crews in northern california are thankfully making progress in the fight against a wildfire raging just northeast of sacramento. it is now about 30% contained but has burned so far 2600 acres and forced thousands of people to evacuate with more than 3,000 more still in jeopardy. at least three people including a firefighter have been hurt but officials say their injuries thankfully are not life-threatening. the news continues. so let's hand it over to michael smerconish sitting in tonight for chris and "cuomo prime time." jim, thank you for that. i am michael smerconish in for chris cuomo. welcome to the primetime covid command center. we have finally crossed the halfway mark but still a long way to go. can't stop now. half the u.s. population now fully vaccinated. nearly seven months after the vaccine rollout began.

that's 165 million completely immunized, 193 million with at least one shot. new vaccinations are up 11% from last week, all very encouraging signs. but we're not moving fast enough to outpace the delta surge and the other variants perhaps more deadly that could be on the horizon. new covid cases in america grew 48% over the past week because this virus still has more than 90 million hosts, the unvaccinated. the biden administration now considering the extreme option of leveraging the federal government's powers to help turn this pandemic around. early stage talks about withholding funding from some institutions like nursing homes to boost staff vaccinations. that's how dire the fight is. they're literally throwing away doses in states like alabama according to a health official there because they've expired with not enough people going to get them. we can't afford to waste what's

saving lives. some of the unvaccinated who've already been infected with covid cling to the notion that they have natural immunity. but the cdc today is strongly urging the recovered now to get vaxed. and they're backing it with data that proves the vaccines more than halve their chance of reinfection than natural immunity does. this is about protecting one another, protecting children, who are now in one of the most at-risk categories because many are too young to be vaxed. an 11-month-old covid patient in texas just airlifted to another hospital 150 miles away because there was no bed space for her. none of the major pediatric hospitals in the houston area have beds available to a local spokeswoman. heartbreaking stuff. florida leads the nation in hospitalized children. it reported more cases overall during the past week than any other seven-day period this pandemic. it puts a brighter spotlight on governor ron desantis's decision to ban mask mandates in his state's schools.

others pledged to stand in president biden's way on covid restrictions, prompting a war of words. biden calls him governor who? and this was desantis's response earlier. >> i guess i'm not surprised that biden doesn't remember me. i guess the question is what else has he forgotten? i'm the governor who protects parents and their ability to make the right choices for their kids' education. i'm the governor who answers to the people of florida, not to bureaucrats in washington. >> the despite desantis's threat of withholding funds, more florida schools are adding mask rules that the cdc's director says are crucial to stopping the spread. >> the places that are having disease that is transmitted in the schools are the places that aren't taking the prevention strategies, the places that aren't masking. >> if you're masked and you're doing all the prevention

mitigation strategies, it won't be transmitted in the school. it will be contained. >> not all republican governors are putting up a fight. some are taking a strong stance against the virus, like maryland's governor larry hogan. >> i don't care what misinformation or conspiracy theories that you have heard. you are the ones threatening the freedoms of all the rest of us. it may be only a matter of time until you do get covid-19. so please, just get the damn vaccine. >> an associate professor at harvard thinks the holdouts will need more than a push. professor joe allen writes in a new column, "we have hit a wall with this voluntary approach. the only way out of our covid-19 morass is to mandate vaccines, make the burden of being unvaccinated so high that people comply." we'll take on the mandate debate

in just a moment. but first to the science and our cnn medical analyst dr. leana wen. dr. wen, congratulations on your best-seller. nice to see you again. you heard me say that last week we had an 11% gain in vaccinations. that's good news. but there's some bad news as well. is your glass half full or half empty? >> it's a lot more than half empty. we are seeing surges once again in this country. our infection rates are worse than they were last summer at this time. and there is no end in sight. and you're right that we are at 50% of the country now fully vaccinated. that's great. we are seeing vaccination rates tick up again probably because people are seeing their neighbors, their family members get infected with the delta variant. but we also have the delta variant, which by the way also means that the amount of -- the number of people we need to get vaccinated actually is a lot higher. and that's because it's a lot more contagious. so i think we have a long way to go in this pandemic and i'm really worried about what's ahead.

