good morning, everybody. it is 10:00 a.m. in the east, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm yasmin vassoughian in for jose diaz-balart. tonight, the january 6th committee holding their final scheduled prime-time hearing, where they will likely provide some new details about former president trump's actions during the attack on the capitol. congressman adam kinzinger has just released a video teasing what we're going to see tonight. we're going to show you that in

just a moment. right now, as well, millions of people across the country and around the world, really, continuing to experience this dangerously high temperatures. we're going to break down the latest on the sweltering heat wave and what can be done. also, to capitol hill. democrats in the house eyeing a measure to ban assault weapons, but the bill facing pretty strong opposition from republicans and slim odds of passing in the senate. we'll talk about that. we're going to speak with the highland park mayor who testified before the senate about her town's recent tragedy. that's coming up. hey, everybody. we're going to begin this hour in washington, where ten hours from now, the house january 6th committee is going to hold its latest hearing in prime-time, a season finale of sorts to this initial batch of hearings, with even more expected later on this year, possibly in the fall. tonight's hearing is going to dive into those crucial 187

minutes the committee says it took former president trump to call out of his supporters from attacking the capitol after his speech on the ellipse. we know of at least two witnesses tonight, both of whom worked in the white house on january 6th. you have matthew pottinger, a member of the national security council, and sarah matthews, who was deputy press secretary. both resigned in the wake of the attack. we also expect to see new video testimony from trump white house counsel, pat cipollone, who we have learned raised some pretty serious legal questions about trump's activiies on that day. but casting a shadow over all of this are those text messages, those secret service text messages from january 6th, which a homeland security inspector general says were, in fact, deleted. all of that despite the fact that a senior official telling nbc news that agents received multiple -- let me say, multiple reminders, including at least one, before january 6th to preserve their cell phone records. leading tonight's hearing,

congressman elaine lauria and congressman adam kinzinger. >> was the president in that private dining room the whole time that the attack on the capitol was going on? or did he ever go to get -- to your knowledge, to the oval office, to the white house situation room, anywhere else? >> to the best of my recollection, he was always in the dining room. >> what did he say? mr. meadows or the president at all during that brief encounter while you were in the dining room request >> i think they were watching the tv. >> do you know whether he was watching tv in the dining room when you talked to him on january 6th? >> um, it's my understanding he was watching television. >> while you were in the dining room in these discussions, was the -- was the violence happening, physically, on the screen, on the television? >> yes. >> all right. let's bring in our team, nbc

news capitol hill correspondent, ali vitali. nbc news's homeland security correspondent, julia ainsley. jeff bennett, chief washington correspondent for pbs "newshour," and an msnbc contributor. also, glenn kirschner with us, former federal prosecutor and an msnbc legal analyst. ali vitali, we've got confirmation, the former president was, in fact in the dining room. and he was, in fact watching tv. i feel like i'm playing a game of "clue" right about right now, but that's what a lot of americans were doing on january 6th, as the events played out on that now crucial day that we look back upon. what else can we expect to hear tonight? >> yeah, you can add a treat to your list of things that you're learning in these th "clue" game that we're getting from the january 6th committee this morning, because what congressman kinzinger has said as well, that not only was trump in the dining room, watching television, but he was doing so gleefully, to the point that the other lawmaker who is going to be leading this hearing, she

called what the former president did on that day a dereliction of duty. listen to more of what her central question is, and it's really at the heart of what they're going to present tonight. listen. >> if you were president, wouldn't you just jump into action? wouldn't you call everyone in your administration, your cabinet, who could, you know, come in and help quell this and monitor the situation carefully? he really sat in relative isolation and didn't take action, even at very strong urging of the people around him. >> reporter: and look, we're going to hear from some of those people who were doing the very strong urging of the former president to do more. people like pat cipollone, the former top white house counsel, who while we've seen in these past hearings, his reticence to engage on actual conversations that he had with the former president, because of attorney/client privilege that may exist there, we have seen him speak pretty freely about his opinion of what was happening inside the white house on that day. and so we may hear what his judgment was, of what the white house needed to be doing, that they weren't, frankly, doing in the hours when the capitol was

under attack. but i think the larger picture here is that while they're going to paint this as a former president who was not willing to step in and quell an insurrection that the committee has argued over the course of the last few months he started, they're also going to show these staffers who were pushed to their breaking point and ultimately resigned from the administration because of what they saw on that day. >> jeff bennett, talk to me about the stakes here, right? not just for the former president here, but also former january 6th committee. as we talk about what we are going to be hearing from the time of which the former president was at the ellipse, giving that speech, saying, we're going to march together, to when he released that video, in which he said "i love you," but go home, right? what are the stakes now here for this final, this season finale, as we're calling it, to this summer slate of hearings? >> yeah, and yasmin, to use that framing that this is sort of the season finale, if you go to the outset of these hearings, remember what congresswoman liz

