experience all the nba action with xfinity x1 - track stats and scores while watching your team live. to upgrade, just say nba league pass into your voice remote or go online today. that is tonight's "last word." "the 11th hour with brian williams" starts now. ♪♪ well, good evening once again. day 280 of the biden administration. and there is breaking news indeed tonight in the january 6th investigation. "washington post" reporting the house select committee expected to subpoena john eastman, who outlined scenarios for overturning the election results in trump's favor. "the post" quote, it will happen, chair bennie thompson said in an interview tuesday for a subpoena of eastman who played

a key role in the legal operation that was run out of a command center at the willard hotel in washington in the days and hours leading up to january 6th. house investigators are also focusing on getting more witnesses to cooperate. earlier today the committee chairman said some of those witnesses have been coming in without being asked, without being subpoenaed even. earlier this evening one committee member was a bit more forthcoming about their focus. >> we have had dozens of interviews with individuals. every day we are reaching out, we are pulling these threads to find out what transpired. and those interviews and those discussions are leading to more discussions. within the department of homeland security is we want to know about the intelligence issues, we want to know what intelligence was out there, which was sent over to capitol police, which was not. and we want to know their role between the election day and january 5th and january 6th.

we've asked them questions. we've asked questions of the national archives as well for dhs material. >> the committee and a good many other people are also watching the justice department and attorney general merrick garland as they weigh in whether or not to prosecute steve bannon for defying the committee's subpoena. >> they've got to run their traps on all of the guidelines for deciding on a criminal prosecution in a case like that. we think it's an open and shut case. we have other sanctions available to us that we will use either in his case or in the case of other people who decide that they're too good for the justice process of the united states and too good for a congressional subpoena. >> the federal criminal investigation into the capitol riot has been focused on the lawless brutality of the assaults on police officers. today prosecutors released new

video of yet another view of what law enforcement was up against as they battled with pro-trump rioters. in other political news this evening, we're now just one week out from election day. the race for governor of virginia has become something of a bellwether for democrats and republicans looking ahead to the midterms in 2022. admittedly largely because the news media have decided it's a bellwether. tonight the president was back in virginia to campaign for terry mcauliffe. he's in a tight race with his republican opponent glenn youngin which has raised alarms among democrats. biden made a point of putting the focus on former president trump. >> terry is running against an acolyte of donald trump. to win the republican nomination, he embraced donald trump. terry's opponent has made all of his private pledges of loyalty to donald trump. but what's really interesting to

me, he won't stand next to donald trump now that the campaign's on. think about it. he won't allow donald trump to campaign for him in this state. >> youngkin held his own rally tonight. he's been endorsed by trump not once but several times. this election is also being seen as a test of biden's domestic priorities and all of them are being held up by democrats. today the president continued negotiating with members of his own party in an effort to try to make those priorities the law of the land. biden met with groups of liberal and house democrats, moderates as well, to resolve their differences over healthcare coverage, green energy, paid leave, plans to overhaul the tax code, and the like. the program could top 2 trillion, but it's much smaller than the president and his party had first envisioned or wanted for that matter. democrats are also trying to hash out ways to pay for it all from a tax on billionaires to a

15% corporate minimum tax rate on corporations. and while it's kind of a given, we'll go ahead and say it anyway, biden also met this evening with manchin and sinema. so far neither seems quite ready to sign off on the revised spending plan. meanwhile their majority leader says progress is being made. >> i know that democrats in both chambers are working really hard to get this consequential desperately needed legislation across the finish line. i believe a final deal is within reach. >> also tonight, we may be on the brink of seeing covid vaccines authorized for millions of younger children. tonight advisers to the fda have indeed recommended pfizer's vaccine for children 5 to 11 years of age. agency is all but certain to grant emergency authorization for the vaccine, perhaps as soon as this week. the cdc will then meet early next week to announce their

guidelines for its usage. with that, let's bring in our starting line on this tuesday night jonathan lemire, veteran white house reporter who recently took host of "way too early" just this week he also just joined "politico" as white house bureau chief. robert costa, national political reporter with "the washington post." his latest book co-authored with book woodward "peril." and lisa leher, political correspondent for the "new york times." good evening to you all. and mr. costa, because it's your papers reporting tonight that we lead with and because it's your book which basically told the story of the command center across the street from the white house, more or less, at the willard hotel, i'd like to begin with you. let's talk about this potential eastman subpoena. what more can you tell us about it and him?

