good afternoon, everyone, i'm ayman mohyeldin in new york. 47 days after president biden and a group of senators from both parties announced the framework of a deal, the senate is set to vote tonight on a bipartisan infrastructure bill after senators from both parties resolve some of the outstanding issues. senate majority leader chuck schumer mailed the announcement just moments ago. >> tonight i'm intending to call

a vote to move to proceed to the bipartisan infrastructure bill. i believe we have the votes for that and we will then proceed to do amendments and go forward on that bill. we are also in very good shape to move forward on the budget resolution with reconciliation instructions. >> meanwhile, as he toured a pennsylvania truck factory to make a pitch for american manufacturing, the president said that he was confident that the deal would pass. >> i'm working with republicans and democrats to get this done pause while there's a lot we don't agree on, i believe that we should be able to work together on the few things we do agree on. >> this comes one day before the president is expected to announce that all federal employees will be required to get vaccinated or face a rigorous testing and other measures to mitigate the coronavirus spread. that follows similar moves by several states and cities as well as the veterans affairs department, and as the cdc faces

a lot of pushback over its recommendation that people get masks regardless of vaccination status, wearing masks indoors again, a surge blamed on the delta variant is pushing some pushback. at the olympics usa gymnastics says simone biles will not defend her gold medal in the individual all-around event and that she hasn't made a decision about competing in individual events next week. later this hour we're going to talk with someone who understands the pressure facing simone biles. four-time olympic gymnastics medal medal winner dominique dawes, but we'll begin this hour with the very latest on the infrastructure bill. joining us now is anna fowler, founder of punchbowl news and senior white house correspondent for news digital shannon pettypeace traveling with the president in pennsylvania. anna, i'll begin with you talking about the negotiations

essentially being stuck. what can you tell us about this breakthrough and what appears to be a final agreement on this bill. >> it is huge. i don't think we can overstate how big of a step this is today and how uncertain it was. i think i've been talking about this for the last several weeks that this deal, that this bipartisan dual was kind of fracture, they were coming together. the white house really had to engage in the major way, but basically all signs now point to the fact that they are going to move for a vote in the senate tonight and that first big step, that clowe sure votes, right now all signs point to enough republican senators who are going to support this. now, of course, this is just the first in a very long process, but it is a major step because what it now means if they can get that done tonight they will have to come to an agreement on an amendment and a lot of other things that the legislative text still has to be written but it's the first key step towards democrats only needing to keep

50 of their senators together to get this through the senate. >> shannon, now that it seems that there is a final deal on infrastructure, what can we expect from the white house? what can we expect to see from the president in terms of promoting the bill and finally, if you will, getting it across the finish line? >> well, the president was already promoting it to some extent today. he brought it up in this visit which was supposed to be on buy america and betting more american-made products in the federal procurement system. the white house has already had the president on a road to try to sell this bill so if they can get something passed, certainly expect a victory lap, and a victory lap for the white house to not just tout the stuff that people will get from this, the roads, the bridges, the mass transit spending, some broadband spending, everything else in there, but to also tout the bipartisan nature because such a big part of president biden's selling point to the american public has been his ability to try to get democrats and republicans to work together

over six months in and there appears that there is some evidence that that is happening and that this president is moving to end the forever wars in washington. of course, there are many, many battles ahead between republicans and democrats, but this is something that the president can go into august, send members back to their districts and be able to make the case that under the biden administration, look, democrats, we are working together across the aisle and we're changing that tone in washington. that's certainly the messaging that the white house will hope to capture to come out of this if indeed there is a deal that gets turned into a law. >> that's the most important part in all of this, that it actually becomes something substantive. anna, as you and your colleagues at "punch bowl news noted this morning, it's the last wednesday of july as shannon was saying before the august recess. congress has not acted on a police reform bill, a budget resolution and appropriations bill, an infrastructure bill, a voting rights bill or a gun control bill. the while there is now this

movement on the bipartisan infrastructure front, has there been progress on any of these other outstanding issues that are on congress' plate overall? >> listen, a lot of negotiations are continuing whether you talk about police reform or certainly on the appropriations bill front. the house is trying to move forward with a handful of those in what they call kind of a mini omnibus package where they roll up a couple of packages together but it has been fits and starts. i think we saw the first 100 or so days of the joe biden administration have a lot of successes when it covid to relief and getting vaccinations happening but that administration's goal has -- has slowed down. they really -- the rubber has met the road in congress. it's very tight majorities and even as we're talking about this and you really start to hear in the senate side a lot of hoy fives happening that they were able to come to this deal it's by no means a done deal and you're going to have a lot of amendments and a lot of senators wanting to continue to make

