logistical challenge to get everybody here and then to get them all to leave. and so this is what we're going to see is everybody sort of starting to wrap up and going home tomorrow. >> okay. >> reporter: so that's the main agenda. but as far as we're concerned, it's going to be joe biden meeting the queen and then heading on to brussels. >> i know. i'm looking forward to that. i think you'll be with me as we cover that tomorrow. i also wish we could have brought our viewers the flyover, which is scheduled any time now with the red arrows, sort of their version of the thunder birds or the blue angels, but we will stay tuned for that, everybody. as i thank you, mr. ambassador hill, peter spiegel, matt bradley, guys, thank you so much. that's a wrap. i'm all out of time for this edition of alex witt reports. see you tomorrow at noon eastern. my friend, yasmin vossoughian, will continue our coverage and maybe she'll get you a shot of the red arrows flying overhead. ♪♪

good afternoon, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. we got a lot going on right now, and we're just getting started following some breaking news out of texas. a mass shooting with a suspect still at large. new information from police just moments ago. plus terror in the skies. >> restraints. >> help me, help me. >> passengers frantically called to help the crew of a passenger jet subdue an unruly passenger. coming up, i'm going to talk to the passenger that shot that amazing video. we're also following the major political news of the day, new reaction and new calls for action in the wake of revelations that the trump doj went after house democrats critical of the president. i'm going to talk to a member of the house intelligence committee in just a moment as well. and president biden right now finishing up g7 meetings for the day. we're going to have the latest from the uk. we're following it all. but we're going to begin with that breaking news out of texas where a press conference just wrapped up on the nation's latest mass shooting.

right now, police are searching for two men after shooting 14 people in a popular downtown entertainment district early this morning. authorities saying all victims are currently being treated. we are going to go to morgan chesky when we do have him as he's getting more information on this and it is a developing story. we'll bring that to you as soon as we get him. we're also tracking another shooting in savannah, georgia, killing one person, jurg eight others, including two children. police have not released any information about suspects or motives. what we do know is the deceased was described as an adult by police. as for the two children, a 2-year-old was hit in the foot with gunfire and a 13-year-old was also hurt. but those injuries are not considered life-threatening. so, new fallout this weekend over revelations that the trump justice department seized communication records from some democratic lawmakers and journalists. the justice department's inspector general has opened an investigation into the trump-era leak that asked apple and microsoft for metadata from at

least two democrats on the house intel committee, including chairman adam schiff. meanwhile, trump's former attorneys general, bill barr and jeff sessions, are both trying to separate themselves from these reports, saying they either, quote, don't recall being briefed on it or had, quote, no idea it was happening. joining me with this reaction to all this is one of the members of the house intel committee, democratic congressman mike quigley of illinois. congressman, thanks for joining us on this. i really appreciate it. i think it was shocking, to say the least, as this information all emerged. you've said it's not necessarily surprising, though, that the trump administration did this. but what does this seizure of this communication actually say about how the trump administration used government powers? >> look, i think it's the weaponization, the politicization of the justice department. this wasn't an isolated act. i think attorney general garland

has inherited a legal, moral, and ethical dumpster fire. he has to sort through this. i think it's a good first step that the inspector general is looking at this matter, but i think they have to look at this in the context of a four-year assault on the separation of powers and the independence of the justice department. lot of other issues out there, thing that we saw the president engage in and deciding who -- proposing who to target. attorney general barr reducing sentences, attorney general barr intervening to, you know, dismiss cases and charges against certain people who lied for the president. so, clearly, this isn't an isolated incident, and i think the attorney general has to look at it this way and so does congress. >> so, senator schumer and durbin, they're demanding bill barr and jeff sessions testify before the senate judiciary committee.

