hello, everybody, i'm john king in washington. thank you so much for sharing a very important news day with us. major breaking news today. official word, the house of representatives plans to deliver its trump impeachment paperwork to the senate on monday. >> i've spoken to speaker pelosi who informed me that the articles will be delivered to the senate on monday. it will be a full trial. it will be a fair trial. >> now, forget that matter of

fact tone right there from the senate majority leader. if that delivery schedule holds, the first full week of the new biden presidency will feature an impeachment trial. a trial that will stir up all the passions of trump and passions of the insurrection just as the new president asked the country to give unity a chance. senate republicans already saying a trial means everything else goes on hold, meaning, they say, no more confirmation votes on the biden cabinet and no time, republicans say, to consider agenda items like a covid relief package. there may be ways to slow this down, but it may underscore why team biden is using rejection tactics right out of the gate. several steps designed to get more help to struggling americans and to get it to them quicker. new executive orders pushed the treasury to speed checks to eligible americans still waiting to receive them. they ordered federal agencies to work towards the $15 minimum wage. and those actions demand urgent

steps now to address a growing hunger crisis, including increasing the value of food stamps. we'll take you live to the white house later this hour when those details are unveiled. also this hour, more of the biden team is now in place. the senate this morning confirming the defense secretary lloyd austin. the retired general will now be the first african-american to lead the pentagon, and we're told he's going to show up for work any moment now. the new house in the senate impeachment delivery timeline now becomes part of an already tense fight between chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell. the two senate leaders cannot agree on how to organize the 50-50 senate or on the filibuster and whether that will survive. let's get straight to this day on capitol hill with manu raju. that impeachment time, if it holds, already complicates something that was already pretty complicated. >> reporter: yeah, that's the confirming of biden's nominees trying to move forward on

legislation. all of that up in the air for a variety of reasons, which is once the impeachment trial begins, it will dominate senate action. there is virtually no stopping that train from moving. there is a process that takes place. in order to move on other business, they would actually need the consent of all 100 senators to schedule votes on everything from the president's cabinet nominees to moving on legislation and the like, and as we know, getting 100 senators to agree on virtually anything can be almost impossible. so expect once this trial begins for it to completely dominate action in the united states senate. so on monday, that's when they formally kick off that process. nancy pelosi will transmit that article of impeachment from the house over to the senate, then we'll start to see things play out. come tuesday is when the impeachment managers will be in the senate as well, as well as presiding officers and the members -- the senators will be sworn in as jurors. the question is who will

preside, and that's probably going to be chief justice john roberts, perhaps patrick leahy. it could be a few days long, but it could be much longer. the senators have an opportunity to ask questions as well. there have been three impeachment trials of presidents in history. the shortest one was in 2020, and that last 1 ed 21 days. if this lasts 21 days, that will dominate the first month of the biden presidency. but there are still questions on how the democrats will pursue this. will they bring in witnesses? there is speculation they will not because everyone saw what happened on january 6th. president trump incited the riot that led to the deaths of several people, so there is talk they may not need to bring anyone in.

but the chance of winning more public support is probably even slimmer, because a lot of republicans want to have a longer time frame, and mitch mcconnell, who said the president committed impeachable offenses but doesn't need to be convicted. i can tell you, john, just speaking with a number of republican senators, the expectations are that donald trump will be acquitted in this impeachment trial despite what they all saw, despite what the president did because of concerns of whether it's constitutional or not or some deciding their siding with the former republican president, john. >> if that timeline holds, wil h -- we'll have answers to those questions sooner than i anticipated. manu raju, grateful for the reporting on capitol hill. the prospect of an impeachment trial only adds to questions about the fate of president biden's $1.9 trillion covid package.

