the way now for massive amounts of aid to begin flowing including direct payments of up to $1,400 that could land in some people's bank accounts as soon as this weekend. this comes exactly one year after the kworldworld health organization declared a coronavirus pandemic that so far has claimed more than 530,000 american lives and infected almost 30 million people in the u.s. alone. by contrast, a year ago today, there were just 1,100 known cases here in the united states, underscoring the virus's devastating spread across the country and, indeed, around the world. and the cdc has just confirmed to cnn that data suggests 2020 was the deadliest year in u.s. history, with a 15% increase in the death rate due to the pandemic. let's go to the whoite house, or chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins is joining us now. we're told that the president has been working on this speech for a week. what's the latest? >> reporter: yeah, wolf, top aides say he's been editing it line by line, because he wants to convey what is in this massive stimulus bill. $1.9 there and something that president biden signed earlier this afternoon, earlier than expected, actually, because the bill got here quicker from capitol hill than aides thought it was going to, but right now, they said he signed it this afternoon instead of like he was supposed to tomorrow because they said he has no time to waste. >> got it. thank you, all, appreciate it. >> reporter: with that signature, joe biden seeing a defining moment of his presidency today. >> this historic legislation is about rebuilding the backbone of this country and giving people in this nation, working people, middle class folks, people who built the country, a fighting chance. >> reporter: biden signed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill a day earlier than expected and the white house now says eligible americans will start receiving stimulus checks within days. >> people can expect to start seeing direct deposits hit their bank accounts as early as this weekend. >> reporter: next, president biden, vice president harris and their spouses will crisscross the country to tout their first major piece of legislation. >> it was important to the president to visit not just blue states but also red states, purple states. >> reporter: but first, biden will address the nation in prime time tonight to mark the anniversary of the coronavirus crisis still killing almost 1,500 americans per day. >> he also wants to provide a sense of hope and what's possible, if we abide by the guidelines, if when you have access to a vaccine, you get the vaccine, what people can look forward to. >> reporter: biden's speech coming exactly one year to the day after this one. >> the vast majority of americans, the risk is very, very low. >> reporter: biden has tied his coronavirus relief bill to a return to normal and the white house will host a signing ceremony tomorrow that no republicans were invited to, given no republicans voted for it. >> the american people have already built a parade that has been marched towards victory. democrats want to sprint in front of the parade and claim credit. >> reporter: one republican senator touted money in the bill for independent restaurant owners without mentioning he voted against it. what is president biden's response to those republicans like senator wicker? >> well, we invite them to work with us on the agenda moving forward, because clearly the bill that the president just signed into law is something that the american people are excited about. >> reporter: meanwhile, in an effort to address vaccine hesitancy in the u.s., all living former presidents and first ladies appeared in a new public service announcement urging americans to get vaccinated. >> this vaccine means hope. it will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease. >> you know what i'm really looking forward to? is going to opening day in texas rangers stadium with a full stadium. >> reporter: all former presidents participated, that is, except one. donald and melania trump quietly received the vaccine before leaving the white house in january but did not use the opportunity to convince their supporters to join them. now, wolf, we should note that the effects of president biden's signature are already reaching wall street. you saw earlier, the dow and the s&p 5500 are hitting record highs. seems to be doing away with the jitters you had been seeing, the concerns about maybe this bill could cause some inflation to happen in the future. but we should note, this is a day of several major moments for president biden, not just signing that legislation or that prime time address that's coming up, but also his attorney general, merrick garland, is about to be sworn in by the vice president in just a few moments at the department of justice. >> lots going on. thank you very much. we're also learning what americans make of the pandemic one year into it. our political director david shallion has results from our new exclusive cnn poll. david, walk us through these new cnn polls. what they mean for president biden's prime time address later tonight. >> well, wolf, when president biden goes before the nation tonight, he's going before a nation that is largely seeing the worst of this coronavirus crisis in the rear view mirror. take a look at this. in our brand new poll conducted by ssrs, 77% of americans in this poll say that the worst is behind us. 19% say the worst is yet to come. look at the dramatic change we've seen in people seeing the worst behind us. it stacks up across time, if you see here on the next slide, 77% say so now that the worst is behind us. just in january, that was 26 points lower. only 49% of americans said the worst was behind us. so, you see this dramatic o optimism. and coronavirus still tops the list, but now it's only at 30%, it right there with political divisions at 25%, the economy at 20%. again, just in january, that coronavirus was seen by many more people as the most important issue. 