trying to piece together the total number of students who attended the schools and identifying the remains found at burial sites. many questions remain unanswered. >> that was antonia hylton. that wraps up the hour for me. "andrea mitchell reports" begins right now. good day. this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington. the supreme court justices are meeting in closed conference today. it's the first conference since that bombshell leak of an opinion overturning roe v. wade. this after senate democrats failed as expected to legalize abortion nationwide. democratic house members marched over to the senate chanting, my body, my decision, in an unusual protest. this happened at least once before when clarence thomas was being confirmed to the supreme court in 1991. protesters were back at the home

of justice kavanaugh. on capitol hill this morning, house speaker nancy pelosi reacting to the senate vote. >> senate republicans lined up in lockstep behind mitch mcconnell and donald trump to vote to rip away the constitutional right to health freedom for american women across the country. >> this hour, i will speak with president obama's former attorney general eric holder about the supreme court, voting rights and the attempts to overturn the 2020 election. trump defense secretary mark esper joining me to talk about the astounding revelations about the former commander in chief. with covid cases rising, president biden mourning the loss of 1 million lives to the virus. >> 1 million covid deaths. 1 million empty chairs around the family dinner table. around the world, many more millions have died. millions of children have been

orphaned. we must honor those we have lost by doing everything we can to prevent as many deaths as possible. we start with the fight for abortion rights. joining me now from capitol hill ali vitali and peter alexander. ali, to you. why didn't senate democrats just take up a more narrow bill that senators collins and murkowski could have gotten behind and perhaps senator manchin? >> that was one of the questions at the start of the push for democrats was how they wanted this bill to fail. no matter what, they weren't going to get 60 votes to actually overcome a filibuster on this. the way in which the bill failed would have been bipartisan in the positive direction had they gone with a bill that was narrower in focus and, frankly, more conservative in ethos in the protections it gave, specifically, a bill pushed by collins and murkowski, that they

are talking with democrats at this point about but at the same time democratic leadership in the senate said they didn't want to make this first vote about that because they wanted it to be meaningful and because they wanted to have that stark contrast going into the midterms. to them, this was a way to energize the democratic base ahead of november. at the same time, i also think that the thinking around if a more conservative bill had come up, would the vote have been different in some meaningful way? there's no guarantee that all 50 democrats would have stayed behind any type of abortion protection. in fact, several democratic senators who i talked to say that they didn't feel that murkowski and collins went far enough. they probably wouldn't have supported that. it's not necessarily a given that the number there would have been higher. i just asked speaker nancy pelosi about this, what democrats have left to do. the options are slim. what she said is that in terms of the murkowski/collins bill, the more conservative look,

that's not the bill that democrats wanted to pass because they wanted to enshrine not just the protections of roe but also the protections put upon that because of the casey decision that went a little further years after roe. for democrats, they are trying to make this as stark a contrast as possible. blue versus red, republican versus democrat. that's what we heard from them ever since this vote failed yesterday, that this is now a question for midterm voters. >> peter alexander, last night at an off camera fund-raiser, the president went farther than he had before in going after donald trump and talking about what could happen next with same-sex marriage and branding the maga republicans. >> that's right. in front of the cameras at an event before union members in chicago, the president referred to his predecessor, former president trump, as the great maga king. lifting one of donald trump's type of nicknames and throwing it back at him. he has done more to sharpen his

criticism of the republicans as he did in front of the democrats at a fund-raiser last night. saying that he is going to do more to demonstrate what this contrast is between what he and his administration have done to this point and what his republican political opponents are proposing to do. he described an extreme and radical agenda, ratcheting up the tough language with eyes focused on the midterms. i think a recognition that there's only so much he can do right now despite the small majority the democrats maintain in the senate and the house. particularly the president has been focused on the republican senator from florida, rick scott's 11 point plan that he first introduced in february that suggests a modest tax increase on some of the lowest paid americans in this country. it suggests potentially getting rid of social security and medicare. that's what the president has been zeroing in on. rick scott pushed back most

recently calling on president biden to resign. the democratic national committee, they are putting some of their muscle behind this. the president telling those democrats at the fund-raiser last night that money is being directed to sort of amplify this contrast. the president is also personally trying to demonstrate the accomplishments he says he and his administration have had to this point. most notely, the red and blue states to rebuild the infrastructure. he recognizes inflation is one of the biggest issues for americans at home. that's one that's still dogging his presidency. >> the biggest issue, in fact. thanks to both of you. joining me now is former u.s. attorney general eric holder, the chair of the national democratic are districting committee. his new book is "our unfinished march, the violent past and imperialed feature of the vote."

