Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Craig Melvin 20210115

Outside of washington, d. C. , the fbi warning state capitols could be at risk. They are taking their own security precautions as we speak. This morning, we are hearing directly from the brave officers who put their lives on the line to defend the capitol and our democracy on january 6th. People still swinging metal poles at us, pushing and shoving, spraying us with mace and pepper spray. I was being beaten with a thin blue line flag. Guys were trying to grab my gun. They were chanting, kill him with his own gun. They were calling us traitors, telling us to remember our oath. Eventually, they attacked us. This hour, we are keeping our eye on capitol hill, because in 30 minutes, nancy pelosi will be briefing reporters. We will watch for any new information about the security preparations. And what the speaker might say about sending that new article of impeachment over to the senate. Thats going to happen roughly 30 minutes from now. Right now, lets get to our reporters following these fast moving security developments, five days out from inauguration day. Alison barber on the ground at the capitol. There is clearly a dramatically increased security presence. Our justice correspondent Pete Williams tracking the latest on how Law Enforcement agencies are bracing for more possible violence. We will get to pete in a moment. Take us through what you are seeing there in front of the capitol. Whats it look like . Reporter the u. S. Capitol essentially is a fortress. You can see behind me, Capitol Police are here, secret service agents. Armed soldiers patrolling around the capitol. Barricades like this nine, ten feet tall surround the capitol complex. They have flat bases which make it difficult for any rioter or protester to push this over. If thats not enough, they have linked each of the spains together. This goes as far as you can see, whichever way you look. When you look a little more around the capitol, you see checkpoints, Law Enforcement, soldiers blocking off roadways, creating a security perimeter that covers most of capitol hill and downtown d. C. The rehearsal for the inauguration was going to take place sunday. Its postponed until monday because of security concerns. We are learning that Senate Staffers are being told, urged to work from home. Pete, this is part of what fbi director Christopher Wray said in his first on camera comment since his january 6th riot. We are seeing an extensive amount of concerning online chatter, the best way i would describe it, about a number of events surrounding the inauguration. Together with our partners, we evaluate those threats and what kind of resources to deploy against them. Right now, we are tracking calls for potential armed protests and activity leading up to the inauguration. Pete, now we are learning the doj Inspector General is conducting a review of the departments role during the riot. What can you tell us . In terms of reviews, theres one by the justice departments Inspector General but also the Inspector General of the Defense Department to look at the role of the National Guard at last weeks riot and why it was slow to get up there, the department of interior, because they control the park police, and the department of Homeland Security, which oversees the secret service and, of course, has the homeland responsibility. They will look at what did the government know, how much of that was communicated to the Capitol Police . That continues to be a big question here. We have been told by, for example, the new York Police Department and the fbi that they were aware of all this talk about wanting to do something violent at the capitol and they told the Capitol Police about it. Both the former Capitol Police chief and now the acting assistant chief have both said they never saw any of that. Where was that breakdown . What happened there . Thats all going to be reviewed. Then they will look at the response once the rioters got there. Did something hold up the ability to get more police and more federal agents up there to help the Capitol Police who were outmanned. There have been 44 arrests so far. 44 people now charged in federal court as of this morning. That number will probably go up later today. We will hear more about that at 1 00. One of the detention hearings this afternoon that will be held for these people that have been captured, the government wants to keep them behind bars and not have them go back to the inauguration is this man. He has been seen wearing the horns and fur on his hat. According to a Court Document this morning that was filed in advance of his detention hearing, the government is arguing against detention, but it has this line. It says, strong evidence, including his own words, and actions at the capitol, supports that the intent of the capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the u. S. Government. Thats the first time the government, to my knowledge, has said this officially, that the investigators now believe that some of the people that entered the building had some pretty serious and scary thoughts in mind. Wow, thats the first i think a lot of folks are hearing of that. You have to wonder, pete, was it just dumb luck how were they not able to do that . They never got close to any of them, fortunately, because the Capitol Police were able to evacuate the two chambers and get the house members and Senate Members separately to locations outside the capitol to safety. The senators were taken to a