tv MSNBC Live MSNBC January 17, 2021 2:00am-3:00am PST
2:00 am
and if i'm the only thing to remind him of that, then that's what i'm there for. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. breaking on msnbc, america on alert. new arrests to report this morning as washington, d.c., resembles a military occupation. in the coming days there will be four times as many troops there than in iraq and afghanistan combined amid fears of more violence ahead of the inauguration. new this morning. >> i had my weapon in my vehicle. i'm a virginia resident that has licensing here and training in the state of virginia for this firearm. >> the man arrested at an
2:01 am
inauguration checkpoint with unauthorized credentials, a loded gun is defending himself in an interview. more arrests linked to last week's riot. he beat a police officer with an american flag pole. >> death is the only remedy for what's in that building. >> reporter: amid all this unrest, the president is mia planning for a massive sendoff for himself that could include a red carpet and a 21 gun salute while the vice president fills the void. >> on behalf of your commander in chief, from your vice president and on behalf of every american, thank you for your service. and president-elect joe biden now three days away from undoing a slew of trump administration policies as he outlines his agenda of the executive actions he plans right out of the gate. good morning, everyone. it is sunday, january 17th.
2:02 am
i'm chris jansing. welcome to the special edition of msnbc live. we have reporters blanketing this story as america remains on alert. we begin with our incredible team in d.c., new york, and everywhere. msnbc correspondent ellison barber has new details on the arrest in watching top and the latest on the investigation linked to the capitol riot. we're joined by eugene daniels and ann gearing, white house reporter for the washington post and msnbc political analyst. good early morning to all of you. ellison, let's talk about the arrest of the armed man near the site of the inauguration. what more can you tell us? >> reporter: the police say that man, a virginia man pulled up to a security checkpoint, probably one that looks similar to this to give you a sense of how many checkpoints there are. this is one intersection. if you look all the way around
2:03 am
here, you will see checkpoints, police, military vehicles in almost every single direction. police say that this man, wesley beeler told them he had a handgun under his armrest. as they searched his truck they found more than 500 rounds of 9 millimeter ammunition and nearly 2 dozen shotgun shells. he was booked on suspicion of possession of unregistered ammunition. he has been released and told by police to stay out of d.c. he did speak to our nbc affiliate and he said that he was in downtown d.c. working security and in his words he essentially made an honest mistake. he claims that he was leaving his job working security in d.c., got lost and stopped to ask police for directions on the
2:04 am
way home. he says that that firearm, which is legally registered in virginia, he just forgot that he had it in the car and he claims that that unauthorized inauguration pass he has is a pass he had gotten for his job. he was arrested, now facing charges in d.c. and has been told he cannot return to the district. chris? >> all right. there are also more arrests, ellison, linked to last week's riots. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: yeah. so we know police have been saying they've gotten just a ton of information, a ton of tips related to the capitol riot. over 140,000 photos and videos at least. one of the memorable photos was a man dressed in tactical gear carrying zip ties. that man's name was eric munschel. his mother has been taken into
2:05 am
custody by fbi agents in nashville on charges relating to the u.s. capitol including conspiracy with her son, eric, to violate federal statutes. investigators also arrested a retired arkansas firefighter. his name is peter staber. he is allegedly the rioter seen in one of those videos when an officer is being dragged taken away from the capitol. he is seen allegedly beating an officer with an american flag. >> we saw vice president mike pence appearing to take the role of the president with something of a formal good-bye. he made a call to vp elect harris earlier last week. as trump plans his own farewell ceremony for wednesday morning, where is he? what are the optics in such a turbulent time? >> well, chris, i mean, i think you nailed it there. pence is doing the public part
2:06 am
of the job and trump is nowhere to be seen. we haven't seen him in public in several days. there are no plans for him to appear in public that we know of for several days more. we do not yet know the full details of what he plans to do on wednesday morning before joe biden becomes president, but he will do it at the white house or nearby and he will leave the white house wednesday morning we've been told. probably late morning and this will take the place of the things that usually happen at the white house on inauguration morning when the outgoing president and first lady invite the incoming to come to the white house, have a look around, have tea. in many cases in recent years the outgoing president has ridden alongside the incoming one for the short limousine ride from the white house to the capitol. none of that will happen this
