>> today on velshi, a packed morning for president biden. we're expecting him to take questions from the press live this morning. and andrea mitchell sitting down with secretary of state tony blinken. and why he is taking voting rights by west virginia. the story of what happened at a mississippi high school after two black students won top honors and two white families called for a recount. good morning, it is sunday, june the 13th, i'm ali velshi. earlier this morning as they typically do on sundays, the bidens went to church and attended mass: senior administration officials say the official 2021 g7, the formal

document outlining the agreements made between the leaders is expected to be released around midday today hour time. china is expected to be the main focus of the communique, however there remains disagreement amongst the leaders about how far it should go in pushing back and on countering china's growing influence and power. the white house is calling biden's proposed plan to counter china, build back better for the world or b3w, which as "the new york times" notes is a play on china's bli, the belt and road initiative. biden and his fellow leaders enjoyed a beach barbecue which as you can see is lovely, but before that was a day of sessions and meetings, including with french million emmanuel macron. he had a unique relationship with our former president which included a lot of brew ha ha, and endlessly long and awkward

handshakes. macron's meeting with biden was a lot more subdued. >> we have to deal with this pandemic, covid-19, we have to face a lot of challenges, a lot of crises, climate change, and for all of these issues what we need is cooperation, and i think it's great to have the u.s. president part of the club, and willing to cooperate, and i think that what you demonstrate is that leadership is partnership. >> leadership is partnership, it seems that macron's new relationship with our current president has dare i say made our former president jealous. trump immediately released a statement via his campaign arm attacking the french leader. it reads in part, and believe it or not, this is the actual verbatim quote, he and many other leaders before him in france and throughout europe were ripping off the united states like never before. we were treated very unfairly with horrible trade deals and

paying for a large portion of their defense. they were taking advantage of the united states and therefore, of course, they like biden because now they will be allowed to return to their old ways of ripping off our country end quote, and of course, looming on the president's schedule is his wednesday meeting with president vladimir putin. that's the firstmeeting between the two men. we will not see the trump publicly backing the kremlin over american intelligence. the biden team has announced that the president will hold a solo press conference after his meeting with putin, so we will not be seeing him side by side with putin taking questions along with the russian president. joining me now is "washington post" senior washington correspondent phil rucker, he's also an nbc political analyst, and the coauthor of the best selling book "a very stable genius, donald j. trump's

testing of america," phil, only the most charming and friendly part of this trip is coming to an end right now. the hard work still remains ahead for president biden. >> it sure does, ali, that meeting that you mentioned with president putin is going to be the high stakes, you know, diplomatic moment of this trip. of course he spent the last -- biden has spent the last couple of days with america's western allies forging cooperation and trying to build back the alliance that former president trump had so, you know, torn at, but that meeting with putin, high stakes there, we have already heard from vladimir putin ahead of the meeting, challenging biden to some degree, and we'll see what biden does when he gets to switzerland to confront the russian president. >> how is this playing back at home with the political classes in washington. obviously there are a lot of people who want america back in a better place with the world. on the other hand, there's not agreement in washington as to

what putin needs to achieve with -- what biden needs to achieve with putin. >> you know, i think the political class here in washington is looking for biden to show strength with our allies abroad, which he has done in these last couple of days at the g7 summit. you have heard from the french president talking about the team being back together. there's a real sense of cooperation among those leaders who are meeting in england, especially as it comes to developing a posture to take on china, with financing and trade and other matters. when it comes to putin, look, i think a lot of washington is hoping for biden to stand strong against russia. for four years, we had former president trump trying to befriend vladimir putin and sacrificing sort of america leadership in the world in an effort to become allies or friends with the russian president, and there's a feeling in washington here especially among those foreign policy experts that biden needs to take a tougher posture and really

stand up to putin in a way that trump was not willing to. >> phil good to see you as always. thanks for kicking it off for us this morning. "washington post" senior correspondent, and nbc news political analyst. joining me is the president of the yur asia group, and body ghost, an opinion editor and columnist with bloomberg. thank you both for being here. set the stage for us ian, we're going to see biden with the queen. and the communique will talk about china. i want to discuss that subsequently. let's go back to the meeting with putin, which is the most crucial part of the visit, i think, maybe i'm wrong, what are we expecting to happen? >> i disagree, i think the most important meeting is the g7. the most important issue in the world without question is coronavirus. >> china. >> oh. >> and the response to coronavirus. russia is irrelevant. they're actually talking about a billion jabs and tens of

