they're confident that this supply chain problem could work itself out, hopefully in the next coming days. >> kerry sanders. thank you for that. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can always reach me on twitter and instagram @jdbalart. be sure to follow the show online @jdbalartmsnbc. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. good day, everyone. this is "andrea mitchell reports" in washington. after a stunning political shock wave in kansas where voters overwhelmingly showed up to protect abortion rights in their state, a major development that could have ripple effects reaching all the way to the midterms and beyond. we'll have steve kornacki at the big board plus a live report from kansas along with our team in arizona and missouri, where former president trump had a string of big primary victories. nancy pelosi has completed her

whirlwind visit to taiwan, meeting earlier today with the island's democratically elected president, in defiance of provocative live fire drills from china's military. and also this hour we'll talk to kentucky governor andy beshear about the search and rescue efforts as the death count rises from this week's historic floods. i'll speak to senator kirsten gillibrand about the passage of new medical benefits for burn pit victims finally. and we are on sinema watch, waiting for that 50th democratic senator to signal whether or not she will support the democrats' new compromise bill to cut prescription drug costs and combat climate change. but we begin with politics. joining us now, nbc's dasha burns in kansas. nbc's vaughn hillyard in aarizona. and nbc's yamiche alcindor in st. louis. the dream team. dasha, first to you. this amazing turnout. the defeat of the amendment, the kansas state constitution. it's now becoming a rallying cry for democrats and abortion

rights supporters across the country. >> reporter: andrea, this is a big deal not just for kansas but for the entire country. p and definitely looking ahead to the midterms this says a lot. i don't think that can be overstated. look, i was in that room with abortion rights advocates, the folks who pushed for the vote no on this amendment, last night. and the energy was high. the emotion was high. and so was the level of surprise. look, i spent several weeks on the ground here talking to abortion rights advocates who've been knocking on doors, and they were hopeful. they were certainly convicted. but they were not exactly optimistic. look, this is a pretty red state here, and we've been talking over the last few weeks about how even if this vote was close, if the yes vote won but even if this vote was close this would say a lot. the folks that i've been talking to, they were hopeful for maybe, maybe a slim victory for vote no. they were certainly not expecting this overwhelming,

this decisive a victory for the very first ballot test on abortion rights. and they were facing some headwinds here. we've talked about this was on the primary ballot, not the general ballot, which tends to have a smaller and more conservative turnout. there were millions of dollars poured into the vote yes side from the susan b. anthony pro-life america organization, from the catholic church. voters had to navigate a lot of misinformation, including misleading text messages sent to voters just before election day. and still it seems as if the message from the vote no side really resonated with folks here. and by the way, not just with democrats but i talked with republican p voters who said this did feel like government overreach, did th did feel like an infringement on constitutional rights. so i think folks all across the country, other states, other campaigns will be looking to kansas to see what happened here and to see that this is a driving factor for voters.

it was a resounding yes in response to that question, will abortion rights get voters to the polls. >> and the turnout was approaching presidential levels, presidential primary levels. amazing that this actually happened. thank you, dasha burns. and vaughn hillyard, president trump's strength within the republican party certainly most noticeable in your home state of arizona. a lot of very interesting races there. >> reporter: andrea, in the conversation that we've had over the last weeks was what impact would the january 6th public hearings have on the greater american population? ultimately republican voters at least here in arizona, they pushed aside the rather damning allegations, the serious allegations laid out against the former president in the leadup to january 6th there, and backed his slate of candidates here in arizona. not only for attorney general but also for secretary of state, for u.s. senate. he celebrated the ousting of rusty bowers, who of course is the arizona house speaker, who

