anyway, anyway, as you probably heard there is an omicron wave sweeping the globe. some feared the omicron variant will be a vaccine resistance, kind of like 40% of americans. >> good morning and welcome toll "morning joe," it's monday, december 13th, in a moment we have new reporting on the document that outlines exactly how former president trump and his allies going about to overturn the 2020 election. it ended up in the inbox of trump's chief of staff mark meadows. his lawyer said he did nothing with it but did he meet with someone who did. that's just ahead. the search for survivors continue after a series of devastating tornados affecting six states, close to 60 people confirmed dead.

a number that's expected to rise. the storm touched in mississippi, arizona and illinois. in illinois, edwardsville, at least six people were killed when the amazon location were hit. the state with the most widespread damage or at least eight people were killed while working in a candle factory. >> the people of america there is no lens big enough to show thank you the extent of the damage here in graves county or kentucky. nothing is standing in the direct line of this tornado is still standing. joining us now from kentucky,

dasha burns, what can you tell us. >> reporter: good morning, it's 30 degrees right now so you can imagine what it's like for the people at home right now. getting here from our crew is difficult. it's pitch black and there is so many debris. i would walk around to show you but it's not safe right now of the condition here. every corner you turn there is more devastations and destructions and harrowing stories of residents here. stories of people hiding in crawl spaces and door ways, people told me they were making their peace with god because they thought they were not going to make it. >> i want you to hear from one of the residents i spoke with, she hid with her daughter. >> i thought i was going to die. i thought this was it.

i came out and it was a black hole here and that's when it hit me. i am going to the black hole. i was telling everybody the same. it's gone. it's just -- never going to be the same. the neighborhood is never going to be the same. the town is not going to be the same. >> reporter: it's hard to describe what it's like to stand here and really look at the damage and look at people, seeing their homes, seeing places where they live for more than 50 years like this home behind me here. bob newman lived here for 50 plus years, there is nothing left here. it's remarkable to see the amount of support this community has received, famiies and friends coming from different parts of the state to help clean up the debris bringing water and food and chain saw and trucks. >> nbc's dasha burns reporting

live from kentucky. thank you very much for that report. president biden will get another briefing this morning of the federal response and extreme weather that impacted multiple states on friday night. on saturday, biden approved an emergency for kentucky. he promises to do whatever to help kentucky. the president did and the funds have been approved. it's lost on few that senator paul is the one who routinely objects to disaster relief for other states. he opposed federal aid after

hurricane sandy and here he's speaking out against relief in the wake of hurricane harvey and irma and maria. >> people here want to help the people of puerto rico and texas and florida. notice they have great compassion with someone else's money. ask them if they are giving money to puerto rico or texas and what they are doing to help. it's easy to be compassionate with someone else's money. >> let's bring in jonathan lemire and mara gay. >> people like rand paul in congress would do the same and something would need in their district they would beg for it and anybody else, telling them go straight to hell. we see in hurricanes, i guess

unfortunately i have seen damage like this far too much. hurricanes and tornados and whether you are in a red state or blue state, there are just something the federal government can do that nobody else can do. it's widespread. this tornado, you got to put it up there. tornado of 1974. the horrible tornado that hit one of my hometown tuscaloosa in 2011 and more tornados in 2013. red states, blue states and sandy hitting blue states. we are all in this together. we really should act that way and help our brothers and sisters out in kentucky. >> yeah, the footage here is almost beyond belief, the drones and cameras that had flown over head. we are looking at now, factories destroyed and the entire city is

gone. the whole town is swallowed over night by this devastating storm, two hours in over six states. the death toll is too high as it is and it's certainly to rise. there are certain things and moments that are so big that only the federal government can step in with the resources to do so. that should be a bipartisan exercise whether republicans and democrats in the white house, that's what they do. and certainly should not be fought on capitol hill. we have seen some republicans namely some of like senator paul objects when he didn't like resources sent to blue states or something like puerto rico which was devastated by hurricanes and was slow to receive federal help from congress and then president trump. president biden is taking a different task, we'll hear from him again later today at the white house talking about this,

they're planning a visit soon. you don't want to go too soon because it takes resources for staff and sources for a presidential visit. this president and more than any of his peers speaking about grief. >> well, they certainly can. i saw it firsthand one hurricane after another. it makes a huge difference when they get the opportunity to come down and survey the damage and see what they can do to help out. again, this is not a blue issue or a red issue. this is an issue where people of kentucky needs our prand thoughts and well-wishes and they need our support from all levels of government. >> and we'll have much more on this coming up, by the way

president biden is good at this. when he goes, it will make a difference to the people there even in the wake of such unspeakable loss. now to former white house chief of staff mark meadows in support of a recommendation to pull him in contempt of congress, the january 6th select committee released a report ahead of a house vote later this week alleges meadows says national guard troops will keep supporters of then president trump safe during the capitol riot. the claim raises new questions about the government's slow response of the attack on the capitol in which five people lost their lives.

meadows twice failed to appear for a subpoena deposition, received a text on the organizer of the rally seeking direction after things had gotten crazy. the report also indicates the committee believes meadows may know significant information about trump's request to georgia's secretary of state to quote, "find" a precise number of votes that'll overturn his loss there. the attorney for the former chief of staff did not respond to an nbc news request for questions. there is new reporting that meadows handed over to the committee, we reported last week that it contained a strategy for how to overturn the 2020 election including the recommendation that donald trump declared a national security

emergency. a retired army colonel reportedly contributed to the presentation now says that he circulated the document that ended up in meadows' inbox. phil waldron visited the white house at multiple locations and he spoke to meadows eight to ten times. he spoke with members of congress before the days of the capitol attack and provided them -- >> don't you think meadows is not acting on the document is exacting. to not say whoa, what are we doing here? >> this retired military who put together the powerpoint said he met with him at the white house on multiple occasions and mara,

there is a couple of things the committee did focus on, he did meet in the white house repeatedly with this guy who was overturning the federal election results and at the same time was talking about this national guard, the national guard would protect that trump rioters. that's the most important questions that needs to be answered. why did the national guard let the trump rioters tear congress to shreds and put the vice president and the speaker's life in danger for so long. i wonder if mark meadows is talking about the national guards, the day before? >> what we are beginning to see at this point is a paper trail of treason. it's clear piece by piece that what happened on january 6th was not spontaneous and this was not inside the white house. it's spontaneous wish by donald

trump to standoff-ish. this was far more meticulous and strategic. it's important that mark meadows and others really explain this to the american people. americans have gotten to trickle this information and need to see this story put together and have it put into context. one of the scariest things about what has gone on is we have not yet move to protect the very election officials who prevented in large part of this plot in taken place. we have a situation right now where we still have a local official unprotected in keys swing states across the country. they are responsible for holding the line on american democracy. in some cases we have voting

rights under attack. you have the overturning of democrat boards, i don't mean that with a "big d," i mean it with a small "d." this is happening locally in diffused way which is also very concerning. we need to tie these threads to together in order to find out where we need to move it. >> trump loyalists are facing few obstacles. it's something you need to bring. let's bring in right now hugo lowell, you were the one provided us of this paper trail of treason. extraordinary document and now we are finding he went into the white house repeatedly and talked to mike pence about it as well as members of congress the day before the insurrection.

tell us what you know. we reported previously that trump called off the willard hotel and called up his lawyers, is there any way we can stop biden from becoming president the next day. it was a concerted effort that spanned at the willard hotel and the white house and it comes back to this idea of any sort of way to make sure biden's certification does not take place. and you can see mike pence being bullied to try to not certify the electoral college. that was the last thread trump's team landed on. tell us about the powerpoint presentations that certainly raise the headlines. who did see it and where did it end up? >> the version we reviewed was

36-slide powerpoint that was examinations and recommendation that trump should declare a national security emergency to return himself to the oval office. the select committee received a 38 slide powerpoint that the recommendations are the same. they are the same. we thought that was enough to go on and say this was effective powerpoint that meadows had. >> hugo, in terms of - did he open the e-mail and what he means, meadows when he did not act on this powerpoint presentation that landed in his inbox and to agree to be deposed and not show up. how often does it happen for someone to turn around and not to testify after deciding to testify. >> i will start with your first

question if that's okay. the first point is all we know is meadows' attorney says he didn't do anything with it. we heard on saturday through new reporting his engagement didn't end with it. he went to talk to the people that put it together eight or ten times. his engagement was not that he left it in his inbox and didn't do anything. to turn overall these documents and there is no executive privileges on this and saying not to testify about it because you decided to go off phone records, it should not come as a surprise. it's really unprecedented. >> again, the fact that this guy sent a powerpoint that of course hugo you first revealed to everybody, senate powerpoint talking to overturn the election results.

