after six women of asian descent were among eight people killed in a rampage at three spas in the atlanta area. joining me now nbc news white house correspondent geoff bennett in atlanta, nbc news correspondent dr. john torres and heidi presblea. tell us more about the visit to the cdc and the vice president and president s visit meeting with asian-american leaders this hour. the visit to the cdc officials told us that was the president and vice president s opportunity to get a briefing from their medical and health teams about this ongoing fight against the pandemic. but based on what we saw from the president in his own words that was his opportunity to thank the scientists, to thank those career staffers who have been working around the clock at the cdc. he said science is back. he thanked those career staffers he said for changing the psyche of a nation. since then the president has made the short trip from the cdc over to emery university where he s meeting privately w
here in new york and we begin this morning with the shootings in atlanta. a terrifying escalation of the anti-asian violence seen throughout the country and a reminder of the threat of violence women live with daily. robert aaron long charged with murder after he confessed to killing eight people, six asian women. authorities say long a 21-year-old white man told detectives he would go to massage parlours in the past, he blamed his sexual addiction. the cherokee county sheriff suggested long was, quote, attempting to take out that temptation. other officials and community leaders saying that narrative misses the mark. in this particular case where the victims were asian women we see the intersections of the racism, xenophobia and gender-based violence. you know, we ve also seen historically where news outlets and the police frame the story around the perpetrator and now we re hearing about the suspect in custody and we are hearing stories about how he was religious, he su
stereotypes in this attack. this isn t just a local story either. this speaks to the fear of asian americans nationwide and how they have been targeted especially since the start of the pandemic. we ve just learned that the president and the vice president will be traveling to atlanta tomorrow. they will be meeting with asian american leaders when they are there. let s start with natasha chen, she is joining us from cherokee county, georgia with the very latest. if we could just start with the latest on the case. why was this first court appearance canceled? reporter: yeah, we talked to the magistrate court clerk this morning and she said that the appearance was canceled at the request of the defendant s attorney and would not share any contact information for that attorney. right now we don t know when it will be rescheduled. and at this point, he is still being held in the cherokee county custody, this is one of two counties where he now faces a total of eight murder char
ginger zee live in the storm zone with the line of storms set to hit after dark tonight. and the severe threat right into tomorrow. the coronavirus here in the u.s. and what are being called the variants of concern tonight. the cdc concerned about two new variants, first detected in california, and the possibility that they re 20% more contagious. tonight, 15 states reporting a rise in cases and now dr. anthony fauci warning about prematurely pulling back and not giving vaccines enough time to, quote, protect the country. the worsening situation on the southern border. fema now opening a convention center in dallas to hold thousands of unaccompanied migrant teens. the head of dhs in the hot seat, grilled by lawmakers about the sudden increase of migrants trying to cross into the u.s. the irs tonight moving the tax deadline from april to may now. why the shift? and president biden now acknowledging he wants to raise taxes on americans making more than $400,000. what he t
we ll see you here tomorrow night. now it s time for the last word with lawrence o donnell. it turns out all of our guests are of asian descent and expert about what we ve been seeing in atlanta except for one guest, which is, of course, senator john osoff, who will be joining us and also discussing the situation in atlanta and the situation in the united states senate. so, it s excellent. a night of serious reflection on a situation that really now needs our attention. absolutely. get to it, my friend. thank you, lawrence. thank you, rachel. katherine tai was born to parents who were born in china, went to yale, harvard law school, became an expert in trade and she served in the bush administration as general counsel to the united states trade representative, a cabinet level position. general counsel is a very important job. she continued as counsel to the trade representative during the obama administration when the trade representative was an bomb appoint