testified in front of the january 6th committee about the pressure he faced from trump allies to overturn joe biden's arizona victory. he was beat by a trump-endorsed challenger. but then of course you've got the governor's race which we at nbc news have still not yet called here. at the same time the ballots that we are still waiting on, anywhere from 150,000 to 200,000 ballots, these are the mail ballots that instead of folks mailing them in they came and dropped them off at a polling place in the last 48 hours. those voters we expect to definitely lean more toward kari lake here. voters that are skeptical of mail-in voting after the 2020 election and preferred to drop it off themselves there. so we're looking at a likely kari lake victory here in the state of arizona zpp think it's important as we look toward the general election, andrea, we're going to not only look at of course close democratic i guess races here with knees republican nominees but i think it's important to recall that here in

this primary kari lake faced more than $18 million of campaign advertising against her compared to just $3.5 million her open campaign spent and even that amount of money still was not able to knock her off from winning her republican gubernatorial nomination. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you so much. and yamiche alcindor, president trump covering his bases by endorsing multiple candidates in missouri. all named eric. so he had to come up a winner. >> reporter: certainly, andrea. this was a chaotic and sort of baffling race to cover. former president trump issued that dueling endorsement, saying he was going to be backing eric, but said no last name. that led people to wonder whether or not it was eric schmitt, who ultimately won this race. he's the missouri attorney general who was seen as the more moderate in the race. he's someone who was celebrating yesterday. though again some people see him as moderate. when you listen to him on the campaign trail, he sounds a lot like former president trump in

talking about open borders, talking about election integrity, talking about critical race theory. then you also have the other eric in this race, the other leading eric that was in this race, and that was eric greitens. he's the embattled former governor of missouri. he res yooirnd just 18 months after being inaugurated in disgrace. he was facing allegations of sexual abuse, of domestic abuse. his campaign was saying it was politically motivated but his ex-wife said that eric greitens did in fact abuse her and her children. we should also note here that president trump even though he was not clear about who he was endorsing, when the race was finally called he issued a response online, on his site truth social. here's what he wrote, we should put it up for folks. "won all of our endorsed races in kansas and missouri. great going. eric, still no last name. big night. thank you." so president trump there was really, really enjoying having all this power and influence in this race, which of course is the story in a lot of the states around the country here. i'm told that former president trump was really interested in injecting a little bit of chaos

here. we should note, though, that eric schmitt having won this race, he is favored to win the seat to replace roy blunt in the u.s. senate. it was 1996 the last time a democratic presidential candidate won in the state. that was bill clinton. and it was 2012 the last time a democrat won a senate seat in this state. that was claire mccaskill. so a lot to watch here, andrea. >> indeed. yamiche alcindor. and our thanks of course to vaughn and to dasha. i want to bring in msnbc national political correspondent steve kornacki at the big board for a deeper dive on the republicans who stood up to former president trump before he left office. steve, how did it play out for all those lawmakers last night? >> yeah, it's interesting, andrea. you're talking about donald trump and his slate in arizona potentially getting a clean sweep there. how about in some house races where you have donald trump sort of trying to get revenge, has been the theme here of the primary season against those ten republicans who in the wake of january 6th voted to impeach him. ten house republicans.

three were on primary ballots yesterday. here's one of them. peter meijer. freshman republican from western michigan. grand rapids area. he's going to end up being a one-term republican. meijer has been defeated in his republican primary. his challenger, john gibbs, endorsed by trump. his challenger gibbs leaning into trump's rhetoric about the 2020 election. gibbs wins the republican primary here. notably in this race redistricting in michigan really changed the contours of the 3rd district significantly. it is a much more winnable general election seat for democrats right now than it was before redistricting. and as a consequence of that democrats actually put in a lot of money to prop up gibbs with republican voters, essentially trying to help gibbs win the republican nomination, believing that he'll be a more beatable candidate for them in the general election. of course that prompted objections from meijer. meijer saying hey, democrats, you're calling gibbs a threat to democracy, how can you be

