absolutely crucial period because right now america is in a tug of war with this virus trying to get enough people vaccinated to keep bringing infections down before variants push them back up again. any minute now pallets will be loaded into trucks and start shipping from kentucky. after the vaccine was approved by the fda and the cdc over the weekend. 4 million doses have expected to be sent out to the public before the end of this week. that would put us over the 100 million mark in terms of the total number of vaccine doses delivered across the nation. i want to start in shepherdsville, kentucky, outside of lieu vel. ellison barber is there, what's going on there? >> reporter: it's quiet outside but inside there is a lot of bustle and movement. we've watched in the last 45 minutes or so as workers inside this distribution center dook the johnson & johnson vaccine out of the refrigerated area and started packing up boxes. the initial shipment they're working on is a small shipment. we're told it will head to ohio and indiana. and they're starting small just to kind of make sure there aren't any hiccups in the process and ultimately they'll work on a bigger shipment immediately. we expect some 4 million doses of this vaccine to be distributed within a week. that means that once the trucks leave here today we expect to see shots in arms as early as tomorrow. as you mentioned this is an enormous deal because this is a single-dose vaccine. and unlike the other vaccines that have been available it does not need to be kept in special freezers at special subzero temperatures. some of the movement happening on your screen, you'll look and see these little tiny boxes. those are the boxes, the small boxes in the bigger boxes holding the johnson & johnson vaccine. within each of those tiny boxes you can see them packing them. there are ten vials of the vaccine -- yeah, ten vials of the vaccine per tiny box, within each vial there are five doses. you're looking a at each little box that can vaccinate 50 americans. 4 million doses are expected to leave within a week, 20 million doses expected to be sent out and distributed by the end of march. stephanie? >> ellison, thank you. i want to dig deeper into all of this and bring in dr. paul stoefl, johnson & johnson's chief scientific officer and vice chairman of their executive committee. first i want to say thank you for all that you do. this is extraordinary. but i want to talk about your vaccine specifically because we're hearing lots and lots of people focused on the fact that overall this vaccine is effective 72% of the time which is less than the others. but what seems to get lost is the fact that it also prevents hospitalizations and deaths 100% of the time. are you people focused on the wrong thing? that second part is really important. >> well, what's definitely important is the second one. the severe disease, hospitalization and death. that was the focus of our study where we went across the world, in the u.s., brazil, south america and south africa and we learned in very different circumstances very high infection rates as well as with different variants that the vaccine protects against complete protection against death, complete protection against hospitalization and 85% of severe disease and that after 28 days. with a single shot. i think that is the most critical one. this will bring normalcy back to life because we can prevent hospitalization and severe disease. >> what's the plan to deal with these new variants? will you be creating a booster that people can take? >> we have observed in our study in south africa, only 6,000 people, we had very high efficacy. it was the same -- the normal variants and there was no difference. that has to do with the strong immune response the vaccine creates and the huge protection it gives. we learn further on that soon. we are working on making sure that we have a backup in case that would not be enough and that vaccine is already in the laboratories being developed. >> i know you plan to test the vaccine on children and pregnant women. what can you tell us about these trials? >> we first wanted to make sure the vaccine was efficacious in the normal adults before we went into kids and pregnant women. we know that from ebola work that the vaccine is well tolerated and works well and is safe. we start the studies immediately in the course of this week working with the nih on maximum speed trying to get to these data in the next few months so that we can also include kids and adolescents in the indication as well as pregnant women throughout the year. >> you're also planning to ship 4 million doses this week. that's very positive news. but none next week. why not? >> well, you have the production scheme, the approvals of the different plans and that led to this cadence now in the very initial phase. but before the end of the month 20 million vaccines will be out there before the end of june, 100 million vaccines will be out there. 