we'll see you soon. good afternoon. i'm lindsey riser in for yasmin vossoughian. this hour, political leaders are meeting to protect them. plus becoming an internet provider, president biden says the u.s. may take stem to restore internet access in cuba, after days of political unrest. what does that mean? how can it get done? we're live on the ground in ha vanna what was supposed to be a fun night at the ballpark turns into chaos. what we are learning that sent tens of thousands scrambling for safety. another blassoff in two days.

but we begin with the battle for voting rights on the country. this hour, stacey abrams and amy klobuchar will discuss how to fight the state's voting laws. last night in washington, d.c. john lieu us was honored with a good trouble vigil. house speaker nancy pelosi calling it a fitting honor for the warrior of civil rights. tomorrow the texas democratic lawmakers will start turning up the heat on congress to pass federal voting legislation. the group of 50-plus lawmakers are planning weeklong events, all while three members remain in isolation after testing

positive for covid-19. vaughn hillyard picks up the story. >> reporter: those those members have put the capitol here in standstill, trying to prolong the timetable in which those election measures they say are voting restrictions laws, are ultimately passed and signed by the governor here. we have new reporting that this week the texas members will holding a virtual conference. they are going to be taking part in a virtual conference with the likes of multiple state secretaries of state who oversee their voting efforts, but they'ring going to include the likes of dolores huerta, as well as other leaders. these are the conversations they're trying to have as they

press for the john lewis voting rights act to be passed up on capitol hill. that are efforts to restrict voting. i want to you heart from senator carol alvarada, who i talked to about their meetings as well as the messages. take a listen. >> we did not talk about filibuster with the senator manchin. i was -- it was something we felt is best left up to majority leader schumer, and other senators to handle the procedures. our goal was to talk about the substance, the policy, the issues, what's at stake, the consequences. we talked about some of the testimony that was heard last weekend, and he was very sympathetic. he said something has to be

done. he support a much narrower pieces of legislation that deals strictly with voting rights, and that has preclearance, which is extremely important, probably the most important thing for states like texas. >> reporter: the senator talked about preclearance, which would be part of the federal act that would require states, as they were to pass such legislation impacting their own elections, to seek approval from the department of justice. this is something that used to be under the 1964 civil rights act that the supreme court upended several years ago, no longer requiring the states to get that approval. that's why they're calling on this federal legislation, all well knowing that ultimately once they return to texas, those measures they call voting restrictions laws will be ultimately passed. that's why they say they need federal legislation to carve into statute those protections for voters like here in texas.

>> vaughn, thank you. coming up in our next hour, we'll talk to someone in the middle of the fight. state senator gene wu will join us. vice president harris is at walter reed for what the white house says is a routine checkup. she adds the vice president and her staff are all vaccinated. i want to get to some breaking news out of california. a pretty tense scene unfolded in the town of riverside about an hour east of los angeles. [ shouting ] >> whoa, whoa. >> you see tensions escalating there. protesters and

counter-protesters clashing, all at a demonstration by republican house members matt gaetz and marjorie taylor greene. one is being seen pushed as opposed to the side. and the protest was put together by gates and greene after a third venue canceled their america first event over public safety concerns, among other reasons. coming up the next hour house names like gates and greene have become -- returning to the recall efforts across the country, first to aids, with a controversial audit of maricopa county has been going on for months. the associated press says county officials have found, quote, fewer than 200 cases of potential fraud out of over 3

million cast. only four have led to charges. and pennsylvania is facing objection, even from gop counties. alan, we were talking about fewer than 200 potential fraud cases. how does that stan up to the former president's stolen election claims? >> among those 200 cases, i believe there were only a few that were viewed as prosecutor z pros cutable. it's always -- it tends to be an extremely small numbers, it's not something that's affecting the outcomes of elections. you know, if you look at the

claims that the president is into making, where leaders spoke before the arizona stateouts, those numbers don't necessarily match up at all. a lot of that information that was being spread there, a lot of it is context free, taking numbers, you know, out of what really makes them sort of nonissues i know in aids, one of the issues is it's been overseen by a group that does not have experience in election systems. that's what a lot of experts have been pointing to. they're saying it's very easy to pick numbers out, ramp it up and make it sound scary or sinister, but the reality is with the proper context, that actually there's nothing wrong going on. so, so far there's nothing going

on out of the audit that puts any doubt to the results last fall, which have been certified by election officials there. >> senator stabenau also caused into an investigation into cyberninjas, the group are alluded to there. thank you. facebook has fired back once again about president biden's comments. it called for the administration to top finger pointing, telling the president that facebook is not the reason his nationwise vaccination goal was missed. the white house has declined to comment on the latest quick. josh, is this just is the president -- jen psaki, general murphy, others have become increasingly vocal. this latest one from facebook

