hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. leaders across our country, democrats and republicans, grapple with the unprecedented reality laid bare yesterday. the president of the united states poses an imminent threat to national security and the american people. facebook and instagram have banned trump indefinitely and his twitter account remains locked. calls for his swift removal from office from adam kinzinger. mike chertoff saying whether

through resignation, impeachment, president trump must leave office immediately. chuck schumer called for the 25th amendment to be invoked and nance pelosi called for impeachment if that doesn't happen. >> the president has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people. i join the senate democratic leader in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment. if the vice president and cabinet do not act, the congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. that is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus. >> today nbc news can report that conversations about the 25th amendment have laalready taken place informally. it's unclear whether cabinet has discussed the issue.

one cabinet secretary announced her resignation, elaine cihou, who is married to mitch mcconnell. to try to protect the american people from donald trump, is the undeniable fact that the mob was sent by trump himself. joe biden ran and run his election on a promise to heal the nation. here's president-elect joe biden on how we got here. >> what we witnessed yesterday was not descent, it was not disorder, it was not protest. it was chaos. they weren't protesters. don't dare call them protesters. they were a rioting mob, domestic terrorists.

it's that basic. it's that simple. i wish we could say we couldn't see it coming. that isn't true. the past four years we've had a president who has made his contempt for our democracy, the constitution, the rule of law clear in everything he has done. he unleashed an all-out assault on our institutions of democracy. yesterday was the culmination of that unrelenting attack. >> that is where we start today with some of our favorite reporters. ashley parker, joining us "washington post" columnist donna edwards, also lexie mcc n mccannon. ashley parker, you started to

cover trump at the "new york times." you have been one of the people he targeted early on with one of his first anti-democratic platforms. that was a war against a free press. i wonder if you can talk about what joe biden just put his finger on, that he has been at war against the democracy he leads since before he won. >> that's exactly right, nicolle. as i was watching those horrifying images with the rest of the world yesterday, i was struck by how disgusting and horrifying they were, but also how utterly inevitable and unsurprising they felt to anyone who has been paying attention. i was going back and looking at some of my reporting in 2016 when he was a candidate. you know, a colleague of mine we wrote a story in 2016 talking to trump supporters who were

threatening a bloody revolution if donald trump lost to hillary clinton. i remember writing a piece about the first time that i as a member of the media felt unsafe at a donald trump rally when i witnessed violence swirling around me in early 2016. you can look at his comments from the way he encouraged as a candidate his supporters to rough up protesters and told them he would pay their legal bills, to charlottesville, to his reaction to the proud boys. >> donna, one of the challenges he presented to all of us, which is i believe is his true indifference to death and suffering. we all covered him and said he must not have meant rough them up, because nobody means that.

he meant everything he said. at a time when words matter a lot, president-elect joe biden chose his words carefully. he used the words domestic terrorism. i spoke to a pentagon official who said it's time to bring out the counter insurgency books and make sure this doesn't spread to other state capitols and become a daily reality. i was struck after this attack on the capitol nothing changed. the vast majority of republicans except for one senator who lost her race still went in and carried on with their attempt to overturn the election. >> just think about where we are. nicolle, i remember being on this show weeks ago calling the president of the united states a clear and present danger to the united states. indeed, that is exactly what he is and we saw that in those

storming rioters, those in vek shonists. we have to be careful about holding these people accountable. if we don't, that's a new low bar. we can't afford to go there. our democracy, although it has been resilient and has survived, it's very fragile. we can't allow donald trump to continue because we know he will. each time donald trump has gotten worse, he's escalated more. here we are. where will we be next time? we can't afford to wait for that moment. >> to that end, lexie, that's why you see democrats and one republican calling for his

removal from office. yesterday was one day, one day in the life of a cornered lame duck president who lost an election that he badly wanted to win. he fears all sorts of things. there's breaking news in the "new york times" he planned to self-pardon. it's not clear to me -- i wonder if you have any reporting that yesterday added to his potential criminal exposure? >> we're seeing republicans and democrats come to the consensus that president trump needs to be held accountable. even though some republicans aren't calling for his removal, we heard in their floor speeches last night there's a desire for this to end and him be held accountable in some way. we haven't had a moment like that. the way that president trump stood back and allowed this to continue, the statement he put out in which he said this was just the beginning of the fight to make america great again suggests to me and others that

this is only the beginning of the chaos that president trump wants to wreak on the american al electorate. nicolle, i think you're seeing from democrats and republicans this idea of seeing how he's gotten away with various things that were questionable over the last few years and this is seeming to be a breaking point for folks where they are considering legal action to remove him from office. now i'm thinking about two things post trump presidency. whether president biden rethinks having his attorney general investigate trump and whether congressional members will continue to investigate donald trump once he's a citizen. >> when he has fewer protections. i want to show all of you something that colin powell said

this morning. let's watch. >> he must not be allowed to do anything like this. we have to make sure the military knows its job and that the congress is being protected. we have to make sure that congress is ready to step in if he ever tries anything like this. he shouldn't be able to get away with it. we should have a reserve of forces, national guard, active army, marines, whatever we need, whatever the military thinks might be appropriate to have standing by so if something like this breaks out, within minutes we have troops on the way and they're carrying weapons. >> colin powell, ashley, knows his words are heard around the world. what he described there is what we need to be prepared for -- we need a reserve of forces, national guard, active army, marines, whatever we need, so that if something like this

breaks out within minutes the troops are on their way and carrying weapons. it seems what colin powell, who knows a lot about what he's talking about, is suggesting we're prepared to have our military respond to further insurrecti insurrection. it's in line from what i heard from a pentagon official that this has to be treated as an ongoing threat. they didn't go anywhere. some of them went to the airport. a lot of them remain in washington, d.c. ashley, is it your paper's understanding that donald trump still sits atop the military chain of command and is at this hour functioning as the country's commander in chief? >> let's go back to yesterday and something that has been reported, the extent to which the way the national guard was finally mobilized was by members of congress, the vice president, people not donald trump, having

to intervene and stress the urgency and the absolute need for that sort of mobilization. today i was talking to someone in trump world. i posed a serious question of why did donald trump so ab di indicate his leadership responsibility, facing a coup. this person said that's because he wanted it to happen. donald trump was happy to see that happen. that is sort of where things stand right now. >> it's just staggering. words elude me, donna. i want to ask you something personal. you served in this body. i didn't have the luxury of getting to process it at the time. i went home last night and thought about something that congresswoman linda sanchez said. the night before election night in georgia, she called her husband and told him where her

will was. she thought she might die at work on wednesday. if that is the case, why weren't the capitol police ready? >> you know, i think that's the question of the day. i think it is the reason that nance pelosi today, the speaker, asked for the resignation of the chief of the capitol police. has received the resignation of the sergeant of arms. there was a catastrophic failure. i heard that interview with linda sanchez. i was in tears. i was texting with friends to make sure they were okay. knowing what it feels to go into a place that is your office, it is your workplace, and to have the windows broken out, gunfire set off, rioters outside of your doors, i can't imagine their