>> you heard me make reference to the biden administration giving consideration to withholding funding from nursing homes in addition to other similar facilities if the staff is not fully vaccinated. your reaction to that is what? does it go far enough if they do it? >> i think it's definitely something that they should do. right now the federal government already oversees nursing homes. they already have to decide what are the safety measures that need to be in place. and i can't think of anything more important right now than making sure that our elderly nursing home residents don't die from coronavirus. surely that's something that they can do. i think they should do even more, though. there are other things that are under the authority of president biden including, as i understand, planes, trains, federal buildings. why not say that in order to board a plane, in order to go into a federal building that you have to have proof of vaccination or at the very least you need to have a recent negative test. i agree with what professor allen had written, that he with

really need to make vaccination the easy choice at this point. you can opt out of it if you want to, but that's got to be pretty inconvenient. and by the way, this is not about power. this is about protecting people's health and well-being. >> well, and i would go a step further and say federal employees ought to be mandated. they stopped short of going that distance not only for federal employees but for military personnel. you wrote something in the "washington post" within the last couple of days that i thought was really terrific and turned on its head some conventional wisdom. provincetown, massachusetts. so everybody talking about how 60,000 people converge and one of the takeaways was to say oh, my god, 700-plus people contracted covid. many if not most of whom were already vaccinated. you looked at it differently. explain. >> right. i think one way to look at this is at this point there are 9

-- 900 or so individuals who have contracted covid. one way is to say oh, my goodness, that's a very large number. but you also have to look at denominator. we're talking 60,000 people who converged. there were reports of many house parties, very crowded bars and restaurants, people with prolonged close contact with one another with an infection rate of 1.6% with only seven people hospitalized. no one dying. in a way this was the ultimate stress test of the vaccines and the vaccines passed with flying colors. now, do think it's important for us to acknowledge that breakthrough infections can happen. you can be vaccinated and you can still be infected. but i also think we need to keep in mind that because you are vaccinated your chances of actually contracting covid-19 is much reduced and therefore your chance of then spreading it to somebody else is also reduced too. so i think what needs to be done now is we need to put restrictions on the unvaccinated. putting restrictions on the activities of the vaccinated really won't do very much when it comes to curbing the spread

of covid-19. it might add to vaccine hesitancy. and i think we need to let people make the best decisions for themselves and for their families if they are vaccinated. >> and finally, dr. wen, i'm about to get into a discussion about the debate playing itself out right now as kids are going back to school as to mask requirements or lack of mask requirements. i want to look beyond that. when the vaccine is approved for those under the age of 12, do you think it will be mandated for school attendance the way so many other vaccinations are already? >> i think what you said at the end is exactly what we should keep -- what we should focus on, which is that the covid-19 vaccine really should be looked at no differently than any other vaccine. we have laws in every state for childhood immunizations. and it works. at some point we need to really see covid-19 and protecting against covid-19 in the same way. and so it might take some time

for people to be comfortable with that idea. but i think we're starting to see that with vaccination requirements for adults. at some point we are going to see that vaccinations for children is really important to keep them safe and to stop the spread of this pandemic. >> dr. wen, as always, thanks so much for your expertise. >> thank you, michael. >> many florida parents aren't happy about the governor's new ban on mask mandates as i just referenced. and some are now suing. two of those parents join me. john and robin mccarthy. their son is heading into first grade. he has asthma. welcome to the "prime time," the mccarthys. ms. mccarthy, tell me about your son. what's the issue here? >> the governor by passing his executive order took away our choice. so we're now basically being told that if we do not attend the school in person we lose our spot at our magnet school, which was very hard to get into.

so we don't really have -- we don't really have a choice because our son has asthma and even if the public kids go unmasked we're the really high risk. i feel like our hands are tied. we haven't been given other accommodations or options. i don't know what to do. we're struggling here because we never saw this coming. >> john mccarthy, who should make this decision? governor desantis says this ought to be a parent's choice. some say there ought to be a state mandate. others think it ought to be left to individual school districts. >> well, i think it should be the individual school districts. up in tallahassee there's not a lot of people in that area whereas we live in miami-dade county, which is the most populated area. and this is where all the cases are. so if you look at the cases that are in the united states, most of them are in florida and most of them in florida are here in miami. so what's happened is it should

have never really came to this but answer your question it should go back to the areas, miami-dade county, if they don't really have a lot of cases up there in taylor county or leon county, wherever it is, then maybe they could have a different rule up there. but our child is 6 and i have a nephew that's 12 who's able to get vaccinated whereas my son, he can't get vaccinated. we're very worried about him. >> you know some say, and i've done a lot of read online to see what the competing thought is on this issue, some say, well, the risk of spread among children leading to severe illness is relatively low, therefore it's cruel to make all kids wear masks in class. and you would say what to that? >> i would say that when a child that has covid isn't wearing a mask it gets up in the air and when it gets in the air it can get in their eyes and then it spreads. and there's plenty of children that are right now in miami children hospital that their

