christine brennan, good to have you with us again. let's start with an athlete who brings highest hopes: simone biles, the gymnast already won so many gold medals. tell us, what are the expectations for her this time? >> judy, i don't think i have ever seen an athlete more discussed, hyped on more covers, the tip of everyone's tongue social media than someone by going into an olympic games. i mean, we've had great, great stars going into the olympics before from the united stes and from around the world. nothing like this. and that's well deserved. absolutely well deserved. the greatest gymnast ever coming back for another olympic games, trying to recreate what she did in rio five years ago, which was four gold medals and won bronze and maybe even went off five gold medals. she is the strong favorite to win the all around competition to lead the u.s. to the team competition and then to win a couple of gold medals on various apparatuses in the and those and those competitions. so she's a survivor of the worst sexual abuse scandal in th

cnn's christine brennan joins us live from tokyo.e as a child, it's something gymnasts want no part of. >> reporter: yes, ryan, as you're twisting and turning in the air, you lose your place in the air, and that's incredibly dangerous because it means you could land in a horrible position, you could injure yourself, you could paralyze yourself. that's the danger here. and she felt that, in that one vault, that's the only event of her olympic games, just a couple of seconds, that's all she's competed in these olympic games, that's what she felt. she said last night she is still experiencing the twisties and that's why she's not participating in the olympics today, and i think it's doubtful she'll be competing monday or tuesday in the other events. >> it's heartbreaking not to have her competing. what are the odds for the rest of the gymnastics teams, are there opportunities for them to take home more medals without biles as part of the competition? >> reporter: absolutely, ryan. as americans are learning, this gymnastics team is deep.

writing is sports columnist christine brennan, the ones postpone, much discussed, long-awaited, olympics are finally upon us. they did not begin until friday's opening ceremony but we already know they will forever be known as the covid olympics. the other story is kind of where we began yesterday, the decision by nancy pelosi to prohibit two republican members on the select committee for the january 6 investigation, jim banks and jim jordan. the republican leader pulling all five republicans from the panel. the one remaining republican is liz cheney. the headline from the washington times this morning, pelosi: trump obsessed republicans will derail the january 6 to probe. a tweet here from politico, speaker pelosi is weighing new ways to beef up the bipartisan credibility of the january 6 pro after mccarthy and republicans walked out on it. she is considering adding adam kinzinger and hiring the republican as an outside advisor. here's what she had to say yesterday. speaker pelosi: the select committee is bipartisan and it has a quorum. it will do the job it is out to do. that is to inv

christine brennan, we look forward to your reporting from the games.nks so much for being with us. >> reporter: kim, thank you so much. >>> today is england's long awaited freedom day, the day the country lifts nearly all of its remaining social distancing restrictions. but so far, at least it doesn't seem very free. there are red flags galore, not the least of which is the surge in case count in the uk, 50,000 new infections per day. and then there is the prime minister, boris johnson, who has been forced to self-isolate after coming into contact with the british health secretary who has tested positive for the virus himself. so even as england ditches the mask mandates and capacity limits at bars, restaurants, shops, sports venues, johnson is urging caution, but also says it's a risk worth taking. here he is. >> we don't do it now, we're going to ask ourselves, when will we ever do it? so this is the right moment. but we've got to do it cautiously. we've got to remember that this virus is sadly still out there. cases are rising. we can see the extrem

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let's go live to christine brennan in tokyo. christine, a number of questions here.ne biles? number two, what does this mean for the u.s. team competing in the competition? number three, what does this mean for simone biles going forward in the individual competitions? >> john, this is shocking news. this is exactly what the united states with simone biles, what every gymnastics fan around the world, everyone who has been watching the olympics, and waiting for simone biles to compete, this is exactly what they did not want to have happen. worst nightmare coming to pass here. simone, on the first event of the first rotation of the team competition tonight, about a half hour ago, she bailed out of her vault. several people said i'm not at the venue, but several people said it looked like she kind of got lost in the air. she nearly landed on her knees. looked like she was about to cry as she came off the podium. lots of hugs, lots of concern. she talked to the trainer. she left the field of play. that, again, is simone biles leaving the field of play, getting looked at,

let's bring in christine brennan who is a "usa today" sports columnist. 's very upsetting to a lot of fans not to see sha'carri richardson participating in these games. i just wonder what you're thinking about how she has responded to this and how this might change things going forward. >> brianna, this is a sports tragedy. this is a young woman 21 years ago old ready to burst on the scene. she had done it nationally. now a gold medal favorite. could have made millions because of that. she's fast, she's fun, everything about her was screaming out i'm going to be a star. then when she found out her biological mother passed away, she went into a tailspin emotionally, she reached for marijuana. one hopes and wishes that she could have had someone from usa track and field, a mental health hotline, something. i think that's what every olympic committee around the world should have available for athletes more readily or athletes know exists. so instead of maybe getting into trouble because she knew, of course, marijuana is a banned substance. a lot of people are

