marathon team in three decades. the closing ceremony will be held tomorrow. good day, everybody, from msnbc world headquarters in new york. welcome to "alex witt reports". big news on capitol hill. the senate poised to pass a procedural vote to move forward with the bipartisan infrastructure bill. we're going to go to nbc's ali vitali and ask what the heck that means. >> reporter: it's a good question. there's a lot of buzz words that are thrown around, but effectively what you and i were talking about last hour, which was senators in the chamber voting on a procedural vote to advance to basically 30 hours of debate about this bill that has been pending here in the halls of congress for some weeks now.

there is a way to fast track that. you and i last hour were talking about what senate majority leader chuck schumer said, which is there's an easy way to do this and a hard way to do this. right now they're moving forward on what schumer would call the hard way to do it, the slower way of doing it. the clock has started, 30 hours of debate, then we're going to see another procedural vote. at any time, all 100 senators could come together and say that they've decided on a quicker process to move forward on many of these amendments that are still up in the air, and that could go the expedited route, the chuck schumer deemed easier route. regardless, the senate is staying here in washington, staying in session. the only real clock that they're up against is their own senate recess. it's really a question for some of these senators of how quickly they would like to get back home and start that recess period. at the same time, though, while all of these are happening, some

democrat senators, if you look at how they've been talking on tv, are also looking ahead on what's next. it's not just the bipartisan infrastructure bill that's the traditional infrastructure piece, it's also the family that has been touted. >> when we get to the other bill, that's just going to require the 50 democrats and i feel quite confident that the 50 democrats who actually care about getting our economy back on track and millions of women, unabling them to get back to work, that there will be a remit on the budget bill. >> reporter: that's the road ahead. for now, where we stand on a saturday afternoon is negotiations ongoing to quicken this process, and at the same time we're seeing the procedural votes and now the debate clock has started. one of our producers saw boxes of pizza coming in, signaling

that it might be lunchtime here while people continue forward on this path. >> someone tell senator susan collins to get comfortable and take her purse off. the pizza is coming, it could be a long day. ali vitali, thank you so much. joining me is michigan senator debbie stabenow. senator, you're in the room where it happens, obviously not this second, but i'm sure you'll return after your interview. what can you expect today and when do you think final passage will happen? >> it's great to be with you. i'm going to go look for that pizza. let me just start by saying that what we're doing is passing, in total, when we get done, president biden's build back better plan. two parts, infrastructure, which we're doing now, and as senator schumer said, easy way, hard way, doesn't matter, we're going to stay until it's done, period.

the second is the budget. what i'm excited about there is this is where we're focusing on americans to cut the costs that keep them up at night, extend the biggest tax cut for american families, create jobs while we're tackling the climate crisis, and we're going to pay for all of it by making sure the wealthy pay their fair share. so i'm very excited about getting all of this done. >> where do the negotiations stand right now on specifically infrastructure? we'll get to budget reconciliation in a minute. for example, bill hagerty blocked this from being expedited because the report says it will add a bunch of money to the national debt. some say that's not true, it will be offset with savings and revenue. how much pushback are you expecting and what are you telling your gop colleagues, whose votes, frankly, you guys need? >> lindsey, it's so interesting, because on thursday we were prepared to move forward on amendments, many, many of them,

most of them, probably republican amendments with an open process and they basically shut their own amendments down. and i have to give a shout out to senator schumer because we have voted on more amendments in this senate, this new democratic senate to date, in a half a year, than mitch mcconnell allowed to be voted on in two years. and so they decided, for whatever reason, to shut themselves down, and so now we're trying to work with them to say, all right, let's come up with an agreement so we're not just running the time on the clock, that we can vote on amendments or we can move forward on process, we know what the final outcome is going to be, i believe. the votes are there for this. and certainly the american people have waited long enough for infrastructure week. so at this point i don't see what the republicans that are objecting gain, other than if

