Overnight President Biden calling Governor Abbott telling him he will in his words work relentlessly to get his state what they need. Were also learning from texas Energy Officials that the entire power grid was seconds and minutes away from a catastrophic failure that could have left the state in the dark for months. Were asking a texas congressman about that in a moment. Plus, cruz Damage Control. The senator back in texas this morning with backlash building after he flew to cancun with his family while millions of his constituents shivered in the dark. We shouldnt have had to be without lights. I know its freezing, but somebody is responsible for this. Youve got people dying out here. Youve got hypothermia, dying. You know . Peoples houses all busted up because of water and the pipes that busted. Im surprised mine didnt bust. Lady behind me hers busted. And breaking this morning Capitol Police confirming dozens of officers are now under investigation, six suspended, with questions about what they really did during the riots last month. We are live with the breaking details coming up. I want to bring in our nbc news reporters, Antonia Hylton in jersey village, texas, outside houston, Gabe Gutierrez is in houston itself. Antonia, let me start with you and the latest on the power and water situation. What are you hearing from folks on the ground who are, as we just heard from that woman just a moment ago, very clearly frustrated . Reporter absolutely, hallie. I mean, this is starting to become a cumulative impact on people, particularly those who are low income and dont have the means to keep coming up with new solutions and go out and buy new products and supplies for their homes. As you mentioned, this has gone from a power issue into a water one. The electric Reliability Council of texas actually Just Announced that theyre ending Emergency Conditions here so water is really the story. I met people yesterday who were driving from gas station to gas station, Grocery Stores and finding that shelves were completely empty. They couldnt find drinking water. I met with a woman who went out and took somebodys pool water, said she could bring it home and boil it and use it to wash some of your kids clothes and take a bath because they hadnt properly bathed since last weekend. Many folks im talking to come from communities that are lower income and they are feeling like they are getting the worst of it. I spent an evening at an Affordable Housing complex where everyone at that complex said they had no Running Water whatsoever. So while some people have water to work with and its under a boil advisory, there are people who are turning on their taps and getting absolutely nothing that they can cook with, nothing that they can use. They feel, you know, just at this point like they are at their wits end, hallie. Right. Its the sense of desperation at this point. Its been a week. Its been five Straight Days for people. They are looking forg some kind of relief. In many instances, gabe, they are looking to their leaders for some of that help. You have one of the leaders now, ted cruz, in full Damage Control in that state after that very quick trip on his part to cancun with some shifting explanations now for what happened and some new overnight developments, gabe. Reporter yeah, hallie, youre right. On wednesday night as millions of texans were without power and struggling to keep warm as you mentioned, senator cruz boarded that flight to sunny cancun. Now, he returned yesterday, did not take questions from reporters at the airport, but then gave a few interviews at his home here in houston. Take a listen. I had initially planned to stay through the weekend and to work remotely there, but as i as i was heading down there, you know, i started to have second thoughts almost immediately because the crisis here in texas it was not my intention in in saying yes to my daughters to somehow diminish the all the texans that were going through real hardship. Reporter so whats interesting about that, hallie, is that earlier in the day he had spoken to reporters as he boarded that flight in cancun. He had not acknowledged at that time that he was planning a longer stay, that he was hoping to stay there through the weekend, but in those interviews last night he did say that he had regrets as soon as he got on the plane. Of course, he was also spotted getting on that plane in those photos went viral and a source familiar with his Travel Arrangement tells nbc news that he actually rebooked that flight at 6 00 a. M. Thursday, even though initially he was supposed to come back on saturday. Now, breaking overnight as well, hallie, is this reporting from the New York Times, the New York Times reporting on a series of Text Messages, a Text Message Chain by where cruzs wife, heidi cruz, apparently sent some Text Messages to some friends and neighbors inviting them on a vacation to cancun because her home was freezing according to those Text Messages. The New York Times citing that they were provided those Text Messages and they were confirmed by a second unidentified person on that chain. Now, we have reached out to ted cruzs office about those Text Messages. They have not responded as of yet. As for questions about whether he might selfquarantine when he comes now that hes back, the cdc recommends selfquarantine for international travel, but