billions of dollars in financing at the g7. it's late, it's not as much as we should be doing but it's by far the biggest leadership we have seen since the pandemic has started. china is the second biggest issue out there. there's discussion about china. with russia, they're not bringing it up. i get the fact that an actual face-to-face with biden and putin is a place he will personally be tested, that's why he's not doing a joint by joint press conference, the media may make a big deal about it. it's probably the best multilateral settlement in terms of effectiveness since probably the london g20 summit back in april of 2009. >> why is that, bobby? why is it more effective, because biden is there and not trump or the world is in a different place, and there are challenges these leaders have to

face? >> the fact that it's biden and not trump. the fact that it's not trump is one part of it, and the second is that it's biden. not just any other american president, it's somebody deeply steeped in foreign policy issues, he's met many leaders in various capacities. he's familiar with all of their talking points and they know his. so that's a big -- there's a comfort zone there now that did not exist for a very long time. i would argue they're probably much more -- there's more comfort with him than even with obama who for many of them was new, and they were not clear where obama was coming from, but biden, completely predictable. and you want that. and particularly in a moment like this, we're dealing, as ian said, with one crisis that everybody can agree on, which is the coronavirus crisis. the europeans have mixed feelings about china. they're alarmed about russia but they live next door, and they have to be careful with russia, but on this bug, everybody

understands there's a problem, and having finally sort of begun to deal with the virus at home, they can now turn their attention to the rest of the world and biden showing leadership there, so yeah, that's why this is a very effective meeting. >> ian, you are probably one of the most nuanced writers on china. the idea that china and the belt road initiative, which is not something that rolls off the tongues of americans, but it's very well known in the rest of the world, particularly the developing world. is it reasonable to assume that the g7 is going to come up with something that competes with that because china is all over the world, building highways and parliament buildings, and infrastructure, and loaning countries money in the way that colonial powers used to have influence over developing countries. what is the goal here from the g7? >> i hope the goal is that we'll never have to say build back better world again after the g7 is over. it's not -- >> you don't think it's a thing? >> it doesn't have resonance.

biden is trying to do trillions of dollars of infrastructure at home, and that is proving to be a much more difficult challenge in his own party to get his 50 votes in the senate, which he doesn't have right now. this is a far lower priority than that, but also the one place that you have very significant disagreement in the g7 is on china, and that is because for the united states, china is by far the most significant national security threat, and that is a bipartisan issue of agreement. the europeans see the chinese primarily through an economic and commercial, not a national security lens, and the willing -- and so the idea that the orientation towards china is what is going to solidify a g7 alliance of demock sis, that's not going to happen.

we have to adjust on china or you're going to see more significant divides between biden and macron as opposed to the photos you were just showing. >> bobby, you worked in the east, in india, you have a sense of what people there think about china and the role it place, and it is, to ian's point, very different in other parts of the world than it is in america where we struggle with china as ally, china as adversary, and china as massive trading partner. in other parts of the world, china is a leading source of other things we have not seen in america. >> it's a major economic force all over the world, and how you feel about china often has to do with how close or how far you live from it. china's immediate neighbors, india, for example, feel threatened by it. if you go to latin america, africa, it's a different vibe, they're happy to have chinese

investment, and support, particularly for leaders in those countries care about. the thing with the whole build back better, i'm not even going to try, is that for a lot of the world, would they like to see america or the west invest as heavily in their economies as china does, sure, who wouldn't want to see that. but i think for a lot of the world, what they want to see from the west is just simply be better. be the better version of yourselves that you used to be before you allowed all these populists and these extremists in your own political spectrums and our own political spectrums, walk center stage, and suck oxygen out of the discussions. you know, they don't need to see the west come riding to their rescue. it would help if they can see the west behave like they can, should and used to. >> how does that happen?

