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hi, everybody. it is 10:00 a.m. eastern. 7:00 pacific. i'm yasmin vossoughian in for jose diaz-balart. we have a lot to get to. covid cases climbing after christmas. the u.s. averaging 200,000 new cases daily. dr. fauci issuing this warning this morning. >> the group that we're really concerned about, joe, unvaccinated people because even if this virus is inherently less severe just the volumes of the numbers of cases to have put a stress on the hospital system. >> at the same time airlines working hard to recover after

massive flight cancelations over the holiday weekend blamed on staff shortages due to omicron. and in a little more than an hour president biden will hold a virtual meeting with governors about the administration's latest efforts to combat covid. i have an incredible team here with everything you need to know. dr. peter hotez with the center for vaccine development is with us. ellison, let's start with you. new york city implementing testing sites. more testing sites i should say and an effort to get more people vaccinated with the surge of omicron variant everywhere throughout the city. how are things faring there with the fact awaiting hearing from the mayor this hour? >> reporter: yasmin, normally headed to a subway you are

probably traveling trying to go somewhere but today you can get tested for covid-19 part of a plan the state has where they are putting what they call pop-up testing sites in subways to alleviate some lines we have seen across the city in the last week or so and opening fivedy asianal sites and wept down into the subway in times square as the testing site got under way. this is the first time anywhere in the city we have seen testing inside of a subway. a man said he thought he contracted covid-19 about ten days ago. he said he was at home and trying to get testing appointments and was unable to find any across the city. he said this is the first time he'd seen somewhere or heard of

somewhere where the line wasn't hours long and decided to wait and get tested. the positivity rate in new york city is 14%. many new yorkers are going out to get tested. there's no prerequisite. whether or not it alleviates the long lines, time will tell, but speaking with a chief this morning they hope this is a step to make the lines shorter for new yorkers. yasmin? >> dr. hotez, 14% in new york city is high. i bet it's higher because of the long lines and waiting days if not weeks for test results, just isolating if they feel symptomatic. will we ever get a handle on the testing issue? >> the president says maybe middle of january we will have

more kits which is unfortunate because the wave is hitting us now. people are fed up and not willing to wait three hours. you probably say there's three or four more times as many who sick enough to be at home. that's the danger point. that's when, historically,

mortality starts to go up and not enough health care providers to take care of the sick. even though the overall severity is not as high, you've got the added problem of so many health care workers knocked out of the workforce and also two other issues, nobody understands how to get the monoclonal, the one that works and you have to get it early on. we're not giving regeneron fast enough to a lot of places. all that spells trouble in the coming weeks. >> i want to dig into some of what you laid out for us dr. hotez but first, gary standing by for us in new jersey with the highest cases ever in that state, gary. talk me through what you have been seeing so far there. >> reporter: good morning, guys. we're at a covid testing line site here in the mall and we see hundreds of cars coming through here throughout the morning and expecting hundreds more throughout the day.

we're talking to some folks out here getting tested. some say just as a precaution, just because they wanted to make sure they were safe, others because they're traveling and they need the negative pcr test to travel and others, the one family who said they all tested positive last week, couldn't find a lot of time to get a pcr appointment until this morning. there's frustration across the board when it comes to testing availability here in new jersey. and across the country. we're seeing that across the country as well. but some folks i talked to this morning had to say. >> i think there should be some more available because i have come here a couple of times, and every time, it's a long line. not that they're not doing good, but have more testing sites. >> it's hard to say because everything's pretty hit or miss. people want it or they don't. and they don't like being told what to do. i think the available options in places, there seems to be a lot just more available.

