we wish everyone a safe memorial day weekend. the news continues. i want to hand it over to our good friend, michael smerconish. michael? >> anderson, thanks so much. i'm michael smerconish in for chris cuomo. and welcome to "prime time." so there will be no 9/11-style investigation into the the events of january 6th. as expected, there were not ten senate republicans willing to go along with such an inquiry. at first blush, it sounds bewildering, disinterested, even cold. when the 35 republican senators who today blocked the january 6th commission go home for their memorial day recess, i'm sure they're going to take a moment

to remember our heroes who gave their lives to protect our freedom all around the globe. so why doesn't that type of reflection translate into honoring the capitol police officers who gave their all to protect them on january 6th? and to the ones still working daily to keep them safe, like eugene goodman, who used himself as bait for the mob to keep the rioters away from the senate chamber, still full of lawmakers. goodman also rushed senator mitt romney to safety. bravery like that. it earned goodman the congressional gold medal, and no senator could deny his courage that day, including this one. >> if not for the quick thinking and bravery of officer eugene goodman, in particular people in this chamber may not have escaped that day unharmed. >> eugene goodman was on duty as usual last night, protecting some of the very senators who

spent hours stalling and sidetracking while most of us were sleeping, forcing the final vote to block the bipartisan commission into this holiday friday when the attention of so many americans is elsewhere. the direct pleas from the late officer brian sicknick's mother to gop lawmakers went all but nowhere. today she told jake tapper that while senators were nice to her, many of the meetings were tense because she didn't think they were sincere. >> if they had a child that was hurt, was killed on a day like that, they would think very differently. or if they were hurt. i mean they very well -- somebody could have been killed, one of the congressmen, one of the senators. but apparently they just think, well, you know, we're safe because of the men in blue. >> here are the six republicans who voted to advance the bill. take a look. including lisa murkowski, who decided not to grant mitch mcconnell's request for a personal favor because she's not nearly as worried if at all

about political risk. >> to be making a decision for the short-term political gain at the expense of understanding and acknowledging what was in front of us on january 6th. i -- i think we need to look at that critically. is that really what this is about, is everything is just one election cycle after another? >> well, that's a fair question. this calculation by more than three dozen republican legislators is based on the belief that riding the tide of donald trump's coattails through 2022 and 2024, that's the ticket. the party has ousted liz cheney for this exact reason. she was the final republican leader who sought to pull the party onto a different course, one that hearkened back to an era of tradition.

small government, family values. you can look no further than lindsey graham to see that gop leaders have made a different calculation. >> i've always liked liz cheney, but she's made a determination that the republican party can't grow with president trump. i've determined we can't grow without him. >> the gop made this decision to stick with donald trump and his acolytes just before the general election in 2016. and five years and one lost election later, they're sticking to their guns. a january 6th commission may turn out findings that will make it impossible for the gop to go forward with that strategy. it would also require them to relive and relitigate the big lie. so that's the state of play tonight. like i said, it sounds bewildering, but there are explanations. first, the current gop doesn't feel compelled to yield to critics who find the party at odds with democracy, whether that's demanding answers to who knew what on january 6th,

ensuring ballot access, or ridding its ranks of conspiratorial theorists. see, it's a strategy premised on winning. they aren't motivated to investigate the events of january 6th because their base doesn't demand it. they view polling places as locations to gain advantage by limiting ballot access, reducing early voting, and imposing i.d. requirements. and while there's been no discernible effort to grow the gop tent in years, the party is likewise loath to throw anybody out for fear of alienating any part of the base. hence the tolerance of marjorie taylor greene. cnn's doney o'sullivan was at the latest matt gaetz and greene's traveling road show. donie, what did you find? >> reporter: hey, michael. look, that event last night took place in dalton, georgia. the last time we were in dalton

was actually 48 hours before the insurrection. you know, last night it was a bit like returning to oz and the wizard of oz. there has been a new president inaugurated now, but so many of the people i spoke to were telling me the same things last night that they were telling me on the 4th of january earlier this year when they were saying that biden is not the fairly elected president of the united states and people are still clinging on to this belief that trump could in some way come back and they are looking to the arizona audit, they are looking to what's happening in georgia, also in their own state, and saying -- clinging on to that belief that trump in some way could come back, which of course it's being egged on by the former president. look, i think it's easy for folks to look at this and to look at statistics that have came out in the past few days