how important is it that congress look at this as well? and what could the senate judiciary committee do beyond subpoenas? do you expect them, if, in fact, subpoenas are leveled or issued, to comply with those subpoenas? >> well, i'm always a little skeptical as to their willingness to participate, and as you've already -- we've already seen the amnesia sets in pretty quickly. but i think it is important for the senate to bring them forward and probably the house oversight or judiciary committees have them testify under oath, see if that jogs their memory. this is going to be tough, though. i mean, look at what we've already gone through. this is an assault on a separate branch of government, but a lot of my republican colleagues don't seem to have a problem with that. we had the capital taken over for the first time since 1814, and some of them are denying that it really took place. many of them, if not most of

them, aren't willing to vote for a commission to investigate that or to support a defense supplemental which will protect us against future attacks. >> what would you want to hear from attorneys general sessions and barr if, in fact, they were called to testify? >> yeah, who made these decisions? was the white house involved? who else was involved within the attorney general's office? was anyone else targeted? and did they do this in other matters that we're just not aware of? we all found about this for the most part thursday night, so what else is out there? again, it's not -- we know it's not an isolated incident. it's hard to imagine they didn't try to do this in a similar vein elsewhere. >> your colleague, raja, on the intel committee spoke with my colleague, ali velshi earlier today and essentially called

this a fishing expedition. do you agree with that assessment? >> as broad as it was and the manner it was done, it's clearly a fishing expedition to target the people they don't like. it's a page out of richard nixon's book, right? target your enemies. the matter in which this was done, it certainly appears that the president instigated this and his sycophants, the just department, were more than glad to work with him. >> congressman quigley of illinois, thank you. coming up, by the way, a little later on this hour, my friend, nbc news legal analyst, is going to join me live to dig into his one big question about trump's doj spying on democrats. i want to go back to that mass shooting in austin. i want to go live to morgan chesky who's following this for us in austin. what do you know? >> reporter: yeah, yasmin, good

afternoon, we're standing on the block where these gunshots rang out early this morning, shortly after 1:00 a.m. the street is now blocked off. the police are calling this a very active investigation. we have just learned from police within the past hour that the number of those hit overnight were 14 people. we know two of those individuals are now in critical condition and we're learning a little bit more about the people who may have pulled the trigger. waiting to hear what austin police had to say in a press conference just a few minutes ago. take a listen. >> we have developed suspects in this case. there are two male suspects. i'm not going to release any further information because the investigation is very much ongoing, and we are actively working to get them into custody. most of the victims were innocent bystanders, but we're still sorting out all of the victims to see what their involvement is in this case. >> reporter: and austin police added that the shooting, at least as of right now, appears

to have been some sort of disagreement between two separate parties that resulted in that gunfire. as you heard the officer say, they're not releasing any other information on the suspects at this time. we do know they have enlisted the help of the joint terrorism task force, so federal authorities also helping out in this case. in the meantime, police asking anyone who was here on this block of east 6th street that had any video or pictures overnight to please pass it along to police as they continue to build their case here and gather more information. an important note, this is an incredibly part of austin. it was packed with hundreds if not thousands of people last night here, lots of bars and restaurants line this street. it was so crowded that ambulances had a tough time getting through the throng of people to reach those victims. in many cases, laying right here on the street. yasmin? >> wow. just a terrifying scene to think about. morgan chesky for us, thanks for

following this, appreciate identity. we want to go to live pictures now over in the uk as happening right now, the royal air force conducting the flyover of the g7 summit under way. those are called the red arrows. they can be compared the blue angels as we watch that magnificent sight over the skies of the uk with so many leaders gathered for the g7 summit, which is what we're covering. the president is just now wrapping up day two of the g7 summit with chinese and russian global influence at the heart of things today. president biden actively urging western european nations and japan to counter china's growing economic influence by helping developing nations. and as we watch those red arrows continuing to fly over the skies of the uk, i want to bring in matt bradley who's in penzance for us, a small town in the corner of the cornwall district who's been following the president's activities. good to see you this afternoon. thank you for joining us on this. tell us more as to what happened

