white house press secretary jen psaki and democrats, senator chris coons and congresswoman karen bass join me to discuss ahead. >>> plus, the party of trump. the former president returns to the political arena hellbent on revenge and potentially setting the stage for 2024. how far will he go to keep his maga grip on the gop? i'll speak to republican senator bill cassidy in moments. >>> hello. i'm dana bash in washington where the state of our union is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. today there is new hope that normalcy will soon be within reach. late saturday the food and drug administration granted emergency use authorization to johnson & johnson for its single dose vaccine, giving the u.s. three effective vaccines to fight covid-19. and the company says it could ship out nearly 4 million doses as early as next week and has promised 100 million doses by the end of june. today advisers to the cdc will meet to give their go ahead and discuss priority groups. this as the biden administration prepares to make the push for its $1.9 trillion covid relief plan in the senate this

and chris coons told the house managers that, quote, the jury is ready to vote.e's day. oh, i'm sorry, i didn't realize valentine's day is a federal holiday or is more important than protecting american democracy. let's bring in hays brown, writer and editor for msnbc daily. thanks for coming on the show. you wrote for msnbc daily on thursday that having witnesses testify under oath will help the managers' case and you argued that cross examination from trump's attorneys would do little to bolster their case and yet democrats are saying last night that they had to let the witness thing go because none of the potential witnesses would cooperate and it would take years to subpoena them. do you buy that? >> not quite. i get the idea that it is very dangerous for a prosecutor to put a hostile witness under oath and under deposition when you don't know what they're going to say. they could lie and you have to figure out what exactly the lies are and where to go from there and how to untangle that and that would take a while. i still think that they should have done it

we had a chance to speak earlier to tom carper, chris coons, the two delaware senators, of course close friends of biden's. they were here earlier. i asked them among other things about the backdrop of impeachment, the challenges that will pose over the course of the next several days and weeks ahead. senator coons saying impeachment should wrap up in days and not weeks. as you look in the room, you see some of the democrats there. a similar picture we saw for the first official meeting in the oval office just days earlier where the president met with republicans. in this meeting, in his brief remarks that our team of reporters and cameras could hear in there, joe biden, despite those massive differences between the republicans' counterproposal, said he thinks he will get some republicans. andrea? >> and if our panel will pause, i want to bring in california freshman senator alex padilla, just appointed to five senate committees including budget, judiciary, and homeland security. welcome glad to have you here today. thanks for being with us. >> thank you, andrea. >> you were on a virtua

shannon: i want to read a couple comments from you of your democratic colleagues, senator chris coons said about the video today how can you watch this and not vote to convict? he told one of our capitol hill producers i believe there are more republicans open to conviction than is publicly clear at this point. your response? >> watching the videos was very painful. the violence that occurred that day was immediately condemned by me and every other member of the republican congress. i don't know a single senator who didn't condemn that violence. in fact over 200 people are now being prosecuted under criminal statutes for the violence that took place that day. that the venue to deal with this, civil laws, criminal laws it is not an -- this is not what the senate should be designed for, we have -- we are going to political partisanship. >> the president having his first conversation as president with xi jinping in china, you worked as the ambassador in this region for a couple years and very recently politico says this. any big moves related to china, the multidisc letting beijing dicta

. >> martha: so a little reporting, chris coons, senator chris coons and a comment by president biden in the oval office today suggesting that maybe some people are peeling off, maybe they'll get close other the 17 than anybody thinks. is there reporting to support that do you believe? >> we saw bill cassidy obviously from louisiana change his vote from the first time on the constitutionality question. you may get a few more republicans. again, the magic number is 17. it's interesting to hear president biden weigh-in after being asked and the white house a short time later saying he's not the pundit in chief and he's not even watching the impeachment. so i think that the white house is trying to stay out of this. it's probably going to be republicans who will face a lot of ads in their states depending how they vote. >> martha: no doubt. so they're continuing. sometimes it sounds like a summation and it isn't there. 16 hours on this side. this is expected to wrap tomorrow afternoon or evening when the other side gets their chance. we'll continue to watch. thanks, bret. back to the flo

joining us is democratic senator chris coons. you're watching the hearings in the senate and see some of the house today. you're focused on next week, a hearing in your own committee that deals with this, another different aspect of this. and it has to do with the rise of white supremacy. you and some of your colleagues have written a letter to christopher wray about whether they're allocating intelligence resources in a manner that reflects the scale of the threat posed by white supremacists whom dhs has called the most persistent and detailed threat in the homeland. >> fbi director chris wray will be in front of the judiciary committee next week. he was appointed under the previous administration and who came and testified to us about the threat that violent extremist poses. after the tragic incidents of january 6th, after an armed and angry mob stormed the capitol of the united states, we should have a clearer focus on just how much this is a priority for law enforcement, for domestic engagement and part of what we're looking