he's hoping to get some aid to struggling americans asap. while manu just detailed there, a little time to sort it out. mark sandy from moody's is here. mark, great to have you here. new executive actions coming out today. the new president says, hey, treasury department, do a better job. if there is an american eager to get a check on previous or past programs and are still waiting, speed it up, get it done more quickly. addressing in more sobering terms, the hunger crisis. let's expand food stamps and access to other programs to curb hunger. what are the most urgent needs, things the president doesn't need congress to come in on? >> he's done many of those. for example, extending the moratorium on evicting renters. this is a big deal for about 10 million americans, obviously very low income, they're having trouble making their back rent

payments. they can't. and without an extension of that moratorium on evictions, they would face eviction obviously in the middle of winter, in the middle of a raging pandemic. that would be desperate for them and hard to watch. anything with food stamps, anything he can do in the executive order around food stamps, getting more money out to very hard-pressed families who are having trouble putting food on their family table. again, devastating for the families if they can't get that, and for everyone else watching that. the student loan payments, a lot of -- the federal government has extended the payment out for student loan borrowers. those are generally young people, very hard pressed just trying to do the right thing, go to school, and this gives them a bit of relief. those are things he can do with executive order. he's already moving very quickly on those things, and with good reason. the economy is struggling and

those households are obviously still being devastated by the financial impact of the pandemic. >> struggling, i think, is an understatement if you look at the recent first-time unemployment claim filings and other things happening in the economy. i read the analysis you wrote this morning about the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan from biden, and you make the statement it's necessary for the economy now. republicans said we just passed one at the end of last year, let's give it some time and see how it works. some are saying 1.9 trillion is too much money. the house say we're not sure state and local governments deserve the assistance the new president wants to put in there. i want to show the graphic you have on your screen. the red line is if nothing is done, no additional support is given to the economy. the blue line is if the biden plan passed, in your view, essentially showing the unemployment rate would drop much more quickly with the biden plan. some saying, let's give the one we just passed a little more time, or the price tag is just

too big. >> the $9 billion package passed just a few weeks ago, and lawmakers did that in the nick of time, because i think they would have suffered a recession in early 2021, so they deserve a lot of credit for that. but if you do the math on that, that runs out sometime in mid-march. given what's going on with this pandemic, just watching the numbers, infections, hospitalizations, deaths, concerns about the new virus that's more contagious, you know, logic dictates that they should be working now, preparing for the real possibility, and i would say the strong likelihood that the economy -- we're not going to be on the other side of this pandemic by mid-march. it's probably going to be mid-year, maybe later this year, and that means americans -- these hard-pressed americans that are unemployed, they mentioned the people who have back rents, student loan payments, need food assistance, they're going to need more help.

so it's just a matter of how much more help. 1.9 trillion, i think that is a large, good-sized package, and as you can see by the calculations and the arithmetic, it gets us back to employment much faster, but if it's not another trillion, it needs to be that size to get us on the other side of the pandemic. if it's only 900 billion or another trillion, that's not enough to get us back to full employment, and i do think we'll have to come back and think about another package of support, and this time what kind of things can we do to get back full employment, infrastructure spending, other spending on other programs, things to get us back to employment more quickly. even under the best scenarios that i show on that chart, it's going to take us a couple years to get back. >> couple years in the best case scenario. mark zandi, thank you for being

here. they will continue this conversation in the days and months ahead. we thank you for your time today. speeding up vaccines is now a big piece of the new biden plan. 100 million doses in 100 days is the administration's promise. many health experts wish that goal was more ambitious. some coronavirus survivors say they set a low bar for it being guaranteed. dr. fauci wants to get more rather than get in a numbers debate. >> 100 million doses in 100 days, if we do better than that, great. i just don't want to get fixated. dr. jha is a doctor at

public health. what is your best estimate knowing the supplies we have and knowing what the new team is doing to try to streamline and make better, coordinate that process. where should we be, 100 million, 125, 150? >> thank you for having me on. it's really going to depend on supply. i think they have an excellent plan on distribution and on fixing the distribution backlog. a million a day over the next three months would certainly be an improvement where we've been the last month and a half, but i think what dr. fauci is saying, what all of us are saying, it's not enough in the sense that we really do ideally want more. if supply can hold up, i would like us to get to 150 million or even 200 million over the next few months, but that's going to be driven by how much vaccine we have. there could be another vaccine coming online by then and that could help as well.