today as we continue to watch some of these live pictures and the flyover. >> reporter: well, i mean, obviously, this was a lot of the same in terms of glad handing and people meeting. there were plenary sessions. the focus of today's meetings was drilling down on this idea of sort of confronting china, and china has been the main -- one of the main topics of the whole weekend. and confronting china not necessarily militarily but in terms of infrastructure, because one of the things that china has been doing with its huge belt and road initiative is funding, through loans, through inexpensive loans, to developing countries, infrastructure improvements. now, this has been essentially a way for china to develop infrastructure in foreign countries so that china can trade with them. things like ports and railways. basically, creating a runway for china to increase its own trade. now, this is something that the

g7 has pledged that they are going to try to confront, probably with their own announcement of their own initiative to try to create their own infrastructure and friendly countries so that they can spread g7 values, which are seen as more democratic than china's, of course. and so that is the focus of today's events, and then, of course, there's other things like the family photo that just happened, this flyover, and then tonight, there's going to be a beachside barbecue with steaks, lobsters, and actually marshmallow roasting, so you'll get to see that. >> sounds like a pretty nice beachside barbecue. i got to say. just watching this flyover. it is so incredible to see and some of the formations that these planes are taking. you think about the precision these pilots need to have in order to conduct a flyover like this one. watching it on screen for me, i think, is an incredible thing to see -- sight to see, but i can only imagine what it's like in-person to see it happening

right before your very eyes. once again, the red arrows doing their flyover. customary flyover with the g7 summit, ongoing there. matt, give us an update as to what we can expect in the days ahead. >> reporter: well, what we're seeing tomorrow is the closing of this, and there's going to be just two plenary sessions tomorrow. joe biden himself is going to be moving on to windsor palace and he's going to meet the queen again and have tea. and then he's going to be moving on from there to belgium, all of this moving inward to europe before he gets to geneva, where this much anticipated meeting with russian president vladimir putin that everybody's been talking about for weeks and that our own keir simmons had this interview that aired last night leading up to this massive summit that everybody's been talking about. so, what we're going to see in these plenary sessions, the first one is just going to be about g7 values, like i was talking about. democracy, rule of law, the kinds of things that joe biden says he's trying to really

promote on the world stage, and the subtext to that is promoting those values in the face of encroaching or expanding authoritarianism, illiberalism, the vladimir putins of the world t xi jinpings of the world. this is what the g7 is trying to confront, both with economic measures like this infrastructure plan and in terms of just ideology. we're going to see another plenary session focused on the environment and this is going to be a jumping off point for another conference that's going to be happening here in britain, hosted in the uk, that's going to be happening in glasgow in scotland, and that's going to be all about climate change. so the whole weekend has been about climate change in one way or another but this last plenary session is going to be leading up to yet another conference that's going to be focusing on climate change. when you talk about climate change and the pandemic, these are things that joe biden has been saying will really give the united states a way to get back

into the international community in a way they haven't in the last four years. yasmin? >> quite an undertaking, to say the least. nbc's matt bradley for us in penzance. an incredible place to visit, by the way. i got engaged in cornwall, just to put that out there, and it's such a beautiful place to be. thank you, matt. >> reporter: no pirates. >> no pirates. pirates of penzance. i get it. still ahead, everybody, terrifying moments in the sky when a pilot calls on passengers for help. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking. we'd like all strong males to the front of the aircraft to handle the problem passenger. coming up, everybody, i'm going to talk with the passenger who took this video and ask him what he was thinking as this all was happening and how he's doing. plus, some states set to end emergency unemployment assistance as early as next week. americans still struggling are speaking out against lawmakers who claim the extra cash is

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welcome back, america. it sure is good to see you.

welcome back, everybody. some terrifying moments aboard a delta flight today when passengers were called on to restrain what the airline is calling an unruly passenger. the flight from l.a. to atlanta was forced to land in oklahoma city. passengers caught the frightening scene on video.

