your whole life. he said that, don, promised me. i gave him my word. that was the last conversation in the hospital, they're lying in the bed. and he looked at me and said, and dad, his brother, we were all three in the bed, he turned to me and said that i want you to know, i am not afraid. >> president joe biden gets tonight's last word. the 11th hour starts now. st word. the 11th hour starts >> good evening once again, i am chris jansing, day 380 of the biden administration. there are brand-new indications tonight of just how far donald trump's allies are willing to go to try to ensure that he would not have to turn the presidency over to joe biden. the latest reporting lead again, pointing to an effort for more

involved in the violence that took place at the capitol. the washington post reports on one scheme wrote involving a memo dated december 18th, 2020, that suggest trump use the intel community to dug up information to help overturn the election. the memo proposes, quote, trump should invoke the extraordinary powers of the national security agency and defense department to sift through law electronic communications. in an attempt to show that foreign powers had intervened in the 2020 election to help joe biden win. and according to the hill, this week's reports about plans to invalidate the election by seizing voting machines is now ratcheting up the pressure on bill barr. democrats on the january 6th committee and across the house want the former trump attorney general to testify under oath, after a new york times reports that trump floated the idea of having the justice department confiscate voting machines. the time says barr rejected that idea.

he has been in informal talks with the committee, but apparently no agreement to sit down in a formal setting. the select committee has also targeted trump's eldest daughter, ivanka. asking her to appear for an interview this week, or next. tonight, the chairman was asked about that. >> i can assure you it won't be -- >> what can you tell us about the engagement with ivanka trump? has she responded to your committees initial letter? >> at this point, i'm not aware of any engagement. >> benny thompson also said the committee held a, quote, significant discussion on whether to subpoena the republican house leader kevin mccarthy, and members jim jordan, and scott perry. all of whom were invited to give depositions. >> you know, you have to respect this institution. you know, we have to see whether or not it's never been done before. if it had with authorities? so we just want to be right. >> earlier today, another

committee member indicated the investigators are pushing ahead despite those witnesses who refused to show up. >> what we will continue to gather is additional information. we will work on the timeline, we will work on the players, we will work on the levels to which the white house was actively involved. we clearly know the top lines here, and that is that the president sought to overturn an election whether it was by fraudulent electors, or other harebrained conspiracy theories. the former president actively stoked at that. every interview that we have had, even those of the past few days, and a few weeks, have led to more information that we wanted to know. so all of these are hopeful. >> meanwhile, the atlanta area district attorneys since investigation into trump's efforts to overturn georgia's 2020 election is entering a new phase. the atlanta journal of constitution says, da phony willis will begin us electing a special grand jury on may 2nd. that panel will then be able to

issue subpoenas for witness testimony. the general constitution quotes, willis says she expects the special grand journey, will see a lot of activity in june in july. of course, trump is also the target of criminal inquiries in new york. business insider reports, court houses and both you new york and atlanta will brace for possible unrest after trump called for protests in cities where he's under investigation. also tonight, the white house says a strike on the leader of isis is a warning for all terror groups that threaten the u.s.. u.s. special forces carried out the raid overnight in syria, resulting in the death of the leader. officials say he took his own life, detonating explosive that also killed his children. this morning, biden explained why he decided to okay the military operation. >> i'm determined to protect the american people from terrorist threats, and i will take decisive action to protect this country. last night's operation took a

major terrorist leader on the battlefield. and sent a strong leader -- message to leaders around the world, we will come after you and find you. >> today, out of the white house also confirmed this stunning allegation. that the u.s. has intel about a russian plan to fabricate a pretext for an invasion of ukraine in a so-called false flag operation. we will have much more on that for hour policy just ahead. the presidents also spent a good part of his day focusing his administrative efforts on the rise of crime in american cities. he was here in new york city to show his support of law enforcement and lay out his plans for how this silly city conference gun violence. >> the answer is not to abandon our streets, the answers to come together. police and communities, building trust, and making us all safer. the answer is not to defund the police. >> we need, as i stated, and --

