right now on msnbc, the covid omicron variant in focus as president biden and vice president harris are set to meet with the covid response team. they'll be getting an update on the more contagious variant as the cdc warns of a massive spike in new covid cases by christmas, up to a 55% increase with more

than a million cases in a week. we're live at the white house and in new york city where a new health advisory is out in response to the omicron variant. and we're also live on capitol hill where it appears two key democratic priorities won't get done before christmas and are up in the air in the new year, as well. we'll talk to one senator on what's next for "build back better" and voting rights. i'm garrett haake. we have medical contributor dr. vin gupta. i want to start with you and with a new clip we're just getting in from an interview that dr. anthony fauci conducted for "nbc nightly news" tonight. listen to this -- >> if you're a family sitting around the table planning your holiday trip and you're watching this right now, what should you be rethinking, what would you advise people, not even in an official capacity, but simply good-old common sense? >> well, again, vaccination is going to make the difference, lester. if i have -- i'm a family

member, i'm vaccinated, i'm boosted, my wife is vaccinated, she's boosted, my children are coming in by plane from all different parts of the country, they are vaccinated and boosted. so we can feel very comfortable in having our plans to be together as a family in our home with some friends who are also boostered and vaccinated. >> the first thing i take away from that interview which you could see more of on "nightly news" tonight is he keeps talking about booster shots, that booster shots are going to be so key in this. i wonder what you think about the idea that omicron is spreading rapidly in the coming days, but vaccinated americans and boosted don't need to be too worried about. that seemed to be mytakeaway. i'm curious about yours. >> good afternoon. i completely agree with dr. fauci in terms of what the new normal looks like. that's psychologically -- we need to reset expectations for the american public. i think the silver lining of

this more contagious variant, omicron, is that we're forced to reckon with these new expectations. what can a vaccine against a contagious respiratory virus reasonably do? it will keep you out of the hospital, away from pulmonologists. it's not going to prevent a positive test, won't prevent mild symptoms. think about the flu paradigm. where do we get the flu shot every year, to keep you out of the hospital. we're reckoning with that. for the first two years, it was eradication, can we maybe eradicate covid, avoid a positive test. this is reality. it's always been reality. there's no vaccine against a contagious respiratory virus, doesn't exist, hasn't, never will. that's going to undergird people's thinking when it comes to holiday travel. i will say again as a lung doc thinking about the lungs that we all need to breathe the air that's around us, airplane cabins are actually quite safe. especially if you're masking, high-quality masking, that air is exchanged every two to three minutes with the ambient environment. it is a safe place to be.

people need to be reassured that if they follow dr. fauci's guidance on vaccines and boosters with masks in public places, you should be able to enjoy life as it is. some semblance of normalcy. and that this is the new normal here. >> there does seem to be in confusion about the tools that we have been using to fight covid. dr. fauci talked about that in the context of omicron, as well. watch this. >> we're getting preliminary information that not all of the diagnostic tests will be accurate with omicron. we're trying to find out those that don't reflect an accurate result. it certainly diminishes the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies of the entire panel of monoclonal antibodies, most of them are no longer effective against the omicron variant. so we're going to have to start developing new monoclonal antibodies that are well matched

to this variant. >> hearing dr. fauci talk about how our diagnostic tools and our treatment tools might need to change here to deal with omicron got me thinking about the idea that we're almost talking about two separate diseases at this point. the omicron being more contagious, potentially less deadly for vaccinated people. and the delta variant which is still out there killing thousands of americans on a weekly basis. is that a fair way to think about this, kind of like one disease that we're talking about and a vaccinated population, another disease out there ravaging largely the unvaccinated population? >> well, you know, i would take a step back and say that omicron is still a very big deal if you're unvaccinated. whether it's delta, omicron, i -- the more virus that you have in your body, what we know now from data that was actually released yesterday is that omicron likes to replicate and likes to house itself in the nose and respiratory tract. that's adam's apple

nostrils. 70 times more omicron than somebody who got exposed to, say, the delta variant. that means if you're unvaccinated, that virus will ultimately end up traveling to the lower respiratory tract, your lungs, cause serious illness. so for the unvaccinated, this is all bad news. but the vaccinated, to your point, you know, we have to get comfortable with this idea of vaccine breakthrough and being a common entity and ultimately being benign, mild symptoms that work for the vast majority of people. the diagnostic tests that some are using for the holidays, that is effective at detecting the omicron variant. look for a part of the virus' outer wall, the outer structure, that is the same as it was in previous instances, previous other variants. the oral pill from pfizer, the reason that's so critical, for fda approval, distribution, wide

