meanwhile, it's time for "ac 360" with anderson. good evening. thanks for joining us. we begin with the house vote tonight to sanction congresswoman marjorie taylor greene for her bigoted and delusional views. also, the top house republicans' refusal to discipline her along with most members of the party. that and her own non-apology apology which amounted to excuses and rationalizations, blame shifting and lies instead of any honest show of contrition as a member of that party that once claimed to stand for personal responsibility. the vote was 230 to 199 to strip her of her seats on the budget and education and labor committees. 11 republicans joining the democratic majority including illinois congressman adam kinzinger, who was not impressed by what she said at a republican party conference last night. >> kevin mccarthy would have us believe she gave some serious apology. what did you hear? >> yeah, so i don't like to go into a ton of detail from conference -- >> how about some? >> i'll tell you this. yeah, i'll give you some. which is i didn't hear -- i

didn't hear an apology. >> so no apology last night, he says. and certainly from what we heard today of her on the floor, none today. she spoke in the chamber and she didn't apologize. we'll get to that in just a second. but first, before we go any further on her excuses and finger pointing we just want to pause for a second and just let you listen to her words and views that got her and all of us to this point. these are her words. it's her bigotry. and these are her conspiracy theories. her words, her bigotry and her lies. >> many americans are like blind sheep, just going through life not paying attention. >> there is an islamic invasion into our government offices right now. >> how do you get avid gun owners and people that support the second amendment to give up their guns? maybe you accomplish that by performing a mass shooting into a crowd. you make them scared. you make them victims. and you change their mindset. >> the so-called plane that

crashed into the pentagon. it's odd, there's never any evidence shown for a plane in the pentagon. >> kennedy getting killed in the plane crash. that's another one of those clinton murders. right? >> q is a patriot. we know that for sure. again, i don't have any proof of this, but we're talking about who is q. so i'm going to tell you what he says. many in our government are actively worshiping satan. or they call moloch. q is saying that they participate in pedophilia and spirit cooking. we already saw there was an e-mail, came out of the wikileaks e-mails where was it cheryl mulls? and she told hillary clinton in an e-mail that she was going to sacrifice a chicken to moloch in her back yard. >> saudi arabia, the rothschilds and soros he says are the puppetmasters that fund this global evil. there's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of satan-worshiping pedophiles out. >> she's also pushed the conspiracy theory that

california wildfires were started by space lasers controlled by the rothschilds, a family name which has been invoked by anti-semites for generations. the congresswoman has also endorsed the conspiracy theory that sandy hook's shooting was staged, agreeing with a facebook commentator who poeted "none of the school shootings were real or done by the ones who were supposedly arrested for them." by the way, that post is no longer available. congresswoman greene also agreed with a now deleted claim that the parkland high school shooting was a so-called false flag information. now to her effort to rationalize or explain away some of that. on qanon here's what she said today. >> i stumbled across something, and this is at the end of 2017, called qanon. well, these posts were mainly about this russian collusion information. a lot of it was some of what i would see on the news at night. and i got very interested in it. later in 2018 when i started finding misinformation, lies, things that were not true in these qanon posts, i stopped believing it. >> that appears to be a lie.

if in fact she had stopped believing by 2018, then why was she saying this in 2019 when she endorsed the qanon conspiracy about key officials just as ruth bader ginsburg among them being replaced by body doubles? >> this woman has been grown over for how many years and all of a sudden she's walking straight upright like it's a whole new person. >> almost like a body double like hillary clinton. yeah. like a body double for hillary clinton. it's interesting. >> i do not believe that was ruth, no. i don't think so. >> that was in february 2019. she was still endorsing qanon conspiracy theories. in fact, as recent as december of last year a month after she was elected she was still on board, praising an article promoting the cult in a now deleted december 4th tweet. that same month she told cnn's ryan nobles this about q afon followers when asked to comment on house speaker pelosi's remarks about her ties to the cult. >> i think it's unfair to

criticize regular american people that just are looking things up on the internet. >> so any claim by the congresswoman that her dalliance with qanon was incidental, brief and more than two years ago is belied by her own statements and actions. she was a deep believer. in this statement today, again, on the house floor at the seat of american democracy she revealed an earlier explanation of her actions to also be a lie. >> because if it weren't for the facebook posts and comments that i liked in 2018 i wouldn't be standing here today and you couldn't point a finger and accuse me of anything wrong. >> she's saying she liked a series of posts and comments on hateful topics. not by the way that she's sorry for liking them. only that her liking them got her in trouble. at any rate, she says she liked them. except just last week she was trying to suggest she didn't really like them, that she wasn't really responsible. listen to how much work the passive voice is doing in this tweet. "over the years i've had teams

