hi, everyone. 4:00 in the east. the fbi's investigation into the deadly insurrection is steaming ahead today. this despite the gop obstruction of legislation to form a commission to investigate the deadly attack by trump supporters on january 6. the criminal probe on the other hand has yielded a flurry of new arrests. including the proud boys who donald trump instructed to stand by ahead of the election. from "the washington post" reporting, u.s. authorities have arrested three more alleged soirnts of two right wing groups in the january 6 storming of the capitol including one who allegedly shouted let's take the

f'g capitol while with a large group of proud boys around the building. call him milkshake. that's what they call him. he is from bradenton, florida. he spilled the beans by another proud boy member at the time which may turn out to be key information about the premeditated nature of the events that next transpired next. scott is charged with assaulting a federal officer, engaging in violence and other counts. "the washington post" adds this reporting, quote, prosecutors allege as many as 60 members of the proud boys a right wing group with a history of violence that threw the support to donald trump in the election communicated on the ground in washington before several allegedly spearheaded key parts of the rioting. that authorities said led to five deaths. assaults on nearly 140 police and evacuation of lawmaker just the picture painted by the fbi

is one of graver danger of violence in the wake of the insurrection as the former president's ongoing public comments about the election and the gop's refusal to condemn those comments may galvanize future violence. in prepared testimony to congress in march jill sanborn at the fbi said this. quote, the fbi assesses there is an elevated threat of violence from extremists and some of these actors have been emboldened in the aftermath of the breach of the u.s. capitol. it is a view shared by liz cheney. >> i think it's dangerous. i think that we have to recognize how quickly things can unravel. we have to recognize what it means for the nation to have a former president who has not conceded and who continues to suggest that our electoral

system cannot function and do the will of the people. >> when you say dangerous, dangerous how? are you alleging that january 6 could happen again or worse? >> i think there's no question. >> the even more ominous news is that nearly 4 in 10 republicans support vie leapt actions if elected leaders quote fail to act. it is something former bush 43 speech writer tackles. the mind set that this gives rise to a maga world is something like this. we are victims of an injustice. the leader donald trump was removed from office by illegitimate means and to destroy our country. if others won't protect us we'll take matters into our own hands. we are the victims of the crime of the century. the former colleague goes further writing this, quote, all who resist trump's will know they will be singled out by

name, exposed to political jeopardy. this is not a drill joke. this is not a myth. this is not a drill. this is not a drill is where we start today with favorite reporters and friends. former republican congressman denver wriggleman is here. also analyst and former special agent with the fbi clint watts is here and anna palmer from punch bowl news. clint watts, i want to start with you on the fbi investigation which shows no signs sort of winding down and seem to be deeper into the groups of individuals. tell me what the new charges mean is going on in the inside. >> one of the challenges of all of this is premeditated. i know from my own research

teams watching it online it looked planned in advance because they coordination the actions and what essentially was an assembly. just assembled in a location. what you see with the videos is different from the online space where you don't know where everyone is or who everyone is. you have video of someone saying let's take the capitol and specific and what they did. the other part is to connect it with the videos that show them particularly the proud boys breaking windows. assaulting law enforcement officers. shoving into the capitol. they were the first people there breaching the capitol and they really opened the way for everybody else to spill in so i think you got a pretty defined pathway now for a conspiracy case or a larger case in terms of what they were trying to undertake and i think that helps them parse out where to focus on the most violent rhetoric and individuals in those groups. and the coming weeks and months

you will see a much broader case against the proud boys and the oathkeepers. they were the ones that created the catastrophe. >> clint, how does the -- "the washington post" reported on the fbi field office in norfolk, virginia, having a report and sending it in to somebody in washington about chatter or preparations for war. how does that intelligence play into the investigation and what folks are charged with? >> i think it will definitely show that everyone knew there was a plot to do something heading into the january 6. as long as you have that, that gives you the leads to build a case. the biggest challenge in the recent domestic cases is how much is an organized conspiracy and what was the intent? it is difficult to determine that. they don't mobilize in a physical location until the last minute and i think also why the

norfolk report that came in the day before which is pretty lat even trying to defend the capitol. late to get that, make assessment about it. raw intelligence. i think those sorts of aspects allowed them the gateways to launch this investigation. the sad part is and this is the comments from liz cheney in that interview is will this happen again? we don't have a good handle on what point will we stop? at the moment the investigation is after the damage is already done. in counter terrorism we would never have accepted this in an international context and expected to stop the plot after 9/11. here after january 6 we have people on capitol hill part of the target attacked saying, no, don't investigate this or look at this. it is the opposite of the 9/11

commission essentially. >> denver wriggleman, this is something i heard from a senior official involved in the 9/11 commission saying we need to -- in the same way that never again, failing to connect the dots became one of the mission statements of post-9/11, counter terror and protecting the homeland and became integrated with the cia and the fbi and the creation of department of homeland security, there are pieces of reporting to never fail to as clint said turn in the day before like the reports from field office in norfolk and why it took three hours for the national guard to respond to an ongoing insurrection at the united states capitol. i wonder what you make of where we stand on those questions with as clint said no one beginning to establish a commission to

investigate them. >> i'm fortunate. my goodness, we could go back and forth on data all day. this is great. this is what i like to do. clint is correct on the data and that we need a commission. i'm with john farmer who was on the 9/11 commission and when clint talks about the data we had a report three to five days after on who was involved. it was antifa or something like that had happened so i got a call from liz saying, help. right? we put our analysis group together. i don't remember people -- i briefered this right after it happened and seven groups involved and i want to read real quick. >> please, please. >> the proud boys. the oathkeepers. nsc-131. new jersey european heritage

association. the wiper army. the american nationalist and the american guard. we know that those seven were actually involved and a mix. right? we had a mix of qanon conspiracy theorists, proud boys and others so if you put that together we have the data. we saw the proud boys assembling well before. probably the night before. i put out a tweet saying this looks like charlottesville on steroids. we saw things that we had never seen before and looking at the need for a commission. i'm so grateful to be on a board with john farmer and we need the commission to connect the dots because it is not just that violence we saw on 1/6. what's the call and response on social media to direct that violence again? we have seen that call and response as high as the president down to sort of leaders that are actually pushing that call and response

to have this by hash tag. keep fighting. stop the steal. what is the response to the individuals tracking this? i probably agreed with clint on everything single point here but we have the data. this isn't something we are saying a far right or far left problem. the data says that it's the far right. the data says these groups. the data says these are the individuals involved. it is data driven and i would say nobody with an oath to the constitution has a fear of a data driven commission and a duty as americans to identify the root causes of the call and response, social media's problem and the radicalization we see right in social media and the groups. >> i want to leigh politics aside and focus on what you articulated.

the security picture and correct me, denver, if i have this wrong but the fbi seems to be saying that both the insurrection and the response by republicans to the insurrection, no appetite for holding donald trump accountable. no appetite for creating a commission. no appetite for permitting liz cheney to remain in leadership if he won't repeat the lie. that that has an incentivizing and a motivating effect. is that accurate? >> it is accurate. if you look at the chatter right now, if you look at the number of people who supported the 1/6 insurrection said it's a siege. it is a riot. i like that, too. i'll take those words. the ones that i have a problem with and i think where clint and anna will go is saying that this is okay and a bunch of people snapping pics.

