if it's monday, the impeachment trial is over. now, the fall out. the verdict proving the former president still has a powerful hold on the current republican party. how dominant will trump and trumpism be moving forward? plus, the democrats next challenge. fast tracking a covid relief bill before unemployment benefits lapse in less than a month. it's race against the clock and coronavirus cases in all 50 states have decreasing. the number of daily deaths still rising in some places as president biden promises millions more doses are coming. states are still struggling to get the vaccine they need.

happy president's day and welcome to meet the press daily. we're going to begin this hour with a simple question. less than 48 hours after donald trump's impeachment acquittal, what's next? what's next for the republican party? what's next for president biden's agenda and what's next for the american people? 7 republican senators voted to convict donald trump of inciting the january 6th attack on the capitol. six of those seven will not have to face republican primary voters for at least four years. lisa murkowski is the only one up for re-election in 2022. as we saw, for the handful of republicans who joined with democrats in the house to back impeachment, there are repurr -- repercussions at home. richard burr will be censured

tonight. the majority of the republican senators and much of the party's rank and file are standing by their man and it appears the trump and trumpism will remain a dominant force on and off capitol hill. he and his colleagues are working with president biden on making his agenda a reality and insists impeachment was not an impediment. >> we are working with president biden on the priorities of the american people dealing with this pandemic, dealing with the economy, providing cash payments to american citizens to help them through this tough period.

tchs not at the expend of president biden's priority. we'll be returning them quickly whip he comes back to washington. >> our nbc correspondents are covering every angle of what comes next. garrett is on capitol hill. let me start with you on the hill with the fall auto from this trial. you and i have spent a lot of time analyzing, reporting on, thinking about and he tries to have it both ways. he voted to acquit and gave a really noteworthy speech just condemning former president trump and everything that he has done in this trial. help us understand why, in your view, he did it that way and what that means going forward

for him and senate republicans. >> reporter: mcconnell's argument was he was trying to protect the senate, trying to protect the constitutional process. he felt like impeachment was a narrow tool than to rid the republic of people who are in office and dangerous. donald trump didn't fit that description and he was fine sitting impeachment aside. the speech he gave was as excoriating as in speech, any member of either party gave in terms of the actual content of what he believed donald trump's actions were. now he has a much tougher task at hand. he has to try to reunite his party going forward where donald trump is not on the ballot. he's not president anymore. he will have to defend both the lisa murkowski, susan collins, mitt romneys of his caucus at one point or another. murkowski soonest of all and find room from his conference for ted cruz, john johnson and josh hawley wings.

here is the challenge. in theory, the easy way to do this would be the loyal opposition to joe biden and shape where you can. oppose where you can't the president's agenda. the problem for republican, what joe biden is trying to do now is really popular. the idea of another covid relief bill polls high. he's got a very difficult needle to thread if he wants to come anywhere close to taking back the majority in the next two years. >> it's extremely tough and that split is becoming wider and emotionally fraught and there's less trust in the republican conference than there has been in the past.

what's your sense of where his mind is in terps of what happened over the weekend and also what it says about whether he'll be able to work with mcconnell and what challenges will come out of the way this played out. >> reporter: this will continue to be one of the most important relationships in all of washington. the white house releasing a recorded holiday message from the president taped before he headed out to camp david over the weekend for president's day. almost reminding the country of who the president is at this point. we spent so much time in the shadow of president trump these last few weeks and what we saw last week from the white house, we talked a lot about the counter programming they were doing. meeting with business leaders, meeting with mayors and

governors. having that bipartisan meeting with senators about infrastructure. yes, they wanted the visuals out there of a president continuing to be at work even while the senate trial was going on but what it was more about was laying the ground work for the work ahead especially on infrastructure once we get past this covid relief plan. now that the spotlight is back on the president, you'll see him leaving washington. using what they think is a broadly popular proposal. we saw daily vaccination rate of more than two million a day and the white house cautiously optimistic they can ride that good news further. what the white house is frying to send here is a message to the

republicans saying if you want to get out from under the shadow of president trump, this is a broadly popular initiative. yes they want it to be bipartisan but the white house continuing to say it already is bipartisan in terms of the popular support. mitch mcconnell knows that well. he's tended to do is about keeping or getting back a republican ma jor di of the senate. i think that's the message they are trying to send here to mitch mcconnell and to senate republicans. >> if it's going to do that in 2022, it's more likely in the states where this is popular. we have been talking about a former president because of the trial but he's been relatively quiet throughout.

