♪♪ a very good day to all of you 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 begin with this breaking news. officials in elizabeth city,

north carolina, are joining calls for the release of body cam video from the shooting last wednesday of andrew brown jr. law enforcement officials say he was killed while officers were serving a warrant, but the county sheriff has refused to release video of the incident. these calls are certainly intensifying after audio recordings suggested that brown was shot in the back. >> we have shots fired. we have shots fired. that's 421 perry street. >> we've got one male 40 years of age, gunshot to the back, we do have a viable pulse at this time. >> the city manager of elizabeth city is joining me now. thank you for joining me. i know you had a busy day. i saw you broadcasting earlier in that news conference. even the governor is calling for the release of this video, so what have county officials told you about why it is not yet public? when do you think it might be released? >> thank you for having me, alex. county officials have not told me anything. i know probably as much as you know or our general public

knows. and that's unfortunate. i am, as an attorney, i'm trying to believe and trust the process, and i'm encouraging all the citizens and all the people watching around the world to do the same. it is growing increasingly difficult to do so. but i am still, you know, trying to trust the process. >> okay. and i appreciate that until you have more information, but that having being said, montre, is there any indication this could be some kind of a stalling tactic on the part of the county sheriff, and if so, to what end? why would they do that? >> i'm not sure. i'm hoping that the process is just slow. what i said initially was i'm not as concerned about speed as i am about accuracy. i really want the information to be accurate and the timeiness

of it is beginning to play a role. i think the family deserves that. i think the citizens of elizabeth city deserve that and all the people watching around the world deserve that. if we're going to have any faith in the process. >> you have heard the ems audio that i just played. is this adding to suspicions? is this adding to tensions in your city, particularly that last part, which says, we've got a one male, 40 years of age, gunshot to the back, we're doing revival, pulse is gone. >> yes. that does add an element to this that makes matters a lot more difficult to manage from my seat. i cannot thank the law enforcement enough for answering my initiative of protecting protesters. i'm told that might be the first time that a manager has ever done it that way but that's what i believe we should be doing is protecting protesters and creating a very safe environment

for protesters to exercise their first amendment right. and i also want to just thank all the citizens of elizabeth city for being so patient and driving around these protesters and redirecting their line of travel, so these protesters can be safe. but yes, to your question -- it does add an element, and just again, i'm hoping and praying and watching and trying to believe in the process. >> yeah. may i ask you, montre, about the seven officers that have been suspended and the three officers who have resigned? it has been reported, and i would love to know whether you can confirm this, that the three officer resignations had nothing to do with this case, though you've got to admit that the timing is very suspicious. do you know if they did or did not have something to do with this case and what about the seven who are on administrative leave?

unfortunately, it looks like we are frozen with this interview, which i'm really sorry for, because i would love to get an answer to that question. nonetheless, everybody, we'll keep pursuing the answer to that question, whether with montre freeman, the city manager of elizabeth city or not. anyway, thank you so much. let's move to tell you that we are expecting to hear from the family of andrew brown jr. it will be in a news conference coming your way at the top of the hour. we here on msnbc will bring that to you live. we're learning more today about yet another police involved shooting that has left a virginia man in intensive care. some new body camera video in that incident shows a bit more of what happened. shomari stone has those details. >> reporter: newly released body camera video shows a spotsylvania sheriff's department's encounter. >> show me your hands. show me your hands.

show me your hands now. show me your hands. drop the gun. >> he's got a gun to his head. >> drop the gun now. stop walking towards me. stop walking towards me. stop, stop. >> brown was unarmed. he had a phone in his hand. the deputy then began cpr. brown survived with serious injuries. his family says he had ten gunshot wounds. earlier today, the family of isaiah brown left the special prosecutor's office after watching the body cam video. they didn't comment about it. so, what led up to the shooting? well, this all started when the deputy gave isaiah brown a ride home after brown's car broke down at a gas station, 2:30 early wednesday morning. the deputy drove away from brown's house after he dropped him off. just moments later, brown called 911, reporting a dispute with his brother, and it appears you