they just don't want to see the president succeed and they don't want to see us address the problems that the american people want us to tackle. and that's what we're here to do. >> senator, we have some video of the vice president going to capitol hill today to take part in meetings on this bill. can you give us any insight into the purpose of those meetings, and are you going to be taking part in any of them? >> well, it's always wonderful to have the vice president. our former senate colleague with us. a couple of days ago when i was at the white house for an event on electric vehicles, i spent some time with the vice president ahead of time talking about all of this process, so it was great to have a chance to catch up with her. i know that she cares deeply about getting the whole build back better plan done, and so she's going to be talking and listening, as we wrap up this piece of it on infrastructure and go to the next piece, you know, she's going to be listening as we figure out how

do we cut those costs, that really are squeezing families, squeezing people, keeping them up at night and keep the tax cut going that we passed that's, frankly, the biggest tax cut for american families in history. and how do we deal with the climate change while we're creating millions of new jobs, and a lot of those in michigan, i have to say, we're clean energy manufacturing, we want to bring those jobs back, we want to bring them home. but she's going to be talking about all of that. and then as i said, the really great part of all of this in the end, when you look at all of the budget issues, we're going to be paying for this by saying, you know, if you're a billionaire, you need to pay more than zero in taxes and contribute to our country. >> senator, before we let you go, i've got to ask you something that representative steve cohen told me last hour. it was my understanding that the bipartisan infrastructure bill was going to be one bill that

was passed, budget reconciliation would be something separate with more of the human infrastructure as it's been referred to, but he said the house is an equal branch, we want to take a look at the infrastructure bill first and then send it back to the senate. do you expect a lot of changes before this gets the president's signature? >> well, we'll see. certainly the house has every right to add their input. these are important investments and i would fully expect them to do that. but as i said, in the big picture, this is all president biden's build back better plan, and so the house will look at what we're doing right now, they'll look at the other piece of it, which i would argue rather than human infrastructure, it's about cutting costs for people, it's cutting their taxes and cutting their costs, number one. and so we'll work with the house. certainly they are an equal branch of government, full partners with us. they've been involved in so many

discussions. i've been involved already with many discussions and my counterpart, the agriculture and nutrition and forestry committee about the investments we're going to make in the budget to bring down emissions. and so we're already talking about our house colleagues and we'll continue it. but the most important thing is people want to see results. they don't want to hear about infrastructure week. they want to see us do something to fix the roads and bridges and connect them with high-speed internet. they want to make sure that we're putting them first, our republican colleagues have spent a lot of time putting the wealthy and the wealth connected first when they're in the majority. so we're changing that up. we're saying that we want the majority of americans to know somebody has got their back. and that's really what the budget is all about. >> senator, i hope there's some pizza left after we've taken up so much of your time. it might be a long day for you.

thank you so much. we want to get to breaking news out of texas. a second especially session is under way right now to address a controversial election bill. take a look at this live look on your screen. it says 12:09 p.m. in the upper left because this is central time, which is an hour behind eastern time. and look at all those empty chairs. state democrats aren't there. nbc's jay gray is live in austin. jay, if those state democrats are still in dc, what's happening right now? >> reporter: yeah, lindsey, around 2:00 it begins, the fight over the legislation. you're right, a few people milling around on the floor of the house, but there are so many empty seats, and most of those seats normally filled by the democrats who left july 12th. many of them close to 60, going to dc and lobbying for some type of national law election-wise. and they say they feel like they're making progress. in fact, earlier in the day we

talked about state rep jasmine crockett, who said that they are feeling good about the prospects there and that they'll be there through the week, likely. >> one thing that we were committed to was staying here until the senate actually did recess. we have put pressure on the senate not to recess until we deal with voting rights. we know that they're still in. it is our understanding that a voting rights bill will be rolled out and there may be a vote on that this upcoming week. speaking with, actually, any amount of senators right now, they're telling us, listen, this new bill is going to be rolled out and the majority leader has promised to make sure that we get a vote on that before we recess. so i do feel very confident. >> reporter: yeah, and, again, that part of an overall strategy by the texas house democrats who say they're not coming back unless they can feel like they're getting support from dc

and also feel like the governor is willing to negotiate a bit. to this point, they say he's made no indication that that's the case. remember, this election legislation is really getting all of the spotlight here, but there are several other issues on this special session docket that there is concern about, including border security and education, where money is going to go for education and how they're going to deal with things like critical race theory and wearing masks or having vaccinated students. the governor here, greg abbott, has already signed an executive order that says no public school system can mandate mask wearing by students, and so that's something that they're stuck on as well. a lot to work through here and right now it doesn't look like that's going to happen. it remains a standstill. >> jay gray, thank you for that report. new reports emerge this week about the lengths donald trump went to in trying to overturn the 2020 election. it's even more alarming than you think and now, for the first time, former obama attorney

