here in surfside, there's been a lot of attention to the north tower, an identical building near the one that collapsed and questions about whether the north tower is now safe. cnn's brian todd was allowed inside to have a detailed look around, and brian joins me now. brian, what did you see? >> john, i saw an area where maintenance and upkeep is kind of an obsession to people in the tower with the president and the vice president. we talked to both of them today. they showed us the garage, the roof and the pool deck. it's immaculate. we've seen the garage like sunny aisles condominium and other places. at the garage in the north tower, it was pristine. no cracks, no water, no exposed rebar. there was a sump pump down there that was brand new.

you could have eaten a meal off the floor of this garage at this place. the roof, everything was sealed. and from the roof, they showed us the balconies. the balconies are an interesting story, because you saw the miami-dade mayor said they had to shut down some balconies in another building here. well, they told us that three years ago at the behest of the condo association president, they ripped off the tiles of the floors on all the balconies. he saw it. and he said, this is too heavy and it's building too much moisture and damage on the floors of these balconies, and it's going to cause problems. and he, three years ago, saw this problem. he was very prescient. he said, you're going to have to incur these costs. each unit had to pay a little over $10,000 for it. but they got it done. those balconies are completely fortified and they look perfect. >> do people in that tower feel confident about their safety? >> they do now. some left but experts came through after this collapse and gave it a really high bill of health. that caused the return of the

residents there. >> to your eye, they look even better than those other buildings. brian todd, thank you for that report. that's all for us tonight. the news continues, so let's head over to chris for "cuomo prime time." >> thanks, john. welcome to "prime time." it is surf side day six. we learned tonight another body was found in the rubble. that means 12 have been confirmed dead. i suggest to you that that is the only number that we can be sure of in terms of how many might be lost. tonight we're going to test the idea of how many are missing. is it 150? who decided that and how? here's what we do know. first responders have now moved approximately 3 million pounds of concrete. 210 rescue workers are on that mound at one time. the fires have been put out. they're still struggling with

stability, but they are doing the job. today we also learned a little bit more about the moment of tragedy. >> i see no people on their balconies. the building is gone. there are no elevators. there is nothing. i mean, it almost resembles the world trade center. >> each day the desire for answers and understanding inevitably grows. state authorities should be carrying the responsibility. the governor said rightly, governor desantis, we need answers. yes, and it is his job to start the process to getting them. we're waiting on the formation of some group to discover what can be discovered here, to give families closure and to make sure other buildings are maintained the right way. the mayor of miami-dade said today she's very supportive of the support of the state attorney to probe this collapse. is that the best way to do this?

and when will that happen? we have to keep pressing on this issue in the weeks to come. also, there is now a letter that has surfaced from the board president of champlain towers south to residents from less than three months ago. she warned then about the pressing need for millions of dollars' worth of repairs. quote, the observable damage, such as in the garage, has gotten significantly worse since the original inspection. concrete deterioration is accelerating. the roof got much worse so extensive roof repairs had to be incorporated. the initial inspection what she was referring to was that 2018 report we told you about that found major structural damage below the pool deck, cracking and expanding in the parking garage. of course, we what happened in the parking garage and what's going on at the pool, they showed them this two days before the collapse. they found extensive cracking beneath the pool deck.

was this a piece of a puzzle? was there something they should have foreseen or known? risk of catastrophe? we can't nail that part down. the lawyer points to the fact the board president said, no, that was never there, and if they were, why did residents stay in the building? fair enough, but did they miss big clues? fair warning? we have commissioner eliana salzhauer. good to have you. >> thank you for having me. let me ask you something. you hear me at the top, this 150 number that we have. i heard another local official talking about it and now they say it's 149, but how do they know? how do we know that number is accurate, because we all keep saying it. >> that's exactly right. we don't really know exactly who was in the building. there are airbnb apartments, friends have friends over, neighbors have friends over.

