ethnically motivated violent extremists promoting white supremacy are, quote, the most lethal threats right now here in the united states. let's start our coverage this hour in atlanta. our national correspondent ryan young is joining us. ryan this,'s new information emerging now about the suspects in these terrible killings. translator: i want to show you something here, wolf. this growing memorial has been building here in atlanta, a city that's known as being too busy to hate, but right now a lot of people have questions about why this shooter opened fire. shock and outrage in atlanta, georgia, and across the nation after a shooting spree left eight people dead, six of whom were asian women. police say the suspected shooter, 21-year-old robert aaron long has admitted to the attacks on three separate atlanta-area spas, but they say it's too soon to call his crimes a hate crime. >> he claims it was not racially motivated. >> reporter: according to investigators the suspect described issues of sexual addiction and the spas as temptations that he wanted to eliminate. >> he made indicators that he has some issues to potentially sexual addiction and may have suddenly frequented these places in the past. >> the a former roommate of a suspect telling cnn that long spent time in rehab for sexual addiction last year. >> you have a description of him, ma'am? >> is it a male or female? >> i nine to hide right now. >> reporter: five people were shot in cherokee county georgia with two dying at the scene and two people dying at the hospital and at 5:47 in northeast atlanta three people were shot dead and another killed across the street at an aroma therapy spa. >> as tragic as this was yesterday in metro atlanta this, could have been significantly worse. >> reporter: authorities say they captured long 150 miles south of atlanta on his way down to florida where he allegedly may have planned to continue his rampage. >> my understanding is it was some type of porn industry in that state that he was going to go do a similar act in that location. >> reporter: pandemic attacks on asian-americans have been on the rise. the group stop aaip hate says it has received nearly 3,000 xlapts of violence and harassment against asian-americans and pacific-islanders since march of last year and today at the white house vice president kamala hairs grieving for the victims. >> i do want to say to our asian american community that we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outraged. >> reporter: and former president barack obama tweeting the identity of victims underscores an alarming rise in anti-asian violence and further blaming the longer lasting epidemic of gun violence in america. >> reporter: you can see the ryan heating here. we need to protect each other this. family arrived for a silent prayer right here and delivered flowers. you can see the outpouring from those in live in atlanta. they are shocked by this crime and to show you where the crime happened. three women were shot here and the suspect ran across the street over to the other location over here so so many people have been showing up to put flowers in both locations because they cannot believe this happened in the city in this metro area. >> so hard to believe. it's so heartbreaking. ryan young on the scene for us. thank you very much. joining us now the mayor of atlanta keisha lance bottoms. i know these are incredibly busy times but thank you so much for spending a few moments with us. we know the suspect has now been charged as you just heard as you well know with eight counts of murder. what's the latest you can tell us, mayor, on this investigation and the possible motive behind these shootings. >> well, all we know is what this confessed killer has said as it relates to what his motives are. we are grateful to law enforcement that they were able to apprehend him so quickly. he was on his way to florida. he shared with them that he intended to carry out even more violence in florida so this could have been so much worse. there was tremendous coordination across jurisdictions in our state and so for as tragic as it has been for the metropolitan atlanta area, we're grateful that it was not any where. >> what have you been told about a possible motive for this mass murder. >> and, again, all we know is what he has said. he claims that it was not racially motivated, that this was based on some sex addiction, but i'm taking that with a grain of salt. this is a man who murdered eight people in cold blood, so it's very difficult to believe what he says. it's difficult to ignore the fact that many of the victims were asian. all of the victims in atlanta were asian, in fact, and that he targeted these asian massage parlors, and so, you know, i'll leave it up to the prosecutors to determine what other appropriate charges may be warranted as it relates to hate crimes, but it's very difficult to ignore that the asian community has once again been targeted, and it's happening across the country, and it -- it is unfortunate and it makes no sense and it -- it needs to stop. >> makes no sense at all. six of the eight who were killed were asian-american women, and in georgia, as you know, mayor, hate crime law does include sex as a category. officials today did point to what you describe as what he claims is some sort of possible sexual addiction. should this be prosecuted from your perspective as a hate crime? >> i think whatever the stiffest most appropriate charges there are, he's got to face those charges. in georgia you can be charged with a hate crime. it covers a variety of areas, and i -- and i personally think it would be appropriate, but i will defer to the prosecutors to make that determination, but the important thing right now is that he is off of the street. he was not allowed to inflict harm on