reviewed the damage and took the videos. this is a massive door that's probably been in that office for 100 plus years, who knows when it was the original door. it is in the old section of the capital where the wings were at it. those hinges were ripped from the side of the door and so they were, what they were doing was taking the cases that you saw piled up like desks broken in the hallway. my office was right across from that. my suspicion was they smashed it into the door until it gave way. there it is. >> a powerful image. thank you, senator. thank you all of you, anderson is next. good evening, house democrats are drafting articles

impeachment "in citement of insurrection" and twitter suspended the president's account. that would be simply. lisa murkowski became the first republican senator called the president to resign. many are now trying to sweep this all down the memory hole. people like kevin mccarthy tweeted today, impeaching the president only 12 days left will only divide our country more. lindsey graham tweeted, it is time to heal and move on and it is up to president-elect biden to step in and allow the nation to heal. >> press secretary weighed in. "as president trump said yesterday this is a time for healing and unity as one

nation." which sort of misses the point, does it? what happened this week could not be more serious. there needs to be consequences for people involved. the mob trying to locate house speaker pelosi did not want to pose selfies with her. here are some videos of them posted on youtube by jaiden x. >> you don't want none of this. [ bleep ]. >> a lady shouting "tell effin pelosi that we are coming for her" among other obscenities. some carried police restraints, zipped ties like this one inside

the chamber. among the people arrested had a number of firearms in his vehicle as well as 11 cocktails. capitol police officer was beaten reportedly with a fire extinguisher. what was the president doing? listen to ben sass to radio host hue hewghes hewitt. >> as this was happening, he was delighted and wondering why people were not excited by it. >> senator sass says the president was delighted. according to a spokesperson from

utah, mike lee, they were also working the phones, trying to call republican tommy tuberfield so they can delay the moment. now we know this because the call mistakenly went to senator lee's cell phone as he and others were sheltering. he handed the phone to senat senator tuberfield. of course no matter how many words he reads off the teleprompter of healing and unity and love, there is no room inside him for any of that. to him those are all loser words along with responsibility and

accountability. now more with jim acosta and dana bash. has the white house reacted to the president's twitter ban. are his spokesperson actually going to have to start speaking? >> reporter: that would be something, anderson. it shutters the mind to think about this. maybe the president may come to the briefing room and take questions. at this point, no. what i am told by white house's official that internal deliberation is going on as to what to do about all of this. we were hearing from our sources earlier that the president was going to put out some sort of video statement. he had another video statement, we don't know the content of that. they were planning to tweet it out on the president's twitter account. they don't know what to do now and now they're exploring other alternatives.

a anderson, it needs to be said that one of the reasons twitter did this because of the potential for the president to incite further violence t ki, t kind of violence laid out in the show. they were worried about plans for future armed protests that begun proliferating on and off twitter regarding some sort of planning for potentially a secondary attack on the u.s. capitol on january 17th of this year right before the inauguration. so they took action according to twitter because they were worried of what may be coming next. the white house can try to work around that but that's adaming statement, a damming set of events that this white house had to deal with. >> a reminder of how much advance notice there was about the attack on the capitol and the plans or the desire to have insurrection on january 6th was

on seeds ocial media as well. dana, the last tweet of the president was him saying he'll not be attending the inauguration on january 20th, what do you think the next move is for him? >> well, we don't know. how ironic the man who got the nomination of the first place snatched it from 16 other republicans by using his social media is now completely ham strung sitting in one of the most powerful buildings and holding the most powerful office in the world because he can't use that medium i remember or other social media. it is kind of crazy. he's got the biggest megaphone and he does not know how to use it. it boggles the mine. thatmind. that's the first thing they need to do. it is not trump's orbit didn't

know that twitter would -- he obviously gotten flagged on tweets after tweets and earlier this year towards the beginning of the campaign year, last year i should say 2020, there were discussions whether they should move the president's tweeting to his separate platform because it was not a question of "if twitter" or other mainstream social media platforms and now it is happening. >> jim, do we know what the president's days are like? what is he doing? he says they're meeting on what to do about him on twitter or clearly he's not meeting about about what to do about americans dying everyday from coronavirus. >> he was plotting a procedural coup and he was strong arming the vice president and trying to get senator to go along with