address the domestic terror that is pervasive in this country. the scale up in response to this public health crisis that is done violence. >> the president also took time to meet with the families of the two nypd officers who were killed in the line of duty two weeks ago. with that, let's bring in our lead off gifts for this thursday night. philip rucker, pulitzer prize-winning senior washington correspondent for the washington post. carol leonnig, the washington post protests are prize-winning investigative reporter. together, they wrote the new york times bestseller, i alone can fix it. and former u.s. attorney joyce vance who spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor. she hosts the podcast sisters in law. but to see all of you. carol, i would like you to have both you and phil to break down the thinking in trump world with so much going on. tell us more about this memo suggesting the use of an intelligence community to

overturn the election, and the efforts to get it to trump. >> well kudos to my colleagues at the washington post, you've been digging into this. a group of conspiracy theorists and part of what i call, chris, and another member of source of my colleagues said this as well, the amateur hour that was trying, and succeeding, and getting inside trump's white house to try to convince him to use the amazing powerful tools that he had in the oval office to block biden from becoming president. and to stop the peaceful transfer of power. in this case, it was drafting this idea of how three men, all of which had questionable backgrounds, have these three men be the leaders of the effort to get the nsa collecting signals intelligence, tests, memos, other data that you really aren't supposed to get unless there is a national security crisis, in order for

the president to suspend, essentially, the constitution. and make sure that he was getting critical information about whether he needed to re-run the election. now i want to emphasize something, this plan was a redo, in a sense, of something michael flynn, the presidents humiliated and forced out of office in disgrace national security adviser, part of michael flynn's plan in early december to, quote, unquote, as the president to seize voting machines so that he could, quote, unquote, we run the election. this is something that happens -- it was frightening to hear in early december. and that idea continue to live and give birth to other new conspiracy theories and plans for how that could be effectuated. >> that is not what all with your post-colleagues reported

of the basement meeting and the trump hotel that was organized -- here's the quote, senator kevin cramer and senator cynthia emblem us adjoined some two dozen others committed to a ground floor hotel, according to cramer and an aide to the miss. participants recalled that senator ron johnson also attended, via video conference. one, it sounds like, i don't, know three senators were aware that they're trying to decertify the 2020 election. do we know if there were aware of the level of how it was being reported and what were those days between november 3rd and january 6th like in the trump white house? was it just, everybody scrambling for a scheme to keep the boss in power? >> phil? >> yes, chris. that's exactly right.

those were some harrowing days because they were scrambling for the scheme to keep president trump in power despite having lost the election. and as each deadline on that calendar with regards to the election results ticked by, they became more and more desperate. and when you saw that meeting before january six our colleagues at the washington post reported now was a willingness by elected senators, members of the republican party, to hear out these conspiracy theories and these plots from, as carl put it, the amateur hour crowd around president trump. mike ledell, the head of my pillow, who's a fixture on fox news channel, was able to command the attention of the senators to try to float ideas as to how to decertify the election results and how to overturn the will of the people in this democracy to keep president trump in power despite having lost the election. you >> so you tweeted this earlier today. another head of the cobra takes

shape. trump world conspired to overturn the election and as one narrative, dom stole the election, failed, they turn to another, foreign intervention. trump turned to increasing lead to spread methods and, in the, and january 6th. this latest reporting is the latest concerning memos, efforts to try to keep trump in the white house. but let me ask you specifically what is so alarming about this proposal to use the nsa. >> the proposal to use the intelligence community is something that is strictly out of bounds because the intelligence community doesn't operate absent narrowly constructed circumstances against u.s. persons inside the united states. and this comes on the heels of what we heard about. the defense department. this effort to have the defense department which does not interfere in elections by stealing voting machines. and it comes on the heels of trump's request of the justice

department to inappropriately interfere. again, we know that trump asked bill barr to seize voting machines and one can only imagine that bill barr looked at him and said, mister president, doj does not have an army, the only thing we can do is go to court when there is probable cause. and there's no probable cause that there was a crime here. so chris, what we see is layer upon layer of layers of illegal conduct. and what emerges is a picture of a conspiracy to interfere with the transfer of power. of course, the essence of a criminal conspiracy is not an agreement. you don't have to accomplish the goal of the conspiracy, as long as you agree to do it and take at least one step in furtherance of that conspiracy, the crime has been committed. to carole's point, it doesn't have to be a smarter orwell manage conspiracy, but we've got here is a clown card conspiracy. but that doesn't make it any less dangerous to the health of the republic. >>. carol, when you talk about the ripon there, the committee

