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 don't jump

the gun and think we're in good shape when we still need to be extremely careful. >> we're also on verdict watch in two high profile trials. first the fraud case of elizabeth holmes and second, the sex trafficking trial of ghislaine maxwell. also the defense team for the men charged with conspireing to kidnap gretchen whitmer are asking for indictment to be overthrown. just months before they're set to go on trial. the suspects facing the possibility of life in prison. we'll begin with the latest on the omicron variant. monica alba is standing by for the president. nbc's alison barber is live in times square. i'm also joined by dr. blackstock, founder and ceo of advancing health equity and an msnbc medical contributor.

monica, let's start with you. we'll see the president joining the covid-19 response team's regular call with the national governor's association. i understand you learned more about what we could learn during the meeting. >> this is a routine check-in they do with the nation's governors. but what's notable today is that president biden himself will also be joining to really offer assurances to all of them that help is here if they need it. that the u.s. government is prepared to offer any assistance as all of these different states battle the omicron surge and perhaps just as importantly, i'm told by a white house official, the president wanted to be on the call to listen, to really hear about what these different state executives are experiencing, and where they may need help when it comes to testing or when it comes to vaccine distribution, boosters, anything related to the response. the president wanted to be on this and personally hear this so he could offer this help. he has never joined this call. he has usually delegated it

again to his chief medical adviser and others. the vice president has joined in the past. it is notable he will be on but we don't expect to hear any new policy announcements or measures from the white house. this is more, again, about a check-in and offering. this is something that the white house now really is following with a good amount of concern but again, stressing people shouldn't be panicked and he wants to make sure governors have the tools to be able to do everything they can as we experience this surge and this spike right now during the holidays. >> doctor blackstock, i'm guessing you're going to be listening to. what are you hoping to come out of this meeting with the governors today? >> good morning, joe. thank you for having me. well, i'd like to hear some more federal guidance on mask policies. it's something that hasn't been mentioned in the administration strategy recently. how can we get free high quality masks out to americans? we know that the omicron variant is incredibly contagious.

cloth masks are less effective. how can we get the high quality masks out to americans? also rapid testing. i know that's part of the administration's strategy. but we need to get them out as soon as possible. people are still waiting in very long lines to get tests. they're waiting over five days to get test results back. so masking and testing are really the areas that i want to hear more about as well as federal guidance to the states on an air filtration and ventilation in businesses and schools and how we can make workplaces safer for workers. >> i have a feeling we're going to see a huge demand for testing this week in the wake of all the holiday gatherings. dr. blackstock, we'll have a few questions for you in a few moments. alison, a few days before the new year despite omicron sweeping the city, you're saying a pcr test could be a subway ride away in nyc.

what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: testing in new york city has been a mess in recent days. people have waited for sometimes hours out in the cold in long lines for blocks just to try and get a covid test. over the counter rapid at-home tests, those seem to fly off the shelves the minute they are restocked, and now the state is stepping in and the city to try and help alleviate some of those issues by opening pop-up testing sites inside of subways. two of them open today. one here at the subway stop in times square. another at grand central. and speaking with people who showed up early this morning to the site here at the times square subway, waiting to get tested. we talked to a couple of people who said they had been trying to get tested in other places in the city for days but had been unsuccessful. listen to more of what we've heard. >> it's been incredibly

frustrate, but it's what's going on. a year ago 16 people in my building died. this is better than that. but new york is just -- nobody knows what's going on. nobody can answer questions. nobody knows when the next test is going to come so i can get it. it's frustrating. >> reporter: in speaking with that man, he told us he started feeling sick about ten days ago. he thinks he contracted covid-19. in the last ten days he said he's been trying to get a covid appointment at places nearby where he lives in his neighborhood. that he'd been calling pharmacies to see if they had any over the counter kits. did not have any success for those efforts. so he'd been quarantining at home. now ten days after thinking he contracted covid-19, he has finally been able to get tested. >> a sign of how hard it is to get a test, especially right now in new york. thank you. dr. blackstock, i'm sure it's encouraging to see the demand for testing, but what do you

