coming up live at 6 p.m. eastern i'll interview ohio senator rob portman and congresswoman jody hice. congressman jody hice. eric: well, it's a big day on capitol hill. the 117th congress is now officially getting underway. the house right now in the middle of what is expected to be a very narrow vote on whether or not nancy pelosi will be reelected as house speaker. hello, everyone, welcome to "america's news headquarters," i'm eric shawn. huh, molly. molly: hello, eric, and i am mollly lewin in for arthel nfl. -- molly line. the ability to vote remotely does not car ily over from the last congress, and that means everybody has to show up in person. and since democrats hold this historically narrow majority, absences could make things difficult for pelosi.

chad pergram is, obvious, following all of this on capitol hill. chad, the house is voting now on the speaker. the big question, will she be reelected? >> reporter: it's going to be a narrow majority here for nancy pelosi if she's going to be elected speaker. now, just in the past few minutes some of the numbers have changedment let me run you through the parliamentary algebra. they started at 427 members when they took attendance. we're told that number's going to go up to 428, a democratic congressman from california will, in fact, be here today. so that makes the magic number for nancy pelosi to return to the speaker's suite to be 215. now, she can only lose 6-7 votes depending on how many people vote here. right now she is at 5 defections. you just had three members, three democrats, vote present. they were abigail spamberger, missouri chi cheryl -- mikey

cheryl and alicia slot kin from michigan. you also had two other democrats vote for other candidates, jared golden who is ad moderate democrat from maine, with he voted for illinois senator tammy duckworth, and you also had conor lamb who is a moderate democrat from southwestern pennsylvania, he he cast his ballot, molly, for hakeem jeffries, the chair of the house democratic caucus. molly: i don't know if this is parliamentary algebra, but perhaps a little math involved here. why is the house not at full size? >> well, you have some vacancies. luke letlow, the congressman-elect from louisiana, who died, tragedyically, just a couple of days ago. also an uncalled race in upstate new york, the 22nd district, a race between anthony remember d.c. city and republican claudia tenney, and then you have two members who have come down with covid, maria elvira salazar, a freshman republican from florida who flipped a district from blue

to red and also david from california, he had been in congress before, lost and now is coming back. so it really does come down to the math as we always say here on capitol hill, molly. molly: and regardless of covid, everybody has to be there, right? >> reporter: at least on opening day. this is the provision here. the house of representatives, back in the springtime, implemented remote voting. members who were absent due to covid or quarantining or other health problems, they didn't have to be here. they could basically have somebody vote for them by proxy, but the rules of the old congress do not carry over. you have to have everybody on the field today. tomorrow the house of representatives will vote on that new rules package for the 117th congress, and they will reinstitute remote voting. however, i should note when they go to certify the electoral college because that is a joint session of congress between the house and senate on the 6th of january, they cannot use remote voting. only when voting as the house, molly.

molly: all right. no one knows congress like you do, chad. thanks for breaking down the math for us, we greatly appreciate it. eric. eric: parliamentary calculus or something even more advanced. meanwhile, the president, he's going to be heading to georgia tomorrow to rally support for the republicans in that runoff election that, as you know, will decide which party controls the senate. you know, vice president mike pence's chief of staff said that mr. pence welcomes the republican efforts by some to challenge those electoral college results on wednesday saying it is something that congress should look at. rich edson is at the white house with the very latest from there. hey, rich. >> reporter: good afternoon, eric. a day ahead of the president's trip to georgia where he will campaign for the two senate are republicans there, he is ripping into the state republican officials in georgia on twitter and over the phone. this is according to "the washington post" which is reporting that it as has obtained audio of a phone call between the president and georgia's secretary of state.