that's something on all of the minds of the g7 leaders. they have populist movements, boris johnson has been brought into power on the wave of a populist movement. is there an economic answer to that that quells those movements? >> well, the timing is good. the fact that for the united states we are doing this for the first time, you know, it's meaningful. the u.s. is in the best position in terms of the economic rebound, in terms of the vaccines, and we are starting to see coronavirus through the rear view mirror. much of the rest of the world is absolutely not. that helps. the reality of american power, its financial sector, the dollar, tech companies, those things matter, but to bobby's point, the idea that the united states is going to become a better version of itself, of the g7 democracies, the u.s. is the most politically dysfunctional, and divided. that's the reality, and it's also very clear to everyone sitting around that table, including the american president that the next president of the

united states might easily look very different. again, there's nothing that can be done that's going to create confidence around that issue, and that not only limits the effectiveness and alignment of the g7 but also gives the chinese the second most powerful country in the world, but far more consolidated, far more, dare i say politically stable today. it gives them a lot more running room that none of them want to see. >> that's very telling, the one thing i noticed over the past, during the trump years, is how much more attention the world began to pay to american domestic politics. previously, you know, this whole business of foreign policy at the water's edge, the rest of the world, much of the rest of the world interacted with american politics in the person of the president. right? the president carried all the weight, and people didn't really pay attention to what was going on at the senate, much less in the house, in the trump years, that changed, and it changed for many reasons because people

wanted to understand how trump, that phenomenon occurred, and then of course you saw these demonstrations of extremism in american politics became front and center around the world. of course the 6th of january just blew everything into completely different shape, and so i think yes, all those world leaders and the lovely group photo at the start were very happy to see biden, but all of them are also looking over his shoulder to washington and they're very very keenly aware that as much as they like this guy, they want to know how much control he actually has. >> the same concerns americans look at when they look at their leader. guys, it's so good to be with you back again. i haven't seen either of you in person for a year and a half. don't go anywhere, i'm very excited to have you here. stay with us. ian bremer, and bobby gosh are going to be staying with us for a while. we're staying on top of president biden's european tour.

boris johnson is expected to hold a press conference in the next hour. president biden is expected to take questions live from the press at a separate event before he meets with the queen. andrea mitchell is going to be speaking to u.s. secretary of state antony blinken, we're going to bring that to you on velshi, people have had it with senator manchin, some people are marching in his state. there is one specific global threat that the g7 leaders have the opportunity to tackle at this summit. essentially, it's now or never. i'll explain after this. essentially, it's now or never i'll explain after this. ♪ well, the names have all changed ♪ ♪ since you hung around ♪ ♪ but those dreams have remained ♪ ♪ and they've turned around ♪ ♪ who'd have thought they'd lead you ♪ ♪ (who'd have thought they'd lead you) ♪ ♪ back here where we need you ♪ ♪ (back here where we need you) ♪ ♪ yeah, we tease him a lot... ♪ welcome back, america. it sure is good to see you.

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powerful leaders are spending a sunny, warm weekend in the tranquil english coastal village of carbis bay, a picturesque ocean back drop of the g7 summit, the view just for a

second, for the first time in four years, the united states has returned to being one of the most environmentally conscious countries in the world. president biden has taken several steps toward cleaner air and a cleaner planet here at home from reinstituting climate protections undone by the prior administration, to suspending oil drilling leases in the arctic national wildlife refuge, to blocking a permit for the keystone xl pipeline, forcing that project to shut down. biden's climate actions make sense, seeing that he was part of the administration that put america on the map as a global leader in the fight against humanities greatest threat. in 2015, the obama administration orchestrated the paris climate accord, that united 200 countries around the globe in the goal of tackling global warming. in a supremely weird speech, america's newly elected science denier in the white house

announced that america was pulling out of the very deal that it designed. now, biden is telling the world america is back. but for climate, it's not just a matter of having the seat at the global table again. america needs to be sitting at the head of that table. because if there's one thing the united states can do for this great green earth, it is lead. according to scientists, greenhouse gas emissions must be cut in half by the year 2030 if the world is to stay within 1 1/2 degrees celsius of pre-industrial temperatures. that's the threshold to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. things like sea levels rising to extreme levels, major cities being submerged. intense heat waves, devastating hurricanes and wildfires, much more destructive than we have ever witnessed. progress is being made before the g7 summit even gang, all seven nations agreed to stop funding coal projects overseas, than emit dangerous levels of carbon. for the first time in four years, all of the g7 leaders are

on the same page about climate change. it's been a while since one of these foreign trips has felt so pleasantly mundane. siding with the kremlin, and exchanging love letters with north korea, all while the planet was paying the price for our missteps. the g7 leaders need to take this opportunity to act on climate change now before it's too late. . no. you know what you want? no fettuccine. no fries with that. no foods you love. no added salt. no added sugar. in a can? you can-not. no pizza. have that salad. unless there's dressing. then, no. remember, no skipping meals. but no late-night snacking. and no sleepless nights! is this stressing you out?! no stress! stress...is bad! exercise.

