history says: fine jewellery for occasions. we say: forget occasions. (snap) fine jewellery for every day. good day, everyone. from msnbc world headquarters here in new york, welcome to "alex witt reports." here's what's happening at 2:00 p.m. eastern, 11:00 a.m. pacific time. we start with new details about the gunman in the mass shooting at a fedex facility in

indianapolis. police say he was able to buy two rifles after having a shotgun taken from him. let's go to nbc's kathy park in indianapolis for us. kathy, another welcome. what's the latest on the investigation? and i understand you've spoken with some first responders. >> alex, that is right. i think the big question is today how was the suspect able to obtain those two assault rifles legally? especially when he was already on law enforcement's radar last year. in fact, his own mother flagged authorities, saying her son was suicidal. and that really set off a chain of events. his shotgun was seized and not returned. he was placed on a temporary mental hold. and after an interview with the fbi they found no sort of criminal violation, no ties to extremism. but here, alex, in indiana there is a red flag law which essentially allows the courts

and law enforcement agencies to seize guns from anyone who exhibits any sort of warning signs for violence. and right now it's unclear if the suspect went before a judge for that specific ruling. and as this community begins to heal really, we had the chance to speak directly with first responders who rushed to the scene thursday night to save lives. take a listen. >> we revert back to our training. and we train as it's happening, as it's real. we put ourselves in situations that are sometimes out of the scope of what we would see, but we do that to prepare ourselves for when we find ourselves in situations that are not normal. and i think every one of us just fell back on our training that we've had and go with it. it turns into instinct and you don't think about as much as you

react to. >> reporter: and alex, vigils were held yesterday. they will continue yesterday. eight victims total. they range in age from 19 to 74. four of the victims were members of the local sikh community. and this is a heavy time, a painful time for the community. so counseling services are being provided by both fedex and the local sikh community for those affected by this tragedy, alex. >> i understand you reported that there was a son who was flying from india to bury his mother. it's just so heartbreaking. thank you so much, kathy park. tomorrow the derek chauvin murder trial turns to the jury deliberation phase after 38 prosecution witnesses, seven defense witnesses, 13 days of testimony, those closing arguments are set to begin at 10:00 a.m. eastern followed by judge peter cahill's instructions. and the jury may get that case by about lunchtime. but today this is what downtown minneapolis looks like. business owners are boarding up storefronts in fear of unrest when the verdict is eventually

announced. that fear reflected on the front pages of the major newspapers there today. let's go to my colleague msnbc's meagan fitzgerald who's joining me from outside the hennepin county courthouse. meagan, welcome to you. i think those newspapers and the video that we're seeing is sharing a lot of the sense of concern there. talk about the mood, what you're seeing. >> yeah. alex, absolutely. as you mentioned, as you showed our viewers, windows here are boarded up. we see national guard members on practically every corner with their firearms. this is a city that's on edge. you can feel the anxiety as the nation waits really for this jury to get this case. frustration spilling out into the streets. demonstrators protesting two more police-involved shootings. anger and unrest as the murder trial against ex-officer derek chauvin nears a close. >> your honor, the state of minnesota rests. >> reporter: the three-week-long

trial coming to an end monday with closing arguments. >> the state needs to put it all together, all of these experts, to make it clear that it was chauvin's actions that were a substantial cause of death. >> reporter: his defense resting their case last week after calling an expert witness who justified chauvin's use of force. >> in your opinion, was this a use of deadly force? >> it was not. >> reporter: it a former medical examiner testifying that george floyd didn't die from the nine minutes and 29 seconds chauvin's knee was on his neck. >> how did the heart and drugs contribute to the cause of death? >> they were significant. or other -- they contributed to mr. floyd having a sudden cardiac arrest. >> reporter: the prosecution pushing back. >> do you feel that mr. floyd should have been given needed emergency attention to try to reverse the cardiac arrest? >> as a physician, i would agree.

