have brand new reporting right here only on msnbc. the man who sold james the exact items recovered at the crime scene and that sale was ten months ago. and new evidence of horrific attacks by russia and ukraine and the escalation in language coming out of the white house. president biden calling vladimir putin a dictator who committed genocide and making clear the use of the word genocide, that was on purpose. and the new ukraine military aid the administration could announce and our own al roker going one on one with somebody you may recognize, former president obama, talking about his recent return to the white house to tackling climate change. >> with climate change affecting everything, they are demanding action. nature is more resilient than we think if we are intentional about it. >> good to be with you on this wednesday morning. i'm hallie jackson in washington. we're going to start in new york and the latest on that brooklyn subway shooting. nbc news reporter is live and along with pete williams. jesse, we know the search is still happening. you've got a new interview to share with us i think for the first time this hour that tells us a little bit more about what investigators found at the scene. talk us through it. >> that's right, halle. i want to bring us back to the photo of the bag of items found, it's a bag that shows fireworks. well, as this is all unfolding yesterday, when a gentleman who run as fireworks company started hearing that fireworks may have been involved, he reached out to law enforcement contacts, he tells me, and says they shared this photo with him and as soon as he saw that photo, he knew his fireworks were recovered at the scene because his company, phantom fireworks logos are on those items. he says all of those items in that bag are proprietary. he ran through his database who bought each of those items. he tells me in a tv exclusive interview that he had someone buy those items before but no one has ever bought that exact combination of item, hundreds of thousands of questions tracked what they bought, where they bought it and who bought it and here's what he had to say. >> we found people that bought two of those items, individuals that bought three of those items, individuals that bought one of those items. only one person bought four of those items, exact four items. >> and i have here on my phone a copy of an invoice sent to me by bruce from phantom fireworks and i'm just going to read off to you, hallie, canister smoke bombs, six piece, safety fuse, seismic wave crackers, that's what's listed here. the man who says purchased this who paid $93 for these fireworks according to phantom fireworks was a 62-year-old man named frank james. and he believes it to be the same man on your screen now who is now according to nypd the suspect in this case. another interesting aspect that was revealed to us in this exclusive television interview with phantom fireworks just last night is he said frank james purchased these fireworks back in june of 2021, right before the 4th of july, buying stuff that didn't make sense for a 4th of july celebration. this raises questions for how long this plan might have been in works. we have reached out to the fbi and they say frank james purchased the fireworks items, the exact combination of items recovered here at the shooting scene ten months ago. >> thank you for that. bring us up to speed on this hunt now for mr. james. i spoke with the new york city mayor less than 24 hours ago who said even one more second is too long for this person to not be in the custody of law enforcement here. we know officials have traced the weapon left at the scene to james. what else can you tell us? >> let's not skip over that too fast. that's the critical piece of evidence that allowed the authorities last night to go from calling him a person of interest to saying that he is the suspect in the shooting because the atf was able to trace the purchase of that gun to a gun store in columbus, ohio, 11 years ago by frank james. his full name is frank robert james. he was born august 8th of 1959. there's just so much in evidence that he left behind. the bag of fireworks that you were just talking about, the gun, the credit card, a key to the u-haul van that authorities have now searched. law enforcement figures also say that they have found a cell phone belonging to him. now, that's important for a couple of reasons. they can look and see what sort of contacts he may have had, but depending on how long he had that cell phone on, they will also be able to track his movements by going back to the cell phone companies and asking which towers the cell phone was pinging off and they can actually reconstruct a person's movements based on those pings and we've seen that used by law enforcement in the past. and then there's also i'm told lots of video, even though the camera wasn't working in the platform of the subway of 36th street station where the train stopped after he fired the shots according to authorities. but there were many other cameras on the systems that were working and authorities say they have found lots of pictures of him along different parts of the subway line, getting on to the subway. there's just a huge amount of evidence here. authorities are also looking at his social media