does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show online, on facebook, and on twitter @mitchellreports. thanks for being with us. "chris jansing reports" starts right now. ♪♪ good day i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. they don't need abuse, they need help. the emotional plea on behalf of the homeless and mentally ill from the pulpit at jordan neely's funeral. the 30-year-old a victim of a broken system long before his death on a new york subway. plus, going to great lengths, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy traveling more miles and further from home than he has in many years to get some help in his own backyard. the latest on his personal pitch to world leaders just as the u.s. announces a major new move to help. and trying to plug the leak.

prosecutors are warning that if jack teixeira is set free he could keep spilling national secrets all over the internet. now it's up to a judge to decide whether to keep the 21-year-old behind bars. but we begin here in new york city where earlier today a funeral was held for jordan neely who died after a fellow new yorker placed him in a chokehold on a local subway. neely's death fueling familiar, albeit passionate debates, over several of the country's intractable channels, mental illness, homelessness, and vigilante justice. and today even as family and friends grieved a devastating personal loss, those loved ones were also mourning a young man just 30 years old who had looked for help but never got exactly what he needed. reverend al sharpton delivering the eulogy today said that has to change. >> we keep criminalizing people

with mental illness. people keep criminalizing people that need help. they don't need abuse. they need help. jordan -- i didn't know your jordan. i know your aunts and i've talked to your daddy. one thing i promise is in your name we're going to change how they deal with the homelessness. the in your name, we're going to change how they deal with the mentally ill. in your name, we're going to change services in this city. jordan, you didn't die for nothing. what they meant for bad we'll make good. >> even as neely's familidy serves justice, a passionate response has emerged from the

other side as well on behalf of the man accused of his death. daniel penny has been held up as a hero by many, particularly in conservative circles. as of this morning, a crowd funding site had raised more than $2.6 million for his legal defense. i want to bring in nbc's rehema ellis, symone sanders townsend served as chief spokesperson for vice president harris and is host of "symone" on msnbc. christina greer, author of the blook "black ethnics." what was it like at that church there today? >> reporter: it was a solemn church filled with mourners, and the street here, adam clayton powell boulevard here in harlem has just returned to normal, if you will, because it was just a short while ago that the hearse, that the coffin was brought out of the church and placed into the hearse when the family left for the burial of jordan neely, and what reverend al said in the

eulogy is what the family members are calling for. they're saying that there has to be a change here, and that was what this service was all about. it was a declaration of them saying that they're going to fight to make certain that jordan didn't die in vain. they said until there's justice, there will be no peace. even though the protests surrounding his death have subsided now that what they were calling for and that is for the man who held him in that chokehold to be arrested. that happened just one week ago today. they want to see him prosecuted to the fullest. again, as i say, until that happens, there won't be any peace. chris. >> so christina, i want to play just a little more from the reverend sharpton where he talks about the fact that penny was initially released before being charged days later. >> we can't live in a city where you can choke me to death with no provocation, no weapon, no threat, and you go home and

sleep in your bed while my family got to put me in a cemetery. there must be equal justice under the law. >> others argue it made sense to wait at least until neely's death was deemed a homicide, and of course penny is facing charges now. do you see justice in this case? and if not, why not? >> so chris, the good thing is we have a district attorney in manhattan who isn't chasing the limelight, and he believes in the law and following the law, and so he and his office, the office of alan bragg will look at all of the data and will interview people in the train. i think most black americans know for a full fact that there is no scenario in which a black man chokes a white man on the subway and then gets to chat with the nypd for a few hours and then goes home and sleeps in his bed in the comfort of his home until later on when things are decided.

