Transcripts For MSNBCW American Voices With Alicia Menendez 20201226

Hello, everyone. Im alicia menendez. Breaking news tonight. Investigators searching the home of a tennessee man in connection with the Christmas Day bombing in nashville. Also breaking tonight, two pandemic unemployment programs expiring in just hours. Will President Trump sign the relief bill that would help millions . Also tonight, Coronavirus Crisis in california. The governor says the state is preparing for a surge on top of a surge as many refuse to follow stayathome orders over the holidays. Well bring you the latest live from the golden state. This is american voices. Tonight millions of americans will lose critical Unemployment Benefits if President Trump does not sign congress 900 billion covid relief package before midnight. Trump is calling for congress to increase the stimulus checks to 2,000, a figure members of his own party are not on board with. And he is doing nothing to help negotiate a new agreement. All this comes as a Government Shutdown looms on monday. Lets bring in Nbc News National Political reporter josh lederman. He is traveling with the president and is standing by in west palm beach, florida. Josh, what is the latest thinking on whether or not President Trump is going to sign this bill . Well, alicia, the white house still wont say what President Trump will do, and thats because even many of his close aides are still in the dark about what exactly the president will choose as his way out of this growing crisis. But the pessimism here is really starting to grow. The hope had been because we havent really heard from President Trump over the last several days that perhaps he was going to slowly back away from what seemed like a threat not to sign this massive covid relief bill. The president during his first few days vacationing here in florida was much more focused on golf. He was tweeting about his voter Election Fraud false statements, but he wasnt repeating his insistence that we have a change to this massive covid relief bill. Then this morning that changed with the president starting to tweet profusely once again about wanting to see that 600 payments that were included in that bill plus up to 2,000, an amount that doesnt seem to be able to make its way through congress right now. And in the meantime, the ramifications for so Many Americans are only growing. Folks like nicole acres, a 48yearold grandmother in pennsylvania who lost her job as a supervisor at a packing plant back in march. Take a look at what she said about how she is relying on the Unemployment Insurance. You know, i care for my two grandchildren. Am i going to be homeless in a month . And so it now im in panic. The panic mode has now kicked in. You know, my unemployment is not its not a heck of a lot, but its gotten us by. But this now is going to be a real struggle. A struggle, alicia, that is only going to grow worse in the coming days as there are significant consequences of not having this relief bill signed only continued to mount with Unemployment Insurance set to lapse tonight. The government set to shut down at the end of month if there is not a Government Spending bill signed by the president , and also critical Eviction Moratorium projections that are going to run out just as we talk in the new year. Josh lederman, thank you so much for reminding us what is at stake here. Now to breaking news in the investigation surrounding the Christmas Day bombing in nashville. Multiple senior federal Law Enforcement officials confirm they are searching the home of Anthony Quinn warner in connection to the attack. The google street view of his address shows an rv parked in the backyard. This rv is identical to the one police say is used in the bombing and is no longer parked at the home. Investigators are looking into whether or not warner may have been involved in the attack. It is important to note there have been no arrests made in the investigation thus far. Investigators work to piece together a giant puzzle. Its quite a challenge. Having been up there and seen that scene, its like a giant jigsaw puzzle created by a bomb that throws pieces of evidence across multiple city blocks. And theyve got to gather it. Theyve got catalog it. Theyve got put it back together and try to find out what the picture of that puzzle looks like. But as they continue to work to find the person or persons responsible, officials stress there is no active threat to the city. We have no indication of additional explosive threats. No other explosive devices were discovered during the area during our secondary sweep yesterday. Lets go now to nbcs Shaquille Brewster who is on the ground in nashville. Shaq, what more are we learning from nashville officials today . Hi there, alicia. Well, you said it, but i think it does bear repeating. I think a big point of emphasize during that press update earlier today is there is no active threat here in nashville, that theyve gone through, theyve searched for more explosives and have not found any that was definitely something that you not only heard from the fbi and the atf, but also local Law Enforcement here on the ground. In fact, much of the activity today was happening about 15 minutes from where im standing right now in antioch, tennessee. And that was the home of 63yearold Anthony Quinn warner. He is the man who according to multiple senior federal Law Enforcement officials, they tell nbc news that he is being his home is being searched in connection with yesterdays bombing. They are not calling him a suspect. Theyre not even using the term person of interest at this