global risk is, quote, very high. today marks the start of a new travel restrictions to the u.s. from south african countries in the region where omicron was first detected. although it's been confirmed in a number of places from hong kong to ontario, israel and japan have responded by closing their borders completely to foreign travelers. and new york declared a state of emergency before a single case of omicron was confirmed in the state. the governor says it's coming. meanwhile the message from administration officials is one of caution. and that the best defense against this or any other covid variant remains to get vaccinated. just a short time ago president biden gave an update on the omicron variant saying it was a cause for concern but not panic. he said new lockdowns were off the table. and he also spoke about the new travel restrictions from countries in southern africa. take a listen. while we had that travel restrictions can slow the speed of omicron, it cannot prevent it. but here's what it does. it gives us time. it gives us time to take more actions. to move quicker, to make sure people understand you have to get your vaccine. you have to get the shot. you have to get the booster if -- sooner or later, we're going to see cases of this new variant in the united states. we'll have to face this new threat just as we face those that have come before it. >> we've got every angle of this story covered with our nbc news team. shannon petty piece is at the white house and tony health inoutside the hospital in boston. matt bradley is tracking the global response from london, and on the medical front, dr. padalia. we heard from the president. first time since early november that he's given a speech totally dedicated to the pandemic. did we hear any surprises from the pandemic? is this the tone we were expecting? how is the white house viewing this today? >> you get a sense of the urgency within the white house around this new variant. it's really the most heightened alert we have seen from this administration since the previous administration. since the early days of the pandemic here inside the white house. the president, of course, as you mentioned, saying this is concern, not panic. saying he does not predict there are going to be lockdowns like we saw last year if people are vaccinated, and he added a new bit to this. if they wear their masks. calling on people to again wear masks indoors, in crowded settings. not putting a caveat as to whether or not you're vaccinated or whether infections are low in your area, telling people broadly to wear masks which comes as we've seen a lot of cities, municipalities, school districts starting to lift their mandates in recent days. i will add one other thing here. the president using this moment to urge people to get boosters. we have been hearing for folks now the administration urging people to get boosters. it hasn't had an enormous effect yet. only about 40 % of seniors have had their booster shot despite them having been eligible for months, and many of them being the first in line to get those shots back in january. so using this as a moment to call on people to get boosters, but also using this as a moment to tell the public, the american people, that the federal government is ready to respond. and unfortunately, this is a scenario that public health officials have known was a possibility. that there could be a variant out there that could be more transmisable, that could evade the vaccine east protections. it's something they have had in the back of their mind. we've seen pfizer, moderna ramping up production. the president said he will use every tool he can to get new vaccines if needed to get those out to the people and do whatever it takes to sort of keep the momentum going and keep schools open and businesses open and keep the progress the country has been making over the past year going forward. >> pushing vaccines, pushing boosters, those administration policies, the administration that be conservative on masking. you saw even after d.c. got rid of their mask mandate last year, you hear the president talking about masking. the one new part of policy was talking about the travel restrictions from the south african countries. but this variant is already found spreading all around the world. it's been found in canada. does the white house think they can really close the door on this variant or is this about buying time? or is this about just trying to show people that they're not asleep at the switch and they're trying to take some specific action as it relates to omicron? >> yeah. i think that's really a good point. and the president you heard him today saying we're not going to prevent this variant from getting into our borders. this is about buying time, slowing things down. so people can get vaccinated. so they can get their boosters. so the pharmaceutical companies can take whatever steps they need to take. there was a question about whether additional travel restrictions could be needed. one of my colleagues in the room with the president asked that. the president said not at this time but left the door open based on what the spread of the virus looks like out there. there has been a lot of criticism over these travel restrictions from the global public health community. of course, there was criticism starting to build on friday when it didn't appear the president was acting and other countries were putting travel restrictions in place and he wasn't. the president defended this decision here. left the door open to future restrictions but certainly indicated they are not a solution. they are not going to keep this virus, this new variant out of our borders, but hopefully it can buy the country a little bit of time here. >> and antonia, you're in new