trump supporters on january 6th. it was part of the flurry of new video evidence released by impeachment managers in the trial of donald trump. good morning and welcome to "way too early." i'm kasie hunt on this thursday, february 11th. we'll start with the news. and we had quite a lot of it yesterday. house impeachment managers began making their case against donald trump yesterday, using never-before-seen video footage and the former president's own words and actions. democrats outlined trump's months-long effort to hold on to power by any means necessary, claiming a rigged election before any votes were cast, repeating false claims of fraud, filing bogus court cases, and trying to pressure local leaders into turning his losses into wins. and when all else failed, impeachment managers say trump used the only weapon left in his arsenal, and it really did turn into a weapon. his base of riled-up supporters. >> in the weeks prior to, during, and after the election, he used the same words over and over and over again. you will hear, over and over, three things. you can see them on the screens. first, what lead manager raskin referred to as the big lie, that the election was stolen, full of fraud, rigged. you will hear over and over him using that lie to urge his supporters to never concede and stop the steal. and finally, you will hear the call to arms, that it was his supporters' patriotic duty to fight like hell, to do what? to stop the steal, to stop the election from being stolen, by showing up in this very chamber. >> he didn't tell his supporters to fight be or strong in a casual reference. he repeatedly, over months, told them to fight for a specific purpose. and when they were primed and angry and ready to fight, he escalated and channeled their rage with a call to arms. show up on january 6th at the exact time that the votes of the american people are being counted and certified, and then march to the capitol and fight like hell. >> this was months of cultivating a base of people who were violent, praising that violence, and then leading that violence, that rage, straight at our door. the point is this. by the time he called the cavalry of his thousands of supporters on january 6th, in an event he had invited them to, he had every reason to know that they were armed, that they were violent, and that they would actually fight. >> and fight they did. house impeachment managers used graphic, new video and audio to recreate moments from the capitol siege, and some of that footage showed just how close lawmakers and their staffers came to the pro trump mob that stormed the capitol. one video showed capitol police officer eugene goodman urging senator mitt romney to turn around to avoid rioters. watch. >> officer goodman passes senator mitt romney and directs him to turn around in order to get to safety. on the first floor, just beneath them, the mob had already started to search for the senate chamber. >> obviously very troubling to see the great violence that our capitol police and others were subjected to. it tears at your heart and brings tears to your eyes. that was overwhelmingly distressing and emotional. >> did you know you were that close to those folks when you came down this hall? >> no, no, i did not. >> did you know that was officer goodman? >> no, i did not know that was officer goodman. i look forward to thanking him when i next see him. >> the terrifying reality is that, as the former republican presidential nominee and a frequent critic of president trump's, it is likely that mitt romney would have been recognized by that mob, had he kept going, and eugene goodman, even more heroic than we originally knew that he was. footage also showed senate majority leader chuck schumer had a near miss with rioters. >> here in this new video, you see leader schumer walking up a ramp. going up the ramp with his detail. he'll soon go out of view. seconds later, they return and run back down the hallway and officers immediately shut the door and use their bodies to keep them safe. >> at one point, impeachment manager and congressman eric swalwell showed this video of senators evacuating the chamber in a hallway that was incredibly close to the pro trump mob. watch. >> you know how close you came to the mob. some of you, i understand, could hear them. but most of the public does not know how close these rioters came to you. as you were moving through that hallway, i paced it off, you were just 58 steps away from where the mob was amassing and where police were rushing to stop them. >> a few steps. and it wasn't just lawmakers who came close to encounters with the mob. house impeachment managers presented video of then vice president mike pence being ushered away with his family during the riot. watch. >> you can see vice president pence and his family quickly move down the stairs. the vice president turns around briefly as he's headed down. >> among the graphic videos that swalwell included in his prosecution of the former president was this body cam recording of the crowd attacking a police officer as he tried to protect the west entrance to the capitol. >> this body camera footage is from 4:27 p.m., over two hours from when the capitol was first breached. the attack on police that afternoon was constant. >> never gets any easier for me to watch this. joining us now, nbc news correspondent leigh ann caldwell. leigh ann was with us on that day, on january 6th, evacuated from the