that is easy. so, need another reminder? no, no no, i'm good. uh, yes please. oh. ho ho ho, yeah! need worker's comp insurance? get a quote in 3 minutes at easyaspie.com. good afternoon welcome to "power lunch" on this memorable, even historic day in america. along with kelly evans, i'm tyler mathisen the dow up 600 points. along with the s&p 500, hitting an all-time high, call it, perhaps, a resolution rally as investors look past political

uncertainty if a sort rarely seen in america before and then there's this, the ten-year yield hitting its highest level since march. the minutes from the last federal reserve meeting came out seconds ago. steve liesman digging through and we'll go to him as soon as he can digest and has more to tell us. this is all amid a dramatic day unfolding in washington, d.c don't hold your breath but the senate appears to be turning blue democrats could clench control with two runoff wins in georgia. they have one. the other one is still too close to call. meanwhile, congress counts the electoral votes while thousands gather in the streets to support the president. we expect to hear from president-elect biden over the next 30 minutes. get ready, strap in, "power lunch" starts now. they've, tyler hi, everyone we start with this unstoppable

rally. with everything going on right now, we're still near session highs and record highs for stocks dow up about 600 points. let's go to bob pisani for a look at what's moving now. >> kelly, a lot of moving parts today. think of it this way stimulus and the vaccine rollout versus the virus and the taxes four kind of buckets stimulus is the main mover of the market today, at least for the moment the markets continuing to believe that stimulus is what matters. you can see this in the broad group of infrastructure stocks like martin, marietta, vulcan materials. steel stocks like nucor, freeport, industrials like caterpillar. look at the moves to the upside. that stimulus right there. elsewhere, how about energy. both groups of energy, clean energy like the solar stocks, for example, like first solar, sunpower moving, plug. old school energy, apache, chevron, because stimulus will

push up more demand around the economy and that's helping the fossil fuels with oil. higher rates as well you heard kelly mention that, but particularly a steeper yield curve. regional banks, big regional banks like pnc and zions are those. stimulus, number one thing that will help is small caps. if you look at small caps today, it doesn't matter whether you talk about small cap value, small cap growth, they're all having a good day on the upside. let's talk about tech. is there any loser out there tech is down because of concerns about, number one, more regulation and, number two, tax implications maybe they're not talking about higher taxes on everyone because the economy is too weak. guys, they're definitely going to be talking about higher capital gains taxes because nobody is going to fight in a big way about raising capital gains, particularly on people making $1 million or more a year that was one of the proposals

biden had. higher capital gains for people making more than $1 million a year that has a chance of passing in one form or another. you see that reflected in these mega cap stocks to the downside. back to you. >> thank you interesting thanks we're waiting for comments from president-elect biden on the economy and probably on other things as well we heard earlier from president trump on congress and its task of counting the electoral votes. still one georgia race still too close to call. let's go to kayla tausche. >> reporter: at this hour on capitol hill, a joint session of congress has broken into house and senate chambers as they debate objections that arose from gop lawmakers over the electoral results from arizona so, looking at the senate floor right now, we just had comments from the leaders of each party in the senate where there was some rare bipartisanship between majority leader mitch mcconnell

and senate minority leader chuck schumer on whether the president's claims have any basis. in fact, mcconnell saying the president was unjustified in taking his fight against the election, which mcconnell called not unusually close, to congress and beyond the confines of the legal system where even the president was overruled by his own hand-picked judges >> i will not pretend such a vote would be a harmless protest gesture while relying on others to do the right thing. >> adly, a small band of republican objectors may darken the vuf our democracy today. but a larger group of senators and house members from both sides of the aisle can send a message, too >> we're a country of laws and of not men >> reporter: and mcconnell warning republican colleagues against splitting into what he called separate tribes with

separate facts meanwhile down the mall, president trump airing his grievances in front of his supporters at a rally nearby he was warning vengeance for republicans who did not take his side in objecting to these results. namely, liz cheney, who's the number three republican in the house. but with that victory nearly finalized and two democrat runoffs -- two runoffs in georgia likely going the way of democrats, the biden/harris incoming administration is already thinking about its agenda and how to move forward we're expecting georgia to be at the top of president-elect biden's remarks when he speaks in just a few minutes. we're also expecting, tyler and kelly, to possibly get some news on those $2,000 stimulus checks, which biden said on monday he would support if those two seats went the way of democrats. just this morning, senator schumer said that that would be one of the first orders of business as well we will see what that speech says we should mention, there are

