if it's tuesday, just one day from his first congressional address as he nears the 100-day milestone. president biden is about to speak about new, loosened restrictions for vaccinated americans just minutes from now. plus, they're easing restrictions in new jersey. a state that's one seens a major coronavirus hot spot. are we inching closer to a new normal? i will speak with governor murphy ahead. and we have new numbers to our nbc news poll showing new numbers on the baffling audit on the presidential results in arizona, as party leaders continue to grapple with their loyalty to former president trump. welcome to "meet the press

daily." i'm kasie hunt in for chuck todd on this very busy monday in washington. as we near the end of president biden's first 100-days in office, the president today focusing on covid. in a few moments we expect him to speak on new, loosened guidance for vaccinated americans on wearing masks. we will bring you those remarks as soon as they begin. just moments ago the white house covid response team finished a briefing where the cdc announced it was relaxing restrictions for people who have been fully vaccinated. the cdc now says vaccinated americans generally do not need to wear masks outside as long as they're not in a large gathering. >> generally, for vaccinated people, outdoor activities without a mask are safe, however, we continue to recommend masking in crowded outdoor settings and venues such as packed stadiums and comfort where there's decreased ability to maintain physical distance

and where many unvaccinated people may also be present. >> the cdc also said it's safe for vaccinated americans to engage in most indoor activities if they wear a mask. today's guidance comes as we continue to see a flattening of the curve in cases nationwide. how long have we waited to say that? and as more than 95 million americans are fully vaccinated with more than 230 million vaccine doses having been administered. and while the situation may appear to be improving here in the u.s., that's not true everywhere. in india thousands are dyeing every day from covid. the u.s. announced they're sending a strike team there to help health officials. so as we gear up and wait for the president, dr. hotez the vaccine expert and dean at the baylor college of medicine. also with us ellison barber in miami, where she's been talking with voters about their perspective on president biden's first 100 days in office.

and mike memoli, let me start with you in terms of this new guidance from the cdc. they are, of course, pointing to the scientific evidence that leads us in this direction. but this has been a conversation that's started to bubble up in our politics about what was appropriate in terms of wearing masks, especially outside and especially for people who have been vaccinated. so what does today mean from the perspective of the president, and what do we expect to hear from him today? >> kasie, i thought it was so interesting as the cdc director rochelle walensky was laying out the new guidelines, as you say giving essentially a permission slip for all vaccinated americans to go just about anything outdoors except maybe go to a baseball game without a mask on, she explicitly said one of the reasons they're issuing this guidance now is because they want to continue to encourage every american to go out and get vaccinated. as you ran through those charts there, we did see that curve bent in a bad way, the rolling average of daily vaccinations

has essentially peaked and begun to slip downward a bit. so this white house is confronting situation in which the demand -- the supply of the vaccine is no longer an issue. it's the demand they want to try to address. that is what we heard from the cdc director. we heard the whole medical team at a very granular level talk about where we are in the fight against covid. as we wait to hear from the president, expect him to take much more than a 30,000-foot view of where we are. this is the 100th day week of his presidency. it is a berth mark he himself has embraced, the idea of being measured for his successes and failures at this point. as we talked about yesterday, it's instructive he's giving us a speech focused on covid today. he wants to hear from his medical team, and you don't even need an appointment at most of these locations. he talked about college students able to get the one-dose at

their universities. he will talk about covid, i understand from my conversations with white house officials, in his joint sessions address. it would be surprising if that wasn't part of the speech. but it will not be the focus. he wants to move forward and talk about what's ahead in his agenda. that's why today is important for him to take stock where we are in what has been the biggest challenge he's faced in this administration in his first 100 days. >> dr. hotez, let me pick it up right there from your perspective, as someone who's an expert on vaccines. we've seen the biden administration blow through their initial goal of 100 million shots in 100 days and now past 200 million. as mike points out, we're starting to run into the next challenge, which is vaccine hesitancy and coupling that with loosening restrictions on masks as recommended by the cdc. do you think this is the right set of recommendations and are you concerned at all about where we stand in terms of the vaccination rate? >> kasie, the way i look at