>> reporter: and chauvin confirming he won't testify. >> i will invoke my fifth amendment privilege today. >> reporter: his fate will be in the hands of a sequestered jury as deliberations get under way. >> and they have to stay together until either they come back with a verdict or they say they're hopelessly deadlocked. it can get extremely tense in the jury room, especially with sequestration. so i think it does make a difference in terms of the timing in which we can expect a verdict. >> reporter: a verdict an already anxious nation will be watching. now, cities across the country are preparing for widespread protests. some are bringing in national guard. others are telling their law enforcement officers that they can't take a day off as we await this verdict, alex. >> i've got to tell you, meagan, that just came down from the new york pd recently, about 11:00 a.m. this morning, they said no vacation, no time off, we're staying on high alert here. okay. thank you for all of that. in just a matter of hours, more demonstrations expected in chicago. this in response to the police shooting death of 13-year-old

adam toledo. let's go to nbc's maura barrett who joins us from chicago with the very latest from there. what about tonight, maura? what are we expecting this evening? any demonstrations? any marches? >> reporter: yeah, alex, there are. this evening we're expecting to see a peace march in that little village neighborhood where 13-year-old adam toledo was shot and killed. we're at douglas park just north of that neighborhood where within an hour we're expecting to see a vigil in remembrance of the teenager. and we've learned over the weekend now some developments over the kurgs that we saw -- we heard about before the body cam video came out. one of the prosecutors in the state attorney's office, originally the spokesperson for the office said that he misspoke when at a bond hearing earlier this month, he said that the child was holding the gun when he was shot. obviously, we've now seen in the video that he was not holding a gun when he was shot. but that caused a lot of tension among activists in the community because there's concern over whether or not there's any --

there's accurate information coming out, if they hadn't seen the body camera video. we've now learned that that prosecutor has been suspended, been placed on administrative leave. he's being investigated. but the bigger issue here that mayor lightfoot here in chicago was pointing out is the overarching issue of gun violence that's very prevalent in chicago. she took the opportunity to speak a little bit on this, on our politics nation just yesterday. >> you know, the police came to the scene that early morning of march 29th because an illegal firearm that was purchased in a parking lot in indiana made its ways into the hands of a 21-year-old who was clearly leading adam toledo astray. so you're right. we're right on the border of indiana and michigan and wisconsin and those illegal firearm purchases in those states make their way to the streets of chicago. what the federal government can do is pass background checks, strengthen the oversight of federally licensed gun dealers. and what i talked to our u.s.

attorney about here is we need a federal task force across jurisdictions to deal with gun trafficking and sales by straw purchasers. >> this conversation about need for gun reform coming after an absolutely heartbreaking week after what we saw in indianapolis and in minnesota. something that she's really focusing in on to make sure that activists and reform is focused on with this case and adam toledo. as far as the officer involved in the shooting back in march, he's been suspended. he's on desk duty as two independent investigations are conducted. alex? >> okay. maura barrett, thank you so much. great setup because we're going to talk about that right now with paul henderson, veteran prosecutor and legal analyst. okay, paul. looking at what happened in chicago, what do you think's going to happen from a legal standpoint? are there going to be charges? what do you think they would be? what are the possibilities in your mind? >> well, let me just start off

by saying i'm really sick and tired of finding new words to talk about the same thing over and over, especially this week. i mean, it's one after another. hopefully, this is a movement there where we really start taking seriously and addressing police reforms to address race-disparate policing. chicago, it's the same standard that we always have with these shootings. but we really have to start looking at the subjective element and the bias evaluation that takes place in policing, allowing the disparate outcome for use of force, for lethal use of force. we cannot sustain -- sanction any system that allows children to be killed for any reason. the demand and the call for reform i think we're hearing

over and over again. and my concern is not just that we evaluate the criminal standards. you know, there's three tracks of accountability in a case like this. there's the civil standards for the lawsuits. there's the criminal standards. and then the really important administrative track for internal and external review, both from the chief of police and internal affairs and for outside agencies like civilian oversight agencies, for legislators and elected leaders to address policy reforms, specifically talking about the race disparities associated with a lot of these killings. >> but let me stop you there and ask about part 3 that you talked about, the internal analysis and holding those accountable. we've already heard the head of the police union say this was tragic but justifiable. so can you check that one off the list right now? i know you can't, but it's already been decided. >> no.

