Sure we know lou is out here supporting us. Now as washington prepares for the inauguration, president elect biden and his family marked dr. Martin luther king jr. Day by packing boxes at a Philadelphia Food bank. And hours after she resigned from the senate, Kamala Harris celebrated by volunteering at a food pantry. Meantime, President Trump is using his final two days to prepare for his upcoming impeachment trial and finalize a list of dozens of pardons that sources tell nbc news could be issued as early as tomorrow. All of this as the coronavirus pandemic keeps setting new milestones in the United States with more than 24 million recorded infections and a death toll rapidly approaching 400,000. Joining us now joining us now is msnbc anchor, excuse me, ali velshi. He is covering the Extraordinary Security efforts in the Nations Capital for us. Good to talk to you. Give us a sense of how tense it is. Reporter this is the kind of thing you and i have covered elsewhere in the world. It is a scene more reminiscent of troubled capitals around the world in which the capital is hardened. This is what you see wherever you go around the capital. Two or three or four blocks closed off. Secret service, National Guard, fbi, youve got dogs sniffing vehicles, you have cars, trucks like there blocking intersections. So some intersections are checkpoints where you can actually get through if youre qualified to get through. You have to show i. D. And object a list. Others are like this. Theyre slowing traffic down. You have to stop and slalom around things on get around. This thing you mentioned about concerns about National Guard. There is no specific intelligence that there is any danger but you do know that at the violent rally that took place in the storming of the capitol on january 6th, out of that have come a number of police who have been charged and identified and at least one member of the National Guard. A Police Officer from virginia who is not on active duty as part of the National Guard. He was off duty. He went inside. He took pictures of himself and he subsequently got arrested. So someone said, lets find out about all the other people who were on the outside of the perimeter and whether or not theyre safe. So thats a concern. I will tell you this. The tension level has come down in the last couple days as police and authorities have a grip around the city. It is very unusual, very weird to be in d. C. And have it shut down. This is not what an inauguration typically looks like for an american president. The bottom line is it does look like authorities, National Guard and police have got a handle on the immediate area around the capitol. There are a lot of comparisons. Take a look at 2017. As is tim cal in these situations, the closures change. I was about to do my report with you from another corner and the police decided that corner is now off limits and it is closed so that stymies the kind of planning that any naredowells may have. It feels like anything but a celebration. What it normally should be every four years. Good to talk to you, my friend. Stay safe. The unprecedented security is a response to the deadly insurrection at the u. S. Capitol on january 6th. Were getting a new look at what happened when rioters stormed the building. New yorker magazine contributing writer luke shot this video of people breaking in and heading for the senate chamber, demanding to know where lawmakers are and searching through their desks. Rioters can be heard saying they were listening to President Trump and that texas senator ted cruz would have wanted them to do this. Joining me now, senator, it is great to talk to you. Thank you for your time. Im curious to get your thoughts as you see this image and these videos that were all processing for the first time. Its been a couple days since this incident but every time there is new material, were kind of struck by what exactly happened. What went through your mind as you saw that disturbing video of the attack on the capitol . Well, i was a looking at the video and i saw these people going through our desks, defaming the United States senate, it was shocking, it was unbelievable, it was chilling, and it was personal. I was on the floor of the senate just moments before they entered and took over the senate floor itself. And yes, we were at risk. No question. But our democracy was at risk. We now know that our democracy is fragile and we all need to do everything we can to protect our democratic institutions. We have to first make sure that were safe and secure. The inauguration takes place safely on january 20th and it will. We also have to hold accountable all who are responsible for this tike our country on january 6th. From those who entered the Capitol Building to those who encouraged the insurrection. As we continue to understand the scope of the threat we face over the coming days and weeks, the acting defense secretary specifically said there is no known intelligence of an Insider Threat to the inauguration. But does the news that the fbi vetting the National Guard troops that are in washington make you at all concerned about security and potential threats and the inauguration that you are saying will go off smoothly . I think theyre taking every conceivable precaution to make sure that january 20th is a safe day for our country, for our democracy. So theyre taking extra precautions. As up, there is no specific risk of anyone in the National Guard being compromised. But it is the right thing to do. Safety has to be our First Priority and well make sure that january 20th is a safe day in our Nations Capital. Lets talk about the impeachment for a moment. President trumps second impeachment trial. Do you have any guidance on when