Skip to main content

tv   Ana Cabrera Reports  MSNBC  April 20, 2023 7:00am-8:01am PDT

7:00 am
sing. >> we had an amazing vocal coach in nashville, you were saying you went to school in nashville. a fellow named ron browning who's really kind of the obi wan kenobi he got us there. he's just a magic man, yeah. >> that is a great series. congratulations. you are a busy man, waco the aftermath available now on show time with new episodes streaming on fridays >> that does it for us this morning, ana cabrera picks up the coverage right now hello, and thank you for being here it is 10:00 eastern. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york right now search and rescue efforts are underway in the midwest after an outbreak of severe weather, and there's more on the way tornados ripped through three states killing at least two people in oklahoma, 27 million people remain under a storm threat this morning. we are tracking the recovery and
7:01 am
where that severe weather is headed next. plus, back to back to back senseless shootings leaving the country shaken the latest, two texas cheerleaders shot for accidentally getting into the wrong car just days after a 20-year-old woman was killed for pulling into the wrong driveway in new york, and a missouri teen shot for ringing the wrong doorbell, the violence sending shock waves across the country and spurring outrage on capitol hill >> this is a dystopia and i'm here to tell you that it's a disd dystopia that we've chosen for ourselves. and the supreme court delays making a decision on the abortion pill at the center of a massive legal fight. the drug is still available for now, but what happens next and filming for the movie "rust" is set to resume today in montana 18 months after the fatal onset shooting of halyna
7:02 am
hutchins by actor alec baldwin, why the star is returning and plans to be on set today and throughout the production even after that tragedy let's begin with the severe weather, including the deadly tornados that tore through parts of the midwest overnight at least 15 were reported across three states the small town of cole, oklahoma, saw significant damage, at least two people lost their lives there, and reports of hail raining down from the sky as big as golf balls in some areas. millions are still at risk nbc's jesse kirsch joins us now with more on the devastating damage jesse. >> thousands have lost power and officials say at least two people have been killed following more than a dozen reported twisters in multiple states >> i think we have a tornado right there. >> there's a tornado. >> oh, it's getting bigger. >> reporter: overnight reports of multiple tornados ripping through the middle of the country. >> massive tornado. >> roughly 25 miles outside oklahoma city, homes and
7:03 am
structures in the small town of cole were shredded in just minutes. >> complete chaos. you know, we walked outside, trees everywhere there's metal everywhere just everything is just destroyed. >> reporter: dozens were injured and hundreds of first responders have been searching for survivors, worried the number of deaths may rise. >> it is reasonable to expect possibly more based on the damage that we've seen >> in shaw knee, oklahoma, nightfall bringing more fear and extensive damage. >> this is a violent large circulation here and it could produce a large violent tornado. >> reporter: students at oklahoma baptist university seeking shelter and returning to chaos. >> like the mattresses just flew everywhere. >> i went back to check on my room when we got released. there's glass everywhere, my window is gone my room is a whole mess. >> reporter: the national weather service issued tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings in oklahoma, iowa, and kansas, where a reported twister touched down in strong city. >> all right, we've got a tornado. >> reporter: relentless winds
7:04 am
toppled trees and knocked out power for more than 20,000 customers throughout oklahoma. massive hail pummelling the ground another spring storm leaving tragedy and destruction in its wake. >> this is really the worst storm that this town has ever seen today into tonight, 27 million at risk of severe storms with more large hail and a few tornados possible as communities already hit pick up what's left. back to you. >> jesse kirsch, thank you and joining us on the phone is scott gibbons, the public information officer at mclean county oklahoma sheriff's office thank you for joining us can you tell us how widespread the damage is in your area >> well, we've been working predominantly in a ten-mile square response area of where the weather came through unfortunately as i've been on with your producers, i was just updated that we have another third confirmed fatality within our area
7:05 am
>> oh, i'm so sorry to hear it three people now confirmed dead, and we know two of them were in the small town of cole, oklahoma, just a town of about 620 residents. what can you tell us about these three people >> limited information at this time the two that were notified last night were just outside of cole, they weren't in the actual town of cole. cole itself is pretty small. it it sustain a significant amount of damage, but the known fatalities to date are not attributed to inside the town of cole i just want to clarify that. >> thanks for that clarification. can you tell us about how these people died and what you're learning as far as additional potential injuries >> we do have a laundry list of various injuries the two fatalities last night, we believe that one adult male was killed at his residue to the
7:06 am
weather incident the second fatality, there was a female, an adult female that had received what we believe to be nonlife-threatening injuries from a tornado w while she was en route to the hospital she sustained some type of cardiac event and did not make it through that >> are there additional rescues happening right now? are people still trapped >> we are unaware of anybody specifically trapped we still have a lot of real estate to check and double check. we've got a new wave of crews from local county, state, different municipalities that are -- we're working with our local emergency management, state, local resources to try to get new teams out and we are going through areas that we were unable to get to last night and rechecking areas that we've gone through in the daylight. >> scott gibbons, we wish you the very best with all of that and to your community as well. thank you for being with us,
7:07 am
scott gibbons from the mclean county sheriff's office. now i want to bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins for more on what we can expect next. what's in store for the midwest today, bill? >> yeah, first, welcome to you and my pleasure to be with you, and unfortunately covering this event like we've done so many times this spring already, this is like our third or fourth severe weather outbreak with tornados, at least more than a dozen. this is 15 so far we've had reported with this event the clust we're beer we've been about, just south of oklahoma city, south of norman. it was a strong tornado. we're not seeing the damage pictures we've been showing you, we're not showing you houses off the foundation that's like an ef-4 or 5 this looks like an ef-2 or 3 that's enough to tear the roof off, maybe the top level of a home obviously enough to be fatal, and it looks like it was hit and miss it didn't look like it was on the ground for an extended long
7:08 am
period of time the storms that we've had in kansas have not had any reports of injuries with those and the four tornados in areas of iowa, i've not heard any reports with injuries we may have lucked out with those. we also had a lot of huge hail that did significant damage. there was one report in kansas of softball-sized hail 4 inches in indidiameter imagine a chunk of ice falling out of the sky the size of a softball tennis ball sized to baseball sized hail, that 2 to 3 inches in diameter. some liabightning heading throu areas of illinois. later on this afternoon, these storms are going to fire up. the areas of greatest concern are going to be from st. louis all the way back down to san antonio. that's about 26, about 27 million people, including little rock, fsmith down southward to texa texarkana.