time. You do know when you see the video of them going through his home, taking pictures and looking into any connection that there may be. Now we also know that there is that massive blast area that these fbi agents are going through. We know they were combing through it today. They will continue combing through it tomorrow, going block by block. Its a massive area. You see the images of how widespread that damage. It will take them a little bit of time to process that. One thing that they did find at that is what theyre calling human tissue. Some possible remains that they are going to go ahead and investigate to see if that is connected to any key detail. But if you go through that timeline again, where there was that rv, that was sent out, that arrived on the scene about 1 00 a. M. Christmas morning that then started blaring out a warning, saying it would explode in a countdown and playing music, and that police were already on the scene responding to a report of shots fired. And then you had that warning for several minutes at a time before the actual explosion happened. It continues to add to the bizarre element of this story, something that was happening predawn. It was cleared out. Six officers are being credited for helping to evacuate the area. It definitely adds to more details as we continue to wait to see what was the motive, and if there is any suspect that were still looking for. Alicia . All right. Nbcs Shaquille Brewster, thank you, shaq. Good to see you. With me now malcolm nance, the executive director of the terrorist metrics project and the author of the plot to betray america how team trump embraced our enemies, compromised our security, and how question fix it. What do you make of the update we heard from Nashville Police earlier today . Well, its interesting they have a location that theyre searching. They brought the fbi there. Weve seen the fbis hostage rescue team, the local s. W. A. T. And the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms who are generally responsible for explosive devices. So the information that we have right now is they think that they have a location which is associated possibly possibly associated with this device, and we know from google earth images, there is a similar vehicle was parked there. They need to confirm that now. Most important in this investigation, they need to identify the bomb factory. That is the location where this device was created. Now, you can put the payload, you can do it somewhere else remotely and put it into the vehicle and transport it. But when you find the bomb factory, that will determine whether you have other suspects who were involved or whether you just have a lone wolf kind of guy who is there building this device. Malcolm, what do you think about the timing of the bombing . This bombing happened christmas morning. There werent a lot of people around. Why do you think that was . Well, this is when i discussed this analysis, i make it very clear. Most of my experience has been with International Terrorists who used these vehicleborne improvised explosive devices or suicide vehicle improvised suicide devices on a daily basis, sometimes in one incidence a dozen a day. So ive seen hundreds of these things. When foreign terrorist associated with extreme ideology, they go after the population as the soft target. Even if theyre trying to knock down a building which they think may be associated with their enemies, taylormaimothy mcveigh to mind, they dont care about the civilian casualties. This vehicle had a timed Warning System that counted down 15 minutes and brought the attention of the police by shooting a weapon. So we believe. So this person didnt want to cause civilian damage, but with the size of the bomb, he wasnt overwhelmingly concerned. But there is obviously another target in this bombers mind. As we say, the target determines the tactics. And in this instance, he wanted pedestrians and civilians out of the way, and he wanted to destroy that street. Malcolm, zoom out for me. Give mecon text as you so often do. What does this tell you about the state of domestic terrorism in our country . Well, first, i like to never use the term domestic terrorism because by law, there is no domestic terrorism statute in the United States. So there is no domestic terrorism. In the intelligence community, we refer to them as american terrorists, right . You identify them where theyre from. So the state of american terrorism has been relatively low grade. And what weve seen is people who have been aspirational, who have talked about, you know, civil war, you know, what they call the armed Patriot Movement going out and taking the government by force and having President Trump implement martial law. All of that stuff is part of the Militia Movement weve seen for some decades. But its growing here in the United States. And many of them are espousing almost eliminationist rhetoric, violent rhetoric against their political enemies. Whether this was part of that, we dont know yet, because we need to understand who the bomber was, what was his intention, was this some form of elaborate suicide . Did he believe that the at t building harbored 5g rays that were affecting his brain . We dont know yet. So until we get that, right now that weve seen this spiking trend of right wing extremism with pipe bombs being sent to democrats, shootings and mosques and synagogues and churches. But whether this is just another step in that rung, we dont know. Malcolm nance, as always, thank you. Coming up, will President Trump allow Unemployment Benefits to expire at midnight . Millions of people wait for his decision. Plus, california once again the epicenter for covid infections. Cases are spiking and officials warn there are no more icu beds. Well take you live to San Francisco, next. 