a climate more conducive for generations of home grown acts of violent hatred but not everyone wants to confront the problem or even admit it. some people want to look away to not see the mass killings in el paso, pittsburgh, the rise in anti asian and driven mind set being cut from the same ugly cloth. today in the first congressional testimony since being confirmed dhs secretary made the connections and the threat clear. >> right now at this point in time, domestic violent extremism, the lone wolf, the affiliation of individuals following hate and other ideologies of extremism that are willing and able to take those ideologies and execute on them in unlawful, illegal violent ways is our greatest threat in the homeland right now. >> in that, and other vent statements the priority as the new administration embraces that the old administration tried to down play but important to mention professionals were also sounding the alarm. here is the fbi director testifying last september. >> racially motivated violent extremists over recent years have been responsible for the most lethal activity in the u.s. now this year, the lethal attacks domestic terrorism lethal attacks have all fit in the category of anti-government, anti authority, which covers everything from anarchy violent extremists to militia types. >> director chris wray last september warning as well in his written remarks that day to the top threat facing the country was racially, ethnicity domestic extremists. he repeated the warning in testimony earlier this month and today, a joint report put out by the office of the director of intelligence under scored it all quoting the ic, meaning the intelligence community assesses that racially or ethnicall ally motivated extremists and militia violent extremists present the most looethal domestic violent threats with racially motivated most likely to conduct mass casualty attacks against civilians and militia targeting law enforcement and government personnel and facilities. also out today, a gnanew report that says white supremacists nearly doubled last year with more than 5,000 cases reported averaging 14 a day across the country. also today, a new report on anti asian violence. according to the tracking group stop api hate, such attacks have risen dramatically since the beginning of the covid pandemic, which the former president even as recently as last night still refers to as the china virus. >> when we get hit by the, as i call it, the china virus. >> we'll speak shortly tonight with professional basketball jeremy lin, one of the few professionals to play in the nba, he himself was called coronavirus by a fellow player but as today's report by the director of national intelligence, such are not isolated and part of a climate that numbeeurotours violent extremism and conspiracy believing home grown violence but you've seen lawmakers trying to whitewash what you saw that day and continued today led by the congressman in some of his republican allies tried today to remove references to the insurrection in a resolution to give the congressional gold medals to police officers on duty on january 6th. and then there is senator ron johnson. not only trying to divert attention and right wing racist elements of the insurrection and on going threat they present he's been dabbling with racism himself and how he's making the case. >> i knew those are people that love this country that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break a law so i wasn't concerned. had the tables been turned, joe, this could mean trouble. had the tables been turned and president trump won the election and tens of thousands of black lives matter and antifa protesters, i might have been a little concerned. >> a little concerned he says about a hypothetical attack by the largely non-violent movement which never occurred. but not concerned at all about the very real, very vie olent attack by domestic extremists in his place of work and the biggest eruption yet of everything the intelligence and law enforcement community warned of last fall and today and he com continues to claim those people love america and love law enforcement despite the death of one officer and the suicide following the attack by two. and the injury of dozens of other officers. that and of course, senator johnson through in a dash of racism which he denies but a colleague is calling out directly. >> look, i get no one likes to be called racist but sometimes there is just no other way to describe the use of bigoted tropes for generations threatened black lives by stoking white fear of african americans and black men in particular. >> that was senator bob menendez. i spoke to him before air time. senator, as you know, the senate is a traditional place breaking calling somebody a racist on the senate floor is a big step. can you talk about why you did it? >> well, i understand the crime of the senate but sometimes as late john lewis says, you have to get into good trouble. i just felt compelled to speak out about senator johnson's comments and it was crystal clear to me driven home by an african american member of my staff who served new jersey through different senators for three and a half decades, an incredible human being and tremendous staffer who is african american and told me about how hateful and harmful his comments were and so when he made these comments, in essence, you know, the racist trope that he would be more fearful of a black lives matter protest than the insurrectionists who stormed the capitol caused the death of three u.s. capitol officers and harmed and injured so many more. i just felt that, you know, decorum couldn't stand in the way of speaking out. >> should more