Now its time for The Last Word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, lawrence. Good evening, rachel. So im wondering is this more or less homework for you . Because back when you couldnt get the cdc director you would still have to do stories about it, and youd have to try to figure out certain things that were not easily apparent. Tonight you could actually go into that interview not knowing the answers to the questions because youre going to get actual answer tuesday the questions. Well, the thing that i mean the thing that changes that you dont have to anticipate what the interviewee is going to say, what they think or what was their motivation because you can ask them directly. But you still need to know about the issues and you know how to follow up and press them on it. It is just being able to interview dr. Fauci and dr. Wolensky and, you know, youve been talking to the white house Chief Of Staff ron klain, and andy slavitt has been on chris show. Being able to talk to the people who are making decisions about the decisions theyre making particularly when the decisions are causing consternation like this issue of teachers not having to be vaccinated before schools reopen. Its just Night And Day in terms of actually understanding the governments take and being able to press them where they need to be pressed. I think everyone knows that it was a trick question. That, of course, theres no way rachel is going to find a way to do less homework for her show. Thats just not gonna happen. Work is a force that gives life meaning. Thats true. Thats true. For you, for you. Thank you, rachel. Thank you, lawrence. Thank you. Well, our first guest tonight was in the room today when the president and the Vice President met the Senate Majority leader and the Senate Committee chairman who will have to do the heavy lifting to get their covid relief bill passed. It was an all democrats meeting. They all say theyd like bipartisan support for the bill, but theyre all ready to move forward quickly now without any help from republican who are now fending off more questions about what they should do about a new republican member of the House Of Representatives who have supported the assassination of House Speaker nancy pelosi. Republican senators and House Members get more questions about the homicidal thoughts of marjorie green than they get about the covid relief bill or governing. House republicans are not even pretending to try to govern. They spent the day in an endless meeting about the Assassination Advocate in their midst. Before Chuck Schumer went to the white house meeting with his Senate Committee chairman and the president and the Vice President , Chuck Schumer spoke in the Capitol Rotunda where the remains of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick were Lying In Honor since arriving there at 9 30 p. M. Last night. The Book Of Matthew reminds us blessed are the Peace Keepers for they shall be called the children of god. Brian was a peacekeeper who loved his dogs and his girlfriend sandra and his family and the new jersey devils. He was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and on a day when peace was shattered. Blessed are the Peace Keepers like brian. Let us be Peace Keepers now in this memory. Senator schumer did not say one political word in the rotunda this morning, and i did not say one political word last night at this time for the full hour when we broke into live coverage of officer Brian Sicknicks remains being brought to lay in the Capitol Rotunda in honor. We did not exactly what was going to happen last night, so we did not plan to devoted the entire hour to it. We expected to perhaps show only a few minutes of that at the beginning of the hour and then move onto our scheduled coverage of the Impeachment Trial and covid vaccines and the situation in russia. But when we saw what was happening in the rotunda, we could not turn away. The fox channel was able to turn away. Fox claims to be the Blue Lives Matter network. They claim to care about Police Officers more than we do, but to judge by their coverage of the murder of officer Brian Sicknick by Trump Supporters, they really dont care at all. Not a bit. There were things i wanted to say last night as i watched the grieving Capitol Police officers in the silence of the Capitol Rotunda. I wanted to Say Something about how lucky they were to all be still alive after that rotunda was filled with Trump Supporters who were ready to kill them, murder them. And yes, every single one of those Trump Supporters who were ready to kill a Police Officer were ready to kill any Police Officer, any one of them. And yes, they were Trump Supporters who committed that murder, Trump Supporters. And those two words Trump Supporters, were too political for me to say last night, but those two words are the truth of who murdered officer Brian Sicknick, Trump Supporters. They wanted trump to be president and wanted Brian Sicknick dead because Brian Sicknick was protecting the constitutional process that gave us President Joe Biden who is supposed to be trying to work today with the party who supported the murderers who entered the capitol, the party who gave the murderers the opportunity to enter the capitol and murder a Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick. 139 members of the House Of Representatives and 8 republican senators were accomplices in the murder of Brian Sicknick. They created the opportunity on january 6th. They created the incentives on january 6th. And this one senator, joshua hawley, more than any other has the blood of Capitol Police officers who were killed and injured on his ugly fist. To spend an hour as we did last night in effect at the wake and funeral of officer Brian Sicknick it was impossible not to think he would be alive today working in the capitol were it not for donald trump. The house prosecutors of donald trump and the Senate Impeachment trials say he is, quote, singularly responsible for the homicidal attack on the capitol. That means donald trump is responsible for officer Brian Sicknicks murder. Osama bin laden did not fly the planes. I didnt say any of those things last night because i didnt want to politicize Brian Sicknicks Lying In Honor in the Capitol Rotunda. I was mostly silent for that solemn hour because silence is the sound of mourning. We will be joined tonight by some people who are usually publicly silent, Congressional Staffers who have written an open letter to United States senators calling on them to convict donald trump in the Senate Impeachment trial because they write he, quote, broke americas 230year legacy of the peaceful transition of power when he incited a mob to disrupt the counting of Electoral College votes. Six people die said, a Capitol Police officer, one of our coworkers who guards and greets us every day was beaten to death. The attack on our workplace was inspired by lies told by the former president and others about the results of the election. The 370 Congressional Staffers who signed that letter are braver and more honorable than every single republican member of the house and senate, everyone of them. The republican cowards in the House Of Representatives held a secret vote tonight about whether to strip