good friday afternoon, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin in new york. a major milestone in the fight against covid-19. the white house now says that half of all americans are fully vaccinated. this as more companies require workers to be vaccinated with pressure growing for even more to join them. and as the defense secretary set to be close to a decision on whether to recommend mandatory vaccinations for all active duty troops. before he left the white house to spend the weekend in delaware, president biden laid the blame at the feet of those who refused to get the shots. >> the pandemic of the unvaccinated. i said that constantly.

others have as well. needless taking -- needless toll on our country. we have a lot of hard work left to be done. both to beat the delta variant and to continue our advance of economic recovery. >> and we have good news on the economic recovery today. with the government announcing that employers added 943,000 jobs last month. the unemployment rate falling to a pandemic low. 5.4%. this comes as we learn the senate could vote on a bipartisan infrastructure bill as soon as this weekend. and take another shot at passing voting rights legislation. we're expected to hear from attorneys for andrew cuomo hours after a former executive assistant who previously alleged that cuomo reached under her blouse now filed kranl complaint against the governor. we'll bring that event to you life when it begins. but we begin this hour with the very latest on the coronavirus

pandemic. so let's break down the facts as we know them for you at this hour. new vaccinations over the past week in a 44% increase over the past two weeks. but covid-19 cases continue to climb. the seven day average for new cases stands more than at 100,000 as all 50 states are reporting an increase in new cases over last two weeks? u.s. employees to get vaccinated by october 25th or risk being fired. united is now the first major u.s. carrier to require its employees to get vaccinated. and to date sturgis motorcycle rally in south dakota kicking off with 700,000 people expected to attend. acdc report found at least a cdc report, excuse me, found that

649 covid-19 cases connected to last year's event characterizing it at the time as a super spreader. now joining me from dallas, texas, nbc news's morgan cheski and allison barber from lake of the ozarks in missouri. there are places where we saw scenes of maskless party you goers. what are you hearing from locals there about the situation in that state one year on? >> yeah. so there are three main counties that make up this area of the lake of oat zashgz. ultimately, the counties are considered to be covid hot spots by the state's health department. local hospitals say that they have seen their numbers of patients unvaccinated patients being admitted because of this virus skyrocket. vaccination rates in central missouri, they have started to pick up. but doctors say it's really not fast enough. unfortunately, the numbers have

really started to change and some people have changed their minds only after they have been directly impacted by either they got seriously ill because of the virus or someone they love. here is more of what we're hearing. >> one good thing is that we are seeing some slight uptick of what we had seen a month ago of people wanting a vaccine. so that is a good sign. but certainly we would like to have a shortage of vaccine right now. that's not true. we have more than enough vaccine to give people -- to give to patients who would like a vaccine. >> vaccination rates in this area are well under 50%. some specific numbers for you from the cdc and local health departments. in camden county, 46% started the vaccination process. 32% are vaccinated. in morgan county, 42%. the 29% fully vaccinated in

miller county where we are. 35% of residents have started the vaccination process. only about 23% are fully vaccinated. ayman? >> what have you heard from local business owners there? have they been able to survive the past year and a half through the pandemic? how do they feel about growing calls nationwide on some major corporations to require vaccination mandates? >> they say that's sort of thing, vaccine mandates, mask mandates, it would not fly here. they think it's very unlikely that that would ever happen. in terms of how businesses are doing here, they're doing really well when you look at some of the revenue data for the cities in this area, there are two different ones major kind of hubs here. and they have seen their revenue increase 25% compared to the summer before the pandemic began. you mentioned those viral photos at the beginning. some people say that those photos actually helped increase

tourism in this area. there are some people who come to this area because they want to be outside and safely away from crowds, spent some time on the lake with their families. but there are some people who now sort of see this area as a symbol of what they believe is personal freedom. no masks. and no pressure to get vaccinated. ayman? >> let's talk about what is happening in dallas. health officials have raised the covid-19 threat level to red. what does that say about the situation on the ground there today? what does it mean for folks? >> ayman, cases are up, hospitalizations are up and approach numbers that are about to cross where we saw covid this time last year. we know that hospitalizations in north texas quadrupled over the last month. and just a snapshot of that is at this drive through site. two weeks ago they saw a couple dozen cars. to the day staff tells me they'll see close to 300. here's what the coordinator had to say here about this latest surge. take a listen.

