i'm kasie hunt. what was president trump doing while the heart of our democracy was being attacked by those most loyal to him? you will be unsurprised to learn he was watching television. the "washington post" reports trump was too busy watching the events unfold in real time to bother with addressing pleas from lawmakers who were under attack. the "post" spoke to 15 people with knowledge of what trump was doing during those six hours of mob rule and found a man who didn't care even as republican lawmakers begged him to speak out. a man who didn't care. more than 30 minutes after the riots started, aides finally persuaded trump to tweet -- "please support our capitol police and law enforcement. they are truly on the side of our country. stay peaceful!" however, he reportedly didn't even want to write "stay peaceful!" as he was enjoying his supporters fighting so hard for him. kevin mccarthy, the minority leader, finally got a hold of trump and says he found him distracted from watching tv, so his sol

kasie? >> well, here's hoping that integrity never becomes such a partisan thing, that that cannot be the case. what a situation down in georgia. nbc's shaquille brewster covering some history for us today. thank you very much, my friend, for being here this morning. >>> and still ahead here, late-night hosts return to their own living rooms as hollywood is urged to halt production amid a surge of coronavirus cases in california. "way too early" back in just a moment. moment dry, distressed skin that struggles? new aveeno® restorative skin therapy. with our highest concentration of prebiotic oat intensely moisturizes over time to improve skin's resilience. aveeno® healthy. it's our nature™. more love,... more adventure,... more community. but with my hiv treatment,... there's not more medicines in my pill. i talked to my doctor... and switched to... fewer medicines with dovato. prescription dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv-1 treatment or replacing their current hiv-1 regime

i've got a ton of stuff for you, kasie. let's get right into it, because we're starting with the snowfall in north carolina and areas of virginia, waking up to a little mini snowstorm, so be careful driving this morning. give yourself a lot of extra time. you know, the raleigh area, greensboro's gotten snow overnight. we're going to see maybe an additional inch in this area, ending by noon today. but keep in mind, anywhere driving in eastern carolina. then, california's still getting nailed from this historic rain and snow event. we've got this plume of moisture going up into areas around sanlu obispo, monterey and a ton of snow around tahoe and yosemite. and we call this an atmospheric river. this is how california gets these events and they provide about 50% of the annual rainfall. and we do have one area and san luis obispo with a flash flood warning. we have had relief problems because of burn areas that have received a lot of rain. a big cold blast comes down from minneapolis to chicago, arriving in the northeast this

and kasie, it's great to be here. you know, the filibuster has evolved from something, like you said, that used to be senators actually going to the floor, actually debating and talking in order to hold something up, to sort of a stealth silent maneuver that doesn't require senators to go to the floor at all or to speak or to explain themselves or do anything out in public view. but in fact, it's much more powerful, because what it does allow them to do now, as opposed to before, is to simply raise the threshold from passing a bill from the simple majority, where it existed for the vast majority of the senate's existence, to a supermajority of 60 votes. this was not the way that the senate was for about 200 years of its existence. we've come to accept this 60-vote threshold as normal, but it's really an evolution that's occurred in the last few decades and accelerated very much in the last few years, in particular under senator mitch mcconnell, who deployed this tool to a degree never before seen against president oba

>> so, kasie, there is a few things. the first is this group of ted cruz, and you know, the dozen others. we know that josh hawley is going to object to one state, pennsylvania. the question is, are the others going to join in that objection and object in other states, which could really prolong this process? and they're not being completely clear about that yet. so, we are still waiting to hear how big of a role this ted cruz group is going to have. but the reality is, this is exactly what senate majority leader mitch mcconnell had been warning his conference about for several weeks, urging them not to get involved in this process. he did not want this open warfare, especially heading into the georgia elections on tuesday, tomorrow, and looking ahead even to the next election in 2022. you have some of those senators who are joining the ted cruz group who are running for re-election in 2022, like james lankford, senator kennedy as well. and so, they are thinking about their own political futures, but it also puts other r

i'm kasie hunt. we'll start with the news. >>> we begin with disturbing, new reporting from the "washington post." according to an intelligence report obtained by the paper, the fbi privately warned law enforcement agencies yesterday that far-right extremists have discussed posing as national guard members on inauguration day. the document warned that both lone wolves and qanon followers have indicated they plan to come to washington for president-elect joe biden's swearing-in ceremony. the fbi also said it observed people downloading and sharing maps of sensitive locations in washington and discussing how they could be used to interfere with security. according to the "post," the intelligence report did not identify any specific plots to attack the inauguration that would be similar to the january 6th riot. the fbi did not characterize the credibility or gravity of the threats it outlined for law enforcement but referred to these remarks that fbi director christopher wray made last week. watch. >> w