>> basically, committed an insurrection of united states of america and meet with the person that put that together six to eight times, it says volume. the january 6th committee is going to be focusing on that, mika. >> hugo lowell. thank you so much for sharing your report with us. still ahead, alejandro mayorkas will join us to talk about the federal response from the devastating tornados. it has been a year since trump left office but lindsey graham is advising his felow republicans not to cross the former president. also ahead, g7 leaders are -- leaders are --

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now to the latest of the fight against coronavirus. this morning new york's governor, kathy hochul's statewide mask mandate goes into effect until january 15th, unless the business venues already have a vaccine requirement in place. overall the highly mutated omicron has been discovered in half of all u.s. states but the cases have mostly been mild with most patients reporting symptoms such as coughs or a runny nose according to the report from cdc. former fda dr. scott gottlieb

points out in south africa where samples of omicron collected, the positivity rate has been flattening and is on decline. reported cases have been on the decline in recent months but the number of hospitalizations is on the rise up 20%. >> that suggests yes people are still getting delta and they're still getting covid and infections and some are getting hospitalized but the deaths, number of deaths have gone down because of vaccines and hospitals are at a much better place right now to treat covid even serious cases of covid than we were six or nine months ago. former white house peter navarro is denying a subpoena for documents from the congressional panel investigating the trump

administration's pandemic response. that's according to a letter from navarro released by the panel. the former trade adviser cited a direct order from donald trump to claim executive privilege. the house select committee on the crisis made the letter public on saturday when its chairman, south carolina congressman jim clyburn sent a letter in response to navarro's refusal saying your refusal to comply with this subpoena in its entirety is improper. white house advisers such as yourself can't avoid compel congressional process. navarro says the quote matter is out of my hands and something the subcommittee should discuss with president trump's council. he's scheduled for a deposition with the subcommittee on wednesday.

>> jonathan lemire, he's a fascinating character of course should never been in the white house in the first place. the one thing he did get right and you will remember is early january i believe it was, he wrote a letter to donald trump and circulated around the white house's warning. this was back when donald trump was saying president xi was awesome and china was transparent and this was one person coming in from china that would all wash out. this was when donald trump was in his massive denial phase that nobody was going to get sick here. peter navarro actually wrote a stark memo saying we don't move on this up to 500,000 people could die from covid. of course we are far beyond that but at the time and even for several months later, that was seen as a radical prediction.

he was actually a long with one or two other people met. he was few of the administration warning of how deadly covid outbreak could be. the last thing donald trump would want on capitol hill was people discussing that memo and how right he was on that big picture item and how wrong the president was. >> yeah, the national security council was one of few wearing masks in the first few weeks. >> navarro is looney tunes for the most part. the united states could not trust china to respond to the virus as first reports emerged in december of 2019, early january 2020. and he did put together this memo that would circulate in the white house and he really

clashed with a number of white house aides and down play the severity of what it was happening overseas and suggest it would not impact the united states because they were so concerned about the president's upcoming reelection fight, the impeachment battle and toward as healthy economy. his best argument for another four years in office. they down played this and really pushed navarro aside. his answers were coming under scrutiny here of how mismanaged the trump administration was. >> mara gay just looking at all these stories, i wonder if every single person's subpoena

continuing to defy them. is the paper trail of treason to use your words all that oversight is going to have to bring some accountability to what has happened. what is going to compel action, compel people to actually talk and show what happened whether it's during covid or trying to over turn the results of the election and what should democrats do? >> democrats are in a tough position. they can't let this go. the reality is the american public is most concerned of the virus, inflation and about the economy. yet democrats can't let this go because there needs to be some accountability moving forward. i think they should try to force these officials to do the right thing. they can also speak publicly and put pressure on them to explain

to the american people what went wrong here. i think this may really require a public pressure campaign so they got to walk and chew gum at the same time because they can't drop everything on the economy and infrastructure and they need to be laser focus on that and how the live with the virus in a way that does not take kids out of school for a long period of time and does not require shutdowns for a long periods of time so they got to do both at once. it's going to be a juggling act and delicate one. >> mara, i am so glad you brought it up. basically we have got to learn to live with this. that was what your newspaper and opinion pages editorial said yesterday. it's here. it's going to be here and we have got to learn to live with it. we got to keep kids in school and we got to be much morrow

more robust. we have to live with this and hear the things we need to do. can you talk about it in a few minutes. >> learning to live with the virus as scientists have learned what we have to do. learning to live with the virus, oh well, let's try to reach herd immunity. i want to be careful and suggest that for cases not. what it means is continuing on with the hard, important work of getting everybody vaccinated and key to this plan of living with covid making sure you get public employees, students, teachers vaccinated across the country. and so really pushing on that front and greatly expanding testing and that's more important as we see an increase

in treatment which you will be able to take advantage of, these antiviral pills that are exciting from merck and pfizer, you will be able to taken advantage of those if you gotten tested. it's going to require all hands-on deck effort and it's multi-part. the other thing to point out here, living with a virus does not mean you will accept the kind of deaths and suffering. what it means is that we'll hopefully see it become more like a cold and so it's something that's not going to change or end your life. in order for that to happen, we need science to continue on research and break-throughs and treatments and we need americans to hold the line, mask up if they needed to and vaccinated. >> on covid and overturning the election, the after action

report, will it ever happen, will we see accountability at the top or just a week cult followers going to jail. the people who are duped by donald trump. if you were on any of these committees, would you not be holding conferences everyday, calling out mark meadows for what he is, calling him out for being weak, not showing up and for always claiming that he had some sort of excuse and for always not admitting to what he really is. this man and many others in the trump administrations are claiming executive privilege. they are asserting their responsibility of what's happening in this country when people are dying. it could have been prevented and there needs to be a look as to how this country fell so short on responding to the pandemic and my god, how can democrats

move forward with any elections or joe biden move to any reelection unless he looks at the threat to our democracy that we still face right now and that's january 6th, the attack on the capitol and the attempts to overturn and steal the election in the united states of america. >> we had talked about this last week and democrats should be aggressive. liz cheney put out a twitter thread where she explains what they are doing and they feel like they are in a good position now and they're going to continue. this is discovery phase, this is where they get all the information and they're spreading a wide net and trying to bring in as many people and

they're starting to build their case or own powerpoint. they're starting to build their own timelines and you are going to see many more hearings and a lot more of those press conferences in the new year. and if you look at the political calendar, there are always two time that is are dead zone politically, one is in august when everybody is out on vacation or coming back and ready for school. the other is in december as you move through the holidays, the last thing you want to do is have something explode big and the holidays and you think helps you out or helps the country out and then it's forgotten by the new year's. i expect we'll see a ramping up in the new year's, here is the most important part. during the trump administration, they were able to just go from cubical to cubical, office to office and say you are not going to testify. now the administration is blown apart, now you have people like peter navarro who are not saying i shall not testify, i can't

testify because donald trump won't let me. i am sure there are a lot of other people who work in the administration will testify on the covid roll-out of what they got right and wrong. the same thing with january the 6th, there were a lot of people who were coming forward disgusted by what president trump did and more importantly what they did not do. start executing the case publicly next year. coming up, ron desantis sends out a fund raising e-mail calling dr. fauci to be jailed. some say desantis is a clear head alternative to donald trump. is that possible?

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it's 40 past the hour. a live look at times square. chris wallace announced yesterday that he's leaving fox news after nearly two decades with the network. mike wallace joins fox news in 2003 after nbc and abc news. his departure marks the third notable exit in recent months. two conservatives left over concerns over a series that aired over fox's streaming

service. donald trump in bill o'reilly's tour kickoff at sun rise florida, they have been advertising this over a year. they were upgraded to the lower ball. there were still substantial number of vacant floor of level seats. i am curious of your thoughts, jonathan lemire, there is nothing he enjoys more than going to arenas and seeing those arenas packed and empty seats. not his gig, baby. i am curious. you are thoughts about this and

i wonder if the empty seats continue on this whether he starts blaming somebody else. >> oh, you can guarantee that. i don't think we have ever seen donald trump takes responsibility for a sparse crowd. these tickets have been on sale for months and months. those arenas are big. these people are paying and not showing for a free political rally. you are asking them to pay money for this and there is covid concerns of being indoors of big crowds of that nature. we know that one of the angriest trump ever be is his return to campaigning in the summer of 2020, the come back rally in tulsa, oklahoma, where they predicted of 20,000 people in arena and 50,000 and there would

be like 6,000. he stared at a sea of empty seats. i wonder if it's the same with bill o'reilly. there is a handful of this, he got more in texas. if at all will give some pause of his drawing power now three years out from potential reelection campaign. but at the very least i am sure he'll explain it away and blame it on the arena fans. staying in florida, a new piece by jonathan tate for new york magazine this weekend entitled "normal." ron desantis wants to lock up anthony fauci, questioning whether he's the replacement for donald trump. there is a large wing of the conservative elite that thinks of the republican party as a

parents of a wayward teen might think about their child. a good kid who's doing okay until he's falling into the wrong crowd. desantis is a case study in the institutionalized study of insanity. now he's sending out a fund raising e-mail calling for dr. fauci to be jailed. >> let's bring in state attorney for palm beach county, and mark capupto. it's so exciting to have you here. let's talk about this because we have talked about ron desantis

