Our kids in school, to keep our economy up and running. Have you given up on persuasion, now its youve got to do it . I am all in on any way that we can get people the information they need to get vaccinated. Secretary of state blinken could face criticism of the afghanistan withdrawal this afternoon when he affairs before the house foreign affairs committee. Todays appearance comes as North Korea conducted its first test of new longrange Cruise Missile, a new provocation putting pressure on the White House. And President Biden is heading west at this hour for the first time since he took office, ending his day in california to campaign for Governor Gavin Newsom, ahead of tomorrows big recall election. The governor is hoping voters reject the recall outright. If not, the leading candidate among those on the ballot to replace him is Trump Follower republican Talk Radio Show host Larry Elder. We begin with the Coronavirus And Rehema ellis is in new York City. Theres a lot of excitement among students and parents, but some concern among parents because of the delta variant. What are you seeing today . Reporter well, im hearing a mixture of those things, andrea, and it is something i think we should be mindful of here. There was somewhat of a celebration this morning when some 474 children came back to this school here in the bronx, an elementary school. They were outrageously excited about what was happening. They had shiny new shoes and they were dressed up with their backpacks and thinking about what they could learn this year. Listen to the children before we say anything else. Just listen. How are you feeling today . Very happy that its if First Day Of School. I kind of miss school. Im going into the sixth grade and i graduated fifth grade. Its a good thing to go Back To School . Are you going to be able to wear your mask all day . Yes. Reporter they are ready and willing to wear the masks, to do whats asked of them at this moment, to be back in those schools. Let me talk to you about the vaccinations. 65 of students and children in the new York City School System between 12 and 17 years old, 65 of them have received one dose, that first dose of the vaccination. And thats not required of them, but it is required for those students who are engaged in those contact sports, those even in the band. For those who are playing Football Or Basketball or on a wrestling team. Those kids have to get vaccinated. Parents have mixed feelings about some of it because they want to make certain the children are safe. Masks are mandated, vaccinations are required for those in the building, and officials hope that is going to keep the children safe. Andrea . A lot of questions being raised, though, and an important day, back in the classroom. Thank you so much. Joining us now, dr. Zeke emmanuel and president of The American federation of teachers. I wanted to start with the Question Millions of parents are asking. The vaccine. Here is what dr. Walensky said to Savannah Guthrie this morning on the today show. Were waiting for the companies to submit the data to the fda. Were anticipating that will happen in the fall. We will look at the data from the fda, the cdc, with the urgency we all feel for getting our kids vaccinated and were hoping by The End of the year. We want to move quickly, but we also want to have the Efficacy Data and the Safety Data that fda will require. So, dr. Zeke, tell us about the fda and how quickly they could move. Were told that the studies are just about completed. They will be submitting the data for Emergency Use Authorization for children from 5 to 12 years old. Is the fda going to move quickly on this . Absolutely, and i think they understand the urgency. They also understand their responsibility to make sure that children are safe and that the vaccine is effective for children. The last thing we want is to administer a vaccine that turns out to be harmful in some way. The fda has been very careful all the way along, but it has given full authorization for people from 16 and older for the pfizer vaccine, and its been an Emergency Use Authorization for children 12 to 15, and only 40 of those kids 12 to 15 have gotten fully vaccinated. We need that number to go way up. A contrast, adults between 65 and 75 who were so threatened before, 85 of them are vaccinated. We need to really mandate, i think, 12 to 15 year olds to get the vaccine all across the country to protect them. The safest two things we can do for children is to lower the rate of spread and get them vaccinated, and the third thing is have them wear masks in class. And some parents, zeke, are actually going and getting their kids vaccinated without the approvals. What are the risks there . Well, the risks are that there are things we dont know. For example, myocarditis, inflammation around the heart is something thats been looked at. I know the fda is going to look at that very carefully. Its so far been a very low rate. You should not do something because you think you know better than the fda or physicians or the companies running the trials. I know its nerveracking, waiting until The End of the year is problematic. I have six grandchildren and i can tell you their parents are very nervous and want that vaccine for their kid. But its important to wait and not to try to beat the system because we need the information and we need especially that Safety Data to be sure that this is safe and the right dose for younger children. And, randi