and so we have to understand not just the racialized underpinnings of this particular interaction between jordan neely and patrick daniel penny, but we also have to understand the racist underpinnings of the history of the united states and how black people are treated by the police department versus white people. so, yes, daniel penny will get his day in court through the manhattan d.a.'s office, but we have to recognize the initial interaction we had with the new york police department is not something that any black american in the city of new york would have the luxury of having ever. >> and in fact, symone, in addition to that, as i mentioned, daniel penny has been embraced by conservatives, even presidential candidates ron desantis has backed him, nikki haley, millions of dollars have been raised for him. what's driving that? why? >> you know, chris, i think that is one of the key questions. now, i will note i saw an interview with one of the attorneys for daniel penny who

said that they, you know, don't know what's behind -- who is behind the fundraisers and they are not taking any of the money, but that being said, a lot of conservatives have invoked the parable of the good samaritan. it makes me wonder, do people know what the parable of the good samaritan is. the good samaritan is a person in the story, in the bible who stopped to help the person in need, not harm them. the good samaritan did not kill anyone, and i think that a tragedy such as this is what has happened in new york to jordan neely has now been used as a political football instead of looking at the facts here. the facts here are that in america we have a problem with people who are unhoused, in the richest country in the world and the wealthiest country in the world, we should not have people living on the street: but that is, in fact, what is happening all across our country. the tragedy is that, you know, on that train jordan neely according to passengers and people who were there and in

media reports, jordan neely said he was hungry and he was ready to go to jail if that's what it would take, but he's hungry. he was tired and to me that's not a death sentence. and so i really think that folks have to take a pause, take a beat, step back, and think about what we are actually saying about our fellow human beings, our brothers and sisters in america. >> we know this, and it's not just in new york. it's in cities across america. we've seen it. christina, i want to play part of what new york city mayor eric adams said yesterday on "morning joe." he talked about how tough it was to deal twin problems of mental illness and homelessness. >> last year when i talked about using involuntary, you know, bringing into hospitals with care and wrap-around services, there was a lot of pushback. but we knew it was the right thing to do after being a former transit police officer going on the ground, seeing what happens when you walk past people who are dealing with mental health

illness, and using our criminal justice system as a solution. that's not a solution. you can't have 50% of the people at rikers island being -- dealing with mental health issues and almost 18% severely mental health issue. that's a broken system. >> and to add to that, christina, according to the national alliance to end homelessness, the rate of homeless black americans is roughly four times that of white americans. so look, the problem is clear. what's the solution? >> well, we do know one thing, chris, the solution is not hyper policing. so this is something we've had some tensions in new york city, our particular mayor wants to consistently fund, fund, fund the nypd and defund critical services that are holistic, it would actually help alleviate some of our houselessness problems, increase education funding, library funding, all of these things that we know can contribute to a much more stabilized lifestyle for so many new yorkers, not just black new

yorkers specifically. but instead, these are the fights that we're having. we're seeing a systemic defunding of social services that are desperately needed in everything from housing and education and mental health services and that money, those buckets and buckets of money are going into the nypd, and every single policy piece of paper and data has shown us that over policing does not contribute to a safer society in any capacity. daniel penny choked jordan neely for 15 minutes, there was not a single police officer on there. so as we continue to, you know, fund the police, the nypd or transit police, whatever the proposals are, it does not necessarily create a safer environment, and it definitely didn't help jordan neely in the services that he really needed, and so if we zoom out 30,000 feet, we have to recognize that we are not going to police our way out of some of the crises that are facing new york city, and we have to be systemic in funding the institutions that we know that can support not just individuals

but full families and societies and communities as well. >> let's talk specifically about mental health, symone because it's come up a lot lately. you and i have talked about it on this program, particularly in the debate surrounding gun violence. and i can go back literally decades having covered mass shootings where i heard republicans in particular saying the problem isn't guns. the problem is mental health. is this a chance for them to put their money where their mouths are? >> i think so, chris. look, it's not complicated, right? i used to be a juvenile justice advocate in another life working on reform issues, and when i first got into the work, there was something that was called jdai. it was a pilot program. jdai was the acronym for juvenile detention alternative initiatives, alternatives to detention, to jail, to incarcerating young people when what they really need is support or what they really need is therapy or what they really need

is substance abuse help. what they really need is mental health. we can do that for -- whether we're talking about unhoused people in america or whether we are talking about tangential to the crisis of gun violence. i'll tell you on the mental health piece, we still have to address the prolific issue of guns in our communities, but it's not rocket science. but the will has to be there for elected officials to come to the table, and what we have seen in our politics as of late is that at least from -- at the federal level, elected officials are not willing to come to the table from the republican side of the aisle. i think there are a number of democrats who are willing to sit down and make something work. it takes two political parties to make a bipartisan bill. >> rehema ellis and christina greer thank you so much. symone sanders town send we'll see you in a little bit. ukrainian president zelenskyy is now expected to appear in person at g-7 summit

