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without power. overseas secretary of state tony blinken saying that the united states has denied a hostage situation exists with americans stranded at an airport in northern afghanistan, but he acknowledges with no diplomats on the ground they have no way of verifying these reports and thousands of citizens don't know if they'll ever get out. raf sanchez in doha, qatar and admiral stavridis. i want to play what we heard from the secretary today and he was there with secretary of defense lloyd austin with the situation at mazar-e-sharif at the airport during a press conference in doha today. >> one of the challenges has been that, as we understand it, there are groups of people who are grouped together some of whom have the appropriate travel document, an american passport, a green card, a visa and others do not, and it's my understanding that the taliban

has not denied exit to expect holding a valid document, but they have said that those without valid documents at this point can't leave, but because all of these people are grouped together, that's meant that flights have not been allowed to go. >> now, raf, one of the confusions and clarifications is that the state department has to tell the taliban who is there and whether they are valid, certified without their documents because a lot of these people don't have documents. many documents of afghans and americans are trying to get out were destroyed by the embassy when they had to evacuate so quickly from kabul. so who is telling the truth here? we've had even senator blumenthal from connecticut saying he's furious with the state department and others saying that the state department is right and it's the taliban's fault.

>> yeah, andry a the state department coming under fire as you might expect and democrats like senator blumenthal who is furious at how this situation is unfolding. the state department has been very vague for a couple of days now about why exactly these charter flights have not been able to take off. the explanation that secretary blinken gave here in doha today was that there are american citizens as well as afghans with the correct paperwork waiting to get onboard those flights, but they are mixed in with people who do not have the necessary travel document, and so the taliban are saying until everybody has the travel documents, nobody can leave, and of course, this is what everyone was worried about, that when u.s. troops left the americans remaining in afghanistan would be effectively at the mercy of the taliban as to whether they could go or not and the taliban, the new government of afghanistan are in a position where they can say, look, we're

not stopping anybody from going. we're just making sure everyone has the right paperwork. secretary blinken said they are continuing to engage with the taliban diplomatically through the qataris and directly to try to resolve that situation at mazar-e-sharif. meanwhile in just the last hour or so the taliban have at long last announced their new government at a press conference in kabul, the prime minister is hassan mullah -- i'm sorry, mullah hassan akud. he was in government before 2001, before the u.s. overthrew the taliban regime. he's more of a religious figure than a military one, but the announcement getting the most attention is the taliban spokesman saying today that the country's new interior minister will be sirajuddin haqqani who

is on the fbi's most wanted list and there is a $5 million down the owe his head. andrea? >> and so is another haqqani relative, khalil haqqani is of kabul and continuing to raise questions about the taliban and their leadership and thanks for joining us, admiral stavridis, i want to read a statement from senator blumenthal who said he and his staff have worked night and day to secure the passage of two planes to take americans and afghanal ryes and their families to safety. i have been deeply frustrated and even furious at our government's delay and inaction. these are american citizens and afghans who risked everything for our country. we cannot leave them behind. admiral, is the state department doing enough? how do we sort through who's right or who's wrong or is it that both sides are holding to their positions where the state department is working with the taliban and what do you expect

is going to happen? >> yeah. we've all heard of the fog of war, even in a post-conflict moment like this it's the fog of peace, and it's just going to be a duel of competing stories for a while. tony blinken, who i know very well, very steady pair of hands as he said a couple of times, this is what we know right now. what i'm focused on and many observers are is the taliban and the government they've put in place and unfortunately, taliban 2.0 kind of looks like taliban 1.0, no real changes, bringing the haqqani network into very high positions and particularly the interior ministry, think police, think control of the civil population. think of girls and women and all of that very negative and that brings us to the situation up north at mazar, andrea. i don't think there's much

reason to think the taliban will have a sudden, pif me and let all of these people out and we will continue to work wo them diplomatically and that's the state department job and below the radar, i'm sure the cia led by ambassador bill burns is looking at a lot of clandestine options and thirdly, if we really hit a hard spot and there are american citizens who have been prevented from leaving afghanistan, you have to start to think about direct military action. we're not there yet. we've got some other cards to play, but the situation can get very difficult going forward. >> and admiral, there's also four americans, the state department pointed out on saturday, got out over land to a neighboring country and were met at the border by embassy officials on the other side. we can assume that it's not iran because there isn't a u.s. embassy. there are five countries around and i would bet it's not china and pakistan seems more likely.

