The numbers getting worse, a Public Safety issue and political one. Plus another decision day from the Supreme Court. 12 cases left, gang, including several on Voting Rights and Freedom Of Speech, as always, we have our team ready to go for any breaking developments as we get them sometime in the next couple of minutes here. Good morning. Im Hallie Jackson in washington along with our nbc news team, leigh ann caldwell, capitol hill and kel iodonnell at the white house. This is a new day in d. C. , right . The path forward on Voting Rights seems very difficult. It seems like there might be some movement on infrastructure although even that is facing some hurdles. And the biden agenda, the democratic agenda really on the line. Thats absolutely right, hallie. It will be very difficult for democrats to clear the issues theyre trying to get through congress and the congress of course is the road block. The Voting Rights vote failed last night. Democrats are continuing to say the fight is not over, this is just the beginning but they dont have a lot of options on this issue. They dont have ten republicans who are going to join them and they dont have the democratic votes to get rid of the filibuster, so what do they do next . They keep talking about it and thats something they vowed to do. Senator Amy Klobuchar is head of the rules Committee Said shes going to hold hearings in georgia out in the field to bring this issue to the people to draw attention to it. Some democrats are fundraising off of the issue, senator Elizabeth Warren and senator tim ryan running for the senate. What can they do . One senator from hawaii tells me theres a strategy under way that includes litigation at the federal level and at the local level, there also has to be a national and local organizing campaign and that the states really have to take action, but the reality is whats happening in this state is that republican legislatures control twothirds of the State Legislatures and so its going to be extremely difficult for that to happen but they are getting prepared, the democrats anyway, getting prepared defensively to be able to fight any sort of Election Irregularities down the road. One thing theyre worried about is redistricting starts in less than two months and this for the people act would have addressed concerns about that. Democrats are worried theyre Running Out Of Time and also running out of options. What about the options at the white house, kelly . Where is the administration going from here . Reporter it is limited and what they have leaned heavily on is the president s history and record with this sort of issue and his career of advocating for broader access to voting and yet the president did not use the bully pulpit yesterday and of course he has spoken about his support for these now failed measures before and his administration spoke about the steps he has taken on the day the vote took place he did not step forward, perhaps acknowledge it wasnt going anywhere. The white house used a paper at the same time to put the president s words and views on next steps into motion. It was the suppression of a bill to end Voter Suppression, another attack on Voting Rights that is sadly not unprecedented. Ily have more to say on this next week but let me be clear. He goes on to say this is not over. The fight is far from over, ive been engaged in this work my whole career and we are going to be ramping up our efforts for the people and our democracy. Similar note echoed by Vice President Kamala Harris who acts as president of the senate when shes on capitol hill, heres how she addressed reporters after the defeat. This is about the american peoples right to vote, unfettered. It is about their access to the right to vote in a meaningful way. The bottom line is that the president and i are very clear, we support as one, we support the john lewis Voting Rights act and the fight is not over. Reporter how that fight takes a new shape Going Forward is still unclear from the white house except the kinds of steps that leigh ann outlined taking the fight to the grassroots level. A main reason democrats feel so strongly about this moving forward with this is because what have is happening at the state level with more and more restrictions, more and more states looking at restrictions, too, on Voting Rights and now we have some news this morning out of texas, something we talked about extensively here on this show, this issue of Voting Rights there, the republican governor of that state is now holding this special legislative session to bring back a Voting Restrictions bill that democrats tried to kill less than a month ago. Yul 8th a special session bringing lawmakers back. He was furious when democrats blocked a restrictive voting bill last month with a dramatic walkout overnight over memorial day weekend and its not clear whether the exact same bill that was defeated last month will come up again or if republicans will introduce a different version of the bill or multiple bills in place of that sweeping standalone bill that made such headlines, but democrats worry that it could be even worse. Its why they were in washington last week lobbying for the for the people act which would have gutted a lot of restrictions the republicans had advanced. Its why they signed a letter with 480 State Lawmakers across the country many states where legislation has been enacted, you can see we are out of options. These are