>> reporter: the louisiana gop has already moved to censure the senator, the latest in a string of censures done by state and local gop parties across the country against republicans who either voted to impeach or have spoken out against the former president. as ali asked last week on this show, what was that republicans were saying about free speech, about being silenced and muzzled by liberals? several of the gop senators who voted to acquit have released statements saying they did so on constitutional procedural grounds and not because trump was not guilty in their view of inciting the insurrection. that includes hilariously minority leader mitch mcconnell. >> they did this because they had been fed wild falsehoods by the most powerful man on earth because he was angry and lost an election. former president trump's actions

preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty. there's no question, none that president trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. no question about it. the people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president. if president trump were still in office, i would have carefully considered whether the house managers proved their specific charge. >> mitch mcconnell said he couldn't vote to convict a clearly guilty donald trump because he's a private citizen. yeah, the same mitch mcconnell who has majority leader delayed the start of the trial until president trump became a private citizen. talk about having it both ways.

house speaker nancy pelosi had some strong words to say about all of this gop gaslighting. >> mitch mcconnell had shut down the senate and was going to keep it shut down until right -- until the inauguration. so for him to get up there and make this indictment against the president and then say but i can't -- i can't vote for it because it's after the fact, the fact that he established. >> despite being let off the hook in the political courtroom, private citizen trump still faces potential criminal charges in new york for his organization's finances, in georgia for his failed attempt to interfere in the vote count, and maybe even in d.c. too for instigating the january 6th riot. so the senate trial may not be his last trial and he could still end up behind bars. then again, he could now also run for president again and win.

joining me now is nbc reporter monica alba live from west palm beach, not far from donald trump in mar-a-lago, and eugene daniels, white house reporter for politico and co-author of "the political playbook." thank you both for joining me. monica, do we know if donald trump was partying in mar-a-lago after being acquitted for the second time? what is the mood there in the trump camp other than jubilation i assume? >>y don't know anything about specific parties, but we do know there is obviously an air of celebration and a sigh of relief. this was essentially what the trump camp was expecting. they thought this was an all but assured outcome in terms of acquittal but now we can really see a former president in releaing this lengthy statement hint at his political future. what was so notable during the entirety of the trial was that he didn't weigh in at all. that was because people close to him said please don't do anything that do potentially derail your acquittal. this was a rare moment of

restraint for donald trump, who usually does like to be the center of attention and really in the spotlight. he has not done that since leaving office. instead down here in west palm beach he spends most days at one of his golf resorts and then obviously also at mar-a-lago where he watched a lot of the trial proceedings. but this statement that he released is the biggest indication that he is really telling his more than 70 million supporters i'm not done and i'm not going anywhere. in fact he signalled to them that the movement he started has only just begun and that in the months ahead, he would have a lot more to say to them. >> yes, and that's -- let's take a look at that statement that you mentioned, monica. eugene, in this lengthy post-verdict statement, the former president says in part, quote, our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to make america great again has only just begun. in the months ahead i have much to share with you and i look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve american greatness for all of our people. there has never been anything

like it. kind of sounds like a warning if not a threat, eugene. >> yeah, former president trump has been promising that he was going to stick around. he, as monica said, has always loved the attention and has seemed to have loved it even more as he's seen that the party, his republican party has not been ready to move on from him no matter what happened on january 6th. and, you know, it's going to be a very interesting mid-term, right? they have already promised him and his family have promised to primary any an everyone who said something bad about him and voted to impeach or voted to convict or anything. that's what's going to happen. the republican party after january 6th kind of felt like they may be ready to move on from president trump and we saw in the last weeks that's not true. this is the party of president trump no matter what mitch mcconnell says when he gets up excoriating the president for what happened in his part on january 6th.

