today, police departments across this country are taking steps to make sure the asian communities remain safe. it s a busy hour on the hill. the government s top doctors are making a house call. they are testifying as we speak. in a few moments, the cdc director s stark warning about one of the covid variants ripping across the country. right now, the secretary of homeland security is testifying before a house committee. his message so far about the increase of migrants crossing our southern border. all of that coming up. we start with that breaking news there in atlanta. police say the suspect, 21-year-old robert long, is likely behind all three shootings in and around atlanta. georgia state troopers arrested long tuesday night driving 125 miles south of atlanta. officials say it appears he was going to florida. reporters and analysts with us now. blayne alexander has been on the ground in atlanta. she has the latest on the shootings. tom winter following the investigati
motive. we have received a number of calls about is this a hate crime. we are still early in this investigation. we cannot make that determination at this moment. the georgia shootings do follow a wave of unprovoked attacks across the country of people of asian descent. president biden has just been briefed. vice president kamala harris also addressing the terrible shootings. we don t know, we are not yet clear about the motives. i want to say to our asian communities we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked all people. and the shootings condemned. i want to mention what happened just a few hours ago in atlanta in which several women were killed, including, we believe, four women of asian descent. we are horrified. counterterrorism agents were sent to atlanta out of new york city out of an abundance of caution. i am joined with correspondents who have been working on the case. blaine, first to you, what is the latest? we have a lot of
suspect says he has an issue with sex addiction. authorities said long was apprehended last night after a brief manhunt. appears he was en route to florida at the time, possibly to carry out additional shootings. when we hear president biden address this incident, he ll be speaking at a virtual meeting with what is a tradition in this country on st. patrick s day, ireland s prime minister. they ll be commemorating st. patrick s day. normally, this event is inside the white house. for covid reasons and travel restrictions, it is not being done this way, nor was it done that way last year. nbc s chief white house correspondent kristen welker is standing by, awaiting remarks from president biden. todd winter is covering this, as well. blayne alexander is in atlanta. kristen, this is a mostly ceremonial event with the irish prime minister. what do we expect to hear from the president? reporter: well, i think we can expect to hear him address the shooting off of the top of this
motive. i know that many have received a number of calls about, is this a hate crime. we re still early in this investigation, so we cannot make that determination at this moment. again, we are very early in this investigation. even though we have made an arrest, there is still a lot more work to be done. he made indicators that he has some issues, potentially sexual addiction, and may have frequented some of these places in the past. he claims that these as the chief said, it s still early, but he does claim it was not racially motivated. he apparently has an issue, what he considers a sex addiction, and sees these locations as something that allows him to go to these places, and it s a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate. to be clear, that is what the suspect is telling police. there is still a lot that we do not know. atlanta s lance bottoms provided a little more detail that plils police have determined he was on his way to florida when he was captu
joining. this is big tonight. they have long argued this institution is broken, that right wingers broke it and that you can t even pretend to tackle america s tough problems if you won t clean up the system. today newly elected georgia senator raphael warnock used his first floor speech to invoke the pitched battle over americans right to vote arguing senators right to vote should not be vetoed by republican minority abuse of the filibuster tactic. we are witnessing right now a massive and unabashed assault on voting rights unlike anything we have ever seen since the jim crowe era. it is a contradiction to say we must protect minority rights in the senate while refusing to protect minority rights in the society. colleagues, those senate rules should overrule the integrity of our democracy. this is jim crowe in new clothes. this was a powerful way to begin his senate career. warnock looking like the rookie and the vet willing to offer new ideas with the experience of a