al qaeda. >> it'll be interesting to see what they come up with in 2022. our thanks to the recount for that collection. that is our broadcast for this wednesday night with our thanks for being with us. on behalf of all of my colleagues >> rachel has the night off but we have a lot to get to tonight, today the white house announcing that president biden will speak to washington president vladimir putin tomorrow. that call was reportedly requested by vladimir putin as russia continues to mass troops along the ukraine border. the white house has repeatedly warned russia over the last few weeks that a russian invasion of ukraine would have severe diplomatic and economic consequences. one administration official told today that this call comes in a midst of a mode of crisis between the two nations.

going to have a lot more on that coming up later in the show. we start tonight with a moment of crisis of our own right here at home. take a look at this map. this is the map tracking community transmission of covid across all 50 states. blue and yellow there on the screen. means low to moderate. orange means substantial, red means high. as you can see in this picture. every single state is red. community transmission of covid is at the highest recorded level in every state in the country as of this night. the u.s. yesterday just reported its highest ever single day record for new covid infections. new cases drawing less of a curve, more of a straight vertical line. new cases in the last two weeks are up by 100 and 26%. the world health organization said today that they are anticipating a quote, tsunami of new cases worldwide over the next few weeks. but so far, thankfully, we have

not seen a tsunami of new hospitalizations and deaths along with the spread of omicron. the hospitalization rate is in fact up over the last two weeks, but only by 11%. much below the rate of new infections. daily deaths remain essentially flat. now today the head of the cdc stressed that that might be a good sign. that the omicron variant is potentially more mild than previous iterations of the virus. even so, such an astronomical caseload, regardless of how sick people get, means a serious disruption to everyday life. we are already seeing that across the country. take for example new york city today, the subway which runs 24 hours a day, officials here had to suspend an entire subway line. so many train operators were out because of covid, that they're simply were not enough people to drive the trains around the city. in cincinnati there are so many firefighters out because of covid, that the city there has

declared a state of emergency today. to try to help alleviate the shortage. airlines canceling more than 900 flights again today because of covid staffing problems, as well as the weather. in d.c. today, the smithsonian was forced to close for different museums in the washington post is reporting that that is a large reason why the cdc shortened the isolation period with asymptomatic covid. for fear that so many people are about to pests positive that wants, that it could be impossible, literally impossible, to keep society functioning. today at the white house covid briefing, the nation's top infectious disease expert, anthony fauci, was asked about what our priority should be as a nation. and whether it should be trying to tamp down the number of infections, to try and stop the disease from spreading, or if we have entered a new phase of this pandemic, where we as a society learn to live with the virus, with as little illness and death and social disruption

as possible. at what point, do we cross that threshold. are we there already? joining us now is doctor anthony fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor, director of the national institute of virology and infectious diseases at the nih. doctor fauci, i know you are one of the busiest scientists in the country right now. it is an honor to have you. to help us understand. i know a lot of people have a lot of questions. there has been plenty of criticism on the new cdc guidance from some public health experts. specifically because of the lack of testing requirements to come out of it. putting that aside there for a moment, there is also been a lot of criticism from members of the general public. i'm sure you are aware of that. people have been following federal public guidelines closely for the past two years. in order to stay safe and healthy. people who specifically have come to trust you, most of all. some of them are responding to this guidance on isolation with

confusion, certainly some nervousness, and some new distrust. what would you say to them this evening sir? >> i would try to explain what we are trying to do most of the day, of why the cdc made that decision. it is very clear right now, that when you look at the original guidelines for people who get infected, you put them into isolation for 14 days. many people with this new omicron variant get asymptomatic infections. and as you just showed, multiple examples of the rather severe disruption of society from people who are out of work because in fact, they are infected. so they are trying to strike a balance. how do we do good public health principles. at the time, we don't have to

get to the point where you are forced to essentially shut the country down. and the decision was made, that for people who are asymptomatic, that they should go into isolation for a five-day period, and if they remain asymptomatic, they can then go back to their function. provided that they consistently wear a mask. and when they said part of that was the thing that i think has caused the most controversy, is that the cdc said, that at that time, you don't need to do an antigen test. people questioned why. the reason is that if you look at the risk of transmitting infection from a person who is infected during the first five days of that period, versus the second five days, most of the risk is segregated in those first five days. and so the risk is very, very low. of transmitting as you get in