there are no requirements. A source close to ted cruz does say that he took a covid test when he was in cancun, but that it came back negative. Hallie, certainly mounting backlash here in texas. We spoke with several people in line for Propane Yesterday who were still without water and they were absolutely furious. Texas democrats of course asking him to resign. Hallie . Were going to hear more from those folks later on in the show. Gabe gutierrez, Antonia Hylton, thanks to the both of you. We appreciate your reporting. Let me drink in congressman lloyd dogget representing the austin and san antonio areas. Congressman, good morning to you. Good morning. Good to be with you, hallie. Great to have you. I know its been an unreal week for you im sure. This is now a water crisis in addition to a power crisis. How are people in your district doing . Well, there are Tens Of Thousands of people without water of any kind and a boil order boil water order in effect from san antonio through austin. I know we had a big Apartment Fire in san antonio last night, water was an issue, Water Pressure is an issue here. You know, what we have today is bright sunshine and thanks to some really tremendous Utility Workers who have been out there in the cold reconnecting us weve got power for most people, but we lack dependable water. And thats because we have in greg abbott our governor and his republican allies a government that just has not been able to deliver. They could not deliver reliable power, they could not deliver weatherization for our Energy Sources and now they cant even deliver water. Weve just been trying to get bottled water from fort worth where it is to austin. Finally our local government had to contract its own truck to go up there and get t we hope we will have some of that water later in the day. But the inability to deliver to the people is really a failed State Government. So what can the solution be . Is it turning to the federal government . Weve been showing congressman on our screens, i dont think you can see it, but that video of the Apartment Fire in snt that youre referencing and the issue partly was frozen fire hydrants, firefighters couldnt do the job fully they needed to do. We know President Biden is pledging the federal government will step in and help. Is that going to be enough at this point . Well, it is very important and i appreciate the role that President Biden has played because usually, you know, our texas politicians like our jet setting republican senator, they devote so much time to attacking the federal government, but when we are in a situation like this, we really need federal help. We need federal cooperation. Its obvious the state of texas and our republican governor are as inept at doing this as they were in fighting the pandemic last year and so that federal assistance will be very valuable. Water is the big issue right now. We will as we thaw out and were not quite there yet, there will be more and more broken pipes. It affects Water Pressure. In talking with our local firefighters theres concern about our ability to fight fires and to provide adequate service. One of the big issues has been in our hospitals because adequate Water Pressure is essential to having the steam to heat those hospitals. So its just one problem after another and instead of combating those problems our Republican Leaders were off attacking renewable energy. Actually it turns out the reason we were able to get everybody reconnected other than the essential workers doing their job is solar power. It played a big part of this. So instead of attacking the rest of the country and refusing to do anything in following the science on Climate Change, we need a big shift in our leaders and we need to hold them accountable. When we talk about the Energy Issues here, youve got ercot the electric Reliability Council of texas, the folks who run the grid, who say that the Emergency Conditions are ending today but we are now learning the situation could have been a lot worse. Those officials also say they were, quote, seconds and minutes away from a total collapse of the grid. That could have led to months long blackouts. At the same time your former governor, rick perry, this morning called this severe Winter Weather a black swan event, something that might only come around once in 100 years. Do you agree . Was that a black swan event, what happened and what were seeing in texas, and what is the responsibility of ercot, one of the obviously Energy Leaders in the state to do something about this . Well, ercot the electric Reliability Council, was clearly not reliable, but it is a mistake to put all of the accountability there. This really goes back to rick perry. They knew a long time ago that this type of event was likely. They knew how to respond to it by requiring weatherization. You were showing people wrapping their pipes. Thats something they might have done at the well head on these fossil fuels. So you dont believe rick perry when he says its a black swan event, congressman . I seldom believe rick perry, but on this particular event, yes, it was a worst weather event than usual, but anyone who lives in texas knows that our weather changes all the time and with Climate Change it becomes increasingly intensified and severe. They have known since the Perry Administration what to do to weatherize this. Finally