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week of major development in the fight against covid. as families, friends, and worshipers gather in the days leading up to christmas president biden used a speech from the whitehouse this afternoon to assure the nation that there is a plan to fight the surge in covid cases and quickly spreading omicron variant and that his administration is up to the task. in just a moment we will speak with one of the administration's top health officials cdc director dr. rochelle walensky specifically about the substance of that speech and what the administration is promising, including half a billion free at home testing kits and more aid to over burdened hospitals. and the guidance from the president that the vaccinated should not change their holiday plans. today the president appeared defensive over the persistent problems in testing and also told the tens of millions of unvaccinated americans that getting the life saving shots was their, quote, patriotic duty. if there was one thing he kept returning to it was that

progress has been made in the fight. >> we should all be concerned about omicron but not panicked. and, no, this is not march of 2020. 200 million people are fully vaccinated. we're prepared. we know more. we just have to stay focused. >> a lot to cover including as i mentioned our discussion with the cdc director. let's start with cnn's athena jones on where we are right now. >> we've really not seen anything like this before. >> hospitalizations are up 35% over a month ago. the u.s. now averages nearly 140,000 new covid cases a day and more than 1200 people are dying each day on average. even as early indications suggest omicron may cause milder illness than the delta variant the sheer number of covid cases could overwhelm already stretched hospitals. >> one of the things we're very concerned about is in health care systems are already over

stretched. literally breaking. now imagine taking 20% or 30% of the health care workers out because they, too, are infected. >> reporter: doctors stressing people not vaccinated are most at risk for the vaccinated getting boosted reduces your risk further. while just over 61% of the country is fully vaccinated less than 20% has gotten a booster shot. even as a new england journal of medicine study says people vaccinated more than six months ago were more than three times more likely to have a breakthrough case of covid than those inoculated more recently. in new york where more than 70% are fully vaccinated only about 40% of those eligible received a booster. there is one potentially positive side. >> we have right now about 460 patients in our hospitals. that's less than 10% of our over all capacity. >> while the empire state is setting daily records for new covid infections it is not yet seeing a corresponding increase in hospitalizations. >> this time last year during

the second wave we had almost a thousand cases this time last year. and compared to where we were back in the first wave we had 3,500 patients in our hospitals. >> athena jones joins us now. with infections once again rising in how are city officials responding to the threat? >> for one thing the incoming mayor eric adams has decided to postpone his inauguration citing the serious public health threat of covid. of course the transfer of power will still take place january first but they'll postpone the formal ceremony to a safer time. in a joint statement the mayor-elect with the city's incoming comptroller and public advocate saying, health and safety must come first. another move today, the mayor of new york, bill de blasio, announced a $100 incentive for any city resident who goes to

get a covid booster dose from a city run vaccination site. the booster bonus program is in effect starting today and runs until the end of the month. >> athena jones, thank you very much. and joining me now the cdc director dr. rochelle walensky. nice to see you. president biden said americans do not have to cancel their holiday plans. he says it is safe to gather as long as all eligible people are vaccinated but really how safe? given the rise in infection does the science suggest you can but maybe you shouldn't? >> good evening. it is good to be back with you. let's just step back and talk about where we are right now in the last 24 hours cdc announced now 73% of our cases are projected to be the omicron variant. the rise of the omicron variant is as in other countries, has mirrored what happened in other countries. we expected this and have been prepared. the president today announced

major efforts to tackle the omicron variant and the surge we have right now. that of course includes support to hospitals, increased access to testing, and increased capacity for vaccination. we have the tools right now. we can vaccinate, boost, and wear our masks in indoor public settings to protect ourselves. now, to your question about holiday travel, this is a question we're getting a lot certainly in this moment. of course you want to make sure you are vaccinated and boosted and make sure the people you are gathering with are also vaccinated and boosted. wearing your mask in public indoor settings until you gather and taking a rapid test or a test before you gather to make sure that everybody is negative, certainly not to travel if you're symptomatic. one thing i want to make sure people understand, and it is not really the act of being on the airplane or being in the car to travel itself that puts you at risk. what puts one at risk is actually all of the behavior and

