all right. that's our show. we are way over and tossing it to my friend alex witt. >> that's okay. listen. the executive producer may be having a cow about it but i'm glad to share our time with you. that iconic interview was super cool. >> thank you. very good day to all of you. we are welcoming you to msnbc world headquarters here in new york. high noon in the east. 9:00 a.m. in the west. welcome to "alex witt reports."

troubling new rise in coronavirus cases. hospitalizations and deaths across the country. new cases up almost 70% compared to last week as the u.s. sur passed 34 million total infections. covid hospitalizations up 36% this week. deaths up by 22%. a new warning from cdc director calling this a pandemic of the unvaccinated. as the delta variant drives up cases in every state. just 68% of american adults gotten at least one dose of the vaccine. less than half of the total population is fully vaccinated. the los angeles county sheriff says he will not enforce a new mask mandate requiring residents to wear a mask indoors regardless of vaccination status. and then in tokyo the first covid case in the olympic village is reported days before the games begin. officials say the person

infected is not a player but someone involved in organizing the games and now in a 14-day quarantine. on the covid beat this hour, cory coffin from new york and josh letterman at the white house for us. ladies first. the delta variant cases are on the rise there in staten island and this country. >> reporter: yeah. that's right. you can see a clear pattern of what is happening. the cdc director talking about what needs to happen. we are seeing the delta variant drive in other parts of other states that are among the lowest vaccination rates in this country. listen to what dr. walensky had to say about the pattern that's emerging. >> there's a message coming through. this is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

we are seeing outbracks in parts of the country with low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk. and communities that are fully vaccinated are generally faring well. if you are not vaccinated, you remain at risk and our biggest concern is that we are going to continue to see preventable cases, hospitalizations and sadly deaths among the unvaccinated. >> reporter: to give you an example, where we are at here has a vaccination rate of 53% compared to 70% in manhattan and manhattan has half of the number of positive cases that staten island has. looking nationwide. a look at the map that we are tracking of all of the cases and the highest case rate of those unvaccinated communities. tennessee has 38% vaccination rate. they have seen an explosion of 475% of cases with the delta

variant in the last two weeks. chicago is reinstating the travel bans and travel screenings. of course in california there is some question of whether or not that indoor mask wearing will go into effect. certainly in l.a. county seeing that surge. you might think i'm vaccinated but this is really starting to bleed out into the communities. take a look at the number of new cases on wednesday. 25,000. that was a high spike. on average about 12,800. the doctor and other health officials say this is not the direction to go ending the summer months where the new cases will continue to go up and this pandemic is going to continue to thrive. >> in fact as you said it is the pandemic of the unvaccinated. if there ever was a reason to get the vaccination now please

consider it, everyone, not yet vaccinated. thank you so much. from there to washington where president biden had choice words of covid misinformation spread on social media. lets's go to josh letterman at the white house for us. what are we hearing about this? >> reporter: the problem that president biden is worried about with the delta variant spreading and the vaccination rates slowing, now president biden really shifting his strategy. we have heard for the first six months of the presidency trying to be positive, praising people getting vaccinated, encouraging people with a soft touch and now as the cases spread the president and the administration really ramping up an attack on social media companies that the white house says are doing not enough to actually try to prevent the spread of misinformation about the vaccine and promote positive, accurate information about the vaccine and heard about this on thursday

from the surgeon general issuing a first public guidance, a rare public warning calling this an urgent public health threat and then the president on friday going further. take a listen. >> what's your message to platforms like facebook? >> they're killing people. i mean, it really -- look. the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. and they're killing people. >> reporter: we know that the white house has been in close contact not only with facebook and other major tech and social media platforms over the past weeks and months including twitter and youtube of the issue of covid-19 disinformation but the white house now taking the public stance that those social media companies are still not doing enough. jen psaki added more to what president biden was saying there pointing to a nonprofit study that found that only 12 people

