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>> if we don't invest we'll fall behind even further. >> straight ahead new details on where negotiations stand. also the latest on new police reforce legislation after the family of george floyd met with lawmakers. just ahead our latest reporting on key sticking points in the way of getting a deal done by may 25th. >> good morning, i'm jeff bennett in for hallie jackson. we have mike memoli, monica b with and garrett haake. as president biden gets ready for day two of his pr push. in this new nbc exclusive interview, he is defending the spending of trillions of dollars to get his priorities accomplished. what else is he saying? >> part of that defense is now

going on offense. that's why you're seeing the president leave the white house for this getting america back on track tour. that is what they're calling it. that's why he informs georgia yesterday. he goes to pennsylvania today and there is a lot more travel from him, the first lady, the vice president, and the second gentleman in the days and weeks to come. they view it as laying out the proposals in a joint address to congress. it is another thing to get out and push this directly to american voters. that's why we're getting a little bit of justification and frame work in that exchange. take a listen to how the president is defining this and saying this is more critical than ever. >> look at how rapidly it has recovered since we passed the last piece of legislation. and that education was 1.9 trillion. if we don't invest in this country, we're going to actually

start to -- we're going to fall behind even further. we're number eight in the world in terms of frumt. is the private sector going to go out and build billions of dollars worth of highs, ports? are they going to do that? these are things that only government can do. >> the governor does intend to use the covid relief bill. justifying why government should be doing big things. they are going to argument that because the plans are so popular when they're pulled that that's why g.o.p. can be behind it, too. they want to see real progress on infrastructure by memorial day, now just less than a month away. >> as you said the president is traveling the country and that

segues nicely to mike who is at the 30th street station. it's a big day for president biden who, as you know better than anybody, took that amtrak train every day for nearly 30 years between wilmington and washington. he was known as amtrak joe. what are we expecting in philadelphia later today? >> well, philadelphia is where almost exactly two years ago candidate biden held his first major campaign rally. he is back here now getting back on track. i see what you did there, white house bringing him to a train station here to sell his infrastructure plan. amtrak could not throw themselves a 50th birthday party without celebrating with their most high profile customer.

they would go towards the passenger rail. they called for a second great railroad revolution. i spoke with an executive that the money, the covid package, was critical to getting am track back to the point where it could bring some service levels wac to normal and some employees back to work. the president a frequent rider, commuting to and from washington. he talked about those who worked on the passenger rail, those conductors, the attendants, as part of his family as well. he will be introduced by blake weaver. that is a conductor whose father into introduced joe biden in 2009 when he was going to washington as part of that

inaugural train tour. >> there was times the conductor would blow the horn when they saw the presidential motorcade, and you told me they are actual friends. when i talk to folks at the white house, what i'm told is that what we're seeing publicly is what is happening privately. there seems to be a calessing. >> broadly speaking i think that is right. it is important to separate out the two elements here. on the jobs plan the infrastructure package, there is participate negotiations going

on. they are much smaller in their counter proposal for hard infrastructure. something that might get bipartisan support. that includes the family's plan. so on infrastructure there is a significant polarity of people who would like to see something done on this. there is a desire to upgrade the nation's infrastructure. on the family's plan you see a different tact from the sticker shock of it, saying they don't think it is money well spent, but with individual elements of the program. elements do poll reasonably well and could continue to pole better. they say these are political

really priorities, and they do not belong in a infrastructure bill. so i think we're seeing that progress, a ticking clock in the background of this. but the families plan, if that is going to become law nap will certain i will be an all democratic effort in the form of another reconciliation bill. >> yeah, the white house says they want to see movement on this potentially by memorial day that is not far off at all. thank you to the three of you. we're going to stay on capitol hill where police reform is also front and center. the family of george floyd met with officials in the white house and lawmakers on the hill yesterday to make their case for a new build. the president wants it decided by may 25th. one year to the day that george floyd was murdered. >> senator scott and senator

graham, and it became very emotional and they listened intently. so we believe that everybody is committed. >> let's get to leann cadwell. both sides say that the other side is working in good faith, but what are you hearing from law maerks about the efforts to find common ground on reform? >> they're saying privately their optimistic, but they're also admitting there is a lot of work to be done and things that need to be figured out. these informal discussions have now turned into more formal negotiations with four republicans and four democrats from the house and the senate.

