again. and i'll be joined by kristi yamaguchi. "velshi" starts now. good morning. i'm ali velshi. it's the 60th day of joe biden's presidency. right around 102 million doses of covid-19 vaccine have been administered. that's a goal biden wanted to hit by the 100-day mark. in all, since the first vaccine rollout in december, more than 118 million doses have now been administered. a little more than 12% of the population has been fully vaccinated. now this comes as vaccine supply continues to increase along with increased efficiency from federal, state and local government is, and health departments. speaking yesterday at cdc headquarters in atlanta, president biden praised those involved with the effort. >> we owe you a gigantic debt of

gratitude. you speak truth and science to power. and that is the power. but i came here to say thank you. you're not -- you're changing the psyche of the country. you're saving lives. you're saving lives. >> remember, this comes after a year in which the cdc had been demoralized because of the way the former president has politicized it. this stop at the cdc came at the start of biden and vice president kamala harris's first joint trip as president and vice president, which was initially scheduled as part of the political promotion tour dubbed "help is here." that was tied to the rollout of biden's $1.9 trillion covid relief package. the schedule was changed late this week to shift the focus on to an american community in which help is needed. >> violent hate crimes and

discrimination against asian-americans has risen dramatically over the last year. everyone has the right to go to work, to go to school, to walk down the street and be safe. and also the right to be recognized as an american. not as the other. not as them. >> hate and violence often hide in plain sight. it's often met with silence. that's been true throughout our history. but that has to change. because our silence is complicity. we cannot be complicit. we have to speak out. we have to act. >> during the trip, biden and harris met with atlanta mayor kisha lance bottoms and with

pacific islander communities. we are learning more about three of the victims of the atlanta shootings. they range in age from 33 to 74. six of them are of asian descent, all but one are women. at least three are mothers. surveillance video appears to show the murderer entering the location of his first shooting where he killed four people and later leaves the establishment. the same footage shows moments after the shooting when bystanders notice the horror inside the spa and later when police arrive on the scene. the shooter has been charged with eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault. officials are not ruling out the possibility this is a hate crime. that would fit with the unfortunate increase of anti-asian crimes in america. stop aapi hate released a report revealing a major increase in

asian-american hate incidents over the past year with a disproportionate against women. california state university revealed hate crimes targeting asian people rose a shocking 150% from 2019 to 2020. in 16 of america's largest cities. all while hate crimes overall decreased by 7%. meanwhile, one of the sheriff's deputies working at the atlanta area shootings, captain jay baker is thankfully no longer the public face of the case because he appears to be part of the problem. the day after the shooting, the captain who was speaking on behalf of the cherokee county sheriff's office applied to downplay the shooting saying the confessed murderer was having a bad day and this is what he did. amid criticisms for those comments, since deleted facebook posts from spring of 2020 were

unearthed in which the deputy himself publicly promoted the sale of racist anti-asian t-shirts. deepa, you learned later today activists will gather for a stop aapi hate rally in the downtown area. how is that likely to unfold? >> good morning. that's right. as we head into the weekend, just days after this horrific shooting in atlanta and in the atlanta area, there are a lot of asian-american activists, community leaders, organizers who have been doing this work, this community work for years. this is not just about what has happened in the last year, the last couple of months. violence, discrimination, hate towards asian-americans has long occurred in this country. the work these community organizers is doing is culminating today after such a horrific shooting. a shooting spree that happened just days ago.

they will be meeting in this plaza behind me below georgia's state capitol. a lot of those folks that were in that meeting yesterday with joe biden and kamala harris will be speaking here at that rally today in addition to other leaders as well who have been doing this work, trying to reach out to some of these families who we have not always heard their stories from, we're just learning a lot about them in the last 24, 48 hours. so doing that work of community building and healing as they try to move forward and also organizing. there were a lot of calls yesterday to both biden and harris in that meeting asking these leaders in the white house what they'll be doing for the asian-american community going forward. how to tackle this wave of hate crimes, this rise in violence. what folks in this community can do to report them better, to have those voices heard. all the way in to legislation that congresswoman meng has put

that legislation forward supported by joe biden. that's some of the political change moving forward. some of these folks here today gathering are hoping to build off of that momentum. >> deepa, thank you for that setup. i'll have that conversation with michelle au now. joining me is michelle au, she represent's georgia's 48th district. she was among the pacific island community that met with president biden and vice president harris yesterday. senator, thank you for being with us. our condolences to you and the community in georgia. you, before these shootings, just the other day, you delivered a passionate speech in the georgia senate in which you said asian-americans are part of our country's plurality. recognize that we need help. we need protection. and we need people in power to stand up for us against hate. of course you said this before this all happened. and then these crimes occurred.