are responsible for spreading 65% of the disinformation about covid-19 online. facebook disputed that. they say they disagree with the methodology and they said that we will not be distracted by accusations which are not supported by the facts and pointing to their vaccine locater tool that they say helped more than 3 million people to get the vaccine and saying that the facts show that facebook is helping save lives. period. this tension between the social media companies and the white house not going away any time soon. >> can you do that stat one more time? you said that 12 people are largely responsible for predominantly responsible for the misinformation? did i hear that right? >> reporter: for 65% of misinformation. that is according to a study released by a nonprofit. not a white house number. facebook is disputing that but a

number that the white house echoed and promoted from the white house lectern will jen psaki mentioned that in the briefing going to show the way that some social media influencers, once person in the land of retweets and reposting can start to spread like wildfire across the internet. >> yikes. okay. thank you for what let's bring in medical contributor dr. natalie azar. you heard the president there. how much of a threat is misinformation on facebook, on social media and this pandemic? >> it is definitely still a threat. polls show that about two thirds of unvaccinated folks believe the myths that they are seeing on social media, whether that's facebook, instagram, tiktok. i have a friend who wants me to speak to her two teenage daughters concerned of the myth of infertility and got the

information on tiktok. if i post something and #covid-19 there's a link for guidance in terms of accurate information and facebook does have a good degree of restrictions on what information can and can't be shared coming to these things but i think what the white house's position is trying to engage tech companies to really tweak and work on the algorithms that are allowing the misinformation and disinformation to amplify. there's been a tremendous proliferation of information both accurate and inaccurate on social media. you know? i think we have to be careful using the terms censorship and trying to engage the tech companies to try to really improve how data is shared and communicated. >> here's something i want to pick up on. something that scott gottlieb,

new coronavirus cases are unestimated in unvaccinated people. people vaccinated may have some mild system toms and they just really don't bother to get tested. if that's the case how potentially dangerous is that? >> it is. what his point is also that the cdc is not documenting or tracking breakthrough cases that are mild or asymptomatic. which means that there's no obligation to report the cases. the cdc as you know is tracking severe cases, cases that land folks in the hospital or die. that are breakthrough cases and we know based on the data that we have right now that greater than 97% of individual who is are hospitalized with covid-19 are unvaccinated and greater than 99% of people that die from covid-19 are unvaccinated.

it is incredibly important to know whether or not we are seeing breakthrough cases with delta. because the thing is, look. it may be the analogy of flu. if you get the flu we don't guarantee that you won't get the flu but hope for milder illness. we need to know whether or not you can still transmit because what if you transmit to somebody with a case that lands them in the hospital? it is an issue and i think the count is underestimated. >> okay. doctor, thank you for weighing in. let's go now to california. two men charged in an alleged plot to bomb the california dnc headquarters. an indictment unsealed thursday shows the two men were quote prompted by the outcome of the presidential election and believed the act would start a

movement. they seized pipe bombs and ammunition and firearmings including three fully automatic weapons in a january search of a home and business. new reaction from raskin comparing to what we saw at the capitol. >> it was not the end of something unfortunately. it was the beginning of something. we have to get serious. >> new reporting today discredits donald trump's baseless claims of a stolen election and investigation by the associated press found fewer hand 200 cases of potential voter fraud out of more than 3 million plus ballots cast in arizona. so far only four cases have led to charges. no one is convicted. no person's vote is counted twice. and as the battle over rights

intensifies the efforts to expand voting access is more popular than the type of restrictions pushed by republicans. there's a poll from yahoo! news with a majority of americans say they support reforms similar to joe manchin proposed making election day a national holiday, banning pat san gerrymandering. new york governor facing questioning from state investigators. let's go to kathy park following the latest. welcome to the show. what do we know? >> reporter: hey there, alex. we have been asking the attorney general's office what this meeting will entail and still waiting to hear back but we do know that we have the two outside attorneys who have been tasked to look into the allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against the governor.