>> reporter: cases at hospitals are both rising across the state of new jersey. governor murphy has said he's not against the idea of a lockdown. he said all options are on the table but there's been no statewide mandates so far reinstated. so localities are really putting things into their own hands. some institute the vaccine mandates in restaurants and others instituting indoor mask mandates. governor murphy, for his part, will be on the call later today and doing that from vacation in costa rica. >> i want to go to kerry sanders who has been following the flight cancellations which has been massive. people wanting to travel for the holiday week. how are things looking today? >> reporter: it's actually a mess right now.

i mean, it's complete meltdown right now if you were trying to get from point a to point b. you have your ticket. flight aware tickets. 841 cancellations. 1,481 delays. we had, the day after christmas, 1500 domestic cancellations. we see the numbers grow throughout the morning here of flights that are being cancelled. this is all because those who o throughout the morning here. flights that are being canceled. this is all because those work with the airlines are testing positive for coronavirus. and when they test positive, they have to go into quarantine for ten days. so you have the ramp crews, the mechanics, the flight attendants, the pilots as they test positive. it's a scramble to get employees to backfill. so we're seeing a lot of

frustration among passengers standing in long lines. they've checked on the phone before day got to the airport. they checked online before day got to the airport. day got to the airport and found out delays of three, four, five hours with no real promise that the delay does not wind up then becoming a canceled flight. yasmin? dr. hotez, let's run through some rapid-fire questions. talking about the breakdown in the health care system, i have a covid nurse who just tweeted me, who essentially said, listen, even if i am covid positive, if i am not symptomatic or i don't have extreme symptoms and don't have a fever, i have to continue working. i imagine that is because of the staff shortages across the board. that is a astounding to me, because we are seeing incredible pressure on the health care system, in spite of the fact that we're seek anecdotal evidence of the fact that omicron is less severe than delta was.

>> yeah, it's not less severe enough, yasmin, because there are still too many unvaccinated people piling in the hospitals and icus. and we're seeing breakthrough illnesses, as well. i have two colleagues i spoke to over the weekend in the hospital even though they're fully vaccinated. that's going to continue to mount. and that pressure on the health care providers is on top of pressure on the health care providers, because we've already lost about 18% of the health care workforce according to some estimates over the last two years, because everyone is exhausted and demoralized. so everything was tight before this omicron wave, and you're starting to see people do extraordinary things, like coming to work even though they're positive and asymptomatic and i propose for those individuals to prevent that asymptomatic covid, israel is now entertaining that, but no

one here seems to have much appetite for doing that. so it's going to be really stressful to see how we maintain avoiding some partial health care system collapse in different parts of the country, and that's where i'm holding mybred right now. >> so here's a solution, go get vaccinated. the proprothat we are seeing is the is that the folks who are against getting vaccinated will not get vaccinated. more so now than ever. so what do we do? >> the president tried to do something through mandates. i recommended this was always a three-dose vaccine from the

beginning. that was a self-inflicted wound. but those who refuse to get vaccinated in the first place, we know where that's coming from. this is coming from political extremism on the far right. the kaiser family foundation has done a -- just came out with a study that says that 26% of republicans say they won't get vaccinated, where as only 2% of democrats. and you see the mortality and the cases clearly go along partisan lines and along the red states. so how we counter that aggression from the far right has always been a big challenge in the conservative news outlets. i don't see that getting fixed, so for now, it's all about trying to keep our health care workforce in play, and that's going to be really challenging. >> honestly, it seems like nothing works. even the former president saying twice this last week that he got vaccinated and encouraged folks to get the booster, and in fact, he was booed on stage when he said that. quickly, dr. hotez, as we talk

about returning to life post-holiday get-together, are you encouraging, do you advise people to get tested, even if they don't have any symptoms. >> of course, if you can get tested, but we've created such incredible hurdles to get testing. unless you make it easy and that was a problem since the beginning of this pandemic. the next big gathering will be around new year's. it's the same advice we've had over christmas, keep the gatherings small, modest in size. try to surround yourself with people who are vaccinated and as well ventilated, as possible. >> always shaking my head, wondering how did we get hereñr yet again. gary grumbach, thank you always. appreciate it, guys, and stay healthy, please.

much more on the pandemic this morning, as cases surge across the country. we're going to talk to a doctor on the front lines about the major strain that we just spoke about with dr. hotez on the health care system. but up next, why donald trump's current spokesman is suing the january 6th committee and nancy pelosi hints it has something to do with money. we'll be right back. do with money. we'll be right back. re eosinoph. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection-site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your doctor about nucala. find your nunormal with nucala. feeling sluggish or weighed down? it could be a sign that your digestive system isn't working at it's best taking metamucil everyday can help. metamucil psyllium fiber, gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down. it also helps lower cholesterol and slows sugar absorption to promote healthy blood sugar levels.