hearing room in a Senate Office building through underground tunnels. The house members to a hearing room in a house office building. The Capitol Police were able to hold off the people who were trying to break into that amazing video of people pounding on the windows with their fists and breaking windows trying to get in to the chambers, trying to get into the lobby outside the house chambers. By the time this sort of thing. This is the speakers lobby. This is the entrance to the area just outside the house floor. By the time they got through there and were able to get into the house chamber, they had the Capitol Police had successfully evacuated all of the members of congress. Who knows what would have happened if they hadnt been able to hold them off. Really quickly, pete, to be clear, the gentleman you mentioned who has become a symbol, if you will, of what we saw, the guy in the horns all painted up, is it true his lawyer is asking President Trump for a pardon . We have hear the lawyer say that. I must say the Court Document paints a picture here of someone who has drug abuse problems and some mental problems. It says at one point that he views himself as an alien who was sent to earth to keep track of other people. There are some questions here about his Mental Health issues that the government raises in this document, urging a judge to keep him detained. Okay. Big thanks to both of you. The threat of violence extends well beyond the capitol in washington, d. C. Some states have been dealing with ongoing protests and heightened postelection tensions are bracing for violence as well. Left side of your screen, lansing, michigan, right side, phoenix, arizona. You see fences up there as one line of defense. Our reporters are on the ground there as well. Michigan, of course, saw multiple armed protests in the last year. There was that plot to kidnap the governor. Law enforcement officials just held a security there in michigan, we are told. How are past threats influencing the Decision Making . Reporter craig, thats right. The history of threats here, the history of armed protests here certainly a striking backdrop that cannot be ignored. I just spoke to the mayor of lansing who told me because this is something they have been dealing with frequently for the past year, he feels confident they are prepared. We also just received a briefing from local and state Law Enforcement. The chief of the lansing area, he said, do not come here. He also said that the preparedness level is unprecedented. The National Guard will be here this weekend with local and state Law Enforcement. Just this morning we have been seeing a very visible, significant presence. You see Michigan State Police Officers. We have seen them on bicycles, on foot. If you follow me this way, we have lansing city hall. Theres fences set up to protect city hall. Later today, we expect to see fencing go up around the capitol as well. One Michigan Capitol Commission member says the last time they barricaded the capitol in that way was in the mid 90s when the kkk rallied here. I asked the mayor of lansing about the approach of Law Enforcement when it comes to this weekend. Listen to what he had to say. Our Police Officers, regardless of what their political opinions are, when they wear the uniform and they wear the badge, they protect the city. This isnt about philosophy or anything like that. This is about those who come downtown have a right to protest peacefully. If they dont do that, then they are held accountable. Our Police Officers are here to protect people, to protect the capitol, to protect the city of lansing. Thats what we expect. Reporter one of the outstanding questions is what happens next week . On sunday, lawmakers will not be in session. They will be in session next week. The question is, will session proceed as usual or will they have to make accommodations due to safety concerns . A snowy lansing, michigan. Lets go across the country. No snow in phoenix, arizona. Lawmakers saying they have received credible threats. They need more security. What are you hearing . What are you seeing . Reporter so what we are seeing here is that they have constructed a double layer fence around the entire perimeter of the Arizona Capitol for additional security. On the inside, lawmakers and their staff are feeling anxious and uneasy. Not only have they seen for the last several weeks consistently since election day many protests, heavily armed individuals coming to the capitol. Someone constructed a guillotine on the Capitol Grounds the other day which for many of the staff and lawmakers war frightening. They also have their own suspicions of the republican colleagues. Arizona democrats just wrote a letter asking for federal officials to investigate republican colleagues who may have been involved in the january 6th riots. One lawmaker who works in this building behind me here, actually attended the january 6th riot and took pictures outside of the Capitol Grounds. Stop the steal organizers are saying that two arizona congressmen helped them in planning it. Those congressmen deny it. I asked the House Minority leader, do you feel safe . Listen to this. Every single one of my colleagues here, republicans and democrats, they have a sense of uncertainty. I can tell you my colleagues in the democratic caucus, we are planning for the worst. We are hoping for the best. Reporter the representative you heard from there tells me that over the next couple days, lawmakers are receiving consistent briefings from security