wolfe. >> barbara britton is in the middle. able to learn about david, he would have never gone to that hotel room to meet harry britton. he would have never gone to that hotel room to meet michael wolfe. he agreed to come meet barbara. >> the woman who wept tears of love for her long lost david, who professed to have held a torch all of those years, was the very same woman who called david on the phone and enticed him to go to that hotel room to be killed. >> they needed to use barbara as the lure, because david still had feelings for barbara. >> evidence? david had a roommate, reported journalist stefan kamp, and that roommate heard david take a phone call just before he went out that night. >> he was pretty sure it was a woman who was on the phone. david takes the phone, goes into his room, comes out a little while later, he's all spruced up, ready to go out, he's got a smile on his face, he's combing his hair, he's putting on his cologne, and david jackson left the apartment at that point. that was the last that any of his

crucial caveat, wolf. the current senate majority leader mitch mcconnell would have to sign off on that. at this time we don't know where he stands. one thing to keep in mind, the reason the senate wouldn't come back before january 19th is not necessarily because of mcconnell, it is because every senator would have to agree with it, and there are a number of republicans made clear they want no part of impeachment, oppose impeachment. it all underscores now as the dynamics play out, we're in an unprecedented moment, a president about to be impeached a second time, about to face a senate trial potentially after leaving office. lawyers inside and outside capitol hill trying to figure out the dynamics of everything and these are the options they're trying to work through as we speak, wolf. >> with only nine days left in the trump presidency, all of this unfolding. phil mattingly, thanks very much. let's go to the white house and latest administration official to walk out and call it quits, again with nine days

wolf? >> you know, it's really sad, jake, that just a little while ago when the president was speaking over at that rally not far from the white house, he uttered these words. he said, we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you'll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength, and you have to be strong as he encouraged these protesters to walk down to the u.s. capitol, and now we see what's going on, something totally unprecedented here in the united states capitol. protesters not only taking over the outside of capitol hill but inside as well, and they're endangering, right now, a lot of people. kaitlan collins is covering all this at the white house. kaitlan, what else is going on? where is the president of the united states? >> reporter: right now, wolf, we are told he is sitting in the oval office. of course, he has only sent one tweet on the matter we're seeing on capitol hill right now, with his own supporters wearing his sweats

wolf, you hit on the key point. the president can do only so much through executive orders, through federal action. he will need congress, if he wants to move forward on an ambitious package that with slim majorities in the house and senate, given the jobs issue, will be difficult. that's why you see the white house focus on jobs and try to tie new clean energy jobs to whatever they want to do on climate, wolf. >> they certainly are trying. phil mattingly at the white house, thank you. >>> joining us now, chris coo ns of delaware. thank you for joining us. let's start with president biden's covid relief plan. he wants bipartisan support. even moderate republicans are worried about the price tag. are democrats taking a risk if they don't go big while they hold this rather slim majority, 50/50 as you know in the senate? many remember the missed opportunities of 2009. >> wolf, i'm clear that president biden and majority leader schumer want us to do everything we can to secure bipartisan votes for a package. but we also

wolf? >> interesting. all right. thank you very much, melissa bell in paris. >>> coming up, the disturbing results of a new study about whether the current vaccines will protect against coronavirus variants. we'll be right back. ance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa (ringing) - hey kaleb, what's up? how you doing? - hey, i'm good, guess what, i just had my 13th surgery. - really? i just had my 17th surgery. - well, you beat me. - well, i am a little bit older than you. - yeah it's true. how are you doing? - i'm doing good. i'm encouraged by seeing how people are coming together to help each other during times like these. - kind of like how shriners hospitals for children is there for us. imagine if i couldn't get my surgery. who knows what would have happened. - same for me. i know my shriners hospitals family will continue to take care kids like us who need them most all because of caring people l

>> wolf, thanks for having me. discussions are ongoing as we speak right now about what the timing should be. but i can tell you my hope and expectation is that it will be very soon, within a matter of days after the inaugural, and the reason is we have a constitutional responsibility to demand accountability, to have a trial, but at the same time to carry out the vision and agenda that president-elect biden will outline tonight. very exciting vision. we need to turn it into legislation to conquer the pandemic. and to revive the economy and to confirm his nominees. but we can do both with republican cooperation and the republicans right now are facing a choice. they're giving us a false choice of one or the other. we can do both at the same time. >> the president-elect is about, as you correctly point out, to unveil a new covid relief package. he wants his cabinet nominees confirmed as quickly as possible. regardless of how the senate proceeds with the impeachment trial, is there any doubt at all that this will del