england where cases have been raising for a couple weeks despite any vaccination rates in that area. what are authorities saying about aem koran and how worried are about they burnout with another possible spike coming down the pike? >> reporter: garrett, all of this is coming together at a really inconvenient time for the health systems here in massachusetts and new england more broadly. there's been a spike in cases over the last several weeks. mostly driven by the delta variant. on friday after thanksgiving, massachusetts announced over 5,000 new cases. but the real concern here around hospitalizations is not so much that right now the hospitals are overflowing with covid patients. although about 40 people are being treated for covid behind me in mass general right now. it's really the other pandemic-related stresses on the entire system. burnout is a huge factor that we consistently are hearing from nurses and doctors here in massachusetts. and then that leading to low staffing on very critical units. so what it means is that some hospital systems here are going to have to pull back on other types of procedures. other elective procedures or nonemergency procedures, but for folks at home, that can mean a treatment for your kidneys. that can mean a hip replacement. procedures that are still important for your health may have to take a backseat if this new variant ends up posing a threat to a system that's already dealing with a lot of strain, a lot of pull on resources right now. >> and matt, you're in london trying to keep an eye on the international angle to all this. we had this w.h.o. special session today in which they said the global risk for omicron is high. also g-7 health ministers meeting. are we expecting to see a more coordinated global response to this variant than we have for past variants? >> well, it's a great question. . it's something a lot of people are demanding. they were just having a meeting on monday, just today, of the world health organization health ministers trying to come up with a global accord to better meet the challenges of future pandemics. and we heard from the head of the world health organization saying this new variant just goes to show how much we need a coordinated global response. we didn't have one last year when this first broke out. now it goes to show we need this the most. but we've heard from the world health organization, the head of the world health organization reminding everyone that one of the reasons why we're having this new variant, and why it's coming out of the global south, is because that's where we're not seeing a lot of high vaccination rates. this for a lot of people around the world, especially in the global south, in the nondeveloped countries, they're saying this just goes to show that you reap what you sew. that without vaccine equality globally, you're going to have this spreading worldwide. and that's going to give rise to new mutations and variants. and he mentioned recently that actually for every six booster shots, that you see in the developed world, booster shots, the third shot, there's only one in the developing world. a one primary shot. so really the developing world, especially in africa where it's about 7% vaccination rate compared to more than 40 % on the global level, really the developing world is badly lagging behind. now, this whole crisis was primarily focussed on the developed world in europe and north america at the beginning of the crisis last year. but now that we're seeing this going global, of course we saw the crisis in india a few months ago. it really goes to show that vaccine equality is the best way to fight against future variants, and that only by spreading the vaccine as equitably as possible can everyone worldwide be safe. garrett? >> that sets up the doctor. doctor, i want to show you the graphic about the population share of the world fully vaccinated against covid-19. when you look at the map of africa it's like there's basically nothing on it. about 7% of the continent is vaccinated. should this variant -- despite all the things we don't know about it yet, be a wakeup call that the pandemic will never be behind us in a meaningful way until we get serious about vaccinating the entire globe? >> garrett, this is an issue close to my heart, because many of the people that i work with, we're an potential up tick is up to 80 %. look at the cycle we've created. if omicron ends up being a variant that requires us to get new boosters, you're talking about potentially again, going through a cycle where you have to vaccinate all of our population again because this new variant popped up. had we invested in that global vaccine equity and right now, you know, people are hearing that there's a glut of vaccines. there really isn't yet. the manufactures are saying production may go up in 20 2 2. you're seeing rich countries oust poor countries. what the u.s. has done is rightfully so, committed over a billion doses. only a quarter of that is so far out to the field. eu is behind on their donations. one other thing that the u.s. has done which i think other rich countries should follow is they've taken themselves out of the cue for the next delivery of vaccines. and by doing that, they're allowing many of the countries have been able to purchase the vaccines. we need to see more of that commitment. this needs to be a global wakeup call that we do not, any of us return to normalcy as just mentioned, until we have global vaccine equity. >> let's back up when it comes to omicron. let's talk about what we do and don't know. we don't know if it's more transmisable. we don't know if it does anything to evade vaccines. we don't know if omicron makes you more sick if you get it. right? let's -- can we kind of put into context the things