good to see you. let's talk about this supreme court leaked draft. how unprecedented, first of all, is the leak? the way they came down in terms of breaking precedent, and deciding to completely overrule roe v. wade after 49 years. >> yeah. i think the leak is unprecedented in its breadth, its scope and its completeness. we heard rumors about where the court will go, how the justices were aligned but never seen a draft opinion. that's serious. that's something that needs to be addressed. what we need to focus on is what's contained in that leaked opinion and where the court appears to be lining up. they will overturn roe v. wade, inconsistent with the notion that you would adhere to precedent people relied on over the last 50 years. it's an attack on the right to privacy.

the question has to be asked, is it only abortion that is going to be at risk or is same-sex marriage at risk? the regulation of contraception, is that at risk? interracial marriage. these are based on the right to privacy, which this opinion in its form as we saw it, really goes at that right to privacy. >> if they care so little about precedent and overruling precedent, what about brown v. board of education? >> that's a question that you might have said, you are going too far and yet you think about the trump judges who they were questioned about is brown versus the board of education a precedent or something you would not re-examine, they waffled on that. that struck me. how could you waffle on brown versus the board of education? yet, they did. i'm not saying they are going to say we will have racial apartheid again. but that shows a mindset that they are not going to adhere to the extent that they should to

precedent. there's an ideological agenda. it's almost as if they have been waiting for this moment. they have a court that is ideologically driven. lower courts ideologically filled. the american people have to watch over the next 18 months or so, we will see courts and especially the supreme court deal with affirmative action, abortion, an important gun case. there's a remaining component of the 1965 voting rights act. all these things are at risk. >> the way mitch mcconnell engineered keeping the seat from president obama and garland, his nominee, has this court become so political that it's now as political as other parts of government? >> that's one of the things we talk about in our unfinished march in the book. as i call it in the book, the theft of those two seats -- you say garland is not entitled to a hearing because he is not

interviewed because it's too close to an election and then you put amy coney barrett on the court while in the process of voting. those were stolen. you see the ideological nature of the court in the way in which they are ruling on a variety of things. the court does not seem like the unconnected, distant precedent driven institution that has always garnered great amounts of respect. of the three branchs, it has been the supreme court that has gotten the greatest amount of respect. now you see polls, about 40% of the american people now support the court and 60% think it's just like the other branchs. that's a serious negative for our society. >> should clarence thomas recuse himself from decisions affecting the 2020 election given his wife's activism, her emails? >> clearly he should. that's not a close question. that's not a close question. given what we know about her involvement in the attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power, the emails that we have

seen or text messages that we have seen and who knows what else the january 6 committee has. i don't think that -- you drive decisions about recusal on the basis of appearance, not only reality, the appearance that that gives is a negative one. i think justice thomas has to recuse himself. >> should the court have -- should there be oversight in terms of ethics policy since they have been self-regulated, the only branch of government that is, and you think it's inappropriate? >> i think the court in a bunch of ways needs to get into the 21st century. cameras in the courtroom. every other branch of government does that. it would not affect how people argue cases before the supreme court. the american people need to see how they have gone to during the pandemic radio transmission of arguments. that has gone fine. an ethics code is something that i think the supreme court justices should be subject to. they should not be

self-regulating. they should be like every other article 3 judge and subject to a code of ethics. >> i want to talk to the january 6 events and the events around it. now we hear reports from politico that john eastman, a lawyer advising the president, was calling the pennsylvania lawmakers and asking them to retabulate the vote. it sounds very much like that raffensperger call from former president trump, find me 11,800 plus votes, the exact number needed. in both of these cases, is this illegal? >> i want to see more of the evidence. but it's certainly what we would call when i was a prosecutor, there's a predicate -- >> enough to start investigating? >> exactly. to start an investigation. it's extremely disturbing to see what we know about what mr. eastman did, what jeffrey clark did at the united states department of justice, what mr. meadows was doing from the white