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The nationwide death toll topping 330,000. Adding to concerns is a new potentially more contagious covid strain that is spreading across the uk. Health officials in Los Angeles County have started to collect samples from local patients to determine if it has already arrived in their area. Earlier this week, california became the first state in the u. S. To surpass two million cases. Christmas day statewide capacity fell to zero. Scott coyne joins us from outside San Francisco general hospital. Scott, tell us about the situation there. What challenges are Health Care Workers facing . Well, the challenge is, alicia, are in the numbers, some of what you said. This is the first state in the country to blow past two million cases. 36 people died on Christmas Day in california as we close in now on 24,000 deaths in the state. But its the forwardlooking numbers that have people really concerned. You alluded to that. Zero icu capacity. This is a state with more than 8,000 intensive care beds. They are out of capacity. What that means is not that every place in the state has no capacity. For example, they still have some beds here at San Francisco general, but in terms of preserving capacity for people who dont have covid or who are in for other reasons in terms of the staffing, essentially, there is no capacity. For example, here they are not taking patients from anywhere else as they try and preserve what they have. The head of the er here telling me that this is the worst hes seen it in 25 years in emergency medicine. Its exhausting. And its exhausting for due to the fact that weve been doing this for nine or ten months. And although yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel with regard to the vaccine, its not anywhere close enough to let down our guard. The third surge is clearly the worst of the ones that we face. Most of the state is under the socalled regional stay at home orders where most nonessential businesses are cut way back. No indoor dining, travel cut back and the like. Some of those orders were set to expire as soon as next week, but its almost certain they will all be extended well into january. Alicia . Scott, all of that set against the backdrop of this new mutant strain. What are officials there telling you . What are they dealing with, those concerns . Well, it certainly is something in the backdrop. Theyre heartened to some degree by the belief that most believe the vaccines will handle the new strain almost as well as the strain that they were basically built for. And what they are hoping is that some of the trends that are being sort of eased somewhat by these stayathome orders, that that will help sort of flatten the curve, a phrase that we remember from the beginning of all of this. But the concern is that what were seeing now is sort of the dropoff of the thanksgiving surge and now we have what may be the christmas surge. And they dont know what to expect other than they know were not out of this yet. All right. Nbcs scott cohn, thank you so much. Now to new york city, where as the temperature drops, it is very cold, it seems testing lines are getting longer. New york is seeing its highest surge in testing since the pandemic began. Some residents being forced to wait outside for hours, just to get a test. Msnbcs cory kaufman joins us from new york. How are they dealing with the surge in demand . And what are their plans for cutting down on the lines . Alicia, new York Hospitals and other testing sites have been absolutely inundated with people coming in, not just as people are trying to see their loved ones for the holidays and hoping that they can get a negative test, which by the way we will let the doctors explain thats a misnomer and thats not exactly accurate. But there is also an increase in testing in new york and l. A. Because of trying to look for than mutated strain coming out of the uk. Now these facilities are seeing some lines as long as four hours, people waiting out in the cold. Other facilities have had to close early because theyve had so many people come in that they knew that amount of people were going to take up the whole day. And unfortunately, they had to shutter their doors. Some new systems being put in place to try to help tamp down these lines and deal with all the added people coming in. That surge probably likely going to be through the new year. Theyre instituting virtual lines where you walk up, put your name in, they text you so you can wait in your car and keep warm or do a dmv system. You can look online and see how long the lines are at the different locations and make an appointment from there. Now the increase in testing in this state is leading to an increase in cases as far as just being reported. Now higher than the height at which we saw in the spring. As a matter of fact, yesterday, december 25th, alicia, 13,000 cases almost reported. Thats 12,800 reported. Back in the spring the peak was over 8,000. Because we havent seen the full effects from the holidays yet, those numbers are set to get higher in the next two weeks, alicia . Msnbcs cori coffin, thank you. Next, president elect biden calls on the current president to sign the covid relief bill. But as of this hour, the fate of the bill and the millions who rely on the benefits in the air. Plus, a cnbc investigation reveals that not only did the Homeland Security Covid Screening Program catch nearly no travelers, it actually got many federal workers sick. More on that coming up on american voices. You how Liberty Mutual customizes Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Isnt that what you just did . Service stand back, im gonna show ya how doug and limu roll, ya you know you got to live it if you wanna wi. [ music stops ] time out only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. With the ninja foodito intelligesmart xl grill. 