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and it all starts at just $30. it's your verizon. president biden and g-7 allies today unveiled sweeping new sanctions they say will starve the russian war machine. support for ukraine has loomed large at the g-7 summit in hiroshima, japan, a city synonymous with the dangers of nuclear war. g-7 leaders today visited a peace park dedicated to the victims of the world's first atomic bombing releasing a joint statement denouncing russia's irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and calling for disarmament. ukrainian president zelenskyy is expected to join those leaders in person this weekend. his furthest trip from his country since the russian invasion. but first, he's meeting with leaders of the middle east who are gathering in saudi arabia for the annual arab league summit, looking to shore up support beyond the west. nbc's mike memoli is traveling with the president in hiroshima.

molly hunter is reporting for us from kyiv. so mike, president zelenskyy has been pushing the west for fighter jets, which the u.s. and allies have so far refused to send. but we're seeing some indication just in the last couple of hours, that opposition may be softening. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: yeah, that's right, chris. here on this first full day of the g-7 summit, some significant new announcements as it relates to the west's continued support for ukraine. the first are those new sanctions, which we had largely been expecting. continue to prevent the export of technologies and other raw materials that russia could use to reconstitute its arsenal in this war against ukraine, and second, to crack down, tighten the screws as a white house official put it on those third-party actors who are helping russia evade those many sanctions that have been piling up over the course of more than a year now. but the second announcement as it relates to f 16s was one that we hadn't necessarily expected. it speaks to as you indicate and

the pressure that had been building on president biden. president biden did inform the g-7 other leaders today that he would support an effort by the alliance to train ukrainian pilots on f 16s and other similar fourth generation fighter jets and that the training would move forward. now, key questions, though, still unresolved, the question of when those fighter jets would then be deployed to ukraine. which countries would provide them, and just how many would be provided. it is a significant show of support ahead of president zelenskyy's attendance here at another meeting of the g-7 on sunday. we are at the same time hearing from vladimir putin, some response to this new round of announcements from the g-7. he basically is saying that this is another example of how the west is continuing to pile on their attacks on him. he says these attacks on our history, our culture, our spiritual values do not stop. >> and molly, president zelenskyy has been on kind of a whirlwind tour.

first he was across europe. now the middle east, japan, and has had some success. some would say significant success in getting new commitments for weapons and ammo and now these new announcements. talk about the time for this compared to the reality and planning for the battlefield. >> yeah, chris, that's right. i mean, president zelenskyy are a smart group of people. when he fetes in front of world leaders and politicians, he does not come back empty handed. we saw that in europe last we could. that is the bettner making on his first trip to the middle east since the war started on his first trip to asia since the war started. but i do want to play you, we did hear from president zelenskyy earlier today, and i'll talk about the battlefield realities, excuse me, right on the back side. take a listen. >> unfortunately, there are some in the world and here and on you who turn a blind eye to those

illegal annexations, and i'm here so that everyone can take an honest look, no matter how hard the russians try to influence, there must still be independence. >> reporter: yeah, chris, president zelenskyy is his country's biggest cheerleader, also biggest asset when talking about military aid. what's happening here, two things are happening here, chris, we are seeing unprecedented aerial assaults overnight usually. we have seen two waves of missile attacks from russian missiles this week, and the other thing is we are seeing unprecedented success from ukraine's air defenses, chris. as we've been talking about, though, that air defense arsenal relies heavily on western air defenses like the u.s. made patriot air defense system. so certainly in addition it to his big ask at the top of his wish list, he is asking and he is going to get as we saw in europe last week, more air defense systems which is

critically important for this country, but it is an extraordinary time for the president of a country of a wartime country to be away, especially as his military plans this much talked about counteroffensive, chris, when exactly that is launched, we do not have an answer. >> mike memoli and molly hunter, thank you both so much, appreciate it. in just hours, a judge is set to decide whether to keep the accused pentagon leaker locked up while awaiting trial. we'll break down the prosecution's argument. plus, ron desantis on offense, and another candidate officially getting into the race today. both out to prove that former president trump is the wrong guy. that's coming up on "chris jansing reports. jansing reports. so, you found the no7 then... it's amazing! hydrates better than the expensive stuff i don't live here, so i'm taking this and whatever's in the back. it's already sold in the us. but i'm not taking any chances. the uk's #1 skincare has crossed the pond.