the lawmakers who are on the front lines of this fight, the lawmakers whose work would be the most changed by the for the people act, which failed and they feel like they cant hold it off any longer. Texas democrats are scrappy defending legislation. They dont get the vote. At the end of the day the republicans control that house. Thank you for your reporting starting us off. We appreciate it. We start with Breaking News on capitol hill related to january 6th including the news well get to in a moment, a Second Accused Oathkeeper has agreed to plead guilty for taking part in the January 6th Riot and hearing from House Speaker nancy pelosi who plans to announce whether shell Green Light A Special Committee to investigate the attack after Senate Republicans blocked an independent 9 11 style commission. This morning one of the Capitol Police officers seriously hurt in the insurrection is responding. The overwhelming feeling is that weve been abandoned. The questions i have are to what extent if any did our political leaders involve themselves in the events of january 6th. If there was participation from members of congress and staff as an officer that served that day id certainly like to know that in just a couple of hours an indiana grandmother will become the first person to be sentenced in the riot. We expect that to happen later on today. Nbcs sahil kapur is on capitol hill and scott macfarlane, a new development, a couple of them. This oathkeeper allegedly agreed to plead guilty, significant, why . This is the epicenter of the january 6 Case Investigations and prosecutions. Well get a guilty plea acourting to the court docket at 2 00 p. M. Eastern time from graden young of florida, the second of 16 charged oathkeepers to plead guilty. There have been by my count by my tally about 1 of january 6th prosecutions that have gone to a plea agreement. The cases are in their infancy but theres two tiers the two oathkeepers who pleaded guilty and everybody else. The oathkeepers are accused of conspireing, assault, bringing encrypted communication, military gear, using a Military Stack to breach the police line. This is the focal point of federal investigators the fbi has told us as much, 2 00 p. M. Two things im looking for, is graden young going to agree to cooperate with the feds, the other accused oathkeeper did and will there be open discussion of witness protection. There was in the first case, hallie theres also Something Else youll be watching for today, scott, the indiana grand mothe, the first person to be sentenced and there may be things we can infer from how that goes today. Its a notable moment our first sentencing, Anna Morgan Lloyd of indiana is expected to plead guilty and will be sentenced there on sight. Federal prosecutors want three years probation and supervision and shell argue for 40 Days Community service. Lets see what the judge does, which extreme the judge sides with or if the judge splits the difference. It could be indicative of what federal judges do in d. C. Here and other cases moving forward. Thats the track scott is watching on the court side. Theres the legislative track on capitol hill and we learn about Speaker Pelosi moving forward at least her plans to move forward. Were not expecting any announcement of the possible select committee today. What are you hearing from sources behind the scenes . Reporter thats right, Speaker Nancy Pelosi telling nbc news not to expect an announcement today. She did meet with her deputies yesterday to discuss the next steps on this and everything appears to be headed in the direction of democrats creating a select committee to investigate the january 6 capitol attack. The Speakers Office insist her plan a priority was and still is a Bipartisan Commission that has the buyin of republicans that would be an independent commission to investigate the january 6th attack, the reason for that is they want a panel that had, would create a common baseline both parties could agree on in terms of the version of event of what happened. Plan b is for democrats to do the select committee it appears that would have Subpoena Power in the house of representatives, that would be able to kind of centralize the investigation and have real power to pursue leads and come up with a version of what happened, what the country can do to avoid this from happening again and lessons that it can take about the potential threat to democracy if congress doesnt act and the United States does not act aggressively enough. Thanks to bothof you. Lots to watch on that front and a lot to get to on the show. Senator alex padilla is joining us after the break with the next move for democrats in the fight for Voting Rights for infrastructure and much more. President biden unveiling a new plan to tackle the stunning surge in violent crime. The pistol ticks behind the push. The politics behind the push. Were live at the white house with details. Its the easiest because its the cheesiest. Kraft. For the win win. Uno, dos, tres, cuatro [sfx] typing [music starts] [sfx] happy screaming [music ends] do we really need a sign to live, laugh, and love . Yes. The answer is no. I can help new homeowners not become their parents. Keeonoh. Nope. Coeenoah. No. Joaquin. No. It just takes practice. Give it a shot. [ grunts, exhales deeply ] did you hear that . Yeah. Its a constant battle. Were gonna open a pdf. Whos next . Progressive cant save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. No