kasie? >> it does seem as though republicans and democrats are on the same page and thinking there's significant danger in this period of time and everybody wanting to try figure out the best way to mitigate that danger, but people are not on the same page of how to do that. hans, i know you have been covering the biden team very closely. we did not hear the president-elect yesterday come out and say, okay, yes, invoke the 25th amendment. how are they looking at this period of time? how dangerous do they think things are and what might the president-elect do in this time? >> i think steady as she goes from the president-elect. they want to give space to make decisions for what's best for the country and that's a preview on how biden is going to approach senate republicans. not question their intent and give them the ability to make a deal. so i think they're leary of making any public pressure on republicans and specifically on this. you saw the vice president using some strong language yest

>> well, kasie, good morning, and thank you, and thank you for the plug. a few things that are worth keeping in mind here. number one, on the certification, this is a complete kamikaze mission, as you know, but it's worth restating. there's no way that joe biden is not going to be president come january 20th, and the republicans are setting up their base for a massive failure for reasons that are not clear to anybody. that's number one. number two, on the georgia election, kasie, the most consequential pair of races in

i am kasie hunt. we'll start with the news. >>> an extensive effort is under way to secure washington, d.c., ahead of inauguration day with at least 20,000 members of the national guard set to be deployed here in the nation's capital. fbi director chris wray says the agency's already seeing, quote, an extensive amount of concerning online chatter about potential threats to the inauguration. wray also mentioned that the fbi had identified over 200 suspects from last week's attack on capitol hill, warning, quote, we know you're out there, and fbi agents are coming to find you. law enforcement authorities have said extremists might use firearms and explosives with online calls to rally in cities across the country starting sunday. experts speaking to the "washington post" say far-right extremists have called on their followers to loot and burn buildings and engage in physical violence against those who are perceived to have helped president-elect joe biden win the election. wow. ahead of the inauguration

i'm kasie hunt. we'll start with the news. "the new yorker" published staggering, new footage over the weekend from inside the capitol riot. reporter luke molison has followed them for months and attended the january 6th rallies in washington that gave way to the riots. here's some of what he captured. >> whose house! >> there are [ bleep ] million of us out there and we are listening to trump, your boss! >> we're peaceful! >> let the people in! >> go back out -- >> where's the exit? [ inaudible ] >> 1776! >> antifa! guess what, america showed up! where the [ bleep ] are they? where are they? >> while we're here, we might as well set up a government. >> hey, let's take a seat, people! let's take a seat! >> nancy pelosi -- [ bleep ] >> where's nancy? >> information -- information operation. >> there's got to be something in here we can -- against these scumbags. >> cruz -- >> i think cruz would want us to do this, so -- >> yeah, absolutely. [ bleep ] >> you run out of mace? that's the best you got? >> that's all you got? >> we

i'm kasie hunt. at least 100 people have been arrested and charged in the capitol hill riot that took the lives of five people on the scene. "the new york times" reports the justice department charged 13 people on friday. it also announced, the fbi has received more than 40,000 photo and video tips so far. nbc news has learned an additional five people were charged over the weekend in federal court, including two men who were seen carrying zip tie restraints during the capitol breach. it's one of the scariest photos to come out of all of this. and prior to the fbi arrests over the weekend, d.c. police charged 68 people on wednesday and thursday. the capitol police charged 14. among those taken into federal custody over the weekend were jake angeli, nicknamed the q shaman, for his promotion of qanon conspiracy theories, richard barnett, who was photographed occupying speaker pelosi's office and recorded holding a piece of her mail, and adam johnson, who was seen walking off with the house speaker's le

