♪♪ it is great to be with you. i'm geoff bennett on what is a very busy wednesday afternoon. as we come on the air, we are awaiting a joint news conference from secretary of defense lloyd austin and joint chiefs chairman mark milley and the first joint press conference since the fall of kabul, and the evacuation of the americans and allies in that country, and keep it here for that, and we are also awaiting an address to the nation from

president biden about the recommendation from the covid task force for a booster shot for all americans ages 12 and older. >> we know that the highly effective vaccines are less effective over time, and that is why today we are announcing the plan to stay ahead of the virus by being prepared to over covid-19 booster shots to vaccinated adults 18 years and older and prepared for the booster shot eight months after receiving the second dose of the moderna or the pfizer dose. we plan to start this september 2021. >> three points are clear. vaccine protection against the sars covid-19 protection begins to decrease over time. and second the vaccine effectiveness against the severe disease and hospitalization and death remains relatively high.

and third, the disease effectiveness is increasing against the delta variance. >> and so it is a big announcement raising a lot of questions and we hope to answer many of them for you in a minute, and even as the federal officials are rolling tout plan for third shot, federal official s are pleading with people to get their first shot. we continue to see many deaths per day, but many of them are preventable, and maybe, just maybe the message is breaking through. >> and nearly 7 million americans have rolled up the sleeves and gotten their first shot. 7 million, and that is the highest two-week total since the beginning of june. and once the numbers from today are reported, we will have reached 200 million americans with at least their first shot. 200 million americans with at least one shot. that is a major milestone.

>> and joining us to start the hour, nbc news correspondent morgan chesky in dallas, and dasha burns in broward county, florida, and msnbc medical contributor and former obama white house health contributor kavita patel, and we will start with you, dr. patel, but they said that it was not needed, but watching the data closely, so help us to understand what prompted the change here? >> it is right question to ask, geoff, because many of the americans and the doctor are asking the same thing. what the cdc released today falls into several categoing da. specifically israel, and also, data inside of the united states from the mayo clinic, and that

from new york state showing that the vaccine is decreasing over time, and also a slight increase in hospitalizations amongst vaccinated long-term residents, and that is the source of many of the unfortunate deaths at the beginning of the pandemic, and so it is making sense to do a time-based release, but geoff, i can tell you that there are thousands of people figuring out september 20th, if i can get the booster, so between now and then we have to figure out how to communicate this and the fda has to do some things to go out to get the authorization, and not just go out to get it. >> and other health agencies have to figure out the best practice for kids with vaccines 12 and under, and many are going back to school with only a cloth mask, and here we are some not with the first dose, and some

going for the third, so what is the word on that? >> look, there is incredible pressure, and i'm part of the growing call for the fda to take growing action for children sooner, but with safety. they are maintaining and by the way, they have added that they have not received any of the applications from the manufacturers. so they are waiting to get the data packages from the manufacturers, and then they have promised that they will work as quickly as possible, but geoff, the bad news is that we won't see the action any time soon. so what i am worrying about is that september 20th is the milestone, and much of the american public is going to be confused and afraid, and we have to do our best job to guide that over the next few weeks and critical time with the cases going up and not down in many parts of the country. >> and dr. patel, before we bring in morgan and dasha, i have to ask about the people with the j&j vaccine. >> yes, and many close friends

and family with that situation. they are waiting for johnson & johnson to submit what looked like the two-dose data and a second johnson & johnson dose and call it a booster, but it is not clear. they are waiting for that data, and 13 million people, and many people, i will tell you, geoff, they are seeking outside of kind of the recommendations officially from the government and seeking out boosters and going to the pharmacies and they are telling people that they want to get the mrna vaccine, and here is the promising data. from the u.k., we have seen astrazeneca similar in vaccine to astrazeneca, and in two doses can give you incredible amount of protection, so the fda and the cdc will consider the mix and match, but if you see johnson & johnson, and you have been vaccinated in march or later, we do have data that shows that the efficacy, and the effectiveness is holding. so continue to protect yourselves, but we are not

