good day, everyone. from msnbc world headquarters here in new york, welcome to "weekends with alex witt." developing this now this afternoon a group of bipartisan senators will speak with the white house about president biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief proposal. white house chief of staff ron klain stressing the need for bipartisanship. >> we were going to move fast and we're going to move bipartisan. i don't think bipartisanship and speed are enemies of one another. the need is urgent. americans, both democrats and republicans, are dying. kids' schools that take care of

both democratic and republican kids are closed. people are on unemployment. people are in food lines. that's not a party issue. >> as the senate works on that agenda, it will receive the article of impeachment against donald trump tomorrow. senators on both sides of the aisle getting new insight and differing views on whether or not it's constitutional. >> the preponderance of opinion is that in fact, yes, an impeachment trial is appropriate after someone leaves office and that's something i concur with. >> article one, sections i think it's 6 and 7 specifically point out that you can impeach the president, and it does not indicate that you can impeach someone who is not in office, so i -- i think it's a moot point. >> it is constitutional. we have precedent from way back when a secretary of war was tried after he had left office, and obviously there's a remedy that would help in the future which would ban former presume

from running again. >> his listen to this, republican senator rand paul sparring today with abc's george stephanopoulos as the senator refuses to admit that the election wasn't stolen. >> this election was not stolen. do you accept that fact? >> well, what i would say is that the debate over whether or not there was fraud should occur. we never had any presentation in court where we actually looked at evidence. >> there with a 86 challenges filed by president trump and his allies in court, all were dismissed. every state certified the results -- >> not due -- >> the department of justice led by william barr said there's no widespread evidence of fraud. can't you just say the words this election was not stolen? >> well, what i would suggest is -- what i would suggest is that if we want greater confidence in our elections and 75% of republicans agree with me is that we do need to look at election integrity.

>> msnbc's monica alves is in washington, d.c. since you're focusing on the white house what do you expect from that call this afternoon. >> reporter: that virtual meeting supposed to be from 16 bipartisan lawmakers, eight on each side led by brian dees heading up the next council to discuss this $1.9 trillion coronavirus package relief that president biden would like to see action on in the coming weeks before the senate impeachment trial takes up a lot of objection jen in washington. they are hopeful that these are two things that can happen in tandem but, of course, the more toxic and partisan environment may make it more difficult to get some other legislative priorities across the finish line so that's why they are working on a sunday afternoon, and you're going to see these different senators talk to the white house. there's pretty broad support for some elements of this package when it comes to covid relief and money for vaccination distribution, but on some of the

other sticking points, there are a lot of questions and specifically republicans have said they think that it's too large. mitt romney, for example, this morning of utah expressed that concern, so they are going to be discussing these things with the white house not necessarily with president biden. he's going to be talking to people more behind the scenes in other conversations, but earlier today you had white house spokesperson jean-pierre talking about why this president is positioned to reach across the aisle and work with republicans because of his history, of course, on capitol hill. take a listen to what she had to say. >> as you know president joe biden, all his life, at least in his career worked with the other side and when it comes to getting big things done he's always worked with republicans to get those big things done, and i think the american people deserve a bipartisan response to the crises that are happening around us and something we haven't seen in a long time. we can't wait, you know. just because washington has been

gridlocked before it doesn't mean it needs to continued to be gridlocked so we have to continue to work hard for the american people. >> alex, following up on something that we talked about yesterday, president biden and his two grand daughters just returned to the white house from going to church. they attended catholic mass at holy trinity church in georgetown. of course, president biden is the second catholic to hold the office after john f. kennedy, of course, who also frequented and went to services at holy trinity so that's the first marking of this mass. we don't know yet if this is going to be his parrish for the duration. we know he's still trying to decide that. this was his first outing and first we beened as president there, and then on his way back we're told that staffers actually stopped at a local jewish deli, call your mother here, a bagel shop in georgetown to get some food for the white house staffers, so already a marked difference and departure from what he had become accustomed to where he would often go golfing on the weekends and it was rare to see him ever go to any properties in