about how many republicans and how many americans believe in conspiracy theories like qanon. but when they are watching a set of essentially maga media and when they are listening to the president's allies on social media, that is their reality, michael. >> donie, i'm curious to know, do you sense that there's a love for marjorie taylor greene in settings like you were visiting last night, or is it that they so despise who they perceive her enemies to be that they sign up with her? >> reporter: yeah, you know, look, obviously we heard a lot this week about the atrocious comments that greene made about the holocaust. but i asked many people who were going into that event last night, which was in greene's constituency, by the way, what they thought of those comments. and they like greene, not despite those comments, they

like her because of those comments. they view it as her speaking her mind. i actually spoke to one woman who was on her way into the event last night and here's what she had to say. a lot of people don't like greene. >> that's okay because, you know what, a lot of people didn't like jesus christ. >> reporter: do you think she should apologize? >> actually i don't know exactly what was said about the holocaust. as to what she said. >> reporter: she compared covid restrictions to the holocaust. >> well, i can understand that, with the nazi and how he used children and people to experiment with experimental drugs. >> reporter: so you're talking about the vaccine? >> yes. >> reporter: so obviously we should point out what i was speaking to that lady about after is that the nazis weren't

testing experimental drugs on themselves. you know, the vaccine has been taken -- the vaccine has been taken by trump himself, so obviously the comparison is totally ridiculous. but michael, finally i would just say that this all ties together, the big lie, these holocaust comparisons, the anti-vax stuff, everything, it all ties together. it's all part of this one big conspiracy. i think sometimes we talk about qanon as if it's detached from the election lies, as if it's detached from the comments and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, but it's not. it is all -- for many people that i meet out on the trail like this, it's all part of the one conspiracy and it's all part of the one set of beliefs and it's all part of a set of beliefs that frankly republican leaders are not calling out. >> so, donie, the woman that you interviewed that was dressed like evel kneivel wasn't aware of marjorie taylor greene having

said those things because the channel she watches doesn't cover her saying them. thank you so much for your report, as always. >> reporter: thanks, michael. >> donie is too young to know the evel kneivel reference, i fear. let's break it all down. brendan buck was a top aide to former house speakers paul ryan and john boehner. and ron brownstein is back. brendan, let me begin with you. it's not a complicated vote today. why would republicans vote for it when it could yield nothing but bad information for them just on the cusp of the midterm election? >> yeah, bad information about donald trump and bad information about their own roles leading up to it. look, we can talk about how they are trying to avoid a midterm surprise right before the election. we can talk about donald trump's sway over the party. i think both of of those things are a big factor in what's taking place. but what you've just been talking about is actually, i think, the much more troubling

aspect. what republican senators were doing voting against this commission was reflecting their constituents. this was an easy no vote for them. their constituents -- there's a poll out this week that shows most republicans think that that riot was led by left-wing activists trying to make donald trump look bad. this is the reality a lot of voters have. those senators are reflecting their voters. that's not to say that the elected officials don't have a responsibility here, but it is the reality that so many base republicans live in and senators frankly are prisoners to it. and so they're reflecting the voters that they have back home. >> ron, there's no love lost between mitch mcconnell and donald trump. this was an opportunity where he could have allowed a commission to do his dirty work, right? empanel a commission, let them do an investigation, find out exactly what went down at the white house the afternoon of january 6th, but he didn't go

that machiavellian route. why? >> well, i think for the reasons that brendan said. as i wrote in february, the extremist wing of the republican party has become too big for the party leadership to confront. the big reality we are facing, i mean, the macro story that we are facing is that the fear of demographic eclipse is eroding the commitment to democracy among a significant share of the republican electorate. 90% of republicans say that christianity in america is under assault. two-thirds to three-quarters say that discrimination against whites is now as big a problem as discrimination against minorities. and all of that is feeding an atmosphere of maintaining power by any means necessary. and when you add up all of the pieces that are happening, this vote today on the commission being one just small piece of the picture with the voter suppression laws that are advancing, these audits in arizona and georgia, the challenges to republican officials that certify the election. you know, i agree with those analysts who say we are facing

the biggest challenge to small "d" democracy in the country since at least the civil war and maybe at any point in our history. >> brendan, do you accept that? >> well, i certainly think there are challenges to our democracy and i see it in congress all the time. we can't get basic things done because both sides, at least their voters, hate each other. look, my former boss, john boehner, worked famously with ted kennedy to do no child left behind. paul ryan worked with senator patty murray to do big deals. big deals are almost impossible now because that is treason to a lot of voters and that is the real erosion of democracy. our ability to come together and have any middle ground. when you think the other side is trying to ruin your way of life, there is not a lot of incentive to work together. now, i will challenge that i don't think the voting laws in