terror and trauma and thinking about the young staff there as well. this is why i think we cannot tolerate this. we can't let this go unpunished. i'm glad to see all of those postings of pictures of these insurrectionists. i want them prosecuted at the highest level. they need to pay the price. the one who really needs to pay the price, is the removal from office of dronald trump. he incited those insurrectionists. >> joining our conversation congress eric swallow. he's called for the removal of the president. congressman, how are you? were you or your staff able to

find some sense of security yesterday on what was a harr harrowing day? >> thank you, nicolle. nice to see donna. i'm fine. i'm safe. my staff are safe. i was on the floor. i saw colleagues of mine who served in war step up and assist others, especially at the point where we were told to take out the gas masks. i was with ruben gigo who served in iraq. he was yelling at the gallery members how to put on their gas masks and be calm and not hyperventilate. i saw courage from my colleagues. i told ruben's wife -- she was texting me frantically. i told her i would get him out of there. ruben was one of the last persons to leave the floor. he was pointing to the gallery

members where they needed to go because they were trapped. ruben was pointing and directing and telling them where they could go to get out safely. i'll never forget that. people on the floor who worked for the house gathering up the relics of the chamber, the hopper, the notes, seeing them pick up the relics to make sure that we could function somewhere else if we needed to, those are the moments you won't forget. most unsettling was this sacred chamber that is a symbol of democracy and was functioning to execute the peaceful transition of power was assaulted. an attempted coup took place and we had to retreat. we're still under assault. this is not in the past tense. these protesters were able to leave the capitol and i'm reading online their plans for

the inauguration. the best thing we can do immediately is to remove donald trump from the presidency. >> i talked to former national security officials, including one who served during the trump presidency. every one of them said that 74 million americans who voted for him, it is an approach to identify those who have been radicalized and it's necessary. is that your belief? >> it is. i believe we have to undergo a security review of what happened at the capitol yesterday so that seat of government is never breached again, but we also need to understand who was a part of this, whether there were people on the inside, whether members or senators or their staff were working in coordination with the protesters. it seemed all too coincidental they knew exactly where to go.

to see the rooms ravaged, that leads me to believe we need to understand fully who was working with these individuals, what were the intelligence failures from law enforcement that didn't understand this. finally, nicolle, too many of my black colleagues told me this is not how the capitol appeared when black lives matter protests were taking place during the summer, when the national guard was standing on the steps in riot gear. this goes to how black americans are treated when they're in treated and how white americans are treated when they're a part of protest. >> anyone with eyeballs in any foreign capitol saw the images of washington, d.c. on lockdown with a militarized federal police force there to protect monuments. i don't know what day is a greater humiliation when we put the military on the steps of our

monuments to protect -- i don't know what, a stone moment, or yesterday when a trump mob carried out domestic terrorism at your workplace. i want to press you on something you just said. i heard you say that these rioters, domestic terrorists if we're using president-elect joe biden's words, got into places and rooms that you're not ensure how to get there. do you think an investigation on whether there was help on the inside is called for? >> i think we have to because of the nature of the breach and where these individuals were able to go. they had access to many of the documents of the house and the senate. we know that there were individuals in the house -- congress louie gohmert was calling for violence a week before this took place.

i think we owe it to the american people to understand whether members of our own houses were working with protesters. what senators cruz and hawley did yesterday was assist a sedition effort that incited terrorists to come into the capitol. nicolle, it's only been 24 hours, but the capitol has not been breached like this since the war of 1812. we really have to take a step back and recognize what happened yesterday where this fragile place, where this experiment in self-governance was put on life support. this wasn't just any day where a protest made its way into both chambers. this is the day we were supposed to certify the electoral results and transfer power. >> congressman eric swalwell, a

conversation that's to be continued. ashley, donna, lexie, thank you all for joining us on an extraordinary day. when we come back, the first time the 25th amendment was in the news was when someone named anonymous wrote about it in the new york tie"new york times." that was two years ago. we'll talk to the author of that piece about why more wasn't done when the threat trump posed was clear. also, questions about how capitol hill police were so easily overwhelmed by the trump-incited insurrection. and president-elect joe biden taps merrick garland to take over the justice department. all those stories coming up. trk muscle and joint pain

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it was images like these ones on your screen right now, images of the mob, the insurrection that donald trump encouraged. those images led 100 members of congress and one republican to call on trump's removal from office. as we reported, there have been informal discussions within the trump administration about invoking the 25th amendment. if that happened trump's vice president and cabinet could hand all powers to mike pence. should these efforts fail, nancy

pelosi and chuck schumer say their party is ready to impeach him again. talk of the 25th amendment didn't just come out of nowhere. back in twi2015 miles turner wr this, given the instability many witnessed there were early whispers of invoking the 25th amendment, but no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis, so we'll do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction. joining us now is miles taylor. he reserved from the trump administration about a year and a half ago and revealed himself as the author of that piece published in the "new york times" in 2015. viewers of this program hear from some of your colleagues regularly. it's a pleasure to have you.

i have to ask you about news that broke on cnn. jake tapper interviewed john kelly who said if he was in the cabinet he would vote to remove donald trump today using the 25th amendment. why didn't you guys speak up when you were still in government? >> i came into this administration not to serve donald trump, but with john kelly who is someone i very much admire. i believe john kelly when he says that. look, i wish, nicolle, i had been a cabinet member and had been able to convince the cabinet to take appropriate actions. unfortunately i wasn't. we were so disturbed by what we were witnessing, at least in my opini opinion, i felt like the american people needed to know that donald trump's cabinet thght he was unfit for office. what a lot of people don't know in 2017 and 2018 an informal

whip count was done within the cabinet. after secretary tillorson was fired there was the opinion there was not enough people. that's how serious it was. i wrote the book to warn people about his re-election. many of us have been on your program, nicolle, and spent months campaigning to make sure this man didn't win re-election. here's the important point. the american people have voted to remove donald trump. all we're asking the cabinet do is hasten that decision and remove him early. we saw yesterday a single day could represent a threat to this republic. >> you've done this once. let's do it again. let's do the whip count. pence, how do you think he would

vote after yesterday? he had to go in and usurp donald trump's authority. do you think he would vote to remove donald trump? >> it brings me disappointment to say i never once saw mike pence stand up to the president. i heard the president say horrible, unamerican and potentially illegal things in the office with mike pence present and pence rarely spoke up. that was enormously disappointing to me because i'm a hoosier from indiana. i think mike pence believes in his oath to the constitution. if he had enough votes in the cabinet, yes, he would go forward with it. if pence felt like there weren't enough votes, he wouldn't do it. what i don't think he would do is instigate a 25th amendment

