remember told oprah winfrey that there were conversations about how dark their son's skin might be, they did not repeal who in the royal family said it. they did say that it was not the queen or prince phillip. >> that's right. let's go to max foster, he has been on top of this reporting from the beginning. max, good morning to you. these comments from prince william came after the queen released a statement saying the family would deal with the matter privately, also saying -- expressing her love for harry and meghan, saying they would always be part of the family. are you surprised at all that prince william answered those questions? >> reporter: well, i have to say, i mean, for me this bit of video is one of the big moments of this whole narrative really. you know, there are -- you know, i think the duchess of sussex's issues with a lot of her experiences she had are with the systems in place and this speaks quite to how that system is now breaking down in a way off the back of that big interview. so just for your context in these moments, they are arranged moments, often embargoed moments means we can't talk about them until they've happened for security reasons. this is a reporter at a major network break ago protocol which is not to throw questions out to senior royals in this way. number one, that's something that's broken down, secondly, william, you know, is used to these moments, he does ignore these moments and he decided to speak back. so he's not dealing with this privately as the queen has asked. so that's significant as well. and then it's what he said and, you know, we got to this point in the story where a senior royal is being asked if his family is racist which is just kind extraordinary which is why it's gone down in such an extraordinary way in this country. just you wouldn't imagine to have got to this point really so quickly after this. so i think the broad context here is quite extraordinary, this moment of video and the way the system is breaking down around the monarchy. we also heard there how harry hasn't spoken to william, so that conversation, that private conversation, hasn't started. i think that this is in many ways a very significant moment because they haven't been able to pull it all together since that big bombshell moment and the statement that came from the queen in response. >> yeah. absolutely. max foster, thank you very much. joining us now cnn royal commentator kate williams, cnn reporter salma abdelaziz. a salma, as max laid out how significant this is for this story about the royal family it's also really significant, is it not, for the issue of racism throughout the united kingdom, and the conversation that this is not sparking, but is emphasizing and important changes that need to be made? >> reporter: absolutely, poppy. and i think you're right to say that it is sparking at least more conversations. i will begin by telling you that an anti-racism activist will probably say that william is missing the point and that journalist asking the question is missing the point as well because this is not a matter of who is racist or who is not racist, yes, there is an allegation of racism there that needs to be addressed, but what you're hearing from meghan markle, what you're hearing from prince harry is about a lived experience, it is about the institution of racism, it is about the systems that are at play in this country, how they are made up, those elite institutions and what role they play in perpetuating class systems in this country. i was speaking to an anti-racism activist yesterday and she said, listen, i am tired of explaining the one, two, three's, the a, b, c's of racism. people need to educate themselves on what meghan markle and prince harry were speak being in that interview. that's what that activist was telling me. she was saying this is an opportunity to do the right thing, to take a step back and understand that, again, racism is not about an individual incident, an isolated moment, it is bigger than that. it is about systems at play, it is a conversation and a struggle that will not be won or overcome in a single day or through a single interview. it is a longer journey than that. through all of that screaming and shouting that you're hearing in this debate there should also be hopefully some learning and listening as well. poppy and jim? >> kate, in the queen's statement yesterday she said that the family will deal with this privately. it's clearly not private. i mean, you have prince william being asked about it there, having to respond. the question salma is talking about as it relates to the royal family are very public questions right now. can the palace maintain this or attempt to maintain this as a private conversation? it just doesn't seem that that's the reality right now. >> well, yes, jim, that's the question, isn't it? there was a lot of criticism of the statement of the queen because it says that we're going to deal with this privately when of course this is the head of state of britain, a diverse country and many diverse countries in the commonwealth, jamaica, antigua and also can it be dealt with privately at all. what we have is megan said she made it very clear she has suffered racism, lack of support, deferential treatment. she is the one that is the bi-racial member of the royal family, she knows how it feels. just as salma was talking about it's a big struggle, big question, white people have to educate themselves. is it for someone to say, no, there is no racism at all. the queen says it was concerning. i think a lot of people are saying one of the big problems that meghan talks about very distressingly is that there were false stories put out about her and no one defended her repeatedly. we might say this energy that william has for saying no, absolutely not, where was this energy to defend meghan when she was being so criticized, all this all for coverage and everyone told her sit back, you take it. >> yeah. so it's harder, salma, to investigate, you know, what someone said to -- what someone said to harry multiple times meghan says about the questioning of the -- of their to be baby's skin color, if nothing is in writing, but there's all of this in writing at least meghan says about her plea for help on the mental health front in the palace. that