this morning millions of americans are waking up waiting and wondering where is the help they need? where is that covid relief bill? the short answer, still making its way to the house with the senate expected to send it over as soon as today. when we expect the final vote and when you can expect a check to hit your bank account. i don't know how i would have survived without the extra amount. it's a godsend. >> president biden promising to sign it as soon as he gets it and getting ready to make his first prime time address as president. marking one full year since the country shut down. and we are live in minneapolis inside this courtroom, day two of the murder trial of former police officer derek chauvin, with jury selection set to start for real this time any minute. the drama over whether to add to third degree murder charge and the controversial defense that led george floyd's sister to walk out. that is where we start live in minneapolis where jury selection is set to begin again right now in the murder trial of derek chauvin. he, of course, is the former police officer accused of killing george floyd. this whole process was supposed to start yesterday, but the judge, you see them there live, sent those potential jurors home with the prosecution and defense arguing over whether to add a third degree murder charge. no decision on that yet, but the judge now wants to start jury selection this morning right now this minute anyway. let me get to nbc's gabe gutierrez who is in minneapolis along with us as well is civil rights attorney and former prosecutor david henderson. gabe, let me start with you. we are watching the judge just beginning to address the courtroom there and it follows what was a rather dramatic day of legal twists and turns in this case. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, hallie. let me walk you through that. first of all, you can see behind me heavy security still at the courthouse here in minneapolis, but, yes, as you mentioned, in on monday it was a tense day of legal twists and turns. just a few minutes ago the courtroom started back up again, there was a motions hearing where the prosecution and the defense discussed a few things and there as you see live the judge appears to be starting jury selection in-person for the first time. now, we should mention the prosecution and the defense have already agreed to dismiss 16 prospective jurors based on their questionnaires, all potential jurors are filling that out by the way. it is seeking their opinions on everything from the black lives matter movement to their media habits to what they think about criminal justice reform. so, yes, this is now under way, but you mention that dramatic day in court yesterday where the judge sent jurors home because of those questions that are swirling surrounding a third degree murder charge. that is still unresolved at this point, but we also spoke with the sister of george floyd, bridgette floyd, she was the only family member allowed inside the courtroom yesterday because of covid protocols. take a listen to what she told us. >> very emotional. i was a roller coaster today. >> if you could say something to mr. chauvin, what would it be? >> you took a great guy from this world. he was a father, he was a brother, he was a man of his word. >> reporter: again, former officer derek chauvin has pleaded not guilty to charges of second degree murder and manslaughter. the questions right now are about that third degree murder charge, but, hallie, i also want to mention bridgette floyd who you saw right there, she actually walked out of the courtroom briefly on monday when eric nelson, derek chauvin's attorney, brought up a controversial defense and signaled what will likely be a key part of the defense strategy here, he brought up george floyd's drug use and that he alleged that chewed up pills were found in the back of the police squad car after floyd was seen on body camera video struggling with officers. i asked her about that, she said that she needed to take a breath and that that argument did not matter. she, bridgette floyd says she and her family are seeking justice for what happened to her brother on video. hallie? >> gabe gutierrez live for us there in minneapolis. gabe, thank you. on the left side of your screen you are taking a live look inside the courtroom. we understand that the judge is addressing the potential prospective jurors, thanking them for being there. the prosecution, the defense introducing themselves now as this process gets started. david, i want to start on this issue that gabe brought up, this idea of reinstating a third degree murder charge. can you explain why prosecutors want that and why that may actually improve their odds of getting a murder conviction? >> absolutely. i think there's a high likelihood that derek chauvin will not be convicted of any charge at all except for that third degree murder charge. jurors sometimes will do the same thing goldilocks will do, second degree too high, manslaughter to low, let's go in the middle. one police officer in the history of minnesota has been convicted for someone while on duty and he was convicted during on a third degree murder charge. also this charge is consistent with the ranges of punishment we've seen for officers who have been convicted in other states under other circumstances including here in texas. >> as jury selection gets started now, david, what do you expect both sides will be looking for this that jury pool? >> both sides are look for too