>> we see on johnson & johnson, for example, in the pipeline and one easier for storage and distribution. listen to dr. fauci and i want you to explain this to people, how this would work. dr. fauci said if things go well, you get additional vaccines, you improve both the production and then the distribution process, he thinks by this fall we could be having a different conversation. listen. >> we don't know the exact number. that is probably somewhere between 70 and 85% of the people. and i think when you get to that level, which i hope we will with our vaccination program, that, in fact, we will achieve herd immunity within a reasonable period of time. and i had said hopefully that will be adds we enter into the fall and the summer. walk through how that works if it works well. >> yeah, i think that's a really good timeline. the way to think about this is herd immunity is not some magic number that the day we hit it,

everything gets all better. even as we start approaching herd immunity, john, things will start to feel meaningfully better. i'm hopeful by late spring into early summer, life will start to feel really meaningfully different and better. over the summer we'll vaccinate people, and as we get into september, 80%, 90% of the american people will have been vaccinated, children will be vaccinated. all depending on data and a lot of issues between now and then. if all goes well, we could be looking at a very different fall of 2021 than we did fall of 2020. >> all of that, of course, depending how they do over the next several days and weeks. dr. jha, we'll continue our conversation with you as we do that. up next, reporting on how republicans, yes, republicans, are making the case that donald trump should be convicted at his next impeachment trial. ean a che to live longer.

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you see these images right here, the man in the middle, the new defense secretary. that's general lloyd austin retired, walking into the pentagon just a few moments ago. he's the first african-american. let's listen. >> i look forward to working with you. see you around campus. >> reporter: what are your priorities to start? >> secretary austin is the first african-american, as i was starting to say before he stopped briefly to talk to the pentagon press corps, the first african-american to lead the pentagon, concerned earlier today about the senate, getting right to work. the second cabinet member confirmed by the united states senate by team biden. we wish the secretary well in

his new job. trum the trump impeachment trial could begin as early as next week. the house speaker plans to deliver the impeachment articles on monday. now we're watching to see if there will be negotiations to slow things down. as we wait to see the scheduling details, we have a campaign by some republicans to persuade gop senators that former president trump deserves to be convicted. now, let's be clear. the odds are against this effort, but it does highlight the fascinating debate among republicans about the former president's future. and there are trump former white house officials who believe punishing the president is critical to that future. let's bring in special correspondent jamie gangel. jamie? >> like you said, the odds are against it, but let's face it, republicans are still scared of

trump, but we have discovered there is a campaign to convict him and take the party back. what we've learned is there's been what i would call an underground lobbying campaign of members of congress. some of them, as you said, are former white house officials, former members of congress and both current and former hill staffers. it is not coordinated, but these are dozens of influential republicans who are really reaching out to members to encourage them first in the house to impeach, now to convict trump. their goal is to take the party back. some of this has happened in public. we've seen staffers resign in protest, and we've seen people like former chief of staff john kelly who told our colleague jake tapper he would vote to remove. but we're also hearing about dozens of others who are working behind the scenes, including a

very senior former white house official who has spoken to members on both the house and senate side because the official was so alarmed about what the president did on january 6th at the rally and in the aftermath. john? >> and, jamie, your reporting includes that as part of their case, they put their key points down in writing, essentially talking points saying, hey, read this. here's the case to convict the president. >> correct. we don't know how widespread this is, but we've obtained a 9-point memo that's been circulating that lays out reasons for impeachment and conviction. and we'll show you part of it here, just a couple of points. one says, it's difficult to find a more anti-conservative outburst by a u.s. president than donald trump the last two months. it goes on to say that he urged supporters from across the nation to come to washington, d.c. to disrupt the proceedings