today's six, seven, eight, nine and ten. and the tests that are used. the antigen tests. don't really have a good predictive value as to whether or not you are transmitting. they have a good value early on. to say if you are infected. but saying five, six, seven days later, whether it's positive or negative. is not good. because we don't know any studies at all. an original fda approval of the test. was not for the purpose of determining whether multiple days following infection that you are able to transmit. for that reason, the cdc said, it was not necessary to have a test. because the risk is low. so that is the explanation for that policy. >> allow me just to button this up for a moment. last thursday the cdc released new guidelines for health care workers who get covid. they have to isolate for seven days. and then they have a negative

rapid test before they can leave isolation. i think that begs the question, why? why seven days for health care workers and five for the rest of us? why do they test out of isolation, while the rest of us do not. you touched on that specifically. is this based on specific scientific data. is this data published, or is it internal to the cdc? >> it's internal to the cdc. there is no specific data, one for the other. they made a judgment call on that. likely if you look at the guidelines. that it could go back to five days for the health care workers to if they really need that. >> if you have been exposed to the coronavirus and need to quarantine, there is a different guidance for people who are vaccinated and boosted, then for the unvaccinated. but if you are infected and need to isolate, the recommendations do not change depending on whether you are vaccinated or not. can you explain that for us?

>> yes. if you are infected, you are infected. whether or not you are vaccinated or not vaccinated, you are infected. when you talk about exposure and quarantine, if you are a person who is vaccinated, but not boosted. versus a person who is not vaccinated because of the greater degree of protection that you would have gotten from being boosted, they are treating people who are vaccinated, but not boosted, as the same risk as those who are not vaccinated at all. and that is because right now with omicron, there is a great deal of difference in the level of protection that you get from being boosted following vaccination versus following vaccination alone. >> i want to ask about being contagious and transmissibility for a moment. you explain that the reason that we do not need to test

requirement after a -- is because the science says that the odds of being contagious after those five days are low. dr. walensky has given a few additional reasons. she said a couple times today that a pcr test could give someone who had a covid positive result for up to 12 weeks. is a pcr test not a good barometer either for transmissibility and isolation length? how can people actually tell if they are contagious in the cycle of having covid? how do you measure that, if not either with a pcr test or antigen test? >> that is a very good question. a pcr doesn't measure replication competent virus. it measures viral particles. nucleic acid. in other words, i could be infected, have cleared the replication competent virus from me. but i can continue to be positive with a pcr for several

days after recovery. and not being transmissible at all. so although a pcr is good to tell you, am i infected? yes i am infected. as the cdc director said, for several days and even weeks later, it doesn't give you any indication of whether you are transmissible. and i think that is the understandable confusion that people have about testing. testing say whether you are infected or not, versus are you infected plus transmissible? the only way you can tell if it's transmissible, is you can show if there's replication of the virus in and tests don't measure that. they measure the presence or absence or not of the virus. and the virus can be dead, inactive virus, that doesn't transmit. so it is entirely understandable why people can get confused over that.

that is the reason why i am here trying to explain it to people, to hopefully clarify that. >> i certainly appreciate that. i'm sure a lot of people do as well. personally, i know this is anecdotal doctor, but my whole family recently caught covid. we were all positive for covid on antigen tests. i'm the only one who took a pcr test. i am the only one i would assume included in the national case count right now. are we as a country too focused on cases, when in reality use of rapid tests means that we are probably not having an accurate set of cases. and we should be focused on hospitalization rates and death rates? >> that's a very good point. we are really moving in that direction. it becomes very more relevant when you are dealing with and you mentioned early on, one of the positive encouraging things, is that it appears that omicron, from data both in south africa,