the state department taking credit for it. there's one report of former veterans saying they were the ones who got them out, but that said, these are four americans and not the hundreds that we know were left behind. there's been a -- if you will, a pretty big public pub-like effort here. the state department is working it, but i'll tell you, i know literally a hundred veterans ngos and media organizations that have been working very diligently, privately to get their people out, and in this particular episode, these four people regardless of who engineered it and who wants credit for it, a, it's a good thing and b, it's an example of what i spoke about a moment ago. andrea, this idea of creating a kind of underground railroad safe houses, handler, people on the ground, get them to a refugee camp, pakistan is a pretty smart guess on your part and then you can swoop in and

get them out of there. >> thank you so much, admiral stavridis. our thanks to raf and among those stranded in afghanistan are hundreds of afghan journalists working for u.s.-funded media outlets including voice of america and radio for europe established by the u.s. government to broadcast in dozens of languages around the world. one who did get out is iesha tanzin, the pakistan chief for voice of america who joins me now from islamabad. iesha, thank you so much. tell me about your colleagues and your staff still on the ground in afghanistan. how are they and what hope do you have to get them out? >> well, they're not doing well. mentally, they're stressed. they call me every day. they say they're tired of waiting. they cannot understand when they're not out when a lot of journalists around them who worked with international media organizations are out. the women in particular are very stressed and they see no future for themselves in a taliban

afghanistan. i have reports of at least one of my colleague who was beaten up by taliban with sticks and left red stripes on his back. so these people hope that they'll get out. they're just really very afraid right now that the evacuation's technically over. they're left behind and they're hoping that people are still working to get them out. i am telling them that people are working to get them out. my management is telling them because they sent an email even today that they're working to get them out and they're just hoping and praying that this is sooner rather than later. >> i saw an interview with one of your women employees and one of your journalists and she said that she and her group were told by the state department to go to a particular street outside the airport before the gates were finally shut down last thursday, and that they were waiting there for 12 or 13 hours, no food, no water and showing her u.s.

passport, and she's from california. she's an american citizen who went back to get married in june. just desperate and feeling betrayed. >> the situation around the airport was extremely chaotic. i experienced it myself. it took me three rounds to the airport and multiple gates and using multiple contacts and sources to be able to finally get in and even that i had to leave all of my luggage behind. i had to stand in the crowd for hours getting pushed and shoved around, and i was just lucky that i managed to get close enough to the airport where i could hold up my american passport and they could pull me in, but everybody wasn't that lucky. it was a very chaotic situation, and once the attack happened outside the airport which killed 169 afghans and 13 americans, after, that the taliban just shut down all of the roads and said no afghan can get close to the airport. so evacuating people became

extremely difficult after that. it was difficult even before getting to the airport. after that it became almost impossible to get them. now i am not exactly sure how this will happen. i don't know the procedure. i'm a little worried when the taliban say they're not going to say people without valid travel documents because a lot of these people, other journalists who are still stranded in afghanistan and who are afghans even when they have passports, a lot of times their families in particular their children do not have passports. so that worries me that the taliban are putting so much emphasis on valid travel documents. >> and to you and certainly those who are stranded behind feel betrayed by the united states? we spent 20 years encouraging and then hiring you for radio europe and voice of america, the voa most prominently has been

