ideas start the future, just like that. ♪♪ welcome to monday, it's "meet the press daily." i'm kasie hunt in for chuck todd. we are expecting president biden any moment now to deliver remarks on the u.s.'s efforts to tackle the pandemic at home and abroad. those remarks are coming amid confusion and frustration from state and local officials as well as businesses and everyday citizens about how the administration rolled out its guidance on mask wearing for vaccinated americans. we will bring you the president's remarks as soon as they begin. the other major story

confronting this administration, the violence in the middle east. the growing international pressure to find a way to deescalate the conflict between israeli forces and palestinian militants. there are unfortunately no signs of an end to the crisis or the bloodshed. some of the deadliest strikes happening over the weekend with residents in gaza reporting the heaviest bombardments last night. roughly 200 palestinians have been killed in gaza, including 59 children. ten have been killed in israel since the conflict began according to local officials. the white house has held conversations with leaders on both sides of the conflict. tony blinken spoke about the situation this morning from denmark. >> the united states remains greatly concerned by the violence, by the escalating violence. hundreds of people killed or injured, including children being pulled from the rubble. as we have said before, israel has the right to defend itself.

there is no equivalence between a terrorist group firing rockets at civilians and a country defending its people from those attacks. i have said that i believe israel as a democracy has an extra burden to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, even as it defends itself and its people. >> the u.s. and other nations are giving extra scrutiny to an israeli air strike saturday. it flattened a building houses the associated press and al jazeera. they were given enough time to evacuate barely. israel had intelligence that hamas was operating in the building. secretary blinken says he's not seen that. israeli prime minister netanyahu is defiant saying his country is taking the appropriate steps to defend itself. >> the fact is, they are sending thousands of rockets on our

cities with a specific purpose of murdering our civilians from these places. what would you do? if it happens to washington or new york? you know damn well what would you do. you would at the very least do what we do. >> on capitol hill, a group of roughly 30 senators, nearly all democrats, are calling for an immediate cease-fire. some of the more progressive members of the democratic caucus are accusing the u.s. being complicit in the carnage. joining me from the white house ahead of the remarks is kristin welker. also with us is richard engel with the latest from tel aviv. and "new york times" columnist and expert on this region, tom freedman. the latest from the white house, we played comments from blinken about how the u.s. will involve itself or not. what do we know about how the administration plans to put an end to this violence or whether

they plan to try to -- not step in as aggressively as perhaps we could? >> reporter: jen psaki just wrapped up her briefing. she was pressed on this a number of times. she reiterated what we have heard from this administration, which is that the u.s. stands by israel's right to defend itself, what you heard from the secretary of state. of course, we know that president biden had high level meetings throughout the weekend. he was in the oval office on saturday, for example. he had calls with prime minister netanyahu as well as abbas. in those calls, urged them to deescalate the situation. what you heard jen stress was that the diplomacy is going on behind the scenes. they are not going to make the same public statements as they are privately to some of these leaders. you are right to point out what progressives are saying. this crisis has really exposed the divides within the democratic party.

the fact progressives are trying to pressure this president to get publically tougher on israel. at this point, he is not doing that. i can tell you that based on my conversations behind the scenes here, there was surprise about what happened over the weekend, the escalation by israel, the fact it targeted that building where the ap and other journalists are housed. this is a mounting crisis for this administration. again, they insist that the tough negotiations are going on behind the scenes. >> richard, let me bring you in to bring us up to speed on what you are seeing there. obviously night has fallen where you are. do you anticipate hostilities are going to continue into the evening? >> reporter: i certainly do. that's been the pattern here, that every night, usually during the dark hours, the israeli military strikes in gaza. it has been striking not in just one location, but throughout the

gaza strip. last night, 54 jets, according to the israeli military, were in action and striking a lot of open areas. they were striking roads. they were striking some places along the israeli/gaza border. many people feared they were laying the ground for a possible ground invasion. israel says it is destroying a network of hamas tunnels. there have been strikes inside the urban centers, inside gaza city, in the northern part of the area. when you strike in an urban area like that, you are likely going to cause casualties. there was one incident this weekend, you talked about the media building that was knocked down. that got a lot of attention. three apartment buildings collapsed full of people. they collapsed after israel destroyed a road in central gaza city. it's down the main boulevard.