>> good morning, kasie. young people want checks on tech. so this is some polling for axios by cyrus beschloss's newly rebriended group generation lab. it's an interesting group a poll specifically of college students. look what they have to say about tech. does social media have too much influence? 90 plus percent of republicans. but kasie, look at this, 70% of democrats say the same thing. social media companies have too much influence, should be restrained. why this matters is this is our future foretold. so this is a group two and four-year college students increasingly active, increasingly influential. this big coming generational wave in politics. and big tech companies were hoping to fly under the radar of the new administration with all democratic rule, kasie, as you well know, no chance. >> indeed. and it's kind of remarkable to me how social media companies managed to make enemies on both sides of the aisle in their attempts to not be noticed. the politics for them have gotten really bad really fast on a lot of fronts. mike, you gu

i'm kasie hunt. as the week-long hysteria over gamestop and other surging stocks backed by reddit users continues to cloud the business world, online brokerage firms are now taking action and restricting trading in these inflated shares. robinhood, t.d. ameritrade, and other interactive brokerage groups made the decision yesterday to limit activity on these stocks, only allowing traders who were hoping to capitalize on the gains with two options -- hold or sell. however, hedge funds were still able to make moves on these stocks, and this caused a dip in shares for the high-flying stocks. gamestop dropped 44%, amc 57%, and other targets of the wall street bets reddit forum -- nokia, blackberry, bed, bath & beyond, express, and tootsie roll -- all posted losses, despite being up for the week. this move by the trading platforms ignited widespread criticism, and a group of individual investors even filed a class action complaint against robin hood yesterday, claiming that the platform deprived their cust

"way too early with kasie hunt" is up next. >>> he is not the majority leader. he is the minority leader. and he is not going to get his way. we are not going to do what he wants. and that is universal, rachel, in my caucus, from the most liberal to the most conservative. we hope in the next day or two he'll come to his senses and take our offer, but we are not giving in to him. >> and this morning, the majority leader is claiming victory after minority leader mitch mcconnell dropped his demand that kept a power-sharing agreement from moving the senate forward. the question is, where does that leave the filibuster? >>> plus, the article of impeachment against former president donald trump is now in the hands of the senate, with the heart of the trial still two weeks away. the question is, how are both sides preparing? >>> and ohio's rob portman is now the latest swing state republican senator to announce his intention to retire. with a third senate seat now poised to open, the question is, which party is in better shape heading into 2022? it really is too early

kasie? >> hans, we have seen governing this way after it was hard for obama found out hard to work with congress. aren't there limitations here? while on the one hand they can say and they can underscore priorities with these orders, they can't go as far as actually making law. . >> i think that's a very fair point. it's a point they internalize and understand from inside the biden administration. they saw limitations during obama. there are two main limitations. one, the next administration can undo it on their day one. there is no way the changes will be durable, lasting. you need to get the senate and the house along. in some cases you need 60 votes. it is more substantial when you have two branches of government and agree on something, this is the united states policy. this is what we're glowing to do for nutritional assistance. officials will acknowledge this. it inflates -- that might be the wrong word. some of the decisions you make by executive action get reviewed by the court. that

>> reporter: it is, kasie. so it's not up to the majority leader, which is going to be mcconnell for another week or so, or the minority leader, schumer, who is going to also take over the majority at some point next week. that's another factor that we don't quite know yet either. depends on when the two georgia senators, democrats, are seated, giving schumer the majority. but it's not up to them individually. they have to come to an agreement on what this trial would look like, how long it could last, when it's going to start, and we are told by the schumer office that they are currently in negotiations and discussing such things with republicans. so it's going to be a big back and forth. we are told on what this impeachment trial could look like. we know that democrats are worried about it interfering with the beginning of the biden administration, the very first days when they are trying to stand up a government, to get his big nominees through, to get him staffed so he can start governing. there's some rumb

i am kasie hunt on this thursday, january 14th. we will start with the news. >>> president trump was impeached for a second time yesterday, one week after the riot he was charged with inciting and one week before he leaves office. the final vote was 232-197. and unlike the first impeachment, which had no republican support, ten members of the president's own party voted to impeach, making it the most bipartisan impeachment in u.s. history. the "ap's" jonathan lemire writes this -- his place in the history books rewritten. president trump endured his second impeachment largely alone and silent. for more than four years, trump has dominated the national discourse like no one before him, yet, when his legacy was set in stone on wednesday, he was stunningly left on the sidelines. trump now stands with no equal. the only president to be charged twice with a high crime or misdemeanor, a new quota for a term defined by a deepening of our nation's divides, his failures during the worst pandemic in a century and his refusal to accept defeat