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capitol riot on january 6th. and this morning, the investigation into that day is showing no signs of slowing down. over the weekend, former president trump's current spokesman sued the committee leading the probe over access to trump financial records. that comes just days after trump asked the supreme court to block the committee from getting his white house documents. and the house asked the high court to expedite that request. nbc news's ali vitali is in washington, d.c. with us. also with us, former u.s. attorney, barbara mcquade. ali, let me start with you on this one. it's a holiday week. this committee, though, still pushing ahead. talk us through it. >> still pushing ahead, because as you and i often talk about, they are up against the clock. they need as much of this information as they can get, as early in this coming year as possible, because the closer you get to the midterms, the closer history comes to taking its place and republicans potentially retaking the house. and ending this committee's work altogether. what we are finding is that

because of a christmas eve filing from taylor budawich, donald trump's current salesperson, the committee is going after and demanding financial records from budawich. this shows that they are trying to get to the money trail. how these rallies on the ellipse and at the capitol, these stop the steal rallies that turned violent and tragic on that day, how they were funded, how vendors were paid. it shows a little bit more of the scope of what the committee is actually looking into. so looking at the money, but then also, as you mentioned, trying to get those records from the national avenue kyivs. what we learned from the text messages that mark meadows gave the committee several weeks ago was that as much as we know about january 6th, there's still so much we don't know, specifically about what was going on inside the white house and what the people closest to the president and the president himself were doing in those critical hours. that is clearly becoming a focus here, even after they go after these kind of banking records from people, and as we see more of these witnesses try to tie these things up in court.

>> barbara, let's talk about this shift in focus to banking/financial records. what do you make of it? >> well, i think there is, you know, the age-old adage about follow the money, and it is absolutely true. it is something that prosecutors look at, because when you find financial records, you can figure out who is behind a certain effort, you can find connections between people that you might not have known was there. and so looking for financial records is incredibly important. i think it could tell us whether the january 6th attack was an organized effort funded by some individual or group, as opposed to some, you know, organic event that occurred because people got too boisterous and out of hand. so i think focusing on the money is a very important part of the committee's work. >> i just mentioned, obviously, the former president trying to block those documents by -- at the supreme court. his lawyers are saying that the decision against him could

actually gut the ability of former presidents to claim executive privilege. but why would they, barbara, have executive privilege in an instance like this? why would that even be an issue when they are subsequently a former president? >> there is a case from the nixon era, not the one about the tapes, but another one where former president nixon wanted to block some records. and the court there said that a former president has some residual executive privilege. and the idea is to make sure that aides always feel comfortable giving their candid advice to a president, that they know that a future president isn't going to simply reveal those records to the world. there is some interest in that. but the person who makes the decision about whether the privilege should be asserted in a particular instance is, as you say, yasmin, the incumbent president. the current president gets to make that decision. because it is he who has been chosen by the people to be the

person to make that decision on behalf of all of us. and it's not about protecting any individual person who has been the president, but to protect the republic. what is in the best interest of our country. president biden has done that. and so i think for that reason, president trump's argument is going to be elusive. to me, the only real question is, whether the court decides this immediately and say we're going to let the appellate court decision stand, or they take it up and don't decide for many months. >> all right. ali vitali, barbara mcquade, thank you both. appreciate it. coming up, we'll talk to a doctor on the front lines of minnesota who says her hospital is bursting at the seams. we'll be right back. plp blpñrñiearn about covid-19,

the more questions we have. the biggest question now, what's next? what will covid bring in six months, a year?

