s. ♪♪ 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 unnecessary for them.

but what their employers, local stores, and states do is a major question this hour. >> you've read the cdc requirements, you've talked to your public health officials. what conclusions are you coming to? >> well, it is confusing. >> as of today, there are nearly 119 million fully vaccinated people in this country. the seven-day rolling average of new cases is at 36,000. now, that's still high, but significantly lower than a few weeks ago. a sign that the vaccines are working. but let's begin this break with the breaking news this hour. joel greenberg, one-time associate of embattled congressman matt gaetz has agreed to plead guilty to six offenses, according to brand-new court documents, and to help in the prosecution of others. matt gaetz is said to be under investigation into whether he violated sex trafficking laws. but the six greenberg charges represent just a fraction of the

33 original charges against him and include sex trafficking of a minor, and introducing that minor to other men for sex. other details paint a sordid picture leading to these felony charges. joining me now, nbc news justice correspondent, pete williams, nbc news capitol hill correspondent, garrett haakehaa and dave aaronberg, good to have you all here. pete, what exactly are the charges that joel greenberg has according to these court papers agreed to plead to? >> yeah, you've put it exactly right. he's agreed to plead guilty. he won't actually do it until monday. but according to the court documents, he will plead guilty to six charges. now, that's six of the original 33. so that says something about what the government thinks his value is as a potential cooperator. but he admits in these documents to using a website to identify women that he later paid to engage in commercial sex acts

with him and others. the others are not named, but the documents say from for roughly two years, from december to december of 2016 to 2018, he paid more than $70,000 in 150 transactions to pay women for sex. and one of them was under 18 for part of that time. the documents say greenberg paid her for sex acts with him and others. she had an account on the website in which she represented that she was an adult. greenberg is accused of having sex with her at least 7 times when she was a minor. and then the court documents say, other men who greenberg introduced to the minor, engaged in commercial sex acts with the minor in his presence, when she was under 18. the other accounts to which she agreeds to plead guilty include fraud, misusing his office, and using fake i.d.s. >> and it's very important to point out that none of this mentions matt gaetz. we don't know if it has anything at all to do with matt gaetz,

but does it tell you anything at all when you see a reduction in the number of charges against someone from, say 33 to 6? dave? >> yeah, it does tell you a lot, because the feds are not going to cut a deal with an accused child sex trafficker, especially not a deal this generous, without that person able to give up a bigger fish. and they're not going to cut a deal with someone who will give up someone underneath them. like, this is an ex-local government official. the bigger fish will be a sitting member of congress. now, we don't know that for sure, because his name is not mentioned. but this is a good deal for joel greenberg. he has 27 different counts dropped. if he can produce the evidence, the documentation, the cross-examine among matt gaetz and others that are bigger than he, that is going to result in a reduction in his sentence, even below, very possibly, the

mandatory minimums here. it's all up to joel greenberg. this deal only goes forward if he comes up with the goods. >> so what do you think the chances are that matt gaetz is going to be spending some time with his lawyers, at least on the phone this weekend? >> oh, i think that this really ruined matt gaetz's weekend, because he now knows that not only is joel greenberg, his wing man, taking the plea, but also, that he is representing two federal prosecutors that he has corroboration, he has text messages, e-mails, venmo receipts, and very well may have other individuals like matt gaetz's ex-girlfriend to also back up greenberg, because the feds aren't going to just rely on greenberg's testimony alone. the guy is a walking criminal enterprise and his words mean nothing. he has to have corroboration to be at all credible in front of a grand jury and then ultimately in front of a trial jury. >> so, pete, how long has matt gaetz been talking to prosecutors and that they've been able to come to this agreement, that hays going to cooperate with them. and where does this go now?

