anti-asian violence are gripping communities across the country. president biden and vice president harris are heading to atlanta. it is the first time they'll be in the battleground state since taking office. their trip was originally billed as part of their tour to sell the american rescue plan stimulus, but the political portion of it is now scrapped and the focus is mourning those lost while meeting with leaders in the asian-american community. >> we'll be covering all the angles of the president's trip, as well as any new developments in the investigation into the shootings. but also this today because it's a big day in the fight against covid-19. the biden administration is set to exceed its goal of 100 million vaccinations in the president's first 100 days in office. 42 days earlier than promised. and a potential game-changer for children in classrooms. the cdc is set to cut its recommendation for physical distancing from six feet to three feet for in-person learning. makes a big difference for schools, how much space they need to reopen. cnn's jeff zeleny is traveling with the president to atlanta this morning. natasha chen following the investigation into these shootings. jeff, to begin with you, tell us what the president plans to do today and how much this trip has changed from its original intent. >> well, jim, president biden, vice president harris will be coming to atlanta and they were planning to tout the benefits of the covid relief bill, really explaining everything that's in the bill and how it can help georgians. coming to georgia because it was a key part of their election victory. and more importantly, a key part of democrats winning the senate majority that allowed this morning rescue plan to even be passed. but they are postponing a rally planned here and they are instead having a meeting with asian-american community leaders here. hearing the frustration. trying to console these leaders about -- in the wake of the shootings here this week. but interestingly, the white house has stopped well short of calling these hate crimes. and that is the issue here directly. so that is what president biden will be confronted with when he meets with community leaders who believe this is a hate crime. there's a new formed group here who said there's no question this is a hate crime. that's one thing president biden will be confronted with. he'll be making remarks after he has that meeting. but also on the aagenda, he's stopping by the cdc. he wants to highlight the fact they're reaching a goal early on the 58th day of the presidency, of 100 million shots given out. and that is something that they are also highlighting as well as voting reform. there's a meeting with stacey abrams here later today. of course, voting reform front and center here in georgia. republican legislators trying to roll back some of those voting rights that helped the president win the white house in the first place. so front and center here in georgia, those voting rights. all of these issues on the president's plate. first and foremost, you know, he's going to be playing this role as consoler in chief here as he comes to atlanta in the wake of these tragic shootings, jim. >> a role he knows well, jeff. thank you. natasha, the atlanta police department is releasing new details about the shooting. what more are you learning? >> yeah, i'm here at the cherokee county sheriff's office where the flags are at half-staff as ordered by president biden to honor the victims. they've released an incident report and it shows how brutal this attack was. the report shows that two of the people killed were shot in the face. one of them shot in the head. four total people killed in atlanta were asian women, and police say they have not -- they are not releasing names right now because they're still trying to reach next of kin. but here in cherokee county, the names of the four people killed at the spa location here, they have been released. here they are. deelaina yan. paul andre michaels. 49-year-old xiaojie tan and daoyoue feng. the district attorney's office announced a statement saig they'll be meet with the impacted families. the district attorney recognizes the terror in the asian-american community and they'll work to bring justice for the victims here. now at the same time, we are dealing with a situation, the cherokee county sheriff's office where the spokesperson, captain jay baker, came under fire for comments made earlier in the week at a press conference describing the suspect as having had a bad day. and this is what happened. he has now been removed from that -- serving that role just for this case. he is still with the sheriff's office. the sheriff released a statement, too, saying that baker's words were not intended to disrespect the victims or the tragedy of the situation, jim and poppy. >> natasha, thank you for that reporting. jeff, to you as well. we'll be watching the president and vice president throughout the day there. throughout this pandemic, nearly 3800 hate incidents have been reported between march of last year and last month against asians specifically. this is according to stop aapi hate. women were targeted 68% of the time. so overwhelmingly. one of the state lawmakers meeting with the president and vice president today is bee nguyen. she joins me now. good morning. it's nice to have you back. it's important to have you back. it's horrible that it's under these circumstances. you were just with us last week. you know, i was struck with your comments about what you describe as the vulnerability, the invisibility and the isolation of working class asian women in america