The lasers and things brought up about her. Ou he has said qanon before, he knows what it is. Through it all, the Qanon Congresswoman from georgia has remained publicly defiant. Greene has been using this opportunity to fundraise. Quote, we owe them no apologies, we will never back down. In an interview with the washington examiner, she said this about democrats. How stupid they are, they dont even realize theyre helping me. Im pretty amazed at how dumb they are. While this was unfolding in the house, democrats and republicans over in the senate have settled on a power sharing agreement. This means democrats officially get to take over the committeesk and can now push forward with the president s agenda. The senate is also six days away from the start of that second Impeachment Trial for the now former president. S axios has new reporting on the effort to make the case to convict the former president. Quote, during a call wednesday n morning with the house wi democratic caucus, lead impeachment manager representative jamie raskin told his colleagues one Capitol Police officer has lost three fingers, another is likely to lose an eye. He said Extremist Elements in russia and germany view the no storming of our capitol as a great victory for 21st century fascism. O one of trumps lawyers, bruce castor, hired days ago, offered a preview of his defense in philadelphia. The president deplores the violence at the capitol. And those people should be punished. Just because somebody gave a speech and people got excited, that doesnt mean that the speech makers fault. Its the people who got excited and did what they know is wrong. President biden also weighed in on trumps impeachment today with some of his most detailed comments on the subject yet in a recorded interview with people magazine. He was impeached by the house, and it has to move forward. Otherwise it would come off as farcical. What this was all about. Its probably not likely they can get 17 republicans to change their view and convict on ba impeachment. But i think its important that there be certain basic standards that people at least are able to see what happened and make their own judgments. Pl by the way, if biden is going to get that nearly 2 trillion Coronavirus Relief package he wants, it looks like it will be just democrats and no crossover republican votes. Stimulus checks but he is firm on keeping them at amount of 1,400 apiece. Tonight, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in our country has topped 26 million. Look at the death toll. Over 451,000 of our fellow citizens. Some hope tonight. A new Oxford University study found the astrazeneca vaccine not spreading the virus. Well have more on that later in the broadcast. But with that, lets bring in our leadoff guests on this wednesday night. We welcome two new faces to our broadcast. Wade epstein, political reporter with New York City and anna palmer, veteran founder c. E. O. Of punch bowl news. Well get to that name in a bit, a new d. C. Name she created with jake sherman. And back with us tonight, Eugene Robinson, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Washington Post. Good evening and welcome to you all. Id like to begin with you. What just happened . Your organization reported that members of the Republican Caucus gave the Qanon Congresswoman a Standing Ovation at the close of her remarks. You saw mccarthy come out and pretend to mispronounce and not know what qanon is. The flags on the capitol lawn outside his office during the insurrection, notwithstanding. So in your view, what just happened . Were seeing the fight for the soul of the Republican Party play out in realtime in the house. Basically you had Kevin Mccarthy, the leader House Republicans, try to thread the needle and have it both ways. Not only did he not denounce Marjorie Taylor greene and her Conspiracy Theories and racist things she said, but he also supported representative cheney who was facing almost sure, you know, voting out of leadership. If he hadnt really riled the base behind her, he was able to kind of look at the political field. He wants to be the next speaker of the house. This is all about that. And hes trying to play on both sides. But it is not going to be finished. Trump donald trump has a hold on the republican conference and were seeing that play out in realtime. Reid, is this the gop now to the point anna raises im not being cute. I wish i was. How do you run in the educated suburbs if youre the gop . The suburbs, lets name three cities. Atlanta, st. Louis, denver. On the notion of celebrities drinking the blood of toddlers and jewish space lasers, how do you do that . You know, the problem that Kevin Mccarthy and republicans have at large is, is that Marjorie Taylor greene represents a not significant portion of their electorate at this point, of their base voters. Its clear that they cant win in most states. They certainly cant win National Elections without that group of voters. And they, as we just saw in november, cant win a National Election with those voters presenting sort of a large segment of their base. So what were going to see over the next 20 months or so is republicans trying to figure out how to keep