that, says he plans to listen to the evidence in former president trump's impeachment trial. one day after voting to question its constitutionality with 45 other gop senators. that vote has democratic senator tim kaine warning that the trial could slow down important measures like president biden's economic rescue plan. kaine is now suggesting that a bipartisan censure of the former president could happen. >> to do a trial knowing you'll get 55 votes at the max seems to me to be not the right prioritization of our time right now. >> speak with democratic senator tammy baldwin about those comments and more in just a minute. and one hour ago president biden signed executive orders to make climate change a national security priority. suspending new leases for oil and gas development on federal lands. and holding a climate summit on earth day this year. >> it's about coming to the moment to deal with this maximum threat. in my view we've already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis. lots to break down this hour. but starting us off, nbc news correspondent mike memoli, just across the street from the white house. and anna palmer, founder of punchbowl news. great to have both of you with us. anna, let me begin with you and that point i was making there about the senate republican leader mitch mcconnell, he was asked if his vote yesterday supporting a motion that the trump impeachment trial was, quote, unconstitutional, was that a signal of how he would vote on the issue of conviction? here's the quote. "the trial hasn't started yet. i will participate in that and i plan to listen to the evidence." he didn't really close the door on convicting the former president, but are there other republicans from those you've been speaking to and hearing from, other republican senators who may feel the same way? >> i think a lot of people have been trying to figure out and read the tea leaves of exactly where senate leader mcconnell will end up on this. trying to figure out, is he really going to potentially vote for impeachment? he's saying basically the same thing he said for quite a while. i think there's immense pressure on him by his colleagues. say that they don't think he should be leader if he does that. and so he's going to be somebody that we are going to be watching extremely closely and that body language so far suggests that he is willing to at least hear the entire case. >> mike, president biden has been pretty clear about this. he said earlier this week that the trump impeachment trial, quote, has to happen. we just played that clip there from senator tim kaine which appears to suggest that at least from his perspective it's a lost cause to have this trial. and he's trying to gather support for this censure resolution as an alternative path. is that something you think that president biden would support? >> well, ayman, this was a question that was posed to the white house press secretary today. yet again we heard from the white house press secretary an effort to tap dance around all these questions about how to handle this former president, president trump. everything, remember, ayman, it was just a week ago around this time president biden was walking right behind us through those gates for the first time as president, getting ready to do the job that he was elected to do. and everything the biden team has tried to convey since that moment is urgency, urgency about his agenda and capitol hill, there are really only two priorities this president has. one, getting as much of his cabinet confirmed as quickly as possible. that we're seeing slowly but surely take place. secondly, is the passage of that $1.9 trillion rescue plan to address covid-19. address some of the economic uncertainty that we face as a country. anything that gets in the way, anything that's a distraction from those priorities is something the biden team wants to avoid. so that's why we saw at the white house today, as i mentioned, jen psaki focusing on the meetings that the president, vice president, other administration officials are having with key congressional leaders about the rescue plan. signing executive orders on another one of the key campaign pledges and really the vote that was taking place yesterday at this time on that motion by rand paul to dismiss this trial, essentially, was a real validation in many ways for what the biden team has tried to convey, which is that any effort here to spend a lot of time and to dip their toe into the political quagmire that is impeachment is only going to bring them into a discussion about their predecessor when they want to be focused on the future and their own agenda. >> so to that point, anna, is it likely a censure resolution would go anywhere? yesterday some interpreted the 45 people who are supportive of rand paul's motion, rather, were trying to just avoid the topic altogether. not necessarily whether they would support the impeachment trial or not. but would a censure resolution have broader support, you think? >> it's hard no know at this point. i think the procedural motion, what you saw was a lot of republicans making the case against impeachment, not based on the president's actions but based on the fact that he is a private citizen now. based on the fact that they believe that the country needs to come together. this censure resolution, chuck schumer who's the leader, majority leader, of the senate, has said the impeachment trial is going forward. this isn't as if, you know, they're going to stop this impeachment trial and do censure. so as much as, you know, tim kaine, susan collins, some of these members want to have some way forward for the president