exercising her right to, quote, impeach donald trump. mcconnell saying congresswoman greene's looney lies and conspiracy theorys are a cancer for the republican party and our country. really taking a stand there. and his statement on cheney saying that cheney is a leader with deep convictions and the courage to act on them. looming over all this, next week's second impeachment trial of mr. trump. the brand-new trump legal team after he fired or rather they quit over the weekend. he had expected them to deliver their response to the latest article today. and they will deliver ha response. just now, a first look at the house impeachment manager's brief arguing that the president summoned a mob to washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down pennsylvania avenue. joining me now nbc chief white

house correspondent, "weekend today" co-host peter alexander, garrett haake on capitol hill, brendan buck, former senior adviser to house speakers paul ryan and john boehner, and former maryland democratic congresswoman debra everets and former senator claire mccaskill. peter first to you. let's start with the covid relief package. the white house releasing a statement after that monday meaning with republicans saying the president is open to reconciliation, but the republicans are in the conversation. so where do we stand? are democrats on the progressive side getting nervous he'll compromise too much, or are all saying he'll go big even if it means going it alone? >>. >> reporter: when everybody was said and done last night, it was clear president biden, this white house wasn't really giving much ground here. they say that the meeting was substantive and productive but at the end of the day he said

they had to meet this moment. the decision is whether to go big and go it alone or scale back this american rescue plan with some republican support. white house officials are skeptical there's any scenario under which they would get ten republicans. that's why they believe the reconciliation ultimately is going to be the course they need to take here, which means a simple majority would be enough. democrats could do it alone. but they believe they can bring in in some of those republicans, perhaps not all ten who participated in the oval office meeting, but at the end of the day, they say unity is what most american people want, not necessarily what all republicans and all democrats agree needs to happen. there are some significant differences between these two plans right now, places where it's very unlikely that this white house is going to concede. $1.9 million versus $618 billion

in the republican package. they're on the same page as it relates to vaccine distribution and testing. take a look at these checks, for example. $1,400 the white house is proposing. the republican counteroffer saying $1,000 to far fewer americans based on conversations i'm having. i think that's one place where there is potential for some wiggle room. other issues like school reopening as well, the republicans proposing $20 billion versus closer to $170 billion from this white house. >> and garrett, let's go through mitch mcconnell's recent statements. i wanted to play part of an interview with a woman whose son died defending the students in parkland. this is alex witt and her discussion with marjorie taylor greene. >> my first question to congresswoman greene was do you really believe that parkland and sandy hook were staged. her answer to me was unequivocally no, i do not. i said if that's really what you

believe, then come on air and tell the public just that. well, her statement is clear because here i am with you and she's not here right now. you know, alex, truth the power, and if congress welcome greene believes that parkland and sandy hook were, in fact, real events, she would be willing to say that publicly. her failure tells me that for congresswoman greene, politics trumps truth. >> and, so garrett, you know mitch mcconnell. it's so rare for him to reach over to the house said and intervene in party battle in the house. >> reporter: yeah. that's true. i should add that congresswoman greene did come out yesterday in an interview on oan and says she believes those shootings were real so doing cleanup on this false flag question in an interview yesterday. as for mitch mcconnell, it is

extraordinary to see him weigh in, really not just to essentially attack a fellow republican other than someone who might be running in a primary against one of his senators whom he always defendses, but also to weigh into the internal dynamics of the house. that's just not something he does. frankly, it's not something many senators relish doing. they sort of leave the house to its own devices. i see the mcconnell involvement here as the strongest evidence yet that he's trying to put his imprimatur on whatever the future of the republican party is going to be. he wants it to look more like liz cheney, who he defended in a statement yesterday, and less like marjorie taylor greene and the sort of qanon associates around her. >> claire, before we get too sweet on what mitch mcconnell is doing, he's also holding up the leadership agreement so the committees can't even form under democrats. the elections, you know, it was

understand how these guys can talk about bipartisanship day in and day out and how they can criticize the possibility of reconciliation being used where they could pass things including the covid bill with only democratic votes when they won't even organize the senate. it is outrageous that lindsey graham is lecturing the chairman of the judiciary committee by votes when the hearing should be from eric garland and the judiciary committee. it is hard for people -- i mean, think of the voters in georgia that made a conscious decision to give the senate to the democratic party that mitch mcconnell is now for weeks refusing to acknowledge that he is no longer the majority leader and that those chairmen have to