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week ago in the charleston gazette mail voting against the for the people act to protect voting. the reverend dr. william barber says the most recent policy decisions hurt poor and low close people, and is calling for people of all colors and creeds to join him in the moral march on manchin, joining me is dr. reverend william barber, cochair of the poor people's campaign. good to see you, sir. i want you to tell me about what effect you believe this march will have on manchin, he has met with a lot of faith leaders and a lot of representatives of people of color in this country, and he seems unmoved by argument at the moment. >> he has. but he also -- this demonstration, poor white people, and black people, and minors and veterans to come. they are tired of people talking about west virginia and allowing

him to say he's doing this because of west virginia. 79% of likely voters in west virginia want expansion of the voting rights act. they want the division of the for the people's act. west virginia, 700,000, 315,000 make less than $15 an hour. they want living wages. they want health care. he's hurting the very block of people that put him in office, poor and low wage white people from the mountains, and black people from charleston, and they are ready to speak out, and not only going to do it in west virginia, they're then taking buses on the 23rd, and coming to washington, d.c. and they're going to be with us on june 21st for a mass poor people's assembly, low wage workers assembly, and moral march on washington as we get ready for an in-person march launching for june of next year. people are very very bothered. you know, ali, one of them said

to me, there's a -- this doesn't make sense to them. manchin doesn't believe in bipartisan because he says he would never vote against the filibuster, if he had 50 democrats, and nine republicans, he's more committed to the filibuster, even if they could pass a bill to stop unconstitutional acts in the state, he says he's against ending the filibuster. there's a dead cat on the line somewhere who has their thumb on him who's pushing him, and people of west virginia are sick of it, and they want to speak out. >> you tweeted manchin's policies hurt poor and low wealth people, against $15 an hour living wages and expanding voting rights and has abandoned the poor and low wealth people in his own state and the nation, and they're tired of it. i love talking economics and wages with you. manchin said he would support an $11 minimum wage. west virginia is not the country's most prosperous state. i would imagine there are a whole lot of people who you are

probably in better contact than i am who would appreciate an increase in the minimum wage. >> you let people tune in tomorrow. the fact of the matter is, with 12 west virginians in february, they really lit into him, and said we don't need eleven. we need more than that. this state needs infrastructure. it needs living wages. it needs health care. there's something really wrong here, as i said, because he's standing against the very thing his people need, and one of the things we're going to say is that this battle over voting right, first of all, can't just be about race. he's got to talk about how it hurts black people, brown people, poor people, disabled people, women, children, excuse me, young people, but we also have to connect it to policy. when you suppress the vote, you suppress electing people who will in fact support living wages and support health care and support infrastructure. there's something really wrong with his position because they don't make any sense. he says we need to wait.

he says it saves me time. eight years to fix the voting rightings act. mcconnell has said he's never going to support living wages. he's never going to support the infrastructure plan we need that will reach down to poor and low wealth communities. how much more time do we need? there's a cat on the line somewhere, and the people want to see about it in west virginia. >> we're going to find this dead cat. you mentioned a state representative, he was a congressman, he was a very popular governor of west virginia. he's been the senator from west virginia, but in his last election, he won by a very very -- a much narrower margin than ever before. what do you say to the argument that somebody put out the other day that it's not like democrats are going to get somebody left of joe manchin elected in west virginia. >> well, we don't know that because first of all, if you look at the numbers, there are a lot of people that have stayed home in many states. we did a survey.

poor and low wealth people haven't voted because they don't have anybody talking about them, if you flip that over, who got him in office this time, and who's going to make the difference next time, poor and low wealth white people from the mountains, and black people from the city. we need to stop suggesting what might be, and start talking about what will make the most people come out to vote, and what will make them vote is they know they elect people of the things that support their daily lives like living wages and health care. another thing you should know about manchin, he got the governor to run as a democrat, and when he was elected, he flipped not just to a republican but a trump republican. there's a dead cat somewhere on the line here, and the people of west virginia want to call it out. they want to speak in west virginia and then they want to leave a gathering in d.c. because this just makes no sense. the man is voting not only against america, not only against democracy, but against

his own state, and people who have supported him the most. >> reverend, dr. william barber, always a pleasure to see you. thank you for making time for us this morning. the chairman of the poor people's campaign. how much would you pay to take a trip to space with jeff bezos, turns out the experience has a price tag that is truly out of this world. we'll explain next on "velshi," , nothing rhymes with liberty mutual. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ if you have this... consider adding this. an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan from unitedhealthcare. medicare supplement plans help by paying some of what medicare doesn't... and let you see any doctor. any specialist. anywhere in the u.s. who accepts medicare patients. so if you have this... consider adding this. call unitedhealthcare today for your free decision guide. ♪