the uk, and accumulating data here in the united states, indicates that it very well might not be as severe. many people, from studies that are going on right now, who get omicron, have either no symptoms, or minimally symptomatic. you get down to the core issue of what are we trying to do? what are we trying to prevent? we are trying to prevent people from getting sick. if you have a virus that can give you a lot of infections. almost like a wave of infection. like we are seeing right now with omicron. what becomes more important, is the number of people in the percentage of people who are sick enough for example to require hospitalization. your point about might it be more important as we now merge into possibly a less severe virus, which it looks like it is right now, that the critical parameter is how sick people get. do they have to go to the

hospital? what is the deaths? as opposed to, what is the absolute number of positive tests and infected people that you have. very often, you cannot just forget about the number of people who are infected, because that is the four warner of what might happen with hospitalization. but as you get further on, and you see less severity, clearly hospitalization is the important thing. >> i want to ask a specific question about hospitalization. one of the recent concerns, i'm sure you're getting asked a lot about this, how do you explain the sudden increase and hospitalization among children? if omicron is less severe in 15 to 20% less likely to send somebody to the hospital, why are we seeing this sudden increase in children at hospitals with covid? >> that's a good question. there are two things that contribute to that. first of all, quantitatively, you have so many more people,

including children, who are getting infected. and even though hospitalization among children is much much lower on a percentage basis. then hospitalization for adults particularly elderly individuals however. when you have such a large volume of infections among children, even with a low level rate of infection, you are still going to see much more children who get hospitalized. but the other important thing, is that if you look at the children who are hospitalized, many of them are hospitalized with covid. as opposed to because of covid. what we mean by that, if a child goes into the hospital, they automatically get tested for covid. and they get counted as a covid hospitalized individual. when in fact, they may go in for a broken leg. or appendicitis. something like that. so it is over counting the

number of children who are quote, hospitalized with covid. as opposed to because of covid. covid as opposed to because of covid let me ask you if i can ask about something president biden said on monday. and that was, there is no federal solution to this. this gets solved at a state level. i am curious from your advantage point, do you agree with the president's assessment that this is going to be solved on a state level? because you obviously worked for a federal agency and you have to approach this on a -- level. as opposed to state by state. >> yes. what's the president but said, and i think some people took it out of context, he said that we need to see energize with the states. the federal government alone will not solve the problem. working with the states, the way we are doing right now and what the president expressed during the meeting that we all

had with the governors a couple of days ago, that is what he meant. that we as a federal government are not going to do it alone. we need to do it together. that is exactly what he meant by saying it is not a federal solution. >> let me finally just ask you, because we are seeing all this new guidance as cases are exploding. we appreciate you explaining some of the reasons behind it this evening. but mostly, this variant is less severe than previous variants. the guidance is based on research after two years of the pandemic. that is according to doctor lewinsky. what is all of this? what does all of it indicate about where we are in this pandemic? have we lost control of this virus because of peoples behavior after two years and because of the evolution of the virus? do we need to act as though this virus is endemic and not pandemic? >> amen, you've asked several

questions. so let me briefly try to give an answer to each of them. we haven't lost control. this is a formidable upgrade. it is an president from the likes of which we have not seen in well over 100 years. we have very good tools against it. we are fortunate enough to have a highly effective and safe number of vaccines. one of the things that is very disconcerting about all of this is the number of people measured in tens of millions of people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who are not getting vaccinated. that makes it very difficult to get a very comprehensive control of this virus when you have so many people who could be protected. however, who choose forever variety of reasons not to be. so the first step towards really getting better control,

is getting people to realize that not only for their own protection and the protection of their families but also for a communal responsibility to try and get us as a nation out of this terrible pandemic that we are in. and the only way we are going to do that is to all pull together and recognize that the common enemy is the virus. and there is so much degree of decisiveness, that is the last thing in the world that we want to have when you are trying to fight a pandemic that is of historic proportions as this one is. so if we start there we would be must better off than we are right now. >> it is a pandemic that is not discriminating against red and blue states in this country. doctor anthony fauci, the top with chief medical adviser to joe biden. thank you so much for your time

tonight. it is always a pleasure. thank you. >> thank you. >> we have a lot more ahead tonight, including that phone call that happened between the president and vladimir putin. what does he want? and how should the u.s. respond? stay with us. respond? stay with us aleve-x. it's fast, powerful long-lasting relief with a revolutionary, rollerball design. because with the right pain reliever... life opens up. aleve it... and see what's possible. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪

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to show you that is taken in the past week in eastern ukraine in the russian border. it shows ukrainian troops practicing how to use anti tank missiles. missiles that they got from us in the united states. i want to show you this video. this is another one. this is taken around the same time right across the ukrainian border, on the russian side, doing their own military drills. both of these videos are released by their countries respective military. they are putting up their chest and showing that they are getting ready or it least preparing for war. u.s. intelligence officials say that they're anywhere between

70 to 100,000 troops currently deployed at the ukrainian border. the ukrainian government, for its part, feels outmatched in this possible fight because they have begun training thousands of ukrainian civilians in combat in emergency medical skills in case their military is overrun. an official from the biden administration told the washington post last week that the u.s. is actually weighing plans in how to support that exact type of force if in fact russia topples the ukrainian government. and for some reason, a guerrilla war begins inside of ukraine. defense secretary has ordered a u.s. navy aircraft and five warships around the mediterranean the -- to operate out of. meanwhile you have the state department making its rounds contacting all their allies in the region to try and reaffirm national support for ukraine sovereignty.

and the consequences should russia face if it does in fact invade ukraine. today secretary of state, anthony blinken, speaking with the -- to reassure him of that same commitment. we learned today that tomorrow president biden will speak by phone with russian president vladimir putin. for what the u.s. will be in an attempt to get russia to de-escalate the situation. a senior biden administration official told reporters today that the call came at president putin's requests. president biden will make clear that in part, quote, we are prepared for diplomacy and for a diplomatic path forward. but we are also prepared to respond if russia advances with a further invasion of ukraine. threatening overtly that the u.s. and allies are prepared to a post severe on the russian economy and financial system far beyond what is implemented the last time russia invaded

ukraine in 2014. and if the u.s. is prepared to help the ukraine defend its territory if in fact russia invades. now russia has a bit of a blueprint for this. of course, you may recall that they invaded a part of ukraine back in 2014. they are clearly still incredibly aggressive in all of this. so if russia wasn't sufficiently punished or deterred by the international response in 2014 will, can we do differently this time around? what can the u.s. do? joining us now is ben rhodes, was deputy for president obama. as i mentioned there. russia has a little bit of a blueprint for this back in 2014 to some extent we do to, but what word from our response then and what should we approach differently that didn't work back in 2014 since

crimea hasn't been overturned? >> first of all, i think an important difference now today is that crimea happened very quickly. the president led to russia after protests against his rule and quickly in response vladimir putin moved it to claim russia. so we were responding to an event that didn't happen. i think what the biden's group is doing differently is that there is a clear image that is buildup on the border of ukraine. they're trying to get ahead of it. they're trying to signal their consequences in advance in this window of time that exist before potential invasion. i think when you look at what ultimately halted in russia's advance in 2014 after they moved into a couple of eastern provinces in ukraine was a combination of truly multi lateral sanctions on russia. not just u.s. acting alone but the u.s. aligned in other countries which increases both the diplomatic and economic cost in russia.

but also, for putin, this is not something who would admit defeat. there was a diplomatic process to stand out to address some of the russians concerns and american concerns. so it's going to have to be a combination of those two things, amen. to have a chance in holding this -- >> and as i mentioned, there was a senior administration official that brief the press today. president biden is expected to say that we are expected to respond with harsher economics -- in practical terms what would that actually entail? you have to think that in president putin's mind there is a calculation that he knows that america will not come to war against russia to defend ukraine. everything else that they can

withstand is. >> you just put your finger on the basic problem here. they can put more sanctions on russia. they can try to do things to totally cut russia off, like semiconductors, the inputs that you need for smartphones or aircrafts. that requires a lot of multilateral -- that is part of what these consultations in europe and other countries around the world are about. making sure that you can lineup credible pressures on the sanction front. the problem, amen, is that that may not be enough. why vladimir putin has been on a 20-year trajectory of becoming more aggressive. he's been on a trajectory of invading a part of georgia. he didn't want to nato, as you said, he invaded a piece of ukraine in 2014. and so the problem here is that it's court to putin's project to push back against the west to prevent the democracy ukraine. and he just may care about this