he's still acquitted twice. he is the leader of the party. the house is behind him, the senate is behind him and the republican party largely is going to stick with president trump. >> indeed they are. monica, you mentioned his restraint, first time ever donald trump has basically shut his mouth to save his own skin. he's not on social media. he still has right-wing cable channels to go and speak on. do you think we'll see or hear more from him in the coming days now that the trial is over? will we hear a 2024 announcement? >> reporter: well, it had also been very surprising during the course of this week that he hadn't been talking to any of his more friendly conservative outlets but really he hasn't done that since leaving office. he hasn't granted any kind of formal interview since becoming a private citizen and that's also because we know privately he's been discussing that he is concerned about his exposure now that he is no longer a sitting president in terms of that criminal liability and some of those states and cases that you mentioned at the top of the

hour. but in terms of a 2024 run, we're told he's still very much weighing it, leaning towards running again or at least teasing that to people. but it could take a while. as eugene just pointed out, it's really the 2022 midterms that he's going to turn his attention to mostly. he really is going to try to fund and campaign on behalf of the people who are mounting a primary challenge to any republican who spoke out against him in terms of impeachment and certainly those who voted against him. >> eugene, last word to you briefly. you and i, those of us who cover politics, shouldn't we just be honest with our viewers and our readers? the senate is a mess. it's broken, isn't it? >> it seems that way, right? when you talk to democrats and some republicans behind the scenes, the things that they talk about is they are ready to move on and get things done. it's hard to see how they do that when one party truly does not believe and has evidence

that the other party is thinking about electoral benefits of things that happen and not weighing whether something is the right thing told for the country and how that plays out over the first weeks of the biden administration will tell us a lot about how the next four years are going to go. >> yes, they definitely are. thank you, eugene daniels, of politico and monica alba, nbc news. appreciate both of you for your time and your insights. joining me now, how are democrats reacting to the verdict? let's speak to congresswoman joyce beatty, chair of the congressional black caucus. congresswoman, thank you for joining me on the show. seven republicans voted for conviction, making it the most bipartisan impeachment trial in history. 43 republicans did not, some of them admitting trump was behind the violence. where does that leave the democracy when one of the parties of a two-party system

simply won't do its duty and defend democracy? >> well, i think what we saw was a poisonous grip that trump had on those republicans that did not vote. we are very pleased that there are seven republicans who stood up for the american people and who are willing to continue to fight, which means they put democracy, they put the constitution before one man and one person. i think we will move forward. i think the good news is that we have to focus on now that this is behind us from a congressional standpoint is that we have a biden/harris administration. we have the majority in the senate and in the house. and while trump and those republicans were wishing for relief, we were fighting for relief for the american people. and that's what the american people will see. we will proceed with the biden/harris plan and work towards the $1.9 trillion for those most in need.

those who are fighting and need relief because of the covid-19. so we have a lot of work to do now. but i was so proud of our democrat impeachment managers who brought it up front and clear to the american people. >> you represent ohio in the u.s. house. one of your senators, republican rob portman, who claims to be a moderate, who is retiring from the senate next year, who said yesterday what trump did on january 6th was inexcusable because in his speech he encouraged the mob, still voted to acquit despite all of that. how do democrats going forward work with such people across the aisle who act like they're in a cult? >> well, i think you said the operative word, cult. obviously we were very not only disappointed but embarrassed in ohio to have one senator from ohio, senator brown, who stood up for the people, who values the dignity of work, and then to

have a senator from ohio who spoke out of both sides of his mouth. while he said one thing, his actions certainly said it all. the good news with that is he will not be returning to the senate and that gives us an opportunity to work towards electing someone who will stand with the people but more importantly who will stand up. >> it does give you that opportunity definitely. the republicans in the senate, congresswoman, are chiefly to blame for this of course. but democrats in the senate don't come out of this so well either. you know the amount of anger that is out there among grassroots democrats at how your party has handled this in the senate, especially yesterday with the refusal to call witnesses to testify. even after holding and winning a vote on witnesses. that was crazy, wasn't it? this rush to end the trial and go home? >> well, no, i think you have to look at the other side. it wasn't rushing to go home, it was making sure that we didn't get into a political battle.