this, this is version interim guidelines version 2.0, and we can expect a version 3.0 and version 4.0 with 4.0 being what the nation looks like if we can fully vaccine the american people. we know that because the performance features of the vaccines. one, we know they stop symptomatic illness, or at least 95%. they do almost a good a job of stopping documented infection by pcr meaning asymptomatic transmission, and therefore we know if we can vaccine roughly 75% to 80% of the country, we can actually halt virus transmission with this b.1.1.7 variant. so that's very exciting, the fact if we fully vaccine nate, we can vaccinate our way out of the pandemic. two problems with that, one, it's a high bar and we have to skim 25% off the top right away because 25% of the population is under the age of 12, not old

enough to get vaccinated, so practically speaking we have to vaccine every adult and adolescent. now with the drop-off with identified specific groups saying they're going to refuse getting the vaccine, we have to chip away at that problem. that's the first issue. and then second, the reason for the interim guidelines still being cautious in the eyes of some is because we still have a pretty high level of virus transmission across the country. when you look at the numbers, the numbers are actual like what they were last summer when earn was so horrified. so as we can advance towards vaccination and transmission really starts to decline and get towards containment mode, then i think you will see an even greater liberalization of restrictions. and if we can do the job of fully vaccinating the country, we can go without masks and the life and the country will look almost like it did back in 2019 with the exception there are going to be places internationally we can't go to.

>> doctor, how concerned are you there will be enough americans that refuse to get vaccinated that we will not reach the point where everyone feels safe? >> it's -- well, kasie, it's a real possibility i'm sorry to say. let's not kid ourselves the reason why. we have four independent polls coming from monmouth university, quinnipiac university and the kaiser family foundation, from pbs newshour all finding the same thing, all five methods finding the same thing, 45% to 46% of people who identify themselves as republicans will refuse getting vaccinated. that's what we've got to figure out. we've got to do something about the conservative lobby. we have to do something about all of the anti-vaccine, anti-science aggression. we are hearing from the nightly fox news anchors that are encouraging this and we need this. we absolutely have to get this done if we're going to fully

open up the country as everyone wants. >> so, mike, what is the administration's plan to fight back against vaccine hesitancy? there obviously has been focus on whether or not president trump -- or former president trump is willing to do something, but as the doctor points out, this is starting to become a different sort of conversation around many of these channels and avenues for getting information in a way that it wasn't necessarily six months ago. so what is the biden administration's plan now to try to stem this misinformation from circulating and get vaccines into underserved communities to try to reach this herd immunity? >> i think one of the important steps they're taking is what we saw today in terms of the slight change in the messaging. so much of these past 100 days as we've been talking about the social distancing, masking requirements have been terms like requirements like mandates. there have been lecturing tone

to a lot and that was a criticism to the administration, they needed to shift the rhetoric more to talk about what the vaccine opportunities represent for the country in terms of getting back to normal. so that was an explicit part what we heard from the covid team today. they continue as well on the messaging front. they ramped up a public relations campaign. the white house talked so often about how the best messengers for some of these communities that remain hesitant to getting the vaccine is not white house officials, it's not dr. fauci nor president biden, it's local, trusted officials. you heard the cdc director talk about for anybody who has remaining hesitancy, they should talk to people in their community who have gotten the vaccine. they should talk to their doctors, talk to those close to them. they hope that is an additional permission structure for americans to get vaccinated. i think one big question tomorrow, there's a lot of focus on the president's speech, of course. senator 2i78 scott, the republican who will be delivering the response, i think a lot of people in the white house are hoping he will use the