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President trump is now refusing to sign the 900 billion relief package unless Congress Makes some lastminute changes. Congressman ted lieu stressed earlier that it is critical that President Trump sign the bill today to give aid to americans relying on vital measures, included in the bill, such as boosted Unemployment Benefits. At this point, donald trump just doesnt care. He is playing golf at his private club. If he doesnt sign this bill today, the 300 in advanced Unemployment Benefits will not go into effect for an additional week. That means one week will absolutely be gone if he doesnt sign this bill today in terms of Unemployment Benefits. President elect joe biden echoing that today, saying in a statement this bill is critical. It needs to be signed into law now. Nbcs Garrett Haake is in palm beach, florida, where the combined covid19 relief and Government Spending bill is sitting on President Trumps desk as he continues his christmas vacation at his golf club. Reporter President Trump tweeting a christmas message to congress from his florida golf club, give our people the money. The president insisted on 2,000 direct payments that his administration negotiated at 600 and so far refusing to sign the 2. 3 trillion spending and covid relief bill passed last week. Without his signature, aid programs will start to expire today, affecting more than 12 million americans. But that would be a tragedy to people who are relying on Eviction Moratoriums, Unemployment Insurance, and so many other things in this covid bill we need, including money for vaccine distribution. Over the last few months, weve heard from dozens of americans desperate for help from washington that hasnt come. I havent had a legitimate paycheck since april. I cant provide for my kids like i normally would. Theyre literally fiddling while rome is burning. Thats the best way i can describe it. Reporter democrats say theyll vote again on monday which Congressional Republicans blocked last week. Overnight senator Lindsey Graham, who spent the day golfing with the president , tweeting that mr. Trump is, quote, more determined than ever to increase the direct payments to 2,000. A position his fellow Senate Republicans are unlikely to embrace. Its very difficult to negotiate when the people on the other side of the table dont have a position that they can articulate and they can support. That makes it very difficult. With me now andy kroll. He is the Washington Bureau chief for rolling stone. Tyler paige and zerlina maxwell, the host of zerlina, now streaming on peacock and the author of the end of white politics how to heal our liberal divide. Tyler, we are hours way from these benefits expiring. I read every article in preparation for us sitting down and talking. I spoke with reporters on our team. No one seems to know which way the president is leaning. What is your sense of where things stand . And who, if anyone has the president s ear at this point. And thats whats frustrating Congressional Democrats and republicans is they just dont know what the president is going to do. He signaled that he has a line in the sand and he wants democrats and republicans to raise that covid relief payment to 2,000, and republicans have said no, theyre not going beyond the 600 that they agreed. And thats where were going find Congress Early next week again if the president doesnt sign the bill this week as they head back for more negotiations. And i think democrats were excited at first as trump signaled he wanted to raise that covid relief to 2,000, because thats what they initially wanted. They were on board to do that, and republicans rejected that effort late last weekend and theyre likely to do the same early this week. Senator blunt saying he doesnt think that would even get 60 votes in the senate. Andy, Speaker Nancy Pelosi says a vote on a standalone bill providing that increase is going to take place on monday. What are the chances of that passing in the senate . Very slim in the senate. The Senate Republican leadership, as tyler just said, has been opposed to this much larger direct payment amount of 2,000 for much of these negotiations. The 600 direct payment amount was the result of negotiations, again, between the House Democrats led by speaker pelosi, Senate Majority leader mcconnell, and Steve Mnuchin, who is supposed to be representing the position of the white house. And of course the moment this deal was struck, that agreement, that final product has blown up in the hands of President Trump, or seems to be on its way to getting blown up. So i dont thin that 2,000 direct payment stands much of a chance in the Senate Unless they completely reverse months of negotiations and positions from earlier this year. Right. Zerlina, i want to pull up that tweet from senator Lindsey Graham that garrett used in his package. It says after spending some time with President Trump today, i am convinced he is more determined than ever to increase stimulus payments to 2,000 per person and challenge section 230, big tech liability protection. Both are reasonable commands and i Hope Congress