>> so i think you meant, how long has joel greenberg been talking to prosecutors? >> yes. >> at least a month and possibly before that. and i think it's absolutely right the government would not have agreed to this if they didn't have some corroboration of what he said. and i should also say, this plea agreement contemplates that he will continue to cooperate with the investigators, that he will testify in my court proceedings, including before a grand jury, and then, of course, the benefit to him is, if he fully cooperates, the government will seek a reduction in his sentence. so if you're on capitol hill, the sort of way that we've heard garrett from republicans about this is, let's wait and see what happens, right? i'm assuming that's where we still are and this just happened, so i doubt that you've had an opportunity to talk to republicans. there's a few other things going on on capitol hill as well today. but is this likely to change the equation at all? would you expect the level of nervousness to go up? what's your anticipation, given this news today?

>> well, this news broke after the house had its final votes for the week, so members are scattered to the winds, headed back to their districts. house republican leadership have been pretty clear about this. they have said that the red line when it comes to gaetz is, if he was indicted, they would take action against him, possibly stripping him of his committees and taking some other action. but barring that, they're kind of leaving this alone. there's only been allegations, he's not been charged with anything. he has spoken to the minority leader, kevin mccarthy and vociferously denied all of these allegations, as he has done publicly. and gaetz is also kind of a man alone up on capitol hill. he's frankly a bit of a loner. and i think the general reaction we've gotten trying to talk to lawmakers about this scandal is, we're going to keep our distance. but come monday, we'll see what joel greenberg has to say. >> pete williams and dave aaronberg, thanks to both of you

for coming on with this breaking news. garrett, you'll stick around. house democrats and republicans say they have reached a deal to create a bipartisan 9/11-style commission on the january 6th insurrection, even as some members of the gop conference continue to downplay or just deny the attack entirely. house speaker kevin mccarthy may not be onboard, telling reporters he has not signed off on the commission yet. so that battle over to commission or not to commission was unfolding as tensions were rising on the hill, with yet another report of a verbal altercation between congresswoman marjory taylor green's staff and a democratic member of congress. still with me, nbc news correspondent, garrett haake. so, garrett, what is -- let's back up for a second and start with the latest on this january 6th commission. is it happening? >> reporter: it does seem to be moving forward, finally. this commission has been stalled since january when idea was first floated. congressional leadership had been negotiating, they kept getting hung up on the scope of what the commission would look

like. who would be on the commission. what kind of powers would they have? and the leadership in the house decided that they would send this down to the homeland security committee and let the chairman and ranking committee there negotiate a deal. that's deal that has been reached today. this says there'll be ten commissioners, there'll be folks with law enforcement backgrounds. they'll be dominated essentially by the various congressional leaders, and it will be a true bipartisan split. also, their focus will be, their scope will be on january 6th and the events leading up to it, which i suppose could be broader if folks want to get into that broader territory, but it does look like this will move forward fairly quickly. the rules committee is set to look this legislation over on tuesday, and i suspect we'll see a vote on it in the house by the middle of next week. >> what about these incidents with congresswoman greene and her staff, yesterday, speaker pelosi even floated the possibility of an ethics investigation? >> we've seen these incident pops up every now and again, although they seems to have increased in frequency recently

with congresswoman greene. the best word i can come up with is trolling congresswoman ocasio-cortez and others, essentially trying to engage none wanted debates, on the floor, off the floor, on the steps coming in and out of the capitol. and democratic members of congress are fed up with it. they think it's potentially dangerous. they think greene is trying to bait them into arguments that she can use for her own self-aggrandizement. and they're fed up with it. so i think we've heard both the possibility that greene could be referred to the ethics committee for an investigation in this, and there's also some discussion about a possible censure resolution against greene. frankly, i can tell you that even some republicans are keeping their distance from greene and her antics. she's been stripped of her committee assignments already, so she doesn't have a lot to do on the hill, other than to try to engage in these debates in other formats, let's say. >> so members, even, republicans keeping their distance from her, as they have been, as you said, keeping their distance from matt

gaetz. so maybe not surprising that the two of them had hit the road together, recently. garrett haake, always good to see you, my friend. thank you so much. and by the way, congressman eric swalwell swalwell, the latest of congresswoman marjorie taylor greene's targets, will join us right after this quick break. you're watching msnbc. t after tk you're watching msnbc. your mission: stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. and take. it. on... with rinvoq. rinvoq a once-daily pill can dramatically improve symptoms...