>> and i think that latter part is the crucial part, kasie. yes, that moment yesterday when she was sworn in, first woman vice president, first black vice president, first south asian vice president, and being sworn in by the first latina supreme court justice, that was an incredible moment for so many people in america, myself included, who didn't see figures like that when we were children, and now those who are watching that know that they can reach as high as possible and they can achieve that. but yes, by being in the room with joe biden, having his ear on important issues, that's the sort of inclusion that's important when it comes to where the rubber meets the road. you know, joe biden, although he has a very diverse cabinet selection, for example, he's still come under some criticism because other high-ranking posts aren't as diverse as possible. people tell me it's about the policy, it's not about just naming the first whatever to head whatever agency. but with kamala harris in his ear and having that key focus, that brings that diver

i'm kasie hunt. hours after the ugly violence we witnessed at the capitol, congress reconvened to count the electoral votes, affirming president-elect joe biden's victory. six republican senators, including ted cruz and josh hawley, objected to the electoral college vote on arizona -- of arizona -- while florida's rick scott and wyoming's cynthia lummis joined their colleagues to object to pennsylvania's vote. both of the objections failed. house members raised several other objections, including against the vote for biden in michigan, georgia, and nevada, but they failed because they didn't have a second from any u.s. senator, as would have been required. we previously expected about 13 senators to object, but after the attack on the capitol, senators james lankford, kelly loeffler, steve daines and mike braun all announced they could no longer object to the results. and once again, we should underscore, these objections ultimately did nothing to change the outcome, and joe biden will be sworn in as

and that leads us to our capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt kasie, any indication >> reporter: lester, late tonight on co mccarthy said for the first time that president trump does bear some responsibility for the capitol riot and didn't rule out censuring the president. but so far one republican congressman ha thinking about going further and voting for impeachment. if others join him, that could lead to more support for convicting president trump in the senate where behind the scenes republicans are even more furious after new video shows just how much danger they were in lester >> all right kasie hunt tonight, thanks >>> federal prosecutors working to identify potentially hundreds of suspects in last week's attack. also tonight, capitol police officers suspended for their actions during the riot tom costello has late details. >> reporter: tonight a dramatic development two capitol police officers suspended for their roles in last week's insurrection. some officers had been seen taking selfies with rioters or letting them through >> i know there were two people suspended one was the

>> reporter: yeah, good morning, kasie. well, according to a county spokesperson for fulton county we're expecting about 4,000 remaining absentee ballots to be counted. they worked into the night until about 2:00 a.m. and put out a statement saying they will resume counting the absentee ballots, about 4,000, out of fulton county starting at 8:00 a.m. this morning. fulton county, of course, a heavily democratic county. that is said to assist or boost rafaphael warnock and jon ossof. and we also saw a technical error, with 18,000 ballots having to be manually rescanned. that vote came in throughout the night as they started to rescan those ballots. there was a technical error with the usb drive upload the results. they may get more. dekalb county was the county that pushed everything over the edge. it pushed warnock over the edge and tightened that margin in the race over senator perdue and jon ossoff. nbc news did call the race for raphael warnock. it will be georgia's first black senator elected here in the state. and we al

let me bring in kasie hunt right now who covers capitol hill for us, who was there during yesterday's riot, reporting from outside the capitol. kasie, help us understand what's happening here, we first heard schumer bring up this idea of the 25th amendment and now we're hearing from nancy pelosi, suggesting they're in contact with members of the cabinet. how far does this move forward, is it just a request, or do we know if there are active discussions under way? >> well, lester, the thing that stuck out to me the most about what we just heard from the house speaker, nancy pelosi, is that she said she expects potentially to hear from the vice president today as to whether or not he would be willing to move forward with an attempt to invoke the 25th amendment. he would, of course, have to start that process, although even if he's willing to start it, there are still many more questions before we get to an answer, in terms of how this would play out. but she said pretty directly, while we kbpt expect to find oun yes or no from mike pence if this is a step he is willing to take. this is

i think as kasie said, this is a fluid situation. if i had to guess right now, i would say that he and senate republicans will not vote to convict. that's highly contingent on trump's behavior. if he goes quietly on january 20th, i think that he will be able to get out of this without being convicted in the senate. i'm not 100% confident in that prediction, but if i have to make one, that's what i would predict. one of the indications of this was senator rob portman of ohio who put out a statement yesterday that seemed to heavily lean in the direction of saying that one of the considerations he was going to be looking at during the trial was what was best for unity, which to my read suggests he's leaning against conviction. the reason that's important is that he could be the bellwether here. he's sometimes regarded as a moderate, but his record doesn't back that up. but he's up for re-election in 2022 in ohio. looking at him as the tipping point senator is instructive here. it seems like at the moment he is leaning against conviction

