Usually i stay in the background. I couldnt stay quiet anymore. Youll hear more from her in the moment. And new details on what exactly is in the republican Infrastructure Counteroffer just unveiled within the last hour. Whether it will move the needle with democrats in the White House. And were live in San Jose where were learning new details about the deadly shooting that killed nine people at a rail yard. Straight ahead, the new information from the County Sheriff this morning. Good morning to you. Im Hallie Jackson in washington. Joining me from Capitol Hill is he Ann Caldwell to begin the coverage. Weve been watching this unfold. The family of Brian Sicknick on The Hill talking to republicans to tell them please, vote for this January 6th commission. I know you had a chance to speak with glad us sicknick . First, there was a meeting with senator romney, and then Senator Johnson. Senator johnson is the one who said that January 6th was mostly peaceful. Hes mostly been denying that January 6th was an insurrection and how serious it was. So i asked his mother what her message was going to be to Senator Johnson considering his previous statements. This is what she had to say. Just look at the footage of what all these people went through and all these Police Officers did to make them safe and keep them safe. Reporter did you call it a slap in the face . Yes, i did. Yes. Because they put their lives on the line. Reporter she is going to spend the day on Capitol Hill meeting with a variety of republican senators. At tend of the day shes meeting with rich mcconnell with the same message, asking for a January 6th commission. I just saw Leader Mcconnell moments ago. I asked what hes going to tell her. Hes been opposed to the creation of this. He told me hes going to talk about all the indictments that are happening at the Justice Department. The senate committees that are investigating this. And hes going to assure her, he said, that hes going to work to ensure that nothing like this happens again in the future. But hes not going to change his mind on backing the January 6th commission. And with mcconnell not supporting this, its going to be difficult to get those ten republican senators to also support it to advance this legislation once it comes up for a vote. And yet, you have this mother on a mission who is committed to trying to get some kind of accountability in the death of her son, and the backdrop to this, i think its important to remind folks, and we said it. I want to hear more from you about what shes saying. You have republicans including the ones shes meeting with who have said and publicly tried to down play what happened on January 6th th. Essentially do some revisionist history, because thats what it is. To say it wasnt as serious as it was despite the fact that it was an attack on our democracy on the building where the senators work. How does this Family Thread the needle . Reporter despite the fact that theyhere. And theyre retelling of the situation has been different from what they experienced. Sicknick said she was pained at what was said about her son when the cause of his death came out that he died the next day because of a couple of strokes. But she wants to make it clear he would still be alive if January 6th did not happen, and if she did not if he did not have to fight for hours and hours for his life to protect the building and to protect the people inside it. In her letter to 50 republican Senators Yesterday asking for the meeting, she called it a slap in the face that the that they are not supporting the creation of this commission to get down to the bottom of it. You mentioned Mitch Mcconnell and his opposition to this. I know you know, and weve talked about Senator Manchin and his response to this basically saying that theres no excuse, he tweeted, for any republican to vote against the commission since democrats agreed to what they wanted. Hes accusing Mcconnell Of Taking A position advantageous to him in 2022. Is there anything in that argument that could be effective in changing Mitch Mcconnells mind . Is there anything that Senator Manchin could say that might get Mitch Mcconnell on the other side of this . Reporter it doesnt look like that. I just asked him if hes going to change his mind, and if hes pressed in the meeting that a commission is necessary, and he says that hes not going to. He thinks that the Justice Department investigation is just fine. He thinks that the indictments are coming down and they are investigation. And he also points to the committees that are working on it in the senate. But Senator Manchin coming down on this putting out a statement this morning saying that it is reprehensible that the republicans arent supporting this, this is really big. He put a statement a couple days ago asking republicans to come to the table. But still, only three have vocally said they are willing to support just a procedural vote to move onto this legislation to even begin debating it. We are watching the Senate Floor there. We are going to be watching the hallways of congress, because we expect to see mrs. Sicknick and the family at other points throughout the morning here and perhaps even throughout The Show. Well bring it to you live when it happens. As we watch