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it me annoh kp erneorki a gig r thr vis. eye t iny,whh lirs wi st t yo intnedoha enncyo oinpeen thvefaered it me annoh kp erneorki a gig r thr vis. th is rkth irdy,whh lirs wi st t oo fm rae ofelblops and abt r sttg months after the insurrection at the capitol, democratic lawmakers are pushing toward a vote next week on a

9/11-style commission to investigate the deadly january 6th attack. meanwhile, federal authorities are still prosecuting suspects tied to the insurrection. just yesterday, the feds arrested an active duty marine and accused him of pushing police and forcing a u.s. capitol door open. joining me now with the latest is nbc news washington investigative correspondent, scott mcfarland. it's always good to see you, scott. this isn't the only serviceman facing charges. where does he fit in and what else is known about the other members of the military here? >> chris, good afternoon. he really stands out. he is active duty. according to court filings, he was investigated by court investigators as they looked into warnagis' case. his case will shift to d.c., accused of physically opening a door, physically pushing past police. but it's the active duty that stands out.

what we're seeing more of are military veterans. that would include the case of jeffrey mckellup also of virginia. he's accused of a particularly gruesome act of stabbing a police officer january 6th with a flagpole. his hearings are upcoming. jeff so we are hearing about some plea deals. in a relatively minor charge, it can mean nothing. i just means that they decided to settle. but it can also mean that someone has information or other bigger fish. do we have any information prosecutors are targeting certain individual for leverage in other cases? >> in the federal system, nearly all cases end with a plea agreement, so plea hearings are no surprise, but there's only one signed plea agreement so far how far 440 cases. that's john shafer, an oathkeeper who has admitted being a member of the oathkeeper, being on the capitol hill on january 6th, and using

barrier spray and having tactical gear. big admissions, he's a member of the far right oathkeeper's group, and that really is the focus of federal prosecutors, with the most serious charges, and many of the defendants being held in custody pending trial are associated with those far-right groups. the oathkeepers, the proud boys. one other note. we're watching a case on monday, chris. daniel rodriguez of california, accused in the attack on officer michael fanone, the d.c. police officer who was tasered, who was beaten, who was heckled outside the capitol. we'll watch what happens there. but by our count, nearly 140 officers were hurt that day, ranging from minor to graphic injuries. one officer temporarily blinded and scarred by a chemical spray attack outside the capitol. we also have an officer who was knocked unconscious in addition to having a concussion. we'll watch all of these cases and these injuries closely, chris. >> scott mcfarland, thank you for that. and while some republican lawmakers, you heard it this week, were downplaying the

insurrection, one d.c. police officer is speak out. you just heard him mentioned, officer michael fanone seen in this infamous video being dragged down the steps of the capitol's lower west terrace where he pleaded to his life. reaction from house republicans who deny the seriousness of the attack, one saying that january 6th was like a tourist visit. >> but i will say this, you know, those are lies. and peddling that bull [ bleep ] is an assault on every officer that fought to defend the capitol. it's disgraceful. >> joining me now, california democratic congressman eric swalwell. thanks for being with us on a friday afternoon. you've led 100 of your colleagues, asking the republican leader, kevin mccarthy to meet with officer fanone. but do you really expect anything to happen there?