some sort of procedural coup when they were certifying joe biden's election, in terms of what he's been doing the last couple of days, this white house has been in crisis management mode, they have been reaching out to outside lawyers of the potential for impeachment and potential for the vice president's cabinet invoking the 25th amendment. i don't think it will happen at this point. there had been many meetings. the president is not dealing with reality, he's been unstable and ranting and raving and so on and in terms of taken off on twitter makes you wonder what he's going to do next? in a way will be seen by the president as a provacative act, he's emasculated by twitter. if you think about it and dana was eluded about this, of all the toys that donald trump likes to play with is his twitter

account that he prides it most of all. taking it away from him is like an emasculating moment like when air force one are taken away from him and his toy is taken away and it is not going to sit well with this president. >> is it clear or is there enough time for something like that? >> for the house to impeach him? there certainly is. the house democrats planning to move in warp speed, i was talking to a top house democrat earlier who said likely it could happen as early as next week. it is kind of remarkable when you think about what normally happens and not as an impeachment is not normal and not to do it twice. our hill team got the draft of the article, the singular article of impeachment they are working on. it is a clear cut and it is not

as if they need to do investigating for whole lengthy hearings about what happened as members of congress have said that they experienced and we saw it. we saw it. the president went to this rally and incited with his words this group of protesters to become a mob and rioters and ransacked one of the most important buildings in the world while they were doing the business of their constitutional duty, written in the constitution to certify the electoral college. it could happen quickly, the open question which maybe not much of a question is and what happened after that and how the senate is going to deal with it and whether mitch mcconnell in his waiting days of majority leader is going to run toout th

clock. we are in real unchartered territory here. >> dana bash and jim acosta. joining us now is jim hines. your reaction of the president being banned from twitter. >> i have mixed reaction of the president being removed from twitter. it is not talked about enough but in addition to accountability for what the president has done, there is a lot of thoughts being put into how is there any way to remove him from the oval office. that is man who incited a situation where the presidential line of succession, the vice president and the speaker of the house, were at risk. there appears to have been a break in the military chain of command with respect of deployment to the national guards. the issue don't get more serious

than that. there is a lot of thought not exactly about accountability, that's a whole other conversation that we'll extend for a year. to answer your question when i heard that the president's twitter account had been revoked, well, that's good. that's one mean of not inciting violence but as your guests were pointing out on the show, how is he psychologically going to react to that. again, i am focused on the fact that this is a man still in charge of american's nuclear forces and still the most powerful man in the planet. i bet he's more than grumpy right now but i do think it doubles down the importance of thinking about those ways that you know low probability that there may be that could separate this man from the ability to launch a nuclear strike among other things. >> does not seem like the 25th amendment taking action of the majority of the cabinet, i guess

in secrets so the president could fire them first and the president would have a chance to essentially say that he is completely capable of continuing on then they would have to counter that. that seems highly unlikely, correct? >> yeah, it is all highly unclimbiu unlikely, yes. it makes it a very scribnnervou moment. the speaker of the house is talking to the chairman of the chief of staff about safe guards. this is not a conversation that i ever imagine that we would be having. so, yes, there is no indication that vice president pence is going to agree with this. two cabinet secretaries, you need a majority secretary or by the way you can also have a

commission. it takes the cabinet members out, members like mike pompeo. and it makes you think time and bureaucracy. it is a low probability thing but the stakes are so high that's where an awful a lot of attention is this evening. >> if president trump were to be impeached and heads to the senate then the prospect would be uncertain, enough republican votes to convict him, should that be apart of the calculus or whether or not the house does it? >> again, i think you are right in terms of that as a mechanism for removing the president. i keep coming back to this notion of okay, his twitter taken away but what about the nuclear trigger? you are right. the probability is low. it would take some time in the house as dana bash pointed out and moving at warp speed. and there is no reason to believe that mitch mcconnell

would reconvene the senate prior to january 20th. when you are talking about impeach. me me mement impeachment, you are talking about accountability. our country will never get back to normal until people are held to account for their violence actions. you are also talking and this is my second observation on how discussion of impeachment is valuable. we have not talked about the possible that he may be persuaded to resign. that is a little probability but maybe a little higher probability. a second impeachment on the table may be that conversation is a little bit more probable. >> congressman jim himes. i appreciate your time. joining us now congressman conway. what do you make of impeachment?