spending money that would put him a step closer potentially to being in power? so an interesting dynamic there. but meijer losing that race last night. also the other two republicans who were on primary ballots yesterday who voted for impeachment out in washington state, remember, they do primaries different in washington. top two primaries. democrats, republicans, all the candidates on the same ballot. top two advance to the general election. here's jaime herrera beutler. she voted to impeach donald trump following january 6th. now, the democrat has already gotten through and will get one of the top two spots in november. jaime herrera beutler right now leads the trump-backed candidate in this race. his name is joe kent. herrera beutler leading by about 5,000 votes. in washington they take a long time to count the votes. this is going to take days, i think. but herrera beutler starts out in promising position for her campaign to get that second spot and potentially survive a challenge from a trump-backed candidate. and the other incumbent here,

dan newhouse, 4th district, same story. it's going to be a while since we have all the results. but dan newhouse voted to impeach trump. he's in first right now. the democratic candidate's in second. and lauren culp, this is the trump-backed candidate in this race, is running about 4,000 votes, about 4,200 votes behind newhouse. so again, both of the republicans in washington state who voted to impeach have potential paths here to advancing to the general election. peter meijer in washington state has been defeated. we'll put them up on the board so you can see them all. these are the ten. these are the ten republicans who voted to impeach. you can see a bunch of them chose to retire, not run again. tom rice lost in south carolina. peter meijer lost in michigan last night. you do see one, david valadao who got through his primary in california. notably, california, washington state, they all use that top two

primary system. might have held valadao, might have helped these two republicans in washington. after this there's only one republican left to face republican primary voters who voted for impeachment. it's the biggest name. liz cheney. harriet hageman, her o'pont there, trump-backed opponent. we've seen polling with hageman up double digits. that result last night in michigan probably not much solace for liz cheney. >> i think that primary in wyoming is august 16th. >> two weeks. yep. >> and steve, let's talk about that turnout in kansas. that was really an amazing show of force and sends a big signal around the country. certainly energizing -- maybe energizing both sides but certainly energizing those who didn't think that abortion would be a galvanizing issue for abortion rights advocates. many democrats, some independents and republicans now. >> yeah, you take a look at the numbers. this is the middle of the summer primary. honestly in the democratic and republican primaries in kansas

there weren't a whole lot of major, major competitive races to bring people out to the polls. and yet right now, the number could still grow a little, more than 908,000 people voted in that kansas primary yesterday. put that in some perspective. in the 2014 state primary in kansas, midterm year, just 350,000. in 2018, 473,000. you could see how that number yesterday absolutely dwarfs those numbers. to put it in more perspective, the general election in the 2014 midterm, look at this. yesterday's turnout in the primary was higher than the general in 2014. the 2018 general was over a million. but yesterday's primary was getting more into that ballpark than any past primary. you could even take it a step further and compare it to presidential turn jut in kansas. 1.2, 1.3 million in the last couple races. again, it's not quite up there but it's over 900,000. it could grow a little more before all the votes are counted. so certainly we see the issue of

abortion itself being directly on the ballot, and the referendum certainly brought out massive interest in this election. what remains to be seen in november is democrats are hoping this will attach itself, the sentiment will attach itself to democratic candidate versus republican candidate races. that's more indirect than having a ballot initiative on abortion. so we'll see this f. that piece of it comes into play. but certainly when the issue itself was on the ballot here in kansas staggering turnout. >> amazing. thank you very much, steve kornacki. have you had any rest? i've been watching you all night. >> i think in about five hours i'll get there. >> please. okay. thanks, steve. >> you got it. >> and join meg now, cecile richlds, american bridge co-chair, former president of planned parenthood. well, what are your takeaways? >> well, it was an incredible night, andrea. and i think steve's numbers really did tell a couple of stories.