of people manage my pages. many posts have been liked. many posts have been shared. some did not represent my views, especially the ones that cnn is about to spread across the internet." that was last week. her saying many posts have been liked, many posts have been shared. by whom? by her? by her teams of people? she isn't exactly a head of state. how many teams of people have been tweeting for her? why would she have anyone do that for her? in any case, her hiding from accountability behind the passive voice and blame sh shift,ing, it didn't reach its apex there, it was just a warm-up for this masterpiece today. >> because i was upset about things and didn't trust the government really because the people here weren't doing the things that i thought they should be doing for us, the things that i just told you i cared about. and i want you to know a lot of americans don't trust our government. and that's sad. the problem with that is, though, is i was allowed to

believe things that weren't true and i would ask questions about them and talk about them. and that is absolutely what i regret. >> didn't republicans used to say they were the party of personal responsibility? i mean, did you get what she just said? she's saying she didn't trust the government, like a lot of people, and the problem with that is she was allowed to believe things that weren't true and talk about them. so it's the government's fault that she was allowed to believe things that weren't true? i mean, she could have just said, you know what, i fell for a hoax, i believed all this stuff that was anti-semitic and it wasn't true and i'm sorry, and i've changed my mind. but she didn't say that. she said she's blaming -- she was allowed to do this. as if if someone didn't step in and stop us we would all rink drink up hateful anti-semitic conspiracy theories like mother's milk. the congresswoman might not know

it but most people have more decency than that and most people own up to their mistakes. but she didn't. and you know why? because she's making money hand over fist right now. from people who believe all the things that she believed and seems like still believes. the anti-semitism, the qanon conspiracy hoaxers, the 9/11 deniers. she won't renounce the specific things she has claimed in the past because she wants the support of those people still. even when she was afraid of being taken off her committees, which is what ultimately has now happened, she said okay, fine, in an interview with the examiner yesterday, she said okay, fine, that will give me more time to do the things that are important to me, fund-raise. and she's been fund-raising off this for weeks now. she could have clearly spelled out all the absurd beliefs of qanon today. but she didn't. she could have pointed out the anti-semitism at the heart of some of her past statements and apologized for that. she didn't. she could have said today of course a plane full of our fellow citizens was flown into the pentagon and that was a horror. but did she say that? no.

she spoke about 9/11 broadly. >> i also want to tell you 9/11 absolutely happened. i remember that day crying all day long watching it on the news. and it's a tragedy for anyone to say it didn't happen. and so that i definitely want to tell you, i do not believe that it's fake. >> okay. she's saying 9/11 happened. and she cried all day. she doesn't believe that 9/11 is fake. but even 9/11 deniers admit 9/11 happened. they just believe it was an inside job, that there weren't planes, that these things were blown up from the inside, it was a plot, conspiracy. whatever crazy notion they have. they believe an explosion occurred at the pentagon but believe it wasn't a plane hijacked by terrorists, a plane full of men, women, and children. that's what marjorie taylor greene herself has said. >> the so-called plane that crashed into the pentagon. it's odd, there's never any evidence shown for a plane in the pentagon. >> so despite saying 9/11

absolutely happened, she hasn't taken that plane conspiracy hoax back. and you know what else we didn't hear from her today? remorse. at all. she expressed no remorse for the anguish that she inflicted in perpetuating such an ugly lie about a trauma that she herself claims to have cried all day over. she felt remorse that she'd been allowed to believe things that weren't true. instead in her very next breath she lashed out at the media, at so-called cancel culture, then having not accepted any responsibility for anything she said the congresswoman from georgia tried to shove it all down the memory hole. >> these were words of the past, and these things do not represent me. they do not represent my district. and they do not represent my values. >> these are words of the past. these things do not represent me. these aren't the droids you're looking for. i mean, think of this. think of the possibilities. your honor, when i told that bank clerk to hand over the money, those were words of my

past. these things do not represent me. or maybe gee, mr. smithers, when i endorsed that racist post by the local kkk, that was before i even thought of applying for a job here. they were words of the past and these things do not represent me. you might not buy it. the judge might not buy it. but colorado congressman ken buck seems to. >> i think a number of these statements that she made and in light on social media were inappropriate. she has apologized over and over again for those. and i think it's clear that she is a flreshman and those statements were made before she came into congress. >> they were made three years ago. two years ago. you know, before she realized she might actually be able to win a seat in congress, before she hired pr people and consultants who told her you've got to clean up the crazy, just a bit. you still need money from the crazies so don't clean up too much but you've got to clean up just a little bit. you just need to be remorseful enough so your fellow republicans can welcome you into the fold. well, they have. the congresswoman's not apologized over and over again,