response as an opportunity to echo some of the best practices from the perspective of the lead republican message in response to the president tomorrow night. >> that's an interesting point. definitely worth watching for. ellison barber, thank you, as you have been listening to our conversation, i know you also spoke with voters evaluating this 100-day period. i think we have to acknowledge the regional norms in this country vary dramatically depending on what state or city you're in. i think for some americans they will look at the guidelines and say, well, i have been doing a lot of this already. there are other jurisdictions where everybody when they're outside wears a mask, even if they're socially distanced from others. what are you seeing down in florida and hearing from others as we head into the president's remarks? >> you're right that florida is a state that has been resistant

amongst elected officials here on the right and a lot of people who live in florida in terms of some of the mandate social requirements in terms of how we should behave related to covid-19. the mask mandate has been controversial throughout the state. i live in new york city and i began this reporting from georgia and in the southeast. when i was home in new york versus my home in georgia, my home state, there was a very big difference culturally in terms of where and when people were wearing masks. but regardless of who we spoke to down here or people we stayed in touch with or talked to prior to the november election, everyone still says covid-19 is a really big issue. they also all say they really feel like progress is being made. there's some debate amongst the people we spoke to over who should get the credit for where things are right now but there is a general feeling not only is

covid-19 still a top priority for voters we've spoken to here but they do feel like things are moving in somewhat of a right direction. i want you to listen to what one voter, who supported president biden, she's a senior about to graduate from florida memorial university here in miami, their her name is bianca bennett, this is what she told us. >> when you look at life today and look back 200, 300 days ago, do you think your life has improved? >> i definitely think my life has improved with these first 100 days. i remember at first i was one of those people, i don't really want to wear a mask. i don't really think covid is real. that's because my administration -- the administration in my president beforehand really had that in my head and made me think this wasn't a serious disease. >> so bianca is not someone who supported the previous administration. she's a democrat. she's progressive. she's liberal. but she said even if she and her

peers weren't necessarily aware of it, she felt like the behaviors and actions and lack thereof they were taken as related to covid-19 and the pandemic were impacted by the messages coming from the white house. she said now under this new administration the message she's hearing has made her take this virus, this pandemic more seriously. her college campus is actually a vaccination site now and she talked about that as an achievement she feels like the biden administration can take credit for and something she was really glad to see when they opened up vaccinations on her college campus, which is in hbcu, in the miami-dade area. kasie? >> that's really interesting. dr. hotez, this brings me to we mentioned briefly the situation that's going on in india. there is a question about what the united states is doing in terms of exporting vaccine. the initial imperative from joe biden and everyone coming into office was every american could get a shot and we had the

supplies we needed. it seems like we're relatively comfortably there. if you need an appointment, you can get one. and there are places you don't even need an appointment, you can just walk in. what should the u.s. be doing in terms of the astrazeneca vaccine in particular, which is not approved here, should we be exporting that? what kind of other measures should we be taking along these lines now that we're in this new phase? >> what we should be doing, kasie, is recognize india is the middle of a humanitarian catastrophe. the numbers are 365,000 new cases a day. in the u.s. multiply that by four. india is probably much higher because of the undercounting of cases and deaths. this is spiraling out of control and the health systems are getting overwhelmed and even on a good day, a lot of the health systems in india are challenged. and the fact that it's really difficult to do social distancing in the crowded urban areas of mumbai and new delhi,

et cetera. i'm extremely worried and upset about what's going on. here's what we have to do. the population of india is over 1.2 billion. that means roughly 800 million to 900 million people in india have to be vaccinated to halt transmission. that means roughly almost 2 billion doses of vaccine. so, yes, u.s. should give up its astrazeneca vaccines once they certify that it's safe to release. but ultimately, that's a drop in the bucket. here's what the u.s. has to do. we have to help india help itself. we have to help india, which is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, their four big organizations in india, we need to give them all of the tools they need to make vaccine. they're making astrazeneca vaccine, biological e is making