stranded. do you feel betrayed by the u.s. and do you think it hurts our efforts going forward? >> i am still hopeful. i think it is too early to say that we were left behind. i'm one of the lucky ones. i am the foreign correspondent who managed to get out. literally, i'm the lucky one and i feel guilty relaxing because i know hundreds of my colleagues are still stranded. i am hoping. i am hoping that somebody is still working very, very hard to get them out because that's what i promised them every day that they're not forgotten and that's what i've asked my management and that's what i've been told that they're not forgotten. so i am hoping that all of that is true. yes, i'm frustrated. i'm extremely frustrated. yes, they're disappointed, but i'm hoping that it's late, but

not never, that they do get out and they get out safely. >> and you work for the state department, technically. what is your message to the secretary of state? >> well, i'm a journalist so i want to keep myself separate. i don't want to say anything to the secretary of state. i just want to tell the state department and the u.s. government to do their job as i am doing my job, as i'm hoping the management is doing their job. i don't want to give a political message, and i am covering this as a journalist, but i feel for these people who worked with me year after year after year. some of them traveled to dangerous areas with me. they put their lives at risk with me, so i am hoping and praying that they get out, and i just hope that it's sooner rather than later. we're all a little tired of waiting. >> and thank you for making that distinction. you're correct, and my question was -- was unwarranted, and i

appreciate it. thank you so much. iesha, good luck it you and keep us apprised of everything that is happening on this front. we appreciate it. >> thank you. and president biden is in new jersey in central new jersey touring the devastation left in ida's wake. what he's seeing and the recovery efforts still under way. plus are these intense storms the new norm. we'll speak to a climate specialist who says you better get used to it. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. (vo) at t-mobile for business, unconventional thinking means we see things differently, so you can focus on what matters most. whether it's ensuring food arrives as fresh as when it departs. being first on the scene, when every second counts. or teaching biology without a lab. we are the leader in 5g.

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at this hour president biden is meeting with officials in new jersey before he tours damage from ida there, and later in new york he'll visit the hard-hit town in new jersey of manville where residents are trying to salvage what they can and where several homes were destroyed in gas explosions before going on to queens, new york, where several people died in their basement apartments last week. joining me now nbc news white house correspondent kelly o'donnell, and nbc's rehemaelis in queens awaiting the president and elli son barber where we've seen the destruction. the president is approving federal aid to new york and new jersey and linking those to his infrastructure and climate plan which has new opposition from senator manchin. >> today we expect the president to sort of fuse the responsibilities of touring and assessing damage with his own political agenda, dealing with

his efforts on capitol hill that have been stalled as you hinted at to try to get infrastructure and climate change as a part of a very large package. expect the president to talk about how all of us anywhere in the country can be subjected to changes in the climate. he's citing that as a part of what ida has done in this region, new york, new jersey where he visits today and it will be that agenda political message as well as the president hears the needs of new jersey and there are plans to expand the federal declarations to include more areas to have access to fema and homeland security and all of the federal resources that can provide funding and also coordinate the response efforts, and what we are hearing from white house officials is that the president is open to expanding that as he meets with and hears from governor murphy, as well as

members of the congressional delegation and local leaders that he will encounter today. so that could be part of what would be sort of known in the washington parlance as the deliverables of this visit, and again, it's that chance for the president to show he's concerned and the chance for the president outlining some of his own agenda items. andrea? >> and thanks to kelly, ellison barber where the families have homes after damage. >> people need help. people didn't just lose all of their material belongings, everywhere you look down the street you can see what is left of the inside of their homes and all of it put outside on the curb like everyday trash. a lot of people also lost the basic comfort that so many of us take for granted of feeling safe in their own home. we met one woman who crawled