manufacturing, it's effective against the omicron variant in ways in which the moon -- monoclonals may not be. we have tools that will stand the test of time. the key point is vaccine breakthrough illness, we need to to talk about it differently. different vocabulary. we need to put the pressure off of it. >> i so appreciate that way of thinking, and the changing of the paradigm to talk about hospitalization and death as opposed to cases as the way we view this going forward. kelly o'donnell, the president's going to get an omicron update, i hope for his sake, and for the country it is as useful as what dr. gupta has been telling us it. what can we expect to come out of this briefing the president's getting this afternoon? >> reporter: i've checked with members of the team, and this briefing has slid a bit. and the president and vice president will be meeting in the roosevelt room with members of their team. but the expectation is that some of what the president will be hearing is that at this point the scientists are saying that there is not evidence suggesting that a different vaccine is

needed to deal with omicron. that's one of the things they have been gauging. so the vaccine regimens that are currently available, they find to be effective. they're also talking about boosters being a useful tool. so expect the president to advocate for more of that. the white house has been saying that while certainly they would like more people to get their first doses of that kind of part of the population that has not gotten vaccinated at all, they're pleased that there's been a million booster shots being administered a day. they like that pace, they want it to continue, especially with the omicron variant here. and the importance of wearing the masks as much as people have grown tired of doing that, doing that indoors in those congregant settings as another way of dealing with this variant. knowing as you're conversation with dr. gupta was dealing with the fact that breakthrough cases will be taking place. obviously those unvaccinated are the greatest risk. those who have been vaccinated

could experience some milder illness, could be getting the virus, and wearing the mask indoors is one of the ways to try to mitigate that. so part of what we expect the president to learn is about some of that ongoing science that is coming in in realtime. and of course we expect to see a bit of that meeting with the president and vice president and hear the president's comments about it. it is such a concern especially knowing how many americans are making their holiday plans and their travel plans and wanting those realtime updates. and we expect to hear from the president about that a little later this afternoon. >> all right. kelly, thank you. i want to bring in rehema ellis now in new york city where the mayor just announced a new covid strategy as cases rise there. so mayor bill de blasio says omicron's in full force there in the city. walk us through this new strategy he's laying out now. >> reporter: well, the new strategy is because of what you point out. the mayor saying that there's a surge that's gripping the city right now. he pointed to what he says is the fact that the percentage of

people here testing positive for the virus has doubled in just three days this week alone. so what is he doing? there's a full screen about what the mayor says they're putting into place. he's got a new health advisory out. he's increasing the testing capacity. one million free k95 masks are being distributed, 500,000 free rapid tests will be distributed. they're emphasizing the importance of vaccination and ensuring mandates are going to be enforced. some people are concerned that distributing 500,000 free rapid tests in a city of almost nine million is not enough. but the mayor says that this is the beginning of what they hope they can do to stop the spread of this disease. >> dr. gupta, what's your reaction to what we're seeing in new york which has to be one of the most vaccinated cities, certainly the most aggressive when it's come to mandates thus far. >> well, i think it's a conservative approach. i'm never going to argue against erring on the side of caution, and yet i do think we need to

have a broader discussion with the american people about respiratory viruses. i know it sounds like a blase, never thought i'd be talking about this on national tv two years ago, but there are so many respiratory viruses that exist in the world, all around us during cold and flu season that we don't know about or might cause a sore throat. we need to recognize that -- and we don't test ourselves for this. we need to start norming this concept that, yes, you might have mild symptoms from a respiratory virus like omicron, but if you're double, triple vaccinated, it's going to be a nuisance. so how do we actually depressurize this conversation, how do we move toward psychologically some vision of normal? over time, over the course of the next few months we need protocols and procedures not to say you have to quarantine necessarily if you test positive with mild symptoms, do all the right things, have precautions. >> to that end, i was going ask about there because i know you advise on an informal basis the seattle seahawks. we have seen a lot of outbreaks in the world of sports recently. this has become a thing across

