Did they get it from their colleagues who refused to wear masks . Its way too early for this. Good morning, and welcome to way too early, the show that has lots of new reporting to cover for you this morning. I am kasie hunt on this tuesday, january 12th, and we will start with the news. House democrats introduced a single article of impeachment against President Trump yesterday, accusing him of inciting insurrection against the United States government. The house is set to vote tonight on a measure that calls for Vice President mike pence to invoke the 25th amendment to remove trump from office before his term ends in eight days. If pence doesnt take action, and sources say its likely he wont, the house will meet tomorrow morning to hold the impeachment vote. The measure, which has more than 200 democratic cosponsors, says the president , quote, willfully made statements that in context encouraged and foreseeably resulted in lawless action at the capitol. The impeachment measure also cites the president s january 2nd phone call urging georgias secretary of state to find enough votes to overturn the election. However, a group of Senate Republicans are imploring democrats to keep the article focused solely on what happened at the capitol. A Senate Republican aide tells nbc news, quote, keep it simple and factual, and make it impossible for republicans to argue with. That is the big question of this week how many republicans are willing to impeach and then, perhaps, convict President Trump . After initial silence, President Trump and Vice President pence finally met last evening in the oval office. The meeting comes as its emerged the president never called the Vice President , even as he was sheltering in a bunker with his family during the riot on capitol hill. Yesterday, trump and pence reportedly had whats been described as a good conversation, discussing the final days of the administration and its work over the last four years. But according to a person close to pence, the Vice President is, quote, very upset that trump didnt do more to dissuade the mob, some of whom were openly calling for pence to be executed. Gee, i wonder why. After issuing a generic statement to end all violence, the president still has not acknowledged that pence or any of the officials on capitol hill were at risk. And you can watch that video for yourself. It is clear that they were. Meanwhile, axios is reporting that during a phone call with House Minority leader Kevin Mccarthy yesterday, President Trump falsely blamed antifa people for storming the capitol last week. Not what happened. According to axios, trump threw out the line about antifa during a 30minuteplus phone call with mccarthy yesterday morning. A white house official and another source familiar with the call tell axios that mccarthy would have none of it, telling the president , quote, its not antifa, its maga. I know. I was there. The white house official described that call as tense and aggressive at times with trump ranting about Election Fraud and an exasperated mccarthy cutting in to say, stop it. Its over. The election is over. It is worth noting that during a Conference Call with House Republicans yesterday, mccarthy told members that trump bears some responsibility for the riot. But despite those remarks, mccarthy is voicing opposition to impeachment. Instead, he floated other options in a letter to the house gop. They include a censure resolution, a commission to investigate the attack, changes to the law governing the counting of electoral votes, and legislation to promote voter confidence in future elections. Okay. Meeanwhile, were learning more about the efforts to bring the rioters who attacked the capitol to justice. The doj and fbi are investigating more than 150 people from the riot and expect that number to grow as they pore through the intelligence, including more than 70,000 tips that theyve received. And we know that at least 25 domestic terrorism cases have been opened thus far. The Associated Press reports that those already arrested were, quote, overwhelmingly made up of longtime trump supporters, including Republican Party officials, gop political donors, farright qanon members. Aside from last weeks attack, Law Enforcement is also on high alert for further unrest, not only here in d. C. , but around the country. The fbi issued a bulletin warning of armed protests being planned at all 50 state capitols and the u. S. Capitol beginning this weekend. Joining us now, the cofounder of punch bowl news, jake sherman. He is an msnbc political contributor. Jake, good morning to you. We just explained how Kevin Mccarthy, the House Republican leader, handled the president and his own conference yesterday. What do we know about how many House Republicans may be willing to vote to impeach this president . Well, kasie, we understand up to 20, according to our republican sources, which would be a major, major, major rebuke of the president , much more than the zero youll remember, kasie, that voted against impeachment back in 2019. But republicans are deeply split, kasie. Ive been covering House Republicans, as you have. Weve been doing it together for many, many years, for more than a decade. This is as divided as theyve ever been. And im not they came into this Congress Kind of riding high. They won seats when nobody expected them to. And here they are, deeply, deeply divided over pretty much everything strategy, tactics, and most of all, the outgoing president of the United States. So, jake, what do we know about, if, in fact, this is where we land and you know, ive been reporting over the course of the last 2448 hours that this could break either way, and your reporting suggests that we may be breaking toward a bigger bipartisan push for impeachment. What impact does that have on the senate and their willingness to potentially convict this president . Its a good question. I dont think theyre going to convict this president. I think, obviously, fewer republicans as of maybe not but as a percentage, i would imagine, perhaps, its the same. But listen, the real tell here, kasie, is that nobody, not one person that ive heard of and ive been listening very carefully is defending the president on the merits. Theyre just saying this is a bad idea strategically, because it divides an already divided country. Well, that doesnt hold a lot of weight, kasie, because nothing that republicans have been doing they havent been concerned about bringing the country together until it worked in their favor, right . I mean, they voted against the Election Results and they voted just a whole host of things that have divided the country. So listen, i would imagine, frankly, in the coming days, well see more, because the impeachment votes going to be wednesday, and i would imagine, kasie, in the new congress, there would be legislation that would indicate that trump could not serve in office again. I would imagine that could become law. Yeah, i mean, i think that there obviously are many democrats, but theres no shortage of republicans who would be perfectly fine saying that donald trump cant be president anymore. Just briefly, jake, mike pence in all of this. We know they met in the oval office. There are a lot of republicans who have been loyal to mike pence for a lot longer than theyve been loyal to donald trump, frankly. What do we know about what hes telling republican members of congress . Well, i would say this. I mean, pence its