house. these are all things i think obviously need to be investigated. especially for those people who are lawyers. even there are not criminal sanctions, there need to be bar sanctions. real questions asked about whether or not their ability to continue to practice law should be examined. they did things inconsistent with what officers of the court are supposed to do. >> you describe yourself as an institutionalist. you come to this reluctantly. talk to me about donald trump, that raffensperger call and other clear pieces of allegations, if not evidence. tell me about whether you think he should be prosecuted. >> i certainly think we are at a place where a consideration of his prosecution is appropriate. that's a hard thing for me to say. that's a hard thing for me to say. the united states never does these kinds of things. as much as we disagree with the predecessor administration, you never use the criminal laws to go after them.

yet given what they did, their aim, which was to stop the peaceful transition of power, which is a defining thing for american democracy, if you can prove that he was involved substantively and show he had the criminal intent and it looks like we're going in that direction, i think a consideration of his prosecution is appropriate. >> we will be back in a moment with more questions for eric holder. stand by with us. coming up with more on voting rights and the next election and his book, this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. "andrea mitchell reports" only "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc ♪ we believe there's an innovator in all of us. ♪ that's why we build technology that makes it possible for every business... and every person... to come to the table and do more incredible things.

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a state judge in florida says he will block governor ron desantis' redistricting plan saying it's unconstitutional and breaks up a district where black voters can choose their representatives. the circuit judge says he will issue a formal order today or tomorrow to keep the congressional map from taking affect in november's election. back with us is former u.s. attorney general eric holder, the chair of the national democratic redistricting committee. this is a case where it was a blatant case of the governor trying to redistrict. correct? >> yeah. what governor desantis tried to do was not consistent with what republicans in the legislature wanted to do. he went further than they went. the judge correctly decided that what he did was inappropriate. the question will be, what are the members of the florida supreme court doing?

there's a fair districting amendment that if applied will throw out -- continue to have thrown out that which governor desantis has done. what he is doing is not inconsistent with what we talk about in the book. this is a fight for voting rights for people of color in this country, but also for people more generally. when you talk about in the book our people who are known and unknown heroes who fought the fight to get the vote, to keep the vote. we are seeing in florida a continuation of that struggle. >> why haven't democrats in congress tried to change the electoral college law, which opens the door for all the shenanigans we have seen at the state level with secretaries of state? >> in 1960 they tried to change the electoral college and making the presidential elections be decided on a popular vote. one of the things we talk about is we elect senators, congressmen by the popular vote. we even elect class presidents

on the popular vote. the electoral college was put in place by the founders because they distrusted the wisdom of the american people. i think it's something that ought to be considered. in the book we talk about there's a thing called a national voter compact that would have the states cast their electoral votes not for the national -- not for the state but who won -- who had the greatest number of national popular votes. if you did that, you would need states totaling 270 to make the electoral college more fair. we are up to 195 of those votes. >> your book is about voting rights. we are seeing candidates -- we have candidates like republican kristina karamo, she's running in michigan, who put the lie to the election results. you see this proliferating around the country now. what can be done about that?

>> that's of great concern. when i was campaigning in 2018, i had the field almost to myself. i understood the importance of secretaries of state and what it meant for the redistricting process. republicans have seen the power of secretaries of state and local election officials and how they blocked what the trump folks tried to do in the 2020 election. they are trying to put in place people so come 2024 if it's a close election again, maybe they will be more successful. people have to run for these seats. people need to ask questions of people running for these important local as well as state level seats, whether or not they believe the big lie. if they cannot say that they don't -- if they cannot say that joe biden is the lawfully elected president, it seems to me they are unqualified to serve in those important and what are supposed to be non-partisan, neutral positions. >> more and more people talking about the big lie, including members of congress. you have really extreme members, but you have other members of

congress, the january 6 committee is investigating all of this, but they haven't heard from a lot of the people. should they subpoena sitting members of congress, which would create a precedent and probably a subpoena fight. >> i'm not sure it has been done. certainly, requested at a minimum ought to go out, public requested ought to go out to the people who they want to speak to so that they will not, if you want to speak to congressman smith, we think he has some information that would be useful for us to hear, describe what the information might be and then have congressman smith publically tell the american people and his constituents why it is that he is not going to appear. i certainly think attempts should be made given the fact that we know that some of the congressmen were involved in this attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power in the united states of america. >> could they be subpoenaed successfully? >> interesting question. i'm not sure that's one we faced before. there is debate issues and