they said, according to a military spokesman, there was hamas infrastructure under the road. when they took out the road, the buildings went down and more than 40 people were killed. many of them were women and children. there have been civilian casualties here. i expect they will see another night of bombardment. the question is, are we seeing the end or are we seeing the beginning of a new phase? there have been reports in the israeli media suggesting there might be a cease-fire within the next 24 to 48 hours. those could be trial balloons that are being floated by israeli journalists. hamas is willing to accept a cease-fire. there's a different dynamic here. these happen every few years, these outbursts of violence between the israelis and the leadership in gaza strip and against gaza in general. what's happening now is

different than the past. it is getting a lot of attention. there's a lot of social media, which didn't exist before. the israeli arab population, palestinian population within israel is taking part. palestinian-israelis, israeli-arabs are planning to protest tomorrow. there are factors here that make this very uncomfortable for israel to continue. but the one thing that israel has now that it didn't have before, which gives it the ability to push on with this military strike, is it has a nearly perfected iron dome system that takes out 90% of the incoming rockets that it tries to hit. that gives you a lot of leverage military if you have that kind of protection. >> sure. tom, let me put to you the question richard is raising of what's different this time around. your column, of course, focused in on this idea. how do you see this compared to previous conflicts? what does that mean for how it

does or doesn't get resolved? >> there's something totally despairing about this. both sides seem to be fighting status quo in which nothing was going on. it isn't clear to me what anybody is fighting for. there's no peace plan on the horizon. hamas is not struggling to put pressure on israel in order to accept a two state solution. hamas is dedicated to israel's destruction. the israeli government has no peace plan on the table that it is trying to compel palestinians to agree to. what's so awful about this situation at many levels is that, yes, there will be a cease-fire soon, i hope. the morning after the morning after, people will just be sur

surveilling the rubble. and so there's really -- you want there to be a cease-fire to stop the killing. i wish i could tell you that the morning after the morning after there will be some progress here. i don't see any hope for that right now. >> tom, you wrote about hamas and netanyahu and how each entity has fed the other's interests. can you explain the argument that you laid out there? they obviously don't talk to each other. you say they don't need to. >> netanyahu has one overriding goal. that is to prevent a two state solution that would require israel to evacuate all or part of the west bank. that's his goal. the way he does that, he pursues that is to make sure, first of all, the palestinian authority

governing the west bank and hamas, one more secular, one more islamist, they can never get together. he does that by keeping hamas strong. he loves qatar to funnel money to them. he was happy there were no palestinian elections. he wants these two at each other's throat so he can say, i would love to make peace, but there's no unified palestinian decision maker. that's his strategic goal. hamas's strategic goal is to dominate the palestinian national movement. they made i think a huge mistake here thinking they could jump into the middle of the fight by lobbing rockets on jerusalem. the israelis were doing tit for tat. when they started lobbing rockets into jerusalem, which hamas hoped to use to take over the palestinian movement by dealing with this emotional issue of jerusalem, the israelis i think decided, we're going to

take you down. we are going to do serious daniel to your infrastructure. hamas' goal is to dominate the palestinian movement, make sure there can be no two state solution with israel, make sure israel becomes a pariah in the world for many people. bibi and hamas, they understand each other. it's going back to 1996, netanyahu was elected after hamas suicide bombs. it's rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. i see no prospect of anything breaking that cycle right now. >> kristin welker, what's the difference between the relationship that joe biden had with netanyahu and the one netanyahu had with trump? how is that impacting the relationship between biden and netanyahu impacting the administration's strategy? >> reporter: that's a great question. i had a chance to speak to prime minister netanyahu during the trump administration when he was