now that the horses are out of the barn yesterday Governor Abbott called for a special emergency consideration of weatherization that should have occurred when rick perry was governor. The other item in that call, though, is very significant because he calls on the taxpayers to pay for the weatherization. It is, again, a typical texas republican tactic to shift to the taxpayers something that the industry should have done decades ago. Before i let you go i have to ask you, you referenced a moment ago a Jet Setting Leader in your state, i have to assume thats a reference to senator ted cruz as my colleague, Gabe Gutierrez, reported, he is now back in the state of texas with some democrats in your State Calling on him to resign. Are you one of them . There is no chance that ted cruz will resign and hes not the only one. My local Republican Party chair here in austin, travis county, he was trying to recruit people to get a private jet to go to miami. I think the day after this happened. Its just this jet setting attitude that theres one special rule for these folks and everybody else has to make it on their own. That kind of attitude is what has caused so many of our problems here in the state. We have to turn it around. Im pleased we have some federal assistance and we also have some dynamic local leaders, mayors, county judges, like those in san antonio and austin, who are really out there working hard. Were pulling together to make up for the failures of our State Government and with a little additional federal assistance i think we can recover. Congressman lloyd doggett, thank you for being with us, what i know is a difficult time for you and your constituents. If you want to help victims of the crisis in texas visit nbcnews. Com. We have a lot of information for you there. We want to turn to Breaking News coming into us this morning on the capitol riot and specifically Capitol Police now announcing just this morning investigations into dozens of officers for what they did that day, the suspension of other officers as well. Let me bring in nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. What else do we know, if anything, about why this is happens . We had heard right after the riot that some Police Officers were suspended. Tim ryan who oversees the budget for the Police Department said one officer was seen wearing a maga hat and giving directions, another posed for selfies with some of the rioters. You can see some of that behavior in the videos that came out immediately afterwards. No you what the Capitol Police say is that its Office Of Professional Responsibility is investigating 35 officers and that of that 35 six from now been suspended. So thats whats new here. The question is did they engage in behavior that helped the rioters . Was it simply a situation where they bowed to the inevitable, they were overwhelmed and sort of stood out of the way or did they aggressively and actively help them in any way . Some theres been some suggestion from the Court Documents from people who have been charged by the fbi that they say the Capitol Police gave them directions in some cases, welcomed them in, said its your house now. So thats, i think, what the Capitol Police are trying to sort through. Which of this was just surrendering, if you will, to the inevitable and how much of it was actively assisting the rioters. Pete williams live for us in washington. Pete, thank you. A major reversal from the trump era, the Biden Administration is making a big move to break the impasse with iran. Were talking about one of the main architects of the Iran Nuclear Deal next about what it means. Plus why the u. S. Will no longer be a Global Climate outcast starting today. And later, the disturbing surge in antiasian hate crimes across the country. We are live with an Assault Survivor who was brutally attacked on the subway and his message in this age of covid. E s message in this age of covid oad. The journey is why they ride. When the road is all you need, there is no destination. Uh, iim actually just going to get an iced coffee. Well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually no, ii usually have a destination. Yeah, but most of the time, her destination is freedom. Nope, just the coffee shop. Announcer no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at 79 a year. Voiceover cause shes a biker. Please dont follow me in. Loves me. Loves me not. New neutrogena® skin balancing 3 madeforyou formulas with 2 Pha Exfoliate and condition for soft, balanced skin. Find the one. Neutrogena® alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. Say hello to your Fairy Godmother alice. And longlasting gain scent beads. Part of the irresistible scent collection from gain i am robert strickler. Ive been involved in communications in the media for 45 years. Ive been taking prevagen on a regular basis for at least eight years. For me, the greatest benefit over the years has been that prevagen seems to help me recall things and also think more clearly. And i enthusiastically recommend prevagen. It has helped me an awful lot. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Its 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 thats simple, easy, awesome. Xfinity makes moving easy. Go online to transfer your services in about a minute. Get started today. President biden is making his debut on the world stage, meeting virtually with g7 World Leaders just in the last hour. No cameras were allowed in for that virtual discussion, but we will see him next hour at the Munich Security Conference. The theme today, the u. S. Turning the page on his predecessors America First policy, committed to working with global partners. Those words turning into action with a couple of big moves today. First youve got the administration formally offering to restart Nuclear Talks with iran, a First Step Towards potentially reentering the 2015 agreement that former President Trump pulled out of. Also as of today the u. S. Is officially back in the Paris Climate Deal. Nbcs Josh Lederman is following all of the developments from washington. What can you tell us about what these moves today mean and what comes next . Reporter the Biden Administration working today to send a message to the rest of the world that the u. S. Is back, that diplomacy is back and that the Biden Administration will be much more engaged on all of these Critical Issues than the trump administration. On the iran issue the United States last Night Opening the door to diplomacy with iran for the first time and its kind of been this chicken and egg situation where both iran and the u. S. Signaled they were willing to return to the Iran Nuclear Deal that trump left, but only if The Other Side jumped first. Neither side willing to take that step. Now the United States via the State Department saying its willing to attend a meeting if it was invited by the european members of the nuclear deal to meet with iran, figure out a way to get back to the table, back into that deal to lay the groundwork for an even more allencompassing deal with iran that would also address other issues like irans missile development, Human Rights Violations and other matters. On the Paris Climate Deal today the u. S. Officially back in that global emissions cutting agreement. Over the next several months the Biden Administration will have to come up with a new target for the United States for how much the u. S. Is willing to reduce its emissions of Heat Trapping Greenhouse Gases by the year 2030. We heard from joe biden Just A Little Bit ago, we didnt hear actually from him but we saw him at the g7 meeting briefly. We will hear from the president in the next hour when he speaks at the Munich Security Conference expected to touch on all of these issues as biden and his aides try to send the message to the rest of the world that they are going to be directly engaged with allies on trying to solve all of these Critical Issues facing the world. Hallie . Josh lederman live for us outside the capitol, thanks. Im joined by a key architect of the Iran Nuclear Deer err necessary moniz. Good morning, thank you for going on with us. Good morning, hallie. So the State Department is calling this more of a first step rather than a break through. As somebody who helped put this together do you agree and is it a welcome first step in your view . I think its quite welcome. The last four years have put us quite simply behind in every dimension of the attempt to make sure iran has no Nuclear Weapon and ultimately to resolve some of the regional problems that frankly we had hoped would have been worked on in these four years. Also the negotiation, the diplomacy being reactivated with iran is very important and i think very important to realize it will be step by step. Its not like theres some, i believe, some magic solution overnight, but we will have to take reciprocal steps with iran to get back to where we were and then to keep going on to agreements that resolve all the other terribly difficult issues we have with irans regional behavior. Theres also a question of whether iran itself comes back to the negotiating table, right . The Biden Administration says it will accept that invitation to meet with the countries that were initially part of the 2015 deal. Do you think does iran come back to the table and should the u. S. Lift economic sanctions to get that to happen . Thats part of the step by step, even the first step to get sitting at the same table, and i think iran will come back because frankly they need to and i think we want to in order to relieve some of these regional tensions while, again, achieving the essential goal of making sure of having the world be sure that iran is not reinvigorating a Nuclear Weapons program. I also want to add that i think its very important with the europeans, but its equally important in my view that the administration and i believe some of this has been going on, having discussions with our own congress on both sides of the aisle, with the europeans but also with our middle east allies because, frankly, especially going to a socalled jcpoa plus, we need all of those players in line. But i wouldnt let iran off the hook, either. Frankly, just as we saw a bipartisan divide in this country back in 20152016, lets face it, iran also has its internal divide between the Rouhani Administration and the revolutionary guard. So both sides are going to have to provide some evidence that we can provide a stable solution for moving forward. It will come as no surprise to you, as you lived through the republican push back initially to what happened in 2015 that there is gop push back now as well. Youve got President Biden sort of as part of the diplomatic process withdrawing a demand