that's bullshit. that's the issue that we have with the data and fact based analysis not only did it happen but also setting the stage for if you don't have any type of recriminations or ability to identify the command and control structure we're going to have a real problem trying to stop this in the future and has to do with language and nip this in the bud. i think we need to do this and you are correct. >> i want to ask you a two-part question and then brianna into this. one to pull out another 9/11 parallel. are the lights flashing yellow? >> goodness. i deployed ten days after 9/11. i have this sort of -- i'm uniquely sensitive to the issue of terrorism whether foreign or

domestic. i'll just tell you that. obviously it is. i try to identify with people. you saw the pipe bombs laid there, radicalizing or language based on the great awakening to take out political leaders. that language is there. i'm sure clint and anna have seen it, too. taking back the government. that is mobilizing language. that is a call for a response. my issue is you will see that response more and more when you talk about some of the groups but this is a long conversation i'd like to sit down with people in the terrorism field is how many people do we need platform and what can we see? how do we actually go in and look at the command and control structures with the deep platforming and where's the balance? how do we allow the chuckleheads to look at things to have an insight into what's going on? that's the issues is that of

course it was flashing yellow when stop the steal rhetoric started and back in june of 2020 right after the michael flynn oath when we saw the rise, the incredible rise and individuals with strong language and a year ago. it was right at that june part where i really started to get concerned and not alleviated. >> then my last question is, i understand the intricacies of deep platforming and how that can feel like whack-a-mole but how is it possible that the two leaders of the republican party in congress don't want to be part of the solution to protect the homeland? >> i think it's a -- why i get frustrated. i think it's a completely political calculation rather than looking at what's best for

everybody. the issue that you have on what's with command and control infrastructures and people willing to do violence, what political reason would anybody have to do this? this is well beyond politics. we're well beyond that and rage. it is well beyond anger. we have to get the answers on how we allow this to happen and we did this. this is our problem. you know? and i was screaming about this. listen. we can have another commission on far left violence and far right violence and polarization and radicalization and let's have one but on this specific topic for january 6th we had a chance as a country and i would humbly submit as a party to nip this in the bud beforehand and i'm not in that position. if i was a leader there could be other political calculations but looking at data and the background in intelligence there's no one good damn reason for us not to do this. that's just something i try to

get my arms around. i don't know if the political calculation to overwhelm the calculation for what's best for americans and stopping this in the future. >> anna palmer, i have wondered about the relationship of cheney and mcconnell and the 9/11 policies they championed together and people that understand threats, domestic or foreign to the country, are they comfortable with the lights flashing yellow? >> yeah. the conversation on capitol hill is so different than the conversation right now of the threats the -- >> why? why? >> i think the -- it comes down to politics and the fact that when you look at what's happening with kevin mccarthy and what he has done to not defend liz cheney and the fear of donald trump and the fear that he is going to try to take out members and they will not be able to get the majority back.

the real question i think is going to be what do senate republicans do now that the commission bill passed? when you look at where republicans leadership was and the statement to say they were against the bill they still had 35 that crossed the line and supported it and now need 10 republicans and schumer will have to find them. i don't know that they'll get there with mcconnell saying he is skeptical of the commission going forward at all. >> anna, what is the sort of chatter up there about congressman katko making clear that the commission could absolutely look at other incidents? he stood up and said of course they could look at the early april killing of a capitol police officer from -- i think we were all on the air together with when that happened and

called bs on mccarthy, the reasons for whipping opposition on the bill he sent katko to go. >> he is a serious member of congress. he came in there to negotiate in good faith. had the backing of the leadership and then the leadership totally just pushed the metaphor of the let the bus roll over him. this was not done in a vacuum. mccarthy knew what katko was doing. language broad enough to not just about january 6. but at the end of the day it is going to be a big issue for mccarthy because who would want to be his proxy when you don't know if he has your back at the end of the day? that is tough to swallow for most members of congress. >> clint, i want to come back to sort of thing that i -- i can't

imagine talking about on television. political violence and support in the republican party for it but 39% of republicans support political violence if other means haven't been effective for them and there's a piece about that mindset believing that they are the victimized ones. what does that support for political violence in this moment mean for law enforcement? >> it's a tragic time because it was three years ago i believe i testified to the senate judiciary committee and about this topic. impetus is essentially around isis and why we see that kind of violent rhetoric leads to violent action in the homeland and a topic is the fact that some of the russian extremist white supremacy movement overlaps with the u.s. and that violent rhetoric could lead to violent action just in the same way of back a decade ago.

fast forward to today. that isn't from abroad but capitol hill. you hear the rhetoric coming out of the congressmen that are still loyal to president trump. and it's created what i call a reality rebellion, trying to create an entire atmosphere that, a complete show and they have the audience in such a bubble that they shape their perceptions and leads to january 6. this vote recount that they're trying to do in arizona and others duply kating that. if you create an action in the physical world it seems more legitimate than violence and to strike out and also just layers into the different levels in the country about what is nationalism and who is a real american. not just in terms of the federal landscape and the presidential election. i think the local level it just is created a lot of animosity

and hate between groups of all political, social, economic persuasions and each fraction mobilized based on the rhetoric from the 40% of americans who think they're justified to rise up based on a history that's inaccurate every time that happens that also creates a reciprocal movement because they feel i cannot protect myself. if you believe in antifa that also means that there's an fa in fascist and one begets the others and with the splinter what we are doing is watching our political leaders use violent rhetoric to divide us and every time they divide us there's a reprisal system to spiral out of control over time. >> it's just an unbelievable moment for our country and grateful to talk to you about

it. denver and anna, thank you so much. clint is sticking around. more on the rise of extremists interseconding with what we see across the country. reports of horrific anti-semitic attacks and are there no voices standing up against that hate? ted cruz is at it again. another tweet of his this time upsetting u.s. veterans aligning himself with the russian military. we'll explain. [sfx: kids laughing] [sfx: bikes passing] [sfx: fire truck siren] onstar, we see them. okay. mother and child in vehicle. mother is unable to exit the vehicle. injuries are unknown. thank you, onstar. ♪ my son, is he okay? your son's fine. thank you. there was something in the road... it's okay. you're safe now.

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principles. we show the world that we settle differences of opinions not with blows and not with weapons but with discussion and engagement and even friendship. this is a moment to make clear that los angeles stands against anti-semitism. >> los angeles mayor last night condemning recent attacks against jewish residents in the los angeles area. an attack on diners tuesday where various slurs were shouted and then escalated to violence. "los angeles times" reporting a witness told them that people from the car caravan throwing bottles at diabetesers chanting death to jews and free palestine. they had malice. in new york police investigating a gang assault of a man last night at a hate crime. a person is arrested for the beating which took place in the middle of the street. following pro israel and pro

palestinian demonstrators clashing. there's a rise in the u.s. since the outbreak of violence. joining our conversation, jonathan greenblatt and clint watts is still with us. jonathan, this is the second story of the hour that's shocking to read and say out loud. i want to ask how we solve but first your sense of what's going on. [ no audio ] jonathan, we are going to fix your audio. >> sorry. >> there you go. start over. >> thank you for covering this story. it hasn't gotten nearly enough attention in the media. we have seen week over week since the fighting in the middle east started more than a 50%

surge in anti-semitic attacks in the country. from new york city to california to florida to new jersey to south carolina, and more and more. incidents like assaults in broad daylight. people chased down and beaten. reports from southern california of men throwing bottles at homes that had jew on the doors. right? acts of vandalism at synagogue. and just out and out acts of harassment that things being said to people that i can't repeat on the air. so we are deeply alarmed by this. because literally just yesterday president biden signed into effect the covid-19 hate crimes act which was prompted by asian-american being held

collectiveively responsible for policies of cheen and we need elected officials to do what los angeles mayor did saying to hold jews responsible is anti-semitism. it should have no place in the political dialogue and the people committing these crimes need to be brought to justice. >> my dear friend was interviewing the pakistani foreign minister and stopped him cold when he used some anti-semitic slurs. let me read this and ask you how we fight that. so the pakistani foreign minister said that the pressure on public opinion is mounting, the cease fire is inevitable.