through her window to get to her safety and a neighbor basically swam across to take them to her porch because it was the highest ground available. she waited on that porch for hours for the rescue boats to come as the floodwaters raged. she heard a neighbor's home explode. she felt like she was in a tsunami or a war. >> all of the windows in the basement broke out and the water started pouring in from every crevice there was everywhere. we watched the water keep coming up the porch and coming up the porch. there was nowhere higher to go and we said we'll die by water or fire. everybody down here needs a lot of help. >> at least 27 people lost their lives in new jersey and four people are still missing. andrea? >> rehema, your heart just breaks for people there, and also, of course, in queens where

we find rehemaelis. we saw, rehema, the nypd trying to rescue a family trapped in their basement apartment, apparently a 2-year-old dying there with his mother and father. >> it's the ultimate of heartache, a family at home, perhaps even sleeping that night and finding their home filling with water. they were under water, and there was nothing they could do and the courageous nypd officer who submerged himself, who just dove down into that water hoping he might find someone alive, but unfortunately, he did not so a mother, a father and a 2-year-old child, they perished. 13 people in all died in new york city. several of them in the queens area. this community has been devastated. it's one of many throughout the region that is feeling heartache today, and right now what is happening behind me, take a look and i'll ask gerald to pan down.

down the street you see orange trucks. those trucks will be blocking off the street and the traffic because the president is coming here later this afternoon. they will be blocking traffic so that the president will be able to move freely and safely through this area as he takes a look at what has happened and what remains of boom's homes. many of them anxious to see the president, for him to hear them, but also to speak to them. i had an opportunity to speak with one woman who is desperately trying to clean up after going through many storms. take a listen. >> the president is coming. if you had a chance to speak to the president, what would you say? >> what would i say? help. help. i've done all i can for 38 years and i'm trying to protect it. i can't protect it no more. it's out of my control. i did everything that a human can possibly do down here to protect it. >> this woman lena was literally

crying for help that someone come in and understand that this is not just a question of whether she has a home, but the infrastructure around her home, she said is woefully inadequate to handle the kind of storm that they got last week, and she fears for what could happen if we get anything close to that. while rain is in the forecast later this week people here are afraid of what that could mean because the ground here is already saturated. andrea? >> thank you so much, rehema ellis in queens and to ellison barber and kelly o'donnell. right now the president is with governor murphy. the president's speaking and we've had audio difficulties and let's hear if it's cleaned up. she's done one thing and we've had a great fema director in the past, as well that makes it work when it gets local, state and federal working together it is more than three times -- it's,

like, ten times what it would be than just having one moving, and the losses that we were witness to today are profound. dozens of lost lives, homes destroy in manville including gas leaks and damaged by the flooding and damage to infrastructure and my thoughts are with those families affected by the storms and all of those families who lost someone they love and i understand is there two people missing? >> four. >> four people still missing and i especially happened to thank the overused phrase, but the brave first responders. who have exemplified the courage both in new jersey and next door in new york. they've done an incredible job, and they were working closely with governor murphy and i will continue to do so, and i'm here to see firsthand what the damage

is and find out directly from you all, what is most needed. fema has been, i hope, as responsive as we've intended them to be, 132 personnel from fema last year including 60 individuals and it's in the management assistance team with 20 people who support the response operations, and mobile emergency response support teams, six of them to provide communication with logistic support, and on sunday when the governor -- when we spoke to the governor and he asked for the major disaster declaration, we made it available immediately. so that we could speed federal assistance as quickly as we could to hard-hit communities. fema administrators on the ground in new jersey yesterday, i believe to assess the damage.

