so you can breathe easier, knowing that you and your family have added protection. ♪ ♪ right now on "msnbc reports" three big headlines breaking as we speak on the coronavirus. first, that new recommendation coming in literally minutes ago, from the american academy of pediatrics. listen to this, they're saying all students need to wear maks in the fall, regardless of whether they're vaccinated or not. wall street down nearly 700 points as we come on the air in the first half hour of trading. it's getting worse in the last couple of minutes. cnbc standing by with the connection to covid, why this is

happening and what you need to know, all of this following that stunning announcement this morning from the olympics, just four days before opening ceremonies, a member of the women's gymnastics team, one of its most high-profile teams competing, testing positive for covid. you've got two more team members now in quarantine, just the latest setback for team usa. we've got it covered with a busy start to the day here on this monday for you in washington. nbc news team is following the developments on covid overseas and at home. cal perry is in l.a. county, dom chu is watching wall street. stephanie gosk in tokyo, matt bradley in london. cal, the news on the air about mask guidance for students. this is something that i think a lot of parents are very interested in, because state to state, even district to district in some cases, places are doing their own thing when it comes to masks at school as we get ready weeks from the start of a new school year this fall.

>> parents are waiting to deal with this. the aap, the american academy of pediatrics, the largest association of pediatric doctors around the country as you said is recommending that students in school this fall be wearing masks. local debates are how each state and locality wants to handle this and efforting and saying folks should be at home when necessary, that at-home learning should happen, this is a "layered" approach. you already have this conversation about masks happening in places like l.a. county. l.a. county at midnight sunday night reconstituted a mask mandate for all indoor activities, something that hasn't existed for about a month. if you take june 15th as the time that l.a. lifted their mask mandate until now, we have seen a doubling in hospitalizations from covid, that is driven by the delta variant and also seeing five times the positivity rate.

a large number of folks unvaccinated, some 4 million people. this is what the conversation is, in the state of california, and with this new guidance from the aap, certainly this is going to be the conversation as we head toward the school year. >> it's a conversation that's already happening this morning. cal, stand by for a second. dominic chu from cnbc, let me bring you in now, dom. as we are coming on the air, we are watching the markets sink, frankly, i think it was like 700 points a couple of moments ago. percentage wise it's only something like 1.5% but talk to us about now down 7:28, where this goes. and the connection to covid with cases up, every single state in this country. and the warning from top officials of the pandemic of the unvaccinated. >> the reason why you have the market sell-off, there is a fear if we have a massive surge of covid cases, that the economies around the world could shut down

again. to be fair the drops are pretty sharp but we're also near record highs, just a stone's throw away from there. it means that traders and investors are basically operating in an environment where a lot of the good news about the u.s. and global economic recovery is already expected out there. so any speed bumps or outright derailments for the global economic recovery can be met with these bigger losses as you're seeing right now. if things slow down across the globe, what happens to fuel use? will people slow down their travel plans? how about construction, will larger projects for building and housing start to ease from the levels that we're seeing? for that reason, a lot of the bigger stock losses that you are seeing are in companies like oil and gas, exxonmobil or travel and leisure, like united airlines, norwegian cruise lines and big industrial equipmentmakers like caterpillar and by the way, hallie, on the

oil front, prices are down now roughly 11% in just two weeks, so if there's any kind of a silver lining, at least for the short term, hallie, it's that some of the gasoline prices inflationary pressures might be easing up a little bit, at least shorter term. >> dom chu, live from our cnbc headquarters and as dom was saying airlines getting hit, united and american down more than 4% with the dow on track at least as of 10:05 eastern time this morning for its biggest one-day drop in about a month. all of this is happening, stephanie, listen, if these two things weren't breaking this morning, we'd start our broadcast with you, right. there is more developing news out of the olympics. people waking up to word that one of the u.s. gymnasts on the women's team has tested positive for covid. talk to us, steph, about what we know and listen, what it means for the rest of the team, as we are just four days from the opening ceremonies. >> reporter: four days from opening ceremony, hallie and the women are set to compete on sunday, days away from their

