending trump's big lie. >> well, he is. and of course hawley isn't that stupid. he believes that trump is going to be a force but not be a candidate. and therefore the people who are in that room and the people they represent are going to support josh hawley for president. there is so much now in congress among the republicans there is nothing but naked ambition and fear. fear of their own voters. they are afraid of the primary voter. they don't really care about the people in missouri or oklahoma or wherever it is. they care about the primary voters who are beholden to trump. and they would rather ditch the constitution, ditch all of their principles than to lose their precious seats where people called this way congressman, this way, senator, what can we

do for you, and it's a shame. so the real reason that i left the party finally was not donald trump. it was because all of the people who were just falling in line to do whatever he said and casting aside all of the basic principles of constitutional democracy. and i just could not be affiliated with that anymore. >> you know, you led cpac for five years. so when i talk about what cpac used to be about, it would be about ideas, issues. you would talk about conservative principles. here's the man leading it now talking to our own jim acosta. >> are you concerned about having the president back here at cpac where he's going to continue to say that the election was stolen from him when that sjust isn't true? >> were there any illegal ballots cast in that election? >> you just told me there was illegal voting in that election. you don't know how many. did you sit down with a team in

nevada or georgia or these states and ever go through the binders of information that good patriotic americans came up with -- >> not enough to overturn the results of the election. >> how could you know that when you don't know the number. >> how is it that -- there's just no way that's physically possible. >> it's not only not physically possible, it didn't happen, right? it just didn't happen. even trump's own attorney general said it didn't happen. and they're still trying to conflate a few illegal ballots here, right five dead people in georgia that trump said was thousands and still trying to conflate in people and raise the question that the whole thing was fraudulent. what do you say? this is the guy who has the job you used to have. >> well, i don't -- he doesn't have the job that i used to have because when i was head of cpac, it was a group based on conservative principles. we were strong supporters of the constitution. we believed in free elections.

we believed in democracy. these people don't believe in any of those things. they're no different than the people who flock to other totalitarian leaders in other countries. they no different than they are in hungary, than they used to be in germany. t there's no underpinning of fact, concerns about the norms of free democracy. so, no, this is not at all the same organization that i led even though i was chairman, it had the same name. but when i was chair, ronald reagan -- and i was close to reagan. i'd run programs, policy task forces in his campaign. i invited him to speak at cpac. he did. ronald reagan could not get elected to anything by the people who were at that cpac

conference this year. >> incredible. well, i appreciate your time. thank you so much. >> okay, thank you. and next democratic congresswoman omar saying she's planning to take action. she's going to punish the saudi crown prince after a report found he was behind the murder of jamal cuhoegshy. and inside the manhattan da's investigation into trump's taxes. the da's deputy is out front

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developing tonight, democratic congresswoman ilhan omar says she will introduce a bill to place sanctions on crown prince mohammed bin salman after a u.s. intelligence report assessed that he personally approved the murder of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. comes as president biden is not doing anything to punish the crown prince directly, which of course is inconsistent with what biden clearly said before he was president. >> if the allegations are true and that the crown prince of saudi arabia ordered the killing of this saudi dissident who wrote a column for "the

washington post," should there be consequences? >> absolutely, positively. this was a permanent american resident. i just don't know why we -- this administration seems to feel the need to coddle autocrats and dictators. >> kaitlan collins is out front. you know, kaitlan, we heard him there in that interview. we saw him at the top of the program very clearly say saudi arabia should be a pariah state, the crown prince should be punished directly at debate. how different is this? this is not what biden promised. >> no, because he promised directly to do what people complained that former president trump wouldn't, and that is punish these senior saudi officials. and of course this report that they did allow to come out that the trump administration would not allow to be made public but the biden administration did, trectly points the finger for jamal khashoggi's murder at the

saudi saudi crown prince. he's not on the sanctions list, not directly targeted or punished as a result of this. now, they did sanction a former deputy intelligence officer, also went after a unit of the saudi royal guard, but nothing of the crown prince beyond specifically calling him out in this report, this really brief report we should note they released today. and i think what you're seeing here is that it gets really tough when you make promises on the campaign trail and when you come into the presidency and you see how different that is. and that's something we've seen officials point to. we're told these sanctions for the crown prince were never really an option on the table. they were worried it would be too complicated to try to sanction the saudi crown prince, but it is going to raise a lot of questions about how the biden administration is going to handle the saudis going forward, because they have said from day one since taking office they want to recalibrate that relationship, but the question is why not hold the saudi crown prince responsible then.