some protests happening down outside the capitol. two buildings have been evacuated for staffers we're still awaiting news on exactly why those were evacuated and what the facts around that situation are. but certainly there is a very heavy police and security presence on capitol hill on a very big day and quite a bit of commotion downtown >> one observation and one question, the observation is, i listened to senator mcconnell's speech i have never, ever heard him rebuke the president in such strong, very, very strong terms. the observation is, there looks like a very unruhly scene outside the capitol right now. what more can you tell us about these demonstrations and whether the security in and around the capitol, the rings there, are strong enough to hold back what look like thousands of protesters >> reporter: certainly the mayor of d.c. had been beefing up the security presence because of the rally that was being held and

the speech given by president trump. from what we've seen on twitter and on social media, posts about some of these protests and demonstrations they appear to be trump supporters who are frustrated with the outcome and are trying to breach some of that -- those security perimeters around the capitol. unclear how successful or if they've been successful in doing so certainly that is something that we are watching. that is outside the capitol building the evacuations we heard about are outside the madison -- inside the madison and cannon buildings, which are separate office buildings pertaining to the capitol and the library of congress so, certainly that would seem to signify something else is going on there as well as we get more and it's nailed down, we'll sink certainly bring that to you. >> under normal circumstances, kayla, our offices in washington are just a couple of blocks away from the capitol you would be right there in the middle of it we're doing a lot of remote broadcasting now kayla, we'll have you keep a tab

on it and get back to you as needed thanks much. kelly? >> well, on top of everything else, the fed minutes were just released with some pretty interesting headlines. steve liesman has been digging through them for us. steve, what do we know >> kelly, yes, amid all of this, the fed had said at its meeting back in december that uncertainty around the economic outlook was, indeed, elevated. the vaccine reduced the downside risk but the surge in pandemic represented increased downside risk the pandemic was causing in the past, tremendous human and economic hardship. the fed could increase asset purchases if the economic outcome was slower than anticipated. economic activity, however, remained well below the levels at the beginning of the year the economy did show signs of resilience in the face of the pandemic with a recovery that was stronger than anticipated. recent indicators did signal the pace of the recovery had slowed when the fed met back in december still seems to be the case now, there was -- they're following inflation, the

increase of consumer prices had been soft at that time, though it seems to have increased a bit since then on the issue of the balance sheet, some members of -- once the goals were obtained of getting the economy back on track, several favored an eventual tapering of assets. >> when it gets back, what are the markers for it getting back to where the fed would like it to be to begin that tapering, or do we know i thought we knew. >> we don't know that. let me explain very quickly, tyler. there's two main policy tools -- the interest rate and asset purchases. the interest rate the fed has been pretty specific about the idea that inflation will run above it and they want to average 2% inflation that same tack is not necessarily tavp-l attached to the idea of asset purchases. that's a bit of a squishier, we're not really sure. as you can see, i was hoping to find in the minutes more detail on that. i think the fed will have to

come back and give us more information about exactly what you asked, tyler, what would trigger a tapering how do we know when we're there? >> to your point, which is interesting, separate the rate decision and any rate moves from the tapering moves, which are totally different things steve liesman, thank you we'll probably be back to you some time later this hour, i would guess. for more reaction now to the fed minutes and the impact on the markets and the economy, let's bring in letra lavigne with byn mellon management and diane fonk diane, let me get your reaction to what you're hearing and also to what you're seeing in the markets today. why do you think the markets are moving up as strongly as they are? >> i think the first issue is what steve pointed out is the delynn yags between what constitutes -- what kind of conditions would constitute a rate hike, which we're only talking about guidelines here, when you have the rules

dependent on who sits around the table, you don't know how those rules will change regarding rate hikes in the future depending on how the people around the table change that's important the other issue is separating the quantitative easing or asset purchasing and the tapering, which is likely to occur sooner than we actually see rate hikes, although the fed does not have a consensus on this. i think it's important to understand that the fed spent a lot of time in their minutes talking about financial stability and although they wouldn't go as far as saying we should be pre-emptive in pricking bubbles or leaning against the wind, as was once the case in europe, in the ecb, i think it's important that the fed is talking about this issue and what's going on on capitol hill with all the chaos, if we do see the senate move over to the democrats and the reality that we're seeing in the markets today is because the fed will not have to shoulder as much of the burden of fiscal aid and fiscal stimulus, which is more effective in dealing with the wake of the crisis and filling