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welcome back. as many americans get to return home after holiday travel, the latest uptick in cases is already putting a strain on hospitals. 80% of the state's hospitals are completely out of adult icu beds. it is coming as the more contagious omicron variant is now the most dominant strain in that state. joining me now is dr. andrea rollins fisher, an emergency physician at hen penn county

medical examiner in minneapolis. doctor, thanks for joining us. we appreciate it. how are you guys doing? what is happening in your icus right now? >> yeah. most days, we're completely full. we are so full that often times, we are having to hold patients that are supposed to go to the icu in the emergency department for hours, sometimes days, and those are things that we haven't been asked to do in the past. we're being asked to take patients from rural hospitals that don't have the capacity to take care of icu patients, but we don't -- we aren't able to accept them, because we just don't have places to put them. >> are you seeing as many parrots being intubated and/or needing oxygen as you were during the last major wave of covid? >> i would say yes, but we're also seeing lots of other

critical illnesses that need icu care. and unfortunately, when covid patients that stay in the icu or stay in the hospital for a long period of time take those beds, we don't have the capacity to take care of other things, that we would normally take care of. >> and who is actually coming into the icu when it comes to covid-positive patients. are we talking folks that are vaccinated and unvaccinated? what's the kind of breakdown from your estimation of what you've been seeing? >> i would say the vast majority of people coming into the icu are those that are unvaccinated. there are a very few percent of people that are being admitted to the icu that have been fully vaccinated, but usually, those people are high-risk people that have critical illness, anyways. and not healthy people that are fully vaccinated. >> for folks that are unvaccinated, are they expressing any regret in not getting vaccinated before getting sick? >> there has been some regrets,

some people stick to their police chiefs about not getting vaccinated, but i have been expressed by patients that they did wish they would have gotten vaccinated when they become severely ill, especially when they're struggling to breathe and they're scared. that's a tough place to be in. >> are you finding that this omicron variant is less severe than delta, from what you've been seeing in your emergency room? >> i think it's still early and it's really hard to say. i think overall, with omicron, the severity of illness probably isn't as great. but we're still really early on in it and it is so spreadable that the concern is, is that there will be lots and lots of infected people and inevitably, there will be some really sick people from omicron in that group.

>> doctor, how's your staff doing? how are you guys doing, psychologically, having to deal with yet another wave and the health care system just being pushed to the max? >> yeah, it's been really hard. and there have been people leaving medicine at a really high rate. we have people out sick with covid themselves. i think, in the last two years of work, it's been kind of a wild ride. it's been all over the place. and i think we've seen some of our slowest days in history really early on in covid, and we're seeing some of our busiest days in history. and i think it's a little bit ominous and scary when you're taking care of people in the emergency department and just wondering who is out in triage, waiting to be seen by you, who might be really severely ill, but there's just physically no place to put them to work them up and to take care of them.

>> doctor andrea rolland fisher, we thank you so much for your service, for your help throughout this entire thing and we wish you the best of luck to you and your family, of course, and your staff to stay healthy. thank you. >> thank you. coming up, everybody, two georgia election workers through one america news network, and rudy giuliani, for spreading lies about them in the wake of the 2020 election. we'll dig into this story with someone who has been covering it for months. that's coming up next.

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and swelling and narrowing of the brain's blood vessels. though unlikely, a risk of pml--a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection--cannot be ruled out. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, medications, or if you are or plan to become pregnant. if you can become pregnant, use birth control during treatment and for 3 months after you stop taking zeposia. don't let uc stop you from doing you. ask your doctor about once-daily zeposia. welcome back. developing in georgia, two election workers who were targeted by people who believe lies about the election are suing the right-wing one america news network, accusing them of amplifying those lies. the lawsuit also named former president trump's ex-lawyer, rudy giuliani. and it comes nearly a month after those same election workers sued the right-wing website gateway pundit for the