to feel at least rhetorical pain because impeachment is unlikely, it's unclear to me whether or not there would be any appetite to do censure after impeachment trial. so far, it doesn't really appear that there's a massive group of members who are trying to do this. >> mike, let's go back to a point you were talking about which is the president's agenda. he's been on the job for a week. he signed more than 30 executive orders on a broad array of topics including the ones today about climate change. how much is the white house worried that a long drawn-out trial could derail his agenda, particularly efforts to reach a deal on another relief package that is actually legislative in nature, not necessarily through reconciliation. >> well, very concerning to the extent that biden has only weighed in just, you know, briefly on this question of impeachment. you heard him just last week say he hopes that the senate can find a way to split its time, to use that term bifurcate, in order to move forward with his nominations. and what have we seen since then? the successful effort by the white house to delay the trial with the support, of course, of republican senators as well for two weeks so that they can move ahead with his agenda. there's a really big deadline coming. the president, himself, said the other day his negotiations both with republicans and democrats about the makeup of this rescue plan, he's going to give it two weeks. a couple weeks as he put it, in order to see whether and how they need to move forward. that two weeks puts us right back at where this impeachment trial is beginning. what we're seeing the house is taking steps as anna knows well to get back into session so they can start taking up the legislation now. but they want to have it ready so that if and when the senate completes that senate trial, it may be rather quick as well, they can move quickly on president's rescue plan. >> mike memoli, anna palmer, thanks for starting us off this hour. as we mentioned 45 republican senators are against impeachment, meaning conviction of former president trump will be unlikely. last night senator lindsey graham urged against a trial claiming it would, quote, blow up the senate. >> they never called a witness in the house. if there's an effort by the democrats to call a single witness in the united states senate, they had no record in the house, there will be delay of this trial, there will be a pandora's box being opened. we will want witnesses and this will go on for weeks if not months. >> here to react to that, democratic senator tammy baldwin of wisconsin. senator, thank you so much as always for your time. you just heard lindsey graham's threat. we also heard earlier from democratic senator tim kaine say an impeachment trial with 45 republicans already opposed in principle is a poor use of the senate's time. do you believe a trial is still worthy? >> oh, without question. i think that we must press forward. one of the unique things about this impeachment trial is that the senate jurists were all eyewitnesss to the impeachable offense, that is the president inciting a violent insurrection in the capitol as we were doing our solemn constitutional duty to certify the election results and it was an assault on our democracy, on congress, on the capitol building, that citadel of democracy, and we have to go forward with this trial in part to unify this country so we're all working off the same facts. it's still unbelievable to me that there are those who only three weeks out from these tragic events that resulted in five deaths are trying to rewrite history. >> what do you make of the argument that a censure of former president trump is better in order to speed up biden's -- president biden's legislation and cabinet confirmations? >> i think i just put forth a case for why we have to have this trial. it has a lot of importance to the future of our democracy. it's fragile. i think we didn't recognize how fragile it was. how close we came. and in order for us to press forward with a healthy and robust democracy, we've got to get all of these facts out. you know, certainly, the other issue that is raised in this article of impeachment beyond removal from office is the question of whether somebody who incites violence against the united states of america and its government can ever be in office or run for office again. and that will be a very pivotal question. >> you are obviously aware as we continue to learn more about the attack there on the capitol, a california man is now under arrest for -- excuse me -- for allegedly calling a family member of new york congressman hakeem jeffries while the riot was, in fact, going on, saying, "we are armed and near your home." jeffries -- actually, congressman jeffries talked about it last night with chris hayes. watch this. >> at the same moment that we have been evacuated, the mob is violently attacking the capitol. those images were being broadcast to family members of members of congress all across the country who were uncertain as to what was happening to us and at the same time communicating on a cell phone that is not publicly available and sending images of the neighborhood where this family member reside. and so it was clearly designed to instill terror. >> so this would suggest a level of coordination and some kind of plan to threaten these members of congress in a way that has not been previously reported. have you personally faced an increase in threats level that you or your family or friends that you're aware of? >> certainly not on the level and with the specificity that my colleague in the house faced and his family faced but certainly the