vote. i don't see the courage in the office of the vice president. >> mike pompeo, he was probably already in iowa. can't imagine him voting. mark meadows is on a video tape yesterday cheering the growing mob, urging them to fight. sunny purdue, jeff rosen, you stop me if you hear somebody -- >> i'll stop you right now, nicolle. when i look at that list, here's something that disturbs me and it upset me while i was in the administration. there's a lot of hypocrisy on that list. people on that list said publicly miles taylor never said these things in private. there are some of those same people who will say donald trump

is deranged and unfit for office and should not be president of the united states. that's the big question mark here. a lot of people portray themselves as supporters of the president to keep their jobs, but behind the scenes think he's unfit. those people need to take their masks off, step forward and protect this country. >> how do we protect this country from what appears to be -- 70 million people voted for donald trump. those who have been radicalized represent a minority of them. dealing with them would require us getting out our counter insurgency books. how do you think those people can participate in making sure that donald trump's radicalized supporters, the ones who supported in yesterday's insurrection don't turn to violence? donald trump is not going to be

part of the solution. >> they need to do what they should have done three months ago, six months ago, two years ago and shine a light. they need to tell the truth. they need to come out and say this man is not well. this man is not a leader. this man doesn't believe in the national interests. he only believes in his self-interests. the majority of the people in the cabinet, i'm convinced having talked to many of them on a regular basis, i'm convinced many of them feel the way i expressed about the president of the united states. that's what they should be doing. you point to a broader issue, nicolle. we'll live with a long-term national security implication from this post-election period from the president denying the results of a democratic election and trying to subvert that election. it will lead to people being radicalized. >> mitt romney spoke passiona passionately on the floor of the senate last night and said what

needs to be done is republicans need to tell their voters the truth. to a person the three former national security officials i spoke to said you cannot reach any radicalized president trump voter through means they don't trust. that means people like you and me. people who are lumped into deep staters, in my case member of the media or bush person. what do you think the willingness will be and do you think it would include people like jared kushner and ivanka trump? i've been told they're too frightened to being written out of the will. >> this will be the civic cause of our time, binding the wounds of the republic that the president so viscerally ripped open. it's not going to happen in washington, d.c. that's where we run into the problem. this is not going to be a grass top solution. it's going to be a grass root

solution. as the tide of trumpism is receding, we're starting to see all the damage. it's not just the capitol building. the damage extends to our communities and our homes. the way we convince people is not you or i or other elites in washington, d.c. it's person to person. it's the viewers sitting there right now that understand how bad it's gotten, reconnecting with friends, colleagues, neighbors who they dismissed because they thought they were too far on one side of the aisle. we have to come back together at the community level if we ever are going to fix the brokenness of our capitol. >> we've covered your journey. i think the anonymous op-ed broke during our hour. i followed your emergence as a sharp critic of the president. i appreciate you spoke out. it's a pleasure to talk to you. miles taylor, thank you for spending time with us. >> thank you, nicolle. up next, how the massive

security failure got as bad as it did and why everyone should have been prepared for this. plus, could trump be the first president to pardon himself? that's next. ridiculous. [ chuckles ] no one looks ridiculous, bob. progressive is always here for you with round-the-clock service. just so you know, next time, you can submit a claim with our mobile app. good. thanks again for -- for rushing over. are you kidding? this is what 24/7 protection looks like. okay. -you smell like fish. -sorry. i was talking to jamie. -you smell like fish. -sorry. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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we should have seen what was happening early on. as i watched it on television, i said to myself where are the cops? where are the policemen? how are they in reserve?

how far away are they? it took hours for them to respond because they had to go into the building first. i think it was a disgraceful performance by our leaders, a disgraceful performance by our military and police officials and those responsible for those individuals. we got to make sure we're on top of this. >> scathing indictment there from general colin powell on "morning joe" this morning. general powell asking a big question that remains. why was law enforcement so completely unprepared? capitol police were quickly overwhelmed by the mob of trump supporters, arresting just 14 people as rioters made their way in and then out of the capitol. one congressman said as many as 60 capitol police officers were injured. federal prosecutors have charged 55 suspects in connection with

the insurgency. one of those had a military style rifle and 11 molotov cocktails. the d.c. u.s. attorney refused to rule out bringing charges against president trump for his role in inciting the mob to storm the capitol. joining our conversation is former cia director john brennan and former congresswoman donna edwards. director brennan, when we spoke 24 hours ago, it felt like a slow response from law enforcement. it wasn't clear exactly what was going on. i think i want to know what you think now and if you agree with general powell 24 hours later? >> well, like secretary powell and most other americans i'm still in shock at what happened yesterday. watching the video footage of the sacking of the capitol is a national disgrace as he said. it's clear that many of the capitol police took some heroic

efforts to try to prevent the bedlam taking place. this was a failure of leadership. leadership at the capitol police, but also the federal agencies that are supposed to prevent from happening. there are levels to help the capitol police. this was anticipated. did the white house have a meeting with the various organizations that keep law and order in washington, d.c.? the sacking of the nation's capitol is the result. >> i wonder what you make of the u.s. attorney in the district not ruling out charges against donald trump. >> i think it's absolutely appropriate. sedition is the incitement of insurrection against our government. clearly what donald trump has done over the past two months since the election is encourage this mob and to encourage them to take actions into their own

hands. so the people carrying out this insurrection were doing so at what they thought was the behest of their leader, donald trump. also what i find most despicable is people today like lindsey graham who is trying to take the moral high ground and pontificating that he's had enough. over the past several years he emboldened donald trump. look at the judiciary committees he chaired. the way he was vilifying the fbi. discrediting the fbi investigation looking into connections between the trump campaign and the russian government. these were things that emboldened donald trump and the massive people who believe in a deep state. this has been culminating over the past several years that resulted in what we saw yesterday. >> it's such a good point, donna. the war against the deep state was donald trump's first act of

sedition. the war on the state was waged on donald trump from the transition. he went after the intelligence community that he was able to lead, likening them to nazis between his own election in 2016 and his inauguration. what director brennan is describing is something that makes it impossible to explain why law enforcement wasn't ready for the crowning event yesterday. do you share congressman's swalwell's theory there had to be inside help? >> i was struck as congressman swalwell said about the areas that the rioters were able to get to. the parliamentarian's office, nancy pelosi's office. the speaker's office is not an easy find unless you know how to get there. you don't sort of stumble on it because of where it's located.

