by may 1st, less than two months from now, he's directing all states and territories to make all adults eligible for the vaccine. you'll also want to mark july 4th on your calendar. biden is expected to announce americans should be able to gather in small groups by then. two dates to look forward to as today marks one year since the world health organization officially declared the coronavirus to be a pandemic. it's a sobering milestone with more than half a million american lives lost between that declaration and tonight. even with biden's hopeful announcement, tonight is one of those occasions when it is important to step back and remember how we got here. starting one year ago today, march 11th, o 2020, when the world stood still. >> just moments ago on capitol hill government health officials testified on the government's response to coronavirus and this statement from one of the nation's top medical experts was not reassuring. >> we will see more cases and things will get worse than they are right now. >> there are now more than 1,000 cases reported in this country and so far 30 deaths. >> the world health organization has officially declared the coronavirus to be a global pandemic. >> cases spiking. >> more market stress. more liquidity stress. be careful out there is what i tell people. >> the market tumbling. >> dow is down more than 5% today officially entering a bear market. >> fear on wall street and main street. >> dow dropping more than 1400 points, its second biggest point loss ever. >> late this afternoon the ncaa announced that it will hold march madness without rowdy fans. >> this is an nbc news special report. >> we're interrupting our regular program to bring you remarks from president trump on the coronavirus outbreak, now a pandemic. >> to keep new cases from entering our shores we will be suspending all travel from europe to the united states for the next 30 days. >> moments ago rudy gobert of the utah jazz tested positive for covid-19. as a result, the nba will suspend play. the league will go on hiatus following the conclusion of action tonight. >> academy award winning actor tom hanks and his wife, actress rita wilson, have announced they have both tested positive for coronavirus. >> that's a real face now. tom and rita hangs is a real thing, a real fact for americans to consider. if it can happen to them, even though they are in australia, it can absolutely happen to anyone. i think that's a reality now through tom hanks that a lot of people might not have had. >> that day changed everything. it all just happened at once. those of us who are privileged stopped going into the office unlike the many essential workers who didn't have that option. we started talking about flattening the curve and social distancing. we were told we had 15 days to stay at home to stop the spread, days that stretched into months. schools went virtual and many students still haven't gone back. stay at home orders that started in a few states quickly became the norm across the country. the president at that time was still downplaying the virus and giving himself an a plus from the response. we now know he was very much aware of how bad the situation really was. we were told by experts that we didn't need to wear masks, something almost unfathomable when you think about it now. as health care workers struggled to obtain the equipment they needed and to deal with the mass casualties they were experiencing. while there hasn't been anything like those initial few weeks, this pandemic life of social distancing and mask wearing is the new normal. 29 million people have been infected and more than 530,000 dead. let's turn now to critical care pulmonologist ben gupta and jason johnson, two of the people we most wanted to talk to tonight. thank you both for making time. dr. gupta, let me play for you what dr. fauci actually said today. he went on the "today" show and he talked about the most dangerous thing that happened over the last year. >> we had such divisiveness in our country that even simple common sense public health measures took on a political connotation when people, you know, if you wanted to wear a mask you were on this side. if you wanted to stay in and avoid congregate settings, you were on this side. it wasn't a pure public health approach. mixed messages were coming from washington, that's for sure. >> you know, dr. gupta, it's fair to say. i remember the politization even around ebola. ebola killed three people in the united states. killed a lot more on the african continent. we're talking about something that wound up killing half a million people plus. have you ever experienced anything in the public health sector like this where something like a virus that doesn't care who anyone is becomes a political matter and that leads to death? >> you know, joy, i haven't. good to see you, by the way. good evening. what i'll say is there's a few things here. there's a deep irony, number one, that this took the journey it took. that everything got politicized because if we had just done -- you know, unfortunately president trump knew this was an airborne virus i believe on february 7th. if we had put in place the measures that anybody otherwise would on learning that knowledge, then if there was a tactical shutdown at that point, if the strategic national stockpile had been replenished, if we knew what we knew now about this virus, if that had -- information was used to inform actual public policy, this would have been less of an issue. we probably -- some estimates say we would have saved 70% of the lives now lost. imagine that, joy. imagine that. number one, it's ironic. well, it's ironic because it got politicized and it ended up obviously becoming a much bigger problem for the former president than it needed to be. number two, i'll quickly say to your question. is there precedence for