competition. now you have this terrible news that a member of the team has tested positive. the team is made up of six gymnasts who have been chosen to compete and four alternates. one of the alternates has tested positive. she is going to be isolated at a medical facility. another athlete is going to be going through additional quarantine measures. we know that the alternate is a teenager. they are young, the family has to be concerned and reminder the athletes who are preparing and training for most likely the biggest moment of their athletic lives, they are also having to worry about covid, and it comes just days after coco gauff, the 17-year-old tennis player tested positive in the states. she was the headliner for the women's tennis team from the u.s., after serena williams pulled out when she couldn't travel with her 3-year-old. also on top of that, you have news that the south african men's soccer team, two athletes on that team tested positive for

covid. 21 of their fellow teammates are now considered close contacts and the way the rules work, they have to test negative up to six hours before their first game, and the opponents who play them have to be comfortable playing them. so another team could potentially say we don't want to play them. just imagine the chaos that that might cause. that is affecting soccer, but as we get closer to the competition, you're going to have this likelihood of covid affecting the games themselves. >> steph, do we know if that, going back to the women's gymnastics team, do we know if the alternate who tested positive had been vaccinated or if other members of that team are vaccinated or is that still a question mark at this point? >> we don't know the vaccination status of the athletes unless they've shared it publicly. we may learn that in the coming days but that is not something that they are required to announce publicly, hallie. >> steph, i know it's a lot of

sleepless nights for you there in tokyo which is at the center of the big stories in this country, right, not just the olympics, this moment that is supposed to be a celebration for so many athletes in this country, but with the covid pandemic getting, it seems, ticking up again in this country, concerns there in tokyo as well. you've also got other concerns overseas. matt bradley, to the uk, we talk about the mixed messaging. people getting vaccinated, problems persisting. you have london declaring this freedom day, this day of freedom where you are in the uk but at the same time the prime minister in isolation because of exposure. matt? >> reporter: yes, hallie, happy freedom day. you're looking behind me, people aren't exactly dancing in the streets, not jumping for joy, because a lot of these restrictions have been lifted very gradually, ever since january, ever since they really started the most recent set of lockdowns and it's also because a lot of britains say they're

not ready. there was a recent poll that said more than 50% of british people said lifting of restrictions is coming too soon and you can still see that, i was walking around today, i took an uber here. i was wearing a mask in my uber, even though this is the first day that all legal mask restrictions have been lifted. the driver was wearing a mask and a lot of the shops around here, everybody is wearing masks. all of this has gone from a legal requirement to something that's voluntary and people are still complying. boris johnson the prime minister, he was supposed to according to the local press here, he was supposed to make a really victorious statement, a big speech about freedom day today, and instead he's in quarantine and here's what he had to say instead. >> i'm going to be self-isolating until the 26th of july, monday, the 26th of july. i really, i know how frustrating it is but i urge everybody to stick with the program and take the appropriate course of

action. >> reporter: so why is boris johnson in quarantine? the health minister tested positive for covid. he's been vaccinated twice, so has boris johnson and so has sunak, the chancellor of the ex-checker. they have to quarantine. it puts a damper on what would be freedom day, a day of freedom, they have to stay inside. they have to abide by the rules, just like everybody else. >> matt bradley, stephanie gosk, cal perry, dom chu, thank you for being with us as we juggle a number of breaking news stories all related to the pandemic this morning. we appreciate it. another top story we're following this hour. right now the first felony sentencing connected to the january 6th capitol riot is happening as we speak. paul hudgkins about to face a judge. pete williams, talk to a couple of things. number one, what time he's facing and number two, why this particular sentencing is almost

certainly being closely watched by the hundreds of other defendants charged in the riot. >> well, simply because it's the first felony charge. he pleaded guilty in june to a single count of obstructing an official proceeding that does carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, but there's no way a sentence for a first offense would be anything close to that. the prosecutors are asking for a sentence of 18 months in prison. they say even though he didn't commit any acts of violence or damage any property, he entered the capitol "as others had paved the way with destruction and violence." they say once he got inside and saw the mayhem, he could have left but instead, he pushed past the capitol police and made his way onto the floor of the senate carrying a large red "trump 2020" flag and that picture that's become so famous. his lawyer, though, says the judge should not impose any prison time, saying in a court filing that hodgkins is "law-abiding, hard-working, honest, caring, kind, thoughtful, generous and the kind of person you'd want for a neighbor." the lawyer says on the day of