can hear him ask his brother for a gun on the call. >> all right, give me the gun. >> no. >> reporter: brown then goes on to tell the 911 dispatcher that he is going to kill his brother. >> i'm about to kill my brother. >> don't kill your brother. >> all right. >> why would you say something like that? >> somebody -- somebody needs to come here real quick. >> reporter: isaiah brown then tells the 911 operator that he doesn't have a gun on him. the same deputy responded to the 911 call and returned, shooting brown as he stood in the road while talking on the phone with the 911 dispatcher. his family spoke first to news 4 on thursday, asking why the deputy opened fire. >> we're just still trying to figure out where he felt the threat at to feel the need to shoot. >> reporter: the sheriff's office released the 911 call and the body worn cam. >> at my request, the virginia state police bureau of criminal

investigations was contacted to ensure an impartial and transparent investigation. >> reporter: the deputy has been placed on administrative leave, and that's standard procedure. in spotsylvania, i'm shomari stone, news 4. >> let's bring in brian dunn, managing partner and cedric alexander, former safety manager of dekalb county, georgia, and a law enforcement analyst. i don't know about you guys, but literally my palms started sweating listening to that. that was incredibly disturbing, that story. that one, everything else, brian, it is so tough to keep up with the volume of shootings. look at this a.p. headline today. one verdict, then six police killings across america in 24 hours. you know, is this notable or is this just amplified because police are more inclined to now quickly release body cam videos? what do you think? >> well, thanks for having me, alex, and that is a great

question, and what i would say to you is that this is not abnormal. we're just paying attention to it now for one of the first times in the history of the nation. we lead the nation in southern california of officer-involved shootings by far, and there are quite a few. but i think the most important thing to feel when you're going through what i'm feeling from you is the emotions of, yet again, you have to understand that each case is different. every single situation involves different dynamics, different people, different energy, and you have to look at each one with a clean slate, and sometimes the dynamics replicate themselves, but sometimes they don't. the seminal point, if it's a shooting, to take away is that a police officer is only entitled to use deadly force if him or someone else is faced with an imminent threat of death or

serious bodily injury. so, as the sister or the relative correctly pointed out, the important thing to see is, you know, where's the threat in this -- in any shooting, really. >> yeah. absolutely. i'm curious, cedric, what you think about these body cam videos. does it help or does it hurt police? and why do you think, in the case of andrew brown jr., do you think it's taking so long for elizabeth city, north carolina, to release its video? >> well, body-worn cameras were really born out of the 21st century task force report under the obama administration in which myself and ten others, by executive orders, were assigned to, to come up with a number of ways in which you could build relationships between police and community. and since 2015, body cameras have become very popularized so what we're seeing more of and what we need more of are cameras across this country, so that it can protect the integrity of an investigation as far as the police is concerned and it also

gives justification to the public based on what their experience and observations may have been. so i think it works best to the benefit of both police and to the community. so, it becomes very important as we move forward in all of this, alex, i think there's one dynamic that we often don't very much talk about. when we see the number of shootings that have occurred post-george floyd verdict, this is not unusual, quite frankly, as brian pointed out. >> yeah. >> we just are paying closer attention to it, and we need to be paying closer attention to it. and that's one of the benefits of body worn cameras. so, it becomes very important that as these cameras that are attached to the bodies of police officers and any other evidence of video that's available, it is important, as quickly as any jurisdiction can, is to be able to report that to the community because this is based on trust.

as we heard the attorney general say the other day, public trust, public safety requires public trust. >> but -- >> and when people can see, when there's some transparency, as long as it does not interfere with the integrity of the investigation, you tell people as much as you can. you show them as much as you can, because the longer this stays behind a curtain, unseen, it's going to create stress. it's going to create anger. and this country right now, let me finish here, the question -- this country at this very moment, people are angry. people are depressed. people are frustrated. because we're seeing this over and over and over and over, and it's just not african-americans or brown people in this country who are angry and frustrated. this entire country is angry and frustrated. >> 100%. >> so we need to tell as much as we can. >> but cedric, to brian's point about the use of deadly force, why not have officers use just

