have also said that this type of guidance is long overdue. nearly 60 million americans have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine and more than 30 million americans are now fully vaccinated. and while the vaccine rollout has accelerated rapidly in recent days, the timing remains critical. the top health experts in the country say new infection rates have plateaued at a very high level after falling for several weeks. and highly transmissible variants continue to spread throughout the country even as states are starting to loosen restrictions and in some places completely remove any masking requirements. so there is a lot that we're waiting to get some more guidance, to hear some from the covid response team when they begin the briefing any moment now. joining me now is elizabeth cohen and dr. jorge rodriguez, a viral specialist. so elizabeth, this has been long awaited guidance that we'll be hearing. what do you know about the level of detail or how granular this guidance is going to get? >> you know, kate, if people are expecting guidance that said if you're fully vaccinated, you could now sit here and go here and getting very specific with specifi specific scenarios, they're very disappointed. but i think the biggest question on their mind after being vaccinated is can i visit with the people who i love who i haven't been able to visit for over a year. and let's take a look at what we mean when we say fully vaccinated. when the cdc said those are guidelines for those fully vaccinateds that means that you are two weeks after your johnson & johnson vaccine or two weeks after your second dose of moderna or pfizer. so once you hit the two week mark, from then on in you are fully vaccinated. so what the new guide lines say and these are being announced by cdc director dr. rochelle walensky as we speak, as if the new guidelines say you could visit indoors with other fully vaccinated with no need more mask or social distancing, so you could be indoors if everyone else is fully vaccinated and no need to wear a mask or social distance and visit indoors with people who are unvaccinated, if, and that is a big if, if they are from one household, they all need to be from one household and at low risk for severe covid-19. if you fulfill those two things you could visit indoors with no need more masks or social distancing. now a few more items that they have. no need to test or quarantine if you've been vaccinated and you've been exposed to someone with covid-19. as long as you're asymptomatic. so your vaccinated and exposed to someone with covid-19 and you don't need to test or quarantine as long as you're symptomatic. you do need to wear masks and keep social distancing in public and you do need to avoid medium and large gatherings. so in other words to bottom line this, you could not just, like, go to a concert, or go to some kind of sporting event just because you're vaccinated. the cdc is saying avoid those kinds of gatherings. but if you want to go visit your grandma, your fully vaccinated, she's fully vaccinated, you haven't seen her for a year, you can go and hug her. kate. >> look, and it might not be everything, but even, dr. rodriguez, hearing as elizabeth is laying out there is no need to quarantine after an exposure, that is life changing for so many people because of what the necessary quarantine period could mean for your life and your family. that in and of itself feels huge. why do you think this guidance is so important? >> i think it is important not ome because of what happens to us socially but also at work. does it mean now that we could come back to work if we've been vaccinated as opposed to -- exposed as opposed to losing maybe 14 days of work. all of that is going to be important guidance. but what i want people to keep in mind when the guidelines come out is that they are going to be evolving. so it doesn't mean that science is wrong. it means that we're getting more data. remember, there are people that were on studies, starting in september, august of last year, and we are seeing how long these people are going to have immunity, for all we know it could be six months or a year. so in a few months, these guidelines may change. so we have to keep an open mind and we have to realize that right now, the flood gates are not open. we have to come out cautiously, cautiously. >> also, dr. rodriguez, just in -- we'll wait to hear more of what we hear from dr. walensky, the cdc director when they begin, but what more -- i'm being told it is beginning right now. let's jump over to the white house coronavirus response team. >> good morning and thank you. i'm glad to be back with you today. let's get started with an over view of the pandemic. the most recent seven day average of cases is about 59,000 cases per day. importantly on the the far right of the graph you could see there is a leveling off of the decline. and the most recent seven-day average of deaths is slightly lower than 2,000 deaths per day. these numbers show us that the pandemic still remains a very serious situation, with the most communities continuing to have high levels of covid-19 transmission. we are watching these data closely to see where the pandemic will head in the coming days. but i'm also hopeful. as of today, 59 million people in the united states have received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine. and approximately 31 million or 9.2% of the u.s. population is fully vaccinated. putting us on a strong path to eventually end this pandemic. and as you just heard, we're now vaccinating more than 2 million people per day. we've been through a lot