2:07 am
year. in the meantime we're seeing a good deal and hearing a good deal from mike pence who's been sort of doing the public performance part of being president, including most recently flying around to military bases saying thank you to troops. >> eugene, joe biden, meantime, is certainly planning to hit the ground rubbing. he's promising to push, what, a big long list, major covid initiative. talking about immigration reform. dozens of executive reforms in the first ten days. tell us more about his priorities. >> yeah. he's right out of the gate starting with executive orders on wednesday, starting with getting rid of the travel ban for several of those majority muslim countries, looking at pandemic moratorium of student loan and doing a mask mandate and expanding testing. all of the things that you've been talking about. i think for months we've heard him say he wanted to make sure america was back and bringing
2:08 am
back respect he says we've lost after the trump presidency. from an optics perspective, this is optics and that is really important, he has to get this right on going into day one and trying to stay above the fray of the things going on on the slooins. what president trump may or may not be planning on inauguration day and making sure he's calling for calm. that's more important after january 6th. it's likely going to be harder to bring the country together, ask for people to be calm than i think he ever expected. this is a man who wanted to be president for decades. he i don't think thought it was going to be like this. they're leaning into we're getting ready to start on day one. we don't need the parties and pomp and circumstance. we're hitting huge issues right out of the gate. that's what the incoming biden administration is hoping that the american people see in the first few days of his presidency.
2:09 am
>> yeah. i can't imagine anybody thought it would look like this. who could have imagined it? that brings us to the point your paper makes on the front pages. i want to read from a story there, ann. biden will face severe challenges to his attempts to turn the page. an inauguration conducted for military guard. a west wing largely empty because of health concerns caused by the coronavirus pandemic and a republican party that largely refuses to acknowledge that biden won the election fairly and, therefore, rejects his legitimacy. >> we are looking to inauguration day as a turning point. hard to understand. the question is whether the administration can pull it off. >> yeah. to that list i would add that there will be an impeachment trial in the senate most likely that hangs over the new president's first days, impeachment of the old guy who
2:10 am
isn't even here anymore. there's a real hangover effect from trump and then there's the pandemic which is really job one for joe biden. he has been outlining in recent days all kinds of ways that his administration plans to make up ground and really change the course of the pandemic, who gets the vaccine, how fast they get them and how easy it is to get them to really make a difference there. but this is an enormous set of challenges only some of which were foreseeable even only in a 6, 8, 9 months ago. it's really an extraordinary moment to try to be taking over and changing so many things at once. the practical things, the economic issues, the covid issues and then all of the intangible things that are left over from trump. and you mentioned many there that are in our story today. the rejection factor among
2:11 am
republicans is high. the fear factor among elected republicans of what this trump base is going to do to him going forward is going to be high. if biden is going to be the president to reach across the aisle, he's got a much bigger task than he himself could have imagined. >> ann, eugene, ellison, thanks to all of you. much appreciated this morning. meantime, state capitols are attempting to gear up for potentially violent protests. police are installing fences around capitol buildings. governors activating thousands of national guard troops. state governments beefing up a visible security presence. lansing michigan is no stranger to protests including indoors. now the mayor says member of hate groups are planning to return. joining me is the mayor of
2:12 am
