good morning, and welcome to "way too early," the show that will look for the lighting of the rockefeller christmas tree right outside later this evening. there it is. i'm jon lemire on this wednesday, december 1. let's start with the news. in an effort to detect and contain any cases of the omicron variant comes into the united states, top health officials are expanding a surveillance nation at some of the nation's biggest busiest airports. four at new york, newark, atlanta and san francisco. here's what cdc director rochelle walensky said yesterday at yesterday's covid release. >> this allows for specific arrival increasing capacity to identify those with covid-19 on arrival to the united states and enhancing our surveillance of the omicron variant. to be crystal clear, we have far more tools to fight the variant today than we had at this time last year. we are actively looking for the omicron variant right here in the united states. right now, there's no evidence of omicron in the united states. but the delta variant remains a predominant circulating strain. >> a white house official tells nbc news that the biden administration is also considering more stringent testing requirements for international travel. but no final decisions have been made. the head of moderna, meanwhile, is warning that existing vaccines may be much less effective against the omicron variant than they've been against dlt. in an interview with the financial times, moderna's ceo said mutations of omicron and rapid spread in south africa suggests that current vaccines may need to be modified next year. at the same time, the co-founder of biontech tells "the wall street journal" that while omicron may infect more vaccinated people, it will lightly remain protected against severe illness. he said this, our message is don't freak out. the plan remains the same. speed up the administration of a third booster shot. turning now to the country's latest school shooting. three students are dead and eight other people injured after a shooting at a high school in detroit. the suspected shooter is a sophomore at the school. meagan fitzgerald has the details. >> reporter: horror in the hallways of another american school. >> it's a very tragic incident. >> reporter: the shooting happening just outside of detroit. authorities say the first 911 coming in at 12:51 p.m. they received over 100 calls. a 15-year-old sophomore opening fire with a semi-automatic handgun, killing three students, injuring eight others including a teacher. shooting 20 rounds an officer on campus quickly moving in. >> deputies responded within five minute has the suspect in custody. he did not cause any problems. he gave the weapon up. >> reporter: authorities say the suspect is not cooperating and it's too soon to know the motive. parents in this tight-knit community visibly shaken and holding their kids close. >> you never think this would happen here. >> the kids just -- it's i'm so scared for them. >> reporter: fear gripping the town as president biden tries comforting those mourning. >> as we learn the full details, my heart goes out to the families during the unimaginable grief of losing a loved one. >> i think this is every parents' worst nightmare. >> our thanks to nbc's meagan fitzgerald for that report. we'll go live during "morning joe." it's a controversial day at the u.s. supreme court, justices will hear arguments about a mississippi abortion law which bans women more than 15 weeks pregnant from getting an abortion. to hold up a landmark roe v. wade decision which protects a woman's right to choose. the cdc reports 95% of abortions take place by that 15 week of pregnancy. joining us julie manchester. julie, great to see you. you just moments ago, published a piece over how the supreme court decisions loom over the decision. tell us what you mean. >> you know, jonathan, we won't know this decision until june of 2022. that's only a couple months, really, ahead of the november midterms. on the left, what we're seeing on both sides of abortion to date are groups galvanizing their respective bases and looking to persuade voters. for example, the number on the ground for key senate and house swing states really trying to knock on doors and persuade those voters, inform the voters about their views on the issue. and on the other side, planned parenthood, they're essentially doing the same thing with senate and house candidates. so, i think what this shows is once again, abortion and the threat of roe v. wade being overturned will once again be center of the elections in the united states. >> so, there's been a lot of eyes recently on texas' new abortion law. but this is different. this has been perceived as one that could indeed overturn roe v. wade. walk us through what we should respect? what justices can be looking at these arguments as we're looking ahead towards summer as you say. but if roe v. wade gets overturned that does that mean for states? >> to answer your first question are the new trump appointed conservative justices, brett kavanaugh, neil gorsuch and amy coney barrett. this is the first case that amy coney barrett will hear arguments since taking her seat formally on the court. so, that's something we're obviously watching. whether chief justice john roberts had how he moves on the case, whether he wants to take that institutional risk of overturning an over 40-year-old decision, that will be something to watch as well. in terms of what happens if roe v. wade is overturned we'll have to head to a specific state and specific localities. i think what you'll see is a lot of conserve-leaning states really move to ban abortion in their states. you're already seeing this take place, texas, for example, where abortion is obviously limited. people looking to get abortions traveling