tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. velshi starts now. today on "velshi" the sycophants and acolytes of the twice impeached president talks about how he would have made a cleaner end to afghanistan. and we have a guest who knows better and has the receipts and joins me later in the show. and if shamelessness took on the human form, it would look like the texas lieutenant governor dan patrick telling fox's laura ingraham that african-americans is driving the covid surge in the state and we will take a look at what is behind the deadly spike in texas with a doctor who is fighting it. and he has drawn a straight line, from the american response to 9/11, to the political and cultural atmosphere that brought us donald trump. we have more in the case in a provocative new book. and why is the taliban so adept at social media? we'll talk to someone who is

tracking them. velshi starts now. good morning. it's saturday, august 21st. ali velshi is taking much deserved time off. we begin with breaking news on the situation unfolding in afghanistan and the fallout here in washington, d.c. just moments ago, the u.s. embassy in kabul issued a warning to american citizens, not to travel to hamid karzai international airport until specifically told to. it comes after a president biden press conference, the first time he spoke to report ners ten days since afghanistan fell to the taliban during the biden administration has said quote they have no indication that americans have not been able to get to the airport due to taliban checkpoints. the president revealed that the united states has 6,000 troops

on the ground aiding evacuation efforts, although he doesn't have an exact number of how many americans still remain in afghanistan. he also said this administration is committed to evacuating all americans out of the country by august 31st. although that date should be viewed more as a goal than a firm exit date. and that he views evacuating all of the brave afghans who aided americans during the two decades long war, as almost equally important. meanwhile, in afghanistan, and especially in kabul and in and around the airport, the hamid karzai international airport, chaotic scenes continue to play out as the taliban surrounds the afghans who continue to amass around the airport gates trying desperately to get on board, evacuating american planes. and yesterday, for at least an eight-hour span, no evacuation flights were able to take off, because qatar which had been receiving them reached its own capacity due to the thousands of people it already took in, in recent days. evacuation flights did eventually resume, and the pentagon says that flights are

now heading to countries other than qatar, including to the air base in germany. earlier this morning, a spokesman tells in nbc news that aircraft, has come in carrying 1,550 political refugees. joining me is a political correspondent for national public radio and co-host of the npr politics podcast. thanks for coming on the show this morning. there seems to be a disconnect of sorts between the rhetoric coming from the president and the reality of the situation on the ground in kabul. and other cities in afghanistan. which we continue to see play out in front of us on our screens day by day. the polls show more americans continue to support this withdrawal than oppose it, but those numbers seem to be falling by the week. >> that's right. as you were speaking about this, there is such a disconnect about the way the president described the safety and security, being

able to get to the airport but frankly even when he was asked about the question of the qatar credibility, that this withdrawal and the evacuation status, we've received from allies, he was completely dismissive of it, even though we know from reporting that there is certainly european allies who have questioned how this evacuation has gone. i think it was a very strange sort of q&a from reporters where i think many of us journalists were asking questions of the administration and sort of, you know, frankly to some degree being gas-lit by being told the reality was not accurate. and i think the struggle for this administration, they have seen this as a binary choice. withdrawal or stay longer and add additional u.s. troops. the question that i have been hearing from a lot of people is not that this was a binary choice. they have a lot of questions about how the actual evacuation may have occurred. >> yes, and they're now also, there also appears to be a disconnect between the biden

administration and various branches of the intelligence and military communities especially in terms of what happened in the lead-up to the fall of kabul. we seem to be in the middle of a full-on blame game with the white house, the military, the intelligence community, all briefing the media that it wasn't them, it is on everyone else, how confident can this administration now be in the intelligence community, particularly in relation to afghanistan and the taliban going forward? >> well, the president was asked sort of the degree of this question yesterday during his remark, right after his remarks that even the questions about the intelligence, and the united states not having a clear indication of how quickly kabul would fall into the hands of the taliban, how account united states, how account american public, be confident about the united states' ability to gather intelligence about a possible terrorist threat. you know, the president insists it is apples and oranges and they have the ability to gather intelligence from other countries, where they do not

