an amtrak train in montana, and right now, at least three people are dead and as many as 50 others have been injured. one passenger described the derailment as extreme turbulence on an airplane. a 14-member ntsb go team is expected on scene in joplin, montana, toold, to figure out what caused the train and its cars to roll off the tracks. let's go to jake ward who is monitoring the developments. what do we know, jake, as i welcome you, about the derailment and the investigation thus far? >> reporter: good morning, alex. at this point, amtrak is saying approximately 141 passengers and 16 crew members were onboard the train, which was headed westbound towards seattle and portland. and at about 3:00 p.m. local time, went off the tracks. about eight cars derailed. now, this was outside montana, but outside is not the word.

this is an extremely remote area. emergency responders had to sent multiple helicopter flights to get the wanted out of the spot and back to a treatment to be treated effectually. it's not clear what caused the derailments. major derailments in the past have been either the result of going too fast on a corner or something wrong with the tracks. obviously, the ntsb's go team on the ground will look at both of those possibilities as well as other variabilities. certainly, it is a very scary and violent scene. and unfortunately at this point, the reporting is that three people on the ground have died, alex. >> that is certainly bad news for sure. so it looks as if it's a straightaway at this point. whether or not a curve on those tracks would be involved i think really begs the question there, jake. let me ask you about the survivors, what they're saying. one, as you heard, described it like extreme turbulence. is anyone else sharing their experience? >> reporter: msnbc at this point has spoken with at least one

survivor. this one named megan described to us a feeling of feeling just extremely lucky to be alive and unhurt. but recordings on the ground and reports on social media from the ground suggest that people have been really, you know, thrown into a tailspin. they don't call it a train wreck for nothing. it's one of the most horrifically disorienting kinds of disasters. locals took in many of the survivors into a local high school. that's where the spent the night. today, about an hour from now, they would have been arriving at their destination. but as of right now, they're just trying to figure out how to get where they need to go and how to get the help they need at this hour. >> absolutely. just the basics for them, the survivors. jake ward, thank you so much for that. we're going to further the conversation with kitty higgins, a former member of the ntsb. welcome to you. so they have their work cut out

for them, those investigators. what's the first thing they'll do when they get to the site of the deadly derailment? >> the first thing they'll do is talk to local authorities who were the first on scene. and gather any information they have from those individuals who were there and what they'll do is ask for any verbal information but also any physical evidence that might have been gathered, any photographs, and i know passengers have taken photographs. they'll begin to collect every bit of information that is available. they will -- the team will include not only ntsb members, employees who are specialists in rail but also representatives of amtrak, representatives of the department of transportation, the railroad branch of the department of transportation. it will include the manufacturer of the train, the track. there will be a whole team of people comprised of members who represent all aspects of the

accident investigation, all aspects of the industry. and then the fact finding will begin. they will talk to survivors, to passengers. they'll look at the physical evidence and put the pieces of the puzzle together. we always say, nothing is ruled out until -- ruled in until everything is ruled out. >> a good way to go about it. the engineers and conductors will be pivotal, their experience as well. you know, you rarely hear about amtrak accidents, especially deadly ones. are you surprised by this? >> it's curious to me, because of the weather. the weather was obviously looks like a very nice day. does look to be a straight run of track. no sharp curves. it's not the middle of the night, which is fortunate for both the passengers and the crew and the rescue people. so it does seem to me to come down to the track or some fault in one of the cars itself. as i understand it, the engines in some of the cars proceeded

ahead and were fine and derailed after that. so that's what they'll have to piece together. and track maintenance will be a concern. the age of the track, what's been done. and bnsf will help the investigators with that because they will be the ones who were in charge of all that. >> you know, this crash comes timing wise as a big vote on the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill slated for this week, and here's what new jersey congressman josh gottheimer had to say about it earlier this morning. take a listen. >> there's too much on the line here for our country. you think about infrastructure and what happened, the tragedy last night, the derailment in montana on amtrak, and of course, i'm here in new jersey. we got hit so hard as other parts of the country did by hurricane ida. in the infrastructure bill is climate rezil yaenls to help fight climate change. to fix amtrak and invest in our roads, bridges, rails. there's no reason why we shouldn't pass that right away and get shovels in the ground and do everything we can to stop