that we don't yet know about this variant and when we might find out so we can kind of understand the beast we're dealing with here? >> yeah. very important points. i'll start by saying we don't know a lot. there's concern about omicron, because looking at its genetic code, it has a lot of mutations we've seen previously in variants that have been more transmissable as well as variants that might be able to decrease the effectiveness of our vaccines as well as our antibodies. the trouble is just because you see it in the genetic code, you're not actually sure how the virus will behave in the laboratory or humans. the other concern is south africa has seen a spike of cases. the question is is it because the new strain? we are actually getting information from the laboratory over the next two weeks about how these -- this variant behaves with the new -- with the current vaccines. and over the next few weeks, how it behaves in human population. >> doctor krrk, we lost a bit of your audio. i want to clarify. on the timeline piece, what do you think the timeline is when we start to answer questions about omicron more specifically? >> sorry about that. technology. >> i hear you. >> two weeks from now, i think up to two weeks, maybe even sooner, we might get more information about how this virus behaves in the laboratory. and potential to decrease the effectiveness of vaccines. i think it's going to be a matter of weeks or a month to get a good idea in terms of transmissability and clinical features of the availability as well. weeks to a month i think is what we're looking at. >> weeks to a month. in the meantime, the words of the president, caution, not panic. thank you all. up next, more on this challenging moment for president biden as he tries to get a handle on the rise of the omicron variant and get his party back on track ahead of the midterms. and later, an update from overseas as talks resume between the western world and iran. over trying to resurrect the iran nuclear deal before it's too late to matter. you're watching "meet the press daily". so when my windshield cracked... the experts at safelite autoglass came right to me... with service i could trust. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ people, with quickbooks live someone else will do your books for you. they'll even pair you with an expert bookkeeper like me, who knows your business. knows... your... business! expert bookkeepers who understand your business. intuit quickbooks live bookkeeping. re-entering data that employees could enter themselves? that's why i get up in the morning! i have a secret method for remembering all my hr passwords. my boss doesn't remember approving my time off. let's just... find that email. the old way of doing business slows everyone down. with paycom, employees enter and manage their own hr data in one easy-to-use software. visit paycom.com for a free demo. super emma just about sleeps in her cape. but when we realized she was battling sensitive skin, we switched to tide hygienic clean free. it's gentle on her skin, and out cleans our old free detergent. tide hygienic clean free. hypoallergenic and safe for sensitive skin. this is elodia. she's a recording artist. 1 of 10 million people that comcast has connected to affordable internet in the last 10 years. and this is emmanuel, a future recording artist, and one of the millions of students we're connecting throughout the next 10. through projectup, comcast is committing $1 billion so millions more students, past... and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities. welcome back. to say this represents an urgent moment for the white house would be a massive understatement as president biden faces growing public concern about a new covid variant amid a brutal stretch for democrats politically. here to help us dive more into the white house's response to the many challenges facing it is bureau chief and host of "way too early" jonathan lamire. put it into context what we heard from the president. how crucial are the next couple weeks? this is the person elected to reign in covid and now the beast is back again. >> garrett, and what this news underscores is that the pandemic is in many ways the be all and end all of the biden presidency. he was elected as you say in many ways to manage this pandemic more effectively and as predecessor donald trump. i think by almost any account, the first few months he was successful in doing that. the vaccines were ramped up and distributed. people started getting shots in arms. cases started to decline across the country. we saw this administration and the nation itself hit some obstacles over the summer. the delta variant caught them by surprise coming soon after a july 4th event to mark the independence from the virus or event that many of the white house regret. and then, of course the u.s. has had to battle with stubborn pockets of vaccine hesitancy and flatout resistance. largely in republican strongholds. much of the frustration of this administration, and just as they try to turn the page, they try to focus on the legislative accomplishment, the bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law, turns to the senate to get the build back better act through, they have to deal with it again. and the aides i've spoken to deeply concerned about where this variant could go. >> what other tools does the white house still have in their tool kit? we heard a question at remarks by the question about a domestic airline mandate. it seems like anything the president could do, he's sort of already done. >> yeah. that is true. they have pushed mandates. even the vaccine mandates we've seen so far, ones the president didn't want to embrace early on. it was something he felt like he had to endorse and support after