wolf? >> arlette, thank you very much. >>> we're joined by key democratic senator, chris kunz from delaware. you said president trump, in your words, does not catastrophe to be president any longer. do you agree with your colleagues like the minority leader, soon to be the majority leader, chuck schumer, who want to remove him from office, using the 25th amendment to the constitution? >> yes, wolf. and, frankly, more importantly, there are several senior former members of the trump administration, cabinet officials who have said that they agree as well. john kelly, who was chief of staff to president trump, has publicly said -- i think it was just announced on cnn earlier this evening, that if he were still in the cabinet, he would invoke the 25th amendment. attorney general bill barr, who has just resigned, elaine chao, secretary of transportation, who will soon resign. mick mulvaney, his former chief of staff, have all said that president trump bears responsibility for inciting the riot t

>> i think so, wolf. and i think you were right to say let that sink in, because it's never happened before in the long history of this republican, when a sitting president of the united states encouraged an insurrection against the government of the united states. and there's no doubt that that's what he did. you know, the president is doing cleanup now. and we saw his statement last night which had all the sincerity of a hostage video. but in it, he tried to back off the fact that he was the one who incited the crowd. he invited them to washington and he sent them down pennsylvania avenue. and that is how he will be remembered. he is going to be remembered not -- there are many other things that happened during these four years that were tumultuous and unprecedented and disturbing. but the last chapter of this trump story is the one i think that will brand him forever in the minds of the american people and in history. >> jamie, the white house just released that statement saying that impeachment would,

>> hi, wolf, well, there are two competing themes here. there's accountability, holding the president accountable for that attack on the capitol on wednesday, but there's also healing, something that president-elect biden has made a centerpiece of his whole argument, and something that he has said is very important to him, to unify the country, so it's clear that biden is not eager to add his voice to those calling for impeachment. in fact, when he was asked about this at his press conference here in wilmington on friday, he was asked if it's a good idea to bring an article or articles of impeachment. he didn't answer directly. here's what he said. >> i've been saying for now well over a year, he is not fit to serve. he's not fit to serve. he's one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the united states of america. and so, the idea that i think he shouldn't be out of office yesterday is not the issue. the question is, what happens with 14 days left to go or 13 days left to go? >> reporter: and biden went on to stress that he

wolf. >> it's interesting. we're just getting word from our pentagon correspondent orrin lieberman reporting in addition to the 25,000 national guard troops being deployed here in washington to make sure that this inauguration is secure over 750 national guard troops will be deployed for the inauguration, all with expertise in dealing with ordinance disposal, explosives and other tasks so this is a major, major military operation. thank you for that. let's get analysis from our congressional phil mattingly and legal analysts laura coates and david axelrod. david, would you have ever in all of your years in politics, seen a lot over these years, did you ever think you would witness an inauguration like the one we're about to see wednesday? >> no, wolf, not in the united states of america. i mean, we were dealing with a terrorist threat in 2009 from offshore, and there were concerns about that, but the idea of washington as an armed camp, of an inauguration within a green zone is something completely alien to us,

wolf, you see it. you see it in the conversation we were having about marjorie taylor greene, see it today in matt gaetz, rank and file trumpy member, going to wyoming, liz cheney's district, calling her corrupt saying she's part of an insider club in washington, saying mitch mcconnell is in that club, too. a club he says is screwing the american people every day. so kevin mccarthy does not have control over his own caucus now becausethy know through his actions today, he supports this, they have one leader. donald trump. period. look what happened today with kevin mccarthy. watch what these trump-loving republicans are saying in the house. look at the test vote yesterday. if you hear a republican say we're trying to break from donald trump, turn down the volume, it's not a serious movement, it's his party, period. >> can i add, kevin mccarthy had a phone call with his members yesterday where he said, cut out the crap fighting with each other. what did he do? he took sides today. went to see donald tru

>> i think it's too early, wolf.st settles, what time and what's the mood at the country. i notice there are a number who have come out to say they're not going to vote for conviction. i don't happen to agree with them, but we don't know. i think some are doing their political calculations, others are examining their conscience. i had many, many tough decisions to make when i was there. i would sit down with people who would agree or disagree with me and sort of get the sense of how i really wanted to be remembered later as to how i made good decisions, which is how i made my decision, by the way, in regard to donald trump. the other thing i think the party has to be careful of, they just can't be against everything. you know, you're going to have impeachment, but what about other things? it's sort of normal for republicans, i hate to say this, to just be agin stuff. they are not going to survive unless they develop positions on immigration, health care, the middle class and a working class struggle. that's where the

