millions more americans are under stay at home orders this morning including almost all of california under some form of shutdown with medical experts coast to coast warning hospitals are nearly at a breaking point. a new record high for hospitalizations, but the help the world is waiting for looks like it's just around the corner for some people. we're going to london for the word on the first vaccines about to begin. as the surgeon general puts it into perspective. >> hang on a little bit longer.

we have vaccines longer, but we want as many people to be alive to get them as possible. >> we're learning who the next president wants to help lead the way out. javier becerra, and rudy giuliani h-- -- rudy giuliani tested positive for covid-19. the trump pledging the legal fight will go on with another setback today. that scathing response from georgia's republican governor about pressure for state lawmakers to overturn election results. a lot to get to on this monday morning. i'm hallie jackson joined by jake ward, mike memoli, monica alba and richard engel. jake, right now you have most californians, something like 85% of them being told to stay home unless it's absolutely necessary, and the biggest concern here, hospitals running

out of space all throughout the state. >> that's right. 33 million californians are under some form of lockdown order at this hour. and that is because as you say, icu capacity is in danger across the state. anywhere from 10% in southern california. that's the capacity number down there. up to about 24% in the northern most portion of the state. here in the san francisco bay area where i am, five counties have decided to go ahead and voluntarily self-impose a shutdown in order to get out in front of this. now, some places like san francisco say they have the capacity for a surge if it comes. but another county like sonoma below 5%. that's a matter of trying to get in front of what health officials say could be a disastrous thing for this state of 40 million people. across the state, the question

becomes how will this get sorted out? at this point restaurants, bars, wineries are for the most part closed. only delivery and takeout allowed. playgrounds are closed and all nonessential businesses. this is chinatown in san francisco. it is absolutely shut down. and many of these businesses may never come back. so tremendous business worry around this. that said, the icu capacity is really the only thing that matters fundamentally. if we run out of that, we run out of any chance at defeating this thing. >> mike, you're in wilmington. what's reinforcing the significance is the announcement from president-elect biden on his health team picks making moves including nanling somebody he wants to be the new hhs secretary. sell us about what you're hearing from sources and the reaction so far. >> reporter: hallie, this pick of javier becerra is something

of a departure from what we've seen in the cabinet announcements so tar. you look at others for the state department and dhs, deputy secretaries in the obama administration. then janet yellen at treasury. she's held about every major position in the treasury department in the financial sector that you could have. javier bbecerra, not somebody wo is seen as a particular health one, per se. but the biden team is saying it's his previous job and his current job that brings specific set of skills to this. one in congress over 12 terms he was in congress when the affordable care act was passed and part of congressional leadership. he brings the relationships so important in the federal government and as the california attorney general he was one of the chief defenders of the affordable care act as it was facing legal challenges from the trump administration from other republican attorneys general across the country and working in california to help bring

health costs down using his position there to do that. the other thing that's been critical and we've been talking about in the last week, the increased pressure on the biden team to diversify the cabinet. he brings that as well. he'd be the first latino to lead hhs, and we expect biden to meet with civil rights groups who want to see african americans in some of the big cabinet positions as well. >> the pandemic is also affecting the white house in a significant way with the president's top personal attorney not at the white house, but the person who has been running his legal fight, rudy giuliani testing positive. we've seen giuliani for i think the last several days or last week we saw him traveling to different states appearing frequently without a mask. what's the latest here? >> reporter: exactly. he has been hospitalized at a georgetown university hospital over the weekend. we're told he's experiencing mild symptoms. but he issued a tweet overnight saying he's receiving great care and feeling great.