officials. Everything is on the table right now, including the stoppage of session or potentially going virtual. A big thanks to both of you in those state capitols. Lets turn to art assavada, chief of police for houston, one of the cities beefing up its Police Presence ahead of the inauguration. He is the president of the major cities chiefs association. Good to have you back. Your department has a notice out to the public in houston to be on the lookout for threats. So far, as we understand it, you have not identified any specific threats to the area. You are not taking any chances. Whats top of mind right now in terms of concerns about what those threats could look like . Well, those threats could look like what we saw on 6 january in d. C. We realize that a lot of the threats are moving to alternative platforms of communications, because the insurrectionists, the folks bent on this, they are smart must have to realize were monitoring. We are not taking any chance. We are on full alert. My colleagues across the nation are on full alert. I just stepped out of a Conference Call with the National Fusion center association. We will be ready. We are patriots in every sense of the word. We stand for the rule of law and not for the cowards that attacked our capitol. We know what happened in charlottesville in 2017. You can draw a line to what happened at the u. S. Capitol last week from charlottesville. The extremism, not going back into the shadows any time soon, it would seem. It sounds like according to what you said its not just the fbi thats monitoring this online chatter. Its local Police Departments as well. Whats your department in texas doing to track and learn more about these right wing movements to get ahead of any future violence . First of all, we are not burying our heads in the sand. Texas is a hotbed for the militia movement. Its a hotbed, sadly, houston area, for White Supremacy and hate groups. We are being vigilant. We are talking to our community. We are out in the streets. We have undercover officers out and about looking at these groups. More than anything else, we are making sure that we have a heightened sense of alert and also an understanding that we should imagine the unimaginable and be prepared for that. So it is all hands on deck here. Im hopeful that the congress will wake up and actually pass some robust domestic terrorist federal laws and statutes that will actually bring these people to justice in the future, make it clear what the consequences will be and hopefully that will work as a deterrent to future terrorists that might attack our government. Chief, i do want to ask you about the officer there in houston that we found out after the fact was part of the riot at the riot in washington. That officer has resigned. What was the reaction from your officers to the news that their colleague was there at the riot . Are there any other investigations into whether more officers were potentially involved . Well, i can tell you that talking to a lot of my officers, they were just i had a meeting with one of my commanders earlier this morning. They were shocked someone would take not just this office or not just my former officer, because he is no longer a member of the department, he didnt have the courage to face the police chief in a discipline hearing today which was scheduled. He was noticed as required by law. They are in shock. Sadly, we cant be surprised. I have heard some reports of a handful of folks im trying to find out who they are that thought it was his right that might be wearing this uniform. My message to any police officer, if you think storming the capitol was appropriate, then you dont need to wear the badge. Any officer that knows someone wearing the badge that has that mindset needs to report them. We need to weed these people out. Whether you are burning buildings because you are an extremist to the left or to the right, at the end of the day, you are extreme and you dont belong wearing a Police Uniform in this country. Chief, its good to have your perspective. The best of luck to you down there in houston. Appreciate you. Folks, we expect to hear from House Speaker nancy pelosi roughly 12 minutes from now. We are told thats going to get underway at 11 30. As you can see, a number of reporters starting to assemble there. We are watching for an update on when the house will send that impeachment article to the senate to kick off the trial. We will bring that to you live as soon as it happens. First, more details on president elect joe bidens massive new covid relief package. Who is going to lead his big new vaccine push . How much all of it will cost. U. Just order on the subway app and its ready to go with contactless curbside. Turkey sub in a hot tub now get 15 off any footlong when you order in the app. What are you doing . Art class. Its abstract expressionism. When you start with a better hot dog from oscar mayer, you can do no wrong. Its all for the love of hot dogs. If you printed out directions to get here today, youre in the right place. My seminars are a great tool to help young homeowners who are turning into their parents. Now, remember, theyre not programs. Theyre tv shows. You woke up early. No one cares. Yes. So, i was using something called homequote explorer from progressive to easily compare Home Insurance rates. Was i hashtagging . Progressive cant help you from becoming your parents, but we can help you compare rates on Home Insurance with homequote explorer. Guess what. The waiter doesnt need to know your name. You may have many reasons for waiting to go to your doctor right now. But if youre experiencing leg pain, swelling, or redness, dont wait to see your doctor. These could be symptoms of deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot which could travel to your lungs and lead to a pulmonary embolism. Which could cause chest pain or discomfort, or difficulty breathing and be deadly. Your symptoms could mean something serious, so this is no time to wait. Talk to a doctor right away, by phone, online, or inperson. In just a few hours, joe biden will lay out more details of his National Covid vaccination plan. Thursday night, he rolled out that 1. 