i am wolf blitzer.d at multiple locations around the united states. the fbi now says it has information indicating armed protests are being planned at the capitol as well as all 50 state capitols between saturday and wednesday which is inauguration day in the u.s. tonight, two capitol police officers have been suspended and another individual arrested for their alleged roles, get this, in the pro-trump insurrection. we are told 10 to 15 capitol police officers are under investigation for their behavior during the riot. also breaking. acting homeland security secretary chad wolf is joining the growing list of administration officials resigning in the aftermath of the attack. all of this unfolding as house democrats set a historic vote for wednesday on impeaching president trump for a second time. they formally introduced one article of impeachment, charging the president with

this was a seditious conspiracy, wolf. you have the president of the united states giving a speech, telling people to go charge the capitol, to go fight. rudy giuliani is saying trial by combat. how can you have a president continue to represent us when you're attacking the very institutions of democracy? i don't know even in other countries where you have a leader tell people to go attack their own institutions. so to me it's just such a clearcut case that this person, donald trump, can no longer be president. >> what do you think about this possibility of invoking the 14th amendment and passing a resolution to expel various members of the house of representatives because they engaged in insurrection or rebellion. >> wolf, i think we have to be very careful and fact based. i drew up a distinction for those members who were actually inciting the protesters, who were either fist bumping or inciting a speech versus people who were actually opposing the results of certification. i totally disagree with those who oppose certif

wolf? >> brian, thank you. brian todd on the scene for us. thank you very much. let's go to the white house right now. chief white house correspondent jim acosta is joining us. jim, this city clearly on edge. country, in fact, is on edge. the coronavirus pandemic is at its worse right now, worse that it's been. there's absolutely no sign of the president of the united states. >> reporter: that's right, wolf. donald trump remains in hiding, less than two days before he leaves office in disgrace as a twice impeached president. trump has not appeared in front of the press in six days as he meets with advisers behind closed doors, plotting his last-minute pardons in a departure ceremony many americans are hoping will be a one-way ticket out of washington with no return. less than 48 hours left in office, this is president trump's view from the white house. signs for the biden/harris inauguration are now visible on pennsylvania avenue. refusing to attend his successor's inaugural, trump is expec

>> no, wolf.that means is we're not going to, of course, discuss a trial strategy with respect to witnesses and evidence, the scope of evidence, the length of the trial. all those matters will be determined by the impeachment management team, and again, lead manager raskin playing a leading role of course in consultation with our very capable and talented team of lawyers who will be assisting. what i will say is this and i certainly think my colleague mr. swalwell is correct in assessing that ultimately millions of americans witnessed what happened on january 6th. every united states senator witnessed and experienced it. we witnessed it. i was on the floor of the house helping lead the certification of the electoral college when the insurrection began and breached our capitol, the first breach of its kind since literally the war of 1812. so millions of americans understand the scale and the need for the congress to hold this president accountable and to march on this very solemn path that we have

you're right, wolf. over the last 24 hours there were a million doses that were administered and that's happened once before as well. so even without a significant sort of plan in place, we have intermittently hit that number. so if you start to bring on retail pharmacies as president biden talked about, and they have enough resources, because it is a huge task so you don't want to minimize the significance and the enormity of the task, but if they are brought on and have the resources potentially vaccinating 100 million people a month is what i'm hearing from people that i talked to in that world. and then, you know, these community vaccine centers we were talking about, a hundred of them within the next month, possibly the national guard helping administer large vaccine fairs. there's a lot of ifs. you have to obviously have the vaccine. it looks like the manufacturing can keep up. i think the news potentially that we may hear from johnson & johnson within the next week could be very encouraging. i've

but let me just say this, wolf. the department of homeland security would not have issued that warning if they weren't very, very concerned. believe me. they would not have put that out. so this is real. people need to take it real, stop pretending as if this is a game. it is not a game. and someone could get very seriously injured or killed as a result. >> this is not a warning about foreign terrorists coming to the united states to try to kill americans. this is a warning about american terrorists potentially going out there to kill other americans. so that is so, so worrisome if you read this department of homeland security bulletin, which i have. all right, chief ramsey, thank you. jim sciutto, thanks to you as well. we're also following very important new developments in the coronavirus pandemic. our national correspondent erica hill is tracking those for us. erica, as january officially now has become the deadliest month yet of the pandemic, we just got our first formal briefing from the new biden administrati

wolf? >> and maybe even some of those arrested in recent days and likely to be arrested up on capitol hill because of that attack on the u.s. capitol. jeremy, standby. shimon, standby as well. right now i want to bring in former republican senator, former defense secretary under president bill clinton, william cohen. mr. secretary, thanks for joining us. i want to get your quick ration to the truly stunning footage obtained by "the new yorker," and i want to warn our viewers we have some more of it. i want to show them right now of the extreme profanity heard in this particular clip . >> defend your liberty! defend your constitution! >> guess what what? >> when you see this awful, awful video what's your reaction? >> well, it looked like a scene out of the movie world war z with people who had been infected with a virus storming the wall not only here but all over the world even in jerusalem where they built a wall to keep them out and they just kept coming and coming. so that struck me as

