"new york times" today describing a possible cover-up by the trump administration about that threat leading up to the presidential election. from the times report, quote -- as recently as last september, a former top intelligence official with the department, brian murphy, filed a whistle-blower complaint accusing -- orton him to modify intelligence assessments of white supremacy appear lest severe and to include information on left-wing group to ally with mr. trump's messaging. they denied the accusation and released an annual threat assessment in october that acknowledged that violent white supremacy was the most persistent and lethal threat in the homeland. the intelligence first, who spoke anonpit are argued that the warning should have been issued as early as november, when trump was making escalating accusation about the election, saying far right groups continued to be galvanized, a security official confirmed for nbc news today. and that there is no good explanation for why there never was. just a reminder of what the fbi director was publicly testifying to, even before september. here's christopher wray, testifying on the threat to the homeland from radical white supremacists. >> what i can tell you is that, within the domestic terrorism bucket, category as a whole, racially motivated violent extremism is within that bucket, weren't the extremist bucket, people ascribing to some kind of white supremacist type of ideology is certainly the biggest chunk of that. i don't have numbers. >> the white supremacists are the largest chunk. >> i would also say racially motivated by an extremist over recent years have been responsible for the most lethal activity in the u.s. and on the toxic and combustible mix of that rising threat and disinformation from the ex-president himself, here is the lie stew being spoon-fed to the individuals, which we're showing to make clear exactly where much of the radicalization started and who exactly it came from. >> we're stuck with a president who lost the election by a lot, and we have to live with that for four more years. we're just not going to let that happen. democrats attempted the most braising election theft, it's a pure theft, in american history. everybody knows it. our election was over at 10:00 in the evening. we're leading pennsylvania, michigan, georgia, by hundreds of thousands of votes, and then late in the evening or early in the morning, boom, these explosions of [ bleep ] -- and all of a sudden -- just as important as showing you the lie -- that was the culmination of his telling of that lie. he told it every single day, was the reaction from the crowd. that big lie, that reaction beamed intosh repeated over and over again, inside the homes of millions of americans on their division, through their smartphones, on their twitter accounts. that's just the tip of the eye berg. they were supported by his allies. the culmination of the violence trump whipped under the circumstances was of course the insurrection, and we're learning the extent of the injuries suffered by the capitol police, which including brain injuries, cracked ribs, smashed spine cord discs, eye issues, and stabbings. we're just learning that yesterday d.c. police arrested a man near the capitol with a loaded handgun and 20 rounds of ammunition. he allegedly had stop the steal paperwork in his car and told police he was concerned about the integrity of the election. efforts to stifle intelligence before is where we start today. zolan's byline is on the top of the airline. clint watts is here and myles taylor is back. he served for the department of homeland security and now a adviser to the group for reliance for integrity and reform. zolan, take me through your reporting here. it was apparent, i think, within minutes of seeing this bulletin yesterday, it wouldn't be new information just newly shared with the public. there's significance where this is being made, released to the public. what is this that bulletin? what it is describing is an elevated -- by violent extremists, motivated by a range of grievances. now, the bulletin described everything from extremist motivated based off of the implemented restrictions in the wake of the coronavirus. it mentioned that there were extremists that are targeting government facilities. it crossed the political spectrum, and of course dhs has expressed concern about what's going on in portland, but let's be clear, in the bull ten as well, it was also very clear that the most lethal threat, also echoing the reporting from the fbi director is that these racist supremists, the white supremacist groups. if there you see the motivations they clearly outlined is that would be aligned with the far-right groups. the fact that they have been fueled by some of the false statements that have been relayed about the election, a clear indication over to president trump. you also mentioned that yes, we have spoken to somebody involved in that, that some of these groups continue to be galvan iced by those false statements, which then result in this elevated threat environment that could go on for weeks. as you were saying, nicolle, there's a significance here, mainly the content of the bulletin and the threats that it describes, have been around, but what you have is a department that is now releasing it to the public. these bulletins are released periodically, but the last one that went out i believe was in january of 2020, and it was describing a threat -- a foreign terrorism threat more, the impending possible threat from iran. that's been the historical trend when it comes to these warnings. now we are possibly seeing a sign of federal law enforcement honed in on the domestic terrorism threat. >> zolan, i want to push you and have you chair everything you understand. it is clear that the intelligence picture from even inside trump-era intelligence agencies, and we played that clip of christopher wray, because he testifies publicly under oath. we didn't play it today, but he makes clear that antifa is not on the same level as the domestic terror threat presented to america. myles and some of his former colleagues have talked about how difficult it was to get anything through the white house policy process warning of these threats. i wonder if you can speak to a backlog of threats, whether this bulletin contained pent-up anxiety that they weren't putting out warnings. what was the strategy in releasing it yesterday, as far as you understand, zolan? >> that leads us to another point. many of the reactions both from within the department and outside the department, was that it was rather delayed. in that sense, it connects to the whistle-blower complaint that goes back to this fall. that whistle-blower complaint was tacked on from other officials, such as the one on this panel, saying there was a culture where warnings of white domestic terrorism, specifically extremism that leaned toward the right, was suppressed. that whistle-blower complaint specifically said it was filed by a former intelligence chief, brian murphy, who was demoted after including -- certain intelligence briefings, but what he alleged is that top dhs leadership actually delayed a threat assessment that singled out what the fbi director said in that video, that the lethal threat was that of white supremacists and alleged instead that those warnings were delayed and he was directed to modify it to play up the threat that we would associate with the loose coalition of antifascist known as antifa. as you noted, the leadership denied it but there was not a culture where many analysts felt they could pass out the warnings that were necessary to alert the public of what has become the most lethal threat in the homeland. >> let me do racist for dummies here, the fbi director, the department of homeland security gather enough information to testify before congress that the greatest threat from the homeland was from white supremacists. it sounds like people who reported directly to president trump either resisted or knew they would meet resistance at the white house when they brought they warnings to the president. i want you to tell me if this is what you witnessed, what you heard about firsthand, and if you can explain how far it went. did they make it to john bolton or john kellie or the oval office? or were the warnings killed at the department level. >> i can't speak to that, but when i was our concerns went all the way to the oval office. the person that did not want us talking about it, was donald trump himself. the conclusions are very obvious. the president these people, who were intending to commit violence against their fellow americans, in his mind were potential supporters. that's why after charlottesville turned the other way, saying both sides had good people. that's why we saw him after the massacre in el paso, but i think the headlines here about the dhs bulletin is not that it should have come out a few weeks ago before the insurrection or a few months ago. it should have come on the two years ago when we ordered a report be developed on the severity of the threat of domestic terrorism in the united states. two years ago. why the dhs leadership after we left sat on that report. why weren't they talking about how severe this threat was? we knew it then. we were very concerned and said we need to alert state and local law enforcement and the american public about how bad this is getting. this is one of the most serious terror threats we have seen in 20 years, since 9/11. it's happening on our own soil. they're being engaging in recruitment, target selection, training and networking across state boundaries. in some cases international. this is not unlike the rise of isis and the networking and organization that let to organic terrorist plots and domestic terror going virus around our country. that is the worry today of counter-terrorism officials in the united states