the nation on high alert. ramping up security with at least a dozen activating the national guard. in the nation's capitol, a scene like we have never seen before, a city on lockdown. 7-foot barbed wire fence and behind it hundreds of armed troops. this comes as capitol hill police investigate whether members of congress gave rioters tours of the building. nancy pelosi saying lawmakers could eventually face prosecution. >> if the facts reveal members of congress were accomplices to this insurrection, if they aided and abetted, there have to be actions taken beyond the

congress and in terms of prosecution for that. >> this as one of the most moderate members of the senate said congress should consider ousting senators josh hawley and ted cruz for their role in inciting riot. >> we should support the removal of senator hawley and cruz? >> absolutely, that should be a consideration. he understands that. ted is a very bright individual and i get along fine with ted. but what he did was totally outside of the realm of our responsibilities or our privileges. >> this all comes as the clock is ticking down on the trump presidency, with just four days until joe biden is sworn in, new reporting on how donald trump is planning on spending his final days in the oval office. nbc correspondents include ellison barber near the capitol, dasha burns covering security concerns in michigan's capital

city and josh by the white house. ellison, let's start with you, how is capitol hill preparing for any eventual protests? i know you have an update on the investigation as well to share. >> hey, alex, they have a lot of national guard members on the capitol grounds, from 13 different districts today. the national guard said they have 9,500 soldiers on the ground patrolling the united states capitol. by inauguration day, that number will go up even further to some 25,000 airmen and soldiers and those soldiers, airmen came from all 50 states and u.s. territories as well as the district of columbia. this morning washington on alert. thousands of armed national guardsmen are patrolling the national grounds, at times

surrounded by a 7-foot fence topped with razor wire, streets peppered with military vehicles and security checkpoints. >> i feel like i'm in a different country. i wanted to call my mom and tell her, what is going on? >> reporter: the heightened security ahead of president-elect biden's inauguration, response to fears of further attacks like the one on january 6th. the fbi said they received more than 140,000 photos and videos from that day and prosecutors have now opened at least 275 criminal investigations related to the insurrection. among them, jacob chansley, who charged into the capitol wearing horns and carrying a spear with an american flag tied around it. prosecutors say chansley left a note on the senate chamber dais warning, it's only a matter of time. justice is coming.

chancy's attorney said he was following president trump's direction and will seek a pardon. and now he's wondering if republican-led members gave tours the day before the attack on the capitol. >> if they aided and abetted the crime, there may have to be actions taken beyond the congress. >> reporter: "the washington post," mike pence and his family were hiding less than 100 feet from this landing. and if this pro-trump mob arrived seconds earlier, the attackers would have been in eyesight of the vice president. today the protests continue, armed protests in all 50 states and district of columbia. in the nation's capitol, a weekend inauguration practice postponed. and the national mall is closed to the public until january 21. the national park service said they made the decision to close the mall after consulting with the secret service and d.c. police.

they said they did it to ensure safety and security. there are two areas that are going to be designated protest areas but, alex, those are only for people with permits. alex? >> pretty remarkable photos and details there, ellison. i appreciate it. let's go to nbc's josh lederman. how is the president spending his last weekend at the white house? >> alex, the president has less than 100 hours left at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. if you think he's taking advantage of that based on his schedule this weekend, he's really not. the president has a blank schedule once again this weekend with the white house simply saying he will be working from early in the morning until late at night with many meetings and calls. but we know the president yesterday got an unsettling visit from mike lendl, better known as the mypillow guy, the

ceo. he brought a letter maintaining president trump will still be the president come january 20th. he was spotted and leaving carrying papers that a photographer zoomed in on seeing the notes with him were talking about invoking the insurrection act, declaring martial law in the united states as well as installing a trump loyalist as acting director of the cia. that's raised a lot of concerns about whether president trump may still be discussing some last-ditch attempts to remain in power in the final days in office. as we get closer to that inauguration day, the president, according to officials and aides close to him, still looking towards having one last opportunity, alex, to enjoy the pomp and circumstance of being the president, discussing the possibility of a ceremony at joint base andrews on wednesday after the president leaves office, where he would be able to speak one final time to his supporters from joint base