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this weekend is biden administration is considering a tougher approach to encourage americans to get vaccinated for covid as cases spike across the country. nbc's mike memoli is in wilmington, delaware, traveling with the president. are we talking about mandates? >> reporter: how often have we talked about the white house's efforts to reach the vaccination goal july 4th, they got there a few weeks late. there's still tens of millions of americans who aren't vaccinated and the white house is doing everything it can to consider all options in what they are calling a war time effort to get americans vaccinated and try to stem the virus as hospitalizations and deaths are starting to tick up just a bit.

so as we saw with the eviction moratorium, the white house taking a step that even the president has conceded might not be within his constitutional bounds, the white house is also considering using the president's spending authority, the dollars that are sent to states through programs like medicare to potentially mandate things like nursing homes to get their employees vaccinated if they want those federal dollars. now, this all comes as the president was spending friday touting a strong jobs growth number, but also concerned that the continued spread of the virus, especially in those areas in the south, is a threat to the continued economic growth. take a listen to the president. >> a lot of hard work left to be done, both to beat the delta variant and to continue our advance of economic recovery. we all know what it starts with. i say it again and again, this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.

we have to get more people vaccinated. >> reporter: now, lindsey, white house officials stress that any talk about withholding federal dollars without vaccination mandates or the nursing homes in particular are pre-decisional. that's a way of saying they're in very early stages. but clearly this white house is trying to find any way it can to try to get those numbers up and they're also really lashing out at governors in states like florida, ron desantis, who as they say, needs to get out of the way. he is banning local jurisdictions from instituting mask mandates for schools as the school year begins down there. it's set up an interesting war of words over the last week. >> it certainly has. thank you so much. president biden is touting the latest job numbers. new polling this week shows mixed reviews from the american people. three new polls show the president's approval rating has dropped anywhere from three to ten points and approval for his handling of the pandemic has

taken a hit at 53% compared to 65% in may. joining me now the robert gibbs, political analyst and former white house press secretary. robert, you used to pour over this kind of polling data, so i need you to help shed some context here. would these numbers concern you if this was your boss? >> well, i think what is concerning, likely is concerning to the white house, if you look at those earlier numbers, the foundation of that was almost certainly the covid response and recovery efforts. so with the increase in cases we're seeing and the increase in the delta variant and the uncertainty that that brings, it's not surprising that those numbers have gone down. i would say, too, at the beginning of the week we saw the beginning of pessimism around the economy. that may have been buoyed a bit by the jobs report, but the combination of covid and the economy are the foundation of

this president's job approval rating. so there is going to be concern about whether the variant becomes more out of control and whether that impacts the economy as well. so it's something that's going to be watched extraordinarily closely within the white house. >> administration also has to juggle covid messaging. biden said at the beginning of the summer, if you don't want to wear a mask, get a vaccine. with delta, some vaccinated people still do need to wear masks. how do you think the administration is handling covid and the delta surge and do you think that maybe the white house declared freedom from the virus a little too soon? >> well, i think the president and white house have done a good job of making sure people understand what's at stake here. the idea of taking off our masks was dependent upon us continuing to get vaccinated and keeping the virus under control.