the mitigation strategies that may not have been used in the week prior to gathering. before people meet up. and that is really why we're saying right now is the moment to really practice those mitigation strategies so you can be safe when you're together >> i get that. but given it might be too late already if you haven't been practicing these mitigation strategies or if people next to you in the airport weren't practicing those mitigation strategies, again, the question is how safe is it really, given this spike in infections? >> everybody has to assess their own personal risk and what they are willing to risk. what i can say now is if you have been vaccinated, boosted, if you have been practicing those mitigation strategies for the time leading up to your travel your risk is much lower and you can get the extra reassurance by testing ahead of time. >> what about if you are celebrating with kids younger than 5 who are not eligible for the vaccine? >> right.

really important. kids over 5 we want to encourage vaccination there. the advisory committee to the cdc just this last week reviewed the safety data that we've seen so far in the 6 million children who have been vaccinated to date and it is really beautiful and demonstrates that extraordinary safe vaccine. yes children are having some sore arm, some fatigue after the vaccine but that is demonstrating their immune systems are working. for children under 5 the best way to protect them is surround them with people who are vaccinated and boosted if eligible. >> the flip side is one of the things we're seeing as more people get tested and more people are boosted you are seeing people test positive but asymptomatic. i spoke to dr. fauci about this this morning. right now the cdc recommendation is to isolate for ten days if you test positive even if boosted and asymptomatic. he said you are discussing

changing that for folks who are boosted and asymptomatic. changing to what? how many days are you considering? >> so we're reviewing. that is a really good question. we are reviewing that science and policy right now and understanding in the context of people who have been vaccinated, people who have been boosted, people who have mild or no symptoms associated with what might be a positive test, they have some low level of infection but are not symptomatic. we are reviewing the science right now and will change the guidances as the science emerges. >> the uk changed it to seven days tonight. does that seem reasonable? >> yeah, i mean, that is certainly one of the places we're looking to find at what they've reviewed and have been able to do. we want to make sure people are complying with the guidance and we keep americans safe. >> so as i noted before the president when responding to questions from reporters seemed defensive about the issue of

testing. this is what he said. >> the alarm bell went off. i don't think anybody anticipated this was going to be as rapidly spreading as it did. all of a sudden it was like everybody rushed to the counter. it was a big, big rush. i knew that was coming so what i tried to do is meet with the companies and use the defense production act to get a half billion more tests. >> the president said nobody expected it to be this rapid. you just told me and i heard you say it earlier today that you did expect omicron to create these problems. so which is it? i mean why weren't these tests maybe ready earlier? >> yeah, so when we learned about the omicron variant, at the end of november, so really just about a month, less than a month ago really, we started to follow the science and see

where, what we were learning from other countries who had it before we did. so really in the last couple weeks it has demonstrated really capacity to rapidly rise. what i really do want to address is the government is doing a lot to address testing. we know we have more work to do and the president announced many of those steps we're taking right now. $3 billion invested in rapid tests. 500 million rapid tests that will go out to americans in january. 20,000 sites where you can get a free pcr. right now actively putting new federal testing sites in areas with the highest demand like in new york that will be open before christmas. really, what i want to emphasize is in this moment with omicron now around the world, there is a global need for more testing. >> if you are asymptomatic right now, should you be tested? >> i think it really depends on the behavior, what you've been

doing in the last week that you believe could put you at risk and certainly what you are going to be doing and who you'll be sharing the holidays with. certainly if you are sharing the holidays with older population, you. >> older family members, people who have immuno compromised or underlying medical conditions i would use that reassurance of a test before you go visit. >> surely you've seen the drug stores. the rapid tests just aren't available for people who want them. certainly not in places like new york, boston, other places where people are going in to find them. >> that's why in this moment we are actively looking for surge capacity in testing to see where the biggest demand is in this moment for testing and set up the new federal testing sites before the holidays so they'll be available to more people. >> israel calling for now a fourth shot for people older than 60 years old. is that something the united states will consider?