enough force to detain someone? what is this with this proliferation of deadly force? >> well, each circumstance is going to be very, very different. and each circumstance has to be measured very differently. what may occur out in california may be very different than what happened in miami, florida. but it becomes important that we remember as much as each case is different there what we're seeing at this very moment, what the country is frustrated with is the fact there is a common theme that runs through all these shootings. they're people of color. they're frequent, and they're overly frequent, quite frankly, if we think about it. the duration to get over one shooting to follow behind another is traumatic to this country. i say that as a former practicing clinical psychologist, because i talk to my friends. i talk to colleagues. i talk to family members, et cetera. the country is struggling at this very moment with these

overwhelming number of cases that come one right behind the other. and we got to find a way to make sure that we tell people as much as we can, but to your question, each incident is very different, and we have to judge it on the evidence that's put in front of us, which is oftentimes video and technology that we have available to us today. >> yeah. brian, i know that you said something earlier this week, and you got a fair amount of pushback online about it. you talked about the fear that erupts on both sides during these traffic stops, but the burden of managing that fear, doesn't it have to rest with the professionals, with the police, those who are trained for these situations or so we're told? >> it absolutely should, in a perfect world, but unfortunately, alex, we're not in a perfect world. and when we talk about the

reality of what happens during a situation that escalates to the point of deadly force, very few people really understand that. i mean, i've had over 200 cases, over 100 death cases, so many shootings, and i can see it from the perspective of how they start and what the reality is, is that both sides are afraid. the individual who's being arrested is afraid, and the officers are also afraid, and the concept of who's at fault is always the wrong way to look at it. the right way to look at it is how to prevent these kinds of things from happening in the future, and it's not so much a racist officer that causes the shooting as it is an aggressive officer. aggression is the word that should really be at people's consciousness when we're talking about this. >> so, brian, then, let me ask you this. "the washington post" analysis showing that black people in this country are killed by police at twice the rate of white people. what do you think is at the heart of this?

>> it's all based on fear, and the conceptualization of fear is heightened when you're dealing with black men because the way that the nation's history has played out is a lot of stereotypes and a lot of misconceptions about black men cause the officer to feel that the person is more of a threat than they are in reality. or that they have a higher threshold for pain than they do in reality. and these are historical norms. but the idea is that if you have an officer, an aggressive officer, that officer literally may want the suspect to run, or he may want the suspect to resist, or he may want to do something that will cause the adrenaline to rise. so, it's also important for us to understand, even to the people who are the victims, to the folks who are being arrested, that the de-escalation can come from them as well, and especially if you're talking about a young african-american

male, they have to understand that this can turn into a deadly encounter in the blink of an eye. >> yeah. >> and i don't think most folks realize that. >> cedric, i'm going to give the final word to you and ask you to the point that's just been made here by brian. is this an attitude issue? is it a training issue? is it a hiring issue? an education? what do you think it's all about, ultimately? >> i think it's all of the above, alex. i think it's an unconscious bias that we all experience, some more than others. some of it is just not unconscious. some is conscious. but we can't make that determination. only that individual can. we also know, and i have been saying this for a number of years, it is a hiring issue that we have to take into account. we got to look further than just their background around their driving record and their credit history. we got to go more into who they are on social media, who they

associate with, what is their experience around diversity? what is their ability to be critical thinkers in critical situations? those are the new evaluations we need to begin to measure, and then we got to be able to train. training in and of itself is not the problem. the problem is you can send me to de-escalation training all day long but if i do not employ those skillsets in the field and there is no way for those skillsets to be measured, then what will happen? i will default back to what i have always done, and that doesn't work. so, these are areas, i think, and i can go further into that, but i know in terms of time, those are places that we -- i mean, we truly have to be able to go to now, alex. >> how about this, cedric. why don't you come back and see me. you as well, brian. this was a great conversation. thank you. the president and his climate plan, how to address people who fear losing their

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and now a look at today's other big headlines. in virginia, today marks the first day of early voting for democrats in the state's closely watched gubernatorial primary. the virginia race is being called a litmus test for both parties. new polling shows terry mcauliffe has a significant lead. meantime, in arizona, a hand recount of ballots from the november election in the state's largest county is currently under way. the audit of 2.1 million ballots from maricopa county, sought by arizona's gop, kicked off friday but only for the presidential election won by joe biden and the senate race won by democrat mark kelly. election officials have found no evidence whatsoever of widespread voter fraud. and breaking news out of washington, d.c., president biden today became the first u.s. president to formally acknowledge the killing of more than a million armenians.

