the country remains divided in terms of its willingness to stay the course on mask wearing and social distancing for the final month before the vaccine has been distributed. president biden is expected to preview what a return to normal will look like here. he'll also address the grief of a nation consumed for one whole year. the anniversary marks the day for many americans, the grim reality, from "the washington post," quote -- for most people march 11th was when the crisis first became real. it was the day of a high-profile diagnosis, and official decidingation of pandemic. schools closed, streets emptied and commuters stayed home. we didn't know it then, but the virus had already infected thousands. over the next 12 months, leaders bungled opportunities to quell its spread. case levels rose, fell, rose again. hope endured and more than 525,000 people lost their lives. dr. anthony fauci, who has become a household name, first for his beleaguered attempts, acknowledged today that covid has been much worse than he predicted a year ago. >> i made the statement things will get much worse before they get better. that was at a congressional hearing, a year ago today. it was march 11th, 2020, that i said that, but i did not in my mind think that much worse was going to be 525,000 deaths. >> and driving home the fact that behind one of those 500,000-plus deaths is a grieving family that in most cases didn't get to sit with their loved ones as they lost their fight against covid, is this simple story of senator elizabeth warren, she spoke about the loss of her brother, donald reed herring last night. >> i called one morning and he wasn't there. and it turned out in the night he had been taken to the hospital, and i never got to talk to him again, and neither did his wife or his two boys, or my brothers. we got what we could through the nurses, and god bless them, but they were stretched to the edges. and so we would get like a tell gram that will just come in, and they would say he's better, the next day he's worse, he's not going to make it through the night, the next day he's better. and then he took a turn for the worst and they called us and told us he was gone. nobody was with him. not -- not any of us. i don't know how he died. i don't know -- i don't know if he was cold or if he was thirsty. all i know is i cooperate be there to tell him how much i loved him, and neither could the rest of our family. that's hard. >> the universality of that is -- the good news about the vaccine does nothing to alleviate that, but it does suggest an end is in sight. so far more than 32 million have been fully vaccinated. nearly 10% of the entire populations. the numbers of new cases have fallen. schools are reopening. life is slowly beginning to creep to a new normal. we start today with some of our favorite reporters. -- olivia is now the director of the republican accountability project. i want to start with you, ya -- yamiche. for all of president biden's skills, strengths, weaknesses, whatever you want to call it, this moment is the culmination of the campaign he launched at the very beginning of the democratic primaries. >> president biden speaking to this moment, where so many americans, one in three knows someone who has died, for half a million americans who have died, we're a nation in mourning. it's the culmination of his life that has been enveloped in grief, in tragedy. he is someone who embraces the idea of really confronting and talking about grieving. when he stands at the podium and says i know what it means to miss someone at the dinner table, i know what it means to want to think about all of the things your loved one could have accomplished, but in fact can't because their lives are taken too early, he really means it. i think what we see here are not only a president who has made the coronavirus a top priority, but in some ways he's just talking to people who are hurting. what we saw in his predecessor is not only someone who downplayed the virus, but also didn't speak to americans in an emotional way. we just didn't see those types of speeches. so what we now see is a president who not only will come to the podium with a really emotional intelligence, but he also will say i kept a campaign promise and signed this into law today, $1.9 trillion of covid relief, and the white house is now saying this weekend those stimulus checks could be hitting the bank accounts. this is also a moment where the nation is grappling with this continuing exposing of discrimination and inequality in this country. we are coming to this moment knowing that black and brown people, native americans, latinos continue to suffer disproportionately. this is also an administration that's going to have to fix the problem of discrimination. tonight the president will talk about the way forward and reopening in normalcy, but we have to underscore that nothing can be normal if the most vulnerable can't go back to normalcy at the same time we do. >> so, doctor, let's say where yamiche so skillfully brought this discussion. the fact that the response was so uneven and so divisive, had a medical impact, endangered more people. let me show you dr. fauci speaking about that point about the divisions in this country on our response. let's watch. >> one of the things sit keep harkening back to that you can't run away from is we had such divisiveness in our country, it wasn't a pure public health approach. it was really, you know, very much influenced by the divisiveness that we had in this country. where we were saying mixed messages were coming from washington, that's for sure. >> that's putting it kindly. the mixed message put people's lives on the lines and disproportionately people from communities of color. you see in the aggressive nature of thes taking down of the mask mandates in states like texas, that the culture war part of this isn't over. >> that's right, nicolle. i'm so glad dr. fauci said that, you know, specifically because all of us feel in the area of pandemics temperature to be technocrats, but the things we didn't account for is that political division. it is that political interference. you know, today when president biden talks about one year, it may feel like it's a speech at the end of a war, we have come to the other side, as oppose to do a war there's a treaty, it's over, we're still in the middle of this battle. i don't think we can declare victory. there's so many of us that are still not vaccinated, and