the hole left by covid and getting us on a stronger recovery track i think that's what you're seeing in financial markets today, is that reaction to the idea that we could have a little more aid and stimulus on the other side or even in just the immediate reaction to covid than what we've gotten so far and that ensures a stronger rebound once we get to herd immunity, which is now becoming a bigger challenge given the slow rollout of vaccines. >> alicia, let me get your reaction to the minutes. and then to the change in the senate, it looks like the senate is turning blue. not code blue, if you look at what the markets are doing, because the markets seem to like the idea that as diane pointed out, you may get more stimulus, you may get more infrastructure spending and certain categories of stocks. financials are benefiting today. certain categories of stocks that are doing very well, including the infrastructure ones. >> yeah. i think the point of separating

out the balance sheet from the rate hikes is really interesting. i think the market was looking for a little bit more direction on what's happening with the balance sheet because there's somewhat more clarity on what the conditions will be for a rate hike than what will be the conditions for a tapering. i expect we'll hear later on in this year in 2021 about the tapering the other issue we haven't really discussed here is any kind of yield curve control. it's very clear that yields are moving higher. in some ways the market really underpriced this risk here from yields to move on further stimulus and a better than expected recovery in a real economy. in many ways, the ten-year was the one asset class that was really hanging out there, not moving towards the cyclical trade, which we saw pretty much everywhere in the currency markets, in the asset classes that were moving, particularly in the movement in the small caps yields are finally moving. the question is -- >> what does that tell you >> it tells me, look, the

cyclical recovery is here. there's going to be a strong recovery, particularly in the second half of the u.s we will have value over tech cyclicals will work. infrastructure will work what's moving today will work. also the u.s. dollar will be weaker and, therefore, the trade into overseas markets, including emerging markets, will be relatively stronger than the trade here in the u.s. now, companies that have overseas revenue will do very well because of the weaker dollar on the margin the election results are supporting the trade that already began in september. >> why, diane, quickly, is the dollar weaker? because we're printing so many of them? you would think on the one hand, yes, that could explain it on the other hand, if you have yields going up, you would think and higher in many places around the world, you would think money would be coming into dollars >> yeah, actually, this is kind of an interesting issue, whether or not we see the dollar weakness persist i actually think we might see a reversal in that one of the things i think we're

not taking into account yet is the two steps back we could even see a negative print in employment on friday. and the ground we lost as we deal with further containing -- containment measures, much like europe has as our hospitals are overwhelmed. this next wave with a more contagious variant of the virus really makes it a race we're in a race between vaccinations and getting those in our arms and getting to herd immunity and not getting more variants out there that's a really difficult issue for the fed to traverse. >> diane, thanks very much alicia, thank you as well. kel kelly? coming up, we're all out of the big stories coming out of washington the official election count to growing protest to president trump. you can see live images of the capital where a lot of this is playing out right now and getting pretty violent in some cases. we'll monitor it, continue to follow that and keep an eye on the markets, which are surging higher with the dow up about 600

points we'll get the latest there can check in on the vaccine rollout, which is struggling to keep pace with expectations. the cdc did name new hampshire among the top states we'll speak with their governor, chris sununu, about what's working. oil above 50 bucks a barrel on strong demand again today on a strong session that has the energy stocks soaring. pioneer natural up more than 5%. 'll talk to the ceo about that and a whole lot more there's a whole lot more "power lunch" right after this. 7 moisturizers 3 vitamins 24 hours hydration gold bond champion your skin we made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa

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the head of operation warp speed discussing the slow vaccine rollout today. let's go to meg for more >> hey, tyler. while they were discussing that at noon today and just now we got updated cdc numbers that speak to the hope that this pace of vaccination will pick up. new numbers from the cdc show we've distributed 17.3 million doses of vaccine, administered 5.3 million doses. that is a substantial increase from yesterday we are now up to 30.7% of doses actually being used that have been distributed that's up from 28.4% yesterday consistently we've been hearing from health officials that they expect, yes, the first few weeks were a bit rocky but that will pick up. alex azar at the briefing today explaining a few things that they are doing to try to increase the pace. first, they say they're launching early a pharmacy partnership where you can actually use pharmacies across

the country to try to get vaccines out to more people. expanding the priority groups that can get access to the vaccine, beyond just health care workers and people in nursing homes to people who are over the age of 75 or over the age of 65 or essential workers he also cited that states could tap fema and the national guard to try to get some help. he mentioned florida as a state that he thinks is doing some things right here's what he said. >> it would be much better to move quickly and end up vaccinating some lower priority people than to let vaccines sit around while states try to micromanage this process faster administration could save lives right now, which means we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good. >> the criticism really being that the vaccines had to go to these very specific groups the message from the administration now is get those shots in arms however you can. guys