kind of bites. >> this was not a one-off from the president. over the last week or so, we saw a clear, concerted campaign by the biden administration to try to turning up the heat on the social media companies, facebook in particular, over this misinformation spreading. what that's doing for their brand, so we're seeing facebook push back on this, pointing out they have already taken down 18 million pieces of covid disinformation from their platform, also saying, according to the data they have been tracking just since january, acceptance of the vaccine among facebook users has gone up between 10 and 15 percentage points. but, look, two things can be true at the same time -- that facebook is trying to address this misinformation, and that

social media and companies like facebook are still the predominant source for information. the view of the white house contributing to this lack of trust in the vaccine. that's would you ear hears this message from the president, the white house and now the secretary-general, saying it's time to do even more. >> studies have shown that most of this is originating with just about a dozen different users on facebook there. they've already been identified. josh, does president biden have any intentions of meeting with social moodia executives? >> not himself, though we know that the white house has been in frequent, if not constant contact, not only with facebook, but with youtube, twitter, the other social media platforms. in fact, facebook cited that as one of the reasons they were so caught off-guard, knowing that they have been in regular

communication about what more can be done. as of now, no indication that president biden will personally have contact with the social media companies, even as he's urging them to do more. josh lederman, thank you. more, what it will take to finally get to infrastructure week. organized and propelled through social media and the internet have fizzled out tremendously. it's all because the government has pulled the plug. all in an attempt to contain demonstrations. joining me with the latest from havana, ed augustine s walk me through this. >> reporter: telephone lines have been working, and have been since last sunday.

what is shut down is internet access. what happened lead on sunday is they shut down, a few days ago, internet started trickling back on for most humans, but one of wikipedia, where it's blocked from many people. you receive facebook messages from some people and not others, so it looks like the government is still playing games. other reasons people aren't coming out, one is the expanded police presence, and cuba is going through an unprecedented peak of covid. president biden has

suggested that is that on the table? and how would that work? >> you know, the cuba at the moment is until general policy review. there's other measures that the biden administration can take to directly help the cuban people. one is remittances. in the last year in mexico, throughout the pandemic, the amount of remitenses actually increased, because people know friends and families back home desperately need that money. but joe biden has yet to restart that way of sending funds.

don't have the money they used to have. that's all gone. one final thing they could also look into doing -- i spoke to the former president about the point man on cuba, ben rhodes, he said what the u.s. ought to do is expand medical licenses. but in the case cuba, companies still need to apply for particular licenses. that makes is very hard to buy the aspirin, buy the syringes that it needs so other observers say they are other policy choices that could directly and immediately help the cuban people. >> thank you for the update.

coming up at 4:00, we will have a live report from stephanie stanton in miami. wild weather from across the world then there's extreme flooding and landslides in europe. the scenes are looking like something out of a movie. why we can expect them to continue. >> not just continue, but get worse. i think we're on the verge of a major climate shift. i think we' major climate shift. last ad. like this new and improved steak and cheese loaded with our new tender steak that's marinated and thicker sliced, on our new artisan italian bread. man, you covered up the footlong! the eat fresh refresh at subway®. it's too much new to fit in one commerc- (vo) nobody dreams in conventional thinking. it didn't get us to the moon. it doesn't ring the bell on wall street. or disrupt the status quo. t-mobile for business uses unconventional thinking to help you realize new possibilities on america's largest, fastest,

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we are tracking multiple wildfires across the western u.s., where parts of the region are on high alert. in the bay area, the national weather service put out a red flag warning as forecast of dry lightning are creating a danger. so, scott, what can you tell you about these conditions? is any progress being knead? >> the conditions are very worrisome, lindsey. this is under a red flag warning. this is a place, this enable which no longer exists was decimated by a fire back in august, killing one person and burned 86,000 acres. as far as the progress on all of these fires burning in the west,

the slow and one step forward, two steps back, kind of thing, the big one is the bootleg fire in oregon. it's early in the fire season, but we're seeing big fires, earlier fires, and officials, experts say get used to it. >> the new normal in fire is longer, harder. it's just kind of what we have come to expect in the last 15 to 20 years so we're at an earlier start this year. we do expect in early september to pick up those rains again. that's what we're hoping for and banking on. >> so kind of holding our breath until then.

remember, last year we didn't get much of rain in the fall. that's part of why we're in the situation we're in. the tamarack fire here lake tahoe, that was started by lightning. there are mandatory evacuations there. overall, something like 70 fires, and again, it's only july. >> so sad to see such a beautiful part of the state burned behind you. scott cohn, thank you. in europe, it's a different type of weather, flooding devastating across germany and beup. more storms are on the way. raf, i see that there's so much debris behind you, i can't even believe it.