cheney said, that during the course of these hearings, they were going to stitch together this tapestry to prove what she said was a seven-point plot. a seven-point conspiracy -- a seven-part conspiracy, where donald trump used every lever of power available to him to overturn the election. and when it became clear that none of what he was trying to do would work, that ultimately, he resulted to violence. so this final hearing, the final hearing of this series will show precisely what he was doing, or i guess, more to the point, not doing from the time where he left that rally stage at the ellipse and then returned to the white house and as you heard from that preview video, that congressman luria and kinzinger sent out, that he was watching gleefully, watching everything unfold from the dining room, doing nothing. to, again, quote congressman liz cheney, a supreme dereliction of duty. i think it's really interesting that tonight you will hear from congressman luria and kinzinger. the two of them are military veterans. the two of them know a thing or

two about abiding by one's oath and owning up to one's duty. >> julia ainsley, talk to me about your new reporting. we've been talking a lot about these missing national intelligence text messages from secret service. what do you have? >> we understand there was actually a warning to all secret service officers before they started about that data integration, that extraordinary all of their phones back to their factory settings. they were sent an email in early december of 2020, another one in january, saying, you have to -- according to the federal records act -- preserve your information. that would be anything that falls within the level that would fall to the national archives, something that needs to be archived. something that would be about january 6th, definitely archived. maybe a food order to your colleague running out, doesn't have to be archived. these are all things that were well established in these e-mails. and then we learned that on february 4th, they got another email, specifically telling them

to preserve all communications, including text messages from january 6th. this would have been before the inspector general request, at the end of february. but after those congressional requests started streaming in, following the insurrection itself. so they were told to preserve this. now, i've also been told by some secret service agents, some secret service sources that these messages might have already been lost by the time that february 4th email came out. so, really, it wasn't doing much good. but let's do think about the fact that they were asked to preserve them, and that they were warned, well before january 6th, that you have a duty to preserve communications. and it looks like they did not. the thing i will say, when talking to sources, they'll tell me, often, that secret service agents don't text very much. but that doesn't really do a lot to help us here, because we don't know what would have been in those texts in order to prove that point, and now we're learning, we never will. >> you were speaking and one of your sources was saying that some of those text messages may have already been lost by that

day in early february. what do they mean by that? ie, already erased? the text messages exchanged on january 6th already erased by that moment? >> yes, because -- that by the time they got an email that was specific to january 6th, the other ones just said, you need to preserve records, that those january 6th messages would have already been lost, as part of the data migration that started in mid-january. >> got it. >> that's what they're telling me. >> hey, glenn, i want you to draw a little bit on some of the reporting we're also getting to build on what julia is telling us, this reporting from carol leonnig of "the washington post." i'll read it for you. a watchdog agency learned in february that the secret service had purged nearly all cell phone texts from around the time of the january 6th, 2021, attack on the capitol, but chose not to alert congress, according to three people briefed on the internal discussions. what are the implications of that? >> you know, the implications, yasmin, of all of this evidence and information taken in aggregate leads to only one conclusion. a law enforcement investigation

by the fbi must be opened. in order to open a criminal investigation, you simply need to have what's called adequate predication. it's a fancy term for "enough evidence." some evidence that suggests that there may have been a federal crime committed. i think we have passed that threshold, and i believe, if the secret service really did nothing wrong, they should welcome that kind of a full, aggressive, fbi investigation of their conduct. because these text messages could have been historic evidence in the attack on our democracy. and we now do not have the ability to access them. >> so, it could have been historic, right, on the one hand, right, glen. it could have also have been nothing. and they could feasibly piece this story together without these text messages, pertaining to the testimony that they already have on hand. is there any way as to whether or not they want to prove the erasure of these text messages

was in fact purposeful by any of these secret service agents? >> well, assuming the text messages cannot be retrieved, then the next best way to recreate things and investigate is to bring every single person in the leadership structure of the secret service and all of the agents who had their feet on the ground on january 6th, place them all under oath, under the penalties of perjury, and find out why these texts were deleted, and then find out what these people said on those texts. because you can still recreate some of it with testimony, even if you don't have the hard, written record. >> jeff, expand on that for me, all right? the significance of these kind of now lost text messages. how is the committee responding to this, and do you feel like they can piece this story together whether they have these text messages or not, even if that means getting additional testimony? >> to give you a sense of how this is all resonaing within the committee, congressman zoe

loftgren said on the face of it, yasmin, it doesn't look good. adam schiff says that he's concerned that something nefarious happened here. jamie raskin went beyond that, telling reporters yesterday that he smells a rat. and what it means is that the committee -- forget the committee, what it means is that the american people -- these are government records, but the records themselves belong to the american public. but in the short-term, it means that the committee is without potentially valuable, realtime communications about the what the agents were saying, how they were reacting, the agents close to donald trump. and i think more importantly, the agents who were with vice president -- then vice president mike pence at the time, who are in control of his movements, as violence was breaking out in and around the capitol. and i'll just add, the fact that these texts apparently cannot be recovered is also raising questions, given that the secret service has the reputation for being one of the best, most sophisticated cyber investigative teams in the world. the notion that they cannot recover texts from 24 agent over

