Skip to main content

tv   MSNBC Reports  MSNBC  July 5, 2021 7:00am-8:00am PDT

7:00 am
good morning, everybody. it is monday, july 5th. south florida, people are bracing for tropical storm el is a, the first impact expected just hours from now. that is adding to the already challenging task in surfside where rescue crews are still searching for 121 people unaccounted for in that awful condo collapse. the search resumed late last night after officials used a controlled explosion to bring down what remained in the condo ahead of the storm. experts are scrambling to contain the damage after the
7:01 am
largest ransomware attack recorded hit businesses across the world. the group believed to be responsible traced to russia. overseas the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan is nearing completion. what does it mean for america's strategy across the middle east? we'll get to all of that in just a minute. i do want to start in surfside, florida, the mayor told me last hour they believe they will still find survivors in the rubble. here he is. >> we will be in the rescue phase until we bring everyone out as far as i'm concerned. in my opinion, there should be no talk about anything but rescue and that is the 100% focus of everybody who is on that site. i was there this morning. everybody is so happy that they're back on the job. things are buzzing. the heavy equipment is working, the teams are up on the pile, they are digging, they are searching. the dogs are out there. we're very hopeful and we're expecting a miracle. >> all right, let's bring in
7:02 am
vaughn hillyard in surfside, florida and nbc meteorologist michelle grossman. vaughn, you heard the mayor essentially say listen, we are very much in a rescue phase of this operation, almost two weeks in, since that condo collapsed, also now post demolition happening late last night. where are we? >> reporter: yazmin, this was a major operational hurdle and from your conversation there with the mayor, the indication there that this is now a more rapid, intense recovery effort here. that existing structure that was a danger, looming over the rescue workers, and over the last 11 days there are concerns not only among us but also family members, folks here, officials, folks in the community that that structure could come down especially when we were staring at these potential gusts of winds and rain that could descend as soon as today on the surfside area. that's why the decision this
7:03 am
weekend was so striking by officials to go forward with the demolition because they indicated at the end of last week they felt it was too risky at this point, they were not going to bring that building down just short time after but ultimately they found a contractor, the same contractor who has taken down other buildings including the likes of the trump plaza in atlantic city earlier this year and the federal building and oklahoma city in 1995. when you look at the video, you see the implosion going just as was planned in literally ten minutes after that implosion you can see some video i shot of the rescue crews, they were right there, they got off of a bus three blocks away and started to walk right back to the scene where they began their work again early this morning. those crews were out on that rubble there intent to get as much work done as they can before the potential storm hits the surfside area. >> that community owing everything to the rescue crews
7:04 am
working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to find survivals beneath the rubble. michelle grossman, talk about the tropical storm, one of the reasons why the demolition happened in the first place and so quickly obviously was el is aelsa barrels toward florida. what do we know about the path of the tropical storm and what folks can expect. >> hi there. two pieces of this puzzle. where will it impact in the u.s.? is looks like the greatest impacts will be felt on the west coast of florida. in surfside they'll have rains and winds gusting to 26 miles per hour as opposed to 50-mile-per-hour on the west coast of florida. so today it's going to batter cuba. we have a little video from yesterday where they started with the tropical storm conditions, some rain and wind and today will be a tough go for many in cuba. we're going to see the chances for mudslides. it's a mountainous terrain,
7:05 am
rough terrain so we could see flash flooding as well. closer to home we have tropical alerts in place and watches and warnings and compared to yesterday, when we spoke, all those watches now up the west coast of florida, so we go to our graphics, we could see the tropical alerts, and then i'll take you through the path because this is a week-long event. we are talking in terms of timing, it looks like florida at the keys are going to see the conditions tonight and the west coast tomorrow. so the latest on elsa, it's still pretty strong. it's fairly robust at 65 miles per hour moving northwest at 14 miles per hour. it was buzzing on saturday at 31 miles per hour, which is unheard of this time of year in the caribbean. it's more back to a closer to normal speed but this is the timing so plan on if you're in key west you want to make preparations now. later on tonight overnight into tuesday you'll start to feel those conditions, so tuesday 2:00 a.m. and buzzes through the gulf of mexico, which could strengthen it. it's really warm, talking back waters around 83 degrees, so by
7:06 am
wednesday, we're to the west of tampa, we expect landfall near the big bend region of florida. the next 12 hours will be the telltale sipes of the storm. is it going to weaken as it goes over cuba. we'll continue to watch this. by thursday, we're into the carolinas and the mid-atlantic, you'll have some rain on thursday and also friday. this is a big story i think when it comes to elsa, the rainfall. look at this, the headline of locally up to eight inches that is going to cause some flooding. now, florida is already, they already with their water table that's a big term, they're already saturated so we'll watch yazmin, over the next 24 hours. into the carolinas in thursday they'll be in the clear but in florida a rough go monday night into wednesday. >> we're going to continue to track elsa throughout the day and of course the coming week as this storm continues to churn.