>>. >> thank you very much we're going to kayla tausche right now as we see -- meg, thank you. as we get an update on what's going on in washington kayla? >> reporter: well, tyler, capitol police are on the house floor addressing the security incidents that are ongoing at the capitol saying, we had a breach at the capitol building reporters who are on site are tweeting pictures of protesters making red make america hats who have breached the capitol building and outside the senate chamber. the senate has recessed, we're told because of the protests and the vice president mike pence who is presiding over the counting of votes and the processing of some objections today is said to be in his office in the senate so, certainly it does appear that the supporters, who were on the mall, who were agitating outside the capitol building then moved up the steps and into the building with capitol police now addressing that in front of

lawmakers on the house saying there has been a breach of the capitol building separately we've also learned from our colleagues at nbc news that the rnc headquarters has been evacuated because of a suspicious package most of the rnc staff, according to nbc, is down in florida for the group's winter meeting certainly there appears to be a wide range of incidents ongoing in washington. various official federal buildings as well as the rnc headquarters as well >> thank you very much, kayla. kelly? >> let's bring in shepard smith, host of the news of shepard smith on cnbc. as we watch these images play out, what can you tell us? >> kelly, it's an extraordinary series of circumstances. you remember that the mayor had asked for the national guard the mayor of washington can't deploy the national guard. d.c. is not a state. so she requested the national guard and they were sent out they were confident, according

to capitol hill police and others, that they had a security cordon that would keep people out of the building and that has failed a reporter from huffington post online site and others have posted photographs of protesters who have not only breached that outer cordone around the capitol building but have gotten inside the capitol building many have red "make america great" hats. they're wandering just outside the senate chamber further it's being reported that, though nbc news has not confirmed this to my knowledge, that vice president pence has benes escorted from the senate chamber as they wait to continue the day's work we don't have any reports of anyone being hurt at this moment, but there is certainly chaos on capitol hill. at this moment, the capitol hill police are reporting they have it contained but it would appear they are there by the thousands

from the images you can see on the screen we have visual evidence that some protesters have made it inside the capitol building, around the security and are gathering around the area where the senate was in session moments ago. this is exactly the sort of thing mitch mcconnell in his speech was warning supporters of the president not to do. we don't know who these individuals are or what their individual motives are i can tell you they're clad in the red caps and the reports -- the anecdotal reports from the ground are they came over from the speech and wandered toward the capitol where we've seen them massing throughout the day, even yesterday, in fairly large numbers. reporters for our sister network msnbc were reporting that the crowds at the capitol mp enormous for the speech and then overflow areas outside where they were there by the thousands. our sister network's reporters interviewing one after another

to say, we are here to support the president, we believe the election has been stolen against all evidence, but they believe the election has been stolen and they wanted to take back the government and now it would appear at least some people, whether connected with that bunch or not, but some of them have gotten inside the capitol building there is no indication of any kind that any lawmaker's safety is in jeopardy every report so far is capitol hill police and others have the situation under control. there you can see in a fairly ominous looking blue tent aerial shot of the capitol, the capitol dome it is extraordinary to think of what this day normally is. i think i've been anchoring the news for four different cycles of this time when this day came along and it was but a 15 or 20-second read, that this largely symbolic procedure had taken place, that the senate had come together and by orders of

the constitution had done this very sort of routine engagement, which barely made the evening news remember, all of this was certified long ago the states do the certifying this is just a matter of performance, frankly and mike pence's role here, i heard someone say today, it's very much like that of the one giving out the grammy awards you know, you don't have any control over things. you're just reading things but there's great -- there's a great number of people upset with him and the entire process and over and over the question is, must we not recognize that people are upset well, they certainly are upset but they're upset because of the propaganda which has, you know, infected our news media and throughout our social media, suggesting that this is something nefarious has taken place when the courts have taken up case after case after case by the dozens and have not been presented any evidence of

widespread fraud, any evidence of voter interference, any evidence of fraud lens within the ballot process this was a free and fair election by every measure available to us and used by us historically, except this time the noise has drowned out the signal so, the search for the signal is clear and the signal is this, the process has been orderly and by the books everything that happened in the senate today was exactly that. kayla, now what we're seeing is just a bit of chaos by those who would make chaos around the capitol. kayla, what are you hearing? >> well, shep, to your point about how uncontroversial this day normally is, senator claire mccaskill was asked about her recollections of this day, she said it was such a day about fanfare, she didn't even remember where she was on these prior days she left the senate after losing her re-election in 2018.