>> that is the big question. i want to bring in susan glasser. i'm glad to to both of you about this. so, look, state department officials telling cnn the truth which is that the biden administration didn't want to risk up ending a security relationship with the saudis because it's too important, and we all know the reality which is that the crown prince isn't going to go anywhere for a really, really long time. the guy is in his 30s. do you agree with the calculation they're now making now that they actually have the power and aren't running for the office? >> well, biden's run in the reality of the relationship with saudi arabia, there's nothing we would have been able to do about it. we still haven't cleared up 9/11, their role in it, anybody's role in that country. and they produce too much oil. they have to mean arms deals, too much money. and the place is a black hole.

we don't understand how it's run. and mohammed bin salman is an autocrat. there's no opposition to him inside the country. any prince that could possibly remove him is under house arrest or under arrest. and biden has figured out, hey, there's nothing we can do about this. so policy reverts back to what it's always been going back to the '60s. >> let's be honest they're sanctioning lower level officials, right, the unit that actually went in and did this horrific dismemberment. but ultimately they're doing what president trump did. they're doing business with the crown prince. you cut to the chase isn't this the reality here? this consistent policy with trump? >> go ahead, susan. >> it's consistent with u.s. policy over long decades i think as bob pointed out. donald trump is a different matter. donald trump was practically acting like the defense attorney

for the saudi royal family at times during this entire mess as was his secretary of state mike pompeo who appears to have misrepresented in a way what the u.s. intelligence findings were at various points in this controversy. these sanctions trump could have imposed them, he did not. but i do think prodly speaking it shows biden is not willing to blow up a security relationship even though he suggested on the campaign trail something different. i think you're hearing a lot of dismay from activists whose expectations were frankly raised by biden's campaign trail rhetoric and early actions as president to say the u.s. was no longer going to be supporting the saudi led war in yemen, for example, which is something mbs had launched and is identified with. >> thank you both very much. i appreciate your time. and next the manhattan da's office said to be asking about, quote, everything under the sun

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ignore proper ventilation or rates of community spread, and the virus worsens. fail to provide masks or class sizes that allow for social distancing, and classrooms close back down. a successful reopening requires real safety and accountability measures. including prioritizing vaccines for educators. parents and educators agree: reopen schools. putting safety first. tonight former trump fixer michael cohen believed to have had his sixth meeting with manhattan district attorney cy vance, causing deep concern for donald trump about his legal jeopardy after he obtained millions of pages of his financial records including his taxes. vance's office is asking, quote, about everything under the sun involving trump and three of his

children, including several major properties donald trump, jr. is involved with in new york where lenders may have been misled about their value. out front he was the top deputy for cy vance for three years. you know him really well, what he's thinking and what he's doing. everything under the sun. how broad and substantial is the investigation do you think right now? >> well, first of all, thanks for having me. i do know him really well, but i can't say i know what he's thinking, and i don't have any inside information about what he's doing. but to answer your question, there are a lot of indications to let us believe that it is a very substantial investigation. so first of all they pursued this case, they pursued his tax returns from the tax accounts and not just the returns but the work papers and communications all the way to the supreme court twice. and now the da's office has the returns in hand, and it is clear that they are doing a very substantial investigation of

serious crimes. >> so when trump says oh, it's a witch hunt, you know, everything under the sun just means they're trying to find something that will stick. you're saying no way you don't do this unless you already have enough to go onto get you there? >> well, hold on. i wouldn't say they already have enough to go on. i'd say they have plenty of reason to do a substantial investigation. by the way, trump's saying it's a witch hunt even putting aside trump many, many defendants say that kind of thing particularly those in the political sphere when they're being investigated or get indicted. we have have to cut through that, and think the da is good at doing that, cutting through and going where the evidence leads. >> we as i said where believe was the sixth meeting between vance and cohen. cohen as we all know has been willing to tell everything he knows about trump. he has told congress he had direct knowledge that trump falsified financial information. here he is. >> to your knowledge did the president ever provide inflated

assets to an insurance company? >> yes. >> and where would the committee find more information on this? do you think we need to review his financial statements and his tax returns in order to compare them? >> yes. and you'd find it at the trump org. >> so cohen is a key person. he's met with vance six times. he knows as much as there is to know, but he did plead guilty to lying to congress. so does vance for a problem with that? anything cohen says he's going to have to back up with actual black and white facts on paper. >> yeah, i mean, look, cohen is one witness. and obviously he has a lot of knowledge about trump. it sounds like he's saying the people inside the trump organization might have more, so i'd want to pursue what those people knew. i'd want to have those records of financial statements, those internal communications. but cohen could make a really good witness, and as a former prosecutor now a defense lawyer

i can tell you that it would be not be unusual for prosecutors to put a cooperator on the witness stand who has previously lied even who has previously pled guilty to lying, right? the question isn't whether he lied in the past. the question is whether there is enough reason to believe that he's telling the truth now. and one obvious question if they want to jump up and down and say you lied to congress is, well, why'd you lie to congress, what was your motivation and the motivation was to protect donald trump so it's pretty understandable and would ring hollow with a new york jury. >> you're supposed to take in each instance, right, what someone's done in the past is not always relevant to what they're saying now i think of all different type of legal situations in which that's true. thank you very much. i appreciate your time. >> and next the feds working with moderna on a booster shot to contain a highly contagious strain of covid. does this mean you might have to