cause. there are internal rules. i'm not totally sure. to the extent that the determination is made that the testimony is critical, i would not be adverse if i were running the committee to issue a subpoena and ask for some expedited review in the courts. >> is there anything that can be done about 2013, the shelby decision on voting rights? >> there was a lot that could be done. we had the ability in this congress to put in place the john lewis advancement act, which would have not only fixed the problems of the shelby county decision but would have expanded the scope of the voting rights act to cover the nation as a whole instead of just the old states in the confederacy. we had in the bill that was hr-1, the ability to have things as we describe in the book, same-day registration, automatic registration. >> democrats have had control of all three branchs. has the president done enough? >> the president has certainly done enough.

i want to give great credit to the 48 senators who stood for doing away with the filibuster so that these things could become law. we needed two more democratic senators. i don't want to let republicans off the hook. 50 republicans said that they were not for the modernization of our laws, the protection of our democracy and making it easier to vote. you can say things about snores manchin and sinema, but what about the 50 republicans who simply didn't do anything? i can't believe not one republican would support those efforts. >> it's a pleasure seeing you again. thank you so much, former attorney general eric holder. thank you. a fast moving wildfire incinerated two dozen multi-million dollar homes near the california coastal town of laguna beach. fuelled by ocean winds, very unusual, and bone dry

conditions. the inferno torched 900 acres. one firfighter was injured. a tragic milestone. the nation mourning a million dead from covid as the virus continues to spike around the country. more coming up. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. s "andrel s "andrel reports" only on msnbc i just d my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be. call your doctor about sudden behavior changes or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report fever, confusion, stiff or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be life threatening or permanent. these aren't all the serious side effects. now i'm back where i belong.

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check out angi.com today. angi... and done. white house is marking a million lives lost to covid as cases rise in most of the country. breakthrough infections becoming commonplace. nbc's number of cases reached that milestone last week. the president's commemoration is very low key compared to the way he acknowledged covid milestones on the eve of his inaugural and when the u.s. reached later a half million covid deaths. now the president is repeating his plea to congress to pass the covid funding bill that's stalled over republican objections. the plans to lift title 42, a trump era border policy, that allows for the expulsion of migrants in the name of public health. joining me is dr. emanuel at the

university of pennsylvania. it's great to see you. give us a snapshot where you think these cases are up nationally, where we are headed, as many people begin to lose immunity. one in three americans over 65 is yet to get their booster. >> yes, we are in the midst of a surge, given the fact testing is way down. we don't have the full magnitude of the surge. that's increasing hospitalization in the majority of states. that's going to increase mortality, unfortunately. the good news is, we have more things we can use to fight this, including anti-viral pills. the problem is that we are still having a lot of people throwing off their masks just throwing precautions to the wind. we see that everywhere. i think we are going to have a surge now.

as you know, the administration is predicting another one for the future in the fall. this is worrisome. >> the anti-viral you mentioned, in full discloser, i did take it when i got covid, has been effective at reducing hospitalization and death. we are seeing reports of rebound symptoms after people finish their round of treatment. has anyone figured out why that's happening? >> so there are rebound cases of where you finish the five day course of treatment and then you get sick again. it's unlikely to be reinfection. it may be that you have got resistance to the drug and that would be a very worrisome problem. it may be that the drug is not sufficient to knock out all of the virus and there's some persistent virus. we haven't disentangled which one of those it is. pfizer suggested people take it for an additional five days.

the fda quickly slapped them down. that's not approved by the fda. we don't know that the problem is it's not working. on the other hand, if you talk to people who have taken the drug like yourself, people report after one pill, they are feeling better, after two they are like normal. it does seem to be when it works, pretty amazing. >> yeah, indeed. the head of the world health organization spoke to the white house covid sul it this morning calling for commitment for global vaccination and testing in poorer nations. congress stripped the foreign covid aid from the bill. the president is more or less gone along with that in what was sent up. isn't the united states falling short right now? >> yeah, it is. this is not investing now. we are going to reap the problems in the future because of it. we know that delta came from india. omicron originated in south africa.