publicist says it's pushing forward, they're getting little or no cooperation from some key figures, ivanka trump, for, one of these at this point. lawmakers say they are weighing whether to call mike pence. they might not get cooperation from giuliani or the lawyers. at this point, do we have an idea if the committee will try to force those folks to appear or are they -- are you getting information that they need from other sources? >> my understanding from sources close to the committee is that they are going to push for critical information from people that they feel don't have a defense not to show up. but there is a clock ticking, chris, and i know you and i have spoken about this before. this committee clearly heard the letter that benny thompson put out two weeks ago, has a very great description of what happened between, as you correctly point out, november 3rd, to january six. a very clear picture from the people who were at the shoulders of folks like pets of

baloney, mark meadows, the chief of staff, bill barr, the attorney general. they hold a lot of records, they have a lot of texts. so they will push to fill in all the mortar between the bricks. they will push to fill out that narrative. but at some point, they're gonna give up the ghost and write the report. because they have enough to write it today if they wish. they just would like to have more of the conversation, more of the tenor of would happen. also, ultimately, they want more of what reporters are seeking. people like my wonderful colleagues at the paper who wrote the story about the nsa intelligence and the memo. we want to know how closely donald trump was entwined in these efforts. we now know, phil and iron our book, reported how hard trump was pushing every lever he could to try to block this. now, we've learned through additional reporting that trump

was personally involved in pressing attorney general, the department of homeland security's, number two, and oh silhouette the d.o.d. to try to help him get involved in this re-running of the elections, or seizing and raising questions about swing state elections. but, ultimately, that's where the committees headed. how much was donald trump pushing, for example, this particular scheme? or encouraging it? or laying some more tender for their ideas? how much was he advising in? how much do you know about what they were doing in that conference room at the trump international hotel with senators? >> yes, those questions, joy is obviously that we want answers to. for all we know, the committee has answers. there is a lot clearly that they know. a lot of information that they have gotten from talking to hundreds of witnesses that we do not yet know. but, from what we do know, how close would you say we are to being able to say that this was

a conspiracy to have enough evidence that directly points to donald trump? >> well, of course the committees purpose is different than what doj would do if it was assessing the existence of a criminal conspiracy. the committee is on a fact finding mission. they spoken to 425 witnesses. i think that was the last count. and i think terrell makes a very interesting point here when you are trying to assess the existence of a conspiracy, and who was involved. she says what they want, you know, they have testimony, they got the version from people who were standing at the shoulder of the principles. now, they want to hear about the principles conversation. so, we learned just tonight that vice president pence's aides stopped showed when they spoke with committee members about testifying to direct conversations with the former president, because his legal team had asked them not to, citing executive privilege. that seems like an easy fight for the committee, because of course, joe biden gets the

final say so on what is covered by executive privilege. he has already said that january 6th is incredibly important to the national security, and he will not exert executive privilege over those sorts of matters, at least the written communications, and the supreme court has already authorized their release. so it seems like the committee can go this one step further, trying to get access to the actual conversations with the former president, because that is, of course, the linchpin. getting his actual words. but the evidence continues to mount here. the fact that it was trump who was going to bill barr, knowing the d.o.d., going to dhs and asking them to acquire the voting machines clearly an unconstitutional exercise of power, that evidence gets more and more compelling by the day. >> phil, before we go, i want to get to that one more big event today. biden in new york talking about crime. now a nationwide issue. the numbers are frightening for a lot of folks. are we expecting a full court

press from the white house to re-frame the perception of the democrats message on crime? how politically complicated is this for the white house? >> you know, chris, it is incredibly complicated politically for the white house. because of the pressures that president biden and his team feel from the black lives matter movement, and the left in his party, and the defund police offers that we have seen over the last several years. to what is emerging now, in cities like new york and other major cities led by democratic mayors who are saying hold it, we need the police, we have crime problems on our streets, and we need to be tough on crime. and, there is a real contrast there, a real divide among democrats, and within biden's political constituency about how to approach these issues of crime, especially in an era of the pandemic, when you are seeing in a number of cities around the country, crime on

the uptick. so biden was grappling with some of those political realities as he spoke in new york at and ypg headquarters today, with the new mayor, eric adams, and i think we should see him trying to carve, sort, of a more middle of the road approach to this than the far left in his party might like. but, he is thinking of course about the midterm elections, and how to win over those moderate voters who are going to be so essential in determining whether democrats can hold on to their slim majority in the house and the senate. >> phil, carol, joyce, thank you to all of you for getting us started tonight. and coming up, an isis leader dies, and an alleged russian plot is uncovered. we have a former leading national security officials standing by. and later, the storm system causing headaches and the worst for as many as 100 million americans right now. the 11th hour just getting underway on a thursday night, with the white house illuminated in red white and blue, and support of team usa at the olympics.

