was originally set for today that's now been pushed to thursday. but now somewhere between today and then democrats are going to have to resolve their internal battle that has been holding things up for months. the question of how to advance the bipartisan infrastructure bill and that $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill and get them done at the same time. because if one goes down, they could both go down, and if that was not enough, congress has only four days to reup government funding to avoid a complete shutdown. the senate will vote on that today, but get this, that vote is expected to fail. why? because the bill would also raise the debt limit and republicans want to force democrats to get that done on their own. in their mind that is a political win for them. even if it means risking economic disaster for our entire country in the process, shutting down the government serves no one. i want to bring in nbc's white house correspondent michael memory, nbc's capitol hill correspondent ali vitali and jake sherman who has been working overtime this weekend co-founder of punchbowl news. ali, the stakes this week couldn't be higher, more than $4 trillion in programs on the table, set the stage for us because republicans they're kind of sitting back and watching. >> reporter: that's definitely the vibe for republicans, but democratic staffers are talking about this week as one of the most consequential weeks of governing ever. the question, though, is if they're going to be able to do it. the how, if and when of it all. in terms of how, we saw speaker nancy pelosi over the weekend confirm what we've all known up here on the hill which is that she's not going to bring this bipartisan infrastructure bill to a vote unless she has the votes to pass it. right now she doesn't. progressives are holding fast to the line that they have had for several weeks now, which is to say if they don't see progress in the senate on reconciliation they're not going to lend their voices and their votes to this bipartisan infrastructure bill. keeping that leverage that they can get a lot of those programs and policy items that are in the larger infrastructure bill. so the how remains unresolved. the if and the when, though, you see it on your screen, a whole slew of deadlines that we're ticking through. today the house is starting debate on the infrastructure bill, remember, they were supposed to be voting on that today, so that's already a push in the scheduling. and then on the senate side you will see that there's going to be a vote, it's going to fail, on a bill that's tied government funding and raising the debt ceiling. the reason it's going to fail is because republicans as they're sitting back and letting democrats solve these problems, they say they are not going to join with their democratic counterparts and raise or suspend the debt ceiling. that's something that's been done in bipartisan fashion for a while now, that's going to send democrats right back to the drawing board. all of that coming to a head this week. thursday is a key day because that is now when we expect the house to push forward voting on that infrastructure bill, but so much to be done in the next four days and no real signs on how they're actually going to do it, steph. >> if you don't have the how, you're never going to get the if and when. jake, we have a little bit of those comments from speaker pelosi over the weekend. watch this. >> let me just say we're going to pass the bill this week. i promised that we would bring the bill to the floor but, you know, i'm never bringing a bill to the floor that doesn't have the votes. you have to go when you have the votes in a reasonable time and we will. >> jake, what is happening between now and thursday that is suddenly going to change that? >> well -- >> we've been working on this for weeks, months. >> pelosi's idea here, steph, is to create an environment in which she has a tangible something to point to as in this is what the reconciliation package is going to look like, this is her talking to the progressives, please, we have to get going on infrastructure because also surface transportation programs expire on thursday. that's the deadline for the surface transportation act, which is, you know, was passed a long time ago. so the highway bill would extend that -- or the infrastructure bill would extend that. i will just say, though, that there's just so much things that remain undecided in this reconciliation package. pelosi has said she will not put a bill on the floor that would not pass the senate, so it has to have the spending level somewhere between 3.5, we assume between 1.5 or 2.8 or something in that range. also we don't know about taxes, we don't know about programs, we don't know most importantly -- >> okay. >> -- hold on, what joe manchin and kyrsten sinema want, that's the main thing. go ahead. >> if progressives are saying they want this ironclad agreement, all the details of the $3.5 trillion worked out before, on what scenario are they going to get that? >> so that's the question. i mean, that as you say is a fungible term because i don't know what they will be satisfied with. pelosi can come to them and say here is the broad outlines of what we're working on, buy into this and we have to get going on infrastructure. that is what she is hoping. if i were a progressive i would look at the senate and say it's controlled by kyrsten sinema and joe manchin and i don't feel like i have assurance them and maybe pelosi is able to get assurances from them, maybe there's some sort of universe in which there is an ironclad agreement. i talked to people last night who are involved in these talks, many people who said they believe a framework could get released this week on reconciliation but not the bill. the bill is not reading to the floor. i know you have some congressmen on after this, you might want to ask them this question as well because i think they are involved in these talks. that all said it's just a very tricky thing to do because there's so much distrust at the moment between progressives and moderates and progressives feel like the moderates are going to jam them, they will vote for this infrastructure thing, then the moderates will jam them and they won't