yamiche's points about the toll of this pandemic weren't among the most vulnerable, or why wasn't our healthcare system prepared? and mostly look at how political divided we are? that problem still exists. >> you know, olivia, i don't want to put it this way into the void rush the former presidents, because i think the point of the divisions is that the former presidents are not necessarily credibility message es to address the people who still remain skeptical, but they did try. i want to show you what that effort looks like. >> this vaccine means hope. it will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease. ♪ >> i want to go back to work and i want to be able to move around. >> to visit with michelle's mom, to hug her and seer on opening day. >> i'm looking forward to opening day at texas rangers stadium. >> we urge you to get vaccinated. >> so roll up your sleeve. do your part. >> this is our shot. >> now it's up to you. this message seems to be aimed at two things, both encouraging people to get the vaccine, but also to understand what is turning up in studies, the way to cut transmission, the way to protect or communities is to get the vaccine. where do you put the credibility of a message from former presidents of both political parties in terms of its ability to impact the pockets of resist usages. olivia? >> i these -- i'm grateful to them. this is exhibiting real leadership at a time that it's really needed, and a leadership that's bipartisan in that ad, coming together, trying to communicate a message period of time looking forward and working together to get past this. that's something that's been missing, unfortunately, under four years of the previous administration, and honestly with a lot of the republican leadership that was the majority at the time that should have at least been pushing back on this messaging, and culling together, uniting together the rest of the country, regardless of what was going on in the oval office. i don't forget about the fact that there was definitely some -- that happened there along the way. so watches this ad means a lot to me, but i worry. i know that it will reach some people, but i think that the divisiveness continues on. we're watching it happening aacross the board. we're watching governors lift mandates too soon for my comfort after all that we've been through. as long as those leaders continue at the state and local level, speaking in a way that creates division, we have a long road ahead still for all of us. doctor, i want to come back to you on that. s so much of the messages that i thought was powerful, when dr. fauci -- dr. osterholm, you have done this, this is a choice, but if you wear a mask, we can head it off. it's amazing what is so possible -- the real world is israel. pfizer and biontech said wednesday real-world data from israel suggests the covid-19 vaccine is 94% means the vaccine could significantly reduce transmission, and 97% in preventing symptomatic disease. i think people are starting to understand that we're going to live with covid for a while, but the idea that a vaccinated population has 94% to 97% protection from covid is remarkable. how do you shift the messaging to get vaccinated, protect yourself, protect the vulnerable people in your house, backup protect your community, your state, your country? >> those are numbers, anytime you see efficacy numbers in real life that match what we're seeing in trials with moderna and pfizer, about 95% efficacy, it's always great to see that play out. i would love to see a bit more data on the asymptomatic size, but this is heartening that shows you the power of these vaccines. if we come together, you're doing it not just to protect yourself, but partly also to protect your community and why speed matters. we have to balance that with why we continue to do everything we can. anybody that dies between now and when we achieve the m virus. there's going to be twists and turns that none of us can predict. so hanging in there a bit longer until we have a better sense of what will happen with these variants is the other message we want to get out there. get your vaccine, that's how we return to normalcy. >> one of the white house focus is these bridges to normal sit. on the economy it's a shorter runway, if you will. checks will start hitting the bank accounts almost immediately, and the market's reaction has been almost immediately "the washington post" -- trump predicted a stock market crash, but wall street was expecting a stimulus, and boom. the economy seems to be responding to all of the investments in stimulus and growth. >> that's right. president biden did say he felt like the thing that would be worrisome is doing too little, not too much. he was underscoring the idea that flushing the economy and help americans where they need it most, if that would help us get through the economic issue. that being said, though, there are of course some troubling things that happened in this economy, including the number of women who dropped out of the economy. that's something we'll have to look at and study and see how to get those women back into the workforce that is in a way that is fair and not too much burden on them. ref to look at the wage gap and what people are getting paid. the idea that the $15 minimum wage could be part of the bill that the president just signed into office, and the argument that there are democrats that don't back that idea. it will be a tough thing for the democratic base to think about. i think there are some real issues, some real bright signs when it comes to the economy, but of course we're still not anywhere out of the water. there's a number of people who are saying we're not out of this issue that we're dealing with, because there's so many people who have still been upended by this, when it comes to businesses that have been shuttered. >> olivia, i always think of you when i see this new administration that moves this direction that is clear since you left the trump administration, you would have liked to have seen them push for. what is it like to watch a different administration put into place the kinds of policies that people who were advocating for the science would have liked to have seen a year ago, and what difference would it have made? >> it's relief, nicolle. it's incredibly amazing to know that the tools were there, but they were just -- it was a failure to use them and empower the people who were trying to actually move forward to