when i looked at the ease with which the rioters breached the doors and the gates, it seemed way too easy. it also, when i was watching it, it felt like slow motion. i could see it happening. i wondered for example why so many of the entrances were open because the capitol itself right now actually has been closed to the public because of the pandemic. i realize that members are in session, but why is it that all the entrances were open and they didn't just funnel all the members through the tunnels instead of using the doors given the security threat? i think there are an awful lot of questions that have to be answered here and this is not to disparage any individual capitol police. i know some of them. they're great. they protected my friends and former colleagues. this was a failure at the top of

leadership, of strategy, of planning, of communication, of coordination in the city. so, there are a lot of people who have to answer and they need to answer under subpoena and under threat of penalty of personal. >> director brennan, i'll give you a two-part question. i want your thoughts on what donna laid out and congressman's swalwe swalwell's theory that they had to have inside help. i want you to speak to president-elect joe biden's contaharacterization of this as domestic terrorism. he called it sedition and an insurrection. once again, i thought he seemed to carefully label these bad actors yesterday as domestic terrorists. i wanted your thoughts on both. >> i think an investigation definitely needs done to look at what leadership did and didn't

do, as well as what individual officers of the capitol police did or didn't do. i'm not saying there wasn't a failure of individuals who didn't perform their duties nobly. many of them did. this is something that needs angian investigation to find out what went wrong. you can call yesterday insurrection, sedition, domestic terrorism, riots, chaos, bedlam, so much. there needs to be a follow up in terms of arresting individuals who breached the capitol grounds and took actions into their own hands and destroyed property. there needs to be further arrests and charges levelled. it's also just not the people roaming through the halls of the capitol. it's the individuals who got them there.

the person i believe most responsible for this is donald trump. >> he gave remarks to the people who showed up at the capitol and there's lots of video on social media of him and his family sitting and watching and yucking it up with mark meadows and others with their zeal. it's very clear what they're inciting and putting in motion and the results speak for themselves. director brennan, donna edwards, thank you for being with us. when we come back, the urgent need to hold this president and his administration accountable. that's next. - love you.

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who lead this department. who will you serve. you won't work for me. you are not the president or the vice president's lawyer. you're loyalty is not to me. it is to the law, the constitution, the people of this nation. >> president-elect joe biden staked his entire campaign for the white house on restoring norms, that is why at that event introducing his team to run the jifs department, president-elect

biden affirmed a key principle and shredded by donald trump, the independent doj. it will fall on the president-elect's pick for attorney general. judge merrick garland, if confirmed he will have on his plate the action of the trump administration. joining our conversation, robert gibbs, i know a lot of people feel that is mitch mcconnell most egregious act, denning merrick garland a seat on the supreme court. what does this appointment to doj mean for then vice president but now president-elect biden? >> well, i think first and foremost it is what he talked about and what you mentioned in the preview there. it is restoring the independence to the department of justice. long the chair of the judiciary committee, i think vice president biden probably grew up

in a washington and worked there much like you and i did, nicolle, where we took that for granted. that was worn away over the course of the last four years, particularly under bill barr and donald trump believing bill barr was quite frankly his personal lawyer. >> yeah. >> i have no doubt that there is some poetic justice in the coming back of a merrick garland in the interesting confirmation hearings or senate testimony that might ensue. but i do think that he's just -- he does strike me as the deep and richen bodiment of such a important position and a foundational role that makes our democracy what it is. >> it is true, i mean, donald trump never and still could grasp that jeff sessions and i forget the guy in the middle, rod rosenstein, whitaker was one of them and then barr, were not

his personal roy cohen. he said in interview, that is what he sought. he wanted jeff sessions to unrecuse himself and fire robert mueller and bill barr did what he wants and not everything and they parted on unhappy terms. and what is the task, i hate the word norms, but to restore that building to regular order? >> well, my hunch is that that building is still filled with tens of thousands of people that got into working at the justice department to oversee that department of justice and to oversee the rigorous and enforcement of justice that is a bedrock principle of our democracy. i think that building is desperately in need of the type of leadership, a cleaning if you will, in order to restore that moral standing in that int integrity. i think there is no doubt that

the bureaucracy is going to have to be built up again. but i think they're craving something from the top that reinstills as the president-elect said today, that the mission was to serve the people, not the powerful or not the president. >> i want to make -- get you on two more things. the president-elect's pick to be deputy attorney general, i think the legal term for her is a bad ass, lisa monaco. and you must have worked with her in the obama white house. tell me what you think she brings? >> well, exactly toughness and tenacity. and i think, look, i think it is going to fall partly on the deputy attorney general to ensure the running of that building and to ensure that the integrity and the moral leadership and the moral of the people that have to undertake the big job that they have, if

anything in the last 24 hours we understand the challenges that joe biden inherits and that kamala harris inherit and the justice department inherit are greater than we imagined 24 hours ago. we knew things were bad but i don't think we expected to turn on the tv yesterday and see people scaling the walls of the capitol. i didn't expect to see what i saw in any way yesterday. >> and just to tie this altogether, a u.s. attorney's office, the one in d.c. that didn't rule out charges for donald trump will come under the purview of lisa monaco and merrick garland. i think a symbol of just how crowded this news week has been, i wanted to talk about jon ossoff's victory but obviously that is something that will make all of these appointments and replacing merrick garland on the bench easier, right? >> well, it really is, that race is the linchpin not just for the department of justice but every

single one of these nominees. every single nominee nows go through a committee led by a democrat and could get through the committee on a party line vote and could pass the senate on a party line vote. it means joe biden gets the cabinet he wants. >> and could govern. thank you so much. the next hour of "deadline: white house" starts after a quick break. don't go anywhere. ever you are-- even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood.

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and accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit now we gather due to a selfish man's injured pride and the outrage of supporters who he had deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning. what happened here today was an insurrection incited by the president of the united states. no congressional audit is ever going to convince these voters particularly when the president will continue to say that the election was stolen. the best way we could show

respect for the voters who were upset is by telling them the truth. [ applause ] hi again, everyone. it is 5:00 in new york. the future of our democracy is very much up in the air this hour. and whether or not it survives depends on one thing. could we return to an agreement about the fakes, could we agree on what is true and what is false and limit our debates on the our future to what we do about those agreed upon truths. if we can't do that, our fortunates is a county that could be governed by anyone are dimming right now. what yesterday's insurrection made clear is that trump's lies which were amplified by trump, have become an alternate reality. the violent acts that took part in a building that serves as a

so many bol of our democracy all over the word were incited by the president and his fictional and fraudulent accounts of voter fraud that he perpetrated starting eight weeks ago and leading up to moments before they matched toward the capitol. what is equally and more stunning is that in the wake of the insurrection neither trump for his allies have changed course on spreading lies. not even a little. in fact, they piled on a new one. susan glasser of the new yorker reported, quote, the reason that it is so important to show the images of looting and destruction and terror in the capitol yesterday is because the campaign to lie about what happened and rewrite history has already begun. trump's allies in the media and in the halls of congress, sean hannity, laura ingraham and matt gaetz and mo brooks to name a few. after the insurrection, they tried to shift blame and suggest without any evidence that some

rioters were not trump supporters summoned by trump but described members of antifa. how do you square that with the fact that these people were encouraged, emailed, invited to attend the rally by trump and the campaign and' dressed them and then adoringly reminded them he loved them back at the white house. he watched them rush the capitol. told them how much he admired their hearts and their strength. the harm that trump wrought was not his alone. conservative columnist george will calls out those who abetted the said they too should wear the sedition. trump lit the fuse of the riot in the weeks before the election in the eyes of his supporters but wednesday's explosion required the help of senators josh hawley and ted cruz. you think that being rushed to shelt shelter in place as an angry mob

stormed the capitol building would consider and there were still seven republican senatorers and 138 members of the house who objecting to counting the pennsylvania electoral college votes. still, they went back to the chambers and sought to overturn the will of the american people. the crisis of disinformation, the collapse of the republican party is where we start this hour with some of our favorite reporters and friends. jason johnson from morgan state university and msnbc and geo contributor is back. also joining us, tim o'brien, from bloomberg, opinion and elizabeth neumann from the department of homeland security and adviser to the anti-trumpism group defending democracy together. elizabeth, i'm going to start with you.