what is the feeling around the asian-american community in georgia right now? >> good morning. the speech i gave in the well was the day before these shootings happened. what we have to point out is people are asking me how did you know you would give such a pressing speech? how did you know something would happen? i did not. my point was we are not pointing or warning about events that may occur. right? what i was trying to point out is that racism, discrimination, violence against asian-americans has been happening all along. these are things that we have been seeing not just in the past week, not just in the past few months, not just since president trump, we're talking about years and decades of discrimination that has been hiding in plain sight. >> and one of the things that you were talking about, you spoke to the publication, the

19th about this, it's something that has come up a bit in the last few weeks. you said the harmful model minority myth tends to insulate people from realizing the same thing that is happening to other communities is happening to asians. we are starting to realize no one is going to notice until we start making some noise. making noise is something a lot of asian-americans have brought up as something that has not happened in the asian-american community. it's almost sort of frowned upon, and that has been to the disadvantage of asian-americans in this particular instance. >> yes. the model minority myth and just to be clear what we're talking about, it's this sense that asian-americans are a monolith and we're more successful and more fortunate than other minorities due to whatever list of cultural attributes that people ascribe to asian-americans. it tends to insulate people from

the sense that asian-americans are subject to the same types of discrimination and violence that other minority groups are. i think this is a harmful myth. i think we need to step away from it a bit. when we talk about silence and not speaking out about it, we really need to move away from that aspect of it, too. that's part of the stereotype of asian-americans as well. this sort of sense of docility, keeping our heads down, working hard. we need to fight this model minority myth in all ways. >> talk to me about what -- you seem gratified about the meeting that you had with president biden and vice president harris. what in your belief as a state senator can be done by government in issues of widespread hate like this? is this a legislative priority? is it something you elected officials and leaders can take care of or is this on all of us to fix?

>> it is on all of us to fix. part of the reason i went to the well in the georgia state senate to speak about it because people thought this was not an issue they had to deal with. even recently with more reports in the media about asian hate crimes, it was centered around cities like new york, los angeles, the bay area. that makes sense because they do have a high percentage of api residents in those cities. however i did not want the people of georgia to feel like this was not their problem. i certainly don't want them to think that me speaking about it or my fellow aapi legislators thinking about it means it's a niche problem for us. this is everyone's problem and there's several ways we need to move forward with it. >> the one advantage of the last year is we're starting to realize these problems are everyone's problems and all of ours to fix. we appreciate you bringing clarity to the discussion. it's not on you, it's not on asian-americans to have to do this, but we do appreciate the

clarity you bring to it. state senator michelle au of georgia. stick around as our in-depth coverage of this topic continues throughout the day. alex witt examines the rise in hate crimes against asian-americans and other people of color. "stop the hate" starts today at 1:00. and this afternoon, join richard lui as he talks about hate crimes across the united states. that's tonight at 6:00 p.m. eastern. our thoughts go out to the friends and families of the eight victims. kevin bacon here. you know me from six degrees of well... me. but it's time to expand. see, visible is wireless with no surprise fees, legit unlimited data, powered by verizon for as little as $25 a month. but when you bring a friend every month, you get every month for $5. so i'm bringing everyone within 12 degrees of me.

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there are a number of variants, the one right now gaining momentum in our own country is the b117, the uk variant as they call it, because it happened to be first noticed

in the uk. the good news about that is the vaccines we are distributing now work very well against that variant. >> that was dr. anthony fauci last hour on "weekend today." the united states is making good headway in its vaccination effort, but it's still a race against time as there are confirmed cases of new variants in each of the 50 states. fauci maintains that we are nowhere near being in the clear. it's way too early to spike the football. despite a national downward trend, infections are on the rise right now in some parts of the country. this week 15 states reported an increase in daily covid cases of 10%. ultimately meaning more deaths. and to make matters worse, the weather is warm. spring is now upon us. crowds of spring breakers are growing by the day in south florida. cory, good morning to you. what you are seeing down there? >> good morning. this city might as well be a 24-hour city at least during

