cnn's jeff zeleny is traveling with the president to atlanta this morning. natasha chen following the investigation into these shootings. jeff, to begin with you, tell us what the president plans to do today and how much this trip has changed from its original intent. >> well, jim, president biden, vice president harris will be coming to atlanta and they were planning to tout the benefits of the covid relief bill, really explaining everything that's in the bill and how it can help georgians. coming to georgia because it was a key part of their election victory. and more importantly, a key part of democrats winning the senate majority that allowed this morning rescue plan to even be passed. but they are postponing a rally planned here and they are instead having a meeting with asian-american community leaders here. hearing the frustration. trying to console these leaders about -- in the wake of the shootings here this week. but interestingly, the white house has stopped well short of calling these hate crimes. and that is the issue here directly. so that is wh

jeff zeleny, appreciate your time. >>> brianna keilar picks up our coverage right now.> good afternoon, i'm brianna keilar. breaking right now in england, after sustained calls to respond to harry and meghan's explosive interview with oprah winfrey where they unveil open applications of racist treatment and neglect inside and outside the royal palace, buckingham palace has put out a statement saying they are saddened with what has happened. max foster is here with their statement. max, tell us

jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. >> as jeff zeleny mentioned, republicans haven't made it easy for the senate to vote on the relief bill. they forced clerks to read the entire document aloud. they say the bill is too big and to expensive to rush through. >> i feel bad for the clerks who have to read it, but it's just important. so often we rush these massive bills that are hundreds if not thousands of pages long. you don't have time. nobody has time to read them. so start considering something we haven't even read. at a minimum somebody ought to read it and this would give everybody time quite honestly, the clerks read it, our staffs will have time to consider what the provisions are, to start crafting memos. >> i think what senator johnson is doing, i should let him speak for himself, but what i see he's doing is making sure we communicate very clearly that the $1.9 trillion plan has good objectives but it's massively misdirected. a lot of the spending is not going where it's needed, that it's wasteful, that it's adding debt to our next generations and senator johnson wants to mak

we saw the breakdown a little bit from my colleagues, jeff zeleny.about -- if we talk just about highways and roads and road safety, that's about $135 billion as it breaks down. is there enough in there to be more than just a band-aid? >> oh, no, erica, look, the important thing about this package as your colleague just described, it starts a much needed and long overdue discussion about renewing the federal government's leapership in the area of infrastructure and the amount of investment included in the president's plan, it would certainly allow and elevate the federal government's ability to start tackling some of the problems. is it going to automatically solve everything? that just can't happen. it will have to be a process that is done incrementally over time and that's not going to start unless the ball on this package or something very much like it starts to get rolling. >> in terms of the getting that ball rolling, you have unique perspective because you have decades of experience now in the industry that you are involved in, and as i unders

i want to get to jeff zeleny there at the white house. big headline here, jeff, is that the vice president is being tasked by president biden to really be the point person when it comes to immigration, to stem the influx of migrants coming across the border and deal with the factors driving them away from mostly northern triangle countries. >> reporter: that is the key headline here. vice president hearris is gettig this new assignment, first and foremost, to address the surge in unaccompanied minors that the administration is dealing with, really has been dealing with for several weeks. one key point of this, this means that president biden is elevating this. this white house is taking this very seriously. they know that immigration is an issue that can spiral and certainly complicate other matters. so this is showing that they're taking it seriously. he also said, look, when she speaks, it's clear to those countries that she is speaking to me. she does not have to get to the president's word on this. so this is important in a couple fron

and basically said that this is going to take some time. >> david gergen, jeff zeleny, katherine lucy, thanks for joining us. >>> next, reaction to the breaking news to the other voting restriction bills now in the works. and later, david gergen's assessment of president biden's potential. we'll talk with documentary filmmaker ken burns who chronicled the public lives of teddy and franklin roosevelt, this moment in history and the new president's place in it. not all plastic is the same. we're carefully designing our bottles to be one hundred percent recyclable, including the caps. they're collected and separated from other plastics, so they can be turned back into material that we use to make new bottles. that completes the circle, and reduces plastic waste. please help us get every bottle back. i have an idea for a trade. that completes the circle, oh yeah, you going to place it? not until i'm sure. why don't you call td ameritrade for a strategy gut check? what's that? you run it by an expert, you talk about the risk and potential profit and loss. could've used that before i hired

let's bring in white house correspondent jeff zeleny.cause of all of this? >> the white house is saying because of covid and privacy restrictions they are limiting access. they are promising more in the days ahead but we're getting our first look at one of these facilities which is really aspirational. it is, you know, sanitized, if you will, but that is the place where this administration is intending to take children after they are at the intake facility where rosa was at right there, so as we look through this video, it's coming in right now, you know, we're seeing some children in a dining hall and other spots where where they have been taken after coming into this processing center, so all of this is coming as the biden administration is scrambling to really deal with what is a surge of my grants at the southern border coming up from central america, and the president made a pretty big step today in appointing vice president kamala harris to take the lead on overseeing all of these efforts at the border, particularly the diplomatic