think when you see how much time and effort, i mean, days there? it still requires in many cases just to get one. how surprised are you? we're still in this boat when it comes to testing? >> joe, what i'll say is i am incredibly disappointed and also appalled we're at this point. we've had two years to amp up testing. and the testing infrastructure in this country, and the fact that people are still waiting in line at this point is unconscionable. i looked out my window this morning at urgent care, at least 50 people in line to get tested. it's encouraging people want to do the right thing. the public health messaging is out there that people need to get test first down they've been exposed or they need it for work. they're trying to be responsible. we need the system to support people in making the right decision. >> doctor, as if we don't have enough headaches, here's another

one. this morning airlines were forced to cancel thousands of flights once again. partly for weather on the west coast. especially, but also because of covid cases raging through the work force at airlines. i want to play what dr. fauci said on "morning joe," his thoughts on requiring vaccines for domestic travel. >> there's requirements that you might want to get if you want to get into college or you want to go to a university or you want to work in certain places. when you make vaccination a requirement, that's another incentive to get more people vaccinated. if you want to do that with domestic flights, i think that's something that seriously should be considered. >> is this something you think we should seriously consider, dr. blackstock, especially after seeing all the grounded flights after a busy holiday weekend? could something like that make a difference or is it too late as we're already in the heart of the travel holiday season? >> i agree with dr. fauci, there should be a travel vaccine mandate. we know that would probably invent vise people to get

vaccinated. i was surprised that president biden did not mention that in his strategy against omicron. but that should be something that is seriously considered by this administration, and i would love to see that enacted in the near-term, because we know that will be incredibly effective and helping to get more people vaccinated, creating safer work environments as well as safer environments when people travel. >> doctor, i want to read another quote from dr. fauci, get your thoughts on this. talking to another network over the weekend about the omicron variant. he said, quote, even though we're pleased by the evidence from multiple countries, it looks like there's a lesser degree of severity. we've got to be careful we don't get complacent about that. how worried are you people might be hearing omicron isn't as severe as other variants therefore, they don't need to be as vigilant about mask wearing or social distancing or maybe don't take it as seriously when they have cold-like symptoms?

how much does that worry you? >> right. i am concerned about that. if people hear mild, they think it's benign, they don't have to worry about it. but we've seen even in terms of air travel, we've seen plenty of flights cancelled because of air crews who are exposed or infected even with mild cases. we know that this impacts the work force. it impacts health care workers' ability to care for patients. it affects even the number of patients that may have to be hospitalized. even if something is mild, but incredibly contagious, that will lead to increases in hospitalizations and even deaths in people who are unvaccinated or the vaccinated vulnerable. so i think it's incredibly important that we still are cautious. we're seeing record number of cases daily. we know that hospitalizations and deaths are a lagging indicator. i encourage everyone to really try to use those strategies that we know work so well, and states enact the policies around

masking and testing that will help keep people safer. >> doctor blackstock, i want to ask about the work force. last week we saw the cdc reduce the isolation time for health care workers. now they're under pressure to do the same for more workers. a professor from harvard said it's shortsighted not to apply this more broadly. schools, colleges, sports, broadway, restaurants, airlines, all are facing the same problem with having to isolate people for extended periods without the option to test to return. doctor, what do you say? do you agree? >> well, you know what? i disagree. i actually think that what we're seeing are high transmission levels in the community. this is why people are getting infected. in the community and at work. so i think we should focus on policies that create safer environments. so we need to encourage mask wearing. we also need to make sure people have testing available. that people have paid sick

leave. so i think before we shorten the isolation periods and force people to get back to work as soon as possible, when they still may not be feeling well or they risk exposing other people, we need to focus on broader public health measures to keep everyone safe. >> i want to bring in nbc's sam brock who is in miami right now. we should note florida seeing an increase of more than 500% in cases over the last two weeks in miami right now. seeing staggering j staggering long lines to get covid tests. sam, tell us what's going on there. how is the city addressing the intense demand? >> i think there was a question, joe, if what we saw last week was just an anomaly or whether it's a bellwether. it's the latter. especially since it's more difficult to get testing in stores. people are coming out throughout miami dade for tests being