before. very intelligent guy and calculating but as jonathan tate says sometimes it takes positions that well, i think many americans will consider crazy. what's your take on his letter and desantis moving towards 2024? >> well, you have to pass on the opinion pit but i can say if you don't like what desantis did saying fauci for president, get ready for more of what you don't like. he raised $6 million. his opponent raised a million dollar. he's lapping up. part of the reason he's doing so well is stuff like this. on friday, desantis held a press conference and announced he wants to spend as much as $8 million to redistribute undocumented immigrants who are

flown into florida so he can send them into other states including delaware which he noted was joe biden's home state. former colleagues at politico written an interesting story, florida's tax collection is so high and the amount of federal money, joe biden is helping subsidizing a florida's budget so that desantis can take that money. it's one of the few get ready for more. >> marc, it seems almost to remember a time when desantis surprised expectations including my own and his first year of governing, this guy that ransom of the dumbest 30 seconds ads i have seen in my life, ran a uniter, the first year, he had a lot of democrats praising him on

his stance of approval rating and covid hit, he took a sharp term to quackery and basically sort of trumpism. have you figured out why he made that calculation and when he made that calculation? i don't know so much as he made that calculation, ron desantis is a gingrich-era conservative. his way of pushing back against obama. he gives you an idea that desantis' mindset of conservative. he had a lot of national media criticism and some of which is pretty inaccurate and a lot of

people criticizing him from the way he's running the state. conservative politics now if you have the national media and experts attacking you. then you are going to be beloved by the base. you got a lot to attack and he's got a lot of love. that has not changed at all. delta hit and florida's death rate went from 27th in the nation to 10th in the nation. his popularity among conservatives have increase. desantis is the front runner. yes, it's early and he's yet to win his reelection but ron desantis is a top tier and republican figure in part because of the way he managed covid or mismanaged them. >> with florida skyrocketing up in the 10th in deaths of the

nation. i am struck by desantis and his supporters bragging about his record on covid win. >> it's awful. the demand to lock up dr. fauci rests on the allegation that he misled congress about the national institute of health funding. jonathan goes onto say desantis called to jail fauci is a pure echo is a trumpian call to lock up hillary clinton. whether desantis is a genuine

manic - maniac or pretending to be one is immaterial. desantis points the way towards a future in which the cancer consumed the republican party continues to grow. the slogans to lock her up or look him up, is there defamation to an extent? >> good morning, mika. it's not. he engaged in political rhetoric. if there is a specific thread that would be different but you know that's a high bar, we learned that from january 6th. none of the leaders being prosecuted for their statements. we should not be surprised. this is the same governor

ordered our flags to be flown half staff when lindbergh died and ordering hydroxychloroquine with then president trump. the governor has no power to make an arrest or order an arrest of dr. fauci, even if he's elected president he won't have that power at least not in a functioning democracy. i don't think he's an authoritarian but i think he's authoritarian-curious. he's starting his own militia that was announced a couple of weeks ago, hundreds of people under his control and now threatening to jail one of his political opponent. he does resembes some of his -- he's acting like fidel

castro. the danger is leading some of his supporters to engage in violence, dr. fauci already received multiple death threats in the past year and a guy prosecuted by the feds who made horrific threats against fauci. as we gear towards 2024, i don't think so. >> these authoritarian calls actually gen up the base and helping to get more money and we have seen it. >> they're dangerous. >> we have seen the lock her up chants, ironically chanted at the 2016 republican national convention by people themselves who got locked up. you know very well, donald trump, did his lock me up tweet and chant like 12 times, 13 or 14 times when people were begging him not to do it.

here you have a guy who's supposed to be the same version of donald trump saying lock dr. fauci up when glenn at "the washington post" saying there is nothing he's done that would justify that. you look at the worst actor in congress who say the most horrific things, basically tearing a page out of the play book. they're the ones who's raising the most money. as marc just said, here you got a governor of the state of florida which used to be a respected position running around saying jail dr. fauci, he's going to be rewarded politically for that authoritarian sediment. >> he's got it right. this is another example of maga

performance art. desantis' motivation to become president. governor abbott banned vaccine mandate via his executive order. hours later governor desantis tried to do the same thing. they keep on trying to out-do each other. now he's calling for arrest and imprisonment, hopefully this will not lead to violence but they'll keep doing it as long as it continues to work. >> all right, state attorney for palm beach county, dave

aronberg and marc caputo, thank you both for being on. time to announce the 2021's percent person of the year. we'll tell you who it is. >> it's ted lasso. >> and ayman is joining us with the latest of american radical and donald trump's lies of the election. "morning joe" is coming right back. "morning joe" is coming right back >> man: what's my safelite story? i spend a lot of time in my truck. it's my livelihood. ♪ rock music ♪ >> man: so i'm not taking any chances when something happens to it. so when my windshield cracked... my friend recommended safelite autoglass. they came right to me, with expert service where i needed it. ♪ rock music ♪ >> man: that's service i can trust... no matter what i'm hauling. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

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only in theaters december 17th.

it's the top of the hour, 7:00 on the east coast as we take a look at live pictures from the white house all dressed up for christmas looking beautiful this morning as the sun comes up over washington. welcome back to "morning joe," it's monday, december 13th,

jonathan lemire and mara gay is still with us. we'll take a closer look at what drove americans to attack the capitol on january 6th. >> their capitol. >> former president trump's lies about the elections being stolen. first, the search for survivors continue after a series of devastating tornados spanning to six states. close to 50 people confirmed dead and a number that's expected to rise. arkansas, tennessee, missouri and kentucky. in kentucky the state with the most widespread damage. in illinois, at least six people were killed when an amazon warehouse was hit.

that's where morgan chesky is live for us this morning. morgan, what can you tell us? >> reporter: yeah, joe and mika, good morning, it's a brutal day for the families of those impacted by this tornado. some waited right where i am standing on friday, waiting for any word of their loved ones who trapped inside this massive warehouse when this ef-3 tornado struck on friday night. they don't believe anyone is still missing inside that debris you are looking at. that's the southern edge of this building about size of the football field that this tornado struck. amazon told us the tornado sirens went on around 8:00 friday night, it was the employees inside that warehouse split into two groups. that's the part of the building that took the direct hit. the massive roof is shredded and

they're trying to go through the debris as carefully as possible. there may still be someone inside. this was a busy day for the business here, delivery drivers were just coming back to work after dropping off packages. one of them told me he went to the place he typically checks in and it was gone. here is what amazon's spokesperson about their response in the final few moments before the twister struck. >> i think any time you have a catastrophic event like this, you have to take a step back and look and see what worked and what you would have done differently. what we know is good training and executions and running drills so the first time employees exposed to that is not in a crisis. our managers did a great job of getting people into those shelter places. a lot of lives were saved on friday night. >> reporter: authorities identified the six workers

killed when this tornado struck. they also said in the moments after they were able to rescue 45 workers from inside that wreckage of the building. jeff bezos is taking criticism over the weekend after he was posting about blue origin space flight as recovery crews are still searching for bodies. he has shared his condolences for each of the families affected by this. >> nbc's morgan chesky, thank you for your reporting on the ground. joining us now is secretary homeland security is alejandro mayorkas, if you can give us the latest of what you know of the extent of the damage, most importantly pertaining to you what the federal response is going to be? >> good morning and thank you for having me on. yesterday we were in mayfield in the surrounding community of western kentucky and the

pictures don't do travesty justice, there is nothing like seeing it up close and personal. we were visiting the site of the candle factory. people working at the night shift before the holidays to make extra money and supplying candles for people across the country. it was nothing but rubble. a backpack was recovered, an individual shoe and a cell phone that had 27 miss called recorded on it. we had our search and rescue team there even before the

declaration was announced. just last night individual assistance was granted by the president allowing us to provide additional relief for individuals, reimbursement for sreimbursements for cost. >> the picture we are looking at does not do us justice to the reality. for the families of the survivors, i mean do we have numbers on how many people are displaced and where they going and how they'll be able to move forward especially in some of these towns have been completely decimated. they don't exist anymore. >> that's absolutely right. the city of mayfield is just devastated. i spoke with the governor of

kentucky yesterday. he estimated that thousands and thousands of families are without a home. we and fema assist in the provision of temporary housing for individuals. we are supplying now, water, food, clothing, blankets, what these individuals need to get through the cold nights of december in western kentucky. we'll be able to reimburse individuals for temporary housing. we provide support to the state of kentucky and to the local communities there. i will tell you that the unity of rescue, not only throughout the state of kentucky but throughout the country in pouring resources and contributions that's really inspiring and showing what we as a country can come together to do to help our fellow americans.

