♪♪ good day, everyone. this is "andrea mitchell reports" at the beginning of a big week for the biden administration, with both the president and vice president on their first foreign trips since taking office. vice president kamala harris is in guatemala at this hour addressing the root causes of migration. a complicated issue that has eluded every previous white house. the vice president is offering billions of dollars of new aid to central america to stem the rise in migrant crossings at the southern border, including 22,000 unaccompanied children this last month. here in washington, president biden is facing major domestic and international challenges as he welcomes the head of nato to the white house and reaffirms america's commitment to that alouance after former president

trump pushed to decide and this comes after the first foreign trip kicking off wednesday including the g7 summit, nato women in brussels and the highly anticipated face to face meeting with vladimir putin in geneva next week. the president is expected to deliver a sharp warning for putin with the cyber attacks launched by russia and russian-based hackers. here at home, hoping for a voting rights act in the senate are virtually dead today after a key vote coming out against it. west virginia democratic senator joe manchin digging in his heels against killing the filibuster which republicans are using to block the voting rights bill to prevent voting access against restrictive measures. joining me now nbc news correspondent kerry sanders is in guatemala city and mike menially. kerry, first to you, the vice president in guatemala for just one day. another 34 guatemalans are expected to leave the country for the u.s. today, making the

trek daily. what is the vice president's goal on this trip? >> reporter: first of all, those people paying few attention to politicians in part because they have lost so much faith in a system that for generations has not delivered for them and so while the vice president comes here with the promise of aid and money, let's take a look at how much. we're talking about more than $300 million in humanitarian aid plus $4 billion for additional security for the long-term investment for security and also dealing with systemic corruption and then finally a promise hundreds of thousands of vaccines. all of that sounds so welcoming on the face of it, but on the ground, people are looking at it saying i need immediate help. i need to get out. when you look at some of the conditions that the people live in here, we're talking about homes built of sticks and they talk about the fact that they have dealt with this lack of support from a government for so

long that they feel that they are never going to have any assistance to get any better. no roads, no running water, no electricity and so they allow their children to leave. then there's another part of this, while the u.s. is suggesting stay in central america, stay in guatemala, honduras, el salvador, they're getting a conflicting message from american businesses. listen to this. >> there's a hypocrisy in only seeing the reasons why people leave when companies over there in the united states are demanding workers because i don't know one single person, and i've met many, who travels to the united states who does not find work, one or two days after they arrive to any one of the cities that they choose. >> and so part of the problem is one in six people, for instance, born in guatemala now lives in the united states. so the migration pattern to the

border, the children to the border, they get there and they have relatives that they then join and then they join the workforce and while nobody says it's easy for the jobs that they take in the united states, we hear from parents here whose children are going, it's not irresponsible to let our children go alone. it's the responsible thing for them to leave because they will never get anything here. andrea? >> it's extraordinary and of course, lester holt will be anchoring "nightly news" there in guatemala tonight and interviewing kamala harris, the vice president, of course, airing tomorrow. now to mike menially, of course. nato's secretary-general will be at the white house this afternoon after a welcome from the pentagon today. there's no shortage of challenges for the president to be addressing when he goes on nato and first to the g7 and of course, the vladimir putin summit, as well. this, mike, as you know very well, after four years when

donald trump really criticized nato, hammered nato, pressured nato and did everything he could to disrupt the atlantic alliance. >> yeah. that's right, andrea. there is a certain element of this first trip abroad by president biden which is all about turning the page from america's first under the trump administration to america is back as we've heard so often from president biden with his own administration and we remember that moment four years ago when president biden went to the dedication of his new nato building to brussels and put doubt into america's building in article 5. this meeting today is one of several pieces throughout the course of this trip in which the president will be marking a clear break from the trump administration and going beyond that what he calls in a new washington post-op ed piece, this question of whether democracy versus autocracy will