same thing. joining me now, greg bluestein, a political reporter for the atlanta journal constitution. greg, thanks for joining us. we appreciate it, on this holiday week, of all weeks. talk to me first about these election workers, and the intimidation, the harassment that they face? >> this is scary stuff. and it's a reminder of the real consequences of the big lie about election fraud. these two workers say that they lived with fear after one america news and rudy giuliani spread lids about the miscounted plats in georgia. lies that were disproven over and over again. one of the woman said she was encouraged by the fbi to leave her home on january 6th after a mob surrounded it. she was inundated by harassing e-mails and social media posts. and even some citizens trying to make a citizen's arrest. >> wow. that is terrifying. and unable when it comes to hearing about these laws being

filed. two, obviously, as i mentioned. one just before christmas. but then there's this suit, as i mentioned earlier, against gateway pun dait, which was solved about a month ago. what is the status of that? what are they hoping to achieve with that one? >> yeah, i mean, first amendment watchers are closely looking at both these lawsuits to see if judges let them move forward and if they can win claims because this goes beyond free speech to me, right? this is about outright election lies that threaten to undermine our democracy. and so these two legal claims are going to be closely, closely observed as they move forward. >> i mean, we look at what is happening in georgia, what happened in georgia after the 2020 election, it happened across the country as well in other areas, but particularly georgia, the harassment that the secretary of state faced, as well, what are election officials there doing. what are folks there doing when we look ahead to the midterms to protect poll workers from this

type of harassment. this type of intimidation. >> well, there's been stepped up training and the state and local governments are pouring in new resources, not just to train election workers, but also to train citizens about their rights coming up to vote. because there's a new election rewrite that has some new obstacles to voting, including photo i.d. for absentee ballots. limited use of blot drop boxes and other issues. and this isn't over in georgia yet, because some of the people who are propagated these election fraud lies are pushing new legislation that could go even further in georgia, including to ban the outright use of all ballot drop boxes next year. there's still legislation pending that will have a big impact on how georgian go to vote next year. >> let me ask you this. when you think about your reporting on this, and all the folks that you have spoken to, do you think it's just going to get worse, in the upcoming election? >> i think some of -- you've seen some of these views

calcify. they've taken such deep root in the minds of some georgians, especially among republicans who even if they don't embrace the big lie, they echo parts of it. they talk about election integrity. they talk about restoring confidence in the vote. and of course, this all goes back to donald trump's lies and his allies' lies about voter fraud and about absentee ballot in georgia. and so, you know, even today, my colleague, mark niecy, wrote a story saying, there weren't 5,000 dead people voting in georgia. so we have to continue to remind the public of this. but the fear is that it's not affecting those who continue to propagate these lies. >> yeah. and hence, one of the reasons why the january 6th committee continues to push forward. greg bluestein, thank you for your incredible reporting on this. we appreciate it. so it has been 341 days since president biden was sworn in, and a lot has happened since then. the president was hoping to pass his social spending plan before the new year, but now, of course, it's stuck in limbo.

and it comes after several ups and downs this year, from the covid pandemic to negotiations on capitol hill, and even challenges abroad, like ending the war in afghanistan. our own monica alba has a look back at the promises kept and unfulfilled during president biden's first year. >> reporter: every president's first year in office tests the power of promise. marked with campaign pledges kept and those still unfulfilled. >> we're going to keep up the fight until we get it done. >> before joe biden was even sworn in, he knew the coronavirus pandemic would largely define the beginning of his term. >> to heal, we must remember. >> reporter: honoring the hundreds of thousands of dead on the eve of his inauguration. >> this is democracy's day, the day of history and hope. >> reporter: the biden/harris administration launching a massive effort to get americans vaccinated. >> it's time to act. we can reduce suffering in this

country. >> reporter: leading to the president's first legislative victory in march. in the form of a $1.9 trillion covid relief bill. as 100 days in office marked more than 100 million covid vaccine shots administered. >> go get vaccinated, american. >> reporter: still, many refuse to roll up their sleeves. even as new variants brought spikes and surges. >> it has become a political issue, which is a sad, sad commentary. >> reporter: the biden administration's vaccine mandates for federal workers contractors, and private businesses challenged in court. >> it's not about just go and get the vaccine, it's about having the choice to get it. >> reporter: rules and enforcement across the country a tangled web, as u.s. covid deaths topped 800,000 and normal never quite returned. >> do not wait. go get your booster if it's time for you to do so. >> reporter: overseas, high