be done? senator johnson continues to stand by. he wrote an op ed defending himself and tweeted out a compilation of what he appears to be saying acts of violence black lives matter protests adding with peaceful protests last summer, there were too many scenes like this and i'll condemn violence and riteoting. he doesn't sound like he's condemning so much or trying to whitewash it or minimize it repeatedly. >> well, he has an alternate view of the world. you know, he says that he wasn't afraid of the white supreme cystcests and insurrections that stormed the capitol because he knew they were law-abiding citizens who love their country. law-abiding citizens don't attack other police officers, don't cause the death of one and two others twho committed suicie as a result. hundreds injured and many scared in their lives for a long period of time. law-abiding citizens don't come and destroy federal property and desecrate one of the most significant symbols of our democracy and try to undermine the rule of law by stopping the official count. it's an excuse from what is clearly, you know, a racist comment and that perpetuates that white america should fear our fellow black citizens. >> there is a report from the anti defamation league that found white supremacist hit a high in 2020. they have been more emboldened now than ever. i know you're not calling senator johnson a white supremacist but the language he's using certainly is if not a dog whistle to them, it's certainly a hat tip. >> yeah, well, it's an amazing set of circumstances. we all know what happened here on january 6th. we saw the consequences, the nation saw it. and, you know, this is like some of the house members who want to honor the capitol police but don't want to recognize, you know, the insurrectionists that caused them to have to perform their duties, risk their lives and get injured. >> you're talking about louie gohmert. politico says he circulated a version of the bill to honor police but removing reference of the thing they are being honored for, defending the scene of democracy against an insurrection. >> absolutely. that's exactly what i'm referencing. so, you know, what is the problem with recognizing that white supremacists, those who storm the capitol with confederate flags and nazi symbols and shouted racial e epatats to our capitol police officers, what is the difficulty in recognizing that? that is the truth. that is the truth. not the alternative truth you're promoting. >> it also so just the history matters and how we remember history accurately matters and to at this early stage to try to be rewriting the first drafts of history, it just seems particularly gulling. senator menendez, appreciate your time. thank you. just ahead, everything we're learning about the atlanta killings and later, professional basketball player jeremy lin on the attacks asian americans now face. we'll be right back. out my grandparents that i never knew. i'm a lawyer now, but i had no idea that my grandfather was a federal judge in guatemala. my grandfather used his legal degree and his knowledge to help people that were voiceless in his country. that put a fire in my heart. it made me realize where i got my passion for social justice. bring your family history to life like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com retirement income is complicated. as your broker, i've solved it. that's great, carl. but we need something better. that's easily adjustable has no penalties or advisory fee. and we can monitor to see that we're on track. like schwab intelligent income. schwab! introducing schwab intelligent income. a simple, modern way to pay yourself from your portfolio. oh, that's cool... i mean, we don't have that. schwab. a modern approach to wealth management. priceline works with top hotels, to save you up to 60%. these are all great. and when you get a big deal... you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal. that's why at america's beverage companies, our bottles are made to be re-made. not all plastic is the same. we're carefully designing our bottles to be one hundred percent recyclable, including the caps. they're collected and separated from other plastics, so they can be turned back into material that we use to make new bottles. that completes the circle, and reduces plastic waste. please help us get every bottle back. as we reported at the temperature of the program the suspected atlanta mass shooter is in custody. the crimes, the victims and everything we know and do not know at this moment about what happened. >> do you have a description of him, ma'am? >> reporter: that quiet plea came from a woman hiding in one of three spas in the atlanta area where by the end of tuesday night eight people were dead and one injured. the killing spree in which most of the victims were asian american women happened in the span of a few hours. the suspect told investigators he had no racial motivation but that he targeted what he felt were temptations. a former roommate told cnn he was deeply religious and felt tortured and distraught but his sexual addiction and another roommate said he spent time in rehab for a sex addiction and a transition house. the suspect many you arpurchase gun this week. at 5:0 p.m. tuesday night, cherokee deputies were called to young's asian massage 30 miles north of atlanta. four people died at that location. about an hour later, atlanta 911 dispatch received two calls from spas across the street from each other where it took time perhaps across language barriers to comprehend what is happening. >> is it a male or female? >>. [ inaudible ] >> they have a gun, you said? >> reporter: they found three asian woman men killed at the g spa. first responders found another asian woman dead there. >> some guy came in and shoot the gun so everybody heard the gunshot and some lady got hurt, i think. everybody is scared so they are hiding. >> reporter: police say the suspect's family called in to help identify him from surveillance images. they tracked his cell phone. 