we have to help the world. we are the world's superpower. we need to behave like the superpower and squabbling over a few billion dollars when this pandemic has cost trillions and continues to cost money, whether through inflation because of snarled supply chain or other problems with migration because people are sick and aren't able to get help, this is a serious problem, and congress needs to fund adequately our ability to distribute medications, to distribute vaccines, to have testing and surveillance in the united states but also around the world. this is not a joke. why we are arguing about it -- i can't fathom the pettiness when we have had such suffering from this virus. >> dr. emanuel, thank you very much. good to see u. >> thank you.

line of defense. former pentagon chief mark esper, the former secretary of defense, sharing shocking stories about the president that he served as donald trump angles for a possible third run for the white house. mark esper joins us next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. "ana "ana mitchell reports" on msnbccome t call ourselves bikers anymore? i mean, "riders" is cool, but "bikers"...is really cool. -seriously? -denied. can we go back to meeting at the rter? the commute here is brutal. denied. how do we feel about getting a quote to see if we can save with america's number one motorcycle insurer? should flo stop asking the same question every time? -approved! -[ altered voice ] denied! [ normal voice ] whoa.

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it's easy. just call the toll-free number for free information. (soft music) ♪ donald trump's power over the republican party is firm with his influence felt in key midterms. showcasing just how much clout the former president still has since he eyes the 2024 republican nomination. here with me now is president trump's former secretary of defense mark esper. he has a new book. it's out now. we should note the secretary underwent the standard pentagon clearance for your book. welcome and thanks for being

here. >> great to be with you. >> let me clear my throat. in the book, you follow -- detail extraordinary conversations had you with the former president. for instance, following the death of george floyd and those protests. tell me about that. did he really talk about shooting protesters, shooting them in the legs? >> yeah, you know, following the tragic murder of george floyd, obviously, there were protests erupting around the country and here in d.c., of course. there was violence in the streets. national guardsmen were hurt. he was upset by that. i understand that. you have to get people the freedom to protest peacefully. when i and general milley and others arrived monday morning, he was in a tirade, if you will, about what was happening in the streets. we began talking about the insurrection act, possible deployment of 10,000 active duty streets to the capital and the

president raises this prospect, asks to general mark milley, can't you shoot them in the legs or something? i think we were all taken aback by that. nobody said anything, that i can recall, in direct response. it hung there. i was quite taken aback. we originally got back to at least what i continued to push, all of us was this is a law enforcement action. if there's any role for the military, it's national guard in support of law enforcement. this is what i grew up in with the military. i served in the national guard. that's what we kept pushing, was that the -- while there was violence and unrest, it wasn't as bad as the president thought. we thought law enforcement could handle it. my view was that the purpose was really to give americans the right to protest the tragic murder of george floyd. >> we did see the national guard, the images on the lincoln memorial steps.

we did see the guard called out in that instance and actually take action. there was smoke, questions about what kind of chemical -- >> i talk about that in the book. that was not good reporting at the time. the guard's duty was to defend the federal buildings. it was not the guard to engage the protesters. the guard never shot rubber bullets or deployed pepper spray. >> it was deployed. >> they were there. unfortunately, one of the lessons learned was, don't share your equipment with the law enforcement. law enforcement was using shields that said military police. some were in camouflage. i didn't want that confusion persisting beyond that. i was conscious of the role for the military in civilian society. >> the president appeared to be afraid of appearing weak. how did that affect other decisions? >> he did talk about this when he was shouting. he would say, we look weak. the country looks weak. of course, my interpretation

was, "we" meant him. there was that part of him that was concerned about feeling weak. it was something you had to understand and deal with. >> what about when he talked about shooting into mexico, to the drug cartels, tell me about that. >> this happened a couple times. once at least prior to june 1st. the suggestion was, can't we shoot missiles into mexico to knock out the drug labs? i understood his notion. i respected the fact that he wanted to go again -- take on drugs in america, fentanyl in the city streets. i respected that. he was sincere about that. there are ways to do it. i had to talk him back from that and push back in a way we can get to a more viable approach. >> talk to me about afghanistan also. the president wanted to meet with the taliban. there was one proposal to meet at camp david. the meetings that took place and the deal struck cut the afghan government out of it.