you have to remind the american people that the republicans exposed that they were going to bring as many as 100 witnesses and ask that we bring the equal amount of witnesses. and that was a political ploy to get us off center of what the real work is and that's doing the american relief plan. that's fighting for cures and vaccinations for covid-19. a half million people have died and they wanted to play political politics. what we should be saying to the american people is the democrats stood up for the american people. >> i understand the arguments about trying to get covid done. so why hold a vote on witnesses to begin with? why the debacle on saturday morning if you were never going to bring witnesses anyway? that's not clear to me. >> i don't think it was we were ever going to bring witnesses, we were going to bring witnesses. it was when the republicans put

politics into play, it would have also had an effect if we were taking weeks if not months, when we look at what president biden also needs to do to have the senate do their work for confirmations. there's not a lot of trust with republican senators. you have to remember it was just a few months ago that they would not even act on any of our house bills. so there was not a lot of confidence that the 50 republicans would come back and do the work of the people. i think it was a wise move that our managers made because it was putting people before politics. >> i guess it's not helped by senator chris coons reportedly telling the house managers that they wanted to go home for valentine's day. but democratic congresswoman joyce beatty, appreciate your time and insights, chair of the black congressional caucus. have a great rest of your weekend. >> thank you. during his defense,

impeachment attorney michael van der veen went right to fiction by pinning the january 6th riots on democrats and those on the far left. authoritarianism was on display weeks after trump left the white house. display weeks after trump left the white house. he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa ah, a package! usaa. what you're made of, you know what this human ordered? a backache. consider pain, delivered. pain says you can't. advil says you can. (sam) gamers! he who is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. take fuzzywuzzy28. blamin' losses on a laggy network. only one or two. verizon 5g ultra wideband is here, the fastest 5g in the world, with ultra... low... lag! stop blaming the network and start becoming the best gamers in the ga--

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according to publicly available reporting, it is apparent that extremists of various different stripes and political persuasions preplanned and premeditated an attack on the capitol. one of the first people arrested was the leader of antifa. sadly, he was also among the first to be released. it was preplanned and premeditated by fringe left and right groups. they hijacked the event for their own purposes. >> that was defense attorney

michael van der veen during his opening and closing remarks of the second impeachment trial of the former president of the united states. van der veen worked hard to skate past some of the facts about the 200 people arrested so far for storming the capitol, like the proud boys, oath keepers and qanon, in order to focus on one man as evidence of left-wing involvement in the riot even though not a single complaint has founding ties to or mentioned antifa. he would rather us believe what he said rather than what we saw and what we saw was a toxic blend of white nationalists and right-wing conspiracy theorists smashing their way into the capitol leaving five dead and more than 120 injured. that riot happened. and that it happened is horrific. but also horrific is a president fomenting such violence and then casually blaming his opponents

for it, despite a crime scene littered with maga wear and trump flags. the incitement of violence, the framing of your political enemies, the big lie, this is what authoritarianism, this is what fascism looks like. that's why this acquittal yesterday was so, so dangerous for our democracy. there was notg i could do. (daughter) daddy! (dad vo) she's safe because of our first outback. and our new one's even safer. (vo) welcome to the 2020 subaru outback. an iihs top safety pick+. the highest level of safety you can earn. (vo) get 0% for 63 months on select new 2021 models. now through march 1st. it only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous. tide pods child-guard pack helps keep your laundry pacs in a safe place and your child safer. to close, twist until it clicks.

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if you listen to mitch mcconnell and the republicans who are now hurriedly explaining why they voted not to convict all of them are hinging it on a legal argument, jurisdictional or some other legal argument pt, that could never be overcome by any number of witnesses. we could have 5,000 witnesses and michigan mcconnell would be making the same speech because what he's asserting is that the senate never has jurisdiction over a former president. we reject that completely.