fox news has not independently obtained this audio, though from what the post has reported it's the president pressing the secretary of state to reverse the election results there. >> i just want to find 11,780 votes which is one more than we have because we won the state. so tell me, brad, what are we going to do? we won the election, and it's not fair to take it away from us like this. >> reporter: secretary of state brad rathensbrger confirms the call to fox news. the white house has no comment. this while more than a dozen republicans in the senate say they support objecting when congress meets next week to officially count the presidential electors. >> we will together object to certification in order to force the appointment of an emergency electoral commission to perform

an emergency audit of the election results to assess these claims of fraud. i think we can to that, we can do it promptly. we can do it in ten days, before the inauguration, but i think we have an obligation to the voters, and we have an obligation to the constitution to insure that this election was lawful. >> reporter: there are senate republicans now who say they oppose that effort or at least are questioning it. senator lindsey graham, the republican from south carolina, writes: proposing a commission at this late date which has zero chance of becoming reality is not effectively fighting for president trump. it appears to be more of a political dodge than an effective remedy. vice president mike pence will preside over that joint session of congress on wednesday. he does say in a statement that he supports the senators who want to exercise their right to object. back to you. eric: yeah. that phone call causing quite a controversy on capitol hill. we'll be hearing more about that, for sure. rich, thank you. molly? ♪ ♪

molly: two days to go before georgia's runoff elections decide which party controls the senate. the vice president-elect, camilla headquarters -- kamala harris, is in the state to campaign on behalf of the democrats. president-elect joe biden will be campaigning in atlanta tomorrow. jacqui heinrich is following all of this for us. >> reporter: good afternoon, molly. vice president-elect kamala harris is in georgia now, the president-elect will head there tomorrow. this is the last major push for the democrats to gain control of the senate which will determine biden's legislative reach on a number of issues he campaigned on, chief among them his promise to build on the affordable care act. and it follows a considerable fundraising effort. biden's team reportedly steered about $18 million towards jon ossoff and raphael warnock's election bids. biden's team also using his campaign mailing list to solicit donations along with robocalls

going out across the state today. not only would it clear an easier path for biden's legislative initiative, but there's some thug he's waiting on the results to decide his pick for attorney general. biden has denied that is the case. some key allies are lobbying for doug jones, saying jones could garner more bipartisan support than former deputy a.g. sally yates, and some democrats are concerned if biden picks merrick garland, republicans could brock him if the -- block him. biden's team is brushing off news that republican senators will reject the electoral college vote. while senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has acknowledged biden as president-elect, either trying to overturn the election or defy president trump, 11 have policemenned to do so. pledged to do so. >> this is merely a formality.

it is certainly should be treated as such by people who are covering it, and regardless of whoever antics anyone sr. whatever antics anyone is up to on january 6th, president-elect biden will be sworn in on the 20th. >> reporter: the transition has repeatedly downplayed this upcoming effort by the gop senators really referring to it as a formality with a foregone conclusion, biden will be, his one will be certified and he will be are unaugust rated. molly: all right. all eyes on georgia. jacqui heinrich, thank you. eric: president trump is also hitting the campaign trail ahead of the tuesday runoffs in georgia tomorrow. he's going to be the first sitting president to visit dalton, georgia, in 28 years. the last time president george h.w. bush campaigned there in 1992. president trump, obvious, counting on republican support to try and help reelect senators david perdue and kelly loeffler. steve the heir began is live

in -- steve harrigan is live in dalton. >> reporter: republican territory here in northwest georgia, but so far the early voting turnout among many of those republicans has been light. that's participant of the reason why -- part of the reason why president trump will come here for an election eve rally. we're getting a preview of what some of the president might be talking about, in large part fights between the president and republican state officials here in georgia. the president tweeting: i spoke to secretary of state brad rathensberger yesterday about fulton county. he was unable or unwilling to talk about out of state voters, dead voters and more. he has no clue. that tweet was flagged by twitter, the georgia secretary of state responded: respectfully, president trump, what you're saying is not true. the truth will come out. the president has called these two senate runoffs illegal and invalid, but that hasn't affected turnout overall.

more than 3 million people have under the out including 100,000 new voters, the president coming here tomorrow to try to drive more republican rural turnout. eric, back to you. eric: thanks, steve. molly? molly: a u.s. army drill sergeant in texas is dead after being found in her car shot multiple um times. multiple times. jessica mitchell was on leave when she was found early friday morning along interstate 10 in san antonio. alex hogan is following this for us. >> reporter: hi, molly. a heartbreaking start to the new year for this one family in texas. this army sergeant was on holiday leave, the victim of multiple gunshot wounds, and her friend speaking out saying this just doesn't make sense. >> as far as we know, she was single. great military career. so why?