have an active troop presence on the ground. but you know, i don't know, i think that these are questions about how possible it is to gather valuable intelligence when there is a very limited presence of united states there on the ground in afghanistan. and look, you know, i've done some reporting this past week, looking at just what exactly transpired on the ground in afghanistan, and what it tells us about biden's foreign policy, and i will say, there is a confusion amongst some of the long-time foreign policy experts in washington, d.c. that they feel like biden has been a man who knows issues around the world, who no doubt trusts his own instincts on a number of these major foreign policy issues but was also known to place those on the ground and they're not seeing that from joe biden so far. >> it is a very interesting moment for the joe biden

presidency and his foreign policy as scary it is, what is happening on the ground in afghanistan. thank you so much for your political analysis this morning. appreciate it. joining me is democratic congressman susan wild of pennsylvania, she is a member of the house foreign affairs committee. congresswoman, thanks for coming on the show this morning. the u.s. embassy is telling americans in afghanistan not to go to the kabul airport. it's not safe, they say. yesterday, president biden said that his administration has quote no indication that americans haven't been able to get to the airport due to taliban checkpoints. what is going on here? why does it seem we are not getting the full picture from the president and the white house. >> good morning, mehdi, and thank you for having me. that is obviously very concerning and i will tell you my office last night prepared a letter to the administration asking that we stay in afghanistan as long as it takes, that we, that there's artificial deadline of august 31st, be eliminated, and we will be circulating that letter starting

today. i hope to get bipartisan support for it. but i think it is absolutely imperative that he would not adhere to any false deadlines or arbitrary deadlines and we get this job done. the president's communications have been less than reassuring, quite honesty, and i have been privy as a member of the house foreign affairs committee to briefings by general milley, and secretary austin, and second blinken, which quite frankly have shed more light on the subject. and i hope that the president quite honestly will move away from the microphone and i know he will be criticized for not communicating but right now, i think it's really important that we get consistent information. but more than anything else, i think it's important that we are on the ground and getting these people out. >> congresswoman, the white house would say, it's not an arbitrary deadline, it's a deadline, the previous president signed up to, it's a deadline they inherited and close to as here to.

when you see you're circulating a letter saying stay as long as it takes, indefinitely, do you mean in reference to getting american citizens or do you mean reversing the troop withdrawal in afghanistan. >> i don't mean reversing the withdrawal. i think withdrawal from afghanistan is long overdue. but right now, we are in the midst of an evacuation. so there really can't be a deadline. your task is not done until it's done. and setting date for that is just unrealistic. i absolutely believe that it was long past time to get out of afghanistan. i salute the president's decision to make that very difficult decision that no prior president in the last 20 years has been willing to do. but let's, it was executed chaotically, let's fix that, let's get those people out, and then we can finish the formal withdrawal. >> so question to you about the

consequences, if joe biden is unable to get americans by this arbitrary deadline of august 31st, what happens then? you see this republicans turning this into a domestic relations issue, republicans are talking about benghazi, republicans are talking about the big failure and blood on joe biden's hands, lindsey graham is talking about impeaching him, it is a human tragedy but a very live political issue in washington, d.c., is it not? of course it is a political issue because everything in washington is political and divisive and you know, unfortunately, i've been in congress since late 2018 and i've seen nothing but division and lack of unanimity. and that's on both sides of the aisle quite honestly. so here, my response to that is let's get the job done, let's see where the political fallout will be, it will be much harsher

if we don't get this evacuation task accomplished successfully. i'm very concerned about the reports that we just heard that americans are being told not to go to the airport, i understand why they're being told not to go but we need to figure out a solution. we should have gotten those americans out of afghanistan before we closed our air base and before we withdrew our troops. now, we've got the obligation to make sure that they are evacuated successfully. along with our wonderful afghan allies who served with many of my colleagues by the way, right alongside them, in afghanistan. both republicans and democrats. so we've got to get this job done. and we'll deal with the political fallout later, but i believe that the politics of it are going to be a lot better if we do what needs to be done. >> indeed. democratic congresswoman susan wild of pennsylvania and house foreign affairs committee, thank you for your time this morning.

