it is the top of the fourth hour of "morning joe." a live look at san francisco. the airport is buzzing this morning. >> you know what, san francisco's airport has in common with miami's airport? >> no, it does not. >> absolutely nothing. you know why?

>> because miami's airport is a disgrace run by ron desantis. >> san francisco's airport in the same list that places the lowest rated airports being miami, thanks, ron. >> awful. >> ft. lauderdale. thanks -- >> ron. >> laguardia. thanks, cuomo, i guess? >> it just got redone. you don't like how much you have to walk? >> honey, you've got to seriously walk all the way -- i can't call you honey on the air? >> no. that is over there. that is not in here. okay? >> really. >> yeah. >> okay. let me write the rules down. >> no honey. no baby. nothing like that. >> don't call your wife honey -- >> not on the air. >> -- on the air. i call mike barnicle honey all the time on the air.

>> that's your thing with mike. >> yes. >> oh, my gosh. >> i appreciate. >> mike. >> so listen, here's the thing. i got this down as a rule. that's an interesting rule. >> i'm not comfortable with it. i'm totally thrown off. >> what if i -- >> no. stop. come on. >> all right. do you want to give me a kiss? >> no. stop it. don't you dare. >> on the cheek. >> what is going on? >> you're acting kind of weird but that's okay. so anyway -- >> can we get to the top story of the morning? >> mika. anyway, laguardia's too long. takes forever to get anywhere. >> might want to get on some running shoes and get at it. >> you land and you look outside and the baggage -- it's a scene out of "witness." harrison ford there and the blond amish guy getting the bags up. you understand that. >> okay. >> this is very insightful.

thank you very much. i can't call you honey or sweetie. >> i'm going to get to our top story. it's two minutes past the top of the hour right now. it was an historic step by congress against a former president, the house january 6th committee urging the justice department to prosecute former president donald trump, accusing him of insurrection and a number of other federal crimes. nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake has the latest. >> reporter: wrapping up their sweeping investigation, the january 6th committee concluding former president trump was the, quote, central cause of the attack on the capitol, releasing a 154-page summary of their findings. after monday's historic vote to refer mr. trump to the justice department for prosecution for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his actions during january 6th. >> no man would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve as any position of

authority in our nation again. he is unfit for any office. >> reporter: the committee's evidence leading them to recommend the former president be pros cam newtoned for four different crimes, inciting an insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the united states, and conspiracy to give false statements. >> the president has an affirmative and primary constitutional duty to act to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. nothing could be a greater betrayal of this duty than to assist an insurrection against the constitutional order. >> reporter: mr. trump on his truth social site attacking the committee and the fbi for what he calls a, quote, partisan attempt to sideline him in his 2024 presidential bid. the criminal referrals carry no legal weight. any charging decisions still fall to doj prosecutors led by special counsel jack smith, who now oversees the department's ongoing trump-related probes. to bolster their case, the

committee released new evidence from hope hicks, one of trump's closest advisers, who told him she saw no evidence of widespread fraud. >> he said something along the lines of nobody will care about my legacy if i lose. so that won't matter. the only thing that matters is winning. >> reporter: the committee's summary also singles out people close to the former president for being less than candid in their testimony, including his daughter and former top adviser ivanka trump. >> all right. that was garrett haake reporting. joining us this hour, msnbc and nbc news national affairs analyst, executive editor of the recount, and host of "the hell and high water" podcast, john heilemann. jonathan lemire and mike barnicle are back with us as well. good to have you with us. >> thank you so much, sweetheart. i call heilman sweetheart.