distributed for free. if you look over my shoulder right now, all these people are half going around one side of the building to get tested on site. the other are snaking around the side of the library to wait for the testing kits. at this point in time they distributed about 3,500. they've only been doing it a couple hours. even with replenishments, how many more testing kits do they have? there are so many who need them. i spoke to one couple, i asked what made you come out? is it worth the sacrifice? here's what they told me. >> you have to have a sense of community. correct? you can't just be all for yourself. you have to look out for other people as well. we know we're making sure our family members are safe when we interact with them. and it's able to give us a peace of mind to interact with them. rather than just willie nilly, i hope she doesn't get it. >> reporter: joe, it heartens you to hear this people are

doing this on behalf of people around them. a lot of people who have tested positive need to get tested again to find out if they can go back to work to earn a living. that's a problem across the country. we're hoping the biden administration will boost production by mid to late january. but dr. fauci said on the sunday talk shows this is a problem. it's going on right now. great if they get it fixed in mid january, but there's an acute issue at this moment in time. >> something about the image of that long line wrapping around a christmas tree that just seems to speak volumes about where we're at right now. thank you to all of you. as we mentioned, minutes from now president biden, the white house covid response team, and the nation's governors will all speak about the omicron surge. we'll bring you their remarks as soon as they start. plus verdict watch. jurors in the elizabeth holmes fraud trial are back to deliberating today after a holiday break. so what's in store for the one-time silicon valley super

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in a matter of minutes jurors will be back in deliberations in the case of elizabeth holmes. she's charged with nine counts of wire fraud. holmes pleaded not guilty to all counts. could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. gaudy schwartz is following the case. there's been about 22 hours of deliberations so far. what more can you tell us about this morning and what we should expect today? >> reporter: yeah, good morning, joe. the jury is expected to head back to the deliberation room in about ten minutes now. friday and the weekend off for the holiday break, and if they don't come up with a verdict today, there's a chance that they might not reach one this year.

that's because the judge's calendar shows him unavailable after today until january 4th th. now, the jury might be picking up this morning where they left off last week. we know they discussed the series of secretly recorded tapes of elizabeth holmes. they took notes. and in the tapes, holmes seemed to be confidently projecting these big returns and making these claims about her company's ability to test blood with the single trick instead of a whole tube and then ties with entities like the military which we know, which prosecutors insist were not true, and they're saying they were criminal. the defense made the case that elizabeth holmes didn't intend to defraud anyone because she believed her company was on the verge of a breakthrough. that's what this case all comes down to, joe. it comes down to intent. did elizabeth holmes on investors, companies, patients,

knowing the testing wasn't working as promoted and that promise was a sham? or was she an overhyping ceo that thought the company was actually going to deliver a breakthrough? either way, that is what the jury is going to be deciding. and just the instructions alone for those jurors are 39 pages long with those jurors so far seeming to be very attentive to detail. so no word on when we might see a verdict. >> all right. we'll see if we get one today. gaudy schwartz in california. this morning five men charged with kidnapping the michigan governor want a judge to throw out their indictment. the defense attorneys claim the federal prosecutors invented a conspiracy and entrapped their clients who could face life in prison. federal prosecutors allege the men were upset over the covid-19 restrictions.

five men pleaded not guilty and their trial is scheduled to start in march. joining me now is joyce vance, a former u.s. attorney and professor at the university of alabama school of law. she's also an nbc news legal analyst. joyce, good to have you with us. the defense team says they want the case dismissed because of egregious overreaching by federal agents. is this enough to have the indictment thrown out, and who has the burden of proof in such a claim here? >> it's extraordinarily unlikely that the charges will be thrown out in this case. because in order to make out a defensive entrapment, you have to show that you weren't predisposed to commit the crimes that you were caught up in. and so here the government has gone to extreme lengths in its indictment. this is a multi-count indictment. conspiracy to kidnap is one of the charges. but there are also weapons of mass destruction charges and others. and there are more than 10 over -- that means ten steps

that one or more of these alleged co-conspirators took to put their conspiracy into place. and these are very serious events. for instance, pacing the governor's residents. putting together and testing explosive devices. meeting and arranging for stepping that could avoid law enforcement like using a secure app that would automatically delete communications if law enforcement were to approach. so there seems to be very little opportunity for the defense lawyers to maneuver their way in this situation, and to establish and convince the court sufficient to establish those burdens of proof that there wasn't predisposition. the government always retains the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt in a criminal case. when defendants come forward with defenses like these, they have to show some level of proof, but that ultimate burden in order to convict remains with the government. >> joyce, you mentioned this is a multi-count case.

