larry gerston, thanks very much for being here today. >> of course. >>> thanks so much, guys. janet napolitano has big plans for uc berkeley under a new program aimed at finding solutions for political security. the former uc president and homeland security secretary has announced an initiative called the center for security in politics. it will examine how factors like social media disinformation, climate change debate, and foreign interference in elections are contributing to historic levels of political instability. the ultimate goal is to find bipartisan waste, deal with the complex challenges. the initiative is based at the goldman school of public policy at uc berkeley. >>> today we are launching a new series at nbc bay area. we are diving deep into the issues surrounding climate change and the impact it's having on everyone. we're also looking at solutions. now, the bay area's creative thinkers are trying to tackle the problems. one of those creative thinkers joins us with a look at a story you've been working on, rob. >> yeah, all of us on the weather team over the las

joining us now is political analyst larry gerston. y, you literally wrote the book about the 2003 recall of california governor gray davis. tell us how you see this effort compared to gray davis'. >> let's do that. this is the sixth effort to recall governor newsom, if you can believe it, and by far the most threatening, at least to date. they need 1.45 million valid ballot signatures to put this issue on the ballot downstream, okay? so far they claim they have 1.2 million. mind you, the secretary of state has only validated about a half a million. so there's a ways to go. most people think maybe 1.8 million would be a good idea to get so that the unvalidated ones, if you will, would be tossed out. they have a ways to go. they have six weeks. the question is can they get there before that deadline. the davis thing was much different, jessica, because they had, let's call it, a good fairy, if you will, a $2 million down payment by then congressman darrell issa. that helped them get those signatures real fast. >> let's talk about the pol

nbc bay area political analyst larry gerston is here with more of the details., as always, good morning to you. larry, the single charge, the single article of impeachment is that the president incited that violence at the capitol back on january 6th. how do you think the house impeachment team will make their case? >> listen, they're going to just go straightforward, when the secretary of state of georgia, the way the president used his language on january 6th to in their words incite the riot, and also the way that the president managed it afterwards, not responding with the help -- and democrats believe they have made a very powerful case, kira. >> and what about the defense? the former president has a new team of attorneys. what will their case be, a sense of their case? >> you know, their first thing is going to be to ignore all the evidence that the house is presenting. they don't want to talk anything at all what the president said. they'll come at it from two different ways. first of all it's unconstitutional in their eyes to try a president after sing l

our political analyst larry gerston breaks it all down for us. how do you get a vaccine appointment? our consumer investigator gives us some tips. first, you got both shots so now is it saw of to hug your children or grand kids? we talked to an infectious disease specialist for the answer and more. we're back in three minutes. >>> the pace may be frustrating for many but millions of people across the country are getting vaccinated and that is good news. the question for them are they now clear to start visiting family and friends again. that depends. here is nbc bay area's scott budman. >> reporter: we're starting to get there. across the nation 13 million people have been fully vaccinated in santa clara county alone close to 250,000 people have had at least one dose. so now people are asking, will it soon be safe to visit someone? >> vaccinated people can hang out together. roupt dr. monica gandhi at ucsf says yes as long as it's been at least two weeks since your last vaccination and everyone involved has been vaccinated. >> we usually say 10 t

time to bring in nbc bay area political analyst larry gerston for a look at that. is this a sign of many gop senators, you know, remain deeply hesitant to sort of disown trump and his brand of politics? >> well they did for a couple of reasons. we got to go back and frame this thing, kira. what the democrats tried to do is show a long series of events, going all the way back to the summer of 2020, where trump kept talking about how the election was rigged and they went to the election itself and how trump tried to change the votes such as talks with the secretary of state in georgia, and then they talked about afterwards, trump encouraging people including a $50 million campaign to get them out for that january 6th rally as it were and how that rally led to the insurrection and trump's reactions afterwards, seeming to enjoy what was going on, not attending to the needs of his own party, his own vice president. that was the linkage the democrats tried so hard to put together, but even though people, including mcconnell, said it was a terrible thing, trump's a terrib

time to bring in political analyst larry gerston. hi, larry, good morning to you.ell us about the buzz surrounding trump's speech. >> good morning. here is a guy coming seven weeks out of the presidency. most people would say that's absolutely impossible, and unusual. no former president has ever gone to bat so to speak for his party and against the opposition that soon. they all give the newcomer time to just get comfortable before they start pummeling but that's what he's going to do today. he'll take on president biden in every way possible. we shouldn't really be surprised after all, president trump pummeled members of his own party again and again, while he was in the presidency. he went ahead and obliterated the line between the president's governance and the president's political party with his rallies that we at the capitol itself, at the white house and now seven weeks he's ready to fight and not taking any prisoners. >> do you think the former president is making a comeback of sorts today? >> kira, that's a great question. trump supporters would say no, h

larry gerston. what a day in washington. larry are you there. >> i'm here. >> you're back. you went woo away for a moment and scared me. >> i scare a lot of people. don't feel bad. >> there is interesting stuff going on in the senate today. why did the democrats think the impeachment trial was necessary? >> terry, they considered this serious business, you know, they really viewed the president as inciting insurrection. those are two big words. it really means creating a revolt of sorts. where? at the capitol. they thought this was an attack on their own branch as well. one co-equal branch attacking another. they really felt they had to draw the line somewhere. and this is where they draw it, even though they knew it would be a real tough uphill battle. >> so senate minority leader mitch mcconnell said as much, that the evidence was there. obviously a lot of people, most people in the senate thought the evidence was there. the conviction wasn't. why? >> yeah, this is the irony. you know, everydybo said there was a riot. everybody said it was terrible. everybody condemned it

we bring in our political analyst larry gerston. >>> plus cal students on lockdown. how long the university is asking students to remain indoors to get control of the coronavirus outbreak there. ♪ we always have a big party, it's a big thing for us. everyone gets together... to just have fun. the happy chaos... a lot of noise and... for me, i just enjoy it all... ♪ ♪ ♪ this is a no-nonsense message from three. small business insurance is usually so complicated, you need to be a lawyer to understand it. that's why three was created. it's a better kind of business insurance. it's only three pages. straightforward. if you own it, three covers it. got a cheese slice for "spokesperson?" that's me. i don't even need to see what's happening behind me to know it's covered. (screaming) this commercial is now over. logo. three. no nonsense. just common sense. >>> i remember that 44 americans gave their lives to stop the plane that was headed to this capitol building. the capitol stands because of people like that. >> right now at 6:30 that is congresswoman stacey plaskett one