country. so there were things back then, as you go back and think about what you might have done, the kind of desperate responses of different states rather than having a unified approach, it was just bad, it is bad now. >> harris: dr. fauci is pushing for a national plan but critics are questioning whether they can trust him. let's watch. >> there is no need to change anything you're doing on a day by day basis. it came clear that we were in real trouble. that was probably towards the middle to end of january. people should not be walking around with masks. putting a mask on yourself, if everybody does that, we're each protecting each other. >> do you think americans will still be wearing masks, for example, in 2022? >> you know, i think it is possible that that's the case. >> harris: you're watching "outnumbered." here today my co-host, emily compagno, ceo of situation room, joanna masko. joining us on the virtual seat until we're all together again civil rights attorney and fox news contributor leo -- >> hi, ladies! >> harris: terrific to see everybody today. leo, i'm going to start with you, just on the notion of the back and forth and trust was such an important and continues to be such an important journey that we're all taking together during the pandemic. >> you know, harris, i have been a lawyer for 35 years. when you played that clip, if mr. fauci was in a court of law, he would be impeached. i think he's being used by the biden administration. he did have credibility initially. but now he's beyond being a doctor. he's a politician. i think he provides the biden administration cover for their delay, all these promises. the schools are still closed. you just played a piece where we don't know if grandma and grand dad can, after being vaccinated, can go see their grandchildren. he's flip flopping all over. he's providing cover. i think dr. fauci's 15 minutes of fame is over. we don't need to hear from him any longer. there are other medical doctors to give us consistent advice. i think he is being used by the biden administration to continue this fear. i look at florida and i see they're doing quite well. thank you, governor disantis. i look at california. get rid of gavin newsom. get rid of dr. fauci. we don't need him any more. >> harris: you've been in administration. you would know better than any of us. is this a factor of what leo is saying, that dr. fauci now is speaking basically to the politics of this administration? i was reading where he's now telling people that we need the covid relief program. i don't know if he's read that bill, but only 9% of it actually goes for covid related issues. 9% of nearly $2 trillion. >> harris, i can't wait until we can all sit back on that couch. i think we found out in march of last year, and i can't believe it's almost been a year, that we were all under lockdown. it was three months after the administration should have been making the first moves to make sure that covid did not wreck our economy. we still don't have a national testing and tracing program. that's the first thing that you should do with a global pandemic. i actually think -- >> harris: we've had a new president for awhile. >> he's been trying to listen to the science before he speculates on tv. so i think that's what he was trying to do, again, is get the data to make sure before he speculates on tv, that grandparents are all going to be safe. he doesn't want to risk anyone's life. he wants to make sure the data is on his side. i think we should appreciate that. >> harris: you know what the tough part is? i agree with you in the sense that you want to make people as safe as you can. there is no such thing as zero risk. when you become a parent, you know this. they send you home from the hospital with no instruction book. >> no kidding. you get there and you call your mom and you call the people who love you and they say i aoepl with you in spirit, here are a few things you want to try. there's no such thing as no risk. we do need good solid consistent information. tommy? >> yeah. again, i think to say that fauci is a partisan is an understatement. we know he's a partisan. he's been that from the beginning. to me that's been clear from the get go. he's been raised to the level of messiah to those on the left. back and forth, mixed messaging. americans are fed up with it. all we're told is you can't question people like fauci because of the science, because of the fauci. well, his science seems to change with the wind. talking about not wants to go on tv and send messages or have the data before he goes on tv. this man spends more time on tv than any of us in this group. this man loves to be on tv. this man wants to be a celebrity. i would seriously have him consider going on bravo, maybe watch what happens live. that seems to be a more apt place for him. he's a partisan. he's a hack. he cannot be trusted. we would not give this grace to anybody else beyond him. he's been raised to level of messiah and it's time to strip him of that. no more. there are plenty of other experts that haven't had a record of mixed messaging like dr. fauci has had. >> harris: you know, yet and still, tomi, you do polling. you ask people within and outside the administration, is he the biggest voice at this point, the most trusted voice and the polling would show that he is. if there is something impeding him because he said how he couldn't talk the way he wanted to with the trump administration. if there is something impeding him from looking at the science from his own cdc that says two weeks after you get your second shot, if you're supposed to get two doses. two weeks after