she said normally they would just send a few representatives from the chamber to go represent and count and witness this normally part of history that happens without fanfare. as far as those images of those people who are outside the senate chamber and who have gathered inside the capitol, i want to explain a little bit about what it means to say there's been a breach at the capitol. not only on a day like today would you have multiple layers of security guards and federal police outside the capitol, but on any given day to enter the capitol building, you have to go through multiple entrances of security that means metal detectors and security similar to the tsa at the airport where you have your bags or anything on you essentially checked to make sure anyone entering the premises is a safe individual. because the capitol has been breached, that means these people have gained access to the building without going through

those metal detectors, those mags and having whatever is on their person be scanned. that is one of the reasons why there is a little bit of alarm at least among the reporters and the people covering this who are now on lockdown in both of those chambers and around both of those chambers because there is little known if there's any danger to be presented by these individuals who have breached the capitol because they did not go through those very strict protocols that are set in place for this reason. so, certainly, shep, you mentioned that we don't know of any danger being posed to lawmakers or those present at the capitol building, but because it has been a breach of the capitol, that means normal security protocol have not been upheld we don't exactly know whether there's any danger at this point. >> no, we don't but these pictures are really astounding it looks almost like a tour that

might exist there and yet these are people that have, in some cases at least i'm told, have gotten inside the building there are pictures of people who have scaled the walls. there are pictures all over social media at the moment who are either witnesses thereto or participants therein i don't have any way to know but pictures of people scaling the walls. you can see the maga hats of people inside statuary hall was closed off for the proegsz today. the capitol is on lockdown no one is able to enter the capitol except here are these demonstrators inside there they are with what appears to be the don't tread on us flag i want to read a tweet which came from the president. it is clear that the president of the united states is stoking this that's not a matter of opinion that is observation and fact here is what he said on twitter a short time ago quoting now, mike pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect

our country and our constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. usa demand the truth of course, as is so often the case, that is just not true. mike pence does not have the authority under the constitution and the law to do anything more than he has done today we researched this thoroughly. his is the role of a moderator he is one who leads the process. he is a presenter and nothing more he has no authority to undo the will of the people, which is what the president was asking for the congress to do it's what he was asking republicans to do. to undo the will of the people he portrays this as fraudulent and inaccurate ballots this has been litigated. that is not the case a sad state of affairs when the president of the united states is stoking this sort of anarchy.

that's where we find ourselves this afternoon kayla, if there have been more breaches, we don't know about them, but the pictures, the still images of people climbing the walls to get inside the capitol, there has never been anything like this in the history of the country this sort of matter has taken place since the beginning of the country's inception. and there's one time when there was one objection when things went off the rails for a moment, but were quickly put -- we've never had anything like this, kayla. >> reporter: and it's also worth noting, shep, there are usually very few instances where you have both chambers gathered in their entirety for events that are this large of a scale. you have a state of the union and the annual address to congress that the president gives at the beginning of the

year in the advent of an administration and then you have a day like today where there's the counting of these votes but there has been such an outsized focus on what is going to be happening today at the capitol and reporting from a wide variety of outlets and networks about the possibility of threats because of the sensitive nature of what's going on there today. and certainly the president and his tweet going after mike pence and saying he did not have the courage to do what needed to be done today, he is further inciting a crowd who earlier today he told, we will never concede, a reference to the fact that the expectation was that today's proceedings would guarantee the election victory of joe biden and kamala harris and their incoming administration the pence camp had said that he was going to take a studious and diligent approach, he would remain as he has, unfailingly loyal to president trump but outside advisers to the vice

president note that he was in a no-win situation in this situation because, you know, he might have future political ambitions of his own he believes that he has done a lot over the last four or five years to curry favor not only with the president but also with his base he has been exceedingly on message for the president during this time only for, at the very end of the administration, to have this ooebt -- essentially have the president turn against him. kristen welker at nbc news is reporting from a former white house official that there is some urging privately behind the scenes for the president to come out and tell protesters publicly to stand down, saying that he is the only one who can sway this crowd against the ghdemonstratis formally going on. we are awaiting formal word from the white house about its reads from capitol hill today. the break between the vice president and the president after five years of being

incredibly close both in action and in message, and after their lunch, their meetings together over the last several days, it's certainly notable, shep. >> it certainly is the capitol is the -- the house is now in recess capitol hill police have notified members of the congress to essentially shelter in place. muriel bowser, the -- one more thing. vice president pence has now been nooufd a secure locatimove location, which gives you pause. senator grassley has also been moved to a secure location there they are, like invaders on the capitol. the place where you come as a high school senior to take a

photograph the place beneath which you stand to look up at the marvel of this nation of by and for the people, where one of the bellwethers of our democracy is thepeaceful transition of power. i remember it like it was yesterday when barack obama was put into office and marveling after all of the rancor and all the vitriol, standing in front of the white house as the president was sworn into office and republicans and democrats all respecting the process and remember discussing on air that day that it is one of the beauties, the shining lights of our nation for the world that this is who we are and this is how it's done. fledgling democracies gathering steam around the planet, look at

