>> no. and if the death of those children didn't do it, you have to wonder if anything ever will. >> we remember the sandy hook shooting victims, nine years later, and that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. hey there. i'm stephanie ruhle live at msnbc headquarters here in new york city. it's tuesday december 14th and this morning we're watching two major stories. a search for dozens still unaccounted for is under way after tornadoes ravaged kentucky and several other states. the death toll nears 90, and expected to rise. those that did survive now trying to pick up the pieces. we have reporters spread ot across the region. local officials and survivors joining us throughout the hour. also watching capitol hill this morning where any minute now the house rules committee

will need to discuss the mark meadows con temple referral before it goes to the full house. this after the january 6th committee voted unanimously to hold meadows in contempt for revealing shocking evidence he did share with them when still cooperating. and that is where we start this morning with those two texts. liz cheney read publicly first time last night. be aware, some of them include profanity. the text proved that no matter what they said after the fact, everyone from the host at fox news to republican lawmakers to don jr. himself knew exactly what donald trump was the one who could stop the insurrection on january 6th and they were begging meadows to do something. >> quote, mark, the president needs to tell people in the capitol to go home. this is hurting all of us. he is destroying his legacy,

laura ingraham wrote. please, get him on tv. destroying everything you have accomplished, ryan killmy tebsed. "can he make a statement? ask people to leave the capitol, sean hannity urged. as the violence continued, one of the president's sons texted mr. meadows. "he's got to condemn this shit asap." "the capitol police tweet is not enough" continue to trump? texted again and again urging action by the president. "we need an oval office address." "he has to leave now. it has gone too far and gotten out of hand." >> something else. bring in nbc's senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake, and neil cocktail former

slis etter general and msnbc legal analyst. amazing. these text messages from lawmakers, from fox news hosts show all those attempts after the fact to whitewash the resurrection say antifa, unruling tourists, no big deal. all of those people knew that was an absolute lie. panicked on the 6th. what's your takeaway way on the significance of these facts? fox news, guessing, won't be airing liz cheney's testimony. >> look, texts tell us in terms what happened on january 6th what we already knew. it was a staff of epic proportions and massive attack on this building, this complex of buildings, and that everyone at the time knew the only person who could get involved to stop it was donald trump. but what these texts also tell us, they underscore the pivotal role that meadows played in this entire episode. not just on the 6th, but really

every day from the end of the election up until the 6th when they was working as a campaign official, and as the president's chief of staff at the time, and coordinaing the response, the effort to undermine election results. plenty other texts from lawmakers talking about theories how mike pence to throw out electoral votes or apologizes after the fact efforts to challenge the votes weren't successful. the text messages really paint meadows as a central figure in the drama and underscores why the committee think it's it's so important he talk. >> neil, put public opinion aside especially since so many across the country will never hear the truth and get technical, legal and talk consequences, because liz cheney said it last night. the question is whether the former president cooperately sought to obstruct congress' official proceedings to count the votes. that is a felony and it's what a lot of the rioters are actually charged with. could that end up applying to trump? >> absolutely. so there was a decision,

stephanie, this last friday a trump appointees judge essentially says that. you don't need to show someone intended violence against the capitol or against any member of congress, just that they intended to disrupt the count. as garrett was saying, the meadows texts do reveal an intent to disrupt the count, or at least what it looks like. look very damning right now. that just the evidence that meadows has been willing to turn over. there's thousands of other pieces of evidence that he's unwilling to turn over, no doubt because he's afraid of the truth coming out. so i think what gets lost in the terms of executive prig and contempt and so on, bottom line, this is all evidence going to that central question, stephanie, you're raising. was trump, was other, were others in the white house engaged in a federal crime? >> we are not going to let that get lost, because, again, this is the information meadows voluntarily handed over.