house manager madeleine dean and democratic senator chris coons. >>> plus, the latest on the pandemic with president biden's chief medical adviser, dr. anthony fauci joins us live this morning. >> announcer: from abc news, it's "this week." here now, chief anchor, george stephanopoulos. >>> good morning, and welcome to "this week." two years, two impeachments, two acquittals. donald john trump has made history again. no other american president has been impeached twice. no former president has faced trial. it's all but inconceivable that that record will ever be matched or broken by another american president. seven senators from the president's only party voted to acquit. so what does this verdict mean for trump, the presidency, the congress and the country? has justice been served in the wake of the horrific and historic capitol siege? what more will it take to hold those responsible accountable? what happens next start to heal or harden or divides? we'll take a first stab at addressing those questions, chief washington correspondent jon karl starts off. >> reporter: donald trump is

. >> reporter: her comments came a little bit after we heard from senator chris coons a democratic senator and key ally of president biden on our air earlier this morning saying he believes it should be a 50/50 split as to the democrats and republicans that get to appoint the members to this commission. that it would be evenly divided between both parties. we also heard from the white house on this later today, wolf. they said they have obviously come out in support of this commission, forming this commission. they say it is up to congress to figure out exactly how it is going to be structured. >> as you know, jessica, republicans seem to be mostly united when it comes to donald trump right now. and his role in the party going forward. what is the latest you're hearing on this? >> reporter: it is very interesting. former president trump has a lot of support here still on capitol hill. in fact, cnn spoke to over two dozen house and senate republicans and found, this was reporting by my colleague manu raju and manu found a number of these republicans were very hesitant and would not debunk t

joining us now is delaware senator chris coons.e you making time to be here with us tonight. i will tell you it was absolutely gut wrenching at home watching the proceedings today, really interested to hear from you what it was like today in the room. >> rachel, it was a long and a very hard day. you have just shown some of the clips that were the most compelling. the moments where senators, myself included, for the very first time saw a video clip of us running down the hallway and realized that we were just 50 feet away from an angry mob. that clip you showed of senator mitt romney walking directly towards the mob and being turned around by officer goodman. i think for a lot of us today was the first time we really put it altogether and the house managers did an amazing job of givings the timeline, the order, the clarity, the forcefulness of the moments. this is a day we won't forget. we shouldn't forget. >> are there conversations happening among senators? i have to imagine -- i thought i recognized you in that footage that we a

. >> i am senator chris coons, a delaware democrat. >> i am congressman john moolenaar, i am a republican from michigan. the four of us are your cochairs for the 69th annual national prayer breakfast. >> we are grateful for the opportunity to welcome you to this prayer breakfast. we are the cochairs of prayer breakfast groups that meet weekly in the house of representatives, the united states senate, and have so for many years, for a moment of reflection and prayer, for the sharing of a hymn or individual's stories and concerns and then for a witness about how faith has impacted our lives. we hope this national prayer breakfast, like these weekly gatherings, is an opportunity for all of us to gather from around our country and the world in the spirit of jesus for a refreshing morning of reflection. >> i am proud of the fact that in a bipartisan fashion, we continue a tradition that has been around for nearly 70 years. our nation, today more than ever, needs to see a bipartisan coalition of believers come together, believing in america, our god, and frankly, all of you. >> now more than ev

the king for myself if there is 0 for state local i think that's a nonstarter delaware senator chris coons says the gop plan doesn't offer any. no winning support from republicans in the senate is going to be vital for president biden considering the senate has that 5050 split in washington rashad hudson back to you all right we're what what are the main sticking points. well, the main sticking points are first of all that price tag republicans are offering the 600 billion dollar plan where's the biden administration and democrats want that 1.9 trillion. there's also some sticking points when it comes to back seen reopening schools and of course that state and local government funding that republicans don't want and democrats are pushing for. all right we're shot hudson appreciate the live report from washington tonight, meanwhile. >>the top house republican leader today declined to take action against congresswoman. marjorie taylor greene she has angered many of 4 colleagues even some republicans with her extremist beliefs now the next step house democrats vote tomorrow on whether or not