>> well, i think it is important to do because at a minimum, it sets a historic record trade. it is accountable aility. a senate trial can be held after an official who's impeached leaving office by resignation or the end of his term. one of the sanctions for a judge of conviction can be permanent disbarment from holding government office again. impeachment is something that should definitely be on the table if only because you can't have, this can't be left standing. you can't have a president of the united states try to subvert an election not only lying to the american people about what happened in the election and not only by strong arming election

officials in various states like georgia but by fermenting an insurrection. >> do you think him being removed if twitter and impeached the second time, it gives fuel to his grievance politics and help him launch the next if it does not go through the senate and the senate does not prevent him from running again that eat kind of fuels his supporters to run on a grievance platform of everybody against me and etc. >> well, two answers to that. these people don't need and they're planning a greed as it is. you see them chasing senator graham down the airport corridor. we have seen what they did on capitol hill. they're going to do what they're going to do anyway.

one thing they like in president trump is his strength even though he's a wihiney, weak president. taking him down and taking him off this platform and showing that he's powerless and sending him back to mar-a-lago is going to diminish his appeal for these people who really seek some kind of authoritarian leader. >> congress himes raising the idea that he may limited probability of it, may resign, that seems unlikely. >> it is something he'll never do. he's not going to do that. i think the 25th amendment should unfortunately because i don't think vice president pence has any kind of a moral

backbone, he we don't waon't do. that would be a perfect alongside impeachment. the way the 25th amendment works if the vice president and a majority of the principle executive officials, the cabinet say that trump is unable to carry out his duties and clearly unment not mental and he has not been carrying out his duties. now during those four days trump says no, i am okay, i can resume my cabinet. it goes to congress and congress has 21 days in which they vote by two-thirds a majority to reaffirm or rejection. that time runs out on donald trump's term. that's a perfect and easy way to keep the country safe the next 12 days. with that said, i do think the

ideal situation would be to trigger the 25th amendment and impeach trump. the sanction of barring him from holding federal office again is actu actually an important one. >> you mentioned what happened to lindsey graham, i want to play it for our viewers. he got heckled by trump's supporters. let's play some of it. >> lindsey gunman, yraham, you traitor to the country. you know it was rigged. you are garbage human being. it is going to be like this forever where ever you go for the rest of your life. >> i am not a fan of any side of the isle of people heckling at restaurants. if you acknowledge the reality

of a fair and honest election, that you are heckled by a mob of people. >> we have a socio-pathic and he's triggering this behavior with many people. it goes back to the point that i just made. even if you don't remove him, these people are spun up because donald trump spun them up. why not do the right thing? the answer is do the right thing. this man is unfit for office. he should be removed because he's unable to carry out his duties and he violated his oath of office and he basically forme violated the oath of office. if it is too late to do that just make sure he never to hold

the office again. >> is there something that anywhere in the world has happened like this? this just seems such a weird, surreal time. what do you compare it to? >> you can compare it to any number of nations where logistics movements manage to agree some degree of power. fortunately, it was not perfect and it was allowed to go on for far too long. we have a much stronger constitutional system with the federalists aspect to it which allowed states to conduct an election and free and federal interference. we have an independent judiciary and we have separate branch of congress that's not fully controlled by the person

controlling the executive authority. we managed to visurvive. the problem is over the next 12 days, there is this danger of having a psychopath who's completely deranged and desperate. he's desperate because he knows he's facing criminal liabilities going forward, he has control of thousands of nuclear weapons and armed forces. i don't think people will obey his orders but it is a scary proposition that there is a remote chance that he could do something completely insane. >> george conway, i appreciate talking to you. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. >> jim acosta reporting more than a possibility that what we saw on wednesday was an act one. the country reported of 4,000 a day of people dying.

