right now on "america this morning," clashing over covid. senators going head-to-head over the latest round of relief into the early morning hours. the debate now raging after republicans force aides to read the 600-page bill aloud. what americans can expect in coming weeks. new overnight, the bombshell reports claiming governor cuomo's team manipulated pandemic data. did they intentionally hide the true toll of the virus? the growing calls for impeachment, plus new details in the sexual harassment claims as one of his accusers speaks out. arsonist arrested. a former police chief accused of starting a dozen fires. why police say the attacks were part of a decade-long grudge. plus, supersonic style, the first look inside a plane that may be the future of travel. mirror mystery. what one woman discovered in her

bathroom after noticing a draft. and cereal surprise. the unwanted prize discovered at the bottom of this box of cereal. good friday morning, everyone. i'm mona kosar abdi. >> i'm andrew dymburt. kenneth is off. we begin with the debate over economic relief for americans dragging into the early morning hours. >> a marathon effort of reading president biden's massive covid relief bill started yesterday afternoon in the senate chamber. republican senator ron johnson insisted senate clerks read all 628 pages out loud. at one point johnson was the only senator in the chamber listening. they finished reading at 2:30 a.m. >> it comes as more states prepare to lift mask mandates stctions.to abc's ike ejiochi is live in washington with the latest. ike, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, andrew and mona. you know, this debate, it's really split down party lines. democrats want to move forward

with the bill that contains a lot of their initiatives while republicans are stalling calling this relief package a spending spree. 628 pages. >> the table of contents for this act is as follows -- >> reporter: it's the length of president biden's nearly $2 trillion relief bill and republicans want to hear every single word that's written. >> of each socially disadvantaged farmer -- >> reporter: the move forcing senators to stay inside the capitol for hours, a stalling tactic from republicans who say the bill is too expensive. >> the real tragedy here is not senate process. it's how ill-suited this bill is to what americans need right now. >> reporter: but according to a recent monmouth university poll, 62% of americans are in favor of the $1.9 trillion relief package compared to 34% of americans who oppose it. the bill includes unemployment benefits of $400 a week. it also includes $160 billion for covid testing and vaccinations, help for small

businesses and stimulus payouts of $1,400 for americans earning up to $75,000 a year. this morning, an average of 2 million vaccines are going into arms every day in this country. from coast to coast, mass vaccination sites are popping up. nine new fema vaccination sites opened this week, and in california, governor gavin newsom not only ordering 40% of all vaccines to be reserved for the most vulnerable low-income communities but also calling on other leaders who forgo mask mandates and other restrictions. >> we are encouraging people basically to double down on mask wearing, particularly in light of all of what i would argue is bad information coming from at least four states in this country. >> reporter: leaders like texas governor greg abbott who doubled down on his decision to lift restrictions. >> texans have mastered the safe strategies. they don't need an order from austin, texas, telling them what to do. >> reporter: now dr. fauci says studies are being conducted right now on vaccinated people to find out which activities are safe and which restrictions

could be possibly lifted in the future, mona. >> ike, thank you. the white house is refusing to give trump's "operation warp speed" any credit for the vaccine rollout. abc's mary bruce asked press secretary jen psaki over whether the trump administration deserves some praise for laying the groundwork. >> so the president has been pretty critical of the prior administration's handling of this pandemic saying, you inherited a mess here, but when it comes to vaccinations, you're following some of the same playbook here so does the prior administration deserve some credit for laying the groundwork? >> which ones are we following? >> for instance, former trump hhs assistant secretary brett giroir says you're following 99% of the playbook they created on vaccines. he has said that the prior administration deserves more credit here for at least getting the ball rolling on some of these. >> i don't think anyone deserves credit when 500,000 people in the country have died of this pandemic. >> but president biden himself has acknowledged that trump deserves some credit for the vaccine. last month he said credit is,

quote, absolutely due to the previous administration. now to new york governor andrew cuomo under fire amid two scandals. one of the women who accused him of sexual harassment is now speaking out, and now new reports say cuomo's top aides altered a state health department report to obscure the true numbers of people killed by covid in the state's nursing homes. >> reporter: this morning new allegations that new york governor andrew cuomo's office concealed how many nursing home residents died from covid-19. "the new york times" and "wall street journal" both reporting that top cuomo aides altered the number of deaths from the virus at long-term care facilities on a state health department report in june leaving out those who died in hospitals after becoming sick in nursing homes. the result, an undercounting of nursing home resident deaths by the thousands. cuomo's office and the department of health quickly releasing a statement overnight defending their decision not to include the hospital deaths saying in part, the decision was

made to initially release the report without the out of facility data and to later update the report to include the out of facility deaths and believed fully in its conclusions that the primary driver that introduced covid into the nursing homes was spread by its staff. it comes as three women accuse the governor of unwanted advances. overnight charlotte bennett spoke out on cbs. she is one of the three women who came forward. >> i thought, he's trying to sleep with me. the governor is trying to sleep with me, and i'm deeply uncomfortable, and i have to get out of this room as soon as possible. >> reporter: now facing two scandals, critics are calling on cuomo to resign or be impeached. >> it's time for us to pursue impeachment, and that's not just coming from myself and my republican colleagues, our democratic colleagues are furious. >> reporter: state lawmakers could vote today on whether to strip cuomo of his emergency powers related to covid-19 decisions.