let's talk about the people and then talk about the issues. the people involved in the negotiations know each other. everyone is saying good things about the other side which is a good sign. also you have representative pete and representative brian fitzpatrick. they are both former law enforcement and police officials. this is that perspective. you have senaor corey booker, tim scott, and also representative karen bass as well. now the issues that remain are still big finishes last year. this is section 242. this is the criminal andle civil component of holing a police officer accountable for what

they do in the field. once those issues are worked out the others will be easier to solve. including should they ban no knock warrants or choke holds. so twliel is progress, we're told that staffs are going to be working behind the scenes until another meeting with the principals is scheduled. they expect that it will be scheduled very soon, jeff. >> so progress and cautious optimism. much more ahead on police reform. we'll talk to a floyd family attorney who was in that emotional meeting. plus, rudy giuliani makes his first public remarks after the federal raid of his home and officer. office. and new this morning, dozens of people filled in a stampede in

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rudy giuliani is speaking publicly for the first time since having his home and office raided. >> about 6:00 in the morning there was a big bank bank bank on the door and outside was seven fbi agents with a warrant for electronics.

and i looked at the warrant and i said, you know, this is extraordinary because i offered to give these to the government and talk it over with them for two years. >> what did they say to you about what they're looking into? >> they have not said anything. they will not explain it for two years now. >> earlier in the day the former major suggested that the fbi was jealous of his accomplishments during his time as u.s. attorney. the fbi warned julianny back in 2019 that the two of them were the target of a russian influence campaign attempting to spread disinformation about joe biden. joining me is ken delanian. the washington post reported this warning is not believed to have been linked to the investigation that lead to this

fbi probe, but this is significant none the less. >> that's right this was given by the fbi's counter intelligence division. we have not confirmed that senator ron johnson got a defense briefing. the fbi was giing a lot of defensive briefings. they had seen then that russian sbjs was targeted. but despite that he between the ukraine after that warning and met with a ukrainian that was branded as an agent. so fastforward to last year and the briefings didn't work so the u.s. went public and said this guy is a russian agent, please stop dealing with him, and then others continued to meet with

these people and propagate the myths they were selling about alleged corruption in ukraine. thank you, now to breaking news from overnight, dozens of people are dez in israel following a stampede at a religious festival. what do owe know about what transpired? >> 45 people killed so far on a a mountain in northern virginia. coming down they had to go through a narrow met kal walk way that at one point went around a corner and down a flight of stairs and it's looking like at that corner there was confusion, overcrowding, and then people

trampled under foot. i spoke a little early tore an official from the israeli national ambulance. he said there was children as young as 15 among the dead. the u.s. embassy in israel is looking into reports there may have been americans caught up in last night's tragedy. the prime minister benjamin netanyahu declaring sunday as a national day on warning. this was the largest public gathering in israel since the start of the covid pandemic and the health ministry warned earlier in the week that there would be large crowds and a danger of covid spreading. there was warnings of a lot of people being there. >> truly horrific scene. meanwhile one signature stands between florida voters

and a slew of new voting restrictions in the science state. we'll tail you inside of the meeting on police reform. hear from someone that was in the room, next kms what happens when we welcome change? we can make emergency medicine possible at 40,000 feet. instead of burning our past for power, we can harness the energy of the tiny electron. we can create new ways to connect. rethinking how we communicate to be more inclusive than ever. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change. faster. vmware. welcome change. mommy, i won a medal.

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. if you live in florida, it's about to get harder for you to

vote. ron desantis is expected to sign a bill loo law. florida democrats are blasting the bill as what they call the revival of jim crowe. republicans argue their elections need to be more secure nap is despite the fact that the 2020 election was secure. when pressed for evidence of fraud, look at how state lawmakers who helped lead the push for the bill responded. >> was there any examples of ballot harvesting in the last election cycle? >> i don't know, but i'm sure it was going on. just because they were not caught doesn't mean it is not happening. >> kari dan is with us. walk us through what is in this bill and how it fits into a larger effort by republicans to restrict voting access. >> this bill make it's more

difficult for voters that want to cast their ballot at a drop off ballot location or those that want to receive ballots in the mail automatically. it requires they be staffed by a person rather than monitored by a camera and they can only be open certain hours. it also makes it so you can drop off ballots for two nonfamily members. so if you work crazy hours, you can't collect from 500 co-workers and take them to a drop off location. this is similar to what we have seen in other states. there are 47 states around the country where they have placed limits on how they can cast their votes, but what is unique is this is the first swing state

that donald trump won to pass legislation like this. and the legislatures there said there was not an accusation of fraud, why was this necessary? >> yeah, it's a solution in search of a problem. with what we saw, in that state, you have top florida businesses that stayed largely quiet. why is that? >> well, these businesses in florida, this has been a question trout. we saw as you mentioned in georgia and texas while there is pending voter legislation. florida has been very muted and part of that may be that the bigotries there are largely dependent on tourism. they may be worried able alienating consumers.