our vaccine, we have to give them all of the raw materials and expertise so they can make those 2 million doses of vaccine. >> dr. peter hotez, mike memoli and ellison barber, thank you all for getting us started today. really appreciate it. once again, we are going to take you to the white house for president biden's remarks as soon as they begin. also coming up, we will continue the conversation on outdoor mask wearing and latest vaccination efforts with new jersey governor phil murphy, who just loosened restrictions in his state. but first, loyalty is now being put to the test as new nbc news polls show new trouble for the gop and its former leader. has trump's favorability rating sunk to new lows since biden took office? ffice? we didn't stop at storage or cloud. we kept going. working with our customers to enable the kind of technology that can guide an astronaut back to safety. and help make a hospital come to you, instead of you going to it.

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welcome back. we're continuing to stand by for president biden's remarks on covid-19. we now expect those to happen a little later this hour, and we will bring it to you when it happens.

in the meantime, let's turn to politics. it seems absence is not making the heart grow fonder when it comes to former president donald trump. as republicans gather in home state of florida for their retreat, our latest nbc news poll has the former president's favorability rating slipping to 32% since he left office. that number fell nine points among republicans from '86 to '77. for the first time since july 2019, more republicans say they are more supporters of the party than they are of the former president. i think that's a really interesting statistic. what's so striking about these numbers is they're coming as the perception of the former president's power within his party, it really seems like it couldn't be stronger. so joining me now to talk more about this is nbc news capitol hill correspondent leigh ann caldwell and nbc news political editor carrie dan, who is our nbc news polls expert.

it's wonderful to see both of you and have this kind of conversation. we have a little news coming out of the house gop retreat down in orlando. it almost feels like they've gone to go visit their leader in exile or something like that. but we're seeing this split and on display between kevin mccarthy, the house minority leader and liz cheney, who, of course, voted to impeach former president trump and continues to say she does not think there's a role for him in the future of the republican party. let's watch what leader mccarthy had to say and then we'll talk about it. take a look. >> is cheney still a good fit for your leadership team, do you believe? >> that's a question for the conference. >> but what do you believe? >> i think from a perspective if you're sitting here at a retreat that's focused on policy and focused on the future of making america's next century and you're talking about something else, you're not being productive. >> awkward. leann, what do you make of what he said there?

>> well, what he did not say is give a ringing endorsement of liz cheney. he had multiple opportunities to throw his weight behind representative cheney and he's denied doing so. today he was also asked earlier in the press conference if he would campaign enthusiastically for liz cheney if the former president -- if he endorsed a primary challenge against her, and all he said was, well, we haven't talked about it yet. so the mccarthy/cheney debate is kind of a proxy for what is happening within the battle, power struggle of the republican party. and it's becoming very problematic for this party. leader mccarthy is trying to win back the majority of the house, every republican is. but he sees a speaker being

speaker of the house that is very much on the line and within his grasp. he thinks he needs the trump supporters, trump base and he needs those members in trump's district in order to do that. he's hugging the president very tightly because he thinks had will get him that speakership. where you have cheney, who is talking about the soul of the republican party. she's looking down the future, down the line run, to try to figure out and get this party back to conservative principles away from the former president, and it could be a big distraction for republicans and a problem for republicans heading into the midterm elections, kasie. >> i think you absolutely hit on it, what you saw in kevin mccarthy's body language there was the reality this fight may make it harder for him to do what he needs to do to ultimately be speaker of the house, which is, of course, his

goal. i want to put up some of the numbers we showed in the intro here. we have first the republican support poll that shows there's been this shift that more voters are now saying -- more republicans are now saying, you know what, i'm with the party, it's not that i'm with donald trump, it's i'm with the party. it's not a huge shift but notable one. and then our second slide, which talks about trump himself and that slide in his positive rating from 40% in january of 2021 to now 32%. my question for you and my question broadly has really been the wake of the insurrection, we saw republicans go from abject horror and fear on the day, and then kevin mccarthy is the prime example of someone who angered the former president and then backtracked and tried to say something different. my question is did something