the riot, hodgkins just lost his bearings and made the decision to follow the crowd, finding himself for about 20 minutes in a place that he sincerely now regrets to have been. now he's the third person to be sentenced for part of the capitol siege, but it is the first felony. an indiana woman was given three years' probation in june after she pleaded guilty to a charge of illegally demonstrating in the capitol and another florida man sentenced to six months in prison pleading guilty to the same charge. those were misdemeanors. this is the first felony, and that's why it could set a standard for people who entered the capitol and didn't do anything violent, hallie. >> pete williams, i know you're going to be watching that. please come back if you hear anything before the end of this hour on how that sentencing went. pete williams, thank you very much. a lot going on this morning, including the first field hearing for the senate rules committee in 20 years. you are looking at it live. it has just begun in atlanta, focusing on voting rights. we're live with our team on the ground. plus more big news developing this morning, who the

u.s. says is behind hacking of microsoft's email system, and how the white house is responding. and later, only right here on this show on "msnbc reports" the very first interview with the two pulitzer prize winning "washington post" reporters behind the explosive new trump book. people want to know why didn't you say something at the time to these officials that were so close to the president? it's not a profile in courage to come out after he lost an election and now talk about it. you don't become a runner, who breaks eight world records... after age 65, without a serious support system. kathy martin has one in medicare from blue cross blue shield. she won't go a day without the right card. because she can't go a day without running. the medicare coverage trusted by more doctors. this is the benefit of blue. learn more at benefitofblue.com. this is the benefit of blue. there's interest you accrue,

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white house this morning, where a senior official confirms the u.s. is pointing the finger at the chinese government for a massive cyber attack earlier this year. an international coalition joining the u.s. to condemn beijing for acts of cyber warfare, after an administration source tells our team those responsible for the attack on microsoft's exchange platform were "likely to be affiliated with china's ministry of state

security." that hack, remember, got access to victim's entire networks, emails, documents, calendars, everything. i want to bring in nbc news white house correspondent mike memoli covering the story. this is significant. the u.s. blaming china pretty directly for this. >> reporter: yes, that's right, hallie. it was in march the white house said they were prepared to attribute this attack on the microsoft exchange server, but it took several months and what is significant now is what the white house is saying but also what it's not saying. they are attributing this to china and part of what they say was their delay in naming and shaming them publicly over this, is that they found the scale of what they were engaged in actually went well beyond just this limited hack on microsoft exchange, that in fact the ministry of state security is engaged in paying contract hackers to engage in all sorts of maligned activities, including and especially ransomware. what's significant as well about this in part of the delay was that the u.s. wanted to bring our allies on board with this announcement.

when we were covering the nato summit on the president's trip just last month, they wanted to push our allies especially nato to expand their mission to include activities related to cyber and to conclude a focus on china. that's exactly what happened here. it's the u.s. it's the uk, it's the eu and several other international allies who are engaged in this. now it's also interesting what they're not doing, not imposing sanctions as they did when we attributed the solar winds hack to russia earlier this year. that speaks to the complications of and new ground they're breaking in calling out china specifically. there is a separate case in which some chinese nationals are indicted in a similar but unrelated hacking case, but it just speaks to the degree in which the u.s. is engaged in now a new cyber frontier, but the answers are not always clear about how to punish and sort of deter threats going forward. hallie? >> mike memoli live at the white house, mike, thank you very much. appreciate your time, appreciate your reporting. i know you'll be keeping an eye

on all of this, coming up throughout the morning. we are 24 hours away, less than that from another billionaire headed to space. coming up hear from amazon founder jeff bezos on why this historic launch is really different from the last one. but up next, that rare senate field hearing going on in atlanta on voting rights. garrett haake one on one with the senator in charge of it. >> given how republicans are on that, given the fact there are no republicans expected to be here today, do you conchief that for the people act is not going to be the solution to this ultimately? >> i don't concede that. facing leaks takes strength. so here's to the strong, who trust in our performance and comfortable long-lasting protection.