he still does not have twitter. he's been cut off by silicon valley. what do you know about his plans and how he plans to conduct himself in the coming months? >> reporter: the thought was after he was acquitted for a second time that maybe the former president would come out, make some kind of on camera statement, take a victory lap in public but we're now learning there's absolutely no expectation or plan for that to take place, which is rare for this former president who obviously while he was in office was always in the limelight wanting to make a ton of media appearances. really hard pressed not to be around a camera if there was one nearby. he's living his life as a private citizen here in south florida spending most of his time on the golf course which is where he was earlier today and now having a lot of discussions behind the scenes with his small group of aides and alies who

are down here about the next steps. he's still contemplating a run for 2024. he did tease that in the statement talking about his movement has only quote just begun. saying there would be a lot more details that he would be able to reveal in months ahead. we do know in the last couple of days those around the former president have said he fully plans to be a part of the 2022 midterms and he is ready to throw his political weight behind people who want to primary challenge those gop lawmakers who spoke out against him. who voted to impeach him and these republican senators as well. this is something he's ready to jump in on and he will make appearances later on for those republicans he viewed as loyal. we can't ignore the 70 plus

million who supported donald trump. lay lost the house, senate and the white house. >> this is exactly where he is at odds with mitch mcconnell who job is going to be to try and win primaries for imcup bents he thinks can be win general elections in places like arizona. republicans will have to decide what kind of candidate they want to put forward. the gop has gone so right and pro-trump they will pick somebody mcconnell will think won't have much of a chance of

fighting there. what are you hearing from the voters about what they want in the wake of this impeachment trial? >> we were at a farmers market talking to voters and first person we just randomly happened upon said she were herself a republican. if she thought he should seek office again. she said yes. i said would you vote for him four years or tomorrow. she said yes. you have a lot of people who are trump support who are are die hard devoutly supporting trump. at the same time you look at some of numbers here and since the insurrection on january 6th in maricopa county sh about 10,000 republican voters have formally left the republican party. about 1500 changed their registration from republican to democrat. around 481 went from republican to libertarian. then you had over 8,000

republican voters switch. this is just since the insurrection from republican to no party or something else. as we were speaking to people regardless of where they fell in the political spectrum, one thing we heard is more and more people talk about how they really wish there was a more viable third or even fourth party option. listen here. >> we do need more parties. we need a third, fourth party. >> it's hard to not think that it would be nice to have a third option and not just two options. if the option was something that was just a little bit more open, accepting, moderate, yeah. >> i'm a registered democrat. it's hard to identify with

either party. >> tell me me. >> i've seen politicians go with the tide. >> that was a republican who supported and supports former president donald trump. a republican who no longer supports donald trump and feels like he was responsible for what happened on january 6th and then progressive voter. they do not have a lot in common but all were talking about wants to see viable third, fourth and even fifth party options. arizona only had three officially registered political parties at this point. republican, democrat and libertarian. kacie. sgla very interesting. garrett, let's talk for a second about the current president and his agenda because obviously the success or failure of that is going to determine quite a bit of what these voters continue to

think about the respective parties whether the government is working and the dynamics heading into the elections in 2022. as you look ahead to democrats trying to set up the process to do major covid relief package without republican votes, what do you think will be the dominant dynamic on the hill? will it be a fight between the bernie sanders and joe manchins? will it be a push to try to get republicans on board? how do you think the next month will play out? >> i think as long as state and local aid money is part of this bill and every indication is a significant amount will be, republicans will stay away from it, at least in senate. in the house you may see a couple of republicans decide this is a moving train and they need to jump on it. they are all up for re-election in two years. as best we can tell and it's always hard to look around the corner, how this country recovers from covid will be a decisive issue. the next week will be really interesting with the house voting on their version of the

