good afternoon, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. we're following breaking news. a dangerous new escalation in the mideast. the cdc comments on masks and a lot of questions. new reporting on matt gaetz and sex-for-pay allegations. later this hour, the leader of the effort to pull the

republican party away from donald trump. former trump official and author of "anonymous," myles taylor will join me live. we want to start with breaking news that's been developing all day. president biden in the oval office, a rare saturday workday for this administration as it deals with its first big international crisis. we have learned the president has spoken to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, and palestinian authority leader mahmoud abbas, in the wake of what appears to be a stepped up offensive by israelis targeting gaza. israel bombed a refugee camp in gaza killing ten palestinian family members, including eight children. in response, hamas militants shot rockets at tel aviv, plus this breathtaking moment playing out on live television. watch this. >> certainly from our contexts that building is where al jazeera's offices are -- there we are, another strike on that tower -- and the tower has come down.

that is the al jara tower. that tower is where al jazeera's offices are warehoused. the "associated press" offices were us on housed in that building. whenever you see journalists doing live updates from gaza, they're usually standing on the roof of that building which has now been flattened in an air strike by the israeli military. >> just astonishing to see that. for context on that strike, gazette city is a very dense area. "the washington post" reporting gaza is more densely populated than nearby israeli areas in other major rural cities like london or even shanghai. that means that even targeted air strikes in gaza have a very high likelihood of hitting civilians. children are especially at risk in the area with kids making up about half the population of the gaza strip. with that i want to bring in

ralph sanchez and steve hendricks for us, "washington post" jerusalem bureau chief. welcome to you both. thanks for joining us. i want to start with -- to give the opportunity to give us details on this. how much heads-up do the folks inside that building actually get, and what do we know about possible casualties after the crumbling of that building? >> this was an extraordinary scene. the israeli military destroying a multistory building housing the offices of a number of global media outlets including the "associated press," al jazeera, and others. the israeli military calling the owner of the building, telling him we're going to blow that property up. and these journalists basically having time to get out of their offices, go across the street, turn their cameras around, and then film as you saw their own offices being destroyed. now as far as we know, nobody was injured in that strike. the israeli military saying that

building also housing hamas military assets. but not giving much detail on what those assets were. this strike is causing outcry around the world. the "associated press" president, gary prewitt, calling it shocking and horrifying. he said in a statement, "the world will know less about what is happening in gaza because of what happened today." and that is true. israel is not allowing international journalist into gaza. so we are very reliant on those palestinian journalists at places like the "associated press" to know what's going on. the director general of al jazeera also calling the strike a blatant violation of human rights and is internationally considered a war crime. this was just one of a number of strikes we saw across gaza today. others targeting the homes of senior hamas leaders, not killing them, but these strikes appear to be about sending a message to these hamas leaders that israel knows where they

live and is able to target them if it chooses to. yasmin? >> i want to read for you the statement sent out by the israeli defense forces. they said after providing advanced warnings to civilians in time to evacuate, fighter jets struck a building containing hamas intelligence assets. the building contained civilian media offices which hamas hides behind and deliberately uses as human shields. this, in fact, was the reasoning that the israeli defense forces is putting out as to why they decided to strike a building that housed international journalists in that building, was actually partially a residential building, as well. i actually find it unbelievable to hear that there were actually no casualties, no one even hurt in the bombing of this building. i guess my first question to you is how can we actually rely on the information at this point coming out of gaza as to who was injured and the reliance we have on the information trickling out of that region, the point that raf brought up. so few journalists even able to make it into gaza. and now that these al jazeera offices have been bombed, the