[inaudible] >> and on nor chris coons. >> i'm congressman tran 11 republican for michigan and we are your cochairs for the 69th annual national prayer breakfast. >> we are grateful for opportunity to welcome you to this prayer breakfast. we are the cochairs of prayer breakfast groups that meet weekly in the house of representatives and in the united states senate, and have so for many years. for a moment of reflection and prayer for the sharing of a hymn or individual stores and concerns and thin for about have faith has impacted our lives. we hope this national prayer breakfast like these weekly gatherings is an opportunity for all of us to gather from around our country and the world in the spirit of jesus, for a refreshing morning of reflection. >> i am proud of the fact that in a bipartisan fashion, in a bicameral fashion we continue a tradition that is been around for nearly 70 70 years. our nation today more than ever needs to see a bipartisan coalition of believers coming together living in america, in god and, frankly, all of our country's. >> now more than ever we need democ

joining me now democratic senator chris coons, who serves on the foreign relations appropriations and judiciary committees. senator, first of all, this has been such a breaking point in russia, perhaps not really reaching critical mass, but the first time under putin we've seen thousands and thousands of demonstrators from all stripes, not only just pro-navalny, this has been a spark that has lit a fire. in watching the brutality of what happened on sunday, it's extraordinary what we saw in moscow and what we saw today, navalny standing up in court in a glass cage speaking out, interrupting, speaking back. when they talked about him vie lating parole, he said you knew where i was. i was in germany recovering from the assassination attempt. when they said -- i mean that he went back and was arrested on return, and the assassination attempt was, of course, from putin's government. what is this going to do? the navalny leaders -- i spoke to them over the weekend -- they were demanding that president biden impose sanctions on putin's financiers, backers in the west. i asked secretary blin

the king for myself if there is 0 for state local i think that's a nonstarter delaware senator chris coons says the gop plan doesn't offer any. now getting republican support in the senate is going to be vital for the president because the senate has that 5050 split in washington are shot hudson back to you that were shot they seem to be locked in their is the president really stuck on his one 0.9. >>you know figure or is there some gain. well the president said in a meeting with those top democrats today that he is not locked in on that. >>one 0.9 trillion dollar figure but he doesn't want to go as low as the 600 billion that republicans are offering he he wants to keep it on the bigger end as you heard there in the package senate democrats want to begin bold package. >>but if biden isn't willing to go as low as the republicans want him to go or shot. do you expect says biden the democrats to try to just ram this through can they do that. >>will the democrats in the senate can do that they can act on their own but republicans are warning that this is not a good idea because the president

senator chris coons, thank you so much for being here this evening.te your time. >>> still ahead, what trump was doing and saying during the deadly siege and what he wasn't. we're back after this. (quiet piano music) (loud music & noises) ♪ ♪ (quiet piano music) comfort in the extreme. the lincoln family of luxury suvs. introducing fidelity income planning. we look at how much you've saved, how much you'll need, and build a straightforward plan to generate income, even when you're not working. a plan that gives you the chance to grow your savings and create cash flow that lasts. along the way, we'll give you ways to be tax efficient. and you can start, stop or adjust your plan at any time without the unnecessary fees. talk to us today, so we can help you go from saving...to living. this is ava. these are ava's shoulders. they square off. and bear it all. but now ava's shoulders are stronger than ever. this is what medicare from blue cross blue shield does for ava. and with plans that fit your life and budget, you can count on us when it matters most.

they quickly put the pin back in, adding, "during the senate break after the witness vote, senator chris coons, democrat of dell delaware said it would cost them to on the vikt. the jury is ready to report," he told the managers. "people want to get home for valentine's day." we can't waste time on this. it's just the future of democracy, right? jamie raskin offered this explanation on why they backed off from calling witnesses. >> we could have had 5,000 witnesses and mitch mcconnell would be making the same speech. >> instead, democrats stood by the totality of their presentation throughout the trial to prove their case. >> we believe that we have shown that this president is a disgrace to our country. mitch mcconnell himself said that. these senators have decided to hang their hat on jurisdictional grounds which are not based in the evidence, which are not based on the facts, and they will have to be judged for that. we have done our duty to the american people. >> we are in a very dangerous moment. the republican party's refusal to hold donald trump to account for inciting violence will on

