The action this hour is on capitol hill. Right now 3 out of 5 Biden Cabinet nominees with confirmation hearings today are being questioned by senators. January net yellin for treasury secretary and Alejandro Mayorkas to run the department of Homeland Security. This afternoon, proposed secretary of state tony blinken and retired fourstar general lloyd osten will have their confirmation hearings. President trump is spending his final hours in commander in chief as it began, refusing to adhere to political norms and traditions. Hell be the first living president in 150 years not attending his successors inaugural. The trumps will not host the bidens for coffee on Inauguration Day. Nor did Melania Trump invite jill biden for a tour of the living quarters as Michelle Obama did with melania four years ago. Instead, mr. Trump is focusing on himself, trying to draw a crowd to an elaborate sane senldoff at fort andrews to include a red carpet and a 21gun salute before leaving for maralago. Mike memoli is in, wellington. Peter alexander on the north lawn. New york times chief White House Correspondent peter baker, and pbs news hour White House Correspondent yaalcindor. This dream of 50 years, including messages he wants to send today and at tomorrows inauguration. Andrea, you mentioned it was 21 months ago, if you can believe that, joe biden began a third bid for the white house. We first saw him at that train station, the joseph r. Biden jr. Rail station where we first got a glimpse of candidate joe biden. Of course he wanted to head to washington for this inauguration the same way he headed to washington eight years ago 12 years ago, excuse me, as Vice President elect joining president obama on that trip. Of course security concerns shelved that plan. But rather poignantly, andrea, we will see the president elect bidding farewell to delaware today with remarks at the headquarters of the Delaware National guard headquarters named after his son, beau biden, who passed away from brain cancer in 2015. Then its on to washington, and well begin to see really that break with the Trump Administration as we mark 400,000 deaths from the coronavirus in this country. Biden will join the Vice President elect for a national commemoration, a National Ceremony of mourning for those lost on the National Mall. Then tomorrow, of course, andrea, Inauguration Day, a day of history, a day of healing and a day in which the shift in power in washington will be on vivid display. Biden starts the day with a bipartisan display as he attends morning mass with congressional leaders. Then its on to the capitol for the swearingin and inaugural address, which we expect him to strike themes of unity. Thats been his message throughout the campaign, he believes there is nothing this country cant overcome. There are high hurdle s to overcome, real challenges, but cant be overcome if this country is united. Shortly after, the first woman Vice President elect v Vice President will swear in californias first latino senator, georgias first jewish senator, and georgias first black senator, cementing that shift in the power balance in the senate to democratic hands. Interesting that Kamala Harris first act will be sbaring in those three senators, capping really what is a day of certainly high suspense given the security concerns as well, andrea. She is breaking so many barriers these celebrations wont last long, though. They have such an ambitious agenda, tackling not only the obvious vaccines and coronavirus but immigration, climate, stimulus, all sorts of other big issues. And one in three americans according to the latest nbc poll do not believe that he was properly elected. How disease he build a political consensus . Joe biden is going to inherit a country that is still in some ways mourning and in grief and more divided than ever. Hell be in some ways using the historymaking aspects of his inauguration to heal parts of this country and heal the divisions and also tackle the pandemic that is killing so Many Americans, part of why he continues to talk about the diversity of his cabinet, of course, with Vice President elect harris but also a wide range of cabinet officials is going to be because he says theyre going to bring those Life Experiences of being immigrants, black women, of being woman, jews and transgender people to come before america with a plan that will be robust and with a plan that will be able to be embraced by people. They say that even those who didnt back president elect biden, i think the biggest challenge is going to be how does he work with republicans who are overlooking a base that as you said dont see him as a legitimate president. That will be chief among them. When i talked to biden officials they say the pandemic and covid19 will be the top thing he want. He wants to pass a number of executive actions, the first being a mask mandate on federal property and interstate travel. Well soo him talk about equity but be laser focused on the pandemic. Peter alexander, President Trump has a different path waiting on pardons and commutations. What are you expecting from the president today, if anything . He seems to be focusing more on himself than on anything that involves the public crises around us. Absolutely right. Sorry to interrupt. This is his final fult day in office, now down to his final 24 hours, of course, before he not just departs washington but is no longer president. The president , though, has been effectively out of sight now for a week, his last public event this time one week ago. And