seeing, geoff, greater numbers of the people with the johnson & johnson going to the hospital in greater proportion than the others. so that is not great news, but we should have more guidance soon. >> got it. morgan chesky, let's talk about what is happening down there in texas, because governor greg abbott, the republican governor, a fierce opponent of the mask and mandates and he took the opposition all of the way to the supreme court, and he said that he has contracted covid-19, and he says that he is fully vaccinated. give us the latest on that, and is there any sense of how this diagnosis might affect future policy coming from the governor's office there. >> yeah, geoff, if there is any change to the policy, it certainly has not happened yet from governor greg abbott where he is right now self-isolating inside of the governor's office in austin, texas, and in a video posted to twitter, he is asymptomatic and currently not experiencing any symptoms from covid-19, and we know that he is

vaccinated, but there are questions arising from that because two sources say that the governor has said that he has received a third shot which is only cleared by the fda last week for those who are immunocompromise and his office is not confirming whether or not the governor has received the third dose of the vaccine, but he is being treated with regeneron which is the antibody treatment to be typically given to somebody who come downs with covid as a high-risk patient who is going to keep them from high-risk patients and out of the hospital, but with that said, the governor said that he is doing just fine in the governor's mansion where it is business as usual, and he is in contact with the state leaders and this is coming at a time when texas is not seeing the worst of the surge, but the worst of the pandemic as far as it comes from the numbers n. north texas area, home to 2 1/2 million, at last check 16 staffed icu beds, 16, and when we spoke to the chief medical

officer at parkland hospital, he said 500 nurses down from where he would like to be operating now, and one of the most frustrating things from the doctors and the nurses say they may have the beds open, but they don't have staff to man them. we know that the governor did send out 2,500 medical workers to distribute amongst the state, but a state as big as texas, that 2,500 between dallas, san antonio, houston, and austin and everywhere in between, it is not going to go that far, so right now, everybody is hoping that more reinforcements can come as frustration mounts here in texas. >> and morgan, tragic when you have the health experts saying that the second surge, this entire thing was entirely preventable. and dasha over to you in florida in broward county where it is the first day of school, and the governor is threatening the school districts if they impose mask mandates and we will speak

to a broward county official who is doing just that and defying governor desantis. what are you seeing there? >> this is behind me a busy day of school closing, but broward county is kicking off the school year in the middle of a political tug of war. this is imposing a mask mandate despite the governor's issuing a refusal to issue a mandate. and there was a phone call with people volatile of it, and one person calling in favor of the mask mandate, and a person saying that the superintendent should be investigated on murder, and another saying that

she should be brought up on tyranny, and another saying that there will be punitive measures, but broward county is not backing down. you will hear more on that shortly, and they are listening to what the people here locally want, and their surveys have shown overwhelming support for the mask mandates, and geoff, on the ground here, i have been talking to the parents and picking up and dropping off the students, and every single parent has been in support of this mask mandate. they have family members who are immunocompromised and children who are immunocompromised and i spoke to a third grader named sophie, and she is willing to wear a mask because it helps to prevent the spread of germs, and parents here and across the country, they are pointing to the kids and the 8-year-olds and the 7-year-olds who are willing to put on the mask and they

understand what it means. they are hoping that the state leads will listen to kids, geoff. >> the 8-year-old sophie is a smart one. dasha burns and morgan chesky thank you, and dr. patel, we always appreciate you on a day you are seeing patients. and now i want to bring in dr. osgood, the chairman of the broward county school board. thank you for being with us on this busy day, and you said that you had no choice but to defy the ban on mask mandates. and tragically you have lost two teachers and a assistant to complications of the covid-19. so take us inside of the decision making here. >> well, as a board, 8 of the 9 members of the board voted to protect the people of broward county. as you know, florida is becoming the epicenter for the coronavirus. in broward county, most of the hospital beds are filled to capacity, and i think that on saturday, we only had five pediatric beds left.