his son, andrew, who also contracted coronavirus a few weeks ago says his father is also doing well and resting comfortably. rudy giuliani is the 53rd person in the president's orbit, this includes white house aides, campaign officials, outside advisers, to test positive for co-vid since october 1st back when the president and the first lady were dig noticed with the coronavirus. it shows you how many dozens of people who interact with the president have been exposed to and contracted this virus. you mentioned giuliani was traveling extensively. he had been in three battle ground states. rarely, if ever, wearing a mask. and also in indoor gatherings and events where he was also asking others to remove their mask if they felt comfortable. so there are questions now about how he's doing, what kind of treatment he's receiving. the former new york city mayor is 76 years old. it's possible he might be getting something similar to what the president had when he

was at walter reed which would be an antibody cocktail. regeneron has been fda approved. we're seeing if that's something he's getting. it's the latest example where for the last eight weeks and beyond we have seemed to learn a new person close to the president who has contracted the coronavirus, rudy giuliani, is just the latest in a string of them. >> you also have this focus from the trump administration from the in-coming biden administration on a vaccine. that is what everybody is looking for. and richard, where you are in london, the first vaccines are arriving. it is a milestone moment, but it doesn't come without some questions as to how it gets put into action and is distributed to the people who need it the most. >> so all day today they have been practicing in hospitals here. they know that this is an important event for public health, but also for the image of the country for the confidence of people around the world. if they are able to do this

distribution smoothly, it will certainly be an encouragement for other nations that are looking at this country as an example. they have received about 800,000 doses so far. they are being treated as extremely valuable commodities. in fact, interpoll has warned that these vaccines could get stolen along the way or copied and counterfeited and sold on the black market. there's even talk of using the military here to transport some of the vaccines and bring them into the country. so they are treated as a very precious commodity. hospitals have been training to use them. the storage is a major issue. 50 hospitals have been chosen as initial vaccination centers. the reason they were chosen is because they have these ultra cold storage facilities that the pfizer vaccine requires. the rollout begins early tomorrow morning. there is a patient alpha that has been chosen. that patient will be the center

of attention here tomorrow. but there are questions in this country and around the world. are these vaccines safe? there are people who wonder will it change their molecular structure? should they wait until the first few people take it? well, that's a bit of a theoretical question. as of tomorrow, the only people who are going to be allowed to be accessing this vaccine are people who are over 80, frontline health care workers, or those who live in care homes for the elderly. but to address some of those public confidence questions, there are reports in the british media the queen may be among the first to take not necessarily tomorrow but among the early stages of receiving the vaccine herself. no confirmation from buckingham palace but also no denial either. >> that is interesting. and richard, it syncs with what we've seen from former u.s. presidents saying they would publicly get the vaccine to

build up confidence and trust in americans. thank you all for being with us. we're going to have more on the pandemic ahead including a consequential week in this country for the vaccine. plus a year-long investigation into the mysterious illnesses affecting dozens of u.s. diplomats stationed around the world. andrea mitchel has new details including her interview with a veteran cia officer still suffering three years later. sti suffering three years later. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home.

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i want to be frank to the american people. the vaccine is critical. but it's not going to save us from this current surge. only we can save us from this current surge. >> that, of course, is white house coronavirus task force coordinator dr. deborah birx warning us not to let our guard down even with the vaccine news. adding this winter is probably the most trying event in u.s. history. hospital systems are straining to keep up with new cases. i want to bring in katie beck in birmingham, alabama, and kathy bark parks in worcester, massachusetts. >> reporter: not only the highest co-vid rate in the state of alabama here, but the state of alabama itself is one of the

highest positivity rates in the country. their positive rate in alabama is at 36%. that means roughly one in every three people being tested is getting a positive result. those are numbers that for medical experts are trending in the wrong direction. they're hoping to keep the positivity rates below 5%. so right now there is a massive strain on the medical systems here in alabama as they call this a crisis. but it's far from over. and what they're most concerned about is where these numbers will trend in coming weeks. they say what we're seeing in terms of the surge is a direct result from thanksgiving gatherings as they predicted. they thought the numbers would jump you have after the thanksgiving holidays and as they said they would, the numbers are surging. their big concern is we're going right into the christmas holiday and between christmas and new year's, there will be another surge. so what kind of impact will that have on hospitals? will it overwhelm them in terms