lansing, andy shore. thank you for waking up early. good to see you. over the summer armed protesters got inside to protest lockdowns. you said members of proud boys and the white supremacist movement are planning protests. tell us what you're gearing up for, the major threats as you see them. >> the intel keeps changing hour by hour. we're hearing about white supremacist groups, we're hearing about other extremists. we're going to be prepared. we're hoping for the best, preparing for the worst. we have the national guard, lansing police, county sheriff. we've got everything we need basically to be prepared in case things turn bad. >> you issued a statement asking people to stay away from lansing, for downtown residents to stay inside. state lawmakers canceled their session. what can you tell us about how your city is coordinating security measures, what they're
2:13 am
doing, what they're doing in cooperation with the governor and even federal officials. >> the governor's been fantastic. we have the national guard. they were called up. i requested that. yeah, you know, my suggestion is if protesters are coming, we expect them to be peaceful protestors. we don't stand for violence. for residents, if you live in the downtown, don't go near the capitol. we get all kinds of visitors to our state capitol. sunday is not the day to do that. that's not something i usually say, but want to make sure everyone is safe. want to make sure the city is going to have a peace full protest, not going to be any kind of destruction or violence. we're ready for that again in conjunction with our state police, our national guard. we have resources on the grouped. it won't be visible. we don't want to instigate anything. we will have resources available in preparation for the worst. >> last night, mr. mayor,
2:14 am
congressman dan kilty spoke to my colleague about the armed protesters and what he was inspiring them to come back. take a listen. >> i think they have an obligation. those people who voted to overturn this election, those state officials who went along with this big lie, this he have an obligation to help tamp this down by telling the truth, and we'll just see if they'll do that. >> what do you have to say to elected leaders who have been pushing and continue, frankly, to push unfounded election fraud claims. >> it's disappointing. it's disappointing because we need to be honest with the public. we are a democracy. the people went, they voted, they spoke and knew we need to have a peaceful transition of power. it's something we've had for 213 years and it's something we're going to have this year. everybody needs to be on the
2:15 am
same page, we are moving forward and going to have a new president and administration. it was done legally and the way it's always been done. i agree with the congressman, everyone needs to stand up and say we had an election, we move forward with a new president. not everyone is going to like it, but this is how it works but this is the legal and safe transition of power. >> yeah. that's also a democracy. not everybody's going to like everything but democracy moves on. lansing, michigan, mayor, good luck to you today. thank you so much. we appreciate your time, especially so early. still ahead, los angeles becomes the first county to surpass 1 million covid cases. the reason behind the staggering numbers and what can be done to rein them in. first, with armed protests planned today in all 50 state capitols, law enforcement continues to brace for violence. how the fbi plans to monitor the
2:16 am
2:19 am
2:20 am
and what you heard happen in this state? >> 100%. i know one of the most memorable images from that day is that attacker who was dressed with the animal fur. that same attacker broached our own capitol by a trial run, gaining access to the building. >> reporter: chris, lawmakers tell me they do not know yet if they are going to be coming in to work in person next week. they are waiting to see what happens today before they make a decision. >> thank you so much. appreciate that. as states ramp up security, an armed man was arrested near the u.s. capitol with an unauthorized inauguration pass, a gun and 500 rounds of ammunition in his truck. he says it was all a misunderstanding. >> i forgot that i had my weapon in my vehicle.
2:21 am
i have licensing here and training in virginia for this firearm. >> joining me now, former fbi executive and attorney katheryn schweit. good to see you. i know you have worked on this, an inauguration pass. we are three days away from biden's swearing in. you saw that man getting arrested with what officials say was a fake pass, firearms, ammunition in his possession. how concerning is this? >> oh, it's very concerning. i think this is the full-court press time. there's no question that right now every single incident. that gentleman may have been perfectly fine in what he was doing, but right now there is -- we take no chances. i think that's how everybody is working the bottom line. you're at a fence line, you have any suspicion, you go after it. >> and even before this the fbi had made more than 100 arrests around the country related to those capitol hill riots
2:22 am
