o need computers. and sometimes the hardest thing about homework is finding a place to do it. so why not hook community centers up with wifi? for kids like us, and all the amazing things we're gonna learn. over the next 10 years, comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million low-income americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything. i hope you're ready. 'cause we are. it's good to see you. i'm jeff bennet in for my friend katy tur. as we come on the air this afternoon, the state of the nation is turning into a state of confusion for some. let's underline at the top this great news, the surprise announcement from the cdc giving the green light for vaccinated people to finally rip off their masks indoor and out. it was a watershed moment in this pandemic.

remember this graphic from the cdc that caught some flak for being confusing? that right side is now updated for vaccinated folks. go anywhere you want, do anything you want, reclaim your lives. and there's more good news today. pfizer's ceo says evidence shows the vaccine protects against all variants so far, and 12 to 15-year-olds are now getting the shot, giving the overall percentage of americans vaccinated a shot in the arm. but what about kids who are still too young for the vaccine? and here's another issue. the cdc issues guidance and recommendations, but it's state and local governments who issue those mask mandates and some are lifting restrictions while others are taking a wait and see approach. individual businesses can issue their own mask mandates. a whole lot of them say they'll continue to require masks. others say they're reviewing or evaluating the guidance. >> if you go into a place and the fact is you very likely will

not know if you go into a restaurant or a store or any other place in the public indoors, you're not going to know who is vccinated or not. but we felt that, all things considered, given the high degree of effectiveness of the vaccines that you're okay to do that because your risk is very, very low. >> here's a question. what happens if people walk into a store without a mask, the store person says, hey, put on a mask, and they say, dr. fauci says i don't have to wear one anymore. they want you to wear masks on planes and airports until at least mid-september. we'll talk about all of this with news correspondent gadi schwartz in los angeles, and university of chicago vice provost dr.ie ezekiel emanuel.

there were experts who wanted to see that number move up a little bit before they took the next step. what's your opinion? is this the right call for the cdc at this time? >> i think it was the right call. i think it's a little confusing, and i think without an immunity passport, a vaccine passport, as people are calling it, it creates some confusion. if you could walk into a store and flash a qr code into a machine and it would say you've been vaccinated, that would make, i think, a lot more safety and reassurance to people. as dr. fauci said, your risk if you're vaccinated is very low. but let's remember, it's not zero. your risk for symptomatic infection is about 97%. 3% of the people will get something. and asymptomatic infection is only 86%.

and we don't know the long-term consequences of these infections. as we know from baseball, not all vaccines are perfect. this, i think, creates some confusion and problems without the vaccine passport. >> well, on this vaccine passport issue, how would that work? in my day job covering the white house, i've asked about that, and the response is they say the biden administration won't have a role in this, they believe it belongs to the private sector, that's a private sector issue. how would that work? >> if you leave it to the private sector, maybe one sport will have one version, another state will have another version, an airline will have a version. that will be a mess unless they can communicate, and setting that up rather rapidly for the people who have gotten vaccinated, i think, is a problem. there are 154 million americans who have been vaccinated with at

least one dose, and i think being able to differentiate those people from people who haven't been vaccinated is going to remain important. i think this is an area where there could be a lot of frustration, unfortunately. >> so that's definitely a work in progress. gadi schwartz, to you, my friend, in los angeles. you have about 60% of people who are vaccinated. give us a sense of how people are feeling and what they're saying in los angeles. >> reporter: jeff, it feels great, but if there was celebration for ripping off that mask, it was very short lived, because here in los angeles county, the situation gets a little bit more confusing, a little bit more complex. some people are under the impression that masks are still required. most people don't think they need to wear one outside, but if you go into an establishment, you must wear one.

most people here are still wearing their masks. it's something of a political statement. they've gone through the pandemic here in studio city and los angeles, if you don't wear a mask, people are going to argue with you. they're going to ask you to put a mask on and there is going to be confrontation. so we've gone from not wearing a mask, meaning you don't take this seriously, to not wearing a mask because you're fully vaccinated. it gets more confusing for business owners, because business owners, as it stand, cal osha hasn't weighed in on what's happening with these vaccines. you own a shop here, what do you think about this kind of conflicting message we're hearing from the cdc and the county of los angeles. >> i think we're headed in the right direction. we're about to move on from this mask situation. >> reporter: how long do you think it will be before people who are fully vaccinated take off their masks and go about

their day? >> i don't know. as far as my customers, i've been seeing them come in and they say they can take their masks off because they're fully vaccinated. >> reporter: what we're expecting the next few days, next week, in fact, cal osha is going to take those guidelines into consideration. but as it stands right now, l.a. county, if you're going to work or a grocery store or a place of business where you're indoors, even if you're vaccinated, you still have to wear a mask. but outdoors in public, if you're around other people, if you're fully vaccinated and you're not in a super crowded place, you're allowed to take off your mask. >> that's a common sense rule that i think a lot of people understand. samara, over to you in chicago, you're talking to restaurant patrons and not everybody is on board with going without a mask. what's the deal?