that the u. N. Put in place tough new sanctions against iran, he also lifted Travel Restrictions on some iranian officials. You have senator Cotton Tweeting that iran is in his words exploiting bidens weakness. Liz cheney is accusing the administration of emboldening a Terrorist Regime in her words with these moves. How do you respond to that . I think its showing President Bidens strength because diplomacy is about showing strength. Now, the question is can we bring together can he bring together the parties . Again, im not suggesting across the aisle, republicans and democrats are going to agree on some solution, but i think the key is and it goes back to 2015 and 2016, we have to be able to demonstrate that there is a pathway to going to the jcpoa and then beyond the jcpoa to discuss those regional issues, those missile issues, et cetera. I think thats how we bridge the partisan divide. And also hopefully bring along at least to a certain extent our middle eastern allies. I only have a couple seconds left but i do want to ask you quickly about the u. S. Rejoining the Paris Climate Deal as we reported with my colleague Josh Lederman a moment ago. You said earlier this year we have to earn our place back at the table as far as the u. S. Is this a step towards doing that . Absolutely. And the almost immediate appointment of john kerry after the election was a demonstration of the commitment, but, as i said, that International Leadership that john hopefully will help restore has to be based on a foundation of what we do domestically. We have to walk the talk to have the credibility to bring the world along to along the lines of the Net Zero Emissions commitment by mid century that we need and just as an aside, of course, the kinds of things that we saw in california last august and now in texas and other parts of the country now with much more extreme weather, its giving the public an idea of what the stakes are for addressing the climate crisis. Former Energy Secretary ernest moniz thank you for being on the show. Talking about that severe Winter Weather in texas, it is grinding vaccinations to a halt in a lot of spots causing big delays in Vaccine Shipments. Were live where fedex is headquartered with whats up behind that clog in distribution. 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Good morning the four way is a destination place. Right here, between these walls, is a lot of history. I am black. Beautiful. I must be respected. Black lawyers, doctors, educators, Martin Luther king, b. B. King, queen of soul aretha franklin. Youre sitting in the place where giants ate. The four way, as a restaurant, meant so much to this neighborhood and we wanted to continue that. To have a place where you have dignity and belong, thats the legacy of the four way. If you smell gas, youre too close. Leave the structure, call 911, keep people away, and call pg e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. Covids still a threat. And on reopening schools, we know what happens when we dont put safety first. Ignore proper ventilation or rates of community spread, and the virus worsens. Fail to provide masks or class sizes that allow for social distancing, and classrooms close back down. A successful reopening requires real safety and accountability measures. Including prioritizing vaccines for educators. Parents and educators agree reopen schools. Putting safety first. If you see wires down, treat them all as if theyre hot and energized. Stay away from any downed wire, call 911, and call pg e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. Approaching a devastating milestone, which seemed unthinkable just a year ago. Nearly 500,000 deaths from the Covid Pandemic, as of this morning passing 28 million cases. It comes as at least a dozen states are reporting Vaccine Shipment Delays and delivery delays of the vaccine as well. You can see them here as that brutal Winter Weather bears down on shipping hubs. Some state and local officials across the country are being forced to reschedule appointments as they wait for more of a supply. The vast majority of the resupply we expected for this week has not shipped from the factories yet. Two shipments of moderna vaccines were expected to arrive in l. A. This week were delayed. Because of the storms that were seeing throughout the country its basically sitting in the fedex warehouse. Nbcs Priscilla Thompson is in testimony tis, tennessee, home to fedex headquarters on the ground there. Priscilla, talk about the latest in these delays. When do they think theyre going to get back on schedule . Reporter thats the big question and the answer is a little unclear. I want to show you really quick what memphis, tennessee, looks like. Some of these main roads are open and cars are able to get through, but then you look at these other streets that are still covered in snow, still cars that are needing to be pulled out or dug out. This is sort of the situation that we are dealing with here and so fedex has certainly been impacted by this, their world headers here. Were told that they are still working to move vaccine and they are rerouting Vaccine Shipments where necessary, but the cdc has said that there is going to be a delay until things get back up and operating at full speed. What we do know is that a number of governors have requested that the National Guard be activated