and i'm joined now by the person who took the video that you are watching. steve denton was on that flight and took this video. and one of the reasons why it's now viral. steve, thanks for joining us on this. how you doing? >> little tired, right? late night and an unexpected red-eye that we weren't expected to take but we're doing fine. >> so, what happened? >> well, i think, i mean, just to put it into small shelves there, we were somewhere between -- halfway between oklahoma city and dallas, and one of the passengers, who had been acting really weird the entire time, i mean, this guy was up and down the whole time, he was wearing a helmet, he basically walked up and down the row, opening up every single overhead bin, just out of nowhere, he stood up and he grabbed the p.a. system and he said, hey, everybody should put on their oxygen masks because things are getting ready to get very turbulent.

and then i think it took the flight attendants by surprise, and he was an off-duty airline flight attendant, so i think it surprised them, and then at that point, some other delta off-duty employees that were in the cabin started going to the front, and then the guy made a move for the door, and i don't know exactly what happened at that point, but it just became a situation, then, where it was about restraining the passenger and getting him on the ground so that we could just put that issue to bed. >> how were passengers asked to step in? how did that happen? >> so, yeah, in the beginning, you just kind of saw something was going on. you heard this really weird announcement. the cabin -- the front cabin, there were quite a bit of off-duty airline employees there. i would say about half the cabin was made up of off-duty airline employees. that gentleman in the blue shirt is a pilot for another airline.

anyway, so they went into action pretty quick, and then as things were getting restrained there, they made an announcement. one of the flight attendants made an announcement and called for all able-bodied men to come to the front of the cabin. so, then, everybody starts coming to the front of the cabin. yeah. but you can see, you know, at this point, we've got him on the ground and we're just looking for restraints. >> let's take a listen to that moment when they called for folks to come to the front of the cabin. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking. we'd like all strong males to the front of the aircraft to handle a problem passenger. >> hey, steve, were you scared as this was all going down? >> i wouldn't say i was scared. it was jarring, right? i mean, i was right there, and trying to get in the row there.

actually, that video there is the row in front of me. but i wouldn't say i was scared. it was just jarring. you just -- it happened really fast. it's not something you expect to happen on a plane, and i don't think anybody there was really scared. i mean, people jump -- you got a lot of activity there. you got a lot of folks jumping in and taking care of things, but yeah, i don't think it was scared. i think people were just jarred and i also think everybody's kind of on edge right now. i think you've got a lot of folks on edge right now, and it doesn't take much to trigger. so -- and last night, i think what we saw is it being triggered in a positive -- in a positive way in the way people reacted to it. they reacted to it and we subdued the passenger and were able to land in oklahoma city. >> i need everyone to take their seats. >> it's incredible to see so many folks stepping in to make sure the passenger was subdued and the plane was able to land safely. i'm glad you were able to talk to us today. the plane landed safely.

you're on your feet or you're sitting down talking to us. >> sitting down, right. >> and you're safe and sound and were able to provide that video for us. so get some rest. i'm sure there was a lot of anxiety coursing through your veins at that time. thank you, steve. some frightening moments as well in denmark at a copenhagen soccer stadium as fans and players as a member of the denmark national team collapsed opt field. watch the top of your screen. as vision ericson jogs toward a throw-in and then falls to the ground. you see him there. he was then treated on site for about ten minutes before he was taken off the field on a stretcher. just collapsing. the match was against finland. it was suspended. ericson was taken to the hospital and officials from the denmark national team say he is conscious and undergoing testing. so, if we get any more information on that, we'll bring it to you. but just a shocking moment for so many fans watching that game. all right, coming up,

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welcome back, everybody. the national cutoff for federal pandemic unemployment assistance or p.u.a. is september 6th but some states like mississippi, they're saying good-bye to those critical benefits well before that deadline. ellison barb is in jackson, mississippi, for us. so, in mississippi this weekend, you got around 70,000 people that are going to lose this $300 weekly aid that they were receiving through the c.a.r.e.s. act and the american rescue plan. one of the poorest states in the nation with the lowest vaccine hesitancy -- or the lowest vaccination rate in the country. what's been the reaction so far to this news?