both ends of this coalition of theirs together without alienating the sort of voters in the middle who tend to win elections in Swing Districts and statewide races. Eugene, in your latest, you argue persuasively that the gop is one more big defeat away from burning it down and having to rebuild. Though tonight through our prism, looked more like they were maybe considering changing the tires while the car is hurtling down the highway and kind of adlibbing their way to what the gop wants to be. Oh, thats certainly what they seem to want to try to do because they think theyre within reach of taking back one or both chambers of congress in 2022. So they dont want to make a definitive break with trumpism or even with qanon. I mean, lets be clear on what were talking about here, right. Theres a tendency to look at what happened tonight and say, okay, well, on the one hand they didnt punish Marjorie Taylor greene. On the other hand, they kept liz cheney in her leadership position. An even bigger stretch, republicans are trying to draw some sort of one hand, other Hand Equivalence between Marjorie Taylor greene and ilhan omar on the democratic side, antisemitic statements for which she later abjectly and humbly apologized. There is no equivalence for Marjorie Taylor greene. This is an unrepentant White Supremacist antisemitic Conspiracy Theory mongering person who really should be nowhere near the power of the United States government. She is the fringe of the fringe, and this party cannot cannot bring itself to draw a line between the fringe of the fringe and everything else. And it just shows where the Republican Party is right now. And i think it will take a huge, really walloping at the polls maybe in 22 or 24 or both to make the party actually start to rebuild. Anna, i want to play for you a bit of congressman andy biggs, republican of arizona tonight with mr. Hannity over on fox news. Democrats want to purge Taylor Greene from committees. Then this same standard must be applied to them. If youre going to take Marjorie Taylor greene off her committee, then you need to be looking at all the Conspiracy Theorists, all the hard left rhetoric thats come out. Thats why i cosponsored that amendment where we substitute ilhan omar for Marjorie Taylor greene because were trying to get one for one. In youre going to take out one of ours, were going to take out one of yours. Well, he just said the quiet part out loud. Pay no mind to the jewish space lasers or anything she has said. This is about a body count. This is about party. This is about if we lose one of ours, you lose one of yours. I think that that is the sentiment that a lot of republicans feel that they are trying to make, which is that democrats are doing an overreach. I think it does president play frankly. What democrats are trying to do, they are trying, to eugenes point, make the entire party answer for qanon, the Conspiracy Theories. They feel very confident going into 2022, which is going to be a tough Midterm Election for them typically in the house in particular. If it is the same party, theyll lose seats. They want to tie republicans to Taylor Greene the issue because they know they will win on it. And, reid, ive got something for you, too. This is an ad going after a member of congress who is a republican, an incumbent in nebraska, and this, i think, is a shade of whats to come. Qanon, a Conspiracy Theory born online took over the Republican Party. Sent followers to congress and moved donald trump, Incited A Mob to attack the capitol and murdered a cop. Congressman don bacon should have stood with us, but he was a coward. He stood with trump and the lies. So, reid, republican congressman don bacon, former general in the u. S. Air force, they are clearly softening the ground for a race two years from now. But getting it into the public consciousness, it is early yet. Ill give you that. Anyway this backfires . Well, i mean, what they are trying to do is essentially turn every republican into Marjorie Taylor greene. Thats what the vote of tomorrow is about, is about tying House Republicans to Marjorie Taylor greene on the vote. Theyll run ads saying that they voted to protect her and to keep her on committees. And it is about sort of building this narrative over the course of the next two years. This isnt the sort of ad that youd see from democrats heading into an election cycle, if you remember in october their ads were about health care and more on policy that moved their voters. This is much more of an ad to try to define House Republicans super early in the cycle and try to cleave them apart from what is a significant part of their base. So, eugene, congresswoman cheney, who is by the way, the atlarge member of congress in wyoming. The population is small enough. They have but one seat in the house for the entire state, two senators like every other state. Liz cheney survives to live another day. Over 60 members of her caucus voted in this Secret Ballot to bounce her from leadership, but she prevailed. Is there any anyway, gene, that this was a test vote tonight the way Senate Republicans view it . Do you think there is any room, any leeway, any votes to convict that are out there among