7:07 am
vaughn, michelle, thank you both, appreciate it. let's talk the biggest ran ransomeware attack shaking its business world. our revil demanding $70 million in ransom from affected companies, coming after the hackers took down software company kaseya, through a disguised software update. president biden directing u.s. intelligence agencies to investigate but the company's ceo says they've got it taken care o >> we addressed the issues and 100% confident we know how it happened and we remediated it. >> let's talk to shannon
7:08 am
pettypiece in the white house this morning. they're confident, we got this thing in the bag. the president wanting intel agencies involved to figure out exactly the source of this attack, who okayed it, gave it the green light. these attackers are the same hackers that brought down jbs and hasn't been a month since biden met with russian president vladimir putin. what is he going to do about this? >> this is the thing president biden told putin to cut out. the president stopping short saturday of attributing blame to russia. saying he asked his intelligence community to do a deep dive into figuring out the source, who is behind this attack, but if it is russia, and the president did say there were early signs it might not be the russian government, if it is with the knowledge and/or the consequence of russia i told putin we'd
7:09 am
respond referring to the geneva summit, 16 parts of essential infrastructure in the country that are off limits and if russian-based actors continue to attack those the u.s. will respond in-kind, yazmin. >> quickly, shannon, respond, what does that look like possibly from what we know, wha past and anything in place to put protections to make sure this does not keep happening? >> when he says respond he mind respond in-kind in a cyber way. obviously the u.s., this is something biden raised that putin has cyber capabilities as well and so we have the ability to play at this game as well is what the president indicated to putin. the u.s. is asking for companies to come forward if they have attacked because in the past they said part of the problem is they don't know about some of
7:10 am
these attacks, companies deal with them in prifd. they are asking happens to come forward offering assistance to companies so they can help put protections in place like you were saying so not only trying to deter russia but help companies beef up the security on their own end. >> shannon, thank you. we bring in democratic congresswoman jackie speier. welcome. thank you for joining us on this july 5th holiday. >> good to see you. >> the president is waiting to see if russia is directly involved with what has happened. but it is pretty clear that they're doing nothing to stop it. do we need to drop the hammer now and what does or what should that hammer look like? >> so i actually am pretty
7:11 am
certain in my own mind that nothing happens in russia without the blessings of vladimir putin. revil is an agent of vladimir putin as far as i am concerned, so do we act? absolutely. i think the president is waiting for the appropriate moment. i certainly don't have any personal knowledge, but we have the ability to put a similar act in place in are ushia. what's really interesting about this is as we move forward into this century, we're not going to to fight wars on the ground. we're going to fight them in space, fight them in cyber and that's why it is so critical that we have top notch people in our intelligence agencies to assist us. moving forward, that is how i think we need to put our focus. >> you're absolutely right and
7:12 am
it's a question and a conversation i've had repeatedly on the air especially with so many military experts saying this is no longer a ground game, this is not the war of a century ago. we are in cyber territory and continue to be, so why, knowing this information, having this knowledge, why do we keep getting caught off guard? >> i think part of our problem as an open society is it takes us so long to react. if you look at china's use of a number of companies, when it was huawei or z tech, they are operational before we take action. in this case, i think we need to move more swiftly and i hope the president takes the action that's necessary to shut this down. he needs to send a very clear and strong message to vladimir putin. putin has had many years of
7:13 am
being able tinker with the diplomatic core in the united states and elsewhere by using any number of techniques. he needs to be shut down and i hope president trump, excuse me, i hope president biden does the right thing. >> it's okay, it's only been a couple months. >> i should know. >> happens to the best of us. let's talk about the january 6 select committee. we know some republicans will be on it. obviously liz cheney appointed to the select committee. mccarthy will come with suggestions as well to nancy pelosi. talk me through some of the names that you've been hearing of, of course, my colleague garrett haake suggesting that possibly elise stefanik could be dangled as a name that's going to come from mccarthy. one of the questions that folks think about is republicans treated the january 6 riots as somewhat of a circus.