appreciate it. >> thank you, mehdi. bye-bye. the taliban is promising to be more moderate, which is kind of an oxymoron coming from a group that has been defined by repression and misogyny for the past two decades. next i will speak to a veteran war correspondent who spent years in afghanistan covering women living under the taliban. plus, the northeast of the united states is bracing for tropical storm henri, that could make landfall as a hurricane. i will talk to the fema administrator deann kriswell about the operations. and not only are some southern states against record covid numbers but up against a republican leadership that would rather use racist tropes than help their citizens. i will talk to our guest in texas. k to our guest in texas. because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk

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no surprise here, but the taliban is not keeping its promise to respect women's rights. in afghanistan, at least two

female journalists for afghan state tv say they have been pulled off the air and barred from the office. the taliban seized radio television afghanistan or rta, on sunday, and appointed new leadership, two of rt ax's female presenter say they were threatened when they tried to enter the office, they were told quote the regime has changed this is in contrast to claims made by taliban officials say they will respect a woman's right to participate in public life. an american photojournalist who spent two decades covering afghanistan and other conflicts in the middle east, the author of "it's what i do, a photograph ever's life of and war" kidnapped by islamic militants twice in her life, once in libya, and another in iraq. thanks for coming on the show. you first travelled to afghanistan, i believe, when you were 26 years old, interested in the lives of women under the taliban. safe to say the taliban should not be trusted when they say they're ready now in 2021, to respect women? >> i think it's pretty safe to say that.

i mean they're clearly on a massive pr campaign, trying to convince the world that they will afford women their rights but if you listen closely to what they say, everything within the parameters of sharia law and they have implemented it last time they were in power, they implemented the most extreme version of sharia law where when i was there women could basically not leave the house to work outside of the home, they could not be educated, all forms of entertainment were illegal, so i think we have to be very careful about trusting them. >> we're just showing some of your stunning pictures as you speak there from your travels in afghanistan. you wrote this week in the atlantic, quote, i often ask myself, what would become of afghanistan if the taliban fell and i imagine the men and women who have afforded me such great hospitality humor and strength would prosper and afghans who have fled their country would finally be able to return home. the taliban, you know, have now risen to power again.

what do you imagine is happening to those afghan men and women who you met along the way? >> i can tell you, they are desperate to leave. they are the ones getting trampled outside the airport. they're the ones messaging me all hours of the night. weeping. desperate to get them and their families out. no one trusts what the taliban regime will bring. this is not elected. they were not elected. this is not, you know, what a lot of afghans want. and they're desperate to leave. >> they're desperate to leave. do you think americans are ready to take them in? >> i think there's a bit of logistical problem we're seeing right now. i think obviously, the u.s. embassy just warned all americans not to come to the gates, there are a lot of afghans who are risking their lives who worked with americans, like myself, like the military, who are making that very dangerous journey to the airport. and what will they do? i meantime is running out.

because the taliban has been very patient with letting throngs of people go to the airport. of course, it hasn't been without violence, but you know, their patience could run out any second. >> and just one last question, afghans obviously are not a model, there are plenty of afghans who are fine with taliban rule, because they didn't like the government we were supporting or because of ethnic affiliation, right? >> of course, i mean there are afghans who are deeply conservative who agree with sharia law, who support the taliban. but i think we're looking at kabul, we're looking at a majority of afghans who want the best for their children, who want the best for the next generation, that involves education, it involves a functioning health care system, and it involves all of the things i did not see the last time the taliban was in power, and i made three trips there.

>> as you said, earlier, their version of sharia, their interpretation is a very extreme one, which many muslims most often included would not recognize. thank you so much for your insights. author of the book "it's what i do, a photographer's life of love and war," appreciate your time this morning. up next, hospitals in southern states are reaching their breaking points, mississippi, kentucky and alabama, are all running out of icu beds respectively, as covid cases spike. more on that urgent situation ahead. ead. ♪ ♪ and one we explore one that's been paved and one that's forever wild but freedom means you don't have to choose just one adventure ♪ ♪ you get both. introducing the all-new 3-row jeep grand cherokee l