you never know. not everyone may be accounted for unless family comes forward and says, i haven't heard from so-and-so and they may be in miami. there may be people who don't come forward and we may not know. >> that's weird and unsatisfying. there's a system in place to reach out. >> that would be unusual, wouldn't it? how long would that take? this should be something you know, or no, you don't know. and who is doing the counting? >> there are so many organizations involved in this. this is not surfside scene. that scene is being handled by miami-dade county and fire and rescue. when they leave homicide is taking over. i wouldn't be surprised if the feds showed up at some point. we're a small town. we're a small town. we're not prepared for a tragedy of this magnitude. i don't know that any town is, but we certainly aren't. so we are really trying to use our resources as best as

possible and defer to the experts. that's what we've done a good job of, bringing in some real heavy hitters to help solve this mystery. the mystery of who was in that building, hey, if someone got lucky that night, we're not going to know. we're not going to know if someone had family over, if someone had a girlfriend over, if relatives flew in. there was family staying there that wasn't supposed to arrive until the next day. as luck would have it, they decided to go a day early and this is their fate. but we don't know. it's been less than a week. in time we'll have a full accounting of everyone. in time we want families to have closure. in time we want answers. more importantly, we want to make sure this never happens again and how this happened. >> we'll keep an eye on that. if for no other reason it nets at zero at some point. who is found alive, god willing, if a miracle can still happen. who was found or never found, not only for families waiting, but it has to be at net zero sometime.

otherwise it's a mystery for no reason. what we're learning, commissioner. this extensive reporting, it's scattershot, it's piecemeal. the guy doesn't like all the standing water. they have a review in 2018 the board sends a letter saying we need $15 million in repairs but it wasn't scary enough to leave because all the board members stayed in the building. what do you make of the significance of the reporting that's come out about concerns, about sprawling and cracking, et cetera, in this building? >> i think in hindsight obviously these problems were catastrophic that they were missed. going forward, i think that anyone who sees this in their garage is going to be pretty panicked, and for good reason because we don't know what caused this, what set of circumstances led to this building collapsing. it's going to turn out to be not just one thing, maybe a perfect storm of different contributing factors. but obviously, in hindsight, they should have made more noise.

they had this report, they had a report, it said very clearly your building is in bad shape. it said very clearly you have significant deterioration of the concrete, of the structure, of the slap. -- slab. it didn't say run for your lives, and maybe it should have said run for your lives. but it didn't, and the residents, maybe they didn't want to spend the money, maybe it took a while to get their act together. there wasn't a sense of urgency, and we need to find out why that sense of urgency wasn't communicated. >> so you're trying to get a meeting with the condo department during the time they were getting assessments. what are you looking for? >> i spent some time watching the survivors come to our community center and seeing the looks on their faces. the first thing they said to me was, i knew it, i knew it. the building was shaking like crazy when they were building that building next door. i knew the water damage was there. i told them, nobody listened to me. they all had something along those lines to say. for me, that's my wake-up call

to say i need to do something about this. i'm an outsider. i got elected two years ago. i got elected to clean up this town hall, to bring this mickey mouse paper-based system into the 21st century. we have a new assistant town manager. we have a new building official. the guy who was at the helm during this period is not there anymore working for our town. we were doing what we needed to do to clean things up and straighten things out and then this happened. the good news is the people involved in this, who had their fingers in this, are no longer with the town, so i'm not concerned that people will be shredding documents in the middle of the night or trying to cover their tracks. everything is public record, it's in there, it's just a matter of how fast we can get to it. we're a small town. >> i hear you. at this point this is not about blame. i'm coming to you for perspective, not for accountability. not yet, anyway.

the idea of the people who had their finger in this, you got to help us understand what that means as i appoint of clarification. we had a forensic exappropert w looks at collapses, as a man who knows the area and suggested, without proof of this particular building, and that matter, that sometimes boards in this area would pick people because of their rates and not their expertise, and that that's something that has to be looked at with who does the inspections and who oversees that. does that resonate with you? >> you know, it does, but not in this case, because this guy's report was bad. they didn't hire someone to just tell them what they wanted to hear. they didn't hire someone who whitewashes things. if you read the report by the engineer who did that report, mr. morabito, it's very strong. he's not mincing words. he's telling them, your building is in bad shape. you have to fix these things. in this case i don't think they hired someone just to --