you've got to wonder what he didn't. so garrett, to that point, what else do you know? because gop lawmakers who texts meadows, their names were not disclosed. we want to know what other documents meadows might have handed over? liz cheney knows, we don't. what do you know? >> reporter: the committee says meadows turned over 9,000 pages worth of documents. we know a lot of this stuff off his personal cell phone. one of the people texting with january 6th just outed himself on twitter. our friend and colleague jake sherman, a reporter texting meadows looking for information and telling meadows the scope what was going on here. point is, people texting with mark meadows onafter 6th know who they were on that day, too, and we know that the committee does as well. i think the committee has been pretty deliberate in how they rolled out the informations they have. a general role, black box. see what goes in, little what comes out. what comes out are footnotes

where specific pieces of data are coming from. last night you saw a much more produced rollout of information gathered. it's only a matter of time we find out ho the lawmakers were, i frankly doubt a surprise given so many house republicans at the time made the same arguments blocking electoral votes right there on television in many cases. >> garrett, we know the full house vote is today. now that we've heard a number of texts from lis cheney, does that change anyone's vote, republicans, who love to look the other way? >> interesting question. when the full house voted on steve bannon held in contempt you saw more republicans cross over. nine in all recommending holding him in contempt. the line is blurrier, in part because meadows cooperated for a time and legal expects, leave this to neil, think meadows

privileged case might be a little stronger. we'll see the full house vote tonight and then in the doj to decide whether or not they want to charge meadows. the bannon case, took about be three weeks. this case seems a little more complicated. might be waiting a little while to see whether there are criminal consequences for mr. meadows. >> what would that look like? if the house recommended that the justice department seek charges against meadows, what are those charges? because, remember, when we all sat in these seats, gasping saying, goodness, steve bannon could be charged. he walked into the courtroom lice a press conference for his radio show. hasn't seemed to sweat this one bit. >> yeah. that's just delusion of reality. the charge would be contempt of congress, the last time a member of congress, former member of congress was held in contempt was in 1832. and it's hugely significant. stephanie, really hard a former member of congress to be held in contempt by your former body.

like failing a class at stanford. you really have to try to do it. but meadows managed to do it. garrett said the claims are executive privilege here, which would be his defense, he's bound by the former president not to say anything, are stronger than for steve bannon. true in the sense the scale. the scale is bannon's claim was laughable and meadows is silly and ridiculous. so maybe a step up, but step up of nonsense to nonsense minus something. i don't expect it -- >> yes. in the halls of nerds, could say, oh, my gosh, this is significant, hasn't happened since 1832. real life, what would the consequences be besides his reputation sullied, how would his life change, job change, his freedom change? >> yeah. going to jail. if held in contempt. in the prison term, it would be up to a year. the separate move justice department can make, do it now,

just enforce the subpoena to get the documents. a civil thing. the only consequences reputation or something like that. but right now with what the house is voting on is not simply a civil thing but a criminal liability for mark meadows. a criminal referral to the justice department to prosecute and put this former trump white house chief of staff in jail. >> a former house member about to be charged by the very body that he served. all in the name of loyalty to former president trump. who lost the last election. stunning. thank you both so much. only neil could make a reference to stanford. like failing a class of stanford. remember, got to get in first. the aftermath from this weekend's devastating tornadoes across kentucky. look at this. destruction almost unimaginable. entire cities essentially wiped off the map. here's the most devastating part. we still do not know the full

scope of loss. this morning, the death toll standing at, across five states. 88 people total. most of them in kentucky, but the governor says more than 100 people are still missing. president biden is headed to kentucky tomorrow. he'll visit mayfield where the entire downtown was leveled. he'll also travel to dawson springs, which looks a lot like mayfield. these towns are 70 miles apart. that shows how widespread the damage is. i want to bring in nbc's kathy parks in mayfield. dr. burns in bowling green, also took a direct hit. doctor, the news from bowling green keeps getting worse and worse. i understand now much of the death toll is centered on one single street. is that right? >> reporter: yeah, stephanie, that's right. where i'm standing right now, this street is "the" epicenter of the death toll here in bowling green. 14 people have died in this county. stephanie, 11 of them were killed right here.