dramatically different jurors. if we were to summarize them by reducing them to single statement it really is a difference between black lives matter and blue lives matter. i think that the prosecution has a much heavier lift on this case and if this trial begins with less than two black people on the jury that if you look at what's happening in other trials there is a low likelihood of them getting a conviction against derek chauvin. >> david henderson, thank you for your perspective. we hope to have you back, appreciate you joining us on this day two of the derek chauvin murder trial. we will keep an eye on what's happening in the courtroom. we're watching what's happening in washington specifically on capitol hill. why? it is possible that the senate will send that huge covid relief package back to the house for a final vote really any minute. maybe. let me bring in peter alexander and leigh ann caldwell. leigh ann, let me play a little more of what we heard from a woman named angela. we heard from her at the top of this broadcast. she's been relying on unemployment benefits since she lost her newspaper job last year. listen. >> in between when you're not really sure what's happening, what's the next step. oh, they're voting on whatever. it is very stressful. very -- you just don't know what's coming next. >> it's confusing for people, so answer that question, leigh ann. what is the next step? what are they voting on and when? >> reporter: so, hallie, the good news is they are still on track to meet this march 14th deadline of when these unemployment insurance benefits do run out. that doesn't seem to be a problem. but where is the bill? we're actually waiting on it being passed from the senate to the house of representatives. everyone might be asking what is taking so long. well, this is a very technical process where they are actually printing the legislation, incorporating the changes that the senate made and then senate staff are going line by line making sure that everything is accurate before it gets over to the house. aides tell me to be assured that everything is okay, nothing is going off the rails, this is just part of the process. now, a big reminder of what's in the legislation, of course, this is going to be one of the most big pieces of legislation for middle and low income families that we have seen, progressives are mostly on board saying that this is just big and bold. so what does it do? of course, there's direct stimulus checks, there's additional money for families making $150,000 and less in that child tax credit. money for schools, vaccine distribution, more money for states and localities. there is money for an affordable care act expansion as well. so this is legislation that democrats are thrilled to be signing into law even though it's taking a little bit longer before it gets to the house before it can reach president biden's desk. a reminder that we still expect unanimous opposition from republicans in the house of representatives when they do vote on it. at some point either today, most likely tomorrow, hallie. >> leigh ann, thank you. peter, leigh ann has set us up for this potential big week for president biden, on track to sign into law his first big legislative win and et cetera' going to be delivering his first prime time address to the nation, too. >> hallie, you're exactly right. that signing ceremony would punctuate this week for president biden, a significant one. it's likely according to white house officials that president biden will get his hands on that bill to sign by this friday, discussions that it could include a signing ceremony, weather permitting outside in the south lawn to demonstrate the sort of importance, the significance of this signature ceremony that they are preparing for, but it will come if it happens on friday, the day after thursday's anniversary, the one-year anniversary that the covid outbreak was declared a pandemic. president biden will be delivering his first prime time address on thursday at 8:00 p.m. obviously he will be commemorating that somber anniversary more than 525,000 americans now losing their lives among the topics that we expect to hear from him. according to the press secretary jen psaki on the sacrifices and the grave loss for families and communities in this country, but also according to psaki it will be an effort for president biden, an opportunity for him to look forward to how americans are going to beat back this virus and get our lives back to normal. on that very issue today joe biden making the case for that covid relief bill will in the next hour and a half or so be visiting a business that benefits from the ppp loans, tomorrow he will welcome johnson & johnson and merck leaders here, those two companies partnering up to produce more of that j&j vaccine. hallie? >> peter alexander, thank you much. leigh ann, appreciate your time as well. new cdc guidelines out on what is safe to do once you get the covid vaccine. these are super interesting. we will break them down with our medical expert with some of the biggest questions that you still have. plus, why the agency is still advising against travel. and the number of unaccompanied migrant children detained along the u.s./mexico border tripling in the last couple weeks. congressman castro on the growing humanitarian crisis at the southern border. he's live. g humanitarian crisist the southern border. he's live. for less than the very best. because only verizon gives you 5g from america's most reliable network at no extra cost. and plans to mix and match, so you only pay for what you need. the plan is so reasonable, they can stay on for the rest of their lives. aww. 