this past year and with more and more people getting vaccinated each day, we are starting to turn a corner. and as more americans are vaccinated, a growing body of evidence now tells us that there are some activities that fully vaccinated people can resume at low risk to themselves. this is why today, cdc is releasing its initial guidance for the public that, for the first time, lays out some of the activities considered safe for those who are fully vaccinated. when i say fully vaccinated, i mean people who are two weeks after their second dose of either the pfizer or moderna vaccines, or two weeks after a single dose of the johnson & johnson vaccine. before i talk about the specific recommendations, i want to underscore a few important points. first, robust clinical trial data demonstrate that the current covid-19 vaccines are highly effective at protecting vaccinated people against severe illness, hospitalization or death from covid-19. however, there is still a small risk that vaccinated people could become infected with milder or asymptomatic disease, and potentially even transmit the virus to others who are not vaccinated. understanding the size of this risk in vaccinated people, and to the risk of transmitting the virus to others who are not vaccinated, is an ongoing area of research. second, it is important to note that this is initial guidance. the science of covid-19's complex and our understanding of the virus continues to rapidly evolve. the recommendations today are just a first step. as more people get vaccinated and the science and evidence expands, and as the disease dynamics of this country change, we will continue to update this guidance. importantly, our guidance must be -- must balance the risk to people who have been fully vaccinated, the risk to those who have not yet received a vaccine and the impact on the larger community transmission of covid-19 with what we all recognize to be the overall benefits of resuming everyday activities and getting back to something -- to some of the things that we love in life. it is against this back drop and the current state of the pandemic that we've developed these new recommendations. with today's initial guidance, it is important to note that we are focusing on activities of fully vaccinated people can resume in private settings such as their homes under two scenarios. the first scenario is fully vaccinated people visiting with other fully vaccinated people. in this slide, these individuals are represented by solid green circles. in this scenario, cdc recommends that fully vaccinated people can visit with other fully vaccinated people in small gatherings indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing. remember, here we're talking about private settings where everyone is vaccinated. so what does this mean? if you and a friend or you and a family member are both vaccinated, you could have dinner together, wearing masks, without distancing. you could visit your grandparents, if you have been vaccinated and they have been too. now, i want to talk to you about another more complicated scenario. it involves vaccinated people visiting with unvaccinated people. when fully vaccinated people visit with unvaccinated people, we have to consider the underlying risks of the unvaccinated people. and any unvaccinated members of their household. we take this approach because all of our guidance is rooted in making sure we are keeping people safe. so, cdc recommends that fully vaccinated people can visit with unvaccinated people from one other household, indoors, without wearing masks or physical distancing as long as the unvaccinated people and any unvaccinated members of their household are not at high risk for severe covid-19 disease. in the slide, people who are vaccinated and at low risk for severe covid-19 are indicated by solid orange circles. this means that none of the unvaccinated people or any unvaccinated members of households, for example, an adult over age 65 oar has an underlying condition such as cancer or heart disease or diabetes that could increase the risk of covid-19 hospitalization or death. if parents have been vaccinated they could visit their daughter and her family even if they have not been vaccinated so long as the daughter and her family are not as risk for severe disease. they are solid orange circles. second, if an unvaccinated individual or any unvaccinated member of their household are at high risk for severe disease, shown here by hollow orange circles, everyone regardless of vaccination status should still wear a mask and physically distance and choose to meet outdoors or in a well ventilated space. this is recommended to keep the individuals at high risk who are unvaccinated safe. similarly, when fully vaccinated people are visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households, everyone should wear a mask and physically distance and meet outdoors in a well ventilated space. moving on to quarantine, away from visiting. in addition to these new recommendations on visitation and private settings, cdc's new guidance also recommends that fully vaccinated people do not need quarentine or get tested following a known exposure to someone with covid-19 as long as they have asymptomatic. at this time, the cdc is not adjusting current guidance on travel. we'll believe the new recommendations are an important first step in our efforts to resume everyday activities in our communities. however, we remain in the midst of a serious pandemic. and so over 90% of our population is not fully vaccinated. though we are working hard to get there. therefore, everyone, whether vaccinated