it's wednesday. the fbi, the department of homeland security, and the capitol police are sounding the alarm warning of a possible plot to breach the capitol tomorrow. as top security officials testify today about how and why it all went wrong on january 6th. plus, we're expecting to hear for the first time since all of these new allegations have surfaced from new york governor andrew cuomo. we expect to hear from him any minute, his first public appearance in days. three women accused him of inappropriate behavior as calls for his resignation grow. it is a covid briefing but we'll be interested to see if he takes other questions. and president biden promises enough vaccines for all adults by may. two months faster than planned. health officials are growing increasingly concerned as some states accelerate to defy the cdc and open fully without even

a mask mandate. look, today is one of those busy days. there's a lot of moving parts. sit back and digest all of this for the next hour. i think we can deliver it bit by bit for you. welcome to wednesday. "meet the press daily" and i'm chuck todd. we'll begin with this breaking news. the alarming warning of a possible second attack on the capitol. just a few hours ago a senior law enforcement official confirmed to nbc news the department of homeland security and the fbi have sent out a joint intelligence bulletin to all state and local law enforcement late last night warning that some domestic groups have, quote, discussed plans to take control of the u.s. capitol and remove democratic lawmakers on or about march 4th. that is tomorrow. capitol police said this morning that they are responding to the

warning by beefing up security to ensure the protection of congress, the public, and our police officers. all of this comes the day after fbi director christopher wray warned of a spreading threat from extremists and that the fbi had 2,000 investigations under way, more than double we ever had during the height of the concern of international extremism in our country. it also comes as security officials are testifying on capitol hill right now about the january 6th siege with some eye-opening testimony about the amount of time it took to deploy the national guard during the attack. in the last 24 hours we've had multiple major warnings the january 6 attacks were not an isolated incident, that the threat from domestic violent extremists is not going anywhere, and then we have this. >> as you noted, mr. chairman, january 6th was not an isolated event. the problem of domestic terrorism has been spreading

across the country for a long time now and it's not going away any time soon. >> we expect racially or ethnically motivated violent tremists and antigovernment and antiauthority violent extremists will likely pose the greatest terrorism threats throughout 2021 and leading into 2022. regardless of the specific perpetrator the domestic terrorism threat remains persistent and that is why we must remain focused on countering it. >> so joined now my our justice correspondent pete williams and also with us a former deputy national security adviser under president george w. bush and also an msnbc news national security analyst and the director of the american university's polarization and extremism research and innovation lab, author of "hate in the homeland, the new global far right." pete, let me start with this. i feel like you have been so used to reporting bulletins like this when there was fear of

internationally inspired terrorism, whether isis, al qaeda inspired. here we are with this warning. how credible a threat that they decided to issue this warning? >> i don't know frankly. that is a good question. it appears the person who spoke today at the hearing before the senate on 1-6 was not aware of this because as julia can tell you in more detail the department of homeland security and fbi put out something last night that said you know we are monitoring this stuff and the threat isn't going away but the capitol police have a much more specific thing. they say we have obtained intelligence that shows a possible plot to breach the capitol by an identified militia group. i don't know whether that is all part of the same output or whether this is something different. the capitol police have said they don't generate their own intelligence. they only deal with what's been given to them. i am still trying to chase down what it is and where this came from. in any event nobody is going to

get into the capitol. nobody is going to breach the capitol. there is already an enormous amount of security around it. and they say they'll beef it up even more. so i don't think anybody in the capitol needs to worry tomorrow. it does strike me as sort of one of those abundance of caution type things. >> by the way, and yesterday i wanted to get at this and i know you've done some -- put the 2,000 cases that christopher wray talked about of domestic violent extremism that they're -- the 2,000 active cases they're dealing with now -- put that in context, you know, say the first decade of the ots when we were dealing with claeda inspired threats, isis inspired threats. at any time did we ever get as high as 2,000 open cases? >> no, no. i would go back to sort of oklahoma city and the rise of concern about militia groups. and the monitoring of them. they sort of ebb and flow.