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"the new york times" which broke this story says the number of detained children has tripled in the last two weeks. nearly half of those kids 1,400 of them have been held longer than the three day legal limit with one source telling nbc news about 170 of these detained unaccompanied minors are younger than the age of 1. earlier this morning on this network white house press secretary jen psaki says the spike is partly because the biden administration reverse add trump era policy that expelled unaccompanied migrant children. >> the reason we're in this circumstance with thousands of kids coming across the border is because this administration did not feel that it was humane or moral to send kids back on this treacherous journey, the treacherous journey back to countries where they were fleeing persecution or fleeing really difficult circumstances. >> with me now is congressman joaquin castro, democrat from texas. congressman, good morning and thank you for being back on the show. >> yeah, good morning. >> so a lot to get to, but let me start there. are you satisfied, congressman, with what the biden administration is doing to try to get these kids out of these holding cells? you know they're usually small, concrete rooms. what more needs to be done here? >> well, i mean, the bottom line is that they have to process these kids and other asylum seekers as quickly as possible and get them into the homes of sponsors. the overwhelming number of people who are seeking asylum in the united states are seeking asylum in the united states because they oftentimes have family members here. what happened was during the trump years basically donald trump ignored u.s. and international law and created new policies to do everything he could to stop anybody from even seeking asylum in the united states. so you have a few years' worth at least of a backlog of people who have been waiting to be considered for asylum. and, remember, these aren't people who just love walking 1,000 miles to come to the border, these are folks who are fleeing very desperate and violent situations in their home countries. so the goal has got to be to get them with family members and safe and protected as quickly as possible. >> there are some critics who say -- i mean, as you point out, the reason for this influx partly is because of that reversal of trump immigration policies. there are critics to say this is predictable and that the biden policy this administration is sending a different message to these countries. i wonder if you think they have a point and would you go so farce although the biden administration has not is to call this a crisis at this point? >> look, it's definitely a challenge and i remember a few years ago we were saying that it was a humanitarian crisis, but i think it's important -- the language here is important. there is an important distinction to be made because oftentimes when republicans and conservative politicians talk about a crisis at the border they're not talking about a humanitarian crisis where desperate people are fleeing violent situations, they're really talking about fear mongering, they're trying to square many americans into believing that there is a bunch of brown people coming to this country to hurt you. so language becomes very important. no doubt it's a very deep challenge, it is a humanitarian -- deep humanitarian situation, but these are folks who, again, are fleeing very desperate situations. >> let me ask you about something else, a topic that you know well, of course, the january 6th insurrection given your role as an impeachment manager on that front. there is a report on security from general russel honore. he is asking for an improved decision-making process, a quick reaction force, for example, he wants the authority to summon the national guard, he's calling for more staffing and intelligence, mobile fencing, mounted police units, et cetera. do you support these recommendations? do they go far enough in your view and do you think that the national guard should stay in place at the capitol a little longer, a lot longer or indefinitely? >> i think the national guard as general honore and the others on that panel said should stay at the capitol as long as is necessary to make sure that the place is safe and protected. there were several ways that the united states government got caught flatfooted on january 6th, one of those is that over the years the fbi and other law enforcement agencies have not taken seriously enough the threat of right wing domestic terrorism and white supremacist terrorism. and then as this panel has recommended, there were other shortcomings including the physical infrastructure, the training of capitol police, the fact that you had a few hundred vacancies within the capitol police force, the fact that capitol police was not well-integrated into other area law enforcement agencies and so from what i saw in his recommendations yesterday and the presentation was pretty thorough and pretty professional. this was about a six-week review so i know they didn't get to every single thing, but it's a very strong start. >> you call thorough professional, a strong start. seems like you would support these recommendations. am i reading into that too much? >> no, i absolutely do. >> another topic as it is a busy one