parents aren't able to see them because they have to wait outside because they don't want this to spread. and this is what i would say to them, is that when a child comes in with covid that isn't wearing a mask -- when a child has covid and they wear a mask they're protecting not just themselves but the other children. and that's what we're really worried about, is that he's wearing a mask and another child isn't and it gets in the air and he ends up with covid and he has a pre-existing condition, he has asthma. i had a nephew that was in the hospital two weeks on this. and my sister had to stay outside of the hospital and she was just distraught the whole time. i was on the phone with her. and i just don't want this to happen to my son. >> i think also the delta variant is a new ball game. something completely different >> i was going to say mr. -- mrs. mccarthy, what if you lose? what if you're unsuccessful in this litigation against governor desantis? >> we lose our son going to a magnet school. so i spoke to the commissioner of the magnet schools here and he said that -- i said that if

other children are going in and they have covid and not wearing masks he said you can go to a virtual school. and i said what happens if we try to come back after? he said no, you're not going to be able to come back. this is an extremely hard school to get into. and it's a lottery. it's very hard. so that's what we have to lose. and if we have our son go in who has asthma and a child goes in without the mask, we have our son end up in the hospital like my nephew was and i don't want that to happen, especially since the children his age don't have access to a vaccine yet whereas my nephew, he goes to -- he's 12 and he was vaccinated as my other nephew wasn't and he caught this. and so that's what we have to lose. >> well, as i said to dr. wen, that will be the next debate. that's the debate on the horizon when there's approval for those that are under 12. john and robin mccarthy, i wish all good things for your son. thank you for being here. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. when is a vaccine mandate

not a mandate? well-known companies are being pretty picky when it comes to those actually required to get the shot. i'll explore the impact with catherine rampell. that's next. wait... i want a bucket of chicken... i want... ♪ it's the easiest because it's the cheesiest. kraft. for the win win. what happens when we welcome change? we can transform our workforce overnight out of convenience, or necessity. we can explore uncharted waters, and not only make new discoveries, but get there faster, with better outcomes. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change-- meeting them where they are, and getting them where they want to be. faster. vmware. welcome change. why hide your skin if dupixent

has your moderate-to-severe eczema or atopic dermatitis under control? hide my skin? not me. by hitting eczema where it counts, dupixent helps heal your skin from within, keeping you one step ahead of eczema. and that means long-lasting clearer skin... and fast itch relief for adults. hide my skin? not me. by helping to control eczema with dupixent, you can show more with less eczema. don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur including anaphylaxis, which is severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, or a parasitic infection. if you take asthma medicines don't change or stop them without talking to your doctor. when you help heal your skin from within, you can change how your skin looks and feels. and that's the kind of change you notice. talk to your eczema specialist about dupixent, a breakthrough eczema treatment. you have the best pizza in town

and the worst wait times. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire cookies and breyers. that's like getting two desserts! wait... do we have to thank our moms twice? i don't know... (laughs) breyers. 100% grade a milk and cream, and loaded with delicious cookie pieces. better starts with breyers. as someone who resembles someone else... i appreciate that liberty mutual knows everyone's unique. that's why they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. [ nautical horn blows ] i mean just because you look like someone else doesn't mean you eat off the floor, or yell at the vacuum, or need flea medication. oh, yeah. that's the spot. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ we have to be able to repair the enamel on a daily basis.

with pronamel repair toothpaste, we can help actively repair enamel in its weakened state. it's innovative. my go to toothpaste is going to be pronamel repair. so, you have diabetes, here are some easy rules. no sugar. no pizza. no foods you love. stressed? no stress. exercise. but no days off! easy, no? no. no. no. no. but with freestyle libre 14 day, you can take the mystery out of your diabetes. now you know. sir, do you know what you want to order? yes. freestyle libre 14 day. try it for free. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

hey google, turn up the heat. ♪ ♪ ♪ the list of companies mandating vaccines, it just keeps growing. it's the biggest names like facebook, google, disney, and walmart leading the way. but how effective are these mandates? a closer look at who falls under these vaccine policies raises important questions. my next guest explores this in a new piece for the "washington post." catherine rampell joins me now. catherine, i had no idea of this duality that you have written about. walmart and walgreen's, by way of example. if i'm working in the office, the policy is what? as compared to the warehouse. >> at both of those companies, the white-collar workers, the people in corporate positions or