>> reporter: this is all that remains in western germany. the floodwaters rose here. they buried parts of the track. in other places, they ripped the ground out from underneath the railway lines, and cars looking like they just dropped from the heavens. fortunately this warrior cause we're, but down the like heinz, police were looking at cars just like them, searching for bodies. hundreds are still unaccounted for. different authorities have different numbers. i would compare this to the situation after the surfside condominium collapse. officials are trying to figure out who was actually at home. now, angela merkel, the german chancellor was here earlier today. she want there are barely words in the german language to

describe the devastation. she position said the countries of the world need to move much faster to com bad client change, to try to prevent extreme weather. merkel is stepping down in a few weeks' time, at the end of a 16-year term. she was hoping this was going to be something of a farewell period. instead she's dealing with a major national crisis. rafa, are officials preparing for another surge of flooding? what's going on around the rest of the country? >> that's exactly right. here in western germany, it's dry, no rain in the forecast. that's not the situation in bavaria in the south of the country. there was serious rain and flooding overnight. two people are dead there one as a direct result of the flooding, the other from natural causes. schools are closed. the chaos has been spilling over

from germany into neighboring austria. that's a reminder this is a situation not just unfolding in germany, but all across western europe. >> is that a siren or a train behind you? >> that is a siren. we've been hearing police and seeing military going past all the time. >> nbc's raf sanchez, good to see you. still ahead, olympics and unvaccinated just days away. more positive tests, including an american tennis star. how do we get to a post-pandemic society. dr. patel weighs in live, after the break. . patel weighs in liv the break. or is that the damp wt of self-awareness you now hold in your hands? yeah (laugh) keep your downstairs dry with gold bond body powder.

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tennis star coco gauff has tested positive. she stated that it's always been a dream of mine. i hope there will be more chance to say make this dream come true in the future. gauf isups country, only five days before the games are set to begin. two south african soccer players tested positive this week, not long after the international olympic committee president

insisted there was zero risk of transmission among athletes. an official with the south african soccer team and head coach of the rugby team also tested positive. here in the u.s., a pandemic of the unvaccinated is unfolding. arkansas, missouri, tennessee, texas are seeing up tickets fueled by the delta variant. elsewhere -- it's a tale of two americas. joining us is dr. kavita patel. i would like to start with the olympics. all these athletes testing positive for the virus, we know there will be no spectators here. organizers are insisting it's safe. >> i do believe that, but here

is the truth. it's a global pandemic, and i'm not shocked there are positives. what i would say is their incredibly detailed protocol, i would say, are working. in fact picking up the positives are a sign that the protocols are working. have been said that, i also fear we'll have athletes return to their home countries and be susceptible. these are premier athletes. this can be devastated. we talked about the effects on the lungs and other systems. >> in fact, some of these athlete may be going back to the countries which don't necessarily have the vaccination rates we do here in the u.s. but even here, covid cases are spreading, too, one specialist telling "the washington post" that the delta variant has changed the calculus for america's covid response. it feels like not a lot has

changed. here in new york city, it feels like life is returning to normal, but what do these unvaccinated pockets mean for the rest of the country? >> they mean we're all vulnerable by some extent. if you're vaccinated, it feels pretty normal, but incredibly location risk for infection, but we're building that wall of immunity for our entire country. the idea behind getting more people vaccinated is we can protect those who have no opportunity to get vaccinated, like children. we're also seeing just, bluntly speaking, every single state is experiences increases. not like a year ago, but none of us want to go back to a year ago. that's what's at stake here. i can't stress this enough. if anyone nose someone who is not vaccinated -- talk to them. talk about the downside consequences.

and they're real. >> or encourage them to talk to their local doctor, who they have built of trust with. >> there was another infection just disease expert who said the cdc made a mistake in may, when it encouraged us to shed our masks. essentially the policy letting people self-sort is not resulting into a problem. dr. patel, i think when it comes to the range, i have been on the more conservative, but even by may, a lot of us were wearing masks outside and wondering why am i doing this? do you think they made a mistake? >> i think they made a mistake in the fact that we can't just trust that we will self-sort. it's not because people are bad and have bad intentions. it's that, lindsey, when you walk into an environment and nobody is wearing a masks, it does feel like it's awkward to say, oh, i'm not vaccinated, i should wear a mask.

there's enough misinformation out there, so i do feel strongi that they should be clear today. we want to recommend that people be careful, and we no that might mean wearings a mask indoors, when you don't know the status of people inside, cancer treatment, organ transplants.

we've got to be able to communicate with the public rapidly and honestly. >> i was in a crowded space recently. i did put on the market. pulling double duty. have a good rest of your shift. >> okay. coming up at 4:00, we'll dive into covid and summer camp prime minister boris johnson is backtracking on -- just three hours after the initial announcement, johnson said he would isolate. in england, former set to --

