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report in our next hour, on the ground, and what some are describing as hell on earth. i'm going to talk to a doctor on the front lines of the covid battle in india. but we do want to begin here at home, and the turning tide in the battle against covid-19. as of this week, more than 100 million americans are fully vaccinated against coronavirus. and cases are finally on the decline. the news has revived hopes that we are approaching a turning point in this crisis. and even motivating some city and state leaders to announce reopening plans in the state of california, for instance, disneyland welcoming guests on friday. the park had never closed for more than one day in its entire 66-year history prior to this pandemic. meanwhile, on the east coast, mayor bill de blasio announcing this week new york city would fully open by july 1, joyfully declaring it the summer of new york city after more than a year of unprecedented loss. it's some of the most hopeful news we have had since january

of 2020. but with vaccine resistance intensifying, and variants spreading, is celebration premature? that's really the big question. with me to discuss is dr. anthony fauci, chief medical advisor to president joe biden and director of the u.s. national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. dr. fauci, welcome. thank you so much for joining us on this saturday afternoon. i want to start with the news out of new york city. mayor bill de blasio suggesting that the city will fully reopen by july 1, even as the rest of the state currently ranks third in the nation for covid cases. is this a realistic and safe timeline, dr. fauci? >> well, we're going to have to wait to see how things go. if we continue to vaccinate people in a steady manner, and by the time we get to july, we have the overwhelming proportion of the people vaccinated and the cases continue on the downward trend that they are now -- they're starting to come down from that high plateau of around

60,000 per day. if they continue to come down, that could be a reasonable projection but i wouldn't guarantee it and i wouldn't declare victory yet. i mean, that's a good thing to get people anticipating something that they've been wanting and longing for, for so long. that's not a bad thing. so long as it doesn't allow people to then all of a sudden say, we've won and pull back on the kind of public health measures that we know we have to implement according to the cdc guidelines. so, i have no trouble at all with people anticipating that we're going in the right direction and if we do certain things, get vaccinated, continue to follow public health measures, we may be where they want to be by july 1st. but i hope that doesn't get people to pull back on the kinds of things that they should be doing. >> you mentioned 60,000 cases per day. that's still a pretty huge

number to say the least. at what number can we be at for you to say that we are essentially in the clear? how many thousands of cases a day do we have to achieve in order to be in somewhat of a clear? >> you know, there is no specific number in a textbook that tells you that this is the number that you have to be, but my, you know, guesstimate would be, you'd have to be less than 10,000, somewhere between, you know, 5,000 to 10,000 at the highest. once you get into the 20,000 to 30,000 stuff, i'd like to see it well below 10,000. well below that. and then i would like to see, importantly, that a very large proportion of the population is vaccinated because those things are going to come simultaneously. there's no doubt about that. the one thing we know for sure is that the more people that you get vaccinated, the greater chance you get of things continually improving, numbers

continuing to go down. that's an absolute fact that we know that. we know that from experience with multiple other types of infectious diseases. that are respiratory borne or ones that are highly transmissible. when you get an overwhelming portion of the population vaccinated, that's where wept to be. what that number is going to be but i would make that guess, that estimate, i think it's a reasonable estimate. >> so you said that there's a turning point, really, around the corner in the next couple of weeks. could these premature openings derail that? >> well, i think if the openings themselves are premature, it certainly could derail that because we're in a precarious situation. right now, as i mentioned, we were at 60,000. the last week or two, the seven-day average has gone down to around 50 and we've had a couple of days of 30, 40, and then back up to 50, 60, but the seven-day average has gone down

about 20% or more, which is really good. so, it's going in the right direction. if all of a sudden you think that's so great that all -- people are going to be essentially disregarding all public health measures, or deciding they don't need to be vaccinated, two mistakes, i believe, if that happens, if people pull back on the need to get vaccinated or pull back on the public health measures, you could reverse that, and the reason is, we have a dominant strain in this country now that originated in the uk. it's called the b.1.1.7. no doubt, it transmits easier than the original strain we were dealing with, and it likely has a degree of greater pathogenicity, mainly it can make you more ill or get you into more serious consequences so it's something that you have to pay very strict attention to and take very seriously. we can defeat it, no doubt, because the vaccine works very well against this particular variant. there's no doubt about that.