liz cheney of her leadership position. They are afraid of letting each other or their constituents know how they voted on whether liz cheney should remain in the leadership. And they were also afraid to even have a vote about removing Marjorie Greene from her committee assignments. This is the Republican Party that joe biden is hoping will join him in a Bipartisan Covid relief bill. Senator gary peters was one of the 13 people in the oval office today when the president and the Vice President met with Chuck Schumer and the ten Senate Committee chairs. Joining us now to tell us everything that happened in that meeting is senator gary peters, chairman of the Senate Homeland security and Government Affairs committee. Mr. Chairman, thank you for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it. Okay, so you all sat down, and tell us everything everyone said. Well, it was a wonderful discussion. It was great to be there with President Biden, the Vice President harris to talk about how important this covid Relief Package is, to get this country back on its feet. To get through this crisis as quickly as we possibly can. Clearly the Previous Administration mismanaged this whole thing in a massive way. Were paying the price for that. Now its time for us to step up, do what it is necessary to make sure that families can keep food on the table, roof over their head, our Small Businesses can survive. The only way we can get our economy up and running everyone would like is we have to get our Small Businesses up there to drive that and also get vaccines into as many arms as we possibly can and as quickly as possible. Thats certainly what ive talked about through Homeland Security and fema. The federal Emergency Management folks really need to take charge of this in a national way. We had under the Previous Administration no real Significant National plan. It was really about letting every state do their own thing without any coordination, and thats not how you deal with a National Emergency and national crisis. It takes National Federal leadership. Fema needs to step up to do that. Were going to appropriate resources to let state and local governments put the capacity in place to process people as quickly and efficiently as possible and make sure theres certainty as to where vaccines are so plans can be made. Those things did not happen with the Previous Administration. Were going to make sure it happens now going forward, and were putting in the resources to back that up. A lot of powerful people in the oval office today, but the most powerful person who wasnt there is senator joe manchin who has in effect the deciding vote here flord to get the democrats to 50 votes in the senate so that the Vice President can break the time. He seemed to be saying that he said on morning joe this morning if its 1. 9 trillion so be it, which is most positive thing ive heard him say about that total number youre talking about. He does have some issues with raising the minimum wage the way you want to. But when he was asked about the bipartisan process, which he stresses he wants to have, he seemed to be saying that the bipartisan process means republicans will be allowed to offer amendments on the senate floor. Is that what the bipartisan process means to you, and is that what its going to be . Certainly there may be that possibility tomorrow as well yield the Budget Resolution. I think its important to step back. When folks talk about working together in a bipartisan way and bringing people together, lets not forget that this package is incredibly popular with the american people. People know that this relief sl absolutely essential for their lives, for their future, for us to get through this pandemic. You know, it shows a vast majority of democrats clearly support it. But even a majority of republicans out across the country, every day republicans support it. We have mayors in my state and michigan. I have republican mayors that are saying pass this relief, we need it. Its unfortunate that ive got colleagues in the senate and folks in the house, republicans that dont support it. But if they talk to their constituents back in their states and local communities, they will find that people understand how important it is to get this passed, to get it passed quickly and how we have to be bold if were going to get through this pandemic the way we need to. Reports indicate that President Bidens meeting which was his first meeting with senators, those ten republican senators ended with him saying to them were very far apart, and dont see anything here thats going to bring us together. Is that what the president told you about that meeting . He didnt speak about that in those terms, but clearly there is a distance if you look at the proposal that the republicans put forward, substantially less. It is what is going to be necessary to help folks who are struggling now and to get the economy going. We have over 120 economists from all sorts of persuasions that are saying its time to be bold. We cant we cant possibly get through this pandemic if we dont take significant action going forward, and thats what the president is behind. The president is saying weve got to get this done right. Weve seen the mismanagement in the past months. Were paying a very dear price for the mismanagement from the trump administration. Its time to get it right. And that means we have to take significant action. The president is certainly firm on that position, and we all agree as we were in that meeting that now is clearly the time that we have to step up and get through pandemic and that requires being bold and decisive. Senator gary peters, thank you very much for joining us in what is your first appearance on this program as a Senate Committee chairman, chairman of the Homeland Security committee. Really appreciate you joining us. Great to be with you. Thank you. And joining us now john heilemann, nbc news and msnbc national analyst. Host of the podcast from the recount, a podcast i recently appeared on. John heilemann, the republicans the democrats spend their day trying to govern. You see them there they all are gathered in the oval office. They are pushing through a Budget Resolution in the House Of Representatives which i was reading today, and theyve got one moving in the senate. And theyre really moving. Republicans spend the day answering questions about what do you think of the latest Homicidal Maniac Statement from Marjorie Greene . And in the cowardly caucus tonight, in the House Republicans cast a secret vote about liz cheney allowing her to keep her position of leadership. The vote was 145 in favor of cheney, 61 against. And my favorite vote, one present. So theres a cowered in there who is so cowardly that even in a secret ballot, that cowered is afraid to vote and just votes present. Yeah. Lawrence, you know, if i were trying to be a comedian i would suggest that person was Kevin Mccarthy who cast that present vote, but im not a comedian as you know so im not going to suggest that. I do think that leader mccarthys performance throughout this day and these past days has been a perfect symbol for the kind of cowardice how youre talking about. People wonder what mccarthy was going to do in this closed door mee