and i'm frustrated with the knee-jerk reaction we've seen not just from that union but also what we saw from the prosecutorial office there. i'm really proud of kim foxx for standing up and saying like hey, let's put this person on leave because prosecution is one of the tracks that has to be evaluated. we talked about the criminal stuff. it's our entire criminal justice system. i don't think we get to have a conversation like this without talking about race. just say it. just analyze it. just look at it. because you don't get to argue with me about the fact that there is a race-disparate system. use of force is 19.3 times percent higher for communities of color with policing. and that's before we even talk about lethal force for african-american men. this is just a problem that we have to admit that we have and we can't fix what we don't talk about. and we don't talk about what we don't know. so again, with chicago as with all of these other shootings we

have to start asking the very difficult question about looking at race, talking about bias, and trying to figure out how to fix policing in a way that's going to readdress how we look at policing in this country. otherwise, we're going to continue having these incidents like this in city after city, in state after state. it's not going to end until we change. that's just the truth. that's just where we are. that's -- you know, it's frustrating to me. but it's also an opportunity i think for this country to start doing things better at a local, state, and national level to start fixing this problem and addressing solutions that i think we have if we're having the right conversations and we bring the right folks to the table. and that includes communities of color. they have to be part of the solution. >> yeah, 100%. you know what i like? you explained everything so well and at the very end you say it could be better. and that's what we've got to focus on. and that certainly is a conversation that will go on in great depth for quite some time.

but let me quickly ask you about daunte wright and the incident there. the officer was charged. how plausible do you think it is, the explanation of a taser mix-up, taser versus glock? >> alex, okay, here's the thing. it's not funny at all. i'm frustrated again by the big differences from a veteran. and let me just start with this. if you can't tell the difference between a weapon and a taser, then you don't need to have either. so let me start with that. but the bigger issue with me is in evaluating how these incidents take place, how are you not aware that this was a different color, a different weight, on the other side of your body? and that's before we even get to a safety. oh, there's no safety on the taser. how did you get to the safety for this gun? did you forget that part of the step? all of these things were taking place. and before you even look at all of that, let's talk about what in your mind allowed you

subjectively to transition, instead of de-escalation, into use of force for this stop? this pretextual stop for an african-american man. and that's at the core of all of this. what in your mind as an officer made yousubjectively think we need more use of force for a traffic stop for expired tags or not current tags? that just to me is the crux of the issue. before we start analyzing the differentiation in cases where we've seen before where officers forget or they misuse or make a mistake about what they're holding in their hand and end up again, disproportionately if you look at the numbers, and you overlay it with race, with communities of color and lethal force. it's very frustrating to me, alex. the charges i think are going to move forward -- >> they came quickly at least. they came quickly in this case. >> yes. they did. and we're going to have a

conversation in that case specifically about whether or not intent is an element. and i think that's the real issue. but we're not going to get to intent without unpacking some of the more complicated issues i just talked about in terms of race. and i think they're just factors. it's just the truth you that don't get to argue about. and i know it's very difficult for people to hear. i know it's very difficult for people to look at and very difficult for people to unpack and try to find a solution for. but the reality of it is race matters. and in policing until we can get to race-neutral policing and a race-neutral justice system we're going to continue to have these problems that have proliferated. the systemic challenges that we've had in our justice system. that's just the truth. >> you know what? well said. that was all good. i'm glad you got that off your chest. i love the passion with which you said it. no, honestly. we need to hear it. i appreciate you saying it. paul henderson. i'll see you again for sure. thank you. coming up tonight, you can

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okay, everyone. we are back with some breaking news. there are reports of an active shooter reported in the arboretum area of northwest austin. there are reports of three people having been killed. this is according to the austin travis county ems. they've been pronounced dead at the scene. this is in the great hills neighborhood of austin. apparently, this shooting took place at an apartment complex just a short time ago. we don't have any information right now on who pulled the trigger, the actual shooter.

