comcast business. powering possibilities. ♪♪ good day to all of you from msnbc world headquarters here in new york, welcome, everyone, to alex witt reports. here's what's happening at 2:00 p.m. eastern. developing this hour, it could be a week of explosive testimony

or the start of a major legal battle. either way it is shaping up to be a critical moment for the house january 6th investigation into the attack on the capitol. four former top trump aides are schedule for depositions thursday and friday but will they show up? earlier today committee member adam schiff warning what will happen to those who do not comply. >> we also want to make sure these witnesses come in and testify and we are prepared to go forward and urge the justice department to criminally prosecute anyone who does not do their lawful duty. >> a cbs/ugov poll reporting on americans think of the build back better plan, 54% approve, but it's popular among people who heard it will include expansion of medicare and family leave. working to reach an agreement on that package to pass with a bipartisan infrastructure bill. chris coons giving an update on

where the talks are heading. >> i thinks the ultimate price will be around $2 trillion, but it's the policies that really matter and as a caucus we agree on those. i'm really optimistic we will get both of these bills to president biden's desk by the end of this month, hopefully, possibly by the end of the year. >> and speculation of a 2024 white house bid is growing after donald trump held a rally in iowa, but earlier today the president's former press secretary stephanie grisham offered nbc news a serious warning about what another trump presidency could look like. >> i think it would be nothing but revenge, retribution and how he can benefit himself. there will be pardons happening. i think there will be very draconian policies that go way too far, so i believe if he is reelected again it will be a scary time. >> we have live reports on today's top stories for you. nbc's lauren egan with the president in wilmington,

delaware, and julie tsirkin joining us from capitol hill. lauren to you first, as the democrats are ramping up negotiations on the reconciliation package how involved is president biden in these discussions? >> the white house has said that president is going to be deeply involved in these discussions, but he's going to continue to hold phone conversations with senators manchin and sinema, the two moderates that are deeply involved in the conversations, as well as progressives. the big hold up here is the price tag of this bill. think back to a few weeks ago when we were talking about this looking closer to $3.5 trillion or more, now the white house says it's likely going to be closer to that $2 trillion range, in order to get moderates to buy into it. how do you get to the smaller number? first you can just cut out elements of the president's agenda entirely to size down the bill or you can try to fit as much as you possibly can into the package and just allocate

less funding for each item, giving it an expiration date. the president has been a bit frustrated with the amount of foe cu and attention that has been given to the price tag of his plan, rather than the elements that he's proposing, the specific policy areas. there's a new poll out that shows his build back better agenda has a 54% approval rating, that's actually higher than the president's approval rating, and when you hear him talk about his agenda, he frequently cites these poll numbers and as you mentioned in the lead in here, when you dig into those polls further, you go into specific policy areas such as expanding medicare, those have a higher approval rating. take a listen to what congresswoman pramila jayapal had to say on our air about these ongoing negotiations. >> 98% of us agree that $3.5 trillion was the number, all the programs that are in there, the president agrees, 70% of the american people agree, but we have two senators, two

democratic senators, not on board, so a lot of this depends on the two of them getting together, because they each want slightly different things, and coming back with a proposal of what it is they want to cut because the price tag comes out of that number. >> reporter: speaker pelosi has set a deadline for october 31st as the deadline to hold a vote on these bills. the democrat in the past have blown right past deadlines, but they have a lot of incentive to stick to it this time around because president biden is headed to glasgow for the big u.n. climate conference and the white house wants to show up there being able to tout this bill and say hey, look at what we did back home for climate change. they do not want to show up empty handed. there is a governor's race in virginia in early november and democrats are saying that it would be really beneficial to terry mcauliffe, the democratic candidate there, if he could hit the campaign trail and point to this bill and say look what democrats can do for you.