>> so the guy comes, he or she, he in this case, they come and do an inspection. okay? the building is in bad shape. does the accountability end with telling the board, or should there be some public accounting? reporting required. >> if you go to the doctor and the guy said you need to quit smoking, you leave and you go to the parking lot and you light up. >> but it's just you, it's not 110 units of you. see what i'm saying? >> yes, absolutely. >> should there be a different rule? >> we do need to take a look at the whole process. the condo board gets the report. the condo board then needs to communicate that to the condo residents and need to make it clear enough that they are concerned. my concern was it was diluted. the board got the report, it was scary to them and they asked for a second opinion. they called in our building

official to come over and talk to them about it, and from the reading of the minutes, our building official said to them, you're okay, it's okay. i wasn't at the meeting and i don't know someone who was at the meeting. all i know is what the minutes reflect. they may have heard what they wanted to hear. he may have been trying to cause them not to panic, but i certainly think there needed to be more urgency. we can see from the follow-up e-mails that he communicated to our town manager that he talked to the board and they're working on starting their stuff for 2021 to do their 40-year certification, but there was no sense of urgency communicated. where did that message get lost? >> it sounds like from him. to be honest, i haven't really heard this before. the lawyer for the condo board said, we got the report. her argument from her perspective, is, chris, are you saying the building was falling apart and they needed to tell they stayed living there with

lo loved ones? i don't think people who thought their building was in danger of collapse would stay. i give you that. but now you say that somebody who worked for the municipality, doesn't work there anymore, didn't work there on your watch, said i looked at it. you're okay. >> he looked at the report. he didn't look at the building. it's not his role to look at the building. he doesn't have the authority. maybe that's something that should change. >> but you said the report is bad. why didn't he think it was bad? >> you can ask him. i would love to ask him that. i want the e-mails, the minutes. i want a full accounting. >> have you asked him to come in and speak to the commissioner? >> i believe he lawyered up quickly. >> there will be state subpoenas, we will hear the evidence and issues, and we'll get to the bottom of this. i'm not interested in politics, i'm interested in getting

answers for our residents so this never happens again and so they know what happened. i do want to point out another item. when this was done, the building is certainly in bad shape. but there were other factors that also impacted this building. there was a huge construction of a large tower right next door called 87 park which was in the city of miami beach. when it was being built, the residents of this building, of champlain south, complained. our building is shaking, i'm seeing cracks in the construction. can you do anything about it? unfortunately it wasn't our territory. so we had people saying to them, what do you want us to do about it? it's not our town. that's not a satisfactory answer to me. the answer is you call the city of miami beach and say, what's going on over there? and the city of miami beach should be held accountable for what went on over there, because each one of these things will have an impact. there was another factor. the army corps of engineer did a beach reconstruction on our plan and they hauled in thousands of

pounds of sand. hundreds of trucks. every day full of sand. usually this is done by barge because of the weight of the sand. they did it by truck. did the weight of all the trucks coming in day after day after day, did that contribute? i'm saying there is not going to be one person to say, oh, gosh. >> understood. but, look, you've put a lot of stuff together. and as you said, you're new to town. >> i'm not new to town. >> two years. >> i'm new to the role of commissioner. >> i get it. let's say you're new to the game but you picked up a lot of thread pretty fast. that should give us hope that we can get answers so that not only do the families who are waiting with whatever the real number is we're waiting to find out about, that the system can work to make sure this is one story and one story only that is ever told

about this kind of disaster. i appreciate you, ms. salzhauer, commissioner, for being on and giving us insight i hadn't heard yet. i appreciate the pieces to the puzzle. >> i want the residents to know that there are people on the inside working to get to the bottom of this. not just the people on the outside who have questions, but even on the inside. i'm nagging them multiple times a day, where are those documents, when can we post them, i want answers. nobody is as eager to get to the bottom of this than me. i will continue to do that. >> we're happy to assist in the effort of accountability and getting the information out. may you use this platform to shed insight as you receive it. >> thank you. >> that was interesting, right? i didn't hear that this guy from the municipality talked to them about the report, about whether it was bad or wasn't bad. a lot of pieces here.

and every one matters. who knew this building? a structural engineer who worked on the building is going to join us. we first brought him in on night one. now we know more. there are more documents out. there are more different pieces of context. a bit of a paper trail. things for him to build off of. what does he think it's starting to shape up as? what does he need to know? next. hearing is important to living life to the fullest. that's why inside every miracle-ear store, you'll find better bedtime stories. you'll find a better life is in store at miracle-ear, when you experience the exclusive miracle-ear advantage. it starts with our free hearing assessment. plus innovative products that fit your needs and budget. with free service and adjustments for life. we're so confident we can improve your life, we're offering a 30-day risk-free trial. call 1-800-miracle today and experience the miracle-ear advantage for yourself. hi guys! check out this side right here. call 1-800-miracle today and experience what'd you do? - tell me know you did it. - yeah. get a little closer. that's insane.