derailments and invest in our infrastructure and climate and fight climate change, and also, we should keep working on the separate bill on reconciliation. >> kitty, do you think the nation's aging infrastructure will indeed be important in terms of looking into this investigation? >> well, i think it is certainly the backdrop, as the congressman indicated, against which the investigation will be considered. as i said, again, there's standards for maintaining track, but we're a country that i think values amtrak, values rail, but that doesn't mean our standards are adequate in terms of maintenance and inspections. that will be something that's considered. they'll also look at human performance. was there something the crew might have done that would have triggered this? they'll look at the physical issues around the cars. so it will all come out. and i think it's important to obviously the infrastructure bill, it contains significant funding for amtrak, which is needed for reasons.

that's a consideration. it's much too early to even indicate whether it's any of those things, but i know it will all be looked at. >> kitty higgins, thank you so much for lending your experience and expertise to this conversation. i appreciate your time. >> let's go from there to a look at the top political stories we're following for you today, including time of intensity. that is how speaker nancy pelosi is describing this coming week on capitol hill. as she calls for the house to pass three major pieces of legislation in the coming days, and that includes the bipartisan infrastructure bill and reconciliation package, two crucial pieces of the president's agenda, but do these bills have enough votes to pass? and can you get one without the other? progressive and moderate democrats remain split. >> i support reconciliation. and so do my colleagues. you know, we meet all the time. let me tell you, we all agree we need a reconciliation package. i think that's important for everyone to understand. but it doesn't mean -- these are

two separate bills. you have got infrastructure, an historic once in a century. there's no reason we shouldn't pass that right away. >> i don't believe there will be a vote. the speaker is an incredibly good vote counter and she knows exactly where her caucus stands. we have been really clear on that. >> the votes aren't there. >> the votes aren't there. i don't think she's going bring it up. >> plus, new reaction from cory booker after those bipartisan talks for police reform legislation collapsed on capitol hill. >> biggest civil rights demonstrations in this country's history, asking for change. we wanted to have more transparency, higher professional standards and real accountable, if you break the law, you shouldn't be shielded from that. those were the lines all along. we sat down, good faith negotiations. got closer together. got major law enforcement groups to endorse it, but we didn't get it done. >> and homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas defending the administration

expelling thousands of migrants from that texas border encampment. >> that is a public health authority. it is not an immigration policy. it is exercised as the cdc, the centers for disease control, has ordered in light of the arc of the pandemic. this is a public health imperative to protect migrants themselves, local communities, our personnel, and the american public. >> and on the covid front, a booster shot rollout is under way, but there's some mixed messages from federal agencies about exactly who is eligible. let's go to josh lederman standing by for us. welcome you to on this sunday, josh. what are we hearing from the cdc about this today? >> if you're confusing about what exactly the cdc is recommending at this point, you're in good company. it's fair to say there's been a lot of confusion over the last few days with the fda saying one thing, the cdc saying something else, and amid this alphabet

suit of companies, they're overruling the authorizing of boosters for people under the age of 65 but who might work at a high-risk setting. cdc director walensky acknowledging there is some confusion, but said look, there was a high degree of scientific consensus people above the age of 65 and those with high-risk conditions needed to be eligible for these boosters, but there was a scientific open question about whether people younger but who might work in a high-risk setting like schools or health care facility or homeless shelter should be eligible at this time. that's where she stepped in to make that additional population more eliable. let's remind folks what exactly the cdc is saying about who is eligible for booster shots. according to the cdc, it's now people 65 and older, as well as all long-term care facility residents, people who are 18 and above who have underlying medical conditions, as well as that other group we were just

talking about, people 18 and above who have increased risk because they work in a job or an institutional setting that might make them at higher risk for contracting covid. director walensky was also asked about, what about everyone else? are they going to need booster shots. this is what she said. >> we are evaluating this science in real time. we are meeting, you know, every several weeks now to evaluate the science. the science may very well show that the rest of the population needs to be boosted, and we will provide those guidances as soon as we have the science to inform them. >> we also heard this morning, alex, from the ceo of pfizer who predicted we'll be back to life as normal within about a year, and as far as people needing boosters in perpetuity, he predicted this will end up being a once a year booster situation. >> interesting. okay, let me ask you about criticism. i know you have heard it, that the white house got ahead of the science. and thereby initiated some of

