minus the traditional markups. ♪♪ if it is tuesday, dr. fauci and rachel walensky testify. the mixed messages on schools, the scourge of misinformation on vaccines. we learn of break through cases among white house and capitol hill staff. plus, the bipartisan infrastructure bill could be in real danger as chuck schumer makes a move intended to get the deal done. meanwhile, mccarthy makes his move, picking republicans to serve on the january 6th select committee, including several who objected to certifying joe biden as president. later, newly identified potential cases of mysterious havana syndrome mean as many as 200 americans around the world reported possible symptoms of

direct energy attacks. we have the latest from the pentagon. welcome to tuesday. it is "mtp daily." i am garrett haake in for chuck todd. we begin with some fireworks on capitol hill, the white house top public health experts testified before the senate about the alarming surge in covid infections, just as the public learned about break through infections at the white house and speaker pelosi's office. at the hearing that wrapped moments ago, the two top doctors, the president's chief medical adviser, dr. fauci, and cdc chief dr. walensky warned the spread of the delta variant is spiking dramatically. it is now more than 80% of all sequenced cases in the u.s. perhaps the most important testimony from every public health official that testified

today came as an answer to this question from senate health committee chair woman, patty murray, democrat. >> i want to ask each of you, what is the one thing everyone can do to help keep us from returning to the early days of this pandemic. dr. walensky? >> get vaccinated, get your neighbors vaccinated. >> dr. fauci? >> dr. woodcock. >> couldn't say it better. >> get vaccinated. >> thank you to all of you. i hope everyone heard that. >> that urging to get vaccinated comes as the white house and the president have been struggling to convince vaccine holdouts and combat vaccine disinformation. as you can see, the pace of daily vaccinations plummeted, just as the delta variant has taken hold. what was made abundantly clear from the hearing is how fed up

and frustrated some health officials have become with efforts to undermine the public's trust in medical experts. senator rand paul accused dr. fauci of lying to congress about wuhan lab funding. here's some of dr. fauci's response. >> senator paul, i have never lied before the congress and i do not retract that statement. senator paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and i want to say that officially. you do not know what you are talking about. i totally resent the lie you are propagating, senator. you are implying what we did was responsible for the deaths of individuals. i totally resent that. if anyone is lying here, senator, it is you. >> let's get started with mike memoli and gabe gutierrez. mike, let's start with the hearing.

if the white house's entire goal is to convince more people to get vaccinated, how did fauci and walensky perform, sounds like the number of people convinced already have been vaccinated. >> that's the exact point, garrett, i was going to make. as much as we enjoy a little fauci fireworks on a tuesday morning, the answer to the persistent vaccine challenge the white house is facing is not going to be solved by anthony fauci or rochelle walensky speaking with lawmakers on capitol hill, it will be what we saw a few days ago with dr. fauci speaking with olivia rodrigo, the effort by the white house to engage nonpolitical, apolitical actors across the country to try to get through to those populations that remain hesitant. i thought it was interesting when we heard from the president yesterday at the white house, he singled out four states responsible for 40% of the cases

that we're seeing now. he did not single out florida, something a political actor never wants to do. we know a lot of them are florida but also arkansas and louisiana, states in the south where the political aspect of the vaccination challenge is at its most severe. that is what the white house continues to be focused on, is doing whatever it can to break through as a matter of speaking to the population. there's some hope among white house officials that as we get closer to fall that the population that has been most reluctant to get that vaccination, the population that deprived the president of hitting the 70% goal set for fourth of july, 18 to 26-year-olds will see an up tick getting closer to return to school, to return to a lot of people going back to workplace as private entities, including colleges and universities will potentially require that of