rhetoric is very tense on social media and in terms of calls to not just my office but many of my colleagues' offices. and, you know, yet again, another reason to go forward with this trial. if people think that there's impunity for this type of violent insurrection, what's to say that this type of harassment and threat will not continue? >> so what do you make of the 45 -- how do you interpret the 45 republican colleagues in the senate who did not hold -- or did not want to hold former president trump accountable through having this trial? just three weeks after he invited that mob to washington. there are some saying that that's an indication those 45 won't convict him in the trial. do you believe that there's still a window for a conviction despite that? >> yes, i think that the senate must stand together to protect our democracy. and i think it will be a different question after hearing the house managers present their case and whatever defense former president trump wants to offer. that will be a different vote. and, again, because so many of us, if not all of us, were eyewitnesss to this insurrection. and so it's a really important reason for this trial to happen. and for us to also continue to do all the other important things that you talked about in the previous segment. we're working on the nominations, confirming several already. several in the pipeline for this week and next. and also taking our steps to pass the covid rescue package that biden has offered. >> so speaking of the rescue package, is it possible that that package will pass with republican support? or do you think democrats at this point given how serious it is and a priority it is for this administration go it alone if they have to? >> well, i believe it will receive bipartisan support in the house. if they start. but i do believe that getting to the 60-vote margin in the senate may be a big challenge. so we're fully prepared and working right now on making sure that we can do this through the reconciliation process if need be. >> all right. wisconsin senator tammy baldwin, thank you so much for your time. greetly appreciate it, as always. >> thank you. from canceled appointments to a shortage of doses to growing wait lists, covid vaccine distribution has been fraught with problems. one texas official put it this way. >> let me put it bluntly. getting a covid-19 vaccine shouldn't be like "the hunger games." >> harris county official lean that hidalgo joins me next. you're watching msnbc. g msnbc. ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel ♪ [man: coughing] ♪ it's a new dawn, it's a new day... ♪ no matter how you got copd it's time to make a stand. ♪ ...and i'm feelin' good ♪ start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. it's time to start a new day. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. hi, i'm pat and i'm 75 years old. we live in the mountains so i like to walk. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. i'm really busy in my life; i'm always doing something. i'm not a person that's going to sit too long. in the morning, i wake up and the first thing i do is go to my art studio. a couple came up and handed me a brochure on prevagen. i've been taking prevagen for about four years. i feel a little bit brighter and my mind just feels sharper. i would recommend it to anyone. it absolutely works. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. it's moving day. and while her friends are doing the heavy lifting, jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. now that's simple, easy, awesome. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today. we're closely following the coronavirus pandemic. here are the facts as we know them at this hour. the new white house covid task force held its first virtual briefing earlier senior adviser for the covid response andy sla visit warning, "it will be months before everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one." the cdc published new recommendations saying american schools should re-open as soon as possible, but only if they maintain robust safety precautions. the report says a safe return to in-person instruction means containing the virus' spread within communiies like restrictions on indoor dining and sports. and in maryland the "washington post" reports 58% of vaccines allocated to nursing homes have actually been used. providers and union reps say many opt out of vaccination clinics because of online misinformation and mistrust of the system. the effort to distribute vaccine has been a struggle across the country. judge lina hidalgo, chief executive of harris county, texas, even compared the process of registering to getting a vaccine to a dystopian novel. >> getting a covid-19 vaccine shouldn't be like "the hunger games." it shouldn't be about who can hit refresh on a browser the fastest. >> so to address the issues, president biden announced his administration is nearing a deal to purchase an additional 200 million doses of the moderna and pfizer covid vaccines. >> and that increases the total vaccine order in the united states by 50% from 400 million ordered to 600 million. that's enough vaccine to fully vaccinate 300 americans by end of the summer, beginning of the fall. >> joining me now is that official you heard just a moment ago, judge lina hidalgo, chief executive of harris county, texas, which is the third largest county in the united states, we should note. thank you so much for joining us. i wanted to start off by getting an update, if i can, on where the vaccination effort stands today compared to when vaccines began rolling out to communities earlier this month in your county. >> yeah, thank