we're hearing about wanting to speak out against this legislation. they may have seen what unfolded there, taking a lot of heat. they may be worried about a backlash. and right now they're being very quiet about this legislation. >> voting restrictions in 47 states. thank you for watching it all for us. back to capitol hill, the growing momentum to strike a deal on police reform. i'm joined by an attorney for the floyd family, thank you for your time, sir. take us a bit more inside of your meeting on capitol hill. ben crump says it was emotional at times. senators there, lindsey graham and tim scott were listening

intently. what more can you say about what transpired? >> it was incredible. we have dive different meetings on kyl and each time that we walked into a room there was a deep sense of commitment to get this bill passed. you know we're hoping that the leadership of senator scott, senator durbin, senator graham, congressman bass, that they can really put their heads together and figure out a meaningful bill that can pass the senate. we know it needs ten republican votes. we hope they can do this so it gets to the president as quickly as possible. but the most important thing was there willingness to listen to the family. we wleft a deep sense of commitment and optimism with regard to this.

what will happen? we don't know yet, but we felt yesterday that there was a real, real progress in terms of getting this done. >> did people seem confidence they could put a bill on the president's desk by may 25th? >> i think that would be a very meaningful date to get this done. george floyd represents something that we have not seen in this country in half a century or greater. it would be very purposeful and meaningful to get it done. i think everyone is committed to getting it done for that day but no up with can make the promise because there is still work to be done. they have not given up. as of yesterday we were told they were still working. that is something that we have to be very, very proud of. very happy for. >> one of the sticking points has been this provision to end

what is known as qualified immunity. it protects law enforcement officers for most civil lawsuits. and the compromise is that police departments should be held financially liable, not the individual officers themselves. is that an acceptable compromise? >> i believe there is a workable path forward where both police officers can be held accountable, where the police departments are responsible for those police officers. i don't think there is a question of should they be held accountable, but let's look at who hires them. who trains them, who sends them out on the street with too much equipment or not enough equipment. so there is a workable threat here where police officers can be held accountable. police departments are responsible for them.

i think that is the thread that everyone is looking for to make sure because if there is a solution where a police officer is not held accountable, i'm not sure that is acceptable but i think there is a way to do this. >> what's your response to the argument that reforms like these are onerous? you tried a number of these cases unfortunately so far. what's your read on that? >> i don't trust that push back and here is why. you have to look at what happened at the george floyd trial. you had something that was historic. you had the chief of the police department testify whether or not derek chauvin was reasonable in his actions. the former police chief of the chicago police department broet an editorial about

accountability and transparency. the mayor chiefs of this country want this type of bill. the reason they want it is because it gives them greater accountability in order to hold officers responsible for bad conduct. imagine an employer, a chief of a major police department, does not want police officers who commit misconduct. they want a tree that is healthy, they don't want any bad apples on the treen. >> next up, why two former secretaries of state are said to be raising concerns and say the u.s. will likely have to go back. d say the u.s. will likely have to go back psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen, painful. tremfya® is approved to help reduce joint symptoms in adults with active psoriatic arthritis. some patients even felt less fatigued.

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security heading out of afghanistan. officials confirm the beginning of the final withdrawal of forces if is happening two weeks after president biden announced all troops would leave by september 11th of this year. let's bring in courtney who is fresh off of her maternity leave. congratulations and welcome back. let's start with this report from axios. they are highlighting security concerns, and the pair is expressing hesitancy. the house foreign affairs committee, how widespread are these concerns among those in washington? >> that's right, jeff. those concerns really go beyond just washington. we heard from former commanders, general petraeus spoke out this week, and they really center on two things. one is the security information