for you on capitol hill this morning, this $1.9 trillion covid relief bill that's going to be heading back to the house as we reported at the top of this broadcast really any minute. maybe today, house could vote on it today or probably tomorrow more likely. there have been some compromises as you know. one of the big ones the democrats had to agree to to get the bill passed in the senate was reducing weekly unemployment benefits down to $300 a week. are you okay with that? is it your expectation that this compromised bill will be voted on and get sent to the president by the end of the week? >> yeah, i mean, look, you know, i've opinion in public service now just over 18 years and it's a process and there are things that i supported that are not included in the bill, for example, besides the one you just mentioned, i supported making sure that essential workers, whether they were documented or not, would get some kind of financial relief and ultimately that was not included in the bill. but it is a process and this was the final bill and it comes down to a binary choice and americans are hurting right now so i'm going to vote for it when it comes back to the house and i hope that my colleagues will as well. >> just a wheezy time in question. do you expect that vote to happen later today, tonight, later tomorrow morning? what's your sense? what's your guidance? >> my prediction if i had to say would be tomorrow, but that's just my best guess. >> jives with what we've been hearing, too. congressman joaquin castro, great to have you on. thank you for your perspective on the show. coming up here, the state beginning to vaccinate all their k through 8 too teachers. why educators say the move did not come fast enough. the clash over cash, why former president trump is in a fundraising fight with the republican national committee. . republican national committee. needles. essential for pine trees, but maybe not for people with certain inflammatory conditions. because there are options. like an “unjection™”. xeljanz. the first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. needles. fine for some things. but for you, there's a pill that may provide symptom relief. ask your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. xeljanz. an “unjection™”. did you know that your clothes can actually attract pet hair? with bounce pet hair & lint guard, more than seven years ago. your clothes can repel pet hair. look how the shirt on the left attracts pet hair like a magnet! pet hair is no match for bounce. with bounce, you can love your pets, and lint roll less. california phones offers free specialized phones... like cordless phones. - ( phone ringing ) - big button, and volume-enhanced phones. get details on this state program. visit right now or call during business hours. now california phones offers free devices and accessories for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program visit right now or call during business hours. now to that new cdc guidance for people who have been fully vaccinated with some of those safety measures getting rolled back if you are lucky enough to be one of those folks. the new guidelines say that fully vaccinated people -- so, listen that is correct means people who are two weeks out from their last dose of whatever vaccine they got -- can visit with another household where everybody is fully vaccinated or nobody is at high risk of severe infection. so two options there. they're still asking people wear masks, social distance, if you are outside in public or in other settings, and there's been no change so far to the guidance that warns people not to travel. as we now hit a big milestone in this country. more than 31 million americans according to the cdc are now fully vaccinated. that is actually more than the number of confirmed covid cases nationwide. joining me now is msnbc medical contributor dr. kavita patel, former obama white house health policy director. dr. patel, good morning to you. thank you for being on. >> thanks, hallie. >> so we have been compiling some questions from folks that we know out in the communities who are wondering this. any kind of definitive answer to this question about whether people who have been vaccinated can actually transmit covid perhaps a tomt clee. it seems there is not a ton of data on that. what are these new guidelines based on that say, yes, if you're vaccinated you can go and hug, let's say, your granddaughter even if she has not been fully vaccinated? >> hallie, great question. there are some scientific studies that are referenced in the cdc guidance which do exactly what you describe, they kind of allude -- they're preliminary findings that demonstrate that if you are vaccinated you are at a much lower risk of giving the virus to someone, but it's not what we are all looking for, which is that declarative statement. that's why i think the cdc guidance, even though it's incredibly cautious and some people are criticizing it for that, i actually think it's a big deal because they're acknowledging that there is some risk of transmission, it's not zero, but it's okay. hug your grandkids, hug people or get close if they are unvaccinated and they're not at risk for severe covid. but the question is can people figure out who is at risk? that's a big question. >> i didn't mean to interrupt. i'm sorry, dr. patel, i thought you were finishing your thought. there has been some criticism that the cdc was rather risk-averse in this new set of guidelines that has come out in the