>>former president trump delaware democratic senator chris coons doesn't rule out taking trump to court for his role in the deadly attack on the u.s. capitol a gastroenterologist not a nut louisiana. republican senator bill cassidy voted to convict trump but said it's best to move on criminal trials will be looking back. we need to look forward republicans like mississippi senator roger wicker left the option open if some prosecutor. >>wants to come forward with that's up to there's more bipartisan support for a 9.11 style commission to investigate the january 6 insurrection we need to spend months and months. >>on earth thing all the evidence that can possibly be gotten to find out what happened to make sure it never happens again south carolina republican senator lindsey graham, so the blame could fall to both parties but i want to look at what pelosi knew when she knew it. what president trump did after the attack and on the senate side was senate leadership informed. >>of a threat democrats may also try to use power granted in the 14th amendment to bar trump from ever holding office

i'm sure you've seen reports and comments from democratic senators, like chris coons, that this wouldave taken too long. if the takes were as high as you're saying, why not hear from these witnesses? >> i'd say a couple of things: first, it was very clear -- and, again, after manager raskin -- it was my understanding that witnesses that were not friendly to the prosecution were not going to comply voluntarily, which meant we would be mitigating subpoenas for months, and potentially years. i know you know thi, this, margaret, we're still litigating the subpoena for donald mcgahn, which was two years ago. leader mcconnell himself yesterday acknowledged the president's disgraceful dereliction -- >> brennan: you looked right at mccarthy. did you ever think you were going to persuade him to convict? >> i was hopeful. i care very greatly about this country as the son of an immigrant and given lots of opportunities. i'm grateful that seven of them on the republican side did that. obviously history will portray the rest. >> brennan: congressman, thank you for your time this morning. >> thank

>>former president trump delaware democratic senator chris coons doesn't rule out taking trump to court role in the deadly attack on the u.s. capitol a gastroenterologist not a nut louisiana. republican senator bill cassidy voted to convict trump but said it's best to move on criminal trials will be looking back. we need to look forward republicans like

>>former president trump delaware democratic senator chris coons doesn't rule out taking trump to court for his role in the deadly attack on the u.s. capitol a gastroenterologist not a nut louisiana. republican senator bill cassidy voted to convict trump but said it's best to move on criminal trials will be looking back. we need to look forward republicans like mississippi senator roger wicker left the option open if some prosecutor. >>wants to come forward with that's up to there's more bipartisan support for a 9.11 style commission to investigate the january 6 insurrection we need to spend months and months. >>on earth thing all the evidence that can possibly be gotten to find out what happened to make sure it never happens again south carolina republican senator lindsey graham, so the blame could fall to both parties i want to look at what pelosi knew when she knew it. what president trump did after the attack and on the senate side was senate leadership informed. >>of a threat democrats may also try to use power granted in the 14th amendment to bar trump from ever holding office aga

manu raju of coronavirus waronavirus is tweeting out senatornt chris coons of delawa. said to john berman the january 6tha commission, to investigat what happened on that dayaythe d be evenly divided, a break froms pelosi's position, the speaker. "the leaders of the 9/11 commission said part of why it was so successful is that it war even.is it was balanced," he told cnn. now we're going to hear from the speaker later this morning, 10:45 a.m. eastern time, around that time. you can watch it on our website cspan.org. john is a business owner in the nation's ith thcapital. >> caller: the last guy used the upward pressure on the system using the roofing example. someone started at $7.25 eight years and got $1 each year and now making $15.25 but the new employees come in making $15 an hour, now your best people will. expect more money because they've been loyal and if you're not able to give them $22, $23, 25 bucks an hour they'll be disgruntled and nothing takes down a business faster than a n bunch of disgruntled workers sos it will be a disaster.ut >> ernestine in west

democrat senator chris coons a close ally says biden will push for bipartisanship even if the first piece of legislation isn't. >> we can proceed with a democrat only bill. president biden is uniting the american people. he is moving forward on relief that has the support of three quarters of the american people. >> reporter: 3wbiden's top heal officials are passing for the passage of the stimulus bill arguing schools need more resources to reopen. >> i think that the schools really do need more resources, and that's the reason why the national relief act that we're talking about getting passed, we need that. the schools need more resources. >> reporter: on friday, the cdc issued new guidance for reopening schools. >> most disease in school does not come from in school transmission but outside from the community. >> reporter: dr. walensky says they are not mandating schools reopen but the guidance the cdc issued appears to have created more questions than its answered about how and when to do so. >> can you point to any scientific reasons for students in the united states not to return to

democrat senator chris coons says biden will keep pushing for bipartisanship even if his first major piece of legislation isn't. >> we can proceed with a democrat only bill. president biden is uniting the american people. he is moving forward on relief that has the support of 3/4 of the american people. >> biden's top health officials are pushing for the passage of his stimulus bill arguing that schools need more resources to reopen. >> i think that the schools really do need more resources and that's the reason why the national relief act that we're talking about getting passed, we need that. the schools need more resources. >> reporter: on friday the cdc issued more guidance for reopening. >> most doesn't come from in school transmission but comes from outside in the community. >> reporter: dr. wa lynn ski said they are mandating they open. it's got more questions than answers. >> can you point to any scientific reasons for students in the united states not to return to in-person classes tomorrow as long as schools are taking the five steps? >> you know, i think you look -- as you