it's all the more reason why we should be getting vaccinated. >> so, you bring up this idea of variants. and the eu announcing they're going to allow fully vaccinated americans to travel to the european union over the summer but there's variants all across the world and there seems to be a variant emerging in india where you're seeing a devastating situation unroll in front of us at this moment. how confident are we right now that the vaccines we have available to us here in the united states protect against all of these different variants? >> well, you know, when you say all of the variants, there may be variants that we haven't even identified yet, so that's the thing you have to be careful of, which is the reason why we say, over and over again, until a level of infection gets really, really low, you still have to implement public health measures, particularly indoors, even if you are vaccinated.

so, let's -- i mean, we could go through all the variants. there are several. the one that is very problematic is the one in south africa, the 3.5.1. we know that vaccines, particularly, for example, it's looked at in the field with j&j and we've looked at it in the test tube setting with the mrna vaccines, it diminishes somewhat the ability of the vaccine to protect, but it doesn't disappear. there's still enough cushion to prevent you from getting serious disease. so, you don't want to get any disease, but we know at least even with the worst of the variants that we're worried about. and then there are a number that are in the united states, home-grown variants, for example, the variants that are in california, the new york variants, the 5.2.6. it's diminished somewhat the ability of a vaccine to completely protect with that 94%, 95% protection but it doesn't disappear. it still gives you a cushion of protection. the one we don't know much about is the one that's in india, the

6.1.7. we do know that, in fact, that is causing a very, very serious problem, particularly in certain regions in india. we're working very hard right now to determine what the effect of our vaccines that induced antibodies are against this. there are some suggestions that it's going to be a problem, but we don't know that yet. we'll know that probably in another week or so. >> yeah, we're going to be digging more into the situation in india in just a little bit. dr. fauci, i want to talk to you about vaccine hesitancy. i myself was in mississippi just a couple weeks ago on reporting on vaccine hesitancy in rural communities, especially in a lot of black and brown communities. it is sky high in some of those areas which could prevent this country from reaching that level of herd immunity if it persists. what is being done on a national level to combat vaccine hesitancy? what needs to be done? >> well, there are two things that you can do, and they address various aspects of

hesitancy, because you know, there are subgroups of hesitancy. there's hesitancy because you don't really want to do it. there's hesitancy because you want to wait and see what others are doing and there's hesitancy maybe because there's more inaccessibility than there is hesitancy so the two things you do is you try to get what we call trusted messengers that can outreach to the people who have concern about getting vaccinated. there is a program that was started, this covid-19 community corps, which is giving information to literally thousands of people, groups of people. they could be sports figures, entertainment figures, importantly, clergy who can go out and interact with the community, people that the community trusts. that's one thing. the other thing is making it really easy for people to get vaccinated. right now, anybody can get vaccinated. there's no restrictions on priorities.

and what has happened now, the equity approach of the biden administration, the fact that you go out now and you have community vaccine centers, federally qualified health centers, you have pharmacies in areas that are poorly accessible to demographic groups so that they don't have to search around, they can easily get it, and you have mobile units that go out, particularly to those areas that are not serviced very well by the healthcare system. so, all of those things are going on right now. trusted messengers to give the message about why it's important to protect yourself, to protect your family, and to protect your community, and make it as easy as possible for people to get vaccinated. that's what's going on. >> can we quickly talk through the fda and cdc guidelines now when it comes to mask wearing outside as we talk about protective measures here? especially for folks that are living in more urban areas. when you walk outside, if you're fully vaccinated, either way, there's still going to be some sort of people around you. should you be wearing a mask at

that point, when, for instance, you're walking in the streets of new york city? >> no, if you are vaccinated, unless you are really going into a crowded situation, if you are outdoors and you are vaccinated, you do not need to wear a mask. if you want to go into a very crowded auditorium or a very crowded stadium, then it's advisable that you wear a mask but if you're outside just doing your thing and you're vaccinated, you don't need to be wearing a mask. >> as parents anticipate the next school year, dr. fauci, a lot of folks still have anxiety about school-age children, 5, 6, 7-year-old children not necessarily knowing when they're going to be able to get their vaccine come september. what is the timeline as of now from your standpoint as to when school age children will be able to get some sort of vaccine, some sort of shot in arm? >> yeah. well, i don't think we should say that unless the children, the younger children, elementary school, and middle school get vaccinated, that they can't go