is listening. The biggest winner would be the American People. Of course it is members of his own party and members of his administration who negotiated that number down to 600. They are the ones who do not want to see it go up to 2,000. You have house Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicating theyve been advocating for these larger checks since the previous relief bill that passed over the summer. So my question to you, zerlina, for republicans, how do they square their fear of trump, right . This idea that he will call them out on twitter with their resistance, their clear resistance to giving americans more than 600 in direct payments . Well, i think its very interesting that republicans are afraid of a tweet from an outgoing president when americans have been living really on the margins of desperation for months and months. You have people in food lines. You have people facing not receiving their Unemployment Benefits, facing evictions. Republicans are scared of a tweet . The American People are afraid of covid. Theyre afraid of death. Theyre afraid of eviction and homelessness and not having food for their family. So if you pair them together, it seems like one is something you should be afraid of, and the other one is just republicans not being able to stand up to the president. They were negotiating for months, alicia. Its crazy to me that the president would blow up the deal, go play golf for the weekend, and essentially pardon all of his coconspirators on the way out. Its a very, very sad moment at the most critical point of the pandemic, also in the backdrop of all of this. Zerlina, to pick up on your point, it is cruel. And there are americans who are very much relying on this additional relief. It also politically doesnt make a ton of sense, right . He has now put republicans in a very difficult spot to say nothing of what is going to be happening in georgia where theyve had to pull ads off the air because theyve been prompting these checks are going to be delivered and its now unclear whether or not they actually are. Is there a political calculus . What is the motion then for president at the 11th hour when he has not showed any interest in being part of these negotiations to suddenly come to the table and make demands . Well, he came from the world of reality television. And i honestly think that part of this is just getting us all to talk about him today, and to get all of the attention placed on him because that is where he feels most comfortable, and hes been that way for the last four years. Im only basing this on his past behavior. But in this particular moment, he is the outcoming president. For the last month, he could have been a part of these negotiations to make something happen for the American People, but he didnt. He spent the last month challenging the election he lost in court based on conspiracy theories. To me it seems like you have a president who is increasingly out of touch, going to play golf on the back nine while americans are dying, thousands every single day. They dont have the resources they need and they dont have a Republican Congress with the courage to stand up to a president who will no longer be in power . Just a couple of weeks. And thats pretty sad, if you ask me. Tyler, youve also got a potential partial Government Shutdown looming since the covid relief bill is tied to the larger spending package. How likely is a Government Shutdown next week . Can Congress Avoid one . Thats the big question in washington this week as people try to figure out whether or not the president is going to sign this legislation. And i think to your earlier point, thats one of the challenges is trying to understand what trumps motivations are, what he is willing to negotiate on, and what he is not. Lindsey graham seemingly suggesting he is not going negotiate on section 230 or 2,000 stimulus checks. Thats really the question as nancy pelosi and Steve Mnuchin resume negotiation deals and conversations, in provide at this point, as they wait to see whether or not trump is going to sign this legislation, if he does, then the shutdown is avoided. But without knowing what the president is going to do, Congressional Democrats and republicans along with her negotiating partner Steve Mnuchin see if they can pass a stopgap that can avoid a shutdown. But its unclear whether the president would sign a stopgap resolution that doesnt even include some of these larger priorities that he has outlined a the 11th hour here. Andy, i take zerlinas point that this is all about giving us a reason to continue talking about him. And in as much as were having the conversation in the context of covid relief and of the omnibus and whether or not the government is going to shutdown, there is also in the background, andy, the conversation were having about whether or not he plans to challenge the Electoral College votes on january 6th. We know he was meeting with congressional leaders in the white house. What is your sense of where that stands . Well, i think on the trump faithful side among his most hardcore believers which includes some members of congress, as they have stated, they want to mount some kind of challenge. They want to make some kind of opposition statement known on january 6th when the new congress convenes to count and process the electoral ledge votes. Thats going to happen, and the president has reportedly been pushing behind the scenes on not only his Vice President , but on other members of congress to do just that, and to raise some kind of ruckus when that happens. I think the president is still operating under