you for having me. look, the biggest challenge is that the supply that's currently available still falls far, far short of demand. to put it into context, in the largest harris county area, which is city of houston, 34 other cities, so that larger region, we need to administer about 9 million shots. first and second shots total. in order to achieve herd immunity. but we've only received, our region, a couple hundred thousand vaccines. so there's a lot of need. there's a lot of demand. and that's why i'm glad to see president biden putting his foot on the accelerator for more vaccines and why we have worked to try and come up with a process that is fair, efficient, of course, but also equitable. what i've watched many jurisdictions try to do, and this is just a virtue of limited supply, is open up a link, an opportunity, for people to go sign up. it gets overwhelmed and runs out of spots within 5, 15, 20, minutes then the folks who don't have a computer who work long hours and can't sit all day in front of one waiting for the link to open up who don't have special knowledge about when it might become available, don't have a chance to sign up. so we have a randomized process. prioritizes older residents and front-line workers but ultimately, it's not a first come/first serve. but really what will get to the root of this is more doses, more vaccines because we're equipped to distribute them. >> i was about to ask you to clarity. the debate that happens in the country is between the production and supply as well as the capacity to get people the actual vaccination. in your county, what do you find to be more of the shortfall? because the new wait list distribution system to get vaccines out, as you just mentioned, it's good but if the supply is not there, it's kind of pointless at this point. >> there's a couple of things. obviously, the supply, but also the ability to distribute the vaccine. so since december, different entities have received the vaccine and i think folks have been able to see which are the ones that are able to get them out efficiently and fairly and which cannot. for our part, harris county public health has distributed already tens of thousands of vaccines and we're equipped to distribute more than the ones we're getting. we're ramping up to be able to get on track for that herd immunity number by spring/summer as the president said but we need those doses. now, we also need better data as to what's happening with the doses that have been distributed to other providers because we're not the only provider. hospitals have received doses. pharmacies have received doses. but that's a data issue that we're working through with the state as well. so that we can keep track, okay, 400,000 doses have been assigned to the region but only this many have been distributed so there's the distribution issue. there's the supply issue. and there's the data-tracking issue and all of those are things that we need here at the local level to be able to do our job. to have that certainty. >> would you be better off, counties look yourself, be better off if you could purchase directly the supply of vaccines that you needed or would that in itself create a bit of a different type of "hunger games" among the counties that have access to the vaccine directly from pharmaceutical companies? >> for us, it would be absolutely helpful or at least to go directly to the federal government and here's why is there's uncertainty on the part of the state, they don't know exactly how many they're going to receive. from level of uncertainty, where we don't know exactly how many we're going to receive from the state government. so and then you've got two levels of separation on the data, so our ability to track how we're doing to herd immunity, which communities are being left behind, so we can redouble our efforts there, it's impaired by that lack of streamlining. so it would certainly be helpful if not to the distributor because i think that would create, you know, unfair competition, then at least to the federal government. but i am heartened that the president is talking also about equity and the reality of this is having that lens of equity, going to important whether the system is kept or whether we have a direct line to the federal government going forward. >> harris county chief executive judge lina hidalgo, thanks for your time. best of luck to you and your community. exactly one week after taking office president biden signs sweeping new executive actions to address climate change. those executive actions include making climate a u.s. foreign policy and national security issue. conserving at least 30% of lands and oceans by 2030. and suspending new natural gas and oil development leases. president biden says the time to take action is now. all right. joining us now is "today" show co-host al roker. al, good to have you with us. obviously, a big topic and big item on the president's agenda. one of the four crises he has identified. why are these executive actions so important right now? >> well, because i think, ayman, they touch on so many parts of our society, both economically, environmentally, health wise. all these things, they cut across all sorts of lines, but elevating climate change is a national security priority is very important. why? well, 2017 department of defense survey study showed that climate change is the greatest threat to national security. look at -- the greatest warming in the southwest and northeast causing problems at military sites. that's just here in the united states. there are other military sites around the world that are vulnerable to climate change. just look at what's happened in the last year. second hottest year behind 2016. the only reason for that was because we had a la nina and that cooled off our oceans a bit. atlantic hurricanes, 13 landfalls on the united states in 2020. california had a record 4 million acres burned with western wildfires. 