>> extremely more difficult. yes. we're fighting a losing battle, honestly. it's everywhere you turn you face resistance. not only in patients themselves but in leaders and authority figures. and if we were just all to be on the same page heading in the right direction, everything would be more smooth running. and we're not in that place right now unfortunately. >> yeah. st when she mentions state leaders, state governor greg abbott who outlawed any local leader to issue a mask main date or any other sort of protection to curb the spread of the virus. making it very clear that texans can get the vaccine themselves and trusts them with practicing safe measures to keep covid-19 at bay. ayman? >> morgan, allison, thank you both for starting us off this hour. joining me now is a nbc

political analyst and director of the center for infectious disease research and policy at the university of minnesota. doctor, let me begin with you. i want to show you the cover of usa today for this weekend. it says we are failing one another. this is america's fourth covid-19 surge. it didn't have to happen. it didn't have to happen but what do we do about it now? doctor, how do we -- how do you see this playing out over the next weeks and months when we are fundamentally opposed between those who believe in masks and vaccines and those who not want to wear them? >> the most important message anyone can take from watching this spot is get vaccinated. there are over 90 million americans who could be vaccinated right now who are not. & these are people providing the human wood for this coronavirus

forest fire to burn. so i can't say that strongly enough. secondly, we have to understand that this surge which is on going right now and it has all the makings of growing well beyond the sunbelt states, is already in the books in a sense. if we start vaccinating today, the people getting vaccinated to day won't be protected for four weeks. that's not a reason not to get vaccinated. there is more of the surges in the future as we still have a lot of people left that are susceptible to this virus. so the message is get vaccinated. second of all, this surge is going to only continue to become even more problematic and more areas of the country. even number three, it's not the last one. we have to understand that as we prepare for the future. >> jonathan, the president once again has referred to it and called it a pandemic of the unvaccinated. the administration is working on plans to use its federal powers to persuade institutions to mandate the vaccine.

what do you know about the administration's plans to get more people vaccinated? out of the 90 million or so that doctor was talking about there, do they have an idea how many people they can try to get vaccinated if vaccine mandates were to kick in in certain places and among certain companies? >> well, white house press secretary jen psaki has time and again noted what the white house and the federal government are relatively limited to what they can do in terms of enforcing vaccinations. they have to stay away from that. they're not mandating people to do it. we heard from him last week about adding incentives, if you will, so federal government employees or contractors want to do so. it will be very difficult if you didn't. there is talk today, jen psaki said the early stages of using federal funding sort of tools of influence to persuade certain groups like health care workers, you know, to take their vaccines. to get the vaccines. certainly there is day after day we've heard jen psaki from the podium champion the private

organizations and businesses that have required their employees to do so. united airlines the latest today. requiring all of their workers to get the vaccine. and she certainly cheered on effort business city governments like new york city to push their employees to do the same. so a lot of it is still in the public relations sphere, if you will. we have movement at the department of defendant. lloyd austin there is studying the idea of adding the covid-19 vaccine to one of the required inoculations there. and we're hearing much sharper rhetoric from the president about this pandemic in the last week. really pointing a finger at those unvaccinated. st you're endangering all of us by not getting your shot. he was celebrating a strong jobs report, he tempered it. he was measured. he said this is all fragile if the delta variant goes unchecked. >> doctor, is the messaging from