the big red wall of Senate Republicans . Only if the trial ends with the Secret Ballot in the senate. You know, this was a Secret Ballot in the house and liz cheney got, what, 140something votes for and 61, i guess, against her. And so if the senate trial were to end in a Secret Ballot, i think you might get 17, you might get more than 17 republican senators who would vote to convict donald trump. But they wont do it publicly. Because, again, the partys idea of how to go forward, its not now to break with trump and trumpism. And even qanon. But to sort of play these and try to neaten up the edges, Kevin Mccarthy said, you should have heard what Marjorie Taylor greene told us in our meeting. Okay, lets hear it because thats not what shes saying on her twitter feed. Its not what shes saying publicly. Shes defiant and shes saying the democrats are helping me by putting pressure on me. So, you know, shes going to be a player. Shes going to help the democrats make the case that the Republican Party is Marjorie Taylor greenes party because this woman is not going to shut up. To our viewers, thats why eugene has a pulitzer. To anna, youre on. Youre going to get the last word here. The Question America is asking, where did the name punch bowl come for a News Organization . Punch bowl is the Secret Service nickname for the u. S. Capitol. We focus on power, people, politics, and bringing you inside the Capitol Building in a nonbiased, nonpartisan, just the facts day. We have a morning newsletter, afternoon and evening newsletter. You can sign up at punch bowl news. Com. That was me knowing the answer to the question. I would rather have a found er explain it to our audience. Well continue to read you and our Friend Epstein at the new york times, and our friend Eugene Robinson at the washington Washington Post and the three of you starting us off. Appreciate it. Coming up, todays good and not so good pandemic news. Trying to comprehend the constantly conflicting guidance about protecting yourself and increasingly in the light of foreign enemies on our soil. And later, hes seen a lot in his fourplus decades in journalism. We will ask outgoing Washington PostExecutive Editor marty barron about seeking the truth, getting it out there, and telling it clearly, especially now. All of it as The 11th Hour is just getting underway on this wednesday night. Y night. Do you have a Life Insurance policy you no longer need . Now you can sell your policy, even a term policy, for an immediate cash payment. Call Coventry Direct to learn more. We thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. But we quickly realized that we needed a way to supplement our income. 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Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the services of the Post Office Plus ups only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. When you switch to xfinity mobile, youre choosing to get connected a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale to the most Reliable Network nationwide, now with 5g included. Discover how to save up to 300 a year with shared data starting at 15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. Come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. You can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings. Stop in or book an appointment to shop safely with Peace Of Mind at your local xfinity store. I can emphasize that i believe teachers should get vaccinated. But i also think that the science tells us that if we can do the proper mitigation measures, and i would emphasize if we have the funding to do the proper mitigation measures as is put forth in the American Rescue plan, that we can reopen schools safely even if all the teachers are not vaccinated. Despite that from the new cdc director, the Biden Administration says vaccinating teachers, something we talked about on the broadcast here this week, remains a top priority. And on that front there is hopeful news. As we mention, the new oxford study showing the astrazeneca vaccine may reduce virus transmission. Vaccine has yet to be approved here, and the rollout of moderna and pfizer versions here remains awfully slow. And while overall cases are declining and we must cling onto that good news, experts warn mute ant variations of this thing could erase the progress weve made. With that comes this warning from dr. Fauci. Watch the super bowl on tv. Enjoy a party in your house with your family with the people who are there. As difficult as that is, at least this time around, just lay low and cool it. Back with us tonight, dr. Erwin redland, the founder of columbias National Center for Disaster Preparedness and pandemics. Thank you as always for taking our questions. Why dont you wade into the political thicket. I think you join me in admiring the new cdc director. And taken in context, i understand her comments about vaccinating teachers in a perfect world, though, were it up to you, wouldnt we make it a priority in our tier 1, tier 2 inoculations, right up there along with seniors and medical professionals if we want to reopen schools safely . Isnt vaccinating teachers shouldnt that be a premium . Yeah, you know it is, brian. And