2020 saw greenhouse gases drop, ayman, by 10%. those, however, were offset by the greenhouse gases given off by the wildfires and when you see emissions have to drop at least 8% each year to limit warming, that shows it's a drop in the bucket. and in fact, you look at what happened, these climate plans are going to cost about $2 trillion. but take a look at what happened in 2020 just in costs, alone. 22 -- 22 events of a billion dollars or more. that's the most ever recorded. $27 billion in severe weather events including a derecho in august, three tornado outbreaks. that was worth $7 billion. seven tropical cyclones cost $40 billion in damage. the heatwave brought in $4 billion in costs with an all-time record heat across the west. and related to that, california, oregon, washington, firestorms caused $16 billion in damage, ayman. 22 events, $95 billion worth of damage. and this is the sixth consecutive year with ten or more billion-dollar events. so just from a cost standpoint, that $2 trillion is going to really besides generating jobs, besides cleaning up our environment, it's going to help us cut back on these costs because what happens with climate change, ayman, doesn't mean that we have a guarantee of these kind of events every year, but what it does mean is that the possibility of these kind of events becomes greater and greater with each year that we don't mitigate our climate costs and our climate change problems. >> yeah, i'm so glad you brought up that point. a lot of people use that as an argument that costing that much money is just too much, but the cost of inaction outweighs it as you can clearly see. al roker, thank you so much. i appreciate it, sir. you're looking right there at a live screen from the state department. live image, i should say, feed from the state department. any minute now we're going to be hearing from antony blinken, secretary of state. his first briefing since being sworn in just two hours ago. we're going to bring that to you live as soon as it starts. you're watching msnbc. ♪♪ [ engines revving ] ♪♪ it's amazing to see them in the wild like th-- shhh. [ engine revs ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. all right. let's cross over to the state department. secretary of state blinken is addressing the press. >> thanks, everyone, your joining me here today. this is my first full day on the job as secretary of state. and to restate what i said before, it is a deep honor to be in this job and i am gratified that president seemed fit to entrust me with this responsibility. and i'm incredibly excited about the work ahead. especially working with the men and women of the state department to try to serve the american people and represent our country to the world. i wanted to spend a few minutes with all of you today to make it clear right from the start how important i see the work that each and every one of you does. some of you may know that i started my career as a journalist. obviously, i didn't succeed, but it was something that i took tremendous pride and pleasure in and something i have deep respect for as a result of my own experience being on both sides of the enterprise. you keep the american people and the world informed about what we do here. that's key to our mission as well. and you hold us accountable, ask tough questions, and that really does make us better. more broadly, and it is never more important to restate it, a free press is a cornerstone of our democracy. and this is a critical moment for protecting and defending democracy including right here at home. so, here's what you can count on coming from me and coming from us. we're resuming the daily press briefing starting next week. on tuesday. that's an essential part of the day. and we're bringing it back. president biden has said that he wants truth and transparency back in the white house briefing room. that fully applies in this room as well. and you'll be seeing me with a little bit of frequency, too, including on our travels together when hopefully we can get back to those travels, just as you'll have an opportunity to hear from many policy experts in this building. i know we're not always going to see eye to eye, that's not the point of the enterprise. sometimes we'll be frustrating to you. i imagine there are a few times when you'll be frustrating to us. but that's to be expected. that's exactly in some ways the point. but you can count on me, you can count on us, to treat all of you with the immense respect you deserve and to give you what you need to do the jobs that you're doing that are so important to our country and to our democracy. and i will be forthright, whether it's behind this podium, on the plane, or hopefully, eventually, some distant part of the world. so it's an adventure. i am really, really glad that we're in together. so welcome back to the pressroom, as ned said, this is your pressroom. and with that, let me take a few questions. >> start with you. >> thank you. welcome back, mr. secretary, to the building. >> thank you. >> thank you for your kind words about our profession earlier. i'll try to be as brief as possible. in the last couple months of the previous administration, several policies were rolled out and enacted that attracted a bunch of -- that were contentious, to say the least, attracted a bunch of criticism. i realize almost everything is under review