rule the day in the 21st century and it's interesting how much of the domestic policy which he's pursued so much which will be the focus is undergirding this trip, as well. he writes in the post-op ed, that america's economic recovery which we heard him speak about on friday has helped propel the global economy and we will be stronger when we are flanked by nations. meeting with the secretary-general, when he's in brussels, going out to meet with the vice president boris johnson and the g7 and the eu and nato is all about setting the table for that meeting with russian brz vladimir putin at the end of the trip. the white house wants to deliberately come into that meeting with the russian president with a consensus of resolve, a real consensus of our western democratic allies to make it clear to president put thain some of the aggression that we're seeing both in a physical sense on ukraine's

border and in the digital space with the increased pace of ransomware attacks and they hope to have more in which the g7 finance ministers announced and plan to move forward with a global minimum attack and the tax proposals here, but that was an important step and a big win for the u.s. over the weekend. >> indeed it was. mike menially, kerry sanders. lester holt is in guatemala and anchoring "nightly news" there tonight. he will speak exclusively with vice president kamala harris so make sure to watch that interview. temporary protections for those fleeing violence or natural disasters do not guarantee a permanent status. pete williams is joining us now. this was an appeal by a married couple from el salvador who were

granted temporary status and wanted permanent status and this was unanimous from the court which we don't see that often. >> it interprets the constitution and the other thing is what it did today. it interprets a federal law that allows people to stay here under temporary protected status. it's for humanitarian reasons, coups and floods and that happened in el salvador. does being here allow people to apply for green cards. no. you have to be here legally to apply for a green card and not temporary status. this is roughly 400,000 people from 12 countries and one of them is not guatemala and it is el salvador. myanmar was the latest count ry added to the list because of this military coup. congress has considered change the law and there have been

hearings on it and the supreme court said that's what the law said. >> pete williams, cut and dry. unanimous decision from the supreme court as it is drawing to a close, we have a big one coming up and thanks so much. now to the battle over voting rights and the divided senate standing in the way. over the weekend joe manchin making his opposition final ins this hometown newspaper writing that he will not back a democratic voting rights bill and most likely its prospects. the insisting that the legislation get bipartisan support. this was on fox news. >> there were a lot of great things and i agree in that piece of legislation and there are things that don't pertain to voting and they unite our country and i'm not supporting that because i think it would divide us further. >> joining us now, capitol hill correspondent garrett haake. you spoke to joe manchin. you were down in west virginia.

how are democrats reacting to what he wrote in the hometown paper? >> they are thoroughly displeased, andrea. marchin has not been shy in making his opposition to this legislation and getting rid of the filibuster which would have been required for this bill to get a vote in the first place, well known, but liberal, progressive members have long thought they could pressure joe manchin pointing out that the civil rights community want to see this bill passed and 49 of his democratic senators have co-sponsored him and he would see the light as more and more states with republican-controlled legislatures pass restrictive bills and limiting voting rights in those states and manchin again, doubling down as he did with my interview last week when he said this bill web a disaster in the making and progressives are very unhappy and here are the responses i've been hearing today. >> please, mr. manchin.

vote to limit debate so we can set a date and have an up and down vote on whether or not we are going have a continuation of voter rights in this country. >> senator manchin would rather preserve jim crow on some outdated theory of bipartisanship. >> house members trying to pressure senators in their own party to adopt other positions is a tale to congressional time. he has said he would support the john lewis voting rights act, essentially requiring states who changed their voting laws to run and pass the doj. the horse is out of the barn if you live in been of the states that have passed changes to their voting measures and the house has not voted on that bill again in congress and we'll see what, if anything, democrats can satisfy joe manchin in the senate and progressives in the

house. >> garrett haake who has been out front in the beginning, thanks so much. an alzheimer's breakthrough? the fda approving the first new drug to treat the disease in two decades. just how well does it work? what advocacy groups and others are saying about the treatment next. later, face-off. what president biden plans to tell president putin during the upcoming summit as ransomware attacks are on the rise. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us. this is msnbc. s msnbc. taking metamucil everyday can help. metamucil psyllium fiber, gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels. so you can feel lighter and more energetic metamucil. support your daily digestive health. and try metamucil fiber thins. a great tasting and easy way to start your day.