something that the governor has denied and you have this former federal prosecutor and a prominent employment attorney who have been collecting a lot of testimony from women who have come forward accusing the governor of wrongdoing. so eventually all this information will be made public. right now it is unclear when that will be. but we should note that this information, this meeting happening today in al bahny is not a criminal investigation. this is separate from the inquiry at the state assembly which is an impeachment inquiry and there are reports that eventually that will move forward. once the information from this investigation wraps up. we do have a statement from cuomo senior adviser who had this comment ahead of the meeting today and it reads in part we have said repeatedly that the governor doesn't want to comment on the he view until

he's cooperated but the continued leaks are more evidence of the transparent political motivation of the attorney general's review. and as far as the time line goes it's anyone's guess. right now we are still trying to figure out when this will all wrap up but the principal subject who is governor cuomo is questioned today which is a good signal that perhaps that investigation is starting to wrap up. hour, the attorney general for new york did say this will wrap up and conclude when it concludes so remains to be seen and obviously the governor is eyeing a potential fourth term but this has been a cloud hanging over him for several months now so depending on what comes out of this investigation it could have a big impact on the political future. >> thank you. appreciate that. paying a price for the big lie. why a day is drawing near for the attorneys that promoted

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new fallout and potential punishment for trump allied lawyers attempting to overturn results in michigan. a new roast in "the washington post" says a u.s. district judge who questioned several trump allies said she will rule on disciplining the lawyers in the coming weeks. the judge called some of the claims of fraud fantastical after directly questioning the legal team. let's bring inmy m attorney general dana nessel. welcome back. you put out a tweet yesterday. unless these attorneys are really held accountable there's no incentive to stop doing what they are doing. they have been penalized to never enter into a court of law and make the types of unsupported and dangerous claims. do you think that the judge parker is starting that process of holding them accountable?

>> yeah. i think that judge parker saw through the claims in the very beginning and said actually in her ruling initially was that these claims were really never designed to achieve the relief that was requested which by the way she had no ability to grant in the first place which was to desert if i an election in which 5.5 million people voted in the state of michigan but it was more designed to just undermine the integrity of the process and to sow the seeds of doubt which it truly has. the lies have been incredibly destructive to our nation. >> dana, let's talk about something. here's a proof in the pudding if you will. the judge apparently asked on a number of occasions whether these lawyers had asked direct questions of the people that claimed to witness what they thought was fraud and greeted with silence. what does that tell you about the legwork the lawyers did or

did not do? >> it's exactly what we knew when these claims were first submitted with these hundreds of affidavits. the initial complaint indicated that there was evidence of voting inspector general regularities in edison county. all it would take is ten seconds to google is there an edison county in michigan. you would find out that there wasn't. right? so all attorneys are required to do at least a minimal amount of investigation and make inquiries and do due diligence before they submit the affidavits and clearly they didn't and became obvious in the hearing. >> last week you announced that you're opening a separate investigation into the individuals accused of collecting money by pushing the claims. can you tell us about the case like what exactly you are looking into?

>> in speaking with the republican senator who shares the oversight committee in the michigan state senate he indicated to me as much as they look over eight mompbtss and had many witnesses come in and testify and look at a number of documents they were unable to find any evidence at all of election fraud. however they did find other types of fraud and when i say that i mean false pretenses when they saw people profiteering off the lies and very troubling to them because senator mcbroom believed that it was wrong and stealing essentially the same way to market a product and if you were to sell a product and say drink this potion and you lose weight. you look ten years young ir. prevents covid. if you know that none of those things are true you have committed false pretenses but how's that different than these

attorneys or other individuals who say donate to me and give me money and prove there's election fraud when they know that there is not. it's not any different so those are the types to investigate. >> yeah. overall how has the spread of the big lie impacted michigan? >> honestly, alex, i don't know how we're ever going to get back on course. after what we have seen disseminated in our state why i don't know how to get to a point where the average voter in state of michigan will believe what we know which is that the elections are safe, secure and accurate. because they have -- so much is done to damage that. of course it comes down to one person and that is the former president of the united states. and until people stop supporting him no matter what and believing everything he says no matter how outrageous i don't know how we'll get back on track but

holding the attorneys accountable and going after those committing the fraud is a step in the right direction. >> to which i say keep on keeping on. only way to get it done. step by step. thank you so much. so many new and scary revelations in the slew of just released trump books but the response to a story is particularly alarming. in the midst of this a puzzling meeting, as well. did you know that your toughest cleaning problems can be caused by hard water metals? they lock in residues like a glue, on your hard surfaces and fabrics. try 9 elements. its vinegar powered deep clean dissolves hard water buildup and releases trapped residues and odors like detoxifying your clothes.