>> reporter: it's that same state of confusion, jeff. this is a great district in chicago, lots of restaurants on the streets with lots of activity. they put out a statement saying they support the cdc guidance but the restaurant saying they haven't received specific guidance from the restaurant association. the city saying they're going to revise the executive order but that hasn't been done yet. the corner starbuck's says they'll be keeping those mandates in place, a lot of independent businesses doing the same. i spoke to the owner here to get a sense of what she's saying as for customers wearing masks, and she says they're keeping some of the current mandates in place. >> we're going to enforce it just so our customers feel more comfortable about diario la prensa -- dining in. there are people that don't require it and people that want to be on the safe side.

>> reporter: here in chicago, just about 40% of people have been fully vaccinated, still tricky to get those vaccination appointments. today actually marks the expansion of the city's vaccine exemption program, so when you're talking about the idea of vaccine passports, basically in chicago they're expanding capacity, and they're saying anybody who is fully vaccinated doesn't pass that capacity. how do you know if someone is fully vaccinated? restaurants not getting that guidance of knowing, can they ask people? do they need that proof of vaccination? there is a lot of hesitancy as we're looking at the chicago mayor's goal of fully reopening by july, jeff. >> what about kids at the age of 12. dr. fauci said by the end of the year, vaccinations could be ready for that age group. but there are best practices for kids wearing masks, and i guess practical practices. are we expecting young kids to

have to wear masks through the end of the year when their parents, who are fully vaccinated, don't have to? >> that is one of the confusing areas, and actually just before the show, i was reading the cdc guidance and it's not clear on that, and i think that is one of the big challenges. if i take my kid into a grocery store, as a parent, do i have to have them wear a mask? i do think, again, the risk of infection and the risk of symptomatic infection in kids is low, and that makes it easier, but i think where they can wear a mask or indoors and not be vaccinated, that's probably going to be important. and i would urge all parents who have kids 12 and above to get them vaccinated. that will just make their summer a whole lot better as well. >> absolutely. that's great advice as always.

dr.ie ezekiel emanuel and sahara barrett, thank you. the department of education is calling for schools to fully reopen. >> we must open schools in the fall for in-person learning and support. we must keep them open fully and safely, five days a week. >> better late than never, i suppose, with that announcement. according to exclusive new reporting from heidi przybola, schools are so concerned that they've invested in air filtration.

please welcome heidi. heidi, you spoke to a teacher about those devices. what is her concern? >> reporter: she is one of the experts who penned this letter who said most of these devices don't have scientific research behind them. they could be somewhat effective, but they could also be releasing chemicals into the ozone. they're trying to make these difficult decisions about how to reopen safely. they're well-intentioned, they want to protect their students, but they're making bad decisions. take a listen to what she told me. >> most recently they told us two important pieces of information. the first one, these devices are at best ineffective, and they can be harmful to the indoor environment, specifically to our kids. we talk about a level of

compounds. one of them extremely important is formaldehyde. our kids would be subject to these devices every hour of the day, every day of their school life. so parents should be informed. >> reporter: now, the companies, jeff, insist that they're safe, but there is no peer review data to back that up. in the meantime, according to our reporting and kaiser news, who has looked into this, this is happening in hundreds, if not thousands, of schools. the parents, they just want these devices disabled until we can get that information about what exactly is going on with whether they're actually even safe given some of these reactive chemicals that are sent out into the air. that is what distinguishes this from a traditional hepa filter, that they're actually releasing into the air. >> that teacher said it emits formaldehyde. that's stunning.

israel deploying ground forces in another day of violence. and migrant children to go to sponsors instead left overnight in buses. stefanik to take the place of liz cheney, winning the gop. >> i would like to thank president trump. he is an important part of the team. he is an important part of the team nobody builds 5g like verizon builds 5g