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and big news from the fda approving a new drug for alzheimer's. the first in nearly 20 years. it's quite a bit controversy among doctors, some arguing whether or not it works. in approving the drug the fda recognized that there is still no proof of its effectiveness for the 6 million americans believed to be suffering from alzheimer's, but they did grant approval on the condition that

biogen, the manufacturer conduct a new clinical trial. the drug is not a cure or prevention and when used by early sufferers it can slow the progression of this debilitating disease. joining me now is senior medical correspondent dr. john torres and dr. peggy hamburg. thank you to both of you. dr. torres, first to you, what does this landmark decision mean to the 6 million americans that suffer from alzheimer's and their families. how does it work? >> the hope is what it means for them and that's what they're talking about right now, is how much hope it gives them not because of this medicine, but because it opens the door to more research and more medicines down the line. you mentioned a couple of points there. this is not a cure for alzheimer's and it doesn't reverse some of the cognitive decline they get with alzheimer's, but what is does is it's a monoclonal antibody that attacks the amyloid plaque and

it is alzheimer's disease ask alzheimer's dementia. it doesn't reverse anything that could have happened before and it has to be done early on and that's why it is so controversial and that's why experts say it should not have been approved to at least give the family some hope and we talked to the patients themselves and they say that's exactly what it's done and given them hope and given them life and it gives the extra time for themselves and for their family and we talked to one phil and here's what he said to say about it. >> it is so hard to know where we would be without it. is the drug working? is the drug working? i don't know. i've been on the drug for five years this whole time i've been dealing with it. i think the drug's given me life. >> and so again, this is giving those families the hope they need even though it might not work for everybody and even in some cases it might work a little bit and it's opening the door to more research and it's

doing those things that the alzheimer's association says it needs to do and this is a landmark decision in their opinion. >> dr. hamberg, you used to be in that chair, in charge of the fda making these potentially life and death decisions, previously the fda advisory committee voted against this. what changed and do you think is the right choice today? >> well, this is certainly going to be a controversial decision, one of the many hard decisions the fda has to make and eager to actually see the full fda discussion about the decision and i think it's going to be very important to make the underlying data as available and transparent as possible because people really do want to understand more on the one hand as was just noted, alzheimer's is a devastating, debilitating disease affecting 6 million americans, 30 million around the

world and it's only growing in terms of numbers of cases and the burden of disease. there aren't good treatments and people are desperate, people want hope. on the other hand, if it doesn't really work and if it doesn't provide benefit, that's empty hope and this is the drug that, you know, doesn't have the kind of evidence to prove effectiveness that is normally accompanying fda decisions. it's an expensive drug that will require monthly infusions and it -- and it comes with some safety risks in terms of brain swelling and bleeding. so it's a complex risk benefit analysis. it is going to be very, very important that the company do the clinical trials to follow up so we can better understand how the drug works and at what stage of disease and for which patients, but it certainly does mark a critical moment for, you

know, the history of alzheimer's drug development and for the fda. >> do you think, dr. hamberg, that there was public pressure involved just because of the growing number of alzheimer's patients and the anxiety and desires of the advocacy groups and the families? >> well, clearly, was there a great deal of advocacy and you know, my mother actually died of alzheimer's after a prolonged and very, very difficult course. so i understand about this, you know, desperate need to look for treatments and everyone at the fda and clinical researchers and people working in the field taking care of patients as well as families and caregivers understand that we need new, better treatments for alzheimer's, but i don't think

that this is ultimately the answer. i think we have to look carefully at the data. i think we need to continue to study it, and importantly, we need to continue to do more research, develop new treatment opportunities and we need to continue to work to find the treatments that not only can affect symptoms and reduce symptoms, but ultimately we want to be able to -- to cure and prevent this devastating disease. >> dr. john torres and dr. peggy hamberg, thank you both for your expertise. we really appreciate it. and coming next, the rise of ransomware with the energy secretary now warning that foreign adversaries could take down the u.s. power grid. what can the president do? that's next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