9 trillion rescue plan to combat the pandemic. This morning, i asked dr. Fauci whats the one thing president elect biden could do in the first few days in office to try and improve the situation. One of the things that president elect biden has said and will be saying is that there will be a greater degree of coordination, interaction, support on the part of the federal government interacting with the states. You dont want the federal government to take all the responsibility of doing this. You dont want the states to be left on their own. You have to have a good degree of interaction. I think thats what we are going to see more of, where states will have help for resources but also more of a general coordinated plan how to do this. We are expecting to hear from the president elect this afternoon on some of this. Exactly. Mike, what do we think fauci was hinting at there . Reporter one of the few things, one of the only things that joe biden has given President Trump credit for is operation warp speed. We have a covid vaccine. One of the biggest areas of fault that he laid on the president is the fact that he has said, all right, its here, states, its up to you at this point. Thats been a constant refrain from the biden team. Biden spent time over this transition on the phone with governors. He said some governors arent asking for much federal help. There are plenty who need it. Thats one of the things he will emphasize today. Thats why he proposed last night as part of this nearly 2 trillion spending plan, 20 billion is part of a National Vaccine strategy he will detail today. He will talk about the 50 billion for expanded testing. Some of the aid to get ppe and schools ready to reopen as well. As he sold this plan to the nation in this address last night, he was setting an urgent tone, one echoed this morning by one of his top health advisors, the health and Human Services director to be. Lets take a listen. President elect is inheriting a situation where covid will be worse on the day he takes office than it is today. You have to get ready for rescue before you can do the recovery. Thats why this plan is so important. We Hope Congress will act quickly, because if we expect to recover, not just our health and economy, you have to rescue first. Reporter you heard him say there, rescue before recovery. What biden laid out last night in this 1. 9 trillion plan, which includes more stimulus checks, more enhanced unemployment benefits, raising the minimum wage, its the beginning. Biden saying he will come back to congress in a month asking for a bigger recovery plan. Part of the build back better plan he proposed over the campaign. He has to get one passed before we can get there. We are beginning to see the task that biden has ahead in trying to get these plans through congress. Big task trying to get this done. A good sense of what his Top Priorities are going to be. Thanks, as always. I want to turn to dr. Gupta. A pulmonologist, a Global Health policy expert. He is also an msnbc medical contributor. Lets start with what we heard there about president elect Bidens National vaccination program. He wants 416 billion to help launch the program. He still has a goal of vaccinating 100 million americans in the first 100 days. What do you make of the president elects plan . I think its absolutely vital. Good morning. What we need is we just need physically more sites that the federal government is going to help scale up with in partnership with local and state governments as well. They are at stadiums, federally qualified Community Health centers, you name it. There are levers the federal government can pull that can help state and local officials actually scale up vaccination clinics. Thats one. Two, theres going to be an investment in human capital, getting more people trained to be vaccinators. Restoring departments of Public Health at the state and local level so they can do this work, whether vaccination or contact tracing. Thats important. Onethird, according to Public Health officials, roughly a third of the vaccines have not go into peoples arms. How can that be . Part of the problem is that the eligibility rules have been pretty constrained. We have been talking about tier 1a, health care workers, people in longterm care facilities. Now we say release all the doses, we will not hold any back, thats going to help. Number two, those in some states, those individuals above 55 or with preexisting conditions will get access. Theres an expanded pool. They will actually get more of the doses out without constraining who can get it and holding back that second dose. Thats going to be helpful. Theres just now a lot more muscle memory in how to do this right, how to get product from the Pharmaceutical Company to actually into state and local officials into their coffers so they can get it out to where they need to get