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today lingering fears of more unarrest in south africa as the nation cleans up from a week of violence. troops are trying to keep calm and at least 212 deaths have been reported so far. let's go to nbc's kelly cobiella joining us from south africa. what's the scene like today? >> reporter: alex, the president

promised that more troops on the streets today and tomorrow. about 15,000 throughout the country. we didn't see a huge troop presence but we did see widespread damage here in dur ben. there was no additional looting overnight but a real trouble spot when everything kicked off more than a week ago now and you could see that in various parts of the city. warehouses that had been looted. there was garbage strewn throughout the streets. some card board boxes from the big food warehouses. business parks set on fire. smoke still billowing from a chemical atlanta. some beaches have been closed because of the connect calls that leaked out from one or possibly more of those plants. but we also saw people volunteers out cleaning up. i asked one of them why are you

out here? shouldn't be the government's job? he said we can't wait. we have to come out and do it ourselves. waiting for government action we'll wait forever and that cynicism on the part of other people. manning their own check points in and out of the neighborhoods today. a woman said they were there for several days now. they were making sure that their businesses and the little corner of dur ban not attacked. she said we are not going anywhere until we are sure that this city is secure. alex? >> i got to ask. tomorrow? is more of this expected? >> reporter: there are lingering fears of that. is it expected? the president has said that these areas have been secured. they're calm now. they are calm. but there's a real thread of

nervousness. this started as a protest against the arrest of the president -- former j.t. jacob zuma and there is a deep unlying issue, one of poverty and inequality made worse by the pandemic. jobs lost in past 12 hours as a business owner said people are hungry. they don't have food and the government isn't helping. >> that's not going to be solved in 24 hours. okay. kelly, thank you. now a new bombshell book of donald trump's final days in offices and the chair joints chief of staff feared then president trump trying to use the military to attempt a coup. excerpts from nbc news from "i alone can fix it" say general mihmly and the heads of each

branch of the military began planning how they could block a presidential order to use the military in a way they considered illegal or dangerous and ill advised. joining me is director of progressive programming and former aid in the george w. bush white house and political analyst. good friends both of you to us here. thank you for joining us. according to the excerpts by "the washington post" general millie was so worried of trump using the military as a coup attempt that he compared the rhetoric to adolf hitler's rhetoric in the rise of nazi germany. this is a reich stag moment. the gospel of the furor. he has declined to comment on the reporting in this book but, elise, your reaction to this? >> pretty intense comparing the

president of the united states to adolf hitler and his rhetoric. i think that this just reminds us yet again how scary january 6 was. we had donald trump supporters storm the capitol and turned into combat and an insurrection at the capitol and the truth of the day and no amount of trying to rewrite history that donald trump and the supporters can do to move beyond that and addressing the central truth of aens recollection at the capitol incited by donald trump. >> trump issued a statement on thursday saying he had never considered a coup and criticized the general saying so ridiculous, sorry to inform you but an election is my form of coup. if i was goerng to do a coup one of the last people i would want to do it with is general mark

milley. did you think there's a day for a former president to say if i was going to do a coup? the tone, how typical of donald trump to spin criticism something of he said to badmouthing somebody else. >> par for the course. i can believe a former president would say this type of thing because this is something that donald trump says all the time. if i would have colluded i would have done it this way. i think the bottom line is that donald trump is a continuing threat to our national security and the integrity of our democracy. he's undermining the institutions. did that as president and now. for general milley as a student of history as we learned through that viral clip talking about critical race history he doesn't say something like this lightly.