7:09 am
the problem with the dallas fort worth area, you'll see them billowing in the sky and the next thing you know we'll get larm large hail we do have the possibility of 2 inch diameter hail that's enough to smash your windshield, dent your car, ruin the shingles on your roof. that's what we're going to be watching this afternoon. three fatalities is three too many, especially coming on the heels of a deadly end of march. >> tornado after tornado and now this hail too, something to be very concerned about bill karins, thank you for that update keep us posted. we're also tracking breaking news in the space race >> okay. there it is, spacex's giant new rocket blasting off from its launch pad in texas in the last hour it exploded, however, minutes later over the gulf of mexico,
7:10 am
didn't reach orbit spacex still hailed this launch as a success because it got off the ground we'll have a lot more on this full report from our tom costello later this hour. turning to the uniquely american gun violence crisis, which appears to be entering a tragic new phase in less than one week, four young people in three different states have been shot for making seemingly harmless mistakes. last thursday, 16-year-old ralph yarl rang the wrong doorbell in kansas city and was shot in the head then on saturday, 20-year-old kaylin gilles was shot and killed when she pulled into the wrong driveway and this past tuesday, two high school cheerleaders were shot, one critically injured for mistakenly getting into the wrong car in elgin, texas, nbc's maggie vespa has the latest. let's start where you are in missouri and the shooting of ralph yarl the suspect made his first court
7:11 am
appearance yesterday what did we learn? >> reporter: we're standing here in liberty, missouri, at the clay county courthouse we were here yesterday when 84-year-old andrew lester pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. he's the white homeowner who shot 16-year-old ralph yarl. i want to be clear, him pleading not guilty does not mean that he's saying he didn't shoot yarl webb according to court documents he told detectives he did so, he believed in the time in self-defense. he said he thought yarl was trying to break into his home. he claims he grabbed for the door handle. yarl's family says he absolutely did not, that he only rang the doorbell that teen recovering to gunshot wounds to his head and arm some added context to this shooting andrew lester's ex-wife telling "the new york times" she hasn't spoken to her husband in decades. she said unfortunately this tuz n does not surprise her, andrew
7:12 am
lester was prone to fits of rage and she says would smash things when he got angry. also two of his grandsons telling them that one grandson lives in what he calls a 24 news cycle of fear and paranoia talking, frankly, about a lot of far right conservative media outlets saying there's a lot of conversation about stand your ground and the need to defend your home. also, one of the grandsons saying his grandfather had spoken disparagingly he says about his words, black people, gay people, andimmigrants. we have not spoken to those sources independently, but some added context as this teen recovers from this tragic shooting. >> that one in kansas city, missouri what about the shootings in new york and texas what's the latest in those cases? >> reporter: yeah, i don't like doing this frankly i'm going to pick up my phone to keep all these details straight we'll start in new york, the
7:13 am
shooting of kaylin gillis. she was killed because the car she was in turned into the wrong driveway 65-year-old kevin monahan, the suspect in that case in custody, second degree murder that's the charge, being held without bail then we'll go to texas where the teenage cheerleaders were shot because one of them mistakenly got into the wrong car in a supermarket parking lot. we're told by the cheerleader in the icu by her father that she was shot while wearing her cheerleading uniform 25-year-old pedro rodriguez jr. was caught with the help of surveillance video from that parking lot. he is charged with deadly conduct. that is a third degree felony in texas. i apologize for the construction noise in the background, ana, i'm going to send it back to you. >> maggie vespa, thank you very much for going through all of those shootings, there are just too many for more i want to bring in dr. jonathan metzl, the professor of psychiatry at vanderbilt university. he writes about the history of stand your ground laws and
7:14 am
racial stereotyping in his book "dying of whiteness. we're talking about what should be harmless mistakes, wrong doorbell, wrong driveway, wrong car, and yet we've seen lethal consequences help us make sense of this, how pulling the trigger has become what sales like a knee jerk reaction for some people. >> i think that's absolutely right. these are everyday occurrences people -- my coming over here today three cars pulled up for the uber and they were all the same car i didn't know quite which one to get into it. these things han every day what we're seeing is the logical extension of really beyond permissive gun laws. we used to have laws in this country that basically said you can use lethal force only if somebody breaks into your home, and even then you have a duty to retreat to limit violence. what we've seen with these stand your ground laws which have become increasingly common over 30 states have them now, is not only that people have the right to step forward, not to retreat.