150 miles south of atlanta in crisp county, state troopers intercepted him. investigators believe he was headed to florida to make similar attacks. while the suspect told investigators this attack was prompted by his sexual addiction. >> i'm taking that with a grain of salt. this is a man who murdered eight people in cold blood, so it's very difficult to believe what he says. i'll leave it up to the prosecutors to determine what other appropriate charges may be warranted as it relates to hate crimes but it's very difficult to ignore that the asian community is once again been targeted. >> reporter: whether or not this is called a hate crime, the asian american community says the fear is real. >> i think there's an enormous amount of fear and anxiety, particularly this crime that was not necessarily committed based on race, at least based on what we know so far, but that it was six asian american women who were shot and killed yesterday. in light of the broader context where we seen a spike of discrimination hate and violence against asian americans across this country. >> do investigators believe the suspect acted alone? >> yeah, anderson, i asked about that at a press conference today with the multiple investigating agencies about whether similar businesses should be concerned, if there is still a threat out there. i was told no, they believe this person acted alone. of course, it could have been much worse had they not stopped him on his way south. investigatiors believe he was headed to florida to commit similar acts there. we'll continue the conversation in a moment about the fear in the asian american community. regardless of the motives in this attack. asian americans seen a large number of attacks and racial slurs since the pandemic begin. basketball player jeremy lin joins us when we come back. want to save hundreds on your wireless bill? with xfinity mobile, you can. how about saving hundreds on the new samsung galaxy s21 ultra 5g? you can do that too. all on the most reliable network? sure thing! and with fast, nationwide 5g included - at no extra cost? we've got you covered. so join the carrier rated #1 in customer satisfaction... ...and learn how much you can save at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings. regardless of the motive in the atlanta shootings, the asian american community is on edge because of the racism since the pan pandemic and the commentary of the previous leader of the free world. >> i can name kung flu. before the plague from china came in, you know what that is, the china virus. i want to provide an update on our response to the china virus. kung flu, yeah. kung flu. medicine will e radicate the china virus once and for all. china and china and it came from china. when we got hit by the china virus as i call it. >> the last comment was last night, still doing it. again, after a year in which asian americans have been verbally harassed, randi kaye has more on the state of fear our fellow americans are living in. >> reporter: in san francisco last month on the edge of china town a 67-year-old asian man is suddenly ambushed at a laun laundromat. surveillance video shows the terrifying moments as he's dragged to the ground. the attack comes after police increase patrols following attacks in oakland's china town. oakland's china town is where this 91-year-old asian man was shoved to the ground. watch as his attacker rushes him from behind. police quickly identify the male suspect who was involved in two other assaults on elderly people. >> we have charged him with three counts of assault. >> reporter: in new york, this filipino american believes he was targeted because of his race. his attacker slashing him across the face with a box cutter. >> he slashed me from cheek to cheek. >> reporter: it all happened on the new york city subway during the morning rush. >> move! move! >> reporter: early in the pandemic, this asian man was also hard raassed on the new yo subway and when he didn't move, the suspect sprayed him in the face with fabreese. this 86-year-old thai immigrant died out on a morning walk when an unprovoked attacker charged him from across the street. >> he never wake up again. i never see him again. >> reporter: a 19-year-old is now charged in his death with murder and elder abuse. in los angeles, 27-year-old denny kim says he was randomly punched in the face by two strangers. >> basically they approached me. they were hurling racial slurs and calling me chink, ching chong, chinese virus. >> reporter: while not all of these are ruled hate crimes now, they are a disturbing rise of asian americans to rally in an effort to stop the hate. at a demonstration in new york city last month, some spoke openly of fear. >> many of my family members are living in fear and anxiety. >> reporter: others pointed fingers. >> i think the rhetoric from our previous administration was definitely the catalyst for all of this. >> got all different names, wuhan. wuhan was catching on. coronavirus, right? kung flu, yeah. >> reporter: there have also been attacks on property. asian owned businesses have been hit and robbed, too. and out in the open, in restaurants boldfaced racism. >> [ bleep ] asian piece of [ bleep ]. >> oh my god. >> reporter: in some communities, it's come down to neighbors protecting neighbors. after some in this california community threw rocks and