our chief national affairs correspondent is jeff zeleny. he joins us live. jeff, good evening to you. this voting rights battle is heated. president biden is calling the push by republican state legislatures to restrict voting rights, and i quote here, sick and unamerican. but is it his number one priority given what we saw happen in georgia? >> it is not his number one priority but he explained. why during that news conference earlier today. he did say that presidents must select the timing of issues for a reason. he did talk, he was certainly more animated about voting rights than anything else he talked about. he did call it un-american, as you said. he also called it pernicious and used the example that it would be criminal behavior to give an older voter a glass of water as she waited in line to cast a ballot. so he said it was his plan to really explain these laws happening in georgia and many states across the country. he said he does not believe rank and file republicans actually support them. republican officials and elected officials, he said, do. b

let's go to jeff zeleny at the white house for us. what's the latest, jeff? >> the senate is hours away from beginning debate on that covid relief bill. the white house is focusing intensely on keeping the democratic coalition together, who will receive those stimulus checks if this is passed. all of this comes as president biden had some strong words for states that are opening back up. >> thanks for coming in. >> reporter: president biden striking a compromise tonight with moderate democrats to limit the americans eligible for a stimulus check in homes of pushing the covid relief bill across the finish line. as the senate begins to debate the measure, the white house agreeing to limiting the spending. people earning more than $80,000 or household incomes over $160,000 would no longer get a $1,400 check. >> these masks make a difference. >> reporter: in the oefbl office today, the president blasting officials in texas, mississippi and other states that are lifting all covid-19 restrictions. the last thing we need is that in the meantime everything is fine. t

here's jeff zeleny with all of that. jeff. >> reporter: the justice department is looking into a new georgia law restricting voting rights, part of the still simmering backlash of his defeat of donald trump. >> they passed a law saying you can't provide water for people standing in line while they're waiting to vote. >> reporter: it's the latest real world fallout from the so-called big lie, the unsubstantiated claims about widespread voter fraud that the former president and many under him are still peddling. the order signed by governor brian kemp made a provision making it a crime to bring food or water to people standing in line to vote. it comes after biden and two senate democrats brought to victory which caused them their senate majority. >> you don't need anything else to know this is a punitive designed to keep people from voting. >> reporter: it must end, he added. we have a moral and constitutional obligation to act. the question is how and when. across the country republican lawmakers in 43 states are consider

let's bring in kaitlan collins and jeff zeleny in atlanta. jeff, first to you. what do we know about the meeting that the president and vice president are in right now? >> reporter: we know president biden and vice president harris have been meeting for more than an hour with seven community members including five state leaders here in georgia. they're in the building behind me here on the campus of emeory univ university. it's running a bit long, but we know that president biden is going to be delivering remarks after this meeting. and percentages la, i'm told he's going to condemn more forcefully the rise of violence we've seen here in georgia and across the country directed at asian-americans in the last year during the coronavirus pandemic. president biden is also urging congress to pass the covid-19 hate crimes act. the white house is trying to draw a focus here. the question hanging over a lot of this is some of the community leaders have been telling us all week they want the president and white house to speak more forcibly that this was indeed a hate cri

>> cnn's jeff zeleny, thank you, jeff. >>> up next.amilies of victims of the atlanta's spa shootings call for justice as police investigate the motive and a potential hate crime. >>> and we'll talk to senator tammy duckworth calling on the attorney general to use the full fofrts justice department to investigate and prosecute anti-asian hate crimes. you can try to predict the future or you can create it. we're driving it. everywhere. we emit optimism, not exhaust. we plug in our vehicles as naturally as we charge our phones. we. we are generation e. we want smart. clean. and safe. to also be fun, easy and powerful! ultium! a battery that charges fast. runs long. it fits everyone. nobody will be left out. and that, changes everything. ♪ ♪ an inclusive future. it means healthcare for all. even in places where doctors are scarce. enter medibus, a state-of-the-art clinic on four wheels, powered by cisco, dispatched from the cloud to create a 21st-century lifeline. and all because one company dared wonder if the road to better healthcare co