if the conspiracy charges were dropped, how would that impact the government's case moving forward? >> prosecutors like having a conspiracy count in the mix, because conspiracy counts give prosecutors the opportunity to bring in evidence regarding all the activity that was conducted in furtherance of that conspiracy including communications that might otherwise run afoul of the hear say rule and be out of court statements. but this is a complicated indictment. there is more than one conspiracy charge in it. there is substantive counts involving possession of weapons of mass destruction that aren't registered. the reason the government probably wants to keep the kidnapping count in is that it's the broadest one. it involves all five defendants. but if, for instance, in the extremely unlikely event that this were to be dismissed, the government would be able to go forward unless there was proof of entrapment with all the charges.

i think there's a zero chance of that happening. >> all right. joyce vance as always, appreciate your analysis and expertise here. thanks so much. in just a few minutes we expect to see president biden with the meeting on governors on how to fight back amissst the omicron surge. how the white house plans to help and how the biden administration may try to shift the focus to the economy. we'll discuss all of it next. sct through the colonial penn program. if you're age 50 to 85, and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three ps. what are the three ps? the three ps of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price. a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 54, what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i'm 65 and take medications.

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sends you awesome boxes every month and i love it. head to bespokepost.com and get a free gift with your first box when you enter code free. any minute at the white house we expect to hear from president biden from this room at the white house. as he joins his doctors, the covid response team's call with the nation's governors. we'll bring you the comments live as soon as they begin. the backdrop to the meeting is the omicron variant, driving a national surge in covid cases straining hospitals in some parts of the country, putting pressure on testing. despite that, the u.s. economy is doing slightly better than expected with holiday sales rising at their fastest pace in 17 years. to help us understand that, joining me now the peter baker, donna edwards, and douglas

holtzeek. good to have all of you with us knowing my moment we might have to interrupt to hear from the president and his meeting with his response team and the governors, but peter, let's start with you. before the president takes off for his delaware vacation home to close out this year, we'll hear from the nation's governors on what they need right now in this ongoing pandemic. the key concerns seem to be hospitalizations and the delays in covid testing. we've been talking about for days what are we hearing from the white house when it comes to these issues? >> well, of course, president biden had promised by the end of his first year that we would be in a different place than we are now. he hope wed would be in a different place than now. it's frustrating for him in closing out his first year, dealing with another surge in such a terrible way. i think what they promised, of course, is 50 0 million tests they're planning to distribute to americans to their homes. the problem is it won't happen

for another couple weeks. a lot of people need testing now. so they're behind the eight ball on that, and there had been some criticism they hadn't gotten ready earlier in the year. testing had fallen by the wayside while they were focussed on vaccines which are super important. so he's going to try to show today that he is on top of this. he recognizes this is causing a great deal of trouble, and in some cases, a great deal of heart ache in families where people are sick or in the hospital. you know, it's -- it's been, i think the single challenge of his presidency is to get his hands around this pandemic which is going on almost two years. the public is tired, exhausted and not listening to a lot of the advice from public health experts. i think his challenge is to get through his message to a public that just would yould assume move on. >> donna, i'm going to quickly ask you a question knowing we might hear from the president, but the early data indicates the

omicron seems to be less severe. over the weekend dr. fauci warned we shouldn't get complacent. many this n this country remain unvaccinated. saw flights cancelled. how much will covid fatigue affect the president? >> i think the president has the challenge of continuing to make sure people are following the rules, and that they -- we have all the tools that we need whether it's testing and vaccines and continuing to wear masks so that we can get a handle of this virus. i think to the president's credit, rolling out all the vaccines means there are so many more people who are not -- or are experiencing mild symptoms that they have breakthrough cases and still, this remains a pandemic of the unvaccinate who had are experiencing more hospitalizations and more severe illness. and so i think that the president just has to stay focussed on using all the tools