and those ignored warnings have led us into danger today. >> let's leave the trump years aside for a moment, because thank got there's new management, but let me ask you about consequences. i mean, just the terrorism analysis is the right one. i was in the white house on 9/11 and the years after, and actually the obama administration took the step of taking out an american citizen for incitement. we played it on your television. the incitement came from donald trump. today, while he's off the scene, old news, there's hundreds of republicans in the house, 45 in the senate, who have no interest in even seeing incitement. how do you, myles taylor deal with the terrorism threat if you don't get to the root of it or the incitement. >> you have honed in on the crill cat piece, because clint has been looking as threat as long as me or longer. this is one of the biggest concerns. it always starts with extremist ideas that then jump the tracks into violence. if i could give one message to my fellow republicans, i would say you need to check your rhetoric. you are helping fuel violent movements across the united states. your own words are wittingly or unwittingly being used by potential domestic terrorists in this country. that's an extraordinary statement to make and i don't make it lightly, but that's what's happening now. when those individuals embrace the former president's rhetoric, when he embrace the extremist rhetoric that the process is broken and the election is stolen, it muss in the mindset their only resource is through violence. that's extraordinarily dangerous. we have never seen anything like it, and that message needs to be sent to capitol hill and they need to be held accountable by their own caucus. >> i guess the difference is i wouldn't waste my breath to them, and i would say to democrats, you're either with them or with us. i mean, there are no two sides to be taken on the question of incitement. clint watts, i would like you to speak about fighting terrorism just general, and as an art and a science. i don't know of any examples where they simply go to the crime scene and deal with the person that was radicalized. it always starts at the other end of the fish's head and goes to the idea makers, the people sending out the messages. how do you deal with a domestic terror threat without dealing with those inciting it. >> nicolle, you can't. you'll always be on your heels and always be reactive. we had a period after 9/11, where we were trying to get left of boom as they would say. can you get way up the stream of attack and root out the confluences that bring out that attack. myles is exactly right. if you took what president trump said and put it in anwar's mouth, we would be talking about a drone strike overseas. that's one aspects. there's several other reasons. domestic terrorist have open access to weapons in ways that international terrorists did not. never did we have many isis supporters who have acquire handguns, long guns, explosives, explosive primers, if you look at that michigan ilitia plot, they were talking about diversionary devices. while they were doing an attack on a target or shopping mall, they're talking about assassinating political leaders, elected political leaders. they have access to these leaders in way that al qaeda or isis could never have dreamed. the other part is not only the ideology, but an organization, planning and the resourcing. as we learned today, one of indictments that containment out specifically addressed the oath keepers, this is not a fluke social media group. it's not a flash mob that just showed up on january 6th. you can't see it forming for weeks. there were organizers. they were planning on how to get weapons into the district of columbia. they were talking about breaching property, the u.s. capitol, federal property, at a time to overthrow an election outcome. that is domestic terrorism, by all definitions. so i'm curious to watch, as the investigation moves forward. i would imagine they're working on this. each person arrested will be interviewed. each interview will lead to financial transactions and internet communications. we're going to find out there was a lot more organization beyond what happened on january 6th, and it's going to look worse than anything we have seen in america when we're talking about al qaeda or isis, since 9/11. >> i'm so gobsmacked i'm picking my jaw up off the ground. i want to ask about the demonstrations today. matt gaetz is in wyoming inciting opposition to liz cheney. there's a really in support and one against her. in light of the bulletin yesterday, in light of what we know was pent up and held back while trump was still in office. in light of the way the investigation and potential prosecution of the insurrection is shaping up, i wonder if you think these kinds of events represent a different kind of threat than just a protest. >> they absolutely do. for each of these elected leaders that is pushing the envelope, this isn't that different from what we've seen from other extremist groups, which is the generational change, usually the younger versus the older generation, leads to increased rhetoric towards violence, and then what you tend to see is the most fringe adherence quicker to move toward violence. so when i'm watching this, remember when they went into the capitol, they were looking for mike pence. they were looking for the vice president, right? they were trying to find him. i wonder would they have kidnapped him or killed him? imagine this now when you have infighting inside of one group. right now it's inside the republican party. for many that believe the lie, for many that are committed to this extremism, and those that got a touch of fame or achieved in level of notoriety, there's no going back. we used to talk about de-radicalization, find these people, bring them back from the edge, pull down their violence intentions. houses would we go that now when we have elected leaders in wyoming today, many others we have seen, who are trying to loft that for their own personal gain? >> i want to give you the last word, taylor. you were inside the government that put out the lie that's in this very chilling bulletin, a nearly unprecedented domestic terrorist alert. the last one was after the drone strike that killed soleimani. did you have an awareness that trump was radicalizing white supremacists. >> that was our fear. the shooter in el paso as justification he was doing it, quote, because of the invasion at the southern border. that was the same rhetoric that donald trump was using in the weeks in the lead-up to that attack. it was so obvious to us at that time that his rhetoric was, as we predicted, getting hijacked by bad guys to do terrible things to their terrible americans. i absolutely believe the respond rested as his feet. this was so foreseeable. what happened in those intervening years? a lot of the blame rests at trump's feet, but i want to end with some of that clint pointed out. you can't emphasize enough that these are americans radical iced going after americans and our own elected representatives. they got into the senate chamber, within the proximity of the vice president of the united states. if this was isis or al qaeda, you would see a multiyear, multitrillion dollar campaign to root out that threat because of how much that would have scared the american public that terrorists had gotten that close to the second in command of the federal government. that is what we are talking about today. that's how serious this has become. the biden administration i think is getting ready to launch the whole of government effort to root it out and protect americans. >> i am so glad that the three of you were able to have this conversation today, because i think you pulled together the three threats of this. i would like to put you on the spot on live tv and ask you to come back regularly. zolan, thank you for your extraordinary reporting. >> clint i think you said the same things that myles pointed out in that special the day after the el paso massacre. thank you. i'm really grateful. when we come back. congress seems very broken, one party embracing the full embrace. the latest on marjorie taylor greene. president biden today with another signing that aims to undo the damage of what trump has done. and holding people accountable for spreading disinformation. one firm fighting back this week with no plans to stop any time soon. all those stories and moyer when "deadline: white house" continuing after a quick break. don't go anywhere. what i'm concerned about is the republican leadership in the house of representatives, who is willing to overlook, ignore those statements assigning her to the education committee when she has mocked the killing of little children attending hook elementary school, when she has mocked the killing of teenagers in high school at the marjorie stoneham douglas high school, what could they be thinking? >> nancy pelosi slamming republicans for putting marjorie taylor greene at the education committee, which would mean -- false flag operations by gun-control supporters. that means that person will be responsible for overseeing school safety. while the house gop has been largely silent on their qanon-supporting colleague with a long history of comments. congressman gomez has introduced a resolution. among those who support the move is parents from the parkland school shooting. >> i listened to the news, people say, you know, those are old, everybody says they wish they could take things back. she hasn't said i was wrong. she hasn't said i'm sorry. she hasn't said i don't believe it. she is letting the lie live. those in leadership are saying it's okay also. >> anna palmer, ceo of punchbowl news, and elise, former aide to the bush administration. everybody knows that when your babies come home and they talk about an active shooter drill. they come