stop this pandemic. but it's incredibly -- i love the fact that dr. fauci seems -- i would say one of the main motivators for speaking out was watching the doctors every day on the task force and what they went through, and the fact they couldn't speak. so i felt that not only did i have to speak out for americans and their lives and really try to make a difference in what was happy, really to speak for them, knowing what they had been facing for so long. it's great. i think it's wonderful to have someone who is listening to science, and who is taking proactive measures to do everything that we can together as a country to get past this, and get back to a new normal. i just want to thank you for the lives well lived feature last night that my family watched. it just means a lot. i think it's hard to watch it when i see the clips, but i think it's needed. there certainly needs to be someone who honors they lives. it's been a really rough year, so i think things like that, memorials really matter right now. it also, you know, i'm glad that we have hope. >> we do. we do. thank you so much for saying that. it was a privilege to get to sit with people in their moments, their dark moments. it was a privilege that people, including senator warren, that's why we played it again. olivia troy, doctor, thank you. yamiche is sticking around. seattle, washington was the first coronavirus hot spot. we'll talk about the mayor of that city reflecting on the past year and what could have been for the rest of the country if they had followed seattle's lead. and a rare rebuke from the pentagon, to a tv host who had the audacity to mock the promotion of women. plus there's probably on one reason why michael cohen has met with prosecutors seven times. we said seven. we're watching the legal walls closing in on his old boss. all those stories and more when "deadline: white house" continues. don't go anywhere. eadline: whit continues. don't go anywhere. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ ♪ we made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. when a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. usaa when you switch to xfinity mobile, you're choosing to get connected usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. 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. about one year ago, seattle and its suburbs were realtime evidence of what this virus could do. remember the nursing home in kirkland, where 80 staff members became infected in the first week, and in one month 101 residents tested positive, and more that are threne dozen lost their lives. firefighters helped out. 31 ended up in quarantine. today, of the top 20 metro areas in the country, seattle region has the lowers covid death rate, according to today's "new york times" piece by mike baker who writing -- seattle's success illustrates the value of unified and timely strategies. those the reason's experts and politicians graspled behind the scene, they came together to brent a united front to the public, and the public largely complied. we could not afford to have mixed messages. joining mayor durkin. i remember being on set for some of the final primary contests, and we were covering what was happening in seattle. can you -- i know it's hours and hours over days and days, and now many months, but what did you know that the rest of your counterparts didn't know? or what were you able to do that maybe they couldn't? >> you know, i think we were fortunate in so many ways. the first is we decided without any national leadership, we had to come together with the public health people and base our decisions on what the science was telling us, what this disease was going to do to us. we could strgle behind door, but we needed a clear message. we also were unfortunate, because we were first hit. as you know at that time -- it's hard to remember, but there literally was no testing, and this outbreak came almost out of nowhere. we had a false sense it wasn't in our region yet. but we were also fortunate we have really good scientific research respect, public health institutes, and they came together. the work they did was modeled quickly, and at the very early, even though we had only a few cases in our area, we knew that that meant there was community spread and there was probably over 1,000 cases and it was going to double every week. so that literally by mid april we would have over 70,000 case and 1500 people die. it was so sobering that we knew the consequences of acting were going to be hard, and they have been so hard. so many people lost their jobs and their businesses. so many people have gotten sick, lost loved ones, but i do think our early unified action saved lives. >> what is your strategy for this phase, which seems a policy level and public persuasion level perhaps the most complex? people are bursting at the seams to get back out there, the variants represent real threats, if they were to take hold and spread. you know have the vaccine on the horizon. how do you calibrate your messaging for this phase? >> i think you're absolutely right. it's balance, because people are so tired. they want to get back to coming together, they want to get back to life as normal. there are many people who don't trust the vaccine or the science. we always message to people, well, we have hope on the horizon and we're doing tremendous things on vaccination. we still have to be careful. we can't go backwards. second, as we roll out this vaccination, we have to make sure we are centered on equity and those vaccinations get to the people who are most vulnerable and the people who have been hit the harder. our communities of color has been disproportionately hit by the health and the economic gaps. and through our work we've been able to have 70% of the vaccinations we're distributing we've gotten to the bipoc communities. then we have to reopen and how do we come back together and do it in phases so we don't go backwards again. all of that relies on people trusting we'll do the right thing. we have seen if we ask people to do the right thing most will, not just because they care for themselves and their families, but their community as well. >> we did a poll at pdx that showed 30% of americans didn't want the vaccine. 25% were african-americans, but 45% was republican men. you're surrounded by area where republican men in particular might be hesitant. what should you be doing to deal with that when it comes to the political divide