weingarten, youve moved your view about mandates and about the vaccine among your teachers in recent months. Talk to me about masks and younger children. What problems do you see in these Mask Debates in some parts of the country . Well, you know, i think just like zeke said, theres two things we have to do. We have to reopen schools and keep them open and we have to make sure that everybody in schools are safe. So we couldnt imagine, i think, in july what happened with the delta, but with science you have to be open to what measures need to be taken to keep People Safe. And let me just say one more thing, which is before covid No One would have debated whether the issue about keeping People Safe and our kids safe was the most paramount responsibility we have. I just find it unconscionable what these governors are doing about that. Do we know 100 sure whether masks and vaccines will keep everyone safe. Of course were not 100 certain. What we have seen already within the schools that have opened over the course of the last four weeks, and ive been to 16 states, 23 cities, were doing a huge backtoschool campaign, we put 5 Million out there to do that. What were seeing is that those places that did masking, that upgraded ventilation, good social distancing, they are staying open. Thats why we have to do this. Doctor emmanuel, i want to ask you about a report in the lancet, signed by two scientists who quit the fda, reportedly about their concern about the way the White House was messaging the booster shots, and they say that the third shot is not needed for the general population, those who are not taking immunotherapy or have other underlying conditions. Look, i think we need a full rendition of that data, and for people to look at it. It does seem pretty clear that the shots protect people, two shots protect people from hospitalization and death. Whether we need a third shot for the general public to reduce cases is i think whats being debated. It also may be, and a lot of scientists think that we need three shots for full immunization, and that this happens with a lot of vaccines. We know, for example, the Tetanus Shot that you need more than two shots for full immunization and then periodic boosters. That may be the case with the covid vaccine. We just havent done the research, unfortunately, to really be 100 confident. Were relying on data mainly from israel and from brittain to assess that. These studies are critically important and i think their hesitation was the fact that it didnt reduce deaths. What it actually did was reduce cases. And i think that is a legitimate concern. We need a full look at the data. And, randi weingarten, are you getting a lot of pushback from teachers to these Mask Mandates and some of the Vaccine Mandates . No. So were not getting were getting virtually no pushback on the Mask Mandates from teachers. We have some parents who are concerned, as you know, im an asthmatic, i understand that concern about breathing, but we have to keep People Safe. But we are getting some pushback because people are scared about the vaccines or because theyre so new. But overwhelmingly teachers have been vaccinated and overwhelmingly teachers want to make sure that people who are with them are vaccinated. Thank you both so much, for the First Day Of School for a lot of kids, although some kids have been in for a week or two. These are some of the big ones like new York City, so thanks a lot. The u. N. Today accusing the taliban of breaking its promise for equal rights for women, calling it a new and perilous phase. A live report from Richard Engel back in kabul. And Secretary Of State Antony Blinken hits The Hill for the first of two days speaking about the afghanistan withdrawal. What questions will he be asking . This is Andrew Mitchell reports on msnbc. Hoping things will pick up by q3. Yeah. Uh. Doug . Sorry about that. Umm. What. Its. Um. You alright . [sigh] [ding] never settle with power E Trade. It has powerful, easytouse tools to help you find opportunities, 24 7 support when you need answers plus some of the lowest options and Futures Contract prices around. Dont get mad. Get E Trade and start trading today. Growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest in norway, there were three things my family encouraged kindness, honesty and hard work. Over time, ive come to add a fourth be curious. Be curious about the world around us, and then go. Go with an open heart, and you will find inspiration anew. Viking. Exploring the world in comfort. Without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme. I was diagnosed with parkinsons. I had to retire from law enforcement. It was devastating. One of my medications is Three Thousand dollars per month. 