this confusion. is the white house playing defense on that? >> well, what the white house is saying is, look, they wanted to be ready with the mechanisms to distribute these booster shots as soon as the fda and the cdc recommended them to whoever the scientists determined were going to need them. and their efforts were really focused on making sure the white house would not be a hold-up in making sure we could actually get that done. they have also wanted to obviously continue to beat the drum about the importance of vaccinations. but you're absolutely right that this has been something of a pattern where the biden administration has said, look, we unlike the trump administration are going to defer to the scientists, but then have come out with sort of these predictions about the future that have seemed to get one step ahead, and that's part of the reason we're facing the confusion we're facing now. >> in terms of deferring to the scientists, we're going to speak shortly with dr. scott gottlieb. has a great new book, really doing an autopsy on covid. we'll speak with him in a little bit. >> in the meantime, i thank you

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new reaction today to the spending showdown and what speaker nancy pelosi says will be an intense week ahead on capitol hill as democrats attempt to pass three major pieces of legislation. she hinted at a possible shift in the timeline for a vote on the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill. progressives and moderates still appear to be miles apart on what should be funded. >> so are you confident these

progressive members are going to vote yes even though she says no? >> let me just say, we're going to pass the bill this week. you know, i'm never bringing a bill to the floor that doesn't have the votes. >> julie circen is joining me from capitol hill. welcome on this sunday. i know you tried to pin her down on some of this today. what more can you tell us? >> yeah, alex, i sure did. first, let's start by talking about what we know. speaker pelosi sent that forceful letter to colleagues overnight demanding most moderates and progressives come together behind both infrastructure bills this week. now, we also know that she promised to put that bipartisan infrastructure bill on the floor for a vote tomorrow in order to appease moderates who had been waiting for that bill to come around on the floor for over a month now after it passed the senate in mid-august. now, we also know that that reconciliation plan that progressives said they will only support the moderate plan if that reconciliation plan comes together this week, they said they won't support the

bipartisan bill tomorrow if that reconciliation plan doesn't come up for a vote this week as well. and now that bill has no consensus in the house and no consensus among senate democrats. that's that multi-trillion dollar social human infrastructure spending bill. i pressed nancy pelosi on all of this after her interview with abc. here's what she told me. >> how important is this week to president biden's agenda? >> it's an important week for the american people so we have an agenda that is for the people, and i'm convinced that we will succeed. >> how confident are you that you have the votes to pass both infrastructure bills this week? how are you negotiating with the senate if joe manchin hasn't told you what he wants? >> that's a negotiation on the senate side. >> you heard her there, the question she answered is the one to pay attention do because she didn't answer it. and speaker pelosi doesn't do anything unintentionally.

she didn't answer george stephanopoulos when he asked her a different version and she didn't answer me there. that's because speaker pelosi said she won't put anything on the floor unless it has the votes. it's still a big open question as to whether we'll see that bipartisan infrastructure bill voted on tomorrow in the house. >> okay, julie, very good trying to get the answers, though. thank you so much. >> joining me now, congressman steven horsford, a member of the ways and means budget and armed services committee. good to see you. what do you make of speaker pelosi's decision to hold these votes this week, and if both votes were to be taken tomorrow, would both bills have your support? >> they will. because this is about delivering for the american people. and i am very excited because we are on the cusp of delivering historic tax cuts for middle class families, for creating millions of good paying jobs,

investing in the american worker, and making sure that we're lowering costs for american families by lowering costs in health care, lowering prescription drug costs for seniors, and making sure that we're really investing in the needs of the american people. this is what democrats do when we're in the majority. we focus on the american family, and we're going to deliver for them in these packages. >> okay. you're saying that with a smile. i know that you were part of that group of moderate democrats who met with the president this past week. what was your takeaway from that meeting? and are you confident that something will get to the president's desk? >> i am. and i was honored to join president biden along with my colleagues in the senate and the house. it was more than an hour, an hour and a half meeting where we talked about our priorities. i shared with the president that for me, my priorities are about passing a bill that includes