this this is your signal in the noise. this is how democrats act. after all is said and done, there is a peaceful transfer of power. and just 12 minutes ago, representative adam kinzinger tweeted, this is a coup attempt. mayor muriel bowser has now instituted a curfew in washington washington is under curfew from 6:00 p.m. tonight until 6:00 in the morning. the capitol hill police have ordered and those inside the capitol are urging all of those around the capitol to stand down, and yet on the move they are. up the steps of the united states capitol, breaching the security line and into the halls of power adam kinzinger, this is a coup attempt. you wake up, you know the news can bring anything

we knew this would be a difficult day last night with what the democrats picking up one seat in georgia, leading in a second seat still too close to call according to the reporting of nbc news but reaching a point at some time this afternoon where we'll have a decision there. the senate breaking now and just into cnbc, the senate is now being evacuated. vice president pence has been taken to a secure location senator grassley to a secure location and the crowds continue to build around the capitol kayla, you wake up not knowing what the day will bring, but this really did not enter your mind you knew that there could be confrontations, as we've seen that before. we knew that the president would antagonize and egg it on because we've read it and watched it each day but had no idea that it would come to the point where demonstrators would breach the capitol. this is extraordinary and

historic >> and the president had been expected to deliver today's speech, to hold today's rally as a swan song of sorts just two weeks before leaving office. of course, the timing was not coincidental that it would happen on the day where these votes were going to be counted and certified inside the halls of congress. but some of the language is now going back and being combed through with a fine-tooth comb - >> kayla, i'm sorry for interrupting but we have a new tweet from the president and this one is worth repeating. from the president, please support our capitol police and law enforcement. they are truly on the side of our country. stay peaceful. again, from the president. please, support our capitol hill and law enforcement -- capitol hill police and law enforcement. they are on the side of our country. stay peaceful. and it is noteworthy and will be

a matter of historical record that 14 minutes prior to that tweet, as the protesters were breaching the security line, as they are now, and entering the closed-off capitol, he tweeted, mike pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution, giving the states a chance to certify a corrected state of facts not the fraud lenulent and inaccurate ones they were previously asked to certify. back-to-back those tweets came the one i just read is flagged by twitter, this claim about election fraud is disputed, kayla. >> perhaps some notable nuance right there, shep, that the president is saying to support capitol police and law enforcement, just as he is trying to cast a pal over his own vice president, mike pence earlier today in that speech, he was taking direct aim and vowing vengeance on republicans like

liz cheney, the number three republican in the house, saying, we've got to get rid of her because cheney was one of many republicans on the house side who was denouncing the efforts by republicans to object to these results. so, certainly he is saying that you should be differential to law enforcement but they go through counting votes, which is why we are here today and covering the capitol in such close fashion and why eyes around the world are on the capitol. of course, if you're the biden/harris administration, the vp-elect, kamala harris is on the capitol grounds today. a transition official tells nbc news she is safe, although we do not know exactly what her location is at this moment the biden team, president-elect biden was expected to make a speech at 2:30 that is right now. where he was expected to talk about small business, the need

to essentially have a rising tide in the economy lift all boats. he was expected to echo calls from earlier this week of supporting $2,000 stimulus checks, which chuck schumer just this morning announced his continued support for. and he was going to be addressing the results overnight in georgia nbc news saying that the race between jon ossoff and david perdue is still too close to call but one where ossoff is leading. and the president-elect was expected to take a sort of victory lap. you have to expect there's going to be a recalibration of messaging behind the scenes as the biden/harris transition takes stock of what's happening inside the capitol building, on capitol hill, and if there's a broader statement about democracy that needs to be made as well. >> new information now cnbc is -- can now confirm that as the senate was being evacuated, senators were taken through the tunnels beneath the

capitol, which are used for transportation and otherwise senators often make their way around the capitol in that way they were doing so with gas masks in hand as a precaution. i mentioned that vice president pence has now benes escorted from the capitol and he is safe, we're told i mentioned lawmakers were told to wear gas masks. new information in now that this is more than washington, d.c fresh from "the washington post," whose reporters are now telegraphing that at the georgia state capitol, militia members have emerged and the georgia state capitol, help me in the booth -- the georgia state capitol has been -- the secretary of state has benes escorted out of the georgia capitol for safety, militia members there. so, this is happening in more than one place, none more