georgia, my home state, i think those have been wildly exaggerated, the effect of those. and i think there's a lot of hyperbole going on so i don't think necessarily democracy is at risk through some of those laws right now, but that doesn't mean that there aren't efforts under way that we need to be cautious of, particularly as we've seen in georgia, you have people running for secretary of state running on the concept that the election was stolen. so those are the things that i'm worried about. >> ron brownstein, final observation. another brilliant piece in "the atlantic" in which you wrote about what the republicans are up to out on a grassroots level. we'll put it up on the screen. reducing access to mail balloting and early voting, imposing new voter identification requirements, purging voters from registration lists, limiting the use of ballot drop boxes, blocking state court oversight of voting laws, and increasing republican state officials' authority to override the decisions of local election officials who are democrats. all that is taking place and you

say, hey, democrats, you're running out of time. explain quickly. >> yeah. look, both -- it may be true that both parties view the other as a threat to the country, but only one party is acting on that in a way to systematically reduce access to the ballot and to increase its leverage to try to overturn democratic victories in 2022 and 2024. there is a great deal of anxiety among voting rights groups, civil rights groups, others working in the democracy space that democrats are simply not putting enough priority on what is happening in the red states now and what it might mean for again small "d" democracy in '22 and '24. they have 49 votes in the senate for sweeping democracy reform. they don't have joe manchin and they don't have the votes even if they had the 50 to roll back the filibuster to create and pass that legislation. i think there's a great deal of anxiety among all of these groups about whether biden and democratic leaders are taking it serious.

chuck schumer said he's going to bring it up the last week of june. by the way, speaking of democracy, the people who voted for the commission today represent 191 million people, americans. the people who voted against it represent 105 million americans and 105 prevailed, which gives you a sense of the threats to majority rule that we are now living through. >> gentlemen, thank you. brendan buck, ron brownstein, as always, have a great weekend. >> thank you. more than 50% of adults now fully vaccinated heading into memorial day weekend. but how do we make sure that the holiday is both safe and fun? what if we're vaccinated but our loved ones aren't? you've got questions. dr. leana wen has the answers on the new phase in the pandemic, and that's next.

♪ if you have moderate to severe psoriasis... or psoriatic arthritis, little things, can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream... ...it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable... ...with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for psoriatic arthritis, ...otezla is proven.... to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an... increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts.... ...or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be.

otezla. show more of you. [ heavy breathing ] allergies with nasal congestion overwhelming you? breathe more freely with powerful claritin-d. claritin-d improves nasal airflow two times more than the leading allergy spray at hour one. [ deep inhale ] claritin-d. get more airflow. if you have obstructive sleep apnea and you're often tired during the day, you could be missing out on amazing things. sunosi can help you stay awake for them.

once daily sunosi improves wakefulness in adults with excessive daytime sleepiness due to obstructive sleep apnea. sunosi worked for up to nine hours at 12 weeks in a clinical study. sunosi does not treat the cause of osa or take the place of your cpap. continue to use any treatments or devices as prescribed by your doctor. don't take sunosi if you've taken an maoi in the last 14 days. sunosi may increase blood pressure and heart rate, which can increase your risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, or death. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure. sunosi can cause symptoms such as anxiety, problems sleeping, irritability, and agitation. other common side effects include headache, nausea, and decreased appetite. tell your doctor if you develop any of these, as your dose may need to be adjusted or stopped. amazing things happen during the day. sunosi can help you stay awake for whatever amazes you. visit sunosi.com and talk to your doctor about sunosi today.

introducing michelob ultra organic seltzer it's 6x filtered and is usda certified organic. (toy squeaking) we're not playing around new cucumber lime michelob ultra organic seltzer as real as it tastes so let's take a breath before this holiday weekend and appreciate exactly where we are.

more than 165 million americans have now received at least one dose of a covid vaccine. cases are down and dropping. we've waited so long for this moment for a returning to normalcy to see family and friends, go to the pool, go to a barbecue without a mask for the vaccinated. but let's remember where we were a year ago. fear and isolation were the norm. this was the front page of "the new york times" over memorial day weekend 2020. the incalculable loss nearing 100,000 then. while we've lost five times that number now, there's clearly light at the end of the tunnel. i want to bring in dr. leana wen, an e.r. physician and former baltimore health commissioner and talk about the state of play. dr. wen, you say that the key factor in terms of determining what can i do this weekend, where can i go, and how can i do it is whether you are vaccinated. explain. >> well, we are at so much of a better place than we were last year at this time. last year we were talking about