one thing that wasn't talked about is the fact that after the dobbs decision, the supreme court decision that overturned roe vs. wade, we saw a 1,000% increase in people registering to vote in the state of kansas and 70% of them were women. one of the things you look at of course in a midterm election is enthusiasm. and clearly enthusiasm is on the side of people who are registering to vote. and i think the number i saw last night was about 20% of the voters who went to the polls yesterday in kansas actually didn't vote on anything except for this constitutional amendment. so i think that this is not a good sign for the republican party. not only are they completely out of step with where the american people are and as steve and others have said, in a red state like kansas where this is not just democratic voters, this is independent voters, this is republican voters, but also all the people that are now running in major races in the midterm

elections, for governor, for united states senate, in michigan and wisconsin and nevada and arizona, they are hugh to the republican party line, which is the republican party wants to make abortion completely illegal in this country. so i think the contrast is going to be incredibly clear. this is i think a great sign about how motivated people are going to be to get out to vote and how much the republican party and their nominees are going to be on defense in november. >> let's talk about what the president's doing with an executive order. is that going to make a big difference? what can he do just unilaterally while we wait for these referenda to come up or for some action on capitol hill down the road? >> sure. i mean, it's incredibly important that the administration is doing what they can to make sure that people who have to leave their state -- of course in my home state of texas now you cannot basically get access to safe and legal abortion and so all the

protections that the president is putting in place are important. but make no mistake about it. this is why i think it's important to realize who's behind all this. this is a republican party plan right now. the republicans say this is now going to be decided state by state by state. but make no mistake about it. if the republicans gain control of the united states house of representatives and the united states senate, they will put an abortion ban right away, a national abortion ban. and so i think all of these fights state by state are incredibly important. they're important to show the republican party that they are against where the majority of people are in this country. more and mover of course you hear horrific stories of what women and families are facing, unable to get basic health care and access to reproductive health care. this is not what people want. people do not want government in charge of pregnancy in this country. they think that should be up to people who are pregnant. the republican party's on the

wrong side of history. and i think they're going to pay the price this november. >> well, in fact, senator chris murphy was just tweeting about that, that this might inspire more action, more rapid action on a federal ban in congress, something i know you're going to be tracking very closely. cecile richards, thank you very much for being with us. >> thanks, andrea. and coming up, scorn and support as china blasts nancy pelosi's trip to taiwan. the house speaker is getting strong backing from both sides of the aisle on capitol hill. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. a mitchell reports" on msnbc.

house speaker nancy pelosi landing in south korea this morning. the next stop on her asia tour. after a controversial whirlwind visit to taiwan, meeting with human rights advocates and the democratic elected president tsai ing-wen.

>> our delegation came here to send an unequivocal message. america stands with taiwan. >> the trip sparking fury in beijing, which claims taiwan is its territory. china's army already launching live fire drills around the island. today taiwan saying it scrambled fighter jets to warn off 27 chinese aircraft in its air defense zone. 22 of those joets crossing the taiwan strait median according to reuters. nbc news learning moments ago that u.s. ambassador to china nicholas burns did meet with his countar part. we reported this was in the middle of the night, they woke him up, called him in to protest over the issue and now the state department is finally confirming it. they pledge to keep lines of communication between the two open, but they did get the ambassador out of bed in the middle of the night to call him into the foreign ministry. joining us now is nbc's dan de luce, peter beinart editor at large at jewish currents and

editor of beinart notebook on substack. and susan page, author of the book "madam speaker: nancy pelosi and the lessons of power." and dan, the speaker sharing that unequivocal message, america stands with taiwan. and beijing clearly heard it. they've been already advancing their live fire drills and according to taiwan crossing that median line in the strait. >> yep, no, this is the reaction that everyone was bracing for. i think for taiwan they see it as a great triumph, a great achievement. you know, having the speaker of the house visit taipei, really something they were looking for for years. now they've got to contend with china's reaction. these drills are happening all around the island really on an unprecedented scale, even compared to what happened in the 1990s when there was a crisis around taiwan when the taiwanese president visited the united states. so i think we're now going to