i want you to listen to something that delaware senator chris coons said this morning. >> but there is still more evidence that the american people need and deserve to hear and a 9/11 commission is a way to make sure that we can secure the capitol going forward and that we lay bare the record of just how responsible and how abjectly violating of his constitutional oath president trump really was. we need to spend months and months un-earthing all the evidence that can possibly be gotten to through a 9/11-style commission. i frankly at that time did not think that spending months fighting over additional witnesses would've changed the outcome of this trial one bit, and the house managers agreed. >> so, something like that would keep trump front and center. that really the smart play by democrats? >> well, the 9/11 commission was designed to look back at what happened to try and make recommendations to make sure that it never happens again. and i think that is a worthy thing to do. what we saw on january 6th was horrifying and unthinkable. we should be thinking about how we prevent that.

the president earlier today was meeting with senator chris coons and senator tom carper.sked senator carper after his meeting, is there one republican senator who you can name right now who would vote for a package anywhere approaching $1.9 trillion. he said it's early in the process, we will see. again, none of those republicans so far have indicated they're willing to stomach a package of that size. kate. >> also not clear how early in the process it is at this point with how much of an emergency to getting that funding the white house is laying it out to be. we heard that from the coronavirus briefing from jeffrey zients on that very issue. >>> we are standing by to bring you the video of the senators in the oval office with the president. in the meantime, house republicans also face a key moment today having nothing to do with policy, but everything to do with the future direction of the party. will they side with conscience or conspiracy theories? that's next. [ding] power e*trade gives you an award-winning app with 24/7 support when you need it the most. don't get m

senator chris coons and others have expressed some hesitation about subpoenaing the president.'s all necessary before we even get to the question of a subpoena. >> well, if they did, it's pretty likely, maybe you think, that he would plead the fifth, which would just be interesting given what he said about people who plead the fifth. >> yeah, we all remember that president trump said only guilty people plead the fifth and that's only for mobsters and mob bosses. if a subpoena does issue to donald trump, that's an aggressive move and it puts trump in a tough spot. he has three choices. one, testify. i can't see any responsible lawyer permitting that. it would just be incredibly dangerous to trump himself. two, he can fight it in court. that would probably delay the proceedings. i don't think anybody wants that, and i think he'd clearly lose in court or he can take the fifth, but i think president trump would be reluctant to stand up there and take the fifth just because it looks so bad if he were to do that. >> can you help clear up something for me and maybe for people watching

>>former president trump delaware democratic senator chris coons doesn't rule out taking trump to court for his role in the deadly attack on the u.s. capitol gastroenterologist not a nut louisiana. republican senator bill cassidy voted to convict trump but said it's best to move on criminal trials will be looking back. we need to look forward republicans like mississippi senator roger wicker left the option open if some prosecutor. >>wants to come forward with that's up to there's more bipartisan support for a 9.11 style commission to investigate the january 6 insurrection we need to spend months and months. >>on earth thing all the evidence that can possibly be got into to find out what happened to make sure it never happens again south carolina republican senator lindsey graham, so the blame could fall to both parties i want to look at what pelosi knew when she knew it. what president trump did after the attack and on the senate side was senate leadership informed. >>of a threat democrats may also try to use power granted in the 14th amendment to bar trump from ever holding office aga

. >> shannon: want to read something from a couple of comments from your democratic colleague chris coonsd about the video how can you watch this and not vote to convict? he also told one of our capitol hill producers i believe there are more republicans open to conviction than is publicly clear at this point. your response. >> watching the videos is very painful. the violence that occurred that day was immediately condemned by me and every other member of the republican congress. i don't know a single senator who didn't condemn the violence. over 200 people are being prosecuted under criminal statutes for the violence that took place that day. that's the venue to deal with this. criminal laws. not an unconstitutional impeachment trial. we have serious work to be doing instead we're going through a political partisan show trial. >> shannon: the president having his first conversation as president with president xi over in china. you were familiar having worked as an ambassador in the region. "politico" said the longer biden takes making moves to china. leaving political openings for his -