The Hill, we want to talk about this counteroffer on infrastructure from republicans. The senator from West Virginia spoke about it a few moments ago. We believe this counteroffer delivers on what President Biden told us in the Oval Office that day. And that is to try to reach somewhere near a trillion dollars over an eightyear period of time that could include our baseline spending. We have achieved that goal with this counteroffer. But weve also, i think, done something that has stayed true to what our beliefs are when we very first started this endeavor, and that is sticking to the core physical infrastructure. Garrett haake is joining us now from The Hill. Garrett, we have these two pieces of legislation, these two important pieces of legislation that are in front of senators today. Not for a vote, but as far as a discussion, if you will. You talked about January 6th and the prospect of that bill likely to go nowhere as lee Ann Caldwell explained. What about the Infrastructure Proposal . Reporter republicans keep coming back to the well to try to get something that they can actually have this conversation with with democrats. I think the key thing in this counteroffer was to try to get that top Line Number back close to a trillion dollars of total spending here. Republicans did it. They got to 928 billion. This now spread out over eight years. The biggest ticket item, roads and bridges. Water infrastructure. The senate has already passed a waterrelated bill. The capitol feels like thats a Down Payment in terms of showing they can work together in a bipartisan way. Theres money for broad band, airports, you name it. I think the critical thing is this entire exercise depends on two assumptions that the two sides dont entirely agree on. First, when i asked about this, are you confident the White House and you are looking at the same definition of infrastructure. The White House will look at your proposal and see it doesnt include the money for the care economy. It doesnt economy credits toward electric vehicles and agree to set those things aside and work with you on just these things, or if theyre going to want those elements to be included in a bigger package . The second part, and this has always been the most challenging piece of this discussion. How are you going to pay for it . The republican plan, largely uses money that has been appropriated but not spent from that last Massive Covid relief bill. The White House doesnt even agree that much money is just sitting around somewhere unspent. So miles to go here. But at least one more significant Step Forward with this offer today. Garrett haake live for us on The Hill. Garrett, thank you. Our other top story, the aftermath of the shooting in San Jose. Nine people were killed making it the deadliest shooting in the Bay Area in decades. You can see the headlines from around the country. Front Page News everywhere. A horrifying scene that unfolded at a rail yard. The suspect had been working there for years. And where most if not all of those killed worked too. Those lives being remembered for a vigil night. Heres two Family Members on the loss and what theyre learning happened in the final moments. Very deep. We know for sure his last moments, he was still working for others. He was making Phone Calls to his friends saying active shooter, dont come in. He lost his life to save the other lives. All of this opening up what feels at this point like devastating deja vu. A new round of shock, demand, outrage for something to stop the next seemingly inevitable mass shooting. President biden is asking congress to pass tougher Gun Reform laws. Lindsey, can you bring us Up To speed on what investigators are telling you as they build a better picture of what happened . Reporter yeah. We are getting more details about what went down here yesterday morning. Really heart wrenching, harrowing details. The sheriff is telling us when deputies arrived on scene, the shooter was still firing shots. They ran into the building. They ran toward the danger. And when they got to the suspect, he took his life. And but not before taking the lives of eight at the time. Now we know nine others. A ninth person died overnight in the hospital. Were also learning more about what weapons he had. He had two semi automatic handguns. He went from room to room shooting people. We also know Bomb Sniffing dogs were dispatched to the area. They hit on an area in a locker that is now believed to be belong to the shooter that had the precursors to bomb making materials. Things like detonator cords. I want you to hear from the sheriff in her words about the heroic actions of law enforcement yesterday. I think he was deliberate and fast. He knew where employees would be. We were there just within a few minutes, but i really credit the officers from San Jose Police Department and the Sheriffs Office deputies who confronted the suspect very quickly and when they confronted the suspect, he took his own life. Reporter that was the sheriff speaking with Savannah Guthrie earlier on today. There are only fatalities in this case, no injuries. Were learning more about the victims. Some if not all vta employees. You heard from the family of one of them. Truly a hero. Calling coworkers, warning them about what