including a far right wing media personality known as baked alaska. a lot of people know him because he live streamed from the capitol. we just learned about that overnight. in your experience, when there is this kind of major show of force, these roundups that are happening all across the country state to state to state could it have the effect of tamping down the protests for this weekend, the inauguration, or are they likely to fire up folks? >> no, i think it's a good thing to have the hard press on it in terms of arrests. this is typical of what we see when there is a national special security event at nsse like this and any other major event where we're concerned about the security and things that might add on to what we're concerned about, arrests, explosions, secondary devices, all the things going on right now in the intelligence world in the minds of the fbi and secret service as they try to bring this particular inauguration and
2:23 am
today to a calm at the end of the day. you have to look first at how can we take anybody that we're concerned about, anybody that anybody else is concerned about and investigate them immediately to determine whether or not we think that they're somebody who we should be knocking on their door right now and saying, hey, don't make it worse here in washington, d.c. don't make it worse in your state capitol. we're not going accept that. >> one of the things we've been seeing since the insurrection, court documents show an alarming number of weapons from rioters including pipe bombs, various weapons, hundreds of rounds of ammunition. how confident are you that this time nub of that is going to make its way into washington, d.c.? >> well, i guess it's easy to say you can conceal a gun, bring it in, that's for sure. there are a huge number of checkpoint lines as you can see in the planning coming together. every time every news report every day dons a new fence line, a new line of trucks, a new line
2:24 am
of national guard. i will say this about some of the things that have to do with weapons. united states has 300 million plus people and there's no question that it has more than 300 million weapons. 3.7 million guns cleared through ncic checks in march of 2020 alone. every month we approve more weapons purchases in the united states so, you know, combine that with other things like 20 million veterans in the united states who are trained who have learned to carry weapons and there are a lot of people and a lot of guns so, therefore, we're just going to continue to have a lot of arrests. the u.s. supreme court said, you know, in its seminole decision d.c. versus heller that the second amendment right to carry a gun is not unlimited. sometimes there's a question with some people about whether or not that right is unlimited. right now the supreme court says it is and people need to heed
2:25 am
that and the law enforcement is going to be aggressive about making sure that those guns don't advance into an area that can turn into a volatile situation like we saw last week. >> katheryn, great to have you on the program. thank you so much. coming up, state of confusion. more than a month into an already dismal vaccine rollout, some states have yet to publish data on who's actually gotten the shots. what that could mean for joe biden's vaccine plan next. biden's vaccine plan next. but scrubbing still takes time. now there's powerwash dish spray it's the faster way to clean as you go just spray, wipe and rinse it cleans grease five times faster dawn powerwash. spray, wipe, rinse. it's time for the lowest prices of the season on the sleep number 360 smart bed. you can adjust your comfort on both sides... your sleep number setting. can it help me fall asleep faster? yes, by gently warming your feet. but, can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. will it help me keep up with mom? you got this.
2:26 am
2:27 am
2:28 am
let me check. xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored home security built around you. no, i think we're good. good. so when you're away, you don't have to worry. the tent. we forgot... the tent. except about that. xfinity home. simple. easy. awesome. hey look, i found the tent! get xfinity home with no term contract required. click or call today.
2:29 am
now to the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. los angeles county is shattering records on saturday becoming the first county in the u.s. to hit more than 1 million covid cases. l.a. also recorded its first case of the more transmissible coronavirus variant, the one first discovered in the u.k. michigan is also the latest state to report its first case
2:30 am
of the variant. officials identifying a case from a woman who recently traveled to the u.k. and following reports that administration officials overstated the supply of the vaccine, pfizer says it has second doses of covid vaccines on hold and that they've been holding on to them at the request of the u.s. government. a spokeswoman said they do not anticipate any issues with getting that supply shipped. covid-19 infection rates and death tolls are breaking state records at actually unbelievable rates. thursday was the deadliest day of the pandemic in new york since last summer. california and arizona topped their death count records earlier in the week. msnbc's cory kauffman is at jones beach where there is a vaccination mega site. what's happening?