is that okay? >> that's fine. >> thank you so much, baby. john, tell me about what we should be expecting from this report tomorrow because i've heard you talk about this and you say it may be providing a roadmap to where the committee may be guiding the doj. >> good morning, darling. it's great to see you here. doing a lot of odd, awkward things. >> yeah. >> first of all, joe, that executive summary yesterday, right, 160 pages of an executive summary, that's a long executive summary. normally we see these things in a congressional report and they're a few paragraphs. and we'll see ten times that material tomorrow. >> yeah. >> i think, you know, you guys have been talking on the air all morning about what the doj is going to do with this, and obviously not legally binding. how helpful is this and how unhelpful might it be. yesterday i was focused with

prosecutors on the question of, like, what's of consequence here and what's new here? yesterday, at least, we saw the executive summary, there wasn't that much new. in the thousands of pages we'll see tomorrow there's going to be a lot of information that no one has seen before. if you're a doj prosecutor, what you're looking for in there is a purely practical matter. you're looking for information that will allow you to flip somebody. if you're conducting one of these prosecutions and pursuing any of these people for charges, including the former president, that's who you're looking for. who can you get to roll? anthony, a prime suspect there. some of it hints at conflict in testimony. >> john, let me ask you about this. you suggest there may be a hint, maybe meadows and scavino are already cooperating.

explain why. >> we were talking about this yesterday. the committee kind of raises the question of why scavino and meadows had not been charged due to their refusal to comply with subpoenas when the doj was charging steve bannon, for instance, and very deep in the executive summary, but the way it's written, the committee raises the possibility that those two, the reason they weren't charged is they're already cooperating with the doj. and seasoned prosecutors reading that sort of said there's no reason the doj would have gone there if they didn't already know something or suspect something at the least. and if you're reading that kind of carefully, the conclusion, again, more than one longtime doj prosecutor that i talked to said, you know, it sounds to me like the committee believes on the basis of evidence or

supposition that those two guys are already working with the doj on their investigation. if that's true, that could be a very big deal especially when it comes to mark meadows. >> it's fascinating. he turned over so much material early on, then pulled back. i suspect if he's a lot brighter than he seems to be, i suspect he or at least a bright lawyer said buddy, you're in trouble, you better cooperate. because he is in deep on this thing. let me finally ask you something we've been talking about this morning, something you've also talked about, heard you talking about too, about the very members -- you called them yesterday, i had to laugh, free-range insurrectionists. you take somebody like jim jordan who will be running the judiciary committee, the same guy who gave a hand to liz cheney to help her on january 6th, she knocked it away and said get away from me, you're

responsible for this. there are several other people that were responsible for what happened on january 6th that promoted what happened on january 6th that not only have defied congressional subpoenas but, as you point out, are actually some of the members that are going to be running the republican house of representatives. here we have, if you think the people that were responsible for the insurrection of january 6th are enemies of the united states constitution, those are the very deep that are going to be running the house of representatives. where does that put us? >> i mean, it's the craziest thing, joe. like we'll say again, this is a symbolic measure on the part of the committee, but even as a symbolic measure, the notion that sitting members of the house who defied subpoenas

issued by this committee who were active in some cases or passive participants in the insurrection, or who voted to decertify the election, including kevin mccarthy, the likely next speaker of the house, you could put them all in one pot in one way or the other, explicitly or implicitly, they supported the insurrection, sometimes active on the day of january 6th, and now they're in charge. and what the committee did was not -- i think there's a case that you could make some of these people should have had criminal referrals issued against them to the doj, but the fact they've -- a handful have been sent to the ethics committee, which, you know, i mean, ethics committee usually a fairly bipartisan committee, also a pretty weak committee in general in terms of it doles out justice on capitol hill, that will under the control of republicans because they'll be

running the house of representatives. it's like the weakest beer you could imagine. i said yesterday the party of the free-range insurrectionists are in charge of the house. not only are they escaping accountability but in some cases they're being rewarded for their behavior. one of the most disappointing things about this. i don't know what else one could have done apart from issuing criminal referrals on some of these people, but man, it seems like the committee basically threw up its hands and said there's not much we can do here, fellow congress people. it doesn't seem good enough to me. >> for more, congressional reporter for axios, alayna treene. what has been the response from the four republicans who were referred to the ethics committee? >> well, mika, they are keeping to the line they've had since the start of this select committee, that the january 6th committee is a partisan witch-hunt, they kicked minority members including jordan off of the committee so it's not a fair