>> 100%. james carville told me that very thing in the last hour. thank you so much, lauren. also today, donald trump's efforts to cling to the presidency and the power the position holds shows no signs of slowing down. >> first of all he didn't get elected. i never conceded. never. >> he is my president. biden is not my president and i think most of the people here would agree with that. >> well, the false claims of the election fraud and the riot that they caused at the u.s. capitol in january part of a subpoena showdown that could get heated over the next few days. to julie tsirkin on capitol hill for us to talk about this. julie, you have former president trump telling his closest confidants listen, thumb your noses at these subpoenas from the january 6th committee. what's the latest than and how is that going over with lawmakers on the hill? >> alex, we're talking about defying these subpoenas like declining an invitation to a

party. mark meadows, cash patel and steve bannon has no choice but to appear before congress and testify before the house committee investigating january 6th next thursday and friday. obviously it's still a mystery whether they'll show up. i spoke to members on that committee a few weeks ago who told me they expected this. that's why they pursued the two-track plan if you will to begin with, giving some people the option to appear, an invitation, and others they knew they would have trouble getting to subpoena. that's what they dids to the four member of former president's inner more circle. you have in the senate judiciary committee on this side of the capitol they released a report detailing what they concluded shows that the former president tried to pressure the justice department to overturn the 2020 elect. here's senator sheldon whitehouse, what he had to say to our chuck todd this morning. >> we have a very complete picture of the extent to which trump was personally involved in

this. this is a question in which you can actually connects the president of the united states to the scheme. there's just a lot left to be learned and particularly as the old saw goes, follow the money. who is paying for this stuff and how does it all work. >> and the house select committee investigating the january 6th insurrection are trying to get answers to all of those questions and why they want the four ex-trump advisors in the room to answer what the former president knew, did and said on january 6th and want to hear from steve bannon specifically because he was credited with organizing the stop the steal rally that took place on january 6th and if they defy their subpoenas we heard what may happen. they've been very clear, members of the house select committee, they will pursue criminal contempt of congress for those who defy their subpoenas. alex. >> thank you, julie tsirkin for that setup. i'm joined right now by rhode island congressman david

cicilline, a member of the house judiciary and foreign affairs committee and vice chair of the progressive caucus and i remind you he was a house impeachment manager in donald trump's second senate trial. congressman, welcome back to the broadcast. nice to see you, let's start with this january 6th committee subpoenas. the committee is saying that mark meadows and cash patel so far engaging with them. steve bannon trying to hide behind executive privilege, no one certain how that would work with him, but no mention of dan ska veen no who politico reports was served a subpoena on friday. depositions are scheduled for all four of them thursday and friday of this week. will any of them actually testify? what's your thought on that? >> well, they certainly should testify. i expect they will ultimately testify. i hope it will happen on the day they are expected to appear. obviously no one is above the law. these are lawfully issued subpoenas by a select committee of the congress of the united

states, a bipartisan committee, coming a violent attempted overthrow of the government of the united states. this is deadly serious and this work has been done in a bipartisan way. these individuals are not beyond the reach of the law and if they do not appear in compliance with that subpoena they will suffer the consequences including prosecution. >> if none show up to give testimony does that strengthen support for your bill to fine witnesses up to $100,000 for ignoring congressional subpoenas? do you think it gets support for that? is there anything else you can do to pressure testimony? >> well, i think it does. the reality is congress has important oversight responsibilities as a regular part of our work to conduct oversight of the executive branch and a number of other areas and if congress simply cannot compel the witnesses or the production of documents because people think they don't have to comply we will completely lose our responsibility that the constitution gives us to conduct responsible oversight. it's essential that congress

vindicate that authority to both compel the attendance of witnesses and documents before donald trump no one would have suggested that they could just defy a lawfully issued subpoena. we should not allow that to stand. and the legislation that i've cosponsored will address that. we already have the ability to prosecute individuals who defy a lawfully issued subpoena by the congress of the united states and i expect the members of the committee will do all that is necessary to enforce full compliance with these subpoenas. >> it's as if you're reading my mind because i don't recall ever having conversations like this prior to donald trump getting into the office. i mean his influence on just a lawlessness, not going to comply with the subpoena, we know for a fact he says to these four, don't go, don't comply. >> yeah. this is part of a pattern of corruption, of defying the law, undermining the rule of law in this country and attacking the

independence of our judiciary, attacking the role of congress in conducting oversight and, you know, this is unheard of. if we're going to continue to hold on to our democracy it's going to require we vindicate the rule of law. chairman thompson and the members of the committee are prepared to do that. everyone should pause and recognize how unusual and dangerous this is for the former president to direct people to defy a properly issued subpoena. people comply with subpoenas every day in courts all across america and if he don't, they go to jail for it. >> amen to that. okay. let's talk about the white house's -- which has blocked donald trump's executive privilege claim over the records requested by the committee, the records in the national archives, but as a former impeachmentment manager, how critical could these documents be if what do you think could be learned by the committee once you get your hands on them? >> i think these documents are going to be very, very valuable to the committee and they're studying all of the circumstances that led to the

