♪♪ it's 7:00 a.m., and first up on msnbc, big lie bombshells, a new report revealing how close donald trump came to ordering the seizure of voting machines in the weeks that followed the 2020 election. and in another attempt to subvert the legitimate results, the former president's allies allegedly put up fake electors in several critical states. the january 6th committee now investigating. plus -- >> and at this point we're all but certainly locked in on this

trajectory towards war. >> growing concerns about a russian invasion of ukraine, president biden set to meet with his security team at camp david today as the first round of biden's recently approved military aid arrives in ukraine. will the u.s. be pulled into a conflict overseas? also -- >> you think about what mlk stood for, he said he didn't want people judged on the color of their skin, but on the content of their character. you listen to some of these people nowadays, they don't talk about that. >> florida governor ron desantis has been using martin luther king jr.'s words to push his so called anti-woke agenda. his new bill would ban schools and businesses from making white people feel discomfort over past racism. congresswoman wasserman-schultz joins us to talk about what's going on in her state. good morning, everybody, happy to be with you, it is saturday. i'm lindsey reiser. developing right now, we want to get to that major bombshell in the january 6th committee's

investigation. politico has obtained an unsigned executive order prepared for president trump that would have authorized the national guard to seize voting machines around the country in the weeks after the 2020 election. this reportedly comes from those national archives documents that trump tried to hide from the panel. in addition to allowing the defense secretary to send in troops to seize and analyze the machines, politico reports of the draft order also would have given the defense secretary 60 days to write an assessment of the 2020 election. they say, quote, that suggests it could have been a gamut to keep trump in power until at least mid-february of 2021. another development we're watching closely, the committee is asking the former president's eldest daughter, ivanka trump, to voluntarily testify. so far, no word on whether she'll agree to that. we're going to begin our coverage with nbc's julie

tsirkin on capitol hill. what kind of ripples is this bombshell report making in congress? >> on one hand democrats in congress and members on the january 6th committee see this as reaffirming their investigation into the former president and the potential role that he could have had on january 6th leading up to the riots. but on the other hand this also illustrates just how far the former president was willing to go to prevent joe biden from ever seeing the white house, and it shows, really, the tug of war, sort of, that was happening when his allies and his orbit, his close advisers. we know that executive order politico didn't end up being signed, it didn't end up happening but it was one of those things being considered by his former advisers, including sidney powell, who pushed these controversial theories and allegedly pushed something of this executive order that could have happened. i want you to take a listen to what debbie dingle, a congresswoman, said to hallie jackson yesterday, we can talk about it on the other side. >> that's what horrifies me, we are getting -- i think it's very important that this

investigation be thorough, that we get the facts that the american people be told the truth. but the fact of the matter is, there was an effort to overthrow the election results last january, and the american people don't know what to believe. >> reporter: now, this executive order that politico is reporting was just one of the 700 documents that the committee obtained from the national archives, less than 48 hours after is supreme court ordered they be turned over. of course, former president trump tried to keep these documents out of the committee's hands. we don't know what more they contain yet but we do know what the committee requested, and that's including a draft text from the press secretary's speech, the former president's speech that he gave on january 6th, other call logs, and so on. and now you mention the committee also requested that 'ivanka trump appear voluntarily before the kbhee. this isn't a subpoena, but more so an invitation, an engraved invitation, really strongly

urging her to appear and tell them what she knew. obviously they know former -- excuse me, liz they chi, who is one of the co-chairs of the january 6th select committee, she said earlier this month that they learned through text messages and documents that the committee was able to review already that ivanka trump may have been present in some of these meetings. she might have been privy to certain information, including former president trump trying to get vice president pence to stop the certification of the election results. that was one of the things they want to hear from her and we'll see whether she wants to comply and cooperate with the committee. >> major developments. thanks for starts us off. we're going to start with our panel. trial attorney, who represented three white house employees during the clinton scandals is joining us. good morning to both of you, jeff, start with you here, would this executive order that was obtained by politico that julie just told us about have held up legally in any way, and could it have been a way for trump to stay in power for another 60