it's totally at odds with our history. >> ultimately it was lead house impeachment manager jamie raskin who made the call not to depose witnesses in the final hours of the senate trial. he was under pressure from senate democrats, though, who say they needed to get back to work. but this impeachment trial is yet further evidence that the senate is broken, is not fit for purpose. get back to work? what work? rips in the minority will use the filibuster to block any real work from happening. now, democrats could get rid of the filibuster but two people in their own ranks, senators joe manchin and kyrsten sinema have said they won't support it. meaning more gridlock during a time people are suffering from an economic catastrophe and pandemic that won't quit. reporter burgess everett had a

picture of cars waiting to take senators to the airport as the trial wound down. and chris coons told the house managers that, quote, the jury is ready to vote. people want to get home for valentine's day. oh, i'm sorry, i didn't realize valentine's day is a federal holiday or is more important than protecting american democracy. let's bring in hays brown, writer and editor for msnbc daily. thanks for coming on the show. you wrote for msnbc daily on thursday that having witnesses testify under oath will help the managers' case and you argued that cross examination from trump's attorneys would do little to bolster their case and yet democrats are saying last night that they had to let the witness thing go because none of the potential witnesses would cooperate and it would take years to subpoena them. do you buy that? >> not quite. i get the idea that it is very dangerous for a prosecutor to put a hostile witness under oath and under deposition when you don't know what they're going to say. they could lie and you have to

figure out what exactly the lies are and where to go from there and how to untangle that and that would take a while. i still think that they should have done it anyway. one of the overwhelming sentiments that i've seen is that it hurts democrats because it plays to this belief that democrats don't leave it all on the table, that they don't go for it when they have the power to do so unlike republicans. i know that that's an argument that lends way too much credence to republicans and takes away too much power from democrats, but i do think they had this ability and didn't want to pursue it because of how much time it would take. i don't agree with people who say this was necessary to get back to the work of the senate like you said. if you're arguing that this coronavirus bill, the stimulus package that joe biden pitched is more pressing than the impeachment trial, i would ask where is the bill then? what is -- what are they voting on right now? the answer is, there is no bill drafted in the house or the senate that requires them to vote in the next couple of days

even that it would take for these sort of deposition and subpoenas to go out that they would need, to put the trial on pause which they could have done. they could have hit pause on the trial, gone back to legislative session and picked it up once the depositions were done. but i suppose they just wanted to get this all over with and move forward, which i think was a mistake. >> i agree with you, i think it's a mistake as well. we don't even know if all of the witnesses would have been hostile. what is jamie herrera butler under oath, what is she going to say, that kevin mccarthy and donald trump didn't have that phone call? she would be perjuring herself. you wrote an article about why the filibuster must die. kyrsten sinema wants to have a 60-vote threshold on everything in the senate.

democrats can't get stuff done so all of this nonsense about ending the trial to get on. even if they had a bill, mitch mcconnell could block it. >> the reason they are doing this coronavirus stimulus bill through budget reconciliation is because they know anything they put forward would need 60 votes otherwise. so they're trying to figure out what can be in the reconciliation bill. that's why there's a fight over the $15 minimum wage on whether that will pass through budget reconciliation. i get why -- politically i get why sinema and joe manchin don't want to have to take these votes. i get why it is better for them in their home states and how it plays out there for them to not have to be either the deciding vote in favor of legislation that is popular national low but maybe not so much popular in their home state or be the reason that a vote fails on it. they don't want to be either the reason a vote comes out 48-52 or

52-48. they -- or 51-50. they don't want to be the reason why something passes or fails so they're hiding a little behind the filibuster. well, if we can't bring 10 republicans with us, which we couldn't even get 10 republicans to vote in favor of convicting donald trump. if we can't get 10 republicans to vote on whatever bills we have, then we just can't get anything done. i think that is a bonker ball's way of trying to run a country. it discourages bipartisanship because people see if we can't get to 10, there's no reason to jump onboard with this bill that otherwise would pass through the senate. >> exactly. just to be clear, the economic relief package is very popular in arizona and west virginia. and in fact this impeachment was the most bipartisan in the history of the u.s. with seven