as mr. buck said. she didn't last night, according to congressman kinzinger. and as you've seen, she didn't today. she took no true responsibility for anything. and that's just the way things go now. nobody apologizes for things. not politicians, it seems. certainly not the followers of the former president. which seems to be okay with republican leaders in the house who voted not to discipline her today and said this after declining to discipline her last night. >> it's just an example, this republican party's a very big tent. everyone's invited in. >> so big tent for the party, or big top. perspective now from a former ringmaster, anthony scare mutuali who served briefly as communications director in the trump white house. good to have you here. marjorie taylor greene, she may be gone from her house committees. it just seems like such a giving up of responsibility by republican leadership. i don't know if they wanted -- i'm sure a bunch of them wanted the democrats to vote her out because not only does it get her off those committees but it also

then allows them to just hammer the democrats for doing an unprecedented move that they can say is just incredibly partisan and totally unprecedented. >> that's probably the game theory that they're working off of, anderson. but the tragedy for the republican party is that they've accepted all of this and they've accepted this fear basis. this is a remnant and an afterglow of president trump. so they're allowing the trumpism, if you will, that sort of radioactivity to pervade post-trump. and it's very bad for them because long term you've got a very small group of crazy and you have a very large group of normal people. so what will happen is the normal people will say no mas to the crazy, they'll develop a center right party, split the party in two pieces, and then the republicans will be in the minority for a generation. so that's where things are going right now. and i'm just surprised at these

guys because they know better. kevin mccarthy knows better. he knows the path that he's on right now. he's often subsumed with his own ambition. so all of that comes with a lack of morality and a lack of principles. but he actually does know better. if somebody intervenes on his behalf or throws watt kerr on him and says what are you doing exactly, go back to your principles, go back to the core constituency of the republican party and shed this nonsense. so this is going to end in a tragedy for the republican party. but the good news is not a tragedy for the american people because the american people, the majority of them have caught on, anderson. >> you tweeted earlier today, i saw, you said "the gop knows that trump sold them down a rathole. stand up and speak the truth now. move away from the darkness and to something more principled." i guess what evidence do you have that republicans are going to do that? i mean, i know you said this is going to be a long-term issue now for a while, for generations you're talking about divisions in the republican party. only 11 house republicans were willing to go on the record against marjorie taylor greene.

61 voted by secret ballot against liz cheney as conference chair last night because she voted her conscience to impeach trump. and mccarthy, i mean, what i don't understand, anthony, is the republicans had the opportunity here with the impeachment to finally rid themselves of the former president's influence over them for the next four years and they -- it seemed like there was a moment the night of the insurrection where a couple people were kind of sending up trial balloons and then they all just kind of decided you know what, that's not where the base is and we need their support. >> well, first of all, i just want to say i don't have any evidence of that. that's a statement that i'm making of what is i believe the right thing to do and the morally principled thing to do. but listen, i don't have evidence of that and i think it's actually tragic that we're in a situation right now where you have this level of acuity in terms of the leadership. yeah, they're following the money. they're fear-based.

they're fearful of president trump. and the rise of trumpism primarying them. my message to them, if you stood on principle the way mitt romney has or a few others, kinzinger is an example, or representative cheney, you're going to be forever known as somebody that was capable of doing that. it's a courageous thing and it's a brave thing. but what these guys are doing right now is political expediency. it's personal power preservation. and it's blind ambition. and so listen, the great news about it is shows like yours and others are showing this so transparently to the american people that you know, the majority of the american people know this. so the republican party is going to end up on the current course splitting. there will be a center-right party formed by very smart responsible people that want to restore principle and want to figure out a way to get along and bridge a compromise with the democrats. and the republicans will be fighting it out for qanon

supporters and people that are preying on each other, on their fear and on the nastiness of all of this mend aacious conspiracy. >> does the lack of specific contrition by this congresswoman today surprise you at all? she said she has regret and is a sinner but, you know, seemed more interested in fomenting conspiracy theories about the media taking her words out of context. which would be laughable if her comments weren't so often on tape and frankly just anti-semitic at times and just sick. >> well, listen, she's a disciple of president trump. so he doubles and triples down on the lies. 33,000, 34,000 lies. sovg it doesn't surprise me that she's doing that. i have to tell you this, though. i am surprised at certain people in the republican leadership. you know, kevin mccarthy once said to me at a lunch that washington needs more thermostats, anderson, we have too many thermometers that are just sensing the temperature and then they're expressing that temperature back to the people.