andrew. that would all take place before the inauguration because according to those aides, president trump, he wants to leave washington on air force one. as of noon on wednesday, any plane he's on is no longer air force one. that's why the aides say he plans to leave early in the morning before the inauguration and already be in west palm beach by the time president-elect biden is inaugurated at noon on the steps of the capitol. >> okay, josh lederman, thank you for that. we're going to pick right up as imjoined by virginia democratic senator tim kaine. senator, your reaction what josh is reporting there, the fact the president, a, wants to be on air force one, so he's got the call sign before he lands in florida, and also on a more serious note, when the president has a blank schedule, and we're told that he has meetings, he's making phone calls. any idea what those are about? >> alex, both very good questions.

look, this president has always been more interested in the trappings than in the job. so no surprise, he doesn't want to fly on his own jet to mar-a-lago. he wants to fly on air force one because he likes the trappings. but it's been his inattention and really der gags of the responsibilities of office that have really brought some tragedy, death, division to this country. and the inauguration cannot come soon enough for me and for so many americans. what is he doing? obviously, we don't know. probably nothing but we're a little bit concerned that the president may try to continue to do what he has done, which is sort of inappropriate pardons on his way out the door. he's used the pardon power to help supporters, bad actors like sheriff joe arpaio and others. he's used the pardon power in that way. we're nervous about that. i suspect one of the reasons

senator mcconnell said he didn't want to start the impeachment trial right away but wanted to hold it in advance is it's a little bit of a sword over president trump's head that we're going to have this impeachment trial, we're going to let people vote on conscience, and that's a little bit of a guardrail. be careful what you do the next few days. but we're very, very worried about we're excited about beginning a new chapter in american life that can be a chapter where we can start to climb the ladder that we have been pushed into the abyss by this president. >> i want to ask you about the impeachment trial in a moment. but the mypillow guy, really? josh talked about what he was able to zoom in on, words about the insurrection act. what does this tell you about the president's mindset in the wake of last wednesday, now a week and change, and the fact he's still making hay of this? >> alex, look, it's not

surprising. maybe the bookends of the president's national security reputation is beginning in office, choosing michael flynn to be his security adviser, conspiracy-fringed dweller who preaches all kinds of bonus nonsense. that's how president trump starts and he's finishing getting advice on critical national security issues from a guy who makes pillows on infomercials on tv. this guy is no different than the donald trump that came into office and that donald trump is no different that donald trump knew for decades before. this guy hasn't changed. everybody who thought his election might moderate him or get him to be a responsible adult, life doesn't work that way. life does not work that way. the mypillow guy is like the michael flynn at the beginning of the administration, going in surrounded by nuts and

fringe-dwellers. >> there were plenty who warned the president would not change and sadly, they were right. that said, let's get to the timing of the impeachment trial and how it will run. what do you know about the details on that? >> alex, the details are still murky. look, we have three big responsibilities before us that are all important but two are more urgent than the others. the first and most urgent is we have to deliver a peaceful transfer of power on january 20th if the last image of the trump presidency is a sentence of violence and chaos, the first image of the biden presidency should be a peaceful transfer of power. that's very urgent. second, we have to help joe biden has his agenda to help americans still suffering from coronavirus climb out of that. joe's done a good job of laying out a more rapid vaccine deployment, economic recovery. we have to help him do that. third, we've got to find accountability from the president, members of congress, for the rioters, anybody who broke the law or gave aid and

comfort to this insurrection against the capitol. how do we do all of these things at once? inauguration first. then it looks like we will be engaged immediately on the biden agenda. the timing of the impeachment situation is still a bit up in the air. the house hasn't delivered it to the senate yet. they could do that on the 19th or 20th or take more time. that's still to be determined. and then how the senate chooses to proceed, i know that majority leader schumer, who will be the majority leader and the republican leader mitch mcconnell are talking that through. but right now there's not a firm decision on timing. it's likely to start right away but that's not a guarantee. >> democrats need, what, 17 republican votes to reach the two-thirds needed to convict trump. are you aware of any confirmed republican senators? i'm not talking about those raising concerns, those who will eventually vote to convict? >> alex, i'm not.