republican senators crossing the aisle. still ten votes shy of the two-thirds threshold needed to convict. 43 republicans just refused to let any evidence sway their predecided vote, which kind of gives the lie to this claim that the senate is the world's greatest deliberative body, doesn't it? >> it does. you don't really hear much debate in the senate these days. you don't hear all these bills that are just languishing that have passed the house in the past, you don't hear debate on those bills. nothing can come to the floor without the permission of the leadership on both sides. that's something that really needs to be addressed moving forward as well. so there's the filibuster but there's almost so much power with the majority and minority leaders that if nothing can come to the floor without their say-so, you know what, let's make a play for this and bring this bill to the floor. if people wanting to filibuster it, they have to be here and filibuster it. if there aren't senators willing to do that in the face of their

leadership, i don't know what reason they have to try and claim that they're either the world's greatest deliberative body or that the power of a senator is really worth that much. i don't get why you would want to be a senator and turn over your power like that. i mean to the acquittal as well, it's another example of congress just giving up their power and saying mitch mcconnell's argument basically is congress can't do much so please, judicial branch, step in, help us out here against the executive branch. >> they don't want to govern, hayes. they don't want to govern. they're not interested in a governing project. that's fundamentally the problem. thank you for your time this morning. appreciate it, hayes. while the senate may have voted to acquit him, donald trump's legal troubles are far from over. up next, why the former president is still in legal hot water. of old spice dynasty the lasting cologne scent helps get you off your couch. and into the driver's seat.

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republicans once again have chosen to protect former president donald trump instead of doing their duty to uphold the constitution. ironic given that this is the same man who just cost them the white house and both houses of congress. the vote to acquit itself wasn't a surprise, but the maddening part is republicans recognizing trump's lawless behavior yet still doing nothing about it. even trump's biggest defenders acknowledged his involvement could be seen as criminal. >> after he's out of office, you go and arrest him.

so there is no opportunity where the president of the united states can run rampant in january at the end of his term and just go away scot-free. >> there's no question, none, that president trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. unless the statute of limitations has run, still liable for everything he did while he's in office. didn't get away with anything, yet. >> now that a trial involving no witnesses and a rather friendly jury are over, now it's over, trump's liability to criminal prosecution becomes the biggest threat he faces. if and when the former president needs a real defense team, the lawyers hired for this impeachment trial will most likely not be involved because, as george conway in a new "washington post" op-ed writes,

trump's shambolic lawyers were a disgrace. they attacked everything exempt except the evidence against trump. i'm joined by paul butler. paul, the house managers built up a detailed, forensic, graphic case. it didn't persuade enough senate republicans, but can a biden department of justice or the d.c. attorney general, for example, use that evidence from the house managers to criminally prosecute him in court for incitement to violence, incitement to riot? >> they certainly could. federal charges would be up to the new attorney general, who is likely to be merrick garland. i have to say i think it's unlikely. the criminal standard for conviction is much higher than for impeachment. so could they bring a case? yes. but unless it was a slam dunk, you don't bring a case against a former president unless you know

you're going to win. and president biden has properly said it's not his call whether the justice department investigates the trump administration, but i think that federal prosecutors are attuned to the vibe that biden is sending that he wants the country to move beyond trump. >> indeed. and where else do you see most legal exposure for private citizen donald j. trump? is it in georgia where a district attorney in fulton county is investigating his phone call with secretary of state brad raffensperger for interfering with the election? is it in new york where the d.a. is looking into his taxes, his properties, his finances? where do you think it is? >> can i say all of the above? georgia -- >> yes. >> -- prosecutors have -- georgia has a legitimate grief against trump. trump tried to nullify georgia's legitimate votes from counting in the presidential election. so the atlanta d.a. is

cuttinging a wide-ranging investigation into attempts to influence the election in georgia. she's looking at solicitation of election fraud. trump told the georgia secretary of state find 11,780 votes. and then he said there's nothing wrong with saying that you recalculated, and that's on tape. but we also know that the u.s. attorney in georgia, who wouldn't do what trump wanted him to do, resigned under mysterious circumstances. so, yes, trump has exposure there. now, the crimes that she's reportedly investigating can be charged and punished as a misdemeanor or a felony. it's not likely that there would be a significant sentence. but certainly if trump were investigated, prosecuted and convicted, that would be a first. no state prosecutor has ever brought criminal charges against a former prosecutor. and in new york, they are following the money.