>> mr. secretary, good morning, it's jonathan lemire, storms this is severe don't usually happen in december and some wide believes it was fuelled by the warmer temperatures fuelling across the country, contributed by climate change. what more can the federal government do creating early response and warning systems to make sure words get out as storms become more frequent and less predictable. >> jonathan, you know tornados can hit quickly without much advance warning. the warning signs were in fact picked up and the signals were distributed. the sirens went off and the weather service provided advance warning but it can only be a matter of minutes sometimes before a tornado from the time

of detection hits the ground and this one was ordinary powerful and traveled in extraordinary distance, you are absolutely right in noting this and asking the question whether this is a by-product of the changes in climate we are seeing not only in the country but around the world. that's something all experts and scientists studying closely. it's about preparedness and as well as recovery and resilience. >> homeland security secretary mayorkas, thank you very much for joining us on the latest of what the government is doing. we have been covering the well-known names connected to the insurrection, there are hundreds of others whose names were not well-known, including

those who were radicalized and stormed the capitol. ayman reports on one of them who happens to come from his own town. ayman is joining us now. tell us what we learn in this new episode? >> we have been following the journey of owe roseanne boylan. what we focus on in episode 3 which is now available is how this person and others like her who are subscribers to the qanon conspiracy, how do something jump from the fringes of society make its way into the mainstream and certainly conservative american politics. i want to play this sound byte back in 2020 on the campaign

trail. >> president trump joined by an nbc town hall moderated by savannah guthrie. she pushed him about qanon. >> i don't know. >> let's waste the whole show. you start off with white supremacy, i denounced it. you start off with something else. keep asking me these questions. >> let me tell you what i do hear about it is they are strongly against pedophiles and they agree with that. >> by 2020, qanon followers come to believe trump had a secret plan to overthrow pedophiles for good. he needs to win an election to make it happen so they were preparing to mobilize. >> he has to play footsies with these people. a lot of people believe these

stuff. it's the hard core of his base. >> that sound you heard was from our colleague, ben collins, who tracks qanons for us. the people on the fringe who believes qanon, they believer that donald trump was going to save this country. donald trump when he had the opportunity to denounce and reject this, what will he do? he'll stand there in front of the world and play footsies with them. they fight pedophiles, that's a great thing. that's the hook in which his followers would say he's sending a signal. this is something we need to follow and they march on january 6th to the capitol because they believe he was doing the right thing and he told them to do so. >> mara gay has the question for

you. >> ayman , great reporting. is there any opportunity for deradicalization here? or, people are more radical to this? >> people who have struggled with addiction or sobriety. it's an easy way to hit the refresh and restart button. vulnerability is a corner stone of that belief system. it's going to take a concerted effort and i have said it before on the show. if this types of extremist ideology whether it's militants

overseas, we'll be dealing it as a much serious threat in this country. we are not seeing the kind of deradicalization program. we are hoping big tech companies can take up some of these contents online. they're not doing fast enough or the work that is needed to reach the masses in a way that we can say in 2024 or in the future these massive of people who are falling to this deranged conspiracy theory and shifting into politics are going to be okay and they're not going to be as vulnerable. >> hey ayman , congrats my friend on this. we know some of these theories are stoked by overseas actors and beyond. talk to us whether this is a uniquely american phenomenon right now or are we seeing similar conspiracy theories of the qanon like groups in europe, asia and africa, where ever it may be and how dangerous are

those? >> i am so glad you asked that question. this is a global phenomenon and we are seeing more and more in europe. in america some what unique right now is it has moved into our politics. when you have donald trump he definitely indulged that relationship with qanon. we have not yet seen on a level in european country. in terms of conspiracy theories, they are spreading and in large part because of western democracy and liberal democracy, the internet is free. it's not regulated in any way where these pop up and chats can pop up. we are seeing it. be see some american politicians who kind of play in this space a little and go overseas and try to exploit it as well. the extent we saw in america we saw the insurrection led by

donald trump who played footsies with qanon. i would be surprise if we see it in the years ahead. >> the third episode of msnbc's new original podcast series, "american radical" hosted by ayman is now available where f you get your forecast. thank you so much for this important work. still ahead on "morning joe," a top facebook exec is blaming society and not social media. haven't facebook's executive already admitting to have problems? you are watching "morning joe," we'll be right back. watching "m we'll be right back. for enlisted veterans, helping thousands

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the court ruled on friday, the justice department can't pursue its own lawsuit and limited the field of possible defendants. that means lawsuits can not be filed against county clerks or texas' attorney general. the surviving challenges to the law will return to the state level for litigation. the law allows private citizens to sue abortion providers who performed one of the operations after about six weeks of pregnancy. >> meanwhile california is flipping the script using texas' tactic to target assault weapon sales in the state. governor gavin newsom directed staff to work with state lawmakers on a new bill.

in a statement newsom's office announced, we'll work to create the ability for private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes or sells an assault weapon or ghost gun kit or parts in california." mara, what do you make of newsom's move here? could it be effective? >> we got a little whiplash. it's been devastating to see rogue-go. i am 35 years old and despite all the things i have seen so far in my lifetime, great recession and wars and 9/11 and now pandemic, my friends and i would never thought we would see rogue go. the pieces have all been there for us. that same strategy that

republicans have used and conservatives have used to attack abortion rights and successfully over the past three decades is the strategy that now governor newsom looks to do the right thing in my opinion which is to get guns, save the country i think from discouraging of gun violence. it's difficult because if you ever as a reporter cover a city or state like new york, we have tough state gun laws here but they are difficult to enforce. what governor newsom is doing is trying to go outside the box to see if he can keep the people in his state safer because it's going to take more than one tactic in order to do so. you have got guns that flow in from other states. this is just a way to have a chilling effect in california and make it more difficult for people who are doing the wrong

thing to put dangerous guns off the streets. it's novel. it's a little gimmicky, it may works and if it does it's great. >> a long time facebook's executive is rejecting the criticism that the social network is responsible for election and covid-19 misinformation. he insisted to axios on hbo that those problems are societal problems. >> individual humans are the ones who choose to believe or not believe a thing, they're the ones who choose to share or not share a thing. i don't feel comfortable they don't have a voice because i don't agree with it. >> having a hard time to address

that. of course society has problems. the problem is when disinformation and even dangerous threats of violence on social media and they have no recourse? that's a bigger problem. >> i would agree, mika. of course you hear in that statement absolutely no sense of accountability for what is being said on their platform. >> zero. >> if a newspaper or a news organization allowed that kind of disinformation it would not fly. there is this kind of hands off oh, it's not our problem, oh it's so terrible, we heard enough of it. it's time for congress to act. >> yes, mika, it really is. >> you can look at on instagram part of it, you have internal documents to show these problems. facebook had internal documents that showed there was a problem with the russian interference

when a leader of facebook tried the take it to the board. you have cheryl yelling at them and asking them why they were doing that. they had documentations and a large number of employees always horrified by what's going on inside that company. these are not societal problems that are not being amplified by facebook, instagram and other products they have. >> well, i think we are looking at a generation that's a perfect storm. several generations of young people between the internet and social media and now the pandemic that we have young people growing up, gripped with anxiety and some with suicidal -- all by phones and

many will tell you their jobs have gotten harder. >> we have been saying this on our show for five years because we have been -- >> dealing and seeing it. >> we have been hearing from college deans who's been telling us this or high school instructors who have been telling us this. this is a serious problem and i know we have been talking about it for a long time, too. this is going to be looked back to upon as a cigarette of our generation. you're questioning to ask yourself if you are skeptical, or you think i am over blowing this, ask yourself a question why is it that the people

running their companies out in silicon valley don't let their children use their products or don't let them have screen time the way parents do in middle america. >> mara gay, thank you so much for coming on. coming up the president of china and russia are set to meet virtually as the g7 warns putin again. our full panel weighs in next on "morning joe." >> this is a good one. t on "morning joe." >> this is a good one. restore healthy skin, with no sticky feeling. gold bond. champion your skin. >> man: what's my safelite story? i spend a lot of time with in my truck.eling. it's my livelihood. ♪ rock music ♪

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right now what the president made clear and my counter part is we are looking at, taking steps that we would have in the

past that would have massive consequences to russia. the u.s. is prepared to take significant steps if moscow invades ukraine again as russia has moved about 100,000 troops to ukraine's border. the g7 is issuing its own warning to russia. call on the kremlin to deescalate and pursue diplomatic channels, russia should be in no doubt that further military aggression against ukraine would have massive consequences and severe cost in response. joining us now is david igniacios and ed luz and ian.