of the january 6th joint meeting of congress, that he addressed the crowd, which was widely understood to include people who were planning to fight physically and who were prepared to die in response to his false claims of a, quote, stolen election by demanding they, quote, fight like hell. and it goes on and on. also, look, john, the sources we spoke to say that a lot of this depends on mitch mcconnell. what is he willing to do? he has left the door open, but there is no question that he's getting a lot of pushback. i will tell you, i spoke to one member who spoke to mitch mcconnell who told me this. mitch said to me, he wants trump gone. it is in his political interest to have him gone, it is in the gop interest to have him gone. the question is, do we get there? and as you well know, john, it

will take 17 republicans in addition to the 50 democrats to convict. that is a heavy lift. but i will say this. i wonder -- last time there was only one republican, mitt romney. i wonder whether we will see more this time. john? >> it's going to be fascinating, both the math and the speeches when it is said. the senate trial could begin as early as next week. jamie gangel, really important reporting. the impeachment trial is just one of the questions facing rattled republicans now. here are two others from "time." how much influence will trump have with the party going forward? and how can they have elections if they are trapped between a fanatical base of delusional conspiracies and a broader

electorate that despises trump? what are one of the early dividing lines as republicans try to find the answers? what about the president and his family? what about these conspiracy theories? >> well, there are a lot of republicans, as jamie was just reporting, sort of on both sides of this question, realizing that on the one hand, it is in the republican party's collective interest to move on from trump in some way and try to reground the party in principles and in truth. but on the other hand, it is not necessarily any individual republican officeholders', republican senators' interest to do that, given where the base has given the affection for trump that still exists in the republican rank and file. and because we are so far out from an election, and because so much of this is so recent and so raw, they really don't even have a winch to stick their finger

in, so to speak. it's not clear how any of this will play out, and it's complicated by the fact they do have these strong minorities in congress and across the country. it is really an open question, and i think it is the question that will determine the future of american politics from now on. >> i think you're exactly right. just listen to a little bit of the flavor here. we're learning -- this is day 3 of the biden presidency, so how will the president do, can he reach his goal of bipartisanship? if you listen here, senator marco rubio is first in this ele collection of republicans. he goes back to a more traditional fight. listen. >> we now have a president who talks like a centrist but it governing from the far left. >> president biden should step up and deliver on his message of unity and healing. he should call on nancy pelosi and say, speaker pelosi, i'm asking you to stop. >> i've never felt better about

the republican senate conference being united behind the idea that what the house did was wrong. >> let me frame it this way as we go through, look, republicans are from different parts of the country, republicans have different calculations based on their state electorates. but steve and andrew just won elections. part of this republican calculation has to be, when do i have to answer to the voters yet and how big a factor is trump and trumpism going to be when i do? >> that's right, and that's sort of up to trump, right? he doesn't have his twitter platform anymore, but he still has a lot of influence, if he chooses to wield it, in some fashion, but nobody knows. of course, he's a famously unpredictable figure, and he hasn't sent a lot of signals for what sort of political operation he plans to keep and how he plans to wield it, both in what medium and, you know, what sort of lines he wants to enforce,

and so while there is a lot of tough talk in public, of course, i was really struck when i was reporting this piece by how pessimistic republicans were in private. and these are not necessarily your never trumpers for the most part, but there is a lot of pessimism in the party, because if trump is still around, are we still going to be subjected to his whims that are so unpredictable. and as long as they're saying, let's move on, that's the way to achieve unity, there is a strong sense that american voters have a keen sense of justice, of fairness, of feeling that bad behavior needs to be punished. and so as much as they are saying, you know, that voters want to move on, i think republicans especially are acutely aware of that desire on the part of the public. >> molly ball, grateful for your time and reporting insights. read the article.

