to go. >> all right. that does it for us this morning. jose diaz-balart picks up the coverage right now. good morning. 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we're tracking the latest results in some big primary elections right now. voters in five states showing us that november's races will be more complicated than anyone could have predicted. trump backed candidates claiming victory in key contests while in kansas, an unexpected landslide vote to protect abortion rights in the first ballot in post-roe america. steve kornacki is at the big board to break down all the results. plus, china infuriated by speaker pelosi's visit to taiwan. the preliminarycations of her trip on that tricky relationship. here at home, big movement on capitol hill. the senate just passed legislation to help veterans exposed to burn pits after republicans initially blocked that legislation.

and with august recess approaching, senator sinema under pressure to support her party's manchin backed bill. suing over related to the shootings. his hearings slated for tomorrow. we begin with the key primary results and the implications for november. voters proved donald trump's support still matters but roe's defeat could upend the midterms. in missouri it was the battle of the ericks in the republican race for senate. in the end state attorney general eric schmitt defeated missouri's disgraced governor eric greitens. in kansas, abortion rights sailed to overwhelming victory with voters voting down a

constitutional amendment that would have eroded rights in the state. it was the first statewide vote on abortion since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade and the implications of last night's results have democrats hopeful about the potential midterm impact. our team is covering both results this morning. nbc news correspondent and moderator of washington week on pbs is in st. louis, missouri and dasha burns is in oberlin park, kansas. in the end there could be only one eric. >> certainly, jose, and it was, of course, missouri attorney general eric schmitt who pulled out this victim, who was able to best eric greitens who is the embattled former governor of the state. eric schmitt is someone who is seen as the more moderate of the two ericks and tacked to the right to get the support of former president trump. he is also -- came out against mitch mcconnell being the senate majority leader saying that if republicans win back control of

the senate he will not support him. echoing the criticism of former president trump last night eric schmitt took to the podium sounding very, very happy. take a listen. >> what a hard-fought campaign it's been and it should be because the issues we're facing as a country are important. i want to thank my republican opponents for their love of this state and for the love of this country. now is the time to unify in this fight against the radical progressives. >> now we should note that eric greitens did not, at this point, concede to eric schmitt. he is someone who, of course, was the embattled former governor of the state, greitens, he resigned in disgrace 18 months after being inaugurated as governor facing allegations of sexual abuse of domestic abuse, and also someone who has alienated himself from a lot of the republican party here in missouri.

it's really interesting to see whether or not he will at some point concede. when he went to the podium last night he said sometimes god's plans are not on our timeline, sounding like he had lost the race but not saying he lost the race. he did not claim victory. that being said, of course, this race got really baffling and chaotic because former president trump refused to issue an outright endorsement to either one of these and instead said he was endorsing eric all caps no last name saying he was going to trust the people of missouri to decide here. i should put up a post that former president trump made on truth social that says won all our endorsed races in kansas and missouri. great going eric, big night, thank you. there is president trump sort of trying to take a victory lap and claim victory after hedging his bets in this race. i should note that there are people close to president trump who say he really enjoyed being at the center of this political decision, at the center of this political conversation that this state was having over the last

36 hours of the race. he is someone who wanted to wield power and make sure he's continuing to influence the republican party, and he did just that in this race. one other thing, overall this race is something that we need to think through in terms of what happens in november. eric schmitt is seen as the person more likely to keep the seat. now that he has won this race, republicans in this state feel as though they will be able to keep the seat. that, of course, is going to be replacing roy blunt retiring as a republican in this state. 1996 was the last time a democrat presidential candidate won the state of missouri, it was bill clinton and 2012 the last time a democrat won a senate seat in this state, it was claire mccaskill. this is a state where trump is wildly popular, deeply red and eric schmitt is likely cruising to becoming the next senator from missouri, jose. >> and dasha, the victory for kansas abortion rights supporters is arguably the biggest headline of the night? >> yeah. jose, this is a big deal.