is something that i believe they are investigating, right, and would need to be presented to the public at some point. do you know anything about that? >> reporter: we don't know anything beyond the statements that we have, which of course we had that official statement from the queen a day ago saying this is a private family matter. beyond that we don't know what's going on in terms of any internal investigation, but they did want to keep this private. you heard there from max that protocol has been broken, but to speak again to that experience of mental health issue and along the lines of what you're hearing there from kate, many people in this country will say we often hear that racism does not exist in britain because people look at america and they see police violence, they see black men being shot in the streets and they say that's not happening in britain so racism doesn't exist here. what that interview did for a lot of people in this country is sort of end that gas lighting. say, yes, racism does exist. beyond the individual allegations that we have that the palace does need to explore, racism exists in this country and we need to deal with it. >> salma, thank you for the reporting and to kate as well, we appreciate it very much. also this, back in the united states moments ago newly confirmed attorney general merrick garland arriving at the department of justice. he will be sworn in shortly before addressing the doj's 115,000 employees in virtual remarks. cnn's evan perez is at the justice department. evan, you know, it's not an understatement to say that bill barr's tenure there sparked a lot of reaction and some of his positions, you know, sparked a lot of reaction as well. merrick garland his intention is to reverse some of those positions and decisions. what do we expect him to focus on in his first few days? >> well, i think you're going to see the tone set very early today, jim, with the fact that his first briefing as he said during his confirmation hearing he said that his first briefing was going to be on the capitol riot cases, the january 6th insurrection. so that's going to happen in the next couple of hours. right about now he's getting sworn in by a career justice official, thereafter at 10:00 he is going to address the 115,000 employees of the justice department around the country via live stream given the fact that it's covid times he can't do this in person in the great hall at the justice department with a big crowd. then he goes into this briefing that's going to be led by christopher wray, the fbi director, as well as michael sherwin, the u.s. attorney -- the acting u.s. attorney -- rather he just left as acting u.s. attorney in d.c. they're leading the capitol riot cases. he's also going to walk over there or rather drive over to the -- to the d.c. u.s. attorney's office to get a briefing and meet with those prosecutors. that's an office that he worked in and you remember the fact that this is a time when we're focused on domestic violent extremism, the last time he worked at the justice department merrick garland was leading the investigation of the oklahoma city bombing. again, it's just a return to his roots at the justice department. one of the things you are going to see later today he will be sworn in by kamala harris. it's an interesting thing, jim, because, you know, back when eric holder took office he was sworn in ceremoniously -- the ceremony was done by barack obama, the president. they clearly have decided to use the vice president to do this swearing in because of the political overtones of everything happening at the justice department, including some sensitive investigations, of course, joe biden's son is under investigation at the justice department. so, again, they're trying to, you know, carefully thread the needle here as the new ag takes office. >> that's a really interesting observation, evan. a good point. thank you very much. we will hear more from merrick garland a little bit later. still to come, president biden makes his first prime time address to the nation, it is tonight. we have new details this morning about what he will say. and there's new audio of former president trump pressuring an election investigator in georgia urging that person to find fraud. what are the legal implications for the former president? plus, there is a growing crisis on the border, what's being called a surge in migrant children, could be the next major challenge facing the biden administration. my hygienist cleans with a round head, so does my oral-b. my hygienist personalizes my cleaning, so does my 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president biden will deliver his first prime time address to the nation. this morning we have new details about that speech. in it he is expected to honor the more than 500,000 lost to covid-19 in this country, he will also address the sacrifices made by so many americans one year since the pandemic shut down so much of this country and he will also, we have learned, lay out a hopeful vision of the future. president biden not surprisingly also expected to tout the passage of his $1.9 trillion covid-19 relief package. the american rescue plan as it's called is largely popular among the american people, democrats and republicans, but it did not garner a single support from republicans either in the house or the senate. the president will sign that bill into law tomorrow. joining us now margaret hoover host of pbs's "firing line." john avalon. good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> margaret, a line in the speech talks about providing a hopeful vision of what is possible if we all come together. listen, he was elected in part with a message of bipartisanship, we saw with the covid bill not a single republican vote despite public support for many elements of the bill. i just wonder is this a case of biden referring to the congress he wants rather than the congress he has? i mean, is that vision possible in the current state of washington? >> he think it is possible, jim. look, there is a lot of behind the scenes that happened on this bill and i think what we recognize and i think it's okay that there were some republicans that were trying to get to yes and they just couldn't get prin not out of spite for the president