this president has been huddling privately in the last several days focusing on pardons and commutations. Im told by white house officials its likely they will be announced at some point, perhaps late today, before he departs office. Three sources familiar with the president s thinking say at that point he has no intention of protectively pardoning himself or any of his adult children, but there will be a lot of scrutiny focused on these pardons and commutations especially given some of the names weve seen the president pardon. Jared kushners own father. Paul manafort. Roger stone. Im told that jared kush mer and ivanka trump have been reviewing the names of nonviolent drug offenders who they believe deserve to be released or they should be as a function of the criminal justice reforms theyve been pursuings, should receive pardons and commutations. And some highprofile names with access to the president with tens of thousands of dollars being paid to lobbyists and lawyers were learning thats creating much of the concern. Andrea, as for the president s departure, tomorrow he will leave early in the morning with no interaction with incoming president biden, flying on marine one to joint base andrews. He wants a big sendoff ceremony there to include a 21gun salute. No indication that that in fact will happen or the red carpet hes been pushing for as well before ultimately departing to florida where hell be at maralago when his successor is sworn in. Peter baker, some trump allies hoped to see a pardon in the next 24 hours. The latest reporting is hes meeting against that. But is there a chance that he would still consider pardoning himself or his family . Well, as Peter Alexander said, that seems unlikely at the moment, but with this president you cant rule anything out, right . He has 24 hours to go. He likes to surprise people. He likes to be impulsive. I think theres a concern on the part of the president and some of his advisers that a selfpardon, an attempt to selfpardon would in some ways be seen as an admission to culpability in some sense, maybe in fact increase civil liability in terms of the events of january 6th. There are a lot of reasons why it might not be a good idea. Among other things, its never been done before, hasnt been tested in the courts whether a president could do that kind of thing. That seems to argue against it, but, again, you know, this is the last 24 hours of the trump presidency. Anything can happen because it always has. Mitch mcconnell has just opened the senate floor. They have still nancy pelosi has still not sent over the article of impeachment which would trigger the clock on 24 hours and after that they would have to go into the senate trial. Mcconnell just said on the senate floor that the rioter who is invaded the capitol on january 6th, that the mob was fed lies, they were provoked by the president and other people. Peter baker, first to you, your response to that. Does that signal anything about what might happen with the coming trial . Well, its striking because he didnt have to open the session by talking about it in that terms. That seems to signal to people he remains very open to the idea of conviction, perhaps, of the president for incitement of that mob attack. I think that, you know, Mitch Mcconnell is off the train from the trump point of view. He was a loyal ally for four years. The two of them had a lot of shared interests in getting conservative judges on the courts and other legislation through the congress. But i think he was so angered by what happened on january 6th that he and angered by what happened on january 5th, too, the georgia runoffs, where many republicans say the president undercut the candidates and helped contribute to their loss there. So i think that the fact he opened with those words is, in fact, interesting. I dont know if, you know, we cant say for sure which way hes going to go. But if Mitch Mcconnell were to go for conviction, that does seem to suggest this is an open, you know, jump ball at this point. Anything could happen. And that could also signalia, meesh, youve covered the hill as well, that could signal that mcconnell and schumer might be working out this shared power agreement, which has been the case, dolan mitchell, trent lott, tom daschle in the past when there were more evenly divided senates. So could this mean possibly that there might be a path forward for a good deal of joe bidens agenda, particularly on covid . It could mean that. Biden officials i talk to have really made the case he is someone who was a deal maker, is a deal maker, will be able to summon the will of the senate and the house to really be focused on the issue and the crisis at hand in america with so Many Americans dying from the virus and terrified of what is around the corner, joe biden saying often we are entering a dark winter, we still have terrible days ahead of us. I will say also when i talk to republicans especially about Mitch Mcconnell, the big question they ask me is what is the party going to do . Whats the way forward . This could be Mitch Mcconnells way of saying lets distance ourselves from President Trump and try to go forward. Mike memoli, Peter Alexander, peter baker, yamiche alcindor, thank for starting us off. The focus ahead of course for tomorrows inauguration is security. This is an armed camp, washington. Tens of thousands of National Guard troops are on alert to stop any potential new threats as federal agents continue to round up suspects linked to the january 6th attack on capitol hill. Nbc