i don't think that can be overstated. look, we were in the room last night when the results were announced defeating this amendment that would have potentially eroded abortion rights in this state, and it was emotional and it was more than a little bit surprising. look, we've been talking to abortion rights advocates here for weeks now and i will tell you this entire time, they had been convicted, they had been hopeful, but not particularly optimistic. there were several obstacles working against not vote here. this was on the primary ballot instead of the general ballot, when primaries here in kansas tend to draw a smaller voter group, more conservative voter group. there were millions of dollars poured in to the vote yes coalition from the susan b. anthony pro life america group from the catholic clutch. there was a lot of misinformation, misleading text messages sent to voters right before election day.

still, it seems that the vote no messaging resonated. they weren't just speaking to democrats. they were speaking to republicans talking about how this infringes on constitutional freedoms, making that government overreach argument, and from the numbers that we're looking at, it does seem like at least some republicans were convinced by that. this is a really landmark moment and message to the rest of the country, the first big ballot test on abortion and the result was clear and it was decisive. take a listen to some of what we heard last night. >> so grateful and just overjoyed in this moment right now. that we did what kansas needed us to do. >> i did not look forward to trusting the legislature to protect the rights of my wife if her life was threatened. >> our state stood up and said no. we're the first ones to say no,

so i'm just -- i'm overjoyed. >> and jose, maybe the biggest headline from the night is turnout. i mean it was explosive. here in johnson county, 53% turnout across the state, about 47% according to preliminary results, that is rivalling general presidential election turnout. it's virtually unheard of in an august primary. one of the big questions with kansas here is will this be a motivating factor for voters? the answers seems to be a clear and resounding yes, jose. >> dasha burns and yameesh, thank you very much. i want to bring in steve kornacki at the big board. senor no sleep with us. let's begin with kansas. this issue clearly is very, very i guess surprising for a lot of people. >> yeah. i think the result, just the fact that the magnitude of the

victory for the no side and to pick up on what dasha was talking about there, the level of interest we're talking about a state primary in the dead of summer. there weren't a ton of compelling races on the democratic or republican side, and yet, turnout was astronomical as dasha was saying in this thing. just to put it in perspective, right now they're still counting up some of the votes, right now 908,000 votes cast in this primary yesterday in kansas. if you look at the 2014 kansas state primary, it was 350,000. if you look at the 2018 kansas primary, the last two midterms, 473,000. so the number here doubling, more than doubling the 2014 number. put it in further perspective, look at the general election, the 2014 midterm general election, actually had fewer voters than last night's primary did. if you look at the 2018 general last night's primary, isn't too

far off that. you can extend it a level further, these are presidential election turnouts, 2016 and 20. 1.2, 1.3 million. this is not going to get up to that level, but it's a lot farther away from a typical primary and a lot closer to a general election or even a presidential election. just in terms of the level of interest and the level of engagement. huge and off the charts. take a closer look now at how the no side pulled this out and what the possible implications are. a couple points to make here. i think number one is in a state like kansas, remember, donald trump won kansas. we can show you in 2020 by 15 points. still, a solidly republican state at the presidential level. one of the ingredients that went into the defeat of this amendment was, there were republican crossover votes. how many republicans went to the polls in kansas yesterday and voted against this thing. it's hard to get an exact number

but one thing you can look at it is, if you add up all the folks who voted in the democratic primary and the independent voters who voted yesterday it does not add up to the total number of no votes. it's less than the total number of no votes. it means that at an absolute minimum, 20% of republicans in kansas voted against this. more realistically the numbers probably are closer to 25, 30%. there were some independents who voted for it and there were even some democrats who voted for it. we're probably looking at upwards of about 30% of republicans voting no on this thing. one way you saw this on the map here in kansas, if you just go to some of the most conservative and republican parts of kansas, western kansas here, small, rural, western kansas, take a look at this. joe biden got 13% of the vote in this county here. lane county. the no side got 40% of the vote. you go next door, joe biden,