46% of americans, just in january, said it was most important. that's down now. and the country thinks that joe biden is the man to be able to get them through to the other side. when we asked about confidence in his ability to lead the country out of the crisis, 42% have a lot of confidence, 25% have some. add that together, 67%, wolf, nearly two-thirds of americans in this poll, have confidence in joe biden to get the u.s. through the tunnel, to the light that everyone keeps talking about at the end of it, wolf. >> you know, david, one year ago tonight, former president trump gave his own pandemic address, declaring, and i'm quoting him now, the virus will not have a chance against us. that's what he said, that is not, of course, the case. how much of tonight's address will be about trying to restore public trust in government leadership? >> well, tonight's address is going to have to thread the needle. i just showed you, he's talking to a hopeful nation, one ready to put the crisis behind them, and yet there's concern out there about some of the variants. so, making sure that all those mitigation efforts just don't disappear. that's going to be one piece of the speech tonight. but to your point, wolf, not just tonight, but in the days ahead, joe biden is going to take the success of the package he got through congress, take the good news about vaccinations and head out to the country and try to do exactly what you said, get -- remind them that government can work for them and hopefully, if you're joe biden, he hopes to build more political capitol to take this into the rest of his agenda. >> david, thank you very much. important numbers indeed. let's get some more on all of this, kate bedingfield is joining us from the north lawn of the white house. kate, thank you so much for joining us. i know there's a lot going on right now. and as you well know, president biden signed this nearly $2 trillion covid relief bill into law today, but already 10% of the country is fully vaccinated, there are signs the jobs recovery is janing some impressive steam. why does the country need a relief bill of this enormous size? >> because this is not the time to take our food off the gas. this is -- this money and this bill is going to ensure that we continue to get americans vaccinated. it's going to provide them money to ensure that we can stand up additional mass vaccination sites, additional community health centers where people can get vaccinated. it's going to provide the money to help ensure we can get schools open. it's money that's going to help schools be able to afford the mitigation measures they need to ensure that students and teachers can be safe. so, and then, on top of that, you also have families who have been suffering, who have been struggling for a year under this crisis. they're going to get direct checks of $1,400, they're going to see an expansion of the child tax credit, they're going to see an expansion of the earned income tax credit. so, this is money that is going to help people get through the bridge to recovery and it's incredibly important. >> it's very important, but is the president, kate, concerned about the enormous debt the american people are accruing right now? >> what we've seen time and again, wolf, is that economists say that the risk of doing too little is much greater than the risk of doing too much. right now, we've had a year of unprecedented crisis, we've had millions of people who have lost their jobs, we have families who haven't been able to send their kids to school for a year. and we need to take decisive action, which is what president biden did today, signing this bill, to ensure that we're going to have the resources that we need to get the country moving again. so, the risk here was always in doing too little, not in doing too much. president biden laid out even before he came into office, i think it was six days before he came into office, laid out the contours of this plan and across the course of working to get it passed, 75% of the country agreed with him and said, this is what we need to ensure that we're going to be able to get our economy moving again. so, president biden was thrilled to be able to sign this today and to ensure that these benefits start moving to people right away. >> you heard from david, the new cnn poll shows 7 in 10 americans think the worst is behind us. does president biden agree? >> you're going to hear him speak tonight, wolf, and you're going to hear him acknowledge the pain and the suffering we've been through for the last year, but to your question, you're going to hear him strike an optimistic tone. that obviously -- that doesn't mean that we can let up now. i think what we've heard from dr. fauci