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have you been looking for the perfect way to spend that extra $30 million burning a hole in your digital wallet. somewhere out there in the universe found a reason to splurge, and it's out of this world. someone bid a whopping $28 million to blast into spais with jeff bezos. the auction winner who is anonymous will be on the first ride on blue origin's new shepherd space craft, lifting off on july 20. they're going to spend a few minutes with the amazon ceo, his brother mark and another passenger. jeff bezos announced he would be part of the trip, shooting up the auction price. the bidding opened the $5 million before a bidder's war brought it to $28 million. all of those millions will go to the blue origin club for the future charity which focuses on encouraging kids to take an interest in space, math and science. the flight will be autonomous, no pilot, and the winning bidder has only six weeks to prepare for the trip. no medical exam, by the way, they just have to be able to fit

in a space suit, and be able to run to the top of the launch tower, which is about seven flights of stairs in 90 seconds. all of the passengers also have to sign a form waiving off their right to sue blue origin if there's an accident. the good news is the company has had 15 successful crewless launches in the past six years. the flight only lasts about ten minutes, which means the winning bidder spends about $50,000 for every second they are up in the air. moments ago, president biden was spotted heading to the airport in cornwall. he'll give a live press conference in the next hour before heading to windsor castle to meet with queen elizabeth. first, one high school in mississippi, four students awarded two top academic honors, something is not adding up. when these two students were named valedictorian, and salutatorian, the parent of two white students refused to accept, and then the school district did something drastic. i'll speak to these two young

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school in mississippi this year. the parents of two white students, also with impressive grades were unhappy with that outcome after expecting their children to be top of the class. shawn berry said he had been tracking his daughter emma's grade since 7th grade, and she had been receiving highest class rank award since then. melissa borjili was third in the class last year but worked his butt after. turns out this year, west point high school use add system to rank grade point averages that gave extra weight to advanced and duel credit courses, so the gpa of a student who took more rigorous classes is weighted more heavily than a student who took the courses required to get their diploma. essentially, this means ikeria and layla took the tougher classes and scored high marks, placing them at the top of their class, but after reading the fine print in the school's handbook, the partners of the

two white students discovered that the high school had not used this system, which rewards taking harder classes in the past. they said using the new system was unfair. the school ended up agreeing, blaming it on a mistake, and so dominic, and emma berry were named covaledictorian and co-salutatorian ahead of the graduation ceremony but the school did not tell ikeria or layla they would be sharing the honors. the family found out in a facebook post by the mother of the honorees, that did not note the two white students were co-honorees, erasing the honors that the two received. west point high school said race had nothing to do with this issue, and it was actually a mistake made by a school counselor who used the wrong system to rank students' grades, but this is mississippi whereas as the times points out, some public schools once defied

federal orders to admit black students and issues of educational equity are still raw today, and this is a school that had separate white and black proms until about 20 years ago. after a quick break, you're going to hear directly from ikeria washington and layla temple. r directly from ikeria washington and layla temple an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa ♪ ugh, these balls are moist. or is that the damp weight of self-awareness you now hold in your hand? yeah-h-h. (laugh) keep your downstairs dry with gold bond body powder.

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over the next 10 years, comcast is committing $1 billion to reach 50 million low-income americans with the tools and resources they need to be ready for anything. i hope you're ready. 'cause we are. before the break i told you about the story in the "new york times," two black students won

school honors, then came the calls for a recount. it's an incredible story. those two students and new high school graduates are here with me. layla temple was named salutatorian at west point high school in mississippi, ikeria they were named valedictorian and saluteorian. when i read this, when your mom was called to discuss what happened, you were in there and was holding back tears. when you came out you couldn't hold them back anymore. what happened? >> i am hurt because i feel like they earned something they didn't earn, that they got something they did not earn. >> when did you learn about -- is that the meeting where you learn about what had happened? when did you realize you were not the only valedictorian?