home, and the teachers puts the shade down the door, turns off the light and tells everyone to be quiet. that's life in america right now for every parent. i think it's beyond politics, but it's a security story. why the hell would the republicans want this person dealing with something that terrifies every mom and dad regardless of their political affiliation. >> even a lot of the aides actually in the capitol when the insurrection happened pointed back to that is trainings and drills. that's what they did when they were hiding in their offices as the protesters and mob was taking over the capitol. i think this would be a key test for kevin mccarthy. he's said he's going to meet with her, the house minority leader, top republican official in the house. this isn't anything new. to the point of the parkland father who spoke there, she said this before she was elected. he talked to her refused to take action to expel her or make it so she's not on a committee of relevance or take away her assignments as well. there's basically no ramifications for what she has done and her continued provocateur-ness that she's doing on social media all the time, spreading false lies. so far house republican leadership have refused to take any action. >> let me show you markry taylor greene harassing david hogg. >> how did you get over 30 appointments with senators? how did you do that? how did you get major press coverage on this issue? how did you get kids -- why do you use kids? why kids? >> she has a right to say what she wants, elise, but there's no right to govern under the banner as a rep. there's no excuse for this kind of behavior. >> no, and today i also saw a clip of marjorie taylor greene, where she was making fun of a disabled person. it's hand in hand with the behavior we saw there. she's a bully. there are little bullies in the gop like marjorie taylor greene, and then there are big bullies like donald trump. i guess i was delusional that i thought donald trump was so powerful and there was a certain super-power he had over all the republican men in power. i say republican men, because it's the majority of men in power, let's be honest. even a small bully like marjorie taylor greene, who is a relatively powerless incoming freshman congresswoman, you see where no one is willing to stand up to her and stand up for basic decency against the bile she's putting these poor parents through again. >> >> anna, i want to ask you about the security situation in the post-trump era. there were a lot of republicans who backed counter-terror policies that i think in hindsight are controversial, polarizing even at the time, but they had clarity and conviction around terrorism. i've not heard any of them speak forcefully in any way the way christopher wray did or others about domestic terrorism and that it's most lethal when it comes from white supremacists. no, we haven't. i think part of that is just a recognition that the trump era isn't over and the supporters who were part of that mob will often by the base voters they need to get reelected you've had some that said what happened is wrong, but what is telling is what happens with security in the capitol going forward. right now there's calls for a permanent fence around the capitol. they tried to do that in 1988, when there was a police shooting. i was there in the capitol when that happened. they ultimately didn't go that route. i think it would be a sad day personally. it's the people's building and the free flow of people trying to lobby their cases, which is so crucial to democracy, but you don't see republicans distancing themselves from these domestic terrorists in the way you certainly have seen democrats. elise, i'll give you the last word. it's just stunning that there are no republicans out there condemning domestic terrorism, because, as anna said, they need the votes of the people in the mob. how did we get here? i guess trump ushered it in and republicans went along with it. >> it's a have i scary era when republicans are so petrified that they are willing to do nothing, even after their own lives were put at risk during a scary siege and they were held in secure lockdown for hours. it's a sad state of affairs for our country. >> thank you both for joining us today. how is the president's orderly and routine workweek going so far? is it as predictable as he promised this we'll talk about that next. promised this we'll talk about that next. not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa ♪ so through ancestry, i discovered my great aunt ruth signed up as a nursing cadet for world war ii. she was only 17. bring your family history to life like never before. get started for free at ancestry.com president joe biden today signing two executive orders to strengthen or healthcare system, one to temporary reopen obamacare who need immediate access. >> the best way to describe it, to undo the damage that trump has done. there's nothing new that we're doing here other than restoring the affordable care act and restoring the medicaid to the way it was before trump became president, which by fiat he changed, made more inaccessible, more expensive and more difficult for people to qualify. "the washington post" breaks down biden's plodded and scripted approach, quote -- the results so far is a 9:00 to 5:00 presidency, a tightly scripted burst of activity charted over the past few months, and stick to hi plan to a level that many americans can tune out. the question to be answers in coming week is whether biden's orderly presidency matches this moment of national urgency and whether it's sustainable. joining us elena taurean, and juanita tolliver. ron klain tweeted on -- we are not taking executive act in lieu of legislative action, but to fix what trump broke, within appropriate limits on four crises. why are they on the defensive? i think by the end, it was clear it was a landslide victory on the biden-harris ticket, and they want to be -- why are we seeing some defensiveness on their part about a strategy that clearly comes from the top down and was thought out. >> people are saying, look all of these executive orders, potentially doing reconciliation, that doesn't look like unity. that doesn't look like bipartisanship. i think that's where some of top are getting defensive. we knew he was going to undo a lot of what president trump did with executive order. the healthcare stuff, particular with things that joe biden worked on as vice president were some of the clear things he would do. it's a stickier situation when it comes to coronavirus pandemic relief and the stimulus package. it's something he says he wants to work with republicans on, but they're going to look at every option at their disposal to push that forward. that's why i think they're starting to have a bigger discussion about this and trying to stomp any criticism coming their way before they have to do further. >> yeah, i mean, juanita, tim rye atput it better thanibled. he says. i've heard from more people how nice it is to turn on the tv and not figure out the latest drama. just a guy getting up and doing his job. it's nice. we could debate what most people were thinking, but here's one thing about joe biden. he's not capable of sort of putting on an act that's different from what he believes. he ran as someone who was going to seek to lower the temperature and unite the country. it's ten stops down the road whether he can accomplish that, but i'm a communicator. i see all thinks scripted events going off without a hitch. i wonder why there's already some defensiveness. >> i'm wondering, too, nicolle after we've -- i welcome this. i embrace this boring normalcy where biden is getting things done in a careful, constructive, intentional way. his team is running a tight ship. i salute them for that. i think his team fully recognizes it's a full marathon in order to respond to the multiple crises. what they're doing is being strategic, intentional and moving with a grace that we haven't seen in a long time, so let's all recalibrate, get used to a new approach. i don't see it changing. this is who biden presented himself to be on the trail. this is explicitly how he's leading. again, i welcome in wholeheartedly. >> elena, let me ask you what it's like dealing with a new white house and press office that has just a very difficult publicly stated purpose. i don't even think it's fair to ask them how each did their jobs, because the trump white house made it clear they didn't view it as part of their job to help reports looking for information. i wonder if you can pull back the curtain a bit on jen psaki's first week. >> it's night and day. it's just a totally different experience. we have someone, a press secretary, who will go to the podium every day and will answer questions. we have a communications team at the white house that will respond. i mean, i sent countless e-mails to the trump administration's white house team many times and would get no response, maybe get a criticism next day once the story had ran way past deadline. it's a very different experience. i think we're adjusting to it, and of course, you know, especially in the early days of the trump administration, not only did president trump have no political experience, but everyone on his team didn't either. a lot of people he brought in had never had a job in politics. of course we're now seeing this new biden administration, not only people who have been in d.c. for a long time, but also people who worked in the obama administration and knows how it workssh so it is -- >> uh, alayna, we lost your audio at the end. every single one of the folks that have been confirmed and made their way to the agencies have made their way to a podium and a press briefings. certainly in a lot of ways it would keep you alayna and juanita, thank you. we'll tell you who is fighting back, after this. we'll fighting back, after this. condos. 