a look at what's it is like at hospitals on the frontline. or just the west side. run payroll in less than five minutes with intuit quickbooks. thewith type 1 diabetes,osed you should have a dexcom. knowing where your numbers are going before they get there-- it's a superpower. i've had other systems and i'm on because it's the best. and, because it works. it's easy to wear. it's easy to put on. you can see it

right on your i can't imagine anything simpler. no fingersticks. i can't say that enough. i think that's an incredible advancemen this is the cgm technology you've been waiting for.

the rx crafted by lexus. get 0.9% financing on the 2021 rx 350. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. iced chai. pad thai. baked pie. pork chop. soda pop. scallop. kebobs. soursop. hot pot. dumpling. chicken wing. peking. onion ring. we are america's kitchen. doordash. every flavor welcome. as we reported at the top, we started seeing arrests today. here is a mug shot, he's charged with knowingly entry on capitol

grounds, theft to public money and property of records and arrested derek evans, posted and deleted a video of himself and others forced their way into the capitol. this next clip captures the chaos before one of the right yac shot and killed. >> i want you to go home. go! let's go .

>> there is as gun, there is as gun. >> hey, he's got a gun. >> just a few seconds later, the rioter shot dead. you saw the officers there, you saw them move away allowing protesters/attackers attempt to batter down the door. it is unclear whether they did that because they were persuaded by the man who said there "we had your back". we don't know and we don't have a definitive answer for that. why authorities did not see or hear the warning signs all over the internet. >> reporter: local officials insist they had no idea of the

seize wou siege would happen. that seems hardly believable. in the days and weeks before the insurrecti insurrection, the warning signs were clear. occupation occupied the capitol, one viral post called it. go to washington january 6th and help storm the capitol. we'll storm the government buildings, kill cops and kill security guards and federal employees and agents and demand a recount. trump or war. today, that's simple. >> the writing was on the wall months ago. this could turn into extreme lel ly violent. extremists say what happened at the capitol was undismissed. some of those who sieged the capitol were prepared. >> they were carrying technical

equipment and i doubt that they brought those to a protest. >> reporter: the non-profit event tracked democracy, 1480 qanon twitter posts on january 1st. videos of violence viewed 229,000 times. >> you will find they have been issuing warnings regularly about these groups and the language that they are using. >> reporter: one of the main stops the rally organized, ali sar alexander, he and three congressmen were planning something big. >> we are putting maximum pressure on congress, we can change the hearts and minds of republicans in that body hearing our loud roar from outside. he told followers bring tents

and sleeping bags and other supplies. if d.c. escalates, so do we. a follower responded to the post, bring a gun. investigators at the antidefamation league says they were sharing the violent posts with police. >> reporter: fearing the warnings were being ignored. the adl went public. >> our level concerns rose so dramatically that on monday we published the blog to put it out about our degree of alarm. we were not surprised by the intensity of what happened. >> reporter: what's next? january 20th. researchers are worried about the increasing chatter of violence at the inauguration. >> i think that we are just the beginning of this. round 2 on january 20th. one post, i don't even care

about keeping trum m in power. i care about a war. it is our last chance. drew griffin, cnn, atlanta. >> those threats are on january 20th and tiept onight we are leg there may be a threat on january 17th. joining us now is correspondent brian stelter and charles ramsey, the district of police chief. chief ramsey, round two, it does not seem to get more serious than that, does it? >> the one on january 17th targets the u.s. capitol and capitol buildings and all 50

states especially the swing states. it is going under the second amendment rally. that would indicate if they're going to be armed if they do in fact show up. one of the problems we have now in light of wednesday, the 6th of january, the capitol police chief is resigned the sergeant in arms at the capitol and the house and the senate all resigned. we are two weeks away from inauguration and we don't have leaders in place to make sure everything stays where it ought to be in terms of security plans and preparations for the inauguration on the 20th. now there are going to be some changes of the inauguration, that's all pre the 6th of january due to covid. i imagine there will be more changes. you don't have police chief there now and you have two assistant chiefs that's

