walensky continues to push for the unvaccinated to get their first shots. she also said today she's not surprised that so many people are hold out because of how misinformation has actually crept in. >> i do think if we had community health workers in so many communities that have been vaccine hesitant now, that have been checking diabetes and checking blood pressure control and doing all of those things when it came time to vaccinate, it would have been a no-brainer, they would have easily been able to convince their communities to get vaccinated. they have been trusted health providers. >> so the u.s. is finally seeing a drop this cases, about 10% nationwide. that's the good news. but not in many lower vaccinated places like nebraska who are rationing care. in tennessee, officials have given one of the most effective covid treatments only to unvaccinated patients and those who are immunocompromised. we're talking about monoclonal antibodies. they've chosen to give it to only unvaccinated patients because they're at higher risk. vaccines have been free and widely available since the spring and yet the unvaccinated get priority access to the best treatment when they get sick, jumping over vaccinated patients who develop breakthrough cases. as you can imagine, there are those who say that just isn't fair. the u.s. is continuing to average more than 2,000 covid deaths per day, the overwhelming number of them are preventible. joining me, dr. ashish jha, dean of brown university school of public health. dr. kavita patel who served in the white house during the obama administer. and the executive director of the berman bioethics university at johns hopkins university. welcome to you all. dr. jha, i want to go around the horn with all three of you and get your predictions, what you expect to hear today from the cdc. dr. jha? >> thanks for having me back. what i expect to hear from the cdc is very much a mirroring of what we got from the fda. people over 65, a large number of people who are at high risk for complications, and people with substantial exposure in the workplace. when you tally up the numbers, it will be a very large number of americans, potentially a majority of americans who will become eligible, the majority of adults will become eligible for this booster. >> dr. patel, what do you expect today? >> and also some clarity. i think the role of the advisory committee of the cdc is to put more granularity in what the fda gave, for example which conditions should clinicians consider at high risk for severe covid, then things that honestly, yasmin, we've learned over the last 18 months that caregivers in homes, even if they're unpaid, can be at high risk. so occupations that are not the obvious ones, health care workers, emergency personnel, they are going to also qualify. and in addition, i think the cdc will also take a very kind of equity-based tone. they're going to actually say there should be an individual assessment and we should make sure, as dr. walensky pointed out, that the priority is first vaccinations always. we don't have an unlimited supply, but we certainly have enough right now to get the first tranche of people vaccinated who qualify for boosters. >> what do you make of this argument being made by the world health organization? obviously we heard yesterday from the biden administration saying they're going to donate a trillion vaccines abroad especially to lower income countries. there is this argument being made out there saying we need to get those people vaccinated first before we deliver booster shots to a wealthy country like the united states. >> my answer to that is, that's right. in a perfect world we would have a different scheme and would be allocating vaccines globally based on need and risk without regard to where we live and who we vote for. but that is not the way the world is structured. we have to think about what's fair and just in a non-ideal world, which is the world we face, this very difficult decision. >> dr. patel, we listened to dr. walensky there in speaking of vaccine hesithesitancy, saying there's not enough trust in the health care community, had there been more trusting members of the health care community, there would have been more vaccinations. i want to play for you momentarily some sound from mike flynn. and then i want your reaction on the other side. >> somebody sent me a thing this morning where they were talking about putting the vaccine into salad dressing, have you seen this? >> yes. >> i mean, i'm thinking to myself, this is a bizaro world, these people are seriously thinking about how to impose their will on us in our society and -- >> -- freedom of choice. >> and it is a bizarro world, dr. patel, because it's not true, it's yet another piece of misinformation being put out there by a former leader in this country. someone that many americans trust, right, a general, to say the least. and to a certain extent, that's what's winning out. >> i was just going to say, yasmin, we were here, all of us were here about 15 months ago trying to tell people you shouldn't inject yourself with bleach. i never thought i would have to seriously utter those words will i will also seriously utter, there is no vaccine in salad dressing, there is nothing in salad dressing but salad dressing. but that's the world we're at. the scorecard, the bad guys are winning in that regard. it's not as simple as, if we only had these trusted health care workers everything would be fine. i don't think that's what dr. walensky meant. but i just want to reinforce, we try to do this on top of a pretty broken health system that has been disappointing people for generations. this isn't new. >> we're about to get a report from tennessee