tv At This Hour With Kate Bolduan CNN July 14, 2021 8:00am-9:00am PDT
8:00 am
get me xfi pronto. that was fast. yep. now we just self-install. and we're back baby. do more of what you love when you upgrade to xfinity xfi. baby ninjas? i love it. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy for an immediate cash payment. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies. hello everyone. i'm kate bolduan. here is what we're watching at this hour. massive budget deal. president biden heads to capitol hill after senate democrats
8:01 am
announce plans for a huge spending package. what this means for biden's big push to get republicans on board. going in the wrong direction. unvaccinated americans are fueling a big spike in new cases and hospitalizations while millions still refuse to get the vaccine that could save their lives. kidnapping plot on american soil. federal prosecutors charge iranian agents with a wild plan to abduct a journalist in new york. new reaction is coming in from tehran. thanks for being here. we begin this hour with major developments on capitol hill. senate democrats reaching agreement on a massive $3.5 trillion budget package, paving the way to pour federal resources into many of joe biden's top priorities, from expanding the child tax credit to offering paid medical leave to addressing climate change. there's clearly much more. in the next hour president biden will head to capitol hill to
8:02 am
meet with senate democrats about it. all of this comes as the president is getting together today as well with a bipartisan group of governors and mayors from across the country to continue his push for a massive infrastructure deal. a lot going on. cnn's lauren fox is live on capitol hill. she's joining me now. lauren, what is in this new budget deal that they just announced? >> look, this is really the first step. democrats trying to cement the president's agenda items here. this broader package, this budget outline is expected to include other changes as well. it's not just traditional infrastructure like roads and bridges. but democrats also announced last night that they want to recreate some very fundamental government programs including medicare. they want to now expand medicare so individuals would have access to vision coverage and dental coverage. we also expect this plan might open the door for democrats to try to make some immigration changes as part of this broader infrastructure push. now, there's some moving dynamics here.
8:03 am
remember, democrats for this stand-alone, democratic-only bill will need to have complete unity among their caucus. right now there's question whether they can do that. senator joe manchin told my colleague manu raju that he was looking over the proposal and he wants to understand more about how it's going to be paid for. we're also trying to hear from republicans. remember, kate, there's that bipartisan infrastructure proposal moving through the senate as well. the question is whether or not this democratic-only proposal will get in the way some of of those republican votes that the bipartisan senators are counting on to get their proposal over the finish line. there's a lot of moving parts. that's why we expect the president will come to capitol hill to try to make the case for why this two-track proposal is still the best way forward. >> lauren, thank you so much. a busy day on capitol hill. joining me is cnn political commentator errol louis, the
8:04 am
political director. also with us, nia-malika henderson. nia, this deal, one part of a two-partner, if you will, came out last night. biden heading over to meet with senate democrats today. as lauren lays out, this is a long way from the finish line. how do they get there? is it clear to you? >> it isn't clear. senator chuck schumer has been very ambitious saying he wants this essentially wrapped up before a recess in the first week of august, august 6th. that's incredibly ambitious and unlikely. if you're a democrat, you feel good about where things are right now. they've reached an agreement, not only a bipartisan agreement about this reconciliation agreement. there were so many complaints from progressives about whether or not they would get their wish list. obviously in the bipartisan deal, that's a slimmed-down version of what progressive democrats wanted.
8:05 am
in this new reconciliation package, i imagine a lot of those progressives that were worried are quite happy. bernie sanders among them, who started out wanting a $6 trillion package. this is much smaller. he's expressed real confidence in this. so many more days and nights to go to see if this thing actually crosses the finish line. i think you have to look at 2022 when you think about this. democrats want a deliverable to voters. they need something to run on. biden, he wants a legacy item. if you think about the past presidents, obama got one big deal with obamacare and trump got one big deal with those tax cuts. this is joe biden's one big shot at some massive piece of legislation that will, quite frankly, change the way people live in this country. a lot stronger safety net, changes to medicare as well as some things to do with climate as well. this is a real progressive dream. we'll see if it happens.