postings and now the question is what charges are going to be filed? there may be state charges filed, possibly attempted murder in new york and brooklyn, but there could also be federal charges as well. there has been a discussion in the last 12 hours or so about possibly filing federal charges of interfering with -- trying to commit a crime on a train, that's a possible federal crime, possible hate crimes and possible domestic violence and domestic terrorism-type charges because of these rants that's he's posted on social media. so they just have an extraordinary amount of evidence to deal with here, halle. >> pete williams, thank you for bringing us up to speed on that. let's take this in a couple of different buckets. let's start with jesse's reporting, this interview with this person who runs this fireworks store who says he's matched the items that police have recovered at the scene in this bag with frank james. how do you read the significance of that? it feels like the timing is key here, that the sale was ten months ago. >> yeah. i mean, from a prosecutor's standpoint, we now have a litany of evidence that's going to make this a slam dunk if he's ever captured and prosecuted. but with regard to the notion of preplanning here, we all thought when we saw -- when we heard word of canisters and the gas masks that this guy's been planning this but now we know he's been planning it for at least ten months. and this goes to the psychology of a mass shooter, right, the notion that you're brooding and obsessing and even verbalizing to people something about the grievance you have. it's a lesson for all of us to identify the warning signs and indicators that are there. this is going to be a slam dunk. the question is where is he and how quickly can law enforcement lay hands on him? >> he's described the evidence that law enforcement has. i know we can't make predictions on these things. it feels like investigators have a lot of information about this person. they've made the move to officially calling him a suspect. it may only be a matter of time. no? >> yes, the question is how much time. i could be assured with all of this information, particularly the news now that the cell phone has been recovered, think of all the contact information, the calls dialed and calls received. think of the family members, friends, co-workers, associates, whether it's in wisconsin or philadelphia. all being interviewed right now by agents and officers trying to figure out where would you go if you were him, where does he have a place to go? that's being done as we speak. the issue, quite frankly, is also a concern here now that has he done himself some harm? we don't know. that will make it of course harder to perhaps to find him. but the search is nationwide, u.s. marshals, atf, state and local police authorities. you can run but you can't hide in the technology world we live in right now. they're going to know from the cell phone, as pete said, the cell towers he has pinged in the past. all of that will be received and analyzed. it is only a matter of time. the question is what's the time frame? >> you talk about the technology piece of this. let me ask you about that from a different context, which is the technology in place, when does an attack happen at that subway station. savannah asked the mayor about some of the failures, including the cameras that were not working and the, quote, the uniform officer approached, said his radio was not working and asked passengers to call 911. i want to play for you the mayor's response. >> because of the thick walls, because it's underground, from time to time there is a malfunctioning, but it doesn't happen often. during the days when i was a transit cop, it was well known that your radio didn't operate but we have gotten much better and i'm a little surprised to find we had a radio that was inoperative. we'll look into that. >> what do you make of that answer? >> anybody who has ever served in law enforcement, this is resonating with them. technology is great but it doesn't work when you need it the most. i've lost track when the number of times in my career when the surveillance camera didn't work, the radio didn't work when you needed it the most. we've got state of the art technology that we're trying to employ into the subway system. there has to be fund expended for police communication, state of the art digitalized surveillance cameras. it shouldn't be a tragedy that causes people to rethink the technology here but it's got to get done. everything in security should be based on threat and risk. there's threat and risk in the new york subways. that has to be addressed. >> jesse, let me go back to you briefly. we're hearing as we talk about the victims in this, ten shot, 13 others hurt, five people remain in the hospital in stable condition. and the focus is on the people who were victims of this attack at this point. >> yeah, absolutely. and we should also note that we know from the governor of new york that among the victims, halle, were at least four children, including the youngest, a 12-year-old. that just gives you another reminder of what was at stake here and remarkably no one was killed. the new york city subway system is something so many people rely on to get to work, to get to school. i