was happening. And this was happening during a shift change. Midnight Shift Workers were there. Day Shift Workers were there. A larger number of employees in the building at the time. And we should mention the sheriff said they did conduct active Shooter Training drills inside the Bta Facility within the last year. Lindsey, thank you. Shannon, washington here. President biden is looking to try to put more pressure on congress to do something. That i feel like shannon is a sentence ive said on our air a lot of times over the past five years or so. Right. An effort to put more pressure on congress. Calling for more sweeping Gun Reform legislation. Were Hearing C again. Also again happening at the White House, the flags behind me flying at Half Staff once more after one of these mass shootings. The president and the White House have not applied a lot of Heavy Pressure on congress at this point. In part because they dont want to get involved in interfering and some of these delicate negotiations that have been going on for years now on The Hill led by senator chris murphy, theres indication theyre making some progress between democrats and republicans on background checks. The White House is very aware of not wanting to mess up any of that. But at the same time, the White House says this is obviously an issue the president feels very strongly about. The president has tried to take some action through executive actions, for example, that would make it easy for Family Members to report someone. They think shouldnt have possession of a gun, doing things to cut down on the guns that can be assembled online. They say there are more things theyre looking to do from an executive Branch Level because at the end when it comes to the big, tough stuff like an assault weapons ban, for example, that appears to be far from making any progress in congress. Shannon, thank you. Lindsey, or thanks to you as well. Appreciate it. Coming up, well talk about the furious new response from china this morning with u. S. Intelligence officials now taking another look into whether covid19 was leaked from a lab there. And later, well ask the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee about the once controversial theory gaining ground and a lot more including what weve been talking act this morning, the January 6th commission. 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We want to take you back to the floor of senate where Chuck Schumer has began talking about the January 6th commission, the legislation that may be solved. We may be getting a timing update. Lets listen in for a second. Have been researching for traces of Bamboo Fiber in the 2020 ballots, chasing a right Wing Conspiracy that china had ballots imported to tip the scales to biden. That is how insane this has become. Hunting for bamboo in ballots. We need to put a stop to this cancer in the republican party. We need to stand Up To the Big Lie. We must get at the truth and do everything in our power to restore americans faith in our elections and this grand, ongoing noble experiment of democracy. In that light, a national bipartisan independent commission to report on the events of January 6th is exactly what the doctor ordered. We have to investigate, expose, and report on the truth. We need to establish a trusted record of what really transpired on January 6th. And the events that preceded it. Thats what this commission is designed to do in a bipartisan, straight down the middlemaner. Now, ive gone through all the silly excuses that weve heard from our colleagues about why its too early, needs to be modelled after the 9 11 commission, even though it already is. The truth of the matter seems to be that Senate Republicans oppose the commission because they fear that it might upset Donald Trump and their partys midterm messaging. Im not speculating. That was reported in Politico Yesterday that the senate leader, republican leader, warned his conference that January 6th commission could hurt the republicans politically. Well, too bad. This is too important. For the sake of americans faith in our democracy, there must be a full, thorough, and trusted account of what happened on January 6th. Senate republicans must decide if theyre on the side of truth or on the side of Donald Trumps Big Lie. I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. Or i ask the unanimous consent that the quorum i just noted be dis that has been top democrat in the senate Chuck Schumer talking about listening one more thing. Anyway. Senator Schumer Talk act the January 6th legislation. It is incumbent upon republicans to try to push back against what he called the Big Lie, accusing democrats of making a move to block the commission as a political ploy. I want to bring in Mark Warner of virginia, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Thank you for being on The Show. Good morning. Can we start with timing on this vote . Do you expect that to happen today, tomorrow, and do you see any real chance that it passes at this point . You know, i was there on January 6th. It was an awful, awful day. I think it will go down in history when a group of people basically tried to overturn our democracy, and in the immediate aftermath, every one of us, it didnt matter the political