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we've got breaking news coming in right now about that guilty plea from an associate republican congressman matt gaetz of florida. pete williams is going through the document. pete, what is joel greenberg admitting to and what, if anything, could it mean for matt gaetz? >> he'll plead guilty on monday, and we have the court documents which outlines what he'll plead to. i think, number one, it shows

the value the government thinks he may have. he was originally facing 33 separate counts. he has agreed to plead guilty to six of them. according to what he's agreed to plead guilty to, he used a website to identify women who he later paid to have sex with him and others, the documents say. they don't name who the others are. it says from december of 2016 to december of 2018 he paid more than $70,000 in 150 separate transactions for sex, and that one of them was under 18 for part of that time, part of the time that he paid her for sex acts, quote, with him and others, again others not named. it says that she had an account on the website in which she represented she was an adult, and the charging documents also say other men who greenberg introduced the minor to engaged in commercial sex act with a minor in his presence when the minor was under the age of 18.

the other counts he's agreed to plead guilty to are fraud and creating phony i.d.s. number one, i think it shows the value that the government thinks he has. number two, it's been the suggestion of people following this case that greenberg can implicate matt gaetz. gaetz has maintained he never had any kind of sexual relations with a minor as an adult, and any suggestion he was involved in this is untrue. but as part of this plea agreement, greenberg has agreed to cooperate with the investigators and testify before any court proceedings or any grand jury proceedings, so clearly, this is not a good development for matt gaetz, whether it will result in charges. who knows, but it's certainly a complicated development for him. >> pete, thanks as always. it is official.

elise stafinik is now the third ranking republican in the house. >> my focus is on unity because that's what the american people and our voters deserve. i also want to thank this leadership team. i look forward to working with them in partnership shoulder to shoulder to make sure we're fighting on behalf of hard-working americans. i also want to thank president trump for his support. he is a critical part of our republican team. >> the new york congresswoman won a secret ballot vote overwhelmingly this morning after receiving donald trump's endorsement. she replaces liz cheney who was ousted after her refusal to support the big lie that he really won the 2020 election. with this change, house republicans have removed any doubt about trump's role in their party's future. with me now is correspondent garrett haake and chairman and political analyst michael steele. what is the dynamic in the house

gop right now, garrett? >> reporter: i think it's coalescing that donald trump will remain their leader. we heard that in stefanik's press conference. here she is about leadership in the republican party right now. >> that voters determine a leader of their republican party and president trump is the leader that they look to. i support president trump, voters support president trump. he is an important voice in our republican party, and we look forward to working with him. >> reporter: that's going to be the guiding ethos for at least house republicans as they head into 2022, and it's interesting. all of the house leadership team was elected in 2020, even when former president trump was not. if you're looking at who the voters chose, that's a different thing, but the republicans have clearly decided that their opportunity to retake the majority next year comes and goes with donald trump.

stefanik completes that picture. liz cheney is not going away, but she's no longer going to be standing up there at the leadership conferences deviating from that message. >> michael steele, for all the talk this past week about how the gop was in disarray and in chaos, the republican party across the country is in many ways ascended. i wish this wasn't an original thought, but it was actually jeff greenfield who wrote about this this morning. he said the republican party has the structural advantage in the house, the senate, the electoral college. the republican party controls redistricting in many states, and you have many who are pushing voter suppression. give us a sense of this disconnect, what's happening in washington and what's happening across the country, and to garrett's point that donald trump is the center of it as republicans see it. >> he is the center that republicans believe, unlike myself and others who believe a

party shouldn'tbeholden to one other individual. what jeff said really makes the point. but here's the rub. people still have to vote. you can have all the infrastructure in the world politically as we saw in 2020, and in 2018, you still have to convince voters to vote for what you're saying and what you're selling. what you saw with stefanik was republicans got, at least the leadership got what they wanted, someone who will not deviate from the message, who will go out and continue to say, when asked at my point in time, that donald trump was cheated in this election, that, you know, the big lie is a real thing. so that's what they wanted. now the test comes, even with all those structural advantages that you've laid out, how do you translate that into votes? because you had that structural advantage in georgia and you