the white house here enough to get us through the finish line in terms of getting more vaccinations? given what jonathan outlined in terms of what they can do and what their expectations are, how much more can they do? what else should they do? is it now simply up to local governments, authorities, private sector companies to get those remaining 90 million vaccinated? >> i think jonathan said it well. he summarized it in the sense that the federal government is doing all that it can within its legal powers to get this and, of course, we are the country that has a vaccinator in chief for a president. he actually has made this a job number one for him and we appreciate that. it's going to be a lot of state governments, going to be private companies, all coming together one thing i want to emphasize is i think you'll see a change in the approach from one of the incentives where we realized

incentives have not worked all that well. you can register for a special lottery. it's the taking away of things, disincentives. and we're finding for many of us, the 70% that have been vaccinated who want to go to a restaurant where we don't have to worry about this because everyone's been vaccinated including the workers. we go to a concert, everyone in in the arena has been vaccinated. i think you're going to see passports becoming a very real piece, somehow, people can determine you've been vaccinated. i gave up my eyeballs and my fingerprints to a private company to i can get on and off an airplane faster. i think that's what is going to really help drive things in the future is that people are going to find, wow, i want to be in that place and willing to give this up. that's going to drive a lot of people who don't want to be left out to say okay, i'll get vaccinated. >> interesting point. all right. the thank you both for joining

us. we're a short time away from a news conference with new york governor andrew cuomo's attorney. we'll bring that to you live. plus, more on today's big jobs number. what they can tell us about the economic recovery from covid-19. and texas governor calls for yet another special session to pass a restrictive republican voting bill. what this means for the texas democrats still in d.c. to black that bill. we'll talk to the chair of the texas house democratic caucus about their next steps. you're watching "ayman mohyeldin reports." xt steps you're watching "ayman mohyeldin reports. this isn't just a walk up the stairs. when you have an irregular heartbeat, it's more. it's dignity. the freedom to go where you want, knowing your doctor can watch over your heart. ♪♪ i've lost count of how many asthma attacks i've had. but my nunormal with nucala? fewer asthma attacks. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur.

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more evidence today the economy is well on its way to recovering from the pandemic. the labor department says that employers added 943,000 jobs in july. the unemployment rate fell to 5.4%. the lowest since the beginning of 2020. but the u.s. still has about 5.7 million fewer jobs than it did before the pandemic began. joining us now to talk about this, dianne swank, chief economist and a adviser to the federal reserve. great to you have back with us. what is the july jobs report tell us about the state of the economic recovery? what are the big take aways? >> well, the big take away is not only are we seeing jobs recoup, which we need to do as you pointed out, we're seeing them in the areas most needed.

that in public education and in the leisure and hospitality sector. those two sectors were really hammered by the crisis as we moved to on school -- on line schooling instead of in person schooling. and we're starting to ramp up for in person schooling in august and september. also those leisure and hospitality jobs, those are jobs we see people laid off in the month of august. sort of some of the peak in the tourism system starts to come off and they're still out there. the the other important thing in the jobs number, of course, is the move up in wages, particularly for low wage workers. this is really given low wage workers a moment in the sun as comet has sort reopened to $20 trillion economy all at once. and as is happening, we've been able to give those low wage workers who got hardest hit by the crisis a little chance at higher wages. >> so i know that the data used to compile this, dianne, this report, you know, it's not necessarily as current in terms of what is happening with the delta variant.

it gathereded -- it is gathered before we started seeing that surge in numbers. how could the delta variant complicate this economic recovery? >> what we know from previous waves is one, we got a little better every time we do see a wave of keeping the economy going. even as the waves go through. we're online, we shusted back from work from home. places have been instituted mask mandates inside the offices when they return. many people opted to work back at home again. that's bad for downtown areas, of course, because it has spillover effect on the very service sector jabs that we want to bring back. we also know that it's the fear of contagion, the idea can you get a secondary -- you can carry the virus even if you're vaccinated with the delta variant and not know it and pass it on to someone else. those kinds of concerns can dampen activity but at this stage of the game i don't think they're going to derail the recovery. it is critical that we get vaccinations in people's arm because the course of the virus is what determines the course of

