good evening. chris is off tonight. in our second hour of 360 the faces of the capitol insurrection and how many of them belong to ex-service members. new up close video. first though the uncertain moment we're all now in when it comes to covid. today johnson & johnson said it would apply next week for emergency use authorization for its one shot vaccine. also released phase three study data showing it'd be 66% effective in preventing moderate and severe disease and was 85% effective at preventing hospitalization and death. >> i want to point out that this

has important potential and real implications both domestically and globally because as many of you are aware of, this is a single shot vaccine in which you start to see efficacy anywhere from 7 to 10 days following the first and only shot. it is very, very good with regard to cold chain requirements namely requiring only a refrigerator. it is inexpensive, and the company is capable of making doses in the number of billions. >> it is a tremendously hopeful development as we discussed in the first hour with dr. sanjay gupta and dr. lenna wen who herself is participating in a second study looking as the benefits of any by a second dose. a new projection suggesting that even with vaccines coming online the next few months could be worse than imagined. here to talk about is the ihme

director dr. chris murray and also dr. celine gounder. she serves a member of the president's covid transition advisory panel. your new model predicts anywhere from 25,000 additional deaths. i know you factored in the new variants but also included something called rebound mobility and governments not taking, quote, cautionary actions to apply measures as quickly as expected. can you explain both of those factors? >> sure. i think on the rebound mobility the idea, anderson, is that we're starting to hear small scale data that once people get vaccinated they think it's a pass to go out, stop wearing a mask or be much less cautious. so we've built in a pretty conservative view of that, that a quarter of the people who get vaccinated are going to start to go back to being more mobile. it could be much higher, and we'll really need to track that

carefully. so that's the rebound part. in some states like california it's really important because they just dipped under the point where they're getting the epidemic under control, easy to go back up and start seeing transmission again. >> dr. gounder, the idea of -- oh, i'm sorry, go ahead. >> the other part is what we've learnt on states taking action is despite having high transmission rates, some states have not put in the mandates that we would have thought they would. and so we've taken that into account and looked back on the behavior of different state governments and said in those states that don't take action very quickly we don't expect them to put the brakes on through mandates if transmission gets bad again. >> dr. gounder, so the idea of the rebound mobility, people who are vaccinated feeling more confident to do things combined with governors easing restrictions, for example new york's governor cuomo opening up indoor dining to 25% starting at valentine's day, how dangerous a

combination is this? >> well, anderson, i am really concerned about this relaxing of social distancing measures. you and i live in new york city. i feel very uncomfortable going and dining indoors. we are supporting our local restaurants in other ways by getting take out and tipping very generously to people who work there and who deliver the food. but this is not the time to be relaxing those kinds of measures. this is the time with the emergence of these variants whether it's the variant from the u.k. which is more transmissible, which may in fact be more virulent. we don't have a definitive data on that yet, but even if it's more transmissible that translates into more cases, more hospitalizations, nor deaths. then you have this variant from south africa and another from brazil that seemed to at least in some degree the vaccines as well as natural immunity have

less of a protective effect against the south african and brazilian variants. and so this is not the time to be relaxing our measures. we should be doing everything possible to prevent transmission of the virus. >> dr. murray, you agree with that? >> i really do. i think the risk of the south african variant particularly because the results from the novavax trial had the sort of big surprise that having been infected in the past from the other variants gave you no protection against the new variants. so you can get it twice. lots of people have. and that really changes the equation for the long-term as well. so this is not the time for us to be, you know, bouncing back to our previous lives. >> let's just talk about that a little bit more, dr. gounder. because i think a lot of people still think, well, if you had covid once you're not going to get it again. you can get if you had the old

covid and there's a new variant, you can get the new variant? >> so what we're seeing is people who had mildly symptomatic or no symptoms at all with their first infection with covid, their immune responses are highly variable. they may not be very strong, and they may not be very long lasting. and on top of that they may not be protective against these new variants. that's one of the many reasons why we've been saying all along that natural infection to reach herd immunity is simply not the way. this is a situation where the vaccines are at least more reliably protective, and even though there is a lesser degree of protection against the south african strain with some of the vaccines, they are still largely protective. so we really should be ramping up and accelerating vaccinations at this stage. >> dr. murray, just to reiterate, though, getting the vaccine even if you've had the