though the investigation by the manhattan d.a. and the new york attorney general looking at taxes, insurance fraud, bank fraud, those cases have been going apparently slowly, but we really don't know because they're not talking about what's going on. we know that there's this battle between the new york d.a. and trump about his tax returns. the d.a. is eventually going to get those tax returns and then we'll see what his next move is. >> yeah, and you said it would be a first if this happened. well, trump is the master of firsts, we know that. but let me ask you this, do you think in a country that venerates its leaders, or offices with leadership like the presidency, that we will ever see a former presidency the inside of a prison cell? i find that hard to believe. >> you know, it's a tough call. so, for example, if there are charges that are brought in

georgia, especially atlanta or new york, manhattan, those jurors would not be nearly as sympathetic to donald trump as the republican senator jurors were. and so to the extent that trump has dealings all over the country that invoke state law, i think it's possible that if he's actually tried, that a jury would convict him and then it would be up to a judge to determine whether a former president goes to prison. but the constitutional rule is that no person is above the law and that includes donald j. trmp. . >> quick last question before we're out of time. how would you put a jury together against the former president? how would you find an impartial jury? >> you don't want someone that says they're not familiar with

donald trump or people not familiar with his legal problems. you just want people to say they can listen to the judge, listen to the facts and be objective. i think most american people would, only had the u.s. senate live up to na. >> the 43 senators who said we're not going to change our mind no matter what we're told. some of them were coordinating with the defense lawyer, ted cruz, lindsey graham among them. paul butler, appreciate your insights this morning. thanks so much. the biden administration has secured 200 more million vaccine doses, this as the death toll from the coronavirus continues to climb, edging toward the 500,000 mark. what the biden administration needs to do to really fight and beat the pandemic. that's next here on msnbc. t her . . try boost® high protein... -with 20 grams of protein for muscle health- -versus only 16 grams in ensure® high protein.

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president biden revealed on thursday that his administration had secured deals for 200 million more vaccine doses from pfizer and moderna while also moving up vaccine delivery dates, meaning the u.s. could soon have enough doses to cover 300 million people or roughly 90% of the american population. this comes as covid-related deaths continue to climb, surpassing 485,000 this weekend. the biden administration warned the country could reach 500,000 deaths, half a million, this month. we sadly, shockingly seem to be on pace for that. to make matters worse, just hours ago, british government scientists released a new document that said it is, quote, likely that the uk variant spreading fast here in the u.s. is actually more lethal than the original coronavirus strain. let's bring in dr. georges benjamin, director of the american health association.

thank you for joining us on the show this morning. the biden administration is on track to meet its goal of 100 million vaccine doses in 100 days but is this still too slow to fight the pandemic given the awful position we're in right now and the new strains that continue to emerge? >> thank you very much for having me this morning. you know, we've always said that that was a floor. everyone recognized that we're going to have to increase that to probably 2 to 3 million doses a day if we're going to be successful getting to community immunity. >> and president biden has ramped up vaccine distribution to the states, has increased production, but what barriers are you seeing that still exist in the distribution chains? what needs to improve? >> well, we've still got to get hesitancy addressed. we still have a lot of people that are not yet confident enough to get vaccinated. the other thing is we have a lot of structural barriers we've put in place.