but what a thermostat does is you set the coordinates and then you guide people to that position because it's morally right and it's the right thing to do for the country irrespective of the political expediency. he literally said that to me at lunch. where is that kevin mccarthy now in terms of what he is doing to that party? >> yeah. >> and someone should get in his face and ask him that question. >> well, like you said, it's all about power. and it's easy to say that at a lunch when you're feeling confident and you have the majority. when you suddenly start to sense winds of change or the floor falling out from under you, you know, people make different decisions about how to stay in power. >> well, good men and women don't do that, though, anderson. they get anchored and they say okay, we've got to focus on what's right or wrong, not left or right, and if i lose my seat as a result of this at least my kids will think well of me. so we're in a really bad state in that party right now and we'll have to see what happens.

i'm pessimistic for them unless they change course. >> anthony scaramucci, i appreciate it. thank you. coming up next, how voters in congresswoman greene's district are taking the news. and the question, do some regret now voting for her? later, raeking news on the big final step today before a third covid vaccine comes online. but also the politics and conspiracy theories fueling the anti-vaccine movement. since suzie's got goals, she'll want a plan to reach them. so she'll get some help from fidelity, and she'll feel so good about her plan, she can focus on living it. that's the planning effect, from fidelity.

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the spotlight, it also raises questions about what her voters thought they were getting when they sent her to congress. tonight gary tuchman is in her district in dalton, georgia. what have you been hearing, gary? >> reporter: well, anderson, here in marjorie taylor greene's district there are lots of people who voted for her who are growing disenchanted with her, and we know that because it's been very easy to find those unhappy greene voters. this is dalton, georgia. it's known as the carpet capital of the world. it's also the second largest city in this very republican district. here in downtown dalton there's a large billboard that's been put up. the billboard says "representative greene, resign. you lied about the election, the capitol was attacked." it was put up by a national republican group that doesn't much like the congresswoman. we can tell you that donald trump held a rally here in dalton two days before the capitol insurrection. now greene has not publicly apologized for anything. we can tell you that representative greene has talked to constituents. she thinks the constituents

still all like her. we can tell you, though, that there are many who don't, as we have seen throughout our visit here. we wanted to give you a listen to what they have to say about the congresswoman and the situation. >> do you think she should be taken off these committees in congress? >> i don't think it's a bad idea. >> you think she should resign from congress? >> might be better for her to do that before getting put out. >> reporter: and the final thing i want to ask, if you knew these things, you tell me you didn't, when you voted, would you have not voted for her? >> no. >> reporter: you voted for marjorie taylor greene. >> yes. >> reporter: you know about the hateful and violent things she said or liked or done? >> not all of them. >> reporter: not all of them but you know some of them. >> right. >> reporter: and she hasn't apologized for. does that bother you? >> it doesn't -- i'm not going to lose any sleep over it. but it doesn't -- >> reporter: even the fact that she's cast doubt on whether a plane crashed in the pentagon on 9/11? i mean, families are still mourning today. >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: does that not bother you? >> that does. because something did happen. >> reporter: why doesn't she just apologize?

have you ever thought about that? >> not really. >> reporter: does it trouble you? >> not a lot. not no more than everything else that goes on in washington. >> honestly, man, i believe that -- i mean, i've done stuff that i regret, you know. and i'd hate for people to judge me on that. >> reporter: have you ever talked about eating babies? because that's what qanon believes in. that's what she supported in the past. that's kind of different than other things, right? >> yeah. i mean, yeah. i guess so. if you're talking about eating babies. >> reporter: that's not cool, right? >> no. i wouldn't say so. >> reporter: does that trouble you then? >> yeah. with two babies i'd say it did. >> reporter: do you feel regret for voting for her? knowing this now. >> yes. >> reporter: you do? >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: so do you think there should be repercussions? >> yes. >> reporter: do you think she should be taken off these committees she's on in congress which gives her power? >> yes. >> reporter: you do? >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: do you think she should quit? >> she should think about it. >> gary, republican leaders in