changes and we haven't even gotten over to the house side yet so i do think you're looking at an august recess that's very long and we don't know yet if the leaders will call back the house if the senate is -- you know, gets this done on their side or not. it's tbd, but i do think it's going to be a very busy few weeks and potentially a very long month here in august. >> the president has said that defeating the pandemic it key to bringing america back economically. how worried is the white house, is the white house worried that thin crease in cases could potentially drown out other parts of the president's agenda and some of the successes you guys were just highlighting for us? >> yeah, well, the decline in cases, and the increase in vaccinations and the president's first few months was really an

enormous success that administration officials would repeatedly point out. in polling among the public, one of the president's strongest areas is in his handling of the pandemic. now with this new mask guidance back in place, with masks starting to make a comeback it provides one of these visible signs to show that the pandemic, while the president may want to declare independence over it and the summer of freedom has not completely left us. the administration is hoping that these masks are temporary until more people can get vaccinated, and we're seeing the administration start to move in the direction of vaccine mandates. they put a vaccine requirement in place for v.a. employees. we expect tomorrow for the president to announce a vaccine requirement or certainly some testing requirement for all federal employees in the next coming weeks here so moving aggressively in vaccines. yes, ayman, to your point, the administration certainly understands how crucial getting this pandemic under control, is

not just for saving lives but for trying to accomplish everything else that the president has on his agenda over the next three and a half years. >> all right. anna palmer and shannon pettypiece, thanks for starting us off this hour with a lot of developments. joining us now is washington democratic congress woman pramila jayapal. it looks like the senate may be on the verge of a final agreement on the infrastructure bill. it's what all the indicators suggest at this hour. what do you make of what you are hearing about this deal, and are you hopeful that congress will be able to pass this soon? >> well, ayman, of course, we're looking forward to seeing the details. we have not seen any details so until we do, it's going to be difficult to say what we think about the deal, but it's an important step. i think that they seem to have come to some sort of an agreement. our focus has been on the reconciliation package. this is the package that

contains health care for americans, that contains child care so that women can go back to work t.contains paid leave. it contains real efforts to take on climate change. i mean, these are the things that the american people have heard us promise and need us to deliver on because these are urgent crises so the reconciliation bill has to be moved at the same time as the bipartisan deal. that's always been the deal, that's what we've been saying for the past three months and the speaker said it again today so those two things have to move together and if they don't, then there's still no deal. i would say respectfully to the 20 senators great work and you comprise about 4% of the entire united states congress, so we still need to make sure that the house agrees on this and, you know, that is part of the process. >> given that you haven't seen the deal which in and of itself, i don't know if that's surprise or if that's just the way it works sometimes, but is there

anything that would be a red line for you that would make you and perhaps others say we simply cannot get behind this bipartisan infrastructure deal? >> well, as you know, there are a lot of good things that we've heard but we don't know any details, and at the end of the day the big problem is what about the policy pieces that go with the money so if we're going to take on climate change and reach the emissions targets that the president has laid out at his vision and his goal that he's committed to, then we have to take on carpon emissions within the transportation sector. that means funding transit, so one of the things we are waiting to see is what is the funding for transit and what is the policy that goes with the numbers, so there's a lot of details. the house passed the invest act and that does have a lot of what we believe we need to do when it comes to infrastructure, roads and bridges and parts of infrastructure. let's see where this goes. i'm happy that the 20 senators seem to have reached agreement.