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And it got to the point where things i took for granted got tougher to do. Thought surgery was my only option. Turns out i was wrong. So when a Hand Specialist told me about nonsurgical treatments, it was a total game changer. Like you, my hands have a lot more to do. Learn more at factsonhand. Com today. In afghanistan, flights carrying afghan evacuees to the u. S. Have been halted since friday after it was discovered that four of the new rivals had measles. Nbcs chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel is back in kabul. First of all, what are you seeing on the ground . How different is it now than when you left about a week ago for doha . Reporter so when i left it was still very chaotic. It was the Tail End of the evacuation, the last of The American troops were here. They were leaving, there was still a rush to get to the airport, to get onto the airport. Now the evacuation is over. Theres an attempt under way to get the Airport Open in a civilian capacity. The taliban are in full control. Theres no americans here now, so there doesnt seem to be a feeling of threat, so the taliban have pulled back their checkpoints. You remember all those horrific images of the taliban whipping people on The Streets, keeping people back from the airport. Some of that done in coordination with the united states as the u. S. Was asking the taliban to do crowd control, and that was the way they were doing it. Thats all gone. There are still taliban checkpoints, but very few. They mostly are allowing cars to just drive on past. Most of the talibans heavy weapons, the weapons they seized from u. S. Troops that were left behind or seized from the afghan military, those have been pulled back. You dont see them on The Street. What you do see are taliban banners and slogans and you do see quite a few taliban checkpoints, but theyre trying not to interact with the people. They are trying not to be as intimidating as they were before. Because the taliban realize they now control this and ive spoken to many taliban leaders and theyve told me directly they realize people were afraid of them when they came in and theyre trying now to smile, theyre trying not to intimidate people because they dont want another exodus from the country. We saw pictures were journalists were being beaten and lashed, protesters, women. The taliban is allowing women to go to school, but in separate classrooms. That is back from the 90s when they were completely barred. Now u. N. Officials are saying girls were barred from schools, some people were told to stay home. Is there any way to say what the reality is . Reporter its difficult to get a picture of whats happening across the country. Look, the taliban have not declared a free and open society here. This is not a democracy. This is not an open country. It is run by the taliban. What were talking about is degrees of taliban rule. Is it going to be like 1996, and so far it is not like 1996. They have not imposed the burqa on women. They are allowing women and girls to go to school. We were at one today. Were going to go visit another one tomorrow. But there are cases, certain regions, where it has been inconsistently implemented. That is also just on the school sector. In terms of the dissent, those horrible images of women being assaulted and the journalists who covered the demonstrations also being detained and beaten, the taliban have made it very clear they will not accept public dissent. They will not allow people on The Street tearing down their posters, demanding rights. When those protests have happened, they have been met with force and with force very rapidly. Then theres also the whole question about work. Women in the Government Sector have been told dont come into work, except if they work in Health Education or at the airport. And they say thats temporary, but well see how temporary it is. Richard, i know that nbc does not have any independent confirmation about this, but there was Extension Investigation into the kabul Drone Strike and saying that it actually hit an aid worker, who had applied for a u. S. Visa, was carrying jugs of water, not explosives. This is contrary to what the pentagon said, that there were ten victims, including seven children according to The New York Times. If true, which is a big if, but this is whats been reported very credibly, what does this say about our ability to do long distance socalled Overthehorizon Targeting without boots on the ground and has a political impact on the way the afghans view us . Reporter so were talking about an incident that was really the last u. S. Military operation while there still were boots on the ground, as the u. S. Was pulling out. There was a Suicide Attack claimed by isis on the airport that killed 13 u. S. Service members, most of them marines, killed 200 afghans in a scene of carnage. The u. S. Was on very high alert that there was going to be another either Suicide Attack or that there would be a Shoulder Fire Rocket attack because you can imagine the Propaganda Value for isis being able to shoot down the last or one of the last american aircraft to leave this country. In that period of heightened tension, there was a strike. At the time, immediately afterwards, we were told nbc and many other news agencies, that it was a mistake, that these were civilians, that they had nothing to do with it. But the pentagon came out and was very insistent, not only was this a suicide bomber, but there was a secondary strike. And The New York Times particularly looked into this very closely and put out an analysis that seemed to confirm the official reports, that it was probably a civilian target. But what does it mean for over the horizon, how are they going to be able to carry out prevision strikes when theyre even further away from the country and when they dont have this kind of ability to conduct close surveillance, operating drones all the time right over the target . I think its clear its going to be far more difficult and theyre going to have to probably choose their targets fewer and less frequently and more cautiously. Richard engel in kabul, thank you so much for being with us today. We appreciate it. And this