and dr. walensky is this moment is not the moment to -- to be less vigilant. we've got to continue tos mask when in public, we have to continue to socially distance, because the actions that we take now are going to help us get one big step closer to normal. and so this is not the moment to relax our individvigilance. and the president will speak to that tonight. but to your question, he's going to lay out an optimistic vision for the next few months, he's going toe talk about the next phases of his plan to get this virus under control and ensure we can get back to normal. >> and let's not forget about 1,500 americans are still dying almost every single day from this coronavirus. so, that continues. ahead of the president's prime time address tonight, kate, the senate minority leader, mitch mcconnell, he's accusing the president of taking what he's calling a victory lap. is that what this is all about tonight? >> he's going -- tonight, you're going to see him kick off a few weeks here where he's really going to focus on making sure people understand how they're going to benefit from this bill. now we move to the implementation phase and we move to ensuring we are getting this money out the door quickly and efficiently. this is something that you know well, wolf, that the president did when he was vice president, when he overall the implementation of the recovery act and president obama called him sheriff joe. so, now we move into implementation. and to making sure that people understand on a granular level how this money is going to help them in their communities. so, again, is this a victory lap? no. this is about talking to the american people and helping them understand how this bill is going to make a real difference in their lives. >> implementation is so important, because a lot of us remember the serious issues with the rollout of the first covid relief bill during the trump administration, with instances of massive fraud, more than a million stimulus checks going out to people who had passed away. how do you avoid those same things happening this time around? >> extreme vigilance. this is something, again, that president biden has a lot of experience with, having overseen the implementation of the recovery act, with less than 1% of waste, fraud and abuse. it requires attention to detail, which is something that the president is extremely focused on. he knows having been the person in 2009 who picked up the phone to call mayors and governors and say, this project doesn't meet the requirements, this is not a project that can be funded by the recovery act. so, he has great experience, again, sheriff joe. he has great experience ensuring that this money is spent efficiently and spent well. it's something that he is incredibly focused on and that we're focused on as an administration. >> so, so important. tens of millions of americans are relying on this money right now. they need it and it is critically important. the white house communications director kate bedingfield, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me, wolf. up next, a third degree murder charge reinstated against the former police officer charged in the death of george floyd. plus, prince william's first public response to claims by his brother, sister-in-law, of racism in the royal family. we'll be right back. hi, i'm a new customer and i want your best new smartphone deal. well i'm an existing customer and i'd like your best new smartphone deal. oh do ya? actually it's for both new and existing customers. i feel silly. but i do want the fastest 5g network. oh i want the fastest 5g network. are we actually doing this again? it's not complicated. only at&t gives everyone the same great deal. like the samsung galaxy s21 5g for free when you trade in. - oh. - what's going on? - oh, darn! - let me help. here we go. lift and push and push! there... it's up there. oh, boy. hey joshie... wrinkles send the wrong message. help prevent them before they start with downy wrinkleguard. hey! bud. hey, pop pop! so you won't get caught with wrinkles again. [woman laughs] some say this is my greatest challenge. governments in record debt; inflation rising, currencies falling. but i've seen centuries of this. with one companion that hedges the risks you choose and those that choose you. the physical seam of a digital world, traded with a touch. my strongest and closest asset. the gold standard, so to speak ;) people call my future uncertain. but there's one thing i am sure of... we started with computers. we didn't stop at computers. we didn't stop at storage or cloud. we kept going. working with our customers to enable the kind of technology that can guide an astronaut back to safety. and help make a hospital come to you, instead of you going to it. so when it comes to your business, you know we'll stop at nothing. our breaking news. president biden addresses the nation tonight, after signing the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill earlier today. he signed it into law. with us now to look ahead to the president's speech, our chief political analyst gloria borger and our chief national correspondent john king, the anchor of "inside politics." the white house moved this signing up today. how eager is the president to have this first legislative victory under his belt? >> he's most eager. when he addresses the country tonight, now he