jeff zeleny has the latest. >> thanks for coming in. >> reporter: president biden striking a compromise with moderate democrats to limit the americans eligible for a stimulus check in hopes to push the covid relief bill across the line. as the senate begins discussing it, the president will limit the spending. people earning more than $80,000 or household incomes over 160,000 would no longer get a $1400 check. >> these masks make a difference. >> reporter: in the oval office the president blasting officials in texas, mississippi and other states that are lifting all covid-19 restrictions. >> the last thing, the last thing we need is neanderthal thinking that everything is fine, take off your mask. forget it, it still matters. >> reporter: but the white house is focusing considerable attention on capitol hill trying to carefully thread a political needle of addressing the concerns of moderate democrats without alienating progressives. >> what he has been firm on is that the package needs to be large enough to meet the scope of the twin crises we're facing, covid and the economic downturn

cnn's jeff zeleny has more. >> reporter: president biden and vice president harris came to atlanta on friday to listen to the voices of asian-american community leaders who were voicing their concern in the wake of shootings here earlier this week that killed eight people, including six women of asian descent. the meeting lasted more than an hour. after that president biden acknowledged the rise in violence toward asian-amerasian-american over the course of the last year over the pandemic. he had this message for americans. >> hate and violence is often hidden in plain sight. it's often been met with silence. that's been all throughout our history. that has to change because our silence is complicity. we cannot be complcomplicit. we have to speak out. we have to act. >> reporter: for about an hour the president and vb did meet with asian-american community leaders including stephanie cho who i caught up with after the meeting. she said president biden's name came up again and again for his contributions regarding the violence during the pandemic. >> i'd like to see it beyond this mome

let's go to correspondent jeff zeleny joining us right now. the senate plans to take up covid relief this week. the house passed it last week. the president needs every democratic vote. right? >> reporter: in a 50/50 senate he needs every democratic vote and needs that tiebreaking vote from vice president kamala harris. that's presuming only democrats support the measure. the white house is opening the door to republican support but they know that time is ticking away for that. there were no republicans from the white house voted for this plan on the weekend and the president is meets with senators trying to win over every single one of them. at the white house tonight president biden intensifying the efforts to push the relief bill over another hurdle in congress. after returning from delaware, the president meeting virtually with nine democratic senators whose votes he needs along with all senate democrats to pass the $1.9 trillion package. >> we have received time in the schedule to be engaged, be permly involved in making phone calls, more

let's go to cnn's jeff zeleny. jeff, you heard a lot of caution there along with these new goals. news, we were told this press conference or this announcement was happening was because of this announcement that the president was using the defense production act and getting pharmaceutical giant merck to help johnson & johnson, normally a rival, produce more vaccines. >> jake, that is very significant. this is one of the things that has been at issue here, creating enough of a vaccine supply. through using the defense production act, it is going to allow merck to speed up to essentially get a couple of facilities online to start producing more johnson & johnson vaccination faster. it's unclear if that is part of his goal that pushes this up to may because it is going to take administration officials i've been speaking with say it's going to take several months to get those merck facilities up to speed. the idea of johnson & johnson being able to produce more is accelerating the goal of having enough vaccine for every american by the end of may. the distinction here is getting that

our jeff zeleny explains. >> reporter: at the white house, president biden intensifying his efforts to push his signature covid relief bill through yet another hurdle in congress. after returning from a weekend at his home in delaware, the president meeting virtually with 9 democratic senators whose votes he needs, along with all sen senate democrats to pass the package. >> we've reserved time to make sure he can roll up his sleeves, be personally involved, having more zoom meetings, potentially having people here to the oval office to get this across the finish line. >> reporter: with some benefits to americans expiring on march 14th, the clock is ticking for biden to make good on his pledge. there is no room for error in the closely divided senate after the house narrowly passed the measure with no republican votes. progressives are seatething on e $15 being left out. they've been urged to override the decision. >> why not fight for this? why is the white house not more aggressive in challenging that and having the vice president overrule the vote? >> the decision for the vice presid

chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny live in atlanta. , jeff. >> hey, good morning, john. no doubt that georgia played a key role in the election of joe biden and kamala harris, but it played an even more important role in their agenda so far. namely, that american rescue plan. the president and vice president were planning on holding a rally here in atlanta this evening to talk about the benefits of that plan. they did change their plans because of the shootings here this week in atlanta. they'll be meeting with members of the asian-american community. at the two-month mark almost of the presidency, we talk to georgia voters about what they think about the biden administration. >> you still just feel the relief in the air. >> mariana davis is watching president biden's first two months in office with hope and gratitude. >> we actually are about to head back to somewhat of a normal situation that we were used to before. so honestly, i'm satisfied. >> reporter: she's among the voters who not only helped him carry georgia but helped democra

the votes come after that. >> jeff zeleny, thanks so much. let's discuss with our panel.ine and bacckari, welcome. >> individuals who make less than $80,000 and families less than $50,000 that's an estimate from the budget model. 7 million families will not get a check because they no longer qualify. they would have, but now they won't. what do you make of that, mary katherine? are law makers risking alienating family members here? >> to some degree, yes. like you saw in the fight in georgia. it's a very easy argument to make that hey, i'm bringing you $2,000 checks so there will be blame attempted to be placed over this. however, i do think it's a responsible argument that age should be targeted. hey, let's make sure this goes to the people that are most in need and to where we put resources, in polling like allison's district in virginia that's very swingy has shown to be a decent message they have 675% 65%, and the broad thing is pretty popular and will probably go through and that's an argument to make in battleground states that i think is not a bad one. >> bakari, t