100 million shots means 100 million citizens can be vaccinated. so we'll do our utmost best to make sure they come as quickly as possible but it is the initial startup which has to be coordinated across the world. >> 20 million is a fantastic number. the end of the month. i will say, for so many of us that don't yet have those shots in our arms it feels like a lifetime. any chance production gets sped up? >> well, what we produce now, we can't speed it up. it's a 70-day process to get the vaccine out of the manufacturing plants. so what is now being delivered has started already more than two months ago so we know exactly when we can deliver what and that will be distributed as it becomes available. >> all right, thank you so much for joining us this morning and again, thank you for this vaccine. >> thank you. >> let's dig even deeper and bring in our friend dr. richard besser, president and ceo of the robert wood johnson foundation, started by one of the founders of johnson & johnson. doctor, good to see you. when you and i started talking we had an enormous amount of problems getting this vaccine program started and on track. but as of right now nearly 50 million americans have gotten at least one shot. that is roughly 15% of our population. are you happy with that pace? >> well, i'm happy that 50 million people have been vaccinated. i'm not happy when you break that down by race, ethnicity and neighborhood and you think about people at greatest risk of getting infected. i don't think the states in general have done a very good job at saying who in my state is at greatest risk and reflecting on the fact that, while every community has been hit hard by this pandemic, black, latino, native americans have been hit the hardest. i hope, as this vaccine comes online, and as the numbers of vaccinations that are available increases, the work that the federal government is doing to get vaccines to people pays off. up until now it's really been if you've had the resources to drive to a vaccine site, if you've had the resources to go online and spend hours to register, you've been vaccinated. there's a lot of effort now to try and bring vaccines in to communities, to community clinics, mobile vaccination sites, pharmacies and communities. as the supply increases, and over the next couple months the amount of vaccine is going to be pretty incredible. as that happens, i hope that we're reaching the communities that have been most affected. >> how concerned are you about these new variants? we had seen hospitalizations and deaths plummeting but that's stalling out a bit. >> yeah. yeah, i mean, dr. walensky of the cdc last week really raised the alarm and i think we have to pay very close attention to that. two weeks ago we were all celebrating the number of people vaccinated was going up. the number of people infected, hospitalizations and deaths were all going down. and then last week that took a bit of a stall and what we're seeing in some places the numbers are starting to tick up a little bit. i think you can attribute that to a number of things. one is variants. and in the places that have been able to look very closely the percentage of isolates that are variants has been increasing. a second is i think there's been a little too fast movement in a lot of states to reopen things. and we have to be very, very careful here. if we can just hang on and follow the advice of public health in terms of wearing masks and social distancing and washing hands and limiting travel, limiting close encounters indoors, we can get there because the vaccines are really coming. but if we go too quickly i worry that variants will take hold and we will see another big spike in this country. >> here's the problem with taking guidance from public health officials, the guidance keeps changing, look at schools, they just changed the guidance, now saying that the focus needs to be on air ventilation. that's in contrast to their last guidance. do you see these changes hurting this urgent need that we have to actually safely open schools? >> you know, i don't. i see the changing guidance as a sign of ongoing learning and sharing what's being learned. what we learned over the past year is that schools can safely open and schools are given the resources that they need. what we're seeing now with the increased guidance around ventilation is a layering effect. there are a number of things that schools can do, whether or not they've got the ability to adjust their ventilation and that's ensuring that children have masks, hiring staff to do screening and to do cleaning, decompressing classrooms so that there's space between children. these are really important things. schools had asked for more guidance around ventilation. what can you do? and what this provides is some things that schools do and it makes it so important that congress steps up and provides resources to schools. we've seen the same kind of divide in education that we've seen in terms of how this pandemic has hit this country and that's that black and brown children, children in lower income communities have not been getting the same resources, they've been relegated to more remote learning, many in places where there's a digital divide, less access to broad band and that has to change in terms of dollars getting there and a commitment that every child in this country deserves in-person learning in a situation that's safe for them, for their teachers and their staff. >> dr. besser, thank you so much, always good to see you. >> thanks, stephanie. if you still have questions about when, where and how you can get a vaccine, we're here to help, to get information about the vaccine, where you live, go to plan your vaccine.com or scan the qr code on the right side of your screen right now. there's an interactive state by state guide and you can sign up for alerts to tell you when you are eligible. but coming up next right here, breaking news in new york, where the states attorney general is officially taking on an investigation into new claims of sexual harassment against governor cuomo. and later former president trump goes after joe biden in his cpac speech, that's no surprise but it was his massive attacks on members of of his hen party that had the crowd going wild. so my big question, people were blaming the