this? the biggest precedence is what big lobbies do when they want to get their way. smoking lobby. smoking is still the biggest killer of people worldwide in part because the smoking lobby, tobacco lobby is quite powerful and continues to deceive. that's the most pertinent analogy even though it's imperfect. >> jason johnson, usually the easiest things for a president to run for presidency for are war and tax cuts. donald trump was sitting on this crisis in which he could have shown himself to be a leader. this was breaking around the time of impeachment. he needed another story. he had the opportunity to have another story. we're going to play him tonight. this was donald trump's incoherence, speaking of mixed messages, message on covid. >> are there worried about a pandemic at this point? >> no, not at all. we have it totally under control. the risk to the american people remains very low. this virus is going to disappear. it's going to disappear. this is a flu. 24 is like a flu. >> it will go away. you know it is going away. as an example on the mask, if people wanted to wear them they can. i just don't want to wear one. this is going to go away without a vaks even. hydroxychloroquine. >> you're not going to die from this pill. this disinfectant, is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or -- almost a cleaning. you know, our doctors get more money if somebody dies from covid, you know that, right? the minimum number was 100,000 lives and i think we'll be substantially under that number. >> just one more. we can stand it. if y'all can bear it, he called bob woodward and said this to him. >> it's a very tricky situation. it's -- >> indeed it is. >> it goes through air, bob. that's always tougher than the touch. you just breathe the air, that's how it's passed. it's also more deadly than your -- you know, even your strenuous flus. >> i mean, just as a political science matter, jason, is this the biggest blunder, public communications blunder, i guess woodrow wilson did the same thing with the spanish flu. >> yeah, i've written a lot about trump and wilson. half a million people are dead. most of us have never experienced that in our lifetimes. it's bigger than multiple wars combined and it's resulted in such a breakdown of so many fundamental things in the american economy and health care. it has left us a broken and less functional country. as of right now, we still have so many different states refusing to follow the basic rules because of what trump did. we have florida fudging the numbers because they won't listen to the cdc. other places are opening themselves up. i would say, joy, the one political consequence that can't be avoided in all of this is that covid is the reason donald trump lost. had he even remotely cared about handling this crisis last year, had he not tried to pick and choose and assumed it was only going to be a blue state problem, had he not stood against masks and said, hey, do what you want, he would probably still be president of the united states today. it was donald trump's failure to address this horrible human rights, human health crisis that led to a lot of people saying we can't have this anymore and kicking him out of the office. wasn't the racism, big grot try, corruption, cheating, it was covid. >> that is hard to argue against. let's turn the page. dr. gupta, i will admit on tv that you are the person who single handedly made me get over my nervousness about the vaccine and become determined to get vaccinated and promote and push to everybody to get vac sip nated. i haven't gotten -- my group hasn't come through yet but i'm determined to do it now. because of you i'm determined to get whichever one i can. i don't have the j&j issues and everything. let's talk about these deadlines that president biden has put up. may 1st everyone being able to get the vaccine. is that the kind of good, positive messaging that helps? or is that going to -- are you worried that might cause a rush on the vaccines on may 1st? >> i think it's overwhelmingly positive. people are clamoring to get the vaccine because they know cdc guidance is phasing in normalcy. they started small. they're going to go bigger as people get vaccinated. people are recognizing, connecting the dots. if i get vaccinated, that means i can plan summer vacation, holidays are going to be normal again. it's good they're moving up the time schedule. we have our muscle memory in place. it's wonderful news for all of us. thank you, i'll quickly say, thank you for bringing up the j&j vaccine. too many people out there think it's inferior. it's not. it's 100% effective of keeping you out of the hospital. >> i'll take anyyqqqy of them. trust me. real quick before i let you go. am i crazy to still be very nervous, if i get my j&j or whatever, i still will be a little nervous honestly to do anything on july 4st and do anything indoors in a gym. i would still be scared. am i right to be nervous after vaccination? >> so you should be reassured that you're not going to end up in the hospital. i think it's appropriate that we're going to have some residual -- some trauma, if you will, what's happened in the last 16 months. yes, people should continue to mask and distance. caution for the rest of the year, i wouldn't be surprised if that's how most people live their life. >> yeah, i'm keeping my mask. i've made them fashion. i will be wearing my mask for the time being. dr. ben masculine knit at this would make you the worst on any other night. tonight we found someone even worse than you. the big reveal is coming up. 