one, the delusion that the election was won by him and won fairly by him, and that is all being stolen by him, and two, i think there is a sense of grievance that he is not getting what he wants as he believes he always should, and his own party seems to be slowly backing away from him, tiptoeing away from him. You see senator Mitch Mcconnell recognizing president elect joe biden. You see this deal getting negotiated where Senate Republicans and House Democrats are working together. So i do think zerlina is absolutely on to something that the president feels the spotlight moving away from him, and i also think his own base is going to push as hard as they can in protests, in rallies and in the halls of congress in early january to do anything to try to make this president happy. Zerlina, lets turn our attention back to the people that you were saying rightfully the attention should be on, because you already had Democratic Leaders saying this was supposed to be a down payment. This was a floor, not a ceiling. There was going to have to be more that was going to be done. Where does that then leave that conversation, right . Democrats wanted to build on this existing bill. If this is not a go, where does that leave them . And where does it leave the people who are relying on this legislation . Well, it leaves the people that are relying on the legislation essentially holding an empty bag, waiting for the people that theyve elected to actually do their jobs. And the saddest part i think is when you see the folks on food lines. And i think people would assume that people in food lines are people without jobs. But increasingly what youre finding again is people who are working on the food lines that lost one of the incomes in their household and they dont have enough to make all the ends meet, and i think the longer this goes on, alicia, the more desperate people will become. And frankly, its crazy to me that you have somebody so wealthy, a billionaire like donald trump blow up the bill and go play golf. I mean, the optics of that are incredibly i think on point for showing the contrast between the people in desperate need and the president and what he is concerned about, really just the optics, maybe getting some of the credit in the late stages here. But certainly you would have to get the deal done if you wanted to get the credit for those checks into the hands of the American People, not blowing up the deal. Andy, tyler and zerlina, thank you so much for your time tonight. Next, airport workers putting their lives on the line to keep covid out of the u. S. A look at the White House Program that failed to detect sick passengers while leaving dozens of airport workers seriously ill. Plus, later in the show, one couple celebrating freedom after more than 800 days seeking sanctuary from immigration and customs enforcement. Theyre going to join us live to share their story. Cieties have strongly recommended to doctors to treat acute, nonlow back muscle and joint pain with topical nsaids first. A formulation they recommend can be found in salonpas. A formulation they recommend can be found in salonpas. Salonpas. Its good medicine. Hisamitsu. Secret stops sweat 3x more Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo Yo start your day with secret. 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Struggling to clean tough messes with wipes . Try mr. Clean magic eraser sheets. Just wet, squeeze and erase icky messes in microwaves and on stovetops for an amazing clean, get the power of mr. Clean magic eraser in disposable sheets. In the early days of the pandemic, the White House Coronavirus task force implemented a new program for screening passengers coming into the u. S. From overseas. The goal was to isolate sick travelers and decrease the risk of community spread, but that didnt work. The new cnbc report found that this program was both ineffective and dangerous. Cnbcs washington correspondent Kayla Tausche has more. Its irresponsible. Its murder. And its just undignified. Reporter Yvette Williams lost the love of her life, omar palmer this spring to covid19. For 17 years, palmer served as a customs officer at new yorks jfk airport. He was also a bodybuilder, a foodie, and in williams words, a protector. But by the end of march, with palmer donning protective gear to screen passengers arriving from overseas, she wanted to protect him. I said omar, i think this is a matter of life and death. And he said ill be good. Reporter as the virus surged outside the u. S. , the White House Coronavirus task force established the countrys first line of defense at airports, assigning nearly 700 screeners from the departments of Homeland Security and health and Human Services to Check International passengers for covid symptoms arriving from a growing list of countries. These prudent, targeted and temporary actions will decrease the pressure on Public Health officials screening incoming travelers, expedite the processing of u. S. Citizens and permanent residents returning from china. Reporter the only problem, it didnt work. Joe grogan led domestic policy for the white house until may. Well, we werent finding anybody. We were finding zero people. So it became pretty clear relatively quickly that it was from a Public Health perspective as far as identifying people who were covid positive, it was a failure. Reporter the centers for Disease Control and prevention says between january and september, 776,000 passengers were screened. Only nine cases of covid were detected. Thats one out of every 85,000 screens. And as travel bans went into place, bottlenecks formed at