their employee. that's really the message here. the stick rather than the carrot. it is not free beer, free ice cream or anything else, lottery tickets you can throw at somebody to encourage them to do the right thing, it might be mandates, but not mandates coming from the white house. >> how do they view that possibility of mandates, mike? i feel like that's the thing if holdouts are conservatives, you might see more push back, whether from the white house or your local school district. >> that's exactly right. you will not see, unlikely to see any mandates coming from the white house. in fact, the moment of celebration we saw a few weeks ago when the cdc changed that guidance regarding mask wearing for vaccinated individuals was something that was not originated by the white house itself. they have maintained that they are deferring to the science and the scientists in all cases and they're very reluctant because they know the political effect of mandates coming from the white house of attempting to try to do that in this case. >> gabe, louisiana is performing

something like 46th in the country on vaccinations. what can you tell us about who is choosing to get vaccinated now and what's persuading them, and what's the kind of information ecosystem like when it comes to misinformation around the vaccines? >> reporter: hi there, garrett, yes. you heard mike mention, louisiana is one of the states making up a sizable chunk of new covid cases across the country. in this state, 47% are fully vaccinated. the number drops in lafayette county where we are, about 33%, excuse me, lafayette parish. other parishes in louisiana are in the 20s. we wanted to find out who are some of those getting vaccinated now. with public health experts referring to a movable middle. you have folks on one end that got vaccinations right away, folks on the other end don't want anything to do with it, dead set against it.

you might have folks that wanted to see how the vaccines would effect their friends, their family, whether they wanted to research it more. went to a vaccine clinic nearby, spoke to some people getting vaccinated today and i asked them, why didn't they get vaccinated several months ago. >> i think it is the right decision. people need to get out and try to keep safe however they can. have a young grandbaby in the future, want them to be safe, too, good family decision, i think. >> reporter: that was just one man. there was a younger man also in his 30s who said that he was just going to be a father coming up and that played into his decision and yes, he waited several months because he wanted to, quote, do his research. there was one other woman that was older, in her 60s. she said that she was choosing to get vaccinated today because her younger son whose in his 30s got sick from covid not long

ago. that factored into her decision. garrett, there are folks choosing to get vaccinated now. of course, louisiana and other parts of the south, including jacksonville, florida, large chunks of the population say they don't plan to do it. >> hope the movable middle move towards getting vaccinated. quickly, what can you tell us about the white house official that tested positive this week? >> reporter: what the white house is saying, not identifying the individual in this case, they tested positive off campus, they've con extensive contact tracing, determined the individual was not in contact with the president and other senior staff. notable in the press briefing that ended a short time ago how many questions there were about covid in a way we haven't seen in a while, among the points that jen psaki made, there continue to be rigorous protocols, including the fact the white house will release proactively any break through cases, cases of any sort of what are called the commission

officers of the white house, most senior staff. the fact in this case they did not proactively release information, tells you it was not somebody in close contact with the president on a regular basis. i have to tell you, garrett, you know as fellow road warrior how much the pandemic upended the way president biden campaigned. wave's seen the president back to rope line, glad handing that he enjoys doing. he is on the road again tomorrow. win of the questions the white house will face is they have a very controlled environment at the white house, even the tampa bay buccaneers had to abide by protocols. will we continue to see the president doing what he has been more of, interacting with the general public. that's an important question, garrett. >> they're bringing more staff back too. mike, gabe, thank you. have to leave it there. joining me, an infectious disease doctor, and president of the american academy of pediatrics. i think everyone is trying to

wrap their head around what surge we're in for here and for home, what do you see in the days and weeks ahead, the white house indicated a pandemic for only the unvaccinated or are we going to see a surge in vaccinated populations with break through cases and because of the delta variant? >> i have to disagree with mike memoli. i really don't like the fireworks between rand paul and fauci, it distracts from the larger picture that is the public health response during the pandemic. to your point, i think what you're going to see in many states with unmovable part of the population, may not see vaccination rates go up, unfortunately you're going to see increasing cases. there are new studies show the variant is highly transmissible to the point you may have a thousand times more virus when first diagnosed, more likely to transmit to somebody unvaccinated.