the nba, the nhl, the nfl. do you think the sports world is one of those places where we might see them start to change their protocols? the nba especially was way out in front with the bubble. do you think the sports world is where we might see people starting to back off some of the quarantine procedures we've all gotten so used to? >> you know, they have to do it in accordance with cdc guidance, and i'm sure that conversation is happening as we speak. so but that would be a wonderful place, highly visible place to say let's think about what is the new normal look like with protocols on how we handle vaccine breakthrough illness that's asymptomatic or mild, to your point, so we can see in real time how is this playing out. to recognize that sports organizations, the nfl, the seahawks who i advise, those are healthy really otherwise, you know, at the prime of their life individuals who can fight off an infection even if they're not vaccinated in some cases. all of them are, thankfully, especially the seahawks. that's some seattle pride right there. what i would say is -- what i will say is that even for

somebody who's older or high risk, vaccine breakthrough illness, even if they develop mild symptoms, we need to start norming the concept that even if you're high risk and got triple vaccinated, you might test positive and have mild symptoms, but we need protocols and procedures to start norming that. so psychologically we can move past this. >> dr. gupta, appreciate the seattle pride. ashame we won't see you in the finals. maybe next year. next, we are live with new reporting about a zoom call president biden had with a handful of senate democrats today and what they talked about. plus, the biden administration has been in talks to compensate families separated at the border by the last administration. why we're now hearing they just pulled out of those negotiations. and we're staying close to this minneapolis courtroom where former police officer kim potter could take the stand at any time as her defense team starts making its case. case. it only takes a second for an everyday item

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welcome back. we're live on capitol hill where senate democrats are trying to find some kind of way to move forward on voting rights legislation. a source tells nbc news that president biden and vice president harris held a zoom call this morning with several senate democrats to talk about next steps. we have our team from capitol hill. kelly o'donnell back with us from the white house, and i'm joined by jay sherman, punch bowl news founders, msnbc political analyst and thursday

birthday boy. we'll get to that later. ali, what do you know about the zoom meeting and the plan for democrats such as exist to try to move things forward when it comes to voting rights? >> yeah. this zoom meeting seems like it was more of a status check for a lot of these democrats who have been key to figuring out the path forward on this issue over the course of the last weeks and months. many of the people who were in this meeting are people that you and i and jake chase around up here on the hill all the time trying to figure out how they're going to move forward on this. the thing that they all agree on, as i've been walking around the halls with them today, is that there's urgency behind this issue, but beyond that the urgency seems to be running into the realities of the senate which is that they don't have a path forward to get this done because they are not going to change the rules, and they still have to convince senators manchin and sinema that that would be the way to move forward. in the democratic meeting today this was the topic of conversation. of the focus for all of the senators in that room.

one senator even presented a powerpoint presentation trying to show them what a rules change could look like on this if they were to go forward. again, this is a case of urgency running into the reality up here on the hill. and that's also the case of what's happening with the "build back better" agenda. that is the other intractable issue for the democratic caucus that is linking its way into next year because there is not a strategy to actually get it done before the close of this year. in terms of "build back better," there are some key issues that even remain to be resolved. upon only because senator manchin seems to be continuously slow walking this process, but you see them up on your screen. the child tax credit which expires at the end of this year. paid leave, the state and local tax deduction, immigration, the methane gas rule. all of these either because they're still tied up in the parliamentarian figuring out if they can be done through this budget measure, or also because of the personal politics of some of these senators involved. these are two key pieces of democrats' agenda, of president joe biden's agenda, that now heading into the end of the year

remain stalled. garrett? >> kelly, president biden was on and he was off when the "build back better" bill was working through the house. he's a senate guy. where is the president now that all of his agenda is sitting in the chamber where he once served? >> one of the things we've watched with this president is that he is careful about not trying to tell senators what they should do but to try to bring them along in his own way of trying to work the politics of the moment. it was notable during his tour of the terrible devastation in kentucky when he was interacting with reporters, the question came up about this issue of "build back better" versus voting rights and how to try to manage all of that in a limited time left this year. the president engaged on voting rights in a way we haven't seen in a while saying that they should do it, they should move on it, it's one of the most important issues domestically, nothing more important than the right to vote, and that is an important signal from the

president to his base and to his party knowing all of the ways that "build back better" is fraught. sort of filling the space in this moment by again energizing on that issue. now all of the problems are there. the absence of the pathway is there. but even some bit of presidential engagement on it may be helpful to try to shake things loose. at the same time, we know that the vice president has had a certain amount of political difficulty of late, at least in the way she's been written about. sort of her fate at the near one-year mark. one of the areas where the president has put her in charge is voting rights. so by giving a little daylight, a little sunshine to this issue again, the two of them working together in a zoom call also allows for a little political space for them to be partnered on this issue, as well. garrett? >> jake, what can the president or the vice president do here? they cannot create a 51st democratic senator so they don't have to care about what joe manchin thinks. what are their options?