proceedings could begin and do you think democrats can get the 17 republican votes needed to convict him . What would you like to see happen in terms of a specific time line . First, the impeachment trial will start as soon as the house sends the article of impeachment over to the United States senate. That could occur as early as today. It is more likely to occur probably on thursday. And that means the impeachment trial will start later this week. Thats the most likely scenario. There are specific rules as to how the impeachment trial will take place in the United States senate. We will follow those rules. We home that we will have a bipartisan agreement on how to process the trial properly and allow us to do the other work thats critically important for our country, including confirming President Bidens cab complete the and also allowing for us to respond to the covid19 crisis and to detail with other issues that are very important for us to deal with. That will take some cooperation. Obviously, under our rules, the trial is our highest priority and we will conduct a trial and we will conduct it fairly. I home we have republicans and democrats lou will Work Together on it. Youre talking about the Incoming Administration. I wanted to ask you for a moment since you sit on the Foreign Relations committee, you are scheduled to hold a meeting tomorrow for secretary of state tony blinken. What do you want to hear from him when you start looking and challenging the policy challenges ahead for the Incoming Administration, what are the Top Priorities that you want to learn how the Incoming Administration will tackle . First, i know tony blinken very well. He is an experienced diplomat. He was deputy secretary of state. He served on the National Security council. He knows our challenges. First we need to prepare americas global leadership. We need to restore our values which are our strength and standing up for democracy, for good governance, and standing working with our allies with the challenges we have globally, whether it is our National Security challenges through rogue states or the climate challenge. So what i want to hear from tony blinken is how he will go about prioritizing the repair of americas global leadership, what will be his Top Priorities, and how can we Work Together with the congress and the administration to protect our democracy and promote our values. Let me ask but one of the issues most likely to come up in the new administration. That is the issue of will iran and the nuclear agreement. Nbc news has learned in late november, iranian authorities convicted an iranian businessman of espionage, sentencing him to ten years in prison. President elect biden said that he would be open to easing sanctions on iran if it started complying again with the 2015 nuclear deal. Does this move potentially complicate those efforts . Well, iran is a very dangerous state. Make no mistake about it. The United States lost its leverage when President Trump pulled us out of the Iran Nuclear Agreement while they were in compliance with it. It isolated america rather than isolating iran. I think you will see with President Biden, that well want to join with our traditional allies in europe as well as work with russia and china which are critically important because of the presence in the united nations. It is clear that before the United States can rejoin the nuclear agreement, iran must be in full compliance. And we need to deal with nonnuclear violations of iran including treatment of american citizens. So yes, all these issues will be on the table but youll have an administration that recognizes that we need to deal with these issues diplomatically and with our partners, rather than isolating america and finding the situation getting more dangerous by the day. All right. Senator ben cardin, thank you for your time. Greatly appreciated as always. And we are following breaking news right now. The director of the u. S. Census bureau is resigning. He announced his retirement to staff on the bureau website. He said it would take effect wednesday at noon. The Washington Post says it comes after allegations that he pushed data to President Trump before the president leaves office. Something that he denials. Ahead, what the first 100 days of the Biden Administration is expected to look like, including the executive actions he is expected to sign. We have a lot more to break down. Youre watching msnbc. Down youre watching msnbc. Back. With moderate to severe Crohns Disease, i was there, just not always where i needed to be. Is she alright . I hope so. So i talked to my doctor about humira. I learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of Crohns Disease after trying other medications. The majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief in as little as 4 weeks. And many achieved remission that can last. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. 