to school. they need to go to school. whether they're vaccinated or not. we're doing a very good job of getting about 80% or so of the teachers that are vaccinated. high school kids, from 12 to 15, almost certainly are going to be vaccinated by the time we get to the fall term. when you're dealing with younger than the adolescent group, when you're dealing 12 and below, we're already in the process of doing clinical trials to determine the safety and the related immunogenicity, mainly, is it going to be the same as the adults and you go from children who are 12 years old down to 9, that looks good. you go from 9 to 6, if that looks good, you go from 6 to 2, and if that looks good, you go from 6 months to 2 years. we anticipate -- we've already started that. we anticipate that by the time we get to the end of the year, those younger children, at any age, will be able to be vaccinated but we need to make sure people don't say, we're not going to get the kids back to

school until all the children are vaccinated. absolutely not. you get the kids back to school, whether they're vaccinated or not. >> dr. fauci, before i let you go, i do want you to weigh in on joe rogan. he suggested this week, obviously, that young people do not need to get vaccinated. you chastised him for it, to say the least. he's now walked back his comments, saying that he, in fact, is not an expert. how frustrating is it for you for this misinformation to continue to spread about covid-19, especially when there are folks still out there saying it's a hoax? >> well, certainly, the people who say it's a hoax, it's just so terribly detrimental to the effort and that's going to be really causing lives. i was very pleased to see that mr. rogin did what he did in the sense of saying he really was not referring to or taking into account what i was saying, that vaccinating even young people is

important because they then do not allow the virus to spread from them to people who might be susceptible to a serious consequence. so, he did walk it back, and that was good. and i think that that shows that he has the flexibility to realize when you point something out to him, he said it, even, well, i wasn't thinking in that context, but now that i am, i certainly am not anti-vaccine. so, i would like to see when people do that, that they follow his example and say, you know, there is a point to what i was saying and pull back a bit. >> dr. anthony fauci, thank you so much for joining us on this saturday afternoon. very much appreciate it. >> good to be with you. thank you for having me. all right, still ahead, everybody, ten days of protests in rural north carolina after a judge blocked the release of body cam video in a deadly police shooting. the latest from elizabeth city. plus this. >> i'll break something really big later this afternoon in weehawken, new jersey.

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today in texas, voters are deciding who will replace republican representative ron wright who died in february from covid. he represented congressional district 6, which is just south of dallas. the district has traditionally been a solid red area, but

lately has become a bit of a battleground. the election is crowded with 11 republican candidates and 10 democrats. many election watchers are viewing this as a test for how voters are voting in special elections post-2020. and also rudy giuliani is on the defensive following a federal raid on his manhattan apartment earlier this week. while giuliani continues to deny any wrong doing, we know federal prosecutors are looking for communications that may suggest former ambassador marie yovanovitch was ousted because she was trying to stop corruption in ukraine. our lindsey reiser caught up with the former new york mayor outside his apartment in manhattan. lindsey, good to see you. what a place to be right now. tell us exactly what he said to you. >> reporter: hey, yasmin, good to be with you. our crew was here this morning, the only crew to talk to giuliani, and he said he was going to break some big news this afternoon in weehawken, new jersey. unfortunately, we have yet to hear when or if that is even going to happen.

we're working to get those details but let's go ahead and catch you up to speed. a doorman let fbi agents up here to his apartment wednesday morning, and rudy giuliani told tucker carlson on fox news that early in the morning, he heard banging on the door, seven or eight agents were there, they collected his electronics, but nbc news has also confirmed, as you mentioned, this is related to any possible evidence in that 2019 firing of the ambassador to ukraine, marie yovanovitch as well as any possible violations to the foreign agents registration act. giuliani's attorney says that this is essentially just thuggery at play. he says that giuliani hasn't committed any wrong doing, that he publicly denounced yovanovitch because in his view, she was undermining then president trump. let's go ahead and listen to giuliani in his own words last night on newsmax talking about some of the documents that he says were sensitive relating to his client, former president

trump. >> i've never heard of someone blatantly violating the attorney-client privilege that way, and basically, what they did, when they took all my documents from the icloud, they admitted that there was attorney-client privileged information there, and they decided on their own what they would use and what they wouldn't use. >> reporter: giuliani also says that he never needed to register as a foreign agent because he never acted as a foreign agent. he is calling the d.o.j. unethical and corrupt. meanwhile, our colleague, craig melvin, caught up with president biden this week and asked him, did you have any advance knowledge this was going to happen this week and he said, absolutely not. i found out at the same time that the public did. yasmin? >> all right, lindsey reiser for us, thank you. and by the way, you're going to want to stick around for our next hour. we're going to be talking about giuliani with glenn kirschner,