out of state to find more viable options, for example. you know, those on the abortion rights side of the debate would argue that making abortion illegal would lead to more undercover, more dangerous abortions, that are not being done, you know, comfortably or safely. that's something they're arguing and so we'll be watching that. >> and, july lehr, just very briefly, give us a sense of the mechanics. people are tuning in keenly to see what happens. when is it going to happen and how long is it going to take? >> oral arguments begin at 10:00 a.m. while no cameras are allowed in the courtroom, you will be able to listen to the audio. in terms of how long it takes, i think we will be definitely be in for an hour-long argument. >> the hill's julie manchester, thank you for being here. still ahead, the former chief of staff mark meadows is on the january 6th committee. and mitch mcconnell up to joe manchin as democrats struggle to pass the massive spending plan. those and more as we come back and look at a predawn u.s. capitol. frequent heartburn? not anymore. the prilosec otc two-week challenge is helping people love what they love again. just one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. because life starts when heartburn stops. take the challenge at prilosecotc dot com. some people have joint pain, plus have high blood pressure. they may not be able to take just anything for pain. that's why doctors recommend tylenol®. it won't raise blood pressure the way that advil® aleve® or motrin® sometimes can. for trusted relief, trust tylenol®. new vicks vapostick. strong soothing vapors... help comfort your loved ones. that advil® aleve® or motrin® sometimes can. for chest, neck, and back. it goes on clear. no mess just soothing comfort. try new vicks vapostick. i've lost count of how many asthma attacks i've had. but my nunormal with nucala? 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[screams and laughter] yeah! xfinity brought us together after all. get started with xfinity internet and ask about wifi speed fast than a gig. click, call or visit a store today. former white house chief of staff mark meadows has produced records to the january 6th select committee and will soon appear for a deposition. committee chair bennie thompson said in a statement that meadows who is being charged for failure to appear for a deposition last month has been engaging with the committee through his attorney. meadows' counsel said he's continuing to work through, quote, accommodation that does not require mr. meadows to waive and the lawyer added we appreciate the select committee's openness to chiefing voluntary responses on nonprivileged topic. in that a believe interview with politico, liz cheney said meadows will be deposed next week. senate senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is launching a new bill the build back better bill that mcconnell is focusing accomplishments on the sole democrat that many believe may scuttle it. >> we all know it may take one democrat to attack it. most of us feel the single best thing to fight inflation right now would be to kill this bill. and only one democrat could do that. are we hopeful that one will step forward? absolutely. senator manchin loves to talk to everybody. he talks to you. he talks to us. we had a great discussion. i enjoy it. joe's company, our stakes are similar. our viewer, part of our responsibility is to look at what most people refer to as flaw of our country. there's no question that today's democratic party in washington is oriented towards the high population coastal areas of the country. so, i admire senator manchin. i think he's in a really challenging position and a party that has dominated sort of the east coast elitism views of what america ought to look like. i pull for him every day and pray for him every night. >> it should be noted that manchin also spent time with democratic majority leader chuck schumer this week. mr. schumer who likes to play politics indeed met with manchin yesterday. he believes that he and mcconnell are quote agreeable on the same things. every democratic senator will be needing to vote for the build back better for it to pass, it also includes senator sinema of arizona who we talk a lot about. a group run by the former chief of staff for vice president mike pence is spending thousands to blanket ads across west virginia that cast manchin as someone saving them from joe biden's agenda. take a look at this. >> fortunately, joe manchin's got our backs. he understands the importance of putting west virginia people ahead of washington politics. tell manchin keep fighting for us. >> those ads come, though, as democrat ally groups also put out their own ads across the country as part of an aggressive new push to get through president biden's new agenda. my colleagues and i on politico reported about that earlier. a nail-biter, plus new questions whether lebron james tested positive for covid despite being fully vaccinated. sports, next. sports, next for fast-acting sore throat relief. wooo vaporize sore throat pain with vicks vapocool drops. to be a thriver with metastatic breast cancer means asking for what we want. and need. and we need more time. so, we want kisqali. women are living longer than ever before with kisqali when taken with an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant in postmenopausal women with hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer. kisqali is a pill that's significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant alone. kisqali can cause lung problems, or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems, and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, cough, chest pain, a change in your heartbeat, dizziness, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills or other symptoms of an infection, a severe or worsening rash, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. avoid grapefruit during treatment. ask your doctor about living longer with kisqali. 