thanks for having me, wolf. pleasure. >> thank you. >>> coming up, at least 150 suspects now face federal charges as a result of the capitol riot. stand by. new information on the nationwide manhunt. >>> they favor an update on the investigation during a news conference earlier today. let's go to our justice correspondent, jessica schneider. how much progress have they actually made? >> they're laying it out all the by the numbers. they've identified 400 suspects so far and the fed says that this list is growing by the hour. they say they've gotten tips on these people from their family and their friends as well, and the acting u.s. attorney is now telling us that anyone who had criminal intent on january 6th, regardless of whether they actually entered the capitol, that they will be charged. that includes people who may have assaulted law enforcement officers. we have severe 150 people charged federally so far, and the charges will be getting a lot more serious. prosecutors, they're building toward charging man

wolf? >> brian, stay safe over there. we'll get back to you. >>> we're following a critical development of president trump's impeachment. a source telling cnn house speaker nancy pelosi is expected to send the article of impeachment, charging the president of inciting insurrection to the senate next week. how quickly will things go from there, manu? >> the second she sends it over there, it would kickstart a process leading to the impeachment trial beginning the following day at 1:00 in the afternoon. senate doesn't come back until january 19th. if she does go forward and submit the article of impeachment, transmit it from the house and senate, joe biden's presidency, the early days, will be consumed by this impeachment trial. she would not say explicitly today when she would send it over. she refused to comment. i asked her to consider if she would withhold the articles all together, something she would presumably do to delay a trial indefinitely. she would not respond to that question. there are question discussions ong

wolf. it's like the president's phony legal and factual arguments that were thrown out by over 60 courts across the country that the election was stolen. these are not serious legal arguments. >> all right, norm, stand by. we want to welcome our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we're standing by for statements by the house speaker nancy pelosi and the house impeachment managers after the house delivered an unprecedented bipartisan rebuke of president donald trump. he now stands impeached for a second time. a double stain on his legacy that no other u.s. president has ever faced that will stay with him forever. john king, once again, we're standing by for this formal ceremony. it's called an engrossment ceremony. the speaker will actually sign the article of impeachment. we'll hear from her, presumably others, and then they will go forward. she will have to make the decision when to actually submit the article of impeachment to

>> it remains to be seen, wolf. there is expectation that it could be ten, it could be more than ten, potentially up to 20, and one reason why we don't have a very good sense of this yet is because republican leaders have decided they will not pressure their members to fall in line behind the partisansthip. they will not whip their members out and pressure them the way they did in 2019. but already two defections that have occurred, the number 3 republican congresswoman, liz cheney, the republican from wyoming, the daughter of the former vice president dick cheney just announced she will vote to impeach donald trump. she said in a statement, the president of the united states assembled this mob and that the flame of this attack, everything that followed, was his doing. none of this would have happened without the president. the president could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. he did not. there's never been a greater betrayal by the president of the united states by his office and his

>> right, wolf. we are talking about 131 democrats on the record as supporting this idea, and now this is a draft resolution that they put out today. and it is very simple and straight forward. one article of impeachment for incitement of insurrection, and it is sort of ticking through the events of january 6th, and it also throws in some information about the president's shakedown call with the secretary of state of georgia earlier. so that is what is in this. that is what the president would be charged with if they go forward and the question now of how quickly are they going to do this, and this could move fast and in fact, sources have told myself and manu raju up here on the hill that they could do this mid-week, and you ask yourself how could they move so quickly? simple, the people behind the resolution are saying that the evidence is on the record. it is on television, and it is on video, and one democrat compared it to a police officer personally observing a defendant committing a crime and

>> astounding, wolf.being a junior in high school when the planes hit the twin tower on 9/11 and remember thinking, wow, 3,000 people lost their lives on u.s. soil. we're losing more than 3,000 people a day right now. think about 567,000 casualties in a little bit more than a year? it can undercut the tragedy of every single individual. realize every one of those people, every single one had people they love, the lives were cut short. start thickiaking this seriousl individuals as this new administration is doing the things they need to do to bring this pandemic, god willing, to an end. >> as i often say, these are not just numbers, these are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters. people we love and they have died because of this covid pandemic. dr. abdul el-sayed, thank you. stay safe out there. >>> it's not just dc locking down. several state capitols are shutting doors leading up to the inauguration on wednesday. they have deep fears of violence. stay with us. we'll be right bac