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listen, here's a little window into reality here, okay? it's going to take time. it's going to be confusing. it's going to be complicated finding out what happened with this building in south florida. i can't even get it straight with my own team. i got information they had heard before. this is one team. think of all the different layers that will be part of this investigation. you'll have the state attorney, you'll have the feds involved, the municipality, you got north miami beach here, you got surfside right next to it. you got the commissioner just on.

she wants to see the minutes. we don't even know -- this is going to be complicated. that's why the state has to own it and put together a team that is the clearinghouse for everything. if you do it scattershot, if you do it piecemeal, it's going to get screwed up, people are going to get angry, there is going to be bad information and false suggestions. and we know it now. okay? and that's why i hope that the people who are in charge understand that there is one right way to do this. now, when we turn our attention back to the actual tower, there is a telling line in that april letter to residents of surfside's champlain towers south. quote, a lot of this work could have been planned or done for in years gone by, but this is where we are now. what does that mean? in the time between the 2018 report and that letter, the cost

ballooned nearly 70%. why? well, the letter blames rising construction costs. the costs for all sectors of construction in the area only rose about 12.9%. that's a lot, to go to 12% or 13%, but why did the problems get that much more expensive in three years? let's try to get some perspective on that. and how do we understand the language in these reports? someone who writes them, someone who studies them, someone who does the investigating. a structural engineer familiar with the building that fell, greg batista. thank you for coming back. >> good evening. >> help me with the money. this got much more expensive. the condo lawyer told us, hey, they could have had cash reserves. the board members kept voting it down so they needed to do a major assessment. it took them more time to raise the money. is that what they're talking about, or was there some fixed cost or some shortage of suppliers to do this kind of work that ballooned expenses?

>> well, being a contractor and an engineer, i can speak to this. let's just assume for a second, and this is a big assumption, that it's exactly the same scope of work, because if you have a price on a set date and then three years later you have another price, maybe they added windows, maybe they added waterproofing -- >> maybe it got worse. >> yes, and that's what i'm getting at. let's make the assumption that both were equal but it's the same scope of work. it is the fact that the concrete repair and this sprawling and the fact that the reinforcing steel inside the concrete worsens over time and it's a geometrical increase. in the damage that happens to the concrete. year number one a repair is worth $1 hundred.

year number 3, it's going to magnify. it's not a straight line, it goes up geometrically. i'm not at all surprised. even with inflation and the cost of construction going up, it's no surprise to me. >> two issues. one, knowing what you know about this building, what's your reckoning about why the repairs weren't done when they were supposed to be? what was your experience working with them? >> this building is sort of an anomaly. i'm used to doing 40-year recertifications when the building department asks for it, which in this case would have been the year 2021. these people had the foresight, for whatever reason, maybe they already saw the damages, that they chose to do it three years before ahead of time. so when they saw the damages, they should have, you know, immediately jumped on it and done something about it. but it's very complex, all the different pieces that go into play as far as banks and assessments and the people

getting upset, not willing to pay and the financial status of those that are involved. it's a very complex situation. >> one other thing. how were we supposed to understand this language when we hear the language in these reports, significant structural deterioration, people saying things that sound scary to a layperson, but then we heard, i think one of the engineers from your own shop who had done some of this saying, yeah, this is what we're accustomed to seeing when we do these kind of reviews. i'm trying to figure out why this board wasn't scared out of their wits by this report. is that because the language doesn't mean in the vocabulary of this kind of work what it sounds like to the rest of us? >> when an engineer says something needs to be done and this is dangerous and he calls their attention to it, they don't need to get into alarmist language. at least, i don't do that. i've seen many concrete damages