you can see why. i mean, look at this destruction. whole vans lifted, dropped, blown out. this right here is, looks to be an attic just sitting here right now. you can come over this way. we're going to walk very slowly, me and my photographer, david, because the debris is still quite dangerous. a lot of nails and debris on the ground. take a look at this. the entire home lifted out of its foundation, completely demolished. there is a car sitting inside this house now. we were talking yesterday highway people were hiding in crawl spaces, stephanie, in bathrooms. if you were hiding in a scrawl space in your basement here thashs would do you absolutely no got. this is the spring hill subdivision. one of the newer subdivisions here in bowling green and full of multifamily homes. a lot of young families here, stephanie, and when you look at

the list of folks who have died here, it is devastating. the ages range from an infant to a 77-year-old from that list, it looks like two families died here, including two infants, a 4-year-old, a 16-year-old. it is just devastating. i'll tell you, stephanie, which i first got here and saw this for myself, it is undescribable. just trying to imagine being here when the force of that tornado hit. it's unimaginable, it's heartbreaking, it's devastating, and i just can't put into words what it's like to stand here and to look at all of this. >> it is stunning. kathy, take us to mayfield. we have seen pictures. our league jose diaz-balart said it looked like the entire region was carpet bombed. how are people moving forward?

>> reporter: steph, i can tell you this community is roaring back to life. in is so much activity on the ground. the community is trying to get back on its feet. you're going to see here the heavy machinery that has been brought in. in fact, i spoke with the department of transportation, and they say that they're pushing around debris so they can make way for the infrastructure to be restored. keep in mind that power tower, the water tower, was destroyed. the natural gas line, shut off. obviously, power lines all knocked down, because of the tornado, but you might notice here. what you're looking at is our new power poles that were just installed. so they are moving very quickly in this community, but, steph, i have to tell you. no matter where you look, there is is so much devastation and destruction. described what it was like the minute she way back into her community. take a listen. >> it just looked like a battle

zone. you didn't even recognize where you were on the street, and what building was what. we knew this is ours because of the post office. otherwise, we wouldn't have recognized it, and -- it was devastating. i broke down. it was heartbreaking. >> reporter: steph, that business was literally behind this church, or what used to be a church. built in 1916. so much history right here completely destroyed. it's just a mangled mess. you have metal, brick, just piles of rubble, and, you know, you kind of want to have some sort of silver lining. there it is a silver lining to share, steph, it's that the weather improved dramatically. the next couple of days rain is in the forecast and you might wonder where all residents are staying. hundreds if not thousands

displaced and staying with family members, shelters. so much recovery still left ahead. steph? >> kathy and dasha, thank you so much. bringing in a member of the mayfield city council and alex goodman, board member of the mayfield housing authority. i want to say i am sorry to both of and your community devastating. derek, give us a sense where your city is this morning? how do you even start to rebuild? >> well, right now, what's most important is to make sure that people have shelter, because not a lot of people have power, generators. a lot of people lost their homes. so right now, you know, the main focus is, just make sure people have shelter and food, basic needs. >> i want to talk about that, alex. i know you survived the storm with your husband and newborn. what was that like for you? >> yes. >> when you talk about people

having clothing, shelter. how are you actually doing that? where are people staying right now? miles anddevastation. >> we are very important. we live in a community, had a church open their doors for our public housing. we have about 450 members of public housing. and so they were able to quickly get to shelters, get where there's power and water. my husband and i and daughter and my parents did survive this storm. >> how's the rest of your house? >> our house is -- is, we're fortunate. our house is fine. a few limbs down. nothing more than that. >> how about you, derrick? >> our house is fine as well. a tree fell in my backyard, which it if would have hit my house would have went through my roof. so fortunate that it landed in my backyard and not on my house.

>> i am glad to know you and your families are safe and so sorry for all of you, what you're dealing with. thank you for joining us this morning. i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you. and we are staying on this devastating story from kentucky. up to illinois where there is a new investigation into an amazon factory, that collapsed during the storm and killed six workers. plus, exactly one year -- exactly one year -- since america's first vaccine dose was given during this very show. new data from pfizer on its anti-viral pill that could be another game-changer. if it works on nfl jerseys it'll work for you. and it's cold. so you will turn to cold? fine! that guy needs to chill out! i thought i was managing my moderate to severe crohn's disease. then i realized something was missing... ...me. my symptoms were keeping me from being there for her.