7:14 am
republicans especially the congressman from georgia saying it was like a tourist visit. it was certainly not a tourist visit. what is your worry with that especially when it comes to the appointments of some of the names to the select committee? >> i don't have a worry actually. i think the speaker has acted appropriately. this is patterned very much like the benghazi committee that was stood up by the republicans, and as we recall, this was where we had a u.s. ambassador to cia agents and a contractor killed in a foreign country. this happened in the homeland and seven people were killed and we have reason to believe that many of these groups had come together under the auspices of the trump campaign to sabotage the counting of the electoral vote so that it could, in fact, be an opportunity for then
7:15 am
president trump to call for martial law and a coup would have ensued. this is really serious, so regardless of who is appointed by mr. mccarthy, i think our team is going to do the people's work here. this is very serious. >> you compare the capitol riots to the jonestown massacre. why? >> well, in fact, i was in that gallery and lying on the floor when the first shot rang out. the only shot, and i was taken back to that horrible day, 44 years ago, in which i was shot five times and left for dead. i thought this can't be happening in the united states. i survived it in a foreign country, and yet here i am in the symbol of democracy for the world, and i may be dead. so it was a traumatic experience
7:16 am
for me, and for everyone in that gallery and for many others and for the republicans to call it a tourist activity is so offensive that it makes for great theater, but it is not reality. >> congresswoman, thank you, great to talk to you on this monday morning. >> thank you. in afghanistan there is a new warning for u.s. troops from the taliban. nato's commander is here to talk about the future. parts of the south and southwest are seeing a surge in covid cases. what needs to happen to ramp up even more vaccinations. i needed him to be here. your heart isn't just yours. protect it with bayer aspirin. be sure to talk to your doctor
7:17 am
before you begin an aspirin regimen. i was drowning in student loan debt. then i discovered sofi. lower interest rate. my principal is going down. sofi is a place where you can start to tackle those money goals today. ♪♪ mm. [ clicks tongue ] i don't know. i think they look good, man. mm, smooth.
7:18 am
uh, they are a little tight. like, too tight? might just need to break 'em in a little bit. you don't want 'em too loose. for those who were born to ride there's progressive. with 24/7 roadside assistance. -okay. think i'm gonna wear these home. -excellent choice. with voltaren arthritis pain gel my husband's got his moves back. with 24/7 roadside assistance. -okay. an alternative to pain pills voltaren is the first full prescription strength gel for powerful arthritis pain relief... voltaren the joy of movement the instant air purifier removes 99.9% of the virus that causes covid-19 from treated air. so you can breathe easier, knowing that you and your family have added protection. ♪ ♪
7:19 am
7:20 am
history says: fine jewelry for occasions. we say: forget occasions. (snap) fine jewelry for every day, minus the traditional markups. ♪♪ welcome back, everybody. right now, the u.s. troop withdrawal from afghanistan is still in full swing but it's not going smoothly. the taliban telling the bbc any american troops left after nato's september deadline will be treated as occupiers. that warning is coming as taliban fights keep making gains, seizing several districts inside the northeast region from fleeing afghan forces. president biden saying afghans are on their own now and top military official overseeing the withdrawal saying we should be concerned. >> you look at the security situation, it's not good.