israel is losing, the media war despite the connections. she says what are the connections? he says deep pockets. she says what does that mean? he says they control the media. she then in the moment called it out saying i would call that an anti-semitic remark. when you have senior government officials trotting that out it's an extension and tail on soesh media. how do you -- what is sort of the whole of society pushback when you have one of the most seen your leaders in pakistan trotting this out and then down to a twitter account? >> you are exactly correct. we need a whole of society strategy to combat this kind of hate because from foreign ministers to the mobs on the

twitter at we track extremism offline and online. the center for technology in society saw 17,000 last week tweets that were all saying that hitler was right for slaughtering or the jews or something like that and that's why we work with officials, law enforcement agencies, community leaders, the social media companies to pull down the unhinged memes, to push back on the crazed conspiracy theories. people make exaggerated fictionalized claims that the jewish state is intentionally murdering babes or control the media. it spawns activities in the street and a consequence to it. and that consequence is people getting beaten, assaulted and hurt in ways that i think makes all jews feel afraid and should

make all people feel afraid. this isn't america. it is critical what you're doing by exposing the audience to this story is a start. unless we have attention on it people won't realize the extent of the problem and we'll never solve it. >> you've been -- seen a lot and been in that role. i wonder where you place this moment in terms of how you feel. do you feel scared? >> i do feel scared and heard from people all over the country in the past week alarmed from college campuses to los angeles. people are feeling under assault. it is like a charlottesville every day driving down the street targeting jewish neighborhoods through a mega phone screaming -- are you

jewish. throwing bottles at people. this isn't normal. we have been fighting hate over 100 years and seen in the past that tension in the middle east can spawn hate crimes here but i must say from the far right in the last segment talking about something we have tracked, the right wing extremists that stormed the capitol to the radical left with the unhinged claims about the jewish people or state. the community is feeling pressure from both sides. feeling anxious about where do we go from here? many people are going to our website adl.org and reporting the incidents. but it takes everybody, on the left and the right and the center, media, government, law enforcement to work together to push this prejudice back in the corner where it belongs. >> clint, you know i'm coming to

you on this burden on law enforcement. as well as how do you make sure that social media is not facile -- facilitating violence on the streets. >> compare this to the 1980s. there's a global conflict you didn't see outbreaks of violence based on ethnic identity. this is awful right now but we were talking about anti--asian hate. if you rewind it is anti-semitism pretty much nonstop in terms of attacks around the country. i worked with lapd a little over a decade when the commissioner bratton was there and for every conflict they saw increasing amount of conflict because they're an international community with people all over the world that live there and targeted for things they weren't aware of and didn't know where it was coming from.

the only reason to happen is an exact point of social media. if you went out there today, the amount of anti-semitic hate in the social media environment and the online environment is enormous. it's massive coming from many directions and every time someone sees that that has a slight inclination they're mobilized around it so it's a two part chablg. one for the social media companies to throttle and recognize it. when you see a conflict break out in the world like israel and palestinian conflict going on you have to get there quick to metering that content so it's not out of control and second part is for law enforcement agencies is knowing their communities, having that outreach is there. we spent a lot of effort a decade ago to do that and build outreach but after the george floyd protests, the election conspiracies out there and now

moving into the new period we lost that trust and the law enforcement and the communities and we have to rebuild it. how do we stop rhetoric? there's more attacks like this as long as we don't come back together as a country and really end this -- what is a multipolar ethnic conflict in our country like i have never seen at any time in our history. >> we'll stay on this with both of your help. jonathan, thank you for spending time with us today. clint watts, thank you. nice to talk to you both. still to come, we are not quite sure what ted cruz's problem is with the u.s. army. maybe it is having a die verlgs group of men and women on the front lines that bothers him or prefers the russian military. we'll show you what he said next.

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ted cruz managed to anger just about everyone last night with a retweet of a tiktok video that attempted the mock the u.s. army. the united states senator from texas used the platform to share a video from a dubious online account that pairs russian military propaganda with an ad for the u.s. army. take a look. >> someone did. [ speaking foreign language ] >> it begins in california.

with a little girl raised by two moms. >> also marched for equality. i like to think i've been defending freedom from an early age. >> to which cruz responded by writing, quote, excuse the language. holy crap. perhaps a woke, emasculated military isn't the best idea and a second tweet said it made the american military into pansies. vote vets said ted cruz attacks a soldier for telling his story. says he prefers russians because ted cruz is a sedition loving -- perhaps don't suggest that the russian military is better than an american military. joining us now is charlie sykes

and paul reich. he hosts a podcast "independent americans." i told everyone i need to hear from paul. your thoughts? >> okay. where do we start with the latest asinine comments from ted cruz? today is a day of contrast. president biden awarded the congressional medal of congress to ralph puckett who was on a walker and went in to say other people. he is the epitome of what americans should be, dedicated his life to america and recognized. then you have ted kruds to putt himself first, weak, cowardly putting the enemies' interests ahead of our own. he is why people hate politicians. enough already with ted cruz. people in texas should be ashamed of him. day after day he continues to do things that helps the enemies

after a group of people took over the capitol so he should resign, go away, keep the military out of his mouth and stay away from tammy duckworth that gave her legs in defense of this country. ted cruz never wore the uniform or stood up for anybody. >> i'm really surprised as someone who spent time in the party formerly known as republicans to see republicans so brazenly trotting out anti-military messages. i think we talked when the pentagon had to respond to the carlson attacks and now an attack from cruz. is there sort of a -- i know that the military is representative of the country at large but have you seen so much military bashing from republicans in your career?

>> never, never. cuts to the core of the implosion in the republican party why nobody is off limits. even the military. there is a divide within the party. you have adam kinzinger who served in the tear, liz cheney and then ted cruz. there is a divide here but this is the time for everybody in every party to stand up and be counted. yesterday we had a vote in the congress and found out who stands with america and who stands with the enemies. either you are with us or against us. patriotism matters and we'll find out in the senate. today again ted cruz continues to show she is not with america but with himself and now with the russians so the sooner he is gone the better and get a better patriot from texas. can't you find somebody better than ted cruz to represent the

great state of texas? do it for america. >> charlie, there a lot of great people in texas. i have watched closely as a lot of former veterans and former cia officials, folks have run at the beginning of the career as democrats not republicans. the republicans as a party that even pretends to care for national security and defense is over. right? a bygone e are. >> it is something completely new. this is ted cruz looking for new ways for people to hate him which is extraordinary. he was already hated why when i think of manly men and super warriors i think of ted cruz. i wish you could putt together a fund-raiser to have an arm wrestling contest of tammy duckworth and ted cruz because she would kick his ass.

this is not about ideas. this is not about republican versus democrat. it is all performtive. you see them try to make themselves into something different and turning themselves into cartoons. josh hawley is a pop list. ted cruz is turning himself is what? what is this? implying that the u.s. military members are pansies, look. if i'm ted cruz and i have gone through the transformation that he has over four years i would stay away from the word emasculated. really. after donald trump mocks his wife and he cravenly crawled back. the dictionary has a picture of ted cruz at emasculated. because he has a beard that's --

that doesn't mean that it's going to be effective. this is what's happened to the politics. that it is about this posturing. who's the toughest. if that means contrasting members of our military with vladimir putin's army he is willing to do it. this is the -- we have talked about the post truth era of the politics. ted cruz and people like josh hawley and marco rubio and rand paul are also in the post shame era of our politics. they're not even embarrassed. what uses the word pansy anymore? it is offensive and lazy and dumb and keep in mind ted cruz is trying to remake himself from being the jerk demagogue from harvard into now what? you know? grizzly warrior who calls other people pansies.