>> reporter: yeah, i mean, you know, critics like mississippi governor tate reeves, they have argued that this aid, while it maybe made sense a few months ago, that at this point they no longer feel like it is necessary and that it is contributing to labor shortages. they say that it is incentivizing people to stay home instead of going to work because this aid combined with state unemployment aid can potentially and often is more money than some people make going to work. we met one restaurant owner in biloxi, mississippi, who told us this is the right decision the governor has made to pull the pandemic unemployment checks. he said he made the decision within his restaurants, he owns 14 of them, to increase the minimum wage to $12 because he said no one can live on the minimum wage here, which is the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. but he says that he's still been having difficulty getting the last 10% of his workers back to meet the demand from customers, and he believes that that is happening because they are still getting these $300 weekly

federally funded unemployment checks. that's one business owner in mississippi's perspective here, but i want to introduce you to someone who is actually receiving these $300 weekly federally funded checks here in jackson, mississippi. this is a man who lost his job as a fast food cook during the pandemic and has been relying on this aid ever since then. he has three children to take care of. he said that this $300 a week check, it helped him tremendously. he said that it is true, he was making more money getting this $300 a week check combined with the money that he was getting that state unemployment aid. it was more than he made at his job but he said that that here, that is the big problem, that that money was more than he can make actually going to work and that that is what we need to be talking about. listen to more of what he told us. this is a man from jackson, mississippi. his name is steven williams. >> at 15, 16, i had my first job at kroger and i made $5.50 and

that was, what, 15 years ago? and now minimum wage only went up like $2. i got three kids. and so, like i said, that's just not enough. >> reporter: what will you do when the $300 a week stops coming? >> hey, what i was doing before, just trying to make it. >> reporter: in all, 25 republican state -- republican-led states plan to end this federally funded unemployment aid early. it was going to originally end in september. the four states ending it today, it's just the beginning. yasmin in ? >> and it's because of stories like that man that you have the governor of rhode island saying, no, we're going to up, in this state, the minimum wage to make sure that folks aren't making those low wages. so, ellison, barber, thanks for covering this. the justice department and democrats are on the hunt for

answers and accountability after it was revealed that the trump administration seized data from democrats. one of the targets of trump's doj, democratic congressman eric swalwell talked to my colleague, chris hayes, about his fear if those involved don't face consequences. watch this. >> my fear is that he may not have been successful this time in locking up his perceived enemies but a more corrupt or donald trump in the white house again may not be as patient and may just skip the department of justice and its processes and just order his lieutenants to lock up his political opponents. >> all right, so joining me now is my friend, denny, nbc news little analyst. thanks for joining us on this. so, you wrote an op-ed in the "daily beast" saying the most important question is if, in fact, republicans were targeted. why? >> because that's the only one -- the question that matters

from a moral perspective. it may not matter so much from a legal perspective because it's long been the case that as long as there is objective evidence of a crime, police and law enforcement and government attorneys can go -- can selectively choose who they prosecute. that is their prerogative. but it may be legally justified. it just isn't morally justified if 0.0 republicans were investigated. >> so, you don't necessarily see any legal repercussions coming out of this either way? >> oh, no, there may be legal repercussions but the key question for the public is going to be whether or not the doj targeted republicans and seized their communications, their metadata, their information in addition to seizing democrats' metadata information and other things. now, the inspector general is conducting an investigation, and they will review subpoenas and the information obtained.