hunkering down with your family unit and we didn't know what was coming ahead of us, we just knew that it was going to be really grim and it was. and now we're at a totally different place where we're actually telling people if you're fully vaccinated, go out and see your friends and family, go travel, do the things that you've been missing the last 16 months. so it's a totally different place. but it is a totally different place for those who are fully vaccinated. those individuals are very well protected from becoming ill, from spreading coronavirus to others. but the risk to those who are unvaccinated remains really high. a washington post analysis done last week said that the risk for those who are unvaccinated is similar to their risk in the middle of the worst surge in january. so for those individuals if they're traveling, they should still wear n-95 or double masks. they should avoid crowded indoor gatherings, but those who are vaccinated can really enjoy and have a great time. >> how concerned should those who are vaccinated be about mingling with those who are not?

>> yeah, so, it really depends and i think we're in this in between phase of the pandemic where there aren't any clear-cut answers. the rate of breakthrough infections meaning infections if you're fully vaccinated is really low, but it's not zero. so somebody who has chronic medical issues or lives at home with somebody who is immunocompromised or young children who are not vaccinated, they might still want to be careful because they don't want to accidentally become infected, to be asymptomatic but be transmitting coronavirus to people who live in their household. so i would say if everybody in your household is fully vaccinated, don't be very concerned. you can go about many aspects of pre-pandemic normal but if you are living with somebody who is at high risk, you might want to take caution. and that's what i'm doing. i've got two little kids so my husband and i will socialize with others outdoors. we'll definitely be happy to see anyone who is also vaccinated indoors. but we're not going to indoor crowded gatherings with

unvaccinated, unmasked people. >> dr. wen, have a great memorial day weekend, and thank you. >> thank you, you too. the biden administration taking a harder look at the theory that covid may have leaked from a lab in china. but 15 months into this pandemic, why are we so short on answers? my next guests say much of the blame lies with efforts to bend the facts and turn the lab leak theory into a potent political weapon. olivia troye and david frum take it up next. fine, no one leaves the table until your finished. fine, we'll sleep here. ♪ it's the easiest because it's the cheesiest. kraft. for the win win.

i booked our hotel on kayak. it's flexible if we need to cancel. cancel. i haven't left the house in a year. nothing will stop me from vacation. no canceling. flexible cancellation. kayak. search one and done. new budweiser summer patriotic cans are here to give your memorial day weekend a red, white and bud upgrade. collect all three limited- edition designs. new budweiser summer patriotic cans. in-stores now.

new projects means new project managers. new budweiser summer patriotic cans. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home.

wanna help kids get their homework done? well, an internet connection's a good start. but kids also need computers. and sometimes the hardest thing about homework is finding a place to do it. so why not hook community centers up with wifi? for kids like us, and all the amazing things we're gonna learn. over the next 10 years, comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million low-income americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything. i hope you're ready. 'cause we are. rely on the experts at 1800petmeds for the same medications as the vet, but for less with fast free shipping.

visit petmeds.com today. there's two headlines this week you might have thought might conflict with one another. president biden asking the intelligence community to redouble its efforts to investigate the origins of the covid pandemic while also shutting down the state department's efforts to do the same. of course, that probe was led by then-secretary of state mike pompeo. is that good reason enough to do away with their work? my next guest knows firsthand why there may be good reason for it. olivia troye is a former aide to vice president mike pence and was a senior adviser on president trump's covid task force. also david frum has written extensively on the right's push for the lab leak theory. olivia, you say you had a front row seat to the politicization of the intel on covid. explain.

>> i did. so early on in the spring, i was watching the trends of what was happening in china. we were trying to get access on the ground early on. since we're talking mid to late january and early february. what was concerning to me is that the intelligence community had been briefing on this situation and what we publicly know now is that they had come to the conclusion that they didn't know precisely, they weren't sure completely, they didn't have a picture of where the virus had originated from. what was concerning to me, though, is that repeatedly i was asked about whether it came from a lab. and then what was more concerning was the fact that the questions more leaned towards was it being -- was it done on purpose, was it a bioweapon? i kept refuting these responses. i would say, i'm having the intelligence people tell you this, i'm working on this myself. we have refuted these responses. but it was upsetting when there was a "washington times" article which was corrected two months later.