breaking right now in a historic statement, the president has officially recognized that genocide. let's go to monica alba in washington, d.c. monica, welcome. let's talk about what the president's saying about this today and the significance of it. it's a big deal. >> reporter: absolutely, alex, and that's really because every u.s. leader before him had failed to get to this level. many had acknowledged the violence, the deaths of more than 1 million armenians killed more than a century ago in what is now modern day turkey, but they hadn't gone so far as to label it a genocide over a diplomatic fear and concern, potentially, of angering turkey, that partner in the region and of course within nato. but president biden made good on a campaign pledge to do this, writing in a statement earlier today that he acknowledged it outright as a genocide, again, as the first u.s. president to do so, saying, each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the ottoman era armenian genocide

and recommit ourselves to preventing such an awe trosty from ever again occurring so the president did speak with turkey's erdogan yesterday. and neither side included in their readout the fact that this declaration was going to be coming. the only reference we saw to it was in the u.s. side and version, they said that the u.s. does pledge to work with turkey and to manage some disagreements. of course, this would be one of them, for a very long time, for decades, turkey has denied that this is, in fact, a genocide. they've acknowledged the deaths but didn't go that far and we're already hearing from the turkish foreign minister and government there completely rejecting this declaration, but really, from the u.s. side of things, this is something that lawmakers had called for, and really, this is something where president biden wanted to send a message on global human rights, but now it does enter this diplomatic dance, and we're going to get this first preview of what this may look like in-person when the president takes his first overseas trip. he's going to be heading to the

uk and then also to brussels, belgium, in mid-june and what's notable about the trip to brussels is that's going to be taking place around the nato summit and on the sidelines of that, we already know that the president has committed to meeting with erdogan face-to-face so this will be among the many issues discussed also on that trip. he'll be heading to the g7 in cornwall, significant because up to now, the white house had said they wanted to limit foreign travel given all the coronavirus restrictions but now as things are starting to open back up, we're going to see the president take this trip. he's been doing so much virtually, as we saw in that two-day global summit on the climate crisis. >> we did see that. thank you so much, monica alba. so it's official, everyone. caitlin jenner has launched her bid to run for governor of california. she has filed the initial paperwork amid a likely recall election of democratic governor gavin newsom. let's go to scott cohn, who's

standing by for us in san francisco with the question, what are folks saying about her candidacy? >> reporter: well, alex, we know who's not saying anything so far. caitlyn jenner's daughters, kylie and kendall have not had any comment. neither has ex-wife kris jenner or any of the kardashians. but there are other indications that the idea of a governor caitlyn jenner is not taking off. she is presenting herself as a compassionate disrupter and one of the things she thinks she can disrupt is some of the traditional political calculus here in california, running as a socially liberal, fiscal conservative. well, that, at least in the early going, appears to have landed with a bit of a thud. equality california is the state's largest lgbtq advocacy group. they tweeted right away yesterday, make no mistake, we can't wait to elect a trans governor of california, but caitlyn jenner spent years

telling the lgbtq plus community to trust donald trump. they say they will take a hard pass. and that may be the least of caitlyn jenner's worries. she broke with president trump back in 2018, but there's also just the issue of the demographics in this state. it is deeper and deeper blue every year, and experts point to the recall campaign and the signatures that have come disproportionately from republican pockets in the state, think fresno, san diego, orange county. they say that as a republican, caitlyn jenner does not have the math on her side. >> okay. adding it all up, then, we will see what happens when that recall election, if it officially happens, takes place. thank you for that, scott. joining me now is tom steyer, former presidential candidate, a businessman and philanthropist and chief economic recovery advisor to governor newsom. can i ask you what you think about the recall effort?

