state of kentucky. the state may be the worst hit by the series of storms with at least 70 people feared dead. that number, though, could rise. here's how the governor of kentucky put it earlier today. >> this has been the most devastating tornado event in our state's history. and for those that have seen it, what it's done here in grace county and elsewhere, it is indescribable. the level of devastation is unlike anything i have ever seen. >> and then in illinois, because it's not just kentucky, we're awaiting an update from governor j.b. pritzker on the amazon facility in edwardsville after a tornado there collapsed a 100-foot section of wall, killing at least two people and injuring others. damage and devastation being seen across arkansas, missouri, tennessee, with multiple deaths being reported there and we aren't in the clear just yet, by the way. the severe weather risk is now significantly lower but for 12 million americans in the southeast region, there is still risk for damaging wind gusts, possible hail, isolated tornados as well. i want to go right, though, first to nbc's wendy woolfolk. thank you for joining us on this. just talk to me about what you're seeing there. because the pictures, the images, the footage, it is just devastating. >> reporter: yasmin, good afternoon to you. i grew up in texas. i understand what tornados are all about. i've covered numerous hurricanes, blizzards, the polar vortex. i can tell you, i've never seen destruction like this. and i have only been here for a little while. it is indescribable what the damage is like here in mayfield. the ground zero, though, for the damage is this candle factory behind me, and they are still looking for 40 people they believe to still be unaccounted for, but the coroner is determined to continue his rescue mission. more than 110 people were here last night, working their hearts out, when the storm hit. this is the busiest time of year with christmas just two weeks from today, so they were working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 3 shifts a day, so it was packed. the kentucky national guard just pulling up as i walked up. and i was -- like i said, the rescue workers here are refusing to call this a recovery mission. it is a rescue mission. they are not giving up hope. they are going to remain positive. the death toll, as you've heard, the governor thinks that it will be beyond 70 but there are no official words yet. the aerial footage, though, as you mentioned, yasmin, is absolutely indescribable. there is no power here. the town is flattened. they even mentioned that the town water tower was flattened, so they don't have water here. and the fire chief even talked about, last night, that his station is destroyed. they had to extricate people from the fire station last night so they could respond when the storms hit. it is a truly devastating situation. i feel terrible to even try to put this into words, because these people just need our faith, they need our prayers, they need our hope that something good is going to turn out of this awful tragedy. these people are working their hearts out. they're not leaving until the job is done. and hopefully, we'll have some good news to bring to you in the next hour or so. >> the governor, wendy, is speaking now. let's take a listen. >> hours of our lives as kentuckians. this event is the worst, most devastating most deadly tornado event in kentucky's history. i believe that by the end of today or tomorrow, we will be north of at least 70 lives lost here in kentucky. i think we will have lost more than 100 people, and i think it could rise significantly in those numbers. now, about 1:00 this morning, i was at the state emergency operations center, hearing the reports coming in live. places like my parents' hometown, dawson springs, which i just came from. and how hard it was hit. hearing about families trapped in a basement and actually thinking they're lucky as long as we can get to them based on what happened from so many other families. hearing about the amazing efforts of our first responders, so many in this room. we thank you every day. we absolutely thank you today. thank you so much for what you have done for our people over these last hours. i know you haven't slept. i know what that feels like. i know the efforts that you have put in, and i know when you were out there especially in the first part of it, it was incredibly dangerous to you. we have seen people come together from all over the state, all over the country. federal partners like atf, we had the coast guard down in mayfield, and then we are seeing people come in from other states and other regions. i just want everybody to know that you are not alone. today, kentucky is absolutely united. we are united with our people. we are united to find and rescue as many as possible. we are united to grieve. with, i think, over 100 families that will have lost individuals, and we are united to be here for those families in this and every other impacted community, not just today and this week but in the coming years so that we rebuild and get those families back on their feet. the devastating is unlike anything i have seen in my life, and i have trouble putting it into words. when it was safe to travel this morning, i went to mayfield. my first stop was that candle factory. 