right now. what will you tell the vice president and the president, your community, your city need? >> well, you know, i think it is important to highlight that because here in this country, asian-americans have always been propped up as the model minority. and that, we know, is a myth. in preaching that myth forward, we leave behind working class asians and asian women who are specifically vulnerable, such as the women who died in this shooting. you know, as far as we know so far, law enforcement in atlanta, they have not even been able to contact their next of kin. we do know, however, through a gofundme and various media sources that one of the women killed was a single mother of two boys that have been left behind. her son has told us that he has not been connected by law enforcement. that he was very close to his mother. that she loved sushi. she loved dancing. and here he is trying to grapple with what happened. it is a horrible and horrific tragedy and we ought to be centering people like him and the women who died. >> it's the first thought i had, representative, were they mothers? and there's still so much we need to know. we don't even have that reporting you just mentioned, but your heart breaks over that. given all of this, i wonder what you think of the fbi director christopher wray saying yesterday that the massacre does not, in his view, appear to be racially motivated. what did you think when you heard that? >> well, when you think about whether or not this crime is racially motivated, you cannot take the word of the suspect in custody. you have to take into the context, the history of asians living in this country, as well as present day. and one of those things that is being overlooked is the fact that you cannot divorce racism and jgender-based violence and misogyny. the sexual exploitation of asian women, those are all very relevant in this case. under the hate crimes law passed in georgia, jgender and sex area protected class. we know that he targeted three asian women's businesses. he drove 40 minutes between those businesses and along the way, and we know this area well, there are other adult entertainment businesses that are black and white and he chose not to go to any of them. he specifically chose these two businesses and, as a result, six asian women are dead. under the hate crimes law, both from a racial and gender perspective, i believe it is a hate crime. >> does the biden white house need to call it a hate crime? you'll meet with them today. >> i believe they ought to investigate it as a hate crime, and they ought to listen to the asian people living in georgia and to the community as a whole because we are the ones asking this to be considered a hate crime and to be investigated as one. >> so let me finally get your take on this. what happened yesterday in a preplanned house hearing on anti-asian violence in this country? listen to this first from republican congressman chip roy of texas. >> i'm not going to be ashamed of saying i oppose the chinese communist party. and when we say things like that and we're talking about that, we shouldn't be worried about having a committee of members of congress policing our rhetoric because some evildoers go engage in some evil activity as occurred in atlanta, georgia. >> and then congressman rodney davis told cnn he doesn't believe that public figures using words like china virus or kung flu are connected at all to the dramatic rise in anti-asian violence. he said this is all just political correctness. what do you say? >> rhetoric matters. and we know that since the beginning of the pandemic, we've been in this for a year now, the increase in hate crimes against aaip is 150%. and that messaging came directly from the president, the former president. and he gave permission for other leaders and elected officials to use language such as that. and it is also important to note the law enforcement officer in cherokee who offered a more sympathetic narrative related to the suspect in custody, he was selling t-shirts with the word china virus on it and making a profit off of that. >> i'm sorry that we lost your shot at the end of the interview, representative, but we heard every word. thank you very much. now we have your shot back. thank you for being with us. it's a big day. you're headed to meet with the president and vice president. representative bee nguyen, thank you. >> thank you. still to come, the cdc is expected to update guidelines on how far apart children need to be in schools, cutting it in half. that's big news. what's it going to mean for students, ahead. plus, talks at a high level between u.s. and chinese officials off to a fiery confrontational start. what does this signal for hopes of a reset? and we're live at a detention center in texas where hundreds of teenage migrants are now being held. this amid a new wave of children arriving unaccompanied at the border. use a single hr software? nope. we use 11. eleven. why do an expense report from your phone when you can do it from a machine that jams? i just emailed my wife's social security number to the entire company instead of hr, so... please come back. how hard is your business software working for you? with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in one easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com for a free demo. hon? first off, we love each other... president biden says today the united states will hit his administration's target of getting 100 million vaccine doses administered within his first 100 days. except, jim, it's not day 100. it's day 58. it's way ahead of schedule. >> listen, it's enormous progress