they walked it back and said, we don't really have the facts on it. and it was just about the lab. this kept surfacing along the way. it was clear to me that the pandemic response was not going well and i think that they are looking for an answer where they could shift the blame. it was just fundamentally i was concerned about it because i was concerned about the kind of messaging that would start to surface from the white house and as you saw that's what happened along the way. >> but olivia, what if it ends up being true? it seems like there's as equal an opportunity that that may have been true as if it had been false. >> right, and here's the thing, we do need to get to the bottom of it if we can. i don't know if we'll ever have full transparency and understand the origin of it. that is a mystery. there may be more information that we've seen in the reporting where intelligence -- the intelligence community is continuing to dig on it. president biden is within his full right to really actually ask the questions now that we are under a different administration, a different time. and so i think that we need to

press china. we need to continue to try to figure out what happened here and understand the facts. but the truth is, i was more concerned because it was being politicized in a way and i'm watching people like senator josh hawley, who were asking the questions and asking for the declassification solely on a lab and i just want it to be a holistic narrative, not a narrative that pushes disinformation or conspiracy theories or something like that, that is fundamentally more dangerous to push that out to citizens. >> but, david, speaking of the politicization of this analysis, so many among us wrote off the idea that it escaped from the lab because that's what donald trump was saying. if trump is saying "x," then everybody else thinks they should say "y." >> trump spent the first two months of the pandemic saying nothing is happening. it's under control. i love china, i trust china, my top priority is to let them out of the crazy trade war that i started that is depressing the

stock market at the end of 2019 and pushing the country into recession. only after the pandemic began to spread in the united states to a point where trump began to worry it might affect him politically, did he and people in his party begin to take up the idea that this was an attack on the united states. he compared it to pearl harbor and to 9/11. now, that's plainly wrong. and that's one of the reasons why people didn't listen to him at the time, is that they launched an attack on the united states by first dropping it on their own people inside the city of wuhan? how does that make sense? so what we are talking about is a very different version of the theory from that which president trump advanced. and the important question with that is the one you asked olivia just a minute ago. what if it's true? and this is where you see the real folly and self-harm of the trump point of view. if it's true, if there was a negligent or careless accident in a chinese lab and a terrible disease spread outward from there, we were blindsided because president trump had

blinded the united states. he had removed americans from china. if a virus like this, a pandemic like this can spread from a lab, if that's what happened, it shows we need more international cooperation, more american eyes inside china, better sharing of investigation between scientists. we have to pay for that by giving china better access to what's going on inside the united states. president trump wanted the lab leak theory to be a justification for national selfishness and egotism and stoking rage and resentment against others. when in fact if it's true and we don't know if it is and it may not be, but if it is, it shows this is a smaller planet than we ever imagined and we need more cooperation, not less. >> okay, but, olivia, final word to you. the trial lawyer in me says that if there was negligence on the part of the chinese, i have no suspicion that they did this deliberately. but if there were negligence and they covered it up, they need to be held accountable and compensate us, no?

>> the truth is we don't know. we have no evidence that i have seen back then to believe that it was done on purpose. they have been studying the virus, what happened there. we should be asking and we should be having accountability here. and, look, fundamentally there was a lack of transparency very early on from china. and we did try to get access on the ground. cdc tried. we were trying to really understand the virus firsthand and what was happening early on in the pandemic, so i think the questions, biden is right to continue to press china and see what happened from it so we can learn from it as well so we can understand these type of situations so when you're faced with a global pandemic like that, it's important to have the facts early on because it certainly affected the world. >> okay. i agree with all that. but there needs to be accountability and maybe compensation as well. thank you both. >> what does that mean? >> what does that mean? >> yeah. >> that means that if they -- i'm not saying this happened

because i don't know. but if they covered up knowledge that there was negligence on their part that allowed it to leak and if hundreds of thousands of americans paid a price as a result because of the delay in treatment, they need to pay for it. >> how? what does that mean? >> it means compensation for what the united states went through, that the united states would not have gone through had we known sooner what the truth was. i truly wish i could more time to pursue this but i don't. thank you both. olivia troye and david frum. it's straight out of a movie plot. a mysterious illness striking government officials near the white house. diplomats and spies complaining of nausea, headaches, hearing loss. what is it? and who's behind the strange attacks? we'll take it up with a former cia officer who suffered crippling symptoms and an investigative reporter digging into the so-called havana syndrome. stay with us.

hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this... your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, asap!

so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee... yeah i should've just led with that... with at&t business... you can pick the best plan for each employee and only pay for the features they need. ♪ sometimes you wanna go ♪ ♪ where everybody knows your name ♪ ♪ ♪ and they're always glad you came ♪ ♪ you wanna be where you can see(ah-ah) ♪ ♪ our troubles are all the same (ah-ah) ♪ ♪ you wanna be where everybody knows your name ♪ ♪ you wanna go where people know ♪ welcome back, america. it sure is good to see you. new spicy pineapple michelob ultra organic seltzer. it has a nice spicy kick. and is usda certified organic. don't fall for anything else. as real as it tastes.