>> this is an important crossroads for the january 6th committee to try to figure out what were the discussions like beyond what has already been reported on the night of january 5th, on the day of january 6th, about not just having president trump block biden's certification but maybe even move the election into the house of representatives. bob woodward in our book talked about this plan to have pence put into motion something that would have likely caused a devastating constitutional crisis. and the committee is now turning not just to the police officers on the scene and others who are part of the riot, the insurrection, but also to those on the legal and political side. >> lisa, you covered the mcauliffe rally tonight, i'm told. democrats are worried, mcauliffe looks exhausted. he has made a few unforced errors thus far in the campaign.

so, is pinning the republican candidate to donald trump, there's no other way to ask this, the best they've got at this point? >> it's really the only play they have. i mean, what was really striking about tonight's rally was that president biden spent the bulk of his time not talking about his own legislative agenda, this congressional package that really encompasses the bulk of his domestic priorities. but the guy he ran against last year, donald trump. and that was really the focus of his remarks was trying to tie glenn youngkin to donald trump. i mean, look, democrats know that donald trump was the best motivator their party had. it drove voters to the polls in record numbers, breaking records in virginia every year for the past four years. and they're hoping that they can sort of repeat that and provide this boost of enthusiasm for their base that you really need in this kind of off-year election. but of course donald trump is not on the ballot.

and this will really be a test of how resonant he remains in voters' minds now that he is off in mar-a-lago. >> cuts both ways, indeed. jonathan lemire, i want to ask you what does this possible subpoena of a guy like eastman mean about the intent and speed of this 1/6 committee? >> thank you, brian, i appreciate all of that. it shows that the january 6th committee is certainly not just going to be content to with the headlines out of the referral for criminal prosecution of steve bannon. that of course has been a central focus to this point. bannon refusing to testify. now could face criminal charges and if convicted even a year in prison. he has told people close to him, though, i've reported, that he'd welcome that, that he would embrace the idea of being a maga martyr, if you will. as far as eastman goes, it goes to show that the breadth of this investigation is continuing to grow, that it won't just be the bold-faced names.

eastman is someone who a lot of americans hadn't heard of until bob costa and bob woodword talked about him in their book. it's about what's happened january 6th and bringing those responsible to justice perhaps or at least hold them accountable. but it's also about trying to stop what could happen again in 2022, in 2024. >> mr. costa, i'd like to play for you something we heard earlier today from veteran fed neal katyal, now a lawyer in private practice but knows his way around doj. he talked about the possibility of a doj investigation into the former president. >> merrick garland is just about the most cautious, principled, careful person in this town. so, it's possible that he has an investigation that hasn't, you know, gone public.

but at some point patience runs thin. and the investigation has to take shape. >> indeed, general garland is a patient man, too patient for the likes of so many democrats these days who want action and consequences now. but, robert, talk about the kinds of pressure the a.g. is under right now. >> the a.g. is under enormous pressure from democrats and some republicans who are critics of trump. because they're looking at what the department of justice is doing. hundreds of people arrested for participating in the insurrection. and we have seen the doj be very aggressive. we've seen the arrests in different kinds of footage. the question now facing garland is this. beyond those who were participating in the violent scene, what about those who were inside the room? and is there a crime of conspiracy to defraud the united states? it's a crime to try to defraud

the united states, to commit fraud, to try to deceive the country itself, to deceive the leadership of the government, the congress. and does garland want to go down that path? i don't have reporting on that front. but you can see at this point the justice department in a decisionmaking position, and there are a lot of unanswered questions about just how far they want to go. but as a reporter i would step back and just say i spent nine or ten months with woodward looking into this. this was an insurrection that was across so many different fronts, the president pressuring the vice president, the doj, state officials, the courts, the congress. i'm not here to define it as a conspiracy, but i will tell you it was a coordinated pressure campaign based in our reporting directed from the person at the top, trump. >> thank you for that answer. hey, lisa, we're looking at the talks between the liberals and the moderates, among the democrats.