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more now on the fallout from the deadly tornadoes that ravaged five states killing at least 88 people. this morning the federal agency in charge of workplace safety is opened an investigation into this amazon distribution center in illinois after an ef-3 tornado, a major one, tore it apart and caused the roof to collapse. six workers were kill and at least one more injured, but those who made it out say they were lucky to survive. >> i was contemplating breathing, because i was being crushed by that wall. >> like somebody blew up the entire back area. debris all over the lake. >> outside edwardsville, illinois. explain this investigation.

is amazon the only one that they're looking into? because so many businesses, so many structures, got devastated. >> reporter: steph, a good question. osha typically does investigate anytime there's a workplace fatality. they'll be looking for making sure amazon, for example, followed all guidelines in place to ensure the safety and health of employees and looking at things likes structural integrity, built up to code, plans in place for emergency evacuation. in this instance, protocols for tornadoes. and this is going to be at least a six-month investigation, and if they find that there were things wrongs, amazon could be cited even forced to pay fines, steph. >> what's amazon saying about it at this point? >> reporter: so amazon says they've done everything right, to their knowledge. saying that in the minutes leading up to the tornado there were alarms and sirens.

they said they reached out to their drivers on the road, communicating with them about the eminent threat of this tornado. inside this facility they alerted all 46 of their employees inside to hunker in place, to take shelter in the northern part of the building or southern part of the building and unfortunately at around 8:30 friday that tornado plowed through the southern side, killing those six people. they do know, of course, that osha is investigaing saying they welcome the investigation, and in fact read a quick statement put out saying that osha investigates all workplace fatalities and we support them, that's true. osha does investigate these fatalities but a total of three investigations. osha, amazon is launching their own and, of course, the state agency here says that they are also investigating this tragic situation, steph. >> all right. thank you so much. we'll continue to cover this story in more details throughout the hour, but next --

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some very good breaking news

this morning. pfizer says its anti-viral covid pill reduces risk of hospitalization or death by 89%, when taken within three days of the onset of symptoms. >> if you think you have somp symptoms of pfizer, moving through the fda swiftly is another good tool but you have to be diagnosed early. get diagnosed to have this pill available. >> this is great news. at the same time, cities from coast to coast are imposing new mandates to slow the spread of the coronavirus. with us now -- with now surpassing 50 million cases since the pandemic began, and get ready for this number -- more than 800,000 american deaths. out west, california reimposing an indoor mask mandate in public settings for everybody regardless of your vaccination status. the mandate will last until at

least the 15th of january and in the east, proof vaccination for indoor dining and the supreme court declined to block new york city's health care mandate for health care workers, for medical reasons but not religious objections. a new study out of south africa shows the omicron variant appears to cause less severe illness and 29% less chance of hospitalization but more resistant to the two-dose pfizer vaccine. joining us to discuss, sam brock in miami and dr. natalie azar, thrilled to say, just feet away from me in-person here in new york. sam, start with the breaking news on pfizer's new anti-viral pill. what can you tell us? >> reporter: we know it's not going to be ready before christmas. fda reviews, stephanie, likely weeks away. certainly sounds like a ms pro promising tool. research shows 89% reduction in hospitalization and death within three days after experiencing onset of symptoms.

might help people with hesitancy towards getting vaccinated now. certainly, dr. rochelle walensky hit on this earlier. getting vaccinated and boosted are definitely the best bets. the case trends we're seeing now are extremely disturbing. 40 states just under that with double-digit increases in cases in the last couple of weeks. cities taking matters into their own hands. you mentioned the state of california as well reimpoing a mask mandate indoors after a 47% increase in case rates just since thanksgiving. you have philadelphia right now with rules just as tough as new york city requiring proof of vaccine for everybody as young as 5 years up and older. that is a new development as well. never see that thing here in florida with governor ron desantis and his executive order preventing those sorts of measures going into effect. i can tell you anecdotally, walk into restaurants, targets, groceries more and more wearing masks because they're worried.