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a live look out of georgia on the left-hand side of your screen, with that state taking center stage in the battle over voting rights this morning. why? you have a group of senators, the ones you might typically see on the hill behind me in atlanta. typically obscure, fairly low-key senate rules committee is holding its first field hearing in 20 years. remember, georgia passed one of the most restrictive voting bills in the country and lost last week's mlb all-star game

because of it. in texas democrats from that state kicking off their second week in d.c. to try to stall a restricted voting bill in that legislature as a fifth member of the delegation tests positive for covid now. with all of them being fully vaccinated. garrett haake is in atlanta, priscilla thompson in georgiatown, texas. take us inside the hearing and what you heard from the woman leading this committee, senator amy klobuchar. >> reporter: hallie, good morning. this hearing has just gotten under way and just the fact that we're here at all speaks to what democrats believe is the scale and scope of the problem. remember, there's already been one vote on the for the people act which democrats laid out as their solution to these state laws that are popping up in republican-controlled states. that law failed, or that vote failed and now you've got democrats trying to come up with non-traditional ways to keep the spotlight on this issue and to try to build support for trying

again, as you heard senator klobuchar say before the break, she's not giving up on the issue of the for the people act. that's not coming from republicans, mitch mcconnell out with a statement about the hearing. he's on this committee, by the way, not attending. he called it a silly stunt, accuses democrats of trying to create hysteria around the voting rights issue. what does that leave us with? democrats trying to convince other democrats that it's worth changing senate rules to pass some kind of election reform bill. i asked senator klobuchar about how she views that possibility earlier this morning. here's what she told me. how much of what is happening here is designed to convince joe manchin and kyrsten sinema and the other democratic senators who are unsure about that that everything else has been tried? >> i think part of this is yes, bringing back evidence. there is evidence from colleagues but getting evidence from voters and bringing it back with us is important. this is a bigger deal than just

party versus party. this is literally a quest to save our democracy. >> so hallie, a good way to look at this is again democrats trying to keep the spotlight on this issue, keep voters engaged on this issue, viewers engaged on this issue, while they figure out what a legislative solution may be, because they are stuck right now when it comes to the for the people act. >> garrett haake live in atlanta. priscilla, let me go to you. you're down there in texas with democrats from that state in washington on their second week to try to block a restricted voting bill there. you had a chance to talk with voters. what are they telling you? >> reporter: yes, hallie. for the past week, those democrats in washington, d.c., from texas, have been saying that their voters support them in the effort doing whatever it takes to block this legislation. republicans on the ground say they are shirking their

responsibilities and voters will make them pay in the midterms. we spoke to voters to find out how they feel about this. we are in georgetown, texas, about a half hour outside of austin, it's an area that i represented by one republican representative and one of the democrats currently in washington, d.c., we've been speaking with voters and i want to play a little bit of some of those conversations. do you feel democrats are delaying the inevitable here? >> probably. again, i think it's about showing that the best that you can, this is not the right thing to do. >> i understand the democrat situation there, and respect that and appreciate it. >> i'm not in favor of the voting rights legislation at all. not sure i'm in favor of decamping and the game of chicken going on in the state house. >> reporter: hallie, i asked all of those voters would this stop you from voting from one of those democrats who is currently in washington, d.c.