give up their gavels. the level of frustration is very high among my former colleagues right now. something has to give on this and give on it soon. >> and it could affect the covid discussions as well, their willingness to go forward and do reconciliation, which is poorly named because it means going and doing it without the other party. let's talk about the controversies. marjorie taylor greene, persistent headache for kevin mccarthy? how tough a line will it be? we don't know what he might do, but of course the house democrats are threatening to take action to start the ball rolling to try to strip her of her committees, not something they would normally do cross party. i was just handed a note. president biden and treasury secretary yellin will be joining the members at their meeting, the democratic regular tuesday caucus. so the democratic caucus, they'll be talking about their

strategy going forward, perhaps a little cleanup after that meeting. the first meeting in the oval office with republicans, not democrats. i interrupted myself asking that question. >> sure. garrett had an important point. it is remarkable to me that mitch mcconnell is wading into the i believer problems of the house conference, not only -- he didn't just stumble into making comments about liz cheney and marjorie taylor greene. he put out organized statements to make sure everybody knew what he was doing. that tells me it's not just about internal party politics. it's telling me he's really concerned about the direction of the party, and he knows it would be an incredible disgrace and a shame if liz cheney is punished for what happened on january 6th and nobody else. and marjorie taylor greene continues to go around and be the face of the new freshman class. he knows -- we should absolutely

give mitch mcconnell credit. he absolutely believes everything he said. he's also looking at it through a political lens and he knows there is incredible political downside that not only did he just lose the majority but may never be able to get it back. if we're unable to be the party of conspiracy theorists. i couldn't associate myself with a party run by conspiracy theorists. he's trying to put a stop to that because there aren't a whole lot of other republican leaders who are saying much of anything in defense of liz cheney in particular, which is critical. >> donna, when you look at the house in general, the fact that she is there and that she may have gone on oan, but she has not made a statement, a mainstream statement about all these other things she's done, the threats she's made, the threats gwen pelosi she's liked on facebook and twitter. it's just pretty incredible she

has not been punished somehow by the caucus. >> well, i mean, clearly kevin mccarthy is unwilling to take the steps that he needs in order to strip marjorie taylor greene of any power that she has. he won't even remove her from the education committee after these comments, whether she's trying to clean them up or not, about sandy hook and parkland. i think it shows the weakness of kevin mccarthy, that he has no ability within his caucus to be able to hold these people to account. and keep in mind, for republicans, it isn't just marjorie taylor greene. it's mo brooks and paul gosar and lauren and the list goes on. there is a problem that i think mitch mcconnell aptly describes as it's not about preventing the cancer. the cancer is already there.

and they can't seem to cut it out. and so i'm not really sure where the republican leadership goes in the house of representatives because if they can't hold one of their own accountable in this environment and democrats are forced to strip her from her committee by going to the floor of the house, then it speaks volumes about the direction of the republican party. and mitch mcconnell is not going to have any control of that. this is taking over the republican party and it is a cancer not just on that party but it's a conditions cancer on democracy. >> and pete'ser before we go, i want to bring up impeachment. we are one week away from the start of the impeachment trial. we've heard from the house managers already today and we're waiting to hear from the new trump legal team, which say they're going to file even with only a couple days on the job. >> reporter: their deadline is noon today. that means it was a matter of minutes ago.

i suspect we'll see that filing, our first glimpse of the formal defense of the former president moments from now. but we are seeing in that 80-page brief from those nienhouse impeachment managers how they are going to lay out their case going forward, drawing a direct line between the former president and the riot that we saw take place, the siege and riot we saw take place at the capitol on january 6th. according to this document obtained by nbc news, among other things they will say president trump was singularly responsible for that event. they will say he would do anything to reassert his grim on power if given the opportunity. among other things, going at this idea of the constitutionality, the 45 republicans within the last several weeks saying they believe it would be unconstitutional to impeach a president who is out of office. they describe in this brief that there is no january exception, that the final days or weeks of a president's term are as important as any other time in

the course of the four years they serve as president, saying this president needs to be held accountable. andrea? >> and claire, now that we know that the president and janet yellin are going to weigh in virtually to the senate lunch today, what's the caucus reaction going to be? what are senate democrats going to say? okay, you brought those ten republicans in to the oval office, that was your first meeting and you're appearing on zoom with us? >> i don't think people mind that his first meeting was with republicans. i think they get it. i think they know for this president to be successful it was all about unifying the country. and him showing in a major way that he is going to listen and try to find common ground, that does nothing but help the president gain political capital that will allow him to support the policies of the people in that caucus meeting today also support. >> and brandan, let's talk about

the house caucus as we go towards covid. what are senate republicans going to do? can they expand that moderate base? is that a starting point, what the ten republicans presented yesterday? because one of the red lines for democrats has been that something has to go to these states that are so beleaguered with vaccine distribution and the like. and there's nothing so far in their offer for states. >> well, i think all ten of those republicans you can consider sincere and really want to work towards something. i think what has democrats probably a little spun up is we talk about this process of reconciliation, going on your own, 50 votes. it makes it sound simple. the reality is reconciliation is incredibly complex. there are six steps to take. the point being, it will take a while. i know joe biden would enjoy sitting around talking to those republicans for the next two, three, four weeks because i think he enjoys that kind of thing, but once they decide they'll go alone, it will take