happen that day that affected republican voters that we simply haven't seen yet in the course of an election? do these numbers tell you there are republicans who may have watched that happen and said, you know what, i'm done with this? >> you know, kasie, i think the most important thing -- and it was on that slide that you mentioned -- it's not a huge slide numerically but we asked this question throughout trump's presidency, do you affiliate yourself more with president trump or the republican party? since july 2019, donald trump has been the person with the bigger share among republicans of loyalty. that has now changed. it's a small change but it's ab important one. i think it could be a number of important things as we see with the slide going into january. january 6th some erosion but for some that was the final straw. and also former president trump is not nearly omnipresent as he was in the white house. we've seen him putting out statements occasionally, doing occasional interviews but we are

not hearing from him every single day. that may make a difference for voters who identify as republicans but are not paying as close attention. it's also worth noting joe biden's approval ratings are much higher than where president trump's were 100 days into his presidency. and biden's approval rating on specifically the issue of coronavirus, among republicans, in a very polarized world, not bad, saying they approve of the job joe biden has done on coronavirus. so that may be showing people moving away from donald trump -- not a huge share of republicans, but in the world we live in, if a third of republicans support what a democratic president is doing, that's noteworthy and could account for some of the shift. >> that's a really good point. i think this helps explain how liz cheney is thinking about this.

we have a little bit of sound from what she said at her leadership press availability i want to show you. essentially she's looking at the map saying we're fighting these -- in these swing districts in swing states for the white house, the very narrowest of margins and if we don't win back that 30% that carrie was just talking about, if those 30% think biden is a-okay, republicans are in big trouble. here's what cheney had to say yesterday. >> i think right now the republican party is headed by mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy in the house. i think our elected leaders are the ones in charge of the republican party. as we look at '22 and '24, we will be focused on substance and the issues. the i think that's where we've got to attract back the voters we lost in 2020. >> so, it's a different way of looking at it. mccarthy is afraid of trump.

liz cheney made clear she's not afraid of donald trump. but they think if they're going to win, they have to focus on issues and substance. the last four years we've been covering a personality more than substance and issues. >> liz cheney is taking a substantive attack like joe biden is doing, moving beyond the former president. there's a dynamic of a republican winning their former primaries and that's where the former president can be a huge problem for republicans. if he gets engaged in primary fights, incumbents or the candidate who other republican leaders think have a better chance of winning in the general election, could go down. that is the former president kind of really taking a torch to the former party and trying to blow it up and insert his own wins as he sees fit. but then there's the general election, where the seats that are going to be on the line are

not the most conservative seats this have the strong trump support. but it's going to be the swing districts, these purple districts that are going to have to be won from democrats. and that is not where the former president is going to play and that is not where he's going to have a lot of influence, i should say. and that is what representative cheney is betting on, let's keep our candidates, let's win these swing districts. and that's why leader mccarthy's position is a little puzzling for some republicans because it seems like if you can keep the president out of these primaries, then they have a better chance in the general and so why continue to hug the president? but as we all know, the former president can create a lot of headaches among his base and when he's on his revenge tour of lawmakers that he doesn't like and he wants to see defeated.

>> on the other piece of this too, leigh anne that i think is important with kevin mccarthy wanting to be speaker e. he's got a heck of a lot of pro-trump members of his congress to keep happy. and carrie, i actually want to go to you on this because we have in our recent poll a look at the issues. you mentioned he's getting good marks on the coronavirus, but our poll also shows that there is one area particularly of weakness, border security and immigration, where 59% say that they disapprove of what joe biden is doing. so if you are kevin mccarthy, how do you keep a very divided conference together? and if you are speaker pelosi, president biden, majority leader schumer, how do you keep the conversation focused where you want it to be, which is to say not on border security and immigration, for example? >> that's right, so president biden's approval rating at 63%