here for a visit. he said he felt like no other american president understood the issues in israel like former president trump. they were very closely aligned on almost every issue. this is a shift. there's no doubt about that. president biden has made it clear that he is not going to have an open strategy, but continue to underscore israel is a close and very important ally. it's a subtle shift but a significant one. former president trump had an ambassador on day one. president biden has yet to name an ambassador. i am told one is going to be named soon. there's an envoy in the region. the administration says, look, the work -- the outreach is still being done. i do think it underscores the fact that these are two different administrations and two different approaches to israel. it's debatable which strategy is

better in terms of the broader middle east policy. the bottom line is, the biden administration are looking at this in terms of the broader region and what is necessary to bring about ultimately peace and a two state solution. >> richard, i want to follow up with you on one specific question on the ground there, which is the attack that levelled the ap and al jazeera offices along with other apartment buildings. the israelis are saying that that included hamas intelligence office. they say they provided evidence. blinken said, we have not seen that evidence. have you seen the evidence? who has seen the evidence? what are they saying about whether they can prove this was a legitimate military target? >> reporter: i have not seen the evidence. i have worked out that was building. i saw no evidence myself that hamas was using it at all, for

any purpose. what israeli military officials did say that -- he described the evidence in somewhat vague terms. he said that hamas military intelligence, the equivalent of not a cia but an intelligence office was operating out of the building. these are people on computers. he said the hamas research and development wing, also people in offices on computers, not necessarily fighters with guns, was operating in that building, and that they were also -- there was equipment, either on or in the building that was used to disrupt military purposes or used to disrupt israeli military capabilities. i pressed on this. what kind of equipment? what do you mean? a jamming equipment? how could they put jamming equipment in a building that's full of television stations? the official wouldn't get any

more specific. it was characterized as that. many people who worked in that building dispute that. they say it was a media building. it had long been a media building. it was not a militant headquarters. >> richard, tom, thank you both. richard, stay safe. kristin welker, you will stick around as we wait for biden's remarks. coming up, confusion for customers and businesses after the abrupt announcement from the cdc that vaccinated americans can go maskless. we will bring you that plus president biden's remarks. one on one with civil rights activist kareem abdul-jabbar. wearing their hair. did you know that your clothes can actually attract pet hair? with bounce pet hair & lint guard, your clothes can repel pet hair. one bounce mega sheet has 3x the hair

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hear from president biden with an update on the pandemic. he will announce the united states will send 20 million doses of vaccines overseas. this comes after this weekend on "meet the press" when dr. walensky defended the decision to relax mask wearing. >> there's no need for everybody to start ripping off their masks. we have been told for 16 months to keep ourselves and our families safe by putting a mask on. those behaviors are going to be hard to change. there's no mandate to take it off. what we are saying is, now this is safe, work at your own speed, work with your own family and your own businesses to remove them when necessary. >> since the cdc's surprise announcement thursday, both state governments and private businesses have been scrambling to re-evaluate their mask mandates. target announced this more thanning it -- this morning that

it will drop a mask mandate. there's no way to know who is and who isn't vaccinated. vaughn hillyard at in virginia where shoppers are experiencing the confusion as the mask guidance is shifting in real time today. vaughn, you are at one of the places in america where i go to talk to voters, because you will find people going to and from their cars into these big box stores. as we pointed out, i think this morning, your mask guidance was one thing and now even just in the last few hours it has changed. what can you show us? >> reporter: that's right. target, initially this morning, if you looked at the front door, here in virginia, there was a sign that said, a mask required. over the course of the morning, employees got word that target,