i think that post-insurrection we can't ask would donald trump have attempted a coup. he tweeted for all the supporters to go to the january 6. they did that and then told them to storm the white house and did that, too. he told us out loud what he wanted to do. >> okay. so according to these excerpts that were published by "the post" as the riot at the capitol unfolded donald trump watched it on tv. didn't call anybody. not mike pence. not a single military leader. is there a scenario where you could imagine your former boss president george w. bush sitting idly by like that? >> just so comparison whosoever. we had a certifiable loon in the white house who was enjoying watching unfold on his favorite medium of television the insurrection he incited and the supporters were behind. close advisers.

giuliani chanting for it. different congressal members at the rally egging it on. comes down to people are begging donald trump to do something and to call his supporters, to tell them to clamp down. what donald trump do? he tweets out support and encourages and furtheren cites what's happening. >> it comes as donald trump with house republican leader mccarthy discussing an attempt to return to office. does it surprise you how many people choose to stand with trump despite all of this? have you become so accustomed to it? if so what does that say? >> i think you have a problem with the republican elected officials are lying to the republican voters and then they say the voters believe the lies but they have been fed the lies by the politicians.

mccarthy started to say this is not okay. this is not who we are as america. we don't do insurrections but democratic elections and the person with more votes wins that election and we do not do violence associated with politics here especially in 2021. the concern that i have in this moment is that this could happen again because of the complicity of elected republicans save adam kimzinger and liz cheney because they speak truth to power and speaking to the importance of this moment in terms of american history and the longevity as a democracy. >> to that point, elise, take a listen to this praise. >> if you think for one moment if president biden had done nothing in office america would

be stronger today. >> okay. donald trump's influence over the republican party has gotten stronger since january 6. how has that happened? all part of 2022 strategy? >> i think it's also a bit of cya. look at mccarthy. doesn't want to testify as to what he said to donald trump and donald trump said to him calling him and pleaded for the president at the time donald trump the president at the time to call down the rioters and to calm the situation. he's so immeshed in this so deeply and had a course to go down. and the immediate aftermath. he chose the other path because that is what came about to be politically expedient because donald trump has such a unique cult-like command over his strongest supporters that populate in the primary that is

the congressional members are most concerned about. >> i'll ask coming up as to whether or not mccarthy should testify in front of the select commit tee. thank you so much. be sure to catch zerlina show. "the choice" from msnbc. if you thought you heard it all about the trump organization and a key player to flip on the former president think again because there's new and potentially even more troubling information emerging today for the former president. ♪ 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. ♪

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it's burned some homes to the ground. we have two reports from scott cohn and michelle grossmann. scott, you're right there in california. there are lots of worries of drought. we can see why. talk about what you are seeing relative to that and fire in the state. >> reporter: yeah why what is behind me is a big chunk of the water supply for silicon valley. some of those dry areas are normally under water. this particular reservoir at about 30% of capacity with a bunch of the dry season still left. in california, the governor has instituted voluntary restrictions asking people to cut back on the water usage by 15%. here in santa clarita some restrictions are mandatory because officials say the supply suzuki a whole is critically low. >> we're seeing this driest

season since 1977. if you look locally in santa clarita, the heart of silicon valley, the total reservoir storage at 14% of capacity. ground water is full but really concerned that next year potentially could see sliding. >> reporter: what he means is that the ground water gets so low that the underground infrastructure begins to deteriorate and part of what they worry about and can't tap into the groundwater as much as they might otherwise like to and take a look at the drought conditions across the west. it is serious. the darker areas are exceptional drought. all of california under some form of drought. there have been some monsoons in the southwest that's giving some relief to areas there but the problem is that that can spawn thunderstorms up here in northern california. thunderstorms that are largely dry. that means lightning.