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>> well, joy, since joe biden won the election to become our president, he has been relentlessly focused on getting us out of this pandemic, on relieving the burdens on middle americans and on moving us forward. i think he will be somber as we reflect on what the one year anniversary means of this pandemic, what it means to have lost 530,000 americans but i also think he'll be hopeful because we are now clearly on the path of getting out of this pandemic and towards recovery. this $1.9 trillion bill that he just signed into law is truly a big deal. it's going to deliver relief to families in stimulus checks. it's going to be the biggest antipoverty plan and it will put money into the veterans administration, into helping people stay in their homes or apartments, into safely reopening schools, into more small business lenting. joe biden ran for president to help get us out of the mess donald trump got us into. i expect for him to give us a clear shot of hope about our future. >> i don't like to play senator after senator but i'll play senator roger wicker. >> one good provision in a $1.9 trillion bill doesn't mean i have to vote for the whole thing. but it goes without saying. i've issued a statement, but i think it's a stupid question. >> stupid question? >> absolutely. i mean, i'm not going to vote for $1.9 trillion because it has a couple of good provisions in it. >> first of all, there are no stupid questions, mr. wicker. 62% of americans approve of how biden is dealing with the pandemic. are democrats in your view prepared to run against, is the democratic senate congressional committee prepared to run ads against people like roger wicker who voted no and took the dough? >> joy, i think it's important that we remind all-americans that a year ago we did come together on a bipartisan basis and unanimously passed the c.a.r.e.s. act because we saw the crisis that was this pandemic and a year later while we still have a raging pandemic, while we're still in a recession, while we still have 11 million americans collecting unemployment and looking for their next job, while we still have tens of millions of americans with their kids not in school and facing eviction, we couldn't get a single republican vote. i'm not sure what changed. seems to me that we're not out of this pandemic yet. we're not out of the woods yet. i would expect that there's going to be some accountability politically for those who refuse to help finish the job and get us out of this pandemic. there was investment in developing the vaccines. that was bipartisan. there was investment in the initial response and that was bipartisan. we're not out of the woods. why did they leave the american people behind by refusing to vote for this bill? >> respectfully i think maybe people in elected office in washington and people in the media, frankly, care more about bipartisanship as a thing than people. people care about results. people care about getting things they voted for. >> results, thank you. >> they need a little bit of tax money back and i don't think they care it's bipartisan. i say that, sir, that there are a bunch of other things people deeply care about. voting rights are being stripped from americans all over the country. there's a bill that's already passed the house. policing. we have the derek chauvin trial about to happen. people want reforms in policing. there's a bill for that. there's a for the people act. there are bills on making it easy for people to vote. a voting rights act named after john lewis. a george floyd bill. is it okay for people like joe manchin to demand bipartisanship. the aflcio president called the filibuster a jim crow artifact and a creature of white supremacy. are democrats prepared to get joe manchin in line and reform the filibuster so you guys can pass the other things you need? >> joy, at this point we have several democrats who said they will not touch the filibuster, not just joe manchin. that's what this bill is going to do, deliver relief. >> wait, sir. we're very close out of time. >> another big, bold package. >> sure. but the thing is is a bunch of democrats were saying -- >> there will be relief later this year. >> go ahead. there was a delay. go ahead. >> i do expect to take up another big and bold package that will address infrastructure and jobs and climate and i know that over the next couple of months there will be some hard conversations in our caucus about what's the right path forward, about whether we're going to stand by and see all of joe biden's agenda stymied or whether we will make changes. i'm going to be part of that discussion. i'm not ready to get rid of the filibuster yet. i'm going to give a hard try at bipartisanship. that's joe biden's position as president. that's my position as a senator and many others but frankly, joy, we have to make progress and we have to deliver on the results the american people are looking for and that's going to be a subject of a lot of debate in our caucus this year. >> i'm sure. my last question and we are out of time but the $15 an hour minimum wage is another one of those issues that's really important to people. i know you are not for it at the moment, voted against it. is that something that's a tenable position for democrat when democrats have the power and can make changes and hanging on to the filibuster for what, to help republicans. >> i support raising the minimum wage. i support increasing the minimum wage and getting to $15 an hour. i had some concerns about bernie sanders specific bill and how it raises the minimum wage that frankly got very little discussion about the impact of two provisions of it. i think we will get that done this year and i've already been having conversations with folks in my caucus about how we can get that done this year. >> all right. thank you very much. sorry for the delay. it's always weird the tee lay. we got it done. senator chris coons, thank you very much. appreciate your time. still ahead, we will talk to a front line health care worker traveling nonstop to covid hot spots about the traumatic role this past year has taken on him and his colleagues. first, it's tonight's absolute worst. stay with us. ay with us ever notice how stiff clothes can feel rough on your skin? for softer clothes that are gentle on your skin, try downy free & gentle. downy will soften your clothes without dyes or perfumes. the towel washed with downy is softer, and gentler on your skin. try downy free & gentle. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ on the eve of the anniversary of covid up ending america, at the insistence of republican governor greg abbott texas officially became the largest state to fully reopen the economy and lift the mask mandate. governor abbott brought texas no electricity and no water during a winter storm, he took a break from xenophobic fear-mongering to crow about his decision. >> after a year of going through covid, texans know the safe practices to heed. they don't need government to tell them what to do. >> after yesterday there is no statewide mask mandate and no capacity restrictions for businesses of any type, restaurants, retail stores, gyms, even sports stadiums. the texas rangers is taking abbott's lead for 140,000 seat stadium, what's a little covid between you and 40,000 strangers. abbott's order allows businesses to enforce protocols at their own discretion. some local officials are not on board. austin continues to plan on requiring masks in businesses. enter texas attorney general ken paxton. you remember him. the guy who went to the supreme court to try to overturn 10 million legal votes on behalf of that former white house guy and who's also under investigation by the fbi for using his office to help a wealthy donor. him. wednesday he threatend austin with a 6 p.m. deadline to rescind its mask mandates adding in an antiscience tweet city/county leaders must not be thinking clearly. austin mayor steve adler gave a totally logical explanation for why he's keeping it in place. >> i had a lot of businesses call me, they were upset and frustrated with what the governor had done because when they were enforcing masking as they wanted to do to protect their employees, they were able to tell folks who were coming in, hey, it's not us, it's the law. in austin they still have the ability to tell people coming into their stores that the local law requires masking. >> seems pretty reasonable when anti-mask bullies in your state are doing things like threatening mexican restaurants by calling i.c.e. but ken paxton solidified his quest by following through on his threat. he's suing austin, the mayor, the county judge and health authority on behalf of the state of texas. he whined on twitter that officials blew him off and he's dragging them into court. he'll never stop keeping texas free and open and full of covid and more hospitalizations and deaths. for that tomorrow foolery he has earned the dishonor of being tonight's absolute worst. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (quiet piano music) ♪ ♪ comfort in the extreme. the lincoln family of luxury suvs. ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. whoo-hoo! great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. 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(burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ if you smell gas, you're too close. leave the structure, call 911, keep people away, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. if you see wires down, treat them all as if they're hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. at the core of this pandemic are those we have lost but also those who have risked it all. for 365 days to care for the sick and the dieing. >> you saw what we were seeing here in the hospital. i don't think you would be taking these risks. >> seeing a lot of patients. they're not getting back. >> some paid the ultimate price. more than 3500 u.s. health care workers died of covid-19. joining me is grover street, air force veteran and travel nurse who has worked on the covid front line in hospitals across the country. thank you so much for being here, grover. folks heard you were on. people were filling my text messages being happy i was talking to you. can you give a perspective as somebody being all over the country dealing with the pandemic how you have felt over the last year. has it been sort of like -- have you just been a machine because you do have that military training, you know how to sort of buckle down, or at any point has there been a sort of sense of kind of drawning in this. >> well, being a machine, you can't really love so it takes a lot of love, effort to take care of these patients. when we take care of these patients, their families can't come in to be there with them, it's only us. it's even like that today where family members can't come in. it's taken an emotional toll on a lot of health care workers, doctors, respiratory therapists, occupational health, environmental service people. it's running deep through the core of health care. >> yeah. hopefully your audio will clean up a little bit. i can still hear you so i'm going to keep going. when you hear states like texas saying take off all the restrictions, everybody go back to living your life as normal, and actually outlawing mask mandates so basically store clerks have to fight it out with customers just because they want to wear a mask and risk maybe even getting attacked, how does that make you feel as somebody who's been in the middle of this fight? >> it makes me feel like people aren't listening and it makes me feel like there's a war against politics and health care and people need to believe in the scientists and doctors and people that do the studies to say, hey, wear a mask. these are doctors and scientists telling to you do it. when a politician tells you, do they have that experience? they're experienced in the areas they're experienced in, but i think when