can say he signed it, he can say the first checks will arrive as early as this weekend. the gears of government can't kick in until the legislation is signed into law. why wait? the president knows, and your interview with kate bedingfield just proved his senior staff nows, this is about accountability. think about how many things the former president said during the pandemic just weren't true. it will disappear in april. you have a president now who is accountable. people are more optimistic, and the poll numbers laid it out, that we're going to a better place. but the president has to prove tonight, number one, i promised you a big vaccine rollout. number two, i promised you tangible help. you're going to see it in days and weeks. >> that's a good point. gloria, the house minority leader kevin mccarthy argues the popularity of this bill, he says, will be temporary. do republicans have a good counter argument when so many tens of millions of americans are about to get some real help? >> well, if they do, i haven't heard it yet. look, they're fighting the last war and we know what the last war was. that was a stimulus package from 2009, which was much less popular, barack obama did not go out and sell it the way that joe biden is going to go out and sell this package. and that stimulus bill was a lot, an awful lot about bailing out the banks. this is about putting money in your pocket. this is about getting children out of poverty. this is about getting vaccines into your arms. so, the bill itself is much more tangible to people because they have been suffering over the last year. so, what joe biden is going to do is go out there and not just tell them what's going to be in the bill, he's going to go out there and tell them how they can use the bill to their advantage and how they can make government work for them again. >> the president, john, he plans to sell this bill, obviously tonight in this prime time address, but does he also need to be very careful not to declare a victory to avoid what we call a mission accomplished moment? >> yes, he does. and we know from the president himself and what he has said in recent days and from his staff, he has no intentions to do that. he does want to say progress is being made. both on the public health front through the vaccinations, not only more vaccine supply, but more people to put those shots in arms and now with the relief act, he wants to promise that economic help can coming. but the messaging challenge for the president is very delicate, actually. he does want people to be more optimistic. he wants them to be convinced they can trust their government now. the conversation you had with kate bedingfield. when a president says something, you can trust it. when we tell you help is coming, it is coming, check your bank or mailbox, in a few days, a week, you'll see it. we've lost more than 500,000 of our friends and neighbors. the president has to honor that and say things are going to get better, but he is going to ask americans, in some ways, my words, not his, ignore your governor. be careful. if you want to have a july 4th, you have to hang in with us through memorial day. that's my paraphrasing, but that's a delicate balance. he wants people to feel better, but don't rush out and celebrate yet or else it will get worse again. >> go ahead, fwlor ya. >> he has to sort of say to the american public that the republicans were wrong on this, that this isn't just another liberal democratic wish list. this is something that is geared to helping people in this country who have been living in a crisis for the last year. and while republicans are out there now, mitch mcconnell s saying the democrats are just running to get ahead of the parade, because things were beginning to turn around and you didn't really need a package that's this big, the president has to tell the american public, this is why it's this big and it's going to help you and this is why the republicans are wrong and i'm sorry that they didn't vote for it. maybe i'll get them onboard next time we have a legislative package. >> we're getting live pictures of merrick garland being sworn in right now as the new attorney general of the united states. it looks like it just happened, the vice president swearing him in, a very important moment right now. there he is. a major moment for the u.s. justice department. a new attorney general of the united states. there he is, merrick garland, congratulations to him. there's more breaking news we're following here in the situation room, as the u.s. and the world mark one year of the coronavirus pandemic and more than 530,000 american lives lost. plus, prince william now speaking out publicly for the first time about his brother harry and meghan's bombshell allegation of racism in the royal family. during photosynthesis, plants convert solar energy into chemical energy, cleaning the oxygen we breathe. plants clean the air. when applied to stained textiles, plant-based surfactants like the ones in seventh generation detergent trap stains at the molecular level and flush them away. plant-based detergents clean your clothes. it's just science! just... science. seventh generation. powered by plants. tackles stains. people were afraid i was contagious. i felt gross. it was kind of a shock after i started cosentyx. four years clear. real people with psoriasis look and feel better with cosentyx. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms, if your inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. learn more at cosentyx.com. like you, my hands are everything to me. but i was diagnosed with dupuytren's contracture. and it got to the point where things i took for granted got tougher to do. thought surgery was my only option. turns out i was wrong. so when a hand specialist told me about nonsurgical treatments, it was a total game changer. like you, my hands have a lot more to do. learn more at factsonhand.com today. there's breaking news tonight. exactly one year after the world health organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic, the united states has topped 530,000 confirmed deaths and is nearing 30 million cases. compare that to a year ago today. we're also standing by for a white house coronavirus briefing this hour, as the number of known cases here in the united states climbs to more than 1,100, with 33 confirmed deaths. that was exactly one year ago today. cnn's amara walker is joining us from miami beach right now. she's got the latest on the crisis. amara, a truly horrible year for the united states, indeed for the world. what's the latest? >> well, wolf, if you just look around me, you will see here on south beach that spring break is in full swing right now you in fact, city and tourism officials tell me that they expect to see the highest number of tourists since the pandemic began this weekend and next weekend in the greater miami area. just looking around, wolf, you wouldn't know that there's a mask mandate that's in effect, but not a lot of people are wearing masks, and this is the kind of cavalier attitude that concerns health officials that this will hurt the progress we've made. one year into the covid pandemic that's left more than half a million americans dead, america's top infectious disease expert reflecting on the year that was. >> and things will get worse than they are right now. i made the statement, things are going to get much worse before they get better and that was at a congressional hearing a year ago today. but i did not in my mind think that much worse was going to be 525,000 deaths. >> reporter: today, the numbers continue to trend down. an average of more than 56,000 new covid-19 cases a day in the last seven days. that's a 13% decrease compared to the previous week. average hospitalizations down 14% and average daily deaths down 22%. more signs there is light at the end of the tunnel. >> earlier this week, we saw the number of deaths per day drop below 1,000 for the first time since november. all of this is really good news. >> reporter: more than 2 million doses of covid-19 vaccinations are going into arms per day on average. just over 19% of the population having received at least one dose and 1 in 10 fully vaccinated. as eligible opens up in many states, some places are getting innovative with distribution. in atlanta, walgreens teaming up with uber to provide transportation to vaccine sites in some communiticommunities. meanwhile, as maryland lifts nearly all covid-related business restrictions beginning friday and once hard-hit new york and new jersey eye increased restaurant capacities, there remains tremendous concern as states like texas and mississippi have lifted mask mandates and capacity restrictions. and wyoming following suit on march 16th. here in florida, thousands of revelers have descended upon the state for bike week in daytona and spring break. >> what are we doing? we're inviting the virus to go wherever it may want over the course of the next week. so, this is the challenge we have. this is all kind of a perfect storm moment. >> reporter: and on the day president joe biden plans a prime time covid address to the nation, the debate over mask requirements continues. a battle that has taken center stage in texas. >> the science and the data very clear. the single most important thing we can be doing at this point is wearing masks. >> reporter: and wolf, cnn has just learned that the texas attorney general ken paxton is now suing austin and travis county over their mask requirements. the attorney general tweeting that he will be dragging them to court to keep texas free and open. and this is the kind of divide, wolf, that we are seeing across the country, including here in florida, where you have the governor, ron desantis, lifting covid-19 restrictions while local municipalities like miami beach are trying to impose them. wolf? >> amara, thank you very much. let's get some more on all of this. joining us now, dr. sanjay gupta, our chief medical correspondent. sanjay, on this night last year, we were reporting, what, just over 1,000 total coronavirus cases in the united states, now we're approaching 30 million confirmed cases. you've been here with us, thank god, every step of the way. when you reflect back on this year, sanjay, the deadliest year now in u.s. history, what goes through your mind? >> so much goes through my mind, wolf. this is historic. people will be reading about what has happened here 100 years from now. there will be so many history books written about this time period, what we got right, what we got wrong, all the lessons learned. still very tragic, wolf, i mean, it's a one-year mark, but we're still in this and 1,400, 1,500 people still died yesterday and those are the projections