7:15 am
more people have guns. more people are afraid, and really what we're seeing now is the logical consequence of an increasingly armed society, and people who are taught by these laws and by media and the nra and other pralaces to shoot firt and ask questions later. >> the whole defense argument may come into play in one or more of these recent cases we were just showing a map of the country. all of those states shaded in yellow, more than two dozen states right now have some form of a stand your ground law or something very similar you argue that there's something fundamentally concerning about how these laws may impact human behavior >> absolutely. i mean, i think people are trained to see other people as threats and also you don't know who else has a gun i think the important other thing for people to know about these laws is the onus is on the prosecutor in a case like this that will be the case in missouri and other places. in other words, the person who shoots somebody else says i felt threatened, i felt somebody was, you know, breaking into my home or attacking me.
7:16 am
it's all about the perception of violence, and then a prosecutor has to disprove that and so what we see is that these cases are very often frequently defended, you know, oh, yeah, you felt helpless you felt like you were under attack, and so i think the issue is the entire legal system is set up now in these states not only to protect people who shoot other people, but also to give them the benefit of the doubt. and what we see are cases like this we also see racially disparate outcomes where white people who shoot other people are more often called justifiable shooting whereas black americans who shoot people are brought up on criminal charges so there's so many problems with these stand your ground laws we really have to rethink them very broadly. >> what is the answer? correct me if i'm wrong, you're not saying people shouldn't be able to defend themselves when there is a threat, right where is that line >> we've had that line in other words, we have decades of law in this country that say if somebody breaks into your home, you have a right, even the
7:17 am
2008 supreme court case that said basically people have a right to keep guns in their home, particularly for this exact reason what we've seen is really a perversion of that we have something called the castle doctrine before, which was kind of the common policy. a man's home is his castle now it's kind of like there's a bubble around you where you go castle doctrine was expanded under stand your ground to you have a right in your car or when you're going on public transportation, and when you're walking around and so really i think the best thing to do would be to walk back this real perversion of what's been established law. just walk back what we've done over the past ten years. i think we're going to see fewer of these kinds of cases. >> going back to the case in missouri where maggie was, the kansas city star spoke to the grandson of andrew lester who's charged with shooting ralph yarl, that's the 16-year-old who rang the doorbell at the wrong house. the grandson of that alleged shooter says his grandfather has been immersed in conspiracies
7:18 am
and disinformation in recent years and living in a, quote, new cycle of fear and paranoia i wonder, how can consuming disinformation influence people's behavior? >> generally i argue that i try not to comment on a case where i haven't actually spoke to the person or interviewed the person, but in this case i think that those examples from what the grand son was saying are particularly important i mean, in a way this man appears to be the poster grandfather for somebody who's radicalized by right wing media, by nra messages, by this idea that you're under threat and everybody's out to get you really, i think those comments if they turn out to be true and play out at trial, i think speak to the ways in which particularly vulnerable people are very sensitive to this message that everybody's after you and really, that's why you need a gun to protect yourself >> i really appreciate your expertise and share your knowledge and understanding, the
7:19 am
psychological involved here and the background of these stand your ground laws jonathan metzl, i appreciate your time. thank you very much for joining us. >> thanks so much. more in 60 seconds right here on ana cabrera reports including deja vu at the supreme court as they delay a decision on a critical abortion pill. what it means for access to mifepristone also, after an unspeakable tragedy, filming for the movie "rust" is back underway today at yellowstone ranch in montana with alec baldwin. plus, the launch of the biggest and the most powerful rocket ever built ends in an explosion. so why is spacex calling it a success? and a blunt assessment by one senator just briefed on the pentagon intel leak. >> somebody needs to get fired if he did what he's accused of, he needs to go to jail it's just a -- show. oh, my daughter gives the best hugs!
7:20 am
we're just passing through on our way to the jazz jamboree. [ imitates trumpet playing ] and we wanted to thank america's number-one motorcycle insurer -for saving us money. -thank you. [ laughs ] mara, your parents are -- exactly like me? i know, right? well, cherish your friends and loved ones. let's roll, daddio! let's boogie-woogie! the first time you made a sale online with godaddy was also the first time you heard of a town named dinosaur, colorado. we just got an order from dinosaur, colorado. start an easy to build, powerful website for free with a partner that always puts you first. start for free at godaddy.com (vo) verizon small business days are coming. april 27th through may 3rd. with a partner that always puts you first. now is the time to partner with our experts. get started today with verizon business. it's your business. it's your verizon.