>> reporter: doctors at university hospital in san antonio pronouncing the 30-year-old dead on new year's dead. the drill sergeant was a dental specialist with the u.s. army medical center of excellence on fort sam houston. she'd been in the role since 2019. before this assignment, she served as a dental clinic since 2017. the commanding general sharing the statement: we are devastated by the tragic loss of drill sergeant jessica mitchell. our sincere condolences go to her family and friends, we are focused on supporting the family as well as her soldiers during this extremely difficult time. on january 1st after 2 a.m., police responded to a stranded vehicle on interstate 10 causing a hazard. investors discovering bullet holes on the driver's door and the window and the 30-year-old's body inside. san antonio prison and the army's -- police and the army's criminal division are investigating.

the heartbreaking tragedy for this family one they're lived in before. mitchell's brother was the victim of gun violence less than four years ago. justice mitchell was 18 years old. he also died at the hospital after suffering two gunshot wounds. mitchell and jessica's father now demanding answers. >> all i want is to have somebody to ten up and tell -- to step up and tell us what happened, who did it and why did they do it. >> reporter: so investigators also have a lot of those same questions but so far no arrests have been made in the case. molly? molly: no doubt they'll be looking for those answers. alex hogan in new york city, thank you. ♪ eric: we now have an update on the christmas day bombing in nashville. the fbi revealing that that bomber, 63-year-old anthony warner, sent material to several people around the country that he knew before, of course, he killed himself in his rv in that early morning blast.

the fbi not revealing the contents of exactly what he wrote to the public yet, the bureau saying they, quote: espousing his viewpoints. locals say warner followed various conspiracy theories. and the bureau is also adding that anybody who received a package from him should contact the bureau immediately. molly? if. molly: a fox news alert from capitol hill where the 117th congress is in session casting its first crucial vote for house speaker with the balance of power shifting, can we expect compromise or more division in washington? ♪ ♪ research shows that people remember

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>> nancy pelosi will be next speakf the united states house of representatives, and i look forward to placing her name into nomination as part of my responsibilities as chair of the house democratic caucus. there is incredible enthusiasm for speaker pelosi because she's done the work, and she's been a historic, legendary legislative leader through incredibly turbulent times. molly: the 117th congress is officially underway today, and one of the first orders of business is voting for the next speaker of the house. nancy pelosi is expected to win a fourth term, but the margin of

victory also expected to be very slim thanks to a historically narrow democratic majority. here to talk about it is phillip wegman, real clear politics national politics correspondent. here, of course, to talk politics as the 117th gets underway. let's kick off with this effort, nancy pelosi to maintain her reign, but there are at least 10 returning democrats who did not vote for pelosi as speaker in 2018 coming back. we've got a little graphic with some of their names. expected to be very tight, but is there any expectation that she will not manage to reare gain the speakership? >> yeah, the clip that we just heard from representative jeff reese is very interesting because i think that if you have any of the 13 democratic members who are not returning to congress this year what their thoughts were on speaker pelosi, they might be more candid. and you showed those democrats who didn't vote for her last time around. i think that's indicative of where we are right now.

speaker pelosi did a very good job as a resistance speaker. she, you know, led the charge to impeach the president,. >> she tore up the state of the union, she's very good at that sort of thing. but we're going to find out, you know, how good she is when she has the majority and joe biden is the president because one thing that she dud not succeed at -- did not succeed at in 2020 was expanding her majority. democrats were expected to gain seats, not lose them, and i think we'd be having a very different conversation if biden had not won the election. molly: we may have the answer here in the next hour, hour and a half, two hours or so. shifting gears to january 6th. there is an effort or underway, 11 republicans have been asking for a commission, they've been asking for an audit, they're essentially going to object on january 6th regarding the presidential election. and there's been quite a bit of a pushback on that from some republicans, most notably mitt