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energy secretary jennifer granholm is warning countries to up their game in fighting cyber attacks.

it would ban companies from paying ransom to hackers holding their information hostage. granholm raising the question that russia and criminal organizations harbored on russian soil could take down the u.s. power grid. joining me now is glen gristel, former energy counsel and now adviser for the center of strategic and international studies. i wanted to play the warning from "meet the press" from jennifer granholm, the energy secretary, and have you react to it on the other side. >> i do think that we need to send this strong message that paying a ransomware only exacerbates and accelerates this problem. you are encouraging the bad actors when that happens. >> glen, she's warning that they could take down the power grid and saying she won't pay ransomware. we had atlanta unable to get into their critical 911 and

police agencies because of ransomware that they refuse to pay. others, as we know, colonial pipeline paid. what are the answers and how do you address this? >> well, the secretary is right in that this is a huge problem and one that's going to get worse. we're vulnerable across a wide array of sectors, but on the question of whether it makes sense to ban the payment of ransom, that's a tough question. that's one of those issues where it makes sense in general for society as a whole, and when you get down to individual case if it's your company or your hospital there's an extraordinary incentive to pay ransom and make sure you get back to business and get back to patients or in the case of colonial pipeline it was to get gas flowing in the eastern united states so it is a very, very tough question. >> we are dealing with two threats here. there's solar winds which attack government agencies and major corporations and that was

definitely, we've been told from the russian intelligence and the military intelligence, giu, i guess it was, so that's state sponsored. that's what we've seen before from russia, from china, from north korea and iran. and then the ransomware, the criminal groups, hackers and they are operating, many from eastern europe, many from russian soil and the president's not blamed vladimir putin, but certainly they could not be operating without the acknowledgement and the protection of the kremlin. >> that's absolutely right. it's probably a little unrealistic to think we'll stop cyber espionage. after all, the united states and our allies do it, too and it's an important source of information for us and you know, it's something that could be an area that we'll try to control and that's not -- it doesn't seem to make sense, but on the

other hand, ransomware which is just pure maliciousness is something we should stop. they both have one thing in common and that's russia. russia is either actively encouraging these ransom ware gangs or alternatively, they're turning a blind eye and it's inconceivable that there would be a ransom wear gang that would undertake repercussions without the the blessing of vladimir putin and turn a blind eye and we should something about that part. >> the president is meeting with national security officials and getting ready for vladimir putin and for the rest of this foreign trip and his debut as president and vladimir putin in geneva. this is what the secretary of state had to say about putin. >> one of the reasons that the

president will be meeting with visit putin in a week's time is not in spite of these aggressions and these attacks is because of him to tell him directly and clearly what he can expect from the united states and if aggressive, reckless actions toward us continue. >> so what can the president do besides tough talk. he wants to have a good working relationship with putin on a number of other issue, but he wants to be tough on ukraine, on this cyber hacking and other aggressions where putin seems to be setting the stage for a tough relationship. >> it's another complex issue. i'd love to be a fly on the wall in that meeting betweened bien and putin. i'm sure president biden will be very tough and make it very clear that this is unacceptable behavior on the part of russia and the kremlin and we know what the response is going to be from vladimir putin. number one, he's going to deny

it saying you can't prove it anyway and even if there was someone operating in russia and a criminal gang, if they're not violating russian law and apparently they aren't, then i don't have to take action against it. at the end of the day i think we have to recognize that while we should be tougher against russia in this regard and i work at the nsa and saw what u.s. cyber command is doing, so i know what we're able to do and we should step it up. at the end of the day we have to recognize that for two reasons it will be very tough. one, they're limited to how much more we can do in the way of sanctions with russia. we don't trade with them that much so it won't hurt them and there are practical limits on what we're going to do. we're not going to turn the lights out in all of moscow. that could cause hospitals to close and putin could force to take retaliatory action and there is a narrow window in which we can operate and at the end of the day, that alone will not solve it and it's a mistake to think it's going to solve the