it is very well written and very smartly articulated. molly challenges for republicans that cloud, that cloud they're not sure how to get out from under. we're waiting now for a very important briefing at the biden white house. jen psaki will outline the boost president biden is trying to give to the economy. in part because he wants to act quickly, in part because he understands there is a very uncertain climate in the congress right now for his initiatives. the fact the impeachment trial could begin next week only adds to that. our chief correspondent dana bash is with us, and also a congressional correspondent from "politico." dana, let me start with you. when chuck schumer came to the floor today and said nancy pelosi is sending it over on monday. if it goes into complete trial mode or mostly trial mode next

week, is that certain, or is it part of this schumer negotiation of organizing the senate and it's a play from democrats saying, we better work this out, or yes, we're going to have an impeachment trial next week? >> it seems like the latter. they have until monday, basically, to come up with a deal on how they want to conduct this trial. i think, you know, republicans are very much laying out this argument right now. you can see it happening and i think we'll see it coming to the fore even more in the coming days that they think trump needs more time, he needs due process rights, that they're concerned about sort of the process that went on in the house, that trump didn't get a chance to defend himself, and that's why you saw mcconnell come out yesterday and say he wants two weeks for trump to basically get his defense in order, be able to come up to this trial and lay out sort of, you know, his defense. and so it's going to be interesting to watch, because we've heard from even this morning people like senator lisa murkowski who said trump committed impeachable offenses,

plain and simple, but saying she agrees with mcconnell in terms of wanting a certain type of process. so it will be really interesting to see what they come up with. do they delay this trial to give trump more time? are they going to allow him to come in and call witnesses if he wants it? democrats are obviously going to say this is a red herring that you can see plain and simple what trump did on january 6, but there is a process component. we heard it in the last impeachment and we're hearing it again. >> and this, dana, is what we heard. i mean, not direct language, but from then-president-elect, now president biden, when this whole impeachment was happening. what is this going to do to me? you see pictures of the white house briefing room right now, he wants to come out of the gate. he wants to come out of the gate with momentum. he's going to use executive actions to get his government quicker, quicker than the trump government was to, to get food stamps out to help the hunger crisis. he says, what happens to my

team, consideration of a covid package? how much of this is an uncertainty? >> it's all part of the negotiations, and that really is what the whole move by speaker pelosi to send the impeachment articles on monday or to announce that she's doing so is all about. it's now a time crunch for mcconnell, for schumer to come up with some kind of plan, to come up with a plan that will govern the impeachment trial and less so about the whole -- what they called an organizing resolution, how the 50-50 senate is going to work. you know i, i was told this morning that they're actually kind of separate tracks, but of course given the fact that president biden is so determined, understandably, to get things going on his agenda given the crises that americans are facing, they are somewhat related, but what we are seeing right now is the game of chess

playing out in public. >> and part of the chess again, rac rachael, if you're the new president, you're going to say i'm doing all i can with executive actions to show i understand the pain. that's why the vaccine covid plan rolled out yesterday, we're getting to other issues today. but the big package is on capitol hill. susan collins dismissed massive stimulus package. if biden can't get collins on board, won't he get a problem to get 60 votes in the senate? that's why progressives say, sorry, mr. president, we know you want to be bipartisan, we know you want try, we know you're a creature of the senate and you want to get rid of the filibuster. but he says, look, democrats have power, we have enough votes, let's just be bold. >> we have the majority, we should use that majority in a very aggressive way. i'm going to be chairman of the budget committee, which handles

what we call reconciliation. that is the senate process by which you can pass not all claims of legislation but a whole lot of very important legislation with a majority vote, not 60 votes. >> that's bernie sanders talking about the reconciliation process. his colleague elizabeth warren has been more blunt in saying, look, filibuster, just get rid of it. >> yeah, look, i mean, president biden really faces a choice right now. does he want to lower his ambitions on his coronavirus proposal, try to strike a deal with republicans? there is a bipartisan group of senators that will be meeting with his top officials over the weekend. or does he want to keep the whole package and sort of plow through, you know, potentially do this sort of reconciliation strategy where they can pass it on a party line democrats only vote. it's interesting to watch because honestly president biden has a sort of reputation for being a centrist democratic

moderate. he wants to reach out to republicans. his whole inaugural address was about unity and working together, moving past the did i v -- divisiveness of the last four years. but republicans have said they think it's too much money after this past package over christmas. so will he just go without them? >> we're waiting for jen psaki to come out and talk about these executive orders. she knows he means it when he says i want to try and see if republicans will give me a chance. right now he has this moment of power, let's be bold, let's use it. this is her saying, let's give it more time. >> he thinks we can get to a bipartisan package. at the same time we're not going to take tools off the table, because addressing this is what he was elected to do. we're going to start and pursue