thank you very much to all of you, kasie hunt, phil rucker, michael steele, kasie hunt, thank you all. >>> speaker pelosi opened up about the terrifying experience for her young staff hiding inside the offices as it was sieged. >> what happened was a terrible, terrible, violation of the capitol. this door they broke down. >> oh, my goodness. >> they broke that down. >> look at that. they broke the door. >> yeah, they smashed it in. the staff went under the table, barricaded the door, turned out the lights and were silent in the dark under the table -- >> under the table? >> under the table for 2 1/2 hours. >> wow. >> policy was so strong. democratic congressman from ohio joining me now. i want to ask you about the capitol police, under fire and being praised for their heroic actions. but the leadership of the police and sergeants at arm and there's a lot of blame going back and forth, didn't plan for this. you have oversight over the police and law enforcement actions on the hill. what do you want to know? >> absolutely outrageous why all of the intelligence -- and it's not like you n

kristen welker, kasie hunt, and "washington post" senior washington correspondent phil rocker and chuck rosenberg, former senior fbi official and u.s. attorney. a busy day, kristen, on the senate, the cabinet, racial equity policies to be unveiled and briefed shortly by susan rice and jen psaki. >> reporter: absolutely right, andrea. as you pointed out at the top of the show, this does fit into one of president biden's key campaign promises to take action on racial equity, so he is going to sign a series of executive actions today that will deal with a range of different topics, everything from education to health care, housing. it will mandate that the department of housing and urban development seeks to have equitable and fair housing and it's also going to call for essentially a disavowal of xenophobia and racism, particularly for asian-americans in the wake of the covid-19 crisis. some of the language that was used by the former administration. so of course the question is what if any teeth does this have, andrea. that will be at the forefront. back to you because we see the swearin

kasie hunt, you are right across the street from this in one of the senate office buildings. we know some of the office buildings were evacuated. is this all related? >> reporter: it seems so, lester. we're still trying to determine what the cause was to have people actually relocate from the cannon complex. evacuation may be the wrong word to explain what we now know what happened in the office building. they've gathered staff inside the complex. the calculation seems to be it is safer to remain inside the complex than to send people out into what everyone is looking at right now on the screen. but, again, we have not gotten any reports or indication inside one of the buildings that at this point would cause us to be alarmed about that. so we're going to continue to keep an eye on this. now this scene we're watching here -- so this is the west front -- i'm sorry, the east front of the capitol. that door some of the viewers may recognize if you watched a state funeral, when john mccain's casket or george h.w. bush's casket was at the u.s. capitol building, it comes out that d

nbc's kasie hunt now kasie, how realistic is all of this talk? are there enough republican senators to support impeachment? >> reporter: not at this hour, shep, but it is a very fast-moving target and this is a live conversation among republicans in the house and in the senate about how to move forward from here there is a great deal of concern about what president trump might be capable of doing in his final 12 days in office. and while it is of course a politically complicated question, and in the house kevin mccarthy, the republican leader, has urged privately the president-elect not to go forward with it because it could divide the country further, the idea, i think, after being under siege at the capitol, of being unprepared to react to any additional actions from president trump, makes a lot of people nervous so the next 48 hours are going to be critical in trying to answer your question, shep >> kasie, obviously this will start in the house where the democrats are in the majority. are they worried that this could back fire politically? >>

joining me for insight and analysis are nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt, senior washington correspondent hallie jackson, former homeland secretary jay johnson and wall street journalist peggy noonan. welcome to sunday and a special edition of "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is a special edition of "meet the press" with chuck todd. >>> good sunday morning. it was almost exactly four years ago at his inauguration that donald trump stood at the u.s. capitol and said, this american carnage stops right here and stops right now. on wednesday, that american carnage came to the capitol. inspired by a president trying to deny his successor's inauguration. make no mistake, what happened that day was an insurrection against the united states government. by thousands of pro-trump rioters who stormed and sacked the capitol, aided by elected republicans trying to overturn joe biden's victory with a big lie and inspired by a president of the united states who urged that mob on. then later that day, excuse the violence