to actually come and pick up those Vaccine Shipments and handdeliver them to those states. Now, that Activation Request has not yet been approved, but i had an opportunity to speak with the ceo of a number of Rural Health Clinics in neighboring mississippi about how patients are responding to this and what is happening at his clan nick. Take a listen to what he told me. We have been besieged by phone calls want to go know when, but of course people could not get to us anyway. They were ice locked, couldnt get out of their driveways, so on and so on. We even discussed briefly the option of maybe getting in one of our four wheels and driving around to some houses. Reporter and ultimately that clinic was of course not able to go door to door and administer those vaccines, but the ceo tells me they have 160 second doses that will be ready to go as soon as conditions allow for them to reopen. Theyre going to be working through the weekend and extended hours next week to get all of those patients in, but they are still waiting for a new batch of first doses and that is really sort of part of the concern here with these shipment delays. Hallie . Priscilla thompson live in memphis, thank you. A Programming Note for you, tune in this sunday for Richard Engels Special Report on the effect of those new covid strains and the impact on the battle against the virus. That is on on assignment Covid Mutants sunday, 10 00 eastern. Antiasian hate crimes including the personal story of one man who felt it firsthand. Thats next. Al story of one man who felt it firsthand. Thats next. Proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. 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Boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. Boost® high protein. In just about an hour from now we will hear from House Speaker nancy pelosi. She will be joining members of the congressional Asian Pacific american caucus to give us an update on the recent spike in antiasian hate crimes and violence across the country. We can tell you this morning a man who attacked and assaulted a 52yearold asianamerican woman outside a bakery in New York City is behind bars partly because of the viral video that you are looking at and a digital manhunt after the video was shared by actress olivia munn. The case is one of many headlines about the disturbing violence against asianamericans. Not everybody has a Celeb Writ Activist behind them to help their case. According to stop aapi hate that started Tracking Violence in the wake of the Covid Pandemic and racist rhetoric around the virus those attacks are up 1900 in the u. S. , nearly 3,000 firsthand accounts of hatred were reported starting in march from the end of last year and 7 of those accounts came from among the most vulnerabler asianamericans over 60 years old. Joining me now noel cantana and Russell Jung Stop Aapi hate cofounder. Thank you both for being with us. Noel, good morning to you. Good morning. Good morning. So first of all, noel, thank you for joining us and im sure this is not easy, but if you could take us back to that day, you were on the subway, i understand, in new york. Can you tell us what happened . Yes, it was wednesday, wednesday morning, im about to go to work at 8 30 so its about 8 00 something. Im already im already inside the train, l train, and the train is standing room so its really packed and theres a lot of people there. So i stand i stood on the entrance, but on The Other Side, so that i wont be an obstacle for the people coming in and out of the of the train. So when im already in Bedford Station a man came, boarded the train and he stood beside me and the next stop would be first avenue. So when i was standing here when i was standing on the train i just felt that he just kicked my tote bag. So i turned away from him, i turned so that and i put my bag on my on my in front of me so that it wont touches him. I dont think it touches but just in case i wont disturb people anymore. After a few minutes i felt again that he kick he kick my bag again. So my bag again. So i moved over to the train and said to him, whats wrong with you . And that was a time when the train stops at the first station and when the and when the door opened he stepped forward and slashed me. I thought he was going to punch me, but when i didnt feel any punch at all, i just saw the people at the train shocked. And when i saw his hand i saw a box cutter and i panicked. I said, i think i was slashed, and then i put my hand on my face and then when i look at my hands theres blood i was seeing. So i cried for help and i cried for help, but nobody helped. Not even to call the Train Operator to stop the train and call for 911. So when i realized that that was happening, i decided to go out of the train and look for help at the station because i dont want to go to the next station bleeding. So there were, i think, three people in the in the subway. Yeah. So i saw a girl talking on her phone, probably she was calling 911, and there was another man, a cleaner, and he just told me to sit down. But i didnt sit because i really need helped. So i have to walk from end to end of the station in order because i knew that there would be somebody in the in the booth. And when i reached the booth i asked the lady inside to help me and call 911. So she did. She was shocked, but she was able to help. She