lowering prescription drugs, addressing the climate needs of our country now, because we cannot wait any longer. in nevada, we have historic droughts and wildfires. some of the highest temperatures ever recorded. but we also need to, alex, address other issues, including violence, and that's why i'm really excited that our break the cycle of violence, which will invest $5 billion into prevention and intervention is also included. so this is about, again, addressing a once in a generation investment in our families, in our communities, not leaving anyone or any community behind in the process. >> yeah, each and every one of those things you have articulated, all very, very important issues. let me ask you, though, about the president telling senator manchin, give me a number as far as how much you are willing to spend. as a member of the budget committee, what number would you be comfortable with for this

reconciliation package, if it's not $3.5 trillion? >> well, alex, i have never chased a number. nor have i chased an arbitrary deadline. what i'm chasing are results for my district in nevada's fourth district and for the american people. results like the child tax credit, which is a tax cut for middle class americans. 92% of families will continue to receive a tax cut on average of $3,000. paid leave, so that families no longer have to choose between caring for a child or a sick loved one or going to work to get paid. investing in early childhood education, and community college. something that we desperately need in order to help our next generation succeed in life and acquire the skills to be productive. so with all due respect, i'm not chasing a number. i know, i was in the meeting

with the president and senator manchin, and i told senator manchin, for me, it's about delivering on the priorities that my constituents need. they sent me to washington to deliver for them, and i'm going to stay focused on that twrrb. >> let's together take a listen to what ritchie torres said to my colleague, ali velshi, yesterday. >> every progressive, every single one of them, is willing to give the moderates the bipartisan infrastructure framework in exchange for the build back better act. but not every moderate is willing to give progressives the build back better act in exchange for the bipartisan bill. and therein lies the problem. as far as i'm concerned, the true obstructionists are not the progressives but the so-called moderates. >> that outlines the division. i'm curious to your response and what do you say to your progressive colleagues who are threatening to vote against the bipartisan bill without the reconciliation bill. >> we're on the same team.

actually, the biggest obstructionists are the republicans. kevin mccarthy is literally whipping his members against a bipartisan infrastructure bill as we speak here today. that bill passed the senate with 19 republican votes. it does provide more than $2.5 trillion of funding over several years. and here we have kevin mccarthy willing to put politics above the needs of the american people. this is about investing in transit, in roads and bridges and highways, water systems, broadband infrastructure, the things we need to actually help move our country forward. so i know that kevin mccarthy and some of the republicans may not do what's right for their constituents, and sadly, democrats, we will have to vote yet again to deliver for their constituents because republicans fail to do so. they did it on health care with the affordable care act.

they did it when they put -- putting major tax cuts for the wealthy above the needs of middle class families. and it sounds like they're willing to do it again on infrastructure and the build back better act. we won't let them win. we will continue to put the american people first. >> and let me stay with this theme in a way because there's another key deadline this week, the government funding bill, the bill you and your colleagues passed. it does not appear to have the ten republican votes needed to get it through the senate. how will the government avoid a shutdown? >> yet another major priority, and let's talk about what we're paying for. more than $7.8 trillion of the debt limit that has to be lifted is from the donald trump administration and those massive tax cuts that i just talked about. so for mitch mcconnell and senate republicans and now even house republicans to say that they will fail to do their constitutional duty, which is to

keep the government open, i came to washington to solve problems, not to create more issues. let's talk about what this would do. our armed service members in the military would not receive their paycheck. seniors would not receive their social funds. that's what happens if we fail to keep government open and lift the debt limit. so these are the priorities. democrats will deliver. and i hope that the republicans will wake up and do what's right for the american people. >> i'm very glad you outlined the reality of the prospect. thank you so much. good to see you. >> president biden may release white house documents pertaining to the attack on the capitol, but likely not without a fight from donald trump. up next, why those papers are so important and why biden might ultimately decide not to share them with congress. ♪ when you have nausea, ♪ ♪ heartburn, ingestion, upset stomach... ♪ ♪ diarrheaaaa. ♪ pepto bismol coats your stomach with fast and soothing relief.