7:21 am
afghans recognize it's not good, taliban are on the move. we create conditions that won't look good for afghanistan in the future if there's a push for a military takeover. >> richard engel is on the ground in kabul for us. talk to us how it's looking there. >> yasmin, there were multiple intelligence estimates that afghanistan would face challenges before u.s. troops pulled out. well, it is happening very quickly. this country is fracturing even as this withdrawal is entering its final stages. in many cases, the afghan army, afghan police are not putting up much of a fight or a half-hearted fight, in some cases they're not fighting at all. there was one incident where several hundred afghan soldiers facing a taliban assault fled the country, they crossed the border into tajikistan. now the afghan government is trying to negotiate their return. the taliban are taking over many small towns and villages
7:22 am
particularly in the outer provinces, not all of the afghan units are collapsing, one in particular called the afghan commandos which was trained by elite u.s. special ops, they are shouldering a lot of the burden, they're carrying out about 100 operations a day, but the main army, the big army, trained by the u.s., funded by the u.s. so far has not been putting up much resistance to stop these rapid taliban advances. and that all spells serious trouble for the country, but also for kabul. kabul increasingly feels surrounded, feels like an island of government control as the outer areas are one by one falling to the taliban. what it means for the people of this country remains unclear but many people in kabul who have become used to a different kind of life, free from the taliban, under american protection for the last 20 years, are worried they do not want to go back to
7:23 am
taliban rule. some people are looking at ways of leaving the country but one group is coming to afghanistan now, multiple afghan officials emboldened and encouraged by the taliban's advances, al qaeda and isis fighters are coming in to afghanistan now and they are coming in according to these officials through pakistan, the same route al qaeda took before 9/11. yasmin? >> richard engel, thank you. let's bring in admiral james stavarides. thanks for joining us, happy fifth of july, happy holiday. it's not a happy time obviously in afghanistan, richard engel not painting a good. ic tour. you have a structured country, taliban taking over towns, al qaeda, isis, taliban filling a vacuum, a void left by u.s.
7:24 am
forces. afghan forces, folks trained by the united states not standing up for the people right now likely for their own sy being overwhelmed. what are we leaving behind and how difficult is this making the situation leaving folks high and dry in afghanistan right now? >> well, we've seen this movie before, both in vietnam on the start of the united states and yasmin, more recently in afghanistan, recall the soviet union occupied the country for much of a decade and then they pulled out. the same playbook is kind of unfolding in front of us, which is taliban taking over outlying areas, slowly closing in on the major cities. in my own view, there's not going to be a sudden collapse, nor was there after the soviets left. soviets continued to fund the afghan security forces for a
7:25 am
couple of years, but inexorably the news continued to close down. what you're seeing now is kind of the leading edge of that strategy on the part of the taliban. >> you can fund afghan security forces, as the soviets did, right, and you brought up an excellent point, as of course you always do, talking about the history of this region, right, how you have countries coming in, fighting alongside them, leaving them high and dry. the united states has been guilty of this trying to democratize regions, places in that region, and failing to do so and leaving these countries left to fend for themselves. iraq obviously being one of the most recent examples of that. is it time we take a different approach? do we need to rethink our strategy in the middle east, especially when we come in to democratize these places and leave them in such a vulnerable place? >> as we learned in vietnam, as the soviets learned here in
7:26 am
afghanistan, you've either got to really be all in or you might as well get out at the beginning, and what i mean by that is, we very successfully entered into europe after world war ii into south korea at the end of the korean war. we're still in those places, still very engaged. what we have here in afghanistan is a sense on the part of the united states that it's not worth it, and we could have a long debate about whether we could have prolonged this by keeping a small footprint. recall yasmin when i commanded this nato mission, we had 150,000 troops. we're down to just 10,000 or so, but they are being withdrawn, chaos is coming and i think the best we can do is try and fund the forces, help them
7:27 am