where i do use that same language. but if it comes to the point where it is life-threatening, that's up to the engineer's judgment to use that strong language. either way, if the engineer said that these -- this is a dangerous situation, they should have taken him at his word. to me that's it. i've been in many situations where i use that language and the boards for whatever reason, they want to kick the can down the road, we can't afford it, et cetera, et cetera. the engineer's hands are pretty much tied as far as being able to enforce any action on the part of the boards. >> just to be clear, that's not you i'm talking about. you just have familiarity with the building. this wasn't you who was dealing with this board. but i tell you one thing, greg, we know one thing now. it can't just be the engineer in this situation has the duty to tell the board. there has to be a rule that you have to tell the municipality. if you see something that is that much of a concern and the board doesn't seem to get it, it has to be reported and i can't

believe that's not the requirement now. >> i've done it before, chris. i've been in situations where i deemed that the damage -- again, it goes back to what the florida rules say, that it's the engineer that is empowered by law to be able to say these things. but in certain cases, i've seen damages that are so extensive that i have had to call the building department and tell them, look, you guys need to do something about this in very strong language. and ultimately they are the ones that are empowered by law and the building official to come down on them and use whatever resources they have at hand to enforce it. >> i still think there has got to be a more direct chain of accountability that an engineer should have to do it every time. of course, it's on the building department. we're going to learn about that process, and i guarantee you things are going to change. greg batista, i appreciate you. i'll have you back on again. >> thank you. so the fate of this is

infrastructure in the country is uncertain. i know you guys have jumped on me about this and i kind of understand it. i'm not saying if biden doesn't pass this bill the building is falling down next time. nobody is saying anything that stupid. all i'm saying is infrastructure matters, that's all, okay? it matters, because a lot of things are in the state of disrepair that this building was. i've watched bridges fall in this country and dealt with the aftermath of it. i've been there. i was there for i-35 in minneapolis, in minnesota and watched that happen and saw the lives taken. it's real. it happens. infrastructure matters. and not just because of this building, but this building is an example of what can happen. biden is pushing his deal in wisconsin today. so does this add urgency, or is the really big problem not the reality of what we all know but the politics of getting it done? let's bring in a progressive democrat in the house. are the democrats going to make it easier or harder? next.

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the case for the american people until this job is done, until we bring this bipartisan deal home. >> he's out there talking to people. good. but is his real problem his own people in congress? let's discuss. that's president biden, but capitol hill is where this is going to live or die. progressive democrats are not happy. they think the bill is too small that was celebrated as a function of a deal, and they want this second piece tranche, program, policy, any word you want, a chunk of money for different things that you won't hear as critical infrastructure. they want them done at the same time. democrats in the senate don't want that. what happens. there are people on the other side who don't want that. katie porter is here. >> thank you for having me. >> porter, are you the problem? >> absolutely not. democrats are delivering this insure package.

along with president biden. wire so glad that republicans are stepping up and recognizing that this kind of investment in infrastructure is what we need to have a strong and stable globally competitive economy. but to say we're going to support infrastructure is also to say that we're going to support the workers who are going to be building those bridges, working on those transit jobs. engang engaging in climate. that means we need to also be investing in child care, processing family leave. these are all parts of the build back better plan and democrats are saying, we're with you, president biden. we're going to do both these things absolutely with you and we hope republicans will join in the second part of the plan, that both of these can be bipartisan. >> what if you can't get the number of democrats in the senate with the reconciliation part -- i agree with your analysis about the need to help workers. let's just call it nontraditional infrastructure. i know that's a little

objectionable to infrastructure, -- progressives. forgive me. people don't agree. but let's say they don't want to do it in the senate. then it comes back to you guys, and it is will you pass the part that they agree on that biden is celebrating and leave the other part alone? >> there is absolutely a necessity that we don't leave any americans behind in this economic recovery. so that means we have to be thinking not just about jobs' climate resilience but also about caregiving jobs. we have to not just be investing in airports, but we have to be investing in child care. >> is something better than nothing? >> will you kill the first bill if you can't get the second one? >> this is a false choice. we, the democrats, have control of the house. we have 50 votes in the senate, and this is ultimately, chris up to the american people. the american people want us to create good high-paying jobs.

they also want us to support them in being able to train and travel to and take care of their family and put away enough money to take care of themselves -- >> but you have sticker shock with some of your democrats in the senate, as you know. >> it's really important to talk through what we're going to be investing in and what the cost is of doing nothing. it's also important to understand, president biden has put very real proposals on the table to help fund his build back better agenda, including irs tax enforcement, making sure that corporations of the ultra wealthy are paying their fair share. i see this in my own district talking to republicans, independents and democrats, that they understand these cost money but they ultimately will pay and they will pay for the president's proposal to do these things. but the proposals to pay for these things.