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in roughly two hours, accused pentagon leaker jack teixeira will face a judge who will decide whether the 21-year-old will stay behind bars while he awaits trial. the air national guardsman is accused of one of the most significant intelligence leaks in years, and prosecutors argue he would likely flee if granted bail comparing him to edward snowden. i want to bring in nbc's ken dilanian, "washington post" national reporter, carol leonnig e part of the post team who won a pulitzer prize for coverage related to the snowden case, also with us former u.s. attorney joyce vance. what can we expect at this detention hearing at 3:30 eastern time today?

>> hey, chris, as often happens during these things, we're seeing two starkly different portrayals of this defendant in these court records and we're likely to see that in the hearing. this is the second detention hearing. teixeira's lawyers want him to be released to his father's house without access to the internet or weapons. they say there are ring cameras that would keep him secure. they portray him as a misguided youth that didn't anticipate that the stuff he leaked would go widely to the public. prosecutors say he knew exactly what he was doing. they presented a lot of evidence to show that he hid more unsavory aspects of his character, including a lot of extremist and racists post on social media. they verified a video that shows him uttering horrific racial slurs and firing an assault rifle. as you said, they said that he's a flight risk and foreign adversaries have every interest in trying to help him escape because of the classified information he may still have in

his head. >> what does the judge have to look at in making this decision? >> so there's a body of case law and a statute that governs release pretrial. it's easier in a case where a defendant has been indicted for a felony that requires 20 years or more in prison. that's not the case here. prosecutors have a -- i think a first step indictment in place. it's likely they'll supersede it. the crimes that they've charged are ten-year felonies. prosecutors will have to convince the judge that there are no conditions involving release that could secure his appearance at trial. and that can be tough to do. there's certainly a preference in the federal system for release to someone like a custodial parent who the judge is convinced is reliable and will make sure the person shows up in court. prosecutors have to get over this bar and convince this judge that this risk of flight isn't just a theoretical risk or that even with his access to the internet cut off, that teixeira could continue to be a risk to

national security. that's really what we're talking here for danger to community. so a heavy lift for prosecutors. >> okay, so carol, teixeira's case is different, right, from snowden in that for starters, he does not appear to be strongly ideologically motivated, one of your colleagues in the post wrote about sort of the comparisons and said, quote, just spilling state secrets to impress online buddies. but what have we learned about leakers and the damage they can do after not just snowden, but chelsea manning, reality winter. >> i think it's so important to raise both of those previous cases, after which, you know, the defense department, the national security firmament, this would be guarded against and there would be a tightening of who had access to highly classified top secret, the crown jewels of the u.s. government, that this would no longer be possible. well, of course we find that a

person who really ultimately couldn't be lower in the firmament of national security information than mr. teixeira somehow had access to extremely sensitive pieces of material on a military base in new england that was really unrelated to these secrets. it was a question mark about why this -- why he had access to this information. chelsea manning, edward snowden, both of those individuals had a very clear motive, which they were not really hiding from anyone when they were finally questioned. in teixeira's case, it's just a kid bragging. in fact, he says on his online chat with his group of buddies that knowing more than almost anyone else is super cool. and he makes a reference to chelsea manning when he's asked whether or not he would like to write a blog about all that he knows, he said, no, no, no, that would be equivalent to what chelsea manning it.

i'll just share this information here. i think it's worrisome for the government to realize that someone so low could get access to information that was so high and that he had been warned about this by his air force bosses in the fall twice, in the fall of 2022, the post and others are reporting he had been warned by his bosses not to be mishandling these super, super top secret pieces of information. >> and yet, he apparently wrote stuff down on a piece of paper and shoved it in his pocket. so joyce, we often talk in court cases about motive, but does motive matter here whether he had some idea that he was going to change the world or he was just going to impress his buddies, ultimately if those secrets were out there, is that what they have to prove, not motive? >> right, motive's not an element of the crime prosecutors would have to prove to a jury, but in many cases, it can be the dividing line between a sympathetic case and one that's not sympathetic, and typically,