kasie, that was a moment on fox, bret baier was fact checking josh hawley. hawley really started this rebellion and it's true that they can't change the outcome, but there's all kinds of talk about what mike pence might do with other electoral, you know, college delegates, trying to foster rebellion. how could this routine procedure get out of control? >> andrea, at this point my sources are telling me it's unlikely to get completely out of control, although there are some potential unknowns simply because this is all unprecedented. we've hardly seen anything like this before there have only been a couple of incidents in history where even a small piece of this has been challenged. in this case it's likely to drag out for hours. we're just learning at this hour that senator ted cruz joined by senator braun plan to sign onto an objection to arizona, that will be one of the first states up, as everything goes in alphabetical order. so if they object to that right out of the gate, we know senator hawley plans to object to pennsylvania. every state objection tha

kasie hunt is on capitol hill democrats spent their impeachment hoping to start that trial soon. but it looks like they could have to wait a while. >> reporter: that's right. mitch mcconnell tonight making clear the first weeks of the biden administration are still going to be all about donald trump as the senate holds their impeachment trial. democrats would likely need 17 republicans to vote with them, and that will be an uphill climb. but if mcconnell decides he'll vote to convict, that could change everything. lester? >> kasie, thank you. >>> i want to bring in our political director and moderator of "meet the press" chuck todd and presidential historian michae beschloss. chuck, first to you. where do you see the republican party going from here, especially after some voted to impeach? >> well, look. it is at a real crossroads this is a very divided party, particularly the leadership of the party is in one place. they would like to get rid of the virus that is donald trump. whether that's mitch mcconnell, liz cheney, you even had som people who, while they didn't vote for imp

lester >> kasie, thank you very much. >>> and then there's this an unprecedented warning from all ten living former defense secretaries calling on the military to stay out of election disputes and carry out the transition fully, cooperatively and transparently. here's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: clearly alarmed by president trump's actions the former pentagon leaders from both parties writing in "the washington post" efforts to involve the u.s. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory. former secretary william cohen. >> so just want to make sure that the military understands its role is not to abide by illegal unethical, unpatriotic orders from the president of the united states. sad to have to say that. >> reporter: the idea for the statement originated with former defense secretar dick cheney who as vice president presided over the party quickly certifying barack obama's electoral college victory. president trump ousted his defense secretary mark esper for protesting proposals to use the military in lafayette

lester. >> kasie, thank you. >>> i want to bring in our political director and moderator of "meet the press" chuck todd and michael beschloss. chuck, where do you see the republican party going from here, especially after some voted to impeach >> well, look. it is at a real crossroads this is a very divided party, particularly the leadership of the party is in one place. they would like to get rid of the virus that is donald trump whether that's mitch mcconnell, liz cheney, even some people who, while they didn't vote for impeachment, are hoping that the result is that he is somehow ex-communicated from the party and impeachment isn't a bad way to do it but here's the rub, lester the problem is while the leadership is in one place, the grassroots of the party is still a trump party. >> all right michael, this is a historic second impeachment of a president. how will history books describe this moment? >> they will say that donald trump owns two, one half of all the presidential impeachments in history. they will say that today was the most bipartisan impeachment in modern history, and

. >>> our capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt joins us now. democrats were not able to get the republican votes for removal last time around if they attempt another impeachment would this time be any different? >> reporter: lester, republicans are incredibly angry with president trump after what happened at the capitol, and there are conversations happening about whether he should be impeached. so far just one republican senator ben sass publicly saying he would consider it but the top house republican kevin mccarthy called president-elect biden today and urged him not to back impeachment fearing it would enflame the situation further with democrats pressing ahead, a critical question is whether they have time left to impeach him. lester >> all right kasie hunt, thank you. >>> the fbi says its top priority is investigating wednesday's rampage and the death of a capitol police officer as new video emerged of the deadly shooting of one of the rioters. we have to warn you. the images are pretty disturbing here's tom costello. >> reporter: tonight

and as the smoke clears at the capitol, the question is how did the smoke escalate into such mayhem kasie hunt looks at how it all unfold unfolded. >> reporter: it was a frightening scene. thousands of trump supporters storming the capitol, rioters breaching the walls of congress. tear gas, broken windows, even shots fired. chaos and tragedy. it began when trump supporters gathered in washington, d.c., urged on by the president to protest congress's vote count to declare joe biden the winner for weeks trump has lied about the election results, alleging voter fraud, and he expressed defiance about the election's outcome to his supporters. >> we will never give up, we will never concede it doesn't happen. >> reporter: after that speech, his followers marched to capitol hill to protest where inside senators and congressmen began counting the electoral college votes. while some republicans were trying to dispute biden's win inside the capitol, the mob outside was growing out of control. defia defiant jeering, they faced off on the capitol steps and the standoff bake a tussle, the crowd pushin