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-- no, cup snake. with the media company 10,000 tapes brought fans together to assemble the stack measuring 247 feet. bill karins, the 247-foot cup snake is proof that america is already great. now, it's time for the weather. give us the forecast there, the christmas tree, as we noted is being lit this evening just outside of rockefeller plaza. what's the weather look like here and across the rest of the country? >> yeah. i don't know when the whole cup snake really started. there's the tree. you know, lights will go on later on tonight. you can see the wind's blowing there a little bit on the plaza. so weather forecast is good today. some years, it's raining, snowing and the performances outside aren't very good. today should be a great show. let's get to december. yes, welcome to december. here's your december outlook, overall, temperatures are starting very mild. and it looks like much of the country will see above average temperatures. if you're not covered in blue, that means you're not going to be below average, or just regular earth shades. drier than normal is what we want in areas of southern california. especially for december, when you got wet weather there, pacific northwest is like, no thank you, we don't need more wet weather. as far as snow goes it's lackluster. you've probably seen the headlines. denver is still waiting for the first snow of the season. typically, it's late october and beginning of november. and the next five days, it's paltry, right along the border of canada, from missouri, michigan, portions of northern new england. so there's not a lot of snow to be had. and right now, only 11% of the lower 48 is covered in snow. that's one of the lowest we've seen in the last 20 years. as i said, there's really no snow coming. jonathan, take a look at this temperature map. this is the first day of december. if i just showed you this map, you'd have no clue it was december. oklahoma city, atlanta, everybody wondering where the cold is. >> what possibly could be behind these warming trends. bill karins, we appreciate it, thank you so much. still ahead, growing tension between far-right republicans and more traditional conservatives was on full display yesterday and gop leaders stayed silent. we'll talk about what kind of impact this infighting could have on the party and perhaps the midterms. before we go to break, we want to know why are you awake that doesn't involve a cup snake. email your reasons to waytooearly@msnbc.com. be sure to use the #waytooearly. we'll read the answers later on in the show. memory supplements, neuriva plus fuels six key indicators of brain performance. more brain performance? 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delete it. i'm deleting it. so break free from the big three. xfinity internet customers take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings. or visit an xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes it easy to switch and save hundreds. ♪♪ welcome back to "way too early." it's just before 5:30 on the east coast. 2:30 out west. i'm jonathan lemire. the most recents ma'amicphobic remarks from congresswoman lauren boebert has sparked a bitter battle within the republican party that spilled out on social media yesterday. it started out as marjorie taylor greene tweeted calling mace trash with the remarks. mace replied with a series of emojis calling greene crazy but in far more colorful terms. two other republicans jumped in. it was a mess. "the new york times" summed up like this, the carnival-like behavior would amount to little more than a side show if it did not have real implications for midterm campaigns and possibly a fractured republican majority in 2023. party leaders chose to remain mum as their back benchers brawled and democrats took full advantage of the spectacle. and kevin mccarthy has yet to comment on boebert's remarks. the latest from cnn in an event in september. in it she told the same bigoted joke we heard from the november 20th event where she implied that congresswoman omar could be. and then giving an apology, anyone in the community i've offended but of note did not apologize to omar directly. the two spoke on the phone monday and both admit the covering did not go well. in a conversation monday night, congresswoman omar said she played a phone call with boebert. we want to warn you it's extremely graphic. >> we've seen [ bleep ] we know what you're about to, don't worry there is plenty that would love the opportunity to take you off the face of [ bleep ] earth. come get it [ bleep ] you jihadist. >> that disgusting message went on to say that she will, quote, not live much longer. congresswoman boebert went on to say that anyone that holds accountable silent. joining us co-founder of punchbowl news, jake, let's start there. what are you hearing on the ground about leadership's next steps if any on these respective feuds is mccarthy or anyone else who carries any weight in the gop planning on doing or saying anything on any of this? >> yeah. so, they have a closed party meeting today, where mccarthy is going to address this behind-the-scenes. we're told he's not going to dwell on this. this is a political meeting at the republican congressional committee. they're not holding a meeting after that which they normally do so they clearly don't want to address this. a few thoughts, jon, when you were talking this is what happens in a large sense when republicans don't get control of their primary process. house republicans have declined to get involved in primaries