it comes down to your health and saving the lives of millions, maybe billions of people, we don't know when this is going to end, then i think people need to really listen to health care workers and doctors telling them to wear their mask. >> there's a south dakota e.r. nurse who went viral with tweets. this was in november of 2020. name was jodi orth. i can't help but think about the covid patients. the ones that stick out who don't believe the virus is real. those who scream at you for doing magic medicine and joe biden is going to ruin the u.s.a. all for gasping for breath on 100% vape poe therm. they call you names and ask you why you have to wear all of that stuff because they don't have covid because it's not real. did you encounter that anti-covid denialism around the country? are there places in particular, if you encountered it, where you encountered it? >> i've been mostly in the thick of it. my patients are usually intubated and the family members that i talk to are the ones that are -- i'm talking to family members of the dead people, people that are going to die and it's deeper than what people can imagine. looking at it through the eyes of a health care worker, you won't see the truth. >> yeah. it is terrifying and, you know, thank you for all that you've done, for your service as well, but also for your service to the country in trying to get this thing to end. grover street, thank you very much. really appreciate you powering through the audio issues as well. cheers. thank you. we are moments away from president biden's first primetime address as he and vice president kamala harris hit the road to tout the benefits of their covid relief package. a look at how other administrations have led this country out of dark, desperate times. we'll be right back. we'll be right back. hat's new? 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yep! bye! that's why we love skechers max cushioning footwear. they've maxed out the cushion for extreme comfort. it's like walking on clouds! big, comfy ones! oh yeah! 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. tomorrow marks 88 years since president franklin delano roosevelt developed his first fireside chat. he laid out the crises facing this country and leveled with the american people about the road ahead. >> confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan. you people must have faith. you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. let us unite in banishing fear. >> you see, a president's words matter. they can provide the confidence needed to withstand our country's toughest challenges. there's been an absence of leadership the past four years. fortunately for all of us we are witnessing its return. in a few moments president biden will deliver his address to the nation on the solemn address to the nation. joining me are valerie jarrett, newly announced chair of the board of directors of the non-profit civic nation, nbc news presidential historian michael veschla. thank you both for being here. kind of perfect. let me start by asking each of you to weigh in on what do you think the import of tonight will be for the country and for president biden himself? and michael, if you could begin. >> joy, i think this is an evening that we'll remember for a long time and probably our grandchildren will be learning about because this is a moment where you see a president using what the presidency is supposed to be, as valerie well knows. presidency gives the president a big platform to have a lot of influence and that gives him an opportunity, just as you were showing with fdr's fireside chat in 1933, he was explaining why the banks had failed, what he was going to do about it and what people could expect. at the same time we expect our very powerful presidents to mobilize the federal government to deal with problems. what we haven't seen over the last year was a president who was doing that, mobilizing every resource available to him to try to end the pandemic as quickly as possible and relieve suffering and fix the economy. tonight we're seeing both of those things. >> yeah. yeah. we got to hear that atlantic accent that americans don't use anymore. >> i'm restraining myself for my bad fdr imitation. >> same. valerie, you know, president obama is a person that was uniquely able in these moments to rise to that occasion. obviously you worked for him and he had that oratoracle skill. you know joseph robinet biden very well. he's a different kind of speaker. i'm fascinated to know what your expectations are of him tonight. >> good evening, joy. thank you for having me on. tonight i think will be a good shot in the arm literally. president biden is pitched perfect at empathy, understanding what we've been through as a country this last dreadful year. the death toll, the toll on our economy, the toll on our spirits and he will lift us up and he will chart a path forward. it was a huge victory for him to get that relief package through. those worried about unemployment, paying rent, putting food on the table, sending their children back to school safely, our small businesses that have been struggling. the package will help so many, including state and local governments, something i know the president fought hard for knowing how important that was back in 2009 when the recovery act was passed. and so i think we have been waiting for this moment and similar to fdr, it gives him a chance to say this is tough but we are tough. we are resilient and we're going to move forward and he has the organization around him, confident period who have proven what they can do in times of great stress and challenge. it's a great, great platform. this is just the beginning. from here he'll go around the country and talk about it directly to the national people and that's important too. >> yeah. i wish it was going to be on a train. my