>> that's right, wolf.require the cooperation of senator mcconnell and some of our republican colleagues. this will be an early indication as to whether or not they will, you know, take joe biden's hand in some kind of bipartisan actions, at least with respect to nominations. we hope they'll also join us on the president-elect's american rescue plan, the economic plan you laid out, to fight the pandemic, as well. we'll have to see on that. but at the very least they should help clear some of these nominations for essential national security positions. >> to convict the president, he will then be the former president, you will need, assuming all 50 democratic senators vote in favor of conviction, you'll need 17 republican senators, a two-thirds majority, 67 senators to convict. do you think that's realistic? >> here's what i know. i know i've talked to a number of republican senators. and there's no disagreement that the president's conduct warrants conviction. look, people witnessed this with their own eyes

wolf? >> two-thirds majority to convict. they'll deliver the article of impeachment to the senate tonight. the trial won't start until the week of february 8th. tomorrow afternoon there's also related activity. tell us about that. >> reporter: that's when the senators themselves will take their oaths to be jurors, essentially, in this proceeding. there will be a summeons that will be sent to the president and his team. then they'll start to lay out specific arguments in briefs that will be delivered to the senate, acting as a court here. then arguments on february 8th. for two weeks, things will be quiet as the senate tries to move on other parts of the agenda and confirm joe biden's nominees. >> those senators are supposed to be jurors in this trial. thank you, manu. >>> kaitlan collins is joining us. we heard from the president a few minutes ago, talking about his latest executive order, the lagging effort to vaccinate americans against the coronavirus. update our viewers on the very latest. >> reporter: his first formal p

wolf? >> at least he doesn't have twitter or facebook or instagram or these other social media posts to rile up those supporters. all right, jeremy, thank you. shimon, matt, guys, we'll get back to you. i know all of you are working your sources. i want to bring in now the virginia attorney general. thank you so much for joining us. i want to get your reaction to the breaking news that you heard right at the top of the hour about this man stopped with a loaded gun, lots of ammunition, 500 grounds. fake inauguration credentials. stopped by dc capitol police. he's from your state, the commonwealth of virginia. what do you know about this individual? >> i don't have much more to add than what you've been reporting, wolf. and thank you for having me. i think it does show a few things though. first of all, it shows that the planning and taking these threats seriously is really important. and what we saw on january 6th involved thousands of people storming the capitol in an act of national terror

wolf? >> thank you very much. important interview, indeed. >>> we're waiting for nancy pelosi to show up. she's about to have what's called an engrossment ceremony, signing the one article of impeachment. we don't know when it will actually be sent over to the senate. you can see that lectern there. it's very significant. that's the lectern that was actually stolen by one of the rioters who came in. we all saw that picture of that individual walking around with that truly historic lectern. it has been put there deliberately by the speaker. you see that picture of that organizer of the insurrection, and you can see that lectern is back in place, doing what it's supposed to do, not being picked up and man handled by that individual, john. that was one of the most shocking -- we saw so many. the video, pictures. and we were told yesterday by the fbi, they have so much more of that closed circuit video. there are little cameras all over the place up on capitol hill, and they're going to be using it to prosecute these

>> it means the world, wolf.ampionship hat for a moment while we chat. it's a great time to be a bills fan and a former player. and a lot of it has to do with people like you, wolf, the super fans who have there through a quarter century of not making it this far. one in particular, bills mafia as they're calledmen member, ken johnson, pintoman, as he is so affectionately known. we may have pictures of him. he's seen at games with the ketchup splashed all over him. he grills on the hood of his pinto. he had a special message just for you, wolf. >> hey, wolf, it's ken johnson, aka pintoman. we're thrilled you're in the ranks of a true bills superfan. this has been a magical season. i hope you're enjoying it as much as we are. we just have to get through kansas city and on to the super bowl. go bills! >> go bills indeed. magical season because of, again, those fans. wolf, that banner that you see behind me, let's go buffalo, i saw you posting a picture with one. proceeds from that are going to a children's hospital

i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." we're following breaking news. top georgia election officials debunking completely president trump's election conspiracy theories after his truly shocking call to the secretary of state of georgia demanding he find the votes to overturn the democratically held results. in a scathing point by point take down awhile ago, one clearly highly frustrated election official said the trump team has intentionally mislead the state, senate, voters, and people of the united states, closed quote. also breaking now, president-elect biden campaigning in georgia now for the two democratic challengers in tomorrow's critical senate runoff election that will determine which party controls the u.s. senate. we are following breaking pandemic news. the u.s. death toll topping 352,000 people with more than 20.7 million cases and deep concern now about the vaccine rollout here in the united states. the cdc says almost 15.5 million doses have been distributed but just 4.5 million people have been immunized so far. let's go straight to the