more than we ever would when it comes to putting troops on the ground and so the thing that the biden administration said to be clear from about is not raging the point that putting come back down without having to feel like yes to do something military in ukraine. and that is why this is so delicate and dangerous. >> i guess and finally on that point, we will see what happens tomorrow when additional calls happen. i guess we will have to wait and see how that calls play out. where things go from here. ben rhodes, deputy of national security adviser for barack obama. thank you so much for joining us, really appreciate it. still to come tonight, the january 6th investigation is planning to present its findings to the public in the new year. going to be joined by a member of the january six committee, coming up next. coming up next because with the right pain reliever... life opens up. aleve it... and see what's possible.

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today. this is the forthcoming january e-commerce magazine. it's hardly a lefty rag.

hard to think of a more moderate, institutionalist publication in this country. their new cover pulls no punches. look at it. walking away. the republican party and democracy. it's really hard to argue with the premise of that. a new poll out this week finds that over 70% of republicans believe the big lie. that joe biden's victory was illegitimate and that the election was stolen from donald trump. it would be one thing if this poll was some outlier. but over the past year, polls have consistently shown that a majority of republicans in this country do not believe joe biden is the legitimate president of the united states. let that sink in for a moment. in fact, a percentage of republicans who believe that, has actually been rising over the past year. latest poll from the university of massachusetts, amherst, has -- towards the january 6th attack on the capital. republicans weighing the events on antifa, the capitol police,

and weirdly here, nearly a third of republicans blame the democratic party for what happened on january 6th. meanwhile, over half of republicans opposed law enforcement efforts to investigate, prosecute, the perpetrators of the capitol attack. three quarter say that we should just quote, move on from investigating the events. one researcher who conducted the poll said, as we close a year that featured a shocking attack on the u.s. capitol, a persistent baseless claims by the former president, and his sikh offense, during the presidential election was stolen. we continue to see republicans and democrats, living a diametrically opposed reality. here is the challenge. trying to bring all americans into one shared reality about january 6th. that is a tall order. that is the one goal of the congressional committee investigating the january 6th attack. the committee is reportedly going to make its case to the public early in the new year.

the washington post reporting this week, the committee is planning a dramatic presentation of the behind the scenes maneuvering by trump, his allies and anyone involved in the attack. to overturn the election results. senior from the committee tells we want to deliver from start to finish over a couple of weeks, where we can bring out the best witnesses in a way that makes the most sense. discussing a rough timeline that includes hearings, stretching through the winter into the spring. followed by an interim report in the summer. and a final report ahead of november's elections. those midterm elections. hanging over these plans, is of course the question of whether the committees work will result in criminal referrals to the justice department for anyone involved in january 6th. up to, and including donald trump himself. joining us now is representative from democratic of california, and member of

the january 6th. thank you so much for joining us. i want to talk about the weeks that your committee is planning for next year. is it true that is the plan? what can you tell us about it? can you give us any sense about what these hearings, these public hearings, will be about? who some of the witnesses might be? >> not at this point. but we want to do, is gather a comprehensive set of all the facts we can find. that tell the complete story. about the events leading up to the january 6th event. and how that in a way is credible, true, and understandable. that involves a series of hearings with witnesses to tell the story of what happened. and i think it is very important to our investigation, write a book and put it on the shelf. we would not have accomplished our goal of having the american

public have the opportunity to really tune in to what happened. fully understand. so that we can make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. >> allow me to expand on that for a moment. what do you see as the committee's top priorities once you reconvene in the new year? is it the investigation? as you said, it's not about writing in a book and putting it on the self. it's also getting the messaging of what you find out back to the american public. which includes unfortunately, 70% of republicans. we ran through the numbers there for you. >> right. i do think that we have to have the truth. and the truth needs to be displayed in a way that is credible in all sectors of our america. that is a very important element. obviously, we have legislative purposes as well. as we understand more clearly