in a short period of time and good news for everyone, really. the president's announcement comes ahead of a visit to the centers for disease control and prevention in atlanta. today the agency is expected, and this is key, to update its guidance on physical distancing in schools. reducing the recommended distance from six feet to three feet apart. joining us to discuss the headlines, dr. ashish jha, dean of the brown university school of public health. good to have you back. can you explain -- >> thanks for having me back. >> can you spexplain the scienc and data here that leads to this change in recommendation. we're a year into this pandemic. why now, and why are they confident in this? >> yeah, so thanks again for having me back. the bottom line is that there was never very good evidence for doing it at six feet. not if kids are masked up. not if there's at least a reasonable amount of ventilation within the school. and now we have emerging studies that show that when schools opened up with a three feet rule, they did not see any increased risk of infection over schools that opened up with six feet. it makes an enormous difference. if you do six feet, you largely can't get all the kids back this spring. probably can't get kids back next year. so there's a lot of reasons to go to three feet. the biggest one is, there's no evidence that six feet is any safer. >> it's great, great, great news. i just think this is going to be a game-changer for so many parents, doctor. when it comes to the vaccination of children, it was just interesting what dr. fauci said that essentially to reach herd immunity, children are going to need to be vaccinated. this brings up a question that i remember asking our kids' school at the beginning of this. are you going to mandate children being vaccinated? i know it's legally dicey to be able to do that in all public school systems, but what do you think? >> yeah, so we do mandate vaccines. that's not a -- >> but not all of them. not a flu shot, right? >> i'm sorry? >> but not all of them. not a flu shot. so there's some vaccines that are mandated but not all. >> right. exactly. so i think -- first and foremost, we have to test these vaccines in kids and make sure they're safe and effective. i think we'll have that data, for some kids by the end of the summer, others by later in the fall. my take is given how much of an impact covid has had on our society, assuming these vaccines are as safe in kids as in adults, i can totally imagine school districts mandating this. it's going to be a really important part of keeping schools even safer. so, yeah, i do think this will happen. it may not happen everywhere. we have to make sure it's safe in kids before we, obviously, do that. >> dr. jha, back for a moment to the three feet, six feet thing. we're still told outside of schools to keep six feet for social distancing. does this change that guidance, and are you saying there's no data to make that the magic number? >> yeah, so the six feet comes from a mental model that has two elements. one is it assumes that a lot of the spread is through droplets, through cough and spit and those kinds of things and not so much the aerosol, the breathing. the second, it assumes that people are not masked up. but we've seen in hospitals and other places across the country over the last year, we don't have six feet rules in hospitals. we have not seen big outbreaks because everybody is masked up. rule number one is masking. once you have masking, it becomes much, much safer. and we just haven't seen any evidence that six feet is safer than three, if people are masked up. >> that's a big difference, yeah. >> jim, i didn't think about that. that's a great point. does this change the game spispire entirely. how encouraging is it that you have 100 million americans will have at least one vaccine dose? >> i think it's terrific. and what i would like, and i think is doable is i'd like to get us to 200 million by that 100-day mark. that gives us 42 days to get an additional 100 million. i think we can do it. that's what we should be pushing for. >> wow. that would be enormous. let's hope so. let's hope so. i'm rooting for it. dr. ashish jha, thaunks very much. after a tense, really extremely tense first meeting, u.s. and chinese officials are set to have another face-to-face today. if the first encounter was any indicator, things could get interesting. it was fiery. university of phoenix is awarding up to one million dollars in new scholarships through this month, because hope fuels opportunity. see what scholarship you qualify for at phoenix.edu this is not great to see. off to a very fiery start. u.s. and chinese officials clashing immediately in their first face-to-face high-level talks since president biden took office. a short photo op ahead of two days of meetings in alaska spiralling into a tense back and forth series of heated rebukes. >> this was unusual, to say the least. kylie atwood joins us from the state department. i've been inside neatmeetings l this at this level. at least when the press is around they tend to avoid heated exchanges like that, but that didn't happen yesterday. how is the biden administration reacting? >> it didn't happen at all. i think people are a bit surprised, to say the least, that this unfolded, particularly given it's the first u.s./china face-to-face feeti meeting of t biden administration. secretary blinken delivered his opening remarks on behalf of the biden administration. he gave some pointed remarks with regard to what the chinese officials could expect from the u.s. during these discussions. let's listen. >> we'll also discuss