cannon office building. and leigh ann, it was a very difficult day for me, i'm sure for you, for all of our colleagues, as we covered this. and the reality is, in some ways, that was the point of the presentation, to underscore to senators who were in, arguably, some of the most danger on january 6th, specifically targeted by these rioters, to show them just how close they came to something that could have been so much worse and tried to underscore that they need to do something. they are the only ones that have the power to do something to hold president trump accountable for this. just reflect a little bit on what you saw yesterday and how you think it's going to play going forward, as senators try to make these decisions. >> absolutely, kasie. these senators were forced to relive that moment, whether they wanted to or not in a wholesome way that they probably never would have done, and no one has done up to this point. we've seen clips in the news, clips on social media, but to tell this entirely encompassing story of what happened yesterday really struck at at least a lot of those senators that i and our colleagues spoke to after this yesterday. and one thing i do want to note is, not just the senators -- this is a side note -- they're not going to have a role in the outcome of this trial, but a lot of those capitol police officers who are still forced to guard that senate chamber and the surrounding immediate area were also forced to relive and watch what happened yesterday, because they were doing their job, still guarding the senate chamber. so, whether they wanted to or not, were ready to relive that or not, they were forced to, including officer goodman. and these capitol police officers are exhausted. they've been working overtime because of the massive security needs at this moment. they've hardly gotten any days off. and this is a real strain on them. but the senators, of course, this was meant to tug at their emotions and to make them realize what they were experiencing, kasie. >> i'm really very, very glad you highlighted the capitol police, because you're right, so many more of them out and about and having such a really difficult time right now. let's talk a little bit about how this unfolds politically. you were talking to people in mcconnell world, and i know you and i have gone back and forth about this privately to try to figure out what he's going to do. what do we know about mitch mcconnell, the senate minority leader's willingness to convict donald trump? >> well, sources tell me that, as of last night, after that emotionally gripping day, he is still undecided on how he is going to vote on conviction or acquittal. he also has not talked about the context of the trial with his republican conference. he has not given them any guidance at all. they've had multiple opportunities to meet this week, which they have, and only logistics and timeline of the trial has come up. he has not told them which way to vote or not, my sources are telling me. so, we are trying to figure out where mcconnell is here. if you contrast it to the last impeachment, this is a dramatic difference where he was trying to shut that down. he was saying that the impeachment is not a thing and it was a scam. but also, if you look at his public statements, kasie, just after the house impeached the president in january, he gave a speech on the senate floor, saying that the president provoked what happened on january 6th, and that's the point of this, connecting the president to the insurrection. and mcconnell has already come out and said that. the question is, is he going to actually vote for conviction, and is that going to pull any of his members with him? >> right. well, we're going to find out right here in a couple of days. nbc's leigh ann caldwell, thank you so much for being up early with us to walk us through this. i know it was a long day yesterday and it's going to be a long day today. still ahead here, "the new york times" is looking at new voter registration data that appears to show thousands of republicans leaving the party following last month's riot. we're going to dig into that. plus, congresswoman abigail spanberger who was in the house chamber during the siege on january 6 even though, will be our guest this morning. we'll be right back. is morning we'll be right back. tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? what if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks? now they can! this towel has already been 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capitol, is placing blame for his actions at the feet of former president trump. politico reports a lawyer for dominic pi zola argued in court yesterday that his client deserves to be released on bond because he was, quote, duped by president donald trump's deception and acted out of the delusional belief that he was responding patriotically to the commander in chief. pizzola didn't have a critical record before participating in the capitol riot that left at least five people dead. and according to "the new york times," the republican party is already seeing the effects of the capitol riot on their supporters. an analysis of voter registration data in 25 states found that nearly 140,000 republicans quit the gop since the capitol siege on the sixth. in explaining the mass exodus, the paper cited voting experts who said the data indicated a stronger-than-usual flight from a political party after a