i really do believe that as a grandfather and as somebody who has worked on Childrens Health and access to education for kids for my whole career, im really concerned that were making terrible situation worse by keeping children out of school. That said, we have to return kids and teachers safely. I was on a call this morning with the leadership of the American Federation of teachers, and they were incredibly concerned, in fact, about them being asked to return to the classrooms without having the vaccinations. And i think we have to deal with those very real and very appropriate concerns that the teachers have. On the other hand, you know, we also need to make sure that weve accelerated the return to school because the problems, the challenges that well have, brian, with the remediation of children who have fallen off their educational trajectory will be monstrous. Were talking about a Marshal Plan Level to capture the momentum of so many millions of our children. So were dealing with a very tricky situation here. Theres reasons why we would and why we wouldnt want to go more quickly than not. But i think right now, i think we have to do what walensky was saying, dr. Walensky, lets get these kids back to school. That said, i think we need more testing. I would personally push up teachers and not just teachers, but the staff in schools, the bus drivers, custodians, et cetera, up to the highest possible priority category along with the Health Professionals and people in the nursing homes, brian. Doctor, we had dr. Salin gounder on the broadcast last night. Knowing you were coming on, it reminded me you two were the first two people i knew as you entered our studio way back early march, when we were still in our new york studios, you were the first two people to politely decline to shake hands. You explained to me we probably better stop doing that as a society for a good long while. Last night on the broadcast, she told me she is as worried presently about these variants as she was worried about what was coming back in early march. Does that speak for you as well . 100 , brian. You know, listen, were at war basically with a very wiley dangerous invisible enemy, this sars covi2 virus which causes covid19. Our army consists of two basic weaponry. One is these socalled nonpharmaceutical interventions. The hand washing, the separation, the masks. Thats one thing. And the second thing is the, of course, the vaccines. Both of those have flaws. And if we dont follow them assiduously, on the npi side, well have problems which mount to a serious prolongation of how long were going to be dealing with covid. And the other issue about the mutations, the variants as people call them, is very dangerous. We may find that the vaccines at some point or another couple mutations may not be as effective as they need to be. We already are concerned about that with respect to their ability to ward off and prevent infection with these viruses. Were in a tricky situation, and were not winning. But ill tell you this. If the vaccines fail us and were not doing the npis, we can expect to double at least the time that well be dealing with covid19. There could be till 20 the end of 2022 if were not careful. And the only way to deal with that is to make sure we keep up the vaccines, that they stay effective against the virus, whatever forms they take,. And as dr. Gounder always says, we have to maintain a strict adherence to these nonpharmaceutical intervention. The masks, you cant take the masks off yet. Brian, as much as id like to have lunch with you, im not shaking your hand. Nothing personal. We cant do it yet. I understand. Well make a date for years down the road to do that. Yes. But safety has to come first. Doctor, thank you. Those last comments you just made will rattle around in our heads for a good long time. Seems to me we could repeat them here every night to get Public Education where it should be. Dr. Erwin redlander, thank you for taking questions for us. Coming up, he has been at the helm for years of prize winning coverage of Holding Power accountable especially in our time of qanon. That man, the Executive Editor of the Washington Post. Marty barron will be with us when we come back. When we come. There is discussion on the hill about stripping Marjorie Taylor greene of her committee assignments. Does President Biden believe that she should be stripped of those siemts . We have resisted speaking of her in this Briefing Room and im not going to do that today. White House Press Secretary jen psaki in the white house. With that in mind we are pleased to welcome to the broadcast martin baron. This is a hell of an intro. He is retiring editor of the Washington Post which includes the invaluable story he wrote about. He was also lead editor at the Miami Herald Bush v gore, led the Washington Post when they revealed information leaked by edward snowden. That was right before he led the paper into a whole new world. These past four years. Marty, in addition to thanking you for coming on, im going to begin with a thank you to you. If youre ever looking for any of your reporters after 11 00 at night, theyre with us. We wouldnt have a show without the journalists we