of bed capacity? in terms of shortages of medication and most importantly, in terms of staff that the staff here has been dealing with this pandemic for months. they are, in fact, worried about exhaustion and burnout rates among people that have been treating co-vid patients and are now seeing sort of another high when they were expecting perhaps to hopefully see the numbers on the decline at this point. medical experts here in alabama say they are bryce -- bracing for the worst. they're keeping a close eye on everything. last week alone alabama saw more new cases, more hospitalizations, and more deaths than any single week since the pandemic began. here's what one doctor had to say they're keeping an eye on. >> i just feel like it's a tidal wave of patients who are arriving at the hospital. our emergency departments are becoming more and more full with people who have co-vid symptoms, who have co-vid cases. our hospital beds, more and more units are being dedicated to

co-vid care. >> reporter: one high note at hospitals in alabama is they are expecting to see the release of the vaccine in the coming weeks. the part that can be tricky is not everyone in the hospital can be vaccinated at the same time because the vaccines can have side effects and you can't have half an emergency room not able to work. hallie? >> right. because they're feeling the impacts of that. katie, when you hear the sirens, it emphasizes the reality of the situation. in worcester, massachusetts, they reopened a field hospital. talk about why they needed to even take that step in the first place as we head into the winter. >> well, hallie, good morning to you. similar to what we're seeing across the country, hospitalizations are on the rise here locally in worcester as well as state-wide at 2% to 3%

daily rate. when you look at the numbers locally, one in five are testing positive. saturday and sunday, more than 10,000 cases. that's more than what we saw in august. so clearly these are signs of the crisis worsening. and that triggered the reopening, the dcu center behind me right now there are about six patients. but they have the capacity to take up to 220 patients. hopefully they don't get to that point. obviously they're here to take in co-vid patients and relieve some of the pressure on area hospitals. so yesterday we got a tour inside this facility. we had a chance to talk to a respiratory therapist and co-vid sur visor here from north carolina to help. >> i want to help and hopefully get the spike down before christmas. if it works out, that's good. it's going to be hard for them to be here. i try to keep positive.

>> reporter: hallie, once again, this is a second time this facility had to open up this year. they obviously learn a lot since when they opened up in the spring. they are better equipped with ppe. they have the ventilators and also the new treatments. what really struck us when we were inside yesterday is they had this new space where co-vid patients can actually interact with one another because health officials are saying that loneliness and isolation is a very big problem among patients who are trying to recover from the virus. hallie? >> yeah. you can imagine that. kathy park, kate, thank you both. i want to bring in ashish jha. let's talk about how we get out of this with a vaccine and the timeline that's been put in place. the rollout we heard from richmo richard engel and the hopeful rollout in the u.s. here's the lead with task force

members. thursday they are considering the emergency use authorization with pfizer. within days you have the hhs secretary who says you could see authorization at that point. end of december, mid january, the first round of vaccines to long-term care facilities. mid march, shots for the most high risk americans and in may or june, vaccines for the rest of us, everybody else. based on your expertise here, is this timeline realistic? is it too ambitious? is it maybe too conservative? >> good morning. thank you for having me on. i think that timeline is pretty realistic. and, again, depending a little bit on how well things go operationally, how good a job we do in communicating with people, i think we could even do a little bit better than that. in my own mind, i think we're going to see the first set of people getting vaccinated this month. health care workers and nursing home residents. i would not be surprised with a

good chunk of high risk people get vaccinated in january and february. but again, a lot has to go into getting that done right, but i think it's possible. >> and then after that, everybody else, if you're not high risk, you still think that may, june timeline is realistic? >> i do. and again, there are a couple things going on. right now we're thinking about the moderna and pfizer vaccines. i'm hoping and this is a hope, that thes a astrazeneca and john & johnson vaccines are available in january and february. if that happens, it helps our supply. it's possible we could have broad scale vaccinations in april and may. a lot has to go right, but mr. biden is putting together a great team. i'm becoming more and more optimistic.