"ap" offices bombed, how can we know exactly what's going on there? >> well, these journalists going to have to keep doing their jobs. and the situation has just gotten far more difficult today. it certainly wasn't easy before the building came down. israel's not letting journalists in. that's because they're not letting anybody in. the checkpoints into gaza have been closed since the beginning of the campaign. we had some hope that some of us might be able to cross over tomorrow. there might be a small window for humanitarian access and some people to come out, but here i understand now that that may not happen. it may be several days before getting reinforcement news people in there. they'll keep working. we'll keep working. there's always ways to report. i have colleagues who live in gaza who are risking their lives every day to talk to people. we'll work the story, but there's no question that this is making it more difficult. and it's only the latest way in

which israel has made it a difficult news environment. you know, we had a situation earlier this week where we had a lot of cross communication with the israeli army about whether a ground invasion had actually begun. there's some reporting in israel that suggests that wasn't just a mistake but was possibly kind of a gambit to send -- to fool hamas, to cause them to go into tunnels where the army planned to bomb shortly after. so war's never an easy time to do journalism, but it -- this one's pretty tough. i have to say. >> in a way it seems as if what i'm hearing you say -- because i did see your tweets about that possible ground invasion a couple of days ago that subsequently turned out to not be true. there's reports that possibly israel is trying to bait hamas? >> there are. there's a theory afoot that they wanted to telegraph that a

ground invasion was coming. the purpose would have been to have those hamas militants go into the very tunnels that were the targets of a pending air attack. by far the largest air attack in the campaign so far, about 500,000 tons of munitions dropped in about 40 minutes that night. did a lot of damage to those tunnels. that's the theory. i mean, i don't know that that was what's going on. the military says it was an honest mistake. a miscommunication. we have questions, we've asked questions. i don't think we have the answers yet. it's not ideal, but it never is. >> it never is. it never is. that is for sure. raf, steve, appreciate you both and your reporting on this. by the way, we're going to talk about something else major here which is there may not be an end in sight any time soon considering the benefits this has to both sides that are fighting here. thank you both, guys, appreciate it. new comments within the last few hours over house gop leader kevin mccarthy voicing concerns about an independent bipartisan

commission that will investigate the january 6th capitol insurrection. add to that, democratic representative david cicilline calling for a resolution that would censure house members who deny what happened. this statement from representative andrew clyde from georgia -- >> there was no insurrection, and to call it an insurrection in my opinion is a bold-faced lie. watching the tv footage of those who entered the capitol and walked through statuary hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stangzs and ropes taking videos and pictures. if you didn't know the of t footage was a video from january the 6th, you would think it was a normal tourist visit. >> ali? join me on this conversation. having been out front of those capitol steps and covering it firsthand myself, that was certainly not tourists taking a walk around. and we've heard that the last couple of days. we played this a couple of different times on various

shows. and i shake my head every single time. i can't even -- i don't have the words to express how i feel when hearing that. but with that, ali, i do want you to take us through exactly how it commission is going to operate here in investigationing the january 6th -- investigating the january 6th invasion. >> reporter: it sort of presents exactly why this has been such ape thorny issue because the rank and file of lawmakers here on capitol hill want to get to the bottom of what happened at the insurrection on january 6th here. and then there are some republican lawmakers like congressman clyde there who are just completely misrepresenting what happened on this day and trying to muddy the waters with more lies and mistruths. and that's not ultimately what it looks like is going to prevail here. thankfully we've heard this week now that after much work and months of back and forth there is a shape of what this bipartisan commission is going to look like. i can take you through the finer points, and we can put them up on the screen. this is going to be a ten-person

bipartisan commission. lawmakers, five and five from each side appointed by leadership. they're going to study the facts and circumstances of the january 6th attack. importantly, they're going to be granted subpoena power, and that final report, this is a theoretical framework, but if this passes it's going to be due by the end of the year. and i emphasize that it's theoretical right now because of one important reality that a law laid out this morning with our colleague, ali velshi. listen -- >> this point we're going to have to see how kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell react. so far mr. mccarthy has not signed off on this. but again, if he fails to do so, he does so at his peril because, again, the vast majority of the american people want this type of commission to be composed and to study and prevent this attack on the capitol. >> reporter: now, the congressman's right there on two points. kevin mccarthy did say