don'tat worksman cycles,else. we've been building bikes for a hundred years. but our customers' needs have changed, so we expanded our product line to include electric cycles. we used the unlimited 1.5 percent cash back from our chase ink business unlimited ® credit card to help purchase tools and materials to build new models. and each time we use our card, we earn cash back to help grow our business. it's more than cycling,

it's finding innovative ways to move forward. chase for business ® . make more of what's yours ® . imagine an attack on american diplomats, spies, troops, and national security officials that sounds like this. nothing. it's silent. and there's no visible wound. but the effects can be debilitating. nausea, vertigo, numbness, and more. maybe you heard about this happening to americans in cuba, hence the name the havana syndrome. then in russia. and what about right here on u.s. soil?

investigators now looking at two nsc officials that came down with a mystery illness late last year right near the white house, no less. i've got two perfect guests to talk more about it. former cia officer mark -- who came down with a mystery symptom in moscow. and adam entiss, who has written about this. mark, how did it feel? >> this was one of the most terrifying experiences in my life. it was december of 2017. i woke up in the middle of the night in a moscow hotel room and i had an incredible case of vertigo. i couldn't stand up. i was falling over. i had a splitting headache and i had tinnitus ringing in my ears. i've spent a lot of time in war zones in iraq and afghanistan, but this was the most terrifying experience of my life. >> i know that now you're retired from the cia. are you retired on some form of disability? in other words, does the government recognize, formally recognize that you suffered an

injury on the job? >> well, in fact quite to the contrary. i retired at age 50 because i could at the time, but i had to. i couldn't go through a single day of work without a splitting headache. i've actually had a headache for three straight years. and the fact of the matter is, i was -- it was denied by the cia medical staff and cia seniors that anything happened to me. i left there at a certain time at 50 but with the clear understanding that my leadership who i trusted before didn't believe that anything had happened to me. >> adam, how many are there like my guest mark? >> well, nobody really knows, frankly, first of all. nobody knows the real numbers. that's the first thing we should stress. the number that they're tracking of possible cases is over 130,

of which, of that 130 about 50 of which are cia officers and family members. so it gives you a sense of the scale. but there were a big group of people that were injured in havana. i mean, the number there that was studied at the university of pennsylvania was 40. and that wasn't the all-inclusive number. so again, the numbers are really hard to pin down. >> adam, what is the working hypothesis? >> you know, from the very beginning, the working hypothesis has been that this was a directed energy device. maybe that was designed to spy or to block communications and that it had this other effect of actually injuring the people. but again, this is a hypothesis. the intelligence hasn't been collected to make that hypothesis anything more than that. and what's really kind of remarkable about this is in the four years since this -- since

we started tracking this in havana, there really wasn't been much of a change on the intelligence collection side of it, but the number of people who are coming forward to say this is what happened to them has increased dramatically. >> marc, what do you think happened to you? >> well, clearly it was something pretty dramatic happened. one of the biggest things is after i finally got -- after a battle with the u.s. government for health care, when i finally received treatment at walter reed, i received a diagnosis of a traumatic brain injury suffered from an external exposure event. so the doctors know that something happened. you know, what that is remains to be seen, but make no mistake. both myself, other colleagues in the cia, and a lot of colleagues in the state department as well, something pretty awful happened there. and for myself and many others, it's been an absolutely debilitating injury that's caused not only the need to retire but incredible mental health issues because ultimately this is a silent wound. a colleague of mine during some

art therapy sessions at walter reed made this incredible painting. it's a black canvas and there's a red splotch on it that looks like blood. he called that the gunshot. and what that means is, we all wish we had been shot and had a more visible wound. so it's been a pretty awful experience and a journey that i never expected to be on. >> adam, in "the new yorker" recently you detailed the story of a 30-something working in the waning days of the trump administration, leaves the eisenhower executive building headed to his car at the ellipse and is stricken with what marc is describing. begs the question, is the president safe? >> yeah, i mean, in fact before that episode, there was an earlier episode involving another white house staff member who was walking her dog in alexandria, virginia, near her home where she saw a van parked across the street and a guy get out of the van and then she felt this extraordinary pain and sort of doubles over in pain.

