♪ i want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world, it is monday, august 23rd. overnight, a new round of chaos at the kabul airport. a deadly fire fight involving u.s., german and afghan forces. and afghan guard helping to secure the base killed by sniper fire. unknown sniper fire. at this point we're told no americans were injured in the gunfire and then this just in, a taliban spokesman telling cnn that all u.s. forces must leave afghanistan by the end of the month after president biden said he's considering extending the afghan withdrawal deadline. also new this morning, i obtained some letters from the taliban sent to the brother of with u.s. troops. in one the brother is told that he has been sentenced to death in absentia and cannot appeal the verdict. >> all this very important reporting, very pertinent developments we'll get to all of

them. at this point, we believe about 13,000 people remain at the kabul airport. that, too, a brand new update. we'll get some information on that. those 13,000 are waiting, hoping to be evacuated. 33 u.s. military transport jets are expected to arrive at the airport in the next 24 hours, each has the capacity, we're told, to take 400 passengers out. a source tells cnn the united states, though, is changing its policy on who will be admitted into the airport from today on, only u.s. citizens green card holders and citizens of nato countries will be allowed past the airport gates. this is a big change. applicants and those who already have been approved in the special immigrant visa program gives afghans who worked with the u.s. a way out of the country. as of now, it seems like they will not be allowed into the airport. cnn's sam kylie is inside the airport at kabul and joins us

now on the phone. sam, a whole ton of new information there. but let's start with this fire fight overnight, first. what happened? >> reporter: >> so our understanding from the german authorities is that an unknown sniper opened fire killing one afghan national army soldier. these are predominantly afghan special forces still working alongside the coalition, if you like, as their face to face very often with the taliban no suggestion that this was a taliban sniper. in all probability the suspicion is it could be the so-called islamic state. following that the afghans opened fire back on his or her location and as a consequence of that there was a friendly fire incident possibly involving u.s. marines for germans which four afghan soldiers were injured. they are currently in the norwegian hospital here on the air base in intensive care being

treated by combination of doctors from around the coalition. this really reflecting just how intense things are but also the first known attack on the coalition and their allies here at the airport. >> and sam, i mean, this is -- there's been a threat of isis, an acute threat as the national security adviser told us yesterday. tell us about what it means. we saw so many people in those pictures who no doubt some of them are special immigrant visa holders. or applicants. these are folks who helped the u.s. troops during the war. what do you make of this news that they are not being allowed in at this point? >> reporter: well, we're still seeking confirmation and clarity on the exact status of people entering the kabul international airport, particularly with regards to those elements caused

sivs, the people helping the u.s. forces, and other coalition forces. it and other elements in the past. at the moment, i can tell you all of the gates are closed anywhere and there's no admissions at all into the airport as they've been trying to clear a backlog of many thousands, crept all the way up to 20,000. they're now understanding that they're moving people out and seen it with our own eyes really pretty rapidly. this of course, following a crush of two days ago seven people were killed at the only camp where people are being admitted which is the british camp controlled by the air brigade where there's hundreds of people cleared by the various nations that are going to evacuate them but they're not yet cleared to come on to the airfield because of the backlog of people here on the airfield. so, at the moment at any rate, whatever the paperwork of people on the outside very exceptional circumstances they're simply not

getting in any way. >> all right, sam. thank you so much for being our eyes and ears on the ground at the kabul airport. we'll be checking back in with you throughout the show. >> i'll quote brianna keilar to me about this paperwork process happening in this country. it's like trying to fill out an application for a home mortgage during a hurricane outdoors. imagine the paperwork being holed up to get through and even if you do it doesn't seem like you can get through. >> the confirmation they need, paperwork from, they're closed. contractors might no longer be operating. they might be defunct. they might have fled the country themselves or be in another country and it's really impossible for a lot of people who are legally eligible to come to the u.s. to get everything together that they need. there's a lot of people in the u.s. trying to help them with that but obviously people are falling through the cracks, berman. >> we heard from sam kylie inside the airport at kabul. one of the places where these planes are going is doha in