>> they don't have other options. joe manchin said he's not changing the senate rules without republican support. he's said that time and time again. kyrsten sinema went as far as to release a statement yesterday to say she's not getting rid of the 60-vote threshold. i don't see the political practical or legislative space for anything to get done on voting rights. on the "build back better" act, i frankly think that we're probably -- we might be closer in an absolute sense meaning the parliamentarian is reviewing various proposals, senate democrats are expected to get some of those proposals this afternoon. but in a real sense, you have joe manchin basically trying to rewrite big chunks of the bill. he's suggesting the child tax credit should be extended for ten years and be paid for. he's had issues with the methane tax, he's had issues with paid leave. i mean, this is just -- not a wholesale rewrite but close to at least a partial rewrite of this piece of legislation. >> but we spent weeks this fall and this summer covering these negotiations that manchin was

having with the white house, there was the framework that was released. does the white house feel like manchin pulled the rug out from under them? i mean, this was the most negotiated with person in all of washington on both of these issues. and they're effective nowhere with them. >> yeah, the white house see it's like this -- i had a senior white house person say the other day that everything with manchin is up in the air until it's not. it's always a web of problems, dealing with manchin. it's always one thing and then another thing and then you solve another thing and another thing comes up. so that's what they're dealing with now. frankly, the white house doesn't seem as concerned as chuck schumer does with this christmas deadline in that they feel like they can come back at the beginning of the year and could have another chance and another whack at this thing. but i would say, i mean christmas seemed like a good pressure valve, a good pressure valve from which the senate democrats could -- could, you know, try to get this done. i don't know what that next pressure valve is. is it january or february? anyway, seems like it's very up in the air and far away. >> all right.

thank you, jake, ali, kelly o'donnell, thank you. i'm joined by one senator who's in the middle of this. senator chris coons, democrat from delawarement you were in this lunch today. what's the message from senate democrats? it looks like you're going to go home for the year without build back better or voting rights. >> senate majority leader chuck schumer filed on 22 nominees last night, and i think will file on more today to make it clear that we're not leaving until we have ground through the confirmation process for judges, for ambassadors, for senior administration positions. there's roughly 160 nominees that are being held on the floor by republican senators. we shouldn't leave for the holidays until we have a chance to confirm many of these -- some of these are for absolutely critical allies of the united states like japan or countries where we ought to have an ambassador like china or international organizations like the oecd where we need

representation. that was one of the topics of today's lunch. garrett, the other topic you were discussing, of course there's frustration. the "build back better" bill has been in the works, in process for months. but i'm convinced there is still an opportunity for us to get to yes with my colleague senator manchin. we're going to have to make some changes. but he is still in good faith, i believe, negotiating, although this has been very frustrating. i am hopeful we can still get to yes within the next few weeks. >> i hear you on the nominees, and didn't think i was going to use my christmas puns until next week, but i mean, confirming ambassadors is coal in stockings for people who thought you might have these big legislative victories before the end of this year. from my vantage point covering this -- >> let's be clear about something if we could, about the coal in stockings metaphor. this is the first year of the biden administration. and we have passed huge pieces

of their legislative agenda. the american rescue plan put $1.9 trillion of investment that helped millions of families, of small businesses, of schools. there's been 480 million vaccine shots in arms, a year ago the first vaccines were delivered. we're in a very different place from a public health and public safety perspective. second, the bipartisan infrastructure bill, $1.2 trillion invested over the next decade in rebuilding on ur roads and bridges, investing in the infrastructure of the 21st century. these are both big legislative accomplishments. frankly, they dwarf the first year accomplishments of many other administrations. we've got more than six million new jobs created by the private sector, unemployment back to close to pre-pandemic levels at 4.2. it's been a year of real substantive progress. >> i don't disagree -- i don't --