when she reports that to the security staff at the white house, after that o'brien, who was the national security adviser at the time convened a series of security briefings because people were worried. who else could be targeted. what's interesting was that o'brien concluded that senior officials, cabinet members, people like himself, were not at high risk. that the risk seemed to be more junior people, if you will. you know, people who had direct access because of their jobs to information, sensitive intelligence, that maybe the perpetrators of this were targeting with whatever they were doing. but frankly they -- the amount of knowledge is very limited because they haven't caught anybody in the act. they haven't found the device. so they basically have to make these assessments based on the testimony of patients like marc. that's what they have to go on at this stage. >> hey, gents, i'm out of time.

but marc, everything i know about your business i learned from jason bourne, but i wonder if we're trying to replicate it. maybe that would help us figure it out. quick yes or no. do you know if the cia is trying to see, can we do this? i don't mean to harm somebody but to try to understand better what maybe happened to you? >> look, i'm confident that the cia and the intelligence community, the department of defense is pulling out all the stops on this. i think it's a national security concern now. this has to do with the protection of our personnel overseas, so i'm sure they're doing everything possible, you know, to get to the bottom of this, no doubt. >> wish you good things. adam, thank you, oh, you can? tell me quickly. >> they're right now starting a program to reverse engineer it. so they want to see what it takes to build something like this and their intention is to at a military laboratory expose nonhuman primates to this kind of radiation to see whether this kind of exposure to pulse

microwave would reproduce the sort of brain injuries that you're seeing in the human patients as well. so that's something that's getting under way as we speak. >> marc, we wish you good things. adam, great reporting in "the new yorker." appreciate you being here. thank you both. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> by the way, marc is the author of a great new book called "clarity in crisis: leadership lessons from the cia." airline travel back, but so is a disturbing surge in air rage. we're talking passengers punching flight attendants, in one case knocking out her teeth. union leader sarah nelson says she's never seen misbehavior this bad and it's got to stop. so pack your patience, people. we'll be right back. you hear that? that's your weathered deck, crying for help. while you do nothing... it's inviting those geese over for target practice. today, let's stain™.

right now get incredible savings on select behr premium® stains. starting at $26.98*. this is the sound of an asthma attack... that doesn't happen. this is the sound of better breathing. fasenra is a different kind of asthma medication. it's not a steroid or inhaler. fasenra is an add-on treatment for asthma driven by eosinophils. it's one maintenance dose every 8 weeks. it helps prevent asthma attacks, improve breathing, and lower use of oral steroids. nearly 7 out of 10 adults with asthma may have elevated eosinophils. fasenra is designed to target and remove them. fasenra is not a rescue medication or for other eosinophilic conditions. fasenra may cause allergic reactions. get help right away if you have swelling of your face,

mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. don't stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection or your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. this is the sound of fasenra. ask your doctor about fasenra. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. advanced non-small cell lung cancer can change everything. but your first treatment could be a chemo-free combination of two immunotherapies that works differently.

it could mean a chance to live longer. opdivo plus yervoy is for adults newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer that has spread, tests positive for pd-l1 and does not have an abnormal egfr or alk gene. opdivo plus yervoy is the only fda-approved combination of two immunotherapies opdivo plus yervoy equals... a chance for more starry nights. more sparkly days. more big notes. more small treasures. more family dinners. more private desserts. opdivo and yervoy can cause your immune system to harm healthy parts of your body during and after treatment. these problems can be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have a cough; chest pain; shortness of breath; irregular heartbeat; diarrhea; constipation; severe stomach pain, nausea or vomiting; dizziness; fainting; eye problems; extreme tiredness; changes in appetite, thirst or urine; rash; itching; confusion; memory problems; muscle pain or weakness; joint pain; flushing; or fever. these are not all the possible side effects.

problems can occur together and more often when opdivo is used with yervoy. tell your doctor about all medical conditions including immune or nervous system problems, if you've had or plan to have an organ or stem cell transplant, or received chest radiation. here's to a chance for more horizons. a chance to live longer. ask your doctor about chemo-free opdivo plus yervoy. thank you to all involved in our clinical trials. memorial day weekend finally here. more than 37 million people, expected to travel. that's a 60% jump, from last year. and more than any other time since the pandemic began. but more passengers has meant more unruly passengers according to the faa.