i stumble when i read your title. defending trumpism. you and steve schmidt have understood that beating trump in november was the tip of the iceberg. what is underneath trump, who really is a figurehead, is this wrought, this brain washed group that now includes it would appear some radicalized extremists. what do we do now? >> i would add to that that the radicalized extremists were there and trump added to them. so he took grievanced republicans and turned them into extremists and added to their number. so we have larger groups of white supremacists now, we have larger anti-government extremists and people willing to commit acts of violence now where four years ago that would never cross their mind. so he's added to the extremist members.

so removing him helps. and removing his supporters and enablers and people lying and persisting in this conspiracy mongering, that helps. but then we're still left with a sizable portion of our country that are already radicalized, many who think that violence is okay and others who are radicalized that haven't crossed that violence threshold yet mentally and that is a ton of work for law enforcement, a ton of work for violent extremist professionals. it is a generational fight here. but it starts with what your monologue at the beginning, that is absolutely where we have to start -- truth. we have to agree to a set of facts. because as long as we operate with these different echo chambers, we're never going to be able to be radicalized and get people the help that they need. >> getting them the help they need. jason johnson, because our security and our democracy depend on it. i mean, the thing that is in my

mind is that none of us did enough early enough. people like myself, do we call him a liar or cut the mic and stop taking him live and he's the president. and some of us were more aggressive than others, i put you in that category. and what do we do now? and the analogy to 9/11 come up short, that is one of the last time that the senate and house was evacuated. after 9/11 they went to steps and sang, i think amazing grace, and whatever you think of the policies after 9/11, they were not politicized until about a year later when after afghanistan and after the patriot act, the decision was made to go to iraq and that was disastrous in the views of many americans not just democrats. but my point is, this did not calm the waters or shake anybody out of their two realities at all. republicans, senators hawley and

cruz went right back to the floor and called for the overturning of the results of a democratic election deemed the most secure in our country's history. >> yeah, nicolle, i have a slight disagreement. i have to say this is not about truth. because we all know what the truth is. this is about a cult. this is about a white nationalist cult masquerading as a political party that wants to overthrow the government and where we have to go from here. joe biden has a lot of power now because he is not president for two weeks. he and merrick garland and the department of justice have to hunt these people down and hold them accountable from the top to the bottom. nancy pelosi, and chuck schumer, have to look through whatever kind of archives they can and see if they could expel members of the senate if there is not an aggressive response to the coup attempt, we'll see people get worse and get more sophisticated and engage and again, i've been saying this for weeks, i've been

saying this for years, they are emboldened every single time they're not held accountable. >> correct. >> and you can't just hold people accountable by putting the truth in their face. you have to hold them accountable by throwing them in jail. yesterday is a perfect example. i know this. i've been to black lives matter protests, the local police department, certainly the fbi, could track by phone every single person in the capitol yesterday and arrest them. it is not that hard. ping everybody's phone. why did any of the people get to leave? because we have too many members of law enforcement that who are in support of this white nationalist movement. it is the '60s chant. the cops and the klan go hand in hand. how many videos did we see people escorting them in and out and smiling and the head of the chicago police union did an interview and said there was no real violence. these people are perfectly fine. these peep can't be reformed, whether their cops that are

tacitly supporting this kind of revolution or members of the republican party or even democrats if any were crazy enough. these people have to be prosecuted and thrown in jail and you have to hit donald trump with so many charges that he eventually decides to leave the country because there is no historical precedent for a world leader to try to commit a coup to stay in power who doesn't continue to try to do the same thing once he's out of power. >> you left me so much to unpack. president biden used the word domestic terrorist. i assume you agree with him? >> yeah, i mean, they're domestic terrorists and they have to be viewed that way. and again, what frightens me most honestly, nicolle, is we talk about the civil war, part of what the greatest mistake was after the civil war is that the union, they said the north we're going to put the country back together. they didn't arrest enough confederates. they asked for loyalty pledges

and they built an apartheid state for 120 years. if trumpists are not thrown in jail, for the laws that they break, not for the ideology, but if they're not thrown in jail for the crimes they commit, they will commit worse crimes f. a bunch of knuckle scooby-doo nim wits, what happens if somebody goes after osoff and warnock because they think they are the difference makers and if i was able to march into the capitol of the united states and take a selfie in nancy pelosi and get the continental breakfast, i'm going to do the same thing in illinois when i go back home if they don't see the other end of a jail cell. >> this is presented to me for the first time by congressman eric swalwell that he has serious questions about inside

participation. what do you make of that theory of the case? and it is undeniable that these protesters were treated in a way that none of us who covered everything that happened after george floyd was murdered this summer and all protests before saw. same president, different kind of protest and opposed response. we had armed military presence on the steps of the lincoln memorial in the weeks after george floyd was killed. yesterday it looked like a tailgate. i stared at the life picture for five hours and it looked like a football sunday tailgate with law enforcement androters standing much closer than i've been to anyone in ten months. what do you make of where we are right now? >> well, i don't -- no one could have failed to see or at least consider the possibility that a riot would occur yesterday.

donald trump has been churning these waters for years and specifically around this event for weeks, if not days, if not weeks before it occurred, and the capitol was not secured. after the insurrectionists took over and gunshots were fired inside. and one life was lost. you had videos offer that event of the people -- white people walking freely out of the front door screaming at cameras raising their fists and not being arrested. all i could think is the only reason they weren't arrested is because it wasn't a black lives matter protest march. and trump, i don't know the extent to which law enforcement looked away because it was trump supporters and because it was white people rather than people of color, but you have evidence yesterday that law enforcement played a gentle hand around a violent act and it had been different circumstances and different people i don't think

it would have proceeded that way. and the other thing, and i think jason brought this up in an important and full some way, is donald trump has been blowing racial dog whistles his entire life. he came down the escalator in trump tower in 2015 and the heart of the speech was there are people of color coming across this border and they're black and brown and they want to take your candy away and i will protect you from that and allow you not only elect me but push back as hard as you want. he had rallies in which he was threatening the media at those rallies and other people who spoke up at those rallies, trump would say from a podium, i would like to punch him in the face if i can. the idea that yesterday was somehow unique event that finally tipped the scales, i think is an excuse to the people who enabled and coddled donald trump for a long time to live with themselves, this parade of