>> i hope so, chris. mike fanone has become like my third brother in law enforcement. i have two brothers, blood brothers, who are cops and mike fanone reminds me of them. and what's interesting, chris, is this guy doesn't give a rip about politics. he calls me and gets in my ear all the time about democratic policies he doesn't like. he didn't consider himself a partisan. he considers himself a police officer who was injured, defending our voting at the capitol for the electoral college. and he just wants kevin mccarthy to see what nancy pelosi was willing to see, which was the experience he had that day at the capitol, so that kevin mccarthy hopefully will shoot down any members in his caucus who want to erase the insurrection. >> it is interesting that on the heels of some of these clearly false statements that have been made by republicans, that there does seem to be some movement on the january 6th commission. according to punchbowl news, quote, a sizable block of house republicans are prepared to cross the aisle and vote for a january 6th commission, even if

mccarthy and mcconnell don't sign off pelosi's plan. leader mccarthy issued a statement saying he had not signed off. what's your expectation, talking to some of your colleagues on the other side of the aisle. would this be, you think, a few republicans joining you? more? >> i hope it's more than what we've seen on other votes relating to security or holding the president -- >> do you have an indication from any conversations you've had that it could be more than just a handful? >> yes, yes. and again, this is a truth-seeking commission, where republicans would have the ability to also issue subpoenas. so we want to understand how this happened, make sure it never happens again. and that is what we did after september 11, chris. and i think we all agree that we're safer in the skies and freer from terrorism as we approach the 20th anniversary, because we had a bipartisan, independent commission. and it's also something that police officers are asking for. and this is police week, so it would mean a lot to them if we

could strike this deal, so we could honor the memories of those who died that day or died in the days afterwards, to understand how this happened. >> we just heard about your scuffle or however people want to characterize it, your encounter with a member of marjorie taylor greene's staff, yelling at you to take your mask off. two days ago, of course, greene herself was shouting at ocasio-cortez, but back to your incident, a reporter from "the hill," who witnessed it said you confronted the aid and got in his face. will you tell us what you say happened there? and what was it like for you? >> sure. you know, what's funny, chris, is we're required by the house physician to wear masks on the house floor. and i was just footsteps away from the floor. i was stepped off the floor and walking down the outside steps and like many of us, i had just forgotten to take my masks off. i love taking my mask off, and

marjoie taylor greene was walking up the steps with her aide and her aide yelled at me, take off your mask, congressman. and i've had enough of these marauding goons in the marjorie taylor greene crowd that go around and try to terrorize my colleagues. we've seen what she's done to alex, my colleague, to cory bush, and i thought, the best way not to let people like this bully others is to tell the bullies to back off. so not surprisingly, this aide of hers got quite speechless when i had a few choice words for him. but the other point is my staff walks by marjorie taylor greene in the hallways and they detest what she stands for, but they don't confront her or order her around, because that's just not what we do in what is supposed to be a civil discourse environment. >> well, i'm wondering what you thought about nancy pelosi suggesting yesterday that maybe there needs to be an ethics

investigation. have you talked to the speaker about this? >> i'm on the leadership team and this is an issue that we are looking at, is how we can just make sure that we have civil discourse. we can disagree, but not be disrespectful. and what miss greene continues to do is disrespectful. approaching people, yelling at people, trying to shout them down. we saw in 2019, we went to ocasio-cortez's office and she said, come out, come out, we'll wait as long as we need to. that's terrorizing and this is kind of an obsession, it's a dangerous obsession. i prosecuted stalker cases before, and she is stalking ocasio-cortez to try to have this debate with her. and no one deserves to work in an environment like that. >> congressman eric swalwell of california, thanks so much, it's good to see you on this friday afternoon. appreciate your time. up next, confusion across the country, as the cdc lifts the mask mandate for vaccinated people, but some states say not