days? >> well, you know, it's interesting because it would be unlikely to have an executive order like this be upheld in courts. however, you don't know what the delay factor would be and it's just as july mentioned 60 days, but after 60 days who knows what trump and sidney powell, his special counsel, would have done to try to extend that time period and keep trump in office longer. >> so how can this committee now use this document and use what we're learning to hold trump and the people around him accountable? >> well, if you're looking at sedition, if you're looking at an attempted coup, if you're looking at conspiracy, this is just another factor, another indication of what the white house was willing to do. what's uncertain here is trump did not sign the document, and as julie mentioned it's not clear how far he would have gone. so we don't know if he could be held accountable for an unsigned document, however he was

certainly present for the meetings and the discussions and a move forward to the extent that it ended up in a document. >> i mean, ashley, it looks like this could be a major turning point here in the investigation. and just last night congressman pete agular, a member of the january 6th committee. was talking to meti hassan, here's what he said when the public might see some of these documents the archives have released so far. >> we do plan on turning the page from the investigate f side of our efforts into more public hearings in the future. that's where we will continue to share with the public exactly what we have learned, what the prior administration was doing to thwart and undercut a free and fair election. all of the efforts, and where they originated in the white house, how they tried to use the department of justice, all of these efforts that we know, and that have been out in the public. and these documents, and what we

have continued to learn, will serve as the connective tissue to a lot of that. >> ashley, want to show a graph now of what the committee requested. so taking a look here, just interested in seeing and also what could be the political fallout here, ahead of the midterms. >> i mean, just how many bombshells can there be at this point? and the whole issue here, too, is that there was so much political uprising over the fact that there was going to be an investigation into what happened on january 6th when, in fact, we still don't know exactly what happened because these bombshells continue to come out. which, to the points that we're all just dis cussing, we have no idea how far this president was willing to go to keep himself in power and to keep joe biden out. which, at this point, you know, joe biden has been president for over a year now, and this is still continuing, and we're still finding out more information. so i'll be interested if these public hearings, you know, move forward to see what other bombshells come to light. this was a major development for

this investigative committee because for so long it has been said that this is a witch hunt, this is a political witch hunt, this is a way for democrats to continue their power, and their majority. when, in fact, they're just trying to seek the truth here, and we still don't know what that truth is but we do know trump was heavily involved, we think, at this point, in really orchestrating the fact that he wanted to stay in office. and this is all shown in these documents, and the fact that he was willing to really collude with other, you know, of his allies and his trump campaign officials, to keep himself in office through fake electors, through executive orders, through really bending the government here and then in many ways, too, when we're seeing what's happening in georgia as well, trying to identify 11,000 votes, how many instances can we see here where trump directly was involved in trying to keep himself in power, and joe biden out of the oval office? >> you know, jeff, ashley

mentioned fake electors. benny thompson confirmed they are looking into the role of fake electors who planned to cast votes for trump in 2020, and whether this is part of a broader strategy to overthrow the election. we know boris epstein talked to ari melber on msnbc last night. he admitted his involvement. let's listen. >> i'll read it to you, this is chairman -- quote, we fought to seek the electors, the trump campaign asked us to do that. did you ever make calls like that, regarding what you're calling these alternate electors? >> i was quoting "the washington post" in the last 24 hours, yes, i was part of the process to make sure there were alternate electors for when, as we hoped, the challenges to the seated electors would be heard, and would be successful per the constitution. >> your view for the record here is that you could as a lawyer to the trump campaign seat these electors in states where the process, the state results, as overseen by the independent courts, as approved by the

supreme court, found that biden won, and you would put in what you call alternate -- >> the supreme court. >> hold on, let me finish the question, and you would then support these alternate, or others call them fraudulent electors, you don't see a chance that that could be against the law, boris? >> it is not against the law. it is actually according to the law. >> got to be quick here with you, jeff, what's your take on that? >> sure, you know, as a trial lawyer, there is absolutely no way i would have let boris epstein testify or speak on msnbc if i was his counsel. he made admissions against -- he linked giuliani into it, and he tied himself right into the whole elector scheme, which is potentially fraudulent forgery, and obstruction. and those electors who signed these documents, are facing serious potential criminal ramifications. in at least five of the states, if not all seven, they can be indicted. and so this is a serious matter.