planning and the -- who supported it in terms of financial resources, who was involved in all the particulars of the insurrection, the stop the steal rally that turned into the insurrection. we want to understand completely how this happened, who was responsible for it and who planned it and paid for it, who was aware of it, who took certain actions and failed to take certain actions. look this is about a deadly attack on our country, on our democracy, and the world is watching. we have a responsibility to make sure we do everything we can to get to the bottom of it. to understand the circumstances that led up to it to make sure anyone involved in the planning, funding, preparation are held responsible so we can guarantee all future generations this will never happen again in america. >> donald trump, as you know, holding a rally in the first in the nation caucus state of iowa, still pushing the big lie. take a listen.

>> the election was a fraud, the single most issue, the issue that gets the most pull, the most respect, the biggest cheers, is talking about the election fraud of 2020 presidential election. >> look, i'm going to guess you're not surprised given the fact that we were talking about how donald trump is asking people to defy the law and not pay attention to subpoenas. however, as he teases a possible 2024 run, what disturbing you most about that possibility? >> well, what disturbs me most is obviously this rally is, you know, a 90-minute rant that gives the former president some comfort and helps him deal with the fact that he lost the election fair and square, but what's really disturbing is the number of republicans who have been part of this new gop that is a corrupt party, that -- a trump party that's, you know, prolonging covid party, a party that promotes the big lie, makes it difficult for people to vote

in elections. this is a sad commentary. when you have people like senator grassley and the governor of the state of iowa at this event listening to a president who is clearly detached from the reality he lost the election, he's not the president and went into a rant for 90 minutes, but the willingness of people to support that to other members of the republican party who made it clear last night trump is the republican party. there is no other republican party. and the voters are going to get to decide whether he's a candidate or not, do they want that leadership in this country that is making it more difficult for people to vote, giving tax cuts for the richest people in the country, undermining the rule of law, attacking the foundations of our democracy, i don't think people want that. >> you have to wonder, though, is there a level of conflict within certain republicans, i mean take a look at this exchange on fox news earlier with your republican colleague

steve scalise when he was asked whether or not he believes that donald trump lost the election and when there was, you know, a scam, a cover-up, all false, listen to this. >> do you think the 2020 election was stolen from donald trump? >> chris, i've been very clear from the beginning if you look at a number of states they didn't follow their state passed laws that govern the election for -- >> so you think the election was stolen. >> >> i said there are states that didn't follow their legislatively set rules. >> last time, do you think the election was stolen or not? >> it's not just regulation. states did not follow the laws which the constitution said they were supposed to follow. >> here's what he said, i'm not answering the question, right? >> yeah. >> why is this still happening? >> there's no question the election was not stolen even when they've had these fraudulent recounts, they confirm that joe biden was duly elected fair and square. i think what we're seeing is this fear of donald trump.

they see their only path to regaining the majority of the house and the senate and the white house, is linked to this corrupt former president who's promoted the big lie. they want to do everything they can to avoid being in conflict with his claim of the big lie. what they must realize is they're helping to promote that by not saying -- by not speaking the truth. if the day after the election all the republican leadership in this country acknowledged joe biden won the election we probably wouldn't have seen january 6th. they facilitated the promotion of this lie and it's a disgray. >> congressman david cicilline, let's hope we get some answers as the committee continues its investigation. thank you so much. it might be the one story you've not heard about today but could have the biggest impact on the future of the u.s. in the near term and beyond. retired general stanley mcchrystal is joining me to talk about taiwan next.