committee. they are continuing to argue that this work is invalid and that it's partisan. and i think obviously that's not the case. i mean, even from some of these people, people on their team will privately say that the january 6th committee has been incredibly effective, incredibly successful. we saw what happened in the november elections. it definitely had an impact on donald trump and son only of these midterm elections. but at the same time, they are sticking to the argument that it's a partisan witch-hunt, we don't want anything to do with it, this is outrageous. and they can do that in a sense because they won't really see any tangible repercussions. they won't -- these ethics committee referrals, we won't see much of it. the committee is a partisan committee, evenly split. republicans are not going to refer mccarthy for any sort of action. and so, you know, nothing's really going to happen for these

members. i will also say that some of these members, including jim jordan, we know jim banks, who's not one who was remped but who's been very involved in the shadow committee report, they'll be releasing their own report very shortly after the january 6th committee releases their full comprehensive report, and it will be trying to go against what the january 6th committee is doing and really pointing out what they argue are security failures and other things and leaving donald trump virtually out of their own report. >> so, kevin mccarthy is trying to become speaker. this probably won't hurt his chances. it seems like republicans won't hold this against him because they've painted it unfairly as a partisan witch-hunt, but give us an update as to where he stands right now in his quest. is he still a few votes short? and is he going to be able to get there? >> he's in a really dangerous place, jonathan. i mean, there's just weeks left.

it's january 20th -- excuse me -- december 20th today, january 3 srd the day he needs to get these 218 votes. and he's still short. he put out yesterday -- my team scooped that, he had 54 statements of republicans who are backing him, including some of the far-right members like marjorie taylor greene, incoming congresswoman harriet hagelman but also more of the mainstream and establishment republicans putting out these statements of support for him. but at the same time, that was only 54 and 54 statements of support is not 218. it looks like the five members -- the five conservative members of congress who are still saying they are never kevins, will not vote for him, are still sticking to that in their plans to oppose him on january 3rd. that's a dangerous place for him to be. he needs to get at least 218. and right now he doesn't have that. >> john heilemann, yesterday's

report released, 160 pages or so, was unusual in that it was released by a congressional committee. most congressional committee reports read like refrigerator manuals. you just can't get through them. but this was both fanatic and cinematic parents of it, vividly portrayed. >> yeah. >> two of the most vivid portrayals was actually the comments from the former president himself to assistant attorney general donahue after -- december 27th, just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen. and mark meadows, is he, you know, cooperating with the committee or not? we don't know that yet. but tony ornato is a pivotal figure in some ways here and represents the damage that the former president did to the country. for those people not familiar with him, he was a former

longtime secret service agent assigned to the executive detail, the protection of the president, takes a leave of absence from the secret service, becomes a political guy, an adviser to the president, and according to the report, quote, multiple parts of his testimony are questionable, unquote. we're not done with him as a country, and i suspect the committee is not done with him either. what are your thoughts on the level of corruption that the president, former president brought to the table each and every day? >> well, obviously off the charts, mike. i know you and i are in agreement about this. we're still counting the cost of the institutional damage that donald trump caused over the course of four years. but i'd say, you know, among the most striking and something i think we'll get a clearer picture of when we see this report tomorrow, just the degree

to which the secret service, law enforcement itself was undermined by trump in myriad ways. the secret service in particular, some of the largest questions come out of this committee's work over the last 18 months have been how exactly did this failure, this operational failure, the security failure, the government has all the resources in the world to secure and does need to secure when it needs to, left unsecured, left vulnerable despite all the warning signs in the world. still the large question -- how exactly did that happen? trump is in the middle of that story. i think the committee report will give a better picture about how that happened and tony and others in the secret service, i think the doj may not be true with them. back to who's going to flip, some of these people will be under intense scrutiny. they'll be lawyered up for a pretty long time. i think we'll see exactly the depth of their legal distress when we get a more vivid and detailed picture in that report tomorrow. >> by the way, there's that

searing clip of the chairman of the joint chiefs, general milley, asking the question, where was the national guard? >> yeah. >> where were the police officers? where was everybody? and the question was asked, it's a question nancy pelosi was asking. >> yeah. desperately. >> and republicans later would hold a press conference, republicans who heard her asking that, and they would lie and say why didn't nancy pelosi try to get the national guard here? why didn't she -- we have her on tape with them standing there listening trying to get people to come up, the national guard and others to come up. i suspect that's again, another great cell phone with this idiotic report they're going to put out, i'm sure it will be backed with more lies because that's what they've been doing. they just haven't figured out