you get your second vaccination, you're fully vaccinated. if that's the science, why can't he comment on that? emily? >> that's a great question. i think part of it is that the questions that he's being presented with creates and foster this opportunity to give these mixed messages. to tomi's point, she's right. critics argue this mixed messaging is creating doubt in the minds of americans. at a time when they need to be able to maintain faith and leadership. true leadership takes us somewhere. the question is, where is the end goal then? it's difficult to keep up. arguably it's difficult to follow along. if everyone is still maintaining faith in him, maybe that's because there is no alternative. i do point out the national institute of health director, as well as the former cdc director robert redfeld. they gave credit where credit was due. they extended criticism where criticism was due. as reasonable americans trying to follow along, i think that's what we need a commonsense of here's what was established prior that worked. here's what we're still figuring out. here's what we know thus far. that way we're not whip sawed between here's what exists and here's what doesn't. we're not duped later. >> harris: this is one of those times though, and i want to get back to what tomi was saying about the politic of it all. even the man with the most experience in the room changes with administration? i don't know how any of that works. joanna, you've been on capitol hill. maybe you do. it's just a question. republicans are going after president biden $2 trillion covid relief bill. you heard me mention it, the noncovid stuff that's in it. we're talking big ticket items. how democrats are taking a big step towards passing it anyway. >> this is a massive federal payout to everyone and every state that donated to and supported democratic candidates in 2020. >> harris: plus governor cuomo said he's under investigate eight not because of the nursing home scandal but because of former president trump. is he paying attention? >> he publicly attacked me and called for an investigation of new york. department of justice then sent four states, democratic states only, requests for information. >> vo: my car is my after-work decompression zone. ♪ music ♪ >> vo: so when my windshield broke... i found the experts at safelite autoglass. they have exclusive technology and service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ if your dry eye symptoms keep coming back, inflammation in your eye might be to blame. looks like a great day for achy, burning eyes over-the-counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. ha! these drops probably won't touch me. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. what is that? 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what would you leave out? american rescue plantar gets $50 billion to support the hardest hit small businesses after this program expires end of march. would you not help invest in that? would you let them continue to go under? >> breaking down this further the wall street journal reports less than half of the funding is actually covid related. meaning $1 trillion is going to other things. that's what republicans are going after. >> they proposed a $1.9 trillion package that is littered with pork barrel spending, that is littered with special interest projects. >> they're not going to talk about the details like giving subsidies to illegal immigrants or to allowed planned parenthood to take advantage of the pay check protection program. >> this bill is too expensive and expansive. they've listed a lot of things in there. this is supposed to be a covid bill. only 9% of it goes to covid. what they are doing is telling you the swamp is back. >> i'd like to start with you, joanna. you heard much of the criticism right there, and the argument is, as aptly stated, this does little for economic relief. this is a progressive blowout for the ages, they say, and will serve democrat special interest groups for years. they say stop calling it a covid relief bill. your thoughts? >> yeah, i heard the republicans say it's a critical time for investment. i agree it is a critical time for investment. that is exactly what the biden administration is doing. yesterday they rolled out the ppp program directly targeting small businesses with less than 20 people who work there. i think that is a good sign. as the last ppp was rolled out, we had all the stories of multimillion dollar firms getting the funding first. we heard stories of people taking the funding and buying cars. no one wants waste in government. we want targeted relief. that's what i think the democrats are trying to do in this bill. it is a critical time for investment. lot of it is frontline help so that we can get our businesses, our schools back open and functional. we are long overview. >> may i touch back for a moment on that. you're absolutely right. that only provides for a small portion of this bill. those data points much of the demonstration you have to prove economic hardship and especially for the disaster injury loans. those will be paid back to the government. your talking points ignored the over trillion dollars that went to the additional things like a bridge to canada in new york, bart in silicon valley and so many other things that really raise questions by the american people where their tax dollars are going because it isn't to covid relief. your thoughts back on that, please. >> yeah. a lot of it is infrastructure investment that we need that has been long overdue. that creates jobs. let's look at frontline workers, and i do think it's important that