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What steps will he take in the first 100 days in his administration . What are the Top Priorities . Well, of course, as a candidate on the campaign trail, biden like many candidates for president made a lot of promises and a lot of promises about things he would do on day one. It is a very long list. As one biden official put it, well expand the definition of things well do on day one because of how many promises they made in a memo released this weekend, the incoming chief of staff ron clain identified exactly what they would do and that includes ending the muslim travel ban. A lot of this is under doing things President Trump did. Enforcing the mask mandate on federal property. Getting all americans to mask up. Extending moratoriums on evictions and rejoining the paris climate accord. And then you get into day two which will be a series of executive actions having to do with covid response. Then we get into departmental directives, giving direction to his incoming cabinet secretaries about things they can do with executive authority. As we know so much of what he needs to do sow follow through on these promises is legislatively. This is meant to convey on the part of incoming Biden Administration a real sense of urgency on a number of policies and things he will try to do by executive action at least very quickly. It is a tall order as he just outlined there. The biden team plans to address at least four crises and im sure we can agree on what those rethrough executive action. You have the covid19 issue, the check downturn, Racial Injustice and of course, climate change. How crucial will these first days be to meeting their goals in those four crises . These first days will be crucial because joe biden has a plan that is ambitious and one that also is specific. So he has so many Different Things on his plate including all thats happening with an impeachment trial, also happening in the senate. Which in some ways, it could be taking away attention and resources from his first 100 days. There are people in the Biden Administration and Biden Transition Team who tell me they want to make sure the things they want done arent delayed. Weve heard president elect biden say that he wants to have the senate doing covid relief package negotiations and half the day on the impeachment trial. So the number one thing that youre going to hear from my understanding, the biden tradition, the Biden Administration, will be on covid19. They recognize that that is the biggest challenge yet. And it is the one that really incorporates all those other challenges because, of course, the pandemic is killing black and brown people more and those communities are being hit hardest. So well see President Biden when he becomes President Biden, talking lot about equity as he deals with these other issues. Let me ask but the inaugural speech, if i can. We often think about how important these speeches are. They set a tone for the next four years. Ironically we think about what donald trump said about american carnage and we literally lived it out over the last couple weeks what do you know about president elect bidens speech . There is a real risk on the part of speech writers to try to write for history. One thing ive picked up on my conversations with officials, they really do feel like this is a moment in history that is perfectly suited for joe biden. So the message that he took to the campaign trail repeatly often sometimes to the derision of fellow democrats about the need to unify the country, to work across party lines, that will be at the core of what we hear from the president as president on inauguration day. It is interesting as well. I understand hes been speaking a lot with historians. He has been reading a lot. Specially franklin roosevelt, another president who came in and had to tackle multiple crises there. I dont know that well hear the only thing we have to hear is fear itself but one of the lessons biden has drawn from fdr is the need to speak directly and truthfully to the american people, even if it means speaking hard truths about whats ahead and thats something i think well hear on wednesday. These are unprecedented times. I suspect the speech will be unprecedented as well. Let me ask you finally, the challenges the administration faces. Have you heard from your sources about what concerns them most . The challenges of confirmation . Impeachment, the challenges of having a legislative body that can get an agenda passed and not rely heavily on executive action . The number one challenge based on my conversations with biden officials, transition officials, is the covid19 pandemic. They are very, very worried about the vaccine rollout. They really want to make sure the virus is really top of mind for not just the Biden Administration but also for congress and the Senate Democrats have so much power in washington now, the chief question will be, how will they use that power to stop the virus and to make sure that americans are vaccinated. The other thing top of mind is the idea that he who is the now govern in a country that is more polarized than ever. After the siege on the capitol, a lot of americans are questioning, how will we come together . How will you work with republicans . With fellow americans if we cant even agree on the truth and how do we even look at the face of White Supremacy . The threat of White Supremacy and make that top of mind while were in the middle of a snamd all those things are now on the plate of joe biden. He says hes the man up for the challenge, that he can both unit identify the country and get this pandemic under control. So that is top of mind and it is the greatest challenge of his presidency. Certainly will be in the first couple days and weeks. Thanks to both of you for that insight. We are in the final two days of President Trumps tumultuous term in office and a source familiar with the matter tells nbc news, on sunday, the president discuss ad list of potential pardons with two sources saying dozens are expected by wednesday. The New York Times is reporting that wealthy felons and their associates are paying lobbyists to try to secure them a president ial pardon, believe it or not. Joining me, reporter for nbc news digital, shannon, great to have you with us. Do we have any idea who is potentially on the list for pardons . We previously reported that the president discussed pardoning himself, perhaps even his family among others. Do we have a sense of what is playing out in these final 45 hours . Well, we