former federal prosecutor. also want to go to north carolina now where protests against the police shooting of andrew brown jr. and the withholding of the full body cam video of his death have stretched into they 11th day. sam brock is in elizabeth city, north carolina, for us. do we have any update, sam, on if and when the public could actually get access to this police footage? >> reporter: yasmin, good to be with you as well. it's going to be a minimum of three weeks before anyone in the public is going to get a chance to view the body cam footage. that's courtesy of a judge court order that came on wednesday, basically saying that for at least 30 days, you would not see the release of the body cam footage to the public, that the family did have a right to see it within ten days of his ruling, and yasmin, that comes as there's going to be dialed up pressure going on this week. tomorrow is the viewing for andrew brown jr. then on monday, it's the funeral that is going to include the reverend al sharpton and his remarks. all of this right now against the backdrop of protests and some arrests, yasmin.

moments ago, we heard from folks who were arrested this past week simply for violating curfew, which originally was 8:00 p.m. that has been extended to midnight but their point was, there's no threat of violence here. there's no disturbing the peace. they were just exercising their constitutional rights, and yet were still arrested anyway. here's a portion of their message and their pain. >> they seem to be instigating the citizens, escalating the tension, rather than de-escalating and making sure that we can remain peaceful. we can't keep telling people, be peaceful, but we're going to keep killing you. >> when i was out there in front of all those police, all that riot gear, i'm not going to lie. i thought i was going to die tonight. i thought i was going to at least get beat up a little bit. i was expecting to get tased, maced, pepper sprayed. they threatened to fire non-lethal tactical ammunition at us.

those same procedures could have used to serve that warrant on andre brown. >> reporter: and yasmin, a question was posed at the very beginning of that press conference, why is it that the white shooter in boulder, colorado, or dylann roof in south carolina committed mass atrocities and they were apprehended alive but there are black men across the country being killed every single day during routine policework or in this case a search and arrest warrant for andrew brown jr. that question was put out there. expect there to be hundreds of folks out here tomorrow for the viewing and certainly for the funeral the following day. yasmin? >> a very important question at that. sam brock for us in elizabeth city, thank you, sam. coming up, everybody, the beginning of the end of america's longest war. details on a troop drawdown finally under way in afghanistan. plus, thousands rally in washington to pressure the president to act on immigration. can this administration succeed where others have failed? or is reform still out of reach? we'll be right back. we'll be right bk.ac

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welcome back, everybody. a day of demonstrations in washington, d.c., demanding swift immigration reform from the biden administration is just starting to wind down. the rally comes just days after the president urged congress to work together and pass his immigration proposal amid a surge in migrants legally crossing the border. nbc's julia ainsley is on the ground for us. great to see you this afternoon. talk us through what you have been hearing from protesters there as the protest is getting under way. >> reporter: yeah, yasmin, so, this protest behind me is just breaking down but we did see what police estimated to be about 1,500 people gathered here in washington today. they met at the white house, walked down pennsylvania avenue to right behind me in front of the capitol, making their pleas known to the president and to congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, even though a lot of the heat, the pressure has been on what's happening at

the border, these are people who are essential workers who have been here during the pandemic, many of them have been here decades, and want protections to know that they have some kind of certainty to keep living in the united states. some of them are undocumented. some of them want temporary protected status. others are dreamers, like one woman that i talked to, fatima, who told me this story. >> oh, definitely, every day, not knowing what's going to happen if they decide not to act on this big issue. it affects me. i don't want to live anywhere else. i've lived here for more than 15 years, so i don't see myself anywhere else but here. >> reporter: so, you can see fatima really wants something to be passed here to have a permanent daca fix or to have comprehensive immigration reform because right now, life is pretty uncertain for her, even though she was able to go to college with the -- with daca given to her as executive order under president obama.