media for identifying the civil war within the republican party. why do you think it's the media? we're just covering the cpac. the republican jamboree. maybe we can explain. visible is wireless that doesn't play games. it's powered by verizon for as little as $25 a month. but it gets crazier. bring a friend every month and get every month for $5. boom! 12 months of $5 wireless. visible, wireless that gets better with friends. darrell's family uses gain flings now so their laundry smells more amazing than ever. isn't that the dog's towel? hey, me towel su towel. more gain scent plus oxi boost and febreze in every gain fling. this morning an investigation into new york governor andrew cuomo, officially in the hands of the new york attorney general after a second former aide accused him of sexual harassment. nbc's anne thompson has the latest. >> reporter: this morning new york governor andrew cuomo is under new scrutiny after a second former staff member is alleging sexual harassment. the new accuser, 25-year-old charlotte bennett, a former cuomo executive assistant and health policy adviser saying the governor verbally harassed her last spring with questions about her relationships and her sex life. he asked me if i believed if age made a difference in relationships, and asked if i had ever been with an older man. bennett telling the new york city and confirmed by nbc. bennett did not allege the governor ever touched her. after denying the allegations late sunday the governor stating i acknowledge some of the things i have said may have been misinterpreted as an unwanted flirtation to the extent anyone felt that way i am truly sorry about that. it follows allegations by another former aid lindsay boylan, who detailed pervasive harassment, describing two separate interactions with the governor. she says he asked her to play strip poker and gave her an uninvited kiss in his office a year later and cuomo rejected these allegations, saying they're false. his response to the pandemic, writing a book on the topic, also under fire for questions over the death count in nursing homes. and sending hospitalized infected patients back home early on. >> all the deaths in the nursing homes and in the hospitals were always fully, publicly and accurately reported. >> reporter: now following pressure from fellow democrats cuomo has agreed to refer the harassment matter to the state attorney general's office to appoint an independent investigator. the white house weighing in on the matter sunday. >> president biden has been consistent that he believes that every woman should be heard, should be treated with respect and with dignity. and there should be an independent review, looking into these allegations. >> i want to bring our own tom winter for the latest on these investigations and allegations. tom, help us understand this back and forth over the weekend who actually was going to investigate this. what can you tell us? >> well the governor was trying to do what everybody who's ever been under investigation has wanted to do which is appoint their own investigator and in lieu of that have somebody else who's an ally of them appoint that investigator as well. that did not go over very well with state lawmakers. vrp upset about it, the attorney general did not want that to happen. the attorney general wanted a referral under new york executive law 63, paragraph 8. and so that's eventually what ended up happening after calls for an independent investigation. what will happen now, steph, is the attorney general has the power to appoint somebody to oversee this investigation. under law that person is required to report back weekly to the attorney general. that person has subpoena power. if somebody doesn't comply with the subpoena request either for interviews or for documents then that person is guilty of a misdemeanor under new york state law. if somebody discloses who are the witnesses or what information that person has obtained under this ag's investigation they are also guilty of a misdemeanor under law. at this point there's no indications that this has any sort of a criminal angle but we'll have to keep watching it, steph. >> i want to switch gears and ask you about a different investigation into the january 6th attacks and specifically the death of officer brian sicknick, what's the latest? >> the latest, the reporting of our colleague mike kosner, the fbi is keying in on one single assailant who used a chemical irritant like a bear spray against officer sicknick, as well as several other officers, apparently there is also video, law enforcement tell nbc news, so that's something that they are looking at, still trying to identify this individual and obviously they're trying to arrest him. at this point it is an investigation under terms of an assault so not murder at this point. but obviously this is yet to all play out, obviously yet to be an arrest here so something that we'll have to continue to follow. the key news is they're keying in on one specific individual. >> we're absolutely going to stay on it, tom, thank you so much. up next, after passing in the house in a lay vote over the weekend, the coronavirus relief bill is heading to the senate. do democrats have the votes to pass it and pass it quickly? try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. what is humana doing sending me a diy test kit? 