weeks if not a month for them to figure out how to do that. the clock is ticking so joe biden will have to make a decision. these people are probably very sincere, but i don't know he thinks he has enough time to sit around for two or three weeks talking to them, because that population of republican senators who are willing to vote for it is no bigger than that ten. he needs to get all ten of those, and that's a pretty tough task. >> peter alexander, garrett haake, brandan buck, donna edwards, and claire mccaskill. thank you all so much. continuing now, any moment we are expecting an update from the white house on the covid response coordinator jeff zients -- problem with my throat -- as today is also the -- the u.s. is racing to get covid vaccines into the arms of americans. one of the big problems of course the new highly contagious uk variant, which is threatening another surge in cases. the variant is now in at least

33 states. experts are concerned it could become the dominant strains and that people who've already had covid could be reinfected. while the cdc is working to review 77,000 cases a week, the best thing to do is get people vaccine nuclear facilityeds because viruses cannot mutate if they cannot replicate. it's complicated by the nor'easter closing vaccination sites today in new york and new jersey. allison barber joins me in new jersey at vaccine megasite that remains closed today. i guess the weather is taking its toll. >> reporter: yeah, it is. in new jersey and new york, vaccination sites closed yesterday and today. we are at one of six megasites in new jersey that is closed today. you can see and hear the

snowplows. e they have been working since 6:00 this morning trying to get this entire parking area where people who are coming to get vaccinated need to be cleared out and ready so they can open this back up tomorrow. somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 people in new jersey were supposed to get vaccinated on monday and tuesday. because of vaccine shortages and mostly the weather, that did not happen. but they say they are rescheduling those appointments. most have already been rescheduled. andrea? >> a dramatic snowstorm indeed, ellison. now we go to the white house for jeff zients and his briefing. >> that means we have increased supply by more than 20% since we took office. and we have succeeded in our efforts to secure the equipment required to extract a sixth dose from pfizer's vials. vaccine kits ship to states, tribe, and territories with pfizer vials containing the

syringe required to get a 20% increase in the pfizer doses. this is on top of the 10.5 million doses we will ship this week. i also want to be clear that we are delivering on our commitment to provide states with three weeks' forward visibility into supply. this is critical, and we've heard strong feedback from state and local leaders that this is helping give them what they need to plan and get vaccines administered more quickly. we know it's not only the amount of voox that matters opinion another critical component is creating easily accessible places for americans to get vaccinated. millions of americans turn to their local pharmacies every day for their medicines, flu shots, and much more. and pharmacies are readily accessible in most communities with most americans living within five miles of a pharmacy. that's why we're pleased to announce our first phase of a federal retail pharmacy program for covid-19 vaccinations.

this is a key component t of president biden's national strategy, offering vaccines directly to select pharmacies across the country. this will provide more sites for people to get vaccinated in their communities, and it's an important component to delivering vaccines equitably. this pharmacy program will expand access in neighborhoods across the country so you can make an appointment and gets your shot conveniently and quickly. but i wanted to set expectations appropriately. due to the current supply constraints, this will be limited when it begins next week. in the first phase, supply will be at about 6,500 stores nationwide before expanding. in the early phase, many pharmacies across the country will not have vaccine or may have very limited supply.

people should first make sure they meet their state's eligibility requirements for vaccinations and then check availability on their local pharmacy's website. equity is at the core of how the centers for disease control is working with states to select t phase. sites are selected based on their ability to reach some of the populations moe at risk for severe illness from covid-19, including socially vulnerable communities. the cdc will monitor the data on an ongoing basis to make sure pharmacies are efficiently and equitably administering vaccinations. this initial phase of activating local pharmacies will get more shots in arms and will ensure that pharmacies have the infrastructure and the experience they need to scale up when vaccine supply increases in the months ahead. eventually, as we're able to increase supply, up to 40,000

pharmacies nationwide could provide covid-19 vaccinations. these are places ranging from local independent pharmacies to national pharmacies and supermarkets. this is a critical step to provide the public with convenient, trusted places to get vaccinated in their communities. importantly, pharmacies are just, within part of our overall effort which also includes mass vaccination sites, mobile clinics, community health centers, and other providers that americans count on each and every day. finally, central to our strategy is to make sure states, tribes, and territories have the resources they need to turn vaccines into vaccinations. that's why at the direction of president biden fema has increased its support. on his second day in office, president biden directed fema to fully reimburse states for the cost of national guard personnel and other emergency costs. today we're announcing that we