set the stage really for setting a timetable for withdrawal that was unrealistic and which went against nato interests. >> a few things. you are talking about the august meeting in the situation room where we kind of decided to move forward with regard to the peace plan. i will talk about that. i think we were taken aback by the notion of meeting with the taliban. no place less than camp david. that presented a lot of issues. each of us pushed back on that. go back to the deal. when i arrived in late july, the deal was pretty much done. i was asked to comment on it and support it. i thought if it was conditions based, everybody lived up to their end of the deal, i could support it. i was going to withdraw forces from afghanistan anyway to a lower level. the problem was, we never really forced the taliban to live up to their end of the deal. we get into the fall of 2020, this is where the national security advisor and eventually president trump say, we're going to get out by christmas and then later the end of the year.

i pulled my chain of command together. what's your recommendation? i knew what i thought. i wanted to hear from them. they said, we should stop at 4,500. make them live up to their end of the deal. that was the note i sent to the president in a classified memo. some people think that led to my firing as well, contributing. my view was, make them live up to their end of the deal. allies are supporting us. if we have to, let's employ the two things taliban don't like. continue our presence and use violence against them. i would have told the same to president biden as well. >> the president now is having a big influence in the midterms, in terms of his endorsements. a split verdict in the race this week. we see his candidates are rising in the polls. pennsylvania is another example. should you have spoken out sooner and let the american people know what was going on with donald trump? he is now potentially a viable candidate for another term.

>> that's the fundamental question. i address this in the first few pages of the book. why do good people stay? i will say this much, my duty was to the country. i didn't go in serving the president or the party or a philosophy. i thought my sacred oath was to the country. when i weighed things out, i thought, i can leave. that would have saved a lot of grief and heartache and everything else as i talk about my wife and our discussions. i wrestled with this. i consulted friends. i talked to my predecessors from both parties, even the late general powell. he said, you need to stay because i thought by staying i was going to continue to do good things within the pentagon, modernize the military, build cyber command, you name it. i found out, people around the president proposing these outlandish ideas, quarter million troops to the border, shooting missiles into mexico, troops in the streets, i thought

i was able to push back on those and prevent something bad from happening. that became my rationale. at this point in time, i figured, most people's views on president trump had hardened to the point where they carry through to the election. >> when you say people around here, you are talking about stephen miller? >> the true trump uber loyalists, exactly. >> how much of an influence do you think his behavior and comments about vladimir putin had on what we are seeing now, emboldened vladimir putin who is taking unprecedented steps? >> i don't know. that's so hard. three years now since i departed. >> did anyone try to talk him out of praising putin and giving putin a pass on election interference and other things? >> my role was twofold. one is ukraine, give president trump credit for approving aided to ukrainians and allowing training by americans in that country.

i watched it. my biggest role was pushing to release the security assistance in the summer of 2020 along with pompeo. i served in nato as a young army officer. it's the greatest military alliance in history. >> how did you feel when he was trashing nato? >> i disagreed with him. i told him, i would rather have -- as churchill said, the only thing worse than fighting with allies is fighting without them. that was my argument. i went over to brussels and talked to nato about how importantly i felt -- look, president trump was right. just like president obama said, they need to live up to their end of the commitment. they need to improve their readiness. finally, unfortunately, because of the ukrainians, nato is awakened and realized russia is the threat we always thought it was. >> do you think right now that with nato's support in terms of weapons, that ukraine has enough to do more than hold their own?

do you think they can push -- >> i think they are doing well. what surprised us was russia was not as good as we thought. my number one priority was implementing the national defense strategy. they are not as good as -- ukraine surprised as how good they have proven to be. thank goodness for the leadership of president zelenskyy. >> thank you for your service. thank you for being here today. >> thank you. >> the book is "the sacred oath, memoirs of a secretary of defense during extraordinary times." indeed. >> absolutely. a journalist has been killed, america's ambassador to the u.n. calling her death horrifying. she's an american journalist. she was killed in a shooting in the west bank. more on that investigation next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. on msnbc.