110 people working in it at the time the storm hit. they rescued 40. there's at least 15 feet of metal with cars on top of it. barrels of corrosive chemicals that are there. it will be a miracle if anybody else is found alive in it. downtown, completely devastated. from there. my dad's hometown of dawson springs, population, oh, 2,700. they're going to lose a whole lot of people. one block from my grandparents' house. there's no house standing. there's no house standing, and we don't know where all those people are. this was four different tornados, and i'm told we're actually going to see a little bit more on that. that hit us, including one that touched down in arkansas and then stayed on the ground for 227 straight miles, which we believe is likely the longest in u.s. history. folks, 200 of those miles were in kentucky. we are ground zero, and i know this community is hit, it's been hit really hard. we are with you. the whole state is with you. it's about just before midnight last night that we signed -- i signed a state of emergency that allowed us to call up the national guard, now hundreds deploying all over kentucky to help. to help going door to door, see if we can find people. to help clearing the roadways and, yes, to help in law enforcement and some towns that aren't going to have any power tonight. we have been able to get our transportation cabinet with all of our heavy trucks out on the roads, clearing them off because it's hard to reach people in need when the roads are unpassable. our division of forestry is out there helping with that as well. finding any and everything we can do, including bringing some of the largest generators we've ever seen to some of these communities where they can power a school. a hospital. where it is needed. since our last stop, there are two new announcements at this point in the day. first, the president has signed the federal emergency disaster declaration. for those who do this work, that rarely happens in the midst of a disaster. it shows how bad it is. it opens up -- us up to significantly more resources and things like almost immediate reimbursement for a lot of the things we're doing, which is going to help our cities and our counties to really do even more. i've talked today directly to the president. twice, the head of homeland security, the secretary, and as well as the director of fema who is going to be in kentucky tomorrow. they have all pledged whatever we need, and i plan to ask, so make sure you communicate those needs to us and we'll either satisfy them or we will go out and get them. it's getting close to night. it's getting cold. it's going to be a tough night for a lot of people across kentucky. the second new announcement is people have been asking all day how can we help? and we've been telling them two things with the third coming. the first, we said, is if you are in a community that has been hit and hit hard, and you're safe and you have power, stay off the roads. let our first responders like the ones that we have here get to everybody. don't go to some of these areas because you want to see it. we need to make sure that those who do this work that are so good at it can do it at the fastest possible speed. second, give blood. we're already pretty short with covid out there and had been pushing. we're going to have -- we have a lot of deaths. we're also going to have a lot of injuries. but the third is, we have now been able to set up a single fund connected with the state that people who want to help in kentucky or outside of it can give to. that is solely dedicated to helping the on-the-ground efforts going on right now and the relief efforts that these families are going to need to rebuild. that is a team western kentucky tornado relief fund. it is now live at teamwkyrelieffund.ky.gov. i'll do it again. teamwkyrelieffund. we've been hearing from folks all over the country. i've heard from some folks outside the country that run great companies inside of kentucky. they are mourning for this and other communities. with that, we're going to have a number of folks give us updates on where we are right now. i think we're first turning it over to the mayor to talk about specifically what we're seeing here. let me say, i know -- i know that lives lost are going to be in double digits. they're going to be in multiple counties. i know mulenberg, i know hopkins, here, certainly graves. we believe in marshall. it's tough. but also, your folks have done incredible work on top of it since the very beginning. and i'm really proud of the response here in moore county. >> thank you, governor. bowling green citizens, we're taking a knee at this moment. we're in an emergency state and we appreciate what the governor and what the president has already declared for us. our community wants to help. and the best way to help is just like the governor stated, but there's another way. i talked to our local red cross, and they are set up right now at south warren high school. many, many people have already given in-kind donations to the red cross at south central high school. what they've told me is they appreciate it, but they've asked to hold off on in-kind donations. what we need right now is because that is a place where our personnel, our people are going for shelter tonight, they already have about 15 personnel that are there this evening. we know that more are coming. and so, they need to focus their energy towards taking care of those that need immediate shelter. so, if you need immediate shelter, please contact through our 911 and ask for assistance in getting to south warren if you need to get there, because it is getting colder. light is about to give up on us. and we need people to be able to get into a shelter over their head tonight. >> and from kentucky, we're going to go to the president, who is speaking now. >> saturday afternoon, but i want to provide an update on the deadly and devastating tornados that have moved across several states in central united states, including touching down across 227 miles of kentucky alone. i'm monitoring the situation very closely since early this morning. this is likely to be one of the largest tornado outbreaks in our country's history. earlier i called governors of arkansas, illinois, kentucky, missouri, as well as tennessee. and i also spoke with minority leader mitch mcconnell of kentucky. governor beshear and i started off the morning together, and he said, as i was watching on television, while talking to him, like all of you have, and his comment was, it looks like a war zone. but worse. jill and i pray, and i'm sincerely mean this, pray for