could its play book work today and write in parts this. as joe biden grapples with this ukraine crisis, his team should look to history for clues on how to deter the kremlins. compares to ukraine today, poland's situation was more daunting. not bordering any nato states that was surrounded by eastern blac countries and the soviet union had divisions stationed on

its territory. an attack could occur immediately. movement. it's comprehensive on almost every front signature rounding poland, convoys in motion and divisions, and regiments. the carter administration used both overt and covert channels to warn solidarity leadership and the polish government leveraging his connection and reaching out directly to the movement leaders and even to john paul ii, thank you so much for being with us. >> ian, you and ed and i have been communicating with each other over the weekend. we look at 2014 as whatnot to do

to deter the russians. your father looked at eisenhower's mistakes in 1956 leading up to the soviets' invasion and as well as lbj's mistakes leading up to the mistakes of hungry. can you talk about what he did in 1980 and what he learned? you said specifically from failures in 1956. >> thank you, 1956 was a defying moment for my father. he was shocked after listening to the policies of roll back which the united states were encouraging movement to rise up against the soviet union and occupation of the country. he was shocked in 1956 when that

happens. soviet tanks rolled in and the west including the united states looked at its shoes. he wants to make sure the west would never be put in that position again. in 1968, it happened again and 1980, it was on the verge of happening a third time on his watch on president carter's watch. he very worked to develop a strategy and active consultation with our aallies. they were up to pull it off. they were at one time over 30 divisions, locked and loaded, aircraft loaded, tanks in the field and hospitals set up and ready to go into poland if that crisis successfully dissipated by the end of that year. >> ed, you have been looking into this a great deal and especially the lessons of '56

and '58 and what lessons can joe biden and this administration learn from our failures in '56, '68, 2014 so we don't repeat those mistakes again in 2021? >> the key difference is the americans and knowledge of '56 and prior '68 had learned where they went wrong with those two invasions, those enormous crisis. and 1980 poland played to a significant strength. the pope hoped john paul ii was the first non italian pope of

700 years and polish speaker. the signaling to the soviets of what would happen if they moved in poland in terms of civil resistance through solidarity and the trade union movement but also through the church and the network of activists that would connected to the catholic church was absolutely the key. to have these two polish speakers and coming into the white house for the first was a massive additional sort of strategic toll. what does it mean for today and what lessons should be applied to today? the more of the cost of reinvasion of ukraine could be stressed to them in terms of resistance they would meet and in terms of the response of the ukrainian people.

that i think at the end of the day -- that i think is the most humane parallel of the 1980 today. >> david, we heard complaints, they have been busy running around and talking about what they would not do and how they would not respond, it's the last thing this vladimir putin and the russians need to hear right now. >> it's a complicated process and at the center of it is a conviction by your potential adversary too serious about using pressure and ultimately military force if actions are taken. i think that's been part of the problem here, the biden

administration perhaps in part because of withdrawal of afghanistan and perhaps other factors is not credible and i want to ask ian, do we think of the lessons of the article that you wrote about in the 1980s and think about what's going on today. what are the factors would make deterrence in this situation more believable so that it may force russian invasion of ukraine. >> the two areas of improvements that could be exercised. it was good to see the g7 warns of massive consequences. in 1980s, they rolled out a long list of consequences, shutting off of credits and the list goes

on. the second steps they should be taking is reenforcing these steps. we had 20 divisions lined up on the fuller gap. 300,000 u.s. troops and mostly reenforcing that line today. nato's posture and the u.s. posture is far more dilute and enhancing our military engagement with ukraine would be a way to dem strategy straight credibility of our threats and reenforce the creditability of our economic threats. this is what putin listens to. he understands military force than anything else. >> ed luce, i was going to say, economic sanctions would line up

against vladimir putin's dreams of bringing the old soviet union back together, it seems awfully weak sauce, it's not going to move through. it didn't move him out of 2008 or 2014 and it's not going to stop him from going into 2021, what else do we do? >> if you did cut russia out, that would be a massively larger economic sanctions than what we saw in 2014 and 2008. in addition to that, i think as ian pointed out was an enormous nato and u.s. presence in europe and the 1980. that could be reenforced. one of putin's demand which is a new demand to the americans were we want you to not omnivore guarantee ukraine will not only

join nato. it's entirely within nato's rights. russia still has troops that's been russia. refugees trying to stabilize. it would be entirely within nato's rights in border states with russia. >> yeah and david ignacios, i was going to ask you as well something that i suggested in 2014 on this tv show, suggesting in 2014 that since putin was trying to puff his chest out and trying to relive the glory of the soviet union, let him know quietly and back channel and for every troops you take him to ukraine, we'll send two on

exercises into poland and if we have to turn poland into glorified craft carriers, they'll welcome us with open arms. i know it's easier to say on cable news than wld be on a telephone call with world leaders but is that not the way we need to be thinking of right now instead of talking about more economic sanctions? >> well, i think there is an effort joe to beef up defenses in the u.s. military defense in nato members states that border ukraine. if you attack, we'll come to your defense. ukraine is not a nato member we

need to recognize that difference. they're trying to do some of that. again, the problem is whether this is credible to putin, whether putin believes if the end that the united states has the resolve to defend and even neighboring member states. i have been fascinated as i think of ed luce's book that he writes about national security advisers and the way we can bring a sense from it, what strength and believable deterrence ends up being and i would be curious of how you describe from your research. >> i have said and it can't be overstated and the degreehe

spoke paris and russians and he catches to grounds in terms of trends and nationalism and unrest. it's extremely unusual in the history of americans. the more expertise and granularity that we have of what the russians are thinking and ukrainians are up to, the more we'll be able to read putin. i know you have written about it that putin wrote in last july of a 5,000 word saying it's like a letter from an abusive spouse. you have abused us.

this psychology of putin preying. i think it's something he would study closely. >> i would add on ed's point. putin's strategy is having a massive campaign. in 1980, the carter administration signalled to russia that if he invaded poland, he would unleash turmoil. we should be against putin and threatening his own political stability, sort of a warning shock that more is to come. >> all right, david ignatius and ed luce and ian. thank you. >> so critical. we do have guide posts.

we can learn from history and mistakes that were made in '56 and '68 when we remained passive and when we sent the same signals. and again in ukraine and we need to also learn from what the carter administration did right with jimmy carter and your father and other leaders did right in the 1980s because the soviets were surrounding poe poland and ready to go in. >> given the president's those troops movement matter, no matter what the russians say about being able to move and look at troops. >> look at '56, look at '08 and '21. >> ian wrote that piece for the

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he backs up. from a four. can he find room? down the left side he goes. grant, look at him go. again down the sideline. does he stay inbounds all the way. he will. 97 yards for a touchdown. >> wow. chicago's 97 yard punt return to the end zone is part of a wild second quarter that would leave green bay trailing the bears 27-21 at the break. but the packs scored the first 24 points of the second half as

the quarterback continued his dominance over chicago, finishing with 341 yards through the air and four touchdown passes on the way to a 45-30 win. the packers with a comfortable four-game win atop the nfc north. do they still call that the black and blue division? they used to. to tampa and the buccaneers now on the brink of their first nfc title in 14 years as tom brady beat the buffalo bills for the 10th time yesterday. he tossed the 700th touchdown pass of his ridiculous career for the winning score in tampa's 33-27 overtime victory. the bills lose their second straight game. they also potentially lost their great starting quarterback josh allen. he ended up in a walking boot after the game with an apparent foot injury. he's going to undergo testing

today. atlanta over maryland. dallas shipped in their own sideline benches for the rivalry after getting word the heated seats on the washington sideline, the worst stadium in america, were out of order. why you leave rfk for this dump, god help us all. as for the game, despite letting a 24-0 halftime lead slip away, there were four forced turnovers and recorded five sacks in the 27-20 win over the washington football team. it really does roll off the tongue. that closes in on the nfc east title for the cowboys. jonathan, we go through all those. i know you agree with me. i mean, that thing in maryland that they call a football stadium is horrific compared to rfk. rfk, a stadium that would literally move and shake when

people were jumping up and down. i've got to say, i'm a joe montana guy, i have held firm that montana was the greatest quarterback in nfl history. just can't do it anymore. he's number two. tom brady. yeah, that's right. your boy, tom brady. no doubt about it. showing it again yesterday by breaking some other records. >> yeah. joe montana has been number two for years, joe. thanks for finally catching up with the rest of us. first rfk stadium. love rfk. it's in the district, just off capitol hill. that's when the football team or whatever we're going to call them eventually should be not in some suburban hell hole which is already falling apart. here's a stat about tom brady. his lifetime record against the buffalo bills, 33-3. i'm going to say that again, 33 -3. that's impossible. and it's just another one of his stats. i'll note, joe, that in college football over the weekend, this

year's heisman trophy winner was announced, your boy, bryce young. he earned the honor on saturday and gave the crimson tide wear it back to back heismans. i have my own football exploits, father/son flag football game. i was quarterback. i pulled my quad so bad i can hardly move today. it's a very dad injury for yours truly as i hobble around the studio in washington. >> i will say his kids are pretty tough, though. his cards are active. he's outnumbered. >> that did not happen in my turkey bowl game we played on thanksgiving. >> you were icing. >> oh, icing. >> oh, you were icing. >> please. i was biting on bullets. >> he was icing and hunched over and walking around. >> mika, i-got to say, and i'm serious about this. bryce young has done something few athletes i've ever seen do, i'm serious here, get mika in

front of the television set. she saw him in auburn. she was mesmerized by how calm he was, what a class presence he was on the field. extraordinary. and then, of course, against georgia, mesmerized there. and mika, you look at his parents, and you know where this kid -- i call him a kid because he's younger than a lot of my kids. you know where he gets his maturity. an extraordinary temperament on and off the 2350e8d. >> yeah. the moment when everything was on the line and basically this one last move could possibly save it but it was completely over. that kid was he just sort of laughing, and he just kind of just focussed and did it. >> well, that's -- that was beautiful. >> it's so funny, jonathan. jack and i were watching along with mika, and alabama had had a horrible game against auburn. 59 minutes of just absolute miserable play. about as bad as i've seen play

since his first year. it happens. these are kids. it happens. it's nobody's fault. none of us can imagine what these -- and when he laughed, he was just kind of sitting there laughing as he was about to throw not only the play of the season but of his career, he laughed, it reminded me of that famous montana story when they were backed up and he had to go 94 yards. he was in the huddle. the 49ers were freaked out. he laughed and looked up and pointed to the stands and said hey, it's john candy. everybody around him said if he's not nervous, i'm not nervous. and, of course, montana drives 94, 95 yards. they win the super bowl in the last minute. i'm not saying bryce is joe montana yet, but man, that's leadership like you want to see on a team where your back is against the wall and he's fine.