romney has pushed back rather strongly with this statement: the egregious ploy to reject objectors may enhance the political ambitions of some, but the congressional power to reject electors is preserved for the most extreme and unusual circumstances. tease are far from it. -- these are far from it. what do you make of this effort underway? >> well, i think you look at that statement from mitt romney, it is the least surprising thing to happen in 2021 so far, that he would go after senator cruz on the the issue is to be expected because the narrative is so simple. you have a moderate republican versus someone who is farther to the right. but i think that actually obscures the fact that there are a number of republicans, people who are close to the president, people who are popular with his base, guys in thous like representative ken buck, representative thomas massie, representative chip royce who are to poise -- opposing this effort to stop the electoral

college certification. i think that there's much more of a schism there than something that is as neat and tidy as moderates versus conservatives. but with i think the talkaway -- and this is the takeaway that we're going to watch and live with going into 2024 -- is that this question about the election quickly is becoming a tribal litmus test for anyone who has presidential ambitions next time around. molly: yeah, i've heard a lot of people talk about this is all about 2024, but what does this mean for mitch mcconnell? is he the one that's facing the tough road ahead? >> yeah, what this means for mcconnell is that there are a number of people in his caucus who are looking backwards rather than forward. you have a moment when republicans are still wondering if they're going to keep the upper chamber. they're hunkering down, preparing for biden's first 100 days, and instead you have this sort of church fight where you have members who are divided not on how they're best going to object or to compromise or work

with the incoming administration. instead you have members who are moving forward with a challenge that, let's face it, if you look at political arithmetic, seems very unlikely to succeed. i think this shows that mcconnell has a lot of work to do because right now president trump is very much the leader of the republican party, and that's not going away. molly: quickly, not surprisingly a lot of democrats have pushed back very hard against this republican effort regarding the electoral college. they said this is sedition, pathetic, opportunistic stunt. your thoughts on the effort, and will it pan out in any way? is there any success to be had here? would we potentially see a 10-day audit, or is there just not a chance? >> i'm not certain that there is a chance yet. something that occurred from republicans is this is something that democrats tried in 2000 and 2004, but last time around in 2016 when then-vice president joe biden actually gaveled down challenges as he was presiding over the electoral college

certification. i don't think this is likely going anywhere, but as a political moment it is something that we these to pay close attention to because if mark meadows' count is correct, we're looking at more than a hundred members of the house and a dozen members in the senate who are going to object to this thing, and that's going to have a rippling effect not just for this year, but for years to come like you said a moment ago, molly. molly: absolutely. it'll be fascinating to watch, it could stretch into january 7th, could be a very long night there in washington. national politics correspondent phillip wegman, thank you very much. >> thank you. molly: eric? eric: and, molly, the politics continues because of big name democrats campaigning in georgia today. with control of the senate on the line and riding on tuesday's critical runoff elections there, we will discuss what's at stake for both sides. georgia republican congressman buddy carter on the race in his state next. ♪

eric: well, nancy pelosi has done it,e house speaker has been elected to yet another term, number four for ms. pelosi from san francisco. she has clinched the number of votes that she needs in her caucus to be elected the house speaker once again. ms. pelosi needed 214 votes, and she has now gotten over that, we are told. two democrats at least so far, according to our counting, votessed for two other -- voted for two other democrats. one of those was conor lamb from western pennsylvania, he did not vote for ms. pelosi the last time. so she has a very few handful members of democratic opponents in her caucus. there are some wondering now with her election as well as with the vice president, joe biden, becoming the president-elect and set to assume the oval office on january 20th whether or not the

democratic caucus will be moved much more to the left in the progressive area in terms of the pressures that ms. pelosi and the rest of her party will feel. that is yet to be seen and yet to come. nancy pelosi, quite an american story. is she grew up in baltimore, her father was a maryland congressman who went on to become mayor of baltimore, so some have seen her ability to bring bare-knuckled political strategy and stances and politics that she learned at her father's knee in the city hall of baltimore to the way she runs the speakership with a tight fist and a sharp whip that she has wielded power unlike perhaps a few other speakers in recent memory except for sam rayburn who, of course, is legend dare at being house speaker. -- ledge jeanld dare. again, the democrats have reelected nancy pelosi as house