additional people and families, and -- and, again, in the same way that african-americans across this country asked for his support and we ask for people to stand with us over the summer, it's important that people stand with our asian brothers an sisters in the same way. they are being targeted unfairly and in atlanta what we've seen, the worst has happened. >> that's absolutely true. we've got to all stand together in this country. let me ask you about something that captain jay baker of the cherokee county, that's a different county from atlanta, the chairman of the board key county sheriff's office today said about the shooter. watch this. >> he understood the gravity of it, and he was pretty much fed up, coined of at the end of his rope and yesterday was a really bad day for him hand this is what he did. >> it does raise concerns what, we just heard about humanizing the perpetrator of this mass murder rather than sympathizing with the victims. what was your reaction when you heard that? >> you know, that -- that was not the impression that i got in our pre-meeting before we came out for the press conference. i know that there was sympathy for the victims. there was a lot of compassion, and, listen, in cherokee county, i believe they had one murder last year and they -- they had a mass shoot willing on yesterday, so this was a really big day for all of us but especially big in cherokee county, and the important thing is that they did their jobs. you know, this guy is off of the streets, so i know in my conversations before we went out that was not the sentiment that i felt in our conversations. i know that there was sympathy and empathy towards the victims and their family, and, you know, perhaps he could have said it better with the cameras there, but i think the most important part that we have to focus on is that this guy is off of the street and that -- because of the work in cherokee county and atlanta police and georgia state patrol. he was not allowed to go to another location in another state and kill even more people. >> we're just getting this in-makers and i want to get your response. we're learning that the suspect in these spa shootings actually purchased his gun legally at a local gun store, which go wood's goods in holly springs, georgia. an attorney for the company confirmed to cnn. when you hear about these mass murders with these guns that are out there available, how available are they in atlanta right now? >> well, wolf, you know, unfortunately, we're seeing a spike in gun violence across the country so we know that people have access to guns, and it's unfortunate in the midst of what we've been dealing with as a country and globally with covid. these important conversations regarding background checks and making sure that people are stable enough to purchase guns and all of these things that are always -- >> i think we just lost the mayor, but clearly this individual had a lot of problems, mental problems, as his family would testify. the fact that -- i don't know what kind of background check he went through to purchase this gun legally. it does raise all sorts of questions indeed. we'll try to reconnect with mayor keisha lance bottoms who has a lot going on in atlanta and our heart now go out to those families who are suffering so, so terribly and we stand in solidarity with the asian-american community right now which is clearly suffering, and we're suffering, all of us, as a result that have as well. >> up next, we have details of a brand new intelligence report just released warning of the quote lethal threat posed by white supremacists here in the united states, and there's more news we're following. the embattled new york governor andrew cuomo responds to president biden saying -- president biden saying that cuomo should resign if investigation confirms allegations of sexual harassment. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? 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>> hand that's notable, wolf, because as you note intelligence community normally deals with foreign threats and here we're talking about domestic threats. that is short report, four pages long, straight to the point. it says that essentially because of everything that's going on this year, there is an elevated chance of deadly violence from domestic violent extremists. these are extremists, this report says, that are normally driven by racial bias and grievances against the government, but this year in particular, they are also motivated by this incorrect perception that the election was stolen. the january 6th insurrection and conditions surrounding covid, and this is something that they say will almost certainly spur some domestic violent extremists to try to carry out violent attacks this year, and then they single out the extremists who are most likely to carry out these attacks. this is what the report says. racially or ethnically motivated slept extremist and mill that viloent extremists present most lethal violent extremist threats with racially motivated extremists to conduct mass casualty attacks against civilians and militia violent extremists typically targeting law enforcement and government personnel and facilities, so, wolf, that means rates of, white supremacists and those belonging to militias are of particular concern. they say most likely it will be lone wolves who will be carrying out these attacks. it's harder to track them. it's harder to get a sense when they are radicalized and of course all of these groups, all of these extremists, wolf, have easy access to guns, and that is a major problem. earlier today the new secretary of homeland security mayorkas was asked what he thinks the biggest threat to the homeland is and this is what he had to say. >> at this point in time domestic violence extremist, the lone wolf, the