the corporation, changed its policy across the 2,000 retail locations. folks can now enter, if they are fully vaccinated, and their local jurisdiction doesn't have a mask mandate, they are good to go inside of their target without a mask. i want to let you hear from liz ales, one woman who was smiling when i went to introduce myself to her inside the store earlier today. she didn't have a mask on. it was her first time in more than a year doing so inside a store. take a listen. >> i took my mask off and continued leery but felt strong enough to say, that's the rules. >> reporter: this was your inaugural trip without a mask? >> yes. we have to let people take responsibility for their own decisions. i'm ready to take that step. >> reporter: if you look at the list, target joins starbucks, who also lifted their mask requirements for fully vaccinated folks today. also, the likes of walmart,

costco. on the other side, nearly two-thirds of americans are not fully vaccinated. that's why home depot, cvs, walgreens, they continue to require masks. there's a handful of states that now have statewide mask requirements. >> i'm sorry to cut you off. we have to go here to the president. joe biden has taken the podium to talk about vaccines. >> a new milestone in our progress against covid-19 here at home. steps were taken to fight covid internationally. an important tax cut for families with children under the age of 18. that's where i'm going to start. today is tax day. when everyone's taxes are due. no one likes to pay taxes. i know. my dad used to say, it's a small price to live in this country. i want to tell everyone with children why, as they are filling their taxes -- filing

their taxes today, they should know a new tax cut will come their way for working class and middle class fols very soon. i firmly believe the need to make our tax system work for the middle class. that's why i think we should ask corporations and the top 1% to start paying their fair share and why we should crack down on millionaires and billionaires who escape taxes by cheating. i also think we need to give ordinary families a break. a tax break. to help them with the cost of raising kids. most people don't know it. for families with children, we put that tax cut into the american rescue plan, which was signed not long ago. i signed the tax cut into law in march. 90% of the families, all middle class working class families, will get this tax cut. it's a one-year cut that reduces your taxes by $3,000 a year for

each child you have under the age of 18. two kids, it's a $6,000 tax cut. if those kids are under the age of 6, you will get $3,600 per child. as you file your taxes, know that your tax cut is coming. here is the great news. you won't have to wait until your next year's tax return to get that break. i'm announcing today that on july 15th and the 15th of every month thereafter throughout the year, you will get deposited into your bank account half of your tax cut, at least, $250 per child each month, a direct deposit into your account. if you are a working family with two kids, you will get $500 a month into your bank account on the 15th of every month starting in july. we are getting -- we are getting you a tax cut this year now when

you need it and not have to wait. if you get your tax cut refund deposited in your bank account automatically, this tax cut will be put into your account automatically. if not, it will be mailed to you. in addition to helping americans hard pressed and working families, experts have told us this will cut child poverty in america in half. this tax cut sends a clear and powerful message to american working families with children. help is here. let me talk to another milestone, a long battle with covid. today, for the first time since the pandemic began, cases -- pandemic cases are down in all 50 states. first time. that's right. thanks to the hard work of so many people, covid cases are down in all 50 states. i can't promise that will continue this way. we know there will be advances

and setbacks. we know there are many flare-ups that can occur. but if the unvaccinated get vaccinated, they will protect themselves and other unvaccinated people around them. if they do not, states with low vaccinate rates may see those rates go up, may see this progress reversed. ultimately, those who are not vaccinated will pay the price. the vaccinated will continue to be protected against severe illnesses. others may not be if you are not vaccinated. given the vaccination is convenient and free, it will be a tragedy and a needless one to see covid cases among those who do not get vaccinated go up. we are not done fighting this virus. we still have tens of millions left to vaccinate. we are making significant progress. in fact, when tomorrow's vaccination numbers come out,

they will show that 60% -- 60% of the americans have received at least one shot. every day, the light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter. this vaccination effort has been historic for our nation. i want to thank the scientists and researchers. the companies manufacturing the vaccines. the national guard. the u.s. military, fema. the nation's governors, doctors, nurses, pharmacists. i want to thank the american people who have stepped up and done their patriotic duty and gotten vaccinated. in less than four months, we have gone from less than 6% to 60% of adults in america with at least one shot. we are seeing the results in people's lives and in their livelihoods. deaths are down from covid by 81%. at their lowest level since april of 2020.