it is a situation where it is running rampant, and we employ over 500,000 employees and we could not bring the students back without masks. we have to use all of the mitigation tools in the tool box. vaccinations, and we are encouraging the people to get vaccinated, and yesterday, we voted to give the staff, permanent staff a $250 incentive to get vaccinated and show proof of that vaccination by october 20th. we believe masks absolutely have to happen, because we have 40% of the students 12 and under who don't have an option for vaccination, and we believe in practicing socially distancing when you can. we know that when you come into the classroom with 26 students and teacher making 27, you can only practice at maximally three

feet socially distancing. so we believe that the pandemic is real. it is deadly. we have lost teachers, and we have lost esps, and we have lost loved ones, and our community is mourning from the pandemic, and we want to make sure that we protect people or not have people get covid and live rather than have lifelong complications, so we made a moral decision and a decision from the place of our heart to love and care for the people that we work, live and play with. it was not about defying governor desantis, but it was about doing more what we feel in our heart is the right thing to do. >> i hear you. i want to ask you this, because the florida board of education and it is made up of the members who are appointed by the governor. they voted unanimously to punish your school district and another school district in florida for mandating masks in schools. do you know what the punishment

is and how is it going to impact your district? what is the recourse do you have? >> right now, we don't know what the sanction will be, and the board voted to have the commissioner of education move forward. he has various options that they have mentioned like holding funds from the school district, removing school board members, and do dg -- doing an investigation and we will comply, and we will seek legal recourse, because we will challenge and we believe that we are within the parameters of the constitution and operating in a way that allows us to protect and save the lives of people in our district. so, we are prepared to go to court legally, and really, we just want to be left alone, and we just want to go back to educating our kids, meeting their mental health needs and given the supports to the families. we have been in this pandemic now for 18 months, and it is

trauma on all of our students and our staff. we just want to get through this moment in time and focus on the children. we wish that the governor and the state would just allow us to do what we have been elected to do, and that is to care for the people that we love in this community. >> i hear you. you say that the job is hard enough doing right by the 270,000 students in your care. dr. roslyn osgood chairman of the broward county school board. thank you for all you do. and now, in afghan, the allies who are targets of the taliban. later, he recorded himself breaching the quarter twice and bragged about battling the police, and now a seventh capitol rioter will go before a judge. and now, in haiti, the u.s. coast guard and relief workers are rushing to help those injured in the massive earthquake there. >> we are hoping to get as many

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we are following breaking news out of the pentagon this afternoon where we expect a briefing from secretary lloyd austin and joint chiefs chairman mark milley next hour. that is happening as the u.s. government is racing to get americans and allies out of afghanistan after the taliban takeover there, and as many as 15,000 americans remain in afghanistan and hundreds of desperate afghans have gathered outside of the airport in kabul trying to leave that country. meantime, the taliban's claims they will allow safe passage to the airport are coming under question. there are reports by the l.a. times and the associated press and the guardian that the taliban have set up checkpoints near the airport to demanding documents to see s and forcibly

turning some people around and at times using gun fire, whips and sticks and sharp objects to disburse the crowds outside of the airport, but americans are getting out, including those on a plane that left, or that landed in dulles in d.c. area this morning. one contractor spoke with nbc news about what he experienced. >> you feel like maybe it is the alamo, and the last stand, and that is it, and you don't have any other support elements there. it is time to leave, and time to go. it is not sustainable anymore so that the kinds of work that civilian contractors are doing over there, doing the maintenance training and advising and combat missions, we can't do that unless we have those assets and those security assets. >> nbc's chief foreign

correspondent richard engel with the latest. >> they have been brought in to secure the evacuation process which is moving ahead rapidly. americans are taken out, and contractors are taken out, and other foreign nationals left, and afghans with fortunate enough to have exit visas to other countries and afghans are saying that the process is too slow around the edges of the base, and around the perimeter are thousands of afghans no visas trying to push their way in, and that is exactly what happened a few days ago, thousands of afghans climbed over the walls and came into the base, and rushed on to the tarmac, and they climbed into the civilian planes and tried to climb on to the military aircraft and holding on to the undercarriage and according to the afghan media, several afghans were killed when they fell off of the planes when they had taken off.