a bipartisan package first. >> she knows, she's not new to washington. s she works in the biden administration. any new president has this narrow window of time where you think you have momentum to get out of the gate. this is a difficult juggle. >> it is, and he has two roads to go down right now. one of the roads is what bernie sanders was just talking about, which progressives, no question, want him to take, to say this is what we want, this is what we get, we have the votes to do it, we're going to use the sort of legislative tricks and tools at our disposal to just pass this with straight party line democratic votes, but on the other hand, it's not -- it's not all that totally clear that with a couple of moderate democrats that that is even that feasible. we don't know that joe manchin, for example, of west virginia is going to vote for that, that jon

tester of atlanta is going to vote for that hook, line and sinker. so that conversation more than likely joe biden will have himself in the minutes, hours, days to come to try to figure out what is the sweet spot? and is there a sweet spot kind of in the middle there? my understanding from the very beginning is that they wanted to, out of the gate, have this big package to keep those options open so if they have to negotiate, they're negotiating from way out here as opposed to here and not negotiating with themselves, if you will. >> it's an excellent point. also, the way you framed that raises another point, rachael, that i think is getting sometimes obscured. we're talking about do democrats do away with the filibuster, can joe biden make republicans work? at the root of that is, no matter what happens on the procedural questions, no matter what happens on the bipa bipartisanship questions, joe biden needs extraordinary discipline with democrats. the democratic majority is so small. it's a 50-50 senate with kamala

harris breaking ties. before he can even think about reaching out to republicans, he needs to make sure he has remarkable discipline among democrats, because if he has that discipline, he has some leverage over democrats. if the democrats see there is a family feud, they'll step back and let it play out. >> you don't have to look very far to see this family feud happening right now among the democratic party. that's going to be a very tough thing for biden to do, to keep democrats united. you have progressives who want to move in one direction, moderates who are sort of worried about their re-elections, wanting to move in another, and i think the democratic infighting this year will be one of the biggest stories we're following, not just on this coronavirus package, but on everything from immigration to climate to infrastructure. i think republicans, that's going to be a big strategy for them to just, as you said, step back and let the democratic infighting happen and basically run against all of that in their own re-elections if they try to flip the house in 2022.

>> president biden voices he can manage this. it won't just become feisty debates, but that's what it is for our president on day 3. when we come back, we're expecting the white house press secretary, one of the new top economic aides, to outline some brand new executive actions today, trying to get more checks and more food assistance to americans still struggling in the coronavirus economy. medicare prescriptions... ar ...no sweat. so you can get back to the thing you'd rather be doing. ♪

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our viewers are standing by for a briefing in the white house briefing room. jen psaki, the new press conference secretary. some new important international news on the coronavirus that matters to everybody. the u.k. prime minister boris johnson giving an update on the covid variant first seen in the u.k. now reported in several states here in the u.s. >> we've been informed today that in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears there is some evidence that the new variant, the variant that was first identified in london and the southeast, may be associated with a higher degree of mortality. >> let's bring in our senior medical correspondent elizabeth

cohen for a bit more on this. that sounds quite concerning, elizabeth. >> john, certainly this is not news we wanted to hear. patrick valance, who is a u.s. health official, telling reporters today that this new variant seems to be in and of itself more deadly. and the example that he gave is if you took a thousand men in their 60s who had the regular covid before the variant appeared, ten of them would die. if you took a thousand men in their 60s who got this variant that was first spotted in the u.k., 13 or 14 of them would die. so what they seem to be saying, and they didn't share the data completely, but what they seem to be saying is they're seeing people get sicker and die more frequently when they're infected with this variant. and, john, you know, we've talked so much about how this vaccine campaign needs to speed up. this is one of the reasons. viruses mutate when they move from person to person, so this virus has moved to so many people. it's gotten so many chances, millions upon millions of

chances to mutate, and that's what it's doing. this variant, the one that was first spotted in south africa, if we can get people vaccinated, it won't have so many chances to mutate like it is now. john? >> elizabeth cohen, grateful for the important context there. you're right, a very sobering update, a reminder that the vaccine process is very critical, more so now. we're waiting for a briefing from the white house. up next we're told the impeachment trial could begin as early as next week. what would that mean for all those pending confirmation hearings for team biden?