then you have 9/11 and the focus is on foreign threats but the domestic thing starts to bubble up again. put it this way. a year ago the number of cases they were looking at domestic was about a thousand. the same as the number of foreign inspired threats, about a thousand of those. by the end of last year it was 1400 domestic. and now it's over 2,000. so the fbi's attention to this is the point that we're trying to make but they really have expanded the number of things that they're looking at. >> julia ainsley as pete sort of teed you up and said for more of these details on this specific threat about march 4th there's obviously also been this qanon theory moving around to the point that the trump hotel in d.c. raised its rates tonight because of this conspiracy theory circulating about somehow donald trump might become president on march 4th referring

back to when inauguration day was not on january 20th. how much of that is involved in the decision to issue this joint bulletin? >> well, i think that the joint bulletin is coming from a number of people at fbi and dhs who analyze a lot of the chatter they see online, a lot of the groups that, you know, went to sort of the more far flung corners of the internet after they were deplatformed after january 6th from more of the main stream platforms. they're watching a lot of that. let me just read to you, chuck, what was read to me by a senior law enforcement official who had knowledge of this bulletin that went out late last night around midnight. he said the perception of election fraud and other conspiracy theories associated with the presidential transition may contribute to domestic violent extremists mobilizing to violence with little or no warning. so what they're describing here is this overall threat environment that has certainly

been heightened since january 6th but they do name march 4th, tomorrow, as a day because of this qanon conspiracy theory that somehow that is the day that president trump is going to come back and be inaugurated because that was the day as you know historically i think back into the '30s at this point when that was the day the president was inaugurated. and so that is what they're paying attention to. now i'm particularly interested in the rates going up at the trump hotel. i think you're looking at $1300 a night now. pretty extraordinary, given the fact that a lot of hotels have been sitting pretty empty during the pandemic. so these are all things we're monitoring but i think in terms of what dhs and fbi are looking at, they've been looking at this threat they said did not begin or end on january 6th and they want to raise specific concern about tomorrow. but let's say even if we get through tomorrow and nothing much happens, they want to say

that this is especially in the capitol region a threat that will persist and they want local law enforcement, state law enforcement to remain vigilant. >> we're obviously dealing with the hearing today about some after action report regarding the national guard and, pete, i want you to sort of put this timeline i'm about to put on this today from general walker and his testimony today and afterward if you could put that in context for us for what we knew going into this hearing. here is what general walker said today about the national guard approval process on january 6th. >> at 15:00 i directed that the quick reaction force that was based at andrews air force base leave the base, get to the armory at all deliberate speed. we put guardsmen on buses. we brought them inside the armory so nobody would see them putting on the equipment and getting on the buses. then we just waited to get the approval. at 5:00 i decided, hey, you

know, there's got to be an approval coming so get on the buses. get the equipment on. get on the buses and just wait. and then a few minutes after that we did get the approval. i believe that number could have made a difference. we could have helped extend the perimeter and helped push back the crowd. >> now, pete, the chairman of the joint chiefs general mark milley seemed to preview what the testimony could be today, at least i thought so, when he said, hey, look, we know in that hour it didn't feel like we were moving fast but we were moving fast. this did -- and, yet, that testimony seems to indicate that maybe what general milley said was a bit of happy talk. how would you put this in context? >> well, so, yes. we learned a little bit more and the image of the guardsmen sort of sitting on the buses waiting for the green light so they can head to the capitol under a police escort was new to us. the timeline that general walker

sketches out is he says he initially asked for approval from the pentagon at 1:49. it gets back and forth discussed between the secretary of the army and the new, relatively new acting defense secretary who finally approves it at 4:32 but it isn't until 5:08 that general walker is told that he has approval. by then, we know that the guardsmen had been sitting on the bus for about ten minutes. he said they were here in another 12 minutes or 15 minutes under a police escort. so we got a little more refinement on that timeline but also the image of those folks just sitting on the bus waiting to get here. >> and, julia ainsley, on the warning about tomorrow, march 4th, as pete pointed out, no one is getting into this capitol complex. but what about the danger to individual lawmakers? >> that is a good point. they said one of the things they're hearing in this dhs and fbi bulletin that they are hearing of plans to try to