double dose with the vaccines they need the double dose, you still need to wear a mask because you can still -- the vaccine doesn't prevent you from getting infected. it just will prevent you from having symptoms or hospitalization from it, correct? so you still -- you can still infect other people, is that right? >> so we have really compelling evidence for pfizer, moderna, you know, now johnson & johnson for the vaccines and novavax, by the way, for the vaccines to prevent severe disease. it's much more of a question about how much the vaccines prevent you from being infected. and again, the -- if you take all the trials together and think about the ones that prevent mild cases as well as looking at the severe and probably the vaccines prevent about half of transmission not, you know, 90%. so, yes, you can still get

infected. you can still transmit i suspect even when you're vaccinated. >> what's the reality -- what percentage of the population is wearing a mask, and has vaccine hesitancy decreased at all? >> so the great news is that over the last four, five months, anderson, americans have heard the message, more of them have worn a mask. we're up, you know, above 75% that wear a mask. so that's really great and holding steady. it'd be better if it was 95%. that's certainly the case, and we can save lives that way. but in terms of, you know, the direction of that vaccine hesitancy, the other question you asked we've seen the numbers go up a little bit from, you know, 53% to ten days ago saying that, yes, they'll definitely take the vaccine got up to 54%. so that's a small movement in the right direction.

hopefully all the discussions in the media about both safety and the benefits of vaccination will be able to get more of the unsures, the other quarter of americans who are unsure, you know, saying, yes, they want the vaccine. >> dr. gounder, when it comes to the vaccine you say communities may be experiencing a tipping point. what do you mean? >> i think what we're seeing is once maybe 30%, 40% within a certain subgroup have been vaccinated say, for example, among health care workers. where you're seeing all your friends posting on facebook, on twitter that they have been vaccinated, that it's been safe and effective for them. then everybody else sort of tips over. they come onboard because they realize, you know, it's actually safe and effective, and they trust it when they hear it from their colleagues, from their family, from their friends. and so i do think we are going to see some of the hesitancy fade away. i think you just have some people who want to, you know, wait on the side lines, sit on the fence so to speak, just watch others get it first.

and if it works out for them, then they feel more confident. >> dr. murray, i know you've been tracking this obviously the whole time because you keep doing these studies, but what's the lowest -- do you know off the top of your head what the lowest percentage of mask wearing has been in this country? it's now 75%. what was the lowest because i remember you and i have talked about this over the course of the year. i seem to recall there was someplace it was below 50% or around 50%, but do you remember? >> we went far below that. so places like north dakota and south dakota had mask wearing rates well below 30% at different points during the epidemic. you know, there's been a -- people start wearing masks more when things are bad in their communities. we see that quite a bit. we also saw of course at the beginning of the epidemic very little mask use. but there's been places that have been pretty more resistant

to mask wearing than others. fortunately no one's below 50% at this point, but we have been down in the 30s. >> well, let's keep getting that message out to people and thank people who are wearing masks because that's obviously critical. dr. celine gounder, appreciate it. dr. chris murray, thank you very much. coming up next, the troubling pattern emerging in the people charged with attacking the capitol, namely a lot of them had past military service. and later the question of qanon whose signs and members were all over the attack. we'll be joined by an expert on this conspiracy cult and how deeply it's taken root in the country. (giggling) that's my turtle. fraud protection. discover. something brighter.