talking about monoclonal antibody treatment and this idea they're going to give preference for monoclonal antibody treatments to folks who have not been vaccinated because of more risk to severe disease whereas folks who are vaccinated but end up in the hospital will not get those treatments. what do you make of that decision? >> i'm hoping, i haven't looked at the particulars, but i'm hoping they're actually using the more straightforward and more defensivable criteria which is probability of poor outcome absent monoclonal antibodies. that would mean, that's the relevant criteria and that would mean some unvaccinated people probably would go ahead of other people who are otherwise similarly situated and vaccinated. but there surely should not be an absolute sort of bar that says if you've been vaccinated, you're behind everybody who has been unvaccinated. there has to be a straight-up, traditionally medically and ethically defensible criteria having to do with how badly you need monoclonal antibodies. >> dr. jha, dr. veda makes an excellent point, as we would expect she would, it seemed like you're being docked for being vaccinated if you're in the hospital because of a breakthrough infection because maybe you're a diabetic, maybe you're over 65 years of age or whatever it is that's contributing to you getting a more severe disease. many people could see it this way. >> absolutely. and this is a part of a broader conversation we've been having, people have been talking about if we start running out of beds, should you prioritize one group over another. i don't think this is where we should be as a country, i don't think it leaves us in a good space. we should be using clinical risk. and we do that as physicians all the time in the hospital, we go for the people who are sickest first and take care of them first. that's what we should be doing and not using vaccination status as any part of the decision. >> dr. patel, let's talk about next steps. we're awaiting this decision from the cdc. at what point can folks go to cvs and get their booster spots if they're over 65 years of age and when will the rest of us be eligible for booster shots? you and i have talked about this extensively on and offline, and the idea that this is eventually going to be a three-shot regimen. >> and certain clinical signs, data collected from around the world, point toward that trend. interestingly enough the cdc showed analyses showing reduction in hospitalizations among 65 and older. but there's benefit that's not trivial in the 50 to 64 group and below that. to your point, there will be a certain inevitability for most americans. the cdc advisory committee votes today, that goes to the cdc doctor who can accept that, and we would expect her to, and we could see based on these recommendations administration of booster doses tomorrow. i know that will time well with what the biden administration promised, which is booster doses the week of the 20th. >> but let's be clear, that promise at that point, from my understanding, was made for all, whereas now there is kind of more clarity for 65 and over. >> that's correct, yes. that was the promise. and that was certainly a blowback. but i think the key point is, i suspect, having been in those roles in the past, they're ready for anything. they were prepared to have every american with booster doses. it gets to the global equity issue, those doses sitting on shelves in our pharmacies and clinics, could they have better use for supply and manufacturing pivoted towards countries who need it much more, who have had no opportunity for even one dose of that two-shot regimen. >> last question and then i'll wrap this all up. for those that have gotten the moderna shot, what kind of clarity will they have when it comes to getting the booster shot? because obviously there are individuals at this point that have gotten the moderna shot that are coming up on that six-month mark. >> i already know of patients who have had moderna and have had high risk and received boosters with pfizer or they've actually received moderna boosters. moderna has applied for emergency authorization of a lower dose of their current shot. that's not been acted on, it might take several weeks. because of this compelling evidence that pfizer has presented especially for 65 and older, the cdc's advisory committee might have the trickiest job, in voicing over, if you feel somebody is at high risk, they would probably be able to get a pfizer shot. it would not be optimal. until we have that data in and better recommendations from the fda, that's something to consider. >> all right. so we're awaiting that vote from the cdc, as soon as we get that, we will bring it to you. for now, doctors, thank you all, guys, for hanging with me this hour, appreciate it as always. i want to bring in now from brentwood, tennessee, nbc news correspondent antonia hylton. speak about what's happening in tennessee, antonia, talk us through this. basically you have medical professionals there saying if you're unvaccinated, you are going to be prioritized when it comes to monoclonal antibody treatments. why? >> reporter: right. everything that you just talked through there, all those challenges are playing out in real time here on the ground. i'm right in front of a clinic that is dealing with these and trying to figure out how to interpret or in their case potentially ignore this guidance. so it's come down from their department of health and from the nih to prioritize unvaccinated individuals over vaccinated individuals if people come here sick, needing these antibody infusions. this clinic is planning, frankly, to ignore that guidance. they feel like, look, it's our duty to just assess who is