party because the insurrectionists, they were looking for blood regardless of who they would have grabbed. Knew we had to get to the bottom of this. And now that Donald Trump continues his Big Lie and their fear of having a commission, i just dont get. So do i think well get ten on a vote later today . I would hope it would happen. I do wish that the house made clear from Day One it was going to be completely bipartisan. I think that would have maybe moved the process along, but its fairly incredible to me that anyone who lived through that Day Wouldnt want to try to put together an independent bipartisan 9 11 Type Commission to get the facts out. Quickly, you said later today. Are you confident thats when the vote will happen . Confidence about the Senate Schedule any day is always an oxymoron. Weve got a china competition bill. Were actually i think were going to show broad bipartisan. Were going to make real investments. I got a 52 Billion Dollar Commitment in that bill. The interesting thing we may come out with a big bipartisan vote there and then immediately default back to partisan lines which would be a disappointment, but im hoping today. So you talked about the potential that you could be disappointed here. How significant would it be in your view if this does fail . In other words, what is there that cannot be resolved in the same way by a house select Committee Or Senate committees . I think the value of an independent commission is it elevates it and gets us or gets the current elected officials out of the way. But on the other hand, i mean, i do understand you. If we have an appropriate select committee or if there was committees that took this on responsibly, im still proud of the work the Intelligence Committee did in a very bipartisan way in terms of russian interference in the 2016 election. It took us three years but we got the facts out. I doesnt mean a congressional Committee Couldnt do the work. I think it would elevate the whole issue if it had been an independent commission and had the stature, for example, of what the 9 11 commission had. Its a stature, an Elevation Thing in your view. What do you make of mrs. Sicknick. Shes on the Hill Meeting with people including when we were talking she walked out of Senator Johnsons office. Talking to people including those who down played what happened on January 6th. Do you think her pleas for Help Or Action will fall on deaf ears or not . Ive talked to her before. I talked to officer Sicknicks Girlfriend Yesterday who was coming to The Hill, i believe, with officer sicknicks mother. And i dont know how any of these elected officials who Mouth Platitudes about respecting our Capital Police who protected our lives that day when youve got the mom of an officer who lost his life basically begging. Shes not a political person but begging saying hey, treat my Sons Honor with with respect and have this independent commission. I dont know i would love to be a fly on the wall, especially in the last meeting to hear what that senator said back to her. What we know is from a former congresswoman saying johnson made clear he does disagree with the commission. I share your desire to have been a fly on that wall. And i imagine well get more reporting out of that. I want to shift gears quickly. Well talk about this later on in The Show, but President Biden has now called on the Intelligence Community basically giving them 90 days to go back and look at the origins of covid19 as you know. Trying to figure out what did it come from, get closer to a conclusion after a report failed to find enough information to lean strongly one way or the other. So i put this to you, particularly in your role as chair of the Intel Committee here. What kind of information might be missing from that report if youve read it . What more can be done to get it . When might beget a definitive answer, if ever on this . Ive not seen any of the recent Intelligence Or Intelligence that has led to this decision. But i got to tell you this. I think its, frankly, refreshing. If we had a president where new facts have come about or new intelligence and hes willing to change his position to actually go where the facts lead, i think that takes is a sign of healthiness. And lets face it. The chinese Communist Party, and its always important to note our beef is with the Communist Party, not with the chinese people or chinese americans. The Communist Party in china hid the illness even from their own people. I have no grief for them, and if their information that was not released to the World Health Organization and we can find out that information and get the truth out, i commend the president for asking the Intelligence Community to look into this. I am out of time. I have to ask quickly on the Infrastructure Proposal that just was unveiled by republicans this morning, much of it baseline spending. There is some new money in there. Its about 930 billion, i think. Theres the question of the pay force. That seems to be the sticking point. Do you believe theres a path forward on infrastructure or is it looking more and more likely that going it alone might be the way to go . Weve got to get an infrastructure package. I want to keep trying on a bipartisan basis. And youre willing to give time for that . Listen, if Theres Nothing more funky than washington d. C. Capitol hill accounting. So if its not significant real new money, if were simply moving categories from one bucket to another, thats not going to build the roads, put in the broad band and make the kind of investments our country needs. Thank you for being on The Show with a lot to talk about. A lot this morning. We appreciate it. Coming up here on The Show, how former President Trump and Attorney Rudy giuliani are responding just in the last hour to that lawsuit against them for the capitol riot. Were live with that next. E Goio Face creepy babies. Dont look at me. Jail yard babies. I like glue. And ninja babies oh my gosh. Oh my gosh [sfx kids laughing] [sfx bikes passing] [sfx fire truck siren] onstar, we see them. Okay. Mother and child in vehicle. Mother is unable to exit the vehicle. Injuries are unknown. Thank you, onstar. My son, is he okay . Your sons fine. Thank you. There was something in the road. Its okay. Youre safe now. Start your day with secret. 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The lawsuit was filed not long after the insurrection from a group of democrats. Trump says he did not incite people to violence and his statements are protected speech. The same lawsuit is getting another new response from one of the far right groups responsible for the riot. I want to bring in Pete Williams on this. Let me take this in a couple chunks here. What can you tell us about the response and where the lawsuit goes . The former president s response mirrors the comment in response a couple days ago. Trump says he was acting in his official capacity when he urged congress not to declare biden the winner of the election. That he did not incite people at the rally. The violence and his statements are a protected expression. Giuliani says there was no conspiracy to try to get people to attack the capitol. Nobody was trying to encourage that. His response says, quote, the Conspiracy Theory defies all Plausibility And Believability on its face. In fact, it makes all the theories of Election Fraud look tame by comparison. And his lawyer says the use of the Phrase Trial by combat which is something giuliani said during the rally referred to the future legal challenges, not to what was happening at the capitol. Now, also the Oath Keepers also named in one of the lawsuits, their lawyer makes this novel argument. He says the constitution and federal law dont specify what individual house members are to do when the electoral votes are counted. Therefore, they had no formal role or official conduct that could be the target of interference. This lawyer says the house, the house of representatives, has a duty to observe the vote count, but thats an institutional responsibility, not one belonging to individual members so basically he says they have no right to sue. And to the extent that the counting was interrupted, the lawyer for the Oath Keepers says congress has only itself to blame because it was objections raised by members that stopped the vote count, not the Oath Keepers. Pete, you called it a novel argument, i believe. What does that mean for the potential legal merits . Can you infer anything based on the judge in this case . Reporter well, you know, its a longshot, i would say, to put it mildly. This notion that theres another theory, by the way, that i didnt get into earlier, but its the theory that because the president was impeached and tried and acquitted, therefore, he is not subject to any other legal action based on the arguments that were made in the impeachment. Now, thats the flip side of what the constitution says which is if a president is impeached, tried and convicted, then the president can subsequently be indicted. The president s lawyers are saying well, the opposite must be true, too. I would also call that a novel legal argument. Pete williams, you have a way with words. Thank you for breaking that down for us. We appreciate that. China slamming President Bidens directive, furious, really, about the president calling on the Intel Community to basically redouble their efforts to figure out how covid19 really came to be in the first place as it relates to the pandemic. In a Statement Youve got the Chinese Embassy In Washington calling the move a smear campaign. Political hype, saying political forces have been fixated on political manipulation and the blame game. And you also have china basically pointing the finger back at the u. S. After President Biden gave Intelligence Agencies 90 days to get a new report on his desk. Im joined by the director of the w. H. O. Center on global health law. Hes the director of the oneal institute at georgetown law. Good morning, and thank you for being back on. Thanks, hallie. Good to be with you. Of course. I know that youre in favor of an investigation here, but is it possible to get a definitive answer at all. If china continues pointing a finger at the u. S. , playing the blame game, does not fully cooperate . I know china very well. Ive got a lot of colleagues that have been working there. China is not going to allow full and fair investigation into the origins of covid19. And thats really sad, because we need to understand that to be able to prevent the next pandemic, and