available through science and research and our social rules to make sure that everyone continues to do what we need to do to get control of this virus. and even now, just getting back to normal is complicated by the omicron virus, but at the same time, the economy continues to hum. so i think there are a lot of things moving in the president's favor. but we have to continue to do what we need to do in order to really continue to fight this vaccine -- this virus. >> we're looking in right now. a live picture of the covid-19 briefing set to start any time. we see the cdc director and dr. fauci there. waiting on the president. we'll be listening as they meet with the nation's governors. we expect to hear the president speak at some point during that. he also plans to listen as monica alba reported a short time ago. and we do see the president coming in to take a seat right

now. let's take a listen in as the president prepares to take part in this meeting. >> ready? >> we are ready. governors, can you hear me okay? welcome, mr. president. this is actually the 40th time we've convened this group of governors, and in addition we're in constant one on one contact with the governors and their teams. >> more times than i've seen you. >> their leadership on the ground, they are on the frontline, as you know, has been essential to the progress we've made so far. i'm going to turn to governor hutchson who has done an outstanding job leading this group and ensuring we're all working together every step of the way. over to you, governor hutchinson. >> thank you, jeff. i want to thank all of the white house team for being such great support of the governors and i want to thank, mr. president, your address to the nation last

week. thank you for your comments designed to depoliticize our covid response. i think that was helpful. as we face omicron, the governors and your administration must be working together more closely than ever. i particularly appreciate your comments about increasing the supply chain on rapid covid tests. this has become a real challenge for the governors. and your task force led by jeff has been responsive and has kept us informed every step of the way. a good example is this last week, i asked for more antibody treatments. we received them last week. still we have a limited supply, but responsiveness is very much appreciated. i would like to give you a glimpse of arkansas today, first hospitalizations are down by a half from where they were this time last year.

our omicron case count and the demand for testing has increased. in arkansas we have a test to stay school program. we want to expand that. right now we have sufficient tests to be able to do in a. but we also as governors are getting pressure to do more and the need is great to do more in terms of the rapid tests and the availability of it. one word of concern or encouragement for your team is that as the -- as you look toward federal solutions that will help alleviate the challenge, make sure that we do not let federal solutions stand in the way of state solutions, and the -- the production of 500 million rapid tests that will be distributed by the federal government is great. but obviously that dries up the supply chain for the solutions that we might offer as governor.

just that brief comment before i turn it over to you, mr. president, i want to say personally i've enjoyed working with you when i was in congress as head of the dea, and i appreciate your leadership and thank you so much for giving us the time today to hear from us, but also so we can hear from you personally about the challenge that we face. so mr. president, the microphone is yours. thank you, president biden. >> thank you very much. look, there is no federal solution. this gets solved at the state level. i'm look agent the governors on the board. it's talked about a lot. it ultimately gets down to where the rubber meets the road. that's where the patient is in need of help or preventing the need for help. look, governor, thank you for what you're doing. thank you for the national governor's association and vice chair murphy across the river. all is well in new jersey, i assume.

>> amen, mr. president. >> and here today, democrats and republicans, we've discussed the rising covid cases, especially coming out of the holidays, and as i said last week, omicron is a source of concern, but it should not be a source of panic. if you're fully vaccinated, you get your booster shot, and you're highly protected. if you're unvaccinated, you're at a high risk of getting severity ill from covid-19. being hospitalized and in rare cases even dying. this is not like march of 2020. the beginning of the pandemic. we're prepared and we know what it takes to save lives, protect people, and keep schools and businesses open. we just have to stay focussed and continue to work together. my message to the governors is simple. if you need something, say something. and we are going to have your back in any way we can. last week we took steps to

bolster support with more capacity to get shots in arms. with more places, more vaccinators, more times for folks to get vaccinated or get a booster shot. and we've added appointments for booster shots adding hours, getting more convenient to get a booster every day. the second thing is we're testing. seeing how tough it was for some folks to get a test this weekend, shows we have more work to do. we're doing it first. let's talk about how we got here. when i took office ten months in, we were ten months into the pandemic and even so, we had no over the counter home tests in the united states. none. and if you wanted to get one, get a test, you had to go to a clinic or drugstore to have someone give you a test. there were very few places. we got to work. we quadrupled the number of pharmaies offering free tests. and many locations you can book