>> and share it about "build back better." let's just not overlook the fact that it's been a year of real substantive accomplishment by the democratic majority and the biden administration. >> i don't disagree with you on any of the accomplishments, and i don't think you'd disagree with me on how stuck you are in this moment. now i think -- my own reporting on joe manchin and the president, they are still talking. he will talk until he's blue in the face, joe manchin will, on any of these issues. but our reporting at nbc is that talks are going poorly on "build back better." i want to ask you about the voting rights piece. i think that's the more complex part. i think -- as "build back better" moves, voting rights, you're stuck. mitch mcconnell talked about there on the floor. i want to play some of what he said. >> it isn't about, quote/unquote, voting rights, it's a naked power grab. i understand my colleagues are frustrated they may not get to spend $4.9 trillion on their way out the door for christmas, but believe me, lashing out at our

democracy, at the supreme court, and at the senate itself is not going to solve anything. >> i know you don't see mitch mcconnell as a good faith critic of your voting rights package here, but he speaks to the political realities that you're dealing with trying to move this and potentially having to change the rules of the senate. do you think that is something that you can convince joe manchin or kyrsten sinema to get on board with some version of changing the rules? without that, that package will not move. >> two things. the naked power grab that i hope your viewers are paying attention to is the ways in which state legislatures all over this country but in a few critical states in particular like georgia and texas are changing the rules of the road for voting, for the upcoming elections in 2022, in ways that would have changed the outcome if they were in place in 2020. this is dangerous. this is undermining the very

core elements of our democracy. the progress that has been made and has come to a head in recent weeks is we now have a voight restoration bill -- voting rights restoration bill that all 50 democrats co-sponsored and support. senator manchin's asked for time to see if he could get republicans here in the senate to join in this modified and updated piece of legislation. senator klobuchar, senator chuck schumer did terrific work in working with senator manchin to get us to this point. i now think -- and we had robust conversations about this this week, we've got to find a path forward toward getting that bill on the floor, and finding a pathway toward getting it enacted so that the 2022 elections can indeed be free and fair and we can protect the right of access to the ballot box in america. >> all right. chris coons, senator from delaware. i appreciate your time and your willingness to dig into all of this with us today. thank you very much. >> thank you.

and now some news coming in just in the last hour. the biden administration reportedly halting talks with the lawyers representing migrant families that were separated by the trump administration. an attorney for one of the families saying she's, quote, profoundly disappointed that the administration has walked away from its campaign promise to some measure of justice to these families. want to bring in jacob soboroff, he's been covering the saga of separated families at the border for years now. jacob, how does the biden administration's decision to end these negotiations square with what the president has previously said about the separation policies? >> yes, good question. and the lawyers are saying it does not square with what president biden has said as president or as a candidate. you'll remember that he called the separation policy criminal and that final presidential debate when our colleague kristen welker was moderating, he said he promised a thorough investigation. recently he said he felt the families deserved some measure

of compensation. i want to read a little to you of what one of the lawyers for the aclu said, he doesn't believe it squares either. he said there's no explanation for not settling these cases other than the biden administration is unwilling to use literally any political capital to help the young children deliberately abused by our government, the biden administration will now be in court not just defending the united states but also the individual federal officials responsible for family separation. and just to remind everybody watching this conversation, that includes steven miller, kirstjen nielsen, and jeff sessions to name a few. >> and for regular viewers of this network may not know, this story, this separation policy, these settlement has been a huge issue on the other cable network on a very different sort of tonal element of it. this has become a very political story. it's going to be interesting to watch this develop as it works through the courts. i know you'll be all over it. thank you for your reporting. and president biden this

afternoon awarding three u.s. soldiers the country's most prestigious medal for military service. three american soldiers, two who died on the battlefield, were awarded the medal of honor for their actions in iraq and afghanistan. president biden calling attention to the ultimate sacrifice made by these soldiers and by their families. >> today we honor three outstanding soldiers whose actions embody the highest ideals of selfless service. we also remember the high price our military members and their families are willing to pay on behalf of our nation. >> though thousands of medals of honor have been awarded throughout history, just 24 soldiers have received the distinction for their service in iraq and our nation's longest war in afghanistan. we'll be right back. afghanistan we'll be right back. ♪♪ ♪♪

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any moment now we could see kim potter take the stand in her own defense. this after the prosecution rested their case earlier this morning. with the defense starting to call witnesses, potter, a former brooklyn center, minnesota, police officer, this morning reaffirming her intent to testify at some point in this trial. potter, you'll remember, is facing manslaughter charges after she says she mistakenly

withdrew her service weapon instead of a taser, shooting and kill a man named daunte wright as she tried to arrest him. potter has pled not guilty to all the charges against her. i want to bring in nbc news correspondent shaq brewster. what are you seeing as the defense's case starts to take shape here? >> they're trying to underunderstand -- kim potter's defense, that her action was justified and reasonable. they're going after what the prosecution has said. they're saying even if former officer potter intended to use her firearm, that would have also been justified. to do that, they have a use of force expert that we heard from that took much of the morning who said that her actions were reasonable and justified. and then we just heard from the former police chief of brooklyn center police department, a police chief who resigned because he refused to fire her initially, and who got on the stand and said that her action was justified. listen to what he said --