spring break. crowds linger long into the night and start early in the morning. the mayor says this is coming to a breaking point. he said an influx of hundreds of thousands of people led to more crowds, more violence, more arrest and a deadly shooting this week. they responded with more police patrols out here. some closed streets and we know of at least one iconic longstanding restaurant that has chosen voluntarily to close their doors during the height of spring break to keep staffers safe. they cite safety concerns and covid concerns over the growing crowds. we also know as miami beach is trying to keep their crowds down as much as possible, other cities around florida like just to the north in fort lauderdale, they're encouraging the crowds and trying to boost their economy. governor desantis defended his aggressive reopening strategy. he says it's worth the risk and it paid off.

listen. >> the fact is our revenues are coming in much better than anticipated. unemployment is much lower. we did get some of the money from the federal stimulus. we are not in a position where we're desperately needing additional revenue at this point. and i think that that's a good position to be in. it's only a position that we're in because we didn't follow these lockdowns for all these many months. >> you know, some are saying that that is coming at the expense of lives lost here. florida approaching 2 million cases of covid-19 with 32,500 deaths. and the tsa also reporting some record travel. more than 1 million people passed through tsa in the last week. it's the most since the pandemic began. there's record travel in states that have lighter restrictions when it comes to reopening in general. so this question will be how

will these surging crowds affect our able to fight this pandemic at this crucial stage? >> cori, thanks for your reporting as always. donald trump's former attorney, michael cohen, scheduled a ninth meeting with the manhattan district attorney. the walls look to be closing in. and the number of documents cohen says the office has gathered to build their case is astounding. let me give you a scenario, say you're in a zoom meeting and it gets crashed by jimmy fallon and michelle obama, what's your next move? >> completely packed with everything. >> hello? >> hello? >> stop. >> jimmy, wrong book! >> oh, my god. >> wrong book, jimmy. >> i think we're in the wrong zoom. >> no, you're in the right zoom. >> jimmy!

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last week i made the argument that donald trump's biggest mistake was running for president because as a private citizen he more easily avoided legal liability, now he's saddled with the increased scrutiny of the presidency but no longer holds presidential immunity from prosecution. an author of a 2015 trump biography told the "washington post" at his level there was no such thing as being in legal trouble because trump usually had something on his opponents. but nobody needs him now. the former president currently faces, get this, 29 lawsuits including ten civil lawsuits, two defamation suits and others seeking damages from his rally on january 6th. the reality for trump is that his biggest legal exposure is not civil suits, it's coming from manhattan where his former personal attorney, michael cohen, has been interviewed eight times by the district attorney including a four-hour in-person interview just

yesterday. i spoke to cohen last night. he says the trump team should be nervous about what's coming out of the manhattan d.a.'s office. >> they just obtained more than 1 million pages of documents, eight years worth of mr. trump's and the trump organization's tax returns. that's the -- that's the real road map there. there was more paper there, all tabulated, in three-ring books, itemized for questions they wanted to pose by me. there was more than you would possibly even imagine. it was like a paper vault of information. you don't need to charge him on 20 issues. all you need is one. and believe me, they have more than one. you will see very soon in my opinion indictments start flying. >> joining me now is federal courts and law enforcement reporter shannon jacobs and former united states attorney and professor at the university of alabama school of law, joyce

vance. joyce is also an msnbc contributor. good morning to both of you. thank you for being with us. joyce, michael cohen felt even more enthused than he normally is about what he believes the manhattan d.a.'s case is with the new prosecutor that they brought in, sort of a mob buster, mark pomeranz. he says the paper talks. >> it's a bit unusual to see a potential witness or at least someone who is providing information to prosecutors out in public opining on the strength of prosecutors cases. leaving that aside, the manhattan d.a. seems to be sending out plenty of signals to prosecution watchers that he is serious about this case. the focus on allen weisselberg, the trump organization's cfo,

who is in position to be really the tour guide to the entire trump organization, puts vance in a position to uncover wrongdoing, long suspected, now he has the documentary evidence. if it's there, i think we can expect him to indict the former president. >> shana, a lot of people are trying to make sense of these cases. i was surprised to learn how many cases there are against donald trump. we hear about them. how would you evaluate the various levels of exposure or liability he has given everything he is facing right now? >> it seems vance's investigation certainly is the -- one of the most serious things trump faces going forward. he has been under vance's investigation since 2019. that could result in criminal charges. he could be potentially sentenced to jail should he be