he's visited two communities and mullica hills and winona hit by the tornado that's on the ground that's, what, for over 13 miles that's on the ground those tornadoes. hhs, the secretary's worked with the state to make sure folks on medicare and medicaid get the emergency care they need now. woe will make sure that the relief is equitable so that those hardest hit get what they need and they -- and we know there's a lot more to do and that's why we are here. for decades, scientists have warned of extreme weather would be more extreme and climate change was here and we're living through it now. we don't have any more time. i hope -- i've been on the telephone or on the road an awful lot between california,

idaho, new orleans, louisiana, mississippi, and you know, here. every part of the country. every part of the country is getting hit by extreme weather, and we are now living in real time what the country's going to look like, and if we don't do something -- we can't turn it back very much, but we can prevent it from getting worse. and so we're all in this together and we've got to make sure that we don't leave any community behind and it's all across the country. you know, the members of congress know from their colleagues in congress that it looks like a tornado and they don't call it that anymore that hit the crops and wetlands in the middle of the country, in iowa and nevada. it's just across the board, and you know, as i said, we're in

this together. so one of the things that today i'm going to ask you about when we get into some questions and answers here is about how we're going to build back and we're going to build back realizing what the status of the climate is now, what the trajectory of it is going to be and we can no longer, we all know, we can't just build back to what it was before. whatever damage done in new jersey, you can't build back and restore what it was before because another tornado, another 10 inches of rain will produce the same kind of results. so i want to talk a little bit about the specifics, about the things you think you would need, not just to get back to normal, but to get back to a place where if it happened again the damage would be considerably less. that's what this is all about in my view. this is an opportunity.

i think the country's finally acknowledged the fact that global warming is real and it is moving at an incredible pace. we've got to do something about it. i'm going to be going from here to cop 29 in glasgow for the world meeting together and how we'll deal with climate change, and it is -- i think we're at one of those inflexion points where we either act or we're going to be real, real trouble. our kids are going to be in real trouble. so i want to thank you, and i yield back to you. >> thank you, mr. president. amen to all, and again, we can't thank you enough for being here for all your support. another person we will hear from next has been there for us and dee an criswell has been the administrator from fema and henri who took havoc on new jersey, and it is an honor to have you here. >> thank you, mr. president and thank you, governor and thank

you to the elected commissioners and mayors here today. i want to start by giving a big shout out. >> you just heard the appeal on climate change and how that is such an important part of what we've been experiencing. joining us now is climate scientist kerry emanuel, professor at m.i.t. thank you for being with us. let's talk about how much can be prevented in terms of climate change. we've heard how the levies held in new orleans near kfrt and hundreds of thousands throughout the region were still without power and they were suffering more because of the levees that had been built. >> this reminds us that hurricane disasters happened in louisiana, new jersey, and new york state are mostly water disasters. we think of hurricanes as wind storms and it's mostly rain and saltwater flooding and this is something that climate sky sense

very, very secure about is that as you wore the atmosphere and it can rain a lot more in these kinds of storms. >> professor emanuel, let's talk about the president. the president linking this to his infrastructure bill which does deal with climate change. so you know, how legitimate is that? can we do anything with one piece of legislation in the near-term? do we have to take small steps, smaller steps? some people, of course, senator manchin is complaining it is way too big. >> nothing is too big at this point and we waited so long, andrea, and here we don't have much choice yet. we have to build better infrastructure to control the storms we're already getting. it's not a question of the future anymore. it is here, and they're getting worse and we need to take the big steps we need to take and make sure things don't get

really bad in the future, so both, by all means. let's talk about sea levels because that's becoming a national security concern and it has been for the navy and we have to re-think their bases and huge facilities such as bahrain where the fleet is harbored. >> our civilization is so finely adapted to the stable climate for the last several years from the ice age and we're changing it rapidly and the fine-tuning means that any change whether it is up or down. it happens to be going up or down now is pretty damaging to civilization and infrastructures and so on. so, yes, we have been saying for many, many years now, we have got to do something about this and we did have some of the technology in hand to get started on this.