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chase. make more of what's yours. from businesses to the halls of power, including governor's offices, decisions have to be made after the surprise new cdc guidance on mask wearing. north carolina's governor just announced he's lifting all capacity and gathering limits and easing almost all of the state's mask wearing

requirements. but in other parts of the country, it's not so clear. joining me now, nbc news gabe gutierrez in the hard-hit neighborhood of corona, queens, and dr. uche blackstock, msnbc medical contributor and founder of advancing health equity. good to see both of you. doctor, a lot of folks have said that they were caught off guard. the "l.a. times" is warning folks in california not to ditch their masks yet. it could be weeks before the mask mandate might be lifted. what should states, what should businesses be thinking about right now. >> first of all, these are guidelines. and the guidelines are based on the evidence. the evidence is showing that vaccines are highly effective, that people are unlikely to get very ill, or to transmit the infections to others. i think with such a big shift, a significant shift in the guidelines, i think the cdc -- it would have been helpful to

add more nuance to this announcement. physicians need to know what to do, schools need to know what to do, health care settings, they're just so many questions that we have that really need to be answered with urgency. and i think that my colleagues probably would have liked to see the decision made and tied more to metrics around cases and vaccination rates, rather than just the blanket pullback on mask guidelines. >> gabe, you're in, i think you should call it the epicenter of the epicenter of the virus, when new york was having so many horrible problems. the neighborhood of corona if queens devastated by the virus. and it also has the lowest rate of vaccination almost anywhere in this city. so i wonder what you're hearing from people there? >> hi, there, chris. as you mentioned, this was at one point the especially of the especially. what we have been seeing today,

some folks not wearing masks as folks just finished eating some of the wonderful tacos in this area, from the street vendors here, but many of the folks that we've been seeing actually have kept their masks on today. it's a very densely populated neighborhood. and right here, this is a bus, a mobile clinic, put here by the city of new york, it just parked here several hours ago and they have several hours more where they will be trying to vaccinate this neighborhood. as you mentioned, chris, this neighborhood about 28% of the population here, just 28%, is fully vaccinated in this zip code. and we spoke with an advocate earlier today for some of these street vendors who say, who says that they have had such a devastating year financially, that they were also trying to see what's next here. they were pretty much caught offguard by this updated cdc guidance. and since there is a sense of relief here, there's also a lot of caution. >> there is still a lot of fear,

of going back to what happened last year. the community was the most impacted health wise and economically. and people are terrified of reopening too fast and suffering the same pain that they did and the sickness that their families did, as well. and so, i don't think that it will change drastically, it won't change immediately, but little by little, i do think as more people get vaccinated, and people feel more comfortable, we will start to reopen. >> reporter: so again, chris, the rush is on to vaccinated underserved communities like this one. this mobile vaccination clinic will be here for several more hours. and as you were saying, some governors across the country, they're now pulling back on their mask requirements, following this updated cdc guidance. here in new york and new jersey, the governors are saying, we're going to review this for a little bit before we make changes here. so, this is what we're seeing here in corona, queens. again, a community that has been so devastated over the past 15

months or so. there is a lot of skepticism here, some relief, but also a lot of caution as we see many people here still wearing their masks today, chris. >> yeah, so you can understand the confusion and adding to the confusion, you have eight members of the new york yankees who were vaccinated, testing positive for coronavirus this week. hbo canceled this week's episode of "realtime with bill maher" after he tested positive, despite being vaccinated. anecdotally, and i think gabe just mentioned it, there do seem to be a number of people who are vaccinated, but aren't ready to give up their masks. i saw a lot of people still wearing masks in new york city today, where frankly the vaccination rate is pretty high in manhattan. are these positive tests for people who have been vaccinated an indication that maybe it's not to safe to go maskless? what's your read on this? >> right. so what i will say about the breakthrough infections is that they're going to happen, keep in

mind the nuance of it. only one of those players actually got sick. and only one of them actually shows -- actually, no one got sick and one person showed symptoms. so what we're seeing is that even if people are getting vaccinated, they are not getting ill, and they are still very unlikely to pass on the infection to others. that is the big difference. our end point is that we don't want anyone to get severely ill, die, or pass on the infection. and the vaccines are doing that. so that is really most important. but what i will say to people is that these are guidelines. we do not have to take off your mask if you feel uncomfortable. the fact is that many of us, i was a front line provider, caring for patients with covid-19. many of us are still traumatized by this experience. many of us still want to wear our masks in certain settings, and that is okay. i think we're going to have take individual risk, benefit assessments, given our own specific situations, where we live, where we work, cases in