will go even further. we will fully reimburse states for the eligible services they provided back to the beginning of the pandemic in january 2020. that means that states will be fully repaid for things like masks, gloves, and the mobilization of the national guard, and they can use the additional resources for vaccination efforts and emergency supplies moving forward. this reimbursement is estimated to cost a total of $3 billion to $5 billion and is only a small share of the resources that states need to fight this pandemic, including protesting, genomic sequencing, and mass vaccination centers. to fully support states, tribes, and territories needing to contain the pandemic and vaccinate their population, president biden is requesting $350 billion from congress in the american rescue plan. as the president has said, this

is a national emergency and we are treating it as such. we're bringing the full force of the federal government to partner with state and local leaders in these efforts. we are giving americans the facts they need and working to ensure our response is fair and equitable. we are doing all we can, but it is critical that congress does its part as well. we need congress to quickly pass the american rescue plan to give us the funding we need to continue to scale up our vaccination program and to provide the resources that state and local leaders need to protect their communities and fight the pandemic. with that, i'm happy to take a few questions. >> thank you, everybody, for joining. we have time for a couple of questions today. first we will go to karla o'donnell with reuters. >> hi. thank you for your time.

so i guess what would be helpful would be just to understand first of all, you know -- you mentioned 6,500 pharmacies in the program originally. how many vaccine doses do you think will be pushed through that on a weekly basis? and want to confirm for that $3 billion to $5 billion, does that require congress to pass any legislation allocating funds or is that something fema can do from its existing funding? thank you. >> so a million doses will be allocated next week to those 6,500 pharmacies. so that's in addition to the 10.5 million doses that are going to go to states, tribes, and territories. that's the first phase of the pharmacy program. we'll phase up as i said as supply increases. on your fema question, that's a

decision the president has made and we will reimburse states that $3 billion to $5 billion. >> next to caitlin collins with cnn. >> thank you very much. i have two questions for you. one on this rollout, given you just said this is in addition to the 10.5 million you're already sending, so where are these vaccines coming from, this 1 million you're going to start sending out? what allotment is this coming from that you have? and then secondly, you said to make sure that you can meet the eligibility guidelines before you go to try to get a vaccine at these pharmacies. a lot of states are in different phases of distribution, so is the federal government recommending those states open up their eligibility so it's the same across the board and therefore a little less confusing for people? >> so first of all, caitlin, thanks for the questions, good questions. the additional 1 million on top of the 10.5 million is consistent with moderna and

pfizer scaling their operations. we're doing all we can to monitor and help the manufactures produce as much vaccine as possible. so the increase of over 20% that's happened since the beginning of the administration that's going directly to states, tribes, and territories, plus this million to pharmacies directly is all a result of the manufacturing, scaling up, and we hope that we can do all we can and will do all we can to continue that scale-up to make more vaccines available. your second question was on states. each state does have its own policy. an individual should check their own state policy for eligibility. you will recall that president biden a couple weeks ago did call on states, tribes, and territories to move as quickly as possible to make all people 65 and over eligible in their states, and more than half the states have done so. that's an important population. more than 80% of the over 400,000 deaths that this country has suffered have been people

that are over 65 ents have been briefing from the white house, joining me to go through all of this is dr. patel who works on the front lines in d.c. what i heard first and foremost is that a million doses will be made available to pharmacies around the country, starting february 11th, that's next week, to make this more readily eople their local pharmacy website, there will be perhaps a better trust aspect of this for suspicious communities. they'll go to pharmacies and neighborhoods where they're trying to get more people, presumably minority communities, tribal areas where they're trying to get people who have not yet had access to

vaccinations. that's first. and also they'll make fema available to try to get the -- improve the distribution effort once it gets to the states out to the communities that need them. >> just critical to remember is people might confuse this with the previous relationships with cvs and walgreens. those were to allow those pharmacies to vaccinate long-term care facilities. this doesn't replace that. to your point, exactly as you stated, it's supposed to open up new channels of distribution. this is the federal government doing it directly with these pharmacies. i think it will open up an incredible opportunity. in the beginning, as jeff zients pointed out, it will be way more demand than supply because of the limited number, 6,500 with a million or so doses, but i think the foundation can get laid there so it is much more

accessible. and potentially these are pharmacies that know how to do it so the portals and the confusion should be a little bit better by expanding it directly to those. and we didn't know which pharmacies, but i will imagine it will be a cast of pharmacies that have that widespread net to kind of your point than different communities across the country. >> and it's really building on something that was tried at least in west virginia, which has been so good on the distribution. they've been using pharmacy groups in their community. they didn't go with the initial federal system. so kudos to the white house for at least trying to build on something that has shown it works. obviously, this does not solve the problem of all the money that's in that bucket they're trying to resolve in congress right now. dr. patel, wondering whether you're seeing any increase in acceptance in the communities you serve now that there's been education on -- that these vaccines are not dangerous and that especially with the surge that we are anticipating from the uk