and we keep saying night after night there's no one else to blame for the blockage of the president's agenda other than his own party. we know what to expect from the republicans. a casual observer sees programs in the news every day being tossed over the side. and every day that happens that's someone's program from the first lady to major members of the senate and house. do you think this will fuzz up the message? do you think by the time they get done they will have tossed out too much balanced against what the president's initial views were? >> well, certainly some progressives feel that way, and we saw bernie sanders show a little bit more than annoyance today when they were talking about throwing out a program that he's advocated really hard for, which was expanding dental coverage for medicare recipients. he started this negotiation

saying 7 trillion. that was really a fictitious number. he was never going to get that. but he saw 3.5 trillion, which was the initial size of the package as a compromise. the question will be how the american public perceives it. i think the administration set this up. they really fostered this parallel, they encouraged this parallel that president biden was like fdr, was going to pass this sweeping domestic program. so even though the number they're all circling around now, 1.75, is a really big number, that is a big, big package. it may not feel that way now that these programs have been paired down from pretty expansive campaign promises, but we'll have to see. right now they have no package, and that's something that the mcauliffe people and democrats in virginia and elsewhere say is really hurting them in that state that as you pointed out in the intro we're all going to look to as a bellwether of what could come in the midterms. >> to mimic a phrase from

washington, billion here, billion there, pretty soon you're talking about real money. jonathan lemire, a quote from your publication politico, quote, some democrats involved in conversations with the white house were less optimistic, openly fretting that talks risk losing momentum and stalling out if they aren't done by the time biden gets on that plane. they mean this week to europe. they're in hand to hand combat. the ammo's all gone, they've switched to bayonnets. they're just trying to get it done, said john podesta. it's got to be a lot if it made podesta go military there. jonathan lemire, what reporting have you that they are any closer today really than they were yesterday or last friday night? >> yeah, bayonets are certainly a strong image.

transportation bill funding runs out at the end of the month. number two, the virginia's governor race, terry mcauliffe literally pleading, begging the white house and congressional democrats to get this done, at least pass the infrastructure part of it, if not the reconciliation bill to give him something to run on, which shows the alarm he is experiencing about his candidacy. and then of course, yes, the president on thursday heads to europe, rome first an audience with the pope. then the g20 summit, although xi jinping won't be there so that takes out some of the heat of it. the president does have a meeting with french president macron. and then the climate summit in scotland. and he's hoping to go there to re-establish america's moral leadership. so, yes, there was optimism last week that they were close. and i think there's been -- my reporting suggested incremental progress the last couple days but still a long way to go about how this is going to get paid

for, about paid family leave, about the child tax credit. sinema and manchin both privately signaled they think they can get there and maybe even this week. some progressives are saying not so fast, we don't want to give away the store. president biden wants this done before he leaves thursday morning. he's got work to do. >> our starting line on a tuesday night robert costa, lisa lerer and our newest co-worker jonathan lemire. some surprising words from joe manchin as the democrats get closer to a deal, we are told, on capitol hill. we'll get a read from our political experts. and later, why a california doctor known to be cautious about covid thinks we've reached a point where this may just be our life now. we'll have him explain all of it as the 11th hour is just now getting underway on this tuesday night beneath the rotars of

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i know that democrats in both chambers are working really hard to get this consequential desperately needed legislation across the finish line. no one ever told us, no one ever said that passing transformational legislation like this would be easy, but we are on track to get it done because it's so important. >> president leaves for europe on thursday with his economic agenda still very much up in the

air. he would like to sign a bill, at this point any bill, prior to his departure. and so, to that end, he had his usual house guests over tonight, sinema and manchin in the oval office. here to speak with us about it. his latest book, and it's an important one is "it was all a lie: how the republican party became donald trump." well, good evening and welcome to you both. juanita, we're going to have sore feelings on both sides. is whatever the president is going to sign still a victory? >> absolutely. like, i don't think it can be underscored enough that, one, democrats are pulling this load all by themselves to make investments that are critical for the american public. but, two, these investments are