>>former president trump delaware democratic senator chris coons doesn't rule out taking trump to court for his role in the deadly attack on the u.s. capitol a gastroenterologist not a nut louisiana. republican senator bill cassidy voted to convict trump but said it's best to move on criminal trials will be looking back. we need to look forward republicans like mississippi senator roger wicker left the option open if some prosecutor. >>was to come forward with that's up to there's more bipartisan support for a 9.11 style commission to investigate the january 6 insurrection we need to spend months and months. >>on earth thing all the evidence that can possibly be got into to find out what happened to make sure it never happens again south carolina republican senator lindsey graham, so the blame could fall to both parties i want to look at what pelosi knew when she knew it. what president trump did after the attack and on the senate side was senate leadership informed. >>of a threat democrats may also tried to use power granted in the 14th amendment to bar trump from ever holding office a

. >>> meanwhile, let's discuss what's going on with the senator from delaware, senator chris coons.ember of the senate foreign relations committee. thanks so much, senator, for joining us. you heard president biden's foreign policy speech today. it's coming into shape. we also heard the stark warning that he, in his words, will not hesitate to raise the cost on russia for what he describes as its malign activities. but what do you think that cost will actually look like? >> well, wolf, that forceful response to russia's actions, both a poisoning and arrest of navalny, and opposition leader and the way in which through their cyber hack of american national security systems, and their assault on our 2016 election, the ways in which russia has tested and tested the united states, our leadership in the world, our commitment to democracy, a forceful response such as we heard from president biden today was long overdue. there are ways that we can target through sanctions the closest supporters of vladimir putin and make it more expensive for the senior leadership of russia, that corrupt i

a close aide to president biden, chris coons was at the white house. he said it's not a matter of months but a matter of weeks to get a package done, neil. >> neil: all right, david. thanks very much. david spunt at the white house. so what was behind that meeting that president biden had with the prominent republicans? was it all for sure? you wouldn't be -- you could say wait a minute, i've seen this before. back in early 2010 when president obama met with prominent republicans to find a bipartisan agreement on a healthcare. karl rove knows how that ended and suspects it might be playing out here as well. karl, what to you think? this idea of reaching out to to republicans not happening? i'm beginning to wonder if it's not happening and this is all for show. >> i was taken in the aftermath of the monday meeting by two things. first, jen psaki said while there was an interesting conversations, our plan is being carefully drawn and to meet the stakes of the moment, she said, and we're not going to accept anything that doesn't meet these pressing needs,

anthony fauci, jen psaki, republican senator bill cassidy to democratic senator chris coons from delawarestern. our coverage on cnn continues right now. i will see you monday morning. >>> welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we're following breaking news, awaiting key house vote on president biden's $1.9 trillion covid relief plan. in a loss to the president and progressives, for that matter, the senate parliamentarian ruled that the minimum wage increase to $15 an hour can't be included in the senate legislation. we're also watching an fda panel meeting right now. they're weighing whether to recommend the johnson & johnso

is she doesn't want this to have a lot of conspiracy theorists on this panel and when you heard chris coons divided you know he's channeling joe biden. joe biden recalls the 9/11 commission and leadership of the commission is what's or not. in that case, it was run by two very respected people. tom ckaine, lee hamilton, democrat. respected on be both sides of the aisle, knowledgeable, didn't play games, known to are bipartisan. the question is whether you can find those people anymore, and you may have to go outside of government, quite frankly, to find those people with that kind of respect on both sides of the aisle, and that may be what they have to do. >> that is sad. >> yes. absolutely. >> gloria borger, thank you so much. great to see you, as always. >> good to see you. >>> minutes from now president biden will highlight 50 million vaccinations happening under his presidency and we're going to bring that to you live. >>> plus, health officials in texas warn the winter storm could lead to a surge of coronavirus cases. pnc bank believes that if you can get a pair of goggles that helps w

chris coons of delaware telling the managers reportedly, the people are ready to vote, people want to get home for valentine's day, not a great quote, i have to say. >>> witnesses or not, the results of the impeachment trial gives a clear picture of where things stand, right? a strong robust majority of americans and members of congress, on the side of democracy, and a large extremely powerful intractable minority against it. >>> one of the house impeachment managers congressman ted lu joins me now. how do you feel about the 57-43 vote. is there a victory there? does it feel frustrating that it was not a conviction? >> thank you, chris for that question. in most contexts 57-43 was a blow-out, this was not close. an overwhelming majority of the house and senate concluded that donald trump incited an insurrection, a minority of republicans did not vote to convict and that's where we are today. but history will record that donald trump incited insurrection, no question about that. and history also includes four years from now, and i think this makes it really hard for donald trump to try