we've been told residents are to avoid this area and anyone that is close to the scene right now to shelter in place. nearby roads, a highway have been closed as well. it took place at the intersection of great hills trail and rain creek parkway. this happened again just a little over an hour, actually just under an hour ago, everyone. we are not sure whether or not this was a domestic incident. we have no clarity on that. but we're going to stay on top of this and bring you any late-breaking developments from austin, texas. again, in the arboretum area of northwest austin. we know so far three people have been killed. we also have some developing headlines for you this hour for you to share. the biden administration is expecting a decision this week. in fact friday. on the use of the johnson & johnson vaccine. it is currently becaused because of the concerns over where blood clots. dr. anthony fauci appearing on msnbc this morning explaining what's happening with the vaccine right now. >> the time that's being taken

now is to examine, learning a bit more about it and seeing if there are any additional cases. that's the reason why the cdc right now and the advisory committee on immunization practices is looking at this and trying to determine exactly what the scope of it is. and that's the reason why by friday, jonathan, i think we'll have a determination. >> and the biden administration is also defending its decision to withdraw all u.s. troops from afghanistan by september 11th. national security adviser jake sullivan responding today to criticism from some republican lawmakers who say the move will cause another 9/11 and that terror groups will come roaring back. >> i can tell you that president biden has no intention of sending forces back to afghanistan. but at the same time he has no intention of taking our eye off the ball. we have the capacity from repositioning our capabilities over the horizon to continue to suppress the terrorist threat in afghanistan. meanwhile, we are getting a new look at what americans think

about legislation proposed by some democrats to expand the supreme court to 13 justices. according to a reuters/ipsos poll, 38% of americans support adding four more justices. 42% oppose that idea. but in the same poll a majority of americans, 63%, support term or age limits for supreme court justices. and republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene appears to be backing away from launching the america first caucus. but on twitter she says she still has "plans to drive president trump's agenda -- america first agenda rather with my congressional colleagues." democratic congressman seth moulton reacting here on the show earlier. >> here we are in 2021 still having to have this debate on national tv about racism in our heart of government. let's go to nbc's ali vitali on capitol hill. big welcome to you my friend. quite a bit of fallout since news of this plan first broke.

that's for sure. >> reporter: that's exactly right. it's only been about 72 hours since news of that first draft organizing document first leaked into the press. since then we've heard condemnation swiftly from people on both sides of the aisle. democrats like seth moulton, who you just heard from, as well as republicans including those in house leadership here saying that this is not an ideology that the republican party should espouse. you also saw there congresswoman greene herself seeming to back away from this saying at first yesterday that this was something that was done at the staff level, that she hadn't actually seen this memo, and now today just this morning her spokesman telling nbc news in a statement that this was an early planning proposal and nothing was agreed to or approved. she goes on to say, "this doesn't mean that anything was scrapped in terms of this potential caucus. it means," the statement goes on to say, "congresswoman greene plans on driving trump's america first agenda with her congressional colleagues and isn't going to let the media

dictate her plans." so unclear where this potential caucus formation stands right now. but i have to say i was struck, alex, as i was listening to our colleague chuck todd interview former republican house speaker john boehner this morning on "meet the press." listen to a little bit of that conversation. >> i have no idea how this even showed up. i wouldn't call it mainstreamed in our party. but i can tell you that this so-called america first caucus is one of the nuttiest things i've ever seen. and to see some members of congress go off and start this america first caucus it's the silliest thing i've ever seen and republicans need to denounce it. >> reporter: what's striking to me about this, alex, is the more things change the more they seem to stay the same, at least here on capitol hill if you look at the last eight to ten years. boehner, when he was a fixture as the speaker of the house in this building, was at that point having to respond to racist and nativist language from then

congressman steve king. you'll remember king was stripped of his committees eventually. but this kind of rhetoric has only perpetuated itself throughout the republican party. yes, since the years of 2012 and 2013, even back to the days of the birther movement. but certainly former president donald trump carried it into -- i know boehner says this isn't the mainstream, but we heard dog whistles from trump consistently during his campaign and of course in his four years of office. this is a continuation of that when you start hearing about people maybe forming a caucus or certainly just espousing the ideology of donald trump. this is part of that. >> yes, it is. okay. thank you very much, ali vitali. great leadup to what i'm going to do right now, which is speak with arizona congresswoman ruben ga yello about this. democratic member of the house armed services committee and bold pac chairman. congressman, welcome back to the broadcast. it's good to see you. so while this america first caucus may not be launched yet

how concerning do you find the ideology that's lawmakers like marjorie taylor greene and a handful of others are pushing? >> well, look, this caucus is not being launched but this caucus certainly exists without name, within the republican caucus. we hear about this type of rhetoric. we hear their language. one of their eventual co-founders paul gosar, fellow congressman from arizona, has met with nationalist organizations and you have people here that participated in the tea party back in 2010 that were also not just having dog whistle politics but also -- racism but overt racism. i actually went and observed a couple tea party rallies in 2002. the amount of racist imagery they had about president obama and first lady michelle obama was just disgusting. so this has existed. there's a reason why donald trump was able to tap that and ride it all the way to the primary, because it's been part and parcel to essentially the core and base of the republican party.