office support staff, they are required to get vaccines. however, as you may be familiar, those demographics are more likely to already be vaccinated. however, the blue-collar workers, the workers who are working at stores or in warehouses, distribution centers, they're exempted from these vaccine mandates. so in other words, what's happening is that companies and not just those two examples are effectively telling workers to get vaccinated who are already vaccinated and then exempting those who most could use the motivation. >> okay. equinox and soulcycle as contrasted with blink fitness or danny meyer's high-end restaurants as compared to shake shack, of which he was a founder. same sort of a duality. >> right. it's the same sort of k-shaped pandemic recovery, k-shaped vaccine mandates that you have here. and what's happening essentially >> okay. why, is the question.

what drives it? >> because companies are doing this not because -- they're not deciding on vaccine mandates or not having vaccine mandates depending on what the evidence shows or what's in the interest of public welfare. they are doing what's good for their bottom line. as companies are supposed to do. they are developing policies that then believe will help them retain or attract the most number of workers, which again, i don't blame them for. so they're basically reflecting back the preferences of their own workforces. if they think that their workers will feel safer coming back to the office with a mandate because they're already vaccinated and they want their co-workers to be vaccinated, they will have a mandate. if they think that their workers might bolt because they're suspicious of vaccines, they're more worried about the side effects without evidence, then the actual risk of covid itself, then they're not going to mandate these kinds of requirements. and again, it makes sense. right? this is not about whether companies are moral or immoral, about whether they're enlightened or woke or what have

you. it's about they're adopting policies where they think the benefits outweigh the costs. and so these are the decisions that they're landing upon. so i applaud those -- >> well, it makes sense if you're trying to hold your workforce in a market where keeping your labor pool has been difficult. i guess i understand it. but on the other hand if you have an outbreak in the warehouse and all of a sudden you've got a lot of folks who just can't work it seems like it would be the complete opposite. let me ask you a question. is there a union consideration here? >> there's been a split in organized unions. some have been supportive of vaccination mandates and others have not. it's not really clear why some of these unions have been so resistant. you would think that the interest of the union is to protect the most vulnerable of its own members, including those who are immunocompromised who have kids who can't get vaccinated, et cetera.

but some of them have taken a stance and said we don't want our members to be forced to be vaccinated. and some unions in fact have said we don't even want this vaccination or frequent testing option unless we get overtime pay or what have you. that's the case for the paramedics union, for example, in new york city. so yes, some unions have stood in the way. i think frankly this is completely ill-advised. it's jeopardizing public health. it's jeopardizing their own members. it's jeopardizing their political influence. but it doesn't mean some of them aren't doing it perhaps because they do have members who are cranks or want more money or they're using it as an excuse to negotiate for other kinds of perks. >> your answer to my why question, the bottom line, makes total sense. but i can't believe that if catherine rampell is calling upon these companies and saying why this duality, i can't believe that would be their rationale. what's their spin? >> it depends on who you ask.

they're basically saying, look, we're taking it slow, we are trying to follow whatever the local public health guidelines are, which is kind of a non-answer. but effectively, if you read between the lines, the answer is they're afraid that their own workers will reject these mandates. and yes, a lot of workers have tried to reject them, as i just said. the organized labor that represents some of these workers has fought these mandates. so it's pretty clear what the dynamics are. and again, i don't really blame companies for doing this, for in some cases exempting certain classes of workers. that's why you need government intervention. because when it is not in at least the near-term interest of these companies to mandate vaccines you need government to be the bad guy. right? that's what happened here in new york city. >> but -- >> yes. >> i hear you. but you're asking the government, which hasn't even mandated for its employees, to now impose this on the private sector.

the government needs to begin by leading and mandating for all government employees. cops, firefighters, emts. >> oh, i agree. >> those in uniform who are in the military. all of them. >> i agree. and look, that has happened to some extent at the local level. here in new york city there was a mandate for public workers and hospital workers as well. and then it was extended as well. or an announcement was made that it would be extended to restaurants, gyms and entertainment centers -- and entertainment event. so new york city to its credit has begun modeling by example. i hope other localities do the same. you know, my understanding is there's some question about whether the federal government would necessarily have the same kind of authority to do that. but it certainly seems like president biden could put his -- >> i believe they could. >> -- thumb on the scale a little more. >> my view is they could based on some legal analysis. anyway, great piece. i learned a lot from it. catherine rampell, thank you very much. >> thank you.