the economy. and if we want to avoid a winter wave and really keep this economy going and get all the jobs back, we need to get people vaccinated and everyone safe to be back online. >> and one final one for you, dianne, does the increase in the price of food and other key items, does inflation in general have the potential to impact hiring in the future? >> actually, not impacting hiring right now. what we're seeing is inflation is a problem, particularly for people when they're pulling up to the gas tank and trying to commute to jobs that they just got. doesn't help much if gasoline prices have gone up quite rapidly. not as much recently but they've gone up a lot since the beginning of the end of the pandemic. i think that's very important. so have food prices. that is not something the federal reserve can control. that said, i do think we are risking a more us is staund inflation out there given the stance on policy and how rapidly this economy is coming back.

that is good news, bad news. there is always heat upon re-entry and trying to get through that same door at the same time. however, we don't want to sustain inflation because that would cut into the ability of those who have finally gained some upper leverage on their wages in ability to spend going forward. i think the fed needs to step up and start at least tapering the purchases of asset purchases. >> okay. always a pleasure. thank you so much for your insights. greatly appreciate it. >> today on capitol hill, the bipartisan infrastructure bill is moving full steam ahead as a weekend senate vote looks likely. also ahead for the senate, the voting rikts act of 1965. chuck schumer will hold voting before they head home for the august recess. the details of how he'll get the job done remain unclear. all of this as greg abbott announced another special session for the state

legislature. upon the beginning of last month's special session, a coalition of over 50 state democratic lawmakers left to d.c. in protest to stave off the vote. but while many of them used that time to meet with top democrats and voting rights advocates, the republican led texas legislature isn't backing down from the fight. joining me now is texas state representative chris turner. he is, of course, the chair of the texas house democratic caucus. sir, thank you so much for your time. what you are and your colleague thinking for your next moves? will you stay in washington? >> good afternoon. thank you for having me. you know, today is the end of the first special session called by governor abbott. and pleased to report that the legislature has adjourned. and not a single bill passed the legislature and went to the governor's desk including the anti-voter bill that the republicans were trying to pass. more importantly, for our whole country. texas house democratic caucus has used the last four weeks

here in our nation's capitol, washington, d.c., to press the case on capitol hill and the administration for urgent federal voting rights protections. and we're glad to see progress unfolding. with result to the next special session that begins tomorrow, we always knew that the governor was going to call another session. that was no secret. we just didn't know the exact day. and now we do. but the governor again is put forth an agenda that is a little more than a -- [ inaudible ] and so our caucus is committed to continuing to fight these bills with everything we have. and there will be some members remaining here in washington as long as the senate is in session to monitor progress here in our nation's capitol. and we'll keep everybody posted on our next steps. >> your colleague state representative jasmine crockett, she was on this program with me on tuesday, insisted this trip to washington has in fact moved

the needle on voting rights. but now that governor has just called another special session, do you agree with that? do you think that this effort has been fruitful? >> it's been very fruitful. i completely agree. and i think that i'll point to a couple key points. one is you just mentioned, lead are schumer said it will be a vote on voting rights before the senate recesses in august. we know that there is a group of senators working hard on a revised version of the bill. that will have the support of all 50 members of the senate democratic caucus. they released a very important report with report to hr 4. we expect that legislation will be introduced you about the judiciary committee in the coming weeks. and all of those things are on a

much more accelerated timetable than they were four weeks ago before we got here. whether it's speaker pelosi or leader schumer and others that our work here has made a tremendous difference in reigniting the discussion around federal voting rights protections. >> thank you so much for your time. we turn now to breaking news out of new york. we mentioned, the top of the hour, any minute now attorneys for governor andrew cuomo will hold a virtual press conference to respond to the attorney general's report released tuesday that accused him of sexually harassing multiple women. much cuomo disputed the allegations saying never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances. this comes as nbc news has learned that a former staffer to