have on, and youve been very good about allowing your folks to come on, sometimes sharing with us things they have yet to hit send on in the newspaper, and we appreciate that. But my first question for you is, how have you adjusted to the new language were using . You have a few years on me, but im coming up on 40 years in the business. Im using terminology, phraseology i couldnt have imagined a decade ago because were now living in the time of shole countries, a phrase your paper had to debate overrunning, and now jewish space lasers aimed at california. Well, its tough. We are using language we have not used before, such as lies, and the fact is that people are telling lies. Were dealing with Conspiracy Theories that are deeply entrenched in american society, and we have to find a way to talk about it. And so were being more forthright about that. Were being more direct. And i think thats what we have to do. You guys pioneered the kind of Benchmark Count of the president the past president s lies and mistruths. It ended up somewhere north of 30,000. Do you remember when the notion was formed to start tracking them . Was there a whiteboard in the newsroom that was quickly subsumed by the numbers on it . Well, there wasnt a whiteboard, but the people, the team in charge of the Fact Checker Led by glenn kestler, saw that these were really adding up, that they were being repeated, they were adding new falsehoods, new misleading statements, new outright lies, and that we really needed to keep track of that. And so we started doing that. And it was stunning. The rate at which they were coming, and it really accelerated and accelerated particularly within the last year of the trump administration. Of course, for all the folks who report their Anxiety Levels now down with the new presidency, were still deep into the litigation of the last presidency. Do you ever think we will see a day again where we are all operating from a mutually agreeable set of facts . I have to say that i hope so, but im not certain that we will. That is one of the great problems that we have today in american society, is that we cannot agree on a common set of facts. We cannot agree on what happened yesterday. And so, you know, you have to ask yourself, how does a Democracy Function in an environment like that . It was the late senator Daniel Patrick moynihan who said, youre entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts. But these days, people believe they are entitled to their own facts. And the facts that they believe or what they consider to be facts are those is material that affirms their preexisting point of view. Anything that contradicts that, they reject. Would you say it saddens you more than it angers you that that is the case . Well, its hard to weigh those two. I think it saddens me and it angers me. And its very difficult to deal with. And i think its one of the greatest challenges that we face in our country. Its certainly a challenge we face with the press because we traditionally have been one of the arbiters of facts. Were not the only ones. Were not a perfect one, but we are an arbiter of fact. And it hurts us we, for example, at the Washington Post, we have over a thousand reporters in our newsroom, and yet we have been characterized by the Previous Administration as fake news. Now, of course, we dont need a thousand journalists in our newsroom to spin out false news. We need a thousand journalists to do real reporting and that is what we do every day. Those journalists who appear on your program regularly are some of our best. And they work hard to unearth whats really happening in this government, and Holding Government to account. And its tough when people as one gop pollster put it recently, people dont want to they dont want news they want news that affirms them. They dont want news that investors them. Sometimes being informed means that what you think is true may not necessarily be true. Before we go to a break, who came up with the idea for the phrase democracy dies in darkness, on your mast head . Well, you know, jeff bezos acquired us in the year 2013. We did not have a motto. Other publications did. He thought it would be great to have a motto that encapsulated what our the essence of our mission is. The distinctive role that the Washington Post plays in this country. It has the history of shining light in dark corners going all the wait back to watergate. This is an adaptation of a phrase used by a judge during the watergate era, and it does capture what our mission is, and that is to hold a light up to government and up to individuals and institutions and power. Marty, well fit a break in here. Thank you for your patience. Marty has agreed to stay with us. Take a few more questions. Coming up, well try to look ahead into this gentlemans future and perhaps ours as an industry. Hey, i just got a text from my sister. You remember rick, her neighbor . Sure, hes the 76yearold guy who still runs marathons, right . Sadly, not anymore. Wow. So sudden. Um, were not about to have the we need Life Insurance conversation again, are we . 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These folks, they dont have time to go to the post office they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps. Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the services of the Post Office Plus ups only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again. Its time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. You can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. A 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale can it help me fall asleep faster . Yes, by gently warming your feet. But, can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. Will it help me come out swinging . You got this. So, you can really promise better sleep . Not promise. Prove. And now, during the ultimate sleep number event, save 50 on the sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus, 0 interest for 24 months on all smart beds. Only for a limited time. We are back. Our guest is martin baron, who is about to depart his post, one of the most visible in all of journalism as Executive Editor of the Washington Post. Marty, it is clear jeff bezos saw your announcement and then said, life is no longer worth living, im out of here, im going to retire, too, though we note hes still going to remain owner of the Washington Post. Speaking of Conspiracy Theories, lets flummox them. In the Conspiracy Theorist world, you talk to jeff bezos at the the Washington Post. Hes the last person you speak to at night. How active is the relationship with the ownership . I almost never talk to him, as a matter of fact, so he doesnt interfere whatsoever in our news coverage. He doesnt suggest stories. He doesnt suppress stories. He doesnt critique stories. He doesnt criticize stories. None of that. He just doesnt. He expects me to lead our News Organization. He has trust in the leadership of our newsroom. He gives us the independence that we need, and he expects us to run the newsroom with independence and integrity. And he just doesnt get involved in the News Operations of the Washington Post. How does this work for you now . Youre probably still figuring some of this out, but i think by birth, you are a florida man. Do you get the Margarita Ville shirt and the parrot hat and move down there, meaning some Retirement Community is going to have a better than average editor of their weekly newsletter . No, im not going in that direction, not at all. Im proud of my florida heritage. I am a florida man, but no, im not going to go in the direction that you suggested. Ill stay active and involved stay in the business and do more reading than writing . I will certainly be reading more books than i have been able to. I will stay active and involved in our profession. I would like to continue to have a voice, but i dont want to work 24 7 365 every minute, which is pretty much what the job is like these days in the internet era. And its a lot. Ive been at this for leading three newsrooms for 20 years, and as you noted earlier, been involved in a lot of big stories, one after the next. And it is exhausting, and i am 66, and it seems like a good time to, to get some more personal freedom and personal liberty. And ive been coveting that for a while. As i say, let me know what its like. Again, our repeated thanks for allowing us access to well, when we first knew them, they seemed like they were so young, and now most of them have found a partner, some of them have had children, these youngrunning gun writers of the Washington Post who remain dear friends of this broadcast, remain some of the best journalists in the country. Of course, ive got a name check, ashley and phil for starters. Weve watched them grow up before our very eyes, and its been a pleasure. Thank you, marty, for everything along the way. Well, thank you for having them on your show and thank you for inviting me. Martin baron, our guest tonight, wishing him happy trails as he departs as Executive Editor of the Washington Post. Another break for our coverage. Some Pandemic Advice that may be worth following twice. Until the vast majority of americans are vaccinated, hand washing, social distancing and maskwearing remain vital. And after almost a year of this, maskwearing for some of us has become second nature. But not those who live where maskwearing was allowed to become a politically divisive statement. The place were about to show you is an example. And make no mistake, this is the end result of the trump era of disinformation and the absence of leadership during an uncontrolled pandemic. We get our report tonight from naples, florida, and nbc news correspondent sam brock. Reporter tonight video that looks like it was taken prepandemic. The Oaks Farm Sea to table market in naples, florida, captures the countrys divide. With many customers and employees visibly not Wearing Masks. Despite experts clear messaging that Wearing Masks can slow the spread of covid19. The cdc makes recommendations based on data that they accumulate because its a sciencebased organization. Reporter when we first asked about the stores mask policy, we were directed to this sign, stating the mask exemption guidelines. Those in our lovely government have ordered all persons entering indoor facilities wearing a mask. If you have a medical condition, you are exempt. We