those who have lost loved ones and for those who are uncertain of the fate of their loved ones and the debris that you see scattered all over the hurricane's path. they lost their homes, they lost their businesses, and it's a tragedy. it's a tragedy. and we still don't know how many lives were lost or the full extent of the damage. but i want to emphasize what i told all the governors, the federal government will do everything, everything it can possibly do to help. i've spoken several times today with the head of fema and the federal emergency management agency, as well as the director of fema, who's already been deployed -- already deployed emergency response personnel to these states, search and rescue teams, water and other supplies, and fema's on the groundworking with each of the states to assess the damages and focus on federal support where it is needed most and how we can get it there most rapidly. i also, and apparently it's just been announced, but i also approved the emergency declaration that was requested a couple of hours ago by governor beshear of kentucky. that's going to accelerate federal emergency assistance for kentucky. right now, when it's urgently needed. and i stand ready to do the same for the governors of other states, and i have made it clear to them, if they request emergency declarations. i've also requested that fema offer additional federal resources, including help with temporary housing where homes have been wiped out or too badly damaged to live in. and i also ask fema director to let the states know what they may nod be aware of what they might be entitled to because they don't necessarily know all that's available from the federal end. we're going to continue to see -- receive -- i personally am receiving regular updates and my staff has continued to reach out to the mayors, the county officials and other local leaders in these states affected by the tornados. and my heart goes out. i was told that earlier this morning, one of the equivalent of a county executive, one of the folks in kentucky was lost in this tornado. i want folks in all these states to know, we're going to get through this. we're going to get through this together and the federal government is not going to walk away. this is one of those times where we aren't democrats or republicans. sounds like hyperbole but it's real. we're all americans. we stand together as a united states of america and so i say to all the victims, you're in our prayers, and all those first responders and emergency personnel and everyone helping their fellow americans that this is the right thing to do at the right time, and we're going to get through this. i'll be happy to take a question or two if you have any about this. >> mr. president, does this say anything to you about climate change? is this -- do you conclude that these storms and these -- >> well, all that i know is that the intensity of the weather across the board has some impact as a consequence of the warming of the planet, and the climate change. the specific impact on these specific storms, i can't say at this point. i'm going to be asking the epa and others to take a look at that, but the fact is that we all know everything is more intense when the climate is warming. everything. and obviously, it has some impact here, but i can't give you a quantitative read on that. >> mr. president, do you have any plans to visit any of the affected areas this week? >> yes, i do. i spoke with -- i started off this morning with the governor of kentucky, and offered to -- i said, i'll be happy to come, but i don't want to be in the way. when a president shows up, he shows up with an awful lot of personnel. an awful lot of vehicles, an awful lot of -- we can get in the way, unintentionally. and so, what i am working with the governor of kentucky and others who may want me to be there, is i want to make sure that we are value added at the time and we're not going to get in the way of the rescue and recovery. but i will -- i do plan on going. >> are you going to ask congress to approve any other disaster relief money? >> well, we'll see. whatever is needed, i'm going to ask for. if we don't already have the wherewithal to take care of it, i'm going to ask for it. this is the united states of america. our citizens are badly, badly hurt, and they're scared to death right now in terms of all those folks that they can't figure where they are. where's my son, my daughter, my husband, my wife, my mom, my dad? it's devastating. yes, you had a question, sir. >> is there a role for the federal government in coordinating direct on the ground response, directing the national guard or federal troops? >> the answer is, yes, if, in fact, the states conclude they need it. and so, the national guard has been called out in one state but whatever is needed, it's within the authority of the president of the united states and the federal government to provide that help. and we're going to provide whatever is needed. i think we've demonstrated since we've been elected that every major natural disaster, we have been there early, often, and stayed until we got it finished and that's what we're going to do here, but again, i think what i have found as i've visited these disaster areas and other circumstances, whether it was the hurricane in louisiana or the gigantic flooding in the northeast or the wildfires in the west, the real anxiety right now. it's all those poor people are wondering, where is my loved one? where are they? are they going to be okay? and i don't think it's -- i don't think it's possible to exaggerate the extent of the fear and the concern, and we have a lot of people that are going in, doing rescue, running machines, bulldozers, forklifts and the like, and the way in which i've watched it down in -- when the building collapsed in florida, i watched how it takes a toll on them, god, am i going to lift something that's going to move something that's going to affect something? and so, that's