>> so it's interesting. speaking with your colleague seth moulton who said pretty much the same thing a couple of hours ago and he also invoked comments you had made, you guys seem to be definitely on the same page with all of this, but when it comes to the difference of the 2010 tea party rise and the invocation of ideology donald trump was able to propel in a really fast intense rate forward, this is someone who the highest person in the land was perpetuating this. were there things that could have, should have, ought to have been done between 2010 and, let's say, 2015 with the rise of donald trump? what could have been done to quell all this? who dropped the ball? >> well, actually, to be honest, the media first dropped the ball. many of us, especially people of color, were telling the media this is not a social, economic anxious group. these are people that are anxious because we now have a black president and they're using the cover of government's too big when in fact they were

pushing really racist laws. like let's not forget the birther movement was also starting around this same time. and the media just continued to say no, no, no, this is all about anxiety, anxiety, economic anxiety or government's too big. when in reality if you had talked to any african-american, any latino, you know, you knew exactly what was happening. and because that happened, for years they were just able to kind of keep on moving that direction. even when donald trump, his first campaign speech was about mexicans crossing the border that are all rapists and drug dealers. even though he had run as a birther, calling the first black president of the united states, that he was born in some weird conspiracy in kenya, it was still, you know, the media that kept going. he was invited to go speak -- be a guest star at "saturday night live." you know, after all this had occurred. he would go on jimmy kimmel's show. again, we can do so much.

we certainly as especially minority members of congress, minority politicians, warned everybody about this. but you know, there are certain politicians that loved what he was bringing. there's media that loved the fact he could get the ratings. and that's how we created this monster. and unfortunately, the only way you stop this is by actually exposing every time you see this type of hate and actually calling it and pushing it out of the way. >> yep. i appreciate your honesty on all of it. and there is certainly to a degree that we in the media have to carry this mantle. you're right. but let's turn to the growing calls for new gun safety measures after the latest mass shooting in indianapolis. today there's a call for action coming from an unlikely source, in fact your, well, former republican house speaker john boehner. let's take a listen to him. >> hopefully, there's some common ground to be found. i know that senator pat toomey's been working on this across the aisle, trying to come to some agreement. and hopefully they'll find some

common ground because this is -- frankly it's heartbreaking. i think it's embarrassing our country to the rest of the world. and we've got to find a way to deal with this problem. >> so congressman, if you look at the headlines from the past decade, john boehner was one of the key obstacles to getting any gun control measures passed in the wake of sandy hook and the shooting of gaby giffords among other tragedies. to say this now, is this all about publicity around trying to sell a book? >> certainly, look, everybody's a hero in hindsight. and i think that's what he's trying to move here. i was looking up the statistics. unfortunately, my first year in congress, i was under speaker boehner's reign. there was 12 mass shoot agz that year. there was nothing done. there was no movement. not even logical movement, things that are very well established across all partisan

lines. universal background checks, red flag laws. those are the types of things that could actually have immediate effect on reducing gun violence. but it doesn't happen. you know, i'm sure at some point when mccarthy leaves as being leader of the republican party he'll also say that, you know, again, every hero -- everyone's a hero in hindsight. but in reality he's never shown any courage on this issue. >> but congressman, we can't wait for people to leave and then hope that maybe it's going to get better. how can congress strike some sort of an effective balance, try to bring both sides of the gun debate and achieve gun safety measures? not gun takeaway measures. gun safety measures to prevent more mass shootings. >> 20 toddlers were killed -- >> i can't even -- sandy hook. >> 20 toddlers were killed and it was still a bill that did not pass. what we need to do, the republican party is broken. they're never going to pass any gun legislation. we need to either do two

things -- elect more democrats so we could actually pass legislation, which we have at the house. and then we need to make sure that we pass legislation in the senate. and that's by reforming the filibuster, getting more democrats in there and just pushing this through. republicans are a broken party. they're never going to support gun reform. the fact that we have to have this argument all the time -- and by the way, again, the media perpetuates this. why don't both sides come together? there is one side that wants to come together and there is the other side that likes the obstruction and would rather see our americans murdered every day instead of actually trying to come up with a bipartisan compromise. >> sobering. okay. arizona congressman ruben gallego, thank you. >> thank you. some new numbers about just how many guns there are in america and why coming your way next. and why coming your way next