qatar where we find cnn's nick paton walsh there. i understand you have some news for us this morning, nick. >> reporter: yeah. i have to say it appears to have been quite extraordinary 24-hour period of air lift off that airport. according to source familiar with the situation, there are now just 13,000 people still there, a drop from about 20,00024 hours ago. i was told getting through 33 flights as you reported earlier not quite clear where they are in that procedure, but that will be something in the region of 10,000 people, a few more having come on, which is utterly startling, very impressive if that is indeed certainly the case. now, in terms of the siv applications you were referring to, my understanding is as of today, their focus was on u.s. citizens and practically it was impossible for siv applicants to get on because as sam was saying the gates have been shut for 24, 48 hours. a couple may have sneaked in through unofficial routes. there are holes in the fence, people doing favors for each

other. the hope, my understanding, is a lot of these 13,000 who remain are afghans. some of whom not there entirely officially part of this unofficial who do you know what can you do situation we have been seeing over the past few days. once they appear to processed these people and they are doing a phenomenal job it seems at this point, shifting people out, then understood that they will hope to try to get some siv applicants in. i should be cautious because we don't want to start some sort of rush for those thousands of siv applicants want to make it on the airport. the situation is increasingly precarious. the taliban are providing access check points to the airport and the clock is certainly ticking. we are looking at probably a week until this deadline during which they still have to pull off 6,000 american troops as well as whoever they want to evacuate to. but, here is where we are at the moment -- >> in kabul the desperate race to escape is growing more

dangerous by the minute. a source close to the situation says nearly 20,000 people remain at the airport attempting to board flights to leave, just over a week after the taliban takeover of the city. military planes on runways preparing takeoff with evacuees on board. cnn's sam kylie spoke to a member of this group leaving for qatar. you're about to leave. what is going through your mind and your heart at the moment? >> yeah. actually i told this many times, that right now i have a mixed feeling being a journalist myself probably i'm lucky enough to leave because of a lot of traits that exist here, but i'm also leaving a family a whole family behind. that's a lot of friends behind. and also most importantly my city kabul that i've been raised and born here. >> reporter: the u.s. and its allies evacuating about 5,100 people on sunday. white house official says the

united states has evacuated or facilitated the evacuation of more than 30,000 people from the kabul airport. the pentagon is calling on commercial airlines to help with the operation. 18 planes will transport people from transit locations like germany to the united states. but, for the thousands still at the airport, conditions are become deadly. at least 20 people are believed to have died in the chaos outside the airport in the last week. now u.s. officials fear terror group isis could carry out an attack at the airport. >> the threat is real. it is acute. it is persistent and it is something that we are focussed on with every tool in our arsenal. >> reporter: at the white house, president biden noting the rising challenges to the evacuation. >> these troops and civilians at the airport face the risk of attack from isis k from a

distance, even though we're moving back the perimeter significantly. we're working hard and as fast as we can to get people out. >> reporter: biden saying he may need to push back his august 31st deadline to withdraw from afghanistan. >> our hope is we will not have to extend, but there will be discu discussions. >> reporter: meanwhile in kabul the u.s. aiming to evacuate 5,000 a day and many on board that military planes it's a departure filled with conflicting emotions. >> that's really it's -- it seems that i'm just picking one piece of my soul but leaving a lot of pieces just back at home. so it's really strange. i don't know how to describe this. am i happy? am i sad? with this government, with these new rulers, i'm sure they will not leave us any space to be here. >> that must break your heart? >> of course, certainly. that has already broken.

but this is reality. >> so back with nick paton walsh. nick, our washington team did just get confirmation from a u.s. official 10,400 people flown out of the airport in kabul over the last 24 hours. 10,400. that's a very big number. they'll have to keep it that high for several days because of the other breaking news. it is a very big number. to evacuate that many people in one day. the new problem, though, nick, is the taliban just put out a statement a few minutes ago saying they don't -- they're not in favor at all of extending the august 31st deadline. they see august 31st as the date when u.s. troops need to leave. how does that complicate things? >> reporter: yeah. i mean, look, i would be very surprised at this stage if the u.s., given how precarious that situation is decided to roll the dice and stay past the 31st of august.