the course of two days, january 5th and january 6th, just doesn't pass the smell test, certainly for members of the committee and other people who are watching all of this. >> that's a really good point. and yet they have seemed to have just erased these texts, as if you were texting with an ex-boyfriend you no longer want to hear from. ali vitali, talk to me about the legislation that we're hearing about now, right? in order to prevent a future january 6th, once again. this new bipartisan legislation, closing these loopholes in federal election law. >> because this speaks to a lot of the themes that we've seen brought up through the january 6th committee hearings. this is something that the senate is working on, but we've seen the committee detail the fact that election workers were threatened here, mail-in ballots were cast doubt upon. and then, of course, the sustained pressure campaign on electors and the vice president himself in this case. those are some of the loopholes that they're trying to plug here. i'll pull up on the screen for you what the legislation does. and it's frankly the fruit of bipartisan labor over the course

of the last several months on the senate side, doing things like clarifying the vice president's, quote, ministerial role in the election, making very clear that what mike pence's belief in the law was, is actually what the law reflects. that the vice president can't just come in and unilaterally throw out slates of electors that says that the president lost to keep the president in power. they're just making that crystal clear. and it also raises the threshold for forcing a vote on objecting to electors. that's the first piece of that bill. because there's technically two of them here. the second digs in on the state level more likely, doubling penalties for threatening election workers, improving the process for mail-in ballots, all of this meant to just be receptive to the things that we saw happen in 2020, so that from a procedural standpoint, none of those things can be exploited in the way that the former president tried to do in november. >> glenn kirschner, you're outside of a courthouse, because you are there watching the bannon trial play out. today's his day to testify to

make his case to the court. what are you expecting? >> reporter: so i think one thing that all americans can agree on, yasmin, is that steve bannon loves to talk. not just on his podcast, but every day, at the end of the trial day, he has been posted up on the courthouse steps, and he has launched into his grievance fest. he complains and wines about bennie thompson and joe biden and anthony fauci and others. well, today is his day. he gets to take the stand, he gets to tell his side of the story. he gets to rock the mic, as they say. will they have? i actually think it's pretty unlikely, because i don't think he could withstand the withering cross-examination that would come from the lead prosecutor in this case, assistant united states attorney amanda vaughn. but, stay tuned. >> ali vitali, julia ainsley, glenn kirschner, thank you all. stay tuned. i'm not sure we use the term "rock the mic" anymore. i'll look that up.

and tonight, nbc's special coverage of the january 6th hearings begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern. it will be a fantastic conversation and quite some testimony there. still ahead, the mayor of highland park, illinois, the scene of a deadly mass shooting on the fourth of july, calling for new action from congress on gun safety. she joins us law with what she told lawmakers yesterday on the hill. but first up, we've got brutal heat. literally, across the world. we're going to talk to the administrator of noaa about the white house's new efforts to combat climate change. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." we will be right back. you're watching "jose you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports. it's easier to do more innovative things. [whistling] we will be right back.

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all right. welcome back, everybody. so it is 21 past the hour. 85 wildfires raging in 13 states this morning, with more than 100 million people under heat alerts across this country. temperatures shattered records this week. tulsa reaching 105 degrees, far

surpassing its 2009 high of 99 degrees. records breaking across the world. look at temperatures in central portugal, 115 degrees. abadan, iran, 126 degrees. shanghai, china, 105. joining us, jay gray live for us from plano, texas. and kelly cobiella live for us from london. it's a scorcher across the world, as you look at some of those temperatures. it's bearable for those of us who have ac. we can stay inside and try to preserve energy as much as possible. but a lot of folks are not so lucky, not only here in this country, but across the world, really. jay, let me go to you first and talk to me about what you're hearing so far there. >> yeah, and yasmin, we have some unusual phenomenon here today in plano, which is just north of dallas. something falling from the sky. it rained good, which is a little bit, which is highly unusual for summertime in texas. it's brought the temperatures down just a bit.

we're in the mid-80s right now. still likely to make it to 100 or close to 100. and we've had already in the north texas area 25 days of 100-plus-degree temperatures. seven of those days over 105. so excessive heat. a lot of people showing up at water parks like this one in plano. the public water park here with a lazy river, a wading pool, a diving area. they've got a simulated surf area. they're taking full advantage. more than a thousand every day, pushing this place to capacity. and it's one to get some temporary relief. their concern is, it's only temporary. and you're right, people are struggling in their homes, and in texas, while they're used to heat, not like this, and especially this early, yasmin, august is the hottest month of the year here in texas. so a lot of people very concerned about what's coming next. >> sorry, guys. we have some breaking news, jay.

if you could stand by, kelly, if you could stand by as well. we want to talk about these extreme temperatures, but we're getting breaking news in from the white house now. we are learning the president has, in fact, tested positive for covid-19. he has been twice boosted. so that means he's had four shots at this point. i'm going to read for you a statement that we're getting from white house press secretary karine jean-pierre. he is experiencing, as they're putting it, very mild symptoms. he's also taking paxlovid at this moment, consistent with the cdc guidelines. they go on, he will isolate at the white house and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time. and he has been in contact with members of the white house staff, by phone, this morning, and will participate and continue to participate in his planning meetings for the day, from the white house, despite the fact that he has, now, in fact, tested positive. i want to bring in peter alexander, what's standing by for us at the white house. quite some breaking news on