in this area involving what's called the espionage act, prosecutors don't always indict cases where someone holds onto information that they're not entitled to. it's sharing it out into the public domain. in this case, you know, which he does online with some risk involved that makes this a very attractive case for prosecution and gets the government's attention because of that risk. when you add in the evidence that carol's discussing, this new evidence that he was warned repeatedly that he shouldn't do this, that's powerful evidence that he knew that what he was doing was wrong and intended to continue to do it. this becomes a strong case. >> it gets government attention, apparently, carol, after the fact because as you pointed out, he was warned by his superiors and yet did the same thing again, right? and the filing that was made before the court appearance today also confirmed this video that was obtained by your paper, the post, showing that teixeira used racial slurs and fired a

gun. a wz e learn more details about his past and about his views, is it surprising at all to you who have done so much work looking at these kinds of cases that none of it was flagged in a background check for security clearance? >> well, i have to say your question reminds me about why the government didn't seem to be aware that there were individuals in law enforcement who were sympathetic to the rioters on january 6th, cheering them on. you know, there is a, you know, no surprise that people in law enforcement like to have guns and shoot them, and people in the military the same. i don't think that raises any red flags for anybody, and alas, i don't think it raises any red flags sometimes when people use nationalist language sometimes in some of these communities. you know, what we learned after january 6th is that there is a pretty significant group of folks that are described as an

insider threat inside law enforcement who have very dark and worrisome views about the future of our country and about democracy and how it should be applied equally or in their case unequally. so i don't think any of these things would have necessarily been a flag. however, i think joyce hits the nail on the head about whether or not he's going to end up being a sympathetic case or a not so sympathetic case, and some of the things he said may lead towards the latter. >> great to have you here. fighting disney and the donald, while ron desantis lace the groundwork to make his big pitch to voters for 2024, we'll go inside his sales pitch to the people who will foot the bill, the potential donors next. ride it out with the tradeoffs of treating? or push through the pain and symptoms? with ubrelvy, there's another option.

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the republican race for president is amping up on several fronts today. senator tim scott has officially entered the race filing the required paperwork this morning. we have new reporting from "the new york times" that florida governor ron desantis is pitching to donors that there are only three credible candidates for 2024. of course he, himself, donald trump, and joe biden. and adding trump can't win but i can. is that a winning argument?

particularly as he faces real world consequences for his bitter battle with disney, the company now canceling plans for a billion dollars office complex in florida potentially costing the state 2,000 jobs. nbc's gabe gutierrez is covering this story for us, symone sanders townsend is back. gabe, desantis has pretty studiously avoided talking about trump by name. now that we've learned he'll officially enter the race next week, we've heard about that phone call to donors, is that about to change? it's an indication we might see a different side of ron desantis. >> well, chris, possibly. look, at this point, for the last several months that ron desantis has declined to engage directly with donald trump he's left that up to the super pac that's aligned with him to do it instead, but you'll notice his rhetoric in the last couple of days and weeks, chris, and when he went to iowa, he has been not mentioning donald trump by name but attacking the current republican party for its, quote,

culture of losing, a veiled swipe at donald trump. and he mentioned that donor call reported on by "the new york times," him making this argument of electability, and that's something we expect from the desantis team in the coming days and weeks. they will try to argue that they are most electable. they're facing an uphill battle considering the national average of polls has them down by more than 30 points. according to the desantis team, what they really want to zero in on are certain states, early voting states and they think they could tighten that gap once desantis formally enters the race next week, chris. >> symone, "the new york times" reporter was actually on that donor call and said the florida governor didn't just say he could beat trump, but, quote, mr. desantis was blunt saying i think the voters want to move on from biden adding they just want a vehicle they can get behind, but there's just too many voters that don't view trump as that vehicle. is he the toughest opponent for joe biden, and i mean, if you

look at the polls between age and just general approval ratings, both trump and biden are not doing well. they're under water. >> look, chris, i just -- i would say a couple of things. i laughed as gabe was talking about this electability argument because when i used to advise candidates i would always caution them against being a pundit. you let the pundits be pundits. you be the elected official, if you're already the elected official or the candidate. you talk about your message. you don't engage in punditry. what we hear from ron desantis from this donor call is that he really was engaging in punditry, and his team, i think, are making a big mistake in doing that. look, you know who is the most electable? the person that the votes vote for, full stop. so instead of talking about the fact that voters should vote for him because he is the person that could potentially do best in the general election, i think