be able to pass the reconciliation bill. so a super difficult high wire act here. >> michael, who is president biden influencing? what progressives is he working with right now? i mean, he wants to get anything done, that's fair to say, he does not want friday to come and have a zero next to his name. >> reporter: that's absolutely right, steph. the white house fully aware of the urgency of this moment. just about anything that president biden is going to be able to get done legislatively through this congress is going to have to happen in the next few weeks and that's why a white house official says the president spent the weekend even though he was at camp david working the phones in touch with a range of members of the caucus to try to make sure that they were on a strong footing here, so was the cabinet, so were senior officials. and that is going to continue today, steph. the president's schedule for the day is conspicuously bare and that's to give them maximum flexibility to put the president on the phone if he needs torques to bring members to the white house if need be, it may be to do a public event if the urgency is about selling the legislation here. there is a lot of talk about the process, maybe not enough about the substance, that's what the white house wants to be focused on this week. the white house putting out a memo this morning highlighting the popularity of the infrastructure proposals, the specifics within it, things like child care, the tax credit extension, things like expanding free k, expanding college affordability as well. so the president is going to be trying to do what he can behind the scenes to move this forward, the white house official telling me they've sensed in the course of their calls over the weekend strong resolve among both sides of the caucus here to move forward, but clearly this is a moment where so much is at stake for the president and it's going to be a real test of that senator, the former senator who ran to voters making it -- putting his experience front and center now is a real test of that, steph. >> michael, ali, jake, thank you all so much. we all know this week is about whether democrats can all get under the same tent. we've asked progressive democrats to join us this morning, they couldn't make today work, i'm hoping they join us tomorrow. right now i want to bring in two men representing the moderate side of the equation, the co-chairs of the house problem solvers caucus new jersey democrat josh gottheimer and pennsylvania republican brian fitzpatrick. congressman gottheimer, today was supposed to be the vote on infrastructure, now it's set for thursday. what is your reaction to the delay? do you have any reason to believe that, oh, it won't happen today but by thursday you will have this thing all worked out? >> we're bringing it to the floor today to begin debate so it's a huge win and we will vote on thursday versus today. as far as i'm concerned all of this is a great win for the american people. we have to get this done, this bill, this bile infrastructure bill passed out of the senate with 69 senators back in early august, it's been sitting in the house waiting for our consideration, it's got democrats and republicans behind it, both in the senate and the house -- >> but hold on. josh. josh. >> yes. >> none of this is a win unless it actually happens, right? the vote that happened last summer, irrelevant if the senate and the house don't both pass it. so for the average american person -- the average american person that is not watching every little move on the hill they're saying what's changing in my life and the answer is nothing happened this summer and as of today nothing is happening. so it's a tough putt to be like this is a huge win for the american people. >> well, the win is that it's going to come to the floor this week, we are going to vote on it and it's going to pass. i believe not just because it's important to joe biden but because it's important to the country when you have 2 million jobs a year on the line, we have crumbling roads and bridges and tunnels, we have a gateway that needs to be built, we have fighting climate change and climate resiliency. there's so much in this bill that's critically important and everybody in the senate from mitch mcconnell to joe manchin to bernie sanders and elizabeth warren supported it in the senate and now it's coming to the house and it's got to pass and we have to vote on it. so to me the win, stephanie, is the fact that it's finally moving after all these months of sitting there, it's finally going to come to the floor this week and that's why this is going to be a big week for the country and obviously one that we're going to catch closely. >> then let's stay in the house and i want to play a bit of what congresswoman jayapal said over the weekend about the $3.5 trillion democrat-only package. watch this. >> the build back better agenda not some crazy agenda that just a few people support, it's actually the vast majority of the democratic caucus and there is a few people in the house and a couple in the senate who aren't fight there yet, but even moderates in front-line districts all support this build back better agenda. >> you've said very clearly vote for hard infrastructure now and then the big bill later. progressives don't want to do that because basically they don't trust not you personally but they don't trust you. they don't think the second bill, the big one, is ever going to go to a vote if you get the first one done. are they right? >> i strongly disagree with that. we are making great progress on reconciliation, we are not there yet, we worked all weekend on it and every democrat that i talked to recognizes just how important it is to get that done, there's fighting climate change, we're going to get it with reinstating s.a.l.t. but we are not there yet. these are two separate bills, you have a great infrastructure package that we have to get done over a trillion dollars sitting in the house waiting for action, it's written, voted on, sitting there and there's another package that we're making progress on and that we will get there. they're two separate bills. we have this one sitting here, vote on it, get it done and of course we're going to get reconciliation