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new developments tonight in the january 6th insurrection that could have dramatically escalated. two pipe bombs were planted the night before. the suspect seen here walking in the capitol hill neighborhood. there's now a $100,000 reward for information leading to location, arrests and conviction of anyone responsible for placing the bomb. meantime more charges in the attack itself, and some breaking news. federal prosecutors charge a w woman who they say -- in all more than 160 people have been arrested so far, and cnn has discovered a disproportionate number of them are veterans, at

least 21 who we know of. more now from cnn's sarah snider. >> reporter: they have the tactical training, gear and guns to bring the war home. cnn tracked down nine of the military veterans who were charged in the capitol siege. this guy is one of the most well-known. a far right personality known for spouting extremist views long before january 6th. 37-year-old joseph bigs an army veteran, also a leader in the far right violence prone proud boys. his violent rhetoric got him banned on social media sites. on january 6th in washington, d.c. it wasn't just rhetoric. prosecutors say he did aid, abet, counsel, command, produce or procure others to unlawfully enter the u.s. capitol by means of destruction of federal property. this is biggs as he helps lead the proud boy tuesday the capitol steps.

once there one of his proud boys, this guy broke into the capitol. according to court documents 20 seconds later biggs is seen inside the building. biggs a charged for an alleged commanding role in the insurrection. a judge ordered he could go home on house arrest. we visited him there. mr. biggs, i'm sarah with cnn. look, all we want to ask you is whether or not you were in the capitol on january 6th and what you were doing there. i'm sorry? you're calling the police you said? are you an insurrectionist? you're not an insurrectionist, well come talk to me. what are you? i've seen some of the things you've said over time. give us an answer. what were you doing in the capitol on january 6th? if we don't get the "f" out of here you're calling the police? >> the former captain of miami,

florida is also a proud boy. he ran as a republican for state office and lost the vote in 2020. >> there's people starting to adopt this process. >> here he is inside the capitol and now accused of violent entry and disorderly conduct on capitol grounds among other charges. according to the federal complaint garcia posted video of himself inside the capitol saying we just went ahead and stormed the capitol. it's about to get ugly, and that he also called police f-ing traitors for trying to stop the siege. time after time our efforts to get comment were met with calls to police. >> no comment, leave. leave now. >> reporter: this man was outside the business of insurrectionist suspect ryan nichols. nichols was not there. on the street outside his house his neighbor confronted us. >> i'm going to call the police right now. >> reporter: nichols was a former marine who ended up on

ellen for his work rescuing dogs. >> i've made millions of dollars on the ecommerce platforms. >> reporter: this is also him in a camo hat at the capitol. on the right side his texas buddy alex. both are military veterans who also ran a non-profit. in d.c. the fbi says nichols sprayed what is believed to be pepper spray in the direction of federal officers trying to restrain the mob. court documents show harpwriter posted this on snap chat. we're in, two people killed already. we need patriots of this country to rally the "f" up and fight for our freedom or it's gone forever. they are both charged with conspiracy and assault with a deadly weapon on an officer. former fbi agent mike german who's spent years says he's not surprised so many members are

former military. there are many possible reasons for their actions, but one stands out. >> what we've seen too often is that this kind of ideological militancy is allowed to exist in the military. and there isn't enough effort to root it out and to actually paint it as what it is, an anti-democratic movement that's a threat to our security within our security forces. >> reporter: that includes an army veteran who was awarded a purple heart. according to court documents joshua lower is caught on police body camera video wearing a gas mask at the capitol saying, yeah, i'm good, just got gassed and fought with cops. that i never thought would happen. he say released on bond to his home. his father briefly talked to us. >> i can't tell you anything. >> do you know him? are you his dad? >> yeah. >> reporter: you are. is there anything you want to say on his behalf? >> no. >> reporter: we also went to

this accused texas veteran's home. he's out on bond, too. air force veteran larry brock is seen dressed for combat inside the senate chamber holding zip ties. brock is the guy in the green helmet. >> i agree with you, brother, but it's not ours. it belong tuesday the vice president of the united states. >> reporter: authorities say he may have intended to use those to restrain individuals who he saw as enemies, presumably lawmakers. something brock denied to "the new yorker." 1,000 miles away in woodstock, ohio, two more military veterans face some the most serious charges yet in the insurrection including conspiracy. that's army veteran jessica watkins in the background and former marine dawn van crowl in front, both dressed for battle inside the capitol. watkins' boyfriend knows them both. what's he like? >> when drunk the guy you want to shut up.