diplomatically continue to engage where we can from over the horizon militarily and support, and see how this comes out. unfortunately i think at this point, i'd have to say there's a two in three chance we'll see mortal ban gangs and unfortunately see afghanistan descend into a civil war. >> okay, but what is this going to do to our own national security, when you have isis moving in, when you have al qaeda moving in, figuring out ways to make more money to build the organizations and you have the vulnerable population of women in afghanistan right now as we well know, the taliban wanting to make sure women do not receive educations. these women making strides over the last 20 years having more freedom now the freedom likely being taken away from them. >> it's an extremely distressing picture. in terms of isis and the potential al qaeda, people
7:28 am
sometimes say to me, well, don't you feel like we've wasted our time in afghanistan for 20 years? you know, i'll push back on that, not only your point about the humanitarian aspects, but for 20 years, afghanistan has not been a base from which al qaeda, islamic state have been able to operate. that's what's at risk. it's the treatment of people in afghanistan especially girls and women, but also our own security will be increasingly at risk, and we are taking a real chance here by pulling out completely about a resurgence on the terrorist side alongside the collapse of all the humanitarian progress that we've made. again, a very distressing picture. >> i tell you, i spoke to a marine yesterday who wrote an incredible op-ed in the "new york times" about his time in afghanistan. i asked him was it worth it and he told me no.
7:29 am
that was distressing for someone who put their life on the line to serve this country. >> indeed it is and i will tell you, what i would say to him is, my brother in arms, you did your job. you performed your mission during your time in afghanistan, not a single attack was launched at the united states, like 9/11. the question is, now that we're gone, who will stand that watch? jury's out. >> admiral james staviridis, great to see you on this monday morning. american national parks a big hit for the july 4th holiday weekend. how businesses try to keep up with historic number of visitors. live at mt. rushmore, coming up next.
7:30 am
there's an america we build and one we discover. one that's been tamed and one that's forever wild. but freedom means you don't have to choose just one adventure. ♪ ♪ you get both. introducing the wildly civilized all-new 3-row jeep grand cherokee l. ♪ ♪ all-new 3-row jeep grand cherokee l. this is cynthia suarez, cfo of go-go foodco.,
7:31 am
an online food delivery service. business was steady, until... gogo-foodco. go check it out. whaatt?! overnight, users tripled. which meant hiring 20 new employees and buying 20 new laptops. so she used her american express business card, which gives her more membership rewards points on her business purchases. somebody ordered some laptops? cynthia suarez. cfo. mvp. get the card built for business. by american express. ♪ ♪ when technology is easier to use... ♪ barriers don't stand a chance. ♪ that's why we'll stop at nothing to deliver our technology as-a-service. ♪
7:32 am
7:33 am
>> well come back, everybody. this morning more than 60% of adults in this country have gotten at least one covid vaccine shot but the number is 3% shy of the president's july 4th goal. vermont and massachusetts are hitting record high vaccination rates, other states are seeing just the opposite, the cdc saying the worst state in the nation right now for vaccinations is mississippi with just 29% of folks there fully
7:34 am
vaccinated. nbc's cal perry is at mt.rushmore and dr. hernandez. welcome to you both. cal, i want to start with you. you got the reopening there, obviously, the july 4th holiday. you also have a delta variant, right, barrelling through that area. how are folks dealing with that this holiday weekend? >> reporter: you know what's interesting about this, we've been talking about this all morning in the past six months to a year, we've been asking people about vaccines, it feels like the undecides are gone. people talking to have the vaccine or unwilling to get it. people have made up their minds and this weekend is a great american bounce back story. the town of keystone has been packed. we've seen businesses up 150%. so many people are taking that great american road trip seemingly just sort of blowing
7:35 am
it off or vaccinated. we talked to a business owner who saw a major spike? business. take a listen. >> through next summer season and it just continues to grow. we're at 300% above what we were two years ago here. so the numbers just continue. we are hanging on for the ride. riding the wave. >> reporter: the question is going to be how does this delta variant impact tourism? do we have to return to some indoor mask mandate? you talk to people in a place like south dakota, they say we're coming from lock down states. our state is locked down. we want to come to a great open space and don't want to wear a mask. it's interesting it seems like everybody has already made up their minds. we had that group of people that said we're waiting for more information, the vaccine maybe came out too fast. i'm not hearing that anymore. >> cal, just quickly, what is the percentage of folks that are vaccinated where you are in south dakota?