done, it's too important. it doesn't mean you stop voting on one and don't get that done when you have millions of jobs on the line and fixing our crumbling infrastructure while you're waiting to finish the other one and making great progress. >> in our own personal lives all or nothing is never the way we get to live. congressman fitzpatrick, if these two bills get tied together do you and other moderate republicans end up voting no on both? >> that's the question, stephanie, that the linkage, delinkage thing has been outcome determinative of so many votes on the gop side. it's frustrating. i will be honest with you. every day that's passed since the senate passed this we're losing gop support because we don't understand on what planet it's okay to take a bill that mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer support, that the afl-cio and the chamber of commerce and the business round table support, it has overwhelming bipartisan support, the public supports it and yet we can't get a vote on it because it's being held hostage for the second package. i think it's a dishonest way of legislating when you have to hold a popular bill that the american people want hostage for another bill. if this second reconciliation is worth its merits it should survive an up or down vote on its own merits, you shouldn't need to use another bill as ransom. it's frustrating to us. as far as the gop support it's largely going to depend on the linkage/delinkage which is very important for a lot of my republican colleagues because we support the infrastructure bill and at least what we hear about the second package is not something that we're in favor of. >> congressman fitzpatrick, do you know what's frustrating for the american people, even hearing about a possible government shutdown, your republican colleagues in the senate are planning to block a bill today that would fund the government, funding the government would avoid a shutdown, and because of a dispute over how to raise the debt limit that's why this is happening. so let's remember lawmakers' jobs, all lawmakers' jobs are to make the american people's lives better. a shutdown absolutely makes our life worse. >> couldn't agree more, stephanie. and that's why, you know, we in the house we will support any -- any cr and any raising of the debt limit that doesn't bring things in like the defunding iron dome for israel and extraneous things like that. if it's a clean cr, clean debt limit increase it will have my support completely and many of my republican colleagues and it will pass the house. i can't speak to the other chamber. >> congressman gottheimer, before we leave i want to share this quote that i read in the "washington post" this weekend, it's from a top democrat in south carolina who is getting frustrated with the party and said this, i think it's because we're truly a big tent party and we want everybody to get along and we don't have a killer instinct like the republicans do. democrats just don't appreciate power, what it takes to keep it or how to use it. what do you think about that? >> well, obviously i don't agree with that at all. i think we are a big tent party, so that part i definitely agree with, but when it comes down to what we are focused on is what's best for the country and getting things done. we're going to disagree sometimes, that's okay. brian and i disagree plenty but we sit down all the time and agree to get things done like this bipartisan infrastructure package and that's why i don't believe anybody at the end of the day this week, stephanie, when it comes to the floor for a vote will vote against a key part of the president's agenda but beyond that of what's critically important for the country. that's why this bipartisan package will pass this week and then we will continue working on our other priorities and it may take us time to get there but they both will get done and that's what we should all know and that's what we owe the american people. so i'm much more optimistic than some of the naysayers, stephanie, and i know that it's going to be a tough week, but this is all going to happen. >> no better way to start the week than with a whole lot of optimism. good luck to you, josh. i will check in with you on friday. congressmen, i appreciate you both joining us this morning. coming up, a new fight playing out in new york over vaccine mandates. the ruling that could impact the nation's largest school district. plus we will take you to the first county in texas that has reached herd immunity. what the fight against covid looks like down there. the fighd looks like down there. story. this couple loves camping adventures and their suv is always there with them. so when their windshield got a chip, they wanted it fixed fast. they drove to safelite autoglass for a guaranteed, same-day, in-shop repair. we repaired the chip before it could crack. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them. >> woman: really? >> tech: that's service you can trust, when you need it most. ♪ pop rock music ♪ >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ what happens when we welcome change? we can make emergency medicine possible at 40,000 feet. instead of burning our past for power, we can harness the energy of the tiny electron. we can create new ways to connect. rethinking how we communicate to be more inclusive than ever. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change. faster. vmware. welcome change. what's the #1 retinol brand used most by dermatologists? it's neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® smooths the look of fine lines in 1-week, deep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles goodbye! neutrogena® - stand up if you are first generation college student. (crowd cheering) stand up if you're a mother. if you are actively deployed, a veteran, or you're in a military family, please stand. the world in which we live equally distributes talent, but it doesn't equally distribute opportunity, and paths are not always the same. - i'm so proud of you dad. - [man] i will tell you this, southern new hampshire university can change the whole trajectory of your life. (uplifting music) in business, setbacks change everything. so get comcast business internet and add securityedge. it helps keep your network safe by scanning for threats every 10 minutes. and unlike some cybersecurity options, this helps protect every connected device. yours, your employees' and even your customers'. so you can stay ahead. get started with a great offer and ask how you can add comcast business securityedge. plus for a limited time, ask how to get a $500 prepaid card when you upgrade. call today. in other words, it's the most energy-building, wellness-boosting, parent-powering, proven quality night's sleep we've ever made. don't miss our weekend special. save $1,000 on the sleep number 360 special edition smart bed. plus, 0% interest for 24 months. ends monday. now to the coronavirus pandemic. the delta variant is still spreading but the united states is seeing its longest sustained drop in new cases in about three months. good news. it comes as states scramble to roll out pfizer vaccine booster shots for people over 6 and the immunocompromised. in new york state today is the deadline for hospital workers to get at least one shot but it's a different story for teachers and school workers after a federal judge blocked new york city from enforce ago vaccine mandate on them. i want to get to rehema ellis, also with us cal perry and dr. gounder epidemiologist at nyu school of medicine and bellevue hospital. rehema, only one of those two vaccine mandates is happening today. what are you hearing from hospital workers and what are you hearing from teachers and other school employees? >> reporter: what we hear, stephanie, this morning from hospital workers is that they know it's a showdown day between them and the state of new york where they have until the end of the business day today to get that vaccination or according to the governor they face being fired with no unemployment benefits. what are we talking about here? i have a full screen i want to show you of some of the numbers. take a look. of the hospital workers, we are talking about 84% of them are fully vaccinated, 81% of adult care facility workers are vaccinated, and it's down a little bit to about 77% of nursing home staff that have been vaccinated. several people i talked to here at the hospital this morning say that they agree with the mandate that health care workers should be vaccinated, but that's not what all people are thinking, they think they should have the right to refuse it. the governor absolutely disagrees and says that they will be fired. she also says if they have a shortage, she has the right to declare a state of emergency, call out the national guard, go to other states and countries to get additional health care workers if necessary. turning to what's happening on the teacher front, there is a mandate for them to be vaccinated, but as you pointed out, stephanie, theres a hold on that from the courts. the teachers are hoping that the courts ultimately will uphold that restraining order. listen more to what a lawyer for the teachers union has to say about it. >> quite many of them are not anti-vaccination, they're anti-mandate. i think the true thing that unites them all is that they're the only municipal workers in new york city that have been forced to get this vaccination. >> reporter: now, the court is expected to review this temporary restraining order by wednesday and, of course, the city hopes that it will be overturned. the workers hope that it will be upheld. in the meantime i should tell you the city's mandate to vaccinate or to get tested remains in effect for teachers and staff. stephanie? >> important reminder, vaccinate or get tested. dr., i know you are not a lawyer, but are you worried that the city's teacher vaccine mandate getting blocked could threaten other mandates across the nation because i know how much you think these mandates work in getting huge amounts of people vaccinated. >> stephanie, i think new york city has really led the way on a number of different public health measures, including these mandates. i think it's important to emphasize here that it's not just about teachers, it's also about staff and much of the opposition here is for non-teacher unions. custodial staff, bus drivers and the like. and it makes it very difficult for schools to stay open when they simply do not know who is going to show up to work the next day because of these lawsuits. what we know from last year is that over 80% of transmission in schools in new york city was by adults. so if adults are not vaccinated, you still have kids under 12 who can't get vaccinated, that really makes it very dangerous to be reopening in-person learning when people are not abiding by these mandates. >> cal, this is so important. you are in el paso, texas, officials there say they have reached herd immunity, not because they just let everybody get sick and roam free and now they're immune, they've reached herd immunity because they got 75% of their population vaccinated. explain this. >> reporter: a lot of people in the medical community don't like the term herd immunity, you can call it community immunity, a halo effect, a number of doctors here have said that. more than 75% of folks over the age of 12 have had both vaccines here in el paso and it is a remarkable achievement and it has made a remarkable difference. i will compare it to the state of texas where just over 50% of folks were vaccinated. the state of texas has an 18% positivity rate, el paso has a 6% positivity rate. in the state of texas you have 20% of hospital beds taken up by covid patients, here in el paso that number is only 7%. so it has made a remarkable difference. it is also making a difference in children. take a listen so what this doctor told me about how this halo effect is protecting children in the community. >> because of the amount of immunity both virus-driven and vaccine-driven that a lot of people in this community already have protection against the delta and that protects the kids. even if you look at our pediatric rates, we only had one child, i think, in the pediatric icu and that was a couple weeks ago, right now we have none. >> reporter: and it is that halo effect that people are hoping will last until folks here start getting their boosters. if you look at what happened this september, october, november and december behind me, you had those refrigerated