washington, d.c. that weren't ones that he owned himself, alex. >> we should say, joe biden always wearing his faith on his sleeve and showing a very ecumenical side as he goes from the catholic church to the jewish deli. good details. let's get to the latest of mainstreaming of qanon mainstream with unfounded musings of q, an unidentified social media user, who claims to be a high ranking military officer but nbc reporter ben collins says they are losing hope after president biden's inauguration went off smoothly without intervention from donald trump. here's part of a new report from nbc's kate snow. >> reporter: many of those who believe the totally unfonded conspiracies and prophecies of qanon expected january 20th to be judgment day. they believed the falsehood that former president trump was helping fight an elite satanic cabal that abuses children. >> they really did anticipate that donald trump would declare martial law. he would be president again for another four years at least and

that all of their enemies would be rounded up and the truth revealed >> reporter: so when president biden took the oath there was confusion and disappointment. how long does it take the fed to run up the stairs and arrest him, one person wroempt anyone else feeling beyond let down? >> and ben collins is joining me right now. good to see you, ben. you've been researching and covering qanon for years now. what can you tell us about the size of this movement and the degree to which followers are disillusioned. >> reporter: you know, at its peak it was in the hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. in the last week we've seen for the very first time real drop-off here. they kind of ran out of options after inauguration day. you can't really keep going with this lie that the president is saving the world and he's running this secret intragovernment, you know, operation, to save the world from these satanic cannibals if he's not the president anymore and they are starting to realize that. that said, it's not over it.

qanon is better viewed as an on ramp to various different extremism circles. you know, it's a social media like faction that pushes people to wilder and wilder places, anti-advantages things, white nationalism. it will push you down these bad paths that. has not gone away. >> well, yeah, it hasn't because in part there's some newly elected representatives. they have been previously linked to these unfounded conspiracies. what do we know about q and its representation in congress right now? >> yeah, marjorie taylor greene, she used to post qanon conspiracy theories in a blog under a pseudonym. we have those everywhere, and it's not just that, you know, park harnd and sandy hook conspiracy theories, that sort of thing. she was pushing those things as well. that's what i mean as an off ramp. once you get into this eco-system you don't leave. you start to think that the world is run by bad guys and they need to be stopped, so while people are now moving off of that. they are just looking for a new leader. i'm sure they will look to

marjorie taylor green and congresswoman boegert from colorado, sort of a headless cult right now and they are looking for answers, and i'm sure they will find someone in the next few weeks. >> in this whole world of digs information there's been social media posts making all kinds of claims but can you clear this up here. is there any evidence, pep, that these new members, either of the two that you named or any others that have an affiliation some way with q played a role in the capitol insurrection? >> reporter: there is no evidence of that. they stoked the fires that led to people believing that once they got in the capitol things would change, right? qanon is based on the idea that there's a storm coming and the storm is a mass execution of democrats, and a lot of those people went into the capitol assuming that that's what it was. it was the storm, and, you know, the people who ride that up over the last few years, they

shouldn't be shocked people took it literally. they were saying it literally. these people were saying that these people needed to be rounded up and executed. this was not just some internet rumor thing. the people who stoked this, if they didn't, have you know, some sort of direct impact on what would happen at the capitol today, they certainly alluded to it. >> ben clips, thank you so much for being part of the show. appreciate it. joining me right now congressman pokan, democrat from washington, serves on the education, labor and appropriations committee. welcome, congressman. good to sigh. i want to start with something we played at the top of the show with senator rand paul refusing to acknowledge that the election was not stolen hand in fact saying it needs an even closer look. what is your response to that? >> yeah, first, thanks for having me, alex. my response is really not being able to say anything. it's only silence. when i look at anyone who at this point is still trying to go down that path which is so