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>> the soonest the senate could start taking this bill up would be on wednesday. they've got to clear a couple other things off the calendar first but that's probably ambitious. the senate has to go through their substitute version of what was in the house bill and have to scrub it for anything else like the minimum wage provision that might run afoul of the senate's specific rules on budget reconciliation. you're willing at the second half of this week the soonest before the senate digs into this in earnest. >> any reason to believe republicans in the senate are going to get on board, we didn't see it in the house? >> i don't think there's any reason to believe that you're going to see republicans get on board. in fact, they're going to make this process as hard for democrats as possible using different procedural mechanisms as well as trying to slow down the process and use the levers in the minority, which are few to their advantage. >> jake, let's talk about what's happening with minimum wage, obviously including the federally increased minimum wage was removed from this bill, but it doesn't mean that democrats are walking away from it. they're just walking away from it today. correct? >> well, they don't have much of a choice here, steph. i mean, the minimum wage provision is not going to end up in the covid relief bill. they can say they're not walking away from it but they don't have many ways to pass it. they might try to pass it again but they need 60 votes in the senate to move it through. you know, they could lower the threshold to $11 and try to get republican support, that's one way to do it but this was the opportunity if the parliamentarian let it in to get minimum wage across the finish line. they were unable to do that. so i understand that they say they want to get it done but the options are limited. >> but their options are relatively limited right now in this bill. can't they work on this next as a totally separate initiative? >> they absolutely can but it would need 60 votes and so that means they would need ten republicans to get it through. and i just -- i don't -- i'm not saying that's impossible but they need to find a structure that would get ten republican votes or else they will not be able to get it through and again, i don't know whether that would happen. they could lower the threshold to 11. they can do all sorts of things but they need republican support and it's not -- they need 60 votes. that's the long and short of it. >> let's talk about the hearings this week on the january 6th insurrection. and maybe more importantly the continued white nationalist threat we're facing in this country. garrett, what can we expect with these upcoming hearings? >> reporter: we'll see another big joint hearing on wednesday anchored by the senate homeland security committee looking into what led up to the january 6th attack. that includes both the specific intelligence report if you remember from last week's hearing, the then security professionals from the capitol police, sergeants at arms so forth, but also the broader intelligence picture about white nationalists, militias, the various groups that were involved in january 6th. so a little bit of the specific threat that continues to the capitol that we keep learning about as these hearings develop and a little bit more about the broader cultural underpinnings of it that the senators want to get to the bottom of as well. >> anna, what are you willing forward to these hearings? >> the one thing to watch is what happens with senators talking about the fence. a lot of senators i've talked to say they want it to come down, they don't like it, they feel like they're in a military base. as much as what happened, how can they stop it from happening again i think it's going to be how can the capitol be a secure complex but that it doesn't have to look like it does right now? >> isn't that aesthetics, the threat our country faces, the divide and those who want to start a civil war, doesn't the fence seem like child's play compared to what we're facing? >> i would say yes and no. the fence is a symbol of the fact that the capitol is just not secure at the moment as we saw on january 6th, and there's no -- we don't know how to secure it. i mean the leadership is still trying to figure that out. nancy pelosi is going to pass a large scale, perhaps half a billion dollar package to bolster security at the capitol, bolster the police presence and so on and so forth. i think the fence frankly is a reminder of the fact that we have no idea, everyone has no idea how the capitol can and will be secured. i think that is going to be one of the big narratives over the next six to eight months. >> jake, anna, garrett, thank you so much. we've got a lot more to cover in the next 30 minutes. take you to florida where former president trump cemented his position as the leader of the republican party, at least their hard core base. but we're going to tell you why a poll of cpac attendees could make the former president actually reconsider running in 2024. ing gain flings, their laundry smells more amazing than ever. ah, honey! isn't that the dog's towel? 