>> katie porter, i appreciate you making the case. criminal justice. it is politicized and shouldn't. are shootings going up? yes. we have to keep looking at the system, how it works and how it doesn't. this is how it doesn't. a 78-year-old grandmother serving time for drug crimes. a decade behind bars. nobody ever said she didn't do anything wrong in her life. she comes out of jail. she doesn't answer the phone because she's in the program and she gets ordered back to prison after she was granted home confinement? why? for missing one damn phone call. you'll hear from her son and the attorney to make the case for her release, next.

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a grandmother, literally older than 75, she's 76 years old, is behind bars tonight because she didn't answer the phone. look, that is the bottom line, all right? gwen levi is 76. levi served 16 years for dealing heroin. i'm not saying she's mother teresa, okay? you can do things in life, pay your debt and there should still be fairness in the law. last june as covid flared, she and 45 hundred other

and other prisoners were released to home confinement. there were conditions. one of the conditions was you do something productive. she attended a computer class in baltimore. when she went to the class, it triggered her ankle monitor. it happens. she didn't answer calls to her phone for a few hours. a federal report listed the 76-year-old as having attempted an escape. gwen, 76-year-old levi, is now back behind bars. her son craig and attorney sapna mirchandani, join me now. tell me, i want to get the name right. >> mirchandani. i want to give a moment, craig, i know this is killing you, and it should be. this is embarrassing to us. monitoring matters, and let's be very clear. craig, why didn't your grandmother answer the phone? >> she was in a computer class.

>> why didn't your grandmother answer the phone, craig? >> she was in class and she didn't want to disturb the class. >> did she know who it was at the time? >> no, she didn't. she just heard the phone ring and turned it down. and continued on with the lesson. when she got back home is when she found out what was going on. >> this is the class your mother was in. is confused. she's got grandkids, but she is your mother. >> yes. >> she did time for the crime that she did, she's out trying to do something and that's why she didn't answer. sapna, what am i missing that triggers this? is it just liability that is it just unreliability, that if you don't answer the phone, you've escaped? >> that's what i've learned the past couple weeks. i was shocked when she told me she was being sent back for this. i figured it was a misunderstanding and i got on the phone with her case manager

at the halfway house and bureau prisons officials, and what i was told is that she did not have permission to be at that class, first of all, and that she didn't answer her phone for more than four hours. and in answer to the first one, she believed she had permission to be at class. for the past year, she has religiously sent every two weeks a list of where she's going to be, medical appointments, anything she does, it has to be preapproved. she does not leave her house if -- >> was the class on her list of attended appointments? >> yes, it was. >> that's important. key factor. something else circumstantial. craig, i'll be coming back to you. for her status, she wasn't on probation? >> no. >> she wasn't being furloughed, she was serving the rest of the sentence at home because of covid. does that change the standard? >> i don't think it should.

the home confinement standard is not easy to get in the first place. when she was chosen for home confinement, she was one of the few chosen under the trump administration, so this was bill barr's doing, she's elderly, a low level offenders. non-violent. ill, and she's at an incredibly low risk of recidivism based on all these factors, that she and others like her could be safely put into the community. they were encouraged to build their lives again. they were not told they could be sent back. the understanding at the time was that they would be on home confinement until the end. that's what the prosecutor's office has been arguing in court, actually, that home confinement is the end of the story and that she shouldn't get a sentence reduction, which is what we're seeking for her. >> so the prosecutors are trying to nail her on this and say, no reduction in sentence, she should go back to prison and serve the whole thing because she didn't answer the phone for four hours.