joe biden, president joe biden always wanted to be out. the problem, too, is the united states will now be the victims of their own success because that 10,000 figure is extraordinary. i mean, it is also possible they could repeat it if they seem to have this logistical chain sorted out and the problems they had down the pipeline where they didn't have space on the basis to put these people when they were flown out of afghanistan. that appears to have been rectified as well. it is phenomenal operation. make no doubt about it with those numbers absolutely extraordinary. so they appear to still have about 10,000, maybe more afghans on that base. it isn't quite clear what status their paperwork is. some could be the ones sort of smuggled in but that's unfair through loyalties. may have got themselves on and also too a lot of americans helping get their old friends out as well. the question is, they can probably move them out at some point in the next 12, 24 hours. what next? how long does this go on for? there are now taliban manning

the check points on the way to the airport. are people who are potential applicants for special immigrant visas want to go through a taliban check point to get to the airport? i suspect not. what on earth is going on with the sniper and gunfire. i heard gunfire when i was there on tuesday last week. it's a present threat there but nothing quite like this that we've seen. so, there are constant moving environments. very strong narrative now from u.s. officials that isis is a problem. well, i'm sure that is absolutely the case. but also, too, there's certainly a sign here they want to emphasize security issues they're facing. so there are certainly tens of thousands of siv applicants want to get on the airport. their journey is very perilous. does the yieds ask the taliban to let them on or united states make a special corridor for them and how long does the united states want to go on with this operation? the important thing to remember, john, the final point is they've got 6,000 troops there and they have to leave. and that's not an easy task. so, they're going to need three, four days to start doing that

when they start doing that, those on the base, around the base will probably panic because they know the window for departing is closing and we're in a situation where this extraordinary success will spark people thinking maybe they could be next in trying to get to the airport if that's indeed possible and in this week time frame which realistically i think we have three to four days can consider taking more people out until the troops themselves have to think about leaving. that could change and seems to change every hour. this 10,000 number of people departing utterly extraordinary. remarkable work. >> major developments this morning. nick paton walsh, we're lucky to have you put them in perspective. thanks so much for being with us. turning now to the helpers, thousands of american soldiers, veterans and former contractors mobilizing to save the lives of americans and afghans in kabul. they have come up with many names to describe these unofficial missions that they are conducting, but one is

called task force pineapple, after pineapple was used. joining me to discuss it is retired lieutenant colonel scott man. an afghan war veteran and a member of task force pineapple. scott, this is one, look, there's so many of these groups i heard of digital dun kirk, allied air lift, you have folks with different organizations like no one left behind who are spearheading these efforts. you and so many others working the phones night and day, using your personal networks to guide afghans and americans trapped in the region, tell us about task force pineapple. >> yeah. it started as a small group of special operators retired and active duty who mobilized to get out one afghan commando who was in severe duress along with his family. one of the things i want to point out, brianna, you probably

know this, there's not much talk about our afghan partners, the special operations forces. you know, there's this narrative that the afghan forces quit fighting. they didn't quit fighting. in fact, they mobilized harder than ever. and they were holding the line after their president abandoned them, even after senior leaders in that country left, they kept fighting. and these are people that are going to be executed and terrorized along with their families. so we came together and formed a public/private partnership and it's happening everywhere to do really what the government is not doing. the last report said tens of thousands flown out but there are more in severe duress counting us to get them out we need to do it. >> we see them in pictures outside of the airport. then there are so many more who are holed up in kabul and outside of kabul but you heard the new reporting this morning. it appears that folks who are special immigrant visa holders or they're eligible to be holders, they're eligible to have this relief from the u.s.,