bill and on the senate side, you're going to have to wrangle 50 cats. you'll have to get every democrat on board if you're the biden administration and that includes dealing with joe manchin, any number of other people who will want any number of other things attacked to this bill. i don't have to tell you, senators view themselves as independent contractors. they have their on constituencies, states. they are less likely to be pushed around by an administration. where there will be drama will be in the senate. i don't get the same sense that senate republicans will feel quite as strongly as getting on that train as it moves. i think that will be where we watch the drama over the next few weeks. >> that's exactly right. i'm so sorry. that's the right analogy herding cats but it leaves me imagining them all as -- any way. garrett, thank you. mike, monica, alison, thank you so much for being with us here

on this holiday. millions across the south are getting bombarded by a massive winter storm today. the northeast is going to be next. right now the storm is swirling through arkansas, oklahoma and tennessee and it's beginning to make its way out of texas. lubbock, texas got hit hard last night with snow, freezing rain and ice. this is -- you're looking at pictures of the state of texas. i've never seen anything that looks like this. millions of texans are without power and president biden has approved greg abbott's request for emergency assistance. treacherous road caused this tractor trailer to swerve out of control near austin. emergency crews in texas and oklahoma responded to massive pile ups this weekend. in the northeast is bracing for their turn next. forecasters predict the storm could dump up to a foot of snow in some parts of new york state. new england could get nearly half a foot. this winter tomorrow is expected to move out of the northeast

wednesday just in time for another one expected as soon as thursday. okay. just ahead, is the battle for the soul of the republican party over for now? what does it mean for the future of our democracy? how quickly can democrats work out a deal? plap right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ ♪♪ for skin as alive as you are... don't settle for silver 7 moisturizers 3 vitamins 24 hours hydration gold bond champion your skin at t-mobile, we have a plan built just for customers 55 and up. saving 50% vs. other carriers gold bond with 2 unlimited lines for less than $30 each.

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. will he remain a force for the republican party? what does that mean? >> the republican party is more than just one person. >> he's ready to move on and rebuild the republican party. he's excited about 2022. i said this maga movement needs to continue. we need to unite the party. trump plus is the way back in

2022. >> you heard two pretty different republican senator who is voted two different ways and two very different views on where the republican party is headed. this has been dominated the weekend after the most bipartisan impeachment vote in history. you tended to be more on the side of let's figure things out.

i'm wondering how you think or if you think it's possible to knit those two sides back together after this significant splintering. i think it's going to be really tricky. what's your take? >> it is going to be very difficult and for sure, i would identify more with those who have worked to hold the former president accountable. we have talked a lot in the last few days about how mitch mcconnell is really trying to straddle that line, trying to hold together both sides, understanding there will be some kind of civil war. mcconnell is hoping it will be a cold war instead of a hot war.

that's why he voting with one side but maybe speaking to the other side. it's quite the balancing act. it has been remarkable to see how mcconnell has moved so quickly and decisively since the 6th of january to keep the president in check for the last two weeks of his presidency because god knows what would have happened and then to try to bring together these two factions to try to be that column that sort of holds everything in place. he's had the field to himself, the former president has been silent and absent. that will probably change soon. can he recast this party and keep it together. right now he seems to be the only one trying. >> he will not be the face of the party in 2024.

his task is to keep it on track or not falling completely apart. i know there's something said on the senate floor that not only stood out to some republicans but also stuck out to you and that's this comment from congressman ted liu. >> i'm not afraid of donald trump running again in four years. i'm afraid he's going to run in and lose. he can do this again. >> it's a warning that i know resonated with some republicans who have were at the capitol on january 6th had their lives threatened and this really is a task for democrats, for republicans who want to hold the president accountable to try to make sure this violence never happens again. do you think it's possible?

>> do i think it's possible to be held accountable or for it to happen again? i think the answer is yes in way. this violence could happen again. that's the concern. in terms of holding them accountable, that will depend on a few things. i think it will be depend on an understanding that the two parties have this identity cry sitz in america. . abc news put out a poll that said americans should have quicked trump. more democrats than republicans but about 60% of independents said there should have been a conviction. look at the latest gallup poll numbers on ballots between republicans, democrats and independents. for the first time in a long time, we are by gallup's measure 50%, 5-0% independent.