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with copays as low as $0.... walgreens makes affording your medicare prescriptions... ...no sweat. so you can get back to the thing you'd rather be doing. ♪ do you miss me yet? that was the question former president trump asked the crowd as he took the stage at cpac in orlando yesterday, telling the top conservative group that his political journey is far, far from over. during the 90-minute speech it was his first public remarks since leaving the white house the former president railed against democrats and president biden, no surprise, but what was extraordinary, he took a whole lot of direct aim, his harshest attacks at members of his own party, those who voted to impeach and remove him from office. >> instead of attacking me and more importantly the voters of our movement top establishment republicans in washington should be spending their energy in opposing biden, pelosi, schumer and the democrats. the democrats don't have grand standers like mitt romney, little ben sasse, richard burr, bill cassidy, susan collins, lisa murkowski, pat toomey, the warmonger, a person that loves seeing our troops fighting, liz cheney. >> writing down all those names, last i checked they were republicans. nbc's ali vitali, she was there all weekend. you've been to trump rallies, i've been to trump rallies, people are fired up. >> reporter: there was a lot of trump rally reducts here in orlando, not because of the way this event looked, people were kind of masks, kind of not. of course we saw the red hats, we saw the trump raucous crowds. but at the same time the themes were the same thing that we have heard from the former president over the course of the last five years. there was nothing really new here as he went through airing his grievances and attacking democrats and republicans alike. you point out he went through and listed all of the republicans who have not marched in lockstep with him from the time he was ending his days in office all the way through the impeachment trial. that was something we were led to expect. i don't know how helpful that's going to be as republicans have the quest ahead of them to try to retake the house and the senate. trump is likely going to be going after those incumbents, not just here on the stump but as we move forward into the midterm calendar. the other thing that was really interesting is what trump's presence here meant for a party that's still trying to figure out what it looks like and who its leader is going forward, especially heading into the next presidential election. i won't get too much into that because it's four years into the future but when folks here were asked if trump should run again only 68% of them said they thought he should run again, contrast with the fact they really believe the party should lean in on trump's ideas, 95% of the folks here said they want to see more of trump's ideas, it's not clear if trump should be the one leading them. >> if not, who will it be? ali, thank you. i want to dig deeper into this and bring in michael steel, elise jordan, and jeremy peters, political reporter for the "new york times." michael, i've got to go to you first, nikki haley, who was not at cpac, she came out with an op-ed recently and said it's the media, it is the media creating this gop civil war. she has had some of her big supporters send it to people like me but i saw last night she was echoing the same idea. it's the media creating the civil war and i wrote down the names of who the president was going after. liz cheney, mitt romney, little ben sasse, lisa murkowski, susan collins, pat toomey, the list goes on. those are republicans. who's nikki haley talking about? >> well, it's the old deflection. you know, point at the folks who are covering the news that you're making as opposed to the newsmaker themselves, which are herself and the president and a lot of the folks you listed there. there is an internal struggle. it's going to get covered by the press and you can see the press is making this up. but those of us in this battle we're here to say otherwise and the question for nikki haley is which side do you want to be on when you go into this fight. you can't straddle this line, i'm sorry, you may try but you will get cut in half and it doesn't work. you have to decide whether you're going to stand with the country and create a governing majority, and have a party that has a resonance with people, or you're just going to, you know, wallow in conspiracy theories and lies and, of course, the idolatry of donald trump. pick a side. you can't have it both ways. that's the fault line a lot of folks are going to have trouble getting around because they know they don't want trump coming after them in a primary situation or if they're trying to position themselves to run for president and my thing is just man up and if you're ready to man up and do it then you'll go into that fight and you'll come out the other side stronger whether you get the nomination or not. >> or potentially, michael, if you woman up you'll actually get the job done. jeremy, nikki haley, michael pence, two people who might very much want to be the nominee. neither of them were at cpac and mitch mcconnell wasn't either, what do you make of that? >> it's not their party. this is donald trump's party. i don't think you needed a golden idol in the halls outside the conference this weekend to tell you that. >> you got one. >> yeah, and it kind of makes me wonder, did that artist not read the bible, or at least see charlton hesston in the ten commandments, that doesn't end well for the people who made the golden idol there. this all points to a larger problem in the party right now. there's all this talk of civil war, civil war, but as far as i can see the civil war for the moment is over. donald trump won it and it's very much his party. there's no litigation of ideas, no debate over, you know, what we want to stand for as a party beyond donald trump's personality. and donald trump was never about ideas as much as he was about a persona, that is the persona of aggressive, take no prisoners fighter who is going to shred the opponents, own the libs, and make his supporters feel like they're winning. >> okay, but -- >> and, you know, right now, they may not be in the white house but, you know, they see trump