georgia, or many of them in the official republican circles, have expressed support for her and say that you know, she was elected and she's representing the people well. the people you're talking to, are they following what's going on with her closely? >> reporter: a lot of people we've talked to know everything about it. but it is interesting that a number of the people we talked to knew very little or nothing about it, were just glad a republican is in the seat. now, when we talked to them about the details and i showed them my phone and showed them some of the articles we've had on cnn.com about it, sadly a lot of them didn't believe me. but frankly a lot of this really is quite unbelievable, right, anderson? >> yeah. gary, appreciate it. thanks. joining us now is cnn chief political analyst gloria borger and former republican congressman denver riggleman. gloria, you heard some of congresswoman greene's constituents say that they're bothered by some of the things she's said and done. obviously, there's still a lot of support for her. is there any reason to think not just in her district but around

the country that enough republicans are bothered by them to force a course correction from where the party seems to be headed? that vote doesn't seem to indicate that. >> no. and if you look at two votes that you were talking about earlier, you had 61 votes to oust liz cheney from her leadership position, who voted with her conscience, and that was a secret vote. but then only 11 republicans to remove her from her committee assignments. so i think you'd have to be pollyanna to think that the republican party would change course. the leader of the republicans in the house decided that he couldn't make a decision on this, which one would think it might be an easy decision for a leader to make. but it wasn't. because he wanted to kind of please donald trump and please another wing of the party. so then he let the democrats do it so he could blame them. and i think the only way right now that the republican party would change course is if they decided that they were losing

popularity as a result and their funding would dry up. and i think that's a real possibility. >> and congressman riggleman, marjorie taylor greene's funding has just increased. she's certainly -- this is -- if anything, it made her -- i don't know if it's more powerful even though she's been taken off committees. it's certainly made her more of a name and a rallying point even if people don't even like her personally. she just becomes a rallying point because she's sticking it to washington. what did you make of her statements today? which are being portrayed as sort of an apology. you had congressman buck saying she's apologized over and over again. she actually hasn't. but what did you make of it? >> trite. a lot of it was a lie. you talk about she said that she i guess dabbled in qanon in 2018, and you went through that list, anderson. she was also dabbling in qanon in 2019. and the fact is in december of 2020 she deleted a tweet where she praised qanon on an article about the gab ceo. so you know, i guess i do have

an advantage of being in intelligence in my past and having so many people supporting me around the country with looking at these videos now that i'm a chief strategist at the network research institute. but when i see something like that i get very angry and i think i get angry because she's still doing this. and by the way -- and i'm not trying to belabor the point. but wasn't she screaming about stop the steal after november the 3rd? stop the steal is inherently q. it's inherently conspiracy theory-minded. >> anderson, can i add that just this morning before she went on the floor to give her speech about how she was a victim of all of this she tweeted "it's not just me they want to cancel. they want to cancel every republican. don't let the mob win." she isn't talking about the mob on january 6th. she's talking about the democrats who are the mob. >> and congressman riggleman, now that greene has been bounced from her committees by her own admission according to what she told the "washington examiner," this frees her up to what she

wants to, do which seems to have nothing to do with actually legislating and everything to do with just becoming -- it's like becoming an instagram influencer. you know, with fringe politics and fund-raising that seems to be the goal here. >> that's a bizarre influencer. i've got to tell you, you're talking about space lasers and influencing, you've got a problem. it's almost like she's a clickbait congresswoman. you see people that think twitter makes them famous and the twittersphere is what they react to. somebody once said, and gosh, it might have been paul begala, didn't he say that politics was hollywood for ugly people. i think that's what you're looking at right now. that's what upsets me about this. i just want to talk about conspiracy theories. you know it's starting to morph. when you look at dodger stadium -- and that's why i get so angry about this. we've seen brand new hashtags that have come from q. covid 1984. the new world order. nwo. and now we're seeing great reset as a hashtag that's exploding too. and that's because right now the gop does not want to face the fact they've got a conspiracy problem.

if we have a social influencer that's spreading tripe like that and poppycock all over tarnation. i can't believe i just used the word tarnation. but spreading that everywhere. you know, it's getting crazy out here. but i just think we're to a point now that if we can't have a conversation based on fact and it's just on fantasy we have issues that are going to take a long time to root out. and it's really about deprogramming people who've been listening to stuff coming from marjorie taylor greene and other big social influencers, and that includes the president. >> that whole idea of a clickbait congresswoman or congressman, it's an interesting -- i hadn't thought of that title but i mean, it is, gloria, what a number of congresspeople seem to be aiming for. they just want -- they want clicks on their -- you know, that will ultimately go to their website, that will ultimately raise them money. >> right. that's what it's about. but none other than mitch mcconnell said that this was a cancer in the republican party. and unless they put a stop to