presidential election as well as the potential start of a damaging period for gop registrations, as voters recoil from the capitol violence and its fallout. you can keep a very close eye on this trend over the next couple of months and years. one place all of those former republicans could potentially go -- reuters is reporting that dozens of former gop officials are in talks to form a center-right breakaway party, according to multiple people involved in the discussions. those officials reportedly view the republican party as unwilling to stand up to former president trump and his attempts to undermine our democracy. the discussions include former elected officials, strategists, and members of the last four republican presidential administrations. the former chief policy director for the house republican conference, evan mcmullin, told reuters he co-hosted a zoom call with former officials concerned about trump's grip on the party and the nativist turn that it's taken. nbc news has not confirmed this report, and we should say, this sort of talk has not really gone anywhere. we've had discussions like this in the past, but we have obviously never experienced anything like what we experienced on january 6th, so i'm keeping an open mind. still ahead here, the biden administration lays out a goal to have schools across the country open at least one day a week, but is that enough? what the white house is saying about that, coming up next. whatg about that, coming up xtne for decades, most bladder leak pads were similar. until always discreet changed that. by inventing a pad you never thought possible. it's incredibly thin. because it protects differently. with two rapiddry layers that overlap, where you need it most. for strong protection, that's always discreet. it's time to question your protection. it's time for always discreet. age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein... -with 20 grams of protein for muscle health- -versus only 16 grams in ensure® high protein. and now enjoy boost® high protein in café mocha flavor. this 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>> as you can see here, the staff moves from their offices through the halls and then enters a door on the right-hand side. that's the outer door of a conference room, which also has an inner door that they barricaded with furniture. the staff then hid under a conference room table in that inner room. in this security video, pay attention to the door that we saw those staffers leading into and going into. one of the rioters, you can see, is throwing his body against the door three times, until he breaks open that outer door. luckily, when faced with the inner door, he moves on. >> plaskett went on to point out that richard barnett, who is the rioter that was photographed -- you see him here -- with his feet up on the speaker's desk, was later arrested for his activities that day and had been armed. >> if you look closely, however, at the now-infamous pictures of barnett with his feet on the desk, you might see something that you didn't notice previously. here's a better look. as this photo highlights, he's carrying a stun gun tucked into his waistband. the fbi identified the device as a 950,000-volt stun gun walking stick. the weapon could have caused serious pain and incapacitated anyone barnett had used it against. >> just unbelievably terrifying. republican senators continue, meanwhile, to question the legitimacy of the second impeachment trial of the former president as the trial continues to show just how serious january 6th was and how bad it really could have been. senators josh hawley and rick scott both called the trial a complete waste of time. senator marco rubio called the attack on the capitol far more dangerous than most realized, but pointed out that, quote, we have a criminal justice system in place to address it. and while senators lindsey graham and ron johnson called the process absurd and a, quote, political exercise. >> the not guilty vote is growing after today. i think most republicans found the presentation by the house managers offensive and absurd. the fbi and the capitol hill police actually now understand this was preplanned. they were planting bombs the night before. so, the whole story line that donald trump caused this by his speech has fallen apart. >> this is pretty obvious this is a political exercise. i think what's going through all the republicans' minds is what about hillary clinton saying and telling joe biden, never concede? >> a double standard idea? >> well, there always has been a huge double standard. >> joining us now, senior opinion writer at the "boston globe" and msnbc political contributor kimberly atkins. kimberly, thank you so much for getting up early with us. i want to start by taking us back to that moment that we just showed. i don't think i'm ever going to be able to get that voice out of my head, that person saying "nancy, nancy, where is nancy?" walk us through your reactions, what you think, what stood out to you from yesterday? >> i mean, as you know, someone who spent more time in that place than me, seeing the images of what was happening, of people literally hunting our elected members of the government, from speaker pelosi to vice president pence, was really shocking and sickening, and seeing how close so many people came, how much worse it could have been, was difficult, but that wasn't the most important thing to me in yesterday's