this base is now secure and the evacuation flights are taking off and proceeding quite quickly. and in kabul, a leader telling the taliban, that even they were surprised at the rapid collapse of kabul. they didn't have the resources in place to take kabul, and they didn't expect that the afghan president, ashraf ghaani would leave. and yesterday, women went out on the streets to say that they would not have rights under the taliban rule, and today in jalalabad, demonstrators went out and carrying the old afghan flag saying that is their flag and not the new white taliban

flag. and according to witnesses, taliban drove by in a vehicle and opened fire on that crowd killing at least three of the demonstrators. richard engel, nbc news, kabul. >> thank you to richard and his crew there in kabul. with us are admiral james stavridis and chairman richard galindo who represented the obama administration in talks with the afghani government. and so, we will begin with you , general. this is less of an issue of the afghan military capabilities and more of a reflection of the afghan leadership, cohesion and will power. that said, the afghan government

unraveled even more quickly than we anticipated. is that a fair assessment, admiral? >> yes. and there is plenty of blame to go around. certainly, you need to start by pointing out that the taliban has operated with a high degree of effective, military confidence and relatively high level of sophistication in the media communication. they have moved fast. the afghan government collapsed because it did not have will and because of the corruption issues that have undermined it, and for ourselves here in the united states, at the end of the day, we have to admit, and i include myself in this mission having commanded nato for four years, we have yet to train the afghan military to the degree in which they could have been more successful. so long answer short, there is plenty of blame to go around, and we have to cull these lessons apart and start to focus

on what do we do now. >> and colonel, i understand that you have personally speaken to the taliban leaders in the past and currently, and what is your official capacity, and more to the point, are the remaining americans there, are they safe right now? >> well, the taliban have said they will grant safe passage to anybody who wants to leave, and i think that right now, we have to start working with them on the ground. i know that this -- i know this is hard to accept. my first time talking with people who had just a few moments before trying to kill me and kill my soldiers was, and i mean, it is very difficult and emotionally hard, but you so take a moment to separate, you know, create some space between emotion and action. focus on the things that are most important to america and

americans right now and this is number one refugees, and working to get the people who are siv applicants and want to get out, and get them out. and then we have to work with the people in afghanistan to make sure that the terrorists don't find safe haven there again, and as long as we keep our eye on the ball of what is most important, we will be able to proceed in a good direction, and all of the finger pointing, it is creating tired fingers, so we need to focus on the interests and getting advancing those right now. >> admiral stavridis, and to the colonel's point of the immediate interest of getting the remaining americans out of the country, and many of the folks are contractors and may work for human rights organizations, and you have up to 15,000 americans

that we know of that we were told based on the reporting, and a lot of the folks are far outside of kabul, and what does that look like operationally to make sure they get safe passage back here to the states? >> well, unfortunately, we don't have a good hand of cards at this point, because we have collapsed all of the military capabilities within the perimeter of this airport in kabul. so we are kind of going to have to depend on the statements and the follow-through of the taliban. i saw jay sullivan the national security adviser saying that we will hold them to the account of the safe passage. i don't know how we do that exactly. the good news is that a, the taliban probably want them out as much as we want to get them out, and b, you know, the taliban is trying to project this taliban 2.0 nicer and kinder and gentler listening to better angels and perhaps they will do that, but one other point, geoff, to pick up on the

colonel's excellent comments, keeping an eye on the counter terrorism, and i agree, boy, is that going to be hard considering that we have departed the country, and so we have an operational challenge that comes when we conclude this tactical challenge getting the people out, and the next step is how to reconstitute this surveillance, and the counter terrorist piece going over the horizon of working with the allies is going to be a big challenge, too. >> and colonel, we are a half hour away from the pentagon briefing that we expect to start soon in the next hour, and what do you want to hear from the pentagon officials today? >> i'd like to hear from them how we are coordinating with the afghans on the ground to help our own citizens that are in country, to help reduce the chaos for afghan siv applicants and refugees, and how we are working with the afghans to support our counter terrorism