afternoon the Secretary Of State, tony blinken, is testifying to lawmakers on the House Side about the u. S. Withdrawal from afghanistan. This is the first time, of course, since the withdrawal. Tomorrow hell appear before the senate. Joining me now is democratic senator mark warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee. Senator, what questions do you have, first of all, about this report from The New York Times that that Drone Strike went terribly wrong and the withdraw in general . Lets deal with the Drone Strike first. I want to get to the bottom of this as well. But i think your previous correspondent, mr. Engel, laid out what appears to be the facts. We knew in those waning days, actually in some level of collaboration with Sharing Intel from the taliban, with the taliban, that there was going to be an Isis Strike and the tragedy of losing 13 americans and literally hundreds of afghans, there was a huge concern that there might be another attack. So that doesnt excuse if there was this kind of gross mistake made, but it clearly was a chaotic exit. And i can tell you the intelligence committee, we are already starting our review. We are going back and our committee will be meeting this week to get the facts of where was the breaktheglass plan, and was it fully red teamed out and was it ever fully implemented. Why, for example, was there still some credibility given to the former president ghani, who clearly was not taking any of The American advice about consolidating their forces around kabul. Again, i think an error there. So we need to find out that, but we also need to recognize that there are The American military in particular, that did a remarkable job of getting close to 125,000 people out of afghanistan. And clearly there is i have no faith in the taliban, but we are still in this extremely delicate timeframe when it does appear, although subject obviously to the recent stopping of the flights because of health concerns, because there have been a number of flights that have been able to leave afghanistan, bringing out other americans or other individuals who worked with us. So navigating this very treacherous path over the coming weeks as we still try to get people out. Some of these people were people that, candidly, werent sure they wanted to leave a couple weeks back, but obviously with the changes maybe now wanting to leave. And at the same time recognize that were going to have greater constraints on us in terms of Monitoring Afghanistan because we are going to have to do it over the horizon. If you were to have a drone overview, its going to take half the time of the Drones Flight time literally just to get to afghanistan. So we do have a lot of tools in the toolkit from 20 years of fighting terrorism that weve got, but its going to be a challenging period. Speaking of challenges, North Korea, now a new style of Cruise Missile. We knew they were working on it. We dont know if its nuclear capable, but they are known to have a goal of at least miniature rising a warhead so it could be carried on a Cruise Missile, which landed 973 miles or so in the water. What are your concerns about that . There are no talks going on. There havent been for two years since the failed Hanoi Summit with Donald Trump. Lets face it, i actually supported trump initially reaching out to kim jongun, but he so blundered that initiative that youve given the regime and North Korea time to build up its capacity. We get intel on this on a very regular basis. North korea has been, remains, and will be a challenge for regional stability and longterm could be a challenge for our country. So this is on a list of a series of challenges in a very dangerous world. We are just showing some pictures from last week of kim jongun, looking dramatically different. Do we have any idea whether hes just been on a diet or whether hes suffering from some illness . Great question, andrea, and i actually dont have the answer to that. Theres been a lot of speculation, but North Korea still remains even with all of our capabilities of trying to find out whats going on, it still remains pretty much a black box. I want to also play something that President George W. Bush said on 9 11 at the ceremonies in shanksville, where he compared the insurrectionists at the capitol, attacking our capitol, to the 9 11 terrorists. Lets watch. There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. Then theres disdainful pluralism and their disregard for human life, and their determination to defile national symbols. They are children of the same foul spirit. Your reaction to that . I think President Bush said it more eloquently than, frankly, i or most Everybody Else who have been calling out against the insurrectionists on january 6th, so i commend him for his comments, i commend him as someone who was president during 9 11 for President Bush to have the courage to call out this similarity. And it is outrageous to me that, with the 20th Celebration Or Anniversary not celebration, but commemoration of 9 11 being just two days ago, that there is a group coming to the capitol next saturday to try to celebrate the insurrectionists of january 6th. Thats outrageous to me. Do you fear for do you have any Security Concerns or do you think the Capitol Police are on it . I think the Capitol Police are on it, but the idea that and i dont know whether theres going to be the reestablishment of the fence perimeter. But if any elected official gives credence to this group of thugs and insurrectionists, i think they should be condemned and i hope they will listen to President Bushs comments on saturday. Senator mark warner, Senate Intelligence committee, thank you very much for being with us. Thank you. And total recall, will California Voters recall democratic Governor Gavin Newsom . The governor is calling in the calvary. The president is heading west at this hour to campaign for him tonight. What are the political stakes . Theyre huge. Youre watching Andrew Mitchell reports on msnbc. E confidence in the nutritional drink you choose. Try boost glucose control. Its clinically shown to help manage Blood Sugar levels and contains high Quality Protein to help manage Hunger And Support muscle health. Try boost today. Voiceover riders. Wanderers on the road of life. 