last 24 hours. i'm interested that you don't agree with that piece of criticism. >> yeah, so, you know, in policy making if you find some people who are happy and some people who are really upset we like to say that's actually good policy. i think in this case this is an agency that has been traditionally risk averse for good reason. covid is something that all has kind of surprised us time and time again and i think by not updating the travel guidance some have been critical. i actually think the most important is that you can get into small gatherings, you can touch people, you can hug them, you just have to make sure if they're unvaccinated that they are not in categories that are at high risk of getting severe covid and that includes pregnant women who are not vaccinated, it includes severely obese people and it includes smokers. i do expect the cdc will continue to update things. the other big news coming out of this is if you are vaccinated but are exposed to someone who has a positive test or might have covid, do you not need to quarantine. i think that's a big relief for a lot of people as more of us get vaccinated. >> a couple of other questions for you, but let me just quickly sort of do this personal note. you are fully vaccinated. are you changing any of your behavior based on this new guidance? >> the only thing i'm changing is that my parents have been fully vaccinated, i haven't seen them, my kids haven't seen them, they are not at high risk so they are all -- at some point we are going to have that tearful reunion and that's probably the only thing. i have a pretty poor social life, as you might imagine being a doctor, so i would be more than happy to get together with other vaccinated people, but it was just not something that i routinely do, but elderly people, i'm looking forward to that and looking forward to hugs and kisses all around. >> amazing. two more quick questions for you. "politico" is reporting there was a travel section to the new guidance that was drafted and it was apparently removed partly because of debates over the wording, over the recommendations around quarantining. what is your sense of this delay? because like it or not it's going to be the summertime, people are going to want to start to travel whether there's guidelines or not that is likely going to happen. we already know folks are making summer plans, for example. >> yeah, and i do think that valid criticism to say people are -- let's just accept reality, people are traveling we need to give them some soared of guidance to travel safely. so you're absolutely right and i do believe that there's going to be mounting pressure and to be candid people like myself are going to be counseling patients and say if you must travel, here is how to do it safely. and it would be nice if we could have the cdc really kind of define that. i'm hoping they will, hallie, we are at 10% of the country vaccinated as we get to 20, 25, 30, that should be soon, with he should see that, but in the meantime people do need to stay chef. when you're traveling treat everyone around you as if they might have covid and even if you are vaccinated that you could get it and that will probably keep you a little bit more mindful of your actions while you're traveling. >> before i let you go i want to ask about the covid relief bill as someone who worked on obviously health policy for the obama administration. part of this bill includes some major although temporary expansions of subsidies for health insurance purchased under the affordable care act. talk about how significant this is. >> yeah, so it's significant for several reasons. first t started with the executive order where the president opened up enrollment to people kind of anybody who needs to can enroll in health insurance outside the normal months and then as you point out rightly, upwards of $40 billion for subsidies for cobra, so this is critical. 100% of cobra premiums which is mostly private insurance for people who have been unemployed or had to get furloughed or laid off, that is going to be paid for. and while it's not permanent, hallie, which is not expected, i think it's an incredible signal that this administration is here to prove that access to health care is essentially a human right and i think you're going to see some very interesting debates coming after this about whether there should be a public option or a more affordable way for people after those cobra subsidies drop off to be able to purchase health insurance. it's going to bring up something that covid revealed, that our health system is pretty broken even despite hard work and the affordable care act and they have a lot more work to do. >> dr. kavita patel, always great to have you on. thank you so much. we are excited that you finally get to hug your parents. over in georgia teachers are finally starting to get vaccinated after earlier decisions about who to prioritize put senior citizens ahead in line. educators and school staff there are now eligible for all three of the vaccines that are authorized, with the governor setting aside the state's first full allotment of johnson & johnson vaccines just for them, that's about 83,000 doses in a state that is at the very bottom of the list when it comes to vaccinations per capita. nbc's ellison barber is in duluth outside one of the sites where teachers are finally getting vaccinated. ellison, how is the rollout going for these teachers? what have you seen? >> reporter: well, we've spoken to a number of teachers