the governor now filed a criminal complaint against him with the albany county sheriff's office. that's according to it a spokesperson for the share you hav sheriff. it is important to note that governor has not been charged with anything yet. a spokesperson released a statement saying as we said previously, we proactively made a comment. dasha, what can you tell us about this criminal complaint so far? >> yeah, that complaint was filed with the albany county sheriff's office yesterday afternoon. it has not yet been made public. so we don't know the specifics of what is in that criminal complaint. but what we do know is what that former staffer alleged and the attorney general's report, her snaum not been made public. she is referred to as executive assistant number one in that

report. area allegations range from inappropriate kissing and hugging to the most egregious accusation in that report, she claims that governor pulled her in for a hug and groped her, slipping his hand under her blouse and grabbing her breast. the governor denied this incident ever happened. he denied all of the allegations in this report. and i'll let my colleague tom winter handle the legal piece of this and those implications. it's important to remember, too, this legal piece is happening alongside the political here. law makers are moving quickly towards impeachment here. the governor's office has said they will cooperate with evidence. the deadline to submit that is next friday. the judiciary committee is meeting on monday morning to discuss next steps here. ayman? >> take it away. what can we expect from the press conference can governor

cuomo's legal team? >> it involves three attorneys. she was retaliated against for raising allegations of sexual harassment. my colleague and i have been pouring through the documents. you know, this is 165-page attorney general report which we spoke about. but on top of that, three appendixes. they were added to the report that included exhibits that were referenced in there. and she is featured in four of the exhibits where they're talking about this idea of retaliation and certain statements and information from the personnel file of them that could be conceived or perceived as retaliation against her. it is interesting to see, she is copied on the e-mails. what she has to say about all of

this. is pint you made before we have yet to hear from the governor on. this we heard obviously from him many, many times in the last year on coronavirus and a whole host of other issues. but he has yet to take any questions from the press. this is going to be a zoom call. so they'll be able to choose who they can call on. it's unclear to me what the specific focus of this is going to be. it's interesting also to me that they did not address in the governor's response 26 page response earlier this week any of the allegations involving the new york state trooper, the one who she says she was touched inappropriately in a couple of instances. those -- the sexual harassment was viewed by other troopers. there is documentation they made an exception for her to join the governor's protective detail outside of the normal rules within the new york state police. she did not have enough normal experience on the job and then they were able to lower the amount of time on the job as a state trooper in order to get

her on that protective detail. that wasn't anywhere in the 26 page response. so we'll see if we hear anything more about that today. as far as the laundry list they're going address, an unknown at this point. but obviously we'll be paying close attention to it. >> yeah. expected to get underway any minute. when it does, we'll bring that to you. quick one for you. this is the first time we're hearing from the governor's team in person since the attorney general announced her findings on tuesday, i believe. correct me if i'm wrong. do we know if we will also see or hear from the governor any time soon? anything scheduled for the governor on this? >> yeah. you're right. it is tuesday. the days of this crazy week are blending together here. it has been pretty quiet here over the last 48 hours. other than a few very brief written statements from the governor's team. also today, we saw two press releases not dealing with this

but touting on his achievementes in this state. the lawmakers i've been speaking with, some of them expected the governor to stay quiet and lay low through the weekend. but clearly after this criminal complaint this breaking news this afternoon, the pressure seems to be building. i don't know if we will hear from the governor himself. but i think in a couple minutes we should get a sense of the posture from the governor's office depending on what we hear from his attorneys there, ayman. >> thank you, dasha burns in albany, new york, tom winter in 30 rock. thank you both. stick around. we wait for that news conference to get underway. . overseas, a new round of violence in the middle east. the rising tensions there. significant escalation between israel's new government and iran backed hezbollah. we're live on the ground in jerusalem next. you're watching "ayman mohyeldin reports." xt you're watching "ayman mohyeldin reports.