it is so pathetic and offensive and even by ted cruz standards it is offensive. >> it shouldn't go unnoted when i think as paul said nothing is sacred, nothing is beyond. there's no shame for politicizing the military and invoking the russians. i'm glad to talk to you both. my thanks to you both. check out the latest ep sod of paul's podcast "independent americans." what appears to be an achievement for president biden the cease fire in gaza is holding. we'll survey the damage next. sut

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voila! maybe a couple throw pillows would help. get a strategy gut check from our trade desk. ♪♪ after the ceasefire, they are trying to rebuild, but it is difficult. look at the damage around here. this was the iconic media building that was flattened after the israeli military gave warning to the associated press and the other inhabitants that they had to flee. but this is just one building. the mayor told us that 100 miles of critical infrastructure in gaza has been obliterated, a hundred miles of water pipes, roads, roads that ambulances need to travel on but are unable to. >> our colleague, richard engel, earlier today, getting an up close look at some of the devastation in gaza city. palestinian families who fled their homes in search of shelter

in recent days, about 100,000 in all, are now returning after the ceasefire between israel and hamas went into effect. and here's some of what they're coming back to. buildings demolished, infrastructure destroyed, more than 250 people died over the course of the 11-day war. the vast majority of them, palestinians. earlier today, more tension as a protest in jerusalem prompted israeli police to use rubber bullets and teargas but for now, the truce is holding. no more rockets, no more air strikes, at least for now. more from richard engel in gaza city. >> reporter: nicole, the ceasefire is holding insomuch as there are no rockets flying out of gaza into israeli cities, there's no israeli air strikes coming into gaza but it doesn't mean that the tensions are in any way reduced. in fact, there have been celebrations here, not celebrations that there is a ceasefire but celebrations among palestinians, among hamas supporters and people who don't support hamas that the palestinians won this round, that they were able to keep

fighting. so, it is not that they're celebrating calm. they're celebrating victory, which leads to the question, do they think there can be more of this, that they could take this to another round? at the moment, hamas doesn't seem to have the appetite to get into another full frontal battle with israel. it lost a tremendous amount here in gaza by doing that for the last two weeks, a lot of infrastructure was destroyed. but morally, politically, spiritually, it gained a lot. hamas is seeing a boost of its popularity here in gaza, and now it is trying to claim ownership of the palestinian cause, presenting itself as the defender of the palestine people, particularly in jerusalem, and that is why those clashes at the al aqsa mosque are crucial. it was clashes there that started this round and now as hamas is presenting its as the defender of palestinians for all palestinians and all people around the world, it is watching

what happens at the al aqsa mosque very closely and if things escalate there, then we could see another military escalation, but it hasn't happened, but watch jerusalem. nicole? >> that was nbc's richard engel for us in gaza. and a note to all of you. on tuesday, we showed you video of peaceful protests from around the world in support of the palestinian people. we mistakenly said that those demonstrations were also a show of support for hamas, which we did not mean to do. words matter, especially with this story, and we apologize. the next hour of "deadline white house" starts after a quick break. don't go anywhere. we're just getting started. k br. don't go anywhere. we're just getting started little your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression

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♪♪ i believe the palestinians and israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely and to enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity, and democracy. my administration will continue our quiet and relentless diplomacy toward that end. i believe we have a genuine opportunity to make progress, and i have committed to working for it. >> hi again, it's 5:00 in the east, quiet and relentless. president biden there underscoring a strategy that could not be any further from the brash, showy and substance-free approach of his predecessor. it's a strategy that paid off in spades this week amid a cascade of crises here at home and abroad. at this hour, president biden will cap off a week on the world stage with a press conference with south korean president moon jae-in, only the second world leader to visit the biden white house. that is set to begin in just a few moments. as soon as it starts, we'll

bring it to you live. it comes after a week of what president biden described as, quote, quiet and relentless diplomacy, culminating, of course, in a ceasefire between israel and hamas, which at the moment appears to have ended 11 days of intense fighting in the region. nbc news is reporting on the president's approach. as the first rocket fire was exchanged between israel and hamas, president joe biden settled on a strategy, and as he had throughout the 2020 campaign, biden adhered to it, despite mounting criticism from republicans and even his own democratic party. his approach was stylistically muted and substantively more hardline than some of his allies had expected. it was driven by a singular goal, to end the violence as soon as possible so he could train his focus back on to his domestic agenda. that muted approach meant that biden avoided making frequent comments on the crisis. at one point, dodging a question from a reporter with a joke. watch. >> mr. president, can i ask you a quick question on israel before you drive?

>> no, you can't, not unless you get in front of the car as i step on it. i'm only teasing. here we go. ready? >> let's see it, sir. >> you ready? >> all of it marking an incredibly dramatic departure from the former president, whose fondness for diplomacy by tweet undercut the work of his own staff and diplomats and caused consternation and sometimes fear among our allies. president biden's quite and relentless approach, not limited to foreign policy either. the president has stayed above the fray as chaos engulfed washington and the republican party this week. president biden, for the most part, refusing to weigh in on the divisions inside the gop. >> do you have any comments on the efforts to oust liz cheney from the house republican leadership post? >> mr. president, you know what's happening with kevin mccarthy and his leadership. can you trust him and work with him?

>> thank you, guys. let's go. thank you. thank you, guys. let's go. >> and do you believe you'll be running against former president trump? >> oh, come on. i don't even think about -- i have no idea. i have no idea whether they'll be a republican party. do you? >> what does the president have to show for staying away from bitter partisan bickering? quite a bit, actually. in just the past few weeks, president biden announced new guidance for vaccinated americans, marking an historic milestone toward the end of the covid-19 pandemic in the united states. the president signed a bill addressing the epidemic of hate crimes against asian-americans, and the president has hosted leaders of both parties for talks on his next major legislative push, a potentially transformative trillion dollar infrastructure plan. the president's quiet and relentless approach paying off here at home and abroad is where we begin. biden's transition team, rick stengel is back. also joining us, jonathan

lemire, associated press white house correspondent and robert gibbs is here, form white house press secretary. the word i heard from a senior white house official was ruthless competence to describe the ethos in the biden white house. have you heard that? >> yeah, nicole, that's what they're certainly aiming for and trying to project. there isn't a lot of drama, at least not yet, internally, and this president doesn't seem inclined to really mess around with the drama that's happening outside the white house gates either in washington as those clips just portrayed. he is largely left the republican parties to fight among itself while focusing on the big picture items that he believes he was elected by the american people to do. we're seeing that both domestically and abroad, just, of course, in this week. it's a startling change at the white house. suddenly, you know, because of the cdc guidance about masks, guidance made possible because of the successful vaccination

program that this administration has presided over, you know, it is sort of joyful in there almost, people not wearing masks, people not having to be six feet apart. we're seeing, today, first -- only the second foreign leader visit in the biden term and the first one that can be sort of a full visit with all the pomp and circumstance and certainly one befitting of a traditional ally like south korea. and of course we are seeing this ongoing push with the infrastructure plan, you know, the white house making a counteroffer to republicans today. it's not quite clear whether that will get a deal done, but they see the -- feel like the wind is at their back. public polling supports not just the infrastructure plan but biden himself. he remains very popular now four months into his administration, and they feel like they capitalized on the momentum, including with what was his first, perhaps, diplomatic triumph this week, quietly pushing israel behind the scenes to get to that ceasefire with the palestinians and hamas. >> rick stengel, how they did it, i think, is a story worth