if there's any way to gauge whether it is likely to actually remove governor newsom and just to be clear, you're not positioning yourself as a fallback option to governor newsom, yes or no? ? i i have no interest in running, alex. >> okay. >> i oppose the recall. i agree with scott that it's a republican-inspired hit job, and i expect it to fail. >> okay. what's been the genesis of it? i mean, you know, again, i'm a californian, i stay on top of all this as much as i can and it seems it's just the frustration that people have, for the most part, not all, but have about how covid has played out. a lot of businesses that have lost money and the like and now things are opening up and things in california are getting a lot better. it has the lowest covid rate of the entire contiguous 48 states. >> look, i think the republicans tried to recall governor newsom multiple times and covid gave them a chance to collect the signatures. but i think, as you said, things are going better. i mean, governor newsom, yesterday, announced a fracking ban to gradually eliminate

fracking in the state of california between now and 2045 so he's just going about his job. i think that this is something which is going to be more and more of a side light as, in fact, california moves forward in terms of moving past covid, achieves prosperity and going back to being what we are, which is leaders. >> okay. let's talk about our big leader, president biden, who certainly laid out his vision at the white house climate summit. for how addressing climate change could create millions of good-paying jobs around the world. take a listen to this. >> for a line worker, electricians, utility workers, laying transmission lines, connecting battery storage and making our electric grid more modern. manufacturing workers building nuclear and carbon capture technologies, solar panels and wind turbines and people working in the fields that we haven't conceived of yet on forms, on farms and factories if and in laboratories and universities the things we haven't even thought of so far. >> tom, jobs we haven't even

conceived of yet. that might sound a little too futuristic for those who are worried about things today, right? so, what about right now? what about people who are worried, losing their current jobs as we look to the future? how do they realistically make the transition? >> look, alex, i think it's very, very clear that this infrastructure program is going to create millions of good-paying jobs, mostly union jobs, across the country. i think that much is absolutely clear. but you bring up a good point, which is, there are going to be industries which are going to decline as a result of this change to a clean energy economy, and it's absolutely critical for the government to take care of those people and make sure that as this disruptive change happens, that the people of the united states are put first. the government has a very specific job here. that is to set up the framework for this change. to put in rules, to fund research, to put in incentives.

basically so the private sector can create those innovative entrepreneur new jobs across this country. and let me say this. if we don't do this, if the government doesn't invest in the framework, and if the private sector doesn't do what we do best, which is to innovate and create new -- a future that works, then we're going to fall behind as a country, and that's when we're going to be short of good-paying jobs in this country. that's how you actually create jobs and the government's job is to make sure that as that happens, people aren't left behind. >> everything you're saying makes 100% sense but let's say you're a guy or girl working in the fossil fuel industry and you're looking at this and thinking, all right, so the government has to set this up, get the template in there, get the research done, get the positioning but they don't want to go from a friday end of work to a monday, you know -- they do want to go from a friday end of work to a monday start of work. how potentially long would people be out of jobs as we're

waiting for this transition? >> well, look, this transition -- what president biden said is we're going to be net carbon neutral by 2050, 30 years from now. there is a long time for the people in those industries to work with the government to prepare them from going to work on a friday and a new job on a monday. it's absolutely critical that the government do that job. but we're -- alex, we're in a competition. we have to respond to this climate crisis. we absolutely have to. so does the rest of the world. if the government doesn't invest in this and if the private sector doesn't innovate and create those new products, those -- the change will happen but it will happen in shanghai. it will happen in frankfurt. it will happen around the world and that's where the jobs will go. we can't invest in 1950. we have to invest for 2050, towards the future. >> but, tom, if america makes this commitment and let's say, you mentioned shanghai, if china

and india and others don't, will it work? did you hear anything to make you confident that others are going to help and go along and do this or were they just paying lip service? >> let me say this, alex. we are at a turning point here. both politically and economically. so let's talk politics first. yes. the biden administration set a new standard and got america back in the game. they made a big promise that we'd reduce our greenhouse gases 50% by 2030 and the nations of the world joined with them on the way to glasgow in november. but the other thing that's really different now is this. the cost of clean energy is cheaper than the cost of fossil fuel energy. the cost of electric vehicles has come down so much that on a lifetime basis, it's cheaper to drive an ev. and we're seeing, look, i spend my time talking to entrepreneurs, looking at new technologies. we're seeing incredibly exciting

things in terms of regenerative agriculture, manufacturing, heating and cooling systems, new battery systems. alex, we can do this. we not only can do it. we absolutely have to do it as a society. we have to make this happen to be leaders but also to really create good-paying jobs for people across this country. >> can i tell you, i love the experience, the knowledge, the passion with which you talk about this subject, tom steyer, so open invite. come back any time to talk about this, because it's super important. thanks, my friend. good to see you. >> thank you, alex. senator majority leader chuck schumer addresses the nation's most pressing issues in a one-on-one interview on the mehdi hasan show on msnbc. something very unusual is going to happen after president biden addresses a joint session of congress this coming week. why progressives say this is important. that's next. ogressives say ts hs important. that's next. we started with computers. we didn't stop at computers. we didn't stop at storage or cloud. we kept going. working with our customers to enable the kind of technology