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would produce some very graphic propaganda video which would include corpses and actors that would be depicting mourners and images of destroyed locations as well as military equipment. at the hands of ukraine >> that indication that there's a relations problem. this is what the former ambassador to ukraine said.

>> i think that's an indication that the kremlin is of little worried that the russian people will not support an invasion, false flags, and these other -- generate this enthusiasm for an invasion. it's just not there. en>> here with us tonight, formr deputy national security adviser for president obama. his latest book, after the fall, being american in the world we have made. great to have you here tonight, ben. look, at the white house is no longer calling war between russia and ukraine imminent, but when you look at things like, oh let's just make up a story and then maybe we will have it justification for what i want to do here, is it your sense that putin recognizes he may have a weaker hand then he would like? >> well, i think chris, the certainty is if there is a military operation by russian they will use -- we have seen this pattern before when you are covering the white house back in 2014,

you will recall a civilian airliner was shot down over ukraine in the area controlled by russian separatists. all we heard about it is how ukraine shut down the plane, the united states shut down the plane, time and again they used false stories to justify their own actions, and i think with the biden administration is doing here, is trying to get ahead of that, and point the finger at russia, and spotlight the fact that if you start to see wild claims about ukrainian attacks on russia, as a justification for anything russia does, you should know that that is what it is, disinformation. if you look at russian television, there has been a lot of hyperbolic threat about how ukraine is actually preparing to invade russia, and the united states is preparing to attack russia through ukraine, or even a chemical weapons attack. those are things that are on russian television. so i think that the administration is just trying to do a spotlight on it. it does show, i think that vladimir putin is not seeing the groundswell of public support for a roll war, but he

might have been counting upon. i think he is in a bit of a box of his own making. the question is, what does he do about that? does he save face in some fashion through diplomacy? and walk back his threats? does he feel like he has gone so far in surrounding ukraine with these troops that he has to do something? >> let me read you this from the new york times, been. the administration has revealed information that could only have been obtained by penetrating, at least to some degree, russia's military and intelligence systems. the disclosures also raise the issue of whether, in trying to disrupt moscow's actions by revealing them in advance, the administration is deterring russian action or spring it on. so, what does biden need to weigh when the administration makes things like this public, or is it not a tough call to call out disinformation? >> i don't think it is a tough call, you know, back in 2014, 15, 16, when we were dealing with russian intervention in ukraine, it was a bit more subterranean than having 120,000 troops there doing special forces.

i thought we should have revealed more about what we knew about what russia was up to. both in the disinformation space, and in terms of what they were providing to separatists and ukraine. the question was around sources, methods, and whether or not if you declassify information, the russians will know that you are watching them. the reality, chris, is that they know that. the united states and russia spy on each other. they try to collect information on one another. it is not a surprise to russia that we are monitoring whether disinformation campaigns may be. we might as well lay that out there for the public to see. put it out in the open. i think that that is the right thing to do. on this question of whether it could provoke putin, look. this is a choice you have to make about whether to launch an invasion that could bring serious consequences to him, both in terms of loss of life from a russian military operation, and economic damage. he is going to make that decision not based on what the press briefing at the state department and the pentagon does. he's going to make that decision based on his cost-benefit analysis of

whether you have something to gain, or whether he has more to lose. that is where the administration has to affect this. >> let me ask you as well about the successful mission to take out the isis leader. and vice president joe biden was opposed to the raid that killed osama bin laden, but he made this call to decide on a special forces raided, not an airstrike, to minimize civilian casualties. you have watched these life and death decisions being made up close. what goes into them? do you think that as leon panetta told the washington post, biden knows this kind of judgment affects how he is viewed by history. >> look, first of all what goes into that is months. what people do not see, they just see the operation at the end, you find a compound that you associate with an isis leader like this, you watch it, you gather as much intelligence, you get a degree of certainty that the target is there, then you have to design an operation, then you have to literally practice the operation, then there is the kind of decision point brought up to the white