7:21 am
we're back, and the abortion pill at the center of a massive legal fight is still available for now. that's after the supreme court delayed responding to the texas judge's ruling until the end of the week now, the court has until midnight on friday to take action in this case after it extended the temporary pause on the lower court's decision i want to bring in nbc's senior legal correspondent laura jarrett, another twist and turn here, laura. >> yes. >> help us understand this temporary stay extension by justice alito. what does it mean? >> it's just to buy them a little bit more time so they can figure out what they can do. i assume they're negotiating behind the scenes there, perhaps someone is writing a fiery dissent. perhaps they're trying to get consensus, and we will just see one opinion speaking on behalf of the whole court we don't know exactly what is going ton, but presumably if it was an easy denial, an easy stay, you would have seen that already. perhaps we still will, wu they're just negotiating we don't know. >> what are the options they could come back? >> i think the main three
7:22 am
options still hold here. they could either grant the justice department's request, which would mean the pill would stay on the market just as it is today. the case would go back to the fifth circuit, but it would be that lower court decision that was so controversial rolling back access, that would be effectively on hold while the case continues to play out in the courts or they could deny the justice department's request, which would cause a regulatory upheaval it would essentially mean every orange pill you see on your screen would be rendered illegal immediately. they would all have to be ripped off the market immediately huge consequences there. or they could decide to take the case for themselves. they could hear it even before summer recess. that would be very, very fast as and unlikely, or they could punch it until next fall. >> there's a lot another stake here this could have wide ranging impact, not just for this pill but as we've talked about regulatory issues related to other medications as well. there's a new lawsuit involved that just complicates things
7:23 am
further, right this is the pharmaceutical company gen bio pro, it accounts for two-thirds of the pills on the market they're suing the fda. explain that and how the intention here is to make it more difficult to, you know, remove the access to mifepristone >> because of that lower court's decision, what the court did there was effectively get rid of a lot of things that happened starting around 2016 one of the things that happens in 2019 is you see the fda approve gen bio pro's drug for use in everyday life if that lower court's decision gets upheld, then it effectively takes the generic trug drug offe market that's why they're saying wait a minute, supreme court, we have rights here. the fda has to follow a regulatory process we get due process it's sort of a place holder lawsuit in case the supreme court was to have a decision that would uphold that lower
7:24 am
court, they're just saying wait a minute, you have to recognize we have rights here. >> okay. again, the new deadline is midnight tomorrow night. >> they might rule right now they may not wait until midnight they could go whenever they want. >> if they do, we will bring it to you >> thank you so much. new developments in another legal case we're following this morning, a former new york prosecutor who investigated former president donald trump won't be testifying before a house panel today as expected manhattan d.a. alvin bragg was granted a stay just this morning to prevent a former prosecutor who worked for his office from having to comply with a subpoena issued by the guy on your right there, house judiciary chairman jim jordan this is all after a judge ruled yesterday that congressional republicans tdo, in fact, have limited permission to conduct the deposition here. we're talking about the former prosecutor, mark pomerantz who worked for the manhattan district attorney eefs's office
7:25 am
about a year he ultimately left citing disagreements over the handling of the trump investigation again, his testimony is again on hold as of this morning. up next, quote, gobb gobbledygook, senators fuming about the briefing they just got on the classified documents leak i'll talk to former homeland security secretary jeh johnson about securing the nation's secrets. and speaker kevin mccarthy just released his plan to lift the debt ceiling, but it comes with major strings attached, strings that are nonstarters for the white house. plus, spacex's star ship exploding after liftoff. what it means for our future in space when "ana cabrera reports" returns. stay right there
7:26 am
tide is busting laundry's biggest myth... that cold water can't clean. cold water, on those stains? ♪♪ cold water can't clean tough stains? i'd say that myth is busted. turn to cold, with tide. (vo) verizon small business days are coming.
7:27 am
april 27th through may 3rd. i'd say that myth is busted. now is the time to partner with our experts. get started today with verizon business. it's your business. it's your verizon. i'm your overly competitive brother. check. psych! really? dude, that's a foul! and now you're ready to settle the score. and if you don't have the right home insurance coverage, well you could end up paying for all this yourself. so get allstate. ♪♪ ♪ a bunch of dead guys made up work, way back when. ♪ ♪ it's our turn now we'll make it up again. ♪ ♪ we'll build freelance teams with more agility. ♪ ♪ the old way of working is deader than me. ♪ ♪ we'll scale up, and we'll scale down ♪ ♪ before you're six feet underground. ♪ ♪ yes, this is how, this is how we work now. ♪ you're doing business in an app driven, multi-cloud world.