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dr. fauci is pushing back on republican senator ron johnson after he made a controversial statement about the covid vaccines. let's go to msnbc's ali vitali joining us from capitol hill. ali, let's get to the beginning. what started this vaccine battle? >> reporter: well, alex, it started as it often does with controversial comments from senator ron johnson on the radio, in a podcast, to be exact, on thursday where senator johnson seemed to cast doubt and question what the -- what was behind the big push to vaccinate so many americans across this country. listen to what he said and then we're going to come back after and talk about how dr. fauci responded. listen first. >> because it's not a fully approved vaccine, i think we probably should have limited the distribution to the -- to the vulnerable. to people that really are -- you know, to the very young, i see no reason to be pushing vaccines on people. what is the point? if the -- the science tells us that vaccines are 95% effective,

so if you have a vaccine, quite honestly, what do you care if your neighbor has one or not? >> reporter: and alex, dr. anthony fauci then one day later, unsurprisingly, pushing back on a lot of what senator johnson said yesterday. listen. >> we have 567,000 people who have died so far in this country from this disease. that is a really, really good reason to get people vaccinated with a vaccine that you have shown is highly efficacious and quite safe and that's the reason for the emergency use authorization. we are dealing with an emergency. how can anyone say that 567,000 dead americans is not an emergency? >> reporter: and alex, you heard right there the explanation for why dr. fauci says we should be vaccinating as many people as possible. on the one hand, you can just chalk this up to another

controversial comment about coronavirus from a republican. at the same time, though, it's clear that there are real implications for that, especially as you see in a lot of these places, the ability to vaccinate more people, the stockpile, the number of vaccines going up, but the number of people willing to take them seeming to go down. there is a reticence among some people who are republicans and trump supporters in this country to not get the vaccine. comments like this from senator johnson only make that push harder for the biden administration as they try to reach across the aisle, not for political reasons, but for public health reasons that everyone in this country should get the shot when they're able to get the shot. >> okay. ali vitali, thank you so much from capitol hill on that. joining me right now, washington congresswoman pramila jayapal, a democratic member of the house budget and judiciary committees. also chair of the congressional progressive caucus and a really good friend to us. i'm glad to see you again. can i ask you about this situation between senator johnson questioning vaccine

efforts and dr. fauci's response there. do you know if senator johnson has gotten a vaccine? do you know if every single member, his neighbors, if you will, that he was questioning about in congress have gotten the vaccine, whether in the senate or the house? i mean, it's hard to understand where he's going with this when you hear the response from dr. fauci. right? >> it's really stunning, alex, and by the way, it's always great to see you. i don't know if he's gotten the vaccine, but i do know that there are still house members who have not gotten the vaccine, and yet, at the same time, they're pushing for us to, quote, get back to normal. well, you know, i think that normal is very difficult after a time when we have had 567,000 deaths, and i'll tell you, i just have to send a loud message to every american to listen to dr. fauci. listen to the scientists. look at the research. vaccines save lives. and i'll tell you from a very personal perspective, my parents, 80 and 90 years old,

had gotten the first dose of the vaccine, ended up getting covid, but they really suffered very little of the symptoms. i think without the vaccine, alex, i can't be sure, but i think they may not be with me anymore if they hadn't gotten that first dose of the vaccine. so, the vaccine also helps protect people who do still get covid from being hospitalized and dying. so, you know, i've stopped listening to senator ron johnson, because i just think he's playing such a destructive role. we have to listen to dr. fauci, to the medical experts, and look at the research. >> i mean, 100%. it's just -- i mean, having this conversation even, it's so frustrating. can i just ask quickly, your parents are okay now? >> they are. >> they're good? >> yes. they're in india, and they've just recovered. i came -- just came back from looking after them, but you know, i just have to say that this vaccine issue is something that we're going to have to deal with globally, and we in