this, peter, as we're learning of the president, now testing positive for covid. thankfully, vaccinated and boosted multiple times, experiencing multiple symptoms. what else are you learning? >> you detailed what we're just hearing from the press secretary, karine jean-pierre. we just received that statement. i want to make sure you can hear me. >> live television. >> there grow. live television. obviously, we just hustled outside. there you can hear me clearly now. so the president did, as you know, test positive. we did just get that information from karine jean-pierre, the press secretary, within the last five minutes or so. president biden was scheduled today to be traveling to wilkes-barre, pennsylvania, for an event. clearly, he's not going to be able to make that trip as a function of this new test. we are reaching out, as we speak, to the first lady's office, as well, trying to get any better detail on whether, in fact, she may have tested

positive, as well. president biden, at 79 years old, there has been a lot of concern about his health and safety over the course of his presidency. the oldest president ever to take office. and significantly, this is a president who folks have paid close attention to his health over the course of his time in office. he repeatedly coughs often when he begins. the doctor in his last physical communicated that that was a former of reflux that he had been dealing with. but it often had us asking questions about whether he had tested positive or not. the testing cadence, we were told, had been routine, although the white house had never said specifically how often president biden had tested. here you see pictures from just yesterday, when he was in massachusetts delivering remarks. at the time, it was unclear whether or not there was anything wrong with his health. he appeared to be just fine, as best one could tell. i traveled aboard air force one just last week, as we were in israel, the west bank, and in saudi arabia, and the president, like all of those traveling with him, were required to undergo

testing on a routine basis to make sure that they were well. but again, obviously, this is significant breaking news. this is a 79-year-old president who right now is dealing with what are described as mild symptoms, but obviously, there is great concern about his health and safety at this time. you know, honestly, yasmin, at this moment, we're trying to get a better sense of understanding about how this will impact the next several days for this president. but clearly, he's going to be in isolation or in isolation even if he can work from a distance from aides over the course of the next five plus days, we imagine. >> and i'm wondering, peter, you may not have this information, but how long do we know that the president is going to be in isolation? in certain instances, there are folks that test positive for covid, and after five days of isolation, they're allowed to go back for their lives, and not necessarily even having to retest or test negative in order to resume life. do we know at all how long the president is going to be

isolating for? >> it's a good question. we don't, we have asked that very question right now. i do think they're going to follow all the cdc protocols on this. obviously, so the president can lead by example. you know, even to this point, we've seen him wearing a mask, often, when he meets inside with individuals, he was wearing at masks at times during the course of his travel over the last week. so i think they're going to do everything we can to be careful about his health here, obviously. but to be totally sincere, this is breaking news to us. we're trying to get a better understanding. we're certainly pushing the white house new details about how this will impact their plans. again, to be clear, this announcement that president biden has tested positive for covid was made just this morning. the test happening just this morning, as well. now, about two-and-a-half years into this pandemic, for the first time, president biden has tested positive. >> i want to bring yamiche alcindor, who's on set with me now, rushing in. thank you, yamiche, peter, stand by, as well. we want to keep you there, too.

it's not necessarily surprising, right? covid has been swirling around this president for quite some time. at one point, the vice president testing positive, as well. he's had several contacts over the last few months. the president continuing to test negative. however, today, now getting that positive test. as peter said, 79 years of age. however, now taking paxlovid. you think about also this schedule ahead, what he's doing right now. what he's trying to accomplish and how this might actually kind of halt things for a moment, as he deals with this covid-positive test. >> i mean, there are so many things that this white house is having to deal with and juggle. and now you have the leader of the united states, president biden, testing positive for covid. it is absolutely a wrench in the plans here. i will say that i've been talking to white house officials for months about this. they have been planning at the white house for the moment, the day when this happens. they believe that he will have -- they believe, at least when i talk to them, mild symptoms. because they believe that he's had his booster shot,he's been

vaccinated, he's someone who has tried to take this pandemic very, very seriously. he was elected on the idea that he was going to be the one who brought in the experienced team, who was going to be the president who could figure out this pandemic. and he has been the person who has made sure that vaccinations have gone out throughout the country. that americans have continued to talk about the pandemic. but i think, yasmin, it's also a reminder that we are living in a pandemic. there are so many things that often become the things that are the top priorities. whether it's inflation or foreign policy in ukraine or whether it's the january 6th hearings that will be historic tonight. all of those things are happening, but if the backdrop of that is this pandemic that's continuing to make americans sick, that's continuing to kill americans, and that has killed more than a million americans. and there are so many americans across the country that are mourning the loss of loved ones and are also having to deal with their own covid diagnoses, i think it's a reminder for all of us, including the president, that this is still the thing that they wake up every morning to think about at the white house. when i talk about all the other issues that they're juggling,

covid is never not on that list. it's a thing that's looming, that's on top of people's minds. and it's the thing that when voters wake up in the morning and leave their homes, it's the thing we're reminded about every day. you have to put on your mask or do something. something has happened in your life that has changed because of covid, every single day. and that's -- this is, i think, a reminder of just how serious these times are. >> and if you didn't think covid was still a threat with this omicron variant of ba.5, who they say at some points are surpassing the vaccinations and more people are getting sick, multiple times, often, in one month. i have a friend who tested positive just a couple of weeks ago, tested positive once again. it is still very much a threat. and by the way, it does not discriminate. the president of the united states now, in fact, testing positive, despite the fact that he has done everything right, both testing and getting vaccinated, as well. and if you are an american that did not think that this was something to take seriously, you see the president once again having to now deal with a covid