150k. how are you, son? who's your friend? oh, um, this is eric. ooh. the big "e." [ chuckles ] great to meet ya. people love my nicknames. it's a whole thing. that's wonderful, sir. switch to progressive, and you can save hundreds. you know, like the sign says. they were founded as a company to fix elections. they have a terrible record. and they are extremely hackable. >> one of its most characteristic features is its ability to flip votes. it can set and run an algorithm that probably ran all over the country to take a certain percentage of votes from president trump and flip them to president biden. >> last night, one of the experts that has examined these crooked dominion machines has absolutely what he believes is conclusive proof that in the last 10%, 15% of the vote counted, the votes were deliberately changed. >> none of that was true, and that is the point. trump lawyers rudy giuliani and sidney powell are now being sued by dominion, who says those comments about their voting machines, trump and the election, are what the company calls the big lie in which giuliani and other trump allies deceived millions into believing dominion had stolen their votes and fixed the result. the most recent suit brought against giuliani for $1.3 billion. dominion claiming that the numerous disparaging statements he made about their company led to death threats against their employees as well as a damaged brand reputation. joining our conversation, michael steele, not the michael steele we're used to seeing, our other friend, michael steele, he was a press secretary for republicans on the hill, including former speaker john boehner. i was happy to hear that we get to talk to you today and let me just ask you, what is the company seeking and how do you repair your reputation with the millions of americans who are so intoxicated with disinformation that they carried out an insurrection against the capitol santa fe >> people in positions of authority and influence have lied to the american people. they have attacked a great american company, and they have also, worse, undermined the american people's confidence in the democratic system, our election system that undergirds our constitutional republic. there's no way we can put a dollar figure on the reputational harm that has been done, but we think that this is a start to have accountability for knowingly spreading lies. look at this. dominion, according to an analysis by "the washington post," dominion voting systems used in counties -- excuse me -- counties that used dominion voting systems, president trump won 81% of those counties. in pennsylvania, 14 counties used dominion voting systems. trump won with 52%. in wisconsin, the president's team asked for recounts in two counties. dominion equipment is not used in those counties. in the counties where dominion equipment is used, 59% went for trump. this is gibberish. this is disinformation being sold to the american people and it has to have consequences. >> what do the folks inside the company think their prospects are for winning? >> very good. i mean, we're looking at serious charges. we have fairly conclusive -- look at it this way. rudy giuliani went to every microphone available, every podium, every podcast, every cable news show, repeating these lies. but not in a court of law. that's because lying in a court of law has consequences. that's why we want to get them into a courtroom where there are consequences for lies and let the american people see the truth and our court system find justice. >> obviously, in hiring you, the company's interested in its reputation and in repairing and sort of erasing this false narrative. what is your strategy? i mean, are you going to appear on fox news? are you going to go on newsmax? are you going to go into the belly of the beast? >> i actually have already appeared on fox news as the spokesman for the company. this is an important thing. this is a nonpartisan american company. it sells to elections officials in red states and blue states, red counties and blue counties. because it uses a voter verified paper ballot in places like georgia, we have been able to go back and audit and recount again and again. there is no way that this system could have been manipulated in the way that these folks are alleging, and we have to prove that to the american people, repair our reputation, and move forward. >> will you sue donald trump? >> we have sent letters requiring the preservation of records related to dominion voting systems to a number of figures, right-wing media outlets, and others, and we're making a decision on a case by case basis, building as we go. i mean, as we look at the suits against sidney powell and rudy giuliani, we'll be getting discovery as part of those. we'll be able to access their records and their communications, and so our goal is to move forward expeditiously and responsibly to prove the truth to the american people. >> but i can't imagine anyone did more harm to your client than donald trump. has a letter been drafted to ask donald trump to preserve his records? >> i believe so, yes. >> michael steel, thank you for answering our questions. it's nice to see you, my friend. the next hour of "deadline white house" starts after a quick break. don't go anywhere. use" starts a quick break. don't go anywhere. martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa ♪ ♪♪ this is what community looks like. ♪♪ caring for each other, ♪♪ protecting each other. ♪♪ and as the covid vaccine rolls out, we'll be ready to administer it. ♪♪ my plaque psoriasis... ...the itching ...the burning. the stinging. my skin was no longer mine. my psoriatic 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will be a sad day for our country. >> hi again, everyone. it's 5:00 in the east. donald trump's big lie about election fraud reached a pinnacle when he attacked his own vice president there, and his words inspired his own supporters to chant, "hang mike pence" as they breached the capitol. a violent and hateful display of a republican party radicalized by trump. and you might think that putting the vice president in mortal danger would have been a line too far for the rest of the gop. less than a month after the capitol insurrection, it seems trump's party is all too keen to welcome him back with open arms. today, house minority leader kevin mccarthy met with donald trump in florida, a meeting, according to politico, mccarthy requested after the relationship took a tumble in the wake of january 6th when mccarthy said that trump bears responsibility for what happened. politico adding, quote, it's their first in-person talk since the riot, and mccarthy hasn't been shy about promoting it. kevin can't shut up about it, joked one top trump advisor. the choice to kiss the ring of a man who incited a seditious insurrection is one mccarthy is not alone in making. congressman matt gaetz is out in wyoming today challenging liz cheney, who voted to impeach trump. he told reporters this week, i have a competing vision for republicanism. i believe we ought to embrace the spirit and style of president trump. just a quick reminder that spirit and style was what led to the death of five people, including a police officer on january 6th. as well as many more serious injuries suffered by law enforcement. according to the capitol police labor committee, other officers suffered brain injuries, cracked ribs, smashed spinal cord disks, eye issues, and stab wounds. but it seems the republican party is ready to overlook all that. from the "washington post," quote, for party leadership and top election strategists,video of protesters pummelling capitol police officers or chanting for the death of mike pence has proved less germane to current conditions than the potential to quickly return to power. they have been calling for more party comity even with those holding extremist views, like the views of newly elected congresswoman marjorie taylor greene who denied the parkland school shooting and in recently uncovered social media posts liked calls for executing prominent democrats. nbc news is not independently verified those posts. as a criticism around greene's comments mounts, so does the pressure on gop leaders to denounce her. it looks like kevin mccarthy is too busy in mar-a-lago today. a new radicalized cult of personality seals its fate as sedition permissive and takes the place of the party formerly known as the gop. that is where we start this hour with some of our favorite reporters and friends. eddie, chair of the department of african-american studies at princeton university is here. also joining us, former republican congressman david jolly, and nbc news corey, my colleague and friend, heidi. let me start with you on the reporting and i said this to ari melber last night. we should stop covering the republican party like we're in the waiting room at the hospital waiting to find out if the baby's been born. have any of them decided to stick up for the country against seditionists and we wait and wait and call and hope and hope and we think maybe they will and we're watching to see if mitch mcconnell's going to convict or not. who cares? unless i'm missing something, they have thrown in their lot with trump and the mob. >> it's the fifth avenue principle now in full effect. look, lindsey graham said it in his memo, nicole, that they need him, and look at where mitch mcconnell was before he fully embraced the president. he was going to suffer the same fate as the previous speaker of the house, john boehner, and so yes, it is time, according to sources i talk to, to change the conversation, not from what republicans are going to do in the party now but what everyone else is going to do and you saw a germ of some of this emerging approach, i think, after the insurrection when corporate america said, you know what? those 47 house lawmakers who voted to overturn