and get their candidate that they favor through primaries. they say they don't want to put their finger on the scale, they want to let voters decide. when you let voters decide, it's without any intervention, without any campaigning. you sometimes get members of congress you that don't want sand that you can't control. it's an unfortunate reality that a lot of people like mitch mcconnell have come to grips with over the years. so, it's disgusting. it's embarrassing. "the new york times" i'll say less likely, it's embarrassing for a party that wants to be in control and have these goofball circus-like fights. and on top of just the disgusting comments about the muslim faith and members of congress, it's just embarrassing episode for republicans. >> certainly so. you're right to highlight the dynamic where you have perhaps establishment-favored candidates being beaten by these largely trump-backed more fringe potentially elected officials who are harder to control. and give democrats some hope that those maybe can be beaten next november. and the fact that kevin mccarthy is not holding a news conference today profile encouraged there for sure. jake, while i have you, you guys at punchbowl news were all over the mcconnell/manchin meeting that we talked about on the show with the gop leader laying on the charm, sort of, of that meeting with the senator. so, give us your assessment. where do you think things stand in the senate with the build back better act? we know it passed the house before thanksgiving. the senate has a busy month. it's supposed to pick it up. where is this going, is it going to happen before christmas at all? >> yeah, chuck schumer said yesterday he needs it to happen before christmas. but it all depends on what joe manchin feels at anytime. what joe manchin's move is on a given day. we asked him yesterday if this can get done after christmas after he exited that mitch mcconnell meeting. he said i don't control the clock. of course, he is does control the clock, because he's the only person who does not want to get this done by christmas. at some point, jon, he has to say, we're either going to get this done or i'd rather wait until next year. you know, i kind of think that time is going to come pretty soon. because the leaders need to plan. they have the government funding bill. they have the national defense authorization act, they have debt limit. all of those need to get done in the next 14 or 15 days, so manchin has to make this mind up. >> jake sherman at punchbowl news, a true friend of the show, thank you. >> thanks. still ahead, testimony from the fed chair sends stocks tumbling. what he told senators about boosting the economy amid the battle over inflation and the new omicron variant. 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(vo) ask your doctor if it's right for you. learn how we could help you save on imbruvica. with downy infusions, let the scent set the mood. feel the difference with downy. ask your doctor if it's right for you. at this point, the economy is very strong and inflationary pressures are high. and it is therefore appropriate in my view to consider wraps up the taper of our asset purchases which we actually announce ted november meeting. perhaps a few months sooner. and i expect that we will discuss that at our upcoming meeting in a couple of weeks. >> that's federal reserve chairman jerome powell testifying in front of the senate banking committee yesterday on the state of the economy. for more on that, let's bring in cnbc's julianna tatelbaum joining us live from london. powell's remarks sends stocks reeling. and saying to stop using the word transitory when it comes to inflation. give a sense of what he said yesterday and the impact it had. >> jonathan, yesterday, markets were driven by two big factors. one, those factors around the omicron variant. and secondly, the testimony from the fed chair jerome powell. essentially, he struck an unmistakenly different tone than what the market is used to hearing. saying that he does think that we could be looking at wrapping up the fed asset purchase program sooner than originally anticipated. he said that we've basically seen elevated inflation pressures. we've seen very strong labor market data without any improvement in dab supply. and we've seen seen strong data as well. investors held the comments on the back of the fed chair. with a positive restart and rebound in store and that's similar to what we've seen in the european session. yesterday, european stocks sold off. and today, european markets are rebounding. >> of course, it's the pandemic that influences the economy the most. the fda advisers yesterday voted 13-10 to recommend authorization of a bill to treat covid-19. despite some lingering concerns about the drug's safety and effectiveness. what more can you tell us about that? >> well, this was an incredibly close call. that vote you that mentioned there, 13-10, this is an oral antiviral drug used to treat adults with mild to moderate symptoms of covid-19 that are at risk of developing severe disease. it's a pill taken after onset of symptoms. and it's around efficacy and possibility that it could escape mutant. in terms of the efficacy, merck had originally said the drug was more than 50% effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths. but a more full data set was presented to this expert panel showed it actually had more like 30% efficacy. all in all, the committee did vote in favor of the drug. it still needs final authorization from the fda and the cdc before it's made available on an emergency use basis. it's also worth noting that there are currently no oral antiviral medications to treat covid. so this is a significant development. >> certainly so. new research suggests that tel aviv israel is now