remove democratic lawmakers. that would have been from the u.s. capitol. i do think that security is so raised not only around the capitol but many of these lawmakers have their own awareness and they would be inside, very protected, very different from how they were on january 6th. but, you know, that is something that they're warning about. they want people to take heed. but so far the way i read that bulletin was that they wanted to remove the lawmakers from the capitol. again, i'm just reporting what we hear. i don't know how this would happen. these are -- this is what is being discussed on message boards and put into this bulletin. it doesn't seem feasible to me. >> individual security of individual lawmakers i think is going to be one of our great challenges because we just, we're just -- just haven't thought we needed to protect all 535, every federal judge, you name it, and perhaps we are entering a period where we may have to think of that. i'm going to move to the analysis portion of this with juan and cynthia.

juan, i can't help but think had the fbi director, when you were serving in the bush administration, announced that they had 2,000 al qaeda inspired extremism cases open in america, what kind of panic button would have been pressed in that moment? how alarmed do you think we should be at hearing how many open domestic terrorism cases we have right now and do you think we're underplaying this? >> i think the fbi is readjusting to the fact this is a spreading problem. they've opened the apperture for what they're look forgue and investigating on the militia side as well as white supremacist side and looking more carefully at the chatter to try to determine what is more serious. i think one of the problems on january 6th or in the runnup to january 6th was the lack of

seriousness with which some of these threat markers were taken. in my time in the white house, chuck, we would have been having twice daily meetings, threat meetings across the government, which is what we did every morning, every afternoon, before i went to bed at night i would review the threat reporting. we would have once a week high level meetings in the situation room to review where we were on key threats and threat threads. i think we're moving to a pace and a recognition that we have to start treating these threats more seriously with all the complications that we know. first amendment complications, complications about how to deal with social media, and the rest. but we are seeing that there is more of a consciousness of this threat and we're going to have to treat it more seriously and that way we're able to respond -- >> okay. i can't see you -- >> cynthia, let me shift to you here. assess that. do you feel as if after hearing

from christopher wray yesterday and given all that you do is the government starting to match the crisis? >> i think the government and the u.s. has been catching up to the threat. has, you know, at least even before the election in october acknowledging and the threat of assessment report from dhs that violent extremism is the threat and white supremacist within that but we've seen a 250% increase in right wing terror globally, had the assassination of a german politician last year, the assassination of joe cox. these attacks on or plots against the governors of michigan and virginia so there have been, you know, ongoing escalations not just in the u.s. but globally that indicate that there are going to be more threats and likely more threats toward lawmakers, that this is a trend, you know both on the

violent extremist side and antigovernment side all united around a sense of threat just as that gets articulated differently. but they all feel something is being taken from them and given to someone who doesn't deserve it whether those are white supremacist extremists who feel like they're losing a white majority country or your second amendment protesters or stop the steal. you know, believers. so that theme is there and the government i think is finally starting to respond. >> you know, juan, the fact that this is a global -- there is a, whether we want to call it a full on movement but, certainly, in western democracies, there is a growing violent right wing in some form that is taking place, right wing extremism. is this something that countries can band together to deal with or does that only make the -- does it only complicate the process because essentially we're investigating ourselves? >> i think countries have to

cooperate on this. there is no question, chuck. i think the christ church attacks in 2019, the arrest cynthia was referencing, the arrests happening through europe and now the growing concerns in the u.s. reflect we have to cooperate and share information about what the groups are going to kplun kate to support each -- communicate to support each other to ideologically enforce their messages. all of this has to be an effort the u.s. is engaged with with partners. i really see three vectors here. you hear this in chris wray's testimony. there is really the concern about the mobilization and organization of these groups within the u.s. where you start to see these threat bulletins and other concerns begin to emerge around more organized efforts and attacks not just in the capitol but in state capitols and elsewhere. secondly is the connectivitiy between these groups. you saw in the trump administration the designation of one of these russian groups and you have to see these things that potentially combined as a