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the white house is shutting down donald trump's attempt to shield his white house documents from the january 6th committee. for weeks, trump has vowed to fight the release by evoking executive privilege, that's a notion white house press secretary jen psaki refuted during a briefing on friday. >> i would say that we take this matser incredibly seriously. the president has already concluded that it would not be appropriate to assert executive privilege. and so we will respond promptly to these questions as they arise. and certainly, as they come up from congress. >> joining me now, msnbc political analyst and chief white house correspondent for "the new york times," our really good friend peter baker. so, peter, as i welcome you on this sunday, what could posable be in these documents that is of interest to the january 6th committee? i'm sure it's kind of a wide range of things. so where do you start? >> right, exactly. well, the committee asked the national archives to identify

documents that might be related to their investigation, and they came up with hundreds of pages they think is responsible. you can imagine what those might be. it could be emails sent on the day of january 6th between various people in the white house, text messages or that sort of thing. it could be the phone records. who did the president talk to on january 6th? how many times did they talk, when did they talk, how long did they talk? what is the record of the president's day. in a normal white house, they keep pretty exacting minute-by-minute accounts of what the president does each day. that would be of interest to the committee. and any memos or documents that might relate to the planning of the rally that preceded the riot on capitol hill. anything that would tell the investigators more about the intent and understanding of what was about to happen and so forth. so these are all very key. one of the really big blank spots in our understanding of what happened that day is the white house. because in fact, we have got the rest of the events documented so well through video footage that

you're showing right now, through testimony from 535 witnesses that we had on capitol hill plus. one place we don't really have a good understanding is what was happening in the white house on the day of this attack. >> okay, so you said something i want to tick up on. you said in a normal white house, we would have all sorts of documentation, transcripts, whatever that might be. do you expect that to exist from this white house? >> that's a good question. obviously, this is a white house that didn't see it being necessary to follow all the norms that other white houses have. they didn't necessarily follow the same procedures and the same organization principles that other white houses did. you know, we knew my colleague andy carney wrote a story about how when president trump was done with documents, he would rip them up and toss them on the floor. you're not allowed to do that. those documents are supposed to be kept for the sake of history. that's the daw. we don't know for sure what documents have been kept and what haven't. by the end of their four years,

presumably, they had a system in place, but we don't know what these documents might tell us and that's one reason the committee is looking. >> if these documents are there for the committee to reach, why do you think donald trump is fighting so hard to keep them sealed? >> well, look, on a broad principle, every president fights this kind of thing. every president resists the idea of their white house being open to transparency. it is an institutional, you know, tradition. having said that, more specifically on president trump, you can imagine that there would be things he thinks might be embarrassing or damaging in some ways. he has said he thinks this committee is illegitimate and is on a partisan witch hunt. he's consistently resisting any efforts to obtain documents or testimony from his white house by congress on all sorts of matters. remember, a two-year court fight to get don mcgahn, the white

house counsel, to tell the same things he told robert mueller and were published in his report. the question is whether or not he has the ability to do so since president biden gets to make the last call as the incumbent president on these kinds of requests. >> let me ask you this. how significant is it, what is the significance of president biden allowing the documents to be released if that indeed is what happens? what kind of precedence might it set, what kind of challenges might it create for future presidents and this one potentially? >> yeah, that's a good question because every president, republican or democrat, tends to be a little skittish about turning over documents from any other presidency even if it's from the other party. even if it was their opponent because they don't want to set a precedent that will work against them as well. you saw the white house issue a clarification after the jen psaki briefing you showed earlier in the segment to make sure it was going to be considered on a case-by-case basis. they're not 100% committing to

release everything the committee wants. they're going to take a look at these individually. in this case, there is precedent. after 9/11, the 9/11 commission asked for and eventually got access to documents and testimony from the bush white house. it was key information for them as they produced their reports. so there have been moments in history where the interest in understanding what happened was so overwhelming, so imperative that it basically created a desire on the part of even a president who doesn't want things to come out agree to release them. i think president biden has said or made clear that he considered january 6th to be such an important event in terms of understanding what happened then that he would be willing to make an exception to any normal concerns they would have over privilege. >> yeah, and i think that is something he is very much not alone in that concept. thank you so much. happy sunday to you. >> let's go to the confusion over covid booster shots. here's what cdc director