i think many have mentioned over the past two weeks that the messaging from the cdc has been uneven at best, and we've seen that throughout the pandemic in all honesty. i think it took a lot of people by surprise to have masking guidance without the evidence that surrounded that guidance only come out a couple days later. so i think the thing i would say as a communications professional, to anybody trying to communicate in this public health environment, is to communicate often, to communicate transparently, to be very honest with the american people as the president has been, in understanding all of what's at stake. this is something that's going to ebb and flow. we understand that. we saw it last year with different waves in this pandemic. so what you say today isn't necessarily going to be true in two weeks. it's going to ebb and flow and it requires that how you

communicate today understands those variabilities for the people that hear the messaging. >> you talked about communication and how crucial that is and communication about public health. what about communication when it comes to the economy? because there was that great jobs report that we broke down just about 30 minutes ago here on this program, showing job creation, showing a reduction in the unemployment rate. but, robert, when you think about it, people are saying a little bit more at the grocery store, they might be paying a little more at the pump. people are noticing that inflation is increasing. so if the economy is such a crucial part of re-election, looking ahead to the midterms, what does the messaging need to be? >> well, look, i think, again, a little bit like covid, there's variability in this. obviously as demand ramps up, it increases in a big, big way for an economy that's improving, the supply chain constraints that we've seen over the past year have really kicked in. and so that, by definition, is

going to drive prices up. and we've seen that with inflation. but i think this white house has to be focused on, first and foremost, that job recovery. and we've seen not just this month, but we saw revisions to previous months, wage growth is strong for workers. that helps in the increase in prices that you've talked about. and, look, we're on a pathway to replacing the jobs that were lost in the pandemic faster than i think even most economists thought. so the key is to continue that job growth in the short-term, and then the legislative back and forth that you've been discussing for the first part of the program is how we lay a foundation for medium to long-term economic growth. >> that is certainly what we heard from one economy expert in this hour. i want to switch gears before we let you go. new reporting this week from abc news that a draft letter was circulated late last year by trump loyalists at the doj showing their intention to urge georgia's governor to call

lawmakers back to investigate these unproven claims of voter fraud here. overnight former ag eric holder reacted to that. let's listen. >> what we're seeing here was, in essence, a coup attempt, an attempt by the people at the white house to try to get the justice department to be the foundation for that coup by having the justice department say, with no basis in fact, that there was election irregularities in some critical states and then use that as the way in which you would delay. >> you know eric holder better than i do. how significant is it that he's using the term coup? >> well, i think that's the word that caught everybody's attention and if i was to see eric in the next few days, i would ask him if that was a description of what he thought was happening or did that have some legal significance, which i think is a real interesting question to be probed. i do think, look, our democracy

depends on fair elections and it depends on a respect for rule of law. i think it is incumbent upon the current justice department to open an investigation as to what happened at the end of the last president's term as it relates to the justice department. anybody, whether you're a democrat or republican or a liberal or a conservative, you have to be shocked and outraged by this. even as much as we lost our capability of being shocked and outraged over that four years. but this needs to be looked into, and if there were laws that were broken, if there were crimes that happened, they need to be investigated, because we need to send a clear message that elections, fair elections have to count, rule of law has to be respected, we are not -- this is not an authoritarian dictatorship, and it can't be. we can't have people deciding

elections at the justice department. they have to be decided by the voters in states and localities, and that has to be really underscored to make sure that this never, ever happens again. we're piecing slowly what's happened together in a much clearer way from election day through the inauguration, and i really think the justice department is going to have to shed a brighter light on that. >> robert gibbs, always a pleasure to have you on the program. if you do get through to eric holder, there's always an invitation for him to come on as well. a new twist between the governor of texas and the democrats who fled to the nation's capital. they say civil rights are being violated. we're going to speak with one of them next. t. someone once told me, that i should get used to people staring. so i did. it's okay, you can stare.

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breaking news right now, the second special session is under way in texas to address the controversial election bill and a host of other agenda items. this comes as state democrats

remain in dc out of their home state of texas as part of an effort to stop republicans from passing this restrictive voting law. joining me is one of those democrats, texas state represent everybody, and we're so happy to have you on with us. you're still in dc. you had no plans of going back to texas today for the special session. what is the end game here? how long can you conceivably stay there before you'll have to return to texas? >> we take it day by day. and so right now we can stay here and continue to work to get congress to pass federal voting rights legislation. we did not make quorum today at the capital in texas because we will not participate in the republican effort to restrict and limit the freedom of texans to vote. and that's what's happening here.