the most expensive city in the world. i love lists like this. what else made the top couple, if you got it there? and beyond that, what is the cause for driving up living around the world. supply chain disruption, pandemic, walk us through it. >> well, tel aviv soared this year from fifth to first place. in terms of what drove that jump in rankings, israel more broadly has seen the currency soar against the u.s. dollar leading the way on the vaccination rollout. and that's been the key driver on the currency. more broadly in terms of inflation, pressures and cost of living. supply chain issues no doubt about it. fluctuations in exchange rate and changes in consumer demand has led to a rise in commodity and other goods. transport saw the biggest cost up 21% on average of gasoline in 2021. >> we did see the list. london where you are, didn't crack the top five. we appreciate it. still ahead vladimir putin about crossing his quote, red line. as we go to break, a look at this date in history, 66 years ago, an american hero rosa parks took a stand, or rather, a seat that would solidify her place in history. >> what i felt that it was nair the end, it meant that they said we was satisfied with that treatment. but i didn't want it known as a human being satisfied with that. our sleigh is now ready, let's get on our way. a mountain of toys to fulfill many wishes. must be carried across all roads and all bridges. and when everyone is smiling and having their fun i can turn my sleigh north because my job here is done. it's not magic that makes more holiday deliveries to homes in the us than anyone else, it's the hardworking people of the united states postal service. tide pods ultra oxi one ups the cleaning power of liquid. it's the hardworking people of the can it one up whatever they're doing? for sure. seriously? one up the power of liquid, one up the toughest stains. any further questions? uh uh! one up the power of liquid with tide pods ultra oxi. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ let me just reiterate that aies action by russian as they move to latvia and renewed aggression would trigger serious consequences. ultimately what i would say to you and anyone else, don't judge us by what we do, judge us by what we do. >> that's secretary of state antony blinken who reaffirmed united states to ukraine. on the first days of talks between nato allies and latvia, blinken addressed reports near the ukrainian border. meanwhile, vladimir putin is warning the u.s. against the months crow cross red line. during a forum, putin threatened that if the u.s. and other nato allies continue to help ukraine expand its infrastructure, moscow could unleash hypersonic missiles on its neighbor. that seems bad. joining us professor of the university of london brian haase. he's the author of the new book "corruptible who gets power and how it changes us." brian, we're pleased to have you back on. tensions as you know have been rising for weeks. russia, ukraine, nato all staging exercises. what do you make of this and the new growing threat issued by vladimir putin yesterday. >> yeah, i think this is a very dangerous situation and vladimir putin is testing the limits what he can get away with. and this is a long story. i mean, it goes back to 2014 when when he got away with annexing crimea and with the trump administration where trump repeatedly denigrated nato early on in his presidency. i think the real concern from my point of view, there have been a series of slaps on the wrist for vladimir putin. so what you need to do is think about how power is relational. you can't lead if you don't have followers. and putin has employed the oligarchs in russia. so the west needs to get creative about cutting off the financial resources for those people that prop up vladimir putin. and amass u.s. troops at a border. >> so, yesterday, white house reporter jen psaki commented criticizing the omicron variant for covid-19. you had a strong take about this that we saw on twitter. if you can expand upon that now, tell us why you think this is so dangerous and shouldn't be just dismissed perhaps as the waving of a political loon? >> yeah, i think this is a canary in the coal mine. jackson saying that the omicronsome is a plot by the le faith, believing every scientist in the rest of the world is on a democratic midterm plot. it is insane. i'm in the uk. it is not like all the doctors here are thinking of the democrats' prospects and making their epidemiological judgments accordingly. there are people who don't just fall for this, they keep putting someone like this into office. we need to turn the mirror back on ourselves and say, why has there been a critical thinking failure among people who are diluted but such ridiculous claims that beg our belief. it is dangerous. the more you politicize the virus, the more it'll kill people. we need to stop mincing words. messages like this kill people, and we have to make sure there are consequences for people who are spreading misinformation that is truly deadly. >> one last brief one for you. obviously, as you said, you're in europe. are you seeing a similar phenomenon, where right-wing candidates -- and we have a new presidency going in france, le pen, are we hearing similar rhetoric around the globe, too? >> it is far less politicized. there are obviously people in the uk who are conspiracy theorists and are spreading similar lunacy, but they're much more of a fringe. the mainstream of both left and right in the uk, for example, is on board with most of these things. they're on board with the scientific evidence, the epidemiological proof, and all the right-wing criticisms are within the scientific bounds. so i think there is something actually fundamentally different when i talk to people in the united states about