on the stage there, and they're reminded, like hey, you know, that's what -- that's the kind of persona we want. >> but they're not in the white house, so not controlling the senate, they're not controlling congress. he may have won the civil war but he's the captain of the losers at least? because while 95% of those cpac attendees dig trump's agenda, only 68% of them want it to be him again. >> steph, that surprised me. i think that that is probably the least strength that donald trump has shown among this group of the electorate that's so hard core for him. the fact that he isn't overwhelmingly a favorite, that they appreciate his antics, they appreciate his racism but they know he's not a winner anymore. but they've lost the senate and they lost the white house. who is going to be in the pipeline to fill that void? i was surprised by ron desantis's strength quite frankly, he isn't a very carysmatic politician but he's popular in the way he managed the coronavirus crisis, the same reason you got kristi noem and her popularity. look at how nikki haley came out and spoke what seemed to be authentic in the aftermath of the insurrection at the capital but she's been completely back stepping and the message is muddled and she seems if anything someone who is not sure of herself and what she stands for. >> michael the point elise just made is almost exactly what we heard from bill cassidy yesterday before trump even took the stage. watch this. >> if we idolize one person we will lose. and that's kind of clear from the last election. over the last four years we've lost the house, the senate and the presidency. political campaigns are about winning. our agenda does not move forward unless we win. we need a candidate who cannot only win himself or herself but we also have to have someone who lifts all votes. >> so if a whole lot of people in the party share this sentiment who's their vote lifter? >> well, that's the fight. that's the fight. and trump wants to be the one to decide who that vote lifter is? look, i don't -- i'm not surprised at the 68% in that room. that's still a significant number. that's a big number. when the next closest number is 21, 68 stands large. so, you know, while, you know, he's not grabbing 80% wanting him to be the standard bearer of the trump agenda, 68% is nothing to, you know, shrink away from and it does say that trump is going to have that influence, which is exactly what senator cassidy is referring to. you've got to have someone who can pull the country because at the end of the day that's what a general election is about for the presidency, it's not about pulling just your primary voters over the line, it is making sure that the country is with you because you want to be able to govern. if those ideas mean anything then you want to govern on those ideas. here's the rub. what are those ideas? we're a party without a platform so, you know, this idea that there's not a civil battle. of course there's a civil war going on. we don't know what we stand for. who's articulating that? and, you know, everyone's talking about we don't want trump or we do want trump but no one's saying what is it we're going to talk to the country about and that leader is the one who's going to take the biggest risk because that leader then has to reshape this messaging and this effort going forward with trump standing in the way. >> well, i know what i'm going to talk about at dinner tonight, elise jordan's comment, they like his bravado and no holds barred attitude, they like his racism. we're going to leave it there. we have got to cover this story, attacks against asian-americans soaring, speaking to a congresswoman who's been trying to draw attention to this growing problem for over a year. she's had to deal with racist verbal attacks because of that. but if you're experiencing irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue or light-headedness, don't wait to contact your doctor. because these symptoms could be signs of a serious condition like atrial fibrillation. which could make you about five times more likely to have a stroke. your symptoms could mean something serious, so this is no time to wait. talk to a doctor, by phone, online, or in-person. instantly clear every day congestion with vicks sinex saline nasal mist.is is no time to wait. for drug free relief that works fast. vicks sinex. instantly clear everday congestion. >> vo: my car is my after-work decompression zone. ♪ music ♪ >> vo: so when my windshield broke... i found the experts at safelite autoglass. they have exclusive technology and service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ turn up the volume for turn up the volume for this. right now violence against asian-americans is spiking across this nation. hundreds rallied in the waves of attacks we saw in new york over the weekend including one man whose face was slashed on a new york subway. >> when i saw the box cutter holding -- holding on his hand, and the reaction of other people in the train, i knew i was slashed and i called for help, but nobody came for help. >> this crisis is hitting all corners of the asian-american community, including former nba player jeremy lin who said he was recently called coronavirus on the court. we also just learned that new york prosecutors will not bring hate crime charges against a suspect accused of stabbing an asian-american man last week. nbc's vicky nguyen has been digging into this story. vicky, what is the trigger? why have crimes against asian-americans been spiking over the last year? >> reporter: is stephanie, when i talked to the people studying this rise in anti-asian sentiment