you would suspect that a mitt romney, who voted on a certain body of evidence that the president was not fit to serve now has vastly additional evidence to warrant the validity of the position he took in february. i don't know that he's declared. but look, it's an uphill push to get to 17. the question would be, if this behavior does not warrant impeachment, does the impeachment clause just need to be removed from the constitution? is there no norm that can't be violated by a would-be authoritarian occupying the office of president of the united states? that will be the question that we'll have to grapple with when we get to this impeachment question. >> yes, with a frightening potential answer there, the way you phrased that question, senator. let me ask you about the crimes that are coming to light around the capitol riot. as you know, there are accusations some members of congress gave tours to pro-trump

rioters just the day before the attack and that in essence allowing recontours of the building. take a -- recon tours of the building. >> there is a good deal of knowledge some people had about the capitol as to where to go and we want to know if those tours were revealing to those people exactly where to go and how to get there. >> senator, you also know about congresswoman ayanna pressley's chief of staff who told "the boston globe" all of the panic buttons in her office were removed before the attack. what concerns you about these accusations? >> alex, they're devastating but they are still accusations and not proof. we have to be very, very clear about that. it's clear they knew things about the capitol. did they get them on the tour the day before? the capitol is open to the public and has been for years. they could have gotten in, in other ways. this is why we need something like a 9/11 commission to unpack

what led to the violation against the constitution, frankly. it wasn't against us, using the words of the 14th amendment, it was an insurrection or rebel against the contusion of the united states because they were trying to stop us from carrying out a constitutional duty. we need an investigation to two two things, one, determine what happened so we can prohibit it from ever happening again. but, two, so we have all of the evidence and we can hold accountable certainly the violent protesters but we have to explore accountability of the president through impeachment or other means, accountability of members of congress if they gave aid and comfort to insurrectionists. >> senator, if an investigation into lawmakers were to find complicity there, i imagine expulsion from congress would be the one certainty. but do you mean also they could face criminal trials? >> i know of no immunity that a member of congress has for

violating laws, especially laws like seditious conspiracy. so, alex, there are all kinds of options, congress can censure, congress can expel, congress can use section 2 of the 14th amendment declaring if there's evidence of those giving aid or comfort to insurrectionists can never run for office again. but there can also be the possibility of criminal prosecution if members of congress, or anyone, participated or aided and abetted in what all prosecutors are calling a violent insurrection against the capitol, against the constitution of the united states. you have to do the investigation before you apportion liability. but you can't turn a blind eye, because like i said when i spoke about president trump's impeachment in february, i voted for impeachment -- and this was my quote -- unchallenged evil spreads like a virus. i didn't know how prescient that

quote would be in early january, that evil is a virus and if there's no consequences, it spreads. >> democratic senator tim kaine, i very much appreciate your sage insight, sir. thank you very much. capitol hill is approaching for the return of gun-toting protesters and authorities fear it could be a whole lot worse this time. we will take you there next. plus, at least one capitol hill rioter wants a pardon from the president. could that even happen? could that even happen so this aveeno® moisturizer goes beyond just soothing sensitive skin? exactly jen! calm + restore oat gel is formulated with prebiotic oat. and strengthens skin's moisture barrier. uh! i love it! aveeno® healthy. it's our nature.™