and that means more danger for flight attendants, and here's the proof. >> [ bleep ]. >> that flight attendant lost two teeth, and the passenger has now been banned from southwest airlines. but why is this happening? we are going straight to the international president of the association of flight attendants, sarah nelson. sarah, what the hell? >> what the hell, is right, michael. this is unacceptable. this is more than 20-times more incidents in the first-five months of this year, than would occur in a regular-entire year. and so -- and what flight attendants are seeing out there a constant-combative attitude. this has been inconsistent information, so that people are not clear about what the rules are. they are ready to get out. people are thinking that they are coming to the door of the airplane. taking on the issues of safety procedures, as though they're a

political decision, rather than a public-health necessity. and it's really got to stop. it's got to stop because the only way that aviation works is when we come to the door of the plane with the spirit that we're all in this together. you know, we tell you to put your seatbelt on. we don't say, if you believe your seatbelt's going to help you, you should put it on. we tell you to put it on because we know turbulence cannot only throw you to the ceiling, when you land. begging the public, listen to our instructions. our instructions are there to keep everyone safe. we can all check our patience as we go on our trips and then we can try to get back to some sort of normal. >> is the punishment sufficient for these incidents? >> so, since january 13th, the faa administrator, steve dixon, has said he's taken a zero-tolerance policy approach to unruly passengers. that means you are subject to $35,000 for each incident and jail time. this is a federal offense.

so these are very serious consequences. there was -- someone was charged over $63,000, last week. so the fines are severe. and they can be very severe. but so are your actions. little problems on a plane can become big problems very quickly. one thing i want to make clear, i have been a flight attendant for 25 years. people come on our planes, they are a microcosm of our entire society. and they come on because they are celebrating, they are grieving, they are going to a big-business deal. they are traveling to connect together. you have unaccompanied children going to different family members. all of these people coming onboard. guess why? because they want to come together. aviation is about bringing people together, not tearing them apart. and the vast majority of people come to our door with kindness in their heart and the desire to have a safe, uneventful flight. what we have to do is really lift that up and encourage that kind of attitude. and understand there are severe consequences if you don't just act like an adult.

>> limited on time. but one thing i am taking away from this discussion is that you think better direction need be given to the traveling public, to avoid the tension that builds and creates these circumstances? >> we have to be very clear in the instructions about what is expected of each traveler. and secretary mayorkas made that very clear, yesterday. faa administrator steve dixon has made that clear. tsa has made that clear, and so has president biden. we need to repeat that messaging and let me just say this. no drinking alcohol in the airport. we need to pause alcohol sales in the airport and on the airplane. and everyone just needs to focus on getting along, wearing your mask, get vaccinated. and then, come fly with us and let's regain our freedom. >> sarah nelson, that was excellent. thank you so much. >> thank you, michael. we'll be right back. at carvana, we treat every customer like we would treat our own moms, with care and respect. to us, the little things are the big things.

which is why we do everything in our power to make buying a car an unforgettable experience. happy birthday. thank you. we treat every customer like we would treat our own moms. because that's what they deserve. at aspen dental, today is the day to take back your smile. why wait? we're here nights, weekends and right now, to give you exceptional care and 20% off your treatment plan. new patients, take the first step with a complete exam and x-rays that are free without insurance. because our nationwide network of over 1,500 doctors at 900 locations all have one goal — to make you smile, today. start now. call 1-800-aspendental or book online at aspendental.com

if you wake up thinking about the market and want to make the right moves fast... get decision tech from fidelity. [ cellphone vibrates ] you'll get proactive alerts for market events before they happen... and insights on every buy and sell decision. with zero-commission online u.s. stock and etf trades. for smarter trading decisions, get decision tech from fidelity.

introducing michelob ultra organic seltzer. it's made with real fruit juice. and is usda certified organic. we're breaking away from the rest. new mixed berry michelob ultra organic seltzer. as real as it tastes.

we know how much you count on us... new...and that's whyelob ulwe're here 24/7...r. ...and on the road maintaining a fast and reliable network. we're always working to ensure the internet meets your needs... ...by making access easier for all... ...with comcast lift zones and our internet essentials program. we're invested in making our apps easy... ...to give you personalized assistance around the clock. and we're committed to keeping our team and customers safe by working from home... ...and using precautions in store. see what we're up to at xfinity.com/commitment thank you for watching. i i'll be back in this chair in 11 hours. join me for smerconish right here on cnn. "don lemon tonight" with laura coates sitting in, starts right now. laura, the sirius xm potus channel takeover of cnn

continues. so take it away. >> i know. i love it. again, 11 hours from now. i get a couple days off until my next show. but i am so glad to be on with you. thank you so much, michael. great to see you. >> you, too, laura. thank you. bye-bye. >> this is "don lemon tonight." i'm laura coates, in for don lemon. senate republicans voting to block the creation of a bipartisan commission. a commission, to investigate the insurrection at the capitol on january 6th. a riot, in which five people died. now, the final vote, 54-35. under that final vote, 54-35. six republicans breaking ranks and joining with democrats. but it wasn't enough. two democrats didn't vote. but still, it would not have made a difference, because 60-yes votes were needed. te