i don't think so! here's the power! here's the majority of america right here. >> together we, all of us, will fight, resist and oppose every single action that threatens the lives and dignity of any and all of our communities. >> hi, everybody. welcome back to msnbc. we have a lot happening here today. starting with these marches happening worldwide. you are looking at new york city and washington, d.c. hundreds of thousands of people gathering everywhere. we've been following the coverage all day long as you

have been seeing here on msn. people getting out, mtly women in the women's marches. trying to make their voices heard although we are seeing plenty of men, kids, people of all ages. a lot of them fighting against now president donald trump. one day after his inauguration. we're going to try to go live here to cal perry at the women's march in washington. the biggest one, right? estimated 500,000 people potentially. only expecting about 200,000. cal, let's talk about some concerns there. what you are seeing where you are. >> reporter: organizers were prepared for the numbers we had. i would say 500,000. for five or six hours, the cell phones were not functioning. people were getting antsy. certainly the police were nervous about people pushed up against the barricades and marchers moved from this location towards the white house. but frankly, and i don't mean this in a funny way, there really was no march to be had

because the end of where the crowd was was where the crowd had to turn up and they had to turn around. authorities said they were worried people didn't have anywhere to go so there was that safety concern. now, we heard a number of speakers, you played some of them at the beginning. michael moore getting the crowd going early on. the question here, many people's minds, is this potentially sort of the new birth of what would be a new and revamped democratic party? the last 48 hours, hallie, you have been here in d.c. has really been incredible. the dichotomy of trump supporters and those that voted for hillary really perfectly illustrated in 48 hours. yesterday, trump supporters here for the inauguration. small crowds. a thin inauguration crowd. and today, you had these huge crowds which have not only overwhelmed the authorities but the people that organized the march, hallie. >> cal, i want to go back to the

camry shot if we can. you're sort of in a specific area there. can you show us anything where you are? looks like the crowd behind you, just from watching the live shots all day, pal, you had people behind you and now dispersing. when's the scene where you are? >> reporter: yeah. thinning out. jim, to sort of push in, you can see that the marchers -- i mean, trying to make their way and this is independence avenue. independence avenue for folks not from d.c. parallel to constitution avenue and people don't have anywhere to go. the facilities that were being used for the inauguration are now being used today. you can see the folks are leaving behind. a lot of people stuck for those not from d.c. 395 is a mess. the highway to virginia. it is interesting to see how everybody gets out of this city. d.c. is not like new york. it is not a grid. the roads here are not laid out. >> right. >> reporter: in the same way an it's interesting to see how they get everybody out of here. >> cal, hang tight there. we have so many sort of marches to get to all around the

country. i want to bring in joy reid, thomas roberts perched and watching the march happening here in d.c. simultaneously with marches in chicago, in new york. and all throughout the country. st. louis, for example. denver. you heard talk about seattle, too. joy, and thomas, if you're with me, give me some of your reaction because we have seen celebs. madonna was out sort of on stage. what's your overall take away from how today's unfolded? >> people are interested, interested in being a part of what it means to show up. and i think that folks are pushing back over the populist message of president trump and theal go rhythm of those on the campaign trail donald trump won the electoral college. but not the majority vote. we are seeing in new york city, what we saw in los angeles, what

we have seen in denver, it's people that are showing up and pushing back and it was really fascinating, hallie, to watch donald trump give that brief moment of remarks from the cia and this is the intelligence community that he compared the nazis to get laugh lines and applause from the group and not make a mention of the folks that gathered with ques. most of the people we spoke to today are the organizers. said it wasn't anti-trump type rallies. i mean, they have pro agenda and certainly more liberal than a trump administration might deliver but we have not heard and reaction, joy, from this administration about these marches. >> it is fascinating to see it taking place literally within a few blocks of where he was at langley and one thing to know is who was in that room? we don't know whether staff was in the room. it was an odd thing. he did refer to the intelligence

community akin to nazis and cheering and we don't know who was cheering and we don't want to presume and it was interesting to hear donald trump give the campaign speech inside of the cia headquarters while literally outside of his door a half million people most of them women were marching and what we have heard today i think number one is shock. i think people were shocked by the results of the election. a lot of particularly young women were unacquainted with the kind of threats to the civil liberties that they just took for granted could never happen in america and i think the election shocked a lot of young women's consciousness and their faith in the sort of principles of the country that they live in. and galvanized them to action and you saw the march planned back then. and the organizers have been honest about saying they were expecting maybe 200,000 people or so. they have gotten more than double that whereas the inauguration, donald trump said to him it looked like a million and a half people but we know that he got more like 250,000