this is a coordinated national attack on our voting rights and we need congress to act at a federal level to protect those rights. >> when it comes to that federal movement, i spoke with one of your colleagues, representative jasmine crockett earlier this morning, and she said she's gotten some assurances that there won't be august recess until this is brought up. how confident are you that that will happen? it's my understanding that august recess is potentially just days away once infrastructure gets passed. >> that's right. well, my understanding is the senate is working through the weekend and chuck schumer made a statement to the "washington post" a couple of days ago indicating that, in fact, they would not recess until a vote on federal voting rights legislation is had on the floor of the u.s. house. so we feel confident that is happening and we're here to continue to work on this front, this winnable front in washington, d.c. to protect the

rights of americans to vote. >> when i spoke with representative crockett, she told me it's not easy to be here, to corral everybody and get them on the same page. talk to me about the personal, the financial and the emotional costs of staying in dc and being away from home. >> well, i have two school-age children. i had never been away from my children for more than a week before this effort. i miss them terribly. one of my children is not vaccinated, so i didn't want to put him on a plane to come visit me here. so i have not seen them. they start school in a week. i would like to be there helping them get ready for school, and i don't feel like i can. luckily, my husband is holding down the fort, so to speak, and is taking care of all of this, because it's that important.

>> lots of facetime, i imagine. >> right. this is the voting rights fight of our lifetime and we are doing everything that we know to do to meet the moment. so my whole family is in this fight and i'm proud to be in this with the vast majority of the texas house democratic caucus, and we will continue to fight with as much vigor and determination, the second suppression session that governor abbott has called as we did the first one that just ended yesterday, i think it was. >> you guys aren't just going up against the governor in terms of voting rights. talk to me about covid, too. you said you have two school age children that are going back to school soon and the governor in texas is refusing to allow any kind of mask mandates. considering there's a spike in covid literally in every state. how worried are you to send your kids to school, and are you going to be sending them to school in masks? >> it is a tough choice, isn't it? i have a high school age student

who has been vaccinated, so he will be going to school and he will be masking. i have an elementary school student who does not qualify for the vaccine yet and we have made the decision for now to keep him home to learn remotely. a tough decision to make. we were really torn. my husband and i talked throughout the day a couple of days ago on our deadline to make that decision and decided, for now, we would keep him home. of course, there are real concerns with keeping our child home again for another school year and the remote learning, the remote learning exercise is not the same as in classroom education. i don't think it equals it. so this is not ideal. and the governor makes it less ideal by tying the hands of local governments, local school districts, to respond accordingly to the rise in the

pandemic in their communities. i just got off the phone with a bunch of members of school boards in central texas who are considering their options and considering whether they even have to go against the governor's and his texas education administration's requirements of not requiring mask mandates, because they know their duty to families, students, to children, are greater than -- >> representative, we have to let you go. i do empathize with the fact you've got school age kids and you're debating whether or not to send them. it's a scary new world. we hope you'll come back and let us know how it's going from the schools and school boards that you're hearing from in central texas as well. thanks for your time. there are new details on the first criminal complaint against governor andrew cuomo. the sheriff handling that complaint spoke with the media a short time ago. we'll bring you what he said next.

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more breaking news on the criminal complaint filed against new york governor andrew cuomo. you saw last hour the albany sheriff confirming the investigation and giving details of how his office plans to proceed. there's also new reaction from new york's attorney general, governor cuomo disputing the allegations and we should say he is not charged with any crime.

correspondent kathy park joins us. something else i found interesting from the sheriff, he said we're not going to rush, we're not going to delay the investigation based on who the subject is. what more are we learning about what we can expect? >> reporter: hey, there, lindsey. well, we know that the victim right now who remains unidentified, only known right now as executive assistant number one, as recorded in the ag finding, came forward on thursday and filed this complaint with the sheriff's department. and the sheriff stress had this is a victim who came forward, and obviously this was very difficult for the woman. so he wanted to make that point very clear. as far as the investigation goes, he mentioned that this is still very much in the infancy, the early stages of the investigation. they will have to bring the victim back and also talk to the district attorney as well. here is a little more about next steps. >> i can tell you that attorney brian primo and his client did,