our deep concerns with actions by china, including in xinjiang, hong kong, economic coercion toward our allies. the alternative to a rules-based order is a world in which might makes right and winners take all and that would be a far more violent and unstable world for all of us. >> so after that, the chinese officials had their turn to deliver their opening remarks. they went for far longer than the u.s. side did, and they essentially claimed that the u.s. was being hypocritical. they then went aggressively after things happening in the united states. divisions in u.s. society. black lives matter protesters. accusing the u.s. of being champions of cyberattacks. and so after that happened, secretary of staten toly blinken told the cameras to stay in the room. he wanted to say something in response to what the chinese had just said. he essentially said, listen, the united states isn't perfect. we're consistently seeking to be a more perfect union, but we work through our differences, and we do so in the public eye, in front of everyone. and then the cameras left the room. they were then invited back in the room just two minutes later. the chinese officials wanted their turn at a rebuttal. this is demonstrative of, as you said, it's bizarre. this doesn't normally happen but the chinese officials then said the u.s. was being condescending in tone, and they wanted to make their point to the u.s. officials on camera. so this was quite an extraordinary exchange to launch this really important series of meetings. >> yeah, and then the question going forward, what does it mean for future cooperation here? biden administration certainly wants to talk about climate change. we'll see the effect. kylie atwood, good to have you on the story. thanks very much. this morning, the fbi is now asking for the public's help in identifying ten suspects after releasing new video of the violence at the january 6th insurrection. the footage is graphic. it shows rioters attacking capitol police officers, violently. the new video comes a day after homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas warned domestic violent extremism is the greatest threat. i spoke with u.n. secretary general antonio guterres. he warns extremism, including white supremacy, neo-naziism and anti-asian violence is growing across the globe. and he says it's a challenge that the world must confront together today. >> i think we have seen it in relation to asians because of the covid. in relation to muslims in relation to some terrorist attacks that -- which, of course, overwhelming majority of the muslim population is totally innocent. we have seen it in relation to different other minorities in some that are scapegoated, that are considered to be responsible for whatever happens negative. we see it again gaining ground in an unacceptable way after what happened with the holocaust. i always thought with the holocaust people would say anti-semitism never more. we see it moving on and gaining ground and violence against the jewish communities, synagogues being attacked here in the eu. i mean, this is something that really must mobilize us all. it is a cause for us all that believe in universal values, that believe in human fraternity and human dignity. >> secretary-general, you've talked about how white supremacy, neo-naziism, this extremism has become the number one internal security threat. and there is evidence that these groups operate almost similarly to international terror networks sharing knowledge, resources, sentiment, et cetera. how extensive is that cooperation internationally between these kinds of groups? >> i think it's becoming very extensive. i think there is permanent intercommunication. there are even mechanisms of mutual recruitment and mutual influence. at the same time, we see some of these groups recruiting war veterans, recruiting former members of security forces and trying -- having weapons and becoming a threat to our society. and they are interlinked more and more. as the extreme right is becoming more interlinked at political level. >> we saw those kinds of folks taking part in the assault on the capitol january 6th. i want to ask you what you think needs to be done, right, to address this internationally. partly it's in language, but what kind of action? >> well, this is a battle of ideas. we need to fight ideas, promote our values. democratic societies must prevail in all circumstances, and mutual respect must be always in the top of our concerns. but i think there are some actors that can have a particularly important role. religious leaders can be very important. leaving their communities to the advocacy of the right causes against these kind of manifestations with white supremacy being anti-muslim or anti-semitism. we need to sense the social cohesion of society. we need to invest. many of those circumstances reflect problems of discrimination that exist. reflect frustrations that exist in relation to unfair policies that undermine the situation of different groups in society. to invest economically, socially, culturally in social cohesion. it must be everywhere and also to have police forces that are police forces trained to address these issues. to have the -- trained to address these issues in an effectively. to make sure that those that misbehave are held accountable and being held accountable and, according to the rule of law and to due process. a punishment that is to be punished. >> finally if this requires an international effort, is the u.s., in your view, more a leader in fighting this or, today, part of the problem? >> i have seen in the u.s. fantastic demonstrations of