they tell me that it wouldn't stop them from necessarily voting for those folks again but that they to want to see some sort of bipartisanship on this issue, that this is not the long-term solution. i've spoken to a couple of republicans who didn't want to speak on camera but one shared his wife is one of the retired teachers who may not get her 13th check because of some of the other legislative issues held up with democrats breaking quorum. he says democrats ought to do their jobs. if this were republicans fleeing the state, he would be saying the same thing. hallie? >> thank you. lawrence o'donnell and jonathan capehart are talking with texas democrats at 10:00 eastern on msnbc. now to an nbc exclusive you'll find first here on "msnbc reports." a closer look at the explosive book detailing the final days of donald trump's presidency. my one on one with the pulitzer

prize winning "washington post" reporters behind "i alone can fix it." part history book, part current events as it details what happened in the last days of an administration of a former president who is still right now actively considering another run for office. watch. general mark milley concerns of a coup felt so real he warned aides, "they may try, but they're not going to bleeping succeed. you can't do this without the military" adding "we're the guys with the guns." milley so worried about donald trump's behavior before the election, he compared it to nazi era germany. "this is a reichstag moment. the gospel of the fuhrer." >> the general saw other ways in which trump was trying to create fear and chaos to capitalize on it. they were afraid of what he might do. >> reporter: the explosive report from philip rucker and carol leonnig, based on 140

sources. >> we were surprised how much behind the scenes than we new in real time. >> reporter: the president erupting at top mill braer brass and mike pence after they resisted his suggestion to deploy troops to go after black lives matter protesters. "you are all bleeped up" trump thundered. "every one of you is bleeped up." later telling the authors one of the only regrets of his presidency was not overruling those advisers to put troops on the streets. also revealed, the origin of mr. trump's big lie, sparked apparently by rudy giuliani on election night, demanding they declare victory even with ballots still being counted. >> big theme in this book is how unnerved and unsettled even the most ardent supporters of president trump were, privately, secretly behind the scenes. >> reporter: why didn't you say something at the time to officials so close to the presidents? 'not a profile in courage to come out after he lost an election and talk about it.

>> they were afraid of this president and they wanted to cling to their own power. >> reporter: milley, through a spokesperson, declining to comment. will trump denied any talk of a coup. >> he has a big constituency out there and it's worthwhile for all americans whether you support trump or not to look back and study what he did to really understand the consequences of his decision-making and of his actions in office. >> and despite leaving office with an approval rating in the low 40s, the former president is also apparently feeling confident in his presidency and his own popularity. at one point, remember, he sat down with phil and carol for something like two and a half hours at mar-a-lago, he suggested if george washington chose abraham lincoln as his vice president he said it would have been very hard for them to beat him. come up on the show, in 48 hours, chuck schumer planning to force a test vote on the still unfinished infrastructure deal. next up, we are on within on

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adjusts to your top eligible spend category, up to $500 spent each billing cycle. we are going back to wall street now, because we've told you at the top of the show the stock market was going down. you can now see the dow down nearly 800 points, more than a 2% drop. that is in some instances the threshold that experts say this is something we should pay attention to. so let's pay attention to it. you have all major indexes down, we can show you that graphic here. cnbc's dom chu is back with us for an update. dom, how do you make sense of this? i know it's probably not all based on covid concerns, that's a big part of it, though, right? >> it's a massive part of it, this idea if covid cases are surging, hallie and the economy around the world slows down, that markets are due for a pullback because they've been pricing in optimism over the last several weeks. the market narrative is

interesting this morning and tells you simply what we're seeing. oil and gas companies, so the economically sensitive ones, if the economy is booming, people are using fuel, driving around and traveling. those stocks are getting hit the hardest. meanwhile, look at companies like walmart and procter & gamble. they're actually holding up in some cases positive on the day because if it were to happen, economic restrictions come back into play, people still have to go grocery shopping, still have to buy food, soap, shampoo, diapers from procter & gamble. that market narrative is setting up interestingly here because it will play out that way, the way it did last year as well. so that's something to keep an eye on, hallie. >> cnbc's dom chu, i know you're staying close to the markets, close to a camera for us as well. thank you very much for being with us. appreciate it. we are starting a big week in washington, with the house coming back today and the senate working frantically to meet two big deadlines. first today, chuck schumer expected to take the very first step toward passing that bipartisan infrastructure plan,

that would set in motion a bigger procedural vote for wednesday. here is the thing. the bill is not done. like there's not words on a piece of paper that are finalized for the text yet. schumer's deadline for some republicans not sitting so well. >> chuck schumer with all due respect is not writing the bill. >> how can i vote for cloture when the bill isn't written? >> then you have this $3.5 trillion democrats only deal, schumer has his own caucus on wednesday deadline to try to come together on that and here's how playbook from politico frames it this morning, with schumer channeling his inner mitch mcconnell, they write, saying his hardball move is meant to test whether republicans who say they want bipartisanship mean it, but also to strongarm his own ideologically diverse caucus into line on that massive reconciliation bill. i'm joined by democratic senate, mazie hirono from hawaii. thanks for being back on the show. good morning.