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in a few days the pfizer vaccine may receive full approval from the food and drug administration. according to "the new york times," it could come as soon as

monday. will that come soon enough, given several states mainly in the south are already almost at their limits in terms of hospitalizations for covid? amid renewed surges in the disease driven by the highly contagious delta variant and by low vaccination rates. on thursday, mississippi, only seven icu beds were available in the entire state. but almost 100 people were in need. the state of kentucky has hit a record number of intensive care admissions and democratic governor andy bashear said the entire state will be quote out of hospital capacity very, very soon. as of this week, alabama has negative icu beds. one hospital president said of the situation quote, we've never been here before. we are truly now in uncharted territory. meanwhile, texas saw more than 19,000 new cases on friday alone. and experts are predicting deaths will peak in the coming weeks. faced with his constituents dying by the hundreds weekly, texas governor republican greg abbott continues to fight

against common sense public health measures that could save lives. he's tried banning masks and vaccine mandates and appeared himself at crowded maskless events. before, shock, horror, being diagnosed with covid himself earlier this week. even against that backdrop, the state's lieutenant governor dan patrick also a republican had the gal to go on tv and blame black texans, yes, black texans for the high rates of covid in his state. >> the covid is spreading, particularly most of the members are with the unvaccinated and the democrats like to blame republicans on that, well the biggest group in most states are african-americans who have not been vaccinated and the last time i checked over 90% of them vote for democrats in the major stice and major counties and it is up to the democrats just as it is up to republicans to try to get as many people vaccinated but we respect if people don't want the vaccination we are not going to force it on them why joins me now is dr. bessset the

associate medical director of the baylor college of medicine in houston, texas. thanks so much for coming on the show today. what is your reaction to dan patrick placing the blame for your state's ongoing covid surge on the shoulders -- black texans who are yet to be vaccinated. >> shame on data dan patrick. i don't know him personally so i can't speak to his intentions but those staples sound like classic baseless race baiting and they are baseless and when you compare the numbers, black texans make up only 12% of the texas population compared to 70% white texans, there are about 2.8 million black texans unvaccinated compared to 6.4 million white texans so what that means is for every one black person in the state who is not vaccinated, there are three white people in the state who are not vaccinated. black and african-americans are not who are driving the covid numbers up. but we shouldn't even be looking

at the cases that way. covid doesn't care what your race is, what your religious affiliations are, or what your political affiliations are. >> covid doesn't care, but sadly the people in charge of your state do. doctor, what is your message to texans who are dealing with so much death across the state and the country, last year and this year, still in august 2021, still refuse to take this pandemic seriously. >> we like to affectionately like to call texas the great state of texas and since the beginning. pandemic texas has been manifesting great innocence not so positive ways. we have consistently been among the top three states including number of case, number of hospitalization, number of deaths, and those trends are not decreasing. texans, please get vaccinated. and if you are unvaccinated, you must wear your mask. we have got to do what's best to protect ourselves, since our leadership is not going to try to protect us.

>> doctor, we heard of several stories this week of doctors saying basically they're losing compassion for their unvaccinated patients. we've had some doctors talking about turning away patients who aren't vaccinated. number one, have you experienced that? and number two, what do you make of this kind of backlash from the medical community against unvaccinated americans? >> you know, it is somewhat difficult to be empathetic, mehdi, because covid is a miserable, miserable way to die, it's a miserable way to suffer, when you have an alternative. there are other options. you know, we don't have much to give to patients who are symptomatic with cove, and when they're coming into the hospital and putting stress on the hospital situations, we ask ourselves, why would you choose this route when you could have gotten vaccinated. >> one last question, dr. biche it. te, if governor abbott called you up right now and asked you

what he should be doing, what would you say to him? >> i would beg him please allow school districts to impose mask mandates as they feel are necessary. i would ask him to continue to appeal to his constituents to get vaccinated, currently only 46% of the state of texas is vaccinated, and vaccines and masks are the only two tools we have right now to combat this war against covid-19. >> well said. thank you so much for your time, associate medical director at baylor college of medicine in houston, texas, appreciate your time this morning. it's the finale we've all been waiting for. arizona's sham election order, yes, it's still a thing, the results, the results of it are expected in the next week. and it's one of many tactics being used by the gop to undermine democracy in america. more on all of that next. y in aa more on all of that next start your day with crest 3d white and from mochaccinos to merlot, your smile will always be brilliant. crest 3d white brilliance.