in fact, come in. she filed a formal report alleging conduct against the governor that was sexual in nature. the meeting at that point commences the investigative process for the albany county sheriff's office. >> reporter: and, lindsey, obviously this is a very high profile investigation, and the sheriff said that governor cuomo will not be treated any differently as they move forward. as you mentioned, the ag's office issued a response quickly after the press conference saying they will turn over all evidence related to the complainant. there was a q&a period with reporters and they questioned about potential charges and he said that it's still very premature at this point, but a misdemeanor charge is a possibility, and then following that is a possible arrest. once again, this is still very early on in the investigation and they still need to interview the witness again. meanwhile, interesting as far as

optics go, lindsey, less than a mile away from where this press conference was happening with the sheriff, governor cuomo was still holed up in his executive mansion. he was spotted earlier today just outside briefly, preoccupied on his phone. so that was just kind of interesting, while this was all unfolding just a few minutes away. and come monday, the judiciary committee will be meeting back here in albany to discuss possible impeachment proceedings. lindsey? >> kathy park, thank you so much for that report. follow the money. a new "washington post" report breaks down how the former president appears to be enriching companies he owns with donor funds. the coauthor of that report joins me live next. ive next hacct your smile will always be brilliant. crest 3d white brilliance. 100% stain removal, 24 hour stain resistance to lock in your whitest smile. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. fine, no one leaves the table until your finished.

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so you can focus on what matters most. that's how we've become the leader in 5g. #1 in customer satisfaction. and a partner who includes 5g in every plan, so you get it all. a new report suggests donald trump's political groups are spending hundreds of thousands

of donor money at trump properties. according to an article publish by the "washington post," save america, that former president trump is asking contributions to be sent, paid two times in 2021, and nine times the payments went to properties owned by the former president. let's bring in msnbc contributor. you have been the follow the money guy for so long and i always see these articles. this is all according to a filing made public on saturday. what was the most surprising to you? >> well, we had been wondering, trump, when he was a candidate for president and when he was seeking re-election, had been pouring money that had been given for his political fortunes into his private business, and we wondered now that he's not president, he's just a private citizen, would he still keep doing that, turning political

contributions into private revenue. the answer is yes, he continued to pay $37,000 a month for office space at trump tower. he continued to spend money for events, hotels, other things at his own properties. so donors' money becomes his private money again. >> and you report that trump has a war chest of donations worth more than $100 million and that these charges really stand out because of how little he's spent post-presidency from his war chest. can you elaborate on that? >> that's right. it is striking. mostly what he did with the money was keep it, keep it in his political war chest. you have to remember the context under which he raised this money, this frantic, frantic e-mails, texts that his supporters were getting in the weeks after the november election after he lost and continuing, and those didn't say, hey, give me money i can spend at my businesses, give me money i can sit on and spend whatever i want to. they said, no, urgent, we are fighting to save donald trump's chances in the 2020 election, they pushed the lie it was

stolen, we need to do something about it right then and people gave money them and trump kept it. hasn't spent the money fighting the 2020 election. he hasn't spent the money for candidates in 2021. he mostly kept it and spent .at his own property. the contrast between the way, the languid way he used the money, self-enriching way he used the money and the way he raised the money is striking. >> the way he has transformed the money into private revenue for his businesses, from office space at trump tower to use of his jet to even billing for trump water, so i don't think, correct me if i'm wrong, you are an attorney, but i am sure you have interviewed many as part of your reporting here. why is he able to use these political donations even though he's not currently running? >> well, it is a good question because i thought, you know, not knowing much about the political contribution system, i thought, well, this can't be possible, but it is. the kind of pac that he is using, this sort of leadership

pac, the political fundraising vehicles he is using, basically there's no limits in what he can do with it. it would be really hard for him to break the law by spending money with himself. in general he is allowed to pay himself, pay for his travel, for office space at his properties. these things are set up to be basically unregulated pots of money. all you have to do is report what you spent on it and there's a few ways you can break the law but not many. what he is doing now is maybe unethical, that's up to others, it is perfectly legal. >> you know, on monday you tweeted that the secret service, you tweeted a document which shows that the secret service has basically been charged by trump's mar-a-lago resort more than $14,000 from may to june to rent rooms to stay in while they protect him. i mean i would ask how unusual this is. we saw this during his presidency. is it just as unusual to then see this post-presidency? >> yes. there's really no precedent for a former president using his taxpayer funded secret service