they're not being allowed now into the airport. what does that mean? and do you worry that they have now been cut off maybe entirely from getting relief? >> i absolutely worry about that. i worry about that as our credibility as a nation. i would implore the biden administration to reconsider that. there are tens of thousands of combat veterans, u.s. combat veterans right now with a large chunk of the american people behind them saying this is the right thing to do. these people stood up for us. not just our interpreters but the afghan special operations forces, women judges, women who worked in the bureaucracy, we made a commitment to get them out. and this is our chance to do the right thing. i'm telling you, if we don't, brianna, it will haunt us for a very, very long time. >> how so? i mean, how -- i've heard that from so many veterans who say, you know, this isn't just about doing the right thing for the past, it also matters for the future. can you explain that?

>> absolutely. we're developing real nasty precedent in the united states for abandoning indigenous partners when we go to partners. vietnam, iraq this most latest thing with the afghan people. and the world watches that on two levels, one, look at the overtures that china is started to make with taiwan. the baltic states on that level. but also, you know, when another event happens and we know it will and we need to work with partner nations, what do you -- at an airplane gate waiting to be executed. biden administration will reconsider to push a corridor out, let's get those folks out of there. it can be done and we can switch the momentum if we'll just commit to doing it. there's already private/public

partnerships doing amazing work to help with it. this is a chance to bring the american people together in a way that hasn't been done in a long time and i believe that's what the american people want. >> look a lot of planes went out on saturday were charter flights. so we know there are a lot of efforts by people outside of the military trying to mobilize people even as the military is certainly getting people through the gates here. scott, thank you so much. really appreciate it. so as early as today, that is the administration's timeline for fully approving the pfizer covid vaccine. it would be the first vaccine approved by the fda fully and hopefully bolster vaccination rates across the country. or will it? let's talk about this now with dr. peter hotez, dean of tropical medicine at the baylor college of medicine. peter, do you think that this is going to succeed? we heard people -- it's funny. they say it's not fully approved so i'm skeptical of it. a lot of times you ask them, if

it is fully approved are you then going to get the vaccine. they still say no. >> yeah. that's right. so this is about a dozen disinformation talking points that's being push on people. and you know, so they'll repeat it and say, okay. i'm waiting for full approval but it's not clear that that's really going to tip a lot of people to suddenly get vaccinated. i think it will have some impact, but i think on that respect it's going to be modest. i think the far bigger impact is going to be on mandates. employer mandates, military mandates and if these vaccines are approved for 12 and up, then school mandates as well, which is going to be huge because we're just seeing so many schools insist on staying open despite not having masked or vaccinate and having to shut or close a week or two afterwards. i think, brianna, one of the unknowns is what age groups are we talking about for this approval?

there's a little confusion among us whether this will be 16 and up and 12 and up and hopefully we'll get clarification on that very soon. >> we could get those mianswers within minutes or hours. i think this is a big deal in the sense that this is full fda approval and will at least check off a talking point that has been ridiculous among some anti-vaxxers. >> yeah. >> that will just go away. we'll have full fda approval and they won't be able to say that and a few people will say, okay, now i should go. but the idea that more entities will then issue some requirements for the vaccine, it could make a difference. we are seeing vaccination numbers especially first vaccination doses go up hopefully we'll see that trend continue and maybe get a big boost as soon as today, dr. hotez. >> yeah, that's right. especially if we can get some school mandates in place that will be game changing. i think, john the other piece to this that not many are talking about, this is an extraordinary validation of the work of the

u.s. food and drug administration. they worked so hard last year when we were in dire straits. 3,000 americans losing their lives everyday to roll that vaccine out through emergency use and do everything humanly possible to approximate the full approval process through the eua and they did it. and the fact now that we're moving to full approval is an extraordinary statement about how hard people at fda really work to make this happen. you know, we like to throw stones at our government agencies. this is one time where things went really well. >> and i have to say, not a moment too soon. especially where you are. dr. hotez, along the gulf coast where the hospitals are all just filling up with covid patients, almost all of them unvaccinated. hopefully this can help turn things around in the next few months. as always, thank you for everything you're doing. thanks, dr. hotez. >> thank you. the disaster in afghanistan president biden now dealing with the political fallout.

why are so many trump officials lining up to blame their former boss? reality check next. [relaxed summer themed music playing] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ summer is a state of mind, you can visit anytime. savor your summer with lincoln.