when we are paying with government funding the salaries and the pay checks of people, that we make sure they are making a living wage. so what this bill is doing is targeting those people most at need and building our infrastructure so that we are making long term investments in our kids' futures which, unfortunately, we just haven't done for far too long. >> harris, your thoughts? >> harris: just real quickly, i'm wondering why democrats don't have the gumption, don't have the skill, don't have the interest to keep their promise and work on some things. you mention infrastructure. why does it all have to roll into a bill that you know people are desperate to get because these are desperate times for some in our community? why can't they argue for the sea bridge that goes from new york to canada separately? is it that it' not really worth fighting for? is it really a swamptastic, get as much into this bill. let's hope everybody doesn't read it until it passes, nancy pelosi. what is really going on here? or are those items less popular with people than we've been led to believe? what is the deal? >> harris asks such great questions. why make this bill controversial when everyone can get behind actual covid relief. why throw in all of these extra things? >> because, unfortunately, we have to understand the fact that lot of americans are sheep. lot of americans watch the main stream media. they see a covid relief bill and they are all for it because they don't understand and are not being told what's in it. democrats can not defend and say this is covid relief, helping the little guy. we've got money going to family planning, libraries and museums. got money going to a railway project in silicon valley. democrats cannot defend that. they could not pass it on its own so they have to slip it into a covid relief bill in hopes of the american people are sheepish enough to take it in, absorb it and believe that that's true and believe the democrats have their back. what this is all doing, incentivizing and rubber stamping the lockdowns that we know did not work. look at california was the first to lock down. they are still, in many ways, locked down. look at florida, that reopened. the science, which liberals are supposed to love, the science doesn't add up. what it is doing is bailing out and incentivizing those lockdowns saying we're just going to keep them going. we can have the almighty taxpayer bail out the blue states. no. wake up american people. stop being sheep. democrats are taking you for a ride. >> leo, your thoughts on that, sir? >> emily, it bothered me and, johanna just ignored the question. we have to be honest with the american people. this is not a covid relief bill. 9% of it maybe. it's disingenuous to say we need a minimum wage, we need to fund museums. the american people have been hurting for 15 months. if joe biden, who looked into that camera and said, this is a covid relief bill, that's a lie. if he wanted to get this country back open, open up the schools. stop giving the unions cover. vaccinate everyone and open the economy. all these other ancillary things that are being funded? look, i became a republican because i believe trump put americans first. what joe biden and this covid relief bill, he' putting the democratic party first. that is hurtful to the american public. >> all right. that was a great conversation. thanks, you guys. moving on, as members of his own party now go after new york governor andrew cuomo over the nursing home scandal, he said it's all former president trump's fault. plus the biden administration slipping millions into the covid relief bill potentially targeting the coal industry after already killing keystone pipeline jobs. john kerry claims to admit the paris accord does little to manage. >> even if we did everything we would do, we would see a rise in the earth's temperature. when you have a two-inch lift. when you have goodyear duratrac tires. when you have rancho shocks and an integrated dual exhaust. when you have all that, the last thing you'll need... is a road. the chevy silverado trail boss. ready to off-road, right from the factory. alright, i brought in ensure max protein... ...to give you the protein you need with less of the sugar you don't (grunting noise) i'll take that. yeeeeeah! 30 grams of protein and 1 gram of sugar drink, play, and win big in the powered by protein challenge! ♪♪ if you have moderate to severe psoriasis... or psoriatic arthritis, little things, can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not an injection or a cream... ...it's a pill that treats differently. for psoriasis, 75% clearer skin is achievable... ...with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. for psoriatic arthritis, ...otezla is proven.... to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an... increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts.... ...or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. research shows that people remember commercials with exciting stunts. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's something you shouldn't try at home. insurance is cool. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >> harris: dodging more questions on new york governor andrew cuomo dodging questions on whether he's been subpoenaed over the state's covid nursing home deaths. however, he said his office is complying. this after a top aide admitted to with holding data from the feds last year. i believe they called it a leak. cuomo is blaming former president trump for the investigation. >> we have had requests from the department of justice since last year when president trump accused democratic states of the covid problem. actually gave a speech at the democratic convention and attacked him for his covid policy. he then publicly attacked me and called for an investigation of new york. so it's been on going since august. >> harris: this as new york democrat assembly man ron kim is calling for governor cuomo's impeachment. >> i got to tell you it's like grown-up dodge ball with this person, leo. you ask him one question and he bobs and weaves and goes into how great he was speaking and then i forget what the question was. maybe that's the point. >> harris, he acts like a lawyer. i'm telling you. he did exactly what you said. he's dodging and weaving. he's throwing everyone under the bus. donald trump is the ran he manipulated the numbers? i don't think so. joe biden called him last year the gold standard. i mean, governor cuomo has the best advantage of having a democratic white house because there's a federal investigation, a bipartisan investigation. the only person who does not believe he did anything wrong is governor cuomo. i'm telling you, harris, this is a problem. this guy's political future is over. he's done with. he is trying to survive. what i hope democrats do and republicans and americans is to have a transparent investigation. the rhetoric that got cuomo the emmy last year does not work. he's lost all credibility. >> harris: you know that rhetoric didn't get him that emmy. they just love him. they like to watch that. anyway, so tomi, we really do have to get to the bottom of things here. there's an investigation. he's blaming the former president for all of this. but the president, he doesn't have anything to do with what's going forward. he's got to produce some actual information and material now. >> what he is essentially saying there is how dare president trump investigate me for a real wrongdoing that i did that resulted in the deaths of thousands of people. so the fact that he is that indulgent and believes somehow an attack on him personally, it's ridiculous. going back to the blaming trump thing. what are democrats going to do? are they going to continue to blame trump? they got him off twitter, instagram, face book. we know we're going to hear for him sunday, which i can't wait for. they're still blaming him. how much longer are they going to keep this up before we start seeing the empeer roar has no clothes. i would still like joe biden to make a comment on cuomo and this investigation and nursing home scandal because joe biden has yet to do that. joe biden, let's go. we need to hear from you, mr. president. >> harris: he did formerly liken the governor to the gold standard. i would ask, johanna, what is his medal counting look like? maybe he needs an upgrade to phrat tupl -- platinum. what is the one that gets you to save lives. >> i'm a board and bred midwesterner. i thought new yorkers get too much oxygen. i would say on this, it is the same. the media was covering him every day. i think they should have been covering our rhode island governor who had moms in charge of getting schools back and open and they're open. what i am proud of is that democrats are holding cuomo accountable and that we are not censuring them. that's really important. i'm sure the biden administration, when they have all the information, will come out about this. >> harris: emily? >> yeah. i think that's a great.johanna made. his pivot makes no sense to blame it all on president trump. we can all see the throng coming for him is squarely bipartisan. the calls to create an impeachment commission for resignation, to revoke his emergency proclamation power. all of that, those are bipartisan calls. because death does not have a party. it affected all of new york and all of the country. >> harris: amen. so heart breaking. okay. well, it looks like it's happening. right? maybe we're getting closer to a lot more answers. maybe that's why he' getting nervous, governor cuomo. he's the only one with the answer. the u.s. rejoined the paris climate accord the first day president biden was in office. so why does his climate envoy, john kerry, now appear to be questioning just that agreement, whether or not it can actually accomplish anything? >> scientists told us three years ago we had 12 years to avert the worst consequences of climate crisis. we are now three years gone, so we have nine years left. >> harris: reaction to kerry's comments as the biden administration takes aim at the coal industry. listen out, there's a very powerful senator manchin in coal country. let's hear what he says about that. plus the wonder of american ingenuity after nasa releases dramatic video of the perseverance rover landing on mars. ♪ you're not using too much are you hon? 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sure it's secure. and even if the power goes down, your connection doesn't. so how do i do this? you don't do this. we do this, together. bounce forward, with comcast business. it's a new day for veteran homeowners. with home values high and mortgage rates at their lowest now's the time to refinance and turn your home equity into money for your family. that's me. introducing refiplus from newday usa. take advantage of record low rates plus get cash for security today or retirement tomorrow that's me. refiplus. only from newday usa. >> biden administration is sinking $50 million into the covid relief bill to tackle what it calls environmental justice. specifies goals referenced in an executive order the president signed in january, which mentioned financing, quote, objectives of the paris agreement, with respect to coal financing. that has critics saying