know about pardons have been a primary focus for the president in these final weeks. We have heard repeatedly from a number of sources that the president has not only considered pardoning himself but pardoning family members and even at one point, offering pardons to white house aides and former aides preemptively, asking them under solicited if they would like a pardon. So we know it has been a focus. Now were being caution that had in these final days and hours, anything could happen. The situation is fluid. Nothing with this president as ever is written in stone. So you know, while there are a lot of expectations on what might happen, we dont know for certain. However, we were expecting potentially pardons on friday or even sooner. Now it looks like, these are going to come down to the very final hours in the presidency, which i think indicates how many back and forwards and consideration is being put into this and how much focus there has been. I was going to say really quickly, i know it is hard to cover this administration but now with the president having his social media muted and ultimately taken out, where we learned about pardons in the past, somebody tweeting out about it or the president himself confirming it. Do we have any idea how an announcement. These pardon theres probably be made . They have to go through the official white house channels just like every president before him. So typically, an email snt out to the white house or another form of white house communication. Ill sure everyone will be keeping their eye on their inboxes for that. Lets turn for a moment to the National Security. They are moving ahead with installing michael ellis, a former gop operative as the top lawyer. A very controversial move there. How unusual is a move like this in the last days of an administration and what could be the fallout for it . Can it even be undone Going Forward . You mentioned the timing and that is what has really caught peoples attention about this. It is not completely unusual for someone with political ties to be in this position, which is something the pentagon pointed out in their statement, defending this appointment. But there is a sense of trying to leave an imprint on the countrys premier spy agency. The Biden Administration could come in and reassign ellis from this position. It is protected by certain Civil Service rules but theres nothing to prevent the Biden Administration from moving him into another job. All right. Thank you from what is being doubled ft. Washington for the time being. Ahead, the coronavirus vaccine. The demand for is it far outweighing the supply. Coming up, well talk to a doctor about what president elect biden needs to do to get more shots into peoples arms. Plus, the very latest into the attack on the capitol. Youre watching msnbc. G msnbc. 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What you alluded to, this idea that she took an either laptop or hard drive from House SpeakerNancy Pelosis office and intended to send to it russia to a friend she has there. At that point that friend was going to sell the laptop to the svr. That is roughly russias equivalent to the cia. It is not clear why that didnt happen according to the charging documents and they believe she still has the laptop in her possession and, or that it has been destroyed. What we have asked is whether or not this person, riley williams, whether or not she is in federal custody at this time. Now most of the cases that have been unsealed so far, when the charging documents become public and you and i and anybody else can read them, at that point the person is already in custody. That appears that it may not be the case here west are starting to see some other cases with charging documents that have been made public and somebody will eventually surrender within a day or two and that is going on with some other cases. Were trying to get some clarity on that but some disturbing allegations. The fbi and theyve told the judge this in their control documents. All right. Tom winter, thanks as always. As the investigation into the january 6th riot continues, i want to play you more of that new yorker video showing how Law Enforcement was during the attack. [ bleep ]. Make sure to disrespect the place. This is like the sacredest place. Come on, man. This is our capitol. Lets be respectful to it. There are 4 Million People coming in. We love this house. Its only a matter of time. Justice is coming. Joining me now, the director, mychalen, the formal special assistant for proliferation strategy at the National Security council under george w. Bush and the former majority staff member on the house intelligence committee. It is great to have you with us. Thank you for your time. There are unprecedented levels of security in washington as weve been noting throughout this hour and as we saw with our colleague document we know or do we think we know enough with the january 6th attack for authorities to be adequately prepared for the inauguration . I dont know that weve learned everything yet about the january 6th attack so we might be able to confidently say that Something Like that wont happen again. That i believe the fbi working with state and local officials are trying to piece together how much of the attack was premeditated. Certainly when i look at the new yorker video and i see how many people were wearing goggles and helmets and had makeshift weapons, it makes me believe it was premeditated. Thats what occurred with the Court Authorities and i think theyre looking into it very, very quickly. I think as they bring people this for arrest, theyre going to say, youre going to face 20 years in prison or you can tell me what you know. And i think thats when people