rochelle walensky said a short time ago. >> we're evaluating this science in real time. we're meeting, you know, every several weeks now to evaluate the science. the science may very well show that the rest of the population needs to be boosted, and we will provide those guidances as soon as we have the science to inform them. >> let's bring in dr. scott gottlieb, former fda commissioner, cnbc contributor, and author of the powerful new book "uncontrolled spread, why covid-19 crushed us and how we can defeat the next pandemic." dr. gottlieb, thank you for joining me, sir. i want to get to your response to the cdc director rochelle walensky, given the evidence you have seen, is a booster shot absolutely necessary at this point? what do you make of the eligibility pool that's been widened for the third dose? >> i also sit on the board of pfizer, as you know. i think the evidence is clear for older individuals there's a decline in vaccine efficacy over time, particularly for people who are vaccinated a long

interval again. the advisory came that people over the age of 65 should receive a booster. cdc came out in a similar place. you can make an argument the data suggests people 65 and above, and possibly 50 and above. they defined that as the age criteria upon which people should be received boosters. the broadened eligibility for people who are occupational exposures or people at high risk with underlying conditions, that's consistent. it largely conformed to the fda decision. the cdc director intervened to break what was largely a tie. a close vote on whether or not the cdc supported boosters for people at risk from occupational exposures. and the director in this case does get to vote. this advisory committee is an advisory committee to her. >> we should make a point it was a split vote. there were those who supported it and those who were hesdant. new york governor kathy hochul

is prepared to make a mandate for medical staff. you have thousands of unvaccinated health care workers who are expected to be fired tomorrow. people wonder why would health care workers of all people risk getting fired over the vaccine? is there an explanation? >> i think we should be mandating this vaccine for health care workers. there's a lot of oother vaccines health care workers are required to get. hepatitis b, chickenpox, the flu vaccine. this is another vaccine that health care workers i think around the whole country are going to be required to receive. it's a lot of younger health care workers that are resisting the vaccination. a lot of nurses i'm told inside hospitals. i suspect there's going to be some kind of grace period implemented to give them one last chance before they start terminating people. another challenge is if you're terminated because you refuse to get vaccinated, that may be job abandonment and you may not be eligible for unemployment. this is going to put hardship on individuas and i would urge

health care providers to get vaccinated, not just to protect themselves but the people they take care of. >> well pointed there especially with the lack of unemployment that will be available to them potentially. you told cnbc last month and subsequently in other interviews as well that the covid delta surge may be the final wave in the u.s. what did you mean by that? could this covid-19 pandemic be over soon? i mean, at least as we know it today? >> well, the pandemic is going to end at some point. this virus is going to become a more persistent menace and be endemic, which means it's going to be like us like the flu and will probably settle into more of a seasonal pattern. i believe the delta surge is the last major surge we're going to experience in the country. on the back end, we're going to have enough population wide immunity another through vaccination or people infected through the variant that it's going to create enough immunity that you're not going to see the spread at the same velocity. it doesn't mean it goes away, but we probably don't have the extreme high prevalence we have

in certain parts of the country as the delta wave migrates to other parts like the midwest right now and the pacific northwest and perhaps the northeast. you are going to get down to prevalence levels where it will be persistent but it's not going to be the kind of intense wave of infection we're experiencing right now. the only thing that can change that trajectory is if we get a variant that pierces the immunity we have acquired through vaccination or prior infection. those variants will come along, but i think it's unlikely you'll get a variant that completely obviates the vaccination. it will probably be more of a slow drip and we'll have time to adjust the vaccines and maybe reformulate them. >> that's a positive perspective. let's get to your book "uncontrolled spread." you were donald trump's first commissioner at the fda. you left after two years and described the trump administration as being poorly prepared, badly reacting, and at times moved erratically and grudgingly when dealing with the pandemic. you also contend that the pandemic wasn't preventable but with better leadership, the u.s. could have delayed its onset and

reduced its scope and severity. what was the biggest breakdown that made matters worse? what could have been done sooner to prevent the hundreds of thousands of deaths here in the u.s.? >> well, i think the biggest breakdown, one of the more systemic failures across gump, we didn't have the right preparations in place. we didn't recognize they didn't have the logistical capacity to mount a response. it does exquisite scientific work, careful analysis, but it doesn't surface information and analytics to inform policymakers. it couldn't scale the progression of a diagnostic test and couldn't scale the deployment of a vaccine. the guidance we got that shifted a lot over time in part because they got these -- they got poor data feeds and couldn't doing analytical work in a quick fashion. i think it was more systemic failures of the government up