or not, should continue to avoid medium and large side gatherings as well as nonessential travel and when in public spaces, should continue to wear a well fitted mask, physically distance, and follow other public health measures to protect themselves and others. covid-19 continues to exact a tremendous toll on our nation. like you, i want to be able to return to everyday activities and engage with our friends, families and communities. science and the protection of the public health must guide us as we begin to resume these activities. today's action represents an on the first step. it is not our final destination. as more people get vaccinated, levels of covid infection decline in communities and as our understanding of covid immunity improves, elizabeth warren look fo-- we look forwar covering a lot of ground this morning so i want to recap the main points of our initial guidance released today. in summary, fully vaccinated people can visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing a mask or physical distancing. visit with unvaccinated people from a single household who are low risk of severe covid-19 disease indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing and refrain from quarantine and testing following a known covid-19 exposure if the vaccinated person remain asymptomatic. for now, we will continue to examine this in the upcoming weeks and update our guidance accordingly, fully vaccinated people should continue to take precautions like in public like wearing masks and physical distancing, wear well fitted masks and physically distance and adhere to other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people at increased risk of covid or an unvaccinated family member that has increased risk of covid. wear masks and physically distance when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households, avoid medium and large size crowds. get tests when experiencing covid-19 symptoms, follow guidance issued by individual employers and follow cdc and health department travel recommendations. as i close, i want to stress that we continue to have high levels of virus around the country and more readily transmissible variants have been confirmed in nearly every state. while we work to quickly vaccinate people more and more each day, we have to see this through. let's stick together. please keep wearing a well-fitting mask and taking the other public health actions we know work to help stop the spread of this virus. thank you so much for your time today. and i will now turn things over to dr. fauci. >> thank you very much, dr. walensky. woul i would like to spend a couple of minutes on a different topic and that has to do with investigational therapeutics for covid-19. if i could have the first slide. on a previous briefing i had mentioned to the group that there were a number of investigational therapeutics including monoclonal antibodies, convalescence plasma, et cetera. what i want to do today for a couple of minutes is talk about the issue of direct acting anti-virals. if i could have the next slide. the strategy for direct acting anti-virals in the future will be aprocess that we have done with other infections which i'll get to in a moment. and that is the identification of vulnerable targets after study of the replication cycle of the virus in this case, sars-cov-2 and then to design drugs to directly inhabit that vulnerable target. next slide. we have been extraordinarily successful in this with hiv. now targeted drug development, which is the terminology we use for this approach, targeted drug design, has occurred before hiv, particularly with the herpes viruses. but it really got into its own frame with hiv. and the reason i say that is that that was the first of the extraordinarily successful results of targeted drug design. and the reason and the mechanism that we got there, next slide, was to delineate the replication cycle of the virus. in this case, you see in the upper left hiv binding to its now well described receptors, the cd-4 molecule and one of his co-receptors. it enters and the rna transcribes and inputs his dna into the cellular dna and then transcribed out and buds off. over the years of intensive study, next slide, each of the vulnerable targets has led to a different class of a highly effective anti-retro viral drug. including the reverse transcript inhibitors and the int grace inhibitors and the fusion and entry inhibitors. next slide. this is led to now an extraordinary number of drugs which when used in combinations have transcribed -- has transformed, excuse me, the life of hiv infected individuals giving them almost a normal life span, although the drug needs to be given essentially for the rest of their lives. next slide. that same principle is now being applied to sars-cov-because here is a comparable life cycle. there are obviously differences here. in the left you see sars-cov-2 binding to its age two receptor and binding to the membrane, infusing, entering and then a whole bunch of steps that i need not go through that involve a variety of enzymes which ultimately lead to the release of the lower right hand part of the slide. next slide. with the same strategy that was used with hiv, we will be screening and then proactively designing entry inhibitors, prod inhibitors and others. next slide. and then if you look at what has been going on right now, and taking each of these very briefly, there are early stage nonmonoclonal antibody cases in preclinical developments such as peptides and small proteins blocking entry. with regard to preliminary inhibitors, they have approved recommend from gilead