fussin, no cussin, and no youd be forfichb for feeling like its Groundhog Day in washington with another pair of key Infrastructure Meetings to watch for today. First white house negotiators expected back on capitol hill in a couple hours to meet with that Bipartisan Group of senators working on this later tonight white house officials meet with just democrats, House Speaker nancy pelosi, Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer a good reminder as you see it on the screen democrats are looking at two paths for infrastructure, the bipartisan one not looking so great according to our hill team and the partisan path using reconciliation which the Senate Budget Committee Led by Bernie Sanders is currently working on. While washington is obsessively focused on this Side Deal Sanders is assembling a monster 6 trillion Reconciliation Bill. Im joined by california senator alex padilla. Thank you for being on the show, good morning. Good to see you again, hallie. Thanks for having me back. The two paths starting with this one thats more bipartisan. You have talks hitting almost the threemonth mark. At what point should president bide an ban done talks with republicans and focus more seriously on reconciliation . I think the clock has run on the house side Speaker Pelosi said by Fourth Of July we should see progress. Thats coming up soon. I praise my democratic colleagues who have tried the bipartisan effort. Its always worth trying. I know were genuine in outreach and effort. 2022 will be here before you know it, infrastructure, Immigration Reform, climate change, well be hitting that day mcconnell will say its too close to the next election. We need to hear from the voters. Were not voting for anything and republicans hadnt been voting for anything of significance this year not for the American Rescue plan, not enough to convict donald trump in the second impeachment trial, not to set up a bipartisan independent commission to look into january 6th and not enough to have debate on Voting Rights. You feel time is up on this Bipartisan Push forward. Lets talk about the other path on reconciliation. Where is your committee in that process right now . When do you think this might be ready for a vote . So i think when we return from this Fourth Of July break and what we call the july work period its time to move a lot of substance forward to the floor of the senate and start taking some action and so again, thanks to the foresight of leadership, weve been going down the two tracks time simultaneously for some time. If we can reach an agreement thats fine but given the part amountitarians ruling we can do this via reconciliation if we have to on a partisan basis lets do that. We need to address it and think bold and when it comes to investigating infrastructure more broadly, not just roads and bridges, not just transportation but the grid, expanding health care, education, address housing and really position ourselves to be economically competitive for the next generation and create all those great paying jobs in the process. Speaking of reconciliation, i want to ask you about that specifically to Voting Rights. Theres this idea floating out there that democrats could put Election Spending for example in some kind of a parking lot Reconciliation Bill that would fall on your committee. Is that something that you are open to . Is that an option you would support . I think we can, i think we should, if you recall i served as a california Secretary Of State for the prior six years before joining the senate and i could tell you our elections infrastructure, voting systems, et cetera, are classified by the federal government as Critical Infrastructure so we have more than a nexus here to be part of the infrastructure conversation, when it comes to Immigration Reform to be able to advance a lot of updating of our Immigration Laws through the Reconciliation Process is not unprecedented and weve already heard from the cbo that we have a net gain to the economy and therefore to the budget if we help more immigrants become citizens. A lot of agendas to be contained here in reconciliation if we get this right. There has been some concern from progressives that President Biden did not do enough to put the s1 for the people act on top of his agenda. White House Press Secretary jen psaki said those democrats are picking a fight against the wrong opponent. I put this to you. Is it fair to say this was not the president s top legislative priority . I dont think thats fair to say. Theres a lot of important priorities. The Vice President was hands on with it, last week receiving a group of texas legislators that were here to discuss the Voter Suppression laws advances at the state level in texas. Were going to keep up the fight. Yesterday disappointing, of course. Was it shocking . Of course not and is it fight over . Absolutely not. President biden in a matter of a couple hours will be unveiling a new plan to tackle the surging crime rate. Speaking broadly in general reporting there are democrats who privately see surge in crime rates nationally as the biggest threat in the midterms, given this has been a unified force for republicans. Politically, is that how you see this issue . Are you concerned about that becoming a flash boint come 2022 . If people are concerned about Public Safety in their communities, then Office Holders and candidates are certainly going to need to