i know rachel maddow broke the story. it was out for a while. where it's incredible that they're admitting that they were doing this, and they forged these documents. >> jeff jacobovitz, and ashley -- thank you both for joining us. the intensifying standoff between west and russia over ukraine, as the first shipment of president biden's new round of military aid reaches kyiv. but with more than a thousand troops at the border is the drumming of war sounding louder, could a possible u.s. meeting with putin ease tensions. live reports and analysis next. t looking to get back in your type 2 diabetes zone? once-weekly ozempic® can help. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪

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welcome back, the first shipment of u.s. defensive military aid recently directed by president biden has arrived in ukraine overnight. as its standoff with russia intensifies, president biden is set to meet with his national security team at camp david this

morning to talk about how to ease tensions, including a possible meeting with putin. russia has staged more than 100,000 troops along the ukrainian border but denies plans to invade. let's bring in nbc news correspondent matt bradley. matt, where do we expect talks to go from here? >> yeah, i mean, lindsey, those talks went right up until yesterday and now they're supposed to spill into next week. even if diplomacy has reached an impasse, both sides are still busy arming themselves and bolstering their borders. today, u.s. help is on the way as the first shipments of 200,000 pounds of lethal american military aid arrived in ukraine overnight, backing audiotape country bracing if war. near ukraine's border with russia, the tension is palpable. >> right on the edge of something very terrible and scary.

>> if someone tries to take our freedom again, we will fight back. >> reporter: just over the border, more than 100,000 russian troops are practicing, ready to invade ukraine. this weekend, president joe biden huddling with security adviser at camp david after top russian and american diplomats met in geneva friday, scrambling to stop a war. u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken held hasty goeshss with his russian counterpart. >> if russia wants to begin to convince the world that it has no aggressive intent toward ukraine, a very good place to start would be by deescalating. >> reporter: foreign minister sergey lavrov pressing the command that they never be allowed to join nato. the russians say europe and the u.s. are the aggressors. our concerns are not about imaginary but about real threats and the facts that nobody's really hiding, stuffing ukraine with weapons, sending hundreds

of western military instructors, said lavrov. both sides agreed to keep talking even as military equipment keept flowing in. russia sending fighter jets to belarus, near ukraine's capital kyiv. a rivalry reminiscent of the cold war that could soon turn very hot. yeah, lindsey, the white house is in a bit of a pickle. they're trying to keep russia at bay while at the same time managing expectations. and the biden administration, already kind of tied their own hands when they announced that they wouldn't be sending u.s. troops into the ukraine even if russia invades. lindsey? >> matt bradley, thank you so much. and for more on these rising tensions this eastern europe, we are now joined by former u.s. ambassador to ukraine, william taylor, ambassador, it's wonderful to have you on this morning. thanks for being with us. >> thank you, lindsey, good to be here. >> so ambassador, with no apparent movement here on either side, during these negotiations,

how close do you think we are to russia invading ukraine, and could this lead to a larger war? >> so, lindsey, you're right, there's no movement on either side, which, in some sense, in my view, is a good thing. i think president putin is probably surprised that there's no movement, there's been no movement. he's probably surprised that president zelensky in ukraine, president biden here in the united states, and nato alliance has been so firm. they've all just rejected president putin's demands. so i think that's probably a surprise to president putin, and it makes him worried that he may not be able to get what he wants unless he actually pulls the trigger and then your question is relevant, how close are we to that? and in my view, no one knows what's in president putin's head, and only he will decide, only he can answer your question to how close we are. we might be close, as matt just

said, we could be -- we could be looking at a terrible war, a terrible ground war, where tens of thousands, tens of thousands of ukrainians, military and civilian, and many, many russian soldiers will die. so this is what we're -- this is what we're looking at right now, and it's up to mr. putin. >> i mean, as you said, the president says what putin could do could depend on what side of the bed he gets up on in the morning which is pretty alarming. i want to listen to what retired u.s. army lieutenant colonel alexander vinman said on msnbc yesterday. >> so i think it's first -- it's important to note that i think we're basically just on the cusp of war. i think it's all but certain in my mind that there's going to be a large european war on the order of magnitude of world war ii, with air power, sea power, massive ground force and defensives. >> on the magnitude of world war