trucks, those temporary morgues, you had a hospital system overwhelmed and now what you have in el paso is a curve that has been flattened. stephanie? >> doctor, that is inspirational. you want every city, every town to watch and learn. obviously we know we are not going to get herd immunity nationally, but do you think eventually we're going to see more cities see they have reached it in the coming months in the same way that el paso has? >> yeah, i don't think it's really useful to talk about specific percentage cutoffs because frankly we don't quite know what that is, if there is one, but we've seen something similar here in new york city where over 70% of people in new york over the age of 12 have been vaccinated. at bellevue where i see patients about a week ago we had under 12 patients with covid in the hospital. at the peak of the pandemic we were averaging in the 600s of covid patients in the hospital on any given day. so we have seen a huge impact of vaccination here as well and i think the more communities buy into vaccination, get their people vaccinated, the more places will really see this turn around. >> doctor, fall is here, the weather is getting colder, but the good news is covid cases are slowing. dr. scott gottlieb says the current wave isn't going to end until thanksgiving, however, he thinks it could be the last wave of this pandemic. do you agree with that? >> i'm a little cautious about that. i think that this current wave will subside over the coming month, but whenever people travel and create what are essentially new social networks and new transmission networks, you will see a bump. and this is precisely what we saw last year, we saw this sort of triple humped surge over thanksgiving, christmas and new year's. i don't think it will be anywhere near as bad as last year but i do think we will see a resurgence in transmission around the holidays and then i think we will turn a corner, assuming more people get vaccinated in the meantime that mandates do have the impact we think they will have, i think early 2022 things will be looking a whole lot better. >> it is flu season which means it's time to get the flu shot if you haven't done so already. are you concerned that less americans will get the flu shot than they normally do this year because now we are in this massive vaccine hesitancy movement? >> i certainly hope many more people get vaccinated for the flu this year, for listeners, you can get both vaccines at the same time, you can get one right after the other, don't worry about the timing, it is not an issue to be getting covid and flu vaccinations around the same time. we have already seen some significant flu outbreaks, i know of on the east coast, and we think this is going to be a worse flu season than many in the past. so i would strongly urge people please get your flu shot along with your covid vaccination. >> there you go. doctor, thank you for joining us. cal, thank you as well and rehema. coming up, gappy petito's friends and families gather in new york to say their last good-bye as the nationwide search for her fiancée continues this morning a day after federal agents took items from brian laundrie's home. we will have the latest next. bn laundrie's home. we will have the latest next en n enjoy the best? eggland's best. the only eggs with more fresh and delicious taste. plus, superior nutrition. which is now more important than ever. ♪♪ because the way we care... is anything but ordinary. only eggland's best. ♪♪ (upbeat music) - [narrator] this is kate. she always wanted her smile to shine. now, she uses a capful of therabreath healthy smile oral rinse to give her the healthy, sparkly smile she always wanted. (crowd cheering) therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. at walmart, target and other fine stores. i always had a connection to my grandfather... i always wanted to learn more about him. i discovered some very interesting documents on ancestry. this is the uh registration card for the draft for world war two. and this is his signature which blew me away. being able to... make my grandfather real... not just a memory... is priceless. his legacy...lives on. about to enter its third week for the fiancée of gabby petito. more than $30,000 in reward money has now been raised for information leading to the capture of brian laundrie. on sunday fbi agents returned to the north port, florida, home of laundrie's parents where gabby and brian lived before they hit the road. their lawyer says they collected personal items to help with dna matching. sunday was also the day hundreds of mourners remembered the life of gabby, a week after her body was found at a wyoming camp site. nbc's kathy park joins us from new york's long island. kathy, a big show of support for gabby petito as the hunt for her fiancée continues, but still a lot of questions. >> reporter: steph, that's absolutely right. we were here at the public memorial service yesterday and we were struck by the show of solidarity and just the volume of people who showed up. we're told approximately 1,200 people stopped by this funeral home behind me and these weren't just people who knew gabby or grew up with her, but strangers as well. some even traveling as far away as california, all to pay their respects. a massive outpouring of support for gabby petito. family, friends and total strangers coming together to remember a young life cut tragically short. lines of mourners saying good-bye sunday to the 22-year-old in a public memorial service near her hometown. >> her smile and her story touched so many people. >> reporter: the funeral home sharing this video tribute of gabby. her father asking guests to be inspired by her life, while hinting at a relationship with her now missing fiancée, brian laundrie. >> if there's a trip you guys want to take, take it. now. do it now while you've got the time. if there's a relationship that you're in that might not be the best thing for you, leave it. now. >> reporter: gabby capturing the nation's attention when me mysteriously disappeared in late august during a cross-country trip with laundrie. he returned home to florida alone september 1st. gabby's body was later found in a remote camping area in wyoming. laundrie's parents told police their son