the fact that you still can't get on, on a phone call without waiting for hours. the fact that many of the automated systems aren't really working as well as they need to. the fact that many people get to the automated systems. a lot of our seniors, a lot of people in low-income communities. we have some structural things, and quite frankly, we'll have to go back to the old-fashioned way, going into the neighborhoods and getting people vaccinated face-to-face. >> how much energy should government put into getting vaccines to minority communities who have been disproportion nattily affected by the virus? >> this needs to be hands on deck. that means going into communities, providing

transportation. that means doing a lot better job in communicating to these communities using trusted messengers. that means using people of faith. that means using community health workers. this is going to be an effort that is going to be everyone involved in our communities to be involved in. and i have to tell you that many of us who are scientists and health experts in this community have been actively encouraging all members of our community to take this vaccine. >> yes. and it's a matter of both encouragement but also you say getting them to the vaccine or getting the vaccine to them. in the uk where i'm from they've done a very good job of getting out first doses. i believe it's third or fourth highest in the world in terms of getting vaccinations done. that's aings in nal health service, a government-funded, government-run service. do you think the united states is suffering from having this patchwork of prooifs pharmacies,

walmart and cvs to get this done rather than a national health service? >> americans are always going to have an american system. what we really need to do is fix the system that we have and create a system with everyone in and no one out and make the system much more seamless than we have today. you know, i don't know where we're going to get to the single-payer system that many of us would to have, but i can tell you we know how to tix if one we have and we've failed to do it. >> one last quick question. the biden administration says 300 million americans, there will be enough doses to cover them. interesting wording. that means you have them. it doesn't mean you'll have 300 million people will have will get the shots by the end of july. >> that's right. at the end of the day, there's a big difference between getting the vaccine done and getting those shots in the arms. i think that was a fundamental failure prior to this new

administration coming in. they were very focused on getting the vaccine done and they should get applauded for that. but not focus at all on getting shots into the arms, the last mile is extraordinarily important. and there's been a lot of progress there. but we still have a ways to go. >> yeah. it doesn't seem to be a great victory of warp speed if you can get a vaccine out but the vaccine doesn't get into people's arms. that seems like a fundamental problem and contradiction even. thank you, dr. georges benjamin. have a great rest of your weekend. more velshi coming up at the top of the hour. senator ben carden and congresswoman ilhan omar will join me to discuss donald trump's acquittal and what it means for the american political landscape and for more on the impeachment trial aftermath, stacey plaskett joins jonathan capehart on the sunday show at 10:00 a.m. eastern on msnbc.

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good morning. it's sunday february 14th. happy valentine's day. i'm if for my friend ali velshi. it's the morning after the conclusion of yet another donald trump impeachment trial, the second in the space of barely a year. and the screaming in

unison an all-too-familiar phrase, acquitted. the senate voted to let the 45th president of the united states off the hook scot-free for his clear high crimes and misdemeanors. seven republicans voted with 50 democrats to convict trump, the most bipartisan trial outcome in american history, but it wasn't enough. the final vote count of a 7-43 fell far short of the two-thirds majority necessary to convict the ex-president on that single charge of inciting insurrection. here's what's so crazy, so maddening. many senate republicans accepted trump's guilt but still voted to acquit. listen to senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, who as majority leader delayed the trial until trump was out of office. this was him yesterday after the trial. >> there's no question, done. that president trump is practically and morally

responsible for provoking the events of the day. no question about it. the people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president. >> but he voted to acquit. house democratic managers made an astonishingly clear, detailed, overwhelming case for why trump was guilty of incitement and worthy of conviction but for some strange reason decided not to call witnesses despite spending much of the first impeachment trial insisting that a trial without witnesses wasn't a real trial. yesterday morning after winning a motion to allow witnesses that would have prolonged the trial by weeks but given the senate and the world an opportunity to hear from, among others, a republican congresswoman testifying about the contents of a key phone conversation between donald trump and house republican leader kevin mccarthy on january 6th in the midst of

the riot, democrats suddenly decided not to call their witness following a behind-the-scenes negotiation. politico summed up this bizarre turnaround saying that after house impeachment managers dropped a political grenade into the proceedings they quickly put the pin back in, adding, "during the senate break after the witness vote, senator chris coons, democrat of dell delaware said it would cost them to on the vikt. the jury is ready to report," he told the managers. "people want to get home for valentine's day." we can't waste time on this. it's just the future of democracy, right? jamie raskin offered this explanation on why they backed off from calling witnesses. >> we could have had 5,000 witnesses and mitch mcconnell would be making the same speech. >> instead,em