ii. ambassador, no one has made such a stark comparison. the president has said it would be the largest escalation internationally since world war ii but what do you make of that warning? >> so alex vindman is right, if president putin decides to send the tanks and artillery in, it will be on the order of world war ii, something that we haven't seen since world war ii. let's put it that way. however, again, i disagree a bit with alex that we're going to see this imminently. i think there is still doubt, there's probably doubt in mr. putin's mind as to whether or not he can really succeed. as alex says, the ukrainian military, ukrainian military is much stronger today than it was eight years when russia invaded the first time. much stronger. there's no doubt, let's be clear, there's no doubt that the russian military is stronger yet, than the ukrainian, and in

the end they have many more forces, the russians have many more forces than ukrainians, but it will be bloody. mr. putin has to decide if he wants to go into that category of dictators who invaded their neighbors and killed many people, on both sides. i don't think he's made that decision yet. i think mr. putin is still evaluating his options, and i hope he makes the right decision. >> ambassador, i could talk to you about this for an hour but i have one more quick question for you, secretary blinken said the u.s. would be open to another meeting between putin and biden, what if anything would that accomplish? >> lindsey, i think that would accomplish what we said a minute ago, which is to demonstrate firmness. president biden's been firm, president zelensky has been firm. neither has buckle, neither has blinked in the face of this challenge, of this threat, of a ground war in europe. and this would -- this could,

again, demonstrate to mr. putin, that the united states and ukraine, and nato, are serious about defending principles, and defending the integrity and the sovereignty of ukraine. >> well, ambassador taylor, like i said, i could talk to you about this for much longer than we have time for today, but thank you so much for joining us and shedding light on the situation, we appreciate your time. >> thank you, lindsey. florida governor ron desantis, invoking martin luther king jr. to justify a bill that would ban public schools and businesses from making white people feel discomfort over racism. we're going to talk to florida congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz who's shaking her head currently about what's going on in her state. currently about what's going on currently about what's going on in her state ♪wouldn't you like to get away? ♪ ♪

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called individual freedom, got approval this week, has a ways to go before becoming law. the bill would, quote, prohibit public schools and private businesses from making white people feel discomfort when they teach students or train employees about discrimination in the nation's past. nbc correspondent stephanie stanton is in tampa for us this morning. stephanie, tell us more about this proposal and what the reaction has been since he announced it. >> yeah, good morning to you, lindsey. well, reaction is as you might expect, falling upon party lines. now, as you said, this bill does still have to work its way through the legislature, but essentially governor ron desantis is doubling down, banning critical race theory in schools. now, the new bill is called individual freedom. i have a copy of it here, it's a full 18 pages long, but there is that small part of the language that has caught the eye of opponents and activists. let me read it to you. it states that, quote, an

individual should be made -- shouldn't, rather, excuse me, that an individual shouldn't be made to feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress, on account of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin. now legislation banning critical race theory is really nothing new. there are proposed bills and legislation in about 32 states, including the state of florida. but opponents of critical race theory say that it is divisive because they say that it paints white children as the oppressors and black children as the oppressed. this is coming on the week we just celebrated martin luther king jr., and recently ron desantis quoted mlk on his thoughts about critical race theory. take a listen. >> you think about what mlk stood for. he said he didn't want people judged on the color of their skin, but on the content of

their character. you listen to some of these people now aday, they don't talk about that. >> now, this latest bill follows another piece of legislation that was introduced in december called the stop woke act, and that actually gives parents the right to sue school districts, local school districts, over critical race theory, so, again, lindsey, all of this, of course, such a hot button issue, the conversation continues. >> and governor desantis has also recently backed another controversial bill, and this one would establish an election police force? >> yeah, absolutely, governor ron desantis backing this legislation that would establish that they call a dedicated police force to investigate election fraud. here's what we know about it so far. if approved, the new office would have a 52-member team, including 20 sworn police officers, and those officers would investigate, detect, apprehend and arrest anyone for an alleged violation of election