anti-racism. i've seen the youths in the leadership of those demonstrations. and to a certain extent, this movement has spread all over the world. the u.s. is an enormous influence. the soft power of the u.s. is something that it is clear in culture, in art, in many other aspects. and so what happens in the u.s. inevitably has a strong influence in other parts of the world. and so this kind of natural leadership creates a particular responsibility for united states leaders and for the american communities because indeed what happens here is known everywhere. and inevitably reflects in other parts of the world. >> including, sadly, the challenge from extremism, white supremacy. thanks very much to the u.n. secretary-general antonio guterres. appreciate you taking the time. >> significant to hear from him. thank you for that. on next, after this, schools. the cdc is just about to release new guidelines that will cut the distance that kids have to be apart in schools in half. the superintendent for boston's public school system will join us next. woo! you are busy... working, parenting, problem solving. at new chapter vitamins we've been busy too... innovating, sourcing organic ingredients, testing them and fermenting. fermenting? yeah like kombucha or yogurt. and we formulate everything so your body can really truly absorb the natural goodness. that's what we do, so you can do you. new chapter wellness, well done. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. pain hits fast. so get relief fast. only tylenol rapid release gels have laser-drilled holes. they release medicine fast for fast pain relief. tylenol rapid release gels. today the homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas is heading to el paso, texas, to tour porder facilities there. new data is shedding light on the challenges facing u.s. border patrol amid this migrant surge. according to the agency, it has now encountered 32 large groups of at least 100 migrants each along the southern border just since october. >> and that number is up from 10 groups in the previous year when border crossings dropped sharply at the beginning of the covid pandemic. priscilla alvarez joins us again in dallas. you have more than 14,000 migrant children in u.s. custody. what is happening to them? >> these numbers tell us a lot, poppy. and especially the number of children in border patrol custody. we now know that's now more than 4,500 children. poppy and jim, these are facilities that look like jails. they have concrete benches, concrete walls. this is not a place where the administration wants children to stay for a prolonged period of time but that's what's happening because of the sheer number of children crossing the u.s./mexico border. and the administration is having a hard time keeping up. we're here in dallas in front of the convention center where they're trying to transfer these kids to try to get the process started outside of those border patrol facilities. again, the administration sharing big numbers yesterday that just illustrate that the challenge is still facing them. >> big one. priscilla, thank you for being there, for your reporting. today the cdc will update its guidance for physical distance in schools. an administration official tells cnn the cdc will cut in half. so it will no longer be six feet between kids. it's going to need to be three feet. this after a new study showed no significant difference in covid rates between those distances in schools with universal masking. the study drives this -- this study driving this change was done in massachusetts public schools analyzing data from more than 500,000 students in 251 school districts. i'm pleased to be joined by boston public school superintendent brenda casilias. great to have you. i wonder what your reaction is to this news? you were planning to fully open your schools five days a week by mid-april. does this accelerate that? >> well, thank you, poppy, for having me on. and this is part of that plan is to be able to have the three feet of distance in order to have the capacity within our schools to meet all of the students that want to come to in-person learning. >> it's good news, right? if this is safe, it's going to be a lot easier for kids to be back in school. what's interesting to me about boston public schools is that you had this huge win a year ago. you had the highest graduation rate ever in 2020 for boston public schools. and then the pandemic hits and now what you're facing is a serious problem of chronic absenteeism. your numbers say 2 out of 5 high school juniors and seniors in the fall were not showing up. especially in the most disadvantaged communities. is this your greatest challenge? >> this is -- >> bringing these kids back to the level they were at? >> this is a huge challenge for u us, poppy. we know our children have been impacted by the pandemic this past year and as it continues to weigh on their mental health, their social isolation has been extremely challenging for them to just get out of bed and attend class. we have done a lot to try to engage them, given them flexibility in their grading, following up on their grading. we've also been able to work with our social workers and our counselors to encourage students. we've been calling families and working with families as well. so we are concerned about their attendance. this is also true at the other end of the spectrum with our youngest learners as well. where parents have just decided to keep their kids out of school this year. there's a lot we have to do when we return. but we're pretty proud of those high graduation rates for our 2020 class when the