yet, maybe one day they will, but we now in 2022 have videotape. and the videotape, weirdos, insurrectionists, and freaks. good luck with that. >> the worries they might have among many is that some people might flip, and i think you can add to that after this conversation some might have already flipped. >> yeah. >> and are flipping in real time as we speak. congressional reporter for axios alayna treene, thank you very much for being on this morning. >> thanks so much. >> as we go to break, look at these live pictures from buenos aires where today is a national holiday in honor of the country's world cup victory, and that is a sea of people. >> i'll tell you what, jonathan lemire, let's just go full circle. a lot more people there than were at donald trump's

inauguration. >> oh, yes. >> look at the people there. i will say even the contingency in qatar was extraordinary, the number of argentinians that were there cheers for this team. it's just impossible for us to understand just how much this means to them. that lionel messi from the team brought to world cup home, jonathan lemire. incredible. >> clearly a no-school day. sorry, it's argentina. remarkable there the scenes. we're seeing now, this was a couple hours ago, messi and his teammates stepping off the plane after they touched down in argentina, holding the world cup trophy. they apparently went back to team headquarters for a couple hours to rest before now taking part in what is clearly a national celebration of this world cup victory. you're right, joe, the argentinian fans certainly

outnumbered those supporting france at the world cup finale on sunday, and this is -- mike barnicle, this is a nation that just cares so deeply about this and has a player here in messi who is beloved like a family member. and to see him finally come back with this championship, filling the one hole in his resume, it means so much for everybody there. >> the one hole in his resume. critical point. messi holding the world cup trophy in his hands. i can't help but think of all the incredible athletes equal to messi in other sport tos who played their entire careers without achieving a world series championship or a stanley cup or an nba championship through all of their exalted careers, the ultimate disappointment for them is they don't get that cup. he got it and it's really, really wonderful to see someone like that getting it. >> spectacular. all right. coming up on "morning joe," a last-minute move by the supreme

court chief justice, temporarily blocks the biden administration from ending a policy used to deter migrants from entering through the southern border. we'll bring you the latest.

26 past the hour. now to the building crisis at the southern border. the supreme court's chief justice temporarily halting an order intended to allow the title 42 border policy to expire tomorrow. nbc news correspondent morgan chesky has the latest. >> reporter: an urgent deadline this morning that could impact migrants seeking asylum at the u.s. border. the supreme court's chief justice john roberts placing a temporary hold on title 42, a

covid pandemic era restrictions that makes it easier for the government to turn away people attempting to enter the country, the high court giving the biden administration until 5:00 p.m. tonight to respond to the decision. before the supreme court's order, the white house was looking for an additional $3.5 billion in funding to help prepare for the anticipated influx of immigrants. >> if republicans in congress are serious, if they want to help the men and women at the dhs, they certainly will assist and get this funding to us. >> reporter: the department of homeland security also responding to the supreme court, writing in a statement, "we urge congress to use this time to provide the funds we have requested for border security and management." this week, el paso, texas, declared a state of emergency. the texas national guard deployed 400 additional troops to the border city on monday. the mayor has been preparing for a surge of undocumented immigrants, some forced to sleep

on frigid streets. >> we're going to continue to proceed as if it were being lifted. >> texas governor abbott writing, "the court order is a step in that direction. this helps prevent illegal immigration." nbc news met one family from venezuela who told they planned to cross after title 42 is lifted. >> v she's been traveling with her baby for three months. crossing mexico was the most difficult thing. >> reporter: border officials telling nbc news if title 42 is lifted they're expecting even larger numbers. a record 10,000 unauthorized border crossings per day. the impact stretching to new york, where the mayor says the city is nearly out of money, needed to shelter busloads of migrants arriving every week. he said the direction of state officials critical of the federal government's border policies. >> so, john heilemann, it's been a mess at the southern border for quite some time.