movement. and finally, is this being stoked by foreign actors like the russians who love to take advantage of the fissures in our political and social systems and are they stoking the divisions in a way that is representing a national security threat from a nation state. it's part of the threat landscape. >> cynthia, is january 6th considered a success or failure in the extremist groups? >> most of the global far right considers it a success. so they're celebrating it as the courageous revolutionary act of patriots who showed that they can do it but we have also seen there is a splintering. there is always a splintering across the far right and, thankfully, until this incident, you know, despite earlier attempts even in charlottesville to unite the right they really have usually failed to come together and form a coalition. so this was kind of a spontaneous coalition that did come together across that

fragmented spectrum, but we still see some fragmenting afterward on the reaction. some people feel it is bad optics, we constantly hear that debate in the violent far right but whether the use of violence is effective or not but for a lot of the global far right not just the u.s. they see this as a success. there was an attempt in germany in august to storm their parliament, where a militant group of far right extremists did make it past the first cordon of police, and this is being paid attention to globally as well as something that can be modeled. >> juan, cynthia, pete and thank you all for your reporting. an important way to get the day started. an important big picture. coming up the deepening crisis for the governor of new york andrew cuomo and his entire political party, holding a briefing right now on covid. we're waiting for him to take

some questions where we expect he will address the latest allegations of inappropriate behavior and the growing calls for his resignation. but first we have new hope on the horizon as the president announces an acceleration of the vaccine timeline. new fears as more states rush to reopen. we're live in texas where the governor is lifting it all including a mandate on masks. (noise of fridge opening) guy fieri! ya know, if you wanna make that sandwich the real deal, ya gotta focus on the bread layers. king's hawaiian sliced bread makes everything better!

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and safe for all fitness levels. get gym results at home in just 10 minutes a day. no expensive machines, no expensive memberships. get off the floor with aerotrainer. go to aerotrainer.com to get yours now. welcome back, president biden has now vowed there will be enough vaccine supply to vaccinate every adult in america by the end of may. hard stop. he's putting pressure on states to prioritize teachers with the goal to begin vaccinating every educator, school staff member, and child care worker by the end of this month. amid all the hopeful headlines public health officials at the white house say they remain in a state of high anxiety. why? this morning the cdc director pled with americans to continue to buckle down just a little while longer.

>> on one hand cases in the country are leveling off at rates just on the cusp of potential to resurge and that b117 hypertransmissible variant looms ready to hijack our successes to date. on the other hand stamina has worn thin. fatigue is winning. the exact measures we have taken to stop the pandemic are now too often being flagrantly ignored. all the while we are just on the verge of capitalizing on the culmination of an historic scientific success. the ability to vaccinate the country in just a matter of three or four more months. how this plays out is up to us. the next three months are pivotal. >> those warnings come as some states are throwing caution to the wind, like texas. >> effective next wednesday all businesses of any type are

allowed to open 100%. [ applause ] also, i am ending the statewide mask mandate. [cheers and applause] >> nbc's morgan chesky is in austin, texas for us. morgan, i tell you, i go back to, and maybe it is a reminder of just how polarized our politics are. was there any thought at all by the governor to open everything up 100% but keep the mask mandate in place, actually, you know, listen to the scientists and listen to the business leaders, and try to forge a compromise? >> reporter: chuck, you'd have to ask him. it was kind of happening at the same time as a vaccination announcement where he was saying