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and just doubled the capacity here. how do things look on your end? -perfect! because we're building a better network every single day. ♪ so joe biden is the president of the united states and as he says, that means the buck stops with him on the problems with the afghanistan pullout. but there is a growing list of people blaming president trump, including former trump people. john avlon with a reality check. most americans seem to like the idea of withdrawing from afghanistan. but they don't like the way joe biden has done it. that's according to new cbs poll. now that delta is a political problem for president biden. given his administration is predicated upon the promise of competence and compassion, but it's that humanitarian crisis that should really be driving

american opinions. as lo gist cat matter, this has been a disaster. should be clear that the benefits of small residual force rather than complete abandonment of bagram air force would be better. this speaks volumes about how we got here. >> our secretary of state signed a surrender agreement to the taliban. this collapse goes back to the capitulation agreement of 2020. i mean, the taliban didn't defeat us. we defeated ourselves. >> a surrender agreement that's retired lieutenant general h.r. mcmaster forming mike pompeo for his negotiations with the taliban. that inexpublicly excluded our afghan government. mark esper also weighed in on cnn while rightfully blaming the

biden admission strags for the botched withdrawal, he did not spare the expresident. >> president trump by continuing to want to withdraw american forces out of afghanistan undermined the agreement. i objected that we not reduce below 4,500 troops unless and until conditions were met by the taliban. otherwise we would see a number of things play out, which are unfolding right now. >> which is a reminder that not only was the deal done with the taliban no good but that trump was calling for a complete pull out of u.s. troops by last christmas. which would have been even more abrupt. now one of the areas rightfully inspiring the most grief is the failure to have a streamlined process to save the afghans who aided our military efforts. on this front, former pence aide olivia troy accused trump a adviser stephen miller. there were cabinet meetings about this during the trump administration stephen miller pedal his racist about iraq and afghanistan. he and his enablers would

undermine anyone who worked on solving the siv issue by devastating the system at dhs and state. stephen miller blamed biden despite his own clear record of advocating restrictions on immigrants and refugees. not helped by the fact that articles had long been written about how the trump administration has dramatically dropped visas for afghan and iraqi interpreters. so this rings hallow. like when nikki haley tweeted to have our general say they're depending on diplomacy with the taliban is unbelievable scenario negotiating with the taliban is like dealing with the devil. i agree. but her comments would have a lot more credibility if she hadn't vocally backed taliban negotiations when they were being pushed by her former boss saying, the u.s. policy in afghanistan is working. we're seeing that we're closer to talks with the taliban in the peace process than we have seen before. look, from whatever way you look at it, u.s. policy in

afghanistan is not working and while the collapse finally occurred on joe biden's watch, the policy of abandoning afghanistan to the taliban began under donald trump. and that's your reality check. >> indeed it is. thank you very much, john avlon. >> i want to bring in olivia troy, a former adviser to vice president mike pence and has pushed back against this idea that the withdrawal and evacuation operations would have gone smoothly under former president donald trump. and in particular, olivia, you have as we heard in that reality check there sort of pulled back the curtain on what went on during the trump administration as far as getting these folks who are eligible for relief, people who helped u.s. troops getting them through the system. tell us a little bit about you're in meetings about this and this is something that's personal to you. you did serve as a civilian on and off in afghanistan. what would say stephen miller say in these meetings as he argued against relief for these