respond to that but i think the main thing is the conversation about not just being tough but being smart on crime and youve seen the movement at the federal level, the state level and local level to invest in communities and education opportunities, Recreation Opportunities for kids, Job Opportunities for adults, when we address the Human Infrastructure Part we get the Public Safety benefits of it. Great to have you back on the show. Thank you for being us. We appreciate it. Turning to Breaking News from from the Supreme Court. We were watching for key cases including one on free speech, that decision is in, a decision on School Students and how far or not a school can go in punishing them for something they say or do outside the classroom. Nbc news justice correspondent Pete Williams. Youre going to explain the case here. This involved a Cheerleader Upset she didnt make the cheer squad, posted something on snapchat and the justices are deciding i believe in her favor . Yes, thats the simple explanation of the decision. This is an 81 decision written by Justice Stephen breyer. It sets aside the Lower Court Ruling which was an absolute ruling that said schools can never punish students for what their expression is offcampus. That is gone. The Supreme Court has basically overturned that completely uniform ruling and what theyre basically saying is the facts in this case didnt warrant thes intention of the student from the cheerleading all together. Now, remember what happened here, she was on the Junior Varsity cheerleading team, she tried out for the varsity, she didnt make it, she posted this snapchat thing on a saturday off campus at a mall shop, criticizing the school using the f bomb four times and for that she was suspended from the varsity team and her parents sued. It was the Third Circuit court of appeals that said look, the schools can certainly discipline students for what they say on campus thats disruptive or harmful to the Educational Mission but cant touch anything the students say offcampus. The Supreme Court doesnt go that far. It just says in her case, this was the punishment didnt fit the crime in essence is what theyre saying. So im not sure this tells us a lot. Im not sure this gives guidance to the nations schools who are looking to this case to say weve got students that are off campus for long periods of time during the pandemic with remote learning, students have constant access to social media, theyre messaging each other all the time. What are we going to do . I think basically this stands for the proposition that schools can still punish students if what they say offcampus is disruptive and harmful. This was the Nuclear Weapon on the fly in this case. Pete, im glad youre getting to this point. That is my question, what are the broader implications when it comes to free speech, when folks are looking to, seemed like in oral arguments there was some tea leaf reading on that the that the punishment fit the crime. Your shot is flashing, we still have you. You make the point its not like the country has a ton of guidance out of this decision. Are there further implications when it comes to Freedom Of Speech for students or is this narrow applying to this particular case . Well in the one minute that i had to study the decision, id say its very narrow. Remember the really important case here that was the precursor, during the vietnam war when some students Wore Black Arm Bands to school and the Supreme Court said students and teachers dont shed their First Amendment rights at The School House Gate but schools can punish students for their expression, they certainly have First Amendment rights but they can be punished if their expression is disruptive or harmful and i think based on this decision here in the little time weve had to study it, that option is still open if the students off Campus Expression is truly threatening, bullying, threatening violence, that kind of thing. So its not an absolute hands off but it basically says you know what she did in this case is not disruptive. We dont really need to go there. Pete, thank you. I know youre standing by as we may or may not get more decisions today. Tom goodsteen, Supreme Court analyst and cofounder of scotus blog. You have been able to look at this for four and a half minutes so with that caveat noted for our audience can you talk about your takeaways . It seems that the court ruling on the tech issue here because that was part of this, this student posted on snapchat which is a platform intended to have posts disappear after 24 hours, she did it on a weekend and had no intention monday morning in school this would be disruptive. This a recurring question. Students leave the schoolhouse, they get into social media with a set of their friends and when is it that a school can say look, you violated our disciplinary rules and what the Supreme Court said today was if youre engaging in severe bullying, if you are threatening teachers, if you are breaking school rules about the use of school equipment, well thats going to fall within the Schools Authority but in general if youre engaging in speech off campus in your own time, youre not threatening anyone, then you like every other american have your right to free speech and the school has no business trying to punish you for it. In general, the Supreme Court ruled for students and given them an expansive interpretation of the First Amendment but they have made