what i -- i just, my heart aches for those people right now. including the rescuers. including the burden on them and what they worry about. that's what they talk to me about in florida. that's what they talked to me about afterwards, and so i just think that we just have to keep at it. we have to keep focused, and this is going to be the, you know, the focus of my attention until we get this finished. >> mr. president, mr. president, what's your message to the victims and their families, and can you talk at all about how governments are prepared for such disasters in the future? >> well, quite frankly, i think we're as prepared as any government has ever been for dealing with the disasters. now, the question is, one of the questions that's going to be raised, i'm confident, is, what warning was there and was it strong enough and was it heeded? that's a question that's going to, i assume, is going to be part of the discussion. in the states as well as nationally. because look, as usual, you ask always the best question. and you ask me about whether or not we were going to be able to -- what we were going to do about it, how are we going to handle this. and part of it is acknowledging that the likelihood of fewer weather catastrophes, absent a continued movement on dealing with global warming, is just not going to happen. not going to happen. like i said, we didn't think -- and i think the best example for me has been -- that's struck me the most, we always had wildfires. but who in god's name thought we'd see this calendar year more territory burned to the ground every, every tree, every home, every road, you know, larger than the state of new jersey. from the hudson river down to cape may. so we have to act. but the first and urgent piece here is, we have to save anyone who's still alive. we have to care for them if we can get them to hospitals. and we have to take care of all those families. i mean, look, i know you all -- you're all pros. asking the questions. imagine if your home's in the path. what do you go home to? what do you worry about? i mean, everything's gone from that -- from that baptismal photograph to the wedding picture to the picture of your oldest daughter in a ballet -- i mean, it's profound. it's just profound. and it's -- but i promise you, whatever is needed, whatever is needed, the federal government is going to find a way to supply it. thank you all so very, very much. thank you. >> decide to take u.s. -- off the table when it comes to -- >> there never were on the table, and are you ready to send american troops into war and going to ukraine to fight russians on their battlefield? here's the deal. i've made it absolutely clear to president putin, it's the last thing i'll say, that if he moves on ukraine, the economic consequences for his economy are going to be devastating. devastating. number one. number two, we will find it required that we'll have to send more american and nato troops into the eastern flank, the b-9, all those nato countries where we have a sacred obligation to defend them against any attack by russia. and number three, the impact of all of that on russia and its attitude the rest of the world's view of russia would change markedly. he'll pay a terrible price. and so, it's -- and we are going to continue to provide for, and we have, and continue to provide for the defense capacities for the ukrainian people. thank you so much. >> what do you intend to say to senator manchin? >> the president there speaking from wilmington, delaware, making a final comment after asked about his conversation, his possible actions toward ukraine there, but overall talking about the situation in kentucky and tennessee and mississippi and missouri, i should say, sorry, illinois, and arkansas. talking about the governors in which he spoke to earlier today, expressing his sympathy and his sorrow for the families that are suffering right now. of course, the president having experienced a tremendous amount of loss in his life as well, understanding what these families are going through. and reiterating, many times during that press conference, i should say, that the federal government will do whatever it takes, will do whatever these states need in order to recover. however, the priority right now is to rescue as many people that are still alive beneath that rubble as they can. we also heard from the governor of kentucky as well. talking about the area of mayfield, kentucky, that was hardest hit by these tornados. what stuck out to me there, and the population of that area, just over 2,000, specifically that candle factory that was hardest hit, 110 people inside that candle factory overnight. only 40 have been rescued. that means 70 people and their locations are still unknown. i want to bring in craig fugate, former fema administrator and chief resilience officer at one concern. craig, thanks for sticking with us through all of that. i think probably the biggest headline out of all of that was the president signing the federal emergency disaster devastation for specifically the state of kentucky as the governor there asked for it. the governor addressing that as well. what type of resources does that open up for kentucky during this devastation? >> well, as the president said, this opens up all the federal response capabilities. it also opens up the reimbursement for the extraordinary cost that they're going through in this response. and the president said something else that is also important, that he's directed fema to begin providing temporary housing. which is also going to be a way to help people get hotel and motel rooms outside the area, as the governor said, it's going to be a long night. and where they can shelter in red cross shelters, great, but there may be other opportunities and so getting that turned on will help people find a place to stay as they continue the response. >> talk to me about what's happening when it comes to fema right now, because fema obviously was