there could be a violation of the law or at least doj policy in there. but all that legal mumbo jumbo is immaterial if they only targeted democrats because for the public, that's a political prosecution, and we don't do that in the united states. >> while i have you, i want to touch on the biden administration continuing the legal fight with writer e. jean carroll, the defamation lawsuit against trump. you say it's the right thing to do, even if it feels wrong. explain why. >> because this may be the silliest example of a bigger concept which is, when you are the president, you get sued a lot, individually, and some of these lawsuits, like ms. carroll's, have merit. some of them, unfortunately, are by people who maybe are suing the president for putting bugs in their tv or hiding aliens or something else. now, the way our american legal system works is once i put your name on a complaint, file it and serve you, the burden is on you to show up and defend it.

and we simply can't have individual presidents personally responsible out of their own pocket. that's why the federal law allows for the doj to come in and swap out the individual person with the united states as a defendant and then defend the united states. so, this may be a great example in the law of taking the most unpopular example and defending it to defend the greater concept, the greater principle, which is, an individual president should not be sued personally without an opportunity to substitute in the united states. >> hey, danny, since you're joining us, i'm going to have you stick around because i want you to weigh on on vaccine requirements especially in the healthcare community and the legal implications around that. virginia is for voters, a surge in turnout enspiring enthusiasm throughout the party. >> i'm so excited. i'm so excited.

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welcome back, everybody. early estimates show that voter turnout for this week's democratic primary in virginia was among the highest since the early '90s. the state hasn't released the final tally yet but npr reports about 8% of registered voters turned out. that number may sound low but it's the second highest turnout since 1994. former virginia governor terry mcauliffe won the nomination and now there are questions if this enthusiasm here could signal good news for the democratic party in future elections across the country, especially when it comes to midterm elections. let's bring in presidential historian larry sabido, director of the center for politics. there's a reason, larry, i'm not sure if you saw us tossing to break a little bit early, that we paid homage to the girl from

"saved by the bell," jesse, because it seems like there's this excitement amongst the democratic party because of the turnout in virginia but then they think about the voting restrictions that are now in place in some of these states across the country that could very much focus on the democratic base. so is this a time for enthusiasm when you looked at what happened in virginia? >> well, there was enthusiasm, and the turnout, while not record-setting, as you noted, was good. it was solid. and that's something democrats were hoping for as they look toward november. but for democrats in general, of course, it's way too early to say whether they'll be enthusiastic or not come november 2022 for the midterm elections. it is a good sign, though, that president biden, after these months in office, has maintained popularity in the mid-50s and actually that breaks down, as usual, on party lines. in blue states, and even purple

states, he's above that level. so that's the most important indicator as to whether partisans are enthused and likely to turn out to support the incumbent president. >> chuck todd talked to terry mcauliffe about this very topic and here's what he had to say about the turnout. >> people are concerned. we don't want to see virginia go back. as you've seen with glen, he's an extreme anti-woman, anti-gay candidate. we've had that before. we're an open and welcoming state, and we've had eight great years of success and we're not going back. and we're not going to let some right-wing trump loyalist try and take this state backwards and i think that's what motivated people. >> so, do you see this energy coming from kind of this anti-trump movement and this assault on voting rights as i mentioned earlier happening across the country?

>> well, some of it is, and it ought to. something that i've learned over a long career is that when you attempt to limit a person's rights or even take away their right to vote, they tend to get angry. and when people are angry, they're more likely to turn out. i guess that's the kind of negative enthusiasm, but it may work more than positive enthusiasm or at least as much as. so, yes, i think there's a connection there, and i think former governor mcauliffe was correct to point out that at least in blue states, and virginia is a blue-ish state -- donald trump's memory is very fresh, in part because he absolutely refuses to yield center stage. >> it's interesting, right, because this whole theory about this assault on voting rights, because this is exactly what many analysts have talked to me about on air in saying that if republicans put these restrictions in place, the democrats may very well turn out. it's their worst nightmare, kind