25% democrat, 25% republican, half independents. whatever party you're a member of, you need to understand you do not represent the majority of the american people no matter what part you are. the republican party has been a minority party for quite some time. if it's a matter of being able to hold themselves accountable and prevent this again, part of this will have to deal wl the forensics, who knew what and bhen. part of it hz to do with understanding this political reality that the future of american politics is going to look different than it does right now. what happened, what led up to january 6th, the impeachment trial and what's coming is 2021. politics in 2031 will fot look -- not look like it has to do now. the republican party will have to deal wl a reckoning of what america is becoming and whether

you can offer a vision for that america or whether the guy who made you the majority party in 2016, can somehow be rehabilitated for the future. the former seems like the more logical path. >> congressman, to that point about how you figure out how to govern a country that's changing and pull together a coalition that will draw enough support to make you a majority party or win you the white house. we're starting to hear marco rubio say we need to be working class party. not just white working class, but to black, hispanics and latinos. they saw some of that in 20. it's part of the reason why some of these house seats we were expecting democrats to come out on top with went republicans. there's also this question about whether that was a unique phenomenon related to trump himself.

do you see a future for the republican party as not just a working class party but a party that appeals to working class voters from all backgrounds? >> this is an important point. if the republican party wants to be a majority party going forward, it can't follow donald trump. it must learn from donald trump. i think donald trump taught republicans one thing. a majority political party cannot only appeal to narrow corporate interests and then do some window dressing and make up the difference. a majority major party must also be popular and must appeal to a broader swath of people. can the republicans of tomorrow do that by putting together an honest, sincere agenda that

improves quality of life for most people in this country. can the republican party turn away. there are lessons to be learned from donald trump. one of them, perhaps the most important for republicans is that in a country where we only have two major political parties, they must both be popular and must be able to appeal to large numbers of people. the much tougher path is to build an agenda that appeals to

more people. >> govrping much harder. thank you for being here and offering your insights pch appreciate the conversation. ahead here, we'll have the laits on the covid relief bill talks. what's going to be in and what's not. an urgent problem of supplierer issues demand. millions of people want their covid shots but states are struggling to keep up. vid shotse struggling to keep up. thousands of women with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body, are living in the moment and taking ibrance. ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor is for postmenopausal women or for men with hr+/her2- metastatic breast cancer, as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole significantly delayed disease progression versus letrozole, and shrank tumors in over half of patients. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. ibrance may cause severe inflammation of the lungs that can lead to death.

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out this week but lawmakers are on the clock to get covid relief bill passed. once members get back to the hill, they will only have three weeks to get a daily signed, sealed and deliveried. with plan in place to pass the bill with a simple majority, there are negotiations that need to be done within the democratic party to try and get every one on board. joining me now is democratic congresswoman from michigan, debby dingle. thank you as always. it's always great to see you. i'm hoping we can start there with the negotiations about this relief bill. your colleague said she is optimistic but the minimum wage will be in that bill. nancy pelosi said it will be in the house version of the bill. do you think this package can include all of these priorities the biden administration has laid out even if they seem to be while helpful in the view of

many democrats for the economy broadly, not necessarily directly related to covid relief? >> well, i do agree with everybody that the minimum wage will be in there. the fact of the matter is, we have been moving bills. we had two straight days. last thursday and friday we were in until almost 1:00 a.m. on thursday night. all of the committees to have finished their work that are being put together in a bill this week. we are doing caucus sessions with each of the committees to discuss what's going to be in there. when we return, we will move this bill through the house. i think there's a lot of people talking to each other now. people think we're not in washington. i've been on the phone since 6:30 this morning. i'm talking about how we will get this done. people in my district and people's districts across this country are hurting, want help. they want the vaccine desperately and expect us to get this done, and we will get it

done. >> congressman, who do you think are the key figures in the house on the democratic side that are working through this. you have the progressive wing, alexandria ocasio-cortez. a couple of new members since the election here in 2020. what's your sense of whether they will be satisfied with how this package looks because they got to send it across the capitol and get people like joe manchin to sign on. >> i talked to them regularly. people know we have to get a bill done. having the minimum wage included in there. there will be discussions. you've got the new demonstrates and some of the more moderate members who are worried too. when you have close majorities like this, it forces you to talk to each other.