diagnosis. >> this virus does not discriminate, as you said. the president has it now. i also think it's a reminder that there are still people who have been the most impacted and that is people of color and poor people, who have not had an at times, the same resources to do the things like stay at home, like work remotely. we throw around those terms that became the terms of this pandemic. the terms of this generation, social distancing. but i've talked to so many people who can't social distance, have to work, they're driving our buses, they're in our grocery stores, they're doing all of the sort of essential work that americans maybe didn't think of as essential work, because when we think of essential workers, we think of firefighters and doctors, and all of those people that are incredibly important, but we think about those least among us, those who keep the company running, they have been impacted disproportionately by covid, and add to that the fact that the president of the united states has to deal with this. when you think about the way that he's handled covid, you always talk about the fact that

his a virus that it doesn't matter your political party, even though it's become polarized, you can get this virus, you can get really sick. and i have to say, even with the vaccines and the boosters, we have to remind you that there are people that are living with long covid here. and the effects of that are very scary. >> i still don't know the effects of long covid. we're trying to get a doctor to talk to us as well, the effects of long covid and multiple diagnosis of covid. what are the effects of that -- and i know he hasn't had multiple diagnoses, but he's now tested positive for covid. he's 79 years old. what does that mean for his life going forward, if in fact, he develops any type of long covid symptoms? and this is a president who's been traveling a lot, in the lead up to the midterm elections, we're looking at his approval rating, the latest approval numbers are out, they're pretty low, at 31% in one of the polls i saw just this morning, and who he came in contact with during these travels. the governor of rhode island,

the mayor of warwick, rhode island, senator sheldon whitehouse, these are a lot of folks he's been coming into contact with over the last couple of days. and that's why it's not necessarily surprising, his diagnosis, but a lot of folks are likely worried about what this means for them going forward, because of the implications of long covid. >> and think about the fact that we now have two u.s. presidents in a row that have tested more covid. and i think what we're going to see here is likely a different sort of approach to it. let's remember his predecessor, took off his mask, even though he was sort of in the period where he could have possibly infected other people. he didn't want to talk about getting vaccinated at the white house. president biden win suspect, just in talking to white house officials is going to remind people, yes, i could get it, which means you could get it, which means we all have been vigilant about this. and this diagnosis really does mean that he's going to have to quarantine himself and stay away from people, while he was under pressure to be out on the

campaign trail to be out in the world. they need to see you out in the world. they need to make sure that you feel like you're connected and feeling their pain. i think most people are going to say, this is a time period where he needs to rest, where he needs to sort of take this very seriously. because covid, as someone who has had it, can be very wheelin changing. one day you feel good, and the next day, you can't get out of bed. >> yamiche, if you would, stand by. thank you for jumping on, by the way. hang with me for a moment. we have mike memoli standing by for us with more information, we hope. memoli, what are you learning from the biden camp now from the president's camp, learning that he has now tested positive for covid? >> the early indications that i'm getting is that the president's health is fine.

obviously, he has this diagnosis, and they're going to be giving him the best care imaginable, as you would expect for the president of the united states. but the early indications from sources at the white house that i'm talking to is that the president feels fine. i was on the south lawn of the white house last night when the president returned from that trip from massachusetts. he was with staff, he seemed in good spirits. he actually chided the reporters on the south lawn, including myself, who were shouting questions at him, because he had just answered questions to another group of reporters earlier. it's really worth understating how important this moment is. it's important, but important to put it in context as well, this was a campaign i covered in 2020, in which covid was the number one issue. and the biden campaign really prided itself on the degree to which they were -- and it's carried through to the white house as well, modeling the best behavior, both in terms of precautions, and the campaign took a lot of grief for that so-called basement campaign, but

slowly reingratiaing himself into campaigning in public. and in the white house, for so much of the early months of the administration, even after the president-elect had been given his first doses of the covid vaccine, extreme precautions were taken, above and beyond what the cdc had recorded in order to keep the president safe. just in the last few weeks, there has been a significant back and forth between the press corps and the white house about releasing the testing results as they were coming in. we knew what the president has a regular testing cadence, often mondays and thursdays. the white house had sort of stopped proactively releasing the facts that he had received negative tests. but karine jean-pierre, the white house press secretary, just yesterday, had released information on his previous test just after he returned from saudi arabia, indicating that he was negative. but obviously, the timeline suggests that the president had just returned on i believe it was late saturday night, to washington, that perhaps he contracted this either at the late stages of his trip or in

the early stages of this week. >> so, mike, we're getting some information in from our own peter alexander, as well, it was something that i was thinking about, the first lady and her status. but, she, in fact, has now tested negative for covid. that has been confirmed. let's take a listen and we'll talk on the other end. >> my husband tested positive for covid. i talked to him just a few minutes ago, he's doing fine, he's doing good. i tested negative this morning. i am going to keep my schedule. i am, according to cdc guidelines, i am keeping masked. and so i would like to go in and see the program here, learning loss as an educator means a lot to me. so thank you for being here today. >> so the president is doing fine. we know that at that point, right? thankfully, the vice president -- excuse me, the first lady has, in fact, tested