mentioned many times by the president in addressing what's happening on the ground there and making sure fema, obviously, is doing what they need to do to help folks. he talked about door knocking. what type of actions is fema taking right now? how widespread are their efforts? how quickly are they able to put into action the needs that these communities have? >> well, fema was responding in the morning. they have been working with states before this storm hit. they're going to focus right now on the governor's team supporting the governor, but as this event goes on, you'll see more and more fema presence, especially when they get on the ground and start going door-to-door on assistance that may be available. but right now, it's moving things such as commodities, search and rescue teams, communications, anything the governor's team may need to support search and rescue operations and fema's also going to be starting the second part of this is, what are going to be things needed over the next couple days, the next couple of weeks, so that they can stay in ahead of what the governor may be asking. again, fema has a lot of experience, unfortunately, responding to these events. they know what's going to be needed so they're going to be getting things ready often before the governor is ready to request that resource. >> what are some of the resources these states can look to that they may not know about? the president mentioning that. wanting to make sure fema communicates that. >> i think the state emergency managers know a lot of what fema can offer, but i think for the public, it's going to be, as we go through further assessments, as the governor puts in more request for assistance, it will be, what assistance will be available for people who had uninsured losses, people that need a place to stay, again, as we deal with the immediate search and rescue shelter operations, where are people going to be staying in two to three weeks from now? those are things that fema can help with, providing a lot of assistance and putting people with rental vouchers and hotels and motels, or if necessary, assisting with other types of facilities, and again, unfortunately, they've actually gotten experience at doing this during covid. we've dealt with hurricanes, wildfires, floods, fema's responded to with covid. they have the precautions in place so they'll also be providing that capability to augment whatever the state may need in light of covid as well as the mass care needs of the survivors. >> hey, craig, stick with me. i do want to just sneak in a quick break. we're going to come back with much more on the devastation that we're seeing from these tornados. we'll be right back. ing from the tornados we'll be right back. firefighter maggie gronewald knows how to handle dry weather... ...and dry, cracked skin. new gold bond advanced healing ointment. 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provide anything these states devastated by these tornados needs in order to help them, of course, recover. take us through some of what we heard from the president. >> that's right. the president promising in his speech to bring with him the full force of the federal government as these states start their rescue and recovery missions right now. he noted that just a few hours ago, he approved kentucky's request for an emergency declaration. he said he would be ready to approve similar requests if other states that were impacted by these tornados requested a similar request as well. the president said that he and the first lady were praying for these families. he has directed fema to provide housing assistance to those that have been displaced by this storm. he also said that he would be willing to go and visit some of the areas that were impacted, but that he did not want his presence there to be a burden to these communities as they still try and find more missing people, yasmin. >> all right, wendy, let's bring you into the conversation. you're on the ground in mayfield. you've been seeing that devastation firsthand. i believe you're still in front of the candle factory, we heard the governor talking about the people, the lives that have been lost. 110 people were inside during the tornado. 40 have been rescued. if i do the math correctly, that's about 70 that are still missing. talk to me about what you have been seeing. >> reporter: yasmin, this has been an awful afternoon. i cannot imagine what these fearless, brave firefighters are having to deal with as they go through the painstaking process of going through what governor beshear called 15 feet of metal and barrels. as you mentioned, this candle factory was in full force last night, 110 people working ahead of -- two weeks ahead of christmas. so they were very busy at 10:00 last night when that storm hit and now the coroner is on the scene, calling this a rescue and recovery mission. we have also seen search and rescue dogs. we have seen the kentucky national guard as well as first responders teams from all over the state. all hands on deck here, hoping to have some good news, but as the governor mentioned in that press conference, he said he does not think it will be any fewer than double-digit death tolls and multiple counties, and that is an awful thing to think about. a long night ahead. there was sun far while. now the temperatures are dropping. we're about to lose light. but these guys, as i -- you're about to see, probably, two more firefighters walk by right now. they're going back to that pile, because they're hoping to find someone so that some of these families in this small town of mayfield get some good news. we're all hoping and praying that they do get that tonight. but unfortunately, it's going to be a long, rough night ahead. >> yeah. wendy, have you had an opportunity to speak to anybody that lived through the tornado? >> reporter: i have not talked to someone who had a direct hit, but i have talked to other people as we were driving in from nashville, so