weird, romantic notions of politics but i get that it can't be. >> we've had so many different kind of presidents in the united states. they define an era. the ad council has put a bunch of it all in one ad with one notable exclusion with the previous president. donald trump is not here. here are the other living presidents all sending a message about the vaccine together. it's a remarkable ad. i'm going to play a little bit of it now. >> this vaccine means hope. it will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease. >> we have lost so many people and we've suffered enough damage. >> in order to get rid of this pandemic it's important for our fellow citizens to get vaccinated. >> i'm getting vaccinated because we want this pandemic to end as soon as possible. >> so we urge you to get vaccinated when it's available to you. >> to roll up your sleeve and do your part. >> this is our shot. >> even jimmy carter came out. i mean -- >> absolutely. >> -- which way to feel about this, michael? donald trump not being there with those other presidents, whoever you think about them, you knew in their core they loved the country and thought they were doing the right thing for the country. would his inclusion have marred it. there is no video of it. >> that's the problem. it would be nice just as it is here to see presidents of both parties and all sorts of different records and views. how on earth could we have brought donald trump into that commercial? someone who did not use the federal government properly over the last year, who never bothered to give a speech explaining what was really happening and mourning the loss of now over half a million of our fellow americans. and so the result is that the former president's club does not admit just anyone, and i think donald trump by his behavior is essentially exempted. it's a little bit about what president biden said. most presidents get them. how can you give it to donald trump? you can't be sure that he wouldn't take that secret information and sell it to a hostile foreign power. >> such a sad statement, really, to have a living former president that is just sort of not use if you recall. >> yes. >> valerie, i wonder for you. valerie, biden's empathy is his super power. i will take credit for that quote. because he's that guy, we could put him in a group of them and he would be high fiving it. do you think his particular empathy gives him a chance to maybe reach those unreachable trump people because the vaccine is just so important to all of us? >> absolutely. and i think he will be looking for trusted messengers all around the country who can help him deliver that message. it's not all on him to do it. they made it very clear in the campaign and he's been true to his word that he's going to reach out because he considers himself the president of all america. and i think i'll tell you in the eight years i had the honor of serving in president obama's administration, there wasn't a single time we called a former president regardless of party, where they didn't say what could we do for the country, because of love of country. so i think that president biden shares that love of country and it is contagious and he will use every platform possible to communicate that, including the huge bully pulpit that he has during primetime tonight. i think that every american who tunes in will feel he's speaking to them. >> indeed. last question to you, michael. the former acting defense secretary chris miller said that trump is responsible for the one -- this is on a completely different subject -- for the january 6th insurrection. let me play it quick if we have time. >> do you think the president was responsible for what happened on the 6th? >> i don't know, but it seems cause and effect, yeah. the question is would anybody have marched on the capitol and overrun the capitol without the president's speech? i think it's pretty much definitive that wouldn't have happened. >> michael, i have to ask you this every time i'm with you. have you ever seen anything like this in your life? an acting defense secretary saying the president was responsible for an insurrection? >> he's just saying what we know to be the truth. donald trump tried to take away our democracy on the 6th of january. he tried to incite an insurrection, an attack on congress and the capitol that could have killed members of congress, led to a hostage crisis and maybe he hoped suspended joe biden's inauguration. there's nothing a president can do that's worse than that. >> valerie jarrett, michael, thank you very much. that's tonight's "reid out." we are moments away from president biden ace first primetime address. here's chris hayes with a special edition of all in with america. good evening from the lincoln memorial in washington, d.c. we're here tonight. the president will speak tonight to mark the one year anniversary of the covid pandemic. a couple minutes from now not far from where i stand president biden will address an america that may finally be turning the corner. now in this first early light you can see how this struck all of us together and separately. we were a nation divided by race, by gender, by economics, by politics. the virus exposed those measures, worked its way into the cracks and left us mortified, more isolated, more afraid of each other. there's been so much tragedy this year we've lost half a million people. jobs and businesses have vanished. lifetimes of work and savings wiped out while our leaders couldn't or wouldn't help. our victories came from within, from the small life affirming kindnesses of neighbors, from heroic doctors and nurses, yes, but also grocery store workers, restaurant cooks, the old friends back home who made sure to check in on mom and dad. >> soon we'll all be able to hug each other, dance again, meet together again. >> let's use that as a first