>> a key senate vote expected tomorrow on a critical biden priority. and that's revitalizing our nation's crumbling infrastructure. the gop may not stand in the way, but biden's own party just might. progressives are warning their votes shouldn't be taken for granted. we'll talk to a member of the house progressive caucus next. [engine revs] ricky bobby, today the road is your classroom. [engine revs] now let's go borrow a boat and make some bad decisions.

[engine revs] time to go incognito. [zippers fasten] [engine revs] i love you, ricky! i love you, cal! what's the next stop? it's time for your extracurriculars. ¡vámanos, amigos! woo-hoo! before treating your chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more, you're not the only one with questions about botox®. botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine before they even start, with about 10 minutes of treatment once every 3 months. so, ask your doctor if botox® is right for you, and if a sample is available. effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life-threatening condition. side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. don't receive botox® if there's a skin infection.

tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. in a survey, 92% of current users said they wish they'd talked to their doctor and started botox® sooner. plus, right now, you may pay zero dollars for botox®. ask your doctor about botox® today. 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.

president biden could be on the brink of a signature win in the senate, but this time democrats in the house might stand in his way. a key vote expected tomorrow on what would be a huge investment in infrastructure. 550 billion in new federal investments over five years. that includes 40 billion to fix bridges, 39 billion for public transit, 66 billion in passenger and freight rail money, 65 billion for broadband.

even more noteworthy, it's expected to pass with a bipartisan vote. and yet this will likely be a case of hurry up and wait. house dems want to see an even more expensive so-called human infrastructure bill passed by the senate before they take this one up in the house. and one of those house democrats joins me now. congressman ro khanna from california. congressman, thanks so much for being here. what's about to unfold? >> well, michael, first of all, it's an extraordinary achievement for president biden to get this bipartisan deal. it's going to deliver rural broadband, roads, bridges, airports. it's bipartisan. and many house democrats will support it. but we will support it after we also have a reconciliation bill that has climate goals, that has renewable energy, that has actually fiber to rural, that has energy efficiency standards. that's equally important, and we want to get both done and we will get both done. >> how far are you prepared to go?

are you ready to stand in the way of this ongoing, meaning it wouldn't even get through if you don't get what you're looking for? >> well, the speaker's been very clear that this bill will get a vote once the reconciliation bill gets a vote and the reason is because there are very important climate goals, very important goals on public transport, very important goals on child care and community college in a broader bill. look, this is mitt romney's bill. this is rob portman's bill. they didn't get elected president of the united states. we're not going to have two years where we have the rob portman agenda or mitt romney agenda. we're going to have the joe biden agenda. this is his achievement on a bipartisan bill and we'll get the rest of his agenda and we will pass it by the end of the year. >> this bipartisan bill has overwhelming public support. i've seen numbers in the 70% range. i think that has to do with the perception of what is infrastructure. and by that i mean this.

i went to your website and you like many others, i do it, cite the american society of civil engineers. and i think their most recent grade for our infrastructure is a c-minus in this country. but congressman, i'm putting on the screen right now how they define and i think how the public defines infrastructure. aviation, broadband, drinking water, levees, public parks, roads, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. not the definition that you're using in the so-called human infrastructure bill. i guess my question is do you think and can you justify widespread public support for what you're pushing for? >> yes, michael. and there's part of the reconciliation i would say is infrastructure. the clean energy part. i do think having a smart grid, i do think renewable energy is modern infrastructure. but there are parts that i wouldn't call infrastructure. i'd call it human development. child care, community college. but what i would argue is those policies are very, very popular. i'm not going to get into a semantic debate. i'm not going to say that we have to call community college

infrastructure. call it investing in the american people. the point is it is needed in the 21st century economy. i can stand by all of the policies and reconciliation. and they're exceedingly popular as well. >> the bipartisan bill, that which is about to get senate approval, the one that we began this conversation by discussing, includes a big chunk of change for broadband. in 2019 you yourself were very concerned about gridlock precluding broadband getting approval. let's all watch. >> i'm very concerned for the country. our competition is china. while they're investing in their country, we're at gridlock. we need an infrastructure bill to expand broadband to everyone, to expand -- invest in science and technology. and it's disappointing that we can't get that done. >> congressman, are you the one now who's going to contribute to gridlock by precluding the bipartisan bill from getting passed in the house? >> not at all.