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let's play some sound from president biden and get your reaction to it on the other side. >> immediately upon us becoming in office, having an attorney general, i asked him to put together the things i could do by executive order. the congress has to step up and act. the senate has to act. it doesn't mean that i can't also be working at the same time on the economy and on covid. every single day, every single day there's a mass shooting in the united states if you count all those who are killed out on the streets of our cities and our rural areas. it's a national embarrassment and must come to an end.

>> indiana has red flag laws that failed, allowing the shooter to fall through the cracks, to buy legal guns, kill eight people, and now the president is calling on congress to end this national embarrassment. how does the brady organization plan to leverage this moment? is there anything even to leverage here? >> yes, alex, there is a lot to leverage. first of all, we have a president biden who actually is taking action on the issue of gun violence. i was at the rose garden when he announced executive actions that he wanted to take, that he is taking, six of them, and named dave chipman to lead atf. these are really important steps forward. but he himself also noted at that event that congress needs to act. the house of representatives as ruben gallego already said in the earlier segment, they've acted. they passed two bills that will strengthen the brady background check system. those bills are now pending in the senate. and i agree with congressman gallego. we have two options here, and we

can't wait any longer to see congress act. the first option, which i understand senator murphy and some others are leading in the senate, is to try to get 60 votes on a background check bill. why 60? because that's how many you need to overcome a filibuster. but alex, 94% of americans support that change. if we can't get 60 votes on that, i agree with congressman gallego. the filibuster has to go. and by the way, in his most recent book president obama said one of his regrets is not ending that filibuster earlier because he viewed it as an impediment to accomplishing important things. i think we're already seeing how that's shaping up so far for president biden. and ultimately, if we can't get 60 on a strong gun violence prevention bill to expand brady background checks, then we have to end the filibuster. plain and simple. and it has to happen this year.

>> you mentioned senator murphy. what about governor phil murphy of new jersey, democrat, who unveiled the new gun safety reforms and legislation this week. he's calling for better record keeping and traceability of weapons sold in new jersey. is brady working with any republicans that might help move the gun control ball forward on some level, state or national level? >> yes. i wish there were more, quite frankly. and i just want to harken back to one thing. first of all, i want to applaud phil murphy. you know, the states are the great incubators for advancements in gun violence prevention. i come from the state of virginia. four years ago we could not have imagined helping lead the nation with gun violence prevention laws. today we do. elections matter. same thing in new jersey. phil murphy is working with brady, with their state police, to ensure that the state police have the right kind of information to be able to shut down our gun dealers that are flooding communities with guns, far too many guns.

we hear a lot of times from people on the republican side of the aisle. it's all about enforcement. yet under many administrations led by republicans we've had zero teeth in enforcement behind atf. we have a few republicans, a few were named. pat toomey is one. we have a few others. we believe lisa murkowski could be another. and a few others that we think will do the right thing on this issue. but quite frankly, when sarah and jim brady 27 years ago finally passed the brady law, i'd like to remind everyone that passed the senate with unanimous consent. that means both republicans and democrats supported it. not a single legislator voted against it. because it's common sense. we need more of our elected officials to represent their constituency. not the gun industry. and i've heard too often from republicans, well, that requires a lot, i'm afraid of some of these people who come out.

i'm a mom. i'm afraid to send my kids to school. who are you going to side with? the american people and our safety or the gun industry? because that's the stakes. so we're going to be calling that out. this is about doing your job. not thoughts and pairs. that doesn't cut it. >> i've got to tell you, you say 27 years ago, how much the tenor has changed. i was going to say it's a lifetime ago. think of all the lives that have been lost to gun violence. you don't even see 27 years. it's stunning, chris brown. listen, that's a wrap for today but i know i'll be talking with you again soon, my friend. thank you so much. it is a simple question with a complicated answer. why covid vaccine appointments are going unfilled in a state that desperately needs them. per. '. not just unpredictable relapses. all these other things too. who needs that kind of drama? kesimpta is a once-monthly at-home injection that may help you put this rms drama in its place. kesimpta was proven superior