2022, it's been the worst year for illegal border crossings. it's chaotic down there. and we've gotten into a position now where you have democratic mayors in new york city asking for help on the border. and the same thing with democratic mayors in san antonio. and we saw during the campaign a lot of progressive senate candidates saying don't lift title 42. i was going to say if we do, our border guards are going to be -- border patrol will be overwhelmed. they're overwhelmed right now. any insights into why this crisis can't be managed better? >> oh, man. well, that's -- there's a large-scale question, joe. what i think part of the problem with the democratic politics is that the -- especially in the era of trump where the policies

of the administration, include toing this one, have been seen and not wrongly as being excessively cruel, not humane, not in the best traditions of how america has thought about immigration, they're trying to recoil from that and rightly, but in their recoiling from it, also tend to have this propensity to claim there's not really a problem at the border. and, you know, to knock down title 42, you can see the arguments for why the administration is wanting to get rid of it. on the other hand, both in terms of i think public policy, in terms of the actual substantive issue itself, and the politics of it going forward, doing that without having an honest kind of appraisal of the situation at the border as a crisis that needs to be managed in a better way, not with the cruelty of donald trump, but also not with the kind of wide indifference that says there's not really a problem down there, pretending

like it's not as bad as it is, that that's not a winning ticket for democrats either. i think democrats have a problem with this not being able to find that middle path. i think for the long-term health of the party and the health of this administration in 2024, they better do it. >> they need to find the path. listen, democrats have won every election recently, so forget the politics of it, just because it's the most humane thing to do, it's the fairest thing to do, it's how we actually follow the rule of law and people who want to immigrate here from across the world. john heilemann, i know you have to go. >> thank you, john. >> mike barnicle, i want to follow up on this, because it's so important, and i do understand, i do understand democrats reacting to the inhumane, horrific policies of

the trump administration, the way they used this crisis deliberately, having cabinet members saying we have to separate children from their parents. we know all of that. so we can have a humanitarian immigration policy that also respects the rule of law, and this is the most important thing, i think -- we are a nation of immigrants. we are a nation that likes to think of ourselves also as being fair. it's not fair for us to allow thousands and thousands of immigrants to cross the southern border illegally and stop immigrants coming from pakistan, from poland, from across the world. i have no problem with having

our immigration numbers go up. it needs to be in an orderly process that's fair to those people. and i saw this as a member of congress, they put in their application, wanting to come to america, wanting to build a better life for america, only to be told year after year after year, not now, you have to wait, not now, we don't have room for you here. not now. and that's the problem. if we don't do this in an orderly way. it's got to be humanitarian, orderly, and fair. and right now, mike, it's none of those three things. >> no, and it hasn't been for quite some time, joe. you know, you've hit the nub of the problem, but the root of the problem is that this administration and past administrations, let's skip over, you know, the trump presidency because that was -- that was viciously mean. >> horrible. yes, ma'am. >> but back to the obama

administration, they have to address the reality and the root of the problem. what's happening at the border and places like el paso and spills over the cities like new york, chicago, boston, something has to be done about it. it's a riot on foot. and it comes from countries that we ought to know better, that we ought to be able to help us enforce the border, the american border. how do so many people come from venezuela or overseas into venezuela and come up through costa rica and mexico without those governments trying to help us? we give them enormous amounts of money in aid, and they refuse to help us, so we end up with a riot at the border. you're absolutely right. think of it this way, you want somebody to come into your home, you invite them. these people have not been invited. there are horrendously sad stories across the boarder from arizona, texas, all across the

border and in major cities in the country now. but the administration has to step up and actually articulate how deep the problem is. they have not yet done that. and americans know they have not yet done that. >> they need to because it is such a humanitarian crisis, and as you said, mike, it is such a sad story. there are so many human tragedies there. i must say, though, for people who say, oh, let people keep coming up, let them keep coming in this way, it's not any more humanitarian than saying, oh, we need to let homeless people who are mentally ill stay on the streets and sleep on grates, and if you try to stop that, then you're inhumane. no. that has it backwards. we have to do more. we have to fund homeless shelters more. we have to fund mental health treatment more for those people who need it in america.