in those states, the only way out of the pandemic if nobody is vaccinated to take mitigation measures, put on masks, distancing, which we are unlikely to see. and then the only other ways to see is infections. a portion of those will lead to hospitalizations and deaths. that's the trajectory for those states until the rubber meets the road, work hard to increase vaccinations. highly vaccinated states you'll see pockets of infections, both among the vaccinated and unvaccinated, we expect a certain number of break through infections. no vaccines are perfect. 90% against hospitalizations and deaths with the delta variant, some of the real life data we are seeing. that doesn't include all infections. good news, people that are vaccinated who get infections are less likely to transmit to other people, less likely to be hospitalized and potentially die from this. there are pockets of unvaccinated in highly

vaccinated states. that's where the burden on the health care system can go up. >> i feel like i have to follow up on this. on the questions of break through infections, we learned about cases in the speaker's office at the white house today, i hear the question from my friends and colleagues all the time, the idea of being concerned that they as vaccinated people may transmit the virus, bring it home to their kids that aren't vaccinated. how likely is that now especially as we're seeing more virus around, even in highly vaccinated communities because of the delta variant? >> yeah, i think we don't have updated data for delta. let me start with that. the data we have for vaccinations from existing variants that we had shows that the amount of virus in people vaccinated is low. other studies show can that amount of virus be transmitted to others, it looks like that's unlikely which is why i think

the cdc first did that lift of masks. the trouble is that, you know, not everybody is the same. and not every virus is the same. even if you end up with a small increase in number of break through infections, you're seeing overall a larger rate of reduction of transmission from somebody that's vaccinated, and it matters less to you, right, if you're also less vaccinated. matters less to you. your own vaccination and immune system will protect you. so the advice that i have, if there are two healthy people vaccinated, it matters less. however, if one of those is immuno compromised or has a medical condition, natural immunization goes a long way, wearing a mask, not going to large concerts yet indoors, if you will. >> speaking of large indoor places people gather like schools, your organization felt it was necessary to recommend universal masking in schools. you made some waves with that. tell me why you made the choice,

why now. >> yeah. absolutely. thank you for the opportunity. couple things to emphasize. all throughout the pandemic, we have had guidance on safe return to schools and we have a lot of guidance about covid related issues and review it every 30 days to see if there's new information or reason to update that guidance. that's the case for school guidance as you point out. we have a lot of new and continually evolving information. also know schools are getting ready to go back in person. another important thing to emphasize here, our guidance emphasizes it is essential for children to get back to in person school, and that we can do that safely, and guidance leans out a road map to do that and way to do it together so we can bring kids back to school safely for in person education. >> why are we asking vaccinated kids, mostly teens, to wear

masks when we don't ask vaccinated adults to do so in the same circumstances. >> yeah. it is a great question. i think there's a couple reasons that went into our recommendation there. the first is that children under 12 aren't eligible to be vaccinated, so we know there's a tremendous population at the school not eligible to be vaccinated and is at risk for covid infection. we're incredibly grateful that children are less likely to have severe infection with this than adults are, but they can still get quite sick. first of all, you have kids under 12 that aren't eligible. we also know that 3 in 10 teenagers is vaccinated across the country, so we have a significant percentage of older teens that are vaccinated as well. and i think the final thing is universal masking is safe, effective, and it is going to be the most consistent way to protect all our students. i think it is a tough ask for

teachers to ask them to figure out who is vaccinated and who is not vaccinated, and universal masking is the most effective, consistent way to ensure our kids get back to in person school most effectively and stay there, which is something that we all want and it is a shared goal we all have. >> i feel like where we as society ran into so much trouble in the pandemic is when public health guidance is confusing or in conflict. your guidance is not in line with what the cdc is recommending. i wonder, would you like to see the cdc revisit their guidance for schools, try to get everybody on the same page here? >> yeah, thank you for that question. i think you point out one thing that's important which is consistent guidance and messaging. that's one reason we are recommending universal masking as part of getting safely back to schools because that is clear, easy to monitor, right? i think i would also point out that guidance is not