i love the broadband parts. but actually, the reconciliation goes broader in broadband because if you look at the infrastructure bill it only has copper wires going to most of rural america. jim clyburn has a bill, the house bill, that actually would have fiber go to rural america because it's not as much of a handout to telecom. so i want to do broadband correctly, and that's what reconciliation does. that would ensure the broadband i have in my district in silicon valley also is in rural communities and we're getting fiber everywhere. so look, i want to vote for the bipartisan deal. i will once we get the reconciliation deal. and i don't really view this as standing in the way. i fully expect joe biden's agenda will get through. it has popularity ratings over 70% for almost every provision. and i guess what is it that the republicans are opposed to reconciliation? are they opposed to child care? are they opposed to free community college? are they opposed to giving seniors dental coverage and vision and hearing? these things poll off the charts.

let them be opposed to it. let them run their election on not wanting to make those investments in the american people. >> congressman, it's going to be interesting to watch. thanks so much for being here. >> thank you. >> the 20th anniversary of 9/11, just over five weeks away. but some of the victims' families don't want to see the president show up at any memorials because they say there's an important promise he hasn't kept. i'll speak with a man who lost his father in the attacks and talk about why this is so important to him and to others. that's next. we have to be able to repair the enamel on a daily basis. with pronamel repair toothpaste, we can help actively repair enamel in its weakened state. it's innovative. my go to toothpaste is going to be pronamel repair.

mission control, we are go for launch. ♪ t-minus two minutes and counting. ♪ um, she's eating the rocket. -copy that, she's eating the rocket. i assume we needed that? [chomping sound] ♪ lunchables! built to be eaten.

she has eaten the rocket. [girl burps] over. millions of vulnerable americans struggle to get reliable transportation to their medical appointments. that's why i started medhaul. citi launched the impact fund to invest in both women and entrepreneurs of color like me, so i can realize my vision and give everything i've got to my company, and my community. i got you. for the love of people. for the love of community. for the love of progress. citi. this past year has felt like a long, long norwegian winter. but eventually, with spring comes rebirth. everything begins anew. and many of us realize a fundamental human need to connect with other like-minded people. welcome back to the world. viking. exploring the world in comfort... once again.

more than 1,600 people who lost family members on 9/11 say they don't want president biden to visit ground zero on the upcoming 20th anniversary. it will be his first as commander in chief. >> in a few short days we will have administration officials, president biden and others, mark the most devastating attack on american soil. and they will stand up and they will utter words, "never forget." i'm here to tell you now, those words ring shallow to all the family members because they stand up and utter words "never forget." but the administration behind a cloak of secrecy continues to

stab us in the back. >> for years and through multiple administrations the victims' families have been pushing for the government to release classified documents they believe implicate saudi officials in the attack. brett eagleson's father, bruce, died at the world trade center, and he joins me now. brett, what is it you want to see and why? >> we want to see president biden stand with us and stand up for american citizens. it's been too long. it's been 20 years. and the 9/11 families deserve justice and closure. as a matter of fact, all americans deserve to know the truth behind what the saudi arabian government's role was in 9/11. and there is significant evidence. the fbi has it. the doj doesn't deny that it exists. in fact, the trump administration invoked state secrets on it. so there is concrete evidence that supports our allegations that the kingdom of saudi arabia materially supported the hijackers. and we need the president to be our hero.

be our hero. be our champion, mr. president. this is a direct appeal to you. help us in this fight. stand by our side. allow us to have the justice and closure that we deserve. >> brett, i was an advocate for a period of years for the release of the so-called 28 pages in my role as a radio host, my day job. what is it that we didn't get from the 28 pages when i think it was in 2016 we finally saw those documents? >> that is a great question. and thank you for bringing it up. the 28 pages were based on evidence that was -- or investigations that concluded in 2004. in 2006, two years after the conclusion of the 9/11 commission report, the fbi undertook and began a secret operation called "operation encore" which spanned the course of a dozen years. the 9/11 commission report and the joint inquiry never had the luxury of relying upon the