really remarkable the president didnt call pence, didnt call didnt say anything about the Vice President in this extremely perilous situation. But listen, i think pence is looking for distance here. Hes not looking to align himself with the president , clearly. He doesnt really want to go down with the ship. But kasie, i just cant imagine the Vice President bouncing back from Something Like this. Hes i think hes permanently going to be tied to this president and his political future is as well. Certainly, youre right to underscore that when those rioters were chanting hang mike pence, there was silence from the president of the United States. All right, punch bowl news jake sherman. We will be reading punch bowl a. M. In a few minutes with some of the scoop you just gave us, so thank you very much for bringing it to us. See you soon. Well turn to sports and the National Championship win for alabama. We will have all of the highlights of how they beat osu. Anyway, plus, new England Patriots coach Bill Belichick turns down President Trumps offer of the president ial medal of freedom. Those stories and a check on the weather when we come right back. When it comes to laundry, everyone thinks their way is the right way. I wash on delicate. I just stuff everything in. You have to wash on cold, because it saves energy. The secret is, tide pods work no matter how you wash. So, everyone is right. Its got to be tide. But theres only one way to become one. By going all in. The new lexus is. With a lower center of gravity, a more responsive suspension, and an aggressive wider stance. This is what we call going all in on the sport sedan. Lease the 2021 is 300 for 359 a month for 39 months. 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Make this years resolution better solutions. Bounce forward with comcast business. Get started with a powerful internet and voice solution for just 64. 90 a month. Plus, for a limited time, ask how to get a 500 prepaid card when you upgrade. Switch today. In this season of chaos, the crimson tide are the conference. Constant excellence. Bama bludgeons the buckeyes, and saban steps past paul bryant with his seventh National Championship. Bama bludgeons the buckeyes welcome back. Time now for sports and the College Football playoff champion alabama crimson tide. It all unfolded at Hard Rock Stadium in miami gardens, florida, where topranked alabama captures its sixth National Title in 12 seasons under head coach nick saban. Its career title number seven for saban, who passes alabama great paul bear bryant for the most by a Major College coach. Ohio state unable to keep up last night, losing star running back trey sermon to injury on the buckeyes first drive. While quarterback Justin Fields was held to 194 passing yards and one touchdown. Ohio state has never allowed more points in a bowl game. As for the crimson tide, heismanwinning receiver Devonta Smith can add an offensive mvp to his trophy case after hauling in a gamerecord 12 passes for 215 yards receiving and a title gamematching three receiving touchdowns, all in the first half. Smith also set the s. E. C. Singleseason receiving and touchdown records and leaves alabama as the schools alltime leader in those categories. Alabama quarterback mac jones, who finished third in the heisman voting, logged a cfp champion record 464 yards, and get this, five touchdowns in the game. And running back najee harris had 158 yards from scrimmage on 29 touches, scoring three times to give him an s. E. C. Record 30 touchdowns this season. Alabamas 5224 championship victory over ohio state caps the crimson tides perfect season with a record of 130. Never thought i would be openly rooting for alabama, but when they take on ohio state, sorry, this michigan fan has to take sides. Anyway. Meanwhile, the nations highest civilian honor has been turned down by new England Patriots coach Bill Belichick. The sixtime super bowlwinning head coach had agreed to accept the medal of freedom when it was offered by President Trump more than a week ago. But now hes declined the award, following wednesdays events at the u. S. Capitol. In a Statement Last night, belichick said, recently, i was offered the opportunity to receive the president ial medal of freedom, which i was flattered by out of respect for what the honor represents and admiration for prior recipients. Subsequently, the tragic events of last week occurred and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award. Above all, i am an american citizen with great reverence for our nations values, freedom and democracy. I know i also represent my family and the new England Patriots team. And one of the most rewarding things in my professional career took place in 2020, when through the great leadership within our team, conversations about social justice, equality, and human rights moved to the forefront and became actions. Continuing those efforts while remaining true to the people, team, and country i love outweigh the benefits of any individual award. A white house official tells nbc news the white house has been made aware of belichicks decision. All right, time now for the weather. Lets go to meteorologist bill karins for a check on the forecast. Bill, i think its tuesday. Is it tuesday . Happy tuesday i know. Its been hard to keep track lately, kasie, but yes. Even the weather seems to be kind of in a rut, like the same day, day after day. We havent had a lot of changes across the weather map. So, lets get into what is happening. We have what were going to call an atmosphere river going across the country, and that is starting all the way in areas of southeast asia, going all the way through the pacific, and its slamming into the pacific northwest. Thats where all the active weather is. Thats where all the worst weather conditions are. Theyre having feet of snow in the high elevations. Theyre having a ton of rain right now into seattle and portland, and eventually some of that rain will work its way into california. We have about 9 Million People under flood watches all the way through the northwest, down to northern california. And were expecting up to 5 inches of rain in the next two days. We could have some landslides to deal with. And as i mentioned, maybe even some avalanche threats. The rest of the country looking pretty quiet and pretty nice, still a little chilly in texas, but kasie, not bad weather at all. D. C. Today 48 degrees and sunny. And even areas in the northeast will warm up as we head towards the end of the week. No complaints. All right, ill take it. Bill karins, thank you very much, my friend. Really appreciate you being here, and we will see you tomorrow. And still ahead here, at least two democratic lawmakers test positive for coronavirus after last weeks capitol riot. One of those lawmakers has some pretty harsh words for her republican colleagues. Well be back in just a moment. Republican colagleues. Well be back in just a moment os that just dont smell clean . What if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks . Now they can this towel has already been used and it still smells fresh. Pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load and enjoy fresher smelling laundry for up to 12weeks. New aveeno® restorative skin therapy. With our highest concentration of prebiotic oat intensely moisturizes over time to improve skins resilience. Aveeno® healthy. Its our nature™. 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