trump administration people, whether it is bill barr or john kelly saying i finally had enough, donald trump is the real threat to the union, donald trump has a threat to this experiment we call the united states when he was impeached. and not enough people in his own administration took action around that. you have fox news now whitewashing trump's actions yesterday and inventing this idea that antifa or far left protesters took over this -- took over this sedition that we saw occur yesterday. whether in fact, these people are always at a trump rally and they are maga people, they are not antifa. and then you have legislators like ted cruz or ron johnson saying, look, we don't want to overturn this election but voters are concerned there was fraud and because there was fraud it is our duty to investigate it. when in fact the reason voters believe there was a fraud is because legislators like ron

johnson and ted cruz have planted the thoughts in her mind and donald trump has been the leading cheerleader. if the other shoe to drop is that law enforcement has somehow been co-opted here, but this is a battle i think for facts, for the truth, and for everybody on both sides of the political aisle to get serious about curing this because none of this is new. >> i want to associate myself with everything that has been said. elizabeth, i read your tweets very closely and i know we've had some of the conversations on the air, you have expressed having discomfort with the idea that the republican party needs to be burnt down to something less corrupted by trump and you seem to have had a change of heart. tell me what you think. and i, like everybody else, i

was happy to hear what mitch mcconnell said i think ten minutes before they rushed the vice president out of the senate chamber to safety because donald trump's mob had just made it down to the capitol by the time he finished talking. but the truth is, he probably did more to guarantee that the last eight weeks would end in this. mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy had the power on election day to say we voted for you, big guy, but not enough americans did. you have lost. it is time to go home. woe still be the senate majority leader and i thank god he's not. but the fact that these guys want -- and i use this term with chris christie, clean the trump stink off him and planning on pardoning himself according to the "new york times." they are all complicit. what is the price that they should pay, elizabeth? >> oh, it is such a tough question, nicolle, because my very human, i want justice part

of me is wanting them all to be expelled from congress. i wholeheartedly agree with what jason was talking about, that there needs to be justice if you committed a criminal act, you need to be prosecuted. you should be held accountable. whether you are a protester or a member of congress or the president of the united states. that absolutely is step one for us beginning to recover from this challenge, this cancer that we have as a country. but the sad reality is that we have a sizable percentage of our country, 30%, 40% of the country that has been radicalized that is believing this alternative set of facts. they aren't facts but that is what they believe. and because of that, they are so large that we couldn't oft raw size them. they have to figure out how to

chip away and break into the echo chamber and start to expose them to the truth. i hope that some large percentage of them given some time and space, given say a trump leader, a voter christian leader or republican elected official that supported trump, if they come and say, he lost and we made some mistakes in supporting him, that will have an impact and that is what i hope we see in the next few weeks, to start a very long process of recovery. >> i think what you've all said is to important. but i was thinking this walking down the street today, if i don't believe that my car will get towed if i leave it parked there past 7:00 a.m. and it gets towed anyway, it doesn't mean i was right about my fake facts. it means i learned a lesson and i think i come down where jason is, that whether you believe it or not, there has to be some personal accountability. if you were mulling around the capitol, everyone that was

there, they were all on camera, none of them were afraid. none of them were afraid of being charged with a crime. none of them were afraid of being caught. none of them were afraid of showing faces on camera and i think we need to understand what all of them understood their role to be there. what were they told would happen. we need to see the emails and more questions than answers 24 hours later. thank you for starting us off this hour. jason is sticking around. when we come back, big, big questions about what we've been talking about. why law enforcement wasn't able to stop yesterday's insurrection and the capitol after the response to black lives matter protesters over the summer. and plus here is what donald trump will do with the remaining 13 days in the office. fuelling calls to use the 25th amendment. neal katyal will tell us what this looks like. and america's democracy after the insurrection at the capitol

yesterday. "deadline: white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. i'm greg, i'm 68 years old.

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didn't go unnoticed by anyone here what appeared to be a double standard. we'll let joe biden take us through it starting with a text message he received from his granddaughter. >> she sent me a photo of military people in full military gear, scores of them lining the steps of the lincoln memorial because of protest by black

lives matter. she said, pop, this isn't fair. no one could tell me that if had been a group of black lives matter protesting yesterday, they wouldn't have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the capitol. we all know that's true and it is unacceptable. totally unacceptable. and the american people saw it in plain view and i hope it shows what we have to do. >> joining us now, democratic congresswoman karen bass of california and a former chair of the congressional black caucus and jason johnson still with us. congresswoman, your thoughts to joe biden saying what everyone that was on our air yesterday noticed and said and what jason and i have been talking about since the top of the hour. >> what an incredible breath of

fresh air. it just gives me hope that the next 13 days go by as fast as possible. imagine a president acknowledging the differences in terms of treatment. it was shocking yesterday. and to have that acknowledged by the incoming president, it just feels -- fills me up with incredible hope. and then today the appointments that he made, long-standing civil rights activists who are going to be a part of the department of justice was very exciting. with vanita gupta and kristen clark. >> eric swalwell said in the last hour that what he wanted to get to the bottom of and any investigation of what happened yesterday on the capitol was whether or not there was help from the inside. and i don't know exactly what he meant, members or perhaps the police. what are your concerns in that area and do you share his wanting to get to the bottom of that? >> well, i absolutely believe

that we have to get to the bottom of it. i had told my family that i was very worried about being out on the street in d.c. yesterday and the day before. but that i was going to be in the capitol and that was the safest place in the country. needless to say, i would have never imagined in a million years that the capitol police would have been overrun like that. it is just inexcusable. it is my understanding that the force is over 2,000 people and there were 500 on duty. so what is the explanation? that is why i thought it was so important to publicize the pictures. they acted with complete impugnity as you mentioned a few minutes ago. so do think that we have to look at everything. you see officers taking selfies with trespassers. they committed violence, vandalism. so how could all of that happen? you can't even bring a purse in the capitol without going through security, how do you bring in a flagpole?

>> have you had any conversations with capitol police or have they offered any explanation? >> yes, i did have discussions with capitol police. now, it was just ad hoc, just talking to them and asking them, what the heck happened here. and basically they said they were just overrun. i said why didn't you arrest people. well we can't. because there were too many protesters and it enraged me because i could only imagine what would have happened had it been a black lives matter protest or had the majority of the protesters been african-american. that was domestic terrorism. they found molotov cocktails, and people were armed and if they are fake or bombs that didn't go off. watching people catapult on the capitol using ropes, vandalizing pelosi's office and standing on

statutes. it was just unbelievable. and how on earth did that happen? it reminded me of kyle rittenhouse after the kenosha, wisconsin, after the shooting of jacob blake. he walks down the street with a rifle in his hand after shot one person and the police officers give him water and send him on his way. the disparity that exists in this country when it comes to policing. but you know what, we won the senate yesterday. i'm hoping that as soon as president biden and vice president harris are in we could get the george floyd justice and policing act signs and we could get the john lewis voting rights bill signed. so i'm thinking in a hopeful way as well. >> i want to get to hope. but i want to let my friend and colleague jason johnson ask you a question but i have one more question about yesterday. do you believe that your republican counterparts told the rioters where to go?