7:36 am
>> here in this state it's 47%. 47% are vaccinated, just sort of below that national average. there is a push to get that out, some incentives but it's about 47%. >> all right so dr. ramirez, let's talk about that, right, because you have south dakota where cal is, mt. rushmore, folks are celebrating the fourth of july weekend, independence day, amazing, right, after a year and a half of lockdown. less than half of the population, though, is vaccinated. should people be celebrating in that way, opening up, going maskless knowing there are so many vulnerable folks and folks who refuse to get the vaccine? >> i think we'll see another pivot. we pushed through the threshold and to your point we have several pockets of the country where we didn't meet that goal and have areas showing concerning signs in the spread
7:37 am
of the virus particularly in the southeast, at the corner of arkansas and missouri and oklahoma and also sort of in the midwest. what western' we're likely to see is significant spread in the areas. the questions i think are going to be you know, can those parts of the country institute measures to get people vaccinated and become more aware of what's coming their way or can the federal government surge resources in to bend the arc of what's already a concerning trajectory in some of the areas. >> i can't help but think i was reporting from the delta region in mississippi. that number out of miss inis is amississippi. less than 30% vaccinated. i was in that region and back then folks were hesitant to getting the vaccine. the story has not changed at this point, dr. ramirez. are we going wrong with the messaging? what should change? >> i think there are a couple of other things we can do.
7:38 am
most notably we need the fda to issue a full regulatory approval for these vaccines, right, we have several months of data, lots of people who are vaccinated, shown these are safe and i think it goes a long way for the public psychological opinion in these vaccines if they get a full regulatory approval as opposed to just an emergency use authorization. the other thing that that does is it creates a mechanism by which insurance companies and employers and other people can actually start to require vaccination and i think that's going to be a critical part of this. >> cal perry, dr. mario ramirez thank you. we have breaking news coming up from south florida, some new numbers on the search operations there. the vice chair of the miami-dade county is here live to get us the latest. we'll be right back.
7:39 am
the instant air purifier removes 99.9% of the virus that causes covid-19 from treated air. so you can breathe easier, knowing that you and your family have added protection. ♪ ♪
7:40 am
7:41 am
hey, i just got a text from my sister. you remember rick, her neighbor? family have added protection. sure, he's the 76-year-old guy who still runs marathons, right? sadly, not anymore. wow. so sudden. um, we're not about to have the "we need life insurance" conversation again, are we? no, we're having the "we're getting coverage so we don't have to worry about it" conversation. so you're calling about the $9.95 a month plan -from colonial penn? -i am. we put it off long enough. we are getting that $9.95 plan, today. (jonathan) is it time for you to call about the $9.95 plan? i'm jonathan from colonial penn life insurance company. sometimes we just need a reminder not to take today for granted. if you're age 50 to 85,
7:42 am
you can get guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance starting at just $9.95 a month. there are no health questions so you can't be turned down for any health reason. the $9.95 plan is colonial penn's number one most popular whole life plan. options start at just $9.95 a month. that's less than 35 cents a day. your rate can never go up. it's locked in for life. call today for free information. and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner, so call now. (soft music) ♪ hello, colonial penn? welcome back, everybody. we have sad, breaking news at this hour from surfside, florida, within the past few minutes officials confirming three more bodies have been
7:43 am
found in the rubble of that collapsed condo. that brings the total number of people who have died up to 27. joining me vice chair of miami-dade county, florida, oliver golbert. thanks for joining us. as i have you i want to confirm the numbers that we have just received with 27 now dead. >> yes, 27 confirmed deceased we've recovered from the wreckage, the rubble. >> that would make the unaccounted for at this point 118? >> i think it's still 120 but i'm not sure. we have to get back to you on that but i think it's a little more unaccounted for, around 120. and 27 confirmed deceased. >> so much of what folks have been talking about throughout the last 12 days or so, since this collapse was the slow