>> certainly when we see science to examine that we will absolutely consider it. right now we are working to make sure our vaccinated people get a booster. if and when there is science that demonstrates that is necessary we'll certainly be reviewing that. what i do want to say also, though, is that we have many vaccines where two shots, two primary series and a booster gives some durable protection. while i think it is an important question to evaluate we will -- it may well be we have them protected right now. >> and the antivirals from pfizer and merck i guess as soon as tomorrow, is this something we can expect within the next 24 hours? >> i'm not going to get ahead of the fda. what i will say is how important these will be as another tool in our tool box to fight this variant. but importantly, and i really

want to emphasize this, those treatments are for after you've gotten infected. what we really want to do is prevent infection in the first place through vaccination, through boosting. but, yes. when and if the fda were to move forward and authorize these two antivirals they will be a really important tool >> i hope you have a wonderful holiday. thank you for taking the time to join us. >> thanks so much. good to be with you. we'll continue our conversation next. two experts on covid will join us to discuss what we just heard from the cdc director and from the president today and what we should be prepared for in the weeks and months ahead. later a lot of breaking news to report on the house select committee's investigation as well as allies of the former president refusing to cooperate. i'll be joined by a former republican congressman. a fire brand in his day. critical of what the party has become under the former president. al. like what if i give you a lollipop... but then i give you our best lollipop.

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before the break i asked cdc director dr. walensky about the plan president biden unveiled during his white house speech today and just how safe it is to gather in groups for christmas after the president said the vaccinated shouldn't change their holiday plans. she said people should be vaccinated and boosted and now is the time to begin those best practices to prevent catching the virus but that ultimately, quote, everybody is really going to have to assess their own personal risk and what they're willing to risk. perspective now from the director of the center for

infectious disease research and policy of the university of minnesota, also an adviser on covid during the biden transition and dr. craig spencer director of global health and emergency medicine at columbia university medical center. professor, i'll start with you on the issue of the holidays. i know how much you cherish hugging your grandchildren. how safe is it now to gather given the ek ploesive rise of omicron? >> let me give you a very personal experience. in the last day including 30 minutes before i came on this set i've learned of five different families whose kids have come home from college all of them bringing omicron with them and it is now spreading in the household. that gives you an example what is happening right now. you have to assume anyone even those fully vaccinated including the third dose could be infected. so i think anything we do this holiday season has to consider the transition but who might get

the virus from them? people with underlying immune deficiencies, people at higher risk for serious illness it should give you pause to just bring people together. >> given that do you disagree with the guidance, professor? >> i think that we're trying to find that happy medium where we say, please. don't just lock down. please don't just quit living. but at the same time we are in an incredibly difficult position. i think the next two to eight weeks will be a global blizzard of this virus so i think we have to understand that if this were ever a time we'd want to be careful about exposing people to this virus it is right now. and with all the travel and holiday events taking place, i'm concerned we'll see a great acceleration of the transmission of this virus. >> dr. spencer, you are on the front lines and have been for 18 months or 20 months or however long it's been going on.

how do you feel about it? you are going to feel the impact of the decisions made the next two weeks. >> all of us on the front lines. health care workers, doctors, nurses, respiratory techs will all feel the impact of the individual decisions. when we have more of our community that had previous exposure to the virus and/or has been vaccinated the likely hoo they'll get sick and see me in the emergency room is considerably lower. we want everyone to do everything they can to slow the spread of the virus and it feels almost unbelievable saying this a year after i was vaccinated and almost two years into saying this but we have a communal responsibility. our individual decisions matter. as the doctor said, getting together can be safe if we use rapid tests before hand, limit the size of our groups. if we are going to big indoor parties without masks and testing i think you'll find a lot of families as i've seen in the past couple days with positives among them. you need to think of the

repercussions and what those are for older family members and other vulnerabilities, etcetera. >> i spoke to -- he said there are only 10% filled right now. they have a lot more capacity. they're not seeing huge increases in terms of hospitalizations yet. do you think that maybe there will be a decoupling between this explosive rise in infections and growth in patients you see in the hospital? >> i'll say three things quickly. one, hospitals and emergency rooms were crowded before omicron came. we had a delta surge. we had e.r.s full of tired workers, exhausted, not enough nurses. two, right now in new york city we've had a lot of people exposed throughout the past two years and have been vaccinated. i expect we'll have a big number of cases here and relatively fewer but still significant numbers of hospitalizations and deaths. the third thing is that when we're talking about this, it is