right now as you're less than 24 hours in, but among those things that were enacted in the last several months, which are your priorities to complete the review to possibly reverse, rescind, or roll back, and similarly within the building apart from policy, but in terms of personnel, what exactly do you intend to change, if anything, about the approach the previous administration took to the foreign service and people who work in this building? thanks. >> yes, you're right, we are reviewing a number of steps we're taking, taken late in the last administration. we want to make sure we understand in each case the basis for the decisions that were made. i will tell you that i'm particularly focused on the question of sanctions on the houthis. i think you all know very well that the houthis committed an act of significant aggression in taking over sanah some years ago, moving through the country, committing acts of aggression against our partner, saudi arabia, committing human rights abuses and other atrocities, creating an environment in which we've seen extremist groups fill some of the vacuums that were created. but at the same time we've seen a campaign led by saudi arabia that has also contributed to what is by any estimates the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today. that's saying something. it's vitally important even in the midst of this crisis that we do everything we can to get humanitarian assistance to the people of yemen who are in desperate need. and what we want to make sure is that any steps we are taking do not get in the way of providing that assistance. the houthis control territory that i believe contains about 80% of yemen's population. and so we want to make sure that any of these steps including the designation don't make what is already an incredibly difficult task even more difficult, that is the provision of the humanitarian aid to the people of yemen. so we're taking a very urgent and very close look at that. we want to make sure that not only are american aid groups able to do what they can to provide assistance but so are aid groups around the world providing the bulk of that assistance and make sure nothing we're doing interferes with that. particularly, if it doesn't in any other way advance our policy and objective. so that's the -- that's the priority in my book. >> thank you very much. congratulations, mr. secretary. >> good to see you, andrea. >> president biden in his first phone call with president putin yesterday outlined some areas of agreement such as the arms control agreement, the extension of new s.t.a.r.t., but at the same time areas of concern, many of which involve russia. we're talking about solar winds hack and ukraine, of course, the investigation, the assessment, of interference in the 2020 campaign but also -- also the safety of alexei navalny. >> yeah. >> and so i want to ask you, what are the red lines under which the united states would consider sanctioning russia if there's any harm that comes to mr. navalny? or to the protesters as they're being arrested. you know, how front and center is this issue to you of russian crackdown on the opposition and on human rights? >> thanks, andrea. we've, as you know, already expressed our deep concern for the treatment of mr. navalny, specifically, and more generally with the human rights situation in russia. and it remains striking to me how concerned and maybe even scared the russian government seems to be of one man. mr. navalny. across the board, as the president has said, we're reviewing all of these actions that are a deep concern to us, whether it is the treatment of mr. navalny, and particularly the apparent use of a chemical weapon in an attempt to assassinate him. we're looking very urgently as well as solar winds and its various implications. we're looking at the reports of bounties placed by russia on american forces in afghanistan and, of course, we're looking at these questions of election interference. so all of that as the president and the white house have indicated are under review. i don't want to get ahead of where we are on those reviews, but as i say, we have a deep concern for mr. navalny's safety and security and the larger point is that his voice is the voice of many, many, many russians and it should be heard, not muzzled. >> and you're not ruling out anything if there's harm that comes to him? >> not -- not ruling out anything, but we want to get this full review done and then we'll take it from there. >> hi. thanks, mr. secretary. as head of the correspondents association here, thanks for coming out on your first day. it's a powerful signal and does go noticed by us. can i ask you in your confirmation hearing you spoke in support of the so-called abraham accords under the previous administration. a couple of decisions that your administration could take, i wanted to ask you about. i understand there's a review going on right now about military sales, the f-35 sales to the united arab emirates and sales to saudi arabia. how do you see those going forward? do you plan on the f-35s eventually going forward to the uae? and with morocco, does the united states still recognize as the previous administration said moroccan sovereignty in western sahara? thank you. >> thank you. thanks very much. a couple things on that. first, as we said, we very much support the abraham accords. we think that israel normalizing relations with its neighbors and other countries in the region is a very positive development and so we applauded them. and we hope that there may be an opportunity to build on them in the months and years ahead. we're also trying to make sure that we have a full