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that press conference from new york governor andrew cuomo's attorneys. we'll bring that you to luf as soon as it starts. we're closely following developments overseas between israel and lebanon. the two countries are on day three of exchanging fire. they fired artillery across the bored they are morning. hezbollah says it's attack was in retaliation to rare full blown air strikes from israel which targeted lebanese launch sites on thursday. >> the air strikes came after rockets were fired from lebanon wednesday. no one has claimed responsibility for those strikes. israeli military spokesperson says while they don't want a war, the military is very prepared for one. joining me now from jerusalem is nbc news foreign correspondent raf sanchez. what you are hearing about how this played out and where thing goes from here? >> yeah, the question is israeli

and lebanese families are asking themselves tonight, is this going to lead to all out war as it did back in 2006? both israeli military and hezbollah say they don't want a war. that doesn't mean that they won't escalate their way into one. a small palestinian faction operating in southern lebanon fired three rockets into israel. israel responding with artillery. and then with air strikes. and then we had 24 hours of calm until about 11:00 a.m. this morning when the sirens started blaring. 19 rockets fired by hezbollah. most of them intercepted by israel's iron dome missile defense system. at this time, there is no reports of any casualties on the israeli or on the lebanese side. the u.n. is appealing for calm.

the question is, is this the full extent of israel's sponsor are we going to see air strikes in the coming hours? we all remember the 11 devastating days of fighting between israel and hamas in gaza back in may. but if hezbollah and israel go to war, it will be far worse than anything we saw in gaza. hezbollah is a much larger militant organization than hamas. it has far more firepower. many more rockets. the last time these two sides went to war in 2015, 1,000 -- 2006, rather, 1,000 lebanese civilians were killed. beirut devastated by israeli air strikes. 44 israeli civilians killed. israeli families spending much of the summer of 2006 in bomb

shelters. now one bit of broader context here. hezbollah as well as being a militant group is also a major political player inside of lebanon. it is possible that hezbollah is trying to divert lebanese public attention and anger away from the unbelievable economic crisis that is engulfing that country. they may be trying to create some kraction there. distraction there. this could be a signal from iran. iran bankrolls hezbollah. hezbollah is an iranian proxy group. u ran is swearing in their new president this week and also under a lot of pressure from the international community because of that deadly drone strike on a shipping tanker in the gulf of oman last week. this is a fast moving and very complex situation unfolding in the middle east. >> all right. we'll continue to follow it as

it develops. raf, thank you. back here at home, the fast moving dixie fire continues to burn through parts of northern california. virtually obliterating a historic mining town in its path. we're going to take you there live on the ground after the break. you're watching "ayman mohyeldin reports." you're watching "ayman mohyeldin reports. - stand up if you are first generation college student. (crowd cheering) stand up if you're a mother. if you are actively deployed, a veteran, or you're in a military family, please stand. the world in which we live equally distributes talent, but it doesn't equally distribute opportunity, and paths are not always the same. - i'm so proud of you dad. - [man] i will tell you this, southern new hampshire university can change the whole trajectory of your life. (uplifting music)

>> so let me start by explaining the idea of us representing the executive state of new york.

those who cover albany and the governor's office know that is a fancy and slightly old fashioned way of saying the office of the governor. we don't represent the governor personally. in march the governor referred to the attorney general of new york a request that she select an independent law firm to investigate allegations of sexual harassment and the surrounding circumstances. a week or ten days later, our law firms were engaged. our role is simple to understand, i think. they're hard copy and electronic that they were entitled to. that involved a massive

production the second part of our task was to represent chamber employees. they didn't choose other counsel who wanted us to accompany them to the interviews. that were requested by the investigators. the last thing i want to address briefly. of as you know, the special deputies on behalf of the attorney general issued 165 page report on tuesday at 11:00. as you all know this is not like an ordinary civil war criminal proceeding. their report will not be followed by a civil hearing or a criminal or trial to determine the accuracy of their conclusions, how they got there or to weigh the evidence. for the people in the chamber,