but a quinnipiac university poll shows that most new yorkers agree cuomo should serve out his term. when asked if governor cuomo should resign, 55% said no, and 40% said yes. governor cuomo has publicly apologized to the women and says he will cooperate with the sexual harassment investigation led by the new york attorney general. mona, andrew. >> andrea, thank you. the capitol police have asked the pentagon to keep thousands of national guard troops on capitol hill for at least another two months. the threat of a militia attack on the capitol building that was supposed to take place yesterday never materialized, but lawmakers still on edge following the january 6th insurrection are considering new layers of security. abc's martha raddatz has the details. >> reporter: a capitol security review will recommend adding roughly 1,000 new capitol police and replacing this razor wire topped fence with mobile and retractible fencing so the

capitol grounds will still have what they call an open campus feel when the threat level is reduced, but we are definitely not there yet. >> reporter: the report also recommends creating a permanent quick reaction force to be on standby in washington to back up capitol police and local law enforcement. the arkansas man photographed with his feet on nancy pelosi's desk during the capitol riot had an outburst before a federal judge. court documents show richard barnett yelled at the judge and his own lawyers during a virtual hearing after his next court date was set for may. barnett said it's not fair that he is still in jail and they're letting everybody else out. pope francis begins his historic visit to iraq today where he wants to offer support and encouragement to the country's diminishing christian population. the pope plans to celebrate an outdoor mass for an expected crowd of 10,000 on sunday. in new zealand warning sirens wailed amid tsunami warnings following a powerful earthquake. the quake measured 8.1. coastal residents scrambled to higher ground, but hours later they were told it was safe to go

home. boats raced out to harbors to the safety of open waters only small waves were seen and little damage was reported. all right. now time for a look at your friday morning weather. the flooding disaster isn't easing in eastern kentucky. an ambulance and other vehicles were lost when an embankment gave way falling into a flooded river. no one was injured, but the 400-foot-long area remains unstable. today's most active system brings rain and winds up to 60 miles an hour to the west coast and it will also dump nearly a foot of snow in the sierra nevada mountains. 50 degrees in portland and seattle. gusty winds and below normal temperatures in the northeast. coming up, the new warning about social security scams. also ahead, a former police chief accused of setting a dozen fires. how they tracked him down and who investigators say he was targeting.

and the supersonic jet that could fly across the atlantic ocean in under two hours.

it's astounding what you it's astounding what you did. you should not underestimate it. that was president biden congratulating the nasa team behind the successful landing of the perseverance rover on mars last month. the president told them they've given the country a much needed dose of confidence. a dallas police officer has been arrested and charged with two murders. officer bryan riser is accused of arranging for a man and woman to be killed in 2017. investigators say in 2019 the alleged hit man told them he carried out both murders at riser's direction. the police chief said that the killings are not connected to

riser's police work and he vowed to expedite the process to fire him. >> let me be clear in a promise to our city and to our men and women who serve with honor on a daily basis that we will not allow anyone to tarnish this badge. as we all know, the actions of a few affect the many. >> the former police chief said riser remained on the force because there wasn't enough evidence to charge him, and they didn't want to tip him off. he's now being held without bond. police have not determined a motive. the social security administration is warning about a surge in scams during the pandemic. the agency says scammers swindled $45 million from people last year. the federal trade commission says that total was just 17 million in 2019. their simplest advice, if you think you're being targeted, don't engage with the caller. just hang up. several dr. seuss books are now at the top of amazon's best-seller list including some that have been discontinued because they feature racist images. but ebay has announced it is banning the resale of six out of the six out of print dr. seuss

books saying they violate the offensive material policy. the makers of a supersonic jet say it could someday fly from new york to london in just 90 minutes. it won't have windows. instead the inside walls will be lined with a long computer screen that can split up into individual tvs. spike aerospace hopes to plan test flights next year and plans to fly commercially in 2018. 2028, that is. >> 90 minutes. that means you just get one drink if you're in first class and the rest of you guys, you're here. >> yeah, we were talking about that earlier. faster than it is to get from new york to d.c. on a train. >> exactly. it's not quite teleportation, but i say work small. work on the amtrak train from d.c. to new york. >> 2028, they said. that's not that far away. >> before we know it. coming up, how royal caribbean plans to set sail again this year. also ahead, the tom brady card selling for more than a million dollars. what makes this card one of a kind. touch after touch bacteria in your home never stops. that's why microban 24

