>> hi everybody. you're watching getting answers, live on abc seven. we ask experts your questions everyday at 3:00 to get you answers in real time. we have a jampacked show for you today including nancy pelosi, who has arrived in taiwan admit tensions with china. we have newsweek's foreign policy writer who will join us to talk about the significance and potential implications of her visit. also, two san francisco leaders facing controversy, accused of making racially insensitive remarks. mayor london breed just talked about this with the substandard and they will be here with her

reaction and more. california's legislature sent a letter to gavin newsom petitioning for an emergency state budget appropriation. all to help counties respond to the monkeypox outbreak. joining us live to talk about that and much more on monkeypox, state senator scott wiener. always a pleasure having you. >> thank you. dion: the timing of this comes a day after we saw the governor declare the state of emergency over monkeypox. what do you and other leaders hope to accomplish with this request? >> monkeypox, this outbreak is extremely concerning. if we do not get it under control quickly, it will spread. other communities could be impacted, not just gay and bisexual men. tragically, this virus could become what we call endemic, meaning it becomes rate either part of -- a regular part of

life. we need that quickly. i am thrilled to governor declared a state of emergency, the mayor as well. we need to make sure our county public health departments, which are on the frontlines, that they have the resources necessary to expand vaccination clinics and staffing, to expand testing capabilities, and to do more outreach and expand treatment. we do not want the counties to be out there on their own without resources. we are asking the state to provide $35 million to help with critical, time sensitive public health efforts. dion: we have seen san francisco respond with force. have seen a number of monkeypox vaccine events and public awareness notes. speaking of that budget and county resources, i think it is, what, 38 point $5 million? what exactly does that money go

towards? i know you mentioned county outreach. is it for volunteers? spreading the word? >> of that 38.5 million dollars, 30 million dollars would be for our county public health departments. of course, we need more vaccine supply from the federal government, which has been a big problem, but that is starting to change. san francisco has announced our next allocation of vaccines will be more than double the one we received recently. we are starting to see at least some movement in terms of more vaccine doses, but we need to make sure our counties have the staffing and ability to stand up vaccination clinics, testing clinics, better testing technology to be able to test for asymptomatic monkeypox infections. these things do not just up here.

have to have clinics, staffing and qualified people who are able to do the testing and vaccination. we need much more outreach. it is not just san francisco, this is starting to spread to other counties that do not have the same resources that san francisco or los angeles have and we need to make sure they are able to get into our most marginalized communities. we are also seeing the two racial groups that are most impacted our white people and latinos. we need to make sure that we are reaching deep into our latino communities in addition to our lgbtq communities. dion: i see so many parallels with coronavirus. at first, it was all about educating and getting data, spreading awareness. a lot of things i feel parallel one another.

all of this sounds great, the plan you laid out and where the resources are going. you actually think the governor will approve this? >> we do not know yet. budget is always a negotiation between the legislature and the governor. our senate leader, toni atkins from san diego, has been very supportive of the work have been doing and a staunch supporter of our lgbtq communities. the speaker of the assembly has been extremely vocal about various needs to support the response, including the need for resources. we have been working with their staff and we are going to get a lot of support from the legislature. but, we will of course work with the governor and his administration. i am optimistic we will be able to come to a resolution. dion: you have to be during these times and we will continue

to follow the situation. i want to remind everyone we are live on facebook. if you have any questions for the senator, please leave them in the comments. over the weekend, we had the dorey allie street fair. we covered it from the lens of how things have changed. you made a tweet urging people to have fun and live their lives , and that reducing risk is still possible. you also talked about avoiding the mistakes of the 1980's, especially when it came to hiv. closing public bath houses was not a viable option and did not have any proof of working. how do you strike that balance? what is your recommendation between responsibility and the very real fear of this disease? >> it is important for people to understand because some people on the right wing are saying, you made us stay home for covid, so therefore you should shut everything down in the lgbtq

community for monkeypox. this is a very very -- very different virus from covid, as was hiv. covid, if i have it and walk into a room with 20 people, just by breathing, i can infect many. that is not monkeypox. monkeypox is not something where you walk in a room and start randomly infecting people. it takes skin to skin contact, particularly with a lesion. you can be around other people and still have a fantastic time, and reduce or all but eliminate the risk of transmission. the same is true of hiv. you can be around other people and have no risk for hiv. in the 1980's, san francisco closed all of the gay bathhouses, to say we do not want people to have sex. people are still going to have gay sex if you close the

bathhouses, and they did, and hiv continue to spread. but instead of having a centralized location where you can provide information and testing, or vaccination, people just go into the shadows where they are not reachable. at the street fair on sunday, the department of public health had outreach workers there. there was health information being given out. there was testing being done. not people who had symptoms, but a symptomatically people. that is a good thing. if you just start shutting everything down, you are not reducing the risk. all you are doing is not having a centralized location to reach out to the community. dion: i'm glad you mentioned that, the two diseases are very different. i want to ask, how do you feel the white house has responded in