presentation. it was how the house managers drew a through line between those actions of people who were there acting by their own admission as the agents of donald trump and donald trump's own words and actions, unlike what senator graham said. they laid out how this was a weeks-long campaign by donald trump to lie about election fraud repeatedly and literally summon people to washington, d.c., for weeks before that. there were other events planned on different days by these organizers, and they changed it to january 6th at that very time, not by accident, but because the steal they were being told to stop was actually these public officials carrying out their constitutional duty in the seat of our federal government. that is the definition. if something like that happened in any other country, the united states would be issuing sanctions and condemning it. but that happened here, and the very people who are in charge right now to hold the actor in that, donald trump, accountable, are members of the senate. and seeing so many of them reluctant to do that is also distressing. >> i think it's a very important point you raise. and i think what we're going to see today as the impeachment managers finish their argument, is exactly a continuation of that through line that you referenced of president trump's actions and words and how they're connected. so, let's talk for a second about republicans, because we are starting to hear this line that, well, we have courts for what happened, we have a criminal justice -- we have a justice department. and the thing that i keep thinking -- and we heard a sentiment like this from senator lankford as well, is, just because we have courts and a criminal justice system to deal with this doesn't mean that, therefore, the senate is absolved of responsibility or that they can't also do something. what other arguments do you think we're going to see from republican senators? because while i certainly got the sense privately that it's going to be a lttle harder for some of them to vote to acquit because of what we saw yesterday, they're still likely to vote to acquit. >> we have seen for the past four years just how strong the political calculus can be for so many republicans to stand by donald trump, no matter what. this really will show that there is no limits politically to which they will go to protect donald trump, if they do vote to acquit after this presentation. i can't imagine what the defense might be. but this idea that from senator rubio that there is a criminal justice system, and so, they need not adhere to their own oath is silly. it's so silly that he turned off the replies to that tweet. i think he knew how bad it was. but that would be -- i'm a former litigator. when someone commits an act that harms someone else, you can go after them civilly. we don't say, oh, well, they also could have faced criminal charges, so we're just not going to use this other part of our justice system that was set up for the purposes of seeking that sort of redress. of course, they have not only the ability to act here, they have the obligation, according to the oath that they took to uphold the constitution. >> all right, kimberly atkins, thank you, as always, for your reporting and analysis here. we really appreciate you being up early with us. and still ahead here, let's do something a little lighter. from pop to hip-hop, the nominees for this year's rock & roll hall of fame has been announced. we're going to tell you which members of music royalty could be inducted a second time, coming up next. e, coming up next it only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous. tide pods child-guard pack helps keep your laundry pacs in a safe place and your child safer. to close, twist until it clicks. tide pods child-guard packaging. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ (announcer) once-weekly ozempic® is helping many people with type 2 diabetes like emily lower their blood sugar. a majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. here's your a1c. oh! my a1c is under 7! 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[ ding ] you got paid! that means adding people to the payroll. hi mom. that means... best burger ever. intuit quickbooks helps small businesses be more successful with payments, payroll, banking and live bookkeeping. lord, during this impeachment trial, give our lawmakers the gift of discernment so that they will know truth from falsehood. >> that was u.s. senate chaplain barry black, offering up a word of prayer ahead of yesterday's impeachment proceedings. joining us now is democratic congresswoman abigail spanberger of virginia. she served as a cia case officer before running for congress and was also inside the house chamber on the day of the january 6th attack. congresswoman, thank you so much for getting up early with us. i was just hoping to start with your reflections as you watched, along with all of us, the new video, the new pieces of evidence that were laid out in this trial and how you think it may or may not impact your senate colleagues? >> watching the evidence that was presented was a pretty interesting experience because i had lived so much of it in the firsthand way. so, as they were piecing together the timeline, i think that was the most extraordinary part of it all for me. i had been in the chamber when the speaker was evacuated out. i had been in the house chamber when they told us to