that the administration is pushing to kill the coal industry. this comes after john kerry appeared to admit the paris climate accord which the president rejoined his first day in office may not do much to combat climate change. watch. >> the scientists told us three years ago we had 12 years to avert the worst consequences of climate crisis. we are three years gone, nine years left. even if we did everything that we said we were going to do when we signed up in paris, we would see a rise in the earth's temperature somewhere around 3.7 degree ors more which is kind of shocking. >> peter doocy asked jen psaki. >> last week john kerry said there are only nine years left to save the world from the effects of climate change. does president biden share that assessment, nine years? >> i don't have a new timeline to give you from here. i can confirm the president agrees with former secretary kerry that it's a crisis, that time is of the essence, we need to act quickly. that's why climate is a key part of his agenda. >> i'd like to start with you. on the paris climate accord, isn't this exactly why president trump said he took the u.s. out of it, that it wasn't working? tomi, your thoughts. >> is it me? >> i have a lot of thoughts on this. aoc told us we had 12 years before we had the apocalypse. if it really is nine years, i really think these liberals, john kerry included, will be riding a bike, not flying in a private jet, maybe using a composting toilet. reuse, recycle. seems like they are enjoying their life. this is a charade, a distraction to the american people. we know the paris climate accord doesn't do anything. it is just a globalist agenda that makes the climate worshippers feel better about themselves and have people like john kerry patting himself on the back, traveling around to get fancy awards. talking about environmental justice, as someone from south dakota who knows there are thousands of people who will be impacted by the cancellation of the keystone pipeline, i wonder where their justice is because they no longer have a job and that community is struggling. i would like to hear them comment on that. as far as i know, they still haven't been assigned their new green jobs. but i could be mistaken. >> tomi brings up great questions. critics talking about the paris climate accord, based off that for the united states. if the standard isn't enough, if france is not compliant, as a french judge held, if there's no enforcement mechanism globally but yet there's a catastrophic situation occurring, how will the plan be successful? your thoughts? >> texas has frozen over. if we can all agree now that climate change is real, then we can start looking for solutions. there's 7 billion people around the earth. we in america only have about 300 billion of them. if we want to make billionaires, more billionaires, we want to solve problems for billions of people which means we should absolutely be focused on solving the problem of climate change both here and around the world. so i think it's going to take american ingenuity to drive forward solutions. if we finally solve the problem we're going to deny climate change, we can get forward to what is the reason, what are the solutions and how are we going to sell our solutions to the entire world? >> to johanna's point many people see the issue is not denial versus proponents, the issue is many of the proposals put in place stymy that american ingenuity which would enable us to lower the carbon emissions and create more jobs, etc. your thoughts, sir? >> i agree 100%. i'm listening to riddles, catastrophic, climate change. what does that mean? give me some definitive terms. going to your point, emily, if we take away all these regulation. that's what president trump did four years ago. what happened? we had ingenuity. we had the greatest unemployment dropping of unemployment for all people in this country. we had a boom in this country prior to the pandemic. we had the ingenuity. companies on their own will take that initiative. this whole issue of climate change, these are talking points. this is to scare americans. americans aren't scared. they are not worrying about the other 180 countries with their climate issues. >> harris, your thoughts? >> harris: you know, key stone pipeline. that's really all i want to say. i just really want to say that and drop the mic. people are hurting because of reflective political type decisions that the president made coming into office. i'm not going to say that the president doesn't have people around him who can balance that out. i'm just gonna say that when his person who stands at that lecturn every day was asked about it, those were just construction jobs. those were just temporary jobs. to tomi's point, they haven't been replaced yet. i talked to some of those people building homes. those were long enough term jobs along that pipeline between canada and here, people were planning their lives. when we make these decisions, can we do what democrat and republican representatives in texas have been saying and still saying on both sides of the aisle. can we do it all for awhile until we get to a better place? right? we don't even know what that's going to be yet. let's make it all safer and see what really works. >> right. when it's your job, that's one job lost too many. all right. moving on, media did not hold back when criticizing president trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. so why do we now seem to be hearing so much about how hard it is for president biden to handle a pandemic that's, quote, out of his control? the shifting pandemic narrative next. usa. refiplus lets you refinance at record low rates to save money every month plus you could get an average of $50,000 cash. that's money for security today and money for retirement tomorrow. refiplus, it's only for veterans and it's only from newday usa. >> vo: my car is my after-work decompression zone. ♪ music ♪ >> vo: so when my windshield broke... i found the experts at safelite autoglass. they have exclusive technology and service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen, painful. tremfya® is approved to help reduce joint symptoms in adults with active psoriatic arthritis. some patients even felt less fatigued. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tremfya®. emerge tremfyant™. janssen can help you explore cost support options. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> committee rules committee now looking at the january 6th attack on the u.s. capitol. we are seeing senator peters there. i believe they had just wrapped up with senator rick scott of florida. let's watch for just a moment. >> want to take a moment to acknowledge the heroism of the u.s. capitol police, law enforcement and other employees of the capitol who bravely worked to protect our democracy on january 6th. and who have done so much work to restore our capitol since that day. i also want to thank the families of our law enforcement and capitol hill staff for what they went through watching this unfold in real time. i want to start with kwae to chief conti. washington, d.c. is obviously no stranger to large assemblies and protests. so what is the standard process for protests in washington, d.c. when it comes to interagency coordination and information sharing? and following the events of january 6th, what recommendations do you have for improving coordination and information sharing? >> thank you for the question. there are several discussions, meetings that take place between the municipal police department, as well as our federal partners. we oftentimes have coordination calls with the national park service. a lot of the federal land, they authorize the permits for the federal land. so there's coordination that has to happen there between the metropolitan police department, park police, u.s. capitol police, u.s. secret service, with respect to the intelligence, again, our partners from the fbi. they are often part of those discussions. i think that the thing going forward that needs to be looked at with respect the specific intelligence has been outlined throughout some of the testimony today are when there's specific information that warrants us to posture difficulty, our notification system needs to be different. jttf distribution list that we have is not something that is a monitored list 24 hours a day, seven days a week that would generate an immediate response to that. when those communications are sent out, there are staff members who at some point will get to that information. again, as has been laid out when we're talking about something of this magnitude that could potentially happen and ultimately did happen in our city, it should posture us to move differently. perhaps with convening phone calls immediately and not counting on an e-mail or something making it through the chain to, the level that it needs to make for other decisions to be made. >> thank you for that answer. one of the things i would observe is sometimes ahead of events like these, just scheduling on going check-ins with leadership at all of the agencies that need to coordinate can have the effect of sharing information in real-time. i want to move to a question to mr. irving and mr. sund. secretary of homeland security has the authority to designate events with national and international significance as national special security events but that didn't happen for january 6th even given the threat information readily available ahead of time. designated events are eligible for expanded federal support related to the security of the events. so prior to january 6th, did anyone from the department of homeland security con tack you about a potential national special security event designation? we'll start with you, mr. sund, then move to the others. >> no, i'm not aware of anybody from dhs reaching out, requesting if we wanted follow-up, that this wanted to be a national special security event or we were going to request that to be, or if they were going to identify a special event rating to the event. >> thank you. >> no one contacted me. >> thank you. >> same with me. no contact with me or my office. >> thank you for those answers. i look forward to following up with department of homeland security about this during the next hearing on this topic. my last question, the officers work to keep the u.s. capitol safe and secure. we are all grateful for the brave work of the u.s. capitol police officers on january 6th. tragically the law enforcement community has lost two officers to suicide since january 6th as a result of the insurrection and events. my thoughts, and i'm sure the thoughts of us all here today, are with the families of officer smith and levengood. what mental health resources are currently available to the united states capitol police officers and are these resources sufficient? >> the department has brought in significant mental health resources and i appreciate your recognition of that. i have talked to a number of officers who have gone through the battle and feel that they are feeling trauma from it. i know the chief of police, acting chief, has brought in resource. they've brought in a number of outside contractors that have gotten very good response, so i think there's a lot of mental health