ron desantis and other candidates should make their affirmative case on why them. i think that president biden and vice president harris have to go out there and make their affirmative case on why them, and that's what you've heard from them. ron desantis is virtually untested outside of florida, which is why i do think an electability argument is quite laughable. >> there is the question of what he stakes his candidacy on, right? supposedly he delayed announcing because he wanted to get through the legislative session where a lot of issues extremely popular with the conservative base are going to have to see how they play in the rest of the country. now you've got this disney pullout of a $1 billion project. is that an opening for other republicans or does he win with primary voters because after all, the fight with disney was over restricting instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. >> yeah, i think he's damaged, actually, with -- i think it leaves an opening for other republicans, absolutely.

you already saw nikki haley early on in this fight, former governor of south carolina say if florida -- if disney would like to come to south carolina, i'm happy to introduce them to the governor. fred hawkberg who was chair of the xm bank under obama who is a florida resident has an op-ed that i read in "the miami herald" which made the case that ron desantis has to be a statesman and the people being hurt the most in this disney fight is the florida economy. he goes on to talk broadly about if he wants to be president, the kinds of things that you have to do as president are similar to what you have to do as governor in terms of getting business to come to your state, and he is not modeling good behavior, and makes his juxtaposition that joe biden is. again, i think this plays very well in like desantis, you know, circles. i don't know if this is a palatable, broad message, killing jobs, and attacking a company because they disagree with you. >> so let me go back to the

question of whether there's an opening then because senator tim scott officially in the race as we just reported, symone, report lid making a $6 million ad buy in iowa and new hampshire. that would be the largest by a candidate so far. nikki haley has been running around iowa. i think she's made 22 stops in that state as of today. is there a genuine chance for them or someone else to break out or maybe are they just running even this early for something else? vp? you know, cabinet position, who knows. >> maybe somebody wants to be the ag secretary, chris. i don't know. you know, look, and i mean gabe has been out there at a number of these stops that folks have gone on. i think it is a little early to tell if -- whether or not there's -- whether the door is closed to the voters because we are at least two, three months away from the first debate stage at the end of august in the republican primary. i know a lot of folks suggest that donald trump might not participate, but i've never known the former president to pass up an opportunity to make

other people look small on a stage where there are cameras present, and so i do think people have to take a step back, look at what is happening in the states, what are the local news papers reporting. what is the reception of these various candidates in places like iowa and new hampshire and south carolina, and that will tell us. >> gabe gutierrez, symone sanders townsend, always great to see you both. thank you so much. happy friday. up next, the latest on the legal fight into the deadly shooting on the set of rust. what attorneys for the reps supervisor are now asking the judge. (woman) with verizon's new myplan, i get exactly what i want. and only pay for what i need. (man) now i'm in charge... ...of my plan. (vo) introducing myplan from verizon. you get exactly what you want and only pay for what you need.

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cvs pharmacy. healthier happens together. . the legal fight continues over that deadly shooting on the set of the alec baldwin film "rust." attorneys for the weapons supervisor on set are asking a judge to drop her involuntary manslaughter charge. they argue the investigation was sloppy and improper and that prosecutors who brought the charge did not have the authority to file it. in october of 2021, baldwin's gun went off and killed the cinematographer during rehearsal. prosecutors charged baldwin with involuntary manslaughter as well. that charge was later dropped. today at the glittering get together that is the canne film festival in france, the stars are all smiles but behind those careers are hugely consequential

wets in movies. as of last year movie production added $95 billion to the u.s. economy employing more than 2 million people in the u.s. and when you add in all the other money spent around movie sets, it's a $64 billion business just in new york state. in the face of serious challenges, hollywood is betting big on two movies from two of the most successful franchises in movie history, that they'll bring customers back into darkened theaters. tom cruise with the latest installment of "mission impossible" and an 80-year-old harrison ford as indiana jones. joining me now, matt bellamy of puck news. the potential economic industry enormous. how much is hollywood banking on this summer. what are the stakes in the comeback of this very important industry? >> executives in hollywood see this summer as crucial for