and he delivers. stands and delivers every time. >> yeah. it's so important. so much of the quarterback position is a mental game. and part of that is being smart and reading the defense but also being a leader. being able to keep your team on the same page and at times means yeah, keeping them loose in a tight situation. that's something that montana does that brady does. and bryce young is a great example. and yet to nick saban who this is a rebuilding year. they're on the verge of another championship. he even in a radio interview scolded alabama fans that were upset they weren't beating teams by enough. he made the point you did. these are kids. we're doing the best we can. they're learning and growing every week, and here they are on the precipice of yet another championship. >> and these expectations that they put on the kids, absolutely ridiculous at alabama. they -- it is a rebuilding year. they're doing great. they've had a lot of close games. but everybody when they play

alabama as coach saban said, they get up to play alabama. that's the best game every one of these teams play every year. the fact that 18, 19, 20-year-old kids are performing at this level, it's extraordinary, and it's not just a physical feet. like you said, it's from the neck up. this is discipline. >> it is two minutes past the top of the hour. in a moment we'll have new reporting on the document that outlined exactly how former president trump and his allies were to go about overturning the 2020 election. that ended up in the inbox of trump's former chief of staff, mark meadows. a columnist tweeted over the weekend, it's hard to even begin to describe the absurdity of both the ellis and eastman memos. just total legal nonsense. together they constituted a banana republic pretext for an attempted coupe. we will be joined by him in just a moment. first the latest from the deadly

tornado outbreak in the middle of the country where the damage this morning remains catastrophic. president biden has declared a major disaster in kentucky where the governor says nearly 80 people are dead with many still missing. kesers continue to search for survivors. nbc news senior correspondent is in kentucky with the latest. >> reporter: this morning, on the ground, a desperate search for survivors. the national guard looking and listening for any signs of life. from above, the scope of the devastation staggering. >> it looks like a war. i mean, like, it looks like bombs went off. >> entire neighborhoods gone. homes completely levelled. bedrooms and living rooms torn open and exposed. and street after street littered with metal and debris. the night of terror starting with lightning-filled skies,

revealing massive twisters. more than 30 tornadoes ripping through six states. >> imagine all the furniture and belongings all the sudden just flying around you everywhere. >> it's just the worst thing anybody can go through. >> to get a sense of what happened, look at the satellite images throwing before and after photos of entire towns wiped out. >> there is no lens big enough to show you the extent of the damage. nothing that was standing in the direct line of this tornado is still standing. >> in kentucky, the governor says at least 8 0 people were killed with many more feared dead. the twisters the most destructive in the state's history with one toshd tracking more than 200 miles. kentucky now under a state of emergency with more than 300 national guard members deployed. >> our little town will never be the same. >> reporter: in mayfield, one of the hard et cetera hit

communities, the entire downtown is decimated. inside this candle factory, one of the town's largest employers, more than 100 people were working overtime when the tornado hit. the building now flattened, a mangled mess of steel. dozens were rescued, but the company says at least eight people are dead. six still unaccounted for. tornadoes then moving east to bowling green, home after home reduced to piles of rubble. >> my house is still standing, and there's so many that isn't. >> reporter: and in illinois, at least six people were killed inside this msnbc warehouse when -- amazon warehouse. >> we are transferring to search and recovery. we don't expect anyone can be surviving at this point. >> reporter: in arkansas one resident killed after a tornado ripped through this nursing home. back in mayfield, survivors jumping into action to help others. >> anybody here? >> reporter: residents going door to door, volunteer crews helping to clean up the

extensive damage. >> volunteerism, what can i do, is what gives us hope today. >> reporter: daniel carr owns a steak house. his family restaurant is a staple in this community for more than 60 years. >> it's in shambles and gone. >> reporter: steak house which was evacuated, now a broken pile of memories. >> we're going to start cooking in another kitchen in the community. our restaurant is about the people in the community and not what building we're in. >> our thanks to tom for that report. my god. it's incredible, the devastation. now to the standoff between the committee investigating the january 6th insurrection and former president trump chief of staff mark meadows. >> reporter: a report released yesterday alleges that meadows said national guard troops would keep then president trump supporters safe the day of the attack.

garrett haake has more. >> reporter: overnight the january 6th committee recommending a key trump ally be held in contempt. amid new revelations about his communications before the riots. in their report released overnight, the committee saying that former white house chief of staff mark meadows sent an email to someone on january 5th. saying the national guard would be present to, quote, protect pro trump people in the leadup to the u.s. capitol insurrection. but on january 6th, capitol police were overwhelmed, and the national guard response appeared to be delayed. the committee now raising questions in their report over madows text messages about overturning the election results. and a power point meadows previously turned over to the committee titled election fraud, foreign interference, and options for january 6th. meadows now refusing to cooperate with the committee. >> it's about wanting clarity

under the law and preserving that executive privilege that donald trump claimed. >> reporter: it's part of a larger struggle between the january 6th committee and allies of trump. who lawmakers believe hold key information about the involvement on that day. >>. >> reporter: the panel says it wants to know more if trump was engaged in discussions about the national guard. an attorney for meadows did not immediately respond for request for comment. >> let's bring in senior editor and contributing writer for the atlantic. david, we've been so numbed through the years by so many things. by january 6th, by the lies, by the gaslighting, by the conspiracy theories, by the president calling for the arrest of biden a week before the election. by him blackmailing ukraine, by the crazy things he said in helsinki, throwing our intel community -- i could go on

literally for three hours. but we're so numbed and so many americans are so disconnected from the truth, from what's right and wrong in government, by basic constitutional norms, that i just wonder if people are paying attention to the fact that there are legal memos talking about the overthrow of the rightful united states government and that there's a powerpoint that mark meadows got and discussed with a guy that sent it to him that even the white house six, seven, eight times that the national guard was going to protect the rioters. i mean, have we become so numb to this that what would have been shocking five years ago now is overlooked? >> you know, not only have millions of people become numb to it. they've -- they're in the opposite direction. they're still believing the election was rightfully donald trump's. but i think however many people

are paying attention to this right now, it's not enough, because what we're learning more and more every single day is that january 6th was not just some sort of spontaneous one-off unexpected uprising but rather, what was being put into place was a series of chess moves, a series of chess moves that if only mike pence had done what was asked of him, he had legal memos that had been drafted purporting to give him the authority to delay or overturn the results, delay certification or overturn the results of the election. there were legal memos. there was a mob. there was presidential willingness and intent. everything was put in place for january 6th for mike pence to strike and reverse the election, or at least delay certification which would have plunged our country into the worst constitutional crisis since 1861. people need to be paying takes to this, and yet, donald trump

is still somehow inexplicably the front runner for the gop nomination in 2024, and if biden continues to flounder, could be the favorite to become the next president of the united states. >> well, and david, you talk about eastman's legal memos, talking about overthrowing the results, you talk about the legal memos that you read, and discussed this weekend, that it was for a banana. ic dictator. you look at the meetings at the willard, the predictions by steve bannon of what was going to go on. mark meadows looking at this powerpoint that talked about it. reaching out to state legislatures, saying hey, send us another slate. all of these things, i mean, i -- i guess this is what confuses me. i read the plain -- the plain unambiguous language of the u.s.

statute talking about conspiracy to commit sedition. all of this lines up. put together to stop a constitutional act from moving forward. and by the way, this conspiracy to commit sedition is even for the stopping of the passing of a bill, a regular bill, the stopping of any government function, but here there's an attempt to impede congress from doing perhaps the most important thing they do which is ensuring the peaceful transition of power from one democratically elected white house to another. >> you know, and when you go through that litany, there's a lot we still don't know. we still haven't seen a lot of the text messages. we know there were text messages exchanged during the violence itself. there's a host of communications we're not yet privy to. that's why the work of the january 6th commission is incredibly vital at this point. we need to see and we need to

get out in the open all the available information, and look, if the elements for criminal prosecution are met, then do it. we need to get over this idea that there's some sort of presidential privilege to commit a crime to stay in office. i mean, you didn't even go into -- in that litany you didn't even go into the explicit presidential efforts to try to coerce georgia election officials to try to overturn the georgia election. it's hard to list, it's just hard to list all the things that donald trump did, and that his inner circle did in the runup to january 6th. because it was a staggering effort to overturn and joe, just think about had pence said yes, had pence said yes, where would we be? because we know that there's no bottom, that there's no limit for the core trump supporters. they would have believed he was a certified the president.