speaker. chad pergram is standing by in the capitol to give us the very latest on this re-election. chad, how did it go, are you there? >> reporter: i'm there. well, the vote by the house of representatives, you know, favored nancy pelosi. we knew it was going to be a narrow majority for her. this is going to be the story of the 117th congress as nancy pelosi on vote of after vote after vote is really going to have to thread the needle to move things across the finish line. the unofficial total that we have here is 216 votes total for nancy pelosi, 208 for kevin mccarthy, the house minority leader. and as you say, there were r5 defections. -- 5 defections. at the end of the day, there were 429 members who cast ballots, they were at 427 when they initially took attendance. a democratic congressman from california was not a part of that, he's had health issues. he did show up and vote for nancy pelosi. three members voted present, all moderate starting their second

term, mikey cheryl from new jersey, abigail spam berger and also elissa slotkin. they all three voted present today. the two defections, as you say, who voted for somebody else by name, jared golden, a mod rate democrat from maine. he voted, you know, against nancy pelosi two years ago. he voted today for tammy duckworth, the democratic senator from illinois, and you also had conor lamb who voted for hakim the jeff reese -- hakeem jeffries. when we saw that 427 figure, we calculated that nancy pelosi could only lose about 6 votes. now, that number went up a little bit because of what happened here. she threaded the needle today. she always seems to know exactly where the votes were, and that's why she's returning to the speaker's suite today. eric: what is the thinking, chad, behind some of these people, the handful who voted against her? you're bucking the party, bucking the powers that be.

in maine that had been a swing district, for example. copp nor lamb are, you know -- conor lamb snatched a district from a republican at one point. what's behind the thinkingsome. >> reporter: well, nancy pelosi understands some of these districts are not in her favor. republicans like to use her as kind of the symbol of the democratic party, a san francisco liberal, they run against her, viewing this as an opportunity to pick the house up in 2022. that campaign, frankly, has already start, and they're going to look at these democrats from other swing districts who cast ballots for her and not the slotcountries and the spambergers but others as they're associating with nancy pelosi and weaponize this roll call vote against them. eric: all right, chad. terrific work, as always. you explain it like nobody else does. we'll get back to you as soon as we get another development. chad pergram on capitol hill, thanks. >> reporter: thank you. eric: molly? ♪ ♪

molly: vice president-elect kamala harris will soon be in garden city, georgia, to campaign for the democrats jon ossoff and reverend raphael warnock. control of the senate hinges on the outcome there. we have more with the latest on the race. peter doocy. >> reporter: the republican senator, david perdue, now says he's tested negative three times for covid-19, but he is continuing to quarantine after close contact with a staffer who is infected. so it is kelly loeffler out there on the campaign trail by herself trying to defend both republican seats. >> because you know why? this battleground might be here in georgia, but the nation's depending on us. we're the firewall to stopping socialism. we know that because we heard chuck schumer say now we take georgia, then we with change america. >> reporter: a centerpiece of

the closing argument is the allegation of misconduct against raphael warnock by his ex-wife and also by a camper at a camp that he used to run. warnock has dodged questions about that this week saying it shows loeffler doesn't make a case as to why she should keep the seat. jon ossoff continues kris crossing the state -- crisscrossing the state, pressuring volunteers to have meaningful conversations at a social instance from voters and using strong language describing the republicans he's hoping to unseat with a particular focus on their responses to the pandemic. >> hundreds of thousands have lost their lives, and the fools representing us in office instead of looking out for us have looked out for their own bank accounts. [cheers and applause] >> reporter: and we do expect the vice president-elect to take the stage at the democrats' big event of the day in savannah any

minute. right now the r&b singer neo is performing. kamala harris, if the accidental accurates win -- democrats win these seats, the tying vote in the senate. molly: man, it's flying fast, and the big names are heading that way. peter doocy, thank you so much. eric: speaking of big names, president-elect joe biden will be in georgia tomorrow, of course, campaigning for the democrats in the senate runoffs. president trump also heading to the peach state tomorrow night. he's tweeted, quote: we'll be in georgia to rally for senators david perdue and kelly loeffler. get ready to vote on tuesday. perdue, by the way, officially today, well, he's a former senator because a new senate convened without him, so will president trump's help in that rally help the republicans win and keep the two seats and keep gop control of the senate? republican georgia congressman