still for some time to come. i feel like i'm optimistic, wolf. we've had to give tough news so many times over this past year and still giving tough news, but i am optimistic. i just hope that, you know, we don't fumble the ball so close to the end zone, because i think it's in sight, wolf. >> hope there's not another variant that comes in that is so deadly that it's going to set us all back. our new cnn poll finds 77% of the american public now say the worst of the pandemic, sanjay, is behind us, but we still need to remember, as you correctly point out, only yesterday more than 1,500 americans died from the virus. in order for the daily death toll to keep going down, we can't let up on the public health measures, at least not yet, right? >> right, i mean, that's -- that's the key is that this is -- we've seen this pattern so many times. we see some glimmers of hope. people think, okay, well, you know, it's over and we get into trouble again. i -- i'm optimistic that won't happen, but one of the more tangible things, wolf, has to do with these vaccines. still, we know that the demand is higher than the supply, but hopefully people will continue to get vaccines even as they see numbers go down, hospitalizations go down and deaths go down, because the summer, you know, because of the warmer weather, is likely to be a period where we're going to have relative tranquility, but if enough people haven't vaccinated going into the fall, we could see resurgences again, variants or not. even because things look good now doesn't mean we shouldn't do everything we can to prepare. public health measures, but get vaccinated over the next couple of months. >> absolutely right. sanjay, thank you. coming up, prince william now breaking his silence about oprah's interview with meghan markle and prince harry. can he calm the outrage? plus, new charges against a former marine one pilot in the january 6th attack. bring a friend every month and get every month for $5. boom! 12 months of $5 wireless. visible, wireless that gets better with friends. ♪ ♪ - [narrator] if you're thinking about going to school online, southern new hampshire university is where you belong. we've been online for more than 25 years and have helped thousands of students reach their goals. as a nonprofit university, we believe access to high quality education should be available to everyone. that's why we offer some of the lowest tuition rates in the nation, and haven't raised tuition in nearly a decade. so no matter where you want to go, snhu can help you get there. visit snhu.edu today. priceline works with top hotels, to save you up to 60%. these are all great. and when you get a big deal... you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized that we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have one hundred thousand dollars or more of life insurance you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit conventrydirect.com to find out if you policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. there is new fallout from oprah winfrey's interview with meghan markle and prince harry. prince william finally broke his silence today. let's go to max foster, in leng land for us. so, item us more, max. what's the latest? >> well, i have to say, just a short piece of video, but quite an extraordinary piece of video. before i show it to you, wolf, bear in mind that the protocol for reporters is you don't fire questions off at senior royals during an engagement and actually the procot fl senior royals is certainly not to answer them. >> sir, have you spoken to your brother since the interview? >> no, i haven't spoken to him yet, but i will do. >> and can you let me now, is the royal family a racist family, sure? >> we're very much not a racist family. >> you know, a week ago, you just could not imagine those sorts of questions being fired at a senior royal, but this is where we are with this story. it's exposed so much, and everyone is talking about it. also interesting to hear that harry hasn't spoken to william since that massive interview just shows, wolf, how deep the rift is between these two brothers who were always so close. >> yeah, deep, indeed. our thanks very much, max. we're going to get back to you. right now, we're going to be joined by diane abbott, the first black female member of the british parliament. she's also been outspoken in her support of prince harry and meghan markle, writing that she knows what it feels like to wake up nearly every day and read abuse and racially slanted media attacks. diane, thank you so much for joining us. you're speaking out about the racial abuse both you and meghan markle have been subjected to and you say you know an awful lot about how it feels. how did those shared experiences shape your reaction to their decision to actually step back, to go outside the royal family? >> well, i understood perfectly. i went through a phase when i had more abuse online than all the other women mps put together. and it is very corrosive and it clearly pushed meghan to the edge. and so she and harry had to flee. >> prince william, as you heard, he addressed the tell-all interview earlier in the day, saying, and i'm quoting him now, he said, we're very much not a racist family. but this problem goes beyond the family, to the entire institution, i suspect. what do you think? >> i think you have to look at