i just want everybody to remember that there are 435 members of the united states house of representatives. each of us represents 7750,000 people. >> you've often talked about your personal experience on january 6th taking cover in the house gallery as rioters stormed the building. weave all seen those images. what did you take away from yesterday's first public hearing of the house select committee to investigate that january 6th riot and are you convinced that the panel will be able to determine the whole story about what happened on that day from start to finish? >> i do believe the panel will be able to determine the whole story because every single member on that panel, republicans and democrats, are committed to the truth, and that's what yesterday was about. it was about truth-telling for what happened on january 6th. ayman, our country has to come to terms with what happened on january 6th, and right now there

is a big divide between people who are perpetrating a big lie and, you know, and denying the reality of what happened on january 6th and the fragility of our democracy and our constitution, and those of us who were in the gallery and had the insurrectionists is a feet from our door, heard the shot that killed -- killed people, saw the capitol police officers being, you know, pummeled and squeezed between doors, what you heard about yesterday, and we know because we were there, that this is real, so we've got to get to the truth, and i really believe that the -- that the two republicans and the democrats that are on the committee are going to get to that truth. without the truth-telling, without the accountability, there is no way that we can move forward and protect our country. >> congresswoman pramila jayapal, thank you so much for your time. i appreciate it. >> thank you, ayman. new reporting on what

whistle-blowers were said to downplay from a texas shelter and we'll talk to two doctors in two red zones about what impact, if any, these new recommendations will actually have in their communities. and later three-time olympic gymnast dominique dawes joins us to talk about simone biles and the spotlight she's putting on mental health. you're watching "ayman mohyeldin reports." watching "ayman mohyen reports. that i should get used to people staring. so i did. it's okay, you can stare. when you're a two-time gold medalist, it comes with the territory.

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president biden is expected to announce tomorrow that all federal employees will be required to be vaccinated for covid-19 or face stringent prospective calls like regular testing, mask requirements and social distancing. it follows an announcement by the cdc recommending that those who are in areas with high covid-19 transmission rates should return to wearing masks indoors, even if they are fully vaccinated. now earlier today dr. anthony fauci defended the cdc's decision citing the changing dynamics of the pandemic. >> something has changed, and what has changed is the virus. the cdc hasn't changed. the cdc hasn't really flip-flopped at all. now we are dealing with a delta variant which is really quite a lot more transmissible. >> all right. joining me now our nbc news chief correspondent peter alexander and rehema ellis in ridgewood, new jersey.

peter, let's start with you. what more can you tell us about tomorrow's expected announcement from president biden? >> just a short time ago in pennsylvania today we heard the president effectively pleading with americans who have not been vaccinated to get the shot right now saying that it's the best thing that they can do to help themselves and help others including children at this time. tomorrow we expect the president to go a little bit further and according to multiple administration officials the president is likely to announce what comes close to a mandate with a difference. he would require all federal employees, all federal civilian employees to show proof of vaccination or to undergo, us a noted, that strict covid testing, sort of regular consistent testing and also would require mask-wearing, travel restrictions on those individuals as well. this is notable because for this president, this is a dramatic reversal. a matter of months ago he said he did not believe a mandate or requirement, in fact, should be mandatory. also today the white house is taking a different position as a function of the cdc's new

guidance in places like d.c. where there are rises cases. the office of management and budget, that is the white house office, telling all federal agencies that they must mandate the wearing of masks in all of those federal agencies in places where there was hoy or substantial covid spread for all individuals, employees, contractors and visitors regardless of their vaccination status. the white house, as you've not, has said that this is all because of the evolving information that we're learning about the delta variant right now, but it is posing some real messaging challenges and a lot of incoming from republicans as well. ayman? >> raheema, are you in new jersey and you're speaking with people on the ground about the cdc's new mask guidance. i'm sure there's a conversation happening all across america, certainly in my circle of friends. what have folks been telling about new guidance and whether or not they want to follow it? >> one of the things i should tell you that's happening here is new jersey is one of the states with the highest

vaccination rates and yet there their number of positive rates are going up so do people think they should or shouldn't be wearing masks or recommended to. with the high vaccination rates here it's not surprising that some people are willing to do whatever they can to stay safe and we spoke to this-year-olds who have a different opinion about what it means to stay safe. take a listen. >> i don't think it's that great of an idea. i don't think they are as effective as people think they are. the you know, i think that a lot of this is driven by fear. >> what are people afraid of. >> people are afraid of dying, of course, and it's -- it makes sense to be safe, but i don't think that wearing masks indoors is really going to make that big of a difference. >> meanwhile, some other people that we talked in, in fact a majority of them said that if there's a belief and any

evidence that wearing a mask indoors is going to help keep the number of positive covid cases down, they are willing to go ahead and do just that. ayman? >> all right. our thanks to rehema ellis and peter alexander, thanks to the boast you. joining us is a infectious disease specialist and a physician with the phoenix college of medicine. how are your patients taking the new cdc guidelines on masks? do you have any reason to, you know, think whether they will go one way or another? will they abide by, it or will they ignore it? >> i think the reality is that just most people need to be more informed and they need to understand that this virus has a respiratory component of it and masks is a baseline security for everybody. vaccinated or unvaccinated.