this, they're going to be devoured by it. and that's how they're going to be identified. and it's no coincidence that the democrats are now starting to call the republican party the q party. and i think you're going to see that over and over again. and i think the fact that the leader in the house did not take a stand, which could have been pretty easy for him to do, actually, has opened a pandora's box here for the party. and its moral collapse. >> and congressman riggleman, for kevin mccarthy to claim he doesn't know what q is, if he doesn't that's like malpractice. i mean, that's political -- i mean, this is a really serious thing out there that has real world consequences and there were folks storming the capitol. if he doesn't know about them, he'd better get an intelligence briefing. >> listen, i know kevin. but not remembering qanon after you'd said it so many times would be like me forgetting my wife's name after 31 years. it's everywhere. right? i mean, you can't forget that.

and i think part of this comes to the fact that he's trying to sort of push it back. it's that short memory syndrome that you have with politicians that they think somebody's just going to forget or you can stumble over something or sort of, you know, diminish the importance of this or how awful this is. and again, i think you said at the beginning, anderson, this theory is anti-semitic. it's racist. and it's bigoted. you have a congresswoman who said that ms-13 was hired by barack obama to kill was it seth rich. that's tough to get over. and that's why i think we have to move on. >> congressman riggleman, appreciate it. gloria borger, thanks. more breaking news just ahead. house impeachment managers today asked the former president to testify at his second senate trial. how his legal team replied, when we continue.

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there's more breaking news. house managers have invited the former president to testify at his second impeachment trial, which starts next week. the answer on behalf of the former president came from his legal team swiftly, saying he will not. one of his advisers calling the request a publicity relations stunt. perspective now from harvard law school professor and mosted constitutional scholar laurence

tribe, author of "to end a presidency: the power of impeachment." professor tribe, appreciate you coming back. what do you make of the former president declining to testify in the impeachment trial? he's never cooperated with congress before. are you surprised? >> i'm not surprised. although i would be surprised if he weren't at least asked to testify because his lawyers made an enormous blunder. not the blunder of misspelling united states but the blunder of denying facts that were obviously true. for example, they said that when the president said if you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore what he meant was that he was in favor of election reform. well, obviously that doesn't make sense. they claimed in their answer that he wasn't trying to interfere with what congress was doing on january 6th when we know that he was threatening the

vice president directly and saying that the vice president had better do something about the electoral count. well, when you put those facts in issue, you're basically opening the door. and you're creating a situation in which if you're unwilling to testify you're supporting a negative inference, an inference that you are as guilty as it appears you are. so they didn't just stick with their rather weak constitutional theory that the senate has no business trying him. instead they wandered out into the world of fact and then they expect us to believe that the president is, what, too busy being ex-president, too busy on the golf course? why can't he testify? there's no basis for it. but he's now given them ample opportunity and he certainly can't complain that we're rushing to judgment without hearing his side of the story. >> you know, that quote you used from the president about fight

like hell, you can't get your country back, it's easy to forget that the entire rally that the president spoke to, there's a reason it was in washington on that day during those hours. it wasn't a coincidence it just happened to be on the same day that the results -- that the electoral votes were being brought into congress on that day and the election would finally be decided. if you ever had to fight, that was the only day left to fight. >> that's right. i mean, that was the climax of an effort that has been carefully documented and will be dramatically laid out by the house impeachment managers, an effort that included a taped conversation with raffensperger, the secretary of state of georgia, asking him to just find some extra votes so that he could flip the result in georgia. an effort that led to one lawsuit after another, 60 of them, that he lost.

that was fine. but when he couldn't do it legally, he gathered people in washington, organized them, and then he's the one who told them to march on the capitol. there's direct evidence that that wasn't their original plan. so as the house impeachment managers put it, he aimed a cannon directly at the capitol and then watched gleefully while the mob took over and killed people and did what nobody had succeeded in doing since the brits, sacked the capitol in 1814. that's serious. and when he says oh, no, i wasn't trying to change anything, it just happened to be january 6th and i was in favor of election reform, come on. we're not stupid. >> there are also -- >> he makes that claim, he's really got to testify or everyone will draw a negative inference from his refusing to testify. >> they're also making the claim

that there's just not evidence to contradict what the president is saying about election fraud. the president believes that there's election fraud and there is insufficient evidence to prove otherwise. that's just not true. >> not only is it not true but they're actually repeating the big lie. they are putting in issue in this trial the question of whether biden won the election. well, that's not what the trial was originally going to be about. it was going to be about whether since donald trump lost the election it was okay for him to launch an insurrection, basically commit what looks like treason in the sense of engaging in war against the united states. that's what it was about. but now he is basically using the forum of the senate to relitigate the question of who is the actual president of the