as a result, a few weeks ago we asked the attorney general's office the conduct that is criticized. we asked for them to provide draft copies of those reports to the people whose conduct was implicated by the findings. we had concerns that there might be things that were inaccurate. there might be things that were not sufficiently thorough. there were things that might be included or excluded from the report that might be fair or unfair. we wanted to make sure there was a chance to report before the report was made public. in the end, the attorney general's office refused that request. everyone in the chamber from the secretaries to the governor who were discussed in that report

and that was problematic. because their opportunity to challenge to rebutt, to raise questions did not occur until after the report was public. and in today's media world whether it is 24/7, all of the allegations were out and being reported when people were flipping open the pages. it turns out it is a commonplace occurrence in these investigations. state of the art really for investigators to provide that sort of information ahead of time to people who are being investigated. the department of justice, office of the smektor general does it. the gao does it. the new york inspector general does it. most if not all inspectors general in washington do it. they do it to be fair for themselves and the public and make sure the report is accurate. that did not happen. as a result, it's now taken some

time and you'll hear in a little bit about things that relate to the governor in particular. but it's taken some time for people to sort through the report and to see what they might think is actually not correct. i'll give you an scam tom day which is one that got press today or the days before. the one real gli which the special investigators take issue in particular with the activities of the chamber as a whole. and that's with respect to the allegations that were raised by ms. boyland last september and tweeting about the governor as a sexual harasser. the report makes clear the governor's office, the chamber did two things, released records that related to the circumstances of the departure from the chamber and consider and ultimately decide not to

public either an op-ed about the governor or her. we had questioning of various witnesses. we represented 20-some-odd employees ourselves. but we had a sense of the kinds of document requests that they were making that they were investigating whether that conduct was effectively illegal retaliation. and we wrote a 13 page letter, almost a brief actually, to the attorney general's office explaining why that conduct did not meet the legal definition of retaliation. they're perfectly flee to do that. that's what maps when lawyers go head-to-head and talk about the factual or legal analysis around a particular circumstance. that he letter got -- a, mischaracterized.

and then, b, effectsively given the back of its hand in a footnote. why is that important? there is a very serious legal issue about whether the attorney general's office is correct or not. and that seriously legal issue should have gotten more consideration in a report that reaches a conclusion about illegality. and that's one example. the second thing i want to talk about in terms of fairness is in terms of the transcript. many witnesses testified, many of them were chamber employees. many of them were interviewed without court reporters, many were interviewed with court reporters. it is now 76 hours since the press conference. not one of the witnesses not one of the lawyers has a copy of the transcript as we understand it of their own client's interview.

nobody. the assembly seems to be getting them. district attorneys get them. but the witness who's still want to look and see whether their testimony was recorded accurately, whether the question was right or wrong, and even the public who might want to see how the questions were phrased, what the evidence actually is does not yet have a copy to see that. and that's a particular problem for the people conduct was being questioned. it's also particularly a problem for governor and chamber as we respond. as you can imagine, as lawyers, what we like to do, what we need to do, what we're entitled to do on behalf of our clients is to see the evidence so that we can properly respond to it. but right now we can't. and so the one ask, too late to fix getting the report before it comes out. it's not too late to get the transcripts. whether it's the attorney general's office or the assembly that has the power and authority to release the transcripts to the lawyers and witness who's testified and to her so she can

prepare her response on behalf of the governor, that's the last thing that i think we need to think about is whether it is now time for those transcripts to be turned over so that the lawyers representing clients can finally respond on behalf of their clients as you the president, you the public and people want to hear. so now i turn it over to you, miss lavin. miss lavin, i believe you're on mute. >> sorry about that. good afternoon, everybody. my name is rita glavin. i represent governor cuomo. i'm a former federal prosecutor. and i know the difference between putting together a case against a target versus doing

independent fact finding. with an open mind. there has been no open minded fact finding here. >> in in this investigation. this investigation was conducted in a manner to support a pre-determined narrative. am i frozen?