immediately after this commission deal was announced by the republican and democrat on the house homemade committee who were -- homeland committee who were negotiating it, he says he doesn't support the way the deal was laid out and didn't see the framework before it was publicly released. on the other piece of this, the polling does bear out that the majority of americans would like to see a bipartisan, independent commission look into what happened on january 6th so that it cannot happen again. now, this framework could get voted on as early as next week, so we could see what the next phase of this is really soon. >> ali for us on capitol hill. thank you, good to see you. coming up later this hour, everybody, myles taylor, question on founder of the republican political alliance for integrity and reform will join me live with predictions for the future of his party and what he has called the not crazy coalition. also, a man replenishment effort is under way as drivers across the southeast continuing to hunt for gasoline following a cyber attack on the colonial pipeline.

the six-day shutdown sparked widespread panic buying, even after the pipeline network restarted leaving filling stations across the country without gas. washington, d.c., remaining the hardest hit as the flow resumes. as of yesterday, 88% of the district's gas station said they were out of fuel. colonial says recovery is under way in all of its markets, but it's going to take a couple of days to return to normal. americans are facing their first weekend since the cdc eased mask-wearing guidelines for the fully vaccinated allowing them to gather outdoors and in most indoor settings without masks, as well. given the green light for vaccinated people to skip social distancing measures. with that, we have more from central park in new york city. it is beautiful outside, cori. i was on the other end of the city this morning running in prospect park. man, there was a heck of a lot of people out without masks on, and it felt weird. i got to say, it felt -- it felt different. what are folks out there saying

to you? >> reporter: you're describing it exactly how i've been describing it all day. this is my first day in more than a year of not wearing a mask, and i feel strange. i don't even feel like i'm allowed to be doing it. but you know, there is the sense of ease and jubilation. i mean, where do you go when you report on masks coming off? you go to central park, and you go to sheep's meadow here. look at how many people are here. it's amazing to see how many people -- more than what we reported a couple of weeks ago. and before -- this morning it was about 75/25 for people wearing masks versus not wearing masks. 25% wearing them. now it's more like 90% of people not wearing them. 10% of people wearing them. and even though people are excited and it is a beautiful day, it's a beautiful weekend for this news to come out, they're still cautious especially in new york. they're not ready to go indoors without masks and not ready to say that we're at the end of the pandemic just yet. listen to some of the people i talked to. >> you know, none of this has followed a timeline. so i think it really is how

people are just starting to feel, how the city's starting to open up. i think people are really watching the numbers. >> i think there's confusion early on, the little guys that aren't vaccinated. probably still wear masks indoors. >> yeah. >> we're extra cautious. we have a baby, as well. >> reporter: about 35% of the adult population is fully vaccinated at this point, yasmin. there is a question of people knowing whether or not the people around them indoors is going to be vaccinated. we've heard from some big stores that say they will drop their mask mandates like walmart. other stores like target and starbucks saying, nope, we're going to keep masks for a little bit longer. that family you heard from, they also brought up another really interesting point for states like new york. they have not dropped their mask guidance. i know other states have. >> yeah. >> reporter: new york, new jersey, a few other states have not yet. that's leading to some confusion, too, because people who live in the apartment buildings here, maybe they want to take off their masks and

certain buildings are saying not so fast just yet. so still a lot of questions to be answered. overall, people are very excited about the future of the summer at least. >> yeah. it's a weird time. first of all, it's great to see your face. i haven't seen your face in a long time, always having to wear a mask. secondly, i have a theory, i think it's the peer pressure thing. as you encounter your friends, you say, have you been vaccinated, are you cool, i'm cool. and you take your masks off. it's a conversation before you feel safe. that's wha i've been doing. >> reporter: "the washington post" said what you're saying. can we trust each other enough to do this? we'll have to say. >> i guess it depends on who you're talking to, though. thank you. by the way, coming up later on in the hour, medical contributor dr. kavita patel with more on life beyond the mask. what it means for americans as families, schools, and businesses adapt to the cdc decision. still ahead, with friends like these, who needs enemies? onetime wing man of congressman