what's happened on the sixth and what happened leading up to the six it informs us as to what legislative remedies should be undertaken. as well as perhaps some administrative ones. there's a lot to do. the investigation is not complete. we've interviewed over 300 witnesses. have over 35,000 documents. we are hoping to get many more documents. from the archivist that will shed further light. leading up to the sixth. the investigation is done, but we want to make sure that when we are ready to lay out the facts, that it is coherent and in a chronological order. so that people will be able to see the truth. >> the chairman of your committee, congress woman betty

thompson, said that the committee would be happened and hear from house leader kevin mccarthy. would actually consider sending mccarthy a formal request to appear. do you think that is likely to happen? how important is it for the committee to hear from mccarthy? after all, he did speak with the president as the attack was unfolding on january the 6th. >> i think it would be important to listen to what kevin mccarthy has to say. he is in fact indicated that he has nothing to hide. that he would be willing to talk further. i hope he lives up to that. we know that from other republican members, who related the conversation they had with the president. that he had some communication. i'd like to ask kevin about that. i expect that if he has nothing to hide, as i'm not suggesting he does. that he would want to come forward and make sure that we

understand all of the facts as he knows them. >> congresswoman zoloft. member of the january six committee. more importantly, have a happy new year. up next, an unexpected ruling from a federal court that is bringing a enormous settlement deal for one company synonymous with the opioid crisis in this country. bringing that to a halt. bringing hope to the victims of the crisis. we are going to tell you that next. tha next because with the right pain reliever... life opens up. aleve it... and see what's possible. as a professional bull-rider i'm used to taking chances. but when it comes to my insurance i don't. i use liberty mutual, they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wooo, yeaa, woooooo and, by switching you could even save 665 dollars.

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the metropolitan museum. you are greeted by these signs. welcoming you to the exhibit. the sackler for adoption art and the sackler win. but it responds to a sackler family in the opioid -- it announced that it would remove the sackler name from those two exhibits and five other sackler name exhibits in the museum. not the company behind the mega

opioid faced charges related to filling the epidemic that has claimed the lives over half the million americans after a few decades. that company have been sued over 1000 times for falsely marketing their super opioid to maximize their profit. when they knew that it was being dangerously abused. nearly every state in the country sued the company. and faced with the onslaught of lawsuits, purdue pharma filed for bankruptcy in 2019. it became apparent that the sacklers siphoned off over ten billion dollars from the company in the years following the first guilty plea back in 2007 with the justice department. here's the thing, after a long process, the federal judge in september approve the deal that not only allowed purdue to file for bankruptcy but it served that's a settlement for hundreds of lawsuits against the company by the sackler

family personally contributing 4.5 billion dollars towards that settlement. one caveat that angered several of these states and victims of this crisis was the bankruptcy deal. it would shield the sacklers personally from civil litigation. in exchange for that 4.5 billion dollar contribution that they would have to make. after a group of those descending states and localities appeal that bankruptcy deal, a federal judge in new york city just this month vacated it. saying that the provision provide one -- protecting the families made the deal null and void. attorney general, merrick garland, applauded the judges decision. in fact, he said that we are pleased with the district courts decisions invalidating the purdue pharma bankruptcy plan. the bankruptcy court did not have the authority to deprive victims of the opioid crisis of the right to sue the sackler family. the decision to tell us how

that deal is not actually over yet. because the sackler family says that they vowed to appeal it. this likely could go all the way to the supreme court. about one of those states that opposes the bankruptcy deal that protected the sacklers from civil lawsuits if the state of connecticut. the attorney general explained why it is so important to sue the sacklers. he said, quote, this is a seismic victory for justice and accountability that will force the sackler family to confront the pain and devastation they have caused. connecticut will not allow billionaire wrongdoers to hide behind the bankruptcy code to shield their blood money in the escape justice. joining us now is connecticut attorney general was. attorney general, it's great to have you with us tonight. i appreciate your time. i know you believe that victims of the opioid epidemic should be able to sue the sacklers personally. well talk to us about why you believe this is so important