judy: christine brennan, sheila smith the games begin in a little more than two weeks.ry much. >> thank you, judy. >> thank you, judy. judy: and on the newshour online, a slew of ransomware attacks have wrecked the u.s. leaving both corporate sector , and government officials scrambling to address the growing threat. we look into the attacks and what can be done to stop them. that is on our website, pbs.org/newshour. i am judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening for the pbs newshour. thank you again, and stay safe. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> architect, mentor. every month jane's financial advisor -- a financial advisor tailors your life to fit you. >> o u.s.-based customer service team can help you find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular data tv. >> johnson & johnson. ♪ bnsf railway. the ford foundation, working with missionaries on the frontlines lines of social change worldwide. ♪ and with the ongoing support of these institutions. and friends of the newshour. ♪ this program was made p

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let get more from christine brennan. thank you for joining us.aomi osaka changing the aspect with performing at such a high level? >> wolf, this really is a movement and those two fabulous athletes, michael phelps, also, alison schmidt, more and more athletes feel comfortable talking about mental health issues, as they should. it's a great development. it about time. our heart goes out to simone biles. my goodness, what a stunning turn of events, nobody saw that coming and yet, she has turned such a sad and devastating moment for herself and the u.s. team into a positive national, international conversation, which again, sports often takes us to those, wolf, as you know and here we are again simone biles leading the way in a very different way than we expected. >> you're there in tokyo for us. will we see simone biles compete in the individual events still to come in these olympics? >> wolf, that is still to be determined. my gut feeling from covering a few olympic games is that it's going to be very difficult for her because of this. she said he

joining us this morning with more is "usa today" sports columnist christine brennan.ing with us this morning. i guess the first question we should start with is, what is the latest you're hearing on just how simone biles is doing? >> eva, you know, this is still a story of the olympic games, and simone has gone on instagram and has said that she's still feeling that she's getting lost in the air, the twisties, as she described them, and she said that on friday, and so she is out of two events of the four that she was going to do, and there's potentially two more yet to come monday and tuesday, but as of right now simone's entire olympic games has been that one vault in the team competition before she withdrew, and we will see what goes on from here. but as each event goes along, unfortunately, the days are getting short, and she has each time withdrawing from events so we'll see what goes on from here, but the news does not look good for simone in terms of the possibility of competing in those final two events, floor exercise and balance beam, and that's all that's le

for a look at all of this, i'm joined by christine brennan, a sports columnist for "usa today."ng to tokyo to cover her 19th olympics. and sheila smith, a senior fellow for asia pacific studie at the council on foreign relations. she has written extensively about japan. it is so good to have both of you with us. thank you for joining us. christine, i'm going to start with you. why the organizers' decision today to say not only foreign tourists can come to sit and watch these olympics, but no one, not even japanese residents. >> judy, they have declared a state of emergency that will run through the entire olyic games. this is exactly what the international olympic committee was not planning when it postponed the games last march during the height of the pandemic starting. but here we are. and so you have got a state of emergey. you've got covid cases rising in tokyo and the surrounding area and you've got basically what, 15 to 20% of japanese residents completely fully vaccinated. and it was a very slow process to vaccinate the population in scrap an. they were very slow off the

but joining us now from tokyo, christine brennan. christine, it's good to see you. for the entire team? >> reporter: john and brianna, this is a bomb shell. this is huge news and it's coming as you mentioned the week of the opening ceremony. it's kind of what everyone feared. and here it has happened. as the prefecture reported, a u.s. gymnast teenager has tested positive. for covid. now, we do not know the name, but we no this, my colleagues of usa today are busy reporting this, as am i, and we know that all six of the regular members of the usa gymnastics team including simone biles have been on their social media showing themselves in the olympic village. this is after the news of the positive test. so, we don't know it for sure, john, but we do believe that that would at least indicate that they're still all in the village and that if one of them had tested positive the thought would be that they would no longer be in the village. again, we do not know who it s but that's what our reporting is with usa today and obviously we're on top of this story here in tokyo

joining me on the phone from tokyo is christine brennan, sports analyst and columnist for usa today. talk to you about the athletes to watch. first, we have to talk about simone biles, she's so dominant that twitter has bestowed her with her own emoji, a leaping goat wearing a gold medal because she is the greatest of all time for people that don't know this. so expectations are very high for her. >> right, dana, they are. and hello from tokyo. and you know, she is the biggest name by far. going into these games. there is going to be so much pressure on her. she's 24 years old. won four gold medals and a bronze medal five years ago in rio. and the question is can she do it again. and she is the one athlete that we would say she can. she's got four routines and movements named after her already. there could be a fifth. she's also of course the voice of her sport, a survivor of the horrors of larry nassar. can we imagine anything more, the greatest of all time, dana, who also endured the worst sex scandal, sexual abuse scandal in sports history and she became the voice of her sport in t