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the national guard is standing by at michigan's capitol ahead of the inauguration. this comes as the city prepares for possible armed protesters. let's go to msnbc's dasha burns. what are you seeing there? >> hey, alex, as you know this is a capitol with quite the history of threats and armed

protests. as we've been here, you can see security ramping up. there's now a fence surrounding the capitol building. we've seen a very significant presence of the michigan state police and national guards joining them this weekend as well. the mayor of lansing just put out a statement urging people to stay away from the downtown area tomorrow unless you have an urgent business here. i also spoke to the chief of police of lansing. i asked him what he was concerned about and what he was hearing from the community here. take a listen to what he had to say. >> it's concerning, and know that, you know, as a law enforcement agency, you know, particularly on a local branch, i have the community's ears and many of our community are terrified as of right now. so we're doing everything we can to ease their tension and how we do that is we prepare. and we engage with our partners and certainly we've done that.

>> he did tell me that the level of preparedness is unprecedented but still the level of tension is incredibly high here. of course, michigan is an open-carry state and officials are telling me they're expecting armed groups here tomorrow. however, open carry was banned last week inside of the capitol, but some lawmakers say that did not go car enough because concealed carry is still allowed. alex, although the capitol will be closed sunday, the house and senate is supposed to be in session next week but we're now hearing that session is canceled due to the security threat alex. >> extraordinary disruption. dasha burns, thank you very much. in a scathing article published by pro publicicia, former police officers account racism they experienced while working for capitol police. it states since 2001 hundreds of black officers sued the department for racial discrimination. they alleged white officers

called black colleagues slurs like the n-word and one officer found a hangman's noose on his longer. in case after case authorities denied wrongdoing. the blistering accusations provide a backdrop into an ongoing investigation in how white nationalists stormed the capitol. joining me former federal prosecutor and msnbc analyst paul butler. paul, welcome, good to see you. this propublica article highlights how many internal problems the capitol police department had to deal with, this even before the january 6th attack. when you hear, paul, accusations like these, what your takeaway about how this agency runs, and does this factor into the failure to secure this building and everybody in it? >> it has to. the fbi has long identified white nationalism as the number one domestic terrorist threat. so federal law enforcement officers knew but they didn't act like they knew. so we're duty bound to ask

whether the law enforcement failure was from a shocking, dangerous negligence or, on the other hand, how much was complicity or sympathy for the insurrectionists from some rogue officers? so that combined with 250 black officers have sued the capitol police for race discrimination. and now there's an investigation to see if some of the officers who were supposed to be protecting and serving the capitol were actually complicit in its takeover. >> i just want to be clear, the lawsuits you cite were all done prior to january 6th? >> yes. actually the lawsuits started in 2001. it's been going on and on and on. current you and former officers are saying that this police department, which has been notorious in the district of columbia for anti-black

discrimination, had long needed this kind of scrutiny, and it's a shame it took this national tragedy to get folks to focus on the capitol police. >> i should say. those lawsuits go back two decades, for heaven's sake. what about the capitol police department chief, steven sund, who resigned effective today. he's being replaced by acting chief yogananda pittman. what are your thoughts, paul, on a change of leadership with days before the inauguration? >> on the one hand, we want everything to be put in place to be sure there won't be these kinds of issues with regard to the inauguration. on the other hand, the chief and the sergeant at arms of the house and senate, they had to go. they do not know how to do their jobs. they failed to protect the capitol. so if we weighed the risk of them staying in place and

continuing their reckless conduct, or on the other hand having them resign, removing them from power, and having someone new take over at this important moment, i think the risk of them remaining in office is much higher, it's more of a threat to our national security. >> paul, what we're going to play is a little bit frightening to listen to. this is from capitol police officers who spoke out about what they endured from the rioters during the deadly attack. let's take a listen to this. >> sh-i just remember, you know, people still swinging metal poles at us and pushing and shoving and spraying us with bear mace and pepper spray. >> yeah, i was being beaten with a thin blue line flag and guys were trying to grab my gun and chanting, kill him with his own gun. >> they were calling us traitors, shouting at us telling us to remember our oath. eventually they attacked us. >> i get chills when i hear that, when i think what they