is pretty robust -- at 53% is pretty robust and it is so because of the issues important to all americans. coronavirus, he's doing very well. where he's not above water is the issue of border security and immigration, as well as other issues like, for example, guns. he's also a little bit underwater on taxes and spending. if you're a republican, you want the conversation to revolve around those issues, around the border, around the president raising your taxes, around the issue of guns, which is very polarizing and one that joe biden is not as strong with democrats as well. if you're a democrat, you want to talk about the coronavirus and the economy all day long, every day, to keep the president's approval ratings un. >> very good point. in this infrastructure, the

fight will be whether the democrats can convince americans they're taxes are going up or if republicans say you are taxing the rich for things that will help you. thank you both so much. i appreciate having you here today. coming up -- what was once a major covid-19 hot spot is loosening restrictions in time for summer. but is it too much too soon? new jersey democratic governor phil murphy joins me next. y joi. . with crisp veggies on freshly baked bread. just order in the app! ditch the burgers! choose better, be better. subway®. eat fresh. cell phone repair. did you know liberty mutualr, be better. customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? just get a quote at libertymutual.com. really? i'll check that out. oh yeah. i think i might get a quote. not again!

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welcome back. we are still waiting for president biden to speak on the cdc's new mask guidance. in the meantime, exactly one year ago today new jersey was just coming off its first peak of covid-19 infections as one of the states hardest lit by the pandemic's initial spring surge. and now the garden state is taking steps towards a normal summer. governor phil murphy is further loosening covid restrictions as cases continue to decline and vaccinations ramp up. half of the state's total population have already received at least one dose. chief among a slate of new guidelines unveiled at governor murphy's press conference yesterday was expanded capacity limits at both indoor and outdoor events. outdoor gatherings can have up to 500 people and outdoor gatherings of more than 500 seats can expand up to 50%. and congratulations, kids, proms are back on. it's capped at 250 people.

the guidelines help people get back on the dance floor but so far private settings only, not bars or night clubs yet. starting may 10th, people can enjoy carnivals and state fairs at half capacity. and the governor of new jersey, phil murphy, joins me now. governor, thank you very much for being here. i will refrain from asking when the first time is for you to get back out on the dance floor. i would certainly not want to be asked that question myself. let's talk about the guidelines the cdc is putting out today and how they align with the requirements you have now set out for your state, loosening of the restrictions. does the cdc guidance make sense to you and line up with what you're doing in new jersey? >> good to be with you, kasie. in short the answer is yes. our guidance for masking outdoors has been from the git-go in this pandemic, you need to wear a mask if you can't socially distance. if you can, you don't need to. i would expect if there is then

the next layer of full vaccination, but that's another step we will be able to take but we certainly, as we always do, will take the cdc guidance seriously and work with that guidance and continue to open our state up. we're not out of the woods yet. we've turned the corner but we can incrementally step by step, methodically open the place up as you highlighted. >> do you have concerns about the larger size gatherings that will be permitted under your new lifted restrictions, especially while we're in this phase where it's hard to know who's vaccinated and who's not? and it's hard to understand the risk if you don't have that sort of information? >> yes, it is something obviously we watch very closely. if you look at the steps we've taken, most of them are to open up outdoors and we all know the virus is a lot less lethal outside than it is inside.

so the outdoor capacities and outdoor sort of restrictions are the ones we loosened first and the most. on the inside clearly we need folks to continue to do the right thing and that's clearly wearing a mask. you will note these are really in much more controlled settings in terms of the steps we have taken. proms, weddings, other celebrations like that, that are catered events as opposed to all indoor activity. i hope we can get to all indoor activity sooner than later but we're not there yet. >> don't we all. you were just on the weekly conference call the white house has been doing with governors, with covid adviser andy slavitt. what did you learn from the white house on that call? >> first of all, this is a first-rate team. not only are they individuals in their own right who are exceptionally qualified in their professional capacities, but it is a deep bench and that's a