the area, and vaccination rates. and that's okay. again, these are guidelines. >> dr. blackstop, gabe guterres, thanks to both of you. much appreciated. well, rob desantis says he will pardon any residents who face fines for violating the measures. >> reporter: chris, good afternoon. at no point during this pandemic is dr. ron desantis issued a mask mandate? in fact, he's gone so far last year as to restrict local government's abilities to enforce their mask mandates by curtailing their ability to fine people for breaking the rules. so the next logical extension to all of this, we just found out on fox news that governor desantis is pardoning everybody who has received an infraction or a citation, or in some cases an arrest during the pandemic for breaking protocol. it was all catalyzed, this conversation, by a broward county couple that operates a

gym that allowed their clients to come in and use the equipment without a mask in the middle of the pandemic. now, they've been arrested a few times, they are off the hook. governor desantis calling this an overreach and says he will void all the legal consequences for people who have broken the rules. at the same time, chris, covid cases in the state of florida are down more than 30% in the last two weeks. that's the very latest here in miami, sam brock, nbc news. back to you, chris. >> coming up, exclusive new reporting migrant children kept on crowded, parked buses for days, while waiting to reunite with their family or sponsors. we're live in dallas with one 15-year-old story after this break. you're watching msnbc. you're watching msnbc. our retirement plan with voya, keeps us moving forward. hey, kevin! hey, guys! they have customized solutions to help our family's special needs... giving us confidence in our future... ...and in kevin's. voya. well planned. well invested. well protected.

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president biden is meeting with daca recipients this hour, commonly known as dreamers. the undocumented immigrants were brought here as children and play a key role in biden's immigration policy. the president has asked congress to make daca permanent, to protect those dreamers after the trump administration overturned the obama-era policy. also key to biden's immigration agenda, controlling the flow of unaccompanied children coming over the southern border. while the number of border apprehensions has fallen over the past few weeks, a shocking new report details how chaotic the system remains. nbc news has exclusively learned that some children were being held upon buses instead of in

shelters, with one report of a 15-year-old boy stuck on a parked bus for four days. joining me now, nbc's dasha burns in dallas and associated press white house reporter, jonathan lemire. dasha, tell us more about these troubling reports. >> reporter: well, chris, the white house and health and human services now say they are investigating exactly what it is that happened here in this parking lot, which as you can see, is now empty, but you can still see the fresh tire tracks from when buses were packed in here, filled with unaccompanied migrant children, who according to advocates we spoke with and the owner of one of the bus companies, was sometimes staying here overnight. sleeping, eating, using the bathroom all in the confines of the bus. the owner of the bus company saying when they would go to clean the buses every day, they would be filthy, filled with trash, debris, sometimes overflowing bathrooms because

children were staying there for an extended amount of time. and at least one case, a 15-year-old boy was held on parked buss from saturday to wednesday according to his family. i spoke to his uncle and to his mother who say that the boy tells him that he was not alone. other children were in similar circumstances. that they were not allowed to shower or get a change of clothes the entire time. i want you to hear from his uncle elvin about this. take a listen. >> it's inhumane, because a kid at 15 years old, 10, 12 in these circumstances without a parent, i think that traumatizes the kids. and that will affect them in the future, because it was traumatic. >> reporter: chris, the white house responding to this, calling these reports outrageous, unacceptable, saying they do not meet the administration's standard for child care, saying the incident is being immediately and fully investigated. there is no excuse for this kind of treatment of children and we will ensure those responsible