matt gaetz expected to plead guilty in a deal that includes full cooperation. now speculation grows over what joel greenberg could give up about the self-proclaimed florida man. we'll be right back. ht back. se t gives you away ♪ ♪ the things, you say ♪ ♪ you're unbelievable ♪ ♪ ♪ applebee's irresist-a-bowls are back. dig in for just $8.99. ♪ look at what's happened to me.♪ ♪ i can't believe it myself.♪ maybe it is dirtier than it looks. it is dirtier than it looks. try tide hygienic clean. with relapsing forms of ms... there's a lot to deal with. not just unpredictable relapses. all these other things too. it can all add up. kesimpta is a once-monthly at-home injection... that may help you put these rms challenges in their place. kesimpta was proven superior at reducing the rate of relapses, active lesions,

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welcome back. so in just two days time, joel greenberg, former associate of congressman matt gaetz, is expected to plead guilty to sex trafficking cases.

documents released showed the array of federal crimes greenberg admits to, "the daily beast" published a report saying two witnesses claim they saw congressman matt gaetz snorting cocaine and then having sex with an escort who was paid with campaign money and then given a government job, subsequently. the public relations firm hired by gaetz tells "the daily beast" the congressman does not comment on women that he dates and did not address questions about the cocaine use. nbc news has not confirmed this report, and gaetz has not been charged with any crime and denies wrongdoing, go so far as to make light of his controversies and appear to blame the, quote, deep state, and an america-first -- at an america-first rally, excuse me, in florida. >> i'm a marked man in congress, i'm a canceled man in some corners of the internet. i might be a wanted man by the deep state, but i am a florida man, and it is good to be home! from the deep state in

government to the deep fakes in media, they try to defame, deplatform, and destroy that which they cannot control. and they could not control trump, and they cannot control me. >> all right, so what might all of this mean for gaetz? melissa murray is here to try and explain. she is an nyu law professor and an msnbc legal contributor. i tried to put the caveat in there to let you go. let you at it -- tough situations i might put you in in a minute. let's talk about the charges in the plea deal that greenberg came to. 33 charges, pleading to only six. what might this mean in a bigger picture type way -- are they looking for a bigger fish here? >> well, certainly any situation like this -- this is quite a significant plea agreement. it's extensive, 86 pages.

there are a number of things he did not plead guilty to, but things he did plead guilty to come with considerable penalties. he's agreed in this plea agreement to full and complete disclosure of all relevant information to the federal government. so that means he's going to be a substantial cooperaor with the government in whatever investigations may grow for this. in a situation they may have a sense of what they're seeking, but more may become uncovered as this goes on. this could be something where there is a specific target in mind, or it could be a broader fishing expedition that yields bigger fish going down the road. >> so what is your inclination to believe that they do have a sense of what they're seeking or not? >> i think they're clear that there's something here that they need and they want, and that this particular person, mr. greenberg, is in a position to give to them. again, he's not the best witness if this ever were to go to trial. so if, in fact, congressman gaetz were to be charged on one of the things in his corner

would be that joel greenberg is not an especially credible person. part of what's going on is they want mr. greenberg to say more about whatever might involve congressman gaetz, if there is stuff that would involve him, but they also want to know about the other people who are involved here, individuals who perhaps are better witnesses, who could corroborate some of this information. >> it's interesting you bring up the idea of credibility. when you look at the court documents here, they say investigators have evidence that backs up greenberg's testimony. is this in a way to bolster his credibility knowing going into this thing that he does have a credibility issue? >> absolutely. so there's already been discussions of venmo transactions and receipts that would come from these kinds of electronic transfer payments. there's probably more information here about other individuals who may have seen some of the things that greenberg is providing in terms of episodes or testimony, and they will want those individuals to be able to corroborate it rather than to rely solely on

greenberg's testimony. >> thank you. good to see you. coming up, third-party split. the former president driving a wedge in the gop. could anti-trumpism give birth to a new party? one republican leading the charge joins me live to discuss what that would look like after the break. after the break. n down to our appliance superstore where we've got the best deals on refrigerators, microwaves, gas ranges and grills. and if you're looking for... age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein 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. we made usaa insurance for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage.