as a result of our prompt action to roll out the vaccine and boost the economy, we have gone from stagnation to an economy growing faster than it has in nearly 40 years. we have gone from anemic job creation to record creation for more -- for a new administration, none has ever created this many jobs in this time frame. progress is undeniable. we are not done yet. some of the hardest work is ahead. we are still losing too many americans. and we still have too many unvaccinated people in america. last week, the cdc announced that if you are fully vaccinated, you no longer have to wear a mask. the science now shows that your vaccination protects you as well as being masked or better than being masked. you can protect yourself from serious illness from covid by getting vaccinated. or wearing a mask until you are

fully vaccinated. either way, you are protected. as i said last week, some people may want to continue to wear masks. even if they are fully vaccinated. that's a decision they can make. some businesses may want to continue to require wearing masks. let's be kind a respectful to one another as we come out of this pandemic and respect those who want to continue to wear a mask, even if they have been vaccinated. above all, let's work together to meet the target i have set of 70% of adults, all adults, with at least one shot by july 4th. seven states have done this. getting vaccinated has never been easier. we are at 80,000 locations where you can get a shot. 90% of you live within five miles of one of those locations. you can now find a vaccine site near you by texting your zip code to 438829. 438829.

your zip code and that number. you will get all the places near you. many places don't require an appointment. just walk in and get the shot. it's free. everyone 12 years and above sellable. if you need help getting your vaccine site -- getting to or from your vaccination site, lyft and uber are offering free rides to take you to the vaccination site and bring you back home between may 24th and july 4th, to anyone who wants to get vaccinated. i have called on employers to do their part as well. offer employees paid time off to get vaccinated. we have set up a program nationally to reimburse those businesses for the cost of giving employees the time off. now it's time to get your shot. we have the vaccine.

we have secured enough supply to vaccinate all adults and children above the age of 12. i repeat, now is the time to get your vaccine shot. over the past 118 days, our vaccinations program has led the world. today, we are taking an additional step to help the world. we know america will never be fully safe until the pandemic that's raging globally is under control. no ocean is wide enough, no wall is high enough to keep us safe. rampant disease and death in other countries can destabilize them and pose a risk to us as well. new variants could arise overseas that could put us at greater risk. we need to help fight the disease around the world to keep us safe here at home and to do the right thing of helping other people. it's the right thing to do. it's the smart thing to do. it's the strong thing to do.

in march, we shared over 4 million doses of our astrazeneca vaccine with canada and mexico. at the end of april, we announced that we would provide another 60 million doses of that vaccine overseas. this is the vaccine not authorized for use in the united states yet. so we will send it to folks once the fda has reviewed this and said it's safe. this is all the astrazeneca vaccine in the united states, all of it sent to other countries. today i'm announcing that we will share u.s.-authorized vaccine doses of pfizer and moderna and johnson & johnson as they become available with the rest of the world as well. these are vaccinations and vaccines that are authorized to be put in arms of americans. by the end of june, when we will have taken delivery of another of such vaccines to protect

everyone in the united states, the united states will share at least 20 million of those doses, that extra supply with other countries. this means over the next six weeks, the united states of america will send 80 million doses overseas. that represents 13% of the vaccines produced by the united states by the end of june. this will be more vaccines than any country has actually shared to date. five times more than any other country. more than russia, china, which have donated 15 million doses. there's a lot of talk about russia and china influencing the world with vaccines. we want to lead the world with our values, with this demonstration of our innovation and the decency of the american people. as in world war ii, america was the arsenal of democracy in the battle against covid pandemic,

it's the arsenal of vaccines for the rest of the word. we will share them in ending the pandemic everywhere. we will not use them to secure favors from other countries. we will work with covax, the international organization, and other partners to ensure the vaccines are delivered in a way equitable and follows science and public health data. today's announcement to share 80 million doses is our next step as we ramp up the efforts to respond to covid-19 around the world. in the weeks ahead, working with the world's democracies, we will work together. i expect to announce more later. i want to be clear.