lost. and so voters still have the final say here. no matter what you think the structure is, voters ultimately have the say. and don't just buy into this idea that because they're changing all these laws around the country that somehow voters are just going to stay home and go, well, it takes me now an extra hour to go to the voting polls. they'll just pack another hour into their day and plan to be there. there is a lot more that's going on nationally, you're absolutely right, than what you may see in washington, but i wouldn't misread it to think that all of it is an advantage, because voters still have the final say. >> gotcha. and, garrett, while we have you, i want to talk about something else happening on capitol hill. you've got these new confrontations between congresswoman marjorie taylor greene and at least a couple democrats. what is going on with this? >> reporter: jeff, i couldn't say -- i don't say this to be cute or clever, but i think this

is trolleying by marjorie greene. she's trying to punch up for attention by trying to engage in debates with democratic members who get the attention that she seeks. that's been alexandria ocasio-cortez. eric swalwell, the governor from california. i'll have her explain what going on here. here's a little are each of the members of congress. >> she clearly needs some help. i think the fixation has lasted several years now. at this point i think the depth of that unwellness has made its

way to other members as well, and i think this is an assessment that needs to be made by the proper professionals. >> there is nothing with me pushing things out there, asking questions, pushing for a debate. that's exactly what i should be doing to represent my district. >> so, jeff, i'm reticent to devote too much time to covering this except for the fact there are now an increasing number of democratic members who are concerned about taylor greene's behavior. there has been talk about referring her to the ethics committee or a possible censure. it's not clear how far these conversations will go, but conversations between staffers and members like we heard about today, and some offing might be in order in sometime in the future. >> she sees it as a security

issue. my thanks to you both. up next, the president will meet with d.r.e.a.m.ers at the white house. what do they want to hear? one of them joins me next. the going rate to get a pipeline back online is a cool $500,000 in bitcoin. could this entice other hackers? we'll talk about it, coming up. ? we'll talk about it, coming up we are hoping things will pick up by q3. yeah...uh... doug? [ding] never settle with power e*trade. it has easy-to-use tools and some of the lowest prices.

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♪♪ today the white house is promising an immediate investigation on documentation of minors kept in buses overnight. they exclusively record that children who had crossed the border alone was waiting to be met with sponsors, eating and going to the bathroom on these buses. one told me a 15-year-old waited on a bus for days before making a trip to seattle. joining us is news correspondent dasha burns. dasha, as you know, there are more than 20,000 unaccompanied minor children in u.s. custody, and the number one concern has been safety. give us a sense. how did this happen? >> reporter: well, jeff, that's exactly what the white house and health and human services say they're investigating. how exactly did this happen here in this parking lot, which as

you can see at this point, is now empty, no more buses. but you can still see fresh tire tracks from when this lot was packed with buses filled with minor children. this was supposed to be a place where buses would wait to fill up with enough kids going in a certain direction to depart, but the owner tells us sometimes these buses would be parked here for 24 hours, that when he would go to clean them everily four hours, sometimes overfilled bathrooms. according to one of the family we spoke with, we know that at least one child, 15 years old, was stuck on a parked bus for four days. and they say there were other children in the same circumstance, they weren't allowed to get a shower or be given a change of clothes. i spoke to a mother. they asked us to use first names

of the family. they said they were supposed to pick up the child, joel, on monday in washington. monday came and went with no word until finally joel, the 15-year-old, was able to get ahold of a cell phone from another child on the bus and tell his family what was happening. i want you to hear. take a listen. >> i never imagined another kid would go through this situation because it's definitely not difficult. there hasn't been any peace. overnight doris couldn't sleep because she's been so scared of the situation. >> reporter: health and human services saying they're going to work to make sure this doesn't happen again. safety of children is their priority. as i'm talking to advocates, like dr. amy cohen who is working with the family, saying

this is not an isolated incident, that this is just one example of a system that has broken down, jeff. >> dasha burns, thank you for that meaningful reporting. in about 30 minutes, president biden will meet with six d.r.e.a.m.ers in the white house. the president has called on congress to act on legislation, including document resip yints. joining me from the white shouse moo -- maria fraley. thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me? >> what's it like living in the shadows that d.r.e.a.m.ers often use? >> i came to this country when i was five years old. i'm now 24. i played basketball in high school, clarinet in high school.