negative. speaking of her husband's condition at the very moment. but that being said, as we have been talking about, this is a 79-year-old president. that has to be something that they take extra precautions with in now learning about his positive test. i'm wondering if there are any plans in place as to whether or not they want to move the president to possibly a hospital for monitoring. is that something that is in the future for him or something that they have in place, if, in fact, his condition suddenly worsens? >> that's not something that we have heard from white house officials at this very early stage, of course. but i have spoken very often with officials close to the president on this very issue. and they have been rather frank, both publicly and privately in these discussions to say, listen, at some point, the president will likely get covid. they were not shying from that fact. and they were emphasizing the

degree in which his primary doctor, someone they have had a long relationship with, someone who has been his chief physician, both when he was vice president and out of office, they have a very close relationship, so he would be able to respond quickly, and given that long relationship, if the president's symptoms were getting worse. they also emphasized the degree to which we have treatments. this is something they tried to emphasize, given where we are as a nation in the state of covid. that we have treatments and precautions that are showing great efficacy for individuals who test positive with covid. yes, of course, his age is a concern, but we only need to look at other high-profile examples, up to and including queen elizabeth ii who in her late '90s contracted covid, and obviously has survived and is thriving, as well. this is something that the white house has downplayed the inevitably that when he got covid, that it would be a major concern. they will closely be monitoring

his symptoms, naturally. it's interesting, you played that sound from the first lady, because i've been thinking about the president's schedule this week. he returned, as i indicated over the weekend from that trip to the middle east. and he had no public events on the schedule monday and tuesday of this week. he was not scheduled to participate, but he joined the first lady when they welcomed olenna zelenska, the first lady of ukraine. that was the president's greeting of her outside. there were no masks because they were outside. that tends to be a place where transmissibility is reduced in that case. there was a photo taken of the president, the first lady, the vice president, the second gentlemen, and ukraine's first lady inside the diplomatic reception room shortly after, but no indication at this point otherwise, if -- that exposure would be a concern for others involved. now, i will say, if you often see photos of the president in the oval office and in other working meetings in the white house, that it's very often, if

not the norm that his aides in the room are always wearing the kn-95 masks, the strongest protection when they were around the president, but the president himself often is not. he has it on and off, given sometimes the circumstance. we also know, as he was traveling to massachusetts yesterday, aboard air force one, he was in the cabin with some of the members of congress who were traveling with him. there were photos posted by some of them with the president, on air force one yesterday. so as the white house now enters into contact tracing mode, there are going to be some lawmakers getting probably some outreach as well as all the other staff who are traveling with him as well. >> i can't help but wonder, as we're looking at these live pictures, of the first lady in detroit, michigan, when was is the last time the first lady was with the president, and i'm wondering if they have plans to

change her schedule going forward. >> she's now embarking on a multi-state, multi-city tour, highlighting summer learning programs. of course, first lady, an educator herself. this is part of her official schedule. the only time i'm aware of that they were last together was with that meeting with the first lady of ukraine two days ago. but it's also worth noting that the vice president, kamala harris, she had just taken off from washington about 10:00 a.m. this morning. she has an event this afternoon in charlotte, north carolina. the offices of the vice president telling me that at this point, there hadn't been any discussions made about whether she should cancel that event or continue with her travel. i think what we'll continue to see from the white house and hear from white house officials over the course of the day is that, of course, they're taking the president's health seriously, but the concern at this moment is not significant. they want to try to portray calm, steadiness.

that has really been sort of the watch word of biden's team lout this entire pandemic. they want to model good behavior, take good precautions, but given where we are as a country, in part as they would likely say, because of the work that the president has done with the american rescue plan and other initiatives to try to make covid treatments available, vaccines available, the concern about his health is nowhere, where it would have been, we should say, two years ago, when president trump, of course, contracted covid in the late stages of that 2020 campaign, without vaccines available and the kind of treatments available now. >> quite a different time, to say the least. memoli, stand by. i want to bring in dr. uche blackstock into the conversation. dr. blackstock, thanks for jumping on for us. we appreciate it. quite a day, to say the least. the president testing positive for covid at 79 years of age. we hear he's doing quite well, as the first lady said and as we're hearing from the press office, as well. he is now also being administrator paxlovid.