>> good morning, hallie. >> so pull back the curtain, take us inside your caucus a bit. what odds did you give getting all senate democrats united behind this bill wednesday? >> we want to get things done with a sense of urgency with regard to the budget. it requires all 50 of us to be together and i believe we are. i fairly fairly certain that will happen because the democrats want to get that part of the biden priorities done with people. >> you say fairly confident. that is objectively a qualifier that you're putting in place. do you think that could slide past wednesday. do you think senator schumer needs more time on that? >> we've done procedural votes before. it's not anything new and because we need to get on with it. we need to do all the things that i see on the screen right now, regarding allowing millions

of women to get back to work and having universal pre-k, all of the things that our workers and communities are looking for, and so let's get on with it. we've done it before this way. >> do you give any credence to some of what you're hearing from those in the gop who are working on these bipartisan deals to say how can you set up this procedural vote before you have a test? do you understand what their concerns are? >> i think there's a sense of that they want to delay things. all republicans to work so hard on this bipartisan infrastructure bill, i hope that they will stay with us because republicans support infrastructure also, traditionally infrastructure. >> i want to ask you about some other big news in washington with the biden administration as we reported earlier on in the show, expected to formally accuse china of hacking microsoft. that say big deal callout. >> yes. >> do you think he needs to go

further? should it come with sanctions, for example, against beijing? >> much more i think whole of government effort not talking to our allies, which is why secretary of state blinken reached out to nato and why there's a much more of a focused effort on the part of the administration, some people, chinese, some businesspeople, i don't know if they're businesspeople but been indicted, so sitting on the judiciary committee focusing on the issues as well as the services committee. it is a big deal as you say that we point our finger directly at the country that we are going to proceed with a level of focus that we haven't seen from the prior administration. >> i want to ask you about voting rights, a story we're covering today. i know where you are on the filibuster, getting rid of it to try to pass federal legislation. i was interested in your comments to slate last month, if democrats don't make changes to

the filibuster, then "i think we are going to look at losing the house and the senate." that's what you said. if that happens then, senator, do you put the blame on that handful of democratic senators holding up those rules change changes? >> i'm not going to put the blame on anybody. i'm going to say, though, that the consequences i think will be pretty clear, because all of these republican controlled legislatures succeed and the first thing we're not going to get some really major things done such as the infrastructure bills and reconciliation bill. with 50 democrats to get that done, but voting rights will not get done. we won't be able to deliver on safety legislation, won't be able to do immigration reform, won't be able to protect daca. so many things left undone that the consequences for the democrats would be what i said,

we're going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen. >> senator mazie hirono, thank you for your time and for being with us this morning. i know it's going to be a busy few weeks for you and your colleagues. >> yes, it has and will. coming up a complicated year for top asian-american athletes facing anti asian racism getting ready for tokyo. next up what some of them want the world to know. >> it's just another opportunity for me to show people what we're capable of doing. (vo) the subaru crosstrek. dog tested. dog approved.

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we are keeping an eye on those developments out of tokyo, after we learn this morning that one member of the u.s. women's gymnastics team tested positive for covid, an alternate, she and another team member are in restricted quarantine in tokyo. all of it happening just four days from the opening ceremony. as also this morning, nbc news is talking exclusively with some other athletes at the games, american olympians of asian descent, about competing after the horrific increase of attacks against their community since the start of the pandemic. the group stop asian american and pacific islander hate has tracked more than 6,500

incidents of hate since march of last year. vicky nguyen, investigative and consumer correspondent doing so much great reporting on this topic. thank you for being here. tell us what you heart from some of these athletes. >> good morning, hallie. it's great to be here with you. this is an incredible group of athletes and they have diverse perspectives. the games are intended to bring the whole world together and be a showcase for the history and culture of the host country. but for asian-american athletes, it comes against a bittersweet backdrop because for the past year, they've been dealing with postponing their sport but also some racism and discrimination linked to the coronavirus. i had a chance to sit down with team usa olympians and paralympians to ask them how they've been handling it and what they want the world to know. these are some of the asian-american athletes representing team usa in tokyo. >> this is something that i've dreamed of since i was a kid.