endured. what's your reaction to that? >> it's why i couldn't be a cop. i'm not that brave. one of the concerning things about the small number of police officers who may have been complicit in the takeover is they give all of these other law enforcement officers a bad name. in fact, we know some cops thought trump supported them until he incited a riot that led to the death of two capitol police officers, one attacked by terrorists with a fire extinguisher and hundreds of other officers abused and threatened while the president reportedly lethally watched this spectacle. >> we had the sad occasion to watch the procession of officer sicknick, the capitol police officer of whom you speak, who died after being hit in the head with a fire extinguisher. we watched that last week. it was pretty hard to watch. talking about the pardon

perspective, lawyers from some rioters say they were just following the president. should any of the rioters be pardoned for that reason? >> no way. so far trump pardoned or granted clemency to 94 people, many of whom are his friends or supporters or trump's given these pardons the paybacks for people like manafort and roger stone, who lied to keep trump from being impeached the first time. but these rioters are different. trump doesn't care about these people. he plays them, just like he plays the police to advance his own political interests. so i doubt he actually will pardon. there's a couple of problems. first, he's claiming that he never intended for the people he ordered to march to the capitol to break in and start looting and killing. if he pardons them, that undermines his own message. so it would be more evidence against him in his own impeachment trial. >> interesting take as well. paul butler, thank you so much.

good to see you. there are a lot of people who think a second impeachment isn't enough punishment for donald trump after the capitol riots. so what is, even when he leaves office? my panelists discussion what punishment they believe he should get next you can hear the latest news and updates from all of your favorite msnbc hosts any time, anywhere on any device with tune in. go to tune in.com/msnbc2021 to listen commercial free with tunein premium. art class. it's abstract expressionism. when you start with a better hot dog from oscar mayer, you can do no wrong. it's all for the love of hot dogs. [♪♪] when you have diabetes, managing your blood sugar is crucial. try boost glucose control. the patented blend is clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels. boost glucose control products contain high quality protein and key nutrients to support immune health. try boost.

- [announcer] we're thrive cosmetics, we create high performance, cruelty free, 100% vegan formulas and we love that you love our products. like our award winning liquid lash extensions mascara. plus, with every product you purchase we donate to help a woman thrive. join our movement today at thrivecosmetics.com. are you looking at a calendar? it was one year today when president trump was there. and now from the capitol, welcome, my friend. mitch mcconnell was excited to get this done before the inauguration but now democrats

seem to be on the same page, all of them. what are you hearing? >> good afternoon, alex, from capitol hill where we are likely day as way from the second impeachment trial of president trump. i want to paint a little picture of what we can expect in the coming days. this trial is likely to begin around the time incoming president joe biden takes office. we're increasingly hearing calls from democratic senators to do a speedy trial. they argued there's no need for a lengthy investigation are or fact-finding mission because in their view the evidence of the president's misconduct is readily available on videotape for everyone to see. they argue this would have the impact as well of not detracting from the new president's agenda, including his economic package, and it would enable the senate to more quickly confirm his cabinet nominees. now onto the substance of this, it's going to be a very uphill climb to 67 votes in the senate. my report sources here on the hill say it's likely to come down to mitch mcconnell, the senate republican leader. you can potentially peel off

four, five six republican senators without him but getting to 17, which is the magic number the democrats will need, will be a steel hill to climb. the other key variables to think about here is how the president's approval rating is faring with republican voters. let's put up some numbers we have in recent polling that shows the president's number sinking with republicans. this is crucial to watch because many senate republicans are from safe red states and will be guided in large part on how their voters feel about president trump. this impeachment trial also carries huge stakes for the future of the republican party because it gives lawmakers to a chance to affirm president trump or renounce him. if they choose to renounce him, the senate has the ability to -- in addition to a conviction, to bar the president from ever holding office again, which would set the party on a very different trajectory going forward. as things stand, unless something significant changes, president trump could enter the 2024 republican primary as the