still historic. i think in conversations with folks like representative presley about all of the things that are still included here. now, negotiations aren't done. as representative jayapal said last week, it's not all done unless it's all agreed to by everyone. then we will have a final picture. but short of that final picture what we still have is going to have a large impact on people's lives. and that's what's going to matter a year from now in the midterms is the impact that democrats are going to be able to deliver through legislation like the build back better act. >> stewart, i brought something for you. these are the comments of joe manchin during q&a in front of the economic club of washington today. we'll discuss on the other side. >> so, have you ever thought life would be easier for you if you shifted to being a republican, and somebody has said recently that people have approached you about doing that. >> every day.

>> are you thinking about doing it? >> the no. i've never thought from this -- what i'm telling you now is who i am. do you think by having a d or an i or an r is going to change who i am? i don't think the r's going to be any more happier with me than ds are right now. so i don't know where in the hell i belong. [ laughter ] >> stewart, a snarky person would say there is no reason for him to change parties now that he's discovered he can stop an entire president's agenda as one guy in the democratic senate. but let's get beyond that. that kind of fellow met manchin exterior hides a lot of long knives that are out for him in washington right now. and sooner or later he's going to have to come around and agree to something. >> yeah, i think so. look, we have to live in the real world. west virginia with donald

trump's best state, if you didn't have joe manchin there, you'd have probably some whack job republican who would be nothing but a trumper. so, i think democrats have to look at joe manchin and think, look, this could be worse. he's not somebody that may be completely in lockstep with the party. but that's not necessarily a bad thing. you want somebody to represent west virginia. the important thing here is the democrats control the government right now, barely, but they still do. and the perception is they do. and they've got to get something passed here. this is very popular stuff that they're fighting for here. the anti-dental care and anti-health benefits lobby is pretty small among people. people like pre-k care. they want more child tax credits. so, they need to get into defending what this is about and get it done and move on. >> and, to that end, juanita, how much harder is it with each

passing day? you went through the steps, you went through the sticking points. you quoted congresswoman jayapal, but it's about to be wednesday. >> it's about to be wednesday, but let's be real. they have a lot more work to do. but it's within their grasp. this is the closest that they've been to a deal. and even though they find themselves in a similar situation like in september where you have progressives saying we're not voting on the bipartisan infrastructure deal until the build back better act is ready to run alongside it. the difference is that language is in a much farther place than it was before. granted there are still big holes to fill, progress has been made. i do think progressives are right to hold out on a vote tomorrow, and have another showdown with speaker pelosi. because, as they've been saying this whole time, we are not going to leave anyone behind. that is the ethos behind this

investment anyway. that's something that all democrats should be supportive of. as i go into negotiating these last pieces, whether it's the billionaire tax, whether it's paid leave, whether it's medicare expansion, put the people first because that is who is going to, one, be holding you accountable or rewarding you with re-election. and i have to say as manchin finds himself sustaining the limelight in this moment, i'm not sure the gop would have him after voting twice to convict trump as well as against his singular legislative achievement in the 2017 tax bill, as well as for investigating january 6th. like, the gop likely wouldn't have manchin even if he tried to get over there at this point. he should love the one he's with, negotiate in good faith with democrats, and get this deal done. >> look who's defending joe manchin. i'm checking the time right now. all right, stewart, i'm coming to you after this break. both of our guests have agreed to stay with us. we're going to continue our

conversation. to wit, the issues in the final days of the campaign, i.e., the news media have called the unofficial start of the midterm elections. ♪i try so hard, i can't rise above it♪ ♪don't know what it is 'bout that little gal's lovin'♪ ♪but i like it, i love it♪ applebee's. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood.