or wanting him to fail or be a one-time president. the dynamics are different than the script that's being replayed from the obama years. i do think especially as we emerge from the virus president biden gives an optimistic vision for what's next coming down the pike if we get this next phase correct. he will have political capital to spend and frankly republicans are going to want to be part of a bipartisan solution if only we can get to this next phase of the pandemic and president biden is credited with having navigated us there. >> yeah. hey, and some republicans, john avalon, who voted against this thing, like parts of t shall we go to mississippi with republican senator wicker who tweeted, independent restaurant operators have won $28.6 billion worth chd targeted relief. the funding will ensure small businesses can survive the pandemic by helping adapt their operations and keeping employees on their payroll. our manu raju asked him you voted against him. he said a fair part, i can like parts of it and not the whole $1.9 trillion. does that give biden more political capital as these lawmakers see the benefits of this money, granted they're concerned about where it puts our country down the road, but when they see it playing out in their state does that give biden more political capital on big initiatives. >> potentially. in the obama era we saw republicans doing ribbon cutting for bills they voted against. wicker is referring to the fact that he had been a strong supporter for the restaurant act, but at the end of the day if you don't back the big bill i'm not sure you get to take a victory lap for the elements you like. there is a reservoir of good will, particularly if this bill works and has a big impact on the economy from a bottom up way. the president is going to need to translate that and tease that tonight about still reaching out despite this heisman he got from republicans in the senate and house on issues like infrastructure and immigration, there are future fights. he is going to have to draw that line as great speeches do from the past to the present to the future. >> guys, i love your optimism, i'm just not buying it. >> i love your passion, jim. >> it didn't get a single republican vote on handing out -- with several things in there that republicans had supported in the past. when you looked at biden's agenda going forward, on background checks, god another gun control is a hot button issue for republicans, they worry about getting primaried if they have any vote against it, the vote writing act is getting attacked. maybe infrastructure, but we've been talking about the bipartisan effort on infrastructure since the stone age. i don't know. tell me i'm wrong, but i'm skeptical that -- >> let me -- jim, i'm going to push back. i'm going to push back. i do think there is a real chance with infrastructure. i do think if biden navigates this next phase of the pandemic successfully, if he says, look, we are going to be independent from this virus by independence day, go get vaccinated, keep your masks on and do you know how much good will he will have. he can leverage that, exchange that, turn into that political capital by infrastructure is one of them. i'm going to give you another one, the equality act has several republicans on the sidelines trying to figure out how to amend it so that it can balance religious freedom with lgbt protection. that would be extraordinary. i do think that there is real hope but we have to get through this next phase of the pandemic. >> well, from your lips to god's ears. sorry, john. >> i will grant you this, you know, the fundamental problem is representative democracy is supposed to represent the people and when you have a bill that's got super majority support, including almost a majority of republicans and it doesn't get a single vote, that's a problem. that's a problem with republicans being increasingly resistant to the idea of democracy and representative government and they're going to have to bridge that and it's because they're afraid of a primary to your point. they have to get over that fear and do what they think is right. >> it's the political intent tiffs and they are pointing in the opposite direction. longer conversation, gerrymandering, there is a reason roy blunt just left the senate. margaret and john, we love having you on. >> yes, we do. glass half full couple right there. okay. today marks one year since the world health organization declared covid-19 a pandemic. the entire world has lived in the shadow of this virus ever since. up next, our dr. sanjay gupta shows us how we got to this point and what we learned. learn more at phoenix.edu here's another cleaning tip from mr. clean. cleaning tough bathroom and kitchen messes with sprays and wipes can be a struggle. there's an easier way. try mr. clean magic eraser. just wet, squeeze and erase tough messes like bathtub soap scum... and caked-on grease from oven doors. now mr. clean magic eraser comes in disposable sheets. they're perfect for icky messes on stovetops... in microwaves... and all over the house. for an amazing clean, try mr. clean magic eraser, and mr. clean magic eraser sheets. many plug-ins are stuck in the past. they release a lot of scent at first but after a while, you barely know they're working. new febreze fade defy plug works differently. it's the first plug-in with built-in technology to digitally control how much scent is released to smell 1st day fresh for 50 days. it even tells you when it's ready to be refilled. upgrade to febreze fade defy plug. it's been a year, one year ago today, life as we all knew it really in so many ways came to a standstill because a year ago today is when the world health organization declared the novel coronavirus a global pandemic. since then more than 2.6 million people have died from it around the world, more than 529,000 right here in the united states. >> millions more suffered the economic hardships of losing their jobs, struggling to feed their families. there is hope on the horizon. vaccines are ramping up in this country, much needed financial relief on its way to millions of americans. cnn's dr. sanjay gupta shows us how we got here and how we can move forward. >> the world health organization is finally calling the coronavirus outbreak a globa