talk about the transmissibility of omicron, dr. walensky telling savannah and hoda, omicron variant in new york and new jersey is 13%. those are signs it could become the dominant strain, and for family members wondering, do i get together with loved ones? should i be traveling? what if in restaurants, outside? what are the guidelines? most important thing according to dr. walensky, self-testing if you have to travel before you go so you know if you'll expose yourself to someone in your household or a different one that might be vulnerable. steph? >> how big a weapon might this anti-viral pill be good getting the pandemic somewhat behind us? >> great news on many levels. merck anti-viral pill approved with a much, much lower rate of efficacy preventing hospitalization and death. we compare.

interim analysis, from pfizer a couple weeks ago. 89%. then wait for the final analysis and hope it's as good as it was in the interim and it was. the fact it's a pill, can take at home is a game-changer. the others have to be infused, injected. 70% efficacy pt it's not about supply. administering them. need infusion centers, nurses. like tamiflu. positive test, prescription, stay at home take it and prevent severe disease. >> is ittals a about willingness to take it? right? when i think about who's getting very sick, dieing now, most part, unvaccinated. the unvaccinated person unwilling to get the shot the booster, will they be open to the pill? >> i'm not a psychologist. >> give me trends. >> i think so. i think i'm going to say that i think those folks who are very rigid in belief system that the

vaccine is too new and this and this and this may be more likely to take an anti-viral with a known mech in addition of -- not a novel mechanism. three arms. one unvaccinated as risk for severe disease. just reported on. also interim data, let's say, vaccinated low risk of progression. doesn't reduce symptoms but appears to prevent hospitalization and also testing it as something called postexposure pro if a lax is means you get sick, husband doesn't. does he get to take the anti-viral pill and does it prevent him from getting covid? interesting stuff going on. absolutely, a wonderful tool in the toolbox. >> to those who say, my city is getting new, more aggressive mask mandates. why are they doing that? i've been vaccinated. gotten the booster. now can take this pill. why should we take more drastic preventive measures?

we don't wearing a masks all year long at flu season. >> give you that data. 2018, 2019 flu deaths, 28,000. there were almost 400,000 hospitalizations, but we only -- get in the tens of thousands of deaths from flu every year. covid is far deadlier. do see postmodel fatigue and influenza, not like with long covid. a different beast. have to take extra measures because nothing is 100%. >> exactly one year. >> yes. >> since we saw, i think -- it was not at nyu but we saw a nurse in new york get the very first covid vaccine shot. >> yes. >> talk to us about what it would look like today if those vaccines were not developed? where would we be? >> with the delta surge and whatnot? >> the negatives? >> a massive positive. remember what the virus does for a living. evolves and mutates to stay alive. it's not necessarily going to

become more virulent but has become more contagious, more transmissible. if not for the vaccines we would have seen, i'm not ap epidemiologist, i expect the death numbers would be easily double or trip what they are now if not for the vaccines. >> wow. extraordinary. >> don't quote me, but something like that. >> a whole heck of a lot -- >> bigger. >> a lot more. >> yeah. >> stunning. the vaccines, they work. what a year it's been. dr. natalie azar great to see you in-person for a little of your xpexize. expertise. coming up, the hundreds of victims of larry nassar. and something more valuable than money as the fight for justice continues. jose diaz-balart reported, a

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back now to the deadly tornadoes that killed dozens of people across five states. we're staurting to learn how much communities like this one, mayfield, kentucky, lost to those tornadoes, and for my next guest, it's very personal. this is a recent photo of karr's steakhouse, a restaurant in that town. you can see here, a historical landmark. then the tornado hit. now it looks like this. absolutely unrecognizable. reduced to rubble. daniel carr owns the steakhouse and joins us now. daniel, first i want to say, i am so, so sorry for the steakhouse, you also lost a barbecue restaurant. how are you doing? what have these last few days been like for you?