all of the ground here is tinder dry. that means more worries about fires. alex? >> it does. frightening. thank you so much. nbc news meteorologist michelle grossmann has the oppressive forecast not only for california but feeling it here, too, in new york. >> we are. high there. so good to see you. we are sweating in the west and the east and everywhere in between. start with the west where scott is. so heat warnings. the fourth heat wave of the season why they have not had a break. so the heat warnings in that hot pink with the drought conditions. that's a stage for the wildfires. we have fire danger warnings for california. the risk for those dry thunderstorms with that dry brush to ignite more wildfires. looking at triple digits. billings 100. miles city 102.

and then they're not getting a break on sunday. boise at 102. 102 in lewis town. monday, tuesday, wednesday look at the colors of pinks, reds indicating that very hot air in place and not getting a break this week and then again you mentioned the mid atlantic. 27 million impacted by this heat. heat advisory stretching from new york city, philadelphia, baltimore, washington, d.c. we are having a cold front moving through changing things for sunday. first heat today. high pressure just spins that hot air in. looking at 95 in baltimore. 93 in lynchburg. 95 in norfolk. that's what you want to focus on. the number to the right. it feels like 107 in baltimore. but you want to be weather aware today. there's a chance for strong storms. we could see some hail and even the potential for some tornado

so keep an eye to the sky heading out this afternoon in the northeast and mid atlantic. >> we had some flooding here. thank you so much. there's one overlooked aspect to the big news that allen weisselberg stepped down from the roles in the trump organization. who's taking over? my next guest has the answer to that and revealed it in one tweet and you might find it all somewhat amusing. why not both? visibly diminish wrinkled skin in... crepe corrector lotion... only from gold bond. ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo hoo! ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, now introducing ensure complete! with 30 grams of protein. with relapsing forms of ms... there's a lot to deal with. not just unpredictable relapses. all these other things too.

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you ever think about the storage operation a place like this must rely on? -no. they just sell candles, and they're making overhead? you know what kind of fish those are? -no. -eh, don't be coy. [ laughs ] [ sniffs, clears throat ] koi fish. it can be overwhelming. think a second. have we seen this shirt before? progressive can't save you from becoming your parents. but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. but you know what? i'm still gonna get it. trump organization cfo weisselberg reportedly resigned from the controls all of the company's assets according to "the washington post." until this month the trust had two trustees. weisselberg and donald trump jr. but the company told new jersey that donald trump jr. has assumed the positions previously held by mr. weisselberg. bring in a co-author of that article.

david, it is always good to see you. my first question is what does this all mean? what does the significance of weisselberg's resignation? >> the trump organization is pretty significant. this is really the indispensable person of the organization. trump himself is good at market jared goff the kitsds are good at finding deals but he made the company run. watched the pennies. monitored the transactions as much as office supplies and made the company operate. he is leaving up and given up the formal power and role, if we believe what's on paper that he is leaving the company, leaving this huge and pretty troubled company in the hands of two people, eric trump and donald trump jr., who have never had to run it by themselves before, it seems like a pretty risky position to put the company in. >> why is it happening now? >> the attitude within the trump organization is that it doesn't look good and that it may cause legal complications to have one of the faces of the company, one of the top executives be a guy who's under indictment for tax

fraud. that could cause questions from lenders, could cause questions from regulators. they hold a bunch of alcohol licenses and other things that he could potentially cause trouble for. they're taking him out of the corporate structure. just because it doesn't look good. the problem is they don't have anybody to replace him. it's not like as you said there's some other trump executive who's ready to step into that role. basically donald trump jr., all the roles are falling on him. in some companies he's the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and ceo, don jr.'s all of that at once. >> according to your report, the trump organization has not responded to any questions this week about what role, if any, weisselberg plays at the company now. in this article, you said that it is possible that weisselberg still wields informal power, even after giving up this role that he has at the trust and the subsidiaries. how could he -- what would that be about? >> it's a great question. we talk about the trump organization as if it's one