>> i was called, but he didn't tell me why. >> leyla, you called yourself the real salutorian. did you get any pushback? >> no, sir. >> it was said that this has nothing to do with race, but has to do with math. >> i believe it has to do with race because why would you assume theirs was higher when it was first announced. >> what do you want to happen? the school said they made a mistake and chose two other people to join you and share the awards.

obviously that's not a practical idea moving forward. what do you want to see happen? >> i don't think we should share because they did not earn it. i should have it to myself. >> what has the school said about that because they said they made a mistake? do you think the school should be using weighted gpas where you and leyla get the award because you took harder classes, standing credits, things like that. do you think that's the system they should use? >> no -- >> what has the school done about this? is it the fact you are the co-salutorian? >> i think so. but my transcript shows i am number three. i don't know if that affects any

scholarships. >> what are you planning to do next about this? is there anything left for you and your family to do? >> we are still fighting for it. >> have you had a conversation with the person who was named the co-valedictorian? >> no, sir. >> would you like to? yeah, i would, just to know why he feels like it should be earned, that they should have it, knowing they didn't earn it. >> what about you, leyla, would you want to have that conversation? >> no, sir. >> you don't want to talk to them about it? >> no, i just feel like it will be fueled with excuses why it's not racist and why they assume

they were one and two from the beginning. >> i thank you both for talking to us about this remarkable story. leyla is the co-salutorian. and there are two co-valedictorians. we have been in touch with the other two students as well. we see joe biden has left the summit is on his way to the helicopter from the airport where he will go visit the queen. we are expected to hear from joe biden later this hour and expected to hear from andrea mitchell. plus andrea mitchell is sitting down with anthony blinken.

we will have that story as soon as we get it. that story as soo as we get it we have our eyes on the g7 summit. it is the halfway point of a trip for president joe biden. this is marine one on its way to cornwall airport where the president will speak to reporters. then he is off to meet the queen. later in the week he will be meeting with president putin of russia. joining me is matt bradley. we are awaiting the meeting from prime minister boris johnson. i have not seen the communique because my e-mail, but we are awaiting a joint statement they agreed to at the g7. what are you hearing? >> we are hearing that most of

today's proceedings, the sessions going on this morning before joe biden and other leaders started to filter out, it was mostly about the environment. these new announcements are going to build on what the white house is saying was an unusually productive g7. they covered the pandemic and climate change, but overall of this lies joe biden's next week with russian president vladimir putin and the confrontation with china. what we will be hearing today is probably more about the environment. these g7 companies are going to be trying to finance countries to get them to move away from fossil fuels. and a statement from g7 that they were going to move away from financing any subsidies for

high emission sources. they sound on paper like bureaucratic speak, but at the end of the day, getting these economies together. and like last week, 15% corporate tax minimum, this is a big deal getting companies to agree on shared restrictions. so this announcement we will probably be hearing about soon from various leaders, they are essentially going to be $2 billion in financing for countries to try to get them to get energy sources away from fossil fuels. they will also be announcing a target of trying to preserve 30% of all forest and marine wildlife. that's another big goal. also, they are trying to have emissions in the g7 countries

half by 2030. half of what the emissions were in 2010. take the emissions in 2010 and reduce it by half by 2030 so lots of ambitious goals. >> matt bradley, foreign correspondent from cornwall. >> i am joined by the former spokesperson to the mission of united nations and she is also a fellow with the atlantic council and the host of "oh my world." >> i am excited to be with you both. matt outlined the things being discussed. it sounds kind of borng compared

-- boring compared to g7s much previous years, but they are covering a lot of stuff, covid and china. what do you make of the discussions that have taken place and the circumstance around them. >> i am excited to be here in person. as you know, we are all foreign policy geeks, but the last g7 have been boring and they have tried to stray away from any communique -- >> the one in canada they didn't have a communique. >> because they didn't want to weaken language as far as climate change because they didn't want to confront former president trump. they didn't want to agree on language that would come off on less than what they would like. why have a g7 meeting if you are

not going to come out with a set of deliverables and agreements on issues to tackle. usually the deliverables are planned in advance. >> there is an understanding we are going to try to arrive at this. >> not only am i relieved to see there is this person. the agenda, the main message i took was it is focused on tackling these major crises before the myriad of other problems that exist like iran and russia. if you can focus on climate change, massive issues, you can more easily tackle the other goals