>> when i viewed both camera angles and had all the data in front of me, i saw no violation. >> no violation of what? >> of policy, procedure, law. >> and the policy and procedure at brooklyn center police department, to your knowledge since you're the chief, followed the law use of force, is that right? >> yes, yes, it does. >> reporter: now we also know the defense will continue to present some character witnesses, people who knew former officer potter well, who says this was not like her. that she was distraught after the shooting. that's some of the testimony that we're hearing right now. but again, the prosecution is saying that kim potter should not have even used her taser, she did not -- she ended up using her firearm. they're saying that even her attempt to use a taser was misguided and illegal. the defense is poking holes at that by bringing on officers and the former police chief of the brooklyn center police department. >> i hate to put you on the spot because you're outside but we've

been showing pictures of another female officer testifying. i wonder if you can tell us what she's saying, and do we have any idea when former officer potter might take the stand? >> reporter: yeah, that's colleen frickey, one of the officers who saw kim potter in the seconds or i should say hours after she killed wright. she talked about the emotional moments of seeing officer potter curled up in a ball in one of the witness rooms of the police station. she said she had tremendous respect for potter because of her service in the force and that she had a good reputation. there's been some objections over how much of that personal connection she can testify to. and then to the big question, you know, that's something we just don't know, when officer potter will take the stand. we did hear from her earlier today when the judge asked if she stands by her decision to testify in her own trial. she said she did. she said she didn't need more time to reconsider the decision, but it's not clear when the defense will call her as a witness in her own trial.

>> all right. all over this case for us. thank you. the main attraction, testimony from former justice department official jeffrey clark to be rescheduled after clark raised an unspecified medical issue. this has happened before. clark has been noted as one of the sole justice department lawyers who supported former president trump's claims of election fraud. the postponements underline a clear theme for the committee, lots of people they want to talk to, but limited success in getting some of these high-profile witnesses to actually sit for the panel. i want to bring in nbc news national political reporter, one of my colleagues on the hill team. so what can weed from these postponements today if anything, and more broadly, how problematic have the no-shows been for the committee as they're trying to move their investigation forward? >> three depositions scheduled today, as you point out, all three of them have been

postponed. now the committee insists the three individuals are engaging with them. they hope and expect them to fully cooperate. one was a trump aide who helped promote that rally on january 6th just before the attack on the capitol. one is a man who leads an extreme right group that is believed to be involved with the violence. and then the big fish here is jeffrey clark, the former justice department official who is believed to have encouraged then president trump to use the powers of the doj to get states to stop the certification of the 2020 election. and these postponements, they speak to the dilemma facing this committee at the time and the limited tools they have to enforce these subpoenas. their preferred method has been the use of criminal contempt. that comes with a fine, that comes with jail time. but it does not require these individuals to ultimately cooperate. they can pay the fine, they can do the time, they can refuse to provide the committee information which is of no use to them at the end of the day because the mandate is to obtain as many facts as possible and come up with a report, come up

with legislative recommendations right now. all told, a committee aide telling us they have spoken to more than 300 witnesses and gotten valuable information from many. they say other tools to enforce subpoenas are not off the table, but what do they have? they have the issue of a civil contempt. they can use a lawsuit there. that does compel cooperation, but that can take a long time, can take years. then there's the other possibility inherent contempt where they can call someone and house them in a jail cell here on capitol hill. there's no modern precedent for that. and they worry that that would open up a can of worms given the lack of standards for due process and that sort of thing. so it speaks to the box that this committee is in right now in terms of how to enforce the subpoenas. but they still insist that they're getting valuable information. garrett? >> thank you. a frustrating process, likely to slow down a bit as we get into the holidays. coming up next, what we're learning about how those remaining missionaries were freed from a haitian gang today more than two months after being kidnapped and held hostage. stay with us. ostage stay with us