there. will the taliban try to take over the government? will al qaeda and other groups try to find safe haif therein. . the second is the domestic issue there around human rights for women. there is a lot of concern that all of the advances made there in the past two decades. women and girls going to school learning to read and write, that those will deteriorate. as you mentioned the taliban and the u.s. came to an agreement in 2020 for all u.s. troops and international troops to leave by may 1st. the biden administration announced they will extend that until september, but the first troops, dozens of troops and some equipment have started to leave. sfwli want to ask you about something that came up in kaig

melvin's interview. whether or not a service member should be mandated to receive the covid-19 vaccine. >> are you lorder service membered to get the vaccine? >> i don't know, i'm going to leave that to the military. i think it will be a tough call as to whether or not they should be required to have to get it in the military because you're in such close proximity with other military personnel. >> the president seeming to leave that up to military commanders. >> there is another big issue he did not touch on, there is a readiness issue here. there is a concern that if you have a large number of u.s. troops not vaccinated they won't be deployable. vaccines in the military have

had a storied and difficult history. the anthrax vaccine was part of that. now there is a concern among some of the younger troops that we're already seeing across the services and there may be some hesitancy and reluctance to get that vaccine. the only service that put out any number social security the marine corps. more than 50,000 have declined it. there is still a large population that has not had the opportunity to say whether or not they will get it. we don't know how that relates to the other services. will this be an issue? there has also been pressure on the hill about this. some have called for a mandatory vaccination among u.s. service members. at this point the pentagon did

not say whether or not they will make it mandatory. another issue is the fact that the vaccine has not been completely approached. >> yeah, it has emergency authorizations, but not full approval. president biden sent an unequivocal message to the transagendaer community that he has their back. plus, we'll talk to west virginia's only openly transgender elected to official about the pan on transgender athletes. transgender athletes i'm morgan, and there's more to me than hiv. more love,... more adventure,... more community. but with my hiv treatment,... there's not more medicines in my pill.

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♪ yum ♪ ♪ yum yum (clap, clap) yum yum (clap) yum yum ♪ lbgt rights organizations have called president biden the most trans-friendly president in history. now the targets of many state legislatures and governors. dozens of bills to limit the rights of the transgender community are popping up and many are impacting transchildren fop what is the president doing after taking the white house, to help the transcommunity? >> personal pledge from a powerful platform. >> there will be a change, e

especially the young brave children. >> jessica fuller is one of those americans. he is came out as transat 16. >> i didn't know if i would cry or fall apart and laugh. >> it is a felony for the same kind of gender affirming care. >> are you asking me to arrest the people that saved my daughter. please don't ask me to do that. >> i was proud. >> it's not just alabama. half of states are considering bills to restrict trans rights. it is the latest front in a political culture war. >> if this is not changed women sports ae we know it will die. >> we're talking about erasing the definition of woman. when we replace sex with gender identity, there is no boundaries like this.

>> most americans pose laws limiting trans rights. he eliminated the ban on trans troops, and nominated the first openly transgender person to be nominated by the senate. >> i voted for him because of these issues. >> listen to these kids. they're telling the truth. and there is nothing else to tell. >> for them it's not politics, but personal. >> as you heard hallie report there, more than half of states are considering bills around the trans community. in virginia, transgender girls and womens are banned from participaing in sports at the

level consistent with their gender identity. joining us now is a councilwoman who is the first and only openly transgender elected official in west virginia. and councilwoman, i want to talk about this bill, jim justice was just on in the last hour. i want to play sound and get your response about what he had to say. >> i think we only have 12 kids maybe in our state that are transgender type kids. i mean for crying out loud, stephanie. i sign hundreds of bills. this is not a priority to me. i think that it would impose an unfair disadvantage on the girls. >> okay, so you heard him, it's only about 12 kids so what's the big deal, that's the implicit take away there, what's your response to them? >> thank you so much, jeff. it's wild to make such an

assertion. as a trans person myself, i get to meet so many lbgt folks, trans folks, and there are far more than 12 kids here. west virginia had the highest proportionate rate of transgender youth anywhere in the country. so some folks need to do their research. >> you said this is very harmful for west virginia specifically and the country as a whole. explain why this is so bad for west virginia in particular. >> i think in the state of west virginia we have a perception problem. when we perpetuate the fear based stigma of trans folks we validate those fears. i'm proud to live here in the city of wheeling and i know west virginia is a welcoming and

inclusive place. we have representatives across the state that would rather put their political oxygen into something that is staked in discrimination and bigotry. i'm very proud of the community organizing work happening across the state west virginia to push back on things like this. unfortunately, we didn't get here overnight. it's going to take a lot of time to ensure that we are pushing forward for progressive change in the state. >> my colleague hallie jackson asked jessica, the young woman in that piece that she did in alabama, she said, what's your message to legislatures in other states? she said, listen to the kids, because they are telling the truth, because there's nothing else to tell. what's your message to other legislatures thinking about targeting the trans community in the same way? >> well, i would echo those sentiments. talk to trans kids. talk to athletes who are peers of trans athletes.