congress have also sent a letter led by jan and others, you know, about helping to get the vaccines out to the rest of the world as well because alex, as you know, if we don't solve the problem everywhere, we're not going to solve it here in the united states. >> i got to say, i thought i was a good daughter, going out to los angeles to help care for my parents. wow, you go to india. okay, anyway, let's talk about what president biden is doing, which is, right now, preparing to give his first joint address to congress on wednesday as he marks his first 100 days in office. i'm curious of your assessment of his time so far as president. what are you happy with, and what more do you want to see? >> well, what an incredible change and relief to be able to wake up every morning to somebody who is compassionate, who does not do policy by twitter, who is bold and progressive in what he's proposing. i mean, he came out very strong on the american rescue plan, and i cannot say enough how important that rescue plan is,

packed with policies that are going to put money in people's pockets, get shots in arms, get kids back in schools. and a huge success across the country. so, that's the first thing. i think the second thing is, you know, of course there are places where we are still pushing to have him take the lessons from the rescue plan and from how bold he was and make sure that our next jobs bill is bold, and when i say jobs, i'm talking about both the infrastructure package and the families plan, because both are about jobs. they are about getting child care to people so that families can get back -- parents can get back to work. it's about providing free college for people so that we can train folks to be able to access these jobs. it's about 40% of the climate investments going to frontline communities, what we call environmental justice 40. that is very important. and then, of course, an issue that's so important to me, alex, and to millions of americans across the country, healthcare.

we believe that president biden should include a bold pharmaceutical drug pricing bill because everyone is struggling with the high cost of pharmaceuticals, and then take the savings from that and use it to lower the medicare eligibility age to expand medicare benefits to include dental, vision, and hearing, and then to ensure that the 8.5% cap on healthcare that we passed for the affordable care act in the last package stays permanent. there's lots of money to do that if we rein in these pharmaceutical drug companies that have been profiting off of americans for so long. >> yeah, very thoughtful response to the question of what you would like to see done. let me ask you about when he gives his address to congress, it's not going to be just the gop with a response. the newly elected new york congressman jamal bowman will also do so on behalf of the progressive left wing working families party. is that response necessary, and if so, why so? >> the working families party has been a very important outside movement partner and

they've done this every year. last year it was ayanna pressley who did the response and i do think it's important because we have to keep reminding people that boldness in this moment of so many crises, alex, is what the american people want. not just democrats, not just, you know, progressives but what the american people want. a $15 minimum wage is popular across the country. lowering the medicare eligibility age, popular across the country. addressing racial justice, popular across the country. and so, i think that is what i'm sure representative bowman is going to do a phenomenal job of really putting the emphasis on that and reminding the president that he is one of the most important, if not the most important voice on really laying out this vision with that massive microphone that he is going to have for state of the union, and i'm really looking forward to hearing him. >> okay. well, i am too, and to hearing you again. washington congresswoman,

pramila jayapal, it's good to see you as always. thank you so much. a new world record to tell you about. it is one nobody is celebrating. a report that puts into perspective just how bad the coronavirus epidemic has gotten half a world away. s epidemic ha half a world away. hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this... your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee... yeah i should've just led with that... with at&t business... you can pick the best plan for each employee and only pay for the features they need.

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take the prilosec otc two-week challenge. and see the difference for yourself. prilosec otc, 1 pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. so, it's hard to overstate just how bad the situation is in india right now. coronavirus cases spiking to a new world record, climbing by more than 340,000 in the past day. health officials believe the true number of deaths has been overlooked or at least downplayed. hospitals are overwhelmed. doctors in the densely populated country are begging for oxygen supplies with infected people dying in line waiting for help. reporter alex crawford of sky news is in new delhi at a dire situation outside a makeshift crematorium. alex, to you. >> reporter: each one of those fires is a coronavirus death, and we have been watching in

just the last few minutes alone, they've been coming in virtually every second. they simply can't cope. and this is not one of the official funeral sites. this is an ad hoc one, one they're bringing in the wood as we wait to prepare for yet more casualties coming in. and this is on top of the official sites, remember. many of these people don't feel that they're represented in the country's statistics. they feel even though india is facing not just a grim spike, it's almost like a consistent wall of coronavirus cases and deaths. they reckon this is just what one economist called the tip of an iceberg, but underneath, that terrible grim statistic showing the huge number of cases and possibly the deaths that will follow. there's a much, much bigger, worse case scenario of numbers,