13%. the no side got 34%. you see that throughout the state. small, deeply red, extremely pro trump counties actually had, you know, significant jumps from biden's level of support to no. that's one ingredient here. another ingredient, though, and dasha was talking about this, the suburbs of kansas city in the eastern part of the state here. johnson county, she mentioned, this is the biggest county in the state and this is where you start to talk about potential national implications of this result for the midterm elections here this fall. tell you the story of johnson county. the biggest in the state, about quarter of all the votes cast in kansas yesterday came out of johnson county. this is right to the west of kansas city here. you see no got 68%. now take a look at how johnson county has been trending because this is something we've seen in a lot of big metropolitan suburban counties around

country. in 2012, johnson county, was still a republican stronghold. mitt romney won it by nearly 20 points. 2016 it reacted negatively to donald trump. he won it but barely won it. in 2020, it flipped to joe biden by more than 8 points. on this ballot referendum, it actually goes to the no side with nearly 70%. that's the political shift, the political journey that johnson county has been on. now, what democrats have been arguing is, since the supreme court's decision to overturn roe versus wade, they have been saying that that would resonate most deeply in places like johnson county. big suburban areas, lots of college graduates, lots of college educated women those are areas in the country in the last decade or so have swung very hard towards democrats. what democrats have been saying is, the supreme court ruling would really wake up voters in those places.

it certainly did on this referendum when you look at johnson county's results yesterday. there are places like johnson county in pennsylvania, in georgia, in arizona, that have had these similar shifts. the question now that comes out of this is, this was a referendum just on abortion. this wasn't a democratic candidate against a republican candidate, but will that same energy attach itself to democrat versus republican races in places like pennsylvania and georgia, arizona, in the general election. that's what democrats have been saying will happen in the wake of the supreme court's decision. certainly the energy around this issue exists. will it attach itself to the partisan battles this november. that's the big question jose i think to come out of kansas. >> yeah. i mean when you look at it, as you say, up to 25, 30% of republican support for no is a substantial important number.

can that mean something in november? absolutely. the swing voters in places like johnson county, you can see what they did. >> right. >> steve kornacki, great to see you. i thank you for that explanation. always interesting. still ahead, victory for veterans on capitol hill. cheers in the chamber as the senate approves a bill after a day's long sit-in. house speaker nancy pelosi's controversial trip to taiwan is over, but the confrontation with china may have just begun. that's next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." ing "jose di-bazalart reports. you see, son, with a little elbow grease, you can do just about anything. thanks, dad. that's right, robert. and it's never too early to learn you could save with america's number one motorcycle insurer. that's right, jamie. but it's not just about savings. it's about the friends we make along the way. you said it, flo. and don't forget to floss before you brush. your gums will thank you.

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. 19 past the hour. in just the last couple hours, speaker pelosi departed taiwan heading for south korea. the latest stop on her diplomatic tour of asia. she is the highest ranking u.s.

official to visit taiwan. the south island that china claims as part of its territory. pelosi met with its president, received the highest civilian honors and pledged u.s. support for their democracy and addressed china's rhetoric and response to her visit making this point. >> i think that they made a big fuss because i'm speaker, i guess. i don't know if that was a reason or an excuse, because they didn't say anything when the men came. >> nbc's rowda kwan is in taiwan for us today. how was speaker pelosi received in taiwan? >> speaker pelosi was warmly received in taiwan. there were crowds waiting for her outside the airport before she even landed. people cheered when she landed. there were crowds outside her hotel waiting to welcome her. taipei's iconic 101 building was lit up with messages of thanks

and welcome for speaker pelosi on her visit. on an official level president tsai ing-wen called pelosi one of taiwan's most devoted friends. there was very strong support for pelosi's visit here. people have been waiting 25 years for this moment. >> yeah. and, you know, talking about reactions, china's military thursday has live fire drills planned in an apparent challenge to what taiwan defines as its coastline. how are we seeing other players react? >> yeah. even before pelosi landed on tuesday evening, china announced a whole slew of import bans on produce from taiwan niece companies. taiwan is going to protect its sovereignty and warning its people against believing fake news on the internet. japan has expressed concern about these drills and south korea has called for calm, so it really remains to be seen in the

coming days what the full impact of pelosi's trip in taiwan will be. >> thank you so much for being with us this morning. with us to take a closer look at this and other foreign policy headlines is peter baker, ""new york times" chief white house correspondent and political analyst. great seeing you. the white house and the pentagon apparently weren't too pleased or initially urged pelosi not to go to taiwan. how does her visit complicate things for the u.s. government? >> well, from the point of view of the white house, what they would tell you she has ever right to go and they defend the prerogative of the speaker of the house to make her own decisions. they did warn her there could be consequences because at this moment, china in is a precarious position with the party congress coming up and anners havery coming up. her going to taiwan stirred a lot of backlash from china.