real stark contrast we have with the biden team, and andy personally has been a great counselor to us both publicly and privately. i think the one thing is we're going to continue -- it sounds like we as a country are going to continue to find our way on the johnson & johnson vaccine production. we are very proud of the vaccine performance in new jersey. we're i think in the top five or ten consistently and one of the biggest states in terms of efficiency verse what's supplies we get versus what shots we get into arms, including a number of folks who have gotten a first dose and are completely vaccinated. the j&j vaccine is a real special weapon we would love to get more of because it allows us with only one shot and regular refrigeration to get into places that are hard to reach, homeless, homebound and others, particularly communities of color, and that continues to be

a work in progress. the biden team have done a terrific job. we look forward to continuing to work with them. >> were you concerned at all about how they handled the pause of the j&j vaccine? did that make your job harder than it needed to be? >> there's some conventional wisdom, kasie, it did. i actually read it the other way. my view is it shows the system worked. the cdc was doing its job, fda, all of the independent advisory committees, they saw these admittedly six cases. many there may be a few more but very few number of cases relative to shots in the arm. but serious enough and unique enough that the pause made sense. and in particular in terms of how do you treat that if that should happen in a going forward situation. now they're back online with j&j with the guidance, by the way,

as it should be, i'm of the opinion the vaccine works. and if we get j&j supply, we will put them to work and get them into people's arms. >> before i let you go, sir, i also want to ask about i know there's a significant indian american population in the state of new jersey and you spoke with the indian ambassador about what's been going on in the terrible spike and scenes we are seeing out of that country. what can new jersey do to try to help, and what do you think the federal government should be doing? >> it's an awful tragedy. i did speak to the ambassador yesterday. we have one of the largest indian die asprs of any american state. one of my few state visits was to india last fall. it's one of the fastest-growing populations and one of the most meaningful in our state. what's going on in india is a tragedy. by the way, it's not abstract. i can't tell you how many members of the new jersey community who i have interacted

with who has a relative sick or, god forbid, passed from this. i applaud the steps the biden administration are taking. we are right now reviewing all of the potential steps we can take. some of which we need the feds to take for us. remdesivir, for example, is a decision the feds would have to make. but i'm very happy to see the vaccine is going in that direction. we will be here for india in their hour of need as they would be for us. >> new jersey governor phil murphy, thank you so much for being with us today, sir. we really appreciate your time. >> thank you for having me, kasie. and we're waiting for president biden as we expect him to announce new guidance on outdoor masks for americans who have been vaccinated. have been vaccinated ♪♪

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the recall effort to oust california's democratic governor gavin newsom has officially qualified for the ballot, waiving the way for the second recall election in the state's history. the announcement came yesterday from the california secretary of state. they received more than 1.6 million valid signatures. 1.5 million were required to initiate the recall process. voters now have 30 days to withdraw their signatures from the petition before the recall moves forward, eventually culminating in a special election by the end of the year. governor newsom's opponents are already chomping at the bit as conservatives fueled the recall effort at the height of the pandemic and now republican candidates, including caitlyn jenner and the former mayor of san diego, have thrown their hats into the ring. despite all of this, recent polling shows governor newsom is in position as of now to likely survive this political test. we are about to find out, it seems. many coming up next -- the latest of what we're now hearing from the family of andrew brown