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>> congressman david cicilline, mcchrystal is joining me to talk >> congressman david cicilline, mcchrystal is joining me to talk

new today, u.s. fighter jets on full display as tensions escalate between china and taiwan, so the u.s. made f-16s fly over a rare, you see them, u.s. made f-16s over a rare military parade, part of taiwan's reaction to reunienication. tensions escalated when china flew 150 military planes into taiwan's air space that happened over about four days. the countries have been separated since a 1949 civil war, but yesterday, chinese president xi jinping once again insisted reunification must and will be realized adding he will not tolerate outside interference, but here's what senator ben cardin told me yesterday. >> we should not trust the leader of china and what they say they're going to do. we have to protect not only

taiwan's ability and security but also the free commerce and the china seas against chinese aggression. the best way to make sure that china does not use its military against taiwan is for america's presence to be there. >> joining me right now is retired army general stanley mcchrystal who had a highly decorated career commanding u.s. forces and special operations unitses in afghanistan and has a new book titled "risk a user's guide." we're going to get to the book in a moment but on this topic here how much of a presence does america already have in the south china sae sea and how involved do you think the u.s. is willing to get? >> that's a million dollar question everybody is trying to answer right now. not what we have but what we're willing to do. you mentioned about the 72 years of history with taiwan being what it is by the former nationalist leaders who lost the

civil war in 1949 and so it's tempting for americans to think well, 72 years, why are we worried about the risk if nothing has happened for more than seven decades why would it happen now? the answer is, something has changed which is dramatically. china now has the capability to potentially seize taiwan and although it could end up a difficult fight in the short term and the united states could take the fight to the chinese mainland, they're at a military point where there's a question mark there. so the decision that the united states has to make is balancing our strategic interests and all their complexity with the fact that we used to be able to intimidate the republic of china into not thinking about taking taiwan and that's basic reality has changed. >> so then general, according to the "wall street journal" u.s. troops have been deployed in

taiwan for at least a year. they've been training local forces there. what does that signal to you? does it necessarily mean that taiwan and china are headed for a military showdown? >> i don't think anything is inevitable here, but i do think that the united states, which has had an ambiguous policy intentionally for a long time, so that we didn't plan our flag in the ground and say we're absolutely going to defend taiwan because we think that would have per sip tated more challenges with china in the near term, but implying that, in fact, we will guarantee their sovereignty. i think the fact that we are -- have been apparently providing trainers and what not is a subtle signal, maybe not very subtle, but it's a subtle signal that we think the government of taiwan in its current configuration with the current level of sovereignty ought to exist, clearly that the people's republic of china thinks

differently. >> you spoke with president biden about china during the transition last december. i'm curious what is your best advice to him? it's a fine line in terms of managing china's bad behavior while maintaining strong economic ties. >> yeah. i think we've got to treat china as a reality in the world and a reality as a competitor. i wouldn't use the word cold war opponent, but at the same time i would put competition with sharp edges on it. so i think that the united states first needs to ensure it has the capabilities so we have options. if we don't have the military capability in the pacific, then really, the decision is a moot point. we can't do anything. we start there. then we've got to say what does that mean for our economic policies? i think we found some vulnerabilities in our supply chains starting with things like protective equipment, chips and other things, which tell us that globalization while many ways is really good for people, puts us

in a position where it complicates our policies. i think we need to step back as the united states and say we're connected and committed as a free market economy but there needs to be a policy that puts in place things that gives us resilience to things like economic shocks. >> general, do you think you could put a number on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being absolute military conflict ahead, where this all lies on that spectrum at this point, the likelihood of conflict? >> yeah. alex, i would be guessing, but it's probably three times higher than it was three or four years ago. >> wow. >> and that's for several reasons. one, the rise in chinese capability, the sense that after they've sort of digested hong kong, this is the next thing, a president for life and if you look at his rhetoric, he needs certain things to reinforce his success as a nationalist leader.

if we don't pay attention to all of those and put that template against what we've seen in past times in history, i think we can lull ourselves into thinking there is less risk than there is. >> senator ben cardin told me yesterday when it comes to china, he doesn't put much stock in what the president says. it's more about action. do you feel the same based on the history of what he has said and chinese leadership in the past? >> i think president xi jinping has signalled pretty clearly what he's about. he wants peaceful reunification with taiwan but he's talking about we will have reunification of taiwan. i think he's sending a strong message. i also think he's sending a strong message with the resources they pumped in their defense and aggressive actions recently. those don't happen without his approval.