front-runner and the party could remain tied to him for a long time to come. this impeachment trial will determine whether that is the case or whether the republican party decides to move in a very different direction, alex. >> there's certainly a lot at state there. sahil, thank you so much for that. president trump just four days away from leaving the oval office and all of the legal privileges that come with it. with so many potential legal challenges looming, an unlikely name is making the case for why donald trump shouldn't be prosecuted, former fbi director james comey. take a listen. >> if i were still a prosecutor, i would want to prosecute him personally and put him in jail but i'm not sure that's in the best interest of the nation. i'm not sure it's in our interest to give donald trump center stage in washington, d.c. for another three, four years as united states versus donald trump moves along in federal court in d.c. and the president down the street is trying to renew and heal a nation. >> joining me now, alina maxwell

from cirrus xm and host of the show "zell ina." and elise jordan from the white house and former msnbc analyst. welcome all. this is interesting to me. what do you make of comey's comments? is the worst punishment for donald trump not receiving much attention any longer and kind of fading off into oblivion? >> donald trump is really going to suffer certainly when he doesn't have the camera on him 24/7. but on the flip side, this cannot go unchecked. and i'm just wondering why we're taking political advice from james comey right now. he means well. i admired his book, and he has a very thought out framework, but politically not what we need to be taking from jim comey right now. >> yes, kurt, i heard you

chuckling i will let you expand after i ask zelina, is a second impeachment enough and everything that comes with it? it's not just the moniker of being impeached twice, which, of course, he already has that one from the house. oh, goodness, we just lost zerlina. was it something i asked? are you back, zerlina? no, you're not. kurt, do you want to take a shot at that one? >> first, i want to call with elise, couldn't agree more, the last person i want to hear from about what or shouldn't happen is james comey after the role he played in 2016. i think this is one of those times where what happened here supersedes politics. this is about protecting the institution of democracy. i guess when people ask what should happen to donald trump, my response is, the same thing

that would happen and same thing that we would all espouse, especially republicans would espouse, if what would happen with the capitol siege was perpetrated by a foreign adversary, foreign enemy, person of color, someone of middle eastern decent. if that had been the case, the conversation and rhetoric would be so much different. so why in the world are we trying to have a separate standard there? >> let me play devil's advocate with you. yes, comey suggested biden should consider pardoning trump in the interest of healing the nation. however, ford pardoned nixon for that reason. ford was widely criticized at the time but now decades later, his tris has supported that pardon. so, again, trying to look at it long range. >> i hear that. i think the difference is when you look at what happened here, to me the racial undertones that exist that fueled this entire situation is definitely something we can't look past or

heal from. when people say let's heal, there's a lot of people who believe i can't heal with someone who's a white nationalist. i can't heal with someone who openly espouses racist views. i can't heal with somebody who believes it's okay if i disagree with you politically, i should violently take on the capitol and hang the vice president, kidnap and hold hostage and execute the speaker of the house. people who openly espouse these things against aoc and the squad. like there's no reconciling there. that's the difference between what happened with nixon and i think with what happened this time. >> i think you make a good point on that one. zerlina is back. zerlina, i just want to ask ask you something james comey said, which if he was still in the business of prosecuting, he would want to prosecute the president and put him in jail. what do you think the ramifications would be if that were happen? how many people you think want to see donald trump behind bars? >> i think the real important question is if prosecutors have enough evidence to prosecute donald trump and to put him into

jail. and that's the only question that matters. i think what the repercussions are in terms of the political conversation and culture conversation as a result of donald trump being held accountable by the court of law, i think that's a different conversation. the conversation about whether or not donald trump's conduct puts him into a space where he has legal exposure, that's up to donald trump and certainly i think very smart prosecutors, smarter than myself, are saying that there is credible evidence and the fbi obviously is continuing their investigation. but frankly, i think i'm not listening to james comey today. i'm listening to hillary clinton today. i think she's been pretty vindicated in terms of the things she warned us about and donald trump. in august 2016 in reno, nevada, she said donald trump is emboldening a hate movement and bringing white supremacist groups mainstream. i don't think anybody sitting here today can argue with that statement, and i think we should be listening to people like that more so than james comey, who