and very interesting. >> in about 25 minutes, we expect to see from the white house briefing room, current president-elect now sean spicer delivering some kind of a statement. we don't know what the content of that statement will be. if it will have to do with, for example, more of the president's movements over the next week or so or if it will have to do with what we're talking about right now, joy and thomas. the protests happening not just in washington but around the country. you mentioned the cia remarks, the remarks that the president just delivered at langley. we're getting some more editorial of inside the room. the cameras there were asked not to turn around and shoot what we call reverse cuts. right? shots of the crowd so that we could see who was in there. and that is because you obviously have intelligence analysts, operatives, others who wouldn't want their faces out there on television for sort of workplace security reasons, if you will. interestingly, during donald trump's remarks, we are told that the senior leadership giving him a briefing prior to him delivering that speech, so he came, met with senior

leadership, the senior leadership stood the entire time. now, as joy just mentioned, donald trump went off into some more political parts of what you could call his campaign-esque speech or speeches that we heard from him during the transition. while that happened, the main crowd cheered, the senior leadership did not. they were stoic. they did -- everybody in the room did applaud at the end of the speech and during lines talking about supporting the intelligence community. at one point saying i love you, i respect you. saying he was there because of the opposite of the feud as he described it. now that said, donald trump delivered the remarks in front of the very wall that john brennan mentioned in the "wall street journal" interview last week essentially wept after then president-elect trump. now president trump for as joy mentioned suggesting that some intelligence analysts were using nazi-like tactics so while donald trump may say he did not have a feud with the intelligence community, his

public comments seem to indicate that perhaps he was displeased with them and frankly there were some senior members of the intelligence community who were displeased with him and the visit seen as an olive branch, the start of fence mending and press secretary spicer has shot that idea down. we are taking a look now, an aerial look from atlanta where you are seeing their march, their rally and remarkably, we have seen huge numbers here. right? you look at chicago where the march portion of the event had to be called off. so many people, they made it a rally instead. atlanta, you see people packing. it looks like downtown there. live shots from other places throughout the country. i want to bring back in now if we can, if we have cal perry. stephanie gosk is out there. beth fuey as we wait to see who we might be able to go to next. thomas, joy, with me, cal, cal, why don't we head over to you? you are in washington there. one of the things that has been

striking today have been the young women who have come to our cameras saying we want to turn this into a movement, take the 500,000 people here in washington today, organize, we want to put in place political action steps to fight against what they see as an administration that will harm their rights. how realistic is that? what's the chances? how does that actually unfold in a step by step way there can be a massive march and that it can be turned into a movement with legs, not just a sort of one off? >> reporter: well, i think that they have started on the right foot. you know, one of the things we have been talking about and wanted to pick up on something joy was saying. yesterday was not a diverse inauguration. it was an almost entirely white inauguration and not representative either of washington, d.c., frankly, or of america. today was much more representative of the country and that was something that the speakers sort of went through time and time again that this march today looked like america. we heard that from michael

moore, from madonna, scar let johansson and just about all the speakers here. that needs to be mobilized. the point you're making is correct one, needs to be mobilized into a political action. but look, the building blocks are there. my wife brought our 8-year-old daughter, there were kids here. it was a teaching moment for the city and the country and i believe it spread. as you look at the protests around the country, people were feeding off of what was here in washington, d.c. yesterday we saw a thin inauguration that was with some trump supporters. there were these at times clashes between trump supporters and folks that didn't get out to vote for trump or voted for hillary. today was just a very different attitude. the entire sort of mood of the city was different. this was a high spirits march. this was a peaceful march. i don't think that there will be violence tonight in washington, d.c. i think people march towards the white house and then head on home. will they call their

congressman? michael moore giving the telephone number. will they vote in the next election? that's the question. look. i think today is quite possible -- we talk about the republican party hijacked, today it's possible that the new democratic party could emerge in this country, hallie. >> joy and thomas, you are still with me from the perch overlooking this action. benji covered the tea party back years ago now and he saw some parallels to some of the language being used, right? some of the protesters saying i've never come out before until today. do you see some parallels between that movement on the gop side sort of splintering away the movement on the democratic side? >> i don't know if i would characterize it like that. i think that there are so many people that are looking for something to rally behind. and while there are folks and we had erica alexander talking about and a former cast member from "living single," an actress

and author and talking about still being kind of in shock and can't talk to folks that may have supported president trump. and in this country before, i think certainly, past generations we have seen a disappointment with one party winning over the other. i'm not sure that we've ever seen people feel such shock. that's even after in 2008 when this country elected the first black president. >> yeah. >> i think that there are folks trying to express what that shock means and coming out to show support that they have -- you know, donald trump and n that speech yesterday with the american carnage line talking about the forgotten man and the forgotten woman. these people also represent that america. and this is really going to be something that this administration needs to address because these people also need to be spoken to.