house about whether to do it, and this involves sending u.s. special forces into a party where the do not usually operate, where they will be engaged, it is a risk. is it worth the risk of getting this leader? and by the way, all the intelligence that could be exploited from this compound, whatever phones and hard drives they could get, and teach us more about what isis is up to. i think joe biden made the determination, it was the right determination, that if you are going to go after the leader of isis, you want to do that with a certainty that not only are minimizing to the best of your abilities civilian casualties, and frankly we learned today that you cannot minimize that if a terrorist is going to pull himself up, but also you have an intelligence mission of gathering what is in the compound, and he thought that that was worth the risk. the united states has been operating in syria for sometime now, so we have gotten more accustomed to these types of raids, that does not diminish them, things can go wrong. in this case, they didn't for the u.s. forces. we should all be thankful for that. but we should not think that this is somehow routine.

this is a fairly extraordinary operation, and part of the world, where u.s. does not usually function -- >> it is good to talk to, you thank you. >> thank you, chris. >> coming up, joe biden hits the road to take on some of the challenges he is facing here at home. we will ask when you to tell, ever and matthew doubt about it when the 11th hour continues. matthew doubt about i when the 11th hour continues when the 11th hour continues skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. y or symptoms such as fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪nothing is everything♪ talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save.

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this is the planning effect. >> mitch i want to hurt your

reputation but, we really darn friends. and that's not an epiphany we're having here at the moment. we royce, you've always done exactly what you said, you are a man of your word, your man of honor. thank you for being my friend. >> president biden may consider mitch mcconnell a friend, but that has never stopped the minority leader from blocking the democrat at every turn. and with the possibility of a democrat shutdown just days away, budget negotiations are no different. mcconnell already signaling his willingness to hold up the process. >> look, mister president, two years in, if democrats call for more emergency spending, the burden lies with them. >> remember, mitch mcconnell killed the filibuster for the supreme court nominations, or he will be getting ready to block the nominee for -- progressive candidates and

causes and msnbc was contributor matthew dowd. matthew, maybe president biden's optimistic side of him was hoping for a reset with nominating justice to the supreme court. what are the chances of that? it's been slim and none or are you an optimist? >> somewhere between none and none. i think the presidents optimist, but i think that he's realistic about things. at this point he is, i think it's a come a little while to realize that washington would go back to some bygone era in which he was a senator in. i take joe biden today to be, the guy has a great sense of decency, a great sense of kindness. a great sense of positive outlook, just relate to people. in an open way. but i also think it's a little

foolhardy to describe mitch mcconnell as a man of his word. it's like saying jeffrey downer was a man of his word. he said what he was going to do, but he didn't do a lot of things that were very good. i think it's a sense of decency, it's not very helpful at this moment because i don't think it conveys a sense of -- mitch mcconnell really wants to do and what the republican party really is. i think that's my only criticism of it. i think that he's trying to be decent but it's not clear but the republican party is today. >> when he, thought when the president was in town today to fund the programs. take a listen. >> congress needs to do his job to pass the president, all these folks from congress, are all supportive. but it's time to fund communities. community police and the people who are going to protect them. >> what do you make of that?

are americans keeping track of who funds wet programs, on the perception of rising crime in their communities? what are you reading into what you saw on her today? >> i think the president has been consistent on his stance on police budgets, and let's be real, the budgets have been increasing. the budget increased to half a billion dollars in the last fiscal year. i don't think that there's a questionnaire issue of funding the police. i think if anything he should be focusing on the dreadful policing act and that people feel safe while being police well we know how disproportionately black and brown communities experience violence at their hands. that's something that he should put his energy and. that's where he promised he would deliver to voters and as he goes into the midterms, he should be exclusively focused on promises. i couldn't agree with matt moore and how unnecessary that

praise for mcconnell is at this point because it shows the voters that he doesn't understand his way promises that he delivered as a democratic president. so do the george floyd policing act, reintroduce some language around provisions for voting rights, make sure we're doing everything we can to get provisions for the build back better act. that should be biden's focus at this point. >> matthew, congressman eric swalwell is challenging critics who are saying that democrats are anti-police. this is what he said, quote, where mccarthy's and gop voted against new police funding, refused to meet with january six areas, and support trump who pledges to pardon popular. when you think of this messaging and what's your sense of how hall all of this might play into the midterms? >> i'll take your last part first and connected back. i think what's going on around

security is going to be a major issue. i'm here in texas. it's an issue in places like houston and dallas. it's a big issue for people. and you could argue over whether it's over more perception or it's a reality. it doesn't matter because people, most people, think it's a reality. in this moment. i think eric swalwell is exactly right. he's pointing out facts, but i also think he's also demonstrating that the democrats know it's an issue, they have to get on top of it. this was never a issue that democrats win on. they just can't get beaten badly on it. i agree with when eta. where we really don't need is another whole decade of war on drugs plan that never solves the problem, it just gives people talking points. we need to fundamentally, yes, crime is an issue and there are issues of security, but we really need to get to the root causes of it.