they would believe and there might have been governors that would act on that, make members of congress. we would have faced an extraordinary crisis. >> so what about next time? increasingly worth seeing republican-led efforts to change election laws. moves that are helping trump loyalists who continue to push the big lie even today, completely pushing it. "the new york times" writes about how positions like county election judges previously thought of as bureaucratic roles are now being filled by republicans who believe the 2020 election was stolen. as for how it is happening, "the new york times" writes, at every level opponents are op writing at a steve disadvantage. the electoral battles are being fought largely in areas where democrats have struggled to maintain a foothold for over a decade. the legislative pushes are occurring in states where republicans dominate both legislative and executive offices. and federal responses have been

blocked by unified republican opposition and senate rules which a dwindling but decisive number of democrats have resisted changing. among the efforts by senate democrats is a push to change or remove the filibuster rule. and at a town hall in october, president biden expressed some support for this measure, saying he was, quote, open to fundamentally altering the filibuster. as the times points out, throughout there is a stark asymmetry of enthusiasm where mr. trump's partisans see the issue of election system control as a matter of life and death. polling suggests democratic voters broadly do not, and isn't that, joe, why democrats as we began this show with the conversation talking about how democrats need to walk and chew gum at the same time, it's a two-front war to win the next elections. >> it is. and you have to focus on what

causes the greatest threat. you need to be careful about -- well, let's just say overselling some things and underselling others. and david, let's talk about this. i'd love to get your insight on this. democrats are running around talking about jim crow 2 .0 several months ago for some changes to actually the process of voting that actually were less onerous that new york state. >> right. >> i don't know that they helped their cause by running around saying that. and what i've been talking about. i know other democrats have been talking about this. i've seen online. it's the -- the voting takes us to precovid standards in some instances back to where we were in 2018 where democrats said well, the real challenge to american democracy, the greatest challenge is what happens after where now the laws are being passed and the officials are being put in place, and i'm just

curious being a constitutional scholar, let's say the state of georgia's legislature in january 2025 says yes, we know candidate x won -- joe biden won by 8% in your vote count. but we're still going to send another set of electors up there because of a, b, c? i mean, which is what they're trying to do. what a lot of laws are trying to do. what's the -- what is the supreme court too do in that case? what are your grave concerns about this development? >> yeah. my grave concerns about the development, and finally people are waking up to this, because as you said, they spent way too much time talking about voting laws that were 2016 or 2018 level and not enough time talking about vote counting. who is doing the vote counting and vote certifying. and this is something that i think is critically important for people to focus on. and the answer is it's actually kind of up in the air.

and that's what makes this so dangerous. that there is a lot of ambiguity once the state legislature asserts itself into an electoral process, it has a broad ability to set the rules of the election. i mean, remember a presidential election is 50 state elections. and the 50 state e elections are regulated by state authorities. that's why the identity of the people running these elections and the rules governing certifying and counting the elections are so vital, and so finally people are putting their eyes on the ball, but it might be a little too late, because here's the thing. we've gotten to a point where we took for granted the fact that state officials were going to do the right thing in 2020, and by and large, they did. i mean, even the state legislators that were -- that trump appealed to directly rejected some of his appeals. but systemically, the local gops are replacing a lot of the people or trying to replace a lot of the people who did the

right thing, and that putting us into a very dangerous situation. >> so david, rightly, there's a lot of focus on the state level and the officials. there are democrats who hold out hope and pushing the white house to do something on the federal level. aides have told me in recent days when or if the build back better agenda gets passed, and that likely is slipping into early 202, that's next. voting rights would be their next quest. but, of course, the huge on stackl on capitol hill is the filibuster. what is your sense of it here taking a gauge of where democrats stand on this, and it's not just joe manchin. is there any possibility of a carveout or any sort of reform that could lead to some sort of federal legislation here? >> well, it depends on what the legislation is. i mean, you need to focus here. the electoral count act, this is the pivot point. the electoral count app was the thing that the ellis memos, they

tried to push on that door. that's a late 19th century law passed after the electoral crisis of 1876. so focus. focus. previous democratic efforts on election reform have been sort of a grab bag wish list that would involve in many ways a federal sort of takeover of the electoral process. that's not going to get past a filibuster. that not going to be the thing that ends the filibuster. can you focus on the electoral count out, then you might have an opportunity. but don't try to reach too far. don't try to do too much. this is incredibly important time in american history, and it requires some real focus and determination on the actual hinge points, the actual pivot points. >> well, and david, i'm so glad that you brought that up. i actually retweeted a wall street journal editorial from january on the electoral vote count, because i don't quite

understand why the democrats aren't focusing more on it. you actually have a horrible piece of legislation that both "the new york times" editorial page says should be taken off the book and "the wall street journal" editorial page says should be taken off the book. it's not good for democrats. it won't be good for republicans of the future most likely. i guess the big question is why in the world would they focus on trying to do too much and let's face it, a lot of that federalized legislation could be overturned by a conservative supreme court, because the constitution clearly gives states preference in how elections are run. but talk about how important this is, and i'm just wondering based on your reading and understanding, why aren't the democrats focusing more on getting rid of this, and just for our friends that don't know the details, basically this would take it out of the hands

of congress and let the courts have the final say on what electors are accepting and what electors are not. >> well, one of the big reasons democrats haven't focussed is one of these statistics that i believe mika referred to earlier which is only a minority of the democratic base, their own voters, are really focussed on the urgency of the threat. if you poll who believes american democracy's in most danger, the answer is overwhelmingly republicans who think democracy is in danger and less so democrats. this is not something that the democratic -- the big bulk of democratic voters are clamoring for reform. because it's not as big of a priority. why are the republicans getting an advantage here? because for their base voters, you know, they believe the election was stolen. they want to make sure the election is not stolen again. their base voters are motivated on this issue. there's going to have to be leadership that gets the leadership -- there's going to have to be leadership that gets

the democratic party in washington ahead of its own base on this issue. because this is not -- this is not merely an issue of politics at this point. this is an issue of national preservation. t preservation of the republic. if we can't have a peaceful transfer of power or legitimate elections, it's difficult to have a constitutional republic. this is a point where leadership has to really matter, and this is where people have to focus intensity on the precise pivot points and not go for wish lists like the for the people act like in many ways was a wish list, and much of it was unconstitutional. >> and finally, david, i know you have connections to kentucky, because you are one of the few people other than my dad when kentucky football is doing well, my dad used to get so excited even though he was a basketball fanatic. had to be because he was from kentucky. but i know your thoughts and prayers are certainly with the good people of kentucky right now. >> yeah. absolutely. my wife spent her childhood in

mayfield. she's devastated by what happened. i'm devastated to see it. i grew up in georgetown far from where the tornadoes hit. it's horrifying. just so many good people have lost so much. >> david french, thank you so much for being on this morning. and still ahead, who is time magazine's 2021 person of the year? the answer is next on "morning joe." plus home fitness company peloton fires back after its portrayal in hbo max sex in the city reboot. we'll show you their new ad in response. we're back in a moment. >> they get help from ryan reynolds, actually. t help from n reynolds, actually is building a future where cancers can be cured. strokes can be reversed. and there isn't one definition of what well feels like. there are millions. johnson & johnson is building your world of well.

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with a 2-year price guarantee. give your business the gift of savings today. comcast business. powering possibilities. welcome back to "morning joe." a live look at times square in new york city. and joining us now, executive editor for "time" magazine.

mr. simons with the "time" person of the year. john, who did the magazine pick this year? >> this year it is e e -- elon musk. he needs no introduction. he runs two companies. one, tesla, that is breaking new ground and basically forcing the traditional car companies to innovate and break into the electronic -- electric vehicle space. he runs another company that is spacex, putting satellites in rockets up into space. he has a personal life that is of great interest to many of our readers and many of our people in your audience. and he can move markets with

tweets. so this is something, again, that time magazine has done for almost 100 years, and it's one thing to remember is this is not this person of the year. it's not an award. it is simply a measure of influence, and elon musk has influence on our lives for better or worse. one thing to note about him is that he is also the world's best person ever, and, you know, this is a choice that's kind of meant to spur some conversation and hopefully it spurs conversation about the kind of growing gap between the rich and the poor. >> the rich and the poor and of course, "the new york times" yesterday talking about how he trolled people. he doesn't even like giving

money to charity. the times was talking about you, though, list in the article, there's a description, several descriptions of musk which will probably make him actually -- you say there's a man who aspires to save our planet and get us into inhabit clown, genius, edge lord, visionary, industrialist, showman, cad. a mad cap hybrid of thomas edison, pt barnum, and watchman's dr. manhattan. the brooding blue-skinned man god to invents electric cars and moves to mars. so talk about some of the things that he's doing that sets him apart from other silicon valley

giants. why he's more influential, he's more important at the end of 2021 than anyone else. >> well, think about it this way. he is, like i said, the ceo of two krr influential companies, and, like, what other ceo would be a guest on saturday night live? or who is followed by so many millions of people on twitter? so there alone he's like a -- he's more than a business figure. he's more than someone who is exploring space. he's more than an innovator in the automotive space. he's kind of everywhere. and his influences is measurable in all of those areas. >> hey, and he -- you know, he became the richest man ever,

richest person ever in the world in the history of the world this year. and that's based on his ownership of shares in tesla. so the fact that tesla is doing better as a business and convincing investors to invest in that company's future, that's all the makings of his wealth. so he would argue that he is not someone who is sort of moving bits and bytes and sort of moving money from one account to the other and making money that way. he is starting companies, creating jobs, and influencing local economies in places where he has factories and other things. >> all right. executive editor for time

magazine john simons. thank you so much for being on this morning. and up next, pfizer said last week that a third dose of its covid vaccine is effective against the latest strain of the virus. but was an independent study able to back that up? that's next on "morning joe." as i observe investors balance risk and reward, i see one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. your strategic advantage. ♪ limu emu... & doug ♪ ♪ superpowers from a spider bite? i could use some help showing the world how liberty mutual customizes their car insurance so they only pay for what they need. (gasps) ♪ did it work?