it out. The biden team is warning the Trump Administration is obstructing the transition by withholding critical vaccination data. We are five days out from the official start of bidens administration. How concerned are you that they will get into Office Without having all the information they need and that will potentially slow down or hamper their plans to help the country . I think the data piece is potentially the most worrisome. We are learning how to actually get vaccinations in peoples arms, that supply chain piece. The data piece is critical. How do you get an appointment . Who needs an appointment . What about followup . Theres no standardization of software across 50 states, much less within one state itself. Administration and state and local governments are going to have to have that roster of individuals who need the vaccine and then thats important just to make sure we are getting the vaccine to the right places. Two, if theres Vaccine Hesitancy among certain communities, knowing where to message accordingly so we can increase uptake in certain communities, having visibility is important. Thats whats lagging right now. We are now learning that a drug that could protect highrisk Covid Patients from developing severe illness, its sitting on shelves unused while you have a Record Number of people hospitalized in this country. In a briefing thursday, the medical director of the Michigan Department of health and Human Services, he estimated 10 of patients in michigan eligible for the therapy had received the therapy. Same question, how can that be . This is a big problem. This is an information asymmetry problem. This is what you need in general to qualify for that therapy. You need to have had a recent diagnosis in the last week of covid19. You need to be asymptomatic. Again, you need to be in the seven to ten day window of a recent diagnosis and you need to know that this therapy exists and how to get it what number to call. Thats a lot of friction to actually get access. People need to be armed with that information. We need to be messaging more to individuals that if you have a recent diagnosis but otherwise well, staying at home, there are numbers to call. To actually access this pharmaceutical agent through a local health care system. We need to get that information out to people. I get asked all the time, how do i get this medication . I have to direct people accordingly so that they can go through the screening process, contact the right people. Thats unfair. We need to get this information out there to people and message accordingly. Thats the reason why. I like that phrase, information asymmetry. Dr. Gupta, we always learn something from you. Thank you, sir. Any minute now, House Speaker nancy pelosi set to take to the podium there. She could have could have a big update about the next steps ahead of Donald Trumps impeachment trial. Take a look at this. This is a pretty disturbing headline. Some democrats in congress are worried their colleagues might kill them. The reporter who wrote that story will join me next. Br 25 of your mouth. Listerine® cleans virtually 100 . Helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. Never settle for 25 . Always go for 100. Bring out the bold™ a must in your medicine cabinet less sick days cold coming on . Zicam® is clinically proven to shorten colds highly recommend it zifans love zicams unique zinc formula. It shortens colds zicam zinc that cold mornings were made for Better Things than Rheumatoid Arthritis. When considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz. A pill for adults with moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough. Xeljanz can help relieve joint pain and swelling, stiffness, and helps stop further joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. Before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. Tell your doctor if youve had hepatitis b or c, have flulike symptoms, or are prone to infections. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. Taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. Tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. Dont let another morning go by without asking your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. Xeljanz. Its velveeta versus the other guys. Clearly, nothing melts like velveeta. Cyber attacks are relentlessly advancing. To end them, cybereason built a Cyber Security solution clearly, nothing melts like velveeta. So advanced. It can end attacks today on computers, mobile devices, servers and the cloud. And deliver futureready protection, keeping you sharp for tomorrow. Join us, the defenders, in our mission. Cybereason. End cyber attacks. From endpoints to everywhere. Live look here inside the Briefing Room on capitol hill. Just a few moments from now, we are expecting to hear from House Speaker nancy pelosi. Her First Official News Conference since wednesday. Of course, that was when the house voted to impeach President Trump for a second time. When she starts, we will take you there live. We could find out when she plans to send the article of impeachment over to the senate. That, of course, would officially kick start the countdown to the senate trial. Garrett haake joins me with the latest. Lets start there. Have we gotten any hints about what the speaker might be planning . Reporter well, the main strategic decision left to the speaker is this timing question, when does she want to send the articles over . Excuse me, one article this time around. She said in the days leading up to