a democratic election, we're not going to give you money anymore. so, what will happen in this new post-trump era where trump is still throwing grenades from the sidelines and members like mccarthy are feeling that they need to go and bow before him. how is corporate america going to respond? because nicole, you were in this town for a long time. i've been in this town for a long time. we know how this operates. we know how those tax cuts got through. it is the thing that corporate america wants, and the money that comes from the donors and when the donors start speaking, that's when things start moving and that's when things start changing. secondly, how are democrats going to respond? they saw what works in electing a president joe biden. we have midterm elections coming up in the senate. we have very, very important seats here that are potentially in the favor of democrats, but they've got to pick the right candidates and watch how the republican party may or may not implode here if they're having to compete with making the trump base happy but preventing from elevating the kind of candidate who just can't win in a general election, nicole. so, yes, you read my thoughts exactly right before we came on here, my friend, and that is that we need to start talking about what everybody else is going to do. >> and congressman jolly, i want to show you -- i want to show you two things. let me start with aoc last night on the air with my colleague, chris hayes. we'll start here. >> because there are no consequences in the republican caucus for violence. there's no consequences for racism, no consequences for misogyny, no consequences for insurrection, and no consequences means that they condone it. it means that that silence is acceptance. and they want it. because they know that it is a core animating political energy for them. we really, really need to ask ourselves what they are evolving into, because this is no longer about a party of limited government. this is about something much more nefarious. >> so, i was haunted by that, and when i read the reporting, david jolly, about plans to put a fence around the capitol, i thought about reports at the time that she feared for her life on the day of the insurrection, all the threats that she and other members get. it feels like, in the objection to having to go through medical -- metal detectors in the refusal, as she said, to condemn violence, in the refusal -- i mean, we had a terrorism bulletin yesterday. i haven't seen any republican give a speech today with a strategy for defeating violent domestic terrorism, and i was in the bush white house after 9/11. they couldn't get away from microphones to talk about how they were going to be part of the solution to protecting america from violent terrorism from abroad. so, what do we do now? >> yeah, nicole, you framed that exactly right. we have not heard republicans discuss a solution to violent political extremism that has come upon the country, and that is why it is so dangerous how they continue to try to move on with kevin down in south florida and matt gaetz going to wyoming with mitch mcconnell suggesting maybe we don't need a trial. let me put in context why it is other way. we have seen political violence in the past. we've seen anti-government violence. timothy mcvay being a perfect example. we have seen death and injuries as a result of political expression gone awry in anti-war movements. we've seen lone wolves like the las vegas shooting. what is different in this moment that republicans failed to realize is two things. first, the feeding of this violence by political conspiracy theories, the qanon theories. you know, i know in the last hour, you talked about christopher wray's warnings and the fbi warnings. in 2019, what the fbi said is it's not just white nationalism. it's the conspiracy groups. when christopher wray testified last september, he said it's not just white nationalism. it's the conspiracy groups. that is one difference right now. the other difference of this political political violence is it's direct, overt, partisan affiliation. these are republican voters. they are doing this in the name of installing a specific candidate and a specific party in power, and that's why it's incumbent on republican leaders not to ignore it but to condemn it and to offer solutions to eradicate it. >> so this is the second thing i wanted to play you, david jolly. this is something miles taylor said in the last hour. >> if i could give one message to my fellow republicans in congress today, what i would say to them is you need to check your rhetoric because you are actually helping fuel violent movements across the united states. your own words are wittingly or unwittingly being used by potential domestic terrorists in this country. that's an extraordinary statement to make, and i don't make it lightly but that's what's happening right now and when those individuals embrace the former president's rhetoric, donald trump, when they embrace the extremist rhetoric that the democratic process is broken and the election is stolen, they put people in this mindset that their only recourse is violence and no longer through the political process. that is extraordinarily dangerous. we've never seen anything like it in the modern age, and that message needs to be sent to republicans on capitol, and they need to be held accountable by their own caucus. >> david jolly, it's such a haunting point. it's almost an obvious point, but what's scary about it is, silence. we haven't heard anyone say any of those things that miles taylor suggests needs to be said if we want to bring down the threat we face, all of us, from domestic violent extremism. >> and nicole, i would say that the greatest injury is not their silence since the events of january 6th but their silence before january 6th. and if you look at it through that lens, you have to suggest that republicans are responsible for the events of january 6th. through their silence, their defense of donald trump, someone who we now know, we saw with our own eyes, incited a violent insurrection against the united states, and their failure, apparently, to even hold him accountable but their willingness to continue empowering the elements that led to that event. look, matt gaetz going to wyoming is not about trying to change the leadership in the house. he might think it is because he's not that smart of a guy but what he's really doing is he's feeding and fueling a cause, right? the cause, the reason people are angry with liz cheney and want to get rid of liz cheney is because she stood up to an insurrection against the united states. and so, matt gaetz suggesting that liz cheney somehow shouldn't be the leader of one of the two major parties is suggesting that liz cheney was wrong to condemn an insurrection. what matt gaetz is doing in this moment is indicative of what led us to january 6th and the rhetoric that miles was talking about. that is what fuels this conspiracy theory that the fbi has warned us about and this violent political movement that led to deaths on january 6th. >> eddie, my dear friend, i saved you for last for an important reason, because you told me so, and i remember where i was sitting and i remember what i was wearing and i remember where you were sitting and i remember what you were wearing. we were on the fourth floor in 30 rock. it was after the massacre in el paso, something that miles taylor also talked about today, saying it was that moment that he knew that that shooter had likely been radicalized when he looked at the manifesto and you spoke in a way that shook me and shook everyone that saw the clip that circulated for months and still does. this is who we are. >> you know, nicole, i was sitting here thinking as i was listening to david and heidi and thinking about your, you know, the first hour. and the way in which we are kind of representing donald trump. think about someone who has diabetes, that there's already some -- something wrong systemically in the body and then you introduce a high level of sugar to that body. and what happens? it throws it all off, right? now, we could blame it on, you know, eating that particular item, but there's already something wrong in the body, so what i want us to understand is that trumpism, trump isn't the problem. he's just simply accelerated it, intensified it. right? what we're facing in this moment, i believe, are the new redeemers. that was that political coalition, the aftermath of the civil war, who organized in order to seize political power and enforce white supremacy. so, we can talk about the conspiracy theorists and the white nationalists. what we have is a republican party that is, in fact, the new redeemers. that's who they are. they are defending an idea of america that presumes that people like me, people who hold views that are different than them, do not belong here. and they are willing to kill in the name of it. at least some among them. and then you have people in leadership who are willing to defend them. so, we have to be honest in our descriptions. as i said way back when, this is us. this is us. and we have to admit it and stop trump gazing and understand that trump didn't deform the republican party. the republican party vomited up donald trump. they're one and the same in interesting sorts of ways. and once we get that around our heads, then maybe we can start making the choice, making the decision to finally imagine america otherwise, nicole. that's what i'm thinking right now is i'm trying to process kevin mccarthy going down to mar-a-lago. matt gaetz going to cheyenne, wyoming. mitch mcconnell doing what he's doing. my god. look at the choices that these people are making. and what does it mean for the country? >> look, you put it more perfectly than all of the rest of us combined, because that's why we love you, eddie, but i want to push you even