loose affiliation of individuals following ideologies of hate and other ideologies of extremism that are willing and able to take those ideologies and execute on them in unlawful, illegal violent ways is our greatest threat in the homeland right now. >> wolf, this report from these -- these national security agencies does point out that white supremacists are very concerning because they have support not just across the country by around the world from other white supremacists and these groups inspire each other or reinforce each other. what we see in this report today has been echoed by the director of the fbi chris wray who called the january 6th insurrection of the capitol by trump supporters domestic terrorism, and he says that domestic terrorism is metastasizing across the country s and is not going away anytime soon. wolf. >> it's a huge, huge problem right now. alex, thanks very much. let's get to more on all of this. the former fbi depp did i director and senior law enforcement analyst andrew mccabe just joining us. his new book is titled "the threat, how the fbi protects america in the age of terror and trump." thanks, andrew, so much for joining us. this new intelligence report says racially motivated extremists and militias present, as you heard, the most lethal, the most lethal domestic threat here in the united states, but is that view accepted within the intelligence and law enforcement community because clearly they underestimated that threat ahead of the january 6th insurrection at the u.s. capitol? >> well, wolf, what i think you're seeing is a kind of a reawakening in the law enforcement intelligence community to the threat posed by racially motivated and militia-motivated violent extremists. this report today is remarkable in its directness and calling out exactly where they say these threats are coming from, and i think it's important to point out that this is not a piece of work produced by, you know, a group that's subject to political motivations or that sort of thing. this is from our nation's smartest intelligence analysts and intelligence professionals who have the most access to a wide-reaching bit of information. so it's important that everyone take this seriously. >> it's really worrisome about what's going on in this country. we're not talking about foreign americans. we're talking about americans. the conspiracy theories out there about the election. clearly that will spur these domestic terrorists to try to engage in yet more violence this year i suspect. what do you think? >> well, there's no doubt, and the report says exactly that. you know, our domestic violence violence extremists are motivated by the same sorts of motivations that we've always seen them carry around, anti-minority sentiments and concerns about government overreach, but there have been new logs added to that fire. there's new fuel on the fire in the form of persistent rumors of election fraud, the symbolism, the powerful symbolism and motivational impact of the attack on the capitol on january 6th, and, of course, the pervasiveness of these really damaging conspiracy theories that we see, you know, readily accessible oint net, so you've got some of that foundation of grievance is being now fueled and moved forward and elevated in a dangerous way by these new frankly false beliefs. >> and the report notes as alex said that the concern is that these white supremacists have transnational connections with other white supremacists in other countries that are fueling this hatred and potentially more violence. andrew mccabe. thank you so much for joining us. coming up, we're going to go one-on-one with senator bernie sanders. we'll discuss president biden's agenda, new voting restrictions and much, much more. stand by for that. plus, why the cdc is now calling emerging covid strains out in california, and i'm quoting now, variants of concern. we'll be right back. you mean us? 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we're not ghoog. >> reporter: but texas' government is pointing the finger at biden, not trump. >> these sites are a direct result of president biden's reckless open policies. >> reporter: in the same sit-down biden offered his most direct comments yet on weakening the procedural tactic known as the filibuster. >> you've got to work for the filibuster. >> you're for that reform, bringing back the talking filibuster. >> i am. >> reporter: forcing senators to hold the floor could make it harder to sustain opposition to bills though republicans are responding to progressive efforts to gut the filibuster with these harsh warnings. >> nobody serving in this chamber can even begin, can even begin to imagine what a completely scorched earth senate would look like. >> reporter: biden says he's looking for other ways to achieve his agenda, including passing possible tax hikes without republican support. >> anyone making more than 400,000 will see a small to a significant tax increase. if you make less than $400,000, you won't see one single penny in additional federal tax. >> how are you going to get a republican vote for a tax increase? >> i may not get it, but i'll get the democratic votes for a tax increase. >> reporter: on the foreign policy front biden said russian president vladimir putin will pay a price for meddling in u.s. elections without saying how. >> he'll pay a price. the price he's going to pay, you'll see shortly. >> reporter: asked if he perceives biden to be a killer. he answers quickly. >> do you think putin is a killer? >> mm-hmm, i do. >> that answer standing in stark contrast to how his predecessor responded in 2017. >> pete san killer. >> a lot of killers, a lot of killers. what, you think our country is so innocent? >> biden also cautioned the u.s. may miss the approaching deadline for withdrawing troops from afghanistan. >> i'm in the process of making that decision now. >> reporter: now, wolf, we should note that of a president biden made those comments about the russian president russia has brought back its own ambassador to the u.s. back to russia for, quote, consultations as they negotiate and determine the next steps forward for the u.s.