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welcome back. weeks after her public plea to be released from her 13-year-long conservatorship, britney spears has finally been allowed to hire her own attorney. she told the judge that she's extremely scared of her father and does not want to be evaluated in order to remove him. he says he only has hi daughter's best interests at

heart. my next guests say it's important to understand how she was trapped in the first place. >> on one side is listen and jamey spears, parents of one of the biggest stars in the world. on the other, sam lutvi, a nan who has inserted himself into britney's life. tonight is the night they all finally come face-to-face. she's strapped on a gurney and sent to the hospital on an involuntary hold. a flurry of people get to work in lawyers ease offices, hotel rooms and the hospital lobby. just five days after she's check in, her fate is sealed. her dat jamie spears is granted control of her legal rights and massive fortune. britney spears has spent most of her life actively working as a world-famous recording artist. since that night in 2008 she's

released four albums, toured the world and created one of the most lucrative vegas residencies of all time. >> joining me are the co-hosts of "toxic." thanks for being with us. tess, how big of a development is this? >> it's huge. i think has been that the whole time britney. >> it shows she's of sound mind to do that. but on wednesday, it was all about jamie, britney's fares, and how she's scarce of him.

mtv's dave homes, a lot of people recognize him. he interviewed britney countless times. , and he said, of all the times that came on to the studio, i don't think i ever met her dad. you know, even though britney spears is celebrating a major, major win this weekend, technically her father is still holding the reins. >> her father is still in charge of all of her money. >> yeah, it's disturbing. they weren't talking at all the weekend when she -- all of a sudden he's in complete control of her life and has been for 13 years. >> tess, you guys dissect her social media posts every week, but now we're starting to get some juicy inside tidbits.

in one of her recent inns that gram posts she called out her family members, her father. she doesn't necessarily call out her sister, but she -- actually she did in the most recent post, saying i didn't like when my speaker performed one of my songs without me. she said how dare the people who love you the most at all, did you put your hand out when i was drowning? did you think she would be this direct about her experience with them? >> certainly after hearing her testimony. i understand why she would be quite candid about her immediate family not stepping in. >> what are you looking for next?

>> you know, they usually promise, okay, it will be over after this, and then it doesn't end. i hope he can help her end it. tess and babs, thank you both. be sure to tune into the podcast "toxic." coming up in our next hour, we'll talk to a texas legislator about the democrats who fled the lone start state, state representative gene wu joins me live, and how his district would be disproportionately impacted. the battle of the billionaires heats up. the blue origin launch, and the special guest who will be on board. , and the special guest who will be on board.

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the billionaire space race is ventures into new territory. along with two guests, including an 82-year-old overqualified pilot rejected by nasa for the mercury 13 mission. >> i can only imagine the disappointment they felt, versus the excitement of -- so i'm happy to see her go. >> morgan chesky is in texas s. doing some topochico research. what can we expect? >> right now all systems are go for jeff bezos to take that

shepherd rocket higher than 62 miles above the surface of the earth for this mission that's been underway for years. we've had a chance to hear from 82-year-old wally funk. she is going to be the oldest astronaut in space. she was, of course, considered for the mercury missions back in the 1960s. i want you to hear what she hughes to say ahead of tuesday's big launch the stake a listen. >> they told me i had done better and completed the work faster, i got hood of nasa four times. nobody would take me. i didn't think i would ever get to go up. >> wally, of course, is excited about the big launch. she'll be the oldest astronaut on board, also will be the youngest, 18-year-old danish

teenager oliver damon will join jeff bezos and his brother mark. he was a last-minute addition, after the person who purchased the ticket at an auction had to back out it's set for 9:00 in the morning eastern time. we heard from blue origin this morning, the crew is ready, the ship is ready, essentially the launchpad is ready. at this point everything is looking good. we're less than 48 hours away. we are here in van horn, texas, the west texas desert, not a lot out here. we won't be able to get close acts to the launch, but no doubt we'll keep a close eye on how things go that morning. it will be a short flight.

one important distinction here, is jeff bezos will go slightly far than richard branson did just about a week ago, when he took off. they will be crossing what is known as the carmen line, that's the 62-mile line that's recognized as the boundary for space. jeff bezos will be able to say he went a bit higher, more technically into space than sir rich and branson, who now has the fight of having been first to at least skimmed the surface of space. they each have something they can add to their title. >> this is probably just one of a few of one-upsman i'm sure we'll see on tuesday. it should be a show. morgan chesky, thank you. and keep it tuned here.

coverage begin on tuesday at 8:00 a.m. eastern right here. we're approaching the top of the hour. this is msnbc reports with yasmin vossoughian. welcome back. for those just joining us. welcome. year in the making, a chance to strike a deal is now. looking inside the pivotal final vote this week. cashing in on the mid terms, democrat or republican? we'll show you the millions of dollars that incumbents and challengers are raising for the mid terms. what those donations are telling us about the fate of power on capitol hill. plus -- >> what is has been in cuba is not just an abuse of power, it's not 62