the impeachment, she wanted to move quickly. The importance was to prevent any clear and present danger presented by this president. As late as an hour and a half ago, the impeachment managers were holding their fire on this. They werent saying what the timing plan was. A lot of theres a couple things in play. The theres the constitutional president of whether a former president can be impeached. Democrats and many republicans believe that he can. There are some republicans who say that its unconstitutional. Then theres a question of this logjam that impeachment proceedings would create in the senate where the Incoming Administration is trying to confirm their cabinet appointees and pass this giant rescue package that was unveiled last night. There are a lot of timing related issues. Thats the key question for the speaker when this News Conference gets underway. The other question that someone may ask her is, why did she choose not to appoint any republicans as part of the impeachment manager process here . In this case, unlike the last impeachment, you do get ten House Republicans who voted in favor of impeaching this president. To convict, you need 17 senate republicans. There were some people who were wondering whether it would have been useful to get liz cheney, if she would have been willing, or one of the other republicans who voted in favor of impeachment to convince their fellow partisans to convict this president. Garrett, while you have you apologies if we have to cut you off when the speaker starts. Lets talk about oklahoma senator James Lankford for a moment. Republican senator, part of a group of 11 senators who initially planned to object to the Electoral College certification. Senator lankford later withdrew that objection after the riot at the capitol. Overnight, he issued an apology, specifically i should say, especially to black oklahomans. What more can you tell us about that . Reporter lankford was someone who i think when his name showed up on the list of people who were going to object to the Electoral College count surprised a lot of people, myself included. Thats not generally the kind of way that he operates. He was one of the first to withdraw his decision to object. This apology overnight came specifically to black oklahomans, specifically to black tulsans. He said he didnt understand people were looking at the objection as essentially objecting to the way that black voters voted in a lot of the states. He said that hadnt occurred to him on the front end. He apologized on the back end for going through with it saying he was trying to represent the oklahomans who wanted to understand really what had gone on with this election. I will leave it to others to parse his motives and whether that apology is sincere or not. Lankford is up for reelection in 2022. Garrett haake, your timing is impeccable. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is approaching the podium here in the Briefing Room. Lets listen in. Today is actually reverend Martin Luther kings birthday. As we observe it in this extraordinary time, its important to remember his words. All of them so appropriate one time or another. Today i remember him saying, true peace is not merely the absence of tension. It is the presence of justice. I particularly am drawn to that phrase because one of my favorites that i have in my office is pope paul vi. He said, if you want peace, work for justice. The connection is very clear. Justice is called for as we address the active of insurrection that was perpetrated against the capitol complex last week. Right now, our managers are preparing for the trial which they will take to the senate. At the same time, we are in transition. With a covid relief package president elect biden announced last night, he is delivering on what he said when he was elected. Help is on the way. His plan makes big, bold, urgent action, building on some of our democratic initiatives in the last congress, including an increase in direct payment to 2,000, Vaccine Distribution and testing support in a fair and equitable way addressing the disparities in access. Additional aid for small businesses, funding for state and local governments to protect our heroes jobs. Extension of unemployment benefits, help for renters, for food insecure people and for our children. As the last jobs report of the Trump Administration shows, the need could not be more urgent. Moody analytics says, this morning, that this package, the rescue and recovery package put forth by joe biden last night, this package will take us to full employment by 2021. One full year earlier than it would occur without it. 2021 versus 2022, one full year earlier. In just five days, joe biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in as president and Vice President of the United States. Following the attack last week on the capitol complex, theres been unprecedented mobilization of security in the capitol. I want to express gratitude to our Capitol Police, to the National Guard who are present here to protect our democracy. They have shown great courage. Im very proud of them. I was honored to be able to extend gratitude to them in person on behalf of the congress. We must subject this whole complex, though, to scrutiny in light of what happened and the fact that the inauguration is coming. To that end, i have asked retired Lieutenant General russell honeray to lead a review of processes and command and control. The general is a respected leader with experience dealing with crises. As a former vice