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back now with royal caribbean announcing its first fully vaccinated cruises. the cruise line plans to start sailing from israel to cyprus in may. for now all passengers must be residents of israel, and they must be vaccinated for covid-19 if they're over 16 years old. a new york doctor charged with murder for the overdose deaths of five patients. prosecutors say dr. george blatti prescribed, quote, massive quantities of opioids and other drugs and say

with addicts away from his office where he's accused of prescribing them without taking medical histories or performing exams in exchange for cash. now to the former police chief accused of setting a dozen fires in maryland. this morning investigators say the alleged serial arsonist seen in this video allegedly dousing homes in gas and setting them on fire is a former maryland police chief who has been using arson as a form of revenge for nearly a decade. authorities say 69-year-old david crawford is the hooded figure seen here running from the scene of one of at least a dozen fires. investigators say they began hunting for a suspect since the first was set in 2011, but it wasn't until 2019 that evidence including these security videos linked the same person to fires across five counties. since then officials have been narrowing in on the ousted officer. it wasn't until 2019 that evidence including these security videos linked the same person to fires across five counties.

since then officials have been narrowing in on the ousted officer, investigators finally arresting crawford after finding a target list that included addresses for homes that were burned. >> while there were no reported injuries to either residents or fire department personnel as the result of these fires, the outcome could have been very different. >> reporter: among his alleged victims, fellow officers and the man who replaced him after he was fired from his job as a police chief. >> to go outside to find my house engulfed and to have to come in and wake my family and get them out of my house, it knocked me to my knees. >> reporter: crawford also allegedly used arson to harass his stepson who moved multiple types but each time he got into a new place, police say crawford burned that home too. he is now charged with multiple counts of arson and attempted murder. crawford was denied bond during a hearing yesterday. the judge said he believed crawford was a danger to the community. chock up another record for tom brady, all because of one of his rookie cards. an autographed card just sold for more than, get this,

1.3 million dollars making it the most expensive football card ever sold. the previous record was just over $860,000 for a patrick mahomes card that was sold last month. it was sold to james park who is a known card collector and a tom brady fan. >> both play in the nfl yet their cards are going for so much. >> exactly. watch this video from a mets spring training game. a fan thinks he caught a home run ball, but let's take a closer look. the ball is not in his glove. as he celebrates, another fan snags the ball. it looks just like the mets outfielders too. right? >> oh, burn. okay, so i've seen clips where someone catches a home run ball and their glove is still open and someone just takes it out. >> yeah. >> you have to make sure. that's like the number one rule. make sure the ball is secure before you celebrate. >> we love that baseball is back, though. >> i do too. the boys of summer, spring, fall. all of the above. well, coming up, the snake

surprise during a person's breakfast. also ahead, the apartment mystery unfolding on social media. what one woman found behind her mirror. unfolding on social needles. essential for pine trees, but maybe not for people with certain inflammatory conditions. because there are options. like an “unjection™”. xeljanz. the first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. needles. fine for some things. but for you, there's a pill

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#1 for diabetic dry skin* #1 for psoriasis symptom relief* and #1 for eczema symptom relief* gold bond champion your skin ♪ time to check "the pulse" and we begin with the story that i've been following very closely. the unraveling of a new york mystery. >> so every new yorker knows that extra square footage is so hard to come by in the city, but one woman discovered a whole room hidden behind her bathroom mirror. she documented her excursion behind the wall on tiktok with millions of viewers conjuring up images of horror movie. >> she had us waiting for every video upload. turns out it wasn't just a room, it wasn't just a room, and it wasn't that scary. it was an entire vacant

apartment in disrepair. a lot of people were bringing up the movie "candyman." >> okay. >> she's brave, because i would never go in there. even though she said she had a hammer for protection, you never know what's on the other side of a mirror. >> well now she can get a roommate or sublet. >> exactly. next a reporter keeping his cool on air when things go, well, completely wrong. >> check out jacob soboroff of msnbc during a live shot. >> oh, hey. you know, craig, it happens sometimes at a breezy border location. i want to say what i think was the most important thing you heard there was that -- >> live television, got to love it. after the incident started to get some attention online, soboroff tweeted, all in a day's work. a snake catcher in australia is getting some attention for this breakfast. >> yeah, he was pouring some cereal, and his pet snake russell falls out of the box and into the bowl. >> it seems like he set the whole thing up given how he jokingly said, russell, not again. we'll check the top headlines next. russell, not agai

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covid-19 relief bill. the senate will be back to vote this morning. how soon it could be approved and a timeline for sending out stimulus checks. >> returning to the court. high school sports allowed again in california today. the new rules for student athletes. and the push to get people largest county. the potential snag in the effort to protect the community from covid-19. and rain is moving in today. mike is tracking it. good morning everybody, we made it to friday, it is march 5th. >> let's see what we have in store. hey mike. >> good morning, reggie, kumasi, jobina. hi everybody. tonight, yeah it is all tonight. when the light to moderate rain moves in. the slick roads if you are traveling. and when the breezes start to blow wind. the storm system, comma shaped storm. we're going the get on