convicted in connection to that. so i think trump and people representing him and people trying to defend him still, the lawyers who are still on board, are quite worried about what could come out of that. especially now that vance has his tax returns dating back eight years. my understanding is that investigators have just really begun to go through the voluminous records they received late last month, and that any decision is still likely months away. but i would definitely think that vance's investigation is what they're most worried about. that said, his business could be severely impacted by civil action, by new york attorney general latisha james if she files a lawsuit finding wrongdoing after her investigation concludes. he could be looking at serious issues for the trump organization and various subsidiaries going forward.

>> joyce, let's talk more about allen weisselberg. you mentioned the interview with the ex-wife of weisselberg's son. weisselberg was like michael cohen, a guy involved in everything. he was involved with donald trump and donald trump's father. so he's been with the trump organization for a very long time. and to some people they say, if weisselberg gets threatened with indictments, he might like michael cohen turn around and help prosecutors. we don't know if he's helping them or not. do you get the impression that these prosecutors probably have enough any way to move ahead with an indictment? >> you know, it's hard to make that assessment from the outside. but the important calculus that prosecutors will be engaging in is how much better their case looks if they have a witness who can act as the narrator from the witness instant for all of these

documents. it's hard to make the documents come to life in a trial setting without a live person. so for weisselberg, if there is misconduct in his own past, prosecutors will likely focus on that, see if there is a prosecutable case against him. that's probably one of the reasons that they're talking to his ex-daughter in lawyer about transactions that might potentially lead to tax charges. and if weisselberg is vulnerable, at some point he'll have to make a decision about whether he wants to get on the bus or be under the bus. that's really what prosecutors are looking for with him. will he cooperate? does he simply want to be a defend who faces spending a significant chunk of the remainder of his life in prison? >> shayna, let's focus on the parts of it that were the trump organization and what they did. with respect to properties. there was an -- there were allegations that the tax returns

may help solve, but there were allegations that donald trump overvalued his properties for the purposes of loans, undervalued them for the purposes of tax or insurance. if those things come to pass, some of them are civil. some of them are criminal. do we have some sense of how that breaks down? >> yeah. i think that still remains to be seen because the prosecution would still have the burden of proving that that sort of practice is completely unique, that trump is the only -- not that trump is the only person in new york doing that, there are certainly other developers i'm sure you could find if he is, in fact, doing that, i'm sure there's other developers and investors you could find adjusting the value of assets for that kind of purpose. but it will be a pretty high bar

to prove intent potentially which is why allen weisselberg assisting the prosecution could be beneficial. there are certainly civil liabilities, certainly criminal liabilities that he potentially faces for manipulating the value of properties, some of which are in manhattan, and actually there are properties all over the country and around the world that could be potentially brought into this. >> thank you to both of you this morning. shayna jacobs is the "washington post" reporter. joyce vance is former u.s. attorney in alabama and an msnbc contributor. thanks to both of you for appearing this morning. we live in a country where it's easier in some places to buy a gun than it is to cast a vote. this could be changed except for one problem, the senate filibuster. coming up next, after a quick break, for anyone just tuning in, good morning.

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democracy wins when more people vote. simple. but we've seen a backlash to the voter turnout we saw in 2020's

election. here's what that backlash to voting looks like. republicans introduced 253 bills being considered in 43 states designed to make it harder for american citizens to vote. this voter suppression is being challenged by congress. the house passed a bill that makes it easier to vote, but that may be challenged in the senate because of the filibuster which may block an up and down vote on any bill they don't like. now chuck schumer is signaling he might be willing to push his caucus to change the rules in order to get voting rights reforms through the senate. >> everything is on the table. failure is not an option. >> when you say failure is not an option, does that mean you would consider reforming the filibuster for a bill like this?