promoted. that got to be addressed and addressed pretty quick. >> the tech industry as a whole seems to be waking up and taking some action. >> yes, google has banned parlor which is a newer social network that attracts a lot of extremists. we have seen youtube banning a steve bannon's podcast channel and we are seeing actions all over social media companies. it remiends me back in march whn the pandemic ending life in america. it is similar to what's happening now of the house and the senate, just think about what they may consider doing. this week is about online radicalization, people that were brainwashed with lies and showing up to commit crimes in d.c. they know they are partially responsible and that's why they are taking action.

>> in a situation where the city of washington, d.c. knew obviously this rally take place in january 6th, we reported some of the threats and the rhetoric signature roundiurrounding it. the chief of police says we did not know any plans of attack on the capitol. these were patriots and they're not going to attack us like we were afraid look lives matter protesters would attack or prepared for. is there a double standard? >> i would not say it is a double standard but i will say this. it was a d.c. police chief that said that. that was the target being discussed in the thread. everyone in d.c. should have known about it. >> why black lives matter protest heavily armed riot

police already surrounding the capitol and this time there were not. >> well, it is inexcusable. they under estimated this particular crowd verses the other. >> how is it not a double standard? >> it is a double standard. there is no question about that. they should have been equally prepared as they were during the summer for the demonstrations that took place. there were no excuse for them not to be. it should never happen. >> brian, i got words that minutes ago, president trump tried to tweet from the potus twitter account and correct me if i am wrong that twitter immediately took it down. >> if trump tries to go on anybody's account and post, these are potus account and u.s.

government account. twitter does not want to suspend these accounts because in about 11 or 12 days, they'll be transferred to joe biden. twitter is being careful now watching to see if trump will post some where else. >> the president of the united states is now trying to trick twitter and posting and that it is so important that he uses twitter as oppose to just making a statement. i guess then he would have to open to being confronted and talked to by reporters. and we lost brian. >> chief ramsey, you heard d.c. police said there were no intelligence. what should be done differently for january 17th or january 20th? >> well, obviously a lot has to happen when these intelligence and agencies and groups both

local and federal need to talk with each other and share intelligence information. i don't know if that was the case or not for the 6th of january. when i was chief of d.c., we always share information. it did not matter if the target were the capitol or one of the monuments were involved. we all knew what was going on. i don't know how this is happening and it is inexcusable. they got to get their act together now. the 17th is on the horizon a week ago and the 20th which is the inauguration and i am very concerned of both of those. >> white privilege. white privilege is how it happened. these are white people who are friendly with the police. there are a fear in this country taking on far right terrorism for more than a decade.

i hope that fear goes away. i hope no one is afraid anymore to take the threat on here at home. the u.s. capitol attack weeks before the inauguration. a lot to take in. i am joined, i want to get your reaction on what had happened. >> first of all, whatever that's written about it, it will start with the election, the election that president trump did not concede and fabricated to millions of people of the idea that it was stolen and created the atmosphere that allowed those people to come to

washington under his incitement and attacked the capitol. people would be staying we suffered one of the worst crisis and almost not a word was said about it and this was what we were talking about and this is what he fostered upon us. i hope people 100 years from now that this would stun that this is happening. how in the world did this happen to us at this time in history. >> the idea that the president of the united states right now is running around trying to get on other people's twitter accounts so he can tweet is ridiculous. he's not doing anything about coronavirus but he's trying to find twitter accounts that he can ghost. is there anything that compares to this? i would reference the famous cane's attack.

could you explain what happened? >> i think there is a sense of looking at that attack now and figuring out what happened and thinking of what we can do. >> the antislavery senator in massachusetts seated at his death in the senate chamber. a representative from south carolina preston burkes came in and he sits sumter on the head so hard. he's bleeding and he had to be carried out and he could not get back to the senate for three years. that attack finally mobilized more people in the north to mass rallies. it is responsible for creating the dawn of the republican party. moderates and conservatives be beg began to form.

the governor presents him with a gold and goblet and a cane. i think the real lesson for us and that's one of the incidents that lead to the civil war. it seems inevitable to us now that civil war took place. we worry for what's going to be the end of our story but it does not have to end this way. republicans even if they were in the dawn of their party are at a par point of changing their party and create a new form of republican party. we have seen massive numbers of people voting in the november's election. this is our story, we have to tell it so it does not have to end up the way it did. that's what history does. it gives us solace and hope so we can make a difference.