that's been a question. as we know, there have been supreme court cases challenging daca. she also says not enough. president biden just focuses on dreamers and not on undocumented immigrants, because people like her parents, who are essential workers in the food industry, could be deported, so i think that's the message i'm really taking home today from speaking to all these people that it's about families and just because one law might fit one person, they want to protect an entire family. otherwise, they say, they're looking at family separation again if some of them are deported. >> all right, julia ainsley for us, thank you. i want to get to the latest on a tragedy out of israel that involves several americans. we are learning more details about a deadly stampede that killed at least 45 people during a religious festival. at least four u.s. citizens were among the casualties. prime minister benjamin netanyahu said children were also among those crushed to death. president biden reacted to the news saying in part, this. the loss of life among

worshippers practicing their faith is heartbreaking. and ten years ago today, this is where joe biden was, sitting next to then president barack obama during the raid that killed osama bin laden and now ten years later, it is the beginning of the end of america's longest war. the u.s. military has begun its withdrawal from afghanistan and deployed additional troops and equipment to protect forces during the drawdown, which is expected to be completed by september 11th. i want to bring in christopher hill, former u.s. ambassador to iraq, south korea, poland, and macedonia. he's also an msnbc diplomacy expert. ambassador, thanks for joining us on this. really appreciate it. i want to talk about troop levels and kind of paint the picture for folks as to the significance of the number of americans that were actually stationed in afghanistan. 2,500 u.s. troops up until yesterday, essentially, were in afghanistan with a few hundred special forces. that is a relatively small presence on this scale.

what role were they and are they currently playing? >> well, the size of that troop contingent is relatively small for the size of afghanistan, so clearly, what they have been engaged in is mainly a training mission to try to get the afghan forces ready to handle all the aspects of the conflict. it's going to be tough, however. the u.s. has provided a lot of strategic direction, especially on the military side, and it's going to be very tough to kind of hand this over to the afghans and expect success, but i think the feeling is if not now, then when? it's been a long, long time. >> you've got artillery and additional forces there to protect even this drawdown. they have sent in more troops to protect the troops that are actually leaving. how difficult of a process is this? how dangerous of a process? >> yeah, the military has a lot of experience with this sort of

thing, and planning, preparing for troop withdrawals, whether in afghanistan or iraq or even back in the balkans. it's a very tough process, and you do see an increase in the number of troops as they get ready to pull these troops out, and one shouldn't be surprised if the -- if the taliban tries to take pot shots at them, no doubt we are ready for that. but there's going to be an upsurge in violence as the troops pull out and the taliban wants to kind of paint a picture that they drove us out of there as opposed to our making a political decision that it was time to leave. >> so you bring up the taliban. obviously, there is this idea that the taliban, al qaeda, even isis could fill the vacuum. they could fill the void. they will gain power as america begins to draw down. in an interview, we have al qaeda operatives telling cnn war against the united states will be continuing unless they are expelled from the rest of the islamic world. >> first of all, i don't think

all the taliban are in that kind of ilk, but to be sure, there is a -- first of all, there are a lot of differences within the taliban and i wouldn't be surprised if you don't see factions fighting with each other if that hasn't already begun. but i think their real focus will be to try to show that they did something, that they affected this, and i think it's -- they're really going to come after the afghan security courses. they are a capable force. i think we need to give our own troops a lot of credit for the training packages that we've introduced there. but i think for the american public, it's going to be a little surprising to see the degree of violence that will be going on. we are not going to have a sort of departure from vietnam where we're on the embassy roof or something. i mean, they have done a very good job of protecting kabul. the problem is protecting the countryside and making sure the countryside is handled by the afghan government.

and i think the taliban will try to paint a picture as they increase the number of checkpoints. i don't think it's unfair to say every afghan kid grows up wanting to own his own checkpoint so we're going to see a lot of that stuff going on. and i think the issue for the government, the afghan government, will be to try to show it's in charge of something besides kabul. >> all right, ambassador christopher hill for us. thank you, ambassador. appreciate it. still ahead, everybody, go big or go bipartisan. how lessons learned in the obama administration are shaping president biden's approach to his agenda. after the break, robert gibbs, obama's former white house secretary, joins me live with an inside perspective. we'll be right back. live with an inside perspective we'lbel right back. 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 that can guide an astronaut back to safety. and help make a hospital come to you,