even to respond to this one ongoing. So its just a global tragedy, given all weve been through that we may never know what caused it. You and i guess this gets to a point that ive been curious about over the last several days since more and more has come out. You make the point, china is not going to be transparent. That seems to be fairly accepted among folks. How do you prove where it started from In Wuhan if thats the case other than, for example, something short of a confession from somebody who was actually involved . You know, i think it will be very, very difficult. Even if there was a confession, you know, it could be covered up. Remember, there are Whistle Blowers early on in the Covid19 Pandemic that tried to alert the world, and china actually imprisoned them. So its im not optimistic about that. But its possible that u. S. Intelligence agencies could try to get other informal sources on the ground, but i can tell you this. The World Health Organization did send a group of independent scientists into wuhan, and they did go to the wuhan institute of technology. It was more like a disney tour. Literally, they were there for a day. They were shown around by top brass. They never got any of the data and information that you need to be able to rule that out. China should want this to go away. They should want to be honest and transparent. If Theres Nothing to hide and it is a naturally occurring event, which it very well may be, why dont they allow to world to know that . That is the question of the morning. Thank you very much for being with us. We appreciate your time. Coming up, tens of millions of americans, maybe even you, getting ready to hit the road this weekend. What you should know ahead of the beach days and bbqs as it relates to the pandemic. Plus the new study on how long immunity lasts and what that means for whether you might need a booster shot. This past year has felt like a long, long norwegian winter. But eventually, with spring comes rebirth. Everything begins anew. And many of us realize a fundamental human need to connect with other likeminded people. Welcome back to the world. Viking. Exploring the world in comfort. Once again. Vo Ideas exist inside you, electrify you. They grow from our imagination, but they cant be held back. 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Morgan is with us. Morgan, good morning. Reporter hey there, hallie. Good morning. This Memorial Day is a milestone. This is the first Holiday Weekend weve had since the latest cdc guidelines relaxing some of the mask requirements and since the big Vaccine Rollout. So its a pretty big deal. As we both know, previously we were always hearing the severe and dire warnings from Cdc And Health officials ahead of Holiday Weekends. Well, this time its a little bit different. The Backyard Bbqs and beach days are getting the green light. The green light only if youre vaccinated. Take a listen. The unofficial start of summer marking the official end to many covid restrictions. So excited to get back to normal here. Reporter hawaii dropping the outdoor mask mandate. New jersey will no longer require physical distancing and masks indoors starting friday. Massachusetts will fully reopen saturday. Pennsylvania Lifting Business and gathering restrictions on monday. The u. S. Is now reporting a 7day Average of nearly 23,000 cases per day. Down 26 from last week. Cities and states taking advantage of the Holiday Weekend to get more shots in arms. Do you feel comfortable . Yes. Locally here. Not the big trip . Not yet. Reporter travelers can get vaccinated at union station. In new York City those looking to enjoy the Sun And Sand will find mobile Vaccination Sites at beaches. Were going to combine the joy of summer and the beaches reopening with the vaccination effort. Reporter other creative Vaccine Initiatives have already found success. In Ohio Abigail is waking up vaccinated and A Million dollars richer after becoming the first winner of the states vaxamillion lottery. And thats not all. Joseph costello won a full Ride Scholarship to any ohio school. The first Holiday Weekend since the Vaccine Roll out and since the Cdc Announcement that people who are fully vaccinated no longer need to physically distance or wear masks. I would encourage people to take advantage of open air activities even with others involved, but just not crowded. Reporter the Cdc Director still urging caution for those who have not gotten the shot. You remain at risk on infection. You still need to mask and take precautions. Reporter precautions to have a safe kickoff to summer. So this isnt the only big Holiday Weekend. In fact, the biden administration is looking forward to July 4th. Thats when he hopes that at least 70 of the country will have had at least one covid vaccine shot. And as you mentioned earlier, already ten states have reached that 70 threshold. Now were finding out additional states have reached that 65 threshold. That means that almost half the country is on track to make that July 4th th deadline. That is good news. Morgan live for us in columbus. Thank you so much. Its great to see you. I want to bring in our medical contributor. Good morning. Thank you for being back on dr. Blackstock. Thank you for having me. You heard the