see a really tense period now and we're just entering the beginning of it possibly. >> and we just showed a picture of her arriving, stills of her arriving in korea a couple of hours after leaving taiwan earlier this morning. our time. peter, china's already conducting those drills. we've seen pictures they've put out from their military, lots of video. taiwan is noting it. how do you see the effects of this escalation playing in the aftermath of the trip? >> i think it's dangerous, and i think the decision to go was a reckless mistaken decision. taiwan gets nothing substantive from nancy pelosi going. she's not bringing them weapons. it's purely symbolic. and it increases the sense in beijing that the united states is abandoning the one china policy, the policy that we have unofficial relations with taiwan. that policy has been very, very good for taiwan. taiwan has flourished because of the peace that has been maintain ed because of the diplomatic

arrangements that were made in the wake of normalization between the united states and mainland china in the 1970s. the more china feels that the u.s. is moving away from that, the more likely it is that china takes military action, which would be the worst possible thing for the people of taiwan and also more american national security. >> let me just point out that richard haass and others say in defense of the speaker's going that this is a china-manufactured crisis, that the one china policy is intact, the president's restated it, she's restated it on this trip. so that china is choosing to take offense and read into it. that's their point. >> right. but with all due respect to richard haass, this is number -- there have been a whole series of u.s. things that the u.s. has done going back to the trump administration, which have made the relationship more and more official. for instance, biden was the first person to host, first american president since the '70s to host a taiwanese

representative at his inauguration. the chinese pay attention to this, and to them it looks like the u.s. relationship is not official. and that actually makes taiwan less safe. >> susan, i wanted to show something that the speaker whom you know so well and you wrote the biography "madam speaker," she today addressed the criticism. she first of all did a news conference, taking some questions, deliberately showing in contrast to the harsh regime they could answer questions, she and the president there in taiwan. but this is what she said in response to the critics, pointing out that the foreign relations chairman menendez had gone, that other congressional delegations have gone. of course not the speaker. >> 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.

>> they didn't say anything when the men went. so that's her take. and she's basically brushing this off, including unspoken criticism from the white house and the state department which they're trying to counteract now by saying that they had no problem with the trip. >> well, it was interesting. at her news conference she kind of made fun of president xi. i wonder how he's going to respond to that. she does reaffirm the u.s. one china policy. but peter dismissed this as symbolism. symbolism is important in foreign affairs. and speaker pelosi compared this visit, standing up for a democratic ally in taiwan, to her visit to kyiv to stand up for a democratic -- for democracy in ukraine in its battle against russia. i mean, we are bracing to see if there is something beyond hotter rhetoric that comes from this. if all that happened is some live fire drills that do not hit targets in taiwan, do not

escalate, if all that happens is that the u.s. ambassador gets awakened in order to come and meet and be scolded, i think that's something that will be fine for nancy pelosi as an outcome for her symbolic visit to taiwan. >> we have to wait and see because they say they're going to escalate and the timing is what is so awkward. that's another one of the criticisms. it's awkward timing when the u.s. is trying to get china not to help russia in ukraine, and also when president xi is facing this party congress and a slowing economy and backlash over covid. so he's on defense at home. a very complex time indeed. thanks for all of these views today. dan delouis, peter beinart, susan page, thanks for your analysis. and in plain sight. our first look at where al qaeda's leader was killed in that u.s. drone strike. up next, former cia chief leon panetta on the state of the war on terror. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ing "andrea ml reports" on msnbc. vitamin plus an extra boost of support

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argument that the u.s. can track down terrorists without having thousands of troops on the ground. but it also raises new questions about how the world's most wanted terrorist could have lived for months in a safehouse owned by the taliban's interior ministry, the minister part of the government, a leader of the infamous haqqani terror network rooted in neighboring pakistan. in the middle, no less, in the middle of downtown kabul near the presidential palace. joining us now, leon panetta, former secretary of defense and cia director during the obama administration. former white house chief of staff with president clinton. and of course you were a critical player at the cia with the takedown of osama bin laden. so now the number two, zawahiri, his heir, successor, has been taken out. first of all, your reactions to the hit and the fact that as far as we know there was no civilian deaths, his family was able to escape. the house was not blown up. which is pretty astonishing.