and this past week we heard of new piera veer from ridgeback bio therapeutics and merck in which they published the preliminary analysis of the phase two trial that showed a quicker decrease of infectious virus in participants with symptomatic disease. just two days ago, artia pharmaceuticals reported favorable and farmico connective data from phase one trial and pfizer is in a phase one trial with a prodais inhibitors. i show this to the group because this is really the beginning of the phase of looking in a strategic way for direct acting anti-virals which are going to be used to prevent people from progressing in their disease, namely keeping them out of the need for hospitalizations. and on this final slide, for those of you who want to get more detail, just this past november the nih had an nih-sars-cov-2 summit looking at the state of therapeutics, gaps in the field and a number of public/private partnerships. you could get this on the ni hiv website. and i ken aurth you to take a look at that because that's the direction that we'll be going over the next weeks to months, to years. i'll stop there and hand it over to dr. marcel nunez smith. >> thank you so much, dr. fauci. and good morning to everyone. i want to talk of course today about equity and you've heard us describe that equity is at the foundation, the center of this administration's covid-19 response. and over the last month in my time with you i've detailed why that needs to be the case. so we've taken a look at the differences in covid-19 outcomes, for instance by race and ethnicity. and since the beginning of this pandemic, we have all seen that factors like race, ethnicity, rural versus urban geography, poverty, disability, living situation, and type of employment, they all are exerting tremendous influence on the the outcomes we see in covid-19. so i want to begin this morning by giving an update on the ongoing inequities relating to covid-19. let's look at cases and deaths and vaccination by race and ethnicity. as you could see here, latino individuals continue to bear more than their share of covid-19 cases. while black people continue to bear more than their share of deaths. notably you see the share of vaccinations is significantly lower from latino and nonhispanic black individuals r relative to their share of each individuals. this all still only tells part of the story. as we we may be limited by the length of our data. only 50% of those that have received a first doze of a vac. this varies widely among the states as you could see in the next slide and we're not getting from individuals and from providers and from straights about who has access to these three life saving vaccines that need to be equitably distributed across our country. so i want to emphasize here, it is possible to do better. the final slideshows us the information that providers and states are reporting to us and the age of people who they are vaccinating. so contrast that with the data on the race and ethnicity of the same individuals. again we have critical ground that we must make up but we must not get discouraged or feel like it is insurmountable. we could do this. so like many of you, we've also seen a lot of conversation about vaccine confidence. about how some communities due to a range of historical as well as contemporary factors are less inclined to believe that the vaccines are safe and effective, and less inclined to trust the systems offering these vaccines and less ip kleined to trust the government to ask them to get vaccinated. we still have some work to do to meet people where they are. the administration is implementing a comprehensive campaign and where we've been hosting round tables with key constituents to make sure that we get that effort right. we're building relationships with trusted messengers all over the country to make sure they have the best information possible to share with their communities. but we cannot and we will not accept that these differences in vaccine confidence are the end all and be all of the difference in vaccine uptake that we're already seeing. in the context of inequitable systems, we must take significant steps at every level of intervention to bend the vaccination process toward justice. now our success depends on our ability to build a robust and coordinated effort at the local and state level to over come all of the dinics in place and this moment calls for that kind of effort. so in light of everything that we've seen in the 84 days since our nation began covid-19 vaccines we're turning up expectations for the vaccine program on all fronts. and we have a series of federal programs that are a key part of our approach to ensuring that all communities have vaccination access. first, we have our large community vaccination sites all over the country, so far we have over 580 operational federally supported sites. and over 170 sites are actively receiving on site support by federal personnel. and we've also been able to set up a series of federally established community vaccination centers and by the end of the week we'll have 18 of those sites running across seven states but with the ability to administer 61,000 total shots per week. and each of our federal sites has been designed with key equity oriented features. so targeted geographic eligibility, weekend extended hours, reserve slots for registration through community and faith based organizations and deployment alongside mobile vaccination units to help. so we're going to keep pushing to launch more and more of these sites and dive into the data to make sure they are achieving the goal of improving vaccine