>> so we are listening in to the press conference of attorneys of andrew cuomo, and as things happen in this day and age, the zoom conference has frozen. as soon as it gets corrected, we'll go back to it. i do want to go to the conversation with kristen. thank you for your patience and flexibility in this. let's pick up what we were hearing there from the first attorney, paul fishman. it seemed to me from what i observed in his initial comments, he kind of went after process. he didn't specifically go after the accusations, but he did go after specifics in terms of how the report was handled, the release of certain information, the aspects of the report and their initial response to some

of the charges were not included or given what he thought was a proper weight in the attorney general's report, and he said it's been 76 hours since the internal investigation and the transcripts that these witnesses' investigation was based upon has not been released to the public or the press or his team, saying it's only been released to members of the chamber, not even to the witnesses themselves. excuse me, to the members of the chamber and also local district attorneys. what do you make of that initial, if you will, defense that we are hearing from governor cuomo and others who work in his office by mr. fishman? >> i think mr. fishman is doing exactly what he's supposed to do. he represents not cuomo but in fact the governor's executive chamber. as part of that, instead of coming out with a blanket denial specific to the allegations that were set forth from the 11

women, he is attacking the one area where the governor's office may be held liable, and that's the retaliatory nature against ms. boylan. one of the things i think is really important that we have to remember is that this investigation was by the ag's office. it was empowered through executive law section 6638, and that is to make sure that the ag does an investigation where public justice requires. the reason that's important to point out, ayman, is because what mr. fishman is requesting is not necessarily in furtherance of the investigation. the ag's office did an investigation. they are empowered to do that through the state. understandable that mr. fishman is upset that they did not consider his evidence based on what he is alleging, but the ag's office is empowered as the investigators in this case to consider any and all evidence that they deem necessary. one of the things that's really powerful in the ag's report is

they are very thorough. they are very comprehensive. and in each interview, pertinent interview, i should say, they do give an overview of what they considered when they assessed the credibility of each of these women. and i think that that really strengthens the allegations, the findings and the conclusions made within the ag's report. >> so to that point that he was making, and certainly you've been in these positions just as a practicing attorney, one of the first points he made was that the attorney general report was not released to governor cuomo with the specifics to allow them to prepare, and in so doing, to pick up on ms. glavin's point, the second attorney who represents mr. cuomo personally, she was saying this investigation was based on a predetermined narrative. is that common practice, that an attorney general or an investigating agency would present its findings to those

that it is investigating perhaps in advance of the release of their findings? >> not necessarily. and, again, i think the key to remember here is that the actual person being investigated is the governor, right? and so, yes, this investigation was done by the ag for the purpose of public justice, but it easily could have been empowered to do that if it was one of the executive chambers' members. but because it's the actual governor and because there's allegations of retaliation alleged therein, i don't think it's abnormal for the ag's office to not -- you know, to not go back to the office to give them a draft report of everything of all of their findings. what is key, though, ayman, is to allow the governor as well as the other individuals the opportunity to be heard and not only the opportunity to be heard, but to be present with counsel. and we heard from mr. fishman's own mouth that that was done.

we also see in the report that governor cuomo was interviewed and his transcript is even cited in various areas of the report. those were the two elements to make sure that narrative wasn't one-sided. we can see that in the report. certainly anyone can take from it what they want, but i think the fact his voice were heard, all of the employees were allowed to be heard. yes, they weren't given a draft of what they said, but they were able to speak with counsel, and that needs to be looked at when you look at the findings of the ag. >> kristen, thank you for breaking that down for us. we were listening to the governor's chamber as well as governor cuomo personally, his response to the original report. that wraps up the hour and the week for me. i'll see you right back here on monday at 3:00 p.m. eastern.

"deadline" with nicolle wallace begins right after this break. h begins right after this break.

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