individuals? >> well, it was really hard to hear his statements and they were said very openly in front of cabinet level people and very senior staff people and would say, well what do you want? do you want a bunch of little iraqs in stands across the country, across the united states. it was hurtful to hear that and offensive. to many of us in the room who had served on the ground in both countries. i've been to both countries. these are the people that helped keep us alive. helped navigate us around the country. and to hear this, you know, naive hateful rhetoric being said in cabinet-level discussions when we're making decisions specifically on items like the refugee ceiling and what was going to happen to hear that rhetoric we knew what we were up against. >> so what happened when trump administration officials like yourself were trying to make progress on these immigrant visas and relief for people who had helped the u.s.? >> well, you would find this is a very cumbersome, challenging system already. it is very hard for many of these applicants to actually get

through the process and actually get their visa issued. and be able to be eligible to leave. what you find is the resources there, this entire thing was being gutted and underresourced. and if you look at the numbers on a yearly basis, you'll see that a lower and lower number of people get approved and the visas don't get issued. i remember specifically there was one time where former vice president pence was upset at a story, a news story, that he had seen on the front page of a newspaper. so i got the piece of paper on my desk that said, what is going on with this? why are -- why have they been stuck in this process for two years? when you look at the days of these people being stuck in the process, they were stuck for three years and that number increases under the trump admini administration. when i called to the state department, i found that there was one person, one person, doing the security checks there for thousands of people and this is i think in 2009. and this is a year after there

had been a critical decision saying we will prioritize this irregardless of what's happening. >> in 2019 your mean? >> 2019, sorry. >> no worries. i wanted to double check on that. look, when you talk about some of the things that i mean the heinous things really that you heard stephen miller say in these meetings, they're not that different from what some folks, especially in right wing media, are saying now about why these people who helped the u.s. should not be allowed to come in. they're painting them as invaders. >> yes. >> do you see a direct link there? >> yeah, absolutely. these are classic talking points that were espoused throughout the entire tenure of the trump administration. this is anti-immigrant, anti-refugee rhetoric. and it's absolutely disgusting. it's terrible to hear these things said once again when these are people that put their lives on the line, there side by side with our military, our civilians and officers on the

ground like myself and media and ngos, this is what happens when you travel to these countries and you need these people and you need them to be your allies. to send this message to the world saying we're not going to help these people starting with the trump administration the way they behaved is deplorable. this is why i found it so upsetting. i said, yeah, we're in a critical and very tough situation on the ground there right now. but let's not forget the context of where a lot of this started where the crisis was built and how we dropped the ball on this. these people should have been processed the entire time in the tenure of the trump administration, especially since he was the one negotiating with the taliban which is ludicrous and planning for this withdrawal. i have no confidence. that they would have gotten any of these people out. so now we're in the situation where we have thousands of people trying to get out of the country and it's tough. >> olivia, look, i know this is personal for you. i know that when these provincial capitals were falling you weren't just thinking, this is kandahar. you are thinking the people, the afghan people who helped keep

you safe when you were there. i appreciate you telling us, really pulling back the curtain on all of this for us. thank you. >> thank you for having me. >> olivia troy. up next a florida county that voted for donald trump is now defying governor ron desantis on masks in schools. how should social media platforms deal with content posted by the taliban? oh! are you using liberty mutual's coverage customizer tool? so you only pay for what you need. sorry? limu, you're an animal! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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♪ seven florida counties are now bucking governor ron desantis by enacting mask mandates in schools with some limited exceptions. one of them is leon county where the governor lives. another, sarasota. this is the first county in florida that actually went for former president trump in the 2020 election to implement a

strict mask mandate. many parents there disagreed with the measure. >> don't mask up my 12-year-old and 16-year-old granddaughter. i will fight you to the end and so will my family. that's not what my dad, my pearl harbor survive dad fought for. >> our governor has executive orders ensuring parent's rights to choose. i'm not giving you not one inch, not giving you an inch. >> these parents are standing up now. this is the end of this tyranny. this is the end. >> now currently in sarasota county, 272 students and 40 staff members are positive for covid-19. and another 192 students are quarantining. since july 1st, 778 students have tested positive for covid-19. and joining us now to discuss