and they are part of that maybe forgotten man and forgotten woman part of this country right now. that they don't feel like they know where to fit in a trump administration. >> well, you know, i think can't you compare it to the tea party quite honestly. i think it's more akin to what happened in the year 2000 after the supreme court put george w. bush in the white house. you had tremendous protests on inauguration day in that case. they didn't wait until the following day and the protests were massive. largest i had seen or heard of and i think the largest since richard nixon. but the tea party was quite a different thing. i think the reaction to barack obama, a lot of it did fall along not only racial lines but also along the lines of the false belief to be some sort of islamic interloper as if there's something wrong with being a muslim and ao by theayith the tea party there was more of an institutional organatn hind it. it didn't start with just people

being terrified by what the new president was going to do to them or what the incoming administration was going to do to them and people like them. it was -- it started on wall street or in the chicago mercantile exchange with a rant about homeowners being deadbeats and the idea that the obama administration was going to essentially give out money to underwater homeowners. people forget the history of the tea party and make it seem it's this, on your screen, when it was really a lot more organized, had more roots in wall street, in the financial community that didn't want to see this president do what they saw as socialism to change the american way of life. it then morphed into a real anti-health care crusade and the thing about the tea party the left is trying to pick up and did function and work was that you can get people, however you gin them up and exercise and you can make them turn that into actual action, into running for office and to voting and to keeping their -- the people they vote for accountable,

republicans in the house are terrified of the tea party and ould n't wouldn't do anything they would be -- majority leader eric cantor turfed out of office by the tea party. right? you know -- >> it happened. >> actually happened. they took out major republican politicians. john boehner was essentially handcuffed. he had the speakership but not the party because of the tea party and i think you're seeing democrats, at least liberal democrats, start to say, wait a minute. this is what needs to happen to the democratic party. it's too corporate. it's too close to wall street itself. it's too quick to compromise with the other side and sell out core principles and i suspect that what will come out of this is going to be a really strong movement further left. under barack obama, the party moved left, became much more progressive on lgbt issues, lots of issues. it is about to i think become -- you'll see the left get even more strident, more insistent and probably more dominant in

the party particularly with donald trump in the white house. >> as we ramp up to the remarks from sean spicer, a lot of folks probably watching this coverage and seeing so many people coming out in major cities and mid market cities around this country to be a part of the women's march would probably say, hold up. we got to give this administration a chance. i mean, they have only been in office -- this is the first full day. >> less than 24 hours, why. >> yeah. and they don't even have their cabinet in place. donald trump making that remark in the briefing or the brief -- >> cia lobby. >> the remarks of the cia in front of the stars of those lost and political games of mike pompeo. that's the kansas congressman he wants to be the new cia director and made it through procedural senate hearings to get confirmation and then held up. and it seems as if we're going to go through a little bit of

administration obstructionism from the left to try to prove a point about how they can work together. >> thomas roberts, joy reid, thank you both for staying and talking with us on this hour. i'll let you both go and looking ahead now after the break to this briefing or that statement now from press secretary sean spicer. monitors have been set up in the white house briefing room. you can see them there. we'll bring it to you as soon as it happens about 12 minutes from now. stick around. we have found several things that we have in common. our noses are similar and our cheeks. people say we sit the same way. (laughter) i decided to go on ancestry to get my dna tested so i could find out more about my heritage. and i also found that i had a sister that i didn't know about because i'm adopted. that was me. it was really exciting to find myself in someone else. discover the story only your dna can tell. order your kit now at ancestrydna.com

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we are back on this day of protest marches across the country. on the left of your screen, 5th avenue in new york. if you know the city surface streets, that's not far from st.