>> there is a strain of violence upheav upheaval. it is not something we like to think about or view as part of our history. >> it is important that we understand that strain. that's part of the problem sometimes and that's what our educational system is getting better right now is to make us understand how we have to go through various times and coming out and looking better. when you think of how public consciousness shifted, you have a strain of that violence. look at those alabama state did to those peaceful protesters on that bridge. there is something about visual imagery about that that it shifted consciousness and the voting rights passed.

with public sentiment, anything is possible, without it nothing is possible. he does not mean public opinion. when you get the country to realize something against the ideals that we allow ourselves to believe or us, we have to change something. that's the only way we can go forward is for people to realize something has to change from where we have been the last four years. >> it is always a pleasure to talk to you and a difficult time to get some perspective. >> thank you, so glad to be with you. last night we pointed out congress and staffers who are distancing themselves from the president. while we are doing that, tucker carlson and sean hannity down playing the attack saying it was not an insurrection but a

protest that got out of hands. they are twisting something i said about the people who perpetrated the attack. >> according to anderson, the real horror from yesterday's chaos is that some of the pro-trump protesters will go back and celebrate at an olive garden and spend the night at a holiday inn. oh, the thought anderson thinks accusing someone eating at an olive garden or staying at a holiday inn are an insult. >> i get they need to play down of what we all witnessed at the capitol. i guess i gave them an easy opening to twist my words. i should have been more clear of something i said in the

immediate moment after the attack because people broken into the capitol simply allowed to leave and walk away and celebrating the criminal act they had taken part in. i was trying to remark of the seemingly casualness and the behavior we witnessed at that moment and the high-fiving and laughing and the celebatory atmosphere. they should be ashamed of what they did and i believed that. they're going to go back to their lives as though they were patriot and they're goi pa patriots and have some dinner. i named of two hotels that i could think of and the olive garden that they may eat at. at the moment, i said the olive garden and nearest one is in maryland. now, they're trying to rile up their viewers by pretending that

i was dissing olive garden or implying that i was too fancy on those establishments and i somehow look down on those establishments. it makes me sad. i have been sad about it all day. that was not what i was doing. i was not dissing a restaurant. i was dissing criminality. the ability of them going back to their routine seemingly is a shame and an assault in our democracy. those lies were amplified by fox news, yes, by tucker carlson and sean hannity and now they're trying to divert attention from this. the biggest agitator is your

buddy, the president. you probably have his number on your tucker carlson said we may never know the truth here. that's like saying i keep seeing all these reports about election fraud, so we have to act on it and have this commission really investigate it. what happened to the capitol should be a moment for all of us to reflect on our own words and our actions, myself included, and how we can all do better to bring this country back together. is this who we really want to be? i hope the folks at fox might do some reflecting as well, instead of just the usual games of diversion and division. just for the record, i like the olive garden. i like the arct artichoke dip, though it has spinach in it. on my newscast a few years ago we event broadcast repeatedly from the olive garden, and i repeatedly praised the restaurant. over the years i've praised orange chicken, chicken at

boston market and mcdonald's big macs. i'm sure fox will continue to spin this. but this was just a diversion from a crime that was committed, a crime in which people died. a police officer died. this is not a time for stupid cable news fights. it's a time for mourning the loss of life. and let's hope it's time for a new morning in america. we have more important news ahead. the daily death toll due to the coronavirus reached a new high last night with 4,112, a number that could be surpassed tonight. nowhere right now is the virus hitting harder than in california. what it looks like inside one hospital there that is completely overwhelmed, but is desperately trying to save lives. we'll be right back. save hundreds on your wireless bill

without even leaving your house. just keep your phone and switch to xfinity mobile. you can get it by ordering a free sim card online. once you activate, you'll only have to pay for the data you need starting at just $15 a month. there are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. get a $50 prepaid card when you switch. nationwide 5g is now included. switch and save hundreds. xfinity mobile.