we came to deliver for the people we represent so we'll have to talk to each other. compromise is not a dirty word and i believe we will get a covid package on the desk of president biden by march 14th. it will be made and signed. >> i miss standing in front of the statue of will rogers in the capitol that is behind us for backdrops but hasn't been many the era of covid. leets talk about the politics of this for a minute. you're in your state. you have a number of swing districts like members like fred upton are people just trying to do the best they can for people

that swing back and forts. kind of sit in the middle. what do you think the political imperatives for democrats are over the course of the next two years trying to deal with the increased violence in our rhetoric and try to deliver in ways that bring average folks on board. >> to do what's right. start there. it's not a secret. they did vote for impeachment. father has been my friends for decades. served on a number of boards together. we don't agree on everything but we talk to each other and listen to each other and learn from each other. i don't talk about it a lot because i think it puts kerosene on a fire when we give groups these attention sometimes. i've been in the donald trump

hate tunnel, as i call it. i've had men in front of my house with assault weapons. i've been threatened with being hung for treason, but you keep going. terrorism wants to terrorize you. we have to do what's right for the american people. public service a good thing. that's lot of people counting on us. i try to be one of those people that talk to everybody in my district, stays accessible. i talk to fred every day. i'm like what are you hearing. fred, you should think about this. you should think about that. that's what we used to do more of. people used to talk to each other. they used to learn from each other. that's what hearings were for. they weren't theatrical shows. they were to hear things and base sound decisions on. we need to bring facts and science back to policy. >> it's a good president's message to bring.

thank you very much for your time. really appreciate you being here. coming up next, vaccine confusion and chaos as more people become eligible for vaccines, the supply just can't keep up with the demand. pply ju epke up with the demand. (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-- that escalated quickly. (sam) 5g ultra wideband, now in parts of many cities. this is 5g built right. only from verizon. >> man: what's my safelite story? my truck...is my livelihood.

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i think later on today or tomorrow we'll be able to report that every state has given one vaccine shot to at least one in ten people in their state. that is incredible amount of progress in the last three and a half weeks. >> welcome back. that was white house covid-19 response team senior adviser talking to hallie jackson. the cdc reports two million shots were administered on friday. the united states is administering more than 1.6 million doses a day and more than 52 million doses have been

administered and 14 million americans are fully vaccinated. many states are still having major issues with vaccine supply meeting demand and mass vaccination sites say they could do more if only they had more supply. gabe is at a mass vaccination site in new york city where a new expansion of who is eligible for vaccines has been creating some confusion. gabe, what's going on? >> reporter: hey there. yesterday people with underlying medical conditions here in new york were allowed to sign up for these vaccine appointments but as the government had been warning for several days, millions of new yorkers were trying to sign up for hundreds of thousands of appointments and there was this huge backlog. the website slowed down for parts of yesterday. we spoke with one man, 51 years old. he has a type of blood cancer. he was so frustrated logging on the that website and having to

hit refresh over and over again. >> i think it could be live saving. not only my own life but i could save somebody else's life but not transmitting covid to them. i'm still in treatment. i go do the hospital and i'm sitting around a whole waiting room of people with cancer. i don't want to get them sick especially people older and sicker than me because i've been in their position. >> reporter: that's phillip smith describing why he needs the vaccine. even though he's opinion trying to since yesterday, he hasn't been able to get it. we spoke with another person also in his shoes, similar shoes, 37 years old. has sickle cell anemia. she's not been able to get it. this is not just affecting new york. massachusetts governor says he is reluctant to open up eligibility to people under 75

because of those supply issues that you mentioned and in washington state as well, this week they are focusing on second doses because they don't think they will have enough doses to get new people in to get their first one. certainly, the supply issues across the country continue to be a problem. >> it's extraordinarily frustrating and for all of us who haven't been to concerts in many years, we're used to that kind of a refresh button in one is so much more frustrating and high stakes. thanks very much for your reporting as always. please do make sure to check out our interactive state by state guide to figure out when and where you can receive your covid vaccine. visit planyourvaccine.com to learn more. we'll be right back. anyourvaccio learn more we'll be right back. good morning! this is where everything started. the four way is engulfed in history. you're sitting in the place where giants ate.