variant, which is out there in the community even though we have not been doing enough genomic sequencing to know where and how much. this could be getting really bad in the coming months. >> absolutely. and so, andrea, we are seeing -- what we're seeing is more honest conversation. they're taking time, so one of the things we've been giving feedback to states and the white house and others is that we need to allow for these questions and conversations to happen, andrea. imagine anything as sensitive as your concerns about a vaccine and trying to do that in ten minutes or less. we want to have -- you know, i had a 40-minute conversation with somebody who was really nervous and i had to talk through all the issues, which are incredibly important. so this is going to take time, but it is helping. to be able to have somebody that knows you answer the question and to do it in your native tongue or to do it in a way you can understand that not necessarily what you would see on a website. i think that's exactly how we're cracking at this resistance, but

you're hearing from me and others it will definitely take time, and we don't have time against these variants. so at the same time, andrea, public service announcement number 10,000, you know, if you do get a vaccine, wonderful. they're liquid gold, highly effective, you still need to stay masked and protected and don't kind of release your guard because these variants are posing enough concern to all of us that we need to continue as frustrated as we are on those basic health measures. >> yeah. just in an answer to a very good question with the feds jumping into this, it's been a 50-state proposition until now. they are going to emphasize people 65 and plus, which is the common factor among most of the states because 80% of the people who have been really sick have died from this have been in that category. dr. kavita patel, as always, thank you so much. we appreciate it. more breaking news. a week ahead of a second senate impeachment trial. former president donald trump has released his answer, his lawyers have, to the articles of

impeachment which were delivered to the senate. peter alexander joys us now and joyce vance, former u.s. attorney from alabama. peter, you sent me my copy. i've been thumbing through it as i can. you've been reading through it carefully. as expected, they are objecting on a constitutional basis first and fore most. >> reporter: this is the 14-page document, that pretrial filing that was due at noon today. we've received it from the office of the former president, donald trump. it boils down to a couple arguments, calling on members of thediiss the case. it says among other things that it should be dismissed as moot and in violation of the constitution because the senate, they say, in the filing lacks jurisdiction to remove from office a man who does not hold office. so this breaks down to a couple different things. one, the constitutionality

claim, the claim it's not constitutional for a former president to be impeached since they're no longer in office. on top of that, they said the president's speech on january 6th, the incitement of insurrection as claimed by the house impeachment managers was protected by free speech. the president was allowed to say what he said there because it was protected by the first amendment. and finally, they say that the house article of impeachment isn't properly drafted here. those are the biggest three take-aways in this 14-page document. it follows up on that 80-page pretrial filing that we saw from the democrats where they say, among other things, there should be no january exception, in other words, a president should be held accountable for his actions from xwhen he takes office till when he departs from office, suggesting that this taking place on january 6th makes that the case. they make the constitutional argument as well. and they draw a direct line, the democratic impeachment managers do, between the president and

the riot saying that the president was singularly responsible for the riot that took place that day. andrea? >> and joyce, let's talk about this because in the pretrial, test vote in the senate, there were 45 votes, republican votes against conviction, which would be clearly not enough to convict. so are legal arguments going to be that important in this trial, or do you think it's going to be playing the video and the audio and trying to get these senators to relive the experience, the terror of having been in the chamber that day? >> the vote that you're referring to, andrea, is a pretty instructive one. it was a procedural motion that was brought to argue that the senate had to immediately stop proceedings. they didn't have any jurisdiction to proceed because it was unconstitutional to hold a trial for a former president. and so what happened in that vote was 45 senators voted that they would like to end the

proceedings now. of course that motion didn't survive. it didn't win because there weren't enough votes. it was tabled. but as you say, it give us some insight into what the vote count looks like in the senate right now. because the constitution essentially leaves the decision about what the rules are, what the rules of the road will look like up to the senate itself, then we have a strong suggestion that we won't have the 67 votes necessary to convict because so many of the republicans will hold to this supposed constitutional ground. legally, it doesn't hold very much water. politically, it's a different matter because impeachment works however the senate says it's going to work. so despite the tapes and the emotion that democrats will undoubtedly bring to this trial, it's this vote on constitutionality that may ultimately decide the issue. >> and, peter, the president now as we know let these other