we really need it. >> but if we still have professor emanuel. i have another question i wanted to ask about wildfires and we did see a lot done for new york city, for instance and those pictures we just showed of the subways being flooded and what we see there in queens shows that we haven't accomplished that much. >> we're fighting a war and we're prepared from the last disaster. for example, new orleans didn't flood this time probably because we did build up the levees after katrina and there will always be a storm next time and next time is something that we may not be so prepared and the wildfires out west seem to be getting worse and worse. they start earlier. they last longer and they have

more damage. we saw oregon and california, of course, this year. >> and meteorlogically, we are seeing places that are already dry especially during their dry seasons get dryer generally speaking as you warm the climate and as you get dryer weather of course, you are more susceptible to wildfires and there's human management, of course, and certainly the weather is a factor in these fires. >> professor kerry emanuel, thank you so much for staying with us. as the president continues to tour the zones, we are going to be following him, of course, all day on msnbc. thank you. coming up next, the abortion ban battle the justice department vowing to battle the abortion ban in texas as other states look to copy the law and to protect those having

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to learn more, visit safetyactioncenter.pge.com in the wake of the near total ban on abortion in texas and the supreme court decision to let it stand for now, the political fight over abortion rights is heating up. attorney general merrick garland is announcing new steps to protect access to abortion clinics and reproductive health services for patients and

clients as house democrats are trying to pass a law this month trying to make roe v. wade permanent. meanwhile, more and more republican state legislatures are looking to follow the texas example ahead of a law restricting abortions in mississippi that could prove fatal to roe v. wade. joining me now is ashley parker, washington post white house bureau chief, jan edwards and brandon buck. first to you, the justice department's announcement that they're taking a whole of government approach and there's not much he can do pending supreme court action. >> that's exactly right, and i was in the briefing room all last week where i and others were putting this exact question to white house press secretary jen psaki and that is what she said. the white house has released strong statements and the health and human services to look into

what they can do and she was pretty clear that a number of changes would have to come from the supreme court or potentially from congress where when you have this basically split senate and very narrow majority in the house it seems unlikely that regardless of what leader pelosi would introduce both would make it into houses and law. >> the legislators of the six states are talking about following texas' example. can congress pass something given the divided state of the senate, for instance? do you really think they can pass something that codifies roe v. wade? >> i think it will be very difficult. i think even in the house with a very narrow majority that it's going to be hard to pull together the votes that are needed to even move a bill over into the senate, but i do think it is imperative especially for democrats to be on the side of

protecting women and their constitutional rights, and so the pressure is now on congress, like so many things to codify roe v. wade, and not just leave it up to the devices of the supreme court to make a decision, but it's going to be a really tough road ahead in september. >> brendan, let's take a deeper dive into texas because this is a near total ban on abortion and it's already -- not already only taken effect, but previous restrictions in texas have made it very difficult for these clinics. in recent polling there indicates 13% believe abortion should never be permitted and 31% believe it should be allowed in the cases of rape, incest or when a woman's life is in danger, and 12% believe it should be allowed when the need has been clearly established and 38% believe it should always be

allowed as a matter of personal choice. are republicans making a mistake with a law that is this restrictive? republicans have long talked about getting rid of roe v. wade is not about outlawing abortion and it's about allowing states to put reasonable restrictions and the country is sort of in the middle. it's not that everybody thinks it should always be allowed or always in the middle. this doesn't allow it in any case so it's going far beyond what republicans have always talked about when it talks about repealing roe versus wade. that the court would still need to rule on that, but i think as a political matter, this is clearly a gift to democrats and understanding there are more consequences as a political matter you aren't seeing republicans celebrate this and it's all democrats who are motivated, raising money and understand that this is the type of thing that will turn out their voters. meanwhile, republicans are pretty quiet about it and that

tells you this is not the conversation they want to be having right now. >> not the conversation at all before the midterms. ashley, now, governor abbott today at the top of the law signed into law the restrictive voting bill, and texas republicans with bans on masks, vaccine mandates and the new abortion law and of course, the democrat walkout that led democratic lawmakers to washington for some weeks. so now what do you think will happen with the voting rights law of texas? >> well, you know, a couple of things. one thing, looking at texas something you outlined there is something fascinating there that brendan and others had, years ago there was chatter about turning texas blue, and now you're seeing from guns to reproductive rights restrictions, voting rights. texas is on the vanguard of being incredibly conservative,

