kristin welker there at the white house. leigh ann caldwell on capitol hill. thanks to both of you. >>> let's turn to jason crow of colorado. congressman, in addition to being a congressman, former army ranger. he served as an impeachment manager at president trump's first senate trial in january. january 2020, of course, which seems like six years ago. congressman, you know the pressure and the preparation that goes into being an impeachment manager. this is a totally different ball game. president days from leaving office. this was the most bipartisan effort for impeachment ever. how does that change the environment for the managers this time around? >> we need to keep this short. we need to stick to the facts. probably the biggest difference is we have to provide context. i think we have to talk about the events leading up to in the months and years that led to last wednesday. once the 6th didn't come out of nowhere. there was a context surrounding it. it has been building for a while. the most important task the managers are to provide that context. what d

now is nbc news chief white house correspondent who is now the co-chief with peter alexander, kristin welker, and leann caldwell. kristin, congratulations, number one, publicly? >> reporter: thank you, chuck. you left us big shoes to fill, chuck? >> no, you and peter and halle did a great job in the trump era, so congratulations to you. so where are we? how many people are talking to the president and how many more resignations should we expect? >> reporter: yeah, congrats all around to everyone. what we are seeing is a cascade of resignations here, and overnight betsy devos announcing her resignation and elaine chao, and our peter alexander reporting at this hour two sources familiar with the source tells us hope hicks plans to leave ahead of the inauguration, and that had been her plan since president trump's election defeat. you are seeing a number of top officials heading for the exits. what if any conversation has there been behind the scenes invoking the 25th amendment, and leann will have more about this, and the call to remove him from office, and they told us they don't see that as

kristin welker standing by.comes to mind is in addition to that man who was arrested -- i had seen the pictures of camp auschwitz when it was happening. there were t-shirts that said, 6 million w.e. 6 million jews killed wasn't enough. there's a strong theme of anti-semitism, along with the white supremacy, along with the horrific views of the confederate flags. has anything been said by the president? he has spoken rarely. anything about this broad theme of the people who were wearing maga hats and were his supporters? >> reporter: no. that's why you are seeing a president who is increasingly isolated. he has come out, including yesterday, urging his supporters not to engage in more violence. but not condemning those specific images. in talking to some of his aides and allies inside and outside of the west wing, i can tell you that it is those images that you cite that has infuriated so many of them. the fact that there hasn't been a stronger response. let me set the scene right now at the white house. presiden

kristin welker is outside the white house. garrett haake is on capitol hill. t me start with you, kristin. what do we know about the president's state of mind in the wake of the call being released? what are his advisors telling you about what this means? >> we know -- happy new year to you -- that president trump tried to call georgia's secretary of state 18 times before they connected in that phone call that has been made public. that gives you a sense of exactly how defiant and determined he was to have that conversation. i can tell you that, look, aides are growing concerned, because the assumption was behind the scenes that as we got closer to the inauguration, as we got closer to the proceedings on the 6th, on wednesday, that president trump would come to accept the election results. clearly, that is not the case. clearly, he has no plans to abandon his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. we saw that on display in this phone call. when the secretary of state fact checked him a number of times, reiterated the fact the votes have been counted and rec

garrett haake and kristin welker and i want to bring in dr. gownder. she is also an infectious diseases specialist and epidemiologist at nyu school of medicine. garrett, we just learned that another 847,000 americans filed for first time jobless benefits last week. that adds to the urgency to get some sort of relief package through. what do you expect we will hear from speaker pelosi? >> it adds to the urgency and pressure for the new presidential administration and for congress to move another bill quickly. there's a real debate going on up here. how do you find a goldilocks option of moving a bill sufficiently quickly, of sufficient size? do you want to make it bipartisan? those are the options that exist whether to pass a bill with the 60 votes necessary, bring in republicans, might change the math, priorities of what goes in and what gets left out, or do you use budget reconciliation, a process that would allow democrats to pass a bill on their own without republican support but might leave some priorities on the side and take longer? there's a vig

he was asked by kristin welker about the white house message to republicans. on passing another massive relief bill. >> it is pretty clear. we're at a precarious moment without desigh sif action we risk foling into a very serious economic hold. the actions will include boosting food benefits. there is a lot on your screen there. we're going to dig into all of it in just a moment, but his ambitious plans also include upping those payments. plus money for schools and small businesses. and for that, part of a nearly $2 trillion proposal. we'll need congress for that like we said. joining me now is jeff bennet and stephanie ruhle. this is the third day of executive actions from this presidency. >> yeah, he is doing a lot of signing this week. he will use the power of the presidency to mitigate the economic fallout connected to the pandemic. he is tining two checktive actions. one that will expand access for families, and another to increase pay and protections for government workers. he is trying to rebuild the civilian federal work force that had been hall lowed

. >>> from nbc news, this is today with peter alexander, kristin welker and dylan dreyer. >>> welcome to "today" and thank you so much for joining us on this saturday morning. and it has been a busy week here in washington. we're going to take some time, actually, to spend some time looking back at the career of someone who's no stranger to covering washington, tom brokaw. someone who's been a mentor. >> someone who helped inspire both of us. we're exceedingly grateful. from watergate to the berlin wall of course the greatest generation he is an american journalistic great as well. we're going to celebrate all tom brokaw has accomplished. >> he's retiring. we're looking forward to that. we have a lot to get to. the date now set for president trump's second impeachment trial. this as the coronavirus crisis deepens and many sound the alarm for the vaccine coverage. we want to begin with nbc's kelly o'donnell at the white house. good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, kristin. president biden is facing a one of a kind challenge for the new president. how to keep his own prioritie

. >>> from nbc news, this is "today" with peter alexander, kristin welker and dylan dreyer. >> welcome to "today." thank you for joining us on this saturday morning. >> we are here. just four days away from the inauguration. dylan, you would not believe what the nation's capitol looks like. we have checkpoints everywhere. high security. it's just unrecognizable, frankly. >> just reminded as you see all of these barricades and troops that all of this is being done to protect us from the threat posed by other americans. kind of a chilling reminder of the situation we find ourselves in. that's where we start beginning with our top story. the threats of more violence this weekend. the nation's capitol today is a fortress. right now there are close to 7,000 service members in washington, d.c. by wednesday that number is expected to grow to more than 25,000 expected for the inauguration. >> it all stems, of course, from last week's capitol. close to 100 people have now been arrested since then, and the fbi says they have nearly 300 criminal investigations open as well. with the fbi warning t