talk to me about some of your concerns here, especially considering his advanced age. >> yasmin, thank you so much for having me. i think this news was inevitable. we see with all the covid protections being lifted, it was only a matter of time before the president contracted covid. he is high risk, simply because of his age. other than, he's in good shape. he has the best health care out there. so i know starting the paxlovid very quickly is important. we know that it has a significant impact on decreasing hospitalizations in people with covid. but he is in that high-risk group. and we know that even people who have been vaccinated and double boosted are at risk of a serious disease that could lead to hospitalization. his team will immediate to keep a very close eye on him. and what they can do for the american public is keep us posted on his status and how he's doing. even though he may be feeling

well now, things can change very quickly. that messaging will be critically important for us. >> and we're also learning now that white house press secretary karine jean-pierre, along with the coronavirus response coordinator will be holding a press conference later today to give us an update on the president's status. we'll be bringing that to you wherever it is that that happens. let's talk also about the decision to take paxlovid. not everybody that takes positive for covid in fact takes that treatment. why do you think in this instance, his doctors, the folks that are making this decision for him, guiding him, chose to give him this treatment? >> so when you actually look at the package center, the criteria that encompasses high risk is quite wide. age is one of them, but also, orr chronic diseases or being immunosuppressed and so that is the first step to making sure that president biden does well,

taking this medication that of all the therapeutics out there, besides the vaccine, have shown to be incredibly effective. as a five-day course, what we have found is that after a five-day course, people suffer some rebound symptoms after they finish that course, so he'll have to be watched very closely to make sure that doesn't happen. >> i want to bring in dr. vin gupta, as well. dr. gupta, give me your reaction first in hearing the president has now, in fact, tested positive for covid. >> yasmin, good morning. >> it's not unsurprising, despite all the precautions that they're happening. it's happening all across the country. really relieved to hear it's just mild symptoms right now. lots of considerations here. one was the time from his last booster dose. that's going to help us really understand what his risk is for any type of progression.

especially at his age, of 79, perhaps the vaccine may not be as effective in this area of omicron at preventing severe pneumonia. so that time to last booster is going to be important to tease out. paxlovid indication, absolutely the right move. we know that early intervention, within that 24 to 48-hour window, yasmin, helps reduce the risk of ending up in the hospital, if he does have vaccine. if he does have any risk of progressions, so he'll further reduce that by starting paxlovid early. and i'm certain his physicians will be looking at overall, how is the president functioning? is he lethargic from his base line? is he fatigued? more fatigued than after a normal day as president? that might prompt them to do -- i'm sure they're going to be frequent vital sign checking, oxygen monitoring.

yet, he remains unclear if they'll do anything in addition to that. take him to a hospital at walter reed to get a chest x-ray. doesn't seem like that's necessary at this moment, but certainly seems like we'll be staying tuned to see how things develop the next six hours. >> dr. gupta, you were raising the red flag when it came to this new omicron variant, ba.5, which in certain instances it seems was evading the vaccine altogether, raising the warning sign that we have another surge ahead of us, possibly, and to be as vaccinated as possible. and herein lies an example, whether a bus driver or the president of the united states. >> yasmin, that's right. and for all of your viewers out there, expect that the daily case loads that we keep hearing about are a gross underestimate of what is actually happening in the world around us. we're capturing nearly 10% of the cases that are actually happening in the communities around us.

one, that means -- let me emphasize this, that the vaccines are doing their job. they're keeping folks away from pulmonologists like myself. that's important. if we didn't have vaccines, we would be seeing surging hospitals, worst than what we saw in the of winter 2020 and 2021. paxlovid, critically, i know we're talking about when will we get an updated boosters because they're sensitive to the fact that the virus is changing but it's important to emphasize that paxlovid, thankfully, even if it seems to require booster shots, paxlovid is what we say variant agnostic. doesn't matter what the variant is, it's still going to interrupt its ability to cause infection, progression of disease and here's why, paxlovid interrupts the ability of the virus to replicate within the human cell, yasmin. it actually -- it disrupts that machinery. it's important we have this therapeutic widely accessible biden administration has great

initiatives, a few weeks ago with pharmacists being able to prescribe it with some greater discretion, we need greater access, more provider awareness, more patient awareness when they're seeking it out but paxlovid is resistant to these vaccines and the impact that they're having on the -- paxlovid is resistant to the variants that are arising even if the vaccines need updated. >> dr. gupta, if you could stand by for a moment speaker pelosi is having her daily press conference and i believe addressing the situation with the president. let's listen in. >> so we had the great honor of having the first lady of ukraine address members of congress. i was so pleased that we had such a bipartisan turnout, house and senate, leader mcconnell, house and senate, democratic leadership to welcome her. the tragedy of what is happening to children and women and the rest in the course of this war,

how the russians have used rape as a weapon of war when it is, indeed, a war crime, i've said to you before that i've been told by those familiar with the russian tactics that these are not just the soldiers raping girls. this is an order. this is an attempt to demoralize the ukrainian people and have their -- >> taking a listen to speaker pelosi there in her daily press briefing, at one point it seems like we missed it as we were speaking with dr. gupta about the president's current situation addressing the president testing positive for covid. by the way, it's eight minutes to the top of the hour. if you are just joining us, welcome. good to see you. we are following breaking news out of the white house right now. the president, in fact, testing positive today for covid. he has been boosted twice. i'm learning now from msnbc commentator geoff bennett telling me the president was boosted for a second time on march 30th as we were just

speaking with dr. vin gupta. he said that date was incredibly important as to how much protection he still had. if we have him still on the line i'd like to bring him back. you spoke about the second time he was boosted. i'm now learning it was in fact, march 30th which he got the second boost. what does that say to you? >> well, yes, that means he's in that very protective four-month window. we know that after folks get that -- whatever shot it might be, number one and number four, that that first four months is when their protection is at an all-time high. one from infection and also from keeping you out of the hospital. obviously the president tested positive, but he still has very strong peak protection against progression ending up in the hospital with severe pneumonia. paxlovid should reassure us the president remains with mild symptoms at most. >> want to bring in jen psaki