went for a hike september 14th at the 25,000 acre carlton reserve near their florida home. their attorney adding they left without his wallet or phone. the fbi has now issued a warrant for laundrie's arrest for debit card fraud they say happened after gabby's death. on sunday federal investigators returned to the family's home to retrieve personal items that will help with dna matching. despite a massive surge by federal, state and local officials, laundrie has not been seen in nearly two weeks. >> we have air communities, we have drones, we have the swamp buggies, air boats. >> reporter: duane chapman known as dog the bounty hunter showed up in laundrie's home telling the media outlet i will find him. an intensifying manhunt for laundrie as calls for justice grow louder. and, steph, there's still so many questions surrounding this case and officials have not yet released details on how gabby died and as far as the fiancée, we know he is still a person of interest, but he has not been charged in her death. steph? >> well, now the dog is on the case so maybe he can help with this investigation. coming up, ten months after losing former president trump pushes the lie after another lie after another lie about election results, including the partisan recount that took place in arizona that reconfirmed joe biden won there. trump still lying about t one of the authors of the bombshell new book "peril" will be here on the constitutional crisis we are in right now. you might not be thinking about t you're dropping your kids at school, paying the bills. constitutional crisis, democracy at risk. pay attention. in the next hour you definitely want to stick around, josé diaz-balart will be debuting his brand-new show on msnbc at 10:00 a.m. and you are in luck, he will be here every day at 10:00. e in luck, he will be here every day at 10:00 ♪ (vo) subaru presents... the underdogs. they may have lost an eye, or their hearing, or their youthful good looks. but there's a lot of things these remarkable dogs haven't lost... like their ability to lick, wag, and love with the best of them. join subaru in helping underdogs find a loving home and celebrate all dogs during our third annual national make a dog's day. ♪ i'm a reporter for the new york times. if you just hold it like this. yeah. ♪ i love finding out things that other people don't want me to know. mm-hmm. [beep] i just wanted to say... ♪ find yourself in these situations and see who you are. and that's just part of the bargain. ♪ ww has taught me how to live a great, sustainable lifestyle. i can eat the foods that i love. with ww, i have lost 78 pounds. ww. weight loss that works. wellness that works. lose 10 pounds on us! join today at ww.com offer ends september 27th! ♪ 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. at philadelphia, we know what makes the perfect schmear of cream cheese. you need only the freshest milk and cream. that one! and the world's best, and possibly only, schmelier. philadelphia. schmear perfection. tonight, i'll be eating a buffalo chicken panini. fire! nas... spare a pound? what? you know, bones, shillings, lolly? lolly? i don't have any money. you don't look broke... this morning the threat to our democracy is not going away. former president trump held a rally in georgia over the weekend spreading lie after lie about voter fraud. nearly 11 months after he lost the election. we're learning more about the impact those lives are still having. before the rally trump asked georgia to decertify his own loss. in arizona's largest county the so-called election auditors, the cyber ninjas, admitted that president biden won and down in texas they are doing their own audit of four counties in a state that trump won after he pushed them to do it. this headline right here says it all, quote, the gop's election review in arizona is over. its influence is just the beginning. and that's the danger, guys. let's dig deeper and bring in national post political reporter robert costa. he has been busy writing the new book "peril" which details trump's efforts to overturn the election. robert, good to see you, congratulations on the book. trump obviously wants power back, we just listed real life examples of the peril that's happening right now, that lots of people aren't paying attention to. why do they need to? how dangerous is it? >> steph, great to be back with you, thanks for the warm welcome. as bob woodward as i reported on this book for nine months it became clear in our reporting that what happened on january 6 was not some sporadic uprising that president trump watched passively from inside the oval office. this was a concerted effort by the president, by his advisers and outside allies like steve bannon to force a reckoning on january 6 to try to decertify president-elect biden at the time his victory from being certified in congress. this effort to delegitimize the biden presidency did not end on january 20th, it continues out in these states and as we document in the book the president is still out there being encouraged by people like senator lindsey graham to run again and his advisers like brad parscale privately believe not only will he run again in 2024 with so many republicans behind him, he will run for vengeance. >> brad pass scale was an adviser, not adviser, i guess he's back on the team. it is not just about the lies, it is about an organized scheme to keep him in power. you report that his lawyer gave former vp pence a bulleted six-part plan to give him the ability to overturn the election based on technicalities within the electoral college. is what trump's lawyer tried to do even legal and if not any consequences he could face? >> it's very important to understand the context of the eastman memo. this was not some email that sat in an inbox unread by vice president pence. john eastman, president trump confronted vice president pence and his lawyers in the oval office two days before the insurrection on january 4, we have that whole scene and president trump saying to pence listen to john, listen to john eastman, you can throw out thighs alternate electors or pretend there are alternate electors and somehow make the election go to the house of representatives by making sure biden does not have 270, the necessary