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. 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Just one pill a day. 24 hours. Zero heartburn. Because life starts when heartburn stops. Take the challenge at prilosecotc dot com. President biden is heading west to campaign for californias democratic Governor Gavin Newsom as he battles to keep his job in tomorrows recall election. California voters are filling out a twopart ballot. First, should Governor Newsom be recalled, and if so, who should replace him with Trump Follower Larry Elder leading candidates on the second question. Joining us now is nbcs Steve Kornacki and News Hour Correspondent and moderator on friday nights, and former democratic strategist, director of the center for the political future at the university of southern california. Welcome, all. Steve, first of all, 24 hours to go. What is the state of the race . The late polling has certainly favored newsom in terms of beating the recall and keeping his job. You can see the most recent polls keep newsom as governor, leading double digits in almost every poll. You average them together, hes going into tomorrow the clear favorite to defeat the recall, to keep his job. Of course, you mentioned Joe Biden going out there. Joe biden carried california by nearly 30 points last year. This has become the standard or close to the standard democratic margin in california, when newsom was elected in 2018 his margin statewide was 25 points. So it looked pretty similar to Biden Last year. Look, the problem for folks trying to Recall Newsom is overwhelmingly democratic state, you see red areas on the map. They tend to be rural. The big population centers, the densely populated areas near the blue areas, look down here, l. A. County, Orange County, san diego county, if you took the inland empire, just this region, this is 50 of the vote for the entire state of california, just in here. And you see its very, very blue. So for the recall to succeed, typically democratic voting people have to change their Mind And Vote for the raul. Orange county here, Joe Biden, this has become democratic in the last few years. Joe biden carried it by 10. The recall has to get 60 in a place like Orange County if its going to succeed statewide. Well be keeping an eye on it tomorrow night. How did this happen to Governor Newsom . Is it the housing crisis, covid, a combination . Well, look, he made some mistakes, but the people who lost the last election weaponized the recall. You only need 12 of the vote to get it on the ballot and then you hope for a low turnout election. Thats not whats happening, as steve can tell you. Newsom wanted to run against trump, he got the perfect Foe Trump in Larry Elder who had to go to court to get on the ballot. Elder says we ought to consider reparations for Slave Owners and hes totally out of step for california but he became the face of the recall. Newsom runs against him every day. In effect, elder runs against himself every day. I think they have a Morning Call where newsom advises him on what to say. And then came the bonuses. Texas Governor Abbott and the abortion bill, florida governor desantis. We also had obama, sanders, Warren And Biden campaigning. I think that newsom will get north of 55 in this recall election. And one of the extraordinary things is there are no limits on Campaign Spending in a Refuse Rend um, so newsom was amassed an 81 Million war chest. People are just pouring money in there. Thats right, this is an expensive race and the last numbers that i looked at said that just in the month of August Something like 36 Million was raised for newsom. So what you have here is really a democratic governor saying i want to run on this idea of covid, which is a national issue. Theres this big national split between what democrats want to do, which is have mandates and requirements and what republicans want to do, which is try to focus on personal choice. Democrats have called them at times procovid because they are going against some of the science that tells us how to get out of this pandemic. Of course republicans, again, say that this is really about freedom and their choice. That being said, i think having President Biden come in here, i think signals that this is an important race, it signals that democrats are paying attention to this. It also signals in some ways that the president is wanting to be associated, at least according to some experts, that hes wanting to be associated with a big democratic win. Hes been having a rough couple of weeks with covid, with the abortion laws, with afghanistan, and here now is the president really trying to center democrats and remind