was able to call 911 and then the police came. And let me noel, i cant imagine what that was like for you. Russell, im wondering if you can come in here because i know that youve been doing so much work on this issue and this exposes noels story here another fragility in the police system. In his queso initial of the nypd was saying its kind of a gray area to call this a hate crime. How does Law Enforcement need to be handling these crimes as they happen . I think what well, again, noels incident was horrific and its whats happening across the nation, asianamericans are really alarmed at the racism directed towards them, so i think police and Law Enforcement need to be sensitive to the spate of racism, to ask questions about what was said during the attack, if it was racially motivated or not and to pursue it if it was racially motivated. A lot of times these types of crimes if theyre hate crimes that are racially motivated they go underreported and people continue to get victimized in this way, its terrible. Talk about that piece of it, the underreporting piece of it, because, noel, other asianamericans might feel discouraged to report these kinds of incidents which are all over the scale, verbal assaults, spitting, physical assault like what happened to you. What is your message to somebody who might be feeling apprehensive about reporting Something Like this . Noel, can you hear me okay . Me. Yeah. Yeah. Well, i encourage all the asianamericans to speak out because if you dont speak out nobody will help you. It is also important that we should bring this case to to the authorities so that we could they could help us. We can get cant get help if we just kept silent. Im also encouraging them and also wanting them to be to be aware of their surroundings and, you know, keep away from from persons that might harm you. Actually, im so aware of my surroundings, especially when im still waiting at the when im still waiting at the train. I can imagine. Yeah, because there were a lot of cases who are the trains were coming and being pushed towards that. Right. So im aware that that the people around me would not do that. But i wasnt aware that somebody would slash me in the train, inside a train. Its unbelievable. So just speak out. Noel, that youre aware. Im sorry, we have a bit of a delay. Russell, quickly, i want you to are of jump in here on what the solution s right . Its not an easy thing to talk about, youve been tracking this spike since the pandemic began, you have the Biden Administration trying to raise awareness of this. We know the House Speaker is going to be holding an event later this morning. Is awareness the first step . What else needs to happen . Yeah, beyond awareness we need, again, much more community safety. We need people to intervene in cases like noels, if its safe, to call 911 and to be sort of eyes and ears for each other to protect each other. We also need broader Law Enforcement. A lot of the harassment were experiencing arent crimes, but they are discrimination and we need more public accommodation codes to protect us. Russell and noel, thank you both for being here and being with us. Noel, thank you very much for sharing your story. We appreciate it. Here on the show as texans endure another day of subfreezing temperatures and boil water alerts you have tempers boiling over after senator ted cruz as we have talked about decided to take his family to cancun while millions of his fellow texans were left without power and heat. Here is some of the reaction from folks on the ground in that state. Get his butt back over here and help us out, help these people out. A lot of people out here still dont have electricity, a lot of people out here who dont have water. Ted cruz has never cared about us i feel like. I think its time for a change. Following the fallout nbc news capitol hill correspondent leigh ann leigh ann caldwell. You have republicans who are coming to ted cruzs defense. You have people saying, what is he supposed do . What can a senator do in these citizens . You have others pointing to former leaders like beto orourke who are trying to help out. Whats the sense of what you are hearing on the hill . Reporter thats right. His opponent, who ted cruz barely beat, he made over 7,000 phone calls to see what help they need. There are things that senators can actually do in the state if its not largescale, having an individual impact. As far as democrats are concerned, the Attack Groups and some of the groups are calling on senator cruz to resign. Pointing out the hypocrisy. Officially on the hill, theres not a lot of reaction from democrats because they think this is a scandal of his own making and he is doing a good enough job to really lie in the bed that he has made. The thing that people outside are really frustrated with is the level of hypocrisy coming from the texas senator. A lot of people are pointing to the tweet that he did a few months ago about the austin mayor during the cvid crisis. With ted cruz, he has a long history of calling out people for things like this. Also, its not just flouting leaving the people in his state as well. Its also the fact he really rails against elitism, that he could leave on a moments notice to go to cancun because he had no heat, mostly elitists are able do that. In the wake of the insurrection at the capitol, spurred on by members of his