equity in those communities. second we have our federal retail pharmacy program and this program features chain and independent pharmacies across the country. and as of last week we are administering 2.5 million doses of the pfizer, moderna vaccines and plus the additional from the johnson & johnson vaccine. we designed this retail pharmacy program to ensure that one-third of the pharmacy sites are placed in communities with higher scores on the cdc social vulnerability index. those are populations at higher risk due to factors and due to people of color as well as housing types and transportation dynamics. so we're going to press toward this mark to ensure that pharmacies are selecting the communities with the greatest feed and we want to prioritize those that do a better job addressing equity. and finally we rolled out our federal community health centers partnership program. over the past three weeks we've been unboarding the first 250 centers, they collectively serve 12.5 million people and span all 50 states. as a whole these community health centers provide services for large number of public housing residents, people of color and individuals with limited english proficiency. so as we look to the next phase of the this program, we will prioritize filling gaps in our coverage to the highest hit. i'm sorry hardest hit, highest risk communities whether they be urban or rural. and as we double down on the reach and impact of our federal programs we'll increase our vaccine supply to the tates and as we move forward we're calling on every state to show their work, too. we're asking our partners in the states to offer clear transparent equity goals for their residents and also calling on the states to help us get the data to work with us to find creative solutions to the inequitable vaccine up take that has already emerged in the first months of the vaccination program. so just want to be clear that acleaving equity is not an aspiration goal. this is mission critical. absent equity, we'll not be able to stop this pandemic from continuing to claim lives, strain our health care system and weaken our economy. but by working together, we believe we can hit the mark. so thank you for your time and with that i'll turn it back over to andy. >> thank you. as we covered a lot of ground in our report. m before i turn for questions, i want to summarize a few things that we heard today. today i think we have begun to describe what a world looks like where we move beyond covid-19. doctor walensky outlined a first step for those of us who have been vaccinated, and i think it is important to note that as more and more people get vaccinated dr. walensky will continue to update us and the list of activities will continue to grow. dr. fauci outlined ongoing strategies to allow for a life post-covid to become safer and safer. and dr. nunez-smith importantly points out that this recovery is not an even picture, and in fact we cannot fully get back to a place where we are approaching where we were before covid, unless we do an important and good job reaching equity. so i think a very hopeful morning but with some continued warning signs and hope for the future. so with that, let's take some questions. >> we're running a few minutes late so we'll have to take a couple less questions. but first we'll go to ed o'keefe at cbs. >> hi, everyone. happy monday. >> hi, guys. >> international women's day. >> obviously this is -- we're overlapping with the -- can you hear me [ inaudible ]. >> the first establishes the white house -- >> all right. we'll go ahead and go to a question. >> we're go to zeke at a.p. >> thanks, for the call. for dr. walensky, i was hoping you could clarify where the cdc hasn't -- what the limiting factor is in sds not putting out guidance for those not having to wear masks and being able to travel and things like that. what is the main factors in the background cases of the virus in a community, is that not enough people are -- are vaccinated just yet to get there and then could you just provide a step of sort of what the next set of guidance is going to be and what the trigger be for people who are fully vaccinated being advised to be able to remove masks in public and go about a somewhat normal life. >> yeah, thank you for that question. i think it is important to realize as we're working through this that still over 90% of the population has not yet been vaccinated and it is our responsibility to make sure in the context of 60,000 new cases a day, that we protect those who remain unvaccinated and remain vulnerable. so we're doing our best to do that. i think it is also important to remember that people who are vaccinated, there is increasing data now that suggests that they might get break through infections with lesser amounts of disease, lesser symptomatic disease. milder disease. however, we're still waiting for data to emerge about whether they could transmit that virus to other people. so our next steps in terms of putting out the guidance as i mentioned is really to see larger swath of the population vaccinated, we're actively on our way to didding that and seeing decline in the country and waiting for new data to emerge. so we're hoping it is in a relatively short period of time but we do need to see more data as well. >> we've been listening to the white house coronavirus response team. dr. walensky, the cdc director saying we are starting to turn a corner. as the cdc puts out guidance for the first time on what fully vaccinated people should and shouldn't do. can and can't do and what that means for the rest of the population. let me bring back in elizabeth