laws. now, voting rights advocates are very concerned about this, because they say that it could lead to voter intimidation among other things. so this is another component, and another bill here in the state of florida, we'll have to see what happens. >> we know you'll keep an eye on it for us. stephanie stanton, thanks so much. let's welcome in florida congresswoman and dnc chair wasserman-schultz, congressman, good morning. >> good morning, lindsey, great to be with you. >> i want to get your reaction from this white discomfort bill, what are you hearing from constituents and does that worry you? >> this is deeply disturbing legislation that goes far beyond any autocratic, dictatorial provision that i've seen in recent memory. my constituents and me, i will tell you as a member of a minority, i'm a member of the jewish faith, we're less than 2% of the population, this is nothing short of legislative

censorship. and you have to ask yourself, this is -- the language in the legislation is bad enough, but where does it stop? do we stop teaching about the horrors of the holocaust, which is actually required in florida law, because it might make someone feel guilty about their national origin, do we stop teaching people in florida, in particular, that there were places in our state where jews and blacks could not live? even in miami beach, which eventually became a haven with a large and vibrant jewish community. i mean, you know, there are conservatives who i hear talk about the advent of kids in little league sports getting trophies just for participation. this smacks of that. are we just going to try to whitewash everything, and not make people feel uncomfortable? how do we learn? how do we make sure that raise generations of children into

adults who make sure they don't repeat the mistakes and horrors of the past? this is a nightmare of a piece of legislation, and i think eventually it will invoke lawsuits as well because we do have a first amendment in this country. and this is suppression of freedom of expression. >> i mean, do you also see this election police force as a nightmare piece of legislation, considering it would not only establish this, but also give the executive branch this unprecedented power to look into elections? >> right. the -- that's the most disturbing thing is that he's creating an election police force, following an election that desantis himself said was run perfectly, and had no problems. i envision the actual sworn police officers for this election police force being sent out to polling places, to intimidate black and brown voters, and people who are uncomfortable, and have not been able to get themselves to the polless because of that

discomfort. this is -- this is the ultimate in voter suppression tactics. we have, for example, the miami-dade state attorney investigating actual fraud committed by republicans in our states when they put in ghost candidates that had similar names to try to confuse voters, and it likely swung several state senate races. and there have been arrests made, and diet indictments issued, including to a former state senator. that is handling, and should be, by our local state attorneys. and this is nothing more than an additional, very aggressive, frightening voter suppression tactic, to stop black and blown people, disabled people from coming to the polls. it's a solution, a terrible one in search of a problem, and it's a dangerous, dangerous tactic to start using when it comes to letting people freely and fairly cast their ballot. >> congresswoman, i've got to be quick here with you, that said,

the national voting rights, there's a bipartisan effort right now to look at possible changes in the electoral count act. a lot of people say it doesn't go far enough but is that something you would support? >> it's absolutely critical that we make sure that there is a floor of voting rights, that no one can be forced through, and all across the state, 19 states have passed voter suppression laws to make it harder not easier for people to vote, and we have to make sure that everyone has equal access to the polls in this country, and that requires us to pass the john r. lewis voting rights advancement act. >> congresswoman wasserman-schultz, good to have you with us this morning, thank you. >> thank you so much. still to come, a look at the latest data, two years after covid first hit the u.s., the way the numbers are trending depends on what part of the country you live in. live report next. country you live in. country you live in. live report next

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the nypd says two of its officers were shot last night in harlem. 22-year-old officer jason rivera was killed. 27-year-old officer willbert moreze, they were going to a domestic violence call. the fbi says brian laundrie left behind a notebook where he wrote he was responsible for the death of his girlfriend gabby petito. it was part of the bureau's final report in the

investigation. petito's body was found in the national forest in wyoming after a days long search. laundry's body was found. the fbi said no one else was involved. the medical examiner said he shot himself. arnold schwarzenegger was in a car crash in los angeles last night. four cars were involved. a spokesperson said he's okay. a concern is for that woman who was hurt. many health experts are cautiously optimistic as the nation marks two years since the first case of covid in the u.s. infections seem to be easing in some states on the east coast. hospitals on the west coast are still overwhelmed by omicron. nbc's kathy park is in new york city where the positivity rate dropped into the single digits for the first time in weeks. kathy, good morning. >> reporter: hey, lindsey, good morning to you. yeah, it seems like we are starting to turn a corner, especially in portions of the northeast, including new york,