an appointment online in advance to minimize your wait. we've worked with google so you can now search covid tests near me on google to find a location. and now i know the lines have gotten very long in some states. that's why i ordered fema to set up sites in places with high demand. we set up six new sites in new york city in five days and there are more coming. for over the counter at-home tests, as i said, there were none when we took office. none. now we have eight on the market. and just three days ago another test was cleared. we went from no over the counter tests in january to 46 million in october. 100 million in november and almost 200 until in december. but it's not enough. it's clearly not enough. if we'd known we would have gone harder quicker if we could have. steps, we have to take an increase in the authorized tests. we've able to purchase 500

million at home rapid tests to be sent to the american people for free. and we're going to continue to use defense production act to produce as many tests as possible. and starting in two weeks, private insurance will reimburse you for the cost of at-home tests. we're providing access to free tests for folks who don't have insurance. but we have to do more. we have to do better. and we will. the third county i'd like to make is more support for your hospitals. on hospitalizations, let me start with this. because we have so many vaccinated and boosted, we're not seeing hospitalization drives as sharply as in march of 2020 or even this past fall. america has made progress. things are better. but we know we still have tens of millions of unvaccinated people, and we're seeing hospitalizations rise. it means our hospitals in some places are going to get overrun.

in terms of equipment and staff, that's why we stockpiled and prepositioned millions of gowns, gloves, masks and ventilators. we're mobilizing an additional 1 million military doctors and nurses to help staff hospitals. fema is deploying hundreds of ambulances and ems crews to transport patients. we've already deployed emergency deresponse teams in colorado, new hampshire, vermont, and new mexico. we're ready to provide more hospital beds as well. the bottom line is we want to assure the american people we're prepared. we know what it takes, and as this group of bipartisan governors has shown, we're going to get through it by working together. i want to thank the governors for the partnership, and i mean that sincerely. with that, i'm going to turn it over to jeff, and i understand you have some questions. >> good. i think we're going to clear the

press first. >> y you've been listening to president biden, meeting with his covid response team as well as the nation's governors. we heard the president speaking for a few minutes this. before that the governor from arkansas, talking about some of the concerns the governors around the country have as omicron spikes. but also thanking the president for some of the support so far from the federal government. back with us from the white house is nbc's monica alba. monica, president biden talking about a huge concern which is how hard it is to get an at-home test. what's your headline from what we heard from the president, and also the chairman of the governors there? >> i did think it was notable there, that the governor said when they had an issue in his state in particular, when it

came to antibodies, they asked the federal government for help, that request was approved and did come through. he said thank you for that. something we're seeing that we're struggling with is this issue of having access to testing. not just for americans who want at-home rapid tests that are hard to come by, but also for routine testing. so that is something where you saw a clear example of a state executive saying here is something that we asked for that we got. here's something where we're seeing trouble spots that is clearly a trend and pattern, not just in arkansas but across the nation. that's exactly what the president then acknowledged in his remarks saying we are going to be doing more when it comes to producing and distributing those tests. he has approved the purchase of half a billion of them. there are now eight different kinds on the market. so some of them are going to be available for americans too starting in a couple of weeks, being able to go to a government website, order a number of them.

unclear how many per household, and wait to get them in the mail. there are a lot of questions about how that program is going to work in terms of how long it will take. is it a one-time offering? clearly people need more than just one test based on the medical advice that we're hearing from the experts who were in this very meeting. so notable that the president is saying he's going to continue working on all of this. but he laid out in his omicron speech last -- in the last few weeks, again, talking about how the federal government he says is totally prepared to handle all of this, even though we know there's going to be more pressure put on the system after the holidays. >> all right. monica, we know you'll keep an eye on the briefing. i want to bring back peter baker, former democratic congresswoman donna edwards and douglas, president of the american action forum. doug, we were talking about covid fatigue with donna. the market and the employment picture have been on a pandemic roller coaster to say the least. hard to predict at times.