justice correspondent Pete Williams joins me now. Pete, how confident are the Security Officials that everything will run smoothly tomorrow . Well, thats their view so far, andrea. They say no plots, nothing uncovered that would in any way change the plans. We have heard that two members of the National Guard who were assigned here have been relieved of their duty. That much we know. Its a little unclear about why they were relieved of duty. The a. P. Says its because they had some sort of links to radical groups, but we dont know for sure whether that was the reason. But in terms of the investigation, andrea, youre right, its really going very fast. Theyve identified more than 330 people they say who entered the capitol on january 6th. And theyre moving ahead with criminal charges gwen more than 100 people. Theres beginning to take a shape here of where the focus is in the investigation. Theyre looking at obviously people who did the highprofile things like sitting in Nancy Pelosis office or taking the podium or sitting in pences chair. Weve seen a lot of that. But looking now at who might have organized this. Were there people who had planned this in advance or who, once it began, in essence, exercised command and control. And looking at these charges so far, we see 11 people that have been charged have some connection to militia or farright groups. This would be the oath keepers, the proud boys, qanon, the threepercenters. Theres three people, for example, who are accused of coming here from ohio, part of a group called the ohio oath keepers or the ohio state regular militia, organized a group of eight to ten people to come to the capitol, many of them military veterans wearing military fatigues and appearing to communicate once the thing started. Four of these folks that have been charged of the total 100 are military or military veterans and three are current or former Law Enforcement or First Responders including a couple of firefighters. So thats where the focus on the investigation is. Obviously, they want to get the universe of everybody who came in, but then begin to drill down and see was this planned in advance or was it directed after it began, andrea. Pete williams on top of all of that. Thank you so much, pete. And three separate hearings are happening right now on capitol hill for key members of president elect bidens incoming cabinet. First up, the first woman to serve as the director of National Intelligence who will lead to navigate the political land mines left behind by the Trump Administration in its waning days. Write your next adventure. Handwriting recognition and the audi q3. Lease or purchase a new audi suv and have your first months payment covered. Were excited to do business with you but before we sign i gotta ask. Sure, anything. We searched you online and maybe you can explain this . I cant believe that garbage is still coming in. That is so false frustrated with your Online Search results . Call reputation defender today to join tens of thousands whove improved their online reputation. Get your free reputation report card at reputationdefender. Com or call 18778668555. Just, one day before president elect biden takes office, the senate is holding the first confirmation hearings for several of his top cabinet names. Haines testing today in front of the Senate Intelligence committee making a pointed promise to keep politics out of intelligence analysis. After widespread criticism in the past year of the Trump Administration. To be effective, the dni must never shy away from speaking truth to power, even especially when doing so may be inconvenient or difficult. To safe guard the intelligence of our intelligence community, the dni must insist when it comes to intelligence, there is simply no place for politics ever. Underscoring that point, haines was introduced by former senator and onetime trump head of National Intelligence dan coats, who trump forced out for telling him truths the president did not want to hear. If confirmed, haines would become the first woman on the job overseeing 18 intelligence agencies including the cia and the National Security agency. She previously served as deputy cia director and deputy National Security adviser in the obama administration. Lets talk about avril haines and what she brings to the table. Well, andrea, she is highly accomplished, a lawyer by training, someone who served on the National SecurityCouncil Staff and then served as Deputy Director of the cia, the organization i used to work, and she helped manage that organization, which is of course responsible for collection, analysis, and covert action. Then she was brought back by the Obama Biden Team for National Security adviser. Shes seen all of National SecurityDecision Making from a variety of different vantage points. Shes very close to the incoming leadership of cia, the National Security adviser jake sullivan, and the president elect and the Vice President elect. They have a lot of faith and confidence in her and the job shell do. Her undergraduate major apparently physics and then law school, also apparently knows judo. She is an incredible as marco rubio, the chairman of the intelligence committee, says incredibly accomplished in a lot of different fields. What a challenge shes facing. Jeremy, one of the things i am obsessed with today is that Michael Ellis is being sworn in apparently as general counsel of the National Security agency over the objections of the general whos led that agency, one of the most, you know, important spy agencies that weve