quite clear that schools can protect teachers and other students from bullying and harassment which is really what the schools are most concerned with. This is another decision, we had decisions last week, this is 81. Justice thomas only dissenting here, Justice Breyer writing for the majority. Do you read anything into that . I know Melissa Murray last week talked about her view the rulings and the direction theyre going that perhaps Justice Roberts is keeping the issue Conservative Wing in check. What is your perception . Towards the end of the term, we still have a ways to go with ten decisions we have seen a lot of compromises. Weve seen the Supreme Court that is trying to find something of a middle ground and its in some cutting edge areas here. The court hadnt dealt with Offcampus Speech yet. They say theyre making a modest ruling here as a first step into this area, they want to recognize that the facts will matter a lot and so the justices here just set out some general goal posts on which they could agree and said look, this student was just talking off campus about the Cheerleading Squad talking to our own social circle, thats not close enough to the interests of the school to permit her to be punished. Can you, is Pete Williams still with us . Not sure if he is. Tom, There Is A Quote From The Majority Written By Justice Breyer that says he concludes it might be tempting to dismiss the student brandy leavy, the students words as unworthy of the robust First Amendment protections discussed herein but he writes sometimes its necessary to protect the superfluous in order to preserve the necessary. Put that into plain english. Justice breyer is saying i know a kid was going off and strange to hold that up, what were concerned with the First Amendment to the constitution, what is the big deal, but the principle at stake is huge and its very distinguished. Its very difficult to distinguish the precise words that she used and complaining about that, making the Varsity Squad from very eloquent political speech, its free speech he says and sometimes its kind of not sophisticated but its protected. And tom, its interesting, because we talk about the tinker case which famously talked about how students dont give up their right to school at the door. That was involving protests, that was weighty stuff if you will and this is the justices are making the point that this is not that but its still important to protect free speech here. Exactly right, that the First Amendment is not going to stop at the school house door. Tom goldstein, thank you very much. Tom, stick with us for a second. I dont believe we have any response from brandy levy, the student or her lawyers. Tom, this story captured a lot of attention because of the fact it was involving a fairly new tech platform snapchat, a student upset about the Cheerleading Squad thing and involved the potential for what some looked at is the issue of bullying, cyberbullying, how schools address this. If youre an educator in this country and this has come up for you, is there Anything Concrete you can take away from this decision at this point . I do think that you can take away that the Supreme Court is not going to let the students engage in serious bullying, and is not going to allow the students to engage in threatening teachers, and is not going to allow students to misuse the equipment the school provides. The things that would be disruptive to safety in particular, the Supreme Court is saying we get that. We want them to protect students and faxuality but not sending a message that students are not americans by the constitution. We want them to express themselves off campus on subjects that arent threatening. Tom thank you. I want to bring in Mary Beth Tinker of tinker v. Des moines school case we were talking about, American Free speech activist, thank you for being on with us this morning. Your reaction to what the court has decided this morning . I am so excited and so happy to see the ruling and the respect for youth is affirmed and the respect for youth voices because this is a time when youth need a voice, so many youth are speaking up about issues that affect their lives. Its a good thing they are. A society that encourages young people to speak up have influence and advocate for their own interest that is a better, more healthy society. Ive seen this as a nurse working with children and teenagers as a trauma nurse in clinics and in schools. Its good for the health of young people to express and advocate for themselves. Im glad to see the court affirmed this and i thought it was a good job by the aclu, they also represented us in our case happy to see everyone have youth have influence over the direction of our country and our world. Would you have liked to have seen the court go further than it did . , i thought it was fine. I havent had a full read of it. Justice thomas wants to overturn the Tinker Ruling which students should have free speech unless it disrupts school or impinges on the rights of others, so there is great leeway there already for administrators and why is It Administrators know encouraging youth is good for their wellbeing to encourage their voices and even when it comes to expressing feelings about cheerleading and having moments of anger and frustration, which all of us have experienced and there are a lot of kids out there right now that have frustration and anger and sadness and a lot of feelings