most in need regardless of vaccination status. however down the road at vanderbilt, i spoke to the director of their infusion clinic, and they say this guidance may make sense because unvaccinated individuals are so much more likely to need hospitalization that they may have to prioritize in that way. you can see it's kind of a patchwork right now and it's adding to all this frustration. and, you know, just in the backdrop of all this, right now the demand for these infusions is far outstripping the supply. right here, every night they are getting about 50 requests for antibody infusion. some people are driving ten hours to come to this clinic here. but they only have about 50 left for this entire week. so they're getting 50 requests a day and you can see right there just how many people they're not going to be able to serve. take a listen to my conversation with two of the physicians who run this location here who are just exhausted at this stage. >> i think they're upset and frustrated that they can't provide the treatment that the patients need. we're trying to do the best we can. the providers are very involved in the patients' care. again, just kind of frustrated that they're not able to do what they need to do for patients. >> it's simply taking a toll on their morale at work, knowing there's therapies out there that can really help people from going to the hospital and make people well fast and her that we can't get them and administer them. it's frustrating for our staff and more so to our patients, a lot of patients feel very desperate. >> reporter: those doctors told me that in some cases they have actually given infusions to vaccinated individuals who have had tough breakthrough cases. right now they're having so much trouble getting their hands on more supply that in a couple of days they say if they don't get more of this medication they may have to announce to the community that they can't keep doing this. >> pretty troubling stuff. antonia hylton, thank you. still ahead, everybody, inhumane. the u.s. special envoy to haiti resigns in protest of the treatment of haitian migrants at the border. also ahead, the search intensifying for the fiance of gabby petito. the fbi now using dogs, drones, and a dive team in the hunt for brian laundrie. and then later on, did the answers to a $500 million art heist that has been unsolved for 30 years just die along with an infamous connecticut mobster? we'll be right back. for what you need.only py sorry? limu, you're an animal! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ this is a hero, walking his youngest down the aisle, which to his bladder, feels like a mile. yet he stands strong, dry, keeping the leaks only to his eyes. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo hoo! ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, now introducing ensure complete! with 30 grams of protein. the new sensodyne repair and protect with deep repair has the science to show ensure complete! that the toothpaste goes deep inside the exposed dentin to help repair sensitive teeth. my patients are able to have that quality of life back. i recommend sensodyne repair and protect with deep repair. welcome back, everybody. inhumane and counterproductive. those were the words used today by the u.s. special envoy to haiti as he resigned over the deportation of haitian migrants amid a surge at the southern border. he called the administration's migrant policy deeply flawed. thousands of haitians have been deported. that leads to some 5,000 haitian men, women, and kids under a bridge in del rio, texas where they have been living for over a week now. nbc news reports that the biden administration is advertising for a contract to operate a migrant detention facility at the base at guantanamo bay with a requirement that some of the guards speak spanish and haitian creole, according to government records. joining me, nbc news correspondent morgan chesky, nbc's jacob soboroff with his reporting on guantanamo bay. jacob, bring us an update on what you've been seeing so far there today. >> reporter: yasmin, good afternoon. we're being escorted to the banks of the rio grande river by texas state troopers. that's a testament to the sheer volume of law enforcement that is now here on the scene. we're turning down a road right now, i can see at least 100 dps trooper vehicles parked on the banks. that was initially what stopped the surge of people coming across late saturday, early sunday. as you mentioned, the last count, fewer than 5,000 people remain under that bridge but the fact remains it has been more than a week. there is concern with temperatures hitting nearly 100 degrees today. and there has been a 24/7 operation with busloads being taken to processing centers in houston and san antonio, el paso and laredo. and yet these high numbers still remain here right now. for those that do remain in the camp, i had a chance to speak to the director of a nearby nonprofit. she says the majority of these individuals, men, women, and children, are coming from brazil, they're coming from chile, and they made the journey up over the summer because they believe -- [ inaudible ]. >> i believe we lost morgan. we're going to try and get him back, as i move over to jacob and his new reporting we're getting. jacob, let's talk about what dhs was telling you and ken dilanian, essentially that they're not sending and will not send haitian migrants from the border to gitmo. how do you reconcile that with your reporting of this new contract, this new ask? >> reporter: it's exactly what we've reported all along, yasmin. this request for proposal that went out from the biden administration last friday was to continue an existing program at