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squlncht welcome back. more on the battle against the pandemic as we keep a close eye on the emergence of new covid variants. it comes as millions of american family look to balance safety concerns with long-awaited reunions this season. sam brock reports. >> on the precipice of the christmas holiday, americans are staring at a daunting covid

picture. nearly 120,000 new cases a day. though the nation's health leaders making it clear, the crest of this wave lies in our hands. >> we have the tools to protect ourselves. we have 60 million people in this country not yet vaccinated who are eligible to be vaccinated. >> now more evidence boosters break up the spread of omicron. israeli scientists supplementing data from pfizer with their own study, finding a third dose offers significant protection against severe illness while two doses leaves you vulnerable. that third dose even more effective against delta which sparked a double digit increase in cases in district of columbia including new hampshire at nearly 70 %. >> we're in a crisis management situation in new hampshire. >> and new york state at 58%. >> the omicron variant and the cold winter months are going to super charge covid and take us backwards. >> reporter: starting today, all businesses in the empire state

that don't require proof of vaccinations have to mandate masks. corporate america is already adapting on the fly. facebook's meta, ford, and google are delaying in person returns after lyft told corporate employees they aren't returning to the office until 2023. at least half of all states have detected the variant, including miami dade and in central florida's sewage, previewing more infections with the booster your best bet to stay safe. >> if you want to be optimally protected, you should get a booster. >> that was our correspondent sam wrong reporting, and coming up, the premier episode of the "sex in the city" reboot has a plot twist involving a well-known exercise company. now peloton is pedaling back. we'll bring it down next on "morning joe." n "morning joe."

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now, to the growing controversy over the new "sex in the city reboot" and the use of a popular brand of exercise equipment. if you haven't seen the preview yet, a major spoiler alert is ahead. erin mclaughlin reports. >> and just like that, peloton striking back overnight. releasing this tongue in cheek video featuring mr. big actor. >> you look great. >> well, i feel great. >> the ad days after the bomb shell twist in the new revival. spoiler alert, if you haven't seen it, you may want to stop. in the premier episode, mr. big suffers a fatal heart attack after a rigorous workout on a peloton bike. sarah jessica parker's character

finding him on the floor. >> and just like that, big died. >> stunned fans lighting up social media, some lashing out against peloton. one tweeting, i'm afraid to get back on my peloton. >> hours after the episode aired, peloton's stock took a dive, shares plummeting to the lowest level in a year. in a statement peloton defended the product and blamed mr. big, saying he lived what many would call an extravagant lifestyle including cocktails, cigars and big steaks. these were likely the cause of his death. riding his peloton bike may have helped him prevent his death. peloton said it did not know mr. big would die after a peloton workout. while there's no word whether the brand is considering legal action against hbo, this isn't held ton's first controversy. from a treadmill recall for endangering children, to pulling this ad criticized for being

sexist. >> should we take another ride? >> reporter: in response to the latest big problem, peloton seems to be poking fun in this video with a tag line by ryan reynolds. >> and just like that the world was reminded that cycling reduces your risk of cardiovascular problems. he's alive. >> that was erin mclaughlin reporting. and coming up, joe's conversation with two topnotch musicians. robert plant and alison krause talk about their brand new album and much more, next on "morning joe." ing joe.

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♪♪ lead singer and lirist of

led zeppelin and country singer and musician allison krauss released a first new album together in 14 years titled "raise the roof." robert, i'm looking at the notes and it said robert anthony plant cbe is best known as the infamous english rock band led zeppelin. i don't know who affixed the infamous to led zeppelin but i find that amusing. this is exciting. you guys are back together again talking about the new project. >> well, yeah. infamous. i don't think -- i don't know what happened back then but i'm glad to be where i am now in great company here with allison. well, we teamed up almost -- not by accident but by chance 14, 15

years ago. and we found that even though we came from ridiculously different musical appreciations, backgrounds we had a lot of stuff in common. we like to be happy and we liked to be liked and we liked to sing and the challenge was how you ever going to mix the two vocal styles. and so we went about it. did what we did. had a fantastic time. mysteriously -- we traveled for quite a long time together. didn't we? and then our little project "raising sand" came to a head and wept about the previous business and looking for a window do get back together and never found it until recently. >> you guys came together and it was just a natural fit and as robert said it just came together when robert asked you to sing with him for a tribute

at the rock n roll hall of fame. talk about that. >> yeah. well, had gotten a phone call from him to come up there and play a lot of bluegrass songs. they'll come from different sources, too. led belly's music found the way into bluegrass through the years and some tunes that robert suggested we played i knew and it was a lot of fun and intriguing. and the first conversation we had when i got there was about ralph stanley and so i thought, oh, we'll be fine. >> allison, you guys worked with t-bone who i thought it was interesting. i love what t-bone said about the new album. he said despite the fact these are old standards there's no

nostalgia in this album because you two put your own stamp, your own interpretation on it and it's knew and dynamic. >> like a great song and great poetry, there's countless lives that it has. you know? just when you hear somebody read poetry. depending on the person reading it it has a new life and same way with the beautiful songs we have got to do and just to have an interpretation it has a very personal feeling to it. we have enjoyed it. >> and robert, talk about working with t-bone. >> yeah. t-bone is a grand visionary. he has a hell of a presence. a tall, big, looming character who's got all sorts of tangental

ideas and so do we, too, as well. really yeah. it's like a christmas cracker. you pull it and sometimes get a funny hat or a great joke or great piece of music. he is a miracle man. wish he paid more attention at times but a fantastic guy. i adopted him as a brother and sometimes he won't come home for tea. >> you say you wish he'd pay attention more. does t-bone have problems focusing in the studio? >> no, not at all. it is a tough gig to be the guy not taking the queues. almost like a shepherd. wandering around. on the quotes he will kill me. he has to keep the interest

going while we figure out the key or having a good time. so it's a very difficult gig to keep going. so i think he does an admirable job and helped by spectacular musicians who are omnipresent in everything we do and things he does if he has the audacity to work without us. >> i was musically a huge fan of british bands, zeppelin or the beatles, rolling stones, the who. i never quite understood just how much these country singers meant to all of my heroes who seem to be from this extraordinary land far away, whether zeppelin or the beatles. talk about that. >> our life was kind of different in england. we didn't have any fancy stuff.

it was a gray place to be. we didn't know about anything but the bursts of color like little richard. the whole deal. perkins was leaning like johnny cash. heading up to nashville. we were much i think really a lot of us really into the rock-a-billy side of country if you like. >> right. >> we were digging something which was further south. elvis cutting the records our concentration moved to nashville by the work he did and glen campbell and charlie rich. people moving up to nashville. i didn't learn too much about it at all.

a lot of stuff allison didn't comprehend from my world i didn't learn a huge amount until i met my friend there in that studio 5,000 miles from me. >> it is an incredible new album. thank you both so much. can't wait to see you live in june of next year. >> yasmin vossoughian picks up the coverage right now. ♪♪ good monday morning, everybody. december 13th. i'm yasmin vossoughian in for stephanie ruhle. the death toll is still ridesing more than 48 hours after devastating tornadoes slammed the center of the country over the weekend. take a look at the video from bowling green, kentucky.

you can see the path of destruction from a tornado that experts say stayed on the ground for more than 200 miles. in all we know 49 people have been killed in at least 5 states. the vast majority in kentucky but the governor said that number is rising and could pass 100 with so many still missing including people who were working at a factory in mayfield friday night making candles for christmas. as the storm got worse, they tried to shelter in place but the tornado leveled the building and trapped them inside. one of them went on facebook live to plead for help. >> this is the water fountain. it is on me. along with the wall. see how we stood up in here? >> it's not moving. >> we all stuck. >> that woman survived. she will