i want to go to kasie hunt though really quickly. and talking about the development on the hill which again we haven't talked much about. if the riots hadn't happened f insurrection against the united states had happened two days ago, we would have been talking about the shocking development in the united states senate. there are a lot of ways that democrats taking control are going to change things. but we are still looking at a united states senate that's now with two democrats from a pretty conservative state. we're going to have about ten legislators that have all of the incentive in the world to strike compromise. to pass moderate legislation. to be seen as people who get things done. >> that's right, joe. there's going to be a lot of power in the middle of that conference because it does as david was talking about it takes agreement to make anything happen in the u.s. senate and any single member can hold things up. can change the dynamic. that means that if joe manchin wants to have a meeting with susan collins and lisa murkow

but, no, impeachment, it's a distraction. >> so, kasie, let me ask you. what have you heard yesterday, we got more information about a new republican member of congress who called for the assassination of nancy pelosi, liked it on her facebook page. when the lynching of barack obama was brought up, she said be patient. those plans are taking shape. we need to make sure we do it correctly. in a way that liberal judges don't get in the way of us lynching barack obama. well, and of course, you know, her campaign ad that showed her holding an ar-15 and targeting three members of congress. what were the words again? i'm coming after them or something like that? three democratic members of congress. something going on offense or something like that. but it very much looked like she was targeting three women of color in the united states congress. man, i don't -- i don't care what my ideology was. if i'm a member of the house of representatives and i have been a member of the house of representatives, i would tell my majority leader, my minority leader to get th

kasie, thank you. i'm about to go over to peter alexander, but quickly, andrea, you've covered mitch mcconnell. you know him a long time. how is he going to navigate today? >> he is going to give them their say, their opportunity, but i think all the signals are he does not want this to go on forever. it's going to go through ariz a arizona, the first objection. once it becomes clear -- >> he'll shut this down? >> we have to watch mike pence. mike pence will allow a certain amount of bloviating, shall we say, to satisfy, you know, the chief. >> well, there's some bloviating going on. our own peter alexander, our white house correspondent, is at the white house. we're getting some hints of what he's saying. we know he doesn't accept what happened in georgia. i know that this is our shocked face on that. what more do we expect, and how much pressure is the president putting on his vice president today? >> reporter: it's notable, chuck, that when this event started, we'll get to kelly o'donnell who is the

good morning, kasie. we have what we have seen is scientists in south africa actually took the plasma, the blood that contains antibodies from individuals that have survived infection, this new strain. what they have noticed is that actually from the old type of the virus. they exposed it to the in you strain that is circulating in south africa. the antibodies produced a natural infection from covid-19. the old variety of it were not as effective in actually killing the new type of virus that is circulating in south africa. so that has drawn concerns. new studies from both pfizer and moderna showing their moderna shows their antibodies are slightly less effective than in fighting the original strain as well. still effective. while the strength of the antibody strain is not as strong, it is still strong. there is still reassurance here that those will work, but perhaps the strength is mitigated a bit from the south africa strain. >> justin, your latest piece for the new time project is entitled "the soarin

kasie? >> quite a bit of symbolism. and hans, you've been digging into and reporting on what biden is going to do on day one, which of course will start at noon today. what do we know about how those policy initiatives are going to roll out and be different from what we've seen over the last four years? >> well, this is the great unwinding. it starts this afternoon as soon as biden gets back. he's going to get out his pen and start signing memorandums, executive orders n total 17 executive actions that he's taking. and think of them, kasie, in three broad buckets. immigration, the environment and you've got the economy. and so these first day actions are meant to undo what donald trump did, so something -- direct action on rolling back the so-called muslim ban. there will be a direct order not to build any more of the wall that president donald trump staked his entire campaign on. there will be something on student loans. there will be more on the environment, something on anwar, preventing drilling there, something on