who knows how many, who are unaccounted for, who are unlogged as coronavirus casualties, coronavirus cases, coronavirus deaths. we heard in just today, i think it's been very much compounded by the government, the local governments, the local authorities very much been unprepared to cope with this second surge of which they had plenty of warning following, as they were, the cycle behind many other countries who were suffering their second surge. >> okay. we thank sky news's alex crawford for that. why is it so bad? health officials say it could be a more dangerous variant of the virus that is coursing through the country where people live in very close proximity. oscars like no other, why this year's show will be very different. plus some predictions from movie fans for who they want to see win. movie fans for who they wa tnto see win. ♪ (ac/dc: back in black) ♪ ♪ ♪

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academy awards will look a lot different in terms of the show, hollywood's dolby theater won't host the nominees and guests as usual. they'll be downtown ant l.a.'s historic union station. most nominees will attend the show in-person, that's a departure from the virtual shows we've seen. joining me now is fandango's nikki novak. the show producer wants you to feel like you're watching a movie. >> steven soderberg, academy award winning director is producing the show and he has said he's going to be the human pinata. he said i'm not going to make the show boring. if you don't like it, that's fine, take your poke at me, but we are going to entertain you. it's going to be at union station and going to have a much different feel to it. they're not even calling the presenters presenters. they're calling them performers. does that mean brad pit is going to break into song? who knows? >> can i ask you, though, not to

be cynical, is it a ploy to make the big event something people want to watch because there's been a steady decline in viewership of all awards shows over the years. is this going to boost the academy awards? >> i think they've seen what's happened so far during awards season. i think people have zoom fatigue. that's why everybody's going to be in person, 20 satellites around the world. as much as we've loved seeing jason in a hoodie at home, there's a return to glamour. look it's still the second-most watched live event behind the super bowl. i think the way people consume content has changed but as long as they have buzz, the word buzz, i think, is more important than the ratings, and look, they sold out of all their advertising, $140 million. this is still show business. so, business is going well, apparently, for the oscars. >> good point. broad diversity and inclusion standard are going to be implemented across the industry to qualify for the 2024 oscars but this year's nominees, notably more diverse than the past years of oscars so white or oscars so male. what do you think's been the

driving force behind more diversity? do you think it's been the intense scrutiny or do you think it's been the cultural change or both? >> i think it's both. i mean, they've really added to the body of voters. they've added more females, more people of color. ava duvernay has been very instrumental in that change and you are seeing the most diverse group of nominees in history. nine of the 20 acting nominees are people of color. you're also seeing two females in the directing category for the first time in oscar history. this is all positive change. >> yeah, absolutely. so, i know that the fans from fandango have picked, they loved judas and the black messiah but give me your predictions. best picture, you pick who? >> as much as the fans want to see judas and the black messiah, "nomadland" has been cruising in that rv. i think chadwick boseman is going to win posthumously. he gave the performance of his

life while fighting for his life. for best actor. best actress is really been a wild race this season, all the actresses have won major awards but i predict this will be viola davis, the first black woman winning since hallie berry 20 years ago and chloe will win best director. >> i'm glad to get them and to see you again. thank you so much. that's a wrap, everyone. good timing there. thanks for watching. i'll see you at noon eastern tomorrow. yasmin vossoughian up next. yasmin will have the press conference with the family of a black man shot by police, the very latest in a string of shootings getting national attention. of shootings getting national attention. losing a tooth didn't stop you but your partial can act like a bacteria magnet,

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♪♪ good afternoon, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. we're going to begin this hour with breaking news out of elizabeth city, north carolina, following wednesday's deadly police shooting of andrew brown jr. any moment, we are expecting to hear from members of brown's family along with their attorney and other advocates as well. you're looking at live pictures there as we await the beginning of this news conference. a short time ago, elizabeth city mayor betty parker, you see her there, taking to the podium to address growing calls for police transparency and the release of deputy body cam footage of the fatal incident.