united states. there are still people out there who believe in some magic way that march 4th is going to be the date that their champion, donald trump, takes over. and when he says i'm not going to show up because it's a publicity stunt, he's obviously just shooting himself in the foot. he's the only one that could possibly explain, and i don't know that he could say anything that could explain, but if anyone could he could. what it was he was doing that was innocent. what legitimate purpose can there have been for getting hundreds of armed people aroused and angry and furious and then aiming them at the capitol? was that part of the effort to reform our election system? obviously not. it's his choice not to testify. but the american people will hear the truth and it will begin coming out very strongly on february 9th. >> professor laurence tribe, appreciate your time. thank you. >> thanks. just ahead another vaccine maker seeks emergency approval

from the fda. dr. sanjay gupta joins us next with details. (computer beeps)

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breaking news to report. johnson & johnson has asked the fda for emergency authorization for single-shot vaccine. meaning if the vaccine follows the path of the previous two we could be weeks away from a third vaccine. that's one very positive development tonight. another, states taking advantage of declining cases and hospitalization numbers. today michigan governor gretchen whitmer announced that youth sports practices and competitions would be allowed. unfortunately, these encouraging signs come as health officials warn that new more transmissible variants of the virus could send cases and hospitalization numbers back up. and tonight a key model for coronavirus projects 631,000 total deaths by june. the ihme model, which we have cited throughout this entire pandemic, also says the vaccines should help death rates decrease even with the spread of the new variants. but with the country opening up it says tens of thousands more

could die. so for a status check where we are right now i want to bring in our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. so sanjay, johnson & johnson asking for the fda to authorize their vaccine. novavax has started the rolling out process of getting their vaccine approved. what kind of impact will all this have in the u.s. in terms of getting shots? >> yeah, i think this will have a pretty significant impact. this is pretty extraordinary to think about the fact that we may have now three authorized vaccines within this time period. and i think it's worth noting that that -- if this johnson & johnson vaccine gets authorized it's a single-shot vaccine. so 100 million doses, as you point out by june, means 100 million people. which is obviously significant. a lot of people pay attention to the numbers in terms of how well this works. let me just show you quickly, when you look at the johnson & johnson vaccine a lot of people have been asking this question. is this as effective as the other vaccines? what do these numbers really mean? i don't know if we have them. but basically -- yeah, there we

go. the bottom line is the number on the right, 85% protective against severe disease. you know, anderson, i think this is really just a fundamental point. the things that we hope that a vaccine will do, protect us from getting really sick. no hospitalizations or deaths in the people who got the vaccine. those are the sorts of things right now of people who are concerned, they're worried, they're at risk, if they can look at that and have some comfort i think it goes a long way. we've obviously got to vaccinate more and more people. but this is a significant development. >> cases going down across the country. but then we've also been sounding the alarm about these new variants. how effective -- i mean, how will they affect the overall numbers? is that the biggest threat right now? >> i think that is. i think we were running into this position where the vaccines were coming out. we were starting to see the numbers come down. and the variants out there are muddying the waters a little bit. you're right. first of all, cases are down 15%

as compared to last week. overall hospitalizations down 12% as compared to last week. these are significant drops. death rates around 3,000. that sort of plateaued. but as you know, that's a bit of a lagging indicator. it's going to be the question of these variants in terms of overall numbers. anderson, we looked at denmark just as an example because this is a country that sequences a lot of viruses. you get a positive test, it almost always gets sequenced. if we can show the graph there. like in the united states denmark started peaking in mid december. and then they've been coming down. what the red is is the variants. and you can see it started off as a small sliver of cases but it roughly doubles every week or so. roughly. and after a while because it's more transmissible it essentially crowds out the currently circulating coronavirus and it becomes the predominant coronavirus. but anderson, what it means is we have to vaccinate and we've got to still use the mitigation

measures. masks still really work in terms of protecting you, whether it's a variant or not. >> and taken as a whole, we've been talking about covid on this program for a year now. in your mind are we at a point where the news is more hopeful than not? >> well, it's interesting. you talk to someone like michael osterholm, i know you talked to him and he said we're still in the second or third inning here. others i've talked to say we're sort of more in the seventh inning stretch. it's hard to know. what i would say is we're past the halfway point it seems in so many ways with the warmer weather, with more vaccines things are going to get better. it is a little bit of a race with these vaccines against the variant. dot variants escape the current vaccination? because there's too much virus still spreading it mutates more and more and the vaccines don't work as well. so it's a race. if we end up with a tie game at the end of this we may go into extra innings i guess. but right now when we get into the fall, late summer i think we have a good chance of -- not saying normal because i think