senator chris coons believe it will be a different story. >> there's still more evidence people need and deserve to hear and a 9/11 commission is the way to make sure that we secure the capitol going forward and that we lay bare the record of just how responsible and how abjectly violating of his constitutional oath president trump really was. >> reporter: now, a commission of this sort would be independent. it would be able subpoena witnesses, videos, all kinds of things to try to come up with this common narrative that the public could essentially trust. now, having covered the 9/11 commission report back in the day, there were two challenges there. first, the commission always came back to congress asking for more time and more money. would this congress be willing to give what is necessary to do that type of investigation? and secondly, it was a time when the country was united after the september 11th attacks. it is a very different type of atmosphere here, wlorgt you could get those kind of independent and bipartisan folks to be part of such a commission. and pam, i should let

amy: and a lot of talk, for example, chris coons, considered one of the biden whispers, senator fromware, walng in on the house managers and saying the jury is ready to vote, which was sort of sending the message that biden wanted to move on, wanted to do with covid relief and other things, the concern that mitch mcconnell could somehow say that if the trial is going to continue, would not allow any other sin or to happen -- which would prevent essential bills from moving forward. i wanted to ask you what is next for trump? you have another possible criminal investigation. the men had da probe of trump's finances, the atlanta da probe of trump election schemes like interfering with the secretary of state demanding to find more than 11,000 votes, the georgia secretary of state's probe of trump's calls. then y have in d.c., both the attorney general and the d.c. u.s. attorney possible incitement of violence charge around that. january 6 insurrection. civilly, you have the attorney general vesta getting the trump organization. yet the two definition suits against trump for abusing andr

>> so, i haven't tried to influence or talk to anybody on this with the exception of maybe chris coonshe senate, who i visit with a little bit while the trial is going on, but very, very little. so i haven't talked to any of the folks on the other side of the aisle to see what their feelings are. i know how it's impacted me. and like i said, i'll be looking forward to see what the defense says and how they react to the case that was put down by the prosecution. >> i want to ask you a question on another matter now. i heard you talking about the fact that you just went to visit or inside the oval office for the first time. president biden had you over for a meeting inside the oval office. we're looking at this picture right now. you've been in the senate now for 14 years, right? >> that's correct. >> and this was your first time in the oval office? that just struck me as telling, in a lot of ways, about this president, but also maybe about the past administrations. how could this be? >> well, look, i had been in the white house many times, but never in the oval office. i had peered in a

>> did senate -- we had to report that chris coons visited the house managers and said, look, the drive for witnesses could cost republican conviction votes, some democrats aren't happy with it. was there enough unease with extending this trial that there was motivation to pull the witness request back? >> i don't know what chris did. i didn't follow him or ask him. i saw the same press accounts. i think the bottom line is this. the evidence was stipulated as to what congressman butler said. we knew exactly what she was going to say if she were called for deposition. i don't think we lost any ground. the facts were before the senate. i think the physical deposition would not have made a significant difference. it would have delayed the proceeding. >> i'm curious, do you feel as if by accelerating the process yesterday, is there going to be a connection with being able to speed up now and deal with the president's relief package? was there any coupling of that yesterday or not? >> no. we had this coming week, of course, as a recess week for the senate. we had time. that wasn't the elemen

>>former president trump delaware democratic senator chris coons doesn't rule out taking trump to court for his role in the deadly attack on the u.s. capitol a gastroenterologist not a nut louisiana. republican senator bill cassidy voted to convict trump but said it's best to move on criminal trials will be looking back. we need to look forward republicans like mississippi senator roger wicker left the option open if some prosecutor. >>wants to come forward with that's up to there's more bipartisan support for a 9.11 style commission to investigate the january 6 insurrection we need to spend months and months. >>on earth thing all the evidence that can possibly be gotten to find out what happened to make sure it never happens again south carolina republican senator lindsey graham, so the blame could fall to both parties i want to look at what pelosi knew when she knew it. what president trump did after the attack and on the senate side was senate leadership informed. >>of a threat democrats may also try to use power granted in the 14th amendment to bar trump from ever holding office aga

and then there's also money in there to extend federal unemployment benefits, and senator chris coonsrom delaware, spoke about that on one of the sunday shows. take a look at this. >> president biden has met and met, spoken and spoken with bipartisan groups of senators. there are ten republican senators still negotiating with the white house, but we in the house and senate, democrats have provided a pathway if a month from now as unemployment checks are at the verge of stopping for 10 million americans we can proceed with a democrat only bill. >> so i want to draw your attention to last thing he said. he said those unemployment checks on the verge of stopping. come march 14th, the coffers run dry. that is when federal unemployment, those extended benefits run out. so house and senate democrats plan to work through a process known as reconciliation. it's that budget process you mentioned to pass this bill with democratic votes alone. it's a complicated process. there's not much room for error, so even though the house and senate -- the senate is off this coming week for the holiday. th