when sober, the best man you can have. >> reporter: what was she doing? >> she was supposed to help protect some vip members within the trump rally, and then of course trump said that he'll protest, and some people took that to mean more they should have probably. >> reporter: crowl was right there with her. so was caldwell of clark county, virginia. the three are the first to be indicted on charges of conspiracy, and destruction of government property. caldwell's disdain for congress made clear before they stormed the capitol. >> every single [ bleep ] in there is a traitor. >> sarah snider joins us now. we heard the last guy in your report call lawmakers traitors. i know you came across some people have political aspirations of their own. >> reporter: yeah, in fact the guy you just saw calling lawmakers traitor, thomas caldwell dabbled in politics. he was actually a delegate in the clark county, virginia, republican convention. and as you saw earlier in the

piece proud boy garcia actually ran for state office here in florida. it is interesting to us to see people who seemed to have such disdain for people who were duly elected to office actually ran for office themselves. anderson? >> sarah snider, appreciate your reporting. thank you. so why were so many veterans drawn to the capitol attack? we'll take a look at that next but it's even nicer knowing that if this happens... ...or this... ...or even this... ...we've seen and covered it. so, call 1-800-farmers and get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

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cnn's sarah snider just

reported on the number of military veterans charged to date in the wake of the rioting. it's alarming and worth repeating of those charged arrest at least 21. during the insurrection we also saw many rioters wearing military style gear. it raises the question how many more involved or want to join these insurgents. general hurtling, it's good to see you. why do you think that the number of former members of the military is relatively high among these -- among those arrested? >> i think we have to look at some facts first, anderson. you know, there was a 2019 poll in military times, a newspaper, and they said one-third of all active troops and one half of all minority service members in the military had seen signs of either white nationalism or ideological racism in the military. now, these extreme views aren't new. they have existed within the military for a while. but, unfortunately, what we've

seen is an uptick in society. and because the military is a reflection of the society it serves, they are recruited from the society, you're going to see probably the same uptick in the military that you've seen in the society over the last couple years. that's unfortunate. and certainly what i'd say in the past the military that i belong to before i retired in 2013 we used to focus on addressing behaviors not so much attitudes but behaviors. in other words, what i'm saying is if an individual came into the military and had personal background or experiences with racism or some kinds of extreme views, we wouldn't try and correct that attitude. but we would say, hey, any exhibition of behaviors is inappropriate, and you'll be punished for it. now, unfortunately, what we're seeing is more of a manifestation of those behaviors in the open not just in the

military but in society as a whole. and you're going to see these same kind of things in the military. and yes, i actually believe that the military has a problem. the vast majority of troops, anderson, let me state this first, the vast majority of those serving are extremely good people. but there is a segment of the military that certainly has these extremist views and will exhibit them. >> i second that. the service of so many people and the mailitary is a reflection of society at large, and the vast majority of people who are serving and who have served incredibly honorable and are doing incredibly important work. one of the things i guess is so disturbing, too, is sort of the embracing by some of these extremist groups and like qanon conspiracy theorists of the word patriot. they refer to themselvesases patriot and patriot has become a code among qanon followers.

i just find it particularly galling that it's people who are, you know, assaulting police officers are calling themselves patriots. you know, people who even if they served are choosing to attack members of the national guard or police. it's -- it's wrong for them to be using that term. >> yeah. i find it not just galling but disgusting. these are individuals who really don't understand the norms of the society. they will bring away with them and identify with the term patriot, which for those who are true patriots who understand the history and the societal functions of a democratic republic, it has nothing to do with the kind of anarchist behavior and mob-like behavior we're seeing. you know, it's interesting to me, anderson, having served in foreign wars these are the same kind of individuals that we saw