inconsistent with cdc guidance. the cdc guidance when you read it says if schools choose to implement universal masking, that's a reasonable strategy, one they would support. the cdc guidance gives a few more options, our guidance really says this is the option we think is the best one and this is the one that will get kids back to school most safely and allow for students and school staff to be safe. >> we have to leave it there. a lot of tough choices ahead for school administrators and parents this fall. the bipartisan infrastructure bill is in danger of crumbling as republicans push back after senator chuck schumer sets a bill tomorrow on a bill that isn't a bill yet. senator brawn in to discuss that next. later, mission accomplished, a historic day for space travel. jeff bezos blasts off on a test prove to prove humans can go to

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less than a month after an agreement on a half trillion dollar infrastructure deal. that group meeting today in an effort to save it. senate republicans urging chuck schumer to delay procedural vote the majority leader set for tomorrow on that still unfinished bill. republican senator jerry moran said even he won't vote for if it is not clear how it will be paid for. schumer stated the vote will happen tomorrow. >> look, senators of goodwill on both sides want to finish the bipartisan infrastructure bill before the august recess but in order to finish the bill, we first need to agree to start. that's the first step. let's all agree to start. that's what this week's vote is about, i hope my republican

colleagues join us in beginning debate. >> nbc sahil kapur joins me. how much concern among senate democrats that the vote could fall apart. where are we walking on the tight rope. >> there's always concern that a bipartisan deal may not ultimately come through. this is the united states congress in the year 2021, but i don't think most senators are there yet. i think there's still a lot of optimism among core five republicans as well as democrats that they can ultimately get there. as you point out, it is almost a month since they agreed on framework of the deal, including a price tag and general concept of how it will be funded. there's no irreconcilable red lines. worst case scenario for democrats, vote fails tomorrow, chuck schumer sets up a process to bring it up again with the cares act, multiple clothe you are vote. has a shot of get to go the finish line unless 41 senators

decide they don't want it to. >> little optimism. switching chambers, last night kevin mccarthy announced picks for the january 6th select committee finally, but they're not exactly his picks. they still have to be approved or not blocked by speaker pelosi. any indication on what she's going to do there? >> that's exactly right. speaker pelosi is going to have to approve these before they take their seats on the committee. kevin mccarthy recommended them. nbc news caught up with speaker pelosi earlier today, asked her. she said she's reviewing the recommendations by kevin mccarthy, did not say whether or not she would approve them. notably, there are three republicans out of the five who voted to object to certifying the presidential election results on january 6th shortly after that attack on the capitol. speaker pelosi said that would not be automatic disqualifier. while she is not confirming she will see any of the five, she

left the door open to seating all five of them. >> thank you. let's bring in senator bribing brawn, republican from indiana. senator braun, i want to play more of chuck schumer discussing the setup for the procedural vote tomorrow. listen to this. >> it is not a deadline to determine every final detail of the bill. all a yes vote simply means is that the senate is ready to begin debating and amending a bipartisan infrastructure bill. i understand that both sides are working very hard to turn the bipartisan infrastructure framework into final legislation, and they'll continue to have more time to debate, amend the bill. but they have been working on the bipartisan framework for more than a month already, and it is time to begin the debate. >> senator, if we assume there won't be a final version of the

bill ready for you to peruse before tomorrow, do you know how you'll vote on opening debate, and why shouldn't debate get started while the group continues to work through details? >> not only myself but i think every other republican, if there's not clear text, if it is not out there, that's not going to fly tomorrow. this has gone on a month. sadly most of us know that we need to tend to our infrastructure. indiana, crossroads of america, did it back in '17, had the hard decisions of how to pay for it. here, i think chuck is taking this in a way he views himself as a political entrepreneur here, getting it done. he knows things he can bring to bear. they're also getting nervous that they burned too much time already. i think even beyond reading the bill, there's going to be a lot of it in there that does not have the kind of hard pay fors