7:44 am
rescue and recovery mission and a lot of circumstances attributed to that. seems as if now the recovery of the three bodies now, these victims, is there a possibility the mission could now pick up, the pace of it after this demolition? >> well, i think it will pick up and i understand that folks are frustrated by the pace, but you know, when you have a building held up by a pile you're constantly moving and you're making it less solid and the rain is coming and that's making it less solid and trying to find voids, you have to be very careful because you're trying to rescue people but you're also, you don't want to put your first responders and your rescue teams lives in danger, and unnecessary danger so now this building that was basically held up by the pile has been brought down, we can get into more voids, we can search the entire site, and i think the pace will probably pick up now. >> as we're looking at live
7:45 am
pictures on one side of your screen, it looks like florida's pretty clear skies at moment but they're expecting a tropical storm to be headed in their direction in the next 24 hours or so. how long do you expect that storm to stop down operations there, rescue and recovery operations? >> we're not sure. we know that after we brought down the building at approximately 10:30, around an hour after that or so, folks went back in and started the rescue efforts again. as the weather comes and there's intimate breaks and the weather allows them to go back in, they'll be on site and going back in, so we're not forecast to get a direct hit from tropical storm right now but we know there is severe inclement weather and they're prepared to deal with that. what their preparations and their experience allowed them to do is to move on a moment's notice, and so where there are breaks in the weather, they'll be in there and where there are lightning and thundering threats, they'll come out. >> i spoke with mayor burkett in the last hour and he told me the operation "will be in the rescue
7:46 am
phase until we bring everybody out." do you agree with that? >> i think that's the decision for mayor burkett and mayor cabbe and the folks from the state. we are all optimistic, we're all hopeful, we're all praying. we also understandtragedy. we understand that you know, these buildings that came down, they had all these souls in them, and so we understand the likelihood of finding people. we're committed to doing the very best we can to bring anyone out of the building alive. >> were the people that were found this morning because of the demolition, did it uncover an area that was not accessible prior to the demolition? >> i don't know that we actually have that information. they gave us the numbers, didn't actually give us the position in the pile where they were found. i do know they went back in relatively quickly to continue
7:47 am
looking, and they're searching as we speak right now on site. >> do you have identities of these people? have the families been informed? >> the families are in the process of being informed. and so once the families are informed, then we'll get the families to release the names to the public. >> i think the big question here is why this happened, and a lot of folks are pointing the finger at the recertification process every 40 years. does it need to be less than that. are those conversations happening now?alongside the con association, so you don't have folks that don't have the knowledge of repairs needed, making decisions that could harm them? >> well i think structural engineers don't need to be involved. they need to be leading the conversations, because really it's an engineering and
7:48 am
construction architecture. it's their disciplines that are going to determine what needs to happen with buildings. i know as we look at what happened to this site, i'm personally allowing the engineers and the experts to explain to me exactly how this happened, and what if anything we need to do to remediate it and make sure it never happens again. listen, it's worth noting that while people are talking about the 40-year recertification process, this disaster of this type has never happened before. so it might not be the process. it might be something that's unique to this site and something that is unique to this experience. we need to go into the investigation without any predisposition, without any assumptions, and let the science and the engineering guide us as we look at the policies that we can put in place to make all of miami-dade county safe. >> vice chair of miami-dade, oliver gilbert, thank you so much. great to see you. >> thank you, yasmin. coming up, a classroom controversy turning dangerous, how conversations about critical
7:49 am
race theory are spiraling out of control in one virginia county.