and they need to be able to express those feelings. Im wondering marybeth, given you were the center of this case today, have you had a chance to talk with the young woman at the center of this case, brandy levy, have you spoken with her, her attorneys or family, anything . Just to correct one thing im not really at the center of the case. It was a group effort. Thats fair. It was a group of students in des moines, iowa, in 1965 who Wore Black Arm Bands to mourn for the dead in vietnam and i myself had been inspired by the black lives matter our time which was the Birmingham Childrens crusade, but yes, i have had a chance to talk to brandy levy and the aclu set up a conversation which you can listen to online, a conversation between me and brandy levy and one of her wonderful attorneys, vic walczik and the lawyers, all of them did a wonderful job and brandy and her parents had great courage to stand up for the right of this young woman to express her feelings, which occurred off campus and was something that was meant for her friends and a few others, and i thought that it was really a good ruling, great ruling. Marybeth tinker, so glad youre on the show with your reaction to this important ruling from the Supreme Court. Thank you very much for your time. I want to bring back Pete Williams. Another decision, pete, from the court, this one with unions in california . Whats up . The Supreme Court said that unions in california violate the constitutions fifth amendment guarantee against taking private property when they enter with a free hand, the private property to engage in Union Organizing for up to 120 days a year. This had been a real cause for conservatives out in california who said the farm workers unions were disrupting their growing and coming in and during the growing season even though the rules in california said the Union Organizers who Come In The Morning before work started or evening or lunch break. The court said that unrestricted access did violate the takings clause and california needs to be more restrictive when thes can do this. On the Cheerleader Case i think i see the essence of Justice Breyers opinion. He says let me just read to you, just a couple of sentences, given the many different kinds of off Campus Speech the different potential School Related and circumstance specific justifications and the differing extent to which those justifications may call for First Amendment leeway we can as a general matter say little more than this, taken together these features, these much off Campus Speech the leeway of the First Amendment granted to schools in light of their special scharkistics is diminished, we leave for future cases to decide where, when and how these features mean the speakers offcampus location will make the critical difference and then they say this is one example where the critical difference was that it wasnt serious enough to merit the punishment. So theyve struck down the Third Circuits rationale which was the schools can never punish students for what they say off campus. The Supreme Court doesnt go that far. Well stye in a future case how far the schools can go. During oral argument it was clear that the justices believed if offCampus Expression veered into the criminal law, a student could still be punished for making threats or bullying, that kind of thing. I dont think brandy levy and her family were asking for damages. They talked about wanting to do this based on the principle of this. I think they were asking for what would be called injunctive relief, an order saying what happened to her was wrong. Pete williams another busy day for you. Next decision day is friday . Yes, and probably again certainly again monday and well see maybe one more day next week, too. All right, we will see you and do this all over again in a couple of days. Pete williams, thank you much. Appreciate it. Defense secretary lloyd austin is testifying on capitol hill, that is not him but he is in that room, his first public appearance since announcing his support changing how the military handles sex assault cases. 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A 24 rise in murders in this years first quarters in last years which reports a 22 rise in Gun Assault Rate in that same time and nearly 50 increase in the homicide rates since early 2019. Nbcs monica alba is outside the white house. This plan is getting attention and made available to higher more Law Enforcement officials. Reporter its money that was made available to the states to use at their tis posal, as of a couple of months ago, hallie, through the American Rescue plan. This is somewhere where if the Police Department wanted to hire more officers or pay them overtime they could dip into the funds to do that and the president and the attorney general today want to make clear thats something they can do as they see disturbing increases in the violence rates and certainly talking about the Gun Safety Angle to all of this. We know what the white house has been able to do through Executive Action and thats really a limit to the president s own powers. Hes going to urge congress to try to do more because he sees these of course as inextricably linked. To talk about crime generally for this white house theyre going to say they have a fivepoint plan what they label as a comprehensive strategy to help people at the local level, theyre going to say here is what we can do for you federally but its up to