protection, meant to keep him alive, to use it as a way to put money in his own pocket but trump is doing of the. he has done it every single night he has been a former president either at mar-a-lago or at bedminster, sometimes at both clubs at the same time. he is charging the secret service rent for the rooms they use when they sort of want to stay close to him to protect him. you know, it could be over $100,000 this year alone, and it will continue forever because, again, this is sort of a legal gray area where there's no law against this. it is just sort of there was an honor system that you didn't do this, and trump discarded the honor system and is reaping the benefit. >> a quick question before we let you go. how is it he is able to do both at the same time as the president can't be in two places at once? >> i think in this case he was charging in may and june. when he was at bedminster he was charging them at bedminster and mar-a-lago. that may have been because some members of family remained at mar-a-lago while he was at bedminster so they had to cover both. >> okay. david fahrenthold, a pretty

enlightening reporting. thank you so much. >> thank you. and there's been a frightening development for americans still in afghanistan. we'll get to that next. eese versus the other guys. ♪♪ clearly, velveeta melts creamier. millions of vulnerable americans struggle to get reliable transportation to their medical appointments. that's why i started medhaul. citi launched the impact fund to invest in both women and entrepreneurs of color like me, so i can realize my vision and give everything i've got to my company, and my community.

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♪ xfinity is here to inspire your biggest dreams ♪ welcome back, everybody. we are following breaking news now. the u.s. embassy is urging americans in afghanistan to leave the country immediately, and the warning comes as the taliban gains more critical ground in the region, taking a second afghan city in just two

days. nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley joins us live. matt, this feels like a quick escalation. we knew that the taliban was gaining ground as american troops were withdrawing. how serious is this? >> reporter: it is very serious. we are talking about two provinces, two provincial capitals, major cities in the last weekend. we saw on friday militants took over one in the southwestern province. that was on friday. today they took the northern afghan province. so we're talking about a steady drip, drip of increasing taliban movement towards the capital of kabul. this is coming as the u.s. is drawing down its troops in accordance with joe biden's plan to eventually very quickly withdraw from afghanistan. you know, a lot of this really reminds everybody of what happened when the soviets tried to leave afghanistan. back then, actually the provisional afghan government, the communist government set up

by the soviet union in the late '80s, they actually survived for two years. it was something that heartened a lot of american officials that maybe their government, the sort of almost a puppet state that the u.s. created in kabul, that really never enjoyed all that much power outside the capital of afghanistan, that it might be able to last. now it is really starting to look like it won't be the case, that this government, this provisional government, the u.s.-backed afghan government won't be able to survive nearly as long as the one that was set up by the soviet union back in the day. so we're seeing a really, really rapid advance of the taliban, and as far as the biden administration is concerned, well, it looks like the state department just today issued a communique saying all american citizens should leave afghanistan. it really looks like not the beginning of the end, but well toward the end of american involvement in afghanistan. linsey. >> thank you so much for jumping in on this developing news. we appreciate it. that does it for me for this

hour of "alex witt reports." i will see you at 6:00 eastern and noon eastern. joe fryer continues our coverage. ♪ ♪ good day from msnbc world headquarters in new york. welcome to "alex witt reports." i'm joe fryer. alex is off. here is what is happening at 2:00 p.m. eastern, 11:00 a.m. pa civic. we begin with the latest on the coronavirus pandemic and a live look at south dakota where bikers are garthering by the thousands for the annual sturgis motorcycle rally. bikers are coming from all around the u.s., and officials fear it has the potential to become a superspreader event for the highly transmissible delta variant. the new warning in texas. modelling by the university of texas shows the austin, travis county area, could exceed icu bed capacity by tomorrow. the rising number of cases led officials to close an emergency room last night. the number of infections