clearly disproven either they are still trying to make donald trump and his supporters happy or they are living in such a world removed from the rest of congress that i really don't know what you would ever say to convince them if they actually need conviction or if this is just their rhetoric they are saying because so many of them want to run for president and want their support, so, you know, i think most mainstream republicans have moved on. that's why joe biden is trying to work with democrats and republicans, but the good thing is he's not going to wait around for them too long, and we're going to get things done and try to work together, but, you know, joe biden showing he's not a rookie and no matter how much rand paul or q1 o or q2 or any of these folks in congress are going to say these things, we're going to get things done to help the american people. >> let me ask you in the wake of ben collins' report, lots of increased security on capitol hill after the january 6th attacks. you've got metal detectors, they

have been installed. capitol police investigating the investigation whether congressman harris set off a metal detector right near the house floor carrying a concealed gun. it is illegal to take a gun to the house floor. some republican colleagues have been evading the metal detectors. what's your reaction to that, especially after that report from ben. do you, sir, feel safe going to work in the capitol? >> you know, it's sad that these members aren't doing this for any kind of reason of protecting themselves or anything else. they are doing it for notoriety. you know, everyone right now, now that donald trump, the head of the cult doesn't have a twitter account, everyone's got to decide if they are going to be the new cult leader, and whether it be trying to bring a gun on the floor or go aren't metal detectors or introduce articles of impeachment against joe biden, they are also trying to stand out among a pretty fringe element out there, but, you know, i think the sad part, alex, is, you know, when the tea party and the republican party are now the moderates because you have qanon followers,

republican party's got a lot of problems to deal with. >> president biden, you know, is top priority is covid, covid, covid and certainly this relief plan right now. it's already face hurdles in congress. the plan includes raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. that's something a lot of republicans are not on board with. do you think raising minimum wage should be included in this covid plan, or do you think democrats should look at trying to do something separately on that? >> look, you know, barack obama did some things around the minimum wage as well, and we need to. it's been over a decade. you can't live on $15,000 a year which is what the minimum wage would give you working 40 hours a week. it's ridiculous, and we need to do something, so what joe biden is doing is accurately raising it for federal workers and federal contractors and by doing so it will help to overall raise wages. let's also remember that over 85% of employers already are paying above what that first step of going to the $15 minimum

wage in our congressional bill would do. it's really just trying to bring those few lag yards really underpaying people up to speed and then we will phase it in, but it's been a long time. people have waited for that raise, and it will help the economy from the grass roots up. >> okay. let's together take a listen to something that something bernie sanders said earlier today on the biden agenda. here it is. >> we're going to push joe, the president, as far as we can, but given the fact he's been in office for less than a week i think he's off to a good start. what we have got to do is recognize that right now we're living in an unprecedented moment in american history. you've got the pandemic, got an economic collapse. we've got climate change. we have a crumbling infrastructure, and what we have -- we have millions of people working for starvation wages, and what we've got to do is roll up our sleeves. >> congressman, you used to chair the progressive or co-chair the progressive caucus.

does president biden's message of unity concern any of your fellow progress i was? do you think it will push him more towards the mid do you think he's listening to progressives? >> so far he's having a hell of a first week doing great things around climate change and raise people's wages around covid and trying to fix the economy. as a progressive i'm happy and i hope he keeps doing what he's doing. i think the lesson we have to learn is don't reach your hand out for too long because as we remember when barack obama got elected they had no intention of working with him, and we can't lose valuable time, especially with covid and the economy because of covid, and, again, joe biden is showing that this isn't his first time at the rodeo. he knows what he's doing and i think by doing these executive actions, let's keep moving legislation, let's get a covid package done, and if the republicans want to work with us absolutely, but if they want to buy time and do the washington way joe biden is not going to do that, and i think that's the

right measure. >> okay. congressman mark pocan, thanks for being gracious and not correcting me right off the top saying you're from washington but you're from wisconsin. >> it's the state with one of the nation's lost vaccination rates and yet it still has more than 2 million vaccine doses in still in deep freeze ahead. why is that? also ahead, donald trump's former personal attorney michael cohen on how he's helping new york prosecutors build a case against trump. s helping new york prosecutors build a case against trump.