objectives and what we cannot afford do is out of a sake of vengeance or out of a sake of catharsis is to turn our back on afghanistan again. there is an opportunity to work with the people like the taliban and one of my super powers is to work with people who before have been trying to kill me, and as long as we are clear with our must and wants and consistent and, you know, we treat these issues with candor, we can work our way through them. >> retired army colonel kolenda and admiral stavridis. a capitol riot case subject is to be sentenced in this hour. and also, the second largest wildfire is now burning in the

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right now asentencing hearing is under way for a insurrection defendant. the man's sentencing is the seventh in the insurgency at the capitol. pete, i understand that it is ongoing at the capitol and what can we expect? >> it has just ended, and the sentencing is put off until october 8th, because of a last-minute development that caused all sides including the judge to it is a should be delayed. the development is that it has recently found some facebook postings that said that he is a democrat and he didn't feel

strongly about trump, and he was home watching television and saw that the demonstration was going to happen and took the metro in here and along for the ride, but the government says that the internet postings that reader posted said that he showed a strong attraction that the election was posted and the new video that surfaced that the government showed this morning was that prosecutors showed him attacking a police officer and now he was not charged with doing anything vile or damaging property, and the lawyer said the video is not that bad or explanations for it, but there is no sentencing today and it is put off, and we have the prospect that the government may file new charges. we'll see. >> pete williams, thank you for always with that live update. meanwhile, the georgia republicans took one step possible for the takeover of the

county that delivered key wins in that election. they voted to elect three people to conduct a performance review of fulton county. fulton has long been the target of republicans who continue to push the big lie that the 2020 election outcome was the result of the lie. the crics of the review fear a republican takeover of the county's election process to open up the door to political interference in future races. still ahead, they sacrificed everything to help the troops. i will speak to a former afghan translator on the dangers facing people like him on the taliban takeover. and veterans speaking out about the fear and anger they fear now that people who helped them in afghanistan are trapped there. >> it was my job to go around to villages to go around to help them to make it a better place, and this just completely makes me a liar. iar.

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the taliban's takeover is deeply personal to the thousands is of veterans who served there. for many it has given new and urgent purpose to the ongoing mission to get the afghans they worked alongside to safety. nbc's hallie jackson spoke to several veterans about the frustration, anger and worry they are feeling now. >> hey, there, geoff, for those veterans making sure that the afghan interpreters and helpers get out safely came up again and again as they are feeling now the guilt, and the anger and the anguish. >> reporter: as you have been watching what has been happening in the last 72 hours, how are you doing? >> i want to suit up and go back. >> i would give anything to go back. >> for them it is personal as the biden administration is working to process and evacuate afghan interpreter and fixers and other helpers. >> my interpreter who is stuck right now, and he is hiding out in an area that he says that nobody knows who he is, and he

is very afraid. >> reporter: for his own safety, the right, kristen? >> yes, for his safety and the safety of his family. he sent me a picture of two of ohis boys, and they are -- and i mean, it is devastating. >> i feel this is a really strong sense of guilt, and it is my job to go around to these different villages to go around to help their build their country to make it a better place, and this is just completely makes me a liar, you know. >> and it is not just the soldiers that we are talking about, but the soldiers and the aid workers and the people who believed in the future of the country that we were trying to build together, and they don't have a future now. >> reporter: they are trying to band together to help those who helped them. >> there is a deployment from my living room, and trying to help those who helped us. >> i have to put everything aside, because i feel so responsible. my two friends stuck in kabul, and i'm the only hope that they

have to sur rive right now. i am like literally their last hope. >> reporter: marine corps veteran bill wise twice deployed to afghanistan pulled from the battleground after his two brothers were killed there. he remembers them in his memoir. >> it is so difficult as i remember them. >> reporter: and so many other reflecting on the war's legacy. you are talking about your kids 4 and 2, and how do you want them to remember the war? >> whoa. that is a heck of a question. you know, i don't want them to be ashamed of anything. i mean, we lost for two weeks, but we won for 20 years. >> and now, for the taliban, i have to tell you that none of the veterans that we spoke with believe it is going to happen. they do not believe that the