talked to a couple of teen-agers who were heading in the opposite direction, thankfully were not on the train, did not see this unfolding, but they were on their way to school in the morning. they weren't with their parents. they were on their own going to school. that is pretty normal here in new york city. that's something that people who don't live in the big apple may not realize. so this gives you a sense of 8:30 in the morning when you think about how many people would have been on a train heading to work, heading to school and, again, it is remarkable that no one was killed and it may have just come down to the fact that this gun apparently jammed and more bullets were not able to go flying in that train station. >> thank you both very much for that. i appreciate it. we're going to stay on top of this story and bring you any new developments as they happen, but we also want to talk about the other big story of the morning. president biden sharpening his rhetoric against vladimir putting, now accusing putin of committing genocide, in his words, in ukraine. >> and you may have noticed prices going up with an inflation rate at a 40-year high. we'll talk about what the biden administration is doing to help get gas prices under control. and al roker from fighting climate change to his first visit back to the white house since leaving office. >> it was wonderful to see some of the old team. the fact that i could leave, though, was nice. s nice the world needs you back. i'm retired greg, you know this. people are taking financial advice from memes. 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that's a savings of over $500 a year. switch today. there >> translator: there is no crime which russian soldiers didn't commit during the 49 days of their occupation. we will investigate all the war crimes and we will find the guilty ones, no matter how long it will take us. >> that of course was ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy talking with estonia's parliament this morning and it becoming clear that atrocities carried out in ukraine are genocide. you know who else is using that word? president biden. >> your family budget, the ability to fill up your tank, none of it should depend on a dictator who declares war and commits genocide half a world away. >> i want to bring in my guests. the eastward movement of these russian troops, closing in on mariupol, which has been a huge concern for weeks now, the mayor of that besieged city this morning says he thinks 20,000 people, a staggering number, have been killed so far in that city. >> yeah, halle, i think that number is just an estimate. the people we are talking with coming out of mariupol say it is impossible to count the bodies, count the graves and know how many are still trapped inside. the mayor said he believes 100,000 people are still trapped inside. there are no humanitarian corridors so nobody is getting out of that city today. even 20,000 is a number that's hard to know. we've been going to the suburbs on the outskirts to the northwest where bucha are and to the east. the atrocities we are seeing and witnessing here, the woman i spoke with who said she was raped by a russian soldier, well, mariupol is going to be that much longer. this is what is coming to light here. independent journalists are able to see it with our own eyes. there's an icc prosecutor on the ground in bucha and the icc tweeted "ukraine is a crime scene. we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the icc are being committed. we have to pierce the fog of war to get to the truth." at the moment that's impossible in mariupol really until we're able to get inside and see what's actually going on, halle. >> let me go to you for your latest reactions to the developments in ukraine. >> it's shocking but actually not surprising that a military as undisciplined as the russian military and under direction the vladimir putin would be committing war crimes on this scale. >> ambassador, to you. >> kori is right, it's not shacking. it does raise the question about what it is we're going to do. clearly there is no diplomatic off ramp here, vladimir putin shut the door to that. sanctions, even if we get the gas and oil sanctions that the europeans have so far been unwilling to impose are not going to do anything in time. there is a question of what we're going to do to prevent even worse brutalities coming forward, which will have to be making sure ukraine not only stops the advances of russian forces but actually pushes them back and starts winning this war. the kind of rhetoric that we're hearing from the president and others is creating the expectation in ukraine, rightly so, that there will be more assistance forthcoming if not actually direct military intervention. we really need to be very clear about what's at stake here. ukraine is fighting not just for ukraine, they're fighting for freedom in europe. it is important for the europeans and the united states to do what it can for ukraine to succeed. >> thanks you both very much. molly hunter, thanks to you as well. i'm sorry to be so short with you but we have breaking news on msnbc. and job lederman, you and others scooping news, the federal mask mandate for example on airplanes and transportation, set to be extended according to sources