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so frank can get back to fast mowing... fast dining... fast movie watching... and sleeping. pepcid. strong relief for fans of fast. ♪♪ it's velveeta shells & cheese and sleeping. versus the other guys. ♪♪ clearly, velveeta melts creamier. open talenti and raise the jar. to gelato made from scratch. raise the jar to all five layers. raise the jar to the best gelato... you've ever tasted. talenti. raise the jar. we're going to take you back now to the breaking news we brought you just a few minutes ago about a shooting in austin, texas. police are saying that the incident is domestic in nature and that at this point there is no risk to the general

population. tragically, three people were killed. the suspect is still on the loose, but police say that the general population there is not in danger. and again, this is the arboretum area in northwest austin. three people have been killed, but the suspect still on the loose. police are on the hunt there. the biden administration's domestic and foreign policy agenda's coming into sharper focus this week. the president shedding a new light on the ongoing crisis at the u.s. southern border and the quest for congressional compromise sparking new fireworks between lawmakers. joining me now are sanam chef, political correspondent at insider, and corti subramanian, the white house correspondent for "usa today." ladies, welcome to you both. courtney, you first here. let's take a listen to what president biden had to say yesterday about raising the cap on the number of refugees being welcomed into the usa. here it is. >> the problem was that the refugee part was working on the crisis that ended up on the

boreder with young people. we couldn't do two things at once. now we're going to increase the number. >> so breaking that down, this appears to be the first time the president has referred to the ongoing situation at southern border as a crisis. does this at all complicate the messaging for his administration on two critical humanitarian issues? >> yeah. i mean, look, the white house has done some mental -- or some verbal gymnastics to really avoid calling this a crisis at the border. you know, instead opting to use terms like this is a challenge that we're facing or hurdle. but i think the president fully recognizes that the influx of migrants at the southern border is really spilling into other decisions. we saw on friday the administration in a policy reversal say they're going to keep the refugee cap of 15,000

refugees admitted to the united states for this fiscal year at the cap that his predecessor installed. even though the president had said he would -- he previously said he would raise the cap. then we saw after some blowback the president's press secretary say that no, instead he will actually raise the cap later on. they very much cited the issue going on at the border as a reason behind this. but i did speak to outside advocacy groups for refugee resettlement. and they said this is a program that we have had in place for over 40 years. we have admitted refugees when there's been an influx of asylum seekers at the border and when there hasn't been. and this is something they very much can do at the same time, which very much undercuts what we heard from the president yesterday. >> okay. i thank you for that. i do want to switch gears with you. gop reps marjorie taylor greene, paul gosar, they are reportedly

creating this america first caucus. it's emphasizing anglo-saxon political traditions. how are fellow republicans responding? do you think this movement grows any real legs within the party? >> yeah, so given everything we know about representative marjorie taylor greene, it's not surprising that she would create a group like this, a caucus like this. and we can tell just based on who else has voiced their support for it, people like representative paul gose sxr gosar and representative matt gaetz, who is currently facing the sex trafficking probe, this group seems to be composed of lawmakers whose interests are more about creating publicity, making headlines, getting onto fox news, pushing these deeply nativist and frankly racist talking points. it shows they're less interested in legislating and passing legislation and just more interested in continuing to cater to the former president and his base. >> let me ask you, though, how you interpreted marjorie taylor

greene's actions since this all came out and created quite a firestorm, right? she walked back saying, well, this was a draft proposal, it's not something that i got to approve. and yet i do plan on pursuing the kinds of things that donald trump stood for with america first, these kinds of policies going forward. so what is she really saying? >> yeah. it's -- she really does seem to be waffling a lot here. but just given everything we know and everything about her record, she is not a lawmaker who has really expressed a lot of remorse for her actions in the past. with maybe one exception earlier this year when she was stripped of her committee assignments. and so her tactic when it comes to dealing with these usually relies on attacking the press and attacking the source of the news rather than the news itself. it wouldn't be surprising for her to come out and, you know, eventually endorse this draft proposal and everything that it's suggesting. >> courtney, i want to turn quickly to covid news. something that you reported