cohen as well as dr. jorge rodriguez. dr. rodriguez, i just want to get what you think of what we just heard. >> well what i think of, this is a good first baby step. and whey heard also from the question that was being asked, everybody is so anxious to just completely go back to 100% normal. this does not say that. so we can't be that anxious and just rush out. what basically it is going to be very good for families and groups that are vaccinated and have been vaccinated. let me caution people as happened with the hiv world, people will say they are vaccinated just to try to get into groups so you have to vet the people that you're going to be with. i know that is a weird tlhing t say but it is also true. now these are small gatherings. again, it is what their saying, mostly for families and also if you're going to meet with groups, that are unvaccinated, you have to be sure that it is a small group and that is people that are not as risk for acquiring covid, because people that are vaccinated, even though they're going to be safe, we still don't know how much can be spread to other people. so this is a small baby step, but an important one. >> and elizabeth, just even one of the examples, i have to say, just made me smile, hearing the cdc director say vaccinated grandparents can visit, this is just for example, could visit their daughter and family who have not been vaccinated as long as they're at low risk to the disease. i know it is a baby step. but, man, i guess we could just need to take hope where we could get it and that is just really wonderful to hear. >> absolutely, kate. i completely agree. i got a smile on my face when i heard that as well. does it mean we could all do whatever we want if we're fully vaccinated? no, it doesn't. but after the year we've had, to be told if you're fully vaccinated and you're a mother or a grandmother or a father or grandfather is fully vaccinated, you can hug them, that feels huge. that feels priceless, right now. >> it does. and doctor rodriguez, you talked about the limiting factors are, that dr. walensky made clear there is more guidance, the more people are vaccinated, things will open up more. but when more data comes in that they seem to be eagerly waiting for, if and how much someone who is vaccinated can transmit the virus still. >> correct. i think that is very important because we still don't know -- i mean we've only been vaccinating people now for a few months and only a small percentage. and with these variants sh we really don't know how they are going to come into play, how they are going to be effecting the infectivity of people that have been vaccinated. one thing that i wish they had touched upon and maybe they don't have information is what about people that have already had covid. are they considered equal to vaccinated people? at this point, from what they're saying, no. and i think that is very important. because people that have had covid, a people say i have antibodies. that is not necessarily true. so if you have had covid, from these guidelines, it is not equal to having been fully vaccinated. >> that is definitely a key area they say more research needs to come in. but i know i'm just going to say it again, i'm going to take good news when we could get it and today feels like one of those moments, when we're getting that good news. thank you for the reporting. thank you so much. it is good to see you as always. coming up for us, it is been nearly a year since george floyd's death, now the trial for the officer, the former officer accused of killing him, it was just put on hold. 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today is the first day of the first trial into the death of george floyd. and already it is on hold. former police officer derek chauvin, he is on trial. he's the officer who was seen kneeling on george floyd's neck for nearly eight minutes last summer, even after floyd was unconscious. chauvin faced second-degree unintentional murder and manslaughter charges. jury selection was just guesting started when the judge then d dismissed everyone from the courtroom. joining me is omar jimenez in minneapolis, following all of this for us. so omar, what is happening? >> reporter: yeah, so you touched on the most important part right now, is that we are in -- we're in recess right now until the appeals court, that we're dealing with this in district court, but until a higher appeals court rules on whether jury selection should be delayed while they decide whether to reinstate third-degree murder charges. and that is the real dispute right now. in fact, earlier this morning, the judge in this case, at the district level, peter cahill, said we don't need to delay this to move forward with the jury selection. prosecutors felt differently and that the appeals court should decide and they have now filed a motion with that appeals court and that is what we are waiting on. so the jury selection process, that was supposed to begin officially at 10:00 a.m. eastern time this morning, has been delayed at least until tomorrow as jurors have been sent home. but here is what is on the table right now. bottom line, derek chauvin, the former minneapolis police officer seen kneeling on the neck of george floyd for nearly eight minutes last may, he's been charged with second-degree unintentional murder and second-degree manslaughter and the judge dropped the initial third-degree murder charge back in october but that is what is being disputed and brought back up right now. and then timeline for this was supposed to begin with jury selection officially this morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern time and go no later than march 26th with opening statements beginning on march 29th and the entire trial process from there expected to last two to four weeks. what will happen to the overall timeline based on at least this hour's delay that we're seeing is still unclear. but what is clear at this moment, is that both the prosecutors and at least the district judge peter cahill in this want to wait and see what the appeals court decides in regards to whether these third-degree charges could be reinstated and whether this trial should be delayed in the jury selection process while that is being decided. so, a lot of different factors. a lot of legal jargon playing out right now. >> but so many people watching as we've seen, people gathering even this morning so so much, so many eyes and so much importance on this. omar is on the ground. thank you. joining me now is cnn legal analyst areva martin. omar laid out where we are in this moment. what is your reaction to the recess as we wait and as we wait to start back up with jury selection? >> not surprised, kate, that there is a brief recess as the apellat court makes the decision about reinstating those third-degree murder charges as omar said. the prosecutor wants to have those charges reinstated. there was a minneapolis police officer who was charged and convicted on third-degree murder just in 2019. he is serving more than ten years. so i think the prosecutors see those third-degree murder charges as being pretty important. because as we know, very difficult to get a conviction of a police officer in a shooting such as this -- or murder death, in this case, the kneeling on george floyd's neck. so the third-degree murder case, as seen by the prosecutors, may be the safe harbor that they need. so i think for the prosecutors, a day delay or a couple of days delay is not significant, more significant than the third-degree murder charges are added back to the case. >> that is interesting. and when me do start back up with jury selection, it is expected to be about three weeks. when it does resume, and areva everyone hopes for an impartial jury in every setting. but what are the prosecutors an the defense team looking for in jurors here? >> you know, it is a very good question. and of course they're not going to find any juror that is likely not have watched that videotape or had a some knowledge of this case. >> right. >> given the massive amount of media attention that it has gotten. but they're both looking for jurors that could set aside preconceived notions and biases and walk into the courtroom and look at the evidence and arguments made in the courtroom. and base their deliberations and their ultimate decision on what is presented before them. not what they've seen in the media, not what their friends or family members may have talked about. very imperfect system because unlikely that people have not already formed their opinions. but the question is can you set aside any opinion that you have for them. we know from the questionnaire that has been presented to potential jurors even before they start voir dire, they've been asked personal questions about politics and issues of race, do they support black lives matter, have they participated in marches, how many times have they witnessed or watched that video of the kneeling on george floyd's neck. these are unusual questions typically, the question and questionnaires have to do with demographics, your age and gender and what might be that deep rooted biases and people hold around bigger political and social issues. >> that is interesting, how deep in -- if intrusive is the right word, but driving those questions are. that is really interesting, thank you very much. we're going keep an eye on when things pick back up in the courtroom today in minneapolis. but still ahead for us, racism and family rifts an thoughts of suicide. prince harry and meghan markle sit down for a remarkable interview about why they left the royal family. ♪ 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rinvoq. make it your mission. if you can't afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. for nearly a decade, comcast has been helping students get ready. we've connected 4 million low-income students to low- cost, high-speed xfinity internet. we're working with hundreds of school districts across the country to sponsor free internet and laptops. and parents are seeing an impact. and now we're turning 1,000 community centers into lift zones - wifi enabled safe spaces to study. so more students can be ready for anything. i'm trying to do some homework here. there is no response yet from the palace for british royal family after prince harry and meghan markle's interview with oprah winfrey last night. it is an interview for the history books, deeply personal and brutally critical of how harry and meghan were treated by what they call the if i were. charges of racism and so much mar. it got so bad according the meghan markle she said she even considered suicide and said she was essentially pleading for help but got none. listen. >> i knew that if i didn't say it that i would do it and i just didn't -- i just didn't want to be alive anymore. and that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. and i remember -- i remember how he just cradled me. and i was -- i went to the institution, and i said that i needed to go somewhere to get help, said that i have never felt this way before, and i need to go somewhere. and i was told that i couldn't, that it wouldn't be good for institution. >> joining me right now is katie knickol, royal correspondent