7:50 am
7:51 am
what can i du with less asthma? with dupixent i can du more... yardwork... teamwork... long walks.... that's how you du more, with dupixent, which helps prevent asthma attacks. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on-treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that can improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. and can reduce, or even eliminate, oral steroids. and here's something important. dupixent can cause serious allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. get help right away if you have rash, shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection, and don't change or stop your asthma treatments, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. are you ready to du more with less asthma?
7:52 am
just ask your asthma specialist about dupixent. welcome back, tensions are exploded in school board meetings over critical race theory. one county in virginia is saying that arguments in loudon county
7:53 am
is resulting in death threats and arrests. they are not even considering teaching the curriculum. there is a deep dive into what is unfolding in that county. what did you learn? >> the school district started to implement changes in 2020 after an investigation found the district's policies harmed black and latino students. they had new diversity training, revised responses to racial slurs and hate speech, and some people are saying it is being misinterpreted as critical race theory. >> one parent has become a concerned school board member. she said what started as a dream job turned into a nightmare.
7:54 am
>> over the past several weeks she says she received nearly a dozen of letters at her home, dozens of e-mails daily, and voicemails like this. you're a disgusting piece of [ bleep ]. your home address is on the internet. you stupid, fat, [ bleep ]. >> the decades old academic study of racism and inequality? >> does the school district teach critical race theory. >> it does not. >> are you considering teaching it? >> no, it would be inappropriate. we have an equity initiative. we're talking about our students experiences. we're focusing on making our marginalized students feel welcome and affirmed. all of them. >> still, many parents in the
7:55 am
northern virginia county are rallying against what they say is critical race theory. and that's not all. a schoolboard meeting where new state mandated policies for transgender students was being discussed discended into arrests. >> i have never been afraid to be in my community. i never thought twice about going anywhere in loudoun. >> you're teaching our kids to be racist. >> as sheritan continues to bear the brunt of the harassment, she
7:56 am
will not back down even has she faces a recall effort. >> schools are not pushing them to teach critical race theory, but district leaders are facing harassment and threats over the issue. >> really troubling stuff there. thank you for your reporting on that. i appreciate it. thank you for watching this hour, everybody. craig melvin picks it up after a quick break. and pas are not always the same. - i'm so proud of you dad. - [man] i will tell you this, southern new hampshire university can change the whole trajectory of your life. (uplifting music)
7:57 am
hey, i just got a text from my sister. you remember rick, her neighbor? sure, he's the 76-year-old guy who still runs marathons, right? sadly, not anymore. wow. so sudden. um, we're not about to have the "we need life insurance" conversation again, are we? no, we're having the "we're getting coverage so we don't have to worry about it" conversation. so you're calling about the $9.95 a month plan -from colonial penn? -i am. we put it off long enough. we are getting that $9.95 plan, today. (jonathan) is it time for you to call about the $9.95 plan? i'm jonathan from colonial penn life insurance company. sometimes we just need a reminder not to take today for granted. if you're age 50 to 85, you can get guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance starting at just $9.95 a month. there are no health questions so you can't be turned down for any health reason. the $9.95 plan is colonial penn's
7:58 am
number one most popular whole life plan. options start at just $9.95 a month. that's less than 35 cents a day. your rate can never go up. it's locked in for life. call today for free information. and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner, so call now. (soft music) ♪ hello, colonial penn?
7:59 am
the instant air purifier removes 99.9% of the virus that causes covid-19 from treated air. so you can breathe easier, knowing that you and your family have added protection. ♪ ♪
8:00 am
and good monday morning to you, craig melvin here lots happening at this hour. in about 30 minutes officials in florida will give us another update on the search and rescue efforts that continue in surfside, florida. that's the site of that condo collapse. we just learned that the bodies of three more victims have been found in that rubble. that brings the death toll up to 127. i had a chance to ask miami-dade's mayor about the demolition earlier on today. >> we brought down the tower in a controlled way that did not in any way interfere with the site

122 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on