are held accountable. but chris, as i've been talking to advocates like dr. amy cohen, who runs every last one, the organization representing this family, she says she's getting calls every single day from distressed family members struggling to reunite with these children. at this point, more than 20,000 kids in hhs custody at this point. she says that this is just one example of a system that has broken down, chris. >> yeah. and jonathan, look, the situation at the border has been the most challenging political issue for the biden administration since the very beginning. we can see it in the polls, people are not happy, voters are not happy with the way that he's handling immigration, with how he's handling this situation at the border. obviously, this administration knows that they have a problem. so what are you hearing? do they feel like they're making in progress. it's one thing to say, this is not acceptable. it's another thing to fix it. >> that's certainly true. and they denounced in pretty strong language the situation

just described, and throughout, they've been pretty consistent. they recognize the facilities down there don't meet adequate standards for child care, for what press secretary jen psaki has said, you want your own children to be in. they know, they were caught offguard a little bit by a huge influx of young undocumented migrants coming to the border in recent months. and certainly, their poll numbers took a hit. it gave the republicans a political cudgel from with which to hit them, at a time where other issues, other blows really weren't landing on president biden. they do feel like they've made some progress. the numbers have gone down in recent weeks. they think that they're finally getting their hands around this. but certainly, they've got a long way to go, and as they put more facilities online. and this is not going to be an issue that goes away anytime soon. the vice president, as a final point, will be making her first overseas trips in the first couple of weeks, heading to mexico and guatemala, wanting to meet with leaders on this shall. >> one of the things that joe

biden talked about on the campaign trail was getting to the source of the problem, right? so he asked vice president harris to address the systemic issues in central america that have led to these surges, from people who fear for their safety, in many cases. what are we expecting to see next week and are we expecting to see any changes in terms of policy there? >> certainly, relationships with these countries were strained, shall we say, under president trump, when he was in office so they're hoping, this white house is trying to mend some fences. and as you just said, the key here is not to just fix the situation on the border, the key is to fix what's driving with, the push and the bull, and some of these countries, the leaders can't be trusted. they want to work with other relief organizations, private groups. the u.s. government has put together an outreach campaign, an advertising campaign on

social media, billboards, radio, and also, in order to try to drive home and they want, of course, to improve conditions at home so people will have less incentive to try to cross the border. >> jonathan lemire, always great to have you on the program. dasha burns, thank you for that very important reporting. violence is intensifying between israeli forces and hamas in gaza after another night of escalating air strikes. richard engel will have the latest live from tel aviv after the break. you're watching msnbc. eak. you're watching msnbc. try boostn with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. renae is not an influencer, she's more of a groundbreaker. has key nutrients renae runs with us on a john deere 1 series tractor. because out here, you can't fake a job well done. hear renae's story at deere.com i'll be observing your safe-driving abilities. play your cards right,

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the muslim holy month of ramadan is coming to an end and the violence along the gaza border is escalating quickly. here's a look at rockets flying through the smoky sky of the gaza strip this morning. hours earlier, israeli tanks fired at protesters from lebanon, who somehow got across the border into israel, according to the israeli military. the lebanese state news agency reports israeli troops shot and killed one man. and israeli artillery moving in on the gaza border in a drastic move during a night of israeli rockets firing toward underground tunnels that they identified as hamas bases, releasing this new footage of the targeted sites. joining me now with the latest from tel aviv is nbc news chief foreign correspondent, richard engel. richard, what should we make of these latest moves? >> first of all, you mentioned quite importantly and i think it's getting lost in this story that it is the end of ramadan.

it is eid, and that is a big factor in this. this is a time where muslims around the world are spending time with family, spending time watching television and they are watching these images of palestinians in gaza under attack. attack and began because of images of palestinians praying in the al aqsa mosque and dispersed by the israeli security forces. they said they responded to stone throwing. so that is the backdrop in this where you see people at home angry watching palestinians being attacked by israelis. now it is escalating, beyond gaza you mentioned that failed incursion from lebanon and then ine effect give rocket fire from the north. this could escalate quickly beyond the normal scope of middle east violence between hamas and israel.