numbers. Youve got about half of the adults in the country vaccinated. A ton of people are going to be traveling this weekend. Are we good . Are we going to be okay come tuesday after Memorial Day . The week after Memorial Day . Right. Like it was said, a big concern is for the unvaccinated people. They are the most vulnerable. There was a study that came out earlier this week in the Washington Post that showed their Hospitalization Rates and cases for unvaccinated were just like in january as high as in january. So they are the most vulnerable and will be the ones that have to modify their behavior. I would spend as much times outdoors as possible. They should stick with Household Members and others they know of their vaccination status. And also be aware of whats going on in the communities theyre traveling to. The Transmission Levels as well as vaccinations will be very important for those that are unvaccinated and traveling. I have to ask you about new reporting out from the new york times. It says immunity to covid may persist for years, maybe a lifetime. The study suggests most people who have had and recovered and then got immunized will not need boosters but vaccinated people who were never infected probably will need the shots. Put that into lamens terms for us. How good is this news . Right. Good question. So its very, very encouraging. It shows how complex and really amazing our Immune System is. That there are just antibodies and Memory Cells in our marrow that hang out after we get infected that still respond and can create a robust response after if youre exposed again. And so it also shows that folks who are infected and then get vaccinated have an even more robust response including to variants. People who have just been vaccinated but not previously infected may still require boosters. The encouraging news is that immunity may last at least a year, and as long as a lifetime. So we still dont know exactly when boosters will be needed, but hopefully in not less than a year after the vaccination. That sounds like good news. I want to ask about stats from the Kaiser Family Foundation report. If youre fully vaccinated are the stats. We know there are racial inequities with this. Nationally people of color have been getting vaccinated in lower numbers. In the last couple Weeks Kaiser has found an increase in the number of shots getting into the arms of people in communities of color. Do you feel like, and are you starting to see perhaps some of that Inequity Shifting in the fight against the pandemic . I think what this data is showing is that when you open eligibility and you make Vaccination Sites more accessible, then youll have more people getting vaccinated. We know that there were significant barriers to access. Some of them were the fixed age cutoffs. Some are people having the ability to leave work to get vaccinated. And so i think its encouraging were seeing the last two weeks that almost half of the people getting vaccinated are people of color. But this doesnt mean that those efforts should stall. We need to keep working on improving access. And also public messaging as well. Its incredibly important to dispelling misinformation. Doctor, thank you so much for your perspective and your expertise as always. We appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. Up next on The Show, former House Speaker Paul ryan, remember him . Stepping back into the gop fray. What sources are telling our team about who hes set to take on and how. Wait until you hear what the number of people who agree with the statement that im about to stay. That the government media and financial worlds in the u. S. Are controlled by a group of satan worshipping pedophiles. It is a jaw dropping number, after the break. K. E 2 diabetes are waking Up To whats possible with rybelsus®. You are my sunshine my only sunshine. 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Thats why in parts of many major cities where people can use massive capacity we added Verizon 5g ultra wideband, the fastest 5g in the world. Nice. It isnt just a Step Forward, its a leap forward. Because the more you do with 5g, the more your network matters. Its us pushing us. Its verizon vs. Verizon. And who wins . You. Two years after leaving washington, former House Speaker Paul ryan is wading into the fray of the gop civil war. He is expected to pan the direction the party is being led in and who is leading it saying, if the conservative cause depends on the populist appeal on the populist appeal of one personality or on secondrate imitations, then we are not going anywhere. Anna palmer who reported those remarks is with us now. We dont have to guess who Paul Ryan is subtweeting. He is talking about former President Trump and his hold on the party. You look at poll after poll that shows this is very much Donald Trumps gop. This talk of a civil war, more on the sidelines it seems. Do you think the message will have much weight . The republican party is not the party of Paul Ryan. Its outstanding when you think about how it has gone from him being a Vice President ial nominee for the republicans to totally swinging toerting towars populism. More surprising he is weighing in. He hasnt been public about his views since leaving the washington. The