we saw the rise in the delta cases late summer and over the fall. you know, expect the rhetoric to be strong. we heard him repeatedly say today even acknowledging americans are probably tired of him saying it that americans need to get the vaccines. and if you've already gotten the two doses and it's been more than six months, get the booster. kids can. 5 to 11 get the shots. it's only so effective. there are still so many americans not doing it. it's not clear the white house really has much left in the arsenal to get more americans to get the shots. although, we should hear more from the president. he said he'd have a detailed plan on thursday. today was more about just trying to tell americans hey, this is serious. we know it. but it's not the time for caution. not yet panic. >> i'm -- i'm curious if you think it's not going to stop anything in terms of omicron at this point. but the argument about whether the best thing we could possibly be doing from a global health perspective, from a stopping the pandemic perspective is to work on the global vaccination push. are there voices in the white house, folks telling the president the best thing we can be doing isn't closing our border to other countries. it's massively upgrading our effort to vaccinate those places where you might still be able to get shots into arms perhaps easier than with the folks here who refuse to do so? >> yeah. we've seen the travel restrictions already come under some criticism include from the world health organization who says it's not going to do any good and unfairly targets a country like south africa. there are some in the white house who for some time have suggested there should be more of an emphasis to vaccinating the world. to be fair, the white house and the u.s. has ramped up efforts and distributed more vaccines around the globe than anybody else by quite a bit. but still, falling short of what most experts believe is needed. and certainly, here in the u.s., those of us who have had boosters are grateful for them. there was second guessing if that should be the priority. boosters versus vaccines around the globe. they're going to try to ramp up more and more shots globally. as long as very pockets of unvaccinated people in the u.s. or around the world, there are going to be more variants like this. >> jonathan lemire. thank you. this is the late part of your shift here. thank you. up next, it's an ever-growing to do lists for democrats on capitol hill which includes keeping the lights on with funding expected to expire at the end of the week. as we celebrate the binning of hanukkah, history was made with the nation's first second gentleman helping to kick off the national menorah lighting last night. saying let us remember always that jewish history is american history. he is also the first jewish spouse of a sitting president or vice president ever. we'll be right back. you're watching "meet the press daily". with deep repair has the science to show that the toothpaste goes deep inside the exposed dentin to help repair sensitive teeth. my patients are able to have that quality of life back. i recommend sensodyne repair and protect with deep repair. alice loves the scent of gain so much, she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice and long-lasting gain scent beads. try spring daydream, now part of our irresistible scent collection. welcome back. if you thought your holiday season to do list was long, you should come down and join us at the capitol. congress is facing several deadlines before the end of 2021 which includes everything from passing president bide en's entire domestic agenda to keeping the federal government's lights on. government funding runs out friday. and while there is some progress on punting the deadline to january, something will have to make its way to the president's desk by the end of the week or the government shuts down. december 15th is the debt ceiling deadline. there isn't a solution in place to avoid a default. chuck schumer and others want the build back better bill wrapped up by the end of the year because that's when a host of covid relief things expire including the child tax credit. leigh ann caldwell has more. >> reporter: it could be a december to remember. we'll see how this month plays out. but starting friday, this is the first big deadline. and perhaps maybe the most important, although, there's a lot of important deadlines. so the republicans and democrats are talking about perhaps extending government funding until january. maybe mid january or late january. we'll see if the republicans are on board. but i expect republicans to try to extract as much as possible knowing democrats are in a tough position, and they could make it difficult for democrats. >> leigh ann, on the build back better bill, we're all about to become procedural experts as happens this time of year with this senate parliamentarian doing their scrub, the so-called birdbath of legislation. can you explain what it might look like and what might not make the cut before the senate gets working on the bill? >> yeah. so the birdbath. going through the senate rules to determine if the legislation is in compliance with those senate rules, remember, it's a reconciliation bill. it has to comply with the budget. so the parliamentarian is the best interpreter of those senate rules. so democrats sit in a room with republicans at the same time. they're all at the same table with the parliamentarian, and each side makes their case for individual provisions. let's take immigration. this is going to be perhaps the most challenged provision of this build back better plan. democrats are going to argue that it does comply with senate rules and that it is necessary and that it should stay in the bill. republicans are going