who showed up early for their appointment at 9:00 a.m. and were excited to finally have the opportunity to get one of the covid-19 vaccines, each school district has different plans for how they're helping their employees get vaccinated. gwinnett public school educators, teachers, parra pros, bus drivers, people who work closely with students can come to this mass vaccination site and they have doses set aside for them every single day. i want to introduce to you dr. arona the district health district here. walk me through how things are going in terms of adding educators to the list of vaccine eligibility here. how many doses are you setting aside for gwinnett county public school educators. >> good morning. yes, we are very happy to be able to increase and expand our vaccine eligibility to a lot of individuals now that the governor opened it, especially to teachers. so we're doing about 1,800 vaccine appointments for today and 600 of those are set aside for teachers. >> and i understand that there will be 600 doses of vaccine set aside for teachers at this site every day for the next two weeks. are you confident that there will be enough to vaccinate any educator in gwinnett county who wants to get a vaccine. >> yes, we believe so. some of our smaller schools and private schools, we're also providing from different arrangement for those. so we do expect to be able to in the next two weeks get most of the teachers vaccinated in our county. >> reporter: hallie, as you said, for now georgia does rank -- i will actually ask you, really quickly, georgia ranks lowest in terms of vaccine distribution per capita. at this point are you comfortable with the rate of vaccinations in the state? >> this is not a vaccine scheduling issue, this is a vaccine supply problem throughout the country and nonetheless for georgia. so i can tell you local what we do is every vaccine we get we work swiftly to make sure that gets in the arms of georgians and that's what we're doing here for the teachers as well. >> reporter: thank you for your time today. hallie, we will send it back to you. >> ellison barber live for us in georgia. thank you. we are picking back up our multi-part series on life after lockdown tomorrow. looking specifically at questions about pregnancy and parenthood in the pandemic. if you have questions hit us up@hallieonmsnbc on twitter. time is almost up so get your questions in. also this morning we're looking at that clash over cash with former president trump escalating the fundraising fight inside his own party, pitting him against his allies over at the republican national committee. nbc's kara lee is posted up in washington. what's up with this latest back and forth here? >> reporter: this is about the trump brand, the value that the former president knows it has when it comes to republicans and raising money and also how he wants to use it, whether that's to settle scores or to boost his own standing. we have a couple things going on here. we have this email that the former president sent out to supporters saying no more money for rhinos, republicans in name only, essentially saying that these republicans do nothing to help the party so there is that piece of t and inside he's saying donate to my save america pac. then you have this spat with the republican national committee where the president's legal team sent out these cease and desist letters to republican committees saying stop using the president -- former president's name and his image to raise money. and the republican national committee is shooting back saying we're just going to continue doing what we're doing and exercising our first amendment right. and what's so interesting about that, hallie, as you know, is the chairwoman of the rnc is hand-picked by former president trump. so this is something that as we see this civil war within the party play out in coming days and weeks and months is just going to continue. >> carol lee live in d.c. thank you. when we come back what the georgia senate just did that could make it harder for voters of color to cast their ballots. and later we will take you overseas to one country that has successfully tackled covid. so what can the u.s. learn from what iceland is doing? 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it sets up things for a vote possibly later today, maybe more likely tomorrow. the process has to go to the rule committee, there has to be debate on the bill so there are a few more steps to go but the process is moving along. a lot more coming up right here on msnbc about the relief bill's progress with millions of americans waiting, wondering when they will get help. it appears to be on the way. we're also talking about what's happening in a couple of other states around the country, taking steps to limit early voting. it's a move that critics say is only going to make it harder to vote and disproportionately affect voters of color. in iowa the republican governor signed a gop-backed bill that reduces how many early voting days there actually are, that closes polling sites an hour earlier on election day and that bans absentee ballots from being sent out unless the voter specifically asks that. republicans say they needed these rules to guard against voting fraud even as they noted that iowa has no history of election irregularities. in georgia the state house of representatives will vote on the bill approved by the senate which would very much curtail no excuse absentee voting, it would instead limit it to people 65 or