it's a respiratory disease. bottom line at the end of the day, the list pir try component is driving in this infection worldwide. if masks are part of that respiratory component to hinder that amount of infection it's appropriate and if people are worried about constitutional rights or not. at the end of the day the mask is an important frontline protection to decreates amount of transmission. i would also argue the fact that the masks that people need to have are antiviral masks and we need to upgrade that to that type of mask to decrease the amount of virus transmission and at the end of the day if we're ever going to get ahold of this pandemic we need a uniform policy. we can't go back and forth. one minute wear masks, not wear masks. bot to the tom line, folks, this is a viral disease transmitted by air, respiratory and you have to have a mask and there's nothing to argue about, vaccinated or unvaccinated.

>> arizona governor doug ducey relaysed a statement saying in part, kwirkts the announcement by the cdc will unfortunately only diminish the confidence in the vaccine and create more challenges for public health officials, people who have worked tirelessly to increase vaccination rates. he also made it clear that arizona does not and will not allow any mask or vaccine mandates. your reaction. what do you think, will mask guidelines make your job harder and your thoughts and reactions to what the governor said? >> well, you know, i find it ironic that last summer the governor said, listen, i'm not going to mandate everything. every town and community can do whatever it wants even though clearly a mask mandate would have been very helpful and now that we have vaccines as being the most effective he's saying he won't allow towns or count toys do what they want, so take away the science of it.

the contradiction should be ironic and it's worse than that because in this case it's dangerous f.as business wants to mandate vaccines i would completely support that. if a school district wants to mandate masks, i would completely support that. this is a deadly pandemic and to let politics determine which way you're going to go and to be inconsistent about it is really horrid. >> doctor rolling, i want to play you something that the president said yesterday about getting vaccinated. >> will you require all federal employees to get vaccinated? >> that's under consideration right now, but if you're not vaccinated, you're not nearly as smart as i thought you were. >> so if you're not vaccinated you're not nearly as smart as i thought you were and some have taken note of that saying is that the best way to convince a skeptical person to get vaccinated? some say that as a little bit of an insult, perhaps going so far calling someone dumb for not wanting to take the vaccine. >> well, that's not the correct terminology. the bottom line is the problem

that we have is no one has really sat down to explain what the benefits and negatives of having a vaccine platform. at the end of the day the vaccine is only one component of trying to get ahold and mitigate this pandemic. reality is, that you know, the vaccines are still experimental use and people have questions about that and these questions have to be answered in a very educated so people can understand what the objective is. for example, if you're going to have a vaccine, you need to make sure that you're vaccinating people, that people are getting antibody testing. people have been tested on a regular basis and stuff. people need to know what their antibody levels are and in certain populations when it comes to minority levels, people have to have confidence that the vaccine is going to do what it's going to do. it's going to provide the security, but what happens is we have policy and procedures and people saying one thing and doing another thing and we really don't know what the

long-term plan is. we need a uniform plan and we need to have basic testing and making sure that people understand what the objective of the vaccine is, and if you're articulating as a threat that you have to get a vaccine and we know vaccines have complications from bells palsy and other syndromes, et cetera, that's not giving confidence for people having confidence in what you're trying to achieve. >> let's talk about some of the data released by pfizer today. it's important to point owes it's not yet been peer-reviewed but it's showing a third dose of its vaccine strongly boosts the protection from the covid-19. do you expect booster shots for all coming soon? >> you know, it's interesting that you bring that up, ayman, because my group of friends are all doctors and all discussing whether they should get the third shot. obviously if there was eu ah it or even better approval for it it would be best easier to get but amongst us physicians we're

talking about getting a booster. the pfizer data looked pretty good and i would like to see more data independently reviewed but it does seem, didn't think that it would happen but it does seem given the data suggesting how much more effect ave third shot is the that people want to most effectively keep themselves safe will probably at some point be getting a booster shot. i believe the experts are saying it's probably inevitable. it's not approved yet, but i think it will be a matter of time before people are getting their third shot. >> thanks to the both of you for that. coming up, mounting political uncertainty in tunisia days or the country ousted its president. we'll have much more to come on that. you're watching "ayman mohyeldin reports." you're watching "ayman mohyeldin reports. and here.