start to say, all right. Im going to cooperate with the fbi here. Let me ask but the big headline today. And we heard National Guard officials and officers down play it saying there is no specific intelligence. The Associated Press is reporting that the fbi is vetting all 25,000 National Guard troops coming to d. C. The protect over fears of an insider attack. As we mentioned, both the National Guard as well as the incoming defense secretary said while he has no intelligence indicating an Insider Threat, that theyre leaving no stone unturned. Just how remarkable of a move is this that this is actually happening . It seems more remarkable than it should be. When youre dealing with a universe of 25,000 people, surely someone has been to suspect sites or maybe engaged in activity that we here would find disturbing in light of the january 6th attacks. The u. S. Government, those of us with National Security clearances i think are subjected to Insider Threat screens and the rest. I think it is just a fact of every day National Security, Homeland Security life that we need to screen everybody and make sure that they are able to serve in a way that will make good on their commitments to the american people. I guess youre right. The context of what were seeing play out gives as you slightly different tone. Lets look ahead if we can some of the experts, theyre warning about this event that weve seen, january 6th and subsequently all these he arrests, it could fuel more extremist threats. As someone who formally worked in National Security, in your perspective, are we at the very beginning of a generational struggle here with domestic white extremist separatists, whatever you want to call them, terrorists, based on what we saw over the last few weeks . Well, i think it might be too soon to say. This has been obviously a tumultuous couple of years with protests and Serious Problems in our culture and of course, the pandemic i think is certainly riled people up about freedoms. Not necessarily justifiably but i think there is a lot going on in the country. We need to try to come together as a people. I think over time, these kinds of extremist elements will die down. But it is something we have to remain vigilant about. There is a lot of scary stuff going on on the internet. Theres tons of disinformation. Were almost drunk with disinformation here in this country. So weve got to figure out a way to deal with that while not trampling upon peoples free speech rights and otherwise making people feel like the government is sort of suppressing their civil liberties. So we have a long way to go. I have to ask you quickly, are you at all concerned about Foreign Countries . Or foreign operatives trying to get involved by funneling money and resources and perhaps even knowhow to these types of armed Conspiracy Theory groups and militias . I am because i think the russians are just as a matter of course, are always looking for ways to make the United States destabilized. Now theres a debate whether were doing it to ourselves, whether they even need to get involved and mess up what is otherwise from their perspective, a great outcome. But i think on balance oh time, it is in the interests of the russians to have a United States society that seems like its democracy is fragile. They want to show their own people. Hey, listen, democracy is not the answer. Russia is strong and thats the appropriate way for the russian government to act Going Forward. Thats of course ridiculous. But i think that motivates a lot of what the russians have done. Certainly since 2015 that weve seen on social media and elsewhere. But really theyve been doing it for decades. And we know the investigation into that continues. Michael allen, thank you. Still ahead, affecting the vaccine log jam. Speaking of russia, Alexei Navalny is calling for protests after a judge ordered he spend 30 days in detention. He was detained yesterday when he returned to russia from germany where he had spent five months being treated for a poisoning with what scientists said was a russian made chemical weapon. They said he is in violation of a suspended sentence from 2014 money laundering. Youre watching msnbc. Y launderg youre watching msnbc. [ engine rumbling ] [ beeping ] [ engine revs ] uh, you know theres a 30minute limit, right . Tell that to the rain. 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Here are the facts as we know them at this hour. The death toll here in the u. S. Is set to surpass 400,000 today. Since january 1st, just 17 days ago, more than 50,000 americans will have died from covid19. In the mounting death tolls expected to continue to grow. In fact, incoming chief of staff ron clain warned that it could cause half a Million Deaths by the end of february. And los angeles street first county to report 1 million cases. One in three residents have been infected since the start of the pandemic. Joining me now, the senior director of the special path General Program at new York City Health and hospitals. It is great to have you with us. President elect biden said he would deploy the National Guard to set up mass vaccination clinics across the United States. How quickly do you think the situation on the ground will change under a new administration . They have a plan that is obviously based on some Public Health and scientific expertise. It is also based on what we exactly need in this moment of crisis. One thing that youll see that is a big different from the trump administration, they have a Crisis Management it has been severely lacking. When that will translate into action and when well see improvement, it will take some time. This is not a magic bullet or turn it quickly. It will take some time but we need to move very