the base, really, here is what were about. Were about science, getting through this pandemic, and were about fighting off people, they would say, that look like Larry Elder, which is really the legacy of president trump. There are so many things Larry Elder is saying that are in line with trump, which is being antimask and antimandates. It is the perfect matchup, the president wants to really show that he is the complete opposite of the republican party. And how much is Donald Trump a factor in Larry Elders future here . Well, as i said, he became the perfect Foe Trump. Newsom, from the beginning, said this is a trump republican recall driven by the people who were dissatisfied, decided minority of californians who would support Trump And Weve now reached a point where i think there is very little question that republicans in california, trump republicans, trying to seize power in this way, are going to achieve the opposite of what they want. Not only is trump going to lose, but in the latest polling, there is a very clear indication that folks want to change the recall process. So you need more signatures, for example, so Somebody Cant get elected governor with 20 of the vote while the incumbent gets 49 . So i think were going to see changes that are going to make it more difficult to do this. Well all be watching tomorrow, tomorrow night, i guess. Thanks to all of you. And we have two historic championship matches this weekend at the u. S. Open. In the womens singles, it was a battle between 18yearold raducanu, who accept the finals over fernandez. Fernandez was ranked 150th, the first qualifier, as well as the first british woman in 44 years to win a slam. Even the queen sent her congratulations. The team telling today she tried hard not to get caught up in the o indication. We were throwing everything at each other and im just very proud to have come through some tough moments at The End especially. Then last night a huge upset victory in the mens singles. Russias mededev securing his first title, winning djokovic. Mededev booed by the crowd. After the match, he wept into his towel. He said he just tried to focus on himself, Calling Djokovic an inspiration and the greatest Tennis Player ever. North korea testing a new missile with possible noirk capabilities. What does that mean for the u. S. . Youre watching Andrew Mitchell reports. This is msnbc. Get some whipped cream on the top too two straws, one check, girl, i got you bougie like natty in the Styrofoam Squeaksqueakin in the Truck Bed All The Way Home some alabamajamma, she my dixieland delight ayy, thats how we do, how we do, fancy like, oh your mission stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. And take. It. On. With rinvoq. Rinvoq a oncedaily pill can dramatically improve symptoms. Rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. And for some, rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. Thats rinvoq relief. With ra, your overactive Immune System attacks your joints. Rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack. 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Its also a sign of the growing Arms Race between North And South korea, which the united states is watching closely. Our goal continues to be the complete denuclearization of the korean peninsula. We are prepared to engage in diplomacy toward that objective. According to North Koreas staterun News Agency it took place saturday and sunday, flying for more than two hours before hitting arguments over 900 miles away and falling into the countrys territorial waters. The staterun media indicating that kim jongun was absent from the weekend test, though he has been seen recently during a Midnight Military Parade last week in pyongyang, looking a lot thinner. Joining us now, korean analyst, and now at csi. You predicted this latest act of provocation. How worried should we be . We dont know exactly what the capabilities of this missile are and whether or not it can carry a warhead. Andrea, i think your piece was right on. This is what some have referred to as a low Intensity Provocation because it wasnt a ballistic or nuclear test, but its still quite serious. The notion that we dont consider these as important as a hangover from Donald Trump when trump said he didnt care about anything that was a shortrange Missile Test. As you said, its a Cruise Missile, a new type of Cruise Missile. The North Koreans referred to it as a strategic weapon, which signals they may be trying to make it a nuclear Cruise Missile and there are only a handful of countries in this world that have nuclear Cruise Missiles and it would be part of North Koreas development of sophisticated nuclear forces that they can try to put together. And what should the u. S. Do . We have not been able to engage them in talks. Hes clearly expanding his program and has for years under Donald Trump. Yeah, so i think on the one hand, we have not seen a lot of provocations by North Korea. Usually by this time in the first year of a new presidency, we will have seen a threestage Missile Test and a nuclear test. It happened during trump in February Right after he was inaugurated, he had a ballistic Missile Test, and it happened during obama. A Threestage Rocket and ballistic test. But theyre developing their capabilities and this is just one manifestation of that. It seems to me that North Korea is trying to raise the price of diplomacy by sort of not answering the door when the biden administration calls