buddy carter is with us of georgia. congressman, good to see you. what do you expect on tuesday? >> well, i expect a big republican turnout, no question about it. the republicans in georgia get it. we understand the national. applications that this race has -- implications. this is arguably the most important race, at least on the federal level, that we've ever had in the state of georgia. we understand that we've got to stop socialism. it is not going to come through georgia. and i think the republican voters in georgia realize that, and they're going to turn out en masse on tuesday, no question about it. eric: you've already had a record number of votes, 3 million or so, and a lot of those are in heavily democratic areas. are you concerned about that or the fact that republicans traditionally do show up in person and vote? >> well, that's a good point because traditionally we do. republicans tend to like to vote on election day, and that's fine. but we've got to make sure that we show up at the polls. the weather forecast looks good, it looks like we're going to have good weather to where we can make sure that there are no

reasons why we shouldn't be able to get out. the president's going to be in northwest georgia tomorrow night rallying the troops. northwest, northeast georgia are extremely important. they're strong the republican, strong republican areas that we have to get our voters out in, and we recognize that. yes, the democrats have done well in the early voting, but i suspect that we're going to catch up very, very quickly. eric: you talk about the national implications of this race. everyone knows what it is with the senate basically on the lewin, control of the senate. -- on the line. do you think that is uppermost to most georgians' minds? are the voters that you talk to, do they, are they motivated and animated by that issue, or are there other issues they're as or more concerned about? >> well, i think it's a combination. first of all, i think they are motivated by the fact that there is such attention being placed on georgia and that we are the last line of defense for socialism. they recognize that. but even more so, listen, we're still a republican state.

and we need to make sure that we get our voters out. and that is the key here. georgia has been a republican state for over two decades now, and we have been well served by our republican senators. and, certainly, david perdue and kelly loeffler have done outstanding work, they deserve to go back in. we're going to make sure they get there. eric: a lot of controversy and accusations flying back and forth with stock the trading and financial aspects and perdue outsourcing jobs to china, then you've got ossoff and his video documentary. how do people sort through all this? man, we're used to so many charges and counter-charges in campaigns, what do you think is the defining issue, is it what you just said, that cuts through everything that'll be in their minds? >> well, there's no question about it, the distinctions, the differences between these candidates, between raphael warnock and kelly loeffler, between jon ossoff and david perdue, they are significant and obvious. here you've got two successful

business people in kelly loeffler and david per due who have created tens of thousands of jobs, and then you've got jon ossoff who is just a trust fund socialist who has done business with china. you've got raphael warnock who has said you can't serve god and the military at the same time, who has called our police officers thugs and gangsterrings. that is not georgia, i can assure you. we are proud to have kelly loeffler and david perdue as our senators, and we're going to put them back in office. eric: then again ossoff points out that perdue did business in china, he was vice president of sara lee, president of reebok outsourcing jobs, so how does he, you know, counter that accusation? >> well, first of all, let's make sure there's a distinction between hong kong and china now. i don't have any problem with anybody doing business in hong kong. in fact, i encourage them to do that. we ought to be over there helping hong kong now instead of just ignoring what's going on over there. that's an extremely important part of this world, and

certainly something we need to pay close attention to. but the key here is, again, you've got successful business people like david perdue and kelly loeffler who have created jobs, who are capitalists and believe in capitalism as opposed to raphael warnock and jon ossoff who are socialist and who want to take away your health care, who i can't to defund -- who want to defund the police, who want to implement the green new deal, who want to stack the supreme court. those are the differences that georgians see, those are the differences that georgians are going to vote on. eric: well, ossoff and warnock would say that they're not socialists, but that's what the political campaign's about. before i let you go, at the beginning of the segment we said that nancy pelosi has been reelected for, as house speaker. your reaction to serving in the chamber with ms. pelosi as house speaker yet again? >> well, again, now that nancy pelosi has officially been elected speaker of the 117 congress, you can see what is

happening already, and that is that she's trying to change the rules. she's trying to do away with one of the best tools, one of the strongst tools that we have in the minority -- strongest tools, that is the motion to recommit. she's trying to do away with that. it's been in place since the first congress. she's trying to start the road the socialism right in the house. that's why we've got to have that backdrop and we've got to have that safety net in the senate so that we can stop that socialist agenda. that's why these races in georgia on tuesday are so vitally important. eric: well, you know, the nation's going to be watching your state. we'll be up, no mart what it takes, we'll be looking. the georgia house and buddy carter who's back in his job, back on the hill, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. eric: of course. and we'll have a lot more news when we come back in just a second, so stay with us. home ar "ooh" is more of a "hmm..." you have 100 days to change your mind.