findings of a 12-year-long secret fbi investigation. it's those files that we want. there's nothing in there would expose anything on sources and methods. it's those files the trump administration invoked state secrets upon. so if there's nothing -- >> what is -- what is it that you think would be shown? don't go too far into the weeds because people aren't paying as close attention to this as you are and as i have in the past. but what is it you think if you got access to the documents it would show? >> there was a hierarchy of command within the ministry of islamic affairs in saudi arabia. so the ministry of islamic affairs is almost akin to like a state department here. so like a tony blinken would be directing underlings under him to support the hijackers to be successful on 9/11. and i'll just say this. fbi special agent steven moore

has gone on record in a sworn affidavit in a filing in court. steven moore briefed bob mueller weekly. he had 350 field agents reporting up to him. he said that were it not for the saudi support network 9/11 would have had a zero percent chance of being successful. there are countless bits -- >> okay. and i of course remember and everybody will remember that i think the number 14 of 19 were saudi nationals. i have to ask this. it seems like this is the only issue on which there's agreement from w, from obama, from trump, and maybe now from biden. why would that be the case? why would four american commanders in chief stand in the way of the american people getting the answer if it's as you described? >> i don't understand. i don't know the answer to that question. but here's the thing. democrats and republicans can

agree on nothing these days. what the executive branch of government is doing is so egregious that you have senator chuck schumer, senator cornyn and senator grassley and my senator i'm so proud of, senator blumenthal, coming together to agree on legislation called the 9/11 transparency act which was just released yesterday. so president biden's own political leaders, the leaders of the democratic party, are calling upon president biden to do the good thing for once and for all stand with the families. he could be the real hero here. he could be the hero that we need. and just think about it. politically for him why wouldn't he do it? it's a no-brainer. it's a common sense feel-good story, stand with the families, let's bring them closure and let's for once and for all expose the truth behind what saudi arabia's role was. >> well, i wish you success in this. i appreciate you being here and sorry about the loss of your father. >> yeah, i appreciate you having us on. and you know, thank you for covering this story because it's

really important and it's one that's often not told as much as it should be. >> well, never forget. thank you for being here, brett. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> new developments in brit britney spears' fight for independence. cnn has obtained a new court filing by her father who's fighting to remain her co-conservator. and the singer's other conservator now argues that dad is misrepresenting her. the whole drama in just a moment. ♪ i thought i was managing my moderate to severe crohn's disease. then i realized something was missing... ...me. my symptoms were keeping me from being there for her. so, i talked to my doctor and learned humira is the #1 prescribed biologic for people

with crohn's disease. the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief in as little as 4 weeks. and many achieved remission that can last. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. ♪ your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire ♪ thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer

are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole. ibrance may cause low white blood cell counts that may lead to serious infections. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs. both of these can lead to death. tell your doctor if you have new or worsening chest pain, cough, or trouble breathing. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection, liver or kidney problems, are or plan to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding. for more information about side effects talk to your doctor. ♪ be in your moment. ask your doctor about ibrance. you've been taking mental health meds, and your mind is finally in a better place.

except now you have uncontrollable body movements called tardive dyskinesia - td. and it can seem like that's all people see. some meds for mental health can cause abnormal dopamine signaling in the brain. while how it works is not fully understood, ingrezza is thought to reduce that signaling. ingrezza is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with td movements in the face and body. people taking ingrezza can stay on their current dose of most mental health meds. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to any of its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including sleepiness. don't drive, operate heavy machinery, or do other dangerous activities until you know how ingrezza affects you. other serious side effects include potential heart rhythm problems and abnormal movements. shift the focus more on you. ask your doctor about ingrezza. it's simple. one pill, once-daily. #1 prescribed for td. learn how you could pay as little as $0 at ingrezza.com ♪ limu emu & doug ♪

oh! are you using liberty mutual's coverage customizer tool? sorry? well, since you asked. it finds discounts and policy recommendations, so you only pay for what you need. limu, you're an animal! who's got the bird legs now? only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ britney spears' fight for freedom, now, caught up in dueling court filing. rather than waiting for things to proceed in a hearing late next month, britney's new attorney, matthew rosengart, is asking for an immediate hearing to remove her father, jamie spears, as conservator of her $60 million estate. in the filing, he states ms. spears should not be forced to