older, somebody who has a physical disability or somebody who is out of town. the bill passed by just one vote and along party lines in the republican-controlled senate. with me now is latosha brown co-founder of the black voters matter fund. thank you for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> of course. you know the argument from republicans in georgia, they say, hey, we've got to put these additional safeguards in place to try to restore voter confidence and prevent the possibility of voter fraud despite, of course, no widespread voter fraud being proven. to what you say what? >> you know, it's really interesting and so hypocritical of them. that when you look at the expansion of the absentee ballot voting it was the republicans that actually pushed that legislation. so it was a legislation that they thought the state needed, except until black voters actually used it in this last election cycle and now all of a sudden it's no longer needed. this is exactly what we think it is, this is a textbook definition of voter suppression. in this last election one-third of the voters actually used the absentee ballot process, one, because of covid-19 and the convenience of it. so what we're seeing now is an effort by the republicans to restrict access to the ballot to make sure that they can have an advantage because what they believe is the only way that they can win is to be anti-democratic. >> explain why this restriction is causing so much concern specifically inside the black community. >> you know, one of the -- one of the restrictions as it relates to sunday voting, i mean, is a clear example. on sunday voting there is a history and a culture within the black community called souls to the polls, after church we actually go and vote. when you look at the constituencies that vote, black voters are ten times more likely to vote on sunday than the other constituencies in the state. that is one of the elements to be cut out, there won't be sunday voting. there has always been a target on black voters in this country, always been a target particularly in states like georgia which actually led itself to as we celebrate this week the 56th anniversary of the voting rights march and the salma to montgomery march was for actions like we're seeing right now. the republicans are doing everything they can -- it's predicated on this big lie of what trump told that literally we need to change the system. why would you actually change a system that there's no evidence that was broken? in fact, it's the contrary. that what we're seeing is that it works. it actually has expanded access to voters and voters used it and as a result republicans see themselves as a disadvantage because they know that the people are not on their side. >> governor kemp is up for reelection next year. is there any chance you think that he could maybe veto this? what kind of pressure will you bring to bear on him? >> i certainly think that he needs to veto it, but, you know, i think part of what happens with voter suppression, i think we saw that in 2020, you know, we saw this wide scale voter suppression that really intensified in 2018 and what happened, black voters responded to it. organized, we organized ourselves as well as a coalition around the state that says we're not going backwards. we had the highest voter turnout ever in the history of the state. what we're going to see, i believe, is that i think republicans are just going too far. so while in this moment we are fighting this fight, we are going to be releaptless, we have fought too long to really be able to have these rights to go back. so i think what you're going to see is they are literally setting the stage that there is going to be another historic election because black voters in the state of georgia are not going to let bills like this turn us around, we're going to put pressure on the business sector to work with us, we're going to put pressure on everyone that believes in democracy should be enraged at these bills right now. >> latosha brown, thank you for joining us. we appreciate hearing your perspective on the show. next up, the two female military leaders held back during the trump administration and what president biden just did to try to fix that. but first, a pair of lawyers including a former u.s. attorney will lead the investigation into sexual harassment allegations against new york's governor andrew cuomo. the attorneys, june kim and ann clark were picked by letitia james, both have prior experience in political corruption and sexual harassment cases. james says the lawyers will have subpoena power and that their work will start immediately. the governor has denied touching anyone inappropriately and has said he's sorry if he made anyone feel uncomfortable. he'se anyone feel uncomfortable. by over 200 indoor and outdoor allergens. try claritin cool mint chewabls for powerful allergy relief plus a cooling sensation. live claritin clear. in a recent clinical study, patients using salonpas patch reported reductions in pain severity, using less or a lot less oral pain medicines. and improved quality of life. that's why we recommend salonpas. it's good medicine. how great is it that we get to tell everybody how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? 