director for operations j3 with the joint chiefs of staff, his focus was military support to civilian authorities. Military support to civilian authorities. He has experience with national the National Capitol regions security. House leadership has worked with him, seen up close and personal his excellent leadership at the time of katrina. He and i and others know full well how fortunate we are that the general has accepted is willing to do this. Members are moving forward with strong oversight from committees, of course, to have review. Theres strong interest in congress in a 9 11type commission, an outside commission to conduct that after action review. In the meantime, im very grateful to the general for taking on this responsibility. I find this to be a very emotional time. I said to the members, we are passionate to the reaction to this assault on our democracy. On this temple to democracy. We are very passionate about our reaction. But we must be very dispassionate in how we make decisions to go forward, for security, security, security. As i see many of the films and the incitement of it all by the president of the United States, but as you see the film, one figure so many disgusting images. But one figure of a man in a shirt with auschwitz on it. Auschwitz. Work equals freedom, auschwitz. In this january, one year ago, i had the privilege of bringing a delegation in january to the museum of the holocaust in israel to join heads of state. I came as the head of this congress. To observe the 75th anniversary of the liberation of auschwitz. On the way to israel, i brought the delegation to auschwitz. Probably one of the most chance Transformative National security trips we have made. To see the dehumanizing of people that was perpetrated there was so, so overwhelming. To see this punk with that shirt on and his antisemitism that he has bragged about, to be part of a white supremist raid on this capitol requires us to have an after action review, to assign responsibility to those who are part of organizing it and incentivizing it. In the meantime, im grateful to the general for making some recommendations to us in how we can keep our members safe, our staff safe. The people who make the buil ing function, who had to clean up after this insurrectionist mob. Security. We take an oath to protect and defend the constitution. Our democracy. That is what we will do. We will protect all of those who are here to honor their oath of office. Questions . Thank you, madam speaker. Is there any update on when you might send the article of impeachment to the senate . Do you know when the house might take up joe bidens recovery package . Let me start with the we are very pleased with what the Vice President put forth last night. Im eagerly awaiting some of the particulars of the vaccine proposal that will come out this afternoon. Because this is a matter of complete urgency. Urgency. As the Vice President said last night, this administration, the Trump Administration, handled the distribution of the vaccine in a very disappointing way. He used stronger language. But now we have to move on and do it in the right way, and that will require resources which will require legislation. How it will be done effectively, well know more about. I have some idea about it because weve made suggestions in that regard, but i think that the message of last night and later today from the Vice President will be a message of hope to encourage people to again, when they are its appropriate for them to receive the vaccine, to do so. But as was said, as will be said, its not just about the vaccine. Its about testing and distancing and all the rest as we go forward so that we can crush the virus, which is what we must do, crush the virus so we can open our schools and our businesses, honor our heroes, who are on the front line of this, our health care workers, our police and fire, first responders, transportation, sanitation, food workers, our teachers, our teachers, our teachers, and put money in the pockets of the American People so that the lives and the livelihood of the American People are addressed. So were hoping that we can work in a bipartisan way as we go forward. In terms of the timing of our one week ago on january 6th, there was an act of insurrection perpetrated on the capitol of the United States incentivized by the president of the United States. One week later, wednesday to wednesday, that president was impeached in a bipartisan way by the house of representatives. So urgent with the matter. Theyre now working on taking this to trial, and youll be the first to know when we announce that were going over there. Yes, maam. You mentioned the investigations that are going to be going on since january 6th. A number of House Democrats have signed a letter asking about asking them to look into gop members who may have brought force to the capitol on january 6th. What would you like to see . Any time line or action towards members who did bring public groups into the capitol before january 6th . When were talking about security, we have to talk about truth and trust. In order to serve here with each other, we must trust that people have respect for their oath of office, respect for this institution. We must trust each other, respecting the people who sent us here. We must also have the truth. And that will be looked into. If, in fact, it is found that members of congress were accomplices to this insurrection, if they aided and abetted the crime, there may have to be actions taken beyond the