a lot to count, wolf.it soon. >> the indication, john, they're going to count the early votes better this time, earlier this time, we won't have to wait two, three, four, five days? >> we do expect for most of the counties it will happen more quickly. on election day back in november, because of the pandemic, because it was so unusual, every state, including georgia, was trying to adapt, some people voting early by mail, some people voting early showing up in person, then you had the big election day turnout in the middle of the pandemic with safety concerns. it was left up to the counties, do you count election day votes first. they've been told this time to try to do it. most of the counties said they have processed, meaning checked to see they are legitimate, then at 7:00, start counting them. so we do expect in most places that will be done more quickly. but we should also learn from 2020 and elections in recent learns, let's wait, let them count the votes. >> the old fashioned way, let them count the

>> wolf, you mentioned west virginia.o let's look at what they did in order to get all 214 of their nursing homes vaccinated within two weeks. and all their doses actually now are distributed or at least allocated, which is something that the other states have not done. they enlisted community pharmacies that already have the deep trust of people across the state and are in various parts of the state, including in some rural areas. they also brought on the national guard very early to do the vaccinations for the public. and critically they had urgency. they didn't let bureaucracy or red tape burden the process and instead got the shots out. and i think that emphasis on speed is really important. and i actually hope the federal government moving forward will reallocate the next doses of vaccines based on which states that are particularly efficient. why have doses sitting in freezers when states are ready to administer them to the people. >> do you believe, dr. ^w^with,^, withen, as opposed to leaving the distribution of t

you know, wolf. members of congress in today's day and age are far more concerned about their electoral prospects in a primary because of the way the districts are drawn and what have you, than they are about the general election. i think the notion that there's this big coming together of both parties to get something big done is slim. now, as president biden said in his inaugural address, he just needs enough of us. that's his quote. he doesn't need all the republicans to come on board. he needs enough of them to come on board and he's not ready to rule that out at the outset. >> we'll see how that works. kaitlan, does the current biden white house see the tension in the senate as things to come? >> absolutely, wolf. you can't govern by executive order throughout your tenure. he signs that executive order that would speed up the stimulus checks for eligible americans who haven't gotten them yet. that's not actually sending out new checks to americans. that's what's included in his legislative propo

wolf? >> all right. thank you very much. >>> let's get analysis from a member of the fda's vaccine adds vise ri committee, dr. paul o 2 -- offott. thank you. what should we take from this vaccine trial? >> i think it's a major advance. you have a vaccine which in the u.s. is shown to prevent moderate to severe disease at a high level, 72%. that means that's where you go to the hospital or the icu or you die. moderate disease means that's the disease that requires medical attention so this is a major advance and in addition actually if you look at the fact that it's highly effective to prevent severe disease in the south african variant and refrigerator stable, that is really important for areas with difficulty with some of these mrna vaccines to ship and store at minus 70 degrees which means dry ice and it is really hard to do that so i think this is a huge, an important arrow i think in the quiver against this tragic disease. >> as you say, you only need one shot of the johnson and johnson vaccine as op

i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room."e're following breaking news, the growing threat of extremist violence here in washington, d.c., could lead to major changes. the acting u.s. capitol police chief is calling for permanent fencing, and back up forces permanently. according to contact, a man had contact information about multiple, and start the steal paperwork, a reference to president trump's failed attempt to overturn the presidential election. the house speaker nancy pelosi is weighing in on the growing threats. she says the push for new security measures is being hobbled because of what she calls the enemy is within the house of representatives, a clear swipe at some of her republican colleagues. let's go straight to cnn's brian todd. he has more on the breaking news, the tightening security issues going on at the u.s. capitol. brian, tell us what you're learning. >> reporter: just this morning capitol police arrested a man, who attempted to elude officers, then resisted arrest. another sign of high tension around th

wolf? >> thank you, erica. >> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. >>> 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 this hour. federal authorities announcing that significant sedition and conspiracy charges are now on the table in response to the deadly insurrection at the u.s. capitol. at least 170 cases have already been opened. hundreds, hundreds more could be on the way. the top prosecutor in washington, d.c., meanwhile, is calling the range of criminal conduct unmatched and warning americans will be shocked by their findings. and the "washington post" is now reporting that the fbi warranted an internal memo of a violent war at the capitol, just one day before the violent attack. also breaking, on the eve of impeaching president trump for a second time, we learned that the senate majority mitch mcconnell is now pleased with the efforts to punish the president, believing impeachment would m