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there are staggering new facts to report in the coronavirus pandemic. there are now more than 25 million cases in the u.s. the nation adding another million cases in less than a week, and this is the fourth time this month the country passed a new million case mark each time taking less than a

week. more than 17 million americans have gotten at least one doze of the vaccine and 3 million have gotten both doses and today the white house chief of staff promises the biden administration will speed up the process. the fundamental difference between the biden approach and the trump approach is that we're going to take responsibility at the federal government. we're going to own this problem. we're going to work closely with the states. they are a key partners in getting this done, but we're also going to do the work ourselves. we're going to use all the powers we have in the white house. we're going to work with congress to get more funding, to also accelerate this so we can improve the rate at which we're vaccinating people. >> the university of michigan suspended all athletic activities. several people linked to the sports department tested positive for a covid variant. all players and coaches must now isolate for two weeks. >> california leads other states in the number of covid cases, but it's ranked near the bottom in vaccine distribution abuse. let's go to nbc's scott cohen

joining us from san francisco. welcome on this weekend. what's behind the delay in the vaccine rollout? >> reporter: well, like everything else, alex, it is complicated. i can tell you that given where we've been in the past year this is a heartwarming site. it's a vaccination site in san francisco that is operating, but the challenge still is getting vaccines into people's arms and joins joining us is dr. grant koufax, the public health director for the city and county of san francisco. good morning. >> good morning to you. this is a positive sign but it's going slowly. >> that's right. >> so what is going on? >> this is very exciting. today in collaboration with the university of california san francisco we're giving vaccines, getting shots into arms, but the manish uright now is we need more vaccine. this site can do over 3,000 vaccines a day. as you can see we have lanes set up and have 23 lanes right now. we're only able to operate eight of the lanes because we need more vaccine as quickly as possible to get those vaccines

into arms. >> i know you can speak to san francisco, but there's been a lot of vaccine delivered and not a lot of it has gotten into people's arms, at or near the bottom nationwide. what do you think is going on there? why are we not able to make that critical -- >> from the beginning of the pandemic we've seen a lack of coordinated federal response so states and localities are really struggling. the bottom line is here in san francisco all vaccine we get is going out and getting into arms and being allocated. we're ready to go here. as you know the state has set health care workers and people over 56 for priority to get the vaccine. in san francisco that's over 200,000 people. that's over 400,000 vaccines just for the start, so we're ready to go. our goal is to get 10,000 vaccines into arms in san francisco a day, but we need that vaccine. we're ready to go here. >> so we know now that the

response is being federalized under the biden administration. you've clearly done a lot of work here at the local level. talk about that shift. how do you move to the federal response and keep it seamless given the work that you've done here? >> so we're hopeful with the right people in charge now following the science, data and facts that -- that the communication, the supply chain and vaccine will stabilize and we'll be able to get more vaccines into arms. the plan was released earlier this week. i think that's a good first step, but right now the main thing to get us out of this is to get the vaccine to arms as quickly as possible. in san francisco we can do that in as little as six months if we get the 10,000 vaccines a day that we need right now. >> so glimmers of hope for sure. we'll look for more of that. dr. grant koufax is public health director for the city and county of san francisco. >> appreciate you trying to put a positive spin on all of that. thank you so much. joining me now is an infectious

and epidemiologist specialist. dr. gillander, welcome back to the broadcast. despite the really slovaks even rollout in california, some cities there are actually actually running out of vaccine, and it's happening in several states. new york governor cuomo is saying the state has run out of its first doses. the next shipment will only last a few days so will the states start seeing more frequent bigger shipments soon? i mean, is vaccine production ramped up now? >> alex, this is going to be a challenge for the coming months. we do not have enough vaccine to vaccinate all 330 million americans right now and we won't. we won't for several months yet, so we are going to have a situation of scarcity, and i think what you're seeing is essentially trying to balance the distribution to places like new york city and san francisco that have much stronger health departments and health systems to deliver vaccine so they can do so more quickly with questions of fairness and