and so to your original question, i think that they are also serving as a model in some places in a blueprint for other states and we are seeing that clearly on abortion restrictions where texas is not the only one who passed restrictive laws and i believe that's something the justice department is also looking into, and i think they filed a lawsuit challenging it, and these laws when republicans control the state legislature and when there is a republican governor, we should absolutely expect to see more of them nationwide. >> texas democrats, as we say came to washington and they put out all stops and tried to block this and they weren't successful and what does it look like going forward elsewhere? >> no, but i do think the effect of texas democrats coming to washington had a really profound effect on legislative action. i think that there was more energy and certainly more

conversation about the need to pass the john lewis voting rights advancement act and i think again, here is an instance where democrats control the white house and the house and the senate and they need to act on this. it's really squarely in their hands and of course, the house already has moved. it's up to the senate, really, to get this legislation through, and it really will have an impact on turnout, on access to the ballot all across country because we've seen these voting restrictions being imposed in a number of states, not just in texas, and it's really unfortunate that it is happening now, but again, the call is for house democrats and senate democrats to get onboard. >> is this going to motivate democrats more than republicans, brendan? >> it might. that seems to be the effects so

far and frankly, that seems to me what democrats are doing is trying to squeeze every bit of political benefit they can out of this. the voting rights conversation, you can't have it without recognizing the context, of course, is donald trump's lies about the election and that's why so many states are doing this. that can be true and also be true that this is not the end of democracy in texas and georgia. a lot of it is very overstated and in texas, a lot of the things that people are complaining about are outlawing things only things that happened in 2020. so we're going back to 2018. i don't think the laws are needed and they're in the context of lies of donald trump and the hyperbole furthers the confidence people have in looks. >> thank you to you. great conversation.

after labor day and it is the kickoff for a lot of congressional action or not depending on the stalemate and nearly 20 years after the september 11th attacks, this morning the confessed mastermind of the attack khalid sheikh mohammed has made his first appearance in guantanamo in more than a year. he is there with four other defendants who have similarly had no trials and nbc news national security and intelligence correspondent ken delanian has made his way to the court. you were there, and so what do we know about the trial and why it took so long and what it's going to look like? >> good to be with you, andrea. there is no trial date and we are in the ninth year of pre-trial hearings and it was quite remarkable to see ksm. he said i was responsible for 9/11 from a to z walk into the

room with a turban, his beard dyed orange and smiled and banter and providing hand to hand row of defense attorneys. the women wear head covering hijab, he sits up front, four defendants behind him. today was completely procedural. an example of why the case is taking so long. they were in court about an hour, then an appellate decision came down that required them to take a recess so the lawyers could study that decision and come back tomorrow. this case has been replete with delays, not just with covid but litigation, procedures, the fact that it is a logistical nightmare to get here. the result has been again nine years after they were charged, no trial date has been set. we are approaching the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

some of the families were sitting in the courtroom today and they're not even close to getting justice out of the trial. >> i want to flag something that i read from richard clark. his contention is that as we ex-toll the help from qatar, after the fbi tracked him down after the first attack of the world trade center in 1993, 1996 was in qatar, held there. the fbi had eyes on him, wanted to do an extraction, the pentagon was reluctant, it would have violated sovereignty and would have required a lot of personnel. they instead had president bush according to richard clark at the nsc, call the emir of qatar, ask him to hold ksm for at least three hours so they could pick him up, take him back for trial.