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the remaining missionaries being held by gang members in haiti are now free. christian aid ministries and the haitian national police confirming this afternoon to nbc news that the remaining 12 hostages were found safe this morning. five of the missionaries had already been released before today's announcement. the gang responsible had demanded $17 million in ransom after reports emerged in october that the missionaries had been taken captive. it's unclear if any money was paid to the kidnappers to secure their release. joining us is nbc's morgan sheskey in dallas who's been following the story. what all do we know about how this all went down? >> reporter: yeah, great questions that we may never know the answers to. according to radio station the group were found in a remote area an hour north of the island nation's capital of port-au-prince. the locals call goat mountain.

they were found by locals there after apparently being dropped off by members of that gang. we have heard from christian ministries, the group that these 12 were affiliated with, in a statement that they released today expressing their joy for the fact that they were recovered and now able to come home. they say, "we glorified god for answered prayer." the remaining 12 hostages are free. join us in praising god that all 17 of our loved ones are safe. thank you for your fervent prayers throughout past two months. we hope to provide more information as we are able." we hope to find out a little bit more. haitian police also confirming that these remaining 12 hostages are now safe and sound as of right now. garrett? >> what are the odds that these gang members are ever held accountable for this, and are we essentially just waiting for the missionaries to make it back to the u.s. before we're able to find out real actionable information about what happened here? >> reporter: yeah, as of right now that appears to be the case. we know that -- we don't know,

rather, if any ransom was actually paid for these remaining 12 hostages. after you mentioned a price of $1 million per head was named by one of the gang leaders over the last several months. as far as potential repercussions against the gang, it remains to be seen at this time. we do know that there have been ongoing negotiations back and forth over the last several months. those five others had already been released prior to today's news. but as of now, it remains to be seen what if any repercussions would be coming against that gang. the u.s. and canada for that matter still urging any citizens in haiti to please leave if at all possible. ga garrett? >> appreciate the reporting. another outbreak of severe and frankly unusual weather. this time tearing through the great plains and the midwest with tornado warnings stretching across six states. in kansas, intense dust storms and reports of what's called mud rain, trailers rolling in colorado which saw winds reach nearly 100 miles per hour.

and for the first time ever recorded, minnesota had a report of a possible tornado in december. experts say the extremely warm winter is providing fuel for the severe weather, but it's actually not warm everywhere. temperatures overnight in arizona were as much as 20 degrees colder than in parts of michigan. as the national weather service put it, that's pretty remarkable for this time of year. up next, new action from the supreme court today on texas' near total abortion ban. what it means for the future of that law. that law johnson & johnson 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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you please send it now, and we want you to send it back to the trial court, back to the district judge in texas where this all started so we can pick it up where we left off. texas said, well, there's no rush, and you should send it to the fifth circuit court of appeals because we have some further business with that court. we want them to ask the texas supreme court about some aspect of the law and how it works. so today the supreme court said, okay, we're sending it immediately, but we're sending it to the appeals court. so this is going to drag it out even longer. it's another setback for the people trying to fight sb8 in texas. >> sounds like this is a whole separate set of circumstances that anything that would have any impact on the mississippi case, the other big abortion case, we're all watching, right? >> reporter: yeah. completely separate. that law has been on hold since almost the time it was passed. that's the one that would say you can't have an abortion after 15 weeks, a direct challenge to roe. the texas law case in the supreme court was really all about the structure of the law and the fact that it deputizes

enforcement to vigilantes or to people in other areas, not state officials. the structure of the law was what was -- was at issue in the texas case. the mississippi one is all about roe. >> pete williams, thank you for breaking it down for us, as always. and thank you all for watching this hour of hallie jackson reports. i'll be back in this chair tomorrow. "deadline white house" starts right after this quick break. ghk heartburn... claire could only imagine enjoying chocolate cake. now, she can have her cake and eat it too. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn?

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hi there, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. the be trayers of our democracy are outed in unprecedented detail. in a brand-new piece of indepth reporting in today anticipates "new york times." the band of aspiring traitors appears knitted together as co-conspirators in an enterprise whose sole purpose for existing was to overthrow the will of the american voters using exotic theories from third-rate figures pressing the fraudulent claim that there is rampant voting fraud and irregularities in key battleground states and frantically urging vice president mike pence to throw out the election results which was a ceremonial counting of the votes. the picture that emerged this week from the text messages, mark meadows turned over to the january 6 committee, comes into sharper focus this afternoon thanks to that deeply reported new account by the "times" of the small circle of republican lawmakers who collaborated with the whi