>> let's talk about the team. he's been critical of the plan. we understand one of the doctors is meeting with the incoming biden transition team to brief them on the plans for that as we're learning more about the new picks to lead that response for president-elect biden. i imagine that is incredibly important to hear from operation warp speed as the biden team gets ready to take over. >> yeah. absolutely. i think operation warp speed has gone well. they've done a lot of things wem. there's no criticism of operation warp speed, but i think at this point while logistics continue to be an important issue, distribution is a very big issue. communications is a big issue. that's why i have to say i'm thrilled beyond belief that mr. biden has chosen dr. walensky to run the cdc. i can't think of anyone else i'd rather have at the realm. she'll have a big role in making

sure we can communicate with the american people of the value of these things and rolling them out quickly. >> we've seen reporting from around the country as some of the new lockdown measures going into place. and a lot of the different regions are using different data. they're using different metrics. some are using the positivity rate. i think of california, icu bed capacity. it seems like there's a growing debate within the medical community. i wonder if you can explain and where you stand on this? what's the best metric to determine if you shut down or stay open? >> yes. first of all, the fact that every knew nis palty is using a different metric is a symbol of the fact that we have no national strategy. the federal government has largely given up on the pandemic. we don't hear about it from the president. we don't hear about it very much from very many people outside of dr. birx and dr. fauci who are still fighting the good fight, much of the federal government has given up on this.

that's why everybody feels like they're on their own. i think there are a couple different reasonable approaches. certainly looking at icu bed capacity is important. once you run out of that, things get very. >> reporter: dark after that. i think test positivity probably not enough. you want to look at number of infections and hospitalizations. but icu bed capacity is an important metric. >> doctor ashish jha, thank you for your expertise. it's great to see you on the show. >> thank you. today, the deadline for people to register to vote in georgia's run off with the control of the senate at stake. and a don't night, one candidate was a no snow. we're talking about what went down and new reporting on why attorney general bill barr may not wait for inauguration day to determine when he leaves. first, are you ready for some football? if you're a fan of the philadelphia eagles, the answer is probably not. if you're a fan of steve kornacki, you know it was a big

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so here we are on this monday morning not long after sources told my colleagues and me president trump had not ruled out firing his attorney general. now "the new york times" is reporting bill barr is weighing whether to leave on his own citing three people familiar with his thinking. the paper says barr is considering stepping down before the term ends next month with one saying maybe before the end of the year. i want to bring in pete williams who is joining us. pete, what are you hearing from your sources inside the doj on this?

>> very much considering the same thing. you know, bill barr told me in october that if the president was reelected he would likely want to stay around for a couple of years into his new term because there were still things he wanted to do, but that was then and this is now. and things are very different. it would not be unusual for any cabinet member to step down early before the term ends. although, attorneys general have tended to stick on the job until january 20th until the new president is inaugurated. that's what he did the first time he was attorney general. but this time he has said to friends and associates that he might not stay around until then. and i wouldn't be surprised. i think i would be surprised if he did stay until january 20th. >> that's interesting. is there any formal or official comment from justice on this or are they declining at this point? >> they're declining comment on this. they're declining comments on a lot of things. i think it's understandable

right now. you know, almost anything the jus justice department says seems to rattle the plates in the china cabinet on 1600 pennsylvania avenue. they're not really commenting on a lot of this. >> this has anything to do or nothing to do with the sort of issues last week related to the white house's concern over bill barr saying he did not see evidence yet of widespread fraud that could have effected the outcome of the election? >> i couldn't imagine it's nothing to do with it. but we're also told he was thinking about doing this before the comments were made. >> got it. pete williams live for us. great to see you on a monday. now, the president's failing efforts to overturn the election he lost with the focus turning to georgia. another setback for him this morning. the state's governor is again rejecting president trump's demand that he call a special session of the state legislature to try to flip the results.