equity. is it fair to send all the vaccine to san francisco and new york city and not to places like, i don't know, rural texas or mississippi that may have more challenges in terms of distributing the vaccine, so, you know, i think we're trying to do our best to work with state, local, territorial and tribal governments and health departments to real ramp up their distribution capacity as well. >> yeah. look, i'm going to cite an example and i know it's not dealing with the same kind of volume here, but there is an israeli health care group that says covid infections plunge by 60% among people over the age of 60 who have been vaccinated and say hospitalizations for that same group have also dropped. what do you make of that? >> i think vilan excellent example what have happens when you have a centralized public health system and health care system that also has strong computer technology information systems. they have invested in their

system in a way that we have not, and so this is the difference between that kind of centralized health care system that really provide the same level of care and public health services to all of its citizens in contrast to our country which simply does not do that. >> president biden will reopen schools. wants to do it this spring. he's calling it a national emergency thus far. what's the plan for reopening schools, doctor, and making sure students and staff are properly protected at every single school? >> reporter: well, number one going back to the department of health and human services and department education, having them draw up evidence science-based guidelines for how to do this so that the states and local school systems have the appropriate guidance to know what to do. secondly you're going to see the fema disaster relief fund reimbursing schools for the full cost of what -- what it's costing them to reopen safely.

i can tell you my little sister is a high school principal, and she's having to pay out of pocket to buy masks and other supplies for her own staff, and then, you know, finally testing and screening is going to be a really important part of the equation so the federal government helping states and local school systems to purchase test kits and figure out screening protocols. >> your little sister is a good soul, but shouldn't have to be doing that so far. what about nbc data that shows only four states are seeing a percentage increase in covid cases over the past two weeks. however, 19 states are seeing an increase in deaths over that same two-week period. why is the death rate higher than the increase in cases? i mean, is it possible to all that this new potentially more deadly uk strain is playing a role in this? >> i don't think that explains those current trends. remember, that there's a lag between cases and deaths, so first you see cases peak and

then you see a couple weeks later the deaths peak so what you're really seeing is the fallout still from the christmas and new year's holidays and people, unfortunately, having transmitted among family and friends, ending up in the hospital and now, unfortunately, some of them are dying. >> glad for the perspective you always offer on all the stats. doctor, thank you so much. coming up next, a recommendation that not one but two special counsels investigate donald trump. reactions from trump's former personal attorney michael cohen, plus how he's working with the new york prosecutor's digging into trump's finances. he new york prosecutor's digging into trump's finances.

a new warning from george conway in a "washington post" op-ed saying donald trump must face the consequences of his acts detailing exactly how president biden's department of justice can investigate trump's suspected misconduct now that he's a private citizen. conway writes to deal with trump

and to do so fairly the attorney general designate merrick garland once confirmed will need to use the mechanism of a special counsel. indeed given the astonishing breadth of trump's wrongdoing garland may need to appoint more than one to get the job done swiftly and thoroughly. joining me now is donald trump's former personal attorney michael cohen, author of "disloyal" and host of the podcast "mea culpa." did i say best-sell bok "disloyal." good to see you. >> alex, what you're just doing now, thank you. >> thank you. within that op-ed, michael, conway asks could you imagine one prosecutor in charge of address trump's finances and taxes, his hush money payments, obstruction of the mueller investigation, the ukraine scandal and post-election misconduct for starters. do you, michael, agree, it would take multiple special counsels to accurately investigate donald trump? >> yeah. that's only a small amount of the wrong does that's committed

by trump and associates, so, yes, i do believe that you would need more than one individual in order to handle the full breadth of donald trump's behavior. >> you know, it's interesting because conway says that a desperate fear of criminal indictment may have explained trump's willingness to break any number of laws to stay in office despite losing his re-election bid. democracy and the constitution be damned. do you agree, michael? >> i agree. >> you do? >> i agree with everything that george said in that article which is sad if you think about it because donald trump not only has never read the constitution, he doesn't care about the constitution so long as that there's a benefit to him. you know, then there's something that i also just was thinking about the other day. i had put out a tweet talking about how trump did not pardon himself or he did not pardon his children or rudy giuliani, and after a while, of course, knowing donald trump for well over a decade, almost a decade and a half as i do, i started