all of those people that work in buckingham palace for the royal family, the aides, the advisers, the courtiers, and there's no question, from the type of off the record briefings that they've been giving to the media for months, that they never really accepted a biracial american marrying into the british royal family. and sometimes you felt that the nature of the briefings and the awubuse in the media, they wouldn't be happy until they broke up the marriage. so, i understand why meghan and harry had to leave. >> do you think the moment of reckoning in terms of systemic racism will actually have a lasting impact in the uk, indeed across the commonwealth? >> i hope so. and i think that the royal family and the commonwealth will survive as long as the queen is alive, because she's hugely respected, but once she passes away, which must happen one day, i think the whole question of the role of the royal family and prince charles as head of state, will be up for debate. and the way they treated meghan markle is -- will not be an argument for the status quo, amongst the british people of members of the commonwealth. >> diane abbott, thank you so much for joining us. coming up, why former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin now faces an additional murder charge in the death of george floyd. plus, a former crew member from the presidential helicopter team is among the latest people to be charged in the january 6th capitol siege. some say this is my greatest challenge. governments in record debt; inflation rising, currencies falling. but i've seen centuries of this. with one companion that hedges the risks you choose and those that choose you. the physical seam of a digital world, traded with a touch. my strongest and closest asset. the gold standard, so to speak ;) people call my future uncertain. but there's one thing i am sure of... if you smell gas, you're too close. leave the structure, call 911, keep people away, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. if you see wires down, treat them all as if they're hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. tonight, former police officer derek chauvin is once again facing a third degree murder charge in the death of george floyd. our national correspondent sara sidner is in minneapolis where jury selection has been under way in chau vinchauvin's trial. so, sara, what will this additional murder trial mean for this former police officer? >> basically it gives the jury another option as to what exactly they might come back in their verdict with. so, you've got second degree and intentional murder. you have second degree manslaughter and now third degree murder. the third degree murder charge is basically, as the law reads here in minnesota, it's someone who unintentionally kills someone but doing something they know to be a dangerous act, something that could be harmful to the person and so that's basically the definition. what we're talking about is the potential of adding more years if the jury comes back guilty on you a three or if they come back on guilty on a couple of these or just one or none at all. they have all of those choices in front of them, according to a former prosecutor who has really been following this case closely. but when it comes to the amount of years, it's up to 40 years for that second degree murder charge. 25 years for the third degree murder charge and up to ten years for that manslaughter charge in this case. we should also mention that, you know, the security here is still extremely tight. afolks talking about it. some people seeing it as a sign of what's to come. but no one knows what's going to happen, because we still don't even have the number of jurors that we need. we need 12 jurors and two alternates, but there are six there are six that have been chosen, wolf. >> what can you tell us about the six chosen so far, sara? >> reporter: three of them are caucasian males. one is a black man. one is a latino man. one is a woman had is multiracial. we know there's a chemist who was the first person who was chosen. we in that some of them, at least three of them, have said they either have someone in their family or have friends who are either former or current people in law enforcement, but all of them have said the same thing, that they believe they can look at the evidence in the court and base their decision solely on that evidence. that is what the judge and all of the attorneys are requiring of them and all of them have said they can do just that, wolf. >> sara, we'll stay in touch with you. sara sidner in map macinneapoli. charges against a man who was a crew member on a u.s. presidential helicopter. brian todd is working the story for us. brian, i understand you're getting important new information. >> reporter: right, wolf. this information coming today from court papers and pentagon records obtained by cnn. they indicate there has been another person who seemingly had top-level security clearances. they're close at hand when the commander in chief is aboard the president's helicopter. the pilots and crew chiefs of marine one. tonight cnn has obtained court papers and pentagon records showing that john andries has been charged in connection with the capitol attack. >> to have been selected for that position he had to be one of the best crew chiefs the marine corps had. >> reporter: in court papers