it was about a two-hour drive. i was struck by 80 miles away, there were people who didn't have -- still don't have power. they don't have water, and gas is becoming limited and that's 80 miles away from this scene and they were thankful that they at least might have heat tonight because it's going to be a cold night ahead as well. not just people in this immediate town, but this entire state just devastated. >> and what about folks that don't have anywhere to go tonight? they don't know where they're going to sleep. they're searching for their families. obviously, their belongings, completely gone. are there areas -- organized areas for them to stay? i know the red cross has been involved. fema's not going to endorse at this point. are there areas in mayfield where people are going to be staying overnight? >> reporter: they are trying to put them up in the public schools. i drove by the high school, the parking lot was full of cars. there are other areas that are also trying to funnel them to surrounding counties, like i said, driving through here, there are some counties, strikingly, there was nothing -- it doesn't appear that anything was wrong. but obviously, then you see the devastation like this is not only at this candle factory, it's spread out across the state so those people who are looking for shelter, thankfully, they do have the red cross. they were on their way into town when i was as well, and they are trying to help people, if they don't have a place to go, whether it be schools, whether it be convention centers, but thankfully, there's an app that they talk about with the red cross that people can look for to see where there is shelter and where there's food. so, those are two good options given that there is no power here. there is no water here. and gas is certainly going to behearted hard to come by in the days and weeks ahead. >> i know a lot of people are wondering how they can help. the governor mentioning they had set up a fund that people can donate to, to help with the recovery and rescue efforts on the ground. teamwkyrelieffund.ky.gov. >> they were just saying what they're really looking for, i heard him talking as well, what they're really looking for now is blood donations, because they're so -- the supplies are so depleted nowadays that blood is certainly something people can do from afar while they hope and pray for good news in this area. >> also urging folks to stay off the roads in some of these devastated areas, so the rescue workers can get -- >> reporter: 7:00 p.m. curfew tonight. >> yeah. people can stay safe. wendy woolfolk, thank you. lauren egan, thank you as well for sticking with us through this. we appreciate it. we're going to have continuing coverage, of course, of the devastation we've been seeing from these tornados a little bit later on in the hour. but up next, a simple step to stop democracy. new 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[woof] i'm telling y'all there's no place like wayfair to make your home totally you. ooh! i want that. welcome back, everybody. new developments this weekend in the house committee's investigation into the january 6th capitol riot. the panel issued six new subpoenas friday, including to two former white house aides who the committee says met with former president trump just days before the january 6th rally. this is coming as trump was dealt a legal setback. after his request to block documents from the committee, it was shot down by a federal appeals court. the battle could now go all the way to the supreme court, and former trump white house chief of staff mark meadows sued the committee this week just hours after the panel said they would move forward with contempt proceedings over his continued denial to comply with their subpoena. joining me, kyle cheney, senior legal affairs reporter for politico. thank you for joining us on this. what can you tell us about these subpoenas and the committee's focus right now? >> sure, so, they're deeply engaged in continuing to gather facts for their investigation, and it's going to go well into the new year. they're looking at members of donald trump's inner circle and then they're branching out even further than that to people he met with in the days leading up to january 6th, trying to get a sense of where the president's head was in the days before his rally and ultimately what became the violent attack on the capitol, so they're trying to basically get at anyone who may have had some sort of relevant interaction with him and they've, again, gone just beyond the inner circle to the next rung down to see who heard and saw what in those important hours and days. >> you wrote about the subpoenas causing some complicated, as you put it, conflicts, two of the subpoenaed being active political adversaries of congressional democrats. how is that going to play out? >> sure, so, that's sort of the nature of the investigation. you're seeing a lot of these things crop up. you have a congressional inquiry looking at what members of congress themselves were doing and that almost never happens. investigating their own leagues potentially looking at the phone records of their own colleagues. you see the political crossover. one of the people they subpoenaed is a congressional candidate in ohio who happened to be a donald trump aide and someone who worked with the president and spoke to him in those key days, max miller, and you have someone like a brian jack who was the white house political director at the time and now works for gop leader mccarthy's political operation, so there's a lot of these entanglements and yes these are relevant witnesses but they're actively doing jobs that come into conflict with some of the committee members themselves. >> you also wrote about jenna ellis and two legal memos. the memos, which contain widely dis puted legal theories about pence's ability to stop a biden presidency, underscore ellis ellis's promotion of extreme arguments that she