congresswoman? the congresswoman froze. i asked that question because donna he had wars had some real suspicions about familiarity about hard to get to rooms in the capitol. jason, your thoughts? >> yeah, well, yeah, look, i think it is obviously an inside job. nicolle, you know the white house and you know the capitol better. i've been in the russell building a couple of types. these places are labyrinths and these folks were walking through like they have an instruction booklet like the new world of warcraft. some people were in touch with right wing elements within the police or members of congress, that is not hard to figure out. and i think we've all done this for years, if obama did this or black people did this, i want to be abundantly clear, if there

were this level of internet chat fresh black people, cops would have been around the country arresting people before they showed up. so the fact that you had days and the president saying hey, this is coming, and people weren't arrested preemptively for showing up with weapons is a problem. and i not except under any circumstances the police saying, hey, we were overwhelmed, there were too many protesters. they were terrorists. and you know why, because anything you do in d.c. it is a federal crime because it is a federal city. the moment they stepped over the line you could have arrested everybody. and quite frankly i think this is obviously racial but it is also political. because if this was a group of majority white people, for abortion rights or lgbtq issues, it won't look like the kent state massacre. this is about the right wing elements within our police forces within our military that tacitly accept this kind of violence. and i'll say this also, because the numbers are really key here, right. 127 people got arrested in one

night in louisville. one night in louisville after the breonna taylor ruling. 165 people got arrested in minneapolis after george floyd was murdered on national television as someone stood on his neck for eight minutes. they only arrested 50 people yesterday, i think it is 60 people by now. i think i saw 60 people with their masks on. and this is why people were protesting this summer. you can't reform this. it has to be abolished and people have to be fired and we have to build up some of the departments again from top to bottom because if i'm a member of congress, i don't care if i'm a republican or democrat, i don't feel safe because i don't know if these police will keep my protecting. >> congresswoman bass is back. before we lost your shot, this is cable television in the era of covid and zoom, that donna edwards from maryland said earlier in our program that she was deeply suspicious that there was inside assistance in terms of helping these rioters find

very hard to find rooms. they're offices that as jason johnson has been explaining that the capitol is a labyrinth. the west wing is small. you won't have these questions about anything there but the capitol is very complicated, multiple floors and buildings. do you have concerns that maps or instructions about where to go and how to get into the speaker's office were shared with the rioters? >> well, i don't know. and i absolutely believe there needs to be a complete and comprehensi comprehensive investigation. but what was trumping to me is that they seemed to come into the building in so much different directions. >> yeah. >> so i do wonder whether or not they have assistance. now i won't say that it was my republican colleagues. who knows. jason raised the question of the police. i think all of those questions absolutely need to be investigated. but you know, i mean, i know the way it workz on the other side. why weren't there police infiltrating the protesters?

jason mentioned internet traffic. but if it is the other side, you have undercover police officers that are part of it. >> right. >> this was instigated by the president of the united states. he has told us for months that he was going to do exactly what he did and so it was inexcusable what happened here yesterday. a police force of 2,000 and then 500 people were here. there should have been everybody, all hands on deck should have been enforced yesterday. >> and congresswoman, if you thought that you would be in danger in the city that day, if people's whose job it is to protect individuals like yourself, obviously knew there was a threat yesterday. we're glad that you're safe. go ahead. sorry. >> thank you. i think, and i had a lot of conversations with random african-americans that i don't even know in d.c. over the last week, and i will tell you there was a sense of fear. because this is viewed like a klan rally and they just had a

rally about three weeks ago and four people were stabbed. >> yeah. and i'm getting screamed at to leave but this is an important point to end on, the d.c. mayor urged all of her citizens to stay home because of the threat being imported. donald trump has been emailing and his campaign has been emailing and inviting people and they flew in from parts unknown. if it were a black lives matter, after 9/11, if it were a protest against counter terrorist policies, we would know exactly where the people were and where to find them and where they were staying. but it looked like a tailgate party. the rioters stood with no fear of being arrested. no fear of their faces -- none of them had on masks to protect themselves from covid and no one made any attempt to hide themselves from police. a lot of questions and suspicions. thank you both so much for spending some time with us today. when we return, calls to remove donald trump from office immediately are growing.

our friend neal katyal said both the 25th amendment and impeachment should be used and now. we'll join us next. w. we'll join us next with less of the sugar you don't. [grunting noise] i'll take that. woohoo! 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar. ensure max protein. with nutrients to support immune health.

i join the senate democratic leader on calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment. if the vice president and cabinet do not act, the congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment.

that is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus. and the american people by the way. >> house speaker nancy pelosi this afternoon joining senate minority leader cluck schumer. and more than 100 members of congress calling for donald trump to be removed from office for his role in inciting the deadly siege at the nation's capitol yesterday. nbc news is reporting about informal discussions about invoking the 25th amendment among trump staff in which mike pence and a majority of the cabinet could act to remove trump and make pence the acting press for the next 13 days. some democrats are also talking about impeachment if that is what takes. joining our conversation, neal katyal, former acting solicitor general, you've been so prolific on all of the topics. i want to say what i say to steve schmidt, go. >> first of all, i think there is a lot of velocity into the

developments. three days ago i wrote a piece in "the new york times" calling for a second impeachment of trump because the tapes in georgia, the quaint crime of just trying to extort and steal an election, now of course he's waging war on these institutions of our democracy. and when i wrote that piece, i didn't think that things would happen in two weeks, i thought it would be a long process of impeach. but this is a lot of velocity and the association of manufacturers, which is like the u.s. chamber of commerce, they came out yesterday and said 25th amendment. and i think there are three basic reasons why people are talking 25th amendment or perhaps impeachment. one is we have to stop this guy from flexing the power of the presidency in the next 13 days. we wouldn't tolerate this kind of leader as a ceo of a company or frankly even the guy running the local pizza parlor for the next 13 days, as the leader of

the free world, imagine the harm he could do, give away state secrets, invade some country and most poignantly, johnson went and pardoned and gave amnesty to the confederate soldiers and those who attacked the united states. trump could do the same thing with his pardon power with respect to all of the people he loves as of yesterday. so that is one reason. to set a precedent for the future, a ukraine impeachment was a terrible precedent. >> wrote a book about it at the time, if we fail to impeach him, imagine what he'll do with that precedent in the future, imagine how many he'll cheat, steal or lie. i'm no nofter damus, and that is exactly what happened. and we can't have that for future presidents. and then finally, we have to get

everyone on the record. house senate and members of cabinet, they have to be put to a vote and say do you believe and want to stand with this nonsense, if you do, let your votes live in infamy and say it clearly and we'll judge you accordingly. >> so much to unpack. if you have a regular iq, the rest of us are in trouble. but let me push you on two things. one on the pardon, breaking a story that trump is planning on pardoning himself. and so everyone including donald trump believe that donald trump has committed crimes. >> i think so. and trump has known in his heart, he's a criminal. this is the way he operates. that is why he uses his thug behavior. he's tried to keep himself in power as president because there is a justice department opinion from the early 1970s that said a sitting president can't be