thinking to myself it doesn't really make sense because it's not donald trump, so what -- what am i missing? what are we missing as america? and i kind of think i figured it out. i think donald trump actually has given himself the pardon. i think he also has pocket pardons for his chirp and for rudy and it's already stashed somewhere that if and when they do get indicted and that there's a criminal conviction, federal criminal conviction brought against him he already has the pardons in hand, so i -- i started searching over the weekend for whether or not the constitution requires that pardons be disclosed to the american people and to the press, and i couldn't find anything that said that it does, and that to me is more in line with what george conway is trying to say about how donald trump doesn't care about the law, how he will skirt the law, how he will do anything to benefit himself, and that includes even, you know, doing something like this with a

pocket pardon. >> i got to say that's a stunning prospect that you bring up, not one that i've heard and, again, you said you've been thinking about this one for a while, but constitutionally speaking how would that even work? >> how does anything work constitutionally with donald trump? i mean, he doesn't. he doesn't look at it as, well, this could be violative of the constitution. he will do whatever benefits him and he'll wait for someone to tell him that it's unconstitutional and then he'll challenge it. i mean, that's just how he works. the constitution, democracy, none of that means anything to him. i think we've all seen that going back i mean as early as january 6th. he doesn't care. >> look, i want to say it's the first time i'm hearing something like this. it's not as if you've spoken with donald trump and know this to be fact. i know you're speculating this, but it's interest, i'll grant you that. what about another thing that conway writes that the investigators should follow the least new york prosecutors and i

know you, michael, have been interviewing with the manhattan d.a. with allegations that trump committed all these cases of financial fraud. can you share any of those details? can you tell us whether you'll be speaking more with cy vance jr.? >> i'm somebody of great interest and a lot of help to not just the district attorney but the attorney general and several other congressional committees that have reached out over the course of since i'm back from my unconstitutional, right, remand to prison by president trump and bill barr so the answer is yes. without getting into the sum and substance of their investigation, let me just say to you, alex, that the d.a. has an owe innous amount of documentary evidence. you see, that's the beautiful thing about documents, you know. there's an old adage that numbers don't lie. people do, and as we know donald trump will lie about anything but the documents speak for themselves, and they are using that documentation in order to

create the basis for the indictment. some of the things that i have provided are those documentary evidence papers going back 21 months when i testified before the house oversight committee but more than that i'm giving them a road map into how the trump organization and donald trump works and behaves and that way they get a better understanding on how to use the information that they already have. >> do you have a sense of when the manhattan d.a. could file charges? >> well, i always say in my tweets i believe it will be under three scaramuccis so we're talking about under a month. >> okay. let's talk about turning reporting which has some new details on trump's alleged plot to replace his acting attorney general with a doj lawyer willing to help overturn the election results. "the journal" is reporting before that plot trump pushed the doj to ask the supreme court to invalidate biden's victory and that's a move his three

appointees refused because it was illegal. the what is this behavior tell you? >> it -- it -- it just -- it's donald trump. the his belief system is that i gave you the opportunity of a lifetime. i made you into a supreme court judge. i'm asking you to do this for me. i'm actually not asking you. i'm telling you that this is what you're going to do for me because i'm the one that put you there, and so, you know, when it comes to loyalty he expects from them complete and total loyalty. thank god fortunately that they have more scruples and that they have more value than bill barr did because how do you think, again, going back to my remand to prison, simply because i refused to sign a document that said that i couldn't publish a book in violation of my first amendment constitutional right, so i find it ironic that donald trump is claiming constitution, constitution, constitution only when it benefits him, right, and