lawyers quit over the weekend, whether they quit or were pushed out remains to be seen, but they resigned from the case. so these new lawyers have just started on the case. have you found anywhere in this document that he's arguing that he won the election or they are arguing on his behalf he won the election? >> reporter: interesting you make that point. i don't see any reference to those false claims of election fraud that the president had been pushes for months, but also those at the heart of the division ultimately, the team reported, the president was urging his legal team to empl size that argument, that he, in fact, as he claims, though it's not true, won the election. ultimately, we are seeing in this document they are pursuing the course that as joyce indicates the senators appear to be more swayed by this constitutional argument that it would be unconstitutional to try to make this claim against the president after they're already

out of office, andrea. >> joyce, this is not a courtroom. it's a trial but not a trial. but for a lawyer to sign a document, sign an affidavit like the one we've received today, which is so false, would have been an ethical problem for them as lawyers. >> so, we've only just received this document. it's about 14 pages, and it's a relatively standard pleading form where the lawyers for the former president are responding to each of the key allegations democrats made against him. and so, for instance, they're using a device lawyers use, denying pa-in part and agreeing in part to the allegations, essentially saying that the democrats are stating the law, the constitution correctly, but they disagree with any of the factual characterizations of the president's conduct. so we'll have to do a close reading of it today, but i suspect that these lawyers were very careful given the example of sidney powell, who faces

civil and administrative action against her because of the ongoing effort to promote the big lie that these lawyers were relatively care to feel stay within the confines of their ethical obligations. it is true that even though this is not a criminal proceeding in front of a federal court, that the lawyers cold of ethics carries an obligation of candor to the tribunal, and that means that lawyers cannot knowingly proceed, cannot advance in court or in this proceeding information that they know to be false. there will certainly be a lot of scrutiny of that in this proceeding. >> and jonathan, a white house reporter, is joining us now. jonathan, this is the last thing that joe biden needs, when he's fighting covid, trying to get a package together, trying to draw on republicans as well as democrats, and now as of next tuesday, they are going to be deep into impeachment. >> yeah. andrea, we saw yesterday evening

the president had a two-hour meeting with republican senators about that covid bill, which he wants to be the priority, that and of course getting his cabinet members confirmed. while no deal was struck and there's skepticism there will be a bipartisan agreement, the dems might have to do this on their own, the president is trying to set this tone, trying to bridge the divides, work across the aisle. i've been talking to a number of senior white house officials in recent days and none of them are happy about the trial. they understand it has to happen. they understand that what president trump did deserves to be impeached, and they believe removed from office. president biden has been clear about that. but the timing is a distraction. this will hype up the partson divide, make it harder to work with republicans, and it will be a distraction for the senate. as much as biden and his team believe what senate ma joerd liter schumer says, they think the senate can do more than one thing at once, they can proceed on covid and the cabinet as well

as this trial, they know that will be difficult. they know this trial will take up a lot of oxygen, and it's an unwelcome return of president trump to the held lines. >> jonathan lemiri and peter alexander and all, thank you very much. alexei navalny has been found guilty. thousands of protesters have been coming out in support of navalny throughout russia. over the weekend, 5,000 protesters were arrested, 200 more today. joining me now democratic senator chris coons, who serves on the foreign relations appropriations and judiciary committees. senator, first of all, this has been such a breaking point in russia, perhaps not really reaching critical mass, but the first time under putin we've seen thousands and thousands of demonstrators from all stripes,

not only just pro-navalny, this has been a spark that has lit a fire. in watching the brutality of what happened on sunday, it's extraordinary what we saw in moscow and what we saw today, navalny standing up in court in a glass cage speaking out, interrupting, speaking back. when they talked about him vie lating parole, he said you knew where i was. i was in germany recovering from the assassination attempt. when they said -- i mean that he went back and was arrested on return, and the assassination attempt was, of course, from putin's government. what is this going to do? the navalny leaders -- i spoke to them over the weekend -- they were demanding that president biden impose sanctions on putin's financiers, backers in the west. i asked secretary blinken about it and everybody was waiting for this day to see whether or not navalny was released from prison as has been demanded or is being

held. now he'll be held for 2 1/2 more years. we don't know what will happen on the street, but the pressure will be on the u.s. >> reporter: andrea, in your interview with secretary of state blinken yesterday and in public statements by president biden, it's clear that they will stand up and fight for democracy and for human rights around the world, whether in burma or in russia. in his first call with vladimir putin, president biden raised and addressed issues that president trump never did, from the bounties that were allegedly or reportedly offered for the killing of american troops in afghanistan to the repression of human rights within russia and in particular the aggressive actions taken against navalny. the attempted assassination, the brutalizing of his supporters, and now the unwarranted extended jailing of this human rights advocate and activist from russia. i think you will see human rights back center stage in the