threshold. this was a document that was circulating in the upper echelons of the trump administration trying to change american democracy and it is documentation of what was happening. this is not just a conversation or a text message, this was a memo that was taken very seriously by those at the top. >> documentation and details. details are what people need to pay attention to. because lindsey graham, right, this is a republican senator down in south carolina who originally said, we're certifying in election, donald lost fair and square, then he got heckled by hard core trumpers and changed his graham. lindsey graham and mike lee took these lies seriously enough that they provided resources and a platform to get pushed. how deep did this go? >> what's striking is that two of the top trump allies in the senate, senate graham and senator lee, conducted their own private probes of president trump's claims and found no evidence, nothing, to back up president trump and his claims. they were not credible claims. and this is not a media fact check, this is not some kind of talking point, this is reporting about two republicans. >> okay. but then where did those probes go? when have we heard from lindsey graham or mike lee that said, we heard what president trump -- former president trump claimed, we did our own work because we don't trust the media and unfortunately for trump, we found that he lost. when did they say that, if that's what -- if that's what their probe resulted in, when did they tell us that because i missed those memos. >> what you find in the story is a lot of behind the scenes activity, but you're right, stephanie, publicly so often silence when it comes to republicans. and when i ask republicans why if you believe the president is lying, why don't you speak out in the course of reporting? they essentially boiled it down to he has the power, he has the political capital. it comes back to bob woodward's first book on trump, fear. there is a fear of president trump, even when he's gone in political winter that he can somehow come back, that he's in control of the party. that's a pervasive feeling. it's not an excuse, stephanie, but it's what our reporting showed. >> then i'm a simple dope, okay? if lindsey graham believes that donald trump is the most powerful person in the party who can win the presidency hands down and he wants to stand with him, why can't that be true and at the same time, by the way, he lost the last election? >> well, both are true in this current political reality. senator graham snows based on our reporting and his own speech on the senate floor that joe biden was legitimately elected president of the united states, but he and so many republicans are hoping president trump comes back. we're just trying to put a mirror up to what happened so people understand some of these contradictions, the strangeness of the situation, but this is american history unfolding before our eyes and we have to pay attention. >> lindsey graham is welcome to join me here any day and explain what his probe resulted in, which was donald trump lost, and why lindsey graham thinks donald trump is so awesome and should be the most powerful. i'd love to hear his explanation. robert costa, congratulations on the extraordinary book. great to have you back. before we go to break i want to fill you in. congresswoman liz cheney one of the two republicans on the committee investigating the january 6th attack is going after former president trump for pushing these election lies. she did it again this weekend. she's also making headlines when she was asked about her past stance on gay marriage. her sister is gay and married with children, yet cheney came out against gay marriage back in 2013. >> i was wrong. i was wrong. i love my sister very much, i love her family very much and i was wrong. it's a very personal issue and very personal for my family. i believe that my dad was right. and my sister and i have had that conversation. >> i was wrong. something you don't hear a lot of leaders in politics or business or marriage say very often. so when we do, we've got to play it again. coming up, an exclusive interview with the new head of the drug enforcement administration, the dea. the warning she has about deadly counterfeit pills and her strong message to social media companies. s and her strong message to social media companies. neutrogena® hydro boost lightweight. fragrance-free. 48 hour hydration. for that healthy skin glow. neutrogena®. for people with skin. what happens when we welcome change? we can make emergency medicine fopossible at 40,000 feet.. instead of burning our past for power, we can harness the energy of the tiny electron. we can create new ways to connect. rethinking how we communicate to be more inclusive than ever. with app, cloud and anywhere workspace solutions, vmware helps companies navigate change. faster. vmware. welcome change. ♪ limu emu & doug ♪ got a couple of bogeys on your six, limu. they need customized car insurance from liberty mutual so they only pay for what they need. what do you say we see what this bird can do? woooooooooooooo... we are not getting you a helicopter. looks like we're walking, kid. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >> tech: every customer has their own safelite story. this couple was on a camping trip... ...when their windshield got a chip. they drove to safelite for a same-day repair. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them. >> woman: really? >> tech: that's service you can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ you've been taking mental health meds, and your mind is finally in a better place. except now you have uncontrollable body movements called tardive dyskinesia td. and it can seem like that's all people see. ♪ some meds for mental health can cause abnormal dopamine signaling in the brain. while how it works is not fully understood, ingrezza is thought to reduce that signaling. ingrezza is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with td movements in the face and body. people taking ingrezza can stay on their current dose of most mental health meds. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to any of its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects, including sleepiness. don't drive, operate heavy machinery, or do other dangerous activities until you know how ingrezza affects you. other serious side effects include potential heart rhythm problems and abnormal movements. shift the focus more on you. ask your doctor about ingrezza. it's simple. one pill, once-daily. #1 prescribed for td. learn how you could pay as little as $0 at ingrezza.com this is... ♪♪ this is iowa. we just haven't been properly introduced. say hello to the place where rolling hills meets low bills. where our fields, inside and out, are always growing. and where the fun is just getting started. this is iowa. so, when are you coming to see us? ♪♪ now to an nbc news exclusive. part of our crucial ongoing series, one nation overdosed. this morning, the first interview with the new head of the drug enforcement administration, and she is announcing a rare public safety alert because she is seeing an alarming amount of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl flooding into the country. the latest numbers from the cdc show drug overdose deaths have spiked during a pandemic of over 30% over the last year. we're joined now by nbc news senior national correspondent, kate snow. kate, this is super rare. you've been covering this crisis for years. we haven't seen the dea issue a public safety alert since 2015, when they were warning us about fentanyl being mixed with heroin. now this concern is major. explain this us. >> yeah, so now the concern, as opposed to the powder, is illegal synthetic pills. they're marketed as prescription drugs sold online or through social media, but often they're fake, often containing powerful deadly fentanyl, oftentimes methamphetamine. the dea administrator anne milgram is launching a campaign this morning called one pill can kill. and she also said social media companies can be doing a lot more to stop it. on the job less than three months, dea administrator anne milgram is shocked that already this year they've seized 9.5 million fake pills, mainly containing deadly fentanyl, sometimes methamphetamine. >> that's more than we've seized in the last two years combined and the percentage of those pills that are deadly, potentially deadly has never been higher. >> four out of ten counterfeit pills that contain fentanyl are deadly. >> four out of ten. >> yes. they have two mill grimes of fentanyl or more. >> that's minuscule, the size of the tip of a pencil. >> it's like russian roulette then. >> it's russian roulette, but even more dangerous in one sense. in russian roulette, people know that they're passing around a loaded gun. here, you are talking about many people who think that they are actually buying oxycodone or they're buying percocet or -- >> a painkiller. >> a painkiller. they think they're buying a prescription drug bought in an illegal market, they're not. they're buying fentanyl or methamphetamine. and the fentanyl pills can kill people. the only pill that is safe to take is the one that is prescribed by your doctor. >> reporter: administrator mill grimm showed me how paycheck pills look just like legitimate prescription drugs. >> the cartels are intentionally making these things look like the real thing? >> without question. >> in a dealer is on snapchat or tiktok, somewhere public, advertising, how can you not just go get that person and stop them from selling? >> we do that every day. this is a half a trillion dollar business. >> is part of the problem is that there's so much coming in. >> we regularly seize and interdict vast quantities of chemicals coming that are being shipped from china to mexico. and then they're being mass produced in mexico. these are predatory criminal organizations that will do anything they can to make money. they have no regard for american lives. >> i mean, you know, in a split second, he was gone. >> reporter: julie hoffman's son, wyatt, died after taking a fake pill last year. >> i just said, i'm never going to see him again, am i, and he just looked at me and he just went -- >> the drug dealer is not sitting down the street from you, it is sitting in your home. it's sitting on the phone of your child. anyone can have access. >> should social media companies be doing more to help you? >> yes. there is no question in my mind that social media companies are not doing enough to stop this problem. social media companies know that their platforms are being used for this. and they need to understand that americans are dying. they're dying at record rates and they need to be a partner in stopping it. >> why do you think they need to do more? >> because it's happening every single day. and we also know that all of these companies track every single piece of data related to who's on, what they're doing, who's connecting privately. what's happening. >> do you think they're erring too much on the side of user privacy? >> they talk a lot about user privacy. i would say that we are in a national crisis. this is an emergency. >> i asked administrator mill grimm whether the dea, as a government agency, has the technical expertise that it needs to combat all of this. she said, they could always use more. she's really big on data and analytics, steph. and she says the data at the dea is, quote, not where i want it to be. >> my gosh, kate snow, really important reporting. thank you for bringing it to us. need to take a breath. that wraps up this very busy hour. i am stephanie ruhle. thank you for watching. but don't go anywhere. for the first time, debuting his brand-new show right here on nbc, jose diaz-balart will be in the anchor chair right after the break. az-balart will be in the anchor chair right after the break. pain hits fast. so get relief fast. only tylenol rapid release gels have laser-drilled holes. they release medicine fast for fast pain relief. tylenol rapid release gels. every single day, we're all getting a little bit better. they release medicine fast we're better cooks... better neighbors... hi. i've got this until you get back. better parents... and better friends. no! no! that's why comcast works around the clock constantly improving america's largest gig-speed broadband network. and just doubled the capacity here. how do things look on your end? -perfect! because we're building a better network every single day.