7:28 am
that's why you choose vmware. with flexible multi-cloud services that enable digital innovation and enterprise control, vmware helps you keep your cloud options open. it's official, america. xfinity mobile is the fastest mobile service. and enterprise control, and gives you unmatched savings with the best price for two lines of unlimited. only $30 a line per month. the fastest mobile service and major savings? can't argue with the facts. no wonder xfinity mobile is one of the fastest growing mobile services, now with over 5 million customers and counting. save hundreds a year over t-mobile, at&t and verizon. talk to our switch squad at your local xfinity store today.
7:29 am
we're back with the breaking news in the space race and the explosion of the biggest rocket ever, moments after it launched just this morning. spacex actually hailed this launch as a success because it did make it off the launch pad even though, as you can see here, the rocket exploded minutes later. let's bring in nbc's tom cos costello tom, what exactly happened here? why are they considering this a success? >> well, listen, this is in true rocket science fashion, that's how you learn. nasa has had plenty of rocket failures over the years. spacex has had plenty of rocket
7:30 am
failures the bottom line is, as you know, spacex has had very, very much a lot of success i mean to say getting astronauts to the space station. so this is the next stage. this was the most powerful, the biggest rocket ever. it's possible not all the unfort engines were firing, so the first test ever of this entire integrated stack, something went wrong. thankfully nobody was on board this rocket, no satellites on board. this was strictly a test flight to see if it could orbit the earth in 90 minutes and then it came back. it pretty much broke apart over the gulf of mexico i love the spacex language starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation, right? only a rocket scientist would talk like that it blew up that's what happened the whole thing came apart the good news is nobody injured
7:31 am
on the ground. it all apparently fell into the gulf of mexico, and teams are now going to work on trying to recover all of it, and elon musk is saying congratulations for a test flight. didn't go well, but they'll learn from it. they always do, and they hope to try again in a few months. listen, a very big disappointment, but this is why you run test flights they are shakedowns. you learn something from it, and you try to figure out what went wrong. this is also not only the biggest, it is the most complicated rocket assembly ever 33 engines they've all got to fire perfectly in sync, so as you would expect, there is very little room for error when you have something like that happening. now they got to diagnose what happened, try to figure it out, and go back to the drawing board, and there is a little bit more good news because, you know, we were joking about the fact they congratulated themselves for getting off the pad. that's actually a big thing. you don't want to blow up on the pad because then you take out the pad, right they need the pad. they need to come back and use it again they'll learn from this in true
7:32 am
spacex fashion, they'll try to figure out what happened, what went wrong, and i'm sure that they will probably -- they have to report back to nasa by the way because this is eventually going to carry nasa astronauts onto the moon. >> yeah, people in cargo and so they got to figure out what went wrong here thank you so much, tom costello. the unscheduled disassembly, that is a new one. i'm going to use that down the road if something doesn't go right. >> rapid. >> very rapid, thank you. okay, this may be one of the only areas there's bipartisan agreement in congress right now. it seemed like no senators, republican or democrat, were happy about the classified briefings on the leak of classified pentagon documents. take a listen to their less than fw glowing review. >> i remain deeply unhappy and unsatisfied. >> i would, by and large, simplify it as bureaucracy gobbledygook. >> somebody needs to get fired
7:33 am
if he did what he's accused of, he needs to go to jail it's just a [ bleep ] show >> joining us now nbc capitol hill correspondent garrett haake. we just heard some bipartisan frustration, i think you could call it. is there any real momentum then for congressional reform to prevent this sort of thing from happening again? >> reporter: that designed of reaction to one of these classified briefings is not unusual. i'd say it's far more rare that lawmakers come out satisfied with what they hear from the administration doesn't matter which party there's usually frustration the first go-around, sometimes it takes a while for these lawmakers to hear what they want to hear. as for momentum towards changing how we handle classified documents in this country, i think there is some. i think it goes in two separate branches you can't really separate this story from the classified documents that were found at mar-a-lago and at president biden's residence and at his center here in washington, d.c so there's two different reform efforts in place here.