if it benefited anybody -- he's willing to step on anybody else's constitutional right simply. that means entire country so long as he gets what he wants, and in this specific case it was to stay in power and to basically become the autocrat and dictator that he wants to be. >> you know, what's interesting right now, the biden administration trying to bull over what happens here, whether they release trump's federal tax records to house democrats who certainly have been asking him for years. should that happen, michael, and if it does, what will it reveal? >> wow, so if it does, first of all, i like the fact in a joe biden is trying to keep an arm's length distance away from the entire scenario. if in fact that it's determined, and i believe that it will be, that donald trump should be investigated, then they will appoint at least one special counsel. let the special counsel handle it. i think for joe biden he's doing exactly what he needs to do.

justice has to be served. i mean, the one thing that democrats have constantly said from the very, very beginning is that no one is above the law. now, what ultimately happens. that will be up to the law in order to make the determination, but it doesn't just stand for donald trump. it stands for donald trump. the it stands for his company. it stands for don, for ivanka and for jared and for eric trump and all of those that were part of the, you know, incitement of this riot on january 6th and their insurrectionist behavior. i find it kind of a little disturbing i listen to the gop members sit there and cry about how that the insurrectionist raided the capitol while they were doing their jobs and that washington, the capitol police had to escort them into the bunker and out of the building and so on. you know, they are very upset about their safety. well, i certainly didn't see one single member of the gop give a

damn about when donald trump was threatening me and my family and i didn't have capitol police. hi nobody with which to protect me and not even an admonishment level by any of these animals show as far as i'm concerned stop whining, right. you had capitol police there protecting you and god bless them and all of them that put their lives on the line for all of them but they didn't have the same respect for me when donald trump through his twitter account was inciting or blowing his dog whistle to his maga supporters, you know, to basically come after me and my family, not a single admonishment from any of them, and they should all be embarrassed with themselves. >> always appreciate the passion with which you come on this broadcast. michael, if anybody didn't get enough right there, they can go to the best selling bok "disloyal" and go to your podcast mowa culpa with michael cohen. as congress prepares for donald trump's second

impeachment trial, ari melber will break it down for us. watch "trump on trial" tonight at 10:00 on msnbc. joe biden trying to bridget gap in washington. how his actions are speaking a lot louder than words and what that means for unity. louder that that means for unity go pro at subway® for double the protein on footlong subs and the new protein bowls. and if you want to go pro like marshawn, don't let anything get in your way. here we go! yeah, appreciate you, man! go pro and get double the protein for just $2 more. [tv announcer] come on down to our appliance superstore where we've got the best deals on refrigerators, microwaves, gas ranges and grills. and if you're looking for...

this just in, everyone. here's some new video of president biden leaving sunday church service a short while ago. he attended the holy tripity catholic church in georgetown with several of his

grandchildren. the presidential motorcade then stopped at a deli for some lunch food. meantime, the president with sweeping moves in the first days holding office, but there are reports, including this one, suggesting the pandemic and the political divide could slow or even block his efforts, and joining me now the author of that article and msnbc political analyst and white house reporter for the associated press jonathan le mire. jonathan, welcome. so it seemed like in a flash president biden is trying to erase a number of trump-era initiatives. is there a sense to you of which ones he was really eager to overturn and which ones might have the most impact immediately? >> well, president biden's first few days in office have been meant to signal a clear break with his predecessor in matters big and small hand here's one that is small. that stop right there of his family getting bagels, president trump never stopped at a washington restaurant or small business outside of his own hotel. so already that's a small but significant change the way this president is going to have a relationship with the capitol

city. >> but, by the way, can i just say donald trump, i mean, i don't recall him going to church particularly, certainly not often. always to the golf course so those another distinct difference. >> that's true. he occasionally would on some of the holidays but that was about, certainly not a regular church goer while joe biden does. joe biden goes to mass every weekend. he did in delaware, did during the campaign trail and certainly setting that tone here in his first sunday as president in washington, but, yes, to pick up the thread though. some of the changes are sort of symbolic. we saw the president wear a mask as the resolute desk in the oval office while signing a series of executive orders, something certainly president trump never did. he barely wore masks as all and then we saw that the orders themselves, these actions on a variety of topics, including re-entering the paris climate agreement, rejoining the world health organization, changes to the president's -- halting construction to president trump's border wall and other changes to immigration and certainly the pandemic, and that