fact that he is trolling the president very aggressively at these remarks later today is notable. Just underscores the frustration that establishment republicans have with the future of the party. Something i want to bring your attention to. I would think it would concern Paul Ryan. Republicans are more likely than anyone else to believe in Qanon Conspiracy theories. We talked about this before. The number of people, the percentage of people who agreed that the u. S. Financial sector, government and media are controlled by satan worshipping pedophiles. How does Paul Ryan start to communicate with some in the gop who believe that . I think its difficult. Its so outlandish and crazy in terms of where their Belief System is and the Conspiracy Theories abounding. Unfortunately for republicans like Paul Ryan, its the Marjorie Taylor greenes of the party that have the megaphone right now. With Donald Trump going on the Campaign Trail and giving speeches, theres a lot of nervousness among republicans who were hoping he would be in the rearview mirror, go to maralago and get out of politics so they could bring the party back to more of the center right establishment fiscal policy party. Its not happening. Those Polling Numbers are astounding and proof of that. Anna palmer, joining us this morning, great to see you. Thank you. New this morning, from the increasingly relevant ufo beat, a former Intelligence Official is filing a complaint with the Pentagons Inspector general saying he was smeared after releaing this. The footage we got questions about the footage. Even the airman what captured the video could barely believe it. Listen. Theres a fleet of them. My gosh. Theyre going against the wind. The wind is 120 knots to the west. The footage was declassified last year. The Agents Watchdog is pursing allegations. The pentagon will release details surrounding these in coming weeks. Lets bring in Brian Bender who has been talking with the legal team of the intel officials. What steps does he say the pentagon officials took against him . How does he say they retaliated after he released the footage . He claims in 2017, when he left the pentagon and went public, by public that includes releasing these videos sharing these unclassified videos, but also talking about the existence of this pentagon ufo effort, he claims the Press Office was Spread Disinformation by saying, well, we dont really know if he really had any connection to ufos when he worked at the pentagon. They were saying for some time this office he worked for had no role in ufos at all. He thinks that they have tried to basically undermine his credibility by saying, this guy is out there talking about ufos, we dont know what he is talking about. But the record does show he did have that portfolio at the pentagon and they did study ufos. More broadly he claims basically he is being railroaded because the pentagon doesnt want to talk about ufos. They want to keep whatever they know, whatever data they have secret. We expect this report to congress sometime in the next sometime relatively soon. Do you think thats going to be a big reveal . Or something way less than that . I think most people i talk to inside the government will say that a lot of people out in ufo land are going to be disappointed. Theres not some big reveal. If you look at the legislation that requested this report, Written By Senator Marco Rubio of florida, its very specific. Its asking for a ufo strategy. In other words, what is the government doing . What agencies are involved, what personnel, what radar systems, satellites might be tracking these things, compiling them, analyzing them . There may be some nuggets in there about how many of these sightings have been reported or specifics of those. I think its a strategy, here is what were doing. Quickly, because im almost out of show. When you look at the videos like we have been showing next to your face on television here, theres the argument that theres a lot more questions than answers from this. Why does this former official think they should be released to the public without the full context behind them . I think he believed that these videos, which were declassified, would help gain more public attention. I dont think he is necessarily in favor of releasing everything. His Point Of View is that the government is not doing enough and needs to do more. Thats why he has come forward. Brian bender, fascinating reporting. Thank you for being with us. Thanks for watching Hallie Jackson reports. Find us back here Tomorrow Morning and on twitter. Craig melvin picks up our coverage right now. Good Thursday Morning to you. Craig melvin here. This hour, we are watching a direct and heartbreaking appeal for bipartisanship on Capitol Hill. As we speak, the mother of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick who died shortly after the attack on January 6th is meeting with republican senators, Face To face. Her mission . Convince them to support the bipartisan January 6th commission. Nbcs Capitol Hill team asked her what she would say to Ron Johnson who said the insurrection was mostly peaceful. Here is her answer. Look at the footage of what all these people went through and all these Police Officers did to make them safe, to keep them