he may say one thing, but i think he's communicating clearly. it's not just us. remember, he's communicating across the region and the world and people we need as allies are we a reliable capable ally or do they have to make a different decision and give more of their control to china. >> it's complicated to say the least. i promise we're going to gets to the book but i want to ask you about afghanistan, a place you know well. taliban leaders are meeting this weekend with u.s. officials for the first time since the messy withdrawal, but the future of women already appears pretty bleak. what do you think the u.s. should push for in these talks? >> yeah. i think we first should recognize where we are. navigate from the position we're in now. we're not without leverage. the taliban government is going to be in very difficult financial straits and they need to enter the world community. they can't be a pore ria state

and survive a regime. they're going to be leaning forward to do that. they would like to be recognized. i don't think that's something i would offer right now, but i think we can put pressure on them to do things like treat females much better, other liberties for the people, watch out for other minorities, that can have some impact. i can't guarantee they'll comply. they're the taliban and they've got a pretty checkered history, but we can put that kind of pressure on them and it doesn't mean we have to send military forces back in, but i don't think we should pretend that the stove is hot and we touched it, got burned and we don't want to be involved in afghanistan because it was a bitter pill. i think we've got to own up to some of our role. it's a global super power. i believe we have a moral commitment to the afghan people as well. >> so let's go to your book now because you talk about how to manage risk. you offer advice on situations from the battlefield to the board room and you offer ten

dimensions of control as you call them that can be used to deal with what is known and the unknown. so even with the best laid plans, general, how critical is flexibility when it comes to seeing things through and is there a risk of then second guessing and that muddles things? >> yeah. it's everything. i spent most of my career in special operations and we always did contingency plans for everything that could happen and none of those things ever happened and other things always went wrong. so when we always spent our effort was in building a force that could problem solve, that could react to the unexpected, that had the capacity to make decisions and adapt. i think that we need to think of our society and our nation, our organizations in the same way. instead of worrying about what risks are going to come at us or building a perfect plan, we should be thinking about resilience. those ten factors we described

creates something that's somewhat akin to the human immune system. it gives you the ability to communicate, to have a clear narrative, to be adaptable, to get your timing right and overcome inertia, all the things we know in the aftermath of every crisis turn out to be so critical and we often don't spend enough time beforehand making sure they're healthy. >> all right. well general stanley mcchrystal the book "risk a user's guide" i say i love listening you read part of it. you can buy the book to read about a mystery that is still unsolved about your uncle and right before pearl harbor day, what happened to him it was fascinating. very good read and good luck with the book. appreciate it. >> thank you. a report connecting the dots on trump's attempts to interfere in the 2020 election and the legal consequences the former president could face.

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new reaction to the report detailing former president trump's efforts to use the department of justice to overturns the 2020 election. senator sheldon whitehouse a member of the senate judiciary committee which wrote that report told chuck todd this morning. >> we have a very complete picture of the extent to which trump was personally involved in this. this is a question in which you can actually connect the president of the united states to the scheme. the second thing that we know is that it focused very heavily on georgia, so that relates and feathers into the georgia prosecuting that's under way, i should say the investigation that's underway down in fulton county. those two things link up. what we don't know is who was really behind this. >> and joining me now is msnbc contributor former u.s. attorney and professor at the university

of alabama school of law. welcome back. so jumping off in what we just heard from senator whitehouse, if you're investigating both the former president's interactions with the doj and what happened in georgia, where do you even begin? how do you tie the two together and what legal outcomes are on the table? >> that seems to me to be exactly the right question to answer because the temptation is to look at these events as isolated from each other, but what we really have is one long spectrum of a course of conduct. the question, of course, is ultimately whether or not that's criminal and whether doj will file some form of an indictment against trump or others. so far we haven't heard a lot from doj. typically folks think that there's not appetite to be perceived as political at doj. but they simply haven't spoken in this regard. so for now we have what's going on in congress which is this

tremendous fact finding exercise bringing the truth to the forefront and letting the american people know what happened with the former president starting well before the election, moving into the election itself, where, alex, you'll recall he declined to say that he believed the election would be fair even before it was conducted. and then we had the entire big lie which ultimately led to january 6th, when an increasingly desperate former president realized that he was not going to be able to keep joe biden's election from being certified and we ended up with the violence on january 6th. exposing that entire course of conduct is in and of itself justice in a way. the question that remains is whether prosecutors in georgia or the federal system will find crimes that need to be prosecuted. >> you know what, the department of justice is all about the law, so this may sound like a naive