and just within the last hour georgia's secretary of state who is also a republican is announcing today he's going to recertify the election results for joe biden. >> we are now counted legally cast ballots three times. and the results remain unchanged. all this talk of a stolen election, whether it's stacey abrams or the president of the united states, is hurting our state. >> shaq brewster is in atlanta and also a panelist at last night's debate, a reporter. shaq, the president is facing more pushback from his own party. one of them saying i voted for the guy, but the disinformation has to stop for the president. >> right. you have state republican officials pushing back and defending the integrity of their election process. and you have one official in the

press conference calling today disinformation monday as he went through and debunked a surveillance video from state farm arena we've seen out there. really, this is an extension of what you've heard from republicans in the state who have pushed back since president trump's visit to the state to campaign with the republican runoff candidates where president trump said he won the state of georgia. he said that the election was rigged. said there were ballots coming from ceilings. the fear that these officials have is that this will have a dampening effect on turnout for the runoff race. listen to what the lieutenant governor said this morning. >> there is no scenario that i can see that it's helpful for the mountains of misinformation on election fraud to turn out the vote on january 5th. my encouragement is to realign the focus on getting reelected. there's no fraud. >> reporter: turnout is going to be the focus, not just for the republican officials, but for

the democratic candidates. you have jon ossoff campaigning with former secretary julian castro. today is the deadline for anyone who wants to participate. >> shaq brewster on time for the sound check at that event. shaq, thank you. gregg, you have runoff races in georgia. there's so much attention, questions i know within republican circles about whether the president's claims, his baseless claims of the election being stolen could depress turnout. on the debate stage we saw different scenes. democratic candidate jon ossoff on stage with an empty lectern after perdue didn't appear. and then loeffler against warnock. here's what she did, or perhaps didn't. >> yes or no, senator loeffler. did donald trump lose the

election? >> you know, president trump has every right to use every legal recourse available. this process is playing out and president trump has every right to every legal recourse. while the president has the right to pursue every legal recourse to make sure there was a free and fair election in georgia. >> that's not a glitch. that's just repeatedly declining to answer the question. i watched you on c-span from washington. what does this tell you about dpa georgia politics and the president's standing with voters there? >> it speaks to the dell line the republicans have -- delicate line the republicans have to walk. one hand, they're not outright saying there's a rigged election. they don't want to dampen enthusiasm for the vote. on the other hand, they can't risk antagonizing trump by going against him. we're seeing what it looks like with president trump attacking both lieutenant governors.

they're trying to find this balance between, and it's very tricky for them as you can see from the debate. >> well, and it's tricky, i think, as they look at where voters are. dozens of republican voters and activists, a lot of them said they are going to vote. some of them did say they're still debating whether to. one voter telling you i don't think we should vote until we fix the systems. we need to let them know it's not acceptable, talking about gop leaders. she says it's tough, but i don't think any voting is acceptable until they prove it's safe. i wonder what else you're hearing about whether the president's attacks on the election could backfire. >> yeah. i talked to dozens of others. while many of them said they're going to vote, there's a conflict with some of them. and look, it comes from the top. it comes from the president. when the president was in valdosta and n a crowd that

attracted thousands of people, he told them conflicting messages. he said the election is rigged, but go out and vote. what message does that leave loyal supporters of his with? it leaves many of them confused. >> your last question, i was struck by. i think it was the last question right before the closing statements. you point-blank asked senator loeffler should members of congress be barred from individually trading stocks. her answer was not really an answer to your question. talk about why it's significant. >> well, it's significant because both the republican senators have been under scrutiny for a series of stock transactions they made in the runup to the pandemic and their democratic adversaries are saying they profited off the pandemic. i was looking for an answer where she answered the question and then maybe tried to respond to those claims. >> gregg, it's great to see you this morning after you had a