cannot ask you about a medical condition. Therefore if we see you without a mask we will assume you have a medical condition. Alfie is known for controversial viewpoints. Is it about medical exemptions or you dont think masks work i know the masks dont work and the virus has not killed 400,000 people in this country. Thats total hogwash. Reporter oaks, who organized getting a bus of people to washington, d. C. On january 6 to support former president trump, believes many of the deaths being attributed to covid are due to other causes. Im not going to do it. Ive never worn a mask in my life and i never will. Reporter yesterday more than 3,000 people died from the coronavirus in the United States. Oak store in contrast to Public Stores in florida, equipped with plex i glass, distancing rules. Reaction to the video poured in swiftly. One person tweeting, i cant stop watching this. My jaw is literally on my desk. Another said, we should exempt them from the vaccine line, then. In florida, there is no statewide mask mandate. Now, individual cities and counties can impose measures. Naples actually has but the government of their state has stripped them of the ability to fine them for not following the rules. In naples, sam brock, nbc news. Our thanks to sam brock for that report. And just to underscore some of the details in that story, that florida man, the store owner, alfie oaks is very well known in the naples area. And is a true believer in that he thinks this whole virus is a hoax. He was, indeed, at the rally that ransacked the capitol on 1 6, and financed a bus trip for 100 people to attend, according to local media in florida. Another break for us. Still ahead, the king of Conspiracy Theories and Shop Foam Pillows makes his triumphul return when we come back. Its time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. You can both adjust your comfort with your sleep number setting. Can it help me fall asleep faster . Yes, by gently warming your feet. But, can it help keep me asleep . Absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. Will it help me come out swinging . You got this. So, you can really promise better sleep . Not promise. Prove. 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On the farright, mike len dell, minnesotas bestknown manufacturer of chopped foam pillows and oval Office Adviser to donald trump. He appeared on newsmax when he again raised the big lie, election fraud, trump won, huge scandal, you know the rest. And when he raised the dicey and litigious issue of dominion voting machines, the anchor at the center of the picture plunged in and went into full lawsuit avoidance mode, reading a statement, while the Conspiracy Theorist choppedfoam pillow manufacturer kept ranting. Wow, said the media world, newsmax taking a stand. Well, that didnt last long. Here was that anchor guy today. If you watch american agenda yesterday, you may have seen something out of the ordinary happen during an interview with mike lindell, the c. E. O. Of my pillow. Mike is a a friend of this network and we were supposed to discuss twitters decision to ban him and the impacts of cancel culture on his business. But there was some confusion and mike thought that we were to talk about vote fraud in the recent election. Its a topic we have covered extensively on newsmax. I was frustrated we couldnt focus on the current very pressing issue of free speech and cancel culture and in hindsight, there is no question that i could have handled the end of the interview differently. At newsmax, we seek out all points of view. Mike was on rob schmidts show to continue the conversation about cancel culture, and the censorship by social media. Mike also made clear he thinks newsmax is great, his words. And i will tell you he will continue to be an important guest on newsmax. And that is how worried newsmax apparently is about losing the audience they had just inherited as fox newss fortunes have fallen. There is also the very real possibility, lets mention it, that their owner who enjoys spending time at maralago would like to continue spending time at maralago. Also proof that in the conspiracy choppedfoam pillow community, mike lindell is a pretty big deal. That is our broadcast for this wednesday night. With our thanks for being here with us, with all my colleagues at the nbc network news, good night. Tonight on all in. Meet the face of the new Republican Party. Is it going to come out satanic worship that possibly all these people are involved in . Tonight how the qanon Caucus Conthe gop civil war going away. Now democrats have to deal with it. Then. Its not my mike, can i ask our producers, can we get out of here, please . From the maga pillow man to the cracking lawyer, new realworld consequence for spreading election lies. Plus, dr. Peter hotez on what may be really good vaccine news, and why the race to get more shots in arms has never been more important. And why is it that democrats are just getting control of the senate from Mitch Mcconnell today . When allin starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. Tonight it seems Kevin Mccarthy and the House Republicans are refusing to discipline a member of their caucus who has openl