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arizona and georgia have a lot in common. and it's not just because they're both lovely places to visit during winter months. both states were flipped by joe biden in november's general election, both have republican governors as well as republican-controlled state legislatures. and now both are at the heart of the fight over which americans voted in 2020 and who gets to vote again going forward. in arizona, officials are bracing for the conclusion of that sham election fraudit of

the more than two million ballots for maricopa county. the results are expected to be released next month. as you recall the audit quote-unquote is conducted by florida company cyber ninjas which had exactly zero experience auditing elections and the owner is a trump supporter. and it could lead to a republican takeover of elections in fulton county, the state's most populous and not by coincidence bluest. a performance review from november, the whole thing could take up to a year to complete. so how worried should we be for the future of our democracy? i'm joined by jennifer ruben opinion writer for the "washington post" and msnbc political analyst, she is author of the upcoming book "resistance how women saved democracy from donald trump" and also with me

barbara quaid, an attorney in michigan and msnbc legal analyst. thank you for joining me. what is happening in arizona is deeply concerning. what concerns you more, the prospect of republicans treating this quote-unquote audit's findings as if it had any validity or it was able to get that far in the first place. >> i think both, and i think primarily, what this is, this is an opening bid, if you will, for 2022, 2024, in which every election is going to be taken over by partisans, whether by sup planting the local election officials or whether by conducting the sham audits, so no matter what the turnout, no matter what the candidates, no matter what the voters want, in the end it matters who counts the votes and it is these clowns who will be counting the votes, these clowns will be telling the people if it doesn't come out your way, it's been stolen and

therefore we have to do an audit to uncover it. it's very nefarious. it's very dangerous. and be a sent any federal action, it's a going to work. it's going to go on. >> yes, and barb what jen is describing is election subversion and partisans deciding who gets to vote and who counts the votes and who declarice the results. in georgia, democrats mostly struck out with legal challenges against the state's new election law, which represses voting rights. is there any legal recourse do you think to this latest targeted move this election subversion move in fulton county. well, one of the tools that the justice department has in section two of the voting rights act, it has its pros and cons and this is the subject of a letter that pam carlin when she was acting at the justice department sent to arizona, as kind of a shot across the bowel, a warning shot, that it appears that you may be in violation of section two, and what it says is

any steps that have the effect of impacting the vote of people based on race or other factors, it doesn't require intent. only the effect. and so that could be some, a tool that's helpful. i keep waiting to see some sort of legal action in arizona to stop this effort. the same effort could happen in georgia as well, if there's activity that has an effect of reducing the impact of voters of certain classes like african-american voters in fulton county, where they are the majority. >> yes, and let's talk about another state, texas, and in texas, enough state democrats returned to the capital in austin for the house to have a quorum in this special legislative session that the governor set up. i spoke to state representative jasmine crockett last night on "all in" and she didn't return and opposes giving the quorum, this is not just on democrats in texas, is it, this is on

democrats in dc to stop what is happening in texas. >> that's right. it's really impossible for a state lawmaker, any lawmaker, to permanently leave their post in an effort, however well-meaning, to dislodge this attempt at voter suppression. but you're absolutely right. none of this would succeed if it were not for the shall we say disinclination of certain democrats to punch through the filibuster, to pass meaningful voter reform. these things could all be preemmed under federal law, we could have a reauthorization of the voting rights act, the pre-clearance provisions, we could have specific rights of action, with these sham audits and these other actions are exempted, and we don't, and we can't until all 50 senators decide that they are going to change in some fashion the filibuster rules. the notion that we're going to have a single republican, let alone 10 to go along with

meaningful substantial voting reform is really lunacy. and it's going to be a matter of whether the republicans have sewed certain democrats into pass tist and that will frankly determine the future of our democracy. it soundsdy bizarre. it sounds impossible. but that's exactly what's going on. >> and barb, one last quick question on this to you, democrats in the house of representatives are making another go of it with the voting rights act, pass federal voting rights legislation, my colleague hayes brown writes in his daily newsletter, however, quote, for all of the improvements in the voting rights advancement act, the clock keeps ticking. every week that passes without this bill becoming law, the greatest the chance for republicans to win back control of the house before a single vote is cast. i wonder, do you think this bill is too little too late? >> well, if this bill can get passed, it actually has a very important provision in it that i think would be incredibly helpful in the problems we've been talking about because the