you know, what you saw here in the united states was, you know, concern that this would open up a crisis in asia at the same time they're dealing with a war in europe right now, right. in other words, the focus of the administration foreign policy wise for the most part has been shipping arms to ukraine, arms that otherwise, by the way, taiwan itself would like, you know, just in general to defend itself under the dwan defense act. the administration was wary of the idea we would get into a second global conflict against another power at the same time. >> i mean, the speaker has for many years been a vociferous defender of taiwan and supporter of taiwan. i'm just wondering, peter, with all the realities you just enumerated, why is china and why did china react the way it did to this visit? i mean, you know, institute gingrich visited one. senator menendez has gone a number of times in recent weeks and months and they haven't

reacted this way. >> well, that's right. in fact, nancy pelosi was originally scheduled to go in april, but had to cancel because she got covid back then and flofs big kerfuffle at the time. it's at a moment when president xi is concentrating on, you know, getting his third term secured at this party congress has to look tough to the outside world. the chinese have been moving towards an assertive positive with regards to taiwan anyway keeping in the direction they've been going, aggressive encounters with aircraft and naval ships in the area, more assertive claims to control the taiwan strait, that kind of thing. it comes at a moment when china was already flexing its muscles and they decide to make an issue out of her trip. >> meanwhile you wrote a very kind of large piece looking at what al zawahiri's death tells

us about president biden's strategy when it comes to afghanistan. does the success of this strike in any way change what happened, you know, a year ago? >> well, it's kind of like a test how you look at this. for president biden and his allies this is proof he made the right decision to get out of afghanistan. we don't have to is v a large deployment on the ground to fight the war on terror. we can do it in a precision kind of way as done with the hellfire missiles from a drone. if you're one of president biden's critics or didn't like the withdraw from afghanistan what you're focused on the fact that ayman al zawahiri was in kabul to begin with. the idea he was there pretty close to the center of action in the kabul -- in the center of the afghan capital under the protection of the taliban indicates, you know, that the taliban is not living up to its word as part of its agreement it made with president trump to not be a safe haven for al qaeda as

it kind of places attacks against the united states. it depends on how you look at it. both of those things can be true at the same time, of course. >> the fact that he was living in i guess where the diplomatic residential area is in the capital and then, peter, wondering, the haqqani network and the taliban, there is -- is there any difference between the taliban of 2020 and the taliban of, you know, last time? into it doesn't look like there really is. i think they had obviously promised to be a more moderate force, that they would not shelter a terrorist anymore, that they were a somewhat different 21st century version of the taliban. all evidence suggests they are not. they reimposed restrictions on women and girls in particular, on society in general, and, obviously, al qaeda's leader was there right under their nose. living in a house that we're told is owned by, you know, aide

to the top member of the haqqani network, a terrorist network affiliated with al qaeda and part of the taliban government. some terrorist experts were saying yesterday in some ways it feels like we've returned to september 10th, 2001, where once again, the taliban is in control of afghanistan and al qaeda has a friendly patron there. >> peter baker, great seeing you. i thank you for your time. up next, we'll go live to kentucky where rescuers are still searching for hundreds of people missing in deadly flooding. there's a new challenge for them today. we'll tell you about that next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." watching diaz-balart reports. for too long, big pharma has been squeezing americans for every penny, and inflation has only added to the pain. but congress has a historic opportunity to deliver relief, by passing a bill to let medicare negotiate lower drug prices and put money back in the pockets of seniors. 87% of americans support the plan,