the country and i fell in love and forged strong relationships. it's so weird to feel american yet know my future is not secure or certain. we're here today to meet with the president because he's decided to prioritize and help this issue. he's willing to help people like me to citizenship, and donald trump signed a bill that would not have helped someone like me. >> president biden agrees with your position, but what do you hope comes from your meeting today? >> i hope it is a clear signal to congress that they need to prioritize this issue. no more playing games. it has been over three decades

since we passed any kind of meaningful immigration legislation. president biden is prioritizing this. we need congress to act. we need senate to act and pass legislation that would finally, finally, after over three decades be able to make a pathway for citizenship for young americans like myself. >> in terms of the top priority in the overall legislation, what's the one or two things in that bill that you really need to give yourself the sort of sense of security that you deserve? >> ultimately, i think any legislation should have a pathway to citizenship, but we know the immigration system is very complex and the whole thing needs reforming. but let's start with the fact that the house has already passed two bills, the d.r.e.a.m.ers act, which would protect undocumented citizens, and the daca a for farmworkers.

it has passed the house with a bipartisan vote, now let's bring it up in the senate, let's vote on it and leet finally get protection for folks who are integral members of our communities. >> maria praeli, you're heading into the white house to speak to the president, so good luck for your cause. this could help friends and families a lot, help with their bills. the fcc is launching a new program with millions of students schooling virtually and at home. this would bring about the largest affordability program ever launched called the emergency broadband benefit program. joining me for her first tv interview is acting chairwoman jessica rosen warsel. thank you for joining me this afternoon. i understand millions of people

are eligible. you have, what, 825,000 service providers who can take advantage of this. >> thank you for having me examine also describing it so well, because this needs to be for everyone everywhere. folks who face job losses rely on medicaid, snap, or kids at school are all eligible for this program. it provides $50 a month in support. the amount goes up to $75 a month on tribal lands to help those households get connected and stay. you had an independent group that was facing wi-fi dwitz all

arnld. it meant that none of the schools could do remote schooling. >> we have to commit to the idea that we're going to commit to households. every household should have clean water, electricity and broadband. the economic crisis in job loss that we've seen in the last year, this program will help get those families back online and connected for education, work, job opportunities, health care and more. >> so for people who might not be signing up? >> i'm glad you asked. we have websites that are get emergency broadband.

there are lots of tools that organizations can get the word out and help get more people in this country online. >> as acting fec secretary, i have to ask about robocalls. i had a robocall into the studio today, someone asking to put the kibosh. it balm far more common. now i think it's up to the fc cl and the government as a whole to double down on all the tools. we have initiated the biggest ever for robocalls, we've got new tools. we should all be able to pick up the phone and answer calls

without worrying about a scammer being on the other side. >> doctor, thank you so much for your time. the horse racer is set to race tomorrow from pimlico. richard engel live from tel aviv, up next. m tel aviv, up next. trust us, us kids are ready to take things into our own hands. don't think so? hold my pouch. this is andy, my schwab financial consultant. here's andy listening to my goals and making plans. this is us talking tax-smart investing, managing risk, and all the ways schwab can help me invest. this is andy reminding me how i can keep my investing costs low and that there's no fee to work with him. here's me learning about schwab's satisfaction guarantee. accountability, i like it. so, yeah.

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not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider if cologuard is right for you. when our daughter and her kids moved in with us... our bargain detergent couldn't keep up. turns out it's mostly water. so, we switched back to tide. one wash, stains are gone. daughter: slurping don't pay for water. pay for clean. it's got to be tide. fears of a ground invasion are growing as israel escalates its bombardment of gaza. earlier today israel took aim at a tunnel system used by hamas, stopping short of entering gaza. and we're continuing to see this conflict spill over into the streets. today we saw fighting and fires across the occupied west bank as palestinians clashed with israeli security forces. there was more unrest between israeli arabs and jewsisrael.

police arrested mobs of violence. we have richard engel who is in tel aviv and martin endick. he also served in palestinian negotiations. richard, what do we know about the attack on the tunnels and the involvement of ground troops there? >> reporter: to understand what's happening here, you need to know a little bit about the geography. there are palestinians who live in all three of the places you mentioned, inside israel itself, inside the state of israel and the palestinian citizenship. there are palestinians who live in hamas and on the west bank. generally they are separated by walls and fences.