this is politico reporter gary fineut. tell us about the significance of this decision. >> the significance is that this is a republican county. it went for donald trump about 54% for trump in the 2020 election. and it's also the home of both the chairman and the vice chairman of the republican party of florida. in fact, the wife of the vice chairman is on the school board and she was one of the two votes against instituting the mask mandate. it was a 3-2 vote. it was a very narrow vote to put this policy in place. >> gary, it's been great talking to you throughout this standoff between governor desantis and these towns and schools that want the power to issue mask requirements if they deem it necessary. one of the things that's truly

interesting, mask requirements around the country poll well. it's a non-controversy around the country. it polls very high mask requirements and among republicans it polling fairly well, 44% approval in one number i saw. yet, yet, there is a political advantage that clearly governor desantis sees now as republican counties start to turn against him. >> well, as we've been discussing over the last few weeks is this surge has occurred, the governor has not really shown a lot of interest in deviating from his position on this. there's been some tweaks in how this sort of enforcement has happened and what is the power of the state to do things. but for the most part, he and his team have stuck to the position that they don't believe in mask mandates and they've even questioned the efficacy of masks. and have pointed out that it's not in places in other countries. so, yeah there has been no real

t material change in the way the governor feels about it. is he worried about the 2022 election or more about 2024? >> bottom line, despite the threats of repercussions, as of now, has anyone actually been punished for any of this? >> no. but it possibly is coming. basically there have been -- the department of education on friday said it would begin to with hold money from two districts. they didn't give an answer in 48 hours and we expect more notices to go out to the additional districts this week. >> that will be interesting to watch. gary fineout, as always, thanks for being with us. >> thank you. and up next, donald trump is still banned from twitter. why isn't the taliban? and "jeopardy!" looking for a new host again. the journalist who uncovered the

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social media giants scrambling to figure out how to deal with the takeover of afghanistan. the taliban barred from using facebook accounts but still allowed on twitter or even former president trump remains banned. cnn's donie o'sullivan live in birmingham, alabama, with the latest on this. they've tied themselves up in knots again, donie. >> reporter: hey, john. yeah. really is rather remarkable when you think about it, trump was banned from twitter while he was president of the united states, right after the insurrection. meanwhile now you have the taliban essentially freely available to use the platform. they do not have this blanket ban. i want to show you what "the new

york times" reporting what type of content is being posted by the taliban. in one video, a taliban official reassured female health workers they can keep their jobs. other told a minority religious group they were free. so the difference i guess in how the taliban, how trump was using twitter is trump was being very active in pushing the big lie, which inspired the insurrection and twitter was able to point to that and say his posts are dangerous. but the taliban is using twitter in a way for a propaganda battle right now, trying to paint a rosie picture of their takeover of the country. but, you know, that is, of course, can be very, very different to the reality on the ground for afghans. look, there is a whole debate to have about whether platforms like twitter, facebook, youtube should be able to ban groups with popular support, ban politicians with popular support

no matter how heinous or dangerous they can be. twitter took a stand, they took a stand in the united states against trump, but yet they are seemingly doing something different in afghanistan with the taliban. this is something from speaking to folks at twitter they are thinking about, actively monitoring but they're still trying to figure it to figure it out. >> there you are in alabama, where donald trump held a rally. it seems that the folks you talked to that the election isn't over for them. >> reporter: no, not at all, brianna. and we are expected to see the final report from that sham audit in arizona, the biggest manifestation of the big lie about the election. and folks we've been speaking to here and across the country, trump supporters, are look at these audits, hoping somehow that it's going to bring them back. have a listen. >> i'm a trump supporter. honey, i can't wait for him to