promulgated amid trump's effort to reverse the election results. do you see her as being a future target of the committee? >> i would be surprised if she wasn't. she's someone who was in the mix with a lot of other trump aides and i think that's the key here. these memos that she wrote, they're very similar to things like what john eastman was writing and what other aides to the president at the time were telling him to do and to talk about and what they said pence could do and so it's actually part of a whole series of, you know, a pressure campaign against vice president pence at the time that fits in as a much broader than even we fully understand aspect of this entire effort to overturn the election. >> i was talking to maya wylie in the last hour about this powerpoint presentation, all the ways in which the former president could basically keep then president-elect biden from becoming president, from making it to the inauguration. i think one of the biggest questions out there about this is, who saw it? how is it disseminated? it made it out of meadows's email to where? >> my understanding is it may not have made it out of meadows's email but i think the thing to remember about this powerpoint, because again, we don't know the -- who necessarily wrote it, even as reporting is starting to suggest who sent this to meadows, but i think the important thing to remember is a lot of the elements here were already known from other key players. john eastman, for example, was one of the people pressuring mike pence. mike flynn, the president's former national security advisor was talking about the insurrection act and seizing voting equipment. you know, one of the most extreme things in that powerpoint and that reporting had been out even before that memo was part of -- reached mark meadows. so, some of this was in plain sight at the time, but that powerpoint really captured a lot of it all in one place. a lot o place. >> kyle cheney, thank you. continuing coverage of the deadly tornadoes coming up ahead. mm. 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(sha bop sha bop) ♪ ♪ ♪ alexa, play our favorite song again. ok. ♪ i only have eyes for you ♪ i thought i was managing my moderate to severe crohn's disease. then i realized something was missing... ...me. my symptoms were keeping me from being there for her. so, i talked to my doctor and learned humira is the #1 prescribed biologic for people with crohn's disease. humira helps people achieve remission that can last. and the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief in as little as 4 weeks. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you, and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. learn how abbvie could help you save on humira. do i need to pretreat my laundry? nope! with tide pods, you don't need to worry. the pre-treaters are built in. tide pods dissolve even when the water is freezing. nice! if it's got to be clean, it's got to be tide. welcome back, everybody. to continuing coverage of the devastating tornadoes that we have been following for the last few hours and really throughout the day here on msnbc. i want to bring in meteorologist michelle grossman who's been tracking these major weather events since yesterday. the overarching question is how the heck does this happen, michelle? it seems like every one of these events gets worse with more loss of life. >> yeah. you know, and i think that's going to be the bigger weather question. it's going to be the climate change, it's going to be the warming planet. but i think right now we have to focus on, you know, this is probably the deadliest tornado event for the month of december. it's certainly quite possibly and most likely, most definitely going to be the deadliest event in kentucky in history. and it will probably maybe be in the top five overall in our u.s. history. those are lists because you do not want to be on. those are things we're certainly going to look at and talk about and delve in deep over the next several years. here are the stats, top five deadliest kentucky tornadoes. what stands out to me is the dates. look at the year. the last deadliest tornado, which we're going to top with this one, was in 1890. before that it was 1917, 1925. kentucky has not seen a storm to this mandating not really our lifetime. and here's the stat, the top five. it possibly could make it into the top five, certainly top ten for overall fatalities in our history. and then we're looking at, you know -- we saw 36 tornado reports. this happened overnight. you asked this question before, what was the setup? we had temperatures in the upper 80s in some parts, so it felt like summer. we had really warm and moisture air, a cold front that moved through, la niña weather pattern. the winds really started to pick up. that created that spin and that's where we saw the spawn of these tornadoes. so we're going to be watching that with the survey damage to see how many torpedos we actually had. but this was the timing for it. 5:40, that lone thunderstorm was the one that created all this chaos. we watched this, yasmin, for four hours as it trekked 230 miles. so that's another stat that's going to go down this history. it's the longest-track tornado probably we've seen. >> unbelievable. michelle grossman, thank you for sticking with me through this and explaining to folks what's been going on because i think it's pretty devastating for all of us to see these images and knowing, of course, it's also just before the holidays. thank you, michelle. good to be with you. thank you for joining us on this. that wraps up the hour for me, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. i'll be back tomorrow, 3:00 p.m. eastern. reverend al sharpton and "politicsnation" begins after a very quick break. very quick break i could use some help showing the world how liberty mutual customizes their car insurance so they only pay for what they need. 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