8:06 am
>> the second part of this errol is, yes, this is a deal among democrats. at the same time you have these bipartisan -- this bipartisan effort to reach this big infrastructure deal. that big push is also reaching a critical point this week. they've set themselves a deadline to see if they can reach a deal there. i'm curious -- when none of this is in a vacuum, as nia points out with 2022 in the backdrop, do you see this budget deal as helping the bipartisan effort on infrastructure or getting in the way? >> i think it sets a trap for the republicans, to be honest with you. the democrats, if they can get it together, will have scored a major victory. >> that's the key question, if the democrats can get it together. >> if they can get it together. but i suspect they will. that's why the president will meet with the conference today. keep in mind, like you said,
8:07 am
this is all of a piece. one thing happening this week, talking about a major legacy item, the child tax credits are going to start to flow as early as tomorrow for millions and millions of households. $300 per month per child. in some categories $250 per child per month. it's estimated it could lift almost half of all poor children out of poverty. that's a pretty big deal. that's something democrats can and will take credit for. they have to make it work properly, of course. if they do that, if they can arrive at an gremtagreement on $3.5 trillion deal, it will put republicans so far back on their heels, they'll have no choice than to do the ordinary looking roads and bridges bill that the president has been pushing for. if they want to run next year to say they were against dental and vision for seniors an against lifting children out of poverty, and against repairing roads and
8:08 am
bridges, good luck to them. i think this is sort of a power play by the president and by the democrats. we'll see if they can pull it off. >> nia, president biden on voting rights, calling it the test of our time in that speech yesterday, slamming very directly the former president and republicans that have been following the former president over election lies saying the peddlers of lies are threatening the very foundation of our country. just a few moments ago, senator mitch mcconnell, the top republican in the senate, reresponded to some of what joe biden said in that speech. we're having a technical challenge in getting it cut. i want to read it because it's important what he said. he said this is our new president who promised to lower the temperature, bring america back together and rebuild a civil society where we can dialogue as fellow citizens. that's the person who is now yelling that mainstream state laws are more dangerous than two world wars, more dangerous than
8:09 am
poll tests and actual jim crow segregation and somehow analogous to the civil war. that's what the president of the united states said yesterday. what utter nonsense, mcconnell says. it would be laugh-out-loud funny if it wasn't so completely and totally irresponsible. wow. >> wow indeed. i keep thinking about joe manchin as you were reading that. his concern about pushing through a voting rights bill is that it would lead to more division. you have mitch mcconnell there saying he feels like joe biden's language was division around voting rights. democrats, of course, look at that and say that is mitch mcconnell. democrats obviously know where he has been and where republicans have been all along on this issue. the big question still remains, the filibuster and what joe manchin would do on the filibuster. he has been steadfast in saying he doesn't want to have a sort of special carveout on voting rights on the way they did with
8:10 am
judicial appointments as well as cabinet officials in 2013 and 2017. that's been the big question. you saw joe biden, he's remained silent on the filibuster, essentially not wanting to come out and say it should be scrapped, a special carve-out for voting rights. you have democrats wanting him to do more. they were pleased with his speech. a lot of progressives still want him to use the filibuster word, right, and push joe manchin along and prod him to up end the filibuster when it comes to voting rights. if it's this serious, if he's using this language about the civil war, everything needs to be done to prevent something like the civil war, then why isn't he coming out against the filibuster in this instance? >> one thing seems clear, the voting rights bill is going nowhere in the senate, as you heard from mitch mcconnell. also, the audience wasn't mitch mckwonl yesterday. the audience was america, folks out there watching the speech at
8:11 am
home, not mitch mcconnell standing in the senate. great to see you guys. thank you. president joe biden will join don lemon for an exclusive cnn presidential town hall next wednesday night 8:00 p.m. only here on cnn. there's more evidence today, folks, that unvaccinated americans are fueling a surge of coronavirus here in the united states. 46 states are now reporting a significant rise in new cases. you've become very familiar with this map. this map just a few weeks ago was essentially all green because the country was all headed in the right direction. no longer. the number of new cases of coronavirus is soaring, up nearly 60% nationwide compared to a week before. the number of people sick enough with covid to need hospital care is up nearly 21% in the last two weeks. the number of people dying is rising once again. experts say more than 99% of covid deaths in june were among