what we've been seeing for the last several days is in gaza they've been firing rockets, 2,000 over the last several days into israel. and that is where most of the fire is directed, when you have those thousands of troops that are positioned on the border of gaza ready to potentially invade. but as this escalation develops, we're seeing palestinian communities in other areas starting to rise up and to join in the violence -- join in this resistance from the palestinian perspective. we saw today clashes in the west bank and several palestinians were killed in those. earlier we saw militia, vigilante groups, both arabs and jews, attacking each other inside cities. this is a significant problem for israel, for the palestinians, because you have different palestinian communities that are linking up

and finding common cause in this conflict. >> ambassador endick, you are, as i understand it, pessimistic about what's happening from here. you're in a unique position to know. give us a sense of why you hold that view. >> i think it's more likely than not a chance that things will calm down, at least between israel and hamas. i think that the possibilities is the national guard will come in on the ground. they've incited these riots and battles in both cities, so both

sides essentially have achieved the most they can hope to achieve at this point. i think after a few days, this will come to an end in the next few days. >> how is that deescalating here, ambassador? >> the palestinian leader is four years into his term, and he's about to go down in the history books as someone who did not compromise on palestinian rights. we have a caretaker government

facing a fifth election. that doesn't leave much if you were going to try to move from a cease fire into some type of political settlement that would end this conference. i am pessimistic about the chances of making more progress in the conflict. >> richard engel, what does de-escalation look like? >> it would look like both sides declaring victory. israel putting the palestinian issue back on the international agenda and being the true voice of the palestinian people compared to the leadership of a

azan. and netanyahu could say he has done enough damage to the infrastructure used to fire rockets that he has sent back that program. there is the potential both sides could walk away with the ability to they will their people that they achieved something. >> nbc's richard engel vpt. a u.s. official confirmed that a colonial pipeline paid a russian hacking group nearly $5 million in ransom. the ransom was paid in about 75 bitkoun. it was unclear when the transaction took place, but the company was forced to shut down in response to the cybertraek. with that we've seen high gas prices across the southeast.

concern is shifting to that ransom payment and whether it could incentivize other foreign actors to launch similar

and we expect to get another round of test results this afternoon from kentucky derby winner medinah spirit. the colt that pulled off an upset at the kentucky derby is being allowed. officials required the horse to pass three drug tests to race and the first one was clear. joining us is the only analyst who predicted medina spirit's quin win, steve kornacki. what are you going to be looking for, man? >> reporter: jeff, thanks. great to be with you, great to be here in baltimore. but unfortunately, as you say, it's a very unusual situation where you've got two things that are kind of poised to happen here, where you look ahead to this race tomorrow, the margin line came out the other day.

the expectation of where the odds are going to settle for this race in the morning line favorite is medina spirit. despite all of the controversy, still, i think there's a very real change that medina spirit could do something very similar to what he just did in louisville a couple of weeks ago. maybe get to the front of this preakness race, maybe stay in front, maybe win. ordinarily, that would be a fantastic story. that would be a horse that had won the first two legs of the triple crown and we'd all spend the next three weeks saying, is this history in the making? is this horse going to go up to belmont and win the triple crown? instead, we got the possibility here that medina spirit could go and win this race tomorrow and some time in the near future, maybe next week, maybe two weeks from now, there is that issue outstanding of the test in kentucky, related to the kentucky derby and the prospect that they may just end up taking down that victory for medina spirit in the kentucky derby. it's just a -- normally, we would be on the verge of a very special story here.

instead, it's could be a very fun race tomorrow. but a cloud over this, no question. >> steve, let me ask you this, buddy. what's your pick for tomorrow? what horse you going with tomorrow for the preakness? >> reporter: here's my tease, jeff. you've got to tune into the nbc broadcast, because a few minutes before the race, we're all going to put ours out there. but i've got to tell you, it was rare for me to come up with a winner like i did in the derby. the best advice might be to take what i do tomorrow and do something else. >> you've got to love that corporate synergy, buddy. as steve said, you can watch coverage of the preakness stakes tomorrow on nbc news. thanks to steve kornacki for that. that's it for me today. thanks for spending the hour with me. chris jansing picks it up coming up next. with me. chris jansing picks it up coming up next. y joints stiff, swollen... painful. emerge tremfyant™. with tremfya®, adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis...

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it's velveeta shells & cheese versus the other guys. ♪♪ clearly, velveeta melts creamier. good morning. i'm chris jansing if for ayman mohyeldin. we're following breaking news this hour. joel greenberg, the ally of congressman matt gaetz has agreed to cooperate with investigators. greenberg will plead guilty to six charges, including sex trafficking of a minor. we'll have much more on that in just a moment. and this just in. north carolina's governor, roy cooper, has lifted covid-19 restrictions upon business capacity and nearly all mask-wearing mandates, as many states are scrambling to make decisions after the cdc late yesterday changed its guidance and told fully vaccinated americans masks are largely