and for those who want to come to america, we have to provide a more humanitarian, a more rational, a more safe approach here, and also one, mika, that respects the rule of law. we talk about the rule of law all the time. you don't just apply the rule of law when it fits your ideological bearings. we have laws for a reason in this country. and we need to make sure that those laws are being enforced, whether it's in washington, d.c., or at the border, and we do it in a humanitarian way. >> but it's very, very, very difficult to figure out a solution to this. and i think this is a potential weak area for the administration that they need to shore up because it's going to be that they can orchestrate an incredible war and humanitarian crisis abroad and handle it with precision, with brilliance, some might say, but can't handle the crisis of the border here at

home. as complicated as it is, it needs to be addressed. >> it needs to be done. and for people who would use this as a republican talking point, i leetch you with this -- before donald trump was sworn into office -- >> yeah. -- in barack obama's last year as president of the united states, illegal border crossings were at a 50-year low. put that in your talking points, republicans. put that in your republican talking points. barack obama's last year as president, illegal border crossings at a 50-year low. we need to get back to that point and do it the obama way. we'll be right back. psoriatic as

thank you so much for having me. i'm so happy to be on "morning joe." as we saw in the footage, the worst climate catastrophe we've ever seen ever recorded going back to british colonial times where 1 in 7 pakistanis were

affected by this event, 3 million people. a third of my country's landmass was under water. while much of the water has receded, there are still many areas that are still under water. where the water has receded, it's left devastation in its wake. our damage needs assessment is we've seen $30 billion of damage as a result of this one climate event which washes away 10% of our gdp. our agriculture infrastructure, irrigation infrastructure, people's home, educational institutions, health care institutions all damaged and they're facing a series of challenges. the economic consequences of this on our food security and the direct sort of threats to people's lives, i mean, for example, if we just take the health emergency, our malaria season has extended longer

because these areas under water. we're very grateful for the u.n. secretary-general supporting pakistan and we look forward to kicking off the pakistan climate resilience summit and hope to turn this catastrophe into building back in a more climate resilient matter. if we do things right, we can ensure pakistan and the people affected are in a better position post this process than they were before. >> one-third of your country under water from this flooding. it's a sort of devastation that we can't imagine here in the united states. of course we have hurricanes in florida, we see devastation along the coastlines, and of course some laws have been changed that have made a difference on where you can build, where you can't build. i'm curious, how much progress can this international conference make to help pakistan

become more resilient when the next flood comes? >> i'm very cognizant of the fact that there are very difficult economic times in general, the impacts of covid, the ukraine war, the world economy is -- sorry -- in a difficult position. so we see this as a process for us going forward to come up with the necessary financing to address this issue. $16 billion is a lot of money. i don't imagine that we'll be able to achieve that target in one day. what i do expect is for us to kick off this process, build awareness about where pakistan's needs are, find those initial partners to work with, and then we'll take this, sort of our proposition, our plan for climate resilient pakistan on a road show, not just governmental and financial institutions but the private sector. i believe there is an opportunity in this crisis.

we can invest in our green energy transition as a result. we've got the largest irrigation infrastructure in the entire world. we've got an outdated agriculture system we inherited from the british. there's a lot of adaptation we can get as a result of this and ensure that we build back in a manner that means that the next time this climate catastrophe -- we face this kind of catastrophe, we're better prepared to cope. >> mr. foreign minister, i'm sure you would agree with me that our two countries through years over the decades, we've had fraught relations over times, have talked past each other, and yet pakistan is such an incredibly important country as the united states looks at all of the challenges that are rising in asia and throughout your region. in 2022, how are our two countries doing? are we moving forward a better

understanding? are we talking past each other less? is there hope for a stronger u.s./pakistani relationship? >> i certainly think so. i'm extremely happy to report in the eighth month that i have been foreign minister of pakistan, we've engaged in consistent -- both sides, actually, bilateral exchanges, high-level visits and delegations, and i'm very, very happy to report and you've been following the relations for quite some time now, that in the past, 90% of our conversation used to be around the war and war on terrorism. if you look at our readouts or engagements now, 90% of our engagements are about economic opportunities and other areas we can cooperate, including terrorism. so i think that's a positive sign for the u.s./pakistan relations. we can't change what happened in the past. we can learn from the past, engage with each other with realistic expectations.