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why tax and spend so much when the economy is still recovering as a result of the pandemic? >> that's the reason why it's recovering, because we're investing. look how rapidly it's recovered since we passed the last piece of legislation. and that legislation 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. >> let's talk about that investment and the money the president wants to spend, reflecting on his big economic plans there in an exclusive interview with nbc news. to discuss biden's first 100 days, i want to bring in robert gibbs, former white house press

secretary for president obama and an msnbc political analyst. robert, thank you for joining us on this. can we talk some dollars and cents here? and some of the takeaways, of course, that president biden has taken from the obama white house. $1.9 trillion, that was the rescue plan that he subsequently passed. he's got two other plans in the works, a $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, a $1.8 trillion families plan. these are major price tags, which we full well know republicans are not on board with. what is the likelihood the two remaining plans are going to get passed, and what do you suspect is the strategy here for the biden white house to get it done? >> yeah, great questions. look, i think they actually have a very good chance of getting a lot of this, if not all of this passed over the next four months. i think there are enough votes, albeit slim majorities, obviously in the house and senate, but i think where

there's a will, there's a way, and i do believe, as you heard president biden talk about there, there is a need for investment in this country, both in creating new jobs, but in also helping people deal with the situations that covid has laid bare, whether it's child poverty, whether it's getting ahead in education. so, i think there's an impetus for increased investment, and i think that's what joe biden is trying to take advantage of right now with these two ideas. >> it seems like there's a go big or go home mentality coming out of the biden white house and i'm wondering if it all has to do with what he saw happen to the obama white house, and that was a relief bill that respectively wasn't enough at that time and then biden delivering a $1.9 trillion relief bill on his watch, followed by losing control of the house two years into an obama term. is biden, in a way, kind of reflecting and running with

this, with some of the plans that he's proposed and what he's trying to get done in the first two years of his presidency in >> i think there's no doubt. i mean, look, i think history would show, too, that the first two years of any administration, whether it's a four-year administration or an eight-year administration, those first two years are the years in which you're going to get most done, and look at what the obama administration did in the first two years. you mentioned the economic stimulus act, financial reform, and obviously, obamacare was done in those first two years so i think president biden understands that he has majorities in both houses now, albeit as i said slim, but he has majorities. he has the ability to get these things done. and you don't know what the congressional make-up will look like in years three and four in this administration. so, i think understanding, again, the need and necessity to go big but also understand that the clock is always ticking on a

presidency. >> let's talk about the communications strategy here, right, because this is a president who said he was going to be a bipartisan president. he was going to be able to reach across the lines. he had the relationships in place with the time that he spent in washington throughout his career. and if americans are to reflect on something like that, they would see that as literally joe biden sitting down with mitch mcconnell and sharing a beer or a cup of coffee and coming up with a deal. that's not happening. especially in this day and time. instead, it seems as if the white house is reflecting on bipartisanship through the american public by saying they are being bipartisan with support from republicans that they didn't necessarily have in the first place. do you think this was their plan going in, and is it a smart move? >> well, look, i'd say a couple different things. first of all, i think there's -- if you look at the plans that have been outlined, if you look at the stimulus bill, you know, checks in the pockets of the american people or the

infrastructure plan, you've got big bipartisan majorities that think we ought to do that. those -- congressional make-up notwithstanding, the american people are supportive of these ideas, and i think that's what president biden understands, and i think that's why president biden is going so big. these are things that are supported by the american people. congress just simply isn't reflected -- reflective of where those majorities are in the united states. and i think that's why you will see him continue to seek to get a bipartisan infrastructure plan through. he's going to continue to talk to and meet with republicans as he should and as others have, certainly we did in the obama administration, but i think he understands that if the impetus to act on what the american people want isn't in republicans in congress, then he will go it alone as it relates to elected

officials. >> well, what about unity in his own party, robert? really quickly here, the man manchins of the world, how much should the biden administration give to maintain unity in the democratic party to get things across the finish line? >> well, look, 50 senators in the democratic party is -- means that any of those that you just mentioned become essentially the instant majority leader, and so i think there's no doubt that he's going to have to work with senator manchin or senator sinema or others to get 50 votes. that's what you have to do to get this stuff passed. >> robert gibbs, thank you as always. great to see you on a saturday afternoon. love the flowers over the left shoulder, by the way. very spring. >> thank you. still ahead, everybody, back to business, the big apple gets ready to fully reopen this summer, a look at the timeline of what has been a long road to recovery.