>> they haven't commented on this escape thing which just happened in the last couple weeks, but they have revoked her early release even though she has an almost perfect record. and served a majority of her sentence. she helped younger inmates, she helped people get around the jail so they could participate. and mentored inmates. you said she's not mother teresa, but she's as close to mother teresa as you can get. >> i'm not trying to criticize her or judge her in any way. people hear you committed a crime and people's hearts close. i want them to be open minded. >> she did please guilty. >> she did become a different person. >> it happens all the time. craig, what do you want people to know about your mom? >> she's a compassionate woman, a loving woman, a caring woman, family oriented.

i can go on and on, sir, but right now i'm just emotional and trying to hold it together. it's very hard on the family. >> i hear you. it's got to be tough when you have her back all that time and she's at risk of being gone again. we'll keep monitoring the situation. >> thank you, sir. >> i appreciate you talking to us about your mom and bringing this to light. counselor, thank you very much. sapna mirchandani, thank you very much. >> the olympics. you can be tough on crime. that's not tough on crime. the olympics are less than a month away. you're about to meet someone who qualifies for team usa. why are people talking about track runner gabby thomas? because she's a sensation. only one woman in history tracked 200 meters faster than her. this young woman is going to tokyo and she's tonight's

american, next.

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you know what? she graduated from harvard and just wants to give back. she's now studying epidemiology, which is disease science. we already learned a little bit about that the hard way at the university of texas and she wants to get involved in health care management and taking on racial disparities in the health care system, which is a big need. she is doing the right thing with a huge degree. that would be enough. guess what else? she's one of the fastest women on the planet. and is a rising track star on team usa. she is going to japan. congratulations, my friend. >> thank you. thank you so much. >> so you're very smart but has this sunk into your brain and your heart yet, that you won the 200 in the trials and that you are going to be with your childhood idol, allyson felix, on the same team and that only flo jo has posted a better time than you did in the 200?

>> it has not sunk in yet. i think it will hit me when i'm in tokyo in the gear and running on the track. as for right now, it all still feels like one big dream. it's unreal that i get to be on the same team as allyson felix and that i even ran a time that fast. >> have you ever run that fast in training? >> you've got to ask my coach. but i don't think so. you think that time was just a culmination of the mental preparation for that entire week. i was in oregon for two weeks just in my hotel room preparing and getting myself pumped up and ready and laser focused. so i think i just pulled it out at the time when i needed it most. >> you're so fast, you don't even know how fast you are. that's how fast you are. so what does this mean for you that you're going to represent the country, and how does that hit your head and your heart? >> well, for me it means

everything because it's been such a long journey for me. like many athletes there, it takes a lot of patience, hours, days, weeks, months of mental and physical preparation just for that one moment. so when it all comes together for that, those 21 seconds and for me to make the team, what i've been training for for so long, it's the most magical feeling ever. there's really no other way to describe it other than just it felt like magic. >> third fastest time in history. that would be more than anybody could ever dream of and that's before getting to go to the olympics. flojo holds the other two. that's why i said there's only one woman, because that two is accurate. now, do you think given what you just did, are you now starting to get to the point where you are believing i can do this, i can come out of there with a medal around my neck? it may even be gold? >> absolutely. so i went into that meet not

knowing what to really expect. i wanted to make the team and that was my goal, and that was kind of what i was training for all year including 2020 because it was a covid year. just get on this olympic team. during the round i ran faster, i ran sub 22, which was really good for me and a personal best. as i kept running the rounds i kept getting more and more confident. i didn't expect to run quite that fast, but now that i did and i know what i'm capable of mentally and physically, i'm ready to go in in to tokyo and run for the gold. absolutely. >> i'll tell you why i made you the ameri-can. because you're fast as hell and you're going to be on the olympic team and that's very cool. but i also think that, especially as a parent and someone who's watching the next generation, you're checking so many boxes. you went to harvard, for god's sake. that's already a dream for 99.9% of our population. you want to study epidemiology you want to help give back, you want to work with people.

you're young, you're open-minded and you're just talented as hell and you are doing the work. track is all work. speed is made. talent is given. i want to say thank you as an american. thank you for representing the best of us. and you better run your ass off in tokyo and do even bigger and better things and we will be watching gabby thomas. >> thank you so much. that means a lot. >> congratulations. thank you for being the best of us. we'll be right back. hi guys! check out this side right here. what'd you do? - tell me know you did it. - yeah. get a little closer. that's insane. that's a different car. -that's the same car. - no! yeah, that's before, that's after. oh, that's awesome. make it nu with nu finish.

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