problem. >> there is some pressure on the president to be aggressive, to be offensive and we saw what happened in 2018 with the midterms where we did turn out some lights, at least shut down some of the hackers and protect the elections in 2018. so in 2019 the united states made an extraordinary effort to go after election interference on the part of russia and that was something that was government sponsored and there were ways they could take steps against the government, and this is something that's a little different and this is ransomware and from putin's point of view, it's okay this he continue and it's fun for him to watch us in trouble here because of it. so i think it's a very different thing for us to try to stop ransom ware gangs and sending a message that way will be difficult. >> solar winds is another

category, is it not? >> solar winds is another category and at the end of the day we should complain about it and it was an unprecedented breach of federal systems and it's just over the line and we need to make clear that we're not going to tolerate that, but stopping all cyber espionage, again, probably not going to happen. >> glen it's great to have your expertise, thank you very much for being with us. and a dose of reality, covid-19 vaccination rates are plummeting putting president biden's fourth of july goal getting adults inoculated in jeopardy. this is "andrea mitchell reports" right here on msnbc. isn't round at all. it's more cashew-shaped. planters. a nut above.

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and try metamucil fiber thins. a great tasting and easy way to start your day. ♪ sometimes you wanna go ♪ ♪ where everybody knows your name ♪ ♪♪ ♪ and they're always glad you came ♪ ♪ you wanna be where you can see(ah-ah) ♪ ♪ our troubles are all the same (ah-ah) ♪ ♪ you wanna be where everybody knows your name ♪ ♪ you wanna go where people know ♪ welcome back, america. it sure is good to see you. today, new covid cases are at their lowest levels since march 2020, the current seven day of average cases below 15,000 and hospitalizations are also down 17% from the week before, but vaccinations are

declining, as well, putting president biden's target of vaccinating 70% of american adults by july 4th in jeopardy prompting the first lady and dr. fauci to visit a vaccine site in harlem. >> this is how we get the word out. we want everyone 12 and old tore come get vaccinated. >> cdc is also putting a focus getting shots into the arms of 12 to 17-year-olds as the increasing number of teens are being hospitalized with covid. plus, there are new concerns from overseas as the new delta variant from india has led in cases in the uk to double over the last month despite the strong vaccination campaign. joining us now is dr. osterholm from the university of minnesota. dr. osterholm, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> want to show you a graph of

the increase of cases in great britain and it seems like a small uptick and we see how the cases can rise rapidly and get out of control and hospitalizations and deaths can follow. how do we determine whether we should be concerned about the delta variant here? >> as you point out here, the delta virus is not only in england, but in several countries around the world is starting to raise its ugly head and what makes that such a concern is it's considered to be 50% to 100% more infectious than the previous variant and b-11 alpha. it has a way to evade immune protection and in england over the past month the delta variant has only worked about 30 -- the vaccine's only worked about 30% of the time against that variant from actually getting clinically ill and it reduces severe illness and we're shooting to 70% in one dose.

we still will have a number of people who will have had no vaccine and a sizeable portion of the population would have had only a single dose and if the delta virus actually becomes a problem here which we have every reason to believe it would, and even those with one dose would not be protected and we have to have as many as possible with two doses for the vaccines. >> and how do we do that when it's slowing down so precipitously? >> well, now we're really doing this person by person by person. we have to find out why you're not getting vaccinated and is it why you're a pregnant woman and concerned with a safety vaccine or are you someone from the black community and inner cities who is convinced that the operation warp speed where the military may have had some impact in getting the vaccine out are involved and therefore you think it's just another experiment going on. remember this vaccine has not yet been fully licensed. and there's under emergency use

authorization and it was only a matter of time, and some people are waiting until that occurs. it's only one, by one, by one, understanding what the reasons are. the most notable reasons are white republican men who are against this vaccine as in all regards and it really is more of a political statement than a health statement. unfortunately, those individuals will know covid-19 outcome eventually because this virus will continue to spread among those who are vaccinated and they will get seriously ill and a number of them will die. >> how concerning is this uptick in teens, there have been no deaths and what is the potential long-term complications if teens are forced into the icu? >> yeah. right now one of the problems we have with this new delta variant, for example, is the fact that there are more severe illnesses with it even among the vaccine failures.