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welcome back. we're monitoring breaking news in the israeli-palestinian conflict. israeli air strikes demolished a building housing media offices as well as a number of homes. another israeli air strike hit a refugee camp killing eight children and two adults earlier today. hamas responded by shooting rockets targeting central israel. at least one person died in tel aviv. we're going to stay on top of this and bring you the latest as it develops right here on msnbc. so the continued shift for many republicans in congress toward the far right trump idealogy is leaving those who don't believe the lie that the election was, in fact, stolen

from the former president to create a new group calling for gop reform and a possible new third party if the trump-centric direction leaders like kevin mccarthy are taking the gop and it's not corrected. a call for american renewal was signed by more than 100 influential republicans and pushes the party to, quote, rededicate itself to founding ideals in creation of alternative. miles taylor, former chief of staff at the department of homeland security and co-founder and advisor of the republican political alliance for integrity and reform. miles, welcome to you. thanks for joining us on this saturday. appreciate it. i got to say, some of the folks i've interviewed on air have essentially said there's no shot and, you know -- to creating a third party. it's not easy. it's not an easy thing to do, and anybody that says they can do it is fooling themselves. what do you say to that? >> well, look, you know, i don't want to act like we are, you

know, hubrises mask rating as humility. if we were to start a third party that's the mt. everest of political objectives. that's a tough climb and a lot of structural barriers between now and then. that's why it's not our immediate objective. what was significant about what you saw the other day is we're talking prominent governors, former senators, congressmen, people who led the party saying that if it doesn't change then we're going to go down that path and we're going to take that path seriously. in the meantime, our hope is to reform the republican party. that, too, is not going to be an easy task. we are talking about a party that says it's a big tent party when really it's not. it's donald trump's little tent party. and we've got to work to fix it, to make the gop more diverse, more open, and to bring it back to founding ideals. i can't even believe we're talking about the basics, but we've got to get the republican party back to defending our

democracy and our democratic institutions. that's somewhere that our movement will take common cause with others on the political spectrum to get the job done, whether that's democrats or independents or others. but we want to start with reforming the republican party. >> what i'm hearing is your main objective essentially here is, in fact, to reform the republican party. how do you plan on doing it? >> well, look, we want to get in touch with americans who feel the same way. we know there are millions of americans -- and i could give you talking points and stats and data about this, but really it comes down to this -- people are fed up. they're tired. i'm tired. i'm tired of the demeaning rhetoric in our politics, i'm tired of the snarkiness, you know, i can barely read the news when i get up in the morning because the acrimony is splitting our country in two. and yasmin, you and i remember in the post-9/11 period there was a moment -- even if it was a fleeting moment, we were kind of bonded together by a unified view of our country's promotion of human rights and human freedom and human dignity.

those are things that seem to be gone in our politics. when we talk about land of the free and home of the brave, i don't see the bravery in the gop, i see cowardice. that's something we want to tap into is people are fed up with this. >> i hear what you're saying. and i do. and you know, you think about something like the january 6th insurrection on the capitol, you would think that in and of itself would have been a unifying moment. and in the hours during the insurrection, it seemed as if it was a unifying moment. you had lindsey graham standing up on the house floor and saying i've had it with trump. reports of mccarthy calling trump saying call them off. tell them to go home. hours later, days later, mccarthy is meeting with donald trump in florida. days later, lindsey graham is golfing with trump in florida. how do you expect to reform the republican party when you see that happening? when you have something like an insurrection on the capitol where people lost their lives, not unifying folks behind that? >> well, i would say four words