beating this pandemic globally is beyond the capacity of any one nation, even the united states. we will continue to -- the united states will continue to donate our excess supply as that supply is delivered to us. that won't be nearly enough. we need -- what we need to do is lead an entirely new effort, an effort that involves working with the pharmaceutical companies and others and partner nations to vastly increase supply, to create most of it in the united states the kind of capacity that can beat this pandemic worldwide. in a way that creates jobs here at home and saves lives abroad. this will take longer than our immediate work to donate from the existing supplies. we will be asking other nations to help shoulder the economic cost of this effort. the consequences will be more lasting and more dramatic. doing this will help us beat the pandemic and leave us with a manufacturing capacity here to

prepare for the next crisis, the next vaccine needed. jeff will be working with our national security council and a talented dedicated team that has been stood up across our government. it will include gail smith at the state department leading in diplomacy and experts from our international development and the department of health and human services as well. we will bring the same response to the global effort that made us so successful here at home. again, we have enough -- we, the united states, has secured enough supply for all eligible americans, all americans 12 years old and older. we still have work to do though. hard work. because we have done so much

here, because of the power of american companies, research and manufacturing, we can continue to do more to help the rest of the world. this is a rapidly changing world. it's a mistake to bet against democracies. just as democrat says led the world in the darkness of world war ii, democracies will lead the world out of this pandemic. america will lead those democracies as they work to bring greater health and hope to the world in the months to come. folks, think back. four months ago was an audacious goal to put a million is shots in the arms in my first 100 days as president. 100 million, i should say. we did over 220 million shots in that time frame. back then, most adults weren't eligible to get the shot. now everyone 12 years and older is eligible.

tomorrow, 60% of all american adults will have received at least one shot. look what we have done. look what we have done, america. look at what you have done, america. there's not a single thing beyond our capacity to do in this country when we decide to do it and we do it together. we can do whatever we set our minds to do if we do it together. that's exactly what we're going to do. solve the problem here in the united states, which we are well on our way of doing, and help solve the problem for the world by organizing the rest of the democracies of the world. thank you all. god bless our troops. >> do you insist upon a cease-fire given the escalation in violence? >> i will be speaking with the prime minister in an hour and talk to you after that.

>> do you believe the actions are proportionate to what they are faced with? >> president biden stopping to answer a question from mike memoli about the israeli/palestinian conflict. the president saying he plans to speak with benjamin netanyahu then. he will update us then. let me bring back kristin welker and dr. rani. the president covered a wide range of topics there, including tax cuts that are going to families who are trying to get back on their feet in the wake of a really tough year and also, of course, addressed our efforts to fight covid globally. what stood out to you? >> reporter: a couple of things. president biden announcing that those expanded child tax credits would start on july 15th. it's significant in the timing because it comes on the heels of those disappointing jobs numbers that we saw last week.

based on my conversations over the weekend, i was told that the focus is going to be on covid and the economy this week. frankly, it has been central to president biden's administration so far. those are the headwinds that he is facing as he makes that announcement. then to this announcement that they are going to be sending 20 million doses of vaccines to other countries who need them. this is a shift. this is the united states saying, we are now ready, because we have 60% of americans who have at least one dose, to start aiding the rest of the world in their effort to get vaccinated. you heard him stress the fact that we are a global community. until cases start to come down significantly globally, we have not really gotten ahead of this pandemic and of this crisis. the question is, how will that effort go? of course, they are waiting the 60 million astrazeneca, they are