so we know it's much more transmissible. when we think about the united states right now we have 11 states that really have inadequate vaccination levels and even close to 70%, so this is a key issue. >> dr. osterholm, thank you so much. we will go to the white house now because they're having a briefing right now with national security adviser jake sullivan talking about the president's upcoming trip. let's take a listen. >> president biden goes on this trip from a position of strength. dramatic progress against the pandemic at home, strong, projected growth that will help power the global economic recovery, as well, renewed american power and purpose and a rock-solid foundation of alliances that will serve as force multipliers for our global agenda. at the g7, he will join with his fellow leaders to a plan to end the covid-19 pandemic. he will join his fellow leaders to tomorrow a new initiative to provide financing for physical,

digital and health infrastructure in the developing world, a high standard, climate friendly and transparent and rules-based alternative to what china is offering. he and the other leaders will endorse a global minimum tax of 15% as you saw coming out of the g7 finance ministers' meeting and they will make a number of significant commitment on climate, standards and ransomware. at nato president biden will address enduring security challenges that have been at the core of the alliance for a long time including russia and coordinating the remaining period of the drawdown of forces from afghanistan, but they will also focus on emerging security challenges to the alliance, critically including cyber and the challenge posed by china. president biden will also reinforce the burden sharing and not just the 2% that allies made at the wales summit, but the

need for allies to give not just cash, but contributions to exercises and to operations that nato is undertaking and to have the kinds of capabilities that make sure that nato is a full-spectrum alliance with allies across the board providing the kind of high-end capabilities nato requires. at the summit, the president and european union leaders will focus on aligning our approaches to trade and technology so that democracies and not anyone else, not china or other autocracies are writing the rules for trade and technology for the 21st century. president biden will have a series of bilateral engagements including a u.s.-uk sum wit prime minister johnson will update it and upgrade it for the modern era and we will have further announcements that they'll have in cornwall and brussels in the day ahead.

after his time at the g7, at nato and at the usgu summit president biden will go to geneva to meet with president putin. he will do so after nearly a week after intensive conversations with both in europe and the indo-pacific. he will go into this meeting with the wind at his back. now we have made clear repeatedly, and i will reinforce again today that we do not regard a meeting with the russian president as a reward. we regard it as a vital part of defending america's interest and america's values. joe biden is not meeting with vladimir putin despite our country's differences, he's meeting with him because of our countries' differences. there say lot to work through. we believe president biden is the most direct communicator of american values and priorities and we believe that hearing directly from president putin is the most effective way to

understand what russia intends and plans. there is never any substitute for leader to leader engagement, particularly for complex relationships, but with putin, this is exponentially the case. he has a highly personalized style of -- and to be clear where we are to understand where he is and to try to manage our differences and to identify those areas where we can work in america's interests to make progress. when president biden returns to washington next week we believe that we will be in a better understanding of what this country faces, climate, russia, and shaping technology for the future. so with, that i'll be happy to take any questions that you have. yeah? >> thanks, jake. is this the right time to be having a one-on-one meeting with vladimir putin so early in president biden's presidency