that you're talking to. tell us more. >> that mandate was set to expire on monday but two administration officials and airline officials tell us that the cdc is about to extend that mandate for two weeks. there had been discussion about a longer timeline and about whether to create a more flexible masking policy but for the time being these officials and sources tell myself as well as cara lee and jay blackman that the cdc will extend that mandate that you have to wear a mask, for example, when you're on an airplane. and the reason for that is that we've seen this slight uptick in cases across the country, to about 30,000 new cases a day. and officials want to make sure that they have a little bit of added time to really gauge what's happening in the country with covid, whether it might be necessary to keep masks in place for a longer period of time. they want to get a handle on this before they go ahead with lifting the mask mandate, but this comes as the government is getting increased pressure from industry to lift this mandate, with airlines for america, which is a lobby group that represents the big three airlines here in the u.s. calling today for not only the mask mandate to be lifted but also that pretesting requirement if you're overseas and you want to fly to the u.s., you're supposed to get a negative covid test within 24 hours. the industry wants that to be lifted and delta's ceo was on television today to say it's time for those mask to come off. >> you're reading my mind. first of all, it's great reporting that you're scooping here on msnbc, not just travelers getting on planes but industry officials. we heard from the delta ceo today saying "i feel very strongly that the mask mandate should be lifted and individuals including our own employees make their own decisions and take personal accountability for their health on board our planes." they had been lobbying to have april 18th be the last day for the federal mask mandate. that is not what they're going to get. what you're talking to folks in the administration and your sources about this, how are they working to thread that needle? >> they're saying this is temporary, we're not putting the mask mandate in place indefinitely, not extending it a month or two months, we're saying give us for more weeks to let us get a handle on what's happening with this increase. so they are basically saying everybody take a deep breath, the goal still is to be able to get back to a more normal method of transportation and of course all of the commerce that goes along with that as the airlines are seeing demand really at the highest levels since before the pandemic. now they want a couple more weeks to make sure they're doing this in exactly the safest way possible, halle. >> let me ask you to do a little reported analysis here if you will. on the one hand you have seen this effort by the biden administration over the last several months to show that the world is starting to get back to normal, right, and the messaging coming out that this is how it looks and this extension of the federal mask mandates on plane, a visible reminder that touches a lot of people's lives that are traveling that know we are not through this pandemic just yet. >> i think you're right. i think it's two steps forward, one step backward. the administration has tried to really put forward a visible show of how we're getting back to normal and that even factors into the way there's no longer a mask mandate here at the white house because they say they are following cdc guidance. we've seen president biden out and about doing lots of activities, even as we are seeing all kinds of increased cases in and around the white house and here in washington, nancy pelosi, people close to the vice president, others who are in close contact with the president, even if it didn't necessarily meet that 15-minute cdc close contact definition and we've also seen white house officials acknowledge publicly that it's entirely possible president biden himself could contract covid. you see the administration saying, yes, we are getting back to some semblance of normality but that does not come without risk and we need to do it in a measured and smart way, including pulling a little bit back such as extending this mass mandate. >> let's just quickly remind people why administration officials, given the rationale of this mask mandate previously because dr. walensky had been pressed, why would the federal government not take that guidance into consideration when it comes to this federal mask mandate and the response has been is because air travel is just different, you have people coming in from different places, perhaps different countries, et cetera. that to this point has been the rationale that we've heard publicly on that front. >> that's exactly right. you have close, confined spaces where it's very difficult to social distance. we know on airplanes the air is filtered very regularly. they're not going to start splitting hairs and having a mask mandate for planes, not for trains or busses. for now they feel like the safest thing to do is to keep a policy in place where you have to wear a mask, if you're in one of these places where it's really hard to social distance, you're mixed around with people who may or may not have been