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he started his campaign by saying that the number one issue in the race was his -- he called for election integrity. now this guy starts at his call for election integrity.

now, why did he do that? because he wanted to hear donald trump? there was a price he'd have to pay for the nomination. and he paid it. but now he doesn't want to talk about trump anymore. well, i do. [ cheers and applause ] talk about an oxymoron, donald trump and election integrity? [ laughter ] >> president biden tonight in virginia trying to tie the republican candidate in the race to trump and trying to help his friend terry mcauliffe win the election there. "politico" puts the stakes like this. a win for youngkin, biden's aides and allies say it may not sculpt his domestic agenda. but it would be the first domino to fall. i brought along a little

something for you. here is the latest production of the lincoln project. >> oh, donald, it's happening again, you made glenn youngkin. >> president trump endorsed me the next day. >> without you, there was nothing. you gave him power. >> and i thanked him for it. that's why glenn youngkin has banned you from coming to virginia. he thinks you're a loser and you'll make him one too. he's embarrassed of you. he wants you to stay far away. glenn youngkin, just another r.i.n.o. stabbing you in the back. >> the turnip truck just this minute dropped me off. if i didn't know better, i would think that spot is aimed at just one viewer and may be part of a time ad buy in, say, i don't know, florida television markets. >> yeah, you know. glenn youngkin, he ran, as the president said, as a trump guy.

next he doesn't want donald trump to campaign with him. you don't see terry mcauliffe running away from president biden or other democrats. look, the reality is there's a one-term governor in virginia. glenn youngkin's an ambitious guy. if he wins this race he's going to immediately start running for his next office. to do that in the republican party you have to do crazy stuff. look at abbott in texas. he isn't a crazy guy but he's doing crazy stuff. he has a daughter that he would put a bounty on. it's really where the party is now. and donald trump is on the ballot this tuesday just as he was on the ballot november 3rd in 2020. and republicans have this need now to please trump that they can't get away from. and that's really the reality. terry mcauliffe will be a good, solid governor. glenn youngkin is going to be an ambitious republican who's going to do whackadoo stuff, trying to

make people afraid of toni morrison. >> and, stewart, you see this as the play remaining for the democrats in this race. just go ahead and pound trump over the finish line? >> yeah, i would put trump on the ballot because that's really what the race is about. trump lost by ten points on november 3rd, 2020. if you didn't vote for him then, why would you vote for him on november 2nd, 2021? >> clair mccaskill earlier was on this network. >> culture wars have been working for the republican party. they no longer talk about economics or deficits or trade policy or foreign policy. it is all about phony culture wars. i do think we should look and see what the republicans have done with culture wars and take

that part of that fight that most americans agree with us whether it's guns or whether it's reproductive freedom or whether it's access to vote. those are all important issues in culture wars. and we should make them much more front and center than we have. >> so, juanita, in keeping with my theory that democrats culturally are all former student council presidents, they are terrible at this. they have failed miserably at this. do you think with the right coach they could learn to run on something like this like they're being run against? >> yes and, right, brian? like, i don't want the democratic party to ever dumb itself down to the point of only speaking through language that would resonate with, let's be real, the deepest, darkest, worst parts of people, which is what the gop does. while still talking about issues that matter, still talking about substance that matter, sure,

there is absolutely a space to tap into the very real impact and very real fears that people see. i think you saw that in 2018 and again in 2020. biden's name in 2020 was a return to normal. it was about women taking back all the seats that we saw republicans taking and emphasizing the power of women as well as all of the ways that trump is horrible and wrong and toxic. i still think trump is toxic for the virginia gubernatorial race. that is why biden was explicitly right in lifting the veil on who youngkin is and tieing him to trump. he said extremism comes in many forms including a smile and a sweatervest. that is who youngkin is. he's trying to say, hey, i'm just a suburban bad when we know he's anti-abortion, anti-marriage equality and anti- so many things that are fundamental to just basic existence in the commonwealth of

virginia that the statehouse under democratic control has been able to implement. so i appreciate mcauliffe's campaign team passing out copies of "beloved" to the press tonight. i appreciate them already hitting that button back against youngkin and to continue to beat that drum because that is what democrats should do to get them over the finish line. show the voter who's youngkin is. remind hem of every lie of trump's that has spread. >> hard to believe we're back to book banning. next up we'll be debating fluoride in the water at this rate. thank you to both of you. great thanks for joining us and participating in our conversation. another break for. coming up what if our current pandemic situation is as good as it's ever going to get? we're going to speak with a leading academic physician who says it may be time to resume