to say this has nothing to do with the budget. they're trying to provide legal status for millions of immigrants. that doesn't impact the budget. the parliamentarian is going to hear both sides and ask questions and then she will give her decision, her ruling within the next week or so. so they're -- that's going to be a process that's going to happen over and over again on many of the provisions, but immigration is the one we're watching the closest. >> an opaque process, but well explained. thank you. for more, let's turn to wisconsin democratic congressman. for our purposes, thankfully he's also on the appropriations committee. congressman, are you guys going to fund the government? >> well, first thanks for having me, garrett. we will. i think there's going to be an extension probably to mid january to give us a little more time. look, any time you have a 50/50 senate, less than a hand vote of vote margin in the house, it's like juggling cats on a high wire with a fire under you and a head wind. nothing is to do in congress these days. we're going to need a little more time while we're finishing build back better and finishing deadlines. we wish the republicans would be more cooperative in helping us get some of these things done. things like the debt ceiling should be a no-brainer if we've already committed to the expense, we should commit to paying the expense. but it could be delayed into mid january. >> speaking of delayed into mid january, the senate is now about to get their hands on the build back better bill. joe manchin has been saying he doesn't want to deal with this until next year. let's say they do get started on it in the not too distant future. do you think it's realistic to expect that bill back in your chamber before the end of the year? and is there anything that joe manchin could do to that bill? is there any changes that could be made in the senate that would be redlines for you where you say this is not for me anymore? >> yeah. i think if the senate can get it done, we'll meet in the house no matter what say it is. i'm going to say maybe not christmas, but maybe even including christmas. because this bill is so important for the american people. if the senate can get it done, we'll get it done through the house. there's no question. as far as lines in the sand, we've tried not to say that. remember, when the progressive caucus kind of held out voting on the infrastructure bill, that started negotiations. much of the bill, i would say over 95%, is already precleared. there's a few items yet that we don't have total clearance with the senate on. and some of those things could be at risk. but otherwise, you know, i think we're in a pretty good place on most of the measures, and at the end of the day when the bill passes and the average family making $100,000 a year and have a kid in child care, they're going to see about $8500 savings just in their child care, plus the child tax credit will add another 3600 for that child. that's almost $1,000 a month. that's a real difference in people's lives. and that's what's in the build back better bill. that's why it's so important. >> i'm curious. when you look at this bill, it is a long list of provisions which i know is a huge positive for you, but also can be kind of a negative i think in selling it. it's not the bill that does x. it's the bill that does a, b yrk c, and so on. when you're talking to your constituents, what do people say to you, this is the thing i want the most or if you had to pick one provision that's the most resonant thing in your voters? >> you're right. i mean, this is going to require all of us going around our districts and the president going around the country talking about the measures that are in here. because there's so much that's going to benefit so many. i think what i just mentioned that child care provision, is huge. right? not just because it helps women enter the work force, because all the work we did around covid, six of the seven jobs went to men, not women. this really helps to change that. but also it's just something that is so needed to get people back into the work force period. we were told by our business associations in wisconsin the number one thing holding people back from taking jobs was the issue of child care. there's a lot of good stuff in that bill. i think the child care provisions help on a number of levels. >> i want to try to ask you two quick questions about what i'm sure is your favorite subject, your house republican colleagues. i don't know how much attention you were paying over the week off, but this episode between the congresswoman from -- she was called out by omar who she targeted with them. she apologized. do you take that apology as sincere, and what do you make of this ongoing situation we have seen with house republicans saying outlandish things time and time again and the action that has to be taken to reign things in in the house? >> first, i don't think it was sincere if you look at her words. it was kind of i had to say this and i don't mean it apologies. the reality is republicans have to quit playing to an audience of one. they all wanted to have donald trump their cult leader happy with them. and they'll say and do almost anything to make him happy. kevin mccarthy needs to be the minority leader which means he has to be calling more of the shots. not just trying to get into the world record book for longest speeches. he needs to do what he needs to do which is tell his members look, you know, we're adults here. we can't treat our constituents as insulting as beobert said. she insulted muslims across the country. it was insulting especially to another member of congress. that's his job. quit playing to donald trump, an audience of one. two, kevin mccarthy, do your