further and i want to ask your advice. i mean, i think this dawned on you maybe before it dawned on me, but i think that this posture we're in, waiting for republicans to do something other than break bad, is part of the problem. they have broken bad. it's over. and i think that the question for all of us is a party that has dealt themselves out from legitimate governing, because you can't govern and you can't go back and forth and have a debate about how to make sure our babies don't die of dirty air or how to make sure they don't get shot in their schools. you can't have those debates if you don't agree on facts and i don't know how democrats and republicans would have a debate about making sure none of our babies would get shot in kindergarten if they have a member on the education committee who doesn't believe that babies got shot in elementary school in sandy hook and i don't know how you have debates in a body where people don't see the truth. how do we talk about a party that doesn't think up is up and down is down? >> you know, well, first of all, we have to do exactly what you just did. we have to describe them as they are and treat them as such. look, it is one thing to call for bipartisanship. it makes sense to me on a certain level. but bipartisanship, just as agreement and disagreement, must presume a set of background conditions that allow us to disagree. in other words, what i mean by this, if you have some among us who are willing to throw democracy into the trash bin in the name of a view that this country must remain white, it must remain in the hands of a particular segment of the population, and they're willing to throw democracy away in the name of that, there's no ground to have bipartisan relationships with them. there's no basis to compromise with them, because if you do, you become complicit in undermining the very foundations of american democracy. so, we got to get clear on those folk who agree to the background conditions for us doing work in this country. that is, they agree to the basic principles of democratic life in this country. and we know that a whole bunch of folk, not only do they not agree with the facts, nicole, they don't agree with the very principles of democracy themselves. that's the key. they are not democrats, small "d." they don't believe in who we are as a country. and we need to understand that, and i'm talking directly to tucker carlson. i'm talking directly to sean hannity. i'm talking directly to mitch mcconnell. i'm talking directly to kevin mccarthy. i'm talking directly to all of these folk who are willing to throw this country away just as those folk in the south were willing to rebel and killed over 600,000 people. because they didn't believe in it. that's what we have to do, nicole. that's the ground for us to begin to do the work to salvage this place and imagine it otherwise. i know that was a bit emotional, but i guess that's what i do. >> you're perfect. i don't know that the three of us solved anything but i know y'all yanked me out of the way i was thinking about this and closer to the truth. for that, i thank you. eddie glaude, david jolly, heidi, thank you so much for starting us off this hour. when we return, the first two cases of the highly transmissible south african variant of coronavirus have been identified in our country and sieptists now worry that that variant may be spreading. that story is next. plus we got our first real look at america's first second gentleman today. he's calling attention to the issue, the crisis of food insecurity in this country. we'll look at doug emhoff's role in a history-making white house. and when aoc and ted cruz agree, watch out. we'll make sense of the anger-fueled rise of gamestop. yes, we will. "deadline white house" continues after a quick break, so don't go anywhere. after a quick brk,ea so don't go anywhere t-mobile is upgrading its network at a record pace. we were the first to bring 5g nationwide. and now that sprint is a part of t-mobile we're turning up the speed. upgrading over a thousand towers a month with ultra capacity 5g. to bring speeds as fast as wifi to cities and towns across america. and we're adding more every week. coverage and speed. who says you can't have it all? hi, i'm dorothy hamill. if you're turning 65 soon, like me, you might be thinking about medicare. want coverage ts all the different parts of my health care to keep me aging actively. aetna medicare advantage plans offer $0 monthly plan premiums and prescription drug coverage.ng. and telehealth. that's the aetna medicare advantage. call today to learn more or to be connected to a local agent in your community and we'll send you a $10 visa reward card with no obligation to enroll. dry, 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300 cases in 24 states. joining our conversation, msnbc medical contributor dr. kavita patel, former obama white house health policy director and mara gay, "new york times" editorial board member and msnbc contributor and someone who generously shares of her own personal experience fighting covid. dr. patel, i want to start with you. i don't know how to say this in an elegant way but the news is getting scarier and the vaccine timeline is getting longer, and i think those two are converging on people in a way that's creating a whole lot of anxiety. >> yeah, no, you're right. i mean, sometimes, nicole, it feels like we're stepping into some sort of science fiction headlines, you know, mutant viruses and people, you know, coming from, quote, other countries and bringing it in and this exceptionalism at times that we have that, you know, these strains, we're a global society. it's hard to imagine anything that's not here, even if we don't have genetic evidence of it. i think the key here, and you're right, i mean, what you heard from the biden administration yesterday in their first of hopefully many briefings was that it's not going to be easy and it's going to take time. i think that's the kind of base or worst case scenario. i really do -- i want to offer some optimism. i really do think that we are going to see some encouraging data about highly effective vaccines that are easy to administer, one shot, won't require these complex storage requirements. that can help get us over the line, nicole, to get a majority of the country vaccinated, but it is true, we are in a sprint against these viruses. just to also level set, viruses always mutate. what i think we need to take away if i'm putting my policy hat back on, we need to accept that covid is -- coronavirus is here with us, and we need to put into place the support mechanisms, including potentially supporting domestic manufacturing of vaccines going forward in the future, as well as all the other things we need so that we don't have these testing debacles and kind of a rerun of the worst of 2020, so that's one way to get your head around this and realize, i'll get, you know, you'll get your shot, mara will get her shots, we'll all get our shots and we might need to get a booster in a year, but that's going to be a way that we survive and get back to normal. >> i mean, mara, your experience is one of the reasons i'm so neurotic about wearing my mask and i'm always -- and frankly, and rachel maddow talking about susan's fight with covid and how she felt watching the person she loved most on the earth struggle with covid, and i wonder what you make, mara, of the fact that the news about the virus is getting worse and the timeline makes people feel like they're going to be living in fear of this virus for a long, long time. >> i mean, certainly, it's extremely frustrating and very scary. i think it threatens to overwhelm all of us. there's that impulse to just shut it off and walk away. i'm heartened that joe biden is now in office because -- not because he's a democrat but frankly because it's a serious adult in the room who cares about americans and can do the responsible things that should have been done a year ago to fight this virus. i'm also very confident that the united states and other countries can actually beat this and save lives if the right policies are put into place. i think my frustration comes when we hear stories about vaccines being thrown away, about policies that don't give municipalities the flexibility that they need to be able to get this shot into as many arms as possible, and frankly, also, you know, we also heard from dr. fauci over the past 24 hours about a reminder about the importance of prioritizing minorities and others who have been hit the hardest and making sure that they're not left behind in terms of the vaccine rollout. so, i think i actually feel pretty confident that we're moving in the right direction, but it's just a reminder, these headlines are a reminder, these variants, that the challenge is immense and we have to stay the course and we're all weary, i get it. but let's just hang on a little longer, be responsible, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. >> i'm going to glom on to both of your optimism today because i need it, reading these stories. i want to press you a little bit on what you're saying, dr. patel, because dr. hotez said something similar and if i understand you correctly, the timeline of having 300 million americans vaccinated by the end of the summer or early fall is based on the vaccines approved now and it seems to me what you're saying is there may be more vaccines that change that equation. is that what you're saying? johnson & johnson or another one? >> yeah, that's right. johnson & johnson, novavax, and astrazeneca, which is already authorized in other countries. we have many kind of different manufacturers who had all been part of operation warp speed in some way who actually kind of worked together and we have now kind of, you know, several candidates in line. i think that going back to what mara said, though, yesterday, you