stakes challenges on the world stage, as the u.s. rejoined the paris agreement, the international treaty on climate change. >> the united states is determined, determined to reen gauge with europe. >> reporter: while also placing sanctions on russia, ahead of a criminal face-to-face summit with vladimir putin in switzerland. yet it was afghanistan that would move front and center, after the president announced his decision to withdraw all troops from the country by the 20th anniversary of september 11th. >> we'll do it responsibly, deliberately, and safely. >> reporter: underestimating how quickly the taliban can take control, resulting if a chaotic and deadly evacuation. >> i president of the united states and the buck stops with me. but i do not regret my decision to end america's war fighting in afghanistan. >> reporter: the president followed up on his pledge to combat global warming at a major u.n. summit in glasgowglasgow.

climate also a key part of the president's domestic agenda, revoking a permit for the keystone xl pipeline and halting new energy leasing in alaska's arctic national wildlife refuge. also keeping his word when appointing a diverse cabinet and repealing the ban on transgenders personnel in the armed forces. >> transgendered personnel is qualified in any other way can serve their government in the united states military. >> reporter: on capitol hill, after months of negotiations and democratic infighting, a scaled back $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill is signed into law. >> america's moving again, and your life is going to change for the better. >> reporter: while the second half of the president's economic agenda, a massive social spending and climate plan is now in limbo, with no clear path forward. along with other major priorities still stalled in

congress. >> free the vote! >> reporter: like voting rights. >> the people need -- >> reporter: police reform. [ chanting ] >> reporter: creating a pathway to citizenship. >> the promise of protection for immigrant families. nothing has changed. >> reporter: and making roe v. wade the law of the land. >> abortion still needs to be legal. >> reporter: with much still unfinished, the president will now take the country into a new year of change and challenges, ahead of the critical 2022 midterm elections. monica alba, nbc news, the white house. >> all right, monica alba is joining us now from the white house. also with us, reuters white house correspondent, jeff mason. monica, talk us through this. the president has had a lot to deal with over the last year. some of his agenda, he got passed. some of it he did not. what is the priority looking

ahead for the white house? >> reporter: and this is difficult for any president, yasmin, when you really zoom out and think about the list of priorities, and the campaign promises that they come in with, and then what they can actually accomplish. and on top of all of that and in particular for this administration, they knew that dealing with the covid-19 pandemic was, of course, going to be the overarching priority. and something that really touched every other aspect of what they hoped to accomplish in this first year. and we're really seeing that crystallize right now, with how much attention, of course, has to go to this latest omicron spike, and how much of the president's attention will be dedicated to that, while he's also trying to in parallel get some of his top agenda items accomplished on capitol hill. you saw there in that piece that he was able to do that covid relief bill infrastructure, but when it comes to the build back better act, which is the next priority, something that this white house thought they could have potentially accomplished by christmas and obviously that didn't happen, he will be spending a good amount of time on that in january and in

february, but it comes as he's juggling all of these other priorities, things that they had promised like police reform, like voting rights, and all of those things aren't going to be able to be done, at least in the short-term. that's just the reality with the legislative timeline and the runway on capitol hill. so it will be choosing what to pursue and what the president wants to use most of his political capitol on in the weeks to come. >> so, jeff, talk us through the confidence here when it comes to the white house. he's in popular times during the vaccine rollout. unpopular at other times being one of them. you have the failure so far of build back better to get passed. and on top of that, you have the spreading omicron variant. his approval rating is in the 40s at this point. the mid-40s. how confident is the white house, the president, as we're going into a midterm year? >> well, yasmin, i think monica did a great job of laying out the accomplishments and the challenges that he faces. one thing it made me think of, at the very beginning of