terms of monkeypox? there was a coordinator for it that was just made. >> the federal government is starting to step up. i want to give the administration credit for that. the federal government initially was very sluggish in their response and there was not enough of a sense of urgency. we have seen that start to change. i am optimistic moving forward, but the federal government has to do everything in its power to dramatically expand the supply of vaccines, including making sure that the small manufacturer of this vaccine, which the u.s. government funded, that they license out the vaccine to larger manufacturers. so, like with covid, we can have big manufacturers producing a huge amount of vaccine. as it spreads, there will be more demand and we need to be prepared. dion: i am sure we will talk with you again shortly. scott weiner, always a pleasure.

>> thank you. dion: up next, nancy pelosi visits taiwan. make sure to get your questions in. i had no idea how much i wamy case was worth. c call the barnes firm to find out what your case could be worth. we will help get you the best result possible. ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪

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(laughter) the spell is cast. halloween time is back with spook-tacular experiences in disneyland and disney california adventure parks! (laughter) in disneyland and disney california adventure parks! nancy pelosi is making history today, becoming the highest ranking american official to visit taiwan and 25 years. her visit is not without controversy. even though taiwan is a self ruled island, it is claimed by china. as you can imagine, it has been a long store -- long-standing point of contention. china is now threatening retaliation over the visit. joining us to discuss is newsweek senior foreign policy writer tom o'connor.

>> thank you for having me. dion: to get everyone up to speed, tell us why this trip is significant and tell me about the timing why now? >> it is significant because this is the first visit for house speaker to taiwan in 25 years. it is something that does not happen often. we have seen members of congress and former officials travel to taiwan. those trips were not without controversy either. china opposes such visits, this one is the most high-profile and has elicited the strongest response. as for the timing, a lot of people are linking it to the midterm elections. and the possibility that democrats could lose the house. nancy pelosi has been in her position for quite some time. there is a legacy thing here as well. in november, we are seeing the chinese commonest party congress coming up. over there too this is regarded

as a sensitive time. dion: the threats coming from china have been so strong, the messaging is downright scary. loc has also had strong messaging to support the people of taiwan. how has that been responded to by the biden administration? >> this puts the biden administration in a difficult as it should and. we have seen the white house want to distance themselves from this. the president has not publicly endorsed the trip and in the past has said the military believe it was not a good idea. you're not seeing much in terms of endorsements or opposition from the white house, they just say they respect the decision. it is awkward given the president does seem to want to amplify engagement. recently we have seen high-level engagement, particularly last week's call with xi jinping.

i was told by the white house that there seem to be a lot of initiative spoken about during that call that they want to follow up on. i am not sure what will happen to that now due to this visit. as for the follow-up, we are not fall -- not sure how far china is willing to go. the white house downplaying it, saying it is just par for the course when it comes to china relations and that it has happened before. china does seem particularly offended and we are seeing announced -- announcements, heightened rhetoric, army exercises in the region. it is a precarious situation and both sides are saying the risk of miscalculation is high. dion: with that military presence, what is security like for taiwan, given the threat and messaging from china? >> u.s. military aircraft brought nancy pelosi to taiwan. there is u.s. military presence

in the region. they are not necessarily linking that directly to what is going on in taiwan, but of -- of course it is their response to the situation in general. at the same time, this is the part of the region where china has most of its forces assembled. the eastern theater command and southern to her command, we are seeing china sending warplanes into the taiwan strait and surrounding taiwan to an extent that is even higher than the 1996 crisis, which was the last time tensions were this high. china certainly wants to show it can present a threat to taiwan. taiwan does have its own native defense force, but the military imbalance is very striking when it comes to the people's liberation army versus taiwan forces. it is something taiwan is of course concerned about. we are not hearing much from taiwan when it comes to how much they supported this trip ahead of time. it was very quiet from the island, that is also telling. dion: give me an idea of how

this is being seen by other countries around the globe? >> it is quiet. that is also telling, in a way. there's a lot of willingness in the u.s. to want to link this to ukraine, but taiwan does not have a diplomatic relation that ukraine does around the world. it only has about 14 other states it has relations with. a lot of countries do business with china and the one china policy is something they sign onto. and to some degree, the u.s. has too. i do not know if we will see an out swelling of support. dion: many thanks. coming up, two san francisco leaders facing controversy. now, the mayor is responding. our media i'm jonathan lawson here to tell you about life insurance through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. the three what?