problem is disinformation. but one of the provisions in this is if the justice department is to sue a state under section two, the one that talks about it having a zrim discriminatory effect on minority groups then it requires the state to come forward with actual evidence of voter fraud as a defense. and so they can't rely on all of these rumors and innuendos and people who are just pounding the drum. they have to show actual evidence. and i think that might be a way to let the air out of this balloon. >> actual evidence that doesn't come from the cyber ninjas, i hope. jennifer and barbara, please stay with us. i want to continue this conversation after the break. more "velshi" in just a moment. k more "velshi" in just a moment nn proven to treat and prevent migraines. don't take if allergic to nurtec. the most common side effects were nausea, stomach pain, and indigestion. ask your doctor about nurtec today!

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two guests on the politics panel are with me, jennifer rubin an opinion write wert "washington post" post and barbara mcquade an attorney in michigan, and barbara let me start you with, accordings to the npr, the fbi keeps using clues from volunteer sleuths to find the january 6th rioters. is that a normal thing to do as a former u.s. attorney yourself? did you often rely on amateur detectives and sources to help you close cases? >> well, not in a widespread way the way they are, but it does go back to some traditional techniques like using bank surveillance photos and showing them on the 6:00 news, or you may recall that the boston marathon bombers, there was the guy in the black hat and the guy in the white hat that they posted for tips, that did help identify that person, so i think yes, this has been used in the past, but never in such an extensive way. and i think in some ways it's a great tool because they're simply not going to rely on someone's say-so that this is a

person they have identified. they will look for other ways to identify that person. does that person look like the person in the photo, for example. but it is a reminder that wherever we go, in america today, there are cameras watching our every step and i know that creates concerns for people. >> it does. but it can also be helpful. sort of a double-edged sword of our modern society. nancy pelosi said in an interview this week, in a committee investigating january 6th is examining the action of lawmakers she says participated in the big lie particularly jim banks and jim jordan who kevin mccarthy wanted on the committee. do you think this committee will actually have the guts to go after sitting gop members of congress? >> we'll see. we have seen some positive, and they have announced the entire lead-up to january 6th is germane. and that means all of trump's actions in trying to, as you

say, promulgate the big lie, his call to georgia would come under that rue rubric, his attempt to find votes it would come to any of the plan, any of the interaction that these members of congress had with any of the mappers -- planners of the event, everything is germane, because we have no remember january 6th was not the first incident, it was the culmination of a plan, a spot, a conspiracy to overthrow the election and when trump's action, all of the lawmaker's actions filed to somehow gum up the works they somehow resorted to mob violence and that is really i think the turn of perspective that we need from this committee, to look at there as one giant conspiracy of which january 6th was the culmination, but not the only isolated event they should be studying. and if they really take that seriously, then i think these people will come under scrutiny. now, that's a lot of a big if's.

and i think from experience the understanding that congress is not always the best equipped to conduct hearings and investigations. but they're trying. and so far what they're doing in terms of staffing the committee, staffing the workers who are assisting them has been impressive. >> barb, one last question. there is a january 6th defrt named douglas jenson and i want to read, according to buzz feed, prosecutors want him sent back to jail, accusing him in a few filing thursday night of committing egregious violations in his pretile conditions not only by repeatedly accessing the internet but also by doing so specifically to watch election fraud conspiracy theory videos. that's a pretty worrying sign about this group of defendants. they just won't let up. >> right. and that's the whole point of what was said, you agree to

comply with certain promises and if you fail to comply, you have demonstrated to the court that you're not trustworthy and that includes the promises not to commit other crimes and not to flee the jurisdiction, so if you can't be trusted to obey this simple promise of using the internet, how can trusted with the others? the other issue he violated was his wife was his third party custodian who was supposed to report to the court if he violated. it was she according to the report who hooked up the internet every morning to listen to the right-wing propaganda and the channels. >> good job both of thimm jennifer rubin and barbara mcquade thank you for your analysis. tropical storm henri is churning in the atlantic. could make landfall as a krvrgt 1 hurricane bringing with it a dangerous storm surge that could damage parts of the east coast. next i'll talk to the head of fema about how preparations are going.