and maybe one liter will show up one day and say, yeah, we'll make sure the police you are secure, but what's fundamental and driving this is the root causes of crime, whether it's a lack of education, opportunity, all the things they are frustrated by. and until we get there, it's going to be an issue in 2022. but i hope that leaders can actually broaden their look at this and look at all parts of it. especially the root causes of crime. >> when you ten matthew are staying with us a bit longer. so coming, up we could preview what's a significant day for mike pence in florida when the 11th hour continues. mike pence in florida when the 11th hour continues.

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former vice president will address and fend his decision to certify the election. at the same time, the rnc will be voting on a resolution to censure this genie and adam canceling her. congresswoman cheney released a statement ahead of tomorrow's votes saying, quote, i'm a constitutional conservative and i do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the constitution to embrace donald trump. history will be their judge. i will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic. no matter what. still with us, when eta tolliver and mathew tao. when you, the nbc reports there has been this lengthy debate in the resolution against cheney and kinzinger that's going to be presented to the full rnc tomorrow. reportedly it's a watered down version of the initial plan was to oust the two from the party. but what is censure lawmakers. they're outcasts. consider is retiring. either, way is this really what voters and potential republican

voters care -- donors, care about? >> i promise you it's not, chris. and that's why i was roger down so far. from removing them from the house conference to censure which essentially means we won't support you, we won't give you money. and based on the waitlist, cheney is completely unbothered by that. i do think that it does signal the republican national committee is not on the same page here. they recognize it's not worth the ire of trying to remove them from the committee and convince voters when they're not republicans when they vote for republicans 90 plus percent of the time. i think this is yet another move to play fake trump and for the rnc to stay in his good graces. but the reality is, they want the focus on other issues. they want to call out inflation, they want to call out gas prices and grocery prices and hit democrats. but with that me -- if they actually had a platform. which we know mcconnell said they're not gonna release.

they're still trying to fall along behind trump's lies to certain degree. but it just shows the chaos within the republican party that is going to continue through the midterms. and it could come back to haunt them. >> let me ask you something about the washington post michael garrison warned about the trump's influence on the gop, he said will be long-lasting. this is what he writes, quote, a man who reintroduced raw racism and white grievance into our politics is approved of by more than 80% of republicans. a man who gathered and incited in the salt on the u.s. capitol is approved of by more than 80% of republicans. a man who contemplated a military coup against the constitution is approved of by more than 80% of republicans. in so many ways, the infection is already deep in the bone. his approval ratings, you could argue, are down from what pretty consistently in the 90s. but is there any hope that at some point, trump's luster to republican voters will fade

from a strong majority? >> i don't think it matters anymore. i think -- what cost the republican party to be what it is today, he is a rare election of what the republican party had become over the last ten years. which is why he won the nomination in 2016. he did win the nomination because he convinced republicans that he was a man of stellar integrity and virtue. he basically reflected a majority about the republicans wanted. so to me, the sooner we all get past the idea that trump is driving the republican party, and it's the republican voters, is the republican base that is driving the party, the reason why the rnc is even contemplating what they are doing, with adam kinzinger and the spiny, is because that's where the republican bases in this. the root causes not excise donald trump. which is what happened. he lost in 2020. it's gotten worse since 2020 with the republican party is

willing to do. so fundamentally, all of us have to understand, this is not a donald trump problem. this is a republican base problem. and the longer that goes on and the misinformation and everything that is consumed by that, the more danger it is, in my view, to our democracy. >> we've only got a couple of seconds left, juanita, but do you make anything of the fact that while donald trump continues to raise huge amounts of money, the people who voted for impeachment are raising more money than there trump backed other challengers. >> that shows there is more support for getting to the truth and accountability than he anticipated. and i do think that it shows it's an early mark that his lies and his brand only work for him. they don't translate into fund raising success. yet, i say yet because we still have a long way to go on this midterm. but just as we've seen so far, it's not translating into success for his handpicked candidates to challenge these republicans. >> when eta tolliver, mathew tao, thank you very much.