i am wolf blitzer in "the situation room."ou can follow me on twitter and instagram @wolf blitzer. tweet the show. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >>> president biden announcing plans to buy another 200 million doses of coronavirus vaccine. is that enough? what's changed on supply. i speak to the president's chief of staff, ron klain. new reporting from cnn

thank you wolf. >> thank you. just ahead president-elect biden calls the capitol riot one of america's darkest days and delivers what may be his most powerful rebuke yet to president trump. we are about to take a deeper dive into what went so horribly wrong. some things are good to know. like where to find the cheapest gas in town and which supermarket gives you the most bang for your buck. something else that's good to know? if you have medicare and medicaid you may be able to get more healthcare benefits through a humana medicare advantage plan. call the number on your screen now and speak to a licensed humana sales agent to see if you qualify. learn about plans that could give you more healthcare benefits than you have today. depending on the plan you choose, you could have your doctor, hospital and prescription drug coverage in one convenient plan. from humana, a company with nearly 60 years of experience in the healthcare industry. you'll have lots of doctors and specialists to choose from. and, if you have m

i'm wolf blitzer. i'll be back tomorrow 4:00 p.m.ia senate runoffs. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >>> "outfront" next, a brutal takedown of president trump. georgia's top election official blowing up trump's conspiracy theories one at a time. he's our guest. >>> plus breaking news. more senators tonight say they back the effort to object to certifying joe biden's win in the house on wednesday. >>> and new york announces its first case of the highly contagious coronavirus strain as scientists race to find out whether vaccines work against several new strains. let's go out front. and good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, is

>> wolf, we have to confront two security realities., there's a global message that we are distracted and we may not be paying as much attention to threats overseas. certainly the ability or unwillingness of the federal government to not protect americans in our capitol, i think malign actored may think it's an opportunity to hit us in other areas. here in the homeland wolf, the department of defense, shuck -- chuck schumer and in the fbi have heard about ongoing chatter of further violence. twitter specifically named the u.s. and state capitols. there are a host of events, including the inauguration, that represent a range of softer targets and for that reason we need public officials to come out and brief the public on the threats that we understand what is happening so we can be vigilant. >> what needs to happen to ensure things run safely and smoothly, especially on inauguration day, january 20th. >> well, certainly we would imagine at this juncture federal state and local law enforcement officials are trying to get a grasp of the o

i'm wolf blitzer in washington. this is a special edition of ""the situation room"" with three days to joe biden's inauguration, we see a country on edge, on guard, bracing for protests in the nation's capitol, right here in washington, d.c. as well as state capitols all around the country. washington is a city that historically served as a symbol of democracy, feeling more like a fortress right now with some 25,000 national guard troops deployed to prevent another deadly siege like the one we saw on january 6th and today, shocking new footage released by "the new yorker" gives a fresh look at that assault on the u.s. capitol. please be warned, what we are about to show you is very disturbing and the language is pro profane. >> let's go . >> easy. easy. [ all talking at once ] >> jeremy dimon is over at the white house for us. he is tracking the security setup. how prepared do city officials feel right now going into this his tore you can week? >> reporter: certainly, wolf, they do feel very prepared. we are going t

wolf? >> it's interesting, the national mall, normally there would be thousands and thousands, maybe tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands people gathering for this inaugurate. not happening today. ryan nobles is over at the national mall for us right now. set the scene. what are you seeing? a lot of american flags, obvi obviously. >> that's right, wolf, there are so many differences between this inauguration versus inaugurations in the past, but there may be nothing more different than what we're seeing behind us on the national mall. normally on an inauguration day, this area would be packed with people. tens of thousands of people shoulder to shoulder from the capitol, all the way back to the washington monument. that's not the case today for a variety of reasons. of course, first, there's the coronavirus pandemic, which is limiting the amount of people that can be in a space at a given time. and then, of course, there are security concerns, especially after the insurrection tho

let me throw it back to wolf. >> still on the letter "m." they will go through the awful better, all 100 senators signing this book. they are jurors now in this trial. i want to bring in cnn presidential historian douglas brinkly. this is an historic moment. only fourth time that the u.s. senate has tried to deal with the impeachment of a president, in this particular case, now an ex-president. >> well, that's right, wolf. jake tapper had a book called "unpresent" and we've used that word over and over again to define anything that donald trump has done but this is something that's sort of mind-boggling, that we're having a senate impeachment trial of an ex-president, one who in incited an insurrection on the u.s. capitol and we're really having a solemn ceremony we're witnessing right now pausbecaus we're hoping that each of these senators will be an impartial juror, that they will put blinders on to some of their partisan thinking and just look at the evidence that's going to be presented, and i do think, wolf, the moment -- the man of the