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♪“you're the best” by joe esposito♪ ♪ [triumphantly yells] [ding] don't get mad. get e*trade. welcome back, we have a little more upbeat coronavirus news today. yesterday is the lowest number of new coronavirus cases since late october. daily cases across the u.s. continue to trend down and new cases have declined 40% from where they were a few weeks ago. however mutated variants maintain a variable in the progress of fighting the virus. more than 1,000 cases of the more transmissble and possibly more deadly british variant have been found in at least 40 states. let's bring in dr. bedilia.

she is an msnbc medical contributor, a favorite of ours here. thank you for being here. why don't we start with the good news, the cases trending down here. is this because people are getting vaccinated? because we're all cold and staying inside? what explains the trend that we're seeing right now? >> kaci it is definitely good news. we had a whole stream of infections because of holiday travels and they have started to come down and the deaths have remained high. and it is plateauing now, and we see a rise, we rolled back on ourtivities a little bit, and then we see an improvement. i think it is a change in our behaviors. a fact that a portion of us got vaccinated, but i do think that

is a positive trend that will continue. they have seen a 94% drop in people with symptomatic covid-19 for those with the pfizer vaccine. they're seeing it play out in large populations once the vaccine makes it out there. there is a concern as you mapped out. the variants. it feels like the calm before the storm. the variants and new data from the weekend show seven new variants have been found that have the same mutation as the one discovered in the u.k. it seems like this virus, this mutation gives an extra level of advantage to the virus. that's why it is naturally a lot of strains are developing towards it. it remains important for us to be careful of the variants.

>> how nervous should people be if they have already been vaccinate thad that vaccine may not prevent them from getting sick with one of these new strains? >> yeah, so it is actually the opposite. we know they have come in but it's not just that, it's that independently have virus is, you know, evolution happens continuously. what we discovered is that these viruses are independently trial and error. that many of them are, woing. and that many of them are taking on an advantage. it's not just the variants that came in but the variant that's are here and we why need to keep it down. they all seem to be part of the

known variants. if you're protected you should get the vaccine, get whatever you can because that's the way to move forward and reduce the variants. >> so i think that the one big question that everyone has on their mind social security when do you think we'll be able to hug our friends and families again, to see our loved ones without being afraid. given that we're accelerating the pace of vaccinations, when do you think we may see that? >> yeah, i get that as well as we see more and more people getting vaccinated. let me start with the low hanging fruit. if you have been vaccinated you should still wear a mask particularly around people not vaccinated. we know the vaccines prevent severe disease and hospitalizations. with this variant you might still get infected, but the business might be milder. so the fact that people who are not vaccinated could still get the infection. that means there's a number of

people that could pass on the vaccine. the question becomes about what about when the majority of us are vaccinated, right? the determination you have to make is your own. i think we're at a level where everyone should wear a mask. when more of us are vaccinated, particularly those in our population that could be hospitalized or die, then particularly not wearing a mask around someone else goes down. i see by spring or summer we could start doing that. but even if we transmit it'd to each other, they are not vaccinated as well. we want to be at a point where we can hug, be indooring, and hand out with our family. >> just another reason to look forward to spring and term this year. dr. nikki, thank you for being

with us. thanks to all of you at home for being with us this hour. chuck will be back tomorrow with more "meet the press daily." our coverage will continue with katy tur after a quick break.

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. good afternoon, i'm katy tur. it is 2:00 p.m. in the east. president biden is back on his way to the white house after a valentine's day weekend at camp david and facing a daunting race against the clock. with impeachment behind them democrats are full steam ahead to meet a march 14th deadline to pass that $1.9 trillion covid relief package. but they're facing some push back from elements of their own party about parts of that plan. tricky for president biden. house speaker nancy pelosi and

chuck schumer to keep that