vaccinated but the goal is to lift that mandate as soon as the public health officials deem it safe to do so. i emphasize public health officials because the white house has been very insistent on making clear this is not president biden sitting around in the oval office, deciding to lift the mask mandate. they are deferring those at the cdc along with the transportation safety administration to make those calls based on the best available data. >> stand by. philly has just put its mask mandate indoors back in place. we're talking about who should be masking, who doesn't need to be masks, what happens on planes and when you're in a city like philadelphia, emily, and this new implementation we've seen from this city, they are really the first big city since most places dropped mask mandates to now reinstate it because of the uptick in cases. >> reporter: philadelphia just green lighted residents just over a month ago to take off their masks. starting monday, they're going to requiring people to wear masks indoors at public places. we've seen some mixed reaction on the ground here. keep in mind, philadelphia set these parameters to design decision-maker earlier in the year. they surpassed 50% increase in cases over the past ten days. that's really the motivation here. what we're hearing from people on the ground, on one side of things, people were saying i actually never took off my mask when they lifted it over a month ago because they just didn't even think about it. it's just a practice they've continued to keep in place while other people are concerned about the impact on small businesses, the pennsylvania restaurant and lodging association calling it a major blow to thousands of small businesses. i want you to take a listen to some of the back and forth on this. >> wear a mask. it's safer. that's all. i don't resent it. i think it's safe. >> you see, you go inside restaurants anyways and bars and stuff, people aren't wearing it when the mandate was there. i'm not sure the mandate helps anything anymore. >> and we're seeing cases pick up in roughly half the country. some of the steepest numbers here in the northeast. but new jersey governor bill murphy was actually surprised philadelphia reinstated its mask mandated and said he would be shocked if new jersey felt the need to do something similar, all driven by subvariant ba.2. we're seeing roughly 2,000 new cases a day. during the peak of the omicron surge, that was over 800,000 cases. officials saying we're in a pretty good place, we're going to watch the numbers closely and react if we see any further surges. again, the covid czar actually pointed out we have fewer people in the hospital right now than at any point during the pandemic. >> emily, thank you so much. appreciate it. lots of course to talk about with dr. anthony fauci when he appears on our next hour with andrea mitchell. do not miss that. that is noon eastern, just about 30 or so minutes from now, right here on msnbc reports. coming up, gas prices are skyrocketing. some experts think the worst isn't even here yet. what we could see from gas prices this summer coming up after the break. after the break. i could've waited to tell my doctor my heart was racing just making spaghetti... but i didn't wait. i could've delayed telling my doctor i was short of breath just reading a book... but i didn't wait. they told their doctors. and found out they had... atrial fibrillation. a condition which makes it about five times more likely to have a stroke. if you have one or more of these symptoms irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue or lightheadedness, contact your doctor. this is no time to wait. you're pretty particular about keeping a healthy body. what goes on it... usually. ♪♪ in it... mostly. even what gets near your body. please please please take that outside. here to meet those high standards is the 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reporter: we are seeing higher prices across the board, housing, rent, buying a new car, food and what's happening behind me at the gas station. we did see prices peak out in march. now the biden administration adding a new ethanol blend to the summer gas mix hoping to bring prices down. most experts think that impact will be minimal. many americans have known for a long time for a long time but now it is official, inspiration is skyrocketing, hitting 8.5% last month, the highest since 1981. a big driver -- gas prices. a new government forecasts predicts they will reach an eight-year high this summer. now, the biden administration is announcing a temporary summertime waiver to allow for the sale of e15, a blend of gas with 15% ethanol. >> even if it's an extra buck or two in the pocket when they fill up will make a difference in people's lives. >> reporter: but it may have a limited impact since only 1.5% of gas stations nationwide actually carry e15. it's not just energy prices that are fueling inflation. food is up 8.8% year over year, the biggest annual increase in 41 years. one expert noting it's costing the average household $327 more per month to purchase the same goods and services as last year. a gallon of milk has climbed 57 cents, eggs 42 cents, a pound of ground beef 49 cents higher. >> everything else is going up to but meat is the biggest