that's a whole different term nowadays. but a much, much better position. >> the key as far as the variants to me, the headline is you've got to get the vaccine as you possibly can. that seems to be the only way to stop, to really do anything about it. we're out of time. >> the vaccine works well against >> absolutely, sanjay, thanks. despite the voice of health officials, there is an anti-vaxers with direct links to the insurrection last month. >> thank you all for being here. >> on january 6th on a separate stage, yet very much a protest, these are the anti-vaxers. >> forced covid vaccine is such a scam. >> innocent people are being lined up, walking to their special death. >> their event, part pandemic

denial, part stop the steal. part prayer service for those storming the capitol. >> we pray for the people to eradicate the evil, the cess pool of waste. >> they are linking it to the vaccine health industry. >> roger stone! >> some are directly corrected to theist information network of roger stone. they name drop allie alexander, and the same conspiracy products as alex jones, turning conspiracy into business. >> this is good and business. >> anti-vaxer advocate who planned the rally introduced speaker after speaker, stopping

occasionally to talk about what was happening in the capitol a block away, her husband left to go in. >> i asked my husband, he is outside the capitol. the capitol is being stormed by patriots. we are winning. >> also there, mickey willis whose video was viewed millions of times before being removed from youtube. simone gold became infamous at the supreme court, and one who claimed alien dna is put in medicine. is what gold said at a maga rally january 5th. >> if you don't want to take an experimental agent, you must not allow yourself to be coerced. >> the next dame, gold went inside the capitol and was later

arrested. gold tells cnn she doesn't participate in any violence or vandalism and rebukes conspiracy. a study about the anti-vax movement who said making money is the heart of it all. >> a snake oil salesman. the oldest kind of liar and deceit and misninformation. let's be clear, for the money. >> that is the politics of business empire of rally organizers. >> hello, again, it's ty and charlize. >> they have two businesses centered on cancer and vaccines. their social media pages altogether have more than a million followers. >> the truth about vaccines?

>> they live on 13 acres in a 6700 square foot $1.5 million mansion in rural tennessee. the cancer and vaccine websites are businesses, and air purifier that is more than $300, body cleansers and unproven health products. disclaimers warned nothing presented is not going to prevent, treat or cure my d diseases. they are not camera shy -- >> we have to stop it. >> they did not respond to multiple requests for comment from cnn. >> andrew join us now. the dangers of the conspiracy, what do you know about the impact? >> a poll bput out that 24% of americans will not get the

vaccine. you have to wonder how much are an effected by the lies and conspiracy hucksters. >> we appreciate it. still to come, the big lie that could cost fox news several of its anchors, and rudy giuliani billions. the details when we return. this. lease the 2021 es 250 all-wheel drive for $349 a month for thirty six months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. i think the sketchy website i bought this turtle from stole all of my info. ooh, have you looked on the bright side? discover never holds you responsible for unauthorized purchases on your card. (giggling) that's my turtle. fraud protection. discover. something brighter. introducing fidelity income planning. we look at what you've saved, what you'll need, and help you build a flexible plan for cash flow that lasts, even when you're not working, so you can go from saving... to living. ♪ let's go ♪

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fox news, three of its an chorps and two attorneys who have worked for president trump have been hit with a $2.7 billion lawsuit no new york state court. a voting company says fox and pro trump attorneys ruely giuliani had lies about trying to steal the 2020 election. the earth is round, two plus two is four, and joe biden and kamala harris won the election for the president of the united states. they are facts and they are

irreputable. and once again from the lawsuit, defendants had a problem with the story. they need adved a villain, they needed someone to blame. it only works if they have someone who personifies efl. the defendants invented one. in response, fox says it's proud of its news coverage. giuliani says he looks forward to the litigation and powell says it has no basis in fact or law. both attorneys have been hit by a second suit by a second technology voting company. don't miss full circle, a digital news program. you can catch it at cnn.com/fullcircle. news continues right now, i want

to go to chris for cuomo prime time. >> thank you, my friend. welcome to prime time. turns out the gop is pro diversity after all. they voted overwhelmingly to become the gop-q, what chose to believe my jewish family is shooting lasers at us from space and drinking the blood of babies. 199 republicans voting to uphold c conspiracies on the over truth. 199. only 11 republicans would not defend the indefensible. voting with 219 democrats, not a secret battle. so the qanon kook will not be on the committee but she has the