8:12 am
unvaccinated people. the former fda commissioner scott gottlieb is once again warning it's going to get worse. >> the delta variant is going to move its way through the country over the course of august and september, maybe into october. that's what the modeling shows. that's what we expected, that the peak of this epidemic would be sometime around the end of september, back-to-school season. that seems to be what is happening. unfortunately the worst is yet to come. >> cnn's leyla santiago is like in miami, florida, where the epidemic is also getting worse. layla. >> reporter: here at the jackson health system, they saw the number of covid patients they've treated double over the last month. they're seeing patients that are younger, in that 30 to 40 age bracket. one florida epidemiologist explained it like this. he said, look, the numbers have doubled over the last few weeks,
8:13 am
so have the percentages of people testing positive, while the number of people getting vaccinated gradually decreases. one infectious disease expert told me that's a big problem because what we have right now are a lot of unvaccinated people following the cdc guidelines. that's the big issue in the rise in cases we're seeing. here is what else she had to say. >> if we don't heed the fact that people need to be more cautious than what they're being right now, we're going to see more deaths, more cases and a lot more long covid which is what's really, really troubling for the younger population. >> reporter: there you go. you have two medical experts telling you the same thing. if things don't change, they will get worse. here in the state of florida, roughly 47% of the residents here that are vaccinated. so i did reach out to the governor's office to ask if
8:14 am
there's any sort of plan to change the approach or any new measures that will go in place. the governor's office telling me this morning that no closures are being planned. in fact, he has ruled out the possibility of any lockdown. >> leyla, thank you for that reporting. coming up for us, arkansas saw the single biggest one-day jump since february. the state has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. the mayor joins us to talk about what has gone so wrong. that's next. ucing new dove hand, with 5 x moisturizer blend. removes germs in seconds, moisturizes for hours. soft, smooth. new dove handwash. [sizzling] i may not be able to tell time, but i know what time it is. [whispering] it's grilled cheese o'clock.
8:15 am
if you have this... consider adding this. an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan from unitedhealthcare. medicare supplement plans help by paying some of what medicare doesn't... and let you see any doctor. any specialist. anywhere in the u.s. who accepts medicare patients. so if you have this... consider adding this. call unitedhealthcare today for your free decision guide. ♪ (foreign language) (child crying) - [narrator] when fatima arrived at a local hospital, sick and malnourished, she was too weak to even stand. but with urgent medical treatment and nutritious food this is fatima just days later. that's how fast a child can recover from severe malnutrition and sickness if they receive the nutrition, medicine and care they need in time. for only $10 a month, just 33 cents a day
8:16 am
you can help children like fatima and change their lives. the need to help is more urgent than ever before and we need your help to give children their best chance at life. since drought forced them to leave their home this is the land where fatima's family now lives. but with help from monthly partners like you parents all over the world are transforming their land, their lives and their children's futures. when you join us as a monthly partner today you'll help ensure that parents can give their children the food, medicine, care and protection they need. so please call or go online to givetosave.org with your gift of $10 a month, just 33 cents a day. and when you use your credit card you'll receive this special save the children tote bag to show you're joining thousands of other caring people who are changing children's lives. and thanks to special government grants that are available now, every dollar you give can have up to 10 times in impact
8:17 am
to help children grow and thrive. the difference you will make for children like fatima is priceless. (foreign language) imagine how special your support will mean to children and families who benefit from your kindness to know that someone like you from halfway across the world cares. so please call or go online to givetosave.org to help save lives. [beeping] [ringing] ♪ ♪ ♪
8:18 am
♪ you bring your best. we'll block the threats. ♪ cyberprotection for every one. malwarebytes [♪] cooking and eating at home more often means food odors get trapped in your home's fabrics and released back into the air so you smell last night's dinner the next morning. for an easy way to keep your whole home smelling fresh try febreze fabric refresher. febreze's water-based formula deeply penetrates fabrics to eliminate trapped food odors as it dries. spray febreze fabric refresher when you clean up after meals to ensure your entire home smells fresh and clean. try febreze fabric refresher. brand power. helping you buy better. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy for an immediate cash payment. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies.