continue to be traumatized, lose sleep, and suffer further. every day matters. her father has denied allegations of abuse. in a new court filing today, he questioned britney's mental state by citing a conversation he had with joey montgomery, his daughter's personal conservator. and he says quote, after ms. montgomery shared her concerns about my daughter's recent behavior, safety, and overall health, she raised potential options, including a 51-50 psychiatric hold, which raised my concerns. with me now, cnn entertainment reporter, chloe melas. and cnn legal analyst, elliot williams. chloe, let me begin with you. what is the role of jody montgomery? what does she do, on a day-to-day basis? >> nice to see you. jody montgomery is the conservator of britney spears' person. she oversee britney's day-to-day medical decisions and medical care. this is something jamie spears was overseeing for over a decade since the conservatorship was first put into place but he stepped aside from this role

when he had his own health issues. jody montgomery stepped in and until recently, there were discussions, on both sides, that they agreed that jody was going to become the permanent conservator of the person. but now, it doesn't look like that might happen, anymore, because britney has made a bunch of allegations both of her testimonies over the summer saying that she was forced on lithium. forced to remain on an iud. not able to start a family. a lot of questions that these are areas that jody is overseeing. but what i have to say is that things are getting ugly. there are so many questions. all of these petitions, back and forth. and now, jamie spears saying that jody, actually, called him saying that she thought that britney should be under a psychiatric hold. remember, britney was placed under two psychiatric holds at the beginning of her -- before she was conserved. there were two, in january of 2008, which is what led to britney being put under a conservatorship.

this is a bombshell. but jody montgomery is saying, not so fast. i didn't say that. so, my big question is, how was the judge going to know, judge brenda penny, who to believe? and is she going to move up -- >> elliot -- >> -- court that was scheduled for september. >> elliot, if it -- if it did occur, the way the father says, what would be the significance? >> right. but that's the thing. we just don't know if it occurred, the way the father says. and frankly, minutes after issuing that statement, it seems pretty clear that, montgomery issued another one disputing it. look. if -- if it is exactly as the father has said, it is quite significant that the personal conservator is -- was seeking to have britney spears involuntarily -- um, you know, put into a psychiatric facility but we just don't know and exactly what chloe was saying. you have all of these disputing -- disputed points here. they just need to get it into the court and just hash it all

out with the judge. but it -- you know, the -- there's so much conflict between what the parties are saying that i don't think anybody has any, real sense as to -- as to whom to believe here. >> the bottom line -- >> chloe, anything from britney, herself, on this issue? sorry? >> no, she addresses it here and there on her social-media feed on instagram. just today, she posted a video saying that i know you guys know everything. the cat's out of the bag. what's going on in my life, when it comes to the conservatorship. and then, she moved onto a different topic. this is what we do know. britney spears said, multiple times, at two different hearings this summer, that she wants her father removed. but she wants the conservatorship terminated. so, elliot, i wish you could explain, to us, why is mathew rosengart filing to remove the father but not filing a petition to terminate this conservatorship, once and for all? i don't understand that. >> you know, and that's perplexing to me, too. >> elliot, a quick, final

thought, please. >> your guess is as good as mine. now, i think, the issue here broadly speaking isn't the conservatorship. it's dad. it's the fact that he is involved and he is seeming to have a toxic relationship with britney. immediately, what they can do is get him off the case and then resolve the question of what to do with the conservatorship with both parties, you know, all three parties, later on. but i think it's more -- the pressing issue is get the dad out. >> wish we had more time. chloe melas. elliot williams. thank you, both, so much for being here. >> thanks. >> we'll be right back.

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. we have to be able to repair the enamel on a daily basis. with pronamel repair toothpaste, we can help actively repair enamel in its weakened state. it's innovative. my go to toothpaste is going to be pronamel repair.

paul loves food. but his diabetes made food a mystery. everything felt like a “no.” but then paul went from no to know. with freestyle libre 14 day, now he knows how food affects his glucose. and he knows when to make different choices. take the mystery out of your glucose levels - and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free. visit freestylelibre.us ♪

comcast nbcuniversal is investing in entrepreneurs to bring what's next for sports technology to athletes, teams, and fans. that's why we created the sportstech accelerator, to invest in and develop the next generation of technology that will change the way we experience sports. we've already invested in entrepreneurs like ane swim, who develops products that provide hair protection so that everyone can enjoy the freedom of swimming. like the athletes competing in tokyo, these entrepreneurs have a fierce work ethic and drive to achieve - to change the game and inspire

the team of tomorrow. thank you so much for watching. please, join me tomorrow and every saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. eastern for smerconish right here on cnn. don lemon, "don lemon tonight" starts right now. >> well, i'll be watching "smerconish" tomorro