-- kick the bums out. and that is going to be our approach. >> who -- >> it's worked in the past in american politics -- you named kevin mccarthy. i don't want to see kevin mccarthy as majority leader. he's demonstrated fealty to a twice impeached man who lost the white house -- >> flay kicked cheney -- in turn, they turned around and kicked liz cheney out. now what? he's in power with no checks and balances in place. he has elise stefanik behind him who, in fact, was a moderate coming in and has subsequently turned to a follower of trump because she recognized she could gain more power that way. how do you expect to do that when folks are gaining ground? >> we are talking about an extraordinarily broken republican party. so what we aim to do is go support the rationals against the radicals. that means running candidates in these races and beating the radicals like marjorie taylor green and matt gaetz back in their district. although i don't think we're going to have to do that to matt gaetz. sounds like the justice system

is going to do it for us. we want to go around the country to make sure we get prague mastic principled leaders. this has been done before but in reverse. if you think about the tea party movement, a right-wing insurgency, what we want to be is a rational insurgency toward the center right to try to fix this. that's not going to happen in one election cycle. it's going to take multiple election cycles, but people want to see that happen. if donald trump and his goons want to come after me and the message, bring it on. you have done enough damage to america. it's time for america to strike back. >> before you go, i got to ask you this question -- why should folks trust you knowing you signed up for a trump presidency in 2017, that you did, in fact, back him at one point when so many people saw the writing on the wall? they knew this country was headed in the direction that we are now in because of four years of donald trump. >> it's a great question. i didn't sign up for donald trump, signed up to protect the

country. i signed up to protect people against cyber threats and terrorism threats. in the course of that discovered this man was clinically incapable of doing his job, which everybody saw coming before him. people who knew -- >> did you know that going in? >> yeah, donald trump was number -- donald trump was number 17 out of 17 of people i wanted to win the election. i didn't vote for that man. i don't support that man. what i do support is our constitution and our country. and i spent my life trying to keep americans safe with national security. that's why i went in. when we saw how -- how totally disoriented donald trump was, it was the obligation of people in that administration to quit and speak out. and that's why a lot of people did. look, don't put your faith and credibility in me when it comes to movement. look at the people that signed this, the governors and gop leaders who want to reform. and those are the people who are going to be leading the charge. i'm going to be right there with them. the cavalry's coming? >> miles taylor, thank you. have a good rest of your day. coming up in the 4:00 p.m. hour, more on congresswoman liz cheney's powerful rebuke of her

republican colleagues' allegiance to the big lie. ahead, the unmasking of america. after more than a year of wiefd spread resistance to covid restrictions and the politics of the pandemic, can we trust a sort of honor system when it comes to public safety? our medical contributor dr. kavita patel joins me to explain what the new cdc guidelines mean for you. plus, a call for justice. rallies around the country to bring attention to the rising crimes against asian americans. i'm ordering some burritos! oh, nice. burritos?! get a freshly made footlong from subway® instead. with crisp veggies on freshly baked bread. just order in the app! ditch the burgers! choose better, be better. subway®. eat fresh.

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of returning to some sense of normalcy, others are questioning how the guidelines will be monitored and enforced. here to talk more about that, dr. kavita patel, msnbc medical contributor and physician and fellow at the brookings institute. dr. patel, thanks for joining us on this. appreciate it. i got to say when i saw the cdc change come down, i got a little bit nervous, a little bit anxious about the whole thing considering the fact that i have small children. now we're hearing much of it is going to operate on this kind of honor code system. but i guess the question is how do you trust folks to know that they're vaccinated or not if we're taking off our masks? >> short answer, you don't. >> yeah. >> that's what kind of been saying. i saw that the number of employers and businesses that are adding to that honor system list is -- it's everybody, it's all the large box retailers, grocery stores, and here's what i'm just going to say -- i think americans are confused, everybody's confused. if you are vaccinated, that is your strongest protection, but it's not zero proof, especially when it's only 38% of our

country now that is fully immunized. so what i would say is that if you, who have children who are not immunized, who have to be masked or distanced and you've got a young baby or someone under 2 that can't wear a mask, you should opt for outdoor settings, even if you're fully immunized, to protect your children. and then if you are going into a grocery store, into a retail outlet like a walmart or mcdonald's or anyplace like that where there's a high likelihood that you'll be with unvaccinated people you should wear a mask. there's two reasons why. one, an honors system for other things, not just covid vaccinations. people lie. it's not because they're bad people. we found up to 67% of people will lie to me, the doctor, about essential health information because they don't want to embarrass themselves and disappoint someone. imagine being the only person that says you're not vaccinated when everybody's walking in with no masks on.