as the threat of another impeachment looms against president trump, the pandemic his administration has failed to contain shows no signs of slowing down. tonight more than 272,000 new cases and more than 3,400 more people have died. new deaths recorded. as we reported, more than 4,000

people died yesterday alone. among the hardest hit states has been california, as you know. los angeles county reporting 318 deaths, their most in a single day. statewide 55,000 new cases today alone. take a look at this. a temporary morgue is being set up near the l.a. county coroner's office to help store human bodies. you can see workers including some of them into temporary storage freezer containers. that's people's loved ones. miles away from los angeles in a rural town in a high desert of the state, covid cases are also running rampant. cnn's sara sidner is there. >> we've never seen the er like this before in our whole time being here. >> reporter: this is what covid-19 looks like in california in 2021, a hellscape. >> the death toll has been out of this world. >> reporter: on the edge of the mojave desert at st. mary hospital in apple valley, you can see the crisis before you walk in. patients arrive constantly.

some by ambulance. >> okay, have a seat. >> reporter: some on foot. >> what's going on today? trouble breathing? >> reporter: a california national guard strike team of medics and nurses arrives daily. >> this is an area of great need. and we're glad to be here. you know, when i first got in, it felt like maybe a band-aid on an arterial bleed. >> reporter: a gush of patients that just won't stop. >> i'd say about 80% of our patients are covid. >> reporter: temporary plastic walls erected all over this hospital create a maze of covid pods. patients with other emergencies line the halls. the hospital is so full here that some of the patients you're seeing here in the hallways will have to wait seven to ten days possibly just to get a room. they need to be admitted to the hospital, but they're being cared for in the hallways for now. upstairs in the 20-bed icu -- >> in icu, we see death and dying on a daily basis, but never to this scale.

>> reporter: every intensive care unit bed is full. every staff member busy saving patients. >> we have over 50 icu patients in the hospital right now, and we only have the staff to care for about 20 of them. so we are being stretched. the nurses are being pushed to their absolute breaking points, and then a little further every day. >> rapid response 238. >> reporter: the soundtrack here a never ending series of beeping, codes, and rapid response calls, alerting staff when someone's heart has stopped or breathing has stalled. that's what's happening behind this curtain inside a newly created covid unit. a covid-19 patient in pain can't catch her breath. nurses and doctors can't either, working every day to exhaustion. >> the physical toll, of course. there is also an emotional toll. it's hard to see all these

patients dying. mortality has been very, very high. >> reporter: how do you deal with this? are you okay? >> i guess i'm still standing, but, you know, we'll see. give it a few months. >> reporter: but right now a patient needs him. he is on life support. covid pneumonia is on the attack. his lung has collapsed. there is a struggle to insert a chest tube. the difference between life and death razor-thin. >> people don't take it seriously until they're here with us, or until they're on the line of that phone call talking to their family member for the last time. it is real. it is serious. and most of what we're seeing is preventible. >> reporter: the hospital is making space in every nook and cranny, but the crush of patients threatens to overwhelm the space and the staff every single day. everyone here expects this to get worse before coronavirus takes its last breath. sara sidner, cnn, apple valley, california. >> the least we can do is wear a

mask. the least we can do. i mean, you can't look at that and hear that person gasping, trying to breathe. i mean, what are we doing? what are we doing? i'm done. it's time for chris. chris? >> all those people organizing on parlor and other sites for the people to come. you see how often they said "don't wear a mask clear. don't wear a mask, it's become a sign of defiance, and one once again that was introduced by the worst of us, currently president of the united states. anderson, have a good weekend, brother. >> you too, chris. i am chris cuomo, and welcome to "prime time." the case against trump is the easy part of this situation. no one in their right mind can think what happened at the capitol is okay. they can say well, but what about the summer? that rings hollow in the face of the worst attack o