>> jeff zeleny live at the white house for us. let's discuss with former congresswoman mia love and van jones. you heard president biden say there he will not let unaccompanied children, migrants stay on the other side of the border and starve. obviously, as humans, we applaud the empathy, but others are accusing him of essentially encouraging more of this migration, more of this journey because of his humanity and border facilities, right now, are overwhelmed. >> i think he pointed out precovid, this kind of surge was an annual occurrence and is an annual occurrence no matter who is in the white house because of conditions back on home countries. it's a tough situation he's in. i think he should let the cameras in. i think it would actually bring out the best in the american people to push us toward resolving this in a comprehensive way. so making a mistake by not having the cameras in there. we are an nation of immigrants and laws and biden stuck up for our humanity as well as our laws to today. >> he place aid lot of blame on t

our cnn chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny is breaking this for us. of this psa? >> well, brooke, it's just yet another example of how former president donald trump is really estranged from this president's club. it's a very elite group of former presidents. and we saw it again on display in that public service announcement that came out earlier today of former presidents bill clinton, george bush, jimmy carter, barack obama getting their covid-19 vaccinations. but we were told the conversations about this actually began when president trump was still in office. then he left town, as we know, on inauguration day, and then later that day the three living presidents who attended the inauguration, presidents clinton, bush, and obama, had a conversation at the arlington national cemetery. that's where they recorded part of this ad. and then jimmy carter's voice was added later. and then they all agreed to have photographs of themselves taken getting vaccines. and that's something that president trump has not agreed to do. we learned later that he actually

cnn's jeff zeleny is with us now to talk about this. s more about what the president wants to do here. >> reporter: we heard president biden yesterday say that this is hiss biggest priority now, at least his legislative priority, and it is really following up on a campaign pledge to rebuild and restore the nation's decrepit infrastructure, everything from, you know, fixing airports to roads. and bridges in particular. we've seen incidents over the past several years of bridging collapsing. roads in disrepair. so that's a big chart of it, about a trillion dollars of it, but there is so much more than that. this is not just an infrastructure bill. there's also, you know, a big part of this, about improving education, access to child care, national child care, potentially free community college. so it's a -- it's much more of an economic bill, if you will, and we don't have all the details of it yet because the white house is still putting the finishing touches on it, presenting it to the president but next week they're going to roll that o

jeff zeleny is over at the white house for us today. the president can't afford to lose a single democratic vote in the senate if his plan is going to pass. >> reporter: wolf, that's absolutely right. the math simply does not work without all 50 democrats voting with the white house. that is why president biden was doing a virtual meeting with nine democratic senators. he needs all of those votes on the covid relief bill. they're still working out specific details about fooind funding on broadband and other matters. he needs their votes to push this over the finish line. at the white house tonight, president biden intensifying his efforts to push his signature covid relief bill through yet another hurdle in congress. after returning from his home over the weekend in delaware, the president meeting virtually with nine democratic senators, whose votes he needs to pass the $1.9 trillion package. >> we reserved time in his schedule to ensure he could be engaged, roll up his sleeves and be personally involved in having more zoom meetings, po

jeff zeleny reporting. thanks very much. let's talk about the president's infrastructure plan with the new commerce secretary. madam secretary, thank you so much for joining us. congratulations on the new job. the chamber of commerce is already criticizing president biden's plan saying we strongly oppose the general tax increases proposed by the administration which will slow the economic recovery, make the u.s. less competitive globally. the exact opposite of the goals of the infrastructure plan. that's the statement from chamber of commerce. what's your response to that criticism? >> good evening, wolf. good to be with you. good to see you. >> thank you. >> my response is that the very purpose of the president's package is to enhance american competitiveness and create jobs and every business leader i have spoken to from the big companies to small companies agrees that we need investments now if we're going to compete and if we're going to win. we need investments in job training for the jobs of today and tomorrow, investm

our chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny's over at the white house for us. the president, jeff, has been continuing a sales pitch for covid relief tonight. update our viewers on the latest. >> wolf, just a few moments ago president biden finished speaking with house democrats, urging them to stay united on this $1.9 trillion coronavirus spending bill. he also said there are going to be some small compromises along the way including tonight we are learning a limited number of checks being paid out to high-income americans in those stimulus payments. now, as the white house is keeping its focus on capitol hill, president biden had strong words today for leaders of texas and other states opening quickly. he called it neanderthal thinking. >> thanks for coming in. >> reporter: president biden striking a compromise tonight with moderate democrats. to limit the americans eligible fire stimulus check in hopes of pushing the covid relief bill across the finish line. as the senate begins debating the measure the white house agreeing to more narrowly target the spendin

jeff zeleny is with us now. this has not been presented to the president yet, jeff.nna, it's not yet presented to the president, but we are told it could be presented to president biden as early as this week. as you said, a $3 trillion plan. broadly focusing on infrastructure but including a couple of components. our phil mattingly reports it's likely to be broken down into two parts. one is infrastructure and clean energy. the other would be devised as sort of a catch-all, a care economy, involving a child care, involving education. those are the -- this is the next big legislative item for president biden. this is certainly weeks and months away from passage. this is the beginning of the next round of conversation for his agenda item. but interesting, $3 trillion price tag. by combining a variety of these things it certainly raises the question, if the white house is looking for bipartisan support or will even have the potential of getting bipartisan support when they combine infrastructure, which is fixing the nation's roads and airports, which, you know, certainl

jeff zeleny is joining us. calling it un-american and sick, an atrocity.ident do to take any action here? >> reporter: that is the central question and that's what democrats are calling on president biden to intensify his efforts to push for a federal law already passed by the house that would be passed by the senate as well that would essentially supercede the state laws and protect voting rights. senator warnock of georgia, one of the democratic senators who won in the runoffs in january cha changed the balance of power, he is urging the president to get behind the voting rights bill. that opens up a whole scenario of how do you do that? it includes, there are simply not 60 votes for that. we talk a lot about filibuster reform. would the president urge democrats and others to change the senate trulz allow that to happen. that is the road we're leading down right now. we are hearing president biden speaking out forcefully about it. i was in georgia last week talking to some of the activists and they want the president to speak out even more forcefully aga

jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. >>> all right. now more on north korea. the u.n.urity council committee in charge of dealing with sanctions on that country will meet in a few hours. the u.s. requested the meeting after north korea conducted two separate missile tests in less than a week and the u.s. didn't view the first test as a real provocation but wednesday's firing of ballistic missiles ramped up the urgency for washington and its allies. here is what president biden said. >> u.n. resolution 1718 was violated by those particular missiles that were tested, number one. we're consulting with our allies and partners and there will be responses if they choose to escalate. we will respond accordingly. but i'm also prepared for some form of diplomacy, but it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization. >> cnn's paula hancocks is in seoul, south korea, for us. paula, as we heard there president biden saying north korea was the top foreign policy item so presumably for north korea's missile launch it was mission accomplished. >> reporter: that's righ

just one highlight for more on the rest, we're joined by cnn chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny. what other themes did the president try to hit and what did reporters press him on? >> president biden hit on voting rights, particularly about cases like georgia, we were just hearing from diann there and president commenting, calling them un-american, sick, pernicious, raising the question of why republican legislatures across this country are trying to roll back voting laws. he was very animated on that. he also talked, of course, about the border. and he rejected the notion that this surge of migrants is coming because he's a nice guy. he said that, look, there are a cyclical surges that happen during the obama administration, it happened during the trump administration, but he did talk again and again about his predecessor, saying his policies are different than the trump administration's, and he took aim at him for that. also, he talked about afghanistan. he said he's nearing a decision on whether to pull out u.s. troops. that was supposed to be a deadline by may 1st. he said i

>> jeff zeleny is "outfront" near the white house tonight. those snips he has specific items, an agenda, he's going to do it with or without republicans. he had no problem mocking republicans, a confident and bold president today. >> reporter: it's clear he has the upper hand here with the senate and intending the play that hand. look, all of his years in the senate is making him a very interesting executive. we don't often see the head of the executive branch treating the legislative branch like this. but it's been fascinating to watch the early months and he plans to continue that. he believes he does have bipartisan support. never mind the votes. he doesn't need them for now. but he does believe he has republican support out in the country. that was true in the covid relief bill, and he's talking about that big infrastructure plan. we're talking about physical infrastructure like building roads and improving airports, soft infrastructure, if you will, expanding education, improving american jobs. so we saw an emboldened biden today who mad

jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. >>> america's top disease expert dr. fauci is sounding optimistic now in the fight against covid-19. he told stephen colbert the virus won't be with us forever. >> can we be hopeful that this will come to an end soon? >> well, yes. not only hopeful, you can be absolutely certain that this is going to end and we will get back to normal. the question is when. >> u.s. coronavirus case numbers have been dropping and the country is making strides on vaccinations. about 20% of the population has had at least one vaccine dose and those shots are enabling people to visit loved ones they haven't seen in months. erica hill has more. >> reporter: the first hug in a year. >> it was blissful, it was wonderful, and it was something that i'm going to remember for the rest of my life. >> reporter: across the country, families reunited. offering hope for what lies ahead. to get there, the white house promising every adult will be eligible for a vaccine by may 1. with a new website and call center to find available doses by zip code, and

let's get more on that from cnn chief domestic affairs correspondent jeff zeleny. the white house continues to insist this is not a crisis. >> reporter: pamela, they have repeatedly for the last several weeks declined to call this immigration crisis a crisis. but semantics aside, the numbers are growing, the white house is very well aware of this. in the last month alone, we're told, the border patrol has arrested more unaccompanied minors than in all of february. clearly this is fwgrowing even the u.s. government is telling people, don't come here. a new look tonight inside a crowded detention shelter at the u.s. border, where these images show children and families waiting as they try to seek asylum from central america. five pictures released by democratic congressman henry kwa ar offer a glimpse of the migrant children crossing from mexico. the white house has not allowed the public to see inside as the administration insists the humanity challenge is not an immigration crisis. >> children are presenting at our border who are fleeing violence, who are fleeing p

>> jeff zeleny, great reporting. appreciate it.st saw there in jeff's report, governor desantis's performance in florida and governor newsom is facing a recall and newsom said he's concerned about the effort. >> am i worried about it, of course i am. the up or down question, the zero sum nature of the question is challenging and vexing, so we're taking it seriously. i have to do my job every single day but i'm going to fight this thing. >> joining us now is democratic congressman raul luis of california. you know, in terms of that recall, governor newsom was also asked about it and the fact it's been gaining steam during the pandemic. here is his response to my colleague jake tapper. >> you have people that are part of the lead coalition that started this petition that are avid proud boy members, part of the 3 percenters, the right wing militia groups and supporters of the qanon, white supremacist groups and that's factual. so at the end of the day, that's the origins of this. >> there's the governor talking about the origins of th

. >> and let me bring in jeff zeleny because jeff, one of the things that president biden said that was kind of surprising in terms of whether or not he would allow news media into the facilities where this humanitarian crisis is going on, where all these unaccompanied migrant children and teenagers are, is basically he said, and i'm -- this is a generous paraphrase, but it's along the lines of, once we fixed it, we're going to let you in to see it but we're not going to let you in to see it, news media and therefore the american people, until we've fixed the problem. not really in keeping with the transparency that he promised in terms of leveling with the american people. >> well jake, i mean, the reality is whether they let the news media in so the public can see, we should always point out that's what this is about t american people being able to see their government al at work here, whether he does that or not is largely irrelevant because members of congress on both sides have made clear that the images that they have seen there are unacceptable. in fact, president biden said hims

joining us now with their reporting and insight, sung min kim and she's in wilmington, delaware and jeff zeleny is here with me. now president biden was pretty clear in the press conference that he has two top priorities and they don't necessarily include issues like guns or even voting which he spoke passionately about. what is the calculation here for biden? >> reporter: the calculation for biden in the white house is that the pandemic and the ensuing economic recovery is the factor that they will be judged on, particularly in the first 100 days of their presidency. just look at the what the president is planning on doing this week. the big centerpiece of his week ahead is his speech in pittsburgh where he will lay out his next phase of the build back better plan, a plan upwards of $3 trillion to improve roads, bridges, and also include things like expanding the child tax care credit and so many other provisions. and it really shows you, when you played those clips earlier in the president's news conference, that while presidencies are so much reacting and dealing with the crisis of the day s

with us to share the reporting and their insights, cnn's jeff zeleny. . highlight the covid relief package and the covid fight and a little bit of politics but it has a very different meaning now. >> reporter: it has a very different meaning. this is yet another example, perhaps the first example for president biden in this role that presidents do not control events. they react to events, and events control narratives in the administration. president biden initially coming to georgia, a key state to him, not only of course helping him win the white house but getting him in that democratic senate majority this allowed the covid relief bill to happen. he was going to rally support behind that, ic plain the benefits of the bill, that's now been put on hold for a more pressing urgent conversation with asian-american community leaders here in atlanta. of course the community is reeling after the horrific shootings earlier this week of eight women, six of asian descent. and he is going to be hearing from them directly and quite frankly, candidly about, is the w