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voting unanimously to recommend emergency use authorization of the johnson & johnson coronavirus vaccine. it's a single dose that could be going into people's arms as early as next week. this is dr. anthony fauci says the u.s. is working with moderna. now, even a year into the pandemic, treatments for covid still remain limited. our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta reports. >> we couldn't see her. >> reporter: like too many americans over the last year, eduardo suffered the agonizing loss of a family member. his mother-in-law last summer to covid-19. it's all the 44-year-old high school computer teacher could think about when he tested positive for covid-19 in january. he simply didn't want his wife and three kids to go through that pain again. >> i'm the sole provider, so i was very afraid of going to the hospital. >> reporter: eduardo was told that there was a drug that was

showing incredible promise in preventing people from getting sick after being diagnosed. you've probably never heard of it. eduardo certainly hadn't but dr. david bolware has. with everything you know now, if you got covid, would you take this drug? >> i would say yes. >> reporter: it's an anti depresent. that's right, an anti depresent that decreases inflammation in the brain and here is the part of the reason the infectious disease doctor is so optimistic about it. two studies, both very early. one a randomized trial, 80 patients received the drug right after being diagnosed, 72 patients received a placebo. none of the 80 patients developed shortness of breath or pneumonia. of these 72, six of the 72 did. after two weeks none of the 65

people who took the drug were hospitalized or developed any symptoms. of the 48 people who didn't take the drug, six were hospitalized and 29 people still had symptoms two weeks later. do you worry about those sorts of safety things? >> this seems to be a relatively safe medicine. >> reporter: again, all of this very early but promising. but now consider this, the medication already exists. it is what is called a repurpose drug. but the doctor says getting the federal government's attention on repurpose drugs has been difficult. have you been able to get funding from the nih to conduct these sorts of trials? >> to date, most of the trials really focused on early treatment have been by private donors. >> reporter: why is it hard to get federal or even governmental fun funding and the private sector stepping up in an emergency like this? >> that's not quite fair,

actually. if you look what's been done through this active private partnership, which is mostly funneled by the federal government and that's billions of dollars, it has taken on a lot of things that seem like long shots to see if they would work. it looks promising now but it might be where hydroxychloroquine was a year ago and turns out it doesn't work. i want to not open the door for everybody to say well just start using it. i want to say let's test it vigorously and find out the answer and then you'll know. >> reporter: everyone agrees, more data is necessary and in the first six weeks of the trial, the doctor estimates eduardo is one of about 300 people who signed up. >> if we have 500 people enroll in the next week, we'd be done in two to three weeks and have an answer. >> reporter: he worries the incentives simply aren't there to find the easy readily available and cheapest solutions. >> the generic medicines and so there is no patent on them.

they're really inexpensive. the treatment course is about $12. there is no big pharmaceutical company behind that. >> reporter: eduardo doesn't know if he was on the drug for sure but has a good feeling about it. >> right away i started to feel better. >> reporter: the whole process, erin, is so interesting. sometimes they will look at what is happening with covid and try and find existing drugs that actually focus on that mechanism. other times they'll find people, a large population of people taking a certain drug and say wow, it appears that they're not actually getting sick with covid, maybe that drug has a role there. the bottom line is we create new therapies. it's amazing. like monoclone antibodies for example, they are 100 times more expensive than this drug. that is part of why there is so such interest in this. >> sanjay, thank you very much. next, her story as a ma

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it's an honor a long time coming. nasa renaming its headquarters in washington d.c. today for mary w. jackson. jackson was on the team putting astronauts into space and making sure they made it home safely with kakcalculations she did by hand. she became the first engineer in 1 1958. it's incredible to think about when a time when america was

steeped in segregation as a black woman. as a result. her contributions were often overlooked. she was passed over for promotions. jackson died in 2005 but now her name and achievements live on. thanks to all of you for joining us. don't forget, you can watch "outfront" any time. anderson starts now. good evening. another big night of breaking news. an fda panel recommending emergency autosohorization of a third covid vaccine from johnson & johnson. if approval is granted, people could start getting it next week. any minute the house will vote on covid relief legislation if it's passed, the senate version will be stripped of a provision to double the minimum wage. we'll talk with someone that fought to keep the pay raise, bernie sanders and how much else is in the bill for so many americans in need. house republicans that decided they had better things to do than be in