basically arrest him. extraction. only within the hour he escaped after the emir was notified. >> reporter: there would have been no 9/11 without ksm. >> not only no 9/11, he was the mastermind of the attacks in 1998 on our embassies, and on the uss cole in yemen harbor. >> reporter: absolutely, and many others. >> and 9/11, of course. so an i am perfect history with a lot of our partners in the gulf. thank you so much. thanks for being down there, ken. great to see you. this morning, the white house announcing the president will speak thursday on his plan to stop spread of the delta variant and to boost vaccinations. nearly 75% of the u.s. adult population has at least one vaccine dose as of today. criticism grows over the

administration's confusing messaging of the timing of the third booster shot for millions. this comes as daily covid infections are four times higher than this time last year, with daily deaths nearly twice as high. as we surpass 40 million confirmed cases nationally, more than the population of california, our next guest says the latest covid-19 surge is just the start of the new nightmare. joining me, dr. peter hotez from the center of vaccine development at texas children's hospital, great friend of ours on msnbc. dr. hotez, talk about the next variant, first about growing criticism of the fda and the white house over whether or not the third vaccine dose should be rolled out and when. what is your view on all this? >> andrea, we have spoken before about this. it was a high likelihood from the beginning that the two mrna vaccines would be a three dose

vaccine, just because we gave the first two doses so close together, that's not what you do to induce long lasting, durable protection. so i've thought, many of my colleagues, not everyone, many of my colleagues believe there's going to be a need for a third immunization and second dose of j&j vaccine as well. the question is when do we pull the trigger and when do we have data that shows waning immunity. from israel, we have seen it goes down from 90 to 40 or 50%, which is substantial, almost all break through cases are asymptomatic, low grade symptoms, then you have to factor what we learned about long haul covid, how long do you wait before hospitalization, breakthrough hospitalizations start to occur and destabilizing effect on that. the fda is going to meet 17th, next week, hopefully we'll get

clarity. the other problem is we haven't seen a lot of data. you have to cherry pick in bits and places. >> what about the delta variant that's packing hospitals and covid numbers surging, do you see any decline in the delta variant in the south and are you concerned after labor day, a weekend that's packed. sports arenas, beaches, other recreation places. >> remember what we saw last year. we saw a big surge in the south. then as summer faded into the fall, it went down in the south, picked up in the northern midwest and mountain west, so something like that is likely to happen again. it doesn't just disappear, it rolls like a wave. now we're seeing yes, cases are going down in florida and other southern states, now it is picking up in ohio, west virginia to the north, and now we're seeing montana in the mountain west pick up. i think this will continue to race through the country, except in parts of the northeast that

are so well vaccinated, and i think that's what we'll continue to see is this kind of rolling wave for the rest of fall. unfortunately hospital staff, nurses, they're exhausted. they're also demoralized when they leave work and go into a store, no one has masks, people are defiant of masks, so that's taking its toll. i think it will be politically turbulent fall in terms of disease. >> "the wall street journal says at least a thousand schools have gone virtual because of the surge. >> yeah. predicted and predictable, right, because we have a lot of the executive leaders down here in the south, governors, other public officials saying no to masks, no to vaccine mandates. when you're in the middle of a raging epidemic, those are the

best tools we have. this is the consequence of that ridiculous lack of leadership. >> dr. hotez, thank you for your leadership. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow us online. hallie jackson is next with "mtp daily" only on msnbc. ith "mtp daily" only on msnbc portant to e in the nutritional drink you choose. try boost glucose control. it's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels and contains high quality protein to help manage hunger and support muscle health. try boost today. voiceover: riders. wanderers on the road of life. the journey is why they ride. when the road is all you need, there is no destination. uh, i-i'm actually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usually have a destination. yeah, but most of the time, her destination is freedom. nope, just the coffee shop. announcer: no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year.

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if it is tuesday, a tale of two controversies playing out in texas. the governor signing a wave of new voting restrictions, and the doj responding to the new abortion ban, now the strictest in the country. president biden in the northeast as we speak, just finishing speaking, seeing what ida did to new york and new jersey, and in parts of hard hit louisiana, no power still, and no school for hundreds of thousands of students across the state. from one crisis to the next, new concerns coast