late night in georgia. we appreciate you being with us. great job on the debate stage. after the break, back to california. very few icu beds are propelling the lockdown. we're talking to the mayor of a city about enforcing new stay at home restrictions who has suffered an unimaginable loss in this pandemic. first, an eye on the house and senate back in session today for what politico is calling hell week, bearing down on congress. they're looking at the deadline on government funding. a presidential veto threat on spending. this morning senators mark warner and susan collins are out with a new op ed urging their colleagues to do something. we're going to keep an eye on what comes out of the talks. sources are telling our team on capitol hill there are still sol major sticking points on a little bit protections and on state and local governments. two issues that have stood in

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with a new lockdown order in california, more and more frustration from small business owners who fear they might go out of business. here's a business owner talking about a movie company setting up a dining area feet from where she's not able to serve. >> everything i own is being taken away from me, and they set up a moving company next to my outdoor patio. >> i'm joined by the mayor of long beach. mayor, thank you for being with us. >> happy to be here. >> talk about the new restrictions that are now being put in place. what do you say to somebody like that restaurant owner who worries the lockdowns are going to destroy their business? how do you weigh the economic concerns with the health concerns as somebody in a position of leadership in this

state? >> first, it's been devastating for small businesses across the state and the country. we understand that. and i know that a lot of workers and businesses and business owners are upset and they should be. i understand that. at the end of the day, we have a huge pandemic across the country that's taking more lives than any other single event. california we have 20,000 californians, the single largest event that's taken lives in our state. and people are dying every single day. and so we have to think about public health first. the actions taken in california around the new stay at home order are the right call. and while they're difficult, we are -- in southern california region, we are almost now at 90% capacity in full. if we don't do things to bring down the spread, more people are going to die. these actions are important. the governor is doing the right thing. >> i know this fight against co-vid is personal to you. you lost your mother, your stepfather to the virus.

talk to us about how that motivates you as you are now leading the response to the outbreak here. >> well, it's hard as a son to have lost both my parents. for me, every day i think about her. she was a health care worker, an essential worker. she was careful. if it could happen to her, it could happen to anybody. it gives me more resolve that we have to take this on seriously. it's frustrating to see the president of the united states having white house christmas parties with nobody wearing masks and not taking the pandemic as seriously as we need to do right now. california is doing the right thing which is shutting down. a lot of the state is not taking the same precautions that we took in early december while cases continue to rise. i think there's more courage needed across the country. and we have to do a lot more, especially young people, to stop the spread. >> what does it say to you that your fellow californian, the attorney general in the state is

being picked to lead hhs to try to guide the country out of the pandemic once the incoming administration gets into place, particularly as this pandemic, this virus is disproportionately affecting communities of color around the country? >> we could not be happier about our attorney general being picked. he's a high ethics, consider him a mentor and a friend. i think to have someone that's fought for the affordable care act his whole career. as a congressman, always pushing for health care. but also to have someone that can speak spanish. javier will be able to speak to immigrants from hard to reach communities and communicate a health message in spanish. california, 60% of our cases are from latino community. only 40% of the population. that's a huge disparity and equity issue when it comes to covid-19. and i think someone like javier

becerra will take it on. we could not be happier for president-elect biden, and he made the right decision. >> mayor robert garcia from long beach. we're appreciative of having you on the show. we're sorry for your loss. your mom seemed like an incredible woman. >> thank you. >> we appreciate you being on. >> thank you. coming up, mystery solved. a new report just out on what may have caused the bizarre i illness that made dozens of u.s. diplomats overseas sick because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz. the first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to severe ulcerative colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor

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robinhood. so this morning, we're getting the most definitive explanation yet in an international mystery we've been following on this show for years. so you know we need to tell you more about this new government report just out. first obtained by nbc news on j what was making american diplomats in china and cuba sick with a crippling neurological systems. andrea mitchell has an exclusive interview with a veteran cia officer still suffering three years later. >> hi there. dozens of diplomats around the world have been struggling with these mysterious symptoms and sometimes traumatic brain injuries. a of a year-long study, experts at the national academy of science s point to directed pule microwave energy. one leading senator telling me a

russian-made weapon could be to blame. >> reporter: mike spent decades in the cia as a covert operative. in afghanistan, iraq, chasing terrorists across the middle east. one night in a moscow hotel room in 2017 was like no other. >> i think about all the time in war zones where i've been shot at or rocketed. this was, by far, the scariest night of my life. >> reporter: at the time, he was the cia's number two official for operations throughout europe, woke up suddenly in the middle of the night with a sense of vertigo. >> i was falling over in my room, thought i was going the to vomit. i was incredibly nauseous. i had this incredible ringing in my years. i knew something was really wrong with me. >> reporter: the episode just the start of debilitating symptoms that upended his life. similar to scores of other cases reported by american diplomats and spies that began in 2016 in havana. then hit american officials in china and have since been

reported by cia officers in several other countries. what could be the cause? after a year-long investigation, 19 top experts from the national academies of sciences conclude the most likely explanation, directed pulse microwave energy. consistent with the directed radio frequent energy attack. >> this is not a cell phone. this is not what you see from a microwave oven. this is a very particular and unusual way of delivering microwave energy. >> reporter: stanford professor of medicine david roman chaired the study. >> we have neurologists on our committee that said afterwards, "in my entire career of reading about countless hundreds and thousands of cases of neurologic injury, i've never heard of something like this." >> reporter: this is really unique in the medical literature. >> it is. >> reporter: new hampshire senator shaheen has been fighting for medical benefits for the victims. >> i fear that with we have seen today is not going to end. we're going to see more of these

kinds of attacks in the future. we need to be prepared for them. >> reporter: and what countries have developed this kind of technology in the past? >> well, we know russia has it. >> reporter: russia has denied any involvement in the incidents. the state department kept the reports secret for months, even from congress, until a b bipartisan group of senators demanded to see it. a state department spokesperson says the investigation is ongoing, and each possible cause remains speculative. mark suffering for debilitating migraines for the last three years. why would the russians target you? >>overseeing our efforts against them. >> reporter: reluctantly after 26 years in the cia, he resigned from the cia at the age of 50. >> we have to see who did this. i'd like a robust investigation by intelligence services and others to see who was culpable. certainly, the russians are probably the prime suspect, but

we can't allow anybody who is doing this to continue on. >> reporter: at least five new cases like mark's, involving cia officers, have been reported in the last year or so. in east asia, in poland, and in london. a source with direct knowledge telling nbc news. the source says that the cia using mobile phone location data determined that russian agents who worked on microwave weapons were in the same citiy ies at t same time. that's a lead but nothing conclusive. the cia tells nbc news if there were credible intelligence an adversary were harming an officer, director haskell would act swiftly. finally, mark got treatment at walter reed starting next month, something he's wanted. >> thank you for the reporting. tune into "andrea mitchell" reports in about an hour here on msnbc at noon. that does it for us this hour. we're appreciative of you taking

the time to watch us this monday morning. we have more after the break with chris jansing picking up our coverage. icking up our coverage

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zgood morning, everyone. i'm chris jansing in for craig melvin. let's start with the latest facts on the pandemic. in california, millions of people are waking up to new stay at home orders. the state is running out of icu beds. dr. fauci is praising the state for taking action, but also says california didn't really have a choice. this morning, it's back to school again for some students in the nation's largest school district. new york city's preschoolers and some kids in kindergarten through fifth grade are getting back to in-person learning after weeks of classroom closures, and even as the coronavirus crisis worsens there. and the man leading donald trump's election fight, rudy giuliani, has been diagnosed with covid-19. the 53rd person in trump's orbit to get covid