-russia relationship. the white house did not directly comment on that today, and one other development that we would like to now. katherine tai has now been confirm as the u.s. trade representative, a longtime congressional staffer that will be the top negotiator for the united states and we should also note that she's the first woman of color to hold that job. >> a daughter of immigrants of the united states from taiwan. congratulations to her, special trade representative, a very, very important position right now. joining us now, the chairman. senate budget committee, the independent senator bernie sanders of vermont senator, thanks so much for joining us. we have a lot to discuss, but let me get your reaction to this mass shooting in atlanta. it clearly has shakent asian-american community. it's so hard to believe that this is going on here in the united states, this hatred of asian americans, it's awful. we're waiting to learn more, but this comes amid this awful spike in anti-asian attacks here in the u.s. how do you address this cries? >> well, it has been a spike in hate crimes in general. hate crimes against the gay community, anti-semitism, the black community, the latino community, and what we have got to do is to work as hard as we can to make sure that everybody understands we are one nation, and we have got to come together to address the enormous crises facing our country, and hatred and racism, whether it's anti-asian or anti-african-american or latino or whatever it may be is not acceptable, and i'm -- >> why has this hatred intensified so much over the past recent months, let's say? >> well, i think it has a lot to do dish don't want to spend a whole lot of time on this but i think it has a lot to do with the anti-asian mentality and rhetoric coming from the trump administration. you know, when you call the covid pandemic the chinese pandemic, et cetera, et cetera, it has its impact. >> it certainly does. let's talk a little bit about president biden's agenda right now. as you know, he's out promoting his covid relief legislation which passed nearly $2 trillion in assistance for the american people, but you're already pushing to move beyond that. the next big-ticket i'm frarks from a development, which is so necessary in our country. >> well, look. >> but you're saying if necessary that should be passed without republican support. the is that right? >> look, what i am saying is we have come a long way through the american rescue plan in addressing the immediate crisis that we face, dealing with the pandemic. making sure that people got a $1,400 check. making sure that we expanded health care, that we cut childhood poverty in half, et cetera, et cetera. that is what we had to do, amend i'm proud that we were able to do it, but right now we have to take a look at some of the long-term structural problems facing this country. most importantly we need to create many millions of good-paying jobs, and the way you do that is to address the long-term problem of a crumbling infrastructure, our road, our bridges, our water systems, wastewater plants and when i talk about infrastructure, wolf, i talk about affordable housing. got half a million people today who are homeless. you have 18 million people spending 50 is about of their limited incomes on housing. we need to build millions. units of low-income and affordable housing. when i talk about infrastructure, we're talking about combating the existential threat of climate change and the need to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable energy making our homes and buildings more energy efficient, investing in solar, wind and other sustainable tech jiks jis. when we do those things we can create millions of good-paying jobs, make our country more efficient and safer and lead world in combating climate change. that is where i think we have to go. >> in the 50/50 senate though can you do that strictly with democrats as the covid relief plan was just passed with democrats. can you do it with strictly democrats, an infrastructure piece of legislation? >> well, the answer is you can, but the goal is, you know -- is to reach out to republicans and if they are serious -- they talk a lot about infrastructure. if they are serious about coming up with a comprehensive plan, not something minimal or superficial, but a real plan which begins to address the climate crisis we face, the infrastructure crisis that we face, help us create millions of good-paying jobs, let's work together, but if they are not, we're not going to sit around month after month year after year talking about it. the american people frankly, wolf, you know, don't sit around when they got their $1,400 check, they are not saying this came through reconciliation, nobody knows, nobody cares. the american people want action. they want to create jobs. they want to deal with roads and bridges and climate change so my hope is republicans will join us. if they don't, yeah, we're going to do it alone. >> president biden also suggested one slight reform to the senate filibuster, requiring a senator like you or any other senator to actually talk and hold the floor if he or she is calling for a filibuster. how far would that go, do you believe, senator senators in addressing the dysfunction in the senate process? >> well, when you mention, it i'm thinking back to some years ago i was on the floor for eight and a half hours talking about a tax bill, so i -- i've been there and done that. but i don't know. i