2:31 am
i don't think cory can hear me. can we have -- yeah, can we just have them signal her to go ahead? can we talk to her camera guy? yeah, let's see if we can get the report from cory, otherwise we'll move on. >> hey, chris. apologies. we're having an audio issue. i don't hear any audio. i want to tell you the situation out in jones beach where we are. we are right outside the vaccination site. it will open up in a little bit. this is part of some 250 sites that the state is trying to ramp up by the end of january. they are encouraging people to come out in particular because i think they'll have an easier time with more of the vaccination coming here. that still doesn't i guess change the frustration and confusion over the vaccine rollout. there's still so many questions about people can get appointments and how soon they're going to be able to get that vaccine. here in the state of new york -- nationwide i should say 1/3 of vaccines have been distributed
2:32 am
into the arms of people and here in new york it accounts to just .2% of the population has been vaccinated so far. certainly a long way to go. this as the state continues to see record-breaking new cases. in -- january 8th alone saw some almost 20,000 new cases. i mean, it was a record shattering number here in new york. in california they see between 30 and 50,000 new cases a day. they broke a record on december 26th for 65,000 new cases and are now having to decide which hospitals have to go into triage, which hospitals have to deal with actually deciding who to prioritize patient wise. in arizona there's a record breaking -- i apologize. i think we're getting a wrap. >> obviously we're having some technical problems but we got the basics there. that is one of the megasites that the governor here in new
2:33 am
york has said was coming. meantime, the u.s. is just one month into the vaccine rollout. the number of doses administered remains disappointing, far below what the trump administration said would be happening. that's why reporting data about it actually how many people got a dose is key. california, new york have yet to release numbers. we have the story from dr. batell. she's a former obama policy health director. we have so much to talk about. i'm glad you're here today. let's start with that. how are states supposed to get more vaccine? how is the federal government to decide how to deploy the resources so that more people can get the shots if there isn't even proper recordkeeping to track those numbers? >> absolutely, chris. good morning. good to be with you. couple of key points. as you state, number one, there isn't even really a national or
2:34 am
standardized dataset. it's only in this past week, chris, that the cdc even agreed to make sure that it standardized its data reporting to tell you how many people got vaccines, not just doses. remember, the two vaccines available require two doses. so you could be essentially double counting. on top of that, the second is exactly your point about states having patchy kind of reporting systems and i'll go even further with kind of a third issue is that majority of these states, when they do report, chris, don't give you the detail on the race or breakdown of the kinds of patients that are getting the doses. that's an important sign because we do know that this pandemic has hit certain populations absolutely disproportionately and we also know that there are reasons to get priorities to those populations in terms of access and reaching out with information. >> and i know this from my own
2:35 am
experience just talking to people. i'm sure you do too, that people are being forced to find creative and unusual ways just to book vaccine appointments, even people in their 70s and 80s. the washington post headline read they're using tech savvy tips and personal network to score their chance at getting vaccinated. a member of my own family did the hit redial approach, redial, redial, redial trying to get on a list. is this any way to run a live-saving vaccination campaign? >> no, chris, it's not. look, i'll give you as a doctor, i've had countless patients, former patients who i haven't talked to in over a decade who have all kind of begged and said, do you know kind of a secret way to get in. i'll say this. even myself for my parents, i've been the one that's been doing the refresh on the website, trying to figure out where is there supply? when will they have an ability
2:36 am
to get an appointment? chris, that speaks to how people who have a social network or who have a good wi-fi connection or good phone are going to have a higher advantage. i have seen way too much stress put upon the very population we do not need to be stressed and wandering around grocery store aisles to look for a pharmacy that has extra doses but that's what's been forced upon us. i do hope this will change. president-elect biden has clearly stated this is a high priority including making sure that they augment anybody that needs resources at state levels, which candidly chris is basically all states, to get the shots up and running. vaccine clinics, mass clinics but that might not solve the problem for some hard-hit areas, rural areas. we need to be creative. we need to be creative on my side, how can we get information and get shots to people responsibly? >> yeah. those mobile clinics among the
2:37 am
things that are going to be very critical to get going. doctor, thank you. really good to see you this morning. meantime, the looming senate impeachment trial. with only days left in donald trump's term, here's the key question, are there enough republicans willing to break with their party and convict donald trump? coming up later this morning, an exclusive interview with the man tapped to review capitol security after the deadly riots. russell honore joins jonathan capehart for the sunday show only on msnbc. only on msnbc. for skin as alive as you are... don't settle for silver 7 moisturizers 3 vitamins 24 hours hydration gold bond champion your skin
2:41 am
now to your 5 a.m. headlines. a naked man attacks subway riders in manhattan before dying from electrocution. the man pushed a person onto the platform onto the tracks in an unprovoked attack. a witness then attempted to help the victim but the naked man pushed that person off too. a brawl broke out which led to the alleged attacker grabbing the third rail killing himself, police say. the food hot pockets being recalled over potential glass and plastic contamination. nestle says more than 760,000 pounds of pepperoni hot pockets from across the country are impacted. the food, safety and inspection service says there are four separate consumer complaints of materials found inside those hot pockets. >> and we have shutdown.