before he's met one-on-one with so many other world leaders and at a time when there isn't a specific, deliverable that the white house is looking to achieve from the one-on-one meeting? >> so first, we don't think in terms of u.s.-russia summits as being about deliverables because if you are going to wait for significant deliverables you could be waiting a long time conceivably. so what we think about this summit as doing is fundamentally giving us an opportunity to communicate from our president to their president what american intentions and capabilities are and to hear the same from their side. that has value in and of itself. secondly, in terms of the timing, it is hard from our perspective to find a better context for a meeting with the russian president than after time spent with the world's leading market economies, the g7, plus india, south korea, australia and south africa, after a meeting with all of his fellow leaders with nato, and after a meeting with the presidents at the european union and then and only then going into this session to be able to

talk about the complex set of issues with the u.s.-russia relationship. that, from our perspective, is the right context within which to engage russia and if it comes to early in his presidency, if you think about what we dealt with from the outset of russia, it's been a time, and we've imposed cover thes for election interference and solar winds. we've dealt with a russian buildup on the ukraine border and think, we are contending with a range of issues with the ransomware domain, so we feel that it is an effective and appropriate context and time period for us to have that summit. >> as a follow-up to that, he implored president biden to meet with him before he sits down with vladimir putin. is that something that you are considering? if not, why not? >> actually, i have come from the briefing room from the oval office where president biden was on the phone with president

zelensky of ukraine. this was a call they'd been planning to make in advance and they had the opportunity to talk at length about the issues in the u.s. and ukraine relationship and president biden was able to tell president zelensky that he will stand up for ukraine's sovereignty and its aspirations as we go forward. he told president zelensky he looks forward to welcoming him to the white house here in washington this summer after he returns from europe. >> jake, thank you. we know that afghanistan is going to be discussed with our nato allies. there's been a lot of concern about replacing some of the u.s. assets, such as the drones to be able to fight against the taliban. can you bring us up to speed on where are the negotiations with pakistan, and would the united states like to have a drone base in pakistan? >> i'm not going to get into the details of our negotiations. i will say this.

we have had constructive discussions in the military about the future of america's capabilities that ensure that afghanistan never becomes a base from which any terrorist organization can attack the united states. in terms of the specifics, that will have to remain in those private channels as we work through them. what i will say is that we are talking to a wide range of countries about how we build effective capacity from an intelligence and from a defense perspective to be able to suppress the terrorism threat in afghanistan on a going forward basis. >> two questions. one with putin and one here at home. with putin, the president is going into this meeting with there's tension ten both leaders. let's talk about the trust factor. how can you trust anything vladimir putin says in this

sitdown? you said you are going to learn what he is thinking and what he wants to do moving forward. how you can trust that as vladimir putin has smeared the president's name? how you can trust? >> taking the measure of another president is not about trusting them. the relationship between the u.s. and russia is not about a relationship of trust. it's about a relationship of verification and laying out that if harmful activities continue to occur, there will be responses from the united states. we will lay those out for president putin in this meeting. he will understand fully where the united states stands and what we intend to do. one thing i will say, april, is we believe fundamentally that our capacity to ensure that harmful and disruptive activities against the united states do not continue unabated is to be able to communicate clearly, directly, not by negotiating in public, but by

explaining this in private. >> second question on voting. the for the people's act. if it's not passed, what is the national security issue with it? is there a national security issue with it if it's not passed? we heard over the past few years about issues of voting. if that's not passed, is it a national security issue? >> i would say the basic notion of democratic reform and voting rights in the united states is a national security issue. we are in a competition of models with autocracies. we are trying to show the world that american democracy can work, can effectively deliver the will of the people. to the extent that we are not revamping our own democratic processes to meet the needs of the modern moment, then we are not going to be as successful in making that case to china, russia or anyone else. there's a national security dimension to this, just as there was through the decades of the

cold war. >> thank you so much. my question is, can you talk a bit about how president biden plans to convince, especially our european allies, that former president trump was an anomaly, all of the things he did to traumatize the leaders, calling into question the need for nato? what's the plan there? is there concern the scars are deeper than his ability to address them in this one trip? >> i think our view going into this trip is that actions speak louder than words. showing that the united states is capable of turning the corner on the pandemic, showing that the united states is capable of making the dramatic investments that will pull us up and out of this economic recovery and help power global growth, showing the world that we are ultimately capable of making investment in infrastructure, innovation and workforce, setting that foundation is the most effective way to show the world that the united states has the power to deliver. that's what he is going to try