congress in terms of prosecution for that. Yes, sir. We all are seeing Extraordinary Security measures in place on the capitol and throughout the district. Im wondering your level of comfort about that for the inauguration. Let me just say and thank you for the question as a member of the committee that prepares for inauguration, far long time now, weeks, it had been determined that we would have a very small inauguration because of covid, that in order to have the distancing and the rest on the platform and then people down below, it would be necessary to limit it. I dont know if they have publicly released the numbers but a small number of people, tiny percentage of the people participated before. Most disappointing because obviously were excited about nominating a new president of the United States. But not at the risk of Peoples Health and wellbeing and, indeed, their lives. So this was always going to be small. Now with the insurrection of last week, it is necessitated by security to have more security, but hasnt changed the nature of the swearingin. I think its important for people to know that. This is not a concession to the terrorists. It is a recognition of the danger of covid. So, again, im in close touch with i will be again for like the third time in two days with the secretary of the army, spoke with the held of the secret service last night. We all want to be sure that the requests that are made by the Capitol Police are being honored by those who are in a position to meet the needs. Again, it depends on the intelligence, and we have to have more security than the intelligence might warrant i think in this case. Redundancy may be necessary. Not too much but enough. Yes, sir. First off, the republicans are saying that as far as the metal detectors are concerned, that the danger on january 6th came from the outside, not the inside. Secondly, as far as the speakers lobby is concerned, totally different issue, when can we expect that to be open for us and will it be when the pandemic ends . And when do you see that happening . It wont be one minute before it is safe to do so from a covid and a security standpoint. One minute later than that. Yes, sir. A representative will be investigating the Capitol Police. Im sorry . Will the subcommittee be investigating the Capitol Police . The legislative branch of the Appropriations Committee, yes. At the bare minimum, what would you like to see in reforms at the u. S. Capitol police, especially in light of allegations from members of the caucus of institutional racism within the police force and also maybe even collusion in the insurrection . What would what reforms would you like to see . Well, the investigation is essential. That has to come first. But there will be, in addition to representative mr. Chairman ryans branch committee, we have Homeland Security committee, we have issues that relate to intelligence from judiciary and the intelligence committee. We have the Armed Services committee. So there will be a full the committees will be doing their oversight in many different ways, and of course the Appropriations Committee and the Oversight Committee have overarching responsibility. But, again, the investigation will tell us wa we need to know to have truth so we can trust the system that we have here. And it is its so sad. Imagine like ten days ago, as i said, we really lost our innocence in this because we always prepare to protect and defend from all enemies foreign, but the constitution also says and domestic. And now we have to protect ourselves from enemies domestic. How close within . The investigation will let us know. Thank you. There you have it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. This is her Weekly Briefing of course, also the first time weve heard from her since wednesday, wednesday being the day that the house voted to impeach President Trump for the second time. Garrett haake covers the hill for us and is back with me. Garrett, she only spoke for 25 minutes but we learned a lot from the House Speaker there. We learned that Lieutenant General Russel Honore will be leading the investigation into capitol hill security. We also learned a little more about perhaps when that article of impeachment might head to the upper chamber. Looks like shes going to hold off until president elect Biden Takes Office and they get a better sense of the stimulus package hes proposed. Is that what you heard . Yeah. This is pelosi holding her cards pretty close to the vest, not willing to put a specific date on when the article could be transmitted, not willing to really engage on questions of security around the capitol beyond that these are things that need to get investigated. I mean, the sense i got from pelosi here is she is trying to keep her caucus locked in, keep the focus on the work that needs to be done here, and keep the possibilities of the transmittal of that article of impeachment on the table, at least as long as donald trump is still the president of the United States. Garrett haake, well have to leave it there because its the top of the hour. That does it for me. Andrea mitchell reports starts right now. Thank you, craig. Good day. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington where Muriel Bowser will be speaking moments from now on the elaborate coordinated efforts by officials to keep the capitol safe. Only after news that a rehearsal for the inaugural was postponed due to unspecified security concerns. The focus on security is immediately apparent throughout washington, w