and the victims themselves, i hear two reasons, one, history. no matter how many contributions asian-americans make to the united states, that our history isn't taught and that we're still perceived as foreigners or outsiders. the second reason is they believe rhetoric that came out at the start of the pandemic from the highest levels, from the white house, calling it the china virus, the kung flu repeatedly at political rallies and the mocking tone, the bullying, they think there is no coincidence that that stoked and inflamed anti-asian sentiment. in april after those words were repeatedly used there was a man in texas who stabbed a father and his two-year-old and six-year-old at sam's club and the man said he did it because he thought they were chinese and spreading the virus. neither of those things is true. it's hard to say what's in the heart of people who carry out these hateful attacks but it's promising to report that there are efforts to combat it. in california lawmakers just passed a bill allocating $1.4 million to stop aapi hate.org, that's an organization that's been tracking these incidents, this money will help them track it and help try to stop the hate incidents. in new york police formed a permanent asian hate crimes task force, this did he this because they saw an 800% increase in hate incidents involving asian-american victims. there are efforts and we can all help and do our part. when you see discrimination, speak up, support the victim, report these incidents. you can't change it unless you acknowledge that it's happening. steph? >> vicky, thank you so much and thank you for continuing to report this. i want to bring in someone who has been fighting hate from the start of this pandemic new york congresswoman grace mang. congresswoman, these attacks are every day new yorkers' worst nightmare. you represent one of the most diverse districts in the country. are people scared to leave their house as soon as. >> thank you, stephanie, for covering this issue. people are increasingly scared to leave their homes, but the truth is the asian-american community has been scared to leave their homes for about the past year, not just because of the virus, but also because of the virus of discrimination and for fear of being attacked. >> here is what i don't get, it's not just your constituents. you yourself got vicious voice mails after your resolution that condemned hate, it passed in the house. your resolution is just about stopping hate. you are not asking for an asian advantage. what are these voice mails about? what are people fighting? >> well, i think that you hit the nail on the head, this resolution was a symbolic unified way for congress to say no to bigotry towards asian-americans, but at the same time know that 164 of my colleagues voted against that resolution. there is a lot of false rhetoric that has been going around and it started from our former president who kept using phrases like kung flu and chinese virus and really directly empowered a lot of these attacks that are happening and false notions that asian-americans had anything to do with this virus. >> are local authorities taking this seriously enough? >> well, i do want to thank many of our city and statewide elected officials. mayor de blasio, senator schumer, our attorney general tish james, they have all taken actions. as was mentioned earlier, new york city does have a hate crimes task force, but we need it to be more effective. we need local law enforcement, local community organizations to work closely with the federal government. i have legislation i'm introducing again that would give more tools to the department of justice to be able to collect data on these incidents and on these hate crimes and give our communities more resources. >> you mentioned before it was former president trump who was fanning the flames. he is not in office right now. president biden is, yet the numbers are surging. what do you make of that? >> well, president trump just used these words yesterday and over the weekend. he's still going strong using these racial slurs. yes, president biden signed a presidential memorandum condemning this kind of bigotry and violence, i'm so thankful for his actions and he also is directing his federal agencies that had parts of my bill in it where we would be able to have more resources on these sorts of incidents. and that's what we need. we need to shine more light. we need more people to speak up. and we need to remember that the answer to fighting racism is never more racism, it's solidarity. and i want to just say thank you to so many different community leaders from the black, latino, native-american communities who have stood up with us and for us. >> we've got to stop it right now. every day americans can be part of the solution. we just have to choose to be. congresswoman, thank you for joining us this morning. that wraps us up this hour. i am stephanie ruhle. thank you for watching. do not go anywhere you have to stay for the next hour at least. hallie jackson picks up breaking news coverage as any minute now the supreme court will hear a case on voting rights that could make it harder to combat racial discrimination. this case matters. discrimination this case matters. ude. or hydration. neutrogena® hydro boost. the #1 hyaluronic acid moisturizer delivers 2x the hydration for supple, bouncy skin. neutrogena®. ♪♪ (car horn) ♪♪ (splash) ♪♪ turn today's dreams into tomorrow's trips... with millions of flexible booking options. all in one place. expedia. wow. that's a low price. oh wow, that's a low price. what? 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