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nato is likely going to expand and lengthen its border with russia. finland decided to join the

alliance without delay because of russia's invasion in ukraine. sweden is expected to follow with fellow nato entry to both countries are at a summit next month you joining us from ukraine is nbc's kelly. what is the situation there? >> this really is a gathering point for aid workers, for medical staff as well because a lot of the injured are coming in to knee pro, and a lot of those fleeing war zones are the hot zone speare they are coming here. the mayor said some 200,000 people have fled to this city since the war began. 50,000 alone, coming from area poll, and many of them are ending up in sort of makeshift shelters. we visited a community center that's normally sort of an activity a place for activity, and it's now turned into a place where people are sleeping

, and we spoke to an older couple who came from south of here from the zepp ridge area, and they came from a very small village. they said their village was being bombed. is that it still being bombed today, and they just talked about how difficult it was going through watching the fighting developed there. their home, destroyed. their daughter, still in that region and refusing to leave. also, they said, you know, not only were russian forces shelling their village, but also taking everything with them. they are still in contact with people, the villagers there, and they are stripping homes of everything that is left. she said we hope to go back one day, but at this point, they have no home to go back to. andrea? >> thank you so much, calico ba. outrage, growing in the middle east after an american reporter

was shot and killed. rob sanchez has more. >> reporter: this morning, final respect to being paid to a veteran palestinian american correspondent killed on the job. >> [ singing in foreign language ] >> reporter: her bulletproof vest, clearly marking her as a journalist, but not enough to save her life. shireen abu akleh, an american citizen watched by millions across the middle east for her coverage on local al jazeera." the network, now saying she was an as needed in cold blood by israeli troops, while covering a rate in the occupied west bank. they cite eyewitness reports from her own crew, including a

producer shot alongside her. israel's prime minister initially said it was likely she was killed by a palestinian gunmen, but the defense minister, now saying it is not clear who is responsible and adding an investigation is underway. the it's really military, releasing footage of a fierce firefight, but no firm evidence who fired the fatal shot. the biden administration, demanding answers. >> we call for an immediate and thorough investigation and full accountability. >> reporter: palestinians, doubtful israel will conduct a full and transparent investigation . >> maybe if we were blonde and blue died, maybe they would protect the victims. >> reporter: this is shireen abu akleh's final journey to the "al jazeera" bureau where she covered the story of palestinian people so many years been you can hear the anger and grief of her colleagues everywhere. her former office, now a shrine. >> she was a simple for

everything that journalists were here. >> reporter: around the globe, female journalists, paying tribute to a pioneer. her death, part of the perfect wave of violence since last year conflict in gaza , and fears of worse to come with tensions high at jerusalem's most sensitive religious site. >> and raph joint is now from the west bank. so, the violence, weeks before the president, president biden is to make his first trip to israel since taking office. >> reporter: andrea, that's right. we're expecting the president sometime in the second half of june. president biden has not made the israeli-palestinian conflict a priority for his administration he would he had not seen it as a place where there's a lot of progress to be made. i got to tell you after the war in gaza last year, he did promise he would be more proactive than he had been up to that point, but so far, an american ambassador is in place at the embassy in israel, but aside from that, very little has changed on the ground give president biden promised on the

campaign trail he would reopen the american conflict jerusalem. that is out of the unofficial embassy to the palestinian spirit that has not happened, nor has there been many other changes, andrea? >> reporter: rafael sanchez in ramallah. that the british edition of "andrea mitchell reports. and po "mtp daily" starts after this. after this. (woman) oh. oh! hi there. you're jonathan, right? the 995 plan! yes, from colonial penn. your 995 plan fits my budget just right. excuse me? aren't you jonathan from tv, that 995 plan? yes, from colonial penn. i love your lifetime rate lock. that's what sold me. she thinks you're jonathan, with the 995 plan.

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it's thursday. pain at the pump, rising food costs, inflation about a present, market turmoil, and recession fears kid we're entering some uncharted economic waters on the most important issue to voters. plus, day 78 of the war in ukraine, still with no end at site, at russia threatened retaliatory action if finland joints nato. zelenskyy plans to make battleground gains in the north. what democrats plan to do next attack on the abortion issue with the bill to codify roe v. wade failing in