pandemic hit and they could have been really negatively impacted. our staff really stepped up. >> how do you deal with the mental and emotional toll long after, you know, most people are vaccinated? i know you've brought on dozens of more social workers, but, i mean, as a parent, i think about it. i have little kids so i don't think the emotional impact will be on them so much, but if i had teenagers, i'd be really scared right now. >> they are scared. i was just talking to some of our student members of our advisory council just the other night and the impacts for them are just really sad. and they are carrying this unfair burden on them with our schools being closed. we need to open our schools for our high schoolers as well. boston public schools will have our schools open by the end of this month for our high school students in hybrid. that means two days a week, with plans to expand to five days a week by the end of april. >> for people who don't know your background, you were raised by a single mother in public housing in minneapolis on food stamps. so you know what disparity is like. and every indication is that this pandemic has just increased disparity for black and brown students, on every level. your critics, as you know, have said your plans are too bold. too ambitious. they're not practical enough. what do you say to those folks as you take on this challenge that i bet you never expected when you became superintendent. >> well, i would say that our children deserve big, bold plans. and what we were doing wasn't working. and so it is absolutely critical that our children are able to have well-rounded education. they should have the arts. they should have pe, music, advanced classes. that should be available to our children, even our poorest children. and to say that we can't do it is just not okay to me. i had those kinds of things for me when i was a kid. and i think it's important that we build those similar kind of supports for our children. and really rally for our kids. and if this pandemic has taught us anything, it is that resources are not a barrier. unions are not a barrier. it is just the political will to get it done for our children. >> let's end on this. you, sadly, have had your own experience being the victim of racism, racist statements made about you. as we see the hate against asian-americans in this country and the violence perpetrated, does it change your plans for what you will do for the asian-american community in your schools and how you will work to educate your students and faculty on this front? >> yeah, it's really sad that the way that adults speak now in our community toward any group, asian groups, black children, and we do not tolerate that in the boston public schools, and we should not tolerate that at all in our country. it is deplorable, and we should all make huge statements to say that this is just unacceptable. children today are so hopeful, so joyful and resilient. and they know their place in the world. and we adults need to step it up a bit and conduct ourselves because they watch everything that we do, and they soak it up. and they learn from us. and so we need to make sure that our behavior is in order and something to be worthy of our children. >> maybe a lesson for all of us grown-ups from our children in their kindness. >> i always say that it's the adults who make the conditions in which children succeed, so maybe they'll take our cues and together we can be better for them. >> superintendent of the boston public school system, brenda, thank you, and good luck. >> thank you, poppy. >> jim? this breaking news just in to cnn. the judge in the derek chauvin trial just made a big decision about that case. in fact, multiple decisions with significant impact. we'll have a live update right after this break. cuff-free life. honey, i'm home from my really important job! scuff defense. honey! scuff defense. 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>> elie honig also with us. tell us the significance of omitting evidence of that 2019 arrest of floyd in which chauvin was involved. the defense sees this as advantageous. why? and how advantageous do you believe it to be or not? >> reporter: jim, it's unusual to see a judge allow in evidence of a prior arrest in an unrelated case, and even more so here, because we're not even talking about the defendant. we're talking about the victim, george floyd. the defense of derek chauvin is going to argue that one of the reasons that he died, george floyd died was because he ingested drugs on the day of the arrest. they want to introduce evidence of george floyd's prior arrest, which, by the way, will be quite prej prejudicial against george first lady, but argue that a similar thing happened during that prior arrest. that during that prior arrest, they were also showing signs that were consistent with ingesting a large amount of drugs. this all goes to the question of what charged george floyd's death. here's why i don't think it's ultimately a successful defense. as long as the prosecution can show that derek chauvin's knee to george floyd's neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds was a contributing factor to his death. it was one of the causes of his death, then they will get what they need. then they have enough to prove the charge of murder/manslaughter offenses. >> okay. thank you for explaining all of that to us. ellie, omar, thank you for being there on the breaking news. we'll take a quick break and be right back. ♪ if your money is working toward the same goals, why keep it in different places? 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