of, in the making, the exact opposite of what they happened to happen, especially come midterms. do you expect this type of enthusiasm that we're seeing? that's what we'll call it in virginia. to sustain itself through the midterm elections? >> well, that, i can't answer. that's a year and a half from now. but -- and we don't want these voting rights restrictions to hold up. it's a good thing that the justice department is looking at ways to take them down. but if they do hold up, if republicans have their way in the 14 states where they've already been passed and other states where they may be passed, then that could be an unintended consequence. most reforms have unintended consequence, even really bad, negative reforms like these. >> we're actually going to be talking about what the department of justice is doing when it comes to voting restrictions coming up later on in the hour. professor larry sabato, thank you. the winner of the virginia

democratic primary will be on "politics nation" tonight at 5:00 p.m. coming up, everybody, the race to vaccinate. can your employer force you to get vaccinated? new legal questions as a texas hospital threatens to fire nurses for refusing to get the shot. et the shot i don't feel sick why should i cure my hepatitis c? how can i handle one more thing? you can stay on track and be cured in only 8 weeks with mavyret. you can keep your momentum with mavyret. before starting mavyret your doctor will test if you've had hepatitis b which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after treatment. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b, a liver or kidney transplant, other liver problems, hiv-1, or other medical conditions, and all medicines you take. don't take mavyret with atazanavir or rifampin, or if you've had certain liver problems. if you've had or have serious liver problems other than hep c, there's a rare chance they may worsen. signs of serious liver problems may include yellowing of the skin, abdominal pain or swelling, confusion, and unexplained bleeding or bruising. tell your doctor if you develop symptoms of liver disease.

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today after refusing to get their covid vaccines. here is what a few of those nurses are telling nbc's houston affiliate kprc's rose ann aragon. >> i took my mask off, threw my shirt on, walked out the door and here i am. >> organizer and nurse jennifer bridges has become the face of a lawsuit filed by more than 100 nurses, physicians, and workers across houston methodist, refusing to get the covid-19 vaccine, saying the vaccine is experimental and only approved for emergency use authorization. >> they're not doing the right thing. they need to give people choices. >> i feel like they kind of bullied us into this little corner, like you have to do it or else you don't have a job. >> all right, so, those protesters only have less than ten days to get their vaccinations or face termination and their defiance inspired another protest today, this one, indiana university health, which is also mandated vaccines for its employees. joining me now are msnbc medical contributor dr. kavita patel and msnbc legal analyst danny

cevallos. it's fascinating to me, dr. patel, to me, and troubling that there are so many folks not wanting to get this vaccine in the healthcare community, nurses, doctors, potentially. i want to play some sound from houston methodist president dr. mark boone talking about why they have chosen to require these vaccines. he spoke with stephanie ruhle. >> we have a sacred obligation to keep our patients safe and that's what vaccines do. and i'm sorry we'll lose these 178 individuals although they have 10 days to change their mind and get vaccinated but at the end of the day, they'll be better served working somewhere else and our institution will be 100% safe. >> so, dr. patel, what do you make of this decision to suspend and potentially fire these employees for not getting the vaccine? >> look, yasmin, i have been

pretty vocal about supporting vaccine requirements in critical settings like healthcare, and we -- all we have to do is look at the data where we have workers who are not vaccinated, one unvaccinated healthcare worker can actually kill vaccinated individuals, so i think it has a lot more to do with the fact, as the ceo mentioned, that these are people who they depend upon in order to be able to get safe healthcare. so i don't see this as so controversial, but i realize in the short-term, while we're under this emergency authorization, it is controversial. that does go away in a matter of months, yasmin, so i think to appeal to these workers and say, this has been a tough year. tell me your thoughts about the covid-19 vaccine, and then to try to come to some conclusion about if people are just not going to get it, then this is not the place for them, taking care of patients. >> i feel like this is yet another reason, kavita, as to