patrick's cathedral. the nypd shut down the area around trump tower which was the kind of end location that a lot of marchers were told to end to. but the city streets in midtown manhattan are choked with people. the mall area around washington, d.c., ditto. you see on the right, the briefing room at the white house. we are awaiting what will be press secretary sean spicer's first statement from the podium. they had in those two video monitors for a time pictures of the inaugural crowd as taken from behind where the inaugural address was given looking out on the mall. we don't know if the statement is going to be about crowd size. we certainly heard donald trump talk about crowd size. he just made an appearance at the cia within the last hour. cal perry is standing by in

washington, he's been covering the march all day. cal, i saw your coverage earlier. i'm hoping you can give us a big picture, but suffice to say -- oh, we have lost cal perry, apparently. hallie jackson is standing by in washington. same question to you. i'm hoping you can give us a big picture. this has been a slow motion rolling explosion of people that they hit the metro system earlier this morning. metro pointed out that they had higher volume than even on inauguration day. and there was -- there were rumors that the march was too large, it has to be disbanded but it was rerouted eventually. what's the status of it right now? the pictures are extraordinary. >> yeah. as we are looking at the pictures now, brian, i'll tell you in talking to cal out in the field on independence avenue just a couple of minutes ago, it's starting to disperse a bit.

there are fewer people in the streets. i live here in washington. jam packed this morning. and extremely busy as it has been for last several days but i think when you ask about the big picture point of view, it seems to be wrapped up in a couple of words and perhaps defying expectations. you heard organizers saying they planned for about 200,000 people here and i think permitted for, as well. it turns out according to perhaps early estimates is double that. new york, massive number of people in new york city, as well. you talked about the statement from sean spicer coming up here. still unclear what he is talking about but as you know donald trump referenced the crowds at his inauguration. donald trump is somebody who has often through the 18 months of his campaign and transition liked to talk about the crowds of people who comes out to see

him speak. one still happening as we hit l.a. seattle, those places a couple of time zones behind us, one of the things you often hear from people as we have been interviewing them in the coverage is they want to turn this into something more than just a one-day event, to try to harness the energy that they're seeing on the ground and organize behind it. the question is how do you do that? is it something that can be a viable movement moving forward? nothing yet from donald trump. no tweets from him. no on-camera statement or reaction from him. getting up in the lobby of the cia there, sean spicer, as well, brian. >> it's anyone's guess how much he saw, donald trump did, from his motorcade. >> yeah. >> enroute to cia headquarters in langley? >> two things. one, remember for the good part of the morning, donald trump as we were at the national cathedral for a prayer service as a lot of folks were gathering

and massing in downtown washington. so i think for a lot of folk who is had been at the cathedral, away from the televisions not looking at twitter perhaps and at their phones you came out of that around noon, running late, close to noon and saw all of the action happening and likely have been his first glimpse in the motorcade on the way back and we know from our reports we get from the traveling group of reporters that goes around with the president that there were -- it was visible. he could see some protesters who cheered, most did not. and then on the route -- remember, it niece virginia, the opposite direction from where the main part of this march is happening out in langley. that said, by all accounts, the people who are here, even not directly marching, have taken over parts of downtown washington. the bars, the restaurants, et cetera as they have sort of dispersed away from the main event on the national mall. >> this is 5th avenue in new

york city. and even those people who have visited new york once or twice as tourists likely got a glimpse of 5th avenue. usually teeming with traffic. it's been more complicated since donald trump was elected president. and his main residence is trump tower on 5th avenue. but that's what has brought this choking crowd in to 5th avenue. they were told the end location of the march was going to be trump tower. new york police department is having none of it, of course, because trump tower is now one of those national security sites. it's protected by the secret service. it is protected by the new york city police department. whether or not the president is in residence. they keep a certain perimeter around it. safe to say this is the most people we have ever seen on the

pavement in lieu of cars in 5th avenue in new york. i mean, it hosts a lot of parades during the year but they are organized functions. this is absolutely incredible. let's go out to chicago. beth fuey standing by there and all the cities, so far new york and washington part of the subplot, beth, that's been added is how happy the organizers are to see the percentage of men as part of the protests and what was billed as though not restricted to the women's march. >> yeah. that's right, brian. i'm here on michigan avenue downtown chicago, the loop. things are getting back to normal here. after an amazing day of protests. a city that was expecting at first a 20,000-person protest. went to a 50,000 estimate. well over 150,000 today, brian, that the organizers believe happened. beautiful day. balmy day for chicago.