>> failure is not an option. >> all right. so failure is not an option. changing the rules, reforming the filibuster is probably the only way democrats can avoid failure here. because mitch mcconnell has bragged about being the grim reaper for progressive policies if he can block them, he will. as one former deputy chief of staff told rachel maddow, why wait. >> i think it's time for senators to think seriously on whether or not we should do the reform now. what are we waiting for? we don't need further proof that republicans will obstruct. >> so as democrats look to focus on issues like voting rights and minimum wage and a woman's right to choose, they can either change the filibuster or watch the biden agenda fail. joining me now is molly reynolds senior fellow of governance at the brookings institute and

author of "exceptions to the rule." i want to quote from a colleague of yours at brookings who says when racial progress is actively being pursued, there are people who will fight tooth and nail to preserve inequality. to protect democracy and our country's future it's imperative the senate employ a civil rights exception to the filibuster. our country is at a fork in the road on racial progress. give me your thoughts on that. >> thanks for having me again this morning. my colleague is absolutely right. we are at a point where we're seeing widespread efforts around the country to restrict folks ability to access the ballot box, and this bill the house sent to the senate has the potential to push back against that. but as you were saying earlier,

there's real bstacles in the form of the senate republican conference to getting that measure through the senate or something like it and so then the question is what should senate democrats do procedurally to try to address that? >> how hard is this really? there are a couple of democratic senators who are not in favor of moving the filibuster. they don't seem to be doing it on the basis of not moving ahead with voting rights legislation. maybe they're institutionalists or they're traditionalists, whatever the case is. if those two senators,kyrsten sinema and joe manchin come over on this idea, can we change the filibuster rules in the house or is it just for the purpose of getting this voting rights legislation passed? >> there's a number of different ways the senate could proceed here. i think it's important to note that while senators manchin and

sinema are pointed to most often as wanting to change the filibuster, they may not be the only ones. when we think of the history of the changes to the filibuster, it has been the case we see changes when a particular policy area is linked to a procedural change. so when democrats changed the rules for confirming federal judges and executive branch nominees in 2013. i think for me, it's hard to separate the question of is it voting rights legislation, this legislation, or something else that might break the dam for some of these democratic senators who have said they are opposed to changing the way the filibuster works. >> we discussed this before. some people won't change the system for the purposes of changing the system, they might change the system because it's finally a vote they believe should pass. >> absolutely. if we think back to the 2013 example, it's illustrative.

at the beginning of the year, democrats did not have the votes. they had not collectively experienced enough frustration with republican obstruction to be willing to make a change. by the end of the year, the caucus was there and you had the votes that you needed to make the change. it all comes down to sort of what do senators want and what are they willing to vote for and what does it take to get them there? >> is there some relevance to the fact that republicans are not supporting this change or is that just typical of parties that don't hold the majority, they don't want to give up whatever leverage they have for the next two years? >> when we think about changes to the filibuster, it's a determined majority who is opposed by a determined minority. the majority gets frustrated enough with the minority preventing them from doing something that they really want to do and that they are united behind. that's what pushes the change

forward. again, it may be the case that we get there. chuck schumer says failure is not an option, when former president obama stands up at john lewis' funeral last summer saying if it takes a filibuster to pass a new voting rights law, we should eliminate the filibuster, those are important signals of where the democratic center of gravity is pushing folks, and then it's a question of does everyone come along. >> molly, thanks as always. you make it clear to us every time we ask you questions about this. molly reynolds is a senior fellow of governance studies at brookings and author of "exceptions to the rule." there's a crisis bubbling at the border. the biden administration is struggling to figure out what to do with the surge of migrants crossing into texas. nbc news has new troubling reporting about the number of children currently in border control custody.

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joe biden's facing a border crisis that many republicans are trying to turn into a partisan battle. in february, illegal border crossings rose by 28% from the month before, despite the many factors clearly at work here republicans blame biden directly. there's another troubling trend behind the influx of migrants. officials told nbc that border patrol facilities are holding 3,200 unaccompanied minors and most than a third have been held past the 72 hour limit. as of thursday, 500 migrant children had been in border control custody for more than ten days. now the biden administration is trying to restrict what can be shared with the media about the surge at the border. the administration struck a deal with mexico to offer them excess doses of covid-19 in return for the mexican government's help in containing the border crisis.