waiting for the fda to sign off on that. he set a benchmark of 70% of americans received one dose by july 4th. that's the goal and the benchmark they are heading toward. what you heard from president biden today was an update on all of that. essentially trying to make the case that the u.s. is moving in the right direction as it relates to fighting this pandemic. he described the u.s. as wanting to be the arsenal for vaccine for the rest of the world. >> doctor, let me ask you about this to stay with the news we heard from the president that we are going to undertake this effort. especially as different variants of the virus emerge in different parts of the world, this is something that i think for those of us with kids who can't get vaccinated and are concerned about that, this seems like good news in terms of trying to help

tamp this down across the rest of the world to protect us here at home as well. what say you? >> absolutely. since day one of this pandemic, it has been a global pandemic. it has not been limited to just the united states. right? trying to do things like blocking flights from other countries is not the way to control this. we will not stop the pandemic until we vaccinate the world. the united states is one of the leaders of the world. it has to step up. 20 million doses is great. that's less than 1% of india's population. i appreciated biden talking about the more substantive measures that need to be put in place. the funding of the covax consortium. stepping up production at home and helping folks abroad. then the investment in the global health infrastructure. just as we faced in the united states in december and january, vaccines alone are not sufficient. we need an infrastructure to distribute them and get them into arms. >> it's a great point.

we originally invited you on to talk about the confusion around the mask mandates. we didn't hear much from the president on that today. i'm curious your take. we were speaking before the president with vaughn hillyard who was out at businesses that are trying to decide what to do. what's your advice to your patients? let's take someone who is healthy, who has been vaccinated, what's the safest way to go about shopping and living your daily life? >> absolutely. for those of us who have been fully vaccinated, the science is really clear. we are at incredibly low risk of catching the virus, getting really sick, hospitalized or dying, or passing it on to someone else. however, although we are low risk, we are not 0 risk. if you are in a community where there are a fair number of cases, where folks are not largely vaccinated, if you are not in one of the seven states with 70% adult vaccination rate, this is not the time to take off

your mask indoors. that's particularly true if you are someone who is high risk for whom the vaccine may not be as effective. someone who is on chemo or the equivalent. that said, for many of us this may be a time when we say i'm comfortable going indoors without a mask. the other side of the recommendation, the biology is clear for those of us vaccinated, it's the behavioral science, it's for the people who are not yet fully vaccinated and whether or not we trust those not vaccinated to wear a mask. whether we put others unvaccinated at risk, not that 60%, 70% number. but there are a lot of people in the u.s. who want to get vaccinate and haven't had the chance. that's the last reason to keep your mask on is to set a community standard. >> how would you advise people who have members of their family who are not vaccinated, whether they be children or family members that for some medical reason can't have this happen? let's focus on kids.

we know they are low risk anyway. would you advise your patients that it's safe to take an unvaccinated child into a store where there's not a mask requirement? >> i have two kids.t for no one has gotten their first shot. the other is not eligible for a vaccine. i am taking them into stores. they have to be masked. in school, they have to be masked. my husband is not yet fully vaccinated. he just got his second shot. if he goes in, he needs to be masked. anyone who is unvaccinated needs to be in a mask. >> fair enough. thank you both very much for being with us today. don't go anywhere. we will be right back. t go anyw. we will be rig bhtack.

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welcome back. we are following a couple of big legal stories today. one involving the supreme court and the other a republican

congressman's associate. the supreme court agreed to take up a major abortion case next term with potentially far reaching consequences for roe versus wade. a 2018 law banned most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy in mississippi. to come before the court since justice amy coney barrett hit the bench. in florida, an associate of republican congressman matt gaetz has just pleaded guilty in a sex trafficking case. joel greenberg agreed to plead guilty to six of the 33 charges he's facing. he agreed to cooperate with federal investigators as part of that agreement. investigators are looking into whether greenberg and gaetz used the internet they could use to pay for sex. according to the "new york times," they're also investigating whether gaetz had a sexual relationship with a