jeff zeleny, cnn, the white house. >>> u.s.resident joe biden has taken his first major action against russia. the u.s. hit moscow with sanctions in a join move with the eu over the poisoning and imprisonment of putin critic alexei navalny. the leader was treated for exposure to what's believed to be a military-grade nerve agent. the white house says russia was behind the poisoning. the u.s. sanctions targets seven senior russian officials and 14 entities. washington and moscow obviously have very different views of the situation. >> reporter: together, they send an an ambiguous signal that the united states is working closely with our closest allies and partners in group, to make clear that this kind of behavior is not acceptable. we will not tolerate it. and there will be penalties going forward. >> translator: when there is nothing to present but somehow at least substantially their claim about navalny's poisoning, when all those who treated him are carefully hiding the facts that could help to understand what had happened t

jeff zeleny is covering the white house for us. it appears president biden is fired up over this. >> reporter: he absolutely is. he said this is an attack on the constitution and good conscience. it's likely this is going to end up as a legal challenge. for now it's a political challenge for the white house. president biden said even if he wanted to, he does not have the votes to change the filibuster rules in the senate. there's no question, all of this big lie over the last three months has come full circle and these new voting laws are being enacted. president biden saying tonight the justice department is looking into a new georgia law restricting voting rights, part of the still-simmering republican backlash from his defeat of donald trump. >> it has nothing to do with fairness, nothing to do with decency. they passed a law saying you can't provide water to people standing in line while they're waiting to vote. >> reporter: tonight it's the latest real world fallout from the so-called big lie, the unsubstantiated lies about vo

jeff zeleny has the latest. we're getting our first images. what's the latest?ok at one of the housing facilities after a surge of minors coming across the border. we should point out this is not the beginning of the road. the first stop along the journey, the shelters along the border, have been criticized by republicans and democrats alike for some of the conditions. we did get a look today of a stop along the way, a much more sanitized view of how this is being handled. now, all this is coming as president biden is clearly making immigration more of an issue. he decided vice president harris would be the point person leading diplomatic efforts at the surge at the border. tonight the biden administration allowing a first-time look inside a border facility where some crossing the u.s. border are being held. this center is in ctexas. these pictures from congressman henry cuellar showed a different view. this is a new view as the white house continues to restrict access to journalists at the border. >> you chose the facility that's an aspirational facility as opp

mattingly who is in pittsburgh with the president and our chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny who is over at the white house. jeff, first of all, somerize the major details of this huge plan that's going to go through congress, the house and the senate. no guarantee it's going to succeed, but you heard the president say he's open to additional suggestions to see if there's some opportunity for some bipartisan cooperation. >> reporter: he did. president biden certainly seized upon this moment and really put it in a bit of history saying that what happens now will be looked at generations from new on this moment, and he did ask republicans to come along on this journey with him saying that divisions of the moment should not necessarily hurt the future, but beyond that, the white house has pretty much locked in the idea here of funding this massive spending program that really would reshape the american economy with raising corporate taxes, and for many republicans that's simply a deal-breaker. the white house is aware of that, but, yes, they are open to ideas but it doesn't mean

. >> let's go to atlanta now where cnn's jeff zeleny is. we know, jeff that the president and vice-president use the time in atlanta to meet with asian-american leaders following that devastating shooting spree that killed eight people including six asian women. who exactly are the president and vice-president meeting with? >> well, brianna, president biden and vice-president harris will be on the camp of emery university meeting with asian leaders several state legislators as well pb the rising flikting influence here in georgia makes it about 3% of the population. they were critical in the election and they are speaking out very forcefully about the horrific shootings earlier this week but the president and vice-president will be sitting down with the community leaders to hear about the rising violent cases long before the shootings. and they are calling for the white house to draw more attention to this. there's been much discussion about is this a hate crime? is this not a hate crime? the white house stopped short of saying it is. offici

jeff zeleny, appreciate your time. >>> brianna keilar picks up our coverage right now. have a good day. >>> good afternoon, i'm brianna keilar. breaking right now in england, after sustained calls to respond to harry and meghan's explosive interview with oprah winfrey where they unveil open applications of racist treatment and neglect inside and outside the royal palace, buckingham palace has put out a statement saying they are saddened with what has happened. max foster is here with their statement. max, tell us about the reaction here. >> reporter: well, this is the statement from buckingham palace on behalf of her majesty, the queen, which is in windsor castle where i am. the whole family is saddened to hear the full extent of the challenge it has been for meghan and harry. the issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. while some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. so there are issues in terms of the racism claims, but they are suggesting that the recollections of those conversations dif