recovery of the movie business. it is the first summer that is fully, i don't want to say post covid because it's still around but the executives feel that consumers feel that they are now beyond covid, and the question is how much of the recovery is going to spill into the summer box office because that is the key movie making or grossing time of the year, and 40% of the entire year's grosses come from this eight-week, nine-week period. they need moviegoers to come back to the theaters, and they have these movies lined up one after another all summer, hoping to lure them in. >> i only named a couple of them. there are a lot of big name folks out there, big budget movies. how much nervousness are you hearing when you talk to folks in the industry? >> extreme nervousness because keep in mind, these are already normally expensive movies, but when you add in the added cost associated with covid, that can

add 10, 20% of a movie's budget on to it. so movies like fast 10, which is coming out this weekend. that costs more than $300 million. mission impossible, dead reckoning costs more than $300 million. these movies are incredibly expensive. they need to perform not just in the u.s. but around the world. a billion dollars is the goal here for these movies, many of them. >> you're reminding us that many movies coming out now were indeed shot during covid, and they had to have all of these extra precautions. a lot of people's viewing habits as we well know changed significantly. movie theaters aside, this is a business proposition, so i wonder whether it's clear if streaming has helped or hurt the movie business? >> well, from the volume perspective, there are certainly more movies getting made out because outlets like netflix are making dozens of movies a year,

but the theoretical movie business has suffered due to streaming. people now need to feel like the movie is an event to get them to the theaters, and the studios have responded. if you look at the summer lineup, one after another it is big budget sequels or adaptations of well known intellectual property like little mermaid, super mario brothers did great this year. that's a well known property. there aren't a lot of bets that are riskier endeavors, studios know to get people off the couch and into theaters, it has to be perceived to be something you should only see in a theater. >> it's going to be an interesting summer one where a lot of dollars are at stake. thank you so much, good to see you. the intersection of cultural wars, how it's affecting one community, and what it means nationwide, next. , next and onl. (man) now i'm in charge...

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the culture wars and political fights that have divided the nation are now also transforming individual towns causing major disruptions in places like woodland park, colorado, angering students and forcing nearly half of a staff out the door. nbc's antonia hilton traveled to colorado to find out more. >> reporter: woodland park, colorado, a tight knit conservative mountain community has grown so divided high school junior jacob schmidt no longer recognizes his hometown. >> it's been chaos. the school board has started to introduce a political divide to a group that had never had one. >> do kids feel like adults are taking care of them right now? >> no. >> reporter: for years, woodland park school board meetings were uneventful. now they look more like this. >> you're a bunch of thooefs and cowards, and i can't wait to vote you out. >> reporter: ever since new school board members won seats campaigning on conservative values and then made sweeping

changes. >> they don't want to hear what you have to say. >> reporter: the board chose not to reply for grants that pay for students' mental health services, they hired a superintendent, kenneth witt who was previously recalled from his seat on a nearby school board after pushing a controversial history program. nbc news obtained this video from a staff meeting where witt defends his position on mental health. >> and delivering social services through schools tends to deter a lot of folks in education. >> reporter: the district also became the first in the country to implement a social studies program called american birthright, developed by conservative activists and rejected by educators around the country, including colorado state board of education. it emphasizes patriotism and discourages civic engagement. >> it's terrifying. >> reporter: when sarah lee, a woodland park teacher for almost two decades learned what was inside the new program, she started to panic. >> anything that is not the way that the leader says it should be is wrong and evil and should

be destroyed, and that's how i feel about that american birthright curriculum. >> reporter: sarah says she was placed on administrative leave after she spoke out at a school board meeting. she is among the nearly 40% of high school staff who won't be returning in the fall according when the board voted to extend superintendent ken witt's contract, hundreds of community members lined up in the rain. david resterholt is the school board president. >> we're the first ones and only ones at this point to do it. >> reporter: what's in the curriculum that made you want to bring it here. >> the vast majority of people who support, that we hear from, i hear from, they are so confident to have it put back in there. when i graduated a vast majority of the graduates were proud to be americans and we want to see that happen again because we live in the freest, greatest country in the world. >> reporter: antonia hilton, nbc