7 million texans will be vaccinated in the next few days about one-quarter of the population. the governor's signs that he is choosing to point to at this time is the downward trend of hospitalizations that have been covid related, positivity rate dropping across the state as well. he made a point of explicitly mentioning that. politically motivated, critics saying, coming on the heals of the brutal storm recovery that texas is in the midst of and also pointing to the more than 40,000 texans who have died as a result of covid-19. even though the numbers have started to go down, the fact that you hear the president say that the vaccinations and vaccine doses for all americans will be available at sometime in may, that creates a space of several months where this could be what critics call a bit of a gamble and you have restaurant owners here in austin choosing not to open at all despite being told they can have 100%

capacity, because they have personnel that hasn't been vaccinated. i had a chance to speak to several people here in austin. >> we want to try to bring back the business but we want to also keep the customers safe and that is going to be still my number one priority. to make sure everybody feels safe. i will definitely require my staff to wear masks. >> reporter: that's that. >> yes. i will i think until we get a little further down. now, i'm going to also recommend that people do wear masks. >> reporter: of course one of the main things we're hearing now from certain owners including an art gallery popping up here behind me, they have a show set for this weekend that is supposed to last into the upcoming week whenever this goes into effect on wednesday.

when we asked them what their plan is now they said they were going to abide by the original rule to wear a mask and now that the mandate is lifted we'll ask people wear masks but we also understand people who want to come here will be hearing what the governor is saying and so there is a lot of mixed messaging and fears from owners on how exactly they're going to approach this when you have city leaders saying one thing and the government saying something else. >> does the governor's orders allow, for instance, the city of austin to still have a mask mandate or not? or is this one of those orders that supercedes any local mandate? >> from what we can tell right now it would supersede any local order. that is not to say that a local municipality couldn't have one but the governor was very explicit in stating that you cannot be penalized for not wearing a mask. if you're a business owner, you can refuse service to someone if they don't wear a mask if you

want to deal with that. but as it stands right now not wearing a mask as of wednesday is not punishable. >> morgan chesky on the ground for us in austin. thank you. we got a lot more politics behind the governor's decision of lifting all these restrictions: >> i understand that. i'm a lawyer, too. but i want new yorkers to hear from me directly on this. first, i fully support a woman's right to come forward. and i think it should be encouraged in every way. i now understand that i acted in

a way that made people feel uncomfortable. it was unintentional and i truly and deeply apologize for it. i feel awful about it. and, frankly, i am embarrassed by it and that is not easy to say. but that's the truth. but this is what i want you to know. and i want you to know this from me directly. i never touched anyone inappropriately. i never touched anyone inappropriately. i never knew at the time that i was making anyone feel

uncomfortable. i never knew at the time i was making anyone feel uncomfortable. and i certainly never, ever meant to offend anyone or hurt anyone. or cause anyone any pain. that is the last thing i would ever want to do. i ask the people of this state to wait for the facts from the attorney general's report before forming an opinion. get the facts, please, before forming an opinion, and the attorney general is doing that review. i will fully cooperate with it. and then you will have the facts. and make a decision when you know the facts. i also want you to know that i

have learned from what has been an incredibly difficult situation for me as well as other people, and i've learned an important lesson. i'm sorry. i'm sorry for whatever pain i caused anyone. i never intended it. and i will be the better for this experience. thank you. questions? >> thank you, governor. if you would like to ask a question please use the raised hand function at the bottom of your window. we'll take a brief moment to compile the q & a roster. your first question comes from wcbs.

your line is now open. please unmute your microphone. >> governor, can you hear me? >> marsha kraemer the dean of the delegation. >> so, governor, i have actually two questions. first of all, i wonder if given the distractions of these two investigations especially the one involving sexual harassment you feel that you might want to step aside or that you should step aside especially in negotiating the budget which could be one of the most important budgets that the state has ever had to deal with? and my second question has to do with the pictures that have surfaced of you touching the face of anna ruch. the reason i'm asking the questions is i'm also seeing circulated pictures of you touching faces of people all over the state young and old and i wonder what you make of those pictures. >> yeah, thank you very much. let me take both questions. first, you're right about the