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the president of the san francisco board of supervisors accused in a sheriff's memo for his use of the n-word toward a black cadet at city hall. this has caused quite the firestorm of discussion with mayor breed addressing it today. >> using the n-word toward a city employee, an elected leader, should not occur. regardless of the politics. there is no reason to degrade or speak to a member of city employment, city employees, in such a way. my hope is that the issue was resolved appropriately. dion: to join us with more on that issue into talk more about the mayor's responses the sf standard's senior reporter josh kane. despite this messaging from breed, walton does not seem to be backing down. he has been so critical of those who do not support him on this

issue, how he handled it, what is his plan now? >> great question. thanks for having me. supervisor walton, president of the board of supervisors, has doubled down since these accusations became public last week. he was initially threatening to sue. this afternoon, he offered an amended statement saying he has no plans to sue, but has basically said the events that are being described by the sheriff's office are not accurate and that due to his role in creating an oversight board of the sheriff's of excessive force and requiring inmates to -- so he is still very much saying he did nothing wrong and this is retaliation. dion: speaking of suing, do you have any insight as to who he would be suing if you were to proceed? >> he did backtrack, so i am not

certain who he would sue. a bigger issue is also that maybe he and the board could face liability. we actually spoke with the cadet in an exclusive interview today. when i talked to mr. butler, he told me he has not figured out his plans yet, but the way he laid out the incident was startling and it definitely shows that there are wildly different stories of what actually transpired. dion: speaking of that interview , we have a snippet where he himself describes the great harm he felt when walton used the n-word. >> i felt embarrassed, mostly. the whole place stopped. once the whole place stopped, seeing he was putting on a show, it was unbelievable. you can't make this stuff up. it was more embarrassing than anything. and hurtful.

he should know better. you would expect he would know better. given his position, you would think you would treat the people trying to keep you safe with some respect. dion: what are some actionable things he can do going forward? what are his plans? >> he is still trying to figure out what he intends to do, talking with leadership in the sheriff's department. what is fascinating about the situation is that when i talked to him, he said basically he tried to signal to supervisor walton that he would need to remove a belt to get through a security check. it was a friday and apparently there have been times in the past where they have had issues with the supervisors belt setting off the alarm. the reason this security protocol is in place is because of the assassination of george miss goni and harvey milk back in 1978 the reason for the

security protocols is to make sure no one can get a weapon through. for all of this to transpire over a belt is pretty shocking. mr. butler went on to say that just because he is a black man and supervisor walton is a black man, does not make it any better , any use of the n-word. which is still an allegation, i should say. dion: the belt removal is part of his own protection, for his own safety. i do want to get another layer of the complexity. the school board member said during a board meeting that black parents place different values on education than parents of different ethnic backgrounds. walton has called for her resignation, and you described mayor breed walking on a tight rope in her response as well. >> we spoke with mayor breed today and she has said that she

feels like this situation with supervisor walton has been handled. obviously, statements have come out since that interview, this situation with walton and the cadet are very much not resolved. walton has called for the resignation of the school board member whose comments are very much seen as a racial stereotype against black families. mayor breed is not calling for the school board members resignation, saying it was a mistake and an issue with english as a second language. obviously, there some learning and understanding that needs to go on. mayor breed appointed this person after the recall in february. there are political ramifications if the school member were to resign. there's a lot of racial dynamics going on in san francisco politics right now. it speaks to what you could say is larger dysfunction at city hall.

dion: we don't have much time, but you and i spoke about this prior to the show, how there was this elephant in the room. there was already tensions between ethnic communities, and that adds an extra level of complexity. can you elaborate more on what you have witnessed? >> we have done a lot of reporting about the spike in hate crimes targeting asian-americans and pacific islanders over the course of the pandemic. the elephant in the room in this whole situation with the school board member is that many in the aapi community feel black americans are often the perpetrators of this crime, whether it be attacks, or discrimination. that is very much an undercurrent to what is going on with the school board situation right now. these tensions cannot be ignored. mayor breed is definitely in a

tight spot because she appointed and shoe -- and is not calling for her resignation. she has been critical of the allegations against supervisor walton. so right now, the dynamics at play are fluid and volatile. dion: josh kane. we appreciate your reporting in the partnership we have together with the sf standard. many thanks to you being here. speaking of, you can check out more of the san francisco standard's reporting at their website. sfstandard. org. we will continue to bring you th

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dion: thanks for joining us.

i am the online. tonight, house speaker nancy pelosi touches down in taiwan. her history-making visit triggers an immediate response from china. and inside the attack that killed one of the world's most tregs masterminds. new details emerge about the cia drone strike taking on al qaeda leader ahman al zawahiri. two missiles targeting him as he stood on a balcony. the white house releasing a picture of president biden with his national security team plotting the attack weeks ahead of time. and nearly one year after the u.s. withdrawal from kabul, growing concerns about other terrorists possibly now in afghanistan. cecilia vega at the white house. those images coming in tonight. house speaker nancy pelosi on the ground in taiwan. her highly anticipated trip defying threats from beijing and