and continuing these tests. Its sort of lowgrade pressure to try to raise the price of entry into negotiations. But im not certain that the biden administration is going to fall for that because that is something out of North Koreas playbook. And we saw those pictures, remarkable pictures last week of kim jongun looking svelte. Is he sick, is this a diet . What do we think is going on . This is the biggest variable in the stability of the regime, when its won by one country the health of the person becomes very important. Hes had Health Problems in the past. Hes young but he has not the best habits in terms of Drinking And Smoking and other sorts of things, and so it looks as though hes lost quite a bit of weight. He disappeared for a while. We hadnt seen him in public and it looks like hes lost some weight. Whether this is because hes on a new sort of Liquid Diet or whether its because hes on the stairmaster every day, we just dont know. Maybe hes on the peloton, who knows. Thanks so much. Hes a hard intelligence target. Victor cha, thank you so much. Coming up, james Follys Mother working on behalf of all of the surviving hostages being held by terrorists overseas. Shell join me next. Youre watching Andrew Mitchell reports on msnbc. Try boost glucose control. 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Citizens are estimated to be held hostage, including several imprisoned in moscow. Morning them, a contractor whose family is urging the administration to make a feel with the taliban. His killer, a british citizen known as the beetle, was tried in the u. S. And sentenced to prison. Diane, good to see you again. I know every conversation is difficult, but i wanted to talk about the guilty plea from the alexander koti, who Tore Kurd and killed your son, as well as three other americans in syria. What does his Conviction And Life imprisonment mean no you . Well, its a huge step. We must hold people accountable who kit napped our citizens, torture and kill them. If we dont, well never be able to deter hostagetaking. So its a huge step. Im so grateful for the fbi, the department of justice, and to the united kingdom, scotland yard, for making this possible. Of course, there were several british citizens also, as well as many innocent syrians that koti allegedly has tortured and killed. There have been ups and downs for so many years with different administrations taking different approaches. How do you feel about pressure by some of the parents, including felixs parents to negotiate, to pay ransom, and ghost than hostages out alive. I think its essential that our country must have the backs of brave american citizens, who go into these dangerous parts of the world for work. On for tourism, for that matter. Particularly folks who are goes in an journalists, contractors, aid workers, educators, we must have their backs. These are our people. I call on this administration, as i will continue to every administration, to prioritize the return of our u. S. Nationals. I just really think its part of our mandate as a nation to be creative and shrewd about how we engage with anybody who takes our people. I just feel its huge. Its a very important issue for our country. Are you getting enough cooperation from the biden administration . Oh, yes. The problem is it isnt always a priority for any administration. There are so many things coming at every president , every administration. I think a lot of times one expects that the current enterprise thats in place with the Special Envoy will take care of the issue. However, it really requires the Executive Branch to prioritize the return of our citizens at the highest level. Because, otherwise, its hard for the other parts of the hostage advocates to actually bring people home. Theres only been one person whos come home out of the 55 who are the public cases of u. S. Nationals held hostage have come home in the last year. We just havent had any progress on so many of these difficult detentions, unlawful detentions or in fact kidnappings. Mark in afghanistan is a perfect example. The folks in russia, we have six in venezuela, several in Side Offia also. Its a huge problem. I know Lester Holt Bur views the parents of auston tice, and theyre still holding out hope. Theres every indication hes alive you but we have to get him back. Yes, exactly. Thank for you keeping a light on this. We hope to talk with you on which and help shed light on this, frequently, not just episoically again. Thank you, andrea, for your time. God bless. You too. That does it for this edition of Andrea Mitchell reports. Garrett haake is in for Chuck Todd next on Mtp Daily only on msnbc. E more accessible by making it more affordable. Thats why were keeping our tuition the same for all online and campus programs through the year 2022. I knew snhu was the place for me when i saw how affordable it was, i ran to my husband with my computer and i said, look, we can do this. [narrator] take advantage of some of the lowest online Tuition Rates in the nation. Find your degree at snhu. Edu. With less Moderatetosevere Eczema why hide your skin if you can help heal your skin from within. With dupixent adults saw longlasting, clearer skin and significantly less itch. 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So you can bounce back fast with alkaseltzer plus. If its monday, as the Nationwide Coindividual crisis wages, the latest . The political battle between the White House and the residence over sweeping