>> well, again, i pay tremendous tribute to our intelligence forces, our military forces that were involved, the cia. i think there's a tremendous amount from my own experience, a tremendous amount of planning involved in those kinds of attacks. the ability to do constant reconnaissance to gather intelligence, to know that you have the right target and to be able to hit that target without any kind of collateral damage i think is a tribute to their capabilities. and in the end i think it does complete a very important mission that we began on 9/11, which was to make sure we would go after those who were involved in the attack on 9/11. we have gone after successfully bin laden, and now we've gotten zawahiri. and those were the two key planners of the 9/11 attack. so it really does send a message

to the world that you don't attack the united states and get away with it. >> and as well you know the terrible murders of hundreds of people in kenya and tanzania in 1998. the "uss cole," 17 service members in 2000, so there's so much death and destruction from this one person. are you concerned that terrorists are now going to be able to use afghanistan as a safe haven? because the taliban have clearly not lived up to their agreement in doha not to harbor terrorists after the u.s. withdrawal. >> well, another mission that came out of 9/11 was that we were going to make sure that afghanistan would never again be taken over by the taliban and become a safe haven for terrorism. unfortunately, that has happened. the taliban is now in charge of afghanistan. there's no question that they're providing a safe haven for terrorists. the haqqanis, who are involved with the taliban, are terrorists

themselves. and the fact that zawahiri, one of the top leaders of al qaeda, could simply walk into kabul, get an apartment in the middle of the capital, not have anybody raise any questions, sends a real signal that the taliban is going to continue to provide a safe haven for terrorism, and the united states has a real responsibility to continue to be able to determine whether or not there are going to be threats against the united states or our allies emanating from afghanistan. >> what are the implications for pakistan? because the haqqani network is rooted there. and apparently they helped bring him from pakistan into afghanistan where he could communicate more readily and start sending videos out to his supporters, you know, advocating to kill more americans.

>> well, when haqqani got appointed to be one of the leaders in the taliban government, that was a real signal that the taliban was going to embrace terrorism. and at the same time it represented the kind of terrorism that often came out of pakistan that was always a concern because they found safe haven in pakistan and could conduct attacks into afghanistan. so this is not a good step forward. and it represents the fact that terrorism really continues to remain a major flash point in a very dangerous world. terrorism has metastasized in many ways. it's isis. it's boko haram. it's al shabaab in north africa. and it continues to be al qaeda. so we are facing and continue to face a real threat of a terrorist attack either on the

united states or elsewhere. that's one of the major flash points that we have to confront. >> and as the former defense secretary i want to ask you about new information from a freedom of information suit that text messages received and sent by the top pentagon officials, the acting secretary of defense, who were very deeply involved in the response on january 6th, have been wiped out from their government-issued phone. the watchdog group american oversight has now asked the attorney general to investigate the pentagon's failure to preserve these communications. weren't these officials responsible for the official records act for keeping any records of their critical decision-making and their calls during those days? >> andrea, this is another major concern, that obviously officials out of the trump

administration were taking steps to make sure that the potential evidence involved in january 6th would not be there. i really do think that the justice department has to investigate the loss of this kind of critical evidence. it is -- there's no question that this wasn't done in a man why err that just kind of was bureaucracy doing what bureaucracies do. this was a deliberate effort to make sure that very important evidence regarding what the players were doing at the pentagon, at the secret service, and elsewhere were saying and doing on january 6th, all of which is very relevant to the investigation as to what happened. >> you're saying this was a cover-up. >> i don't think there's any question that when you go from agency to agency and find out that key messages have been

deleted something's going on here that resembles very clearly a conspiracy. >> leon panetta, thank you very much. good to see you, sir. >> thank you. and from bad to worse. days after the deadly floods ravaged eastern kentucky, destroying infrastructure and taking lives, now it's the heat that's becoming a major issue. governor andy beshear joining us next with the latest on the rescue and recovery efforts. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. c. open. it's a beautiful word. neighborhoods "open". businesses "open". fields "open". who doesn't love "open"? offices. homes. stages. possibilities. your world. open. and you can help keep it that way. ♪♪