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at this hour, all of tunisia is under curfew amid its greatest crisis that dempsy has faced in the ten years since the arab spring. a state of relative calm has fallen outside of the parliament building that just days ago was the site of clashes between supporters of the president and those who say he had gone too far. it has been four days since the president fired tunisia's prime minister and froze parliament, a move he says was a response to anti-government protests, but opponents call a coup. joining me now with more on all these developments nbc foreign

correspondent raff sanchez. bring us up to date on the latest from tunisia tonight and how people feel on the latest what the president has done. >> reporter: yeah, ayman, tunisia is a country deeply divided right now. the only thing people can agree son this is a critical moment for the nation's future. the president's supporters will say he had no other option here. the country was in crisis, in economic turmoil. it's facing a very acute covid outbreak, and the government basically wasn't functioning, so he had no other choice but to declare a state of emergency and take control. now his opponents will say this is basically a coup. this is one man seizing complete control of the government, suspending the democratic process and doing it with the support of the military. now among those opponents is a moderate islamist party that has consistently won the most seats in tunisia's parliament.

interestingly they initially told their supporters go on to the streets. protest. they are now saying stay home, avoid conflict and that's about lowering tensions in tunisia and that's about not getting the president and the army any further excuse to crack down. now our team on the ground in tunisia caught up with a member of parliament from that party as well as a supporter from president sayed. take a listen to what he had to say. >> i think we should use strong words as to what they have been leading the nation through. >> i don't think it's a coup. the guy is actually the most legitimate person in political scene here because he -- he had 3 million people vote for him. he's got more votes than the

parliament, the whole parliament. >> secretary of state blinken spoke to the tunisian president on monday. he urged him not to squander the democratic gains that that country has made since the arab spring in 2011. ayman? >> all right. raf sanchez live for us in london. thanks. whistle-blowers say migrant children were mistreated at a tecumseh facility during a covid outbreak earlier this year. plus, former olympian and gold medallist dominique dawes joins me next to talk about the massive pressure that simone biles is facing right now and why pulling out of two olympic events was such a smart decision for her. you're watching "ayman mohyeldin reports." watching "ayman mohyen reports. and now get netflix on us. it's all included with 2 lines for only $70 bucks! only at t-mobile. now, we all know progressive offers 24/7 protection, but we also bundle outdoor vehicles

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ft. bliss, texas earlier this year. they also say federal officials urged them to downplay the unsafe conditions at that facility. whoenliers say, quote, hundreds of children contracted covid in the overcrowded conditions. federal detainees were regularly given written instructions from hhs public affairs that told them, quote, when asked to make everything sound positive about the ft. bliss experience and to play down anything negative. the complaint comes just weeks after other whistle-blowers from ft. bliss came forward also alleging migrant minors were supervised by adults that did not speak spanish and had no child care experience. for more on this i'm joined by nbc correspondent julia ainsley who has done extensive reporting on immigration here. julia, give us more details about what protocols were allegedly ignored by managers of this facility in ft. bliss, texas. >> reporter: so ayman, these whistle-blowers were federal

employees who were detailed to these facilities. there was a large call for volunteers when we saw that surge of unaccompanied migrant children starting around march of this year. they volunteered. they went down and what they saw there they are now detailing and putting their names on a whistle-blower complaint to congress saying that as covid started to surge there were children, hundreds of them, packed in to bunk beds, sleeping very close together in these overcrowded tents, that they tried to get more masks, for example. they said that children who were taken to the covid positive tent needed to get n-95 masks. they were denied that. they said that even among the regular population it was very hard to see that all those children had masks and if they did have them, that they were wearing them so they said that contributed to an outbreak there, but then when they asked the senior supervisors, the federal employees who were in charge of them for the rates, that employee told them at a town hall i won't give you the rates because i don't want that

to end up in the media. there was a clear strategy, the whistle-blowers are alleging, to give the covid rate inside this migrant facility because they were worried it would leak out. >> to that point now that they are kind of sharing these accounts, walk us through how these whistle-blowers are trying to hold the government and these contractors accountable for their conduct. >> well, they are trying by naming them. they are talking about how these contractors did not have experience, surf pro, official, is a contract oss that specializes in disaster cleanup. they were in charge for a period of time. there's also other contractors who generally specialize in military operations and intelligence, not contractors who you could imagine could get close $1 billion between the three of them to run this facility. they say the contractors did not vet the employees and a lot of times they had people who weren't experienced going in to do very important jobs. for example, these detailees said that they were put in charge of interviewing over