7:34 am
there's number one, this question of over classification, should all this stuff that is marked as classified remain so, should it continue to be kind of categorized that way for years on end do we need to address that on the second side, what's the mitigation measures for the stuff that really is important and really does need to remain secret and close hold, different agencies handle classified information different ways there are other agency who is handle it arguably better than does the pentagon, certainly than was handled at this air national guard facility in massachusetts. so what i think you could see is legislation that addresses these two things separately or together, both the kind of overclassification of documents that don't need to be secret and the tightening down on those that do to perhaps force agencies like the dod to handle classified information more like the nsa or others who are thought to handle it more carefully. whether that's going to happen in the short-term, ana, is a different question they don't appear ready to move
7:35 am
on this right now. >> the situation is not a simple solution either. fwar r thank you for your reporting. i want to bring in former secretary of homeland security, jeh johnson. thank you thanks for being with us it's great to have you here and your expertise on all of this. >> and welcome to msnbc, ana. >> thank you i'm very happy to be here. you heard the reaction after that classified briefing from those senators on both sides of the aisle. they are not happy do you get the impression that the pentagon, that u.s. intel officials have their arms fully wrapped around what happened with this leak >> no, not yet first of all, i've done plenty of classified briefings to congress myself when i was in office, and i've never heard them say i'm completely happy with everything i was just told. they're more often than not unhappy. the big question here is how is it that a 21-year-old enlisted
7:36 am
member of the massachusetts air guard has access to ts level information. he was a specialist, a technician i know what it takes to get a clearance for a ts level -- >> meaning top secret, which is the highest level, right >> correct there's a lot to go through. i'm not sure i understand how a 21-year-old can get there, a 21-year-old member of the guard. he was a technician, which meant that he probably had access to all kinds of data and databases and e smails and so forth it seems as though he had no business looking at the particular documents, which were leaked, but because he was a technician he was able -- he was clever enough to get access to them and then share them on social media, which was remarkably stupid. i'm -- ana, i am somewhat philosophical about this you have an incident like this one in 10,000, one in 15,000, where somebody steals something
7:37 am
and puts it on laline or makes t public and everyone says we have to do something about this, we have to clamp down on this then you have an entirely different i think so, a boston marathon bombing, for example, which happened ten years ago and everyone in congress screams how did this happen. because we didn't connect the dots we didn't do a good job of connecting the dots and everyone screams we have to have broader access so that one part of the government knows what the other part of the government is discovering and learning, and somewhere in between is a happy medium i would be reluctant to see congress try to legislate classification and access to classified information it seems to me that is something more appropriate for the regulatory environment. >> what do you see as far as what we know at this point as the biggest consequence of this leak >> from what i've seen in public sources, it does not appear to have tdramatically changed the landscape in our understanding of russian and ukraine
7:38 am
capability thes. i i'm not sure we've seen the last of this leak there may be more in the works there may be more out there that could be far more damaging anytime you have a leak like this, i think the most sensitive things to protect are sources and methods, not just what we have, but how we obtained it, and it is dangerously irresponsible to compromise sources and methods in the intelligence community. >> can we come back to what can be done. do you narrow the amount of people who have access to these types of documents i was shocked to learn that 1.3 million government employees have that top secret security clearance. >> i'm not shocked i'm surprised it's as small as that. >> but how can you monitor or understand the interactions that those individuals are having with this kind of very sensitive information? >> well, first, i think we have to have more rigor in the clearance process.
7:39 am
if you have a 21-year-old who's very active on social media who's seeking and might obtain a ts level clearance, i think more rigor needs to go into that process. the other thing to mention is simply because someone has that ts level claeearance, in our mot sensitive programs, there's a separate process through which you are read into that particular compartment, so simply because somebody has a ts level clearance doesn't mean they have access to everything that is designated as top s secret. >> well, this conversation to be continued. former dhs secretary, jeh johnson, thank you very much for joining us today >> thank you. this morning, the tensions are ratcheting up over whether the u.s. will be able to avoid default. yesterday republican house speaker kevin mccarthy introduce add b ed a bill to raise the debt ceiling. it's likely to be a nonstarter in the white house and the senate because it contains cuts to programs like president biden's student death forgiveness plan the president called mccarthy's proposals, quote, the same old
7:40 am
trickle down trdressed up in maa clothing the treasury department has set a june 5th deadline for congress to act or risk te defaulting on the nation's bills joining us now alli vitali what exactly is in mccarthy's plan and what else are we hearing there in terms of reaction >> reporter: look, republicans, for the most part, ana, here are on board by this there are a few stragglers here on capitol hill, but by and large, mccarthy has his ducks in a row. that's good news in terms of republicans being on the same page in one chamber but as chuck schumer said just in the last few minutes, this is not going anywhere in the senate certainly because of the strings you see attached on the screen, that is not something the white house is going to get behind you've got to remember, democrats want a clean debt ceiling and the things on the screen make this innately not clean. they are not just straight up
7:41 am
hiking the debt limit. in this you're seeing things like repealing enhanced irs enforcement funding. that goes after one of the main gop talking points on those 87,000 irs agents that were added over the course of the last year and prior legislation from last congress but it also goes after student loan debt forgiveness as well as going after pandemic relief funds that have thus far been unspent and unused this congress trying to claw that back as republicans try to make the point here that they want to go after spending while also going after the tdebt ceiling. it's important to note as many of us have in the past, these are two different things the debt ceiling is money that's already been spent and budget conversations are money that will be spent in the future. we'll see where this ends up going. at least for now we know where democrats and republicans are at least starting their negotiations now >> i think that last point was really important this is about paying your bills. we can't just say no to that as property owners, people with credit cards. >> and never have.
7:42 am
>> exactly >> ali vitali, thank you very much. up next, the sunshine state pushing gender and sexuality into the dark. plus, massive lines for gas in that state since that historic storm last week when it could ease up. a man, his family, and his tractor, penny. these are the upshaws. and this is their playground. there's a story in every piece of land, run with us on a john deere tractor and start telling yours. (vo) verizon small business days are coming. april 27th through may 3rd. run with us on a john deere tractor now is the time to partner with our experts. get started today with verizon business. it's your business. it's your verizon. ♪ what will you do? will you make something better? create something new? our dell technologies advisors can provide you with the tools and expertise you need to bring out the innovator in you. subway keeps upping their game with the subway series.