the discourse and how polarized basic science and a deadly virus has become as a result of irresponsible rhetoric, predominantly on the right. >> brian, associate professor at university of college london, thank you. we'll see you again soon. why are you awake? parker writes, i'm up way too early for my first vacation in three years. road tripping from palm beach to tennessee. safe travels. we saw from bill karins, weather is good for a road trip. >> i have one from christina who sends this video with the caption, late night shenanigans. >> man with a tie and a suit walked by you there. >> look, it is live television, folks. david flew back on monday from a short week in paris and is going through breakfast crepe withdrawal. j.d. writes this, i'm awake because of an email i just got that we canceled a flight that was canceled last night and then rescheduled for now. it was just canceled again. j.d., i recommend getting in the car and driving to tennessee. up next, "axios 1 big thing." also, a deadly school shooting. the latest. the surgeon general joins us for what we're facing with this new strain of covid. plus, adam schiff. mark meadows is cooperating with the investigation, but what does that mean? we'll dive into that. and kirsten gill grand and roger marshall show up in a joint interview. 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(vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. with the season of audi. most bladder leak pads were similar. until always discreet invented a pad that protects differently.e the future. with two rapiddry layers. for strong protection, that's always discreet. question your protection. try always discreet. joining us with a look at axios a.m., the publisher, nick johnson. congratulations on the new role and title. what is the axios 1 big thing today? >> thank you. my replacement is my friend, the new editor in chief. we're getting a first look at non-profit fundraising from the year before. remember the clinton foundation, the juggernaut falling 75% off their highs. just $16 million raised last year. there's a lot of factors driving that. a big one, of course, the pandemic. the clinton foundation was famous for giant events in new york on the sideline of the united nations assembly. that was a primary driver of their fundraising. the pandemic put all that on hold. of course, the big leaders of the foundation, senator clinton, former president clinton, are receding from public life. they're not running for president, so they're less in the public eye and raising less money from private donors. something else to remember, there is a source of controversy during the campaign. secretary clinton's run for the presidency, a lot of critics said the foundation was a way for foreign governments and big corporations to get close to the foundation. so already, before the pandemic, it had begun to slightly reduce some of its fundraising and exposure. the foundation is hoping fundraising will bounce back and hope to get public events back online. something in the new fundraising world is showing the clinton foundation isn't as big as it used to be and may not get that big again. >> switching gears, axios is reporting on centrist democrats and their push to suspend the federal gas tax. give us that argument. >> another sign of the political potency of high gas prices. democrats are pushing the national democrats, biden administration, congressional leaders, to suspend the 18 cents per gallon. this is a perennial issue that comes up with high gas prices, trying to combat it by suspending the gas tax for some time, easing the pressure at the pump. it goes to infrastructure projects. a lot of people in favor of these road building plans, as the giant infrastructure bill was passed, and it's opposed. leaders refused to increase the gas tax to fund for the projects. this is a politically charged issue. gas tax hasn't been raised in many, many years, and there's a lot of noise being made about cutting it down. these things are moving faster than the politics. the price of oil has fallen since the rise of the new coronavirus variant. we can expect gas prices to go down already in the next couple of weeks. look for a little political noise until gas prices get lower, then they'll move on to the next thing. >> nicholas johnston, thank you for being here and congrats again on the new title. >> thank you. >> it is going to be a busy wednesday. we're expecting to see dr. anthony fauci in the white house briefing room later today, appearing with white house press secretary jen psaki, talking about the new omicron variant. of course, all day on msnbc, we will be watching the supreme court and the oral arguments on the mississippi abortion case. and we should note, in the last segment, we had a man with a suit walk through camera. we have identified him. we have gotten to the bottom of this mystery. that was joe scarborough. thank you, all, for getting up way too early on this wednesday morning. "morning joe," including joe scarborough, starts now. ♪♪ good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, december 1st. we've got lots of questions this morning and the very right people to answer them. is the new strain of covid already inside the united states? we'll talk to the u.s. surgeon general about that. what is new york city's plan to fight back against the virus? the outgoing mayor joins the conversation. is donald trump's former chief of staff ready to flip? we'll talk to the chair of the intel committee who is investigating the insurrection. and can congress find common ground on anything? we are joined by two u.s. senators, one democrat, one republican, who are taking a stab at it. with us, former aide of the george w. bush white house and state departments, elise jordan. the host of "way too