hurled insults at an asian couple's home, neighbors set up camp standing guard in shifts to keep the couple safe. >> they see us and turn around. >> reporter: standing strong together in the face of hate. randi kaye, cnn palm beach county, florida. >> perspective from jeremy lin, a professional basketball player who has spoken about racism asian americans had to face and had to confront himself on the court. je jeremy, thanks for being with us. sorry under these circumstances. in february you posted about racism against ration americans and said you were called coronavirus on the basketball court by another player. you talked about experiencing bigotry throughout your career and racism against asian americans is nothing new but does it feel different now because of the pandemic? >> it feels very different. i think growing up it was always something that might be a little more subtle or verbal but i think what we're seeing right now is a lot of physical actual violence, lives being taken. a lot of asian americans who are looking over their shoulders when they go outside, when they go to the grocery store and we're starting to slowly see more and more reporting of what is going on, but this is something that is definitely hitting different, and i think we can start to see that, you know, kind of what you guys have shown before in terms of the previous administration and the rhetoric and was being used and you can even hear in the audio recordings, the cheers, the laughs, from everybody in those situations when, you know, it was called the kung flu virus and everyone is cheering. i think there is a lot of racially charged hatred right now that we're seeing and feeling. >> you also in a facebook post i read talked about kind of a feel -- a different feeling among particularly young asian americans right now in terms of standing up, and speaking out, and just not taking the kind of stereo types that have traditionally been used against asian americans. >> yeah, i think -- i mean, you know, that's something that, you know, i talk about and a lot of us talk about in terms of the minority myth, i think if you look back into history, a lot of this stuff i never learned, never heard about until i had to go dig it up myself. but you look at how china town came to existence, if you look at the japanese camps or the china exclusion act, the first legislation and only legislation that banned a specific person from coming in, i mean, i feel like asian and asian american experience has often been not talked about and asian american immigrants have just come over. asian immigrants have come over and basically just been told what to do and to be quiet and to stay under the radar and to not cause any noise, and i think with this next generation as we're starting to see more and more of this happening, asian americans are no longer wanting to just be told what to do and keep our heads down, work hard and say nothing. so we're seeing a lot of people stand up and stand out and speak up and that's what we need because it time. we've been dealing with this for a long, long time, and it's just a matter of people are starting to see it now and it's being exposed. >> i'm wondering what you thought when you heard about the atlanta shootings and how that adds to all of this. >> i mean, it's tough. it's tough because i feel like it's almost like my raw emotion is at -- it feels like it happening more and it feels like it's getting worse and even for me, like, i'm starting to question in a very, very openly, i'm questioning like oh, if i speak out more am i like encouraging more people to have even more hate by other people seeing these headlines? are we encouraging more people to do crazy things and hurt more asian americans? it a very fearful thought process of thinking through that but i think now it's like people are starting to really see like no, this is a serious, serious issue. i think rustle jones from stop aapi hate called awhile ago and said hey, everyone is in lockdown and quarantine but when everyone starts to come back out, there is a high likelihood we'll see stuff like this and it is happening. it heartbreaking and hard to process and not every day -- every day it a new headline and feels like it more but at the same time, we can't stop, we can't stop speaking out. we can't stop fighting and we can't lose hope. if we lose hope, you know, that's the end of it. we have to keep remaining, you know, strong on what we feel like we need to do and how we want to better this world. >> yeah, i mean, just in seeing randi kaye's piece, to see the images of, you know, vulnerable elderly, you know, asian american men or women being just completely blind sided and attacked, dying, being severely injured, even that, you know, boigot sitting in a restaurant saying horrible, horrible things, it's just stunning to see it so blatant right out in the broad daylight. >> yeah, that's the thing for me when i see these headlines, one of the things i always try to make myself do is watch clips if there are clips because you can literally see just somebody turn their face, see an asian and attack them almost like, i mean, it's not even really -- like, it's hard to comprehend how you can do something like that that you never met. you look at them -- i think what we're seeing is we're seeing all these micro aggressions through history. asians have projected as being others or outsiders and you can hear and see the micro agreegsgressions are you really from and talking about the way we look or our complexion and so many micro agr aggressions that contribute to that and calling it the china virus, kung flu virus is adding to it and fueling the fire and we're seeing mite cro aggressio turn into actual violence. it hard to watch. i encourage people to watch these videos and see it's happening. these are real stories, real lives. >> it's sickening but frankly to turn away and pretend it's not happening is -- makes it even worse. people don't deserve to suffer in silence. people should know about what is happening and take a part in jeremy lin, appreciate you speaking with us tonight and all you've been doing. >> thank you for having me and raising awareness about it. appreciate it. >> take care. just ahead, president biden calls vladimir putin a killer leaving no doubt the relationship between the white house and russia in the past four years is over. that when we return. with tremfya®, adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis can uncover clearer skin and improve symptoms at 16 weeks. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tremfya®. emerge tremfyant™. janssen can help you explore cost support options. ♪ ♪ ♪like an echo in the forest♪ [singing in korean] ♪another day will return♪ [singing in korean] ♪like nothing ever happened♪ ♪ ♪ covid has made clear that having health insurance is more important than ever. at covered california, every plan is comprehensive, covering everything from preventive care to mental health. and it's the only place that offers financial help for health insurance. enrollment is open due to covid-19. if you or someone you know isn't covered, now is the time to sign up. covered california. this way to health insurance. enroll now at coveredca.com. today the white house said president biden would not hold back against vladimir putin after the president went after the leader in an interview tuesday. >> he will pay a price. we had a long talk. i know relatively in the conversations started off, i said i know you and you know me. if i establish this occurred then be prepared. >> you know vladimir putin. do you think he's a killer? >> uh-huh, i do. >> what price must he pay? >> the price he'll pay, you'll see shortly. >> those came after reports trump used allies to influence the 2020 election and the russian foreign minister recalled the ambassador back to moscow for quote consultations end quote. we're joined by kaitlan collins and dana bash. kaitlan president biden had a different response. what more is the white house saying about moscow recalling the am baskbassador? >> they're not commenting. they're taking a different approach to russia than what we saw with biden's pred secessor. you saw the readout of that. it was a bill of complaints. all of these things going after russia talking about their interference in the elections, talking about their poisoning of dis disdents, everything you can think of. they listed in the readout of biden's call to putin. so that's what he was talking about in that interview saying he feels like he can take a much more combative approach and fully aware of what he's doing and so what you're seeing today with them summoning the am basketball tore back to russia comes after yes, he agreed that he does think that putin is a killer, and that is something that you heard from president trump but in a very different way because remember in 2017, he was also asked and confronted by bill oriley saying putin is a killer. i think it's a wakeup call for russia. the question is how it changes things going forward because of course, they have to work together given they are nuclear powers and how that looks like. >> dana, i want to play quickly for the viewers one of the many examples of what the former president had to say about putin from the infamous summit that was shocking, the comments he made in front of putin on the world stage casting doubt on what his own top intelligence official said about the russian election interference in 2016. >> they came to me and others said they think it russia. i have president putin. he just said it's not russia. i will say this, i don't see any reason why it would be. i have great confidence in my intelligence people, but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. >> i mean, that was not what it ha -- that was nuts when it happened and still seems crazy. what do you think the most recent president would be saying to putin? >> a could things. one, it is pretty strong. it pretty strong stuff, and it is a no question a direct result of the way that his predecessor handled vladimir putin and that was the kind of pinnacle and maybe it is better way to say the low point of the u.s. presence and the u.s. posture towards russia across the board republicans and democrats will tell you that even to this day and they did even at that point and so what joe biden is clearly trying to do is reset in a dramatic way and he did so with those comments and i just hung up before talking to anderson with a top senator on foreign relations matters who, you know, just wanted to emphasize how big of a deal it is for russia to pull back its ambassador for consultations and according to our colleague matthew chance, his sources inside russia, inside moscow say it was directly because of the comments that president biden made saying yes, vladimir putin is a killer, and, you know, a lot of people said he was just speaking the truth, but it certainly wasn't diplomatic and so the question is how much does this escalate? that's a very open question now. >> we had jim sciutto on the program saying he tried to hurt biden and help trump in 2020 pretty much in much of the same wording used to describe russian interference in 2016. i mean, americans even critics of the administration might not want to hear at nauseam about it again but obviously, still kind of warrants some sort of response one would think from the