that many republicans are looking for. i'm going to give benefit of the doubt it will come together, but if you extrapolate from the month it has already taken, to think it will fall in place before august recess, i have my doubts. >> a lot of democratic senators think republican senators, folks like you, were never going to get to guess on this, and not moving forward is another delay on a vote you're probably going to vote against and package you're probably going to vote against anyway. what do you say to that? >> i think on hard infrastructure, roads and bridges, now let's throw rural broadband in there, waterways, rail, the stuff you normally put in that category, and if there's no squishiness in pay fors. i am a believer that even though it hasn't happened since '93, we raised diesel and gas taxes to pay for it in indiana. you ought to be charging

electric vehicles some amount for using the road, especially if we have more of them on the road. public, private partnerships, those are hard pay force. -- fors. i think it can come together. we avoid hard pay fors here on almost everything we do. that's what bothers me in terms of not taking what we all know we need, lack of political will, to get that in concrete terms. >> democrats i think would say when you put red lines around raising taxes, that makes it harder to come up with some of the pay fors. i want to ask you about what we're seeing now with covid. you're in the health committee meeting earlier today, what did you make of the administration doctors really pushing for people to go out and get vaccinated. only about half all hoosiers are fully vaccinated. >> i think if we didn't have the vaccination, imagine the place we would be in. some people may disagree with it in principle, but i think it is important to get it done.

i think in places where they've got to lower the normal vaccination rate, unless you have just a few reasons not to that you need to get it done. when it comes to that, that's one issue. when it comes to some of the other stuff that comes along with it, i am still one that's going to respect the individual to decide what's best for him or herself. but i think in this case, we could be getting to that point in time where we've already gotten to where the variant might be dictating the landscape. i look at a place like my home county where i live, we're down to one case, maybe zero from day to day. so it is working in some places. so it is a tough spot. getting fauci out there and doing things like iu just got upheld through a court, if coming to school, at a major

university, you have to get a vaccination nation. >> well, courts are going to weigh in on this in a major way. that's definitely to come. do you trust dr. fauci as a messenger on this, senator, and more importantly, do you think your constituents and voters do? >> in the spot he has been in with uncertainty from the beginning, he's had an aengs for this or that that's gone from one end of the spectrum to the other. i was focusing today on how close are your ties with mark zuckerberg. are you on the quick phone call list to weigh in. i think he stamerred a bit, saying if he is or isn't. ask him also would you mandate and dr. walensky having minors vaccinated before you can get to school. said well, i'll look at the data. when you put that much

variability in your answers and it has been that way start to finish, i think there's a lot of ways you can interpret what is the truth, what should we listen to. >> isn't that science, though, doenlts you want to say we are looking at the data? let me ask it this way. do you feel like you have a responsibility and do you think other republican lawmakers in particular have a responsibility to talk to your constituents and urge them to be vaccinated. if the voters may not trust dr. fauci, i bet they trust mike braun more. >> when it comes to the category of anti-vaccination, there's a tenable position i don't think for why not to do it. there are other reasons that have to do with a health condition or something else, but yeah, i think data there is shown. now, whether you take that and force it, take that question i asked about minors before they

get into grade school, being forced to do it, i would rely on that being the bailiwick or decision of the parent, not government. yes, we can say what we think you should do. i am not going to be one for forcing it, it comes down to individual responsibility and the case of that, parental decision. so a little different how you go about it. >> but you are encouraging your voters to get vaccinated if they can medically. >> i have from the beginning saying that was a modern miracle to get it done. then when it comes to what government is going to do to force any one individual, i am not going to be there. boils down to that individual making a decision. we need to give smart advice based on data and science, respecting every individual to make that decision for him or herself. >> senator, thank you. i think we'll both have a busy summer. six months after president

biden took office, fights about who is the rightful president continue in some places. i am serious. we have the story of one county that's become the unexpected epicenter of debate of who won the election. and there was good natured joking at the white house about election conspiracy theories, president biden hosted super bowl champs, and the star quarterback tom brady at the white house. listen to this. >> not a lot of people think that we could have won. i think 40% of people still don't think we won. >> i understand. >> do you understand that, mr. president? >> i understand that. t, mr. president? >> i understand that with voltaren arthritis pain gel my husband's got his moves back. an alternative to pain pills voltaren is the first full prescription strength gel for powerful arthritis pain relief... voltaren the joy of movement oh! are you using liberty mutual's coverage customizer tool? so you only pay for what you need. sorry? limu, you're an animal!