fast. As youre probably aware. California put a pause on a bax of the Moderna Vaccine after several people had severe reactions. It is only 10 of the doses received from both moderna and pfizer but how detrimental is this pause to Distribution Efforts . And do we have a better understanding of what happened exactly . So based on my understanding, it is something that is recent. Theyre still investigating the cause. I think it is important to know this is just one clinic and one locality based on one batch so there certainly needs to be more information that needs to be investigated. But i think it is important to understand, Adverse Reactions are rare when it comes to the covid19 vaccine based on recent data. Based on 1 million vaccines administered, an anaphylactic rate of 11 cases. Thats still very low but more needs to be investigated. I will say that as more covid19 vaccine theres roll out, theyll see more information good and bad in the test. But they need to follow up. This is a huge mass vaccination program. And accidents, heart attacks and the like. We need to investigate more if it is related to the covid19 vaccine. All right. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Still ahead, my colleague Tiffany Cross joins me with how Vice President elect Kamala Harris is making history. Well talk to the inaugural committee about what we can expect in the coming days. Youre watching msnbc. N the com. Youre watching msnbc. But we also write. [szasz] we take care of ourselves constantly; its important. We walk three to five times a week, a couple miles at a time. Weve both been taking prevagen for a little more than 11 years now. After about 30 days of taking it, we noticed clarity that we didnt notice before. Its still helping me. I still notice a difference. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Pick up like a pro. 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. At visionworks, we want you to feel safe and we want you to see yourself in your new glasses and think, ooh but if you get home and your ooh is more of a hmm. You have 100 days to change your mind. Thats the visionworks difference. Visionworks. See the difference. Vice president elect Kamala Harris officially resigned from her senate seat this afternoon. It is the final step before she makes history as the first woman and woman of color to be sworn into the Second Highest Office in the country and shell be sworn in by sonja sotomayor. She herself is used to breaking barriers. Of course she is a member of the first black Greek Sorority founded one hundred years ago on Howard Universitys campus. Our reporter spoke to a few of the line sisters to refloekt this historic moment. How does she govern a people who cant fathom the position that shes in as being legitimate . Im hoping once theyre in office, as they begin to introduce their platform to america, that people who did not vote for them will see that they really are for the people. And that was Vice President elects Campaign Slogan when she was running for president. For the people. I think they will have to show by doing. And i think that will convince them. Four years before, when the other administration won, a lot of people were not happy. But we have to move on. And not create a divided country. Thats all we can pray for or hope for. Thats where i stand. Are you concerned about Security Issues . Absolutely. Yeah. Shes in our hearts and on our minds. And we have our arms wrapped around her, and joe. Yes. And now more than ever with the recent events, i think that theyll be girded. Were concerned but we will pray collectively as a nation for their safety. All right. Joining me now, the host of the Cross Connection on msnbc. Great to have you with us. So interesting enough, over the weekend, Kamala Harris sorority celebrate the organizations founding. Tell us a little bit about the impact as her role as Vice President will have on women, her fellow Sorority Sisters and students attending historically black colleges and universities. Yeah, thanks, amon. This is such an historic time. And during inauguration, theres normally a lot more pomp and circumstance, but because of the violent insurrection, its a lot more toned down, but thats not stopped the enthusiasm of the divine nine, the entire collective of black organizations, and so even her Sorority Sisters, the line sisters, when they show upd on the campus of the iconic howard university, it was great interviewing them there. They were enthusiastic. I asked them how they were going to spend inauguration and they talked about doing it virtually and celebrating this virtually. So, in many ways, having someone, you know, from an hbcu, it makes it a loath more inclusive that so many more people can have an up close and personal view of this extremely historic time period. Absolutely historic and incredibly important. Tiffany, thank you so much. And you can catch the Cross Connection saturdays at 10 00 a. M. On msnbc. And with security on high alert at the capitol, washington, d. C. s mayor is weighing in on the unprecedented nad sure of wednesdays ceremony. To think this will be an inauguration unlike any other, i think it was already destined to be, given Covid Concerns and some of the limited seating and public access, but having our fellow americans storm the capitol in an attempt to overthrow the government, certainly warply warrants heigh security. Joining me, the director of talent and external relations for the Biden Inaugural committee. Great to see you and thank you for your time this afternoon. We heard the major there say that this inauguration will be unlike any other. Walk us through what we can expect to see and not see on wednesday. Well, you know, amon, weve been working