nbc's kasie hunt joins us now with more on that. good morning, kasie. >> chris, good morning to you. disturbing images show just how violent the mob inside the capitol was and how perilously close we came to having those rioters cross paths with the top leaders in our government, if it weren't for the brave actions of capitol police officers. we should warn our viewers, some of what you're about to see may be disturbing. a hero in the halls of congress. that's how so many are referring to the capitol police officer seen in this video, taken by a huffington post reporter, as a violent mob seized the u.s. capitol. the officer single-handedly trying to keep an advancing group of rioters at bay. as the mob breaches the second floor, the officer pauses and looks to his left. down that hallway just a few feet away are doors to the senate chamber. no one is guarding them, and we now know they were still in the process of being secured. the officer makes a split-second decision, using his own body to leave the mob in the opposite direction,

kasie? >> congresswoman, good morning. happy new year to you. my question is actually about the votes that look like they are set to transpire on the house floor on wednesday. this vote was so narrow for the house speaker. we know that was in part because of the coronavirus. we also know that there may be different procedures for voting on wednesday when this electoral college challenge is made. but are you confident that your leaders are prepared to handle any scenario that may unfold on the house floor if this process that your guardrails are steadfast? >> well, happy new year to you, and kasie, i hope your baby had her wonderful first christmas. this was the first christmas for your first child. that's always really special. but, yes, you know, although our leader had a very narrow win, 216, if there's one thing that the leadership that the democratic caucus can do it is not only count but it is also manage the floor as well. and so i'm extremely confident that we will be able to get through this process. albeit a very lengthy one. i also bel

kasie hunt on capitol hill. pete, i want to begin with the after-action report, the capitol police. where are we in the investigation, both in trying to figure out what went wrong inside capitol police, where are we with tracking down the police that ransacked this capitol, that trashed it? and where are we, the issue of, is there going to be accountability for these people or are they going to be let to walk away? >> so i will take 2 and 3 to be the same question. as for accountability for the capitol police, that's something that the committee members in charge of the capitol police are already working on. they're already asking for answers about what happened up there. the police chief has put out a statement basically congratulating his troops for doing the best they could under the circumstances but saying, you know, we were clearly outnumbered and we're going to investigate what happened. now, in terms of finding the people who did this and are responsible for it, a couple of things. number one, i have said earlier, and now it's actually happening for real, that the authoritie

i'm kasie hunt. president trump yesterday expressed no regret for his comments one week ago ahead of the violence insurrection at the u.s. capitol. the outgoing president was also veement at the prospect of facing a second impeachment. >> what is your role in what happened at the capitol, what is your personal responsibility? >> if you read my speech, and many people have done it and i've seen it both in the papers and in the media, on television, it has been analyzed and people thought that what i said was totally appropriate. everybody said that they thought it was totally appropriate. the impeachment hoax is a continuation of the greatest and most vicious witch hunt in the history of our country and is causing tremendous anger and division and pain far greater than most people will ever understand. which is very dangerous for the usa especially at this very tender time. >> trump's comments came during his first appearance in public since the capitol siege as he traveled to texas to visit one of hi

kasie, start with you and let's start with what this sort of -- a bit of a change of heart of what house republicans are going to do. it did seem as of yesterday that kevin mccarthy was actually going to whip a no vote on impeachment. so is this about liz cheney? >> chuck, i think it's honestly about the raw emotion, fear and anger because the more we learn about this the worse it gets and the more we learn about what might unfold here in washington over the course of the next week leading up to the inauguration is also generating additional fear and anger, and so far the president is refusing to do anything in the face of what members of congress are feeling incredibly personally in their lives every single day. and this applies to all of them, republicans, democrats, the democrats have learned particularly of threats specifically aimed at them from some of these pro-trump supporters but this is something that's affecting everyone, there was one, you know, republican lawmaker who toldolico basically that our crazy people, this lawmaker's words are excessively armed, they have guns, and

privately, backing -- kasie hunt said sending up white smoke, if you will. >> that's right. we have our team of reporters and analysts standing by, including our panel for the next 60 minutes. claire mccaskill, michael steele, both msnbc political analysts, chuck rosenberg, senior fbi official joins us as well. we want to start on capitol hill with leigh ann caldwell who can take us through what we are seeing. we are in the middle of a procedural vote on this motion by republicans to set up a commission effectively to look at what they describe as the failures of the election. that's expected to fail. obviously, the vote has not been gavelled. then we hit a second procedural vote. that's the one to finish up the debate about the debate and move on to sort of the meat and potatoes, the substance of impeachment. do you have that right? >> reporter: you have it absolutely right. this vote that they are taking -- that's taking place, it's going to take a while. that's because of covid safety precautions that are in place and also because members are allowed to vote been proxy. e