company. but really it's this maze, this spider's web of hundreds of llcs, some of which control golf courses. some of which control hotels. some of which don't appear to do anything. at the top of it, there was this sort of small structure, most of the trump family but a few other people that ran the quote, unquote, trump organization. so weisselberg's role there was a little informal. it wasn't always clear why he had power over one particular llc, but he was the cfo of the whole thing. if he's giving up his formal power in all those groups, i suppose he could still have a role where he could call someone up and tell them what to do. they don't seem to stand very much on ceremony in that company. it could also be he's doing what he's saying he's doing on paper and stepping away. >> okay. back to djt jr. on wednesday you tweeted with this, with weisselberg out, all the jobs are done by one person, donald jr. and just as you just said, that's president, vice president, ceo, cfo, treasurer, secretary, how does that change

the dynamic of the company? does it make him more vulnerable if more charges are filed? could junior become in trouble? >> it looks like in terms of legal liability, what the prosecutors have looked at is what's happened in the past, and so i think you'd have to say does don jr. have the authority to make decisions in the past, and did he use it to make -- to break the law? the interesting thing for me, there's two things in that screen shot that you showed that are really interesting. one don jr. is playing all of these roles on paper, but also look at the address they give for don jr. it's not trump tower, which is the formal headquarters of the company where all the other executives are. don jr. has spent the last four or five years extricating himself from this business. he kept a formal role but his heart is in politics. and so the idea that he's going to come back into the company and start running it, that's a big change for him. especially when he's not even in the same town. >> i have so many more questions

for you, but unfortunately nick tells me we have to go. you're just going to have to come back. thank you. what happens on monday may be a day of dread for one january 6th defendant and it could have a huge impact on all those facing charges. also coming up in the next hour igs will talk with congressman erk swalwell who he'd like to see testify in front of the committee. and don't miss james carville responding to good news for the democrats looking at the 2022 midterms. midterms at pnc bank, we believe in the power of the watch out. that's why we created low cash mode,

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let's go now to the latest on the unrest in cuba. this morning thousands gathered in havana to show their support for the government. it comes days after antigovernment protesters took to the streets over a lack of access to food and medical supplies. this amid a rise in covid cases. let's go right to nbc's ed august stin who's joining us from havana. i know you were at today's rally. who were these folks at the rally? they were supporting the government, right, were they government operatives or were they just average cuban citizens? >> reporter: in my experience in cuba, and it's the same today, it's a mix. the state pressures some people to come to these rallies. yesterday i met somebody working for the government who was complaining because he works in the factory, and he'd got organized told by his job to come along. i also spoke to a neuroscientist who contacted me early on

whatsapp who said, look, i'm here voluntarily, and i got picked up by a friend. so it's always a mix. raul castro was there, the 91-year-old former president and military man. the president also spoke, and our crews spoke to two people who were also at that rally. >> we came here today because we are in favor of the cuban revolution. >> we are here today to defend our revolution, and to defend the conquerers of our revolution. >> reporter: and observers are pointing out that with all of the economic turmoil in cuba, there is a chance that the island will have a repeat run of a mass migration. this isn't the first time that cuba has -- in the '80s, it happened in the '90s, over 30,000 people left the island on rickety boats and rafts.

many of those people dying at sea. in an nbc exclusive the state department is considering taking cubans it sweeps up from the sea, cubans and haitians and taking them to guantanamo bay, ins famous gitmo, and there they will be processed. if the biden administration finds they have an application claim, they may well be sent to a third country to live. >> we appreciate that. thank you, ed for that. a very good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. welcome, everyone, to alex witt reports. we begin this hour with new reaction to the rollout of child tax credit payments from the american rescue plan. covid relief package, 35 million families are either receiving or just about to receive up to $300 per month for each child under 6

years old, and up to $250 a month for each child between 6 and 17 years old. >> we are making history now. we are reducing child poverty in half by doing this child tax credit. and what is even better is that we're making it a monthly payment so that, of course, the first payment went out on thursday so that families can get that money right away to pay for gas, to pay for food, to pay for child care. this is such an incredible step forward in our history. also new today, president biden is reacting to a federal court declaring daca illegal. that ruling came yesterday in texas. nine states sued to end the program that allows children of immigrants, also known as dreamers to remain here in the united states. a judge ordered dhs to stop approving new applications.