really hard on the committee to make sure that we are holding to the standard traditions that are part of any inauguration, the swearing in ceremony is still going to take place at the capitol. Were going to have a parade but its going to be virtual, so that anyone, no matter where you are in america can two to bideninaugural. Org an tune in and watch that parade. And we are doing a concert that evening, tom hanks will be anchoring that concert, a number of performers, including bruce springsteen, tim mcgraw, others will be apart of that. So, we are still doing the standard things that are part of inauguration, were just doing it with a small footprint here in washington, d. C. And people have grown accustomed to celebrating on the mall. Thousands usually fill the mall. Unfortunately, with the heightened security threats, with the consideration given to the pandemic, that will not be happening this year. Talk to us a little bit about the fact that you will not have that presence in that moment for the swearing in, the historic swearing in, we should note, for the president and the Vice President. Well, you know, really, the only change here on this is that we are not having that large crowd. But it is not going to change the ceremony, its not going to change the event itself. You know, the Vice President elect im sorry, the president elect and Vice President elect will both be there. Small contingency of people will be there, as well. So, well still have those standard events happening but going to do it with a much smaller footprint. And again, weve been working really hard to make sure we have virtual programming leading up to the swearing in day, the 20th, so that everybody can be apart of this. Today, of course, being mlk day, weve got the day of service, weve got an event taking place tonight that you can tune in, bideninaugural. Org events, you can watch any of our programming at no cost, so, i encourage folks to do that, but we really work hard to make sure that no matter where you are in this country, no matter where you are in the world, you can be a part of it. Remember, even in the summer during the dnc, that virtual parade of states, the roll call was so impressive, a lot of people said should become a traditional aspect of the convention. Let me ask you about the themes, though, because it happens at a time that the countrys so divided, reeling from this attack on the capitol. Hundreds of thousands of americans suffering as a result of the pandemic. Whats the theme of this inaugural event . The theme of our entire inaugural, you know, week of festive tips is called america united, because as you know, the president elect has been making this very clear on the campaign trail and, of course, now leading into his presidency that weve got to bring this country together, weve got to unify this country. So, while we are going to be celebrating a peaceful transfer of power and peaceful transition into the next administration, we are lifting up the everyday heroes that are not always making the headlines, people that we see on television, but the ones who are making this country work and their resilience. Youre going to see a lot of those people as part of our program. Were really working hard to incorporate the people, their voices, into everything that were doing because thats an important part, i think, to heal this country and to move onto the next administration. From your Vantage Point and your involvement in the preparations, what concerns you the most . You know, nothing concerns me personally. I think for us, you know, we are more focused on the fact that we want everyone to be part of this, its that simple. We want everyone to feel, no matter who you voted for, no matter where you live, no matter where your political ideologies stand, you feel like this inauguration is for you and about you. Thats a very important part thats been sort of the pillar that weve been focusing on that has been driving all of our decisionmaking, thats been diving the content that were producing, and you know, amon, im glad you brought up the convention, because the same team that conceptualized the convention, that is the team that is working on the Creative Concepts around this inauguration, so, i guarantee you, youre in for a very good surprise on wednesday. Adrienne, best of luck to you an the team. I know the country and the world will be watch pg. Thank you so much for your time. That wraps up this hour for men. Ill see you right back here tomorrow at 3 00 p. M. Eastern. Deadline white house starts right after this quick break. Doug . [ding] never settle with power e trade. It has easytouse tools and some of the lowest prices. Dont get mad. Get e trade and start trading today. Go pro at subway® for double the protein on footlong subs and the new protein bowls. And if you want to go pro like marshawn, dont let anything get in your way. Here we go yeah, appreciate you, man go pro and get double the protein for just 2 more. It is 4 00 in the east and im John Heilemann in washington, d. C. , sitting in for Nicolle Wallace on a day when very little is normal ahead of an inauguration that will in many ways define the term abnormal at the end of a presidency bent, it often seemed, on the destruction of anything and everything that was normal and the very nature of normalcy itself. Today, a dramatic departure from what we usually expect to see in washington in the days leading up to an inauguration ceremony and all the pomp and circumstance that has accompanied these occasions throughout our nations history, whether in times of crisis, in rain or sleet or snow. Now, in the final waning hours of the donald trump era, in a washington that is being compared to the baghdad green zone, it is