state budget. it is critically important. the state budget is going to turn the page to the rebuilding phase. we've been working very hard to get funding from washington to fill the gap. and that has been going well. we have to see what we actually get. but we then have tremendous financial needs on top of that. people have to pay their rent. they need food, etcetera. you also have new york city, which is in a very precarious situation. it's teetering, to use a word. crime is way up. homelessness is way up. many people have left new york city. hamptons. mid hudson valley. we have to get new york city functional again and safe again

and viable again. and we have to do that quickly. we have a new mayor that is going to be selected basically in june i guess. something could happen in november but basically in june. that work has to start right away. so, yes. the budget is very important. >> should you step aside though and let somebody else handle it? >> having said that, i'm going to cooperate with the attorney general's investigation and do the budget. remember, we did a budget last year in the spring in the heat of covid where it was the most intense period of my life, of this government's life, of this state's life. and we did both and will do both here. on the pictures, i understand the opinion of and feelings of

ms. ruch. you are right. you can find hundreds of pictures of me making the same gesture with hundreds of people. women, men, children, etcetera. you can find hundreds of pictures of me kissing people. it is my customary way of greeting. you know that because you've watched me for let's just say more years than we care to remember. by the way, it was my father's way of greeting people. the governor of the state. you want people to feel comfortable. you want to reach out to them. i do it -- i kiss and hug legislators. i was at an event in queens the

other day, hugged the pastors and the assembly members who were there. so that is my way to do that. however, what i also understand is it doesn't matter. it doesn't matter, my intent. what matters is if anybody was offended by it. and i could intend no offense, but if they were offended by it, then it was wrong. and if they were offended by it, i apologize. and if they were hurt by it i apologize. and if they felt pain from it i apologize. i apologize. i did not intend it. i didn't mean it that way. but if that is how they felt,

that's all that matters and i apologize. next question, operator? >> governor, your next question comes from dave evans from wabc. dave, your line is now open. please unmute your microphone. >> can you hear me okay? >> yeah, dave. >> governor, i just wanted to ask you, with all these calls in the last couple days calling for your resignation from some democrats, certainly not all, but some democrats, is today, since you've been gone about a week, is this your way of saying, i'm certainly not resigning? >> yeah. dave, look. some politicians will always play politics. right? that's the nature of the beast. i don't think today is the day for politics. i wasn't elected by politicians.

i was elected by the people of the state of new york. i'm not going to resign. i work for the people of the state of new york. they elected me and i'm going to serve the people of the state of new york and, by the way, we have a full plate. we have covid. we have recovery. we have rebuilding. we have a teetering new york city. we have a terrible financial picture. we have to do vaccines. so, no. i'm going to do the job the people of the state elected me to do. next question, operator? >> governor, your next question comes from andrew siff of wnbc. andrew, your line is now open. please unmute your microphone. >> governor, good afternoon. two questions. the first is given how contrite you've been today, why did it take a week for you to go before the cameras when people have noted your absence for so many days? my second question is, what

assurances can you provide new yorkers that there are not other accusers who worked for you who will lodge similar complaints to the two that have already been alleged? >> yes. two things, andrew. the -- i apologized several days ago. i apologize today. i will apologize tomorrow. i will apologize the day after. and i want new yorkers to understand. this is more -- the facts will come out in the attorney general's review, but i want them to understand the emotion. because it is really, for me, it's as much about the emotion. i never knew at the time that i was making anyone feel uncomfortable. i never, ever meant to offend anyone or hurt anyone or cause

anyone pain. i feel terrible that these people felt uncomfortable, felt hurt, felt pain from the interactions. and i'm embarrassed by it and i feel bad from it. i'm not in this business to make people feel uncomfortable. i'm here to make them, to help them is the essence of why i do what i do. the -- i do not believe i have ever done anything in my public career that i am ashamed of. i didn't know i was making her uncomfortable at the time.

i feel badly that i did. but -- and i'm going to learn from it. marsha asked me about my usual custom is to kiss and to hug and make that gesture. i understand that sensitivities have changed and behavior has changed. and i get it. i'm going to learn from it. next question? >> governor, your next question comes from wutr. your line is now open. please unmute your microphone. >> thank you, governor. hi. how are you? >> good. how are you? >> i'm good. so i actually have two questions. my first one is if a member of your administration had done what you are currently accused of and had -- and have admitted to, what would you tell them and what would be a satisfactory disposition for you?