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welcome back. today marks six months since joe biden took office as president of the united states. a half year into biden's term, many trump supporters believe that he is the rightful winner of a stolen election. enter a county in michigan. she talked about lingering conspiracy theories and tension within the county. >> reporter: this county is known for sprawling orchards. but the 2020 election gave this cherry capitol a new source of notoriety, making the community the unexpected epicenter of national debate.

is the election over here? >> no, the election continues. >> reporter: president biden won the election with 306 electoral votes, carrying michigan. but the clerk says in her community, november's election rages on. >> it has been chaos from the pockets that believe that trump did win. >> reporter: soon after polls closed november 3rd, they erroneously reported he won the republican county. next day, she discovered human error made when the team failed to update software on tab lay tore machines. trump was named the county's winner, not before antrim county became a focal point saying michigan was misreporting critical election terms. >> i think the election was compromised. to what degree, i can't say. >> reporter: former state representative greg mcmaster questioned the validity of

biden's win after serving on the audit count team. worried about similar signatures on some ballots. >> if this can happen here, it can happen anywhere. >> you accept joe biden as legitimate president? >> i wouldn't say legitimate. >> in may, a michigan judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking new audit of the county vote. last month, a state senate report said the results of the general election were accurately represented by certified and audited results. >> it was stolen. >> that hasn't stopped outside forces from using antrim as a rallying cry, including trump alley mike lindell who headlined a trump rally last month. signs have emerged, election fraud beliefs resulted in safety concerns. >> we have been told that i should be put in front of a firing squad, a military firing squad. >> offering some hope, president biden's unexpected visit to

antrim county this month. he toured the orchard belonging to the king family. >> i think he saw it as an opportunity to change some minds or just have some goodwill. >> reporter: visible signs of division in the region remain. >> when does this end? >> i would love this to have ended months ago. but only time will tell. >> after spending time there, do you think there's any way back together for antrim county or is this the next three-and-a-half years plus look like? >> i hope so. at the same time, the county clerk is still getting threatening messages every day. i talked to locals that say they've never seen anything like this in this county. it has gotten to the point, even the fruit is politicized. they have beautiful cherry orchards, people are picking

cherries like politics now, the co-owner of an orchard has customers that won't shop another orchard because of political beliefs. that breaks her heart. she knows there are others saying the other orchard. it is a microcosm what's happening with continued claims. and it will take a lot to heal the divides. >> i'm afraid you're right. thank you. coming up next, an historic day as billionaires prove you don't just have to work for nasa to go to space, but probably need to be very, very rich. live at blue origin launch site next. t blue origin laun schite next voiceover: riders. wanderers on the road of life. the journey is why they ride. when the road is all you need, there is no destination. uh, i-i'm actually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usually have a destination.

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the way to space with the first human crew. go, jeff, go mark, go wally, go oliver. you are going to space! >> that was founder jeff bezos, blasting into space on his rocket company's first human space flight. blue origin's new shepard capsule launched 65 miles into the sky from west texas, and spent just minutes on the edge of space before par a shooting back to earth. billionaires are racing to launch a new era of space travel. morgan chesky is covering this from the launch site in west texas, joins me now. you have been out there all day. looks like this was a historic success of the flight. did everything go according to