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they're banking, with bank of america. keep it that way. the groom's parents? they just found out they can redeem rewards for a second honeymoon. romance is in the air. like these two. he's realizing he's in love. and that his dating app just went up. must be fate. and phil. he forgot a gift, so he's sending the happy couple some money. digital tools so impressive, you just can't stop banking. what would you like the power to do? rescue and recovery efforts continue in eastern kentucky after devastating flooding in one of the nation's poorest regions. this amid power outages, the summer heat. more rain now expected in the days ahead. at least 37 people are confirmed dead. the governor calling it some of the worst flooding he's seen in more than four decades. and joining us now is kentucky governor andy beshear.

governor, our condolences to your state, your people, you, the national guard, state police. the work that has gone on is just extraordinary. and how are you recover? this is one of the poorest sections of the country that was hit with this flood. >> it's hard. these are people that scrap for years to put together what they had, and then in a night wiped out. whole houses gone. we can't find a single bit of them. everything people had worked for and accumulated, wiped away. most people without insurance. and almost nobody with flood insurance because it is so expensive. people stranded because the bridge that went over their creek is totally gone. and if they're lucky enough to still have a home they can't get to it or they can't get back.

it is going to be a monumental challenge to rebuild. but you know, we're tough people. and we're going to be up for it because we stick together. we open our hearts and our homes to one another. and we are going to help these folks no matter what it takes. it's been seven days, and we are tired and we are knocked down but we will not be knocked out. we're going to move forward. we'll figure out a way. and we'll working to. >> governor, how concerned are you now about the heat and the rain this week, making it all that much worse? >> it's one thing after another. i mean, these folks have already been through the worst flooding certainly of my lifetime. they've lost everything. and now it's going to be so hot, it's going to be dangerous for them to go through the rubble of their belongings if it is still there. but thankfully, with the help of our emergency management team, which is an incredible group, we

have cooling centers set up in every single impacted county and we're down to about 5,000 homes total in the region that are without power. so for at least this moment we're a little bit ahead of the weather and my hope is -- listen, we're a proud people. i don't want anybody to be too proud today to not go to a cool center, to not take a break. for all those first responders, national guard and everybody else, you need to look out for yourself too. you've done so much for us. we don't want any of you to be harmed in what is just oppressive heat out there. >> and tell me, do you know how many more people are missing and unaccounted for? >> we know we've lost 37. irreplaceable amazing people that will be missed by their community. and then the funerals are about to start. that's not easy. four kids. all siblings. the oldest one in second grade. swept away and taken from us.

we know we have at least four missing persons. but in many of these areas nobody would have a firm count of how many people were living there to begin with. but we know at least four people we're really worried about and trying to find. sadly, i think we will continue to find bodies, though i am getting more hopeful because the last day, day and a half our death toll hadn't gone up. so we're praying. >> well, the hearts of america are with you and all the people of kentucky. thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today, governor. >> thanks for telling our story. >> of course. and mission accomplished. veterans claim victory after the senate finally passes expanded life-saving benefits for service members exposed to toxic burn pits. senator kirsten gillibrand of the armed services committee joining us with more on that next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. rts" on msnbc.