is the biggest thing of all is that the biden team recognized that his first 100 days, frankly his first year in office, maybe his entire term will be judged in some ways but how he governs and manages this pandemic, something that president trump obviously did not do well. they are looking to hit the ground running. this pandemic. they were looking to hit the ground running but there's a limit to what he can do on his own which is why there's so much attention being paid to congress. the $1.9 trillion relief package out there. and why later this afternoon members of the president's team. his economic director will be having a call to see if there's progress to be made to get that deal done. >> it can't be understated. do you think that's what he hopes to focus on as well, what he will be remembered for mostly in his first 100 days? that's something we look at the first 100 days of a presidency. >> sure. the first 100 days is a key

marker. for some presidents, it is their most important time. for this president, he doesn't have a choice. the pandemic colors everything. it has reshaped america's society. it has so many levels to it. of course there is the health crisis part. it is killing about 4,000 americans a day. the biden administration recognizes they need to improve the vaccine administration. they need to get it into the arms of americans who want them and the economic toll. the economy is teetering right now west heard from president back-to-back a friday. it could get worse before it gets better which is why they're asking congress to step up with the relief package. it just dwarfs anything the president can do on its own. >> i'm curious how important it is to the biden administration to not just show that they're diverting from the trump way of doing things. >> well, there is no question that is part of this, right? it is meant to be a clear break. that this is a new order, a new administration.

both in terms of tone and action. but it is more than that. they recognize that this pandemic would be for any president coming in, would be job number one and an overwhelming crisis in itself. but biden, and he addressed this, is really confronted with an historic crisis, health crisis, economic crisis, a nation deeply divided. mostly because of in many ways because of the actions of his predecessor. we have the trial in the senate looming which will inflame partisanship even further. we're still dealing rightly so with the aftermath of a summer of racial reckoning and racial justice. there is. so on this president's plate that historians i've talked on suggest that though certainly the only comparisons that can be made are what abraham lincoln and franklin delano roosevelt did.

>> you have a sense of his thinking. >> certainly the white house press secretary danced around this question a number of times, as to what the president believes or wants to see happen. this we do know. the white house is relieved that the trial got pushed back two weeks. that's two more weeks for the senate to focus on the covid relief package but also confirming biden's cabinet pick. so far he's only had two confirmed so far and they're desperate for others to happen in the next week or two. so they're grateful for that. the senate itself, it is a distraction. they recognize it has to happen. there is such energy in the democratic base to hold president trump accountable for inciting that insurrection at the capitol. what will happen next, we don't know. there does seem to be some republican who's are willing, who are leaning toward convicting. mcconnell has said that he's open to it. there is a sense that if he were

to break for conviction, other republicans would go with him. the question is would that reach 17? it would take 17 republicans to vote to convict to have president trump removed from office and potentially barred from ever holding office again. that seems like tall task. most people in the beltway don't think they'll reach that number. >> always a pleasure. vaccines are. your boss require you to get it before going back to work? a major company considering it. a major company considering it . right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

a white house conference call of congressional leaders later this afternoon to go over president back-to-back he had a covid-19 relief proposal. i'll speak with an economist about the harsh realities facing our nation. our nation continuous glucose mo, you can check your glucose with a painless, one-second scan. and now with optional alarms,

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good day to all of you. welcome to weekends with alex witt. here's what's happening. we start at the white house where in just about an hour or so from now members of the biden administration will speak with 16 bipartisan senators, eight republicans, eight democrats. this on the president's covid relief proposal. the press secretary stressing the importance of getting both parties on board. >> this is something that he has done when he was a senator. he has been able to reach out to the other side, do big things with both democrats and