job. >> i wonder if you think this is the same audience of one, ronny jackson who tweeted ant the omicron variant. here comes the nev, midterm election variant. they need a reason to push nationwide mail-in ballots. democrats will do anything to cheat during an election. we're not going to let them. identify flexible mind, but it's hard for me to get into a space where another covid variant could help democrats. has the covid response become too politicized for there to be anymore action on covid response? >> we know at least 65 republicans supposedly haven't been vaccinated in congress. that's stunning given all the information we have on covid. but i've al been told that our house physician doesn't release the data of who has been -- who has gotten a vaccination. not that we get names because of hipaa, but they don't release it to registries because there's some members getting vaccinated but don't want to admit to it. how far more -- you can't go much further into crazy land than that. this is appealing to what they donald trump wants to hear. the republican party has to be a political party, not a modern cult. it's going to take more than kinzinger and cheney to get it done. >> a bizarre dynamic on the vaccination and not wanting to talk about it if you are. one bit of 2022 news before the break. another house democrat not seeking reelection. tom suozzi announced he's running for governor instead, joining a crowd. he made a run in 2006 but was defeated by spitzer. he is the 18th house democrat not seeking another term next year. it could be an early indication about how democrats feel of their chance of holding the majority after the 2022 midterms. his long island district is one that is sure to be targeted by republicans. and up next, an update from outside the federal courthouse in new york as opening statements began in the sex trafficking trial of jeffrey epstein confidant ghislaine maxwell. you're watching "meet the press daily". t music] still fresh ♪ in wash-scent booster ♪ downy unstopables - hi, i'm steve. - i'm lea. and we live in north pole, alaska. - i'm a retired school counselor. 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[steve] we met online about 10 years ago. as i got older, my hearing was not so good so i got hearing aids. my vision was not as good as it used to be, got a change in prescription. but the thing missing was my memory. i saw a prevagen commercial and i thought, "that makes sense." i just didn't have to work so hard to remember things. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. you don't get much time for yourself. so when you do, make it count with crest pro-health.things. it protects the 8 areas dentists check for a healthier mouth. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. crest. welcome back. the long-awaited trial of ghislaine maxwell begins today in new york. her high profile trial will likely last six weeks and include testimony from at least four of epstein's accusers. prosecutors say maxwell helped recruit, groom and eventually abuse victims who were minors at the time. she's pleaded not guilty to the charges against her. her trial begins more than a year after she was first charged with federal sex trafficking and more than two years after epstein was found dead in his manhattan jail cell after he was charged with sex trafficking minors. the medical examiner ruled it a suicide. joining me now from manhattan is the investigation's correspondent tom winter and also glen kerrshner. what can we expect to learn in this trial? >> well, i think what we're going to learn is a couple things. i think as you said, we're going to hear from some of the victims. obviously the four victims here that were included in the indictment, but i think another thing we're going to get are other potential victims here or alleged victims who can help speak to the conspiracy counts. so i think we're going to get more than just the four that are mentioned in that indictment. on top of that, i think we're going to get other people including employees for epstein who can testify to some of the things they saw and help corroborate the stories from young women. in addition to that, i expect we'll get certain items of evidence. one of the things the judge talked about is she's at least going to hear testimony, whether or not she'll end up admitting the evidence is a different question, but she's going to hear testimony about that infamous epstein black book which may contain some of the underage at the time victims. we might get that included as well. i think it's going to round out the understanding of this world. another important thing, a lot of people are saying the tabloids are saying this is the trial of jeffrey epstein's madame or she was just his conspirator. this is about the abuse she allegedly did herself as well. we should hear some testimony about that. i fully expected when i first saw that i was going to be speaking with you today that i would be coming out here now and able to tell you what the prosecution, the defense said in their opening statements even what perhaps a witness or two had already testified to. because of some juror issues, and logistic issues that happened with the jurors this morning, we haven't even had opening statements yet. but as soon as i'm done speaking with you, i anticipate being able to walk into the courtroom and the jurors coming in from the lunch break and this trial beginning in earnest as we get the opening statements, about 25 minutes for the prosecution. that's what they've told the judge. the defense says they'll take a little under an hour. >> i won't hold you responsible for juror issues just this once, tom. glenn, who has the bigger challenge here? the prosecutors or the defense team? i mean, maxwell has had the most public