let's bring in cnn chief national affairs correspondent jeff zeleny in atlanta, chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins, cnn correspondent amara walker in atlanta and cnn legal analyst shaun wu to talk about this. in your view, did those remarks from president biden meet the moment amid this wave of anti-asian hate? >> i think that's what white house officials were aiming for when they were talking about this. i know we had heard from some of those asian american leaders and others in the community who said, yes, we do not have the police coming out and formally calling this a hate crime, we don't have them saying what the motivation of this shooter was, but we do think this highlights a problem people have been talking about, something that's seeing an uptick that's been highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic. that's been this violence against asian americans. that's really something you saw the vice president and president biden try to focus on there where president biden was saying, yes, we don't know the motive, but whatever the motive is, we know what the facts are. we know six of

jeff zeleny is out front. >> you look at what's happening in florida right now, this place is booming los angeles is not booming and new york city is not booming. >> reporter: it is booming here because you can live like a human being. a year after the pandemic began, florida is not only back in business, it has been in business and the governor gambled to take a laize seffa approach. >> while so many other states kept locking people down over these many months, florida lifted people up. >> reporter: desantis is standing out among governors on the front line of the coronavirus fight. a new measure for politicians of all stripes. he's not facing a potential recall like california like governor newsom and under investigation like new york's governor cuomo. desantis refused to implement one of those in the first place. florida's unemployment rate is 4.8% compares to 6.8% in texas and 8.8% in new york and 9% in california. >> when he went into office i was not sure what to expect but he did not do anything to hurt me as a business owner or me as a floridian so fine with me. >> reporter: t

he's attempting to serve as consoler in chief as cnn's jeff zeleny reports. >> reporter: president bidentoday, condemning rising acts of hatred and rising hatred toward asian-american. at this hour president biden and vice president harris are meeting with community leadering in the wake of a rampage that killed eight people this week including six asian women. he wants to pass an act. the president and vice president also visiting cdc headquarters in atlanta. >> your support for cdc is so important. >> reporter: receiving a briefing from officials on a day where the administration hailed the milestone of hitting 100 million coronavirus shots with a promise to reach 200 million doses in arms by his 100th day in office by the end of april. >> we owe you a gigantic debt of gratitude, and we will for a long, long, long time because i hope this is the beginning of the end of not paying attention. >> reporter: earlier in the day as he left washington on a windy morning, biden struggled to find his footsing as h i i ing as he stairs, promoting a spokeswoman to say he's fine. for biden and harr

he told jeff zeleny it's time to give an alternative to the trump vision. >> any time in the republicanhere's been competing visions. except for now. it's trump's vision. we have a right and responsibility to offer competing visions. >> he acknowledges his effort might not be successful. what do you think of this all? >> look, i think adam kinzinger is a man of some courage. he potentially is sacrificing his political career. he said as much publicly. he knows that this could cost him a loss, but he has decided that he has to take a stand, as he puts it, for the truth. and he has decided to do that in a big way. not just with a vote, but with talking to people around the country, trying to raise money to reform the republican party. and he may not be successful, but he wants to be a part of history that says, at least i tried to do it. i think that's an important point that he's making. he may lose his seat as a result. >> or he may not. >> or he may not. >> he ran ahead of trump in his district. ayesha and gloria, thank you. appreciate it, as always. >>> genocide happening right now. f

jeff zeleny at the white house, thank you very much. >>> major milestone in the fight against the pandemic. cdc now saying more than 1 million vaccine doses have been administered in the u.s. some people have been able to resume lives that came to a halt one year ago this week. >> reporter: her first hug in a year. >> it was blissful. it was wonderful. and it was something i'm going to remember for the rest of my life. >> reporter: across the country, families reunited. >> missed you. >> reporter: offer ing hope for what lies ahead. to get there, the white house promising every adult will be eligible for a vaccine by may 1st. with a new website and call center to find doses per zip code and more vaccination sites. >> doubling of pharmacy locations, and a surge in vaccinators. we're ensuring that equity remains at the center of our response. >> reporter: experts stress we can't rely on vaccines alone. >> we've always needed vaccines in the context of tried and true, basic public health blockling and tackling. >> reporter: yet more of those public health measures are being fazed out. most ma

joining me for more is cnn's jeff zeleny at the white house. jeff, i'm wondering if folks at the white house need to start thinking about the dmmtic majority in the senate right now after manu and lauren's reporting. but talk to me about what today means for joe biden. >> kate, that is something that president biden certainly thinks about every single day, and let him count the ways. it is such a narrow majority. every piece of the agenda has to be seen through the light of can we get at least 50 democratic votes, not just joe manchin but also kyrsten sinema. but as for the press conference today there are several audiences here that president biden has in mind as he embarks on his first press conference of his first term in office and the senate is certainly one of them. up until now the white house has been relatively successful in threading the needle and keeping, you know, the big tent of the democratic party together, progressives on the left, and moderates as well. that is a challenge that will intensify as the weeks go ahead. as he moves