understanding of any commitments that may have been made in securing those agreements and that's something we're looking at right now. generally speaking, when it comes to arms sales, it is typical at the start of an administration to review any pending sales, to make sure that what is being considered is something that advances our strategic objectives. and advances our foreign policy. so that's -- that's what we're doing at this moment. >> john hudson. >> thanks. the review, i understand, mr. secretary, what are you looking at and do you plan on retaining -- as u.s. envoy? >> with regard to afghanistan, one of the things that we need to understand is exactly what is in the agreements that were reached between the united states and the taliban to make sure that we fully understand the commitments the taliban has made as well as any commitments we've made so we're taking that up. and with regard to ambassador kalazad, yes, we've asked him to continue the vital work that he's forming. >> thank you so much. good afternoon, mr. secretary, how are you? >> well, thank you. >> if i may -- good. if i may on china, how -- how do you cooperate with china on climate change when you say you agree that it's engaged in genocide and separately, has mentioned some confidence, measures, such as loosening up of journalistic restrictions and the consulate closing, closure. is that happening? thank you. >> thank you very much. we've had some opportunity to talk about this in recent weeks and recent months and i think it's not a secret that the relationship between the united states and china is arguably the most important relationship that we have in the world going forward. it's going to shape a lot of the future that we all live. and increasingly, that relationship has some adversarial aspects to it. it has competitive ones and it also still has cooperative ones and the cooperative ones are in areas where it's in our mutual interest to try to work together including manifestly on climate where it's in the interest of china and the interest of the united states and interest of countries around the world to make concrete progress in combatting global warming. and so i think and hope that we'll be able to pursue that, but that fits within the larger context of our foreign policy and many issues of concern that we have with china. issues that we need to work through. and so i think you'll see us doing -- doing just that even as we pursue the climate agenda that is so important to our country and to the future of our planet. >> final question here. >> hello, mr. secretary. from reuters. i want to ask you about iran. they said they would like united states to lift all the sanctions first while you said they need to come back in full compliance. so how do you plan to reconcile that, and when should we expect to open the negotiations and who would lead them for united states? and if i may on china, you talked about reviews and with respect to uighurs, in your confirmation hearing, you endorsed the genocide determination. today linda thomas greenfield said the department is reviewing that determination. is that only about the process or are there different views on this determination and should we expect some more punitive action throughout this? thank you. >> so i haven't actually seen what ambassador thomas greenfield said so i can't comment on it, but my judgment remains that genocide was committed against the uighurs and that hasn't changed. with regard to iran, president biden has been very clear saying if iran comes back into full compliance with its obligations under the jcpoa, the united states would do the same thing and then we would use that as a platform to build with our allies and partners what we called a longer and stronger agreement and to deal with a number of other issues that are deeply problematic in the relationship with iran. but we are a long ways from that point. iran is out of compliance on a number of fronts, and it would take some time, should it make the decision to do so, for it to come back into compliance in time for us then to assess whether it was meeting its obligations. so we're not -- we're not there yet, to say the least. and then with regard to how we would engage this issue if iran decides to come back into compliance, i can tell you that we will build a strong team of experts and we will bring to bear different perspectives on the issue. we -- this -- this is something i would say this across the board, by the way, one of the things that i feel very strongly about is that in any of the issues we're engaged on, in any of the issues that we're tackling and that our foreign policy has to confront, that we are constantly questioning our own assumptions and premises that we do not engage in group think, that there is as much self-criticism and self-reflection as we get from, appropriately, the outside, whether it's from you or whether it's from people who disagree with the policies we're pursuing. so i think you can expect to see that as we move forward both with regard potentially to iran and for that matter to just about any other issue we tackle. thank you. >> "new york times." >> thank you. >> good to see you. >> congratulations, mr. secretary. >> you, too. you talked a lot about restoe ing leadership in the world. allies note everything you do could be overturned in four years, a cycle that doesn't instill confidence in the long term in the united states' credibility. how can any one administration, if it can be done, assure the world that the united states can be trusted to keep its commitments? >> so one of the things i've done over the last 24 hours is i've spent a lot of time on