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outside the capitol along with comedian and veterans activist jon stewart demanding that republican senators support the legislation. last night veterans at the capitol described what this bill's passing meant to them. >> relief. believe it or not sadness. there's a lot of veterans who couldn't come because they're not with us anymore. so we did it for them. we did it for their families. >> joining us now nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vitali. how did the final vote come together? >> it came together, jose, just in the nick of time if you talk to these veterans and advocates who had been outside the capitol, in some cases sleeping on the steps in protest to try to keep the focus on this bill. it was so important to these veterans it get passed and they

thought they were going to see passage of this last week. that was before 25 republicans flipped their support previously they had seen overwhelming bipartisan support on the last version of this bill, not much had changed in terms of the substance, but nevertheless, a hold up at the end of last week that spurred these protests over the course of the last six days. yesterday, after another day spent in the blazing d.c. heat, they finally saw this bill passed and you saw the emotion on a lot of those faces yesterday. comedienne and activist jon stewart was out there repeatedly saying making these veterans wait was cruel and unusual punishment on the part of lawmakers. >> and ali, i want to turn to the latest on the man chin-schumer deal on clean energy and corporate taxes. senator sinema has not said whether she will support. it what's the latest on that? >> she's still mum on this, jose. it's not surprising because she's not someone that speaks to

or interacts with reporters in the halls of congress, but we know she's spoken to one of the key men at the center of brokering this deal, senator joe manchin who gave this read outlast night of their talk. >> we did have a nice conversation and we're exchanging papers back and forth to make sure we understand everything and she understand where we're coming from. she's always -- she's a friend and she's always done her due diligence and she will look at this and make her own decision. >> look, both sinema and manchin over the course of the last eight or so months as this deal has come together, fallen apart and now come together again, manchin and sinema have been two of the key senators who have been willing to put a stop to the whole process if there's something in it they don't like. now we have manchin in a place where he's on board. one of two people who actually brokered this deal alongside senator chuck schumer, now we have to see if sinema, things she has in the bill that she has

supported and negotiated, that pharmaceutical price drug package with medicare, is something sinema was deeply involved in, but laid red lines in closing the carried interest loophole, something manchin said he's not willing to lose from the deal, but unclear if sinema will bend on that and get on board. they need her to and somewhat quickly because even though the parliamentarian is working through this, its own timeline, they need to know they have all 50 senators on board to proceed. >> ali vitali on capitol hill, thank you so much. temperatures in kentucky are expected to skyrocket today and tomorrow. it's one of the many conditions hampering rescue and recovery efforts killed 37 people, including children. as of last night, more than 5,000 kentucky households were without power, more than 18,000 without water. 45,000 under a boil water advisory. many of those people are also stranded without supplies because of washed out roads.

some came to a shelter, this shelter, at a high school. here's what flood survivors talked about. >> we couldn't get off the hill for like two days. >> the lights and water was off. >> no lights, no water, no nothing. >> we lost our home completely. it was completely submerged. we're not -- we don't, you know, really have plans from here. >> it's really hard. it took years to gain what we've gained and i mean, the main thing is, i've got friends that's lost family and we didn't lose nobody so we're grateful for that. >> nbc's george solis is live. are there systems in place to get people supplies and help, the help they so desperately need? >> yeah. good morning, jose. that is one of the small silver linings in all of this. there are tons of state and federal help including a

disaster declaration and five of the most impacted counties including in the county we've been reporting for the last several days. to give you a scope of what people are dealing with, the property owner allowing us to show you this. this used to be the foundation of a home. the homeowner hasn't lost their entire home. they have another here on the property but all of their belongings damaged. the home that was here, though, right behind me over there. you can see it off in the distance. the other challenge impacting property owners, there is still tons of standing water in certain areas. here, fortunately, this is not impeding search and rescue efforts. if the water is as high as it is here, imagine in the areas where the roads have been flooded or washed out completely. especially those bridges. there are people still waiting to be rescued. fortunately the national guard has been here working around the clock to help with those people. you mentioned the heat. people contending with that on top of everything else they are dealing with. there are cooling centers in the state. the governor mentioning mobile fema registration sites are now open so people can start applying for help to start

rebuilding what they've lost which in this case is a lot. jose? >> george solis, thank you so much. up next, we'll talk to a texas lawmaker about the demand for answers in the uvalde investigation. next. uvalde investigation. next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports."