went up into the 50s. almost unheard of in january and you did, you saw men, women, moms and dads, kids. you saw people of all ages coming together to speak about women and speak about women's rights. i tracked down a couple of families here, moms with their girls. i've got julia and sheera here. first march apparently. i'll ask you, what did you think? what was it like to be out there today? >> really interesting to witness democracy in action. something i've never seen before and awesome to march with people with the same views. >> reporter: why were you out today? >> i came to experience the strength and power of women. >> reporter: now, the word that we get on the street is students aren't all that interested in politics. is that the case or did the election change your views to get involved and active in politics? >> yeah. it did. because a lot of people around our age are almost not aware of the things that are going on

right now an it's really relevant, especially women's rights and kids our age disregard them and don't know much about them. >> reporter: what are you going to do after today? this is one march. what do you do to be political active? >> i want to make people aware of feminism means and i think especially at our age, people don't know what it means and that it stands for equality of women. >> reporter: yeah, there you have it, brian. we have people on the street, reflecting on what it meant to them and when's going to happen tomorrow and the future? is this really turning into a movement bigger than a protest movement, a movement that's going to energize young people to get involved in politics, to get out and vote and get off the couch and run for office them and affect donald trump's agenda and moves forward with what he wants to do in this country? back to you. >> beth fouhy at beautiful michigan avenue in chicago as what beth described as a beautiful day there and because

of the contours of the crowd, because of the geography and the weather, the pictures of the crowd of protesters in chicago may be the most dramatic of the day so far because they fill the frame at times. it's all you can see is people slowly on the move surging through chicago and again, a city so beautiful architecturally it's striking. from new york, from washington, d.c., where we have re-established contact with cal perry, cal, again, i'm hoping to figuratively if not literally widen the lens out and get our arms around this protest that you have been covering all day from the ground level. >> yeah. let me get jim. to widen out a bit and show you, the crowds dissipating. people are heading home. i'll give you a look down

independence avenue for folks not from washington, d.c., independence avenue parallel to constitution and the national mall. this was an extraordinary 48 hours for the nation's capital. we had yesterday an inauguration for donald trump full of donald trump supporters, perhaps a thin crowd, certainly at least half the size of today's crowd. and then we had today which i think was the reason most of the hotels were full, frankly, a huge march. i mean, this is going to go down for people who live in d.c. like 1963, 1969, this is a year to be remembered as people flooded in the streets of d.c. and, frankly, brian, look. washington, d.c. is a diverse place like america and today it looked like that. yesterday was a not a diverse inauguration. it was an almost entirely white crowd. today was the opposite. we had speeches today from all kinds of celebrities. we had a surprise concert from

madonna. but we heard a lot of talk about political activism. about mobilizing politically. about calling your congressman, voting in local elections, running for school board. at one point michael moore the director asked for people to run for public office and made a joke that nobody in this country wants to do so. so i think for not just the democratic party but for anybody who regardless of how they voted or if they didn't vote i think today was a motivating factor and the great motivator i think for the people here was fear. was fear that the new president, president donald trump, will start rolling back some of the civil liberties so many people taken to the streets of this country's capital in previous years, brian. >> cal perry, hang on with us just one second. we want to let the viewers know. it is 4:30 eastern time. we had expected to go to the white house and hear from sean spicer, the new incoming white

house press secretary. that's been pushed back. we think another half hour to around 5:00 p.m. eastern time. a feature people may not be familiar with, looking at that otherwise familiar briefing room are the video screens on either side behind the lectern. those screens when they were first set up a few minutes ago had in them imagery of the crowd at the inauguration. we don't know if that's going to be the point of this briefing. we don't know if this is going to be just the kind of routine briefing on the goings on, the president's first full day in office. the president hirms returning from cia headquarters in langley, virginia. cal perry remains with us in washington. lawrence o'donnell among those with us from new york. cal, it reached its height in the afternoon hours, probably an hour or two ago but we still

lack a crowd estimate from i guess the national park service would be the organization giving us that number? >> reporter: yeah. you know, i'm not sure they do it anymore. there was a controversy after the million man march and ever since then they haven't been willing to put out numbers of how many people take to the streets of washington, d.c. and the other thing working against us is this is the great no-fly zone and cannot get a drone up within a mile of the capitol an aerial shot and the federal buildings, next to the cohen building with voice of america, folks wor the roof trying to get a look at the crowd. but it stretched down independence avenue to the washington monument. i know that president trump is taking issue with that reporting. he is doing so openly on twitter. but i was here and i saw it. in fact, the joke was made that there wouldn't be enough room to march because basically people had to turn around and there they were at the washington mornment.