in complex insurgencies in iraq and afghanistan. and just like in those kinds of societies where they would take on names like -- al-qaeda, the 1920 brigade. the kinds of formulations of we're here because we have this great historical context of what has -- the kind of fighting that's gone on in the past, we're here to revive that. and they seem to remember -- or they seem to forget society has moved on. and societal norms are different. and if you want to have your voice heard your do it in a civil manner within the government. and that's what's so galling about this. there are those of us who have fought and died and bled for our countries, and these people that are doing these kinds of things certainly don't represent that. >> yeah. general mark hurtling, appreciate your time as always. thanks. >> thank you, anderson. a lot of lawmakers under fire for dangerous rhetoric leading up to the insurrection

aftermath. congresswoman marjory taylor greene especially under scrutiny now. new developments on that front next. yeah, hit decline. i don't want to talk to her. hit me. get me. this is your wake-up call, people. tracfone wireless. now you're in control.

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the ten house republicans who opted to put trump on trial again are facing backlash for voting their conscience particularly the third ranking congresswoman of the chamber congresswoman liz cheney.

he clearly has willing acolytes like matt gaetz who traveled to wyoming yesterday to wage a smear campaign with her constituents. to wish the elder cheney a happy 8 80th birthday and thank him for his service. minority leader kevin mccarthy expressed support for cheney but also expressed his allegiance to trump by the visit to mar-a-lago yesterday. so where he stapdnds is pretty clear. joining us now scott jennings and paul begala, democratic strategist. what do you make of your former bosses calling up cheney? do house republicans care what president bush think snz. >> i'm sure some will care and some won't, truthfully. and i'm glad he's doing it.

she deserves support. if the whole thing were to end and the only person who suffers consequences for it is representative cheney, that would be a travesty because she did nothing wrong except to say what was on her heart and basically speak the truth. if she suffers political consequences and nobody else put this mob together suffers at all, that would be just outrageous for that to be the outcome. so i'm glad president bush is getting involved. i don't know how persuasive he'll be to the conference. i hope the conference makes the right decision and leaves her in the leadership. >> paul, it seems like it's taken just a blink of an eye, i guess just three weeks and a day or now two for the republicans to, you know, be rewriting history on actually what happened on january 6th. and, you know, we haven't heard yet from south carolina lindsey graham yet although he did hop on a helicopter with the

president going down to the border even after saying he's out, he's done. but you have mccarthy going down kissing the ring with donald trump. have they all just decided you know what, that's where the base is and we have to kowtow to the people in our districts because we want to stay in power? >> well, i think that's the very opposite of the definition of leadership, but i think that is what we're seeing in some quarters. scott jennings a notable exception. but that's very different from what we're seeing right now. it's oma few weeks ago but that mob -- the mob was fed lies. they were provoked by the president and other powerful people. you know what they did? tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government. that's the definition of terrorism. that comes from mitch mcconnell. senator mcconnell said that. why isn't he acting like it? this is not -- we now know we're

learning more and more this was not just a political rally. they brought guns, they planted pipe bombs, they had tazers, they had zip ties, a noose. they had murderous intent and they killed one cop and probably would have killed a lot more if they'd gotten hold of our national leaders. scott jennings is exactly right. anyone who fed and incited that mob as senator mcconnell said has got to be held to account. and that's got to happen or the republican party is just going to collapse. >> scott, i mean the idea the republican party is going to collapse or -- isn't this the republican party kind of showing what way they're going to go? i mean if liz cheney as you said is now public enemy number one, you know, and mccarthy's gone down to trump. and he apparently told republicans stop attacking each other the day after matt gaetz

continues to attack liz cheney and is campaigning in wyoming now to unseat her. isn't this where the republican party has decided to head because that's where -- didn't they send-up trial balloons with mcconnell and even mccarthy after the insurrection sort of saying the president's responsible, but they seem to be singing a different song now. >> yeah, i mean it's a mess. i don't know how else to describe it. it's a mess. and if the party is fighting itself, if you've got republicans trying to take out liz cheney instead of being unified against say the more liberal parts of the biden agenda, it really does just from a political perspective hamper the party's ability to i think win in the future. historically the first mid-term of a presidency is good for the out party. so right now republicans ought to be unified in presenting a different face to the country than what biden is going to present and using that for an electoral platform. but right now what they're telling the american people you