i spoke with christine brennan shortly before she left for tokyo. good to have you with us again. start with an athlete who brings the highest hopes around her, and that would be simone biles, the gymnast who has already won so many gold medals. what are the expectations for her this time? christine: i don't think i've ever seen an athlete moore discussed, more hyped, on the tip of everyone's tongue. we've had gat stars go in for the united states and from around the world, but nothing like this. that is well deserved. the greatest gymnast trying to re-create what she did in rio, five gold medals -- four gold medals, one bronze, maybe when all five gold medals. she's the favorite to lead the u.s. through the team competition and to win a couple gold medals on various apparat i. she's a survivor of the worst sexual abuse scandal in the history of sports, a survivor of larry nasser, the tragic and sexual assault and abuse of hundreds of young gymnasts by the former gymnastics team doctor. simone biles was the one calling out the organization time and again, being that voice for the

christine brennan, thank you so much. "new day" continues right now. >>> i'm brianna keilar alongside john avlon on this "new day." the search has just resumed for victims of the surfside condo collapse after the still-standing tower was demolished overnight. >>> plus, a tense standoff on interstate 95 between police and a heavily armed militia group. >>> and former president trump essentially admitting to tracks crimes but claims it's not illegal. new york prosecutors might feel differently. >>> and just in a new reporting on a 911 call from britney spears just hours before her emotional testimony in court. ♪ >>> a very good morning to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. it is monday, july 5th. and the search and rescue operation at the collapsed condo site in surfside, florida, has resumed just hours after the rest of the champlain towers building was demolished. demolition specialists began laying explosives in the remaining structure on sunday afternoon. it was really this threat of tropical st

. >> cnn sports analyst christine brennan joins me now from tokyo. e's also a sports columnist for "usa today." i was reading your column today, christine. great to see you. what was it like at the opening ceremony? was there any sense of, you know, real occasion and atmosphere? >> they tried, michael. i'm not sure they succeeded. i've covered a lot of these. i've covered every opening ceremony since '84 in l.a. obviously no one in the stands. 1,000 or so dignitaries, media. if there was applause from those dignitaries, it sounds like theater applause. once the music was blaring, you couldn't even hear that. i think it was solemn. it was -- you know, it was fitting of where we are, in the middle of a pandemic. the athletes, i have to give them credit. they certainly -- some of them coming in holding their flags, dancing around, exuberance, giving it a good college try. but i watched many of them, as soon as they made their path and circle around the stadium floor, a lot of those teams just exited out, got out of there. you didn't see that on tv. but w

. >> christine brennan is a cnn sports analyst and sports columnist for usa today.this. i know you are looking forward to the olympics coming up. and now it doesn't look like she will be there. she may be there. let's deal first with what happened. and there is a whole lot of things to really parse here as well. the violation first. marijuana is legal in the state she was in, but it is banned in competition. the world anti-doping sets the rules. >> absolutely, paula. the world anti-doping, they have the rules. actually, sha'carri richardson said she knew the rule. she knew she was breaking the rule. i know there is a lot of conversation out there, valid conversation about whether marijuana should be a banned substance in the olympic world. but right now it is. and all the athletes know that. and it's actually only banned during competition. so if richardson decided to -- i think she ingested it, whatever, smoke marijuana in february, it would have been fine. march would have been fine. april. she did it at the u.s. olympic trials in eugene, oregon. and that is of co

and christine brennan joins us to discuss.arijuana is not exactly a performance-enhancing drug. it is lyegal in some form in th majority of states in the u.s. how do you view this? >> this is a sad, sad story. it really is heart breaking. and among those who believe it's heart breaking is the man in charge of the u.s. anti-doping agency, travis. i put in a phone call to him asking that question. why is it that marijuana, which we don't see as a performance enhancer, why is it on the ban list? why is one of the great stars of the u.s. team, a breakout star, could make millions from that performance in tokyo, why is she banned? and what i heard from the u.s. anti-doping agency from travis tiger was that first of all, they are heart broken, and they are sad and don't necessarily agree with the worlding, but it is the world anti-dope agency ruling. having said that, there are reasons to ban marijuana. for example, skiers going downhill at 90 miles per hour. you probably don't want them to be high. you certainly wouldn't want snow