guantanamo bay, cuba, the naval station at guantanamo bay. it's a little-known i.c.e. detention there, they call it the migrant operation center. migrants from haiti, cuba, other countries that are interdicted at sea. there's no other indication, there was no indication that migrants will be moved from the southwest border to this facility at guantanamo bay but it is an indication by the biden administration, they're going to continue to use this facility at guantanamo bay in order to not only hold but repatriate, if not in their home country in haiti, to other countries where the u.s. government says they can do so safely. that is not a message that migrants rights activists, attorneys for migrants want to hear. they don't believe they're holding migrants at guantanamo bay, particularly those fleeing not only the poorest country in the hemisphere, a country wracked by earthquake, the assassination of the president there, many other factors, that they should be held at guantanamo and even entertained as a possibility to go to their home country. they feel they should have the right to seek asylum whether it's at sea or at the southwest border because of the circumstances from which they are fleeing. again, to underscore, this is not a proposal by the biden administration to move migrants from the southwest border. but it is an admission, effectively, of the biden administration that they're going to continue the existing practice. remember, haiti helped thousands of migrants during george h.w. bush's administration. it was a widely-panned program. the idea that has brought criticism from the pro-migrant community. >> it seems like the treatment of haitian migrants is particularly harsh in comparison to some of the images we've seen in other instances. we know this immigration system is broken, everybody who comes on our air says it over and over again, not necessarily offering up any solutions. how do we move forward from here and are you seeing the same thing as i am? >> reporter: yeah, particularly when it comes to black migrants. darlene joseph, i was with her in tijuana as hundreds of immigrants waited for the ability to cross into the united states. there were calls by republicans that open borders were happening in the united states. guess what, haitians who have been waiting for years to find a legal pathway to enter the united states still don't have one. that's why you're seeing what you're seeing on the southwest border in del rio today. they feel, many of them, that the only opportunity for them to enter is to enter so-called illegally. but of course what they're trying to do is declare asylum. this raises the question about whether the biden administration is following through on what they promised all along, a departure from the family separation style policies of the trump administration to a more fair, safe, orderly and humane immigration system in the united states. i think there's one policy that gets to the heart of why they're being criticized not just by republicans but also democrats and that's the title xlii expulsions of these haitians back to haiti, this dangerous country, under the cdc authority, saying it's necessary because covid is happening in the united states. well, doctors say it's not necessary, activists say it's not necessary, attorneys say it's not necessary. but the biden administration persists with this policy. and i think that that is in the eyes of the folks advocating on behalf of these migrants, part of the problem, why they're not living up to what they had promised when joe biden was a candidate and so was kamala harris. >> jacob soboroff, as always, excellent reporting, my friend, great to see you. morgan chesky, thank you to all. ahead, the white house preparing for the possibility of a government shutdown. can congress keep it from handing? 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and we're not coming to the rescue of the president, we're coming to the rescue of our economy. >> if all of that isn't enough, democrats are looking to break the stalemate in their own party over the two biggest pieces of the president's domestic agenda. that $1 trillion hard infrastructure bill and that $3.5 trillion social spending package. no pressure at all, right? joining me now, nbc news capitol hill correspondent leigh ann caldwell, "the new york times" correspondent period of time baker, and tara palmieri. leigh ann, i've got to say, how can speaker pelosi express such confidence when republicans like mccarthy seem pretty intent that this is not their issue to fix? >> yeah, yasmin, i'm not sure about the way out of this process and this crisis that is approaching really quickly. so democrats, they chose to attach this increase or the suspension of the debt limit to the short term government funding bill. they didn't need to rate lift the debt ceiling until mid- to late october but they did that to force republicans' hands. republicans are adamant that they are not going to vote for it even if it shuts down the government because as we heard mccarthy say, he is confident that the democrats who control government will get blamed for a government shutdown if that were to happen, especially since president biden ran on the fact that he can make government function again after what he calls a dysfunctional administration, the last administration. this goes against everything they stand for. but i will say, democrats have the -- i guess the higher ground here in the sense that they're accurate when they say this is not about future spending, this is about all the past spending that was accumulated during the trump administration, with republican help, and some of of it solely what republicans did. so there is a great