that the settlement will allow to go forward? >> because we need justice and accountability. that is what this decision represents. this is for what is the worst public health crisis in america, covid notwithstanding. this is a huge decision. more than 1400 families in connecticut who this holiday season had and teacher at their dining room table were in their living room. and more than ten billion dollars damage that the opioid crisis have caused the people of connecticut every single year. hundred and thousands of people and billions upon billions estimated two trillion dollars in damages across the country. we are fighting for the two moms with just about a week ago who between them lost three sons. and that is why we continue this fight. >> i know that purdue has

promised to appeal the ruling overturning its bankruptcy plan. given this new decision and this new dynamic that may play out in court, how soon can your state get that justice and get accountability from purdue and the sackler family that you're talking about? i know that you have maintained that there's no reason to maintain but this may take a while. >> we are in for a long haul. we are ready to fight anywhere, any place, any court. if the sacklers and purdue appeal in the second circuit, we will beat them there. and if we go to the supreme court, we will beat them there to. there is no justice and no accountability in the steel. let's just be clear, you said in the open segment that the sacklers took out roughly 11 billion dollars. i'm sure it's a lot more than that. but let's assume for a second that is the right number. under this deal, they say they are going to pay 4.2 billion. but they will pay that over nine years. let me tell you what that means.

what that means is that the sacklers are going to pay just about 5% on their money for nine years and then they buy themselves a lifetime of immunity. i pay more than 5% on my car payment. and as far as i can tell, while people are dying here in connecticut and across the country because of their craving greed, not a single sackler will have to sell a boat or house or piece of art or a piece of jewelry. they will feel no pain. while thousands of people across this country are dying. >> all right connecticut tierney, william tong, will have to leave it at that. thank you so much for your time. happy new year to you sir. thank you for your time. we still have one more very important story that we want to get to and that straight ahead. and that straight ahead .. life opens up. aleve it... and see what's possible.

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created by the statue built in 1997. that is over hong kong's past early united kingdom to china, made of metal and concrete it stands about 20 feet tall, depicts 50 torn and mangled bodies. memorializing the massacre in beijing when the chinese military got cracked down on protests by college students. at its base, you can see the inscription there, in red, the old cannot kill the young. the artist had hoped that the statue would serve as a quote, warning and a reminder to people of a shameful event which must never reoccur.

it is a monument to the 1989 pro democracy protests. and it stood as a symbol to the pro democracy movement. not just in that country but around the world. but last thursday, in the early hours of the morning, the university of hong kong removed this monument from its campus. and then the next day, two more universities in hong kong follow suit and remove their monuments commemorating this monument. removing this monument is one of the democratic acts that the city has witnessed as its government cozies up to the communist party in beijing. in fact, just look at what happened today. seven staffers at one of the last pro democracy meetings stand news were arrested on charges of conspiracy with. prompting the new side to shut down and and its operations. now if that sounds familiar to you you will recall that rachel, on this program, reported on the same situation this summer. when journalists associated

with the pro democracy newspaper were arrested and charged with collusion for a foreign country in violation of hong kong's national security. apple daily subsequently shut down there -- but this week courts added another charge to their case. conspiracy to produce and distribute seditious publications. the very same charge that the stand knew staffers were arrested with today. and just after we got on the air tonight, u.s. secretary of state blinken tweeted out that he is deeply concerned by the closure of stan use and has called on authorities in hong kong to stop targeting independent media. and to release those who have been detained. it has been a very scary year for the pro democracy movement in hong kong. and symbols of the movement come down, there are fewer and fewer news outlets left in the city to report on china's encroaching authoritarian

politics. as rachel would say, watch this space. d say, watch thi spacthat does it for us tonight, now it's time for the last word, from lawrence tonight. good evening jonathan. >> hey good evening. you started your show with an interview with doctor fauci. did he bring any clarity, or breaking news with you in your interview? >> i think he addressed some of the criticism and concerns about the cdc guidelines that reduce some of those quarantine, or isolation periods, from ten days to five days. why there are different standards for health care workers and not for the general public. why do they have to test out, whereas the rest of us can just if we are asymptomatic returned to life as normal. he did clarify some of those. addressed some of the controversies around the discrepancies there. acknowledge that there is a messaging issue and component to this as well john. >> part of the messaging, i don't know if you've seen so