2:42 am
>> nasa's mission to send astronauts back to the moon has hit a setback. a test firing for the new moon rocket was stopped after only the first minute. nasa administrator said it's too early to know the extent of delays. they're still trying to figure out exactly what went wrong. in washington, four house committee leaders are opening an investigation into what intelligence agencies knew in the days leading up to the siege at capitol hill and when they knew it. intelligence, homeland security, judiciary are asking for documents and classified briefings. they're looking to pinpoint whether there were systemic failures leading up to the insurrection. julie is joining us. good to see you. can you tell us more about this letter and what exactly the committee chairs are looking to get? >> reporter: yes. good morning, chris. that's exactly right. these four house leaders who
2:43 am
lead these relevant committees that will examine what exactly went wrong on january 6th wrote this letter to the heads of the agencies including christopher wray and dni director radcliffe asking what they knew and what they didn't know leading up to the attack. very important to point out in the letter they ask both what intelligence they had and whether there were any outside involvement in planning these riots and assisting the violent mob that stormed this capitol less than two weeks ago and so in the letter they ask important questions. they essentially want the agency heads to aid them in opening a review into this matter themselves. there are quite a few investigations going on simultaneously, both in the capitol and outside of it. but what these four committee chairs are asking for is any letters, any pictures, any sort of reference points that they can use and that will help them and aid them as they investigate the situation more. and as new details frank think
2:44 am
come out every single day that we get further and further away from that deadly day here on capitol hill. >> do we have an idea what the end game is? why are they sending this letter now? >> reporter: so the four chairs wrote in the letter that this is still an emerging and evolving story. you have to remember that the lawmakers that are opening this investigation were also the victims in the capitol. they were hiding in rooms with their staff from the violent mob. it took days and weeks, fair and accuratel frankly what happened. as we move away from this attack, we find more and more how close this came to being even more deadly and how close the lawmakers came to potentially a more violent and deadly situation. as far as the time line, we are kind of over shadowed by the inauguration. what's interesting, in the letter there is no date they request the information from. they point out at the bottom they want the agency heads to
2:45 am
focus on keeping the capitol and washington safe for the inauguration of president-elect joe biden on wednesday. when we see the information come to the committee, the next steps they takes in possibly holding hearings which we know they've expressed interest in, that all remains to be seen. the number one priority now is to keep the capitol complex secure. i've spoken to lawmakers on both sides who are pretty much living in fear, even afraid to come back to the capitol. that's all we're watching as we are ready to inaugurate the new president on wednesday. chris? >> nbc capitol hill reporter, thank you for that. we want to talk about the fallout from the storming of capitol hill. prosecutors building cases against scores of people, not just those arrested around the country for taking part in the riots but investigators say they're also looking at everyone involved. that would include any role the president or other government officials might have played in inciting the unrest.
2:46 am
msnbc legal analyst and former prosecutor glen kirchner. the rioters said they came to washington, did what they did, did it on camera, said it to investigators, they did it because trump asked them to. let me read this from the washington post. while legal experts are split on whether trump could face criminal liability for his role in the events on january 6th, testimony from rioters who felt directed to take part in illegal acts by his speech could inform a decision by prosecutors about whether to attempt to build a case. what do you think? >> so here's the thing, chris. good morning. every time one of these insurrectionists makes a statement to law enforcement that the reason they committed this crime, the reason they attacked the capitol was because their leader, donald trump, told them to, that has two implications. one, it does not serve as a defense for the insurrectionist.
2:47 am
if i said, yes, i robbed the bank, but somebody told me to, my boss, my supervisor, my idol told me to, that does not serve as a legal defense. what it does, it adds fuel to the investigation into donald trump's culpability for inciting an insurrection. so when one of the defendants makes a statements like that, it's a lose-lose for the defendant and the president but it's a win for the american people and for justice. >> would the argument be made on behalf of donald trump though, whatever they took away from it wasn't what he meant? you can't get into his brain and say, he was trying to incite, that's what they took away from t i'm sure you saw jonathan turley wrote an article in "the hill" suggesting, you know, that's not a way to go after donald trump. is it? >> oh, it absolutely is.