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bring you his comments as soon as they begin. the fbi announced, meanwhile, they are launching a civil rights investigation into the north carolina man shot and killed last week after deputies tried to serve an arrest warrant on felony drug charges. lawyers released the findings of the independent autopsy. according to the report brown was shot four times in the arm and once fatally in the back of the head. >> an execution. that's what took place. that's what attorney described, he went over the medical points of it but that's what is exactly described, overkill execution, and the law enforcement cannot be the judge, the jury and the executioner. andrew did not get his due process. he was innocent. i don't care about the search

warrant. he was innocent. >> the autopsy begins to fill in crucial information gaps around brown's death as body cam video of the shooting remains unreleased to the public. joining us now, katy beck has the latest from elizabeth city north carolina. we're learning about the autopsy as well as the civil rights investigation. what are you learning there? >> reporter: well, we have silence, and the more the outrage is beginning to simmer and grow. we are seeing crowds multiply every day this continues, and we are seeing peaceful protests at night here in elizabeth city, but today's press conference had anger and outcries for transparency and calling on the full release of the body cam footage. right now the family has only been shown a short 20-second snippet they viewed yesterday and they watched it repeatedly

to try and glean as much as they could from the footage, and they feel they are owed answered and the truth and they should be the entire footage without any redactions or edits. that decision will rest in the hands of a judge, likely tomorrow morning that decision will be made around 10:00. the judge will hear a petition from the media and local authorities here to release that footage. we are expecting to have a camera in the courtroom and be able to observe what goes on there. north carolina has restrictive and specific laws about the releasing the footage that prevents local authorities from having the unilateral decision to release it. it does have to go before a judge and the judge has to order it to be released, and that is not taking the situation any easier from the folks on the ground, though. outrage is growing, and there are still huge gaps in information and things we simply don't know at this time. >> katy, i'm so sorry to cut you off here, but president biden's

remarks on pandemic and mask wearing are beginning. let's listen. >> before that i want to speak to you about the information from the cdc. let me say first, while we still have a long way to go in the fight, and a lot of work to do in may and june to get us to july 4th, we've made stunning progress, because all of you, the american people. cases and deaths are down, down dramatically from where they were when i took office on january 20th. and continuing to fall. this is particularly true for a group of americans we were most worried about when it came to the virus, senior citizens. when i took office in january we were losing literally tens of

thousands of our seniors each week. grandparents who were loved so dearly, moms and dads, pillars from every community gone by the thousands every day. at that time less than 1% of seniors were fully vaccinated when i took office. today, in less than 100 days, more than 67%, two-thirds of our seniors, are now fully vaccinated. more than 80% of our seniors have had at least one shot. that effort resulted in a drop of 80% in deaths among american seniors. a 70% drop in hospitalizations. so instead of losing thousands of seniors each day, we're saving thousands of lives and more and more as each day goes by.

by the way, based on reported data, the proportion of seniors who have been vaccinated is essentially equal between white and seniors of color. i said from the beginning that we were -- we're going to fight this virus with equity, equity for all. as a matter of fact, if i am not mistaken, there are more latinos and african-american seniors that have been vaccinated as a percentage than white seniors. these numbers are a sign of progress on that front as well. now last week i announced that we had crossed the threshold of 200 million shots. we now, since inauguration day, we have given 215 million shots. anybody 16 years of age or older

is now eligible to get the vaccine now, today, immediately, and because of the extraordinary progress we've made in fighting this virus, and the progress our scientists have made in learning about how it gets transmitted, earlier today the cdc made an important announcement. starting today, if you are fully vaccinated and you are outdoors, you need -- and not in a big crowd, you no longer need to wear a mask. i want to be absolutely clear. if you are in a crowd, like a stadium or at a conference, or a concert, you still need to wear a mask, even if you are outside. beginning today gathering with a group of friends in a park, going for a picnic as long as you are vaccinated and outdoors, you can do it without a mask. the cdc is able to make this

announcement because our scientists are convinced by the data that the odds of getting or giving the virus to others is very, very low if you are, both, fully vaccinated and out in the open air. the cdc also will clarify which outdoor activities are safer or less safer, depending on whether you have been vaccinated. the bottom line is clear. if you are vaccinated you can do more things more safely both outdoors as well as indoors. so for those who have not gotten their vaccination yet, especially if you are younger, or think you don't need it, this is another great reason to go get vaccinated now, now. yes, the vaccines are about saving your life, but also the lives of the people around you.

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