5,000 children along with other employees to figure out if they had any kind of physical, emotional trauma and base chi they said they had no clinical psychology experience in order to assess that, so a number of ways that these children were nailed basically by this system. they also said they didn't have access to clean underwear. when they tried to say they would go buy themselves they were discouraged to doing so, there was a lice outbreak in the girls tent, they were tolt they couldn't get any kits to disinfect the girls so there was a lockdown. a really sad report to read but i would encourage everyone to take a look at nbcnews.com to see some very important details. >> very important details coming from the detailees. thanks so much for this important report. it's been just over a month since dauphin was sentenced to 22 and a half years for the murder of george floyd and while that was a sign to many the

issue of police reform has been stalled across the country despite widespread calls from change. joining me now ari melber host of "the beat." good to see you, my end from. you and your team have taken a deep dive into the push for safer policing across the country. what stood out to you the most? >> and a half. we have been looking at this along with reporting from "the washington post" and others, and a really important point that people should understand is for all of the activism and talk and some piece meal reforms, when you look at a year-plus after the black lives matter protest, the rate of police deadly force is continuing at the same level as a year ago and before. roughly on pace to have about 1,000 deadly police shootings a year, far more than other countries with similar challenges and similar population sizes that are western democracies. aiman, what we're finding here and have more of this on "the beat" while there has been activism and it's not to dismiss

it, it's very important that as the trends come and go and people move on to other topics people have the facts that even with the scrutiny people are still using deadly force at the same rate, ayman. >> an alarpg trend there, and why a lot of people are wondering whether or not police reform will make its way through congress which has been stalled. ari melber, thanks very much to. ari ice point catch "the beat" tonight for much more of his reporting on police reform in the country. that's 6:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. you do not want to miss that. olympian gymnast simone biles pulls out of another event to focus on her mental health. three-time olympian and gold medalist dominique dawes joins me to talk about how important biles' decisions have been and how they can affect sports going forward. first, let's get a quick check of the market before trading closes for the day. the s&p 500 turned hour after the federal reserve chairman jerome powell sailed substantial economic improve is needed for the central bank to start

dialing back its easy monetary policies. the dow has dipped throughout the day. we'll see what happens in the next couple of minutes. you're watching msnbc. e next couple of minutes you're watching msnbc. it's a thirteen-hour flight, that's not a weekend trip. fifteen minutes until we board. oh yeah, we gotta take off. you downloaded the td ameritrade mobile app so you can quickly check the markets? yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard before we board. excellent. and you have thinkorswim mobile- -so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position. you two are all set. have a great flight. thanks. we'll see ya. ah, they're getting so smart. choose the app that fits your investing style. ♪♪ millions of vulnerable americans struggle to get reliable transportation to their medical appointments. that's why i started medhaul. citi launched the impact fund

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it was a historic day for team usa in tokyo as star swemer katie ledecky claimed gold in the olympic debut of the women's 15 hundred-meter freestyle race n.case you're wondering how difficult that is, that is 30 laps laps which ledecky completed in 15 minutes and 37 seconds. her teammate, erica sullivan, took home the silver. overnight usa gymnastics superstar simone biles withdrew from the individual all-around to focus on her mental well-being. this one day after she withdrew from the team competition but stood by to cheer on her teammates who went on to take silver. it's unclear if she'll take part in next week's finals. someone with lots in all that it competes to take part in this sport, dominique dawes. of course she won the gold for

the u.s. in 1996, and she is the first black gymnast to win an individual olympic medal in women's gymnastics. dominique, it's great to have you with us. thank you for your time. i know these olympic games are unlike any other with every nation around the globe still grappling with the pandemic and the aftermath of it. talk about what it's like to perform at this level without the support systems athletes like yourself and others rely on when you're training, the fans cheering you on, your family and your support system at the games. >> you would have to definitely ask these athletes that are there in tokyo at this moment. in barcelona, spain, when i was 15 years old competing, there were sold-out crowds. at the atlanta games there were 50,000 people and billions of people watching. 2000 olympics in sydney, australia, again, sold-out crowd. i cannot envision what these athletes are enduring while the