as you said, don't talk over each other or at each other but to each other. and in that scenario, i believe we can build a sustainable long-term partnership in the interest of both countries and both people. >> dan tells me that i've been generous -- our conversation, he said i gave you a promotion and accidently called you prime minister. if i did that, congratulations. i will refer to you as mr. foreign minister. thank you so much for being with us. we'll see you again soon. >> thank you very much. >> absolutely. thank you so much for having me. coming up, the star of the best revival on broadway, jesse tyler ferguson joins us next on "morning joe."

l.a. >> a pretty day. the tony award winning revial

about quail kwaulty and america's favorite pastime is rounding the bases for the last time on broadway. tony winner jessica tyler ferguson and jesse williams star in "take me out" now playing through 5th. it takes a swing at major top you can liex gender, race and sexuality all under the bright lights of professional baseball. there's even nude scenes. >> really? >> yes. joining us now is one of the stars of the revival tony award winner jesse tyler ferguson it's so good to see you. >> good to see you. it's prime minister jesse tyler ferguson. >> we thank you so much. >> i like it. >> we're handing out titles today. mr. ambassador, we can do that. >> how about great broadway actor? >> i'll take it.

>> let's start with jonathan lemire onset. >> welcome, thank you for being here. i'm not going to ask about the nude scenes, but i want to ask you about the revival it's come back to broadway running through february 5th. what does that mean that demands people to come back and tell us what it is like performing on broadway right now at this moment? >> sure, the show did well when it was first on broadway 20 years ago. then the revival won a tony award for best revival. i won a tony award for best featured actor and that all happened the day after we closed the show so we really wanted to give the show another shot for people who didn't have a chance to see it the first time. it's been great being back on broadway. the audiences are wonderful. broadway is struggling to get back from the pandemic. but broadway is here and it's available for people. we need the audience there is.

we're grateful for people that are coming. please come see us before february 5th. >> the theme of the show, the string of the show, the story line of the show gets to something that's embedded in professional sports in this country. homophobia, deeply closeted athletes. to my knowledge in major league baseball, glen burke, former dodger player, was outed while he was playing. this story that you're a part of, talk about it. >> it deals with homophobia, it deals with toxic masculinity, it deals with just locker room antics. it's a play about relationships really. a lot of people think don't know a lot about baseball and then they see it plays for everyone. it's for everyone it's about relationships and it's about all

these subjects we just talked about. it's a very important play. it's a play that when it first happened 20 years ago, the play wright thought this was going to be a piece that will only work in this moment because certainly this will all change very soon. and here we are 20 years later and the play is just as powerful and poignant and disturbing as it was 20 years ago. >> so jesse, i wanted to ask you about your documentary "broadway rising" which chronicles the broadway's experience through the covid-19 shutdown and just how horrific it was on so many levels. tell me what you set out to do with broadway rising and what it turned out to be. >> i'm super proud of "broadway rising." it's about broadway returning from covid. and a friend of mine approached me saying you want to do a documentary about broadway returning. i say it needs to be about the entire industry not just the shows, but it's the dry cleaners, it's the doormen, it's

the restaurants in times square. so many jobs were lost during the pandemic. so i wanted to tell the story about that entire community. we were this tribeca. it's going to be available for streaming on december 27th at home. and it's a really beautiful film. very proud of it. >> that looks amazing. you to think of the people whose lives were decimated. broadway rising, we'll take a look at that, but people who just disappeared because they literally -- so i'm so interested in seeing how that played out on broadway. that was especially hard for all the people involved. >> it really was. how were things now? has broadway come back to life or are stl still challenges ahead? >> there are definitely bumps along the road. we are back and people are coming, the numbers aren't where they were before covid happened,

but there's an upward trajectory. so that's nice. >> love it. it's really good to see you again. thank you so much for coming on this morning. take me out is now at the theater in new york city through february 5th. >> can i say this? prime minister and tony award winner jesse tyler ferguson. >> thank you for coming on this morning. that does it for us this it morning. jose diaz-balartics up the coverage after a short break. coverage after a short break

good morning. i'm jose diaz-balart. the supreme court has temporarily halted the end of a pandemic era health policy at the border. but the humanitarian crisis is already putting a strain on shelters struggling to keep up with with the thousands of families arriving ever day. we'll te