case of this kind i can think of in a long time. >> you know, i think there are challenges all around. because these charges date back to the 1990s. some of them. there will be this natural attack on the witnesses that their memories have faded and why didn't they come forward earlier on in the process? but i think ultimately the defense team is going to have some really difficult tactical choices to make. for example, do they want to attack the credibility of these victims who were very young at the time epstein and maxwell were alleged to have committed the crimes against them? once you start attacking victims, you run the risk of alienating the jurors against the defense team and by extension, the defendant. you know, the other thing is how much do they want to demonize jeffrey epstein during the kourgs of the trial? that could break one of two ways. if they can paint him as the monster he apparently was, well, then the jury might say yeah, but maxwell was right there with him lock step, helping him develop these victims and enabling his crimes against these young girls. but the other way -- >> glenn, can i jump in on that? that's the good point. is there a risk for the prosecutors in they try to make this a trial of jeffrey epstein? i mean, to link the two of them together and say every bad thing he did, she does also? >> there's not only a risk, i think the judge has cut back a good bit of the evidence that we might have otherwise expected. like, you know, we may be interested in epstein's relationship with prince andrew or bill clinton or donald trump. but it sounds like the judge is going to keep the focus pretty narrow, on whether the evidence supports the crimes charged against mac well. -- maxwell. it could also break if you demonize epstein, well, then what the defense might want to do is say he was so powerful. he was so manipulative. he was such a sven golly figure, that he held so much sway over ghislaine maxwell, that perhaps she is not fully responsible for her own conduct. now, that is not what i would call a legal defense. for example, of duress. but it can certainly be an emotional defense that could resonate with one or more of the jurors. and let's face it. the next best thing for a defendant to an outright acquittal, a not guilty verdict is a hung jury. they may look for one or two people in the jury box and try to appeal to their emotions as much as appeal to their sense of the facts and the law. >> glenn, i only have less than a minute left. i want to ask you about another case of high interest to both you and i, the january 6th investigation and the steve bannon contempt case. it does not appear yet that the contempt charge against steve bannon has shaken loose more testimony. is the january 6th committee at any risk of kind of being exposed for not having the ability to really follow through on their subpoenas and compel testimony if steve bannon never ends up having to testify and if others don't feel compelled to come forward so they don't share his fate? >> yeah. boy, do they ever run the risk of looking weak? first, they continue to refuse to use their own power of inherent contempt to compel testimony, and it's inexplicable to 34e why. but, for example, mark meadows on the exact day that steve bannon was indicted by a federal grand jury in d.c. of contempt of congress, mark meadows committed the precise same crime. he thumbed his nose at a congressional season and didn't bother showing up. i think it's time for the house select committee to step up, pull out the stops and hold these people accountable for being in contempt. >> and we may see another contempt vote in the house coming up pretty soon. tom and glenn, thank you both. i know we'll be talking about both of these cases mr. >> talks to salvage the nuclear deal with iran is continuing today as the rogue nation continues to increase the stockpiles of uranium. you're watching "meet the press daily". they customize my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. how about a throwback? 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we're on it. we're on it. with jardiance. ask your doctor about jardiance. we're back with some breaking news on the case i was just discussing with glenn kirchner. the january 6th committee will meet to discuss whether to hold jeffrey clark in contempt. we've just seen the process play out for steve bannon. unlike with steve bannon, clark answered a summons to appear before the committee in early november but when he did so, he didn't answer any questions. committee members say they were incredibly frustrated that clark simply refused to engage with them on questions about his meetings with the president, on planning around the end of the former president's term. now perhaps we'll see if they decide to pursue this contempt citation against clark as well. members of the january 6th committee have also spoken recently about pursuing a similar recommendation of contempt against mark meadows, former chief of staff, then chief of staff to president trump, who would arguably have a longer argument of privilege. we'll be back with more "meet the press daily" right after this. this up the stairs. when you have an irregular heartbeat, it's more. it's dignity. the freedom to go where you want, knowing your doctor can watch over your heart. ♪♪ ♪ limu emu... & doug ♪ ♪ superpowers from a spider bite? 