. >> desjardins: defense lawyer david schoen spoke to democrats in the room, including senator chris coonslaware, but they rejected the comparison: >> most of us who were quoted as having used the word, we were talking about fighting for health care, or fighting for cleaner air, or fighting for better schools-- not fighting to interrupt the certification of the presidential election. >> desjardins: the defense team also returned to a familiar attack on the constitutionality of the trial itself, arguing the senate holds no jurisdiction to try a former president. >> this would transform the solemn impeachment process into a mechanism for asserting congressional control over which private citizens are and are not allowed to run for president. it is constitutional cancel culture. >> desjardins: the senate, sitting as the jury, already dealt with that issue through a vote. a majority of senators agreed the trial should move forward. ultimately, the trump defense rested their case in significantly less time than prosecutors took, confident their arguments had resonated and thathey had the votes

chief anchor george stephanopoulos will go one-on-one exclusively with senators bill cassidy and chris coons. and house manager madeleine dean to talk about the outof donald trump's second impeachment trial. >>> plus, dr. anthony fauci discusses the biden administration's covid-19 response. that's all coming up on this "this week" later this morning right here on abc. whit, over to you. >>> dan, to the major winter blast that's impacting nearly the entire u.s. with dangerous snow and ice, meteorologist brittany bell from our abc station in raleigh, north carolina, is in for rob marciano this morning. brittany, good morning to you. >> good morning to you. we're tracking two winter storms and that combination of that snow, cold and ice could be historic. in seattle, they actually on saturday picked up their snowiest day in 52 years. you can see the video of those cars struggling to drive in that snow, also in oregon city, ice was a big problem. crews were cleaning up that ice that was stuck on trees and power lines. leaving many without power. ice also significantly caused a lot of issues in v

when i heard chris coons come out and say, it would be a disaster, it was additional confirmation, okay, that's not going to happen. there's a couple of reasons. one is, i don't think that they think that they'll get anything much better than the evidence that already exists of what president trump said that day and what happened. and even with that evidence, republicans have made pretty clear, they don't have the appetite to go forward with this. so when you ask the president to -- former president to show, and his lawyers say, in a fixed statement like that, that's sort of evidence in and of itself, that he had the opportunity to testify, he chose not to. and then they'll just move forward. i think that is what they were trying to get out of it. i don't expect them to want this to turn into the spectacle that it would. but i think if president trump had said that -- former president trump had said he wanted to testify, they would have to let him. if other republicans or defenders of the president were saying that they wanted to do it, i think the democrats would have to let him do it.

jen psaki, republican senator bill cassidy to democratic senator chris coons from delaware and california congresswoman karen bass. that's at 9:00 a.m. and noon eastern. our coverage on cnn continues right now. i will see you monday morning. >>> welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we're following breaking news, awaiting key house vote on president biden's $1.9 trillion covid relief plan. in a loss to the president and progressives, for that matter, the senate parliamentarian ruled that the minimum wage increase to $15 an hour can't be included in the senate legislation. we're also watching an fda panel meeting right now. they're weighing whether to recommend the johnson & johnson single dose covid vaccine for emergency use authorization. that decision, by the way, could come at any moment. there's more breaking news we're following. a just released u.s. intelligence report says saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman approved the operation in which sa "washington post" journalist jamal khashoggi was killed. phil m

as senator chris coons, i think, was speaking for some senate democrats who were hopeful this would getn as possible. and, you know, really talk down the idea of seeing the former president come in and testify. in his words, he said, "have you met president trump?" meaning they don't want this to turn into a spectacle which, of course, is exactly what would happen if donald trump were to come in and tv at this trial. jake? >> all right, jim acosta, thanks so much. let's discuss with our panel. abby, in their response today trump's lawyers called the democrats' request for trump to testify a public relations stunt. and democrats know very well it would be a very high bar, digit difficult to get the former president to comply with their requests. so why manke it? >> it's a good question. they also know if they were in the shoes of the trump lawyers they also wouldn't allow former president trump to testify before congress. i also think that it's even from a factual purr sperspective, th not an individual who's known to be truthful. so it's not clear to me that they would get anything from