7:43 am
an all-star menu of delicious subs. like #6 the boss. meatballs with marinara and pepperoni. i get asked so many times - who's the boss? if you get the boss you are the boss. try subway's tastiest menu upgrade yet. from big cities, to small towns, if you get the boss you are the boss. and on main streets across the us, you'll find pnc bank. helping businesses both large and small, communities and the people who live and work there grow and thrive. we're proud to call these places home too. they're where we put down roots, and where together, we work to help move everyone's financial goals forward. pnc bank.
7:44 am
my a1c was up here; now, it's down with rybelsus®. his a1c? it's down with rybelsus®. my doctor told me rybelsus® lowered a1c better than a leading branded pill and that people taking rybelsus® lost more weight. i got to my a1c goal and lost some weight too. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. need to get your a1c down? you may pay as little as $10 per prescription. if you wake up thinking about the market
7:45 am
and want to make the right moves fast... get decision tech. for insights on when to buy and sell. and proactive alerts on market events. that's decision tech. only from fidelity. (vo) if you've had thyroid eye disease for years and you go through artificial tears in the blink of an eye, or...your eyes feel like they're getting kicked in the backside, it's not too late for another treatment option for thyroid eye disease, also known as t-e-d. to learn more visit treatted.com that's treatt-e-d.com. our customers don't do what they do
7:46 am
for likes or followers. their path isn't for the casually curious. and that's what makes it matter the most when they find it. the exact thing that can change the world. some say it's what they were born to do... it's what they live to do... trinet serves small and medium sized businesses... so they can do more of what matters. benefits. payroll. compliance. trinet. people matter. florida leaders are intensifying their campaign against classroom conversations about sexual orientation and gender identity. the state board of education just expanded the so-called
7:47 am
don't say gay law to apply to a all grades from kindergarten through senior year of high school at the request of governor ron desantis. it comes as the state legislature also takes up more bills that critics say target the lgbtq community. nbc's gabe gutierrez is in tallahassee following all of this movement at the state capitol. you had a chance to speak with florida's house speaker about some of this legislation what did he have to say? >> reporter: hi, ana, good morning, we'll get to that interview in just a moment as you mentioned, there is a lot going on here in tallahassee that headline that the florida board of education approving an expansion of what critics dub the don't say gay bill, the parental rights in education act, changing it from no classroom instruction of sexual orientation, gender identity from kindergarten to third grade. that now extends through 12th grade unless that instruction is required by existing state standards or part of a reproductive health class that parents can opt out of there are some caveats there,
7:48 am
but lgbtq advocacy groups are furious. one of them saying that free states do not wage war on lgbtq people to score cheap political points for a man desperate to be president. shame on the desantis administration for putting a target on the backs of lgbtq floridians this is not the only issue that is upsetting some advocacy groups here in florida yesterday the house also passed a bill to make it a felony to provide gender affirming health care to transgender minors, another bill that the house passed will ban people from entering bathrooms other than their sex assigned at birth. now, i asked the house speaker about the so-called bathroom bill and whether republicans here were targeting the trans community. >> if you're a child experiencing gender dysphoria, we want to give you support, we want to give you counseling. we have a lot of money available for mental health. we need to take a pause and let a child be a child
7:49 am
if they're an adult and want to do transition surgery, we'll support them. >> the florida legislative session is expected to wrap up in several weeks, but has been moving very quickly on these culture war issues that are priorities of governor desantis. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you another republican-led fight against transgender rights in america now, today the house of representatives is expected to pass a bill banning transgender women and girls from competing in female school athletic programs this bill would amend title 9 to prevent federally funded schools from allowing people, quote, whose sex is male to participate in women's sports. while the bill is expected to pass the house, it's not likely to go anywhere in the democratic controlled senate and president biden would likely veto anyway. drivers in south florida are being urged to pump the brakes on panic buying gas as the area deals with fuel shortages following that historic rainfall ask flooding we covered here last week. officials in port everglades say
7:50 am
most gas terminals affected by this severe flooding have recovered and fuel trucks carrying half a million gallons from the state's division of emergency management are on the way, but that's not fast enough for so many frustrated drivers here's rubio >> it has been four days it should have been figured out by now and they're blaming it on consumer panic yeah, people are panicked. they got get to work they got places to go. and you either can't find gas or you have to wait in line for like two hours down the street >> nbc's guad vanegas fills us in do they have gas there >> reporter: they do have gas here we spoke with the owner and he said they have specifically focused on keeping this gas station with enough gas because they can control the entrance and they can control the exit. he said over the last few days they had issues with people
7:51 am
fighting when they arrived at the pumps. we have been talking to some of the drivers who said they have seen lines everywhere they tried to pump gas. there is a truck behind me that pulled up minutes before we went live back here we were set up here showing the gas station. they momentarily blocked the entire view. we said, we're about to go on tv, do you mind moving over just a bit. he says, i'm sorry, i have no gas, i have enough gas to make it to that pump, but he was able to move and fortunately he is pumping gas. so, you know, marco rubio was saying they need to figure this out. when we have spoken to owners of gas stations and also through local media, we have seen the messaging go out there to consumers. they say, one of the issues here is the way consumers have been behaving, perhaps buying gas they shouldn't be buying or buying gas hwhen they don't need it here is part of the conversation i had with the owner of the gas station. >> there is not a shortage of product. there is plenty of gasoline.