i got the feeling and a march of which more than five hours there was no cell phone service and frankly organizers didn't expect this many people to come out. i have a feeling that they extended the concert atmosphere and the activities to keep people here. i think there was a concern that there were some safety issues. we saw people pressed up against the barriers. there wasn't anywhere to go. there wasn't room for ambulances to get in or out. you had all of the trappings and the facilities from the inauguration here to help folks along but they weren't able to get anywhere. there were people here as early as 6:00 a.m. who were unable to move until an hour ago, brian. i think that was a big concern that authorities had. >> yeah. and that's -- among the reasons that you point out that the imagery of chicago is so striking. it is one of the few cities where we had straight down from the sky imagery. we also have restrictions in new york. so while we didn't get an accurate picture of the crowd

size today, that shot certainly helps to tell the story. like washington, in new york, there were fears that this thing was going to have to be called off midway through because the crowds grew too large and unwieldly. morgan radford in new york. i heard you saying how far east this crowd had pushed for people that know new york city, talking about it clear over to lexington avenue. >> reporter: brian, that's right. we are standing here and already on -- just outside of trump tower. these crowds became so large and the streets completely at a stand still and people parking the cars, urging them to keep on walking and here with -- past two hours. [ inaudible ] >> in this country and just telling him straight there we

don't agree with him. >> reporter: what are the issues specifically? >> well, we believe in an america for all americans. and specifically his policies on immigration and repealing doka sticks out. with my boyfriend and myself. he's appealing to immigration and -- seeing families broken apart. some of my students. and it's something that i think that -- >> reporter: and finally, when's the message you want for all the people -- [ inaudible ] >> don't give up. >> reporter: keep going is what they're doing, brian. [ inaudible ] you can hear the chanting -- [ inaudible ]

>> morgan -- to our viewers -- morgan, we can't hear, at least i can't. i assume the same is true. the experience over television, the ambient sound is just so loud. we can't hear anything you're saying into the microphone. but again, morgan is where the new york march is kind of crushing up against and then being redirected. and that's trump tower itself. you hear the din of people. that's because fresh marchers are coming up 5th avenue and arriving every second and then channelled out into the streets in midtown manhattan. i believe we can go next to lawrence o'donnell who's in the safety and relative quiet of a studio in new york city.

lawrence, that was an unbelieve -- well, i feel bad for morgan. what an unbelievable illustration of the crowd size and strength and energy there in midtown. >> yes, brian, the reason the noise is so loud is because she is in front of trump tower. when you move down a couple of blocks as i did, i was at 50th street, say 5 blocks south of that for an hour and a half observing what was happening there, it's much quieter there and there's kind of a wave of a kind of roar through the crowd, almost as an energy burst and you can feel it actually, hear it. it starts way down south at 42nd street and you can hear the roar come up and pass through the crowd and then all land up there at trump tower. so that that noise level at trump tower i didn't experience and i think only experience at the trump tower spot. everyone else i think in that spot waiting to get there and it's much -- it's quieter.

it's more -- completely festive. you will see parents with their toddlers on the shoulders. you will see babies in strollers, you will see families. you will see -- i met one mother from staten island with her three kids all under age 10 walking along with her. and it's very much that kind of atmosphere. a lot of grandmothers, a lot of grandparents out there and so it's -- that spot where we are now is the noisiest spot in the whole route and understandably that's where trump tower is. they want to be heard on the higher floors of trump tower. >> lawrence, i don't mean for this to sound flip but all day long these pictures, the interviews with people in the crowd, you're right. people have been pleasantly surprised at the number of families, the number of men but the tone and tenor seems to be, well, nobody asked us.

and after the rhetoric and the inaugural address yesterday and the coverage of it and after some feelings kind of sunk in across this country, this is kind of the equal and opposite reaction. >> yeah. and it's so spontaneous. we know that this was created by a woman who just put a little note up on facebook i think it was saying i think we should march. and she got a couple hundred responses and then within 24 hours, 10,000 and then it zoomed up to this. it's fascinating to compare it to its biggest predecessor which was 1973 when 100,000 people showed up in washington to protest the inauguration of richard nixon. now, that was a very organized protest that was organized months in advance and that was organized by groups that had been protesting the vietnam war for six years at that point to become very sophisticated. in producing turnout for gran

dmon stragss like this. it was not a spontaneous group. it was a set of -- a set of protest organizations to the vietnam war who really knew what they were doing and really knew how to draw people. this being much more spontaneous is all the more impressive in its way and what we did see in 1973 was other demonstrations in other cities around the country, international demonstrations including london as we are seeing today, big demonstration in paris today, all sorts of other places around the world where the demonstrations are going on, the numbers are stunningly overwhelming to that last high point of 1973 and the history of inauguration protest is quite thin. the first was richard nixon's first inauguration in 1969 and that drew only about 8,000 people the day before the inauguration. i say only. that was at its time the biggest one in history. four years later, you have the