biden administration, and as the co-chair of the human rights caucus here in the senate, i look forward to working arm in arm with the biden administration to stand up and challenge countries around the world that repress the human rights of their own people and that push back against democracy as has happened today in russia. >> and you mentioned myanmar, previously known as burma. do we know where aung san suu kyi is at this point? as far as i understand it, there's been no communication with her. >> that's right, andrea. i don't have a sense of her location or her safety and the coup in myanmar is going to have consequences. i expect that both the senate and the administration will act to make it clear that we don't support governments that are overthrown. we don't support the military when it overthrows governments around the world. and this will be a first test of that long-held principle under

the biden administration. >> well, we don't don't offer them anything, so sanctioning them won't do much. but sanctioning russia could do had an impact with ukraine and got things moving there. is it time to start considering sanctions against people who support vladimir putin, his bankers? >> it's important to ratchet up the pressure against russia. as you well know, just a few weeks ago it was publicly announced that russia was behind one of the broadest and most effective surprised our intelli community, our national security leadership, and president trump failed to takeis puts front and ways in which putin's russia has interfered with our elections, with our security, with

democracy in his own country. this is a significant adversary, and i think we should be using every tool in our tool kit to put increased pressure on vladimir putin for the actions that he and his government have taken against navalny. >> and finally, merrick garland held hostage by mitch mcconnell once again, not getting his hearing yet, which could have been held long before now. and now the impeachment trial will of course preempt that, because mitch mcconnell improbably to the average person is still in charge of these committees even though the american people voted for democrats to control the senate. how is it possible that there is no organizing agreement yet? >> this has to be resolved today or tomorrow. i think it has gone on too long. i respect that negotiations are the better path forward, but as i heard from majority leader schumer earlier today, he is

determined that we will have a path forward this week on organizing our committees. i am going to become the chair of the ethics committee. i am not yet. there are many other committees where it would surprise your average viewer to hear that ey graham remains the chairman of the judiciary committee and thus was able to block a hearing on judge merrick garland, nominated by president biden to be our next attorney general. this is ridiculous. we were in the middle of a lot of challenging issues -- criminal justice reform, national security -- where we need an attorney general, the top law enforcement official in the united states government. so i'm going to be pressing senator graham, senator mcconnell today on this, but frankly, we need to move forward by whatever means necessary. hopefully there will be a finally concluded bipartisan organizing resolution today or tomorrow, but if not, i will support our moving forward using

50 votes and a tiebreaking vote by the vice president. >> senator chris coons on all fronts, thank you so much for being with us today. >> thank you, andrea. the terrifying account of congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez and the siege on capitol hill. why she thought she would die that day. [ thunder rumbles ] [ engine rumbling ] ♪♪ [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] ♪♪ uh, you know there's a 30-minute limit, right? tell that to the rain. [ beeping ] for those who were born to ride, there's progressive. we are hoping things will pick up by q3. yeah...uh... [ beeping ] doug?

[ding] never settle with power e*trade. it has easy-to-use tools and some of the lowest prices. don't get mad. get e*trade and start trading today. what are you doing? 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. introducing a revolution in the world of pain relief: new advil dual action. advil targets pain at the source. acetaminophen blocks pain signals. new advil dual action with acetaminophen. think you're managing your moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's disease? i did. until i realized something was missing...me. my symptoms were keeping me from being there for him. so, i talked to my doctor and learned... humira is for people who still have uc or crohn's symptoms after trying other medications.

and humira helps people achieve remission that can last, so you can experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. ♪ got my hair ♪ ask your gastroenterologist about humira. ♪ got my head ♪ ♪ got my brains ♪ ♪ got my ears ♪ ♪ got my heart ♪ ♪ got my soul ♪ ♪ got my mouth ♪ ♪ i got life ♪ new year's resolutions come and go. so give your business more than resolutions... give it solutions, from comcast business.

work more efficiently with fast internet and advanced wifi. make your business safer with powerful cybersecurity solutions. and stay productive with 24/7 support. make this year's resolution better solutions. bounce forward with comcast business. get started with a powerful internet and voice solution for just $64.90 a month. plus, for a limited time, ask how to get a $500 prepaid card when you upgrade. switch today. when you switch to xfinity mobile, you're choosing to get connected to the most reliable network nationwide, now with 5g included.