7:52 am
there is plenty of diesel fuel do not buy gasoline any different than you always used to buy it. do not wait in line when you have more than half a tank of gasoline there is no need to do that. and please understand that we're trying our very best to bring this back to normal. >> reporter: so, essentially what he told me was that people mostly go pump gas when they have less than half a tank that's usually the way it happened and they can tell because of the receipts that they see, the amount of gallons people pump. what they saw during the last few days were people pumping three to five gallons of gas he told me he's spoken to customers who said i just wanted to fill up because i didn't know if there was any gas there is enough gas and they're asking consumers to behave the way they normally would. >> it can be stressful no doubt about it. guad, thank you very much. up next on "ana cabrera reports", the actors in the
7:53 am
movie "rust" including alec baldwin are back on set after that tragic shooting death of a cinematographer. what we're hearing from sources about the production and the actor's role
7:54 am
(smelling) ew. gotta get rid of this. ♪tell me why♪ because it stinks. ♪have you tried downy rinse and refresh♪ it helps remove odors 3x better than detergent alone. it worked guys! ♪yeahhhh♪ downy rinse and refresh. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com.
7:55 am
you're doing business in an app driven, multi-cloud world. that's why you choose vmware. with flexible multi-cloud services that enable digital innovation and enterprise control, vmware helps you keep your cloud options open. (vo) verizon small business days are coming. april 27th through may 3rd. and enterprise control,
7:56 am
now is the time to partner with our experts. get started today with verizon business. it's your business. it's your verizon. and this is ready any questions? -yeah, i got one. how about the best network imaginable? let's invent that. that's what we do here. quick survey. who wants the internet to work, pretty much everywhere. and it needs to smooth, like super, super, super, super smooth. hey, should you be drinking that? -it's decaf. because we're busy women. we don't have time for lag or buffering. who doesn't want internet that helps a.i. do your homework even faster. come again. -sorry, what was that? introducing the next generation 10g network only from xfinity. the future starts now.
7:57 am
welcome back filming is expected to resume today for alec baldwin movie's "rust" 18 months after the tragic shooting that killed halyna hutchins on set baldwin says it wasn't his fault when the prop gun he was holding went off and killed the 42-year-old. he's pleaded not guilty to felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and is expected to be on set today and throughout the production of this movie joining us now is nbc's shaquille brewster shaq, after such a tragedy, why is this movie still going forward? >> reporter: well, this is something that was really laid out in the settlement agreement between alec baldwin and matthew hutchins, the widower to halyna
7:58 am
hutchins we know matthew will be the executive producer on the film and alec baldwin is actor and co-producer on the film. sources close to the production tell nbc news the production has been moved from new mexico, where the shooting occurred during a rehearsal, to yellowstone ranch in montana this is a production that will last between 20 to 25 days, about three weeks. this is being made to honor halyna during the process. we're told as much as of her cinematography as possible will be filmed and used in this film. >> do you know what the update is on the legal case is involving baldwin and the film's armorer? >> yeah, the legal cases are far from over. they're facing those counts or that count of involuntary manslaughter in new mexico we know there will be a preliminary hearing that takes
7:59 am
place or at least starts on may 3rd, so in just a couple of weeks. we don't expect to see alec baldwin there. if you look at court documents, that preliminary hearing is expected to matter of weeks. he's waved his right to appear in person. he's facing a criminal charge and also more civil cases, some more civil litigation that he's facing so those legal troubles are far from over. >> shaquille brewster, appreciate your reporting. thank you. that's going to do it for us today. thank you at home for being with us i'll see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place, as always until then, reporting from new york, i'm ana cabrera. i hand it off to my friend jose diaz-balart who picks up our coverage right now >> thank you so very much. i am jose diaz-balart, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. and breaking overnight, deadly tornadoes cause widespread damage throughout america's heartland. millions of people are still under a direct threat of more
8:00 am
severe weather also breaking, the world's most powerful rockets, spacex's starship explodes a minute after takeoff. we'll get the very latest reporting on why that happened a legal showdown over abortion access. the supreme court delays a lower court ruling about a widely used abortion pill. what that means. plus, we'll talk to an obgyn about how abortion restrictions are affecting her practice plus, another wrong place, wrong time shooting. a 6-year-old girl shot while chasing a basketball into a neighbor's yard. and lawmakers left frustrated after a briefing on the massive leak of top secret intelligence documents. we'll ask congresswoman chrissy houlahan her take on the classified briefing. we begin this hour with the very latest from the central u.s. following a string of deadly tornadoes overnight, more than a dozen

262 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on