yesterday we heard from governor kathy hogele, and she said that the positivity rate statewide dropped under 10% on friday. she added that she can sleep a little bit better at night because the numbers are starting to improve. here's a little bit more on her progress report. take a listen. >> look at this. the trend is heading in the right direction. the seven-day average of cases is going down. statewide we are at 28,000, 296. that's a down from 90,000, since january 7th. in the same month we're at 90,000 new cases. that's a 66.6% drop in two weeks. >> reporter: and despite signs of improvement, some states, especially in the midwest and west, are not on the same track. for example, in st. louis, they are being inundated with covid

patients and being stretched thin due to staffing issues. they're asking for federal help. in san diego, california, dealing with a similar situation, and they're leaning on the help of field hospitals to get them through. but on a more hopeful note, yesterday the cdc released new data suggesting that booster shots are 90% effective at omicron hospitalization. but lindsey, it is important to note that roughly 86 million americans are eligible to receive those boosters but less than half the population has received one. lindsey, back to you. >> kathy park, reporting live in new york city, thank you. school districts across the country taking desperate measures to deal with teacher shortages, one state recruiting members of the national guard to fill in as subs. situation is so dire even the governor has signed up. that's next. governor has signed up governor has signed up that's next.

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as the omicron variant continues to spread. it's forcing some districts to take desperate measures just to keep their classes open. in chicago, public schools are offering substitute teachers an extra thousand dollars a month if they work 15 or more days. one school district in texas posted an announcement on facebook calling on eligible parents to help fill in the gaps and this week new mexico became the first state in the nation to ask national guard troops to work as subs. the situation there is so pressing even the state's governor signed up. our next guest is calling this a nationwide crisis, with me now is whitney holland, president of the american federation of reachers in new mexico. whitney, good morning, it's so good to talk to you, did you ever think there would be a day when members of the national guard would be substituting in new mexico classrooms and what do you make of that as a solution? >> good morning. no, oh, my goodness, no, and it feels like every time we head towards some semblance of normalcy and having our schools consistently open, something like this comes our way.

but we're hearing heartbreaking stories from our people in the field. we're hearing bus drivers who are driving three or four routes, teachers who are taking on multiple classrooms, and they move into the lunchroom or the cafeteria or a library because that's the only place that will fit them. i've heard stories about students who go to their second period class and the door is locked because there's no teacher and there's no substitute. it's heartbreaking out here. >> what kind of effect is that having on kids? are you noticing that they're falling behind? what are teachers telling you? >> yes, absolutely. so we in the education field look at what's called as, adverse childhood experiences, to combat those experiences we need to provide stable, consistent environments. and when our schools don't have stable, consistency, our communities don't. and so we're hearing that from our families, we're hearing that from our educators as well. >> you left your teaching post last year, but you've also recently signed up to sub. the governor of new mexico hoping this new measure will

also quickly deploy 500 new substitute teachers and day care workers. how do these national guard troops get certified and when do you expect help to come? >> excellent. so right now we have 75 in the hopper. they have to go through the same kind of tremendous same kind of credentialing pre-pandemic would go through. a background check, an online training. we are hopeful they will be in the field starting on monday. that is 75 to 100, and right now, superintendents are asking for upwards of 1,200, so this is still a tiny little fraction of what is needed to provide those stable, consistent environments. >> what else do you need from your state? from your federal government? and obviously this is a short-term solution, hopefully the idea being the problem is short-term too but what do you need in terms of possibly even long term? >> i think this is a systematic problem. i think if we look at fully funding our schools, we look at

better educator pay, rising insurance costs, this is just a small fraction of the puzzle. we have had shortages pre-pandemic, and i'm sure we'll have them post-pandemic too but until we address the system as a whole, i think we're going to continue to see this. >> and continue to see teachers leaving the profession as well. whitney holland, thank you so much for your time this morning. good luck to you guys. still to come, eight nfl teams go head to head this weekend as we inch closer to the super bowl. it all could come down to the star quarterbacks. we're going dig into that, plus the league's latest change to its covid testing policy. s the league's latest change to the league's latest change to its covid testing policy ♪ for me and you ♪ ♪ and i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ a rich life is about more than just money. that's why at vanguard, you're more than just an investor, you're an owner so you can build a future for those you love.