wolf? >> dan quayle just got introduced, the first of several major vips arriving right now. there's dan quayle, the former vice president of the united states showing up. he's going to be followed by former president bill clinton, former president george w. bush, former president barack obama. an enormous display of good will from these former presidents of the united states. >> a very important display. again, two weeks ago there were thugs, rioters running through that building, attacking the american democracy. today we're watching the former vice president here. we'll see former presidents come out right behind him showing america and showing the world that that building that was the -- it was a crime scene two weeks ago today. it is a stage today for a very important moment in the american democracy. dan quayle, a, a reminder we lost president george h.w. bush, but also, that was the last one-term presidency. george h.w. bush served one term. after that, two terms. donald trump leavin

. >> thanks, wolf. the former president is going to, we know, talk about anything other than the insurrection. >> hold on for a second, norm. i want to listen to the senate. >> ye, hear ye, hear ye. all persons are commended to keep silent on pain of imprisonment while the house of representatives is exhibiting to the senate of the united states an art calf impeachment against donald john trump, former president of the united states. >> mr. president. >> the senator from kentucky. >> article ii, section 4 of the copts tuesday says the president, vice president and all civil officers of the united states shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors. or the call i section iii clause 6 states when the president of the united states is tried, the chief justice shall preside. as of noon last wednesday, donald trump holds none of the positions listed in the constitution. he is a private citizen. the presiding officer is not the chief

>> it certainly seems that way, wolf. there's a growing list of democrats who are on the record saying they will support the impeachment process, and there's also even a ground swell among republicans here on capitol hill. certainly not the majority of republican members, but we are seeing more and more republicans say that they are open to the idea of supporting impeachment. that's important here on the house side to a certain extent. it's even more important on the senate side because it would require a two thirds vote of the senate to convict president trump and remove frim hum office. it doesn't appear that the numbers are there quite yet. but if this snowball continues rolling down the hill over the next couple of days, we don't know where it would end up. >> if trump is impeached he would be the first president in american history to be impeached by the house of representatives twice. all right, guys, i know you're working your sources. we're going to get back to you ryan nobles, jeremy diamond. joining us now repub

the fbi is working on that, wolf. >> as they should.massive manhunt, nationwide under way right now for these individuals, thank you very much. let's get some analysis from a senior legal analyst the former u.s. attorney. preet ferrara, as you know, democrats are pushing for the second impeachment at the same time the president is considering already rudy guiliani and alan dershowitz to defend him if there is a senate trial. what is your reaction especially considering guiliani's role in the remarks before the mob left the white house, moved up pennsylvania avenue to capitol hill in inciting that mob? >> well, my reaction is, it's interesting that a lot of the lawyers who have represented president trump before in the prior impeachment and other matters are nowhere to be found. the reporting is and common sense tells you that the president of the united states has crossed a rubicon in a way that caused prior legal defenders of his not to want to have any part of this and in the same way multiple cabinet officials stepped down from offic

i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. the manhunt is intensifying right now for the suspect seen here planting pipe bombs outside the democratic and republican party headquarters right near capitol hill in washington. the fbi now saying they were planted the night before the insurrection at the capitol. also tonight, president biden making it clear that a covid relief bill must get passed. in his words, no ifs, ands or buts. lawmakers are struggling to come to any sort of agreement. and president biden won't rule out democrats acting alone to bring relief to millions of americans. >>> this, as johnson & johnson says its covid vaccine is 66% effect against moderate december but 85% effective against severe disease. let's start with the latest on the sprawling investigation on the attack on the u.s. capitol. jessica sh insider is working the story for us. the manhunt for whoever planted those bombs is clearly intensifying. >> reporter: it is, wolf. the fbi does have new clues, but the suspect is still out there. there's con

wolf. >> they certainly will.capitol. alex, thank you very much. i want to go to cnn national correspondent sara sidner, she actually had a chance to speak to one of the leaders of this group called the oath keepers. tell us about that, sara. >> reporter: it's important because we wanted to find out if some of the information, what they thought happened on january 6th. we know that thomas edward caldwell, a 65-year-old out of clark county, virginia, was arrested and charged with perhaps the most -- the strongest charges we have seen yet that basically he helped conspire to attack the capitol. the authorities said that he was a member of the oath keepers and potentially a leader in that group. now, the oath keepers just for background are an anti-government group particularly anti-federal government. they say they believe the federal government is coming after citizens and stripping them of their rights, and that is why they stand often against the federal government. but in speaking with the leader of the oath kee