own party, one republican is saying he has had enough. Watch. Today, im announcing that im leaving the Republican Party and will continue to serve the people of arkansas as an independent. I watched as members of my own party and our former president tried to overturn the results of a fair and free election. We all Watch Violence in the halls of our nations capitol and couldnt believe our eyes. We couldnt believe what we were seeing was our own country. But it was. For me, that day was the final straw. The final straw after years of rhetoric from former President Trump. Others in his party pushing the gop to the extreme. Joining me is independent state senator jim hendron. Thank you for being on the show. Thanks for having me. Im sure you have seen the backlash to republicans who like you have spoken out against the direction the party is going, the influence of the former president. You have senator thune calling it cancel culture. Im wondering what the response is from your constituents to the move you announced yesterday. From my constituents, its positive. From some of the gop establishment, there has been some negative feedback. Theres been criticism. Theres been some false accusations. Thats part of the reason that i felt it was necessary to make this change. The politics i have seen the last four or five years is just not something i want to continue to be a part of. There have been headlines of thousands of voters leaving the Republican Party in recent weeks. That only represents a small sliver. Do you worry that might leave in the party the furthest right faction behind . I think it may. I think thats the problem the gop has to wrestle with. I do think theres a broader and wider group of people who feel politically homeless now. My four Adult Children feel that way. Thats part of what has driven me to this. Right now, they dont have a home. Theres a governors race next year in arkansas. You have former press secretary Sara Huckabee sanders announcing. Shes seen as a serious con contender. Do you worry you are moving away from voters in your former party . From voters in my former party. But i dont think from the majority of people here. From everything i hear, i see a hunger for people to come back to the middle, to stop the nationalization of our state politics and to give a return to bipartisanship. When i joined the legislature in the late 90s, it was not like today. I think people are ready for something different. Is there anything is there any chance you would run for governor yourself . Ive been asked that. Its something i have considered. What i had said is im not going to run as a republican, clearly. I will not make a decision about whether i would run as an independent until i see if its a viable path. Its more about building Common Ground arkansas, an organization to foster leaders from both parties and independents who want to Work Together and solve problems and try to tamp out some of the extremism that plagued both parties. We should note for viewers who dont moe your background, you served for a number of years. You know the arkansas Republican Party well. Your uncle is the governor. Is there anything that would that could happen or would have to happen for you to rejoin the gop . Is that something you would consider if certain conditions, for example, are met . I would never say never. I will tell you the gop has several years of struggle and potential civil war ahead of it in everything that i see. Until that is resolved, i certainly feel like my efforts can be more fruitful somewhere else. I hope the gop comes back to what it was when i joined the gop and began to work as a young voter, voting for ronald reagan. It is a long way from that. If it gets back there, certainly, i still believe in conservative principals. I dont like what i see now, which is not about those. Its about a personality. Thank you so much for being on with us this morning. We appreciate your time. Thanks to you for watching this hour of msnbc. We will see you back here on monday morning. For now, jeff bennett picks it up after the break. Nder hydrate. Plantpowered creative roots gives kids the hydration they need, with the Fruit Flavors they love. And one gram of sugar. Find creative roots in the kids juice aisle. We made usaa insurance for members like kate. 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So you can finally give john some attention. Trusted experts. Guaranteed accurate books. Intuit quickbooks live. You cant plan for your periods. What the gush moments. But the right pad can. Only always Ultra Thins Have Rapiddry Technology and, they absorb 40 faster. The gush happens fast. Thats why always absorbs faster. Good friday morning to you. Im jeff bennett in for craig melvin. We are following a lot of moving parts at this hour. At the top of the list, President Biden is minutes away from his first remarks to the International Community as commander in chief. He is ditching trumps America First approach and will instead push global partnerships. We will bring you his virtual address live as soon as it starts. First, from one crisis to another in texas. Its reeling from a winter storm. The power is finally back on for many but not for everybody. For millions of others, a lack of clean water is leading to desperation. We dont have water. To flush the toilet and stuff. The problem is, we get a