holiday sales were up more than 8 % despite the supply chain issues. the u.s. economy is mostly proving to be resilient. what economic indicators are you going to be watching over the next few months? >> the economy is in pretty remacable shape at the moment. the fourth quarter growth is going to be in the mid 7%. that's extraordinary. it might get knocked down a bit by the arrival of the omicron variant but that's strong growth. one risk is inflation. that's much discussed. the american rescue plan was too much at the wrong time in the cycle. and generated a lot of inflation. and dealing with that is an issue. the second is the future of the public health effort. and i think the -- what we saw last year was exactly this same pattern. a surge of cases. it led to some downturn in the economy. negative unemployment report. we've been watching that carefully. and then also just consumer confidence and the impact of the inflation. those are things that we've got to track in january and

february, but on the whole, i think the economy is in remarkably good shape at this point. >> looking beyond covid right now, the president's signature spending bill, build back better, it remains in limbo to say the least. democratic senator ben cardin says could be revived in 2022 despite objections from joe manchin. what do you think is next for build back better? >> well, i mean, build back better they don't want to give up on it. they put so much of his agenda into that single bill from originally it was free community college, pre-k, climate change, immigration. also basically in a single shot. that obviously overloaded the system. the 50/50 senate and a democrats weren't able to get there. they could presumably put together a more targeted, limited approach to this that might get joe manchin's support and get through both houses, but we saw how complicated it is to juggle the demands of both wings

of the party. the moderates and the progressive both have strong views here. it took us to this year to get past that stalemate. it doesn't seem to get easier in the new year as we head closer toward the midterm election. >> donna, if you had to guess which might be risky when it comes to washington, i know it's an unfair question, but what do you think democrats do drop from build back better to get manchin and the progressives on board? >> i think it's unclear at this point. there are a number of provisions that could be taken separately. and things like the child tax credit where there is sort of more broad support for that, universal pre-k where there's broad support for those. even the climate provisions in the house, there was an -- agreement between the moderates and progressives on those climate action provisions. so i think it's still possible, but there's a lot of distrust in the house, particularly among

progressives right now. i think that trust is going to have to be build up again. it's going to require the president's leadership more directly to make sure to bring it across the finish line. and that's to his advantage. it's his program. so i'm looking forward to cooler heads prevailing after the holidays to get down to some negotiation and get this across the finish line, and if democrats do that, then they have an opportunity to run on it. and in november, but if it goes bust, i think it's going to be a very challenging electoral environment for democrats. >> yeah. this will be happening in an election year which everyone is keenly aware of. all right. peter baker, donna edwards, doug, thank you all. we appreciate your expertise and analysis. right now deliberations are underway in the ghislaine maxwell trial. in the last hour jurors sent a note asking for some

information. the testimony they want to review. ew acks i've had. but my nunormal with nucala? fewer asthma attacks. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. 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.

gislaine maxwell spent the holidays behind bars. joining me with more is kathy park. i understand we have a new with from the jury this morning. what can you tell us? >> reporter: hey there, joe. good morning to you. there were two requests that were handed down within the past hour or so, just before 10:30 this morning the jury asked for office supplies, including post-its, a white board and also asked for the definition of the word enticement and in addition to all that, they requested the testimony of a gentleman by the name of mad.

he is the ex-boyfriend of one of the accusers, jane, who said elaine recruited, enticed and groomed these underage girls and even participated sometimes for the sex acts with jeffrey epstein. this was a long holiday break that the jury took. they came back under the backdrop of covid infections rising here in new york city and the judge before they took this pause told the jury to stay safe, stay healthy. so today as far as we know, everyone is safe and of course wearing those masks, as they continue deliberations today. but we continue to be on verdict watch. if we can glean anything from these latest developments in the past hour, they are taking this case very seriously and they're combing through a lot of evidence right now, joe. >> kathy park in new york.

thanks so much. much more ahead as the nation and the world battle the omicron surge, the president meeting now with his covid response team and the nation's governors. we'll have next more in our next meeting and whether quarantine ruse should change. that's coming up here after a short break. break. those who trit more energy in just two weeks! (sighs wearily) here i'll take that! (excited yell) woo-hoo! ensure max protein. with thirty grams of protein, one gram of sugar, and nutrients to support immune health.

good day. i'm joe fryar in for andrea mitchell. we see skyrocketing covid cases nationwide after the holiday weekend. president biden is urging people to go out and get boosters and shares this message of reassurance to the nation's governors. >> my message is simple, if you need something, say something. we're going to have your back any way we can. >> covid test shortages potentially shortening that ten-day isolation period. another booster live at the white house with the latest.