put on our gas masks. i had been there when we started slamming doors shut and locking them down. i was there when they evacuated out the folks who were on the floor and those of us in the gallery still were trying to figure out how we would get out. we were there when there was screaming, there was yelling, the police officers were barricading up the doors with tables and benches, when the gunshot went off. and i was there when colleagues were praying and crying and people were calling family members. and so, to watch that timeline really come together was pretty extraordinary. and some of the videos that were played throughout the trial i thought were -- i think gave a clear perception to the american people just how terrible that day was. and i think what's most notable for me, when we were in the house gallery, that was the same time -- we were still there when the men with flexicuffs were in the senate gallery. so thinking about the fact that why -- i'm a former federal agency in addition to a federal cia officer, we had flexicuffs, to detain people. so the idea that they were there in the senate, they had already broken into the senate when we were still unable to evacuate out of the house -- you know, if they had come in the other day, would they have come in the gallery? and they didn't get to us. and they didn't get to us because there were lines of capitol police officers and later metropolitan police officers who fought to keep people safe and save lives, and they did. >> they sure did. and congresswoman, i'm glad you pointed out that you were also a federal agent. you've been in these situations. you understand how law enforcement officials will operate in some of these kinds of cases. you understand how investigations proceed. and the thing that we're looking at in this trial, of course, is, what's the connection between donald trump's words and actions and what happened to you and all of your colleagues on january 6th. what do you think are the most important pieces of that puzzle right now? >> i think that the impeachment managers have really laid out a clear time frame, right, where we see an individual, the president of the united states, who continues to perpetuate a lie, a lie that an election was stolen, a lie that people needed to stand up and stop the steal, right? stealing is an aggressive, criminal act. and so, he was calling to people to stop that steal. he was promising people that january that january 6th would be wild. he was compelling people to stand up and fight or you won't have a country left. and when you juxta pose those words with the actions of people responding to them and the video of people on megaphone, reading his sweets as though he was -- >> it seemed so organized. there's a couple videos where people were scouting outdoors. they see a door might be more vulnerable. some are heavy wooden doors and some are just glass. people are motioning, come to this door. clearly they were trying to permeate throughout the capitol. they were screaming, hang mike pence. they were beating police officers. and so when you look at the timeline, it's horrific. coupling that with when he had the chance to say, stop, stop this and he didn't, and he didn't, and he didn't, and he didn't. and to me that is the most horrifying, horrifying reality of this all. >> for hours. i want to take a minute to note you were with my colleague haley talbot in that gallery and you took personal responsibility to look out for her safety. we are just incredibly grateful that you did that. and i appreciate you being up here this morning with us and sharing what was a very emotional and difficult day. so thank you. >> kasie, if i can say thank you. it's because of reporters and journalists like haley and so many of your colleagues in media that we have a really clear understanding, incredibly moving photos, and really incredible timeline. because during all of that horror, they continued to the their job. . >> we really appreciate it. thank you, congresswoman. all right. let's lighten up here. armyier in the shoe we asked, why are you awake? brian tweeted i'm up "way too early" because my tweets were not featured this week. is my insomnia rewarded today? we have both of your tweets up. and this one. stay warm. be careful out there. ellen is making a rug featuring her son's two dogs. she has had plenty of time to practice through the pandemic. that is adorable. i got this one from someone whose handle is junior avenger. valentine's day is this weekend. i need to get my filtered images in by saturday night. coming up next, we'll look at the "axios" 1 big thing. two of the jurors in the senate impeachment trial. senators cory booker and mash werner will be our guest. and one of the managers from trump's first impeachment, u.s. congresswoman from florida, val demings. don't go anywhere. "morning joe" moments away. t go. "morning joe" moments away with 2 unlimited lines for less than $30 each. call 1-800-t-mobile or go to t-mobile.com/55. hey, dad! hey, son! no dad, it's a video call. you got to move the phone in front of you like..like it's a mirror, dad. you know? alright, okay. how's that? is that how you hold a mirror? 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"morning joe" starts now. >> you have about 50 charging up the hill on the north front just north of the stairs. they're approaching the wall now. >> they are throwing metal poles at us. >> they're give me dso up h