and coming, up an update on that enormous storm system that is bringing snow, ice, and power outages from texas to maine. when the 11th hour continues. when thehe gum line. to help keep the gum sealed tight. (naj) at fisher investments, our clients know we have their backs. (other money manager) how do your clients know that? (naj) because as a fiduciary, it's our responsibility to always put clients first. (other money manager) so you do it because you have to? (naj) no, we do it because it's the right thing to do. we help clients enjoy a comfortable retirement. (other money manager) sounds like a big responsibility. (naj) one that we don't take lightly. it's why our fees are structured so we do better when our clients do better. fisher investments is clearly different. do you take aspirin? plain aspirin could be hurting your stomach.

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is hitting a large portion of the country, hundreds of thousands in the states of texas and ohio are without power right now. the same system is spinning off rare and deadly winter tornadoes and alabama. millions more will be feeling the impact tomorrow as the nasty winter weather hits into the northeast. nbc news correspondent morgan chan ski has the report. >> tonight, a frigid blast plunging nearly 100 million americans into a deep freeze. and even spawning rare winter tornadoes. new images from sawyer ville, alabama, capturing home shredded from an afternoon twister. >> very scary. >> the tornado part of the system stretching from texas to

new england, bringing snow and freezing rain. >> where in 35 and sliding, gets a call. it >> i see conditions behind this illinois pileup with jackknifed semis blocking traffic for hours. nationwide, 5000 flights canceled today. in texas, this -- dishing out a major test for the states power grid. cripple during last year's storm, they'll have more than 200 people dead. >> we are dealing with one of the most significant icing events that we've had in the state of texas then at least several decades. the texas electric grid is the most reliable and resilient it's ever been. >> officials say winterize plants and extra reserves are keeping the grid intact. but i see buildup on trees and power lines is causing local outages for thousands. >> oh no, not again. that was my first thought. >> he still has power for now, but last year spent four days huddled in a sleeping bag with little food or water. >> where did last year storm

leave you? >> with a new mind said to be prepared the next time. >> the real test will come friday, when demand for electricity is expected to peak. nbc meteorologist explains what's still to come. >> the highest energy demand will be tomorrow morning with temperatures in the teens. watch out overnight icing kentucky and tomorrow morning in central new england, as far as the snow, new england could get up to a foot overnight. >> even in winter hardy massachusetts, multiple cities are already shutting down schools on friday as the storm now powers its way north. >> right, now the main concern is the texas state power grid which has held up to this point, but officials say the peak demand won't come until some point on friday morning. they say extra reserves are on standby if they need it, and that 10,000 alignment are stationed across the state to respond to local outages as they come. we'll send it back to you. >> morgan chesky, thank you. coming up, let the games begin, when the 11th hour continues.

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rhiana decker, to an injury in the game. she will have to set up the remainder of the olympics. beijing is 13 hours ahead of us, so the events tonight, are actually taking place tomorrow morning in china. and won gold medal favorites, team usa's 22-year-old nathan cheng. he is returning to the ice after disappointing appearance in the 2018 winter games. since then he's preparing for a comeback winning every national championship since then while taking a full course load at the yale intercity. he's at a great start, achieving his best ever score. nathan explained to lester holt but he's hoping to get out of this year's competition. >> ultimately i want to be able to go to beijing and just -- as clichés it sounds, just enjoy the expanse as much as i can. >> it's not cliché, a lot of athletes talk about they want to go to the olympics and have fun. >> i have five years, ten years down the line i want to be able to look back at my career and

say, i enjoyed every moment. >> personal best is probably fun, right? we hope nathan enjoyed every moment of the games and hope you will as well. just six and a half hours from now you can catch the opening ceremony live from beijing on nbc and peacock. that is our broadcast for this thursday night, with our thanks for being with us. on behalf of all of my colleagues from nbc news, goodnight. nbc news thank you for all for being here this hour. thank you for welcome to my home. i had covid exposure, i am negative. however i cannot wear a mask while i do the show because of the top. because i can't wear a mask, i can't go into the studio, because i can't put my coworkers at risk. that's why th