42 past the hour. this is a tough one. parents of the children killed in the parkland school shooting four years ago are having to relive their nightmares. family members told emotional stories about their loved ones during yesterday's sentencing hearing for the shooter. one dad tried to explain the infinite pain of losing his 14-year-old daughter. >> my first born daughter, my shining star, daddy's girl, was taken from me. i get to watch my friends, my

neighbors, colleagues, spend time enjoying their daughters, enjoying all the normal milestones, taking in the joys and i can only watch videos or go to the cemetery to see my daughter. >> the shooter has pleaded guilty to 17 counts of first-degree murder. this trial will determine whether he is sentenced to death or life without parole. meantime parents of some of the victim of the sandy hook shooting in 2012 are also in court and giving an earful to conspiracy theorist alex jones. several families are suing jones for calling the massacre that left 26 dead a hoax. the parents of jesse lewis who was just 6 years old questioned why jones kept pushing the conspiracy theory. >> it seems so incredible to me that we have to do this, that we

have to implore you not just implore you, punish you, to get you to stop lying. >> this trial will determine how much jones must pay out to the victims' families who sued for defamation. turning now to the aftermath from the tragedy in uvalde. i want to show you a video i hope brings you a little bit of hope, maybe a smile. take a look. this is 10-year-old maya samora you see her passing out roses. on friday she was the last patient from the uvalde shooting to be discharged from university health in san antonio, texas where you see her getting into the car, waving goodbye. 21 people were killed in that mass shooting at robb elementary school in uvalde. a coalition of more than a dozen media organizations including nbc news, filed a lawsuit on monday accusing the texas

department of public safety of unlawfully withholding public records and tomorrow there will be a hearing on a separate lawsuit filed by state senator roland gutierrez who represents uvalde and suing the texas department of public safety over records that may have related to the shooting. joining us now is that state senator roland gutierrez. state senator, thank you for being with us. i have to ask you, summer is winding down and the school year is approaching. how are people in uvalde doing? >> well, not a whole lot changes, jose. you know, i have two daughters and they run with the crews of other little girls. maya, who i saw about three weeks ago in the hospital, four weeks ago, she had a crew, there were six little girls, five of her best friends are now gone. she is the last one remaining. she received five bullet wounds to her upper body and she really is a miracle baby.

one about 2 mill meters from her heart. people need to know that, need to know because we have a governor that refuses to change things in texas. this could happen again, unfortunately. people in uvalde are holding up as best they can, jose. as best they can. >> tell me about your lawsuit. >> you know, we filed a lawsuit. we go to court tomorrow. the department of public safety did not respond to our open records request which obviates the fact that they have to give us the evidence that we've asked for. they are pushing back against that, they tried to kill our lawsuit last week. the court has granted relief in our favor for that and so we should have them on the stand tomorrow. we're very glad that all of the media stations including nbc news has jumped on this case or filed their own lawsuits. under no circumstances should we live in a world or state where we can't get free information. it's almost like we're living in russia or venezuela at this

time. it's astounding. >> why is it that we're still not getting all of the videos and all of the interviews? why, senator? >> well, jose, it's pretty obvious by now and i think you and i figured it out on week one or day three or four. the fact is, you had a department of public safety pointing the fingers at everybody else. we saw two weeks ago a report that says every other agency has fault and burden to bear in this instance, including the department of public safety. we now find out yesterday from another reporting source that there was a dps trooper within the first 2 minutes and 58 seconds there. you know, this very notion that it's the fault of the cop that breaks up the cafeteria school fights is absurd. we had over 390 officers on the scene. it was -- it was an abject failure. steve is right about that. he needs to look in the mirror. this was the abject failure ball

game the department of public safety who had 91 cops on the scene including a very strong and burly dps texas ranger, the big, bad cops in texas. that man was talking on the phone to someone. i want to know who he was talking to and who was giving him orders and why didn't they tell him to go in now? >> and senator, i just want to point out that we're coming up on the third anniversary of el paso and the shooting there. 23 people were massacred in your state. and i just -- you know, the -- these things can't continue to happen, and yet, senator, here we are, marking el paso august of 2019 and uvalde just a little while ago. these things can't continue to happen, senator. >> so, jose, you're absolutely right. when people ask for accountability -- and a lot of people are asking for