minor and paid her to travel with him. three people were briefed in the matter. greenberg's plea agreement doesn't mention the congressman's name at all. let's turn now to something totally different, but we did want to make sure we had time for this today. recently chuck todd got a chance to sit down with sports legend and long-time civil rights actiist kareem abdul-jabar, and we wanted to bring you a portion of that conversation. watch. >> kareem, it's always a privilege and an honor to talk to you. this week the nba put your name on the kareem abdul-jabar social justice champion award, and i believe it means every year every team is going to nominate somebody for this award and one person will get it every year. you know, i think it's obvious what this award is going to be about, but walk us through what the nba hopes this award will do

and what you hope this does. >> well, the nba has been involved in promoting equality, tolerance and inclusion for decades. i remember when i came into the league my rookie year, the milwaukee bucs hired the first black general manager of the team and the nba has been on the cutting edge ever since then. so it doesn't surprise me that they've come up with this award, and i'm really looking forward to what it's going to promote, because all the guys on the various teams now will start to figure out how they can win this award and start thinking about how they will make their communities a better place, or if they have an issue that is important enough for them to become involved in. i think we will only see good things come from this.

>> you know, you were on the cutting edge, you were on the front lines of athletes getting involved in social justice and civil rights movements back in the '60s. what do you make of that evolution over just what you've seen since you entered the nba to when you left it to where it is today? >> well, i think we went through a period there where guys didn't understand how important it was. these issues really haven't been high anywhere, but nobody knew how to deal with it. and just the fact that people are concerned about it and want to do something about it really has evolved into this moment. you know, people that have not had the opportunity to use whatever tools they have to change things now see that, hey, if there is an issue that i care about, i can do something about

it. again, that's a very good thing. >> i'm curious. how would you describe the state of race relations today in america, and how would you describe where america has been over the last 50 years? >> well, i think we've gone through a series of a couple periods of time where we moved guard and moved backwards at the same time. you know, there is a debate as to whether or not america is a racist country. certainly there have been a lot of racist incidents in america, but, you know, as to whether or not america is a racist country and its future is going to be involved in racism, we're going to have to determine that. we're debating that right now, and i think it's an important debate, and i think that all of the people who have had some

input really have helped us understand the issues. let's look at what happened to colin kaepernick, for example. he was doing a peaceful demonstration about the fact that too many black americans were dying at the hands of police for no good reason, unarmed people. and everybody wanted to distort what he was saying, saying he was unamerican and that he hated the country and hated the flag. that wasn't the issue. the issue was police overreaction and violence toward the black community. he was trying to bring that issue to the forefront and get people to discuss it. look what happened to him. fortunately people came around, finally, the nfl came around and apologized for not seeing the truth in what he was trying to do. it wasn't that he was trying to

harm our country, he was trying to get people to deal with this issue. it's a very important issue. >> kareem abdul-jabar, it's always a privilege and an honor, sir. thank you. >> thanks. great talking to you. >> and there's going to be much more of chuck's conversation with kareem abdul-jabar on our streaming show "meet the press reports." you can watch both of them on ondemand on peacock. we'll be back with more "meet the press daily" and you can always catch me on tuesday daily. we'll have jeff bennet coming up right after the break. coming up right after the break. i got you. ♪ all by yourself. ♪ go with us and get millions of flexible booking options. expedia. it matters who you travel with. i'll be observing your safe-driving abilities. play your cards right, and you could be in for a tasty discount. [ clicks pen] let's roll. hey, check it out. one time i tripped on the sidewalk over here.

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good afternoon to you. i'm jeff bennet in for my friend katy tur. we begin with breaking news from president biden just minutes ago on a big milestone in the race to vaccinate america. >> today, for the first time since the pandemic began, cases, pandemic cases are down in all 50 states for the first time. we're not done fighting these fires. we still have tens of millions left to vaccinate. but we are making significant progress. in fact, when tomorrow's vaccination numbers come out, they'll show that 60% -- 60% of americans have received at least one