prosecutors say the 35-year-old entered the capitol through a broken window after moving past barriers outside. they say footage shows him facing off with police inside the capitol but not physically engaging with them. he served under presidents george w. bush and barack obama and was for some period a crew chief on marine one. he was not a pilot and it's not clear if he ever had any direct contact with either of those presidents. but just to be in that marine one unit known as hmx-1 he would have gone through more rigorous screening than most marines and high-level security clearances. >> everything they put on their application is independently verified, individuals who knew them are interviewed, their financials are examined, and then every few years that information is looked at again to ensure that person still maintains the qualities and the background to have that security clearance. >> reporter: he has pleaded not guilty to five federal crimes related to the capitol attack. an attorney has not responded to cnn's request for comment. a cnn analysis of records indicates that out of about 300 people facing charges so far in the capitol assault at least 29 of them are current or former military service members. several of them are allegedly part of extremist groups, although there's no indication at the moment that john andries is. >> any type of militant group would seek someone with military experience. often people leaving the military are seeking that kind of relationship and activity. >> every single one of them. >> reporter: another military veteran facing serious charges is thomas caldwell, who has denied prosecutors' assertions that he's a member of the far-right militia group the oath keepers. caldwell once apparently held top-secret level security clearance. he said he briefly worked for the fbi. in a court filing today caldwell's lawyer insulted the u.s. capitol police writing, quote, had the u.s. capitol police leadership engaged in the level of strategic planning caldwell and others did, the capitol would never have been breached. james has been identified in court by an fbi agent as having been a driver for trump right-wing ally roger stone for an event the day before the insurrection. and a judge has just ordered joshua james be remanded to custody. his lawyers have said he is not guilty. caldwell has pleaded not guilty in the attack. two other men who allegedly had ties to the oath keepers appeared today as well including done val crowell charged with conspiracy and is pleading not guilty. wolf? >> i know you're staying on top of the developments. very important indeed. thank you very much. there's more breaking news up next. counting down to president biden's first prime time speech to the nation hours after signing the massive stimulus bill into law and exactly one year into the coronavirus pandemic. we started with computers. we didn't stop at computers. we didn't stop at storage or cloud. we kept going. working with our customers to enable the kind of technology that can guide an astronaut back to safety. and help make a hospital come to you, instead of you going to it. so when it comes to your business, you know we'll stop at nothing. you know when your dog is itching for a treat. so when it comes titching for an outing...w or itching for some cuddle time. but you may not know when he's itching for help... licking for help... or rubbing for help. if your dog does these frequently. they may be signs of an allergic skin condition that needs treatment. don't wait. talk to your veterinarian and learn more at itchingforhelp.com. the new samsung galaxy s21. this looks different. - it is. - show me. just hit record! see that? you're filming in 8k. that's cinema quality. so... you can pull photos straight from video. impressive. but will it last the whole trip? you'll have battery all day. and then more. this is different. told you. ♪ ♪ we're carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand-new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old. we wanna buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate answer a few questions. and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot and pick up your car, that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. this is cnn breaking news. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we're now two hours away from president biden's first prime time address to the nation marking one year of the coronavirus pandemic and the historic relief bill he signed into law just a little while ago. millions of americans are now set to receive checks of up to $1,400. the white house says people who get direct deposits could see the money in their accounts as early as this weekend. the president, meanwhile, needing to walk a fine line tonight celebrating progress toward beating the virus and improving the economy while at the same time being very mindful some 1,500 americans are still dying of covid-19 every day. new cdc data suggests that the past year was the deadliest year in u.s. history. the death toll now surpassing 530,000 with nearly 30 million confirmed cases over the past year here in the united states. one year ago there were 1,100 confirmed infections on this day and few, if any of us, could have imagined the illness and suffering that was about to take place. let's go to kaitlan collins right now. kaitlan, this is