saw adults in the room who were just talking about, here's the facts, here's what we know, we don't understand kind of why there was a stockpile and not a stockpile, but yes, there are more manufacturers, data -- johnson & johnson believes they should have data available this next week, so this is after that, about a couple of weeks, we expect to see if the data is positive, an fda emergency use authorization application and then shortly after that, potential approval after peer review discussion or transparent discussion. so, there is a definite light at the end of the tunnel but i want to be clear that it's a light that's just altered a little bit in the sense that, you know, i would love to see covid-19 go away. nicole, nothing would make me happier than to not have to come and talk about covid-19 again. but i do think that it's going to become part of our normal culture but not at the level it is now. and i think it was also responsible of dr. walensky yesterday to point out that we could be seeing another hundred thousand deaths or another 70,000 to 100,000 deaths in the next month, driven in some part maybe by some of these strains but also really driven by the fact that we just have so many cases a day, more hospitalizations, and more deaths. >> it's just still incomprehensible to me that we can forecast out a death toll like that. it's heinous. i want to ask you real quickly, dr. patel, because there's some disagreement among some of our most respected scientists, one mask or two? >> this is one of those cases where more is better, right? let me tell you this. the best masks are the ones that you know you can wear reliably, so if you're really good and i know you are, nicole, i know mara is, i am, if you wear one and then you wear another over it, that's fine. i would love to see all americans -- i'd love to see joe biden put a hybrid surgical mask in the mail for everybody because we need them, but you really -- quality does matter in the case of masks, so get one that's high quality. if it takes two to do it, then that's fine but cover your nose and mouth. >> dr. kavita patel, thank you so much. mara is sticking around. when we return, our first look at the second gentleman on the job, doug emhoff, husband of the vice president and the history-making nature of the entire biden white house. history-making nature of the entire biden white house ♪ ♪ these days you need more than an education. so that's what we give you. introducing career services for life. learn more at phoenix.edu there is now an official dictionary approved term for the role -- the official role filled by doug emhoff, vice president kamala harris's husband. here it is. second gentleman. merriam webster added to term to the dictionary today and in a tweet, emhoff embraced it, adding, quote, i might be the first but i won't be the last. emhoff today visited a d.c. nonprofit that focuses on food insecurity amid the covid-19 pandemic in what was our first real look at him in his trail blazing new role, just one of many in a white house filled with historic firsts. joining our conversation, phil rucker, "washington post" senior washington correspondent and lucky for us an msnbc political analyst. mara gay is still here. phil rucker, there's been such a flurry -- flurry is the wrong word. a fire hose of breaking news that we haven't spent as much time as we should have on the two families. now, the first family and the second family. but jill biden plans to keep working and carrying out her functions as first lady. obviously, the vice president making all sorts of history, as is her husband, who's out today raising awareness around what is now an epidemic in this country, food insecurity. >> yeah, and that's important work, nicole, and it's worth pointing out also that doug emhoff, the new second gentleman, is just like jill biden, continuing to work in his own capacity. i believe today was the first class he taught as the second gentleman at georgetown law school. so trying to continue kind of a normal professional life while using his new platform to raise awareness of food insecurity. it's also interesting, by the way, to see both of these couples venture out into d.c. we very rarely saw donald or melania trump do any activities like this in the city, in washington. in the community, they were -- the bidens stopped at a bagel shop in georgetown over the weekend after going to church and i think we'll see more of that in the weeks and months to come. >> one of my other favorite political spouses, we've had him of this program is chasten buttigieg and he said this, mara gay, about emhoff. if men in the united states could step back and let women lead and women can be the ones who hold the power in a relationship and also what it means to be a loving and supportive spouse and sometimes that means taking a backseat or encouraging your spouse to fly. this is just not the kind of intimate, personal sort of interior landscapes that we're used to hearing from any of the cabinet officials over the last four years, but it really is sort of this openness, this willingness to be vulnerable, to talk about being in a supporting role, and it's fascinating and very welcome. >> representation matters, which we saw, of course, during the obama administration. there's more to the job than that, to be sure, but i remember that photo of the little black child in the oval office touching president obama's hair, and that -- this reminds me of that in some way, which is, you know, the reality is, while it's trail blazing, right, to see this in the oval office and in the white house, it's a really -- it's really a reflection of the way the country is and the reality that we're living like this right now. i mean, so many americans are in families that look like very different than what maybe was "leave it to beaver" in the 1950s. this is the reality that we're living, and i think it's really cathartic and refreshing to see that reflected in the highest office. so, this is not unfamiliar to americans. you know, people are living in single families. there are plenty of women who are breadwinners, and i think just seeing that reflected in the white house is just very exciting. it just is much closer to reality than it used to be, and it's just -- gives you a sense that they're not out of touch with the lives of americans. it's very refreshing. >> you know, i keep thinking about this point that mara made. kamala harris is a step mom. her step daughters were very public and prominently featured in the inauguration, and phil rucker, so much is being made about unity and we're already doing this stupid horse race-y thing, can he or can't he achieve unity. i think if you're a republican lawmaker, and i know a few, and your son or daughter come out and you're grappling with how to show them that the sky is the limit, everything is available to you, unity is achieved by what mara is describing. representation of all americans. that is unity. it's not just what you say and how you craft a covid relief package. it's the life that you live and it seems to me that without saying it, that is one of the examples of creating some space for unity around nonpolitical issues is being created by this new white house. >> i think that's right, and they're trying to create this space through action, but they're also trying to create that space through their words, through their rhetoric. you don't see any of these principles in the new administration bashing any particular segment of society or any particular demographic. there's a real effort to show outreach and inclusiveness through the words and the actions of what they're doing. of course, that will be tested in the weeks to come but right now they're trying to achieve unity, even if they can't get sort of on paper the full bipartisanship that they would want out of congress. they're looking for other ways to achieve it. >> just really quick, mara, to that end, the white house press briefing now has a sign language interpreter. let me put it out. this was such a cool sight. this is a white house that has done a lot of thoughtful planning about their first week in office. >> yeah. i mean, i just, again, it's -- it's thrilling for me to see that all americans have a place in this country and this administration, and that's what this is showing. this is not above and beyond, i think. that's what's really important to remember. this is the biden white house doing what every american deserves. nobody should be left behind, and that includes americans with disabilities, lgbtq americans, all of us have a place here, and i think it's just such a stark difference from what we saw for the past four years. >> and i can't end this conversation without putting up the pets. the pets are back. i worked in a west wing where the pets kind of ruled the west wing and i remember bush's speech writer didn't really like one of the president's little dogs and he would whisper, he's so mean, and bush would yell out, i heard that. there haven't been any dogs or pets at the white house. donald trump publicly did not like pets, didn't like mike pence for liking pets, and dogs are back. here they are. phil rucker and mara gay, thank you for spending some time with us today. when we come back, making sense of the rage against the machine saga of gamestop and the strange political bed fellows it has created. that story is next for us. ows it has created. that story is next for us. this is what community looks like. has created. that story is next for us. fellot has created. that story is next for us. caring for each other, ♪♪ protecting each other. ♪♪ and as the covid vaccine rolls out, we'll be ready to administer it. ♪♪ ...and they found themselves in a magical land. and then what happened? where's our family from? was he my age? so nana and pops eloped? ...and then what happened, daddy? well, before us, there were your great, great, great