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a big weekend of football with 8 teams going head to head as we inch closer to the super bowl, but all eyes will be on the star quarterbacks who could make all the difference. tom brady, aaron rodgers, patrick mahomes, josh allen, nbc news correspondent sam brock is live outside the bucs stadium in tampa. good morning, what can we expect? >> lindsay, a whole lot of excitement, you mentioned tom brady, he has been the center of the nfl universe for a long time. understandably that's not going to change over the course of the weekend. they're hosting los angeles rams and matthew stafford, another star studded quarterback, they play in the nbc game on sunday. before that, also you have aaron rodgers going on to the gridiron tonight at lambeau field taking on the san francisco 49ers, so

you have blue blood franchises everywhere. brady of course is lapping the field right now. he's got 7 super bowl rings, and lindsay, i found out you're an arizona cardinals fan. i'm sorry, i know the cardinals made the playoffs, got bounced by the l.a. rams, maybe you're also rooting for the bucs. what makes this weekend so interesting is not just the established quarterbacks but the emergence of young power, joe burrow in cincinnati, led them to their first playoff win in 30 years, and the night cam tomorrow night, patrick mahomes and the chiefs, going against josh allen and the bills. these are two generationally talented quarterbacks, arguably the most explosive and talented players at their position in the entire league. they are squaring off again tomorrow night. that could be a story for a long time in the nfl. the story line could be packed. hovering over all of it is covid. and aaron rodgers, the

controversy when he misrepresented the vaccination status. he's looking for redemption and the super bowl ring. >> the nfl saying unvaccinated players don't have to undergo daily covid testing. >> the nfl announced that unvaccinated players are going to be following the same guidelines of vaccinated players. screening on a daily basis, and if a player is symptomatic, they would get tested. here's the broader context, there's eight, a dozen players unvaccinated, a very small percentage. 95% of the league is fully vaccinated. almost 100% of the staff. one of the remaining dozen is aaron rodgers. can you imagine a scenario in which he tested positive for covid, and could not play tonight. that's all part of the narrative.

the nfl is doing the best it can to continue the season. in month of december, five positive tests, a quarter of the league, it created all kinds of problems for weeks, but so far, knock on wood, they have been able to carry on games the last few weeks of the season, and no major impacts to playoffs. >> i was wondering the motivation behind the policy, if your star player can't play because of a positive test. sam brock, another horrific assignment, i see. enjoy your time out there. >> i hate these. it's the worst. if i have to. >> somebody's got to. thanks for watching msnbc reports. velshi starts right now. today on "velshi," congressional investigators now have in their possession the documents donald trump was trying to keep from them, and we now know why the failed former president fought so hard to keep them secret. exhibit a, a draft executive

action to have the military seize voting machines. the reporter who broke this news joins me in just minutes. plus, how to prepare for an attack that everyone agrees is about to happen, probably can't be stopped and is almost certain to trigger a global crisis. we'll get the latest from ukraine from nbc's richard engel. and the former supreme nato commander will join me to talk about what comes after the inevitable attack. the landmark supreme court decision that gave women the right to control when and whether to give birth turns 49 today. there's a different feeling to the commemoration, knowing it is very likely the last one. i'll talk about the legacy of roe v. wade and what comes next with two women who have lived this struggle, the woman who has been keeping the doors open at the sole clinic, and the state by state erosion of abortion access in two decades.

"velshi" starts now. good morning to you, it is saturday, january the 22nd. i'm ali velshi, the property to overthrow the 2020 election continues to unfold before our very eyes. it turns out that the deadly january 6th insurrection carried out by a violent mob of the failed president's supporters a little over a year ago was just the most clumsy, obvious attempt to overthrow democracy. the house january 6th committee has now obtained over 700 pages of documents that include visitor logs, speech drafts, presidential diaries, and handwritten notes. this might put the committee one step closer to figure out what the ex-president was up to during and after the january 6th attack. perhaps the most shocking of the hundreds of documents is an unsigned draft of an executive action obtained by "politico," that executive action would have