100,000 and then the next time there was any measurable turnout was in 2001 after that incredibly close race that was ultimately decided in lit ration in the supreme court where al gore came in second in the supreme court to george w. bush. he came in first in the total number of vote counts. george w. bush sworn in to the presidency and provoked a turnout of 20,000. in washington, d.c. and so, just -- that's it. it's a couple of small bumps of the 8,000 and 20,000 and then two peaks historically. the 100,000 in washington. the 500,000 we're seeing today. plus what is easily going to go well over 1 million people if you count in all the other demonstrations. consider that boston today is reporting 125,000. that's just boston. that's more than one fifth of the population of boston. so, when you look at cities that

size, turning out demonstration that is size around the country, knowing there is one of these demonstrations is occurring at least one in all 50 states. we are at a record level of protest turnout for an inauguration, the likes of which we have never seen. >> that is absolutely going to turn out to be the case. these are record crowds. lawrence is right. there are going to be records set today in many cities. those not familiar with the size of boston, the thought of 125,000 people on the "t," their subway system on a saturday morning is unbelievable. we have a live report of atlanta and a more sensitive question to ask you. you're a partisan and made no bones about it. anyone that watched you far couple of years knows that. i saw our friend, mike murphy, long time gop campaign consultant on twitter earlier

today. this was before madonna was talking. her remarks were taken by at least two cable networks live. and then came a choice swear word and we also saw and heard some real hyperbole from the other speakers. mike made the point that the as he put it the far left speakers at events at this and paraphrasing hurt the cause. it does happen. it's a dynamic. it's a thing, lawrence, and how much do you think it's a thing today? >> there's actually no historical back-up for that. if you look at the protest movements of the past, the civil rights movement, on this scale, the vietnam protest, they actually achieved the goals. they achieved the governing outcomes they were looking for. voting rights act. the vietnam war ended because it was protested to an end in the

united states. this democracy could not sustain that war because enough people turned against it and the protest movement, the records show every day of the vietnam protest movement only turned more people against the vietnam war. and there was profanity on those stages at the time and all sorts of things of tn stages at the time that republicans and vietnam war supporters said, oh, well this will turn off the voters, this will keep them on our side. as long as those people behave in a way that is just, you know, is somehow across the line of network broadcast standards, then no one's going to listen to them and people will think they're crazy. and so, you know, madonna used words we all use and not accustomed to hear them on certain channels. now you can hear them on most television channels, in fact. you can't hear them on news channels and the general broadcast channels. and so, that's always been

one -- that calculation of the people who have never marched and never protest anything always think that marches and protests have a negative effect. >> well, fair point. i think it's a fair question. and is probably a point that reasonable people can discuss as we go on. lawrence o'donnell, central holding, however, that this is a record breaker, that these are crowds some of these cities have never seen before in around these confines for a protest march is certainly going to be borne out and those visuals from london with those characteristic roof tops are incredible. with some of the streets clogged with people. again, to set the scene, we are going to be hearing from the white house spokesman sean spicer. there's going to be much hubbub and debate over crowd size,

especially when members of the news media compare it to yesterday's inauguration crowds. we heard the first hints of donald trump talking about the rain as a crowd suppressant yesterday. heard that last night. heard it from him today. we'll hear -- if we hear more on that. sarah doliph is standing by in atlanta where they have more striking images from the sky. sarah? >> reporter: brian, you talk there about the weather as a det deterrent. not a deterrent here in atlanta where the winds and rain whipped through the city this morning. however, the crowd bigger than expected. estimate of 20,000 people is what we're hearing right now. you're seeing some of those images of the diversity of people who came down here to demonstrate on a rainy, windy saturday. now, the rain, the weather cleared out for now. i actually want to bring in two of these demonstrators.

we want to hear more about the individual stories behind why people feel so strongly. britney and yejessica of georgi what brought you out here today? >> -- anything. you know? with the new president, he is against basically everything i and my family is and i'm not okay with that. >> reporter: when you came out here and you saw the size of the crowd, what emotions did you experience? >> i didn't think it was going to be this big. i thought maybe a few thousand people, not this much. i think we still have marchers coming in. >> reporter: and, georgia, a red state and yet, record turnout here for this demonstration. were you surprised? >> i was very surprised. the marta on the way here is packed. so many people on each other and amazing. everybody's feeling the love and that's all that we really wanted for today for people to understand we're here for each