grandparents. turn questions you've always had into stories you can't wait to share; with ancestry. so, it's an issue on which both ted cruz and alexandria ocasio-cortez agree. we usually leave conversations about finance to our friends over at cnbc, but this one has exploded into just news, a national story. the simplified version goes like this. a multibillion dollar hedge fund essentially made a big bet that gamestop, among other companies, would soon fail. if it did fail, the firm would make a lot of money. if it didn't fail, they'd lose a lot of money. so here's where reddit came in. an investment community on that site recently encouraged people to buy up gamestop stock. and the more people bought it, the higher the stock went. at the expense of those multibillion dollar investment companies. so, it felt like a stick it to the man story, right? normal people earning money on the stock market simply because they decided to go in and act together. but this morning, commonly used app for small time investors called robin hood was one of several trading platforms to temporarily prohibit its users from buying any more stock in gamestop. among others, out of fear for their own financial stability and that effectively killed the stock's momentum for now. now, there are questions about market manipulation and a rigged system on wall street. to help us answer them, let's bring in tim o'brien, senior columnist for bloomberg opinion. i saw this story exploding on social media and one of my producers flagged it for me and i have read everything out there, but i'm no expert. you tell me how this became sort of the man bites dog story of the week. >> well, you know, i think there's a general reality around what's going on here and a very specific one, nicole. generally, this is about the democratization of information, and what happens when that bursts into view in really dramatic ways. we've seen this happen in media for a long time, established media companies were gatekeepers around information and conversations about the news. the advent of social media gave access to information to more people. it made it easier for people to organize. some of them organized in good ways, some of them organized as we saw around the capitol siege in perverse ways and we have to sort out when that's good and when it's bad. the stock market has been a club for quite a long time. social media and trading apps like robin hood have democratized access to stock trading and access to financial information. it also creates these very bizarre moments where people do dumb things with money and different people collide over it and gamestop's case, it's a brick and mortar retailer that sells video games. like most brick and mortar retailers, its future is probably pretty complex and not incredibly bright because people don't go to brick and mortar retail stores in the way they used to. somebody decided to take a stake in gamestop and try to buy the company. that created a blip in the stock. it began to go up. individual investors who were talking to each other about this on reddit began to buy the stock and as you noted, big wall street hedge funds who were shorting the stock, they thought it would go down, had to cover their bets. because of all this pressure from little investors. in that sense, that's where the little guy versus the big guy comes into play. but there's a lot of stupidity around this because it's speculative. gamestop's prospects are really debatable, so why are little people piling in? there's a lot of reasons. they're at home in the midst of a pandemic and maybe don't have anything better to do. there is certainly a rage against the machine aspect to this. they can get information and trade in a way they couldn't a decade ago and certainly not a century ago. and so the stock soared. it went from four last summer to the mid 40s last week to around $350 a day ago and then it got crushed today but the thing to look at in this is this is yet another example of the web blowing down walls in our society and people being confused about what to do about that. >> tim, i read that one of the sites shut down because of instability and i wondered -- my question when i saw that was instability for whom? >> well, i think what people are worried about are little investors getting taken to the cleaners here and robin hood is populated by people who are regarded as less sophisticated and able to be sophisticated and able to be manipulated. you know, people trade, have been trading for decades at their own risk, on stock exchanges and once the web came along and retail brokerage came along, there are other opportunities for people to do that in new ways. this is yet another new way. i don't think the issue here really -- it comes in the same vein as donald trump getting regulated off of twitter. if you're on twitter and you're uses free speech in a constructive way, you should have access to it. if you're using violent speech, we should regulate some of it. if you're on a stock trading platform and you're using your money wisely and no one is getting scammed or you're using it unwisely and no one is getting scammed, it should be left alone. if people are in there manipulating things in a bark way, maybe some regulation should be involved. what's going on in the stock market is not where congress should be focusing most of their attention. they should be focusing most of their attention on biden's economic rescue plan, because the stock market is not a barometer of how little folks are struggle right now. wages and unemployment checks are. i think when ted cruz and aoc and elon musk suddenly unite around a topic, i think you be hard-pressed to find out where the real merit there is. i think the covid-19 plan is where people should be focusing their energy. >> that's a better bet. tim o'brien, thank you for making sense of all this for us. we're grateful. when we return, as we do every single day we will remember lives well lived. well. took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. learn how homeowners are strategically using a reverse mortgage loan to cover expenses, pay for healthcare, preserve your portfolio and so much more. a reverse mortgage loan isn't some kind of trick to take your home. it's a loan, like any other. big difference is how you pay it back. find out how reverse mortgages really work with aag's free, no-obligation reverse mortgage guide. with a reverse mortgage, you can pay whatever you can, when it works for you, or, you can wait, and pay it off in one lump sum when you leave your home. discover the option that's best for you. call today and find out more. i'm proud to be a part of aag, i trust em, i think you can too. 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(giggling) some of her patients had a nickname for her. she was affectionately called the breathing lady. a respiratory therapist in north take, myesha mohammed brinkley braved served on the front lines of the pandemic. what that meant, 12 hour shifts in the emergency room. it meant being away from her husband. it meant being away from her four children so she could care for the sickest of the sick. it meant risking everything to save their lives. her husband told the nbc station in dallas/fort worth that some of myesha's patients were homeless, and they'd sometimes come up to her on the street and say that's my friend, her husband recalled one of them telling them. that's the breathing lady. myesha got sick in september. her bose temperature was above 100 degrees for about two weeks. unable to walk, unable to breathe, myesha was hospitalized. she was a respiratory therapist who now needed a ventilator of her own. so she wrote letters to her kids. she wrote a letter to her husband. and when it was time, he was there with her, by her bedside when she passed. the beloved breathing lady who helped so many was just 43 years old. we'll be right back. if you have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture, now might not be the best time to ask yourself, 'are my bones strong?' life is full of make or break moments. that's why it's so important to help reduce your risk of fracture with prolia®. only prolia® is proven to help strengthen and protect bones from fracture with 1 shot every 6 months. do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®. serious allergic reactions like low blood pressure, trouble breathing, throat tightness, face, lip or tongue swelling, rash, itching or hives have happened. tell your doctor about dental problems, as severe jaw bone problems may happen. or new or unusual pain in your hip, groin, or thigh, as unusual thigh bone fractures have occurred. speak to your doctor before stopping, skipping or delaying prolia®, as spine and other bone fractures have occurred. prolia® can cause serious side effects, like low blood calcium, serious infections, which could need hospitalization, skin problems, and severe bone, joint, or muscle pain. don't wait for a break, call your doctor today, and ask about prolia®. brushing only reaches 25% of your mouth. listerine® cleans virtually 100%. helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. never settle for 25%. always go for 100. bring out the bold™ when you switch to xfinity mobile, you're choosing to get connected 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. thank you so much for letting us into your homes during these extraordinary times. we are grateful. beet with my friend ari melber starts right now. hi, ari. >> hi, nicole. thank you so much. welcome to "the beat." i am ari melber. president biden pressing ahead. here in his first full week in office, taking immediate action on health care today, ending a trump era policy that restricted some abortion access and opening up a new way for people to get health care now. there is a policy here to expand obamacare access, and this is what biden is proposing, t