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molly: scientists are scrambling to find more mutations, and dr. anthony fauci expects to see more cases. >> we've isolated multiple examples of the mutant being in this country, to there's no doubt it's here -- so there's no doubt it's here, and there's no doubt given the efficiency of its ability to spread. medical school moll mean -- molly: mean while, there may be a new variant in south africa. dr. janette nesheiwat is a family emergency medicine doctor. you've been very gracious with your time this weekend, we really appreciate it. >> hi, molly. molly: hi. i want to get to this screen out of south africa because we talked about the u.k. strain, but here's the latest on the south african strain this from the "wall street journal" report on this new variant that's been discovered. in south africa, b1-351 has been identified in samples dating back to october. the u.k. and south african

variants share or a slight mutation that enables the spine to -- what does that mean as far as being contagious, that sort of thing? >> yeah. molly, it is critical to understand and be cognizant of the public health impact that these mutations, various strains whether in the u.k., south africa or any part of the world, that we understand how it can impact us. when the protein mutates, that means it can infect us faster, quicker, more people and make us sick. and that is really a problem because it can really talk a toll on our hospitals, on the health care system. it puts a strain on the doctors, on nurses, and that's when you don't get the care that you may need. it's not just covid that we're dealing with right now. with also have car accidents, we have heart disease. let's not forget heart disease is the number one killer in the united states. and you might be in severe pain, for example, from a kidney stone. so when our hospital systems are

overflooded whether it's the current variant or new variants that are more infectious, you're not going to questioned the bet -- get the bed that you need or all the care that you need because of the hospital systems being strained. it's so important to be cognizant of these new variants and particularly if you're in a high risk group. if you're over the age of 65, if you are already suffering from a medical condition like heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, obesity and then you catch covid on top of that, you're compounding your risking, increasing your risk of complications. so that's why it's so important to continue with genomic surveillance, to be one step ahead of these different variants so that we know how to react to them and be prepared once they enter our country. molly: our medical community has really so much to do-you mention this. now we're also watching these additional strains and potentially future strains. some doctors worry that these variations could ultimately lead to sort of a super-spreader

strain even more contagious than other strains. is that a concern, and what could we do about that? >> yes, it is a concern, and i think we're suffering from that now especially with new year's, with thanksgiving, with christmas. we're seeing the effects now and in the next few weeks. you know, sadly, it's projected that we're going to have another over 100,000 deaths because of not only the contagious strains, but the travel, the social gatherings, not wearing a mask. the number one thing you can do to protect yourself is cover your face. that is critical. then the house parties, the mixing of the households, gotta wash your hands, protect yourself, protect your loved ones, and when it's your turn to get a vaccine, be sure to get it and understand it's 95% safe and effective and could save your life. molly: there have also been reports inties a-- in cities across america that health care workers have expressed concern about getting the vaccine. many have chosen not to do it, they thought of themselves as gunny pigs.

do you have a -- gunny pigs -- guinea pigs. do you have a reaction to that? >> understand the facts, understand the science and the data. it's natural and understandable to have concerns, and that's when it's important to peek to your doctor -- speak to your doctor, listen to the local cdc, your department of health and understand that the fda approves these vaccines, not just the covid vaccine, but hepatitis, meningitis, measles, mumps, rubella, these are vaccines that have been approved by the fda that have been shown to save lives, and they go through rigorous trials. i myself got it, and i wouldn't get it if i didn't know and understand that it was safe and effective, it could save my life, it could save the lives of my neighbor, my mom, my loved ones. so look at the data and know that it's met expectations far beyond what we saw. we saw at least 50% effective, but not only is it up to9 5% effective, but it is of high quality, it's efficacious, and