spending a minute on. you know, i'm told that between meetings with his own team and staff, calls to foreign leaders, and this quiet diplomacy, they're talking about, there were about 80 meetings and calls in all, not one tweet. as jonathan lemire is talking about. it's such an abrupt change but it's even different from just past presidents who were normal american presidents but who were more, i guess, out front, and i wonder what that says about this president's style on the world stage. >> well, the first thing it says, nicole, is that it isn't joe biden's first rodeo. he's seen so many israeli-palestinian crises over the decades. he's dealt with bibi netanyahu a million times. he knows that anything can go sideways on you at any moment, and i think it's a glimpse, also, into the kind of biden-blinken foreign policy, which is deliberate, measured,

don't overreact. you can get a lot more done behind the scenes than you can on camera. that's who joe biden is. that's who tony blinken is. and we saw that this week. and it's also not this kind of relentless america has to be first, america has to, you know, pump its muscles on the world stage. you know, we do well because of our alliances, and that's one of the things that you saw because not only was biden and the whole administration talking to israel. they were talking to egypt. they were talking to jordan. they were talking to all of those powers that have something to do with it, so i think it's both a good first test and a win, but it also shows their style of diplomacy, which is all about diplomacy. >> making diplomacy great again, if you will. robert gibbs, it's also been brought to my attention that the asian-american hate crimes legislation was signed into law,

again offering a contrast not just in terms of legislation to protect asian-americans but in some ways to protect them from the last president. who, even after he lost, continued to call it the china flu and the china virus. we are still sort of unspooling all the damage to this country that he did. >> there's no doubt about it, nicole, and i think what's interesting is maybe some of those different accomplishments that you mentioned, you know, we're now more than 60% of the population has had one covid vaccine, nearing 18 and aboves nearing 50%, legislation on asian hate crimes signed, progress on infrastructure, all while managing this conflict abroad, and the one thing that you have to understand in a white house, the most precious commodity, and the one thing that isn't replenishable is a president's time and i have no doubt that while we are

indispensable in that region of the world, in the middle east, in making sure that some peace and stability can happen, inside that white house, they are deeply focused on a domestic agenda around jobs and around infrastructure and that's got to be the focus, quite frankly, of this administration, given what's at stake in our economy and in this country. >> well, and jonathan, you guys have some great reporting. i mean, i think another way to put this ruthless, you know, competence is almost real speed and efficiency to get back to what robert gibbs is talking about. let me read some of what the a.p. is reporting about this week. hour-by-hour, biden advisors had concluded in the first days of the crisis as hamas fired hundreds of rockets on israel that a call from the president would have fallen flat. at the same time, early in the crisis, there was deep worry inside the white house that the

fighting could escalate into something that would take months to tamp down. as the outside calls for biden to speak out more forcefully grew, the president and his top aides privately made the case to israeli officials that time was not on their side. biden and netanyahu have known each other for more than 30 years and have frequently butted heads. their conversations throughout the crisis probed one another as they tried to game out a path forward, according to officials. it's a picture of something so different, again, from what came before it, not pandering, not hyperbole, but i think for the president, knowing himself, and in dealing with the israelis, i think having a sense that it weakens the country's hand. it weakens this white house's hand if you call for something that netanyahu is never going to do. just talk about how they gamed this out this weekend, jonathan. >> sure, nicole. the white house's outreach to israel and the pressure they applied to israel steadily escalated during the lengths of the violence, the 11 days, but it remained largely behind the

scenes and that was a calculation my colleagues and i have reported throughout this period and have explained a number of stories. that biden recognized he had to give israel some running room. that he had to vocally say to them, they have the right to self-defense. with those rockets coming in, israel had to hit back. they had to defend itself, and they were willing to let that happen for a few days, that certainly the biden -- the president and his team said they hoped for peace, they mourned lives lost on both sides, but they weren't demanding that ceasefire, not immediately, because they knew, they made the calculation, that had they done so, it would have been ignored and, yes, would have left the white house look and this new administration in its first real foreign policy test look weak or diminished by that so there wasn't a lot of saber rattling or blustery demands. it's done quietly but steadily and other allies in the region talking to egypt and jordan to get them to be involved, particularly on the hamas side

and then president biden, who has throughout his political career, including on the senate foreign relations committee and the vice president has been publicly supportive of israel but behind the scenes, willing to be more critical, he ramped up his rhetoric with prime minister netanyahu and said, okay, it's time now, according to our reporting, for this ceasefire to end. i can't cover for you any longer. the pressure is growing domestically for me to do something like this and call for this ceasefire and in the last 48 hurries, that deal was struck and so far, the ceasefire, though fragile and tentative, seems to be holding and the white house is still, of course, watching very warily. >> yeah, i mean, those are white knuckle moments for any white house and obviously everyone in the region. rick stengel, my old boss, george w. bush, hated any coverage that was sort of -- he called it naval gazing. this president is totally different, but there isn't a ton of naval gazing. there isn't a ton of self-reflection so i found this interview with the president and david brooks interesting. i want to read it to you and ask

you to expand on it for us. david brooks interviews the president, who says this. we're at a genuine inflection point at history. he says we're experiencing a fourth industrial revolution which encompasses developments rising from the age of information technology to the rise of the chinese super state to shifts in the global competitive environment. in this context, biden sees the greatest risk in incrementalism. the risk is not trying to go big, booinld said. if we stay small, i don't know how we change our international status and competitive capacity. this is the case they're making, and with a 60% approval rating with the agenda items and the legislative pieces and pushes even more popular than the president himself, they do have this window to do something so transformational with the role of government in american life, and i wonder if you expect that we'll hear more of this, that it's about competition with china, it's about america's place in the world. that's why we need these big and

expensive government programs. >> yes, i thought it was a super revealing and interesting interview. there's an old english expression, nicole, called -- which goes, cometh the moment, cometh the man. and i think what happened with joe biden who has been a lifelong denizen of washington, d.c., realized, this is my moment, in part because of who my predecessor was. i can't go small anymore. i can't be an incrementalist. i'm a -- it's not my first rodeo, as i said before, i'm not a young man anymore. i'm going to do those things that i think really need to be done. he sees himself as an fdr sort of figure, and that has been what he has been so far, and i think that's powerful. you know, i mean, the presidency does things to people. you know, the same fire that melts the butter hardens the egg, and in this case, it's making joe biden rise to that

office and do big things, and i think it's something that could be transformational for the republic. >> i am so in awe of the way you just throw out these -- give me the egg and the butter one more time, rick stengel. >> it was actually said by a psychologist. i can't remember the name. the same fire melts the butter, hardens the egg, and it was about, you know, some people get stronger and some people get weaker and so your ruthless competence, nicole, you harden under the fire. >> no, i -- i love this. and i think, robert gibbs, what i was trying to figure out is who's the butter and who's the egg. talk about melting at the moment. if there were a functional republican party, you could see a debate around -- i don't even know. i guess maybe around an infrastructure package that was, you know, different pieces, maybe, broadband package

separate from bridges and roads. they seem to not be able to comprehend how some things that you can't drive on or ride in a tube in are infrastructure. but the point is there isn't a functional republican party and i wonder if you can, from working with president biden when he was vice president, tell me how much of this is sort of carpe diem, my party might lose one of the chambers, maybe not, and how much of it is, this is what the country needs at this moment and just talk about where this vision comes from. was it always there and this is what the country's going through or is it the fact that there is no functioning opposition party? explain where this is coming from, from your knowledge of him. >> i'm going to try to do it. i doubt i'll be quite as eloquent as rick was right there. >> none of us is. >> i know, right? i was hoping you were going to call on jonathan. i think the really -- i think it's a combination, healthy combination of two things, right? having sat as the vice president