for "vanity fair" and author of harry and meghan, life, loss, and love. katie, this is an interview that people knew would be hard on royal family. but nothing like this. i mean, what is the impact of this, katie? >> well, kate, it's huge. i think it is immeasurable at the moment. as you say, we haven't heard from the palace. we don't know whether they are going to respond. every courtier that i have tried to call today has had their phones switched off. the last time that happened was just after the announcement from the couple in january that they were going to step down their senior roles. at that point, every member of the household was in a serious crisis meeting which is just the same as is probably happening now. the fallout has been absolutely -- i think we were all exempting revelations. i don't think any of us were expecting the revelations that came. i mean, it was bombshell after bombshell. and i have watched it twice. i listened to the clips endlessly. even when you play it back now, it is astonishing to hear the desperation that meghan clearly felt, that she felt suicidal when she was pregnant with archie. and astonishing that she went to the institution and wasn't helped. there is a big issue for the palace to address here. but of course the race issue to address as well. >> i want the play that, actually. because there is -- there was a lot in it, but another just devastating part in this one. when they say there were conversations in the palace with harry about how dark archie's skin would be at birth, and the impact of that. it is uncomfortable even to say out loud. here is when oprah asked harry about it. >> that conversation, i am never going to share. but at the time -- at the time, it was awkward. i was a bit shocked. >> can you tell us what the question was? >> no. i'm not comfortable with sharing that. >> okay. >> but that was -- that was right at the beginning, right? >> like, what will the baby look like? >> yeah, what will the kids look like? >> he's not telling who, but oprah told cbs this morning that harry did want to make clear to her that it was not his grandmother, the queen, or his grandfather that were involved in these conversations. on both of these points, kate, meghan's cry for help and this i want to know what person in the palace could have been able to say this to meghan and harry. >> we understand it to be a family member. as you point out, harry has made it clear it's not his grandfather or his grandmother, the queen. i do know that the queen has been so accommodating. i am thinking to that picture of the queen and the duke of of edinburgh meeting their new grandson archie and that historic picture. you thought this is progress, this is the monarchy modernizing. you know, that's all just been stamped on in this statement. it doesn't really matter that it wasn't the queen or the duke of edinburgh. the fact that someone senior in the family said it. the buck stops with the queen. she is the institution. she is the head of state. any suggestion that she is presiding over a racist monarchy is incredibly damaging, indeed. i expect the palace will -- we don't know when but i think they will have to address these allegations. they are all so very serious. >> just for context for viewers in america we are hours away from the british public being able to see this interview for themselves. because it is playing in a different way over there. is there any way that the palace could remain silent and not respond to this? >> the queen's mantra has been never complain never explain. it served her well over her 70 years on the throne. i think on this one i think the palace will feel that they have to respond. i also know from many of the aides that i speak to on a regular basis that they feel there are two sides to this story. i must point out -- there is a discrepancy. harry said that the comment was made early on. i take that to mean early on in the relationship. meghan says it happened when she was pregnant with archie. there does seem to be a discrepancy there. i think the problem is that in many of the answers they have given it leads to more questions. without a doubt, they have open a can of worms. the witch-hunt is going to be on, isn't it, to name that royal, and if it turns out -- if it turns out to be charles or william, then that's -- that's a big problem for the monarchy given that they are both future kings. >> look, and you and i, i remember us talking about how this next generation of royals is just -- how they can really bring the monarchy into the 21st century about the next generation of children being born, and the weddings and everything. and you can see the circumstances that meghan and harry are describing here is just the absolute opposite of that. katie, thank you. it is good to see you. i will talk to you soon. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. if you know someone who needs help this is an opportunity the real estate mind that you the national suicide prevention lifeline is there. 800-273-8255. thank you for joining us. i'm kate bolduan. john king picks up from here. hello to our viewers in the united states and around the world. welcome to inside politics. i'm john king in washington. thank you for sharing a very busy monday with us. president biden sits one step away now from a mammoth victory, and evidence he says that government can still work. the house votes tomorrow on the senate version of the biden covid rescue plan. stimulus checks. guaranteed income if you have children, and a $300 weekly jobless benefit are all part of the final package that expands the federal safety net