know what was wrong, we didn't have enough trump. and what we learned imperically from the election that is not a winning hand, and it wasn't a winning hand in the 2018 mid-terms and wasn't a winning hand in georgia. so insurrection aside the party has to tell the american people what it wants to do apart from donald trump. and it doesn't appear to me they're trying to do that right now. so my advice to the republicans would be get unified, get focused, dispatch the crazy, focus on an agenda that would be a reasonable governing alternative to what we have you just might trip into some majorities in 2022. >> if i may interject the key to that is dispatching the crazies. it's not easy. a century ago, my party, the democratic party was infested and infected with the ku klux klan. 11 governors, 15 senators, 75 congressmen, and it took 40 years for the democrats to purge

the klan and those racists from their party. but we went -- the democrats went from being the party of bull conor to being the party of barack obama. now republicans don't have 40 years. this is the 21st century. things move much, much more quickly. but if they move quickly and now they can do this. and it's only going to get worse the longer they allow this infection to fester. >> that's the thing, paul. the president is out of power -- the former president is out of power. this was the opportunity to rid themselves of him. you know, not only through impeachment but voting to not have him be able to run for federal office ever again. obviously there would be political costs for that. there would be blow back from that, but this was the chance. they have clearly seen which way the wind is blowing or at least they believe the wind is blowing among their supporters, and they've chosen not to do that. >> it's a tragedy. it's a tragedy for the country. we need a strong, normal mainstream republican party. i have to say i put my partisan

hat on instead of my patriot hat and scott's right it's a terrible political move for the republicans. you know, democrats haven't won a single senate race in georgia in 20 years. 20 years, we won two last week or this month. even in a very red state like georgia which is becoming purple in part because of this crazy. so this is where the moral thing to do is to cleanup your party and to purge the lunatics as the democrats did with the klan. and it's also actually politically a better course. but it's the cowardice of their leadership. i don't want to blame their followers. i want to blame their leaders. if the leaders stand up and lead then i think the party will follow. >> i appreciate it. just ahead more on the qanon conspiracy theory. a look at its beginning to the present moment and why its rhetoric and bogus charges are focused on well-known folks. we'll be right back.

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new cnn special report called inside the qanon conspiracy. trace from the beginnings of the movement to the present moment. also selling a personal project, the qanon fringe was previously focused on me and a bunch of other reporters as well as many other public figures as somehow being responsible for some of their more outlandish should we say and bizarre conspiracies. i was also called a pedophile, phony flight logs reported to be from convicted sex offenders jeffrey epstein's flight log appeared online with my name and other people. it's all made up of course but qanon supporters believe it or use it to harass me. did you at the time believe that democrats, high level democrats and celebrities were worshipping satan, drinking the blood of children? >> anderson, i thought you did that. and i would like to apologize for that right now, so i apologize for thinking that you ate babies.

but, yeah, 100%. >> but you actually -- you actually believe that i was drinking the blood of children? >> yes, i did. >> was it something about me that made you think that? >> it's because "q" specifically mentioned you and he mentioned you very early on. he mentioned you by name, and from there he also talked about like, for example, you know, family. i'm going to be honest like people still talk about that to this day. th so some people thought you were a robot. >> you really believed this? >> i didn't just believe that. i at one stage believed that qanon was part of military intelligence, which is what he says. but on top of that, that the people behind him actually a group of fifth dimensional

intradimensional extra terrestrial aliens called blue aliens. i was so far down in this conspiracy black hole that i was essentially picking and choosing whatever narrative that i wanted to believe in. >> joining me now is kevin, thanks so much for being with us and taking part also in the documentary. we just heard from this former qanon follower who, you know, i'm glad came to realize that their theories and beliefs are completely made up. he said he believed a group of extraterrestrial bird aliens were helping qanon. the idea that that is an actual idea that some of these followers believe is just -- i do not understand rationally how somebody does that. i know you've spoken to a lot of qanon followers, are they ever able to give you a good explanation for why they believe these really insane theories?