and down. on a political question, i think the biggest failing of the administration in my view was a lack of consistency in terms of how they approached the pandemic. i think there was a view that took hold over time that uncontrolled spread was inevitable and we couldn't intervene with policy to mitigate the spread, so policy really wasn't a solution. i think that was wrong. i think there were things we could do, if we could galvanize the public behind action to slow the spread, buy us more time. things like encouraging the use of masks, encouraging people to get vaccinated once the vaccines became available. encouraging people to try to avoid congregant settings. early on we did that and there war collective action, but the administration lost the focus on that towards the end and that hurt us. >> dr. scott gottlieb, the book is "uncontrolled spread, why covid-19 crushed us." it's a powerful work and a

worthy read and autopsy of what the world has gone through, let alone the united states over the last year and a half plus. thank you for your time. >> thanks a lot. >> up next, a community gathers for a final good-bye to gabby petito while the manhunt for her fugitive fiance intensifies. tel! and is designed to last for up to 48 hours. with secret, keep it fresh. available in over 10 amazing scents and aluminum free. secret

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that delicious scramble was microwaved? get outta here. everybody's a skeptic. wright brothers? more like, yeah right, brothers! get outta here! it's not crazy. it's a scramble. just crack an egg. a somber service is under way on long island to remember gabby petito, as the search for her fugitive fiance intensifies. her body was found one week ago today in a rugged wiomic camp ground. her death was ruled a somicide. while he's not been charged directly in her death, petito's fiance, brian laundrie, vanished and hasn't been sign in nearly two weeks. kathy park is joining us from new york where the public visitation is happening right now. what a sumber day there. set a scene for us. are we seeing a large turnout

for the memorial today? >> alex, good afternoon to you. we are seeing a large turnout. a steady stream of people lining up in front of the funeral home, walking inside and paying their respects. earlier today, we saw a powerful display of solidarity with local law enforcement, emergency responders, and long island here is gabby's hometown, so many of the residents say they're grieving one of their own. the long island community where gabby petito grew up is preparing to say good-bye. >> she just lit up the entire room. she was always happy, always smiling. you never would think anything like this would happen to her. >> ahead of her funeral today, an outpouring of grief and support. >> look. a butterfly right there. >> butterflies released, a tribute to her final social media post. the 22-year-old came to national attention after she vanished during a cross country road trip with her fiance, brian laundrie,

who returned to florida this month without her. her body was found in wyoming near grand teton national park. officials ruled her death a homicide. her tragedy touching families across the country. >> we all have children, whether you have daughters like i do or you have sons, everybody is just really upset. >> this weekend, the search for laundrie is intensifying in florida's wetlands. his family members saying he headed into the sprawling nature reserve for a hike days ago and never returned. his attorney confirming he left home without a wallet or a cell phone. gabby petito's best friend telling nbc news laundrie was possessive, controlling, and jealous. adding, she didn't deserve what happened to her. i will fight every day for justice for her. gabby will stay in my heart forever. >> laundrie is a person of interest in her disappearance. police have not named him as a suspect in her death. and back in her long island hometown, heartache. blue ribbons now lining the streets, symbolizing a life cut

short. >> we want people to look at the ribbons and remember gabby and think of her eyes and how beautiful and vibrant and sparkling she was. >> and this weekend, gabby's family set up a foundation in her honor and the mission is to help other families find their missing children. meanwhile, reward money in the range of around $30,000 is now being offered for more information leading to laundrie's whereabouts. alex. >> sad day there. thank you so much, kathy park. >> he's at it again. donald trump doing what he does best nowadays. but at what cost to the nation? that's next. many kids and so much laundry. i don't have time for pretreating. what even is this? it looks like cheese but it smells like barf. with tide pods, you don't need to worry. the pre-treaters are built in. so you just toss them in before the clothes. tide pods dissolve even when the water is freezing.