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tropical storm henri is picking up strength as it makes its way to the north atlantic coast, expected to strengthen to hurricane status later today. right now the national weather service projects the storm to make landfall early sunday along the western part of long island in new york and southern connecticut where a hurricane warning has been issued. the winds could top out at

75-mile-per-hour and storm surges could reach five feet in parts of rhode island and massachusetts. areas of cost from new jersey to cape cod could see tropical downpours throughout sunday. joining me now is fema administrators dee anne chriswell. you just came out of a briefing with the national hurricane center. what did you learn from that. >> good morning, med y. thanks for having me on. this is our standard briefing where we bring the interagency together to talk about preparations for the storm. the hurricane center just advised just what you just said, we're going to see hurricane-strength winds start today moving into the area with an impact in long island, connecticut. and there is still going to be a lot of lawful associated with the event. even if you're not on the coast you are seeing damaging rains more inland as well. >> and right now henri looks like it will hit the eastern part of the long island, a popular vacation spot in new

york at this time of year. many people are in rental homes or hotels, not familiar with what should people in the path of the storm know to be prepared? and how can they prepare especially if they're they're not in normal homes? >> you are visiting and not familiar with the area, the best thing you can do is make sure you know where you get information from. listen to the advice of the local officials there and what they're telling you to do. make sure that you have enough equipment and supplies, food and water. we're anticipating some power outages across the region. and so be familiar with the surroundings, know where you are getting information from. if you are traveling still to that area, i would recommend that you delay your travel until the storm has passed. >> and under previous presidents of both parties, fema has been criticized during times of crisis. this time round, what is fema under your leadership prepared to do to help some of the areas about to get hit? what preparations are being

made. >> we've been coordinating with our states for several days now as we watched the path of this storm. we moved a lot of resources into the area, things like food and water, generators. we have swift water rescue teams in the region. and so we are prepared and in place, ready to respond to the needs of the impacted states. >> and rarely does the northeast get hit by a hurricane. but due to climate change we're now seeing more and more extreme weather events in places that typically wouldn't experience them like the heat waves in the pacific northwest for example. what is fema doing preemptively to help americans across the board, across the country to deal with unusual weather events that could soon become our new normal. >> yeah, climate change is the crisis of our generation right now. and fema has recently through the approval of president biden released close to $5 billion in hazard mitigation funding to help states, help communities,

mitigate against future impacts we're going to see as a result of climate change. >> it's -- it's so frustrating to see this become the new normal and americans still not take it as seriously as they should. many americans not taking climate change as seriously as they should. fema administrator dee anne chriswell we appreciate you taking time out to speak to us this morning. our thoughts and prayers for everyone in the path of this. thank you so much. >> thank you. don't go anywhere. next i'll speak with two people, desperately trying to get their friends on loved ones out of afghanistan as the taliban takes over. another hour of "velshi" and msnbc starts right now. it's 9:00 a.m. good morning. it's saturday, august 21st. i'm in for my friend ali velshi who is taking much deserved time

off. we begin with breaking news on the situation unfolding in afghanistan and the fallout here in washington. moments ago, the u.s. embassy in kabul issued a warning to american citizens not to travel to hamid karzai international airport unless specifically told to due to quote potential security threats outside the airport gates, less than 24 hours after president biden held a press conference yesterday, the first time he spoke with reporters in ten days, since afghanistan fell to the taliban during which biden says his administration has no indication that americans haven't been able to get to the airport due to taliban checkpoints. biden also revealed that at united states currently has 6,000 troops on the ground aiding evacuation efforts. although he doesn't have an exact number of how many americans still remain in afghanistan. he also said that his administration is committed to evacuating all americans by august the 31st, although that date should be viewed more as a goal than as a firm exit date. and that he sees it as almost equally important to make sure

america is evacuated all the brave afghan who aided america during the war. the reassurances in biden's rhetoric appeared to be in contrast to the situation unfolding in afghanistan and especially in kabul in and around the international airport. where chaotic scenes continue to play out. yesterday for at least an 8-hour span, the chaos included no evacuation flights taking off because qatar we are evacuees were initially sent reached capacity. nbc news learned on a briefing call defense secretary lloyd austin acknowledged reports of americans harassed and beaten by the taliban as they tried to escape the country. even though part of biden's evacuation strategy is an agreement bide american america has with the taliban to get americans and others to the airport. the taliban is in possession of billions of dollars in u.s.