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and ask your doctor if biktarvy is right for you. as a steady drop in new covid cases fuels some cautious optimism out there even though our daily death toll around 1,500, 1,600 souls, health experts are beginning to prepare for what comes next. our next guest is quoted in the san francisco "chronicle" under the eye-catching headline, this is it is the consensus among covid experts. this doctor wrote, quote, for the past 18 months my personal covid choices, very cautious, were driven by prospects of lowered risk in the future, mostly via vaccines. my current view is that we're nearing a new normal, at least for the next few years. it drives me to choices on travel, dining, et cetera, that

real light long term. for more we welcome to our broadcast the aforementioned dr. bob wokter, department and chair of medicine, and one of the bay area's leading experts on this topic. explain to our viewers the difference between pandemic and endemic. and explain, please, your position that this may be our life now and how you got there. >> yeah. thanks, brian. i hope not. i hope it gets better. we need to continue to work on vaccinating more people and being careful. but my fear is that we may be reaching a point where there are enough unvaccinated people and delta is infectious enough that we kind of reach an equilibrium. it's not a great equilibrium. we would want the fires to go away and bring us back to what

life was like two years ago. but the problem is 40% of the country still unvaccinated. delta sin credibly infectious. and i think we may be reaching a point where we have swings back and forth where certain places like san francisco where i live, 80% of people are vaccinated. that's awfully good but not high enough to make the virus go away. other parts of the country where you have only 30 or 40% of the people vaccinated. a lot of people have been infected. they have some immunity but it's going to wane over time. so we're talking about needing to give people boosters, trying to give people who got immune from their cases vaccinated in the first place. and i likened it a little bit like painting the golden gate bridge. you reach a point where you finish and you say you're good but then you've got to start all over again. we may be at a point where maybe it gets 20 or 30% better, maybe it gets 20 or 30% worse, but unlikely to get 90% better than where it is now. >> of course, there is no good

news contained in what you just said for the people with comorbidities, pre-existing conditions, they're going to remain scared and wary and at risk. i guess that's going to be their lot in life as we go forward as we are now. >> i would see a little bit of good news that if they are fully vaccinated and if they're eligible, if they get their boosters, they are incredibly well protected against getting super sick and dying. and that's different than it was a year and a half ago. so i think that news is good. for the unvaccinated people, i think they're very likely to get infected at some point, and hopefully they'll do okay. but there's obviously a chance in they won't. there are new drugs coming down the pike that may lower the chance of getting super sick if you do get covid. so things may get incrementally better. but i don't know any covid experts who believe that covid is going to go away, get it completely out of our lives. so we're going to be in this sort of metastable condition for

a while. and, to me, the choices i was making six months ago which were very careful and still are fairly careful were predicated on the part that things are going to get super better. that was before i realized that perhaps a third 40% of the united states will not take a vaccine. so we're not going to get to a point where we reach that herd immunity we've all counted on, and we have to be ready for a future where there is still some covid in our lives. >> so, is that stasis you're talking about, would it be the same as life during a dangerous virulent flu season, a word i hate to invoke because we lost so much time and so many lives with a president who was bound and determined to compare covid to the flu. but in terms of being germ aware, in terms of getting a yearly shot, could it be a flu-like member of working society? >> yeah.

i think the best projections we have out there are that it might get to be like a really bad flu year, 50, 60, 80,000 people dying in the united states a year. so we're talking pretty terrible. and i think now that we've experienced the pandemic, i think it's pretty likely that for older people who are being careful, they will be fully vaccinated and they will choose to wear masks, for example, if you see an uptick in covid cases. i think people are going to follow covid reports like they follow weather reports and say, okay, things are getting a little bit worse in my community, it's time to be more careful again. so, i think we're going to be in a world where there still is covid as there is flu, where people are going to need boosters. but for people that are fully vaccinated and if they are visible to take boosters, they will be quite safe against getting very sick and dying. i worry a lot about the people who are unvaccinated. i think most of them will end up getting covid. most of them will survive and do

okay. but they may have the illusion that they're immune. but their immunity will wane after a year. so they need to get vaccinated. if they don't they will continue to be vulnerable. >> it's an educated prognostication, and thank you very much for agreeing to come on with us, take our questions and explain your position to our viewers. you've given us a lot to think about, doctor, our guest tonight from the bay area. coming up for us very shortly it's going to be very important that you bring two critical things to the airport when you travel. a valid form of i.d. and your face. (man 1) oh, this looks like we're in a screen saver. (man 2) yeah, but we need to go higher. (man 1) higher. (man 2) definitely higher. (man 1) we're like yodeling high. [yodeling] yo-de-le-he... (man 2) hey, no. uh-uh, don't do that. (man 1) we should go even higher! (man 2) yeah, let's do it. (both) woah! (man 2) i'm good.