i think we need take a breath, realize we have gotten through a huge milestone. this is a big deal. the big success but we're not in the clear, and we need to be a little bit more sensible. >> it's a huge deal and incredibly exciting having been through what we've all been through. but why not wait for the institution of technology like vaccine passports for folks? why the rush i guess? we've gotten used to wearing the masks. >> i don't know -- i will say, you know, look, it's easy for me to be back seat driver, back seat quarterback. i've been in these bizarre situations inside the white house, inside of congress, dealing with these tense issues. never a pandemic of my lifetime. but stuff that's pretty important. i would say that something i would have loved to have seen is the cdc on thursday saying the evidence is overwhelming. we are going to start to make recommendations that 28 days from now we want to have fully standardized proof of immunization and plans for our retailers, for our grocery

stores, our mom and pop shops to be able to let people in who are immunized without masks on. and then i can tell you, that would have been a great motivation. i can tell you the vaccine clinic that i was working at today, i would have seen people coming around the corner. but what do we have now? we've got honors systems, we've got -- you know, we've got people who have said that donald trump is still the president of the united states and that he really won the election. do i feel like i can trust they can tell me they're really vaccinated? >> no. dr. kavita patel. thank you as always, my friend. great to see you. a message from there is if you have young kids, make sure you're wearing your masks, especially in some large indoor stores to protect yourself and the children that are unvaccinated for now. hopefully by the end of the year kids can get vaccinated, as well. good to see you. before we go to break, we want to take a moment to recognize the life and work of legendary journalist jay barbry who died yesterday in florida. he was renowned for his enthusiastic and knowledgeable coverage of space exploration. he reported on 166 human space

flights during his 61-year career from america's first spaceflight with alan shepherd in 1961 until his last shuttle mission in 2011. he's going to be missed by all who knew him and worked with him. he was 87 years old. we'll be right back.

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timing could not be better after the horse passed its latest drug test for today's competition. that was a different story earlier this week when a positive drug test was announced after its kentucky derby win. nbc's kathy park is at the pimlico race course in baltimore for today's preakness stakes. great to see you this afternoon. thanks for joining us on this. talk about the attention and the pressure that medina spirit and his team faces today. >> reporter: hey there, great to see you, as well. there is certainly a lot of buzz surrounding medina spirit obviously with the post-derby drug test. there's also a lot of scrutiny with the trainer, bob baffert. and he is noticeably absent this weekend. that's pretty odd because his horse, medina spirit, is still in the running for the triple crown. so typically on a big weekend like this bob baffert, who is a hall of fame trainer, would be here, but he wanted to avoid the distraction. he didn't want the center of attention -- didn't want to be the center of attention because of the controversy surrounding

medina spirit. meanwhile, we spoke with nbc's numbers guru, steve kornacki, about the impact, the controversy is having on the way that people are betting. take a listen. >> we're starting to find out what the public thinks, i'm what the public thinks and is the public going to stay away from the baffert horses because of the controversy? >> yasmin, the controversy with medina spirit isn't over after the preakness stakes. churchill downs launched an investigation earlier this week looking into the drug test. o, there was a second test that we are waiting for and it could take weeks, if not months to get the results of that test. so, essentially, it could be beyond the belmont stakes before we figure out exactly what happened with those test results. and if it does come back positive, yasmin, we're told potentially that medina spirit could be dethroned and the

runner up would be the winner of the kentucky derby. it could be a big turning point, but like i said t could be months in the making. >> kathy, what is the impact on the integrity that horse racing faces with so much attention with what has unfolded so far? >> it certainly has been a black eye for the horse racing industry and put a spotlight on the use of drugs and race horses. over the course of the last several days i spoke with industry experts who say this might be a turning point for the horse racing industry to clean up its act. take a listen. >> it is a time when the sport is trying to find some ways to coalesce around federal legislation and have the different silos responsible for the sport. the jockeys, trainers, owners and the people who own the racing tracks and all come together around some sort of congressional action to have a federal oversight group.