all this put the republicans on the offensive. yesterday texas governor greg abbott accused the biden administration of covering up the border situation. earlier he said 11,000 children have already crossed the texas border just this year. joining me is maria hein hossa, president and founder and author of -- anchor of latino, usa, i'm sorry and author of the book "once i was you: a memoir of love and hate in a torn america." she's also a old friend of microscope. maria, good to see you. tell us your analysis of what's going on now at the border. >> what's going on at the border is a humanitarian crisis. it is not a conundrum. i'm sorry, with all due respect, i love you, not a surge we use to talk about troops in iraq, not a surge. so people need to understand why is this happening?

when you have had over the last six years, the end of the obama administration, entirety of the trump administration really pushing down on shutting this completely down in terms of the border or any kind of movement, people are not sitting there saying, huh, okay, there's a democrat that's been elected, let me go ahead and do this now. no. what it is is bubbling up of extreme trauma. so ali, as soon as i get my second shot, i got my first one last week, i'm going down to the border and more than likely i will go to alludous so i can clearly understand and again explain to people, this is not -- you said about how we all have so much support for the dreamers across the country. these children right now are those dreamers. we need to see in them suffering, children who need help, so we should be going down to the border and welcoming them and i -- i know that is like oh,

my god, that would be horrible, but you know what would happen, ali, if joe biden went down and said i'm taking a stance because i actually believe in what the statue of liberty says. i bought into that narrative, i was taught that, and i will be here as president to say i see you, that would totally change the formulation and frankly leave the republican kind of bent it he knee because what you have to talk about then is the humidity of people, why is this happening? ali, you know, it's about desperation, it's not like oh, i think i want to go get a job picking fruits and vegetables. >> let's talk about that for a second though. if you solve which -- and really you're talking about the root problem here, it's not mexicans coming into the united states, it's people from poverty stricken, central american countries. by the way, over the past sfour years, we've done more to make them more poverty stricken. >> over the last 100 years.

>> you're right, but over the last four years, the trump administration's response to this was to say cut off funding to them as opposed to help them get stronger. what do we do about that? ultimately the goal is not to have everybody in central america moved to texas, right? so what do we do in the interim? do we literally understand people are escaping their horrible situation at home and come into the united states and are granted asylum? >> so we're not talking about millions of people, first of all. and people need to understand, you don't want to leave your homeland. you don't want to leave your home, i don't want to leave my home. during the pandemic, of course, but people don't want to leave. so the few thousand that we are seeing, the few, the images are like oh, my god, we're getting overrun, that's not the case. there are millions of people living in their homes in central america and, yes, they're battling all kinds of challenges but that's not pushing them to become a refugee. let's make that clear.

secondly, that's why, yes, if you create programs that are managed not necessarily by governments that have a history of corruption, by deep grassroots organizations that are community based, that understand how you work with kids who have been sent up into violence or abandon or women who are victims of extraordinary amounts of abuse, which is what happens in central america, then you have people saying i'm going to try and stay. most people do not want to leave their homes. most people do not want to come to the united states. they don't. and that's another reframing that we have to understand. thank you, ali, in terms of the history. we need to understand the united states has been destabling, let's just say in my lifetime, since the 1980s. the i wrote my bachelor thesis on salvadoran refugees in long island in 1984. this is not new. the biden administration should be thinking about changing the

narrative, how they respond, and also taking a little bit of responsibility, that would help as well. because joe biden has been around for a long time. he knows the complexities of regional politics. >> yeah, that's not a strong suit, american foreign policy in central america and taking a lot of responsibility for that. but let's hope, let's hope we take a moment to know our history and understand the role we have to play and the fact these remain deeply impoverished and as you said, corrupt countries that make it very hard for people to make a living safely and fairly. maria, good to see you. i hope the president -- >> it's not about making a living, it's about surviving death. this is not like, i want to get a better job. this is i'm about to die. i've got to find someplace where i can live. >> that's a good point. thank you, maria, president and founder of latino usa anchor and author of "once i was you: a memoir of love and hate in a

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good morning, i'm ali velshi. more than 100 million doses of covid vaccine have been administered in the united states, more than 102 million done since biden assumed office, far more than his stated goal. biden marked the milestone yesterday with staff and scientists at the centers for disease crock in atlanta. >> mr. president, your leadership over covid-19 pandemic from day one has instilled confidence and reinvigorated our whole of government response. it has reinvigorated me personally and this entire agency. your support for cdc is so important to the hundreds of cdc staff and leaders. >> science is back. you can build all of the walls and have the most powerful