nbc's heidi przybyla is following the latest developments on capitol hill and nbc's monica alba has the latest from the white house. heidi, first to you. more republicans now towing the president's line. talk about the riff this is causing within the party. >> reporter: in a word, joe, this is not normal. we have gone from one republican senator saying that he would challenge these results now to effectively, last night, about one-fourth of the republican conference. not only has their leader, mitch mcconnell, made abundantly clear that he opposes this, but this is after all of these challenges have really faced a drubbing in the court system. so we had last night a number of republican senators issuing really scathing remarks, condemning their colleagues for what they believe is a fruitless attempt that only serves to undermine democracy. for instance, from senator mitt romney, he called this a, quote, egregious ploy that may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our democratic republic. it's something he said that should be reserved only for the most extrem

. >> let's get to nbc's heidi przybyla who is joining us from capitol hill this morning. heidi, senate republicans are basing this coup attempt on what they call allegations of voter fraud. but this is circular. it's them who are making the allegations after donald trump made the allegations before there was even an election. it's not coming from anywhere else, it's an entirely circular argument. >> reporter: right, ali, it was in 2020, which is now one for the history books, that these lawmakers, along with donald trump, propagated a lie on the american people. that lie was that there was widespread voter fraud. now in their own statement, they're using that lie and the fact that their people now believe it to justify their actions. they say in the statement that 67% of republicans, citing a reuters poll, now believe that there was this fraud, which they themselves must know is a lie, because they have taken it to every court possible, 60 different lawsuits now thrown out by judges from both republican and democratic appointed judges. you have the department of homeland s

with nbc white house correspondent monica alba and nbc's heidi przybyla who is covering capitol hill. monica we start with you at 1600 with that new reporting from "the wall street journal" that broke overnight about how trump reportedly wanted the department of justice and the supreme court to help with his efforts to overturn the election. >> that's right, kendis. there's a new occupant and completely new administration here at the white house, but it's the predecessor's actions that continue to raise eyebrows and concerns over just now desperate then-president donald trump was to overturn a free and fair election with new reporting overnight from "the wall street journal" that suggests that the president then weeks ago went to the department of justice and some of the highest ranking officials there and told them he wanted them to file a case that would go all the way up to the supreme court to invalidate joe biden's election victory. they pushed back and said they would not do that and that if there was pressure or a single actor who did it, that then you'd have many of these offi

heidi przybyla has the latest on the impeachment efforts and monica alba is on capitol hill with the newest details on the arrests following wednesday's attack. let's start with josh right now. good morning. you first there. there are reports that the vice president, mike pence, has not ruled out using the 25th amendment. what exactly are we hearing? >> this has been the big question for several days, kendis. you can't invoke the 25th amendment without the vice president's involvement. but now multiple sources tell nbc news that vice president pence is not inclined at this point in time to go ahead with calls to invoke the 25th amendment to remove president trump from office. instead, those officials and aides saying that the vice president is more inclined to let this simply play out for the next week and a half or so th k thinking that it's impractical with so little time left to, in fact, try to remove the president from office through the use of the 25th amendment. that doesn't mean that mike pence in these final days of the trump administration is walking in lockstep with presid

we will begin in washington with nbc white house correspondent monica alba and nbc's heidi przybyla covering capitol hill. good morning. monica, start us off with the new reporting from the "wall street journal." not only did trump plan to fire his acting ag to invalidate biden's win but reportedly wanted the doj and supreme court to help him. >> reporter: exactly, lindsey. we're learning more that bill depon reporting from yesterday until the "new york times" and "washington post" and now confirmed by nbc news that there was this weeks' long pressure campaign after donald trump lost the november election in a bid to overturn those results of a free and fair election with more unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, but what the "wall street journal" is reporting that's new here is an attempt and a plot to take this all the way up to the supreme court. this is something that donald trump wanted in his final weeks in office, but that ultimately obviously didn't happen and that's because according to the "wall street journal" all of these officials at the department of justice essentially pu

joining me now is heidi przybyla. president biden has his hands full with issues of great heft. i'm curious the scuttlebutt about how much the impeachment enhances or distracts from joe biden's agenda. >> right now they have been given this two week grace period during which we'll see more cabinet confirmations, more executive orders from the perspective of both sides i think this deal was cut between the senate minority and majority leaders to try to get that regular business done that is seen during any administration, incoming administration. so this week we'll see exactly that, more executive orders. we saw a slew last week. this week expect more for instance on covid, on reopening schools. there is a full roster of cabinet nominees who will be confirmed this week including treasury secretary janet yellen, as well as others potentially like pete buttigieg, transportation secretary. but the big question here in these halls is how is a 50/50 senate going to operate in this new administration. and that is the answer that we do not have as we deliberate over the huge covid spend

monica alba and heidi przybyla. thank you gierkss. joining us now is, republican congressman, van taylor, of texas. thank you for being here. appreciate your time. >> great to be on this morning, guys. thank you. >> i do want to talk about the new reporting that's breaking overnight. does it concern you at all how far trump was reportedly willing to go to overturn the election results? >> i think we need to get a full -- full picture of what transpired here. certainly, you know, i am concerned. at the end of the day, the electoral college is how we pick the president of the united states. that's, very clearly, in article ii section 1 of the u.s. constitution and the president, himself, is actually not in there. it is to be decided by the electors, appointed by the states. >> but specifically, this report, the dueling report in "the washington post" and "the new york times." that he was trying to replace the -- the acting-attorney general, with somebody, jeffrey clark, who could possibly get georgia lawmakers to overturn the results th

. >> monica alba, heidi przybyla getting us started on the first weekend of the biden administration. thank you. and joining us right now is roger fisk, former aide for president obama, and don baer, former communications director and former speechwriter for president clinton. good morning to both of you. >> gentlemen, good morning to you. i have seen your reaction from reports overnight that former president trump planned to oust acting attorney general jeffrey rosen and replace him with someone who would help pursue those baseless election fraud claims. roger, would this potentially play any role in the upcoming impeachment trial? >> first off, kendis and lindsey, good morning and thanks so much for having me. i've long maintained that the president's culpability in this predates january 6th. and now with these reports, we know that even on january 3rd, the same day that he made that infamous call to secretary of state raffensperger, that he was vigorously working the phones and looking at intensely antidemocratic options around this. so, even if he had not made a speech on the sout

and those people as heidi przybyla noted were coming for the vice president.r them, his life was really in danger. and so the idea that anyone could pick up the pieces now and say we're going to go back to being for free market capitalize and free government and debt reduction and law and order and the moral high ground and hope that this -- the voters calm down, it is crazy. this is a cult. and donald trump is going to work very hard to keep it that way. >> donald trump has help in josh hawley. let me play what former u.s. senator bob corker said today on this network earlier, eugene. >> people thought something might happen. and so there is no question that because some senators offered an objection it raised the hopes of those people who were out on the mall that ended up coming in and being a part of this seizure or insurrection or whatever you want to call it. so it was irresponsible. terribly irresponsible. and you never want to question people's motivation, but what it appears, in a way to launch them in the event that president trump didn't try to run