accountability and still waiting -- they should look to a governor who has overseen five mass shootings and done nothing. he could look at his republican counterpart at the time rick scott who took 23 days to bring back the legislature and change an age limit from 18 to 21 on access to militarized weaponry. that hasn't happened with greg abbott. he refuses. he hasn't gone to a single funeral. final this week he goes to visit with folks. most folks i think you'll know their answer was this was, obviously, political. this is a governor who has refused to do anything on the thing that matters most in this instance and it is guns. it is not mental health. it is not evil. the only evil it is, is seeing a problem, staring you in the face, and doing nothing to solve it. that's greg abbott. >> texas state senator roland gutierrez, i thank you for your time. it's always a pleasure to see you.

>> thank you. up next, we will ask a doctor who has been studying monkeypox for decades about how the u.s. is handling the virus and how exactly it's spreading. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ listen, i'm done settling. because this is my secret. i put it on once, no more touch ups! secret had ph balancing minerals; and it helps eliminate odor, instead of just masking it. so pull it in close. secret works. open. it's a beautiful word. neighborhoods "open". businesses "open". fields "open". who doesn't love "open"? offices. homes. stages.

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53 past the hour. so far, the cdc has confirmed over 6,300 cases of monkeypox in the u.s. joining us now with more is ann lamon she serves as the director for immigrant health. and spent two decades in the democratic republic of congo working on monkeypox. it's great to see you. so on this outbreak, you said we're losing daylight. what'd you mean by that? >> what i mean, jose, is that we really need to be getting in front of this as quickly as possible. the window is closing to be able to contain this in any way, shape, or form. we need to get vaccines out, testing be widely available so we know who has it, and communication to everyone who is at risk. >> so, is the testing that

complicated that it can't be widespreadly distributed. are the vaccines so technologically advanced to make that there's no access to them? >> excellent questions. the answer is, testing takes some time to ramp up. and we have to have tests that we know will provide good answers. remember, we went through this with covid-19 at the beginning. you need to have good tests and they need to be accurate so you're getting the right information. this still will take some time. we just don't have the capacity out there. labs need to be able to handle these examples. in terms of the vaccines, we don't have enough vaccine right now. and it's important to remember that the vaccine that's being used is a two-dose vaccine. there's four weeks between doses. and we need to be very, very cautious in terms of suggesting that people can get vaccinated and then just go back to their normal lives. this vaccine will take time to build immunity in individuals who have gotten it. and this is a new route of transmission. the vaccines haven't been well described in this way, in terms

of providing immunity. so, i think that this is going to be an important layer of protection, not the final answer. >> and ann, the cdc guidance indicates that those who have monkeypox should isolate for two to four weeks? >> you're right. because what needs to happen is you will go through a period of prodrome where you don't feel well, you will have blisters that eventually occur, and they have to scab over. you have to have new skin before you are considered no longer infectious, and this can take some time. this is an infection that can be very severe in some, mild in others, but you need to wait for those scabs to fall off for your infection to be considered clear. >> ann rimoin, thank you so much for being with us. i appreciate your time. that's it for this hour. i'm jose diaz-balart. i'll be back after a quick break with more news. we'll talk with bob menendez,

chairman of the powerful senate foreign relations committee and get his reaction to speaker pelosi's trip to taiwan. stay with us. r pelosi's trip to taiwan. stay with us e liberty and justice are for all, or traitors inciting violence against our country and trying to take away our freedoms? which side are you on? people who work for a living and care for our families, or the trump republicans who block everything our families need? this november, it's time to show which side you're on. vote for democrats. ff pac is responsible for the content of this ad.

good morning. it's 11:00 a.m. in the east, 8:00 a.m. in the west. i'm jose diaz-balart with another very busy hour. starting with a fresh slate of major primary election results that indicate former president trump's sway remains strong in the gop. in michigan,