8:19 am
demands renewed focus today. tuesday it reported the biggest one-day jump in covid cases in five months. arkansas has one of the lowest vaccine rates in country. only about one-third of eligible residents are fully vaccinated right now, well behind many other states that are north of 50% at this point. new cases in arkansas are up nearly 150% in just the last two weeks. the number of people hospitalized because of covid has jumped 65% in the same period. in summary, arkansas has a real problem right now. let's go there. joining us the mayor of little rock, arkansas, frank scott jr. mayor, thank you for being here. i just laid out a lot of numbers and a lot of graphics saying
8:20 am
things are not going in the right direction. they're going in the wrong direction in your state. can you tell us what that looks like in your city right now? >> little rock being the state's capital city, most populated, most diverse. we're about 40%. that's pretty high compared to other cities in the state of arkansas. clearly we have so much more work to do. it makes no sense that we're not north of 50 by now. it's been due a lot due to misinformation, conspiracy theories and, quite frankly, it's disappointing and disheartening that we're literally seeing lives lost due to those not getting vaxed. it saves not only your life but your loved ones. me being someone who loved a loved one to covid, i know how serious it is and we need to get it done. >> you talk about misinformation
8:21 am
and conspiracy theories. what are the reasons you've heard and are hearing from people about why they're resisting getting a shot? >> being a black man, in both the black and brown communities there's a lot of mistrust as relates to the tuskegee airmen when there were issues with that type of test. and also the hila cells. i've take intime to get the research, share the facts and also take the test myself. you're talking someone who had never taken a flu shot before just because it's not something i wanted to do. i had to lead by example and take stock of the lives of our residents and be out front and aggressive as relates to proactive measures to ensure we get out of this pandemic. one of those most essential corrective measures is make sure we all get vaxed and putting on a mask as well. we want to ensure we continue to
8:22 am
move out of this pandemic, and the best way to do it is to get vaccinated. >> mayor, you've just explained and an important aspect of this, your personal experience, your personal journey, your initial res tanks but also knowing you wanted to lead by example. what did your personal experience teach you about how to successfully convince others to get vaccinated? i'll tell you, i come from a small town in indiana. hearing from federal officials speaking from washington is not convincing many people in the middle of the country or especially in the south, that they should be getting a vaccine. >> from a personal experience standpoint, i think it takes not solely elected officials being the messenger, but having real people, residents, community leaders that are not only on tv, on the radio, but really going door to door and sharing with residents, these are the real concerns. this is what happens when you do obtain the covid-19 issue and
8:23 am
what can happen as far as those downstream ripple effects. i think those one-on-one conversations truly has been hel helpful, but engaging our community leaders as well. the more we do that, that's where we've seen an increase in knows accepting the vac nation moving forward. you have loved ones dying, and particularly those with health care issues. we've seen how covid-19 exasperates those issues as well. we want to continue to show those real stories as we continue to communicate, whether social media, radio, tv, door-to-door conversations. >> mayor, thank you for coming on and spreading the message. appreciate it. >> thank you so much. coming up for us, she thought she was safe in the united states but now is revealing she was the intended target of a wild kidnapping plot. four iranians were just charged. a live report ahead. hey ride. when the road is all you need, there is no destination.