>> some of it is just what he told you is because "q" told them, "q" this anonymous message board poster has posted thousands of times with clues and cryptic messages about celebrities, about democrats, things he believes are happening in the deep state. so it's partly that and partly, i think it's that "q" has sort of become a big tent conspiracy theory that has really engulfed every other major conspiracy of the last 50 years. you'll find people in qanon talking about 9/11, you'll find people in qanon talking about aliens, you'll find people talking about the moon landing. you'll find basically every major conspiracy theory has been kind of.where aed into qanon in this really interesting and troubling way. >> they've done something, though, that's very smart, which is they've used -- they had a hashtag save the children and they've used a legitimate

organization called that which helps children around the world. this idea that there's a global group of celebrities trafficking children drinking their blood to get a chemical, eating children. they've used this idea of, well, you know, if you want to save children, get involved in this, and it's sort of that's a safe entry point for a lot of very decent people who, of course, want to save children and there is international sex trafficking of children and of adults. you know, i mean, these -- but it's not this kabal and drinking blood of children and satan worshipping they're claiming, it's much more organized in a business frankly. so it seems like that's a safe fig leaf that gets people in the door. >> yeah, that's part of the recruiting strategy. they start you off with these more innocent sort of almost, you know, factual -- there's a factual basis for being worried about things like, you know, sex trafficking. so they use that.

they'll go into, you know, parenting facebook groups, anti-trafficking groups and they'll start to see these news stories and these theories and then they'll use that as kind of the onramp to the rest of qanon. they'll say, well, if you buy that, then let us tell you about who we think is doing the trafficking and what else they're doing to the children. >> i know you and anybody who reports on them gets attacked by them, and it's not a pleasant experience. i've tried to engage with some of the followers who have, you know, sent me death threats or harassing me, you know, in the past. and some of them seem like very, you know, i look at their instagram pages, they seem like decent people, they have families, they have children, they seem like a nice photographs of them. doing, you know, just family stuff. but there's no real way to discuss this with them because, i mean, how do you prove -- it's like, you know, the old -- you know, accusing someone of

beating their wife. how do you prove a negative, or how do you convince somebody you haven't done something when there's no evidence that you have done something? >> yeah, it's really hard. and i've gotten this too, not only because i've reported on qanon, but because i work for the "new york times," which people in qanon believe is part of the deep state plot and they -- i've had people tell me to my face, look you seem like a nice guy i know that you get your talking poibnts from the cia, but you seem like a nice guy. you kind of have to acknowledge that you're not going to find common ground on that one and try to find other things to talk about. >> the other thing they say is well, by not publicly denying these charges, therefore of course you must be guilty because any normal person would deny them but if you deny them they're giving air and oxygen to them so you're caught in this bind. kevin, your reporting on this has been amazing.

i appreciate your time. our documentary airs tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. i hope you watch it. still to come a rare and special honor for the capitol police officer who died after defending democracy on january 6th. details when we continue. ♪

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house speaker nancy pelosi and chuck schumer announced the capitol hill police officer who died will lie in honor in the capitol rotunda last week, officer brian sicknick died after being hit in the head with a fire extinguisher. he served six years in the new jersey national guard. in their statement speaker pelosi and senator schumer said the heroism of officer sicknick and the capitol police officer force helped save lives, defend the temple of our democracy and

ensure congress was not diverted. the ceremonial arrival takes place -- news continues right now. turn things over to don lemon, and "cnn tonight." this is "cnn tonight," i'm don lemon, thank you so much for joining and it is obvious this country is in a race against time right now. a race that we cannot afford to lose. and that race is to vaccinate americans against the pandemic that has killed -- already killed more than 436,000 of us. a race to get relief to millions and millions of you who can't pay your rent or put food on your table. >> we have to act now. there's no time for any delay. >> president biden obviously bluntly saying that covid relief has to pass, and he'll go it alone if h