this sport needs that in the worst way. >> and, yasmin, if we learned anything from this past week, there are a lot of varying rules and regulations depending on what state you're in and how this affects the horse racing industry. so, essentially, mike tirrico was saying there needs to be an overarching commissioner who needs to make a deciding vote when it comes to situations like this so we're not in a controversy like we are in right now ahead of the preakness stakes. >> kathy park in baltimore, thank you. coming up in our next hour aoc calls out safety concerns after a series of bizarre confrontations from marjorie taylor green. our censures enough for what some are calling an obsession? >> why are you so obsessed with me?

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but i was diagnosed with dupuytren's contracture. and it got to the point where things i took for granted got tougher to do. thought surgery was my only option. turns out i was wrong. so when a hand specialist told me about nonsurgical treatments, it was a total game changer. like you, my hands have a lot more to do. learn more at factsonhand.com today. welcome back. dozens of rallies in support of the aapi community are under way coast to coast as the house of representatives prepares to vote on the new covid hate crimes act with me richard lieulieuy. what have you been seeing? >> you know, yasmin, historic day for the community nationally as they were all across the country in at least 19 locations in the united states and several

abroad all taking to the streets and for the purpose of saying you should remember the api community as they face so much hate crimes, as well as hate incidents. and today i got to speak with some of the organizers of the new york march. they were giving out these whistles, that's why i'm wearing it. these communities across the country as they got these whistles we need a whistle to call for help because we might be attacked. this is what some of the volunteers told me. >> it's for the community members in case they feel unsafe. >> there's a long way to go. i mean, what we're looking at right now is also a political kind of situation. people are running for office so they're here and the question is, are they going to continue to be here if they don't win that office? are they going to continue to be here and pushing for these fights and pushing against the hate even when things are quieted down. when there is one person being attacked anywhere, are we going to continue to be up outraged and standing up. >> all right.

that pastor you heard at the end she is one of the leaders here in the chinatown community really emphasizing alliship, yasmin. they gathered at this particular plaza for many reasons one as which you look at the war memorial behind me in memory of chinese ancestry who lost their lives in the united states. really trying to make that common. want to talk to two new yorkers who were born here and they were here for the rally. we have cusanda and constance. what was the importance of the rally and what has changed in the years you lived in this community? >> people from the first and second generation are getting more involved now. if you speak english, it helps, but you don't have to speak english. the strength of the chinese is that the children are good at math and science. you don't have to be perfect in english for that. that made a difference for the chinese community. you don't have to be perfect in english, but that was the strength of the chinese and the

board of education told us they didn't do enough to help the blacks and the latinos. but what can we do? >> great conversation here, yasmin. life-long new yorkers and all towards a push towards yet another march in june. they hope to gather on the mall in washington, d.c., so, we'll see what happens there. >> thank you for that, richard leu in new york for us. we are approaching the top of the hour, everybody. you're watching nbc reports with yasmin vossoughian. welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. if you're just joining us, welcome. the chaos engulfing the republican party from multiple sides and sources. new video surfacing that shows marjorie taylor greene's obsession with democrat alexandria ocasia-cortez began

long before she entered congress and it is an obsession that has aoc worried. watch this. >> stop locking your door and come out and face the american citizens you serve. >> and clearly needs some help. >> so in a moment i'm going to talk to former congresswoman donna edwards about what can be done about greene's behavior towards a fellow legislature. fighting words. liz cheney's first interview after she was ousted from republican leadership in the house was with nbc's own savannah guthrie. >> some of your colleagues say we supported you before, congresswoman cheney. you made your point, drop it. let's focus on the future. >> it's an ongoing threat. silence is not an option. >> later this hour, cheney in her own words on her next steps to try to ride the republican party on a collision course with itself. we