in the obama administration, if you look at the first two years when you have the house and the senate and the presidency, those first two years are the years in which you can do big things. and you don't know what the congressional make-up is going to be like after the midterms. you don't know whether you're going to get re-elected, so there is a moment to strike, and it is now. but i think whether it is covid, whether it is china, whatever it is that has created that moment of deep inflection in this country, joe biden recognizes it and understanding that the clock is ticking on the ability to get things done, i think this is where the moment is joined, and he is going to really press what he can get out of this. and i think it's smart from a historical perspective. i think it's really smart for what is facing the country. and i think it's deeply smart, politically. he's -- he knows he has this

chance. he does not know what the future holds. >> yeah, and i mean, robert gibbs, on this point of incrementalism, it's not like a smaller covid relief bill or a smaller infrastructure plan would become bipartisan. i mean, the republican party is broken as a governing party, so it's not like -- there's not a political purpose anymore to doing anything in a way that could be bipartisan. the republicans have made it clear, they have no interest in doing anything with him. and i wonder if you think that surprised him, if you think that was something he had to recalibrate after he won. >> well, i think if you listen to the rhetoric of the campaign, there was an inflection point in dealing with the republicans. he talked about the fact that he knew them, he had these deep relationships, and he could make this work. my guess is, despite saying all that, he realized fairly quickly that it is a disorganized opposition. look, i'm struck by the fact, i

don't even know what the central negative message that they're trying to move against joe biden is. they seem much more focused on dr. seuss and, you know, mr. potato head and all these things that i can assure you very few people in the real world care about. they want jobs. they want the economy moving again. they want stronger roads and bridges. and i think he's just laser focused on trying to get that done, and just as he's not waiting for the rest of the world to catch up with him, he's also not waiting for the republican party to get their act together before he moves forward. again, it's understanding that ticking clock and needing to move quickly. >> i'm not proud of this, but i'll tell you, i spent some time trying to understand what their attacks on him are and they're sort of around the stuff that isn't sticking. he's got a 60% approval rating. his proposals, which are very expensive, are very popular, even among republicans.

the way he wants to change the tax structure is popular among republicans too, because even republicans think corporations should pay more. so, i think the point about them not being able to attack him, they attack him, it just isn't sticking. rick stengel, jonathan lemire, robert gibbs are all sticking around. we continue to wait for president biden's joint news conference with the president of south korea. and we will bring it to you live as soon as it starts. when we return, cases of coronavirus are dropping dramatically all across the country. there are new questions about whether we'll need to have booster vaccines to beat the virus once and for all. we'll get some answers on that next. "deadline white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. use" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere.

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things are improving, and we are seeing this week after week as more and more people roll up their sleeves and get vaccinated, the number of cases and the level of community risk is decreasing. >> the cdc director today on the incredible progress the u.s. has made thanks to vaccinations. citing an average of about 27,000 new covid cases per day, the lowest in about a year, about 500 deaths per day, the lowest since the pandemic began. and a dramatic decrease since january in concern for outbreaks at the community level. in an article headlined "covid on the run," david of the "new york times" writes this. the virus is running out of places to be communicable. andy slavitt, one of president biden's top covid advisors told me. the sharp decline in cases over the past month virtually guarantees that deaths will fall over the next month. the pandemic appears to be in an exponential decay phase.

let's bring in msnbc medical contributor dr. kavita patel, former obama white house health policy director and fellow at the brookings institute. rick stengel, jonathan lemire, and robert gibbs are all still here and are going to jump in on the questioning. dr. patel, let me ask you about this idea that it's running out of places to go. does that mean we're not in a place where community spread is happening anymore? >> yeah, and that really comes, nicole, from this question of, you know, if one person gets infected, in previous kind of surges, that one person could infect, exponentially, one, two, three other people and what we're seeing now is people are still getting infected, but they're largely staying kind of infected as a unit of one and not spreading it to other people. and that's kind of the classic definition of what we look for in herd immunity. i know we're trying not to get people confused or what's a certain number for herd immunity. the truth with herd immunity is

that still people get cases. they're just not likely to spread them to other people. i would say that's overall true of the country, not necessarily true in all parts of the country, which is why we have to keep pushing for vaccinations to increase. >> let me just try to understand that. i remember in the beginning, obviously, i live in new york so i was in the epicenter, but the first sort of hot spot was new rochelle and it was just what you described, one person spread it and it sort of shut down an entire community. the fact that it doesn't do that anymore, is it because the virus has mutated and is weaker or is it because enough people had it and/or more importantly are vaccinated now? >> right. yeah, it's more the latter. between people who are naturally infected and there is some overlap with those who got vaccines by injection, but between those two groups, there's just not as many people for the virus to go into and infect. by the way, it's why we also see an increase in cases in children. it's not that there's some, you know, worse version of the virus, although, the predominant

viral strain right now is that uk b. 117 variant but it is clear that fewer and fewer people are getting infected and fewer and fewer are getting it. but i'm not going to declare victory in the world has quieted down. too soon to do that. >> i want the bring jonathan lemire in for a question. >> dr. patel, good to see you again. you just mentioned the variant that is now taking center stage in the united states. hoping you can just give us an update on two things. what other variants? are we seeing new ones emerge, perhaps, elsewhere in the globe that we should be concerned about here in the united states and secondly, connected, what's the latest on the idea of booster shots? we've heard for so long that americans who received these vaccines will, whether it's six months, eight months, ten months a year, whatever it might be, would need a booster, in part to ward off those variants. what's the latest thinking on that? >> sure.

good to see you as well, jonathan. on the first question, i think the variant that we're all keeping a very close eye on is the b. 617 variant from india and cases are declining in india but they're still raging so we're watching that and we're watching especially, jonathan, in the uk, singapore, and places where that particular variant is now looking like it's going to become dominant and there are, again, like with the uk variant, early signs that it could be more infectious, more transmissible, so i think at the end of the day, the variants are what we all are kind of watching and keeping a close eye on, including in the united states. it's why we think we might need those booster shots. the ceos of moderna and pfizer made some bold statements by saying it's highly likely everyone will need one within 99 to 12 months but we don't have data to support that. what we have is we still have strong immunity after at least six months, and it's likely longer, but we just haven't had

that many people vaccinated for longer than six months, so as we follow people, we will likely see that they still have immunity, and especially, good news, all the three vaccines in the united states seem to work against all the variants, likely including the b. 1617 one. so jonathan, i think it's about, you know, would we need a booster after about 12 months but this puts the united states in a quandary because the world needs those same vaccines so is our booster as important as getting everyone else vaccinated and trying to kind of quiet the virus around the world? >> dr. patel, i want to put the numbers up, because we've all been having this conversation since we had all of the sort of tragic numbers when the trajectory was going up, but it's just as remarkable to see them going down. so, the seven-day average is 27,700. it's down 20% from just last week, the lowest since june of 2020. deaths are down, the seven-day

average is 498 per day, a new le since march of 2020. hospital admissions are down, the seven-day average is 3,438 per day. that's down 15% from last week. are these drops a trajectory, or is this just sort of catching up with the number of people that have been vaccinated? do you expect these numbers to continue on this trajectory? >> yeah, we do. i mean, nicole, it's definitely driven, in part, by vaccinations, but you know, it is also just a trajectory, double-digit declines week over week kind of representing the fact that, you know, basic mitigation measures were working as well as getting the most vulnerable people vaccinated. as a point, though, the people that are driving deaths and hospitalizations are generally unvaccinated people, so if we can continue to even if it's 500,000 a day, get more and more people vaccinated, including 12 to 15-year-olds, that is going to make a difference. so, it's a trajectory that reflects both, the vaccination