earlier this week with the biden administration providing nearly $40 billion for what the president is calling an acute immediate child care crisis caused by the pandemic. this money will apparently help child care providers pay their rent. it will rehire workers that for. what have educators been telling you about how this money is going to help? >> they very much see this as a step in the right direction. you know, this is something to address immediate relief in an industry that has been completely decimated, you know, by the pandemic. but they're very much looking forward and looking ahead to the president's other proposals which would come with his infrastructure package, his nearly $2 trillion infrastructure package in providing money to go towards rebuilding some of these child care centers, money to basically plug some of the gaps that have been exposed by the pandemic.

you know, what is kind of a volatile model in terms of keeping these child care facilities open. >> okay. ladies, thank you for weighing in on all of it. the state that has 70,000 vaccine appointments going unfulfilled. what's being done to change that, next. unfulfilled. what's being done to change that, next you're clearly someone who takes care of yourself. so why wait to screen for colon cancer? because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'm on it.

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click or call to switch ♪♪ it's velveeta shells & cheese versus the other guys. ♪♪ clearly, velveeta melts creamier. so there is a new challenge for health officials in mississippi. the state has an abundance of covid vaccine appointments, but there just aren't enough takers. some experts are blaming public distrust. they're specifically pointing to republicans. let's go to gary grumbach and see if you agree with that. first of all, do you find this to be prevalent among republican ideology, republicans themselves? if so, what is the plan to try to reach people in more rural areas? >> reporter: well, the plan to reach people is trying to get the vaccine to the people

instead of getting the people to the vaccine. right now one out of every three people over the age of 65 in mississippi are not currently vaccinated. there's 70,000, as you mentioned, 70,000 vaccine appointments available right now on the mississippi state department of health website. but what's causing this? yes, it's politics. yes, it's trust of the overall vaccine as well but it's mostly this rural access issue. what the state is trying to do is to bring the vaccines to the people that need them the most. go into the community health centers, go into doctors' offices, schools, churches, and try to convince people and have the conversations to get the vaccines in the first place but to actually vaccinate them and have the ability to do so. i spoke to dr. thomas dobbs and he talked about that rural challenge. here's what he had to say. >> some of the biggest challenges that we have right now, especially now that johnson & johnson is not available is that the vaccines come in huge doses and have complicated storage regimens. we need customization for the

specific challenges of people in rural communities. i know they're listening to us, i know it's a challenge. but looking at the great stuff we've done, we have phenomenally successful vaccines developed in approximately a year. i know that they can meet these small challenges of, you know, reformulating them in ways that meet the needs of rural communities. >> reporter: now, the state health department is in touch with the white house and other scientific partners about the possibility of creating a situation where maybe they could have preloaded syringes like they do with the flu vaccine where doctors can use a dose or two but don't have to necessarily waste the entire vial. >> okay, gary, thank you for the latest from jackson, mississippi, on all of that. with that it's a wrap of this hour. i'll see you all again next saturday. yasmin vossoughian is up next. she'll dig into good news for the u.s. as all signs point to a growing economy, vaccinations increase and weather is warming up. stay tuned, everyone. eather is up stay tuned, everyone will you turn to cold washing with tide?

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good afternoon, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. we've got a lot of ground to cover and a team of correspondents to help us do it. protests set to begin this hour in two cities reeling from the aftermath of three separate shooting deaths at the hands of police. a political implosion. new reaction to the america first caucus controversy, as some close allies appear to be

walking away from congresswoman marjorie taylor greene. and a u.s. senate confronted on air today after his suggestion that president biden isn't really running the country. plus, some good news appears to show an economy ready to take off a year after the pandemic started, but is there room for everybody? we'll get into that. more ahead. but first, we do want to begin with what's become a virtual stampede away from the idea of forming an america first caucus led by some of capitol hill's most extreme figures and with the goal of honoring anglo-saxon traditions. john boehner summed up the reaction clearly. watch this. >> i can tell you that this so-called america first caucus is one of the nuttiest things i've ever seen. listen, america is a land of immigration. we've been the world's giant melting pot for 250 years.