joining us now for reaction to the president's positive covid test. jen, thanks for joining us and jumping on to talk -- >> good morning, yasmin. >> good morning. give me your reaction first in hearing the president has in fact tested positive. i'm sure you're not surprised at this point. >> no, i think, yasmin, as many would expect who have been following it closely, i think we've been preparing or they've been preparing for this probably for several months now given the percentage of people in the country who have tested positive. what -- they were probably bracing for impact before they made the statement this morning because they knew there would be a lot of reactions, obviously from media, but certainly maybe from the markets, from other leaders. but what they've done so far over the last less than an hour since the news came out is done two smart thing, one is they've been transparent, they made clear that he was taking paxlovid, his symptoms have been mild and the second thing they did was to make clear that they would be giving daily updates.

now, what they need to do over the next couple of days is show him working and show him still active and serving as president and i'm certain they're likely do that. >> who is making the decisions when it comes to the schedule of the vice president now who we heard was in the air when we learned of the positive covid test to the president along with the first lady who is currently in detroit who is currently still testing negative. >> so, the vice president's office and the west wing is right around the corner from the chief of staff office. there is a very close working relationship especially in moments like this in nearly every white house. i think it's important, though, for viewers to know and understand the president is still serving in his job and in many ways, the white house is set up for that. because that is -- he lives and he works there. right. he lives above the shop and so anything he needs to do, whether it is conducting a call with a foreign leader, having a meeting with aids, it is all set up for him to continue to do his job

and obviously as long as his symptoms continue to be mild. >> was the president aware and planning for this eventual positive test during your time in the white house, and was it something that he was concerned about considering, jen, of course, his advanced age? >> well, i think as you noted, yasmin, the president and anyone around him took every step possible. he received that second booster just back at the end of the march, normally to protect his own health but to send a message to the country about how important it is. i think anyone is preparing for the possibility they may test positive. i mean i've had covid twice, right, and i was pretty careful and took every precaution necessary. it can happen but what is hugely foreign here is the reason he's having mild symptoms is because he was boosted twice and because he took those precautions. but, yes, you're preparing. he has obviously a doctor who is his personal doctor. every president has access to the best medical care in the

world. and the fortunately every white house regardless of whether you're going for a pandemic or not is prepared for the president to serve in a variety of places, locations including recovery from covid in the white house. >> this is certainly a president who has allowed his personal experiences in his life to drive certain policy decisions that he has made during his time as not only president but vice president as well. do you" the same thing to happen here now that he has been diagnosed with covid? >> absolutely and if i'm understanding your question, yasmin, the right way, look, i think he makes risk assessments. the white house makes risk assessments just like the american people do. that's not always easy, right, every day you're making risk assessments about whether you're exposing yourself or not. he took -- got that extra booster, something the cdc recommend every american do but in addition to that he knows he wants to still engage and interact with people across the country. that means and you're asking

about whether he's been prepared. sure, every time he held a baby or held that child from ukraine in that photo from poland from months ago, you know that there is a risk. there is a risk and we all operate with those risks every day but i have no doubt he will continue to operate once he recovers from covid as somebody as a leader who wants to engage the people across the country and that's an assessment he makes and everybody makes every day. >> i'm wondering, jen, kind of what goes into that risk assessment, right? when you had a president that has tested positive for covid, twice boozed, -- boosted. this is certainly a president on the road trying to push his policy agenda and get as many as he can before november. who exactly is doing it. >> well, he does it through consultation with his doctor, just like any american can,

right? through the team at the white house but it's important to him and important to them that he is out there in the country and i have no doubt he will continue to be. but he's also going to follow and abide by any health guidance out there recommended publicly by the cdc to every american, of course, and he does that in consultation with his doctor as well. but that also means, you know, i am sitting right now, i will tell you in a parking lot in a -- out side of a barnes & noble because i wanted to pick up a book for a friend. i wore a mask but went in. we make assessments every day. my kids are at summer camp just like other kids but my son got his second booster thanks to the amazing science, right, so my point is he will make those assessments in consultation with his doctor and the team at the white house just like everyone does but part of his job, just like mine is to be a mom and to go to work and things like that, a part of his job is to engage

with the american people and i have no doubt that that is going to weigh heavily and be important to him going into the fall as the democrats are fighting to maintain control. >> by the way, my 3-year-old just got his second shot as well. it was quite a moment when he got that free car and free lollipop with that free shot. >> oh, we did the same thing. we also got a free car for my 4-year-old but it's all worth it. second shot, it's exciting days for kids under 5. >> exciting. feels like freedom around the corner. jen, thanks for jumping on for us. good to talk to you. so if you're just joining us it is the top of the hour, welcome, i'm yasmin vossoughian. you're watching msnbc following breaking news out of washington, d.c. we are now getting in as we've been following the story for the last 45 minutes the president, is, in fact, tested positive for covid-19. he has been boosted twice. the last booster he received was, in fact, on march 30th. we are being told he is experiencing mild symptoms doing quite well as we heard from the first lady who spoke to her