prevalent or making a larger statement, of course, than here in washington. at last the president is on board, urging calm that has not been his -- that has not been his mantra for quite some time. it is easy to remember the president telling the proud boys to stand by, to stand up there it is, the american flag sim and others this was an area on which people could not travel today this was locked down for security reasons much of washington had been locked down for concerns about violence it was clear from our reporting yesterday and the day before that intelligence officials and capitol hill police and others had been monitoring -- had been monitoring the scene, have bee monitoring social media and the internet and had come to the conclusion that these organizations, if you will, or

these groups, had decided to convene here today and looked to be up to no good, which is exactly why the mayor, muriel bowser, asked for the national guard to be deployed to help secure the city. now we know a curfew as of 6:00 p.m. you wonder where this goes from here it's 2:45 on the east coast. 11:45 on the west coast. i'm shepard smith in new york and this is cnbc's continuing coverage of what appears to be a siege on capitol hill. representative adam kinzinger calling it an attempted coup gener general mccaffrey, thank you without further, your observations on this sad day >> well, something i never would have assumed would happen in

america. this is apparently an attempted otto coup by the defeated president of the united states, trump, that he has called in his supporters who are now in criminal possession of the capitol building of the congress of the united states therefore, they have been -- we should not ignore -- prevented from carrying out their constitutional duty. at face value, i mean, you don't need to go to constitutional lawyers to understand, obviously, the vice president of the united states can't unilaterally choose the next president. so, it was nonsense from the start, but it shows the power of trump's message to these people who are now clearly in violation of the law a second observation it is shameful the lack of security of the capitol building you know, i remember the great riots -- i was a young officer

at walter reed army hospital - >> excuse me, general, forgive me for the interruption, but our ema eamon javers is now reporting, there are gunshots inside the capitol. that's from the reporting of cnbc's eamon javers. eamon, are you with us >> reporter: yeah, shep, i'm here we don't have confirmed is whether shots have been fired. what we are seeing is pictures now from people in the house chamber of officers with guns drawn and pointed at the door of the house and some very respected reporters from long-time washington reporters who have covered the house for a long time are reporting that there's an attempt now to breach the house floor itself the doors of the house to get onto the floor inside the chamber there. and capitol police are obviously standing by their ground we're monitoring this to see if we can get pictures of exactly what's happening at the doors to the house of representatives it does appear there is a

confrontation now between law enforcement, security forces and these protesters who have breached the capitol building and have made their way to the house floor. so, we're going to look for more detail on that before we can say exactly what's going on there. but on the other side of the capitol, shep, as you've been talking about, the senate likes to think of itself as the greatest deliberative body in the world but the senate is not deliberating right now the senators have been evacuated, according to a member of the united states senate. they've been removed to a secure location and the process, the constitutional process, that we have been walking through today has now been stopped by these protesters who have laid siege to the capitol building. this is something we simply have never seen before in u.s. history. it's a sad moment. as you were pointing out a short time ago, shep, these images are going to be beamed around the world of the state of american democracy today.

we did see that tweet from the president urging protesters to be peaceful here the president said earlier today that he was going to be joining these protesters on capitol hill he talked to the protesters down in the ellipse on the told them they would be walking to the capitol building to protest what's been going on here in terms of the count of the electoral college votes. the president told them he would be joining them there. that was a surprise to white house staffers, who had not heard that, according to pool reporter reporters, that the president would be going to the capitol himself. it's not clear where the president will be going with this, but he said he was going to be joining this group on capitol hill shep >> ayman, i waeamon, i want to viewers this from a huffington post reporter who is there at the spot you're describing this is a picture, i'm told, of

a picture that's being described by reuters and others as an armed standoff at the door of the house chamber. guns drawn, i am told, just as i was told by producers, reuters is now reporting that people are banging on the door and trying to get inside. just prior to my handing over to you, producers told me it was your reporting that shots had been fired it is my -- and apparently that is not your reporting. and for uttering that, i am deeply, deeply sorry it was reported to me and i reported it, as is protocol. at this moment we do have confirmed there was tear gas fired and members of the legislature were informed that they should don their gas mask

i'm not sure whether security forces, be they capitol hill police, national guard fired them or whether protesters or anarchists fired it is confirmed that there is tear gas there now. >> we don't have reports on what is being used here to defuse the situation. the picture you were looking at was a picture of the house floor where security forces, capitol police are now trying to prevent protesters from getting on to the house floor. the blue carpeted aisle there, that was shot from the press gallery. two windows there in the door that's being barricaded by those officers in that picture -- you can see the man in the blue shirt, they've set up some kind of barricade in the aisle on the house floor to prevent people from coming on the floor