other. >> reporter: does it strengthen your resolve and message to see so many people? >> of course. i have friends of different races and religions and matter and mean so much for me and to feel fear at all is unacceptable. >> reporter: thank you, ladies, so much. the crowd heard from a number of diverse speakers and congressman john lewis. lewis as you remember criticized trump on "meet the press" saying he doesn't view him as a legitimate president. he cited alleged russian interference in the election for the reason for doing so and he spoke 0 to a very eager crowd, encouraging them to continue their protest, to continue their message. long after the crowds fade away today. he also emphasized that social media is not enough. it's an important tool but it is not enough saying use your feet, use your hands. and saying he himself knows a little something, brian, about marching. back to you. >> sarah dallof in atlanta where

weather as you've heard, weather's been a factor. sometimes weather has given us larger than normal crowds. we have been looking at the pictures out of l.a. but basically, you name the american city, in some cases you name the overseas capital, and they have had crowds gather today depending on daytime and time zones. katie beck is standing by in chicago. katie, we just went to your old stomping ground -- i'm sorry. katie's in los angeles. we were just in your old stomping ground of atlanta and you're out covering the l.a. rally today, katie. >> reporter: yeah, brian. i really can't complain about the weather here. it could not be a more beautiful day in los angeles. and the same story everywhere. the crowds here have exceeded expectations. there were tens of thousands of people flooding the streets of los angeles this morning and still here.

as you can see, we are standing on a fourth story balcony looking down the blocks and blocks, thousands ands of people still marching peacefully. still carrying their signs. still trying to deliver a strong message to this incoming administration about women's rights and women's issues. fortunately for us, we were given the opportunity to be on this balcony by a generous gentlemen. ben steinberger joining us now. thank you for being with us. >> thank you having me. >> ben is a photographer and out here on the balcony all morning shooting pictures of this. tell me about what you have seen and what sort of insights can you give us about the demonstration today? >> it's been amazing. so many people have been outside the apartment. i was up on the balcony and then started and couldn't resist going out there and spent the afternoon out there in the sea of people. pretty amazing. >> we were talking about the big news consumer, watching the inauguration events yesterday. how does this demonstration

differ in vibe or tone from what you saw yesterday? >> it rained yesterday. so there were way less people out there yesterday, for sure. this is amazing. it's been -- the people are so impassioned and so -- they're, you know, their spirit is -- it's amazing to see and be a part of and to be able to join them and take their photos and i wish we had this kind of spirit three months ago, four months ago. >> reporter: right. did you expect that at this time of the day the crowds would still be just streaming in? there isn't a break in the crowd at all from this morning, really. >> it's not broken at all. it started at about 10:00 a.m. and it was just packed the whole day. so being here and having the music in the background and getting out of the builting, it was impossible. you were pushing up against the door and hundreds of people barricaded up against it. >> reporter: ben, we can't thank you enough for your generosity to share the balcony with you.

amazing perspective to see the people from up here and not los angeles without a star studded ka cast of celebrities. we heard from jane fonda and barbra streisand. they have a lot to say and a lot to listen to and we expect them to be here quite a while longer. brian? >> katie beck in los angeles, high above the crowds on a balcony in los angeles. we're ing to take a break and remembhe top of th hour we are expecting to get a statement from the new incoming white house press secretary sean spicer from the white house briefing room. our coverage continues right after this. i don't want to live with the uncertainties of hep c. or wonder whether i should seek treatment. i am ready. because today there's harvoni. a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. harvoni is proven to cure up to 99% of patients... ...who've had no prior treatment.

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new york city, crowds along 5th avenue. they have shut down the part of the intersection that leads to the base of trump tower which is where the marchers have been heading all day and show no

signs of stopping as the afternoon hours and darkness descends on new york and other cities. there is a din at ground level as the protest reaches the base of trump tower. on the right-hand side of your screen, the white house briefing room, the familiar backdrop which has an addition today and that is two video screens. we have been told that at the top of the hour we should expect to hear from white house press secretary sean spicer. who will be briefing the news media subject tba. but perhaps you can hear the sound from the streets of new york. you can see the flashing lights at the bottom of the screen. the nypd has had to establish a perimeter. they can't allow people to the base of trump tower. we have both kristen welker and stephanie gosk. first to kristen welker for an

update on what to expect from the white house. kristen? >> reporter: it's a good question, brian. no indication of exactly what he's going to say. i was at the white house last night when sean spicer came out two times unannounced to let us know about those initial executive actions that president trump signed. the first one, of course, being with obamacare and essentially saying to various agencies that they don't have to necessarily live up to all of the regulations required by obamacare if they are overly burdensome. he also signed an executive action as it relates to the fha, essentially rolling back a lower interest rate. there were other actions taken by reince priebus telling agencies to freeze any new regulations. this see