get back in office. i know he won the election and he's coming back. whoo-hoo! can't wait. >> reporter: do you think he'll run in 2024? >> he don't have to. he's already our president. god is going to put him back in there. he's going to reinstate. >> reporter: there's no point to overturn the election race at this point. >> there's always a way. there's millions of guns here. you know, it took 11 days for them to take over afghanistan. wonder how many days -- ask how many days it takes patriots to take over this country. think about it. >> reporter: you don't want that to happen here, do you? >> i don't want it to happen. but if our country, our congress and biden don't get their heads out of their butt, it's going to happen. i assure you. it's coming. >> reporter: that man, i should point out, said he was in washington, d.c., on january 6th but did not go inside the capitol. all that, the lies pushed, lies

embraced and pushed on stage by trump here in alabama on saturday night. it is still being watched and causing excitement and inspiration for perhaps more violence among certain segments of the trump base. brianna? >> indeed, it is. pretty alarming to hear that last man you spoke with there. donie, thank you so much. appreciate it. just ahead, a deadly firefight overnight at kabul airport as the u.s. successfully gets more than 10,000 people out of the country in 24 hours. we are live on the ground with the latest. and how the man named the new permanent host of "jeopardy!" turned out to be, well, anything but. it's where safe and daring seamlessly intersect.

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so this morning, the spread of the delta variant clearly has put return-to-office plans on hold. >> you're looking at almost two years of people out of the office, right? not long ago many companyies wee planning to bring back workers to the office after labor day. september now is november, and even january. apple won't bring employees back to corporate offices until january 2022. it pushed the return date from september to october, all of this because of the surge in cases of the delta variant. apple stores are open with the mask mandate for all staff and customers regardless of your vaccination status. the accounting firm waterhouse

c coopers won't return. f facebook, amazon, lyft, "the new york times," many others have pushed ahead their plans months into the future. what we're hearing from managers now, be patient shall be flexible. the delay has an added benefit, john, giving managers more time to encourage or in some cases mandate vaccines. in this axios/ipsis poll, 55% of employees support vaccinations. they're also facing labor shortages and don't want to lose anyone over mandates or pushing them back to the workforce too soon. >> being flexible is important but it's not easy at this point. >> it isn't. >> christine romans, thank you very much. >> who is mike richards? the answer to the question is no longer the host of "jeopardy!." the host of the show stepped down as the next host, following the discovery of several comments that many see as

misogynistic. claire uncovered that. really terrific reporting. why is it you think your reporting seemed to be final jeopardy as it were, forgive me, for mike richards? >> reporter: what's gotten a lot of attention was scrutiny of the podcast that he host as he was host of "the price is right." and he made a number of controversial comments, ugly slurs. that's gotten a lot of eyeballs but also that he was extremely involved in the search for the permanent host and then, of course, he was named permanent host. i think a lot of fans were rightfully a little suspicious of that. it turns out he was intimately involved with every stage of the process. >> i pick me factor rubbed people the wrong way and the sxiches of this stuff that you

broke that you uncovered made the question, there's so many good people out there. why did it have to be that guy, given the other people out there? what does this mean for who is the next host of "jeopardy!"? >> right. the big question is, where does "jeopardy!" go from here? it has been such a stable institution on television and american culture for so many decades and suddenly now with this scandal, it feels like that has been shaken. i think there's a lot of concern, especially within the "jeopardy!" staff that this reliable thing may not be what it was and it may just become another game show. >> that's sort of the answer to the question my mother has asked me the last several weeks and you have an answer to it. why are we talking so much about "jeopardy!," why has this become such a big deal? >> i think people love "jeopardy!." i wrote a book about "jeopardy!" and it's been interesting to

hear about the host search. it's such an institution. everybody knows "jeopardy!," everybody has a "jeopardy!" memory. contestants spend years and years triening to get there. it is a very special television show. >> claire mcnechlt ar, the reporting is terrific. lot of people waiting for a call. my phone line continues to be open. if you're not going to call me, call lawyer i don't keet coates. do this right finally. claire mcnear, the book is wonderful. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me. "new day" continues right now. good morning to our viewes here in the united states and around the world. i'm john berman with brianna keilar. it is monday, august 23rd. this morning, a few minutes ago,