>> well, let's be clear on the facts. first, we haven't gotten the facts. let the attorney general do a review and let's get the facts. that's what i said in my statement to new yorkers. i'm a former attorney general. i've been through a situation too many times where everybody has an opinion because they read this, they read this. then all of a sudden the facts come out and it is a different situation. wait for the facts before you form an opinion. and as i said, my behavior here, i never touched anyone inappropriately. i never knew at the time that i was making anyone feel uncomfortable. and if i ever did make people feel uncomfortable, which i now understand that i have, i apologize for it. but then let the attorney general's office actually review the facts. >> yes, thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you.

>> next question, operator? >> governor, your next question comes from wxyr. your line is now open. please unmute your microphone. >> hi, governor. i was curious and i know you said and apologized several times this afternoon. who were you apologizing to? >> i was apologizing to the young woman who worked here who said that i made her feel uncomfortable and in the work place. >> were you also speaking to new yorkers, governor? >> oh, to new yorkers. i am saying that i'm embarrassed by what happened.

my -- i wear a pin that says, pride, integrity, performance. that's what it says on the pin. you can't read it. pride, integrity, performance. so i am embarrassed that someone felt that way in my administration. i'm embarrassed and hurt and i apologize that somebody who interacted with me felt that way. again, i didn't know at the time i was making her feel uncomfortable. i never meant to. but that doesn't matter. if a person feels uncomfortable, if a person feels pain, if a person is offended, i feel very badly about that. and i apologize for it. there is no but, you know?

it's i'm sorry. >> let's take one more question, operator. >> governor, your next question comes from whec. jennifer, your line is now open. please unmute your microphone. >> good afternoon, governor. i actually have two questions. one for you and one for melissa. governor, have you, yourself, taken the sexual harassment training required by new york that all employers are to give to their employees? and, melissa, as the highest ranking woman in state government, right now, and someone who interacts with the governor on a daily basis, how do you feel about these allegations against him and what is your message to women who see you in your position and see these allegations against the governor? >> short answer is yes. and i'll turn it over to melissa. just keep in mind there are

hundreds and hundreds of people who work with melissa. we have more senior women in this administration than probably in any administration in history. but i'll ask melissa to respond. >> again, i would just ask that everyone refrain from judgment until the attorney general is allowed to do her work. we've asked her to come in. everyone is going to fully comply with that. but i am incredibly proud of the work that this administration has done to further women's rights, to expand protections for women, in the work place, out of the work place, maternal health, reproductive health. the list goes on and on and on. i am also proud that in my time as secretary we've seen more women rise to highest levels in terms of commissioners and senior staff levels and we've promoted each other and supported one another and i don't think this diminishes any of that.

i look forward to furthering the work to strengthen women's rights for all new yorkers. >> thank you all very much. have a good day. covid numbers are good. still be smart. we just heard from governor andrew cuomo. it was a covid briefing that turned into his essentially first extended set of questions that he took on the allegations. multiple allegations that have been made against him for making women uncomfortable. there was certainly plenty of contrition but there was also some contradiction in there. he apologized profusely and at times but then said he never did anything that he was ashamed of in his public life either. so there is certainly an acceptance that he is in trouble, an acceptance that he owes a lot of explanations and apologies to people, but whether this was enough for folks,

obviously that is in the hands of a lot of elected lawmakers in the state of new york as well as the citizens there. i have anne thompson with us. who is covering the story. and, anne, you know, look. i do this. i've seen plenty of politicians have this press conference. this press conference is very familiar to me. one of the things that i thought was notable is he decided when to end the press conference. usually a politician under siege like he is right now exhausts the questions. waits until there are no more. so that they can always say, i answered every question. that was a decision he chose not to make but he certainly did address quite a bit. do we expect more of this from him or was today the one day we were going to hear from the governor? >> well, i think that the governor, the questions are not going to stop, chuck. if that was the governor's goal here i don't think he achieved