probably not best to just take the advice and feedback of ceos of hospitals. to be fair they are doing everything they can but many have not been in the emergency department and health care in this country is a business. so no one wants to go on camera saying our emergency rooms and hospitals are over loaded. stay away. talk to the front line providers. what they'll tell you is we are exhausted, burnt out, there's not enough left of us. it is going to be hard to handle another surge. >> no slack. you wrote a piece on that really that i think is very moving and people should look at that. professor, the test surge, 500 million new tests. but not for a few weeks. don't we need these tests yesterday? >> well, we do. we do have some testing. what we'll need i think over the course of the next two to eight weeks is remarkable. we'll see this big surge nationwide. remember, as we have been

discussing the delta wave and surge hit a limited number of states over the last four months. if you are one of those states like here in minnesota or parts of new york you understand the siege situation with what delta has done. but that's -- if you talk to people in california they'll ask you what is going on? what are you concerned about? that is going to change with this particular variant. i think we'll see all 50 states in the soup about the same time so testing needs will go up tremendously. the other area that is going up tremendously is the need for health care workers. we've got 20.2 million health care workers in this country. 9.2 million are doctors, nurses, and the kind of technologists dr. spencer just talked about. imagine 10% to 30% of those individuals getting infected in the next two to eight weeks and being out of work. that is going to be a huge challenge, too, we have to address and right now we are not. >> thank you both. dr. spencer, thank you in every way that you work with -- and

everyone you work with every day for all you've done. i know it is exhausting and all we keep doing is forcing you to do even more. >> we'll keep showing up. thank you. breaking news from cvs and walgreens, both announced a limit on the number of at home tests customers may purchase. cvs is capping it at six and walgreens four. the new policies underline just how difficult it has been for americans to get the tests the cdc suggests you need to have the safest possible christmas. it is a busy night. just minutes ago the jury in the kim potter trial ended deliberations for a second day without reaching a verdict. for fast-acting sore throat relief. wooo vaporize sore throat pain with vicks vapocool drops.

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breaking news the jury in the trial of former police officer kim potter has end edit second day of deliberations without reaching a verdict. a reminder potter faces manslaughter charges for shooting and killing 20-year-old daunte wright at a traffic stop in april. the jury has deliberated 14 hours in total longer than the jury in the trial of former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin who was convicted of killing george floyd. the potter trial jury will resume deliberations tomorrow morning. cnn's omar jimenez joins us now with the very latest. there is quite a bit here with the jury asking two questions. >> yes, john. for starters, it seems they may be having trouble getting to a

consensus based on one of two questions they asked the judge today. the first question was simply if we can't reach a consensus what is the guidance on how long we should go and what steps should be taken? the judge simply referred them back to part of their jury instructions which said they should work toward agreement without violating any individual's judgment and that no one should sacrifice their honest opinion just to get to a verdict. as you mentioned, they are done deliberating for the day. they've gone more than 14 hours total over two days which is a little more than four hours more than it took to convict derek chauvin. but the second question they asked was less about their consensus but more about procedural stuff. a little more normal was they wanted to remove the zip ties from kim potter's gun. likely to compare it to the taser that they also have in evidence though prosecutors noted the wait will likely be

different -- weight will likely be different because it has been rendered safe by the court. it has been unloaded different than the weight kim potter would have felt in april of 2021. the comparison is important because potter all along claimed she mistook her taser for her gun when she shot and killed daunte wright during the traffic stop in april of 2021 and prosecutors say the mere fact she claimed she meant to reach for a taser shows she knew this wasn't a deadly force situation while her defense has argued if daunte wright had just complied none of this would have happened. of course that is the heart of what the jury is deliberating. they'll be back tomorrow morning to see if they can get closer to some sort of consensus. >> they will be back tomorrow morning. it was an eventful day. thank you so much for that report. joining us now, criminal offense attorney sarah azare and mark o'mara. these are words the judge never wants to hear. when the jury says what happens if we can't reach consensus what