don't know. i happen to think that at the end. day we have to end the filibuster. i think that the crises facing the american people are of such magnitude that we need to act, and it is unacceptable that when the american people want to do something like raising the minimum wage or dealing with health care or dealing with education, et cetera, or demanding that the wealthy start paying their fair share of taxes, it's just unfair and undemocratic for a minority of the senate to prevent what the majority of people want in this country, in the house hand in the senate, so that's my view. >> very quickly because we're out of time, but if -- if you eliminate the filibuster completely and the democrats become the minority let's say in a new senate, wouldn't you be worried that the republicans would pass all sorts of things that you might wind up hating? >> absolutely. i mean, that's what it's about, but i think that, you know, essentially what we have got to allow is for democracy and majority rule to prevail. the american people are hurting that i had, wolf. they want action and it is not acceptable for a minority to stop doing what the american people want and need. >> senator sanders, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. coming up, troubling new coronavirus variants now surfacing out in california. stand by for details. and president biden says new york governor andrew cuomo should resign if, if investigations conclude he sexually harassed women. the governor's reaction is coming. washed your hands a lot today? probably like 40 times. hands feel dry? like sandpaper. introducing new dove handwash, with 5 x moisturizer blend. removes germs in seconds, moisturizes for hours. soft, smooth. new dove handwash. soft, smooth. with visible, you get unlimited data for as little as $25 a month. but when you bring a friend, you get a month for $5. so i'm bringing everyone within 12 degrees of me. bam, 12 months of $5 wireless. visible. wireless that gets better with friends. tonight the united states is on the brink of surpassing 30 million confirmed coronavirus cases, and right now 14 states are actually seeing new cases on the rise. our national correspondent nick watt has the very latest from los angeles. >> reporter: tough to tipple with a mask on and two more variants are now officially of concern to the cdc. both first found in the united states, here in california. >> we are in a race to stop transmission, and the emergence of variants that spread more easily has made that even more challenging. >> reporter: this past week in all these states average new case counts climbed by more than 10%. in michigan up over 50%. >> i think we see it in a wave. starting in the north. >> the country still averaging well over 50,000 new cases every day. >> when we see a plateau like that, whether that's been here previously or in those european countries, that predicts another surge. >> reporter: many european countries have temporarily suspended use of the astrazeneca vaccine over seemingly baseless fears over blood clotting. >> everything that i have heard so far, but we're waiting for the european medicine's agency report tomorrow, would indicate that this is one of those things where clotting is a fairly common medical problem. when you have 17 million people getting a vaccine, some of them are going to have various medical problems just because that was going to happen to them anyway. >> reporter: here's the bright side. vaccines are apparently in the only safe for pregnant women but an unpublished israeli study suggests mothers will pass protective antibodies on to their babies. more bright side -- >> there are two things working against this virus right now. one is the weather. i mean, as it gets warmer and more humid it is more difficult for this virus to be transmitted and more and more people are getting vaccinated. >> reporter: every single state has fully vaccinated at least 10% of their adult population. >> my concern is that we prematurely pull back and don't give the vaccines time to continue to protect the country. >> reporter: two weeks ago mississippi's governor signed an order that removes all of our county mask mandates and allows businesses to operate at full capacity. >> reporter: average case counts in the state had been falling but rose nearly 20% this past week. >> opening businesses makes sense but doing that at the same time that you release mask mandates just doesn't make any sense. >> reporter: now, some good news for schools. the federal government is going to pour $10 million into testing for kids k-12. that should help more schools open and stay open and an array of hope from california, disneyland after more than a year is going to reopen end of april. masks, distancing, limited numbers, and i'm afraid to say to begin with also only open to california residents. wolf. >> interesting. nick, thanks very much. nick watt reporting. joining us now, the former cdc acting director dr. richard besser. dr. besser, thanks for joining us. the rdc has just labeled the two new covid variants first identified in california, they have labeled them as variants of concern. what makes these particular strains troubling, so troubling? >> well, what that means is when they look at antibodies, people who have had covid infection and they look to see do the antibodies destroy this -- this strain of virus, they find that they don't do it quite so well. the reason the alarm is raised to a higher level is that they -- there's no data yet to show that these strains are not -- are not protected -- people aren't protected if they get the vaccine for these strains. that would be the next level of concern, but, wolf, what it says to me is we are really in a race here. we're in a race to -- to get the population vaccinated, at the same time we're fighting