indicted but here is the interesting thing, the very same justice department wrote an opinion saying a sitting president can't pardon himself. and the rationals make sense together, they interlock with one another. so, of course trump wants to disregard that and he'll have to find an attorney general that agrees with him on that. right now the controlling opinion from the justice department is a president can't pardon himself. that is what every serious scholar i think basically agrees. >> i want to go back to something else you said. that you wouldn't be surprised if donald trump offered sweeping pardons to the rioters yesterday. it is a horrifying thought. they committed in the words of the president-elect, the crimes of sedition and insurrection and potentially domestic terrorism, but i think you're right. i think a sweeping pardon package for all of them is probably under consideration at this white house. i wonder if you think there are other groups that he might be

targeting, such as his bankers at deutsche bank. if you were trump and if you based on "new york times" reporting plan on pardoning yourself and you plan on pardoning your kids and you know they've committed crimes, who else would you like to pardon with the pattern of obstructing investigations into himself. >> i think you pardon all of your friendsond family and everyone who has been a accomplice. he pardons joar pia, and flynn and paul manafort. so yes, i think he'll try and write blanket pardons that absolve everyone including himself of all crimes. i don't think that is going to work either because the constitution demands specificity in pardons and president ford issued a blanket pardon to nixon but that was never tested in court. all of this stinks to high heaven.

it is not the way the president is suppose behave but we could expect it from donald trump because that is what we expect from him, the least. >> let me read you something that john kelly said just in the last hour to jake tapper on cnn. he said the cabinet should meet and have a discussion. and discuss this because the behavior yesterday and in the weeks and months before that has been outrageous from the president. tapper said if you were in the cabinet right now would you vote to remove him from office. john kelly, yes i would. do you think there is support there from john kelly's former colleagues in the cabinet? >> i 100% agree that that is the way the cabinet should vote. and there are fewer than 300 hours left in the administration and a third of the people don't have follow up appointments confirmed by congress and they have the world's worst boss and what do they have left to lose except to vote this way. at the same time he and the folks who are in the cabinet, through they're lot in with this

guy and this is not a surprise. yesterday is not a surprise. as a guy who campaigned on beating up reporters. this is a guy would tweeted in may when the looting starts, the shooting starts with respect to black lives matter folks who praises kyle rittenhouse and praises the proud boys. this is all of the piece. and i'm glad to see them doing it now and a little bit into too late but it is a stain on democracy and honor will be repaired. >> neal katyal, thank you so much. when we return, the view from abroad. from the lasting damage donald trump has done to the country and its democracy. cracy. ♪ but come ye back when su-- mom, dad. why's jamie here? it's sunday. sunday sing along. and he helped us get a home and auto bundle. he's been our insurance guy for five years now. he makes us feel like we're worth protecting. [ gasps ] why didn't you tell us about these savings, flo?

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for four years we have written this turmoil in america, but nothing quite like this. they reached and entered the speaker's office itself. although, nancy pelosi and other

lawmakers had already been evacuated to safety. >> here you go, brother. >> as we filmed, protesters tore down name plates and crowds are still swirling around congress. and america's long journey as a stable democracy appears to be in genuine doubt. >> shocking footage still today 24 hours later from inside the capitol yesterday. that was from a package on i tv in the u.k. these images and others like it yesterday were broadcast around the world, likely in realtime showcasing what the world's oldest democracy turned into under donald trump and his enable enablers. reaction with allies expressing shock and dismay and adversaries chose this moment to condemn democracy at its core. let's bring in senior international correspondent kookeir simmons. i want to hear the view. i have to say lots of times, i

have spent our time together to ask you what misconduct vladimir putin is up to, to ask you about the u.k.'s handling of covid and i think it's a reminder to all americans not that we need it that we are the most humiliated nation right now after what happened here yesterday and i just want to hear a little bit from all the places that you've reported from what it looked like from there. >> reporter: yeah, nicole, look, the positive thing i guess is that america's allies around the world have been unanimous in saying that we believe in america, we believe in american democracy, but there has been criticism. you know, nicole, it is as if leaders around the world are finally feeling unburdened to say things about the trump administration they have been wanting to say for four years and they have made speeches in english, clearly directed at the

american people. take a listen. >> what happened today in washington d.c. is not america. definitely. we believe in the strength of our democracies. we believe in the strengths of american democracy. >> the capitol yesterday was a disgraceful act and it must be vigorously condemned. i have no doubt that american democracy will prevail. >> reporter: nicole, it is with america foes that this has turned into propaganda so iran's said the democracy is weak and fragile a spokesperson for the russian foreign ministry saying the system does not meet

democratic standards. nicole, you and i have spoken many times about russia, about president putin. we don't perhaps talk enough about china and take a listen to what the chinese spokesperson for the chinese foreign ministry has been saying today about those images on the television. the main stream media in the united states are all unanimous in condemning this violence. they say extremists and villains are disgraceful. what was the word the spokesperson says they used to describe the violent hong kong, they glorified them as national heroes. nicole, there you have beijing, china using what is being seen in washington to try to justify what china has been doing in hong kong where china has been crushing freedom of expression clamping down on democracy in hong kong.

you know, president elect biden this year has said he wants to hold a democracy summit. just thing about the impact that this is going to have on the biden presidency because you can just imagine putin, president xi in china, let's talk about democracy. that's the implication and challenge this leaves for the bidened ed administration. >> is there a sense this is specific to trump or a sense that america has changed? >> i think the truth is that there is a huge amount of belief in america still. i was talking today to the british ambassadors of washington and her whole point was to say, you know, american democracy is strong. the alliance between america and europe is strong, but if you take europe for example, there has been this talk from macron

for example saying we need to stand up for ourselves and the issue is going to be that leaders around the world are going to wonder what happens in four years time, what happens in eight years time. >> sure. >> reporter: it can be repaired but to say there hasn't -- you can't say there hasn't been damage. >> nbc's keir simmons. this is one of the parts of the story we have to stay on top of. it affects everything. we'll continue to turn to you, my friend. for our part, we'll be right back. friend. for our part, we'll be right back two medical societies have strongly recommended to doctors

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"the beat" with ari melber starts right now. hi, ari. >> hi, nicole. thank you very much. welcome to "the beat." we're here as americans one day after these trump inspired maga riots. >> he unleashed an all out assault on the institutions of democracy from the outset. >> donald j. trump violated and abused his power. >> to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment. if the vice president and cabinet do not act, the congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. >> the news tonight over 100 congressional democrats demanding trump be removed immediately treating this as an urgent crisis. there is a single republican joining that call. the acting u.s. attorney in washington says donald trump himself be incevestigated for h role in pushing those