it's interesting, when we talk to folks, it's rarely, if ever, the peers of trans athletes that have these issues. they are proud to compete with lgbtq groups. it's adults that aren't relevant. i talk to my constituents every day. i talk to folks across west virginia. we are concerned about a lot of things. trans gender athletes is not one of them. we need affordable medicine, we need jobs. it was reported that west virginia in a census had the lowest population growth of any state in the nation. i can't help but wonder why when we support and pass legislation that only seeks to harm people rather than protect them.

>> wheeling, west virginia, councilwoman, thank you. more with craig melvin's sitdown with the president. next up, inspiring america, a celebrity chef who made a difference helping thousands of people during this pandemic. you won't want to miss it. we welcome change? we can make emergency medicine possible at 40,000 feet. instead of burning our past for power, we can harness the energy of the tiny electron. we can create new ways to connect. rethinking how we communicate to be more inclusive than ever. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change. faster. vmware. welcome change. before discovering nexium 24hr to treat her frequent heartburn, marie could only imagine enjoying freshly squeezed orange juice. now no fruit is forbidden. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts

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the pandemic road to recovery for restaurants has been a slow and gradual one. a new report finds more than 10% of all restaurants have permanently closed since march of last year. that's nearly 80,000 restaurants. to help strugging restaurants, our next guest launched an organization that provided a life line to black-owned restaurants. i'm joined by marcus samuelson. it's great to see you. let me get your take on the recovery in the restaurant industry. we mentioned that staggering number, one in ten has closed since the start of the pandemic. >> yeah. this is the biggest challenge we have been in as a community. it will take all of us from the industry but also our incredible guests that have been with us through this journey.

30%, 50%, 75% opening depending on what state you are in. it's been very, very difficult. obviously, hits black and brown businesses particularly hard because the wealth gap but also the hardship to get access to institutional money. >> help us understand, why did you launch the black businesses matters matching fund? what has the response been from people been fitting and those looking to help? >> sure. i mean, you said the stat earlier in the segment. 10% of restaurants closed. 41% of all african-american businesses have closed since the pandemic. 41%. think about that. those are life savings, those are defining moments in people's lives, in family life in terms of businesses. it hits black and brown business

very, very differently. we partnered with uber eats and we will partner with companies throughout that can help black businesses throughout. it's not just a fact that now we're done with the pandemic. it's years until we come back. people like myself and people that have opportunities to speak to a larger community and have access really on all of us to figure out how do we help our neighbors, our small businesses thrive. this is essentially -- it's basically a nationwide go fund me program where we can help black businesses to get grants. it's not loans, it's grants so these businesses can get through this next step. >> new york city announced plans to reopen by july 1st.

give us a sense of what that means for restaurants there and the city in general, the city you love. >> well, i mean, it's very important. it's good. we now have some time to prepare for that. i think that it also is about getting our customers back and consumer confidence back, not just people in new york, but the tri-state and get conferences back and get tourism back. it's all of these steps that impact our restaurants. a restaurant like red rooster in harlem, we have our locals and women people come from other places. but tourists and all the industries back are key. we take this july date with hope. we start to slowly see light at the end of the tunnel. but it's a long, long, long pathway. just because we open 100% does not mean these businesses are

out of the difficult times. this started another chapter. >> yeah, a long pathway, and you are helping people through it. thanks for your time this morning. speaking of inspiring, you can catch the nbc news special "inspiring america, the 2021 inspiration list" at 8:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow on nbc. an encore presentation at 10:00 p.m. eastern sunday right here on msnbc. thanks for watching this hour. a huge happy birthday to hallie jackson. up next, more news with my friend craig melvin. good friday morning to you. craig melvin here live from msnbc headquarters in new york city. my exclusive one on one interview with president joe biden. his only interview marking his 100th day in office. a wide ranging conversation touching on the pandemic, vaccines, whether america is a racist country and the role of government in