8:24 am
uh, i-i'm actually just going to get an iced coffee. well, she may have a destination this one time, but usually -- no, i-i usually have a destination. yeah, but most of the time, her destination is freedom. nope, just the coffee shop. announcer: no matter why you ride, progressive has you covered with protection starting at $79 a year. voiceover: 'cause she's a biker... please don't follow me in. (realtor) the previous owners left in a hurry, so the house comes with everything you see. follow me. ♪ (realtor) so, any questions? (wife) we'll take it! (realtor) great. (vo) it will haunt your senses. the heart-pounding audi suv family. get exceptional offers at your local audi dealer. - [announcer] dearest smoke shacks, defenders of the dry rub. thank you for giving your all to a 20-pound hunk of brisket.
8:25 am
whatever you serve, we'll proudly deliver it. (bike rattling) (pleasant piano music) if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, little things can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ♪ ♪ otezla. show more of you.
8:28 am
8:29 am
federal prosecutors have charged four iranians in an alleged plot against an iranian-american who is an outspoken critic of the regime in tehran. the four suspects remain at large this morning. but what they were planning is shocking. cnn's brynn gingras is joining me with the details on this. >> reporter: there's a fifth person of iranian descent living in california. she's already been arrested. she's the only one so far of all five. she has pleaded not guilty to the charges she faces. like you said, those four men, iranian intelligence agents essentially part of this plot according to the united states attorneys in the southern district of new york. they allege that this really started in 2018 when the iranian government went to the family members living in iran of this american journalist and tried to pay them to lure her out of the country and back to iran. when that plan didn't work, it picked back up in 2020 according
8:30 am
to this indictment where these iranian intelligence officers hired an american private investigator under a guise that they basically were trying to find someone who owed debts and asked that person to get all of the surveillance, the photographs they could, not only on this journalist, but of her family, of strangers visiting her home, traces all around her brooklyn area where she lived. in addition to that, according to this indictment, they even researched how they were going to bring her to the brooklyn waterfront and get into a military-like speed boat that could bring her to venezuela, to ultimately, what's believed, to bring her back to iran. serious plot in this 43-page indictment. she was on "new day" talking to john berman. the u.s. attorney didn't name her in this indictment, but she says she was the target. take a listen. >> the fbi came to my house like
8:31 am
eight months ago. they were telling me that this house is not safe for you. i was like you must be kidding me? i receive daily death threats. what's new? i'm here in america. they cannot do anything. then when they showed me the photos of my private life with my husband, my stepchildren, my beautiful garden in brooklyn, i was like, wow. >> alinejad is an activist who speaks out against the iranian government particularly on social media. the government saying that this is just something that the united states has undertaken as a hollywood scenario, denying all of it. the state department released a statement saying they stand up to iran's human rights abuses and support those who are both here and in iran. we are expecting more at a press conference later today from the state department. >> brynn, thank you so much for that reporting. turning now to haiti, new
8:32 am
details on the american citizens accused of orchestrating the assassination of that country's president. today marks one week since the president of haiti was killed and his wife critically wounded in an attack by a hit squad. cnn's mad rivers is live in port-au-prince, haiti, live once again. what are you learning about what this key figure is telling police? >> reporter: kate, we spent the day yesterday trying to get a better idea of who this man is, what his response to police has been. we have a government source here in port-au-prince who is very aware of this man, christian emanuel sanon is telling investigators. he's saying he's 100% innocent, he didn't orchestrate it, hi doesnd know these colombian hit men, he had no idea there was all this ammunition in the house he was staying in. he's saying he's innocent. let's tell viewers about who he
8:33 am
is. sanon is 63 years old, accused of basically orchestrating all this, recruiting and organizing on the island this hit squad accused of killing the president. his background, he's a traveling christian pastor with a medical background. he has a license to practice medicine in haiti. he's worked with a florida-based charity group over the years. he's one of three americans detained in this case. i want to play a sound bite from a 2011 youtube clip where he talks critically about the haitian government. >> where is the leadership of haiti? nowhere to be found. you know why? because they're corrupt. >> reporter: now, that is sanon. we know there are ten other haitians officially added to the suspect list. that brings the total number of suspects in this case to 39. >> matt, thank you. continue to bring great reporting around this. thank you very much.