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(gasps) ♪ did it work? only pay for what you need ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ spider-man no way home in theaters december 17th ♪upbeat music♪ transitions™ light under control. ♪upbeat music♪ transitions™ signature gen 8™ available now, in 4 vibrant style colors. transitions™ when you really need to sleep you reach for the really good stuff.vibrant style colors. new zzzquil ultra helps you sleep better and longer when you need it most. it's non habit forming and powered by the makers of nyquil. new zzzquil ultra. when you really really need to sleep. the xfinity black friday sales event is happening now on xfinity mobile. now new and existing customers can get our best wireless deal of the year - up to $1,000 in savings - for a limited time only. on the most reliable network nationwide, plus nationwide 5g. act now and save up to $1,000 with xfinity mobile. so you can go all out on gifts for the family - during our best wireless deal of the year... the xfinity black friday sales event. click, call or visit a store today. welcome back. talks on the iran nuclear deal restarted this morning in vienna without the direct involvement of the united states. the negotiations aim to revive the nuclear deal arranged in 2015 but a few major issues stand in the way. the u.s. has an indirect line into the talks but it's unclear how much we'll be able get done through back channels. trump pulled out of the deal in 2018, making it harder than ever to curb uranium production. for more on the talks i'm joined by ben rhodes, former deputy national security adviser in the obama white house who worked on the original negotiations in 2015. he's also an msnbc contributor. ben, however do you think negotiations can go with us basically passing notes to our allies? >> they can't go that far, garrett. i think you can test whether the iranians are at all serious about coming back into something like the 2015 nuclear deal. our u.s. envoy will be there in the same hotel that the iranians will be meeting with the other world powers that were part of that deal, the europeans, the russians, the chinese. a lot of what the u.s. and the biden administration has been doing in the run-up to these negotiations is talking to those countries to try to put to the test whether iran is serious about a pathway back to the deal trump pulled out of in 2018. >> is the best our envoy can hope for is to run into the iranians in the elevator or the gym? what are the best case scenario options that come out of this? >> i think the best case scenario options are if there's an indication that the iranian side is actually entertaining proposals about how do you sequence a path back to the deal and how do you halt the advance of their nuclear program, since the u.s. pulled out of that deal in 2018, they basically have resumed their nuclear program again and it's reaching dangerous levels in terms of their capacity to develop weapons grade enriched uranium, the kind of material you need for a nuclear bomb. you want to stop the clock on the progress iran is making and then you want a sequence to get back to the kind of restrictions that were in place before the u.s. pulled out of the deal. the iranians can indicate whether they're serious or not to those world powers that we've been working very closely with over the years and the u.s. can get a sense from that. another indication is in the iranians get in the room with the u.s. negotiating team as well, that would be a signal that they would meaningful negotiations instead of dragging this out and playing for time. >> is stopping the clock enough at this point? turning back the clock seems almost impossible, but is stopping the clock, where iran is now in their development of potentially a nuclear weapon, good enough for the united states? is it good enough for israel? and a would we make a deal or allow our allies to make a deal that wasn't good enough for them? >> stopping the clock is preferable to the direction we're on, which is if iran continues to advance its nuclear program at the pace it's moving at, we're going to face a real crisis in the coming months. now, stopping the clock isn't sufficient to address the concerns that the u.s., israel, and other countries have. you would like to be back under the kinds of restrictions that were in place under the nuclear deal. so the irony of this all is this kind of a crisis manufactured by the fact that first trump pulls out of the deal, then iran, predictably, resumes its nuclear activity, then iran elected a more hard line president earlier this year. this is a different cast of iranian characters than the one who negotiated the 2015 deal. i think what people need to consider here is that if we continue on the current course, without stopping the clock or rolling back that program, the biden team is going to have a very serious foreign policy challenge on our hands in 2022. >> we have about ten seconds left. would we be in anything like this mess had we stayed in the deal in 2018? >> no, this is a complete own goal, because all of the progress iran has made is just because donald trump had wanted to moment of pulling out of the nuclear deal, and here we are. everybody predicted this is exactly what would happen, the iranians would restart their program and we would be back in crisis mode. >> ben rhodes with a soccer reference. msnbc coverage continues with aaron gilchrist. good afternoon, everyone. u.s. officials are warning the omicron variant is probably already here. rather than panic, this is far more productive to plan for the inevitable. in the last few hours new york city instituted what it's calling a mask advisory meaning everyone is encouraged to wear a mask indoors even if you've been vaccinated. now, take a look at the map here. you can see it's just a matter of time. spain today becoming the latest country to confirm the omicron variant is there. and as we cover what is obviously a significant development here, it's important to note there is a lot more that we don't know about omicron than we do. that's not surprising. we know it takes time for the science to catch up to a new