people's exhaustion with the restrictions that public health has put in place, and we're fighting the move by so many governors to -- to remove the restrictions that are keeping us all safe. you know, these factors are really concerning and as dr. walensky said, the fact that things have plateaued in many places is not a cause for celebration. that's a cause for concern. >> it certainly is. as you heard in nick's report a new study out of israel shows protective antibodies from pregnant women are transferred to their babies during pregnancy. based on that research and what we know about the safety of the vaccine in pregnant women, would you recommend the vaccine during pregnancy? >> well, you know, it's not surprising to see this data. it's one of the absolutely wonderful things about vaccinations in pregnancy is it provides some protection to -- to newborns, and as a pediatrician, that's something that i've always counted on, and that's why i've pushed to make sure that pregnant women get all the vaccines that are recommended. in terms of this vaccine for pregnant women, it's a conversation between a pregnant person and their doctor, and the reason for that is that you need to look at exposure risk. is it an individual who is at high risk of exposure to covid, or is it someone who is at very low risk, and then what is that individual's risk tolerance? you know, i expect that these will be shown to be very safe but the studies are still under way. >> good advice as usual. dr. besser, thanks so much for joining us. coming up, president biden says new york governor cuomo should resign if, is if an investigation concludes that he sexually harassed women. stand by for the governor. when i had acne, i made up a lot of excuses. my cat really needs me right now. y'know, i'm trying to be less popular these days. now? i use differin gel. take the 90-day challenge now and you'll get consistently clear skin too. do things differin. jackson hewitt knows your job description andmay have changed this year. clear skin too. to say... account manager... third grade teacher... and senior vice dog-walker. don't add tax preparer. let jackson hewitt do it for you, so you can be certain your taxes are done right, guaranteed. 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. president biden finally is weighing in on the sexual harassment investigation, facing the new york governor andrew cuomo saying if the allegations prove true, cuomo should resign and maybe even be prosecuted. let's go to cnn's ryan nobles joining us from albany right now. ryan, how is the governor reacting? >> reporter: well, first of all, let's talk about what president biden had to say. he's still shopping short of calling on governor cuomo to resign but he did raise a number of eyebrows when he suggested that if the allegations against governor cuomo turn out to be true, that he could face criminal prosecution. take a listen. >> i know you said you want the investigation to continue. if the investigation confirms the claims of the women, should he resign? >> yes, i think he probably will end up being prosecuted, too. >> now, the governor was asked about the president's comments and he points out that the president believes that the investigation should play itself out before cuomo takes any action regarding his future. listen to the governor's response. >> if you committed a crime, you can be prosecuted. that's true. but what president biden said was, we should do an investigation. the question to president biden starts with, do you think the governor should resign, or do you think there should be a review first? and the president said there should be a review. i agree with him on that. >> reporter: and about that investigation, it is continuing. in fact, the attorney general's investigation which is being handled by outside firm, has now interviewed two of the alleged accusers of governor cuomo, and then today, the speaker of the new york state assembly announced which outside firm would begin his investigation. now, there had been some criticisms of the speaker's investigation which would be the first step before impeachment proceedings. lindsey boylan, one of the accusers of governor cuomo says she will not participate in the assembly speaker's investigation because she believes it is just allowing this process to continue to stall and play out. so still, a lot of controversy surrounding the governor of the state of new york here am albany. >> ryan nobles in albany for us. thank you very much. coming up, we are getting new details on the 21-year-old suspect now charged with murder, after a shooting spree left eight people dead. 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(laughing) (trumpet playing) someone behind me, come on. pick that up, pick that up, right there, right there. as long as you keep making the internet an amazing place to be, we'll keep bringing you a faster, more secure, and more amazing internet. xfinity. the future of awesome. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room, we're following the deadly shootings at spas in the atlanta area, and the fear it's generating in the asian-american community. tonight, the 21-year-old accused gunman is charged with eight counts of murder. police say they're still investigating the motive for the attack that left eight people dead, six of them asian american women. while the suspect denies targeting victims of race, the killings come as anti-asian violence here in the united states has been spiking dramatically during the coronavirus pandemic. also tonight, a new u.s. intelligence report warns that racially or ethnically motivated violence extremists here in the u.s. present the most lethal domestic terror threat in the country right now. let's start our coverage this hour in atlanta, our cnn national correspondent natasha