8:34 am
still ahead for us. america's infrastructure is crumbling and america's mayors have a message for president biden. two mayors from two different parties who are meeting with the president today join us next. ind over 145 years ago and me...the world's best, and possibly only, schmelier. philadelphia. schmear perfection. ♪ maybe i didn't love you ♪ ( ♪ ) ♪ quite as often as i could have ♪ we're delivering for the earth. by investing in more electric vehicles, reusable packaging, and carbon capture research. making earth our priority. i thought i'd seen it all. ( ♪ ) listerine® cleans virtually 100%. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath.
8:35 am
never settle for 25%. always go for 100. bring out the bold™ we're carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand-new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old. we wanna buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate answer a few questions. and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot and pick up your car, that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way at carvana. do you struggle with occasional nerve aches, weakness or discomfort in your hands or feet? introducing nervive nerve relief from the world's number 1 selling nerve care company. as we age, natural changes to our nerves occur which can lead to occasional discomfort. nervive contains b complex vitamins that nourish nerves, build nerve insulation and enhance nerve communication.
8:36 am
and, alpha-lipoic acid, which relieves occasional nerve aches, weakness and discomfort. live your life with less nerve discomfort with nervive nerve relief. with less moderate-to-severe eczema why hide your skin if you can help heal your skin from within. with dupixent adults saw long-lasting, clearer skin and significantly less itch. don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. serious allergic reactions can occur including anaphylaxis, which is severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems,
8:37 am
such as eye pain or vision changes, or a parasitic infection. if you take asthma medicines don't change or stop them without talking to your doctor. talk to your doctor about dupixent. only 6% of us retail businesses have a black owner. that needs to change. so, i did something. i created a black business accelerator at amazon. and now we have a program that's dedicated to making tomorrow a better day for black businesses. ♪ ♪ i am tiffany. and this is just the beginning. ♪ ♪ when subway® opened they changed the fast food game. but sometimes you gotta refresh ...to be fresh. welcome to the eat fresh refresh. refresh where there is so much new, some say that it can't fit in one ad. i say... ...we're talking a new all-american club, deli-style oven-roasted turkey and... oh, that's the new steak & cheese. oh yeah, i knew that. that's the one with the new... ...seasoning.
8:38 am
8:39 am
welcome back. in just hours president biden will be meeting with a bipartisan group of governors and mayors at the white house. the focus will be on one of biden's top priorities, infrastructure, and what exactly cities across america need. joining me now are two of the mayors meeting with the president today. democratic mayor of dayton, ohio, nan wailly and republican mayor of oklahoma city, daift hospital mayor waley, what is your message when you sit down with the president today. >> yesterday we released 369 mayors from all 50 states plus the district of columbia signed a letter to say we need to get this done and we need to make sure we have local control on infrastructure, but we want to be in partnership from the bipartisan plan. really the only place we see bipartisanship happening
8:40 am
regularly is in america's cities and with mayors. today the message we want to bring to the white house is we stand in partnership ready to move and take action to see infrastructure actually get digging in america's cities. >> mayor holt, one thing that republicans in congress are balking at is how to pay for this. as a republican mayor of a big c city, what do you say to republicans in congress who aren't going for this yet? >> well, i want to be careful to draw the distinction. mayor whaley alluded to a letter yesterday. that's in support of the bipartisan framework. that's what we have consensus on. the plan for that seems to have bipartisan support, at least in the senate so far. there's discussions about tax policy, but those tend to relate more to the other portion of this infrastructure discussion. we're really focused on this part that seems to have bipartisan support and seems to have legs. i think as mayors, we're kind of