2:48 am
chris, i spent 30 years in court proving criminal intent, proving guilty state of mind, mens rea and judges in courtrooms all across the country every day instruct jurors. there is no way to look into the human mind and find somebody's intent, that's why we tell jurors that they infer intent based on words and conduct. donald trump's intent was corrupt, prove bring so all day long. why? because he launched this attack via his angry mob. this attack on the u.s. capitol from a platform of fraud. he told them they stole the election from me, from you, from us. get down to the capitol and stop the steal. he launched it from a place of fraud, which is exactly what makes proving his corrupt intent
2:49 am
so easy for prosecutors. >> one more quick question involving donald trump. some rioters and lawyers are pleading with the president for pardons. the politics of it aside, is there any reason he couldn't do that? >> sadly, the presidential pardon power is so broad that he probably could pardon as a class all of the insurrectionists. i would hope, chris, that the next department of justice headed up by merrick garland would challenge those pardons in court because i maintain that the department of justice must take the position that a president cannot pardon co-con spiritors and it looks like they were all in this insurrectionist endeavor together. the department of justice should take a maiden legal voyage and let the courts decide. we will have some precedent
2:50 am
moving forward. >> glen kirchner, i'm told you're an early reiser. i appreciate the fact that at this time of day you're willing to come on. >> great to be with you. in just a three days joe bin becomes the 46th president of the united states. between covid and security concerns, the celebrations will look a lot different than they have in the past. up next, the details of what democrats have planned. you clean dishes as you cook, to save time and stay ahead of the mess
2:51 am
but scrubbing still takes time. now there's dawn powerwash dish spray. the faster, easier way to clean as you go. it cleans grease five times faster on easy messes, just spray, wipe, and rinse. on tough messes, the spray-activated suds cut through grease on contact, without water. just wipe, and rinse. get dishes done faster dawn powerwash dish spray. spray. wipe. rinse.
2:53 am
. as security around the country increases ahead of the inauguration, the u.s. postal service is removing mailboxes in at least 17 states for security reasons, and collections at other mailboxes are being suspended. mailboxes were also removed during trump's inauguration in 2017, but this is an expansion of security measures because of the planned protests. today's rehearsal for the inauguration was canceled for
2:54 am
security reasons but the biden inaugural committee is continuing to roll out plans for virtual celebrations. that includes permz z by bruce springsteen and john legend. the committee already announced that at the swearing in lady gaga will sing the national anthem. msnbc reporter deep pa shiv ron is in washington the latest. >> reporter: that's right, chris. we found oat yesterday, first reported by abc news which we later confirmed that kamala harris will sworn in by justice sonia sotomayor, harris, herself, a barrier breaker will be the first woman as vice president, the first woman of color in this role. her whole campaign, so much of a focus on all the history she will be making. to be sworn in by sonia
2:55 am
sotomayor, it is a thread of symmetry going on with both of these women breaking barriers throughout their career. joe biden actually, when he was sworn in for his second term as vice president was also sworn in by justice sotomayor. a little continuity there. i thought it was also interesting, kamala harris will be sworn in on two different bibles, one of them belonging to a very close family friend. her name is mrs. shelton, someone kamala harris talks about often, who is kind of around in her neighborhood. she would go to her house and she considers mrs. shelton kind of a second mother. that's the personal bible she was sworn in on when she became senator of california. the sect bible is thurgood marshall's bible, also a former security justice, also a howard university alum, a place that's very close to kamala harris' heart and someone who she considers a personal hero.
2:56 am
she spoke during the pry player how much of an influence thurgood marshall was in her becoming a lawyer. it's tieing the dots together to this little piece of history coming the the swearing in ceremony on wednesday. chris. >> there's a lot we know is going to be happening virtually. we're out of time. give me one or two quick headlines, 15 seconds of what we can expect virtually for the inaugural celebration. >> reporter: absolutely. we'll be coming into the swearing in sir moan. after that, rather than the parades and inaugural balls, virtually everything will be happening virtually which, to be honest with you, is something this biden/harris team has been doing for months now. they're well rehearsed on how to digitally take care of these things. you'll see a virtual concert, virtual ceremony where americans can join from all over the country, very different from what we would normally see from an inauguration, but to keep everyone safe, that is the plan.
2:57 am
2:59 am
3:00 am
145 Views
1 Favorite
IN COLLECTIONS
MSNBC West Television Archive Television Archive News Search Service The Chin Grimes TV News ArchiveUploaded by TV Archive on