had been wrong many times. >> yeah, elise, republican senators josh hawley and ted cruz are facing growing calls to resign after challenging the election results. you have senator joe manchin asking if he would support the removal of the senators that would happen through the 14th amendment and that was adapted, we'll remind viewers, after the civil war to abolish seditionists from taking office. let's look at the response. >> he should look, absolutely, that should be a consideration. he understands that. ted is a very bright individual, and i get along fine with ted. but what he did was totally outside of the realm of our responsibilities or our privileges. >> how much of that do you think is realistic? >> well, i don't think by any stretch of the imagination they're going to be able to expel josh hawley and ted cruz from the senate, but certainly they have solidified their positions as the most disliked

senators and ted cruz, perhaps, even feels heat off him just because josh hawley is so unlikable these days. what what the moment in the spotlight has done is really exposed both men from what they are. regardless of what consequences they face from senate peers, it's obvious josh hawley has no charisma. he had this terrible moment. in the aftermath he could have even perhaps tried to have corrected it and had a moment. he was incapable of it because he has no charisma and so inauthentic. ted cruz, we've kind of already been there, done that and seen what happens in a republican primary when he's running up against donald trump, despised by plenty of republicans that go-around too. >> yes. zerlina, nbc news reports some democrats in congress are actually worried their colleagues might kill them. take a listen to what congresswoman oscasio-cortez said last night.

this was on rachel maddow. >> people of color are not safe around any individual who, frankly, sympathizes with the white supremacist cause. it doesn't matter if you've been elected to congress or not. it's a complete abdication of any responsibility that we all have to protect and defend and be there for each other as human beings and certainly as americans. >> this is a congresswoman saying that she fears her republican colleagues have and will put her life in danger and she's not alone in saying this. what does that say about the tenor of life on capitol hill, zerlina? >> it's a lot like the tenor of life in the real world, alex. and that's really a shame. this has gotten to a place we have to take much more seriously when people kowtow to conspiracy

theorists and big lies, alex, because what aoc is saying those who believe the election was stolen and democrats are baby-eating devil worshippers or something like that, i think that's what qanon believes, that person is an elected member of congress. if that person was my co-worker and sat in a cubicle next to mine, i don't know i would feel safe, particularly if that person decided to strap up and come into work with a gun. i think what she's saying is a very rational line of thinking and it's important for us as citizens to make sure we don't elect people like this. obviously marjorie taylor greene is one of those folks who is elected now but perhaps we need to take more seriously who we're putting in positions of power and authority across the born. >> zerlina maxwell, elise and kurt, thank you very much. and as always, catch "zerlina"

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he's perfectly happy when other people commit violence on his behalf. and secondly, again, he really thought that that was a way to change the results of the legitimate election. i would be shocked if he hadn't been directly involved in planning it and supporting it. >> joining me now is peter baker, msnbc political analyst, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" and good friend to us here. peter, welcome, my friend. what is your reaction to what mary trump had to say there? by the way, she echoed what senator ben sasse said last week, he had heard from the white house aides he was delighted as the rioters attacked. >> he loved the idea people were standing up for him, that people were in fact disrupting the electoral college count process, which he wanted to find a way to block. now, did he encourage the violence? he would say no, he said that he was not condoning the attack on

police officers and so forth. but as he's watching the television, we're told, in the white house during the initial moments and minutes of this attack on the capitol, his initial reaction was to be pleased people were standing up to him -- for him. >> can you tell me what the current mood is of the white house? what do you know about that? >> well, it's pretty demoralized among the staff that's still there. a lot have left, of course. some did so immediately after the mob attack, citing that as the reason to leave. the ones who stayed are either true believers who are very subscribed to the president's outlook at looking at things or ones who worried if they left, nobody would be left to either run the country or keep the ships of state going forward. they worry the president can do all sorts of things in the period between now and inauguration. so some of them stayed rather than go out the door but they're in a demoralized state. a lot of them believed what