does it mean? >> it means they could potentially be dead locked. this could be premature. sometimes juries are concerned that they might not be able to reach a eugenio verdict. it is unclear whether they are at that point or headed that way. this is exactly what the defense was aiming for. the idea this jury would be swayed by the raw emotion in potter's testimony that made it worth while frankly for her to testify despite making bad admissions. this jury might be headed to a jury nullification, the idea that applying a lot of facts they find her guilty but just can't come up with a guilty verdict because they don't feel like she is guilty. or there could be stragglers on this jury and that's why they can't reach a unanimous verdict in which case it would be a hung jury. either way i think it seems like it is going the defense's way. >> what do you see here? how many times will a judge send them back to keep on talking? >> generally speaking she didn't

too what will come next which is what we call an alan charge which is the push charge. look, we've really relied on you. no other jury is going to do as well as you could. really go back there and give it your one last good shot. listen to the other side. open up your minds. that hasn't happened yet but i expect it will come the next time they say they are not going to get to a verdict. it is troubling because i think what is happening now is this jury at least a few of them are trying to determine the reasonableness of her mistake. there is no question it was a mistake with tragic consequences. i think the reason why they want to be able to feel and touch that gun is to see how reasonable and therefore unreasonable the mistake was to hold on to that gun and think it was a taser. >> you think the combination of the questions today is revealing. >> i think it is very revealing, yes. i think they are probably arguing over the issue of what she did and what she agreed she

did but as a mistake. that is why they want to touch that gun, touch the taser, why the -- don't forget, a question like that the first question what do we do if we're hung it could be one person, could be two or three. if it is more than one or two they're probably not going to get a resolution because once you have that confederacy of two, three, or four they'll stick together. but they are maybe trying to convince one or just really wrestling with the idea of the reasonableness of the tragic consequences of a mistake. >> the specific question about the gun was to remove the zip ties on it holding it in the box so they could get a better sense of it. do you see that as important as mark does? >> i do. i agree with mark. i usually do agree with mark. these two weapons are at the crux of the prosecution's case and go to counts one and two the idea she mishandled her weapon count one. the idea she acted with criminal

negligence count two. even though the weight is going to be different because the ammunition is out of the gun they still get to feel and see and physically observe these two weapons to determine like mark said the reasonableness of the mistake. i do think when you couple that with the idea they might be struggling it could be that that might change the trajectory of where they're headed. i am not sure. they are definitely related. i don't think we should take them separately out of doengs. >> last week kim potter took the stand in her own defense. are you seeing that pay off now based on these questions? >> i think she had to. i think she had to show the raw emotion. i don't think it was pretense. it was connected to and relevant to how she reacted when she realized she shot him. it was really good because having cried and broke down at the scene the idea of doing it now is sort of consistent and i think gave more credibility to

her if you will in front of this jury who had to hear her apology and explanation as best she could give it. >> the prosecution flat out says that a mistake is not a real defense here. >> it's not, john. inherent in the crime of manslaughter under minnesota law it is the accidental killing of another human being. you call it accidental or mistaken. you have that mistake in the offense. so a mistake is not a defense to the mistake. it isn't. i think the defense has been quite cleverly misleading in repeatedly telling the jury in closing arguments that it was a human mistake. it was an action error. first of all, it is not any human. it is an officer of 26 years of experience who has had training and certifications and recertifications. it seems to me like it might be working. >> just finally, look. we always talk about the effect weekends have on juries and having them reach a decision.

this is christmas coming up. >> they are going to have a decision tomorrow. i hate guessing because we always want to be a fly on the wall but they aren't going to spend more time on this. if they don't get a decision tomorrow, by noon or 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon they may very well hang. >> interesting discussion. thank you so much for your insight. >> thanks. happy holidays if i don't see you. >> have a great holiday. breaking news on the january 6th committee involving michael flynn the former president's embattled national security adviser. details ahead. [ chantell ] when my teeth started to deteriorate, i stopped hanging out socially. it was a easy decision -- clearchoice. [ awada ] the health of our teeth plays a significant role in our overall health. chantell was suffering, and we had to put an end to that.