different states to decide what works best for them and some of that includes some communitybased Intervention Programs offering more opportunities for young people and teenagers throughout the summer, because im told white house officials are very worried about what could happen in the next couple of months is what theyre seeing as a direct result from the covid19 pandemic, so you can expect the president to talk about that today, but first, hes going to listen to state and local leaders, hes going to have mayors and governors hosting them to get their input as well before addressing the entire nation on this, and of course, President Biden is somebody who in 1994 as a senator was a key author in the 1994 crime bill which of course had very controversial elements so this is someone who has worked on this issue for all of his career, but hes confronting it at a much more different and challenging moment right now perhaps and of course in a very different role as the president of the United States, and its something where the white house decided were so worried about this, we need to address it now, while of course theyre juggling Everything Else on the legislative agenda and still hopeful something on Police Reform could get done, another piece and angle to all of this, hallie, in the coming weeks. Monica alba, outside the white house for us, thank you. Over on capitol hill were watching live and listening in for anything from defense secretary lloyd austin on his newly announced support for changing the way the military handles Sexual Assault cases. It would be a significant change. Youre looking at the secretary live on the left side of your screen, officially set to review the Defense Budget but this new shift in position would mean Military Commanders would no longer make any kind of Prosecution Decisions when it comes to Sexual Assault. Thats putting a bigger spotlight on his testimony today. Were also getting new reaction from members of congress who just wrapped up a News Conference introducing a bipartisan bill tackling the issue of military Sexual Assault. Youve seen senator Kirsten Gillibrand on this show talking about it. Here she is today. The fact our generals, our admirals and Service Secretaries are still against this reform is shocking. Today is the first time that we have a Secretary Of Defense who agrees that Sexual Assault should be taken out of the Chain Of Command. Nbcs Courtney Kube is at the pentagon. There is movement on a couple of different paths. Nothing is a done deal. Absolutely. Gillibrand fails to point out at that Press Conference earlier that general mark milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs has come out in favorite of changing this and i think whats important to point out is why. Its not that because for years many of the military leaders have been against this change. They claim that it hurts order and discipline and Unit Cohesion which are catchalls looking at some big change, sort of generic ways that they push back against big change in the military, but milley came out several weeks ago and said look, weve tried a bunch of Different Things when it comes to Sexual Assault and harassment and havent opinion able to move the needle. Im in favor of trying it. This isnt just something secretary austin or President Biden says okay, were changing it. They need to work with congress, they need to change the law. The uniform code of Military Justice has to be changed so that they can now take this Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment out of the Chain Of Command. We also now know its not just those two issues but some other crimes that are often linked to harassment and assault including Domestic Violence now secretary austin is saying he will be in favor of taking that out of the Chain Of Command and putting it in the hands of a private prosecutor. Hallie . Its interesting, courtney, after years of this discussion happening around the edges, with some members of congress specifically senator gillibrand, a lot of movement in a pretty condensed time period on this. Courtney kube staying on top of all of it, great reporting live from the pentagon. Back on capitol hill it could be the biggest shakeup in the Tech Industry in decades. Wait until you hear, this as we break down the potential impact for your social media, your amazon shopping, your youtube viewing. Its significant stuff coming up. With just one month to go as of today, protesters in japan demanding the olympics be canceled. Why . Theyre worried its a super wo it is a superspreader. Im here and suddenly. My migraine takes me somewhere else. Where theres pain, and nausea. But excedrin pulls me back in a way others dont. And it relieves my symptoms fast for real migraine relief. What do we want for dinner . Burger. I want a sugar cookie. Wait. I want a bucket of chicken. I want. Its the easiest because its the cheesiest. Kraft. For the win win. Introducing aleve x. Its fast, powerful longlasting relief with a revolutionary, rollerball design. Because with the right pain reliever. Life opens up. Aleve it, and see whats possible. The new citi custom cash℠ card, a different kind of card that Rewards Rashida and dan where their spending is trending. 