president biden's term, i spoke to a white house official who said, we will be judged on two key things. one will be how we handle the biden administration and the pandemic and the other will be on the economy. and both of those things remain really big challenges. and i think those will be his two priorities again in 2022. he's got, in addition to this latest omicron wave, just an ongoing pandemic is just continuing to be a huge problem for this country and for the rest of the world. and of course, you have inflation, hitting the economy and hitting people's pocketbooks in a way that this administration didn't seem to anticipate, at least in the early days of his term. is going back to your question, how confident are they? the people around him are very confident, but they're also realistic. they're realistic that 2022 is a midterm election year and that if his approval ratings don't come up, on the back of what they hope will be an improvement on inflation and an improvement on the pandemic, it's going to hurt him in november.

>> jeff mason, with probably the most festive background have we seen, and oh, do we appreciate it over the last two hours, looks beautiful. happy holidays to you, jeff, and to you, monica, as well. thank you both. coming up, everybody, ghislaine maxwell's fate now in the hands of 12 jurors and right now they just sent a question to the judge. we'll take you to the courthouse, coming up. thouse, c.

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welcome back. this hour jurors are back deliberating a fate of ghislaine maxwell, accused of alluring young girls of being abused. she has pled not guilty on all charges. kathy park is with us. we have a brand new request from the jury just in in the last couple minutes. >> good to see you again. yeah. so a note was passed to the judge around 10:24 this morning. the jury is requesting a couple of things. including office supplies. they include post its, a white paper board. they also asked the judge for a definition of enticement. and also interesting, they asked for the testimony of matt who is the ex-boyfriend of jane, one of the four accusers in this case.

and earlier during trial he corroborated jane's testimony. so a couple of things that the jury is asking for. it appears the judge will be granting those requests, and we are entering day 3 of deliberations right now. and i spoke with you earlier saying ahead of today they took this long holiday break. the concern in new york is as rising covid infections. so the judge, when they pause on wednesday, said look, when you go on this holiday break, be careful. be safe. essentially don't get sick. and starting today, everyone is masked. it looks like they're hunkering down for another day of deliberations. ghislaine maxwell over the weekend on christmas day, she celebrated her 60th birthday behind bars. if she is charged on six counts, she could essentially spend the

rest of her life in prison. we continue to be on verdict watch, but that's the latest update in front of the courthouse. >> for now, kathy park, thank you. new today, after a national outrage, a judge could reduce a controversial sentence of 110 years. that was the mandate a man received after he was found guilty for a truck crash that killed four people back in 2019. today colorado's d.a. will ask the judge for a reduced sentence of between 20 and 30 years saying that's the appropriate outcome. nearly 5 million people have signed a petition calling for a lower sentence. coming up, a spot of light in all of the darkness. a picture you need to see, next. l on our hotel with kayak. i was afraid we wouldn't go.. with our divorce and.... great divorce guys. yeah... search 100s of travel sites at once. kayak. search one and done.

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all right. we have to end this hour with a bright spot and a moment of unity and healing in the midst of devastation. a powerful scene in mayfield, kentucky. as members of the mayfield first preps teern church and the mayfield first christian church gathered in a lot between the churches for a joint christmas eve service. the churches were destroyed by the tornadoes that decimated the town earlier this month. there were folding chairs and the lights were powered by generators and the glow of cell phones. the pastor of one of the churches says the service was emotional with many attendees holding hands for its entirety.

both congregations have vowed to rebuild. that wraps up a busy two hours for me. joe fryer picks up the coverage right now. >> good monday morning. i'm joe fryer. we have a busy hour ahead with several critical updates on the fight against the coronavirus. the fast-spreading omicron variant driving up demand for covid tests days before new year's eve. president biden is set to meet with the covid-19 response team on their regular call with the nation's governors. we'll dig into the most pressing issues set to be discussed including updates on omicron severity. even the possibility of a fourth vaccine. another booster shot. dr. fauci shared these words of caution today on "morning joe." >> we're still getting increases in hospitalizations, so we'd better be careful we d