>> representing the u.s. and representing the sport it's very special. >> tokyo and japan is such a special place, to not only play volleyball but it's a part of our family history. >> it's such an honor and to do it on a world stage like in tokyo, is often a is such a cool thing. >> reporter: as members of team usa they aren't immune to anti asian hate. more than 6,600 reports ranging from assaults. one athlete was training at a public park when someone harassed her. another detailed a similar experience. >> this lady cuts me off and you know at the next red light she screams out her window "go back to china." one chinese american says

she has been the subject of asian jokes made mostly by people she knows. people have joked with me saying did you bring covid here. that goes to show me that people don't understand. >> do you have conflicts about going to the games? >> no, i'm so proud that i'm chinese. >> two volleyball players say they have limited experiences with racism, but earlier this year a serbian player made this eye guestture. it was appalling. i put a lot of things on social media about it and hopefully some things can change. >> how does it make you feel

when people question your identity as an american. >> i feel like me going to a gym seven hours a day is one of the most american things to do to grint your heart out every day to get an opportunity to wear usa on your chest. >> sakura says that april day motivated her to keep going. >> as athletes we tend to use whatever obstacle and use that for strength and power. really special chance to talk with these athletes about these incredible highs making team usa contrasted against the low of having their very identity as asian americans questions by the people they're representing. >> it is so exciting to hear that juxtaposition. thank you so much for that. appreciate it. coming up in half an hour from now, president biden set to talk about the economy at the

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this isn't a competition. this is about building a road to space so that future generations can do incredible things in space. >> we're excited to join the club. >> that was jeff bezos, of course, the founder of amazon. they were being a little coy about the race part of the billionaire space race happening now. you have bezos and his brother traveling with the oldest and youngest people ever to enter space about a week after richard branson and his crew arrived safely from their space mission. branson telling future dreamers if we can do it imagine what you can do. joining us now from the launch site, morgan cheskey. tell us what it is like on the ground and the final preps, what will we see? >> yes, this is the closest that i will be able to get to that

launch site. and that is where those final preparations are under way as we speak. blue origin says all systems are a go. they are all on site getting ready because we're less than 24 hours before this new rocket takes off and you mentioned they not really touching on the rivalry between the two here, but making it very clear this is a rocket going up without any help from an aircraft, 62 miles from the surface of the earth, it will break that carbon line. and then they will have three to four minutes of zero g weightlessness before coming back down for a soft landing on the west desert in texas. wally funk 82 years old trained for the mercury missions in the

'60s but could not go into space because she was a woman. incredible excitement ahead of tomorrow. here is what she had to say. >> i'm going to feel it, it's going to be absolutely not having to touch or grab something, i can just float to it. and do my turns and do my rolls and that is what i love to do. >> so wallie very excited. we also heard from oliver this morning, 18 years old. he is a last minute replacement after the person who originally got that $28 million auction had to back out at the last minute. he says he is hoping to help inspire a new generation of space goers. we heard jeff bezos say this is just step one. if everything goes as planned they hope to have two more flights as soon as tomorrow.

can wallie funk be on all of them? i love her. >> she is amazing. >> there is a lot of people looked forward to that tomorrow. tomorrow you can join me for special coverage of this blue origin space test flight. it begins tomorrow only here on msnbc. that is tomorrow but that does it for us today for this hour of hallie jackson reports. highlights and more reporting on our twitter. craig melvin picks up our coverage right now. craig melvin here. already shaping up to be quite the busy hour here. right now we have critical senate hearing. this is not the dollar room that you're used to