customs at jfks terminal 4 where palmer worked. And in dallas and chicago, the risks rising for workers on these front lines. Basically no travelers were detected to have covid through this process. How many of the screeners themselves ended up getting sick . More than people we identified is what was reported to the task force. I think it was in a few dozen is my recollection. But it was a pretty stark data point when it was relayed out that not only are we not finding anybody, were getting more cdc and dhs employees infected with covid at the airports than we are finding people. Reporter six Task Force Officials tell cnbc the group discussed multiple times removing these screeners from their posts. Ultimately, they decided the role of these personnel as a deterrent and a show of force outweighed the cost. The officials requested anonymity because they still serve in or do business with the administration. One official says the debate was not about the screeners themselves, telling cnbc we were aware that they were getting sick, but it was a question of whether the testing was effective. Another official says it was a rung discussion for a couple of months. Ken cuccinelli represented dhs in the early response. There was theres always risk for people on the front line. But what we have found, including with our own front line folks is those individuals, the ones who have caught the fire, have done so at rates similar to the communities in which they were working. Reporter the cdc ended this program september 13th, eight months after it began. Six months after the Task Force First knew it was not effective. A november Study Released by the agency acknowledged the program was resource intensive with low yield of positive cases because they were only looking for people with symptoms. So how would you respond to allegations by other Task Force Officials and some employees and some unions that this program was more dangerous for them than it was effective for the country as a whole . Well, i find it hard to believe that, you know, there werent people just missed who had the virus that we were trying to screen for with the only tools that were then available. Reporter for omar palmer, passenger operations would be his last assignment. He went home april 1 after being exposed at the airport and died one month later at 40 years old. Now williams wonders what could have been done to save him. To know that so much was known at the highest levels of government, and that that information was not shared, and that those that care was not given to front line workers, people as collateral damage, and its disgusting. They were disposable. Reporter hhs in a statement defending the program, saying that early cases were indeed tied to travel, and blaming china for obscuring information about how the virus spread. 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Because its footlong season™ i and nothing has really worked mifor me. Until now. Nd years. With nurtec odt, i have felt such relief. I am able to go about my day as if nothing happened. Nurtec is the only quick dissolve treatment for migraine attacks that can get many people back to normal activities and last up to 48 hours with just one dose. Dont take if allergic to nurtec. The most common side effect was nausea. For more information, go to nurtec. Com it has been over a decade in the and the United States is close to finally having its First National Museum Dedicated to the history of latinos. The 900 billion spending package includes bipartisan support for two new smithsonian museums, one on american women and the other on american latinos. The next step is for President Trump to sign the bill, but as weve been discussing all hour, the lame duck president who was completely absent from negotiations is now complaining about multiple elements of the bill, including, among other things, funding for the smithsonian. The president of friends of the American Latino Museum told npr the museum being tied to covid relief is fitting as latinos became a Community Disproportionately affected by the pandemic and says, quote, the legislation to create a museum serves to not only honor the past contributions of american latinos over 500 years, but to recognize their contributions today. The hangup was thanks to a lone vote from senator like lee who said a Museum Dedicated to ju latinos would only divide an alreadydivided nation. This statement further proves the need for this museum. The whole drive of the smithsonian is to tell you the story of our nation and 500 years of that history went missing. The smithsonian admitted it in their own 1949 willful neglect report saying they had intentionally pulled out exhibits and carved out the american latino story in military service, in science and the arts. For mike lee to come to the floor and say ah maybe not that important, itll cause more racial divide is completely ignorant because the more we know about each other, the more we come together. And thats the piece that was so ignorant from his statement, that were trying to actually unify. The museum is going to be for everyone and if it doesnt go through, were going to push this through in the beginning of the next congress and i know the next administration is admitted to it. Well continue following this story. Stick around for more american voices. We are following breaking news out of nashville where officials are tracking new leads in that Christmas Day bombing in the heart of music city. More than 14 Million People may lose Unemployment Benefits it just a few hours. 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