resources available, and i know a number of officers have taken advantage of it, which i'm happy to see. >> so am i. i would encourage all officers who feel that they could benefit from counseling to reach out for it. i would encourage them, i'm sure my colleagues would, too, that all leadership in law enforcement reach out to us if they feel the resources are strained or need bolstering in some way. thank you all for your service. thank you for your testimony and being here today. thank you so much for organizing this hearing. >> thank you. chair now recognizes senator hawley for his questions. >> thank you. i want to begin by saying a special thank you and special acknowledgement to captain mendoza, who shared her testimony earlier today. earlier this morning. captain mendoza is a native of missouri and an alum of park university f memory serves. i just want to say to her, i want to thank her for being here today, but all for her inkred b bravery and courage on january 6th and on behalf of the entire state of missouri, i want to say thank you for what you have done and represent. i want to take the opportunity to say, as i said on the night of that terrible day, thank you to all of the law enforcement that responded to face these violent criminals, to repulse them from the capitol and secure this space so that the work of congress could continue. thank you. special thanks to captain mendoza from the state of missouri. mr. sund, if i could return to the question about the national guard activation. i'm confused here. i want to ask you some questions so i can get this clear in my head. you testified that you spoke with mr. irving at -- both of the sergeants in arms at 1:09 p.m. i understand there's a dispute about the timeline here. you do say mr. irving advised you that he needed to run it, namely the request for the national guard, needed to run it up the chain of command. have i got that right? >> that's correct, sir. >> mr. irving, can i just ask you, when mr. sund told you you needed to run it up the chain of command, to whom were you referring there? >> senator, i do not recall a phone call at 1:09 p.m. when i was on the floor of the house during the electoral college session. my phone record doss not reflect a telephone call at that time. had i received a call at that time, i had everyone with me. i had leadership. we would have approved it immediately. i have no recollection of that call nor a record of it. >> you say you've spoken with mr. sund later at approximately 1:30 p.m., is that right? >> that's correct. after i left the floor. on that call, he indicated to me that conditions were deteriorating and that he might be making a request at a later time. >> okay. you didn't say you needed to run it up the chain of command, or words to that effect? >> no, not to my recollection. i notified leadership. i went to receive updates from mr. sund on the conditions outside and to determine whether he needed to make a request or not. when the request was made shortly after 2 p.m., we approved it. >> when you say we, who is we? we approved it? >> i was in michael stenger's office. >> you are not waiting for input from congressional leadership, is that your testimony, sir, have i got that right? >> yes, i advise them as we do with many security protocols. >> but you weren't waiting for them at any point. there is no delay, you are saying and getting the national guard request, because you did not wait for the speaker or the majority leader or anybody else. >> no, not. >> mr. sund, is that your recollection? >> my recollection was at 1:09 when i was watching things deteriorate i made a phone call and that was made in the presence i believe my assistant chiefs and possibly my general counsel at which time i made the initial request that we need to activate the national guard, the situations but bound on the west front. i followed up at 1:22 to check on the status of the request. >> okay, one of the things i'm trying to get clear on here is who would constitute the chain of command. it sounds like mr. irving is saying that he never made that statement and did not consult anybody else. my understanding from the statute to section 19.70 that in an emergency situation i think this will qualify that the capitol police board does not have to consult with members of the senate or house leadership in order to make a request for deployment of the national guard or request of other executive departments and agencies. so it would seem strange to me that there was any talk of a chain of command that would evolve anybody but the capitol police board given the statute. there seems to become fluent macs some confusion about the basic facts and who asked for what when emma let me say this, mr. sund, on monday january 4th, you testified that you requested the assistance of the national guard and mr. irving stated that he was concerned about the optics of having the guard deployed, is that correct? >> that is correct, on the fourth it actually was a phone call it was an in person visit over to his office where he went in and requested the national guard. >> mr. irving, could you clarify when you use the word optics and may be your recollection is you didn't, so maybe you can speak to that, are you concerned about the optics of the national guard and can you elaborate on what you meant by that? again, this is monday january the 4th now. >> yes, monday january 4th, senator, safety was always the deciding factor of making security plans, and the issue on the table was whether the intelligence warranted troops at the capital, and the conversation with mr. sund was not, i did not take into request,