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trump returning to a state he lost. >> hello to a very, very special place, georgia. >> reporter: while still pushing the false claim he won in 2020. >> most corrupt election in the history of our country. >> reporter: and rallying with republicans looking to oust establishment candidates, throwing his support behind congressman jody hice, looking to unseat brad raffensperger, who rejected trump's request to, quote, find enough votes to overturn his loss in the peach state. it's just part of the civil war raging in the gop, not just over conspiracy theories about voter fraud but also enveloping republicans who voted to impeach the president over the january 6 capitol riot including wyoming congresswoman liz cheney, who is set to get help from a different member of the president's club.

with george w. bush holding a fundraiser for her next month. as ohio congressman anthony gonzalez, who also backed trump's impeachment, announced he will retire early due to, quote, toxic environments in our own party. all while trump repeats falsehoods about the last election. >> they have headlines that biden wins in arizona when they know it's not true. he lost in arizona based on forensic audit. >> reporter: but the so-called audit only reaffirmed biden's victory. >> that was nbc's monica alba. joining now now, don callaway, founder of the voter protection action fund. don, what's your reaction to all this, how is it that republicans and trump supporters paid donald trump millions of dollars for

this audit in arizona, also to the actual process of it, the support has been incredible. and despite the cyber ninjas' major flaws, they cannot even accept the results. does this just add more fuel to the fire? >> unfortunately it does, because as we look at this week after week and we say, oh, he wants to do another audit, the audit didn't show anything, he's pressing forward and misrepresenting the results, saying it shows he clearly won, which of course it doesn't. if you say things enough times, people begin to believe it. not only is this the grift that continues to raise money, to sell merch, but this is about sowing seeds of disinformation and distrust in democracy. a trial run in advance of the 2022 midterms to take over congress for republicans and then a trial run that will lead him back to the republican

nomination for president. as crazy as this sounds to us, it is part of his ongoing maniacal scheme to threaten whatever elections come in the future. >> split so says trump's obsession with the 2020 election, said a trump aide, quote, will never be dropped, i think he believes it. and number two, it is a rallying point for the base. it's something a lot of his supporters believe in. trump's spokesperson liz harrington says voters are demanding it, it's the number one issue of concern we hear. susan, is that what it all comes down to and is this the number one issue out there for trump supporters, really? there's nothing else that takes precedence? >> well, it's the number one issue perhaps for them politically, not in their day to day lives. and it's important to realize that the people that we see there are the loudest voices in the room. it turns out that the reason why

trump lost arizona, not once, not twice, but a third time, thanks to the ninja audit, is because republicans, there were a certain amount of republicans that have had enough of donald trump. they don't like what he did as president, they don't like the vitriol, they know he's not someone who should be serving. so i think that it is a political cry. i think it's also something that donald trump keeps having these rallies because he knows if he's quiet for too long, the people will go on without him. i don't think that he has his grip so much on them as they do on him. >> so meantime, we have texas which is under pressure from donald trump, which has lodged audits of the 2020 election across four counties. we remind viewers, one of which he won. trump publicly calls for it and 8 1/2 hours later, it's happening. don, why is he calling for this

in a state he won? >> dan patrick, the lieutenant governor, and dan abbott, the governor, want to keep their jobs. they won't keep their jobs and become the republican nominees if they don't show fealty to trump. you have a whole bunch of new people brought into the process. if those people are registered to vote, if democratic and progressive interests develop over the course of the cycle, they have a chance of beating the republican culture in texas. you have a good chance in the texas house of representatives, and if someone like beto o'rourke runs for governor, they have a good chance. so if you're trump, you have to continue to sow seeds of doubt in that process even if it means wasting taxpayer dollars for a

recounting when there's no election controversy. >> susan, will this be the norm for every election from now on? >> i fear for the immediate, it will be. we saw in california on the recall, i believe that evers, 24 hours before the election was even called, that it was a rigged system. so yes, absolutely. >> okay. okay. if you say so. thank you, susan, thank you, don, good to see you both, as always. crunch time on capitol hill. the fate of those two big spending bills still in doubt. in just a moment i'll speak with house financial services committee chair maxine waters about what it's going to take to get those bills passed. - oh...oh. - what's going on?

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a good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters in new york. welcome to "alex witt reports." developing this hour, president biden's agenda is facing a critical week ahead as congress works to pass a $3.5 trillion reconciliation package as well as a $1 trillion infrastructure bill and they're also trying to avoid a government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling, as progressive and moderate democrats are wrangling over how that will come to fruition. speaker nancy pelosi confident they will ultimately get it done. >> let me just say we're goi