on the other side of that door is statutoary hall some of those protesters from statuary hall have decided to make their way on the floor and capitol police are blocking that and protecting the floor of the house of representatives from being storm bid pro-trump forces trying to stop this election it's stunning to be standing here and reporting this, shep. it would be incumbent upon the white house, you would think, to say something to these people who are doing this this is a pro-trump group that will presumably follow the directions of the president if he issues them he has issued the tweet. but this is a moment that calls for real national leadership

we're just going to have to decide how the leaders will decide how they're going to handle it. shep >> eamon, democratic representative slotkin has reported to nbc news that the shots fired report was what she described as flash bangs outside her office on capitol hill we don't know the source of those flash bangs, but she was noticeably shaken thereby. further nbc news garrett haake is reporting that the national guard's presence has been requested to clear the halls of the capitol of these demonstrators as they continue to climb the steps in the front and overtake the halls of power. i believe it's ylan mui who has details about how people are being evacuated there around the capitol as this plays out. ylan >> reporter: what we coudo knows

our colleagues at nbc news inside the building say it's chaos around the house chamber glass has been broken. the doors have been barricaded and that some members have been evacuated and that some who are in place are now praying now, the official word k of the house does occur in the chamber but below that is a labyrinth of offices, cafeteria, storage closets. that's where legislating and the muchlt ndane work of governing actually occurs. there's many routes you can take to get from the chamber down below to the basement, and many of these buildings are connected. it's not just a single capitol dome that is part of the capitol complex. there are many office buildings that are connected by tunnels, but the capitol's own subway system that lawmakers can use in order to try to get away, perhaps, from some of these

protests we do not know the exact route that lawmakers may be taking, but certainly these are narrow hallways and they will be very crowded as our reporters over at nbc are saying, that as many as hundreds of people, 100 people may have been in the house chamber when the capitol went on lockdown so, it is a maze of just offices and different buildings, and there are multiple avenues out, fortunately. we'll see which ones end up being the safest so that lawmakers can get to safety. you know, shep, you mentioned that the president tweeted, finally saying that it is time to stand by the capitol police that tweet came 45 minutes after house gop leader kevin mccarthy had tweeted that the protesters should heed the capitol police and should remain peaceful as well so, that tweet was a long time in coming, and we're already hearing from other leaders of the republican party who have

tried to tell these protesters to remain peaceful and to not take a more violent path but now it seems to be coming down to, shep. >> new information, ylan, from my editorial team of the evening news there is video now of demonstrators inside the chamber, one screaming "trump won the election," and further new reporting now that law enforcement have geared up into their full tactical gear and are heading into the u.s. capitol. aga again, this is according to our researcher, steven yoakim who has confirmed this guns drawn inside the capitol. the security cordoned around it breached, curfew in place on the capitol on what would normally be, you know, a day of peaceful

transition as a veil lifter and behind the scenes for you this morning in our editorial meetings, there was the feeling the nation has turned the page. the nation, through the decisions in georgia definitely one yet to be determined, but certainly leaning toward a change in hands of government in washington, that the nation has turned the page and today's focus would be what does all of this mean with potentially new chairmen of the committees on the hill, a new narrative of the biden plan for infrastructure and jobs and infrastructure and a flow of money, the markets reacting early, up more than 600 points at one point. as you can see, up some 430 now, at the bochl your screen a great deal of optimism, no matter what your political perfect situation, the markets certainly reacting in a positive way, up across all sectors, with transportation sectors -- i mean, with construction and

infrastructure sectors leading the way, up 4, 5%. the change has been made, that the people had spoken. and now we would begin to report on the future and leave this tumultuous past behind us. yet this crescendo today with the president sending out a tweet a short time ago to please pay attention to the law enforcement after egging this on for oh so long the demonstrations are still go ing on according to reuters news agency, because i just said moments ago, the protesters are now inside the senate chamber. remember, the senate was evacuated. all members of the senate were evacuated. senate members were in the very end of that evacuation told to have gas masks with them in the event that tear gas or something else might end up in the air, so that there wouldn't be discomfort they were secured and taken away through the tunnels, of the

corridors of the capitol and off to secure locations, as the vice president was. now these demonstrators are inside the senate chamber. if barry mccaffrey is still with us, i apologize for the interruption i had to get to eamon javers you were saying, general mccaffrey, it was incomprehensible that they were not prepared muriel bowser requested the national guard now it's reporting by cnbc the request has been made for the national guard to come in and clear the halls, which would be an astounding thing to see there's been so much concern based -- expressed by 10 former national security chairmen, 10 living national security chairmen that the president might, in some way, invoke the military against the people. that was from their statement. that now it would be required that the national guard would have to clear the people from the