crowds add to the adrenaline rush and excitement, they do add a great deal of pressure. but there is that comfortability knowing your family and friends are right there cheering you along the way, and these olympians don't have that. >> i wonder what this means for not just simone biles but for sports in general, for athletes in general, certainly for women athletes as well given simone biles' influence as a role model. what do you think her decision to step back and prioritize her health means for athletes around the world? >> everyone including myself, we are so proud of simone. she has done so much for the sport of gymnastics. she has been a leader. she has been very outspoken, which i love. i love her courage and humility to listen to her inner voice and to make the best decision for simone biles, to focus on her mental health and her physical health. she talked about having a little bit of a mental block, and people are calling it the twisties, where you get lost in

the air. i went through that a lot on the uneven bars and through the vault. she made the decision to not compete, to not take that risk and not take that challenge. for her to do that, that takes some courage because she's committed her whole childhood for this moment. she sacrificed so much to make it now to her second olympic games, and this is not how she envisioned things would end. >> i want to ask you about the twisties. it's a term, someone who just follows the sport has just learned about it and i've heard folks talk about it. you touched on it there for a little bit. explain to us what that is in the moment and the impact of it. is it something different from sport to sport, or is it just unique to gymnasts while they're performing? >> i would think it's more focused on spacial awareness. in the sport of gymnastics you are flipping and twisting your body, which means you're turning and pivoting your body in the air. many times you will do this on

your dismount on the vault or dismount on the bars or beam. also, you twist many times in your tumbling passes on the floor. and twisties is a new term for me. we did not call it that in the '90s or early 2000s, you would just lose your awareness, and that can create major mental blocks. because what we're doing are high-risk moves. and if you get lost in the air, you don't know how you're going to land but you know you're going to land, and that can lead to a very serious injury, especially with the difficulty simone does. >> certainly with the speed and power with which she competes as well. >> mm-hmm. >> i'm sure you have seen the criticism. you are one of the few people who have experienced competing in the sport at this high level. for critics here at home, it's easy to say this is your job. this is what you get paid to do. you can't just quit. you let your team down. we've all heard the comments. what do you say to those who may be making those criticisms today? >> you know, i don't try to listen to those that have not

walked in the shoes of the individual that they are judging. i am not going to judge someone until i walk a day in their moccasins, and i'm not simone biles. to tell you the truth, i have not heard the negative criticism. i can only imagine the number of people that are speaking out. again, they can't do and have not done and will never do what she has accomplished in her life on and off the floor. so i hope that's something that she's not taking in. she needs to take in the feedback from those that know and truly love her, her support system. she has a strong faith in catholicism, has her mom and dad and sister online. images of her and her boyfriend and many friends on the olympic team. they seem to get along. there's a great camaraderie. that's all she needs to hear and block out the outside noise. >> are we at a turning point in the way we as a country and a society view athletes and what we are owed by athletes and what we owe them? >> athletes need to be viewed as

the people that they are. they are human beings. they make mistakes. they have failures. they go through ups and downs if life. they are human and we need to recognize that and recognize people have feelings. trust me, this is not where simone wanted to be, but this is the situation that she's in. she made the best decision for herself and will learn to move forward. i hope the dialogue continues because mental health is something we all need to be top priority. >> i can't tell you how much i really appreciated this interview. dominique dawes, thank you for your time. that wraps up the hour for me. i'll see you back here tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. eastern. "deadline white house" with nicolle wallace starts right after this quick break. nicolle t after this quick break

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hi there, everyone. it's 4:00 in the east. on the first day of the rest of the gop's life, is a party more devoted to white washing the horror of the january 6th insurrection than preventing the next attack on our country? here is the undenial truth about the trump-inspired hit on the nation's capitol. >> as we came close to the terrorists our line was divided and we came under attack. a man attempted to rip the baton from my hands and we wrestled for control. he retained my weapon. he yelled at me, you're on the wrong team. cut off from our leadership, which was at the front of our formation, we huddled up and assessed the threat