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projection, but i wouldn't guarantee it and i wouldn't declare victory yet. i have no trouble at all with people anticipating that we're going in the right direction and if we do certain things, get vaccinated, continue to follow public health measures, we may be where they want to be by july 1st. but i hope that doesn't get people to pull back on the kinds of things that they should be doing. >> that was dr. anthony fauci speaking just a short time ago right here on this show about new york city's timeline to reopen. i want to bring in nbc's cori coffin here to discuss possible reopening of new york city, fully reopen, hopefully, by july 1st as the mayor put it. what is the latest that you're hearing so far, cori, on the reopening plans in the city? >> reporter: yeah, to fauci's point, yasmin, there are still going to be some mask requirements when it comes to indoors. people out here are still urged to listen to the cdc's

guidelines, which, if the number of people out here is any indication, you can tell how they are taking this news. this means a lot to this city, but we have seen fewer people out here wearing masks, as indicated from the cdc. i would say about half the people now in a city that takes this thing very seriously. now, to fauci's point, though, not everybody is confident in that july 1st timeline, yasmin. city leaders are saying that we just need to urge caution, and governor cuomo also publicly butted heads with mayor bill de blasio about the timeline. in fact, cuomo went the opposite direction. he thinks possibly the city could be open sooner but he didn't want to give a timeline and he took a few shots with it as well. listen in here. >> july 1. you have may, you have june. you know, what happens in may? what happens in june? i would like to get the reopening hopeful, hopeful reopening date before that. >> i really do disagree with the governor on some very important

matters, and i think, and i have been clear about it, he should not remain in office after the things that he has done. but that doesn't change the mission. the mission is to get this city fully reopened, our healthcare team work to determine what was the date that we could do it the right way. they believe in july 1stment. >> reporter: cuomo saying he thought it was irresponsible to put a specific date on it, but whether you, you know, the state can supercede the city, yasmin, but whether it's that july 1st timeline or maybe sooner as cuomo wants it, what will open it 100% capacity. we're talking restaurants, we're talking hair salons, gyms, all of the quintessential things that have been closed in this city for so long. and listen, it's outside, you know, it's a beautiful day, you can see how many people are out here. this, to me, looks like pre-pandemic level activity, so i do think this announcement has already had an impact on the city. we'll see if we actually get to july 1 for full reopening for new york city.

>> that is a packed sheep's meadow to say the least on a beautiful new york city day. cori coffin for us, thank you. good to see you. coming up in our next hour, everybody, we are off to the races. crowds return to the kentucky derby with covid restrictions in place. we're live in louisville with what this event means for the city. plus the war on voting from recounts based on the big lie to empowering poll watchers, inside the gop's strategy to secure the vote and hell on earth. i'm going to be joined by a doctor from the front lines in india as the devastation from this pandemic reaches unseen levels. pandemic reaches unseen levels seeing blood when you brush or floss can be a sign of early gum damage. new parodontax active gum repair kills plaque bacteria at the gum line to help keep the gum seal tight. new parodontax active gum repair toothpaste. you could take your ulcerative colitis treatment in a different direction. talk to your doctor about xeljanz, a pill,

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. growing legal scrutiny for two of former president trump's most vocal supporters, rudy giuliani and congressman matt gaetz. in the giuliani case, increased scrutiny on ousted u.s. ambassador marie yovanovitch and what role rudy may have played on forcing her out. plus, later this hour, a sham recount in arizona, a new restrictive voting law in florida, we're going to look at why president biden's most important battle in congress might be a law that could change all of that. also this hour, we have a special report on what may be the most dangerous place in the world right now. we're going to take you on the ground in the covid catastrophe in india. i'm going to talk to a doctor fighting every single day a

growing crisis and exploding death toll. that's coming up. but we do want to start with a growing controversy surrounding rudy giuliani. this week, a major escalation in the federal investigation of the former trump lawyer. the fbi raided giuliani's apartment this week and seized electronic devices. wnbc investigative reporter jonathan dean said this. one key avenue in the giuliani investigation involves seeking evidence related to giuliani's efforts to have then u.s. ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch removed from her position and whether those efforts violated the foreign agents registration act. federal authorities are right now believed to be scouring the confiscated devices for communications from giuliani about the ambassador just before she was ousted in april of 2019. giuliani, of course, is fighting back, saying the search of his apartment was, in fact, illegal. watch this. >> i can tell you, i never, ever represented a foreign national. i can prove it.

just give me