as well as in places where the mitigation measures -- and i think that's why you hear a lot of health people like me, when you see states like texas outlawing masks in children, those are not -- this is not the time to take away the very few mitigation measures that actually have made a difference, and so i would say to keep that trajectory going, try to get to close to zero as possible, we need to vaccinate and protect those who aren't vaccinated. >> i want to ask you about dating apps. this is one of my favorite covid stories of the day. the white house announced today that some of the biggest dating apps in the country are launching features showing vaccination status and links to vaccine information. the white house says ok cupid found vaccinated people or those who plan to get vaccinated received 14% more matches. i know you're on the, you know, by any way possible incentivize vaccination participation. but there is some ingenuity here

and i wonder what you think about people getting creative with this. >> yeah, i think behavioral psychology works. i mean, there have been very clear stories about dating just being difficult because if you're wearing a mask and you're constantly six feet apart, it doesn't make for kind of getting to know someone. so, what better than to kind of say, look, i'm vaccinated, and i think it's very similar to, you know, people tend to kind of have like-minded -- you're vaccinated and you believe in science, you want to kind of meet someone else. so it's become a proxy for, you know, how to tell if someone really believes in science and someone who doesn't and i think that's also going to be an interesting experiment, but i am a little bit of, get anybody vaccinated by any means necessary, short of taxpayer dollars. i'm not a huge fan of throwing millions of dollars for a handful of people. i know it's driving up numbers, but i would love to see these kind of nudges, nicole, which i think are working.

>> dr. kavita patel, thank you for fielding our questions today and spending time with us. nice to see you. we continue to keep an eye on the biden white house where the president is set to hold a joint news conference with the president of south korea. we will carry that live when it happens. when we return, teachers are pushing back against red states that are banning mask mandates, even in public schools where kids are not yet vaccinated. that story and reaction from the head of the most powerful teachers union is next. achers ut [sfx: kids laughing] [sfx: bikes passing] [sfx: fire truck siren] onstar, we see them. okay. mother and child in vehicle. mother is unable to exit the vehicle. injuries are unknown. thank you, onstar. ♪ my son, is he okay? your son's fine. thank you. there was something in the road... it's okay. you're safe now. [sfx: psst psst]

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a growing number of republican-led states banning mask mandates for schools, despite the fact that this country has no approved vaccine for any child younger than 12 years old, the president of the american federation of teachers, who has expressed on this program her goal is to get all schools reopened 100% this fall, is now joining frontline workers in expressing concern over the shift in cdc mask guidance last week. in the letter obtained by nbc's heidi przybyla, randi said, while this change in guidance makes clear the effectiveness of vaccines, it has raised questions about how to apply it in all the environments in which our members serve, education, healthcare, and public service. for those entrusted with the welfare of children, any change or ambiguity in guidance triggers a significant impact on planning and classroom management. joining us now is randi weingarten and the

aforementioned nbc news correspondent heidi przybyla. thank you so much for being with us today. the story has sort of roared back into the headlines and randi, if you could just start by telling me what you want, what teachers want in terms of classroom safety for the fall. >> so, number one, and i notice we're all wearing the same hue here. >> spring's here. >> yeah, exactly. number one, we want schools open in the fall, and we don't want outbreaks, so we don't want, you know, an outbreak in an elementary school in light of kids not having vaccinations. we want schools open and we want them to stay open, so we understood and were really pleased that the cdc sees the effectiveness of the vaccines as so great that those of us who are vaccinated get to individually choose whether to wear a mask or not. but unfortunately, the politics

have been such that iowa and texas then rushed to say, no mask mandates when we still don't have a vaccine for -- that's okayed for elementary school students, and we see what's happened in india with the variants for kids. so, what we've just basically said to the cdc is, we don't want to be the mask police. please give us some guidance. we'll figure out how to deal with it. let's, you know, do this in the fall. let's finish the school year this year safely, and we'll figure it out. but don't make us make it up as we go along every single day, and don't make us be the mask police. >> so, randi, what you would like is for the cdc to issue guidance saying that any child under 12 should wear a mask in school and continue to social distance, i think three feet now, not six.

would that be helpful? >> correct. and then instead of it becoming -- because what we've seen, nicole, is that any time we raise these issues, we're not the doctors, we're the teachers, you know, and so any time we raise these issues, then people perceive it as, we're trying to create obstacles to reopening, but it seemed pretty clear that this meant that if you had a vaccine, then you could take off your mask. what does that mean in terms of junior high schools, high schools, in terms of, you know, outside, inside? i can figure out that outside it means, go maskless. inside, if you don't have good ventilation, maybe it means something else. so, we've asked them that question, but the second piece that seems clear to us is what you just said, which is, in elementary school, until we have the vaccines, it seems like, unfortunately, we're going to have to still keep wearing our

masks and be physically distant so we don't have outbreaks, because we want to have school open. >> heidi przybyla, you've done some incredible reporting on ventilation in schools, and i thought that this would be like the moon shot, right? we don't have vaccines for small children, so surely we would put together all of our smartest people to make classrooms safe and well-ventilated. your reporting paints a slightly different picture. explain. >> nicole, schools are sitting on billions of dollars in covid relief money, and unfortunately, when congress handed that money over, they didn't say, here are the scientifically proven machinery that you need to spend this on. they just said, go and make your classrooms safe. here's the money. and of course, whenever that happens, there are a lot of companies who are hard selling to these schools and these schools are very well intentioned. they're trying to protect children, but according to the experts who i talked to and who penned a letter about this, they're very concerned that some of these companies that are

selling ionizing air cleaning equipment that is not scientifically proven to work could actually not just not work but also potentially be harmful, and they say until we have that evidence and that information, these things should be shut off, nicole. we're not talking about just a few schools. and this is back of the envelope surveying because we cannot find out exactly how many, but we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars that have already been spent on these items, and now the department of education is saying, whoa, maybe we need to issue some more guidance about this. >> it's just an unbelievably massive challenge, and i want to ask both of you about what to expect in the fall. i mean, obviously, there were great disparities with what remote learning offered. i mean, i have been remote teaching my son all year and you know, you basically have to have someone, an i.t. expert you can call. i mean, it is not really

achievable, and i wonder, randi, how you help people make up who didn't have the wi-fi, who didn't have the technical expertise, who didn't have a parent making them do all the assignments. what is the plan for the fall for making sure that the people that have fallen behind, that didn't have sort of the resources to keep up remotely, how do we catch them up? how do we catch them academically and socially and mentally? >> well, there's two plans, nicole. one is for the summer, and one is for the fall. and in the summer, you have a lot of districts, and i spent a lot of time last week talking about this. you have a lot of districts who have used the federal money in a way to do academics in the morning and enrichment in the afternoon. but really inject a lot of joy and fun in their summer programs. you know, make it camp-like. have dance. have sports. have arts. so that kids feel a joy, not just a sense of, oh my god, look

what i missed. and then, in the fall, we have to first and foremost create a welcoming and safe environment, and this is part of where heidi is so right. breathing good air keeps a kid or a teacher well. and we need to really fix these ventilation systems, not continue to get something off the shelf that doesn't work. but second, the places that have wrapped services around schools, so you keep schools open for 10, 12 hours, you have the mental health services. you have guidance services. i was just in a school in syracuse yesterday that had dental services. but you wrap services around schools so you have -- you can make sure that we deal with the trauma that arises whenever it arises, and then you have a combination of teachers doing the kind of assessment that they would normally do, interventions that they would do, and then you have a lot of tutoring and a lot

of both enrichment as well as catch-up. the most important thing is for us to make sure we don't -- that kids don't think that they're the cause of this. and i think a lot of kids, if we think about next year, as a year of recovery, and that this was a year of academic disruption, i think you're going to see a lot of kids accelerate in learning, but the most important thing is focus on their wellbeing and their emotional social recovery and let teachers do the kind of academic intervention that we need plus tutoring aligned to that in a school that is open as a community school many hours a day. >> and heidi, on this just basic idea, i think randi puts it pretty simply, that kids and teachers deserve to breathe clean air. do the schools feel like there are adequate resources to help them navigate? it sounds sort of like the wild wild west.