>> oh, it's been unreal. i mean, it was definitely just so -- gut wrenching and i mean just -- knocks you down. i mean, so many people in our community have lost their homes, you know, everything they have. you know? no way to get around. no power. no heat. you know? talking about 1,000 people without a home right now. thousands without power and heat. so -- what they're going to do in the foreseeable future, that's what we're focused on right now. >> will you rebuild? where do you go from here? >> right now we're really not even looking at that. we're concerned about our people in our community. that's really the spirit of my family and karr's steakhouse. get them back on the feet and going out in the community to do

the same thing. once we get past this, can find a kitchen, get into a kitchen, we'll start cooking again, feed whoever we can feed whether first responders, cleanup people. that's the plan right now. focusing on our community, those people really, really suffering. such huge need right now. >> i' images on the screen. it's like mayfield is gone. how long have you been there? >> we've had the steakhouse three years. the building was historic. about 150 years old, literally. before that my grandfarnts started karr's bar and barbecue and cafe, that's wiped away. those are just buildings. we're going to keep moving. >> right now you're a community helping one another. do you know if the government is going to do anything? >> i'm sure they are. i know that the governor of kentucky start add fund.

he's been down here several times. we need all the help we can get from individuals from the government, from the company and help is pouring in. such a huge need right now. >> thank you so much for joining us this morning, telling your story. we are thinking about you and your community. >> thank you so much. >> when we come back, also developing this morning, a historic multimillion dollar settlement for hundreds of survivors, victims, who suffered under u.s. gymnastics after years and years of fighting for accountability surrounding the abuse of disgraced former doctor larry nassar. anne thompson has more. >> reporter: for years they performed breathtaking feats. while hiding the horror of sexual abuse. now some of women's gymnastics biggest names including simone biles, aly raisman, mckayla

maroney and nearly 500 athletes have an opportunity to share in a settlement for what was done to that. jessica howard is one of the plaintiffs. >> it's validation and feels like justice. >> reporter: this fall biles, maroney, raisman and maggie nickels detailed it for congress. >> one adult to do the right thing. >> reporter: the agreement with usa gymnastics and u.s. olympic and paralympic committee covered abuse by any. the former doctor of the u.s. women's team serving what amounts to life in prison for sexually assaulting minors during supposed treatment. >> to be clear, i blame larry nassar and i also blame -- an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse. >> reporter: the world saw the lingering impact of abuse at the summer olympics when biles

withdrew for part of the competition telling hoda -- >> soon as we stepped on to the olympic scene it's just, decided i couldn't do it anymore and cracked and that's what happened. >> reporter: a system that maroney hold savannah in 2018 didn't care about the women. >> all they cared about was their reputation, money, gold medals and that was it. >> reporter: this morning, usa gymnastics a apologizing saying the bankruptcy reorganization reflects our own accountability to the past and our commitment to the future. the usopc issues its own mea culpa. we recognize our role in failing to protect the athletes and sorry for the profound hurt endured. saying it's enacted sweeping reforms to combat sexual abuse. >> that was anne thompson reporting and one more thing i want to add. under the agreement at least one abuse survivor is now going to sit on usa gymnastics board of

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in just a few hours, the parents of the suspected oxford school shooter will be back in a michigan courtroom, two weeks after authorities say their son fatally shot four students, six other students and a teacher were also injured. i want to go straight to mara barrett. mara, these parents, they've been behind bars basically since this whole thing started. it's the same jail that their son is in, though i don't believe they've seen him. why are they back in court today? what's about to happen? >> reporter: so, stephanie, today is the probable cause hearing for james and jennifer crumbley, the parents of the accused shooter. and basically what's going to happen here is the court hears testimony. it's a preview, essentially, of what we might see at trial and nicole will decide when and if this case will go to trial. a reminder, authorities are working to place blame with the parents, right? the oakland county prosecutor saying that the parents had