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more breaking news. michael flynn the embattled former national security adviser to the former president is now suing the january 6th committee in hopes of blocking a subpoena for his phone records. republican congressman scott perry has declined the request from the committee to voluntarily speak with investigators. that means the committee could potentially subpoena him. he was the first lawmaker to receive a request like this from the committee investigating the capitol insurrection. they want to talk to him about several things including his efforts to install former justice department attorney jeffrey cloork as acting attorney general. perry connected clark and the former president when he was pressuring the justice department to find evidence that the 2020 election was stolen. it wasn't. and as we approach the one-year

anniversary of the january 6th attack the former president is planning a news conference in mar-a-lago on that day to air his grievances over the committee's investigation and the 2020 election. in announcing the event he once again shared his election lies. here now former republican congressman joe walsh who ran against the former president in the 2020 republican primary. let's start with congressman perry rejecting the call from the january 6 committee to come in and answer questions from them. he calls them illegitimate which is sort of the rhetoric we keep on hearing from the likes of perry about anything he doesn't like. why do they keep saying things like that? >> john, i may be lousy tv tonight because i really don't care what my former colleague scott perry said. i am not interested. i don't think his statement telling us why he is refusing to cooperate in the investigation, i don't think that statement

even deserves a response. it is so easy to get lost in the weeds here as the year ends and we're almost a year removed from january 6th, john, the story is this. scott perry is yet one more republican who refuses to cooperate. that is the story. here we are a year away from january 6th and one more republican won't cooperate. the republican party almost to a man and a woman refuses to cooperate with an investigation into an attack on our democracy. that is the story. >> what do you do about it then? should the committee issue a subpoena to a sitting member of congress? >> yes. i believe it would be a first. like mark meadows, former member of congress before him, scott perry should be issued a contempt citation from congress, should be subpoenaed.

this committee should do everything they need to do to get to the bottom of this. john, look, aagain here we are almost a year removed from january 6th. we have one political party the republican party that for some reason doesn't want america to get to the bottom of that attack on our democracy. i get that the committee is in a tough spot and up against a clock but they have to do everything they possibly can do to these republicans. >> along those lines the "new york times" is reporting, the committee is at least considering the idea of criminal referrals to the goj not on contempt, but actual actions surrounding january 6th. "the times" says it could be financial actions, funding the lies that went into the insurrection. it could be the former president himself for not doing anything to stop it. do you think it is necessary

given your passion about this for them to do this? >> i think it is necessary to do whatever they can do to do whatever they have to do to make sure that something that i've never seen happen any other time in my lifetime. an actual insurrection. an actual, and this is where we need to stop and take a breath addressing your question and remind ourselves what happened on january 6th and what led to january 6th. donald trump and the people around donald trump systematically tried to over throw an american election. my god. if that doesn't demand that a committee use every single tool they have to get to the bottom of it, to make sure a january 6 never happens again, then nothing does. >> well, it is happening again to an extent. the lies happened before hand. the insurrection happened.

the lies continued after. and the former president who announced he is holding this news conference on the one-year anniversary of january 6th did so with more lies. so what do you do? how should one handle that day, his news conference do you think? >> well, john, i've got a contrarian view here. maybe you disagree with me. it goes like this. donald trump is america's enemy and he is democracy's enemy. i really think it is important to remind the american people of that every opportunity you have. if donald trump on january 6th stands in front of the american people and rattles off a bunch of dishonest, treasonous, un-democratic stuff, i think you broadcast that. i think you put that out in front of the american people because dog gone it, john, the american people god bless them need to be reminded daily of who this guy is and what he did.