joining me now is cnn's sports analyst christine brennan live in tokyo.there, in the middle of it as you always are. what has been the reaction on the ground to all of this? >> it's a bombshell, kate. something that was entirely unexpected basically 24, 25, 26 hours ago, this news hit. it has reverberated around the olympic games in a way i have not seen a story be so surprising and also reach out to almost everyone in the games. in other words, i've been at the swimming venue today. of course it's late now here, but all day, and swimmer after swimmer coming in. they've won an olympic gold medal. katie ledecky asking about simone biles. she went on for several minutes talking about her concern and her friendship with simone biles and the pressure that she faces and that simone faces, and all the cameras right in their face, trying to perform coming back for another olympics. i really think we're seeing a story -- of course a human being that people are worried about -- and a story that is resonating throughout countries, throughout sports. simone biles is

christine brennan, wonderful to see you. thank you for joining us from tokyo. >>> coming up on "new day," dr. sanjay gupta will be live from tokyo how the olympics are preparing to host the games. lots of questions as you heard from christine. how they're keeping athletes safe during the pandemic. >>> utah's republican governor saying that anti-vaccine rhetoric is, quote, killing people, following the talking points propaganda. >> we have these talking heads who have gotten the vaccine and telling other people not to get the vaccine. that kind of stuff is just -- it's ridiculous, it's dangerous, it's damaging and it's killing people. i mean, it's literally killing their supporters. that makes no sense to me. >> utah's governor spencer cox delivering the strong words during a news conference on thursday. he urged those in his state to get vaccinated. saying it is desperately needed. conservative media outlets and number of republican lawmakers continue to dispute the importance of vaccines, sewing doubts among their followers

we'll ask sports analyst christine brennan, next. like we would treat our own moms, with care and respect why we do everything in our power to make buying a car an unforgettable experience. happy birthday. thank you. we treat every customer like we would treat our own moms. because that's what they deserve. (upbeat music) - [narrator] this is kate. she always wanted her smile to shine. now, she uses a capful of therabreath healthy smile oral rinse to give her the healthy, sparkly smile she always wanted. (crowd cheering) therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. at walmart, target and other fine stores. at johnsonville, we've often wondered how could burgers and dogs be our national tradition, when you can't even spell sausage without usa. exercise your right to mix it up, and throw on some johnsonville sausage. because freedom is delicious. did you know prilosec otc can stop frequent heartburn before it begins? heartburn happens when stomach acid refluxes into the esophagus. prilosec otc uses a unique delayed-release formula that helps it pass through the tough stomach acid. it then works to

christine brennan is outfront, she's the sports columnist covering the olympics in tokyo, her 19th straights the number two ranked tennis player in the world, the first asian to be ranked number one. f four-time grand slam champion. how different is it for her to open up like this? >> it's really in keeping what we've seen the last few years, this breakout star, so articulate, so smart, so interesting. i think a lot of the viewers might remember the mask that she wore with the names of the victims of police brutality one day at the u.s. open. a remarkable young person. a great young leader and a role model on the court and off. and so to me this is no surprise at all that we are seeing her once again talk about these issues that she's made such headline news over the last few months. in fact has created a movement, i think you could make a case michael phelps started this. there's other athletes that have been involved in the conversation about mental health. such an important conversation for our time. naomi osaka has really taken it and run with it. as i said, i do believe she gets credit

gymnasts dominique dawes and "usa today" sports columnist christine brennan. me start with you, christine. you're there smack dab in the middle of it as always, there in tokyo, so what has been the reaction on the ground there to simone biles' decisions? >> robin, it is a bombshell and the reaction has been exactly what you would expect, almost every athlete is talking about it. they're being asked about it in the press conferences. it is notable that almost all of them are answering the questions and talking about their support for simone biles at the swimming venue all day. it's been the topic. i think it's safe to say around tokyo, at every olympic venue, simone biles has been the number one topic of conversation. >> and, dominique, simone talked about the immense pressure of competing in the olympics. you're an olympic gold medalist. you're a trail blazer yourself. what can you tell us about the pressure she's up against? what do you say to those who say that's just part of what comes with being an elite athlete? >> there's definitely an enormous amount of

writing is sports columnist christine brennan, the ones postpone, much discussed, long-awaited, olympicsre finally upon us. they did not begin until friday's opening ceremony but we already know they will forever be known as the covid olympics. the other story is kind of where we began yesterday, the decision by nancy pelosi to prohibit two republican members on the select committee for the january 6 investigation, jim banks and jim jordan. the republican leader pulling all five republicans from the panel. the one remaining republican is liz cheney. the headline from the washington times this morning, pelosi: trump obsessed republicans will derail the january 6 to probe. a tweet here from politico, speaker pelosi is weighing new ways to beef up the bipartisan credibility of the january 6 pro after mccarthy and republicans walked out on it. she is considering adding adam kinzinger and hiring the republican as an outside advisor. here's what she had to say yesterday. speaker pelosi: the select committee is bipartisan and it has a quorum. it will do the job it is out to do. that is to inves