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pits. the bill now heading to president biden's desk for approval. the 86-11 vote came after republicans who had blocked the bill since last week caved in to pressure from veterans groups who had been camped outside the capitol in all kinds of weather for days and advocates like day like john stewart. >> i'm not sure i've every seen this situation where people a who have already given so much had to fight so hard to get so little. i hope we learn a lesson. joining me now is democratic senator kiersten gillibrand. you've been fighting for this for years. how did it feel to finally see it happen? >> it was a great day for democracy! the reason we passed the bill, ultimately, was because veterans just fought back. after the 25 republicans changed their votes last week, they

stayed on the capitol grounds. they slept overnight through rainstorms to be heard. they made sure that every senate office understood what was at stake, and why the bill was so needed. these are men and women who gave everything to this country. because of the toxic exposure, because the u.s.-created burn pits, they are dying of horrible cancers, lung disease, brain disease, brain cancer, throat cancer. they need medicine. we told our service-members, if you fight for this country, we'll take care of you when you come home. this bill finally fulfills that promise. >> you know we spoke to leon panetta about the missing messages. their cell phones have been wiped out. he said i don't think there's question when you go from agency

to agency, with regard to the secret service, when you find key messages have been deleted, something is going on that clearly resembles a conspiracy. i asked him if there was a cover up, he said yes. what do you think? >> it's highly irregular, obviously. we should have access to all of their text messages, e-mails, all of their phone logs. it's curious that if only a certain number of is days are deleted that happen to be just around -- and, umm, before and after january 6th, that's a huge concern. i hope it's fully investigated. i'm confident not only the committee and the house but the department of justice will do that thorough investigation. >> and now there was a big vote in kansas -- in the state of kansas yesterday. the turn youft was enormous. almost presidential primary levels. talking about, you know, finally voting against that referendum to stop them from removing

abortion rights from the state constitution. whether a -- what is your take away? >> this is the first time voters had a chance to be heard. what the supreme court did adopt, it was an overwhelming response that the american people believe that women deserve the right to privacy. women deserve the right to access to health care, to make fundamental life and death decisions about having children, and no state can aggregate that fundamental right to privacy to make those intimate decisions. >> i want to take your temperature on the reconciliation bill. do you have any idea what senator cinema is going to do? senator manchin said he was going to talk to her yesterday. then he had what is now calling a nice talk. we saw them on the senate floor. very prominently. she was in the presiding chair.

he came over and chatted with her. we do have images of that. we know it happened. do you think she's going to support it? >> i don't know at the end of the day. i'm optimistic what is in this bill is so good for america. so good for the world. i mean, to have the first real effort to tackle global climate change and the severe weather it causes and the death and destruction it causes. this goes a long way in changing that. second, it has resources to get the price of medicines down! everybody wants lower prescription drug prices. it's hurting our seniors and families. the two common-sense aspects of the bill are the ones i imagine senator cinema supports. i'm optimistic we'll get this to yes. >> how would you feel about giving into what is going to be her request of closing the carried interest loophole, which would require major corporations to pay the minimum 15% tax?

>> i think the minimum corporate 15% tax is so common sense and so fair. i think it's necessary we change the tax laws so that everyone plays by the same rules. that we all have the same rules of the road. so that we all can actually create an economy that is thriving and growing for everyone. >> well, you think it'll get passed? >> i do. we'll see how things go. there's always room for negotiation. i'm optimistic. it's a strong bill and moves us forward in a positive way. there's a lot to get behind. >> senator kiersten gillibrand, congratulations. >> the men and women deserve this. it was a privilege to work with them over the last few years to get it done >>well, well done. on a sad note, baseball fans are honoring broadcasting legend

vin skully died at the age of 94. as a kid, and yankee kid in the bronx during the era when the yankees versus dodgers in all the big world series, i still grew up listening to him. the hall of broadcaster with his unmistakable voice and poetic play-by-play brought the action on the field to life. he moved to l.a., of course, when the dodgers went west. retiring in 2006 after 67 seasons. vin scully one of a kind. passed away in his home on tuesday. that does it for "andrea mitchell reports." "chris jansing reports" starting

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good afternoon. i'm chris jansing live in a rainy kansas city, missouri. there's a huge story just over my right shoulder, across the border, the shocking and overwhelming win for abortion rights activists in kansas. now being seen as a bellwether for the midterms. one