stalemate. this is a very big political issue for republicans because they plan to make this a campaign issue, which is that democrats don't care about the debt but the republican base does and some independents do and some republicans plan to point that out. >> tara, expand on this for us, specifically when it comes to the debt ceiling. there is a real possibility that the wealthiest country in the world could feasibly default on its debts. we got pretty close a decade ago. and that was not necessarily good for our credit rating. it's as if you have an 850 credit score and you suddenly stop paying your mortgage. that being said, we're hearing the same line when it comes to the stopgap measure as we're hearing about the debt ceiling from republicans, we'll extend the debt ceiling but we don't want to put our names on it, mcconnell says this, this is the democrats' problem to fix. what's the strategy here once again when it comes to the debt ceiling, how will this thing play out? >> it's interesting because the polling is actually on the republicans' side. morning consult, politico, we just did a poll this week and asked our respondents who would you blame if there was a government shutdown, and the respondents blame the democrats because the democrats are in power right now. so they're sort of pushing this on them and they know that it's a political loser for them. and even moderates like murkowski, senator murkowski, senator cassidy, they won't even agree to fund the government, even though the democrats have bailed them out three times during the trump administration when they needed to raise the debt limit. so this is really just pure politics right now. the republicans know that they have a stronger hand and that whatever happens, the democrats will be blamed. >> so they just want to point the finger at the democrats at midterms, look what they allowed to happen? >> yeah, it's the most base form of politics. they know it's a loser and they're not going to help them. and everyone's sort of bluffing at this point, i think. i think the reason you haven't heard much from the president about this is because he doesn't want to turn this into an issue that voters are really paying attention to. he's sort of always believed the debt limit shouldn't even be a thing, it shouldn't be something everyday americans worry about. he's thinking to himself, they're bluffing, even without them we do it as a reconciliation bill and we get it through but let's not turn this into an issue that plays out in the midterm. >> peter, it's a thing, we're talking about it, we care, it could affect every single american if they allow it to default. does the president get involved as he has obviously with infrastructure and reconciliation? >> yeah, look, we've seen this before, of course, this movie has played out many times, in which we head toward the cliff and it looks like we're about to go over and at the last minute they come up with a deal of some sort to avert it. the hope is that will happen again this time. there's a first for everything, as we've seen the last few years, the thing that seemed unthinkable, impossible to happen, has happened. that's why people are worried, because a deficit -- sorry, debt default, if that were to happen, would have major economic implications for the country. it would shatter the credit rating and result in a lot of harm across the board. president biden obviously doesn't want that. a government shutdown, we've seen a number of those in the last few years, obviously. they're not -- you know, they're not good for the country, they're not good for the people who end up getting furloughed, but in the end they become just one more political tool in the battle between these parties over issues like spending and taxes, rather than an outlier, they've become a routine quiver in the arrow, a remarkable sign of dysfunction of a country that can't handle basic things like paying its bills. >> we've seen a government shut down before, but we've never seen it in a pandemic. the question is how it would affect us this time around, that's one of the biggest issues. people have been living paycheck to paycheck. you think about the extended unemployment insurance, this is a much bigger deal this time around than it has been the last several times. last question to you, leigh ann refuse after my diatribe there, reconciliation. what kind of progress was made in some of those meetings yesterday, if any? >> it's really unclear, yasmin. it doesn't seem like a lot of progress. what became clear from those meetings between president biden and. >> all right. i goes some movement there then, but we will see. leigh an caldwell, peter baker, tara palmieri, thank you very much. next, federal authorities search for brian laundrie, in the case of the death of gabby petito. and the trial of singer r. kelly. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. before we talk about tax-smart investing, what's new? -audrey's expecting... -twins! ♪♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. like you, my hands are everything to me. but i was diagnosed with dupuytren's contracture. 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. alright. y'all know when they say your home like you, my hands have a lot more to do. is a reflection of you? 