plan? >> reporter: according to blue origin, it was flawless as could be. saw a countdown pass at the 15 minute mark, last minute preparations put in place, crew safely put in the capsule and hatch closed. when countdown resumed, everything went according to bezos and the company exactly as intended. rising from the west texas desert floor, crossing the carmen line, reaching the internationally recognized boundary of space, and what was incredible to see, when the rocket broke off from the capsule, returned exactly to the spot it lifted from, and that soft landing on the desert floor via par a shoot and small thrust ter rocket was incredible, as was the massive welcome celebration they found stepping outside the capsule, kind of a sea of smiles, hugs, funny cowboy hats as well. garrett? >> as a space geek myself, i was into it. our colleague, stephanie ruhle,

had a chance to talk to bezos and his brother shortly after they returned to earth. what did bezos have to say in terms of the significance of the science and vision for the future of space travel? >> reporter: he had plenty to say and he was quick to say this is merely the first step of many. let's not forget it took 15 test flights to get here. this was the first manned mission. now that it did go according to plan, hope to have another in september and october, reusing the same rocket as today. bezos has a big picture plan in place for the future of space travel. hear him describe it in his own words. >> we have to build a road to space so our kids and their kids can build a future. we need to take all heavy industry, polluting industry, and move it into space, keep earth as this gem of a planet that it is. >> reporter: while bezos is an

easy target for critics, it is merely a billionaire taking advantage of his wealth to go for a joy ride in space. if he has his vision continued, there will be much more to come. i have to tell you, out here in rough terrain west texas in horn, they're excited. blue origin has created impact for the surrounding community. >> glad you brought up criticism. in the press conference, did bezos address the idea his massive wealth, richest person on earth when on earth could be put to better use than just for now essentially going into space with his brother and some other folks? >> reporter: i think we heard some key acknowledgments from bezos that kind of answered that question in their own right. number one, he did thank customers of amazon allowing him to go on the flight, to make this investment in space travel

happen. but then we also saw him say that in addition to going to space and to furthering that road he mentioned, climate change is of utmost concern to him. we saw him make multiple hundred million dollar donations go to necessary causes, selected van jones as one of the recipients. i think time will tell but right now, climate change and space travel are the two things that jeff bezos since he left amazon is absolutely focused on. garrett? >> morgan, thank you very much. up next, more than four years after the issue came to light, more americans in more countries around the world are reporting symptoms of the mysterious havana syndrome. we are live at the pentagon with details next. details next

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knowing that you and your family have added protection. ♪ ♪ welcome back. as many as 200 americans working abroad have now reported symptoms of havana syndrome, what officials consider to be possible effects of directed energy attacks first seen at the u.s. embassy in havana, cuba. two dozen report symptoms from vienna, austria. let's start with this havana syndrome reporting here. what ties these 200 potential

cases together? >> the thing that's making this new today is we had been hearing about cases of course in havana. there have been other cases around the world. what's really striking is there is this preponderance of cases in europe. there have now been americans who have come forward on every continent except for antarctica with possible symptoms. of these 200 or so americans who have come forward, not all of them necessarily have been impacted by havana syndrome. they come forward, they have the symptoms. most are still being investigated to see whether they were hit by this mysterious illness. that really goes to the second part of your question, what is this illness and who's behind it. officials are just as flummoxed

as ever about what it is. they have not been able to get a heat signature or microwave or radiological reading. it still remains a mystery. >> the biden administration just announced that 2500 afghan civilians who worked with the u.s. during the afghanistan war are now coming to the military base at ft. lee, virginia, as part of a special immigrant visa program. what do we know? >> we know about 700 or so are people who worked with or for the united states during the war in afghanistan. the others are family members. these are individuals who have been in the special immigrant

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♪♪ it's great to be with you. i'm jeff bennett. as we come on the air today, our nation's top public health experts are warning about the new wave of covid cases. they have a simple message to the american people. get vaccinated to save lives. >> over the last week we have averaged 239 deaths per day, an increase of nearly 48% over the prior week. each death is tragic and even more heartbreaking when we know that the majority of these c