price hikes i'm seeing. >> reporter: meanwhile as airlines gear up for the summer season, domestic tickets are averaging 342 round trip, up 35% from last year, fewer seats than before the pandemic and higher jet fuel prices are sending ticket prices soaring. >> you're probably going to pay a little bit more than you would have in the past. so, you know, you need to look to be flexible, potentially consider alternate destinations. >> many economists believe we may have seen inflation peak in march. president biden says this is putin's price hike but many americans not buying that. a new nbc news poll finds 6% of americans are blaming putin for the entire inflation picture. most americans think president biden's policies have played a significant role. >> tom costello reporting there. coming up, al roker's exclusive conversation with former president obama. what he's saying about protecting the planet, his bout with covid and what it was like to be back at the white house. but first, lawsuits, nasty phone calls, even death threats, just what some are election workers are dealing with since the last election. that's next. g with since the la election that's next. open talenti and raise the jar. to gelato made from scratch. raise the jar to all five layers. raise the jar to the best gelato... you've ever tasted. talenti. raise the jar. nothing like a weekend in the woods. it's a good choice all around, like screening for colon cancer... when caught in early stages it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive... and i detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers... even in 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[baby spits out milk] i'll get my onesies®. ♪ “baby one more time” by britney spears ♪ e*trade now from morgan stanley. this morning we're watching a pretty big case being taken up by wisconsin's supreme court. it involves the future of ballot drop boxes in one of the country's most important swing states. this is video from inside the chamber with oral arguments getting started. the latest chapter in a long legal battle in that state, wisconsin is one of many states with activists and allies of donald trump lied about voter fraud. the court is expected to issue a final decision by the end of june. look what's happening in georgia. we're a couple months away there from one of the most closely watched primaries in the country. georgia turned blue in 2020 for president biden and its two senate seats. voters in fulton county were a big reason why. right now fulton county doesn't even have a permanent elections director. blaine alexander is following this for us in georgia. explain why not and how this gets fixed. >> reporter: so, halle, you did a great job of laying out why this matters and why fulton county matters. i spoke with richard baron, he resigned but he didn't hold back when he talked to me. he said whoever it is that steps into this position is going to need thick skin. that's because they are still more than 18 months later dealing with the fallout from 2020. remember of course this is a heavily democratic area, it's where atlanta is located, some 850,000 voters here but it was also a very prominent target of former president trump when he was making his repeated false claims of election fraud. that's still going today. he says in the months and the weeks after that election, they've been getting calls to the call center, calls to election offices, calls to his personal phone with threats, with all sorts of racist language he says being used toward election workers but a slew of open records requests. when you look at the search for this position, there's an interim in place but they have tried and they haven't been able to find someone to fill that position. they announced one finalist. that person withdrew their name within hours after being announced as the lone finalist and now they're starting the final search over. here's what richard told me about what he and his employees faced after 2020. take a look. >> regularly we would get calls about motorcycle gangs coming to kill everyone in the office, asking us if they'd arrived, saying they'll be there within the hour. there were -- the "n" word was thrown around with impunity. there were people who had absolutely -- trump gave them a license to say whatever racist -- ugly racist thoughts they had. >> reporter: mind you, he tells me as recently as a week ago he still is getting nasty emails about the election. another thing that's a factor that he and the commission chairman for fulton county that i spoke with is one of the provisions of georgia's controversial voting law that we've talked so much about, it essentially says that the state can come in and take over counties that they deem to be underperforming. fulton county is part of that under investigation, an investigation was launched into fulton county last august. they believe whoever comes in doesn't want to face that possibility as well. now, it's worth mentioning that of course a very small pool of people who can do this job, especially with a county this size but rick tells me it's not just here, people around the country he's talking to are wanting less and less to step into these types of positions. >> blaine, thank you for that breakdown. appreciate it. >> oklahoma's