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And as you might imagine, big tech is not happy. Apple is firing back at that proposal. They say that it would threaten Privacy Protections and potentially exposing user daying to ransomware attacks. Jake ward is here for us. Why is this so significant what is happening right here on the hill . Ill run three these pieces of legislation. And you will get bored. Your eyes will glaze over jake, please dont do that. No, no, im telling you, it is going to we have six bills in front of us that will entirely change the landscape if they pass. So let me run through a few of them. The first one is basically the one that would prevent a company from using its dominance in the market place to unfairly preference its own services. So in this case if you type into google, you know, an address, going maps is the first thing that would pop up and the american choice and Innovation Act would wipe that one out. You know, you have things like an inability to take away mergers, in this case we are talking about Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act which would make it much more expensive to file mergers. And they buy a competitor rather than competing with it, this is how instagram became part of facebook. You have the ending platform monopolies act. If you go on and buy something there amazon enough times and amazon sees that that thing is a popular thing, it begins making its own version of it, all those amazon basics, you know, Barbecue Tools and extension cords, all of that goes away. I mean, what we are talking about here is a totally unregulated industry. They got so far out in front of the law and now suddenly we are in a position where there can be actual regulation. And this is bipartisan and that is extraordinary. Some of these really go at the heart of what in republican circles is hallowed ground, making it hard to merge companies is not something that republicans are likely to go along with. But giving Enforcement Agencies more teeth to go up against these companies, that could really pass. And if it does, this could be a really big deal. And this pits them against the elected officials. And it is extraordinary to imagine what faces the new Ftc Chairperson who just came in under the biden administration, you know, she is a 32yearold forwardthinking person, made famous at yale for Criticiing Amazon for being a monday monopoly. If this actually passes, this act that would give her department and the diddoj more money to go after these company, suddenly it is not quite a fair fight because as you say, these companies have endless resources, but it does make it possible for them to go up against them and slow down a merger, maybe even make it impossible, maybe force a company to unwind a merger, break them up. All of that was off the table before now. Suddenly with these possible new laws and the new sheriff in town, we could really be looking at a new world for big tech. Jake, listen, i think that you sold it. I dont have glazed eyeballs. I hope our viewers dont. It is significant. Jake ward live for us there from california. Appreciate it. Listen to how some of the top covid19advisers in japan are describing the games, set to begin a month from today with protests happening as we speak to try to stop the games. And that train has left the station. But you have athlete, coaches from almost every country in the world getting ready to descend on japan. And i want to bring in sarah harman. And you have less than 10 of the country fully vaccinated, Tens Of Thousands of people set to show up. And sasarah, the Delta Variant a huge concern with dr. Fauci talking about the implications of that. How does it play out safely . Reporter well, that is a huge question, a lot of people in japan are asking themselves that right now. Public opinion polls consistently show that as many as 80 of japanese oppose holding these games. They are now just 30 days away. And today we learned a second person in the uganda Olympic Delegation tested positive for covid19 in japan. And this time it was an athlete. And just today, olympic organizers have unveiled new rules to try to keep the games safe. And the olympics are not going to allow drink alcohol, hugging, getting Athlete Autographs or even loud cheering. Today Tokyo Olympics president conceded that it is possible that the games will have to go ahead with absolutely no spectators in the stands. Right now the plan is to allow some domestic spectators at 50 capacity in the venues. Foreign spectators have already been banned and as you say, only 7 of the population in japan has been fully vaccinated, which begs the question, why are these games going ahead . A big part of the answer is probably down to money. Japan has already spent an estimated 15 billion on these games. And some estimates are that it is even double that. So there is a lot at stake here. Sarah harman live for us there, thank you for that reporting. And thanks to all of you for watching a busy hour. You can find us on twitter anytime. And Chris Jansing is picking up the coverage right now. Good morning. I am Chris Jansing in for craig melvin. And it is a very busy day, we have a busy hour ahead for you. President biden is putting a few different hats on today, happening very soon, he will be stepping into a role hes had to take on often throughout his life. Consoler in chief. He will eulogize an elder statesman from his days in the senate, former Virginia Center john warner. Well take it live when he starts to speak. Today is also putting a big focus on rising crime nationwide. In a couple hours he will announce a new plan to address gun