it. it will be easy to say once the attorney general appoints the investigator to say i can't talk because the investigation is going on. you consider that the governor admitted he did have he admitted to sexual harassment training. lindsey boylen says it was an unwanted kiss. the woman at the wedding says he put his hand on her bare lower back. she removed it and he asked if he could kiss her. why did he think he could do these things. i don't think that question was answered. >> he made a remark that i feel

like is something he will regret saying which is that he has never done anything he is ashamed of. >> yeah, she does not like the woman that is happy to have someone's hands on her cheeks. are there other shoes to drop? are there other women who are going to come forward? if they come forward, what is the tolerance for that? i asked is there a breaking point for new york democrats?

is it one more woman? two more, ten more? he would not go there. he said look, everyone should have patience. let's go through the report and then when we get that report we'll decide what to do. >> do you have a sense of how long it will take? i know it has been in the hands of the attorney general for a few days now. did they give any hint at a time line? >> not yet, she has not even appointed the investigator yet. that is the first thing that has to happen. >> ann thompson on the story, thank you. i'm joined now by a new york state senator that called on the governor to step down this morning. i'm curious. now that you heard the plea for

the governor, do you want to amend your call for his resignation. >> thank you for having me. the short answer is no. i watched that press conference in realtime as you and your viewers did. even the apology, as you noted, was still qualified. if you felt uncomfortable. there is no if any more. they obviously felt uncomfortable and harassed. i don't know why he continues to qualify that. i never intended to make anyone feel this way. the smatter of fact is you have three women here and he really only referred to one. three here felt deeply uncomfortable. they felt harassed, and there is

one case at least, if not two, and he says i have never touched anyone inappropriately. there is a photo of him touching someone inappropriately and you have the first accuse near says that he kissed her in a very harassing sort of way. and i don't offer up that statement lightly. i internalized this, and i said i have seen enough. i respect the investigation, an honest job, a forthright job, but i don't need to wait for that. i have seen enough. >> do you think politically on the democratic side of the aisle that the closer you are the harder it is to call for his resignation and the more distance you have from him the easier it might be to sort of assess the facts without worrying about personal relationships? >> i think perhaps there is some sense of that. and that is human nature, right?

one of the reasons why i did what i did today is you know i just assessed if it is a republican governor i would be out there calling for his resignation. this is a moral issue. this is right and wrong. it should rise above politics. so look, you mentioned breaking points. everyone has that breaking point. i hit by breaking point. we have three women, we have text messages, we have e-mails. if someone else comes forward you will see something of a dam break in this case. >> if he doesn't go, if he chooses not to resign and you have more people in the party asking him to resign, do you think impeachment is at all something that is a likelihood

in the assembly? >> i'm not in the assembly so it is hard to say, but that is the tool that the legislature has. i hope and trust it will not get to that point and that we're able to move on with the governor stepping down. it would be foolish of us to take that off of the table. >> state senator, i appreciate you coming on. this is the last thing that new york needs while it deals with the pandemic, but thank you for coming on and sharing were perspective with us. >> thank you all for being here this hour. we have more coverage with katy tur after the break.

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if you see wires down, treat them all as if they're hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. >> good afternoon. there is breaking news on multiple fronts as we come on the air. moments ago andrew quo moe came before cameras to answer

questions for the very first time in a week after multiple confirm accused him of sexual harassment. he said he understands that he made women feel uncomfortable. he apologized but say he will not resign. shocks anticipations at the capitol, the commander says it took three hours and 19 minutes for the trump administration and the pentagon to approve an urgent question for the guard to respond. a frantic phone call at 1:49. . the capitol has been breached, please help, this is a dire emergency. they did not approve that question until