the phone already with our -- some of our closest allies and partners in various parts of the world. that's continuing. and i can -- what i've picked up from those conversations already is a very, very strong desire for the united states to be back in the room, back at the table, working with them on the many, many common challenges we face. and that was almost palpable in the conversations i've had to date. and i expect to hear more of that in the days ahead. one of the things, though, to your point, is that when it comes to virtually everything we're doing, and the president has set this many times. when it comes to foreign policy, it is hard to have a sustainable foreign policy, absent the informed consent of the american people. that comes in a couple ways. one, in a sense, it comes from you, because many americans are reading about, hearing about, listening to what we're doing thanks to you. that's vitally important, to mike sure they are fully informed and thinking about and ultimately providing their consent to what we're doing, but the place where that system of informed consent is vitally important is with congress. the members of congress are the representatives of the american people. they provide advice and consent to our policies, and i think one of the things you're going to see from our administration is working as closely as we possibly can with congress on these issues from the takeoff, knotts -- not just on the landing. i think we need to try to work them as much as we can up front, not at the back end. there are going to be disagreements, places where we're just in a different place, you i think we understand the better chance of having policies that stand the test of time by working with congress. we'll see where we get, but i'm determined that we do that. thank you very much. look forward to seeing you soon and often. [ inaudible ] >> i look forward to that, but not tomorrow. earp just listening to secretary of state anthony blinken making his first public appearance to the press from the state department, taking a variety of questions on a whole host of topics focused on the priorities of the biden administration. lots to break down. we're hoping to get andrea mitchell from the stapt department. in the meantime we're fortunate to have with us senior international correspondent keir simmons live in london. keir, knowing you have covered so many of those stories he talked about, relationship with china, relationship with russia, iran, the situation in yemen, the humanitarian crisis there, they have a tall order ahead of them to try to restore some of those relationships with european allies as well. what was your big takeaway from the briefing you heard there on so many of these issues. >> reporter: you too, my friend. this is stuff that you have covered all your career, right? wasn't it great to hear a secretary of state treat the press with respect, take questions and say he's going to keep taking question, and accept at times it might be adversarial, but that's part of democracy. frankly i haven't heard him say at the senate foreign relations committee, his hearing there, maybe you can't expect a guy with his feet just under his desk to make pronouncements, there was a lot of talk about policy reviews. what i really still am waiting to hear from tony blinken, saying he knows the world has changed. his experience in the obama administration, taking it beyond saying he knows the world has changed, and let me give you an example ayman. the biden administration has been signaling that they're unhappy with the treatment of alexei navalny. day the russians broke down the door of his wife, and the world where america can speak and shake capitals is not the same world anymore. one of the reasons for that is another issue he raised, that's china. so, remember, that russia has had a deepening connection with china. they are more protected because of their relationship with china. when you talk about iran, iran has a deepening relationship with china, so when you threaten iran and say, first, you have to change your behavior before we'll reinstate the jcpoa, the nuclear deal, well, iran you could argue is in a stronger position. and as tony blinken said himself, china is the main story, the main game in town, if you like, for the u.s. china has been signaling to the biden administration very strongly itself, both in the words that president xi had to say just this week, saying that they want to push back on countries kind of going it alone, isolationism, if you like, saying that, but also -- for example, china is just bringing in a law to allow the coast guard to fire on, board and search vessels within what they call the nine-dash line in the china sea area. beijing is not waiting for tony blinken's reviews. it is signaling that it is a strong geopolitical force and it tends to flex its muscles. aman? >> we have about 25 seconds on the topic of iran. most people anticipating that this administration would rush to join the jcpoa. that's not what we heard. he's putting the onus on iran to get back into the jcpoa, but it was the trump administration that broke out of it. >> reporter: that's right. look, this is where this diplomatic three-dimensional chess fits together. i think it's america's allies in europe that may be the key to this. they have stuck with iran to try to keep the jcpoa going, and i think there will be behind the scenes negotiations going on. >> he promises to speak to the press regularly. keir simmons, thank you. i'll see you right back here tomorrow for 3:00 p.m., and bill gates joins ari memelber tonigh at 6:00. 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