and i think democrats need to broadcast everything donald trump says. >> about 30 seconds left. do you think there will be those who were there one year ago who will go back and try to do it all again? >> i worry about more violence on this anniversary. i felt that way before many others felt that way before january 6th last year. i have that concern again because, john, as you said, and i hear from these folks every single day, they do not believe joe biden won and they do not believe january 6th was a big deal. i think america needs to be concerned about further violence on this one-year anniversary >> i think even more troubling is they-ksh not that they think it is a big deal, it is that they celebrate that day as something to point to with glee. former congressman joe walsh, thank you very much. >> thanks, john. why dr. anthony fauci is

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dr. anthony fauci is calling on fox news to fire host jesse watters after he told a group of conservatives to ambush fauci with questions in hopes of creating a viral moment and send the video footage to his network. watters also told them to go in for the kill shot. rhetorical language that president biden's chief medical adviser believes goes too far. fox news has responded to fauci. who is no stranger to attacks. with more on the controversy, here's randi kaye. >> now you're going for the kill shot. the kill shot with an ambush, deadly. because he doesn't see it coming. >> that was fox news host jesse watters monday night at a turning point usa conference.

he encouraged the right wing crowd to create viral moments and go for the kill shot by asking aggressive questions about research at the wuhan lab. >> this is when you say, dr. fauci, you funded risky research at a sloppy chinese lab, the same lab that sprung this pandemic on the world. you know why people don't trust you, don't you? boom! he is dead! he is dead! he's done. >> reporter: fauci, who is president biden's chief medical adviser had this to say in response. >> that's horrible. i mean, that just is such a reflection of the craziness that goes on in society. >> reporter: fauci has served more than three decades as the nation's top infectious disease doctor. he told cnn all he's ever done is encourage people to get

vaccinated, wear a mask, and be careful in public settings. >> for that you have a guy saying people should be giving me a kill shot to ambush me. whatever network he's on is not going to do anything for him. that's crazy. the guy should be fired on the spot. >> fox news is defending watters, saying he was using a metaphor and his words have been twisted completely out of context. >> it's just fuelling mob rule to satisfy a political goal. >> dr. fauci's been attacked by fox hosts since nearly the beginning of the pandemic. most recently it was lara logan, who last month used her show on the channel's streaming network to compare fauci to a nazi doctor known as the angel of death at auschwitz for his brutal experiments on prisoners. >> people say to me he doesn't represents science to them.

he represents the nazi doctor who did experiments on jews during the second world war. and in the concentration camps. >> after that fox stayed silent and lara logan continued to demonize fauci. then she appeared to be quietly removed from air, at least temporarily. >> how they can let her say that with no comment and no disciplinary action, i'm astounded by that. >> reporter: and all the rhetoric has come at a cost. fauci has received death threats, and it's put his entire family at risk. >> every once in a while you stop and you think about it and you say, my world has completely changed. but as it's changing, you don't realize it's changing because you're just focusing. we've got to get a vaccine. we've got to get a drug. we've got to do this. we've got to do that. and every once in a while you say, well, wait a minute, i've got two armed security guards here. i've got another guy over there. >> reporter: since march of last year, fauci has had security detail for extra protection. comments like watters' perhaps making that all the more

necessary. >> the potential for such phrases to transform from rhetoric into destructiveness or physical harm, we've seen that time and time again. people will co-opt that for a call to action and harm against dr. fauci. >> and randi kaye joins us now. randi, do these threats to dr. fauci go beyond just the rhetoric we hear from people on tv? >> absolutely john we are seeing that. over the summer the federal government filed a federal complaint against a 56-year-old maryland man. and according to the affidavit this man had made threats to fauci and his family that he would harm or kill them. according to the affidavit, one email said he would drag them to the street, beat them to death, and then set them on fire. the affidavit also says this man sent seven threatening emails in seven minutes on a single day in april. separate from that, dr. fauci had received white powder in the mail that he described as blowing up in his face.

of course there was concern that there was the very dangerous anthrax. it turned out to be harmless. but these are distractions. he says he's not going to let them bother him. he's going to stay focused on getting people vaccinated and doing his job. it's a lot to deal with. >> it certainly is. randi kaye, thank you very much. we'll be right back. ho ho ho! not again. oh no. for the gifts you won't forget. the mercedes-benz winter event. get a credit toward your first month's payment on select models.

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