you've got the look at the risks versus the benefits. even if you catch covid and it doesn't take your life, you can presidentially -- people may have, for example, shortened breath, brain fog, trouble concentrating, trouble with their memory, you may have issues with -- yeah, exactly are. you've got to end keep that in mind. look at the risks, rook at the benefits. -- look at the benefits. especially if you're a health care work or. for me, for example, with my patients, i'm around it all day long. so it makes sense to protect ourselves so that we can take care of patients in our community. molly: doctor, thank you so much for sharing this with us, love your insight. >> thank you, molly. my pleasure. molly: eric? eric: well, nancy pelosi, california congresswoman, elected officially as speaker of the house yet again. it was a very close vote, 216-208. mccarthy, ken mccarthy -- kevin mccarthy, you know,

republican, right up there very close. but, of course, the democrats control that chamber. there were five defections, democrats who voted for someone else or voted present. chad pergram nose all, sees all -- knows all, he could have told us the results before it even happened. hey, chad. >> reporter: well, as they always say on capitol hill, it's about the math, it's about the math, it's about the math. here's the rundown, 216 votes for nancy pelosi, 209 for kevin mccarthy, 3 democrats voted present, there were 2 democrats -- conor lamb of pennsylvania and jared golden of maine -- who voted for somebody else. now, by our craigses -- calculations, pelosi could only lose 6 votes. she lost 5. there's a reason why people on both sides of the aisle whether or not you like nancy pelosi or not argue she is the best vote counter in congress in the past 60, 70 years. i'm going to tell you a story from a couple of years ago when there was a question about how many votes she was going to get for democratic leader in 2016. i was outside the house chamber,

and i thought she said two-thirds. it was very loud. in fact, i thought she said three-quarters. it was very loud, there was a din. she came back out into the holloway and said, oh no, chad, two this thirds. the next day she got precisely two-thirds of the vote. whether you like her or not, she always knows where the votes are. if you look at the original vote on health care back in 2009, november of 2009, there was a 2 or 3-vote margin there. nancy pelosi always seems to know exactly what the requisite numbers of votes are, and she proved that today, basically winning the speaker's race by one vote. and this will portend what goes on over the next two years in the 317th congress -- 117th congress as most votes are going to be right on the edge just like this, frankly. eric: chad, it's closer than i first expected, picking up one more vote for kevin mccarthy. let's just listen for just a few

seconds. she is getting a standing ovation from her colleagues in the well of the house. what makes heretic,? you know -- her tick, chad? her father was a congressman, political all the way, it's like an old-line poll that we used to have in the old days. what makes heretic and what can we expect -- her tick and what can we expect with the biden administration? >> reporter: politics are in her dna. her dad was the mayor of baltimore, and she was said to have kept a favor file for her father when e he was the mayor, and she would keep track of where the favors would be doled out, who was on the good list, the bad lust, kind of the same thing. i talked on multiple occasions the past couple of months with danny weiss, her former chief of staff, and they said, you know, she always knows exactly who she can give a pass to and who she says, okay, i really need your vote. and some of the argument that was made here that she made and others made on her behalf that

any vote against nancy pelosi is basically a vote for kevin mccarthy. sometimes when you have these more narrow majorities what happens is it forces more unanimity, and that could be manager to watch in the 317th congress. -- 117th congress. eric: we shall. chad pergram, the dean of the washington professional press corps, if i do say so myself. molly: absolutely. so grateful to chad. no one explains it the way that he does. that does it for us. we are so grateful to all of you for sticking with us. eric, thank you so much. and jon scott is up, there's no reason to turn off the channel now, a brand new hour of "america's news headquarters" yet to come, much more information and fascinating stuff coming out of washington. great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health.

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jon: take a live look at capitol hill where the 117th congress officially got underway today. and the house just a short time ago reelecting nancy pelosi as speaker. it is her fourth term holding the gavel. welcome to a brand-new hour of america's news headquarters. i'm jon scott. with democrats holding an historically narrow majority and the pandemic keeping some lawmakers home, pelosi won the speakership by eight votes with two members voting for other democrats. here's what some on both sides of the aisle were saying earlier today. >> there is incredible enthusiasm for speaker pelosi because she