discover how to save up to $300 a year with shared data starting at $15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. you can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings. stop in or book an appointment to shop safely with peace of mind at your local xfinity store. . in a dramatic and deeply personal account of the toll that the capitol incursion took on its victims democratic congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez spoke publicly for the first time about her terrifying experience during the siege on instagram live as nbc's kasie hunt recounts. >> we cannot move on. without accountability. we cannot heal without accountability. >> reporter: overnight new york congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez opening up for the

first time about her experiences during the capitol riot. >> all the sudden i hear boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. on my door. and then i hear these huge violent bangs. on my door. and then every door. >> reporter: she hid inside a bathroom within her inner office. >> like this. like i'm here. and the bathroom door starts going like this. like the bathroom door is behind me -- or rather in front of me and i'm like and the door hinge is right here and i just hear where is she? where is she? and this was the moment where i thought everything was over. i just -- i mean, i thought i

was going to die. >> reporter: when ocasio-cortez came out of the bathroom there was a capitol police officer there. she and her legislative director ended up barricading themselves in the office of fellow democratic congresswoman katy porter where staff members pushed furniture up against the doors. >> she said i'm looking for where i'm going to hide. and i said well, don't worry, i'm a mom, i'm call, i've got everything here we need. and she said, i just hope i get to be a mom. i hope i don't die today. >> reporter: ocasio-cortez describing the impact of the riots, revealing for the first time she's been a victim of sexual assault. >> these are the same tactics of abusers. and i'm a survivor of sexual assault. and i haven't told many people that in my life. but when we go through trauma, trauma compounds on each other.

>> joining me now, nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of as hunt. it takes a lot to go public like that and it's an extraordinary account. >> reporter: it is, andrea. and you can hear in the emotion in her voice just how scared she was. and if you talk to people who have survived traumatic events it often is extraordinarily difficult to talk about it, oftentimes the recommendation is to do exactly that, to try and work through it. but that was her overarching message here was focused on the fact that this trauma compounds itself, that she, of course, was reexperiencing as she said there at the end a sexual assault, a previous trauma in her life and she was also saying that this is why she was making a political argument saying this is why we can't move on from what happened in the capitol. and, of course, with the impeachment trial looming, we're all about to relive it again as

democrats make their argument that donald trump incited the riot that ultimately led to all of this year, to the death of a police officer, and the loss of additional lives, andrea. >> and capitol hill police officer brian sicknick who died from injuries sustained in the attack will be lying in honor in the capitol rotunda tonight, his body will be brought in later tonight and he'll be buried in arlington. the ceremonies for him, he was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. and as we learn more about the injuries that others of his compatriots on the capitol police force, the details are just chilling and awful. one of his colleagues lost an eye. another is perhaps dealing with permanent injuries, several have sustained brain injuries and of course brian sicknick succumbing

to his injuries after he was beaten with that fire extinguisher. it's a rare and thankfully it hasn't happened that many times because we haven't had something this awful on a regular basis. he is going to liza civilian in honor in the capitol rotunda, andrea. >> thank you for everything. that does it for this very busy edition of "andrea mitchell reports" follow the show online. and first a spoiler alert for those followers of the "new york times" cross word puzzle, the answer is obvious on 62 across. thanks for being with us today, see you tomorrow, chuck todd is up next with "mtp daily" only on msnbc.

t-mobile is upgrading its network at a record pace. we were the first to bring 5g nationwide. and now that sprint is a part of t-mobile we're turning up the speed. upgrading over a thousand towers a month with ultra capacity 5g. to bring speeds as fast as wifi to cities and towns across america. and we're adding more every week. coverage and speed. who says you can't have it all? this is the planning effect. as carla thinks about retirement, she'll wonder, "what if i could retire sooner?" and so she'll get some advice from fidelity, and fidelity will help her explore some different scenarios, like saving more every month. ♪♪

and that has carla feeling so confident that she can enjoy her dream... right now. that's the planning effect, from fidelity. area homeownersht now. learn how your neighbors are accessing $100,000s with a reverse mortgage loan from the bay area's #1 reverse mortgage lender. lemme tell you something. i wouldn't be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior.

or worse, that it was some way to take your home. a reverse mortgage loan isn't some kind of trick to take your home. it's a loan like any other. big difference is how you pay it back. discover if a reverse mortgage loan is right for you. use it to eliminate monthly mortgage payments pay of credit card bills, medical costs and more. with a reverse mortgage you can pay whatever you can when it works for you, or you can wait and pay it off in one lump sum when you leave your home. find out more, call aag for your free information kit i'm proud to be a part of aag. i trust 'em. i think you can too. call now!

if it's tuesday, mitch mcconnell cautions republicans that the loony lies and conspiracy theories embraced by members like marjorie taylor greene are a cancer for the republican party. but after four years of embracing trump republican leadership may be realizing just how deep those loony lies have spread within their own ranks. plus, after a cordial meeting between president biden and a group of ten senate republicans at the white house democrats on the hill are full steam ahead on passing a massive covid relief package without gop support as biden talks with senate democrats after schumer vows not to dilute,