to demonstrate. as i said at the outset, he goes into this from a position of strength, because of the record he has built up over the course of the first four months. >> is congress being briefed on the idea of voting as a national security issue? if the for the people act isn't passed, what will that say globally given the fact that you laid it out as a national security issue? >> i will say humbly as the national security advisor, i don't tend to get into the middle of the debates on the hill. all i can say is the bottom line. not specific question about the vehicle or the time frame but rather the fundamental principal, which is that a strong, vibrant american democracy that protects voting rights is the best way for us to make the case to the world that our model and not some other model is the right model to actually vindicate the will of the people in the united states and for other democracies to do

the same. >> joining me now is phil rucker. we see jake handling the questions about what to do about vladimir putin. i will be on this trip to the g7, to nato and the geneva summit. we saw a different performance by donald trump in helsinki with putin. >> we did. you were there. trump, when he traveled overseas, he alienated our western allies, our nato allies. he sought to befriend vladimir putin. he wanted to be friends with the russian president. he denied in public at that press conference in helsinki that -- what the u.s. intelligence found, which is russia tried to interfere in the election. with a we heard from jake sullivan is a different approach heading into this meeting between president biden and president putin with biden come in with a position of strength

but trying to make clear to russia what the consequences are if they continue the actions that the u.s. finds inappropriate and wrong. >> certainly on solarwinds, the government-sponsored hacking, he can take a strong stance. he can suggest offensive capabilities, retaliation from the u.s. but not when it comes to these hackers who are on russia soil but which the kremlin disavows responsibility for. >> yeah. you know, the kremlin says they can't control the hackers. they are individual hackers. i think we can expect biden to confront putin about these hacks and about the other issues that you mentioned. and other issues in the geopolitical space, including climate change, which is a top global priority for the u.s. and its allies. so we can look for biden to take a different tone with putin than we saw in the meetings that trump had with him. >> interesting that, of course, the president is going to be proclaiming democracy versus

autocracy. how does he do that? jake sullivan acknowledged the voting rights act is a national security issue. >> that's right. he talked about how it undermines america's position in the world when we're trying to fight for the preservation of our democracy and convince other leaders in the world and other people in the world that democracy is the right kind of system of government, but when he can went evolve our own democracy by passing a bill like that voting rights act, we have efforts here at home to undermine the integrity of our democracy, such as with the assault on the 2020 election by trump and many of his followers and republicans in congress, it puts the u.s. at a very diminished posture vis-a-vis the world. >> i was in ukraine last month. i gotta tell you that president zelensky wanted a meeting, he wanted an oval office meeting before the putin meeting. he didn't get that. he got a call today and a promise of a meeting afterwards. ukraine is feeling very vulnerable with the russian

troops at the border. >> understandably, andrea. it has been a priority for ukraine dating back many years to have a close relationship with the united states. so it's telling that despite the phone call zelensky had with biden today, biden will be doing his first meeting with putin, not with the president of ukraine. >> phil, thanks for buttoning that down. the big travel week for the president and, of course, the vice president in guatemala today. shoutout to savannah guthrie. ten years with "today." there's a great tribute to her online that was on the air this morning. that does it for "andrea mitchell reports." i will be here tomorrow. then i'm hitting the road for the president's big trip. follow the show. kasie hunt is in for chuck todd. thanks to kasie for helping us

out next week. that's next, "mtp daily" only on msnbc. ♪♪ welcome to monday. it's "meet the press daily." we have been watching the white house national security advisor briefing. jake sullivan defended the meeting with putin saying it was not a reward for putin but rather an opportunity for biden to basically confront him on national security issues, including cyber hacking. sullivan says president biden was on the phone with ukrainian president zelensky. as the white house previews the trip, we are expecting vice president harris to hold her first press conference overseas