taliban has changed, and they do not believe that the taliban can be trusted and that is why they are on such a mission, and it is a mission to them, and they are not in afghanistan, but they are on a mission to get the helpers and the people who assisted them out safely, and to a place where they can be safe. it was extraordinary to watch, geoff, even after the interview, they were exchanging spread sheathes and contact information to build this network and they will not rest until those folks get to safety. geoff, back to you. >> thank you, hallie jackson back to the report. >> and with us now is one of the veterans that you saw in the piece, matt zeller host of the podcast, no one left behind, and also, joining us is a former translator, and ambassador of no one left behind. matt, we are 15 or 20 minutes away from the start of the scheduled pentagon press conference, but pentagon

officials say that we should be evacuating as many as 9,000 americans and eligible afghans out of the country each day now that the initial chaos there has subsided. from where you sit, is that the right pace to get them to safety? >> actually, it is. the association of wartime allies puts out a daily tracker that tracks the pace of the evacuation and how fast to be going, and if you are looking at the tracker today, we should be averaging 28 flights aday, and 6,000 people a day to get them out by the 31st of august. so, yeah, that is about right. you know, we are at the slow end of it right now, and they said they would be able to push it up more, but i will tell you what, if the taliban keep preventing people from getting to the airport and take their passports and documents like they are right now, people won't make the flights and people won't move, and this is why the u.s. military has to expand the

perimeter in kabul, and expand the humanitarian corridors to expand the corridors established by the president of the united states who has to give the order. >> and i understand that your family is still in afghanistan, and how are they doing? are they trying to get to the airport and what is the situation for them? >> well, my family cannot go anywhere. they are hiding, and they are moving around. they even did not try to get in there, and you cannot get to the airport unless they have documents and we sent this out to higher ranks to the embassy to a letter to go get my family, because everybody is in fear of the situation right now, and you cannot imagine and i cannot put it in words and it is not my family, but hundreds of other families who are there. >> and as we mentioned, you were able to come to the u.s. four

years after you were serving alongside u.s. forces there as a linguist, and you came here in 2014 and you were working there in 2010. your visa application looking here at my notes took a year, but now that process can stretch to at least three years. what is the process now for people who are trying to get out? the official process? >> i was one of the luckiest people who got my visa in one year. nobody else can be that lucky. i know a lot of people who have been waiting only for a year and for over three years which is kind of nonsense for me why a paperwork can take that long. too many emails are being sent to us on a daily basis and complaining about the process and the situation they are in right now, and i don't know why it takes so long. >> matt, what about that? you have spoke to this, but i want to draw you out on what more the biden administration in your view should be doing to

quickly evacuate afghan allies. >> we need to stop triaging people at the airport, and start putting the people on the planes and figure it out later once we get them out of the country. we had a whole asset called get them to guam. it is what we did in 1996, and people don't know this, but we airlifted 6,000 of the kurdish allies from iraq to guam, and we would have hoped that the people would have put them on planes and moved them to guam and put them there in safety. and now we are not taking them to guam, but to places like qatar which is fine, but at this point, stop with the triaging at the gate, and set up an efficient way to queue them in, and make sure they are not a threat, and you have to understand that there is a digital dunkirk going on right now in america's living rooms, and there is one right here, and my friend's living rooms all over the country, and the veterans are united and the faith organizations are united

and the human rights organizations are united to get people on the evacuation flights and this is the best american effort i have the honor to be a part of and the only thing that is giving me hope, and we can get the people out, but we have two things to convince the president to expand that corridor and this is key. the taliban want us gone by the end of the month, and that is what the white house saided and they refused that we would be past the 31st, and who cares. tell the taliban, that we will be there until we get this done, and they are not the united states, and they will back down. >> my thanks to both of you. abdullah, our best to your family there in afghanistan. reminder that we are expecting a briefing at thep of the hour with secretary lloyd austin and joint chiefs chairman