8:41 am
tired of talking about it for the last ten years. it's crossed multiple administrations that we've been in this endless infrastructure week. we want to see it come to an end and get something done. this feels like -- this bipartisan framework for infrastructure seems like the closest thing. it doesn't have as much controversy about payment, and it seems to have a lot of consensus in congress and around the country. we want to try to push it across the finish line so something finally gets down on infrastructure. >> i will say i have heard from a couple of republican senators, when it comes to these pay-fors, as they say in the senate, they're still not there yet. not that they won't get there, but they're not there quite yet. mayor whaley, when we talk about the dollar amounts in this deal, $1.2 trillion over eight years, $109 billion for projects on roads an bridges, your eyes glaze over. what specifically do you need this money for in dayton? >> well, i think really simple things that you talk about when
8:42 am
you think about the word infrastructure to mayors, it's about roads, it's about bridges. it's also about the infrastructure that we don't necessarily see when we're talking about water and wastewater and sewer lines, that across america, cities need this investment. in ohio we have a bridge that takes you from ohio to kentucky, that's been covered over and over again in all these weeks that mayor holt was talking about, fix the bridge so ohio and kentucky can move logistics across the ohio river. that's the kind of stuff we're talking about. it needs to happen. but also for cities, we need good broadband. we've seen in this pandemic what that means for schoolchildren and for people doing their jobs. so all of this is the infrastructure that's really important to america's cities. >> mayor holt, broaden this out to the economic recovery after the pandemic. oklahoma city was in a unique position. before the pandemic your city had the lowest unemployment in
8:43 am
the country. now, what did the pandemic do and what does the road to recovery look like? >> thank you for pointing that out. we were in a great position entering the pandemic. our last three sales tax checks are the three largest in oklahoma city history. it seems like we're booming right now and we picked up where we left off, but absolutely, greater infrastructure is integral to the future of our city's growth. i'm attracted to the portion of this bipartisan infrastructure framework that's got transit in it, for example. we're a southwest city, city largely built around the automobile. we do the best we can with what we put into transit, but we'd sure love to have the partnership of the federal government to make a better public transit systemment passenger rail, we don't go north. we don't connect to kansas and the rest of the amtrak network in the united states. we had it better in 1889.
8:44 am
those are the things attractive to me as well as the roads, bridges, all part of the bipartisan framework. all this helps us move into this post pandemic chapter in oklahoma city's history. >> you guys are doing something hard to come by, bipartisan cooperation and the spirit of let's find a way to get it done. don't start at no, let's start and yes and figure out a way, which is an important thing to celebrate and highlight. thank you both very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. mayors get things done. >> that's right. >> he's not an unbiased opinion right there. thank you very much. up next, new plans to evacuate afghans who helped the u.s. military. breaking news coming up. , gary. and for unexpected heartburn... frank is a fan of pepcid. it works in minutes. nexium 24 hour and prilosec otc can take one to four days to fully work. pepcid. strong relief for fans of fast. we do it every night.
8:45 am
do it. run your dishwasher with cascade platinum to save water & energy. certified dishwashers use less than 4 gallons of water per cycle. and you can also save up to $130 dollars per year on your energy bill. cascade platinum what makes new salonpas arthritis gel so good for arthritis pain? salonpas contains the most prescribed topical pain relief ingredient. it's clinically proven, reduces inflammation and comes in original prescription strength. salonpas. it's good medicine.