every reason to believe that their son was dangerous, giving him access to a weapon, and failing to secure it. that's something that we might see be brought up in court today. and this, obviously, follows the manhunt that we saw when the parents were hiding just north of detroit, about two weeks ago. and so right now, they are facing four charges of involuntary manslaughter, connected to those four teenagers that did pass away, in addition to the injuries that you just mentioned. but because of that investigation of whether they had helped hiding from authorities, they might get more charges added. now, in terms of what to expect, their son, ethan crumbley, had the same hearing yesterday. it was ultimately postponed, after his lawyer asked for him to be put back into juvenile detention. they have about 100 pages of discovery or evidence to go through, so this will be something that they're looking at again in the new year. and as all of this goes on this afternoon, stephanie, it's important to note that oakland county schools are not in session again today because of yet another threat aimed at the middle school just yesterday on social media. and so authorities kept the

middle schoolers and high schoolers out of school again today. steph? >> another threat aimed at middle schoolers. those are fourth grade kids. we've got to do something else here. mara barrett, thank you so much. we will keep an eye on that hearing later today. but coming up next, we're going to look at the helpers. those who ran towards danger when storms like we just saw down in kentucky hit. we'll be speaking to one navy veteran on the ground in kentucky, next. one navy veteran on the ground in kentucky, next ♪ well the sun is shining and the grass is green ♪ ♪ i'm way ahead of schedule with my trusty team ♪ ♪ there's heather on the hedges ♪ ♪ and kenny on the koi ♪ ♪ and your truck's been demolished by the peterson boy ♪ ♪ yes -- ♪ wait, what was that? timber... [ sighs heavily ] when owning a small business gets real, progressive helps protect what you've built with affordable coverage. ray loves vacations. but his diabetes never seemed to take one.

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back now to the tornadoes this weekend that left at least 74 people dead in the state of kentucky. cleanup efforts are now underway, as those that survived begin the long, slow process of rebuilding their lives. it's times like this that we are reminded of the immortal words of fred rogers. look for the helpers, like a group of army veterans called team rubicon, who joined together to lift up communities that have been leveled. jonathan davis and navy veteran and public information officer with team rubicon joins us now from benton, kentucky. jonathan, i look at these images and to me it looks like things could not possibly be worse. you're there, but you've also been in countless disaster sites, combat zones around the world. put into context for us what it's like down there. >> you know, i've been all around the world and seen a lot

of devastation, but nothing like this. you know, in a war zone, buildings are still in tact, you know, areas that are in rubble, they've been strategically hit. tornadoes don't have that. they strike areas with massive damage. i feel like coming to this location, it's like we're at a movie set. it's unbelievable the amount of damage that you can see widespread. >> what kind of assistance are you providing right now given how widespread and bad things are. oftentimes tornados, they're devastating, but they're narrow. that's not the case here. it hit five states. >> correct. and so with team rubicon, we have expanded our reach, in the sense that we have brought in an additional 40 volunteers to help support the counties and states that have been affected by these tornadoes. so today in particular, we have teams out there providing site

surveys to get a better understanding of where we can put these unmet needs. and in the meantime, we've got route clearance teams who are clearing roads to help first responders to get to areas that need the help the most. >> for people who are watching right now that want to help, what can they do? >> yeah, please visit teamrubiconusa.org. find out how you can get involved. become a member of our team. we're known as gray shirts, and we would love to get more support on the ground to help these communities kind of get normalcy after these horrific tornadoes. you can also donate to team rubicon. and keep following us and seeing how we're making an impact to these communities. >> you certainly are making a

big impact, just being there. thank you so much for all that you do and thank you for joining us this morning. we will be posting a link on how you can help organizations like team rubicon and others. for you at home watching, just go to our show's twitter handle, @ruhleonmsnbc. thank you so much for watching. that wraps up this very busy hour. i appreciate being back with you. i am stephanie ruhle. my friend and colleague, jose diaz-balart, picks up breaking news coverage right now. >> thank you, stephanie. it's 10:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m. pacific. the search for people still unaccounted for after friday's deadly tornado outbreak continues as the long road to recovery begins in kentucky and several other states. the house is set to vote today on whether to refer former white house chief of staff mark meadows for contempt of congress. as the house committee releases texts he received during the january 6th insurrection. good