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>> yes. >> what was that like for you?ik >> made me want to do more. i wanted to be a part of the solution ver us a part of the problem. >> reporter: so did olivia nun, the first woman to command her brigade combat team. >> i remember the day i walked into myy company's headquarter they didn't know i was there and grumbled how it was going to suck they had a woman boss, but at the end of the day they said you know what, ma'am, you proved to me women can do it and i would go back into hell with you. >> more on that conversation, what else they are doing and women in the military are facing check out our story on twitter at hallie on msnbc. we're taking you overseas to the country who is almost millennial prime minister is managing to keep the pandemic at bay even with its borders open. coming up in our next hour how one texan on a breathing machine recovering from covid survived those devastating power outages that swept across the state. it's a story you will not want to miss. you will not want to miss. i'm jayson tatum check out my subway sub with delicious turkey and crispy bacon. it will help you hit shots from anywhere, unlike those other subs. my sub has steak. wait, what did he say? 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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. you're clearly someone who takes care of yourself. so why wait to screen for colon cancer? because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'm on it. sounds like a plan. there is at least one country that has appeared to at least so far do what many others have not, keep out those dangerous new covid variants while keeping their borders open. it's iceland. other countries are looking north for help in restarting tourism after leaders in that country pioneered things like vaccine passports for citizens and welcoming in fully vaccinated tourists from europe. it comes as the cdc warns americans here at home not to get too comfortable with the relaxed guidelines and warnings not to travel for spring break. nbc's sara harmon sat down with the prime minister on what the future of tourism looks like and, sara, tell us about what you learned? it is fascinating to see this put together in iceland. >> hey, hallie. iceland has managed what almost no country has, it's keeping its tourist industry going by science. we headed to iceland to check out their border procedure. it's the first stop for all travelers arriving in the stunningly beautiful country. we've just landed in iceland. it's passport control and then straight to the pcr test. >> reporter: a covid test required at the airport. >> this is what you're going to need for the test. >> reporter: another test five days later. part of iceland's highly effective response to the pandemic. keeping dangerous new variants out so far while keeping borders open. now iceland is the first to introduce vaccine passports for citizens. >> if you need to open up the borders in some way and we have been trying to do that in a scientific way. >> reporter: as dr. fauci warns americans about the risk of relaxing the rules too soon iceland is open for business including gyms, restaurants and hair salons. leading the country's widely praised efforts one of the youngest female leaders in the world. >> it's also so important there are women making decisions. >> reporter: 45-year-old prime minister who told us keeping kids in school was key to her. >> this was the first thing that we said we will try to keep them as open as possible. >> you were also thinking about the effect this was going to have on women, not just on children, but on women? >> absolutely. on gender equality, on families, on children, and on the labor market. >> reporter: the country has advantages in battling covid, a small population and relative isolation. their success helped lure american brent owe czar who now lives here. >> i feel so much safer in iceland. >> reporter: what could be a hopeful glimpse of the future. now, hallie, obviously what works in island isn't going to work everywhere on earth. each country is different. something the prime minister emphasized is that the key factors in their response were using science and transparency. hallie? >> sara, great story, great trip. thank you very much for bringing it to us. we're going to stay in europe to show you this video of prince charles making his first public appearances since the bombshell interview with prince harry and meghan markle visiting a vaccine clinic. he was asked, got a shouted question, even of prince charles, about his thoughts on the interview. he is staying silent for now. >> what did you think of the interview? >> thank you. >> the walk on by from prince charles. any updates we will bring them to you, of course, on msnbc. back here at home, by the way, we are taking a look at what's happening with the white house with the biden's 3-year-old german shepherd involved in what was described as a recent incident at the white house according to a person familiar with the matter. major and champ are back at the biden family home in delaware for the time being while jill biden is on a west coast swing. that's typically something that happens when the first lady travels. we'll keep you posted on whether major can get back to the white house when she gets back. thank you for watching as always. we have the latest highlights and reporting on our twitter page on hally at msnbc. craig melvin is picking it up. good tuesday morning. craig melvin here. we are following breaking news on two fronts. first, in minneapolis, minnesota, we continue to follow the trial of former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin. chauvin the former officer that's charged with the murder