president trump was doing used the actions of the last ten days as wiping out four years of work, four years of accomplishment in their view. this will be the thing he's known for in history and this will be the thing they're known for because they worked for him. so there's a lot of sourness around here now by a lot of trump aides who are unhappy about the things developed. >> is there anybody lefts who still talks to him or is he completely isolated? i'm curious logistically what his day looks like. does chief of staff mark meadows come in and give him briefings? does he get a daily intelligence briefing? all of the things the normal trackings of an average presidential day, is he going through normal days like that now? >> it doesn't seem like it. we have only limited windows into that. the daily number of schedules the last few weeks have basically been empty, since the election really, but boilerplates saying the president having lots of meetings and phone calls but that's not the same thing as a

schedule. i think you're seeing a president who shrunk his circle. he's stopped listening in a lot of ways to people telling them things he doesn't want to hear. he's listening to the conspiracy theorists, ones who told him he did win the election, got a raw deal out of the impeachment thing. those the ones he wants to hear from. i think what you're seeing is the president who disappeared who viewed a moment when the country is in an extraordinary crisis, several crises at the same time. pandemic killing 3,000 to 4,000 people a day through vision and violence on the streets. he's basically only had a couple videos that he put out since the mob attack, not taking too many questions or addressed the public in a real way. instead he's nursing his wounds and stewing over his state as he leaves office in a matter of days. >> peter, this is a legitimate question. who is running the country?

is it the president? if not, is it the vice president? who's running the show? >> it's a great question. the government tends to go on remote control, it's sort of a self-perpetuating sheen in a lot of ways. a lot of things are getting done by people below the president and vice president. in terms of anything big, substantial, the president hasn't really been involved. you see the agency, the department is trying to rush out last-minute policy changes and things they can lock in place or hope they can lock in place before the new administration comes in. secretary of state pompeo, for instance, in the state department has been doing a number of things like that with regard to cuba and other issues. new sanctions i think on iran. but the president himself is not fully engaged in that as far as we can tell. some of these meetings have been led by vice president pence in the meantime. some of the people around him look at him as a de facto acting president, looking for guidance and instruction and direction in the last days. >> your article pence reached his limit with trump. it wasn't pretty. is there a relationship between

the president and his vice president right now? >> it's essentially broken. they had a meeting a couple nights ago where they spent an hour in the oval office trying to hash it out. we're told the conversation was stilted and awkward and not very substantive. other than that, they really haven't talked basically since the mob attack. the vice president, who is a pretty calm demeanor, was said to be as angry as some of his friends had ever seen him. he was not only pushed into this position where he had to reject the president in terms of the constitutional power of counting these votes, he then was left to his own devices with the secret service hiding in the basement of the capitol while the president did nothing to stop the mob attacking. we learned from our friends at "the washington post," the mob was even closer to him than we realized. it could have been a very bad situation. they were running through the capitol chanting "hang mike pence." so i think he's mad at the president, like a lot of people are. >> i'm never mad at you, my friend. come see me soon. peter baker, appreciate that.

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here's the latest facts on the coronavirus pandemic. the u.s. passed 23 million cases and may face 43,000 deaths a day before inauguration day. the new strain can cause cases to spike. governors and mayors say there is not a stockpile of vaccines the federal government promised. currently just over 12 million doses have been administered, roughly three times that number has been distributed. president-elect biden said he will deploy fema and the national guard to set up vaccine clinics. the defense production act will be expanded to increase vaccine production. if you thought the whole episode of the violence at the capitol hill last week was scarily, there's one other element that even makes it scarier. i will talk with someone who knows about that and can shed

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