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the most recent progressive insurance ad, part of that fabulous series about people becoming their parents, makes note of the fact that older folks still like those paper tickets at the airport.

increasingly, though, your boarding pass is on your phone and even that might be yielding to the future. delta airlines, for example, now rolling out a new program that uses facial recognition in place of travel documents. nbc news correspondent tom costello has our report from atlanta tonight. >> reporter: just in time for the holiday travel rush, delta airlines and the tsa taking facial recognition to the next level. state-of-the-art technology rolling out here in atlanta, also detroit. for those who opt in, no more scanning your paper ticket or mobile boarding pass. all you'll need is your face. passenger let's check in using their phone app with their passport photo on file. simply walk up to the kiosk, drop your mask, the camera then compares your face with the photo on file and spits out your bag tag. put the bag on the belt and off it goes. to join the program you must be a delta skymiles member and have

tsa precheck. then just upload your passport. security checkpoints also get easier. once you're in the tsa precheck lane, you simply walk up to the camera, take off your mask, and you're through. the tsa says biometric scanners are more faster and accurate than manually checking i.d.s. when you show up at your gate, simply walk up to the camera, take off your mask. >> welcome aboard, sir. >> you're done. >> a lot of people may be concerned about their photograph in your system for privacy reasons. >> absolutely. we in fact do not store any imagery of any customer. all we do is once this kiosk takes your photo, it maps that photo with what customs has in their database based on your passport information. >> soon, delta and the tsa plan to expand to new york's laguardia airport, minneapolis, lax, and other hubs, taking facial recognition from the curb

to the jetbridge. tom costello, nbc news, atlanta. >> by the way, what could go wrong with those kiosks? they always work at the airport. coming up for us, what happened in this room today that caused such instant and intense outrage? we've been talking about climate change as a future problem instead of a present one. >> the reality is the humanitarian crisis is going to spill over. >> because, yes, marches and protests can spark change, but so can money. racism is not good for business, and that's been proven time and time again.

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last thing before we go tonight. kyrsten sinema is back in the news and getting talked about a lot tonight, which always seems kind of fine with kyrsten sinema. tonight she and her wing man joe manchin have had meetings in the office, all awhile assuring it's not about them. except that today when she took her turn presiding over the u.s. senate, it was about her and her choice of clothing. and that would be a black t-shirt and a denim vest. and the reaction was immediate. ron filipkowski said at this point she's just telling us she doesn't give a blank anymore. jezebel explained it as looking it could be worn by an american idol contestant, a tailgater, a barback at a really jaunty dive

bar. denim vest, new low for the u.s. senate. for what it's worth, i don't think any man would get away with that. nothing against a denim vest, but presiding over the u.s. senate in one is embarrassing, just like everything senator sinema does. and how about these. she should have patches like nascar so we know who owns her. and it's definitely more insulting to deny medicare for all with a denim vest on. so that's just a sampling. lots of talk about what used to be the dress code in the senate chamber. relatively little criticism from the republicans in that chamber. there may be a little sensitivity there because of who they have allowed to preside over the senate chamber in recent months. that is our broadcast on this tuesday night with our thanks for being here with us. on behalf of all our colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night.

♪♪ joining us this hour, happy to have you here. maybe it was too good to be true. it would be like john walks proulx taking his shot at lincoln at ford theater, jumping up on the stage, and doing all of that. but then a few weeks later he realizes it isn't going over well. okay as i was there, but are you sure was me who killed him? it was an accident. it was self-defense or something. no it was actually a terrible thing about president lincoln's untimely demise. no idea how that happened. it would be