united states. >> well, and biden said he will respond. he was pressed repeatedly in that interview he did last night with abc news how was he going to respond? he has not told us yet. we'll wait and see the actions and what's the response going to actually be for them? yes, i think many people are tiring of hearing about it because it something we've talked about at length. what's important, it's still happening clearly according to the intelligence community on an on going basis. how do you respond to it and confront russia over it and i think the big difference with biden is he's not someone that shies away from it. with president trump, aids said they were he issitant to bring up because they knew it would set him off. at a granular level like that things changed. >> dana bash, kaitlan collins, you're shaming me both. you have fully embraced st. patrick's day, both of you with the white house -- >> great. >> i've -- >> you're a st. patricks day sandwich. we got you covered. >> i let down -- sorry about this. i apologize. thanks very much. >> next year. >> yeah. updates on several fronts including the coronavirus. we'll sttake you to a small tow in oklahoma where the idea of getting a covid vaccine seems unthinkable. i'm erin. -and i'm margo. we've always done things our own way. charted our own paths. i wasn't going to just back down from moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. psoriatic arthritis wasn't going to change who i am. when i learned that my joint pain could mean permanent joint damage, i asked about enbrel. enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop permanent joint damage. plus enbrel helps skin get clearer in psoriatic arthritis. ask your doctor about enbrel, so you can get back to your true self. -play ball! enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders and allergic reactions have occurred. tell your doctor if you've been someplace where fungal infections are common. or if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. visit enbrel.com to see how your joint damage could progress. enbrel. eligible patients may pay as little as $5 per month. it's a new day for veteran homeowners. home mortgage rates are at record lows. which is great news for veterans with va loans. that's me. now's the time to use your va streamline refi benefit you earned with your service one call to newday usa can save you $3,000 a year. that's me. with no income verification and no appraisal va streamline refi from newday usa the world around you may seem like an immovable, implacable place. it is not. it can be bright. quiet. and safe. it's a change that will be felt from this street. to this street. to no street. and everywhere in between. all it takes is the slightest push in just the right place and that will be the tipping point that changes everything. ♪ ♪ want to save hundreds on your wireless bill? with xfinity mobile, you can. point that changes everything. how about saving hundreds on the new samsung galaxy s21 ultra 5g? you can do that too. all on the most reliable network? sure thing! and with fast, nationwide 5g included - at no extra cost? we've got you covered. so join the carrier rated #1 in customer satisfaction... ...and learn how much you can save at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings. tonight the u.s. is on the brink of surpassing 30 million corona infections in 14 states. michigan's cases are up compared to last week. but the overall rate of cases continues to decline. the cdc director rachel wolinski says they are allowing less social distancing if schools, down to 3-feet instead of 6. nearly 2.5 million doses were given per day over the past seven days, which is a few record. still, political loyalties play a role according to news mar it pole. 47% support the president. they will not try to get the vaccine. one of the pockets it's playing out is in the red state of oklahoma. here's what residents told gary tuchman about the vaccine. >> reporter: it's breakfast time in boise city, oklahoma. i have this question. >> does anybody in this restaurant think it's a good idea to take the vaccine? >> no. >> raise your hand if you think it's a good idea. anyone here, it's a good idea? raise your hand to think if it's a good idea? not one person here thinks it's a good idea? complete quiet. >> reporter: boise city is the county seat sparsely populated where 92% of voters chose donald trump on election day. the highest percentage in the state, all 77 counties went for trump. . >> no, sir. >> reporter: tell me why. >> i don't trust the government. i don't trust biden. >> reporter: he and his wife neither plan to get the vaccine. >> when i take the flu shot, i usually get the flu, so there is no reason to take it. >> reporter: are you saying you will get covid by taking a covid? >> yes. >> reporter: why are you thinking that in the research doesn't slow that at all. >> that's just my choice. >> reporter: these women are sisters and they, too, are doubters. why are you doubtful? >> they just started rolling them out. >> reporter: they haven't. this has been a world wide effort. >> the flu can be cured. there is still hundreds of thousands of people die from the flu. >> reporter: not nearly as much as covid. this is a horrible pandemic and this is like an amazing vaccine. they are saving lives. >> no i agree to disagree on this subject. >> i'm just fought. i won't take it. >> reporter: what if president trump came out and is very ro bust and said, take the vaccine, i took it, even though i didn't tell anybody about it. it was done secretly. he said it a little bit. if he was robust and said take it, would you? >> no. why would we listen to him either? >> reporter: did you vote for him? >> he was the best option. >> reporter: no matter where we went, enthusiasm for the vaccine wasn't easy to find, despite this front page announcement. >> reporter: this is the boise city news, covid vaccines are available in your hospital. they want people to get them. are you going to get one? >> no, sir. >> reporter: how come? >> i really don't ever get vaccines. >> reporter: we did find the boss in the grocery store, though, who gave us a different answer but with a caveat. are you going to take the vaccine? >> i have taken it. >> reporter: what made you decide to take it? >> my wife. ro andersen the phones at the hole hospital don't seem to be ring off the hook regarding vaccines, but appointments are being taken in doses of the johnson&johnson are being gimpbltgiven. i spoke to a nurse. she described i want as fair. there has been a fair response so far. she also told me she is hearing the same concerns and fears about the vaccine that i heard here today. >> appreciate it, thanks very much. those reaction from our other developments from dr. sanjay gupta. does it surprise you to see people saying they're not going to get the vaccine? >> yeah. it does surprise me, a little bit, i guess. we know there is a fair amount of hesitancy out there. i thought that was a fascinating piece and there wasn't a lot of dialogue. right. there was no convincing it seemed like. these people simply did not want to take the vaccine. but you know, we do know that the am of vaccine hesitancy out there has been hovering around 30%, maybe going down a little bit as more and more people get vaccinateed.n so that's not a new phenomenon, anderson for it to stall out like that. >> it's interesting, people like in israel have been vaccinated, it seems like i've read have more access to going to a gym or entering an office. do you think that's going to happen here? >> i do. i think that will happen here. it's really interesting. remember, anderson, when we were talking about this initially, look, if you get this vaccine, it essentially is 95% protective against you getting severely ill. 100% protective against dyeing. i remember thinking, that's incredible. that's huge incentive. my parents are in their 70s living in florida worrying about getting sick and hoebl hospitalized. to your point, one thing i've learned, a lesson for all, in terms of communicating about this, what does the vaccine allow you to do. we know it can save your life. what do you know you can do with that life in so if people can fly, if they can enter certain facilities, do things that they otherwise would not be able to do, that could be a huge incentive. >> the cdc weighed in on two variants of concern, what do we know so far about them? >> so, these are two variants that are found that are more transmissible than the what we call the wild-type virus. the virus that is currently circulating. it's interesting, we knew there would be more and more variants as the virus circulates more and more. but when you have a variant like this, the thing you are trying to figure out is, a, is it more transmissible. b, how do the anti-bodies that the vaccine generates and the anti-bodies someone infected generates wok against these variants. what they're finding is that the anti-body still seem to work well, but there is a reduced effect from these anti-body against the variants. it's all done in the lab. i think that what we are learning over and over again is that these variants, though they are not escaping the immunity given by a vaccine, that is increasingly the concern. we haven't seen it yet. if that was the case, it would be called a variance of high consequence. we haven't seen that yet. that's what they're monitoring for. >> they said anti-body neutralize the two variants in the lab. so in layman's terms, what does that mean? >> so what they basically do is take the virus. this is all in the lab, not the real world. you don't know how well, this translates. they take the virus, they take the vaccine and say is the vaccine creating enough of these neutralizing anti-bodies that many people now know is making these proteins that into ut trallize the virus. they find that it does. it does make the neutralizing anti-bodies, but fewer as compared to the more wild-type virus a. virus that is more predominantly circulating. >> i appreciate it. thank you very much. police arrest the man outside a residence, vice president harris today. details on that when we come back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (quiet piano music) ♪ ♪ comfort in the extreme. the lincoln family of luxury suvs. in washington today the arrest of a 31-year-old texas man outside the naval observatory of the official residence of vice president harris. he has been charged with several accounts. among them carrying possession of unregistered munition and large munition fueling device. the secret service says the secret service operators detained him. vice president harris wasn't there and a bulletin originated in the state of texas. the news continues right now. we'll hand it over to chris cuomo for "prime time." >> i appreciate it, there is no question there has been a surge in violence and hate against asian americans. anti-asian crimes surged by nearly 150% in 2020. and we know the increase spiked there ut the pandemic and we know just yesterday trump went on hate tv and spewed his anti-asian hateful covid slur. and did it again to deflect blame for the virus he chose to spread across our country. here's what we don't know. we do not know if this massacre at spas in georgia that killed eight, including six asian women was racially motivated. >> it's still early. but he does claim defense no