republic governor wants to outlaw abortion in the state of oklahoma as he signed a bill that makes it a felony to perform an abortion in that state. it will take effect 90 days after the legislature adjourns. anyone convicted could face up to ten years in prison and $100,000 fine. the only exception for an abortion under this law is when it's performed to save the life of the mother. abortion rights advocates say it's all been certain it will face a legal challenge. and coming up, former president obama's exclusive with al roker. what he said about protecting our national resources and the former president's advice to al on being an empty nester. >> well, first tip is you are going to weep copiously when you drop nick off at college but you can't let him see you cry, so you drop him off and then you quickly leave and then you cry in the car. tip number two is you try to bribe them with like nice trips. hey, we're going to hawaii. you guys want to come? ♪ ♪ nice suits, you guys blend right in. the world needs you back. i'm retired greg, you know this. people have their money just sitting around doing nothing... that's bad, they shouldn't do that. they're getting crushed by inflation. well, i feel for them. they're taking financial advice from memes. [baby spits out milk] i'll get my onesies®. ♪ “baby one more time” by britney spears ♪ good to have you back, old friend. yeah, eyes on the road, benny. welcome to a new chapter in investing. [ding] e*trade now from morgan stanley. (cto) ♪ i want the world. ♪ ♪ i want the whole world. ♪ (ceo) ♪ i want today. ♪ ♪ i want tomorrow. ♪ (dispatch) ♪ i want it noooooow! ♪ (vo) get 5g that's ready right now. the united nations warned it's now or never when it comes to global warming. a new report calls this unlivable world. a new post white house chapter of his life, former president obama wants to shed a spotlight on the beauty of our own country. our al roker caught up with him exclusively to talk about it. >> during his eight years thins white house, president obama built a legacy of protecting our planet. he's out with a new netflix series show casing iconic parks. i got to spend time at the ball park in virginia where the former president talked about his new show and life since leaving the office. what's it like being in the national park? >> anytime we get out of the city and we're are among trees and woods and critters, i feel better. >> reporter: for former president barack obama, parks are part of his favorite memories, from his first trip to yellow stone to growing up in hawaii. >> the whole state is practically a national monument. the ocean, the mountains, the forests, that was part of my every day life. >> reporter: now our national parks show cases the spectacular settings. >> this is a journey through the natural wonders of our shared birth right. >> the former president serving as both executive producer and narrator. >> there's nowhere you'll see a hippo in the atlantic ocean. >> reporter: the series not just a feast for the eyes but a lesson on the importance of protecting the parks and their own residents. >> i'm hoping we'll learn why it's so important to deal with issues like climate change that threaten the whole planet. >> we have younger kids, sasha melilla when the younger generation that demands us being better care takers. will people seeing this heed that call? >> i think the generation of our kids are more mindful of how we haven't always taken care of the planet. with climate change effecting everything, they are demanding action. and president obama's been navigating political terrain. and ended up clear. >> it was wonderful to see some of the old team. the fact i could leave was nice. >> vice president biden, vice president -- >> vice president biden joke, were you surprised people were like what's up with that? >> you know, president biden and i have an extraordinary friendship, as well as professional relationship. >> last month mr. obama became one of the more than 80 million who tested positive for covid-19. how you feeling? >> i was fortunate i did not get it until i had been vaccinated. i had been boosted and i barely had symptoms. >> our great national parks premiers on netflix today and the former president is launching the wild for all initiative. encouraging folks to get outside and learn more about conservation. >> nbc's al roker with that story. that does it for me this hour but i'll see you right back here eastern and on our streaming channel for show number two. president biden's sister will join andrea mitchell reports right after this break. are ll reports right after this break ar mmy cliff] this is koli. my foster fail (laughs). when i first started fostering koli i had been giving him kibble. it never looked or felt like real food. but with the farmer's dog you can see the pieces of turkey. it smells like actual food. i saw a difference almost overnight. healthy poops, healthy dog, right? as he's aged, he's still quite energetic and youthful. i really attribute that to diet. you know, he's my buddy. my job is to keep my buddy safe and happy. ♪♪ get started at longlivedogs.com (vo) verizon business unlimited is going ultra! get more. like manny. event planning with our best plan ever. 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