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[woof] i'm telling y'all there's no place like wayfair to make your home totally you. ooh! i want that. i became a sofi member because i needed to consolidate my credit card debt. i needed just one simple way to pay it all off. it was an easy decision to apply with sofi loans, just based on the interest rate and how much i would be saving. there was only one that stood out and one that actually made sense and that was sofi personal loans. it felt so freeing. i felt like i was finally out of this neverending trap of interest and payments and debt. ♪♪ welcome back. new details are emerging from what could be the last time that gabby petito was seen in public before she vanished. a witness says she saw petito and brian laundrie involved in an argument at the mary piglet's restaurant in jackson hole, wyoming. petito was seen crying as laundrie behaved aggressively, storming in and out of the restaurant and lashing out at restaurant staff. laundrie hasn't been seen for six days. he's a person of interest in petito's disappearance. joining me now is nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard in florida. give us an update on the search for brian laundrie and where his parents currently are. >> reporter: that's a good question. now, the parents, their exact location is not clear to us and at least the general public. it was six hours ago that they left their house here accompanied by five police vehicles, by five authorities that led them away. they were driving themselves in the family red pickup truck. it's not clear where they went or if they will be returning here to this house. they left with no bags. the big question is what information do the parents have about what happened to gabby petito. but even more importantly in this moment, where is brian laundrie, their son? they say he left nine days ago to go on a hike. and that is where you see about 20 minutes from here, a search continues in a 25,000 acre reserve where this is essentially a swampland full of alligators and snakes. it's 90 degrees outside, rain at times. this is a very difficult terrain that these rescuers or these searchers are looking through. there's 75 of them out here today. but again, it's been nine days since according to the parents, he went out on that hike. that's a lot of lead time. if in fact he is on the run, we don't know, or we don't even have details about whether he's still in the state. and again, it is not clear whether the parents are cooperating with authorities or whether they have information about where their own son is. we do know, yasmin, it took them four days to tell those very authorities that their son was missing and that he had not returned home. a lot of serious questions, nine days, again, since he left that home, according to them, and everybody is still standing and waiting now that we know that gabby petito's death has been ruled a homicide. >> everybody still waiting for answers for some of those questions, especially gabby petito's family and parents who are suffering right now with the loss of their daughter. vaughn hillyard, thanks as always, great to see you. we're watching for updates in the trial of singer r. kelly. jurors could receive the case for deliberations as early as this afternoon. the defense will begin its closing arguments after a two-day summation by federal prosecutors in a brooklyn courtroom. prosecutors argued kelly used lies, manipulation, and physical abuse to, quote, hide in plain sight. the disgraced performer has long faced allegations of serial sexual abuse which he denies. he's currently on trial in racketeering and sex trafficking charges. these accusations span three decades, right? talk us through the specific sex trafficking and racketeering. >> yes, so these charges that she's facing now deal with him working with other people, his enterprise, as the law calls it, to perpetrate various criminal acts on, as you mentioned, a number of women over the course of, like you said, three decades, beginning as early as in the 1990s with the crimes he perpetrated against well-known singer aaliyah who was 15 years old at the time he impregnated her. these crimes date back all the way to the crimes perpetrated against aaliyah until most recently 2018. many, many different women. i believe six jane does, five of whom testified. >> you talked about these other people, the prosecution talking about his entourage who aided and abetted his actions over the years. i want to read to you a quote from the prosecution. when someone commits a crime as part of a group, he's more powerful, more dangerous. without his inner circle, the defendant could not have carried out the crimes he carried out for as long as he did. if in fact r. kelly is found gilley, what happens to that entourage? could they subsequently be charged? >> absolutely, they could. but keep in mind, in this case, the prosecutors do not need to prove that those other people kind of knew or had the intent to commit crimes. they only have to prove that r. kelly did. but in the prosecution's case, it is -- there is no way that the individuals that assisted and enabled and allowed this to continue didn't know. you had rules such as precluding these women from leaving the room, not even to use the bathroom, to alerting him and recruiting all of these women to then be almost imprisoned, if you will, into his home and be sexually abused subject to choking, physical assaults, and a number of things. and so yeah, there's no way that other people didn't know. so we could see more charges as a result, absolutely. >> just quickly here, kristen, 11 accusers testifying throughout this trial, deeply traumatic, emotional testimony. how incredibly important is it for these accusers to testify, to build a case against r. kelly? >> it's not only important to help the prosecutor prove its burden that as part of this racketeering there were crimes that were committed. but it is also something that is going to be emotionally driven, right? so the jurors, they're going to remember that when they're deliberating, particularly for example when one talked about the emotional and psychological cage she was encapsulated in. she didn't acknowledge him, he beat her, he sexually abused her, he choked her. that's going to be something the jury brings back with them. >> thank you, we appreciate it as always. up next, a mobster linked to one of the greatest art heists in history dies taking anything he might have known about that theft to the grave. we'll be right back. welcome to allstate. where you can pay a little less and enjoy the ride a little more. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ now, get new lower auto rates with allstate. because better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today. you're in good hands with allstate. you need an ecolab scientific clean here. and here. which is why the scientific expertise that helps operating rooms stay clean now helps the places you go too. look for the ecolab science certified seal. need your prescription refilled? capsule pharmacy can fill and hand deliver your medications now helps the - the same day - . for free. go to capsule.com to get started. we handle your insurance, coordinate with your doctor, and text you when your medication is ready. all you have to do is schedule delivery. we bring your medication directly from our pharmacy, straight to your doorstep. get your prescriptions filled and delivered today - for free. go to capsule.com and get started in 15 seconds. without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme. i was diagnosed with parkinson's. i had to retire from law enforcement. it was devastating. one of my medications is three thousand dollars per month. prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. aarp is fighting for americans like larry, and we won't stop. that's why we're calling on congress to let medicare negotiate lower prescription drug prices. ♪ when you hear 'cough cough sneeze sneeze' ♪ it's time for ♪ 'plop plop fizz fizz' ♪ alka seltzer plus cold relief, dissolves quickly... instantly ready to start working. so you can bounce back fast with alka-seltzer plus. all right. so do not be surprised when think next story gets the hol weed treatment some day. 30 years ago thieves disguised at police stole $500 million worth of art off the walls of a museum in boston. one of the greatest art heists are all-time paintings by rembrandt and de gaulle gone with no trace, none whatsoever to this day, remaining unsolved. now the man authorities believe had all the answers, reputed mobster died and fears the clues to unlocking this mystery died with him. here's our news correspondent gabe gutierrez. >> reporter: the biggest heist in american history. stolen from a boston museum in 1990. two men walked into the isabella museum dresses as police officers and announced this is a robbery. >> boston a quiet museum. a daring robbery. >> reporter: the cold case the subject of a netflix documentary series this year. >> millions of dollars worth of artwork. >> rembrandt, de gaulle. >> reporter: the frames hang on the museum walls empty. >> the wild west. >> italian mob. the irish mob. >> how ya doing? >> reporter: authorities believe robert "bobby" gentile may have answers. >> valuable information for whatever reason stubborn, stubd, whatever, he's not sharing. >> reporter: the new england crime boss died last week following a stroke at the age of 85. >> an enormous amount of evidence to point towards him having some knowledge of the crime. you know, that he's passed, perhaps, people would feel less intimidated. >> reporter: telling nbc news he was the last person to have possessed the paintings from the isabella stewart museum. he denied this until his death. oreck bozer wrote a book about the heist after years of research. >> it seems very, very clear that he had some insider information. >> reporter: authorities searched his home multiple times including 2016. his attorney telling reporters at the time -- >> he has denied any involvement. >> reporter: in 2015, the fbi released never before seen 25-year-old video hoping it might help crack the case. so far, the mystery remained unsolved. >> his passing does not hurt our investigation. it doesn't lessen optimism one day the paintings will be rushes returned to the empty frames on the wall. >> the mystery continues. that was nbc's gabe gutierrez reporting. thank you, gabe. that does it for me today, everybody. back in the chair 2:00 p.m. eastern. coming up, lindsey reiser in for hallie jackson picking up our coverage. i have friends. 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[beep] i just wanted to say... ♪ find yourself in these situations and see who you are. and that's just part of the bargain. ♪ a pool floatie is like whooping cough, it's not just for kids. whooping cough is highly contagious for people of any age. and it can cause violent uncontrollable coughing fits. ask your doctor or pharmacist about whooping cough vaccination because it's not just for kids. it's moving day. asand while her friends arest aboudoing the heavy lifting,tion jess is busy moving her xfinity internet and tv services. it only takes about a minute. wait, a minute? but what have you been doing for the last two hours? ...delegating? oh, good one. move your xfinity services without breaking a sweat. xfinity makes moving easy. go online to transfer your services in about a minute. get started today. good afternoon, i'm lindsey risener new york in nor hallie jackson. the shutdown in sight. following several new developments in the d.c. drama that's putting key agenda items for president biden and democrats on ice. congressional leaders announcing they've reached a framework with the white house how to pay for thes 3ds.5 trillion social spending bill but it's what nancy pelosi and chuck