question but why does the level of politics play into whether or not a law is a law that has been broken at all? >> so again, i think that's just the right question to ask. doj is supposed to look at the facts in the law and make prose cuetive decisions solely on that basis. federal prosecutors across the country do that every day in public corruption cases that involve mayors or senators or governors. it's not like they've never done this this before. there is a real hesitancy in the federal system to engage in prosecutions that are perceived as purely political, but in a situation like this where you have a former president and people around him who engaged in what can only be described as a slow-moving coup, then prosecution has to be on the table. that's not to say that the government would have everything it would need to indict and there are important questions involving the exercise of the

first amendment and whether that would act as a barrier to prosecution. puts at the end of the day doj prosecutors, prosecutors in georgia, will simply have to look at the law and facts and make a decision about whether prosecution is merited on these facts without regard to who any of the defendants are and without political power they may have exercised at some point. >> as you look at the capitol riot donald trump wanted to assert executive privilege by the house committee and was blocked doing so by the biden administration. what do you make of his request? did it hold any water at all? does he have grounds to try again to keep these documents from being released? >> it's unsurprising that he would make the request. trump is no stranger to specious legal arguments, but he's no longer the president of the united states and it's up to the current president to decide whether or not there's executive privilege and joe biden has already said no, there's not.

for purposes of january 6th investigations, the subject is of such tremendous importance that he will not exert executive privilege. trump can go to court and claim he still has some rights but you can understand how ridiculous that is, even if, for instance, people like steve bannon who wasn't working in the white house could theoretically be covered by executive privilege, which bannon can't be, the notion that every former living president could exert privilege, is unworkable. biden holds the privilege and says materials can be turned over and a court will order that. the question is how successful trump will be at playing the delay game he plays with the courts. >> thank you so much. good to talk with you. familiar symptoms in a different location, what we know about new cases of havana syndrome at the u.s. embassy in germany and what could be causing them. red house,

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. new cases of that mysterious havana syndrome are hitting another u.s. embassy. german police you are investigating several cases among embassy staff in berlin. the symptoms range from paralyzing migraines and memory loss. nbc's molly hunter is following the latest from london for us. this is wild. what do we know about these sonic attacks? >> yeah, alex, not much. what's different is the language

that berlin police are using. they put out a statement saying that they are investigating, this is a quote, alleged sonic weapon attacks on employees at the u.s. embassy. since 2016 when havana syndrome was first detected in havana, thus the name, about 200 u.s. officials, employees, family members, people associated with u.s. missions abroad, have come down with these symptoms. as you mentioned, the symptoms are wild and there's a wide range. people have reported feeling kind of an intense pressure in the head, strange buzzing, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, memory loss as far as what symptoms these new cases, we just don't know. it is important to note that the berlin police statement, alex, only came out after a leading german newspaper came out with a report saying that several embassy workers came down with symptoms. now the embassy declined to comment. they did say however there is an ongoing worldwide u.s. led investigation, so no kind of details specifically on this new

case. president biden, though, alex was actually talking about the havana syndrome on friday. he was doing so while signing a new bill pledging support both health care and financial for victims, but this is what's different, alex. president biden does not call them attacks. he calls them anomalous health incidents. these have been cropping up for the last five years. we still do not know what causes them. it is still very mysterious. over the summer cia director burns pointed the finger directly at russia, no surprise, mass -- moscow has denied it. >> what a story. thank you for that. back to the u.s. and the progress in the fight against coronavirus. florida reporting a drop in cases and hospitalization, a big contrast from when the state made up a full 20% of new cases in this country. let's go to stephanie stanton in tampa for us outside of the rj stadium where the tampa bay buccaneers are facing off against the miami dolphins. i know this game is sold out,