mark milley. you can see the lecterns side by side, and so stay with msnbc for coverage of that briefing. coming up next here, we will talk about the race to help those injured in a massive earthquake in haiti as the death toll there nears 2,000 people. nears 2,000 people. parkinson's. nears 2,000 people i had to retire from law enforcement. it was devastating. one of my medications is three thousand dollars per month. prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. aarp is fighting for americans like larry, and we won't stop. that's why we're calling on congress to let medicare negotiate lower prescription drug prices. as i observe investors balance risk and reward, i see one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. your strategic advantage.

a state of emergency has been declared for the northern california county of eldorado where another wildfire is spreading at an alarming pace. the caldor fire there has grope to more than 20,000 acres prompting thousands of residents to evacuate. it's the second largest fire currently burning in california. the cause remains under investigation. meantime, the death toll from the massive earthquake in haiti is now approaching 2,000 people, and four days after the quake, the u.s. coast guard is helping to rescue and medevac the injured. nbc's gabe gutierrez went along on one of the missions and has more from port-au-prince. >> reporter: jeff this, has been a very active scene throughout the day as humanitarian aid workers are gathering here at the port-au-prince airport to try and get to those areas, the remote areas in this country that need it the most of the right now you can see behind me the u.s. coast guard has landed another one of its helicopters.

we have seen several of them land here over the last several hours, and as you can see it appears that they are going to unload some patients that they picked up in one of those areas throughout the country that has been the hardest hit. this is something that we've seen over and over again, jeff. just yesterday we were in one of the towns that was hit the hardest, and we saw patients coming that were in a desperate situation. they were picked up there and brought here to port-au-prince, but there's an untold number of patients throughout this country that have been waiting now for days for this medical attention. we keep hearing from the humanitarian aid workers that they are having a very tough time reaching some of the more hard hit areas in the mountains of haiti, but as you can see right now the coast guard and other medical personnel are

unloading some ofse haitians. these are the waiting ambulances here, and they will then be taken to other hospitals throughout port-au-prince. it's hard to tell what condition these patients are in but i can tell you we've seen throughout the day patients that one conscious and led out on gurneys. some of them were very young. some of them were children. hard to -- we just actually saw a worker bring what looked like a very young child, more than a few years old off that have chopper, and -- and trying to get a sense for who else might be in there. it does look like some very young patient, so certainly this is the situation, jeff, that has continued to unfold here in haiti. again, many roads in this country are impassable. the haitian government officials say that the death toll continues to rise as does the

number of futures as they assess this situation. $1 million has been set aside for relief but they estimate damage here will be in the billions. more and more workers are trying to come to port-au-prince to get to the more remote regions throughout the country, and the rescue mission continues here, both by the u.s. coast guard, the army is now here on the ground and an unfolding disaster here in hait. >> just exceptional need there in haiti. our thanks to nbc's gabe gutierrez, his producer and crew there for that extraordinary reporting. that wraps up this hour on msnbc. my friend ayman mohyeldin has more coming up next. d ayman moh more coming up next. it departs. being first on the scene, when every second counts. or teaching biology without a lab. we are the leader in 5g. #1 in customer satisfaction. and a partner who includes 5g in every plan,

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it can be overwhelming. think a second. have we seen this shirt before? progressive can't save you from becoming your parents. but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. but you know what? i'm still gonna get it. good afternoon, everyone. i'm ayman mohyeldin in new york. any moment now defense secretary lloyd austin and joint chiefs of staff chairman general mark milley will hold a prefg and we'll get that to you live as it gets under way. you can see the shot from pentagon. all of that comes hours after president biden's national security team briefed him on what's happening with the national evacuation and as the efforts looks to increase the pace of evacuations from afghanistan with thousands of americans and afghan scud missileians who helped the u.s. waiting to leave, we'll talk to some stranded in that country. we'r