they're sort of untested and unproven devices, and it's not clear that they are able to achieve what randi said. clean air. >> all that purchasing is going on right now, nicole, and i can assure you that myself and others will be watching what's going on with what one expert called a procurement-palooza to see those differences and how schools are spending these funds but to randi's point about social and emotional wellbeing, i couldn't agree more and i'm sure as the mothers of two young sons who are using those ipads and need that i.t. department, all that said, they're the lucky ones, and the data that i'm starting to look at about the disparities between what's happened with our children and children in inner cities and more impoverished areas compared to children in more suburban areas is really harrowing, and the question is going to be, how much can schools pivot and come up with an innovative way to target those children who have fallen the furthest behind, because you have to guard

against a really generalized approach here that is treating all of these children equal, because they're not equal. they've been left behind. for months. for a year now. in these environments. in detroit, they didn't even have chromebooks last summer until late in the year and there's a lot of children just falling off the radar. and second to that point is, to the extent we're able to invest those funds in hiring teachers, because -- and teachers are the -- the supply and the demand curves right now are not meeting and that's going to be a challenge because to fulfill all of these ambitious programs, you're going to need the staff and the boots on the ground to do this, and right now, the preliminary data is raising questions about whether they're going to be able to find enough qualified professionals at these smaller classrooms to do this targeted teaching. >> absolutely right. point taken, heidi, and i just really quickly, randi, i mean, the disparity was so much

exacerbated by the pandemic, and frankly, these families are the ones most distrustful of schools being a safe place. how do you get them all back into the schoolhouse? >> so, there's a couple of things. number one, nicole, we're putting in $5 million to do a back-to-school for everyone campaign this spring and this summer. because we have to actually meet the fear and the obstacles that parents have and particularly parents who are skeptical that, you know, we can keep their kids safe. and notice i say "we" because we have to be all in. it's like time to not do the blame game and time to bring everyone together, and the second piece, and i think heidi is quite right, that we are seeing a huge shortage now. teachers are tired. they are exhausted. and we have to find a way to repair and to nourish them as well as families in terms of really attracting and retaining, figuring out how to diversify

our teaching force. there's a lot of things we have to do now, but if we can lower class sizes, have open houses this summer, kind of stand them up with vaccination centers, and create a joy like i have seen in the schools that i have been to in the last few weeks that have been reopened, it is something that will turn things around and create hope. >> randi weingarten, i appreciate your optimism. heidi przybyla, i'm so glad to have your reporting this hour. thank you both so much for spreading some time with us. we have to sneak in a quick break. we'll be right back. don't go anywhere. k break. we'll be right back. don't go anywhere.

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but most importantly? they give us something to eat when we drink beer. planters. a nut above. we are still awaiting president biden's news conference with president of south korea. rick stangle, there is perhaps no other ally that was more taunted or traumatized by tweets like little rocket man and all of the shenanigans between donald trump and kim jong-un. i wonder what you think went on in this meeting today. i think think is just the second world leader to travel to washington to meet with president biden. >> well, again, you know, president biden is very familiar with our ally in south korea. he was chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. and i think that's right. i mean, south korea was bundled about and hurdled about by what

trump was doing in a kind of bullyish way. but one of the things that president biden recognizes, and i'm just saying this to all of our viewers, too. our foreign aid to south korea after the korean war changed a coronation into one of the most prosperous nations in the world that is now a donor nation to other nations. people need to realize the benefit that comes back to us from the foreign aid that we do. and what we're seeing, probably, is, you know, one of the things in foreign policy is you can never want something more than your ally wants it. but sometimes your ally wants something more than you want it. and president moon wants to have a deal with north korea, maybe even more than president biden does. so i think he's going to have to navigate what president moon wants him to do and that more cautious, deliberative, incrementalist foreign policy

that we saw evidence of just today. >> so we're in the two-minute mark, so i apologize in advance if the president causes us to cut you off, but are you getting any read-outs from what has happened thus far? >> it wouldn't be the first time a president has interrupted me, nicole. we are waiting to hear. certainly we know that there is -- the president is friendly over chers to his korean counter part. not one that this president has focussed too much on yet. as much as his foreign policy he wants to have his emphasis and access on asia and certainly combatting china. >> i'm sorry, jonathan. let's listen. >> go for it. >> we're honored to welcome to the white house president moon. we got an opportunity to spend some private time with him, as well as our delegations. this is the only person, head of state, second in the state to

visit the white house since i have been president. and it's been a real joy. it's a reflection of how much we value the 70-year alliance with the republic of korea and how essential we know the relationship is to the united states, the future of the indo-pacific region and to the world. today has been particularly special because this afternoon in addition to our by rat ll meetings, president moon participated in a ceremony right in this room that awarded him the medal of honor to a veteran of the korean war. a true american hero, colonel ralph pucket jr. i don't know if there's ever been an award of the medal of honor. it went a great deal to me, to

my family and to the country. that binds the republic of korea and, excuse me, the united states together, it's a commitment to expand in cooperation and shaping our shared future in accordance with our democratic values that have made our nation strong and agile and highly competitive in the 21st century economies. the republic of korea and the united states are both built on innovation, and we must both meet the challenges facing us today and look to what is possible for tomorrow. our partnership is grounded on our ironclad commitment to share security. our alliance has long been the lynch pin of peace, security, prosperity and the region growing more prominent and us being together. i was grateful that our two nations were able to quickly

conclude a new cost sharing agreement for forces in korea in march which will benefit both our people. and i thank again the president for that agreement. today we made important progress on a range of issues. we spoke about the shared approach of the democratic -- shared approach to the democratic peoples republic in korea and continuing thread of the dprk's nuclear and missile programs. my team consulted closely with president moon's team throughout the process of our dprk review, and we both are keeply concerned about the situation. our two nations also share a willingness to engage diplomatically with the dprk to take pragmatic steps that will reduce tensions as we move toward our ultimate goal of denuclearization of the korean peninsula. today icon firmed to president

moon that the united states will proceed in close consultation with the republic of korea in our strategy and our approach. and to help drive all these efforts, i'm pleased to announce that ambassador song kim, career diplomat and with deep policy expertise will serve as u.s. herbal envoy to the dprk. ambassador kim, you are here somewhere today. stand up, will you? thank you for being here. [ applause ] >> thank you for taking on this important role. we appreciate it very much. the partnership also extends beyond the goals of the peninsula. it would address issues of regional and global concern through stronger cooperation with partners in the region, including the assean, the quad and tri-lateral cooperation with japan. that cooperation is particularly important to coordinate an approach in a situation that exists in birma as we work to

pressure to restore democracy for the people of birma and to address issues critical to regional stability such as maintaining freedom of navigation in the south china sea and preserving peace and stability across the taiwan straits. today we also discussed ways that the republic of korea and the united states will work together to address the challenges of our time beginning with our efforts to end the covid-19 pandemic globally. we agree to establish a comprehensive vaccine partnership, to expand the manufacture of vaccines that have been approved safe and effective, and we can scale up -- and so we can scale up global vaccine supplies. we'll strengthen our ability to fight the pandemic and respond to future biological threats. when it comes to fighting climate change, the republic of korea and the united states are committed to making amb