65,000 plus fans. any hesitation for folks going back into these packed stadiums? >> well, actually, alex, not a heck of a lot. you know, most fans we talked to are very excited to be here. it is hard not to feels the energy and the excitement when you are here outside as that game is going on against the miami dols as we speak. this game coming off the deadly delta wave variant that swept through the state of florida here. in fact, florida had the most deaths during the delta variant wave than any of the other 50 states. i can tell you that back in july and august we were seeing weekly case counts more than 150,000 and just this past week, some good news emerging here. according to the florida department of public health, case counts last week were just about 25,000. so quite a significant drop there. throughout this pandemic, governor ron desantis has been

pushing back against strict mask mandates or vaccine mandates in stark contrast to what we're seeing in other states, particularly california. back here at the stadium, masks for fans are recommended, not required. they are required for employees. i had a chance to talk to some of the fans before the game to find out how they were feeling about being out here and take a listen to what some of them had to say. >> the concern kind of went down a little bit. hopefully a lot of people have got vaccinated, if that's what they chose to do. i if not stay as safe as possible. >> being vaccinated, you know, i choose not to wear, you know, the mask as much. if i see that it's a very, very crowded spot, you know, i'll throw it on. >> phoenix is like this where they're opening back up and getting back to normal and this is what we wanted to be at. would never go to a place like

california or new york. let those places kind of sit. >> reporter: and the good news case counts in the state of florida down, averaging less than 4,000 per day since the beginning of july. you know, alex, i have to say that if you asked me what it feels like, does it feel like things are back to normal, i would say it kind of does. it doesn't feel like we're still in the midst of a deadly pandemic. so you know, some positive news to report on this sunday. let's hope the trend continues. >> let's stop on a positive note then. thank you so much, stephanie stanton. hispanicss make up about 20% of the country but you would not know it by watching hollywood films. up next actor basheer about increase hispanic representation on the big screen. tion on t bheig screen. clerk: hello, how can i? sore throat pain? ♪honey lemon♪ try vicks vapocool drops. in honey lemon chill. for fast-acting sore throat relief. wooo vaporize sore throat pain with vicks vapocool drops.

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light on the misreputation on the big screen. it analyzed 1300 top grossing films and found hispanics and latinos made up 3.5% of leads. 5% of the characters and 4.2% of directors across the 1300 films. joining is actor and aclu celebrity ambassador for immigrants' rights ademia bashir. what's your response to the numbers? >> those are terrible numbers. i'm happy to be again with you here, alex. we have constantly trying to make the industry aware of the

lack of -- [ inaudible ] lack of films that talk about us and being such a large group of consumers. i think they do need and deserve the films that they talk about them, not only the beautiful films about the people who work in the fields and as gardener or nanny or waiters but there's stories of lawyers and politicians and doctors. >> ten years ago you starred in "a better life" where you played an undocumented immigrant father. let's take a look at a clip from that movie. >> it was you. to be able to take care of you and watch you grow. because i love you.

you are the most important thing in this world to me. i -- i wanted you to be able to be anything you wanted to be. that would make me feel worthy. if you became somebody. >> so this film's being rereleased and watching it begs the question what has changed in the past decade? are the reasons in that movie, the reasons immigrants still come to the quite today. a better life for themselves and their kids. >> absolutely. unfortunately not too many things have changed. this is an issue that's been on

every politician's table for decades and either side of politics, republicans or democrats, they haven't stepped up to do something about it. there's a long way to go and still confident that some justice will be brought into this social struggle that needs to be won for many different reasons. it is a powerful film that opened the eyes of many anglo friends that i have and a lot of the 12 million undocumented workers they live in the shadows and that's a first thing we need to change. you know? we have to find a path to citizenship for those people. >> politically speaking immigrants have been vilified by certain political figures as a

way to scare americans. how do we change that narrative? >> you know, a big part of the problem is ignorance. when anyone can tell you that this group of people is bad, harmful and you as an american buy that, if you buy that then there's a bigger problem than the people who said those things. it is about ignorance and we need to get the facts. get the real facts and understand that this group of wonderful, hard working people are in the u.s. to make our lives to be happier. >> i know speaking of acclaim you win a career achievement award which is critical cool. they will give you that in december why you deserve it.

thank you for joining us and will look for you in the films. >> thank you. tonight in honor of hispanic heritage month watch with conversation with latino members of the white house. watch "american voices latinos inside the white house" tonight here on msnbc. i'll see you again saturday at noon. my friend yasmin vossoughian picks up our coverage. there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark. but with our new multi-cloud experience, you have the flexibility you need to unveil them to the world. ♪

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good afternoon, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we got a lot going on right now so stick with me through the two hours ahead. with a shutdown looming on capitol hill and a deadline involving the depositions for key trump aides on