lastly there is this very disturbing for many israelis new factor in that palestinians with israeli citizenship, palestinians who live in tel aviv joining this fight. we have seen extremist mob violence on both sides. inside israeli citizens on israeli citizens. this is at a dangerous moment right now and it could escalate further. >> richard engel for us, thank you. the u.s. sent the u.s. secretary of state to meet and blinken calling for a u.n. security council meeting on the region next week. joining me is democratic senator chris van holland of maryland. as you watch what's unfolding what is your level of concern and what can and in your mind

should be done to dees ka a little? >> we have a terrible and very dangerous situation. right now. i join the biden administration on urging all sides to de-escalate. look. i don't think anyone questions israel's right to respond to rocket attacks by the terrorist group hamas but as richard engel pointed out hamas was exploiting very legitimate grievances of palestinians in jerusalem and elsewhere. in addition to the actions that the mosque compound you also have the threatened of evictions of palestinian families in east jerusalem, a violation of international law and it is important that as the biden administration works to reduce the violence and calls on parties to de-escalate that they also address the underlying

issues behind the conflict. >> in the latest press release prime minister netanyahu thanked president biden but is the administration doing enough? >> i think that the administration is doing everything they can to try to reduce the violence at the moment. i think the long-term question because this is sadly something that we have seen reoccurring orr the years and the question is are they willing to really bring the parties together to try to tackle the fundamental underlying issues? a precipitating factor in this latest explosion exploited by hamas were these threatened evictions in east jerusalem. you have right wing israeli settler groups who are trying to move into east jerusalem to throw out palestinian families who have lived there for decades. that's a violation of

international law. as richard reported now you have sort of extremists on both sides within israel contributing to mob violence. we have definitely seen a rise in sort of right wing political power of the settler groups within israel and some of these groups are all feeding off of one another. >> what do you think the chances are that this escalates and gets more serious? senator murphy expressed concern of a ground offensive. where do you think this is going? >> the big issue is how do you deal with hamas? again, israel is within its rights to strike at hamas. how do you do that without causing innocent civilian lives

lost? palestinian children and others. we see hamas rocket attacks against israel. they have the iron dome missile defense system and it's important that we also prevent civilian casualties among the residents of gaza. so that is why it is so important to the biden administration convene this meeting at the u.n. security council and that everybody come together to call for de-escalation. >> before you go, the other big story today, that is the coronavirus. we are seeing this progress in the united states. we are seeing folks out and about without masks but this tweet, a new definition in inequity is the governor of ohio having the privilege of offering a million dollar lottery payout to coax vaccine uptake when huge parts of the world are burning from this virus. are desperate for access and don't need a million bucks to get the shot.

is it an appropriate use to give million-dollar prizes to americans to get vaccinated? should that kind of money be going to where help is needed, including countries important to the united states overseas? >> i really see these as two separate issues. we need to do everything in our power to vaccinate americans, to finally defeat covid-19. but at the same time, we need to be stepping up our efforts to stop the spread of virus elsewhere around the world. we just had a hearing on this this week in the senate foreign relations committee. the united states has excess vaccine supply, meaning we have enough to vaccinate every american and we have some left over that we should be using on an emergency basis to help others whether it is in india why we have seen very intense

spread. that's the right thing to do and also in our own health interest because to the extent that the virus can change and mutate and have new variations around the world if we don't stop it they can come around and may mutate to a place where they're no longer vulnerable to our vaccine. so again it is the right thing to do and smart thing to do to use the excess vaccine capacity as quickly as possible and the world. >> senator of maryland, thank you so much. that's going to wrap up this hour and the week for me. thank you for watching. have a great weekend. "deadline: white house" with niccole wallace starts right after this quick break. our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. and longer. zzzquil pure zzzs all night. fall asleep. stay asleep.

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