8:49 am
some breaking news coming d in. the biden administration just announced it will have evacuation flights for afghans soon. >> reporter: there are many potential adverse outcomes from the afghan people from the withdrawal of american troops that president biden is undertaking now after 20 years of war in afghanistan. but one of the worst and most indefensible from an american point of view would be deadly
8:50 am
retribution against afghans who assisted the u.s. military during that long conflict that from a u.s. perspective is being brought to an end. there are about 18,000 of those people and president biden has committed to relocating those people as much as possible out of afghanistan. there is a special immigrant visa process for them to come to the united states, but while the troop drawdown is underway and the taliban is making gains and there's increased danger of full-blown civil war, the administration is now launching operational lies refuge. the last week of this month they're going to begin flights out of afghanistan, not saying where those flights are going in the meantime while those visa applicants are in the pipeline, but that process is beginning with bipartisan support from members of congress and the biden administration. we will see if logistically they can execute the evacuation of all 18,000 of those people who
8:51 am
assisted, interpreters, aides to the u.s. military and so forth. >> critical to the u.s. mission there and this is a critical move now by the white house. coming up for us, a notorious ransomware group responsible for cyber attacks here in the united states has vanished. where did they go and why this may not be good news. hurry, so the house comes with everything you see. follow me. ♪ (realtor) so, any questions? (wife) we'll take it! (realtor) great. (vo) it will haunt your senses. the heart-pounding audi suv family. get exceptional offers at your local audi dealer.
8:56 am
there's a strange mystery unfolding in the dark corners of the internet right now. a well-known russian cyber criminal gang responsible for the ransomware attack that shut down one of america's last largest beef producers just last month has simply vanished. experts consider it one of the most prolific ransom attackers in the world, which makes it all the more surprising that overnight it suddenly disappeared. david, what is the leading theory on why they went dark? >> there are basically three. you'll remember that it had been the source of pretty tense conversation between president biden and vladimir putin just a week ago, last friday. they had done a fairly sophisticated attack. this is a big group known for handling about a quarter of all of the big ransomware attacks
8:57 am
that we have seen. so president biden said either you have to deal with this or i will. option number one is the u.s. did it. and they may have, although we have reason to believe the u.s. was still giving russia some time. the second possibility is the russians did it, and the third possibility is they just sort of packed up and went home. my guess is that right now the russians went to them and said this would be a really great time to take a vacation for 6 or 8 weeks, go to the beach. if you need to reconvene in the fall, you can figure out a way to do it then. >> david, i mean, one would think on a superficial level like ransomware group has gone dark, good news. is it necessarily that? >> it's good news unless you just got attacked by them and you were in the middle of negotiating to get your data unlocked. in fact, there are hundreds of companies, we think, mostly
8:58 am
smaller ones, that were victims of this most recent attack. i talked yesterday to someone who was godoing a negotiating o behalf of a law firm and negotiating how much they would pay in bitcoin to get the code to unlock their data, and then all of a sudden the group went dark. if your data is locked up, you're not likely to be in contact with them any time soon. you could be out of business or at least without that data. >> the biden administration has been working on ransomware str str strategy. how do you think this impacts that? >> a new cyber strategy has to have a couple of major elements. one of them is just better defense. we discovered that while large banks and utilities are good and focused on this, a lot of smaller enterprises don't. the second thing is better resiliency.
8:59 am
if you are hit, do you have your data backed up? if you have it offline somewhere else, you don't have to pay a ransom. you have a full copy of it. then the third thing is what is the u.s. strategy to go after these groups? is it sort of like what we do with terror groups or drug cartels where we go in over foreign borders to ident, hopefy with the help of the local government, but not necessarily? and how do you convince the russians themselves to crack down on these groups. how do you differ it from the state sponsored groups in russia that messed around with the election but also was responsible for a very big hack of american companies and federal agencies just in december. >> now we can sit and wait and watch to see how long this group is on the sidelines maybe on their beach vacation or they might be gone for good.
9:00 am
it sounds like this is clearly not over. >> they'll be back. they may just be back with a different name. >> different name, just as dangerous. good to see you, david. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> great reporting as always. thank you all so much for joining us. "inside politics" with john king starts right now. ♪ hello and welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king in washington. testing time for the biden agenda and democratic unity. senators make a deal on a $3.5 trillion in new spending. this hour, president biden heads to capitol hill to begin a giant sales challenge. >> this budget resolution will allow us to pass the most significant legislation to expand support and help american families since the new deal. plus, a new and ex
104 Views
Uploaded by TV Archive on