why you cannot politicize science and this is exactly a result of this. look at some of the numbers and they're astounding. 52% of healthcare workers receiving at least one dose of a covid vaccine, 48% have not received any dose at all, 82% of unvaccinated healthcare workers surveyed by the kaiser family foundation said they had concerns about the vaccine's newness. it's astounding that there is still so much misinformation in even the healthcare community, the people that we depend upon to save our lives, especially during this pandemic. >> yeah. and just to be blunt about it, we're watching that delta variant, we're worried about the people who are unvaccinated, that includes our healthcare workers. yasmin, i promise you, if you go to an emergency room and you poll everyone that's there, whether they're vaccinated or not, the patients themselves, i can bet you, because i've asked my own patients, they all assume everyone around them is vaccinated. and that's because they enter these doors inside of our hospitals and clinics, and there's a certain kind of unspoken trust. >> all right, danny, give us the

strategy here, the ramifications potentially if, in fact, they end up firing these employees for not getting vaccinated, and can employers require their employees to get vaccinated for the health and safety of others? >> the short answer is, yes. that's not me. that's the eeoc, the equal employment opportunity commission's own guidance for employers, which was recently issued. the bottom line is, it's no surprise, because employers have long been able to require things like this, especially in situations like hospitals and in the healthcare setting where the need for vaccination is more important than in, say, an office or somewhere else. now, it's important to note that there are exceptions to this rule, for example, they can -- employers cannot discriminate against people based on their membership in a protected class, so they can't say, hey, only older employees have to get the vaccine or only employees of a particular race have to get it.

the other thing is, too, they have to be able to give reasonable accommodations to people with disabilities, perhaps people who have conditions that render them unable to get the vaccine. they have to come up with some reasonable accommodation under the americans with disabilities act. so, there are general exceptions, but broad strokes, an employer can require someone, an employee, to get the vaccine as a condition of employment and terminate them if they don't. >> so, essentially, they could say, listen, you got to get a vaccine unless you have a medical exemption, putting it simply. dr. kavita patel, danny cevallos, thank you both. great to see you. coming up in our next hour, more on that breaking news we've been following. we're going to take you inside a plane forced to land after a problem passenger was taken down in the aisle. what we know about what led to the chaos in the sky. but first, pain in the pocketbook. what is driving up consumer prices on everything from groceries to gas? we'll be right back. we'll be right back.

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welcome back, everybody. new information today on what is causing a big spike in consumer prices. nbc's scott cohn is in san jose, california, for us. and joining us with this story. scott, good to see you. i know that you have been talking to small business owners. what are you learning from them? >> reporter: well, they're seeing increases across the board, yasmin, in everything

from, you know, fuel costs, labor costs, everything else, and they're simply passing that on to the consumers so here at the market in san jose, it's a family-owned grocery store chain, they're seeing big price increases like $3 a pound for baby back ribs. that's unheard of. and this has really throughout the economy. we talked to an importer in denver, talks about the same thing. these are the increases that we saw in the consumer price index posted this week. that 5% overall increase is the largest since 2008, but look at energy and used cars. if you got a business and you got to buy fuel or vehicles, that's what you're looking at. the experts say this all can have some really wide-ranging implications. >> in my 20-some years of doing this, the most disrupted period i have ever experienced. freight, in particular, is incredibly expensive. and incredibly unreliable.

so, things are taking way longer than they normally should, and they're costing a lot more to move. >> i worry about food and gasoline because they go directly to consumer wallets and they hit consumers that have the least the hardest, and certainly on gasoline prices, it's an important, along with the used car story, and higher insurance costs now after they were cut a year ago, now they're surging again. all those prices make it harder to look further for a job than you once did and cut down on mobility of low wage workers being able to make it to where the jobs are. >> reporter: importers zac frederick in denver and economist diane in chicago, she believes that basic economic supply and demand can work through this, but she said we could see these higher prices continuing through the year. yasmin? >> some troubling stuff there. scott cohn for us in san jose. thank you, scott. we are approaching the top of the hour,