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president biden adding a new member to his cabinet today after an overwhelmingly bipartisan confirmation dote this morning. retired general lloyd austin is now secretary austin. he arrived at the pentagon moments ago. you see there on the screen, he joins the director of national intelligence, avril haines. he hopes to have anthony blinken to the state department soon. our congressional department reporter ryan nobles here. ryan, confusion is thrown into the mix with the possibility of an impeachment trial next week.

>> reporter: they were already delayed in getting this cabinet up and running in time for joe biden to take office. there was hope that janet yellen could be confirmed as soon as this afternoon, but already that process is being held up, and that is in part because of this 50-50 split in the senate. yes, democrats control the majority, but it doesn't take much for republicans to gum up the works. democrats had hoped to bring these nominations to the floor under the terms of unanimous consent, but just one republican can raise concerns and prevent unanimous concern from happening. that appears to be happening right now from blinken and yellen. there is still the opportunity their votes could come up later this afternoon, but it is more likely now that it could happen on monday. just take a look at this list of cabinet secretaries that president biden is still waiting to be confirmed. his pick for the veterans administration, his ambassador to the united nations, commerce secretary, energy secretary. all of these picks have yet to

even have a hearing here at the capitol, much less be on the road to confirmation. that makes life very complicated for the biden administration. they've been forced to put in career members of these different departments as acting secretaries in the interim. it just delays this process of getting the biden agenda up and running, and it could perhaps foreshadow, john, just some of the difficulty the biden team could have in shepherding through legislation when it gets to that point in the coming days and weeks. john? >> you would think if there was one thing washington could get right, a little common courtesy of setting the hearings, but i guess not. ryan nobles, thank you. civil rights legend hank aaron dead at the age of 86. the life and legacy of hammer hank, when we come back. home i, here's one that'll really take you back. wow! what'd you get, ryan? it's customized home insurance from liberty mutual!

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from endpoints to everywhere. baseball's former home run king, hammer hank aaron has died. the atlanta braves hall of famer held the all-time record for career runs for decades, after breaking babe ruth's record. andy scholes joins us now. andy, sad day. it's a legend. >> you're right, john, a sad day for the sports world. hank aaron certainly a legend, a hero to so many people. he passed away at the age of 86 years old, peacefulful in his sl -- peacefully in his sleep. january 5th he was at the morehouse school of medicine getting his covid-19 vaccine. he said he wanted to do that publicly to show other black americans to follow in his lead.

there is no question many considered hank aaron the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball. he came back in 1974 when he broke babe ruth's all-time hitting record, hitting 117. he faced lots of racist letters, death threats, from people who didn't want to see him break babe ruth's record. his longevity -- >> i'm sorry, we lost -- >> more home runs. >> we're having a little trouble with andy scholes' connection there, so i'll just talk as we finish watching these pictures. i remember growing up watching that moment with my dad, and to andy's point about hank aaron, great baseball player, also a pioneer for racial justice. that was why a lot of people in my city of boston said, look at that man, he is great. had nothing to do with the color

of his skin. hank aaron dead at the age of 86. he wanted to have that covid vaccine to set an example in his life. we're waiting, of course, for a very important briefing that will take place at the top of the hour. new actions for the president of the united states. brianna keilar takes over coverage. have a great weekend. hello, i'm brianna keilar and we will be taking you to the white house briefing as soon as it begins. in the next hour, president biden will continue with his flurry of executive actions. today he will be signing a new round of executive orders addressing the economic hardships that have been brought on by the pandemic. the president is using his second full day in office to target economic aid for millions of struggling americans. soon he will sign an executive order to expand access to food stamps. and today he will also expand protections for federal employees, and he willai